#so I can art tomorrow before my haircut

[humblemooncat]

Have some fluff before bed since I had crimes open.

I love the idea of Ki'to's husbands surprising him with visits to his island, and Raha was my lucky candidate this time. uwu

Ki'to looks so sleepy, bless him. I'm sure they had a nice sleep after this. <3

[archangeldyke-all]

@sumilane made this gorgeous art and i wrote a little something for it! i posted it already last night as a reblog but i'm going to make it it's own post so gio can add more art to it!! eeek!!!

men and minors dni

sevika is feeling strangely vulnerable.

it could be the bottle of whiskey the two of you have been sharing this evening. it could be that silco, the one person she knew best in the world, is gone now. it could even be the brat he left behind for her to take care of who's been slowly worming her way into sevika's heart throughout the time spent fixing up her new arm and changing their looks together.

it could just be you, though. the sorta-sad, mostly resigned look in your eye as you lament your relationship woes to sevika.

"i dunno... every time i think i could have something with someone-- not even like, marriage, but y'know-- just someone to share some intimacy with-- something happens and it doesn't work. after a while i just start to think maybe it's not the circumstances that are fucked up 'n maybe it's just me."

"bullshit." sevika spits, shaking her head and quickly refilling her glass with more whiskey. she has to do something with her hands to keep from reaching across the table and shaking your shoulders as she speaks. "y-you're fine. perfect--" she cuts herself off, a furrow in her brow as she glares at her whiskey.

you snort. sevika's adorable when she's tipsy, stumbling over her words and staring into space. fuck. you need to stop rambling about your heartache to the woman you're hopelessly in love with. "i-i'm sorry for dumping this shit on you sev. 's boring and stupid and--"

"no, shut up, it's just--" sevika blinks up at you then curls in on herself in a manner that's almost... shy. she clears her throat and looks away for a moment, almost whispering. "i-i'd marry you."

you blink.

"what?"

"i'm saying you're fuckin' stupid if you think you don't have options." sevika mutters, hunching her shoulders so much she looks small.

you're heart's beating a mile a fucking minute, and you squeak when you bite your tongue to make sure you aren't dreaming. "you said you'd marry me?"

"fuckin'-- obviously only in some hypothetical world where you were into me." sevika shrugs. "but...yeah." she grunts, before reaching out and drowning the whiskey in her glass, muttering a "fuck." under her breath.

you blink a few times, tears spontaneously bubbling up in your vision and a lump forming in your throat. "i was under the impression that i didn't have a shot with you." you whisper.

sevika's eyes fly to yours, wide and shocked. "what the fuck would make you think that?!"

"j-just..." you trail off, gulping again. "you're the most interesting, attractive woman i've ever met, and i am one of about a thousand other fuckin' people in zaun who think so. a-and we've been friends for years and you never said anything..." you trail off as sevika stumbles out of her booth and over to yours, shoving in beside you and cornering you against the wall, clutching your jaw with both of her hands as she stares down at you-- bewildered.

"is this a dream?" she asks.

"i bit my tongue to check-- it's real."

"i-i was serious y'know. i'll take you down to the courthouse tomorrow morning." she says, her voice shaky and sincere.

suddenly, the full reality of the situation hits you, and you burst into laughter. "i-i've been in love with you for years." you admit through giggles. "years!"

sevika starts to giggle too. "m-me too."

"and your fucking haircut is so hot all i've wanted to do for the past two weeks is kiss yo--"

sevika cuts you off with her lips to yours, and you sigh, wrapping your arms around her shoulders.

it's a drunk, sloppy kiss-- years of tension and yearning finally bubbling to the surface as sevika attempts to pin you to the booth.

you have every intention of letting her do just that when she pulls away, grinning down at you.

"you really bit your tongue, didn't you? i can taste the blood in your mouth." she asks.

you nod, clawing at her desprately as you try to get her to kiss you again. sevika grins, swooping in to do just that-- but when she pulls away the second thime with her leps stained with your blood, you gasp. "oh, shit!"

"i tried to tell you." sevika giggles.

"do i need stitches? can you give stitches to a tongue?" you ask.

"this really puts a dent in all my plans." sevika cackles. you snort, and she passes you the bottle. "drink. it'll wash the blood away."

"w-what plans?" you ask as you take a swig.

"the plans i had for your tongue."

you choke, whiskey spraying everywhere as you cackle.

sevika--covered in your spit, blood, and whiskey-- smiles so wide you think her face might crack.

taglist!

@fyeahnix @lavendersgirl @half-of-a-gay @thesevi0lentdelights @sexysapphicshopowner

@shimtarofstupidity @chuucanchuucan @badbye666 @femme-historian @lia-winther

@sevikaspillowprincess @emiliabby @sevikasbeloved @hellorai

@glass-apothecary @macaroni676 @artinvain @k3n-dyll @sevsdollette

@ellieslob @xayn-xd @keikuahh @maneskinwh0re @raphaellearp

@iamastar @sevikitty @mascdom @nhaaauyen

@mirconreadzztuff22 @veoomvroom @lushh-s3vik4s @katyawooga @lesbodietcoke

@lavandasz

[greenorangevioletgrass]

shorn the sheep (a.d. x t.d.)

Pairing: art donaldson x tashi donaldson

Summary: the origin story of Art's shorn sheep haircut.

Word Count: 1.5k

Warnings: just family fluff really, art is a puppy but whats new, pre-canon (or in between canon timelines ig)

Notes: my first arttashi fic! Life is crazy but I was inspired enough to write this in two sittings sooooo enjoy! please comment, reblog, talk to me and tell me what you think about it! Happy reading!

**i do not have a taglist. Follow @ficsbygreenorangevioletgrass andd turn on the notifications to be alerted for new fics and updates!**

Art Donaldson likes routines.

He eats the same breakfast every morning –eight eggs and a bowl of oatmeal. Takes the same shower stall in the locker room and does the same pre-match routine down to which shoe he puts on first. He has had the same team behind him for most of his career, from coaches and physios to his lawyers and publicists. He generally goes to the same guy for his haircut too, but he’s in Tokyo for the Japan Open. And while his outgrown curls are starting to piss him off, flying his barber halfway across the world just seems excessive.

Although… looking in the mirror now, he can’t help but wonder if he should’ve done that instead.

Maybe it’s the language barrier (which is more of Art’s fault for his general lack of knowledge in hair-related terms, because the hairdresser speaks English just fine), but what he asked for was definitely not what he got. Then again, maybe he wasn’t being super clear on what he means by ‘tidying it up a little.’

So with a polite straight-lined smile, Art nods and pays and ducks out into the busy Tokyo street. Out of courtesy (or so he convinces himself), he waits until he turns the corner to put his hoodie up over his head.

Ever the drama queen, he only takes it off when he enters the hotel suite, finding his wife sitting on the dining table.

“They fucked up my hair.”

Tashi looks up from her laptop, and the first thing she notices isn’t even the hair. It’s the same pout, same tone she normally sees in Lily at bedtime, which only makes her chortle.

“Goddammit…” Art groans. Is it even worse than he thinks? He pulls the hood back up and tugs at the string until the fabric scrunches around his face.

He turns around towards the bedroom, but Tashi stops him, grabbing his arm and turning him to face her. She loosens the tight strings on the hood, so she can see his new hair properly. Her French manicured nails cards through the short locks, scratching his scalp the way she knows he likes. Her eyebrows furrow in focus as she scrutinizes the length and texture in relation to his face.

“It looks fine to me,” she eventually decides, pushing the top part to the side towards his natural part.

“No it’s not. It’s too fucking short.” Art huffs, resting his forehead on her shoulder. 

Tashi hums, feeling the buzzed ends on the nape of his neck. She’s never felt it this short on him—she’s been there through it all; the mop when he was younger, the swoopy Prince Charming look he had just before this, and even that one year where he grew his hair out past his shoulders. She can definitely say that she doesn’t hate this one.  “It’s just shorter, is all.”

“Makes my ears look even bigger than they already are,” he murmurs into the skin of her shoulder, his annoyance dissipating into sulking petulance in the comfort of her scent and general embrace. 

“Maybe it’ll make you more aerodynamic, Dumbo.” Tashi fiddles his earlobe playfully.

He bites at her shoulder in gentle warning, earning a little laugh from her. “That’s not funny.”

“I don’t see anything wrong with it.” She grins and shrugs. “Art—”

“Come on, this is serious.”

Tashi laughs incredulously. “What is?”

“I’m playing in my Uniqlo gear for the first time tomorrow, and the only thing people are gonna talk about is my hair.”

“I sure fucking hope they’re gonna talk about your game more than your new hair or clothes.”

There’s always a very subtle shift whenever Tashi is talking in coach mode. It doesn’t happen often, but it ticks her off whenever his attention strays off of what’s important. But Art pulls his head up and shoots her an unamused, almost defiant glare. He’s not having it.

He’s been trying not to stress out about it, but his new endorsement deal with Uniqlo is so well-covered (and for good reason—he signed a ten-year deal worth $30 million.) and wearing the brand for the first time on their home ground is a big deal. She knows that.

Art will gladly say it as often as he needs to (and he feels like he doesn’t say it often enough), but he loves Tashi. Her beauty is a no-brainer, but above all, he loves her tenacity and efficiency in her work. It’s why he listens to her, and it’s why he’s been playing better than ever since she joined his side.

Tashi sighs a little, realizing that maybe he doesn’t need a coach right now. “And look, it fits into the clean-cut, preppy aesthetics you got. I don’t see how this can be bad press for Uniqlo, either.”

She does so much for him —eats, lives, and breathes him— and sometimes he feels bad for asking. But he eats, lives, and breathes her just as much as she does, and he craves her constantly. Her firm chides, her sharp wit, her soft side, her fury… Most of the time, he needs a combination of at least two of them, even though he doesn’t know how to ask for it.

“Can we like… not make this about work?”

He doesn’t need to. She knows. 

Tashi softens, rubbing his arms up and down as he pulls her closer. “Baby… it looks good on you.”

Art rolls his eyes skeptically. He can’t help but feel like she needs to say that now.

“It really does! What do you want me to say?” She chuckles, nuzzling his face with her nose. “Hey. You know I’ll be the first one to tell you if it looks stupid, right?”

Art sighs. Tashi has never been very generous with compliments, and he actually likes that about her. She knows how to really make it count. “I know, but—”

“But it doesn’t. You actually look really good. And I… I like that I can see you better this way.”

“Huh?”

“You don’t have hair flopping over your eyes like a sheepdog anymore.”

Art gives her a playful smack in the butt, but at least he’s smiling now. And despite pushing him physically and mentally for a living, Tashi likes making him smile.

“But you like it?”

Her hand returns to his head, getting the hang of caressing it. “Baby, it’s your hair.” 

Art relaxes into her touch. He’s gone beyond seeking validation, and has fully entered clingy territory at this time. “Yeah, but you’re gonna be looking at it all the time,” he pouts dramatically. “I don’t want you to hate it.”

“I already told you. I like it.” Tashi cups his face, her thumb drawing faint circles on his cheek. The hair is cropped short enough that it doesn’t even curl anymore on the crown. But the patch of brown in his blue eyes is out in plain sight. The line of his nose is knife-sharp, and she can’t help but remember how it parts her thighs right open. “I like looking at your face like this.”

Art’s mouth quirks to the right. He likes coaxing sweet nothings out of her like no other. “So you just like my face?”

Tashi bites the inside of her left cheek. “I do. I like your face.”

Art pulls her into a sweet kiss, and Tashi happily meets him halfway. He wonders if the butterflies would ever cease one day, but until then, he’s gonna relish in it entirely. Wholeheartedly. Selfishly.

Until…

“Daddy, you’re back!” the unmistakable squeal of their 2-year-old cuts through the quiet, followed by the pitter-patter of her little feet.

Art reluctantly lets go of his wife in exchange for their daughter, throwing the former a fond, knowing look. “Hey, Lilybug!” He scoops her tiny frame up into his arms and peppers kisses all over her cute face.

Lily giggles, arms flailing and pushing him around until Art lets up. It’s only then that the little girl manages a good look at him. She gasps. “Daddy, your hair!”

Art’s heart stops. He never thought a toddler’s opinion would mean so much to him, but he plasters a faux-oblivious look for her. “What about my hair, baby?”

“It’s so… little!”

Tashi chuckles. And so does Art, although he does so in surprise. Of all the adjectives in the English language (that they’ve taught Lily anyway), he didn’t expect it to be little. But in a way, he’s glad. It takes the edge off a little.

“Do you like it, though?” Art turns his head side-to-side and lets Lily assess him, and his heart stutters a little.

Lily has a habit of picking up Tashi’s brutal honesty. Truth be told, she is the spitting image of her mother. She tilts her head the same way, sports the same thoughtful pout too. He may have been off the hook with Tashi, but it would be stupid to have his confidence crushed by the miniature version of her.

Eventually, though, Lily grins and nods. Art breathes out a sigh of relief, while Tashi looks at him like, see?

Lily puts her tiny hands on Art’s cheeks the same way her mother does, fingers flicking on her father’s earlobes. She giggles again. “Daddy looks like my sippy cup.”

Tashi laughs out loud this time. Art is not amused.

But he’ll take it. He scowls playfully and makes a face, pretending to be the sippy cup in question, eliciting more laughter from his girls.

[livingdreams97]

Eloise Bridgerton - "The Prince" (Part 1)

Eloise Bridgerton x Male reader/oc

Summary: Two people who have never seen each other before, with the same need and desire to be free in different ways. What could come of that when both people meet each other?

Words: 3.983

NEXT

Masterlist

POV Narrator

In a castle located three hours from the center of London, two men are in a meeting and in a somewhat heated discussion. One of the men is in his late 40s, while the other much younger looking man is in his 23s.

XY: You will go to the palace with your aunt and you will participate in this year's social season.- declares the older of both.

XY2: You can't do this to me father.- denies the youngest . -You can't force me to look for a wife.- the son denies.

XY: I'm not forcing you to look for a wife, just to participate in the social season and look for someone to love.- he claims to his son. -You are twenty-three years old and  at your age, I was already married to your mother and already had your brother.- he reproached him, causing the young man to cross his arms.

Y/n: But I don't want to get married, I want to travel and see the world.- he comments getting up from the chair. -I want to get to know different cultures, learn languages and see places that most people can only dream of.- he says walking through the office.

XY: And you will.- he assures her calmly. -But once you find someone, you fall in love and get married.- he dictates, continuing with his writing.

Y/n: And who assures me of that, father.- he says passing his hand through his almond-blonde hair. -We both know that as soon as I get married, I'll have to take care of my wife and start producing heirs. When will I travel ? - he asks the older man.

XY: I assure you that you will travel.- he says looking back at his only living heir. -What do you think if we make a deal?- he offers leaving the pen in its container

Y/n: What deal?- he asks interested, sitting back in the dark blue suede chair in front of his father's desk.

XY: If you manage to fall in love and get married this season, you will be able to travel around the world for 6 months and I myself will pay for your travel expenses. In addition to that, I promise to give you a house, wherever you want as a wedding gift to you and your wife; without the need for you to generate heirs immediately.- the father offers and this captures the attention and interest of the child.

Y/n: But ... - He begins by meeting his father.

XY: You will have to be really in love, you will show me your love for her and your aunt has to give you the go-ahead.- he finishes speaking. -What do you say, do w have a deal? - he questions his son.

Y/n: Okay.- the youngest nods with a sigh, allowing the light curls on his head to bounce subtly and his father to notice it.

XY: So tomorrow morning you will go to the palace, where you will stay with your uncles and before leaving you will receive a haircut.- He points out his son's slightly long hair.

Y/n: Yes father.- accept tired. - Can I retire to my room now? - he asks and the father nods.

XY: Make sure you have all the clothes ready first thing in the morning.- he reminds him as the young man leaves the office.

And that's what happens the next day. After a haircut and loading the suitcases into the family's navy blue carriage. Father and son say goodbye with a hug, before the youngest gets on the carriage and it sets off towards the palace.

Dear readers,

Have you missed me? Because here I am once again, ready to talk and comment on the events of this new season.

While our respected high society was enjoying their country retreat once more, this author did only one thing: polish my art. Or should I say hatching my plans? No, even better. I was sharpening my knives even more and collecting information.

Apparently, a few hours after the debuts of this season, two luxurious-looking carriages have arrived at the palace and they were loaded with abundant luggage.

Could it be that the queen will host a debutant or debutante of the royal family this season, as she did  with her nephew Prince Friedrich of Prussia?

On the other hand, Queen Charlotte has once again done something unexpected and has renamed Edwina Sharma as the diamond this season. It will be that she is not happy with the failure of last season with her diamond, that she is trying to remedy the situation and regain her credibility when choosing the diamond of the season.

We also have the Bridgertons to congratulate, as the Viscount and Viscountess have just welcomed their first heir with open arms. And they will not only celebrate the birth of the little girl, but also the debut of two Bridgertons more. Will the matriarch of the family be capable of directing and helping three children at the same time in search of a partner?

It only remains to wait and see everything that this season has in store for us. What mysteries and secrets our high society hides that they do not want to be known.

Always yours,

Lady Whistledown.

POV YOU

I listen to what my aunt reads aloud as we eat dinner, watching disgust and anger fill every feature of her face. I look at my cousin Friedrich , who continues having dinner and not giving importance to what is being read .

Charlotte: How dare that woman question my ability to select, I am the one who created the idea of the diamond and I have not failed even once, until last season. - she grumbles, leaving the newspaper with force on the table.

Y/n:  Aunt, don't give importance to that gossip newspaper, they are not important and you are one of the most capable and intelligent women I know.- I assure her with a slight smile.

Charlotte: You will see my dear nephew Y/n, I appreciate your sincere and encouraging words.- she tells me with a small smile. -But if the people believe what this woman writes, my past successes don't matter, much less if it only reflects my only failure.- she explains and I frown at her annoyance.

Friederich: You are the queen, ignore it and the rest of the town will too.- he comments without much interest.

Charlotte: What I will do is use your presence, to relax the atmosphere and make sure that everything goes well.- she comments with confidence.

Friederich: And what do you plan to do with our presence?- questions with confusion, although I already understand it and I'm not entirely sure if I'm going to like the idea.

Charlotte: You are both here with the intention of finding a woman, therefore I can ensure that one of both of you ends up with my diamond and thus recover the full respect of the town.- she answers and I bite my lip.

Y/n: Aunt, you know that I respect you and that I never disagree with you.- I start a little unsure. -But I'm sure you know my father's opinion regarding marriage and that you only have to marry for love.- I remind her and see how she tries not to smile.

Charlotte: I know my dear Y/n.- she assures me with a certain tenderness in her eyes when she looks at me. -That is why I have decided that Friederich is the one who is interested in my diamond, maybe even something real will come out of this.- she says and I nod in gratitude.

It's not that I really want to marry for love, a few years ago I would be happy to find someone to fall in love with and marry.

But seven years ago my opinion changed and I have not wanted to fall in love and get married since then. When I was 13 years old, my brother had an accident riding a horse in a race and died. My mother went into anger and depression over the loss of her first child.

Two months after the loss of my brother, my mother could not continue and died of sadness. So only my father and I stayed.

I saw my father mourn the loss of my brother, trying to cheer up my mother in her depression and soon after also mourning the loss of my mother. I saw him suffer every day since my brother's death and for another year after my mother's death.

I saw how sad and broken he was when he lost the love of his life. The house was no longer the same, without my brother's laughter or absurd comments, everything felt silent. In addition to the fact that the warmth and happiness that my mother radiated had been replaced by the coldness of her lack.

That's why I stopped wanting to find someone to fall in love with and marry. Because I had seen what the loss of my mother did to my father and how it felt to lose two of the most important people in my life.

So at fourteen I decide to renege on marriage, preferring to remain single and not get close to another person in a sentimental way. But now there's my father's offer, and it's an offer I can't refuse.

I have always wanted to travel and see the world. But my father has never left me, saying that it was irresponsible to go on a trip and leave my chores behind. Although now that my father offers me 6 months of travel around the world, expenses paid and a house to be independent; I can't refuse the offer.

Especially when as soon as he could, my father sent me to university in Manchester and having finished my degree in natural sciences and its use in medicine, along with some medical courses; he wanted to enjoy traveling to find and study new plants as well.

But just because I accepted the offer doesn't mean I'm going to marry for love. But I will try to find a woman, who really does not want to get married; but do not want to stay single and be separated by society.

Friederich: If you think it's the best option, I agree to help her and meet the diamond of the season.- he accepts, causing her to let out a sigh.

Charlotte: Well, I hope you dress as well as possible, because in a few hours the guests will arrive and it's the first initiation dance.- she warns us seriously. -In this first dance I am the hostess and it will be your presentation.- she says and we both nod in agreement.

Friederich: I'll put on my best suit.- he nods puffing out his chest.

Charlotte: One last thing, Y/n Lady Danbury will take care of your introduction into society and will help you in the dances.- she tells me and I nod. -She has more experience and can better help you find a woman.- she explains with a loving smile.

Y/n: Thank you for thinking about my needs aunt.- I thank you with a smile.

Charlotte: I always will Y/n, besides that Lady Danbury is hosting another season at the Sharma and so it will be easier for Friederich and Edwina to get to know each other.- she explains to both of us.

Shortly after, we finish dinner and everyone heads to their rooms. I decide to wear black pants, with a morning suit of the same color with gold buttons and shiny black shoes.

I decide to wear a white shirt, with a navy morning suit and a white Byron tie. I look at myself in the mirror in my bedroom, making sure everything is in place and my hair is neat. ( He has the same hair as Theo , but with a little more curl.)

I grab the white gloves and leave the room after taking a deep breath. I descend the stairs, putting on my gloves and listening to the music from the ballroom in the background.

XY: Sir, Your Majesty requires your presence.- He warns me and I nod with a smile.

I follow the servant, entering the ballroom and immediately feeling the curious eyes of those present on me . I keep my gaze fixed, never taking it away from my aunt and the woman with the cane at her side.

Charlotte: Dear, how good that you have arrived.- she greets me with a smile. -You remember Lady Danbury right? - she asks pointing her head at the woman next to her.

Y/n: Of course I remember her aunt.- I nod with a smile. -It's a pleasure to see you again Lady Danbury.- I greeted taking her hand and leaving a polite kiss on the back of the hand. - You are as beautiful as six years ago.- I compliment her with education .

Lady Danbury was very close to my mother, so from time to time she always traveled to our house and paid us little visits. But after my mother died, her visits became shorter and less frequent.

Until after an argument with my father, because of how he was mourning and his way of focusing on work without showing me affection or support, it happened.

After that discussion, my father asked him to stop coming and that if he wanted to keep in touch with me he could only do so by letters; and so it has been for the past six years.

Danbury: As flattering as always prince Y/n.- smiles making me a bow. -It will be a pleasure to be your supervisor this season.- she assures me with a smile.

Y/n: The pleasure will be mine Lady Danbury.- I assure her politely. -It is said that her role in the Duke's marriage was crucial.- I comment and she smiles holding on to my arm.

Danbury: It was and now I'll get you a wife.- she tells me with certainty. -If you'll excuse us, Your Majesty, I have to expose this boy and introduce him to several possible debutantes.- she says goodbye to the queen and pulls my arm.

We start to walk around the room, while she talks to me about each newcomer we pass by and giving me her opinion about them.

From one moment to the next, she lets out a small exclamation of emotion and pulls our joined arms with a little more force.

Eloise's POV

I can't believe my mom dragged me into this for another year and even less after what happened last season. I very much doubt that any man wants to marry the woman who goes to the market alone and joins companies with radical political ideas.

After what Lady Whistledown wrote about me, or rather; what Penelope wrote, everyone looks at me badly and the scandal did not bring my family much good fortune.

But as much as I have refused, my mother has forced me to participate again for another year and this time telling me that I have to really try. She will even force me to have two complete dances, complete dances with someone other than my brothers or she will take away my books and all my liberties.

I haven't even managed to convince her, saying that she can't supervise Francesca, Colin and me at the same time; and that I would take work away from her by not showing up this season.

But nothing, she has not accepted and has put aside every reasoning I have given her for not making my debut.

And that brings us to this moment. To the first ball in the palace, where as soon as we have entered the door the eyes of almost all the guests are on us and the looks on me are not entirely positive.

Violet: Look there is Lady Danbury.- my mother comments with emotion, but I only look around and I meet the gaze of my old best friend.

I keep looking at her with all the resentment in the world, remembering all the damage she has done to my family and especially to me. I still can't believe that she is Lady Whistledown and was able to write that way about me: her best friend since childhood.

I pay attention to my mother again, when I feel how she pinches my arm and I complain, caressing the area.

Violet: And this is my other daughter Eloise Bridgerton .- introduces me and I look away from my now enemy, finding Lady Danbury with a boy by her side.

XY: A pleasure to meet you all, Lady Danbury often talks about you Lady Bridgerton and always in very high esteem.- He greets her by kissing the back of her hand, as with my sister and approaching to do the same with me.

Violet: I hope so.- she jokes with him.

I just watch as the unknown man gently takes my hand and brings it to his lips while staring into my eyes. After kissing my hand, he gives me a smile and politely lets go of my hand.

Danbury: From what I see, dear friend, this season we will both be very busy.- she comments to my mother and I looked at her with confusion . -You supervising your three children debuting and I supervising Edwina Sharma and Prince Y/n of Hannover here present.- she comments amused and I open my eyes, impressed in the most hidden way possible.

Violet: Oh, so you're going to debut too? - asks my impressed mother to the prince.

Y/n: That's the idea, my father thought that it's the right time to start looking for that special person so I can get married.- he answers with a perfect smile; iugh what a rage of a man.

Violet: It seems to me that your father is quite right, finding a special person to fall in love with and thus be able to get married takes time.- she comments and I can see a certain citric expression on his face, but it's barely perceptible and covers it very fine with a smile

Y/n: It's the same thing he says.- He nods agreeing.

Danbury: Why don't you invite Miss Eloise to a dance, dear.- she suggests and I want to deny it immediately, but I see the look my mother gives me.

Violet: I think it's a great idea.- she supports her friend with a huge smile.

Y/n: I suppose that if Miss Eloise accepts I won't have any problem dancing with her.- he assures looking at me with a small smile and extending his hand.

Violet: She doesn't have any problem, right daughter?- she asks me with a smile between her teeth.

Eloise: No, I would love to dance with you, my lord.- I assure him, bowing slightly and accepting his hand.

Y/n: Perfect, so if you'll excuse us, there's a dance floor and a dance waiting for us.- he tells those present with a kind smile and guides me towards the dance floor.

We were immediately on the dance floor, with one of his hands on my waist and the other connected to mine. While my free hand rests on his shoulder and a new song begins.

Eloise: I have to apologize in advance for stomping on you during the dance.- I repeat what my mother has dictated to me so many times before each dance.

Y/n: It's okay, not everything in this life tries to dance perfectly and in sync.- He downplays it by starting to move. -And tell me, is it your first season?- he asks while we dance and I count the steps.

Eloise: Don't talk or I'll get involved with the steps.- I order, looking down at my feet.

Y/n: It's easier to look at your dance partner than at your feet.- he assures me with a certain amused tone. -If you only look at your feet, you'll end up skipping a step and you won't be able to continue counting the steps.- he explains with evident experience.

Eloise: Perhaps the Prince of Hannover had problems with dancing.- I scoffed with a bit of venom.

Y/n: Well yes and I'm not ashamed of it.- he admits standing up. -The dances and some other points of the social events seem too banal and unnecessary for a day to day .- he explained and I looked at his eyes completely surprised.

Eloise: What? - I ask completely surprised, I would never imagine that someone from royalty, much less the queen's nephew, would think something like that about social events.

Y/n: The fact that i'm part of the royal family does not mean that i do not have my own ideas and that I agree with everything that is done in these events.- he comments without much interest. -Besides, the dances are supposed to meet and connect, which is absurd since there is nothing better than a conversation to get to know someone.- He defends his point of view and I couldn't agree more .

Eloise: Then why are you participating as a debutante and dancing with me right now? - I ask with a frown.

Y/n: I guess for the same reason as you.- he answer directly.

Eloise: And what do you know about my debut.- I say defensively.

Y/n: People like to talk, Miss Bridgerton, besides that your disgusted face and little interest in dancing are clear signs that you 're not making your debut for fun.- he explains and I purse my lips a bit annoyed for how fast he has read me; and for what he will have heard from me.

Eloise: What have you heard about me?- I ask him in a somewhat aggressive way.

Y/n: The dance is over.- he says separating from me . -It looks like we'll have to continue this conversation at another time, Miss Bridgerton .- he comments, leaving another kiss on the back of my hand and guiding me back to my mother. -I return your daughter Lady Bridgerton in one piece.- he tells my mother politely.

Violet: I thank you my lord.- she thanks him and the prince makes a small bow and walks away from us. -How was the dance with the prince? - she asks me excited.

Eloise: Incredible mother, dancing with the prince has been such a compliment, it has been a dream come true and now I can die in peace. - I exaggerate ironically and she looks at me challengingly.

Benedict: He seems like a nice guy.- he comments with our mother. -Besides, he's endured a whole dance with our sister and it doesn't look like he's complained about her stomping.- he comments amused, causing Colin to laugh and for me to hit him on the arm.

Eloise: I haven't stepped on it.- I deny immediately in my defense.

Colin: Yes, you have.- he assures me with confusion and amusement . -You've stepped on him like five times at least.- he points out and I open my eyes surprised at not having noticed.

Benedict: We were betting on how many more stomps the poor man would put up with.- he comments laughing with our brother.

Violet: Stop talking nonsense and laughing at your sister.- she tells them seriously. -Now Benedict, help your sister socialize and you Colin; you come with me.- she orders us.

Eloise: And Francesca? - I ask confused not seeing my little sister.

Violet: Your brother Anthony has offered to help her this season with me. - she tells me and I nod in understanding. -Now move all of you.- she says and after grabbing our brother's arm she disappears.

Benedict: Let's go around and discuss some of the ridiculous dresses and accessories of your competitors.- he mocks, offering me his arm and I delightedly grab it with mine.

Benedict is my favorite brother, because he always follows my jokes and he is the person with whom I feel most comfortable to talk about anything. I have always felt a greater connection with him than with any of my other siblings.

As we walk around the room, talking about some of the tacky dresses and hideous costumes of the other debutantes at the ball. I can't help replaying my conversation with the prince during the dance in my head, trying to figure out what he meant by his words and what he knows about me

[dionyseung-s]

moth to a flame — k.sm 

• pairing: kim seungmin x fem!reader x hwang hyunjin 

• genre: infidelity (adultery), smut and fluff — MDNI!

• summary: maybe being caught up in a relationship for four years with the man you aren't in love with isn't that hard when you're two-timing him with the man that you actually love this whole time but what really happens after dark? — once your boyfriend is away for his business trip? 

• rating: 18+ 

• warnings: smut, fem!reader, infidelity, foreplay (m.receiving), handjob, cumshot, begging, edging, overstimulation, switch!seungmin, unprotected sex, explicit language, biting (mentions of blood), creampie, teasing, choking, spanking, mirror sex, penetrative sex, cockwarming (if you squint), name calling, finger sucking, multiple orgasms, hair pulling, marking. Let me know if i missed something.

a/n: english is not my 1st language so yea.. i was inspired by those tiktok edit, the one with moth to a flame as the audio but idk man... should i make a part 2? it's going to be about hyunjin's back story with seungmin

- some lowercase are intended.

• smut below the cut.

You picked up your phone that violently vibrates on your nightstand, waking you up from your sleep. You crawled out from your shared bed with your boyfriend slowly not wanting to wake him up as you made your way to the living room "I just want to say that I miss you" a disembodied voice from the other line freshen you up. It's the voice that you've been longing to hear for the past week. 

"I missed you too. Did you drink?" you asked him worriedly, never in your life he had called you around this hour, at 5 am - sure it's weird for you to have him like this. Being a bit sappy; after dark.

"A little" he answered with honesty while swirling a glass of an old whiskey that he poured for himself earlier. You can hear the sound of an ice cube clinking against the glass; it's an old whiskey that his father gave him, a long time ago. 

"....we'll meet again soon" you reminded him, again; for the second time this week. Missing every inch of him tremendously with your whole being, with every inch of your skin. 

"I know baby, I just wanted to let you know that I miss you. You can go back to sleep again. Good night, sweetheart. I love you" he mumbled as a warm smile crept up upon his face that you cannot see. 

"I love you too", replying to him before you end the call. Walking back to your shared room with your boyfriend, tucking yourself in, beside him. Who has no clue on what is going on behind his back or - does he? 

It's toxic. You know it's wrong to deceive your lover, your boyfriend but having Hyunjin by your side is a fever dream. He's such a gentle lover, a romantic guy, he's a man that every woman wishes to spend their time with forever, he's all man that every woman ever needed and you know that you're lucky to be with him. It's hard for you to let him slip through your fingers easily but the truth is, 

he was never yours to begin with, no.

"Y/n, there will be a new art installation tomorrow at the exhibition, do you think you can go with me?" Hyunjin asked you out of the blue. It's usual for him to ask you out to random museum dates with him and you're not complaining, in fact, you enjoyed it, a lot. 

"Sure, when do you wanna go Hyune?" you replied, as you shifted your gaze from your pancake to him, who is sitting down across from you with a new haircut and a new hair color - platinum blue. Making him look prettier than he already is. 

"Next week, maybe? Once I'm done with my business trip, we'll see" Hyunjin tattered as he makes his way towards you, placing a gentle kiss on the top of your head before making his way to the dishwasher to wash his dirty plate. 

"When will you be back?" you asked in a convincing calm manner, as if you're going to miss him when he's gone for the week or so. Leaving you alone with your little secret that you've been keeping for god knows how long, behind his back.

"Hmmm, honestly. I don't really know because my schedule is packed for this week and I still have a photoshoot to do with felix for cosmopolitan as well as attending Tod's event with Felix, too" he said with uncertainty clouding his voice. Exhaustion is well written all over his face, if only you could help him by sucking his exhaustion off of him, you'd be more than happy to help him. 

"It will be boring without you here with me, Jinnie. I'll be all alone" you sighed, hiding the excitement behind your voice. Knowing that you'll be alone and free to do whatever you want with the other man. You walk towards his back as you hug his bigger figure, putting your hands around his waist, inhaling his scent while he's washing his plate and finishing it peacefully.

"Awh, is my princess lonely hmn?" he replied back, teasing you as he shifted his body to face you. He caresses your face carefully while studying your features, trying to examine the meaning behind your gaze as he gently plays with your hair, twirling and tucking it behind your ear. 

"Of course I am, Jinnie. That's why I have you" it came out naturally, it tasted bittersweet on your tongue; you lied to him as you put your head to his chest, hearing the way his heart is beating only for you. Acknowledging the fact that the way his heart is beating is still the same for you as it used to be back during the college days. You like how he's devoted to you - too devoted just like a mutt. 

"Do you want to pick some flowers with me before I go? Or tell me what to do to make it up to you, to make you feel less lonely when I'm gone, princess" Hyunjin always liked flowers, that's one of the many things that you like about him. He loves paying attention to you, even to the utmost details that are unnecessary. He's a romantic guy, sure you felt loved by him but -  he can never replace the man that is carved into your heart. 

"No, it's okay. I'll be okay, you should get ready for your flight today. I'll drop you off at the airport, I'll be with you" you stated, hugging him tightly as if he would disappear if you'd let him go from your embrace, this is how you make it up to him. 

"Are you sure?" he asked back while pulling your body away from his body gently, tilting up your chin to face him as your eyes met his glistening eyes. The same eyes that used to make every woman's heart flutter when they see it, his hands wrapping your waist, pulling your body closer to him again as he connected his lips to yours. Placing a gentle bite on your bottom lips, you kissed him back. You know how to play this game, your own game. Deep inside you feel guilty but you can't just let him slip through your fingers, not now. 

"Hyunjin," you whispered in between your kisses. "You should get ready for your flight," you reminded him as you pulled yourself away from his presence slowly. Ghosting your lips on his, he hummed in silence as a response to you. 

"Wait for me while i'm gone" Hyunjin said while bidding a goodbye kiss to you before departing to his flight.

"I will, Hyune. Be careful. Text me once you landed" you said, hugging him not wanting to let him go, just yet. 

You deserve an oscar for putting an act that you did in front of him. You're happy that he's gone for a week or so, in fact you wished that he'd be gone for a month, to let you spend some more time with your secret lover. 

The truth is, Hyunjin was never yours to begin with, no. You were just his rebound at first until he fell madly in love with you and sadly your heart belongs to someone else, but he had to let you go — for the sake of Hyunjin.

The other man thought that someone like you can't be with someone who is like him. it's as if an asteroid hitting the earth if he's with you and it's unfair for you, too.

When it comes to the other man, he just couldn't stop comparing himself to Hyunjin; who had everything, who aced every major during his college days. He looked like a broken pot next to a vase, he can't be with someone who is as smart as you, as pretty as you and you didn't care. You love him so much that you'd do anything just to be with him — and it includes deceiving your lover, along with the four years old relationship. you are willing to go this far just for him, for the man that you love.

You pick your phone, dialing his number hoping that he would pick up your call, you miss him, you miss being by his side, you miss his presence. 

"Minnie, don't forget about our date that we arranged for today" - you said through your teeth, softly smiling 

"Yes, of course baby" he swiftly say on the other line as he begins to get himself ready

"I'll be at your place in around 15 minutes" you tattered while walking back to your car, revving the engine. 

"Hurry then, because I miss you so much sweetheart" Seungmin gently said. Hoping to see you soon, couldn't wait to embrace you in his arms as he couldn't be with you due to your relationship with the other man. 

Here you are, entering Seungmin's penthouse as if it's your own, pressing each number on the smart lock passcode that he gave you, years ago. "Minnie?" you called out to him, making your presence known to him 

"Yes, sweetheart I'm here" he answered you, from his room, still getting ready for the date that you've set up. 

You approached him in his room, your gaze fixated on how pretty he looked right now, standing in front of his body mirror while fixing his bleached bangs. He sees you and he couldn't contain his own puppy-like smile, smiling widely just like a Cheshire cat, braces out. - "Minnie, my minnie" you voiced, hugging him from the back, trapping him in your presence 

"How's my love doing?" he asked, still fixing his hair while staring at his and your reflection 

"I'm doing great. What about you baby? i miss you so much, it hurts" you answered, resting your head on his back, as it muffled your voice 

"Awh, I missed you too baby" he answered, shifting his body to face you, as he cup your face, kissing your lips gently, sharing his warmth to the same lips that Hyunjin kissed this morning, erasing the trace of Hyunjin's lips on you. 

You have to admit that Hyunjin might be a great kisser who has a plump and soft lips and you do like Hyunjin's kiss but with Seungmin's kiss, it's different, it's passionate, slow, it's sweet — never boring, especially when you can feel his braces against your lips and against your tongue 

"Minnie.." you whimper, still maintaining the kiss. You missed him, you miss this, this moment, his touch, everything about him. 

He broke the kiss while pulling your body closer, not letting any space get in between the two of you after he heard you calling his name "what's wrong, sweetheart?" he asked with concern. 

"I miss you so much. Can't you just let me be with you?" you asked 

"Baby, we talked about this back then, didn't we? we can't" he answered while planting a kiss on the top of your head.

"You do know it damn well, Seungmin. We can do it, I'm willing to risk it. My heart is yours to begin with and you know that really well" you exclaimed, feeling unfair and frustrated because Seungmin is just being too stubborn

"I know, I know darling. You always say you'd give him away for me, but you can't do that to him. He's good for you" he uttered, gently patting your hair 

"No, Seungmin. I was just his rebound, I never loved him. I've loved you since the moment I first laid my eyes on you. It's you, it's always been you" you spoke softly feeling defeated, all these years of loving him in secrecy and silence, he still didn't get how you're willing to do anything for him, how much you love him.

"Yes and I do love you too, you know that really well baby" he coos, still hugging you tightly as he pats your back lightly, reassuring you "maybe when the time is right we can be together but for now, let's have our date yeah?" he added, redirecting the conversation, not wanting to talk about it any longer.

"Yeah, let's just go" you replied weakly, feeling a little upset while pulling yourself away from him as he place his arms around your waist "we can talk about it later, baby" seungmin voiced, placing a kiss on your forehead

"My Seungmin look so pretty today" you praises, staring at his eyes, making him blush 

"You just can't say that easily" he said shyly as both of you were making your way to his door, getting out of his penthouse. 

"I can and there isn't anything that I wouldn't do for you" you said blatantly without thinking twice. You meant every word that rolls off of your tongue. 

"You can't say that baby, you have Hyunjin," Seungmin replied, testing the water.

"And you can't say that too, it's about us right now, not me and Hyunjin" you stated curtly as you roll your eyes, you don't like it when he brings up Hyunjin whenever you're with him —it's a killjoy.

"I wanna make you mine, love" Seungmin blurted, filled with guilt that's clouding him, blaming himself. If only he could turn back time, he wouldn't have told you to be with hyunjin. He would've chosen to be selfish. 

"Then do it, you coward. I'd risk anything for you and I'm hoping that you'll do the same, pretty boy" you jokes as you make your way to his newest black Mercedes .

"I will, one day - let me drive, pretty" he said, as he opened up the side of your door. You've fallen hard for him ever since the first time you saw him, everything about him makes you wanna own him in a way that words can't describe. 

The date was fun. every minute you've spent with Seungmin, reminds you why you fell for Seungmin in the first place. You got 3 missed calls from Hyunjin, resulting in him bombarding your text, saying that he has arrived and his schedule is already packed, telling you that he won't be able to contact you as his manager won't allow him to have his phone. 

"Is that Hyunjin?" Seungmin asked you from behind as he creeped to engulf your body, pulling you into his embrace. You're back at his place to spend the entire week and time with him, while your lover is away—far from you. 

"Yeah, he said he won't be able to text or call me. I'm going to miss him." You uttered purposely, just to make Seungmin jealous. It's fun to see Seungmin getting all jealous when it comes to hearing about Hyunjin.

"Then be with him, be with that mutt of yours, baby" he said while tackling you down onto his bed, laying on top of you, planting a lot of kisses all over your face

"Mhm, sure" you teased 

"But does he know where your heart truly lies?, hmm?" he asked back, burying his head on your neck as you tilt your neck a little to make some space for him "it's right here with me y/n, remember that" he reminded you while biting and sucking your neck, leaving marks. 

"Seung," you called him as the way he sucks on your skin is getting harsher, you can feel his teeth biting your skin as his braces also make contact with your skin. You grab a fistful of his hair while tilting your head a little bit more to the side, allowing him to suck on you better, marking you. 

"Hmn? has Hyunjin ever done this to you? does he know your favorite place to be touched? does he know the reasons that you cry? or does he ever make you feel good?" he asked you, as he began to pull away from you to face you, admiring the marks that he left on your neck as you stay silent

"You're mine to begin with, sweetheart. remember that" he stated, making you feel helpless. 

"I know I'm yours, minnie. yours" you whispered, this is it. This is the poison that you've created and you'll swallow. Knowing that you're going to leave Hyunjin, sooner or later.

"You know that you can't keep doing this right, sweetheart?, sooner or later we're gonna get caught" he said, warning you 

"I know it really well, Seung. why would you even tell me to be with him in the first place?" you asked him genuinely, it's not fair for you. you've never loved Hyunjin in the first place, it's Seungmin, it has always been seungmin. 

"it's just- 

"You know minnie, it's fine. I'll do anything for you as long as you're happy" you cut him off curtly, sick of hearing how he didn't deserve to be with you because he's nothing compared to Hyunjin when he is the man that you need in your life - he's your twin flame. 

"baby..." he called you as he lay down next to your body, facing you as your eyes were staring at his bedroom ceiling, his mirror ceiling to be exact, looking at yours and his reflection "it's my fault. I'm the one who told you to be with Hyunjin back then, I should've never done that." he said with regrets echoing through his voice. he felt a weight weighing down his chest, making him hard to breath whenever he thinks about it

"yes, and I have to admit that's stupid" you teased him 

"hey", he replied half yelled, jokingly while hugging you from your side. You heard your phone ring and as soon as you saw the caller id you wasted no time picking it up, letting yourself go from his presence as you sat down on his bed, earning a whine from Seungmin as he also sat himself down. 

"Hey Hyune '' you greeted, putting on a show but maybe this time you can make it a little bit more fun now that you have Seungmin here with you. 

"How's my princess doing?" Hyunjin asked you with his mellow voice that is filling your audio senses. 

"I'm doing fine, i miss you Jinnie" you whine, starting to play your own little game, hoping that Seungmin would notice it 

"I miss you too, do you want anything princess?" Hyunjin said as he asked you a question on the other line. You can only imagine him saying it with his plump pouty lips which makes you miss him more. 

"Yes, I want you here with me," you joked lamely, just for the sake of making Seungmin jealous. 

Seungmin is sitting down right behind you, listening to your little conversation with your lover, you turn your back to face him as you maintain your conversation with Hyunjin. Your other hand made its way to play with Seungmin's hair, tracing your hands around his face, ending it with squishing his face softly, making his lips turn into a pouty one, you let out a soft chuckle, leaving a peck on Seungmin's pouty lips.

"How's France Hyune?" you asked him sincerely, being curious about it

You let your hand go from Seungmin's face as you made your way towards his balcony. Walking away from Seungmin just to feel the cold night wind breeze on your skin, you leaned forward to his railing, still on the phone with Hyunjin, staring down at the big city from Seungmin's balcony. 

"France is great. I want to take you here with me, someday, you've been wanting to visit France, right? I'll take you here, one day princess" he confesses genuinely, you can feel his sincerity through his voice, another thing that you like about Hyunjin. 

"Sure Hyune, I'll be waiting for that day to come. We can visit many museums and art exhibitions as much as you want, we should do it together" you said as your voice softened, imagining how exciting that would be as you felt a pair of hand hugging your waist from behind and a chin landed on your right shoulder, the one where your phone is on your ear. Seungmin is embracing you while eavesdropping on your conversation with Hyunjin. He is jealous, jealous that he can't do what Hyunjin does.

He tilted his head closer towards your phone, to eavesdrop as you could feel his hair on the back of your hand while holding your phone close to your ear. "Felix is here with me princess, he said hi to you" he said, letting you know "tell him that I say hi too" you said. 

You can no longer feel seungmin's chin resting on your shoulder but instead you feel him sucking on your nape like a vampire, he knew that it's one of your most sensitive spot - fuck, you thought. "Sure princess, we're about to go now. I'll talk to you later" Hyunjin said, it's as if he knew what's going on, "I love you, princess" Hyunjin stated, making you freeze, "say it, princess, say it back" Seungmin mocked a whisper. 

One of his hands slithered under your shirt to your breast, squeezing it harshly — shocking you, you slap his other hand that's on your waist lightly "I love you too, Hyune'' you stated back as you can feel your throat becomes dry after saying those meaningless words to him. You hung up your phone, ending Hyunjin's call. 

"Fuck you, what was that for" you lashed out to him, he throws a chuckles at you as he back hugs you, again "then fuck me, baby, I miss you" he speaks nonchalantly "no thanks sir" you joked.

"Did you mean that?" Seungmin suddenly asked you with a small voice as you put your hand on his hands, caressing it, you leaned back on him a little, to feel his comfort. 

"Which one? i don't know, tell me minnie" you teased him, you love pressing his buttons, making him mad, you like seeing his face when he's angry. It makes him hotter. 

"Don't do that, don't say that when I asked you a question" he warned and that's when you knew that Seungmin took the bait, you spin around to face him, still being hugged by him

"I don't know, min. Tell me" , still teasing him, as you cupped his face with your hands, bringing yourself closer to kiss him. Your lips collided with Seungmin's lips, kissing him gently to reassure him that he's the only one you love, he is where your heart lies. 

Seungmin knew damn well that you love him but the thought of you leaving him is eating him alive even though he knew that you won't leave him, he knew how to pull you in closer. You're loyal to him and he wanted to hear it from you, from your mouth, that you didn't love Hyunjin. He wanted to hear that those words were meaningless when it's for Hyunjin. 

You break the kiss after a while. The moon is bright and the night is getting colder as time passes. You are under the moon with Seungmin basking in the light, you stare at him just to make sure that you will remember this moment for the rest of your life. 

How pretty his face looks under the moonlight, how his eyes are so clear that it almost looks like you can see your reflection in them, those whiskey eyes that makes him look more adorable, his nose, his lips, everything about him is perfect and you know that can't let him go, you're trapped in a spider's web. 

"What are you thinking about?" he asked, breaking the silence, caressing your cheek 

"What else, it's you." you answered him while slowly pulling yourself away from his body. Walking back into his room to lay yourself on his bed, you love the scent of his bed, it's comforting. 

"You still haven't answered my question, sweetheart" he said, following you from behind as he joined you on his bed, cuddling you. 

"Of course I didn't, minnie" you stated while your eyes are glued to your phone, playing with your phone, not paying any attention to him. 

"That's great then" he spoke, snuggling himself into you

"I know" 

"I love you," Seungmin blurted out of the blue, it is rare for him to say those three words, while being in this secret relationship with him, you can almost count it with your fingers by how many times has he ever said those words to you because he mainly show it through his actions.

"Mhm" you mumbled, still not paying any attention to him as you're still busy answering Hyunjin's messages 

"Did you hear what I was saying?" he asked you flatly, a little annoyed

"I did, I heard it loud and clear Seungmin" 

"Then say it back like how you say it back to Hyunjin" he convinced you, he whined

You turn off your phone while getting up from your position while Seungmin does the same, you sit down closely in front of Seungmin who is now leaning his back to his headboard, in between his legs, facing him—hell, his bed is big. you bring your hand to the side of his face, your thumb is caressing his cheek, noticing that it's not as chubby as it used to be

"Say it back, baby" he pleaded to you as he held onto your hand on his face as he became desperate "please…" he added before he moved your hand from his cheek, bringing it closer to his lips, sucking two of your fingers. You stay quiet, watching the way he is sucking your fingers, saliva coating your finger as you can feel the warmth of his mouth and his tongue moving around your fingers. 

You pushed your fingers further to the back of his mouth, pressing it against his warm tongue "suck it" you whispered as he's maintaining a direct eye contact with you, obeying you while looking at you with his prettiest doe eyes. 

You pulled your fingers away from his mouth after a while, Seungmin whined, feeling empty and desperate "do you want me to make you feel good, pretty boy?" you asked him. Your other hand rest on his thigh, caressing it gently, sending a shiver to Seungmin's skin

"Yes please, it's been so long since you've touched me. I need you" he answered back desperately. 

He brings his face closer to you, ghosting his lips on your lips "please" he breathed out before his lips clashed against your own, moving it slowly while your fingers tangled his hair, tugging at his scalp, earning the prettiest moans from him.

"Take off your pants" you pulled away from the kiss as he took his pants off hastily. Throwing it somewhere across his room before he sits back on his bed, spreading his legs wider for you to sit in between. No longer leaning on his headboard but rather leaning back on his arms to support his entire body weight. 

His hard cock is now fully on display in front of you. You moved forward closer to him as your hands begin to stroke his big cock slowly, playing with his tip - his most sensitive part, lightly rubbing it as your other hand play with his shaft, Seungmin let out a quiet moan, head thrown back, eyes staring at his own reflection on his mirror ceiling with you in between his legs helping him to get off, brows furrowed, his mouth slightly open - this is his bliss

You pumped his cock painfully slowly, you don't want this to end quickly, teasing him, you love teasing this man to an extent where he will just cry and beg for more, "faster, please" Seungmin whined as he held your hand out of desperation. Getting frustrated by your pace, "no touching, pretty boy. Keep your hands off of me, we're just getting started" you said softly, letting go of your grip from his cock for a moment as he let go of your hands, fingers gripping his own sheets for dear life before you stroke down his cock, again. your pace is getting a little faster, stroking down his cock as he lets out a whinny brittle moan that turns you on, before you slow down your pace again. Making him grow more frustrated with your slow pace, he is on the verge of crying from pleasure

Seungmin begins to feel like there's wave thrashing around inside of him after you stroke his cock in a faster pace, his thighs begins to shake "more, more, mo..r plea..se, i can...t yo..u can't do th..at" his words fumbles, minds were too clouded with piled up pleasure to chase his high that it makes him hard to construct a simple sentence "say it clearly, minnie. use your words, tell me what you want" you were having fun teasing him as you go faster and faster. 

"cum, I want to cum" Seungmin's cock began to twitch on your hands as his tips begins to reddened, you knew he's about to cum, so, you let go of his cock from your grip, edging him. Not letting him get what he wants, you didn't want this to end too early. 

"p-please, i need to c-cum.." he begged you, as he's tightening the grip of his fingers on his sheets. If only he could see his face and his flushed cheek right now; it makes him look prettier. "cumming already? not until I let you, pretty boy. you should see how pretty you look right now, look up, look at yourself" you praise, while he sighed quietly, left with no choice but to obey you. He shifted his gaze from you to his mirror ceiling as he stared at himself, he looked helpless, he looked like a mess, he looked pathetic with his position like this. legs wide open, hair tousled, hands gripping his bed sheets tightly, thighs shaking, cheek slightly tinted pink, as pink as a tulip petal. 

His cock is still throbbing as you put your thumb on the tip of his cock, rubbing it against your thumb softly, your other hand went under his shaft, grabbing the base of his cock making him jolt as he stares at you with his glossy eyes, you want to look at him, his face .

you start to stroke his shaft slowly as your other hands begin to play with his reddened top, not breaking the eye contact with him, you paced faster, making Seungmin threw his head back in pleasure "look at me minnie, let me see those eyes", he tried to bring his head back to look at you but it's fruitless, you stop your pace. squeezing the head of his cock in between your fingers to gain his attention 

"I'm sorry, baby, I-" you squeeze his tip harder, making seungmin let out a loud moan "stop doing that - I can't take it" he whispered, breath hitched

"No, Seungmin, you can take it" you voiced back as you pressed on his tip more harder this time, making him squirm "no, please, let me cum baby" he pleaded, on the verge of crying, his eyes becomes glossier because of the unbearable amount of unreleased orgasm piling up inside him. 

You edged him a few more times, you love hearing his pitiful whines as he mewl out loud, letting out lewd sounds as it fills his room, blabbering some irrelevant words, tears staining his face, hands still gripping his sheets, his hair is a mess, drenched by his own sweat. You love this sight, the sight of him like this is turning you on more as it makes you throb down there while you hear him moan "please, please I can't hold it anymore, it hurts" he held your hands, trying to stop your movement but you went faster instead "I'm gonna cum, fuckkk" he cried out. his heart began to beat faster, he breathed irregularly, chest going up and down faster than normally as he felt another shockwave of pleasure washing over him, running down his spine. 

"You wanna cum minnie?" 

"Mhm" he nodded quickly—thighs shaking uncontrollably

"You can cum, baby" you stated after toying with him for god knows how long. He covered his face with one of his hands as he could feel he's about to cum, preventing you to see his face "put your hands away minnie, let me see your pretty face, look at yourself in the mirror" you said while keeping your pace steady as you feel his whole body trembling, thighs shaking as he's trying to close his legs from the orgasm but you held his leg open, spreading it wider. Seungmin puts his hand away from his face, allowing you to see his face in this messy state while his other hand is searching for your hand, intertwining it while he is not in the right state of mind, yearning for you. 

Seungmin let out a long moan before you felt him cumming all over your hand, cumming in cloudy white thick sticky ropes onto your hands making a mess, while he is a crying mess too, broken moans coming out from his pink lips, he swore he saw god — he went to heaven and back 

You begin to stroke him again, fisting his dick without waiting for him to come down from his high "w-wait, stop, please i can't, too much, too much" his word stumbled out of his pretty lips while crying louder each time you stroke his sensitive spot. You love how Seungmin is so vocal, you like hearing him whimpering, whining, begging, moaning and crying out for you out of desperation for more. 

"You can minnie. One more time, I know you've got it in you" still stroking down on his shaft, not letting him rest. You like how helpless he looked and it didn't take long for his second orgasm to wash over him. His cock throbbed on your hands and before he knew it, you took off your pants and positioned yourself to sit on his cock facing him, using his cum as a lubricant before he cum for the second time.

Fuck—you missed him being inside of you, like this. His length is stretching your cunt so good "shit- min, so fucking big" you want to feel him cumming inside you, filling you up with his cum.

"Y-you're so tight baby, so warm," he grunts painfully between his cries, the sudden feeling of your warm walls clenching his cock makes him moan louder as he digs his nails onto your thighs, pain stinging you "cum inside minnie" you leaned your body forward to him, your hands holding onto his biceps on as you grind on him "you feel so good, god, I miss you so much Seungmin" you whispered as he hugged you, burying his head into the crook of your neck while you're burying his cock deeper into you "you take me so well i-i'm gonna cum, fuck" he moaned in your ear as his body shakes while releasing his cum inside you, filling you up fully into your core, you can feel it dripping out of you. 

"Your thighs are shaking so much minnie" you point it out to him, his shaky thighs are sending a vibration against your body. "I know" he admitted shyly.

You took a box of tissue that was on top of his nightstand to wipe your sticky hands from his cum before caressing his hair gently. His body is still shaking from the post orgasm "you did so well baby," you assured him, patting his back while he's still trying to catch his breath, trying to come down from his high 

"Shit" he whispers out of breath, nibbling on your neck, chest heaving up and down trying to catch as much oxygen to fill his lungs "let's get you clean, minnie, I'll help you okay?" 

He shakes his head, signaling a no "not yet, let's stay like this for a while" he said, trying to collect himself back, cock still buried deep inside of you - "sure" you stayed in your position as he wishes 

"mmh, stay still. stop moving around" he hissed while placing a slap on your bare ass because of your sudden movement "sorry baby" you apologized, feeling a little guilty since he's still sensitive. 

"fuck, that was so good, my brain was fuzzy" he whispered, before looking at you, crashing his lips into your lips as a sign of thank you 

"you did good too, minnie, you look pretty" you said while fixing his sweaty hair as he got flustered from your compliment 

"C'mon min, let's clean you up" you initiated, trying to lift yourself up from your position just for him to hold you down, not allowing you to get off from him "I said, not yet, princess" he started to thrust his cock into you slowly, you let out a sudden moan.

"Are you sure you want to do it now, Seungmin?" you asked him, making sure that he doesn't do this just because he feels forced or feels the need to satisfy you back. You want him to do it only if he wants to "you don't have too if you don't want it, minnie". 

"mhm I'm sure, I want it, baby" - he answered you while his other hand is fondling your clothed breast, thrusting into you slowly, really slow - too slow to your liking. making you needier, wanting to feel him all the way to your core, fucking you senselessly hard 

"f-faster, please minnie...fuck me" you pleaded as you're getting touchy, touching seungmin everywhere. you know that he's doing it on purpose, to get back at you for what you did to him earlier "no, princess. be patience"

"fuck you" you cursed him while his cock pistoning slowly inside of you. "You are, right now, pretty" he kept on slowing his pace. his hands made their way to your ass, slapping it multiple times as you let out a moan, liking the way his palm met your bare skin, creating a loud slapping sound. you were sure that your ass is red enough by now. 

"god, you're so frustrating Seungmin" you gave up, you ride him yourself, putting your hands on his shoulders to support yourself while you're bouncing and grinding on his cock like a rabbit in their heat, reaching for your own high as he watches you attentively riding his dick, Seungmin secretly loves having you on top of him. 

"you just can't be patience and wait yeah?, princess" - he mocked 

"s-stop calling me princess," you whined as you can feel your orgasm coming, really soon "minnie help me, please" you were so close and you were desperate at this point, you need him to make you feel good. 

He switched your position, by now he's on top of you pinning you down to his bed fucking you so hard, eyes clouded with lust "you look so good beneath me, baby" the sudden quick friction is making your whole body shaking from pleasure, head buried down to his pillow

Seungmin is sick for having a mirror ceiling installed, you looked up to his mirror ceiling upon curiosity, "minnie look at us" you grabbed the back of his hair, tugging at his scalp, causing him to let out a grunt while you're forcing him to look up, to look at the reflection of his own body colliding into yours 

"You like that? did Hyunjin ever do this to you?" he asked, quickening his pace, thrusting deep inside you.

"Stop bringing him, Kim" you clenched your walls that's wrapping is dick, annoyed by his demeanor while you earned a soft moan from him. 

"my princess," - he mocked while tucking your messy hair behind you ear, making an eye contact with you. "he makes me feel so good, he fucked me dumb and raw, Seungmin." you blatantly lie to him, tired of hearing Hyunjin's name. 

"oh, really?" he pretends to be shocked by your statement, his fingers lightly rubbing your clit, shocking you as it sends you another shockwave of pleasure that you can feel in the back of your throat "I'm gonna fuck you so hard you forget his name, princess" he nagged 

"Stop teasing me so much, Seungmin". you place a light slap across his face, light enough to create a sound of your skin slapping his cheek. Tired of his games while his dick is ramming you so hard. He returns the slap back to you, slapping you hard across your face multiple times, leaving a red mark on your cheek while he is thrusting his cock deeper and faster, "is this what you want?, my love? you like it when I'm rough on you yeah?" he snarled at you. 

"r-ruin me, minnie" you plead to him, you're nothing but a moaning mess, your whole body is trembling from the upcoming orgasm, breath hitched on your throat, head buried deeper to his pillow. You took his hand, placing it on your lower neck, motioning him to tighten his grip on you lightly as you held your breath. 

His slender fingers wrap around your lower neck, gently applying little pressure to the sides. you like this, you live for this moment, you swore on your life that only Seungmin can make you feel like this. 

"Should I call Hyunjin and tell him that I get to fuck with his dearest little girlfriend while he's away, princess? look at you" each thrust is getting sloppier as he's also trying to reach his high too. He put one of your legs on his shoulder, holding it tightly while fucking you deeper, sending you to another realm—you're praying to him, begging him to go balls deep. 

"Call him, film us, send it to him" you spat back with a hoarse voice, threatening him. 

"Do you think he'll like seeing you like this baby?. look at you all begging and moaning for my cock, look at how messy you are, look at yourself in the mirror" he praises you, his hands forcefully tilting your chin up to see yourself getting fucked by him. 

"minnie, min..deeper, i w-want to feel you more, you feel so good minnie" you cried out while trying in vain to hold him. You're writing his name all over your tongue and all over your lips over and over again, like it is your only prayer, eyes rolling back to find your sanity while your brain is all foggy from lust, your hands are numb from the pleasure. 

His pace begin to slowed down, fucking you deep and raw trying to make sure that you can feel every curve and inch of his thickness of his cock, hitting you in your deepest spot that you never know it existed everytime he thrusted. The sound of you skin slapping against his skin is getting more louder, his room becomes hot—hotter than hell 

"m-min, too big, you're so big" you mewled out to him, weakly, you were beyond cloud nine by now. His hand that's on your leg searched for your hand, to interlock it tightly with yours, sharing his warmth to you, letting you know that he loves you

"my love, so pretty. You make me feel so good, so good for me baby. I love you so much baby," Seungmin confessed while quickening his pace. "you look even prettier in between my legs, minnie." your other hand reached to touch his hair, fixing his bleached bangs that are covered by his sweat, allowing him to see better once you slicked his bangs up. 

"I-i'm gonna c-cum minnie" you stated, trying to talk coherently. His grip on your neck became tighter, slowing down the oxygen that went inside to your system as you feel the lack of oxygen become clear the more pressure he applies "you look so good with my hands around your neck" Seungmin stated while sending a shiver down to your spine 

"seung-" you moaned his name desperately

"I know baby, I know" your walls clenched his cock tightly a few times as you're throbbing down there, "s-stop it, too tight" he can't take the way your walls clenched around his cock, it makes him feel overwhelmed. You were both a moaning mess by now, screaming for each other's name. 

He pushed his cock deep inside of you, burying it as you can feel it twitching inside of you, "minnie, minnie I can't hold it" you whined loudly. You wrapped your legs on his waist pulling him to your body closer as you cum, coating his cock with your warm cum. He slowly let go of his grip on your neck, his fingers getting rid of a strand of your hair on your face, the other hand's holding your hands tighter while making eye contact to you, staring at you like you're his world

"Baby, I'm cumming" Seungmin warned you, his thrust is getting sloppier and messier each time "cum inside, fill me up" you begged, his body crashes on top of you. His lips met your collarbone, biting it harshly, you hissed as you could feel his braces grazing your skin. you're sure that you're bleeding while he's trying to enjoy his orgasm. "minnie, i-it hurts" you complained but he didn't hear you, his orgasm took control of all of his senses. 

He can feel himself cumming soon as he plants his cock into you as deep as he can before filling you up, causing him to let out a long whiny broken moan while his cum fills you up to your stomach. you felt so full and sticky. You can feel his cum overwhelming and dripping everywhere in between your thighs to his bedsheets 

The aftershock of your orgasm is too great, it makes your legs feel like jelly. You took a train to hell to feel heaven and back, trying to gain your senses back from the great amount of pleasure while Seungmin is trying to get as much air to his lungs.—you knew that deep inside this will cloud your memory 

"That was so great, baby, are you okay? how are you feeling?" he asked, sighing still panting. You can feel his warm breath around your neck, you wrapped your hands around his body, hugging him. feeling the warmth of his skin against yours. 

"I'm fine, I feel good." you answered him, still trying to come down from your high, catching your breath

 "let me see you" seungmin lifted his body up from you slowly to check on you, on the places he went rough "oh god" he panicked. Pulling himself away from you too quickly, making you hissed, feeling overstimulated from the sudden movement of him pulling his cock out, while your walls are still throbbing from the orgasm. 

"I'm sorry, but you're fucking bleeding" Seungmin screamed, face went pale as he saw blood pooling on your neck from your collarbone, you held his wrist, not letting him run around across his room like a madman while he's on that state 

"calm down, minnie" you said softly, 

"How can I?, did it hurt?, did I go too rough on you?" he bombarded you with multiple questions at once. Guilt is written all over his face as he's trying to hold himself from crying, feeling bad that he went too rough on you. 

"It's fine, it's only a small cut min, We should clean ourselves up Seungmin" you offered, avoiding the conversation 

"no, no, let me take a look at it first" he insisted, hands trying to reach your cut, looking at it

"Let it be Seungmin, I'm okay." you assured him, cutting him off, drifting his attention from your cut 

"please. please just listen to me for once y/n." he sighed, closing his eyes. Not wanting to deal with your antics and your stubbornness, Seungmin is on the verge of crying, he feels like he's at fault, he feels guilty for making you bleed. 

"Fine," you gave up. tilting your head to the sides, letting him take a look at your wound "that's pretty big." he muttered, feeling upset at himself while rummaging through his nightstand drawer to look for an aid kid. 

"I'll clean it, tell me if it hurts" he tells you before cleaning the blood attentively, while putting some iodine on the cut gently with a cotton "does it hurt?" he asked you, lightly putting a bandaid on your collarbone "not really, it's fine minnie. I'm okay" you reassured him once again. 

"I'm so sorry, i went to harsh on you" he apologized, placing a kiss on your forehead "I may or may have not left some...marks" he confessed, 

"It's okay baby, I love you too" you replied to him, slightly giggling while trying to get up from his bed slowly. 

"You heard me?" he asked, baffled. He thought you didn't hear him, his head was running wild the moment he didn't hear you saying it back, his brain was filled with the thoughts of you not reciprocating his feelings back 

"Of course, stop being silly" you giggles, slapping his thighs out of habits when you laugh 

"Tell me that again" Seungmin pleaded, eyes piercing into yours 

"I love you, minnie" 

"I love you too, let's clean ourselves up. you're so messy, baby" he stands up first before helping you stand on your feet. 

As soon as you're on your feet, you feel his cum dripping down into his floor staining it with the cloudy white substance making you feel all empty all of a sudden, you were frozen. this is the first time it has ever happened "that is so much cum" seungmin broke the silence innocently "yeah, most of it is your cum" you pointed it out. "yours too, baby" 

He walked you down to his bathroom bedroom, you turned on his rain showers to the coldest water temperature, as you bask underneath it washing the hot temperature from your body as well as the exhaustion while you look to the side to see the sight from his see through window glass on your side, allowing you to enjoy the night city view. 

Seungmin comes closer to you, shampooing your hair "isn't too cold?" he asked you. The least thing that Seungmin wants right now is a cold shower. you opted him to use his bathtub but he refuses to do so. here you are showering with seungmin while he's shivering due to the cold water hitting his skin. 

"You're still so stubborn, seungmo~" you said while getting out of the shower, wrapping himself with towel before you wrap your own body with one of his new towel 

"It's been so long since the last time you call me with that nickname" he chuckles, reminiscing the old days where you used to hang out with him, sticking with him everywhere he go

"You liked it?" 

"Of course, it's cute"

You can hear your phone violently ringing on Seungmin's nightstand all the way from his bathroom, notifying that there's incoming calls from Hyunjin. 

"You should pick it up," Seungmin said, reminding you while drying his hair as he makes his way to his messy room. 

"No, just let it be" you refuse to pick up Hyunjin's calls. Not wanting to talk to him while you're with Seungmin, thinking that you can just lie about not picking his calls because you're asleep 

"Yeah, i think I'm gonna clean my room" he said from across his room, starting to take off his dirty bed sheets before putting a new one 

"I'll help you, minnie," you replied to him, walking towards his room once you're dressed with his clothes and pants.

"baby, do you wanna go somewhere right now?'' Seungmin asked whispering, while hugging you from your side, snuggling his head to you. not wanting to wake you up harshly 

"Like, right now? it's barely 7am Seungmo" you answered him with your eyes closed, still exhausted from the things you did with him earlier today 

"Yeah, we only have a week for ourselves before Hyunjin came back from his business trip, I wanna go somewhere with you this time" he speaks as his voice become smaller at the end of his sentence, feeling sad that he can only get to spend a little time with you while Hyunjin get to be with you as long as he wanted too. 

You felt bad, his words stung your heart even though he didn't mean it to be that way. This is why you didn't want to agree with him when he told you that you should be with Hyunjin publicly while being with him secretly. "I'll go with you everywhere you wanna go minnie, let's go" you faced him, hugging him back sharing the same amount of warmth under his blanket while caressing his hair. 

"Really?" he opened his eyes, eyes bloodshot red from the lack of sleep. "Yes baby, we should get ready" you stated as you opened your eyes, still cuddling him "where do you wanna go?" You asked him this time as you pulled away from him to get up from his bed. 

"Let's go to jeju and book a private villa, I'll look for the plane ticket right now" he says recklessly, you know that Seungmin isn't a person who'd do everything without planning it first. He's an organized man and it's new to see him like this just for the sake of spending time with you. 

"That sounds fun but what about your work minnie?" you asked him, reminding him about his company. Of course you were shocked by the sudden last minute trip but you're happy that finally you can get to spend some time with him. 

"Jeongin will do everything for me" he assured you while you're packing everything into the suitcase. You've left quite a few of your clothes at his penthouse frequently whenever you're visiting him in your free time, whenever Hyunjin is away. 

"Oh that's nice" you retorted as you're getting yourself ready, washing your face and brushing your teeth. "I got the flight tickets and it's at 9 am, we have to hurry," Seungmin exclaimed as he began to frantically move to his bathroom to wash himself. "Slow down seungmo," you remind him.

"baby, can you dye my hair?" Seungmin asked you, while laying down on your lap. you've arrived at the villa trying to get some rest for a while before going somewhere with seungmin. "yeah I can, what color do you want it to be min?" 

"Hmmm, I think, light brown?" 

"That's cool, what about your bangs minnie? Are you going to dye them too or let it be?" 

"I'm gonna let them be, I like it" he stated and before you could reply to him, your phone rang - of course it's Hyunjin who's calling, you pressed the green button on your phone with hesitation, lazily answering his calls 

"Hi princess, how are you? I miss you! I actually bought something for you" Hyunjin exclaimed, voice pitched high, excited to give you the gifts that he bought once he's back. 

"oh really?," you asked back, acting all curious while playing with Seungmin's hair, who's laying on your lap 

"It's a surprise. you'll see it once I get back" hyunjing answered you cunningly now that he got your attention. 

"How's the photoshoot going with Felix?" genuinely curious about his photoshoot and the concept. You know that Hyunjin is a good poser, everything looks good on him even if they put him in an ugliest outfit - he'll make it look good and it's something that only Hyunjin can pull off. 

"Actually, it went pretty well" he giggles "I'll give you a couple pictures" he stated. 

"Send me a lot of picture, Hyune" you chuckled back, jokingly 

"Will do, princess. I have to go to a meeting with felix now." he chimed, as you hear him rustling around getting ready 

"yeah, be careful Jinnie" 

"I will, bye princess" 

"bye Hyune" 

"I love you" Hyunjin stated, not expecting any answer from you

"I know Hyune, don't love me too much" you joked at the end while ending Hyunjin's call. Seungmin's still laying on your lap playing with his old phone. Not long after you end the call, your phone vibrates, notifying you of an incoming text from Hyunjin. He sent you a lot of pictures of him and Felix posing for cosmopolitan. 

You can never lie about the way Hyunjin look, he will always look good but this Hyunjin is hitting different - the way his hair is styled, his eyebrows slit and the way he's posing for the camera, looking at its lens directly with the camera, making it feels like he's looking right into your soul. "he look so hot" Seungmin blurted, peeking into your phone to see what makes you quiet

"Yeah" you agreed with seungmin's word. indeed hyunjin is hot and all but is just that you can't see yourself with him "do you like him?" Seungmin asked, curiosity is killing him

"no?, why would I like him?" you question him back

"Because he's better than me" he admitted to you, his words are deceiving you as it enters your auditory senses. 

"No Seung, what makes you think like that?" you asked him while you turned off your phone, putting it away from yourself. Your gaze drifted to Seungmin who is now closing his eyes while humming a song. You stroke his hair softly. 

"Because you deserve someone better than me" he answered you quietly with no emotions displaying on his face 

"You don't mean that, Seung. Why?" you asked him back. You were on the verge of crying, your heart feels like it has been torn apart by a dagger stabbing you. Every word that comes out from his mouth is hurting you, and by the fact that it comes out from the man that you love with all your heart, makes it worse. You can't understand him. no, even if he tried to explain it with every vocabulary that existed; you will never understand him. 

"I don't feel like I'm....enough y/n" it took Seungmin years to finally say that to you, 

It took him a lot, it cost him his vulnerability to be seen by you. It's not easy for him, never. He lived his life filled with regret ever since he told you to be with Hyunjin - he felt stupid. 

And that's the cherry on top, your chest tightened, you felt sick to your stomach, your breath hitched. you felt like the world had stopped rotating, you stopped stroking his hair. "...please don't stop, do it again" Seungmin said quietly, bringing you back to your senses 

"Seungmo...I've always loved you. I was made to love you, for years I have yearned for you minnie, you deserve to know that. you're more than enough. you deserve everything minnie" you added, placing a kiss on his forehead before you started to stroke his thick hair again. 

"do you think so?" he asked, his voice sounded as thick as his hair and brittle while looking for more assurance from you — his home 

"yes baby, you're more than what you think you are minnie, you're my everything. I wish you could see yourself the way I see you" you answered him with honesty. It's hurting you too, it hurts to see him like this 

"It was my fault for putting you in the relationship that you've never wanted in the first place, I love you so much and you're hurting too because of me" his voice begins to heighten at the end of his sentence while he's sniffling 

"It wasn't your fault, it's not your fault minnie, never..part of it was my fault too. I should've not listened to you and stay with you" 

"I know but sometimes, I don't always know. you know? but thank you for staying and for loving me" he murmured, opening his eyes slowly as his tears threatened to fall off from his eyes, making it difficult for him to see before tears escaped from his eyes, rolling down to his face. 

"you're crying...don't cry, I am here with you. minnie-

you have stars in your eyes. I love looking at it" you said while wiping his tears off gently as he closed his beautiful eyes. You place a gentle kiss on his eyelids. "don't cry, minnie. It's going to be fine" you assured him as you took his hand and brought it closer to you to place a kiss. 

"I hope so too. Please stay with me forever even when I'm not at my best version of myself" he wishes before he let out a soft sob 

"I will minnie. You know, I've been thinking about breaking up with Hyunjin. I cannot bare the thoughts of being apart far from you anymore" you began to speak, still stroking his hair 

"Then do it, be with me" he added, no longer crying; afraid of losing you to Hyunjin, losing you to someone who used to be his own best friend. Seungmin has lost a lot of things, be it small things or big things during his lifetime but he can't lose you, not you — too. 

"I will baby - and I hope you're ready to be taking the fall for me" you joked at the end. You wish you could end this all easily, after all you're still a human with a heart —too. Seeing Hyunjin cry after seeing Seungmin cry will be the end of everything, as much as you don't feel a thing for Hyunjin. He's still a human too.

"I will, anything. Just to make you happy, my love. your happiness is my happiness" Seungmin replied while snuggling into you.

[scarisd3ad]

To the end and back [daryl Dixon x reader]

Chapter two - right where you left me

Masterlist

Taglist

Summary - after the world ended you were sure you’d never find love again but a certain archer catches your eyes and changes the entire trajectory of your life.

Warnings - regular twd warnings

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Season 1 ep 3

'Tell it to the frog'

Edited

We all sat around waiting for the others to return from their supply run to Atlanta. Glenn, Merle, Morales, Andrea, Jacqui, and T dog had gone on a supply run while Daryl had gone hunting. I sat talking to Lori and Shane as Lori cut Carl's hair and Shane cleaned his rifle. Carl isn't pleased about his haircut. He fidgets around and has a pout on his face the entire time. "Baby, the more you fidget, the longer it takes, so don't, okay?" Lori says as she combs out her son's hair, snipping little pieces at once. "I'm trying." Carl whines. "Well, try harder." Lori says, trying to focus on Carl's haircut. I laugh. Carl must've not had a haircut since before the outbreak because he was beginning to grow a little mullet. "If you think this is bad, wait till you start shaving. That stings." Shane laughs. "That day comes; you'll be wishing for one of your mama's haircuts." Shane says as he inspects his gun.

"I'll believe that when I see it" Carl says, making Shane and I chuckle. "I'll tell you what... you just get through this with some manly dignity, and tomorrow, I'll teach you something special. I will teach you to catch frogs." Shane says as he's taking apart his rifle. Lori smiles as she continues to cut Carl's hair. "I've caught a frog before," Carl states as he turns a bit, causing Lori to readjust his head. "I said frogs' plural, and it is an art, my friend. It is not to be taken lightly. There are ways and means. Few people know about it." I remember catching frogs on my grandfather's farm as a young kid. I'd take them back to my grandma and grandpa. Grandpa would be proud, but Grandma was always so disgusted by them. She hated that Grandpa would cook them up and eat them. "I'm willing to share my secrets."

Carl looks back at his mom, brows furrowed. "Oh, I'm a girl. You talk to him." Lori says, turning her son's head back towards Shane. "I used to catch frogs," I say. Carl turns his head towards me, brows furrowed again. "You did?" He asks. Lori turns Carls head straight again. "Yep, on my grandpa's farm when I was your age with my brother." Shane raised his eyebrows. "Brother? you have a brother?" Carl asks. I nod. "had a brother," I correct. Matthew, my little brother, was 2 years younger than me; he had dirty blonde hair as he got older and bright blue eyes that will be ingrained in my memories forever. He died 1 day into the outbreak. I miss him every day I go on without him. I wish he'd met these people because he'd love them. "My grandpa used to cook them up on Sunday nights."

"Why'd he cook them?" Carl asks, face contorting in confusion. "You never eat frog legs?" Shane asks. "Eww!" Carl says, his face contorting from confusion into a disgusted look. "No, yum!" Shane corrects as he leans back in his chair a bit. "No, he's right. Eww," Lori contradicts, "they're actually really good, Carl" I say as I fold my arms over my chest. Every day I wake up, I find these people becoming more and more like family than my actual one ever was to me. "You see, she knows what I'm talkin' bout!" Shane says, pointing towards me, which makes me laugh. Lori scrunches up her face in disgust. "When we get down to that last can of beans, you're gonna be loving those frog legs, lady. I can see it now 'Shane, do you think I could have a second helping, please? Ju..just one?'" Shane says, dropping his country accent to imitate Lori. "Yeah, I doubt that." Lori says with an eye roll as both she and Shane laugh.

I turn to see Amy; she's worried about her sister. She should've been back hours ago, but they aren't yet. Dale is standing on top of his RV with a pair of binoculars, just looking out at the road. "I'm..I'm gonna go check in on Amy," I say as I stand up.

Amy is sitting in a chair under the awning of Dale's RV. "You alright, Am's?" I ask she nods slowly. Her arms are crossed over her chest as she mumbles, "They should've been back hours ago." "I'm sure they'r-" I'm cut off by a car alarm blaring. Amy jumps up, and so does Shane. "Talk to me, Dale!" He shouts as he runs towards the RV.

"I can't tell yet," Dale says before looking through his binoculars. "Is it them? Are they back?" Amy asks. "I'll be damned," Dale mutters as we watch a bright red car drive towards our camp. That car is shouting up a storm, probably drawing every Walker in at least a mile's radius towards us. "What is it?" Amy asks.

"A stolen car is my guess."

Lori has her arm wrapped around Carl and one above her eyes, shielding her eyes from the sun. The car pulls in, and we all run towards it. Out comes Glenn. Such a dumbass. I roll my eyes because that boy always seems to do the stupidest goddamn shit. "Holy crap. Turn that damn thing off!" Dale shouts. "I don't know how!" Glenn says with a shrug and the biggest goddamn smile on his face. I run over, pulling him into a hug. I can't lie and say I haven't been a big bag of nerves since he left because I have, but hugging him always makes me feel better.

"Pop the hood, please. Pop the damn hood, please." Shane says, patting the hood of the car harshly.

I let go of Glenn as Amy runs up. "My sister, Andrea-" she's cut off by Shane shouting, "Pop the damn hood!" and him banging on the hood a bit harder. Shane is very upfront with his role as a leader. He's strong, demanding, and the type of person everyone tends to hate, but I've found it easy to get along with him most of the time. He can be an asshole sometimes, but ever since he promised to keep me safe, I've found it easy to understand why he does what he does.

"What, okay, okay. Yeah, yeah, yeah," Glenn says, retreating back into his car. Amy is still right at Glenn's side, asking about Andrea. Glenn pops the hood, and Shane gets to work on the vehicle. "Is she okay? Is she all right?" Amy asks, demanding an answer from Glenn as he gets out of the car again. "She's okay! She's okay!" Glenn shouts. Amy's brows furrow, but she does let out a tiny sigh of relief as she asks, "Is she coming back?"

"Yes!"

Amy goes right back into panic mode. "Why isn't she with you? Where is she? Is She okay?" Amy continues to interrogate Glenn, "Yes! Fine. Everybody is." Almost everyone lets out a relieved sigh. We had been knotted up in webs of anxiety all day. "Well, Merle, not so much." No one really worried much about Merle. He could be loud, never listened to anyone, and was obnoxious at times, especially when he was mad. It'd be good to get rid of him. "Are you crazy, drivin' this wailin' bastard up here? You tryin' to draw every Walker for miles?" Shane scolds Glenn as he stands with both hands set on the car's hood. The car was a stupid thing to do; it could've drawn every person and Walker to our location. "I think we're okay," Dale says quietly. "You call being stupid, okay?" Shane argues. Glenn finally turns to me, wrapping his arms around me. "M'glad you're alright," I whisper as I wrap my arms around his neck. he sighs as I lean my head onto his shoulder.

"Well, the alarm was echoing all over these hills. Hard to pinpoint the source," Dale explains. Shane turns around with both hands on his hips, giving Dale a look that tells everyone, 'Don't argue with me.' "I'm not arguing. I'm just saying," Dale says with a shrug. It's almost like Dale can read everyone's expressions because I don't think most people could read Shane like that. "It wouldn't hurt you to think things through a little more carefully next time, would it?" Dale says, raising his voice a bit at Glenn. Glenn lets go of me and says, "Sorry. Got a cool car." with a shrug. I roll my eyes. It's weird, we're going through the zombie fucking apocalypse, and Glenn can still be the sweetest, funniest, happiest man I've ever met.

A large moving truck pulls in next, making everyone focus on it instead of Glenn. Morales steps out first and then Andrea from the back. "Amy," Andrea says as she runs towards her sister. "Andrea!" Amy cries out. The sisters embrace tightly.

"You scared the shit out of me." Amy cries with a little laugh. Morales's kids are running towards their father. "Papi! Daddy!" They cry out as they embrace their father. We all watch the lovely moments between family members. It hurts a bit to us members of the group who've lost family members along the way, but it's nice to see how happy they get. The closest person to a family I have in the group is Glenn. I get so excited to see his face after he goes out in the city. We never know if it's the last time we'll see each other; one day, they could go out and never return. Glenn wraps his arm around my shoulder and whispers, "Got you something while we were out; I'll show you later."

"You are a welcome sight. I thought we had lost you folks for sure." Dale says as he embraces Morales. "How'd y'all get out of there anyway?" Shane speaks up. Morales looks back to the moving truck before saying, "New guy...he got us out." I furrow my brows. I was pretty sure we were the last people alive; we hadn't seen other people since the early days of the outbreak. "New guy?" Shane asks with his brows furrowed together.

"Yeah, crazy Vato just got into town." Morales says as he turns to the moving truck and hollers, "Hey, helicopter boy! Come say hello!"

Out comes a slim brunette man in a police uniform. He's got both hands on his hips as he walks up a few inches. "The guys a cop like you." Morales tells Shane. The guy looks out of breath as he looks over the group. He points towards Lori and Carl before whispering, "Oh my god." And speed walking towards Carl, who's now running towards him. "Dad! Dad!" Carl cries out. The guy kneels down as Carl runs into his arms. Lori is just behind him. Both boys fall to the ground hugging. I'm just now realizing this is Lori's husband, the dead husband Shane had told me about. Lori wasn't one to talk much about him, but Shane and Carl talked about him a lot, mostly reminiscing. Shane talked about how they worked together in the force, and he died at the beginning of the outbreak, but that man wasn't dead. He picks up his son and walks towards Lori. Lori hugs him. She's in disbelief. Then Lori looked up at Shane with the most betrayed facial expression I'd ever seen. I learned from Lori that her husband got shot and went into a coma. Shane told her he died in the hospital. But obviously, he's not dead. He's right here in front of us. I understand that it could've been an accident; he might've not even heard a heartbeat, but the look on Shane's face tells me otherwise.

-

We're all sat around the fire, listening to who I've learned to be Rick tells us how he miraculously woke up and survived. I've got my head in Glenn's lap, and his left arm wrapped around me. "Disoriented. I guess that comes closest. Disoriented." Carl is laying in Rick's lap, and Lori sits beside them. "Fear, confusion..all those things, but..disoriented comes closest." Thunder is coming from a few miles away, which doesn't worry me much; it just frightens me every time it strikes. "Words can be meager things. Sometimes they fall short," Dale says. Glenn gently caresses my arm with his thumb as Rick says, "I felt like I'd been ripped out of my life and put somewhere else." the crickets provide an excellent background for the silence of the night, so it's not just the dark and the loud groans, and growls of walkers in the city. "For a while, I thought I was trapped in some coma dream, something I might not wake up from ever."

"Mom said you died." Carl says quietly. Lori looks at her husband worriedly, like he'd be mad if she told their son that, but he doesn't seem upset. "She had every reason to believe that. Don't you ever doubt it." Rick places his hand on his son's cheek, caressing it lightly, while Lori's hand gently pushes her son's hair back. "When things started to get really bad, they told me at the hospital that they were gonna medevac you and the other patients to Atlanta..." she pauses for a second before continuing, "...and it never happened."

"Well, I'm not surprised after Atlanta fell." Lori nods, whispering "yeah"

"And from the look of that hospital, it got overrun." Rick adds the last time I was in the city, it was absolutely overrun; no one was alive, and the entire place had been taken over by the dead. "Yeah, looks don't deceive. I barely got them out...you know?" Rick looks at Shane, making direct eye contact. "I can't tell you how grateful I am to you, Shane...I can't begin to express it." Shane doesn't answer. He stares at Rick, unable to answer; he has a guilty look on his face that says more than words could ever. "There go those words falling short again..paltry things. " Dale says with a chuckle. I look up at Glenn, who's staring ahead at the fire, zoned out, but when he notices I'm looking up at him, he grins.

Before all this, I was 2 years into med school, living in a shitty apartment with 2 shitty roommates. I wanted to be a doctor. That was dream ever since I was little. Little me was wise to choose that because now the 2 years of training I did does work out. After all, now I'm the group's "doctor." my knowledge doesn't help with complex issues because I had only been in med school for 2 years, but I'm a pro with the basics.

Lori is cuddled up in Rick's arms but staring at Shane with a terrified look. Shane looks mad, maybe jealous even. Ed stands up, throwing another log into the fire.

"Hey, Ed, you want to rethink that log?" We all look at Ed like we're in elementary school again, looking at him like, 'Ooo, you're in trouble'. "It's cold, man." Ed says with his head leaned back before it falls forward a bit. "The cold doesn't change the rules, does it?" Shane says, looking over at Ed. "Keep our fires low, just embers, so we can't be seen from a distance, right?" Shane says just to explain to Rick since his eyebrows are furrowed. "I said it's cold. You should mind your own business for once." Ed argues. It wasn't a good thing to argue with Shane; he's our leader, he makes the rules, and he tells people what to do. If he says no, it means no, that's it. Shane pushes himself to his feet, walks over, and grabs something. I can't really tell what it is. He walks behind Ed, patting him on the back. "Hey, Ed....are sure you want to have this conversation, man?" He asks softly, "Go on. Pull the damn thing out. Go on!"

Carol Ed's wife sits quietly, almost embarrassed of her husband's actions. Finally, she seems fed up with her husband's childish behavior, so she stands up, grabs the log out of the fire, and throws it on the ground. "Christ," Shane mutters. Carol isn't one to really stand up to her husband; I can tell because the look on Ed's face is terrifying. She then walks back around and sits beside her daughter as Shane stomps on the log until it's no longer on fire. Shane kneels down close to Sophia and Carol. "Hey, Carol, Sophia, how are y'all this evening?" He asks.

"Fine. We're just fine." Ed is staring daggers over at his wife. "I'm sorry about the fire." Carol says quietly, almost like she doesn't want her husband to hear. "No, no, no. No apology needed. Y'all have a good night, okay?"

"Thank you," Carol whispers. Sophia looks down at her feet the entire time like she's scared of what her father will do later. "I appreciate the cooperation." Shane stands up and walks back over to his spot. "Have you given any thought to Daryl Dixon? He won't be happy to hear his brother was left behind." Dale says. Daryl wouldn't be happy; he and his brother were the only family they had left. Even though they didn't get along well, he'd be upset.

"I'll tell him. I dropped the key. It's on me." T-dog says quietly. "I cuffed him. That makes it mine." Rick replies. "Guys, it's not a competition. I don't mean to bring race into this, but it might sound better coming from a white guy." Glenn says, his arm still wrapped around me, drawing small circles on my upper arm. The Dixon brothers...well, at least Merle was very racist, and I wouldn't be surprised if Daryl was, too. "I did what I did. Hell, if I'm gonna hide from him."

"We could lie." Amy says from her spot curled up in her sister's arms. "Or tell the truth," Andrea sighs. She's right. We needed to tell Daryl the truth; if we didn't, and he found out we lied, our consequences would be worse. "Merle was out of control. Something had to be done, or he'd have gotten us killed." She was right again; Merle was out of control, and there was never a way to calm him or tell him what to do. Even if Shane tried, he couldn't. Merle was his own boss, and God bless the person who tried to boss him around. "Your husband did what was necessary, and if Merle got left behind, it is nobody's fault but Merle's." Andrea says to Lori. "And that's what we tell Daryl?" Dale asks. I don't think Daryl would just take that as an answer for why we left his brother behind, even if he knew how stubborn his brother was. "I don't see a rational discussion to be had from that, do you?" Dale asks, shaking his head. Dale was a wise older man, like our group's grandfather or even father. He was rational and knew how to survive. People like Shane say that this world wasn't made for Dale, but we'd be dead without Dale. "Word to the wise...we're gonna have our hands full when he gets back from his hunt." We would. Daryl would probably throw a fit and try to hurt someone. He was similar to his brother in expressing his anger through yelling and fists.

"I was scared, and I ran. I'm not ashamed of it," T-dog says with his arms crossed over his chest. "We were all scared. We all ran. What's your point?" Andrea asks. "I stopped long enough to chain that door. Staircase is narrow. Maybe half a dozen geeks can squeeze against it at any one time. It's not enough to break through that..not that chain, not that padlock. My point...my point is..dixon's alive, and he's still up there, handcuffed on that roof. That's on us." T-dog says before getting up and walking away.

"Hey, can I stay in your tent tonight to stay warm?" Glenn whispers just loud enough for me to hear. I nod as I look up at him. I stand up, pushing myself off the ground, and hold my hand out for him to grab. I pull him up, and he wraps his arm around my shoulder. "We're gonna head to bed, goodnight," Glenn says.

We walk towards my tent, his arm still wrapped around me.

He unwraps his arm around me so I can unzip my tent. He gets in first and sits crisscrossed on the far-left side. I get in and then zip the tent back up. I lay down, wrapping myself in blankets, trying to avoid freezing to death. "Do you think this will ever like end?" Glenn asks. I shrug. "I hope so," I whisper. He lays down beside me, propping his head up with his arm. "If this does end, we should get an apartment together." He nods in agreement even though we both know it'll probably never happen. It's so weird. I've only known Glenn for about 2 months, but he knows me better than anyone. It could be because we have so much time to talk. "Where were you before you came here?" I ask in a whispered tone. He lets out a small sigh before saying, "Macon...ended up getting stuck in a pharmacy in Macon with a group of people. they went to some motel, but I ended up leaving to go to Atlanta." I nod before he adds, "They ended up giving me a walkie to keep in touch, but it hasn't worked since I left," he whispers as he lets his head fall onto the pillow. "Do you still have it?" I ask. He nods before reaching into his back pocket and pulling out a small walkie-talkie with stickers on it. I smile as I ask, "Why is it covered in stickers?" with a laugh. "A little girl in the group gave it to me," he says with a small smile. I let out a small sigh as we sat in a comfortable silence together for a few seconds.

"You should go to bed, Glenn," I mumble as I scoot closer to him. "Mhm, I will." I cuddle up next to him, wrapping my arms around his torso. "Don't stay up too late now," I mumble into his chest. "I won't," he says. I can tell he's smiling by the way he says it.

-

I wake up to the sound of birds chirping and the sunlight peering through the sheer fabric of my tent. Glenn's no longer in the tent. He must've gotten up earlier. I push myself off the ground and crawl over to unzip my tent. I get out, zip it back up, and walk over to where the rest of the group is hanging out.

Carol is leaving some clothes out to dry when I walk up to her. "Morning," I say. She gives me a weak smile but replies, "Morning." She washed Rick's clothes. She's a sweet lady, definitely didn't deserve her asshat of a husband.

Glenn is standing, staring at his red car, arms crossed over his chest. Dale and some other guys are striping it clean of gas and anything they need from the vehicle. Glenn's pissed. I walk over to him. "Look at 'em. Vultures." He grumbles. I give him a weak smile as he says, "Yeah, go on, strip it clean." sarcastically. "Generators need every drop of fuel they can get. I have no power without it. Sorry, Glenn," Dale says, patting Glenn's back as he walks by with a gas can. "Thought I'd get to drive it at least a few more days." Glenn mumbles. He's very obviously upset. I wrap an arm around him. "We'll get you another one like it, Glenn," I say, trying to comfort him. He gives me a weak smile. "yeah, maybe."

Glenn and I walk away from the car "are..are you guys gonna try and rescue Merle?" I ask. Glenn shrugs. "It's up to Shane," Glenn says. I nod. I wanted to go. I hadn't been out into the city since the beginning of the outbreak. I wanted to go on a supply run like Andrea got to, but I was never fucking allowed to! I could handle myself. I survived long enough to get here, but Shane was always against it. He always had some lame ass excuse to not let me go. I understood he just wanted to protect me, but if I didn't get experience fighting walkers, I would die if some came stumbling onto our camp.

Shane drives up in his jeep with water. "Waters here, y'all. Just a reminder to boil before use," he says as he exits. A couple of us walk over to Shane's car and help him carry the water jugs. I grab one, but Shane immediately takes it from me. I hate how he sees me as a child incapable of doing things alone.

A blood-curdling scream breaks our attention from the water. "MOM!" Carl screams. Rick and Lori immediately start sprinting towards their son's cries. "DAD!" Carl screams again. "Baby!" Lori yells. Shane is now also flying towards the screams of two children with a shotgun. "MAMA! MOMMY!"

"CARL!" Lori cries out as she's trying to find her child. "CARL! Baby!" Both Sophia and Carl come running out of the forest. Lori falls to her knees with Carl in her arms, examining him, ensuring there are no bites or scratches. "Nothing bit you, nothing scratched you?" Lori says, hugging at her child.

Most of us are also running that way with guns and weapons. "No, I'm okay," Carl says. Both children seem shaken up by whatever they had seen in the woods.

We finally find the Walker that the kids saw. It's in a small clearing surrounded by trees feasting on a dead deer. I scrunch up my nose in disgust. It smells horrible. Walkers smell awful, like shit, and death. It's just pure death. I stand back as the men go ham on the thing. Beating, stabbing it, you name it, they did it. The sound of leaves crunching makes Shane raise his gun.

Amy and Andrea are standing behind me. We're all preparing for the worst: another walker, maybe a horde of them. But then out pops Daryl with his crossbow and about a dozen dead squirrels. Shane lowers his gun but mutters, "Oh, Jesus." In an almost 'oh god, it's him' tone. "Son of a bitch." Daryl curses as he pushes his way through some branches and over some rocks. "That's MY deer!" As Daryl walks towards it, Rick, Morales, and Glenn step away from the deer. "Look at it. All gnawed on by this..." he then began to kick at the Walker.

"..FILTHY.." kick "..DISEASE-BEARING.." kick "..MOTHERLESS.." kick "..POXY BASTARD!"

"Calm down, son, that's not helping," Dale says, not trying to create conflict but to calm the angered man down. Daryl took it as wanting to cause a conflict, though, so he stomps over to Dale, "What do you know about it, old man?! Why don't you take that stupid hat and go back to 'On Golden Pond'!" He shouts before turning back around and walking back towards the deer and Walker.

He sighs as he leans over. "I've been trackin' this deer for miles." He pulls out about three arrows from the deer. "Was gonna drag it back to camp, cook us until some venison." He then pulls out a knife. "What do you think? Do you think we can cut around this chewed-up part right here?" He asks as he leans over the deer and points to the gnawed parts of the deer with his knife. "I would not risk that." Shane replies. The deer looks definitely non-salvageable. Its guts are spilling out and just totally gnawed on. If we tried to eat it, we'd definitely get infected. Daryl sighs. "That's a damn shame." He then turns to the squirrels he has. "I got some squirrels—about a dozen or so. That'll have to do," he sighs.

The Walker's decapitated head then twitches, which is a sight to see. It disgusts Amy, who says, "Oh god." Like she's about to throw up. Andrea then escorts her away from the Walker and probably back to camp. "Come on, people. What the hell?" Daryl says as he shoots the Walker straight in the head. He pulls the arrow out of the Walker. "It's gotta be the brain. Don't y'all know nothin'?" He says with an eye roll. He walks past me, giving me a slight smile.

We follow him as he walks back to camp. "Merle!" He shouts. Everyone's giving each other looks like 'who's gonna tell him?' "Merle! Get your ugly ass out here!" He shouts again. "I got us some squirrel! Let's stew'em up." He says, putting his crossbow down.

Shane decides he will tell him; he is the un-proclaimed group leader, after all. "Daryl, just slow up a bit. I need to talk to you." Shane says. Daryl stops and turns around. "bout what?" He asks, brows furrowed. We're all stopped just a few feet away, watching. We're all crossing our fingers, hoping this won't end badly. "Bout Merle." Shane says as he continues walking past Daryl, "There was a—there was a problem in Atlanta." Shane stops and turns around, putting his hands on his hips. Daryl looks around as we're all kind of gathered around watching. "He dead?" Daryl asks. "We're not sure." As Daryl's brows furrow, Shane replies, "he either is or he ain't!" Rick then steps up and walks over to where Shane and Daryl are. "No easy way to say this, so I'll just say it."

"Who are you?"

"Rick Grimes." Rick replies in his heavy country accent. Someone was going to get hurt; I just knew it. I'm leaning against Shane's jeep, with Glenn standing beside me as we watch. "Rick grimes! you got something you want to tell me?" Daryl shouts angrily. God, I just hope no one gets hurt too bad because I'll have to fix them up.

"Your brother was a danger to us all, so I handcuffed him on a roof hooked him to a piece of metal. He's still there." Rick explains. I can just see Daryl's blood boiling. If steam could come out of his ears, it would be. Daryl turns around, wiping at his eyes like he was about to cry. "Hold on. Let me process this. You're saying you handcuffed my brother to a roof, and you left him there?!" He shouts with tears in his eyes. I actually feel bad for Daryl. If someone had chained my brother up on a roof with Walker able to get to him, I'd be just as angry. "yeah." Rick says quietly. Daryl's face is all scrunched up in anger. He turns around just a bit before launching the squirrels at Rick.

Shane immediately gets in between the two, tackling Daryl to the ground. Daryl falls to the ground with a grunt. T-dog drops the logs he was carrying and is just about to jump in when Daryl pulls out his knife and pushes himself off the ground. "watch the knife!" T-dog shouts. Daryl then tries to swing at Rick but misses. Rick grabs one of Daryl's arms, and Shane comes behind him, both men holding him back. Rick takes a step back, letting Shane take over. "Okay, okay," Shane says, trying to stop Daryl from struggling. We all knew this would happen; Daryl was violent. "You'd best let me go!" Daryl shouts.

"Nah, I think it's better if I don't." Shane's arms are around Daryl's neck in a choke hold, and Daryl grunts and tries to escape Shane's grip. "Choke hold's illegal," Daryl grunts as Shane gets him to the ground. "You can file a complaint," Shane replies sarcastically.

"Come on, man. We'll keep this up all day." Shane warns as Rick kneels down next to Daryl. "I'd like to have a calm discussion on this topic. Do you think we can manage that?" Rick asks Daryl. Daryl doesn't answer. Just continues to wriggle around, trying to get out of their hold. "Do you think we can manage that?" Rick repeats like he's talking to a toddler. Daryl is panting, but let's say, "mhm, yeah." Shane lets him go harshly. "what I did was not on a whim." Rick says, still kneeling down next to Daryl. Daryl's still panting as Rick says, "Your brother does not work and play well with others." Daryl stares at the ground as Rick talks to him. "It's not Rick's fault. I had the key." T-dog says. Both men look up at T-dog. "I dropped it." Daryl's brows furrow. "you couldn't pick it up?!" Daryl asks loudly.

"Well, I dropped it in a drain."

Daryl lets out a loud scoff as he looks down at the ground on his hands and knees. He pushes himself off the ground. "if it's supposed to make me feel better, it doesn't." He says harshly as he throws a handful of rocks back onto the ground as walks past t-dog. "Well, maybe this will.." t-dog says. Daryl stops as t-dog continues, "look, I chained the door to the roof—so the geeks couldn't get at him...with a padlock."

"It's gotta count for something," Rick says. Daryl sighs before wiping his eyes again "hell with all y'all!" Daryl shouts as tears begin to form in his eyes once again. "Just tell me where he is," Daryl says desperately, like he's falling apart without his brother. Even though the two fought like cats and dogs, you could tell they loved each other. "so, I can go get him."

"He'll show you, isn't that, right?" Lori says with one hand on the RV door. Rick's breathing heavily as he looks around. "I'm goin' back." Lori lets out a sigh before climbing into the RV angrily. I understand Lori's anger; she doesn't want her husband, whom she hasn't seen in 2 months, to leave again.

"Are you going back?" I ask, turning to Glenn. "If they want me to yeah." Glenn replies with a nod. "I want to go too," I whisper; Glenn's eyes widen. "You can't," he says; I cross my arms over my chest and let out an angry sigh. I don't know why every man I know chooses to treat me like a child. "I can, and I will. I don't give two fucks what you say." Glenn sighs and places a hand on my shoulder. "You. Can't." I scoff and roll my eyes. "I'm goin' anyways. You can't stop me," I say as I push his arm off me and walk over to Shane.

"I'm going with them." Shane laughs but quickly realizes I'm serious, and his smile drops. "no, you're not." I roll my eyes and cross my arms over my chest. I don't know when he will realize I'm a few years older than Glenn. If Glenn can handle himself out there, so can I. "I can handle myself out there. I want to help!" Shane laughs and grabs my upper arm harshly. "I'm sure you can, but I'm protecting you." I hate how he always uses the excuse that he's protecting me: "I'm not a kid. I can help!" I shout; he rolls his eyes and says, "You sure are actin' like one. If you want to help, cook something or wash some clothes." I push him off of me and scoff. "Fuck you."

Rick walks out of his family's tent, dressed in his police uniform. I'll ask him. Maybe he's not like Shane. "Hey, Rick!" I say, running up to him. He stops, brows furrowed together. I realize I haven't really introduced myself, so I say, " I'm y/n, I have a question." he nods in response, so I say, "Can I go with y'all?" He sighs and looks at me like, 'Do you have any experience?' "I was in that city for a week with only a knife. I know my way around the place," he sighs again, asking, "Can you shoot a gun?" I nod. I've been able to shoot a gun since I was 7 years old. That's just the pros of growing up in rural Georgia with a grandpa who loved to hunt. "I don't care as long as you can handle yourself." I smile. I turn towards Shane, who has a scowl on his face. I grin just to piss him off.

I watch as Rick walks over to Shane; they have a hushed conversation. Shane's obviously pissed about something, maybe it's me, perhaps it's Rick leaving again. Rick begins to walk off while Shane follows shortly behind.

I think Glenn's pissed at me too. I understand he cares about me a lot, but I want to prove myself to the group. I want them to know I'm not just some helpless girl that needs protecting. I walk over to him; he's got his arms crossed with a worried look on his face. "You going with them?" He asks. I nod, and he loudly sighs, "What if you get hurt?" I rolled my eyes; I had been out in that city with only a knife as a weapon for a week. I know how to protect myself. "I'm not. I can handle myself. I did it before," I say, trying to comfort him, but it doesn't seem to work. He grabs my hand and whispers, "Why would you risk your life for Merle Dixon?" with his brows furrowed. I shrug, and He sighs as he drops my hand. "You give me so much anxiety, y/n," he says with a laugh; I laugh as well and say, "And you think you don't do the same to me?" He rolls his eyes before He smiles and grabs my hand.

Shane and Rick walk back into the area where everyone else is bickering. "So, you and Daryl, that's your big plan?" Lori asks Rick from her spot sitting by our campfire. Rick turns to both me and Glenn. Glenn lets out a groan. "Oh, come on." I laugh because he should have known he'd have to go, too. After all, he's our designated errand-runner. "You know the way. You've been there before...in and out, no problem. You said so yourself." Glenn takes his hat off and runs his hand through his hair. "It's not fair of me to ask, I know that, but I'd feel a lot better with you alone. I know she would, too." Rick says, turning to his wife. "That's just great. Now you're not only going to risk y/n's life but three of our men, huh?"

"Four," t-dog corrects.

Daryl huffs. "My day just gets better and better, don't it?" Daryl says as he cleans his arrows. "You see anybody else here stepping up to save your brothers, cracker ass?" T-dog retorts, which makes me laugh because it is quite a coincidence that T-dog is stepping up to help when Merle hates him. "Why you?" Daryl demands. "You wouldn't even begin to understand. You don't speak my language."

Dale walks over and says, "That's four."

"It's not just four. You're putting every single one of us at risk. Just know that, Rick. Come on, you saw that, Walker. It was here. It was in camp. They're moving out of the cities. They come back; we need every ablebody we've got, " Shane says, getting closer to Rick. "We need 'em here. We need 'em to protect the camp." he's pissed. He doesn't want us out there anymore, especially for Merle. He didn't give a shit about any of us, only himself, so why were we even going. To make ourselves feel better, to not have that guilt on our backs.

"It seems to me what you really need most here...are more guns."

"Right, the guns." Glenn says, slowly walking forward. Everyone, including me, needs clarification about what he's talking about. "Wait, what guns?" Shane asks with his eyebrows furrowed. "Six shotguns, two high-powered rifles, over a dozen handguns." Rick states. "I cleaned out the cage back at the station before I left. I dropped it when I got swarmed in Atlanta. It's just sitting there on the street, waiting to be picked up." Rick explained. "Ammo?" Shane asks quietly. "700 rounds, assorted." Rick confirms. Shane bows his head, thinking about what we should do. "You went through hell to find us. Yo-you just got here, and you're gonna turn around and leave?" Lori just couldn't understand why he would risk his life, leaving again. But we needed those guns and ammo. Finding Merle would just be a side quest. "Dad, I-I don't want you to go." Carl stutters out. "To hell with the guns. Shane is right. Merle Dixon? He's not worth one of your lives, even with guns thrown in." Shane runs his hands through his hair as Rick walks towards Lori. Lori stands up and says, "Tell me. Make me understand."

"I owe a debt to a man I met and his little boy." Lori looks down at Carl like, 'We have a kid too?!' Rick grabs Lori's hand. "Lori, if they hadn't taken me in, I'd have died." He says quietly, "It's because of them that I made it back to you at all. They said they'd follow me to Atlanta. they'll walk into the same trap I did if I don't warn him." Lori looks down at her feet before whispering, "What's stoppin' you?" Rick sighs before saying, "the walkie-talkie, the one in the bag I dropped, he's got the other one. Our plan was to connect when they got closer."

Shane's now sat down by his jeep, rubbing at his face, stressed, he's stressed. What are you really supposed to do in this situation? We really need those guns, but we could lose people if we did it. "These are our walkies?" Shane asks. Rick nods and says, "Yeah." with a sigh. "So, use the c.b...what's wrong with that?" Andrea suggests. "The c.b's fine. It's the walkies that suck to crap..date back to the '70s, don't match any other bandwidth, not even the scanners in our cars" Shane explains. Lori avoids Rick's eye contact, looking just behind or at her feet. "I need that bag." Lori doesn't reply. She's just speechless. Rick walks past Lori and to their son. He kneels down in front of Carl. "okay?" Carl just nods. "All right," Rick whispers as he ruffles Carls's hair.

Glenn turns to me. "We're both coming back alive. I swear if you don't, I will literally kill you." I let out a laugh. "Well then, if you don't, I'll do the same," he smiles. "Deal?" "Deal." We both laugh as I lean my head onto his shoulder.

-

I'm sitting in my tent, riffling through my belongings, looking for the handgun my granddad lent me before I headed off to college. I finally found it hidden under a pile of blankets. I stuffed it into my bag and stepped out of my tent. Glenn's already in the large truck Rick and them brought back. Daryl's in the back with t-dog, while Glenn's in the front. I walk over and hop up into the back with Daryl. "You find your gun?" Glenn asks as he turns back towards me. I nod as I take a seat on the metal floor. Rick and Shane walk up to the back of the truck. Shane places down a large black bag. "Hey, Rick, got any rounds in the python?" Shane asks. "No," Rick replies, shaking his head. "Last time we were on the gun range, I'm sure I wound up with a few loose rounds of yours."

Daryl sits next to me and takes my gun out of my hand. He examines it briefly before asking, "You know how to use this, darlin'?" I scoff and roll my eyes. "Yeah, I do," I say as I grab my gun back from him and tuck it back into my bag. "You know how to use that?" I ask sarcastically as I point to his crossbow. He laughs, "Of course I fuckin' do." Rick and Shane walk away, and Daryl stands up. He walks over and closes the back of the truck. The truck starts up, and we're going.

-

We're driving over some train tracks, which is a bit bumpy but not too bad. "He'd better be okay. It's my only word on the matter." Daryl says to T-dog it's a warning; if Merle isn't alive, he's going to hurt someone, and it'll probably be T-dog. "He will," I whisper. Of course, he will. He's fucking Merle. He'd be able to be hit by a truck, and he'd still be alright. "I told you the geeks can't get to him," T-dog says, leaning his head against the metal wall of the truck. "The only thing that's gonna get through that door is us." t-dog adds.

We come to a slow stop, and Glenn takes out the keys. he then turns to us, "We walk from here." We all get out of the car. Both T-dog and Daryl hop out first, then me.

-

Glenn pushes a broken part of a wired fence out of the way so we can all get through. "Merle first or guns?" Rick asks as he turns around towards us. "Merle! We ain't even having this conversation!" Daryl shouts. "We are." Rick says and then turns to Glenn, "You know the geography. It's your call." Glenn sighs before saying, "Merle's closest. The guns would mean doubling back. Merle first." a little out of breath. Daryl's definitely happy about that.

-

We're walking through a department store, and we're all a little on Guard. I've got my gun held out, ready to shoot any moment. We hear a Walker shuffling around, so we all freeze. Rick spots it and points it out to us before we slowly walk around the store, trying to stay as quiet and out of sight as possible. Daryl approaches the rotten, growling thing, and he raises his crossbow "damn, you are one ugly skank." He mutters. It starts to growl at him, getting ready to lunge, but he quickly shoots it straight in the head. It falls to the ground with a thud, and Daryl quickly pulls his arrow out of its head.

We made it to the top with hardly any more walker interference, which I'm grateful for. We all sprint up to the door that leads to the roof, Rick's there first, holding the chain so t-dog can cut it off. He cuts the chain, pulls it off, and Daryl kicks open the door before he runs out. "Merle! Merle!" he shouts as he gets out onto the roof. We follow him as Daryl looks for his brother, but he's not there, just handcuffs cuffed to a pipe, a saw, and a hand.

"No! No!" Daryl cries out over and over again. I feel for Daryl, I really do, but did we all really think Merle was going to stay up there? There was no doubt in my mind that Merle wouldn't find a way to get his ass off this roof, even if that meant sawing off his own hand.

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[hiuythn]

Hi, how are you? If you don't mind me asking, what are your top 7 favorite media (can be books/ manga/ anime/movies/tv series/etc)? And why do you love them? Sorry if you've answered this question before...... Thanks....

hi! I'm doing great, thank you for asking! I haven't thought of a top 7 before so that's interesting to think about. hm...I guess it would probably be:

1. Haikyū!! (it's so simple but it's so good. I heard Furudate created it to get people into volleyball and I'm confident in saying that he succeeded. there's just something so refreshing about it, but underneath everything, it still manages to communicate a thoughtful message that where you are today is not where you'll be tomorrow, and that the journey brought on by your passion—while it may not get your end—still has meaning in its pursuit.)

2. The Husky and His White Cat Shizun by Meatbun doesn't Eat Meat (xianxia danmei. my god, I went into this novel thinking it was another low-hanging fruit enemies to lovers type bait where the ML is basically abusive and the MC is a weak backboned twink, but no. no the story had me screaming, sobbing, and begging the author to stop because it hurt too much. I was in tears and I was laughing and I was in love and I was praying for them to be happy so, so bad. it's actually insane. NOTHING will beat how Meatbun managed to make me reconcile Chu Wanning's cold exterior with his soft heart, and Mo Ran's past life with his current one. I was actually baffled by how many fucking revelations, foreshadowing, and plot twists (that made sense and didn't come out of left field entirely) this book managed to have. Meatbun expertly weaved humor, tragedy, horror, mystery and romance all into one misleadingly-packaged book and I feel delightfully bamboozled.)

3. Turning by 쿠유 (Korean historical bl novel. Still reading this one, but the deep unspoken trust the MC and ML have for each other is really awe-inspiring, and they're also very competent at what they do. The relationships with their subordinates and allies are also really heartwarming. The plot is sufficiently interesting as well, and not just something cobbled together to make the characters kiss lol—not that that's bad intrinsically, but it can get old after a while.)

4. Percy Jackson and the Olympians by Rock Riordan (everyone knows this one. I love it because I grew up reading it, and then reading it to my sister out loud with the voices and everything. I love an MC that just consistently doesn't know what he's doing and yet sees things through to the end, and whose motto is just "fuck it, fuck this, and fuck you". and again Percy and Annabeth have that "bantering duo who trust and balance each other out and are also very, very good at what they do" type relationship that I'm such a sucker for.)

5. Bleach by Tite Kubo (one of the Big 3 manga serialized back then. I'm down bad for the art, he's one of my favourite mangaka in terms of art style, and also it's nostalgic. I grew up watching ichigo fight through impossible odds with just his "fuck you don't touch my people" mentality. are you starting to see a pattern with me and protective, headstrong MCs? the cast of side characters are all pretty memorable, despite its growing size down the line and again, i love their designs. I know people gripe a lot about the plot and continuity errors, but I enjoyed it regardless—except for the accursed ending and Epilogue Dad Haircut..)

6. Montmorency by Eleanor Updale (victorian crime fiction novel. I was sent this as compensation in, like, 5th grade when the Scholastic Fair delivered the wrong order to me. I didn't expect to like it but it was surprisingly a good standalone read. i used to reread it loads but it's been about a decade now so some details are blurry, but i am very fond of it still.)

7. A Quiet Place (horror movie, though for me it's less horror and more of a family-centric movie. I'm awful with horror, I'm such a wuss, but this movie was so good with its character dynamics and the ending was so fitting that I couldn't help but rewatch it and have it engrained in my head. I haven't watch the other movies in this series and tbh I fully believe the first movie is sufficient on its own, not to say the other suck, I just have no urge to watch them. this movie was such a palate cleanser for me in cinema.)

thank you for your ask, had a lot of fun coming up with this list!

[mamamittens]

I've procrastinated too hard lol

Tomorrow I'm passing out immediately when I get home and then a toss up between sitting down and committing to my comm (finally) or knocking out the two zine art pieces when I wake up Saturday morning.

If I'm lucky I'll be able to do the comm and one zine piece Saturday. Then the last one Sunday just before the deadline (;∀;)

Good news is I have the entire next week off for my birthday! So that'll be fun! I'll try not to murder my sleep schedule... No promises. Then I can binge finish Violet and Sword. Maybe finally clean my room properly, washing my sheets and mopping. Get a haircut. Maybe go to the optometrist. I'll have so much time...

And with luck I'll actually use it instead of disassociating my entire vacay away!

[woodnrust]

I posted 7,261 times in 2022

That's 2,310 more posts than 2021!

1,455 posts created (20%)

5,806 posts reblogged (80%)

Blogs I reblogged the most:

@swissarmymanbf

@enbyzombies

@sodabutch

@slcpunk

@wizardmullet69

I tagged 4,538 of my posts in 2022

Only 38% of my posts had no tags

#jelly.txt - 1,420 posts

#food - 140 posts

#fave - 98 posts

#art - 95 posts

#photography - 94 posts

#real - 66 posts

#cats - 66 posts

#jelly answers - 66 posts

#iwtv - 63 posts

#mecore - 63 posts

Longest Tag: 137 characters

#it was just general 'pov you're gonna die' fanfics of popular creepypasta characters. read it on quotev 🦣👍🏼 had lotsa mutuals on there

My Top Posts in 2022:

#5

What is the weirdest nickname that you ever got stuck with. In middle school pretty much everybody called me either "mariachi" or "marijuana"

127 notes - Posted April 5, 2022

#4

The bond between a dyke and their pocket knife is unbreakable btw

261 notes - Posted June 23, 2022

#3

Go to the doctor for a yearly checkup go to the dentist every six months go to the eye doctor every year see a therapist every week see a psychiatrist every month call in a refill for a prescription update your ID remember to recharge all your electronics go to the store once or twice a week buy a new light bulb cause the one in the kitchen is starting to flicker wash the dishes take out the trash check your mailbox you've been invited to a wedding your cousin's birthday is coming up you should send them a card you have to attend a funeral for a distant relative your credit card needs to be renewed check your email take a shower brush your teeth twice a day remember to floss schedule a time to catch up with your friends put aside time to work on your hobbies remember to take the trashcans back up start a new shopping list check your calendar for next week you should get a haircut soon vacuum the house there's dust on some of the things you haven't used in a while remember to sort all of your clothes before you wash them your shoes are starting to fall apart maybe it's time to get a new pair the clock on the wall needs its batteries changed maybe it's time to clean out your home and get rid of some stuff you don't need clean out the gutters there's a lot of leaves in the yard maybe it's time to rake them the grass needs cut it's getting kind of long maybe you should remember the names of all the websites you no longer use so you can delete your account check the weather forecast for tomorrow so you can figure out what you're going to wear.

1,550 notes - Posted April 26, 2022

#2

There's a special place in hell for whoever popularized wireless earbuds. I straight up just cannot find wired earbuds in stores anymore and I'm NOT paying $60 for earbuds that die and have to be recharged after a few hours. I'll die on this hill

20,315 notes - Posted April 6, 2022

My #1 post of 2022

Audio doesn't match subtitles incident, thousands dead millions injured

38,415 notes - Posted July 19, 2022

Get your Tumblr 2022 Year in Review →

[mojavepumpkin]

2/6/24

interesting day today; got home at 10:40, it's 12:20 now. work was ok, I mean - closing was bad. really bad. its not on me though, so whatever. maybe its easier to cope when i can blame someone other than myself. the rest was good, i breaded today, which ive grown an affinity towards. ive been getting scheduled with P more than anyone else; he always puts me on breading. its cool to bread when hes managing because we can talk, which makes the time go faster.

before that i ate pizza, and a chicken breast as a kind of late lunch - i didnt eat much at school (H wanted it) - though i did eat breakfast which is semi-rare. It was a sausage biscuit. getting out of the school today was horrible, i think im gonna start leaving through the side exit down to new school road to avoid the traffic - also my theory has been basically confirmed, it is indeed easier, faster, and more fuel efficient to circumnavigate the traffic by going through deloach rather than to push through it in the morning.

i missed a beta meeting this morning, i dont know how many points i have - i dont care. C sat with me at breakfast today, which is a rare occurrence, i think me and him are becoming somewhat closer but i cant really tell. i missed the beta meeting because i didn't know about it in the first place but i would've made it ironically had i not woken up with greasy hair and decided to wash it this morning, and had i not taken the 'faster' way.

art class was good - well, we didn't get to talk much at all... actually, i take it back, art class was subpar. very little banter ensued, which is the real reason im in there. we had to do actual work. sucked. biology was fine, took a quiz, 96, test friday. im pretty sure she heard me refer to pollen as 'plant nut'.

lunch food sucked, but i didn't eat much of it so does that matter? english was fine, she attempted a pop quiz but i had already heard about it- plus it got interrupted by a tornado drill - which i'm pretty sure we failed. our plan is shoddy at best, we had kids double stacked on the walls. public speaking was interesting as always, meditated in there. which i might start doing regularly, i was anxious in there for some reason, meditating helped. mrs. waters reminds me of mrs. kelly.

i got mcdonald's after work, but ordered from the wrong one (the ghetto one by the college) so i had to go across town to get it, which added like 30 minutes to my route. the sandwich wasn't even that good. oh well. c'est la vie.

i should be going to sleep but i feel like im owed some me-time, and this is pretty much all im going to get. im gonna restrict instagram to 25 minutes a day, i think. ive reverted back to being a diet coke fiend. one of life's greatest pleasures is an ice cold diet coke from a can.

i need to put gas in my car but im trying to get it to where my mom has to fill it up when she drives my car on friday, i have 85 miles, its tuesday. i dont think im going to make it. i have a haircut one of these days, but im not sure when. ive been thinking about growing it out again, mostly because i saw chip gaines on that fixer upper show, and i think it looked kind of good in a weird way. but haircut for now.

i think writing about my day at the end of it is a good way to end my day. i need to get night face cream, i probably need to shave. if its not cold id like to get outside tomorrow. my legs hurt from standing all day. i cleaned my room today. ive been thinking about going to church. idk with whom. its been so long since ive been. maybe im missing out on something? idk, i'd go with C and M.E., shes invited me before, weird to think im actually considering it.

i suppose this is long enough already.

its only tuesday. i cant believe its only tuesday.

[buddienights]

Stage Four Eddie Diaz and this art by @like-the-rest-of-la fried my brain ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ (and Buck’s). Someday I’ll write a fic for this account on something besides my phone and will know how many words it is going in.

Rated E for “exceptionally inappropriate use of a club bathroom”

“Oh, sorry to hear that, Buckaroo,” Hen says.

“Yeah, thanks, Hen,” Buck says, a little rote. He should be feeling something about this but he just…isn’t. Except maybe relief, but he doesn’t want to unpack that.

“What did Eddie say?” she asks.

“I mean, I texted him last night,” Buck says, lacing up his other boot. “He got kinda weird about it?”

Like Eddie hasn’t been weird for the past eight months.

“Weird how?” Hen asks.

Buck shrugs and finishes the buttons on his shirt. “Where is he anyway?”

“Sorry I’m running behind this morning,” Eddie says, running into the locker room and dropping his bag on the bench.

“Speak of the devil,” Hen says.

“Thought my ears were burning,” Eddie replies with a warm smile in her direction before he goes to pull off his shirt and grab his uniform. He glances over at Buck while he does and it’s the first good look Buck’s gotten at him since he’s shown up.

Buck misses a button.

“How are you?” Eddie asks, eyes warm and full of concern and not weird at all, except for the — except for the hair.

Which is weird.

Which is fucking hot.

“I’m—” Buck starts and then realises what he’s done with his buttons.

While he starts trying to fix the problem, Eddie continues, “We should all go out tomorrow night. Take your mind off things. There’s this club Karen’s been wanting to go to. We could make it a thing. The four of us.”

“Uh, ye—yeah, sure,” Buck says, still trying not to stare at Eddie’s new haircut. He wants to put his hands in it. He wants to put his hands in it and he wants to pull on it to see if the strands are as silky and soft as they look and then he wants to—

“Hen?” Eddie asks. He’s opted for a short sleeved uniform today and Buck thinks the dry cleaners must’ve done something to it because it’s tight around his biceps, more so than usual, and that’s—

“Uh, yeah, I’ll ask Karen about it,” Hen says, blinking back surprise. “Maybe my mom can look after the boys for a sleepover.”

“Sounds great,” Eddie says, and then claps Buck on the shoulder and leaves the locker room.

For a beat, Buck and Hen stare after him in equal confusion.

“I see what you mean about weird,” Hen says.

“Uh huh,” Buck replies which is about as close as he can get to coherency.

“The only clubs my wife knows are gay bars,” she adds.

“Well, at least no women will hit on me,” Buck says.

“Uh huh,” Hen agrees, and through the glass of the locker room, they watch Eddie soft-shoe through some pre-shift chores, looking almost like he’s whistling to himself. “We gonna be concerned about your best friend just asking us on a double date to a gay bar?”

“We’re not gonna think about it for now,” Buck replies.

Hen nods and they’re saved by the bell.

~*~*~*~*~

Buck spends most of the next day sleeping. Their shift had been busy, and he’d been distracted by Eddie’s haircut and good mood. It wasn’t good enough to be infectious, because it was so strange, but it was undeniable.

At the end of the shift he’d made plans to drop Christopher and his truck off at Hen’s and then the three of them could share a Lyft to the club. Buck, on account of already living closer than the others, was on his own for transit.

And so Buck sleeps, and then he showers, and he tries to do something interesting with his hair but it’s the wrong cut for him to really do anything.

Instead he just tries to find decent clothes. Half of his wardrobe — the stuff that makes him look decent at least — he keeps hearing Taylor’s voice in the back of his head telling him it makes him look hot, and he’s gonna have to go shopping. He’s going to have to replace his entire closet.

He winds up with a snug black shirt and jeans and decides to call it good. It’s not like he’s going to pick someone up. He’s just going to have a nice time with friends.

The others beat him to the place and when he gets there, Buck lets the throbbing pulse of the music and the swirling purple and pink and blue lights over the dance floor just completely overwhelm his senses and drag him out of his head. While he heads to the bar to get a drink and a better vantage point, the lights cycle through to oranges and white to go with the pink, and by the time he reaches the bar, they’ve cycled again to the full rainbow.

Buck reaches the bar and smiles awkwardly when the bartender visibly checks him out. At basically any other point in his life, Buck would simply be flattered. But right now he’s…

“What can I get you, handsome?” the bartender asks.

“What IPAs do you have?” Buck asks since he can’t quite make out the stained menu on the bar.

“You made it!”

Eddie’s voice comes from behind him, almost a shout to be heard over the music.

Buck turns to greet him and promptly loses control of his legs and has to drop to the nearest barstool to keep from falling down entirely.

Because it’s not just Eddie’s hair.

And it’s not just the bright smile he’s aiming in Buck’s direction.

And it’s not just the eyeliner smudged underneath his eyes.

And it’s not just the black mesh shirt that shows off Eddie’s formidable musculature or his chest hair.

And it’s not just the leather pants Eddie is wearing.

It’s the combination of all of those things and Buck’s pretty sure he’s gonna have to collect his bottle of beer from the bartender and stick it between his legs to get himself to calm the fuck down.

Eddie says something to him then, but with the combination of the music and Buck’s entirely unreasonable response to Eddie’s outfit, Buck doesn’t pick up a single word. Eddie notices, rolls his eyes fondly, has a quick exchange with the bartender, and then leans up close and personal into Buck’s space. Clasps a hand on his shoulder. Leans in to put his mouth right beside Buck’s ear. Basically presses Buck’s face into the intoxicating warmth of his chest.

“I was worried you were gonna play hooky,” Eddie says in Buck’s ear, lips close enough to brush softly against the shell.

Buck’s only saving grace is that the same loud atmosphere that necessitates this closeness also covers the embarrassing whimper that comes out of his mouth.

“Ha, nope,” Buck says.

Eddie squeezes his shoulder, thumb gently stroking over the muscle at the side of his neck, and smiles when he leans back. He collects their beers from the bartender and beckons Buck along towards a table where Hen and Karen are snuggled up together. Buck watches him go for a second, unable to make his eyes move away from Eddie entirely, and incapable of picking whether to focus on the shifting of his back muscles under the mesh shirt or the gratuitous way the leather pants cling to his ass.

He only remembers to stand up and follow when Eddie pauses to look over his shoulder at Buck in confusion. He’s glad, when he gets to the table, that Hen seems as stunned by Eddie’s transformation as he is. Maybe not with the same result, but while Eddie and Karen chat about something — wildly, Buck is pretty sure they’re talking about PTA stuff — Hen joins him in slack-faced staring.

“So, this isn’t a question I’ve ever thought to ask you before,” she says, leaning into Buck’s side of the booth. “But you seem…comfortable in a gay bar for a straight man.”

Buck lifts an eyebrow at her. “Like half the stories I told you guys when I was a probie about the people I hooked up with were about men.”

He says it a little louder than he means to — honestly just trying to be heard over the music — but there’s a definite pause in Eddie and Karen’s conversation. Neither of them turn to look, but Buck is pretty sure Eddie goes a little pink.

Which, serves him right.

“Oh,” Hen says. “Never mind then.”

She takes a sip of her drink, some kind of house speciality based on a cosmo as far as Buck’s lapsed mixology certification can determine, and then adds quietly, “So you are in love with Eddie, right?”

“That’s what your end question was?” Buck asks.

The mesh shirt shows off all of Eddie’s arms and whenever he lifts his bottle to take a drink, the muscles there flex just a little, and leaves Buck incomparably parched.

“Yeah, I just thought I was gonna have to talk you through a minor sexuality crisis first,” Hen replies.

“Not since I was a senior in high school,” Buck assures her.

Eddie lifts his arm again, muscles coiling and shifting beautifully.

Buck sulkily fellates his beer in response.

“We should dance,” Karen announces.

Eddie’s up and out of the booth almost as soon as she says it, pausing by the end of the table to polish off his drink. Karen copies him, as does Hen. Buck stays right where he is.

“You coming?” Eddie asks him, eyes bright and — and hopeful?

“I’m — you don’t want to see me dance, man, trust me,” Buck says. Which is true, but the truer truth is that he doesn’t know if he’s going to be fully capable of keeping his hands to himself. Not when they’re both single now and Eddie keeps looking at him like that while also looking like that.

“Buck,” Eddie says, fondly exasperated. “The point of coming out here tonight is to cheer you up, not so you can nope in a booth.”

“I’m cheery,” Buck says, forcing a smile. Eddie raises an eyebrow, unconvinced. “Promise. Go have fun.”

Eddie looks like he might argue a bit more but Hen and Karen pull him along to the dance floor. Buck stays when you he is, just watching. Hen and Karen look like they’re having a great time, and Eddie proves to be an exceptional shimmier.

Buck really doesn’t have any intention of dancing with them. Not until some guy dances up to Eddie, getting his hands all over the mesh covering Eddie’s torso, and breathing his introductions into Eddie’s ear. Buck’s stomach churns.

And then Eddie catches his eye, pointedly.

It occurs to Buck after he’s already moving that there’s no way Eddie would actually need saving in this situation. The guy’s flirty by way of being handsy but he’s not threatening. Buck can tell that even from afar.

But he only has these moments of clarity when he’s already in the process of plastering himself along Eddie’s back and smoothing his palms possessively over the flat planes of Eddie’s abs to fix on his hips and pull him close. It’s the closest he’s been to Eddie since— and fuck but he never wants to let go.

Eddie snakes his arm up around Buck’s shoulders and scratches at the short hair at the nape of his neck.

“Hey, baby, sorry I left you out here alone,” Buck says, loudly enough for the guy hitting on Eddie to hear him.

He’s pretty sure Eddie laughs, and the guy takes a second to look wistfully disappointed before smiling and shaking his head.

“Didn’t mean to intrude,” he assures them.

“No hard feelings,” Eddie promises. He keeps scratching his fingers at Buck’s hair, soothing and electric all at once. “Got him to come dance with me, so, thank you.”

“Happy to help,” the guy says. He looks them over again and Buck tries not to glare. “And thank you for your public service of, like, looking like that.”

Despite himself, Buck laughs, as does Eddie, and the guy dances off.

“Sorry,” Buck says, starting to pull his hands away from Eddie.

But Eddie just twists in his arms and stays pressed to him. “For which part?”

“I — I don’t remember,” Buck says, not entirely able to form full thoughts on account of the way they’re now swaying to the beat.

“The only thing that you should be sorry for is the fact you weren’t gonna dance with me,” Eddie says. He winds an arm around Buck’s neck and scratches at his scalp again. It makes Buck want to purr.

“Okay, seriously, what’s gotten into you?” Buck asks.

Eddie’s bright, flirty expression dims and he sighs — not that Buck can hear him over the music. He unwinds his arm from Buck’s shoulder and steps back out of his grasp. Before Buck can do more than look confused, Eddie snags a finger through one of his belt loops and tugs him away from the dance floor towards the relative quiet of the mens room.

“So?” Buck asks. “What’s going on?”

“I got tired,” Eddie says. He considers and then scrapes a hand over his face, slightly smudging his eyeliner. Because Eddie’s wearing eyeliner and that’s an image Buck’s just gonna file away for later. “No, I got so damn exhausted.”

“Exhausted from what?” Buck asks, concerned. “Are you not sleeping well? Is Chris having nightmares again?”

Eddie laughs, a bit forced and involuntary. “God, you don’t even hear yourself do you?”

“What?”

“You’re — you’re so sweet and you care so much,” Eddie says, and he’s not meeting Buck’s eye. “No, Chris is fine and I’m…sleeping as well as I ever do. I got exhausted from trying to pretend that I’m — that I’m not who I am.”

Buck frowns, scanning the outfit and the hair and, honestly, their location. “And this is…you?”

Eddie’s laugh is a little less forced this time. “No, this is a drastic overcorrection. I’m just so tired of pretending I’m not…”

He gestures widely at the room around them and then sighs and runs a hand through his new hair. “I don’t know.”

“Is there like a general topic section because I could maybe try and guess?” Buck suggests. “If that helps.”

“Yeah, okay,” Eddie says. “General topic of things I’ve been pretending to myself about is you.”

Buck blinks. “Me?”

“Yeah,” Eddie says. He scrapes his fingers through his hair again and now it’s standing on end and god Buck wants to touch it. “You. And the way I’ve been trying to pretend for years now that the way I feel about you is a normal way to feel platonically about your best friend, but I’m so fucking in love with you I don’t know what to do with myself sometimes.”

Love.

Eddie is in love with him.

Not in a platonic friend way.

In love.

It feels like a warm click in his chest that’s a flintlock against kindling, not hollow and cold.

“And I don’t know, I thought maybe, maybe I’d get a haircut and wear the world’s stupidest shirt and change the status quo enough that maybe you’d see me now,” Eddie continues.

“I always see you,” Buck says when he realises he needs to speak.

“I know, I just meant as more,” Eddie says.

Buck takes a step closer to him. “No, I — Eddie, I always see you that way. I just thought—”

I thought you were straight, for one.

I thought you didn’t feel the same.

I thought…

“Ah, fuck it,” Buck says and cups Eddie’s face in his hands.

When his lips meet Eddie’s, the kindling that’s started in his chest ignites. A good, warm and long-burning fire.

The kiss doesn’t last long and they part only far enough to rest their foreheads against each other.

“So,” Eddie starts.

“I love you too,” Buck says. “I mean, you knew that part, I mean I’m in love with you too.”

“Thank god,” Eddie replies and cups the back of Buck’s neck to pull him into another kiss.

This one doesn’t end quickly and it doesn’t stay chaste. Buck traces the seam of Eddie’s lips with his tongue and is quickly met with Eddie’s in response. He runs his hands over Eddie’s shoulders and down the long muscles of his back, slips them under the hem of his shirt to rest comfortably on the bare skin of his lower back.

“I know you said this is a stupid shirt,” Buck mumbles against Eddie’s mouth. “But I really, really like it.”

“Yeah?” Eddie asks, kissing the corner of Buck’s mouth and then along his jaw. “I think I’d like it better on you.”

“That’s fine, I can wear the shirt as long as you keep the leather pants,” Buck says, and dares to slide his hands down to get a good grasp on Eddie’s ass.

Eddie groans against his neck and steers Buck into one of the stalls, fumbling for the lock. Buck helps him with it and then gets his hands back on Eddie’s ass, pressing them together at the hips.

It’d be embarrassing to have to go back into the club this hard.

If only there were things they could do about it.

“I have a suggestion,” Buck says, rolling his hips against Eddie’s while Eddie shoves his hands under Buck’s shirt.

“Yeah?” Eddie asks, leaning far enough from him to pull Buck’s shirt over his head. He takes a moment to hang it on the hook on the back of the stall door, which is both sweet and conscientious of him and then Buck can’t think full words because Eddie’s tracing the tattoos on Buck’s chest with his tongue. In an organised enough way that it seems like something he’s been thinking about and planning for a while now.

“One I think you’re gonna like,” Buck says, pulling Eddie’s shirt off for him as well. It’s only fair and he wants to get his mouth on Eddie’s chest too.

“What is it?” Eddie asks and then interrupts his answer to kiss him again.

Buck lets himself dissolve into Eddie’s mouth for a moment and then clears his throat. “We get off quick, and then make our excuses to Hen and Karen and go home and do it right.”

Eddie nods and runs his hands across Buck’s torso like he’s mapping it and reaches for the button on his jeans. As he undoes it, he says, “And then you stay the night and forget to ever go back to your apartment right?”

“Something like that,” Buck says, reluctantly pulling his hands away from their new favourite resting place and undoing Eddie’s pants too.

He loves that by “home” Eddie understood he meant Eddie’s house.

“Good,” Eddie says. He reaches his hand into the front of Buck’s jeans to draw him out and Buck has to bite down hard on his bottom lip to keep his reaction quiet. Eddie gently — too gently — runs his hand over the length of Buck’s dick, almost like he’s measuring. The soft, “Jesus Christ, Buck,” he utters at the end of his examination is punctuated with a very sticky kiss.

Buck finally gets his own hand into Eddie’s pants and it’s certainly not like Eddie’s anything to scoff at. Buck strokes him a little harder than Eddie had and gets a sharp exhale into his mouth.

“I just realised,” Buck says. With his free hand, he pulls Eddie closer and now it’d only take a quick adjustment for them to rut up against each other.

“Hm?” Eddie asks, nibbling down Buck’s neck.

“We never actually had that dick measuring competition,” Buck says.

Eddie snorts out a laugh and rests his forehead against Buck’s collarbone to look down. The back of his head is blocking Buck’s own view.

Eddie swallows a second later and looks back up. “I think it comes out to just working better together.”

Buck nods in agreement and kisses him again. They can do a more thorough investigation back home if they want.

For the time being, he presses Eddie close enough to get a hand around both of them and groans when Eddie follows suit. The feel of Eddie’s cock sliding beside his, wrapped in both their hands, is one of the better things he’d had the pleasure to experience.

Between Eddie’s hand, and his cock, and the feel of the muscle under Buck’s hand flexing and unflexing, and the headiness of I’m in love with you, it doesn’t take long for Buck to finish, spilling over both of them. Eddie moans against his bare chest and follows.

It takes them a moment of heavy breathing to untangle their hands, and then longer to be willing to separate enough to reach for cleanup stuff.

In the lull time, Buck kisses along Eddie’s jaw and his neck and revels in the feel of his skin.

“I love you so much,” Eddie says.

“I love you so much also,” Buck says, and finally reaches for the tissue.

When they’re clean enough to pass public inspection for as long as it takes to get home, Eddie hands Buck a shirt and pulls on his own. They’re all the way back to the dance floor to find Hen and Karen before Buck realises what Eddie’s done.

“We’re gonna head out for the night,” Eddie says to Karen when they find them in their booth with fresh drinks flashing smitten eyes at each other.

“Okay!” Karen says.

“Nice shirt, Buck,” Hen says.

Eddie smirks and Buck glances down at the mesh covering his own torso.

“Thanks, Hen,” Buck says. “We’ll see you at work.”

“Hopefully, I’ll see—” she gestures at his mostly naked chest. “—less of you.”

Buck nods, and then has to laugh, and is grateful when Eddie pulls him away, fingers tangled through Buck’s.

Hen and Karen’s giggles follow them until they’re lost in the noise of the club.

[under-the-cherrytree]

OMG REQUESTS ARE OPEN?? NO WAY/j

a oneshot with flourist amane and barista reader how would that go 👁️👁️

A Flower and a Cup of Coffee❣︎

Florets Amane x Barista reader

Warnings: none!

A/n: YES THEY ARE

Well they are closed by the time i post this-

BUT I LOVE THIS THOUGHT

I hope you enjoy and have a great day or night!

You sighed peacefully, letting the smell of coffee fill your lungs. You rested your head on the palm of your hand, feeling yourself falling asleep. The coffee shop was emptier than usual and you were waiting for someone to enter the coffee shop.

You soon heard the bell of the coffee shop door opening and you looked up. Your cheeks turned pink as a boy walked in holding a small tree in his hands.

“Delivery~!” The boy smiled at you and you smiled back.

“Good morning, Amane!” You said happily.

“Good morning! I brought you a lovely plant today, an Azalea Bonsai tree!” He placed the small bonsai on the counter.

“It looks very lovely!” You admired the tree, touching the petals of the pink flowers. “I’m sure the manager will be very happy to see it!”

Amane works at the flower shop across the street, coming over to the coffee shop quite often. The manager bought plants from him to fill the coffee shop and he always came by to drop them off and take care of the plants that are already here. He came by so often that you two often talked and even became friends.

Your heart fluttered around the boy which shocked you. He wasn’t the average hot boy, being rather short and having a choppy haircut that he obviously cut himself. However, you couldn’t help but blush whenever he talked to you.

“Also, I’ll have my usual~!” He got your attention.

“A cappuccino? Coming right up!” You started to prepare the order as he waited patiently. You felt his eyes on your body, watching you make the drink in peace.

A grin formed on your face when you made the white top, knowing what art you wanted to make on top. You designed the foam on top until it turned into a big, beautiful heart.

“Here you go~” You hummed as you finally handed him the drink. He felt his heart pound faster in his chest seeing the heart. You never made him a heart before.

“Thank you..!” He took the drink from you but he found it hard to take a sip. It was very beautiful, he didn’t want to ruin the design.

“Is something the matter?” You asked him.

“Not at all! I just really like the design…” He took his phone out, taking a picture of the coffee. “Here! Now I feel a little less guilty ruining your beautiful work!” He laughed. You smiled as he took a sip, enjoying his beauty. You looked at the clock, knowing that your shift is going to end soon. You wanted to stay here longer with Amane, wanting to enjoy his presence.

“My shift is going to end soon…” You sighed and he looked up at you.

“Oh I see” He frowned slightly. “At least it’s Friday. Are you doing anything this weekend?”

You thought for a moment. “No I don’t, do you?”

“Well, maybe you and I can get dinner tomorrow~ I know a good place not too far away from here, I can pick you up at 7” He leaned on the counter closer to you.

“L-like a date…?!” Your cheeks turned red.

“If you want it to be!” He smiled “So what do you say?”

“Sure! I would love to go out on a date with you” You felt your heart pounding in your chest.

“Great!” Relief washed over Amane, happy you didn’t say no. He pulled a rose out of his pocket, handing it to you. “See you tomorrow~” He walked out of the door, leaving you in the coffee shop, shocked.

Your heart was still pounding in your chest. You looked at the rose and you saw a paper taped on it with his number.

You were in silent shock, not knowing how to process this. You were going on a date with Amane.

You soon smiled, examining the rose lovingly.

You couldn't wait for tomorrow.

Tagging~ @hanako-san @old-poptart @sleepless-simp

[mythicaldemigoddess-of-deltarune]

The Gothicrock Animatronics, Charlie, Emma And Moon/Sundrop (2022)

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

Credit for FNAF series goes to Scott Cawthon

Credit for FNAF: Security Breach goes to Steel Wool Studios

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

 at first the little girl in the drawing “Emma” was suppose to be like a updated version of the other one I drew, which once again we don’t what name the girl from the teaser for FNAF Security Breach: Ruin (DLC), will be called.

so that’s why in the first fan art about her, where Sunny is being like a protective dad in it, it has [REDACTED] in place of her true name, and under it is “Emma” like a temporary fan name.

but I think it would make sense that this “Emma” in this drawing here,

is a separate character from the one who is seen in that DLC teaser.

like her full name being Gregoria Emma Afton.

just like Gregory, she has band-aids on her, but in the opposite places from where Gregory has his.

and there is a reason why Emma goes by her middle name, instead of her first name....it can have to do with Gregory and needing to hide who she is.

Gregory might be a Animatronic Doll, who was based on a child who was called

"Gregory" and even had short hair and dressed in the same outfit that Gregory wears, but it turns out that the child that he was based on, was a little girl who was a Tomboy who's name is Gregoria Emma Afton.

so how Gregory appears in the start of the game, is what Emma appeared as when she first went to the Mega Pizzaplex.

because she was dressed and looked like a boy, the scan of her that was used as a template for a new Animatronic Doll that looked really life like to a human child, was used for a hybrid type endoskeleton.

before she was scanned (unknowingly to her and others who came to the Pizzaplex.), she did have her hair in two ponytails and was dressed like how Gregory dresses in the game, but before she could go to the pizzaplex, she ended up getting bubblegum in her hair and she had to get a haircut that looks just like Gregory’s hairstyle in the game.

also my deciding to draw this Emma and even a reindeer animatronic named Dawn (even if it is just a insignia or symbol of her.)

was inspired by a video I saw that had to do with FNAF-SB Ruin DLC.

so it’s possible that the girl [REDACTED] might not end up being blonde.

Gregoria Emma Afton or just “Emma”, coming back to the Pizzaplex,

can be around the time when Gothic-Rock Animatronics come along.

I’m not 100% sure what they would look like, but I could try to do a Gothicrock drawing of Dawn The Reindeer when I can.

also the video that inspired Dawn in the first place, also talked about Gregory secretly being a girl, I mean I already had that theory.

that Gregory is either a girl, or he has a twin sister who we have been playing as the whole time in the game, and her twin brother could of been one of the missing children in the news paper.

but the theory of Gregory being a girl, could be technically right, but it would be the one that Gregory was based on that was used as his hybrid endoskeleton’s template.

Gregory might be 100% Human in some of the FNAF AU Timelines,

but it could turn out that in the canon game, he is a Animatronic Doll.

a Animatronic Doll, looks like a lifelike real human being.

but their eyes can start to glitch and static, because of whatever Vanny does that make it do so.

if the clones are canon, then the clones of Gregory, could be other Animatronic Dolls that were created just in case something went wrong with the original.

Emma’s light-up shoes were originally suppose to be red and purple, like the one in the teaser, but because I decide to have this Emma be a different person from the girl in the teaser, I decide to change it to yellow and blue.

the idea for “Gothicrock Animatronics” is that they are suppose to be successors to the Glamrock Animatronics.

even if Gothic-Rock Animatronics, might be Fanon only and it might not happen in the canon, I hope some fans like the idea.

anyway I will sign back on later or tomorrow, right now I need to sleep...

also I think Gothicrock Foxy would be lead singer for the Gothicrocks. 

see ya later and stay safe everyone...            

[theladyofdeath]

The Return 2 {The Arrival, Part 2}

Summary: Back at the lake house, ten years later… Collaboration with @snelbz - part 2 to the sequel!

Word Count: 7136

The Arrival Series Masterlist

Shelby’s Masterlist

Tara’s Masterlist

Even ten years later, Elain was still the first one awake whenever they took family vacations. She had woken up with the sun, tried — and failed, miserably — to rouse Azriel from sleep, read her devotions, gotten in some yoga, and started on breakfast, all before she heard the first footstep from anywhere in the house. But soon enough, she heard slow, sleepy steps on the stairs, though they headed towards the back of the house rather than towards the kitchen.

Ruling out Lannan and his voracious appetite, along with Thorn, Bennett, and John, Elain waited, mixing up the pancake batter after she put a large pan of bacon into the oven.

A few minutes later, Scarlett appeared, dragging a still half-asleep Cassian by the hand. He was yawning and had a hair brush, comb and two hair ties in his hand.

“Good morning, you two,” she laughed, pouring Cassian a cup of coffee, which he looked like he desperately needed.

He mumbled something that sounded like a typical morning greeting, while Scarlett gave her a sleepy smile after climbing up onto one of the barstools. “G’morning, Aunt Lainey. Are we having pancakes for breakfast?”

“And bacon,” she replied, smiling at her youngest niece. Layla and Scarlett had sleepovers all the time, being the two youngest and close in age.

Scarlett grinned and turned to Cassian. “Remember, I want two braids, daddy, not just one.”

He nodded, still drinking his coffee, but handed her the brush to start detangling her long, waist-length hair.

“Nesta not up yet?” Elain chuckled, pouring some of the batter into the hot pan.

“I like it better when daddy braids my hair. Mommy makes it too fancy,” Scarlett replied, scrunching up her nose.

“That’s right,” Cassian mumbled, running his fingers through his youngest’s hair. “Dad keeps the braids messy.”

Elain laughed quietly as she continued to make breakfast. “Well, if you have the magic touch, I may make you braid Layla’s hair. She always complains when I do it, and the art of braiding isn’t exactly one of Azriel’s many talents.”

“We don’t need to hear about Azriel’s many talents,” Cassian warned.

Elain jabbed him in the ribs, which only made Cassian laugh as he began to braid his daughter's hair.

“Is Thorn going back to jail today?” Scarlett asked.

Cassian sighed, Scarlett wincing as he made sure his braid was tight. “No, Thorn’s not going back to jail, ever.”

The ten-year-old rolled her eyes. “Never say never, daddy.”

Elain chuckled as she set a giant mountain of pancakes on the island. “Give your brother a break. He’s a good boy.”

“No, he’s not,” Scarlett said, earning a snap from Cassian for her to stay still while he worked. “He swears too much and he smells yucky.”

“All teenage boys swear too much and smell yucky,” Cassian promised. “Just wait until you’re a teenager and you like those yucky boys.”

“I’m not ever going to like boys,” Scarlett promised. “I’m going to stay single and awesome forever.”

Elain shook her head, humored, as she watched her niece.

“That would make daddy very happy and I’m holding you to it,” he replied, tying the elastic around the end of the braid and starting on the second.

“Aunt Lainey, does Luna like smelly teenage boys?” Scarlett asked, looking up at her.

Luna was Scarlett’s idol. Everything the girl did, the younger one was right behind, whether it was a trend, style or even just following her around. And Luna handled it well, for a sixteen-year-old girl. She never complained, even when her own baby sister was in tow. Cassian was sure that because she was a carbon-copy of Elain, right down to the soft, caramel colored eyes.

Elain smirked as she set a plate down in front of Scarlett, a small stack of pancakes on top of it. She pulled the bacon out of the oven before replying. “Oh, she does. And Uncle Az is not happy about it.”

“Isn’t happy about what?” The man in question asked as he rounded the corner, heading straight for the coffee pot. He paused to kiss Elain’s cheek. “Morning, beautiful.”

“Luna Bug’s boyfriend,” Cassian smirked, watching as Azriel’s good mood deflated.

“We don’t talk about him,” Azriel said, quietly, as he filled his mug. “And definitely not this early in the morning.”

“He has a name,” Elain said, simply. “And you should call him by it.”

“The name I have for him shouldn’t be said around Scar,” Azriel said, pausing as he passed her to kiss the top of his niece’s head.

“He’s a good kid,” Elain said, rolling her eyes. “And I think Luna and Lachlan are good for each other.”

“Lachlan,” Scarlett repeated. “I like that name.”

Cassian’s grin only widened as he looked up at Azriel, who sat at the table, sipping from his mug.

“Just wait until she thinks she’s old enough to date,” Azriel said, gesturing to Scarlett.

“Oh no,” Cassian said, shaking his head. “She’s already informed me that she’s staying single and awesome forever, so.”

Azriel snorted as the twins came into the room, followed by John, whose hair was sticking up in every which direction.

“Mom says she’s taking a shower then she’ll be out to help make breakfast,” John said, yawning as he flicked Olive on the back of the ear. She flipped him off, which earned a gasp from Scarlett and a laugh from Cassian.

“No need, your Aunt has been up since the crack of dawn,” Azriel said, nodding toward the food. “Eat up.”

John didn’t need to be told twice. At fourteen, he was eating more than nearly everyone else - followed closely by his older boy cousins, who were, no doubt, still sound asleep.

Lily was still mortified by her new haircut, but thanks to a French braid of some sort, it could barely be noticed. She and Olive got a couple of pancakes each and talked to each other quietly.

Once Scarlett’s hair was finished, Cassian got his own breakfast, splashing a bit of whiskey into Azriel’s coffee and his own when he thought no one was looking, and sat down at the table. Mid bite, his chewing slowed down as he looked at Olive. “Liv, I think you still have makeup from yesterday on. You’ll probably want to get that off before we go on the boat.”

She rolled her dark, lined eyes. “It’s Olive, Uncle Cass, and it’s waterproof eyeliner. I’ll be fine.”

Lily, fresh faced, shook her head. “She’s too cool to be seen without her makeup anymore.”

Elain was chuckling at the stove as the two girls quietly bickered and Cassian was immediately grateful he only had one daughter.

“What’re we doing today?” John asked, his mouth full.

“Ask when your mouth isn’t full and I’ll tell you,” Cassian said, sitting next to his middle child.

“Yeah, John, have some manners.” Thorn entered the room, grumpy as hell, the first thing out of his mouth directed at his younger brother.

“Says the asshole that spent yesterday in jail,” John muttered, mouth still full.

“Watch your mouth,” Cassian snapped, his mouth also full.

Azriel just shook his head, watching the three of them. He looked at Scarlett. “How do you and your mom handle those three?”

Scarlett shrugged as she hopped off her stool. With a piece of bacon in each hand, she said, “We stick together. Girl power.”

Elain laughed, winking at her niece as she fled from the room.

Layla appeared a minute later, on Rhysand’s back, wide-eyed and chipper. Bennett was soon behind, and Cassian snorted.

“How is it that the kids from your side are the ones still asleep when Elain is one of the first ones up?” he asked, looking at Azriel.

“Luna’s probably awake and talking to-.”

“If you say his name again, I’ll lose my appetite, then my mood will be destroyed for the rest of the day,” Azriel said, holding up his hand and looking at his wife.

“Lachlan is so sweet though,” Lily said, sighing, and Olive nodded, which earned them a look from both Rhys and Azriel.

“Teenage boys aren’t sweet,” Rhys told his daughters. “They’re crafty, lying, disgusting creatures.”

Lily and Olive looked at Thorn and Bennett, both shoveling food into their mouths. Their brother responded. “What?”

“Aren’t you going to say he’s wrong?” Olive asked, looking between them.

“No, because then I’d be lying and proving him right,” Bennett replied.

“And we’re pretty disgusting,” Thorn added, shoving an entire piece of bacon into his mouth in two bites. Bennett nodded and was getting up for seconds when Rhys stopped him.

“Save some food for your mothers, please,” he said. “After mom and Aunt Nesta eat, you can get more.”

Layla quietly approached Cassian and tapped on his shoulder, asking if he could braid her hair, too. He gave Elain a knowing look, but picked Layla up and set her in Scarlett’s vacated seat. “Only cause you’re the cutest one here,” he whispered, so only she could hear. She giggled and nodded, sitting still as he went to work.

Nesta and Feyre made their way into the kitchen soon after, with Azriel going to retrieve Lannan, who was still sleeping like the dead. Luna was the last to arrive, claiming she’d slept in, too.

“Y’all wanna make some sandwiches for the boat while we get everything ready to go?”

Cassian asked Nesta and his sister-in-laws.

“You don’t want to come back for lunch?” Nesta asked. “You want to keep nine kids on a boat all day?”

He shrugged. “They'll be swimming and wakeboarding and tubing. They’ll be busy. Plus Thorn and Bennett are taking out the jet skis.”

Thorn raised his hand.

Bennett gave him a high-five.

John frowned. “Why can’t I take one of the jet skis?”

“Because we’re older,” Thorn said, simply.

“That’s not fair,” John argued. “What kind of argument is that?”

“Thorn and Bennett are taking the jet-skis,” Cassian said, his voice holding no room for argument. “You can take one tomorrow.”

“Ooooh, me too,” Luna said. “I call one for tomorrow.”

Thorn rolled his eyes, the only sign that he was annoyed.

The second that Nesta and Feyre sat down with their breakfasts, Thorn, Bennett, and John were on their feet, fighting for what was left.

“Animals,” Lily scoffed, taking Olive by the elbow and leading her down the hall to their room to get ready.

Thirty minutes and almost just as many sandwiches later, everyone was loading onto the boat, save for Thorn and Bennett who took off towards the jet-skis as soon as they were given the okay. After strict instructions to stay within sight of the parents, they were firing them up and taking off, Cassian starting the boat and following behind.

Elain fell into the seat at the front with her oldest daughter, wrapping an arm around her as the wind whipped back their hair. “What’s Lachlan doing this weekend?”

Her knees were tucked under her chin and she looked out over the passing water. “He and his parents went to Orynth. They’re touring a college there, but he doesn’t want to be that far from home.”

“Far from home or far from you?” Elain asked, nudging her slightly.

Luna blushed. “Both.”

Lachlan was a year older than Luna, so college was much more prevalent on his mind, as a senior. Or it should have been, had Luna not already had her five-year-plan made, starting with attending the University of Velaris and ending with a degree in business and communications, an internship under her belt and an entry-level position in a company she could grow at.

“Sounds serious,” Elain said.

“Too serious,” Azriel muttered, and both of them turned around, unaware that Azriel was just on the other side. Elain lifted a brow. “What? She’s sixteen.”

“Exactly,” Luna said, crossing her arms. “I’m not a child anymore, dad.”

Azriel didn’t respond. He simply walked to the cooler, opened a beer, and sat next to Rhysand.

“Ignore him,” Elain said, her arm around Luna. “He’ll come around.”

“Doubtful,” Luna muttered.

“You’re the oldest girl in the family,” Feyre said, as she took the seat on her other side. “You finding a boyfriend is uncharted territory.”

“It’s just not fair,” she said, simply. “Thorn and Ben have had tons of girlfriends, since middle school, and no one has ever batted an eye. I get my first serious boyfriend, and dad…” She shook her head as she glanced at Azriel, who was sipping his beer with a rigid jaw. “It’s like I’m a criminal or something.”

“And you weren’t even the one in jail,” John muttered, gazing out over the water.

Cassian hit him upside the back of the head.

“Dad will come around,” Elain promised again.

“Maybe we should keep the boyfriend talk to a minimum,” Luna muttered. “At least for this weekend.”

“Why?” Feyre asked, propping her feet up in the empty second chair and giving her niece a comforting smile. “He’s going to have to get used to you dating eventually. And Lachlan is very sweet. You could’ve ended up with someone like your Uncle Cassian. He’ll get used to you having a boyfriend. I promise.”

Cassian brought the boat to a stop, effectively ending the conversation and started unloading the wakeboarding equipment.

“Can we ride tubes first, Uncle Cass?” Lily asked. “Tubing always gets saved for last and we never have much time thanks to you guys wakeboarding for hours.”

He was about to protest, even though he knew she was right, even with the unnecessary eye rolling, but Nesta said, “I think starting with tubing is a good idea. Let those two expend some of their energy before they board and try to do tricks they can’t accomplish. No trips to the hospital this year.”

The year before, there had been two trips to the hospital. One for Bennett, who’d gotten a concussion, and one for Cassian…who had thrown out his back, thanks to thinking he was still youthful enough to complete some of the tricks he had attempted.

He wasn’t.

This year, they were having none of that.

“Fine,” Cassian sighed. “Get out the tubes.”

The kids let out a round of excited yells, and up ahead, Bennett and Thorn were riding circles around each other.

Cassian, Rhysand, and Azriel took turns driving, seeing which of the kids they could throw off their tubes. Even Luna almost let out a curse - almost, but not quite.

Once they were done, everyone grabbed a sandwich as the wakeboarding began. Thorn was the first to go, which meant that John got his jetski, so everyone was happy.

At least until Thorn wiped out, then he was just pissed.

When everyone was worn out, Cassian brought the boat back to the dock, and one by one, everyone got off to slowly make their way back up to the house.

Rhysand was the last to get off, carrying a sleeping Layla up the hill. He laid his niece down in her bed before fighting everyone for one of the two showers.

“So what’s on the agenda for the rest of the day?” He asked as he stepped into the kitchen, fighting off a yawn.

Nesta was doing the same and Elain chuckled. “Seems like everyone could use some downtime. Why don’t we let the kids do their thing, take naps if they want, and we’ll start dinner around five-thirty?”

“A nap sounds awesome,” Nesta said, wrapping her arms around Cassian’s waist and laying her head on his chest. From the look on his face, he didn’t think she meant it literally. From the look on hers, she did.

And so everyone went their separate ways. Most of the kids ended up in the bonus room, either playing Xbox or entertaining themselves in someway. Ironically, only Luna and Lannan decided to lay down for naps, and Nesta, of course.

Elain’s alarm on her phone went off, letting her know it was five-thirty. She and Azriel had taken advantage of their alone time and were now just laying in bed together, although Azriel it seemed was half-asleep now that it was time to get up.

She looked up at him, eyes closed and lips parted and pressed a kiss to his cheek. He responded by rolling his head to the side, looking for her lips without opening his eyes. She kissed him again, but pulled away when his tongue brushed against her bottom lip.

Laughing softly, she got out of bed and started getting dressed. Azriel watched her with sleepy eyes. “I’m going to get Feyre so we can start making tacos. Will you get the kids up around six?”

He nodded, tucking an arm behind his head and closing his eyes again. She leaned down and pressed a kiss to the end of his nose. “Don’t fall asleep.”

“That’s asking a lot,” he replied, catching her before she could stand up, twining his fingers into her hair. “You wore me out.”

“Hush,” she said, blushing, and kissed him again before slipping out the door.

He heard a knock on a door down the hall and then Feyre’s voice joined Elain’s. The word daddy was unmistakable as they walked away and he couldn’t help but chuckle even as he blushed and covered his face with Elain’s pillow.

Once the smell of delicious food cooking started wagging towards their room, he decided it was time to get up, get dressed, and wake up his kids, knowing it’d be time to eat soon.

He stopped off in the boy’s room first, knowing Lannan would be the easiest to rouse. All he had to say was tacos, and his son was up and hurrying downstairs to help in any way he could, if it meant he could eat quicker.

Layla was still fast asleep in the room she and Scarlett shared, her braid messy from sleep. Getting her up was easy enough. She didn’t require bribery or any tricks, she liked to do as she was told. He just had to tell her that mama needed help in the kitchen and she slipped off to do what she could.

Luna’s room was at the end of the hall. She shared a room with the twins, but they were upstairs and already being told to go to the kitchen, which meant she surely was sound asleep.

Azriel didn’t bother knocking before he opened the door. “Hey, dinner’s-.”

“Fuck, Luna-.”

Luna dropped her phone and looked over her shoulder. Her eyes went wide in horror. “Dad!”

Azriel quickly shut the door, his hand remaining on the knob for a moment before he dropped it, and slowly walked down the hall, toward the kitchen.

He had not seen much, considering Luna had been under the blankets, but he knew enough about technology and the teenage mind to know exactly what had been going on.

Azriel was going to be sick.

He hadn’t even noticed the chatter going on in the kitchen as he entered.

Rhysand was in the middle of a sentence, even though Azriel had no idea what he had been saying, when Azriel said, “Elain, a word.”

The tone of his voice must’ve created alarm, because the room went quiet. Without noticing if Elain was following, Azriel walked into the living room.

He sat back on the couch, nausea brewing in the pit of his stomach.

Elain timidly entered a moment later. “You okay, babe? You look like you’ve seen a ghost.”

“Worse,” he said, without any hesitation. “So much worse.”

He quickly and concisely explained what he’d seen, which thankfully wasn’t much, but he knew. Oh, gods, he knew.

He heard the male voice on the other side of the video call, recognized it and hated it all the same, especially the way that voice had said his daughter’s name.

“Why didn’t you knock?” Elain asked, shaking her head as she rubbed at a spot between her eyes.

“I thought she’d be asleep!” He defended, throwing his hands up.

“She’s a teenage girl, Az,” she sighed. “Regardless, you should have knocked. She could have been changing.”

“I wish she would’ve been!” His cheeks were on fire. “That would’ve been better than…that.”

Elain stood. “I’ll go get her. Why don’t you and the boys go eat on the deck? Some fresh air might help.”

He nodded, but didn’t say anything.

“Do not be mad at her,” she added before leaving the room. “It’s not her fault you didn’t knock.”

“She shouldn’t be having video sex with her boyfriend while we’re on a family vacation,” he whispered, shooting to his feet.

“At least she didn’t get arrested having sex in the back of a truck. So this isn’t the worst thing that could have happened on this vacation,” Elain replied.

“No,” he said, heading towards the kitchen to get a plate of food. “It’s the worst thing that could have happened to me, period.”

Elain rolled her eyes, watching as Azriel stormed into the kitchen and out of sight.

Calmly, she walked down to the end of the hall and knocked on the last door.

She could hear Luna sniffling. “Yeah?”

“It’s mom,” Elain said, leaning against the door. “Can I come in?”

A second passed. “Yes.”

Elain opened the door to find Luna sitting up on her bed, wearing a hoodie and wrapped in a blanket, as if she couldn’t get enough clothes onto her body. Her eyes were red and puffy.

Elain sat on the edge of the bed and looked at her daughter. “Care to tell me your side of the story?”

Luna shook her head, then looked at her hands as she said, “We were just facetime-ing. It got...slightly intimate, nothing was even really going on, and then dad walked in.” Her face fell into her hands. “Too much was going on for him to walk in on, though, I’ll tell you that. I’ve never been so embarrassed in my life. I just hung up. Lachlan probably thinks that I just lost connection.”

Elain huffed through her nose. “Look, I don’t know exactly what your father saw, he couldn’t exactly get the words out-.”

“Me, topless, showing my boyfriend my boobs,” Luna supplied, her face still in her hands. “I mean, I was mostly under the blankets, but… I think he got the point.”

Elain had to bite her tongue to keep from laughing. Usually, she wouldn’t find things so funny, but this was Luna. Luna, who never did anything wrong. The fact that she was just like every other teenage girl, that she was just like Elain and her sisters at sixteen, was…almost refreshing.

She scooted closer and wrapped her arms around her daughter. “Your dad is having a hard time processing that his little girl isn’t so little anymore.”

“That’s an understatement,” she scoffed. “This is worse than my first period, first bra and first date combined.”

Elain couldn’t stop her chuckle again. “I think we’re probably gonna spend the rest of the evening separated. We’re gonna do our thing and the boys will do theirs. Are you hungry?”

Luna shrugged, fiddling with her phone case.

“You sure? Aunt Feyre and I made tacos.”

Looking up at her, eyes still puffy and blush still on her cheeks, Luna said, “I guess I could eat.”

“Good,” Elain said, kissing her forehead and taking her daughter’s face in her hands. “I know you’re a smart girl, and I know you care about Lachlan. But if and when things move past just showing him your boobs on FaceTime, promise me you’ll be careful.”

Luna’s cheeks were blood red again and she shook her head. “I haven’t… we haven’t… I’m still a virgin, mom.”

Elain stifled her laughter again. “I know you are, sweetie. All I’m asking is that whenever the time comes, promise me you’ll use that beautiful brain of yours and don’t let hormones get in the way. And when we get home, we can talk about birth control if you want to.”

Luna’s eyes went wide. “You’d…let me get on the pill? What about dad? He’d lose it if he found out.”

“If it means you’re being smart and safe, yes.” Elain smiled, and took her daughter’s hand. “And don’t worry about your father. I can handle him.”

“He’s awfully dramatic,” Luna mumbled. “He’s just passionate,” Elain said, correcting her. “Which means he loves as fiercely as he loses it.”

Luna chuckled, and nodded. “Let me text Lachlan about why I hung up so suddenly, then I’ll be out.”

Elain kissed Luna’s forehead before hopping off of the bed. “I’ll make you a plate of tacos.”

“Thanks, mom,” Luna said, as Elain walked out, and Elain knew it was for much more than the food.

As she walked back into the kitchen, all of the boys were out on the back porch, leaving the girls inside.

“We’re thinking about having a girls night,” Feyre said, as Elain approached. “Chick flicks, painting our nails, and mud masks?”

“I’m here for it,” Elain said. “Luna will be, too.”

Quietly, Feyre asked, “Is everything okay?”

“I’ll fill you in later,” Elain promised, and went to making Luna her plate of food. She came out a minute later, and cleared her entire plate in under five minutes.

When they were done, Legally Blonde was being set up in the living room, and Nesta was carrying out a basket of nail polish.

“Looks like the boys are going for a boat ride,” Nesta said, rolling her eyes. “Hopefully Cass isn’t driving. He can’t drive in the dark. I swear he needs glasses but he’s too stubborn to go get his eyes checked.”

“He’s in denial about getting old, Rhys was the same way,” Feyre sighed, searching through the basket for a color she liked. “But I finally convinced him to go a couple months back.

Now it’s like I have a sexy Clark Kent walking around my house in the evenings.”

“How’d you do that?” Elain asking, carrying wine glasses and a chilled bottle into the room.

The girls were all focused on the huge box of makeup Lily and Olive had brought down from the bonus room, sitting around it and begging Luna to do their makeup. Even Olive was willing to remove her thick eyeliner if it meant Luna would work her magic on her eyebrows.

“I can be very…persuasive,” she replied, filling her glass and taking a sip.

Nesta reached for the remote and turned the movie up to give their conversation a semblance of privacy, turning her attention to her sister. She whispered, “Spill.”

Feyre was blushing, clearly not expecting her sisters to jump on this particular topic. She settled back into the couch cushions and took a much larger drink of her wine. “I…let him go where no man has gone before.”

“What, like, Victoria’s Secret?” Elain asked, brow furrowed in confusion, but from the smirk on Nesta’s face, she knew exactly what Feyre meant.

“No, Lainey, not like Victoria’s Secret,” Nesta said, voice low enough that the kids couldn’t hear them over the movie. “She let him get in her ass.”

Elain blinked once and said, “Oh,” before going back to looking through the nail polish basket.

Feyre and Nesta looked at each other, before looking back at Elain.

Nesta whispered, “That was a very casual Oh.”

Shrugging, Elain glanced up at them, still looking through the basket. “That’s nothing new for us.”

Feyre’s brows shot up as Nesta leaned forward. “Okay, for the two quietest and most private in this family…you two have one hell of a sex life.”

Elain laughed, quietly, as she picked out a soft lavender nail polish. “What? We’ve always liked to keep each other…intrigued…in the bedroom.”

“And was daddy the one to introduce this…act?” Feyre asked, still dumbfounded.

Elain shrugged, falling back on the couch. “We thought we’d give it a try one day, and it was…nice.”

“Nice?” Nesta repeated.

“It’s not for everyone, but…yeah, it was nice,” Elain said. “Anyway, someone paint my right hand, please. My left is too shaky.”

Nesta did as her sister asked, even though Feyre was still staring at her, minutes later. It wasn’t until halfway through the movie, when Luna excused herself to walk into the kitchen, that Nesta excused herself to follow after.

When she walked into the kitchen, Luna was staring out the back door to where the boys were tossing a football around the campfire.

“You okay, Lunabug?” Nesta asked, referring to that old nickname from her childhood that they all still used.

Luna nodded. “Yeah, just…tired, I guess. I think I may head to bed early tonight.”

“I get that, it was a big day,” Nesta smiled, and hugged her eldest niece. “Don’t worry about your dad. I’m sure Uncle Cass and Uncle Rhys have been calming him down all night.”

“I know, I know,” Luna sighed, burying her face in her aunt’s shoulder. “How am I supposed to ever look him in the eye again though? He didn’t see anything, but he knew what was happening. It’s not hard to figure out.”

“You’re almost an adult, sweet girl,” Nesta said, tipping her chin back so she kept her head high. “Sooner or later, your dad is going to have to accept that.”

Luna nodded and hugged her aunt again. Nesta hugged her tighter and said, “How do you think I feel right now? My adult son got caught having sex in public yesterday.” She felt Luna laugh and pulled back to rest her hand against her cheek. “It could be worse. I’m sure you’re embarrassed, but this will pass, okay? Your dad is overbearing because he loves you.”

Luna’s smile was small, but Nesta could tell it was genuine. “I know. Thank you, Aunt Nes.”

“You’re welcome,” she smiled. “Love you.”

“Love you, too.”

With a goodnight, Luna was off to the room, Layla and Scarlett only a few minutes behind her. The twins, stubborn as always, said they weren’t tired, yet were asleep on the floor within ten minutes.

“Another drink, ladies?” Feyre asked, bringing out a new wine glass as she fell on the couch between her sisters.

“Please,” Elain begged, holding out her glass.

Nesta didn’t protest either as the three sisters finished the movie, drinking the night away.

*

“Fuck, the twins are only two years younger.”

Rhysand, Cassian, and Azriel were lying in the grass, a beer in their hands, staring up at the stars as their boys swam in the water, the firelight the only thing allowing them any guidance.

“I just… I knew this day was coming,” Azriel said, his words slightly slurred. “I just… I don’t know. I wasn’t ready for it.”

“Can we ever be ready for it?” Cassian asked. “Boys…they’re easy. But, girls…” Cassian shook his head. “We’re never going to be ready for anything they put us through.”

“I want to find this kid… And-.”

“And what?” Rhysand asked, laughing as he cut off Azriel. “You act like you weren’t a teenager once.”

“I was,” Azriel confessed, then sighed. “But…that was me…this is…my daughter.”

“Have you met his parents yet?” Cassian asked, sitting up and bracing his elbows on his knees. “Once we met Marion’s parents, we felt way better. Mostly because we know Lorcan Salvaterre has the capability to kick Thorn’s ass, and Thorn does, too. But it also showed us Marion is a good girl. She comes from a good family, who loves and cares for her just as much as we do Thorn.”

“We’ve met his mom,” Azriel admitted, staring at stars still. “Or Lainey has, I haven’t. But she said she was sweet. Granted, she says Lachlan is sweet, too. She thinks everyone is sweet, cause she’s sweet.”

“You guys should try to all go to dinner when we get back to Velaris,” Cass suggested, finishing his beer. He tossed his empty can into the pile by the fire. “Meet his parents, get a vibe for them, shake the kid’s hand hard enough to leave an impression. I’m sure they love Luna, just like we love Marion.”

“Them loving Luna isn’t the point,” Azriel began, quietly. “Everyone loves Luna. The problem is…is that I was a teenage boy once, and I know exactly what this kid wants.”

“You also met Elain when you were a teenager,” Rhysand pointed out. “And, you started dating when you were teenagers. You’re telling me that the only reason you wanted to be with Elain was for sex?”

Azriel paused. Then answered, shortly, “No.”

“Then maybe this kid wants more than that, too,” Cassian said.

“But he wants the other thing, too,” Azriel protested, then groaned, flipping over until his face was buried in the grass.

“You can’t make her a nun,” Cassian said, Rhysand grinning on Azriel’s other side. “You can’t keep it from happening. Teach her to be safe, and she’ll be fine.”

Azriel’s voice was muffled by the ground. “Why are you being the reasonable one right now?”

“Because I’ve also been a teenage boy who loved a girl. Because I currently have a teenage boy who loves a girl, even if he makes stupid decisions with her sometimes,” he replied. “But I have to let him make those decisions on his own so he can learn. Luna is smart, Az. She’ll make good choices, you just have to let her make them.”

He grumbled something into the grass that his brothers couldn’t hear and Rhysand ruffled the back of his hair before standing.

“It’s getting late, the kids need to get to bed.”

They called the boys out of the water, handing out towels and dousing the fire as they headed up towards the house.

“Bennett and I can carry the beers out to the garage,” Thorn said, and Cassian’s eyes immediately met Rhysand’s amused state.

“Good try,” he chuckled.

Rhys added, “You can leave them on the kitchen counter.”

The boys mumbled something under their breath, but did as they were told and they all went off to get changed and get in bed.

They found their wives on the couch, wine drunk and giggly, with the twins asleep on the floor.

“Everyone else in bed?” Cassian asked, sitting on the arm of the couch by Nesta. She laid her head against his thigh and nodded.

Feyre inclined her head to her daughters on the floor in front of them. “These two insisted they weren’t tired.”

Rhysand snorted. “I see that.”

Azriel fell onto the couch by Elain while Rhys gently woke the twins and sent them to bed.

Elain looked up at him and chuckled, quietly, as she ran her fingers through his messy hair. “You’re drunk.”

“I am not,” he lied.

“Your eyes are glazed,” she whispered, “and I could barely make sense of the three words that just came out of your mouth.”

“He only had…” Cassian cocked his head to the side, counting on his fingers. “Yeah, I lost count. How many beers you have there, Az?”

Azriel mumbled something incomprehensible and sighed.

Cassian chuckled as he stood, and gathered Nesta in his arms before walking down the hall, toward their bedroom.

Feyre followed, carrying the empty wine glasses into the kitchen.

Elain shook her head as Azriel’s eyes fluttered shut, thanks to her fingertips gently rubbing at his head. A moment later, she thought he may have fallen asleep, but then he said, “I’m scared for her.”

Elain’s fingers slowed, but she nodded. “Luna’s smart-.”

“But teenage boys aren’t,” Azriel said, opening his eyes to meet his wife’s. “I know that Luna’s smart. And everyone can keep telling me how smart she is, but it doesn’t make me trust any guy that she’ll ever be with any more. Men are idiots. And the last thing I want is for my baby to be heartbroken, crying over some dick that didn’t deserve her in the first place.” Elain’s eyes softened, but Azriel went on, “And the fact that they’re getting more….intimate, only means that Luna’s starting to trust him and like him more. And that scares me.”

“I know,” Elain said, quietly, crawling onto his lap and straddling his waist. Her forehead fell against his as his eyes fell shut, once again. “She spent the entire night thinking she’d disappointed you.”

“She didn’t disappoint me,” Azriel said, quietly, and Elain knew that he meant it. And as she pulled back, she recognized the look that was creeping into his hazel eyes: guilt.

“She’s probably still awake if you want to go talk to her,” Elain said.

Azriel hesitated, then nodded. After Elain crawled off of him, he waited a moment before pushing himself up and began to amble his way down the hall, until he reached the last door on the left.

This time, he knocked.

He waited, and when there was no response, he knocked again, only to find no response. He cracked open the door and peeked inside. The lights were off, and Luna was sound asleep, the hood of her hoodie pulled over her dark hair, and the fan across the room on high, pointed right at her.

He laughed quietly at the sight.

Yeah, she was growing up, but sound asleep, she looked like she always had: mouth hanging open, one hand tossed behind her head. She used to fall asleep on him like that, and he’d have to carry her to bed and tuck her in. That’s how she would always be to him: that little girl whose only man in her life was her daddy.

Except that’s not how it was, not anymore.

Azriel walked to her bedside and leaned down to kiss her forehead before pulling her blanket up higher around her. “Night, Lunabug.”

As he headed back for her door, he heard, “Dad?”

He spun around, that alcohol catching up with him and nearly knocking himself over, thanks to the quick motion. He grabbed the doorframe to steady himself. “I…knocked this time.”

Luna rolled over and looked at him. Thanks to the light in the hallway streaming in, he could see the hurt in her light brown eyes. “I’m sorry.”

Azriel’s shoulders sagged as he made his way back into the room and sat down on the edge of her bed. He ran a hand through his hair before saying, “You don’t need to be sorry. I’m sorry. You’re growing up, and that’s exactly what you’re supposed to do, but I’m still figuring out how to raise a young woman and not a little girl.”

Luna nodded, but said nothing.

“It’s hard, though,” he began, honestly. “When I was seventeen, Luna, I had no idea how to treat girls. I went on a lot of dates, and…did a lot of things on those dates…and, if I’m being honest with you, not a lot of those things meant anything to me other than what I got out of them at that moment.” He looked at Luna. “It wasn’t until I started dating your mom that I got some sense knocked into me.”

She chuckled at that.

“But, I also know that Lachlan is not me,” Azriel continued. “I also know that I don’t know a lot about him. So, maybe next week we can have him and his parents over for dinner, and I can start to get to know him, if he means that much to you.”

He didn’t need any light in the room to see the tears lining her eyes. “I would like that.”

“Then you talk to him, I’ll talk to mom, and we’ll make it happen, okay?” She nodded, and he leaned down to press a kiss to her forehead. “Goodnight, Lunabug. I love you.”

Her arms wrapped around his shoulders and he was glad for what little balance he still had, so he didn’t topple over on her. “I love you, too, daddy.”

Wrapping an arm around her, he held her close, not letting her go until he felt her arms getting heavier. Until he carefully settled her back into the bed, tucking the covers around her, but not too tight, because she hated feeling constricted, and pushed the hoodie back just a bit to see her sleeping face.

She looked so much like her mother while she was asleep.

Quietly, carefully, he slipped out the door and closed it behind him.

He could tell the television and lights had been shut off in the living room, so he aimed for their bedroom instead, and found Elain sleepily beneath the covers herself. He stripped off his shirt and shorts, wearing just a pair of boxer-briefs and slid into bed beside her, aware that he probably smelled like a bar. Elain didn’t complain though, she just laid her head on his chest and slung an arm and leg over his body.

“How’d it go?” She asked into the darkness.

“Good. She was asleep, and I accidentally woke her up, but it’s okay. We needed to talk,” he admitted. He paused for a second before asking,

“Do you have Lachlan’s parents numbers?”

Lifting her head, Elain looked at him in the moonlight. “We are not talking to them about this at midnight, Azriel.”

“No, no,” he chuckled, rubbing a calming hand up and down her arm. “I was thinking it might be nice to have them over for dinner one night next week, all of them. Lachlan, Aelin and Rowan.”

Elain lifted a brow. “You’re serious.”

Azriel blinked. “Why wouldn’t I be serious?”

“Because you’re drunk and you just spent the entire day throwing a hissy fit,” Elain mumbled, nuzzling into his neck.

Azriel laughed, quietly. “Damn, you’re mean.”

Elain huffed then propped herself up on an elbow. “I’m serious. If they come over, you need to be nice.”

Azriel scoffed, his hand sliding down her back then up her shirt. “I’m always nice.”

“No mean-mugging the kid,” Elain went on. “You will ask him about his likes and dislikes, and you will not scare him shitless.”

Azriel sighed. “Yeah, yeah. I promise.”

“And you will offer Rowan some of your good whiskey,” Elain said.

Azriel looked pointedly at his wife. “There’s no need to get carried away.”

Elain grinned as she leaned down and pressed her mouth softly against his. “I love you.”

“I love you, too,” he whispered, and closed his eyes.

He was sound asleep before Elain could even lay back down, and snuggle up to him beneath the covers.

He was over-dramatic, and surely a pain in her ass, but by the gods, she loved that man. He had given her three beautiful, perfect children, and although, sixteen years after their first was born, they were still figuring this whole parenting ordeal out….Azriel was doing a pretty damn good job.

Which only made her love him even more.

[sunsoothed]

hair(care)

remember this post? yes i wrote the fic. with some angst and backstory as a treat! family bonding time and people learning to love. the ao3 summary is "Yohan first learns affection through money, then oil." which i think is really really funny.

word count: 1696

read on ao3

apologies for any errors, and enjoy!

-

The first time Yohan tries, it is before everything. He’s allowed to err here and there, require an entire braid to be unwound and redone. He’s allowed to experiment with the clips and the ribbons and decide when the act is complete and present his art to his niece and his family. Elijah is rightfully fawned over, cheeks bright and smiles brighter, holding onto her uncle and hiding her face in his shoulder with glee.

That was, of course, before everything.

-

If Yohan has touched a hair on Elijah’s head since, it is only to make a promise or only in her sleep.

The doctors will take care of you, don’t worry. Samcheon is here. I won’t let them hurt you any more than you already have been.

Midnight, in that agonising few months of hospital rooms and the claustrophobic rehabilitation centre. When Elijah is able to perceive nothing but her breath, Yohan, hands reverent; soothing his own fears through comforting his niece. Things will be okay. We’ll be fine. A few grounding breaths are never enough, not after he learns what those monsters took from his niece.

And when Elijah cries. When she first asks after her mother and father, why they aren’t by her side, why is it just samcheon everyday? When Yohan’s tears ring before hers, for the first and last time. I’m sorry, so is declared. I’ll fix this, so is promised. He holds her as close as he can permit himself to, and vows to burn down this world if she asks him to.

-

Elijah, once, four years since, on her tenth birthday, asks him, “Can you help me?”

Yohan will pretend like he hasn’t been starved of hearing those words. He follows her to her room, honoured of her trip halfway across the house.

“The girls at school,” Elijah fumbles about, wringing her hands together, “that… they wear their…”

He stands in her doorway, somewhat uninvited, waits for her to finish.

“They wear their hair, kind of… like this,” Elijah mimics some variation of a hairstyle best she can, two locks of her hair held in her hands, the parting off. “I was just…”

Yohan, unfortunately, understands little. “Do you need a haircut?”

Elijah’s hands fall, as does the thin hope upon her features. “It’s nothing,” she dismisses. “I only called you because ahjumma wasn’t in today. It’s fine.”

Yohan blinks. “I can help if —”

“It’s fine,” Elijah hisses. “I was mistaken.”

-

If there is any chance of that ever happening again, time will have to be reversed. Elijah turns twelve, and things change, and Yohan notes his laptop has been hacked.

He buys her a cake for her thirteenth birthday that finds itself smashed against a wall and a demand for no such recurrence.

Yohan will never disobey her. Not with things that she can control.

So he buys no cakes, but buys her a building and channels the affection he allows himself to feel once a month in an allowance that shocks Ms Ji despite the lifetime she’s spent in this family.

Once, there is a package of hair care products with their usual shipment of essentials, which Ms Ji makes a show of putting in Yohan’s way. When he relents, it only takes a tilt of head to the east of the house for her to get the hint. He never knows if Elijah uses them, but the list goes on to include some products out of the large batch he’d purchased, and Yohan considers buying another building.

-

On her sixteenth birthday, Yohan asks, “Do you want to have a birthday party?”

Elijah asks, “Who will we call?”

Yohan nods, for that is an apt answer.

-

When Kim Gaon comes, Elijah hates him more than usual. That, Yohan had expected. What he hadn’t was that this hatred would melt away faster than ice when met with fire.

The frist time Elijah sports a more delicate hairstyle than the usual ponytail, Yohan thinks it’s a trick of the light. But she turns her head when retrieving cereal, and her hair is still parted that way and a short braid runs from behind her ear into the clipped-back hair at the back of her head, and Yohan pauses to stare.

Instead of their noncommittal acknowledgement of each other each morning, he asks, “When did you…” and gestures to the back of his head.

Elijah shrugs, looking over at him impassively for a moment before pursuing her breakfast once again. Kim Gaon slides into view, grin perpetually etched into his face, asks, “Elijah, did it stay?”

To which Elijah smiles back, and now Yohan’s eyebrows remain shot up.

Kim Gaon continues to talk, “It’s experimental. We’ll try a different style tomorrow. Your hair’s long enough to make an intricate bun.”

Yohan ensures Elijah watches him conspicuously eye the both of them.

“Kim pansa,” he says, breaking the moment. “We need to go to work.”

-

The next day, and the day after that, Elijah wears her hair in different styles. Once it is a high bun with some small braids, once it is a different parting and a new set of clips. Yohan observes critically over breakfast as Elijah holds her head a certain way to ensure it doesn’t fall into her food, and thinks, how impractical.

She catches him looking, so she hoists a sour look, to which Yohan responds with an exaggerated tilt of his head, aiming to mimic her.

“Don’t make fun of her,” Kim Gaon’s imposing voice interrupts. “Elijah looks fantastic today.”

Elijah beams. Yohan is disarmed of a biting reply for he hasn’t seem her teeth take on anything but a stubborn baring of power in front of him. He spends the rest of the day replaying it.

-

When things so south and north again, when Elijah acknowledges, begrudgingly, that her uncle did not have it out for her father, Kim Gaon mediates harmoniously.

He spends an evening making them both chase the cat around the house.

It’s an inane idea, even Elijah hates it, but he tells them the reason Kkomi starts throwing things off their desks at four in the morning is because she’s understimulated, and that even a cat needs to exercise.

So it’s Elijah’s job to get her rilled up enough to run — in a cat’s terribly comic way — away from them, and Yohan’s to ensure she keeps running around.

He’s insane, is what Kim Gaon is. Elijah’s more than sure this borders on some ethical offense. Yohan sure seems to find some pleasure in making the cat scared for her life.

Gaon congratulates them both with a mid-evening coffee and snack break. Elijah actually, voluntarily, asks for Yohan to pass the plate of biscuits across, and thanks him — thanks him! — when he does.

Before they all retire to bed, after another shared meal, Elijah calls for him from down the hall.

“Yohan!”

He turns, maintaining what he thinks is a smile.

“Can you try and get some coconut oil?”

“What for?”

Elijah scrutinises him, gauging how he doesn’t understand something so obvious. “For my hair.”

Yohan nods, still not on the same page, but very much wanting to be. “I’ll get it,” he assures.

He doesn’t blink twice at the astronomical shipping price.

-

It’s a tall bottle, imported and primly packaged, that greets Elijah when she returns home from her weekly ice-cream run with Gaon.

She eyes it, suspicious, before their resident busybody stands in her doorway and says, “Oh, bujang-nim actually bought it for you.”

Elijah blinks at Gaon innocently. Yohan does listen to her sometimes.

“Material wealth,” Gaon seems to understand. “We’ll put it in your hair tomorrow, okay? Keep it in for a few hours.”

“A few hours?” Yohan voices, having just turned the corner, dressed as he usually is at home.

“What are you doing here,” Elijah mutters, shooting a scowl at Yohan as he stands in her doorway as well.

He scowls back, never one to back down from a challenge, as Gaon goes on about the benefits of oiling hair behind them.

-

“Don’t pull,” Elijah hisses.

“I’m not,” Yohan insists, but puts less force into his actions nonetheless.

Gaon and Ms Ji are monitoring them, mirroring each other with their arms crossed and leaning against opposite sides of the doorway.

Yohan sections Elijah’s hair into three parts after brushing through it, the fine-toothed comb surprisingly sparse of broken hair.

“Gaon has been helping me take care of it,” Elijah had explained, when he errantly asked. “What, did you think I’m some sort of wild animal?”

Yohan carefully collects some oil in his palms, completely foreign to this, eyes flickering up to Gaon for guidance. Gaon is absolutely no help.

So he trusts his instincts and starts at Elijah’s scalp, rubbing oil in, and ends with oil down his forearms and Elijah’s hair in a thick braid. She’s fast asleep.

“That means you did a good job,” Gaon whispers to him.

Yohan would smile, but such affection hardly suits his face. He pats Gaon’s face with an oily hand, leaves him spluttering, and grins to himself as he tries to wash the oil off.

-

It barely becomes a routine, because despite Gaon’s somewhat vast knowledge on hair care and what Elijah read online, washing oil out of your hair can be a nightmare. But Ms Ji and Gaon have observed their two sulking overlords interacting with an increasing frequency, even if it is sometimes just to disagree about an arrangement of clips or parting of hair.

Gaon had supposed, somewhat, that his bujang-nim had at least an understanding of style. In his discussions with his niece, though, when somehow colour schemes and draping becomes relevant, Gaon admits he’d underestimated Kang Yohan.

Later Elijah will decide she wants to dress for dinner as well, and Yohan will be the only one diligently obeying the formality. So much so that he will leave a guest in the company of the villainous home to attend to his niece’s requests. No one will ask about the pink bow in her hair, but it’s more than enough for Yohan to know that he tied it up.

[wastelandcth]

Lay it On Me - cth

part of nation of two

summary: Petra stays up one night while Calum's away thinking back on all the happy moments she wishes she could relive. Meanwhile, Calum's dealing with the fear of loving someone after so long. 

author’s notes: I hope you guys enjoyed chapter one of Nation of Two and that you enjoy a closer look into Calum and Petra’s little world!

warnings: Not much, just two lovestruck fools missing one another. 

masterlist || request || previous part || next part

Sometimes, Petra’s life felt like it was something out of a cheesy romance novel, she felt herself craving to reread the pages that made her cheeks flush and heart race. The pages that had made up her life. She’d stay up at night when she was alone, staring up at the ceiling as she tried to relive the moments she’d treasured so much. She wasn't sure how long she'd been doing this, maybe she had done so her entire life trying to remember the little details of precious moments so they couldn't slip past her. 

Most recently, those memories included Calum and his soft laugh.

If she closed her eyes and focused, Petra could almost live through the flower shop exchange. She could feel her heart race as she turned the corner into the vase aisle and was met with a familiar face of a stranger. Calum had been wearing a shirt she'd remembered seeing him wear at some show online, the soft white shirt lined with red fitting his arms and chest so snug it made her lose her breath. His hair was blonde and cut short, making his jaw seem soft and the perfect place for Petra to kiss. His tanned skin was smooth and the tattoos on his arms decorated him like a piece of art. If Petra really concentrated, she could still smell his cologne, the woodsy scent that seemed to be mixed in with something sweet. It wasn't too strong, but she had been close enough to Calum that she could smell it over all the flowers in the store. 

When Petra opened her eyes again, the darkness of her room brought her back. The moonlight was filtering in through her window and gave a soft blue hue to everything. Her arms spread out at her side and she felt a pang in her heart as her left hand didn't bump into the warm body she'd gotten used to being there. Calum had been gone for almost a month now, leaving the side of his bed cold and empty. He'd been busy with work and Petra appreciated when he'd have the odd minute or two to call her so they could catch up, even if it had to be two in the morning and her sleep-filled brain could only come up with strange answers. Not that it mattered too much because before the conversations turned into anything meaningful, Calum was saying goodbye and promising to call when he could next. 

But Petra still loved him. She loved Calum and the short phone calls, where the only thing that mattered was that he ended them with a quiet I love you and kissy noises. She loved the Calum who was living his dream every night out on a stage in front of thousands of people. The Calum who at the end of every show would snap a picture and sent it to Petra with another cheesy pickup line or a joke he'd heard that day. Petra was in love with the Calum who would call her in a rush and babbled out some story where his brain worked faster than his mouth and his giggles warmed Petra's heart from halfway across the world. Even in the darker days, when they both craved to feel the touch of the other and their usual happy interactions were clouded over with a pang of sadness. Petra knew it would all be worth it when she was in the arms of her lover in a week's time. 

"Can't sleep?" Calum's groggy voice rang out into the darkness of the room. 

"I got too used to having you sleep next to me, jerk," Petra laughed, her eyes falling back onto the small screen next to her head, "You're seriously not gonna let me see your new haircut yet? I'll see it all over the internet by lunchtime tomorrow, you know that?" 

"Yeah, you might," Calum laughed, "It's a surprise though! You love surprises," 

"I also love running my hands through your curls," she snorted and shook her head, "I just miss your cute face."

"I miss your cute face too," Calum chuckled, letting out a sigh as Luke called his name out from outside the tour bus, "I've got to go, but I'll talk to you soon, okay? Try and get some sleep,  darling."

And with that, Petra was thrown back into the silence of her dark room. The sun would be up in a few hours and that would mean she definitely wasn't getting any sleep so she closed her eyes and begged her brain to let her drift off. Eventually, her breathing evened out and the pillow she'd been using as a replacement for Calum lulled her into sleep. 

Arpeggiated chords rang out from the room next to the entrance where Petra had been standing, the chill from outside hitting the back of her neck as she pushed the door closed with her foot. The house was warm and Petra could smell the soup that was brewing in the kitchen but her legs lead her towards the soft music that was playing in the living room. In the corner of the room, near the big windows that show the snowy landscape that Petra had been out exploring just a few minutes earlier, Calum was sat by the piano. His eyes were focused on the keys in front of him, his fingers working over them as if he'd played the piano his whole life. With every note he played, Petra felt herself drawing closer and closer to him, her hands landing on the softness of his shoulders with a soft squeeze. 

"How was your walk?" Calum asked, the soft music coming to a stop that left the house feeling empty and Calum was glad Petra's hands were on him, the shiver he'd felt earlier replaced with her warmth. 

"It was nice," Petra mumbled, her hands massaging his shoulders and working Calum as he'd worked the keys a few seconds ago, "I like it here."

"I do too," Calum mumbled and leaned back against her touch, "I like being here with just you and the snow and the piano."

"It's nice," she agreed, her eyes looking out the window as the snowfall began again, "Complete opposite of our beach dates,"

"We can just stay in and watch the snow, eat some delicious soup," he mumbled and hit a few more notes on the piano before standing up to wrap his arms around Petra, "Maybe watch a movie or read a book."

"That sounds lovely, we can keep warm by the fire and hope that no bears find this place too cozy and try to break in," Petra laughed.

In the haziness of her sleep and the sunlight hitting her face, Petra could still hear the warmth in Calum's voice when he'd read to her that night next to the fireplace. She could still feel the way his arms were wrapped around her as he read about the highlands of Scotland. How his voice felt like a warm blanket and how the grassy hills of the Scottish countryside filled Petra with the urge to explore them with Calum.  As the memory of her dreams slowly faded and the sunlight warmed her face, Petra found herself alone in bed, wishing she could hear Calum's soft voice and his best try at a Scottish accent. 

Calum had been staring out the window of the tour bus for hours, watching as the landscapes changes from desert mountains to a lush forest with trees that went back as far as his eyes could see. He'd been sitting in the backroom for so long the sun had gone down and the stars were twinkling above him, the room now dark and the bus silent as his bandmates slept the night away. Calum usually never had trouble sleeping on the bus, he was usually exhausted from the busy days tour had him working. But ever since the start of this tour, where he'd left Petra behind for a few months while he left to promote the latest album the band had released, he'd had trouble sleeping. 

The silence on the bus hadn't helped either, it had made Calum's thoughts louder and even the movie playing quietly in the back room hadn't stopped his thoughts from running faster than the cars that sped past them in the night. Calum was exhausted, how could he not be when the band had done back-to-back shows for the past week paired up with endless interviews during the day. The only time the band had a real break was during the drives between stops and even then, it was only a few hours spent sleeping or reviewing what that next week would look like for them as a band. 

Calum had noticed how tired he looked. He saw it every morning when he washed his face in the tiny bathroom, how his eyes were puffy and the darkness under them gave away just how exhausted he was. He saw it when the label sent them promo clips to approve and his smile didn't reach his eyes. He saw it when the other guys laughed and joked around with one another while he stood off to the side, quiet and yearning for a nap. He was pretty sure that if he could see how tired he was, the rest of the world could see just how far gone he was. And that meant that Petra could see how tired he was. 

Fuck, Calum missed Petra. She had been such a constant source of Calum's happiness in the months leading up to this promo tour that Calum hadn't realized how much he'd miss having her around. Petra's name meant rock, something Calum found ironic since she was the one who was always grounding him, and in many ways, Petra was his rock. She was the one that Calum found himself drifting towards when he needed to feel more like himself again. She was the one who would always hold his hand when he needed it and would listen to Calum's mumbling whenever he'd decided to let his brain talk. She was his rock and Calum missed the hell out of her. 

He'd been trying to write more while on tour, figuring he might as well put his insomnia to use. His old journal had been used up and Calum had been regretting having to buy another one. That was until Petra had shown up with a going-away present, the brown paper bag she'd been holding was decorated with flowers and hearts. At first, Calum had been confused, because he didn't know going away presents were a thing and he hadn't gotten Petra anything. But after she'd kissed his cheek and told him it was nothing serious, Calum's nerves settled and he opened the bag to find a leather journal, much like his old one, with his initials stamped on the side of the binding. 

"So you can keep writing those pretty songs," Petra had mumbled, her cheeks flushed as she played with the bracelet that Calum had given her a few weeks back, "Or just to keep your mind off of things."

Calum had been writing in the journal every chance he got, the unlined pages filling with song ideas and little doodles that Calum found helpful. He'd write about his day sometimes, whenever something memorable happened that he wanted to remember in order to tell Petra or his mom later on. He even sometimes sketched what he saw out the window of the tour bus, although those were never really any good. It wasn't until that night that Calum had been lost in the landscape that he noticed a page near the back of the book had been folded. It was only on the top corner, a fold so small Calum had wondered if he'd done it himself on accident and it wasn't until he turned to the page that he realized what had happened. The page, which had been filled with doodles and handwriting that wasn't Calum's, warmed his heart and made him smile for the first time in weeks. His fingertips traced over the words, almost as if he could feel Petra's touch through them, almost as if he could see her writing in the middle of the night much like Calum did nowadays. 

"I know you might be tired and stressed. That you might miss home and Duke and everything that brings you warmth. But your dreams will always be important to not only you but those who you make come true as well. I don't know when you'll read this or if you'll even find it while you're away but I hope it brings a smile to your face. The world deserves to see that pretty smile you reserve for only special moments. They deserve to hear your thoughts and that laugh that makes my heart race. I hope you don't mind that I stole one page from your notebook, it seemed like a fitting gift to give you, better than a piece of paper in your coat. 

Thank you for letting me into your world and letting me find your love. I'll forever be grateful. 

I love you to the end of the universe and even further. 

Petra."

Calum's smile, the one he'd reserved for Petra apparently, hurt his cheeks. He'd reread the note over and over, soaking in her words and if he closed his eyes and tried hard enough, he could almost hear her saying them to him herself. The promo tour might long and lonely, but that didn't mean that Calum hadn't had a piece of home with him the entire time. With a deep breath and his blanket wrapped around his shoulders, Calum walked back to his bunk. The journal was tucked under his pillow as if Petra herself had been captured between the pages and Calum could just open it and see her again whenever he felt alone. 

Calum's eyes felt tired and the more he relaxed on the bunk, the more he realized just how much his life had changed since finding Petra. He'd never had to deal with leaving a loved one while touring. He never had to deal with the time zones fucking up his calls or having to wait hours for a text back from someone because they were asleep as he was waking up. He never had to worry about whether his partner was missing him and much as he missed them. But then he met Petra and that all changed. Leaving her bed that morning had been hell, he'd dragged himself out of the apartment, trying not to convince himself to turn around as he hit traffic on the highway and go back to the warmth of her bedroom. He'd closed his eyes and held her a little longer as he'd said goodbye to her by the kitchen that morning and it was all so new and different that Calum hadn't expected to have it hit him so roughly. 

He hadn't expected to push all his defenses down and become so vulnerable for someone before. So when his plane had taken off and the city had become a blur of streets and then hidden beneath clouds, Calum wanted nothing more than to be back with Petra. But he had her note, safe in the journal with his initials and the page smelled like her perfume so maybe it'd be okay. Maybe Calum would smile a little brighter during the meet and greets and he'd chuckle a little louder during the interviews and make sure he spoke his mind a little more often. Even as his eyes squinted at the dim screen in front of him, his fingers typing out a message to the love of his life, he couldn't believe how lucky he was to have Petra in his life. With his phone set next to him and his heart happy, Calum's eyes closed and for the first time in weeks, he got some well-deserved sleep. 

Petra woke up a few hours later, alone once again, but her heart warmed at the sight of the notification on her screen. She knew that Calum had been having a rough time on tour recently and she was hoping that he'd find her letter soon. The message she'd hidden in the middle of a journal he'd held so close to him ever since it became his. Even the chilly air that was coming in from the window Petra had left open couldn't stop the warmth that she felt inside her, knowing that Calum had gotten her message. He was always laying down his love for her, showing it in different ways like how he held her closer whenever he was near or how he'd tell her all about his day even when the rest of the world thought of him as a silent man. Petra knew that it wasn't true, that the Calum she knew and loved would talk off her ear if given the chance, which she often did give him.

 She knew that he would have a hard time being away, he was a homebody and he'd be gone for a while, so with shaky hands and a heart full of love, she'd written down the words she'd so rarely had the courage to utter to him, the words she held so close to herself in fear that he'd slip away. But Calum was always surprising her and it hadn't been too much of a shock to know he appreciated the message. Calum's love was always finding her, even when the bed was lonely and he was miles away. She'd been staring at the message for while, her fingers ghosting over her screen as her heart raced and her smile widened with every reread of it. 

She'd reply eventually, once her cheeks stopped blushing and her smile stopped making her jaw hurt. But for now, the early morning sun lulled her back to sleep and her eyes closed slowly. She hoped that she'd dreamed about the snowy cabin and the hills of Scotland again, but really, any dream with Calum in it would be worthwhile. 

"Thank you for the beautiful words, you've always known exactly what to say when I need it the most. I love you forever, rock."

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