#so that she can have her mortgage paid for while she looks for a new tenant that fits her extremely picky standards?

[strohller27]

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[callsignspark]

soft-tober | 05 | Jake Seresin

soft-tober is about experiencing the joys of October with loved ones. each day is a fall-related one-shot for one of the couples from my Dagger, Sword & Shield universe, plus a few extras! today is Jake and Flora with “Trick or treat?” “…Depends on if you’re the treat or not.” from this prompt list.

If you’d like to be tagged for soft-tober, please send an ask!

word count: 1.4k

soft-tober masterlist | main masterlist | divider credit here

warnings: extreme fluff, Jake being a sweetheart, lots of kissing

callsignspark disclaimer: my blog is an 18+ space; minors do not interact - you will be blocked. I do not consent to my work being copied, run through an AI generator, translated, or posted elsewhere. I do have an AO3, where I eventually will be cross-posting my works.

05. “Trick or treat?” “…Depends on if you’re the treat or not.”

“A little to the left… no, right. Left. Right. Don’t you know how to center something, Jake?!”

The blonde man turns on the ladder, eyebrows raised in amusement. “It is centered, Flora. You’re just standing at an angle.”

Her heart drops as she looks around, realizing she is off-center. A couple scoots to the left tells her that Jake does have the wreath perfectly centered on the balcony.

“I’m sorry.” The apology is muffled as she rubs at her eyes. Flora knows she’s being ridiculous, putting way too much effort into decorating for the shop-or-treat the business of Madison Ave are hosting during the fall block party. Staying open later than usual to hand out candy to costumed children while their parents patronize the shops.

She’s trying her hardest to appeal to kids so they’ll drag their parents inside. A florist isn’t exciting to little ones, not when there’s a bakery three doors down and a comic book store across the street. So the décor - a strategic blend of fall and Halloween - is going to be doing the heavy lifting to get people to stay for longer than it takes to put a Snickers in a pumpkin bucket.

Jake climbs down the ladder after securing the wreath in place, wrapping his arms around Flora and pulling her into his chest.

“I’m sorry.” She apologizes again, her face pressed against his strong chest.

“It’s okay.” He reassures her, his warm hands rubbing her back. “I know you’re stressed, but you don’t have to worry about Studio Cacti taking over.”

Studio Cacti. Another florist shop that opened up over the summer only two blocks away. Owned by some snobby girl who was paying the bills with Daddy’s money. Flora felt hypocritical saying that, considering how she paid for the shop’s remodel and the new flower cooler, but she had started all on her own. Scrimping and saving, pouring every available cent into her shop. During that first year, she had even slept on an air mattress in her office, unable to afford the store mortgage and her apartment rent at the same time.

“Yes, I do, Jake. She’s got more money at her disposal than I’ll make in my entire life. When push comes to shove, she’ll win because she can afford it.”

“Trust me, I have a few ideas, and if I can get everything into place, you’ll be the most successful florist in the city, maybe even the county.”

Flora pulls away, tucking her hair behind her ears as she stares at Jake. The smug look on his face should make her wary - should turn her off - but it doesn’t. It makes her feel giddy whenever she sees it; she’s pretty sure he Pavloved her with his bright smile.

“And am I allowed to know about these plans?”

“Nope, just worry about shop-or-treat for now.”

“It’s my shop, Jacob.”

“God, I love when you call me that.”

“Focus.”

The undignified noise that escapes as he squats down and wraps her legs around his waist makes her cheeks burn. Usually, she hates when men try to pick her up, but she never hates when Jake does it. Flora is taken off guard again when he plops her on the counter next to the register, using the distraction to ignore the voice telling her it’s okay when Jake does it because she likes him.

“I am focused, Phillips. C’mere.”

He kisses her just like he did the first time, like he’s done every time. Gentle at first, simply pressing their lips together as he cups her neck, then he tugs her closer, intensity increasing as he tests the waters to see if she wants to go further.

Normally, she’s all in for a good makeout session, one where his big hands will roam and caress her body in just the right way that will lead to them being naked later on, but tonight, she pulls back.

“Can we do a test run?”

“A test- of what?”

“Of shop-or-treat. You go out and come in pretending to be a kid. Use fresh eyes; look for anything that needs improving.”

“You want me to pretend to be a ten-year-old boy?”

“It should be easy; that’s how mature you are.” She regrets the snipe as soon as it leaves her mouth, Jake immediately attacking her sides. Flora holds out for about five seconds, laughter bubbling out as she gives in. “Uncle! Uncle!”

“I just want to put it on record that I think this is a dumb idea because everything is already great, but I’m doing this anyway. For you.”

She hates the way her heart flutters at his wink. They had agreed to be friends-with-benefits, nothing more. Heart thumping was definitely not within the bounds of their agreement. Maybe it was time to end the arrangement.

The bells ring as Jake walks back in, doing exactly what she asked and interrupting her thoughts. Green eyes big and round as he looks around the store like a kid in a candy shop. His eyebrows furrow slightly at different points in the room, and Flora knows he’s making mental notes on what needs to be changed.

She lets him go on for a few minutes, swinging her legs and admiring how his gray t-shirt stretches across his broad shoulders. Shoulders that probably still have marks where her nails dug into him a few days ago.

“Aren’t you going to say it?”

“Say what?” He asks as he finishes his examination, standing a few feet in front of her.

“Trick or treat?”

“Well… depends on if you’re the treat or not.” He laughs as she whines his name. “Everything is great. The only thing that’s going to make it better is us finishing what you already had planned.”

“Really?”

“Even the most sticky, snotty-nose brat will want to come into the flower shop with the pretty lady behind the counter.”

Flora’s breath hitches as he crowds into her space, hands tugging her hips closer as their lips meet. She melts into the kiss, sinking her hands into his hair. It’s getting a bit long; he’ll need to get a trim soon so he’s up to regulations, but she loves how it feels between her fingers. He’s the only man she didn’t have to introduce to conditioner, his sisters taking care of that lesson back in high school.

“Excuse me, are you open?”

Her internal debate about whether to hook her legs around him here or pull him up to her office and put the couch to good use is interrupted as they break apart.

“What?” Flora pants, brain still scrambled from how Jake was grabbing at her thighs.

“Are you open?”

“No, ma’am; I’m sorry, we’re not open right now.”

“Oh, that’s too bad! I wanted to get flowers for my daughter, she just gave birth! Lilies are her favorite, and I saw your case through the window. You have the most beautiful options.”

“I’m sorry if you want to come back-”

“Is it your first grandchild?” Jake interrupts, sliding Flora off the counter.

“It is! A little girl!”

“Congratulations!” He smiles, turning to Flora. “Take the sale; I’ll finish decorating.”

A kiss on her forehead, and he’s making his way up the stairs, unraveling leaf garland to wrap around the banister.

She’s only slightly distracted as she puts together a bouquet filled with white lilies, baby’s breath, and eucalyptus for the new grandmother, Jake constantly on her mind. And after cashing out her newest customer and locking the door, Flora makes her way upstairs. Her heart soft as she watches Jake carefully string twinkle lights along the railing he just finished decorating, his tongue poking out in concentration.

“Hey, Jake?”

“Yeah, darlin'?”

“Thank you.”

“For what?” His pretty green eyes blink up at her in confusion, and she realizes she’s not quite sure how to answer.

Thank you for helping decorate.

Thank you for understanding about how much I work.

Thank you for accepting that I can only do friends-with-benefits with you.

“Just… for everything.”

“Of course, whatever you need, Flora. You know that.”

She feels herself weakening as he stands up and saunters over to her, his smile so big that his eyes crinkle and his dimples show. This time, Flora doesn’t make a noise when he lifts her; just wraps her arms around his neck and kisses him. The two of them giggling when Jake drops her onto the couch and climbs on top of her, hooking her legs over his hips.

The decorating is so not getting finished tonight… oh well.

@gretagerwigsmuse | @hangmanapologist | @hangmanbrainrot | @princessphilly | @hangmanssunnies | @thesewordsareallihavetogive | @a-court-of-roscoe-and-baby | @katieshook02 | @hellojameshowyadoin | @aristotles-butthole | @atarmychick007 | @whatislovevavy | @kmc1989 | @sometimesanalice | @laracrofted | @yuckosworld | @mika-darling | @bradshawsbaddie | @bobblebobsbae | @ohtobeleah | @withahappyrefrain

[chaifootsteps]

So anyway. I'm enraged <3 everything about the music video makes me mad <3 I figured at LEAST if nothing else it was nice that Paranoid DJ got some more recognition. Honestly, amazing for him! He's a stand up chap and he deserves every good thing that's ever come his way. Like Micheal, Ashley and other unsung heros he did SO MUCH for hazbin/helluva and making us fall in love with the characters. BUT. THEY. BARELY. CREDITED HIM. And I am mad. I'm even more mad she did nothing in the video captions other than stick a middle finger up to her haters and the drama of the week. That is not the spirit of indie I fell in love with where she used to thank all her viewers and supporters, staff and collaborators. So instead I decided to look for something happy! SPINDLE'S PRECARIOUS FINANCES: https://graphtreon.com/creator/VivienneMedrano Notice on the graph the steady drop in subscribers Viv has gotten on her patreon since this time last year, 2022. (5.1k to 3.5k) If I'm being generous and looking at her peak a few days ago, (because everyone drops their sub and resubscribes at the end of each the month) she makes about 5.7k a month which adds up to 68.4k a year. Which could sound like an okay salary for ONE person but her patreon says she employs "100+ artists and crew members". that is 100+ people she is paying. I spent forever learning about youtube pay rates tonight. RPM is the term used for the amount a youtuber makes per 1000 ad views and it varies SO MUCH its hard to say what Viv's RPM is. BUT!!! The average rpm for a youtuber is $18. However many many forums have discussed that the category of a video greatly changes its rpm. For example, finance and tech videos have a top rpm due to their demographic (more affluent viewers that advertisers want to target) the younger/poorer the video's audience demographic is, the lower the rpm. Gamers are considered among the lower paid but EVEN LOWER THAN THAT are animators. They make PENNIES. (which is kind of sad because they have the highest effort videos and can't mass produce) I've seen animators say they get about 40 to 60 cents per 1000 views. I have no idea what vivziepop makes from youtube but I think it could be $600-18,000 as an absolute ceiling per 1 mil views.

Again, she has an entire studio to pay. Therefore, MOST of spindles money comes from merch and when you factor in the EXTREME oversaturation of merch with the declining viewers, toxic fandom and obvious loss of interest from die hards (based on her patreon) her merch sales are PLUMMETING. Her vacation money right now is probably from her Hazbin contract. Apparently for first time show runners, they make about $30,000 per episode. That's $240,000 she made for season 1 and will make maybe that much or more for season two. It's a good amount of money!! But with her spending rates, the mortgage on her home (that can't be paid off if she was begging for money to pay her dentist in 2019 and hadn't bought the house yet), her lifestyle and studio are NOT sustainable unless hazbin/helluva is her just her foothold in the industry and not the apex of her career.

While she's living the high life like she's 'made it' her whole career is in a very precarious place and what matters the most right now is her online conduct and the quality of her products to determine if she will find work in the future. Of course on the most pessimistic front, she could probably pull it together and do what she does best and leech off other peoples talents for the rest of her career. (eg stepping back, becoming the ceo of spindle and bringing in a network of indie shows by talented new creators that she can slap her name on as a producer and get half the credit)

Anon, there's not a lot of things I enjoy more than good, hard number crunching at Viv's expense. This is sublime.

Hope you're enjoying that Japan-spanning trip full of tea shops and abused animal petting, Viv, because it was probably the worst thing you could have done for yourself at a time like now.

[sarnai4]

The Benjamins

I'm not sure why, but I started thinking about my favorite sibling trio (Dagur, Hiccup, and Heather) and then began thinking about them with money. This is sort of a combination of modern headcanons with in-universe and canon-based reasoning. So, without further ado...

Heather: She's decent with money. She has a stable job and pays for stuff on time. Her problem comes when she has projects. She gets lost in these and will go to a bunch of dangerous places her brothers have to get her out of...or she'll start going very deep into debt. Reasoning: Think of her when she was looking for Oswald. Oh my goodness, was she about to do anything and go anywhere. If she had money to spend, she would've hired private investigators, mercenaries to track down whoever might have killed him, a tracker to find him, etc. I mean, she actually went to just about the shadiest place all on her own (Johann doesn't count as backup) to do this and told nobody. Like father, like daughter with heading out alone. So, she'd normally be fine, but let her get obsessed with something and she is going to be on her way to debtor's prison until Dagur bails her out.

Hiccup: Horrible! His check is gone that same week. I don't even know if the bills are being paid first. Now, he's not doing this for selfish reasons. He's Hiccup, so Mr. Heroic is out saving endangered animals and stopping poachers; however, in doing so, he is using up every last resource at his disposal. Reasoning: All of "Last Auction Heroes." Our Berkian seriously put Berk's mortgage up for auction. Do you think he wouldn't use an actual mortgage to stop bad guys? He would probably be living under a bridge by now, but his brother and sister aren't going to let that happen. Still, it doesn't change that he doesn't really get the value of a dollar or how important it is to keep them (since he was very inactive in going to get Berk's gold back. Did we absolutely need a Gruffnut episode while everyone on Berk was broke?).

Dagur: I think this will surprise people, but I say he'd be great with it. As eccentric and everything else as he is, I think he'd be the person to go to if you had money problems. He's loaded, takes care of what needs to be paid, saves a lot, invests, etc. Everyone assumes he's going to spend it drinking or whatever, but it's one of the areas he's really responsible in. Reasoning: Berserker Island holds 50,000+ Vikings. Though they can trade, they probably need enough gold to cover them in case something happened. That means a teenager (in my headcanon since no age was officially given) was put in charge of a major estate and somehow didn't run them into the ground financially. Even later in RTTE, though he does this in a very evil way, he's all about making and keeping money. The Reaper has treasure? Let's go and have the Berkians run the risk of death as they retrieve it for us. The Dragon Eye could lead us to gold? Let's go and save money by killing Gustav who's leading us there. We could get new inventory with weapons? Cool, let's just kill the sellers, so we don't have to pay. I'm hoping he'd go about doing this in a more legal way in modern day, but you can see the groundwork is there for someone who knows how to get and hold onto money. PLUS, he was the one who found Berk's gold too, so he just is a money magnet. Good thing too because I don't know if Heather and Hiccup would be able to survive otherwise.

[bell-arina271]

1/25/2024: Update and Yearly Goals

Hello everyone! First of all, I am SO sorry to everyone who was following me and waiting on updates for the project. I was completely wiped and had a bad turn for my mental health.

HOWEVER the fundraising idea I had in mind is still on track! It’s just taking longer for me to learn everything I need to get this off the ground. A lot of it has been learning new stuff, so it’s taken longer than I anticipated. I was planning to start mid January, but now it looks more like I’ll be launching in February. Hopefully in the first week.

Just so you’re not in suspense, here’s the idea:

I want to create a “logo” for this campaign. Nothing too fancy, but something that symbolizes artistic creativity, and will represent supporting Artist Communities. Then I’ll put it on Redbubble and sell stickers, pins, notebooks, and little things people can buy so that they can openly support the cause while “donating” to the start of it. I work full time, so all my living expenses are already paid for. The profits would go straight to funding the project.

The reason it’s taking so long is because I wanted to have other designs too, in case people don’t like the logo for whatever reason (I’m not a graphic designer, so admittedly, it’s probably not gonna be great lol) so I could give them options. Also, I wanted to open up my sister’s Redbubble first. She has Downs Syndrome and is medium functioning, so she doesn’t understand how to set everything up in the shop. She is on disability and already has housing, but I figured having a little extra income for the fun stuff she wants would be good lol I wanted to make sure she was set before focusing on myself.

Anyway, my initial idea is to still take older multi-tenant places and update them with pure function in mind, not luxury. That way I can keep rent very low. Basically just charging for utility, property taxes, and pay off renovations. Which, split between multiple people should be more than reasonable.

If for some reason that doesn’t seem viable, I’ll take someone’s suggestion of buying land and just bringing up manufactured homes to make a little community. Either way this WILL happen, it just might take me a little longer to figure out how.

I’m still talking to other professionals to see how to do all the technical stuff, but after that I should be able to take charge and start getting things under way.

Unfortunately, it… may take another year after all, because my mom just had a bad turn for her health. Bad enough that she had to quit her job. So now I’m taking over mortgage payments for the house so we’ll be set while she gets the tests and treatment. Before anyone panics, she’s not in the hospital or anything, just having issues with her vision and a few other things. She plans to “rest” for two months while we fix her up, and then get an easier job that’s not so physically demanding. Thankfully she had to quit due to medical reasons, so (I think) she’s still covered from her job insurance lol.

Anyway, thanks for reading. Hopefully my next post will be the grand opening of the Redbubble! :D

Also if any of you are Christian PLEASE pray that I will find time to relax. Things keep popping up triggering my anxiety and making it hard to get good sleep and breaks OTL

[choco-strawberry-vanilla]

So, life Update: June 2023

I'll soon be 25 and still haven't managed to finish uni due to extenuating financial reasons my family put me into before I was 18 haha.

Grandma died in early 2021 and yea, took me abt a year to be able to laugh out loud again and I still struggle with smiling on pictures n stuff. Planning on getting a Monarch Butterfly tattoo in her honour bc we were gonna get one together before she died and then she chickened out.

Was supposed to get a job permit (I'm a foreigner living in another country) over a year ago and GUES THE FUCK WHAT??? the legal assistant I paid to a year ago told me just yesterday that his mentor (the one giving his legal power for everything, will explain if needed) PLAYED DEAD AND MADE A PUBLIC POST ABOUT HIS FUNERAL AND THE AUTHORITIES SAW THAT AND DELETED MY CASE FROM THE WORK MINISTRY. The bastard didn't tell me anything for the year he was supposedly processing everything and I had to chew him out over the phone until he told me everything.

*he now re-submitted everything, and I'm supposed to get it in abt 5 months*

ONTO GOOD NEWS

I have been in a relationship with C since Oct. 2018, been living together for more than a year now, and we're getting a house together (under their name bc I'm hillariously inellegible for ANY sort of loans or mortgages). We're expecting news from the real estate agency so we can sign the final docs and get our keys.

Along with that, we've been in a poly relationship with a wonderful guy from the UK, J, for almost 2 years. He's come to visit us once (for a whole month) and we spent Christmas and New Year's together at his place.

While at his place, I got a daith piercing (very pretty) and C got their ears pierced (looks very cute with them hehe). Sadly, I had to get my daith out bc I had to take and emergency CATscan and the piercing was too fresh to replace jewelery for a silicone one (and it was 3am when I got the scan, too lmao).

No worries abt the scan tho. Been having chronic, debilitating migraines since I was 19. Never paid them much attention bc no drs would take them seriously. CAT came out normal and neurologist put me on some new treatment to help prevent them (not working tho haha)

Good news is: if they put me under disability, I'll get 25% plane ticket discounts and meds, so I guess that's good reward from life, considering I really cannot even keep a job for more than 2 months bc of the migraines.

ANYWHO

Once C and I get all the pertaining docs for the house, we can move in right away and abt a month after that, I'll go stay with J for 6 months (stayed 3 last time).

My cats (Alcaparra and Oliva) are now 3 and 4 years old, respectively. They are super pampered, and I plan on taking them with me once we move to the UK with J EVENTUALLY.

I'm very excited abt having our own place, where I can use a drill at 3am or whenever I want nyehehehehe.

Since I'm not working (for legal and medical reasons), I mostly do lil housewife chores like cooking, cleaning, doing laundry, feeding the cats, doing dishes, meal-prepping, and running errands.

Things are still far from perfect, and I'm struggling a lot with my self-value without a job. I'm very lucky to have kind and understanding partners who are willing to take care of me and let me take care of them in return. Talking with friends also helps a lot, even if I have lacked the social energy to be able to consistently hang out with them for more than 3 years.

That's it for the almost-quarter-of-century life update!

[josiebelladonna]

okay, it’s the mother of all long stories and there’s way too much i can’t talk about because of legalities, but because my mom and stepdad were basically given this house that we currently live in, the whole financial situation around this place has been extremely tricky since we moved here in 2015. it belonged to my stepdad’s mom, who passed away in 2014, and he and his sister inherited her estate; she passed in 2019, and he went in 2021, so it went to their children. i never met her kids, they have never even been here to this house; and his son (my stepbrother) who quarantined with us with his girlfriend and their daughter, took off back in january, so it’s been just my mom and me here. my stepbrother promised to take care of this (i won’t say how much is owed just from confidentiality, but it’s a lot, though) during quarantine because he’s technically the owner of the house… and look what happened. 👀

it sounds scary, but i promise you it isn’t: the mortgage was paid for a long time ago and there’s no rent, either. but my mom and i have two choices: find a way to get her name on the deed and do the whole “redemption” process there (because of the pandemic interspersed with the delinquent period, we figure we could qualify for assistance), or… we pack up and bounce this summer. we’re both vouching for the former because while we’ve wanted to care for this house and then move coincidentally since 2018, and it’s seriously getting harder to live here given where it is and the fact we’re probably facing an el niño this year (read: another wet winter), it’s pretty sudden. plus, the economy is getting bad again: it’s not like we can readily find a new place, be it in nevada or oregon, on such short notice. in other words, it’s more daunting than anything.

but. if it does get to that point, like it’s not possible to put her name on the deed… her job is internet based, i.e., she can take it anywhere and it’s assignment-based, in that she works for four weeks and then has time off until the next assignment. i have my tablet with me, i always have my tablet with me, especially after my laptop went belly-up back in march: i haven’t been updating my fics lately because i’ve been doing yard work and housework, stuff that’s physically demanding and i just haven’t had the brain power to sit down and write the last few days (make art, definitely, but not write, though). this being said, when my stepdad died, i had this inexplicable feeling that i was going to have to start writing more on mobile. given the mobile devices, i can promise you that i won’t stop: it’ll just be… you know, a little slow.

i’m saying this here on tumblr, but i’m not expecting anyone here to give a shit. this site has a reputation for handing out likes when someone asks a (usually important) question, and it’s only gotten worse with the tiktok generation, and i have a reputation on here, too. people on here don’t like me, like there’s a reason why i have my ask box turned off and i’ve had it turned off for years. i shelved the idea of starting a patreon or a tip jar a long time ago because i got literally no response, nobody cared—despite the audience i’ve acquired on instagram, i still don’t believe anyone cares or would care, who the hell wants to watch me draw? i’m lucky to get more than 3 notes on a drawing i made, what makes me think anyone would shell out money to see it happen? this site has gotten so fucking toxic the last few months alone that i literally have no faith whatsoever. plus, i’ve gone to great pains to shake off the whole green druidess situation but i still feel the animosity and the repercussions towards me: there’s way too many people on here with a sense of entitlement like her, like they think i should just give away everything that i have, and way too many people on here with a victim mentality as big as hers. who am i talk about my problems like this when the economy is tanking and other people don’t even have a roof over their heads? and, like her, people on here don’t listen. there’s a reason why tumblr has the reputation that it has, like sometimes i wonder what i’m still doing here because there’s no respect, for art, for anything genuine.

i’m telling you all this for my own good. there’s a 50/50 chance that my mom and i could be doing the nomadic thing in a month and i don’t know where else to say this.

[finlaure13]

Passenger - Life’s For The Living (Feat. Foy Vance - Anniversary Edition) [Official Video]

15 Sept, 2023

Directed by Nic Minns

Written by Mike Rosenberg

Featuring Foy Vance

Lyrics:

Well grey clouds wrapped round the town like elastic

Cars stood like toys made of Taiwanese plastic

The boy laughed and danced around in the rain

While launderettes cleaned clothes high heels rubbed toes

Puddles splashed huddles of bus stop crows

Dressed in their suits and their boots well they all look the same

I took myself down to the cafe to find all the boys lost in books and crackling vinyl

And carved out a poem above the urinal that read

Don't you cry for the lost

Smile for the living

Get what you need and give what you're given

Life's for the living so live it

Or you're better off dead

While the evening pulled the moon out of it's packet

Stars shone like buttons on an old man's jacket

We needed a nail but we tacked it 'til it fell of the wall

Yeah while pigeon's pecked drains, sparks flew like planes

The rain showed the rainbows in the oil stainsAnd we all had new iPhones but no one had no one to call

And i stumbled down to the stomach of the town

Where the widow takes memories to slowly drown

With a hand to the sky and a mist in her eye she said

Don't you cry for the lost

Smile for the living

Get what you need and give what you're given

Yeah life's for the living so live it

Or you're better off dead

Or you’re better off dead

Well i'm sick of this town, this blind man's forage

They take your dreams down and they stick them in storage

You can have them back son when you've paid off your mortgage and loans

Oh hell with this place, i'll go it my own way

I'll stick out my thumb and i trudge down the highway

Someday someone must be going my way home

‘Till then i’ll make my bed from a disused car

With a mattress of leaves and a blanket of stars

And i’ll stitch the words into my heart with a needle and thread

Don't you cry for the lost

Smile for the living

Get what you need and give what you're given

Yeah life's for the living so live it

Or you're better off dead

So don’t cry for the lost

Smile for the living

Get what you need and give what you're given

Life's for the living so live it

Or you're better off dead

Don’t you cry for the lost

Smile for the living

Get what you need and give what you're given

Life's for the living so live it

Or you're better off dead

[limelocked]

"They have insurance," that's all I said to my former teammates, "life insurance, more specifically"

"You joined the side of evil for insurance?!" screamed the mom friend who acted just like the woman who won custody over my family.

"Sure? I joined the side of good for insurance too, I told you that a while ago. Health and dental, sure, but life insurance is useful if you dare to have such a thing as next of kin while working hard risking your life. That's why I don't really want to kill half of you, I know only cap and vice cap have coverage"

"What?" vice captain Amelia asked, and bless her ignorant rich girl heart because I do think she was unaware of this fact. "That's not true!"

The battlefield was deeply and uncomfortably quiet.

"I also don't struggle with rent anymore," I said, because the silence of heroes who have to recon with the realization that they're just poorly payed mercenaries with a justice complex isn't one I wanted to steep in further, "I actually own my own place now, some people helped me with the mortgage but it's mine so I only have to worry about the power and water more or less"

"Why are you telling us this?" Kyle, a healer without insurance who just 6 months ago was deluding himself into thinking that a wage two dollars higher than mine made his services in the hero industry worth it in comparison to what he could've gotten as a health provider in some other country where they didn't have bullshit laws about healing magic in medicine. Kyle was also good enough to work in most blue collar jobs, but had exactly the same amount of problems getting a second job as I had.

"They also trained me, some of the other villains do classes in their off time, and since I have cash to burn I've been thinking of taking classes- WHY DO YOU THINK I'M TELLING YOU THIS?!" I'm sick and tired of this. "Three people who could drop dead right this second from my awesome attack that kills people, and their families would get an I'm sorry for your loss and maybe your last paycheck if they're lucky! Two people who still live with their families because the job doesn't pay enough for rent! One person who does live in their own place but can't afford utilities during winter! One little princess who's just doing this as a justice fueled hobby, and her boyfriend who's paid enough that he can have the luxury of not thinking that the rest of his team might not be"

I stood there, on top of a ruined wall, aesthetically lit by the moon for the best effect of breaking their spirits into dust. They stood there, looking up at me, no longer in hurt and betrayal but with confusion and a new sort of horror dragging itself to the forefront.

"Still! We can't let you get away with this!-" the captain had done such a good job steeling himself.

"Shut up captain." to be so effortlessly be eviscerated by his own ranks.

"Frankly," I continued, "my honest recommendation is to either switch sides or fake your deaths. You could probably also flee to another country and take up the job at some place that actually pays enough to eat" I could see them dropping their stances, the power of friendship that was propping up the captain had also faltered.

"Then I'll be going" I said finally, turning around "my job was to crush the factory, not you guys, so I'm getting payed no matter what"

I gained a healer to my team within a month, two other heroes were reported dead soon after and their families were moved over the sea.

You are a superhero who joined a team for pay and benefits. However, the pay is minimum wage since you have no education and they made it so you are blackballed in the civilian world so you can’t work there either. So imagine their surprise when you joined the villain’s team.

[businessorzozen]

Simplify Your Home Buying Journey with a Free Mortgage Payment Calculator

Buying your first home is an exciting milestone, but it can also be a daunting financial commitment. Understanding your monthly mortgage payments is crucial for making informed decisions and ensuring you can comfortably afford your new home. This is where a free and easy mortgage payment calculator comes in handy. In this blog post, we’ll explore the benefits of using a mortgage calculator, provide a step-by-step guide on how to use it, and offer valuable tips for first-time home buyers.

The Importance of Understanding Mortgage Payments

Before jumping into home ownership, it’s essential to have a clear understanding of your potential mortgage payments. Your mortgage payment will likely be one of your largest monthly expenses, so knowing the details can help you plan your budget effectively. For first-time home buyers, this knowledge is particularly important as it sets the foundation for financial stability and future planning.

Using a mortgage payment calculator helps demystify the process, providing a clear picture of what to expect. These calculators are designed to give you accurate estimates of your monthly payments based on various factors such as loan amount, interest rate, and loan term. This blog will walk you through how to use a free mortgage calculator and explain why it's an invaluable tool for anyone looking to buy a home.

Understanding Mortgage Payments

To make the most of a mortgage payment calculator, you need to understand some key terms related to mortgage payments. Here are a few essential components:

Key Terms Explained

Principal: This is the amount of money you borrow to purchase your home. The principal decreases over time as you make payments.

Interest Rate: The percentage of the loan amount charged by the lender for borrowing the money. Interest rates can be fixed or variable.

Loan Term: The length of time you have to repay the loan. Common terms are 15, 20, and 30 years.

How These Factors Affect Your Monthly Payments

Interest Rates: Your interest rate significantly influences your monthly payments. Higher interest rates result in higher payments, while lower rates make your payments more manageable.

Loan Term: A longer loan term means lower monthly payments, but you'll pay more interest over the life of the loan. Conversely, a shorter term results in higher monthly payments but less interest paid overall.

Loan Amount: The higher the loan amount, the higher your monthly payments will be. It’s crucial to find a balance that fits your budget. Understanding these elements helps you use a mortgage payment calculator more effectively, allowing you to experiment with different scenarios and find the best option for your financial situation.

Benefits of Using a Mortgage Calculator

A free mortgage calculator is an indispensable tool for anyone planning to buy a home. Here are some of the key benefits:

Financial Planning Made Easy- Using a mortgage payment calculator simplifies the process of financial planning. By inputting different loan amounts, interest rates, and terms, you can see how each factor affects your monthly payments. This helps you set realistic expectations and make informed decisions about your budget.

Real-Life Examples- Consider Jane, a first-time home buyer. She used a mortgage calculator to compare different loan scenarios. By adjusting the interest rate and loan term, she found a combination that fit her budget, allowing her to avoid financial stress. Without the calculator, Jane might have overcommitted, leading to potential financial difficulties down the line.

Aid in Decision-Making- A mortgage calculator provides clarity and confidence when making decisions about buying a home. It helps you understand the long-term financial commitment and ensures you choose a mortgage that aligns with your financial goals.

Step-by-Step Guide to Using the Calculator

Using a mortgage payment calculator is straightforward. Here’s a step-by-step guide to help you get started:

Enter the Loan Amount: Input the total amount you plan to borrow for your home purchase.

Select the Interest Rate: Enter the interest rate for your mortgage. If you're unsure, you can use an average rate provided by the calculator.

Choose the Loan Term: Select the length of your loan, such as 15, 20, or 30 years.

Review Your Results: The calculator will display your estimated monthly payment, along with a breakdown of principal and interest.

Experiment with Different Scenarios: Adjust the loan amount, interest rate, and term to see how changes affect your monthly payment. Using a mortgage payment calculator is a simple yet powerful way to take control of your financial future.

Tips for First-Time Home Buyers

First-time home buyers face unique challenges, but with the right tools and knowledge, you can make the process smoother. Here are some tips to keep in mind:

Consider All Costs- When using a mortgage calculator; remember to factor in other costs such as property taxes, homeowners insurance, and maintenance. These expenses can add up and affect your overall budget.

Budget for Unexpected Expenses- It's wise to have a financial cushion for unexpected expenses like home repairs or medical bills. This ensures you won’t be caught off guard and can manage your mortgage payments without stress.

Seek Professional Advice- While a mortgage calculator is a great tool, consulting with a financial advisor or mortgage broker can provide additional insights and personalized advice. They can help you understand the nuances of different loan options and choose the best one for your situation.

Practical Examples and Case Studies

Real-life scenarios can provide valuable insights into how a mortgage calculator can benefit you. Here are a few examples:

Example 1: A recent college graduate used a mortgage calculator to determine her affordability range. By inputting different loan amounts, she found a comfortable monthly payment that fit her budget. This allowed her to focus her home search within a realistic price range.

Example 2: A young couple used a mortgage calculator to compare fixed and variable interest rates. They discovered that a fixed-rate mortgage offered more stability, which was important to them as they planned to start a family.

Example 3: David, a single professional, wanted to pay off his mortgage quickly. By using the calculator, he experimented with shorter loan terms and saw how higher monthly payments would save him money on interest in the long run. This helped him make an informed decision to choose a 15-year mortgage. These examples highlight the practical benefits of using a mortgage payment calculator and show how it can help you make informed financial decisions.

[noveltysensegallery]

Master Class in Ruthlessness

COVID-19 Pandemic Edition: Do you have what it takes to be a ruthless landlord in Alabama?

Photo by Morning Brew on Unsplash

It's Just Business

Covid-19 rages across the nation, destroying jobs, damaging lives and even killing thousands. But you are about to be a landlord in Alabama; these facts don't apply to landlords in Alabama. The law is on your side...but are you on your side? Laws can't protect the weak! Take this quiz to see if you have the heart of a ruthless Alabama landlord.

1. It’s May 1st 2020 and a few of your tenants have not paid rent. They just have some sob story about losing their job as a waitress, a car salesperson and a chef. You call your lawyer who is on speed dial and she advises you that evictions will not be enforced until June 1st, 2020 due to a Proclamation by Governor Ivey. Do you?

a. Begin your unlawful eviction process anyway, proclaiming “I am the law!!”

b. File an eviction with the court and then countdown until June 1st to rush the court while harassing your tenants every step of the way and sometimes even your lawyer.

c. Compassionately work out a plan so that on June 1st you do not have to follow through with an eviction because it would be just horrible if thousands or even millions roamed the streets unhoused while a contagious virus spreads like wildfire.

2. You overheard somewhere about something in the Federal CARES Act protecting tenants who live in federally backed mortgages until July 25, 2020. Do you?

a. Think… ‘interesting’ and forget that you in fact have a mortgage that is federally backed and then proceed with eviction not realizing that it will be a futile endeavor.

b. Seek federal assistance, hide this information from your tenants and harass them until they leave. “I’m not passing on any favors!”

c. Disclose this valuable information to your grateful and relieved tenants. Then work out a plan so that on July 25, 2020 there is no need to proceed with eviction.

3. You have a tenant who is an elderly woman who is behind on her rent due to a mix up on her social security benefits. Due to the pandemic, it is difficult for her to reach anyone. Do you?

a. Feel victimized. This was supposed to be your retirement income. How will your travel fund ever grow? At this rate you’ll never make it to Italy.

b. Refuse to do necessary maintenance on her unit.

c. Show empathy since we are in the midst of a pandemic. You are well-known in the area and you have a lawyer. Perhaps these tools can be utilized to help her get connected.

4. Your tenant has congestive heart failure now owes $1550 in back rent. Do you?

a. Become consumed with worry about the economic future of your family and yourself.

b. Send a rude letter stating that rent is due and threaten immediate eviction.

c. Work with tenants who are especially vulnerable to the pandemic and look for outside resources to refer them to. Landlords are powerful in Alabama, so you can use your power to vouch for your tenants to overwhelmed non-profits who appreciate your input.

5. On what date did the Governor's Proclamation begin, which protected tenants from the enforcement of an eviction?

a. What Proclamation? Do you mean the date my letter states that my tenants will be evicted?

b. Doesn’t matter, I already have my order in place.

c. Order became effective 5p.m., Saturday on April 4th, 2020.

6. How many cases of Covid-19 has Alabama added on July 9, 2020?

a. Covid-19 doesn’t exist; it’s a hoax.

b. It’s only bad in New York, probably less than 100.

c. 1,304 cases were added on July 9, 2020 and deaths rose by 35.

7. After being furloughed as a flight attendant, your tenant Ruthie is stressed, hungry and limited on funds, which bill or cost should she prioritize first?

a. Credit Cards

b. Food

c. My Rent!

8. Why won’t your tenant pay rent?

a. Your tenants are withholding their stimulus check.

b. Your tenants received generous unemployment benefits but are too irresponsible to pay rent.

c. They lost their job due to the shelter-in-place order and the stimulus from the federal government haven’t arrived. In addition the unemployment office is too backlogged to process their claim.

9. When you read the Proclamation by Governor Ivey concerning evictions, what was the main message you gathered?

a. I can still file for an eviction.

b. Rent is due.

c. “All state, county and local law enforcement officers are hereby by directed to cease enforcement of any order that would result in the displacement of a person from his or her place of residence.”

10. It’s July 4th, what do you think of when you go to the Kroger grocery store and see steak?

a. You don’t see the steak. You ruminate over that one tenant who was too savvy to succumb to your self-help eviction. One day you’ll get them...out...one day...

b. You think, “They can have their rent for free and that’s nice but I can't go over to Kroger and start buying a steak and say oh by the way put it on the tab when this things over I’ll pay you as soon as my tenants pay.”

c. Happy, can’t wait to get this on the grill.

Results:

Mostly A's and B's: Excellent! You have what it takes to be a landlord in Alabama even if you have to pry that check from their cold, dead and Covid-19 riddled hands.

Mostly C's: Why did you even take the quiz? I'm surprise you didn't start weeping at the thought of collecting rent. Landlords in Alabama collect rent no matter what! Take your compassion and move on! Compassion can't pay for that Kroger steak!

Sources:

AL.COM: 1,304 new coronavirus cases in Alabama since yesterday; Deaths jump by 35, article published July 10, 2020.

ABC3340 NEWS: Alabama stay-at-home order prohibits evictions & foreclosures during COVID-19 crisis, article published April 3, 2020.

AL.COM: Some Alabama counties evicting tenants in pandemic, article published May, 2020.

AL.COM: Some Alabama counties resume evictions for unpaid rent, article published June 6, 2020.

FOX10: Evictions are back – but in Mobile County, at least, pace falls short of pre-pandemic levels, article published June 25, 2020.

The Office of Alabama Governor: State of Alabama Proclamation by the Governor, proclamation published April 3, 2020.

WAFF48: Evictions possible again after governor’s order is lifted, article published June 10, 2020.

WHNT News19: Alabama ban on eviction set-outs expired, article published June 8, 2020.

WHNT News19: UPDATE: Gov. Kay Ivey issues ban on evictions for the entire state, but rent is still due, article published April 3, 2020.

WSFA12 News: Lawyer says some Alabama landlords violate order, try to evict tenants, article published April 8, 2020.

© 2024 Proudly Produced by Novelty Sense Gallery. All Rights Reserved.

[bnhabadass]

Pairing: Bakugou x reader Genre: Smut, 18+, Mafia AU Trope: Woke up married Dialogue Prompt: “Aren’t we supposed to be working?”  Warnings: overdosing on cold medicine, mixing cold medicine with alcohol, dub-con, mentions of sex while unconscious, vomiting Word Count: 4,480

This is my contribution to this month’s bnharem collab. I was so happy when I spun the roulette wheel and it landed on my favorite au, the mafia au. I hope you all enjoy and make sure to check out everyone else’s contributions here. Also a big thanks to @doinmybesthere​ for being my beta reader and putting so much work into creating the master list for this collab.

“A fever? Are you fucking kidding me?”

You winced at the voice coming out of your phone. You were curled up in bed, a heavy futon draped over your achey, chilled body. “I’m really sorry,” you croaked into the receiver. “I can’t get out of bed; there’s no way I’ll be able to come into work today.”

“You know how important tonight’s meeting is.”

You could feel the fire in the eyes of your underboss as he spat at you about how important tonight’s festivities were. You couldn’t care less. You hated the guy, but more importantly you hated your father for getting you in this mess.

A debt needed to be paid and your family couldn’t afford to take out a second mortgage on the house. So your father, as smart as he thought he was, went to the nicest restaurant on the far side of town where the boss of one of the most dangerous mobs in the city stationed his office.

A debt for a debt. That’s what he told you as he came home smiling with a big check in his wallet. No one in your family knew where he got the money, but he seemed confident enough that he’d be able to pay it back.

A month went by and one day, three scary men knocked on your apartment door. They said they were there to “collect”.

You were terrified. You thought they were there to rob you, to take the money you had been saving in a rainy-day fund. But no, they came to collect you. Now, it’s been four months and you’re still stuck doing odd jobs for them--grocery and coffee runs as well as spending reports and other money related things you are less than qualified to do.

You hate your job. You hate having to put up with the unorthodox hours and the unsavory jobs and the complaints about your work ethic and the having to do it over again because you didn’t do it right the first time. You want out. If you weren’t positive that if you left they would be able to hunt you down, you would have fled the country by now.

But your father’s debt still hasn’t been paid.

“Look,” you pleaded. “I can come in tomorrow and work double my usual time. Please, Kirishima-san, I just need the day to rest.”

“Not a chance. You’re coming in today and that’s final. If you don’t, well, then maybe we need to take an extra payment from your parents.”

Before you could even process what he just said, he hung up the phone.

Another payment from your parents. You couldn’t possibly let them take any more from your family. With a new threat looming over your head, you mustered up enough strength to push off of your futon and get dressed for the clients’ dinner.

By the time it was 7:00 in the evening, you had taken a large swig of cold medicine and were ready to spend the night serving these criminals.

Outside of the restaurant, two bodyguards were stationed at the front door and one at the back entrance. All three of them were dressed in black from head to toe. You, on the other hand, were tasked with serving your boss’s clients, so your outfit differed from theirs.

You were dressed in attire suited for waiting tables. Black slacks stretch across your legs and your pristine shirt was smoothed against your body. A tight black vest clung to your chest and pressed against your boobs, squishing them together. If it weren’t for the fever, chills, and headache, you would look like you belonged with this crowd of criminals.

You flashed your ID to the guard at the back door and he nodded you in. Your eyes had to adjust to the fluorescent kitchen lighting, but once they did you saw how busy everyone was. It truly was one of the most important nights for your boss, so you understood why you were needed. Still, this night would truly take the most out of you.

“Oi, (L/n),” one of your boss’s associates called for you. “Take these to table four. I’ve been covering your ass for the last twenty minutes.”

“Of course, Kaminari-san.” You bowed your head and skirted over to the table where two well-dressed men spoke with one another in a hushed tone. You placed their meals in front of them and bowed your head.

“Wait,” one of them called as you began to walk away. “I asked for a Jasmine tea. This is Sencha.”

“Yeah,” the other one piped up. “And I asked for a Sencha tea and this is Jasmine.”

You wanted to scream. You wanted to yell into the abyss and slap those men across the face. But of course all you did was bow in apology and take the cups back. Kirishima’s words to you over the phone rang loud and clear in your mind.

“Anything they need, you get it for them. These are important people the boss works with and we can’t have idiots like you messing this up for us.”

The men smirked at you and as you turned around to grab their “correct orders,” the man who ordered the Jasmine tea leaned over to leave a hard, painful smack across your ass.

You froze but didn’t say anything and walked away.

It was still early in the night but you had run yourself thin. You needed to sit down or to at least take a sip of water, but there was no room for breaks as you bounced from table to table getting the people what they wanted. You had even left the venue a couple times to retrieve items like the proper creamer one client required in their coffee.

Your throat was so sore and dry and it was aching for a break. Your entire body was aching for a break. But as you saw someone sitting at one of the tables raise her hand to wave you over, you had to put all of your aches aside to tend to her needs.

“Good evening, ma’am.” You bowed your head. “How may I assist you?”

A small smile was on her dark red painted lips. She seemed to be searching for something as she eyed you up and down. “Do you happen to know when Bakugou-san will be joining us?”

Bakugou-san… Were you supposed to know who that is? You had never heard the name before, although you knew your boss had many ties throughout the district. It could be one of them.

“I’m not sure,” you answered honestly. “I could ask my supervisors if they happen to know.”

She waited a moment. She seemed to be searching for something in your expression. “That’s all right. You may go back to work now.”

You bowed and thanked her.

Bakugou-san.

The name did sound familiar, but you’re not sure where you could have heard it. It wasn’t until you were deep in thought, trying to recall where you had heard the name, that you could feel something pushing up against your throat. Oh god. Your stomach was churning.

You ran to the bathroom, pushing someone out of the way to get there. You’d probably hear an earful from Kirishima for pushing a guest, but you needed to find a toilet before--

Oh no.

You barely made it into the stall before emptying the contents of your stomach onto the white tiles of the bathroom floor. Your legs collapsed from under you and you kneeled in your vomit as you coughed up your stomach lining into the porcelain bowl.

Tears fell from your eyes as you struggled to breathe while hacking everything you had into the toilet. The black eyeliner you threw on before leaving the house had smudged into raccoon eyes around your lashes.

You rested your cheek against the toilet, ignoring all of the germs that were most likely crawling up your skin and into your pores. The toilet seat felt cool against your burning cheek and watering eyes. You thought you could die happily here, kneeling on the bathroom tiles in a pile of your slowly cooling vomit.

“Aren’t we supposed to be working here?”

Your eyes shot open, and in trying to stand up you slipped. Your ass landed in the smeared vomit. You winced and let out a drawn out, “fuuuck.”

It took you a moment before opening your eyes again and looking up at the man in front of you. And boy did your eyes widen. He was clearly a guest at the clients’ dinner. His blonde hair was slicked back and the bulge of his muscles under his crisp black button down didn’t go unnoticed by you. His sleeves were rolled up, revealing his forearms and as he crossed his arms over his chest, his sleeves began to tighten.

“Who the hell are you and why are you puking on the floor?”

It took you a second to find your voice. “I’m, um...” you trailed off. “(L/n), sir.” You cleared your throat. “I am a worker for the person hosting this dinner.” You tried to stand up and bow, but he put a hand up to stop you.

“You work for them.” It was a statement not a question, but you nodded anyway. “Why? What do you owe?”

You’re not sure why he was asking, but his intimidating glare compelled you to answer his every question. “My dad owes them money,” you admitted. “And he wasn’t able to pay them back.”

“Who do you mean by them?”

You weren’t sure how to answer. You didn’t even know what these people did. For all you knew they were drug mules or assassins. You never wanted to know what they did when you were roped in. After all, the less you knew meant you could have more of a normal life. “The boss,” you finally answered. Who the boss was, you weren’t sure. You answered to Kirishima but he didn’t have much power aside from ordering around you and every other person unfortunate enough to be roped into working for them.

The man in front of you scoffed. “Get up.”

You scrambled to your feet, ignoring the wave of nausea that hit you. The man led you out of the bathroom, and as you walked behind him, people who passed the two of you stopped and stared. Oh no, it had to be from the vomit stains on your leg and down your shirt. You probably stank to high hell and your eyes wouldn’t stop watering from your fever.

The man stopped and you had to keep from bumping into him. “There’s an extra work shirt in the closet,” he said. “There should also be some slacks in there. Leave your dirty clothes in a pile and I’ll have someone collect them.”

His voice was demanding and it took you a moment to register what he said. It wasn’t until he snapped in your face that you moved.

“We don’t have all day, princess.”

You flinched and nodded before scurrying into the closet and flicking the light on. Inside the closet was the restaurant’s sad excuse for a boiler room. The low humming from the machinery brought you back into the present as you searched for the change of clothes you were promised.

There was a crisp white shirt folded on one of the shelves as well as a few different slacks in varying sizes. The shirt was a size too small, so you had to leave the first couple buttons popped open. Before leaving the closet, you tried to think about who the man was and why he was helping you. Was it possible that he wanted something in return?

When you emerged from the closet, he looked you up and down. You were too tired, however, to notice his lingering glare on your chest and the way the button down squeezed your breasts closer together.

“Thank you,” you mumbled, looking down at your shoes. You’re not sure why you were too scared to look into his vermillion eyes, but the way he called you princess earlier as he snapped at you had definitely made you tremble in your core, and you swore that if you looked up to meet his eyes, your fever would only go higher and higher.

“Why the hell’d you come here if you were sick anyway? Are you trying to poison everyone in the damn building?” His words were like little bullets that shot at every one of your doubts of coming in tonight.

You thought back to why you had come in the first place. You were huddled up in your futon that morning when Kirishima called. You begged to stay home, right? But you couldn’t. You squinted hard as you tried to remember why you weren’t allowed to rest. “I was threatened,” you thought out loud. It wasn’t directed towards the man but he nodded in any case.

“(L/n) was it, right?”

You finally managed to look up at him with bleary eyes. “Yeah, um...” You couldn’t seem to remember what his name was. Wait, he hadn’t told you. He had just led you around and given you new clothes, but he never properly introduced himself.

“Bakugou Katsuki,” he said as if he could read your mind. His lips turned up into a smirk. “But call me Katsuki.”

“Katsuki,” you mumbled. “Bakugou Katsuki.” You had heard that name before, but where. “Bakugou,” you mumbled again as if you were trying to put the pieces of a puzzle together. “Bakugou-san.”

He quirked an eyebrow up at you.

“Oh!” It hit you like a ton of bricks and as soon as you shot up, you had to recoil because of the ache in the back of your neck. “There’s a woman looking for you, Bakugou-san, er, Katuki,” you bowed.

He just chuckled. “There’s a lot of people looking for me tonight. Who was it?”

That’s a good question. You squinted as if you were looking deep into your memories to remember who it was who asked for him. “She was a woman,” you remembered. “With long dark hair and dark red lips.”

Katsuki nodded. “I see the Yaoyorozus are here.”

The Yaoyorozus. You weren’t sure what that could mean but you didn’t feel like questioning it, so you nodded instead.

Katsuki was looking down at you. His arms were crossed over his chest but a smirk that had been playing across his face all night wouldn’t seem to go away. “Feeling better?”

You didn’t feel better. Although you felt cleaner in the new clothes, there was still a throbbing in your head that wasn’t going away and the overhead lights made your eyes water. But the way that Katsuki looked at you like he was expecting you to say yes just drew you in.

He could tell that the way you nodded a yes in response to his question was a lie, and his face fell before pushing a hand up to your forehead, checking your temperature. “Have you taken anything today?”

You had to think back to earlier that day when you brought the bottle of cold medicine up to your lips, not even reading the recommended dose before downing what you could and leaving your home. “Yeah, um, I took some medicine.”

The grin that had been spread across Katsuki’s face returned. “Well I guess we’ll have to get you some more.”

He grabbed your wrist and led you through the halls and over to the bar. You didn’t pay attention to where you were going. The world seemed to be going too fast for you to keep up. What you were able to notice was that everyone’s eyes were on you as you gently swayed back and forth, trying to settle yourself down. As you were in your own head, you couldn’t start to picture what everyone else saw when they looked at you. You with your raccoon eyes due to streaky makeup that you couldn’t stop rubbing.

“Here.” Katsuki shoved a glass in your face. “Not necessarily traditional medicine but it’ll get the job done.”

You looked up at the whiskey glass in his hand. The ‘medicine’ was a deep brown color which swirled around as he handed it to you. Your fingers brushed against his thick ones as you took the glass. You lifted it up to your nose and took a deep breath in, gagging at the smell. “Um, I don’t think I should.” You had been warned about mixing alcohol with drugs and the dangers that came with it, but no one had ever told you not to mix drinks with cold medicine. Still, that couldn’t be right, right?

“Come on, it’s good for you,” he egged you on. “Besides, it’ll get that nasty taste out of your mouth.”

You had never tried whiskey before. You were used to lighter drinks, something bubbly with a shot of vodka or two in it. But this was almost too much. You lifted the glass up to your lips and tilted it back. Your lips stung as they made contact with the drink, but you didn’t want to seem weak to Katsuki. He’d taken care of you so far and seemed pleasant enough, albeit intimidating.

As you tipped it back further and took more of the drink into your mouth, Katsuki pushed his hand against the bottom of the glass so you couldn’t tear it away, making sure you would drink every last drop. It stung going down and the cubes pressing against your lip were colder than you expected. You gagged as a couple loose tears rolled down your face from the drink’s burning sensation. You bet you looked even more of a mess now.

“Good girl,” Katsuki said with a low demeanor. With his thumb, he wiped away a drop of whiskey that rolled down your chin.

“And this’ll make me feel better?” You didn’t think you were supposed to drink when you were sick, but you were far too tired to even think about what was wrong and what was right. If he said that it’d make you feel better, then that had to be a good thing. You’re sure of it.

“Sure will.” He placed a firm, calloused hand on your head and stroked down your hair. You nuzzled into his warmth.

It was such a nice sensation that it almost made you forget that you were supposed to be working. That there were people waiting on you to bring them their food and fetch their creamer, people who were ready to slap your ass and laugh as soon as you turned away.

“I have a,” you started, not really sure where that sentence was going. “I have to go back to work.”

As you began walking away, Katsuki stopped you, pulling you back over so your face was practically pressed up against his chest. “No you don’t. You’re sick, remember?”

Right, as if you hadn’t forgotten. But he was right. You were sick and your medicine hadn’t kicked in yet. You couldn’t risk spreading your germs and getting anyone else sick.

You watched the dinner guests from afar. You leaned in to hear conversations about hitmen and other rivaling mobs around town. Some were about money laundering and clients that needed to be taken out, whatever that meant.

At one point, someone asked to pull Katsuki aside and talk alone, but instead he just pulled you closer.

“The hell do you want, Yoarashi?”

Yoarashi was a big guy, bigger than Katsuki, but it was clear even to you that he was intimidated by the blonde in front of him.

“You owe me for what I let you borrow last month.”

“I don’t owe you shit.”

To you, they sounded like they were underwater and you weren’t sure what they were discussing, but you were curious to learn more.

“Come on, Bakugou. Work with me here.”

“I’m a busy man, Yoarashi. Now get out of my face before I have my men take care of you.”

Something about the raw power and the threatening tone behind Katsuki’s voice made you excited. You wanted to melt into his words, but you weren’t sure why.

“Busy man?” Yoarashi scoffed. “Come on, Bakugou. You’ve barely been seen all night. Where have you been, fucking this little lackey of yours?”

He didn’t mean you, did he? Before you could even comprehend what he just insinuated, Katsuki turned you around and pressed your face up against his chest. You could feel yourself growing even hotter as you were pushed into one of his pectorals. One of his hands cupped the back of your head. Was he protecting you?

“Listen here,” you heard him say. “Don’t contact us ever again unless you want to end up like your first boss did. I can make your life a living hell and I will, got that?”

“Don’t think I don’t have other contacts, all right? You aren’t the only one in this town with resources, Bakugou.”

You felt something jab into the other side of Katsuki’s chest. Did Yoarashi hit him? A few seconds went by before you heard the snapping of fingers and two men came over to drag Yoarashi away.

Katsuki released the hold he had on you, and you watched as the tall man struggled out of his hold. “You aren’t gonna tell anyone what you saw here tonight, right princess?”

You shook your head. You weren’t sure what exactly you felt when you saw that man being dragged away. You were scared, of course; scared for your own life and of the raw power that Katsuki seemed to hold. But on top of fear there was something else. There was a tingle between your thighs that wouldn’t seem to go away, and there was also a sense of excitement. Out of all the people here, this man was paying attention to you. You were far from Mafia material, but he clearly saw something in you and you wanted more of his gaze lingering on you.

Your mind felt hazy with Katsuki and you wanted even more. You didn’t know what to do when you felt him smooth his hand down your back. You didn’t know what to do when his usual smirk turned into something much more dangerous. And you didn’t know what to do when he leaned over and pressed his lips against your own.

His lips felt heavenly as they explored you. They were soft and welcoming despite his cold and dangerous exterior. His tongue probed its way into your mouth. He tasted like whiskey and something else which you assumed was just him. He bit your lip and it felt like he smiled when you let out a moan.

When he released, you felt as if the whole world was spinning with Katsuki. You wobbled around a bit and he chuckled. You tried asking if you could sit down, but the words refused to come out. The last thing you remember is seeing the world go black, the sound of the clients’ dinner fading out of earshot, and two strong arms carrying you away from reality.

You were in pain by the time you woke up. Your body, especially your head, ached tremendously and you wished the sun would stop shining so bright through your window. But wait, the window in your bedroom at your apartment faced another building. The sun never shined too bright in the morning when you were at home.

Slowly, you peaked your head out from under the covers and looked around. You weren’t in your bedroom, but you were in a bedroom. The bed you had been asleep in was enormous, but aside from that there was not much else furniture in the room or even any pictures to signify who the room could belong to.

It wasn’t until you sat up that you realized just how exposed you were under the covers. You couldn’t find your clothing anywhere. What were you even wearing last night? Where were you last night?

You remembered being sick and being called into work by Kirishima. You were stressed. You were nauseous. There was a beautiful woman who asked for someone in particular but you were too sick to remember what their name was, right?

And then you raced to the bathroom and met--

A groan from beside you shook you out of your thoughts, and as soon as you saw the person lying in bed next to you, all of your memories came flooding back.

“Morning, baby girl,” Katsuki said.

You didn’t know what to say. Your mouth hung open and you felt lightheaded.

Katsuki was shirtless under the covers and you were too scared to ask if he had anything on covering his lower half. “You put on quite the show last night.”

Last night. Where you met him. What did you do last night? “I...” You didn’t know what to say, and that made Katsuki let out a booming laugh.

“Come on, you remember at least a little of it don’t you?”

You shook your head. Then you shook your head again. You couldn’t stop shaking your head.

Katsuki put a hand on your shoulder and you stopped. He had a shit eating grin spread across his face that you wanted to both punch and kiss at the same time. “First throwing up at my party and then getting blackout drunk in front of all my guests.”

“What?” You could barely remember anything. What did he mean ‘his party’? The clients’ dinner was run by…

Your eyes widened as you realized just who you had found yourself naked in bed with. Who had found you puking on the bathroom floor. Who that stunningly gorgeous woman was asking for earlier.

You clamped a hand over your mouth and Katsuki let out another chuckle. “You really were the life of the party.” He grabbed your wrist and dragged you over to his side of the bed, and you let him. He dragged his hand up and down your exposed body and roughly cupped your sex. “I had a blast toying around with you last night, but now I want you to be able to remember what it feels like when I bury my cock inside of you, sweetheart.”

You hated the way he was grabbing you and the way he forced your legs to open up for him, but what you hated more than any of that was the way his words made your inner thighs ache and how they instinctively parted just for him.

You turned away as he leaned down to smother your chest with rough kisses, and as you looked over to your left hand, you couldn’t help but notice a diamond ring that wasn’t there the night before.

[fanficshiddles]

Losing Control, Chapter 1/Teaser

Summary: Emilia’s smart mouth begins getting her into trouble with her mischievous Professor, soon getting her entangled in a risky, yet exciting, relationship with him. 

WARNINGS FOR THE FIC: Slight dub-con. D/s dynamics, professor x student relationship.

Emilia couldn’t get out of the building quick enough, practically sprinting down the path and then heading up the road in the direction of her flat.

She knew that skipping her seminar at the end of the day was risky, even though she had taken it mainly for extra credit. But she was bright and top of most of her classes, and she had never missed a single class or seminar in the last year since being at Uni. So she was overdue skipping one.

Even if that class was Norse Mythology, with one of the strictest Professors there...

Professor Laufeyson.

He was a great Professor, really focused and passionate about Norse Mythology. But he was annoyingly strict, especially compared to most of the other Professors. Emilia was sure she had never even heard him laugh before, come to think of it.

But she had a very good excuse for skipping out early. She was moving tonight, to her brand new flat. And she was so excited. She had saved up hard for the past few years, to be able to get out a mortgage, so she could now drop her smaller part time job and focus on her studies more, while continuing with her other job.

She had been given a hefty amount of money when her parents passed, so she didn’t have to worry about her University loans as she’d been able to pay all of them off already. And she had enough left over to pay for the deposit on the flat.

It had been hard, between being at Uni, studying and having two jobs. She had barely any time for anything else, never mind hobbies. But she wanted to get a good head start on savings, a safety net.

And it was worth it. Her new flat was closer to University, in a safer location and it was much bigger. Actually having separate rooms instead of a kitchen, living room and bedroom all in the one room. It was more homely, and she couldn’t wait to furnish it. Make her mark on her own place.

She hadn’t been able to book the moving company for over the weekend, so this evening had to do. Hence why she needed to leave Uni early.

As soon as she got home, she got the last of her things packed into boxes just in time for the moving company arriving. They were quick with getting her furniture into the van and all of her boxes too. They then went on ahead while she hailed a taxi to take her to her new flat, it was only ten minutes by car.

The guys had already taken some of her things into the building and upstairs outside her door. She got it unlocked and the guys headed straight in with her furniture. She took the time to take in this moment, finally, after working so hard for this wonderful flat, it was now all hers.

‘There’s just some boxes left, but we are out of time you’ve paid us for. We can do the last boxes but it’ll cost you.’ One of the guys said after taking the last of the heavy furniture up.

Emilia rolled her eyes. Of course it will.

‘It’s fine, I’ll manage. Thanks.’ She headed back down and saw the guys off, then she looked at the last five boxes and groaned.

-

Over half an hour later, Emilia was wrestling with the last large box up the stairs. It was exhausting and she was beginning to question why she picked a flat on the top floor. Granted it wasn’t a really tall building with heaps of residents, but it still had four floors and that was more than enough to struggle with.

She was only one floor up with the last box, just beginning to ascend the next set, when she heard footsteps coming up behind her and they stopped abruptly.

‘You’re going to have to wait, buddy. As you can see, struggling a bit here.’ She said without looking round, she was too busy focusing on not dropping the rather heavy box that she was realising must be the one with her DVDs, CDs and records.

‘Emilia Cooper, still a smart mouth out with University, it seems.’

That voice made her falter, she almost dropped the box in surprise, but she was saved as a hand shot out and steadied the box while she suddenly felt a hand at her back to steady her too.

She turned her head slightly and her eyes widened, even though she recognised the voice it was still a shock to get confirmation that it was indeed Professor Laufeyson that was keeping her from falling back down the stairs or dropping the box.

‘Professor Laufeyson!’ She said in surprise, then quickly moved forward and regained herself.

‘Let me take that for you.’ Loki offered, putting his hands out.

But she continued upstairs, even though it was a struggle. ‘No, no. I’ve got it. I’ve got it.’

Loki smirked and watched in amusement as she struggled with each step until she got to the next landing. Where she leaned against the wall and looked at Loki, who had followed her up. He just put his hands out, an eyebrow raised.

She rolled her eyes and passed him the box.

‘You weren’t at my seminar today.’ Loki stated as they continued upstairs, Loki carried the box with ease, much to Emilia’s annoyance.

‘You actually noticed?’

‘Of course I did. I was going to have words with you on Monday, but I guess now I know the reason. But still, it will give me the weekend to decide if it’s a good enough reason for skipping my class or not.’

Emilia rolled her eyes and internally cursed.

They reached the top floor and Emilia opened her door so Loki could place the box just inside the door.

‘Thanks, Professor. Hope I didn’t hold you up from visiting… whoever you’re visiting.’ She smiled at him, hoping he would just leave now.

‘Not at all.’ He merely took a few steps to the adjoining flat from hers, pulling out keys he unlocked the door. Glancing back at her, seeing she was wide eyed and mouth slightly agape, he winked at her and then stepped inside his flat.

‘You have got to be fucking kidding me.’

[georgiapeach30513]

What Are These

🖤🖤🖤🖤

Summary:  Marshall comes to pick up his son

Pairings:  Walter Marshall X Ex wife!Reader (Bitty Bean)

Rating:  umm

Warnings:  none, 18+ ONLY

Word Count:  650

Desperate Lives AU Masterlist

Owin Everett-Levinson Masterlist

You hear a knock on the door, and your son is already running to the front.  Opening the door wide, and he jumps in his dad’s arms giving him a big hug.  “Shep, why don’t you go pack while I talk to your mother.”

“Oooh, you’re in trouble.”

“No, she’s not.  Just been too busy to talk to her.  Go on.  You’re staying with me a full week,” Sheply runs up to his room before Marshall ever takes a seat at the bar.  You go ahead and poor him a glass of fresh lemonade.  His eyes looking at the most recent artwork of your son’s on the fridge.  “So how’s it going?”

“Fine.”

“You like working for Mrs. Drysdale?”

“I told you last time that you asked it was fine and I enjoyed it.  So why don’t you say, what you really want,” you slide over the glass and sit across from him, and he offers you a big smile, mumbling out a nothing.  “You asked our son to go pack.  You wanted to talk to me privately, so talk.”

“Don’t give him the muffin,” you raise up an eyebrow at him confused.  “Not yet anyways.”

“Are we talking about a pastry or my muffin?  Because we’re divorced Marshall.  Whoever I give my muffin to, is my business.  When and if someone meets our son, that’s when it becomes slightly more your business.  But as long as we’ve known each other, I would hope that you would know, I have decent judgement on who meets Shep.”

“I was talking about both the pastry and your...muffin.”

“Just because you’ve worked for the family for years, does not mean that you know all about them.  Owin isn’t really a Drysdale.  You know why we didn’t work out, Walt?” those dark blue eyes roll up to meet yours.  “You were so consumed in that job, you couldn’t bother to come home to your wife and son.”

“They needed me.”

“The woman never left the house.  And when she did you were out in public for what?  An hour.  Admit you stayed, because they paid well.  That’s how you afforded us this house, and why you still won’t let me take over the mortgage.  And yes, I know it’s paid for now.  And I appreciate you being thoughtful towards our son.  We always get along, so don’t let the possibility of me going on a date ruin our relationship.  We were always better off as friends.  Our son is happier because we can be civil towards one another.  And before you ask, Owin isn’t aware of who I was married to, or even that I have a child.  He hasn’t got the muffin yet to know.”

“I’m sorry.  That was outta line.”

“You should date,” he rolls his eyes at you.  “You should.  You’re a great guy.  A good father, when you were there, a good husband.  You just need a woman to swipe you off your feet and make you want to shut off at appropriate times.”

“She’s gotta be able to put up with another family, and you, and Shep, too.”

“Ahh, the secret but not so secret family.  If it’s something you want, you could do it.  I don’t want to be single forever.  I want a life with someone.  I want more kids, and you don’t.  And let me worry about my muffins.  I’m also confused on how you know about the muffin deal?”

He laughs, his hand rubbing across his beard, “That family does not know how to be quiet.  Nothing about you, but Owin and the new girl that he’s got his eyes on.  And how she’s been making him chase, and he’s not had tail in months.  All because she won’t give him a blueberry muffin,” the ding of the oven goes off, and you pull out a batch of muffins.  Placing them in front of Marshall.  “What are these?” he asks you with a grin.

“Blueberry muffins.”

Masterlist

[imagine-loki]

Losing Control, Chapter 1/teaser

TITLE: Losing Control CHAPTER NO./ONE SHOT: Chapter 1 AUTHOR: fanficshiddles ORIGINAL IMAGINE: Imagine Loki is your Professor at University.  RATING: M WARNINGS: Dub con, D/s dynamics, professor x student relationship.

  Emilia couldn’t get out of the building quick enough, practically sprinting down the path and then heading up the road in the direction of her flat.

She knew that skipping her seminar at the end of the day was risky, even though she had taken it mainly for extra credit. But she was bright and top of most of her classes, and she had never missed a single class or seminar in the last year since being at Uni. So she was overdue skipping one.

Even if that class was Norse Mythology, with one of the strictest Professors there...

Professor Laufeyson.

He was a great Professor, really focused and passionate about Norse Mythology. But he was annoyingly strict, especially compared to most of the other Professors. Emilia was sure she had never even heard him laugh before, come to think of it.

But she had a very good excuse for skipping out early. She was moving tonight, to her brand new flat. And she was so excited. She had saved up hard for the past few years, to be able to get out a mortgage, so she could now drop her smaller part time job and focus on her studies more, while continuing with her other job.

She had been given a hefty amount of money when her parents passed, so she didn’t have to worry about her University loans as she’d been able to pay all of them off already. And she had enough left over to pay for the deposit on the flat.

It had been hard, between being at Uni, studying and having two jobs. She had barely any time for anything else, never mind hobbies. But she wanted to get a good head start on savings, a safety net.

And it was worth it. Her new flat was closer to University, in a safer location and it was much bigger. Actually having separate rooms instead of a kitchen, living room and bedroom all in the one room. It was more homely, and she couldn’t wait to furnish it. Make her mark on her own place.

She hadn’t been able to book the moving company for over the weekend, so this evening had to do. Hence why she needed to leave Uni early.

As soon as she got home, she got the last of her things packed into boxes just in time for the moving company arriving. They were quick with getting her furniture into the van and all of her boxes too. They then went on ahead while she hailed a taxi to take her to her new flat, it was only ten minutes by car.

The guys had already taken some of her things into the building and upstairs outside her door. She got it unlocked and the guys headed straight in with her furniture. She took the time to take in this moment, finally, after working so hard for this wonderful flat, it was now all hers.

‘There’s just some boxes left, but we are out of time you’ve paid us for. We can do the last boxes but it’ll cost you.’ One of the guys said after taking the last of the heavy furniture up.

Emilia rolled her eyes. Of course it will.

‘It’s fine, I’ll manage. Thanks.’ She headed back down and saw the guys off, then she looked at the last five boxes and groaned.

-

Over half an hour later, Emilia was wrestling with the last large box up the stairs. It was exhausting and she was beginning to question why she picked a flat on the top floor. Granted it wasn’t a really tall building with heaps of residents, but it still had four floors and that was more than enough to struggle with.

She was only one floor up with the last box, just beginning to ascend the next set, when she heard footsteps coming up behind her and they stopped abruptly.

‘You’re going to have to wait, buddy. As you can see, struggling a bit here.’ She said without looking round, she was too busy focusing on not dropping the rather heavy box that she was realising must be the one with her DVDs, CDs and records.

‘Emilia Cooper, still a smart mouth out with University, it seems.’

That voice made her falter, she almost dropped the box in surprise, but she was saved as a hand shot out and steadied the box while she suddenly felt a hand at her back to steady her too.

She turned her head slightly and her eyes widened, even though she recognised the voice it was still a shock to get confirmation that it was indeed Professor Laufeyson that was keeping her from falling back down the stairs or dropping the box.

‘Professor Laufeyson!’ She said in surprise, then quickly moved forward and regained herself.

‘Let me take that for you.’ Loki offered, putting his hands out.

But she continued upstairs, even though it was a struggle. ‘No, no. I’ve got it. I’ve got it.’

Loki smirked and watched in amusement as she struggled with each step until she got to the next landing. Where she leaned against the wall and looked at Loki, who had followed her up. He just put his hands out, an eyebrow raised.

She rolled her eyes and passed him the box.

‘You weren’t at my seminar today.’ Loki stated as they continued upstairs, Loki carried the box with ease, much to Emilia’s annoyance.

‘You actually noticed?’

‘Of course I did. I was going to have words with you on Monday, but I guess now I know the reason. But still, it will give me the weekend to decide if it’s a good enough reason for skipping my class or not.’

Emilia rolled her eyes and internally cursed.

They reached the top floor and Emilia opened her door so Loki could place the box just inside the door.

‘Thanks, Professor. Hope I didn’t hold you up from visiting… whoever you’re visiting.’ She smiled at him, hoping he would just leave now.

‘Not at all.’ He merely took a few steps to the adjoining flat from hers, pulling out keys he unlocked the door. Glancing back at her, seeing she was wide eyed and mouth slightly agape, he winked at her and then stepped inside his flat.

‘You have got to be fucking kidding me.’

[missymurphy1985]

The Revenge

Cillian and y/n had been together for 5 years, only these last few months he'd become seriously complacent and distant. Time for a wake up call.

Warnings - smut. This was a request from @being-worthy , I hope you like it!!

7pm. 7:15pm. 7:30pm. You kept glancing at your watch, the waiter bringing you another glass of wine as you sat, positively seething at the table. The third date night in a row he'd missed, and this was made you especially mad. Your anniversary meal. 5 years to the day since he asked you to be with him, properly be with him, after 2 months of being fuck buddies on the set of Peaky Blinders. You'd bagged the job of being his umbrella girl, so spent most of your time with him, and one thing had led to another after he'd invited you in for a game of cards and a bottle of Jameson's. Strip poker became your new favourite game.

You downed the wine, paid the bill and called a taxi back to your shared apartment. Walking in, he was nowhere to be found. Locking the door, seeing his keys still on the table in the hallway, you turned your phone off and went to bed.

"Sleep on the fucking porch, dickhead."

Waking up the following morning and turning on you phone to 17 missed calls and 7 voicemails, she smiled. Deleting all of them, she slipped one of his shirts on, and made her way downstairs to hear the front door being pounded. Smiling, you opened it to see Cillian stood there with a look of pure rage.

"Morning baby, have a good evening?" You opened it allowing him to enter.

"Where the fuck were you?? I've just spent the night sleeping in the fucking car y/n, why was your phone turned off?" He barged his way in, pushing past you to get to the toilet, his bladder screaming from inside him.

"Sleeping. Battery must have died. Shouldn't have left your house keys, should you?"

"Fucks sake... I'm going to bed." He stalked upstairs, not looking at you and went to bed. Now, you were really angry.

When he came back down a couple of hours later, he was still mad at you. Wouldn't say two words to you as you sat in the living room watching TV, coffee in hand. Into the kitchen he sulked, slamming cupboard doors to make his frustration clear to you. You just smiled.

You were showered now, but still wearing his shirt, buttons done low, exposing your cleavage, with no underwater underneath. You were determined now, plan in action, he was going to suffer for this. Walking into the kitchen, you opened the fridge to get some orange juice, bending completely Dr the waist, exposing your bare backside under the shirt. You felt his eyes on you, watching you, and inwardly grinned, though he couldn't see as your hips swayed slightly as you bent further to grab the juice at the bottom of the fridge. Standing back up, you turned to face him, shirt hanging off your shoulder now exposing almost down to your bare nipple, you straightened your body to drink from the carton, then bent again to place it back in the fridge. His eyes didn't leave your body once as he sat at the breakfast bar with a slice of toast.

"You mad at me, y/n?"

"Hmm? Why would I be made at you, now Cillian?" You smiled sweetly, noticing a small drop of juice on your finger, you licked it as seductively as possible, winked and left the room. Now he was confused... And hard. You smiled, knowing exactly what effect you'd had on him and went upstairs to get ready.

"I'm meeting Orla for lunch, I'll be back by 4." You called from the stairs.

"Tell my sister I said hello, yeah?"

"Maybe." You went upstairs to get dressed, within 20minutes you were out the door.

The following morning, you woke to find Cillian in his office downstairs on his laptop. You'd avoided him most of the previous evening, making him sleep in the guest bedroom. Sure to keep him out of the bedroom you shared, you'd locked your door.

Perking your nipples slightly to harden them, you stood at his office door.

"Hey... Um..." He glanced at you at the door and had to swallow a gasp. You winked at him, before making your way back upstairs. You heard him growl slightly, close his laptop and follow you. Sadly for him, you made your way into the bathroom, and locked the door. Bath time.

Sinking your body under the water, you could hear Cillian moving around upstairs, just outside the bathroom door.

"Y/n will you tell me what it is I'm supposed to have done wrong?" He paused outside the door knocking lightly.

"Mmm.... God this bath feels nice... Warm water on my skin... Fuck I needed this..." You moaned as seductively as possible, keeping your voice just loud enough so he could hear you.

"Y/n open the door... I can make that bath even better..." His voice deepened. This was working like a dream.

"Mm.... Don't you have another appointment with your agent Cillian?" He knew he was in trouble. You never called him by his full name, it was 'Cill', 'babe', but only Cillian when he'd pissed you off. Which he'd clearly done, but had no clue as to how.

Over the course of the following fortnight, you'd kept Cillian at bay, he was still sleeping in the guest room, your bedroom door remained locked overnight (he'd tried, you'd heard him, it was fucking hysterical) while you continued to seduce and tease him mercilessly. Orla had called to say he'd even tried calling her to find out what he'd done, but good as gold, she told him she had no idea what he was talking about.

Cillian had had enough at this point. He'd even tried getting himself off at night but he couldn't do it - his hands just weren't as good as yours, it wasn't the same. He genuinely thought his balls were going to explode, the tension inside him was driving him insane. He called his sister Orla again when you went out to do the food shop, desperate this time.

"Orla I need your help please, I'm your brother... Please? Surely she's told you what it is I'm supposed to have done wrong? All I did was go out with Adam for one night and she's barely spoken to me and hasn't TOUCHED me since!"

"Woah now, that's waaaay to much info for your sister to be hearing now!" She laughed at the other end of the phone, rolling her eyes. Y/n had done very well to keep this up for two whole weeks.. maybe it was time for some sisterly advice for her older brother.

"Cillian when did you go out? What date?"

"Few days after my birthday, so the 30th May I think, why?"

"No, it wasn't the 30th. Think again. Check your dates." He put his phone on loudspeaker and checked his calendar. Then it dawned on him. Oh fuck... Oh shit... Shit shit shit!!

"The 27th.. oh fuck Orla it was the 27th.. and I'm looking at the fucking calender entry for our date night saved as a fucking DRAFT!! I didn't set it properly... Oh fuck Orla I'm a dead man, how's she not killed me?"

"I think in a way she has Cillian!! You've got some serious making up to do - not like the first time it's happened now is it?" He groaned... This would be the hat trick. Three date nights missed because he couldn't work the fucking calendar app on his new phone properly.. but that excuse wasn't going to wash now, he'd had plenty of opportunity to sort his sorry ass out. And to miss their anniversary dinner? No. He'd make this right. He thanked his sister, ended the call and opened a different app on his phone. Operation Clemency was in motion.

****************************************

You left your friends house on Friday afternoon to see Cillian's car parked outside. You could see bags on the back seat, him standing by the open passenger side door waiting for you.

"What are you doing Cillian?"

"Surprising my girlfriend. Listen y/n, I've been a fucking idiot okay? Missing our anniversary date, after missing two before that.. neglecting you, neglecting US... Let me make it up to you, yeah?" You couldn't help but smile, nodding your head you took his hand as he led you into the passenger seat, closing the door behind you.

All the way there you stole glances at one another, Cillian refusing to tell you exactly where you were going. You couldn't help the feeling of excitement - never in 5 years had he done anything like this, you'd have to make a habit of punishing him if this was the outcome..

Pulling up outside a large manor house an hour later, you gasped in shock.

"Shit.. Cill this is beautiful!"

"It's ours." You nearly had whiplash from the sudden head turn in his direction. "I bought it last month, I was waiting until your birthday next week to surprise you, but now seemed like a much better option. Welcome to our new holiday home baby." You couldn't help the tears forming in your eyes.

"Oh my god... But how? When? I don't understand!"

"All those appointments with my agent? Didn't you wonder why I wasn't getting any work from it all? I was at the bank sorting the mortgage for this place! Picked the keys up yesterday, it's fully furnished and ready for us. I figured we could spend the Summers here. Beach is less than a 5 minute walk away, the boys will love it." You were stunned. Well and truly stunned.

Leaving the car, you walked to the front door, Cillian handing you the keys. You opened it and walked inside into the most beautiful setting - it was newly decorated exactly to your liking. It was perfect. You turned to face him.

"You know, I might just forgive you after all..."

"Nope. Not yet. I'm not done." He smirked. "I want you to go upstairs - our room is second on the left. Lay down on the bed and I'll be up in 15 minutes." Raising an eyebrow, you complied, walking up the stairs eagerly anticipating what he had planned. "Fully clothed y/n... Don't remove a damn thing."

You walked in to find a large double bed with fresh sheets, covered in rose petals. Candles lined most of the hard surfaces in the room. It brought a lump to your throat. A fresh bouquet of flowers on the chest of drawers under the window, with a small envelope under them, your name written in Cillians hand writing. You opened it to find a two tickets to the new Enda Walsh play showing at the Gaiety later that week - it was sold out and you remembered telling him you were disappointed to miss it, but when you're Cillian Murphy, sold out meant nothing.

Hearing him coming up the stairs you quickly lay down on top of dozens of rose petals on the bed. He walked in slowly, casting an eye over your body. This would be the hardest thing to do now, trying to control himself, but he was determined to make this last as long as possible. Moving to the old record player in the corner of the room, he turned it on, allowing the gentle sounds of the music to fill the room softly. Making his way over to you, he kneeled on the bed, eyes never leaving yours.

"You're not to move unless I tell you to, okay? Just relax. Sit up." You sat up as he lifted your t shirt over your head, swiftly followed by your bra. Pushing you back down and turning you onto your front, he carefully sat himself across your legs, opening a small bottle of something you couldn't see. Suddenly his hands were on your back, smoothing the oil into your skin, putting pressure all over it. Closing your eyes, you relaxed into the massage as he skilfully eased away as many knots as he could find in your slender muscles.

"Fuck... Cill that feels amazing... Don't stop, please..." He bit his lip, he could feel his erection forming under his jeans and willed himself to have self control. Two weeks without touching you was a long time...

He moved his hands lower, teasing the waistband of your jeans as he moved his body down, pulling them over your hips, underwear following. Now you were completely bare, his hands now expertly rubbing hard circles over your thighs, your calves, then your feet. Your core was burning now, his touch, even after 5 years, doing things to your body you still couldn't believe we're possible. Your hips twitched slightly with the throbbing feeling you couldn't ignore deep in your groin. He could almost smell it, the need in you. Smiling, his hands moved back up your legs, dipping between your thighs and moving closer to where you desperately needed him. He grinned, and teased his fingers closer, then pulled them away. Back over your firm cheeks, up your spine slowly. You groaned, you were positively on fire now.

"Patience..." You bit your lip as he whispered in your ear. He turned you onto your back, now running his hands over your belly as he moved back to hover over your waist. Hands moving higher, he kneaded your breasts, knowing it would drive you crazy.

"Ahh... Fuck Cill... Baby please..." He chuckled, this was more fun than he anticipated, why had he never thought of this before?

Leaning down, he trailed a line of kisses long your exposed neck, your head flung back as he continued his assault on your breasts. Nipping the skin, sucking lightly, you arched against him. You felt close to an orgasm already and he hadn't even got to the good part yet. Your breath coming out in short bursts as his lips moved lower over your collarbone.

"Feel good baby? Feeling close huh? Keep those noises coming, fuck you're turning me on right now..." His voice was intoxicating, his hands roaming, now his lips, you couldn't stop the heat rising in your belly, that familiar knot forming, how was this even possible? You didn't care, and you couldn't stop it - you came hard, bucking your hips up to meet his as it overtook you.

"Fuck... Baby oh my god...." You came down from your high and looked into his eyes, now darker and desperate. He was trying so hard to control it but the control had gone. He hadn't expected you to cum from this alone, clearly he wasn't the only one who'd gone without these last 2 weeks.

"Take them off." He didn't argue. His clothes were removed quick as lightening as he opened your still quivering legs. He quickly pushed himself inside and stopped, just enjoying the feeling of your core swallowing him again.

"Jesus.. I swear you got tighter..." You raised your hands to his face and glared at him.

"Shut up, and fuck me Mr Murphy." With pleasure, he thought to himself, as he pounded into you hard and fast, both of you groaning into each others mouths as you kissed hungrily, desperate to get as physically close as possible. You rolled him onto his back, keeping him inside you, as you leaned back and rode him hard. You moved his hands to hold onto the bed frame behind him.

"You've touched me enough, it's my turn." Your hands roamed over your own breasts now, hips still rocking against his, your second orgasm fast approaching. You knew, after 2 weeks of abstinence, he wouldn't last long and you were right.

"Baby.. slow down.. I can't... Oh fuck... Ah... Feels too good..." He was raising his hips to meet yours, you felt your orgasm taking over.

"Cum baby... Need to feel you... Fill me up... Drown in me..." He couldn't hold back any longer and with a final, hard groan he came, filling you. His hands came to rest at your frozen hips, he felt your walls clench around him as you came alongside him, both of you breathing heavily as you came back down to earth from the most exquisite high either of you had ever had. Leaning your body back down to kiss his lips, you gave him one more squeeze of your walls, emitting a twitch and a gasp from him, before collapsing next to him.

"Fuck... My god Cill, I'm gonna have to punish you like this more often..."

"The fuck you are y/n, never again are we going more than 24 hours without sex, ever.. I don't care how mad you are at me.." you both laughed, curling up in each others arms, Cillian whispering how sorry he was in your ear, how much he loved you, as you gently fell asleep.

The following morning you woke to an empty bed, but you could smell coffee and breakfast being prepared downstairs. You made your way down wearing just his T shirt from the day before and found a full breakfast waiting for you. Sausages, eggs, bacon, toast, juice, croissants... All there on the countertop. A plate, cutlery and a coffee waiting for you.

"Just missing the pinny Mr Murphy..." You giggled as he turned and stuck his tongue out at you cheekily.

"Eat up and get dressed y/n, I'm taking you for a walk this morning." Smiling, you ate, and an hour later you were stood on the beautiful golden sands of the beach 5minutes from your new holiday home. Watching the waves crash, you were the happiest you'd felt in a long time. You heard Cillian behind you.

"Turn around, y/n." As you did, he took your hands in his and kissed your lips.

"If I have to spend every single day for the rest of my life saying how sorry I am, I will. If I have to spend every second making it up to you, I will. You have completed my life y/n.. after my divorce, I didn't think I'd ever be lucky enough to find love again. Then you came along and everything slotted into place. My boys adore you.. their Dad couldn't live without you.. y/n..." He sank down to the ground, reaching into his jeans pocket. Bringing a small, velvet box back up to you, your breath caught in your throat, tears already in your eyes.

"Make me the luckiest man in the world y/n.. marry me?" You fell to the floor alongside him, tears openly falling now as you cried, pulling him close, kissing him softly.

"Yes!! Oh my god a million times over, yes I'll marry you!!" You both grinned, standing now as he held out your left hand, slipping the simple, white gold band and diamond onto your finger. Nothing else mattering in that moment apart from the dreams you both shared of the amazing future you had ahead of you.

@queenshelby @peakyscillian @ntmynouis @being-worthy @margoo0 @cloudofdisney