#sorry got sidetracked there for a moment that was me having a revelation in the tags lol

[tj-crochets]

*laying on the floor*

Hey so is it normal for quilt piecing to be very fun but also utterly exhausting

(^^^has chronic fatigue and chronic pain. Why is this a surprise)

oh absolutely! Ironing and cutting out fabric are both very high spoons tasks for me I have never been officially diagnosed with chronic fatigue but I do have POTS and severe iron deficiency and I think there's some overlap there? It helped me a lot to get a chair and change my ironing board so I could iron sitting down, and I have my fabric cutting surface for quilts set up so I can do at least some of it sitting down as well. Pinning the quilt sandwich (which I do by crawling all over the floor) always requires a break afterwards for me, and I need breaks when doing the quilting for anything larger than a baby quilt because hauling the blanket around to get it in the right position to sew gets tiring very quickly. The piecing itself isn't as tiring for me, but I can see how it easily could be depending on your quilting setup

[sexynetra]

welcome to day two of writing games :)

post a line that you think would sound nice if you said it aloud. whether it be purely auditory or in the context of the story or just a line that breaks something down in a new/different way, something that sounds nice <3

Hello my beloved Gi thank you for the writing game of the day <3333 Sorry it took so long to reply I got sidetracked. Also I couldn’t pick which scene I wanted to grab it from so you get two :)

~~~~

Logically, Marcia should have been offended by the comment. And maybe some part of her was. But the bigger part of her was too occupied reveling in the intimacy of the moment to feel hurt.

~~~~

“You're right. I don’t understand. So explain it to me, cause I'm trying really hard – against my better judgment – to form some sort of friendship with you, and you’re fighting me at every turn.”

[mattzerella-sticks]

batfam and flashfam reaction to barry and bruce dating? or the league? or the ccpd's reaction that barry is dating BRUCE WAYNE? idk

sorry this took so long! work got in the way lol

old news.

Clark set his tablet down on the conference table, retaking his seat between Diana and J’onn. “…that was all Natasha uncovered from the artillery left behind after we scared the sellers away,” he explained, “she and John think they can figure out, though, where these weapons originated from, but that might take time.”

“Do we have time?” Bruce asked, “It seems like Gotham’s infested with these guns. Just the other day Oracle’s agents were caught in the middle of a crossfire between drug runners and Peacekeepers, both groups armed with this… alien gear.”

“Playing both sides?” Kendra suggested, leaning forward in her seat, “Is it one group looking to stoke chaos by fueling fire to already heated factions, or are we seeing two sellers from the same planet jockeying for control of the market.”

“Whether it’s one or two sellers coming from the same place we don’t know,” Clark told her, “But we do know that some of the weapons smuggling groups already active aren’t happy. From what Lois says, Intergang is having issues moving their merchandise because of the damage these newer weapons can do, and they’re running their own investigation into the matter.”

“So if Intergang isn’t behind this, then can we take Apokolips out of the equation?” Barry asked, sipping some coffee. That was his eighth, the other seven, empty, Styrofoam cups littering his table space. “Since Intergang and Apokolips are pretty tight knit?”

“We can’t rule Apokolips out as being behind these weapons, unfortunately,” Diana sighed. She grabbed her own tablet, tapping the screen. A holograph lit from the center of the table, highlighting the deathly, firepit ridden planet. “Though Darkseid and Intergang have a relationship, many members of the Apokoliptian court wouldn’t think twice about underhanded dealings that might benefit them. Or, possibly, Darkseid is betraying Intergang – taking out the middleman, so to speak. Testing new weapons we haven’t seen, spreading them across Earth so we’re distracted from other matters… until Scott and Barda tell us it’s not New God tech, we have to keep this possibility in mind, like the possibility that it might be magic –“

“I’ve made your concerns aware, Diana,” Clark said, “I’ve even put the Irons in contact with Kent and Khalid. We’re open to every possibility, which reminds me… Hal? Have you updated the League database with your latest ring files?”

Hal hissed, deflating, sliding down in his seat. “Not yet. Kinda got sidetracked by that earthquake in San Juan.”

“Why don’t you do that now, then,” Clark said, “as long as no one else has anything to add?” The remainder of their League remained silent. “Good. Then I guess we’re done.”

The team began shifting from business into a more relaxed attitude. Clark and Diana started trading stories about their weeks, having not seen each other since the last meeting. Kendra crept her way towards J’onn, hands sliding across his shoulders as she whispered something in his ear that made him smile. Arthur mumbled under his breath in Atlantean, disengaged with surface drama for the moment with something on his tablet.

Hal turned to Barry, nudging him with his elbow. “Hey,” he whispered, “I was thinking drinks. You in? Course, I need to get that file download, but that shouldn’t take long. If you want to wait –“

“No.”

Both Hal and Barry whipped their heads to where Bruce sat, the other man not looking up from his tablet as he spoke. “No?” Hal asked, “What’s it to you? I wasn’t inviting you.”

“I know,” he said, “but I was answering for Barry. He can’t get drinks with you because he has a prior engagement.” Bruce’s gaze moved from the tablet to Barry, a softer expression, foreign to his usual gruff demeanor, graced his features. “A reservation for two at Girabaldi’s, tonight, seven o’clock.”

Barry glowed, lightning crackling off his body as a sign Hal recognized of his friend’s utter delight. “What’s the occasion?”

“No occasion,” Bruce shrugged, “figured it might be a change of pace given our last few dates.”

No one breathed at that moment. Time slowed, Hal noticing every Leaguer situated around the table pausing what they did. Everyone seemed intrigued with the current revelation happening before them.

Barry snorted into the dregs of his last coffee. “Well… rooftops can be romantic, but it was all starting to get a bit repetitive…” he said, “And having someone else besides me deliver our food is a definite plus.”

“Wait, hold on a second!” Hal interrupted their flirting with a glowing, green wall that separated his best friend and his colleague. “What is happening?”

“We were talking, Hal,” Barry hissed, jabbing him in the stomach, “Can you can it with the lightshow?”

Bruce hissed under breath, “Rude…”

“Sorry, sorry…” Hal replied, sarcastically, making the wall bigger and more ornate, “I guess the whole you dating freakin’ Batmanof it all kinda took me off guard.”

“Kinda threw us all for a loop…” Clark added. A sharp glance from Bruce cut him down a size, causing Clark to blush and stare at his lap sheepishly. “Sorry,” he mumbled, “didn’t mean to speak out of turn.”

“Seriously,” Bruce rose, addressing the group, “none of you were aware that Barry and I’ve been dating these past few months?”

“Months?”

Sighing, pinching his brow, Bruce stood there for a beat. Then, he turned. His cape swooshed behind him as he exited. “I can’t believe this.”

Barry smiled at the others, shrugging, “We did think you all knew already, if it makes you feel any better?” He vanished from sight, too, not even bothering to clean up his litter.

Hal slumped in his chair, the green wall dissipating, almost as if it never existed. “Barry and… and Bruce? I can’t believe it.” He pointed at the door where the two men left, asking, “Seriously, did that even happen?”

“It did,” Arthur said, “It most certainly did?”

“Well, what do we do now?”

No one dared to speak, save Diana. She cleared her throat, steeping her fingers, carefully parsing through her words carefully. “We don’t do anything besides what we were already doing,” she said, “Which, for you, Hal, means uploading those files.” She collected her tablet, levelling a stern stare at the remaining Leaguers. “Understood?”

Everyone agreed. The others followed Diana from the room, leaving Hal by himself. He stretched out across the table, knocking into Barry’s empty coffee cups with a frown. “Barry and Bruce,” he muttered, “how the hell didn’t I notice… months! For months! Barry’s been putting up with Bruce’s ass for months!”

[wilwheaton]

an apology I don’t expect you to read

I'm going to put the important bit at the top, without context, so if that's all you see before you tl;dr, at least you'll see it:

Without meaning to, without realizing it, I haven't given the next generation after mine the respect it deserves. I've behaved exactly the way the Boomers were with me: like my experience is the only one that's valid. And that's not helpful, if I hope to share whatever my experience is.

So if you're one of the younger-than-me people who's felt disrespected by me, and to those who I have treated like their experiences aren't valid: I am sincerely sorry.

I'm sorry. I talk to my generation in a way I shouldn't talk to yours. Some of you have been trying to tell me that, and I haven't been able to hear you. That's entirely on me, and I'm very sorry for treating you EXACTLY the way shitty middle-aged dickheads treated me when I was around your age.

Thanks for listening.

 Okay, if you want all the long-winded context, read on.

All day, I've been having this slow, dawning, realization about how to talk to and listen to teenagers and twentysomethings who are politically and intellectually aware and engaged.

I have a reflexive tendency to imagine the anonymous person who posted that thing at me as someone from my own peer group, because we all unconsciously identify people that way online, unless we explicitly have a reason not to.

So, without realizing it, I have been responding to young, politically-active people as if they are my peer group: forty-somethings who have the same amount of life experience I have. As a result, I've just been a shitty middle-aged guy to well-meaning kids, and when I was a kid, I *hated* that.

In fact, I vowed as a twenty-something that when I was older, I would take kids seriously, which I think means at least hearing them out, rather than just shutting them down because they're young.

I've been trying, and I thought I was nailing it. But I realized today that, for years, when I've had rare occasion to interact with someone who is, to me, a kid, I've been talking to, say, 18 year-old me, or 23 year-old, me, and so on. What I _should_ have been doing is listening to 18 year-old _whoever that person is_, and allowing them to be heard on their own terms, as their own people, and not as a reflection of who I was, or who my peers were, at their stage of life.

So I'm going to talk to a person my age very differently than I'm going to talk to a younger person, since the person my age has the same life experience and same life-shaping events I had. So I just don't have any patience for someone who is in their 40s and is STILL going on about The Greens.

It's like, listen, you fortysomething, when I was a kid, I thought the Greens were great, and I supported them, too. I don't know how they are in the rest of the world, but at the presidential level in America all they do is help Republicans by taking votes away from Democrats. And Republicans (and their ideological allies in Russia, China, Saudi Arabia) start grooming kids when they are teens to believe that "the lesser of two evils is still evil". I know this because they did it to me and my generation (OUR GENERATION), too. I (WE)know this from personal experience in 2000, so even though a lot of Green positions appeal to me, I won't support them at the presidential level. But I come to thsi conclusion this based on 30 years of political experience. And I know it is condescending to say "when you're older you'll understand", so please know I hear it when I say that you're going to grow out of this and realize the Democrats, as imperfect as they are, aren't your enemy. I know this because I and millions of others in my generation went through this same transformation. It's why the Democratic Party has moved so far to the Left, so that candidates like AOC and The Squad are on their way to changing things in the House.

I know that is probably TOTALLY condescending, and likely turned off everyone I was hoping to apologize to. Good thing I already did that.

Look. I don't know how to say it any other way. Greens hurt America at the presidential level. Always have, always will.

I've gotten sidetracked. Let me try to come back around:

In some of these asks, I don't regret the argument I've made, but deeply regret the _way_ I made it. I've ended up being a condescending, impatient, tone-deaf ass to a lot of kids, when they absolutely did not deserve to be treated that way.

I hated it when adults treated me that way. I hated being dismissed and unheard when I felt strongly about something. I felt like my ideas deserved to at least be heard. Even though I now know those adults were (fairly) reacting to my lack of life experience, they could have expressed that better, in a more compassionate and empathetic way.

The reality is, we aren't going to be listened to very much when we're young, because we simply do not have the life experience to make huge decisions. But that doesn't mean our feelings are, by default, invalid.

I vowed to not treat kids the way adults treated me, so when I interact with these young men and women, I reflexively talk to whoever I was at their age, saying the things and hearing the things that he would have said and heard.

That's like ... oh, I don't know, a 50 year-old in 1988 trying to convince 14 year-old me of anything. Or a 48 year-old in 1993, lecturing 23 year-old me, who is REALLY smart and has A LOT figured out, like he's an idiot who has no agency or valid opinions.

The thing I needed to do, so I could fulfill the vow I made when I was young, is to give young people the _respect_ they deserve. I need to recognize that, though their experience is limited compared to mine, that doesn't mean their experience is invalid or wrong. The thing I need to do is to actually listen to what someone is saying, and recognize that, because of our relative ages, we may be speaking the same language but not communicating. And because I have more experience, it's incumbent upon _me_, not them, to bridge that gap.

Without meaning to, without realizing it, I haven't given the next generation after mine the respect it deserves. I've behaved exactly the way the Boomers were with me: like my experience is the only one that's valid. And that's not helpful, if I hope to share whatever my experience is.

So if you're one of the younger-than-me people who's felt disrespected by me, and to those who I have treated like their experiences aren't valid: I am sincerely sorry.

I have been nothing more than a cranky old man to any kid who shows up on my internet lawn, and I just want you to know that (as of about two hours ago) I'm aware of it, I'm sorry for being rude.

Even if I don't agree with you on something, even if I don't think that something REALLY important to you isn't as important as that thing is going to seem in 20 years, WHAT I THINK DOES NOT MATTER, because I'm halfway through my ride on this planet, and you're all just beginning. I fully believe that if the generation ahead of us had listened to us, we would all be better off. I know that a lot of you feel that way about me and other Xers, and you're totally right to feel that way. We're borrowing your planet, now, and we're doing our best (at least I am) to give you a better culture than the Boomers gave us. And I STILL know that it isn't enough, because it wasn't enough for me when I was in my twenties. (I will gently tell you that when we're in our twenties, a lot of what we want will eventually be tempered with age, and you'll be like, "I can't believe I fought so hard for that thing," but that doesn't mean the fight, and the experience of the fight, isn't worth it.)

I had a whole thing here to wrap this up that ultimately ended up being about me and my feelings. I deleted it because what I really just want to say is: I'm sorry. I talk to my generation in a way I shouldn't talk to yours. Some of you have been trying to tell me that, and I haven't been able to hear you. That's entirely on me, and I'm very sorry for treating you EXACTLY the way shitty middle-aged dickheads treated me when I was around your age.

This has been, honestly, a huge revelation to me about who I am in this moment, and who I wanted to be at this point. It makes me reconsider and just ... rethink, I guess? a lot of things. I'm going to grow from this, and I want to end by saying thank you to those of you who tried to communicate to me with kindness. I didn't hear you directly or explicitly, but I think I eventually got there.

So, sidebar you can ignore because it's at the end: Politically, I have a ton of experience. I've spent my life in it, more years than a lot of the people who drag me have been alive. I don't take that personally, because I know how kids are, and I know how kids view adults (and vice/versa). Politically, especially at this specific moment, I don't have a lot of patience for anyone who isn't willing to do the ONE thing that can end Trump: vote for Biden, and vote for Democrats all the way down. I get it. I get that you want someone to win your heart, but if you don't vote with your head, there will not be another election in your lifetime that matters. When Democracy in America is not at stake, I will 100% listen to all of your arguments and all of your reasons you hated voting for Biden, and what we can all do together to make your world better and more fair. But I promise you. I beg you to hear me: the ONLY way we stop Trump and his Fascists is to elect Biden in a LANDSLIDE. Anything less and you're going to spend the best years of your life in an autocracy.

[dazedbydazai]

Dialogue 3. "I am so madly in love with you" Please with either dazai or chuuya 5. Slow but passionate/full of love

Comin' right up~ kinda played around with this so I don't know if it makes sense but I hope it does

Nakahara Chuuya

The cool air of the night sent goosebumps all over your skin as you walk towards the balcony. Chuuya was leaning against it, his back turned to you as he looked up at the sky. No stars were in sight and Chuuya wondered how could that be.

However, his thoughts were quickly sidetracked as he felt your arms wrap around him from behind.

"Why are you still up?" Chuuya asked.

"Couldn't sleep because you were gone."

"Ah, I'm sorry my love," Chuuya turned around in your embrace and wrapped his arms around you. "Just wanted to get some fresh air to clear my thoughts. I'll come back to bed in a while."

"What are you thinking about?" You look up at him and Chuuya finally saw it.

The stars that were supposed to be littering the night sky were present in your eyes. They sparkled and shined the longer you gazed at Chuuya.

"You," Chuuya felt his heart beating in sync with yours as he tucks your hair behind your ear. "I've been wondering what I did to deserve you. I know I'm not a good guy and I've had my fair share of evil deeds, so how did I become so lucky as to have you in my arms right now?"

You smile softly as you place your hand on his cheek. "Because deep inside you have a good heart. You've shown it more times than you think you did. And I think I should be the one asking how I got to be so lucky to have someone like you who would go to the ends of the earth just to protect me and keep me safe."

"Ah, you're spoiling me again Y/N," Chuuya chuckles as he runs his hand down your hair to your chin. "You have no idea how happy you make me."

Chuuya leans down, your lips just a few inches apart, and says, "I am so madly in love with you."

He looks at the stars dancing in your eyes for a few more seconds before he closes his and pulls your chin towards him. He kisses your lips slowly, capturing the moment, memorizing each curve, savoring your taste.

You snake your hands up to his shoulders as Chuuya grabs the back of your head and pulls you closer. The cold air of the night was long forgotten as Chuuya effectively warmed you up. His hold loosens up a bit as he tilts his head to the other side, kissing you more passionately now.

Chuuya is pouring all his emotions into the kiss. He wants you to know he loves you. He wants you to see how important you are to him. He wants you to feel just how crazy he is for you.

I love you so much.

It was a silent message as Chuuya snakes his tongue in your mouth and holds your head in place. You take it all in and revel in the beautiful warm glow that's spreading throughout your body.

You kiss him back with the same vigor, wrapping your arms around his neck and combing your hands through his hair.

You don't know how long you've been kissing but as you pull away from him, you found yourself gasping for air. Chuuya took your breath away in the best way possible.

"I love you too, Chuuya," Your cheeks were dusted pink as you smiled at him and he noticed that some of the stars have left your eyes.

Little did he know that it was transferred over to him. He was looking at you so lovingly and in that moment, you knew that Chuuya was the one.

He's the one you'll spend the rest of your life with.

And you couldn't be happier.

[syeko]

Taking Care of You Ch. 2

Find it on AO3 or down below the cut!

@marichatmay

The black leather clad superhero stuck out like a sore thumb amidst the sea of pinks and whites of Marinette’s room. From the walls and the bedding and the furniture down to the sweats and fluffy socks she was wearing, a swirl of pinks and whites that was just so very Marinette, and if he wasn’t feeling as cagey as he was, he would have commented something. Instead of a pun however, he busied himself by fidgeting with his tail, the leather a comfortable weight in his palms as he watched Marinette. The horrible itch from earlier had subsided somewhat, but it was still very much there, preventing him from standing still as he watched Marinette make her way around her room, hands grasping at various items. A closer look confirmed that the pile materials his classmate was in the middle of picking up seemed like assorted fabrics and discarded sheets with notes and designs scribbled onto them.

“Sorry about the mess, Chat,” Marinette broke the silence, a soft upturn of her lips accentuating the smattering of red across her cheeks. She fiddled with her fingers, the action so familiar to Chat from their shared time in the classroom. He’d always found it endearing, the movements bringing a small smile onto his own face.

“There’s nothing to apologize for, Princess,” he cocked his head to the side, green eyes sweeping over the fabrics and papers, and a small puddle of shame pooled in his stomach, “Were you in the middle of working on something?”

Marinette waved a hand, “Not really, nothing was coming together anyways,” she shrugged, “you just so happened to drop by at the perfect time, I could use a break.”

He blushed, an apology on the tip of his tongue, but the light huff of her laughter cut him off before he could say anything.

“Before you ask, no Ki-Chat, you aren’t bothering me, and no I’m not lying,” she crossed her arms loosely, “I really could use a break from designing, and what better way to do that than with the best cat in Paris?”

“Aww, Purrincess, do you really think I’m the best cat in Paris?” He grinned, the compliment, as silly as it was, making his heart swell, the butterflies in his stomach fluttering. Just as quickly had the feeling come however, it was dampened by a reminder of the mess he’d made outside and the time he was taking away from his friend. No doubt she had much better ways of spending her time than with a stray cat, but the promise of help with his…problem kept his curiosity peaked, and he would be lying to say that he wasn’t eager to feel normal again.

“Don’t let it get to your head,” Marinette grinned before moving to her chaise, legs curling up on the cushions before she patted the spot next to her, “Come.”

Chat couldn’t help but raise a masked eyebrow at the request, but he obliged after a moment’s hesitation and an encouraging smile from the girl clad in pink. The confidence and authority she radiated, even in worn sweats and a t-shirt was new, at least towards him. Well, Adrien him. He was well aware of Marinette’s leadership and quick thinking capabilities spurred on by her undying resolve for justice, but he was hardly on the receiving end of such confidence. In fact, in most cases, it seemed like the midnight haired girl wanted nothing more than to scurry away from him at every given opportunity.

Shaking his head minutely to dispel the sidetracked thoughts, he focused on making his way over to the (once again, pink) chaise, sinking slowly into the soft cushions below. The sunlight from her window spilled into the room, warming up the seat just so, the temperature soothing his nerves and his muscles as he wiggled on the spot. The itch was back, simmering and swirling underneath his skin, but this time, it was accompanied by the almost instant drooping of his eyelids.

Everything was so deliciously warm, and cozy. The cushion was just the right amount of bounce and firmness, and had he been alone, he wouldn’t hesitate to sprawl himself all over the chaise, relishing in the space and the comfort. But, as much as he wished to, he forced himself to stay upright, blinking the haze away harshly in order to focus on his friend so she could fix whatever was wrong with him.

“So, what’s the plan?” He turned to face Marinette, surprised to see her giggling softly. He frowned, not following the reason for her laughter. Not that he minded hearing it, and the realization made him blink with a start. Before he had time to dwell on the revelation however, she reached out to place a warm palm against his shoulder.

“You’re such a cat,” she snorted softly before her expression settled into something more serious, “I think that’s the problem actually.”

He felt his nose scrunch up, trying and failing to keep his mind off the tingling sensation from where her skin was making contact with his suit.

“I’m sorry, Princess, but I’m not sure I quite follow?”

Her lips pursed, the thumb and pointer finger of her free hand curling around her chin. The action sparked a vague feeling of familiarity, and he was reminded fondly of a similar pose his Lady would don as she was coming up with a plan or thinking over new information.

“Well, and I’m only speculating here again, of course, because you know Alya, my friend, I’m sure you and Ladybug have seen her around a lot, she runs the Ladyblog you know so we talk a lot about this stuff so it’s not weird or anything-“

Chat blinked as her palm slipped away from his shoulder, her rambling and the gestures so characteristic, borderline comical, that he couldn’t help but splutter out a chuckle.

“You’re rambling, Marinette,” he patted her knee, offering a quick smile to placate the blush that stole her cheeks, “I know you’re only trying to help, so don’t worry okay?”

After a second of staring at him, wide-eyed like a deer caught in the headlights, she nodded slowly, the pink receding from her face and once again replaced with firm determination.

With a steady breath, she continued.

“I think that there are some spillover effects from the Miraculous. We know that the Miraculous are in some way representative of certain animals, Ladybug being well…a ladybug and yours being the black cat. Your powers are reflective of certain qualities related to those animals- kind of like instincts or behaviours? So what’s to say that the effects of the Black Cat Miraculous don't just pertain to agility or night vision?” Marinette paused to shrug, “It could be very possible that you’re experiencing the less uh…pronounced behaviours that have just been building up over time?”

Chat was taken aback, feline eyes wide as he processed what his friend was saying. The fact that Marinette was able to figure out something so quickly, much quicker than he himself could, from so little information was both astounding and terrifying. Marinette was smart and resourceful, he knew that, but if she had managed to figure out this much, it made him wonder what other information was out there waiting to be analyzed and figured out.

Hawkmoth had to have internet access after all.

The thought made him twitch, tail settling between his clawed fingers once more as he worried his bottom lip. The original reason for his presence in Marinette’s room was forgotten for a moment, he couldn’t but worry about the implications of this revelation.

“Chat...?”

Marinette’s voice was quiet as she looked at him with worried eyes, and he mentally smacked himself for letting a civilian worry. He boxed away his worries, making a note to bring it up to Ladybug at some point; maybe the two heroes would have to have a talk with Alya and other news reporters on the dangers of speculation and posting information online where villains could no doubt use to their advantage.

“Ah, my a-paw-logies Purriness, I was just blown away by your deductions. Tell me, have you ever considered forensics or law, Mademoiselle Sherlock?”

He grinned when she rolled her eyes, reaching out to flick his bell. The sound sent a wonderful shiver down his spine.

“That depends. Are you willing to be my Dr. Watson?”

“Well if you’re paw-sitive you can handle the galaxies inside this brain,” he winked.

Marinette pressed a flattened palm to her chest with a drawn out gasp, “However will we all cope? Imagine the headlines!”

Chat swiped a hand through the air, “I can see it now, ‘Local Cat Discovered to Have Infinite Braincells’.”

Marinette copied the gesture, barely suppressing her smirk, “‘Scientists Discover that None of Them Are Actually Functional After Testing’.”

“Hey!”

“I’m teasing,” she laughed, reaching up to scratch a spot behind his ears in apology. The change was almost instantaneous, surprising Marinette with just how fast his body froze for a moment before his eyes fluttered close. He leaned into her hand, and from this close, the young designer could see the ripple of his muscles relaxing underneath his suit, slumping against her.

Not that she minded too much.

Her earlier deductions, while not explicitly sourced from the internet, seemed to be right as a familiar low rumble filled the room, causing her lips to twitch fondly. Chat Noir had begun to purr again, the vibrations echoing in her own chest. She thanked Lady Luck that her Kitty’s eyes were still closed, because at the moment she was absolutely certain her poor cheeks were burning.

But this wasn’t about her, she sighed internally, carding her fingers through silken gold. The sunlight reflected against his hair, highlighting the gold of his eyelashes against the deep black of the domino mask. She traced patterns through the stray strands atop his head, discovering with suppressed delight that the spots behind both Chat’s human and cat ears had the same effect, and the longer the scratching and rhythmic movements went on, the louder the rumbling got.

Her eyes softened at the innocence of it all, recalling how he had purred earlier when he was caught red-handed on her balcony, no doubt in an effort to self-soothe. The initial sound had been quiet, hesitant and tinged with low notes, giving away the boy’s embarrassment at what occurred and Marinette marveled at the reminder of how sensitive Chat Noir could be. Now however, the vibrations were loud and light, and with a uncontrollable flutter of her heart, she couldn’t help but be proud that she was the cause of such a blatant display of relief and trust from her partner (despite him not knowing that she was his beloved Lady, but she’ll count it nonetheless).

Gently guiding Chat’s head to her lap, she realized with another powerful thud of her heart that the poor kitty had fallen asleep, she relaxed back against the pillows on her chaise. She’d doubted for a moment if leading Chat to her room and exposing so much was a good idea, knowing that with every encounter with the black cat, she ran the risk of compromising their identities. The familiar twinge of anxiety made her frown, and she knew that she would no doubt be hearing from Tikki later on about the unexpected development between her civilian identity and Chat Noir, and Marinette couldn’t help but dread the coming conversation. However, with a glance down at the serene expression on her partner’s porcelain complexion, she pushed her worries aside, saving them to card over later. For now, her kitty needed her, and she wouldn’t let him down.

In or out of the mask.

[duchessnatsume]

The Sound that Pierces the Silence

Everyone was gathered on the dining table of the Knights of Favonious Headquarters. Lumine was pacing back and forth restlessly as everyone kept an eye on her.

"What's her problem?" Diluc asked. Paimon hovers on the sidelines and answers, "Paimon have no idea! But Paimon thinks that it has something to do with the expedition yesterday. Lumine almost died!"

Jean looks at Lumine's direction with concerned eyes, "What? How come nobody told me about this?" 

Amber laughs, "Oh headmaster. It's nothing serious. Lumine just got sidetracked."

Upon hearing her name, Lumine cleared her throat and walked towards the table. "Listen everyone," she started, " I have gathered you all here today to discuss a very important matter that we all need to urgently address!" Lumine stated with too much conviction, sparking the interest of all attendees. 

"Interesting." After hearing that voice, Lumine tensed and turned her eyes from where the direction of the voice came from. She was eventually met with two green eyes staring right back at her. Were the eyes of the librarian always this electrifying? The beautiful librarian smiled to her and for a moment it felt like electricity crawled all over her skin. 

She was brought out of her trance when Paimon excitedly shouted, "Lumine! Tell us already!" Impeccable timing, Paimon, Lumine thought.

"Uh..yeah.. Right." Lumine looks back at everyone and glared at Amber for giving her a thumbs up.

Another tense silence. And then...

"Can we all agree to forbid Lisa-san from climbing?!!" Lumine drops her fist on the dining table with so much force, the table shook.

Everyone stares at Lumine except for Amber who started giggling.

"Ara..ara.." Lisa crosses her arms and looks at Lumine curiously. Lumine turns away from Lisa's stare, flushing.

"Paimon doesn't understand," Paimon states. "You gathered all of us here to forbid Lisa from climbing?" Jean confirms.

"HEADMASTER, YOU DON'T UNDERSTAND! LISA-SAN KEPT ON MAKING THESE LEWD NOISES WHEN CLIMBING!" 

With this revelation, Amber fell on the floor full on laughing. If looks could kill, Amber may have already died from Lumine's glare. Too bad her glares are harmless because she literally wanted to use her geo magic to have herself swallowed whole by the earth.

"I'm out of here." Diluc stands up and starts to leave.

"Di- DILUC, wait! Hear me out!" Lumine reaches out to Diluc which stopped on his tracks. "SHE MAKES THOSE LEWD NOISES WHILE CLIMBING NEXT TO ME. I ALMOST SLIPPED AND FELL TO MY DEATH!" Diluc huffs and leaves the room.

"Right... I'm not sure how to proceed with this..situation..." Jean turns to the door then looked back to Lumine, "But uh, that's duly noted?" Then left.

"Uhhhh...Let's go get some Fisherman Toasts, Paimon!" Amber shouts and as soon as Paimon hears the delicacy, she was already out of the door followed by Amber.

"No guys. You don't understand... I'm losing my sanity here." Lumine falls on her knees with her head facing the floor.

After minutes of sulking, she hears footsteps walking towards her. And her mind started going haywire, remembering which of the attendees remained after her dramatic outburst. Her body tensed as she felt the surge of electricity flowing all over the floor. She always felt sorry for the hilichurls who had to be the receiving end of the librarian's magic.

"You know," Lumine flinched as Lisa kneels down in front of her, electricity crackling inside the dining room. Lisa was smiling her trademark smile and reached out to Lumine's face to level her eyes on her. "It is because you are really cute." There was glee in her voice and Lumine swore that her heart stopped when she saw how beautiful the librarian is in front of her.

She leans closer towards Lumine's ear. Her scent overwhelming Lumine's senses. The static in the air intensifying the moment.

"That I may be actually doing it in purpose."

[echoes-of-the-clockwork]

Book Three: Pestilence (Ignis x Reader) Chapter One

A/n: I sound like a broken record right now, but this is for those who are not familiar with this series. Yes, this is an x reader, but the only thing you can't decide is your hair color because that is predetermined by which role of the Four Horsemen you are in the book. Honestly, you can change it if you like! Also, I want to apologize if these first couple of chapters are rough and how long ago I promised this book. It's hit many bumps and I've rewritten it a total of 5 times. I hope you all enjoy! Love you all!!! ••••••••••••••••••••

"We just pilfered some ancient temple and all we got is this..." Prompto groaned, examining the white orb in his hand. Inside the artifact was a small wisp of silver, seeming to pulse with life as it bounced around the interior.

"For someone who was whining the entire time and wanting to leave, you're really disappointed," Gladio scoffed from the backseat of the Regalia.

"That place was crawling with daemons!" Prompto groaned. He rolled the orb in his hands, watching the silver wisp surge all around. The boys had wandered around an ancient temple in search of another royal arm, but the only thing they found was the artifact. "You think we could sell this for some gil? It looks pretty expensive."

"We could use the extra gil," Noctis chimed in.

"Only a collector of rarities would purchase an artifact of such caliber," Ignis said.

"Does that mean we're stuck with it?" Noctis asked.

"For the moment," the advisor replied.

"So much for another royal arm," the prince sighed.

With no other known locations of any royal tombs, the group decided to head to Lestallum. They had meant to check in on Iris after taking back the Regalia from Aracheole Stronghold, but they had been sidetracked when they heard from a few tourists about strange ruins in the Duscae region. Apparently, a group of hunters discovered the ancient temple while on a daemon hunt near the Alstor Slough but were run off by a large horde of daemons. Morosely, they were just unknown temple ruins and weren't home to a royal tomb. The four felt it was a waste of time and decided to camp at a nearby haven before departing on the road the next morning.

While crossing the bridge over Taelpar Crag, Ignis spotted a convoy of black cars heading their way. They were driving on both sides of the road, forcing the tactician to slam on brakes. He noticed how they were heading straight for them and went to back up, but there were three more cars blocking their way.

"What the hell are they doin'?" Gladio snarled as he watched the six cars surround the Regalia, blocking any points of entry or exit. They parked their vehicles and several men surrounded the royal retinue with weapons of all calibers in their grasps.

One man stepped through the throng of people, his hands clasped together in front of him with a grin plastered on his face.

(A/n: Already throwing tons of pictures at y'all! Enjoy! I don't own any media used in this story unless stated otherwise!)

His azure and raven hair flowed in the breeze as he eyed the boys in the car. "I'd suggest stepping out of the vehicle and refrain from drawing your weapons. We know exactly who you four are."

"W-What do we do?" Prompto whimpered as he slid lower into the seat.

"It's in our best interest to do as they say," Ignis stated calmly. "We stand no chance of a skirmish in such limited space. The risk of falling is too great."

"Get out of the damn car. I'm not gonna repeat myself again," the leader of the group growled in a low tone.

Gladio clicked his tongue in annoyance as he and the others exited the Regalia. They stepped away from their ride and closer to the railing of the grand bridge.

"What the hell do you want?" Noctis demanded with a glare.

"The prince and his royal retainers," the man chuckled. "You four headed to the newly discovered ruins near the Alstor Slough. I believe you have something of ours."

"Of yours?" Prompto questioned and glanced down at the object in his hand.

"The orb," the stranger hissed. "Hand it over."

"You really pulled us over and threatened us just for an artifact?" Gladio scoffed, crossing his arms.

"It's not "just an artifact." What you posses is far more powerful than you could ever imagine."

"O-Okay, just take it." The blonde tossed it toward the man, but Ignis nimbly caught it midair. The advisor somehow knew handing the orb over to this man and his group was the wrong thing to do. "I-Iggy?!"

"You will not get your hands on this artifact," Ignis declared.

The stranger stepped forward, eyes blazing with anger. "What you posses is-!"

"Mine," a feminine voice sliced through the tense, hostile atmosphere. The royal retinue turned around when they heard the gentle voice and saw the men surrounding them eyes widen in fear. Behind them standing on the stone railing was a young girl in strange attire.

Her feet were bare and her snowy locks whipped in the breeze. Noctis, Prompto, Gladio, and Ignis were confused as to where she came from since she wasn't standing there a few minutes ago.

The leader of the highwaymen stepped past the boys, his arms outstretched toward the girl with an adorning smile on his face. "You are more beautiful than I ever imagined."

Her stoic expression remained as he tried to touch her. She stepped back, only half her feet now on the railing. Seeing that she was trying to avoid him, Gladio quickly inserted himself between the man and the young girl, pushing him away from her. The stranger snapped at Gladio for his intervention. "How dare you!"

"Sorry, pal, but the lady clearly doesn't want you touchin' her," the shield retorts with his own death glare.

The girl met Ignis' emerald gaze with her (e/c) one. "May I?" She gently asked. The advisor only responded by handing her the orb. She thanked him before her expression morphed into a dangerous one. She held the artifact tightly, eyeing the man closest to Ignis.

When he suddenly started crying out in pain, all eyes fell upon him. The man placed a hand over his mouth as he hunched over. Blood seeped through his fingers before he vomited a large amount of blood. He reached out to the man next to him and grabbed his arm, seeing the fear in his eyes. "H-Help...me..."

The man he latched onto pushed him away with a fearful scream while stepping back. The one vomiting blood toppled over on the ground, lifeless. All the men scrambled to their vehicles and drove away. Only one car remained. The leader watched in anger and disbelief as his men ran and left him to the wolves. Instead of running, he tried to approach the girl once again and managed to grab one of her ankles. He stared up at her with begging eyes. "We only wish to use your powers for good."

Ignis was the quickest out of the four to react and summoned a single dagger. He threw it, piercing the man's arm and forcing him to let go of her. Gladio grabbed the man by the collar as the dagger vanished from his arm. The brute tossed him towards his car, his tone threateningly low. "Get the hell outta here."

The man scurried back to his car and drove away as fast as the vehicle could go, leaving puffs of exhaust in his wake.

Prompto sighed in relief, his shoulders slumping forward. "Glad that's over."

"And who're-" Gladio turned to face the girl, only to find her walking further down the bridge on the stone railing. "You..."

"Uh, shouldn't we stop her? She's walking on a railing over a huge canyon!" Prompto shouted at his friends. "What if she falls?!"

The boys hopped back into the Regalia and Ignis slowed the car down to keep pace with the young girl, who didn't spare them a single glance.

"Uh," Noctis stuttered. "Hello?" He called out to her.

Gladio grinned as he watched the girl. "Not sure what the hell you did back there, but you did save our asses. You not gonna let us thank you properly?"

The girl stopped, her eyes falling upon the four boys in the car beside her. "You owe me nothing. It was my fault there was a target on your back."

"How so?" Ignis questioned.

"The orb..." Her voice trailed off before she continued. "If I had not dropped it, you wouldn't have been put in that situation."

"We're the ones who picked it up," Noctis said. "By the sounds of it, I'm glad we were the ones and not that weirdo."

"Silas is a pig who only desires power."

"What power does this orb incarcerate?" The tactician pondered.

"Even if I told you, you wouldn't believe me," she sighed dejectedly. "I suggest you run along before Silas decides to return."

"Try us," Prompto said. "I mean, you made a guy vomit blood just by looking at him. It was really disgusting, but it saved us!"

The girl stopped, causing Ignis to press his foot against the brake pedal. She glanced between the four of them, reading their expressions before making her final decision. "What knowledge do you possess of the Four Horsemen?"

"Like, the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse?" The gunslinger asked. "I thought they were just a freaky fairytale."

"His Majesty spoke of them once," Ignis stated. All eyes fell upon the advisor, confused at the revelation.

"Really?" Prompto gasped. "W-What did he say?"

"The Horsemen shall walk amongst the living once more," Ignis and the mysterious girl said in unison.

The girl smiled and giggled. She turned her body toward them and hopped down from the railing before curtsying. "A pleasure to meet you, gentlemen. I am Pestilence, but I prefer to use my real name-(Y/n)."

The four boys introduced themselves before Prompto decided to be a gentleman and gave the front seat up once the guys agreed that having a Horseman along for the ride would prove to be beneficial.

As they headed to Lestallum, Prompto asked (Y/n) myriads of questions. Ignis did ask one question, which everyone was curious about.

Why were the Four Horsemen on Eos?

"My sisters and I are tasked with the duty of annihilating the monsters that escaped the Inner Sanctum a few weeks ago. The seal preventing them from leaving shattered and before we could repair it, a handful of monsters escaped to Eos. I'm not sure how my sisters are faring in their search, but I haven't been able to find an inkling to where my targets have wandered off to. I pray to the Astrals they haven't killed anyone," (Y/n) confesses.

"What targets?" Noctis questioned.

"The draugr and the grootslang," Pestilence responds. "I've checked with reports from hunters around the regions, but none have reported either of them."

"Now that you're along for the ride, maybe you'll find them," Prompto said, looking on the bright side of the situation. "It's also a nice change of pace to have a girl around."

(Y/n) peered into the backseat with a mischievous smile. "Oh? Do you grow weary of your friends, Prompto?"

"Wha-no! It's just...it's nice to have a girl in the group."

Gladio chuckled and elbowed the blonde in the side. "You like her. It's that simple."

"I-I do not!" Prompto vehemently denied with red cheeks. "Like I said-a nice change of pace!"

"Yeah, keep tellin' yourself that, blondie," the shield scoffed. "You just might convince yourself."

(Y/n) giggled before turning forward, watching the scenery pass by. She's only known the group for a few minutes, but she was already enjoying their company. After being alone for a few weeks, it was nice to meet people who were lively. Inside her mind, she mentally thanked the boys for allowing her to tag along even after sharing with them her status as a Horseman. They weren't her sisters, but she couldn't have asked for a better group of strangers to come across.

<-----<<<<<<

Arriving in Lestallum, the boys and their new companion headed to the Leville. As they were walking through one of the alleyways, (Y/n) suddenly came to halt. Ignis was the first to notice since he was walking directly behind her. "Is everything alright, (Y/n)?"

Pestilence blinked a few times before casting a gentle smile in the advisor's direction. "Yes. Everything is well. I seem to have ventured deep into thought for a few seconds."

Ignis knew she was hiding something, but he didn't pry. He nodded and accepted her reply. "Then shall we?"

"Yes. Apologies for the delay. Let us proceed forth."

When they reached the hotel, (Y/n) spotted a young girl standing in the lobby. Tears streamed down her face as she sniffled. When Gladio came into view, she spoke in a feeble tone. "Oh, Gladdy."

The shield was confused as to why his sister was crying. "What's wrong?"

"I let you down. I never made it to Caem. The empire came while you were gone," Iris said through her tears.

The six head upstairs and to Iris' room, where she told them everything. "None of us said a word about Noct. They just showed up and then...poor Jared."

"What do you mean? What happened to Jared?" Gladio pressed, wanting answers desperately.

Iris shook her head, voice raspy from all the crying. "There was nothing we could do!"

The door to the room slowly opens beside (Y/n). She glanced down and sees a little boy crying. Her (e/c) eyes widen at the heart-wrenching sight, placing a hand over her heart as she listened to the child cry. Noctis kneels down in from of him, azure eyes brimming with sorrow. "It's...not right. We should've been here."

"I...I couldn't stop them," the little boy sniffles weakly.

Before the prince could respond, (Y/n) sat on her knees in front of the little boy. She slowly took his hand away from his face so he would stop rubbing his eye. "I know this is our first time meeting, but I hope you will see me as no stranger." She rubbed her thumb across the back of his small hand, hoping the small gesture would comfort him enough to stop the tears. "I, too, lost someone I dearly loved and I still blame myself today. And I know exactly what's running through that head of yours right now. You blame yourself for your grandfather's death, but you should know even though you're powerless, it's not your fault for other people's actions. Never blame yourself for the actions of others. You'll drown in your own sorrows and linger on the past. Don't focus on what happened, focus on what you can do. We'll make sure the empire pays for what they've done. We promise you that."

The tears streamed down his face as he stepped through the door and wrapped his arms around (Y/n)'s neck. She scooped the sobbing boy into her arms and excused herself from the others.

[basura2319]

A Moonlight Serenade

Pairing: Dogma x reader

Requested by: @loridrabbles, sweetie, I’m so sorry for making this months and months later oml :(

loridrabbles said:

“I'm bacc with another Dogma request because I absolutely adored the last one you did. Can I get him with a civilian reader. Like long relationship, super fluffy, sitting on his lap cuddles? 💗 ily”

WC: 1.4k

Warnings: None, just fluff

A/N: The inspired title and song is “Moonlight Serenade” by Frank Sinatra. Also, this is set in an AU where Dogma never got decommissioned and Order 66 was just a figment of our imagination! 

The sky was beautiful this Coruscant night. From your balcony, the moonlight was beaming, casting a stunning glow on you. You lean over the railing, hands clasped, watching the bustling of this metropolitan planet before you with a stupid grin plastered on your face.

But you had a reason for it. Dogma surprised you with a night out on a dinner date and you were so touched by the gesture. It had been awhile since you two were able to have a night out, with work and all. A year ago, the Republic had put a stop to the war and in the process led to such chaos as more and more public figures were getting exposed for their involvement in the war. It was all a disaster when you watched the holonews. You were so worried Dogma and his brother wouldn’t be able to live their lives free from the army.

Things turned out good after all. The Republic suspended the clone army. You’d say Dogma has adjusted to civilian life quite well, though you knew he still couldn’t believe he gets to wake up to you by his side. The past year had its highs and lows for Dogma, but he pulled through nonetheless. He didn’t miss the fighting, content with the serenity of a life with you. He did miss his brothers though, but he made it his priority to talk or see them any chance he got.

“What are you smiling at?” Dogma asked, joining you at the balcony in his pajamas.

Your eyes met his in such fondness. “Enjoying the view of the night sky,” you said nonchalantly. “And thinking about dinner.”

Dogma sat down on one of the chairs lying around, patting his lap so you could join him and you happily gave in.

“What about dinner?” he questioned almost reluctantly, running his hands over your thighs.

You tilt your head to kiss him softly all while smiling at how no matter how many times Dogma takes you out on dates, he still worries over whether you’re having a good time or not.

You break away from his lips momentarily.

“It was wonderful baby.” You run your hands over the dark bristles of his hair and kiss him again, savoring the sweet taste of his mouth which was from the wine they had.

“I didn’t expect there to be a live band playing,” you grinned as he cupped your cheek with one hand. “How long ago did you plan this?”

“I’m made reservations about a month ago,” he said. “I kinda ran into the restaurant on accident and when I saw that they had a live performance there, I just knew I had to take you.”

“That’s so sweet of you Dogma,” you said softly, bumping your nose with his. “The music, the food, the setting— all of it was wonderful.”

“Yeah the music was great, but it’s nothing compared to your singing though,” he mused, kissing your cheek. “I can’t say same about me though.”

“What? Was it the dancing?” you giggled. “You were great.”

He huffed in fake annoyance. “So you’re gonna ignore the fact that I kept stepping on your toes the entire time.”

“No you didn’t,” you retorted.

Dogma gave you a look that said “lair.”

“Okay, only a couple of times,” you shrugged. “But you’re getting better at it you have to admit.”

“Sure.”

You shifted off his lap to stand.

“Come,” you gestured. “Dance with me.”

His mouth gaped open. “Why?”

“Why not?” you smirked at him, waving him to join you. “Come on! Please.”

Dogma groaned. “Okay…fine.”

You wrapped his arms around your waist, then trail your hands up his chest to cling to his neck, making his cheeks flush red. You move closer, chests touching, and start to sway.

“So…are we gonna dance with no music?” he said in an amused tone.

“Well,” you began. “You did say that my singing is nothing compared to the band’s music—”

“Because it is.”

“Okay.” You exhaled deeply. “Let me think of a song.”

You paused for a few seconds and the choice of song hits you.

“I stand at your gate,

And the song that I sing is of moonlight…”

You gaze into his warm eyes which you know are filled with so much admiration and smile nervously.

“I stand and I wait,

For the touch of your hand in this starry night,

The roses, are sighing,

A moonlight serenade…”

You both continue swaying.

“The stars are aglow,

And tonight, how their light sets me dreaming,

My love do you know?

That your eyes are like stars brightly beaming?

I bring you, and I sing you,

A moonlight serenade

Let us stray til break of day

In love’s valley of dreams,

Just you and I, a summer sky,

A heavenly breeze, kissin’ the trees…”

You rest you head on his chest and close your eyes.

“So don’t let me wait,

Come to me tenderly,

In this starry night,

I stand at your gate,

And I sing you a song in the moonlight,

A love song, my darling,

A moonlight serenade…”

You finished the song at that, reveling in how alive your body feels right now in Dogma’s arms.

He peers at you through his dark lashes, eyes bright and his lips parted.

Your face grows hot under his stare.

“So…,” you teased. “Was that good enough for you.”

Your breath hitches as Dogma strong arms tug you in for a dip, then proceeds to envelope his mouth over yours, humming into your mouth. “You are gorgeous cyare,” he murmured against your lips, chasing those intoxicating lips again for more. “Everything about you is gorgeous.”

He pulls you to his chest, and you both stand there, lost in each other’s lips.

***

Do it now, Dogma’s mind berated.

He had you sitting on his lap again after his little dancing moment with you, feeling the happiest he’s ever felt with you.

“See?” You remarked at him. “You’re getting better at dancing.”

He chuckled. “Whatever you say love.”

Tell her now! His mind nagged again, making him bite his lip in anxiety.

“You okay?” you asked, looking at him in worry. “You look stressed all of the sudden.”

Dogma cleared his throat as he willed his face to give you a convincing smile.

“Yeah, I’m fine,” he answered, brushing his thumb over your chin.

A few minutes later, Dogma moves to get up. “I’m going to get a drink I’ll be back.”

“Okay,” you replied sweetly.

He takes one look at you leaning against the railing, making sure you were facing away from him before going inside.

The warmth he felt blooming in his chest was soon mixed with swarm of nerves as he dug through the pockets of his dress pants, the one’s he wore for dinner, for the item that causing him so much distress.

His hand made contact with the small velvety box, pulling it out with such jitteriness. He thumbs the dark blue box and opens it. Sitting inside the box was a beautiful silver ring imbedded in small diamonds forming a teardrop shape around the main diamond in the center.

This is so stupid.

He knew he shouldn’t feel scared to pop the question at all. He had planned this as soon as he had saved up enough credits to buy you the ring; he even told Fives, Tup, and the rest of his brothers on what he was planning to do. They were behind him of course.

Taking you to that fancy restaurant today was when he was going to do it, but kriff did you sidetrack him. You just had to distract him with those enchanting (E/C) eyes and smile, begging him to dance with you amongst the other couples at the restaurant. He was so caught up in having so much fun with you, he completely forgot about the ring sitting in his pocket. After leaving the place and heading home, he pondered maybe proposing to you some other day.

But he couldn’t do that. He needed to do it now. He planned this day for it so he might as well go through with it, if even it’s not at a fancy restaurant but instead at your balcony. In his sleep wear.

He loved you beyond everything in this universe and he knew you felt the same. So what’s there to doubt about?

“Dogma?” your voice rang. “Where’d you go?”

Dogma takes in a deep breath, snapping the small box shut before making his way towards you.

“Coming!”

[krysyuy]

Episode 5 aka “omfg, I love this drama”. I actually didn’t think it would take the whole episode to find Hee Seong/Hyun Soo, but the writer has continued to surprise me. I didn’t even realize how much time had passed before the episode was over. I love how smart Ji Won is. The drama is letting her use her brains. She’s not being dumbed down or being mislead to drag out the reveal of HS’s involvement. The watch is what tips her off to who she had been chasing earlier and, looking back, she realizes she recognizes that face. (“No way. I can recognize you even from your shadow.”) Of course, she struggles with this even as she conceals the evidence. She knows this is Bad, and right now, no one can find out. I feel a bit sorry for her hoobae who had no idea why she’s snapping at him. ^^;; And then he was along for the ride with JW and her tunnel vision as she tried to apprehend the taxi driver. Aside from the bizarre scene at police headquarters (though it was funny xD), I like that we got to see the detectives do their jobs, tracking down and using clues to figure out where the suspect is. I take back everything I said about the sunbae. (Please don’t die!!) We even get to see the Team Leader out in the field when he informs HS’s “parents” about what happened. But no wonder HS didn’t want JW near his “mom”. She has no chill whatsoever under pressure. HS was right, JW would see right through her. I wouldn’t be surprised if the Team Leader recalls this interaction later because she was frankly being way too obvious. Any lenient feelings I may have had for the parents has shriveled up. They are absolutely going to throw Hyun Soo under the bus. I mean, they state it explicitly. Well, the father does. The mom actually didn’t seem as sure, but that might just be me giving her the benefit of the doubt after her moment of weakness during her conversation with Hyun Soo in the pharmacy. Anyways, I don’t trust either of them, and I’m sure HS is gonna have to deal with their shit (and their real son) in the back half of the drama. I didn’t get any shady vibes from the sister previously, but I sure as hell have them now, lol. “Keep it [the goldfish charm] on you at all times”??? Did she say that to ensure he would have a piece of evidence on him linking him to the serial murders if/when he was ever caught? Where is that charm now? Is JW going to find it in the basement?! (And then burn it in that bonfire from the trailer? 👀) Despite this revelation of where the goldfish charm came from, Hyun Soo remained stubbornly quiet. He was willing to die for his sister rather than reveal what he knows. If HS had told the taxi driver, he knows Hae Soo would’ve been the next target. I hope that loyalty isn’t misplaced. While I suspect her a bit, I’m still 50/50 on if she’s evil or messed up just like her brother. But god, all of Hyun Soo’s confrontation scenes with the taxi driver. *chef’s kiss* (Give LJG all the awards.) The driver clearly wasn’t listening to him. He only wanted information that Hyun Soo could not give him. I wonder if he actually believed him at the very end when HS denied it yet again. The more we learn about HS and JW in the past, the more I love them. JW mentioned possible robbers because of the blackout, and I didn’t think HS got the message from his reaction. But he stays outside the store until the electricity comes back on (╥﹏╥)♥ There was absolutely no reason for him to do that if he didn’t care on some level, and at this point, they’re just barely acquaintances too. And then their conversation in 2008… they were both honest and straightforward with each other. (Well, HS was as honest as he could be without divulging the darkest of his secrets.) HS had been trying to drive her away for her own good, and he told her point-blank about what’s wrong with him/why he isn’t suitable as a potential partner. But JW is undeterred and goes on about how he has only one problem, which she has the solution to. She sees something in him that he doesn’t, but she will love him, she will be there for him, she’ll teach him whatever he needs to know… and then things will change. And they did. Ji Won took the time to see him, and Hyun Soo works on himself, betters himself, for her. They manage to carve out a happy, peaceful life for themselves. But the drowning scene! God, it didn’t disappoint. I’m trash for when my OTPs are in life or death situations, and one half is desperate and frantic with worry over the other. JW has figuratively and now literally breathed life into HS (╥﹏╥) JW didn’t have time to fully process HS’s presence in his hometown since she got sidetracked and found out he was kidnapped. In the next episode, she’ll definitely start to put clues together. If she doesn’t figure out his identity right away, she’ll be set on that path. HS will also be in the hospital recovering, so she has time to snoop and come to her own conclusions without him running interference. It will be so interesting if JW figures it out, but she doesn’t say anything or confront him right away. So he doesn’t know that she knows, and he’ll continue acting “normal” and give his excuses about why he was at the inn, etc. Meanwhile, JW is uncovering the full truth and perhaps misunderstanding a few things along the way. The ending montage had me so confused, lol. I initially thought they were part of HS’s memories but then they dropped the future parts too. Plus we also have JW wandering around on her own, so that’s another mark against it being his memories. Instead of the normal ending credits, they decided to give us this sneak peek, probably partially as promo for the new OST. Like a mini MV clip. I think it also might be because everything will change in the next episode, but I guess we’ll see. There’s also so much going on in that montage, I don’t even know where to start. Is their relationship doomed? (╥﹏╥) That’s the vibe I was getting, especially from those angsty parts where they’re both emotional and he has dried blood on his face and she’s crying. Then it looks like he leaves her, and I’m assuming she told him to go… Don’t mess with my heart like this!1!! My Twitter liveblog for Ep5: twitter.com/krysyuy/status/1293643015672619008

[danetobelieve]

Like The First Time || Bea and Winston

When: the day after Bea’s brought back Who: @beatrice-blaze​ & @danetobelieve​ Where: Bea’s hospital room.  Summary: Winston and Bea finally talk about everything they should have talked about before Bea’s death. Warnings: death discussion is the worst of it I think

Slipping into Bea’s hospital room, Winston closed the door most of the way behind them, making sure that the nurse on duty was sidetracked by someone else. They glanced at Bea, and made the shh gesture, finger to their lips. They weren’t nervous. They could never be nervous around her. She’d always been a figure of comfort and safety and even when Winston had been a nervous, awkward teenager with a crush (not that they really felt any differently), Winston had still known that Bea had their back. It wasn’t that she didn’t now, but … after everything that had happened it felt as if an unspoken distance had developed between the two of them. “Hey, sorry, I know we’re meant to be resting but I just wanted to check in…” Shifting their position slightly, Winston bit their lip and adjusted their glasses. “How are you feeling?” they finally asked, swallowing before leaning forward carefully to listen. “How much do you remember?” They immediately regretted the question. “Sorry, you don’t have to answer that, I just, I can’t believe you’re back and we did it…” Did these hospital robes have to be so hot? Winston felt like they couldn’t breathe wearing them.  

With her sisters off for tests or treatment, Bea had the feeling of crushing loneliness again. She didn’t know much about her time as a ghost, but she knew that it hadn’t been full of people. Isolation clawed at her throat and she considered ignoring the nurses instruction to stay put while they found someone to tend to her feet. She wanted to get up and run, leaving the empty room behind her. It was a blessing to see Winston slip into the room, tension from her shoulders began to melt away. “It’s okay, Winston,” She assured gently. “I’ve never been this tired.” She had been falling asleep on and off while her sisters were in the room, but it was impossible to rest with them away from her. She considered them for a long moment,“I don’t remember much as a ghost. The last solid memory I have from before is dying.” She shifted on her cot and patted the spot next to her. “Come here. You did it and I will never be able to thank you all enough. How are you after everything? I didn’t even know you could do magic, Winston… When did that happen?”

Swallowing, Winston realised in that moment that Bea had never seen them do magic before. They’d never discussed it. Honestly, they’d been trying to save the revelation that they could do magic for something truly spectacular. A secret part of them had wanted to impress her with everything that they could do. To show her that although they weren’t the magician that Bea was, they were at least learning. “I can only imagine,” Winston yawned as if on queue, “I still feel like I’m full of adrenaline but at the same time my bones feel like they’re encased in lead. How it must be for you I can’t imagine.” Slipping across the room, Winston sat gently next to Bea. She smelled amazing. Swallowing, Winston felt the heart flutter a little and quelled the nervous butterflies in their stomach. “You don’t have to thank me, I know that you’d have done the exact same for me if you thought that was what I wanted and when Nell and Luce told me …” a single tear rolled down their cheek and they hotly wiped it away, “it was the right thing to do.” They looked at her and swallowed. “Uh, just after the New Year, a hellhound attacked me and I guess it unlocked my magic, since then I’ve been learning a lot. I actually managed to help save the town before we could bring you back.” They tugged at the bandage they were wearing over their hand to hide the third eye. “Wanna see something kind of gross?”

At first, Bea hadn’t even made the connection that Winston was there for the ritual as a spellcaster. After seeing their rather spectacular stunt with fire breathing, she finally connected the dots. She wasn’t usually a person who touched Winston freely, but now she leaned her head against their shoulder. She needed to touch someone. She hadn’t been touched in so long, she knew that. “It being the right thing to do does not make it an easy thing to do,” She told them gently. “And I know more than anyone else the risks and moral sacrifice someone has to make to do that.” She stared at the bed Luce had been in, knowing that in the end the middle Vural had nearly lost her life for Bea. “Just casually saving the town and then me. You’ve been busy, huh?” She looked down at their hand,“I was decaying and covered in the actual blood of my enemy until an hour ago, I don’t mind kind of gross anymore.”

Bea’s head on their shoulder was nice. Really nice. Not in the way that it had been before. It didn’t send their heart racing and sweat beading on their forehead. For the first time, maybe ever, this felt like something a sister might do. Like the times Winston had crept into Jolyne’s room whenever they’d had a nightmare. “No, it wasn’t easy, and it’s something I’ll have to live with for the rest of my life. I don’t regret it, but, I’ve never killed someone before.” Winston wasn’t sure that they had killed someone now. It didn’t matter though. Bea was here and they had no regrets. “I just, so much has happened in the last six months. None of my friends have gotten away from this town without being hurt by something in it and when you died. I couldn’t just sit there and not do something.” Their hand itched and they tentatively unwrapped the bandage to reveal the eye beneath it. There was a relief as the cold air came in contact with the eye and it blinked on their hand a few times as they wiggled their fingers to get the blood flowing in it once more. “Someone had to save the town, I didn’t really do much, that was Nell and Darwin, I just worked out how to fix it but they were the ones that did the actual ritual.” Winston wished they had been able to do more to help. “I got a third eye too.” They showed her their palm.

“You won’t have to kill someone again, at least not for me,” Bea hoped at least. Winston was someone she had never thought would be dragged into something as dark as this. Even knowing now that they’re a caster didn’t make her feel better about their involvement. Being so new to the spellcaster community, this was not an easy transition into the lifestyle. “White Crest has certainly has ramped up recently.” Her life had been so simple in December. She didn’t know who that woman was anymore. She wasn’t sure who she was anymore. Morgan had said that she had to let it sit, but the longer she sat, the longer the silence that filled her mind became insufferable. She had never felt like this before, never felt empty before. She could not even begin to make a plan to get back to where she was before this. She hummed softly,“Would they have been able to do the ritual if you hadn’t helped?” It was habit to attempt to lift those around her up, but the words felt hollow and wrong in her mouth now. She stared down at Winston’s palm, resisting the urge to reach out and poke it. “Does it see?”

“Fingers crossed,” Winston was only partially joking. This was White Crest after all. Apparently cultists, necromancy and demons were lurking in the darker corners of the town. Which apparently suited Winston just fine. A thought that they were still trying to come to terms with. What they really didn’t get was how they could be so okay with all of this? They’d killed someone and it didn’t bother them at all. “I’m glad that people who’ve known about the real White Crest are saying that, because for a while I thought this was just how you always lived your life. I’m pretty sure I’m already getting some gray hairs from the stress.” Winston smirked a little at that. They didn’t hate this. This new life. It wasn’t something they’d give up. It was just different. “No, they wouldn’t have been able to do the ritual at all I guess.” Winston hadn’t thought about it that way before nodding. “Yeah, for a while I had like visions, that was how I … well literally saw the ritual, but after squidward was killed they stopped. I was the last person it switched too and it hasn’t gone anywhere since then so I think it might be here for good.” 

“It’s always been dark and twisty here, but I hadn’t died before, so it’s been worse lately.” Somewhere in the back of Bea’s mind, she found that sentence hilarious. The day before she died she wouldn’t have even thought she would be saying this in the future. “You’d look good with gray hair,” She told them absentmindedly, finger playing with her hospital band. In five weeks she had missed the world nearly ending and her family fighting to keep it together. It filled her with both pride. They’ll be fine with me if it comes to it. The thought came to her before she could stop it, realizing she didn’t have to consider them without her now. She swallowed hard. “Does it bother you? It being there?” If Winston could live with a third eye, she could live with the scar circling her throat.

“That seems to be the understatement of the century,” Winston replied. They couldn’t believe everything that had happened. It was like they were living out the pages of their favourite fiction or something. Fantasy, Science Fiction and Horror had always held a special place for Winston. Somehow this made them all seem a little childish in this light. “Uh, thanks … you too?” Winston was still as awkward as ever apparently, but Bea complimenting you wasn’t something that Winston would just brush to the side. Even though they’d long ago accepted that she was never going to see them the way they saw her, it still mattered. “Yes and no, the eye itself physically being there is risky for anyone who doesn’t know about this stuff maybe finding out…” Winston ran a finger nail over the gap in the eyelid, absently pulling it apart and letting it slip back together with a plip. “But it actually being there I don’t hate and I think … god I think I should keep it because I think it’ll probably give me some sort of insight in the future, maybe. I don’t know.” 

Bea stretched her neck slightly, before settling back down. She found her hand going up to hold her head, even though she was put back together. Everything about her felt wrong at the moment. She didn’t know if she would ever feel right again. She had to hope that she would or this all would have been so much trauma for a half result. She brushed off their awkward attempt to compliment her back. She was used to how they were with her at this point. “You can always see if there’s a glamour you can put over it. Then people won’t see it unless you want them to,” She told them, pressing her own finger against her palm. At least she didn’t have a random eye she had to hide. “Keep it then. No harm in keeping it for now and if you ever want it gone, I can help.” It was the least she could do after everything. She could do this for Winston, if they wanted it.

Raising an eyebrow gently, Winston watched the eye on their hand winking back at them. Or was it blinking? They weren’t sure which would be which when there was only one of them. “That’s a good idea, I’ve never really done anything with glamorous before, do you know a good place to get one? Or how I could make one easily?” Winston would have to look into this in the Scribe library. The more information they could gather the better in their opinion. Nodding gently, Winston made eye contact with Bea and smiled. “Thanks for the offer, I’m sorry I didn’t tell you about the magic sooner, I didn’t really know how to tell anyone about it to be honest…” Winston laughed gently, “but I’m glad I could help bring you back.” 

Sighing through her nose, Bea watched the eye critically for a moment. Nell was always the person she asked when it came to things like glamours, but this wasn’t the right time. “I’m sure I have a tome or two you can look at for information about them. I usually just assist when it comes to rituals like that.” She wondered now, if she would have to learn more about those types of magics. Her hand went to her neck, tracing the scar there. Did she want people to see that? She couldn’t tell if it was weak or not. She didn’t even know how it looked yet. She hadn’t had the courage to look at herself in the mirror. She met their eye for a second before glancing away, the emotions there too much to bear just then. “It’s okay. I understand. I barely tell people I’m a witch.” She swallowed,“Thank you, again, Winston. For helping me and being there for my sisters.”

Raising an eyebrow gently, Winston chewed on their lip for a moment before nodding. “Sure, I get it, that’s probably a good idea. It’s something I wanna look into though, for sure.” Winston smiled gently. As Bea touched her own neck, Winston found their own hand tracing their scar for a second. Forcing it to fall away they sat their still for a moment. The toll of the resurrection had been intense, maybe one of the more difficult things Winston had ever done. Despite everything that had happened, Winston was pleased that everything was slowly getting back to normal. Sitting their silently, Winston honestly didn’t know what to say. “It’s weird, I can’t imagine not knowing this stuff but I did…” they trailed off and glanced down at her with a kind smile, “Bea, I mean this from the bottom of my heart, you and Luce and Nell might not have been born into my family, but you’re my family, you have been for a long time and you are now more then ever. If you ever need me again. I’ll be there no questions asked.” 

Bea let the silence surround them for a moment. Winston was family. She knew this wholeheartedly, but she struggled to say it out loud. Those words would have made her grin before, eager to hear that someone felt so strongly about her and her family. No such warm feeling filled her. She hummed softly, knowing she would have to say something soon. God, what could she say. There would be nothing quite right in this setting, not when she felt the words bouncing around her hollow insides. “Thank you, Winston. You’re our family too. We’ll be there for you too.” She meant those words, but all the same they tasted wrong as she said them. They could never compare to what she would have said before this. She couldn’t compare to how she was before this. She hoped that those who brought her back weren’t disappointed by the change.

[rptv-starwars]

Jar Jar Binks actor Ahmed Best, once targeted by hate, makes first prominent return to 'Star Wars' galaxy

Yahoo.com article by Kevin Polowy  |  May 27, 2020, 3:53 PM PDT

(I have shortened the article for brevity and to get rid of the useless PC commentary)

Ahmed Best and friends in 'Star Wars: Jedi Temple Challenge' (Lucasfilm)

-

Ahmed Best's comeback is officially in hyperdrive.

The actor, best known for voicing and performing motion-capture for the much-maligned Gungan Jar Jar Binks in George Lucas's 1999-2005 trilogy of Star Wars prequels, is back — this time in the flesh — as host of the upcoming Star Wars: Jedi Temple Challenge game show on YouTube's Star Wars Kids channel. Like a vintage Nickelodeon show (think Double Dare or Legends of the Hidden Temple) filmed at Disneyland’s Galaxy's Edge theme park, the 10-episode series (originally slated for Disney+ before moving to YouTube) tests youngsters (sorry, Padawans) paired in teams of two on their abilities to become Jedi knights through a series of strength and knowledge trials.

Best's participation in the show marks another feel-good moment in the performer's rebound from what had turned into a shaky career sidetracked by derision and scorn in the years that followed his portrayal of Lucas's controversial patois-speaking sidekick.

In 2018, Best revealed that the backlash to his character was so harsh — with the actor even receiving death threats — that he contemplated suicide. "I don’t talk a lot about my experience as #jarjarbinks because a lot of it is very painful. I faced a media backlash that still affects my career today. This was the place I almost ended my life," he wrote in an Instagram post, accompanied by a photo of he and his song overlooking the Brooklyn Bridge. "It’s still hard to talk about. I survived and now this little guy is my gift for survival." (At the time Best was considering a Phantom Menace-inspired one-man show which as of late-2019 was still in the works.)

Best, now 46, is being re-embraced by the Star Wars community — especially in light of his troubling revelations.

In 2019, Best received a massive standing ovation when he was introduced on stage at Star Wars Celebration in Chicago. "You guys are going to make me tear up, and I'm an unattractive crier," he told the "Jar Jar! Jar Jar!"-chanting crowd. In a pre-taped message to fans attending a Phantom Menace 20th anniversary panel, Lucas went as far as naming Jar Jar as his favorite Star Wars character. "Ahmed, you did a fantastic job," he said. "It was very, very hard.”

Jar Jar's reputation has also been buoyed in recent years by a fan theory that his character was actually an evil secret Sith puppetmaster.

Despite his complicated relationship with Star Wars and some toxic fans, Best continued to work in the franchise after the prequel trilogy wrapped with 2005's Revenge of the Sith, in which his role had been reduced to cameo-sized. He voiced Jar Jar in seven episodes of the long-running animated series Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008-14) and won an Annie Award for spoofing his character in 2008's Robot Chicken: Star Wars Episode II. He'll also provide his voice to the upcoming video game Lego Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga.

With Jedi Temple Challenge, Best feels like a perfect fit for the streaming show in more ways than one. The actor, who Lucas et al. discovered for his work onstage in a New York production of Stomp, always had the natural charm and gregariousness you need to be a game-show host. It's surely one of the reasons Lucas enlisted him for what he envisioned as a scene-stealing fan favorite in Jar Jar, not a perennial punching bag. And while the prequels are generally looked down upon by older Star Wars fans, they tend to be beloved by the generation that grew up with them — which aligns with the YouTube series' target demo.

Star Wars: Jedi Temple Challenge debuts on YouTube June 3.

original article:

https://www.yahoo.com/entertainment/ahmed-best-star-wars-comeback-jar-jar-binks-jedi-temple-challenge-host-225329125.html

______________________________

RPTV’s Don B. Hayden closing comments: Although I am not a big fan of the prequels or Jar Jar Binks, I never blamed the character (or the actor). The main problem with the prequels was that they contradicted the original trilogy. I disagree with people who say that Jar Jar ruined the prequels (he did not; if anything, he was just a minor annoyance). Even so, The Phantom Menace is the best of the prequel movies, because it has a good plot (not perfect of course) and a complete storyline, so it works as a standalone movie (just like A New Hope).

I wish Ahmed Best all the success. I’m still hoping Jake Lloyd will come back to us. He also did NOT ruin the prequels, and certainly did not deserve the hate he got either. I never had a problem with the way Jake Lloyd portrayed Anakin Skywalker.

Despite what the new sequel actors think (Kelly Marie Tran, John Boyega, Daisy Ridley, etc.), they don’t have a monopoly on hate. Lloyd and Best got it WAY worse than they ever did.

[dreamgirlbreezy]

CHAPTER 20

DONNIE

 I don’t know how I feel I think she used me I didn’t come her excepting sex it’s clear she did cause she came her with nothing on underneath her dress so like a fool I fell for it I need to get home and shower I can't believe I did that.

“Get out my car”

“Donnie please we just”

“I know what we just did and I want you out my car this was your plan all along”

“Donnie don’t shut me out please”

“I want you out my motherfucking car Raquel” she opened the door and got out but had the door open looking at me.

“Donnie please don’t be angry with me I thought if we made love again you would see that we can work things out that’s all”

“Close my door and walk away I’m done with you” she closed the door as I started up the car and backing up then driving off.

**2 WEEKS LATER**

I was back at home and I think Rocky finally got the picture cause each day she calls less and less soon she will stop calling all together. She came here a few times but I didn’t speak to her either my mom or my Aunt spoke with her, I told them both if she comes by to tell her I’m busy, it was my last morning here I was all moved into my new place right now I was standing at the door of my mom’s house she was hugging me.

“You promise you will still come by”

“Yes mama every Sunday for dinner I promise” I kissed her forehead and hugged her again. “You’ll have to come to my house to okay”

“Okay bye angel”

“See ya ma” I walked away from her and got in my car starting it up and I back out and was off to my house. Once I got to my home I was happy only a few friends knew where my house was and that’s the way I like it.

Once I parked in the drive way I went right in happy to be home I kicked off my shoes at the door and went to the livingroom turning on the TV I sat there ready to relax when my phone started ringing I was not in the mood for it today I had finals coming up and I wanted to relax before I started studying .

“Hello”

Ph) “Hi”

“Hey what’s up?”

Ph) “Umm I was calling checking on you seeing how you were doing?”

“I’m good how about you?”

Ph) “I’m ok could be better I was just calling to check on you with finals around the corner I know how stress you get I was just checking in on you”

“Well thanks for checking on me but I’m fine about to start studying as soon as I get off the phone with you”

Ph) “Oh okay that’s good ummm a few of us are getting together and doing a study session you’re more than welcome to join us if you like”

“Thanks I like to study alone look I gotta go I'll see you around”

Ph) “Okay bye”

“Bye”

Ph) “I miss you and I love you”

“Bye Raquel” I hung up getting up I went and got my book bag and went right to it started studying I wanted to pass my finals and I didn’t wanna be bothered with anyone right now I like to study alone no one to bother me or to get me sidetrack.

After I was done with studying I was sitting outside thinking, thinking about everything my whole life my daughter Raquel school just everything what I wanted to do what I wasn’t going to do shit like that.

I heard the doorbell and I went walking around the front to see who it was I could see them but they couldn’t see me, I looked and saw it was Tony, Ken , Mario and my cousins Maurice and Lo.

“Yo over here” they looked my way and smiled coming towards me.

“What’s up nigga how you doing?” Tony asked as I dapped them all and we went inside.

“Why you not answering the door why you sneaking on the side like a robber?” Maurice asked

“I was already outside when yall rang the bell”

“Oh” Lo said walking pass me. We all went to the livingroom and started playing video games.

“Oh your girl came by the studio today looking for you”

“My girl?”

“Don’t play dumb you know who”

“Oh yea”

“Yea she was looking for you, I told her you was there earlier and she wanted to lay down a track to tell you how she feels and I let her told her I would give it to you but she was embarrassed about it and didn’t like it so she wrote it down” Tony said handing me a letter I just looked at it. “Take it” I took it and wasn’t plan on reading it.

“What am I supposed to do with this?”

“Read it for real for real read it she worked hard on it”

“Okay I'll read it” I got up and left the livingroom going into the kitchen where I opened up the letter.

‘Dear Adonis

Let me start this letter by saying I never, ever, ever meant to hurt your feelings. It's the last thing I would ever want to do.

If you don't believe anything else, please know that. Please know that I am sorry beyond any of the words I put to paper.

Hurting someone you love and knowing that you are the one that caused the pain is more than I can bare. You are my best friend, my boyfriend, and the light of my life.

Whenever we were apart and I used to think about you, a smile would come to my face.

Whenever I was nervous or anxious, I would think about you, smile, and calm down immediately.

You were and are my 'happy place'. But now when I think of you, all I see is the hurt in your face. And, the smile that used to come so naturally and automatically to me, is now replaced with a frown.

I never realized the implications of my behavior and words and the effect they would have on you. I've always been casual with words, never giving a thought to how they could be weaponized, how piercing they could be, and how hurtful they are.

I never viewed the lies I told as lying. Instead, I thought of them as exaggerations, saying things to prevent hurting someone's feelings, that none of it really mattered.

I never thought about how the snide remarks I make sometimes are passive aggressive behavior.

I never saw the abuse in my words. The abuse and disrespect I showed you by lying to you.

I now know that I've been doing this all my life and it's time for me to take responsibility for my actions and words. It's time for me to grow up. It's time for me to honor my life, family, friends and the lives of everyone around me.

I have to admit that these are pretty big revelations to me. This is a life changing moment.

What it took to get me here was that fleeting moment when I saw the deep, honest, and profound hurt in your eyes.

I looked into your eyes and saw that I hurt your soul.

It crushed me. The honesty of it all shocked me. The pureness of the moment took my breath away and all of my words and actions towards you came rushing through my mind.

You've told me before how I've hurt your feelings, I'd listen, apologize and we would move on. But I never really understood what it meant.

I viewed it as casually as my words. I understood it in my mind but not emotionally.

Now I do.

Your eyes made it clear to me. I have no excuses, only shame for hurting you.

So here I stand in front of you, asking for your forgiveness and promising you that the lies and hurtful behavior is over. I promise you that it will never happen again.

I hope you'll continue to have faith in me and let me prove myself to you so that one day in the future when I think of you, that smile returns to my face.

 Love,

Raquel’

“Hey Don I got a favor to ask” Maurice said

“Okay” I put the letter in a draw and looked at him.

“There’s this girl right--” Maurice said

“Nope”

“Damn let me finish saying what I was going to say before you say no” Maurice said

“Okay what?”

“There’s this girl I been trying to get with she won’t hang out with me alone unless her 2 friends come along so we going out to eat tonight and well I need another body there Tony already said he’ll come I need you to come too” Maurice said

“Nope I’m not doing it”

“Come I didn’t say you had to like her just be there so I get with this bitch come on I’ve done it for you and now you gotta do it for me” Maurice said

“Really you doing that you pulling that card?”

“Yup so you so we leaving in a hour” Maurice said

“Damn man I don’t have time for no females”

“Yea you do just not the one you want” Maurice said I gave him the finger as he laughed, I left the kitchen going back in to the livingroom where I played games until it was time for us to go, everyone left I drove myself so that way I can leave if I wanted to and not be stuck.

We went to dinner I was paired up with a girl name Stacey she was fine I won’t lie she didn’t talk a lot tho her friends did most of the talking to us she would add in a few things, well maybe because I didn’t do much talking either I was just here to fill a spot.

“Are yall brothers?” Stacey asked

“No cousins”

“Oh how, never mind” Stacey smiled to herself.

“You was going to ask how long we been cousins huh?” she giggled and nodded I laughed at her. “Since birth” I gave her a wink and she blushed.

“I was thinking we should go to club Ensure after we leave here” Maurice said

“I’m down”

“Yea sounds good” Stacey said as the other agreed, once we was done here we went right to the club and was in the VIP section having a good time Stacey was all on me she was fine so I wasn’t going to stop her. But while I was having a good time I felt like someone was watching me not like normal looking but like watching me watching me I started to look around the club and my eyes landed on Lisa she was here in the club too great!!

[revengeisalwaysanoption]

I don’t know if you’re taking prompts, but I think it would be funny to read something about The Boy Squad and Niccolò playing truth or dare, spin the bottle or something like that. And another one: Marti trying to hide his hickeys from The boys, because Niccolò simply loves his neck 🤷🏻‍♀️😂 (btw I love your writing!)

Thanks! I’m sorry it took me so long, but I finally have it. Hope it doesn’t disappoint too much…

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

Nobody thought Martino could actually pull this off.

‘You’ve got the worst poker face in the world, zì.’ Giovanni reminded him, sure that Niccolò would know something was up as soon as he opened the door. That might be true, but Gio was definitely underestimating how good his best friend could be at sidetracking Nico. He wouldn’t even remember his own name, once he was done with him…

‘If you manage not to give it away tonight, and that’s a big if… you want me to believe that you’re gonna tell him that you’re busy and that you really can’t stay, when morning comes?’ Elia rolled his eyes, disbelief written all over his face. The plan could work, because it wasn’t something you’d ever expect from Martino… but it was hard to imagine this boy would really let Niccolò spend most of the next day alone.

‘Aren’t you gonna feel guilty about keep a secret from him?’ Luca asked, genuinely surprised by this new – stealthy – side of Martino. ‘I feel bad already… so maybe you better text me the details at the last minute. I can’t promise I won’t say something I shouldn’t, if he asks me…’ 

Yeah, he had taken that into account. Maybe he should have told Luchino that there wasn’t anything to feel sorry, or guilty, about. That as soon as Ni would find the first clue inside the ukulele, he’d know he has been sent on a treasure hunt. He wouldn’t really care that asking for help from his friends could be considered cheating – let it be known that he still is the Greatest Fucking Cheater Ever Existed – but he’d try not to involve them just because it’s their game…Marti should have told Luchino, sure. But it implied talking about the handwritten notes, the flipbook, the antidote, the giraffes… About things that he didn’t feel like to share that with anyone, because they were just theirs.Contrary to everybody’s expectations, indeed, Martino managed to surprise Niccolò.He had him running and cycling all over the city – including their school terrace, were Chicco Rodi and Rocco Martucci were waiting for him – to collect clues on where to find him… Which ended up being the most obvious place, if only Niccolò had taken a moment to stop and think: in that same swimming pool where they first kissed, without any Renato to interrupt them now.He let him think that they were going home to make up for lost time, alone… And then got a bit frantic when Niccolò turned on the light and looked at him and then at their friends, like he couldn’t believe his eyes…Was it too much? Was he overwhelmed?

“HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!”Trust Luchì to break the ice and hug Niccolò so tight that he couldn’t help but hug him back and start laughing.

Silvia came to the rescue, handing out slices of cake to everyone. It was barely more edible than the one she had prepared for the first meeting at Radio Osvaldo but he ate it with such gusto that one would think it was the best thing he had ever tasted.

He was gifted with pictures and embarrassing stories of his boyfriend’s first year in high school by Eva, shared travelling tips with Eleonora and went off on a rant about the upcoming maturità with Edoardo and Federico. If there was one good thing that came out from Covitti being a jerk, in the end, it was that it showed Incanti and Canegallo could be pretty decent people. Who wouldn’t side with the homophobic asshole out of fear of being called gay themselves, as most other boys at school seemed to do.

Who would break a bottle on someone’s head, if it came down to it, before their friend could be seriously harmed.

He discussed about some stickers and pins he had designed for Pride this year with Filippo, and explained to a very intrigued Luchino what pansexuality was with Sava’s help.

They were both very kind and patient and answered each one of his inappropriate questions, and Filippo even went far as shutting down Martino’s groans when Luca said “So, bi and pans do have something in common: they could both pass off as straight if they wanted, right?” with a “That’s rich, coming from you.”

“Uh?”

“I mean… I remember you thinking being ace was equal to being celibate, until what… Last week? Didn’t you say they were ‘straight-passing’ too, Rose?”

“I’m still learning, okay?” Martino mumbled, pouting. Both Niccolò and Filippo were older than him, so of course they knew more about this stuff!

“We know you are.” Niccolò conceded, walking over to his boyfriend to kiss him on the lips. “So am I. So is Filippo. So is everyone here in my house, today.”

“What they’re saying is just that we can all learn something from each other, Marti! That’s why I like to ask questions, you know? I like to learn…”

“Yeah, but it’s not their responsibility to educate you, Luchì.” Elia butted in, getting an impressed look from Filippo – not that he gave a damn about that, not in slightest. “I hate to be the one who breaks the news to you, bro, but the Internet is for more than just porn.”

Sana cornered him in the kitchen, half an hour later, to stress that they all agreed his house was the best place to have this party because he could kick them all out whenever he pleased.

“You didn’t ask for this, and you shouldn’t feel like you have to entertain your guests, you know?” She casted a glance to their friends, who were now in the middle of a ridiculous game Federica had suggested. “Don’t let us overstay our welcome, okay?”

So he doesn’t. It’s like being aware that he has a way out, that he can call this off whenever he wants - and they won’t hold it against him, they won’t be thinking “What’s got into Fares, now? – is enough to put his mind at ease. Having Martino by his side, soothing his nerves and grounding him with the lightest of touches upon his shoulders, helps a lot too.

As the birthday boy he also gets to have the last word on the party games, vetoing strip poker and spin-the-bottle. They were fun when he had been in middle school, and he can still hear his old friends cheering when the bottle pointed to the girl he had been crushing on for weeks – he can’t even remember her name, now, how pathetic is that? – but a trip down the memory lane is the last thing he needs, tonight.

“Truth or dare?” Eva suggests, as both Giovanni and Martino roll their eyes.

They would rather be humiliated at another round of beer pong against her and Silvia, than play that.

“Maybe later.” He says, laughing at the ‘yes, please’ looks from the girls and the ‘thanks, but no thanks’ glares from the boys. “I’m not drunk enough for that yet…”

It’s nice of Martino not to freak out, turning the suggestion down on his behalf because it would be too ‘dangerous’ (dares do tend to escalate quickly, when he is involved). It’s such a welcome change that he wants to savor it, honor it by throwing in his own proposal.

“What about ‘Never have I ever?’”

A drinking game that favors the youngest and most inexperienced among them, doesn’t force anyone to embarrass themselves – they set the ground rule that not drinking doesn’t necessarily mean you never did what has just been mentioned, but that you don’t feel letting people know anything about it.

It was either that or demanding his guests not to get too personal, which can’t really be expected when some are already so inebriated that they are having giggle fits playing peek-a-boo with each other (and Edoardo and Eleonora have no right to make such a silly picture look so endearing, haven’t they?).

The first rounds are rather tame. No one has ever been to Japan, apart from the Savas. No one ever tried to eat insects, apart from Luchino. Some admit to stealing candies when they were younger, some others reveal they went skinny dipping after seeing it on TV. It doesn’t feel as thrilling or liberating as TV shows made it look, though.

Sana plays dirty by asking about porn, to which everybody has to take a drink.

“Never have I ever had sex with a girl.” Luca says, knowing that for once he’ll get the upper hand on half of the Contrabbandieri and the boys from Villa. Well, isn’t this interesting.

Fede, Sana and Eva do not drink but Eleonora does. She grins at her brother, who looks at her with such fondness that Niccolò almost feel like he’s intruding.

Elia is pondering whether to drink or not, but in the end he surprises everyone by leaving it untouched.

Before anyone else can react to that, however, Martino grabs his beer and chugs it down.

“What? When?” Giovanni sounds more outraged than Niccolò could ever bring himself to be. He doesn’t really mind what Martino did in the past, he’d rather revel in the fact that he chose to be with him in the present.

Gio immediately backtracks, when he notices that Marti is still staring at the bottom of his glass.

‘Sex’ is a broad definition, indeed, and who is he to say ‘no, if it isn’t penetrative it doesn’t count’ ?

“I’m sorry. Forget I even asked, it’s none of my business.” He drinks one more of his shots, saying that it’s his penalty for breaking the rules. “We did agree that we shouldn’t ask questions about why is drinking or not, didn’t we? My bad.” He shrugs, as Martino mouths an ‘Apologies accepted thanks.’

“Never have I ever kissed a boy.” Sana admits, diverting the attention to herself.

Elia and Gio drink at the same time, and then rush to say “No! It wasn’t him! Ew, he’s like a brother to me!”

The more they deny it, the less they sound believable, so they just drop it and look at Niccolò expectantly.

“Never have I ever used make up to hide hickeys.” He says, proudly, earning a punch in the shoulder from his boyfriend. Who is now down to 3 beers, not quite being the ‘boring gay’ most assume him to be.

“That’s because I’m considerate enough not to leave you looking like you were mauled or something.” Martino mumbles, ignoring the knowing smirks from his friends. They were well aware of how much Niccolò liked his neck, and hadn’t been fooled by the disappearance of scarves and turtlenecks.

“I wouldn’t mind if you did. I love when you claim me as yours.” Niccolò whispers, brushing his nose against Martino’s and then nuzzling his cheek.

“You do?” It’s just the two of them in the room, now, as he cups Nico’s face in both his hands and sighs contentedly when the other boy nods and kisses his fingers.

“Guys! Please! Either stop it or get a room!” Someone hollers, breaking the spell.

“Never have I ever eaten ass.” Filippo states, just to see everyone squirm. It’s way too personal, too intimate, for anyone to dare and drink.

“Hey! No cheating!” Elia complains, getting up to point his finger right into Filippo’s chest. “You are a cheat and a liar. You’re out. And so am I, ‘cause this is getting old and boring and if we don’t get out soon those two will start fucking in front of our eyes.”

“And you know he’s lying because…?” Eva insists, intrigued by this new turn of events.

“TOO MUCH INFORMATION, GUYS!!” Giovanni shakes his head, covering his ears. “If we’re playing truth or dare, now, please leave those things where they belong. In the bedroom.”

“Getting a taste of your own medicine, Gio?” Nice to know that not even a heavy make out session with Niccolò would stop Martino from passing up the opportunity to tease him. “That’s fine by me. I’ve heard more than I ever asked for, already. Things I’d rather forget, thank you.” And if Elia wants to come clean about being with Filippo, it shouldn’t happen through a stupid party game.

Niccolò dares most people to eat what he cooked, of course.

Luca dares him to see who can fold himself faster into the biggest suitcase he owns – and loses, but he beams when Silvia kisses his cheek and tells him that he just needs to work on his flexibility, but that it was a valiant attempt nonetheless.

Edoardo goes for ‘truth’, of course, knowing that Ele would love that. It would be easy to take advantage of it by asking what if he ever felt ashamed of himself, or to whether or not he ever fell in love before meeting Eleonora. They are all better than that, after all they’ve been through.

“What’s the most idiotic thing you ever spent your money on?”

“Marco’s eighteenth?”

“How can you say that when you’ve got a horse?” Federico reminds him, slapping his neck.

“Hey, I happen to like horse riding. You know that. I’d rather spend a thousand euros on Furia than 10 on Covitti. What about you, Nico?”

“Louboutins.” It didn’t feel stupid, at the time. When she got those shoes, though, she told him he was crazy to waste so much money on shoes. She did appreciate the gesture, but it was imperative that he returned them as soon as possible.

He doesn’t quite know how Martino would react if he got him an expensive gift. Better than Maddalena, that’s for sure, but… Well, there’s no point in speculating: he’s gonna find out in July, when they’ll leave for their romantic getaway in Paris, isn’t he?

Martino dodges dares for a while, going for ‘truth’ even when it means confessing that:

a) Nico and him aren’t big on pet names (“Have you ever heard yourself when you start going ‘oh, you idiot’ ‘shut up, jerk’ ‘you wish, asshole’ ‘wanna a piece of this, wanker‘ ‘you know I do, dickhead’?” Giovanni points out “ ‘cause you ‘insults’ are totally pet names, guys)

b) he had a crush on Gio, though it never compared to what he feels for Niccolò – “you’re giving us all cavities, Marti, have you got no shame?”.

Eventually, though, those fuckers get him to sing a duet with Nico. Of course they choose Vattene Amore and sing along when they get to the ‘ci chiederemo come mai il mondo sa tutto di noi… magari ti chiamerò trottolino amoroso e dudu-dadadà e il tuo nome sarà il nome di ogni città…’ part, filming everything with their smartphones.

By the end of the night, no one is sober enough to walk home. Let alone drive.

The girls set up a blanket fort in the living room, claiming that they cannot kick Niccolò out of his bed and wouldn’t feel comfortable sleeping in his parents’ bed. He argues that they are gonna regret that in the morning, when their back is gonna remind them why it’s not a good idea to doze off on the floor.

Edoardo and his friends insist that they can run on caffeine alone and they are more than happy to crash on a chair. Whatever.

Niccolò is too high on the love he got from everyone tonight, to care about logistics.

So what if he has to share his bed with four other guys. Who cares if they constantly complain that he’s bony, that he snores and has got cold feet – “seriously, Marti, now I get why you always so tired on Mondays…” Luchino whines, trying to smother himself with a pillow and put an end to his misery “how can anyone get any rest, with him in their bed?” – or if it’s such a tight fit that they all have to lay on their sides and nobody has got room to turn in their sleep?

It’s still the best birthday he ever got.

[tilltheendwilliwrite]

The Bodyguard

Chapter Ten

Master List  |  Bucky Barnes Master List

Previous Chapter

Pairing: Bucky Barnes x OFC  I Word Count: 5212 Warnings: Fluff, Bucky being Bucky, smexy

This chapter brought to you care of @diinofayce through Coffee Updates. Thanks for your support, hun!

Bucky shuddered gently against Penny, while his mind whirled with her revelation. "You have to tell Steve.”

"I can't. Not just yet.”

"Penelope Grace," he growled against her neck.

"Bucky. Not just yet. I'll tell him when I've gone through all the options, but until that time, how can I place more stress on him? He's off saving the world. He doesn't need to be thinking about me while he's doing it.”

"Penny…” Bucky sighed and looked at her, but gave up when she gave him the stubborn face.

"I'm not giving up, Buck. I won't. I promise, but I have to do this my way.”

"Stubborn as a mule,” Bucky grumbled, tugging her close so he could rest his cheek on the top of Penny's head.

"Ma'am? Sorry to interrupt,” Friday said into the silence. "The detective is back, and he brought friends.”

Bucky growled a second time against Penny, far more feral and angrier than before. "What kind of friends?”

"Special Agent Julie Markov and Special Agent Anthony Barrow of the FBI, and his NYPD Captain, Ryan Harris.”

"Run all three.”

"Bucky.” Penny rested her head on his chest. "I'm too tired and worn out for this.”

"I know, baby girl. You head upstairs and get changed. I'll deal with them until you're ready.” He stroked her hair, then her cheek. “I'll even make you some tea.”

She smiled and nodded. "What will you tell them?”

"As close to the truth as I can. But I think it's better to let SHIELD deal with the money aspect. It's still Hydra. Regular cops aren't equipped to deal with them.

Penny winced. "Um, Buck? We need to talk about the money. I have something to tell you about… all that.”

"Pen?”

"Sergeant? The police are still requesting entrance,” Friday interrupted.

"Did you contact Tamara yet?” he asked, still staring at the fidgeting Penny.

"Miss Smith is on her way. She will be here as soon as she can.”

"Let them up,” Bucky muttered. "Talk fast, Penny.”

"I've been screwing with Hydra's finances for years, so even though they've stolen eighty-two million from me, I've cost them eleven times that much.”

"What!” he shouted.

"Through back channels and anonymous reports to the Attorney General, Miss Rogers has shut down numerous Hydra fronts, false charities, and exposed a number of high powered Hydra supporters. In total, Penelope has removed nine hundred forty-six million, three hundred twenty-seven thousand, four hundred eight dollars and twelve cents from Hydra's coffers,” Friday announced.

"Holy fuck!” Bucky bellowed. "That's motive to kill you, Penny! Why the hell didn't you tell me this earlier?”

"I didn't think it was relevant because they don't know it's me! I swear my trail is untraceable. I've been doing this as long as I've had Marquis, and everything is sent via hardcopy and flash drive to the AG's office. Not even a trace of DNA or a fingerprint left behind. I'm good at this, Bucky. Really good.”

"I want to see it. Your files. Your setup. All of it.”

"It's all in my lab at work.”

"Jesus, Penelope! Anyone could gain access to your damn lab!”

Her hands framed his face. "Shut up for one damn minute and listen!” She waited until he nodded before speaking. "Not my regular lab. My secret lab. The one beneath the building.”

"That's some fucking mad scientist crap, dollface,” he smirked when the shock wore off.

She breathed out a sigh and shot him a wink before returning her satchel of serum to the safe in the wall. “What more would you expect from a literal genius?” she snickered over her shoulder.

“Sergeant Barnes. The police will be arriving in sixty seconds.”

“On it, Friday.” Bucky took one more long look at Penny. “You okay, Pen?”

“Too much exertion today, but I'm steady now. I’ll be fine and down in a few minutes. Don’t shoot anyone unless you have too.”

He beat her to the doorway and took her by the waist. “No more secrets. What you know, I need to know. Promise?”

She tilted her chin up and looked him directly in the eyes. “That’s it. I swear.”

“I believe you, darlin’.” Ducking his head, he kissed her quickly, a swift mating of lips which didn’t last nearly long enough. “Go on,” he murmured when he lifted his head.

“I was going until you sidetracked my brain,” she grumbled, heading down the hall to the secondary set of stairs.

Bucky chuckled as he returned to the living room and took a quick look around. He had weapons stashed everywhere from behind the couch cushions to taped to the undersides of the tables and more in the kitchen. There were four of them coming, all armed, all trained. "Friday, can you turn the kettle on?"

"Of course, Sergeant."

He shook out his flesh arm and rolled the metal one hard, calibrating it from the shoulder down like Stark had shown him. “Give me the rundown, Friday.” Having not bothered to remove the Bluetooth from his ear, she spoke directly to him.

“Special Agent Julie Markov. She is a ten year veteran of the FBI, currently assigned to the Criminal, Cyber, Response, and Services Branch. In her years there she has been accredited with taking down a number of dirty business relating to drug or gang crime, as well as white-collar crime. If I had to guess, Penny’s attack and subsequent investigation by the IRS has caused them to launch an investigation of their own. Her partner, Special Agent Anthony Barrow, is an expert in white-collar crime and computer-based crime. It is perhaps better not to inform them of my presence. Knowing she employed an AI to compile the data on Taft will only cause them to collect a warrant so they may compile their own data apart from what I’ve already done, and poke their noses into parts of Marquis they have no business getting into. I have put together a file with all our relevant information, the reports submitted by Taft, and the real data, cross-referenced and correlated, along with the money trail from the subsidiaries Taft was using.”

“Thought we’d decided to leave it to SHIELD?” Bucky murmured when the door announced their arrival.

“Well, I only gave them the money as far as I could follow prior to Jarvis’ involvement. If we stonewall them, Sergeant, they will not let it go.”

“Tricky girl,” he chuckled.

“The Captain, Ryan Harris. I do not know why he is here,” Friday murmured. “His record is impeccable with only a few minor incidents in his beat cop days. It appears he had difficulty with authority.”

“Don’t we all.” This time, Bucky didn’t meet them at the door but off to one side, his gun in his hand. Once all four were out of the elevator, he stepped silently from the shadows with the weapon pointed at their heads. “That’s far enough.”

“Barnes!” McGilvery snarled. “You really want to get arrested, don’t you?”

“Not particularly,” Bucky muttered, “But there’s four of you and only one of little old me, so I’ll thank you to remove your service weapons slowly, and the backups, and place them on the table one at a time. You can pick them up on your way out.”

“Sergeant,” the woman took a step forward but froze when Bucky arched a brow. “My name is-”

“Special Agent Julie Markov. Ten year veteran with the FBI, CCRSB. I know who you are, ma’am. At the moment, I don’t give a flying fuck if you’re the President. You aren’t coming near Miss Rogers armed. Not after today.”

“We want to talk to you-” McGilvery started in.

“Do I look like I care at all about what you want, McGilvery? Last time you were here you made unfounded accusations in regards to Penelope. How was the phone call from Steve? That go well for you?” The first thing he’d done out of the shower was send in his report to Steve. Not all of it, of course, but enough, including McGilvery and his asinine comments.

Steve may have been flying over the Atlantic on his way to a mission, but nothing would stop him from coming to Penny’s defence. And when Captain America called, you picked up the damn phone. Bucky knew McGilvery had gotten an earful, likely Harris as well.

“That’s why I’m here, Sergeant. To offer my sincerest apologies to Miss Rogers and assure both of you Detective McGilvery will be on his best behaviour from here on out.”

“Fantastic. Weapons. On the table.”

“If you think I’m going to give up my gun because some washed out Avenger tells me to-”

“Barrow!” Markov snapped. “The Sergeant is well within his rights to ask us to remove our weapons. Miss Rogers has been put in mortal danger twice. As head of her security, it's understandable he’d be… distressed having four unknown and armed people anywhere near her.”

“Look at you go, doll. Got it in one. Weapons. Table. Then you can sit in the living room and ask your questions. Or you can get back on that elevator, and we can meet you at SHIELD’s New York office and conduct this interview under Director Fury’s watchful eye.”

Markov was the first to relent, pulling her service weapon from her hip and placing it on the table. She dropped into a slow crouch and added the ankle revolver before moving further into the room. “We can all be civilized, can’t we, gentlemen?”

Harris was second, his service weapon and back up landing beside Markov’s. McGilvery gave his up begrudgingly, but it was Barrow who crossed his arms and glared at Bucky.

“It’s not happening.”

“Then get out of my house.”

Bucky didn’t look; he didn’t need to. Penny’s oddly beating heart had betrayed her the moment she made her way down the hall to the top of the stairs.

“Miss Rogers, we’re FBI. Surely this isn’t necessary.” Barrow turned on the charm as Penny descended the stairs.

She’d changed out of the pink dress but was no less stunning in skinny jeans and a floaty white top covered by a grey sweater. The knot she’d worn in her hair had come loose in their mad run through the hospital, but she’d somehow managed to pile her wealth of blonde curls up on her head. Penny appeared casual, but there was no mistaking the quality of anything she had on.

Poised and polished, she stopped halfway down the stairs with her hand on the railing and let the ice queen out. If it was wrong getting a thrill watching her go cold on people, Bucky didn’t want to be right, because when her eyes went glacial, and her chin jacked up, it kicked him right in the balls with a hard shot of lust.

“I don’t care if you’re the Queen of England. You will remain unarmed in my home, or vacate it immediately. I have been blown up, shot at, and shot at again by people who were supposed to be some form of security or protection. Perhaps you can see why I am reluctant to have anyone enter my home with a weapon.”

Tall at six feet two inches, Barrow still had to tilt his head up to look Penny in the eyes. His skin had taken on a ruddy flush of anger, causing the pock marks from acne scars to surface white in the red. He thrust his hand through his shaggy mop of curling chestnut hair, but finally tugged his service weapon from beneath his arm, and crouched to remove the one at his ankle. Both landed with a thud on the table.

“And the one at your back,” Bucky said.

Narrowed eyes of sharp obsidian glared at him, but Barrow complied and added it to the pile. Bucky lowered his gun and returned it to the holster beneath his arm.

“Excellent. Now, we can finish, and you can all get the hell out.” Penny made her way down the final few stairs.

“If someone wanted you dead, Miss Rogers, removing their gun isn’t going to stop them,” Barrow stated, clearly angry as he stomped toward Penny.

“That’s where you’re wrong, Agent. You could try to hurt me, but that’s why he’s here. And if you think for one moment you could lay a hand on me while there was still a single breath left in the Sergeant’s body, well then, you’d most likely be dead. Right, Buck?”

“Right,” Bucky growled from directly behind Barrow who flinched a lot harder than McGilvery had.

“Damn,” Harris muttered. “He is quiet,” he said to McGilvery who only rolled his eyes.

Penny made her way into the kitchen where she turned off the boiling kettle - thank you Friday - and reached for a teapot made of glass. “Can I get anyone anything?” she asked, adding loose tea to the filter.

“Answers,” grumbled McGilvery.

“I’ll take a tea,” Markov spoke over him.

“Tea would be great,” Harris agreed.

“Coffee?” Barrow asked.

“Fresh out,” Bucky said, leaning against the counter with his arms crossed.

“Bucky. Don’t be an ass.” Penny shoved him in the ribs and stuck a cup beneath the fancy coffee maker of hers. “Strong, super strong, or stand a spoon in it, Agent…?”

“Barrow, ma’am. Special Agent Barrow and this is Special Agent Markov,” he motioned to his partner, “and the stronger, the better.”

She set the dial and walked away to place the teapot and three mugs on the island. “I’m assuming this is about the hospital today?”

“Among other things.” Markov sat on a stool at the island, clearly working to make Penny as comfortable as possible. “Miss Rogers, we don’t believe for a moment you have anything to do with the attack on you at your office or the one that took place today.”

“Ain’t that a relief.” Sarcasm laced Bucky’s voice.

“But we do believe someone is using your company to clean dirty money.”

Penny nodded, not bothering to look at any of them. “And why would you think that?”

“Your profit and loss margins are out of sync,” Barrow said, eyeing Penny like she was fresh meat and he was a vulture.

Bucky plucked an apple from the bowl beside him and flicked a knife out of nothing he used to begin peeling it. He'd never seen four people come to attention so hard before and had to fight not to laugh.

“They’ve been taking bigger risks. Moving larger sums of money at one time and causing red flags to show across the board.” Markov frowned. “But you already knew that, didn’t you?”

“Penny. Wait for Tamara,” Bucky cautioned, the thin strip of red apple peel getting longer.

“She’s stuck in cross traffic, and as Agent Markov has already stated, I'm not a suspect,” Penny murmured, returning for Barrow’s coffee. “His name is Marcus Taft. He's been in charge of finances for my company since the beginning, and from what I’ve been able to piece together, he’s been washing money through my company since the beginning.”

“You didn’t think this information was relevant last night!” McGilvery snapped.

Penny’s head whipped up, and her eyes ran cold a second time. “Before last night I knew nothing about it!”

“McGilvery! Zip it!” Harris snapped. “My apologies, Miss Rogers for your poor treatment at the hands of my officer.”

She waved off his apology. “I care very little for the politics which happen within agencies, Captain, but I won’t tolerate being spoken to and blindsided like that a second time.” She tugged her phone from her back pocket, tapped a half dozen keys and swiped upward. All four of them beeped at roughly the same time. “That is everything you will need to charge Marcus Taft with money laundering, theft, and embezzlement. The financial statements go back ten years, since the beginning of my company, and I’ve followed the money as far as I can. You’ll have to work outward from there.”

Barrow was already scrolling through the document. “This is impossible! You couldn’t possibly compile all this data in one night!”

“Agent Barrow, I build and maintain the most complex set of computer servers in the world, rivalled only by those of Tony Stark. Yes, I assure you, I can put that together in such little time.”

The Duchess in her voice made Bucky's cock throb. He just wanted to pin her to the fridge and kiss the sass right out of her. When he finished peeling the apple, he set a single uniform width strip of apple peel on the counter and began to slice small sections off he ate from the blade.

“Why is some of this blacked out?” McGilvery asked, clearly trying to ignore Bucky and his knife.

Penny placed a jar of honey and a small bowl of sugar on the island. “The redacted files are Government contracts. I can guarantee none of you have security clearance that high.”

“I could get it if I needed it,” Markov muttered, still reading.

“No, Agent. You couldn’t. Not even Captain America has clearance to read those files. You certainly won't obtain clearance to know even the names of those contracts.” All four of them looked at her in surprise. “He may be my brother, but I sure as shit don’t tell him everything,” Penny smirked as she poured the tea.

“I’d like a chance to go over these with you, Miss Rogers,” Barrow said, continuing to scroll.

“That won’t be necessary. It’s all perfectly self-explanatory.”

“Is this the real reason behind the attack on you?” Harris asked. “Rather than the bogus story SHIELD fed us?”

“We suspect so,” Bucky answered when Penny glanced his way. “But can’t rule out a Steve connection until Taft is brought in and questioned.” He held out a piece of apple Penny plucked from the tip of his knife and ate without thought.

Harris shot McGilvery a look.

“I’ll call it in,” the Detective murmured and walked away to use his phone.

“We’re going to want first crack at him. We need to know who he’s been laundering the money for. Unless you figured that part out already?” Markov asked.

Penny shrugged. “Not so far.” She blinked innocently, sipping her tea. When the coffee maker beeped, she retrieved Barrow's cup.

The steely eye Markov observed her for a long moment, but Penny didn’t flinch. If he hadn't been able to hear the odd beat of her heart, Bucky would have assumed she was entirely honest.

“Hm,” Markov hummed. “Now, Sergeant. You want to tell us how you deflected three bullets with your arm?”

“Nope. SHIELD tech. Proprietary information. Clearance would have to come through them.”

She rolled her eyes, Barrow gritted his teeth, but Harris only grinned. It appeared the Captain was having a very good time getting out from behind his desk.

“If I do have questions about this,” Barrow pointed at his phone, “is it alright if I call?”

“If you must. Email is better. I’m good at multitasking,” Penny said, wandering toward Bucky. She leaned into him, hip cocked, and one knee bent to drink her tea. Bucky’s arm went possessively around her waist, solidifying the statement she was making. They were a team, and Bucky the only one of all of them she trusted.

Markov ran an appreciative eye over him before sending Penny a smirk and a nod. Evidently, the Special Agent approved.

“The men at the hospital were hired guns. Both had a reputation for collateral damage and more than two dozen confirmed kills to each of their names. No one is sad to see them go, but we’re going to have to get your statement of what happened,” Harris said.

“Can’t you just use the hospital’s security footage?” Penny asked.

“There are discrepancies in how it looks on film. Why did you stop before you exited the ER? How did you know to turn when you did? Where did your car come from to pick you up when, from what we could tell, you two were alone?”

Bucky scowled at McGilvery returning from his call. “You gonna ask if I’m in on it this time?”

“Are you?”

“Watch it, McGilvery. One day your mouth is gonna run, and you’ll find yourself with fewer teeth,” Bucky warned. “I’ve been a sniper a long ass time. You learn to listen to your instincts, and when the hair rises on the back of your neck, you make a tactical retreat until you figure out why. Something didn’t feel right when we made to leave out the front, so I changed the plan. When the guys who’d been milling around out front came at us with guns drawn, I fired back. Then I got Penny out of there as fast as possible.”

“Picking her up was just a bonus?”

He shifted his glare to Barrow. “Faster that way. She always wears these ankle-bustin’ shoes.”

“You opened fire in a crowded hospital. You could have missed.”

Back to McGilvery. “Like I said. Sniper. I don’t miss. Only one with more accuracy than me is the Hawk.”

“Hawkeye? Clint Barton?”

“Yeah. We done here?” Bucky looked to Markov who seemed to be running the show.

“How’d you move the car?”

“SHIELD tech. Classified.”

McGilvery’s lip curled up into a snarl. “Convenient.”

“We’re done here.” Markov pushed from her stool. “Thank you for the tea, Miss Rogers, and your cooperation. We’ll be in touch.”

“I’ll be plugging that hole by cutting off access to those monetary channels as soon as you pick up Marcus,” Penny said, following them to toward the elevator.

“Ma’am, we can’t let you do that until we get in there and follow-”

Penny cut Barrow off with a raised hand. “And is the Bureau going to compensate me millions of dollars if I leave it open? I’m eighty-two million in the hole as it is these last ten years. You want me to leave those channels available you’d best be able to get me my money back.”

“Close the holes, Miss Rogers,” Markov nodded, returning her gun to her hip.

“Will do, Agent Markov.” Penny smiled at the Captain. “And thank you for coming, Captain. It’s allowed cooler heads to prevail.”

He shook her hand when she offered it. “A pleasure, ma’am.”

“Let’s hope the next time we cross paths it’s at the NYPD Gala.”

“Looking forward to your speech, Miss Rogers.”

“Penny, please,” she smiled. “Well, in a few weeks then.”

They collected their weapons as Bucky watched and got on the elevator. Once the doors closed, Penny sagged into him.

“Whoa, Pen. You okay?”

“Tired,” she sighed. “Need to lay down.”

“And call off Tamara.”

“Did that when I found out she was stuck in traffic. Better she isn’t around for the Marcus bits anyway.”

Bucky swept her up into his arms and took the stairs three at a time as he returned her to her bed. “Rest, Pen.”

“Mm,” she hummed, eyes already closed.

He covered her in her red blanket, pressed a kiss to her forehead, and quietly left the room. He and Friday had work to do. “You let me know if there’s any change in her heart, Friday.”

“Yes, Sergeant. And Sergeant?”

“Yeah, Friday?”

“I am… happy she told you the truth.”

“Now all we have to do is figure out a way to fix her.”

“I have accelerated my work with the artificial heart. Already I have had an increase of ten percent in my success rate when paired with Penny.”

“What’s your success rate at in total, Friday?” he asked, a smidge of hope filling him.

“... ten percent,” Friday whispered. “It is not as easy as it looks.”

“Considering it doesn’t look easy at all...” Bucky sighed, returning to Penny’s office. “Keep working at it. We’ve got to do something. Penny dying isn’t an option.”

“I agree. Sergeant?”

“What, Friday?” He pulled up the images of her original assailants. Something about their use compared to the two hitmen of today seemed… off to him.

“May I have a sample of your blood?”

Bucky froze, then slowly sat back to look at the wall. “Why?”

“I have a hypothesis.”

“Which is?”

“A hypothesis is-”

“I know what hypothesis means, Friday! What is it? Why do you want my blood?”

“I’d… prefer not to say. In case I am wrong.”

Bucky pulled a knife from his sleeve. “How much and where?”

***

Penny dreamed. She dreamed of a soft bed and a hard body beneath her hands. Of warm muscles and quiet moans.

She dreamed of Bucky's hands on her skin, calluses and metal. His lips were soft when she kissed him. They felt even softer moving down her throat and over her chest to pull at her nipple.

A moan escaped her lips. “James…” she sighed.

“Penny,” he whispered, his hands touching her everywhere.  Then his grip tightened, turned bruising.

"You sure grew up pretty,” hissed maliciously against her skin before sharp pain flooded her belly. When he lifted his head, he wasn't Bucky anymore.

Penny screamed herself awake.

“Pen!” Bucky rushed to her side, and she recoiled. “Easy, easy, Penny. It's just me. You're okay.”

He knelt at her bedside while Penny tried to catch her breath. “It wasn't you,” she whispered and threw her arms around him. “It wasn't you.”

“What wasn’t me, baby doll?” he asked, rubbing soothing circles on her back.

“The one who hurt me. I was dreaming of you, and then you were him…”

“Penny.”

“I want to not be afraid anymore. Just for one damn moment, can I not be afraid?” she sobbed.

“It's gonna work out, Pen. You'll see.”

“Will I?” she whispered. “I have six months to save my life. Six. I've spent so much time working to save everyone else; I haven't done any living.” She pushed away and wiped her eyes. “I wanted to travel. See the world. Visit Tokyo, Paris, London. Instead, I've worked myself into an early grave.”

“No!” Bucky took her by the shoulders. “Don't you dare give up!”

“I'm not! But what am I doing it for? What did I do all this,” she thrust a hand out, “for if I'm not enjoying it! No life. No relationships. I may as well be a damn computer for all the good it's doing me!”

“Then change it! Figure it out and change it! Fix your heart and take a fucking vacation! Hell, I'll take you to Paris if that's what you want, but you're not allowed to quit on me, Penny!”

A smirk twitched her lips. “You're gonna take me to Paris, Barnes?”

“Damn right.”

She arched a skeptical brow. “And what would you know of Paris?”

He rocked back on his heels and dragged Penny around so he knelt between her spread knees with her feet dangling from the side of the bed. It made her heart kick in excitement and breath hitch with the same.

“I've been a lot of places, Pen. I know what colour paints the sky over the Eiffel Tower at dawn. I know the Arc looks like it's made of butter at dusk. Like you could reach out and touch it, and it would melt beneath your palm. I've seen the glass of the Louvre's pyramid sparkle after the rain, and ate pastries and drank coffee from cafés along the Rue de Seine.”

“Bucky.” His eyes were like sapphires, dark with want and memories.

“There's a hotel, out of the way and off the tourist track, with the best beds I've ever slept in, piled with blankets and pillows. The windows all have these fragrant flower boxes and Evangeline who runs it waters them each day. She makes breakfast from croissants and mandolins, fruit and cheese, and fresh squeezed orange juice. There are eggs and sausage, bacon and fruit tarts with fresh cream.” Bucky's arms wrapped around her hips and drew her closer, intimately so until her legs were spread wide around his torso, and his face level with her suddenly aching breasts.

She swallowed thickly. “Evangeline, huh?”

“She's seventy if she's a day, with wrinkles and laugh lines, and a head full of curly white hair. I adore her. Learned French just for her.”

“You speak French?” Penny was astounded.

“Oui, et si la dame veut se lever du lit, le dîner peut être servi.”

She blinked at him for a moment before smiling. “Calling me a lady and serving me dinner? Look at you go, turning on the charm. And here you are enticing me out of bed instead of into it. I'm impressed.”

Bucky's arms tightened around her hips. “Darlin’,” he purred. “I assure you, I want you in bed just as bad, but I'm not gonna seduce you after you wake up from that kind of nightmare, especially when you need to eat. Your body's gotta fight ahead of it.”

“You know, you're kinda sweet when you want to be, Barnes,” she smiled and slid her hand through his hair.

A devilish look came into his sapphire eyes. “Baby girl, I can be sweet, or I can be sinful. You fix your heart, and I'll show you just how sinful.” He turned his head and closed his mouth unerringly around her nipple through the fabric of her shirt and bra, granted neither was overly thick, and scraped his teeth over it, making Penny gasp in shocked pleasure. “Then I'll take you to Paris and introduce you to Evangeline.”

He pushed to his feet and drew her up with him, holding her so she was pressed full length to his body without any hope of wiggling away.  When his teeth scraped her ear, she shivered, and a drum beat thudded in her womb.

“And then I'll show you just how soft and sexy the beds can be.” Bucky released her with a wink and sauntered out of the room. “Dinner will be ready in five minutes.”

Penny sat with a thump and pressed her hand to her chest. Her heart raced, but it didn't feel laboured, only excited. He'd seduced her with words and barely a touch, given her an incentive to work toward, but Penny had never been a patient woman when it came to getting what she wanted.

And right now what she wanted most was more of the man whistling as he walked away. The reason she’d been hesitant in agreeing to anything this morning was because she didn’t want to hurt him when he found out the truth. But now he knew. He knew, and he still wanted her. He would be with her till the end, and clearly, he was offering her an incentive to work faster.

But what if she didn’t want to wait that long? What if she still ran out of time? What if this was her last chance to grab for a slice of happiness?

Penny let the sweater fall to the bed behind her. “Two can play that game, Barnes.”

Next Chapter

[jovialyouthmusic]

Charlotte’s Choice

A Royal Romance AU fanfic

7 A Morning Ride

Drake and Charlotte meet at the stables

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This chapter contains explicit written sexual content, not suitable for under 18s

A Morning Ride

The next day Charlotte was due to go on her morning ride through the grounds. Drake was always at the stables before her, and sometimes he rode out with her, and sometimes her father did. She knew today Constantine would not be available, so she went down earlier than usual.  Drake was there already, grooming Sultan and Phoenix ready for their outing. He looked up in surprise.

‘Charlie? You’re very early. Is everything okay?’

‘Yes, everything’s fine, Drake. I just wanted to run something by you’ she paced up and down the straw strewn floor, tapping her lip with the tip of her finger. Drake knew the gesture and braced himself for trouble. He knew that she was approaching mid cycle, when she called on him for more intimate encounters.

‘I - okay, what is it?’ he said warily. She turned and looked him straight in the eye and he knew he had been right, as her pupils were dilated.

‘We didn’t dance last night’

‘You know I don’t dance’ he pointed out ‘I’ve got two left feet. Plus it gave you extra time with Brad.’

‘I’d like to carry out a little experiment’ she said. Drake looked at her warily

‘An experiment? What have you got in mind, Princess?’

‘I’d like to slow dance with you’ His eyes widened

‘Why? Where did that come from?’

‘I wanted to thank you for giving me that time – and I want to see if it feels the same with someone else, or whether it was – special’

‘Someone else? I didn’t see you slow dance with anyone’ She looked guilty

‘I met Brad in the maze afterwards’ Drake was conflicted – he didn’t know whether to be pleased that she had taken the opportunity, or angry that Brad had asked her. It showed her wilfulness, her resourceful nature, and he wondered if the Englishman was staying with the plan or getting sidetracked.

‘And you slow danced with him?’ She bit her lip, not looking at him, and nodded. She sighed

‘I’m sorry Drake, you know what a sheltered life I have. I simply don’t know what’s normal. I’m nearly twenty one and I’m a virgin’ Drake stepped closer to her and held her shoulders

‘Look at me, Charlie’ he commanded, and she dragged her eyes to his reluctantly ‘You may be a virgin, but we’ve done damn near everything else together. I promise you, if you your Father insists you enter into a loveless marriage, I won’t leave you. If your new husband is less than what you want, you won’t be a virgin when you marry. I’ll be your first’ Tears welled up in Charlotte’s eyes

‘Drake, why are you helping Olivia and Brad? If I marry Brad, what will happen to us?’ Drake dropped his gaze for a moment, then let his breath out all at once before looking at her again.

‘If you marry Brad, it will be because he’s right for you. You deserve to be happy, Princess’ He had noticed her referring to the to of them as ‘us’, and that pleased him.  Maybe there was a chance...

‘Then slow dance with me. You need to have a chance too, you’re on the list of suitors and you missed out last night’ she said softly. 

‘You know I can never say no to you’ he grumbled. ‘Go ahead’ Charlotte smiled

‘May I have the pleasure of this dance?’ She asked and took hold of his waist and hand. ‘you have to imagine the music – unless you want to hum’

‘I may enjoy music, but I can’t sing – or hum – in tune’ he chuckled. They started to sway

‘As long as you don’t step on my feet it will be fine’ After a while, Charlotte pulled him closer. Drake closed his eyes – he was starting to enjoy himself. It wasn’t like he’d never enjoyed a slow dance, just not with the Princess as he’d never had the privilege. Slow dancing usually led to other things in his experience.  They often stopped along the way on their ride when it was just the two of them, when all innocence was discarded, so there was still time for that.

Meanwhile, Charlotte drew closer again. So far, so good – it felt good, they seemed to fit together as they held each other close, and she inhaled his scent. That at least, was different; smoky and earthy with a whiff of whiskey. He was a similar build and height to Brad but a little slighter. She loved his shape – broad at the shoulder and slim at the hips, a glorious triangle of flesh, bone and muscle. His hair tickled her a little – it was dark and shaggy, whilst Brad’s was fair, short and well groomed. She felt his heartbeat as she rested her cheek on his shoulder. It was faster and stronger than Brad’s. The big difference was that although she felt safe, there was an electric undercurrent to holding him close. Maybe that was because of their long standing connection, she wasn’t sure. She was no wiser than before about whether she and Brad were something special.

‘Hey’ he said, interrupting her reverie ‘How long does this experiment last? We don’t want to be seen – and Sultan and Phoenix need to be exercised.’ He was also aware that the longer they stayed close, the more aroused he got, and the more uncomfortable riding would be. Charlotte sighed and let him go. With a silent sigh of relief he made his way over to the stalls to saddle up the horses. ‘So what’s the verdict?’ he asked as he worked, and she wandered over to help him.

‘It was – similar, but different’ she replied, ‘no big revelation’ Drake felt a little disappointment at not being judged ‘better’, but at least he hadn’t been found wanting. He was shaking a little, but he pulled himself together, stroking Sultan’s flank to ground himself.

‘My frail masculine ego thanks you’ he said with a sardonic smile as he turned to tighten the saddle on Phoenix ‘What is it they say, damning with faint praise? Will you be repeating the experiment with the other suitors? How about Neville?’ Charlotte made a face.

‘He’s repulsive, I hope father doesn’t expect me to take him seriously. Maxwell, bless him, is too young, Rashad is quite presentable but boring. Tariq is a peacock, Madeleine’s brother Milo is as icy as she is, and Anton is prim and proper, if charming. So no, no more slow dances’ Drake smiled - he had the opportunity to point her in the right direction.

‘So that leaves Brad and myself.  Constantine will be more than a little pissed if he finds out who your two front runners are, neither of us are established nobility’ he said as he led Phoenix out for her and turned his attention back to Sultan.

‘It seriously, seriously sucks being a Princess with an over protective father’ she sighed, taking the reins. Drake tested the stirrups and they led the two horses out into the yard. She had not taken the bait - but there was still time.

‘In the light of that, do you want to stop off anywhere today, or just keep riding?’ He asked. He saw her pupils dilate and knew her answer before she spoke.

‘The gardener’s hut’ she half whispered, her voice husky. He swallowed, knowing that she had needs that he would be expected to fulfil – and he was more than willing to oblige. She may well go for Brad in the months to come or be forced to pick someone of her Father’s choosing, but he was still going to go along with anything she wanted for as long as she wanted him.  She was a hard habit to break. He nodded in assent and they mounted the two horses.

It was about fifteen minutes later when they reached the gardener’s hut, lying disused for now as it was in a corner of the Palace gardens that was only nominally maintained, the grass kept neat to discourage any scrub growing. They dismounted, and Drake tethered the horses before following Charlotte into the hut. As soon as he had closed the door, she was on him, grabbing him and kissing him passionately. She was frantic, needing a release, the stimulation of bouncing in the saddle having brought her so far already. She often found it so, and when Drake wasn’t with her, she found herself running back to her room after her ride to see to things for herself. Thank goodness for Olivia smuggling in sex toys for her…

Drake pressed her back onto the potting bench, lifting her up slightly so she sat on the edge. She parted her thighs and clamped her knees around his hips. She pushed her groin against him, feeling him hard under his jeans. She pressed herself against him slowly and rhythmically as their lips locked and tongues explored each other’s mouths. He pulled back, so he could undo her trouser waistband and zip, then pulled her forward sliding his hand down the front of her panties. She slipped off the bench, legs trembling as his fingers delved into the soft velvety wetness between her legs, her arms around his neck, clinging tightly and kissing him roughly. He quickly found the hard nub of her clitoris and circled it. She gasped and trembled as he held her on the edge. He leaned forward and spoke softly in her ear.

‘Say my name, Princess’ he said huskily, feeling her shiver at the sound of his voice.

‘Drake, please’ she moaned as he slipped a finger inside her, keeping his thumb circling her clitoris

‘Who do you belong to, Princess?’ he growled and slipped another finger inside. She threw her head back with a groan. She let her head drop again to look him in the eye with bare lust.

‘You, Drake – I’m yours. Please Drake, help me come’ She rolled her hips, trying to get more pressure from his fingers, but he softened his touch and she moaned in frustration.

‘You’re mine, Princess, all mine.’ He murmured close to her ear, her hair ticking him ‘Right here, right now. Come for me, my sweet insatiable Princess’ and he pressed just that little bit harder, finding that little nub and circling in, fingers curling inside her and feeling the unbelievable wetness and warmth increase. Gratefully she pressed against him and shuddered, walls starting to pulse around his fingers, a guttural noise escaping her throat. Her hips bucked and trembled as she rode her orgasm.

Slowly her body settled, and her breath slowed, and he held her, relishing the warmth of her body against his, the scent of her hair sweeping him away, his heart thumping, knees weak with desire. After a while she pulled away to adjust her clothing. He was hard as a rock, and she had not forgotten him. He felt her soft hand unfastening the top button of his jeans, and she knelt in front of him. Her eyes were still dark with desire as she looked up at him, unzipping him and he felt the pressure release. He breathed out, and put his hand gently on her head.

‘You don’t have to’ he said, hoping she wouldn’t say no. Her smile was devilish.

‘Yes I do’ She eased his jeans and boxer shorts down to his thighs and he pivoted to lean back against the potting bench. Visions of sitting on it with her straddling him filled his head as she surveyed his manhood, stroking it and leaning forward to trace its length with her tongue. ‘He’s very interested’ she remarked, cupping his balls with her palm. He groaned, his thighs trembling

‘Of course he fucking is Princess, any man would be a fool not to be aroused by you’ His fingers tangled in her hair, but he was gentle despite wanting to pull her head to him and assuage his need. Her tongue continued to tease, wetting his entire length before she repositioned herself to take the tip between her lips. He leaned hard into the bench, gripping the edge tightly as she slowly worked him into her wet warm mouth, bit by bit. He flinched as her teeth scraped him slightly and she hummed an apology, pulling her lips over between her teeth and his flesh.

He hit the back of her throat and she eased him out slightly, wrapping her hand around the base of his cock to add more length to her reach and slowly started to bob her head, so he slid in and out. He knew he was not going to last long this time and his breath came in ragged gasps. Her other hand cupped his balls and gently massaged, and he gritted his teeth, fearful that the sound he wanted to make would carry all the way back to the palace. His hips pumped, heedless of her comfort but she kept with him, a chuckle from deep in her chest adding an extra stimulus.

‘Fuck, Princess’ he gasped ‘Here he comes…’ and he saw stars as he exploded into her mouth, groaning and slowing his bucking hips to a stop, gasping with the intensity. Her warm lips sucked, and he felt her swallow. She took her time slowly sliding him out of her mouth, licking her lips as she came to standing. She nuzzled her head into his neck, avoiding pressing into the front of his semi naked body, and he put one arm around her shoulders and stroked her cheek with the other hand. She lifted her face to his for a tender kiss, and after a while he released her and leant down to pull his clothes back up again.

She wasn’t his only partner and she knew it, but they had been experimenting together for a long time. He was her only outlet, whereas he had many, but almost no repeat performances. That was not for want of asking, but he did not dare risk the emotional attachment. That belonged to the Princess, come what may. He very well might be in for a hard fall, but he was committed.

The two of them took a slow ride back to the stables, where the other staff had now turned up and were tending to the other horses. Charlotte turned to Drake before dismounting

‘Thank-you for your company, Duke Walker. The King will be riding with me tomorrow, and I hope to see you later at the races’ She patted her horse, speaking softly to it ‘I’ll give you a good grooming tomorrow girl, I promise’ The staff did not see Drake’s pupils dilate as she walked away toward the palace.