#that couldn’t be further from the truth

[juniperskye]

I’m Sorry…What?

Based on the following ask: Established relationship but it’s secret from the team. The team think they don’t like each other but in truth they are deeply in love with each other but the team don’t let them always be alone together out of worry so there have been a few close calls where they almost get caught until reader and Aaron room together and finally talk about maybe telling the team only the way they tell them is threw wedding invites and that’s shocks the team and they all have questions to which reader and Aaron only smile thinking how funny it is that a team of profilers never found them out. Love this idea! In this, Derek kind of looks out for the reader – very “big brother” behavior from him in this.

Aaron Hotchner x Fiance BAU! Fem Reader

Fluff

Word count: 1617

Not edited - please be kind. Requests are open and feedback is welcome if it's constructive!

Warnings: My blog is 18+, minors DNI, some explicit language, meddling profilers, canon typical violence, mention of stabbing and hospitals, mention of wedding related activities, let me know if I missed anything!

I do not consent to having my work translated or reposted to any other site. That being said I do not own the characters portrayed in this story.

You stood from your desk, just about to head up to Hotch’s office with a file when Emily stopped you. Her hand resting on your forearm gently, her eyes meeting your own.

“I have to go drop this file off, let me take yours.”

“Oh, Emily it’s okay. I can take them.” You moved to grab her file.

“Girl, it’s okay…I know how hard he is on you.” Emily stood, patted your shoulder and took the files to Hotch’s office.

--

Things had been like this pretty much since the moment you’d joined the BAU. For whatever reason, everyone on the team had just assumed that you and Hotch hated each other…that you two couldn’t even be in the same room as one another without fighting. But that couldn’t be further from the truth.

See, what the team didn’t know was that Aaron and you were engaged. The two of you were dating even before you had joined the BAU. You had been working with a different team within the FBI, having a background in behavior analysis…moving to the BAU when a spot opened up, that just made sense.

Aaron and you had agreed to keep things strictly professional at work to avoid any discomfort within the workplace. Apparently that choice was now biting you in the ass.

Working with profilers, you’d think the secret of your relationship would have come out a long time ago, that being said, doesn’t mean there haven’t been some close calls.

--

This had started early on in you career with the BAU. Aaron had avoided pairing the two of you together, simply to avoid any suspicion of your relationship. The team, however, took this as him not warming up to your presence on the team.

Then it was him “benching” you. Aaron for a period of time had kept you in the local precincts on cases, you knew this was because he was worried about you getting hurt, but the team saw this as him questioning your abilities. They all reassured you that you were an asset to the team, more than capable in the field. Morgan had gone as far as confronting Aaron about the way he was mistreating you.

What really sealed this theory in your teammate’s heads was the way Aaron and you sparred. During debriefings the two of you would go back and forth through numerous theories, jabbing at one another for how “ridiculous” the other one was being. While to the team this looked argumentative…it really was how the two of you were, always pushing one another, wanting them to be the best they can be. Unafraid to challenge one another.

Everything was different after that. The team worked overtime to keep things light when the two of you were around one another. They would step into conversations, inserting themselves when it wasn’t necessary. They would jump in and offer to pair with one of you, so you’d never be stuck one-on-one.

At first you found it kind of funny, laughing internally at their crazy antics, but now that you were engaged, it was getting increasingly annoying. You’d just wanted some alone time with your fiancé and they were making it impossible.

--

You had gone to get a fresh cup of coffee to help you get through the remainder of your paperwork. Upon entering the kitchenette, you came face to face with your fiancé.

“Hey sweetheart.” He quietly greeted.

“Hi hon.” You smiled.

Aaron passed you a cup of coffee before moving to fill a second one for himself. He’d been this way since the beginning, always putting you first no matter what. You offered him thanks and stood with him for a moment, enjoying the proximity.

“I got a call earlier from the florist, she sent over the invoice. I also sent the deposit to the caterer this morning.” You informed.

“For the flowers, peonies right? Did you decide on pink or whi-”

“Everything okay in here?” Morgan bounded into the kitchenette. “You guys look tense…please tell me you weren’t fighting again.”

“Nope, everything is good! I was just heading back to my desk.” You said before making your exit.

--

The next slip up was while away on a case. You had been with Derek interviewing someone that happened to be the unsub, only you hadn’t been aware of that going in.

He had pulled a knife and moved quickly, leaving you with a nasty stab to the gut. You were lucky that it hadn’t hit anything major. You’d waved Derek off, telling him to go after the unsub.

After apprehending the guy, Derek made his way back to you to check in and make sure you were okay. He had called the team and for a medic, not leaving your side.

When Aaron showed up he was livid. The team took that as anger for your “mistake”, not realizing that his anger was directed toward himself – he was beating himself up for having sent you in there, putting you in this situation.

He rode with you in the ambulance to the hospital…giving the rest of the team time to talk about how he was probably reprimanding you. But once again, it couldn’t have been further from the truth. He had held you hand and reassured you the whole way to the hospital.

The team met him there and waited by his side as you were tended to. And when the doctor came out and called your name, asking for family, Aaron didn’t hesitate to rise to his feet, barely catching himself and mentally correcting fiancé to boss.

--

After that, the team did everything they could to keep the two of you separated or at least had someone with you to act as a buffer. It was becoming exhausting – you’d been trying to give Aaron an update about some stuff for the wedding and you just couldn’t get the chance.

The two of you would end up rapidly firing through topics once you arrived home for the evening, trying to catch one another up on wedding tasks, work tasks, and just everyday things.

 “Aaron…have you thought about how much easier things would be if we just told the team about us?”

“Yes I have. Why do you ask?” He admitted.

“Just, well…they’ve been annoying lately.” You huffed. “I don’t mean to sound rude, you know I love them. But they just won’t quit, I can’t get even a second alone with you at work and it is getting ridiculous.”

“You’re right. When you were in the hospital last month, I almost let it slip in front of them. If it’s what you want, let’s tell them.” Aaron agreed.

And thus began your planning of how you’d tell the most oblivious group of profilers that the two of you didn’t hate each other but were actually engaged to be married.

--

It took about a week and a half before you could officially tell the team your little secret. You had been waiting for your invitations to come in so you could hand deliver a few to your team…it would be the perfect announcement.

“Round table in five.” Aaron called out into the bullpen.

“Shit…he seems pissed.” Emily hissed.

You couldn’t help but giggle, knowing full well he was anything but pissed. Emily and you went and collected everyone, bringing them to the round table. There were hushed whispers about what this could be about, and when Penelope mentioned there wasn’t a new case, you could feel the anxiety filling the room.

--

Aaron made his way in, his hands holding a neat stack of pale pink envelopes. You couldn’t help but notice the way he commanded a room, his mere presence demanding the attention of those around him. This is what had initially drawn you to him all those years ago.

“I have something for each of you. I’d like you to wait to open them until everyone has one.” Aaron announced.

He passed them out one by one, the room remaining silent the entire time. It didn’t take long for everyone to notice that you were the only one who didn’t receive an envelope.

“Hotch man, if this is some kind of sick power move then I swear I will-” Derek began.

“Please, open them.” You spoke before standing up and making your way to Aaron’s side.

Confusion painted its way across everyone’s faces. Hands working quickly to open the envelopes they’d been handed. You were shaking with anticipation, and you couldn’t help the little smirk that made its way to your lips when the confusion was quickly replaced with shock.

“I’m sorry…what?” Penelope asked.

“What the hell is this?” Derek questioned.

Everyone began talking at once, talking about whether or not this was a joke. Asking if one another knew, and how long this had been going on.

“Guys!” You called. “Aaron and I have been together for a few years, well before I started with the BAU. We got engaged about seven months ago…and well, we’d love it if you all would be there for us.” You smiled.

“I KNEW IT!” Rossi laughed. “I told you all from the beginning that they didn’t hate one another, they love each other, and you all swore that they hated each other.”

--

Four months later, the BAU team stood by your sides as you said your vows and committed yourselves to one another.

And while the team dynamic shifted slightly with them knowing the two of you are together, and with there being two Agent Hotchners now, the one thing that didn’t change was that this team was family and you all were there for one another no matter what.

Taglist: @bernelflo@pastelpinkflowerlife@just-moondust

[sinkuna]

୨୧ — The soft splashing of water and gentle scrapes of your nails against his scalp made Sukuna’s eyes grow heavy, lashes falling shut as you worked behind him. Your presence was… soothing, he admitted privately in his head- a word he’d never associated with anything before you.

"You’re quiet tonight," you murmur, your breath warm against his ear. The gentle curve of your stomach presses against his back, and he could feel his unborn child’s curse energy- what little he could feel promised that the brat was going to be strong.

He didn’t answer immediately, too lost in the feeling of your fingers threading through his hair. The king of curses, feared across lands, reduced to this- nearly purring under a pregnant woman’s gentle ministrations. The thought should have enraged him. Instead, he found himself leaning further back, his massive frame carefully controlled to avoid crushing you and that belly of yours.

Truth is, Sukuna couldn’t find the words to explain how your simple touch was undoing centuries of telling himself he couldn’t feel anything. How the sound of your humming as you focused on him made something in his chest constrict painfully… and how your swollen belly against his back filled him with a terrifying kind of joy and pride.

"Does it feel good at least?" You asked softly, working through a particularly stubborn tangle. The mouth on his stomach merely sighed in contentment.

"Mm," was all he could manage as he felt your smile against his shoulder, your lips brushing his skin in a whisper of a kiss.

Water droplets caught in his lashes as he opened his eyes partially, watching your shadow play across the room. Your fingers traced one of the black markings that adorned his body, and he tch’d at the fact he had to suppress a shudder.

"Suku-… Ryomen, tell me what troubles you, I can practically hear you thinking," your voice was barely above a whisper this time, your hands stilling on him, and for a moment, only the sound of dripping water filled the silence.

His multiple hands clenched into fists, "You're making me weak," he accused, "ruining me," he muttered.

Your hands moved to his shoulder, working a knot he hadn’t even realized was there, "m’not," you smiled, "I'm loving you. There's a difference."

Love... that dreaded word, and of course his child chose that moment to kick against your belly, as if agreeing with you. The little shit wasn’t even born yet and it was already picking sides.

"I should have killed you, spread your legs open and fucked your corpse," Sukuna sneered.

Sukuna could feel it, how that innocent smile of yours seared against his spine, followed by the melodious sound of laughter escaping your lips. Before you could think, the world shifted and you found yourself beneath his towering form, the waters surface fracturing into a thousand ripples around your bodies. His massive hand tapped your wrists above your head, another gripped your hip while the remaining two pressed where you womb was- where his child flourished, his hands trembling ever so slightly with the effort of gentle restraint.

He stared down at you, the water dripping from his hair leaving tracks along your face and neck, almost like blood from a fresh kill, but your eyes held no fear - only understanding. The mouth on his stomach hung open breathing heavily, "What have you done to me? I want to tear your heart out and rip your head off, but I also can't bear the thought of losing you, or that brat."

Slipping your arms around his neck, you smiled up at him, "Nothing you haven’t allowed."

"Watch your tongue, little lamb." The threat was hollow, and you both knew it. The kiss that followed was ever so desperate, sloppy and violent in its tenderness, but damn did it taste like the sweetest sin… Your response back- how you kissed him in return, your spit mingling with his, a soft moan on your tongue… It was better than any scream of terror he’d ever drawn from human lips. And he knew from that alone, you’d been right.

You hadn't done a thing he didn’t allow.

And for once, he didn't fight it.

[prentissmultiverse]

No Strings to Hold Us - part III

Walls crumble as you and Emily finally face the emotions you’ve both been avoiding, turning comfort into something deeper. tw: smut, age gap, angst part I and part II

(words: 9.8k)

The hospital room was dim, its silence broken only by the steady rhythm of the heart monitor and the quiet hum of the heater working overtime to keep the space warm. Emily sat in a chair pulled close to your bedside, her body leaning forward as though her presence could will you to wake. Her dark eyes traced over every detail of your face—the ashen pallor of your skin, the faint flutter of your eyelashes, the way your chest rose and fell in a fragile rhythm beneath the heavy blankets.

You were alive.

She repeated that fact to herself like a mantra, though it did little to quell the storm inside her.

Emily’s fingers pressed into the armrests of her chair, her knuckles white from the tension she couldn’t seem to release. She had been trying to keep herself steady for hours, but the silence left too much room for her thoughts to intrude, for the weight of what had happened, and what she felt, to press down on her.

Guilt.

The image of you lying on the icy floor was burned into her mind. Your lips had been blue, trembling as you whispered her name with what little strength you had left. Even in that moment, when you should have been fighting to survive, you had looked at her like she was your lifeline.

And then, the light in your eyes had faded.

The memory made Emily’s chest tighten painfully. She squeezed her eyes shut, trying to push the image away, but it was no use. Every time she blinked, she saw you there again, barely conscious in her arms, slipping further away.

Her hand twitched, hovering above yours as if drawn by some invisible force. She wanted to touch you, to feel the warmth slowly returning to your body, but she couldn’t bring herself to close the distance. The guilt was too sharp, too suffocating.

This was her fault.

Emily’s mind spiraled as she sat there. She’d pushed you away after that night, the night when everything between you had changed.

She’d crossed a line.

It had been reckless, unprofessional, selfish. She had let her guard down, let her feelings slip past the walls she’d spent years building. And then, when she realized how far she’d fallen, she had done the only thing she knew how to do, she’d put those walls back up, higher and thicker than before.

Her professionalism had been a shield, one she wielded with precision to keep you at arm’s length. She had ignored the warmth in your smile, the way her heart raced whenever you were near, the way you looked at her like she was someone worth breaking the rules for.

And now here you were, fighting for your life because she hadn’t been strong enough to admit the truth.

The truth was that she cared about you... more than she should, more than she was allowed to.

Emily blinked away the sting in her eyes and took a deep, shaky breath. Her gaze snapped back to your still form, her jaw tightening as she studied your face. The doctors had told her you were stable, that they were monitoring your heart and keeping you warm to rebuild your core temperature. Severe hypothermia, they’d said, and she had nodded numbly, the words barely registering over the roar of panic in her mind.

You were alive. That was what mattered.

But even as she told herself that, her heart ached with the weight of everything left unsaid.

“Y/N…” she murmured, her voice barely above a whisper.

You didn’t stir.

Emily clenched her jaw, her nails still digging into the armrests of the chair. She didn’t know what to do with the storm of emotions crashing through her. It was like every wall she’d built to keep her feelings in check had come crumbling down in the moment she saw you collapse.

“I thought I lost you,” she murmured, her voice barely audible in the stillness.

The words hung in the air, raw and unguarded, before fading into the hum of the heater. Emily swallowed hard, her throat tight as she forced herself to keep speaking.

“I should have been there sooner,” she said, her voice trembling.

Her fingers finally moved, brushing against the edge of the blanket covering your hand. The small contact sent a jolt through her, but she didn’t pull away. Instead, she let her hand rest lightly over yours, her thumb tracing small, absent circles against the fabric.

“I’ve been so distant…” she admitted, her voice breaking. “I should’ve told you,” she murmured, her voice thick with emotion. “I should’ve said something—after that night. I thought pushing you away would make it easier. That if I could keep things professional, I’d stop feeling… this.”

She laughed bitterly, the sound sharp and humorless. “Turns out I’m terrible at loving anything, especially the people I care about the most.”

Her eyes flicked back to your face, searching for any sign that you might hear her. But you remained still, your body too exhausted from the fight to respond.

Emily’s grip on your hand tightened slightly, and her voice softened. “I can’t lose you,” she whispered. “I… I can’t.”

The vulnerability in her tone startled even herself, but she didn’t stop. She couldn’t stop.

“I don’t care how complicated this is. I don’t care what it means for us, or for me. You matter more than anything else. You always have.”

Her words fell into the quiet, and for a moment, Emily let herself feel the weight of them. She leaned forward, her forehead resting lightly against your hand, her eyes slipping shut.

Then the guilt surged up again, sharp and unrelenting, clawing at her chest. “God,” she choked out, her voice breaking as she pulled back just enough to see your face again. “This is my fault. I shouldn’t have invited you over that night.” The words tumbled out in a rush, her tone tinged with both regret and bitterness.

“You were just supposed to be a distraction. That’s all it was ever supposed to be.” Her breath caught, and she shook her head, as if trying to shake free of the memories. “But I let you in. I told myself it was fine—just one night, no strings.”

Emily’s fingers brushed lightly over the back of your hand, her movements tender despite the sharp edge to her words. “And I let you get close. I shouldn’t have. Everyone I let close gets hurt. And now… now you’re here.”

The weight of her confession seemed to drag her shoulders down, her body folding in on itself as she pressed her forehead against her hand.

“You have to wake up,” she murmured. “Please.”

The steady beeping of the heart monitor was her only answer, its rhythm both reassuring and maddening. Each pulse felt like a tether, a thin thread keeping you tied to this world, but it offered no comfort to Emily. Not when you remained so still.

Her words fell into the silence like drops of water into an endless void, absorbed and unnoticed. She’d spoken to you for what felt like hours, pouring out every thought, every regret, every confession she’d buried deep inside. But there was no reaction, no flicker of acknowledgment, no sign that you had heard her at all.

Emily’s voice had cracked, raw with emotion as she pleaded with you to stay, begged you to come back to her. And still, nothing. Your pale face, your motionless form, the faint rise and fall of your chest—it was all that she had, and it wasn’t enough.

She stayed there, hunched forward in the chair, her elbows resting on the edge of the bed. One hand gripped yours, her thumb running over your knuckles in an absent, desperate rhythm. The other cradled her forehead as she closed her eyes, trying to block out the sting of tears she refused to let fall.

The silence pressed down on her, the kind that wasn’t truly silent—the hum of the heater, the muffled sounds of hospital staff moving in the hallway, the maddeningly steady beep of the monitor. Each sound reminded her that the world outside this room continued on as if nothing had happened. As if her world wasn’t crumbling right here.

“I’m sorry,” she murmured again, her voice barely audible, the words spilling out into the quiet. “I’m so sorry.”

She didn’t know what else to say. The things she’d already confessed—how she pushed you away, how she’d tried to protect you by keeping her distance, how badly she’d failed—they felt meaningless now. Words wouldn’t wake you.

Her grip on your hand tightened, as if holding onto you more firmly could bridge the gap between her desperation and the stubborn stillness of your body. But your hand didn’t move.

Her gaze dropped to where her fingers curled around yours, her thumb still tracing small circles over your icy skin. Emily had always been good in moments of crisis, sharp and steady in the face of chaos, but this wasn’t something she could control. There was no strategy, no plan, no way to fight against the weight of her own helplessness.

She let her head fall, her forehead brushing against the back of your hand. Her voice broke as she whispered, “You have to wake up. Please.”

The silence swallowed her words.

Emily stayed like that for some time, her body still but her mind churning, replaying every mistake she’d made, every moment she could have done something differently. Her guilt was a crushing weight, her heart breaking under the sheer enormity of it.

She didn’t know how long she sat there, unmoving. It could have been minutes, or hours. The sound of the monitor’s steady beeping blurred into the background, a cruel reminder that you were alive but not truly here.

And then—

A faint twitch beneath her fingers.

Emily froze, her breath catching in her throat as she stared at your hand. The movement was so subtle she almost thought she’d imagined it. But then it happened again, your fingers curling ever so slightly against hers.

“Y/N?” she said, her voice trembling with disbelief.

Her heart raced as she leaned forward, her free hand brushing against your cheek. Your skin was still too cold, but there was life in it now, a fragile flickering warmth that hadn’t been there before.

“Y/N, it’s me,” she whispered, her voice thick with emotion. “I’m here.”

Your lips parted, a faint sound escaping: a broken, fragile whisper. She leaned in closer, her dark eyes wide with hope as she caught the shape of the word forming on your lips.

Her name.

Emily’s breath hitched, tears springing to her eyes as she clutched your hand tighter. “I’m here,” she said again, her voice cracking. “I’ve got you. You’re safe.”

Emily’s heart clenched, relief washing over her in a wave so overwhelming she thought it might drown her.

It took some time for you to fully register what’s happening around you. The sterile smell of the hospital, the distant hum of machinery, and the faint prickling of warmth trying to return to your limbs felt like fragments of a dream. Everything was muted, as if the world existed behind a pane of frosted glass.

But there’s something else.

Emily’s voice.

It’s steady and low, cutting through the haze like a lifeline. Her words blurred together, but her tone was unmistakably fierce and tender all at once, filled with a desperation that griped your chest tighter than the cold ever could.

And her hand.

Her hand is wrapped around yours, grounding you, its warmth a stark contrast to the icy stillness that had consumed you before. The sensation, though faint, is enough to anchor you, enough to pull you back from the abyss.

Your lips parted again, and this time, when her name falls from them, it’s quiet and raspy, barely more than a whisper.

But it’s real.

“I’m here, sweetheart,” she breathed, her voice trembling as she leans closer. Her hand moves to brush a strand of hair away from your face, the touch so gentle it nearly undoes you.

You forced your eyes to open, the effort monumental, and the world slowly came into focus. The first thing you saw was Emily—her hair slightly mussed, her face pale, and her eyes rimmed with red. Her hand is still clasped around yours, but the moment your gaze flickered to life, she jerked upright, hurriedly brushing her sleeve across her face to erase the evidence of her tears.

You blink sluggishly, trying to make sense of the sight in front of you.

“W-were you crying?” you rasped, your voice barely audible but carrying a teasing edge, faint as it is.

Emily’s breath caught audibly, and her eyes darted away for the briefest second before snapping back to yours. “Don’t flatter yourself,” she said, her voice breaking despite her attempt to sound lighthearted. “I don’t cry.”

You managed a faint, lopsided smile, though it’s more of a twitch of your lips than anything else. “Sure… you don’t,” you whispered, your voice cracking on the effort.

A soft, shaky laugh escaped Emily, but there’s no humor in it—only tension and fragility. She leaned forward slightly, her hand tightening around yours for a moment.

“You scared the hell out of me,” she murmured, her voice softer now, almost reluctant, as though admitting it cost her something. “Don’t you ever do that again. Do you hear me?”

You blinked slowly, your gaze fixed on hers, and even in your disoriented state, you could see the raw emotion in her eyes—the fear, the guilt, the relief. It’s all there, laid bare in a way Emily rarely allows herself to be.

“I’ll… try not to,” you managed, your voice so faint it almost doesn’t carry.

“Good,” she murmured, leaning back just a little but not releasing your hand. Her other hand tugged lightly at her jacket sleeve, brushing it down as though to busy herself, though her attention never fully left you.

For a few moments, there was only the steady beeping of the heart monitor between you. Emily’s fingers remained wrapped around yours, her touch steady and grounding, but her expression grew unreadable, her gaze flickering down to where your hands were clasped, as though she was lost in thought.

“You look like hell,” she finally said, breaking the silence with a weak attempt at humor.

“Feel like it too,” you replied, though the faint tug of a smile on your lips took the sting out of the words.

Emily let out another soft laugh, her voice quieter now, as though the relief of seeing you awake had finally begun to sink in. Her thumb traced an idle, gentle circle against your skin, a motion so absent that it felt natural, like she didn’t even realize she was doing it.

“You’re safe now,” she murmured after a pause, her tone soft and steady. Her gaze dropped to your hand, her fingers curling around it just a little tighter. “That’s what matters.”

There was something in the way she said it, a weight to the words that made you feel like they carried more than she was letting on. But you were too tired to press her, the pull of sleep tugging at the edges of your consciousness again.

“You’re not getting rid of me that easily,” you murmured faintly, a flicker of warmth in your voice.

Emily’s lips curved into a small smile, but there was a shadow of something deeper in her expressions, something you couldn’t quite place. “Yeah, well,” she replied, her voice lighter now, “I didn’t sit here all night just for you to turn around and pull a stunt like this again.”

Her attempt at humor drew a faint chuckle from you, though it came out weak and strained. Your eyes drifted close despite your best effort to stay awake, the exhaustion overwhelming you once more.

The last thing you felt was the steady warmth of Emily’s hand in yours, her touch anchoring you to the moment. You didn’t see the way her smile faded once your breathing evened out, or the way her gaze lingered on your face, tinged with something unspoken.

And you didn’t hear the words she murmured, so soft they barely escaped her lips: “You’re safe now… but I wish I’d have the strength to keep you away from me...”

Two days passed in a blur of doctors, nurses, and restless sleep. The warmth had returned to your body, but there was something inside you that still felt cold, as if a shadow had taken root in your chest. The team had flown home after you woke up, their relief palpable as they each took turns squeezing your hand and promising to check in on you. But Emily had stayed. She hadn’t said why, and you hadn’t asked. Maybe you didn’t want to hear her reasoning.

She hovered constantly, asking if you needed anything, ensuring you ate, slept, and followed the doctors’ instructions. But she didn’t talk about what happened—neither the freezer nor anything from before that night. Her presence should have been reassuring, but the silence between you grew heavier with each passing hour.

You couldn’t help but wonder: Was she regretting staying? Regretting you? Yet you remembered the tears in her eyes when you first opened yours, the way her voice cracked as she said your name. That had to mean something… didn’t it?

The second morning, the doctor cleared you to leave. Your vitals were stable, and though your body still felt weak, you were deemed fit to travel. Emily drove you to the airfield in silence, the tension thick enough to cut with a knife. Every glance she sent your way only deepened the ache in your chest, the cold lingering like a stubborn phantom.

Now, you sat in the jet, a blanket draped over you and a warm cocoa in your hands—Emily’s doing. She sat across from you, her laptop open and fingers poised over the keys. The sight made your stomach twist. Emily Prentiss, always composed, always in control. You wondered if you’d imagined the rawness in her voice when she begged you to wake up.

You sighed, adjusting the blanket around you. “You don’t have to hover, you know,” you said softly, your voice cutting through the hum of the jet engines.

Emily’s eyes darted up, dark and unreadable. “I don’t hover,” she replied, her tone even.

You raised an eyebrow, sipping your cocoa. “You’re practically breathing down my neck.”

Her lips quirked into a faint smirk, though it didn’t quite reach her eyes. “I’m just making sure you’re okay.”

“I’m fine,” you lied. The lingering cold in your chest begged to differ, but you weren’t about to admit that to her. Not when things between you already felt so fragile.

Emily didn’t respond, her gaze lingering on you for a moment longer before dropping back to her laptop. She looked like she wanted to say something but thought better of it. The silence stretched on, heavy and uncomfortable, and you found yourself gripping your cocoa tighter, desperate for some kind of warmth.

You wanted to ask her about the night she’d found you, about the words she’d whispered when she carried you out. But the vulnerability in her eyes then was nowhere to be found now. She was distant, as always, and you didn’t have the strength to bridge the gap.

Instead, you leaned back in your seat, closing your eyes and letting the steady hum of the jet lull you into a restless haze. But even as sleep tugged at you, Emily’s presence loomed large in your mind, her voice echoing in your memory.

“I can’t lose you.”

You didn’t know what to do with that. Or with her. But as the jet soared through the sky, you knew one thing for certain - the cold in your chest wasn’t just from the freezer.

The jet touched down softly, the familiar bump of the landing gear connecting with the runway signaling the end of the journey. Relief coursed through you at the thought of being home - of slipping into your bed, curling up under your own blankets, and finally letting the exhaustion that clung to you take over.

You stood, ready to grab your go-bag from the overhead compartment, but before your fingers could curl around the strap, Emily was already there.

“I’ve got it,” she said, her tone leaving no room for argument as she slung the bag over her shoulder and motioned toward the door.

You opened your mouth to protest but caught the look in her eyes—a determined sharpness tempered by something softer, something vulnerable. Guilt. It flickered behind her carefully constructed facade, just out of reach but unmistakable. You swallowed your words and followed her out of the jet.

Outside, the crisp night air greeted you, wrapping around your still-recovering body. It felt heavier than it should, clinging to your skin like a second layer. All you wanted was to get to your car, drive home, and disappear into the sanctuary of your own space. But as you stepped toward the SUV waiting for you on the asphalt, Emily stepped into your path.

“I’ll drive you,” she said simply, her voice calm but firm.

“Emily, I’m fine,” you replied, though the thought of not having to focus on the road was tempting. “I can drive myself. It’s not a big deal.”

Her eyes narrowed slightly, and you could see the muscle in her jaw tighten as she set her bag down beside the SUV. “It’s not happening,” she said. “You’re not driving anywhere.”

Her tone brooked no argument, but you couldn’t help the flicker of annoyance that sparked within you. “I’ll be fine,” you insisted. “I’m not made of glass.”

Emily didn’t respond right away. She stood there, her dark eyes locked on yours, her expression unreadable. And then she said, softly but firmly, “You’re coming with me.”

The words hung between you, heavier than they should have been. You frowned, caught off guard. “To your place?”

“Yes,” she said without hesitation. “I don’t want you to be alone tonight.”

Her bluntness startled you. She wasn’t asking, she was telling you. But as much as the stubborn part of you wanted to resist, to dig in your heels and prove you were fine, you couldn’t ignore the way her voice wavered ever so slightly. It wasn’t just about you. You could see it in her eyes, feel it in the way her shoulders tensed beneath her coat.

This was about her, too.

You sighed, the fight draining out of you as you nodded. “Alright,” you said quietly, and her shoulders seemed to relax, just a fraction.

Emily didn’t say anything else, simply opening the passenger door for you. You slid in without a word, the SUV’s interior warm and comfortable. She rounded the front and climbed into the driver’s seat, her movements precise and measured. The engine roared to life, and she pulled onto the road, the silence between you settled in like an old friend.

As the city lights blurred past the windows, you stole a glance at her. Her hands gripped the wheel tightly, her knuckles pale against the black leather. Her jaw was set, her eyes fixed on the road, but the tension radiating off her was palpable. You wanted to say something, to break the silence, but the words stuck in your throat.

You didn’t know what to say.

So instead, you watched her, the weight of everything unsaid sitting heavy in the space between you.

The sight of her house came into view, and you felt your chest tighten. It was a beautiful place, sturdy and quiet. But to you, it was haunted. The last time you had stepped through that door, everything had changed. Everything had unraveled.

The memory of that night loomed like a ghost, stirring unbidden thoughts. You tried not to think about the way her hands had felt on your body, the way she had whispered your name. That night had been the first- and the last - time anything like that had happened between you.

The SUV rolled to a stop, and Emily cut the engine, her movements tense. She stepped out, and you followed suit, your body feeling heavier than it should. The cold air nipped at your skin as you followed her to the door, her keys jingling softly in her hand. She didn’t look at you as she unlocked it and stepped inside.

You hesitated for a moment before crossing the threshold. The warmth of her home enveloped you, but it did little to chase away the chill that had settled deep in your chest. The living room looked the same- perfectly curated, a mixture of sophistication and comfort. The memories came rushing back, uninvited, of Emily leading you down the hall that night, her touch setting fire to your skin. You pushed the thoughts away, but they lingered, leaving behind a sharp pang in your chest. You winced, the pain a fleeting but jarring reminder of how fragile you still felt.

“Let me get the guest room ready,” Emily said, her voice pulling you back to the present. She was already stepping away, her tone curt but not unkind, as if to say you know where everything is.

And you did. You knew this house well enough to find your way around without her. But you made no move to get comfortable. The weight in your chest and the cold that clung to you made it hard to care about anything but staying upright.

Emily disappeared down the hallway, her presence leaving the room even more still. You stood there, staring at the perfectly arranged furniture, the art on the walls, the bookshelves that hinted at her meticulous nature. It should have felt welcoming, comforting even. Instead, it felt distant, like stepping into someone else’s life—a life you had only glimpsed but never truly belonged to.

You sank onto the edge of the sofa, letting your body sink into the cushions but keeping your posture stiff. The cold in your chest refused to fade, clinging to you like a shadow, heavy and relentless. You stared at the floor, your mind drifting in and out of the memories of that night. The way she had touched you. The way she had looked at you. The way she had built a wall between you afterward, as if it had never happened.

A faint clatter from down the hall broke the stillness, followed by Emily’s soft footsteps as she returned to the living room. She paused when she saw you sitting there, her dark eyes flicking over you briefly before she spoke.

“The guest room’s ready,” she said, her voice steady but distant. Emily lingered for a moment, her eyes resting on you as if she were trying to decide whether to push further. Her arms crossed over her chest, but it didn’t feel defensive—it felt like she was holding herself together, her own form of armor.

“Are you hungry?” she asked softly, the question catching you off guard.

You shook your head almost reflexively, the idea of food feeling more like an obligation than a comfort. “Not really,” you murmured, your voice quiet.

Emily didn’t look surprised, but she frowned, a flicker of something crossing her face before she straightened. “You need to eat,” she said, her tone firm but lacking its usual sharpness. “Even if it’s something small. You’ve been through hell, and your body needs fuel to recover.”

“Emily—” you started, but she cut you off, stepping closer. Her voice dropped, soft but insistent.

“If not for you... do it for me, then.”

The words stopped you cold. You looked up at her, your eyes searching her face. There it was, a crack in her armor. Guilt seeped through her voice, and the way her eyes softened as she looked at you only confirmed it. She wasn’t just doing this for you. She was carrying something heavy, something that weighed on her more than she was willing to admit.

You nodded slowly, not commenting on it, not trusting yourself to. You didn’t know how to address this complicated mess between you, the night you had made love with Emily, the weeks of distance that followed, your near-death experience, and the way she’d held you as she carried you out, her words still echoing in your mind.

"I’m not losing you. Do you hear me? You don’t get to leave. Not after… not after everything.”

The closest she’d come to admitting whatever was between you. And then, at the hospital, waking to see the tears in her eyes, the rawness in her expression as if she was barely holding herself together, only to wipe away her tears.

But even after all of that, the two of you still hadn’t spoken about it. Emily’s hovering, her constant presence, her insistence on caring for you, it was all laced with guilt. And yet, she didn’t say a word about what truly lingered between you.

What you didn’t know - what you couldn’t know- was the way she had bared her heart to you when you were unconscious in that hospital bed. The things she’d said, the confessions that had spilled from her lips in the stillness of the room, words you hadn’t heard because you were too far gone to listen.

Emily let out a quiet breath as she turned and headed toward the kitchen, motioning for you to follow. You did, your legs feeling heavy as you shuffled behind her. The house was so quiet that every sound seemed to echo, the soft padding of your socks on the hardwood floor, the faint hum of the refrigerator, the clink of Emily opening a cabinet.

She moved with purpose, pulling out a loaf of bread and setting it on the counter. Her movements were efficient but almost too careful, as if the simple task of making a sandwich was grounding her. “Just a few bites,” she said, her back to you. “That’s all I’m asking.”

You nodded again, even though she couldn’t see it, and sank into one of the stools at the kitchen island. The cold in your chest felt heavier here, the stillness of the house only amplifying the weight of it. You watched Emily as she worked, the lines of her shoulders tense beneath the fabric of her sweater. She wasn’t saying anything, but her actions spoke volumes.

Minutes later, she set a plate in front of you, a simple sandwich, nothing fancy. She leaned against the counter across from you, her arms crossed again, watching you with a quiet intensity that made you feel like she was waiting for something.

You picked up the sandwich and took a small bite, the taste bland but manageable. Emily’s posture relaxed, just a fraction, and she nodded almost imperceptibly, as if to herself.

“Thank you,” she said softly, the words carrying more weight than they should have.

You didn’t respond, focusing on the sandwich instead, though your appetite was nonexistent. The silence stretched between you, but this time, it wasn’t as heavy. There was something in the way Emily stood there, her eyes never quite leaving you, that made it feel... less lonely.

When you set the sandwich down, only half-eaten, she didn’t push you to finish it. Instead, she walked over and picked up the plate, her movements deliberate but calm. “I’ll take care of this,” she said quietly.

You stayed where you were, your hands resting on the edge of the counter, your thoughts swirling. You wanted to say something, to break through the barrier that had grown between you. But every time you opened your mouth, the words felt too heavy, too complicated to let out.

And so, you stayed silent, the cold in your chest pressing against your ribs as you stared at the faint reflections in the polished countertop. Emily returned moments later, wiping her hands on a dish towel. She hesitated at the edge of the counter, her eyes flicking to yours before she spoke.

“You should get some rest,” she said, her voice gentle but firm. “The guest room’s ready for you. I put extra blankets on the bed... just in case.”

You nodded and stood, your body still feeling sluggish. As you walked past her toward the hallway, you paused, your hand gripping the edge of the doorframe. “Emily,” you said softly, your voice uncertain.

She looked at you, her expression carefully neutral. “Yeah?”

You hesitated, searching for the right words but finding none. Finally, you just shook your head. “Never mind,” you murmured, disappearing down the hallway before she could respond.

You didn’t see the way her shoulders slumped as you left, the guilt in her eyes deepening as she leaned heavily against the counter, the weight of her own unspoken words pressing down on her.

You lay in bed, the soft fabric of the sweatpants and shirt Emily had left for you doing little to chase away the cold that seemed to have taken permanent residence in your chest. You’d tried to sleep, tried to let exhaustion drag you under, but the icy weight pressing against your ribs made it impossible. You’d wrapped yourself in blankets, tucked them tightly around you as if you could lock out the chill, but it was futile. It wasn’t a physical cold. It was something deeper, something clawing at you from the inside out.

You glanced at the clock. 11:57 p.m. Nearly midnight. You sighed, running a hand over your face as your gaze swept over the guest room. It was neat and welcoming, yet it felt distant, like you didn’t belong here. The stillness of the room matched the hollow emptiness inside you, amplifying it. The air felt heavy, pressing down on you, and you couldn’t take it anymore.

Swinging your legs over the side of the bed, you got up, your movements sluggish but purposeful. You needed a distraction, anything to keep your mind occupied. Tea, maybe. Or just pacing the kitchen. The act of doing something, no matter how small, might help push back the oppressive cold in your chest.

As you stepped into the hallway, the dim light from the kitchen faintly illuminated the space. You took a step toward it, but before you could round the corner, Emily emerged from the living room. She stopped mid-step when she saw you, her dark eyes immediately locking onto yours.

For a moment, neither of you spoke. Her gaze flicked over you, taking in the tension in your shoulders, the way your arms crossed as if trying to protect yourself from the cold that clung to you.

“You’re freezing,” she murmured, her voice low but filled with an urgency that you couldn’t quite match.

You opened your mouth to dismiss it, to tell her you were fine, but the words wouldn’t come. The biting chill in your chest crawled closer to the surface, making it hard to even think straight.

Emily stepped closer, her movements careful but deliberate. “Come with me,” she said softly, her tone firm but gentle. She didn’t wait for you to respond, her hand brushing your arm lightly as she turned and led you down the hallway.

The house was quiet, the faint hum of the heater the only sound as you followed her into her bedroom. As you stepped into Emily’s bedroom, a strange, heavy sensation settled in your chest, something different from the lingering cold that had clung to you all night. The room was warm, inviting even, but it held an undeniable weight.

It was the first time you had been in here since that night.

Your eyes flickered over the space, memories pressing in on you from every corner. The bed, perfectly made now, had once been tangled with sheets, bodies, and whispered breaths. The air, now still and quiet, had once been filled with Emily’s voice, her soft murmurs against your skin, the way she had said your name in the dark like she couldn’t get enough of it.

Your stomach twisted, your fingers curling at your sides. You had done everything in your power to bury that night, to pack it away, to mirror Emily’s distance so you wouldn’t break under the weight of it. But now, standing here again, the ghost of it wrapped around you, thick and suffocating.

You glanced at Emily, your breath hitching slightly when you found her watching you. Her expression was unreadable, but something flickered behind her dark eyes, recognition. She knew. She felt it too.

For a second, neither of you moved. The air between you crackled, heavy with the unspoken, with the things you had both run from for weeks. But then Emily inhaled sharply, shaking herself free of whatever thought had momentarily trapped her. She moved to the dresser, pulling out a thick sweatshirt, her hands steady even as something in her eyes betrayed the tension she was holding inside.

“Arms up,” she said, her voice quieter now, almost cautious.

You obeyed without a word, letting her slip the sweatshirt over your head. The fabric was warm, a stark contrast to the chill still settled deep in your bones. Emily’s hands lingered for just a second after the material fell into place, her fingers brushing against your arms before she stepped back, putting space between you.

Emily motioned toward the bed. “Sit,” she said gently.

You obeyed, sinking onto the edge of the mattress, but the moment you did, a fresh wave of unease settled over you. This bed—it wasn’t just a bed. It was the place where everything had changed. Where she had unraveled you with her hands, her lips, her body. Where she had let you in for a fleeting moment before slamming the door shut just as quickly.

Your gaze dropped to the floor, your thoughts splintering into jagged pieces you couldn’t quite put back together. The cold in your chest ached, but it wasn’t just from the lingering effects of the freezer, it was from everything that had come after. The silence. The distance. The way you had mirrored her walls just to survive it.

Emily crouched in front of you, her presence grounding but unbearably heavy. She placed her hands on your knees, the warmth of her touch seeping through the fabric of your sweatpants. “You need to get warm,” she said softly, but there was something in her voice, something fragile.

You swallowed hard, gripping the edge of the sweatshirt she had just pulled over your head. “I don’t think warmth is the problem,” you murmured, surprising even yourself with the quiet admission.

Emily’s hands tightened on your knees for a fraction of a second before she exhaled, steadying herself. Her voice was softer when she spoke again. “Come on,” she urged, her fingers brushing over your arm in a silent plea. “Into bed.”

You didn’t argue. You let her pull back the duvet, let her guide you beneath it, let the weight of the blankets press down on you. But even as you lay there, cocooned in the softness, the cold in your chest refused to ease. You curled slightly on your side, staring at the faint outline of the bedside lamp against the ceiling, exhaustion pulling at your limbs but refusing to grant you rest.

The mattress dipped beside you. You felt Emily hesitate, hovering at the edge of the bed as if unsure whether she was crossing another invisible line.

Then, something inside her broke.

She exhaled shakily and shifted closer, wrapping her arms around you and pulling you against her. The warmth of her skin enveloped you, her touch steady and grounding as she held you tight. And for the first time in weeks, she didn’t keep her distance. She didn’t hold herself back.

Her grip was hesitant at first, but when you didn’t pull away, she held you tighter. Her arms came around you fully, one hand resting against your stomach, fingers splayed as if to anchor herself to you. Her other arm curled beneath your head, drawing you closer, until her breath was warm against your neck.

For a long time, neither of you spoke. The silence was thick, but not empty. Emily’s breathing was steady but not quite even, as if she was still trying to control something breaking inside of her.

Your fingers curled into the fabric of her sleeve, gripping it like a lifeline.

Finally, her voice broke the stillness, soft and trembling. “I’m sorry,” she murmured, her breath brushing against your hair.

You froze, your breath hitching slightly as the words hung between you. “For what?” you asked, though you already knew.

Emily tightened her hold on you, her tone thick with emotion as she spoke. “For everything,” she admitted. “For the walls I put up. For pushing you away when all I wanted to do was hold on. For not—” Her voice cracked, and she took a shaky breath. “For not telling you how I felt until it was too late.”

Emily shifted slightly, pressing her forehead lightly against the back of your head. “I shouldn’t have left you alone,” she whispered, and her voice was different now, unfiltered, fragile in a way you’d never heard before. “Not after that night. Not after what it meant.”

Her words hit you like a punch to the chest, the echoes of her voice cutting through your mind.

You squeezed your eyes shut, your throat tightening. It wasn’t just the cold you were fighting. It was everything else.

“I thought it would be easier,” she continued, her voice barely above a whisper. “It was easier to tell you when you weren’t listening. When I didn’t have to see the way you’d look at me. But now…” Her voice trailed off, her hand on your stomach pulling you firmer against her front. “I hate myself for it. For not being braver. For not being better for you.”

Her guilt was palpable, threading through every word, every breath. You felt the tension in her body, the way her arms trembled slightly as she held you. It was the most vulnerable you’d ever seen her, and it cracked something open inside you.

“I don’t know how to fix this,” she admitted, her voice breaking again. “But I can’t lose you. Not again.”

You swallowed hard, the cold in your chest shifting, cracking under the weight of her words. “I didn’t leave,” you whispered, your voice shaky but firm. “I’m still here.”

You shifted slightly in Emily’s embrace, the warmth of her arms doing what nothing else could—chasing away the cold that had gripped your chest. Her words echoed in your mind, soft and raw.

“And I’ll do whatever it takes to keep you here,” Emily said.

You turned your head slightly, to look over your shoulder at her. Emily’s dark eyes were already fixed on you, filled with something you couldn’t quite name: guilt, fear, hope, all wrapped into one. Her brows furrowed slightly when your eyes met, but she didn’t look away.

“What did you say to me?” you asked softly, your voice barely above a whisper. “In the hospital. When I wasn’t listening?”

Her body tensed for a moment. She held your gaze, her eyes searching yours, as if trying to decide how much to say. You hesitated before adding, “I can… turn around. Or close my eyes, if that’s what you need to talk about it.”

Emily’s lips pressed into a thin line, and she shook her head slightly. “No,” she said firmly, though her voice trembled at the edges. “Don’t turn around. Don’t close your eyes. Stay with me.”

You nodded, waiting, your chest tightening with anticipation. She took a shaky breath as if grounding herself.

“I told you…” She paused, her words faltering for a second before she forced herself to continue. “I told you that I’m terrible at loving anything. Especially the people I care about the most.”

Your breath hitched, her confession striking something deep within you. Loving.

“I’ve been so distant,” she went on, her voice breaking slightly. “I thought if I pushed you away, it would make it easier. That if I kept things professional, I could stop feeling this... stop feeling you.” Her hands tightened their hold on you, like she was afraid you might slip away. “I wished I’d have the strength to keep you away from me. But it didn’t work. I couldn’t stop.”

You swallowed hard, your throat thick with emotion as you absorbed her words. Slowly, you turned in her arms until you faced her completely. Emily’s eyes searched yours, her expression open in a way you’d never seen before. Vulnerable. Raw.

“I thought I was protecting you,” she murmured, her voice breaking again. “But I was just running. And I don’t want to run anymore.”

You exhaled shakily, the weight of her confession sinking in. “Emily…” you began, your voice trembling. “I mirrored your distance. I thought if I acted like nothing happened, I wouldn’t break under the weight of it. But I did. That night—it wasn’t just sex for me. It was so much more.” You hesitated, your voice growing softer. “You were so much more.”

Her breath caught, her eyes widening slightly as your words sank in. The vulnerability in her gaze softened into something else, something deeper, something that made your chest tighten in a way that wasn’t cold, but warm.

“I thought I’d lost you too,” you admitted, your voice barely above a whisper. “And it killed me, Emily. The thought of never having the chance to tell you… what you mean to me.”

Neither of you spoke after that, the silence stretching between you, heavy with the weight of unspoken emotions finally brought to light. Emily’s hand came up, her fingers brushing softly against your cheek, her touch tentative, almost unsure.

You leaned into her touch, closing the small space between you. Her eyes searched yours one last time before she moved closer, her breath warm against your lips. And then, finally, she kissed you.

It was soft at first, hesitant, as though she was afraid you might pull away. But when you didn’t -when you kissed her back, your hands curling into the fabric of her sweatshirt- she deepened it. Her lips moved against yours with a quiet urgency, weeks of restraint and unspoken words pouring into the kiss.

Emily’s tongue traced along your bottom lip, asking for entrance. You parted your lips with a soft and content sigh, inviting her in. Her tongue slid against yours in a slow, tantalizing dance, sending shivers down your spine. Emily’s fingers tangled in your hair, her grip firm but trembling slightly, as though she was afraid you might slip through her fingers again.

You pulled her closer, hands grasping at the fabric of her shirt, needing to feel her, to anchor yourself to the warmth of her. She responded in kind, pressing her body fully against yours, the heat between you erasing the last remnants of cold that had lingered in your chest for too long.

You exhaled a shaky breath against Emily’s lips, and when you spoke, your voice was raw. “I don’t want to lose you again.”

“You won’t,” Emily whispered back, the words slipping out without hesitation. It was a promise, not just to you, but to herself.

Emily cupped your face, her thumb brushing over your cheekbone. You leaned into her touch, pressing soft kisses against the heel of her palm before meeting her lips again. This time, the kiss was deeper, longing woven into every movement.

Emily’s fingers trembled slightly as they traced the hem of the sweatshirt. You felt the hesitation in her touch, not because she didn’t want this, but because she did. So much. And this time, she wasn’t rushing. Neither of you were.

Your breath hitched as she slowly lifted the fabric, her knuckles grazing along your sides, her touch deliberate, careful. She was undressing you not just to remove a barrier, but to feel, to map the warmth of your skin beneath her fingertips, to remind herself that you were real, here, with her.

You lifted your arms, letting her pull the sweatshirt and the shirt you wore under it over your head. The air was cooler without it, but then Emily’s hands were back on you, smoothing down your arms, fingertips ghosting along your ribs and up, tracing the edge of your breasts like she was memorizing every inch of you. Her eyes flickered over your body, dark and searching, and you swore you could see something unraveling in her.

Your hands moved next, reaching for the hem of her shirt. You hesitated for a moment, fingers curling against the fabric as you glanced up at her. A silent question.

Emily nodded, her breath uneven, her arms lifting just enough for you to pull it over her head. The fabric slipped away, baring her to you in the dim light, her skin warm beneath your fingertips as you let your hands explore, brushing over her shoulders, down her arms, up the delicate slope of her neck.

A shudder ran through her as you leaned in, pressing a lingering kiss to her lips, while cupping her full breasts in your hands. Your thumbs gently traced over her nipples which immediately hardened under your touch. Emily exhaled against you, her hands found your waist, steadying herself.

There was no urgency in the way you undressed each other, only patience. Reverence. Emily’s fingers hooked into the waistband of your sweatpants and panties, her knuckles grazing your hips as she eased them down, her breath warm against your skin as she kissed a path up your stomach.

You mirrored her, fingers sliding beneath the waistband and her warm skin, pushing them down with careful hands. Emily let out a quiet breath, shifting to help you. The way she looked at you as the last of the barriers fell away made your stomach flip, heat pooling low in your belly, not just from desire, but from something deeper. Something that had always been there, waiting to be acknowledged.

Bare, vulnerable, and inches apart, neither of you moved for a long moment. There was no hesitation now. No fear. Just the two of you, here, now, choosing this.

You leaned in again and kissed her slowly, deeply, savoring the warmth of her mouth, the way she sighed against you as if letting go of something she had held onto for far too long. Your hands traced the length of her body, fingertips gliding over the soft curve of her waist and down her sides.

Your lips moved lower, pressing gentle kisses along the column of her throat, down to the delicate hollow between her collarbones. You felt her shiver beneath you, her fingers threading into your hair, her breathing unsteady as you continued lower. You kissed her breasts, lingering there, feeling the way her body responded to you, how her fingers curled against your scalp as if grounding herself. Your hand cupped one, kneading softly, while your mouth worshiped the other, tongue flicking over her nipple before you took it between your lips, sucking gently. Then you switched, giving the same devoted attention to the other, savoring the way she arched into your touch.

A shaky breath escaped her lips, her body pressing closer as a soft whimper filled the space between you. Her fingers tightened in your hair, nails grazing your scalp as she gasped your name, lost in the sensation.

You took your time, worshipping her with every touch, every kiss, trailing lower down the smooth plane of her stomach. Her thighs shifted, parting slightly beneath you, inviting you closer. You inched between them, your lips ghosting just above where she wanted you most.

But before you could go further, Emily’s fingers tightened in your hair, stopping you. Your breath caught as you glanced up, finding her already looking at you, her gaze dark and filled with something unshakable. She cupped your face, her thumb brushing along your jaw as she whispered, “I want to feel you.”

Her words sent a new kind of warmth flooding through you—one that settled deep in your chest, wrapping around your ribs, making it impossible to breathe anything but her.

Emily guided you up, her hands gentle but insistent, coaxing you forward and adjusting your position. She guided one of your legs over her thigh, shifting slightly beneath you until your bodies were aligned in a way that stole the breath from both of you.

Emily exhaled against your lips as she let herself sink into the mattress beneath you, dark eyes searching yours in the low light. ”Do you trust me?” she asked, her hands holding your waist steady as your pussy hovered just inches over hers.

“With my life”, you answered breathlessly, your fingers skimming over the sensitive skin of her parted thighs.

Emily’s eyes lit up, there was only one way to explain the look in her eyes. Love. A love that made your chest tighten, made your breath hitch as if you were standing at the edge of something deep and endless.

Her fingers twitched against your skin, ghosting along your waist before tugging you closer, pulling you into her. When your bodies met, your clits kissing in a warm, aching glide, it was nothing like the first time. That night had been driven by tension, urgency, the need to feel something without fully understanding what it was.

But this—this—was different.

Your first movement against her was barely more than a whisper, dragging rather than sliding over her clit. You swallowed thickly, watching the way Emily’s lips parted, her breath catching as your slick bodies found each other.

"God, you feel so good," she murmured, her voice low and reverent.

You moved again, slowly spreading both of your arousal over your skin, the friction between you growing warmer, slicker, more intoxicating. Emily let out a soft gasp, her warm hands on your hips gently guiding your movements, encouraging you to press yourself harder against her.

The first time had been raw, electric: a clash of need and restraint breaking all at once. But now, with each slow roll of your hips, you weren’t just seeking pleasure. You were giving. Giving yourselves to each other in a way you had been too afraid before.

Emily let out a trembling breath as she moved with you, her hips rolling in slow, deliberate circles. Her lips parted with a soft sigh, eyes fluttering open to meet yours.

The strokes became smoother, more fluid, each crossing of your clits sending waves of pleasure through both of you. The friction deepened, filling the silence with soft moans, whimpers, and gasps.

Her hands guided you as much as yours guided her, your movements perfectly in sync. Every shift, every shuddering breath, was a silent confession of everything you had held back for too long.

Emily’s hands framed your face, pulling you down, her lips seeking yours in something tender and desperate all at once. "This—" she gasped between kisses, "—you and me, I don’t ever want to stop feeling this."

"Then don’t," you murmured against her lips, pressing your forehead to hers as your bodies fit together in perfect harmony, slow and deep, the heat between you a steady flame, consuming but never out of control.

Emily gasped softly beneath you, her fingers pressing into your back as her body met yours without hesitation, without fear.

With love.

Something neither of you had dared to name before, but in this moment, with the way you moved together, the way you fit, it became undeniable. No walls. No distance. Just you and Emily, giving yourselves over completely.

Emily’s grip on your hips tightened, her fingers pressing into your skin as your rhythm grew more desperate. The slow, languid movements that had defined the beginning of this had dissolved into something needier, more urgent.

The wet, sinful sound of skin gliding over skin filled the room, the air thick with heat and longing. Each drag of your clits against each other sent another jolt of pleasure up your spine, making you gasp, making Emily shudder beneath you.

"Fuck—" Her voice was breathless, her nails digging into your back as her body arched, pressing impossibly closer.

Your name tumbled from her lips, wrecked and needy, and it sent a fresh wave of arousal pooling between your thighs. Your body trembled, your movements beginning to falter as you felt it—the inevitable crest of pleasure building, curling tight in your core, ready to snap.

"Emily—" You moaned her name, the sound breaking between labored breaths, between the frantic roll of your hips and the way her body answered yours.

You could feel her getting close, too—the way her walls fluttered against you, the way her breath hitched in tiny, desperate gasps, the way her dark eyes were hazy with pleasure, unfocused except for you.

Still, her hands remained steady. Guiding you. Grounding you. Holding you right there on the edge with her.

"I’ve got you," she whispered, her fingers pressing into your skin, coaxing you to keep going, to hold on just a little longer.

And then—bliss.

The pleasure crashed over you in waves, white-hot and all-consuming, pulling you both under. Your body jerked against hers, a strangled moan escaping your lips as you felt Emily fall with you, her body shuddering, her thighs clenching around yours.

For a moment, neither of you moved, just held onto each other, riding out the aftershocks, feeling the heat of her, the weight of her, the undeniable reality of this.

Then, slowly, you collapsed against her, your body trembling, your heart pounding in sync with hers. Emily’s arms wrapped around you, cradling you close as if you were something precious, something irreplaceable.

She pressed a soft kiss to your temple, then another, and another, her lips trailing warmth over your damp skin. Her fingers traced soothing patterns along your spine, grounding you, reminding you that you were here, that she was here, and that nothing else mattered.

Neither of you spoke.

But the words weren’t necessary.

Because for the first time in what felt like forever, the cold that had clung to you, that had buried itself deep in your chest, was gone—melted away by the warmth of her, of this, of finally letting yourself be loved.

𝓉𝒽𝑒 𝑒𝓃𝒹.

[dem0batz]

Just Pretend

Caleb x MC // Love and Deepspace

Author's Note: I don't normally update this frequently so please don't expect me to continue to pump out chapters for this au at the pace that I have been. I'm just following the brain worms. Summary: Based on the main story track when MC is staying in Skyhaven with Caleb. You develop a minor cold and accidentally fall asleep the night you were supposed to rescue Kevi, unbeknownst to you that it was very intentional on Caleb's part. 🔞Content Warnings: Dead Dove; Do Not Eat, afab!mc, she/her!mc, yandere!Caleb, pseudocest, drugging MC, stalking (filed under “surveillance”), angst, brief mention of pregnancy and pregnancy loss, noncon, somnophilia, oral (f. rec), masturbation, breeding kink, cream pie Word Count: ~3000 words | read on AO3 | Chapter List

“Maybe you should take tonight to rest instead of meeting up with your friends, pip-squeak. You’ve been coughing all day.”

Caleb phrased it like a suggestion but you took it for what is was. Some things never change and his bossy tendencies was one of them. You had no intention of staying in tonight, cold or not— you promised Kevi you would help him and Zayne was waiting for you to bring the boy to him so he could be smuggled out of Skyhaven before the fleet found him.

As much as you wanted to trust your brother, there was something nagging at you that he was a different Caleb than the one you grew up with. You weren’t sure whose side he would take— yours or theirs should it be found out that you are secretly suspicious of the Farspace Fleet and investigating them.

“You’re probably right,” you say, exaggerating a cough.

“I’m always right,” he teases. “Besides, Skyhaven is under lockdown tonight while the fleet conducts a clean up.”

He disappears further into the apartment and returns a few moments later with two white pills in the center of his palm. You eye the pills warily.

“Cough suppressants,” he reassures.

A weight leaves your chest. You must be feeling especially paranoid with the whole Mia and Kevi situation. You don’t trust the Fleet but Caleb would never put you in danger, despite what his orders were.

You truly believed that. He was just trying to look out for your well-being. Taking the cough suppressants would probably help with the worst of your symptoms tonight anyway.

“Thanks,” you accept the medication. Caleb watches you chase down the pills with a glass of water, a satisfied smile on his face. “Why the need for the lockdown?”

“I see you haven’t gotten any less nosy over the years,” he accuses playfully.

“And you haven’t gotten any less avoidant over the years,” you counter. Still, you continue to probe. “Is it classified?”

Huffing a laugh and shaking his head, Caleb cages you against the counter. His eyes dance playfully across your face, left hand coming up to cup your jaw. You find it a little odd, considering that he was right-handed but you quickly push it from your mind, heart racing at the feeling of his proximity. His thumb strokes your cheek, subtly checking your skin for a rise in heat to ensure you haven’t caught a fever. At least that’s what he tells himself, and it’s partially true, but really he just wanted an excuse to touch you again after nearly a year of missing the feeling.

“No, it’s not classified,” he eventually gives. It wouldn’t hurt to allow you this small bit of information. “A weird fluctuation in the tunnel is riling up the Wanderers. So teams are being sent out tonight to handle it. But it’s nothing you need to worry about because you’ll be resting. Right?”

Thankful for your years of training at the academy, you school your face though guilt wracks through you for the lie you were about to tell. Yes, you believed Caleb would always put your safety first, but you still didn’t know how involved he was in this situation with the kids. You couldn’t risk letting them down. If it turned out you were wrong and the Fleet really had their best interests in mind, then you would tell Caleb the truth once Kevi was out of Skyhaven.

“First of all, I’m a Hunter and eliminating Wanderers is my job. So of course it’s something for me to worry about,” you narrow your eyes defiantly.

The lop-sided smirk on his face only grows in amusement. He always got his entertainment out of picking fights with you and then making it up to you afterward. But things were different now. You were different now. You had to learn to survive without the safety net Caleb provided. He needed to take your job seriously and recognize that you were more than capable.

“Unfortunately though, you happen to be right about me needing to rest and get over this cough. I need to return to work next week and I would hate for a mild cold to keep me from my job.”

At the mention of returning to work, his face drops, lips pursing disapprovingly. Caleb never did like the idea of you going into such a hands-on, dangerous profession but Gran always kept him from interfering with your career too much. Now that she was gone, there wasn’t anyone to bat away the insane thoughts of keeping you locked up at bay. Truth be told, his reaction was less to do with your job now and everything to do with you leaving Skyhaven. Thankfully, those thoughts didn’t win out today as he nods, backing away and changing the subject.

The distance between you was back to feeling cold and empty.

“I need to get ready for my shift. I’ll make sure to say goodnight before I head out. Get some rest, pip-squeak.”

The way he went from hot to cold gave you the worst kind of whiplash. One minute he was playful and fun, and the next he was closed off and felt far away and unreachable, even more so than when he was “dead”.

You swallow down the painful lump in your throat as you watch the back of his white sweater disappear down the hallway to the guest room he had been staying in during your visit since you have been staying in his.

After going through your usual bed time routine so as to not make Caleb suspicious, you crawl into the large soft bed. Rolling over on your side, you cozy up to watch raindrops hit the floor-to-ceiling window as yet another storm dumps on Skyhaven. You had every intention of feigning sleep until Caleb left but somewhere along the way, your eyes grew so heavy that it was impossible to keep them open. You hadn’t even realized that you fell asleep and when you did, it was like being submerged in a warm, soothing bath that you couldn’t seem to come out of, falling into such a deep sleep that not even dreams or nightmares could touch you.

Many hours later, an exhausted Caleb returns home. He doesn’t even bother shedding his damp uniform, leaving the OTTO unit to clean up the trail of water left behind from his soaked boots. He only has one destination in mind after a long night cleaning up the streets of his city. 

Caleb pushed open his bedroom door a crack. Peering from beneath the bill of his uniform cap, his eyes dart over your sleeping form. He takes a moment to admire the sight of you curled up in his bed, waiting for him to return home from work. It was something he spent his entire adult life dreaming of and now it was a reality, even if wasn’t of your own doing. Very little was when it was left up to him.

He was trained to sus out lies in interrogation rooms and could read you better than a book. After all these years, you still had the same tells though you had gotten better at concealing them. To anyone else, you likely would have been the perfect little liar but he knew your face and your body language better than anyone, despite what your new little boyfriends thought.

Yeah, he knew about them.

It was his job to know things and above everything else, you were always his first priority of business. He had continued to keep a close eye on you after his recovery post-explosion. Even if the professor hadn’t assigned you to his charge as a secret mission, Caleb would have done it regardless. His Colonel rank only gave him more resources to keep tabs on you, even if that meant occasionally having to destroy certain types of evidence to keep you safe. There were some places you went where he wasn’t able to keep watch— the N109 Zone, specifically. But it didn’t take long for the Onychinus leader to show his face in Linkon City.

Sylus may have been wealthy and full of resources competing with his own that kept his identity unknown to most other government and military entities, but he was difficult to ignore when he started showing up everywhere you went in Linkon. Wasn’t exactly subtle in the way he was pursuing you, touching you like you belonged to him.

But he would be dealt with later.

Out of all of your admirers, there was one in particular that set Caleb’s teeth on edge and that was his former best friend.

It was no secret that Gran always pushed you and Zayne together which is why Caleb invited him into your bedroom in the first place. He wanted to make sure that Zayne understood the only way he would ever get to have you was because Caleb allowed it. For years, it would seem that he received that unspoken message, never making a move on you beyond the permission Caleb directed in those intimate moments. It didn’t take long for the doctor to take advantage of your loneliness though, to swoop in and be your shoulder to cry on in his absence.

If any of your boyfriends deserved the Farspace Colonel’s wrath, it was Zayne.

This was personal.

Now that you knew the truth of Caleb’s life, there was no reason to continue to sit back and watch those four continue to take what was his. You didn’t need anyone else when you had him.

Caleb pushed the thoughts of those other men out of his mind, not wanting to spoil this rare moment he had to watch you in person again, comfortable and pliable in his sheets.

Just like when you were younger, the blanket was tossed to the side with one leg in and one leg out like your body couldn’t decide whether it was hot or cold. This gave Caleb a view of your body, his familiar oversized aviation tee that you had stolen years ago covering you. He can’t believe you still had it, and wore it regularly by the look of the thinning material. It rode up your torso, teasing a view of your stomach. The temptation to keep his hands to himself is impossible as a leather gloved finger traces the hem of your sleep shorts.

Caught in his thoughts, he’s thrown back to your sophomore year of college. He was in his last year of pilot training but made the trip from Skyhaven to Linkon as often as he could to see you. One particular weekend, he surprised you with with a visit and you surprised him with a positive pregnancy test. He was over the moon, thinking of the best way to break the news to Gran and trying to convince you to finally let him put a ring on your finger. Not that he needed your permission because he wouldn’t accept no for an answer, but hearing you say yes of your own accord would be ideal.

Yes, you were both young but he’s loved you for as long as he could remember and spending your lives together was always the plan. Not to mention, he’s been looking for a way to convince you to stay out of the Hunter’s Academy for years— a baby was the perfect reason to keep you off of such a dangerous career path. You didn’t need to risk your life when he would always be there to take care of you. Both of you.

That all came crashing down when you miscarried just a few days later.

He was devastated.

You were relieved.

Your relief broke his heart and made him angry, feeling like he was grieving the loss of your baby alone but he would never expect you to carry the burden of his pain so he kept it to himself. Regardless, he hadn’t let go of his plan for your life together; the timeline would merely be pushed back a little. He’d been patient for years at this point. A couple more wouldn’t hurt.

That was, until the explosion that left him dead to the world and confined to a bed during his recovery. For a while, he let go of that silly dream, content to watch you live your life from afar while he kept you safe from the clouds above. But now that you knew the truth and were back in his life, he felt a flicker of hope return.

Pushing the t-shirt further up your body, he hunches over to press a trail of soft wet kisses across the skin, imaging what you’ll look like swollen and heavy with his baby.

“I’m going to put another one inside you one day,” he continues peppering his lips over your stomach then resting his forehead there as his cap rolls off his head to land on the mattress. “This is my vow. As soon as I deal with the professor and we’re both safe, we will finally have the life we were always meant to, pip.”

You begin to stir under his touch, the feeling of his soft damp tendrils brushing your skin, tickling you even so deep in your sleep. The soft gasp of his name on your sleepy lips is enough to make him harden uncomfortably in his uniform pants, the starchy material leaving very little growing room. He can’t help but to bury his face in between your legs, inhaling the familiar scent of you with a shudder. It’s enough to leave the rational part of his mind behind, the last shred of his self-control slipping since your arrival as he pulls your sleep shorts down and tosses them to the side along with his jacket and gloves.

Caleb palms himself through the now unbearably tight pants before unzipping them for some relief. Kneeling back onto the bed, he carefully shoulders his way between your thighs, admiring the sight of your beautiful pussy and inhaling you again, feeling a sense of home for the first time in nearly a year. The temptation was too much to resist.

Just one taste.

That was all he needed to get by until he could convince you that this is where you belonged.

With him.

Knowing you wouldn’t wake up with the pills he fed you earlier, he flicks out his tongue to lightly spread your folds, teasing himself with the hint of your comforting flavor. He hadn’t completely lied about the nature of the pills— they would certainly heal up that cough of yours but would knock you out for a solid 12 hours before you came out of it. They basically put the consumer into a temporary coma to encourage a quickly healing process. The medication was not available for public consumption, reserved only for fleet members who needed a quick recovery but his rank gave him access that most others did not have.

Earlier, he had felt guilty for deceiving you but reminded himself that you were lying about staying in to rest and likely intended to sneak out once he was gone. He couldn’t have you wandering around Skyhaven alone at night without his protection. Not to mention, he never would have been able to do this if he hadn’t pushed you to take the medicine.

Your flavor explodes on the tip of his tongue, causing his hips to jerk into the mattress as he throws your legs over his shoulders to deepen his kiss to your center. Licking through the seam, he seeks out your clit, teasing and sucking it between his lips until you’re swollen and slick, gushing around his mouth with sleepy sighs and moans as you came on his tongue. Even if you wouldn’t remember it, he needed to make you orgasm, missing the feeling of you falling apart beneath him as if a piece of himself had been missing for ten long months.

This was the most alive he’s felt since he died.

Rising to his knees, chest rising and falling in heavy pants with your essence coating his chin, Caleb pulls his hard cock free. His head falls back in ecstasy as his hand cradles his girth. With you lying there and the lack of feeling in his right hand, he could almost pretend you were the one tugging on it, bringing him to the brink.

“Fuck, pretty girl. Missed you so damn much,” he pants, left hand climbing up your soft thigh to thumb your slick clit again. He had always been addicted to touching you, but now it was like going on a bender after getting sober and he couldn’t get enough.

Surprising himself with the quickness of his orgasm, he spurts all over you with a pained groan. Ropes of white coat the inside of your thighs and stomach, and he can’t tear his eyes away. When there’s nothing left to give, he slumps down, admiring the sight of his claim. Heart pounding in his chest, another intrusive thought invades his mind, bouncing off of the walls of his skull until he gives into the compulsion. Scooping the spend up with his fingers, he carefully stuffs you full of it, your pussy sucking them in like it was welcoming him home.

Slicking back his damp hair, Caleb feels like the storm clouds of his mind have been temporarily settled, allowing him to think clearly again. Guilt once again floods him as he thinks about what he’s done, always at war with himself when it came to you. He busies himself with cleaning you up and redressing you, ensuring to leave no tangible evidence of what he had done behind. Only the knowledge that he had left a piece of him behind for you to take back home with you. 

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[plaidos]

Not the same gravity, but I feel the same way explaining how Chicken Tikka Masala is British and not Indian. It's (reportedly) a recipe for using up leftover Tandoori chicken that was invented in the UK. Indian origin/ inluence/ inventor? Sure. But it's a British person using British ingredients that lived in the UK and is now a pretty big British staple. Like, cultures merge and bleed and grow into and around others. Trying to separate or sanitize a culture is not a stance made by people with good intentions.

literally literally!!! Chicken Tikka Masala is categorically an iconically British food. i’ve lost count how many times i’ve had to explain to (often white but not always) USAmericans that people can, in fact, be Indian and English at the same time.

it’s crazy how often Yanks pretend that their country is this uniquely diverse bastion of immigration (which couldn’t be further from the truth) like do yall know how many people i’ve seen brag about the unique cultural blend of Korean Barbecue in the same breath as saying that British-Indian cuisine doesn’t count because immigrants aren’t real brits? it is fucking dire out there & i genuinely think that most Yanks are not intellectually curious enough to come to the conclusion that that’s an obvious (& racist!!!) inconsistency without being told.

[crepezinhos]

The Lion and The Fox

POV: Sunday has always had high expectations of you, his dear secretary, and his lovesick obsession for you has only made his trust on you increase uncontrollably. But now, he felt like his world was crumbling right in front of him when he learned that you were pregnant, and the father was the man he most despised, that he wish he could deport from Penacony, Aventurine.

⚠️ WARNINGS:

— This is a Yandere and Suggestive SFW Oneshot

— Reader is FEMALE and uses SHE/HER pronouns

— Contains: A lot of dirty-talking and racially-motivated talking, accidental pregnancy, bloody fighting, attempted murder, violent language and obsessive/possessive behavior.

— Yandere!Boss!Sunday x Pregnant!Reader x Yandere!Aventurine

— AU is: In-Game

“Ah, Y/N. You’re here.” Sunday turned his gaze away from the windowed wall of his office with a little grin growing in the edges of his lips to look at you, who was entering the room with embarrassment already taking you over.

“Hi… Mr. Oak.” You didn’t even dare ignoring his greet as you pushed the door back to its place from behind, especially considering how much he personally respected you.

But you immediately sighed in defeat as you realized how obviously awkward your tone accidentally came out of your throat, which you knew would alarm his attentive ears in a blink.

“Is everything okay?” And his speed to figure someone’s head out, or at least yours in particular, made you even less confident to keeping making eye contact at those mesmerizing amber eyes of his. “You seem very disturbed, dear.”

“Mr. Oak, I—” At the same you desperately wanted to vomit those words out of your chest, your logical thinking warned you that the conversation you were about to have with him right now would not be easy work, perhaps even heartbreaking.

Sunday begun silently walking away from his spot and going towards you, as if he was trying to avoid any explosive reaction out of you or comfort you. But unfortunately, his elegant apparent d and tall figure completely triggered the opposite out of you.

“I need to take a break.” You threw your head to the left as you confessed your intentions to him without any further context, paralyzing the Halovian. “Like… a few days or a whole week…”

“A whole week?” Sunday’s tone did not change, though, and after a few seconds waiting for a response, he finally figured you were too uncomfortable to speak any more without his leadership. “May I ask why?” He continued walking, a little more faster this time, cornering you against the wall even if his hands remained behind his back as usual.

“I’m not feeling quite well, Mr. Oak—”

“Please, address me as Sunday, dear.” You suddenly felt something wooly reach your left cheek and begin to caress it gently, figuring it was Sunday’s fingers after successfully cornering you against the door. “My apologies… I won’t interrupt you again.”

“I’m just feeling sick. That’s all…” You awkwardly finished yourself while trying to ignore his intimate demonstration of care.

“And you need a whole week to recover from it?” His tone shifted to a more serious one while that hand of his spread itself around your whole jaw and slightly pulled it upwards, forcing you to look at him again, and your silence made it obvious to him that you were either lying or hiding something from him. “Let’s sit down, dear.” His hypnotizing grin almost made you vomit the truth right there out of guilt.

Sunday released you and begun stepping towards where his office desk and fancy chair were, without acknowledging how quickly he had convinced you to speak the truth to him. That distressing nod in your throat was already unbearable on its own, but that you were being forced to tell such disappointing news to such a sweet and caring boss like Sunday, that truly admires you and trusts you deeply, just couldn’t be postponed anymore.

“I’m pregnant!” As soon as the distance between you and him was comfortable to you, when Sunday’s hand was about to reach his chair’s arm support, you let the beast out of its cage. “I am feeling sick indeed, but it’s because I’m pregnant and I have no idea what to do about it yet!” Your voice cracked a few times as you bowed your head down, tears barely glistening your eyes, but you did your best to hold them back and not stress Sunday, who had fully paralyzed in his spot.

…

…

…

“I beg your pardon?” Sunday slowly turned his head to you, the rest of his body immobile in its place.

“You heard me, Mr. O—… Sunday… I’m pregnant.” You crossed your arms and legs, leaning against the wall vulnerably.

And once again, Sunday didn’t say anything again some awkward seconds, causing your heart to beat even faster than it already was.

…

…

“P-Pregnant..?” This was one of the first times you’ve ever heard Sunday’s voice crack and stutter.

“Yes, sir.” You quickly nodded.

…

…

…

“Like… pregnant pregnant?” Sunday repeated himself again, a little more desperate.

“Yes, sir.” And you nodded to him again, a little more desperate too.

“When did you…” He didn’t know what to ask you due to the unprocessed shock. “For how long have you known this?” Sunday sounded a little madder as you expected, but at the same time you could feel some worry and anxiety coming from him as you saw him move a hand to his collar and start fidgeting his own tie.

“I took the test a few days ago, Mr. Oak.” Although you noticed how you referred to him in the wrong manner, Sunday didn’t seem to notice it, or at least preferred to not scold you again.

“How many people know about it yet?” Sunday finally turned his full body to you. After all, that question mattered a lot.

“None of my friends know about it yet, only the father and you, sir.” At this moment, it felt like all of your friendship with Sunday never existed in the first place, considering how incredibly negative his reaction was.

“Ah, yes… the father.” Sunday spat the word like a curse, scoffing at it right afterwards before pausing for a moment. “Who is the lucky man, Y/N?” Sunday decided to speak in a warmer tone, hoping it would help appeasing the suspense between you two, but it wasn’t quite useful to you.

“Sunday, I… I don’t think I should—”

“I have to know who the father is, Y/N.” He immediately shut you off with a shaky, anxious voice before you could fully reject him. “I don’t think it would be beneficial for us if the people of Penacony were to learn that the secretary of the Head of the Family… my secretary… is pregnant of someone of bad influence, especially if I was not aware of it or consenting to it. Don’t you agree?” Sunday’s voice cracked a few more times with his growing anger as his fingers became more aggressive with his tie.

You weakly nodded, feeling more tears rise up to your eyes. You were expecting Sunday to have a negative reaction indeed, but you did not expect him to be this bold. It even made you question your non-professional friendship with him. Was he not as attached to you like you thought? Was his kindness to you just a souvenir for your hard work? Have you two ever developed a friendship in the first place? If not, were you really just a secretary to him? If yes, how intimate are you two?

“This seriously endangers your job, Y/N, so if you don’t wish me to take extreme measures with you, tell me, dear, who is the father..?!” Despite his self-control, you noticed a pattern of how he was simply unable to hold all his anger when he mentioned the ‘father’.

You breathed in and out, preparing yourself for the bomb you were about to drop on him. After all, losing your job to this did not seem to be the smartest choice to be done, although the answer itself could still make you lose your job anyway.

“I believe the father is Aventurine, sir.” You closed your eyes as you told your version of the story, trying to make it more broad by stating as a theory rather than a fact, but you were certain that the baby was Aventurine’s.

…

…

…

Sunday scoffed.

…

…

…

“Aventurine?” Sunday’s tone deepened, almost falling into pure madness. “The Sigonian from the IPC?”

“…Yes, sir.” You weakly nodded again, finally finding some courage to open your eyes and look up to him.

“You’ve been going out with him?” Sunday’s tie wasn’t tucked under his white tuxedo anymore, and he was barely blinking his widened eyes.

“I believe you’re crossing a line of privacy, sir. I won’t be answering that.” You felt blood rush to your cheeks as you remembered your last date with the gambler, specifically when the baby was being made, speaking a little bit more annoyed.

“Why? He didn’t assault you or anything of the sort, did he, dear?” Sunday’s hands crossed around each other.

“No, sir.” Your tone went back to its previous shy one.

Sunday’s eyes finally dropped and stopped violently staring at you, looking around in confusion as he breathed in and out harshly. It did help you and your body to calm down, though.

“You know you can always trust me if there’s any danger going on in your life, right?” Sunday looked at you again with curiosity, which made your body stiffen again.

“Absolutely, sir.” You nodded more confidently. That statement reassured you about your previous thoughts about Sunday.

He really isn’t that bold. He never was. Today was just a minimal and reasonable exception.

“Good.” Sunday’s eyes got distracted again as he thought about all the facts that have been told, and you decided to contribute with your own silence.

…

…

…

…

…

“You know what? I must apologize to you, dear. What kind of man treats a pregnant lady like this? Only some uneducated punk… It was very childish of me, Y/N, I’m truly sorry.” Sunday suddenly relaxed in a blink, his hands going behind his back as usual while a cute grin took over his lips again as if he hadn’t almost gone mad in front of you.

After all, self-control is a really important aspect in this sort of job.

“No, it’s ok… I understand. I would be very worried too if I found out my secretary suddenly got pregnant.” Sunday hummed a giggle at your comment as you shrugged your shoulders.

“Go home, dear.” Sunday walked to you again, his hands landing on both your shoulders. “Go take a good rest. I’ve made you work enough this week.” His thumbs gently brushed your skin like wet porcelain, even raising them a few times to push some strands of your hair behind your ear.

“You’re… you’re not mad?” Deep down, you found his sudden change of behavior weird, and you weren’t exactly comfortable with it.

“Mad? Why would I be mad at you, dear? I trust you to make a smart choice about this.” And now that you were closely staring at his fine face, that smile, no matter how warm it was, it seemed to be betraying whatever was going through his mind. “Make sure to keep your commitment with the Family in mind, ok?” Sunday suddenly leaned his face to the right side of your face, his mouth hanging inches away from your ear as his voice suddenly turned serious.

“Of course, boss.” You nodded to Sunday, who patted your head in appreciation for a few seconds before finally letting you go.

.

SLAM!

All the human bodies in the casino were attracted by the loud bang of the double doors being against the walls as they were brutally pushed open, whispers beginning to accumulate onto each other as they realized it was Sunday Oak who walked in.

“Is that Sunday Oak?”

“I thought he condemned gambling…”

“What is he doing here?”

“Sunday Oak?”

“Should I ask for an autograph?”

“Isn’t he Robin’s older brother?”

Sunday couldn’t care less about any of those comments or the glances landing on him as he walked inside the flashy halls of the casino. He was entirely interested and focused on his hunt, and his hunt only.

After all, it didn’t take him more than 5 seconds to identify what he was searching for.

Aventurine.

The slim, blonde man sitting down lazily on a chair with spread legs and a pack of cards in his hands, accompanied by two other men playing with him, sitting in the opposite corners of the table, all of them shaping the form of a triangle where Aventurine was directly facing Sunday. The table was full of cards and chips thrown around it, even a few real credits too, showing that they weren’t just playing casually, and three cups of alcohol being the only objects standing still.

“Ah, the Head of the Family himself, Sunday Oak! What an honor it is to have you in my casino! What brings you here tonight?” The gambler put his cards facing down in the table to open his arms to Sunday in a warm greeting.

His purple eyes still managed to shine through the dark pair of sunglasses he was wearing and the whole dark ambient around them.

But Sunday’s murderous face didn’t appease a bit with his warm greeting.

“Leave.” He glanced down at the two other gamblers, who simply shared confused looks with each other and Aventurine when they heard his order. “NOW!” Both men immediately flinched upwards hearing his scream, fleeing from their seats as if they were fleeing for their lives.

After all, who would be insane enough to challenge the Head of the Family?

As soon as the steps of the coward men started to become faint murmurs in the ambient, Aventurine finally started taking advantage of their privacy to speak again.

“See… when I say that you’re always welcome in here, Mr. Oak, that doesn’t necessarily mean you have the right to interrupt any of the games—”

“You got Y/N pregnant..?!” Aventurine’s smirk grew as he realized what was Sunday’s objective in his casino and how angry he was due to it, even if he had been interrupted.

“Ah… so you’ve heard the news…” Aventurine proceeded to grab the glass of liquor sitting closest to him and took a sip of it. “It is also an honor to have being the first person to congratulate me…”

“Congratulate you..?” Sunday’s eyes widened in audacity at his words. “Congratulate you?! For what? For making such an absurdly irresponsible decision?!” Sunday finally dragged one of the empty chairs closer to him and sat himself down at on it, both his hands slamming the table while Aventurine simply mired down at the liquor in the glass. “You’re a gambler, and you’re completely addicted to it! What is wrong with you?! What kind of man sustains his family by gambling?!” Aventurine couldn’t help but scoff at his words as his eyes finally looked up to meet his again, starting a war of eye contact.

“Oh, please, we both know that you’re not mad at the fact that I’m a gambler about to become a father.” The gambler finally placed the glass back to the table, his arms crossing as he leaned against the chair.

Sunday refused to answer him although both men had a lot of privacy to discuss such an intimate topic.

“You’re mad that it’s not going to be a beautiful and cute Halovian baby growing inside her with cute little wings on his head and a shiny golden halo that will grow to be the Family’s next prodigy..! And instead, it’s going to be a little Sigonian trash with cursed fortune.” Aventurine used his hands to point at Sunday’s features and his owns, but it didn’t trigger Sunday to answer him, despite his boiling annoyance. “Not that? No? Then it might be that… you’re mad at the fact that it wasn’t you who made the path inside her womb first?” Aventurine uncrossed him arms and set them on table while leaning his body a little closer to his to challenge him, finally causing Sunday to slightly snap.

After all, an obsessed man like him could not handle the imagination of his perfect pure darling being bred by the man who directly competes with him for her, all twirled around his figure and showing him your nudity.

“You little shit…” Sunday fisted his own hands as his eyebrows to frown in the table’s cloth as he tried avoiding those sinful thoughts.

“Me?” Aventurine’s eyes widened with Sunday’s hypocrisy. “Imagine you’re constantly trying to hang out with this marvelous, jaw-dropping and inspiring woman, but she’s always rejecting you because she was either working in a Saturday night, or too exhausted from it on Sunday, hum? You feeling me now?” Aventurine tried waiting for an answer, but Sunday refused to let himself downgrade to the gambler’s level and backed down again. “I think I should actually thank you for making her exhausted and home-alone during her precious weekends. You’ve surely left that woman touch-starved, and I certainly took advantage of that whenever I insisted in visiting her in her home… She’s actually extra tight when she’s stressed.” Aventurine winked at him, intentionally ignoring Sunday’s unblinking, widening eyes. “Just to think about my cock suffocating inside that tiiight pussy of hers while she begs for me to keep ravishing it nonstop makes me so hard…” Aventurine was rubbing his legs together under the table to avoid his slight erection to grow any further under his pants while his cheeks slightly reddened.

“You hell-sent maniac…” That was all Sunday could mumble without exploding. “Do you even listen to yourself? Is this the poor vocabulary that poor kid would learn from their father? You have absolutely no conditions of being a father. I know it, you know it, Y/N knows it. Do you have any idea how worried she was when she was talking to me about this mess? Do you think she’d be that worried about it if I was the father of her child, hum? Do you think she’s happy to be pregnant of you?” Sunday finally decided to take some dominance in the conversation and leaned closer to Aventurine.

“Do you think she’d be any happier to pregnant of you, Mr. Oak? Her manipulative boss that takes advantage of her every free second to keep her revolving around you, yet, refuses to take a single step forward with your relationship with her and keeps edging her pleasure in you?” Aventurine sounded a little angrier as he described Y/N’s work ambient.

“You know nothing about me and Y/N…” Sunday hissed at him. Deep down he knew he had a fair point and that he had to change his relationship with her if he wanted to conquer her heart.

“Well, I certainly know all of this would’ve probably been avoided if you weren’t the coward that you are, and asked her out before I did. Now, even if you did manage to make her fall in love with you and make her your wife, you’d never be able to get rid of the shape of her insides, forever prepared to receive me inside her instead of you because she knows who introduced her the magic of paradisiacal pleasure.” Aventurine twirled his fingers together and set his chin on top of them, his face proudly hanging on it.

“You do realize Y/N is most likely going to abort that cursed baby, right?” Sunday finally found an opportunity to counter Aventurine, smirking in victory after all those sexual comments of you Aventurine has been doing to frustrate him.

“Good for her.” Aventurine shrugged his shoulders, dumbfounding Sunday, who allowed his smirk to die for a moment.

Sunday didn’t understand. Wasn’t he cheerful about her pregnancy? Wasn’t he happy about claiming her womb first and making her a mother before him? Wasn’t he initially arguing with Sunday about being a father?

“You’re just bluffing. I know you’re disappointed.” Sunday brought his grin back before Aventurine could take dominance again, trying to convince him to let that guilt out of his mind.

“I don’t think you’ve understood it yet, Mr. Oak… I don’t intend to be a father. Never intended to be.” Aventurine spoke with a straight face, very relaxed as he confessed his feelings, unlike Sunday.

“I beg your pardon?” Finally, Sunday felt challenged again, so his smirk died again and never rose again.

“Sure, it would be disappointing if she did decide to abort the baby. After all, the idea of repopulating my clan back to this world sounds good to me… but I got her pregnant simply because I want to get her away from you, and that pregnancy is going to force her to take a break from you, and maybe eternally. I already heard you did let her go home today, so it’s already working! Thank you, Mr. Oak!” Sunday was entirely speechless at Aventurine’s confession, not a single full phrase managing to form in his head as the gambler paused again to take another sip of his liquor.

And Sunday knew he had more to add onto that confession, seeing how he swallowed the liquor quickly.

“It surprised me how all it takes to impregnate a woman is a single little puncture in a condom… Make sure to double-check your condoms before sex, Sunday! Protection isn’t a joke!” Sunday couldn’t believe all he had to add to his confession was a joke.

“You..! You did it on purpose?!” Sunday hissed as if he wanted to squeeze the gambler’s head until it crushed into a gory mess.

“Congratulations, Mr. Oak! We can finally have a man-to-man conversation!” Aventurine threw his hands in the air cheerfully as if he was celebrating his birthday.

“Do you have shit in your head instead of a functional brain?! Do you realize you’re putting the life of a child on stake and even her trust on you?! You’re a monster! You had no right to fool Y/N like that!” Sunday was finally finding out how little power of you he had on his hands, his anger finally spilling from its chamber.

“Oh? But you have the right to keep overworking her with the stupidest tasks ever? Making her bring you breakfast and lunch from the cafe with the stupidest exigences ever?! Like ‘No veggies, only keep the onions’, ‘Diet raspberry juice’ and ‘Strawberry cupcakes for desert with no sprinkles or extra frosting’? To make her rearrange your whole calendar for the month because you suddenly have a doctor’s appointment in the middle of month? Knowing she’s not intelligent or bossy enough to tell you’re just taking advantage of her position and her trust on you? That you’re a very busy man and genuinely can’t deal with fucking calendars on your own?” Aventurine also dropped his smirk, speaking in a more angered one as well.

“It’s her job, and I’m her boss. And don’t you worry about it because Y/N gets some good money for all her hard work and she loves me for it.” Sunday defended himself a little proudly. It was a good reason to keep her busy with him.

“And I’m just a great fucking friend! See? We’re both playing dirty here…” Aventurine giggled at his own pun, which made Sunday’s wings to twitch.

“Don’t imagine it… Don’t picture it…” Sunday thought to himself, and Aventurine took advantage of his silence.

“And, think about it, what is the worth in all the money you apparently give her if she can’t find herself some time to spend it because her boss can’t let her enjoy her weekends, hum?” Aventurine crossed his arms, settling them on the table to keep himself still leaning close to Sunday’s face.

“As soon as I get you out of my way, I’ll make sure she’ll have a lot of time to enjoy her life with me as her company.” Sunday threatened him with a mean smirk in his face, finding joy in Aventurine’s struggle.

“I don’t think you’ve realized it yet, Sunday. Y/N is already mine. All, all mine. She’s been mine for a long time now and will always be mine. Your little tricks to imprison her with you are clever, but you know how gambling with me works. I’ll always find my way out of risk and become the winner. And if Y/N is clever enough to remember this little fact, you might face a serious danger of her deciding to keep the baby.” Aventurine’s irises were trembling with excitement and hatred for Sunday as he talked about his possession over you.

“We both know she won’t.” Sunday hissed, still keeping his smirk, although he was doing a great effort to not punch the gambler’s face.

“How do you know, hum? Y/N is the kindest soul in this planet! I don’t think she’d opt to interrupt that growing life inside her so easily like you think. Maybe she’ll start sympathizing with it and decide to accept the duty of raising it with me as the father and provider. And if that happens, what are you going to do, huh? Shove your hand inside her womb and abort the baby yourself? You can’t do anything!” Aventurine cackled at the thought of Sunday trying to get rid of the baby inside you or convincing you to do it and pathetically being defeated.

“Maybe I’ll fire her. I can’t afford to have a secretary who’s going to birth a disgusting Avgin nor can she afford her life without the salary I give her… It’s a fair trade!” Sunday threatened enthusiastically, although in his mind he knew he’d never do that to you.

“Oh, really? And make her hate you forever? What a stupid way to give me the opportunity to finally imprison her with me, Sunday! Maybe she’ll learn how great it is to have me as her sugar daddy…” Aventurine threw himself in the chair and I’m his arms in the arm as if he was receiving a gift from Sunday.

“Or maybe I’ll take the matter to my own hands and marry her with me before you. And trust me, gambler, I’ll make sure you have the lowest share of custody, or maybe even none. I’m the head of the Family Oak. I own this whole planet in the palm of my hand.” Sunday also rose his hands in the air and inflated his chest, trying to demonstrate the size of the power he owns.

“Yet, you can’t stop the woman you love from fucking with other men.” Aventurine hummed some giggles while Sunday had to stop himself again to impede his brain from picturing that scenario. “I would rather die than let a baby of my blood to be raised by you. To be raised like a mere annoyance in the house… forever incapable of making his daddy proud of him because he’s not his real son… destined to be overshadowed by his future siblings… Both Y/N and the baby would be happier to have me taking care of them instead of you.” Aventurine’s tone deepened again, his arms lowering sown to his knees and gripping them to control himself.

“I will not lose Y/N to you, gambler. I don’t care if that baby would not be the happiest one in the world. I refuse to let you have her for another single minute of your life with those dirty hands of yours.” Sunday spat his prejudice for the gambler with no remorse.

“Oh-ho? Are you afraid I’m a better womanizer than you, Mr. Head of the Family? That my ‘dirty hands’ are capable to make Y/N moan my name in a volume you’ll never be able to get out of her?” Aventurine stared at the deepest corners of Sunday’s eyes.

“Quiet.” Sunday hissed barely above a whisper.

“That my fingers will penetrate that wet pussy of hers while I devour her throbbing clit with my dirty Avgin mouth? Oh, yeah, I’ve already done that!” Aventurine brought a hand closer to Sunday, only to thrust the air with his ring-finger and middle-finger a few times, pretending it was your pussy.

“Shut. Your. Mouth.” Sunday made sure to pronounce every syllable of his order slowly, exciting Aventurine to keep teasing him even further.

Sunday’s cheeks were reddening with arousal as he couldn’t hold back the few pictures his brain illustrated for him of Y/N’s naked body being touched by Aventurine, meanwhile the gambler moved his hands to his body and started brushing his own body in a suggestive way.

“Ohh~… Aventurine..! You feel sooo good around me~… Oh, right there..! Fuck me right there, Aven..!” Sunday’s fingers gripped on the table’s cloth as if that was the only thing keeping him from having a boner on his own, trying to force himself to focus on the gambler’s threat rather than his pathetic teasing. “Ah, yes~! Touch me, Aventurine! Touch me!” Aventurine put his own palms on his own breasts and gently fondled them, which made Sunday feel so disgusted he slightly backed away from the pervert in front of him.

“Do you seriously think acting like this is going to annoy me?” Sunday bluffed, betraying his own mindset. “I must thank you for the spoilers, though.” He shrugged his shoulders, pretending there wasn’t a noticeable tent growing in his pants.

“See? Even you recognize you’ll never be her first in anything because I’ve been there first!” Aventurine dropped his act, jumping back to the table, leaning over to challenge Sunday with a creepy expression and a proud smile. “Every Saturday night, when you decided to send her a ‘Goodnight’ message and ask how she was doing, I was already pining her down on her own bed and taming her pussy.” Sunday’s mind was unfortunately too attracted to that scenario, forcing himself to think about it.

Thinking about your insides being stretched by the gambler, your breasts fondled by the gambler, your pretty moans being listened by the gambler, your mouth kissing the gambler, your clothes being taken off by the gambler…

All by that stupid gambler, and not him.

“Focus, Sunday. Focus. Focus on the gambler.” Sunday thought to himself.

“Sometimes I even answered you for her, y’know? Sending you a ‘Goodnight’ with cute a heart sticker, pretending to be your dear woman while the real one was gagging on my cock.” Sunday’s eyes widened as he heard that disgusting confession.

Every time you talked to him at nighttime, Sunday would think about what were you possibly doing while texting him. Maybe you were changing yourself into your pijamas, specifically a beautiful nightgown of his favorite kind. Maybe you were kicking your feet and your cheeks were red because you were talking so intimately with your sweet and handsome boss.

How did you even save his contact as? Most likely ‘Mr. Oak’ or maybe ‘Mr. Sunday’ because of your professional relationship with him, but maybe it is something more friendly like ‘Sunday’ or ‘Sunday ❤️’.

But now all those fantasies that made fall in love with you even harder, were crushed by the gambler’s words, and he was really hoping the man was just bluffing to annoy him.

“You disgusting piece of crap..! You had no right to do that!” He hissed as his mind pictured more and more dirty illustrations.

“Seeing you smirk at me every time I passed her to you, thinking you were in charge of her and that I was losing precious time with her, made me want to laugh. Poor you..! You had absolutely no idea! You could’ve died without knowing!” Aventurine started cackling as he saw Sunday’s destroyed ego.

Sunday couldn’t believe it either. The gambler was right, and he did not plan on ever admitting it. To think that he has been interpreting you so wrongly all along and that that Aventurine was taking advantage of his foolishness was making him ache in need for revenge.

It was embarrassing to see a man of his level of money, power and intelligence to commit such a rookie mistake, of letting your weekends free of his obsessiveness and stalking, and find himself in the edge of losing to someone so weaker than him.

But Aventurine didn’t notice Sunday’s breathing becoming louder and louder.

“That’s why I had to show you the truth. To show you who is truly in the lead.” Aventurine unexpectedly leaned closer to Sunday until he was a few centimeters away from his right ear, invading his personal space. “That’s why I made a little hole in my condom before going to her home and ejaculated a lot of sperm inside that pussy when we were having sex. Thousands of my little spermatozoids… finding a way out of that rubber barrier and swimming their way inside her womb, claiming ‘your’ territory…” Sunday shit his eyes, trying to control his painfully quick heartbeats while Aventurine kept enjoying the mental torture. “And trust me, Sunday, despite her not knowing what I had planned for her, she was the one that kept begging for me to keep fucking her and to cum inside her again. Not a single cell of her body wants you—” Sunday unexpectedly unchained himself from the chair, violently grabbing Aventurine’s collar by his green uniform and fisting his knuckles across his cheek.

Sunday just couldn’t deal with his own imaginations anymore.

It hurt him to imagine you not desiring for him to touch you that way. The same way you’ve allowing the gambler to do. It couldn’t be true. He knew he could make you feel as good as the gambler did. All that he was missing was courage to ask you out. To think of Aventurine having the privilege to watch you during sex, giggling about Sunday’s obnoxiousness. To think of the gambler fucking you right in front of him, conquering your heart, and you enjoying it rather than asking him to stop and to saves by Sunday.

Even if it was just a dark fantasy. A horror one. One that would never come to be true, if it depended on you at least, he smacked Aventurine’s face as if he wanted to avoid that possibility as much as he could. He did not want that scum making someone like you fall in love with it anymore.

Although the punch itself wasn’t hard enough to make Aventurine drop his smirk, it was surely made him roll down from the table and vulnerably land on the floor along with a few cards, chips and one of the wine glasses, that broke as soon as it touched the ground, and Sunday throwing himself on top of him.

“YOU FOUL DISGRACE!” Sunday kept attempting to spank Aventurine, who allowed himself to receive every single punch like a masochist while laughing at how Sunday snapped. “YOU HAD NO RIGHTS TO DO THAT TO Y/N!” Everyone in the casino already had their bodies turned to both men, some had even stood up to have a better view of the scene going on, all the whispers accumulating onto each other again.

“What’s going on?!”

“Are they fighting?!”

“Why are they fighting?!”

“Did Sunday Oak lose a bet?!”

“Who is Y/N?”

“They know each other?!”

“Punching me… won’t undo what has been done, Sunday! She’s pregnant! 100% pregnant!” Finally, Aventurine got bored of Sunday’s amateur boxing and rose his hands from the floor, clutched them around Sunday’s cranial wings, squeezing them hard to almost break its bones, and launched his forehead against Sunday’s.

“Who is pregnant?”

“This Y/N person is pregnant?”

“For God’s sake, who’s Y/N?!”

Sunday moaned loud in pain, accidentally weakening his weight on top of Aventurine, who quickly pushed him away from the top and reverted the positions.

“She’s mine… all mine!” Despite the few blood drops running down his nostrils and red marks in his cheeks, Aventurine kept smirking as if he was having the biggest thrill of his life. “And I’ll make sure to keep impregnating her every time I need to remember you who is in the lead! Over and over again!” Aventurine made sure to whisper his words about you and guarantee that nobody would gossip about their conflict, or at least gossip it with all the context behind it.

Aventurine’s punches were way more painful compared to Sunday’s, which was causing him to become so pained and desperate that he couldn’t even react to it, nor hold the gambler back. He doesn’t really tell people that he’s quite stronger than he looks. Although his slim body and smaller height sell the contrary image, all the years he spent being a slave strengthened his muscles forever, unlike Sunday, who has never quite invested in giving himself a buffer body. And the many rings hanging in his fingers, made of multiple gems, were making it only worse.

Sunday started to panic. So many people were witnessing the worst side of him, the Head of the Family, the representative of their planet, being in a casino and initiating a fight on it, one that he was also pathetically losing. After he’s given so many speeches about the importance of peace and the abolishment of violence, he was the first one to opt for violence when the stakes of a fight got too high? Even if he found a way to avoid the situation to escape everyone’s mouth, it still wouldn’t hide the multiple bruises in his face, and that would immediately denounce that he got involved in a fight, whether being who started it or not. Injuries like hematomas and cuts can take weeks to fully heal depending on their depth. How would he hide that from his public? His dear little sister? Gopher? Or… you?

“Oh, fuck.” Sunday thought.

Had he just made a bad decision? Had he embraced his instincts rather than his critical thinking?

He couldn’t let himself lose his reputation or influence so easily. He’d be willing to beg for Aventurine’s mercy as long as his face remained intact. So, that’s why he did his best to turn his face to the side while his arms and cranial wings crossed on top of it to create a barrier between him and Aventurine.

“What is it, birdie? Are you scared?! Come on, punch me again, I dare you!” Aventurine teased as he started digging his hands under his protection and undo it.

But Sunday was way more focused on the miracle laying in the floor by his side. The cup that had previously fallen in the floor and was ignored by them had broken into many big shards of glass, all beautifully laying down by his side and going unnoticed by the gambler.

How fun would it be to stab the foul gambler?

One of Sunday’s arms slowly reached out to the glass, but it wasn’t long enough to grab it, his fingers slightly touching the pointy tip of the glass. And unfortunately, a single arm on its own wasn’t enough to impede Aventurine from breaking through his barrier and curl his both hands around his neck.

“Bye-bye, Mr. Oak…” Aventurine’s eyes only widened in pure joy the more he suffocated Sunday’s throat.

Sunday grunted and gasped, trying to salvage the remaining oxygen in his body while his single hand kept helplessly trying to fight him back and pull at least one of Aventurine’s arms away of his neck.

Aventurine was so invested in his own sadism, watching Sunday’s face contort and crumble, that he still didn’t realize what was his other arm doing, slowly pulling the glass closer to his palm bit by bit.

And when Sunday’s fingers were finally able to pull that piece of glass close enough to him, with a swift movement, Sunday was finally able to—

“ENOUGH!” Aventurine was suddenly pushed away from Sunday by a security guard, immediately making Sunday’s lungs fill themselves with the oxygen he had lost while the glass stabbed nothing but the air.

And with the assistance of incoming men, Aventurine was quickly struck on the floor with his belly turned down and his hand locked together behind his back.

“Smart move, birdie! But, don’t you see..? You don’t stand a chance against my luck!” Aventurine cackled while he was momentarily being cuffed while Sunday was still recovering from the murder attempt.

“I’M GONNA KILL YOU!” Sunday couldn’t stand seeing that smirky face of his anymore and quickly stood up again, getting up on his feet again just to launch himself on the gambler again, the shard of glass already prepared to stab him.

But Sunday was immediately held back by even more guards that arrived in the scene, every muscle of his arms being held back while his legs desperately kicked the air.

“N-No!” He grunted in agony while one of the guards that cuffed Aventurine begun moving to Sunday and undoing his grip on the shard, pulling it away from him after a few seconds.

Aventurine kept cackling at the scene he watching, loving to see Sunday losing all his power and dignity in front of so many people.

“I PROMISE YOU I’M GONNA KILL YOU WITH MY OWN HANDS ONE DAY, YOU MANIAC!” Sunday spat his violent threat while still trying to launch himself towards Aventurine.

“Lets settle the bet, then! Whoever kills each other first gets to keep Y/N forever! Fair trade, ain’t it?” The gambler rose his head to talk to Sunday more confidently.

“AND I’LL MAKE SURE YOUR DIRTY CLAN WILL BE ERASED FROM HISTORY!” Slowly, both men were dragged afar away from each other, Aventurine being set in a sofa while Sunday was kicked out of the casino, rolling down a few staircases before finally finding himself wormed on the floor.

“Oh, wanna raise the stakes?! If I’m the one who kills you, then… your little sister will be punished too~…” Sunday fumed in anger as he thought of the murder of his little sister.

“DON’T YOU FUCKING DARE PUT ROBIN INTO THIS, YOU LITTLE SHIT!” Aventurine rolled his eyes in boredom with Sunday denying to raise the stakes of their bet.

“Get him out of my sight.” Aventurine looked at the guards and spoke more seriously, a smirk still displayed in his lips.

Sunday gasped when he begun being pulled away from his prey.

“YOU’RE DEAD, GAMBLER! DEAD!” Sunday made sure to state his final words before he was thrown in the streets.

Sunday rolled a few stairs down, ruining the perfect white color of his suit, but unfortunately he couldn’t stop to relax, ease the pain and fix himself because of the people that could be around him. So, he quickly got up from the floor and fled to a narrow corner between two tall buildings, surrounded by dark and trash and isolated him from anyone’s sight.

Meanwhile he fixed his suit, hair and face, while calling a cab to pick him up, Sunday kept insulting the gambler and even himself.

Sunday knew he should’ve asked you out long before all this situation, but he didn’t believe he had to do it since he didn’t think Aventurine’s competition was that dangerous. So, he preferred to wait until he believed you and him had developed a better friendship, and possibly sparked you to like him more than as a friend, a colleague or a boss.

But now, the race for your hand in marriage has started and Sunday is ready to cheat to win.

It doesn’t matter if he suffocates you with work.

It doesn’t matter if he has to kill Aventurine or the baby.

It doesn’t matter if he’ll not raise the baby without a lot of love and care.

It doesn’t even mattter if you don’t want to marry him in the first place.

He’ll win this bet.

Taglist: @komelliko @gaboplaydespacito

Don’t forget to like and comment if you liked it! <3

[kaispeakshermind]

I just watched Elemental.

I am very normal about this movie.

… That is a lie I am not okay

[snail-eggs]

the way that johnny and xixi are the exact same when it comes to killing people but she at least has some decorum about it

[slamrink]

Nothing to see here just steph stealing glances of klay like he’s afraid he’s going to get caught 😃😃 (via namxsj on twitter )

[queerliblib]

Hello!! I was looking for non-fiction books of butches and femmes that mention bisexual butches and femmes too! I guess that's a very specific thing and difficult thing to ask for but I was hoping if you knew some? In the end, I'll take any and all butch femme non-fiction books you know of please! 👉👈💖

hello! okay so don’t wanna promise bisexuality in all of these because that’s tricky to do without having read each cover-to-cover*

that said, we do have some recs! I’m going to split this up two ways;

Non-fiction (not memoir)

Butch is a Noun by S. Bear Bergman

Persistance: All Ways Butch & Femme eds. Ivan Coyote & Zena Sharman (& it’s precursor, Persistent Desire: a butch-femme reader although sadly it’s not available as an ebook for us to purchase)

The Life & Times of Butch Dykes by Eloisa Aquina

Boots of Leather, Slippers of Gold by Elizabeth Lapovsky Kennedy & Madeline D. Davis

& one essential we haven’t gotten around to buying yet: Female Masculinities by J. Jack Halberstam

Non-fiction (memoir)

Burning Butch by R/B Mertz (also in audio)

Pregnant Butch by A.K. Summers

Rust Belt Femme by Raechel Anne Jolie

Hijab Butch Blues by Lamya H. (also in audio)

& before anyone asks Stone Butch Blues is NOT in our collection, but that’s because it’s available for free, as a pdf, directly from Leslie Feinburg’s website

[loderlied]

important trait to note is that shana does like people in own weird way. at least being around them. (specifically the people he wants to hurt more than others.) very extroverted and really hates being physically alone.

[leopardmuffinxo]

being someone who craves connection while my toxic trait is self-isolation and avoidance is so cruel

[moonlayl]

Source - The Jerusalem Post

You can’t make this shit up. This is actually insane and disgusting. People can lose their job for pointing this out while a fcking Israeli politician can just literally say this. What the fuck do you mean do to Gaza what was done by the Nazis?

[gothicprep]

Don’t forget the ones that have a raging hatred for you because your take on the guy that lit himself on fire for Palestine

that was actually nuts. that didn’t make life better for any palestinian, and I guess it’s a faux-pas to point that out.

[stunfiskz]

i wish there was more rep for trans characters whose voices don’t pass at all and that isn’t used to mock them.

[simcardiac-arrested]

Rikki cutscene?

phhhhhh my godd covering my mouth and giggling and kicking my legs and rolling around in bed and. rikki . she is everything to me. she’s like if a girl was sooo fail and had everything wrong ever. imagine masking your entire life and pretending that everything is okay. pretending you enjoy the golden child #lifestyle and that you’re actually really respectful and polite and considerate. But actually u are so full of anger. so full of rage and violence. but it’s ok really <3 you’ve been suppressing your emotions for decades and shelving away every problem ever but it’s fineeeeeee believe me it’s fine. it’s all good. yiu’re not even mad. it’s not avoidant and conflict averse behavior it’s just literally fine. also it’s less hassle if there’s no problems and everything’s gucci and no one’s mad (you are mad though. but like dont worry about it). it’s much less hassle to pretend like nothing has ever bothered you at all and to just nod along. you just don’t want trouble. you don’t want to get into trouble. you’re not honest, you might even push someone else under the bus if it helps you stay afloat. you’re only caring and considerate when it benefits you, you don’t actually know any of these people, you don’t actually respect any of them. it’s just easier to pretend like you do. and all you ever wanted was an escape, and you got it, and was it worth it? of course it was, you were doing the right thing, you were following your dreams and saving both him and you. he just didn’t understand—he’s your little brother, of course he didn’t understand. he never even cared, did he? or, wait, you shouldnt badmouth the dead—except of course he’s not dead, everything is fine, he’s just been missing for what, 7 years? but it’s fine. if you acknowledge something bad might have happened to him all those two decades of repressed feelings might just drown you for good. he’s fine. and then it turns out he really is fine. he’s just alive, and—oh. he hates you. he thinks you didn’t care. he thinks you abandoned him (he thinks you hated him). but what else were you supposed to do? you were just trying to save you both, to do the right thing. you wanted a better life. it’s not your fault that you lied, you were just trying to avoid pointless conflict—it’s less hassle that way. but of course he still got mad, because he’s him, and he only ever thinks about himself. and now he thinks you didn’t care. ridiculous. maybe he didn’t care when he tried to talk you out of following your dreams. maybe he didn’t care when he didn’t even leave a note, any sort of explanation. maybe he didn’t care when he said you didn’t care! because that’s so stupid, of course you cared, all you ever cared about was him. see, you did the right thing. you simply knew better. he doesn’t understand. nobody does (nobody ever understood how hard it’s been being the perfect one). but it’s okay. everything’s fine. you guys aren’t even fighting. you’re not even mad! everything’s good. it’s all okay. sure, your brother takes any chance he gets to antagonize you and act like the only victim on planet earth, but really, it’s all good. because you’re so polite. and you’re so respectful, and so considerate, so calm, so rational, so obedient, so perfect. nothing could ever get under your skin (except everything). nothing could ever make you mad (except everyone). and surely nothing could ever make you blow up, make the dam inside you finally burst, make all your anger and grief and every bad emotion under the sun known.

(…except him.)