#the photos/posts will have to wait. also I might try editing some a bit because the quality of them is all over the place x_x

[musicrunsthroughmysoul]

I say, feeling still-sleep deprived, at 3am, from the bottom of my heart, fuck Pinterest.

[limes-sagau]

Mondstadt Sagau Shimegi AU Drabbles

I'm Alive! 

Sorry this took a hot minute to put out, but here's the Mondstadt edition of the Shimeji AU. I did every playable character from Mondstadt, some of them have shorter sections *cough* Mika *cough* simply because they haven't had much screen time in the game or I don't know them well enough. In the future I might do an update post for some of them. Also this should be treated like crack. Now that this is out I can move on to actually writing the First chapter of To Build A Haven which should be up soon. 

ALBEDO:

Curious but not a menace 

He looks at everything your doing with absolute interest 

He wanders around looking at what you're doing and writing what he observes down on a notepad. 

If He’s really interested in something on the page you're on like a photo or text he will snag it to get a closer look (for those who don't know there is a function that allows shimeji to grab items and take them off screen, this can be reversed by simply refreshing). 

He gets a little miffed when you refresh to get the item back in its correct place but he's not upset for long. 

If you leave your computer he will end up messing around and looking up articles on chemistry and physics, he tried searching up alchemy and he just got led down a rabbit hole that he later found out was all fake.

So there's no alchemy in your world, interesting! 

Uhh Oh! He accidentally duplicated! 

He’s immediately on guard once he sees the duplicate

Is that his twin! No wait, the mark on the twins neck is there!

He realizes it is just a full carbon copy of him that just wanders around mindlessly.

He will get a little antsy if you let the duplicates get out of hand in their numbers so make sure to dismiss the duplicates 

He just wants to study this strange world in peace. 

AMBER:

She confused as hell. 

She waves to you whenever you return from getting up from your computer 

She is the opposite of a menace. 

She almost is too helpful 

She sees her knightly duty in this weird in between world to be of help to you. 

If you're easily distracted while working on something like a document she will wave her hands around and try to get your attention so you get back to work. 

And while she is not an expert in grammar she’ll try her best to point out errors in your sentencing. 

When you're not working on something important she has a lot of fun climbing the walls of your screen and jumping off to glide across your screen. 

If you pick her up with your  cursor and toss her she’ll laugh and glide down

Don't shake her though! She’ll get dizzy!

BARBARA: 

Shy babbie!

At first she's kinda cowering in the corner so confused as to what's happening and in awe of your presence. 

Eventually she chills out a bit but she never fully relaxes.

You got spotify going in the background?

Great! This is how Barbara got introduced to (insert music genre here) or (insert artist here) 

She will be scandalized if you play something with profanity, innuendos, or sexual references.

Like full clutching of pearls

Do not play Squidwards Nose for her. She is sweet baby, she doesn't deserve that. 

I'm sorry if some of yall dont like what I'm about to say… but the moment you play one of Taylor Swift's songs she's hooked.

I'm talking like something from Folklore, Evermore, or Midnights.

Her favorites are Clean, Willow, and Snow on the Beach (she does not like the F bomb in that one though)

She does try to give everything you listen to a fair shot even if it might not be her style.

If she likes the song she will sing and dance along to it.

BENNETT: 

He fall over all the time 

So Bennett will be like climbing the side of your screen and will lose his grip and fall. 

If you catch him he'll be so happy.

Hes kinda wandering around your page

He do be trippin (and not in the fun way) 

There was this time where he picked up one of the items on your screen and didn't know how to set it down.

He ran around scared and confused until you refreshed the page. 

If you pick him up and shake him, he will get dizzy. 

DILUC: 

He’s pretty chill 

He will start wandering the internet if you leave him alone with your computer open

Hopefully he doesn't find your fanfics

Who introduced him to Batman?!?!

JUSTICE FOR MONDSTADT!!!

Not that big into the superhero movies but he does really connect with Batman, who would have guessed. 

Show him the Mt. Dew wine or the Peeps Wine from TikTok and the disappointment will be so evident on his face. 

That's not even wine 

If you do bring up some articles on wine brewing and aging techniques he will read them and take some of the methods to possibly use at Dawn Winery. 

DIONA: 

She small she baby 

Normally she’s chill

But If you drink in her presence be prepared to experience the menace of menaces

Every time you leave your computer unattended expect to come back to either your browser being on a local AA group website or on a study showing the impacts of alcohol on the body. 

She aggressively points at what's on screen whenever you come back

She can be reasoned with if you give her a pat.

She can also be pacified by one of those videos of birds meant for cats

She also likes those games made for cats where it's like a bug or ants crawling across the screen and you gotta crush them. 

She tries to jump around the screen but she short, holding her up to catch all the crawlies. 

EULA:

Eula is confused by modern internet slang 

She mainly stands guard in the corner not wanting to get in your way 

She's in the overly respectful gang 

Don't pick her up and shake her she will seek revenge

Likes the cat videos on facebook though

She like the “going no contact with toxic family” type videos on TikTok since she can relate. 

Boomer but she working on it 

FISCHL:

Who let this theater major in the building?

She is by far the most distracting shimeji you can have on your browser 

“The Prinzessin der Verurteilung desires your attention at all hours” 

When your working you literally have to dismiss her if you want to get work done

If you leave her on screen when you leave your computer you will come back to her somehow reading Twilight.

The can of worms has been opened and Fischl's Twilight phase has been unleashed.

She also grows to love shakespeare if you ever have to read one of his works for a class

Holds up skull “Alas poor Yorick”

She does hate The Taming of the Shrew (if you know you know)   

JEAN: 

Like her sister she is also a bit confused 

This internet lingo is so confusing 

This is a facebook mom 

How did she get an account? ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ 

The funny thing is is that she successfully and pretty accurately shuts down alot of bigoted people 

She gain like a cult following of converted beige housewives 

KAEYA:

He isnt distracting like Fischl is but he’s like a cat who wants attention so they climb over your keyboard until you gotta move them and give them pets. 

Menace 

He’s the worst when it comes to fishing your fics out of your files when your away 

You gotta lock them up, time to move everything to your phone… rip storage space. 

You accidentally introduce Kaeya to his new guilty pleasure besides Wine… Horse Girl Movies!!!!

It's bad… It's really bad, his favorites are the movies Spirit and Felicity (yes the American girl movie).

The man misses his horse, why do the favonius cavalry have no horses? the captain of the calvary should have a horse!

He also is somewhat interested in the wine industry from around your world. 

He might give you a list of types he would like you to bring if you ever visit their world. 

KLEE:

Protect this one because she's so smol.

But also keep her from blowing up your documents-

She picks up whatever she wants and will set it down in the wrONg place but if you scold her about it she’ll give you puppy eyes and apologize.

And then do the exact same thing not ten minutes later.

She will wander around wherever she can so do not let her out of your sight. Open tabs, downloads, files, browser history, nothing is safe.

LISA:

similar to albedo in that she is curious about everything.

She likes that she can chill out and read whatever comes on screen

One of the worst if she finds your writing

She will correct your grammar and give suggestions while actively flirtily mocking your work. 

Likes making you flustered in the middle of work 

She requested you make her a playlist on spotify so you sit down and show her a few artists you think she would like 

She adds a bunch of music from (Hayley Kyoko, Muna, Clario, Mxmtoon, and Janelle Monae) 

She listens to it when she's on your computer and you aren't around while she looks through the internet.

MIKA:

I don't know this child!!! 

Literally I know nothing, hopefully he gets more character time in future quests

I'll come add more latter if we are given more 

Spawn in a Len(vocaloid) Shimeji and he’ll be so confused 

Who is this doppelganger! 

MONA:

Girl is going insane learning our world's zodiac system!

You have to dismiss her sometimes because she asks so many questions, some of which you don't know the answer to. 

“What Do You Mean? It's Considered A Pseudoscience!!!” 

She is beyond insulted if you don't believe in astrology.  

If you do believe in astrology she's so excited 

Give her your Natal chart and she’ll be ecstatic

After she learns everything she can about your world's astrology, whenever you boot up your computer she’ll give you your horoscope for the day.   

NOELLE:

She’s so polite! :D

Doesn’t do much climbing, but when she does it’s to clean the cobwebs in the corners of your tabs.

Will remind you to drink water and have stretch breaks every so often and will be very sad if you don't.

You better clear your browser history before she tries to take a broom to it. she doesn’t deserve to see what you look at, you degenerate fifth.

She either likes ICP or studio ghibli soundtracks; there is no inbetween.

RAZOR:

Precious Puppy™

He is very confused by the internet but he’s still very curious . 

Will patiently watch you work and will bite pop-up ads

Starts looking up pictures of wolves cause he's a precious baby and ends up in the furry community. He is very confused. He is very scared. Save him before he learns what an omega is.

ROSARIA: 

She's chill 

She's easily bored so she will on occasion if you are doing work just dip out 

How did she figure out how to dismiss herself?

Most of the time she leaves when your working 

She will stay if there is a church event back on Teyvat that she wants to get out of. 

If you summon Fischl they will both watch Twilight together 

Though Rosaria will leave after the first movie, she doesn’t like any of the other movies. 

She also has a few strong opinions on the way that Stephanie Meyer handled Native Americans in the book. 

SUCROSE: 

very curious and intrigued by the internet and will watch you work from the top of your tab and take notes.

will ask a bunch of questions about and google the answers when you leave.

got into a fight with a redditor about something sciencey you didn’t understand and battled that man for hours.

She won.

She likes watching ted talks and documentaries when you’re on break and wiLL get lost in wikipedia if you let her. Please don’t let her because she is very small and that website is very big. 

VENTI: 

#1 MENACE!!!

He's up about climbing the walls and flying all about the screen. 

If you are trying to get work done good luck 

If you ask he will sit down and be somewhat quiet 

If you listen to music while you work he will either be singing along to it or if the BPM is fast enough singing and dancing along with the music. 

He likes listening to the music you listen to because he can learn what to perform if you ever come to Teyvat.

He at first will be thrown off if you listen to something that's more on the sexual side ( im talking something like Ayesha Erotica, or cupcakKe) but eventually he gets used to it and has a lot of fun distracting you when those types of songs come on. 

Like Kaeya, he is also interested in the wine from your world. 

You have to tell him to narrow down the list he gives you of wines to bring to Teyvat… it was 2 pages long.

[throwing-roses-into-the-abyss]

hi this is rslashknits!! I misread your tags and now see you partially frogged already. sorry about suggesting that again!!

you mentioned a knitting cafe--imo this is what knitting community is for. if you know a trusted expert knitter who you don't mind handing your sweater to I might ask them if they think they can partial frog and fix and demonstrate for you. if your yarn is messed up from your attempted fix I think you can tie in some fresh yarn to replace your old ladders (with knots hidden inside?) but that's a lil scary haha, so I'd defer to an expert on it.

I say this because when I know I messed up and it isn't too many rows down I bring the piece to my mom, lol. and I always learn a lot like that!

if you like my little "I totally did that on purpose fix" where you cover it up and then copy the design across the sweater--if you have a computer program that can do it, I would try and edit the photo first to plan the placement and frequency of the lines and make sure I like it. especially cuz you definitely didn't plan something like that when you started and it's gonna be different visually from your original plan of that sweater. it will also help you decide if you hate the look right off the bat so you don't waste time.

honestly if it were me though I might just wear the mistake out n proud.

again good luck!!

ah no worries! I tend to put a lot of information in my tags but I know not everyone actually reads those, especially if the post gets shared around.

For a full explanation of what happened yesterday, just for context and because, idk, I want to share? :

so my first skein finally ran out and I was trying to join the second one, and I thought I'd knit both the old and the new strand together for a bit to like, strengthen it or something idk. But I accidentally used the wrong strand for a bit, so I dropped that one, picked up the other one, and went along, just to then notice that obviously there's a bit of a floater happening. Then I noticed the float getting looser, so I started pulling it to try and figure out where it was loosening from, but that snapped the yarn. Then I lowkey panicked because I was worried about it not being secure enough and my project falling apart on me so I tried to frog the two rows I'd knit with the new skein and very slowly and carefully put the needle back on, but while doing that I dropped some stitches and created some new ones and also put a lot of it back on the needle the wrong way. And also the next row also partially frogged but I just kind of. Added it to the current row. Then I knit the next row, which was a hassle because I put so much back on wrong. By the end of the row I did figure out how to fix that but, well. That was by the end of the row. And then of course also there were the massive tension issues and gaps where I dropped stitches and I cried.

(in my defence, my brain is already always kinda like this but it's been way worse the past month, I'm definitely not fully "here" and I was already waiting for a big mistake to happen, things were going too smoothly)

Someone else (@pixelhilma) suggested to kind of pull at the stitches to create new tension and then tying the resulting yarn loop into a knot which I might also try? Knitting cafe isn't until friday unfortunately, though I might drop by the yarn store where it's held to ask for advice.

I think tbh I'm more worried about having made a super weird mistake that will cause my project to fall apart at some point. like aesthetically it sucks but I can just wear a blazer over it or hide it with some embroidery like you suggested in your post, but idk if I accidentally made it unstable.

You're so lucky you can just ask your mom! I'm highkey jealous lmao.

[skippyv20]

From the book Spare 

WOKE TO a text from Jason. Bad news. What is it now? The Mail on Sunday had printed the private letter Meg had written to her father. The letter that Granny and Pa urged her to write. February 2019. I was in bed, Meg was lying next to me, still asleep. I waited a bit, then broke the news to her softly. Your father’s given your letter to the Mail. No. Meg, I don’t know what to say, he’s given them your letter. That moment, for me, was decisive. About Mr. Markle, but also about the press. There had been so many moments, but that for me was The One. I didn’t want to hear any more talk of protocols, tradition, strategy. Enough, I thought. Enough. The paper knew it was illegal to publish that letter, they knew full well, and did it anyway. Why? Because they also knew Meg was defenseless. They knew she didn’t have the staunch support of my family, and how else could they have known this, except from people close to the family? Or inside the family? There was nothing in that letter to be ashamed about. A daughter pleading with her father to behave decently? Meg stood by every word. She’d always known it might be intercepted, that one of her father’s neighbors, or one of the paps staking out his house, might steal his post. Anything was possible. But she never stopped to think her father would actually offer it, or that a paper would actually take it—and print it. And edit it. Indeed, that might have been the most galling thing, the way the editors cut and pasted Meg’s words to make them sound less loving. But the pain was compounded tenfold by the simultaneous interviews with alleged handwriting experts, who analyzed Meg’s letter and inferred from the way she crossed her Ts or curved her Rs that she was a terrible person. Rightward slant? Over-emotional. Highly stylized? Consummate performer. Uneven baseline? No impulse control. The look on Meg’s face as I told her about these libels rolling out…I knew my way around grief, and there was no mistaking it—this was pure grief. She was mourning the loss of her father, and she was also mourning the loss of her own innocence. She reminded me in a whisper, as if someone might be listening, that she’d taken a handwriting class in high school, and as a result she’d always had excellent penmanship. People complimented her. She’d even used this skill at university to earn spare money. Nights, weekends, she’d inscribed wedding and birthday-party invitations, to pay the rent. Now people were trying to say that this was some kind of window into her soul? And the window was dirty? Meg wanted to sue. Me too. Rather, we both felt we had no choice. If we didn’t sue over this, we said, what kind of signal would that be sending? To the press? To the world? So we conferred again with the Palace lawyer. We were given a runaround. I reached out to Pa and Willy. They’d both sued the press in the past over invasions and lies. Pa sued over so-called Black Spider Letters, his memos to government officials. Willy sued over topless photos of Kate. But both vehemently opposed the idea of Meg and me taking any legal action. Why? I asked. They hummed and hahed. The only answer I could get out of them was that it simply wasn’t advisable. The done thing, etc. I told Meg: You’d think we were suing a dear friend of theirs. Prince Harry the Duke of Sussex

Thank you. No doubt she wrote this….we KNOW HER STYLE….😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂

[justsomeoneintoomanyfandoms]

Hey, it’s been awhile since I last did this, but I decided to go for as returning to Tumblr felt like a bit of a small nostalgia trip for me, so why not get back to one of my favourite MHA fan writers for old times sake and beside, a lot has changed since last time so why not….

Well anyways, as for the idea I’m going with, I am thinking of going with a remake version of my first Match-Up of an My Hero Academia and Genshin Impact Match-Up, if that is cool with you?

Things That Remained The Same: Of course, my name is still Mason, my zodiac sign is still a Taurus, as well as I still consider myself as He/Him and Straight, along with me having dark brown hair and brown eyes. I also still consider myself as a full blown nerd towards the things I am interested in, although now I am a mix of being a Marvel and DC fan as of currently, I’m still a fan of My Hero Academia though I left the fan base altogether because “MHA Fanbase being MHA Fanbase,” currently I’m looking for different shows that could peak my interest (Such as Zom 100 and maybe RWBY, although that’s because of one RWBY character I like and ticked that the writers killed her off kinda got me into the whole “I like this character, now I’m obsessed,” that being Penny Polendina.) I still do Graphics Designing although I mostly post on Deviantart rather than Tumblr lately, I still have trust and communication with my autism although thankfully it isn’t as bad now of days, as I am a bit more confident with my social skills but mostly towards the people I considered as friends. As of currently, those are all the things I would say that mostly remained the same, as while I get curious with different series and all that, the basic tropes I have such as being a Nerd who loves to do Graphics Designing remained the same. (Oh, and I’m also still doing the best person I can be, though now there are times when I questioned about the goal, but I still follow it as I believed it’s the right thing to do.)

Things That Changed: Alright, now we are getting to the nitty gritty on the things I considered to be pretty changed, I retook the MBTI Personality quiz and I ended up getting a mix of ISFP and ESFP due to the “E” and “I” being 50/50, and while I consider myself more as a ESFP lately, it could depend on my mood depending on the day. I unfortunately shrink down to being a 6’2, I’m planning on trying to get back to doing Voice Acting though I am planning on getting my main PC fixed before I pick up the prices for the plan, while I’m using my laptop to do the graphics designing while I’m waiting til I get the computer fixed up, as well as taking a similar path to trying to get back to writing. I’ve also been watching a lot of Instagram Reels just for laughs, as well as opening a new Instagram account for my graphics designing uploads, as well as moving to a new Photo Editing engine with more features that helped improve on the way I work on my Profiles and Thumbnails. I am also currently doing a bit more hard work to lose some weight, as someone I know personally ended up getting health issues and I didn’t wanna become like him, so I’m trying to be more active and trying to eat a bit more healthy, though it’s hard since I’m someone who likes food in general. And lastly, I am actually planning on growing out my hair to bring out more style to it, with a hairstyle similar to Diluc’s ponytail from Genshin Impact being my go to style if I reach to my satisfied length and width.

Overall, I think that is all the info I have for this one, this might be my biggest info dump I have ever given, as there are some that remained the same along with new things added and somethings changing in my life. I hope you enjoy and remember that you’re always a beautiful on the inside and outside!

Hi Mason! It's good to hear form you again. Getting an updated mutchup is something I think more people should do. Thank you for your request! I hope you like your matchups!

In My Hero Academia, I match you with...

The first matchup change. Although Uraraka would still be a close second, I think Tsuyu would better match you now.

I see Tsuyu as someone who would be surprisingly good at voice acting. It’s not so much that she can do lots of really different voices but she’s passionate and really good at putting emotion into her voice.

Enjoys working out with you. She always finds it more enjoyable when she’s got someone with her. That way they can hype her up and she can hype them up.

Very supportive of your efforts in trying to be the best person you can. Whenever you have moments of doubt, she’ll listen to your worries and give you her honest opinion.

Tsuyu is a firm believer that everyone should be the best person they can be. And she’ll do whatever she can do to support you in that.

Absolutely has one of your graphic designs as her phone’s lock screen. She likes how it looks, as well as how it reminds her of you.

In Genshin Impact, I match you with...

Yes, both of your matchups have changed! Collei is pretty similar to Amber so there not a while lot of difference in your relationship.

The main change is that Collei is significantly more reserved than Amber. While she opens up around people she knows, she’s pretty quiet around those she doesn’t know well.

You can both work on your communication problems and social skills together.

Modern au Collei definitely watches anime. I can see her as a fan of classic shows like Sailor Moon but she would also be into newer shows like RWBY.

Sends you so many Instagram reels. She’s on there all the time and loves watching anything you send to her.

Really good at knowing dietary tips and tricks so Collei is definitely the person to go to for information about eating healthier. If she’s not sure about something, she’ll ask Tighnari, who is sure to know the exact benefits of almost any kind of plant or animal you could ask about.

[babyboibucky]

The Match - Part 8

Pairing: CEO!Bucky x Fem!Reader

Word Count: 2.7k

Summary: You get a preview of what it’s like to be working with Mackenzie.

Warnings: I apologize as there is no smut in here lmfao but there is a stubborn Bucky lols

A/N: The jitters just never go away whenever I post a new part for this ajkcnjasncakjcnakj I find this part boring tbh but uhh things will start picking up again in the next part I promise

The Match Masterlist || MAIN MASTERLIST

Bucky decided to push through with his partnership with Wilson Enterprises. It was a big one, so it definitely required the entire team's effort and perseverance. Apparently, this is the company's biggest, most major project yet so this was going to look really good in your resume. It would also provide you with more credibility to further excel in your career.

Except that Bucky actually hired a marketing consultant to take over the entire project as his revenge.

"Any questions? About the project or about Kenzie?" Bucky asked, standing in front of the conference room, next to Mackenzie.

You confidently raised your hand when no one else did. Bucky tilted his head, a tiny smirk tugging at the corner of his lips. He knew you were affected, of fucking course you were!

"Yes?" he called out.

You stood up and sighed softly, "I mean this in the most respectful way, Mister Barnes." you said, emphasizing his name. "But as the head of marketing, what exactly is my role here? Given that Mackenzie was hired to spearhead the marketing aspect of this project." you said, giving Mackenzie a passive aggressive smile.

"I don't want to overstep on some boundaries here, that's why I'm asking. I just want clarity, that's all." you said.

Bucky was about to respond when Mackenzie stopped him, grabbing his arm and squeezing it before taking over the floor. You narrowed your eyes at how her slender fingers were wrapped around Bucky's arm.

"Honey..." Mackenzie started. "There's nothing to worry about, this is a collaborative work between you and I. So think of yourself as my assistant, someone to help me out with the project." she responded.

Bitch.

"I'm not an assistant, Mackenzie." you said, smiling at her.

Mackenzie laughed, "I'm sorry, my bad. I shouldn't have used that term. Oops." she said. "Although, I believe I have more experience in this area so maybe consider me a mentor?" she suggested.

Bitch!

Bucky cleared his throat, "If you have certain ideas, you can discuss it with her. She is a consultant after all. Given her impressive experience in the field, I'm sure you'll learn a thing or two from her."

The meeting was wrapped up by noon and you simply couldn't wait to get yourself out of the conference room. You didn't feel like talking to Bucky anymore in all honesty, not after what he was doing. You knew this was just to spite you, get you to cave in first and give in to him.

All the more that you wouldn't, especially not when he actually used your job against you.

Everyone started rushing out of the conference room, ready to head out for lunch. As soon as you reached the doorway, you overheard the short conversation between Bucky and Mackenzie.

"Hey Bucky, we still up for lunch?"

-

The bathroom was empty when you stepped inside and thank god for that because you couldn't hold back your emotions any further. Tears gathered in the corner of your eyes, not because you were hurt. Fuck no, you were angry and frustrated. So fucking angry at yourself for getting into this mess, at Bucky for being such an entitled prick, at the entire world for plotting against you.

You groaned in irritation as you wiped away your tears, sniffing as you looked at yourself in the mirror.

You worked your ass off for this job, for your position. You risked your dignity when you let Bucky fuck you. You weren't going to let someone take that away from you.

You quickly fixed yourself when the door opened, followed by the loud clacking of someone's heels.

"Omg, are you crying?" Beverly gasped, rushing over to you.

You snickered, "No." you lied, "My eyes are itchy." you huffed out before noticing that Beverly was holding a sandwich in her hand.

"Why did you bring your sandwich here?" you curiously asked.

Beverly shrugged, "The pantry's full and the other girls don't exactly seem to like me...so..."

You shook your head and sighed, "Come with me, let's have lunch out. I need to get out of this fucking place anyway."

"Yay, omg! I knew you were nice! You're like, the only girl who actually talked to me nicely." Beverly said, tagging behind you as you exited the bathroom.

"Oh, there you are!" Mark called out. "I was looking for you. Wanna grab lunch? Oh...who's this?" he asked, noticing the blonde girl trailing behind you.

"I'm Beverly! I'm Sir James' new secretary." she introduced excitedly.

You sighed, "Don't ask me why." you said when Mark turned to you with a confused look, still not sure what happened to Bucky's previous secretary.

"So, lunch out? With Bev?" you asked.

-

You were completely zoning out during lunch despite the ongoing conversation between Mark and Bev, something about yoga? You honestly couldn't care less, not when you were feeling so conflicted about your current situation.

Would Bucky actually go that far just to get you back? Or does he actually hate you for saying no to him and is basically using his authority to make your life a living hell?

"So I heard about the new girl." Mark said, that snapped you out of your trance.

"Huh?" you asked.

"I find it weird for Mister Barnes to hire someone when you're here." Mark pointed out. "I mean, are you okay with that or..."

You snorted, "Fuck no. Look, I'm not gonna be the bigger person here. I was offended as fuck." you admitted.

"Yeah, it's super weird because she was hired through Tinder or something. Is that even legal?" Beverly pointed out as she scrolled through her phone.

You and Mark turned to her abruptly, "Tinder? Wait, what?" you asked.

Beverly chuckled, "I heard them talking this morning and Kenzie was like, 'It's so funny that we matched on Tinder and ended up doing business there you know' and I'm like omg Sir James has Tinder and I have one too but I never saw him there, bummer."

"Motherfucker." you hissed out.

Mark made a face, "Are you okay?" he carefully asked. "You've been really tensed since last week."

Apparently, Bucky never deleted his Tinder and have been swiping right on women. And that's how he met Mackenzie who just happened to be a marketing consultant. Now you were just furious, was he fucking her too? Has he been fucking other women this entire time?

"Hey, Bev..." you said, a plan hatching inside your mind. "Can I ask you a favor?" you asked nicely.

Beverly nodded, "Um duh, you're basically my office BFF now."

"If you ever hear Mister Barnes and Mackenzie talk about hmm, I don't know...something interesting. Maybe about the project...me 'cause you know, I'm the head of marketing and Mackenzie’s in the same field...let me know, will ya?" you asked.

Mark chuckled nervously, "I don't know what's going on but isn't that an invasion of privacy?"

"She's not going to eavesdrop, Mark. She'll just...listen closely." you explained.

"Bev might get in trouble if Mister Barnes finds out." Mark warned.

You waved a hand, "She'll be fine, Mark. She's his secretary, she has to know everything. Besides, I'm not going to let her get in trouble, if she does then I'll take care of it."

Beverly squealed in delight, "Omg, you are not my office BFF. You're like my office mom! You and Mark are literally my office parents." she said, lifting her phone up in the air.

"Selfie! This one goes to the 'gram." she said, taking a quick photo of the three of you.

She then proceeded to edit the photo while you and Mark continued eating lunch.

"Bev, you should really put your phone away and eat first. We have less than half an hour left for lunch break." Mark called out.

Beverly groaned and rolled her eyes, "Way to get into the role, Mark. You're such a dad."

You snorted, "Yeah. Loosen up, daddy." you teased.

"Playing family after just one date, huh."

Bucky's presence in the same restaurant should've really intimidated you, most especially that he just witnessed you tease Mark like that. But you were too mad at him to even care, what was the point even? He didn't believe you even when you told him the truth that Mark was just a friend.

Why even try now?

"Hi Sir James." Beverly greeted happily.

"Mister Barnes." Mark acknowledged.

Bucky ignored them and kept his eyes on you. You didn't falter under his gaze and simply stared back at him with blank eyes. It's as if a staring competition took place when the both of you merely looked at each other, neither of you looking away nor attempting to do so.

"How was that date last Friday, Jim?" Bucky asked, his eyes still trained on yours.

Mark made a funny face at the name that Bucky called him but shrugged anyway. Before he could even respond, you decided to answer on his behalf. If Bucky wanted to spite you, you'd give him a taste of his own medicine.

"It was actually great. We might go on another one this Friday." you said.

"We are?" Mark asked in a whisper.

Bucky's hand landed on Mark's shoulder, "Don't count on it, Andrew. She's going to be doing a lot of work on Friday due to the project." he said through gritted teeth.

You shrugged, "Oh, but I thought Mackenzie's doing all my work?"

"I'm ready to head back, Buck."

Speak of the devil herself. Mackenzie weaved through the tables and approached Bucky, her face brightening up when she saw you, Mark and Beverly.

"Oh, hey you." she greeted you. "Look, I think we may have started off on the wrong foot earlier. I'm not here to take your job, just here to spice things up a bit. Improve your ideas, give Bucky some assistance." she chuckled, holding onto Bucky's arm yet again.

You fought back the urge to grab your glass of water and throw it at her face. As the saying goes, kill them with kindness. So you merely shrugged and extended an arm for a handshake.

"Of course. I would love to improve your ideas as well, you know. Just a healthy discourse between two marketing professionals. We good?" you said.

Mackenzie forced out a chuckle and reached for your hand, "We’re good. I look forward to working with you." she said before turning back to Bucky who was still gazing at you.

"Let's go?" she asked sweetly.

Bucky smirked at you before wrapping an arm around Mackenzie's waist, guiding her out of the restaurant the same way he did to you. You were too focused on Bucky's body language around Mackenzie that you failed to notice that Mark was watching you closely, your expressions and how you reacted towards Bucky.

"I think I know what's happening."

-

"You what?!"

"Shhh!" you hushed Mark and peeked out of the empty pantry to make sure the coast was clear.

Mark noticed the tension between you and Bucky and he came to a conclusion that the both of you dated at one point. He wasn't really wrong but he wasn't right either. So you decided to tell him everything, from the moment you matched with Bucky on Tinder until your last conversation with him last Saturday.

"I honestly thought you were dating, I didn't know there was sex involved. No wonder he had been calling me weird names." he said incredulously. "Was that you and Mister Barnes that Janet reported to the HR?" he asked, stifling his laughter.

You groaned, "Yes. Ugh, gave me a panic attack when I found out about that incident report." you said.

"Hey..." Mark called out. "Thank you for trusting me enough to tell me this. Your secret is safe with me." he reassured.

You nodded, "I think it was about time that I told someone about us anyway. This whole situation is driving me crazy and I don't know what to do next. And I'm sorry for dragging you into this mess, I shouldn't have said that we were going out again. I don't want you or your job getting compromised because of our petty fight." you exhaled.

You had to admit, you felt so much better now after confiding with Mark. It somewhat alleviated the weight on your shoulders, knowing that there was someone aware of what you were going through. Who would've thought that this person would end up being Mark? You did have friends outside of work of course, but you felt like they all wouldn't really understand the situation.

Half would hate you for rejecting Bucky and the other half would hate you for even swiping right on him.

"Do you mind an unsolicited advice?" Mark asked.

"Not at all." you said.

"Ignore him. Don't let him or Mackenzie get to you. Do what you do best, you're great at your job and you'll be fine. That might get him to realize that you're not a prize to be won. And if he still doesn't see that, then that's his loss. You're more than just that hot marketing girl at work." Mark said.

You laughed at his last statement, "Hot marketing girl at work?" you asked, shaking your head.

"It's true. So if in any case you decide to ditch the CEO and move on, you know where to find me." he joked, throwing a wink your way.

-

You wanted to finish all your reports so you could focus on the huge project so you decided to work until around nine in the evening. The floor was already empty by the time you were done. Bucky seemed to be working too, given that he was still replying to e-mails at this hour. Wanting to get all the reports over with, you decided to submit it to him before going home.

During the elevator ride to Bucky’s floor, you couldn’t help but wonder whether he was alone in the office. Would Mackenzie be there with him? Even at this hour? Your grip on the folder tightened at the thought of catching them in the act.

But did you have any right to feel this way though?

Brushing off the thoughts, you exhaled loudly and prepared yourself for whatever it was you were to witness. Upon reaching the door to Bucky’s office, you slightly turned your head to listen to anything. It was quiet. No hushed whispers nor strained grunts-- they weren’t fucking, thank goodness for that.

You decided not to knock and just walk inside like you used to, reminding yourself of Mark’s advice.

Don’t let Bucky get to you.

When you saw Bucky hunched over his desk, typing away on his e-mails instead of bending a certain brunette somewhere in his office, you had to admit that you were relieved. He looked up and his eyes looked dead tired, you almost felt sorry for him. Almost.

“You should really learn how to knock.” Bucky called out, slamming his laptop shut.

“Look, Bucky. I was just rushing to submit these reports so I can go home.” you explained and placed the folder on top of his desk.

Bucky frowned, “I said to call me Mister Barnes.”

You huffed out, “I honestly don’t care, Bucky. I’m not playing your damn games anymore.” you said and turned around.

A hand on your arm pulled you back, harshly turning you around to face Bucky. He was fuming, as usual. At this point, you were no longer fazed.

“You think I don’t know what you’re trying to do?” he asked.

You clenched your jaw and pulled your arm back, “I’m not doing anything. You bring in Beverly or Mackenzie or whoever it is that you have up your sleeve. I don’t fucking care. I just want to focus on work.” you said and stepped away.

“And you should too, Bucky.” you added.

“I don’t believe you.” he said.

You sighed, your shoulders dropping from exhaustion at this whole shenanigan. “I’m done, Bucky.”

And with that you turned around to exit his office, leaving Bucky unsure whether you truly meant what you said. A victorious smirk graced your lips as you walked back to the elevator.

You were far from done.

-

The Match Special Tags:

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[salemwritesxx]

𝓷𝓸 𝓶𝓸𝓻𝓮 𝓱𝓲𝓭𝓲𝓷𝓰.

𝔹 𝔸 𝕂 𝕌 𝔾 𝕆 𝕌   𝕂 𝔸 𝕋 𝕊 𝕌 𝕂 𝕀

     ⇴ male reader [pro-hero]      ⇴ all characters are depicted as [18]+

↳ summary: You are Katsuki’s little secret, since he can’t be open about your relationship. Inevitably, all falls apart eventually when you want to attend the pride parade in Tokyo and you want Bakugou to come with you.

↣ rating: general audiences ↣ warnings: bakugou being insecure about his sexuality, an argument/fight break-up in the beginning but fluffy at the end, coming out, fluff

｡☆✼★━━━━━━━━━━━━★✼☆｡

“I just don’t understand why you won’t come with me?!”

“You know damn fucking well why!”, Katsuki argued back, his already loud voice reaching it’s peak. You had been fighting for quite some time.

“I just don’t know why the fuck you keep being so… stubborn! UGH!”, you really had to hold yourself back to not punch the next wall, thus you went away from the situation into the living room. Katsuki, however, following you immediately.

“You knew when we started dating that I… I can’t be open about this stuff!”, he screamed again, though became quieter at the end. His stiff shoulders relaxing a little when he sighed.

“Why can’t you understand and fucking respect that??”

“Look!”, you suddenly stood up again, meeting him eye to eye, “I understand, okay?! I know not everyone can be open, but fuck- Katsuki. It’s been almost a year since we started dating??”

You sighed and rubbed over your face before falling back into the couch.

“I just thought this time around I could already openly show my affection towards you.”

Bakugou felt guilty and bad. He knew he wasn’t easy to date. Always being cautious no one would see or notice. Always hiding. Just so no one would find out Bakugou Katsuki was into men. He knew he hurt you.

“I’m sorry, okay? But I can’t…”, he barely mumbled, then also sighed.

“Okay. Fine.”, and Bakugou really thought that’s it when you said that, but…

“And I am sorry but I can’t continue this relationship.”

And it truly was like someone punched him in his face and kicked him in his balls all at the same time.

“Wha- Wai- I- What?”, he stammered, ruby eyes widened.

“You heard me. I’m sorry. But I am done being treated like your dirty little secret.”, you said, and with that, you stood up and walked past him.

 ----

“HEEYY BRO!”, your friend shouted while semi-walking and kind of dancing towards you with two alcoholic drinks in his hand.

The music was loud. The temperature gruesome. But seeing so many people, proud and happy, made you also happy. It was also a nice way to try and forget what happened last week, the inevitable break up with your boyfriend… and you really thought you could give him strength to come out eventually.

“Thanks, Aki.”, you said, more shouted against the music, when he gave you something to drink.

While faking a small smile, you watched as he danced back into the crowd as you just walked on the sidelines, wishing that you could have brought Bakugou with you and just enjoy this moment. How much you yearned to just drink and be cute with your boyfriend during this parade so everyone could see and he wouldn’t care.

But it wasn’t that simple and it wasn’t your responsibility to force him out of the closet. But… it WAS your responsibility to do what was best for yourself and you knew you couldn’t keep on waiting.

.

Bakugou knew he had to do something. He loved you. And he wasn’t willing to give up on you or the relationship you had. Katsuki wanted to be together with you. He also knew very well that he shouldn’t be hiding anymore. He had been scared people wouldn’t want to be saved by him anymore, that his career as a hero would die if he was open about his sexuality, but… you had always been open. And yet, you were, just like him, in the Top Ten of Japan’s Pro-Heroes and there had never been an instance where someone commented on your sexuality negatively.

Maybe, he just lied to himself. People were much more accepting, even praising you for being an idol to young queer kids. But, for him, not wanting people to know you were together was safer than having to break up and explain things, yet… Katsuki was ready to get you back and tell everyone he loved you. No more hiding. No more lies. Just being honest and open and vulnerable.

But for god’s sake getting through this fucking crowd was almost impossible.

“Fucking Jesus, where the hell are you?!”, he growled to himself while hastily looking around. So many people. How did he think he was able to find you in such a big parade?

And it was so damn hot, too. Ugh! Why couldn’t he realize all of these things a few days ago, then he could have easily walked up to your door and talk to you, but no. Then again, Bakugou DID want to prove to you he was ready to change, so there was no better place than during this parade. Though, if he couldn’t find you, everything was in vain.

“KitKat…”

When he heard those words, a jolt went through his body, making Katsuki stand there stiffly for a few seconds, just to slowly turn around in the end. There was only one person who was able to utter this nickname without getting murdered.

You stared at him in disbelief just as much as he stared back at you with wide eyes and in shock. He wasn’t prepared to suddenly be found and not be the one finding you.

“What are you do-“, you wanted to ask, however, were interrupted by Bakugou sprinting towards you and into your arms. And it felt right holding him again – fuck.

“Wait, Kat-“

But before you could say anymore, he had grabbed your neck and pulled you towards him, connecting your lips in the middle of the streets while people were walking past you. Some even cheering and howling while doing so.

It was just a short kiss, before he pulled back to look into your [eye.color] eyes.

“I love you, [Your.name]. And I’m sorry. I know you deserve better, like fuck, look at me. I am trash.”

“You’re hot trash though.”, you teased him with a grin, thankfully making him snort and playfully punch you.

“I will be open. No more hiding. Life’s too fucking short to worry about what others think. Sorry it took so long to understand. Can you forgive me?”

The music was still blasting, the crowd cheering, yet, you heard him perfectly and it really warmed your heart. Thus, with a smile on your lips, you nodded.

“Yeah. Forgiven and Forgotten.”

So, you pulled him closer, your arms wrapped around his smaller frame as your lips collided once more, not caring about anything or anyone other than the man in your arms. And for Bakugou it wasn’t any different. He had never cared about anyone before, about their presumptions about him becoming a villain with his quirk, or him not being suited to be a hero, so why was he so hung up about being gay? Fuck it if anyone knew.

He wasn’t going to hide in any closet ever again.  

And as he grabbed your hand to march alongside you while singing and drinking – Katsuki knew it was the right decision and he would never regret it.

---

The next morning, he found himself hugged against your body while your head was snuggled into his pecs, which elicit a small snort from him. Yeah… waking up like that was something he had missed the last week. As he looked to the side though, Katsuki saw his phone blinking and lighting up wildly – something was going on.

And soon, he found out what had been going on. His agency was calling and he was tagged in way too many Twitter posts, because someone had snapped a photo of him and you yesterday during the pride parade, embraced and kissing. This was now going around the internet. But for once, he didn’t give a fuck about it.

Instead, he fueled the fire when he flopped back into the bed and snapped a photo of himself, flipping them off and with you visibly cuddling him. His caption: Just woke up like this. Happy Pride Month, fuckers!

｡☆✼★━━━━━━━━━━━━★✼☆｡

@salemwritesxx || do not repost, edit, modify or translate my works

⇻ salem.talks: happy pride month y’all, let’s be loud and proud of who we are 🌈 usually I believe baku wouldn’t give two fucks about what others think about him, but for the sake of this story I might have made him a bit ooc

[morbsxadorbs]

so because baron zemo’s been a source of serotonin for me lately as I’ve been trying to work on my fic which makes his snubbing in the current thunderbolts announcement suck all that much more, I thought I’d shoot some outfit photos with my zemo muse doll 💜

photos and more info under the cut to save dash space!

I introduced him over on my fandom blog @nbraraeaves when I first got him a while ago - as I think I mentioned in the plush guide I reblogged the other day, I got him from Meizai on etsy a couple years ago a while after I first started from sokovia with love. the coat and shirt he’s wearing are part of the outfit she custom-designed for him! the pants are some generic suit trousers I swapped in, and the boots are actually from a Loki cotton doll I ordered on ebay years ago without really knowing what it was (thus making him my first doll in this style).

here he is in just his shirt, please feel free to add your own “I Came for the Low” in the background:

anyway, onto this slapdash fashion show that I put together while no one came to my drop-in hour for work lmao 😂

1. I try to have a “casual” outfit for my plushies that travel with me a lot back and forth to my family’s place in TX, and Zemo is one that usually comes with just bc I never know when I’m going to get bit by the from sokovia bug again. I bought him this hoodie bc it’s purple, albeit a different shade from his main color, but I also just really wanted to see him in something cute and silly. (excuse my crooked bow, I’m still working on my technique)

Just modeling the hood up, with a different angle for the embroidered details one might miss on his enormous noble head.

2. I have a puffy pirate shirt that I bought specifically to give my different plushies their macfayden Mr. Darcy moment (minus water obvs), and on Zemo I always think of him being cajoled into posing for a traditional portrait by his parents, maybe when he’s still working his way up through the ranks of EKO Scorpion:

(I always have to tuck it in to his trousers bc otherwise it looks like an old fashioned christening gown lmao)

behold: a handsome boy! a boy of many talents!! and he will begrudgingly pose for photos!! ✨

2.5. I’ve been wearing a sword necklace I got a few years ago recently as I’ve been planning chapter 10, and I suddenly desperately needed to know how it would look if I gave it to him to hold -

with some quick thinking to make the chain itself into a sort of harness belt, it turns out he looks quite dashing wielding his family’s ancestral weapon!!

a close up for detail (and just me showing how I balanced it):

3. then of course I had to see how he looked with his usual coat over top, and definitely got a swashbuckling-‘92 Candyman hybrid vibe that I adore with his little frilly sleeves sticking out 🖤

look at him. isn’t that the cutest shit. what the hell.

4. finally, I don’t have his famous bathrobe yet bc I’m still looking for the right color, but for now, here are his pajamas, which are the closest I’ve managed to come right now:

look at him. flourishing. thriving. unbothered ✨

my next goal outfit is to replicate the first ever art I got for anything I’d ever written, this piece by my buddy Toni aka @imalsonotsure aka @three-stacked-raccons:

[insert the Dean IronGiant “It’s ART!!!”.gif bc I’m editing on mobile and hit my image limit lmao)

I have the pink shirt and glasses, I’m just waiting on the pink cardigan to get to my folks’ house (as it was a birthday gift this past year). I’m sure I’ll post an updated photo from there once I can put it all together!!

Next likely photos will either be chibi!Maxi or his secret alt twin mini!Maxi (long story to be explained), or maybe my bat collection, which is now large and historic as I’ve literally been picking them up since I was a wee baby bat myself. 🦇🖤

anyway, thanks for humoring me and my old camera! I just really love my little plushies, and figured that I might as well start sharing them with others who might like them too 🖤🖤🖤

[s0seo]

Attitude Adjustment Pt.2

Pairing: Roommate!Jk x Reader x Roommate!Taehyung

WC: ~10.8K. Rating: M.

Description: After hearing an argument between your two roommates, you are a bit shocked to hear that they both have feelings for you. Add a bit of possessiveness and a dash of domination and you have one heck of a trio.

Genre: Smut. It’s literally just smut Bit of exposition, but it’s a filthy mess.

Warnings: little to no editing, swearing, bit of humor, dirty talk, a bit of guilt, hair pulling, slight choking, rough sex, low key masochism? (Idk they like their pleasure and pain), possessiveness, jk is sweet for a few seconds, unprotected sex (please be responsible), nipple appreciation (love to see it), praise kink  (Taehyung is a good boy), soft dom vibes, use of a wall, oral sex (f&m receiving), scratching, mentions of jealousy, possessiveness, mentions of yoga, usage of the words: princess and baby.

A/n: I hope you all enjoy! And as always I hope everyone stays happy and healthy. If you see a typo, no you didn’t, and if you don’t like fics like this, then don’t @ me I told you it was filthy.

A/n 2: I really want to send a shoutout to @mwitsmejk . Tbh I’d you hadn’t commented on the post I wouldn’t have written this, so I guess you could say this is for you ❤️😉

A/n 3: I’d also like to give a big thank you to @hobeemin and @jimidol for giving this a glance and making sure it was good enough to post.

© s0seo please do not copy or edit as protested under this license :)

“God, you’re so beautiful.”

You feel the words being whispered against your skin, pulling you from your slumber. From the gravelly tone, you're pretty sure it’s Jungkook.

For a moment, you think it’s just your imagination. After all, you were alone when you went to sleep last night, weren’t you?

A featherlight touch on your shoulder brings back everything that happened last night; the movie, the sex, god the sex, and ultimately falling asleep together.

‘Fuck,’ you think to yourself. ‘Why the hell did you have to make a move on both of them? And at the same time!’

This is definitely going to change things. But now, the only question is, how? You know that you’re interested in both of them and vice versa, but would they be willing to share?

God, just the reminder of the word makes you cringe internally at yourself. Telling Taehyung to share probably wouldn’t be that hard, but Jungkook… That needs to be handled...very, very delicately.

In retrospect, telling him that if he wanted you, he was going to have to learn to share while teasing him and making him watch as Taehyung fucked you was probably one of the worst ways you could have approached the subject. Well, you live and you learn.

The more you think about it though, the more you realize you don’t regret any of what happened. If anything you felt a bit satisfied at the look on his face as you took his ego down a few notches. What was it that Jungkook said to you last night right as you were falling asleep? “If it came down to it, you’d be all mine.”

Figures, you were a fool to think that just one night of teasing would get his ego under control.

A warm arm wraps around your body and you feel Jungkook’s muscular chest pressing against your back as he whispers, “I know you’re awake. If you want to avoid me, you’re going to have to try a lot harder than that.”

Maybe you’ll get another chance to play with his ego sooner than you thought. After all, putting him in his place and making him squirm has always been so much fun. If you didn’t know any better, you might even say that he enjoys it just as much as you do.

You release a quiet chuckle at his words before slowly sliding your body further back against his. If the firmness against your ass doesn’t tell you that he knows you’re awake, then his quiet groan in your neck certainly does.

Slowly opening your eyes, you hold back your disappointment as you find the space in front of you empty. Taehyung must have left early this morning to take a few photos. You know he’s been working on a photography project, but you thought he might have woken you up before he left.

“Morning,” you hear Jungkook whisper once more, his voice still scratchy from sleep. His fingers trace circles over your stomach, and as he presses his lips into your neck, you rub your ass against the hardness behind you, smiling to yourself as he releases another quiet groan. The sound alone brings warmth to your core.

You slowly turn over and look up at him. He stares into your eyes from behind his messy waves, his hand on his fist as he smiles playfully down at you.

“Hi there,” he says softly, and this time, his fingers slide along the curve of your waist. His smile is infectious. You’re almost tempted to run your hands along his body and turn his grin into a whimper. Almost.

“Tell me, were you pretending to be asleep because you regret what happened, or because you were hoping I’d wake you up with something other than words?”

His implication sends a wave of heat through your body, and you imagine just how good it would feel to be awoken by the feeling of his lips on your skin while his fingers tease you.

You return his smile as you admire his messy hair along with the visible bruise in between his throat and his collarbone. A small part of you knows they’re going to be an inconvenience for him, but you don’t really care. If anything, it only makes you want to give him more. Slowly, you reach up and brush your finger against his collarbone. He closes his eyes and leans his forehead against yours.

“Neither. I was just waiting for you to leave so I could have the entire bed to myself again.”

You take the opportunity to give him a light playful kiss then trail your lips down to his neck.

“I guess that’s not going to happen now is it,” you pout playfully against his skin.

His arm wraps around your body, pulling you closer, and he rolls onto his back until you’re left straddling him. He looks up at you, smirking as his hands slowly travel down from your waist to your thighs.

“Now what kind of guy would I be if I left you without even saying goodbye,” he asks as his hands finally settle on your ass.

You know his words were likely meant to be a dig at Taehyung, but you ignore them and instead glance at your clock and smile. “Don’t you have to leave soon?”

“I’ve still got like an hour. I'm sure they’ll be fine without me for a few minutes,” he assures you. “Besides,” his hands slide up your waist once more as he sits up and glances over at the mattress where Taehyung should be. “What’s wrong with wanting you all to myself for a bit? Don’t you want to have some fun?”

He leans in for a kiss but you hold a finger up to his lips to stop him.

“Uh-uh. Go. You need to shower. I don’t want to be the reason you’re late. Besides, your morning breath is practically lethal.”

He lets out a playful chuckle at your insult and before you can react, he gives your finger a playful nibble and wraps his arms around you.

You release a cry of surprise when he rolls your bodies over and settles himself between your legs. One of his hands pins your wrists above your head while the other travels down to the side of your body and lingers.

“You want to talk about morning breath,” he teases from above you. “I’m pretty sure your snoring could be heard from the other side of the city.”

A smile fights its way to your face, you are reminded once again why you consider him one of your best friends. His jealousy and possessiveness might leave much to be desired, but he is also one of the sweetest, silliest, and funniest people you know.

You let out a gasp of mock offense and see a mischievous glint make its way to his eyes. His fingers slowly slide up to your rib cage, and as you stare into his eyes, you know what’s about to happen.

“Don’t you dare,” you warn as you try to hide your grin and narrow your eyes at him. He smiles down at you suspiciously, and before you can push his hands away they’re on your sides tickling you. You release a cry of laughter, rolling your bodies over once more to straddle his waist as you begin tickling him as well.

For a few seconds that feel much longer, the two of you continue to roll one another over and claim your victory again and again. Finally, Jungkook cries out in defeat and you settle yourself on top of him once more as you look down at him and gloat.

“Looks like someone forgot they’re ticklish too…”

Your breathing is heavy as you pin his wrists above his head and you fight off a receding wave of giggles. Leaning down close to his face you can’t help but smile down at him. His eyes sparkle, and his smile is wide as he gazes up at you and steals a glance at your lips.

As you take in his expression, you realize once again how much you care about him.

His bright eyes stare deeply into yours, searching for something you can’t quite put your finger on.

You’ve noticed this look before, many times actually. It’s as if you’re the most beautiful and important thing in the world, and if he looks away even for a moment, he’ll miss you.

This is the look that has made your heart skip a beat so many times over the years, he’s always been so easy to be happy with. Joking, teasing, even when you’re struggling, you’ve always appreciated how easily he gets you.

You glance down at his mouth, your fingers lightly caressing his face before planting a soft, slow kiss on his lips. His hips rise up in response, and you feel his firmness meeting your core as he grabs your hips and begins grinding your body into his.

You know that all it would take to keep him here is sliding forward a few inches, and if you did he probably wouldn’t even argue with you. It would be so easy.

‘No,’ you chide yourself. ‘He has to get to work.’

You’re not going to let yourself be the reason he comes home later complaining about how much he’s fallen behind on his workload.

“What am I going to do with you,” you sigh as you smile down at him and caress his face once more. Just the sight of him is so precious.

He reaches up and smiles, pushing a bit of your hair behind your ear as he admires you in return.

“I can think of a few things…” he teases.

“That won’t make you late,” you counter as he sits up once more.

“Well,” he says, “I do need to shower before I leave. Thanks to someone,” he teases, planting a playful kiss on your neck afterwards, “I got a bit dirty last night.”

“How unfortunate,” you pout, “well I just so happen to have a perfectly good shower that isn’t being used.”

His hands lazily massage your ass as he pretends to consider your offer.

“Who am I to refuse the offer of someone so beautiful and kind,” he asks, releasing a fake sigh.

You roll your eyes at his cheesiness and chuckle as you climb off of him, your smile now a copy of the one he gave you earlier.

As you watch him get out of bed, you admire his figure from behind. His shoulders and back are well toned, and the tattoos that run up and along his arm are all complimented by the curve of his biceps. Not to mention the scratch marks left on his shoulders from your nails last night.

“You know, normally I’d say it’s rude to stare, but in your case, I guess I should just ask if you’re enjoying the view.”

Your gaze travels from his lower body to his eyes, only to find him smirking at you over his shoulder.

In a lot of ways, you see yourself in him. His confidence, his humor, and his commitment to those he cares about is close if not equal to your own.

He was right when he said that the two of you were perfect for each other. However, what he continuously fails to realize is that unlike him, you can keep your cockiness and selfishness in check. Well, most of the time anyways.

You return his smirk and rise out of your bed. Making sure to keep your tone innocent, you walk up to him slowly.

Looking up at him from beneath your eyelashes, you glance down at his lower body and tease, “it’s nothing I haven’t seen before…nothing too impressive here...”

He releases a doubtful chuckle before turning around to walk into your bathroom.

“Umm what do you think you’re doing,” you ask him before he can take a step in.

He looks down at you in confusion.

“I thought you said I could use your shower?”

“Of course you can, but just because I let you use my shower doesn’t mean I’ll let you track water all over the floor once you’re done.”

He lifts his eyebrows up at you as if to say “really,” but you guide him out of your room and confess, “alright, you got me. I don’t really give a shit about the water, I just really have to pee, and as close as we are, I don’t really need you to watch me.”

He holds back a chuckle at your confession, but you ignore him and continue. “Besides, you need to get your toothbrush and your clothes anyways.”

He lets out a laugh at your words and gives you a nod of defeat. “Of course, I’ll leave you to it then.” He winks down at you before casually walking down the stairs to his bedroom.

‘For someone who said they needed to get to work, he sure is taking his sweet ass time,’ you think to yourself as you rush to your bathroom and finally manage to relieve yourself.

Afterward, you quickly brush your teeth and turn the shower water on so that it’s warm for Jungkook when he comes back.

While you wait for him to return, you take the opportunity to look in the mirror and check out the damage from last night.

As your eyes finally settle on your reflection, you release a gasp, trying your best not to cringe at your reflection. This is what Jungkook called beautiful just now?

Your cheeks are puffy, smudged mascara surrounds your eyes, and there are dried outlines of black tears scattered along the sides of your face. You reach up to put your hair in a bun as you inspect the bruises on your neck and collarbones.

‘That’s going to be inconvenient to cover,’ you think to yourself. It’s a good thing you don’t have class today. You don’t know what you’d do if your professor saw his most promising assistant with bruises all over her neck.

Still gazing at your reflection, you smile and admire the marks further down your body as you remember the feeling of the mouths that put them there. The potential thought of more is already getting you much more excited than it should.

The bruises on your shoulder blades from the wall Jungkook pinned you against match the ones on your thighs from how hard he grabbed you. You were aware of his strength, but feeling him grab you like that and watching his muscles flex as he pounded himself into you was really something else.

The image of the scratches on your back brings a pleasant shiver down your spine and into your core as you remember the matching set you gave Jungkook as you wrapped your legs around his waist and pulled him deeper.

Just thinking about it makes you want to dedicate an entire day to let him fuck you again and again until you beg him to stop.

Now that you think about it, he seems so laid back about everything that happened last night. Maybe discussing your relationship won’t be that difficult after all. The understanding between the two of you might actually form on its own.

He’s always been this way with you. No matter what you’ve done, who you’ve slept with, or what others have said about you, Jungkook has always been by your side to support you, to care for you. Honestly, a part of you sometimes wonders why. You just wish he wasn’t so fucking possessive and cocky all the time.

The reflection of Jungkook’s slender frame pulls you from your thoughts, and you make a point of inspecting his body for any marks that might seem troubling.

“What,” he asks, his toned body walking towards you.

“I feel kinda bad for all of the bruises I left on you,” you admit. While they look pretty to you, you know that ultimately they’re going to be a problem.

He looks at himself in your slightly fogged mirror and shrugs at his reflection before wrapping his arms around the front of your body.

“Don’t worry about it, I don’t really care about them.”

You lower your head a bit but persist, “Still, I probably should have asked if you were okay with it before I did it. I know I pushed you kinda far last night with the teasing and the pain.”

“Actually,” he looks up at the ceiling as he thinks, “I don't mind a little bit of pain, giving or receiving.” He adds the last part with a wink and a nibble on your ear.

“Oh really? And what about the teasing,” you ask, slowly turning your body towards him, ready to test his claim.

He grins down at you with a spark of mischief in his eyes. “I love a challenge.”

You let your eyes roam across his face and give him a smirk. “Noted.”

Reaching up, your finger traces over one of the marks you left on his neck, and grimace a bit.

“Won’t these be inconvenient to cover though,” you ask, adding a bit of pout to your voice.

He angles his head before asking, “now why would I cover them?”

“Well, they aren’t exactly the image of professionalism,” you counter.

He gives you a smirk. “What are they going to do, fire me from my own company?”

You open your mouth to argue, but he raises a finger to your lips to interrupt you. “Seriously, don’t worry about it.”

You open your mouth to bite at his finger, but he gives you an amused smile and releases a dramatic sigh.

“If anything,” he mutters quietly, “they might make work a bit easier.”

He leans back against the wall, a hand running through his hair as he gazes down at you through half open lids.

‘Easier?’ You ask yourself silently. ‘What the hell does he mean easier?’

You place a hand on your hip while raising an eyebrow. “I really don’t see how.”

Cockiness radiates off of him as he reaches grins and pulls your body to his. “Well, I usually have a hard time getting around the office without employees throwing themselves at me.”

His confession makes you roll your eyes. ‘Of course he can’t make it five feet without being hit on,’ you think to yourself sarcastically. ‘After all, who would ever be able to turn down the famous game designer Jeon Jungkook?’

Your eyes search his face for a moment. You can’t tell if he’s saying this to be honest or if it’s just to see how you’ll react. Knowing him as well as you do, it’s most likely a bit of both. You’ve seen first hand just how many people would like a piece of him. Yourself included.

Still, would it hurt him to show a bit of humility every once in a while? You let out a laugh at his brazenness. Surely he doesn’t expect you to fall for this does he? His hand slides down the curve of your spine as you bat your eyelashes at him. If he wants to be this way, fine. Two can play at this game.

“Why don’t you just tell them you have a girlfriend or something,” you ask, feigning innocence.

He leans his head back against the wall, a chuckle leaving his pretty lips. “Trust me, I’ve tried, but they never believe me.”

When you don’t respond and instead simply narrow your eyes at him, he continues. “I don’t have any proof. No pictures, no date nights, no random gifts. It's almost like I…” he raises his eyebrows at you dramatically, “don’t have a girlfriend.”

“And just how often does this happen,” you ask, vaguely aware of the jealousy lining your tone. Now that you think about it, as much as you complain about Jungkook’s jealousy and possessiveness, when it comes to the thought of someone else having him, you aren’t much better.

His glances down at you silently, slowly walking you backwards until he presses your body between the counter and his muscular body. The muscles in his arms flex as he places his hands on both sides of your body and traps you against him. His face is hovering just inches from yours now, and he gives you a smirk that quickly turns into a playful pout. “Every. Single. Day,” he whispers, bringing his lips closer and closer to yours with every word.

You trace your finger down the side of his face, your eyes conveying a look of mock sympathy. ‘Now he’s just begging for me to claim him,’ you think, as you graze your nails along his throat.

“Oh you poor thing, it must be so hard fighting off all of those pretty girls and boys every day,” you tease, your pointer finger now grazing his bottom lip as you continue. “Constantly begging for your attention, begging for you to make them yours…”

“Yeah,” he agrees, noticing your jealousy, “it really is. But you know what the most satisfying part is?”

You angle your head at him, and he slides his hand along your thighs before grabbing your ass and lifting you onto the counter.

“What?”

He glances down at your lips, whispering into the steamy air between your faces, “Knowing that at the end of the day, no matter how hard they try, they’ll never compare to you.” His tone is playful, but his eyes are serious. “I belong with you.”

“You belong with me,” you echo back to him, finding satisfaction in his claim. Your nails lightly graze his scalp and shoulder as you stare up at him, a seductive smile spreading across your face.

He leans into your lips and whispers, “I always have baby,” before meeting them with his own.

The kiss is passionate yet unhurried. Your tongue flicks against his bottom lip while your legs wrap around his waist to pull his body closer. As he opens himself up to you your fingers find their way to his jaw and firmly hold it in place. His lips break apart from yours as you stare into his eyes. “You’re mine,” You say slowly, placing one more kiss on his lips. He’s perfect for you. He moans into your lips, his hands sliding down to your hips to pull your body into his while his head drops down to your chest.

You slide your nails lightly up the length of his abs as you pull away and bite down on his bottom lip. He’s intoxicating. His lips, his body, everything about him.

“Say it,” you breathe.

You release a whimper as his teeth graze the sensitive skin of your nipple, your fingers lacing through his messy waves.

“I’m all yours,” he says, his words followed by the sound of your moan as his fingers pinch your nipple.

“I told you I’d make you moan for me,” he whispers.

He lifts two of his fingers to your lips, and you roll your tongue around them

A gasp leaves your lips as his mouth travels to your other nipple while he lowers his fingers from your mouth to the wetness between your legs.

“God, you’re already so wet for me,” he groans against your skin before giving your nipple another sudden nip.

“Is it because you love the idea of having me all to yourself?”

He inserts one finger, then two, smiling as you whimper. “Maybe it’s the fact that you have a bit of competition,” he challenges as he adds a third.

You slide your fingers along the side of his face and firmly grip the back of his head between your hands. When his hand between your legs stills, you stare into his eyes and bring your face a breath away from yours.

“It’s because,” you confess quietly, while slowly sliding your hand down to his cock and wrapping your fingers around it. “I love the thought of other people wanting what’s mine.”

His cock twitches at your words, and you slide your fingers over the precum that coats his head, eager to spread it along the rest of him.

He releases a gasp as you tighten your grip and smirk. God, he feels so good in your hand. So thick and long, you can’t wait to have him inside you.

You throw your head back and whine as his fingers curl upwards, his free hand now reaching down to tease your clit.

“Who knew you’d be such a slut for my fingers…” He growls the words into your neck, your walls clench around him as his breath sends shivers along your skin.

“I could make you fall apart so easily…” he teases, increasing his pace. “With my hands…” he whispers, squeezing your clit and making you whimper. You feel your orgasm building with every sentence. At this rate, you’ll be cumming in no time.

“My lips…” he continues before trailing his lips across your throat and marking you roughly. “Even my c...cock…” he sputters out as your fingers lightly caress his balls while increasing your own pace. You can tell that his self control is slipping. Just a little bit further now.

He rests his forehead on the curve of your neck and releases a groan against your sensitive skin, his fingers still roughly hitting your spot over and over again. “Tell me what you want,” he groans. “It’s all yours. I’m all yours.”

Your walls clench at his words. He’s all yours, only yours. “Harder,” you rasp as you feel yourself getting closer and closer to the edge. “Fuck...” you gasp out.

He brings his lips to your ear. “You wanna soak my fingers in your cum, don’t you baby?”

You give him a nod and whimper as he reduces his pace to a slow aggressive assault, your nails digging into his shoulder.

“Say it. Tell me how fucking desperate you are for me.”

“Please,” you whimper, “I need you inside of me.”

“I’m all yours baby,” he whispers as he finds pleasure at the sight of you falling apart on his fingers.

Your hand leaves his cock and you grab him by his hair to pull him in for a desperate and forceful kiss.

“You’re mine,” you growl and meet his thrusts with your own as he returns to his deliciously aggressive pace.

“Only yours.”

You bury your nails into his shoulder as your orgasm barrels through you and onto his hand. Wave after wave of pleasure courses through your body and you hear him groan at the pain as he continues to tease you through your orgasm.

When you come back down from your high, he lifts his cum-soaked fingers to his lips and slowly licks two of them clean.

His last finger rises to your lips, parting them. He smiles as you meet it with your tongue and swirl it around the taste of your pleasure.

He removes his other hand from your clit and pulls your head back to look up at him as he smirks down at you. “Did that feel good? Using my fingers to fuck yourself…”

You nod up at him, your eyes staring into his fucked out gaze while your hand smoothly slides down to his throat. Slowly you pull his lips back to yours, your free hand and drops your free hand back down to his cock. “How about I return the favor,” you ask softly, smirking at him.

You give it a few strokes before pulling his body forward and sliding him into your inviting core.

He groans out at your tightness, his forehead dropping to your neck. As he finally bottoms out, you let out a gasp. A grin spreads across your face as his hands roughly grab our ass and he lifts you up and pins you to the wall.

You release a cry at the force of each of his thrusts while reveling in the pleasure as your nails dig into his back. The pace he sets is slow at first, too slow. “Faster Kookie...harder”

He brings one of his hands to your throat, his grip tightening as he increases his pace.

“That’s right baby. I’m all yours. Now let me hear how badly you need me inside of you.”

You open your mouth to respond, but all that comes out is a whine as he rams into your g-spot.

“I want to hear you fucking say it,” he growls as he brings his face close to yours and tightens his grip around your neck.

Again, he thrusts into you. And again. And again. The pace is as brutal as it is satisfying as he continues at an agonizing yet deliciously brutal pace while hitting your pleasure every time.

“Please...I...I need you…fuck…”

You are a moaning, whimpering mess as he fucks you against the wall, your shoulders already bruising once more from the force of his thrusts. It feels amazing.

Your nails rake along his back and through his waves, pulling them harshly. He leans his head back, a groan of ecstasy leaving his lips at the combination of pleasure and pain as you tighten your legs around him and pull him in even deeper.

Reaching up, you grab his face and admire his concentrated features. “Put me back down on the counter.”

He turns around and sets you down just as you instruct him. “Good boy,” you say as you slide your body down until your feet hit the floor.

You see a look of annoyance cross over his face at the name, but it disappears as soon as it arrives.

You turn around, facing the mirror as you spread your legs and reach behind you to guide his lips to your neck. You sigh at the feeling of his teeth on your skin once more and lean your head back as his body slides against yours.

As his cock passes against your tailbone, you close your eyes, your head falling forward as he teases your lips.

“Tell me how badly you want me to fuck you.”

You feel his hand reach up and smoothly wrap his fingers around your throat.

His breath tickles the skin of your neck, making tour walls clench in response.

“Look at me,” he whispers into your ear as he slowly slides in and out of you once more.

When you open your eyes, the image before you brings a moan. You watch as his fingers slide from your throat to your breast and tease your nipple with his fingers.

“I want to hear you say it.”

Your reflections are blurry, but that just makes it even hotter. Your gaze travels up to his and you tilt your head to the side and plant a soft kiss on his lips. “I want you…” you groan out breathlessly as he begins slowly thrusting in and out of you, “to show me exactly what I’ve been missing all this time.”

You tighten around him as he pinches your skin, and he leans forward and begins marking your neck once more.

“Your wish,” he says before placing a rough kiss on your neck, “is my command princess.”

You have half a thought to offer a snarky retort, but all thoughts disappear as he slowly pulls himself out and suddenly slams back into you. You can’t help the cry that leave your lips, or the stars that fill your vision as he begins his grueling pace.

You watch the way his neck flexes as he thrusts, the way his lips curve as he gasps out. God he’s so fucking attractive. And he’s all yours.

You feel yourself tighten around him and find him watching your bodies through your reflections. Fuck he looks so good like this. You both do. The only thing that could make this better is if Taehyung was here too.

You lean forward, bracing your hands out in front of you as you watch your bodies.

“Fuck me harder. I want to feel all of you inside of me.”

He grabs a handful of your hair and forces you to arch your back as he grunts and buries himself even deeper. God he makes you feel so full. He’s so rough with you. It’s perfect.

You look into his eyes as every thrust forces a gasp out of you, his hand occasionally traveling down your back and slapping you ass hard.

“Fuck, you feel so good squeezing my cock like this.”

You moan back to him in response and your eyes roll back into your head as he reaches around and begins teasing your over sensitive clit again.

“Fuck…I…I’m getting close,” you warn him. You try to fight off the pleasure, to make this moment last as long as possible, but he squeezes your clit tightly and growls into your neck. “Cum for me baby.”

When you whimper, he pinches your clit again and bites down on your neck. “Come on, don’t fight it… show me how easy it is to make you cum.”

You narrow your eyes at his reflection and release a cry as he slaps your ass hard once more and moves even faster.

“Come on...show me how much you love my cock…”

He slaps your ass again and places his fingers around your neck. You feel his breath tickle your skin with every gasp, his grip tightens as his lips tease the skin of your neck once more.

Suddenly, he sinks his teeth into your neck, and you feel your body stiffen, your legs giving out on you completely as your second orgasm finally crashes through you. He continues his thrusting and tightens his grip on your hips as he rests his body against yours and unloads himself inside of you.

You feel the vibrations of his groans through your skin and reach behind you to and guide his lips down to yours. As he finally pulls out, you look down at your legs and admire the mixture of your cum as it slowly slides down your leg.

Part of you imagines how hot it would be to see Jungkook and Taehyung on their knees in front of you licking it up. Who knows, with the way your relationship with them has been progressing, it might not be that unlikely.

Your focus returns to the man behind you, your legs still a bit shaky as you turn around. A small smile lines your face as you brush his hair from his face and caress his beautiful features.

He picks you up, and you wrap your legs around him once again as he carries you into the shower and sets you down on the built-in seat.

As you take a moment to allow your muscles to rest, you find yourself realizing just how out of shape you are.

Your body, for many obvious reasons, is exhausted. If your relationship with these men is going to continue, you’re going to need to start going to the gym again. Part of you is actually surprised you haven’t suffered from a hip cramp already. ‘Maybe some yoga would be better,’ you think to yourself.

As you somehow manage to rise to your feet and stand with him underneath the surprisingly still-warm water, your eyes close and a soft groan escapes your lips at the feeling of it.

When you finally open them again, you find Jungkook staring at you. His eyes follow the water as it cascades down your body, his teeth softly biting his bottom lip as his hands find your waist.

As your hands travel along his arms, you lean forward and drag your tongue along his neck. His grip on your waist drops down to your ass, and you begin trailing your lips along his collarbones.

You love how sensitive his body is. How easy it is to mark it, and especially how much he enjoys you playing with it. Especially his nipples.

Your lips make their way to one of his nipples, and he groans as you drag your teeth against it. Looking up at him, you smile as you slide your tongue against it and continue to tease it with your teeth. You’ve always loved watching him squirm.

Slowly, you move to his chest plate, your lips trailing featherlight kisses on his skin before continuing on to his other one.

He grabs your bottle of shampoo and squeezes it into his palm before massaging it into your hair. You close your eyes, a moan escaping your lips at the feeling of his fingers on your scalp. As the water washes the shampoo away, you take the opportunity to grab your body wash and work on cleaning his body.

You watch the bubbles form in your hands while he turns around, closes his eyes, and lets the water run over him.

He squirts more shampoo into his palms and this time massages it into his own hair while you reach forward and spread the soap along his body. God you could rub his body all day. His skin is smooth, yet firm as your fingers massage the bubbles into his muscles.

Now that you think about it, if you had known he was going to be this open with you this quickly, you would have made a move on him sooner.

His back arches as he leans into your hands, and you press your body against his back and begin spreading the body wash across his chest and stomach.

You let your hands slide lower and slowly wrap your fingers around his cock, smiling as he leans further into your body and lathers more body wash over his arms and chest. You place a few bite marks across his back and in between his shoulder blades and smile as he twitches in your palm.

Your hand begins sliding along his length, and he leans his head back and releases a groan as you slide your other hand up his chest and wrap your fingers around his throat.

His breathing quickens as you slide your thumb across his tip, and you gasp as he suddenly turns around and smiles down at you. His hands caress your face as he plants a sweet, lazy kiss on your lips. As his tongue slides against your lip, your hand returns to his cock, hoping to finish what you started.

He looks down at you once more and smirks before pulling his body away. “I thought you said you didn’t want to make me late?”

You narrow your eyes at him coyly and smile.

“Fine.”

“Good girl,” he whispers before squeezing a bit of body wash in his palm and spreading it across your body.

His hands slide over your shoulders and your breasts, then massage their way down to your ass, and finally come to a stop between your legs.

You close your eyes and let out a sigh as you feel his gentle fingers cleaning you up. Where the hell did he learn to do this?

His lips brush against yours, and a moan escapes your lips as his teeth nip at your bottom lip. God he feels good. His hands massage your ass, and as he pulls your body closer to his, you feel his still very much erect cock resting between your bodies.

Looking up and into his eyes you give him a smile, lower yourself onto your knees, and take him into your mouth. After all, what kind of roommate would you be if you didn’t help him get rid of the problem you caused?

He squirts some of your conditioner into his hands and massages it into his hair before doing the same to yours.

As his fingers slide though your hair he grabs a handful of it and throws his head back as you take him deep into your mouth.

“Fuck,” he breathes as you lift up a hand and begin massaging his balls.

He reaches out and places a hand on the wall in front of him as he leans forward, grits his teeth, and watches you from above.

“I’m gonna cum.”

You look up at him from beneath your eyelashes and take him out of your mouth. Smiling up at him, you wrap your fingers around him and continue jerking him off nice and slow, your lips sucking hard around his tip over and over again.

He sucks in a breath and caresses your face as you stare up and smile at him.

“Come on Kookie, what are you waiting for? I thought you said you were in a hurry…”

You feel him twitch in your hand once more and he lets out a whine as you drag your tongue along the underside of his cock up from the base and around his tip and suck it extra hard.

“Please,” he breathes.

“Come on, show me how good you taste Kookie…” you tease, giving him a taste of his own medicine. “Show me how easily you fall apart for me…”

His hands brace against the wall in front of him and he blocks the water from hitting you as you drop your hand and finally take him as deep as you can.

You feel him tense inside of your mouth a moment before you feel him shoot his load down your throat.

He releases a groan, and he thrusts himself into your mouth as he rides out his orgasm.

Slowly, you pull your mouth away from him, lick up the remaining cum from his cock, and smile up at him once you finish.

He pulls you up to your feet and places a kiss on your lips as he moans against your mouth.

“Let me taste,” he whispers against your lips before meeting his tongue with yours.

He explores your mouth for a few seconds, and your hands rise up to his chest as you rotate your bodies and moan at the feeling of the warm water running down your back.

Your hand travels down to his length you pull away for a minute as you finish rinsing him off.

His hands caress your face, and you stare up into his eyes as he looks down and lightly kisses your nose.

“Where are your towels again?”

When you don’t answer right away, he shuts the water off and steps out.

“Unless you plan on me licking you dry,” he teases, “it would probably be a good idea to give me a hint.”

You roll your eyes at him playfully and point to the nearest cabinet beneath the sink.

“And here I was thinking that you would be smart enough to look for them.”

He tosses a towel at you in response and you wrap your towel around you and head back to your room to get dressed.

“I hope you don’t mind. I went ahead and laid all of my clothes out,” he calls as he notices you staring at his clothes on your bed.

You tilt your head at him and sigh.

“Guess that means I have to help you get ready then doesn’t it?”

You reach into your dresser and grab a grey shirt you ‘borrowed’ from Jungkook a few months back and slide on a pair of comfy black sleep shorts.

“Is that my shirt,” you hear him ask from behind you.

“Technically speaking, it’s our shirt. I distinctly remember that I’m the one who bought it.”

“For me.” He adds with a laugh as he puts his underwear on.

Your eyes follow his movements as he puts on his pants next. Before he can button up his shirt though, you grab his hands and sit him down in your bed.

You straddle his thigh and smile at him as you begin sliding his tie around his neck. His thigh flexes between your legs and you angle your head and smile at him as your fingers fasten his buttons.

“I can’t tell you how many times I’ve thought about this,” he confesses.

His hands slide along your body and finally settle on your ass as he looks up at you.

You leave a few of the top buttons of his shirt undone and look into his eyes for a moment. Just seeing the adoration written across his face as his gaze meets yours is enough to make you want to melt in his arms.

Taking his face between your palms, you lean down and place a featherlight kiss along his lips. He returns it earnestly. Your body responds eagerly to his hands as they travel along your ass and your back. Your mind however, keeps wandering back to his earlier confession. ‘If the workers at his office don’t believe he has a girlfriend, why not give them something to talk about’ you think to yourself.

Breaking the kiss, you lightly slide your lips along his jaw until you reach his throat, your tongue massaging his sensitive skin. Using one hand to turn his head and hold his jaw in place, the other slides beneath his collar as your lips find an empty space and mark it.

He releases a groan from beneath you, and you remove your mouth and place a feather light kiss over the fresh bruise before buttoning the rest of his shirt and tying his tie. That ought to be enough.

“What time do you think you’ll be back today,” you ask as you follow him to the living room.

He looks at his watch before sliding on his blazer and pursing his lips.

“Probably no later than six or seven. I have a meeting with a few of the game developers, and I need to fix some of the bugs that we found yesterday.”

You give him a nod. Seven should work fine. That’ll be just in time for dinner. You know that it would also be a good opportunity for all of you to finally talk and get on the same page.

“Okay. Tae and I can wait for you to get back and we can cook dinner together.”

He rolls his eyes, but doesn’t argue as he responds dryly, “Sure.”

You narrow your eyes at him, but he ignores your irritation.

“I better go. I’ll see you later,” he says before placing a quick gentle kiss on your lips and walking out the door.

You know that he’s probably upset that you’re including Taehyung in your plans, but he’s just going to have to get over it. Taehyung isn’t going anywhere, and if he wants to act like he’s the only one who can have you then he’s got another thing coming.

You run a hand through your hair and walk back to your room as you release a yawn. A few more hours of sleep probably wouldn’t hurt. You grab the damp towels from on top of your bed and hang them up before turning your lights off and crawling back underneath your blankets.

By the time you wake up Taehyung should be back and you and him could probably make some lunch. Who knows, maybe you’ll get lucky and he’ll bring some food home. Hopefully he’s taken some nice photos while he’s out.

You curl your body into your blankets and close your eyes as you imagine yourself between your roommates once again.

~

Bright light shines against your closed eyes, and you turn your head away from it and find yourself underneath the body of your sleeping roommate. Well, half underneath him.

His head is resting between your neck and your shoulder and one of his arms is resting on your waist while the other is pulled against his chest.

One of his legs is resting between yours as he holds onto you like one of his body pillows from on top of your blanket.

You smile down at him and use your free hand to softly brush a few of his curls from his face.

He seems to still be in his street clothes. His loose white v-neck and his tan pants stand out against the black of your comforter.

“God he looks so good,” you think to yourself. “He’s even adorable when he sleeps. If not even more so,” you add after a moment.

The bruises on his neck as well as the bite mark on his shoulder, courtesy of your teeth last night, send a feeling of satisfaction to your core. He looks so good like this, covered in bruises you gave him, like marks of commitment to you and only you.

The thought of that alone causes you to slide your hand down from his face to his chest and trace your finger over one of the bruises you left there.

You hold back a smile as you hear the light sound of snoring enter your ears.

Looking over at your clock you see that it’s already two pm. It’s been about four hours since Jungkook left. You wonder how long Taehyung has been back now. Maybe he was waiting for you to wake up and eventually fell asleep.

A grumble from your stomach reminds you that it’s time for lunch and you look down at your roommate and try to figure out how to remove yourself from his embrace.

After trying and failing for a few minutes, your stomach and your bladder decide that enough is enough. He’s just going to have to wake up too.

You decide to be gentle, and lightly sweep his hair out of his face as you look at him. Your lips place a soft kiss on his forehead, and you feel him move beside you and pull your body closer to his.

You watch his eyes open slowly, and a small smile makes its way to his face

“Hey you,” you whisper softly as you stare into his eyes.

He gives you a smile and reaches up for your hand before kissing it.

“Good afternoon sleepy head.”

“How are you feeling,” you ask as you continue to smile at him. “Since last night, I mean.”

He purses his lips as he thinks about it before giving you a sweet smile.

“I’m good, better than good actually.”

“I didn’t push you too far last night did I,” you ask, keeping your voice soft.

His eyes widen momentarily and he shakes his head as he tries to reassure you, “no really I liked it I promise. You made me feel good about myself, so thank you.”

You give him a slightly relieved smile and move his hair out of his face flushed.

“Was there anything that you didn’t like? Anything that made you uncomfortable?” You ask as you trace a finger along his jaw and around his lips.

He begins shaking his head in response but stops abruptly.

“I...I just...I feel kinda nervous,” he confesses.

“About what?”

“I don’t think Jungkook likes me. I mean I thought we were friends and everything for a while, but once he found out I liked you, he just got really mean.”

Your eyes search his face. Sometimes you forget that he’s the oldest of your two friends. While Taehyung used to be more or a silly jokester when you first met him, he slowly became more shy as the years went on.

You aren’t exactly sure why caused the change, but his lack of confidence in himself is what makes him such an easy victim for Jungkook’s judgement.

“It’s not that he doesn’t like you,” you reassure him. “He’s just jealous.” You know deep down that what you said is probably true, but the reality right now is that Jungkook’s jealousy towards Taehyung means that he’s already decided that he doesn’t like him anymore. Maybe you can change that though. You hope that one day he will regain that bit of confidence he had when you first met him.

You softly run your fingers through his messy curls as you think about how to make Taehyung feel more at ease while also convincing Jungkook to back off.

Suddenly, your nose picks up a smell. Looking down at your friend you ask, “Tae, did you shower before you left this morning?”

He tenses up before shyly looking away and shaking his head.

“Umm kinda, I rinsed off a bit, but it was really early so I just kinda threw on some clothes and left.”

You narrow your eyes at him as you pull out of his embrace. “You know how I feel about dirty bodies in my bed,” you groan.

He looks away again, but sits up and adds quietly, “you didn’t seem to have a problem with it last night.”

“What was that,” you counter, both amused and a bit surprised at his sudden show of sass.

He clears his throat before correcting himself and explaining, “well I uh… I know that the blankets needed to be washed anyways so I didn’t think it would be that big of a deal you know… sorry.”

You hold your frown for just a few more seconds then break into a playful smile. “It’s fine, I need to wash these sheets today anyways.”

You notice him quietly release a breath and let out a nervous chuckle at your response before standing up and stretching. As his shirt rises, Your eyes slide to his stomach and you reach forward and slide your hand beneath it.

His cheeks redden as he notices your touch and you slide your fingers a bit further up his stomach as you say, “I don't remember telling you to leave just yet.”

He rests a knee on your mattress and leans into your touch, his eyes closing as your other hand reaches up to caress his face.

“Is that what you want,” you pout innocently, “to leave me all alone in here?”

He bites down on his lip nervously, and you slide your hand downwards now, already prepared to tease him.

You want to leave me up here all by myself? Just like this morning, without a single goodbye,” you pout as your fingers tease the waistband of his pants.

“I…I don’t want to wake you,” he sputters, a small whimper leaving his lips.

“But you missed all the fun,” you pout. Jungkook and i had a nice little shower together. I know it would have been so much nicer if you were there too…”

He gasps as your finger traces over the hard outline of his cock, but you simply ignore it and continue. “I could have helped you… the same way I helped him…”

He moves his knee, and slowly slides his body down to your floor. His sweet eyes stare into yours as he gazes up at you from his knees.

You move to the edge of your mattress and open your legs so his head can rest between your knees.

Taking your index finger and placing it beneath his chin, you lean forward and taunt him. “You would have liked that wouldn’t you? Watching Jungkook fuck me until I can’t take it anymore…”

He sucks in a breath, his gaze sliding to your mouth.

Your fingers slide through his curls and grab them roughly as you whisper, “maybe, you would’ve wanted to see the look on Jungkook’s face as you fucked every last thought of him out of my mind…”

He moans at the pain from his head and you place a light kiss on his lips. “Would you have liked that?”

He nods up at you earnestly.

“That’s too bad…” you sigh, shrugging your shoulders . “Maybe if you hadn’t left so quickly this morning you could have gotten all of them.”

When he closes his eyes in frustration, you gently slide his curls away from his eyes. You can tell he’s frustrated. He’s probably beating himself up for missing the opportunity to be with you again, and losing to Jungkook.

“I meant what I said earlier though.” You whisper conspiratorially, hoping to pull him from his thoughts. “You should probably take an actual shower. You still smell like the bar from last night.”

He rubs the back of his neck with his hand and looks down at his lap as he nods.

“Yeah you’re right I don’t exactly feel clean right now anyways.”

You smile at him and playfully ruffle his curls as you say, “hurry up and shower, I’ll go ahead and put my blankets in the wash and then we can make some lunch when you finish.” He looks down at his lap, and you slide your fingers over the fabric. “Who knows, maybe we can have some desert as well,” you add with a smirk.

He gives you a nod as he stretches and tiredly shuffles out of your room before grabbing a towel from the hallway closet and heading to the bathroom.

You pull your sheets and blankets from your bed and bring them to the washing machine. You’re just about finished setting up your bed again when you hear Taehyung walk up behind you.

“Ooh that was pretty fast!”

You glance over at him, ready to respond when suddenly your mind goes blank. A stray droplet of water drips from his hair and along his chest as he leans against your bedroom doorway. You’ve seen him shirtless before, but when you saw him in the past you made a point not to let yourself stare, now there’s nothing stopping you.

“What,” he asks concerned, “is there something on me?” He looks down at his body and your eyes travel down to the towel hanging loosely around his waist.

Your mouth waters at the image of what’s behind the fabric and you begin having an internal struggle about what you want to do.

The sheets on your bed are new. You just spent the last twenty minutes struggling to put your bed together. But just look at him. How are you supposed to ignore how fucking good he looks right now.

‘Okay,’ you tell yourself, it’ll be fine. The sheets won’t get dirty, I’ll figure it out.’

You clear your throat and angle your head at your roommate who’s now looking at you like you’ve just grown a third head.

“Come here,” you whisper quietly, pointedly, as you curl your finger at him.

He walks towards you nervously, and your hands travel along his damp skin. He sucks in a breath as you reach forward and begin tracing your fingertips along the outline of his biceps. You feel the goosebumps that form along his arms and back as your fingers slide over it, and you let your eyes slowly roam up his body until you’re left glancing between his eyes and his mouth.

“Do you know how long it took me to put my bed together?”

He looks at your bed behind you and widens his eyes a bit.

“Umm a while?”

You reach up and lightly grab his chin.

“So long,” you answer, your lips lightly brushing against his.

Your hand slides up and down his chest and abdomen, your nails scratching his skin slightly as it goes.

He closes his eyes and sucks in a breath as your nails tease at his nipples, and you guide his body to your bed and sit him down.

“You know what that means,” you ask careful to keep his body in place.

When he shakes his head, you grab his chin firmly and whisper, “it means, we’re going to be very, very careful.”

He looks up at you, uncertainty filling his gaze, as you lean him back and climb up his body. Out of the corner of your eye, you notice a few remaining water droplets dripping down his neck and chest.

His chest is your first stop, your tongue lightly sliding along his smooth skin until taking a detour to one of his nipples.

His hands travel to your hips, and he grabs them softly as he watches your mouth.

Your tongue swirls around his nipple gently, and you lightly graze your teeth against the sensitive skin and pull.

His fingers tangle in your hair and you slide your tongue along his chest until you get to his other nipple and do the same. You notice that he’s already hard beneath his towel and let one of your hands untuck the fabric from his hips.

From somewhere in your room you hear your phone vibrate, but you ignore it. You have more important things to worry about right now.

Your tongue travels up his chest and along his collarbones, your lips placing light kisses over the bruises you made on his soft skin last night.

His hands slide along your thighs as they make their way beneath your shirt and around your breasts.

You grab his wrists and hold them together firmly above his head, your mouth returning to his for a slow hot kiss. Your tongue slides against his and you nip at his bottom lip before whispering, “no touching.”

He gives you a nod, and you slide your body until you’re kneeling on the floor in between his legs.

“You know, seeing all of that water on you made me so thirsty,” you tease.

He sits up and leans back on his elbows, biting his lip nervously before nodding down at you.

“Maybe you can help me with that.”

You curl your finger at him once more, and he leans towards you as he waits for you to continue. You lean forward and globe him a slow kiss while sliding your hand along his jaw. You pull back after a moment and slide your tongue along his bottom lip.

“Hmm, I thought that might help, but I guess I need more.”

You watch his throat bob as he swallows, and you look into his eyes and bring two fingers to his mouth.

His lips part as you slide your fingers between them and his tongue swirls around them as you pull them back out.

“Good boy,” you praise as you slide your tongue along the same two fingers.

“Maybe this would make me feel better,” you tease as you slide your fingers over his precum and spread it along his length.

“Would you like me to try?”

He releases a whine before quietly groaning out the words, “yes...please...yes.”

You smile up at him as you slowly drag your tongue from his base to his tip.

His hands ball into fists as he gasps, and he squeezes his eyes shut as you take him into your mouth.

“Look at me,” you say. “If I see you look away or close your eyes again I’m going to stop. Understand?”

He gives you a quick nod. “I understand.”

“Good,” you say and take him back into your mouth, deeper this time.

You watch one of his hands move closer to you, and you lightly drag your nails along the insides of his thighs.

Again you hear your phone vibrate, but you’re so close now. You can’t just stop.

“Please, let me touch you…”

You slide your hand up and down his length and give him a nod.

“Sure.”

His hand slides around the back of your head and he grabs a fistful of your hair as you take him into your mouth again. You try to take him deeper each time, but he’s just too big. You feel him reach the back of your throat, and groan as your gag reflex threatens to appear.

‘Come on,’ you tell yourself. ‘Just a little bit more. If you could do it last night you can do it now.”

Your phone vibrates now for a third time, and you see Taehyung reach behind him and grab your phone from beside your pillow.

“Here, go ahead and take it. It seems pretty important if they keep calling.”

You take him out of your mouth and look at the caller ID. To your surprise it’s your father. Well, not technically your father. It’s his secretary. You know that he would never take the time to personally speak to you.

You roll your eyes and clear your throat before releasing a sigh of exasperation and accepting the call.

“What?”

“Hi Miss, Y/N, this is Keni Ouro calling from your fathers office, do you have a minute?”

You grit your teeth, as you glance at your roommate in front of you.

“Not really, what do you- I mean what does he want?”

“I’m glad to hear you’re available,” she responds sweetly.

“No I didn’t sa-“

“I have your father on the line,” she interrupts as usual. “Just a moment.”

Taehyung watches as your gaze hardens, and he mouths the words “everything okay” as you take a seat on the floor.

You give him a nod and cover the mic of your phone as you whisper, “I’m really sorry, can we finish this later.”

He wraps his towel around his waist once more and kneels down in front of you as he nods.

“I don’t know what’s going on,” he whispers, “but you got this.”

He closes the door behind him quietly, and as he leaves you find yourself thinking you father better have a damn good reason for calling you out of the blue after all this time.

You hear a click on the line as your father finally picks up the phone, and take notice of your angry reflection across from you.

“Father,” you say, the word both your greeting and your method of irritation.

“Hello, Y/N.”

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

Tag list:

@mwitsmejk

@thedarkwinterrose

@ohhlalaniall

@neskapz

@bangtan-ology

@jimidol

@tangledsparkles

@baepsaesbae

[yamagucji]

some tips for writing blogs, especially those who are just starting out. these are some things that works for me and may or may not work for others.

how to add a read more link on mobile

type :readmore: on a free space, then hit the enter or return button

personally i think they’re very helpful because it lessens the space you take up in your dash, and might encourage more people to rb

+ you can also add this on a spot where it gives a sort of cliffhanger, essentially making people want to ‘read more’

headers, banners, and dividers

though not necessary, it’s good to have a title for your work. make sure it’s bold and doesn’t blend in with your notes (aka pairing, warnings, etc.). this also helps when someone wants to look up one of your works in your search bar

i don’t really make banners or covers for my works. but some good apps that i know of would be picsart and canva. if you’re looking for ideas, i definitely recommend going into canva

wondering how to make those really small, thin dividers? you can make them using picsart! to make a divider hit tools > free crop > brush > size (adjust it to your preference > then draw a line along the edge of your photo > save

using the divider you just saved, go back to picsart and edit it again > draw option > hit rainbow square at the bottom left corner > hit suction/droplet symbol right below the check mark > color in the white spots bc for some reason picsart glitches and makes dividers look white-ish

new blog? just opened an account?

this is gonna sound really frustrating. but... tumblr needs to check if you’re a bot or not. what does this mean? it’s likely that your first few posts won’t show up on the search bar. you may not even get to edit your header/pfp yet ://

this happened to me and there was no visibility on my account at ALL. what helped me get ‘verified’ is that i followed a LOT of accounts, liked a bunch of posts, made some posts here and there. now that lets tumblr know you’re not a bot

visibility

the tumblr tagging system usually only allows the first 5 tags in your post to show up. so, what can do you about this? only use FIVE or less tags in your post. wait about 15 minutes or more until you can add some more tags in your post, and they usually all show up like that

another important thing about using tags is not to generalize! especially if you’re using a popular tag. but also don’t specify it too much where barely anyone looks it up. for example, if you’re writing a gn piece about oikawa, i recommend you use the tags such as: oikawa x reader, haikyuu x reader, oikawa x gn!reader, haikyuu headcanons, etc

a good rule of thumb is to use character x reader tags first, then leave the full name or fandom tag last

FOR NSFW: tumblr doesn’t let any tags with nsfw show up. so, give your nsfw works another tag. maybe #namegetspicy idk, you figure it out

FOR WARNINGS: especially if you’re a dark content creator, i highly encourage you to add tw:xyz tags. if you already have a warning note at the top then that’s great. but even better for readers who prefer to actually block these tags that way they never get to see it

another important thing to note is that people have different timezones. it helps if you rb your work at a different time of the day, in case people missed it! (icymi) i’ve noticed that reblogging helps to make your post show up in the tags

interaction + feedback

first and foremost, you are not obligated to write for your followers, and neither are your followers obligated to interact with you. remember that everyone has their own individual lives, and they have their own things to do— so do you, too.

make friends! become mutuals with other writers, visit their ask box. i know it can be daunting having to initiate these things, but you might just turn out to have fun! you can’t expect people to interact with you if you’re not interacting (back). it’s... kind of a two way thing yk? no need to be afraid to interact with other writers. oh, and rb other writers works!

pspsps join tag games or do ask games. it’s fun and very interactive

it never hurts to ask for feedback. i usually do this in a more subtle way because i don’t really expect a full on analysis on my works. maybe a little, is this okay? or feedback appreciated. sometimes it takes a little bit of coaxing for the silent readers

formatting your posts and blog

i generally put in the title at the top in big, bold letters

then comes the header/divider. helps to make the post more... visually appealing ig?

it’s important to add warnings (if any) and the pairing. the audience is not all female, and it might be a little frustrating for male readers having to find out its an x fem reader piece like halfway through your fic

if you have multiple works posted, it’s really really helpful to have a navigation page!

you can organize the posts you make with tags! for example, if you’re shitposting, you can use a specific tag for that. if you have a nsfw related post (ESPECIALLY when your blog is open to the general audience) please make a tag for it

themes + colors

if you have a color in mind but don’t know which direction to go from there, i recommend looking up color + aesthetic

looking to use the same color? download a name color app that’ll give you a hex code for any color you want to use. then, you can type in that hex code for when you’re choosing a color for your tumblr bio

wondering how to make your header image small like mine? just choose a photo for your header and turn off the stretch image option

want to use a different text color that tumblr doesn’t offer? it’s not as complicated as you think. you’ll have to go on a desktop to do this and do some html (but trust me, it’s not very difficult). look up “HTML noob but trying my best - how to use colored text on desktop”

^^ i don’t have the link for the color text tutorial so you can try looking it up

how to make an aesthetic navi and masterlist

step 1: decide a theme! if you’re stuck, think about a character + color/season/mood or look up “[insert] aesthetic” to find some inspiration. or you can try looking at other blogs too

step 2: find a color scheme! it’s easier if you choose fewer colors. if you want to use the same color for both divider and text, download a color name app in order to get the hex code of that color.

step 3: add categories to your navi! most navigation pages include a link to masterlist, about/byi, and rules. your navi should have a title that indicates that it’s... a navigation page. you can add thin colored dividers with the same color to make it easier for followers to navigate

step 4: you can choose to create a ‘cover’ or a picture for your navigation and masterlist! again, i recommend you use the canva app as a starting point

extra: search up emoticon symbols to spice up your titles!

reminder for you as a writer

you’re not obligated to do any of these things. i’ve noticed that we tend to build pressure on ourselves when it comes to content and interaction. remember, this !! is !! for !! fun !! when you realize that it’s no longer fun, then know that it’s time to take a break. and there’s nothing wrong with a bit of self care.

^^ c/p from this post lol

at the end of the day, follower count and interaction doesn’t define you. again for the love of beings, you’re here on your own accord.

will be adding more if needed/asked.

[rainbowsky]

Do we really need to always look back to CQL everytime we talk about Web & XZ? CQL is an old news. We have more interesting and much better contents now. Why bother to always go back to it?

Web has Louyang to look forward to. It looks great. The costumes, the visual, the detective-libe story looks so promising Let's not forget Being A Hero, a very challenging role for him. And of course SDOC4 where we can see Web looks so relax and happy aside from DDU.

XZ has Oath of Love and The Longest Promise to look forward to. These two are FAR FAR SUPERIOR and more recognized literature works than CQL. Read the novels and you'll see how amazing the romance in these 2 are. Easily the best romance stories (perfect) for XZ. Then ADLD which shows his amazing range as an actor. Very challenging since it's a stage play with a very long running time. We still have Ace of Troops too which we have no news about it.

Do we really need to go back when they themselves have move on? We need to move on too.

It's funny, I was just saying a lot of similar things to someone earlier today.

Although I'm not convinced that the novel of OOL is so much better than MDZS. Tastes are pretty subjective and it's hard to make claims like that in such a broad way. I've heard very mixed reviews of the book OOL is based on. A lot of people describe it as a very het, very cheezy melodramatic story. True, that sort of thing has a broad appeal, but I'm not the target market.

I haven't heard much about the story The Longest Promise is based on, but the same applies. These things are a matter of personal taste.

Having said that, I'm really looking forward to all of their new dramas and projects, and while I will likely skip some of the overtly propagandistic ones, I can't wait to see them perform in other roles. OOL is near the top of that list for me. I can't wait to see GG in that role.

To me, The Untamed is great not only because of GGDD, but also because it's just an excellent, excellent drama with an outstanding cast. I've watched it, in its entirety, 4 or 5 times, plus I watched the Special Edition (which I did not enjoy as much - it felt hacked apart). I am a fan of the show, make no mistake about it. I even own the official photo book. I know I will watch it again. I love the show.

But when it comes to fandom about the show - all the meta and gifs and fanart and discussions and, to a lesser degree, the BTS - my eyes glaze over a bit, I can't lie. I feel like I've seen it all before a thousand times - the fandom is oversaturated with all of this - and I'm just more interested in what GG and DD are up to now. They both have exciting things happening in the here and now.

The Untamed will always be special to GG and DD, and to BXG. I mean, that's a given. It's where all of this started for a lot of people, it's where GGDD had a chance to work together. It's a great show, and they both gave outstanding performances. It launched both of their careers into the stratosphere - no one can deny it (although some solos certainly try). As queer actors, this might very well be the only queer role they ever get a chance to play.

But it's also been 2 years since it aired. In the world of entertainment, 2 years might as well be 2 decades, and that's only a slight exaggeration. It's old news for a lot of people who saw it around the time it originally aired.

Of course, there are always new people discovering it and new people coming to the fandom, so there will always be turtles in particular for whom all of this is brand new and exciting. We are probably always going to see people bringing it up as though it's new. Because it's new for them.

I hope we can all try to empathize with their enthusiasm and try not to put too much of a damper on it. I do my best in this regard. I'm still happy to take asks about the show and the BTS (although my memory of some of those things is going to be rusty).

At the same time, I hope turtles - old or new - will at least try to branch out and experience some of the other material GG and DD have created, and try to support 'the whole, individual man' and not just the relationship between GGDD. There's a lot of content out there. If you can't find it in your region try some of the unofficial sites like Dramacool.

If you haven't seen The Wolf yet, you're missing out. If you haven't been watching SDOC, you're missing out. etc. etc.

However, as I've said many times - everyone gets to be a fan in whatever way works for them. If The Untamed is new for you and you want to enjoy it, enjoy! If it's old to you but you're still attached and don't want to move on from it, enjoy! If it's the only thing that interests you about GGDD, enjoy!

But please recognize as turtles that GG and DD will be moving forward in their careers, and they will talk about/feature the show less and less in their posts over time. They will emphasize new content and move on from The Untamed, at least in terms of what they highlight in interviews and social media. This isn't a 'suppression of the show', it's just time marching forward.

Recognize that a lot of the fans will be moving forward as well. There will inevitably be some people who are sick of talking about it, who find it old news, or who are more interested in other things. This isn't a 'conspiracy of silence', it's just time marching forward.

Don't let yourself feel threatened by any of that and behave in ways that disrupt the fandom when the show isn't highlighted in the way you expect it to be. Don't make up scary stories in your mind about what you fear might be 'the real' motive behind this. The simple truth is, not everything about them is going to be about that show, and that will only become more true as time marches forward.

And that applies both ways. Like I said, I hope those of us who have mostly moved on will try to be empathetic to those for whom the show is new. I hope we can all try to respect each other's approaches and not be warlike about it.

In the end, we all just love these two fools, and if we focus on what we have in common we might find any friction melts away.

Important note

Please don't take this as an invitation to hit up my inbox with anti-BXG hate, messages denigrating The Untamed or BXG, etc. etc. Anyone sending me such garbage will be insta-blocked. If you are anti-BXG and hate The Untamed, please don't follow my blog or engage with my inbox. Stay in your own lane.

[sciapod]

Bathtub Photoshoot 💦

Pairing: Henry Cavill x First Person-POV (Female, or at least X wears a bra and has breasts)

Summary: Little private photosesh' with Henners and then some.

Warnings: Dry humping but let's just call it grinding. Edging. 18+ to be safe!! Contains smut. You might be able to find the tiniest bit of angst. And bit of fluff.

Word count: 2.5K

Not beta’ed! I take full responsibility for this fuckup.

Inspired/prompted by this post by @cavillfics

Masterlist

I obviously don't own Henry Cavill, nor do I know him IRL, so it goes without saying that this is a figment of my imagination.

(I took the liberty to edit the photo just a bit and don’t know who to credit for the original edit. Let me know if you know, so I can give credit where it's due.)

Happy reading 💦

---

“Babe, I've got an idea! Can you do something for me, please?”

When I heard you coming through the front door, I rushed to meet you there. You were finally home again and was hanging your jacket on the coat rack when I found you.

“Oh, well,” you reply, “I really want to just lean back, maybe take a shower or something. It’s been a long week, babe. And hello, by the way.”

You step over to me, reach around my waist and pull me against your firm body.

“Mhm, you smell lovely,” you whisper in my hair. I sigh, then wiggle myself free of your embrace.

“Henry, listen,” I look up at you with my best attempt at puppy eyes. You breathe deeply and turn your face, scratching mine with your stubble. It sends shivers through my body.

“Okay,” you hum as your hands roam my body, finding their way to my bare thighs then sneaking up beneath my robe, “tell me.”

I grab your hips and press my core against your thigh as I lean backwards, looking up at you, “I want to take some pictures … of you.”

Your face goes through a range of emotions; surprised, suspicious, smirking, friendly and finally incredibly charismatic: Front-page-style smile.

“That’s the one!” I say with excitement.

“Which one?” you tease, furrowing your brow and looking all suspicious again.

“You know perfectly well, you buffoon!” I say, as I slap your chest playfully.

My entire body lifts when you laugh. You kiss my forehead and twirl some of my hair between a few fingers. Your eyes shift, gazing at various areas of my face. I sigh, then reach for your hands, the one playing with my hair and the other, which I find gently caressing the lace of my panties.

I hold your hands between us and look up at my man.

“You do realize, of course, that you are basically a Greek god carved out of stone.”

“I have been told so, yes.”

“And you do realize that every artist needs a muse, a model, to create from.”

“I have a faint idea of that, yes,” you say, smirking down at me.

“And I happen to be short of a project, and subject, for my portfolio.”

“I see,” your smile broadens, “but what does that have to do with me?”

“Henry!”

My declining patience must have been obvious somewhere in my face or perhaps my exclamation, because you burst out laughing, throwing your head back as you do so. I can’t help but melt a little.

“Tell me what you need me to do, darling,” you say, stroking my hands with your thumbs. I feel warmth spread through my chest. Your face softens and I feel the warmth spread further down.

“Fuck,” I breathe, casting my eyes to the floor. I’m suddenly filled with all kinds of insecurities, imposter syndrome and such, but there’s a reason why you’re my man. You sense it immediately and lift my hands to your lips, kissing them sincerely.

“You’ve got this, babe.”

I sigh, “I know, sweetheart. It's just… Urgh.”

You kiss my forehead.

“Tell me your idea.”

“I…” My voice breaks. You lift my chin up with a single finger, as if it were suddenly light as a feather, forcing me to look into your striking blue eyes.

“I don’t know,” I finally exclaim. “I didn’t have a concrete idea. I just knew that I wanted you to be in the photos.”

You smile, almost apologetically, “Okay, look. I really want to help. But I’m so damn tired. I’ve got an idea, though, of how we may be able to hit two birds with one stone.”

“Okaay?” I say, a slight tinge of hope seeping into my core again.

“I need a bath–”

“–I can’t take a nude picture of you!”

You laugh again, but shake your head, “No, silly. Let me finish.”

My cheeks flush scarlet.

“I need a bath, but instead of taking a shower, I’ll jump in the tub. Once in there, you can have me do whatever you want.”

I squint my eyes, then see a lightbulb flash on.

“YES!” I almost yell, running my hands up your torso and leaning in for a kiss.

“Yes,” I repeat, then press my lips against your sculpted ones. It is as if your lips curl to a smile amidst the kiss.

“Yes,” I say one last time, meeting your eyes, “If you get the water running, I’ll collect my gear.”

Your hands go wandering about on my hips again, dragging my robe up and making my hairs stand on end. You look down at me with a confident smile, saying, “great minds think alike.”

I fight off the urge to kiss you again and instead draw away from you. You catch the waistband of my robe and it slides off as I step away, revealing the new set of lingerie I’m wearing underneath. I stand, looking at you with what I imagine is the expression of a suspicious feline. You, on the other hand, make a low whistle and shake your head in slow motion, clearly surprised and pleased to see what I was hiding beneath. Then you nod toward the living room, signalling I get on with finding my camera.

It takes me a few minutes to find the right lens. When I enter the bathroom, you’re in the process of unbuckling your belt. The tap is running and there’s already a bit of water in the tub.

“Wait,” I say, stopping you just as you’re about to pull your jeans down, “I think I want you in the water dressed.”

You stare for a moment, shrug, say “sure,” then proceed to tug your jeans over your perky bum again.

“Right, erm,” I think for a moment, “No, you know what? Lose the pants, but keep the t-shirt on.”

“Lose the pants,” you repeat and let your jeans fall to the floor. As you stand back up, I realize something.

“We might have a problem,” I say, eyeing the hefty bulge in your boxers.

You follow my gaze, noticing the same problem, then nod in agreement.

“But then again,” you say, “what did you expect, looking like that?” you hint at my open robe and lingerie.

We both shrug, then burst laughing.

“I guess we’ll just have to make it work!” I say, “Now, in the tub with you, buddy.”

You feel the temperature of the water and deciding that it’s decent, turn off the tap, step in and lie down. There’s not a lot of water in there, but I’m assuming it will do. You look up at me with anticipation, “Now what?”

I squint at you, finding the bulge slightly distracting, basically towering above the waterline like another Burj Khalifa. Obviously, you notice my lack of response.

“Hey, babe!” you say, snapping me out of it. I feel my nether region clench.

“Okay, okay!” I shake my head to wake up. You shake yours too, smirking at me.

“We need to do something about that,” I say.

“I can try to hide it?” you suggest.

“How?” I squint. It’s a mastodon of a package you has stored down there, I think to myself.

“Anyway, I need to find a position to photograph you from.”

I begin taking random photos of you from various angles and perspectives, simultaneously adjusting the settings on the camera as I do so. Meanwhile, you roll around to one side, then the other, then back again. The squeaking sounds of your body rubbing against the sides of the tub while you change poses makes the whole situation rather comedic, and I'm convinced you're doing it even worse on purpose. Determined to be somewhat professional, I try to ignore your distractions.

“It’s a good thing we have such good lighting in here,” I say, gazing around the small room, pretending to be focused and ignorant of your attempts at sabotage.

“How do you want me, babe? I feel like… I don’t even know? A fish out of water,” you say, doubting your own wording, “or something like that.”

I sigh, “I know, I get it. I need to think. We’ve also still got that… situation… going on.” I gesture at the, no less apparent, tent between your legs.

“Okay,” you say calmly, “I’ll just lie back and relax, while you think of something.”

“Good.”

As you settle into a comfortable position, I mentally run through the various “golden rules” of photography that I can remember.

Then it’s as if I notice the obvious. The absolute god-like adonis carved in marble in front of me: My initial inspiration. Your white t-shirt, soaked from all the turning and splashing around you did, is sticking to your chest and abs, enhancing the lines of your muscular torso, yet still in a perfectly suggestive fashion; somewhat similar to the drapery you see on these same sculptures. In a fit of impulse, I crawl up to stand on the edges of the tub.

You open your eyes –awoken by my scramblings– fear in your eyes as you reach for me, “be careful, babe!”

“No no, darling! Stay put!” I say, “I’m perfectly safe. It’s dry. My feet are dry. I’m stable, but thank you.” I smile, reassuringly. Suspicious yet accepting, you lower your arms and lie back down. I notice your eyes trail down my exposed body. Lust now clear as daylight in your gaze.

“I think I’ve got the photo soon, babe, then we’re done,” I explain. “Just close your eyes for me.”

You shake your head and smile, then do as I said.

Your head rests on the back of the tub, but your fingers begin fidgeting … around your nether region.

“Are you uncomfortable?” I ask between photos.

“No…” you smirk, eyes still closed, but you shift and rest your hands awkwardly on your stomach instead.

“We can’t have that,” I say, “you’re covering the main part of the photo,” I tease.

You open your eyes, still smirking but not saying a word.

“And you’re revealing, exposing, what we need to hide,” I try to hold back my laugh.

“Okay,” I continue, “what about… what if you hold your t-shirt at the hem and stretch it down to cover your crotch. Place your other hand casually beside it. Yeah, like that! Exactly, babe. Beautiful.”

I take a couple of photos and look at them on the tiny screen.

“Right, hold that pose, but just… kinda relax, if you can. I’ll take a few shots more and then you’re done!”

You close your eyes again and begin taking deep breaths, lessening the tension that must have been building in your shoulders over the last few days. As peace falls upon your face and body, I take the last photos. After quickly reviewing them on the tiny screen, I decide that I’m done. I turn off my camera and place it on the shelf above the tub before crawling down to sit on the edge of the tub, my feet in the water between your legs.

“Okay, it’s a wrap!”

Your eyes flash open and you let go of your t-shirt. The fabric bounces back, revealing your hairy tummy, teasing me. You look up at me with mischief, then give your member a squeeze.

“Get down here,” you say, almost ferocious in your voice.

I feel myself get all giddy with sudden anticipation as you rise like Poseidon from the water. Before I can do anything other than yelp, you pull me down onto you and with a splash and a thud I land against your rock-hard body. I'm instantly soaked.

“Finally,” you mutter, drenching my face and neck with hungry kisses. Your hands tease the collar of my robe before sliding it over my shoulders. Your eyes explore the curves of my upper body, then you adjust me so that I sit straddled upon you. You don’t speak a word, but your eyes and body say everything I need to know.

I feel your girth throbbing against me. You slide my robe all the way off and without taking your eyes off me, you cast it aside. Then your hands slide up my body. You cup my breasts tenderly, admiring the lace and how the new style of bra suits my breasts. You lick your lips as your thumbs begin stroking my hardening nipples. I sigh and begin grinding against the tip of your member.

You sit up and proceed to kiss and bite the flesh of my breasts. Gently holding the lace aside with your fingers, you capture my nipples between your teeth, ever so gently, before circling your tongue around them with exquisite attention. While squeezing my breasts together, you kiss them one after the other, back and forth, before venturing up to my collarbone and neck. All I can do is whimper and moan.

Then you grasp my hair, pulling my head back. Between kisses and bites on my exposed neck, you breathe damp, sultry words onto my skin. Expressions of how I’ve been a tease, how patient you’ve been and how much you want me now. I want to answer, but I can’t do anything but mutter incoherencies; your throbbing cock eagerly pressing against my core and thus stealing all of my vocabulary.

My breath quickens as I grind harder, cursing the fabrics that keep our cores from meeting, merging. Then you push me towards you, allowing our lips to meet in hungry kisses. My bra loosens. You must have managed to open and take it off me with your other hand, before also casting it aside. You grab at my liberated breasts, then sit up and pull your drenched t-shirt over your head. It lands on the bathroom floor with a splash. My hands instinctively seek the wet fur of your stomach and chest, momentarily squeezing your pecs, then wander south again.

Your eyes read pure hunger and you buck your hips. As I fall back down from the jump, my core meets the powerful strength of your pelvis, bucking yet again. I gasp, overcome by a mixture of arousal and humor. You buck again, a laugh escapes me and somehow, after a few times of this, you’ve managed to free your erection from your boxers. I didn’t notice, but at some point you must have turned on the tap again, because I see you turn it back off. I guess this increased level of water also explains the more slow-motion-like sensation I experience as I land back down on your pelvis; a somewhat softer landing than before. In my own defence, I was entranced and my mind was not functioning at 100%, hence the questionable description. Anyway, both our hips are now submerged under water and I simply shake my head at your mischievous ways. You smirk and pull me down to a deep kiss, slapping my ass through the water, making more water splash all over the place. Everything in the room is certainly wet by now.

I grind against your exposed and infinitely hard cock as your fingers slider under the lace. Your hands grab my cheeks with determination, enhancing the force and enabling you to better thrust against my grinding motion. The friction is causing short-circuits in my brain, making me see colours that aren’t there. My first climax is staggeringly near, but just before I get to release, you buck your hips again, making me scoot off your cock. A devious grin is smeared across your chiseled face.

“You had me waiting, sweetheart. Now it’s my turn to tease.”

---

Thanks for reading my shitpost! Please leave a comment of your thoughts, however nonsensical they may be 💜🙏

Tags in the reblog 🖤Let me know if you want to be added or removed from the list.

[reidgraygubler]

sounds like sweet talk to my ears (spencer reid/fem!reader)

Title: Sounds Like Sweet Talk to My Ears

Request: kinda, it was already written but someone asked for it to be posted

Couple: Spencer Reid/Fem!Reader

Category: smut, fluff (18+ CONTENT!)

Content Warning:  age gap between two consenting adults (Reader is 22. So it’s 15 years), swearing, sexual content (fingering, bathtub sex (?), groping, penetrative sex/creampie, hand kink), falling in love with a sugar daddy, mildly ooc spencer, light drinking, Sugar daddy!Spencer, sugar daddy relationship, mentions of under-aged drinking (in the past)

Word Count: 4,507

Summary: Reader and Spencer go on vacation where their relationship develops.

A/N: few things, this authors note might be a little long. And im sorry for that. This was written for a full length fic with mgg as the person. But i have heavily edited it to be for spencer instead. So if there are any weird things, or spencer being way out of character, that is why. Like i said this was originally going to be a full length fic (this was previously written!!), but i have since stopped writing it, i think i have one other part that is right after this, so if this part goes good, i’ll probably post the next part. secondly, this was also written for a friend of mine, who is 22, that is why the age gap is so big between reader and spencer. It was also written an original character, but i tried my best to make it be reader insert friendly (lots of petnames and nicknames)...  someone on my nsfw blog (@reidsprincess​ ) asked about this, bc i found this gif that reminded me of this particular fic. Anyways… thanks for the love! Check out my masterlist! 

~*~* THIS DOES CONTAIN 18+ CONTENT!! *~*~

{***}{***}{***}

“This place is beautiful,” I gasped once we were both in the small beach bungalow room. It was more grandiose than the last place we stayed in. The whole place was cozy and comfortable. This was a place I was never expected to be in...

 The front door was connected to the living room, it was a comfortable room, two loveseats, and two armchairs. A flat-screen TV was mounted on the wall across from the furniture. And the kitchen was attached to the living room, separating the two with a breakfast bar and stools. The kitchen itself was better than the kitchen in my apartment. I was jealous of the owner of this home. Flowers and lit candles sat on every open surface.

The kitchen had a set of sliding glass doors, which opened up onto a patio. And that held outdoor furniture, and table and chairs set. Something told me it also housed a jacuzzi, and I was more than excited to utilize that later. The bedroom and bathroom were tuck elsewhere, but I had a feeling that it was as beautiful as the rest of the home.

The house sat on the beach. The sand was pure white and the water was perfectly blue. I couldn’t wait to run and play in the sand. As childish as that sounds… I’ve never been to the beach, so this is all new to me.

“Spencer,” I looked behind my shoulder and at him. He looked down at me with a smile as he set the luggage down on the ground beside him.

“How about,” Spencer pressed his lips to my ear and whispered. His fingers danced across my bare arm, leaving goosebumps in their wake. I shuddered and smiled softly. “I go run us a bath, while you order food? Dinner with dessert? Champagne?” he offered, dropping his hand to the hem of my shirt. I chuckled lightly and pushed his hand off me. 

“That’s your idea of a perfect evening?” I asked, turning around to face him. “Dinner and a bath?” I chuckled lightly. He was looking down at me; the smile on his lips told me everything I needed to know. That he needed me right now more than I needed him. Although, I don’t think it’s possible for him to need me more than I needed him.

“Any evening with you is a perfect evening,” he whispered, lifting his hand to rest on my cheek. His hand fell down the side of my cheek and rested under my jaw, his thumb rested on the apple of my chin. I grinned as the familiar feeling of butterflies grew in my tummy. 

“Oh you be quiet,” I whispered as I lifted my arms to wrap around his neck. He hummed before pressing a kiss to my lips. I hummed, pulling him down more so we were more so eye level. He wrapped his free arm around my waist and pulled me so I was close to his body. I breathed out a laugh through my nose. After a second, he pulled away from me and kept his eyes on me. “I guess you’re in luck then,” I smiled, placing my hands on his cheeks.

“How so?” he whispered, pressing his face into my hands. I smiled and went onto my toes.

“Because our perfect evenings sound very similar,” I whispered and pecked his lips, “Every evening with you is perfect,” I smiled before walking away from him.

“What… What are you doing, Sunshine?” Spencer asked in a complaining tone as I walked towards the kitchen. I looked over my shoulder at him as I pulled my phone out of my pocket.

“Dinner?” I waved my phone in the air, “What do you want?” I looked back at my phone and smiled.

“Whatever you want will be fine,” he came back up to me and kissed me again before going towards the bathroom, “Bubbles?” he called before stepping into the bathroom. I laughed as I pressed my phone to my ear.

“You know me so well, Spence!” I smiled and sat on one of the stools at the breakfast bar. I looked around the kitchen and living room, taking in the beautiful decor. I wonder how he knew about this place...

I quickly ordered food before finding my way to the bathroom. And, the bathroom was just as impressive as the rest of the house. One wall was just a window that faced the beach. And a large white bathtub sat in front of the window. A shower was tucked in the wall, just so it was out of the way, but even that was beautiful. And of course, it had a toilet and sink. 

“Do you… Live here?” I asked, watching as Spencer was filling the tub. “Or like… Do you own this house? I mean… This is just. This is a beautiful house,” I leaned against the counter and looked at him. He stood up from the tub and looked at me. 

“Sometimes…” he paused as he looked around the bathroom. Sometimes? How do you sometimes live somewhere? “On the very rare occasion, when I have time off… I take my mother down here for a week. She loves the beach and the ocean and the sand in her toes,” he smiled as he rolled the sleeves of his shirt down. Okay, I guess that makes sense. “You order dinner?” he asked, resting his hands on the counter beside me. I looked up at him and nodded.

“Yeah, yeah, dinner’s ordered and on its way here,” I nodded and rested a hand on his chest. He quirked an eyebrow and smiled softly.

“What’d you order?” he rested his hands on my waist. I smiled and cocked my head to the side, allowing his hands to wander up my sides.  

“I’m sorry, it’s a surprise. I don’t want to tell you,” I smiled at him. Spencer wrinkled his nose before kissing my forehead. I let out a breath of air and shrugged. “You’ll find out in 20 minutes. You should save some space in the bath for hot water,” I poked his nose before sneaking away from his arms. He grasped my wrists and pulled me back so I was in front of him.

“Where are you going?” he asked, looking down at me. I flashed my brightest smile and shrugged.

“Champagne,” I batted my eyelashes. Spencer laughed and nodded. “You still want a glass or do you want to get in the bath now?” I offered as I walked back towards the kitchen. 

“As always,” Spencer followed behind me. “I’ll grab a bottle, you get the glasses?” he asked, going towards a mini wine cooler. I nodded and opened a cabinet. I opened a few before finally pulling out two glasses.

“If this is your mother’s place, why aren’t there any photos of your family?” I asked, leaning on the counter as I sipped my beverage. Spencer turned and looked at me, leaning across from me on the counter.

“We rent it out on season.” He replied, looking down at his glass. I nodded.

“What does that mean?” I asked, feeling mildly stupid. He looked at me with a smile. “Sorry. But you gotta remember that I’m an elementary school teacher’s assistant… Who's poor. I have an apartment that I can barely afford… Not two houses, one of which I rent out.” I pointed out. Spencer laughed and nodded. “Or did you think I was just sleeping with you for fun,” I leaned over the counter to kiss his lips. 

“Hurt,” he placed his hand on his chest in a mockery of hurt. I smiled at him and cocked my head. He looked back at me with a small smile on his lips. “Basically, when we’re not here, we rent it out… But we don’t have too many people staying here,” he chuckled before sipping his drink. “As for sleeping with me just for fun? I didn’t know it was just for fun,” he pouted. I smiled and shrugged. 

“Can’t forget about that paycheck too,” I smiled at him and winked. Spencer looked at me with raised eyebrows, causing me to laugh. “And, I think the fun is just an added bonus feature…” I laughed, throwing my head back. “I thought what we were was just money and sex? Nothing more,” I whispered, leaning on the counter. Spencer looked at me and shrugged.

“It could be more than that,” he smiled. I lowered my glass to the countertop and stared at him.  I could feel my lips trying to pull into a smile, but the longer I stared at him, the more I wished this wasn’t a dream. Because that’s all it felt like when I was with him. A dream.

“Surely… You can’t be serious, Spencer,” I whispered, finally looking away from him. Spencer lifted his hand and rested it on my cheek, carefully turning my head back to look at him.

“I’ve never been serious like this before, Sunshine. And, please, don’t call me Shirley,” he whispered, poking my nose. I smiled and leaned over the counter again, kissing his lips. 

“Only if you’re serious, Spencer. I understand you’re a busy man yourself, with all that saving people with the FBI,” I whispered. He nodded, keeping his hand on my face. I wasn’t exactly sure if he was being serious, mostly because he’s a bit older than me and most people my age (and his age) don’t take such a big age gap.

A knock on the door caused us both to look that direction. I looked back at him and smiled. “Oh no. What’d you order?” He asked, watching me bounce towards the front door. I pulled the door open and met the delivery man with a smile.

“Thank you very much,” I smiled and took the food and pressed the door shut. “I got pizza because I really wanted pepperoni pizza,” I looked at him as I held the box up. Spencer laughed and nodded as he grabbed the two champagne glasses and bottle.

“I’m okay with having pizza,” he smiled before taking the lead back to the bathroom. I held the box in a tight grip as I followed behind him. “Although, I never pictured pizza to be a fancy dinner before a bath,” he looked over at me with a quirked eyebrow. I laughed before I sat on the ground.

“I mean, you are the one who put me in charge of ordering dinner,” I looked at him, watching as he sat on the ground across from me. He sat against the cabinets of the sink counter. I shoved his food towards him and smiled. “It just shows we have two different tastes. I mean, remember the first night we met. You ordered room service for steak and chicken alfredo,” I pointed out as I pulled my food out of the bag. “I’m a simple woman. I like pepperoni pizza,” I smiled at him.

“I think I’ll put you in charge of ordering food more often,” Spencer smiled at me as he went for a slice of pizza. 

“I think that’s a good idea,” I grinned. “I’ll be sure to eat quick. I’ve never been so ready for a bath in my entire life,” I spoke as I moved to sit closer to him. 

“Take your time. We have all the time in the world, Princess,” he smiled as he sipped his champagne. I felt my face warm up a bit as I looked away from him. Something about the petname he has for me just gets me going, and I love it. He definitely knew that too, that I loved the petname of Princess. 

“Glad to know that,” I giggled as I looked at my mostly-empty glass. 

{***}{***}{***}

“More champagne, Princess?” Spencer’s voice was low as he held up the bottle that was now mostly empty. I lolled my head back onto his shoulder and rested my elbows on his knees (I was sitting between his legs in the bath) and held up my glass. 

“I would love more,” I whispered, watching him pour too much into my glass. I hummed happily, telling him it was enough. He placed the bottle back on the stool and wrapped both arms back around my body. The bathwater was warm and matched with how much booze I was drinking, I knew I was beyond intoxicated. I’m sure Spencer’s presence only fueled that feeling. No, it 100% added to that feeling. I knew that. And, he knew that. He knew he had a way with me that no other man would have, or ever have even.

“You should pace yourself, Princess,” Spencer whispered, pressing his lips to my shoulder. I giggled before sipping my drink, telling him I shouldn’t. His breath of air fanned over my skin as he began pressing kisses to my neck. 

“You, Spencer, should stop giving me alcohol,” I looked up at him as best I could. He smiled and kissed me again. “Besides... you’ve had just as much... as me,” I spoke through tiny hiccups. Spencer chuckled and rubbed my shoulders before pressing his lips back to them. My eyes rolled into the back of my head as the unknown tension slipped away. Damn his touch.

“Okay, that’s fair,” he murmured into my skin. "However, I've been drinking for sixteen years. You, Sunshine, are only 22 and have only been drinking a year,” he stated like I would follow the rules. I held back the cackle that so desperately wanted to escape my lips. Me? Follow the rules?? Never ever… This should be a fun thing to tell him.

"True… But I have been drinking since I was 18," I smiled and nodded. I sipped my champagne as I rested my head back on his chest. Spencer made a sound of disapproval which only made me laugh. Oh yeah, that’s right… Under aged drinking is illegal… and he is an FBI agent...  “Okay, since when have you known me to follow the rules? I’m dating a man 15 years older than me,” I pointed out. 

"Oh, you naughty girl." Spencer playfully scolded me. I pouted before humming again.

“Yes, but I’m your naughty girl,” I laughed, arching my back a little bit. I felt his hand travel from my stomach and to my thighs. I hummed as I got a little more comfortable for what he was about to do. “Starting early,” I teased. Spencer let out a breathy laugh. He gently pressed his lips to my throat, right on my pulse point. I gasped lightly as he parted his lips and sucked a spot on my neck. I held my glass just outside of the tub. 

“I’d rather have champagne in the bath than champagne and glass on the floor,” he kept his voice low as he pulled my hand back over the bath. I laughed and shook my head. “Is this okay,” he asked as his other hand traveled a bit more upwards, towards me.

“It’s always okay,” I whispered, taking a deep breath of air. I could feel my heart beating in my chest, I wouldn’t be surprised if Spencer could feel and hear it. 

“Let me take this,” he spoke, taking my glass from my hands. I let out a sound of protest as he took my glass and pressed my head into his chest. He chuckled as he placed the glass on the stool beside the empty bottle. “You can have it back,” he spoke in a mocking tone. I pouted and dropped my head to my shoulder. “In a minute,” he added, his tone becoming a little bit more smug. I rolled my eyes and let out a huff of air.

“Fine,” I whispered. Spencer chuckled again and placed his hand back on my thigh. I hummed happily and looked up at him. “Do you have to be such a tease all the time?” I pouted at him. He smiled and shrugged before dragging his hand closer to my center. 

“Could be more than a tease,” he replied in a whisper. I rolled my eyes and let out a deep breath of air. I carefully lifted my foot out of the water and rested it on the ledge of the tub. “Oh no, you’re gonna get water all over the floor,” he scolded.

“Oh no,” It was my turn to mock him. I smiled as I waved my foot in the air. Spencer hummed before pressing his lips to the side of my head. “A little bit of wet never killed anyone,” I snickered. Except, that snicker became a gasp when he pushed a finger past my folds. My eyes fluttered shut as my jaw stayed slack open. I pressed my back into his chest, feeling his arousal on my lower back. I nearly slipped under the water if Spencer hadn’t had his other arm around my waist, holding me safely against his body.

“Calm down there, Princess,” Spencer laughed as he held me up. I glared over my shoulder at him. “Don’t need you slipping under the water. I think you’re wet enough,” he added as his finger slowly circled my clit. My hands gripped the side of the tub and then moved to rest on his knees. 

“I fucking hate you,” I muttered but moaned towards the end of my statement. Spencer laughed as he pressed his lips to the side of my head. His other arm was pressed against my chest, keeping me still as I wiggled and writhed under his touch. A breathy moan fell from my lips as he picked up his pace.  

“No, I don’t think you do,” he whispered, keeping his lips close to my ear. My eyes fluttered shut as I dropped my head to the side. Spencer took this as his chance to press kisses across the space behind my ear, causing me to gasp lightly. Spencer hummed, pleased with how I was reacting to any sort of his touches. 

I lifted both my hands and gripped his arm as he slowly eased a finger into my center. I pressed my nails so hard into his arm, I wouldn’t be surprised if come morning he’d have crescent-shaped bruises there.

A man like Spencer who has hands as beautiful as his, he clearly knows what he’s doing. It’d be a sin if he didn’t. A loss for all of womankind. I guess that’s why I’m so pleased that it’s me under his hands right now and not a different girl. I quite literally love his hands, and the way he can just work his magic with his fingers, getting me going in a matter of minutes. He wasn’t lying when he said he was a magician. 

“You alright, Princess,” he asked, keeping his tone low as he continued thrusting his fingers in and out of me, curling them just right. I hope the gasp I gave was a good response because I don’t think I knew words right now. My brain was getting fuzzy, and my belly was starting to grow tense. Like a coil deep within me was about to break. 

“S’close,” I mustered out. I swallowed roughly as he began rubbing my clit with the heel of his palm. My whimpers, gasps, and moans weren’t evenly timid as he picked up the pace, finally pushing me over the edge. 

I was a mess. There’s no other way of putting it. But, I’m always a mess when I’m with him. 

Spencer slowly withdrew his hand from between my legs and placed it over top of his other arm, embracing me like his life depended on it. I took a deep breath, trying to steady my breathing. A giggle fell from my lips as I threw my head back against his chest. Spencer hummed as he looked down at me.

“I love your fucking hands,” I turned my head and looked at him. Spencer smiled at me and laughed before pulling his hands off me to look at them. I took one of them in my own and looked at it, entranced by his veins and freckles peppered over the backside. It felt right for his hand to be in mine.

“Thank you… I guess. I think that’s a compliment,” he mused as he placed his arms back over my chest and kissed my cheek. “You good?” he asked, his thumbs rubbing my shoulders.

“Yeah, I’m gonna go dry off and get water. Better see you in the bedroom.” I smiled at him. He pressed another kiss to my face before allowing me to get out. 

“As you wish, Princess,” he smiled at me as I grabbed a towel. His eyes lingered on me for a moment as I wrapped the towel around my body. “I’ll be right behind you,” he added as I grabbed our glasses and empty champagne bottle. 

I smiled at him as I left the bathroom, making my way across towards the kitchen. True to my word, I got a glass of water and drank half of it in one sip. I grabbed a second glass and retreated back towards the bedroom. 

Spencer wasn’t finished in the bathroom, I could still hear him splashing around in the water. I grinned and shook my head as I stepped into the bedroom. I placed the two glasses on the nightstand. I sat on the edge of the bed, waiting for him to finish. 

Not even two minutes later, Spencer entered the room, towel around his waist. I stared at him, my eyes lingering on his shoulders, down his arms to his hands, before flicking to gaze upon his belly and torso. I felt my lips twitch as I stood, leaving my towel behind. He smiled as I basically sprinted up to him.

I placed an open mouth kiss over his lips, putting my arms around his neck to pull him down to my height. I could feel his grin against my lips as our noses smooshed together. His arms wrapped around my waist as he brought us to the bed. 

“You’re so eager, Princess,” he muttered against my lips. I hummed as I threaded my fingers through his hair. That action elicited a moan from his lips, making me smile. He gently pushed me against the bed, standing at the foot as I got myself to lie at the pillows. The way he looked at me told me he was pleased with how the night was going to end. And honestly, I understood. 

He dropped his towel from his hips, letting it fall to the floor, before kneeling on the bed. I took a deep breath as I stared at him, keeping my eyes on my face. I knew if they wandered any further, I’d become a puddle right there. Well, more of a puddle than I already was.

Spencer smiled at me as his fingers ghosted my legs. He gently placed a kiss on different parts of my body as he made his way up to my face. The bliss I felt was unexplainable as he grasped one of my hands and kissed my lips. 

He looked down at me, a small smile on his lips. My chest heaved as my breathing picked up once again. The kisses he pressed to the swells of my breasts made me feel like I was floating. That, or it was the softness of the mattress and bedding beneath us. 

“You ready for me, Princess?” he asked, pressing a knee between my legs, separating them so he could fit comfortably between them. I licked my lips and nodded, keeping my eyes on his. His nose twitched as a smile grew on his lips. He brought a hand to rest on my cheek. “I need to hear you say it,” he leaned close to my ear and whispered. 

“Yeah, yes… I’m always ready,” I swallowed roughly and nodded. Spencer pulled his hand from my face and moved it to my hip. I lifted my legs and wrapped them around his waist, pulling him close to me. He smiled and kissed my lips, a simple distraction as he pressed his cock into me. The breath in my lungs was knocked from me, causing me to loud gasp. Spencer smiled against my lips. 

“You feel so good, Princess,” he groaned, dropping his head to my shoulder. It took a minute for either of us to move, adjusting to the feeling of each other. “Ready,” he asked, moving to place his forehead on mine. I swallowed and nodded, bringing my hands to rest on his cheeks. 

A smile twitched on his lips as he slowly started to move his hips. At first, it was an unsure rhythm but slowly grew in a slow and meaningful pace. His hands roamed my body before wrapping around my torso and holding me close. 

“Faster,” I panted, pulling my hands from his face and knotting them in his hair, again. He nodded, picking his pace. A familiar feeling in my belly, the coil winding, returned. The groans that fell from Spencer’s lips pushed me closer. 

“You’re doing so good, Princess,” his voice was low and rough as he spoke. 

I pulled a hand away from his head and brought it between our bodies. I began rubbing my clit, pushing me closer to the edge. Spencer’s thrusting grew more erratic.

“Come with me, please,” I whimpered, keeping my arm around him. He nodded and groaned as I clenched around him.  After a moment, we both became a mess. Moans and gasps of each other’s names filled the silent bedroom. 

Spencer stayed put above me for a minute, his arms around my body and holding me close. We took our time coming down from our shared high. A whimper escaped my lips as he pulled out from me and collapsed on the bed beside me.

“I got you water,” I panted, vaguely gesturing towards the two glasses of water on the nightstand. Spencer chuckled as he reached for a glass. I watched as he drank the water, his adam’s apple bobbing as he swallowed. I smiled at him, keeping my eyes on him. I knew I should look away, but I couldn’t. “You’re right, I don’t hate you,” I swallowed roughly and shook my head.

“I know I’m right,” he looked down at me with a smile. I rolled my eyes and watched him get off the bed. I furrowed my eyebrows and sat up. “I’m always right, Princess,” he looked over his shoulder and at me. I smiled and nodded as I got off the bed. 

“So much for taking a bath,” I rolled my eyes as I felt our mixture roll down my legs. “I’m gonna shower,” I smiled at him as I walked towards him. He pecked my lips and nodded. 

“Don’t have too much fun without me,” he poked my sides as I grabbed for my towel. I squealed and shook my head. 

“Wouldn’t dream of it,” I smiled at him.

taglist: @itsmyblogandillreblogifiwantto​, @thebluetint​

[tomtenadia]

A Little Braver - 20

Even if I had a crazy day at work I did manage to do my Monday post as promise... but if you notice typos...I am sorry. I read it and edited but my brain  left with the boat tonight (I work for a ferry company, hence the joke)

This is the first of a few chapters where our bird boy is away and Hamel is causing problems to our gang.

Also, Aelin tries to cook... well... you can imagine how did that go.

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

After the trip to the base Aelin had taken home a very sad Elide and then got back to her own place and cried herself to sleep while hugging Rowan’s pillow. It was very late in the afternoon and it was her day off and she had no intention of leaving her bed.

Her head was buried under the pillow when she heard her phone buzz so she scrambled to get it and her heart raced when she saw it was Rowan.

“Hi,” she said with a croaked vice.

“Are you okay?” Rowan was already in fussing mode.

“Yes I just woke up.” She heard a lot of background noise “where are you?”

“Vulture’s row.” He activated his camera and showed Aelin the view of a fully functional flight deck. “Uh, wait.” He pointed the camera stern of the ship and showed Aelin a jet landing.

“That was so cool.” He turned the camera to him and she saw him with his sunglasses and his hair messed up by the wind. Then he switched off the camera and they went back to normal.

“Are you there yet?”

“We are skirting around. We still have a few hours before we are fully in enemy territory.”

Then Aelin heard a siren of some sort and Rowan swore “I’ll call you as soon as I can again. I need to scramble. Love you.”

“Be safe.” She managed to add before he closed the phone call.

She collapsed again in bed then decided to call Lysandra and Elide and organise a day out the three of them shopping. Elide needed cheering up as well.

The next day Aelin, Elide and Lysandra had decided to have a girls’ afternoon to cheer up the two ladies who had their boys away. They met at the entrance of the shopping centre and Aelin went to hug Elide first of all “how are you doing?”

“Lorcan gave me a brief call yesterday telling me they were on the ship and on their way, then he had to go.”

Aelin sighed “today we don’t think about our far away boys.”

“And maybe you can buy some very sexy lingerie as a present for when Lorcan comes back.” Commented Lysandra and Elide blushed.

“What’s the point?” Asked Elide “you are taking it off anyway.”

Aelin laughed and took Elide’s hand “remember the dress I had at the navy party?”

Elide nodded “it was stunning.”

“I was not wearing anything underneath. It drove Rowan crazy.”

“I have done it a few times with Aedion and I agree with Aelin. The sex afterward has been amazing.”

“How do I learn all these things?”

“Stick with us and we will teach you.”

“Let’s go for some food,” said Aelin, “I haven’t eaten yet.”

“How will you survive now without your sexy chef in the house?” Asked Lysandra.

“Oh, I’ll just go back to my usual order in and ready meals.” Shrugged Aelin who had no intention of even trying to cook anything.

Lysandra took Aelin’s hand and walked toward a restaurant “come on Elide, let’s get this girl properly fed.”

The three women got into the restaurant and sat down and Aelin started perusing the menu eager for some decent food and not long after they placed their order. Lys was right, without Rowan she would be lost when it came to food. Rowan had properly spoiled her.

“How are the wedding preparations going?” Asked Aelin.

Lysandra and Aedion’s wedding was not far away and she was excited to see her best friend finally having her happy ending.

“We are getting there.”

“Do you have a dress yet?” Asked Elide all excited.

Lysandra took out her phone and showed them her dress.

“That is gorgeous. Aedion will not be able to keep his eyes off you during the ceremony.”

“That is the plan.” Lysandra smiled wickedly “but the biggest question is who is going to be next?”

“My money is on Aelin,” chimed Elide “Lor is not emotionally ready for such a step. You and the captain on the other hand…” her eyebrows flicked in amusement.

“She is right, and the two of you basically live together.”

“Yes and no.”

“What do you mean?” Lysandra was confused by the admission.

“We haven’t covered the subject yet. He still has his flat and some of his stuff there. Even after I recovered he never left and I never pushed because I like having him around.”

“Will you ask him to move in officially?”

Aelin sighed “maybe. When he comes back. I don’t know. Things are going well and I don’t want to mess it up.”

“Do you think he’ll say no?” Asked Lysandra. Brainstorming with her friend was always helpful and recently she hadn’t done it enough.

“I don’t think so. But living together is as far as we can go just now. For many, many reasons.”

“Is it because of Sam?”

“Only partially.” She was not going to tell her friends Rowan’s story. She had no right. So she remained vague hoping the two friends would get the hint and not ask anymore questions.

“Still, my money is on you two.” Added Lys “Elide is right, Lorcan does not seem to have yet the emotional ability to commit.”

“Hey, he kissed her in public. And yesterday at the base he seemed quite nice to her.”

“Quite?”

“I don’t know, I was concentrating on Rowan I just cast a brief glance at them.” Replied Aelin.

“He was super kind.” Added Elide taking biting on a breadstick.

Their food finally arrived and Aelin was the first to tuck in.

“Does the captain know about your crazy eating habits?” Asked Lysandra amused.

“Yes,” replied Aelin, enjoying her food “he calls me his bottomless pit. When we had our first date he joked that he might need a mortgage just to feed me.”

Elide laughed “Sam used to joke and say that he needed a second job just for feeding you.”

“I move a lot,” replied Aelin with a grin “I have a big appetite.”

“I think it must be a firefighter thing. Aedion is the same.” Lysandra grinned “and we burn a lot of calories.”

“Eeewwww, I did not need to know that. He is my cousin.”

“Oh come one, as if you and hot captain do not engage in illicit activities. The whole squad guessed that the other night you two had sex in the shower after the call at the club.”

“I was just giving him a special goodbye.” Her hand gently brushed the spot where she could feel his tags. She did a bit of research and she was happy she had a copy. Having the real one meant he was gone and she could not think about that.

“Are you okay?” Asked Lysandra worried at her sudden change of expression.

“Yeah.” She added flatly, then gave them a big smile. It was their day off she should not spoil it.

“So, are we taking Elide lingerie shopping?” Aelin teased trying to raise the spirits of her friend.

“Yes, it’s going to be fun.” Added Lysandra all excited.

“Girls… there is really no need. What I have is okay. Lorcan is not fussed.”

Aelin took a bite of her food “oh but we will make sure he is fussed and also that he knows how sexy you are so he does not decide to…. wander.”

“How do I keep him? I am nowhere near as interesting as the two of you. He might get bored of me very soon.”

Aelin stared at her friend and it broke her heart that her horrible past left her with no confidence at all. Elide was brilliant at her job and she was an intelligent woman and she was positive she would make quite a few heads turn.

“Don’t you say something like that ever again.” Lysandra preceded her. She was even more protective of Elide than her “I work with you everyday and I know how awesome you are and I am positive that if we go to a club you’d have your share of men looking at you.”

Aelin nodded.

They finished their meal and went back wandering around the shopping centre and visited a few shops. In one of them Aelin wandered in the male department and spotted a couple of lovely jumpers. One of them was a deep green and looked very cozy and she realised she had no idea of when it was Rowan’s birthday.

Silly question, you never told me your birthday. She sent the text and knew a reply might take a long time to come. She grabbed the jumper and tried to decide whether it was the right size for him.

“That is a lovely jumper.” Said Lysandra joining her at her side “already thinking about useful presents? You are like an old married couple.”

Aelin laughed.

“But I think this one is really nice and the man seems to look amazing in green.”

“I am just wondering about the size.”

Lysandra grabbed the tag “this one will fit Aedion so you should be fine.”

A moment later Elide rejoined them, her face beetroot red “I feel so silly.” And showed the girls her bag with her lingerie purchase.

“Hey, Ace and I are joking. You didn’t have to buy it if it makes uncomfortable.” But Elide surprised them “I will buy just one pair for now and I’ll see how it goes.”

Lysandra laughed “Aelin is already buying presents married couple style and you are still in the sexy lingerie stage. My girls have grow up so much.”

“And what stage are you and Aedion?” Asked Aelin with a grin.

“The one where I go to the grocery store and I phone him to ask him if he wants beef or chicken for dinner.”

The rest of the afternoon went swimmingly and she loved spending the day with Lys and Elide. They didn’t do that nearly enough.

Now she was back home and in the kitchen trying to accomplish her new mission. She had bought a cooking book for beginners and she had decided she was going to try and cook dinner. Lysandra had told her to start with something as simple as a stir fry. So she had bought a few more kitchen supplies and a pan Lys had told her was called a wok. She had mused why she could not use the pot she already had and Lys had rolled her eyes. Aelin had also bought the ingredients and now they were all lined up in front of her, the book open and a fire blanket and a small fire extinguisher on the counter just to be safe it was her cooking after all. She took a photo and sent it to Rowan then started working. When it got to cut the onions she cursed herself for deciding to cook.

Her phone rang and put it on speaker “hey,” her voice sounded strained and Rowan went in full fussing mode “are you okay?”

“Yeah, cutting those blasted onions.” She sniffled.

Over the line she heard Rowan roar with laughter “what are you making?” He asked as soon as he stopped laughing.

“A chicken stir fry. Lys said it’s easy to do.”

“Why are you putting onions in it?”

“Because I like them, mr I know how to cook.”

“I even bought a wok. Apparently I cannot use my pot.” She added as while throwing the ingredients in the pan.

“Seriously, when I get back we are going to have a massive overhaul of your kitchen.”

And Aelin’s heart raced in joy. It sounded like he had no intention of going back permanently to his flat. Maybe when he got back she should ask him the question after all.

“Aelin, it’s a miracle you have cutlery and two plates.” She could hear the humour in his voice.

“How are things going?”

“I just came off patrol. I am on my way to my quarters to get changed. I don’t have the most appealing scent just now.”

“Shower without me, so what? Two minutes max?”

“That’s about it. The water supply is not endless.”

He finally got to his quarters and collapsed on his bed after removing his boots then lay down and activated the camera.

“Hi sexy,” she did the same and placed the phone against the wall in front of her so he could see her as well.

“I don’t see any smoke. That’s a good start, considering it’s you.”

Aelin gave him the middle finger and then showed him her small fire extinguisher “I am prepared.” She took a bit of her food “for now it tastes edible, but not as good as yours.”

She saw him give her a smug smile and her instinct was to wipe it off his face with a kiss.

“The answer is July 16th, by the way.”

Aelin looked at him not understanding his statement.

��My birthday? You asked me earlier on.”

That she did “That’s two months away.”

“And when it’s yours?”

“May 3rd.”

“Aelin, that’s in two days.” He added sadly “and it sucks I can’t be there.”

“Lys has planned to drag me out with the girls of the firehouse. It’s also her bachelorette party. I have to go.”

“I almost forgot they were getting married. That came around quickly.”

Aelin laughed “not when you have been around them for years.” Aelin placed her food in a plate and moved to the sofa, taking her phone with her.

“When is the wedding?”

“This weekend. The weather is meant to be gorgeous which is a good thing since they are getting married outdoors.”

She heard him sigh “I really, really wish I could be there with you.”

She did not add that she had been thinking the same. So she just took a bite of her food.

“Edible?”

“Fuck no,”Aelin spit the morsel back in the plate “I must have done something wrong with the spices. It tastes horrible.” She grabbed her house phone.

“What are you doing?”

“Clearly ordering in. I am not eating this.”

Rowan rolled his eyes “you should practice more.”

“Why bother? I am clearly not cut for cooking. I am hopeless.”

“Do I need to tell you the amount of times my food sucked when I was still learning to cook decently? I got better with trial and error.”

Aelin huffed “fine I’ll try again on my next day off.” Then she put her house phone down after placing the order “I thought you were going for a shower?”

“Eager to get rid of me?”

“No, I just was hoping to have a peek at that nice arse of yours.”

Rowan laughed “If you behave.”

“Do you have the quarters all for yourself?”

Rowan nodded in the screen “the perks of rank. Gav is sharing with Vaughan. The twins are on their own.”

“Is that wise?”

“This carrier has a nice number of female officers. No one wants to go anywhere near that room.”

“Remember I am jealous, Whitethorn.”

“Some of them are middies on their snot cruise, so very young. The others… still not interested.”

“Who is a middie?”

“It’s short for midshipman or woman. They are the lowest ranking officers in the navy, just above the cadets. And a snot cruise is their first time out at sea on a proper mission.”

“Are your students middies as well?” She loved asking all those questions that might have sounded silly to him, but he never made her feel stupid for asking. He was always happy to answer.

“No, my students are called pilot officers. Then they become Flying officers, then flight lieutenants which is what the twins are, then Vaughan is our squadron leader, Gav is the Wing commander and then you have me.”

“Sounds so complicated.” She definitely needed to do more research to understand his job a bit better.

“It’s like you guys. Aedion looks after one rig as a lieutenant, you are the captain and are in charge of the operations of both at the same time and Dorian will be in charge of all the engines in case multiples houses are involved. Am I correct?”

Aelin nodded impressed.

“Same for us. Vaughan looks after our small squadron, Gav two or three squadrons, which is called a wing. I look after a unit composed of different wings and then Lorcan plays god in the CIC.”

“Now it makes more sense. So I could be your wing commander.”

“Having you fly with us would be insane. We would not concentrate on the enemy.”

Aelin laughed, then the buzzer of the door went off “just a sec, buzzard, food is here.” She went to get her food and plopped back on the sofa resuming her call with Rowan.

“Is your ship nice?”

“I served on her before. Not as swanky as the new one, but she is decent enough.” Rowan sat back up “hey, I really need to take that shower and then it’s chow time. If I miss it I don’t eat until tomorrow morning.”

“Go. Sorry for keeping you.”

“You did not such things. I have been looking forward to call you.”

“I love you.” She told him, sending back the tears that had started forming.

“I love you too, Fireheart.”

Aelin waved him goodbye and went back eating while tears had begun flowing down her cheeks. It had only been two days and she hoped it would get easier being so far apart.

***

The next morning she arrived at the station bright and early, got changed and went straight to Aedion “Are you ready?”

The man nodded “Peter is covering you until we get back from the police and I got Manon in charge of the second rig.”

“Good. Let’s go.”

They arrived at the police headquarters not long after and Chaol met them at the reception area “Hi guys,”

“Here’s my favourite cop.” Aelin went to hug Chaol.

“Just because I keep reporters away from you.”

She gave him a huge smile back.

“Come, detective Ytger is waiting for you.” They followed behind him in silence and stopped in front of a door and knocked.

A female voice told them to go in and once in the office Aelin recognised the same woman at one of the arson cases a few months back.

“Captain, Lieutenant, we meet again.” The three shook hands and the detective sat back down and invited both cousins to do the same.

The detective threw a thick file on the desk “you two have just made a very powerful enemy.”

“The man is a bastard.”

“Believe me, captain, when I tell you that Hamel has been a thorn in my side for a very long time.”

“And why is he still at large? Two people died and the man did not care.”

The woman pinched the bridge of her nose “he has very powerful lawyers and always gets away with murder. We have been working on him for a long time but whatever piece of proof we bring in is never enough to get him behind bars for good.” Aelin could sense the tiredness in her voice.

“Did you close his club as I asked?”

“We did, but he owns almost all the ones in Orynth. And so much more.”

“Can’t you arrest him for murder?” voiced Aedion.

“No, his lawyers showed us the papers of the latest inspections and the place was deemed to code. He blamed the company that did the inspections for lying to him.”

“Detective, I hope you are aware that is a bullshit.” Said Aedion, fury burning under his surface.

“I am well aware.” The woman added almost apologetically “the closure is temporary. It will not stick too long.”

Aelin almost swore “Have the other clubs been checked?”

“We did some undercover recon but we don’t have the full skillset to know what’s up to code.”

Aelin smiled wickedly “well, it’s a good thing that you have a firefighter whose birthday is very soon and was planning to go to a club.”

“You are not dragging Lys and the others in this.”

“Calm down. Hamel does not know them, they are safe. I will wear a disguise.”

“I don’t like the sound of this.” He protested again but he knew Aelin could be stubborn.

“I am coming too.”

“No,” said Aelin “One: Hamel remembers how you lifted him up and he will not forget such act. Two: it’s Lys bachelorette party as well. So, no.” she paused “you can take the guys to another one.”

“What happens if we find both clubs not up to specs?” Asked Aelin worried that it was going to be a lost cause.

“We can start by closing them and gather a bit more time to have more material against him. We have other leads. We just need something significant.”

They discussed with the detective which clubs to hit and they left.

Once in the car Aedion made his displeasure quite clear “I do not like this.”

“Neither do I, but the police has no idea what to look for.” Replied Aelin.

“We are not cops.”

“And they are not firefighters.”

After that they drove in silence all the way back to the station.

***

Two days had passed and Aelin’s birthday had arrived. She arrived at the station and laughed at the scene. One of the rigs was covered in balloons and a sign saying happy birthday, cap and the second rig was for Aedion and Lysandra and the front of the truck had a long white sheet over it that looked like a bridal veil and two massive papier mache rings attached to the front.

She laughed and joined Ansel and Manon who were doing some checks “did everyone see this?” She pointed at the engine and truck. The two women nodded.

“Then let’s clear it. I do not want to go on a call in that state.”

“Yes, captain.” Said the two women in unison. 

The locker room was empty and she sat down on the bench and looked at her phone again. She was hoping for a text from Rowan or a call but nothing yet. She kept telling herself that he was busy and probably out flying. She removed his dog tags and hung them in the locker and stood and stared at the pictures she had hung up. It was some of the photos they had taken in Doranelle. With her finger she brushed a photo of him. He was standing and looking up to the sky. His eyes closed and a small smile painted on his face and his hair all tousled after she had messed it up. It was one of her favourite photos of him. “Be safe, please.” And she blew him a kiss.

Aelin got dressed and then reached the team who was having breakfast in the communal room.

“She is here.” Shouted Nox happily.

Luca grabbed her arm and pulled to the table where a cake was waiting for her.

“Chocolate hazelnut cake. Your favourite.” He cut a slice and offered it to her.

Aelin grabbed it eagerly “mmmmm”

“Get a room you two,” shouted Ress.

A moment later Manon came through with a man carrying a large box “he says this is for you, captain.”

“Thanks, Manon.”

Aelin grabbed the box from the courier and sat down on the sofa. It came from a shop in Orynth. Strange. She opened the box and when she peeked inside she saw a massive stuffed toy. Once she lifted it she realised it was a bird and she had a feeling she knew who it was from.

“A bird? Why a bird?” Asked Lysandra.

Aelin smiled, grabbed the stuffed toy and walked to her bunk to be alone when she noticed the letter inside.

Once alone she sat down on her bed and placed the bird at her side and read the letter

Happy birthday, fireheart.

I wish I could be there for you but I can’t and it hurts more than I thought possible.

If you are reading this, you have met your new friend. I could not find a buzzard but a toy shop in Orynth had a white-tailed hawk and since I have silver hair I thought it was the closest option. Do we look similar? He will keep you company while I can’t be there with you.

I will try and call you tomorrow if I get a free moment, but the guys and I have pulled alert crew duty for the day so no phone for me.

Have fun with the girls and leave the other guys alone especially if they are navy and army.  Aelin chuckled at the joke

I miss you already.

I love you. Madly. 

To whatever end.

Yours, 

Buzzard.

By the time she had finished reading the letter she was in tears. She hugged the soft toy and for a moment she hoped to smell his scent of pine and snow. She went to her locker, grabbed the dog tags and put them around the bird’s neck “you look after them while I am on shift, but then I take them back.” After that she took a photo and sent it to Rowan “I think I will call him Rowan.”

**

It was later that night and Lysandra and Elide were at Aelin’s place to get ready for their fun night. Aelin though, was not in the mood. Rowan had eventually called her but the phone call was cut short when he had go and scramble. Soft toy Rowan was on her bed, his dog tags back on since she would not be wearing them with her dress.

Lysandra was going through her wardrobe looking for a dress for the night.

“So, the captain does have clothes that are not uniform,” said the woman going through his clothes but Aelin glared at her and Lys went back to Aelin’s side of the dresser.

“Did he phone you?”

“Yeah.” Said Aelin flatly while wearing her dress.

“Lorcan said they were having a couple of shitty days.”

Aelin ignored her friend or she would end up in tears and ruin her make up.

“Did he give you his dog tags?” Asked Lys noting them pending from the bird’s neck.

“No, he can’t. He made a copy. And I don’t want the original ones until he retires.”

“Why?” Asked Elide while she was busy fixing her hair.

“Because it means he is dead. They are used for identification.” Replied Lysandra flatly. She had learned that from Aedion.

“Can we please change subject?” Snapped Aelin.

Lysandra grabbed a green dress “what do you think?”

“It will go perfectly with your eyes.” Said Aelin wearing her blue dress.

“I thought you loved the captain.” Said Elide.

“Uh?”

“That dress?” Added Lys pointing at her attire “it makes you look as if you are open to being chased.”

“Too slutty?”

“Ansel will be proud of you.”

Aelin smiled “I do love the captain and I have no plans on taking anyone home. My only companion in bed tonight will be bird Rowan.” Then she wore a wig of red hair.

“Why the wig?”

Aelin and Aedion had decided not to tell anyone about their plan for the night, so she had to lie although it hurt lying to Lysandra “just for some fun.”

They arrived at the club half an hour later and Manon, Asterin and Ansel were already there and apparently already having fun.

“You made it” shouted the red-haired woman. “And who is the hot red-haired friend?”

“It’s me, Ansel.”

“Captain, you look hot.”

Aelin laughed “thank you.”

“We got some drinks already,” said Manon.

“Happy birthday, captain,” said Asterin raising her glass “and congratulation to Lys for bagging the meanest lieutenant in the TFD.”

Their glasses clinked and then Aelin spotted Chaol in the distance. What the heck was he doing at the club? She nodded at him and he gave her a small nod back. Everyone knew Chaol and if the girls spotted him it could raise some questions so she texted him with the pretence of being the overbearing girlfriend checking on her man.

The girls went out dancing and she stood behind saying she was not in the mood when she was actually trying to check out the place. She was about to join Chaol in his hideout when a guy stopped at her side and blocked her way “aren’t you a stunning creature?” He said and Aelin cringed. She really hated clubs and the pigs that came with them.

“Of course I am.”

She felt his arm sneak around her waist and his body move closer to hers and she closed her eyes at the fact that those arms were not Rowan’s.

“What if I buy you a few drink and have some fun you and I?”

“You couldn’t handle me.” She said to him in a whisper.

“I love a good challenge. My flat is not far from here.” And his hand slithered up on her back.

Aelin scoffed “I’d never have sex with you even if we were the last two humans left in the world.”

She made to walk away but he grabbed her arm. She almost punched him but in that instant she felt someone hugging her from behind “it’s me, follow my lead.” He whispered in her ear and she noticed it was Chaol.

“Thank you for finding my girlfriend. I went to the gents and I lost her.”

“Sorry darling,” said Aelin caressing Chaol’s face.

The stranger walked away annoyed.

“Thank you.”

“You were holding your own anyway.” He commented.

“I was about to punch him and cause a scene and mess up the mission.” She whispered then grabbed his hand and pulled him to a quiet booth at the back of the club

“What are you doing here?”

“Detective Ytger sent me here as back up. Hamel’s minions know all of the detectives but not us beat cops.”

“How do you want to proceed?” She asked him.

“You are the firefighter, I am just here to make sure you get out okay.”

“Ok, I need to walk around. Just keep an eye on me.” Chaol nodded and Aelin walked away.

She went back to the bar area and smiled when Elide walked toward her “Ace!! Come on it’s your birthday, you need to come and have fun.” She also had a job to do but felt bad at abandoning her friends. So she joined them again and Lys grabbed her for some dancing.

“How how many hearts did you break?”

“Just the one but he was a pig.”

“Did you tell him you have a super hot captain waiting for you?” 

Aelin shrugged and turned to Elide.

“How many drinks did Ansel give you?”

Elide lifted three fingers in front of her face “two.”

Aelin laughed “no more alcohol for you.”

“Buuut I am sad and I miss Lorcan.” Aelin hugged her friend knowing full well how she felt.

“Still, no more alcohol, you just can’t hold it.”

She walked Elide to Manon “can you keep an eye on her please? And just water please. Elide has reached her alcohol quota for the evening.”

“Of course.”

Aelin smiled at the white-haired woman. She was very introverted and of a very few words but she did not care about that since she was good at her job. She was the complete opposite of Ansel.

Speaking of the woman…”where did Ansel go?”

“Last time I have seen her she was dancing with a brunette.” Aelin dragged a hand on her face “I am going to the ladies. Just behave, okay?”

She used the excuse to slip away and walk around as she was supposed to do. She wanted to try and take some photo as proof but covert operations were not her forte.

“You are back,” whispered Chaol at her back.

“I’ll pretend to be drunk and lost.”

“Be careful, this is making me nervous.”

She nodded and walked away from him. Part of her was glad she had not mentioned this to Rowan, he would have gone in full protective mode.

She kept pretending she was drunk and dumb and ended up in the kitchen “sorry,” she slurred, leaning against the doorframe “are these the loos?”

“No miss,” said one of the staff “they are down there and on your right.” She gave the man a goofy smile and a wet kiss on the cheek “thank you, sweet man.” The hug had given her the time to have a very quick look in the kitchen and note there was no safety equipment. That was enough for her to shut down that club as well. How could they run a kitchen that way? She really had to take down the bastard. She hid in the shadows of the club and and checked the fire doors without activating them and found them of shoddy quality. She was fuming. She had a good look at the club and realised even the numbers of people allowed in was probably over the limit. Those doors were for 60 people, she could only see three on ground level, which meant a limit of 180 people. There were probably over three hundred, all crammed and spread on two levels. It was a firefighter nightmare. She ran back to Chaol “go home. I have seen enough. Tell the detective this place needs to be shut down as well.”

“I’ll phone her as soon as I am out. She was waiting for news anyway.”

“Go, and say hi to Yrene.”

Chaol left and she ran back to her friends nervous that she was placing them in danger. She wanted to go but the idea of leaving all those people behind made her nervous. She texted Aedion and rage surged back when he told her that their club was the same.

The girls took her dancing in the middle of the dance floor and danced away ignoring a couple of guys basically dancing on her. She hated clubs so much and the music was horrible. She bit down her annoyance and went to hug Lysandra “how does it feel to be almost married?”

“Weird.” She looked at Aelin “are you having fun?”

“You know I don’t like clubs but I came for you, it’s your night after all.”

“It’s your birthday too.”

Aelin shook her head “I get one every year, you better marry my cousin and stick to him.”

“And you stick to the captain. I want to come to your wedding.”

Aelin laughed “we’ll see…” then she turned and saw Elide leaning against the counter half asleep “what if we take the party to my place? I am sick of this place.”

“Please,” said Manon in a hopeful tone. She hated clubs as well “we can get alcohol on the way home. If I hear another man asking me why my hair is white I am going to start snapping necks.”

“Hey Manon, no need to snap necks,” then Aelin looked around for Ansel.

“I’ll get her,”said Asterin when she noticed the woman in the distance.

The woman came back with Ansel in tow and moved closer to Aelin “the fire exits are not enough and one is blocked.” She whispered.

“I know, I am going to call Peter and explain the situation to him.” She took her phone out “take the others to the cars. I’ll be there in a moment.”

Aelin watched Asterin walking the group to safety then hid in dark a corner and phoned Peter explaining that they had to pretend they had an anonymous call and come and pay a visit to the place and shut it down. The man agreed after she explained him the situation in terms of safety. She was playing dirty but could not care less. People’s lives were at stake. Hamel could just go and impale himself for all she cared.

Quickly she left the building and she went to her car joining Lys and Elide. The remaining women were in Manon’s car.

They stopped for booze on the way and finally got back home. Aelin took Elide piggyback style as the woman had fallen asleep. Once in the flat she placed Elide in the spare bedroom and covered her with a blanket then went back to the rest of the group camped in her living room. A text from Peter told her that the club had been safely evacuated and closed. Apparently he had found even more infractions that she had not the time to spot. 

“Ok, ladies back to the party.” Aelin grabbed a mixed selection of glasses and mugs for the beer.

Ansel stood and went to use the bathroom and came back a few minutes later “why do you have guy’s stuff on the bathroom shelf? Do you live with the silver fox?”

Aelin sighed “Rowan has been living here since I was discharged from the hospital.”

“That was a while ago.”

“I know.” Aelin sighed.

“Yes!” Shouted Ansel pulling Aelin toward her “our captain is shacking up. I am so proud of you.”

After a few drinks, Ansel would become very friendly with anyone. It was a good thing they had left the club.

In that instant she got a text from Aedion saying that he had activated the fire alarm in their club and evacuated the whole place after he had spotted a shit ton of infractions. Well, that was probably another club down. Definitely not what they had agreed with the detective but they had to do something.

“Ok, since this is a bachelorette party as well, we can have a bit of spiciness.” Said Asterin while drinking her beer “unusual place where you had sex. We need to give Lys some ideas.”

“Do we?” Joked Aelin “Lys would definitely teach us something.” Then everyone looked at Ansel “after her of course.”

“I once hooked up with civilian pilot and we did it in his cockpit before he got to fly the plane”

“Where you flying as well?” Asked Lysandra curious.

Ansel nodded “it’s a long story.”

“Aelin, you are up. I bet the captain is wild.” Lysandra’s eyebrows lifted suggestively.

“He is pretty amazing but the strangest places have been a beach, the sea, behind a waterfall, a pool at the foot of two different waterfalls and almost on a military ship.”

“Almost?” Asked Manon curious.

“I’ll show you the dress.”

Aelin went to get her black dress and got back a moment later “and he knew I had nothing underneath.”

The group of women cheered loudly “that must have driven him insane.” Joked Asterin.

“That’s why the almost. We would have been in a lot of trouble if we got caught.”

“I have nothing left to teach you.”Ansel was sprawled on a chair and lifted her beer in acknowledgment.

“Lys?”

The woman blushed savagely “in a car wash. Aedion and I stayed in the car while it was getting washed and… well.. it was quick but fun.”

“Definitely nothing to teach you,” Aelin clinked her bottle with her friend.

“Asterin?”

“My previous firehouse, with one of my colleagues on top of a rig on a night shift.”

Manon gave a light chuckle “was it when you were at the Regional 2?”

Asterin nodded “he was some hot firefighter. We are still friends. We did it once and then it felt so weird and never happened again.” She explained.

Aelin sighed “The night of the mayor’s party, Thomas and I hooked up. We ended up at my place. We did it, realised it was rebound sex and finished the night with tv and junk food.” Thinking about him still pained her.

“No friggin way. More than the kiss?” Asked Lysandra shocked.

Aelin nodded “after you saw us kissing I left, he found me, we went back to my place.”

Aelin looked around and noticed that no one wanted to make too many comments, his death was still too fresh for everyone and he had been Manon’s and Asterin’s captain.

“Does Rowan know?”

“I told him and he is fine. We were nothing at the time and I was mad at him.”

In that instant Elide joined the group and Aelin stood and went to her “hey, how are you feeling?”

“My head hurts.” Replied the woman leaning against Aelin.

“I should take her home. We are working tomorrow we should all go home.”

“Lys is right,” added Asterin “another 24hrs shift ahead, we need some sleep.”

Manon and Asterin offered to take Ansel home and Aelin remained with Lys and a sleepy Elide.

“I am sorry the evening sucked.”

“Hey,” Lysandra placed her hands on Aelin’s shoulders “it didn’t, and to be honest we were all quite tired. All it matters is to marry that annoying cousin of yours.”

“Take Elide home, she is about to go to sleep again.”

Once Aelin was alone she finally shed the dress and opened one of Rowan’s drawers and grabbed a t-shirt. They were usually far too big for her but she loved them as pyjama. She went to the bathroom, got ready and then finally got in bed with bird Rowan and squeezed close to his pillow to inhale his scent.

She grabbed her phone and found a text from Rowan

I hope you had a nice evening. I wish I had been there with you because it’s bad out here. I hope bird me is keeping you company. Have a nice night, Fireheart. Love you.

Aelin’s heart sank at the anguish in his voice. She tried to call him but had no answer.

I love you, come back to me, was all she managed.

She squeezed bird Rowan and tried very hard to fall asleep.

TAGS:

@rowaelinismyotp​

@jlinez​

@swankii-art-teacher​

@courtofjurdan​

@whimsicallyreading​

@tillyrubes10​

@surielandiareendgame​

@aelin-bitch-queen​

@bruiseonthefaceofhumanity 

[jerryb2]

I mean….you all knew this was coming ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ : the Star Wars Art of one Mr. Drew Struzan. 

And look, the man has done so much and has such a diverse portfolio that Star Wars is only one very small part of his career. If you want to explore some of his other works, then might I suggest that you check out his website. 

As for me here, we’ll be sticking strictly to his SW art. Now, with that out of the way, here we go…

*cracks knuckles*

I have to admit that before I really started to dig into this, I didn’t realize just how many Bantam Era (and beyond) Star Wars books this man has illustrated. Nearly 50 titles, ranging from novels to comics, short stories & even an RPG supplement. 🤯 

And so, after much consideration, I decided to just pull all the titles that feature his art off my bookshelf and take a few pics for you guys:

First off, I just want to point out that I don’t have every book he’s ever illustrated. Some of them are just harder than hard to find, are hilariously expensive, or I just don’t have an edition that features his art prominently - you’ll see what I mean. Right off the bat though, you can see that he was really hitting his stride in the mid-90′s, with all but a handful of these coming out between ‘94 & ‘99. One of the highlights from this time for me, is The Callista Trilogy.

I just want to stress that The Callista Trilogy is a highlight for me only because of its gorgeous cover art. 🤣 Other than that, this book series needs to go lay down. 

Anyway, the designs are all really striking and even after all these years, absolutely iconic. And you can really see Struzan’s distinct visual style at play here; not a painting in the same vein as something from Dave Doorman, and not a simple trace. Rather, something that is stylized in a very particular, very subtle way, almost to the point where it appears photo-realistic at first glance. Beautiful.

Next up is this trio of trilogies (good use of words, me), collected in these Science Fiction Book Club (SFBC) hardcovers: 

Once again, these covers are just striking, particularly The Black Fleet Crisis. This is actually what I was referring to when I said that I don’t always have the best editions for a Drew Struzan appreciation post. 😅 

Because these are hardcover collections of paperback books, we actually miss out on a good bit of the art. For these SFBC special editions, the publisher just took all three and basically photoshopped the best bits of each one together. The one that suffers the most here is obviously The Corellian Trilogy, where they didn’t even try to blend everything together, and instead just separated everything into columns. I don’t personally mind it (and I do love having the hardcover editions of these books) but if you want to see the covers as they were originally intended, just pickup those mass market paperbacks. 🙂

There’s a lot more to get through, so I’ll just hit the highlights here; even though he didn’t illustrate The Thrawn Trilogy (that was Tom Jung, who I personally think did an okay-ish job at best), he did an absolutely amazing job with the follow-up, The Hand of Thrawn Duology in ‘98 & ‘99:

I’ve always loved these covers. And narratively speaking, they really do serve as one last hurrah on the Bantam Era. Oh, and also please note, Mara Jade on the cover of Vision of the Future, just as Zahn originally described her. ❤❤❤

If you step back and look at Struzan’s work as a whole, it’s all incredibly unified. I bring this up here because even though some of these are books relatively ‘meh’ worthy, Struzan maintained a level of quality that belied the mediocrity contained within. And also to say that he was definitely busy, particularly in 1994:

That’s right - all of these released in ‘94, within a few months of one another. These covers man… *chef’s kiss*

And look I’m sorry, I just can’t help myself: The Crystal Star was a hilarious joke until we all realized they were serious about it. 😳

Alright, that’s a little on the harsh side; it’s not nearly as bad as most make it out to be, and Waru as a source for unlimited power (citation needed 👀😉) isn’t any more ridiculous than the 50 other post-Palpy, hair-brained Imperial schemes that everybody else cooked up, so I guess it fits. And besides, I really wanna be nice to Vonda McIntyre here, but this book was just so so boring. 😴

*clears throat* Moving on, here we have a couple Barnes & Noble hardcover collections of The Jedi Prince Series:

The same thing applies here; cover art photoshopped from across 6 different YA novels to get these. They don’t look bad, far from it. But rather this series has some things that people would rather forget about, namely a supposed son of Palpatine (spoiler: he wasn’t) named Triclops who had - wait for it - 3 eyes. 

Like Tien. From DBZ. Yep. 🤦‍♂️

Moving further down the list, we have yet another pair of iconic cover designs, being I, Jedi (the only Star Wars novel written in the first person, and an appropriate riff on Isaac Asimov’s I, Robot - yes ladies & gentlemen, that is as clever as Star Wars gets) and The New Rebellion.

Classics, no doubt….but for reals, did anybody else ever wonder why the X-Wing on the cover of I, Jedi is missing an S-Foil? Or how that one slipped through??? 👀

Ah, at last we arrive at what is arguably Struzan’s most famous work; the covers for Shadows of the Empire & The Star Wars Trilogy: Special Edition.

It’s hard to overstate just how important Shadows of the Empire really was for Star Wars as a brand. In an era where SW books were already extremely popular, the Shadows of the Empire Multimedia Project basically served as a breakout hit and reignited interest in SW media across the board. This was in no small part due to the striking imagery captured on its cover - are you seeing a pattern here?

This success actually renewed Lucas’ interest in a theatrical re-release of the OT in 1997….which of course, feature more beautiful art from Drew Struzan:

These are my OG Special Edition VHS tapes from back in the day. I watched these so damn much as a kid. In fact, they’re basically the whole reason that I’m here, annoying the shit out of everybody today. 😁

After the Bantam Era concluded & the Star Wars publishing license went to Del Rey, Struzan did progressively fewer pieces for SW media. Here we see his contribution for the latter half of the Last of the Jedi YA series, and his kick-ass cover art for the Darth Maul comic: 

And when I say that Struzan did progressively fewer pieces for Star Wars, I am of course omitting his turn as the poster artist for the freaking Prequel Trilogy: 

Say what you will about the films, but these poster designs are nothing short of genius. 

Look guys, it would be pretty easy for me to downplay Struzan’s Star Wars portfolio as just one small part of his incredible career. But my dudes, this is literally just the tip of the iceberg. The man has been a professional illustrator for over 50 years, and his art has delighted and inspired generations. From Star Wars to Indian Jones, and from Back to the Future to Blade Runner - Drew Struzan has played an integral part in shaping popular culture. 

Here’s to you, sir. 🍻

[ofnifflersandkings]

Bumping into Strangers

Character: Benny Watts A/n: Finally finished a benny request even if it took me 10 years and a contract with the devil.

*

You tapped your foot against the pristine marble floor of the hotel lobby, adjusting the arsenal of camera equiptment you had shoved under your arms to prepare for the chess match later today. You were placed in charged of gathering photos for the new Chess Review edition, the first real professional project of your career. To say you were nervous was the understatement of the year.

You shuffled through your camera bag, strategizing the kinds of lenses you might have to use throughout the day. The lighting in the hotel was pretty dim, the thick brown curtains lazily swaying over most of the windows did little to help bring in any natural light. Luckily, you noticed a rather large chandelier hanging over the area where most of the chess boards were situated. It sort of reminded you of an old smoking room in a gentleman’s club, but given the sort of people surrounding you, it wasn’t that far off.

You tilted your head, taking a few paces forward as you tried to scope out the area better. Usually, you’d have gotten this out of the way earlier in the morning. But Benny insisted upon introducing you to more of his chess associates and promised you could kick him in the ass for it later, proclaiming your irrefutable talent would be more than enough to get you through the day.

 Still walking forward, you didn’t even notice someone heading right towards you until the both of you collided. The sudden weight sent you stumbling backwards, and you probably would’ve fallen right on your back had the stranger not reached out for you.

His hands held firmly onto your shoulders, helping you regain your balance before you could fall.

“Are you alright?” The stranger said in a slightly alarmed tone, his brows shot upwards and his eyes wide.

It took you a moment to process what exactly happened, and you blinked before your brain caught up to speed.

“Yes! Gosh, I’m so sorry,” You fumbled, feeling the heat crawl up your neck when you realized how you were at the fault. “I wasn’t paying attention at all.”

The man smiled, the curls on his forehead shaking whenever his laugh and doing little to help your embarrassment. He looked down at your camera and his eyes lit up. “Is that a Pentax?”

Your eyebrows knit together, not knowing how he knew what camera you used, but you followed his gaze and realized you were wearing it around your neck.

“Oh! Yeah it’s-“

“Everything alright here?”

You whipped your head over at the sound of the familiar voice, smiling when you saw Benny standing just a ways off from the two fo you.

He had one of his hands hanging loosely by his belt loop as his eyes darted between you and the other man. His brows furrowed into a deep frown, his gaze shifting to the man’s hands, which you now realized were still holding onto your shoulders.

You and him must’ve realized the same thing because he immediately released his hold on you and you both awkwardly laughed as you took a step back.

“Yes! We’re okay, I just wasn’t paying attention so I ran right into…,” You faltered, remembering you never got his name.

He must’ve sensed your distress because he picked it up for you. “Jaime,” he said, looking back at you for a moment with a smile. “It was both of our faults really.”

Benny crossed his arms, looking at you to find any warning in them. But when he couldn’t find any his spirits didn’t seem to lift any. 

“Well, it’s a pretty small space. I’d imagine it’s easy to run into each other,” He gave a pointed look to Jaime, a stiff smile taking over his face. “We’ll just have to keep out a better watch won’t we?”

Benny turned back to you, a more pleasant look coming over him now. “I just wanted to let you know the matches are starting soon.”

You adjusted the strap of your camera bag and turned to Jaime. “I’ll see you later then?”

His ears seemed to perk up at the idea. “Sure! I’ll see you.”

You walked over to Benny, who immediately placed his arm over your shoulder. “Come on, I’ll show you the best spot in the house,” He looked back at Jaime once more before leading you further away from him.

*

Benny looked passed his opponent, trying to find you in the growing crowd as he waited to make his next move. He leaned back in his chair, arms folding over each other and his lip twitching upward when he noticed you snapping photos of another match.

It was short lived though when he also noticed that Jaime guy hanging out not too close to you. He recalled seeing him at a few other tournaments and figured he was a friend of one of the other chess guys. But now it felt like every time he looked up he had inched closer to where you were standing.

Benny was so caught up trying to keep up with the two of you he almost missed it when his opponent finally moved. 

He had the poor guy in check three moves later.

*

Benny sat in one of the armchairs in the lobby, the post tournament chatter buzzing around over his eyes and falling in and out of ears. He was in an oddly somber mood despite winning the whole thing, he usually energy for bravado now a bit depleted.

He shook hands with his final opponent and turned around, fully expecting you to be waiting to congratulated like you always did. But you were nowhere in sight. 

His one heel tapped against the floor, not wanting to leave until he knew where you were. He placed his chin in hand, exhaling dramatically when he thought you might be with Jaime. 

You and him always got together after his matches so he could talk your ear off about strategy and you’d tell him about the kinds of photos you’d gotten or how difficult it was to “get the right lighting”.

He smiled when thinking at your silly antics and when he remembered you weren’t here with now it put him back in a bad mood.

His eyes were trained on the floor and when he saw you walking up to him he immediately sat up straighter in his chair.

“Well there you are,” He chided, trying to cover his former disappointment. “I thought you might’ve run out on me.”

You laughed, “Like I’d ever hear the end of it if I even thought about it.” 

Benny watched you put your camera away and fasten the straps on your bag and tried not to seem too eager about wanting to leave. “So, are we off? I can drive ya.”

You shook your head, “I’m actually gonna stick around a little longer. The fellow from earlier? We got to talking about some camera stuff during the downtime between matches and offered to grab drinks to talk about it more later.”

You suddenly caught yourself and you looked at him with a sheepish smile. “That’s alright isn’t it? I know we usually do something together when your matches are over.”

Benny scoffed, knowing he really had no right to tell you to leave with him, even if he wanted to. “Course it is, I’m sure he’ll make better conversation on the subject than I can.” He said with a smile.

You grinned, ruffling his hair with your hand. “Congratulations though, I heard you were especially tough to beat today. Even I was impressed.”

Benny leaned back, his smile turning a little more genuine when he heard your praise, his wounded ego healing itself already. “What can I say? I was feeling motivated today.” 

You laughed, placing your hands into your pockets. “Well, I shouldn’t keep him waiting, don’t wanna be out too late.”

Benny turned his head and saw Jaime shifting his weight between his legs over by the lobby door. His eyes kept flittering over to the two of you talking.

Benny smirked before looking back up at you.

“Hey wait, you have something,” He pointed to the top of his head and you ran your fingers through your hair hoping to get it. Instead, he shook his head and laughed. “Nope, still there.”

You were about to ask him what the hell he was talking about. Instead, you felt him tug on your camera strap, the pressure making you lean forward so you more on his level where he was sitting.

Your noses almost bumped into each other, but you pulled back to prevent it. Benny lifted his hand up again, taking whatever was in your in your hair and flicking it away before you got a good look at it. Then, he lightly tucked the hair at the front of your head behind your ear.

“That’s better.” He commented, still using his free hand to hold onto your camera strap so you couldn’t get too far away from him.

Your brows furrowed at his odd behavior, and you laughed at the sudden realization of how close you two were. “You’re being strange…stranger than usual anyways.”

Benny chuckled, releasing his old on you but not without making direct eye contact with your new friend before he did. He sent a wink his way and had to hold back a laugh when he saw Jaime’s shoulders tense.

“I’ll see you later?” He asked, watching you grab your bag. “Tell your friend I said hello.”

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