#the way i had to put a read more or this would clog all your dashes................

[yandere--stuck]

NEED to know your thoughts on a yandere bill cipher

⚠️ Listen, pal, I KNOW why you're reading this. You've got a crush on YOURS TRULY! That's right, buddy, the cat's outta the bag! Well, not like the cat was ever really in the bag to begin with. What? Didn't think my all-seeing eye would spy you making goo-goo eyes at artistic depictions of me? AHAHA, aw, hey! Nothing to be embarrassed about. It's not like I can blame you, I mean, have you met me? A winning personality, great sense of humor, beautiful singing voice - I'm a total catch! And between you and me, you have better taste than the rest of your species’ population.

👁 There are probably numerous reason why you like stuff like this: The obsession, the possessive behavior, the VIOLENCE. Sure sounds like romance to ME! But as for you… Is it the abandonment issues? Lack of validation in your life? Feeling misunderstood and ostracized by the world? Loneliness? A desire for an escape into a fictional world? Or are you like me? Is romance just no good without the true passion of twisted devotion and obsession? There's no need to LIE! We're kindred spirits, you and I.

⚠️ I know just how you feel. You've been kicked down, laughed at, and made to feel small. You've gone unappreciated by blind MORONS who wouldn't know greatness if it melted their eyeballs out their ears. Because you are MEANT for greatness. You are meant for something more, and I bet it burns you to know that. That you're better than all of them. That they're nothing without you, and they DESERVE nothing. They deserve to BE nothing. I know just how you feel because I was in your place. Surrounded by flat minds in a flat world with flat dreams. HA, and I sure showed them. WHO'S LAUGHING NOW, HUH? ME!!!!!!

👁 The point is, I know you. I've had my eye on you for quite a while, kid. Q U I T E A W H I L E. And might I say, out of all the flesh bags that have clogged my vision over the centuries, YOU'RE clearly the best looking outta all of ‘em, hot stuff. But looks aren't everything, of course! You've got a personality to match. Gotta admit, it's cute how you get so invested in your interests, the little hobbies you pick up, just watching you go about your day is like the universe’s greatest reality TV show starring my favorite person in the multiverse! OH, I could just decaptiate you and nuzzle your fleshy little head in an approximation of a kiss right now!!!

⚠️ So, c'mon, just let me in. Shake my hand! Let's make a deal. No matter how big or small! And it’s not just for the purpose of liberating your dimension, no. I want to really get under your skin. To feel what it's like to be in the body of my favorite person. As close as two beings can get, closer than you can get with unworthy specimens of your own kind, more intimate than any experience in the world. I want to be that close to you. Because you're mine. You're MY HUMAN and NOTHING WILL CHANGE THAT. Y'HEAR ME?

👁 So, you might as well accept that you and me are destined, kid. The signs are all there. So, if I were you (and I could be, if you'd just let me), I'd do this the easy way. Because right now, there's two ways this can go down. The easy way: You summon me, and we make a deal. Anything your precious human heart desires - and more! You'll be my precious human pet, my puppet, my toy. Mine to own and have rule beside me! You'll prove everyone who put you down wrong! Anything you want - love, money, fame, worship, vengeance - it'll all be yours, and I'll give it to you. Because I want you to be happy. Because I want what's best for you. Because I’M the only one who actually cares about you. Everything you wanted will be yours. And there'll be an eternal party to celebrate our eternal love… Or, you could do this the hard way. Cause I'm gettin’ outta here one way or another. And when I do, well… I don't think you'd like being locked up in The Love Cage to be TORTURED until you reciprocate my feelings and see the light. I'd say I wouldn't want to, but that'd be lying. So, it's probably not a good idea to give me more of a reason to. So, whaddaya say? You know you deserve the best. Shake my hand and join the winning team. Either way, you're mine.

[templeofelysium]

worshipping the chthonic gods

first, a note on cthonic vs ouranic: the line between these gods is one that is not really as stark as it can be portrayed. many gods have both ouranic and chthonic aspects, and neither make them any more "good" or "bad" than the other. chthonic gods are not evil gods, at least no more than any ouranic god. all deities have the capability of doing good and evil, but are largely ambivalent in nature. the advice listed below is not set in stone, simply provided as gentle guidance. if you have suggestions, feel free to add them in the comments/reblogs! :)

LIBATIONS/OFFERINGS

In Ancient Greece it was very common for offerings to the chthonic gods to be given in the form of libation--a drink (or any liquid) poured into the ground. Solid offerings, like food, were often burned in their entirety to ash or left to rot, instead of being partially shared by the offeror. Incense was not as commonly used since the smoke travels upwards, towards the heavens.

I suggest disposing of/keeping ashes and rotted food outside or burying them, seeing as chthonic sometimes refers to "-of the earth." This would be similar to how curse tablets were treated in Ancient Greece, as Hermes, messenger of the gods, would deliver them unto their underworld-ly receiver from there.

If you can't do that, consider pouring your libations down the sink or flushing them down the toilet (ONLY do this with water-based liquids, oil and honey will clog up your sink in no time flat). It's not ideal, but it gets the job done.

Common libations include: coffee, blood (animal or your own, we'll get to that at the end), honey (instead of wine), milk

Common offerings include: meat, barley/grain, oil, cheese

PRAYER

In many cases, prayers to ouranic deities are directed upwards, into the sky or delivered unto the wind by voice, song, or some sort of poem. In the case of the chthonic gods, we should be directing them downwards, towards the underworld where they reside. This may include extending your hands with palms facing down, putting your head down, or just imagining your prayers being sent below. The only exceptions to this may be Persephone, who resides in the heavens for half of the year, and Hermes, who can be considered both ouranic and chthonic.

Other recommendations I can make are: light a candle, even if you're not going to use it for pyromancy; light some incense (I do this for focus and cleansing, not so much for the deity); and perform it at night. It's not mandatory, of course, to perform your prayers at night, it's just that in antiquity ouranic activities (festivals, prayer, etc.) were done during the day and often directly enshrouded in sunlight. We can assume, therefore, that a chthonic prayer or festival should occur during the night, especially if being directed towards Hekate or Nyx.

ALTARS/SHRINES

In Ancient Greece, temples to the ouranic gods were constructed so that their doorways would directly face the sun, thus illuminating the inside (and often the main statue(s), too). We can assume, then, that our chthonic altars/shrines should be located somewhere out of the direct sunlight. This can be in a dark spot, like a closet or isolated room--or it can just simply be in a corner furthest from the sun's rays.

Again, there may be some exceptions to this: Hermes, under his ouranic epithet(s), Persephone, for her time in the heavens, and Hekate, for her association with the moon.

DIVINATION

For the most part divination with the chthonic gods is conducted in much the same way as with the ouranic. Of course, when calling upon these deities you'll want to face towards the ground, and perhaps even conduct these sessions in partial darkness. Again, maybe you could light a candle or even pour a libation before a really big reading.

I mostly use pendulums and tarot, but I've been experimenting with meditation and have had some luck. What works for ouranic deities should work just as good for chthonic, you just might have to shift your approach a little.

Some good tarot spreads for working with chthonic deities:

"Fork in the Road" spread-- for Hermes or Hekate

"The Tower" spread-- for Hermes or Hades

"The Self Exploration" spread-- for any

"The Bat" spread-- for Hades or Persephone or Nyx

EXTRAS

--Consider offering blood if you're able! Animal blood that is sourced from ethical farms is neither morally reprehensible or illegal and can be sourced from a variety of places. Offering your own blood is also a possibility, but for this I would not recommend more than a pinprick. There are limits to how much pain you should be incurring on yourself for your deities. If you have to check your blood sugar often, maybe you can soak up excess blood with some cotton and bury it outside. Make sure to always clean your wounds properly and do not engage in this behavior for the purpose of self-mutilation. That, I can assure you, your deities would not appreciate. Don't be stupid.

--Snakes are commonly associated with almost all chthonic deities, or just the Underworld in general. We see this the most with Hermes, who is pictured with two snakes wrapped around his caduceus. The god Asclepius is also pictured with a staff with a single snake on it. Asclepius is the god of medicine, and (before being deified) was killed by Zeus for making people practically immortal.

--Chthonic deities are the best places to turn to for spirit work, protective, and baneful magic. You're looking to contact a spirit? Turn to Hades. You're looking for protection against spirits/demons? Turn to Hekate or Hermes. You're looking to cast a curse? Turn to Persephone or Hekate.

dividers by @vibeswithrenai

[helenazbmrskai]

Dark Office Romance (m)

Title [Dark Office Romance]

Pairing [Yandere Boss! Jeongguk x Reader]

Genre [Yandere Au, Office Au, Romance, Smut]

Summary [The company you work for is shady, sexist and full of men who think they could do anything. After Jeongguk's assistant quits you attend a meeting in her stead and you realise just how rotten these men are. You decide to quit and you have a thing or two to tell to your boss but what you didn't expect is for him to turn this around on you.]

Words [5,6k]

Rating [+18]

Warnings [Sexual harassment in the workplace, sexism, bad working environment, yandere behaviour, obsession, mental disorder, sexual content: rough handling, forced kiss, consensual unprotected sex, marking/biting, first times, take away virginities, oral (female receiving), creampies]

A/N: This fic has heavy themes so read it with caution!

Masterlist //

“Did you hear what happened today at the meeting?” A person talked in a hushed voice to another. Hiding in one of the stalls you could hear every whispering word between the ladies.

“Of course! There’s not a single soul who hasn’t heard. I don’t think I would be able to live through such humiliation. I hate this company, it’s so strict and harmful to the employees that I want to quit soon.”

You take a deep breath with your forehead pushed against the cold wall. Tears are wetting your eyelashes and your nose is clogged but you stopped crying in fear of someone hearing you. At least no one sees you in tears after what happened. You managed to put up a brave face that time. You felt more angry than hurt at that time but look at you now breaking down in the women's washroom like a fool.

“Yes, I agree. I hate that men can do anything. I fear coming to work every day, but I still think it was too much. Y/N is a diligent girl, and she didn’t deserve to have that kind of treatment right in front of our CEO. That bastard didn’t even try to stop it.”

“Shh. We’re still inside the building if someone overhears you talk about the CEO like that we will be in big trouble.”

“You’re right. Let’s go back to work.” The voices fade away until you hear the door close again behind your coworkers. You exit the stall when the coast is clear. However, when you see yourself in the mirror’s reflection you want to cry again. You look miserable with your mascara streaming down your face. You breathe in and out slowly until you’re able to calm down. You don’t have more time to waste you need to get your act together at least for when you’re back alone in your apartment. You can cry all night and curse your boss and everyone involved in today’s incident with a tube of ice cream and a six-pack of cold beer. Steeling your nerves you fix your make-up and get back to your duties. You finish your report and get everything in order. You don’t even get up to get lunch like everybody else as you power through it with an energy drink in you. If you went to the cafeteria you would get more of those pitiful glances and you don’t have it in you to answer their questions about how you’re feeling.

You know they don’t mean anything bad about it but it’s undoubtedly a thing that crosses everyone’s mind. Thank goodness it wasn’t me. It’s not wrong to feel this way before this happened there were times when you felt the same way, it’s just how things in this company work. You get humiliated and the next day someone takes your place.

Today it was your turn. It was bad enough that the CEO asked for you. The person who was responsible for helping him out during the cabinet meeting with the shareholders suddenly quit and you were tasked with helping with operating the slideshow and making notes.

This was your first time attending one of those meetings and after it was over you had a strong desire to quit as well.

No wonder she left in tears last week as she gave in her resignation letter you didn’t know what was happening inside those meetings. There was only one time you caught her crying in the bathroom just like you did now. You tried to ask what was wrong but she never told you.

You’re unsure how she was able to endure it for this long. Jeongguk’s assistant receives the most salary inside the company but for a while the seat was vacant and you were new to the company so you had no idea what was going on. Why did his assistants quit so quickly? You remember talking to her she was excited to get this opportunity she shared that her family is in a tough situation and the pay is good to get themselves back on their feet. Now you have a rough idea. At first, everything seemed normal.

You took your place standing next to Jeongguk and the meeting began when the participants sat down. They were all men. You held back at first when they touched your butt as you were passing around documents. You even ignored their sexist comments but enough was enough. One of the men squeezed your butt and whistled when the meeting was about to be over. You looked over to Jeongguk he looked straight into your eyes but didn’t do anything. You said that you would report this to HR as a case of sexual assault if he tried to do it again, now you were angry about how everyone treated you like a piece of meat. The man got angry and poured hot coffee over you.

Jeongguk ended the meeting and you stormed out.

He never tried to stop anything or protect you. He just watched it all play out as if he was watching a movie. This was the most humiliating experience you have had in your entire life.

There are other jobs out there. Maybe not paying this much but at least they treat you like a human being. A small mistake is enough and you get blamed. You have to come to work even on the weekends sometimes to finish writing your reports. Everyone is walking around eggshells. Waking up each morning with a knot in your stomach that you need to take digestive medicine regularly. You won’t tolerate any of this even if it will cost you this job or even better you’re going to quit yourself.

You push these hateful thoughts into the back of your mind so you can pull through the day. The first month you started to work here you thought it would pass but things didn’t get better over time. It just became worse but you didn’t want to be a girl who quit when things get difficult but even you know there’s a difference between not giving up and being foolish. Today you felt like the biggest fool out there.

They say life is beautiful.

You don’t remember the last time you felt happy. You keep working without enjoying life. You don’t have a boyfriend and you rarely talk to your family due to issues. You have lost a few friends as well because of the workload. You think about all the cancelled plans.

Although, enough is enough. This is the time you decide to let go. You’re going to tell him your opinion after you hand in your report at the end of the day. You even write your resignation letter. He will regret it. You’re bright and a good employee. It’s his loss if he lets you go.

You said that but you get nervous once you stand in front of his office you won’t change your mind on the subject you just need to find some courage again. You’re going to do what no one in the company dares to do. Everyone is scared of him the only reason that people don’t swarm him with letters of resignation every day is because it takes a lot of courage to see him directly. Everyone is afraid of him. Bad rumours are circulating about him saying that he’s mental. He has weird fixations and someone even told you that his parents regularly went to a psychologist with him when he was little. You don’t know if anything is true. You’ve never seen his parents visit him or even call him once. He never smiles or talks about himself not that you spent that much time alone with him. You only see him in regular monthly meetings otherwise everyone tries to avoid him inside the company the only exception is when you hand in important documents that you have to see him directly but that doesn’t consist of much as he just takes it and you leave.

You knock first then enter when he gives you the green light.

He looks hellishly good-looking in that black suit and perfectly styled hair, like the devil. He’s reading something but stops what he’s doing and looks up at you when you stop right in front of his desk. You hand him your report and he receives it without a single thank you or in fact, he’s not saying anything. You take in a calming breath before you speak.

This is your cue to leave but you stay rooted. Reliving that humiliation and mistreatment over the year that you’ve been working here whilst looking into his dark brown eyes helps you to finally find the courage to speak.

“This is my resignation but there’s something I would like to tell you before I leave.” You take a deep breath before you lock with his dark gaze again. You’re still furious and hurt. His soulless eyes are staring at you intensely as if he’s seeing you for the first time.

“I’ve never been through such a humiliating experience in my entire life. I wanted to hold on and not give up this job but I can’t do this anymore. I had enough of the mistreatment I received as a woman. Do you even consider me as a human? Groping my ass and making sexual jokes if the men that work here think that it’s okay to do that then I don’t want to work here anymore. The CEO should protect its people yet you looked into my eyes and did nothing to stop it. Are you a psychopath? Do you have feelings at all? I wonder if there’s anyone left in hell seeing as you are here making my life a living hell.” You want to say more but words get stuck in your throat as his expression changes.

Once you’re done unleashing your anger Jeongguk stands up from his chair and gets close to you. Real close. You step back until your back is against the wall your heart is hammering away in your chest afraid of what he will do. He closes up on you with a straight face his gaze is unreadable as he presses you against the wall. His face is really close and you close your eyes waiting for something. Is he going to slap you? If he was going to shout he could do that from his seat just fine. You wait for your punishment but it doesn’t come in the form you expected it to be.

He slams his lips against yours taking your breath away. Your eyes pop open wide as you see his face up close. You could see his closed eyelids ending in long eyelashes he breaths hard against your face. His expression is weird like he’s in pain while kissing you.

You push him away harshly unsure how to handle this situation. His gaze is intense as he looks at you. It’s crazy how his usually unexpressive eyes show such impulsive desire in them. He looked dangerous before but now it feels like you’re caught up in a trap.

Maybe there’s some truth in the rumours. You need to get out of here.

“Where are you going?” Jeongguk grabs your wrist before you can bolt for the door. Your face contorts in pain and fear instead of the previous alluring expression you had and he dislikes it. His hand is crushing your wrist as he pulls you back against him keeping you in place.

He saw that expression enough times to be boring but when you said all those things your eyes were fiery. You looked angry, hurt and confident. Defiant. He liked that expression so much that his whole body got covered in goosebumps. He felt the impulse to kiss you maybe do more. This is the first time someone told him off. Did not cower in fear even his own parents feared him. In life there’s nothing that Jeongguk didn’t get if he wished for it it was already his. His every wish and whim was granted. His parents never cared for him he could tell from a young age. He was never like the kids his age. They got him everything so they wouldn’t have to pay attention to him and now that he had his company to run there wasn’t a single wish of his that was unheard, except for one, he wanted to get excited. Sometimes expensive things did the trick then he started collecting beautiful things but his excitement never stayed for long. He got bored of anything he possessed quickly. You could be another whim for all he cares but he feels that you will be different. You’re treating him differently and he wants to explore all your expressions. Now he decided to have you. You can’t just get away if he needs to use force he will do it. You piqued his interest so you need to pay the price. He sees you in a new light.

“I want to go home.” Your face twists as his fingers tighten around your hand. It’s past the point where you’re sure it will bruise tomorrow. His wild expression is activating your fight or flight reflexes. It feels like he’s far away before he focuses back on your face.

“Do you think you can get away with what you said?” There’s something crazy in his eyes. You can’t explain it but it feels like you’re onto something far more dangerous than just getting fired.

He’s not gentle at all as he handles you.

“What will you do? Kill me?” You spit it out without a second thought but you’re just trying to mask how terrified you feel. Trying to survive you realise quickly that you won’t get out if you show that you’re scared of him. You need to find out what he wants from you.

“No. I won’t kill you. I’m going to keep you.” His finger gently clasps around a few strands of your hair pulls the tips over to his mouth to kiss it and takes a huge perverted sniff smelling your shampoo. He doesn’t pull on your hair thankfully and when your expression changes his attitude changes as well. He’s more gentle as he touches you.

“Bold of you to think I would want to do anything with you after what I had to endure at this company.” You pull away pretending to be disgusted. While his careful touch was ominous you can’t deny how your heart started to beat faster. His face changes minute by minute and you can’t predict what he will do next. One time he’s docile and the next he’s aggressive. Your heart tries to jump out of your chest as you wait for his next moves.

“I can take care of them. The ones who humiliated you I can get rid of them. Make sure that no one will lay a finger on you at the company ever again. All you need to do is to indulge me.” He caresses the side of your face as he speaks his mouth forms a small smile when you don’t push him away.

“I don’t believe you. If you stop finding me interesting you will just discard me in the end. I won’t play your games.” He might give you momentarily power but you know that he could take it back anytime.

“Discard you? No baby, I’m going to use you until there’s nothing left of you. Once I get obsessed with something I won’t lose interest until there’s nothing left to obsess over.” It’s true he discards things that are broken by him. If he doesn’t like something anymore he destroys them.

A man like him obsessing over you. No wonder he doesn’t have a girlfriend. A handsome man only remains single for a long time if there’s something wrong with him and he clearly has a few loose screws.

“Okay.” You must be crazy to agree too.

Jeongguk kisses you again and this time you don’t push him away. You twist your fingers into his hair deepening the kiss. You’re kissing the infamous devil it feels thrilling how his hands pull you to him possessively. Courage saved your life many times but this time it feels like you’re going to hell.

It feels so wrong that it feels so good.

His lips map out the curve of your neck his body flush against yours. He picks you up and pushes you against the wall his arm muscles flex as he holds your weight up with ease. Your legs curl around his small waist to balance. With the new position, your skirt rode up your thighs until the fabric was bunched around your waist.

Things are escalating fast but you don’t try to stop him. You will let the flames engulf you.

It’s only your panties that separate you from the pleasure as he rubs his cock into you.

He’s going to be big you can tell by feeling the outline.

Your hands wrap around his neck and his hands wrap around your torso to lift you off the wall and place you on his desk. Jeongguk spreads your legs with his fingers placing them on his shoulders as he hovers over you. The position is embarrassing you feel open and spread out on his desk.  The pens and binders dig into your back but it all fades to the background. Anyone could just come in and see you but you remember that normally no one dares to come to his office unless it’s unavoidably necessary.

Even if someone came in they wouldn’t dare to say anything with the CEO’s notorious reputation.

He rubs his nose around your clothed slit taking huge whiffs of air as he’s committing your smell into his memory. It’s dirty but arousing. His nose does a good job at rubbing your clit eliciting moans from you.

“Stop teasing me.” Jeongguk could read your frustrated expression so he decided to push your panties to the side and push two fingers into you. The sudden intrusion hurt but soon ebbed away as he slowly moved them in and out paying attention to your clit with his tongue to make you feel good. You coated his fingers in your arousal, it made a wet sound each time he pushed his fingers back inside as you grew wetter.

His mouth ate you sloppily it did not look like he had much experience he just let his curiosity take the lead and experiment if it looked like you enjoyed something he repeated the motion until you were practically soaking his fingers. It's embarrassing how his inexperienced fingers could trigger your orgasm within ten minutes.

It's probably because it was the first time someone put his fingers inside you. Jeongguk cleaned up the mess. He put his soaked fingers into his mouth and cherished your taste.

“I don’t taste weird right?” You don’t know if it’s bad or not, no one tasted you to say it for sure and for a reason you felt insecure. No matter how bad of a reputation he has within the company he’s every woman’s wet dream he’s so perfect that it’s scary to think about it sometimes. He has a perfectly sculptured nose with sexy facial features even his body is fit and just the right amount of fat and muscle. He could be so perfect if he wasn’t so twisted in the head.

“No, It’s strongly sweet. I like it.” He reassures you with a smile. It would look almost innocent if he hadn’t got his hand palming his obvious erection as he sucks on his fingers.

“Sit down.” Drunk on his compliment you don’t think about anything other than having his perfect cock buried in you. He seemed to like anything about you even if you’re far from perfect.

It looked like he didn’t really care about your appearance he just found you beautiful after he changed his mind about you. You have a feeling he would have liked anything about your appearance it just needs to be you.

It’s embarrassing how your legs wobble once you try to stand but he doesn’t laugh at all. Jeongguk pushes his pants down his ankle along with his underwear and man spreads on his expensive leather chair waiting for you while his eyes look you over hungrily. You’re surprised he follows orders so well after all he’s a powerful figure that bows to no one. It looks like he doesn’t care about that if he can get his dick wet.

Jeongguk strokes his cock with his big hands spreading the precum all around as you get closer and closer. He’s more than ready. You straddle his hips positioning yourself over him one hand moves your panties to the side for quick access. You sit slowly swallowing him inch by inch until he’s buried deep. Jeongguk throws his head back when you slowly circle your hips testing out the stretch.

“Did you have sex before?” To be honest it feels like a ridiculous question to ask him but with his inexperience showing it makes you feel that way. You doubt he had a healthy relationship with a woman before so it wouldn’t be a surprise if he hadn’t had sex before.

“No. You’re the first.” Jeongguk moans deeply when you tighten around him suddenly. You can hardly believe that you can be the first to fuck him.

Technically he’s your first too but you’re not going to tell him that. He would like it too much. Thanks to your big dildo that you practised on for years you have no difficulty taking him.

A part of you likes it. Everyone keeps nagging you about when will you get a boyfriend. You were never good at keeping up with a relationship you didn’t want to make an effort to keep it and now with him, you don’t think he will care how much effort you put in. Even if you wanted to you had a feeling it would be nearly impossible to get rid of him.

He said so himself he’s not going to let go of his object of desire until there’s nothing left of it.

You start moving and panting as you extort yourself by bouncing on his lap with this angle he hits all the right spots that you can’t stop even when your thighs start to ache. Yet you push through the ache and ride him like you mean it. You should do some sports as you’re getting tired too soon. Jeongguk helps you with his hands lifting you by the hips and slamming you down on his cock. He trusts up into you for extra measure and that makes it super deep as he pounds into you. He’s going to cum soon.

His virgin cock fills you up to the brim with his cum but he doesn’t let up once he cums he pushes through the oversensitivity not stopping until you cum too. His thumb rubs your clit in fast circles while his hips flex and shove his cock deep inside with fast precise thrusts until you cream around him.

You move your panties to cover your pussy again and try to ignore the feeling of his cum oozing out. You help Jeongguk clean up as well using a lot of tissues to clean up the mess that he has on his desk and chair. The last thing you need to fix is his hair while you like it touseled like this you need to make sure no one knows you two just fucked.

There’s still an hour left until everyone clocks out.

“I guess this would do.” You look over him one more time except for his swollen lips he looks good. His hair and clothes are perfectly in order. Your finger swipes over his lower lip trying to clean the remains of your lipstick when you hear a knock.

Contemplating what to do you decide it’s best if you just remain there standing by his side.

Jeongguk clears his throat and tells the person to come in when you nod. “S-Sorry for disturbing you. I’m here to hand in my report.”

It’s the new blonde girl that entered the company not long ago. She tries to hide her desire for her boss but she does a poor job at that. If she didn’t show a strong face of fear she could be the one now with his cum dripping down your legs. However, Jeongguk finds her uninteresting. Fear is boring. He likes you now and everyone around him is just a passing figure.

“Oh, Y/N, you’re here too. Sorry boss, I didn’t know you had someone here. Then excuse me.” She bows and leaves quickly. Thankfully she doesn’t seem to think you standing next to him is weird.

You release a huge breath that you were holding back the entire time in fear of getting caught.

“I guess I have to go back to my seat too.” Unsure what to do you decided to just do more work before you let your thoughts run wild. You agreed to be somewhat his girlfriend but not at the same time so you’re confused about what you two are at the moment.

The entire situation is fucked up.

“No. Stay here until I finish my work.” Jeongguk pulls you to sit on his lap but you’re worried that his cum dripping out of you will stain his pants so you want to stand up but he doesn’t let you.

“I- I need to clean up.” You try again but he holds you against his chest firmly by a hand around your waist. His other flipping through some reports.

“I don’t want you to be where I can’t see you.” This man, can someone grow this obsessed so soon? Or maybe he is always transfixed on one thing and now that one thing is you. You barely know anything about this man but you will have all the time to learn.

“If you let me go clean up I will go home with you.” You can use this as a bargain chip if you don’t he might even try to kidnap you and make you stay in his house without ever letting you leave.

“Okay. Come back soon.” You can taste yourself on his tongue. Reality starts to sink in as you let Jeongguk kiss you needily.

After you clean up in the bathroom you take a look at your reflection. Not that long ago you dried your tears and fixed your make-up thinking that you were going to quit and now look at you. Your neck is forming bruises and you have your boss’ cum in you. Things changed fast.

After that, you went back just like you promised and sat on his lap while he reviewed reports until working hours. He occasionally kissed your neck as he worked dividing his attention. This might be the first time in weeks you don’t have to work overtime as he drives you to his condo. He held your hand which is a nice romantic gesture but you have an inkling he was just holding it knowing that you can’t run away.

His house is in pristine condition it looks like one of the model houses you see in a magazine. It doesn’t feel like someone is living here, no family pictures or any personal items in his space. The fridge is also empty. It didn’t look like he was cherishing good childhood memories. Usually, a home is filled with pictures but he doesn’t have any.

“Do you really live here?” Half a day ago you wouldn’t dare to speak to your boss this way but you realised that you have no reason to fear him anymore. Jeongguk hides his face in the crook of your neck smelling you again.

“Hmn.” He answers while hugging you from the back. It will take a while to get used to this new side that you see.

“There’s nothing here to eat.” You close the fridge with a dissatisfied frown. You’re famished after skipping dinner to write that report and now there’s nothing here to eat. Not even a single orange. The fridge is absolutely empty except for five bottles of sparkling water.

“I mostly order takeout.” You roll your eyes but fish out your phone from your pockets. You can order from your favourite restaurant.

“What do you want to eat…uh, Jeongguk?” You hesitate for a moment before you cautiously call out his name. It’s past working hours so technically he’s not here as your boss and you’re in his house and already fucked which is already unprofessional enough that calling his name wouldn’t be that big of a deal.

“Anything is fine.” You nod noting that he doesn’t seem to mind you calling out his first name. You dial the right number and tell the server your order, and you decide on pizza. You try your hardest not to mess up your order as Jeongguk decides to stop waiting and pepper kisses all over your neck forming new hickeys and kissing over the forming ones. You will need a lot of make-up to hide this tomorrow. He didn’t really take your resignation so you think you still have your job at the company.

“S-Stop it, the food will be here soon.” The protest dies on your tongue as he fondles your breasts over your clothes. He kisses you passionately like he didn’t get to fuck you just hours ago.

“I can be quick.” You don’t need much more convincing as you spread your legs for him. He doesn’t waste time removing your underwear and spreads your pussy with two fingers. It feels good when he licks the bud flicking his tongue over it before he wraps his perfect lips around your clit and sucks. Your legs shake as he keeps licking your hands tangle into his hair pulling when he pushes his tongue into you.

Jeongguk moans and breaths hardly into you as you keep pulling his hair the sharp pain in his scalp goes straight to his cock. His face gets wet with your arousal as you keep squirming running from the pleasure. He doesn’t let you get away he holds you open with both hands on either side of your thighs using only his wet tongue to bring you bliss.

It's obscene how his brows furrow in concentration and his mouth makes that wet sound relentlessly licking and rolling his tongue until your orgasm washes over you and you cum all over his mouth.

Jeongguk made sure you finished before the food arrived.

You both scarfed down the food in ten minutes before he showed you his bedroom and laid you down on it.

He had the stamina to keep you up all night with his cock buried in your heat. You had work the next day but you were sure your boss wouldn’t scold you if you were late this time.

You felt invincible after becoming Jeongguk’s secretary no one dared to grab you or say anything rude to you after they witnessed Jeongguk’s anger everyone knew in the company that you had him wrapped around your finger. No one dared to approach you as Jeongguk is a possessive lover. The men hated you and the women loved you as you made their jobs easier after getting rid of the people who harassed the female staff. Jeongguk would fire everyone in a heartbeat if you said so.

At first, you were afraid if you could keep up his interest but his obsession never faded.

There’s this blonde again. You can tell what she’s thinking in that little head of hers. It was obvious from the start that she wanted Jeongguk but apparently, he only wants you. No matter how hard she tries to flutter her lashes or wear revealing clothes he doesn’t care.

She comes in to hand in a report trying to impress him with her work but fails when he doesn’t react.

Getting annoyed by her relentless tries to seduce your boyfriend you decide to end her delusions once and for all.

You sit down on Jeongguk’s lap as he flips through her report for a moment he looks surprised you normally don’t initiate contact when someone is in his office but he doesn’t mind it as he always craves your touches and attention. His hand is holding you to him by placing it on your stomach. You even relax into his body and lay against him with your head right under his chin. She can’t say a single thing but her face is turning red as you kiss his cheek. Jeongguk smiles at your cuteness but his eyes remain on the report.

He wants to read it as soon as possible so that woman would leave and he can have you all to himself.

“He’s mine.” You mouth to her.

She glares at you but once Jeongguk rejects the report and tells her to fix it by this afternoon without looking at her she accepts defeat and leaves the two of you alone. You swear there are tears in her eyes as she leaves in a hurry.

“You’re hot when you’re jealous baby.” You thought that he didn’t realise your little exchange as he was glued to the report but it seems nothing can escape him when it comes to you.

“Of course, no one can touch what is mine.” You smile into the kiss swallowing his wanton moans as you palm him over his pants.

Usually, he’s all over you but this time you decide to show him how much you appreciate his sole obsession.

[hannahbarberra162]

Clogged Duck (Milking Hours with Luffy)

TW: lactation, breast worship, smut, fluff :)

OS, Luffy x Reader, ~2.7k wc

Inspired by @otkuhotgirl ‘s Kinktober Day 1 piece. I’ve been thinking about it since I read it, this idea bouncing around my head like a windows screensaver.

You’d never really thought about lactation despite having tits for your whole adult life. Until now. You’d been hit in a fight with the Stork Captain and the lingering consequences were still with you. Your tits had been leaking milk for three days and Chopper said it would be a few more weeks until it stopped. The problem was you had to express the milk otherwise your boobs were painful and tight. You did it by hand in the shower but the process was long and tedious. And now, by some goddamn stroke of bad luck, you had a clogged milk duct. You didn’t even know it was a thing until a day ago but now the red, tender, painful area of your boob was all you could think about.

“Ugh, so what do I do, Chopper?” you asked the little reindeer. You were sitting on the bed in the infirmary as Chopper examined your boob. He was maintaining his professionalism quite well despite the fact that you’d leaked a little milk on his hoof. Sanji was passed out in the next room from nosebleed related blood loss.

“Well, it needs to be unclogged or it can turn into mastitis, which is a serious condition. So you’ll either need to hand express and massage the area until it clears or it can be helped by sucking out the clog,” the doctor explained.

“Sucking? Like -”

“Yes, someone could pull on your teat with their mouth -”

“Don’t call it a teat, that’s weird,” you said with a frown.

“I’ll do it,” Luffy said, standing in the doorway. You blinked - the door had definitely been shut a moment ago. You flushed crimson as you hurriedly covered your tits back up from your Captain. You’d always had a little thing for him but a clogged milk duct was not the way you imagined him seeing your tits for the first time.

“Uh. L-luffy, I don’t think you understand -” you started before Luffy interrupted.

“I do. You’re making milk and need it out of your boobs or you’ll get sicker. I like milk, so I’ll do it,” he stated with a tilt of his head. His unblinking eyes had you in their sights as if you were the weird one for not wanting your Captain to suckle on your tits.

“It’s just that - um - it’s a little...intimate, don’t you think? Also, it’s human milk not cow milk -”

‘It’s weird that humans drink milk meant for baby cows,” interrupted Chopper. You sighed, you didn’t want to have this discussion right now.

“That’s true, it makes more sense for me to drink human milk,” agreed Luffy, his fingers tapping his chin. “So let’s get to it! I’m thirsty,” Luffy whined, sitting down next to you on the infirmary bed. 

“Ok, I’ll give you some privacy. Let me know if Luffy can’t get the clog out, we’ll have to think of something else,” Chopper agreed, making notes on his clipboard.

“N-no, Chopper, I don’t know - I -” you tried to stop the little reindeer from leaving you with the Captain but he was already gone.

“So how should we do this, hm? Side by side wouldn’t be comfortable for me…I know! Come sit on my lap,” Luffy said, already moving you with his arms to face him as he positioned you on his lap. 

“Wha- Luffy! Wait,” you said, pulling on his shirt. Luffy looked at you with a little smile. The bed in the infirmary was small, not meant for two people but you had room to sit on Luffy’s lap. You were facing the Captain, your tits nearly at mouth level, your shins resting on the bed while you straddled him.

“Do you trust me?” he asked, holding the hem of your shirt in his hands.

“Y-yeah, of course I do,” you said, putting your hands on his shoulders. In truth, you’d imagined Luffy sucking on your tits - and much more - many times. Your crush on the Captain had started the first time you met him, his silly and adventurous nature capturing your heart from the moment you saw his radiant smile. You hadn’t ever planned to actually act on it, it was a bad idea for crew members to mess around. You’d been on ships where the dynamics were off after a bad breakup or two and it wasn’t worth it.

“I’m gonna make you feel better. If you don’t like it, I’ll stop,” Luffy said with a smile. You were disarmed by his genuine offer and frankly, you needed the pain to stop.

“Alright, Luffy. Can you shut the door? And just - they kinda hurt so be gentle,” you said, letting him pull your shirt over your head. It was dirty from the milk that had leaked out of your tits already. He used a rubber arm to shut the door from across the room and nodded solemnly as you unhooked your bra in the back and pulled it off your arms. You were now topless in front of your crush and you couldn’t look away as he studied your boobs. His eyes were wide and round, like you had a treasure chest filled with jewels.

“So big,” Luffy said in awe, putting his hands on the undersides of your breasts and lifting them up. “Filled with milk for me,” he said, kissing the top of one of your boobs. It already felt better to have the Captain’s strong, calloused hands holding them up and relieving your back from the pain of heaving them around.

“Hah, y-yeah. So to drink you’d need to -”

“I know what to do,” Luffy said, not taking his eyes off your tits. “It’s this one, right?” he said, kissing your left breast. You nodded trying not to moan as he began kneading your breasts. Without warning he popped your nipple in his mouth and sucked hard. You could feel the milk being drained out and you felt immediate relief. You ran your hands through Luffy’s short, thick hair, moaning as he sucked and licked your breast. Looking down, you saw the evidence of his efforts dripping down his chin.

“I - aah - um, is it ok? Do you want to stop?” you said with a heaving breath, hoping he didn’t. You’d always liked nipple play and now it felt even better as it alleviated your pain. You didn’t think Luffy meant anything romantic or sexual with this, but your body didn’t know that as you felt your panties getting wetter and wetter. Luffy let go of your nipple with a pop, picked up his head and gave you a smile. His hands remained on your breasts, massaging them and rubbing your nipples gently with his thumbs.

“ ‘S great! Oh, no! I’ll help you too, don’t cry, I don’t like cry babies,” Luffy said as he noticed your other breast was now leaking milk. He moved his mouth over to your right nipple and began pulling on the other side. You moaned out loud, you didn’t think you could do this again with the Captain. He kissed his way from the underside of your breasts all the way back to your nipples all while his hands toyed with your breasts.

“L-luffy, you don’t n-need to do thaaaaaa -” your protest trailed off as Luffy gently bit your right nipple while tweaking the other.

“Wanna,” was all he answered before resuming flicking his tongue over your tight bud. He took one of his hands and splayed it over your upper back, keeping you in place to devour further. Luffy massaged the side of your left breast, switching back to your affected nipple. Your breathing picked up as he sucked harder than before, trying to work out the clog.

“Y’wanna move on me?” Luffy asked, while keeping your nipple in his mouth. 

“Huh?” you asked, mind confused what he was asking you.

“You’re rubbing yourself on me. You can sit on me if ya want,” he said with no shame. You looked down to see your hips grinding against his own without your knowledge, moving on Luffy’s impressive cock. Your face flamed but…you were already this far with the Captain…

“Luffy, that’s sex,” you said quietly. You’d never seen Luffy expressing romantic or sexual interest so you wanted to be sure that he understood what he was offering you.

“So let’s have sex then,” Luffy said off handedly, picking his face up from your boobs and looking you in the eyes. He continued to keep your breasts in his hands, squishing and massaging them like they were stress balls.

“Are you sure? It doesn’t have to be part of -”

“I’ve thought about it before. Having sex with you. I wanna if you wanna,” Luffy said with his characteristic smile. That damn smile got you every time. 

“Alright, I - I’ve thought about it before too. Having sex with you, I mean,” you said, your face burning with embarrassment. You loved how honest and sincere the Captain always was but it was difficult to reciprocate his openness. You had been going through a dry spell and hadn’t had a partner in a while - ever since the Captain had caught your eye and your heart.

“Take off your pants and underpants,” Luffy commanded, laying you down on the infirmary bed. He loomed over you but gave you space to do as he asked while taking off his own. You’d never seen Luffy’s cock before, it was larger than you had anticipated as it sprang out from his pants. The thick, veiny shaft ended with a beautiful mushroomed top, complete with a pearl of precome. You were having cold feet now that you saw how big he was, but that one drop was making your mouth water. To your surprise, he ran a finger down your stomach, making you giggle.

“Your skin’s so soft,” he said with wonder in his voice. Suddenly, he was on his knees, pulling you onto your upper back to look at your pussy in the air, spreading your legs over his biceps.

“L-lu, I thought we were -

“I wanna see it first. I wanna see if it’s as juicy as I imagined. Ooh, lookit that,” he said, running his fingers through your wet folds, ending by rubbing your clit for a moment. You shivered as Luffy studied you with curious eyes. He repeated his movement, which made you repeat yours. This time he used his index finger to rub only on your clit, changing his movements when you made different noises. He tried tapping, stroking, and even pinching your clit before he settled on rubbing your clit with two fingers in tight circles - which made your legs shake over his arms. You weren’t sure if this was Luffy’s first time with a partner but his intuition was as good in bed as on the battlefield. 

“Aah, Luf- Luffy, if you keep doing that, hah hah I’m g-gonna come soon,” you stammered as you watched him focusing on your quivering pussy.

“ ‘S for me, right?” he asked, his other hand gripping your ass to keep you in place.

“Y-yeah, for you, L-lu,” you replied, closing your eyes tight.

“No, look at me, I wanna see you,” Luffy said softly. Your eyes snapped to his as he let go of your ass and put a finger inside your hole.

“ ‘S tight in there,” he said, pushing his finger in and out. “Could use a friend though,” he said thoughtfully, adding a second finger. Now you couldn’t contain your mewls as he worked your body better than you could, pumping his fingers like a makeshift cock.

“I’m uhng I’m c-close -” you said, gripping his thighs for support.

“So go,” Luffy said quietly, pushing down on your g-spot. The tight coil inside you snapped as you came undone. You tried to keep quiet but you couldn’t help but cry out his name as he brought you to climax. Luffy kept going as you shook under his care, wrenching every last moment of pleasure out of you before setting your ass back on the bed. You were trying to catch your breath as you watched Luffy put his fingers in his mouth, sucking your juices off the digits.

“ ‘S as good on bottom as on top,” he declared, nodding his head. He leaned over you, planting his thighs between your own for missionary position. Luffy lined himself up to enter you but not before kissing you on the forehead.

“I gotta get back to your boobs, make you feel better,” he said, like he was undertaking a mission. He entered you in one stroke, making your back arch off the bed.

“Aah Luffy! G-gimme time to adjust!” you cried out, gripping his arms. Luffy stilled above you, no small feat for a man who couldn’t sit still for a single moment. He dropped to his knees between your own, dipping his head down to your breasts. Still inside you, he resumed sucking on your tits, making you grind up against him.

“O-oh ok, you can move, Lu,” you suggested, seeking more friction than what you were getting. When you imagined sex with Luffy, you thought his normal actions would translate to the bedroom - all silliness and fast movements. But Luffy surprised you, taking you in long languid strokes as he sucked on your sensitive and sore nipples. You raised your legs up and around his waist, crossing them behind his back. Luffy set a slow but compounding rhythm with his hips, bouncing your boobs with every thrust he made in you.

“Mmmh I gotta nnh help your boobs,” Luffy gritted out while pumping into you. He was so focused on the task at hand, he wasn’t chasing his own pleasure, just making sure you met yours. He nipped and sucked on your nipple, leaving no part of your breast untouched or unloved. You kept one hand tangled in his hair, pulling him ever closer to your chest. He kissed his way through the valley between your breasts, making his way to the other, only to resume suckling and gently biting. He was driving you crazy, your over sensitive and tender breasts aching now from the attention he was giving you and not from pain. Luffy took your free hand and entangled his fingers with your own, pinning it above your head.

“Almost t-there,” Luffy grunted, putting his forehead against yours. 

“So go,” you said, repeating his words back to him. Luffy picked up speed and the sounds of his thighs slapping against yours filled the infirmary room. His thrusts became more erratic as a few soft moans spilled from his lips. At the last moment before he came, he leaned closer and kissed you on the lips before spilling inside you. It wasn’t a deep kiss, it was shy and sweet but it made your heart soar. 

“Hah hah is the clogged duck gone?” Luffy asked, breathing hard while pulling out and laying down next to you on the bed. The twin sized bed was hardly large enough for two but side by side you could just fit, one of his legs dangling off the side.

“Duct. Yeah. Think so,” you replied, your fingers still entwined with his. You relished the body heat radiating from your Captain and turned to lay your head on his chest.

“I wan’ ‘em to get clogged again,” he said with a smile, putting his free hand behind his head. You picked your head up off his chest to protest.

“Well I don’t! It hurt. Besides, we could always do this…without a clogged duct?” you said, trying not to project any of your feelings. You didn’t know how Luffy felt and didn’t want to assume or make anything awkward.

“‘Sa good idea. I liked eating below too, shishishishi,” Luffy giggled, making you laugh too. 

~~~

“Luffy! You can’t just grab them in public!” you hissed, trying to pry Luffy’s hands off your tits and his fingers off your nipples discreetly.

“ ‘S not public, ‘s my ship. Besides, I’m thirsty and they’re full, I can feel it,” Luffy pouted, still groping your chest under your shirt. His fingers were pinching your nipples, making your shirt wet.

“That’s not the point! What if - HEY!” you yelled as rubbery arms encircled you like rope and carried you off to the Captain’s quarters. The other Strawhats had the decency to pretend they didn’t see anything, except for Sanji who was crying while cooking lunch.

~~~

[zepskies]

Until Morning

Pairing: Soldier Boy/Ben x Female Reader

Summary: A quiet moment between you, Ben, and your newborn daughter.

AN: Welcome back to the BMD verse, lovelies! I know I promised a longer “family dynamics” one-shot after Strong as Blood, but let’s start with this.   

**This can be read as standalone, but you can also find the chronological reading order of this series collection on the Break Me Down Masterlist.

Word Count: 650 Tags/Warnings: Fluff and comfort, new parent feels.

When Ben woke in the dark, your side of the bed was empty.

His eyes quickly adjusted, taking in the digital red numbers of the clock on his nightstand. It was a fucking ridiculous hour of the morning, but he soon realized what woke him up.

He heard the dulcet tones of your voice drifting from down the hall. Letting out a deep breath through his nose, he debated if it was worth getting out of bed.

But he heard his daughter make a sound of distress, followed by your gentle shushing.

Ben peeled back the warm comforter and got up.

He didn’t bother with a shirt and just padded out to the nursery down the hall in his sweatpants. He found you dressed in one of his old shirts and nothing else, a messy bun atop your head.

You were slowly pacing back and forth across the room with the baby cradled in your arms.

“If I didn’t care,” you sang, “more than words can say… If I didn’t care, would I feel this way?”

Ben crossed his arms and leaned against the open doorway. He watched you in silent contemplation; his sleep had once again been interrupted, but this felt right.

And once again, his entire world was in this room.

You glanced over and shot him a tired smile, but you kept singing until the infant fell asleep in your arms.

“Would my every prayer begin and end with just your name?” you continued. “And would I be sure that this is love beyond compare… Would all this be true, if I didn’t care for you?”

Your last notes fell softly on Delilah’s head, where you laid a gentle kiss. In your exhaustion, you didn’t realize that your husband was behind you until you felt his hand on the small of your back.

“She’s knocked out,” he said, keeping his voice low. “You can set her down.”

You glanced at him over your shoulder. You bit your lip, as you had tears brimming, threatening to trickle over and fall.

“I don’t want to,” you said. Emotion was clogged in your throat, in your shining, tired eyes.

Ben’s thumb soothed against your back.

“She’s all right," he said. "She's asleep. You need to do the same.”

You probably hadn't slept a full night since before getting home from the hospital weeks ago.

You sniffed, trying not to succumb to the sheer feeling of overwhelming in your chest. You knew Lila would be fine if you put her back down, but you also couldn’t help the need you felt to hold her close and know that she was safe with you.

More than anything, you didn’t want to mess this up. You didn’t want to miss a moment where she might need you.

With a short sigh, Ben grasped your shoulder and guided you back with him. Not to the bedroom, but to the plush rocking chair in the corner of the nursery.

He sat down first, then guided you into his lap. His arm wrapped around your waist and tucked you in close. His free hand went to brush over Lila’s downy hair, which was already as brown as his. And he cradled her as well, supporting your hold.

You allowed yourself to relax against his warm chest with a sigh. He rocked the chair back and forth until you too fell asleep, along with your daughter.

Ben brushed back your messy hair away from your forehead, where his lips lingered. He ended up dozing off a little, but mostly he stayed awake.

He made sure you and Lila both slept until morning.

AN: 🥹 Do you guys like the name Delilah "Lila" for short? I did a lot of deliberating and that was the name I settled on.

BMD Fun Facts:

Lila is the heroine's name in the OC version of this story on Ao3.

There's a nice little callback to "If I Didn't Care" by the Ink Spots.

And with the title, there's a sort of callback to BMD Part 7 - "Until Midnight." 😆

Keep Reading in the BMD-verse:

Coming up next, here's a heavy dose of dad!Ben for ya with This One's For You:

Summary: Late one night, finding no other recourse, Ben sings to his infant daughter to help her sleep.

▶️ Next Story: This One's For You

Soldier Boy Masterlist

Main Masterlist

BMD Tag List (Part 1):

@this-is-me19 @waynes-multiverse @mrsjenniferwinchester @samanddeaninatrenchcoat @spalady26 @spnwoman @syrma-sensei @wirdbeimaufhebengebunden @muhahaha303 @123passwort

@xoxovienna @katherineann814 @lollag0w0 @globetrotter28 @nancymcl @ashbatz @secretdreamlandmentality @kristophalis @wonderland2022 @emily-winchester @shelh93 @sl33pylilbunny @spoonmynoodle @chernayawidow

@buckybarnes-1917 @asgardprincess97 @sometimes-i-sing @itsyellow @karnellius @kimberleymjw @is-this-a-febreze-commercial @iamsapphine @sanscas @se-fucking-hun @lassie-bird @jessjad @yepimthatperson @fromcaintodean @stoneyggirl2

@spnfamily-j2 @im-a-slut-for-fluff @lacilou @venicesem @mimaria420 @vanillawhiskeyflavoredkisses @tearsfortheyouth @agalliasi @chriszgirl92 @kazsrm67

[finelinevogue]

parisian love

summary - you are a little self conscious of your feelings in the city of love

word count: ~1.5k

pairing: boyfriend!harry x reader

a/n: harry had been looking too good lately so i had to write a little blurb about him again <3

“Quit it, will you.” Harry interrupted your scary glare towards your waitress.

You humphed and crossed your arms over your chest, leaning back against the little garden chair in the quaint Parisian cafe.

It was a gorgeous day in Paris and you and Harry were enjoying it together on his day off. Touring was always u such a hectic schedule, but Harry always made sure there was time for you.

Today he has suggested going to a cafe for brunch, seeing as all you’d been showing him were the infamous hot chocolates they serve here along with buttery croissants. You’d been waiting for the opportunity to have one, so Harry was treating you.

Only, the waitress was slightly ruining the experience by flirting with your, clearly, boyfriend.

“So you be the bigger person and be the one to quit it.” He replied calmly.

“So you be the bigger person and be the one to quit it.” He replied calmly.

His sunglasses and his hat shielded much of him away from the public, but clearly not enough for the waitress not to be all over him.

She kept making subtle touches to his shoulder, obvious glances towards his open chest where his linen shirt was unbuttoned and you could’ve sworn some buttons on her shirt had been undone since you arrived.

You picked up your hot chocolate and tried to let the smooth and sweet drink override your jealousy.

It wasn’t often that you were a jealous girlfriend, since you had to deal with it day in and day out, but sometimes it all got a little too overwhelming.

Especially in Paris.

All this trip you’d had this deep and unsettling anxiety in your chest. It made your chest feel hollow and your throat really clogged up. Your stomach was constantly full of anxious butterflies and you couldn’t bring yourself to confront as to why.

Harry was reading a tourist booklet about Paris, whilst you sat and people watched.

When you feel his hand cup your exposed knee, due to you wearing a pretty pink summers dress, you turn your head away from the people and focus on him.

“Hm?” You ask.

“I said, do you want to go on a walk after this?” Harry asked again, the first time having gone amiss to you.

“Oh, um, sure.” You gave him a small smile.

“I think there might be a garden around here that we can wander around.” He pointed to a page in the small book he was holding, but you get lost in thought again.

Harry returns to his book and before long the waitress comes back over.

You watched her put her hand on your boyfriends shoulder and look away just as quickly, in case you say something that will get you in trouble.

“Can I get you anything else today?” She asked Harry.

You sip your hot chocolate until it’s gone, having had enough of this.

You stand up abruptly, rattling the table a little. You turn to face the woman and notice that her hand is no longer on Harry’s body, but she is still stood rather close to him.

“I think I’m going to go somewhere where I don’t have to see another girl flirting with my boyfriend.” You say to her and watch her face void of emotions.

You look down at Harry, who looks up at the two of you with the same blank expression. You can’t tell whether he’s angry or annoyed, but you have a feeling it’s somewhere in between.

After gulping down the stone at the back of your throat that threatens the tears, you get up and walk off slowly so not to draw any more attention to yourself.

You sniffle your way out of the café and start heading down the road back to the hotel.

After an argument with Harry, sometimes you would walk off, similar to this, but what always happened is that Harry would follow you. Always a few meters behind, but he could never leave you fully alone after an argument and he would always find the fastest way to make it up to you.

A spare bench was located on the crest of a hill, where the rest of the city could be seen below.

You sat down and held your bag in your lap, opening the zip to find a pack of tissues with shaky hands. You took one out and dabbed at the corner of your eyes lightly, so not to smudge your eye makeup.

The view was gorgeous, but it was easily forgotten about when Harry sat down next to you.

He sat with a couple feet of space between you and as much as he hated it, he respected you want for space.

“M’sorry.” You spoke first, after a couple minutes of silence.

“You don’t have anything to apologise for, baby.” Harry comforted you by reaching one his arms along the back of the bench and stroking one of his fingers, gently, over the back of your neck. It was a reminder that he was really here for you.

At the subtle gesture, you sniffled and dived over to his side of the bench to snuggle up against the side of his body. Your head found home against his shoulder and his head rested atop of yours, after he left a little kiss there. His arm snaked around the back of your body and rested his hand on your outside hip.

You sniffled again and tried to control your watery eyes.

“What’s got you so sad, hm?” He asked.

“I hate being jealous.”

“Why?”

“Makes me look childish and insecure.”

“I don’t think it does, babe. I think it shows me how much you love me. You’re willing to get upset when someone else shows interest in me. It’s weird to say, but I find it comforting that you don’t want me for anyone else. The same as I don’t want you belonging to anyone else. I like you as mine.” His arm squeezes you a bit in reassurance.

“It’s nice when you put it that way.” You smiled, even though he can’t see.

“It’s okay for you to get jealous, Y/N/N. I just don’t like the idea of you getting proper upset over me.”

“You mean so much to me, Harry, i’m just scared it’s to good to be true being with you.”

“Well, how about we take each other for each day we have together and let what feelings we have for each override any fears or insecurities. Hey?”

“That sounds good.”

You both fall silent for a little bit, people watching as the sun sets over the city of love. It’s gorgeous how the sky burns a palette of oranges and yellows, you’ll probably never get over its beauty.

When you start giggling to yourself Harry perks up conversation again.

“What?” He asked with a slight giggle himself.

“Just thinking about how if you weren’t a musician you would make a good therapist.” You relay your thoughts to him.

“Oh definitely. I’d be good at any job.” You can’t see it, but Harry smiled down at you because he is happy now that you are.

“Oh really?” You laughed.

“Yeah. Try me.”

“Umm? A chef?”

“Oui oui. I have watched Ratatouille before.”

“Why are you a French chef?” You asked, giggling away the tears.

“Because we’re in the city of love, mon ami.” He laid on a thick English accent to answer your question, making you prod him in his tummy for being so annoying.

“Okay Chef.” This time Harry tickled you in your side instead. “Stop! Okay, um, what about… A firefighter?”

“You just want to see me in my suspenders again.” Harry laughed so loud that people turned to see what was so funny. You buried your head further into his body until your blushed cheeks passed over.

“Do not.” You counter argued.

“Do too. I know you do, because Lambert showed me his texts with you the other day of you demanding he bring the suspenders back to tour.”

“Ugh. He’s such a snitch.”

“Big Brother is watching you.” He referenced.

“Don’t refer to yourself as Big Brother again, you weirdo.” You laughed at him. You go to hit him playfully on his tummy again, but instead Harry caught your hand in his and brought it to his lips to play. He didn’t let it go afterwards, instead he chose to hold it tight.

Both of you go back to silence again, going back to people watching individually.

The sun had gotten lower now and there were more people coming into the city for a night out. You and Harry were going to be cuddled up in bed watching a Disney movie by the time these people enter their first club. The life of an introvert, you, loving and extrovert, Harry, meant you did very introverted activities together.

“Harry?” You asked quietly.

“Yes, m’love.”

“Can I ask you a question? And before you answer, I don’t mean for this question to start an argument between us but I am just genuinely curious.”

“You’ve got me a little worried now, babe, but go on. I trust you.” He replied and you shift a little in your position to gauge his facial expression.

“When you’re in Paris, o-or France for that matter, do you ever think about Camille? Like, do you get sad about her or feel anything?” You breathed out, but continue just as quickly, “Again, I’m not asking to provoke you, but I’m just thinking that someone of her importance in your life must have left an impression on you. Maybe, in turn, making you think about her at times like this?”

As soon as you’d asked your question, a wave of relief rolled off your shoulders. You couldn’t explain how freeing it was to have asked that. It was like that unexplained anxiety from the past few days had come from that question alone.

“Thank you for asking for politely, baby, first of all.” Harry kissed your forehead. “And since you were honest with me, I’ll be honest with you.”

“Okay.” You nodded a bit nervously.

“I do think of her.” He answered the way you were least hoping him to, but let him continue anyways, “But not in the way you think. When I think about her now I am always thinking of you, too. I rarely do think about her, because why would I need to, but sometimes certain moments will take me back and you’ll be there to get rid of those thoughts again.”

“I-I don’t think I understand.” You say.

“It’s like when we went for a coffee run the other morning and you happened to choose the same coffee shop that I’d been to previously with Camille. In that coffee shop, in that moment, all I could think about was how much happier I was to be standing there with you than I had ever been with her ever. I thought about, and still do, how lucky I am to have found someone that loves me just as equally as I love them.” He paused briefly, “So, do I think about her? Yes, but only because I’m reminded of how much more happiness and love and life I have gained from choosing you.”

You stared at him throughout his tiny speech and a little bit afterwards too. His eyes watered at the sight of yours watering - which you could tell even through his sunglasses.

“I need another tissue.” You laughed out through a couple of tears.

Before you could go diving in your bag, Harry cupped your chin with his fingers and drew your mouth close to his. He kissed you so feverishly that you would think it was your last one ever.

He pulled away with a pout, “I love you. I’ll always choose you. It’s you, forever, baby.” He kissed you once more with force. “Always. It’s a promise.

[thefandomsfervent]

Viktor x Reader Personal Pigments (Part 9) -Lavender Tinted Gesso

Okay so I said this like 2 chapters ago, but this is the longest chapter now. Find my imagine that inspired it here. Previous and next chapter will be linked at the bottom. Thank you for reading <3

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Viktor is annoyed, a feeling he has grown quite familiar with these past few days. No one had done anything to cause it, that he could identify anyway. That did not stop him from being annoyed with Jayce for making him go rest. He knew that his partner meant well, he knew that it was needed. But it didn’t change the fact that they were finally making progress and putting that roll on hold, even for a few hours, felt like an impossibly wrong decision. 

When you mentioned wanting to feel connected to the process, your process, something clicked in him. Especially after that passage he had shown Jayce. They wanted to improve lives with Hextech, but they needed to know how to do it. With the more they learned about magic and runes, they were getting closer to solutions for all sorts of problems. Piltover was supposed to be the ‘city of progress’. They needed to find ways to connect people. If Hextech could be used for travel it would blast things wide open for medicine and education. His mind was running all over again with the potential for solutions. 

Still, he settles in his bed this time instead of the couch. The covers are soft on his skin. His head is heavy on the pillows. If he slept for more than the agreed upon 5 hours, he knows that no one would be upset. He does truly trust Jayce to find answers to the questions he’s posed. His eyelids are heavy already. Were his eyes always this dry?

“Viktor?” He ignores the sound of your voice in his head. He had a tendency to replay thoughts, sounds. “That he liked.” The frown that settles there is deep, it pulls at his cheeks. Viktor turns with a huff, landing on his good leg as he lays on his side. He’d been falling asleep to that sound since that night. He thought it would pass after that first time, and that the weird guilt would not be so heavy in his chest when he saw you. But you were there the next day, all soft smiles and patiently explaining your process to Jayce. Giving him knowing looks. He did not notice the way you poked at the drying sludge at your station. He did not notice your disappointment when it hadn’t been fully dried on the second day. 

“Bio-material always clogs up filters and holds moisture.” Jayce had said to you when you sighed over it. You told him you knew, but admitted patience was not your strong suit. Information he did not hold on to. 

“Ridiculous.” It slips out in a whisper, caught by the wall in front of his face. “This was ridiculous.” He lays flat on his back now, the ceiling staring back at him. It doesn’t match his scowl. And despite the way annoyance is pooling as tension in his jaw, he closes his eyes again. “Viktor?” It was like an ear worm he couldn’t get rid of. A beetle burrowed under his skin. It replays again, the moment when you woke up. Golden light and swirling dust and dried drool. There was nothing special about that moment, but it haunts him anyway. He falls asleep.

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The wood had made it to the studio yesterday, and so did the sonophone from your room. You’d be damned if you had to work with nothing but the sounds of your struggling. Your record collection was small, mostly instrumentals of varying genres that you had grabbed over the years. It was hard to justify expanding when you had so much work to do, especially now that most of your work was done with other people around you. Today you could treat yourself to the background melodies. Because you were punishing your hands for your career choice.

You had managed to get the wood cut to size. That was honestly easier than you had thought. The frame took maybe 4 hours to put together, drying time of the wood glue included. You even got the support bars in place. But it did mean that you had to face the real trials ahead. Stretching the canvas.

Canvas stretching was an arduous process, lots of crawling around on your hands and knees. Pulling and pulling and pulling the fabric taut over the edge of the wood. Pulling that meant the joints in your hand were screaming two hours in. You had to move around all four sides, all four corners, and the spaces in between them to keep the surface even. Don’t get you started on the folding in the corners for hidden edges. Curses were muttered under your breath every few minutes. Occasionally yelled, echoed back at you by the walls. 

Pulling, letting go, pulling, letting go, crawling, hammering in, pulling, letting go, pulling, letting go, hammering in. Focus only for the task in front of you. You didn’t hear the knock on the door, or when it slowly opened and tentative steps made their way in. 

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It took some convincing (bribing) to get Viktor to come with him. Jayce had told him about your note the day before and he had seemed uninterested in visiting. 

“We have work to do.” Viktor is still looking through books when Jayce meets him in the lab. Seemingly settled in his chair.

“Getting our notes in order is hardly work. And something we can definitely do over there.” 

He gets a sigh. Viktor is gathering notes and papers into a folder. It’s not heavy but it is overfilled by the time Jayce adds his collection to it too. 

“You have the drinks, yes?” He smiles at that. Jayce nods and raises the carrier. Three drinks nestled together, all iced, as it was starting to warm up. Spring was fast approaching Piltover, some would argue that the season was already here. The walk to your studio is filled with a lot of sounds. And smells. Most of the doors are wide open, laughing and music in some. Mostly the smell of turpentine and various oils that waft towards them. Windows were flung open but it did little to quell the strength. 

“Less ventilation here than in our labs,” he notes aloud. Viktor simply nods in agreement, looking the walls up and down. The two of them were curious, there were more artists involved in this program than they thought. You had not really spoken much about the Institute or your peers. Jayce is holding the note, making sure to count the doors on the right side of the hall while Viktor peeks into whatever empty rooms they pass. Cane in one hand and a folder of notes in another. As they approach what should be your door, they can hear banging. A soft repetitive noise that gets louder as they close the distance. He looks at Viktor when they get to your door, it’s closed. There’s another bang, the sound sharp and dull at the same time. 

“Are you fucking kidding me??”

It’s muffled by the door, but it’s definitely your voice. Jayce looks to Viktor, brows raised and an almost laugh escapes him. Viktor looks back, a little less bewildered, he shrugs in response. He gestures with the folder for him to knock on the door, face contorting as if to say “this was YOUR idea”. It was, but now he’s doubting himself. You seemed busy. He knocks and it’s drowned out by a resumed banging. After a few seconds he tucks the note under his arm and slowly turns the knob. 

Once the door opens they can hear music. You don’t turn to face them. You’re… on the floor? Nails all around you, a hammer in your hand. There’s a huge wooden frame in front of you. Fabric, canvas? Canvas in your other. 

“Whatchya doin’?” Jayce speaks first. Sing-songy and sweet. You whirl around, a nail in your mouth hitting the floor as you lower the hammer. 

“What are you guys doing here?” Your smile is bright and surprise honeys your voice. There is a redness in your cheeks. From frustration or from working. He isn’t sure. Viktor looks away to the very empty walls of your studio. You stand up to greet them, grimacing at the numbness in your knees and calves. 

“You’ve had a studio this whole time? Then why work with us?” Yet another question that Viktor asks you, that he had not meant to ask. It comes out harsher than he intends. Your smile falters but doesn’t fall. 

“I thought you knew I had one?” Jayce nods, he knew of it from Heimerdinger and Mel. Viktor doesn’t answer, just continues to look around your very empty space. You answer his question anyway.

“I want to learn about both of you. Good art is infused with many things, but knowledge is one of them. I want to know you both past the invention, it brings the work to life.” This was the first time you’ve stood in who knows how many hours since you’ve started. Your joints felt stiff as you stretched, standing on the tips of your toes to get the feeling back in your body. Jayce also looks away as your top lifts when your arms are reaching for the ceiling. He’s less subtle with it though, and you notice the way his eyes dart wall to wall. Trying not to laugh, you speak. “To answer your earlier question Jayce, “ he jumps at his name, “I’m building a canvas for the painting.”

He and Viktor look at your project on the floor. The frame seemed sturdy. You were almost done, dozens of nails along the sides. You move your sonophone out of the chair closest to you. The music skips a little when you jostle it. Asecond chair opposite had cut wooden pieces and a saw. 

“You built this yourself?” Jayce puts the drinks down on a clean table and circles it. He steps around it slowly, careful of the nails on the floor . He can appreciate good craftsmanship as a blacksmith. The studs were evenly spaced, your canvas was loose in maybe four or five spots where you obviously needed to hammer in the last of your nails. “It looks really good! Didn’t realize it was going to be so big.” You hum noncommittally as you empty the other chair. Viktor approaches it too. Setting his folder down by the drinks, he leans against a wall after walking around. There were red spots around all the edges. Spots that were almost as evenly spaced as the nails, but the spaces were smaller. Set in groups of four. His brows furrow. 

“What are those?” It comes out quietly, and Jayce notices what he’s asking about. Viktor looks at you as you settle in an empty chair with your drink in hand. A hand with bloody knuckles. You don’t miss the way his eyes widen. 

“It’s fine, I promise.” Canvas is a rough material, you had meant to get handwraps on your trek to the market to avoid this but it had slipped your mind. Jayce is walking over to you now. He puts a hand out expectantly. A non-negotiable look on his face. “Guys, I’m fine.” You offer a hand anyway, trying not to wince when he turns it over so your palm faces the floor. 

“How long have you been at this?” There’s no judgment in the question, yet you still feel like you’re being scolded. 

“Long enough.” You pull your hand back. “I’ll bandage up in a second, I’m almost done.” The defensiveness in your tone annoys you, a tight feeling in your chest. Heat rises in your cheeks. “What are you guys doing here anyway?” 

Viktor nods to the drink in your hand. Right. Well now you felt even more like a child, pouting after a treat. It’s Jayce who gives you a verbal answer. “Well you gave us directions.” He taps the note. “Plus, Vik and I have some notes to present to Heimerdinger soon. Thought you’d want to hear us sort them out.” His voice is gentle, he stands by the chair in front of you. Viktor meets his gaze and grabs the folder to sit in front of you. He’s already opening it and pulling papers onto the table, not waiting for your response. You stand, putting your drink down. Jayce and Viktor share a look, like they’re worried you’ll say no. “Cute.”

“I’d like that.” You give both of them a soft smile when they visibly relax. “Just let me finish this, I don’t want you guys having to talk over the hammer. You can talk all you want while I gesso.” Viktor quirks a brow at the word. “You’ll see in a second.”

He watches wordlessly as you sit on the floor, picking up the hammer and getting back to work. You’re gritting your teeth as the exposed flesh of your knuckles brushes against the canvas. He smiles softly to himself. He respects the desire to work past your limitations, a familiar urge to him. And then frowns when he remembers that you’re bleeding. He glances at Jayce, who’s pretending to read a paper. Pretending, because he’s looking at Viktor. Wide-eyed like he realizes something. Caught. The hair on the back of his neck stands, a warmth spreading down his back. He quells the feeling. Willing the redness to stay below his collar. Jayce tilts his head at him in question. “What was that?”

He ignores him. The wrong decision. It seems to confirm something in Jayce. He tilts his head again, eyes going even wider. “What. Was. That?” Emphasizing the silent question with a shake of his paper. Viktor gives him a dead stare like he has know idea what he’s not talking about. He starts sorting out notes on the table. Ignoring another paper shake. You’re hammering away totally unaware of their battle of wills. By the time you’ve finished Jayce has given up. He’s rummaging in a corner of the room when you’re standing, wincing as you flex your hands. 

You should clean and wrap your hands, but you could also just start gessoing. You’re already opening up the tub to weigh your options when someone clears their throat. It’s Jayce holding a first aid kit. 

“All of the rooms are provided one. Academy policy.” He looks apologetic, like he knows what you were thinking about. He nods towards his empty chair in front of Viktor. No choice then. You take the seat when he asks you a question. “Why is it so empty in here? I thought you’d have this place decked out.” You stiffen at the question. Embarrassment flooding your veins. Called out. 

“If I’m going to start something, I want it to be something worthwhile.” You’re honest, and it feels good to say it out loud. A tension you didn’t know you were carrying leaving your shoulders. Jayce is handing the kit to Viktor. 

“You know, someone told me once that if you’re going to change the world, don’t ask for permission.” Viktor gives a quiet chuckle at that, opening the kit and pulling out alcohol swabs and bandages. He motions for you to get closer.

“I’m not changing the world, I’m painting.” You laugh too.

“About people changing the world?” Jayce nudges your shoulder as he walks past to look at your finished canvas. He spies the tub of gesso you opened up. “It’s purple?”

“Think of it as a pre-tone. Before I do the underpainting. It helps me get over the fear of starting on a blank surface.”

“But it'll still be empty” says Jayce.

“Trust me it's different.” You're hissing that last word out. Not out of anger but pain. Viktor had started applying the alcohol to cleanse your knuckles.

“Sorry broučku” He's muttering under his breath. You don't recognize the word but you don't have time to question him when he dabs another piece of alcohol soaked cotton on the next knuckle. You tell him it’s fine and try to ignore the sting behind your eyes everytime he touches you with the swab. You look at Jayce, “Instead of me starting on a perfectly white canvas, I can start with something else. I’m still starting the painting on a clean surface, but I’ve technically started the work that way.”

He hums and comes back to stand behind you, a warm hand on your shoulder. Viktor’s working on your other hand now. You wince again, “Almost done.” he whispers. 

“So,” Viktor looks up when you speak this time. You meet eyes. “Tell me about this presentation.”

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--------------.·͙*̩̩͙˚̩̥̩̥*̩̩̥͙　✩　*̩̩̥͙˚̩̥̩̥*̩̩͙‧͙ Part 8-.-Part 10.·͙*̩̩͙˚̩̥̩̥*̩̩̥͙　✩　*̩̩̥͙˚̩̥̩̥*̩̩͙‧͙ .---------------

------------‧̍̊·̊‧̥°̩̥˚̩̩̥͙°̩̥‧̥·̊‧̍̊ ♡ °̩̥˚̩̩̥͙°̩̥ ·͙*̩̩͙˚̩̥̩̥*̩̩̥͙· Master Fic List *̩̩̥͙˚̩̥̩̥*̩̩͙‧͙ °̩̥˚̩̩̥͙°̩̥ ♡ ‧̍̊·̊‧̥°̩̥˚̩̩̥͙°̩̥‧̥·̊‧̍̊--------------

[nicksbestie]

hi! i’m not sure if you’re requests are open, but if they are could you write one where chris’s gf is a little and she’s scared to tell him? thank you so much 💜💜💜

We Should Talk - C. Sturniolo

Summary : Chris discovers something that you weren't ready to tell him yet, and a tough conversation ensues.

Warnings : 1634

Word Count : Crying, mentions of anxiety

Pairing : Chris Sturniolo/Reader (romantic)

A/N : This is an age regression fic, which is purely safe for work and innocent. Any hate/disrespect towards me, my work, or readers, will not be tolerated.

Chris had a lot of social media. Of course he did, his entire job was on the Internet.

He had to have a social media presence to continue to keep that career afloat, but there were some apps that he just didn’t see a purpose in keeping. Every now and again he would redownload some of them just to see what all was going on in their fanbase on those specific apps, but he never really stuck around for long. One of those apps was Twitter, and it was arguably one of the most toxic platforms he had ever seen. Their fanbase wasn’t terribly chaotic, but the app just had so much discourse going on in it at any given point in time that Chris had never felt like it was worth it.

 However, he was intrigued, so he had decided to download it and make a burner account so he could be private about his existence on the app, not wanting his notifications to be filled and his direct messages to be completely clogged. That did wonders for his ego every now and again, but he also never checked them and eventually it got overwhelming. But as he finished setting up the app, he saw something unrelated to his fanbase that he wasn’t expecting, at all.

When you finish setting up your account, the app asks you if you would like to sync your contacts. Chris had no issues doing this, as it would make it easier to view some of his friend’s profiles without having to search for them. To put it shortly, he wouldn’t have to go stalking. But one of the accounts that popped up after his contacts finished syncing caught his attention. It was an account covered in pastels, and the biography under it was very… interesting. 

“nxsl agere <3 big age __, little age __. obsessed with my daddy who doesn’t know he’s my daddy… yet? nsfw dni!!!”

The thing that really threw him for a loop was that when he looked to see which contact was linked to this account, he read the words “in your contacts as : my girl .” He was confused when he saw this, and curious as well, having not known about this account. He thought he had known about all of your social media, as he followed you on everything except Twitter, but he had still seen your personal Twitter account, but he had no idea you had another one. He wasn’t angry or anything, not being a controlling boyfriend, just more intrigued than anything else. He had never seen an account like this, so he began to scroll through it. 

He simply became more and more confused as he looked through the account. He saw a ton of posts about childlike things, coloring, shows, even pacifiers and bottles, and he found so many tweets in what seemed like baby talk, nearly all of them referencing your “daddy”. He really just didn’t understand what that meant until he scrolled through some replies on a post about an ask game, where your mutuals could ask you any questions, and one of them had asked you if you were single. You had of course replied with no, and the same person had asked if Chris was your carer. He didn’t really understand what that meant, but as he saw your reply, it seemed to fall into place.

“i think of him that way, but he doesn’t know. i hope he’ll be my daddy eventually!”

Daddy? The thought of it threw him for a loop. Chris was completely uncomfortable with any sort of daddy or parental kink, but there was something about this that really made him think it had nothing to do with sex. He hadn’t seen anything inappropriate at all, and he had been scrolling for a while now. So he wasn’t grossed out, because even in the biography of the account it says that it wasn’t sexual at all, but he didn’t know what to make of it. Finally, he turned to Google for help.

With the help of an Internet browser, he was able to decipher that the word “agere” was an abbreviation, for a thing called age regression. He continued to go down the rabbit hole of research and articles, and the more he read about it, the more the account made sense. He wasn’t confused or weirded out, if anything he felt sad that you hadn’t been able to come to him about this. He didn’t know how long you had been hiding this from him, and his heart hurt at the fact that you felt like he couldn’t know about it. He only felt worse for you when he saw some sad tweets, deciphering through the baby talk, seeing you upset that you were alone. 

When he found out that it was normally caused by a lot of trauma or mental health issues, he realized that it really did fit his girlfriend. You had been through a lot in a short amount of time, and he couldn’t blame you for feeling so desperate to find something that helps you. He was happy for you, more than anything, because clearly this was helping you for the majority of the time. You of course had your sad moments, but he felt like there were a lot of good moments to outweigh them. From your account presence, you seemed like you were genuinely a lot happier, filled with pure and childish joy. The more he understood, the more he wanted to be there for you, to fill that role that you clearly also wanted him to do.

 So, then came the problem of how is he going to bring this up to you? He didn’t know how he was going to move forward with this information without scaring you off or causing you to panic. You weren’t home right now, you had gone off to hang out with a friend after work, and he was expecting you back quite soon, so that only gave him a little bit of time for him to figure out how he was going to approach the situation. By the time he heard your car pull into the driveway, he was thinking that the best idea was probably to just sit down and talk to you about it, so that was exactly what he was planning on doing. 

He greeted you the same way he normally did, hugging you and telling you he missed you, and he waited until after you’d eaten and were curled up in bed together, enjoying the time you got to spend relaxing with each other to bring it up.

“Babe?” 

“Yeah?” 

“Can we talk about something? It’s not bad at all, though.” 

You were definitely on edge a little bit, despite his reassurances. 

“Sure, what’s up?” 

Chris didn’t move any part of him from the way he was, not wanting you to sense a change in body language and freak out.

“So I downloaded Twitter today and decided to set up an account, and you know how it asks you if you want to sync your contacts?” 

“Yeah.. what about it?” 

You were thinking that your personal account had been linked to your number, not your secret one, so you were on edge, but hadn’t figured out why he was bringing this up yet.

“Yeah. So, an account linked to your number came up, one that I didn’t know existed.” 

Your cheeks immediately flushed red and you broke eye contact, knowing exactly what he meant now. You could feel the tears coating your waterline, anxiety building in your chest, feeling like a bomb ready to explode. You waited for the ball to drop, for something terrible to come out of Chris’ mouth, but he simply just held you closer.

“I think we should talk about it, okay?” 

Nothing but a short “I’m sorry” slipped through your lips, and Chris looked confused at your response.

“For what, baby? You did nothing wrong, I’m not angry at you.”

The realization that he had probably, if not definitely, seen everything, caused a couple of the tears to fall from your eyes, as you desperately tried to stop them from becoming full on waterworks. Chris let out a soft hum, pulling you impossibly closer, wiping tears off of your face.

“It’s okay. I promise, it’s okay. You don’t have to talk much, I can. I did research on my own, I think I understand what’s going on, I just want you to tell me what you want from me, okay? I want to be here for you, I want to help wherever I can.”

The lack of judgment, the pure acceptance, the increasing love, made you unable to hold in any emotion any longer. You cried, and Chris simply held you, letting you cry all of your feelings out.

“You’re safe with me, okay? I’m not going to judge you. I know you’ve been alone in this for a while, and that can change if you want it to. Do you want that?” 

He didn’t get a verbal reply, but he could feel the nod against his chest. 

“Okay. Do you want me to be your daddy?” 

Another nod, and you pulled your face away from his shirt, feeling bad when you saw the giant wet patch, and he immediately reassured you.

“Don’t worry, babe, it’s just a shirt. I can change. It’s okay. Everything is going to be okay.”

“Thank you.” 

His smile was bright, as to soothe your fear, but his eyes showed sympathy.

“You don’t need to thank me. I’m more than happy to be here for you. I love you, and you’re going to be okay.” 

As you whispered your own confession of love back to him, you knew it was true. 

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[ohwaitimthewriter]

The Memory Keeper

Chapter 6: Cruise

Pairing: Noa x human!reader

Warnings: None!

Summarize: A woman, allowed to live as long as the virus keeps running through her body, living on autopilot for 260 years, is going to see her life takes a new turn, finding hope in something that might come to put an end to her wandering.

Words: 3k+

A/N: Hi there! After all this time, I've decided to post the first part of this chapter. So it's not complete in what I wanted to tell entirely about this chapter. However, I find myself with a rather significant lack of inspiration and motivation, which has been going on for over a month now. I hope that working in this way will enable me to start the rest of this chapter under better conditions.

In the meantime, I hope you'll like this first part!

Enjoy your reading 😊

The Memory Keeper Masterlist / Planet of the apes Masterlist

Gifs credit (1) & (2)

Your brain was about to collapse. Its cogs were running at full speed in an engine flooded by years of letting yourself sink. Reaching the bottom of the ocean and letting yourself be carried along by the sea currents, getting used to seeing nothing but the crushing blackness of the abyss. Getting the engine running again made the rusty nuts creak, and no matter how many times you jabbed the storm-shaken screws with a screwdriver, it felt as if every turn sheared through your temples.

And everything was suddenly too heavy. The weight of your head ended up in the palm of your hands as your fingers desperately tried to cling to the hairline that defined your forehead.

Your cogs floundered in the muddy sand of the seabed that had become your brain. A flooded, clogged and slimy wading pool that struggled to rid itself of the stagnant seaweed that had accumulated until it filtered out the slightest particle of emotion that dared to try and find its way back to the surface. Drowning in your own wading pool. In your own brain, so as not to see the immeasurable extent of the damage inflicted by the tidal wave that had left you shipwrecked.

Shipwrecked. Today, it was difficult to remember when the boat had capsized. Had it happened gradually? As each crew member fell overboard? One after the other. And despite the lifebuoys, despite the rafts, all you could do was watch them sink, helpless as the ocean slowly took what had always belonged to it.

Shipwrecked on a wandering ship, meant to stay afloat despite the shattered hull and torn sails. Sometimes you still wondered why the ocean had chosen never to come and get you. The one that decided to toss you around like a lost buoy in the middle of the blue vastness, the one that made you swallow water at will, knowing full well that salt water couldn't carry you off. The one that dragged you to the open sea with no promise of ever seeing the end of it. Now the ocean was offering you the chance to wash ashore on a white sandbank.

But how do you dock without a captain at the helm?

A broad hand came to rest on your shoulder, engulfing half your shoulder blade, and a few comforting taps pressed against your shoulder.

“How do you know his words?”

Raka. He seemed to have a better grasp of the concept of empathy than did his friend. But you couldn't blame Noa. Even you didn't know how to steer your boat. So to ask a near-stranger to trust you to navigate between waves and sea rocks and reach that sandbank…

And how could you dock without a captain at the helm?

〰️〰️〰️〰️〰️〰️〰️〰️〰️〰️〰️〰️〰️〰️〰️〰️〰️〰️〰️〰️〰️

The world was changing.

And the more you watched it burn away, the more you realized there was no one left. There was no one to tell the story. Radio, TV news, newspapers, books… no one would run them or write them. The human ability to convey an event around the world as we would slip a letter into a mailbox had gone to ashes when the virus had set humanity ablaze.

You no longer knew what the world was becoming, and only its progress could be observed directly through the lens of the camera you'd found in the ruins of a crumbling city center.

There was no one left to hold on to a lost humanity… except you. These history books, these tales of the years that modern society had never had the pleasure of exploring in its own lifetime, but only through the remnants that others recounted - in those historic eras of the birth of societies - were going to be the last. And the world you knew would eventually die in the memories of the few humans who would in turn die out without being able to ensure an offspring.

Only you would be left to remember this humanity. And if you dared to hope that the memories of the apes around you would be passed down through the generations, there was little hope that humans would live on in their memories and the tales you imagined would come to life around the rise of simian societies.

Perhaps that's what prompted you to bring back that camera. A Polaroid you knew would only last a year, or as long as you could find enough to keep it going between the batteries and photo paper it consumed with every click to capture an event, a group of apes fishing, or the sometimes gigantic wooden constructions rising several meters above your head.

Those pictures that were instantly printed would stay. They would tell the story. They would remember the time when humanity had been turned upside down and could not turn back. They would remember the new world that was being built under your admiring gaze. And they wouldn't forget. They wouldn't forget what the world had been, what humans had done and what the world was about to become.

It was important. You couldn't fully imagine how significant it was, but you'd been steeped in history classes and there was something comforting about knowing about a past you'd never witnessed. Perhaps because it was proof… the only proof of the existence of the past.

And if you'd been willing to give up the humanity you'd lived in, you weren't yet ready to forget its existence.

Through the lens, you could see the symbol made from pieces of wood hanging at the entrance to the village. A circle containing the shape of a four-pointed star. The symbol of Caesar, his words and the ideology he embodied. It was the kind of memory one shouldn't forget.

“Why… symbol?”

A sudden jolt.

Your finger pressed the button, completely out of focus on the image you'd just tried to center, and the click was followed by the distinctive sound of a photo printing. Your eyes turned for a second to the owner of the baritone voice as an amused sigh escaped your lips when you saw the blurred picture emerge from the polaroid.

“Because it's important.” You answered casually, a small smile on your face.

Caesar puffed through his nostrils, lips pursed in a brief upward movement as he tried to grasp the interest you had behind every picture you took. He'd seen it all before, thanks to Will. He knew humans liked that sort of thing even if it made no sense to him.

“It's important to remember.”

You went on, again looking into the lens to adjust the image of the symbol. This time, the photo came out clearly and the four-pointed star stood proudly in the center, the angle of the picture making it even more imposing than it was.

Caesar remained silent, his face eternally scowling, but you had a well-trained eye, you spotted a certain curiosity well hidden in the corner of his solemn gaze and you handed him the picture with a big smile.

“Long from now, the apes will be able to remember, thanks to this photo.” You carried on, lowering the camera to observe with your own eyes the life of the apes displayed in front of you.

Caesar listened carefully, and the ridge of his eyes hardened, puzzled by your words.

“Why… keep… the past?”

A very human notion, certainly. What's the point of remembering what yesterday was when today brings everything you need? And you seemed to be asking yourself the same question. Caesar didn't often see you with your eyebrows furrowed, your facial features slightly tense as your eyes sought a suitable answer to give him. Your hand went to the back of your neck to try and soothe the tension in your muscles, and he knew from this simple gesture that you were going to need time to build up a thought that you probably hadn't even considered yet.

You kept this attitude only in those moments when a simple question made you question again everything you were sure of, and Caesar took a certain pride in it. An ape making a human doubt. There was something exhilarating behind this feat. Even if you'd never seemed narrow-minded in your ideas, it was pleasant to see you reflect on a notion that seemed so obvious to you.

Humans were always like that. Sure of themselves and their beliefs. Confident that their values were the best, without questioning for a second their credibility or the nuances that might exist.

Why remember the past? What was the point of knowing about the advent of human societies? The horrors and destructive wars? The great names of men and women who have left their mark on history in one way or another? The great dates, whether of atrocity or freedom?

And beyond human history, and in the more mundane events of everyday life, what was the point of remembering our childhood home? Or that old aunt telling of her travels to the other side of the world? Or that birthday when nobody came?

Your fingers traveled to your wristband, tracing the outlines of the polished bone pieces under Caesar's gaze. If not for this wristband, or this lame hip, what would drive you to remember why Caesar and his kind had taken you under their wings? There was nothing else. Your body had forgotten the torture and pain. There was nothing tangible to prove the existence of abuse apart from that wristband and that hip. The brain was quick enough to forget what was of no use to it or what was too painful to remain in living memory. And if the brain forgot, if there was nothing to remind it to remember, how could one prove the existence of what had been?

And… why should one prove it?

“Because it existed… and… if we forget, how could we do any better?”

Caesar snorted, and you watched his eyes widen dubiously. Had humans done better? He wasn't very knowledgeable about humanity's past, and on second thought, maybe he wasn't interested enough: whatever had been, good or bad today, that's what was important.

“Humans… have they done better?”

Caesar was skeptical, and had every reason to be. On second glance, perhaps humans were doing worse today. The lesson was never learned, and the human was diving headfirst back into his bad habits, making sure to choke on them. This made you smile. His skepticism was right in spite of you, and you even suspected that he knew more about the human species than you did.

“No,” you answered with a giggle. “But apes might.”

There was a glimmer of hope in your eyes. The human cause was lost, and had been for a long time. Even before the virus had spread, humanity had already begun to dig its own grave. Beyond the wars and hatred, the Earth itself was rotting from the inside out under the impact of the human hand. It had only ever been a matter of time before humanity came to the end of its reign.

You weren't even sorry to see your species die out. You were only sorry that it was taking everything else with it.

There was a form of supplication in your eyes. Let the apes do better. Better than wars, better than hatred, better than the destruction of nature, better than the aggressive ambition of some men, better than… the human species in all its consequences.

Caesar raised his head proudly. He was sure of one thing: apes were, in all their consequences, better than humans.

“Apes… don't need… to remember… to do better.”

His gruff voice was adamant, and despite his assurance, a twinge of anxiety settled in the pit of your stomach. How could one do better if no one remembered what had been? You looked up at him, and couldn't help admiring the self-assured features Caesar wore on his face. Broad-shouldered and imposing, his chest puffed out in defiance of anyone who wished to argue with him, what would become of simian society if he were no longer present in the minds of the apes?

You saw it every day. All you had to do was say his name and the apes would bend their backs without batting an eyelid. But none were afraid of him. Caesar had earned the respect of his people because they knew how, thanks to him, they had won their freedom. They respected him and his words, because they remembered.

“In 300 years, don't you want to become the legend of Grumpy Caesar?”

Your gently teasing laugh was greeted by a grumble, probably offended by the nickname you kept harping into his ears, but for the benevolent smile that followed every time, Caesar could never take it the wrong way. It was you, and he'd learned that your words of affection sometimes resembled those teasing words. Those words always followed by a slight, playful shove of the back of your hand against his biceps as your lips stretched happily. He'd also noticed that this was the only time you dared to touch him. And that made him smile.

To become a legend, there was no such thing in the minds of the apes. When his body had breathed the last breath of oxygen that life would grant him, and the sun had decided to stop shining on him, the apes would find another sturdy branch on which to stand. This was how it was meant to be, and his name would become nothing more than the caress of the wind, forgotten once it had gone by.

“Too faraway, apes will forget.”

Caesar preferred to sign these words. Sign language always seemed to have a deeper meaning. When audible words didn't speak loud enough to resonate emotions swallowed up far beneath the ribcage, signs spoke with more truth. A truth that seemed very heavy to you.

The apes will forget. Perhaps that was the truest and saddest thing of all. His name will crumble in the memory of the apes like wood devoured by growing flames. And once the wood has shattered, it will simply lie in a pile of ashes, waiting for the breeze to carry it away and scatter it as it pleases until there's nothing left.

It was his truth. At least, if there was nothing to remind them of him. Your eyes fell on the camera hanging around your neck before settling back on Caesar. He was looking at his people the way he looked at his sons, and if that's all it took to save his name, whether he understood it or not, you'd immortalize the little stones that were building his empire as many times as he'd let you.

〰️〰️〰️〰️〰️〰️〰️〰️〰️〰️〰️〰️〰️〰️〰️〰️〰️〰️〰️〰️〰️

An empire shaped like a ship to endure the years, and when it was the captain's turn to walk the plank to fulfill the ocean's call, the rudder had slipped into your hands. And you accepted it. You knew that sailing against wind and tide would be an arduous task. You knew it. And it seemed to you that you had fought well. Sails wide open to catch as much wind as possible and the remaining crew paddling hard against the pull of fallen anchors. The endeavor had been going on for a long time.

For so long.

For too long.

Every crew member was an anchor desperately dragged along by the ship you were trying to keep afloat until the mainsail gave way. The increasing weight and the fading wind had worn away the fabric until only the tatters floated scattered in the wind. And the boat that had sailed at full speed for so long found itself slowing down… more and more, until the natural swell of the blue vastness became its only driving force.

No matter whether you wanted to go to port or starboard, the ocean pushed the boat in the direction it thought best without ever consulting you, sometimes leading it into storms where the sea grew high above the masts. You often watched helplessly as the huge waves crashed over the deck, washing away the rubble that an earlier storm had caused, and soon, shipwreck would be bound to occur.

How long had you been at the helm before you let go? A rudder that had let you down long before you gave up. And how long had you just watched that rudder go from left to right at the mercy of the ocean without doing anything about it?

You weren’t sure how to act upon it. As natural as it had been in the past, navigating Caesar’s memory again across this ocean had become a mystery.

If time hadn’t run its best sprint, perhaps there would have been a time when explaining would have been easy.

But today…

Today, the sand bank on the horizon might just become a mere illusion.

Your glassy gaze fell on Raka as he watched your fingers run over the frame and brush against Caesar's image. Such a simple question demanded an equally simple answer. But was it really? Telling them that you'd known him would most certainly trigger a cataclysm that would turn your dilapidated ship upside down, and you were already lacking strength at the mere thought of having to put it back afloat. Swimming to the end of an endless journey was not in your plans, even if the countdown to impact was already ticking away in front of your eyes.

Raka's green eyes eventually found yours, and a series of soft hootings encouraged you to speak as you could only swallow as you spoke anxiously.

“ What about you… how do you know them?”

You watched his gaze slide from your eyes to Noa's, who was listening to your conversation with great interest. His curious stare dropped like a domino to the gauntlet on his left hand, and with a precise gesture, Noa pulled out a pendant crafted from what looked like white wood.

A pendant in the shape of…

“The order of Caesar, naturally!” Raka exclaimed as if it was an obvious fact.

A four-pointed star.

◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆

Tags list:

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[askchilchuck]

Hey, how can I help you?

(Please read below before interacting)

Hi! My name is Sophie! This blog has gotten enough traction that I feel the need to lay some ground rules for it.

1) This blog is intended to be PG13 so I don’t have to exclude younger fans from participating. I will not be answering anything that wouldn’t fly in canon, or is adjacent to it. Anything explicitly sexual, or can be construed that way will not be answered. This decision was made a couple months in, so do be advised there is some more suggestive content on the earlier posts on this blog. If you don't want to see that kind of content, stick to the newer posts.

2) Nothing related to suicide please. I tried playing it off the first time but between myself and some people around me, even the “KYS 🥰🥰🥰” jokes really aren’t funny, especially recently. Asks including it will not be answered.

3) No firearms. Related to rule 2.

4) Please no spammy asks. I’m honestly not sure how to answer them, and they clog up both the blog itself and the main tags.

5) No political asks. I understand how terrifying the results of the US election are, but I really need this place to be a break from all that. For my sake and yours. We both need spaces where we can recharge from this. Chilchuck doesn’t know what’s going on anyway, he deserves to live in ignorance from it. I love you.

Don’t get me wrong, it’s fun to bully him, but these things cross a line for me. Thank you for understanding.

If you’re an RP blog, you’re more than welcome to interact! Even if you’re not a Dunmeshi blog! I don’t always have the time to do reblog chains, though, so please don’t feel bad if I miss you there. It’s easiest for me if you submit RP as an ask when the box is open. Sorry for any inconvenience this may cause. If you’re 18+ and interested, I also do private RP on my Discord, linked on my Dunmeshi side blog.

IN LIGHT OF DUPLICATE CHARACTERS:

I think that’s awesome and also really funny. I encourage it. We’ve already got a loose MCU/multiverse plot line going on so we can totally make it work, too. Hell yeah. Hilarious. Love that. /gen

Blog lore:

This blog takes place loosely post canon. I try to avoid spoilers, but little things here and there are inevitable. Chilchuck has made up with his wife and they’re currently working on their relationship. Chilchuck is also in therapy. This is for a few reasons.

1) I don’t think he’d actually answer any of these if he wasn’t.

2) He doesn’t talk about it a lot, but it was one of his wife’s conditions before giving the relationship another go.

3) He just. Should be in general and I have control of it so it’s happening lol

My Chil is bi, but in the middle-aged “everyone’s had gay thoughts before” kinda way, cause I think it’s funnier that way. He also gets high from time-to-time now that he’s not dungeneering anymore.

Folks kept turning him into different things/animals, so goldstar/⭐️ anon gave him an amulet to put a stop to that. "Marcus" also altered the spell on the amulet to encompass all transformations, since inanimate objects weren't initially included.

Squeaker also used a device to prevent any crab transformations specifically from occurring, as well as ejecting all crabs within a 20 mile radius.

There’s also a cult stalking him for some reason. (This is an ongoing problem. They haven't hurt anyone, and they seem to only be targeting Chilchuck.)

The TVA (Marvel) is loosely involved as well as previously mentioned. Squeak fixed it (or so she thought. There's now a DMCU situation going on.)

Also, Chil’s knowledge of the blog/Tumblr varies depending on what would be funnier, but generally he’s aware of the internet. He only uses his phone to answer your asks, though. He has no idea how to do anything else and has no desire to. This means he doesn’t fact check people or knows anything about the greater internet experience. No one knows how he got the phone, or how it’s holding a charge. Don’t worry about it.

ADDENDUM:

Chilchuck has recently started googling slang, and anything else that might be confusing or annoying to him. However, he hates the search feature and trying to find answers on individual websites, and will take the AI generated answers without question.

I myself don’t talk in the main posts, unless it’s tagged #ooc. Otherwise, I’ll always talk in the tags if I’ve got something to say. Or replies. Or DMs. Main post is the only place I’m in character unless specified otherwise.

Emoji anons:

•⭐️/goldstar anon

•🦉/owl anon

•👻/ghost anon

•♡/heart anon

•🐭/mouse anon

•🍬/candy anon

•🥣/bowl (cereal?) anon

•🐻🏀/bear basket ball anon

•🃏/joker anon

•🟣/Gojo Satoru

•🪻

•🐦‍⬛

No other heart variants have been claimed. Also, heads up to all emoji anons, I’m going to start using just one tag for your asks going forward to make tagging easier! So I’ll just be using the emoji variant from here 💖

If you want to hang out with me in a less censored environment, I also run @chilfucked and @askchilchucknsfw which are 18+ only. I will ban all minors who so much as breathe on those blogs. I’m not joking.

I also reserve the right to update these rules as time goes on, so please check them again before submitting when the ask box is open again. Thank you!

[emisprocrastinatingbywriting]

To Break Free

Summary:

After a lifetime in the big city and a brutal break up, you decided it was time for a change. Austin was everything you expected it to be; quiet, warm, and totally different from the fast paced environment you were used to, but what you hadn’t expected was the particularly handsome stranger that lived across the street to catch you in a compromising position. Although you had hoped to put the experience behind you, the spark between the two of you was hard to ignore, especially when his two teenage daughters quickly became regular guests in your home. After years of heartache, will you be able to keep a kind and devoted man like Joel Miller at arm’s length?

Warnings: NoOutbreak!Joel Miller, Sarah and Ellie as siblings, Neighbour!Joel, The Miller Girls Being wingmen, Reader is just getting over a break up, Mentions of Reader's Shitty Ex, Soft!Joel, Protective!Joel, Eventual Smut, Eventual Fluff, Angst, Eventual Romance.

A/N:

Hey y'all, my name is Em and if you haven't read anything I have posted before, welcome! <3

This fic includes NoOutbreak!Joel as a single dad to two teenage girls, living in Austin when reader moves across the street. This is going to be a fluffy fic, not necessarily a slow burn but it will have all the angst you need to yearn for the handsome Texan. Reader is in her early 30s, while Joel is in his mid 30s. She is just getting out of a marriage that was undoubtedly emotionally abusive, so there will be brief mentions of that throughout the story. I will be sure to leave a note at the beginning of the chapter in case any of you wish to avoid it. Anyways, I love writing for fun and I hope you enjoy the result of that haha. Enjoy! :)

Chapter 1/10 - More to Come!

Chapter 1: Don't Be Ridiculous

Sweat poured down your face, stinging your eyes as box after box got loaded into the bare bones of what would be your new life. This was not how you expected your thirtieth birthday to go, trying to ignore the resentment that clogged the valves of your heart as you tried not to collapse under the Texas heat. It only made you hate the man you had once called your husband all the more. Every twinge in your back from a particularly hefty box, or momentary pause to catch your breath, all brought you back to him. 

Two months ago, after an entire year of couples counseling sessions where you were forced to put on a brave face while he practically dozed off, after a year of scheduled date nights where he dragged you around the city like a some sort of prized hog, you had found him in bed with one of his research assistants. You gagged thinking about it, shaking your head as you slammed yet another unreasonably heavy box down on the living room floor. The hot shot professor banging his pretty research assistant was so cliche and yet, you had fallen for every lame excuse he had given for six years. That is, until the truth of your unholy union had smacked you dead in the face. It made you want to scream, especially since you had been that same research assistant once upon a time but stupidly, you had assumed that what the two of you had was different. 

Which led you to the place you were, in the first reasonably affordable home you could find on such short notice, lugging all of your worldly possessions in by yourself because the person you had given up everything for had turned out to be a stranger. Betrayal had been coiled around you for two months after the grand reveal, imprisoning you in the carcass of a marriage way past its expiration date. For two months you had stayed silent, shocked into a void by the audacity of your ex as he begged you to stay, but it had all come to head after you found the messages that proved he was still seeing the other woman. 

To call her a woman was generous. She was barely an adult really, twenty years old and filled with so much hope, just like you had been when you met him in an intro course during your first year of undergrad. It broke your heart to see the same lines being used on yet another fresh face and finally, a lightbulb had gone off in your head. A week after finding the messages, while he was at work, you vanished without a trace. Austin held the only home you could actually afford without his help, so Austin would be your new start. 

“Fuck me,” you groaned, dropping the final box in the entryway in lieu of dragging it all the way to the kitchen. 

With heavy limbs, you wandered over to the couch that you had almost dislocated a shoulder trying to shove in through the front door and plopped down on it with a grunt. There was still the bed and a couple other big things left in the moving truck but you couldn’t find it in yourself to care. After a morning filled with nothing but emotionally draining goodbyes to the city you once loved and the beautiful apartment that had served you since grad school, followed shortly by the workout of a lifetime, you were wiped. Plus, there was much else left to do, like setting up the AC and grabbing one of the beers you had shoved in the fridge upon arrival. You could practically taste the ice cold Coors Banquets and feel the frigid air sputtering out of the air conditioner that you hadn’t used since undergrad, but you remained glued to the couch.  

The weight of the day came down hard, pressing you into the soft cushions until you were sure that your body would become fused to them. It was like you were trapped, shackled to the seat with nowhere to go but further down. No matter how hard you tried, your limbs refused to cooperate and so you sat, admiring the first space you could truly call your own. As the sun filtered in through the big bay windows, illuminating the tiny home in a warm glow, you supposed there were worse places to be trapped. All in all, the house itself wasn’t all that bad. Sure, it had some years on it, but with a few fresh coats of paint and some much needed updates to the appliances, you were sure that it would do just fine. 

The big windows along the front of the house called to you through the ugly wallpaper and carpeted staircase when you saw it online, along with the hardwood floors that only needed one good scrub before they gleamed once more. The apron front sink in the kitchen, the clawfoot tub in the bathroom attached to the master suite, the built-in shelves in the living room where you could imagine organizing all of your many books, they all spoke of a life worth living, a life where he wasn’t around to ruin it. You could make this work, you had to. If anything, just to prove him and everyone else in your former life wrong. 

“Uh - Hiya,” came from the front door, snapping you out of the pit of loathing you were so prone to these days. 

The voice was light and sweet, the sound of it caressing your ear drums as you turned to examine its owner. The girl it came from was young, probably somewhere in her early teens if you had to guess, with beautiful bouncing curls and big eyes that reminded you of a puppy dog. She smiled brightly as you muscled through the pain to stand, taking that as her cue to dart into the house. 

“Um, hey there,” you chuckled awkwardly, unused to being in the presence of teenagers outside of working hours. 

“You must be new! Well, I mean obviously, you’re not Mrs. Thompson. She was like a hundred years old or something,” the stranger chirped, her curls lightly bouncing as she spoke. 

“Yeah uh, I think she went to live with her son in Boston. She gave me a good price, so everyone wins I guess,” you said, wincing at how boring you probably sounded to the young girl. 

“That’s great!,” she smiled, the sincerity nearly knocking you off balance, “Anyways, Ellie said she watched you move in today all by yourself. Ugh, don’t worry, I already gave her hell for not helping, she’s always hanging out with her girlfriend. But I felt bad, so I made you these.” 

A tin container was thrust into your face, the faded faces of Sesame Street characters on the side of it making you cock an eyebrow at her. With a hesitant smile, you took the box. Peeling the lid back, the pile of chocolate chip cookies that greeted you made your throat grow tight. Not one happy birthday had been sent your way, much less any sort of treat. Looking down at them, your stomach rumbled, a ferocious sound that made you bypass all social niceties and cram one of the chocolatey treats into your mouth before the organ caved in on itself.

“Jesus Christ, that’s fucking good,” you moaned, closing your eyes to fully savour the taste.

It was only when you opened them that you were reminded of the child that stood in front of you.  

“Oh don’t worry about it” she giggled, waving off the panic that undoubtedly spread across your face, “Dad is in construction. I’ve heard him and Uncle Tommy say way worse than that.” 

“I bet,” you laughed, shaking your head as you put the container down. 

“I’m Sarah by the way, I live over there,” Sarah said, pointing towards the home across the street that seemed to radiate the same warmth that she did. 

There were two kinds of people that owned a home like that; the kind that paid someone to meticulously craft it and got mad at anyone in the neighbourhood who seemed bad for their brand, or the kind that simply enjoyed the art of architecture and wanted their home to reflect it. With how much TLC your well loved bungalow was in need of, along with the measly salary you were about to be making at the local library, you hoped like hell that Sarah’s parents were the latter. The last thing you needed was a member of the PTA banging down your door because the bushes weren’t trimmed to perfection. 

“It’s nice, your parents have really good taste,” you said, admiring the stone pathway. 

“Oh no, that’s actually all dad. He owns a contracting business. Pretty boring stuff really, but it means me and Ellie get to order take out whenever he has to stay late at the jobsite,” she said mischievously, making you grin in return. 

Sarah had a way about her, a magnitude that came from being the purest form of extrovert. It made you wonder about the rest of her family. With most of the hyenas that you had once called your friends miles away, you hoped her parents were as friendly as their chatty daughter. The thought of having another grown up to talk to, one that didn’t expect anything from you other than a glass of wine and laughter, was incredibly attractive. Maybe her mom had a group of girlfriends she could introduce you to, perhaps even a book club that had room for one more. You sighed, a girl could dream. 

“So, what about you newbie? What’s your story?,” she asked. 

Loosened up by the sweet treat, you found yourself telling Sarah your name, some censored details of your past life, your future gig at the library, and even the fact that it was your birthday. In return, you listened as the teen chirped excitedly about her favourite books and even agreed to help her find a few things in the stacks once you got your bearings. The conversation was nice, uncomplicated and cheerful, making you completely forget about the disaster that surrounded you. 

For weeks, all of the people in your life had hung you out to dry. The men who were likely cheating on their own beautiful brides scoffed at what they thought to be a theatrical reaction to your ex’s betrayal, while their polished wives asked through thinly veiled humor if you actually thought you could do any better than him. And the worst part was that you had started to believe them, entertaining the idea that maybe they were right, maybe all you were meant to be was a pretty face for him to drag to stuffy parties or university sponsored fundraisers. After all, you were nothing but a stray that he had picked up along the way. And him? Well, he had always held all of the power. But in that moment, in your own home with a bubbly teen chattering about the joys of YA novels, you finally felt like you could breathe again.  

“I don’t want to talk your ear off when you clearly have some stuff to unpack, but maybe later tonight you could come over for supper? My dad always makes way too much and Ellie is probably out with Riley, so…,” Sarah trailed off, looking up at you with her best puppy dog eyes. 

“Ah well, as much as I’d like to, I really need to hose this stench off and I’ve still got a couple heavier things in the back of the truck that need to come in before it gets dark. How about next time?,” you tried. 

Sarah smiled at that, nodding excitedly despite the rejection. Although you were curious about her proposal, there was no universe where you would accept a dinner invitation from a random child. No matter how cool her parents might be, you were pretty sure it would be weird for their teenager to come home with a random woman in tow. What would you even say to her father? Her mother? You could practically see them in all of their middle-class American glory, the father pot bellied and wary of any woman who was educated, and the docile wife that had settled for him once those dreaded blue lines had shown up. There was no way you were going to sit through a dinner with the embodiment of your living nightmare for anyone, much less a teenager you barely knew. Although, her enthusiasm did make you hesitate. 

“Of course! Go! Take your shower and let me worry about the rest,” Sarah exclaimed, practically bouncing out the door with a cheeky grin. 

“What? Wait! What do you mean you’ll ‘worry about the rest’?!,” you called after her, but she was already out the door. 

Weird, you thought, shrugging it off as you turned back towards the disaster spread across your home. It would take hours to unpack it all and with the bigger things still loaded into the truck, you decided that there was no use in worrying about making the place look homey quite yet. What needed to be addressed immediately was the acrid stench wafting from your pores. It was as if the last few years of your life were literally oozing out into the tiny space, the move itself cleansing you of the toxins that had been building up for far too long. 

Sighing, you dragged yourself up the stairs and into the ensuite, thanking the heavens that you had thought to label the boxes so that you didn’t have to pilfer through the mess for a towel. After finding the expensive shampoo and conditioner that you had swiped during the escape, you turned the valve as cold as it would go and stepped in. The frigid stream rained down on you, banishing every thought from your mind as all of your muscles tensed in displeasure. Goosebumps erupted all over, your nipples hardening up so fast that you were sure they could cut through glass, but you powered through it. The cold water was as invigorating as it was uncomfortable and you wanted to revel in it for as long as possible. 

However, just as you had finished going through all of your hair care and scrubbing down your body for a third time, you heard it. The sound was small, so small that you might’ve ignored it if you were in your previous home, but this was different. No longer were you in a high rise filled with other tenants that shared the same building. And no longer were you subjected to a husband that ungraciously crashed in and out of the home at all hours. You were all alone, in a home that had no other owner. A home where any vaguely masculine sound could not go unchecked, especially when you were naked and it was coming from inside of your bedroom. 

“Shit,” you cussed, quickly shutting off the stream of water that pounded against your backside. 

With shaky hands, you slid the door to the shower open, stepping out onto the tiles carefully so as not to make any noise. Had you locked the front door before coming upstairs? You couldn’t remember, but it hardly seemed important at that moment. Not when there was an unknown assailant in your bedroom, doing god knows what as he grunted from exertion. With most of your pointy things downstairs and the clothes you were wearing somewhere in the bedroom with him, there weren’t many options. Either you stayed in the bathroom and prayed he didn’t bust the door down, or you covered up as much as possible and ran for it. 

With no other option, you gulped and wrapped a towel around yourself as tight as it would go. You couldn’t remember the last time you ran anywhere. It must have been the rugby tryouts a college roommate dragged you to during your first year. Shivering, you tried not to think about how you had gotten your ass kicked that day. Athletic was not a word you would use to describe yourself, you had always been the girl who had lunch with the English teacher because she didn’t have any friends, but this was life or death. Taking a deep breath, you eased the door open and slipped out, eyes trained on the sweaty back of a stranger. You were just about to start running when the man grunted, lifting himself from the floor with a huff. Frozen, you watched in horror as he turned around, his big brown eyes falling on you instantly. 

“AH!,” he exclaimed, his booming voice catching you off guard and making you drop the towel that was already doing a horrible job at containing your curves. 

A beat passed, one where you wanted nothing more than to sink into the floor and cease to exist. Whoever the home invader was, he was handsome. Handsome and staring quite plainly at your exposed breasts like he was trying to burn them into his memory. Your face burned, cunt clenching from his quiet reverie. If you were a stronger woman, or at least a woman who had been given regular orgasms from her partner, perhaps then you would have tried to escape him, but you weren’t. With your heart slamming against your ribcage, you stood there in complete silence, trapped by those dark eyes that took in every inch of your damp skin. 

“Please,” you whispered, unsure whether it was his mercy or ruthlessness you were asking for. 

Either way, the stranger seemed to know what you needed. Before you had a chance to even think about elaborating, he had already stepped into your space. For a moment the most twisted fantasies, along with the most terrifying thoughts, bubbled up from deep inside of you. His scent engulfed you, a delicious mixture of sawdust and the spiciness of his cologne, and it made you rub your thighs together to ease some of the pressure gathering there.  

“M’sorry sweetheart,” he mumbled, the gentleness catching you off guard entirely.  

It was soft, the low cadence of his syrupy drawl similar to that of a lover whispering sweet nothings after a particularly passionate night. All at once, you felt that electrified pull beneath your navel, an animalistic draw that you could tell he felt as well, and suddenly it didn’t matter that he was a stranger. Who were you to look a gift horse in the mouth? Especially one with such kissable lips. He stepped even closer and your heart stuttered, the proximity forcing your gaze up towards his face to gauge his intentions. 

However, just as you thought that the gorgeous stranger might swoop down and take you, he averted his eyes, stooping down on creaky knees to grab the towel off the floor for you. All you could do was stare at him, watching as a bit of red crept up the side of his neck and brightened the highs of his beautiful cheekbones as he held it out. It truly was a shame that your burglar didn���t want to fuck you, especially since you were more than happy to let him take whatever he wanted once he made you cum, but reality wasn’t like the smutty novels you had lived off of. Trying to keep a petulant whine from spilling from your lips, you snatched the towel from his grasp and wrapped it around yourself once more. 

“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to give ya a fright by hollerin’ like that. My ears are mostly for show these days darling. Fifteen years of construction will do that I suppose,” he awkwardly joked, sheepishly rubbing at the back of his neck. 

“Um, okay? Who the hell are you? Why are you in my house?,” you asked, sounding more confused than angry.

He straightened up at once, brow furrowed as he tried to make sense of what you had just said. 

“What?”

“What do you mean what?! I don’t know about you sir, but I don’t just walk into other people’s homes uninvited while they are in the goddamn shower,” you sassed, rolling your eyes at the way he was suddenly so keen to stare at the walls instead of you. 

“You’ve gotta be fucking kidding me,” he said under his breath, shaking his head. 

“Excuse me?,” you snapped, the illusion of a steamy fantasy shattered.  

He held up his hand, which made you want to rip the limb clean off his body but with no other option, you let him finish. 

“My daughter sent me over here to help ya move the last little bit of your stuff in,” he sighed, his hands scrubbing at his face, “She said you knew I was coming and that I could just go in. Fuck, I know that sounds stupid but the kid is kinda the master at convincing people to do stuff for her.”

“You must be Sarah’s dad,” you laughed, suddenly noticing a couple of the features they shared. 

He nodded, flushing even more as he chuckled alongside you. Looking at the man’s side profile, you couldn’t help but feel a bit bummed. When you thought of construction guys, men like Sarah’s dad didn’t exactly come to mind. But this man was something else, a unicorn hidden in a field of goblins that drank too much and had terrible political views. With a nose that you’d love to smush your clit against as you took his face for a ride and thick thighs that you knew would be more than capable of administering mind breaking thrusts, you were sure that proof of your arousal was about to start dripping down your thighs. It was unfair for a man like him to be so attractive, yet so off limits to you in a time of need. But before you could dwell on it too much, he started talking again.

“Listen, I uh… I’ve got that death trap that you call an AC set up downstairs, the kids are lugging in some of the other stuff right now, but I just thought that with a fancy ass bed frame like this, you might need a hand. I really didn’t mean to uh…,” he trailed off. 

So this was what Sarah had meant when she said she’d take care of things. You sighed. She had been trying to help you, that much was clear as your eyes landed on the dresser and vanity that had been dragged upstairs as well, but all the teen had truly accomplished was embarrassing you in front of her absolute smoke show of a dad. Even now, with his eyes elsewhere and his jaw set, you could tell that just one glance from him was going to have you weak in the knees. 

“I mean, she mentioned leaving it up to her. Never said how she planned to help though,” you chuckled, “You can turn around now too by the way, I’m decent.” 

And just as you thought, the second that he turned around you had to lock your knees so that you didn’t keel over. Fuck, you hated that you were right. Sarah’s dad was broad, the type of broad you knew came from a lifetime of working with his hands. His hair was a mess of mussed curls, with just a couple slivers of grey peeking out to show his age amongst the usual brown. But his eyes, god damnit his eyes, shot straight through you. 

The way he loomed over you, his gaze seeming to predict every mood, every whim, every desire without ever proding, made you want to jump him. And weirdly enough, you knew he felt the same, could practically taste the chemical reaction that he was having alongside you. His pupils were fully dilated, nostrils flaring like he was savouring the warm smell of vanilla that wafted off of you. He licked his lips as he stared down at your own and you wondered how he would taste if he gave himself permission to lean in. 

There was a part of you that wanted to shrink away from it, from the unwavering glance of someone whose vibrations seemed so aligned with your own, but you didn’t. It was strange. For years, despite the fact that you were literally married, nobody had looked at you like Sarah’s dad was in that moment. To be vulnerable, to be known,  was a burden by all reports and running from the past had become something of a sport to you as of late. Nevertheless, for some reason, even though you were half naked and incredibly flustered, you had never felt more rooted in place. 

“I’m Joel by the way,” he drawled as he shoved one of his big bear paws out towards you, “Joel Miller. I live across the street, but I’m sure my knucklehead kid already told ya that.” 

The way Joel’s hand swallowed yours when you took it, his thick fingers warming your freezing skin as you barely managed to stutter out your name, was not lost on either of you. Something hummed underneath your skin, making you want to reach out and yank his face towards yours. An electric current lit up every single nerve ending in your body, while warning bells went off in your head. 

For the sake of human decency, you tried to be reasonable. A man this hunky definitely had a wife, a girlfriend, or several more casual flings, and you were not in any position to be looking for anything. But that didn’t stop the uncensored filth that flashed through your mind. All you could think about was tearing his shirt off, licking the bead of sweat that dripped down his neck, and grinding against what you knew would be a devastatingly huge bulge. You bit your lip, shifting a bit uncomfortably as you felt your clit pulse with desire. 

Joel flicked his gaze down towards your bare thighs, a ghost of a smile twitching at the corners of his mouth. He knew. You wanted to run from him, to bury your head in the sand until the hot flash of embarrassment fizzled out, but you didn’t. Instead you stayed put, letting his scent dizzy you as he shifted imperceptibly closer. One more step and your nose would be brushing Joel’s chest, one more step and you knew that you would be climbing him like a tree. The situation itself was insane, but you couldn’t help but imagine what his rough palms were going to feel like against your hips as he speared you down on his thick c-

“Well, I’m real sorry about the miscommunication darling. I truly thought that she told you. Christ, I can’t even imagine how scared I must’ve made ya. The last thing you needed was a dumbass like me welcoming you to the neighborhood with a heart attack,” Joel joked, gracefully extracting his hand from your grasp. 

You didn’t even realize you were still holding it. His awkward smile brought you back down to earth, halting any internal debates about whether the strength he so clearly used at his job would translate in the bedroom. Instead, you waved him off and turned towards one of the boxes, grabbing whatever clothes you could find to cover yourself. 

“Don’t worry about it Joel, just maybe call first next time… Or at least knock, I’d like to know in advance if I’m gonna give someone a show,” you shot back, the humor in your tone catching him off guard. 

“Shit, alright then darling. Will do,” Joel chuckled, running a hand through his hair as he grew even redder than before. 

The two of you laughed for a second, completely locked in one another as the unbearable tension melted. It was incredibly comforting and extremely odd all at once. Despite the fact that you were exhausted, your mascara undoubtedly smeared beneath your eyes due to the elusiveness of your makeup wipes, you didn’t feel any particular urge to get dressed. 

Anyone with eyes could see that Joel Miller was a certified DILF, but the comfort you felt had nothing to do with his attractiveness. It was his presence, a steady flow of calm that radiated off of him and soothed the usual restlessness that drove you to the point of madness everyday. That and the way he looked at you, his eyes no longer widened from the sneak peek he had received, falling upon you as if you were someone he had known for years. It made you want to stay right there, drilling him about his life in nothing but a towel as he put together your bed, almost like it was the most normal thing in the world. 

“Hey, where do you think she would want this - Oh fuck, what the hell?,” a voice said from behind you, forcing the two of you to finally break eye contact. 

Another girl, this one interestingly also around the same age as Sarah, stood in the doorway with her hands on her hips. Based on the way she cocked an eyebrow at the man behind her, looking like she was about to make his life a living hell with all of the jokes she had conjured in that instant, you had no doubt that this was his other daughter. Ellie looked different than Sarah, with lighter skin and wavy hair, but their expressions were pretty much the same. With how close in age the two teens were, it seemed as though the devilishly handsome man in front of you had been blessed with a ridiculously busy year around fifteen years ago. You wondered which one of their moms Joel had raised his daughters with and sighed. Both of them were beautiful, which left no doubt in your mind that their moms were models of some sort. 

“Oh, I see how it is,” Ellie started, already drawing an exasperated sigh from her father, “Go help Sarah with the rest so that I can get this shit put together Ellie. Puh-lease! If you wanted some alone time with the hot new neighbour lady then you could’ve just asked us. That would have been a lot less weird than this.” 

“Damnit Ellie, that’s not -” Joel stopped, rubbing his eyes as he grew more flustered, “I was just putting her bed together and she came out of the shower, that’s all. Cut it out, would ya?” 

Ellie rolled her eyes, forcing you to bite back a laugh as her father floundered behind you. 

“Sure yeah, just putting her bed together so that you can get her pregnant on it,” she mumbled as she backed out of the room. 

“Hey! Watch your mouth kid,” he called after her, getting nothing but a cackle from down the hallway in response. 

Joel looked upwards, as if he was asking for assistance from a higher power before his gaze came back down to meet yours. Embarrassed didn’t even begin to cover how the man looked at that moment. Something akin to a fondness blossomed in your chest and you tried to shove it down but he was making it impossible. He looked cute all riled up, like a twelve year old boy rather than a man in his mid thirties. 

“Fuck’s sake, m’sorry about her too. That’s my other kid, Ellie. She thinks she’s a goddamn comedian or something, but I’m workin’ on it,” Joel groaned. 

“She IS funny Joel, you just don’t think so because the joke was at your expense,” you pointed out with a sly grin. 

“Yours too.”

“Yeah, but I’ve got a sense of humor,” you teased, giving him a cheeky wink for good measure. 

Joel laughed, throwing his head back in a way that you couldn’t help but find endearing. His Adam's apple bobbed as the boisterous sound escaped his lips and you longed to nip at it until he whined. Did Joel Miller ever whine? God, you hoped so. Or perhaps he growled, muttering twisted promises in his lover’s ears as he fucked them into the mattress. You stopped yourself as Joel’s laughter petered off, knowing beyond a shadow of a doubt that he would notice how close you were to exploding in an instant. All of it was so ridiculous, you were just two adults having a normal conversation, nothing more. 

“Well, anyways I uh-,” you cleared your throat, “I should get dressed. You don’t have to finish all of this Joel, but I really appreciate the help. I’m sure you have stuff to be getting back to at home and I don’t want to be a pain. I’ve got the rest of this.” 

“With all due respect sweetheart, considering the fact that I ain’t seen a single box of tools anywhere and you’re on your own, I’m pretty sure you could use all the help you can get. How about I finish up while you get dressed? If you still want to kick me out after that, then by all means,” Joel proposed. 

“Fine, but I’m a speedy dresser so chop chop,” you said, pointing a finger at him. 

He laughed and gave you a mock salute, “Yes ma’am.” 

And while it was usually true that you were a speedy dresser, the shredded muscles that weighed you down ended up working in Joel’s favor. Plus, it had taken you nearly fifteen minutes to dig out your deodorant from one of the boxes. If it had been anyone else, you would have left it for later, but there was no way you were going to smell bad in front of a man that had turned you into a horny teen again. Once you were done, you slipped back out into the bedroom, coming to a halt when you saw the progress of Joel’s work. Although you were sure that he would likely be done getting the frame together, and perhaps even setting up the headboard, nothing could have prepared you for the amount of work he had accomplished. 

The bed was fully set up. The only task that was left was to cover it in sheets. Meanwhile, your bedside tables were in place on each side, the lamp and alarm clock set up on the one closest to the window. Even the rug you typically placed at your bedside for the chillier mornings was exactly where it should be. It was as if Joel had delved into your mind to find the exact layout you desired in a home. You smiled as you looked over his work. Who would have thought that such a man, or any man for that matter, could possess such attention to detail? You smiled, deciding that you needed to thank him, but as you looked around, you realized he was gone. 

A bit peeved from Joel’s sudden absence, you moved down the hallway in search of one of the three Millers you had been acquainted with so far. The spare bedroom that you planned to make an office now held your desk and your monitor, another clue of the man you had wanted to climb like a tree just moments before, but the culprit behind the set up remained elusive. As you drifted down the stairs, you felt the cold air being pumped out of the clunky air conditioner in the living room and sighed. The kitchen table was in place, the loveseat, the armchair, even your many plants that had been strapped into the passenger seat of the truck were shoved along the wall of the big bay windows, soaking up the last bits of the Texan sun. 

The kindness that the Millers had shown to you today was not lost on you, especially with how shitty of a day it had been thus far. Today was supposed to mark your thirtieth year on this earth, a cause for celebration that you had actually been looking forward to and yet, you had commenced it with a hasty escape and ended it with a difficult move. Still, you supposed there was a good side to even the worst endings, and maybe the good side was getting to fluster a ruggedly handsome contractor in your bedroom without really having to try. Even with your unshaved legs and melted makeup, he had still looked at you like you were some sort of nymph. That had to count for something. Stepping into the kitchen in search of the beer you so desperately needed, you decided to count the experience as a win. 

So what if the hunk across the street had seen you but ass naked? The thinly veiled desire in Joel’s eyes for those few split seconds after the towel had fallen was the perfect balm to an itch that hadn’t been scratched in quite some time. For years, your ex had barely glanced in your direction, which made sense now that you knew that he had been cheating on you for the entirety of your marriage. Stupidly, you had assumed it to be your own fault that he wasn’t interested. As if his lack of desire for you and your body was somehow proof that you were not only unattractive, but a burden to him as well. 

The rejection had made you do incredibly ridiculous things like signing up for pilates and trying every bogus crash diet there was, but this absolute stranger had been interested in your curves in an instant. A stunning man that any sane woman would happily ride into the sunset had stared at you like you were a four course meal, never once frowning at any of your imperfections. There was power in that, a power you had completely forgotten until the moment that the towel fell. Fuck your ex, you thought as you uncapped a cold beer, you would be fine without him. 

-

Life in Austin had started off a bit hectic, as you found yourself distracted for days after the encounter with Joel, but it slowly started to take shape as the days turned into weeks. More of the boxes were unpacked, a fresh coat of paint eventually covered the walls of your living room and kitchen, and even the weeds in the little garden out front had been dealt with. With the few art pieces you owned hung on the walls and your plants crowding every windowsill of the house, the place was finally a solace. Even your job at the library, despite the disarray everything had been in because its former director, had become easier with time. The staff slowly learned to accommodate your managing style, along with the much needed updates in the form of a functional filing system and actual advertising for the small events that the library held. 

By the end of your first month, Austin no longer felt like a holding place for something more, it felt like home. And although you had still not made any friends outside of the two teenage girls that somehow always sweet talked their way into a night of movies and junk food in your living room, you were happy. Originally, you had hoped for girlfriends to drink wine and chat with, but if the best that Austin could offer you was hanging out with your neighbour’s chatty kids, you’d take it. The girls were good company, which was more than you could say about the previous crowd you had ran with. Plus, you had managed to greedily squeeze some information from the two about the handsome man that they lived with, the same man who had since vanished from your life without a trace. 

Joel was a single father, a fact that you tried not to dwell on too much for fear you would do something stupid like try to seduce him. After Sarah’s mom had left he had taken on full responsibility for the newborn girl, all while juggling work and a brother who apparently had been known to get into a bit of trouble from time to time. That alone was worthy of respect, but it was his guardianship over Ellie that made your heart melt. Sarah was only a couple months old when a bundled up newborn had been found at one of his worksites and without knowing anything about the nameless child, Joel and his big heart had taken her in. 

Everything you heard about this man, whether it be his care over his daughters, or his apparent love for cooking, or the fact that he never missed an event in his children’s lives despite owning his own company, was enough to light a spark in your belly. You tried to suppress it, the cave woman instincts that screamed at you to find a way to get Joel alone so that you could pounce, but it was becoming harder the more his daughters told you about him. The allure of a man like him, a true provider that seemed to put everyone above himself, was getting harder to ignore. Which meant that as hard as you tried to not to be disappointed by his sudden absence, you couldn’t help the sour look on your face every time he managed to dodge you. 

Every morning when you heard Joel’s truck start, you found yourself racing to the window, hoping to get a sneak peak at him in his work clothes. Much to your dismay, he managed to escape in the nick of time every day, and you were left kicking your feet like a goddamn teenager as you watched his tail lights disappear down the street. It was probably for the best anyways, or at least that’s what you told yourself. The last thing you needed was to be caught drooling at him in his carhartt like some sort of creep. 

Despite the obvious crush that you held for the gruff stud, you continuously reminded yourself that Joel Miller was off limits. It didn’t matter that he was single, nor that he was obviously attracted to you. After a full ten years of being committed to only one man and eight years of a heart breaking marriage, with the last six of them being downright embarrassing, you knew that getting involved with someone so soon was a bad idea. What you needed was something flirty and fun, the fling you never got the chance to have in your twenties. All you wanted was someone who would call you pretty, someone who would take you on a few nice dates and maybe even fool around with you in the back of their car. And Joel Miller… Well, Joel Miller was a man through and through. There was no way someone with so many responsibilities would be interested in something so fleeting. 

Which was why when a handsome stranger had approached you at the coffee shop in town and asked you out, you had happily accepted. Brad was handsome and tall, with a smart blazer that had made him look incredibly sharp in the more casual environment of the cafe. In hindsight, that should have been the first warning sign, but you had ignored it in hopes that you might get a nice dinner out of him at the very least. How ridiculous you had been, hoping for a nice dinner from a man that was almost a carbon copy of your ex. 

From the moment you saw Brad in his flashy convertible, you knew the date was a mistake, but you had stupidly pushed it aside. But as you listened to him drone on about the thrills of working in marketing, you felt yourself beginning to drift away. All of the work you had raced home after work to accomplish, the makeup, the dress, the heels, the Pamela Anderson updo that you had spent nearly an hour trying to perfect; it had all been for nothing. 

“... And that’s when I said, you call that content creation? Are you in communications or something?,” Brad laughed, a nasally sound that grated upon your already thin patience. 

You granted him a fake laugh, too out of it to make it sound overly convincing but he didn’t seem to notice or care. 

“Anyways, so that’s just a little bit about me,” he sighed, as if he hadn’t been talking for ages, “And you? I think I remember you saying that you’re a school teacher right? Man, those little boys must love having you around all day. I know that I would’ve loved having a hot teacher like you when I was their age.” 

A sharp burst of frustration burned through you, igniting a fire inside of your chest that clawed at the backs of your eyes. Three times you had told him what your profession was and yet it seemed that your words still hadn’t permeated through his thick skull. And the comment about the boys in the classroom he thought you ran? That made you want to punch him straight in his overly smug face. You supposed you shouldn’t have been that surprised, especially since every bathroom break Brad took was followed with the tell tale sniffling that came from railing lines when he finally returned to the table. Every fiber of your being longed to get away, tears threatening to spill over as yet another man made you feel as though you were not worthy of attention. And still, your date was oblivious to it all, a nostalgic reminder of what you had dealt with for the last ten years. 

“Alright, well I gotta go take another leak. You stay here gorgeous, I’ll be right back,” Brad announced suddenly, clapping his hands together as he unceremoniously lifted himself from the booth and scurried towards the safe zone where he could delve into the white powder in his pocket. 

He shot you a wink as he waltzed away, making you shudder as you watched him disappear into the bathroom. The second Brad was out of view, you were up out of the booth, fumbling with the hem of your dress as you made your hasty escape. Patrons turned towards you as you went by, no doubt amused by the frazzled woman that was doing a horrible job getting out unnoticed. All eyes seemed to be on you as you bumped into waiters and busboys, but it was when your heel suddenly snapped just inches from the front door that you finally broke down.  

“No,” you croaked, the pitiful sound of it muffled beneath the upbeat pop music that the chic establishment was blaring through its speakers. 

The gazes of the entire bar, along with undoubtedly most of the restaurant, burned a hole into your backside and you had no other choice than to slip the heel off so that you could hobble towards the exit. You barely managed to make it just a few steps outside before the real tears came. Heaving sobs tumbled from your lips as you hobbled towards the sidewalk, making the smokers out front scatter like rats, but you couldn’t care less. You had already made a spectacle, what were a few more judgmental looks to someone so desolate? 

Brad had offered to drive and you, swept up in the fantasy of being treated like a lady for once in your god forsaken life, had stupidly accepted. With nobody to call, and no idea how to navigate the transit system, you had no choice but to take the thirty minute journey back home on foot. 

“Stupid, stupid, stupid…,” you muttered, berating yourself for even thinking that you might have a good time. 

The idea of a perfect date was so stupid, it was just a concept fueled by cheesy romance novels and hallmark movies. Every date you had ever been on was a flop but for whatever reason, there was still some childish part of you that dreamed of one day being knocked off your feet by someone who cared enough to try. It didn’t even have to be flashy, all you wanted was to have someone to plan something that you would actually enjoy, not some sleazy date at a place way above your paygrade. Upon accepting the invitation, you knew that Brad wasn’t the kind of guy that was going to dream up something life changing, but you had hoped that he would at least pretend to care about what you had to say, even if it was just to swindle you into some mediocre hand stuff in the car on the way back. But of course, no such luck. 

Wiping some of the smudged eyeliner off of your face, you leaned down and took off the other shoe, readying yourself for the long trek home. You sighed, heart pounding as you looked down at the get up you were in. The dress was beautiful, but it was also one of the more revealing items in your wardrobe and it would be dark soon. As a car full of young men slowed down as they passed, all of them looking at you like you were a piece of meat, you resigned yourself to running down the highway if you must. However, as you hastened towards the crosswalk, a fresh wave of panic propelling you forward, you heard someone call out your name. You sighed, thinking it was Brad hot on your heels, only to be met with the sight of none other than Joel Miller running after you as you turned. 

“Christ woman, you’re fucking fast,” Joel panted as he reached you, his hand rubbing at his chest as he struggled to catch his breath. 

“Joel? What are you doing here?,” you asked, so entirely bewildered by his presence that you briefly wondered if he was a panic induced hallucination. 

“I was meeting with a potential client back at the bar, some hot shot asshole that wants to put up a new subdivision. I was just about to leave but then uh…Well, I saw you come in,” he said sheepishly, his words only baffling you even more.

“Oh,” was all you could say. 

A beat passed, one where you tried to avoid eye contact despite the fact that his gaze was burning through the side of your face. The last person you wanted to see at that moment was Joel, especially when his hair was slicked back from his face and his well built physique was practically bursting through the seams of his button up. You were a complete mess, as was your life, and the truth of it was laid bare for him on the filthy sidewalk as cars passed by. You were mortified. 

As to why Joel would stay at a place like that on account of you? You couldn’t say. It certainly didn’t seem like the type of restaurant he would be caught dead in, but you supposed that was just the type of man Joel was. Hell, he probably sensed the time bomb your date was going to be and felt obligated to make sure that the strange woman his kids seemed to like hanging out with made it home safe. The thought of it made you nauseous. 

“Here, you left this. I uh, I figured you’d need it,” Joel mumbled as he shoved your purse at you. 

The act was nothing really, something any normal person would have the decency to do if they saw someone leave behind their things in a public setting, but it shattered the last bit of resolve that you had been desperately clinging to. A strange noise came from you, the sound somewhere between a choked whine and a garbled apology, then the dam broke. The first sob was harsh, all of the pain of having yet another man disappoint you bubbling up and slapping Joel straight in the face with its volume. And yet, as you tried to grab the purse from him so that you could run from him and the terrible night, he snatched it back. 

“W-What?,” you squeaked, unable to stop the shaky cries that slurred all of your words.  

“C’mon sweet girl,” Joel sighed, pulling the broken heels from your shaky hands as well, “Let’s get you home.” 

You barely had time to think before one of his hands was pressed against the small of your back, leading you towards the parking lot like it was the most normal thing in the world. He didn’t say anything else despite your incoherent attempts at refusing his assistance, he simply continued to coral you towards his truck with his soft touch. Joel wrenched his passenger door open, throwing your heels into the back of the truck and carefully placing the purse on the center console before he held his hand out to you. 

“Joel, I don’t need - ,” you stopped, cut off by the stormy look and sharp shake of the head that he sent your way.  

With no other choice, you grabbed Joel’s hand, quietly thanking him as you used it to lift yourself into the cab. Once you were in the seat, he stared at you for a moment, like he was trying to solve some sort of puzzle in his head. His eyes flicked over every inch of you, the warmth in them almost as palpable as the concern. Your heart stuttered when Joel’s eyes finally met yours again, the poor thing stumbling through its duty under his heavy gaze. He chewed on the inside of his cheek, warring with himself for a couple more seconds before he finally asked, “Are you okay darling?”

“I’m…,” you stopped, unsure how to answer him. 

The answer to that question was complicated. Were you okay? That was something that you asked yourself almost every single day since arriving in Austin and luckily, thanks to all of the ways your life had improved since leaving you ex, your answer was closer to a yes than it had been in years. 

“Almost… I’m trying to be at least,” you said quietly, “That’s why I thought it might be good to… I don’t know, try to get out there again? It was a stupid idea. That guy was clearly not the right person to try with but I just wanted to feel special I guess.” 

Joel nodded, a look of genuine understanding slightly softening his clenched jaw. His fists unclenched at his sides, his whole being deflating with the immediate danger out of sight. He started to say something, to answer the vulnerable admission you had made to him, but an obnoxiously loud voice cut him off. 

“Hey! There you are. Shit, I only left for like ten minutes babe and you ditch me? C’mon! What the fuck is up with that? I thought you were fun,” Brad laughed as he approached the truck. 

“God damnit,” you muttered, readying yourself for whatever bullshit argument this guy was going to force you to take part in because of his dented ego. 

“Stay here,” Joel grunted, a grim expression wiping any trace of compassion from his face as he began to close your door.  

“Wait, what? Joel, n-.” he cut you off, slamming the door in your face as he turned towards the man stalking towards the back of his truck. 

You turned, watching through wide eyes as Brad tried to keep his cool in the face of your kind neighbour that had just morphed into a frightening guard dog. Sure, Brad was just as tall as Joel, but Joel was undoubtedly stronger than him. Whereas the muscles your date had were for show, created in a gym with a million other douchebags that looked just like him, Joel’s were earned through back breaking labor. Next to your neighbor, Brad looked like a shrimp dick nobody and based on his nervousness, he knew it too. 

Their words were muffled, so much so that you could barely make out anything other than your name, but their faces said it all. While Joel remained stoic, Brad grew more petulant by the second, until he slowly began to take on the shape of a child who had gotten their toy taken away from them. You didn’t know what to do. The mess was yours and yet, there was Joel looming over your shitty date, looking like he was about ready to strangle the asshole if he said one more stupid thing. With how much the Millers had helped you on your first day, the last thing you needed was to feel more indebted to any of them, especially Joel. Sighing, you ripped open the door and turned on shaky legs to face the man throwing a tantrum over your disappearance. 

“Fine, what do I care? That bitch has probably fucked half the town by now,” Brad laughed, the words slamming into your chest so hard that you stumbled a few steps back. 

“I’m gonna give you one chance to walk that one back asshole,” Joel seethed, the veins in his neck straining as all of the kindness you were accustomed to seeing in him shifted into something much darker. 

Brad took one step forward, smugness oozing from his pores as he leaned in to say, “I’m just saying man, might want to get checked out if you’ve hit that. Do you know how easy it was for me to get a date with her? All I had to do was ask and that slut -”

The rest of that statement was lost, a sharp grunt replacing whatever scathing comment Brad had brewing as Joel’s fist connected with his face. You gasped, watching as your date fell back on his ass, groaning as blood spurted from his shattered nose. Brad didn’t even try to get up, the fear evident in his eyes as his attacker knelt down and roughly took hold of his collar. 

“You’re not going to call her, you’re not going to try to talk to her in town, and you sure as shit aren’t going to tell anyone about what happened here today. I don’t want to see you even fucking breathe in the same space as that woman, you got me?,” Joel hissed, giving the bleeding man a hard shake for good measure. 

“Shit man, I-I’ve got it! She won’t hear from me ever again,” Brad stuttered, sounding almost close to tears himself. 

“Good, now fuck off before I knock your goddamn teeth out,” Joel snapped, dropping your date onto the pavement and promptly turning back towards the truck. 

His eyes widened a little when he saw you standing near the bumper, seemingly unaware that he had an audience for his threats. You gave him a weak smile, something that earned you yet another shake of the head from him as he stomped towards you. Joel took your hand this time, grumbling about safety as he dragged you back towards the passenger seat, but you were too flustered by the scene to ask him to speak up. 

Joel had defended you, despite the fact that you were basically strangers. And not just that, but he had looked damn good doing it too. You tried to keep yourself in check, to remind yourself that he was simply a good man, but he was making it incredibly hard. A gasp fell from your lips as Joel mindlessly gripped your hips, forgoing the hand hold in order to lift you back into the truck. 

“Shit,” you whispered, unable to keep the cuss from tumbling out with his fingers digging into your curves, releasing a swarm of butterflies inside of your gut. 

Joel paused, his face just inches away from yours and his hands still placed on your hips as he looked you right in the eye. Neither of you said a word, the silence thick as your breaths slowly synced with one another. Once again, the rest of the world fell away and it was just the two of you. A tidal wave could rush past and you’d be none the wiser, too wrapped up in the way his dark eyes searched yours for something unknown. The warmth that radiated off of him soothed your nerves, until all of the shakes that had previously been wracking your body petered off. 

“M’sorry sweetheart, you shouldn’t have had to see that nonsense,” Joel said after a while, giving you another once over before he grabbed your seat belt and buckled you in. 

Normally if any man would have buckled you in, you would’ve lost it. But with Joel, it didn’t feel like infantilization. You weren’t even sure he was aware he had done it. The act was simply a part of his programming, the stress of the previous encounter making him move entirely on autopilot. At first you stayed silent, overwhelmed by his proximity and the feeling of his fleeting touch drifting away as he started to lean back out of the cab, but the void that his absence left broke you. Without even thinking about it, you grabbed his bicep, the thick muscles making you shiver as you felt them tense under your palm. 

“Thank you Joel,” you said softly, the sound of it almost getting lost under the hum of traffic, “I’m not… I don’t have anyone, or really anything except for my house and my job. This was… kind, more kind than someone like me deserves. Thank you.” 

Joel stared at you for another moment, his brow furrowed like he was trying to work out some sort of equation before he said, “Don’t be ridiculous,” and slammed the door in your face. 

The silence was deafening as Joel walked over to the driver’s side, the sting of rejection coming back with a vengeance. You couldn’t understand why he would shut you down like that, especially after risking an assault charge just because some asshole called you a slut. Embarrassment nipped at the heels of his rejection, warming your cheeks as you tried not to think about the visceral reaction you had to his touch just moments before. Joel was just being nice, that’s all there was to it. He wasn’t your lover, he wasn’t your friend, he wasn’t anything other than the neighbour who his kids happened to like. To hope for more was ridiculous. 

The second that the door to the driver’s side was yanked open, you looked ahead, not wanting to make the situation anymore weirder than it had to be. Joel eased himself into his seat, fumbling with his own seatbelt for a second before he started the engine. Without another word, he backed out of the parking space, even placing his hand behind your seat in a way you couldn’t help but find attractive. Every inch of the tiny space already smelled of Joel, but with his chest inches from your face and his musk in your nose, you suddenly longed for the walk home you had originally feared. 

The ride home was quiet, neither of you saying a word as the truck sped towards your culdesac. Joel fiddled with the radio a bit, putting on an oldies station that played stuff like Johnny Cash and Hank Williams to fill the silence. Meanwhile, you tried hopelessly to wipe some of the makeup off of your face, all while a few more tears slipped through to ruin the little bit of progress you made. Groaning as the final stretch of the ride came into view, you decided to give up on the task altogether. Soon you would be home, where the makeup remover awaited you in the upstairs bathroom. 

You sighed as Joel turned down your street, longing for comfier clothes and a pillow to suffocate yourself with. He turned into your driveway, ignoring your half-assed attempts to assure him that you were perfectly capable of walking across the street as he parked. Instead, he jumped out of the truck and rushed over to your door, yet again surprising you as he held it open. 

“Um, thanks,” you said, feeling particularly shy as he led you towards the front of the house. 

Joel said nothing in return, his meaty hand pressed into the small of your back again as the two of you walked up the pathway. He followed you all the way to the porch, only dropping his hand back down to his side the second you were in reach of the door knob. But you didn’t grab the handle, too busy staring up at him with your lip caught between your teeth. His words - Don’t be ridiculous - played over and over inside of your head, until all you could focus on was the hot sting that thickened the lining of your throat. He didn’t waiver when a fresh line of tears clouded your vision, steady in the storm as per usual, and you suddenly wondered how he could stand being in the presence of someone so emotional. 

“He’s not worth your tears honey,” Joel said after a moment, his tone laced with something akin to affection, “You’re too pretty, too good, and way too fucking smart to be datin’ a dumbass like him. Whoever gets to take you out on a date should thank their lucky stars, not be a dick.” 

The words were like a shock to your system, making your mouth fall open. He sounded almost wistful, like it should be him taking you out on the town and not someone like Brad, but that couldn’t be. Joel had already made it perfectly clear that he didn’t consider himself someone you could count on, so why would he say something so charming? Was he trying to further complicate your night or was he simply trying to stop you from crying? It had to be the latter. 

“I don’t know what to say Joel,” you confessed. 

He shook his head, staring down at his feet for another second before he looked back up at you. 

“Ain’t nothing to say, I’m just stating facts,” Joel said, pausing as his own words made him so flustered that he had to clear his throat so he could continue with, “Uh, you got anything other than beer in that fridge of yours? That meal you were picking at wouldn’t even be enough to feed a damn pigeon.” 

“I’ve been here for over a month Joel, so luckily I’ve gotten the chance to fill up my fridge since move in day, but it’s good to know that you snooped through it,” you chuckled, some of the tension dissipating. 

“Good, that’s uh… That’s good,” Joel breathed, shifting uncomfortably on his feet for another painfully awkward stretch of silence. 

“Look, I really appreciate what you did for me today. I know that this was not how you probably wanted to spend your Thursday, but you don’t have to stay. I’m fine, everything is great. You can go back to the people you’ve got and I’ll go back to… Uh, this,” you laughed bitterly, “I mean, this is all I’ve got, right?” 

The vague gesture you made towards the tiny home was pathetic, even to you, but you weren’t sure how else to get Joel to leave you be. He wanted to help, that much was clear, but his harsh words still hung above your head, shattering any illusion that the two of you could one day be friends. It had stung, but it was just the reality check that you needed. You were a big girl and your handsome neighbor could not be the answer to all of your problems. 

“Oh sweetheart, that’s not what I m-”

“Good night Joel,” you cut in, not wanting to hear another word. 

The weight of the day had caught up to you, pressing down on your shoulders as you swung open the door and closed it straight in Joel’s face. Perhaps it was harsh, but you were too tired and had been toyed with by far too many men as of late to care about his feelings. All you wanted was a steaming hot bath, a tub of ice cream, and perhaps a few rounds with the rabbit hidden in your nightstand before you promptly passed out. Was that so much to ask for? 

Leaving Joel and all of his confusing sentiments behind, you trudged up the stairs, trying not to think about the fact that Brad’s words had meant absolutely nothing in comparison to your neighbour’s. In fact, you could care less what that asshole thought. What truly irked you was Joel and his flagrant disregard for your feelings one moment and his caring words the next. Nevertheless, you tried your best to tamp it all down, focusing instead on filling the tub with steaming hot water so that you could finally put the day to rest. 

-

The next day came much too quickly and you found yourself thanking the universe that it was finally Friday. If things were slow, which they usually were given the fact that the local kids would rather be caught dead than in the library on their weekends, you decided that today would be the perfect day to sneak out a bit early. An extra large pizza, some beer, and one of your many rom coms called to you, forcing you to get out of bed with an exasperated grunt. It was much too late to go through your usual routine, so you quickly splashed some water on your face, hoping that the bit of mascara you put on afterwards would distract from the puffiness around your eyes. Forgoing pants, you threw on a semi professional violet dress that brushed your knees, the sweetheart neckline showcasing your collarbones perfectly. After pairing it with a strappy pair of heels and throwing a cardigan over your shoulder to combat the frigid AC in the library, you slipped out the front door. 

The sun sat high in the sky, the heat of the day already well underway despite the fact that it was only eight o’clock in the morning, but that wasn’t what you noticed first. What you noticed first was the wrapped sandwich that sat on the porch swing, along with the small note that peeked out from beneath the iced coffee that was sweating under the morning heat. You approached the swing carefully, as if at any moment something might jump out at you. Before you had even read a single line, you knew who the gifts were from, and you weren’t sure you wanted to know why he had left them. 

Figured you might need an extra boost this morning and Ellie told me what you liked at that fancy ass cafe in town. 

You giggled, the first line of Joel’s note already breaking through the walls that you had tried to construct after leaving him on the porch the previous night. 

There’s a barbecue at my house this Saturday and I’d love it if you came and I think you should come and meet some people. Plus, it would make the girls really happy if you came, they really like you  and so do I. 

If not, I understand, you probably already have weekend plans anyways but I thought I’d let you know. I also left my number in case you wanted to talk, in case anything came up. You never know when you might need someone. 

Hope to see ya on Saturday,

Joel 

(512) 765 - 9140

Although Joel had tried to cross out his original words, you saw straight through the thin layer of blue ink. He wanted you to come, despite everything that had happened the previous day. And not just that, but he had given you his number as well? To talk? You tried not to squeal like a schoolgirl. If that wasn’t enough to make you swoon, the fact that the cafe that you liked was on the other side of town, which meant that Joel went out of his way this morning to pick up your order, was enough to bring a giddy smile to your face. You shoved the note into your purse, standing a bit taller as you walked towards your car with a half melted iced coffee and a room temperature breakfast sandwich. 

It didn’t matter to you that the taste was a bit off as you dug in, shifting your rust bucket into reverse and ignoring the way the engine clanged as you sped towards your last workday of the week. A handsome man had left you breakfast, along with a sweet note that tied a helium balloon to your heart and lifted it from the confines of your chest, and he didn’t even expect anything in return. By all regards, that was a win. So, as you sipped on the slightly watery coffee and inhaled the sandwich, you found yourself distracted by thoughts of Joel Miller and the barbecue he had invited you to. 

Maybe you weren’t so alone after all. 

[tokyo-debunkers-headcanons]

aaa i loved ur headcanons of the guys making MC feel better !! do you think you can do some more for sho and alan please 🙇🏻‍♀️

Ahhh! Thank you so much! I'm so happy when you guys like my work! And I'd be happy to write for Alan and Sho! I'll be doing the same prompt just an FYI!

ALAN MIDO

Alan is a little dense in some areas let's be honest, but he means well. I think if he messed up then Alan would be the kind to apologize once and maybe do a few small things to smooth things over. Specifically I think he would fix something for MC. Even if he's clueless with tech, he can fix cars so I'm sure he can fix other things. He seems like a tinkering kind of guy. (A DRABBLE FOR CAPTAIN MY CAPTAIN!)

Alan knew that MC had been upset recently, and despite how they tried to hide it, he knew he didn't help what was upsetting them. When MC left Darkwick Academy for the day, he grabbed his tools and went to the cathedral that was their dorm. After a little bit of looking he spotted a few appliances in the kitchen, and with a little bit more snooping he figured out that the sink was clogged and that the toaster didn't pop up all the way. He grabbed his tools and immediately got to work. It didn't take him long to fix both problems. He considered trying to text them that he had been there and fixed a few things.....but he decided a note would be easier for him. He placed it on their door and made sure their door was closed before going back to Vagastrom. The note read,

"Your sink was clogged and your toaster lever was stuck. I took care of it for you, -Alan Mido"

SHOHEI HAIZONO "SHO"

We all know Sho would cook for MC if he made them upset. The real question is what he would cook and how he would give it to them. I think he'd make something simple as an apology. Something like comfort food. He would make a batch and put it into to go containers and hand deliver it to them to eat together.

Sho looked down st the bag in his hand, brushing a hand through his hair before sighing. He knocked at the cathedral door, waiting for MC to answer. Once they did. He scratched the back of his head, holding up the bag, saying,

"Look i know you were pissed at me...so I made us some dinner, what do you say?"

MC blinked, surprised at him, but let him in. They walked him to their 'dining room' and pulled up a chair for each of them. He put the food down and popped open the containers. The amazing smell alone was almost enough to forgive Sho. But the deal was sealed when Sho handed them a utensil and they took the first bite. It was the most amazing thing they'd ever had. The way MC smiled as they ate made Sho sure, that in the end, it was worth it.

[sugdenlovesdingle]

2024 fic round up!

Thanks for the tags @carlos-in-glasses, @nisbanisba @nancys-braids

I wrote 20 fics this year, which (for me) isn't all that much - despite starting and partially writing at least twice that. I've had the year from hell in more ways than one (especially the last 6 months) but fandom has and always will be a nice escapism!

Thanks to everyone that's commented on my fics in some way, I promise I'm going to try be less awkward and actually reply to your comments instead of just keeping the notification emails in my inbox like a dragon hoarding gold.

I mostly wrote bucktommy/911 this year (what can I say, that fingers under the chin kiss really did it for me) and if TPTB @ abc have any sense they'll bring Lou/Tommy back in the second half of the season!

Though the tarlos secret santa did sort of reawaken my love for Tarlos, so let's see if I can actually finish some of the fics I started for them in the new year.

I'll put the actual fic links under the cut so it doesn't clog up everyone's dash

Bucktommy: (all rated G unless stated otherwise)

Date night Bathena spot Buck and Tommy out on a date together

Buck's Bisexual Speedrun Buck going from 0 to 1000 in 0.03 seconds with coming out, accepting his sexuality, and his relationship with Tommy. Taking it slow? We don't know her.

Cake Time Buck and Jee baking to cheer Tommy up after a rough shift. Written back when we thought Oliver talking about Buck and Jee baking together would be a good thing.

It's not over Break up? What break up? Episode 8x06 fix it

Uncle Buck Post break up Buck and Jee baking, with Tommy accidentally crashing their time together. Bucktommy getting back together.

118 group chat Evan♥ has added you to 118 Fam. Tommy gets added to the group chat.

Wake up Another break up? What break up?? 8x06 fix it.

Being a good friend is hard Eddie is going Through It, but unfortunately he's going through it on Buck and Tommy's sofa when they want some alone time.

Family dinner the first 118 family dinner at Bobby and Athena's new house - featuring a sleepy Tommy.

Nobody knows Nobody knows we're back together - But Chim is about to find out when he needs a babysitter.

Transfer a What if? for 8x04. What if everything hadn't been fixed in 42 minutes and the 118 had been closed and Buck ended up at the 217 with Tommy? (I promised to write a part two for this... and it's partially written in my drafts. I'll finish it eventually!)

But first, coffee A coffee shop AU that's technically a 911/lone star crossover that started in this little tarlos centric ficlet but you need to read that to understand the bucktommy centric one.

He's good for you Maddie and Tommy spend some time together while Buck is in surgery.

Moving in A little quiet moment before Buck and Tommy move in together.

The boy at the rock show A different first meeting AU where Buck meets a cute bass player in a bar - loosely based on Blink 182 - The Rock Show "Fell in love with the girl boy at the rock show"

Tarlos (rated G unless stated otherwise)

For Lire with love and lots of whump This was an epic collaboration project that was a lot of fun to work on! Lots of hurt/comfort goodness with Carlos being a Bad Patient - until he isn't. My part was chapter 6 but definitely give the whole thing a read!

Love online A different first meeting AU with a side of meddling sisters. Luisa gets her hands on Carlos' phone and decides to take matters into her own hands to fix her brother's love life.

View from the taco truck TK and Carlos' relationship through the eyes of their favourite food truck vendor.

Austin Pride Tarlos go to pride with their dads, Owen is ~completely normal~ about it obviously.

Strickland Holiday Special A different first meeting AU where TK is Paul's roommate - who just happens to be Carlos' best friend.

As usual I'm late to the party, and I think most of my Lone Star fam has done this by now... so I'm shifting it to my bucktommy fam.

@weewookinard @cjlouwho @loulou-land @jamieroyjamieroy @leashybebes

@mrhappyjavaman @blitzynatural @sad-girl-hours23 @mmso-notlikethat

+ open tag for anyone who wants to do it

[thesharktanksdriver]

Call Sign: Sharky (Platonic)

Part 1, part 2 part 4 part 5

Sorry if parts repeat like some people noticed. There’s not much I can do about it and it seems to be a glitch with the keep reading line. My posts are long and I don’t wanna clog people’s pages so y’all will have to deal with it

Also thank you all for your support!.

The topic of your Call sign is often ones that’s discussed with confusion with 141

Each time you were asked you’d come up with a new story something like “dad was a marine biologist”, “I was raised by sharks sharkboy style and was taken in by the military” or “I just wouldn’t shut up about them”

It leaves all them confused and silently curious

Call signs most of the time have meaning to them

Now some can certainly be stupid or embarrassing but they get them for a reason and Sharky is a specific one

One that came with you when you had found yourself transferred over to 141

One that came with you when you had found yourself transferred over to 141

One that came with you when you had found yourself transferred over to 141

One that came with you when you had found yourself transferred over to 141

One that came with you when you had found yourself transferred over to 141

Which had meant that only you and your past squadron knew that meaning

And meant ghost, Soap and Gaz we’re clueless as to getting it except from you

Price is not it the same situation as them, partially because he knew your past captain

In fact he’s good mates with him, they had used to serve together before climbing both their ways up the ranks

Even got your recommendation from him

But when he decided to ask the question of your Codename he didn’t really expect that it had more than what meets the eye

“Your wondering about their Codename?.” He questions looking over to Price whom sits beside him at the bar. Price nods, making his old friend laugh a bit and add “I’ll have to give some context first before we get to that point”.

“Context of what?”

“Oh, of when they first joined”

When you had first joined you were much different to how you were now

You were a shy little thing, less confident to how you were now. Downright afraid of the others on your team

There was a very clear and tall wall you put between yourself and everyone else no matter how they tried to reach through to you

It took a long while but after some time one of them had gotten through to you

Salamander, but everyone at the time called him Sal for short

He was an a older soldier, mid-50’s with a wife and kid

It’s that reason why he was able to connect to you, having experience with a child of his own

He showed you the ropes, helping bridge that gap between you and the others

You began to open up more, talking in hushed mumbled before they evolved to full on discussions

You knew a lot of weird and obscure facts, stuff most of them hadn’t known about

You specifically talked quite a bit about marine life since a few of them were ex-navy and you thought that would be funny

It admittedly was especially when you joke that “you’d think they’d teach you about this stuff when your at sea” and “maybe I’m more navy than you guys”

It was nice, you were opening up and some had even began trying to debate each other over call signs for you

They weren’t really sure what to give you yet but it was the mission that finalized it

“The mission?”

“Yeah…the mission. What gave me their name”

The mission was ok at first, that’s the main thing you remember about it

No initial panic just clear waters both figuratively and literally as your footsteps crunch down on golden yellow sand

But then like a nuke dropping everything went to shit

It’s blurry to your mind what had initially happened but you ended up hiding behind some washed up driftwood

Sal was beside you clutching his neck as you did your best to keep him from bleeding out

The shrapnel lodged in his neck was too deep, blood pouring through your fingers as you pleaded with him to hang on

Your vision was blurred by tears as you watched the life drain from him

He often talked about his wife, his kid, and yet he now laid here beside you. Forgotten in the sand as your hands shook

Something came over you, that primal urge that every living creature had in times of peril

The urge to survive no matter what

Your adrenaline was running high, the pops of gunshots making it worse along with the red that began dying the once yellow sand

Your breath is getting quicker as you begin to see red

And then you can’t remember what happened other than the overwhelming feeling of panic and the urge to protect

When the haze over your mind cleared the pungent taste of iron filled your mouth and clogged your nose

You feel shaky, almost as if your entire body was hollow

taking a step back you almost trip over something, making you stumble a bit as you look down to see the dead face of the enemy staring back

Pure terror is twisted on his once moving face that bows stuck in the perpetual horror he died while feeling

Your attention is drawn away when you hear your captains voice, it cuts through the static that muffled the crashing waves and squawking pelicans that sounded so distant

His hand is on your shoulder, his eyes staring down at you with worry as blood dribbled down from your lips

Your dazed and confused. Eyes wide and pupils blown out

“Captain what happened. Why do I taste blood?” It’s such a simple question but it shakes him to his core, you sound so afraid. Like a kid

You are a kid compared to them but this just makes it more obvious

The remaining part of the squadron both injured and tired watch on as their captain talks to you gently

Your shaking like a leaf, blood drenching you as he draped an arm over your shoulder and walked you towards them

You don’t stare at your teammates though, you instead stare at the once blue water that was turned scarlet red

Off in the distance you see the distinct shape of a fin or two poke out from the water

The crashing of the waves felt louder despite the fact you walked farther and farther away

Rolling in and retracting back out in a cycle

You notice near a body in the sand two fingers, discarded and bloodied and a memory flashes in your mind

The enemy, captain, scuffle, bite, spit out, kill, safe, move on

It now explains the blood that isn’t your own that you spit out

You fill in the blanks about what happened by asking your teammates afterwards who are nervous to answer

Seemingly afraid to send you into a panic attack after learning what had happened

Apparently you went apeshit on the enemy, to the point the team did barely anything as you did the brunt of the work

You used your pistol, when you ran out of ammo you used the empty gun and your knife

At some point one had grabbed the captain, was about to put a bullet through his head before you intervened

The human jaw despite how weak it is compared to the bite of something like a dog or a big cat, it’s much more powerful than we give it credit for

Exerting up to Around 125 kg of force or 162 lbs per square inch

Usually something like this doesn’t happen much considering you’d have to get through skin, tissue and tendon but you had done it via your adrenaline

You bitt off the guy’s fingers, not one but two and then spat them out

You then killed him, his body dropping down to the sand just like his fingers did

It’s what earned you your nickname Sharky

You see

Shark attacks are much less common as one would think compared to how their portrayed in the media. Sure, they do happen but it’s less likely for one to be lethal

Your more likely to be killed by a deer or mosquito than a shark

They usually attack when provoked or when confused after mistaking a human for a seal

They dislike our flavour, so after an attack they usually discard us after the initial bite

Much like how rare a lethal shark attack actually is in comparison to other animal related deaths it’s rare that someone can bite off someone’s finger

And like a shark you spat it out

Thus your clever nickname given to you by your teammate Kansas after remembering your ramblings of the aquatic sea creature

“It just kinda stuck after that” he says taking a sip of his beer before placing it down onto the countertop, his thumb circles it’s rim as he looks down into the gold liquid. “Their a good kid. Their happy right?” It comes out as somewhat hoarse, he’s more choked up than he’d like to admit.

“Yeah, their happy. Hasn’t been a day I hadn’t woken up to find them with a shit eatin grin”

“Good. Funny how they’ve brightened up from such a shy kid.”

He pulls back from his chair, placing down his cash plus a small tip for the bartender who accepts it eagerly

“Good to see you again Price. I’ll keep in contact” just as he’s about to leave he adds one more thing “ps, they write about you a lot”

“Write?”

[solangelo]

I was wondering, do you have any recomendations on some long fics? Like, not just one chapter? Sorry if you had already posted something abou that. Anyway, thanks!!! (Really like your blog <<3333)

Absolutely!! I pretty much only read on Ao3 anymore so all of my recommendations are going to be there, but if others want to tack on their own recommendations in the comments they're always welcome to do so :)

A few things,

I tried to put content warnings on the bodies of work as I see fit, but some of these I read over a year ago and haven't looked at since so I apologize if I've missed something!

Additionally speaking, I've marked anything in which contains characters having sex with a red heart emoji ❤️ as it should be viewable on light and dark mode, across multiple forms of devices (ios vs android, etc) and should be readable to screen readers as well; As per previous notes on this blogs, any explicit depictions of characters having sex will also have them being explicitly over 18. Now without further ado-

I'm a huge fan of rabbit_soup's "Healing Takes Two" series, it's 13 pieces in total some of them are oneshots and others are multichapter but they all fit together making it a large body of text. The plot extends from Nico's three days in the infirmary to the early stages of their relationship and still seems to be ongoing with the author taking on rewriting some of their older pieces.

arum scarce by GalwayGirlo [16/20] AU ❤️:

Nico wakes up paralyzed following a motorcycle accident. Maybe Will Solace can help him get some feeling back?

(cw: suicidal ideation, a suicide attempt, adult having a relationship with a minor, "mafia stuff")

When I Get Home to You by 2nd2ndalto [10/10] Canon Compliant, Time Travel ❤️:

Will’s brow furrows."N - Nico?"

It’s impossible, this boy can’t be Nico, but the name falls from his lips without real conscious thought. Nico is 38 years old and probably sitting at home in their living room, hopefully having figured out how to fix the clogged dishwasher line, which is what he’d been planning on doing when Will left early this morning.

(cw: conversations about suicidal ideation and related topics, and young nico is involved so canon compliant trauma of his comes up as well)

talk your talk and go viral (i just need this love spiral) by wrongcaitlyn [34/34] and a part 2 currently at [2/?] chapters, Celebrity AU ft. Trans Nico:

“Keep telling yourself that,” Will says quietly, because even though the door is closed, speaking any louder would seem wrong. “You’re too harsh on yourself. If you wrote songs or something, you’d easily get on the Billboard Hot 100. Dad would help you. I would, too.”

“Promote it to your seven followers?”

“Yes!”

Nico laughs, and then Will is joining him, and they’re closer than before, but it’s nothing unusual. It’s been this way since before stupid feelings and stupid crushes, and Nico would be damned if he let it change just because of that.

(cw: alcoholism, childhood abuse and neglect, character death, car accidents, transphobia/homophobia/generalized queerphobia, gender dysphoria, suicidal ideation and related topics)

peach tea by ghosttotheparty [5/5] AU ft. Latino Will:

Will brushes his thumb over the side of Nico’s hand gently. His skin is soft. Nico’s fingers tighten on Will’s. It kind of feels like neither of them wants to move. Will doesn’t mind.

He sits up after a moment, but Nico doesn’t let go of his fingers, so he lifts the arm that’s awkward between them and sets it behind Nico, leaning back to rest on it. Nico just looks at the tapestry.

or; Will falls in love with the new kid.

(cw: mental health struggles, ptsd, anxiety/panic attacks, depression, grief, and character death)

What Could've Been Lights by athaleablaire [18/18], AU - I can’t remember if they have sex in this, rating is teen and up and all characters are over 18 but enter at your own risk:

In Will's eyes, he really has it all. A job as a surgeon at an amazing hospital, great friends-- what more could he ask for? Everything is going great until a man walks into his emergency room half-dead. In the mission to save his life, Will gets a little more than he bargained for.

(cw: injury and recovery, accusations of substance use)

a shadow in the rising sun by demigodbeautiies [9/13], AU Royalty, Arranged Marriage:

This is a story about the Ghost King.

Will Solace (crown prince in the Seventh Kingdom, politically useless as it may be) does not particularly want to be married to a thing of nightmares. He doesn't really have a choice, though. When does he ever? He allows his father to push him led into this politically advantageous, beauracratically necessary arrangement without too many complaints, and resigns himself to the fact he will be marrying a tyrant out of the tall tales his mother used to tell him when he was a boy.

Except then he meets his husband - a boy, and one younger than he is at that! - and realises that he has absolutely no idea what to expect. All he can hope for is that no one tries to kill him.

(cw: character death, character injury?)

NICO Centric:

Lethe by Eridans [8/8] Canon Compliant with a part 2 at [16/16]:

He's ten and ninety simultaneously, his mother was murdered and his sister is a stranger. He's got a deck of cards that he holds onto like a lifeline and an Italian-English dictionary that's old as hell and crumbling, but it's not as old as he is, and that makes him laugh.

The River Lethe was supposed to take away their memories, but Nico remembers his past, his days at home, the times he spent with his sister and mother at parades Mussolini hosted, where Maria sang the national anthem. The river tried to take away everything Nico cherished, and it could have been pure desperation or grief that made him remember his past.

Nico didn't know.

(cw: I started reading this fic over 8 years ago and haven't read it since it's last update 3 years ago, expect canon compliant events and themes to occur but otherwise proceed at your own risk, exercising caution and compassion for yourself where necessary <3)

WILL Centric:

Solace by solisaureus [11/11], Canon Compliant:

solace (n.) comfort or consolation in a time of distress or sadness.

solis (n.) the Latin word for "sun."

(cw: author includes their own content warnings at the start of each chapter!)

sprinkler splashes to fireplace ashes by whimsicalMedley [13/26] Canon Compliant ft. Trans Will Solace:

Contrary to his general disposition, William Andrew Solace was born in the middle of an October hurricane.

Or, Growing up is hard. It’s even harder when you’re the son of the sun god.

(cw: author includes their own content warnings at the start of each chapter!)

Hopefully this is a good place to get you started, nonnie!

[jackchampiongf13]

Come Back… Be Here

Jack!Championx!reader

Warnings: Angst but a happy ending, swearing, kissing, let me know if I missed anything!

A/n: I’m not super proud of this but I need to post something. Also I am sorry that I haven’t posted anything! And a big thank you to all the love on my first post. Also lots of Taylor Swift references in this hehe😛(I didn’t proof read it too so I hope it’s all good)

This is when the feeling sinks in. You realize that this is happening. He’s breaking up with you?

“Y/n” he gets out barely because of the tears that were clogging his voice up. “I love you. I will always love you. I just am so busy and you deserve better than me. Way better then me.”

You look at him with disgust. It’s 4am and he’s saying it in a simple way. “I really told myself ‘don’t get attached’ what the fuck Jack” you couldn’t help but be mad. You don’t blame him though. Your mad at yourself.

“This is all my fault is it not?” You say looking down. “No it’s not, don’t blame yourself Y/n. I love you but with me now going on press tour and doing interviews we won’t have time for each other. You’re already super busy with senior year of Highschool and so am I, even if I am homeschooled, I still have to do all of that then go and talk about avatar to a whole bunch of strangers!”

“Jack, it’s okay! Take me with you” You plead trying to reach for his arm.

“No.. your not getting it.” He says pulling away from your reach.

“What am I not getting?” You just want him to hold you and never let go.

”This isn’t fair to the both of us. It will just add more pressure and stress to everything. Go to college and get your degree. You’ll meet someone better and marry them like you’ve always wanted.” It hurts him to say this.

“I don’t want anyone else I want you. Just you.” Pleading for the last time. You finally meet his eyes as you try to embrace him for a hug. He take your arm and rubs it for a second. “I will always love you.” He says as he gives a peck on your forehead.

You watch him walk away. Your jaw is dropped. How could he do that? And at 4 in the morning? A/n: Jesus Jack we just wanted to sleep🙄

————————-—————————————————

It’s been 6 months since the breakup. It took you awhile to be happy again, but it happened. Well for the most part. You had just graduated high school, it was now July. Even after the breakup, you were still his biggest supporter. Even if you never talk to him anymore, you still stalked his Instagram and TikTok.

He was in New York today. And so were you with your whole friend group to celebrate graduation. He had posted on insta. “Oh god, Betty!” You scream.

“Are you okay!?” She runs out of the hotel bathroom. “He’s here. In New York.” You smile a bit.

“No Y/n. Not again.” She snatched your phone to look at the post. “Holy shit isn’t the hotel he’s staying at just right down the road?” She questions herself. Your eyes widen. “Wha-“ you try to continue talking but get cut off by her horrible sheirk. “Shit Y/n he swiped up on your story.”

“Give me back my phone!” You take it and half swipe the chat. Jack: Hey! That’s so funny you’re here too! I’m right down the street maybe we should go get coffee? I mean if you’re ok with that. I miss talking to you.

You smile to yourself. “He misses talking to me…” you say with a hopeful tone. “No Y/n! Not again!” She takes the phone but it’s too late. You: Hey Jack! Of course I would love to go get coffee with you and catch up!

“Oh no no no. I’m deleting it” Betty says. “Support my decision Betty. Just go hang out with James today!” You say rolling your eyes and snatching the phone once more. “Fine this is me supporting you” She smiles and give you a peck on the cheek. “Text me if you need me! Love ya!” She says as she begins to walk out to her boyfriends room.

“Yup” you sigh as she close the hotel room door. Was this a bad idea? We’re just friends that’s it! You jump out of bed and put on the cutest outfit you could find. Which ended up being a blue crop top that brought out your eyes and black leggings. This was a basic outfit but it was pretty crappy out and you just felt good in it.

You text him letting him know that you’re free whenever. He texts back immediately. Jack: uh I can rn if that’s good

you: duh that’s fine lmao

Jack: want me to come over to your hotel and we can walk together?

you: sure! My hotel room is ts13 at the eras hotel!

Jack: Be there in 10

“Shit. I have to do my hair and makeup.” You say out loud You: can you maybe give me 20

Jack: lol gotta do your makeup I assume

you: you know me all too well

Jack: Taylor reference?

You: Duhhh

Jack: ok go get ready for me

get ready for him? Damn instant butterflies.

—————————————————————————

You finished your makeup and had one more section on curling your hair when you hear a knock. You run to the door and see him.

“Hey gorgeous!” You can’t help but say as he looks down and blushes. This is what always happened when you said that. He didn’t wanna show you he liked that nickname but you knew.

“I’m sorry I didn’t tell you I was coming, but instead of getting coffee together I just went and got your usual. I hope that’s ok.” He looks back up at you as you notice he looks you up and down. You blush at the thought of him remembering your favorite order

“Thats totally fine! Come on in” You say in a very loud and happy tone. “I need to finish my hair really quickly. Just give me 5” you smile at him. He smiles back with his perfect white teeth smile. You feel butterflies creep on in your stomach. “I can do it for you! Remember that time I did your hair.” He laughs as he recalls the past. “It was a disaster oh my god! I remember that so well!” You shout from the bathroom. He comes in the bathroom to help “I trust you Champion” he just smiles at the nickname and takes the curling iron.

“Ow!” You scream as he burns your neck by accident. “Shit oh god I’m so sorry beautiful” the pain disappears as you focus on him for a second. He used to call you that when you guys dated. It was your favorite nickname. “Are you okay?!” He quickly asks as he turns the water on to put cold icy water on the burn. “Y/n?!” You smile at him. “I missed this a lot Jack. I missed you” he stops trying to put water on your neck and looks deep into your beautiful eyes. “I still love you” he quickly lets out but then covers his mouth. You can’t help but smile. “I still love you too.” You don’t care about the pain in your neck anymore and jump into his arms as you kiss him. “We will make it work this time” you smile to him “I’m not ever gonna let you go” he says into the kiss. “I didn’t want to miss you like this” you laugh after breaking this kiss. “Come back, be here in this kiss” he says again as you laugh knowing it was a Taylor reference.