#there's a lot to unpack here but lets just throw that under the bed to deal with later!

[coyotelip]

wolfstar microfic: owl || fluff!! wolfstar raising harry pt.7 || @wolfstarmicrofic || wc: 951 || all parts on ao3

Remus wakes up a few minutes before his alarm clock, which is no longer surprising. The routine feels comfortable to his quiet personality, so he slowly stretches his stiff limbs under the heavy blanket and slides his feet off the bed, putting on his house slippers. With a light wave of his wand, he pulls back the thick curtains, letting in the sunlight, which falls in a flat line on their bed and highlights Sirius's hair spread across the white pillows in a beautiful halo.

As is his routine, Remus allows himself a few moments to admire his sleeping husband, who is clutching the blanket with one hand while the other lies under his head. His puffy lips are slightly parted, and a stain of drool is visible on the pillow beneath them, which makes Remus chuckle with delight.

The next step in his routine is to return to the bed, kneel on it, and lean over the sleeping Sirius to press a soft kiss on his hair. At the same moment, he hears the sound of his alarm, which Remus doesn't have time to look up at, noticing movement under the covers.

Surprisingly, Sirius doesn't show any signs of waking up, continuing to breathe deeply into the pillow, but a mop of dark hair slips out from under his arm and covers, followed by sleepy green eyes that look at Remus with displeasure.

With a wave of his hand, man turns off the ringing, keeping his eyes on sleepy Harry who had suddenly appeared in their bed unnoticed by Remus. “Hello, little one. What are you doing here?”

The movements of the boy's small hands rubbing his eyes seem to blow Sirius away, and he jerks awake, as he always does when he's not awakened by kisses on his face.

“I had a nightmare and I came to you,” Harry explains, barely intelligible, still not opening his eyes wide. Sirius's hand, which had been clutching the blanket, now lies in front of the boy, as if to protect him, and the man hugs him and holds him close, still not opening his eyes. Pulling Harry's head close to his chest, Sirius kisses the top of his head.

“You still haven't told me what you dreamed about, kid,” Sirius's voice sounds like one of Remus's favorite tones, husky and seductive, but the man refuses to unpack such thoughts with a child still in their bed.

“Uh, there were owls,” Harry says nervously, as if he's ashamed or afraid to say it out loud.

“And what was so scary about the owls? You see them almost every day, they bring us mail and fly around the yard innocently,” Remus says gently, pushing the child to explain further, but also to calm him down.

“Mmm, but it wasn't like that.” Harry squeezed harder into Sirius' arms and tried to hide his face in his chest. “There were a lot of them, they weren't just flying around the yard, they were creeping into the house. There were millions of them! And they all wanted to give me a letter, but I couldn't read it,” the boy's voice was shameful, as if not being able to read letters was something bad for a four-year-old.

But Remus just smiled and sat down closer to the boy, putting his hand on his head and stroking it soothingly. “It's okay, dear, it was just a dream. We never get more than one owl at a time, and even if they try to break into the house, you know Pads will shoo them all away with his furious glare.” Remus glances over at Sirius, who is gently looking at Harry in his arms, but after he says that, he tries to imitate his most terrifying look to reassure the child.

Harry studies the imitation carefully for a few seconds and then laughs out loud, kicking Sirius in the stomach. The latter throws back his head, now playing a mortally wounded and now dying from a brutal attack by a four-year-old in the middle of the day.

“He's not scary at all,” Harry says confidently to Remus's face.

“Neither are owls,” the man replies, reaching for his watch on the bedside table. “Here, look,” he puts the tip of his wand to the watch and whispers the words of a transfiguration spell, making the thing turn into a small owl that fits in his palm.

The bird moves its head uncertainly and opens its wings, testing new body, and then notices the boy in front of it. The dark brown eyes of the owl and the green eyes of the boy are both open wide and stare at each other without blinking. From the outside, it looks comical how they both feel afraid of each other and expect the other to attack first. However, the owl tilts its head slightly forward, pecking at the air in front of it. Sirius reaches out to it and lets its tiny legs slide from Remus' palm to his so man can bring the bird closer to Harry.

“Don't be afraid of him, he's just as small as you are,” Sirius says softly in the boy's ear, encouraging him to raise his hand and touch the white feathers.

The child's touch is uncharacteristically light, and within a minute Harry's lips are breaking into a smile as he watches the owl turn its head to meet his hand. “Can we keep her?”

Remus laughs softly, “I'm afraid not, because it's just my watch and I need it to go to work. But when I get back, we can go to the shop together and buy you an owl just like it, okay, dear?”

[justalittlebitbored]

part two: willow tree | remus lupin

part two: a brand new day

pairing/au: marauders era, remus lupin × reader

summary: you've loved your best friend for as long as you can remember and loving someone who doesn't love you back hurts. a lot.

warnings: angst, unrequited love, sadness, fluff, friends to lovers, childhood best friends to lovers. drinking, mentions of alcohol and parties. no use of y/n. slightly jealous!remus I have not specified what you’ve done to your hair so you pick

this part is set in their sixth year

wc: 9.5k

a/n: sorry about the month long wait guys but here’s part 2

series masterlist main masterlist

“Thank god we’re dorm mates this year.”

Lily was pacing up and down the middle of your room whilst you were laying on your bed, your hands under your chin watching her.

It was hectic business getting her to be your dorm mate this year. She was adamant on it, saying something along the lines of ‘being head prefect does not mean I should get stuck babysitting third and fourth years. Absolutely ridiculous.’

Lily being Lily somehow managed to convince the school to allow her to move into yours. You still had the same room though, the best room in the flat in your opinion, you had an en-suite and the view of the willow tree right outside your window; so unpacking wasn’t an issue for you as much as it was for her.

“I don’t think I could handle dealing with those children for another year. And I- you’re not listening are you?”

You were in fact not listening to her, you had zoned out about five minutes into her ranting. She loudly said your name. When you didn’t respond she said clapped her hands in front of your face to snap you out of your daze.

You jumped and began to teasingly console her.

“I am. You were just saying how glad you are to be sharing with me, because I’m so amazing and smart and funny and-”

You were cut off when one of your throw pillows was chucked at you. You crossed your arms over your face as it bounced off your hands onto the floor.

“Rude.” You muttered with a smile on your face.

“I swear that hair dye must be seeping into your brain because you were much nicer last year. Probably would’ve offered to help me unpack too.” She teased, referencing the fact that you had gotten your hair done over the summer.

It was a last minute sort of thing, your mum had guilted you into it, deciding to pull the ‘you’re at Hogwarts all year and I never get to see you’ card. So mother daughter bonding this summer had been in a hair salon, but she had also spoilt you rotten with new clothes so you couldn’t complain.

When you had come home that day you had sat in the mirror looking at your self for about an hour, pleasantly surprised by the outcome. You looked… pretty.

“Shut up.” You stared at her blankly, a trace of a grin on your face. You shuffled off your bed and stood up brushing your hands against your jeans.

“Come on then, move your cute little butt. Let’s go unpack.”

—

You don’t think walking into Hogwarts on your first day of school every year could ever get old. It was an enigma, a puzzle that had yet to be solved and it just brimmed with magical excellence. Everything you could dream of was possible at this school.

As you walked through the entrance you could hear shrieks of laughter. You looked up and saw some seventh years flying on their broom sticks in circles above the courtyard. You smiled. Nope, it never gets old.

The first day buzz was hitting everyone, you could see the first years being taken on their tours, their little figures being swamped by the uniform that was three times too big on them. Everyone was catching up with their friends about the summer, talking about what they did, where they went.

The issue now was finding your group of friends to catch up with. You had said goodbye to Lily at the dorms, she had to go and talk to the teachers about her prefect duties saying she’d catch up with you later. You stood by the water fountain near the middle of the courtyard looking around for any familiar heads of hair.

“Moony you’re so tall, what did you do, decide to morph into a giraffe this summer?”

Sirius. You rolled your eyes.

Oh god you’ve missed them. Missed Remus. You hadn’t had a chance to catch up at all during summer, especially after that awkward moment before Lily dragged you away.

She had gotten everything out of you, your feelings about him, just all of it. You had talked so much about Remus that night.

You could feel the dread set in and the butterflies in your belly at the thought of seeing him. But you had to act natural, normal. The way you would usually act.

So you spun on your heels and turned about quickly walking towards the group of boys. Remus’ back was towards you, they hadn’t noticed you yet so you slowly approached.

Once you had reached them and resided behind Remus, you stood on your tiptoes and covered his eyes with your hands.

“Guess who?”

You could feel his hands come up gently grab you wrists, keeping your hands there.

“I wonder who it could be?” He said in a teasing voice and you knew he was smiling although you couldn’t see his face.

You popped your head out from behind his shoulder, initially being hidden behind his back due to how tall he had gotten.

The marauders had all gone quiet once they saw you. Peters face filled with a red flush whilst James’ mouth was open whilst he looked at you.

What was wrong?

You awkwardly looked at your feet before looking back up again.

“Um. Hi?”

You pulled your hands away from Remus’ eyes just in time for Sirius to pick up and twirl you around, his hands on your waist. As he put you down you placed your hands on his upper arms to steady yourself. He instantly wrapped his arms around you, telling you he missed you over the summer before he let go you.

James and Peter had also pulled you in for an individual hug and said their hellos.

Surprisingly, Remus hadn’t said anything yet and when you turned to look at him you found he was already looking at you.

“Hey.” You said breathlessly.

He still hadn’t said anything, you could see his eyes darting around your face his mouth opening and closing. This was really starting to get ridiculous now, you had only been gone for 2 months.

“Remus?” You called his name attempting to get his attention.

The only thing that snapped him out of it was Sirius firmly slapping him on the back, an awkward chuckle coming from his mouth.

“Moony she’s back. You’ve been moping around all summer why don’t you say hi instead of… this?”

This seemed to snap him out of it as he charged forward wrapping his arms around your middle. You curled you arms around his neck as he lifted you up and squeezed you tight, your feet just nearly touching the floor as he leaned back with you in his arms.

After a long moment he set you down.

“Hi. I- wow.” He blinked. “You look… um.” He gulped opening his mouth before closing it again. He trailed off, staring at you for a long moment.

You heard a loud, awkward laugh coming from Sirius before he intervened, stepping to your side.

“Pretty. You look pretty.” He rolled his eyes playfully, his hand coming up to ruffle your hair. “I like the new hair, nerd.”

“Why thank you Sirius. Very kind of you.” You chuckled stepping back and twirling around on one foot, your hair flying around your head.

“You look very pretty too.” You teased him.

“Of course I do, this is a known fact.” He said with a smirk on his face.

Idiot. You’ve missed him.

Before you could could say anything else you heard your name loudly being called. You turned around seeing Marlene and the girls waving you over.

You turned around and began apologising.

“I’m gunna go say hi. I will see you guys later, okay.” You began walking away backwards. “Oh and I missed you guys too.”

You said your goodbyes and spun on your heel and walked towards Marlene, you needed a deep catch up with them about the summer too.

That went well right? Although Remus acted weirdly, you acted fine. Completely normally you hope. You shook your head, snapping out of it has you reached the girls.

What you didn’t see was Sirius and James slapping Remus round the head, their laughs filling the air. His eyes were still on your retreating figure, a dazed look on his face.

“Alright, alright. You can stop staring now moony, let’s go to tutor.”

—

It had only been a couple of hours and you had already fallen back into your normal routine, it was like you had never left.

Currently, you were walking down the main corridor towards to great hall where you assumed you were to meet your friends. You all had had potions together that morning but you didn’t share the next lesson after that with any of them.

You were walking with Alexander, a new friend you had just made in your defence of the dark arts lesson. You had clicked almost instantly and had made fast friends. He was in Ravenclaw and was very sweet. It didn’t help that he was also very good looking.

As you reached the entrance of the the hall you both turned to each other and said goodbye, his hand touching your elbow for a quick moment before you went your separate ways towards your relative friends.

You threw your bag on the table and slumped down in a seat next to Lily, right in the middle of the group. The boys had seemingly settled on the left and the girls on the right.

“Who was that?”

You turned to look at Lily.

“Who was who?” Giving her a perplexed look you furrowed your brows.

“That boy who you walked in with.” She was now smirking at you, her comment had drawn the attention of both groups.

“Oh that was Alexander, we just met last lesson. He’s just transferred here from up north.” You explained this, trying to act as nonchalant as you could.

“Oh, has he now?” Marlene had chimed. Her and Lily turned and exchanged mischievous smiles before looking at you.

Oh my god. You truly hated your friends. You could not wait for Lily and James to finally get together. When they finally did, you’ll make sure that they’ll never hear the end of it.

You could feel Remus’ stare from across the table, his eyes felt like they were burning a hole into the side of your face.

“Urgh, you guys are so annoying.” You complained rolling your eyes playfully.

“Only because we love ya!” Lily threw her arm around your shoulder.

The conversation quickly switched over to Marlene and the boy she had met over the summer, with you alternating talking to the boys and then your other group of friends. However, you could feel Remus looking at you from time to time, his eyes flickering to your face before he quickly looked away.

You felt two heavy hands suddenly make their way onto your shoulders before you were shaken harshly. You let out a screech and put you hand to your chest. Hearing loud laughter you turned around to see Sirius stood behind you, swearing at him you turned your back on him with a smile on your face.

“Move over. Everyone’s favourite person has arrived.” He said in a cocky voice as he sat down next to you.

“Not sure about that padfoot, I’m definitely the favourite here.” James exclaimed with a smirk, his eyes on Lily. “Right Lils?”

She turned and gave in an incredulous look before rolling her eyes, a ghost of a smile on her face. Oh yeah, they are definitely going to get together. The whole group had a bet going. You had bet that they’d be together by the end of the year, whilst Remus, Sirius and Marlene were betting that by Christmas he would finally be able to win her over.

“Right, Jack Fullingham is having a party tonight to celebrate the beginning of the year.”

“Umm, who’s Jack Fullingham?” Peter asked timidly.

“This seventh year. Listen it doesn’t matter, I’ve managed to get us all invited so don’t worry about it. I’m ready to party so who’s in?” With a mischievous look on his face he wriggled his eyes brows.

“I swear he hates you. Didn’t you try it on with his girlfriend last year?” Remus raised his eye brows at him.

“Pffft. That’s all in the past now, don’t worry about it moony.” He kissed his teeth and leant forward grabbing the cookie from Remus’ plate.

“Well then, I guess we’re in.”

You heard murmurs of agreement from the girls. With the boys following quickly after.

“Brilliant.”

—

You had been at this party for about an hour now and it was beginning to get boring.

James had dragged Lily off somewhere trying to woo her and no matter how much the girl denied her feelings she had gone along with his antics. What morons.

The rest of the marauders had been stolen from you by Sirius claiming he needed their help trying to seduce this girl in the year above.

Although, you had seen Violet floating about and you were hoping her and Remus wouldn’t bump into each other because you couldn’t handle seeing them interact, it literally made you want to gouge your eyes out.

Not that that would matter to you, you were friends. Just friends.

You had kind of managed to distance yourself from the party and were sat on the counter in the kitchen, a drink in your hand observing the scene in front of you.

There were huddles of seventh and sixth years together, empty cups strewn everywhere with a massive herd of empty bottles by the kitchen sink.

And of course there were couples spotted around, obviously attempting to get lucky tonight and by the looks of it most of them will.

“So, what are you doing sat here alone?” A deep voice next to you spoke out.

Startled you turned to see Alexander stood next to you, leaning against the counter. He was wearing jeans with a top that fit him… nicely you could say. Well, fit his biceps very nicely.

You were suddenly grateful that Lily had dragged you into her room to get ready together, her wardrobe had been of great benefit to you tonight and you were certainly glad that you were dressed appropriately for the evening. That was made clear by the wolf whistles Marlene and your friend Janie had shot you when you’d seen them.

Shooting him a smile you responded. “I’m bored, been ditched by all my friends.”

“Ah, well they made the wrong choice.”

“Yeah I’ll tell them as much if I bump into them again tonight.”

He chuckled, his eyes darting around your face for a moment.

“I’ll stay with you until then. Hopefully they don’t turn up and who knows maybe I can keep you company all night.” He shot you a cheeky grin, his brows raised.

Was he flirting with you? No surely not. He was him and you were, well just you. Your mouth parted and you’d realised you’d just been staring at him a moment too long.

“Or not. Hey, I saw a pretty girl and I thought it was time to shoot my shot.” He said nervously.

You quickly snapped out your daze. Yup, definitely flirting.

“I never said you couldn’t shoot your shot. Shoot it and you’ll see where it takes you.”

Woah, where did that come from. That was bold. Oh god, thank Merlin you had some liquid courage in you.

Interacting with boys was never your forte, definitely not sober and most certainly not drunk.

You weren’t sure how he was going to react until he shot you a smirk. “I guess I’ll be sticking around then.”

You didn’t realise how long you had spent chatting until you heard the front door slam, and looking around the place was now half empty couples had fallen asleep on each other and the party had mainly moved into the garden.

You had been caught up in conversation, Alex was funny and witty and you hadn’t stopped laughing since he had come over to you. He told you all about his life up north and why he moved down to Hogwarts.

After the front door slammed again you both fell into a comfortable silence for a moment, not really needing to fill the gap. He was stood up at the kitchen counter leaning against your arm whilst you were sat on it.

Taking a sip of your drink let out breathe. Alex moved to stand in front of you, even though you were sat on the counter he was still taller so you tilted your chin up to look at him. He rubbed his arm before he began talking and you were now worried about what he was going to do.

He began to speak. “So, I was wondering if you maybe wanted to hang out again? Alone this time, just me and you.”

Oh my god, was he asking you on a date? He was sweet but you still had feelings for Remus and you didn’t want to lead him on. But he could have meant it in a friendly way, right?

“Like a date?” You said breathless.

“Like a date. So what’d ya say?” He smiled at you nervously.

You opened your mouth to turn him down before something caught your eye behind his shoulder. Remus and Violet had just walked down the stairs hand in hand.

You felt sick.

This was it then, you had to begin to move on. You couldn’t follow Remus around like a lost puppy forever.

Alex was a good guy, and maybe if it all went well he could be the boy that’ll help you move on.

You inhaled sharply before meeting Alex’s eyes.

“I’d love too.” You gave him a tight smile.

“Cool. I’ll be looking forward to it.” He gave you a grin and you could tell he was very happy.

Guilt instantly started to fill your veins as you were only going to be using him as a distraction and you couldn’t help feel disheartened at the prospect.

Your gaze found Remus over his shoulder again. He was now alone and slumped against the wall, he was drunk. You could tell by the way his pupils were dilated and he was staring up at the ceiling with a clenched jaw. He was beginning to slide downwards and eventually was going down o take a seat on the floor.

Just because he didn’t love you back that didn’t mean you had the right to abandon him altogether, and that was the reason you said your goodbyes to Alex. You have him a quick hug and a kiss on the cheek as you told him you had seen one of your friends that you needed to look after.

Jumping off the counter you began your trek over to Remus.

He was now fully sat on the floor his head leaned back on the wall and his eyes shut.

You crouched down next to his legs and placed your hand on his shoulder as you should him gently.

“Remus.” He let out a large groan. “Remus are you alright?”

“No.”

You rolled your eyes, he was fine but sitting on the floor was not the best place to be at the moment so you began attempting to stand him up. You wrapped your arm around his back placed your other on his chest attempting to haul him up.

“Remus come on. You can’t sit on the floor, let’s go and sit on the couch.”

“No, it’s comfy here.” He half slurred his words.

“Please, come on.” You tried again and this time luckily he listen to you and began to push his body off the ground.

When he finally stood up he leaned against you full and nearly buckled under his weight. The boy had grown significantly over the summer and wan no longer slightly taller than you but rather towered over you now. As Sirius so nicely put it, he’s a giraffe now.

Managing to drag him over the the sofa, you sat him down as gently as you could but that was quite difficult when he had practically lost control of all his limbs.

You were quite out of breath by the time he’s slumped down on the sofa, you did not have the best stamina and you would rue the day you ever entered a gym.

You sat down beside him and pushed his hair off of his forehead as it had flopped down and covered his eyes.

“How much have you had to drink?” You sighed. He grunted.

“Remus, come on.”

“You’d know if you weren’t so distracted tonight.” He said with a huff.

Excuse me, who had ditched who?

“Distracted with what, huh?” Was this to do with Alex?

“You know with what.” He huffed again and crossed his arms and stared forward, a pout on his face.

“What a big baby. You sad I didn’t give you any attention tonight?” He certainly had all of Violet’s attention but you weren’t complaining about that.

He hummed finally turning to look at you.

“Yes.”

Remind you to never let this boy get drunk again, you cannot deal with his moodiness again.

Letting out a deep sigh you put your head on his shoulder and stared forward, you were too tired for this conversation right now and analysing what it all meant.

You could feel his neck tense as he stayed with his head facing you. He stared at you for a long moment before you began feel uncomfortable.

Moving away from his you looked at him with a glare.

“What now Remus?”

If this boy started again you were actually going to slap him, it was nearly 2am you didn’t have the energy for this right now.

“You’re beautiful.” He stared at you with an intense look, furrowing his brows giving you a small smile. “You’ve always been beautiful.”

You could feel your cheeks burning and your mouth softly part open in shock.

What?

“Remus, I-”

There was suddenly a loud bang coming from behind you both before you heard glass shattering. You both turned around to try and look into the kitchen through the sliver of the ajar door.

“Wormtail, I’m blaming this on you.” You heard Sirius say.

“What, no way.” Peter responded.

You heard shuffling next to you and by the time you’d turned around Remus was gone and you could hear his voice in the kitchen.

You slumped harshly back into the sofa.

What was that.

Remus thought you were beautiful, in fact apparently he’d always thought that. Was this a sign of sorts, was he trying to signal anything to you?

Surely it had to mean something? Boys don’t go around telling girls these things unless they truly meant them.

You could feel your face involuntarily turn into a smile, and your cheeks were beginning to hurt as you stared down at you hands in shock.

He thought you were pretty.

Oh god, he had to stop doing this. Dating Violet and then telling you these things, you had no idea what it all meant. It was just confusing, especially when you were supposed to be just best friends.

Your thoughts were suddenly interrupted when Lily sat down next to you, her head on your shoulder.

“Hey gorgeous, what’s got you smiling like that?” There was a teasing smile on her face as you looked over at her.

Act cool. It doesn’t mean anything.

Well it could mean something. Did it mean something?

“Nothing, just thinking about stuff.”

You didn’t want to mention it and get your hopes up if it wasn’t anything special.

She hummed. You could never hide anything from Lily, she had this ability of reading you the way no one else but Remus could and you could tell she wanted to ask about him since she must have seen you both talking.

But she didn’t say anything. Wrapping her hands around your upper arm she brought her legs up and splayed them across your lap and began ranting about James and his antics.

You smiled.

Of course. She could also tell when you didn’t want to talk about things and knew exactly how to move on swiftly and avoid the topic of conversation. How you went without her for 16 years you’ll never know.

So for now you’ll sit and listen to her talk about James, but you know that your not truly listening, your is mind elsewhere.

But you couldn’t wait to reap your shares of the group bet at the end of the year when she and James finally get together.

Sweet victory awaits.

—

“When is it?!”

Hearing squeals you looked up from your notebook. Marlene, Lily and Mary and sat down around you, throwing their bags on the table.

“Sorry, what?”

“I can’t believe we didn’t hear it from you, we’re supposed to be your closest friends.” Lily said with a huff.

Okay, now you were really confused.

“Hear what from me?”

Marlene rolled her eyes before responding.

“The date. With Alexander.”

There was a smug chuckle next to you from Mary.“See I knew there was something more there than what you said.”

Oh, the date. If you were honest you had forgotten about it until now.

“Yes.” You said in a caution voice. “Alex asked me on a date.”

“Oh it’s Alex now is it?” Lily had a smirk on her face.

“When is it?”

“I don’t really know, I think he said Friday.” Taking a bite of your sandwich you shrugged. All you wanted was to eat your lunch in peace, the great hall had finally quieted down since everyone had now left for the courtyard.

“You don’t know for sure?! This is a travesty. Why aren’t you more excited about this?” You couldn’t keep up with Marlene’s intense questioning. “This is Alexander Cromwell asking you on a date. I mean do you know how many girls are crushing on him?”

“Ummm… no I don’t. I don’t even really know how it happened. We were just talking at Jack’s party and it just happened. I honestly forgot about it.”

“You’ll have to make this up to us later for not telling us as soon as it happened.

At this point Marlene was more excited than you were about it. If she liked him so much why didn’t she go out and date him.

“Wait, how did you guys hear about this if I didn’t tell you?”

“Well, we heard from Lory who heard from Anna who heard from her boyfriend Jack who heard it from the man himself.”

You could feel Lily’s stare on the side of your face. Her unspoken question lingered in the air. ‘What about Remus?’ You didn’t want to speak about it. Which probably wasn’t a healthy coping mechanism but it was the way you were dealing with it.

Thinking too hard about your feelings for Remus could literally make it feel as if your heart could shatter. The line between friends and more than that was so blurred between you. Sometimes he would treat you in a way that had you smiling all week, and making your heart feel as if it could beat out of your chest.

Other times it cemented what you really were. ‘We’re just friends.’ was a comment you had heard him say more times than you could imagine. It was very clear to you when he would ditch you for Violet, or the fact that he didn’t come and see you during the full moons anymore.

You had been pushing your feelings as deep down as you could, but you couldn’t help but feel like this was a what if that would only ever be that. Ironic how there are 8 billion people in the world and you’ve managed to fall in love with the one person that would never love you back.

Letting out a nervous chuckle you responded. “Merlin. That’s a lot of people.” You could feel you face heat.

Lily’s pensive stare eventually turned into a question. “Are you excited about the date?”

It was a good question actually. Are you excited about the date?

Speaking to Alex the whole night of that party was the most memorable moment of the night. You could still remember how you felt when his arm brushed yours and the smiles he would shoot you.

And it didn’t help that he was ridiculously good looking. He had sharp features, a strong jaw and piercing eyes. He was quite the opposite to Remus. Where he had fierce look to him whilst Remus had softer features. He was loud and outgoing whereas Remus was quiet and reserved.

It didn’t make sense but oddly in a way it did. You need to reach out of your comfort zone and grow, and potentially that had to be away from your childhood friend.

“I think so. I mean he makes me laugh and he’s so cute. It’s all just exciting.” You could feel yourself become giddy. Maybe a part of you was happy about this date. After all your bad luck in the romantic department maybe this was your gift for waiting.

Lily’s face scrunched slightly for a moment before it turned into a smile.

“Good. You deserve it.”

You smiled back, ignoring the voice in the back of your mind.

—

The date went well. In fact it went better than you could’ve imagined.

There was not a moment that night where you didn’t stop talking, and even thinking about it put a grin on your face.

You also had had your first kiss that Friday. He had walked you home after that date, said goodbye and kissed you under the willow tree outside your dorm. Hidden under the view of all the droopy leaves, it was almost perfect.

Although it didn’t happen with the person you had wanted it to happen with the most, it was still good. Alex was sweet and kind and you almost couldn’t imagine it have happening with someone else.

Lily had forced it all out of you the moment you had stepped through the door, a smile on your face. Even though she had ruined your night by mentioning Remus. She was till weary of your feelings, with good reason, but you couldn’t go the rest of your life being weary about moving on.

Sitting in the common room, you were fiddling with the pages of the book you were reading led across the sofa, your legs crossed over at your ankles. Your mind had been in the clouds recently, I mean you did have a lot to think about.

Like for example, currently you were sat not paying attention to your book or the conversation your were supposedly a part of.

The marauders were sat on the opposing sofa with Remus sat in the arm chair by your head.

“Hey, stop pretending to read and pay attention.” Your were rudely interrupted from your thoughts by Remus knocking on the sofa closest to your head.

“Urgh if I have too.” You groaned and turned to your side leaning all your weight onto your elbow placing your book down on the table in front of you.

“What were you thinking so hard about then chief.” You hated this nickname. James had given it to you after you had taken charge of your herbology group project. It’s not your fault he’s a lazy bastard who doesn’t do anything you tell him to.

Out of the corner of your eye you saw two hands about to come down on the back of the sofa. They slammed down and Marlene leaning forward.

“Probably about Alex, and their date, and how romantic he is and what a good kisser he is.” She teased you.

She and Lily came around and sat down on either side of you whilst you sat up. You could feel your cheeks burning. This was not a conversation you wanted to have now. You had not told Remus about it yet, you had blocked that thought from your mind. If you had told him all you would done in the back of your mind would compare the night to what he would’ve done if the date was with him.

The shock on their faces was clear.

“You went on a date?” Peter muttered out, his eyes wide.

“By Merlin’s beard. Really? I thought that was just a rumour.” Sirius leaned back in his chair and smirked at you.

“With Alexander Cromwell? You said you were just friends.” Remus finally spoke out.

You finally met his gaze. His brows were furrowed a tense look on his face.

“Yeah, we were. It kind of just happened.” You scrunched your nose with a smile.

His jaw clenched tightly.

“It just happened. How does something like that just happen?” His voice was dark, he was not happy.

He should be happy for you, I mean he has Violet and you had no one. This is something Remus should encourage.

“I don’t know, we’ve spoken a couple times and it was good so we just went for it.”

What was his problem? You chuckled nervously and look around seeing Sirius and Lily staring intensely at Remus with their brows furrowed.

“When did it happen?” His frown deepened.

Fuck. Looking around you could see the awkward expressions on everyone’s faces, you almost wanted to die on the spot.

Luckily for you, Marlene responded instead. “A lady never kisses and tells Remus, come on you should know this by now.”

Oh my god. Oh my god. Oh my god. Why was he doing this right here, right now.

“Yeah Remus, you don’t hear all about the feathers I’ve ruffled.” Sirius gave his input, you could tell he was attempting to ease the awkward tension and with Lily’s response the conversation moved on from your date.

“It’s all I hear about thank you very much. Sirius did this, Sirius is an ass, etc etc.”

He let out an exaggerated laugh. “What lies, I am a very nice gentleman for your information.”

Everyone began giving their input and you finally started to relax, slouching into yourself and refusing to look at Remus.

His stare was obvious along with his disapproval, and no matter for how long you refused to meet his stare you could feel him looking at you every so often with that frown you knew too well.

This wasn’t quite the reception you were expecting from him.

But you decided to do what you always do, which is ignoring your problems, so you kept your gaze forward.

You wouldn’t meet his eyes and you will most definitely pretend like it was no big deal.

No big deal at all.

—

The year had now passed by quite quickly, Easter was approaching and you finally had the chance to go home soon. Finally a change to get away from Remus.

Things had been weird between you two, there was this underlying tension that you didn’t know how to break, ever since you had started dating Alex.

Remus hated him and he constantly made this know. His behaviour often made its way into your late night thoughts. You would lie under your covers, your hand under your head think about him and he had been acting these past couple months.

The behaviour he was displaying would usually incline a girl to believe that he liked them, and the way he acted towards Alex was intriguing.

It was things like this that would get your hopes up, it would make you believe that there was a chance that he would return your feelings. However, his relationship with Violet would indicate otherwise. They had gotten back to get her around November time and had been together since.

These mixed signals he was sending you made your head spin. It would also cause waves of overwhelming guilt to wash over you. Alex was a great guy, he was smart and funny and you got along great, but there was something that was missing. A spark, a feeling, just something. You couldn’t help but ignore the fact that the thing that was really the problem were your feelings for Remus.

Lily had voiced her concern several times about this issue and you had shut the conversation down every time and ran away. It felt humiliating talking about it with her, especially when she had James in the palm of her hand. She was beautiful and a genius could have just about anybody had she ever wanted too.

It was different, she never had to deal with the pains of unrequited love.

Being with Alex was a distraction you welcomed, he took your mind off of Remus and it was good. You didn’t have to think about the pain of it anymore, it made it easier to bury it deep down. They were different enough that you couldn’t really compare the two, which helped a lot. If you had dated a Remus 2.0 you would not have been able to handle it.

Alex did however play quidditch which was a massive distinction the two boys and you were currently on your way to one of his matches. It was Gryffindor vs. Ravenclaw tonight which was kind of a conflict of interest.

All of your friends were Gryffindor, as were you, so you were kind of a traitor considering you were cheering for Ravenclaw. However, this factor did mean that you could never lose, if Gryffindor won your house had succeed and if Ravenclaw won your boyfriend had succeed.

You were currently putting on a Ravenclaw scarf that Alex had asked you to wear, it was his. It was almost a way of claiming you were his and the concept of it was very adorable.

Initially he had asked you to wear a version of the robes he would wear in the matches but you thought that might be a bit too much and tip your friends over the edge, so you settled for wearing his scarves. The deep purple was a bright contrast against Gryffindor’s colours so you stuck out like a sore thumb but at least he could always see you when he was playing.

Lily and you were currently on your way to the stadium, hand in hand you had left your accommodation and were chatting along the way. The group had all decided to meet before hand and walk to the stadium together, that referred to all of you that didn’t play - which was everyone but James and Sirius.

You were currently approaching the meeting spot and you could see Marlene and Mary were already there.

“Hey guys!” They both waved at you as you walking up to them.

“Hey! Where’s Remus and Peter?” Lily had asked in a curious tone. She hated the cold and was eager to get to the stadium.

Well that was the reason she had told you but personally you think she may have an ulterior motive. Potentially her eagerness wasn’t linked to the cold but perhaps for a certain someone that she wanted to see.

Mary shrugged noncommittally. “I think they should be on their way, I mean they’re usually on time.”

“Well they’re here now so we can probably get going.”

You could see the two boys behind her shoulder, so you nodded you chin upwards with your gaze on them.

You all started walking towards them, meeting in the middle and saying your hellos.

“As much as I love this chitchat, can we please go, I feel like my hands are about to freeze off.”

“Alright, alright let’s go grumpy.” You chuckled as the six of you began your trek over.

Remus had coincidentally ended up next to you, and you both walked in stride along the pavement.

“What are you wearing?” He said your name in disgust. He was referring to your scarf, he did this every single match without fail.

“A scarf.” You played dumb because you were so done with this conversation.

“You are a Gryffindor you know.” There was a pointed look on his face as he tugged gently on one end of your purple scarf.

“Because my boyfriend is a Ravenclaw and I support my boyfriend in his endeavours.”

He let out a groan. “But you’ve never liked quidditch, I always had to drag you to these matches before.”

“I never had a reason to go before.”

Remus rolled his eyes so hard you were sure they were going to get stuck like that.

“Here we go again. I still just don’t understand why you don’t like him.”

Letting out a tut he responded. “He just gets on my nerves.”

“Sure uh huh, because that’s definitely the reason.”

He let out a huff and was quiet for the remainder of the walk to the stadium and as you took your seats in your house’s box.

Overall the game was a tense two hours, with the whole school on the edge of their seats. This was a long awaited game.

Ultimately Ravenclaw pulled through and won after the long match, neither of the teams had been able to catch the golden snitch.

As they had scored the last goal you jumped up and let a loud cheer. You heard booing behind you and you turned around to see pointed glares at you. Shrinking in to yourself you gave everyone sheepish smiles.

Well, at least Alex had won, right?

You all had began walking down towards the pitch, attempting to push past the throngs of people.

“Stop smiling, it’s annoying me.”

“Shut up Mary, it’s okay not everyone wins every time.” You smirked at her. She gave you a playful push and you stumbled into Remus’ arm. You looked up at him and he had a deadpan look on his face.

Your name was called loudly.

Spinning around you attempted to find where it was coming from.

It was shouted again.

Before you knew it Alex was in front of you and had planted a fast one on you. His hand was on the back of your head as he gave you a long kiss.

You heard an annoyed sigh coming from behind you and you decidedly ignored it knowing that it came from Remus.

Eventually, you managed to pull away from Alex. He gave you a massive hug, his sweaty body all over you.

“We won.” He had a grin on his face, his eyes sparkling. It was moments like this where you looked back at him and you felt so guilty because you knew that you could never return his feelings they way that he deserved.

You let out a breathless chuckle. “I know, I saw.” Giving him a a big smile you pushed his hair out of his face. “You played really great.”

“I had a special girl I was trying to impress in the crowd.” With a smirk on his face he leaned in to kiss you again.

Pulling away, your hand slid down from his arm to his hand. You see, Alex was a big fan of pda and unfortunately you were not. You didn’t know if it was because of the fact you didn’t have very strong feelings for him or because you just didn’t like it all together but he was a big fan of it.

He loved giving you long kisses and having his hand on you as often as he could and whilst you appreciated it, Remus’ glares on the back of your head every time stuff like this happened was clear and made you very very uncomfortable.

In fact you could feel his stare deep in the back of your head at this moment.

“Alright, alright. We get it you won, no need to show off.”

James had walked up to us in this time and gave Alex a firm pat on the back along the way.

Alex wasn’t the gloating type but you knew this match had meant a lot to him. Why this one specifically you don’t know, but it was something he was very passionate about.

“No hard feelings right, Potter?” He gave the Gryffindor boy a playful grin, his eyes lighting up. He was like the human version of a puppy.

James gave Alex a deadpan look as the corners of his mouth begun to turn upwards. Before he could smile fully he looked down towards the floor and gave a playful scoff.

“Shut up.” He muttered loud enough for us to hear.

As much as the marauders hated to admit it, Alex was a great guy. You knew how much they respected Remus but you could tell they disagreed with his feelings about your boyfriend, and each one shared a wholesome friendship with him.

Your herd of friends were currently waiting for Sirius, the boy had a habit of being late. Everywhere. His habit normally had something to do with a girl, and if he was late after a quidditch match it was definitely to do with a girl. He was seeing someone called Marcy at the moment and your top guess was that he was caught up with her.

“So did you want to do something now, or later?” You looked back at Alex after you had finished scanning your surroundings.

You were both currently holding both of each others hands, with him leaning back and forth into you and away from you, whilst his bag was on the ground next to you.

Looking up at him you gave him a shrug and kissed your teeth before responding.

“I don’t really know, what do you want to do?”

“It’s up to you.”

This boy. He knew exactly what he was doing.

“Don’t do this to me.” He smirked at you whilst his thumbs began rubbing along the sides of your hands in a calming motion.

“What ever you want to do is good.”

“Stop, you know how indecisive I am, I can’t decide. I don’t mind so you pick, please.”

Furrowing your brows you scrunched your nose and looked at him whilst tilting your head.

After a moment of you both staring each other down he smiled and began to tut at you.

“Fineee. I’ll choose, you know it’s very tiring having to hold the weight of these decisions everytime.”

“Shush now.”

“I’m sorry.” He leaned in and pecked your lips. “We can go to a restaurant and grab some food now?”

You quietly let out a long hum and furrowed your brows.

“Okay. Or we can go back to yours, watch a movie and order food in. Ares can go grab it.”

This time you let out a short hum and smiled. Ares was Alex’s owl, you loved that little guy. Particularly, when he would travel all the way for the city to get you food and come back.

“Alright.” He pulled you in for a hug and wrapped his arms tightly around your shoulders, pinning your arms to your sides and reducing a majority of your movement. “And you say I make all the decisions in this relationship.” He kissed the top of your head.

You scoffed and pulled away from him before smacking his chest with the back of your hand.

“Excuse me?”

“It’s a two way street lady, what just happened here then, right now.”

He had a point. But technically without him giving you the options you couldn’t have mutually decided which one you wanted to do.

“It was a mutual agreement, you ass.”

You let out a loud, dramatic breathe before playfully rolling your eyes. Leaning down you grabbed his bag and shoved it into his chest and stepped away from him before turning around to speak to everyone else.

“Umm, we’re going home. So we’ll see you guys tomorrow, right?”

Raising your eyebrows you let out a meek smile. Firstly, because Lily will hate you for ‘leaving her here alone with these idiots’, aka James Potter, alone.

Secondly, because you cannot stand to see Katie Jelson pine after Remus. She had recently began to tag along with your group when Remus was there and Merlin, she looked at him like he had hung the stars in the sky.

Is that how you look at him- looked at him. Reflecting back on your fifth year it must have been so obvious. All you could think about was if he pretended to not know about and ignore your feelings for him like he was doing to Katie.

Did he also complain about you to the marauders as he was doing with Katie.

It was humiliating, looking back there was no way he couldn’t have known. At least you had Alex this year as a distraction so help you move away from your love for your childhood friend.

You felt terrible, leading the boy on. It was selfish and you were a horrible person, and you knew that. Lily knew that.

But you ignored it, you ignored the guilty feeling when he smiled at you. The nagging voice in the back of your head when he kissed you. And you too, like Remus, pretended you didn’t notice. It was easier than having to acknowledge the harsh realities of his non existent feelings for you.

“I’m sorry, what do you mean your going home?” Lily instantly gave her disappointed gaze, God you felt sorry for her future children if they had to deal with that. At least you could bond with your future nieces and nephews about it, hey?

“Alex is really tired from the game- ” Said person pinched your hip as he knew you were lying. “-so we’re going to watch a movie and get some food in.”

Caught in a staring match with her you didn’t see Sirius walk up next to you.

“Aw yes. I don’t think I could go another second out here, ordering food in sounds like a great idea.”

His hair was ruffled and he had a suspicious red mark beginning to form behind his ear that you, and you assumed Alex, could see whilst stood next to him.

“No, Sirius it was just-” Alex joined in and began to defend your plans together.

“No it sounds like a great plan, let’s go.”

Remus had interrupted you and when you looked towards him, he was already looking at you. Well rather he had his hard gaze directed towards your boyfriends hand on you hip.

Again no matter how long you had been with Alex, Remus would always find be moody and find something to glare at. Alex however, no matter how hard you tried to avoid the pda in front of your fellow werewolf, would always end up doing something to piss Remus off.

It was an endless cycle. Frankly, you couldn’t tell which one of them started it and you didn’t want to have to have to choose between because you knew your answer.

You knew who you would pick.

You didn’t even have to think about it.

Both of you began protesting telling your friends it was okay, they really didn’t have to join.

Lily gave you a smug smile. “Nonsense, I’ve gotten quite tired of not spending any time with my best friend.”

“Lily.”

“Alright everyone let’s go. Our humble abode awaits.”

—

Looking back on that night, it had been a weird one.

Lily and Remus had both been acting particularly weird and you couldn’t tell why - for either of them.

Neither of them would let you or Alex retreat to your room, both adamant on keeping you in the living room with everyone else.

Remus specifically was very against it, you don’t know why. You and Alex weren’t going to do anything in particular in your bedroom, but anytime you got up his gaze would dart to your conjoined hands and his jaw would clench before protesting.

You were both just tired and wanted to sleep, he had had a long match and well you, you were literally just tired. There was no funny business happening there.

Anyways that long night had since passed and it was the beginning of summer.

The summer before your last year at Hogwarts and the nostalgia had began to hit you. You were currently sat on a rock on the side of the hill you and your friends were on.

The sun was beginning to set and the view. Well, you had never in your life ever seen anything so gorgeous.

You took a deep breath in before exhaling slowly, shutting your eyes for a moment.

It has been a long year, one that you’d hoped to forget. With Alex and Remus’ weird rivalry and then Remus’ fangirls. Lily’s weird behaviour and well… really just everything.

You heard soft steps moving towards you as some one situated themselves next to you.

“Hey.”

It was Remus, you could tell from his deep voice.

“Hi.”

You kept your eyes closed.

“Whatcha doing here, by yourself?”

Keeping a neutral expression you replied. “Just thinking about stuff.”

“About what?”

You opened your eyes and stopped leaning back in your hands, sitting up straight. Pulling your knees into your chest, you wrapped your arms tightly around your legs whilst placing your head on you knees and faced him.

“How much of an idiot all of my friends are.”

He smiled and scrunched his nose. Since it had gotten warmer and was now summer he had more freckles appearing on his cheeks, a new one under his eye and another on the tip of his nose.

“Hey, that’s what we were all thinking about you.”

You chuckled and raised your brows at him. “Sure, sure.”

He moved closer towards you and glanced at your face.

“So, where you going this summer? You leaving me alone again then?” His cheeky smile lit up his whole face, all but his eyes. You knew him so well you knew all of his expressions, bad and good.

“Nowhere actually. I told my mum I was staying here for the summer. Needed to spend time with my best friends.”

“Did you mention me? That was probably what convinced her.”

Your mum loved Remus. You don’t know why particularly, well you knew why you liked him, wasn’t too sure about your mum though. But he dangled this fact above your head as often as you could and it drew you mad.

“Yes definitely, that was the main reason why.” You gave him a mocking smile and looked down at the rock you were sat on, scratching your nails on it.

He was the reason why you were staying, he couldn’t fault you for for lying there.

“Shush, you really staying then?”

“Of course.”

The smile he gave you was one of the smiles that made you fall in love with him, it was so pure and innocent. He looked unburdened by the stress of his secret. He looked beautiful.

“Alright then. We can finally do everything I had planned to do last year. Do you still like the beach?”

You answered him and he smiled letting out a laugh.

“Of course, who doesn’t like the beach?”

“Sirius.” You chorused together with a smile.

“The sand gives his delicate skin a rash, you know.”

His comment made you laugh loudly.

God, you had missed this. Your banter had kind of died down the last couple of months, the both of you had been caught up with school and hadn’t had the chance to catch up with one another.

And that was were you both remained for the rest of the night.

Until the sun disappeared and the starts shone brightly you both sat on that rock and talked for hours, your friends leaving you both to your own devices.

It was something you had missed greatly, missed him.

The summer was going to be good. You had Lily and Marlene. All the marauders, Remus. You had to make the most of it all while it lasted.

“Look- a shooting star. Make a wish”

Hours had gone by since you had both started speaking and you hadn’t even noticed the sun go down until the boy sitting next to you had pointed it out.

You closed your eyes and made your wish.

When you opened them again Remus’ wide gaze was on you.

“What’d you wish for?” He asked you this every time and every time you had the same answer.

“If I tell you it won’t come true.”

Then he would complain about it and say that wishing on a star was just a concept, not magic related.

Then you would interject that folk tradition says that shooting stars are when gods have their eyes on Earth; they listen to people's wishes and make them come true.

He would then say ‘God’s aren’t real’, and you would argue that ‘if magic is real, why can’t God’s be?’

This debate then could last hours between the two of you but it would never get old.

Your wish had been that that night wouldn’t never end. Sadly the sun listens to no one and rose again the next morning. However, you had no recollection of how you’d gotten home or in your bed or who had tucked you in.

But you remembered a featherlight kiss on your forehead and someone stroking your hair before you fell into a deep sleep.

And you definitely remembered the smile on your face as you drifted off.

part 3

tag list:

@diorgirl444 @starkluvrr @theweasleyskettle @milkteeboba @blakeblue01 @starqwerty20 @iluvfetuszarry @raindropstearsandtea @katsuniverse @middle-of-the-earth @speedunkle @mypeace4 @garfieldsladybird @welnasynchbest @marauders-eras @4rt3m1ss @aki-chan-20 @poetsneil @stained-tea-cup @hawkinsavclub1983 @spxcekru @stars-havefallen

-

[r0guedr0id]

Count Dooku x Dressmaker Fem Reader

One shot | 3368 words | Smut & Romance | Age Gap

A/N: Bestie @dookuswifey has a lot of big feelings about the Old Man, so I had to write here a little treat using The Prompt List.

Prompts:

11. "Spend the night with me." 28. "Each of my thoughts about you are important." 34. "I'm afraid I can no longer remain professional." 38. "I'll let you do anything if you just touch me now."

It'd been some time since you arrived in Serenno to work as a tailor. Fresh out from the University of Naboo, you caught the eye of the person in charge of looking for new personnel for the palace. They noticed the love and care you put into each of your designs and your attention to detail and immediately contacted your teacher about an open position in the palace. You didn't expect an offer like that at all, humble as you were about your craft. But the last thing you thought was that you would be serving the one and only Count Dooku.

He had been a Jedi and was a respected politician and aristocrat. Those were the things you knew about him before flying to your new planet.  In his public appearances, he was always elegant and well-spoken, and maybe you thought he was actually a very attractive man. But from what you knew, you would be just one of the numerous tailors and seamstresses working for him. You probably won't meet him ever.

At your arrival, your anxiety about fitting in with the other personnel of the palace spiked, but everyone was so nice to you. Being the youngest on the staff, soon you felt welcomed and everyone tried to help you. The palace was indeed beautiful and your quarters were quite decent for a servant, with lots of natural light and a soft bed. You wondered how your working day would look while unpacking your belongings.

The next day, a protocol droid showed up at your door to walk you to your workshop. It was a huge room with lots of sewing machines. Some of your coworkers were already starting with the sewing projects they had in hand. Then the droid showed you where everything you needed was, and you could admire the fine materials you would be working with. In the centre of the room, there was a circular platform surrounded by ornate mirrors to make the fittings. Everything looked classy and expensive there, from the wood flooring to the chandelier. Finally, you were shown to your personal workstation, and the droid went through every tool there and the sewing patterns that were most used. You also noticed a huge sewing mannequin that was obviously custom-made, since it wasn't the standard men’s one. The droid gave you a notebook with a thorough compilation of measurements and sketches from the previous dressmaker. It told you they had to retire due to arthritis and you felt bad for them since they looked like an organised person who had put a lot of thought into their craft.

The droid bowed to you and excused itself after explaining everything everything you asked, and shortly you were left on your own. You introduced yourself to the seamstresses and explored a bit on your own until a different droid came to you.

"Master Dooku requests your presence in the breakfast room." Your blood froze inside your veins, absolutely not expecting that. Checking your hair in one of the mirrors, you rapidly gathered pins, measuring tape and the notebook the previous tailor left for you. But for your confusion, the droid said that such tools won't be needed. You felt like throwing up while you followed it through the quiet corridors under the morning light.

The holos didn't do him justice, it was your first thought entering the room. The was sitting with a display of various choices of breakfast, the place service being the most delicate you had ever seen. His gorgeous side profile looked godly illuminated by the morning, and you had to actively hide your admiration for your new employer. He left the holopad he was reading when he noticed you, and stood up to his full height to receive you.

"Good morning young lady, it's a pleasure to have someone of your skill joining my team." His voice was deep and he had constant eye contact with you. You thought you'd break under his gaze like one of the delicate glasses on the table.

"The pleasure is mine, Count Dooku. I'm honoured to have joined the palace staff." You didn't know how you had put together so many words, but he nodded satisfied with your answer.

"Please, sit with me and serve yourself." He indicated with a broad hand. "Coffee or tea?" 

"I actually prefer hot cocoa, thank you." Your brain must had glitched, because how the hell you were commenting on your personal preferences to an aristocrat who happened to be your boss? You started to panic, but he surprised you with a belly laugh.

"Our new dressmaker has a sweet tooth." And someone in the way he said it made you feel things you shouldn't about your boss. A droid appeared with a actual pot of fresh hot cocoa for you and you thanked it thoroughly, enjoying the warm beverage in silence while your heart was beating like a crazy horse.

"Now that we've eaten, let's talk about your job requirements." He said after finishing his breakfast, cleaning his moustache with a cloth napkin. You listened attentively while he communicated to you his main preferences and necessities regarding his wardrobe. You couldn't stop wondering about why his valet wasn't the person meeting you for this, but maybe Count Dooku was the kind of man that wanted to attend to all his business personally. He definitely looked like that.

He needed a new cape, three tunics and a special outfit for the upcoming Life Day gala, so you will be busy. He told you that he trusted your fabric choices and that you would be able to comment with his valet his preferred silhouettes and the dress code of the gala.

"Let me walk you to the workshop." He offered after both of you were down commenting on the specifics of your job. In your stroll until there, he commented on some architectural facts that you found really interesting. 

"Again, it's a pleasure to have such a skilled young woman as my personal dressmaker." You had been guessing it by now, but he had made it clear. Anyone had told you before accepting the job there you'll be his personal tailor. Maybe they thought that you could be intimidated by it, you couldn't know. 

"The pleasure is mine sir, I hope my work fulfils your likes and needs." You responded politely in a small voice. Then to your surprise, Count Dooku kissed your hand as a farewell, and left you at the door in a twirl of his cape.

What had just happened? and why was your heart beating that fast?

The first fitting

You had busted your ass to create something incredible to Count Dooku and now the first fiting was here. You haven't seen him since your breakfast together, but maybe it was for the better. The man had the capacity to make you feel weak on the knees and you needed a cold head to fulfil this project. The reality was that you recalled that first encounter every day, sighing like a teenager and imagining the big mannequin was him. Pathetic, you thought.

But the day arrived and he was there in his full glory. The other tailors and seamstress were on their time off and it was just the two of you. He smiled widely at your sight and then stepped on the room. You first showed him the cape and the tunics, the less complicated projects, and he was delighted with your progress. 

"You're working at an amazing pace young lady, I hope you're not overdoing it though." He commented, a frown of worry adorning his forehead. You laughed tired, it was true you had been working extra hard.

"Don't worry about me sir, my only goal is to have your suit in time, the rest is important."

"Each of my thoughts about you are important," he responded in a commanding, but gentle voice. You stopped what you were doing absolutely stunned. You knew you shouldn't be looking at him like that but you had turned to stone. He then cleared his throat. "What I mean is that I care for your well-being and I wouldn't want you overworking yourself." His clarification didn't make much to stop your crazy heart and you didn't know how to act now.

"That's very kind of you, sir." You responded submissively, not looking at him in the eye. His presence was everywhere, but it was only going to get worse. Your throat was dry. "Could you try your suit now sir?" Your petition came in the smallest voice, but he nodded and went up the fitting platform obediently.

You were actively trying not to touch him too much, but Maker, you were his tailor. From the expanse of his chest to his strong arms you started to learn every part of his clothed body so well. You could see your reflection and your cheekbones were burning. He now was silent and observed you working around. The platform made you even tinier next to him, and that was exactly how you felt.

"Do you like it, sir?" You asked shyly after the full suit was finally on display over his broad body. 

"Is perfect dear," he responded turning around to admire your design. By now all your face was a violent red, but it became even worse "Good job." Just the two words of praise made you melt and you were sure right now he had noticed.

"I'm happy to serve you in any way I can, sir," you responded, and you'd swear you saw his gaze darkening for a moment.

"I'll just need you to adjust the design to be able to hang my sabre, if that is okay." He asked with a deeper voice than before.

"Of course! Just tell me where." You responded, eager to improve your design to his needs. To fulfil the strong need you felt to please this man. 

What happened next just made your brain glitch. Dooku grabbed your hand and slowly, positioned it in the part of his hip where he preferred his lightsaber to be. Your mouth went dry. 

"There." He indicated, and you nodded flustered, running to make annotations to position the holster. Your hand burnt.

While you did so, he redressed and your firing session was over.

"I can have the design change in one week."

"Don't overwork yourself though." He was adjusting his cape but wasn't getting it well so you helped with it standing on your tippy toes.

"Thanks, dear," his gaze was fixated on you, between his lashes his pupils won't stop registering your little hands going over the cape clasp.

Ready to go sir, is there something more you need?" Your big doe eyes are so eager to help that you have been messing with Count Dookz that's the only explanation to his petition.

"Spend the night with me," he blurted and you opened your mouth in disbelief. Had you heard wrong?  "I mean, the gala, would you accompany me, miss?" He clarified, and you sighed in relief because it couldn't be what you first thought.

"I can't see how you would want to be accompanied by a plain dressmaker sir, even though I'll accompany you if that's your wish." You responded in your most diplomatic way, trying to not scream internally. "Nevertheless, I don't have a gown to wear to such an event." Your pout made Dooku's heart shiver and that's the only explanation for why he caressed your cheek next for a brief moment.

"Don't worry about that, darling." And after kissing your hand like he did the first time, he disappeared followed by his cape.

You had to take the rest of your day free to assimilate what had just happened between both of you.

The second fitting

To say you were nervous was the understatement of the cycle. As expected, you didn’t listen to him and busted your ass to create the perfect suit. That day, you even did your hair in a fancier updo and put your favourite dress on. Both of you had been coinciding briefly here and there, but in the end, you were staff so your routines were so different. He’d always smile at you during those encounters and even stop a moment even though he had important meetings to attend.  

You were daydreaming looking through your room’s window, thinking about your next fitting session with him, when you saw it. You knew he had been a Jedi and you talked about his sabre, but you didn’t actually think he engaged in combat. That was until that day, your jaw dropped at the sight of Count Dooku training in the gardens with the sabre. The vision was magnetic. He looked so agile and strong going through the different feints he was practising. You noticed he was wearing one of the tunics you had designed for him. The garment fit him like a glove. You were mesmerized by the sight until you noticed he had stopped working out. And he was looking in your direction. It was impossible that he could see you in this distance but you felt weird, like he was just there with you. With your heartbeat spiking, you moved away from the window and continued preparing yourself for the day.

It was still soon in the morning when the protocol droid announced that Coun Dooku would be coming for his second fitting session that afternoon. You swallowed hard, eager to have a private moment with him again and even realized your perfume. A part of you felt silly because why an aristocrat would want to mess with you? But on the other hand, under his gaze, it was the first time you had felt truly seen. And then it was that strange moment this morning. You didn’t want to give it more thought, but it had felt weirdly intimate.

The afternoon arrived and your coworkers left and you started getting more and more nervous until the door finally opened.

“It’s nice to see you again young lady.” He had changed from the tunic you saw him with this morning and smelled incredible. You stood immediately and bowed in respect, but your hands were already trembling slightly.

“Welcome to the workshop sir. Shall we start the fitting?” He then eyed you from head to toe lazily, not moving an inch from where he was standing. The thing was that you were eager to have your hands all over him, even though it was supposed to be in a professional way.

“I can’t wait,” he responded in a raspy voice, and you wondered for one second if he was waiting for you to touch him too, but rapidly discarded that thought. This was strictly a professional physical touch and Count Dooku was just being nice. He went up the round platform and you rushed to get the suit and the pins. But this time, he wasn’t undressing and you looked at him quizically for a moment. 

“Would you allow me, sir?” You asked, pointing at his cape, and he nodded. On your tiptoes, you found the clasp, and with the corner of your eye, you saw the reflection of you both and thought how good you looked together.

“Have you thought about my invitation, dear?” He asked as if he could read your mind. Moving away, you folded carefully the heavy cape and put it on a chair.

“I don’t have anything to wear to an event like that,” you responded carefully, turning again to face him. 

“I’ll have the most beautiful dress crafted for you, sweet girl.” 

Your eyes opened widely and your head started spiralling. Did he really want to bring you to the Gala as his companion? Why? You were a girl from a good Nabooian family, but nothing worthy of an aristocrat like him. While your brain was working on overdrive, he had been removing his tunic and was now only in a high-neck undershirt. You swallowed hard and it took all the self-restraint in yourself to not look at him like the eye candy he was.

“Why me?” You asked finally, your gaze fixated on your task of helping him with his new tunic. It fitted him perfectly, and you would be proud if it wasn't for the incessant pounding of your heart. Next, you went to grab the new belt to close his tunic and hang the lightsaber, trying to remain professional at all times. You offered it to him, but he just lifted his arms, indicating that he wanted you to put it. 

“You have caught my eye, little lady.” You blushed incapable of looking at him. It wasn’t anything you already knew, but hearing it was a different deal.

“Can I put your belt now, sir?” You asked approximating him, feeling hotter and hotter. Count Dooku leaned over your shoulder and you felt his hot breath when he spoke.

"I'll let you do anything if you just touch me now." You actually squeaked at his words. Your eyes finally met his and they were dark and inviting, but you had a job to do. Putting your arms around his waist, you adjusted the new belt, but this time you didn’t avoid touching him but the contrary. Then, with trembling hands, you adjusted the tunic around it. Your hands started to travel to his ample chest and you looked at him in search of reassurance. He was looking at you with his mouth agape, eyes semi-opened and the most adoring look. It was the yes you needed before letting your hands roam through the expanse of his chest and shoulders. It was adorable how he let a deep sigh leave his lips as if he had been waiting for this as much as you. His desire fueled yours and made you feel bold, hands travelling south to the new belt again.

“I think everything fits well sir, do you feel comfortable?” You asked, keeping the illusion of professionalism. “Is the belt appropriate for your lightsaber?” With doe eyes, you looked at him while tugging at the belt casually, when you noticed how hard he was and your jaw dropped.

“To be honest, my pants are feeling a bit tight miss.” He purred and your mouth went completely dry. 

“Let me fix that for you, sir,” and you actually put the little act of pretending you were adjusting his pants, even dropping to your knees. You could see his Adam’s apple move when he swallowed, his gaze not leaving yours for a moment. “I think I’ve found the problem,” you cooed and slowly stood up again caressing his outer thighs while doing it.

“Oh, yeah? And was is it dearn?”

You tilted your head and looked through your long lashes coquettish. Your little hands travelled again to find the waistband of his pants. Maker, he was even harder.

“The problem is…” You started tracing patterns with your thumbs over his hipbones. "I'm afraid I can no longer remain professional, Mr Dooku."

Your boss groaned and all hell broke loose. In a moment, he had manhandled you into the ample pattern table. He was nestled between your tights, your skirt hiked up and he looked so manly while needy over you.

“Is this what you want, little one?” He asked while kissing that soft spot behind your ear.

“Yes, oh yes, sir.·

Thanks to the Maker, the old piece of furniture was sturdy enough to endure the rest of the passionate fitting session.

You ended up accompanying Count Dooku to the Life Day gala, both of you looking radiant together in your tailor-made garments. All the eyes were on you, but you only could see the gorgeous man who was holding your arm the entire soiree. When the first notes of music started, he was fast to bow and ask you a dance, and you complied happily. That was only the first of the many events you would attend together. For every one of them, you would design the most amazing suit and he would gift you the prettiest gown. Everyone would talk behind your back, but the thing was you only had eyes for each other.

[yikesharringrove]

I think a lot about Steve and Billy becoming foster parents.

I think about them, mid-thirties, welcoming two kids into their home. A brother and a sister. A fifteen year old boy, and a two year old girl.

And clearly, they’ve been through some shit.

The baby is easy. She’s shy at first, and clings to her brother for the first few weeks, but she warms up easily to Steve and Billy. (Especially when Billy sneaks her cookies and Steve is always down for a little snuggle.

It’s the boy who is hard to crack.

He’s been in and out of foster situations his entire life. If it weren’t for his sister, and the fact that his social worker was actually doing a good job of not splitting them up, he feels like he’d be in his on. Our in a boys’ home.

But he’s seen foster parents that seem kind, but have some ulterior motive. Or call the social worker when they can’t handle his trauma.

So he pushes back.

The first day he’s at Steve and Billy’s, he throws a plate at the wall.

He doesn’t miss the way Billy has a white knuckled grip on the kitchen counter, or the way he leaves the room the second it looks like Steve’s got it under control.

And he assumes, that Billy was trying to hold himself back from smacking him. That he left to call social services.

He doesn’t bother to unpack.

But the next day, no one comes to take him away.

In fact, he startled awake to a soft tap on his bedroom door, and a voice telling him that breakfast is ready, please come downstairs when you’re ready.

He doesn’t. He doesn’t go downstairs all day.

And every few hours there’s a knock and a voice telling him to come down for some food.

He only leaves when the voice tells him that his sister keeps asking for him.

And there’s a plate of food for him in the microwave, and Steve gives Billy a knowing look before taking his sister off to bed.

He knew it was a fucking rouse.

And he wolfs down his meal, expecting Billy to tell him they’ve spoken with the agency, and they’re keeping his sister but kicking him to the curb.

“I need to tell you that you’re not going anywhere. No matter how much you push against us, we promised to care for you. You’re staying here.”

“Is that a threat?”

Billy smiled.

“Nah. It’s just true. You would never leave your sister anywhere without you.”

“Yeah? How the fuck do you know?”

And he wanted that stupid smile to fall off Billy’s face. But it didn’t.

“Because I was you. It didn’t matter how often my dad beat the shit outta me. I stayed there to make sure he never did it to my sister. We’d never, ever, do anything to hurt either of you, but you’ve been hurt too many times to trust that yet. So what you can do, is stop acting out. You don’t have to let us in. You don’t have to start calling us your dads and shit, but please. Accept that we want you here. That we want to take care of you.”

And he’s fucking stunned, because this is not at all what he thought this conversation was gonna be.

“I’m sorry,” he mumbled. “I assume the worst.”

“That’s okay. You’ve been through a lot. We won’t push, and like I said. You don’t have to let us in, but we’re here for you.”

He sniffed, and Billy’s hands flexed on the table, like he wanted to reach out and touch him.

“I thought you were gonna tear me a new one about last night. I thought you were gonna send me back.”

“No. I mean, Im not exactly excited about the glass I had to clean up. And your sister was scared shitless, she’s been freaked out all day, make sure you go see her before bed. But, I understand. I know what it’s like to feel like everyone will give up on you, so you might as well push them away. And I’m sorry I left. To be honest, the plate thing, it really freaked me out.”

And that made sense, because of what Billy told him about his own father.

He’s been on the receiving end of a broken dish before, too.

“I’m sorry.”

“That’s okay. I mean, Please, never do it again, but your anger and your fear is totally okay. I can help you cope. I’ve been in more therapy than you could even dream.”

And billy kind of had a spark in his eye, one that said it’s really okay.

I just think it’s be neat.

[persphonesorchid]

Constellations Of You - JHS

Summary: A new chapter of Him and You begins. He’s waited a long time for this, for the mornings where he could wake next to you in a house you’d both made a home of.

Genre: Est. Relationship, Fluff, smut (minors begone)

WC: 3.3k

Warnings: Soft Dom Hoseok, he's a little bit mean. Unprotected sex, lots of pet names, uh Hobi puts his thumb in Mc's mouth at one point, hand on throat but not actually choking. Hoseok is soft as hell for MC and I'm gonna marry him or some shit.

Notes: Happy birthday to my man Hobi. Genuinely hope he's having a great day. Also I wrapped this fic up at like 2am this morning so if you see any mistakes, don't hesitate to tell me!

Check out my other works- HERE

If you enjoy my content, please consider donating- Here

It’s cold, and somewhere on the cusp of sleep and wakefulness, Hoseok shifts closer to you out of habit. The arm he throws over you meets the chill of the air too soon, and he lifts his head away from where it’s tucked against your neck. Sleepily, he squints against the light of the rising sun, it’s not quite there, but it’s peaking through the crack in the curtains and annoyingly, right in his eyes.

Shifting a bit more, Hoseok realizes that it’s cold where his hand is because you’ve kicked the sheets away from you at some point. Though he could see the furrow of your brows and the telling curl of your spine against his front, where you’d drawn your knees up and close to your chest.

Sighing, Hoseok sits up, yawning as he tries to pull the covers from where it’s tangled at his legs and somewhere – somehow – under you. Successful, he fixes the covers over you and sinks back into the warmth of it when you relax.

You murmur something that sounds like his name, rolling over and tucking yourself against him. Your feet are cold against his shins, but Hoseok doesn’t mind too much despite the quiet swear he lets out.

He’s awake enough now, to stare at the bare wall on the other side of the room. There’s two rolls of wallpaper leaning in a corner because you’d decided against painting, boxes stacked on top of each other because you’d both done everything but unpack them yesterday.

There’s still a lot to do, but Hoseok would like to wait until the sky is blue and he’s not as tired.

“What time is it?” you ask, lips brushing against his collarbone. He slips his hand under the oversized jersey you wore, pressing his fingers into the warmth of your skin.

“Too early,” Hoseok sighs, “go back to sleep.” He hikes his leg over your hip as you get comfortable. Just as he settles, eyes drifting closed again, you call his name and he answers with a hum that rumbles in his chest.

“When does the furniture get here?” Your voice is quiet, and Hoseok knows you’re already on your way back to sleep. He is too, and his answer is equally quiet.

“’Round eight...”

When Hoseok wakes again, you’re gone and he’s hugging the covers. There’s a clang from somewhere down the hall and a soft swear that follows. Rubbing at his eyes, Hoseok sits up, scooting to the edge of the bed to swing his legs over the side.

He walks out of the bedroom and down the hall to the kitchen where you stand facing away from him. There’s a soft popping of eggs in the frying pan, bacon set aside on a napkin covered plate and the electric kettle is whistling. He knows better than to sneak up on you while you’re over the stovetop, so he waits until you’ve set the spatula aside.

Walking over, he wraps his arms around your waist, setting his chin on your shoulder to peer into the frying pan. You startle still, giggling, you lightly pat his arm, “You scared me.”

Hoseok places a gentle kiss on your neck in apology, “Thought you heard me.”

“S’okay,”

Hoseok sways you gently in place, forehead against the spot where your neck meets your shoulder. He’s content to just stand there, and if time freezes around him, he wouldn’t notice nor would it matter. In this moment where it’s just you and him and nothing can separate you both.

He’s waited a long time for this, for the mornings where he could wake next to you in a house you’d both made a home of. Even though, right now, it’s barely anything, a house full of your presence but lacking in memories. Something that will build in time. The space in which you’d share your highs and lows, when days would blend together on repeat and he’d lose track of them.

Hoseok could spend forever here, wrapped tightly in the little bubble of comfort. Where the scent of your coconut shampoo invades his senses and the warmth of you is a welcome sensation. He inhales softly, nose against your hair and presses a kiss where his lips could reach.

“I can’t do anything if you’re glued to me, Jay.” You chuckle, wiggling against him like a worm caught, but you don’t push him away. You turn the heat of the stove off with a quick movement of your fingers. You shift to the left and he moves with you, unwilling to separate by even a few inches. “Hoseok.”

Hoseok ignores the whine of his name, “Just pretend I’m not here.” He tightens his hold, only releasing when you whine louder.

Chuckling, he shuffles over to the kettle that’s long turned off, steam rising out of the pointed lip. The mugs you’d used last night were the only two in the cupboard overhead, and a half empty packet of instant coffee tucked into the corner. “Coffee or tea, babe?”

You look over at him, from where you’ve started cutting into an avocado. “Is the tea in the cupboard?”

Hoseok shakes his head, eyes darting to the boxes tucked in the far corner near the fridge behind you. “It's in there somewhere, I think.”

The face you make has him chuckling; he doesn’t want to go digging through the boxes anyway. He takes the mugs down, letting the dark grains of coffee roll on into them in even share. He pours less water in your mug, knowing that you’d put milk because there’s no creamer. Carefully, he takes the mugs over to the table and sets them down, the table that has two more chairs than needed but would be filled someday – one day.

You smile as you set the plates down, fingers reaching to dance at the back of his neck. Hoseok watches as you pour milk into your mug before you stick it into the microwave to bring back the heat it’s lost.

“What do we have to do today...besides unpacking everything?” Hoseok asks once you’ve settled opposite him, picking at the crust of his buttered toast.

You hum, “Grocery, and we have to replace the plates that broke yesterday. And the furniture’s supposed to be here soon.”

Nodding, you’d both spend the next ten minutes not doing much talking, mouths being busy otherwise. When finished, Hoseok does the clean up while you shower, and busies himself with unpacking the dishes. By the time you’re out, the mover’s truck is parked outside and for the next hour and a half, you and Hoseok decide how and where everything would go.

Distracted, for moments where you’d talk from different sides of the room, or doing silly dances to the hip-hop tracks coming from the stereo. And Hoseok, was more specifically distracted by you struggling to drag a large bag of drapes into the room from the hallway. You laugh as you stumble, deciding to stop and push instead of pull, the soft light from the sun coming in through the windows glows against the backdrop of your form.

“What color should we go with?” You ask, hands on your hips as you stare down into the open bag.

Long before, a good four or so years ago, Hoseok never had to worry about the ‘we’. He didn’t have to measure his actions to suit the cause and effect of another person, free to be who he was in all his lonesome. When he’d work and return to his apartment that was solely his. His own space in which he was content, where he’d cook only for himself, or didn’t have to worry when he left the toilet seat up in his half awake state.

When the framed pictures on his walls were of him and his friends, treasured moments that belonged only to them. Then, you came and that had to change, I became Us – a unit that took time to build upon and get used to. Suddenly, he wasn’t cooking for himself anymore, and he would put the toilet seat back down no matter how sleepy he was. The framed pictures on the walls never changed, only new ones were added, treasured memories that belonged only to you and him.

It wasn’t all easy, no relationship ever is. There were ups and downs, arguments where you’d both said things you hadn’t meant when anger and frustration persisted. Moments when it was better to just give each other space to cool off, and all would be forgiven after a long talk.

And there were moments where Hoseok felt like he was floating somewhere above the clouds. So high up, tethered to earth by a string that wound itself around your wrist. Sometimes he worried, in late nights after a particularly bad fight and too much whisky, that you’d cut him loose one day and he’d come crashing down like a comet. You never did, though, you’d only hold tighter to the string that kept you both.

Hoseok walks over to you, you’re digging through the bag, pulling out different shades of lighter curtains to get to the drapes at the bottom. He lays his palm against your lower back, fingers dipping under the edge of the sweater you’ve taken out of his side of the closet. You hum in question, straightening against him. “Can I help you, sir?”

“Maybe.” Hoseok smiles, letting his hand roam around to the soft expanse of your tummy and leaves it there. “I don’t need anything, just love you.”

“I love you, too?” Your brows furrow and you chuckle out your confusion. In all his dramatics and flare, Hoseok pulls away from you, a hand pressed against his chest as though wounded.

“A question?” he gasps, “Doth the fair maiden not share the same sentiments?”

“Oh, God. Never say that again.” You turn to face him, a laugh on your exhale, but you go along with it anyway; never one to deny him. “A rash assumption, Sir Jung.”

On your toes you tip, and Hoseok meets you halfway when he leans for your sake, expecting the kiss that you brush so lightly against his lips with a sweet hum. “I love you too, silly.”

Hoseok is reaching for you, but you slip away too quickly, free from the grasps of his hands you nudge the bag at your feet. “Now if you would be so kind. Help me pick a color.”

“Should we get this?”

You’re a little ways away from Hoseok, where he’s manning the shopping cart filled with groceries. You’re standing near the freezers, a box of ice-cream pops in your hand. You’re not looking at him though, instead, pondering the different flavors in your sight.

Hoseok wheels the cart and sets it to the side and out of anyone’s way. You’ve long run through the list of essentials, now, Hoseok’s only trailing behind you as you ask his opinion on random things you wanted. “If you want, yeah.”

He looks at the flavors too, and picks up a box that marketed a pistachio flavor. You glance at it and make a face, “It's not that bad,” he chuckles, taking your plain chocolate and placing them both in the cart.

By the time you’re out of the grocery and on the drive back home, it’s almost four pm. Most of the morning and early afternoon was spent organizing the house, and a late lunch left you both behind on getting everything done.

With the indicator ticking rhythmically, Hoseok turns onto the neighborhood street. You lean forward in your seat, squinting, “Is that Seokjin’s car?”

It was, and once Hoseok parked in the driveway, he’d found his friends sitting on the sidewalk. Hugs and congratulatory greetings were shared, Jungkook is holding a stack of pizza boxes, a couple more than Hoseok thinks they’d be able to run through. Seokjin’s complaining about the crick in his neck that he acquired and blames on the length of time he’d spent driving over.

Namjoon and Yoongi are standing a little ways off to the side of the group, both laughing at the fact that they’ve brought the same bottle of whisky. Jimin’s clinging to Hoseok’s frame, saying that he missed him too much even though he’d seen him the day before in the city. Taehyung’s trying to get everyone to quiet down, camera in hand and wanting to take a photo.

So you all stand there once Taehyung has the camera on the tripod and they all surround you both, with smiles and peace signs. A photo that would be framed to put somewhere in the living room. And you all clamber inside, out of the cold before Yoongi could start to complain about it. A housewarming get together that was entirely unplanned, but not unwelcome.

When the sun pulled the moon into the sky, and the pizza boxes were surprisingly empty, the boys said their goodbyes at the door. Wandering off to Seokjin and Yoongi’s cars with promises of visiting as often as their time allows.

You and Hoseok called an early night, after you’d both washed the day away. He’d left you to settle into bed while he locked the doors and windows. Eyes wandering around the space that was previously open, now comforting, and with a memory that’s on its way to sinking into the walls.

Hoseok makes his way up the stairs, after making sure he’d left the kitchen light on because you wouldn’t be comfortable if all the lights are out. He finds you, just as you place your phone down on the nightstand. Shutting the door behind him, he quickly crawls under the covers and into your space.

He draws you closer to him with an arm around your waist, kisses your shoulder where your tee shirt’s tugged down to reveal your warm skin. You shift in his hold, turning to face him and Hoseok peppers small, fluttering kisses all over your face.

Nudging your chin with his fingers, Hoseok tilts your head back enough to slot his lips against yours. The kiss is languid and patient, much like his love for you, his fingers drifting softly against your jaw and into your hair.

It wasn’t long before Hoseok’s sucking on your bottom lip, slipping his tongue into your mouth to slide against yours. His hand trails away from your hair, down and back under your tee shirt where he gently grips your hip. He brings his knee up between your thighs and he swallows the sound you make when it pressed flush against your core.

He directs the motion of your hips against his thigh, and the whimper you let out when he pulls his mouth away from yours runs like electricity on a wire straight to his cock.

The hand that’s trapped under the weight of your head twists towards you, lacing into your hair so that Hoseok could press his lips against your neck. He nips at your skin with blunt teeth, there’s a desperation in the way you try to rock your hips faster than he’s letting you and the way softly whine his name.

“Hobi.” He feels your hand curl into the material of his tee and the way you tug. He hums, too busy sucking a bruise below your jaw to properly answer.

“Want you.”

Hoseok pulls away from your neck, his eyes adjusted enough to the darkness of the room to make out the outline of your features. He needs no light to guess how you look right now: pupils swallowing the expanse of your irises, flushed cheeks and kiss swollen lips.

Tilting his head, he halts your movement with a firm grip. Allowing you your moment to protest against it, there’s a smirk lifting the corner of his mouth and dark need swirling in his chest.

“Yeah?” Hoseok coos softly – mockingly – tongue flicking out to wet his lips. He feels your nod more than he sees, and he chuckles, “Ask nicely, little girl.”

“Please, please.” You chant, begging so, so sweet for him, and Hoseok catches your hand that snuck under his tee shirt. Softly, he clicks his tongue against his teeth, and pulls away.

He shifts, raising to throw the now too warm covers off. He settles you how he wants, on your back with his knees on either side of your hips. He keeps your wrists in his hand, above your head, while his other hand teases at the band of your panties. He kisses you softly, pressing his lips against yours and not doing much else, shifting to get himself between your thighs.

“So desperate for me, hm?” Angling his hips just right, he lets his arm hold his weight and presses the firmness of his cock against your covered cunt. At your moan, Hoseok draws his bottom lip between his teeth. He could barely stand it himself, his boxers felt too tight against him, he could feel just how worked up you are. There’s a dampness that’s all you, easing the grind of his cock against you. “Tell me what you want, baby.”

“Touch me, please.” You request breathlessly, hips raising to meet his.

“I am touching you, doll.” Hoseok squeezes your wrist gently in his hold to remind you, and he could only chuckle at your frustrated exhale, “You know how this works. Tell me exactly or I won’t know what you want.”

He stills his hips and waits – ever patient – until you catch your breath.

“Want your hands, cock – anything, please.”

Leaning down, Hoseok presses a soft kiss to the corner of your mouth, before he draws back again, letting go of your hands. Running his hands along your sides, he tugs lightly at the hem of your tee, “Off.”

You raise slightly, hastily pulling the shirt up and over your head. Hoseok does the same, quickly clambering off the bed to get out of his clothes and getting back in just as quickly.

He puts himself right back between your legs, a hand fumbling blindly to press against your clit. His fingers slide against you easily, sinking into the warmth of you, his other hand squeezes at the base of his cock to mirror the tightness he feels. He’d barely gotten a few thrusts in when you’d turn restless, the way your hips rose to meet the motion of his hand gave way to your frustration.

“Hobi...”

“Okay, okay.” Hoseok chuckles as your impatience is his own, too. He tugs you to him with his arms around your thighs, using a hand to rub the sensitive head of his cock against your sodden folds. A groan leaves him as he sinks his cock into you, keeping a steady pace of shallow thrusts until he bottoms out.

“Fuck, baby.” Hoseok squeezes his eyes shut, leaning forward over you, caging you in with his hands beside you head, “Always so good for me.”

The kiss you share then is teeth and tongue as Hoseok finds his rhythm, the sound of his hips meeting yours is loud in the stillness of the room. He groans into your neck where he licks and sucks at your salty skin.

Hoseok almost blows his load when your pussy clenches around him. He knows he’s hitting the right spot when you shudder, thighs tightening as you try to pull him as closely as you could. “Gonna cum?”

“Y-yeah.” Your words broken, pitched high with your need, eyes rolling back as Hoseok began to drag out his movements.

“Yeah? Then beg for it little girl.” His hand shifts, resting against your jaw gently, “Beg me to let you cum.”

His thumb slips into your mouth and you suck on it like you would his cock, tongue swirling around the digit. Hoseok groans low in his throat, cock twitching inside your cunt. Eyes trained on your mouth, he presses down on your tongue to pry your lips apart. “Come on, sweetheart.”

His fingers squeezing into the plump flesh of your thigh, hips rolling against yours, “Beg.”

“Please, please let me cum, Hobi.”

“Good girl.” Hoseok hips snap, wild and chasing his own release. Nimble fingers with jagged movements against your clit, your moans raise in pitch and it had Hoseok’s hips stuttering.

“Fuck baby, c’mon.” Hoseok’s eyes roll back, he rests his forehead against yours, “Cum for me, pl-please, baby.”

He kisses you, when you gasp his name and shudder - all tongue and teeth and a sloppy mess, pace slowing to measured thrusts, and then he was coming. His hips stutter as he mutters a string of curses that blends into your name. There’s stars behind his eyelids and he can’t hear past the rushing of the blood in his ears.

Your fingers are running through his hair when Hoseok finally feels like he’s not melting into a boneless puddle against you. He presses kisses to your skin, wherever he could reach, with a lazy smile.

“Hobi,” You grunt, though there’s humor in your tone as you pat his side, “Please get off me I can’t breathe.”

Hoseok sighs, long and drawn out, “But I like it here.”

“I will bite you.” It’s a threat, and a promise, and Hoseok takes it seriously. Carefully, he raises up and off you, sitting near the foot of the bed.

He rubs at your calf with a light touch, “Wanna change the sheets now or after a quick rinse?”

“After,” you mutter, “I don’t even think I can move right now.”

Chuckling, Hoseok helps you sit up, crowding your space once more to place a kiss against your nose.

When all is said and done, you’re both laying in bed again, on fresh, cool sheets. Hoseok has his arm around you, and you’re both sleepy enough to drift away in the comfort that you’d both created.

"I love you.”

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[lovecarisi]

Mistakes We Knew We Were Making

Chapter 5: In Vino Veritas

Summer has been good to you. There’s a group of eight of you that has established over the past few weeks; street fairs in your neighborhoods, concerts, pub visits, Coney Island and rooftop bars. Wherever you end up, it’s with your people, and Dominick is obviously either coming along with you or one of the guys. They all know you’re, well, whatever it is you are. Not actually dating but something like it. No one is asking questions although Louisa is giving you the look all the damn time. The look that says ‘Girl, what are you doing?‘ and ‘Be careful!‘ But you ignore her, and it’s not like it’s hard when Dominick is around. At some point you always end up wandering away to kiss, sneaking off to make out, and then you disappear altogether before you end up at your place or his, whichever is closest. 

4th of July is coming up and you guys have rented a big cabin upstate for three days to celebrate. It’ll be the last hurrah before the Bar exams. So naturally you’re immensely looking forward to this even though you’re nervous. It’ll be strange sharing a room with Dominick but there’s no other way to sort out the sleeping arrangement and you’re not going to send him sleeping on the sofa or an air mattress. It’s definitely odd hanging out with other people who are dating because you see how different it is. They’re all holding hands in public, being all cuddly with each other. It’s not that you envy them but admittedly, it’s awkward. Dominick doesn’t seem to care or he is just as good as you are at pretending he doesn’t notice. No one decided that you had to be this way about it but it is what it is. Not that it wouldn’t be nice to be close all the time. Not that you don’t appreciate what you have with him. There’s still an intimacy. You do lean in. You do let your fingers brush over his skin every chance you get. He does wrap his arms around your waist. And his hand does glide up your thigh under the table. But it’s small, it’s delicate, it’s hidden. It’s between Dominick and you, no one else.   

____________________

‘It’s a bit weird, isn’t it?’ You put your bag down on the bed and stare at him.

‘What do you mean?’ he asks but he knows exactly what you mean, annoying little shit. 

‘Us shacking up.’

‘Oh, come on.’ Dominick chuckles. ‘We can play house for the weekend. It’s not a big deal.’

Yeah, I can’t be sober for this, you think to yourself. This is already making you way more anxious than it should be. Here you are in a room with Dominick and he’s unpacking his clothes like he’s moving in with you, and all of a sudden it bothers you how neat he is for a man. And you want to slap yourself. It’s not fair that you feel like this. It’s not his fault. Maybe you should fuck. Hard. Fast. Get it out of your system before you go downstairs and start partying. Because there’s something in the air you don’t want there. You casually pull off your dress and throw it at him, and he looks up. 

‘Right now?’ he asks, his eyes wandering over your naked body.

‘Right now.’ you say, pretty much leaping across the bed at him.

You’ve already come to the conclusion that everything can be solved with sex when it comes to the two of. Sad? Sex. Mad? Sex. Confused? Sex. Stressed? Sex. Insert whichever mood here. Sex. It works every time. Sometimes it makes it worse but at least you had amazing, mind-blowing sex. This is probably why you could never work as a couple. No serious discussions would ever happen because there could be no actual solutions. There would just be a lot of fucking. 

Like right now. You, on the edge of the bed in front of him, biting your lip as you unzip his jeans in a hurry, stroking him to hardness which doesn’t take much effort. Dominick, pushing you back on the mattress, happy you didn’t bother with underwear but his hands still touching you everywhere -  just not there yet. You’re always in so much more of a hurry than he is. And he always laughs at your impatience. And you always curse him for it. You wiggle under him until you’re on your stomach, raising your hips. 

‘Come on, fuck me.’ you instruct him and he sighs, knowing he can’t refuse anyway.

He grabs you roughly but it’s what you want and he knows it. By now, he knows everything. You two have done this enough times to know exactly what kind of mood the other is in, the ways you like it, when, how, where. Dominick knows you’re wet enough for him to push into you without warming you up first, and you moan a string of yes’s into the mattress loudly as confirmation, adjusting to his size. He knows not to be slow and gentle but fast and hard, he knows it won’t take you long to climax but he starts rubbing your clit in tight circles, intensifying your pleasure. Truth is, he loves taking you whichever way and he gets a kick out of you letting him take the lead as much as the other way round. And yes, he prefers looking at your face when you cum but there’s something about your wet, stretched pussy pushing back on his cock when he fucks you from behind that drives him absolutely wild. The way you get when you moan ‘please Dominick, harder’ and he digs his fingers into you, picking up the pace, his dick so deep inside your throbbing walls the bed is shaking. The sounds you’re making are obscene but it’s turning him on even more, and neither of you care if your friends can hear you.

‘Fuck yes, Dominick! Just like that, yes! So good! So so fucking good! Oh myyy goooood!’ you yelp, your hands grabbing the sheets, trying to hold on.

‘Babe, you feel so incredible!’ he softly slaps your ass before squeezing it and it makes you giggle, you love it when he gets like that, his feral side showing.

And vice versa. Before Dominick, you always felt degraded in this position, mostly because it was never on your terms whereas now it is. So with him, it’s the hottest thing. You love being his, completely. You love being used by him like you’re his little toy while not feeling used. It’s such a turn-on. You’re each other’s playthings. The view he has must be so fucking hot. The way he feels pounding into your soaking wet pussy, hitting your sweet spot with every thrust, it’s like you and him are made for each other. Fitting perfectly together like pieces of a puzzle. You meet his rough thrusts, pushing back on him, eliciting those deep moans from him, and soon you are both panting messes, close to your orgasms. He lets go of your hips, letting you set the rhythm, his fingers still on your pulsing clit, keeping pressure there and the sensations you feel are quickly becoming too much. You cry into the bed, shuddering, begging him please, please, please, before falling apart. You cum hard, a scream escaping your lips, thankfully muffled by the sheets scrunched up in your hands, and Dominick still fucks into you ferociously, a mixture of curse words and your name leaving his mouth in moans. Your vision fades to black as your pussy continues to pulse around him while you feel him cum too, grabbing you hard and burying his dick deep into your quivering cunt, releasing himself. His moans truly are the sexiest sounds you ever heard from a man, and the fact you are the reason for it makes you feel like you are on top of the world, elevating your orgasm even more. 

‘Fuck. Fuck. Fuck.’ he pulls out and collapses next to you, eyes closed, breathing heavily.

Your face is still buried in the sheets and you feel like you may need minutes, hours even before you can catch your breath. Your whole body is still shaking, like electricity is running through it, the center of it being between your legs. And you don’t even know how much time passes before Dominick nudges you.

‘We should probably, you know, take a shower and go downstairs. Join the others.’

‘I don’t think I can. I can’t feel my legs.’ you joke with a smile, blinking up at him from under your hair. 

‘Sounds like a serious medical condition.’ he looks at you sweetly, pushing all that hair away from your face.

‘Sounds like you fucked the living shit out of me.’ you reply, leaning in for a kiss, realizing it’s the first one you’ve shared today even though you just, well, fucked the living shit out of each other. 

Dominick kisses you back deeply, pulling you on top of him, arms wrapped around you tightly, feeling the same significance of it. 

______________

‘Well, how nice of you two to join us.’ Louisa says, glaring at Dominick and you as you walk into the open downstairs area.

It’s already 6pm. She’s behind the small bar, mixing a drink and the others are outside by the water, you can only hear muffled voices and laughter. It’s only been an hour but it’s pretty obvious, to her anyway. Everyone else has already had plenty of alcohol and probably doesn’t care. Not that you or Dominick do. 

‘Yeah, well we had a lot to unpack.’ you grin, looking at Dom, who just takes a sip of his beer, giving you a cheeky side-eye. 

‘I bet you did. You want a drink?’ she asks, grabbing the Vodka. 

‘Do your worst.’ you reply. 

‘I’ll see you out there.’ Dominick says, slightly tugging on one of the strings of your bikini before walking out to join the others, giving you some space with your best friend.

Louisa loves Dominick. She adores him. She thinks he’s the one for you. And you told her to zip it. Which she did. She’s the only one who knows what happened in your past relationship, how it still kind of haunts you today. The mind games Daniel played with you, the way he manipulated you, gaslit you. How long it took you to free yourself of him and how much you now loved being single, free, independent. That no man had control over you, could tell you what to do. You downplayed it but Louisa called it abuse. Maybe it was. Maybe it was some sort of trauma you had to deal with. The couple of times he had slapped you, you hadn’t felt victimized, and the last time you had slapped him back, and that had been it. You had left. 

However, the other stuff had been worse for you. It had started small, with him suggesting what clothes you should wear. And in the end you didn’t even realize that he chose your entire wardrobe, you thought it was an act of love, his attention to detail. ‘Oh he just loves to coordinate outfits.’ you would say. And when you picked a red lipstick instead of a nude one he would get so pissed, and at the end of the night there would be a massive argument. Or it would be over the fact that you talked too much, that you made him look stupid in front of his colleagues, dinner guests, whoever. You always had to dumb yourself down, ‘Just look pretty and shut the fuck up.’ he would say. And you were never good enough anyway. Your tits were too small yet if you were wearing a showy dress you looked slutty and he told you to cover up. You weren’t tall enough yet if you were wearing heels you looked like a hooker. And of course, he called your ambitions to become a human rights lawyer childish, and told you to go into finance like him. You couldn’t recognize yourself anymore. It took interventions from your friends and that one last slap across the face for you to finally leave. The worst thing of it all? Your family had adored him. Saw him as the ideal future son-in-law. You had never confided in them, not even in your brother, who you usually told everything to. It was too embarrassing, you were too ashamed. Your mother had taught you to be a strong woman, a feminist, and in your eyes, you had let yourself, and her, down. 

Afterwards you solely focused on your studies. Fordham more or less absorbed you. Your friends didn’t see you for months unless it was in class, you didn’t visit your family in Connecticut, it was just you and the books. Everyone was studying for the Bar anyway so it didn’t matter and you had a good excuse to become a hermit. Until that Memorial Day weekend in the Hamptons. That fateful weekend. 

With Dominick, you feel like a different person. Not the person all of this happened to. In a way, you can pretend you’re not that person. He makes you feel all the things Daniel never had. But you also know that you can’t depend on a man to make you feel these things. So in the end that’s exactly why you can’t be with him. There’s too much baggage. You can’t bring it into something new. It would fuck with everything. 

‘You really can’t help yourselves, huh?’ Louisa hands you your drink, shaking her head with a smirk, obviously referring to Dominick and you. 

You shrug, looking at him, outside in the sun. Yes, it would be nice if he was all yours. In a way he is. But only in a way. You can pretend, at least. But you can’t pretend he doesn’t make your heart beat faster. You can’t pretend you don’t long for him when he’s not with you, that you don’t long for what you don’t have with him. You can’t pretend you don’t wish things were different sometimes; that you two had started off more conventionally. But you can’t change it now. It’s clear where he stands, you made the rules, you drew the line in the sand. It’s better like this for the both of you. And it’s most likely just the sex anyway; messing with your head. 

________________

‘You could help a little bit?’ Dominick sighs, but you just giggle, slapping his arm away. 

You’re drunk. Not naked wasted drunk but drunk. A little bit more than tipsy drunk. You can definitely still walk but you decided that Dominick should carry you anyway because he’s such a strong man. Thing is, you’re both wet because you had just been in the hot tub and it’s slippery, and you still have a glass of wine in your hand and a towel wrapped around you. It’s a logistical nightmare. Truth is, he’s slightly annoyed with you because you got flirty with him and he wanted to kiss you but you wouldn’t let him. It’s not like he wanted to make out in the hot tub, all he wanted was a kiss. So you ended up drinking more wine and started making out with him after all and then it got too much for him and he told you to stop and then you got annoyed with him. And now he’s annoyed with you because you’re annoyed with him. But you still want him to carry you but you don’t because he’s acting like a dumb boy. It’s not like it was your fault he could feel your nipples through your bikini and got a boner.

‘Ugh, then DON’T!’ you run upstairs and into your room.

You empty your glass in one big gulp and throw yourself down on the bed, Dominick follows, closing the door behind him quietly. He’s not that sober either but a bit more than you, at least.

‘Take me.’ you say, letting your hands glide over your breasts seductively.

‘You’re too drunk, babe.’ he laughs, leaning against the door, shaking his head.

‘So? I was drunk the night we met.’ you reply, untying your top and disposing of it on the floor. 

‘We were both tipsy, not drunk. If I fucked you right now that would be taking advantage.’ 

‘Oh please, Mister Lawyer Man, take advantage of me.’ you giggle, not taking him seriously for a second. If anything, you’re getting more annoyed. ‘Please, I want you so bad, I want you to fuck me. Please baby, please.’ 

Dominick seems amused by you begging like that but doesn’t stop you as you shed your wet bikini bottoms. After all he’s just a man, a man who wants you. He can’t deny it. 

‘Not like this. We can when we sober up. You need to go to bed and sleep, okay? Come on.’ He grabs your legs and lifts the covers to attempt to get you into bed but you start whining. 

‘Dominick, you are so fucking hot, please. I need you. I want you. Like, you are sooooooooo hot. I need you to please fuck me right now.’ You kick the sheets away and grab his arms, trying to pull him on top of you but he fights you off. 

‘Listen to me. Not when you’re this drunk, okay. I can’t. I wouldn’t feel good about that.’

‘Ughhhhhh.’ You fall back into the pillow with resignation. ‘Why do you have to be like this? Huh? Why do you have to be so good? So proper? So decent? Why can’t you be like any other man, taking advantage of a woman in my state?’

‘Well, because I’m not like that, okay. And we can do this anywhere, anytime, you know that. Just not like this. I’m gonna get you a glass of water, and we’re gonna go to sleep. And if you’re not too hungover in the morning, I promise, we’ll have hot, crazy sex.’ he disappears into the bathroom and you feel so stupid, so lame, like the biggest loser on the planet. 

He gets under the covers with you and it’s like your brain goes into overdrive and you know you should stop it but you can’t. You know you’re gonna regret it in the morning, unless you won’t remember, please God, don’t let me remember, you think. 

‘You’re a good man, you’re such a good man, Dominick. You’re gonna make a good husband one day. You’re gonna meet a good woman and be such a good husband to her and that woman is not gonna be me. Because I’m a mess and I don’t deserve a man like you. I mean, I put out on the first night like a slut and good women don’t do that and you deserve a good woman.’

‘Stop talking, okay. You’re talking nonsense. You need to try and go to sleep.’

‘You think you like me so much but it’s just because I let you fuck me on the first night we met, that’s all it is, Dominick, believe me. There’s nothing special about me. It’s all in your head. Because men are all the same at the end of the day, you all think with your dicks, you think you have feelings for someone but you don’t. You just get cunt-drunk, is all. You have to stop obsessing over me.’

‘Okay, sure. Whatever you say. Go to sleep now.’ he says, turning away from you and there’s never really been this much space between you.

And you didn’t notice that sound in his voice because you were too caught up with your own shit, and even if you had, you wouldn’t have known what it meant. There’s too many drunken thoughts swimming through your head right now, too many, and none of them are making any sense. You don’t understand why he turned away from you like this. You want him to hold you and hug you and kiss you. At the same time you want him to be gone forever. Never see him again in your life. It would be easier like that. In fact, you wish you had never met him; had never given in to your desire that night. It was so out of character for you, whatever possessed you that night, it was wrong, all sorts of wrong. No matter how good it felt, no matter how good it feels all the damn time with him. It’s true what you said. At the end of the day, he’s too good of a man for you. Does that mean you want him to be the man for you? It doesn’t matter anymore. 

When you fall asleep you don’t even know what you said anymore. All you remember is that you started crying. And finally felt his arms around you, a whispered ‘Shh’ in your ear. More crying. His lips on your temple. And lots of fucked up dreams.

________________

thank you so much to my betareader for this chapter @pascalispretty aka The Rose of the Reach on AO3 please check out her works!)

________________

@plaidbooks :)

[anticomedygarden]

solangelo ficlet based on a duolingo story (yes, i've gotten to the point where i'm taking inspiration from duolingo)

it's on ao3

-

When Will dragged Nico to the supermarket at 8 p.m. on this fine Tuesday night, the son of Hades was absolutely dead on his feet. See, his day started 17 hours ago when he got up at 5 a.m. to get ready to teach literature to 4 different high school classes. It would have been 7 classes, but he'd taken a half day after his boyfriend called to say their landlord was kicking them out early, and they'd need to move all their stuff out by 4 p.m. which meant that none of their friends were free to help them. Then, they'd spent four hours unpacking all the necessities and putting them away to save some drama come morning. Altogether, Nico had probably sat down for about 5 whole minutes.

So, yeah. It had been a long day.

But Will was pulling him through the aisles of an unfamiliar grocery store, a tired smile on his face, clearly intent on replacing the food they'd had to leave behind in the move. "What do you want for dinner?" he asked as they passed a pyramid of melons in the produce.

That was unfortunate. He did not feel like cooking anything at all. "Can't we just get takeout?"

It seemed Nico's day was not nearly over because Will shook his head, eyeing the meat section. "If we cook tonight, we'll have leftovers for the rest of week." He took Nico over to look at the hamburger. "Do you want some pasta?"

"But I'm tired now," Nico protested, ignoring his boyfriend's suggestion in the hopes it would stall him. "Besides, that sounded so grown up."

"We are grown up."

Instead of answering, Nico shoved his body up against Will's front with his face in the crook of his neck and groaned. Loudly. "I want to go to bed!"

He didn't care that he sounded like a child throwing a tantrum, not even when a woman walked by followed by two actual children with judgemental looks on their small faces. He just burrowed farther into Will's warmth and tried to keep his eyes open.

"I know, baby," Will said, threading his fingers through Nico's hair comfortingly. Nico could feel the bastard checking the dates on the hamburger behind him. "Alright, let's find the spaghetti and spaghetti sauce."

Reluctantly, Nico unburied himself from Will and followed the blond through the store, wondering idly when pasta turned into spaghetti. He was still wondering when Will said, "Where the hell is the pasta stuff?"

Nico finally looked up from Will's back to see that they'd made it all the way back to the front of the store. The automatic doors swooshed open behind them. Will was still holding the raw hamburger.

"Did you try the Italian section?" Nico asked, partially serious. He really was exhausted (and hadn't been paying attention during their impromptu tour of the store).

"Yes," Will bit out. "Did I miss it somehow?"

"Probably." Nico sighed. "Why don't we just get takeout?"

He should've known that would only serve to make Will more determined.

"No," he said, squaring his shoulders. "Let's go."

They walked through the food sections again, and Will checked every aisle up and down. This time, they found the spaghetti noodles, but not the pasta sauce.

("Who doesn't keep the sauce with the noodles?" Will asked in a strained voice.

"Crazy people. Let's go home.")

By the time they made it back to the front, Nico was tripping over his feet. "Babe, can we just go home? I know you're tired, too."

Will, gods bless him, shook his head despite the bags under his eyes. He'd been off that day, but he'd still done a lot of work, and they weren't as in shape as they had been at camp. "No. I'm gonna find it."

Nico didn't try to stop him this time. "Fine, but I'm staying here."

Will nodded and ducked back into the aisles. When he came back 10 minutes later, he was triumphantly holding up two cans of spaghetti sauce.

Nico cheered. "Yay!" He grabbed Will by the arm and steered him toward the doors. "Let's go."

Laughing, Will pulled him back toward the checkout. "We still have to pay."

This time, Nico fell forward onto Will's shoulder with a great huff. "Why?" he whined. As far as he was concerned, there was nothing wrong with shoplifting a little food from a (probably) multimillion dollar chain store.

"Because we are functional members of mortal society." Nico gave him a disbelieving look. "Fine. If we get arrested for shoplifting, we could lose our jobs."

Nico rolled his eyes but didn't stop Will from paying for their food, though he did feel a little smug when the cashier gave them a dirty look. Homophobe or tired, overworked customer service employee, Nico maintained that they should have just left.

Once out of the store, Will turned to Nico and said, "Yay, spaghetti," in a decidedly monotone voice unfit for the joys of the squiggly tomato pasta.

Nico glanced at his watch and raised an eyebrow. "Do you really still wanna do that?"

Will shrugged. "I don't wanna give up after all that."

"It's 9:15."

Will's eyes widened. "To McDonald's!"

This time, Nico cheered for real.

-

A half an hour and a trip to McDonald's later, the two sat on the floor of their brand new living room surrounded by half empty boxes, Nico's back resting on Will's chest.

Will took a bite of a chicken nugget. "This was a really good idea."

"I know," Nico said, mouth full of his last bite of burger. "Now shush." Finally, he closed his eyes and rested his cheek on Will's right peck, pulling their orange and purple quilt (courtesy of Sally) farther up himself and smiling when he felt Will's hand come up to cup his neck. They hadn't time to set their bed up, so he didn't feel bad about passing out on top of Will on the stiff black carpet.

Of course, when his alarm went off at five the next morning and he felt the awful crick in his neck, he had a different perspective.

[aurumacadicus]

Sincerely, Yours (Chapter 11)

Over six thousand words so it’s under the cut this time.

--

Steve knocked on the door the next morning. “Tony?” he asked through the door. “You mentioned me waking you up to help with breakfast. Did you still want to? I can let you sleep for another hour if you want.”

Tony found himself sitting up before he even thought about it. “Yes, I want to help with breakfast.” He lifted his hands to rub at his eyes, jaw cracking on a yawn. “I’m awake. I’ll be right down.”

“Okay,” Steve replied. ���I brought a pitcher for the wash basin so you can wash up. I’ll leave it here on the floor, okay?”

“Thank you!” Tony called out, biting back another yawn, and tossed the blankets aside so he could get up. The mattress was just as comfortable as it had been the first night, and he knew if he didn’t get up immediately, he’d sink back into it and fall right back to sleep. He paused just long enough to put on the robe he’d found packed in the bottom of his carpet bag, one that he remembered his father wearing and Jarvis hadn’t had the heart to throw out. The pattern was sort of busy, but it offered more warmth than the lacy one his mother had left after their passing, and he was sort of glad he didn’t have to ask Steve for one.

The pitcher was right outside the door as Steve had promised, and he scooped it up and brought it back inside, wondering what he should wear. He’d realized, as he was finally unpacking his clothes, that he didn’t really have… anything comparable to Steve’s work clothes. Sure, they weren’t considered his finer clothes back in New York, but they were much nicer than Steve’s, all clean whites and hand stitching. He and Steve were going on a ride today. He wasn’t entirely certain what he should wear. Maybe he could ask Steve to come up and help him choose what he thought was best.

Tony paused, pitcher tipped halfway toward the basin, then turned, hand drifting up to his mouth as he considered the logistics of it. He’d have to hide his undergarments. But he didn’t want Steve to think he didn’t wear any, either. Would Steve assume that? He’d seemed pretty appalled that people would send him letters about them when he’d mentioned terrible correspondence, but this was different—this was Tony’s wardrobe that he’d be allowing him to look into, and he wouldn’t lie and say he wouldn’t be thinking about it a little if the roles were reversed.

Maybe he’d just put a few outfits on the bed for Steve to choose from, he figured.

.-.

Steve wasn’t cooking when he finally got downstairs, but he was turning from throwing wood into his stove. He froze when he saw Tony. Tony couldn’t help but freeze as well, remembering with sudden clarity that the last time he’d seen Steve, he’d been nearly naked and quite damp. And he’d certainly looked quite nice, nearly naked and quite damp, with his wide shoulders and narrow waist and—

“Ouch!” Steve exclaimed, yanking his hand off the stove door. He jerked his hand up to begin blowing on it, as if that would help.

Tony finally remembered how to behave like a normal human and rushed over to him. “That won’t help. Come here,” he said, grabbing Steve’s arm and attempting to drag him over to the sink. He knew from experience, after all; Jarvis had had to do the same thing when he'd first started learning how to cook. He tugged again when Steve didn’t move, which thankfully got him to finally budge, and he allowed Tony to tow him over to the sink and shove his hand under the spigot. He let Steve’s hand go only once he was sure he’d hold it in place, then turned to begin pulling at the pump.

Steve watched the water begin to rush over his hand, mouth dropping open a little in shock. Then his cheeks flooded pink. “I’m not normally an idiot when I burn myself. I just… uh… had a lot on my mind.”

“I’m sure,” Tony said agreeably, swatting his free hand away when he reached to help. “What were you thinking about? Anything I can help with?”

Steve coughed, then sort of wheezed, flush splotching a darker shade of red. “It was nothing. Lunch,” he added belatedly, as if it didn’t sound like the complete lie that it was.

Tony stopped pumping water to blink up at him, lips pursing into a frown as he decided whether or not he wanted to call Steve on it. He hadn’t known Steve in person for very long, but in his letters, he’d come across as a very honest (if perhaps too straightforward) person. On the other hand, if he was willing to lie about it, maybe he shouldn’t push. They were only on their third day together, after all. People deserved privacy even from their spouses, he remembered Ana telling him once.

“I’ve only seen you in clothes,” Steve finally said, as if the silence hanging over them had been unbearable.

Tony’s mouth dropped open, and he couldn’t help another slow blink as he tried to work out what Steve meant. “…I’m wearing clothes,” he finally answered, unable to come up with anything else.

Steve waved his unburned hand at him, as if that was an explanation. Tony looked down at himself. He was still wearing his pajamas, but that was only because he didn’t want to have to bother changing a second time after breakfast, and they were covered by the robe. He looked at Steve. His clothes looked like pajamas as well. He couldn’t imagine Steve riding horses in matching pinstripes. He squinted up at Steve skeptically, raising an eyebrow.

Steve looked like he was in more physical pain because of their conversation than he had when he’d burned himself. He waved his hand at him again. “It’s… I’ve never seen…” He gulped in a breath of air, then let it back out in a sigh, lifting his hand to cover his red face. “It’s lacy.”

“Lacy,” Tony repeated, looking back down at himself. He hadn’t noticed it before, but the top hem of his nightshirt was visible where the robe closed. It wasn’t the finest lace he’d ever worn in his life (and the negligee Jan had sent for him was even lacier, he remembered shyly). Still, if Steve had only lived with his mother and then another alpha, maybe the peek of lace would have been pretty surprising. He looked back up at Steve, hesitantly asking, “Do you… like it?”

“Yeah,” Steve answered immediately, voice strangled. He groaned and lifted his other hand to cover his face as well. “I’m sorry. I’m trying to be normal about this.”

“It’s okay,” Tony said, as if he had not gone to bed and stared up at the ceiling trying to reconcile Steve’s broad shoulders and narrow waist, while also desperately trying not to remember the way that drop of water had slid down his muscular back toward his low-slung towel. He lifted his hands to pull the edges of his robe closer together. “Should I go change?”

“No,” Steve barked, hands dropping, and he somehow looked even more mortified than before. “I want you to be comfortable. This is your home now. I’m—This is so embarrassing, Tony, I feel like such a—” He reached out to grab Tony’s hands to keep him from closing his robe. “I’m sorry.”

Tony chewed on the inside of his cheek for a moment, then finally answered, “I mean, it’s kind of funny, isn’t it? We’re married. You shouldn’t be ashamed of seeing my—uh. Lacy things.” He pulled at the hems of his robe again, peering down at the simple shift he was wearing. The lace was only along the hems. He looked back up at Steve. “But maybe you shouldn’t be doing anything important until you get used to it.”

“You said that so nicely,” Steve said faintly. “But I still sorta want the ground to open up and swallow me.”

“Well, don’t,” Tony replied, shrugging, and took a step back. “It’s sweet that you’re trying to… do whatever you’re doing. But…” He felt heat finally rising on his cheeks, and he couldn’t help but lift a hand to scratch at his neck in embarrassment. “It’s… nice. You’re… different from the alphas back home.”

Steve opened his mouth, then closed it, brows furrowing together into a concerned frown. “…How different?”

Tony didn’t think that the alphas back home would stop at just staring. He could imagine leers, jokes that he’d have to smile through and brush off without trying to offend them. Maybe even a heavy hand landing on his hip or shoulder, fingers curling in possessive and cruel. Perhaps… something worse, though he was hesitant to contemplate it. ‘Just alphas being alphas,’ Obadiah would chortle if Tony complained. Or they’d blame him for not covering up properly, tell him he shouldn’t have had any lace visible if he didn’t want them to comment on it. They’d tell him he was asking for attention, and the only one to blame was himself.

It was why he’d been so charmed that Steve had been outraged on his behalf when he’d told him about the correspondence that he’d considered truly bad.

“My eggs come out rubbery,” Tony finally said. “Maybe you can teach me how to cook them better than Jarvis could.”

Steve’s jaw worked, almost like he was trying to bite back a gnashing of teeth. He sucked in a deep breath, then let it out slowly, swallowing down his visible anger until his expression was just as kind and patient as it had been the day before. “I’ll show you how to do the first one, then let you try the others. How does that sound?”

“That sounds good,” Tony agreed, reaching out for his hand again. “How’s your hand?”

“I let go in time to avoid a bad burn, I think,” Steve said, allowing him to take it. His hand was pink, just bordering on red, but there were no blisters or puss. “The water helped.”

“I’m sure the blowing helped too,” Tony added, unable to help his lips curving into a cheeky smile.

Steve tipped his head back with a groan. “Oh my god. I swear I’m not stupid.”

Tony covered his mouth to smother a giggle, but Steve didn’t look angry when he failed.

.-.

Tony’s eggs had still come out sort of rubbery, but the last one was mostly edible. Steve had wolfed them down regardless, and Tony remembered Steve saying he’d eat most things, even if they tasted bad, in his letters. He hadn’t really understood what that meant until now. While he was worried about how he could expect to improve if Steve was willing to eat everything set in front of him, it also felt like a weight had been lifted off his shoulders, knowing that food wouldn’t go to waste even when it didn’t turn out right.

He'd watched Steve put together their lunch in a nice wicker basket as he ate at a more sedate pace, “Something my ma insisted on buying while we were in town. We only used it a couple times before she was too sick to go out.” The last of the fried chicken from the ice box, salad, pieces of sausage fried in dough, a jar of apricot preserves, the remains of the pound cake, and three large, beautiful tomatoes so red they were almost purple.

“I take it you’re a fan of tomatoes instead of pound cake,” Steve said, amusement coloring his tone.

It took Tony a moment to realize he was still staring at the basket. He jerked his eyes up to Steve’s face, heat rushing to his cheeks. “What? Yes. Or—well, I’m just not used to pound cake yet.”

“You can have a different favorite food from me,” Steve cut in before he could babble on. “How do you like them? Oil and salt? On toast? I can cook some up and put it in the basket real quick.”

“I’ll eat it like an apple,” Tony answered. He was very kind in not telling Steve that he was not fast enough in hiding his disgust. Jan and Sue had wrinkled their noses at him back home, too. “I wasn’t entirely sure what to wear riding, so I set out a few outfits. Will you come help me decide?”

Steve blinked at him, eyebrows furrowing together in confusion. “Oh, um, sure?”

“I don’t really have a lot of clothes, and I think Jarvis didn’t have time to think about what he was packing for me,” Tony added, before Steve had to ask. He didn’t want to embarrass him anymore today.

“Oh,” Steve said again, frowning. “Of course.” He rubbed his chin, considering. “The next time we’re in town, let’s make sure to buy you a couple more outfits. Ranch work is dirty, even if you’re just doing the housework. It’ll be good to have spares.”

“Okay,” Tony answered, trying not to sound too cheerful. It had been a long time since he’d gotten to buy new clothes. Mostly, Jan had just given him whatever she felt like, and while he’d appreciated it (he never would have been able to keep up with changing fashion trends otherwise), he hadn’t ever really gotten to pick his own clothes out. Even if he had to okay it with Steve, at least he’d get a choice.

Steve followed him up to the main bedroom after they washed up the breakfast dishes, and Tony found it charming that he hesitated outside the door before he finally straightened his shoulders and passed the threshold like a man going to war. He was just choosing what pants Tony would be wearing on the ride. Then Steve grimaced as he looked over his clothes, and he couldn’t help but worry that he’d chosen poorly out of his meager offerings.

“Wow, these are all… really nice,” Steve finally said, reaching out to take a pair of pants between his fingers to rub the fabric. He frowned speculatively. “It seems like such a waste, using any of these to ride. Are you sure you don’t have anything a little more… worn?”

Tony shrugged, a little embarrassed. “This is all I’ve got.” Steve sighed, but Tony felt his shoulders relaxing a little with it, because it sounded more like the sighs Jarvis and Ana would utter as they tried to balance the household budget in a way that would get them yelled at by Obadiah as little as possible rather than actual frustration with him. “It’s okay if they get worn. We’ll just replace them when we’re in town, right?”

“Right,” Steve agreed vaguely, reaching out to test the middle set of clothes between his fingers as well. “I guess—these brown pants are alright, but your shirts are kinda… wispy? The sun’ll burn right through it… I’ll bring you one of mine,” he finally decided with a nod. “I’ve got plenty, and you need protection from the sun.” He turned. “Do you have a hat?”

“Yes,” Tony began instinctively, then stopped, hand coming up to his mouth as he looked at the pants Steve had chosen. “No. I think a hatbox would have been too much to carry. It was a church hat, anyway, not a sunhat.”

“I’ll grab you a hat, too,” Steve said, reaching out to clasp his shoulder as he turned to leave. “And who knows, maybe we’ll get you a replacement church hat in town, too. I’ll leave them on the doorknob, okay?”

Tony nodded, realized Steve’s back was to him, and added, “Yes. Thank you, Steve.”

“Don’t worry about it,” Steve said, waving over his shoulder, and shut the door behind himself as he left.

Tony stared at the door for a long moment, hand coming up to touch where Steve had clasped his shoulder. Steve was handsy, but in a genuine way, not smarmy or anything. It sort of reminded him of the way he and his friends would touch—easy, casual, nothing behind it but a bid for connection. He supposed it made sense, if Steve had been as lonely and isolated as Tony had.

Tony hung up his robe and turned to step into the pants Steve had suggested. He figured Steve had chosen them because they were a little thicker than the others, would offer more protection from the saddle. He held one of his shirts up, frowning. He supposed the fabric was a little too thin for hours in the sun. It was very kind of Steve to offer up one of his own and a hat.

Tony squeaked, covering his mouth as the gravity of the situation hit him. Steve was bringing him a shirt and hat to wear on their ride and picnic. He was going to wear Steve’s clothes. He couldn’t help the nervous laugh that trickled out between his fingers and pretended he wasn’t blushing at the idea of having Steve’s scent on him like that.

It was too bad that it wasn’t safe to correspond with Jan. She would have foamed at the mouth to read about it.

.-.

Steve’s shirt was a little too big (maybe a lot too big around the chest, Tony thought, pursing his lips), but Tony hadn’t been friends with Jan since they were toddlers to have gleaned nothing from her. Steve had brought him a sewing kit, and Tony had quickly added some slapdash hems, so he wasn’t swimming in it, while Steve had gone to get the horses saddled. It was passable for a ride and picnic, he supposed, frowning at the messy stitches and uneven hems. He probably could have done better with more time, or even a machine. He decided he wasn’t ever going to tell Jan about it. She’d shout at him for not absorbing more from her.

He was glad that Steve had given him the shirt and hat. It was still early morning, but he could feel the sun beating down across his shoulders and back. He would have burned beneath his shirt if he’d worn his own. He had to keep adjusting the hat, but he was glad for the coverage, guarding his eyes from the sun’s glare and keeping the heat off the back of his neck. Steve had promised to get him a hat that was sized properly as well, and Tony had felt a smidge of guilt that Steve was having to put out so much money on him so soon, but Steve had somehow noticed and assured him that Dr. Erskine had also had to put out money when he first arrived—it basically came with the territory of moving from one climate to another.

“Besides,” Steve had added cheerfully. “You’re my omega! I’m supposed to provide for you. What sort of alpha would I be if I left you to fend for yourself, especially when you don’t actually know what all you need?”

Tony had glowed a pleased pink in response, and it had nothing to do with the sun shining down on him.

Steve led him to the closest waterhole, pointing out all the trees to him—spruce, and pine, and juniper. Sometimes he cut sickly and dying trees to use for firewood, but it was a pain to haul them, so he mostly got his wood from a neighbor who was in the lumber industry in exchange for a handful of steers each year. He said that other parts of the property had wild berries, and sometimes Bucky’s family would come out and stay in Steve’s big house so they could spend the week picking them and make jam. They usually left a few jars before they returned back home, closer to town.

“Maybe they’ll let me help this year,” Tony mused, biting into a piece of fried sausage as he stared across the rolling grass. He turned to look up at Steve. “Will there be enough room for all of them with you in the guest room?”

“I always sleep in the guest room when the Barnes family comes to stay with me,” Steve answered with a shrug. “The girls use the big bed.”

Tony blinked, then looked back out at the hills. “Oh.”

“But obviously I’ll tell them things have changed,” Steve added hastily, sitting up straight. “I’m not kicking you out of your room for them, I was just saying it won’t be weird to see me in the guest room.”

“Are there many Barnes girls?” Tony asked, looking back up at him.

Steve squinted at him, as if there might be some sort of trick behind his question, before he finally answered, “…Four.”

“Four sisters,” Tony repeated quietly, wondering. Most of the families he knew rarely had more than two children. He wondered if that was because they didn’t want to spread their money around as much. Rich people were kind of miserly, even as they doted on the children they had, he remembered. And Mrs. Barnes had had five. “Do you think they’ll like me?”

“Why wouldn’t they?” Steve asked, sounding honestly perplexed at the idea that they wouldn’t. “You’re new, exciting. They moved out here when they were still pretty young, so they don’t remember New York at all. I’m sure they’re going to ask you about everything from fashion to whether automobiles are real or if Buck and I made them up to tease them.”

Tony couldn’t help but chuckle. “You must tease them a lot.”

Steve smiled back at him. “Yeah, well, there’s about a ten-year gap between Bucky and Becca. She's the next oldest. He says it’s to get back at having to help change all their diapers.”

Tony remembered the way Susan and Johnny Storm would bicker almost to the point of blows (at which point Johnny, terrified, would shy away). But he also remembered the way Sue’s eyes would narrow when she thought someone was slighting her brother, and the way Johnny’s hands would grip into fists if he didn’t like the way someone talked about his sister. Jan and Victor were only children, like him, but Ana had talked fondly of her siblings and how she missed them. He thought it might have been nice, having a sibling. Maybe he wouldn’t have felt so lonely.

He looked up at Steve again. “Do you think they’ll teach me how to make jam, too?”

Steve blinked, surprised, as if the thought they wouldn’t had never occurred to him. “Yeah, of course. I’ll just tell Mrs. Barnes that you wanna learn and she’ll be happy to have an extra set of hands.” He looked Tony up and down slowly, then offered him a wry smile. “Maybe you’ll be strong enough to lift the canning pot for her. Usually she gets me an’ Buck to put them on, then chases us back out of the house.”

“Uh,” Tony said, suddenly remembering how easily Steve had lifted his trunk at the depot when he’d needed to struggle with a cart.

“…Or maybe I’ll still do it,” Steve added quickly, apparently also remembering him fretting about the possibility of anvil in his trunk with how heavy it was. “Although—hopefully we’ll get a little more muscle on you before then.”

Tony reluctantly lifted his arm and flexed. “I hope so. I wasn’t expected or even allowed to do more than the minimum at home. I just had to try and look pretty.”

“I don’t think you have to try at all,” Steve said, then coughed, looking away from him quickly. He lifted a hand to cover the way the back of his neck had gone red. “Anyway. Over the next couple days, we’ll figure out some chores for you to take on. I can do the lion’s share for now, until you get the hang of it, then teach you new ones. Then when I’m taking the cattle to market next summer, you’ll be prepared to be on your own.”

Tony was a little worried about being on his own that long, but Steve had said he could have guests, and by then he’d have been there for a year. Hopefully he would have made friends by then. If nothing else, maybe he could invite the Barnes family around. He nodded, firming his resolve. He’d come here to be Steve’s omega and he’d understood all that entailed. He wouldn’t back out just because he was a little nervous for the future. “That sounds good. Thank you, Steve.”

“Well, of course,” Steve began, shrugging. “It’s my job to make sure you’re prepared for—”

“I meant it for you calling me pretty,” Tony cut in, and watched, amazed, as Steve’s face skipped pink entirely and went straight to cherry red.

.-.

There was a wagon set up in front of the house when they finally rode back. Two people stood from seats on the porch, but they were still hidden in its shade.

Tony couldn’t help but pull Brownie up short, cold sweat breaking out on his back at the thought that Obadiah had somehow found him. He considered turning Brownie and just galloping away, until the horse literally couldn’t anymore, and then getting off to sprint.

Then Steve lifted his arm, waving his hat at them in greeting, and called out, “Thor! If I’d known you were going to come today, I would have moved our picnic to tomorrow!”

Tony sagged as if his strings had been cut, lifting a shaking hand to wipe his face. He hoped Steve didn’t notice he’d almost taken flight. Hoped the two men hadn’t noticed either, or if they did, assumed he was a skittish city omega and not someone who had fled his home in terror. He sucked in a deep breath and urged Brownie forward again, trying not to look like his heart was still fluttering frantically beneath his ribs.

“Tony, this is Thor and Loki Odinson,” Steve continued cheerfully, oblivious, as the two men stepped down off the porch at their approach. “They own the local sawmill. I’d asked them for some lumber to make raised garden beds a while ago without putting a time constraint on it,” he added, grimacing in apology to them. “I thought I’d have more time to work on it.”

“We heard that Tony had arrived when we went into town yesterday,” the taller man said, turning a wide and disarming smile on Tony. “So of course we got the wood together to bring it over as quickly as possible. It’s not too late to plant.”

“It isn’t?” Tony asked, unable to help smiling back at him. Thor came across as very jovial. He decided he liked him. And it was nice to know he hadn’t missed the planting season entirely, apparently.

Loki shrugged, looking vaguely bored. “Eggplants. Snap beans. Tomatoes.”

“Tomatoes!” Tony exclaimed excitedly. He hadn’t seen any in the icebox beyond the three Steve had packed in the picnic basket, and Steve had let him eat all of them.

Steve once again didn’t manage to hide his grimace in response. Loki saw this, turned to Tony, and said, “I can bring you seeds and starter plants for three varieties.”

“Why did you bring him,” Steve asked Thor, who simply laughed in response.

Tony finally stepped down off of Brownie, then immediately regretted it. Sort of. Steve was big, and somehow, Thor was even bigger—taller, and broader, and somehow visibly more muscular. Loki was slighter, but he still had a few inches on Steve. He looked between all three of them, feeling positively tiny, even though back home, he was the average height. He asked, somewhat plaintively, “Is everyone this big out here?”

Steve and Thor stared at him in response, agog. Loki just shrugged, still looking bored. He reminded Tony of Victor, somehow. Perhaps the air that he was above any drama going on around him, or that he didn’t even really want to be there. He considered this, and the fact that when it had mattered most, Victor had been there to help him. So he cautiously asked, “Do you have any pointers on growing tomatoes? I didn’t get a chance to study gardening as much as I’d have liked before I came out.”

Loki’s eyes were sharp, like a cat’s, Tony thought, giving him a languid up-and-down before he lifted his hand to toss his hair over his shoulder. “Okay,” he replied, shrugging.

Tony couldn’t help but smile in response, relieved. “I have a book inside for notes. I’ll go get it.”

“Why don’t you take Loki with you?” Steve offered, shrugging. “Thor and I will get the lumber unloaded.”

Tony couldn’t help but blink in confusion. He could tell that Loki wasn’t an omega. “That’s okay?”

“Yeah,” Steve answered blithely, already rolling his sleeves up, as if he saw no problem with Tony talking with Loki alone.

Maybe he didn’t, Tony realized. If visitors were few and far between, maybe people just trusted each other more out here. Then again, maybe it was a money thing, too—society omegas were held to even higher standards than families with lower standing, he remembered Jarvis and Ana saying. “Okay,” he said, still a little hesitant, then turned back to Loki and motioned back toward the front house. “Shall we?”

“Sure,” Loki began.

Steve thrust the picnic basket at him. For some reason, his eye contact looked more intense than it had been before. “Here, carry this, will you?”

Loki stared at him for a long moment, judgmental, before he repeated, “Sure.”

“I can carry it,” Tony offered, holding his hands out for it.

“Just get me a glass of water,” Loki said, not handing it to him.

It made Tony realize that he had no idea how long Loki and Thor had been waiting on the porch through the heat of the day. He nodded quickly, then turned, promising to bring a glass out to Steve and Thor, before he led the way up to the door. Loki followed him into the kitchen to set the picnic basket on the table, so Tony handed his glass directly to him before taking two more glasses of water out to Steve and Thor.

“Tony,” Thor began as he turned to take their empty glasses back into the house, and Tony turned back to him, wondering if he was going to be asked for a refill. Thor’s expression was solemn. “My brother can be a trickster, but his heart is in the right place. …Usually. …If he offends you, just tell me, and I’ll talk to him about it.”

Tony frowned, confused, and glanced at Steve, who simply shrugged in a way that somehow conveyed, ‘well, what can you do.’ “Oh, well. Um. Okay?” he offered, brows furrowing together. He didn’t quite understand why they were allowing him to be alone with Loki if they were that concerned about it, but he didn’t know how to ask without sounding like an asshole, so. He figured if Loki did anything untoward, he’d just scream, and Steve would appear out of thin air. It would probably be fine.

He returned to the kitchen with his notebook and pencil in hand. He knew a lot about beans and peas. He didn’t know much about eggplants or tomatoes. He wished, again, that he’d been able to prepare more before he came, but now wasn’t the time to think about that. Loki was… well, he sort of reminded Tony of Sue Storm’s cat, which waited until someone made eye contact with it before it batted fragile items off shelves. Except… taller.

Tony was beginning to expect the air out here bred giants.

“If you aren’t careful, your face will stick like that,” Loki said around a mouthful of fried chicken.

Tony hadn’t even been aware a piece of fried chicken had survived the picnic. He blinked for a moment, confused, then flushed in embarrassment. He must have been making a sour face. “Oh.” He schooled his expression into the practiced, vague smile he used back home when Ezekiel talked to him.

Loki raised an eyebrow at him. “That’s the most terrifying thing I’ve ever seen.”

“What do you want me to do with my face then?” Tony asked in exasperation.

“Just sit down so I can tell you about tomato plants,” Loki told him flatly. “What’s in this dough?”

Tony sat down at the table obediently. “Sausage.”

Loki poked through the basket again. “Alright. You better write fast, because I won’t repeat myself.”

Tony hurriedly flipped his notebook open to a clean page and picked up his pencil. “You didn’t strike me as someone who did.”

Loki slanted him one impressed stare before he said, “When you plant your tomatoes, you’re going to want to plant them with a stake or a trellis, so they have something to climb as they grow.”

Tony started scribbling, nodding. That made sense. He thought he remembered the tomato plants having those in the garden, when he’d been growing up.

“Tomatoes need six to eight hours of sun to bring out the best flavor,” Loki continued, not waiting for him to finish, and Tony’s scribbling became a little more frantic when he realized that Loki hadn’t been lying about not waiting for him.

.-.

Tony had a lot of information, by the time Thor and Steve tromped into the house. He rubbed a hand over his face as Steve leaned over him, mumbling, “This is a lot of work. Maybe next year we can do tomatoes, so I can focus on eggplants. You don’t even like tomatoes.”

“I mean, I do like them, just not like a fuckin’ apple,” Steve replied with a shrug.

Tony tipped his head back to stare at him, stunned. He opened his mouth, then closed it again. Steve had warned him he swore a lot. He’d been preparing himself for it. But Steve hadn’t sworn in front of him before, and he hadn’t expected it to be so casual. Well, he’d been doing hard work with Thor in the hot sun, if the way their shirts were clinging to them was any indication, so maybe they’d been talking… like that… the whole time he’d been inside with Loki. Maybe he'd forgotten he was coming back inside with mixed company, and that was why it had slipped out.

“…I mean not like a darn apple,” Steve added quickly, a touch of franticness to his voice.

“Are you telling me you’ve never sworn in front of Tony?” Thor asked, turning from pumping himself another glass of water. “Like, he’s been in your presence longer than an hour and this was the first time?”

Even Loki looked surprised. “I’m surprised you haven’t just spontaneously combusted.”

“Shut up,” Steve said, looking more miserable because of the conversation than he had when he’d walked in, exhausted, with Thor.

“It’s okay!” Tony hurried to assure him.

“It is not, this man is going to die,” Thor told him seriously. “He hasn’t watched his mouth so well since the last time his mother washed it out.”

“Shut up,” Steve repeated, glaring at him. “I’m absolutely capable of not swearing. We’ve been together for three days and this was the first time.”

Loki and Thor didn’t look convinced. “You sound weird. Normally you’d sprinkle in a couple swears in that,” Loki said, leaning his chin on his hand.

Steve swiveled to look at Tony again. “Tony. I’m going to ask you to go upstairs and cover your ears.”

“I can handle it!” Tony exclaimed. He wasn’t entirely sure though. Loki and Thor were making him have doubts.

“You should go upstairs and cover your ears,” Thor agreed, and Loki nodded sympathetically.

Tony looked back and forth between all of them, not quite feeling ganged up on, but almost. “Well… I guess I’ll go,” he finally said, gathering his notes and pencil before he stood up. He gave them all a supremely unimpressed frown. “But I’m going because I want to, not because you told me to.”

“Of course,” they agreed solemnly, and Tony took a moment to be incredibly weirded out by it before he left the kitchen and scurried up the stairs.

He paused outside the door to his room, then called out, “I’m going in my room now!” Only once he got a chorus of acknowledgment did he step inside. He waited with the door cracked, unable to help his curiosity, because surely they couldn’t be that loud.

The explosion started immediately, outraged ‘what the hell’s and ‘I’m tryin’ not to be an asshole’s and ‘We’ve known each other in person three fucking days can you give me a goddamn break?!’ They were interspersed with laughter (good-natured, he thought) and what sounded like ‘how did you keep your dumb ass from just exploding in frustration.’ It didn’t… sound angry, he thought. It sounded more like how Jarvis and Ana bickered, or the way he argued with Jan when she thought he should wear more daring colors and he didn’t want to stand out. It sounded… friendly? Like a disagreement with emotions high, but with low stakes, sort of like when he’d insisted cotton was fine and Jan had howled about linen, both of them knowing it didn't really matter but very passionate about it anyway.

“Oh no,” Tony murmured as more swears started to get slung around, finally turning the knob and pulling the door shut all the way. He could still hear muffled bellowing, but none of the words. He took a moment to appreciate the craftsmanship that it showed, that Steve had built the house and door so that it blocked out most noise. He’d have to compliment him on that later. After things had been settled downstairs, of course.

He looked down at his notes, flipping through them. It seemed like there was a lot going on with each plant, but there was some overlap. Apparently, all of the plants needed something to climb up. He wondered if it would be too much. It seemed like a lot of extra work, and they were getting a late start. He didn’t want to make it too difficult, although Steve had said he’d have no problem with it. Besides, with the cattle gone to market, he’d said there wasn’t much to do anyway.

Tony paused, then let out a little hum, walking over to the bed and climbing on top of it. He opened the notebook to a new page so he could edit what he’d scribbled down properly. He didn’t know how long Steve was going to be entertaining(?) his friends or when he would be allowed down, so he could fill his time with getting his thoughts in order. After all, he wanted to be prepared when Loki brought over the plants for him, if he still wanted to. Steve had said the garden could be his responsibility, and he couldn’t help but want to prove that he could do it, especially with how much Steve had to teach him now.

He tipped his head as he heard the yelling stop, wondering if he’d be called back down, but then there was another shout, and a loud thump, like furniture being forced to move quickly. He’d become familiar with the sound when he visited Sue and she and Johnny would get into scuffles before someone separated them. He figured it probably wasn’t a real fight, but he also wasn’t going to go down there and find out. It was better to just wait until someone presented themselves to him, mussed up but pointedly ignoring it. He had a garden to plan, after all.

[lokisprettygirl]

The Night Screams at The Slumber Island (Loki x Female Reader) (Horror Romance) (Dark) (Au) (18+)

Read Chapter 4 here // Series Masterlist

Chapter 5

Summary : You give into some of those growing feelings and do something you haven't done since that incident.

Warning: Cigarette smoking, loki smokes, don't ask me why, loki gets slapped. Minola being Minola, Mentions of recurring nightmare and trauma, mention of past abuse, trust issues, spooky stuff, sub loki vibes (he will emerge;) )

He saw you, he knew you were watching him and you felt embarrassed of that knowledge. So you did what you thought would be good, avoid him as much as you could.

Two days later you felt a little under the weather so Loki graciously offered to buy groceries and meat for you. You didn't want to trouble him but he used the friendship card on you, besides you didn't want to get out of the bed, your stomach hurt and you felt nauseated. You didn't know why though because you were eating as healthy as you could. Thankfully it was the weekend so you didn't have to attend school. 

You took a shower before he'd get there to drop the groceries off, you weren't trying to impress him, you just didn't want to stink.

As you heard the knocks, you peeked from the window before you opened the door, 

"Hi come inside please, I can't thank you enough" he smiled as you said that. He kept the bags on the kitchen counter and took everything out, the bags seemed different but you didn't want to probe him when he was trying to help you. It's not like he could poison the vegetables or meat. 

"You don't have to do that" you mumbled as he started to unpack the groceries so he could store them properly in the refrigerator and cupboards.

"It's no trouble love, you're sick, let me take care of you please, is that okay?" He mumbled softly and your heart skipped a beat. Why would he want to do that? What was he doing? You hated that no matter what he did there was a part of you that always questioned his kindness.

"Thank you..that means a lot" you smiled but he noticed your teary eyes, moments like this made him want to walk up to you and hug you until you would start to feel safe and loved ..maybe. This wasn't part of the plan, he was just supposed to do what she wanted him to do, she deserved that after all but he was just a man and he had feelings too. Feelings that he knew would get him in trouble. 

"Can I use the stove and make an herbal tea for you? I am assured you're still feeling nauseated aren't you?" He asked you and you nodded. 

"Sure..can I ..umm stay here?" You mumbled and he noticed your discomfort. It was a big deal for you to allow a man you have known for less than a week in your personal space like this.

"It's your house darling, you can give me company, this concoction would work like a charm.. if not you can throw it in my face" he chuckled and it eased you a little.

"I'd never do that" you mumbled and hopped onto the countertop. Your body felt weak.

He brushed his fingers through his hair, pulled them up and tied it in a bun but a strand or two escaped from the clutches of his fingers, adorning his face beautifully. He washed his hands before he took out a small bag of mixed fresh herbs from one of the bags, you didn't see any herb stalls in the market that day except parsley.

"Soo umm do you like being here, alone? I mean, don't you feel lonely?" You questioned him, you have been wanting to know more about him, his family, if he had friends or a girlfriend.

"Not really.. I mean I won't be here forever, I'm just exploring new things in life and coming here was something I just had to do" you nodded as he said that. You wondered if you'd be here forever? You had put your life savings to buy this creepy house in the middle of nowhere so you were essentially stuck here for a long time. 

You didn't even want to think about the possibility of being alone here like you had initially planned, you would have died of a heart attack the first night if it wasn't for your neighbor.

"So you have friends out there?" You asked him and he hummed. He stood next to the stove, situating himself against the edge of the counter. The green shirt he wore complimented his emerald green eyes so well. 

"If you ever feel like talking to me, or just want to vent perhaps.. I'm all ears darling" he mumbled and you nodded, you felt thankful that he didn't ask about your life, your friends or the lack thereof.

After he strained the tea he had made he walked towards you and passed you the cup, he placed one of his arms right next to you and he could feel you felt nervous immediately but he had to make you feel less scared around him. You had to trust him.

"Do you want me to finish mine first?" He asked you and you shook your head. You must be getting on his nerves with the constant doubts and scrutiny.

"No ..sorry.. It's just ..hot" 

You took a sip and it tasted herby but you weren't expecting anything different. 

"I go to the day market every other day, I can shop for you if you want, you won't have to get up early" 

"No no I can't ask you to do that" 

"It's not an issue, that's the least I can do for you, I know you don't really enjoy the whole process" you chuckled as he said that, you hated it to be honest because you weren't getting much sleep in the night so waking up early was nearly impossible. On the top of it, the staring and looks of judgement were too much to deal with. 

"Are you sure loki? I don't want to trouble you" 

"You could never trouble me" he winked at you and you buried your head down, focusing on sipping your tea so he won't see how his actions affected you. 

After he left you decided to clean around the house. He wasn't lying about the concoction, you did feel better, in fact you felt as if you were never sick to begin with.

"That's so weird" you mumbled as you dusted off the living room, when you saw the pictures of the house it looked different, less eerie and cleaner. Your eyes glanced over the portrait of Minola so you brought a stool and took it off the wall, you can't handle her staring anymore. It was too heavy but you managed to not fall down.

"I'm sorry Minola, I don't want to disrespect you, i absolutely don't but I hope you'd understand"  you wrapped it in a bedsheet and put the portrait in the basement. 

"Okay it seems better now" you mumbled to yourself, it seemed more homely now.

In the afternoon you took a stroll outside, you wanted to ask your neighbor to join you but you didn't want to seem overbearing.

You took the route he showed you, it was also closer to the beach so you went there and sat close to the shore. You haven't seen the Sun rising here even once, and it was getting gloomier everyday, you could see the clouds of fog from the distance and it had gotten a little cold as well in matter of few days.

"Hiii there" you got spooked by the voice and heard him chuckling. It was Steve. You didn't know why all the men on this island gave you creeps, but maybe it was just your past and how you have come to think about them.

"It's beautiful isn't it?" he sat down next to you and you nodded as you scooted away a little. He didn't seem to notice your discomfort like Loki did.

"It is ..in a scary type of way" you chuckled and he smiled.

"So what got you here?" he asked you and you sighed, it's not the conversation you wanted to have with him, you haven't even told your handsome neighbor anything until now. 

"Just wanted to get away from the city I guess" 

"I get that, but once you come here and become a part of this community and what they have to offer you'd never want to leave" he said in a monotonous tone as if he himself didn't believe a single word of what he had said. 

"Well I hope so too because people seem to not like me here" he was quiet for a moment before he hummed in response.

"I have to work..I'll see you around" he stood up to leave but there was something you wanted to ask him about.

"Steve?" 

"Yea?" 

"Why don't people come closer to my house? Is there something wrong with it?" You asked him and he shook his head then he started laughing before he got serious.

"Nooo don't be a lunatic y/n" he snapped at you suddenly and that scared you so you shut yourself down and waited for him to disappear out of your sight so you could bolt out of there. 

You made your way to the house and instead of going in you knocked on your neighbor's door instead, it has gotten dark so he had his lights on like usual, he had no shirt on, only a black trouser that hung too low on his waist, you didn't want to stare but he was carved with perfection.

"Are you okay darling?" He asked you as he found you unnerved and rubbing your arms with your own hands,

"I just..I was going to make coffee and check if you wanted it" you looked everywhere but him as you spoke so he grabbed your hand in his and you shivered but not in a good way. The touch, a man's touch flashed several images in your head that you had tried to get rid of for so long, his touch didn't feel unsafe but you just couldn't stop yourself from feeling scared. You pulled your hand away quickly and it landed right on his cheek, it wasn't a hard slap but it was wrong to do that to him and you knew that very well. 

Your eyes welled up with tears because of embarrassment and he was just looking at you, trying to understand and comfort you but you turned around and ran into your house. 

You closed your door and stood with your back against it as you processed what you had done, maybe he was just trying to comfort you but it was instinctual, wanting to fight for yourself because you couldn't do it when he hurt you. You just laid there and took everything. You were helpless.

"Y/n?" You jumped as you heard his voice on the other side.

"Just go away, I'm sorry ..I'm sorry" you mumbled as you sobbed quietly. 

"Noo..I'm sorry darling, I shouldn't have touched you like that, it's my fault, not yours and–" you opened the door so you could handle this a little maturely, you just slapped a man for no reason. 

"I just.. I don't..I am" you stuttered with your words because honestly you had no clue what to say to him, you didn't even know why he was still there, he shouldn't even be talking to you. He had put the wife beater on again and you noticed that. He stepped a little closer to you but not too close to make you feel uncomfortable, you looked up at him and his fingers itched to wipe the tears off your cheeks but he knew that wasn't the right thing to do. Not yet. 

"I crossed a line darling, I shouldn't have touched you that way without asking first, is it something that scares you? Makes you feel uncomfortable?" He asked you and you nodded immediately. 

"That won't happen again I promise" 

That should have brought you comfort but your heart sank instead, that's when you realised that you wanted him to hold your hand and touch you, it didn't make you feel disgusted, his touch wasn't sexual or purely lustful, it felt warm and you wanted him to hold you again because you have been touch starved for so long, but how were you supposed to ask for it now after what happened?

"Thank you and I'm sorry, I shouldn't have hit you like that" you sobbed again and he shook his head immediately.

"It felt like a breeze, don't worry about that now please" he mumbled as he smiled so you nodded "Something happened before? You seemed worried" he asked you and you couldn't focus on his words but his hands. You wanted to hold his hand again.

"Nothing I just got spooked" you mumbled and invited him in, you made coffee and he didn't deny it, you didn't notice any change in his behavior, he was still as kind as he has been before.

He was about to leave when you grabbed his hand in yours this time, he was taken aback but not in a bad way like you did before, he was just pleasantly surprised. 

"Your hands are..pretty" he mumbled and you looked down, your left hand was holding onto the long slender fingers of his right one.

"Thank youu..loki.. for everything..I don't know how it would have been here without you" you mumbled softly and his heart fluttered, he wanted to do so much more than just hold your hand in the moment but he knew that would make you hate him, he wanted you to take what you needed, he wanted you to come to him and he wanted to be the one to be commanded this time, that's what you needed to heal, someone who'd allow you to take him at your own pace, in the way that wouldn't hurt your mind over and over again. Something really horrible had happened to you. He knew that very well.

"I am glad to be here darling, you just need to tell me how you want me to be here for you" he whispered softly and you felt all the butterflies jumping in your tummy. What did he even mean? You didn't understand but you liked what you heard. You pulled your hand away to not come across as creepy and he gave you your space like he always did.

Nights were the least favorite time of the day for you here, because of the screams and sounds you kept hearing, things your mind made you see. So you turned the headphones on to distract yourself, your mind drifted towards him and how good it felt to be able to touch someone again. You finally fell asleep that night.

The music blasting in your ears definitely blocked the sounds of the loud violent thumps that was coming from the basement.

💀🤎💀🤎💀🤎💀🤎💀🤎💀🤎💀

Taglist @mcufan72 @stupidthoughtsinwriting @fraoid3 @wheredafandomat @michelleleewise @daddylokisqueen @123forgottherest @usagishira @elegantcheesecakecrown @sashas-recs @lukira1337 @vickie5446 @spageddyhoes @witchypandamonium @javagirl328 @slpnbty2001 @mochi661 @lovingchoices14 @annoyingsweetsstranger @army24--7 –7 @el-zef @asgardianprincess1050 @loz-3 @whylokiissocute @holotacopeely @thomase1 @daggers-and-mischief @constablewafflebottom @marvel-love24 @crimson25 @laliceee

[latibvles]

Hi Poet! Just wondering if you could share some hcs about Inez and Alex? I love them so much and they’ve been on my mind lately :)

Hi friend!! I certainly can. I will be tagging @upontherisers for this, because they are sick and deserve more of them in the meantime. As i did with the “underrated girls” headcanons, I’ll be throwing these under the cut for length!

I think what is most special to me about them, is that they didn’t really… have those feelings until after the war. In the Stalag though, they become good friends — and partners in a way. Alex is good at drawing and Inez is good with math; as such, the map-makers when they talk about escape plans

A lot of cold mornings sandwiched together at the table, and cold nights too.

Inez was pretty conscious of her accent in Thorpe Abbotts (an insecurity she carried prior to the war) — it’s something she forgets in the camp. It’s also what gets them talking about home and where that is and who’s waiting for them on the other side.

So after nine months, it’s pretty instinctual for Alex to scramble for the pen and paper before the first of many prisoner exchanges, to write down the address he’d be staying at so they could write to one another.

He sends drawings sometimes and I do imagine that they’re scenic in nature. Sketches of the interior of his home once he moves out of his mother’s place. The plants that eventually need to be potted.

Inez keeps all of it. I don’t think they unpack just how much of a lifeline those letters are until later though (especially staying with her parents — their correspondence is one of the only things that feels normal to her).

Alex hates watching her go when she has to go back to Tennessee for a week or two and Inez hates leaving

Domestic routine there before they even talk about what it is they’re doing, here. They’re sharing a bed before they even talk about making it a longterm arrangement. Alex is wiping the dirt from her cheek when they’re planting bushes and doesn’t even think about it

There’s something extremely natural there. It’s “who would’ve thought it would have been you?” but also “who else could it possibly be, if not you?”

Cari once said Bless The Broken Road for them and yeah. Extremely real.

They’re scaring off each other’s nightmares without a second thought about why it’s so easy for them to hold & let themselves be held by each other in such a state. They weren’t sharing a bunk in the camp. It’s new and familiar all at the same time.

Alex has been eyeing engagement rings for longer than he probably should’ve so at least the nice man at the jewelers kept that one tucked away “just in case.”

He asks her to marry him maybe a month after June and Benny’s wedding. Inez gets all sniffly about it but it’s fine. He cleans her glasses for her after putting the ring on her finger.

Poll time? Are they having kids? How many? This question and more will follow me into the 2am mark.

I hope you enjoyed these, anon! :)

[harpagornis]

Cruelclaw's Loves

Cruelclaw laid in bed, staring at the ceiling. Right next to him Camellia snored, not making a lot of motion as she slept. She could be as still as the grave sometimes.

He nonetheless felt a turn in the bed, and judging by the sharpness of it he guessed she was awake.

"Okay, you've been staring at that ceiling for a while" she said, "Something on your mind?"

Cruelclaw sighed, not even turning to her.

"Nothing at all, sugar."

This earned him a pillowslap of frustration.

"I know you, it's never 'nothing'. Spill it out."

Indeed, it wasn't nothing. Camellia was great, but staying with her made Cruelclaw aware of his mortality, of his power potentially fading, of his wits dimming. That was a lot to unpack, and telling her to her face that it was because of her wasn't the wisest idea.

Or maybe it was, but Cruelclaw would not risk that vulnerability.

"I'm serious, it's nothing. Go back to sleep."

Before Camellia could protest, he kissed her. She melted into the kiss, in a way that could best be classified as passive-aggressive, before breaking it off. She sighed.

"Typical."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

But Camellia was back to sleep.

Vren stood on the shoreline, his bandits scattered about, when one of his bats reported a group incoming. The rat had prepared his blade with noxious spells to cut and infect, but upon seeing his face he relaxed somewhat.

"Vren!" Cruelclaw said, arms open.

"What are you doing here?" Vren said, reserved.

"Just to see how my favourite outlaw is doing. Have to scoop the competition, after all."

Cruelclaw approached. Any other fool would be decaying gruesomely by now, but Vren allowed it. The space between them closed, as the weasel stepped into the marsh waters, and soon they embraced, followed by an awkward kiss. Vren didn't do much to reciprocate, but he didn't fight it either.

"Vren, you're still as a cardboard" Cruelclaw said, stroking the rat's face.

Vren didn't answer, only leaning to his touch.

"I think you should go."

Cruelclaw stood dumbfounded.

"But I just got here."

"And whenever you come, you play me like a fiddle. So please, just leave. For your own sake."

Cruelclaw stared at Vren's blade. He hadn't raised it, but he knew better than to risk his chances.

Sighing, he departed. Vren watched him go with longing, before steeling his heart.

"Stop!" Baylen shouted.

"Wouldn't you like that" Cruelclaw said as run.

The chase was turning into quite the commotion, upsetting local businesses, but Baylen had assured they could handle the outlw alone. Cruelclaw jumped over a cabbage merchant; Baylen stopped and paid for the damages. Cruelclaw jumped unto the roof; Baylen circumvented that, throwing ballistic spells to knock him off his perch. Cruelclaw whistled for one of his birdfolk rogues to stall Baylen; Baylen's hammer knocked the finch mercifully to the side, wind sailed out of its wings.

Eventually, the two of them run into an alley… and kissed passionately.

"You can't keep doing this" Baylen said under thick gasps.

Cruelclaw's chest puffed.

"Haven't you heard? I'm the infamous Cruelclaw, I can do whatever I want."

"Then I'll stop you."

"Try me."

Baylen grabbed his wrist, only to pull him back into another kiss. They let him go, and much to their chagrin the weasel escaped.

Such was the life of the outlaw.

[zillobeastbait]

Till the End - Ch. 2 - Pt. 2

Chapter 2

The New

photos from Pinterest, moodboard by me

Once your eyes adjust to the light you see that inside is all grey. They have shelves and racks of food and bottles of water. You follow Daryl down the steps and towards a table. You watch from a small distance as he unpacks the food he took from your house and sets it all on the appropriate shelves. “C’mon, let's get you settled in somewhere.” Daryl says after putting everything away. He tries to use as gentle of a voice as he can and less sharp movements. “Can’t I stay with you?” Crimson asks, catching up to Daryl as he walks through a door. When they enter the room Crim realizes they’ll be staying in cells. The thought scares her a little, but not as much as benign alone outside. “Nah kid, yer gettin' put in yer own cell.” Daryl sounds a little ruder than he means to, but no way was this kid sleeping in the same cell as him. He saved her and that's it. “Oh, ok, well where’s your’s?” Crim is slightly saddened that the man won't let her sleep near him, it would make her feel a whole lot safer, Something about him just feels like she can trust him, like he will keep her safe no matter what. “Up ‘ere.” Daryl mutters, pointing up the stairs. “Can I pick one next to you?” Crimson asks, looking up at him with as much of a puppy-eye look as she can muster up. Daryl stops for a second and looks at her. Does she really think that look is gonna work on him? It is kinda cute, and she is only little. No, snap outta it, he thinks to himself. Why was he suddenly sympathetic towards this random kid? “Pick whichever one ya want.” Daryl waves his hand in the air as he runs up the stairs and into his cell. Although Crimson can tell that he doesn’t like her, he is the only person she knows around here. She slowly walks up the stairs and peeks into Daryl’s cell. She sees him throwing the bag he used on his top bunk, then turning and sitting on his bottom bunk for a moment. Crimson then realizes she’s spying and backs away. She checks the cell to the left of his and it’s empty. She decides that this will be her cell. She takes off her backpack and puts it on the bed. She then sits next to it and takes out Moo Moo. She sits and observes the empty walls for a while, swinging her legs and talking to herself in her head. Some time later Daryl opens the curtain that divides her from the rest of the cell block. He sees the young girl passed out on her bunk, Moo Moo under her head for a pillow, and her feet are still hanging off the edge of the bunk. Dary enters the cell as quietly as he can. He grabs the pillow out from under his arm and places it at the head of the bed. He then lays down a thicker blanket he had on his bed, it's not like he needs an extra blanket anyway. Daryl sets the rest of the blankets he brought in on the end of the bed. He carefully removes Crim’s shoes, thankfully they were easy to slide off. He then picks her up and moves her to the center of the bed. While he’s moving her he realizes it's only the middle of the day, but he then also realizes that he doesn’t know the age of this kid, and she may be used to taking naps every day. By the time he snaps out of his train of thought he’s put the other two blankets over her. He puts her shoes on the floor at the foot of her bed and puts her backpack on the table on the opposing wall. He grabs the stuffed animal from where it has fallen on the floor when he picked her up and sets it next to her. He stands there observing for a moment before swiftly exiting the cell.

-----

Part 1

Thanks for taking the time to read this! As always support your artists by not only liking but also commenting and re-blogging.

[starlitangels]

To Steer By

This was a long time coming. Like I literally didn’t update this story all the way through March... sorry. 2.4k words

Ch 1, Ch 2, Ch 3, Ch 4

—

Chapter 5 - A Picture of Radiance

—

Avior did not want to get out of bed the day of the wedding, but was woken by Caelum throwing open the curtains in his chamber anyway. “Alright, Your Majesty! We have a lot to do and not a lot of time to do it,” Vindemiator announced. “I intend to make you look your best on your wedding day and I don’t care how much you protest.” He dropped a bag of supplies on the dining table in the guest chambers and started rifling through it as Caelum flung open the other set of curtains.

Avior recoiled and muttered something under his breath that he really hoped Caelum didn’t hear. He groaned and rubbed at his eyes with the heels of his hands. “The wedding isn’t until nightfall,” he complained. “We’re in the Star Kingdom, remember? Some nonsense about a marriage under the stars being more sanctimonious or something.”

“Yup,” Vindemiator agreed. “And it might take me all day to get you presentable for tonight. Every single noble in this kingdom will be in attendance. Some of the servants have been whispering that the neighboring kings were even invited. And if you don’t look your best in front of them, I will never forgive you.” He grabbed Avior’s wrist and started to pull him toward the edge of the mattress.

Avior relented, getting out of bed.

Vindemiator went to the door of the chambers. “Bring it in,” he said.

Several servants hauled in a wooden bathtub and large buckets of water to fill it with. They proceeded to fill it while Vindemiator spun Avior in a few circles and inspected him with narrowed, reddish-magenta eyes.

“I can make this work,” he decided. “Bath. Now.”

Caelum clapped his hands over his eyes and went and stood in a corner with his back to the room, giggling.

“Which one of us is the king here?” Avior retorted sarcastically as he pulled off his sleep shirt and threw it at Vindemiator’s face. Vindemiator let it hit him and laughed as it did. Avior stripped his clothes off his lower body and climbed into the bathtub with a roll of his eyes. Vindemiator passed him a few things from his bag, much more delicate and deft with his claws than Avior had managed to achieve. Avior took the cleaning supplies and started to scrub off.

Avior watched Vindemiator unpack cosmetics. “Vin, I doubt you can hide what I am behind any of that,” he said.

“Oh no, these ones are for me,” Vindemiator said, using a brush of something to paint his lips a bit darker. “The mirror in your room is bigger than mine.”

Caelum giggled again.

“Trust me, Avior, I have no intentions of hiding what we’ve become. It’d be foolish to even try.” Vin regarded Avior as he rinsed some soap off. “No amount of cosmetics could hide the horns or the tail. So we’re going to show them off instead. There’s something beautifully poetic about the title Demon King, don’t you think?” Vin smirked. “And why not? Your fiancée’s father is ‘the Star King.’ Then there’s the Wolf King on the other side of this kingdom. Whatever his name was.”

“David,” Caelum chimed in.

“Thanks, little guy,” Vindemiator said. “Then there’s Damien, the King of Fire, and William, the King of Fangs—whatever the hell that’s supposed to mean. With titles like that, you were never gonna measure up—but damn Demon King outclasses them all. The evocative imagery, the way it rolls out of the mouth. Mm. It’s delicious. And we’re going to make the most of it whether you like it or not.”

Avior rolled his eyes. “Just make sure I look like myself on my wedding day.”

Vindemiator shot him a look. “Sire, you will look like the best version of yourself today when I’m done with you.”

Avior snorted and dunked himself under the water.

—

Estelle was up before dawn with her attendants as they fussed and did her up. Neither of them said a word. Estelle didn’t either. She knew this was probably the last morning she’d be with them like this. Her last morning with her friends doing her hair and helping her into a corset she didn’t want to wear. The last morning one would knock the makeup brush against their hand to spatter glitter over her skin to make her look starlit.

She swallowed thickly. “How’s Geordi?” She looked to the attendant lacing up her corset in the mirror.

They smiled. “He’s doing well.”

“You’ll both be at the ceremony?”

“We wouldn’t miss it, princess,” they replied.

“Thank you.”

Their smile turned sad, then slid off their face as they went back to their work. Estelle gasped a little as they yanked on the corset laces, her hand flying to her ribs as if the touch would make a difference.

“I never get used to that,” she choked out with a chuckle.

Both attendants spared her a smile of acknowledgment.

Elliott’s sunshine twisted some of Estelle’s hair, experimenting with the styling. “Are you nervous, my lady?” They peered over her shoulder at the mirror.

Estelle cleared her throat. “A little. It’s my wedding day, after all.”

“I mean… about your husband-to-be?”

“No. Why?”

“He’s the Demon King.”

Estelle grunted as another round of corset lace tightening squeezed her abdomen. “I can handle him,” she said confidently, if a bit strained.

“I pray you’re right,” the other attendant said under their breath.

“Me too. But I’m willing to give him the benefit of the doubt. And he doesn’t know about my gifts. If things start getting dicey, I’ll take care of him and come home.”

The attendants shared a brief look. Then a slight smile. “Let’s hope it doesn’t come to that.”

They went back to getting her ready.

When the corset was all tightened and tied and the glitter had been spattered over every inch of exposed skin, the wedding gown was pulled from the wardrobe. Estelle stared at it. She’d seen it in a drawing before, but not the finished product. “Wow,” she breathed. “It’s beautiful.” Her attendants both nodded.

It took all three of them to get it on and situated properly. But once it was, the hair started to be styled and the makeup started to go on. Estelle was used to holding still for processes like this. She was even used to the nerves that made her chest tighten from how hard her heart was pounding. But there was a new layer of fear buried under all of it. Fear of the unknown that would come after this.

Once her hair was finished being styled, a veil attached to a comb got slid into her hair above her circlet.

The sun was setting by the time they all got done.

“You are pure starlight, my lady,” Elliott’s sunshine said, smiling gently.

“Mmhmm.”

Estelle smiled at them both, giving them each a hug. “Don’t make me cry! You spent so much time on this makeup! I don’t want to ruin it.” The three all laughed. Estelle inhaled deeply to rein in her emotions. “Both of you go get ready to attend the ceremony with your boys. I can handle myself from here.”

They each bid her goodbye and rushed from her chambers.

Estelle walked around them. She knew if she—and, presumably, Avior—came to visit, these chambers would still be hers—or theirs—but it felt weird, knowing this was the last time she was a permanent resident of these rooms. She ran her gloved hand over the windowsill. The vanity. The bed’s headboard. The trunk at the foot of the bed. The dining table. The wardrobe. The writing desk. The little knick-knacks she’d collected that made this room hers were already packed away and being shipped to Aria for her life there.

She stood at the window and stared out. The last time in a while she’d be able to see this perfect view of the sunset.

The first star winked to life as the sunlight died—

And a knock resounded on her door.

“Come in,” she said.

The door opened. When she turned, her father was standing there in his finery. “It’s time, my dear,” he said.

Swallowing, she nodded.

—

The bridal party having taken up their positions, Avior strode down the aisle on his own.

He had to hand it to Vindemiator—the man knew his stuff. Avior had never looked fancier and hated the process less. Usually getting dressed up had been a pain and he hated the discomfort of the clothes. But Vindemiator had made a handsome, deep red outfit that managed to feel nice to wear and look incredible.

They’d had a two-hour off-and-on argument about the black gloves, but ultimately Vindemiator won and Avior wore them. He hadn’t wanted to. He hadn’t wanted to hide his scarlet skin and claws—hadn’t wanted to cower and shield what he was from those with more delicate sensibilities. But Vindemiator pointed out that the princess would be wearing gloves too and it was just part of the whole wedding kit-and-caboodle. And you wouldn’t want to accidentally scratch your bride, right? Vindemiator had added. So Avior had relented.

He stood in front of the altar, facing the officiator—a Star Palace retainer named… Eric? Aaron? Avior couldn’t remember. He’d only been told the name once in quick passing and even his sharp memory wasn’t perfect. Either way the man looked a bit nervous.

The wedding had been set up on the Star Palace grounds, not too far from the main body of the castle itself in one of the beautifully-maintained gardens. There were at least two hundred people in attendance, including most of the palace staff.

The last ray of sunlight faded, and the stars were out in full force.

Gentle music rose from the wind quartet, a flute melody cutting above the harmonies.

The congregation of attendees rose at a signal from the officiator, and Avior turned around.

Princess Estelle emerged from the Star Palace on her father’s arm.

Avior’s eyes widened.

She was a picture of radiance. A gown so pale blue it could have been mistaken for white hung off her petite body with matching gloves, threads of silver like little moonbeams gleaming in the light of the stars above and the lanterns hung around the venue. The skirt was full but not too large. The bodice was decorated in hundreds, if not thousands, of tiny crystals shaped like stars. Her skin, too, glittered with constellations. A single star-shaped crystal was stuck to the outside corner of her left eye. Her circlet and necklace were much the same as they’d been two days ago when they met—delicate metal thin enough to almost be invisible, connecting constellations of gems. A long veil trailed behind her, woven of silvery thread.

Everything else in the venue faded away. Avior’s mind was completely empty of other thoughts. He just wanted to memorize the ethereal, otherworldliness of the young woman stepping down the aisle toward him. The one who hadn’t been afraid of his monstrous appearance. The one who dislodged the mask he’d put on to garner the reactions he’d wanted without even trying.

Avior had never been in love and never figured he would be, but the way his chest was aching just looking at this princess that he’d known for two days made him feel like maybe his marriage wouldn’t be just a convenient inconvenience. If nothing else, he’d made a friend who wasn’t scared of what he’d become.

Her father escorted her up the aisle and gave her hand to Avior when they reached the front before taking his place with the bridal party.

Avior could feel Estelle’s hand shaking a little as they both turned to the officiator and the wind quartet’s music faded out. The assembled attendees all sat.

Avior’s blood was roaring in his ears so loud that he barely heard what the officiator was saying. He caught, “matrimony… beloved… this sacred ceremony… blessed by the stars…” and that was about it.

He knew what he had to do. The officiator would look at him after reciting a vow and he would say, “Yes.” Then the young boy who’d brought the rings up to the front on a pillow—Estelle’s nephew? Cousin?—would offer the pillow up, they’d exchange rings, and Avior would kiss her, and their marriage would be sealed.

Part of him wished he could hear the officiator so he wasn’t so blind to where the wedding was going and so he could remember what was said fondly in his twilight years.

But also he figured if he could hear what was being said he’d get nervous.

His mind was spiraling quickly—

And then the officiator looked at him.

His posture straightened completely. “Yes,” he said confidently.

The officiator smiled—and Estelle might have smiled as well—and turned to the bride.

Avior heard a bit more of the vow the officator recited to her. Something about, “Holding your husband sacred under the eyes of the stars,” before she nodded with a smile on her face.

“Yes,” she said.

The young boy with the pillow tiptoed forward. Avior pulled the ring for Estelle out from under the ribbon meant to keep it from falling off on the walk up, and Estelle pulled the one meant for him away as well.

He slid her glove off and her ring on, and she did the same for him. He noticed a moment of hesitation at fitting the ring over his claw, but it was just a moment like she didn’t want to hurt him. The ring was a band of gold with an inset white gem shaped like a five-pointed star, and warmed against his skin immediately.

“You may kiss your bride,” the officiator said.

Avior leaned close. Estelle gave him a small smile of invitation.

He pressed his lips to hers.

Metaphorical fire erupted in his chest, and something shifted. He’d learned in the last few weeks which of his instincts were human, and which were demon. And his demon instincts pivoted sharply, angled toward Estelle.

My wife to protect, the instincts seemed to whisper.

[popculturebuffet]

Bubba Ho-Tep Review: A Stark Meditation on Age and Elder Care liberally mixed with talk of Elvis Presley's Diseased Penis (Comission For WeirdKev27)

Happy Halloween all you Happy People! It's time once again for me to review some spooky stuff on this fair blog.

Last year I took a nice long look at the Evil Dead quadrilogy, soon to be a quintology as Evil Dead Rise is coming next year provided HBO Max dosen't try to shelve that one too. This year there will be some more deadite hyjinks as we take a look at the first arc of the Evil Dead and Army of Darkness comics, and for the unaware those are very diffrent things because Rights Issues are funny that way, it wouldn't be right if I didn't also include the man who made Ash possible, mr. bruce cambell. Kev clearly felt the same way so here we are with Bubba Ho-Tep, a 2002 film starring the chin himself and vetran theater actor, character actor, director, activist and all around awesome dude I just learned about thanks to this film Ozzie Davis as the two play elderly men who may be Elvis, having switched places with an impersonator years before his "death" and JFK having been turned into a black man and given sawdust to replace the rest of his brain as their a bunch of elderly people's only hope against an ancient mummy dressed like a cowboy for reasons only vaugely explained whose after their souls, all directed by the same guy who wrote the horror classic i've never seen Phantasm, while also medetating on the strain of aging, how society treats the elderly, and Elvis' Cancer Riddled Penis

This may be the weridest thing i've covered on this blog and with almost 400 articles under my belt and having covered things like this

Just within this year alone, it's a high achievement. So come along with me as I unpack all of this won't ya?

For starters the film's tone is REALLY weird. I mean you'd think with the subject matter it'd be a campy shlocky action fest and while this is very much a b-movie, it's also one that starkly and depressingly tackles aging. While our hero is indeed probably Elvis, he's on his last legs. He spends most of his days laid up in his bed, depressed, barely moving and talking at length about the growth on his penis.

Now you may think "Jake why did you bring this up at all, surley this is just a throaway gag or something right?". Well no. For one thing, the film OPENS, just throws you into Elvis talking about his sad state of affairs while talking in graphic detail about how bad his johnson is. A sad, long monologue about Elvis feeling so lonely he could cry because his wang can't anymore, Elvis in the middle of a mooving scene we'll get to more in a moment oggling a woman and being glad his burning love can still at least flutter a little. There is an uncomfortable amount of time spent with Elvis' dick, and I suspect it's purposeful, but probably still coudl've been trimmed a little or at least lead into better. It is a LOT and dosen't really make you WANT to watch more. I might not have were I not being paid to hear bruce cambell give an artful silloquy about his dingus. Kev also did not remotely warn me about any of this.

I mean he got a good interaction out of me, mission acomplished there but who does that.

And yet the king's junk ... is an important and tragic part of the film. I didnt think i'd be getting paid to type about the tragedy of Elvis' penis in the same year as a film where Tom Hanks doing some weird undefinatble accent as Col Tom Parker takes you through Elvis' life, goes nearly mad thanks to the hippies and is narrating all of this from some casnio waiting room in the after life while Ross Butler gives a career making performance as the king, but here. We. Are.

But said growth is humilating, has to be treated by a nurse once a day.. and towards the end Elvis reveals it's most likely cancerous, with the staff not having the decency to tell him because they figure he'll die before it gets to that. It sums up Elvis' predicament well: He's not treated as an adult, let alone a person and isn't given any dignity. He's just there to be shuffled about and to get checks from. To stay there till he dies infantalized, humaliated, alone and forgotten. It's a BITING indicment of how the worse retirement home treat people: giant cages for people to rob them of their dignity and what life they have left. The king dosen't move hardly at all or do anything at first, not really needing or wanting to and having none of the spark that made him a star left, in a place where children don't visit, as seen when a friend of Elvis dies and his grandaughter just casually throws away his things and has no actual defense for never visiting. It's a disposal for humans and the film makes a great point both that we just kind of willfully ignore this happens and that we shoudln't: We need to have more empathy.

It's only the thrill of stabbing an ancient scarab trying to steal his soul that reawakens the once and future king's passion

And it's here that Corascelli makes another good point :Just because society gives up on you isn't a reason to give up on yourself. Elvis may be old and likely to die but as he and Jack investigate the mummy what lives in a hole in their yard, you see the life come back in him, life Jack always had. Jack never gave up even as understandably no one belived his story and it's thorugh their honestly sweet friendship and this deering doo that Elvis becomes his old swaggering self again, from gleefully jumping into the investigation because he has nothing better to do to telling his nurse to fuck off for patronizing him. It's a slow progressive change but it's a well done one both in the writing and Cambell's acting. He enters the final act back in his iconic white spangly suit, ready to kick a mummy's ass. not because he needs to for himself: now he and John are aware they can stay away, but because he knows Ho-Tep will just keep feeding and feeding on the lost souls of the retirment home and that no one else is going to protect them: I'ts down to him and while he sadly only barely surivvies, and not for long the process and John very much dosen't, he takes out hotep and wins.. able to die having made sure no one else goes.

It's a powerhouse performance from Bruce, with him even bragging how he made a good performance out of elvis with dick cancer, his words not mine, and manages to be impactful, heartbrekaing and ocasoinally hilarious, like Elvis' disbelief at when trying to find something to watch finding a marathon of his film announcing "all those movies are shit". It's a grea tperformance. Ossie Davis likewise fucking brings it, both being hilarous as Jack completely commits to saying he's JFK, but also being charasmatic, charming and heartbreaking when he finally does leave. The duo's chemstiry is infectious and really carries the film

So while the film has suprising depth, heart and a fun duo it's not without it's issues: The film comes off VERY cheap, and while I don't mind a film having to be made on a budget, it dosen't have to LOOK like it: WHile the effects for the mummy and it's scarab look fine, the rest of the film often looks like a made for tv movie. And I thought for a second Phantasm had a higher budget but no: Phantasm was made for 300 thousand dollars to Bubba Hotep's one milliona nd even adjusted for inflation, it only goes up to 743 thousand, just a bit UNDER Bubba's budget. So while I get using just one setting and what effects he had, It dosen't justify the film being shot so plainly. Just form what i've seen of phantasm in clips the man can do better with less and I expect as much.

The humor is also VERY hit and miss. There is a LOT of dick and ass jokes. One or two work like Elvis for some reason assuming hotep is going to shove his walker up his ass then shove elvis up Jack's ass, but mostly it just comes off a tad gross.

Finally the pacing isn't great. Our heroes don't find out it's a mummy till an hour in and only start investigating after that. I don't mind a slow burn in horror but they coudl've shaved at least 20 minutes off this. There are a LOT of slow shots of people walking which works when it's emphasising the characters age but rarely elsewhere.

Overall Bubba Ho-Tep is a flawed flim.. but it's still one with a lot of heart, some fun elements, and two standout performances. It took a while to really grow on me but by it's badass and oddly tragic finale I was hooked. It's not the best horror film by a mile, but it is one worth your time. Thanks for reading, consider joining my patreon, feel free to check out my bonus halloween reviews on letterboxd all thsi month and hail to the king baby.

[chubbygirlmaddy14]

The Dollmaker: The First Day

Dale Kobble x reader

A/N:Thankfully longer, the tension is rising!

Wattpad: https://www.wattpad.com/story/374688245?utm_source=ios&utm_medium=link&utm_content=share_writing&wp_page=create&wp_uname=chubby_girl_maddy16

Chapter 3: The First Day (1,150 words)

Y/N Pov:

My alarm starts blaring in my ears, making me groan as I cover my head with the blanket. Jesus Christ, I think to myself trying to wake up more. I know I should've left Colorado a few days sooner. Given myself a few days to get settled before starting work but I didn't.

I open my eyes watching the light shine through the window as the sun rises over the trees. Beautiful, but as much as it was, I wish I had just a few more hours. Can't always get what you want though, so yet I throw myself up, rubbing my eyes and yawning a bit. I grab a few towels before heading to the bathroom and starting up a shower

                        I feel gross

Of course I did, once Nicolas and Linda left, I opened a bottle of wine and went to bed. How else was I supposed to celebrate my first day back home.

A new start, at least I had hoped.

My thoughts soon washed away as I stepped under the warm water, sighing and feeling content. What was that thing outside yesterday? Would it come back? Is it gonna hurt me?

                      "Jesus get a grip y/n!" I say

                    before grabbing the shampoo.

Once done with my shower, I step out and dry off, glad to get yesterday off of me. I walk over to one of my suitcases, too lazy last night to have unpacked it, and grabbed my trench coat, button up, and jeans. Putting my clothes before grabbing a few other things I needed, I made my way downstairs. Still tired I check my fridge expecting to be food, forgetting I haven't gone shopping yet

"Shit" I mumble softly, making a mental note to head to the store after work. I head into the living room and grab my bag, making sure everything was in it.   Keys, badge, wallet.

The drive to work was short but felt so long. I had no clue why I leaned towards FBI agent. Well, somewhat of a lie is how I see it. Deep down it was because of my parents and sister. Ruled a murder suicide, I thought other wise, no, I knew otherwise. Heading into the office I smile at a familiar face.

"Mr. Carter!"

Though we haven't seen each other in a while, we still knew a lot about each other. Besides seeing one another at meetings over various cases ever since I started, I've known him long before. A good friend to my father, and let alone a great man. "Miss. y/l/n! how's being back treating you?" I sigh softly shaking his hand, shaking off the weird feelings I got from last night

"Good good! still the same old home I knew and love, just needs some more taking care of" I laugh a bit with him "You and your wife should stop by sometimes, I can make dinner for us and maybe your daughter would like to join"

I say giving him a warm smile. He puts his hand on           my shoulder softly, "We would love that, just call me whenever you're ready" making me smile.

I loved spending time with him and his family, and how I've missed get together with my family. Even though they're not here, it's fun to keep going. As we keep talking I notice a girl turn the corner, Carter turning back hearing her footsteps. Approaching her, he takes her arm and brings her over

"Y/n this is agent Lee Harker, Agent Harker this is y/n y/l/n, our newest agent on the longlegs case." I get a bit confused, my eyebrows coming together.

             No one told me I was on a case

                              so soon being here.   

"It's nice to meet you" I say smiling at her reaching my hand out to shake hers, making her return the smile, "it's a pleasure to meet you too, we can always use some new help around."

She was interesting, not in a bad way of course, but you knew she can get things done. Curiosity came back to you, "I- I'm sorry but who is longlegs exactly?" The two agents look at each other before back at me, Carter smiling softly before taking me to another room. "We find these letters at the murder sights that have been happening across town, signed longlegs." He says pulling up different files of the cases.

"All families, the father of each goes crazy one day. Kills every member before himself." I felt sick, this was my reality. "We think it's something deeper than that, I mean come on all of this, same situation, same town. It's not what we are to expect after coming across these cases."

I grab some of the files folding through, picking up the cases with the least trails to them, knowing they shouldn't be left in the dark while the ones getting a closer lead too them all was their main focus.

You wouldn't wanna miss anything, Would you?

Talking a bit more, I soon head into my office with the files, on my way to spend the next few hours trying to put the pieces together. No matter how close I was throughout these hours though, I felt like I was pushing further back. Pushing the files away I cover my face with my hands trying to calm down.

               My head hurt. It all hurt.

Agent Carter opens my office door before leaning against it crossing his arms. "Go home," he says in a fatherly tone, telling how overwhelmed I was. "No, I've got it I promise just give me a few more hou-"

  "y/l/n." He states firmly raising an eyebrow

  Go home, make some dinner,

                                  get some rest"

My stomach growled at the thought of dinner, making Carter chuckle and making me throw a rolled up ball of paper at him. "Fine, but I'm taking these" I lift up the folders before putting them in my bag and getting up. I still need to go to the store, even though I want to go home, it wasn't something I could put off. I shake agent Carters hand before smiling and walking off to my car.

Slumping back in the sat I sigh before putting my car in reverse, pulling out, and driving away.

Thank god the grocery store was only a block

away from home

I thought to myself as I park in a spot close to the door, only noticing a few other cars. I smile knowing it won't be so crowded before getting out of my car and grabbing a cart.

A few isles down I went, putting things I needed more than I didn't need in my cart. I turn the corner and accidentally bump into a taller man, making me gasp and notice I knocked something out of his hand.

"I am so sorry oh my god!" I bend down quickly and pick up his item before turning to face him.

                                        Woah.

[casspurrjoybell-25]

Skating on Thin Ice - Chapter 55 - Part 1

*Warning Adult Content*

Fox Ridley

It had only been half an hour into the car ride down to Quinnipiac and Ian was already complaining about 'third wheeling' with Elijah and myself.

"Ian, I let you have the front seat. You can't complain," Elijah commented from behind us.

"I had to take the front seat so you wouldn't suck Fox's dick while he's driving and get us killed," Ian retorted.

"I can still do that from back here," Elijah pointed out.

"I wouldn't oppose," I said.

Ian groaned and covered his eyes with his hand, leaning his head against the window.

"You two must actually hate me," he grumbled.

I briefly looked at Elijah through the rear view mirror and the two of us shared a grin.

"You love us," Elijah said, Ian grumbling under his breath as he leaned his head against the window.

Ian was just irritable because he was nervous about moving into school, not that he would ever admit that.

I just knew, being his best friend and all.

I knew he would miss me, just as I would miss him, even though he was acting like he wanted to throw himself out of my moving vehicle.

We drove for another half an hour before I had to stop at the rest area.

The three of us got out to use the bathroom, then Elijah went into the store to buy some snacks while Ian and I went back to the car.

"Why are you in such a bad mood?" I asked Ian when the two of us were alone.

"I'm always like this," he replied with a blank stare.

I really couldn't argue with that.

"You seem moodier than usual."

"You seem less moody than usual. Are you happy to be getting rid of me?"

I glared at him.

"Shut up."

Elijah got back to the car a moment later, sliding into the back seat.

"I got us Pringles and cookies and waters," he said, holding up the bag of snacks.

Then we were back on the road again.

When we finally arrived at Quinnipiac, there was barely anybody there.

I dropped Ian off outside the housing office so he could get his room key and then we were off to find his room.

Ian was going to be sharing a suite with some other hockey players on his team but he was the only one moving in early, so he would have the place to himself until the end of August.

The suite was a decent size for a college dorm.

There was a common area and a small kitchen area and two bathrooms.

Around the common areas were the bedrooms.

The room was as big as to be expected for a dorm room.

There was a bed on each side and I immediately chose the one on the left or Ian.

"What if I wanted the other one?" he asked me.

"Well, do you?"

"I don't give a shit."

We started unpacking his things which wasn't a lot.

Ian didn't bring much with him, just his clothes, hockey things and a few other items.

It didn't take us long to get everything unpacked.

When we were done, it felt too soon and I didn't want to leave just yet.

I hated the thought of leaving Ian here all by himself.

I was dreading it the moment I said I would drive him here.

"Do you want us to take you to the store to get anything else you need?" I asked him, trying to prolong us staying here without him knowing.

"I don't need anything else," Ian replied, not looking at me.

"You don't need food?"

"There are stores on campus and dining is open," he said.

"Extra sheets?"

"Fox."

He glared at me.

The two of us were glaring at each other and I hadn't notice Elijah had made his way toward the door.

"I'm going to use the bathroom," he said before rushing out of the room.

"Seriously, why are you being like this?" I asked him as soon as Elijah was gone.

"Me? You're the one acting like a mother dropping her child off at school," he snapped.

"I don't need you to fucking baby me, Fox."

"I'm not babying you," I exclaimed.

"I'm just trying to make sure you have everything you need."

"What you're trying to do is delay the inevitable," Ian replied, clearly seeing right through me.

"I'm good here. You don't have to try and stay here for hours."

I nodded.

"I'll visit you again before I have to move in for school."

"Okay."

And then Elijah was back in the room.

We only stayed for a little while longer before I couldn't think of any more excuses for us to stay.

Surprisingly, Ian let me hug him goodbye and then we left.

Elijah could tell I was tense on the drive back.

He reassuringly placed his hand on my thigh.

"He's going to be okay, Foxy."

I knew that.

********

I was miserable, my throat was sore, I was congested, I kept coughing and I had a headache just as bad as a hangover and worse than all that, I had seen the team doctor and now I wasn't allowed at hockey practice until I was better.

My own roommate was staying with another one of our teammates because he didn't want to catch whatever I had.

I hated being sick, I hated missing hockey and I really hated being confined to this room.

There was a knock on the door and as soon as I opened it, Elijah was on the other side, holding the back of his hand up to my forehead.

"Foxy, you're burning up," he said with a look of concern.

"Come on, back to bed."

He came into the room and shut the door behind him, ushering me toward the bed.

It wasn't until I was back in bed that I noticed he had a bag with him.

He started emptying its contents onto my desk.

He came into the room and shut the door behind him, ushering me toward the bed.

It wasn't until I was back in bed that I noticed he had a bag with him.

He started emptying its contents onto my desk.

"I'm fine," I told him and he shot me a look of disbelief.

"You literally sound like shit," he said, staring at me.

"But it's fine. I'm here to take care of you."

"I'm not that sick. It's just a little cold."

"Stop being so stubborn," he retorted.

"Don't you want me to dote on you?"

As a matter of fact that did sound nice but Elijah was right. I was stubborn.

"I don't need you to though," I told him.

"You don't need to waste your time and I don't want to get you sick."

"This is not a waste of my time," he said.

I suddenly got into a coughing fit and Elijah looked at me with sympathy.

Once I had stopped, he gave me a water bottle and a handful of cough drops.

"Let me take care of you," Elijah demanded.

He knew I would give in, that I couldn't say no to him despite the fact that I was stubborn and didn't want him seeing me like this.

Elijah came over to the bed and tucked the blanket around me, propping me up against my pillows before shoving a thermometer in my mouth.

He waited a few moments before checking my temperature.

"You still have a fever," he said.

"But it has gone down from what you told me before."

He turned back to my desk where he had laid everything out that he brought over.

He took a container of soup and put it in my microwave and then heated up water in my electric kettle.

"I brought you some soup and tea," he told me.

"Elijah," I complained.

"I can feed myself."

"I told you to stop being stubborn."

I narrowed my eyes but took the spoonful of soup he was feeding me anyway.

I was miserable and irritable.

I should have been glad Elijah was here to dote on me but it did nothing to brighten my mood.

Elijah continued to feed me the soup, ignoring my grumbling.

When I was done he poured me the tea, allowing me to drink it on my own.

I had eventually fallen asleep, though I didn't know when.

Elijah was working on some homework at my desk when I woke up.

He must have heard me because he looked back at me the moment I moved.

"How long did I sleep?" I asked, my voice groggy.

"Only about an hour," he said, closing his laptop.

"Do you want more soup?"

I shook my head before he stood up from my desk and came over to the bed, checking my temperature with the back of his hand on my forehead.

I groaned, throwing my arm over my eyes.

"Elijah."

"I'll get in with you."

I removed my arm from my face and looked over at him, making sure he wasn't bullshitting me.

He looked serious and suddenly I wanted to take a shower.

Elijah helped me out of the bed and brought me to the bathroom.

He helped me undress and even though I could do it myself, I just let him do it for me.

Once we were both undressed, he started the shower and we got in when the water warmed up.

The steam from the water was already helping clear my sinuses.

Elijah ran his hands through my hair, getting it wet before putting shampoo in it.

He looked so concentrated that I couldn't stop him even though part of me hated being taken care of like this but it was Elijah, so that made it okay.

After shampooing and conditioning my hair, he rinsed it out and started with the soap.

Elijah lathered soap all over my body.

He rubbed it into my chest, then bent down and got my legs.

"Are you going to let me soap you up?" I asked, looking down at him.

Elijah looked up and grinned.

"If you want."

He stood up and I gave him the same treatment he gave me and when we were done, Elijah turned the water off and pulled a towel around my body then his.

The two of us rushed back into my room where we continued to dry off and get dressed.

"Back in bed," Elijah demanded but this time he climbed in after me.

He brought his arm around me and rested my head on his chest, putting his head on top of mine.

"You know, you're probably going to get sick from me."

"That's fine," he said. "Because then, you can take care of me."