#this story was like 4k words yesterday

[stxrvel]

so....... what would you guys say if i said that........ ive been writing a fic...... thats not icft....... but its jungkook x f!reader being idiots in love...... friends to lovers........ with angst bc if you dont know already i am A SUCKER for angst......... and that it currently has 8k words and im just halfway through.................................

like........ what would you say.

[artificial-transmutations]

4k! Dropout Dorm 1

Hey guys! And there is even more big news today!

It seems like yesterday I celebrated 3k followers, and now, all of a sudden, I have just reached 4k! Honestly, I'm at a loss for words. I'm really happy (and a bit bewildered) that so many of you want to read my stories!

As a celebration, I will receive one previously exclusive four-part story from my once membership site (now a tip jar) here on tumblr, with new pictures! The writing is more than a year old, but I decided not to adjust it to preserve the original charm, so please don't mind the rough edges here and there. And now, enjoy

Dropout Dorm

The line in front of Marvin was long and Marvin was unhappy with himself. He should have come earlier! Who could have known that it was customary to be that early for dorm room assignment? Well, that was an easy question. Obviously, every student in front of him. 

He wasn't technically the last one to arrive, since there was one other guy that came even later, but the two of them marked the end of the queue. The student behind him, a brown haired young man with a narrow face, studied him carefully, before extending a hand.

"Hi!", he said. "I'm Aiden."

"Marvin", answered Marvin. He wasn't the outgoing type.

"Pleased to meet you, Marvin!", Aiden smiled. "So, we'll be rooming together, I suppose."

"We are?" How did Aiden know?

"I'm pretty sure we are." Aiden nodded. "College rules dictate that rooming is determined by order of appearance on the registration day. Since there are 84 people in the line in front of you, and always two are called into the office at a time, it is only logical that we will be roommates."

That made sense. Marvin didn't bother to count the line yet, but he wasn't entirely unhappy. The person directly in front of him looked like the typical meathead jock type, while the thin man behind him proved that he was capable of logic reasoning.

So, Marvin smiled. "Great. I'm looking forward to it, you seem like a good roommate! I'm majoring in computer sciences, what about you?"

Aiden grinned. "Mathematics. Sorry, that's hard to hide for me."

The grin was genuine, and Marvin and Aiden used the waiting time to get to know each other better. To Marvin's delight, Aiden was quite nerdy himself and wasn't keen on partying or taking girls home - which qualified him as a good rooming choice even more. 

Finally, they were called into the secretary’s office, where a woman with large glasses looked at them.

"You are the last ones?"

Marvin nodded and the woman sighed.

"Good. Well, here is the bad news: You too should look for a room elsewhere, outside the campus."

Marvin was confused. Why was that?

Aiden verbalized his question: "Why? Aren't there any rooms left?"

The woman sighed again. "Technically, there is one room left, and you can have it, but... room 148 has a bit of a bad reputation."

"How can a room have a bad reputation?" Aiden asked quizzically.

"Look, the room is called the 'dropout dorm'. For whatever reason, no student that ever took that room graduated. Most dropped out in the same or the following semester.

Aiden looked at Marvin, who, in turn looked at Aiden. How to put it delicately, Marvin asked himself, but Aiden was quicker again, just being honest:

"So, it's just superstition?"

The woman shrugged her shoulders. "Maybe. Maybe not. I can only tell you what happened to students in the years before."

"Did you always offer this room last?" Marvin asked and the woman nodded. He exchanged another look with Aiden and then smiled. "Thank you for your concerns, but I think we'll take the risk."

After the formalities were over, they got their keys and went up to their new room. It was located on the second floor, and when Aiden opened the door, he saw a big window facing the lake and the sun shining brightly through it.

"So, why do you think this is the 'dropout dorm'?" Aiden asked.

Marvin smiled. "Because it is the 'dropout dorm'. You see, there had probably been one or two dropouts in this room. Then, someone decided that the room was bad luck or something like that, and they started to offer it to the last students. Now, usually, the last ones in line are those students who care about their studies the least."

"Except in this year" Aiden added.

"Exactly. So, it became a self-fulfilling prophecy. They gave the 'dropout dorm' to the students with the worst starting conditions, and they dropped out, fueling the myth of the 'dropout dorm'."

"Flawless reasoning", Aiden congratulated. "Now, do you have a preference on which side of the room you want?"

Both young men settled in quickly and moved their stuff to their dorm room over the course of the day. It wasn't a bad room at all: It had a small bathroom with a shower, and a nice view from the window. Most importantly, though, it had two nice, big desks, which were quickly filled with books on Aiden's side of the room, and a powerful PC on Marvin's side. The day passed quickly, and it became time for bed. 

Aiden was slightly amused, as Marvin went into the bathroom to get changed and emerged in pajamas. He certainly didn't judge Marvin for being an introvert, but Aiden had given up pajamas a few years ago and slept in boxers since then. Still, that was nothing of his business.

Both their dreams were restless and although Aiden couldn't remember what exactly he had dreamed off, when he woke up the next morning to the sound of the shower running, he found himself with a bad case of morning wood. It was rare for Aiden to be aroused, but right now, he felt outright horny. His dick throbbed against his boxers and the outline was clearly visible since he had untangled himself from his blanked in his sleep. He just hoped that Marvin hadn't noticed.

When Aiden accidentally brushed against his erection, that was already forming a wet patch in his boxers from precum, he would have almost moaned out load. Damn, was this thing sensitive today. He looked at the bathroom. Marvin had left the door open, probably by accident. He could see the naked body of the other man moving under the stream of water and quickly drew back his head.

It looked like Marvin would still be busy for a while, so this was his chance! Aiden quickly disposed of his boxers and wrapped his right hand around his member, careful not to make noise. It was really difficult since he wanted to moan loudly so bad, but he could control himself. 

He quickly moved his hand up and down, rolling back his eyes. This felt just so good! Wave after wave of pleasure rocked through him and he was already close when he heard the water stop. It took an awful lot of willpower to pry his hand from his prick for a moment, to peek at the bathroom door. Marvin was drying up. If he hurried up, he still had time to finish. His hand went back to his erection, and he pumped on. He threw his head back as he came - in complete silence, but with wide spurts all over his chest.

Aiden had no time to recover though, as only a split second later, Marvin stepped out of the bathroom. Lightning-fast, Aiden covered himself with the blanket, soiling it with his cum in the process. Marvin hadn't seen anything, right?

"Good morning!" Marvin said, the towel around his hips, but stopped in the middle of the room. "Does it smell weird here?"

Stay tuned for the rest of the short series, following Marvin and Aiden on their inevitable journey, posted soon.

Read the next part here

[mazikeenhyde]

Oh Baby... Pain is Pleasure - Part 5

POLY JUDGMENT DAY X READER (WRESTLER) 

Y/W/N – Your Wrestling Name 

Y/W/N/F – Your Wrestling Name Finisher

WARNING – THESE WARNINGS COVER ALL PARTS OF THIS FICTION/ IMAGINE STORY- THEY MAY NOT BE SPECIFIC TO THIS PARTICULAR PART! -  WARNING - SMUT,  GIRL X GIRL, MAN X MAN, POLY RELATIONSHIPS/SEXUAL, BDSM, BLOOD, SPANKING, VIOLENT REFRENCES, INJURY, ABUSE (CONSENTUAL) CHEATING, STALKERS/ STALKING, SMOKING/ CIGARETTES, PRISON, PHYSICAL ABUSE ETC

Word Count - Just under 4k

TAG LIST - @babybatlover @p0is0nl0ve @babiidee28 @darlingnikkisixx @commandershepardofthedas

Oh Baby…Pain is Pleasure – Part 5

For once, it seemed as though fate was on my side, as not long after Damian had demanded an explanation the heavens opened above. Torrential rain poured from the sky and pretty soon the garden had become a makeshift swimming pool. 

By now the clocks had chimed well past 2am and we were nearing  the witching hour. Damian and I quickly scurried through the patio doors; our clothing soaked from a brief encounter with mother nature. Damian locked the backdoors shut and turned to face me as he began to undress himself. 

“Quickly” he demanded as his eyes scanned over my body, “Strip.” 

I turned my head and raised an eyebrow, slightly taken aback by this statement. I mean, I wasn’t about to turn down this handsome devil , if he wanted to fuck me on the breakfast bar then I was all in! Round two Papi?!  Let’s go! 

“Don’t get too excited” He stated plainly,  “I don’t want you catching a cold! WrestleMania is just around the corner, now come on Mi Vida, get those wet clothes off” He stepped forward, now undressed into just his sweatpants. He put his arms to my sides and began helping peel off the wet pyjama vest top I was wearing. Damian stared down, hesitant for a moment and stuck in a trance as my bare chest was exposed, my tits sat perked and patient in the cold waiting for his warm hands. I glanced up, trying to catch his eyeline as I raised one hand to the back of his neck, brushing my fingers across his cheek. 

Damian smirked at me and leant down to whisper in my ear, “Nice try” He laughed gently under his breath before placing one hand on my shoulder, turning me round on the spot and slapping my ass, pushing me forward towards the hallway. 

“Go get some dry clothes on and come back down, I’m not done with you Y/N. We NEED to talk about this, you can’t run away from it forever.” He was stern, not like my usual loveable giant who didn’t need asking twice for an opportunity to shag. 

I held back the desperation to roll my eyes in frustration with him and instead smiled, before taking full advantage of the opportunity at hand. 

Slowly making my way up the stairs, I sneaked my way back into our bedroom to see Finn, Rhea & Dom all fast asleep together. Rhea & Dom were cuddled up in a messy pile of loose fitted pajamas and sprawled out limbs, whilst Finn had rolled away to face the opposite direction with his right arm outstretched. Bending down I grabbed his t-shirt from yesterday off the floor and disposed of my wet pajama shorts in the corner before sneaking under the covers to wrap myself in his arms. 

Finn took a sleepy deep breath, his eyes remained shut as he nuzzled his nose into the crook of my neck and smiled before settling himself back into the pillow, clutching tightly to my waist as he rolled me over so he could take on being the big spoon. 

“Love ya lass” he whispered in a hush tone before falling asleep, gripping me into a tight cuddle. 

“Love you, Finn.” I hummed softly and closed my eyes. I knew it was unfair to leave Damian downstairs, but he’d soon figure out I wasn’t coming back down and head upstairs to bed himself… wouldn’t he? 

It didn’t take me long to doze off, Finns warm embrace was ever a calming one. I just hoped come morning, Damian would let this whole thing blow over. Either that or I could escape to the gym before he could interrogate me again. 

---------------------------

The Following Morning - 6:45am 

I fluttered my eyelids open to a rustling coming from behind me, Finns arms still wrapped tightly around my waist, he too had managed to open one eye in an equally confused daze. We both lifted our heads slightly and peeked over his shoulder to spot a large bundle shuffling around under the covers, muffled giggles escaped, and light moans were hard to miss. 

Finn scoffed in amusement before turning his head round and using his hand, he spun my neck to face back to its original direction as well, both of us resting our sleepy forms back into the pillows. He leant into my neck and nibbled the edge of my ear whispering in a hushed tone. 

“Once you win that title, I’m gonna do a hell of a lot more than surprise you with an early morning breakfast in bed…. You know how I love to eat out first thing” His beard tickled my cheeks as he laid kisses down my neck. But it was hard not to get distracted by the raucous love birds behind us and their morning antics. So throwing the covers off and behind us I signaled for Finn to follow me out the room.

“Come on baby, let’s leave them to it, we can go rustle up some breakfast for us all before I hit the gym. You wanna train together again?” I asked Finn as we headed out into the landing. 

He smirked holding my hand as he followed me out, slapping me on the backside as we went. 

“Ill never turn down a good ol’sweat session with you doll” he grinned as I let go of his hand and raced down the stairs, Finn hot on my tail and pinching my hips as we laughed. 

It was only then, as I turned the corner into the kitchen, like reality had delivered a painful slap across the face; I froze on the spot. Finn, who ran straight into the back of me looked on, confused at the sight of Damian sat on the edge of the breakfast bar, staring at the pair of us. 

“Good nights sleep?” He questioned, a little sarcastically as his voice aimed directly at me, ready to take that kill shot. 

“Shit, D-Damian? But I thought? You weren’t… in bed with Dom & Rhea?” I asked him, both confused and guilt ridden that he must have stayed downstairs all night by himself. 

“Dam? Love, why didn’t you come to bed? Is something wrong?” Finn sounded concerned as he let go of my hips and stepped out from behind me taking a couple steps towards Damian, tilting his head to one side, questioning the man. 

Damian didn’t break eye contact with me as I stood frozen on the spot, my breathing had shallowed out to the point of being nonexistent. He raised his eyebrows at me expecting a response… but all I could do was stare forward, lightly shaking my head ‘no’ in the hopes he would listen to my silent pleas. 

‘Hey Finn…” Damian cleared his voice whilst keeping his eyes fixated on mine. 

“Y/N sucked my dick last night.” 

Bro…Seriously.

I had no words. 

My face just held that look of complete bewilderment and incomprehension at his childish behavior. The devil on my shoulder cursing the dickhead who didn’t seem to mind breaking those rules himself at the time.  

Finn’s head snapped around almost instantly as the sounds of rushed footsteps came down the stairs and up behind me, Dominick & Rhea had now also appeared. Their hair matched in a post sex matted mess, with Dom’s pajama bottoms missing, stood in only his boxers and Rhea adorning Damian’s oversized ‘ALL RISE’ training t-shirt.

“Guys? What is it? What’s wrong?” Rhea questioned, sensing the tension in the room, “Bunny?”.

“You did what…?” Finn was furious as he glared at me, but it was that silent anger, the one that felt more like disappointment than just being upset. 

I still didn’t move, I couldn’t break the stare I had on Damian, I couldn’t believe he had thrown me under the bus. 

Last time I let him finish in my mouth… 

Ok that’s a lie. 

But I made my point clear to my inner sex demon that was currently envisioning a complete anger fueled, pre-breakfast orgy between us all on the kitchen worktops. Cursing each other’s names in breathy moans, fucking out our frustrations as the pancakes & waffles would be left burning with orgasms taking precedent.

“You. Sucked. His. Cock. Last. Night. Y/n?” Finn questioned me again, his eyes burning a hole into my soul as he paused on every word, but still, I didn’t answer. 

“OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOH” Dom was quick to jump on the hype train before Rhea elbowed him in the ribs to shut him up, but it only lasted for a second before he was back at it. 

“Yourrrr in troubleeee” he sung, teasing me as I turned to look at him. 

“Dominick, I swear, I will put you across my knee right her” Rhea warned him as the little shit finally shut his mouth up. 

“Jealous it wasn’t yours?” I spat out sarcastically at Dominick who was half hiding behind Rhea for personal protection. I rolled my eyes, shaking my head before turning back only to notice that Damian had stood up. He walked towards me slowly before leaning down into my face;

“I told you Mi Vida, no secrets” he winked seductively at me before addressing Dom & Rhea, who had made their way over to stand by the sofas.  

“Morning you two, have fun this morning?” Damian smirked pointing down to Dom’s crotch and the black lipstick marks that had been left behind by Rhea. Dom’s cheeks flushed red in embarrassment as he grabbed a pillow of the couch and held it over, to cover his remaining dignity. 

“Y/N!” Finn shouted, making us all jump as he shoved past Damian and closed the space between myself and him. His face was inches from mine now, his finger pointed up close making me feel like a little kid again.  

“One rule, one fucking rule. No distractions! It’s not a complicated rule, it’s not difficult to follow, it’s…” Finn tried to justify before I screamed back in his face, interrupting him. 

“BUT IT IS!” I shouted, I instantly regretted cutting him off, but fuck it I had done it now. 

In for a penny in for a pound and all that. 

“It’s pretty fucking hard to follow when you are all getting off with each other, shagging in the same bed as me when I wake up or leaving me out when you all take joint showers. Christ, it’s not like you even try to hide it!” My heart was racing as I argued my case, though it fell on deaf ears as Finns eyes seemed to just look through me. As if I wasn’t really there. 

My eyes filled with tears as I turned to make a break for it up the stairs. 

“STOP.” Damian’s voice bellowed into the room, Dom jumped so badly he dropped the pillow, and Rhea turned her head to look at him and rolled her eyes. 

“Such a bottom Dom, jeez.” She spoke, Dominick looking equally embarrassed and content with the statement. For once, it wasn’t him that was in trouble. 

I turned back around, rubbing my eyes clear and trying to hold myself together, trying to stay strong so they didn’t see me as some weak girl who felt like she was falling apart. 

Damian pulled my phone from his pocket and snapped his fingers at Rhea & Dom to take a seat on the sofa, then signaling to Finn to take a seat as well. 

Finn didn’t seem best pleased by this, but Damian reassured him they would deal with the whole rule breaking scenario later. This was more important. Damian then dragged the chair from the dining table that he had been leaning against over and took a seat, placing my phone on the coffee table in front of us all. 

“Y/n, despite you sneaking off last night, I haven’t forgotten. I spent all night by myself down here thinking about it. Y/n, I’m sorry Mi Amor, but this needs addressing. Because  this relationship” Damian pointed to each of us.

“It is built on trust, there are no secrets. There should be no secrets. I couldn’t keep what happened last night from Finn, because that would be wrong. I was wrong for allowing it to happen, and I understand why you are upset. Now we can discuss the ‘no distractions’ rule later, so that you don’t feel so frustrated or singled out by it. Right guys?” Damian looked to each of the group, all nodding in unison, Finn a little reluctant at first but you could see he was starting to feel bad for me as well. 

“But… Y/n. You are hiding something, last night you said…” Damian continued but I interrupted before he could finish. 

“I said I’m not the person you think I am” My voice was shaking, full of fear and anxiety. This was it. They were going to find out the truth. 

“Bunny? What do you mean?” Rhea’s face was terrified, she had that look of wanting to run up and embrace me in a full-on chokehold hug. How I would have loved nothing more than for Rhea and the others to hold me tight and wish the rest of the world away. 

My eyes couldn’t hold back the emotional barriers anymore as the tears flooded down my cheeks, my breath catching in my throat as my heart felt like it was breaking. 

“Please… Please… Please I’m begging you. Please, if you love me, if you truly… love me. You will let, this, go.” I sniffled and sobbed as Finn went to stand but Damian rested a hand on his thigh, motioning for him to sit back down. 

“I don’t wanna lose you…” I cried as my hands began to tremble and my legs turned to jelly. 

“Mi Vida, it’s time.” Damian offered a gentle lifeline as he held out a hand to me so I could sit on his knee, but I declined. Pulling myself together I wiped the tears from my eyes and took a deep breathe. 

“Okay…” I whispered as my lips quivered and I fought of the tears that wanted to carry on. 

“Before… Before I… I wasn’t…. Before I…” stuttering every syllable, I knew getting the words out was going to be harder than I had expected. Though I never thought I’d be in this situation to begin with, let alone practice or plan for. I thought I could hide this forever; I thought I would take this to the grave. 

Damian, Rhea, Finn and Dom all sat focused solely on me as I stood in front of them, my entire body was trembling. The room felt as though it was expanding at a thousand paces a second whilst simultaneously closing in all at once. Drowning in the single spotlight of attention, I knew there was no escaping it now. Those skeletons in my closet, they were coming back from the dead. Arising from the deepest depths for which I had buried them, the haunting of my soul was coming back, its vengeance had begun. 

Every action has its consequences. 

I took one final deep breath and locked eyes with Damian before looking to the floor, fixating on a single carpet thread. If I was going to tell my secrets, I wasn’t going to look them directly in the eye. I couldn’t bare to see the love start to fade away from them. 

“When I told you, I’m not the person you think I am, well that’s only half true. The y/n you know now, that’s me. That is the y/n I want to be. I want to be this y/n, I want to live in this life, I want to live with all of you in this little world we have…” My voice choked on the last word as I prepared myself for what was coming. Rhea had her hands to her face, her tears matched mine as it broke her heart to see her girl so visibly upset. 

“But the y/n that I was, the y/n that haunts my dreams, the y/n that left scars across my skin from a war I had no business being a part of. The y/n that destroyed an entire world in a single second through arrogance… she made a deal with the Wyatts to save herself from the darkness. And now…” I looked up to the heavens as I broke down in a cascading river of tears. 

“Even though he has gone, my time is up. My payment is due, and I am so, so sorry. But I cannot protect you from them. Not if I stay. Howdy has my secrets, he knows everything. I foolishly thought that when… that when…” I paused and signaled a cross to the heavens. 

“When the last firefly went out, I would escape, and my deal would turn to dust. He was never a fiend; he was my friend. He was a good person, but like me, he was stuck living the wrong life. People judged before they truly knew who he could be. That kind of judgment can create a monster, the devil himself was born from injustice. He helped those who were lost, offered them sanctuary in his world. But Howdy, Howdy took that world and destroyed it, trapped all of us inside that godforsaken fun house and burnt it to the ground. He manipulates the vulnerable and feeds upon the weak, his family will stop at nothing to destroy… everything.”

I looked up from the floor to see them all staring back at me, was it shock? Was it confusion? Was it fear? We would soon know, because here it is. 

“Before I came up to the main roster, before I signed with WWE, I was a rookie. Like everyone else I was barely surviving on the indie scene. I was doing stupid things, taking stupid risks and, Ha! Well my safety wasn’t exactly paramount. I drank… a lot, all the time. I swallowed anything anyone offered, took anything just to get high and feel something. Death matches, TLC'S, Street fights, it didn't matter because the pain fed my empty soul. I didn’t wrestle under Y/W/N at the time… I was in a duo.” I paused for a second, taking another breath. 

“With Liv… I wrestled under ‘Missy’, get it? Miss-y? Sounds like Miss. E, add LIV and… L.I.V.E = EVIL, ‘Live to be Evil’” 

I swallowed, knowing the words I was going to speak could never be taken back. 

“She was like me, lost little kids living in a world that was far to big and full of way to many temptations… We had a match, a death match. Neither of us were in a state to compete but, well we didn’t care. It was against these two girls who, well we knew them, we had history. One of them had accidentally fucked up a spot a long time before and I had broken my ankle. To say I went into that match with a taste for revenge was an understatement.” 

The entire room was silent, you could barley hear Dom, Damien, Finn or Rhea take a breath. 

“We didn’t just take the win that night, it was never going to get to the showcase. In my mind, all i could see was spite and an opportunity for revenge. During the pre match training session… we ended that girl’s career. I won’t say how, I don’t wanna relive that moment any more than I have to in my nightmares. But I spent a lot longer than 5 minutes behind bars… Dom.” I was still crying; I was trying not to look at them all and their disappointment.  

“I was spiteful, I was full of hatred and dependent on a high I could never fulfil. I was using other peoples pain and suffering in place of the lack of my own. The fiend offered us a deal, a way out, a way to survive. A firefly’s devotion runs far deeper than the loyalty in blood alone. He buried the past so no one would ever know. That match wasn’t public, the records were sealed, the girl was paid off and kept silent forever. Liv and I agreed to the deal, to repay our debts through sacrifice. Before… before he left this world, Liv was granted her freedom from the fiend, but I was still a lost soul.” 

I looked up to each of them, tears filled their eyes. 

“That was, until I met you. All of you. You all taught me to be the person I am now. This y/n, this is me, this is the me I want to be. But Howdy, he lives for revenge. He revoked Live freedom and, and now he has named my sacrifice… my championship” 

“NO! Fuck that! No” Finn stood to his feet; his anger was fueling his inner fire. 

“I don’t have a choice, Finn! If I don’t hold up to my deal, this… us…it’s all over! Everything will come out and they will take me down. You will all drown with me, and I can’t do that to you! I love you all too much” my voice was shaking. 

They all rushed to me, embracing me in a tight hug. 

“Bunny…” Rhea grabbed my face pulling me in close as the others released me from the hug. “They won’t get anywhere near you, not while you have us” 

"Mi Amor, your past... your past and your secrets. Your struggles, your problems, your pain and your strifes. They do not have to be yours alone, we are a family." Damians voice offered a reassuring tone, filled with love.

"Do or Die, Lass. We aren't going anywhere. And we will never stop loving you" Finn took my hand in his, squeezing it tightly.

“Hey guys?” Dom questioned as they all turned, looking over to the young semi naked lad. “I think, I think I have an idea.” 

- WRESTLEMAINA -

An all too familiar piano key played out to the arena as smoke filled the walkway and a single spotlight lit up the ring. The entire audience had fallen silent in apprehension. 

An illuminated doorway flew open from the top of the walkway and out from the smoke filled darkness, emerged the silhouette’s of the Wyatts. Uncle Howdy pacing forward at the front, swinging the famous lantern and cackling to himself as his family lurked close behind. Their sheer presence dominating the world in its own glory.  

Howdy stopped abruptly as Abby the witch slunk out from behind him when they reached the edge of the ring. She eerily crept her way through the ropes, launching the ‘Money in the Bank’ briefcase to the referee who looked balls out terrified to be there. At this point, he had given up on the idea of ever witnessing a 'clean' match.

Facedown in the Centre of the ring lay a crumpled mess of myself, barely able to make out more than a foot in front of your face... you would never of known. They didn't know.

Dakota Kai seemed to have vanished and it was now just us. Y/W/N vs The Witch.

Samantha Irvin anxiously announced to the stadium that, much to the disappearance of Dakota, this was now a triple threat match for the Women’s world Championship. 

Looking around the walkways, the crowd, even the exit doors... there was no sign of anyone.

I was all alone in this. 

The bell rang and crawling her way forward Abby grabbed a fist full of hair dragging up the face of…. well, It wasn’t me.

It was a mannequin, dressed in matching ring attire.

She spun herself around to look at Howdy whose face displayed a monstrous scowl. 

Suddenly, echoing through the stadium three loud bangs on a door could be heard. Seconds later they repeated once again. 

The Wyatts all turned to face their entrance way, the grand wooden door having closed behind them. Someone was here, someone was knocking, someone had come calling. 

With a microphone in hand, my voice boomed throughout the stadium. 

“HOWDY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!” I Shouted at the top of my lungs. 

“Let. Me. In”

To. Be. Continued. 

[sohnric]

bad idea, right? – k. sunwoo

pairing: soundcloud rapper! sunwoo x gn! reader

genre: exes to lovers, angst, suggestive. i know this is toxic as fuck dont @ me sometimes i like to write shit like this because it's realistic...

word count: 4k

warnings: a whole lot of arguing, swearing, both of them being toxic and childish, a heated makeout session, overall just..messy. so messy.

a/n: similivinlife u inspired this. not my proudest moment but oh well 😵 the original of this draft was for the fic dancing in my backseat on @rrxnjun that i didnt end up using and revamped for this, so if u see any similarities it is because both fics are mine :P and once again, as always, thank u @csenke my sweetest beloved for beta reading 🤍

“I don’t think you can imagine the things I have to deal with about that track, like, I was literally in the town yesterday and around six people stopped me and wanted the backstory and I don’t know what, and it’s really, really annoying–”

Your voice cuts off, being replaced by a beat that makes acid taste on your tongue and hair stand up all alert, like a feral cat’s would when you try to get close to it, making you immediately turn off the song, letting a scream out into your pillow. There’s a storm of emotions inside of you as you take the phone you’ve been listening to the new song on back into your hand and pull up his number– because you blocked him everywhere else in hopes of never seeing his face again– and shoot him an angry text about the matter.

you [7:21pm]: are you kidding me???

you [7:21pm]: you are really so damn egoistical for doing this 

you [7:21pm]: really don’t think about anyone else except yourself huh

you [7:21pm]: ignore my messages again like the last time and i swear to god i’ll send someone to beat your ass

Fingers quicker than your own thoughts, you hammer down the messages on the keyboard, laced with the fury that’s been shaking with you ever since you learned that he released a new track that included yet another one of your voice messages you sent to him. It was excruciating to listen to, to say the least– your dignity stripped away slowly, piece by piece with the unsettling realization that your personal matters are now out there in the open, for everyone to see and judge, for the whole world to pick apart and analyze. Which is kind of funny, considering the nature of your breakup– you’re not so sure his fans would like what they would find out about him, had they dug deep enough.

Not saying that you are innocent in this matter, of course– you just don’t think it’s really fair to not have the platform to tell your side of the story.

don’t pick up [7:24pm]: feisty one aren’t ya

don’t pick up [7:24pm]: what’s this about

Clenching your jaw as you stare at the messages popping up on your screen only a few minutes after yours get delivered– which is unusual for him, to say the least– you work your way through another angry reply.

you [7:25pm]: your song???

don’t pick up [7:25pm]: did you like it? ;)

A dry chuckle escapes your throat at the last message. Of course you didn’t like it. You weren’t really a fan of the invasion of your privacy. You didn’t like the fact that he once again used your voice without permission, letting the whole world listen to your angry words that were addressed to him and only him. What was there for you to like about the song? His cheesy lyrics? The way he acted like he was way above you, belittling you with the power he had over you with all those voice messages? 

you [7:26pm]: yes i loved the invasion of my privacy a lot, thank you sunwoo

you [7:26pm]: isnt this illegal? ill look into it

don’t pick up [7:27pm]: now you’re being ridiculous.. its just a song y/n :) 

Was he being serious? Just a song? What about the prying eyes staring at you whenever you walk through the campus? What about the whispering behind your back whenever you sit in the school cafeteria? The pointed fingers whenever someone recognises that it’s you– the one that dated the good-for-nothing Soundcloud rapper and then broke his poor little heart. Was it ever really just a song?

you [7:28pm]: you cant be fr rn..

don’t pick up [7:33pm]: ah…let’s just talk abt it then

don’t pick up [7:33pm]: i’ll pick u up at 8? 

Staring at the messages on the screen, you let out another dry chuckle. The skin of your fingertips tingles when you swipe across the surface of your phone, opening the messaging app once again and tapping on the little bubble on the bottom, making the keyboard appear. The gears in your brain turn in swift motion as you try to sound nonchalant in your response, typing and deleting the message again, never getting the tone quite right. 

Responding to your ex boyfriend’s jabs and teasing in person seems to be easier for you, contrary to popular demand– you don’t have much time to think of your answer before the time frame between your arguments would turn too awkward with the silence, so you just say the first thing that comes to your mind. It comes naturally to you, though, and while you don’t particularly enjoy the fury and adrenaline that his smug smirks and jarring words make you feel, the tension his sudden messages built up only makes you more hesitant. 

You haven’t met up with Kim Sunwoo since the day you ended things, and you know damn well there’s a good reason for it.

Seeing him around campus or at parties of your mutual friends is a whole other thing than being with him in a closed space, all alone. It’s been a month since you ended things and while you are fairly certain that Sunwoo is a major jerk that is out to ruin your life, you can’t really tell if you’re actually over the major jerk that is out to ruin your life.

Seemingly letting Sunwoo know that you have the chat open, letting him watch your chat bubble pathetically appear and disappear in consistent time intervals, another quick message is shot your way, making your heart drum against your rib cage in even swifter motions. Running your hand through your hair, you sigh and drop the phone into your lap, helpless.

don’t pick up [7:40pm]: i’ll take it as yes

Sighing to yourself, you stand up from your bed and put on some presentable clothes. You don’t want to give Sunwoo any ideas, and that’s why you only change into clean sweatpants and a tank top, not putting much effort into your appearance at all. You need to send him the signal of being nonchalant– although your stance on the way he uses you in his songs is full of anger and resentment, you don’t want it to seem like you care much about the man himself at all.

Dragging yourself out of your room and putting on your shoes, you bump into your roommate Aeri passing you by with a mug of tea, her hair in a towel as she just came out of the shower. “You’re going somewhere?” 

“Going out,” you grunt.

“Oh?” she hums, leaning into the doorframe, “with who?”

The question catches you off guard. Turning around on your heel, you flash her an innocent smile, brain thinking of every possible solution you could use to not tell her that you’re going out with the exact person you’ve spent the last few weeks grunting over in dismay. “No one important,” you start, when her face morphs into a distressed frown.

“Is it Sunwoo?”

“Look, I-”

“It is fucking Sunwoo! I heard you scream into your pillow just now, I should’ve known it was that prick again,” she grunts, her guess confirmed by the very obvious discomfort on your face, suddenly in a hurry when you try to get out of the house in one swift motion and save yourself from the cross-examining conversation that’s surely about to happen judging by the look in Aeri’s face.

“I gotta go-”

“What about all your ‘I don’t ever wanna see him again’ talk?” she sighs, clearly disappointed with your life choices. 

“Look, it’s about the songs he’s been putting out. He’s being an ass about replying back to my messages and god knows I’m not calling him, or else he’d record it and put it in another song like the freak he is,” you squint your eyes at her, making sure your intentions are clear to your worried roommate. 

“Oh, right, because he’s going out with you just to talk,” she mutters, “when all you two have done since you broke up is argue. Mhm, seems about correct,” Aeri adds, making the situation even worse than it already was, because she’s right, after all– when have the two of you held a normal conversation in the past few weeks? Seeing him tonight might just be the worst idea of your life– right after deciding to date him, of course– and you’re completely aware of the fact.

Opening your mouth to answer with a jarring comment meant to put your roommate back in her place, the words are taken off your tongue when you hear the ring of your phone, the notification on your screen flashing with his messages.

don’t pick up [8:04pm]: youre 5 mins late

don’t pick up [8:05pm]: come out

“Look, I gotta go. We’ll talk about this later,” you mumble as you take your bag off the hanger, Aeri’s disapproving eyes following you as you head towards the door. 

“Right. Have fun,” she ironically sings, knowing very well what Kim Sunwoo’s intentions are for the night. Still, you fakely gag to her comment before you’re out the door and walking down the entryway.

As your figure walks out of the apartment complex, you almost don’t notice the man. You were expecting him to be waiting just behind the door, resting against the wall as he usually did back when you two were dating. The sight that meets your eye shocks you a little when you find him leaning against a 2007 Audi A4, the silver exterior of the car contrasting with the darkness of his clothes, hands folded on his chest as he watches you with an overly-confident smirk. 

“Took you long enough,” he teases as you finally cut through the distance. 

“Didn’t know you were so eager to see me,” you bite back, eyes scanning the vehicle. “Did you finally get a car with that new profession of yours? Or is that another one of your friend’s again?” you point towards the car, making the boy chuckle.

“Mine,” he says, “my ‘good-for-nothing career’ is taking off, as you may have noticed,” he hums, referencing all the arguments you two used to have about his dreams and ambitions, making you wince a little at the comment. You never believed in him ever making it big– you just didn’t think his dreams were ever really realistic– but judging by the way it’s been going for him, you must admit you may have been wrong with your snarky arguments before.

“Well, it’s not much, then,” you mutter instead, pretending to judge the state of his old, used-looking car.

“Gets the job done,” he shrugs as he peels himself off the door, opening the passenger side and sparing you a short glance. “Hop in?”

Sunwoo doesn’t wait for you to sit down so he can close the door after you– instead, he walks around the front of the car to the driver’s side, getting in himself– much to the gentleman he’s always been. Making sure you slam the door shut with as much force as you can, just to anger the man and his new toy, you fasten your seatbelt and watch as Sunwoo winces, but doesn’t mention it when he turns the engine on with a turn of the key and drives off the parking lot.

“Where are you taking me?” you ask, watching as the male snickers to himself. The calmness of his composure makes you oh so annoyed, making you despise every second spent together with him in the small space breathing in his cologne and listening to the songs playing through the speakers, reminding you of the playlist he’d always put on when he was given the privilege of the aux cord.

“What? Are you scared I’m gonna kill you?” Sunwoo jokes.

“Seeming that you’re batshit crazy, one can’t know what to expect from you nowadays,” you grunt, making him cheese with amusement.

“I thought I was just ‘a loser Soundcloud rapper that can’t do anything in life’,” he repeats to you a sentence you uttered out upon your breakup, the emotions getting the worst out of you after the way he’s been treating you. “Would a loser like me kill you? I don’t think so.”

“Very funny, Sunwoo,” you ironically bite back, rolling your eyes at his composure. The fact that he seemingly has the upper hand on you in the conversation makes you falter a little bit. “I just wanted to talk about the songs you’ve been putting out.”

“You wanted to tell me how much you like them? Thank you, I’m flattered–”

“No, you idiot. I wanted to talk to you about how uncomfortable they’re making me feel!” you yell out, making the male wince. 

There’s a momentarily silence in the car as the male drives, the streetlamps disappearing out of sight as he drives away from the city, into more sparse areas. His voice is a little more serious when he speaks up now, the lack of teasing in his tone making shivers run down your spine. “I don’t think it’s that serious, really.”

“Really?” you chuckle. “Because I don’t find it fun when people stop me on the street and ask all about our relationship, Sunwoo. Because I don’t know if you noticed, but you never asked for my permission when you used those.”

The sound of your own voice resonates through your brain, the first voice message he ever used in one of his songs (the one that made him finally more popular, funnily enough) making you sigh out in the darkness of the car. ‘Just.. I dunno, I said sorry, I apologized, I don’t know what more you want me to do.. like, what’s going on? Literally nothing, so like.. can’t we just… move on from this and… fucking let it go?’

“One would think you’d stop sending me these after the first one,” Sunwoo utters out, voice low and almost a little amused, which makes you tip over the edge.

“And I would think you wouldn’t use audio of me being vulnerable with you in a fucking song that everyone would hear, Sunwoo!” 

“Oh, did you mean that part where you called me a hypocrite for hanging out with my friends from high school without telling you? Or the part where you cursed me out after you broke up with me because I dared to text you again–”

“I was trying to pierce things back together!” you yell, making the male quiet down, resulting in taking a right turn towards a dead-end, the road approaching a forest. Not a single soul is to be found around here except the two of you, and when he turns the engine off, but stays staring ahead of him towards the trees, you continue with everything you’ve been holding inside of you– instead this time, your voice is more quiet, not having to scream over the sounds of the car anymore.

“I was apologizing. I was trying to make us work, Sunwoo. And just because you didn’t see it or didn’t have it in you to pay attention to me that night, it doesn’t give you the right to exploit me for your gain and make a fool out of me in front of everyone,” you say, watching as the male chews on the inside of his cheek.

“You are the one that broke up with me,” he says into the silence, “not the other way around.” 

A moment of silence hangs over you two like a heavy jacket. You were well aware of the fact– you broke up with Sunwoo after the night he went out with all of his female friends from high school, not telling you a thing about it before you found out through an Instagram story of one of them. You knew he was being petty, you knew he was doing it just to get back at you– because you never passed out on a chance to make him feel jealous, getting back at him for all the controlling comments he would make whenever you went out to clubs with your girlfriends– but it still drove you up against the wall and made you break.

Maybe you and Sunwoo weren’t made for each other. There’s no denying that you loved each other– you just didn’t really know how to handle your relationship. You never really learned how to handle problems. How to resolve issues. Both of you were too immature for the other, and it would never work– you only came to this conclusion after many tear-filled evenings, but coming to peace with it is still yet to come.

“I don’t see how that’s relevant to this conversation,” you say, shaking your head in disbelief.

The male scoffs, turning his head towards you, meeting your eye. “Did you even listen to the songs?” 

“Of course I did, how else would I know–”

“Then you must have noticed that I’m not making fun of you, or putting you on blast, or belittling you, or whatever you and your friends have said about me for the past month,” he counts on his fingers as he recites the words with an annoyed tone, big eyes bearing into yours. 

“You exposed me being vulnerable.”

“I’m vulnerable in these too!” he urges out, eyebrows furrowing at you in exasperation.

“That’s your fucking choice! Don’t drag me into it!”

While you must admit that none of the lyrics Sunwoo’s ever written about you were lies, or making fun of you or throwing harsh words in your direction, you still feel as if a chunk of you has been thrown out in the open, for anyone to pick apart and poke around. You always told Sunwoo you liked his way with words, and there is no denying that his lyrics, although they were painfully honest, were quite beautiful. If you weren’t the one the songs were about, maybe you’d even like them. Maybe you could give them a listen without feeling like you want to crawl out of your skin. Maybe you could add them to your playlist without feeling ashamed that you’re still thinking about the male, picking apart your relationship like every outsider has been doing since the songs went viral, but instead, finding places where you could’ve done things differently and kept him by your side.

It was hard to listen to his words and see the reflections of your past flashing in front of your eyes like a movie. While you admit that he did the timeline of your relationship justice, you do despise the fact that his words are getting to you so much. 

You don’t like hearing about the things you’ve done wrong. You don’t like listening to him apologize– although he would never do so directly. You don’t like to hear him say that he misses you, because it makes it hard for you to keep your fair distance from him.

“I don’t know what I was thinking… Can you drive me home, Sunwoo? We’re clearly not on the same page about this,” you say, averting your gaze from him towards the window.

“No.”

“Sunwoo, can you please drive me–”

“Not until we talk about this, no,” he says firmly, watching you foam over with fury.

“What else is there to talk about?”

“Us!”

“There’s no us anymore, Sunwoo! And I think it’s the time you come to terms with that and stop abusing our failed relationship for your stupid songs,” you bark, throwing daggers into his skull with your fierce eyes.

“So you get to go and post angry tweets and badmouth me in front of your friends, but when I cope in a perfectly respectful manner, it’s wrong?” he argues, scoffing and shaking his head at you.

“God, you’re unbelievable. You’re comparing two vastly different things–”

“Do you not like the songs because you feel exposed, or do you not like them because I’m saying exactly what you don’t want to hear?” he asks, eyes bearing into yours with such heaviness you feel like you could cut the tension with a knife.

“Like what? That you think I regret breaking up with you?” you scoff, shaking your head in disbelief.

“Why else would you pick a fight with me every time I call? Why pick it up at all?”

“Why do you call, then?” you challenge him, chewing on the bottom of your lip. The male leans closer to you, sparks dancing in his eyes when his voice resonates through the car like a low thunder, making the tips of your fingertips buzz and your heart beat faster.

“You know exactly why I call.”

“To make me angry and get me to scream at you?”

“If that means I get to talk to you,” he shrugs, a subtle grin overtaking his features, a churn of your stomach warning you of the dangerous area you just entered.

Eyes never breaking contact with his, relishing in the way his hungry gaze picks you apart, you attempt to conceal your true feelings with an annoyed comment. “This isn’t going anywhere,” you muse, “god, I never wanna see your face again.”

He clicks his tongue on the roof of his mouth, teasing you. “That’s what you said last time,” he says, “so what are you doing in my car then, babydoll?”

The pet name makes your stomach drop, the lightness in your head coming back to you as you furrow your brows at the male, trying hard to come up with a smart remark. Your brain turns into liquid and there’s buzzing in your ears as you try to focus on staying calm and true to your best judgment, but the moment Sunwoo’s head leans even closer to your face, his words render you both speechless and thoughtless as he mutters a sentence that’s barely louder than a whisper, yet powerful enough to pull you in.

“Stop fighting me for once, will you?”

Your lips are pushed against his with force, the kiss mirroring the essence of being starved of each other for the past month. His plush lips move against yours with the skill that only a man you’ve spent tens and hundreds of nights kissing would acquire, his hand placed on your jaw to steady you, adjusting the pace of his kisses just the way you always liked it. 

A force that’s greater than yourself brings you out of your seat and into the driver’s lap, giving the male better access to your throat as you settle comfortably under your newly acquired human chair. His strong thighs flex under you when you thread your fingers through his hair, bringing him back up to connect your lips together before he breathlessly pulls away, gazing at you with a boyish grin on his face.

“Why did we even break up again?” he jokes.

You reply to him with the same lightness of your tone, shrugging. “Because you were a jealous, possessive prick and I had a short temper that always egged you on?” you say, watching as the male pretends to ponder on the information, humming to himself.

“I think I can put that past me.”

“Can you?” you joke, tracing his cheekbone with your thumb, a sly smirk playing with your lips as you lean over him and press a firm, yet short peck to his swollen lips. “Or will you make another mediocre song about it?”

“Don’t call them mediocre,” he squints at you, eyes tracing your face when your hands slip further down his face to cradle his jaw, thumbs padding his lips.

“I easily outdid you on your own song, Kim Sunwoo.”

“That’s why I add you in, actually.”

“Really?” you snicker, tone full of fake disbelief. His hands hold your sides when you lean over the man and latch yourself to his neck, dragging out kisses up and down his warm skin. “Will you make a song for each of our arguments, then?” 

Teeth scraping the skin of his throat, you find the male humming under you in pleasure and satisfaction. He has you right where he wanted you– and although this is not how you imagined the night to go, you don’t find yourself disappointed with the turn of events. The previous annoyance is still there, but now is shielded by the need in you, the longing for him you can’t really battle whenever he is around.

Settling deeper against his body, you feel the male slip one hand into your hair, tugging at the roots of your hair gently to bring your face back to his, averting your attention away from the love bites you’ve been placing on his skin. 

“Unless you give me another topic to write about,” he suggests, his hungry lips swallowing your reply. 

You and Sunwoo were never really good for each other. Too messy, too turbulent, but too consumed with the other to ever truly let go. Seeing him tonight surely wasn’t the best of your ideas– but you’d be lying if you said you didn’t silently hope the evening would turn out this way.

You and Sunwoo were never the ones to make good decisions when it came to the other one anyway. What’s one another badly calculated step in your relationship gonna do?

[sxcret-garden]

Jeno & Jaemin ღ Two makes a Team [M]

ღ NCT Dream Jeno & Jaemin x fem!reader ღ words: ~4k ღ genre: established poly-relationship AU, domestic fluff turned smut (dom!Jeno, dom!Jaemin, multiple orgasms, praise, some hair pulling, reader gets spanked once, nipple play, overstimulation, handjob, fingering, oral, spitroasting, unprotected sex) ღ warnings: (reader gets pulled by the hair)

Desc.: When both your boyfriends distract you by asking you for kisses, one thing leads to another and what you had planned to be some alone time with a good book turns into something even better…

It’s a Sunday afternoon, a day you usually spend relaxing at home. You’ve made yourself comfortable on the couch, a blanket wrapped around your lap and a cup of tea placed on the coffee table in front of you. In your hands you’re holding a book that you’re about halfway finished with, and as your eyes are skimming through the many lines and pages, you’re so immersed in the story that you don’t notice someone approaching you.

“Y/N.” Only when he calls out to you softly, you take notice of him.

“Hmm?” you hum absentmindedly, as you register Jaemin sitting down next to you. Without taking your gaze off the book, you ask, “Is it important?”

“Veeery,” he answers, lazily dragging out the vowel, and he puts his arm on the backrest of the couch right behind you. He sits beside you, so close that you can feel his presence next to you, warmth radiating off of him. You tear yourself away from the page after finishing the next paragraph, turning your head to look at him. There’s sleepiness drooping from his eyelids, and you wonder if he just took a nap or if he pulled an all nighter yesterday.

“What is it?” you question, already beginning to dread what important thing he might have to tell you. “Is the stove acting up again? Did something break?” Jaemin shakes his head, a broad grin forming on his lips. “Then what?” you wonder out loud.

“It appears…” he begins, pausing dramatically, “that I am…” he adds another pause, lifting his chin a bit and making you raise an eyebrow at him, “in dire need of kisses.”

For a moment you’re speechless, because he really just needs to make something like that seem like a big deal, but then you remember it’s not the first time he’s being dramatic about wanting a kiss, so you sit back and relax your shoulders.

“And that’s what you needed to interrupt my precious reading time for?” you ask, feeling the corners of your mouth involuntarily rising up. “You’re so dumb,” you whisper, and before he can talk back at you in offense, you lean in and press your lips against his for a short peck. “Happy now?” you ask as you withdraw, already shifting your attention back to your book.

“That’s all?” he asks. “Is your boyfriend not worth more than a tiny peck?” He seems seriously offended, but when you see the playful spark in his eyes, you know he’s mostly joking around.

“Fine,” you give in. “I’ll give you a proper kiss if you let me read after that.”

“Hmmmm…” he pretends to consider your offer, pursing his lips, until eventually he agrees. “Alright.” Taking one hand off the book in your lap, you comb your fingers through his hair, resting your palm at the back of his neck eventually. As you lean in, you can see him smile at you, and the moment you lock lips with him, you feel him kissing you back. He lets you take the lead, moving his lips against yours at the unhurried pace you set, and giving you permission to deepen the kiss as soon as you slip your tongue past his teeth. When you pull away, breaking the kiss, he seems more than satisfied, but when you hear someone gasp from across the room, you both turn your heads in shock.

“Wait, why is he getting kisses?” Jeno complains from the other side of the living room, and you sigh, finding the jealousy in your other boyfriend’s face. 

“Because I asked for them,” Jaemin retorts, a teasing grin sitting on his lips as he leans back and watches Jeno’s expression become even more disgruntled. He’s definitely amused with this situation, whereas you’re not sure how to feel about it.

“Whatever…” you sigh, placing your hand flat on the book you can’t wait to keep reading. Then you signal Jeno to come over to you by pointing your chin at him, and then towards the empty spot on the sofa to your right. He doesn’t hesitate to approach you, smiling like a puppy that had just been praised and plopping down on the couch next to you. Just when you’re about to lean in, Jaemin interrupts you.

“Oh, I have to work for it, but if he just gives you puppy eyes once you give in?” he complains in offense, and you merely retort,

“Oh shut up.” Then, your lips meet Jeno’s, whose hand comes up to cup your cheek, and he smiles into the kiss. Warmth spreads in your chest, but still you tear yourself away.

“Can I read now?” you ask, a bit annoyed at the two, and when you sense Jaemin placing his chin on your shoulder to pout at you from up close, you assume the answer is no. “Please,” you add.

“Another kiss to make up for it?” he asks, and heat rushes to your cheeks as you turn your head to find his adorable expression right in front of you.

“Make up for what?”

“For being so hard on me!” You can tell he’s still playing with you, but you also know he isn’t going to let you off the hook so easily. So you merely sigh, before kissing him again.

Lips moving against Jaemin’s, you forget about the other guy being there for a moment, until you feel a warm touch against your exposed neck. You moan into the kiss, before correctly identifying the soft texture as Jeno’s lips. When you don’t break the kiss with your other boyfriend despite that, Jeno sinks his teeth into your skin, making you gasp.

“What-” you whirl around to complain, but your lips are immediately met with Jeno’s, who now places one hand on your thigh and the other behind your neck. The book is lifted off your lap, and you’re assuming Jaemin is putting it away, before you can feel his lips nipping at the delicate skin on the side of your throat instead. 

“Not fair…” he mutters, just as Jeno releases you in order to bury his face in your nape as well. You moan at their touches, and while Jaemin brings his hand up to rest his palm on your other thigh, Jeno’s fingertips slip under your shirt to dance up your stomach.

“Guys…” you breathe, as the angel and devil on your shoulders start a fight - one just wanting to continue reading, the other begging to let yourself give in to their touches.

“Hmm?” Jaemin hums close to your ear, and you can feel him grin against your skin. Meanwhile Jeno keeps scattering kisses all over, working his way up to your jaw and causing you to lean your head back in the process. A shiver runs down your spine when you feel the former pressing his lips onto your pulse.

“How about… you just let me finish this chapter…?” you suggest, but by now you’re not sure anymore if that’s really the thing you want the most at the moment.

“Is a book really more important than us?” Jeno questions, and you know that you can’t possibly answer yes.

“I mean…” you mutter, but fail to finish your sentence as he comes back up to your lips, sharing a deep kiss with you. Again, the kiss is broken due to the shenanigans of the other, because you end up throwing your head back when Jaemin peels the blanket off you, sliding his palm up the inside of your thigh.

“What?” he questions, not taking his gaze away from you as he begins teasing you through your sweatpants. “You’d rather have your book than this?” You give him a pleading look, and when Jeno’s hand finds your breasts under your shirt, you squeeze your eyes tightly shut. That’s when you give in to your body’s desires, and you earn a chuckle from both of them as you shake your head.

“That’s right,” Jeno mutters right beside your ear, before kissing a trail down. “We’ll take care of you.” He alternates between massaging your boobs and squeezing your nipples between his thumb and index finger, while you spread your legs apart a bit further to give Jaemin better access to your core. “So needy,” Jeno whispers, sinking his teeth into your soft skin. On the other side of your throat, you feel Jaemin’s breath tickling you just below your ear as he exhales.

“You want more?” he asks, voice low, and you feel a rush of heat straight to your core.

“P-please…” you answer, sounding desperate.

“Then you’ll need to give us something in return.” He removes his hand from where you want him the most for a second, reaching for your wrist to guide your hand to the bulge in his pants, and almost automatically, your other hand finds the same spot on Jeno.

“Good girl.” You receive a praise from him for that, and when you start to palm them both through their pants, the groans that escape them sound like music to your ears. While Jeno captures your chin with his free hand to make you face him so he can proceed to kiss you, Jaemin slips his hand past the waistband of your sweatpants, pushing the fabric of your panties aside to touch you directly. You moan into the open-mouthed kiss when he begins to circle his fingertip on your clit, and you buck your hips as a way of begging for more, all while trying to stay focused on pleasuring the both of them in return. Jeno breaks the kiss for air, while you can hear Jaemin mutter a curse under his breath, just before sliding two fingers inside you with ease, making you whine. 

“Keep going,” he urges you on, bucking his hips into your palm, “Don’t stop.” You nod with determination, but the pleasure of having both their hands on you clouds your mind, and you’re not sure how much longer you will last. Jeno eventually pulls your shirt off you, tossing it aside, and then he grabs a few strands of your hair close to the roots, tugging at them, while tending to your chest with his other hand and his mouth. His tongue swirling around one of your nipples while his fingers take care of the other, along with Jaemin’s fingers curling inside you and his thumb pressing against your clit makes you feel like you’ll go crazy any second now.

“Fuck… f-feels so good…” you whine. “I’m-… I’m gonna-” Your orgasm comes crashing down on you, moaning curses and both their names, and for a while you completely forget to keep moving your hands, resting on their bulges that have grown to the point they’re painfully stretching out the fabric of their pants. Still, at least Jaemin seems to have no plans to make you get him off for now, because after you’ve come down from your high, he pulls out carefully and then quickly tears your pants and underwear off you. Before you can register what’s happening, you already find him kneeling in front of you, trailing sloppy kisses up the inside of your thigh.

“Need to taste you…” he mutters, and when his tongue meets your still overstimulated clit, you whine and a shiver shakes your whole body. Jeno kisses his way from your chest back up to your lips, his hands starting to roam your entire body until eventually he grips onto your waist to keep you in place, while your other boyfriend starts to eat you out. You whine from the pleasure of him circling the tip of his tongue around your clit skillfully, and you cry out as he slides his fingers back into your dripping pussy with ease.

“J-jaemin…” you stutter out his name as Jeno’s lips leave yours for a short while.

“You taste so sweet, baby,” he mumbles, sending vibrations up your core, before going right back to tending to your clit.

“Hnng… fuck, Jaemin… s-so good…” you cry out, when Jeno harshly grabs your chin to make you look at him.

“I’m here too,” he growls, and without leaving you time to say anything back, he smashes his mouth against yours, sinking his teeth into the tender flesh of your bottom lip. You moan, looking for something to hold onto and eventually finding Jeno’s shirt. You wrap your fingers around the fabric tightly, tugging at it involuntarily as the pleasure builds up with each of Jaemin’s movements inside you. Jeno pulls you head back by your hair in order to expose the delicate skin on your throat, attaching his lips to it and starting to suck a hickey onto your neck, while you continue moaning uncontrollably. 

“F-fuck…” you curse through gritted teeth, and eventually you cry out as your second orgasm hits you. You clench around your boyfriend’s fingers, and when he pulls out a few seconds later, he comes back up, pushing Jeno aside as he crawls on top of you. Tongue licking your juices off his digits, he brings up his other hand to cup your cheek, thumb caressing your swollen lips. And then he leans in for a kiss, making you taste yourself on him as he moves his lips against yours hungrily. When you part, you’re both out of breath, his eyes dripping with honey as he takes in the sight in front of him. You must look fucked out already, but when Jeno shoves the other guy off of you, you know they’re far from done with you. 

“Not fair…” he pouts, running his hand down your body, nails digging into your skin. “He always gets everything first.”

“What…?” you mumble, but when Jeno begins trailing lazy kisses down your torso, you understand what he’s planning. Without thinking, you bury your hand in his hair, and you wince when he presses a kiss against your wet cunt. Jeno’s lips wrap around your clit, sucking carefully at first, and he’s cautious to keep his touches soft, as he’s well aware that you’re still overstimulated. 

“Jeno…” Now it’s his name that’s falling from your lips, when you hear Jaemin chuckling right beside you.

“He’s really good at that, huh…” he comments, smiling down at the other guy while taking your hand away from his head. Only now you realize that he’s pulled his own pants down a bit, and he leads you to his hard length. You wrap your fingers around it as he gives you a smile, and for a second his eyelids flutter shut as you begin to move your hand up and down slowly. Then, he replaces your hand atop Jeno’s head, ruffling through his hair a few times. “Really, really good,” Jaemin mutters under his breath, making it sound both like praise and teasing. 

Jeno slides two fingers inside you, curling them up against that perfect spot as his sucking on your clit becomes harsher - probably to distract you from getting off the other guy. It’s as if they’re fighting over your undivided attention, except that Jeno seems to be the only one fighting, while Jaemin seemingly remains amused by the situation no matter where it’s going.

“You’re doing well too,” the guy sitting beside you whispers into your ear, before he trails feathery light kisses down the side of your face. When he reaches your neck, you moan in appreciation, trying your best to focus on the way you’re moving your fist up and down his cock, but with Jeno slowly eating you out, it’s hard to concentrate on anything, really. He takes his time with it, but somehow the way he pumps his fingers in and out of you, and the way his mouth is tending to your clit are more intense than when Jaemin was in his position just a few minutes ago. Jeno looks up at you, forcing you to hold eye contact with him, and you can unmistakably see the hunger in his stare. 

“Don’t stop.” Jaemin’s words cause you to look away from the other guy, and he takes his fingers out of Jeno’s locks to wrap them around your hand, guiding you to move faster up and down his length. He throws his head back at the friction, moaning a curse under his breath, and so do you as Jeno carefully sinks his teeth into your sensitive bud as a warning. As if he wanted to tell you to focus on him only, he shoots you an intense gaze, and the moans get stuck in your throat as his fingers speed up. He pushes in a third one, stretching you out a bit.

“Look at me, Y/N,” he orders, taking his lips away from your cunt for a moment. Then he dives back in, and you cry out from pleasure as his tongue quickly darts over your clit. You can see your next orgasm approaching, and you shut your eyes tightly.

“D-don’t stop… please, Jeno… don’t s-stop…!” Your high comes crashing down on you and you feel yourself clenching hard around his fingers. Both of them let you catch your breath as you come down from your high, your mind filled with nothing but utter bliss. However, they’re not done with you yet. 

Your eyes find Jaemin first as he takes off his shirt, and you let your gaze wander from his chest to his abs, tracing the lines of his skin, before you turn to look at Jeno and find him topless as well. Both of them slip out of their pants, and you gulp, eyeing them with curiousity, as you can only wonder what they’re planning to do to you now.

“Babe…” Jeno is the first to call out to you, holding out his hand for you to take. He pulls you up onto your feet, holding you tight as your legs are still shaking from the orgasms your boyfriends gave you, and he kisses you in fervour. With his hand placed on the small of your back, he presses your body against his, deepening the kiss in the process. At the same time you feel Jaemin’s hands on your hips, and his lips nipping at the skin at the back of your neck and on your shoulders while he presses his hard on against your ass.

“I have an idea,” he mutters, fingers squeezing your flesh, and he scatters a few more kisses on your skin before he continues. “Get on your knees…” Jeno releases you, breaking the kiss, and you turn around in his hold. Your hands naturally find their way into Jaemin’s, fingers intertwining as he steadies you. You do as told, sinking down onto the ground, and you have a hunch what he’s planning.

“You too,” he proceeds to order, this time directed at Jeno. Then, he lets go of one of your hands, only to capture your chin in his grip, making you look up at him. “How about we try something… you suck me off… while Jeno takes you from behind.” Excitement runs through your body, and you feel a new wave of heat rushing to your core. You nod obediently, perking up your ass and you gasp when Jeno’s hand flies to your behind, spanking you. Tingly pain spreads where he slapped the skin, and he immediately goes over to rubbing soothing circles on the spot. Then his hand moves towards your entrance, and he loses no time to push his fingers inside once more, finding you soaking wet and more than ready for his cock. You throw him a pleading look over your shoulder, and he runs his hands up your back and then down your sides.

“I’ll fuck you so good,” he mutters, leaning down to kiss a trail up your spine, and then he wraps his fingers around his length to give himself a few strokes in preparation. Aligning his tip with your cunt, he takes a hold of your hips, and giving them a gentle squeeze, he asks, “You ready, babe?”

“Y-yeah,” you stutter in expectation, and when he pushes inside you, you moan, falling forward and being caught by Jaemin who’s now kneeling in front of you. Enjoying that perfect feeling of being filled up, you get on all fours, and you peek up to see Jaemin giving you an encouraging nod. He cups your face in his palm, running his thumb over your cheek once, and then he watches as you lift one hand off the ground to reach for his cock. You take him into your mouth slowly, while Jeno holds still and waits, swirling your tongue around the tip at first, but soon feeling Jaemin impatiently pushing further inside. In that moment, Jeno as well starts thrusting, groaning from the pleasure of finally being inside you, and all you can do is moan as the other guy begins to slowly fuck your mouth. You squeeze your eyes shut when he hits the back of your throat, gagging on his length and leading him to be more careful with his movements, while Jeno doesn’t hold back anymore. His thrusts are slow but strong, and everytime he pushes all the way back inside, you moan, sending vibrations up Jaemin’s cock. He has one hand buried in your hair, tugging at the strands whenever you lure a groan out of him.

“I’m… almost there…” His hips stutter, and you get ready to receive his load. You look up at him, fucked out and still pleading for whatever your boyfriends have to give, and it pushes him over the edge as he spills into your mouth with one more thrust. You do your best to swallow everything, licking the remainder of his cum off your lips after he pulls out. Meanwhile, Jeno speeds up again, and eventually he wraps his arms around your upper body, pulling you into an almost upright position. You whine in surprise and you squeeze your eyes shut, but you’re quick to relax in his hold as one of his hands finds its way to your core, fingertips rubbing against your clit while you’re trying your best to keep your back arched for him to be able to fuck you properly. And then you feel a pair of lips against yours - Jaemin kissing you sloppily, as he himself is still catching his breath. He moves further down, mouth exploring your neck and collarbones, and his hands land on your breasts, starting to play with your nipples. The overstimulation makes you whine and moan and curse, leaving you unable to have a single clear thought as it’s about to drive you insane. With their hands all over you and Jeno’s thrusts getting harder as he seems to be coming close to his release as well, you find another orgasm is approaching at light speed. Before you know it, you’re coming undone in between the two of them. You collapse into Jaemin’s arms, who catches you safely, and you keep whining as Jeno picks up speed for a few more thrusts until eventually, he cums too.

While you attempt to catch your breath, safely resting in Jaemin’s embrace, Jeno fetches you some towels to clean yourselves a bit. All gathering on the couch, you hide underneath the blanket that’s barely big enough for the three of you. But you don’t mind, since that merely means you will have to move closer together for everyone to be covered. 

“I’ll run us a bath, how about that?” Jeno eventually proposes, and you nod, smiling at the thought of a relaxing bubble bath.

“What about your book?” Jaemin asks, and as if the answer wasn’t obvious, you raise an eyebrow at him.

“Don’t think I can read in this state…” you say, “Bath sounds better.” Jeno lets out a breathy laugh, and then he presses a kiss onto your cheek. 

“I’ll carry you if you want,” he mumbles. “And Jaemin can take care of making dinner while we’re gone.” You chuckle at his words, and before the other guy can complain about Jeno's attempt at having you all to himself, you quickly press a kiss onto his lips.

“That’d be great,” you say. 

[cobaltperun]

Lost (12) - You had me from hello

Tara Carpenter x female Reader

Summary: To anyone on the outside, and to Tara’s friends, you were Tara’s fierce protector, the MMA fighter who’d take anyone on for Tara. The Guard Dog, as Amber called you. You had no idea you’d have to protect her from people who claimed they loved her. It didn’t matter. As long as you and Tara had one another there was nothing you wouldn’t be able to survive.

Story warnings: Scream violence, family issues, trauma, angst, certain sensitive topics

Word count: 4k

Story masterlist / First part / Previous part / Next part

-If I never told you I just want you to know you had me from hello-

Proving that yesterday was a fluke, Tara woke up to the sight of you already up and rolling the dough, which, knowing you, probably meant you were making crescent rolls. Tara stretched a bit, grabbed your pillow and got comfortable. She smiled and just watched you work for a couple of minutes. The years working as a cook really paid off, as you moved in the kitchen with practiced ease and Tara found herself swooning at the thoughts of eating your cooking for the rest of her life. She didn’t even feel like she was rushing with that thought. The two of you went through enough to know for sure that nothing, absolutely nothing, could separate you. And that thought made her smile. She let out a content sigh, humming as she got up and approached you. She hugged you from behind, the same way she did yesterday, only without putting her arms underneath your shirt this time.

"Good morning, Y/N," she said a bit sleepily, she lazily leaned down a bit and kissed you just beneath your shoulder blade, loving the way you went still just for a moment. You heard her even when she stretched, it was the kiss that made you stop for a moment.

"Good morning, birthday girl," she didn't even need to look at you to know there was a grin on your face. She heard you moving a bit, and wiping something before she felt your hands on top of hers. "Great timing actually. What filling would you like?"

Tara hummed at that, it was tempting to go for something sweet, but she'd have her cake later. "How about pizza?" just some tomato sauce, cheese, and ham would be perfect.

You nodded, fake coughing and tapping her hand lightly. Right, she'd need to let you go. "Thank you," you teased, turning around to kiss her cheek before heading to the fridge.

Tara leaned against the counter, careful to avoid dough and flour. "You're making a lot. Are Sam, Chad and Mindy coming?"

"Yeah, apparently we owe them for leaving us alone yesterday. Although, should the three of you be this relaxed about school?" you asked while looking inside the fridge, causing Tara to freeze for a moment and look away. You got everything you needed and came back, a bowl, ham, cheese and a bottle of tomato sauce in your hands, and you were carefully observing her. When you stood in front of Tara you set aside the bowl and ingredients down, took your apron off, and then tucked a few strands of hair behind Tara's ear. "What's wrong?"

You noticed. Not that she was surprised about that. No one knew her as well as you did. "It's been difficult lately," Tara sighed, if she wanted you to always be open with her, she'd have to be the same way with you.

You frowned and she swore she could see gears turning in your head. "Because of what happened?" you figured it out quickly, though it wasn’t that difficult to figure it out.

"Yeah," she leaned into you, seeking the comfort of having your arms around her gave her. And you gave her just that, pulling her in. She rested her head against your chest, listening to the sound of your heart beating. "Promise me you won't go crazy when I tell you," if anyone knew you, she knew you. Even if she failed to recognize you weren't fine for years. She knew how you were when it came to her. She knew you'd get pissed off the moment you heard how things were at school.

Tara heard a reluctant sigh and smiled when she felt you picking her up and taking her to the sofa. You sat down, with her safely sitting on your lap. "I don't like it, but I promise."

"It's either pity or blame. You know, some say they are sorry for me because of what Amber did to me, some say I should have noticed Amber was... the way she was," some went on to say Tara wasn't any different, that she killed Amber, so she was just as dangerous and sick in the head as her now deceased ex. She couldn't tell you that. You'd want the names of those people regardless of what you promised.

She felt you clenching your fists, she felt the tension in your muscles as you held her, she heard the deep breaths you took.

"Y/N," she nuzzled into your neck, hoping she could calm you down with touch, with assurance that she was right there and fine, and that you didn’t need to get into trouble over this. And you would get into trouble if you got involved with this.

"I know, I know. I trust you to tell me if you need me to do anything," that was what she wanted to hear as she caressed your cheek, slowly kissing from your neck all the way to your lips. It was a soft, brief kiss, but it was enough to calm your down.

Tara pulled back first, smiling. "I love how protective you are. I love knowing you are always there when I need you. I still need to handle things myself, you know? I need you to get back to the way you were before I was attacked," back then you were protective, but not to the point of handling any problem she had yourself. You didn't get to that point now, either, but Tara worried you might if she didn't point it out to you right away.

Before you left two months ago Tara absolutely needed you. She needed help moving, she couldn't take care of herself properly and at first needed help with even some of the more basic tasks. That was embarrassing, but you were patient and made sure she never felt like she was an inconvenience. She couldn't do anything too difficult and with the damage to her hand, she'd still need help with certain tasks in the future. That was the physical side of things. Carrying her, carrying things she couldn't, all the things like that, all of that was fine. She knew her limits and she was fine with your help with what she couldn't do. That's how things were before she got attacked as well, only back then they were less intimate.

As for handling issues like the one she currently had at school, well, that was where she drew the line. She couldn't have you solving everything, or getting involved with everything. She needed you to go back to the way you were before. Where you'd only get involved if she asked you to and would otherwise just offer her the support.

"I can still get angry, right?" you asked, relaxing a bit at her words.

"There's not much I can do about that," Tara laughed and leaned down once again to kiss your cheek. “Other than kiss you and hope that’ll calm you down,” she joked kissing the corner of your lips as you smiled. "I have you," she kissed your cheek again. "And Sam, and Mindy, and Chad," with every name she kissed another part of your face, your other cheek, your forehead, the tip of your nose, purposefully avoiding your lips. "I can handle anything this stupid town throws at me."

How she wished she could erase what happened, go to a place where no one knew who she was and what she went through so that she could live a normal life. Hopefully, she could do exactly that once she leaves Woodsboro with you, Chad, and Mindy, and, she hoped, Sam as well.

You got tired of her insistent avoidance of your lips and gently cupped her cheek to properly kiss her. "I know you can. You will. And then we'll leave this damn place and never come back," Tara liked that idea. She liked the slow and gentle way you were kissing even more, the soft caress of your thumb across the side of her face. You separated too quickly for her liking. "Breakfast, Tara" you reminded her.

"Breakfast, Tara" she repeated, dejectedly getting off your lap and sitting next to you with folded arms, and you just laughed. "What?" she asked, surprised by your reaction.

"Pancakes, Y/N," you reminded her, and Tara blinked a few times, realizing she did exactly what you did yesterday.

And so, she laughed as well, jokingly pushing you to get up quicker. You got together yesterday, no one could blame her for being a bit more eager for everything than it was necessary. Besides, you weren't any different. Give it a bit of time and you'll both get used to the relationship, which should, in turn, make you a bit less excited about being in a relationship than you currently were. Twice a day was definitely not a pace either of you needed or could keep up with.

You didn't head right back to the dough, instead, you dug for something in your bag and walked back to her with a small bag. "I saw them and figured your hand might be sensitive to cold," you handed her the package. "Happy birthday, Love," you said, quickly bending down to peck her lips one more time.

Tara, pulled you into a hug, the package still in her hand. "Thank you," she whispered in your ear. The gift turned out to be a pair of rechargeable hand warmers. "I love it," could she tell you? Was it too early? She kinda figured you weren't the most usual couple, between near-death experience and being in love for years. Still shouldn't there be more build-up to those words? A relationship that was longer than thirty hours? "Y/N."

"Yeah?" you looked taken aback when you looked her in the eyes.

"It's just, I-" she was sure of what she felt, she just feared you might think it was too soon.

You smiled. "I love you too, Tara," her jaw dropped.

"Wha- How?" she jumped to her feet as you laughed and went back to making crescent rolls. "Y/N!" she scolded you with a pout on her face.

"Eyes are the window to the soul, right? Well, no one has eyes quite as expressive as yours, Tara. Besides, we've been through so much together. Saying 'I love you' feels more like stating the obvious, rather than a huge declaration," you shrugged while you began grating the cheese

Tara wanted to be annoyed, but, frankly, she couldn't be. You just had to be right, didn’t you? Tara did have to admit most people didn’t go through what the two of you did. There certainly wasn’t a book about when to say ‘I love you’ if you and your partner survived a couple of crazy killers trying to kill you. "You're right. Let's redo it. I love you, Y/N," she said and your smile morphed into a wide grin.

"I love you too, Tara."

~X~

About an hour later Tara got a text from Sam that her, Chad, and Mindy were almost there, and just in time as you were just done setting the table. The crescent rolls smelled absolutely divine and if they weren’t fresh out of the oven Tara would have tried them already.

The two of you heard a knocking on the doors and Tara jumped to unlock them.

“Sam learnt her lesson,” you teased as Tara walked past you and she just grinned at you, blushing slightly at the reminder of what nearly happened yesterday.

The moment she opened the doors Sam burst in, hugging her tightly. “Easy Sam, I was with Y/N,” Tara laughed, hugging her sister back.

“In more ways than one,” Mindy quipped shamelessly.

“Mindy!” Chad, luckily, chastised her before Tara could.

But Mindy just smirked, patting Tara on the back. “Early birthday present? Seeing stars without getting punched?”

Tara knew her face was as red as a tomato, she felt the heat in her cheeks as she looked away, of course Mindy would keep teasing her even now that she got together with you. “That’s… It’s not,” damn it, why was she so embarrassed? The two of you were in a relationship, of course you would…

“Damn it, Mindy, we’re supposed to have breakfast,” Sam complained as she let go of Tara.

“Exactly, and leave Tara be,” Chad jumped in to defend her as well.

Mindy just smirked, and while she stopped talking she wiggled her eyebrows suggestively causing Tara to groan. “Well, I had my fun, happy birthday, T,” Mindy finally went and hugged her. “Also, seriously, about time you two!” she exclaimed loud enough for you to hear her as well, but considering the way you were looking at them, with your jaw dropped, you definitely heard everything that came before as well.

“What the dingus said, I mean the about time thing,” Chad grinned and pulled Tara in for a hug. “Happy birthday!”

“Thanks, all of you,” Tara smiled, and just for a moment, for a fleeting second, she expected to see three more faces there. As if what happened was a horrible nightmare, as if Wes and Liv were still alive and Amber was alive and not a crazy murderer. But they weren’t there, they were all dead.

She tried to keep the smile on her face as she the three of them inside. All five of you sat down and Tara snuggled as close to you as she could, seeking your warmth and trying to push those thoughts away.

You always had a sixth sense for her distress, and you wrapped your arm around her and kissed the top of her head.

“So, world champion?” Chad awkwardly patted you on the shoulder.

Ever since Tara told the three of them of your retirement, they weren’t sure how to approach the subject, and that was with Tara. Now you were right there, and that awkwardness came back like a boomerang, and it was only slightly eased by the fact that you won. Well, depending on how you looked at it. Chad, personally, thought that you winning made it even worse, since you wouldn’t get the chance to defend your title and dominate the women MMA. He looked it up, you were the youngest women’s MMA world champion in history, and by a lot, especially in your category.

“Until the next title match, yeah. Anya will probably take it right back by beating up whoever her unlucky opponent ends up being,” you weren’t bothered though, not even a bit and Tara trusted you were honest.

“I bet, that woman hits hard,” Sam agreed, wincing slightly when she remembered how much Tara was panicking while they were all watching your fight.

You chuckled. “Tell me about it,” and just like that the tension was gone. Tara eased her worried mind by leaning into your touch, and you eased the worries of all your friends by being fairly chill about the retirement. For a brief moment Tara even chastised herself for ever doubting you in the first place.

~X~

Later that day you were washing the dishes while Tara and the twins choose how to pass the time. That was when Sam approached you.

She leaned back against the fridge, not quite looking at you, instead she crossed her arms and looked at Tara. "So, you and Tara," Sam began a bit awkwardly.

"Yes?" you couldn't help bit smirk a bit, but when you noticed Sam’s nervousness and the fact that she chose to keep her tone low, your smirk dropped, and you dried your hands. You were done anyway.

"You're official?" there was the question, honestly, you expected it a bit sooner, but you guessed there just wasn’t a chance for Sam to ask. And you guessed she was a bit conflicted.

You should have been annoyed by her demeanor. And maybe you were a bit annoyed. She was gone for five years, came back only when she had to, and while you were thankful she came back, you didn’t exactly appreciate the fact that she was tethering on the edge of protecting Tara from you of all people. But you did understand. Tara went through a traumatic experience, and she jumped into a relationship with you the moment you came back. Not to mention the circumstances surrounding you leaving weren’t the best either. Sam couldn’t know that you and Tara completely talked it out, before you got together, and then during the rest of the day, you just talked it all over. Or at least the most important topics.

So, between understanding where Sam was coming from and the excitement you felt over being with Tara you couldn't wipe that stupid grin off your face as you glanced at Tara debating with Mindy on which movie to watch was enough of an answer on its own. "Yeah, it kinda just happened," you then quickly raised your hand. "Before you give me protective older sister speech, I know. I get it. If I ever hurt her, you're free to do whatever you want," of course, after you chose your own fitting punishment.

Sam nodded, smiling at your reassurance. "Honestly, if it had to be anyone, I'm glad it's you," she looked at Tara, at the grin on her face that mirrored your own when she glanced toward you. "She's happy with you."

You smiled, that was all you wanted. To make Tara happy and be happy with her.

"Sam, Y/N, come on!" Tara said, interrupting the conversation you had with Sam, still, you doubted there was anything else left to say. Sam approved, even if she was justifiably concerned for her sister.

~X~

As the celebration began coming to a close the five of you were left sitting, just chilling in your and Tara’s apartment. Mindy and Chad were on the couch and Chad was eating his second slice of cake. Sam and Mindy refused the seconds, but you and Tara were sharing a piece, since Tara was already full, but craved something sweet and you weren't about to turn down extra cake. Sam was sitting at the bottom of your and Tara’s bed, while you sat cross-legged on your bed with Tara sitting on your lap. You had one arm around her waist while holding the plate in the other. Tara was the one with the duty to feed either of you.

"Hey, what should we do when we leave Woodsboro?" Chad suddenly asked as he took another bite of his cake.

"Go to university, get our degrees, you know how it goes," Mindy didn't seem too interested in the topic. She never was the one to complicate things, she knew what she wanted to do, and she would do it, thus talking about it in detail felt unnecessary to Mindy.

"Well yeah, but I'd like us to stick together. You know, after what we went through," he said and you couldn't help but feel relief at his words.

You glanced at Tara, seeing the hopeful look in her eyes. This clearly wasn't something they talked about before.

"I don't think I can trust other people easily, after what Amber did," Mindy admitted. "And I really care about you two," she said to Chad and Tara. "No offense, Y/N, Sam."

"None taken, I get it," Sam immediately assured her and you just grinned.

You and Mindy were friends, you were on good terms, you could see she was happy for you and Tara. You also fully understood it was a friendship that relied on your mutual connection to Tara.

"Well, I care about all of you," Chad was, for the lack of a better description, much more open to caring about people than Mindy. Granted, you had more in common with Chad than Mindy, so that may have had something to do with the closer friendship the two of you had.

"How about we pick the same university and rent an apartment together?" Tara went for the best-case scenario in her head.

Mindy immediately crossed her arms in an X shape. "No way, university yes, but living with you two? No, I can't handle how stuck together you two are," she immediately shut it down.

Tara laughed, jokingly smacking her shoulder. "We're not that bad!"

Mindy just looked at Tara blankly and shook her head. "T. We know what you did yesterday, a day, actually scratch that, hours into your relationship, by the way," Tara and you got embarrassed at that. It wasn’t even hours, it was more like minutes. "Also, kind of hard to believe you when you haven't left Y/N's lap for longer than a minute the whole night."

"She got you there Snuggle Bear," you snickered, pulling the embarrassed girl closer to you, despite not doing much better than her.

Tara pouted and untangled herself from you, so she could go to Sam who happily accepted the role of hugging her sister.

"There, there, don't worry about it," Sam smoothed Tara's hair and pulled Tara to her right side. Tara eagerly leaned into Sam's embrace.

"See! This is what I'm talking about! As if being sweet with Y/N wasn't enough, there's Sam as well!" Mindy laughed and honestly, given the situation, you and Chad couldn't help but join in. "It never ends, and I worry it might be contagious."

Tara just turned around and stuck her tongue out.

'We're all just touch-starved, aren't we?' you couldn't help but think as you shook your head slightly.

"No, look at it from the brighter side, at least she's going from one to the other," and Chad had to say it.

Tara immediately perked up and looked at you. "Y/N," she said sweetly and made a 'come here' motion with her hand.

"No!" Mindy and Chad jumped to grabbed onto you.

"Duty calls," you smirked, getting up to shake the two off and get closer to Tara and Sam despite the two trying to pull you back.

"Stay with us Y/N! She has you wrapped around her little finger!" Mindy laughed.

"How does Tara hold you back and pull you around all the time?" Chad complained as he relented and gave up on trying to hold you back.

Looking over your shoulder you saw Mindy looking at Chad with an 'Are-you-serious' look on her face.

"I let her," you shrugged and dropped down next to Tara. "Yes, Tara?"

Tara glanced down at her left hand, resting on her thigh. Then she glanced at your own hand. Okay, you could figure that one out. You leaned back and slid your arm around Tara's lower back so you could reach her left hand from behind. "Like this?"

"Just like that," going by the smile on Tara's face she really enjoyed the moment. Sam having her arm around Tara's shoulders and you hugging her at the same time.

"See, it's like she has two guard dogs now," Mindy's laughter suddenly stopped. The reminder of Amber's nickname for you hanging in the air like an uncomfortable weight on everyone's shoulders. "Shit, sorry, Tara," she apologized.

"No, don't worry about it," Tara got up, but before you or Sam could go after her Mindy got up and pulled her into a hug.

"I'm really sorry. For teasing as well, hug them all you want," Mindy dropped the tough act just for a few moments.

Tara returned the hug and you saw her shoulders relaxing before the two girls separated.

"Uh, I'd like a hug too," Chad grinned sheepishly, prompting Tara to hug him as well.

If there really was a group of life-long friends forming between the five of you there was no doubt in your mind the heart and soul of that group was Tara.

A/N: The gift is an idea from Anon's headcanon, I didn't even know those were a thing until Anon mentioned them. Thank you, Anon!

Story masterlist / First part / Previous part / Next part

[hotcheetohatredwastaken]

Celebration: 88,978 Words in One Day!

Just yesterday, a few other LU writers and I, Hot Cheeto Hatred, hosted our first ever monthly (hopefully) Write-a-thon! This event ran on June 4 from 12 am EST to 12 am EST, with one goal in mind---write as many productive words within that day as humanly possible. Words included in the final marathon count ranged from storyboarding, fic writing, editing, answering comments, journalling and homework---basically, any words that furthered yourself, the writing community at large, or your stories. We utilized either the Discord Sprint bot or self-reporting to collect the numbers at the end. Everyone involved gave it their all, with most of them being present for most if not all of the run time as they were able, and I'm so proud of their dedication towards their craft. Anyways, here's the final breakdown of the numbers below, as well as the awards and titles earned by each participant, as decided by the discord server (and myself at random).

Now onto the awards:

I am pleased to report that @not-freyja (Freyja above) won the "Writer of All Time" Award, pulling ahead with 20,565 of our total words. What an accomplishment! Freyja participated from dawn to well, dawn, and they absolutely deserve all praise and awe.

I'm giving myself, @hotcheetohatred (Cheeto), the award "Writer of Some Time," as I fell behind our lovely Freyja by a mere few hundred words fifteen minutes before the clock struck midnight. Next time, Freyja, next time...

The "Actually A Writer" award goes to @marcusdoodlesalot (Marcus), who, despite the name, DOES actually write, not just draw! Who would have thought. Not Freyja, that's for sure.

The "Early Bird" award goes to @lerikwrites (Lerik), who solely sprinted in the wee hours of the morning (my time, at least). Terrible. Good job.

"Star Commentor" goes to @elle-rosewater (Eliot), because I stole most of her words for the count from my own comment section in the BDOR Prologues. We love you, Eliot :3 Can't wait to see you next month.

"Cheerleader" goes to @la-sera, who gave us much encouragement throughout the day. I stole your 19 words from you saying you were excited to read Estelian's work. Hope that's okay, because I really wanted to include you---you provided a lot, even if you didn't write with us this time <3.

@whumpitywhumpitywhumpity (Dowsemaxxer) earns "Spirit-ed Storyboarder" for all of his lovely, informative talk on Spirit and just what makes him so great as a rather underappreciated LU boy.

Two awards next! "Chief Editor" and "Most Student" both go to @unexpectedstormy (Stormy) for faer work on getting. stuff. done. Fae did a steady amount of work, so proud.

"Editor (of Word Count) in Chief" goes to @tashacee (Tash), who, at reporting time, was scrounging up 100 and 200 word bits like spare change while I desperately tried to do math. I love you, never change.

The title of "Specter" goes to @somer-writes (Somer), who logged in very few sprints, but participated with the rest of us and pulled up at the end with a whole 7.5K words and a bunch of fics to post at the end, with a lot of it being Ghost AU! He's amazing.

The award "Better Late than Never" goes to our resident artist and recently turned fic-writer @estelian-01 (Este), who joined only in the last half of the marathon but managed to pull a whole 4K! Pictures might be worth a thousand words, but Este wrote a couple more anyway.

@across-violet-skies (Riv) gets the title "Mover and Shaker (of Blorbos)" for managing to participate and get quite the hefty wordcount only a DAY after moving. They're a trooper, that's for sure.

@anime-obsessed (Vio/Nene) earns the award "Most Old School" for writing with pen and paper for most of the day. Please go rest your wrist after all of that.

The award "Head in the Clouds" goes to my bestie and beloved beta reader @needfantasticstories (Skip), who spent the day listening to music and writing Skyloft drabbles. I am nervous/excited to see if those drabbles turned out fluffy as a Loftwing, or perhaps into something more angsty.

@noorahqar (Qar), my lovely fragile Victorian wife, earns the title "Chatty." You know why. But you were there nearly all of the run time, and so engaging and encouraging throughout---a blessing to us all. And even then, you managed to pull so many words. I'm impressed.

And finally, @rosehipandroots / @rosetintedtears (Rose) receives the titles "ndskanefnre" (self chosen) and "Birthday Santa." The first was borne of panic of being asked to choose a title---the second of her relentless effort to get her birthday fics done. Great job.

I'd like to thank everyone that I tagged for participating in the write-a-thon, and thank all of you for helping me draft this post as well. If I messed up any word counts or details or pronouns, you want to request a title/award change, or I missed someone, please DM and let me know! The next Write-a-thon will be held on July 1 from 12am to 12am GMT, and we'll be trying to beat our record. Can't wait to see all of you then!

[silent-sanctum]

Moral of the Story - 6!Taro x Reader

hello again everyone and likely to dear anon who requested the last fic! Like I said yesterday, this is the "sad ending" version of the one I wrote because of sudden, bittersweet angst cravings~

Also, this is a continuation of another fic I wrote which I'll be linking here. I recommend reading that one first if you want additional context and more pain, but it's just bonus content. Anyway, hope you enjoy!

word count: 4k

Something wasn’t right when Jotaro opened his eyes.

As far as he knew, he should be out there getting his daughter out of jail. But then, the enemies grew smarter than he would’ve expected and they found out how to beat him at this Stand game through unfair exploitation.

Like DIO did years ago, his minions found a way to follow in his footsteps.

Then he’d find himself getting shot with multiple bullets and end up devoid of anything as his Stand and memory discs end up getting stolen by another Stand user working alongside the other. This is it. Jotaro was about to die but then Jolyne would be out, escaping into a Speedwagon-sent submarine, so why would he matter by this point?

And he was ready to accept death right then and there.

Only that wasn’t the case.

Instead, he woke up to a relatively warm environment, with walls that appeared to be fashioned of clay and wood instead of concrete and steel. What a strange place for souls to end up in. He wasn’t overly superstitious but there were at least some expectations to be made when arriving in the afterlife- white walls? White floors? Make everything white and shiny perhaps?

Jotaro peeled the sheets off him and went to stand, and that’s when he noticed his outfit. “What the,” he should be wearing his snakeskin pants and purple coat, but it wasn’t. It was his black school slacks and shoes, paired with the customized gakuran that came with it.

“What the hell?” He stood and stalked over to the nearby mirror and that’s when he froze on the spot, not wanting to believe that this was happening to him. The figure staring at him from the glass wasn’t the 40-year-old marine biologist with a doctorate, but the 17-year-old punk delinquent from high school.

His hair was back to its lengthier curls, the gray streaks of older age gone and replaced with youthful jet-black, and his eyes less baggy and shadowed from chronic stress. Even his hat was the ripped black visor instead of his newer purple one.

The muffled laughter and chatter of a gruffly old man and two other men could be heard out his door. It can’t be them. Joseph was too old and senile to hold a straight conversation, Polnareff went off the Foundation’s radar years ago, never to be heard again, and Avdol died with Kakyoin and Iggy.

That’s what happened but why are they out there? As if nothing happened? As if they were still on this death journey to Egypt?

What is this? Jotaro gritted his teeth. What sick joke are they playing with me?

“Oh, Jotaro-ssi! You’re up! Rest well from your beauty nap?”

His heart stopped, the air leaving his lungs in one sweep. That voice… No, no, no it couldn’t be. It can’t- Jotaro slowly turned his head to the sound and upon seeing the source of it, he could’ve just buckled right then and there. Not like this.

There you were, peeking through the door with one raised brow and familiar coy smile. He remained still, not wanting to believe in the psychosis some fucker decided to place on him. But the door opened and you walked into the room, alive and well, dressed in your customized school uniform complementary to his.

You paused before him and looked up at him, tilting your head. “Is something on my face? Why are you looking at me like I’m a ghost?” You said that as a joke, but his eyes swelled with tears. You raised your hands and waved them in his direction, trying to be spooky. You smiled cheekily. “Am I scaring you now?”

Unable to hold it in anymore, Jotaro pulled you into a tight hug and buried his face into the crook of your neck, sighing heavily as tears spilled out his eyes and onto your uniform. “Jotaro-ssi?”

You were here.

Moving. Talking. Breathing. Alive.

And the most fucked up part of this was that Jotaro knew this was just a ploy an enemy user did to play with his psyche, but did any of that matter when he got to hold you in his arms again, feeling sorry for everything that had happened.

Sorry for being unable to move. For letting DIO carve that slash deep into you and letting you get buried underneath the rubble. For being unable to get you proper medical care when he found you after the battle.

For him to cradle you in his embrace, crying in agony as you died in his arms that night.

“Hey, are you okay?” You asked as you wrapped your arms around him, patting his back reassuringly.

“J-Just… be quiet for a moment…”

You leaned your head against his and felt your fingers card through his hair, the movement soothing his already tired soul. “… Alright.”

Jotaro wasn’t an emotional guy but with all the stress built in him over the years, he’d at least deserve to let out some of those pent-up feelings before it consumed him from the inside.

Eventually, he calmed down and eased himself back into his default stoic state with you sitting beside him, your thumb caressing the back of his hand in small circles. What part of the journey was this… memory set in?

Acting like he didn’t spill tears moments ago, he said through a sniffle or 2, “Damn, my head’s hurting like shit again. Care to remind me what happened yesterday? And what were we supposed to do today?” Jotaro, having phased out of his rebellious era, hoped he could mimic his teenage behavior without thinking he was a middle-aged man trying to be hip.

And even if you did show some suspicion, you smiled and put on that pouty expression you’d use to fake whine at him. That paired with crossed arms made it more painfully endearing. “Of course, your head would hurt. You cried. And to answer your question,” you leaned over to him until your face was inches away from his. “Today’s the day after you kissed me. Don’t try to act cool now and pretend it never happened.”

Jotaro pressed his lips together and balled his hands into fists, willing his eyes to suck in a new batch of tears, more so when you scrunched your face with your rose cheeks, upturned crescent eyes, and giddy chuckle. “O-Oh.”

“As for today, Mr. Joestar said someone’s got a lead on where that dome building is located, and at first, all of us were supposed to interrogate said person but Avdol and Pol said they got us covered. So, in the meantime, we have the day to ourselves.”

He turned to the clock above the door frame. 8:00 AM. A day to ourselves? Jotaro didn’t know when he’d return to his old body. He didn’t even know how the passage of time worked when one’s mind was somewhere else. But if he were to follow his hunch, today could be the only day he’d stay in Cairo.

Then the next, he’d find himself back to god knows where in Florida. Probably still rotting in Green Dolphin Street Prison from what had happened.

“Y/N,” Jotaro started, looking straight at you with determined eyes. “Let’s walk around Cairo.”

You stared at him with widened eyes, caught off guard by the sudden proposal. If he was still 17, he could’ve smirked knowing you were always the one to suggest what they would do for the day. But this was different now.

He wanted to cling to the remaining time he was given and hoped to whatever higher deity that time would slow down enough for him to spend every limited moment with you while he had the chance. “We’re going to fight like hell tomorrow so… we should do some stuff for ourselves before then.”

“You know, I was supposed to suggest that because I thought you’d prefer staying in and resting, but I like that you’re the one offering the ideas sometimes.” You stood and Jotaro followed after. “Well? Let’s head on out then! Who knows how many unexplored shops, sites, and dishes await us?”

---

At this moment, all that was in his head tunnel-visioned to following your footsteps alone, and although he couldn’t stop whatever bullshit could happen, he could only hope that nothing would jump out from the shadows to ambush them.

Regardless, Jotaro kept up with you as you visited nearly every store within the capital city, and just as he had remembered, there was that special gleam in your eyes as you strolled down the streets with eager awe. It would send sharp pangs through his chest every time you’d turn to him to announce where you went.

And he can’t help but wonder if, in some other universe, you’d still be this enthusiastic in your 40s. Of course, not to the same extent as you were now. You’d be milder, more toned-down, yet still wide-eyed and curious. Never tired of seeing the world around you. Never settling for the same old thing.

At the thought, Jotaro couldn’t help but close his eyes and smile at the image of an older you tugging him with your arm linked with his, only for that one moment of happiness to turn into a pick into his heart.

Stop daydreaming. Stop doing this to yourself.

There were many things he wished he’d done with you. Not that he didn’t want to do it, but in the context of their situation, he’d figured those stuff could be done later down in the line after saving his mother and killing the vampire. But even then, would his past delinquent self be confident enough to do such things?

If he recalled correctly, Jotaro never did anything the day after he first kissed you. All he knew was that he remained passive, only ever following you around just like he did now without doing much, stubborn enough to hold onto his tough guy act.

I could’ve done better then. But he only had today to make up for it and make everything count.

Jotaro got into an even stride that matched yours, and with you beside him, he brought out one hand from his pant pocket and let it hang by his side. Then there was the faintest brush of your hand against his that sent goosebumps up his arms.

He breathed deep as his heart fluttered and his fingers twitched, tempted to move to yours. Why hesitate again? Just do it. Another deep breath in and he let his hand dart to your side, brushing against your skin.

And in the next second, he found your fingers interlocked with his, your hand firmly in his. Holding it like this, he grew aware of how small and delicate your hand was compared to his. With a gentle squeeze from his part, he mused at how soft it was too.

Both he and you looked away, flustered yet giddy deep down as he felt a smile bloom on his face. To hold you like this…

Jotaro never let go as you both continued to visit whatever boutique or restaurant they could try out. He allowed you to pull him inside booths and stores, excited to test out unfamiliar items with him.

He became a willing participant in this tiny quest you set for yourself and in the process, let all of his default stoicism down to shower you with all the affection he had in him that he could no longer give the next day or any day after.

And he stayed true to his word throughout the day. He’d offer compliments and witty remarks about every article of clothing you tried on, share and offer portions of his meals to you, rest his chin above your head, and hold your hand down the streets of Cairo.

These weren’t enough. Deep down, Jotaro knew these gestures weren’t enough to compensate for the years you would never get to live with him.

But just as the day was about to end, he realized there was one thing he could do.

“Y/N,” he said that brought your attention to him. “I have something to do. You have to come with me.”

You tilted your head in confusion. “Hm? What is it? Did Mr. Joestar say something to you while I was away?”

Jotaro said nothing as he dragged you with him to his destination. You were kept in the dark as he continued to lead the way through the streets until stopping at a random spot by the road, flagging for a passing taxi to pull over. He ushered you inside and followed after you.

“Where to?”

“Up north,” Jotaro said, confusing you further at the lack of a specific place. “I’ll say where to stop.” The driver, growing uncomfortable with his sharp glare and crossed arms, said nothing but an “okay sir” and drove.

“You’re being oddly secretive right now,” you said. “But seriously though, where are we going?”

“You’ll see.”

“What do you mean?” Jotaro placed an index finger to his lips and remained silent for the rest of the ride. This would trigger some suspicion from you, but given that you still complied with his requests, you continued to trust him on where they were headed.

He informed the driver to stop at the incoming curb in what he assumed to be around 30-45 minutes. Both of you stepped out after he paid the driver for his service, and if his memory served him right, he should be picking up a faint yet distinct sound.

And he did.

“This way,” Jotaro said as he turned to walk towards the sound with you following a step behind. They walked past several smaller buildings, veering off the road and onto a paved path. As they reached the first set of stairs, Jotaro paused and allowed you to step forward.

“Where- Oh!” You didn’t finish your sentence as Jotaro bent down to lift you into his arms with one hand securing your back and the other underneath your knees. He stared down at you and huffed at your flustered face looking back at him. You began to fiddle with your fingers. “What are you up to exactly, Jotaro-ssi?”

“Close your eyes.”

“Huh?”

“Do it or I’m not moving.”

“Okay, alright!” You said, whining as you placed both hands over your eyes. “Here. Is this good?”

“Mm.” Jotaro watched you for a minute more to make sure you weren’t peeking through your fingers, he held you firmly in his carry and walked down the staircase.

It didn’t take too long to get down, for his shoes to hit sand instead of solid concrete. You shifted in his grasp, noticing the change in environment. “Hm? This sound… Waves? Are we…?”

Jotaro took a couple of steps forward and stopped. Slowly, he eased you onto the sand, and with your hands still covering your eyes, he reached up to grasp them. With his guidance, you lowered your hands and opened your eyes to the warm sunset sky and shimmering sea. He moved over to the side enough to gauge your reaction from behind.

And just then, his heart fluttered and bloomed at the sight of your beautiful wide smile, pink-dusted cheeks, and sparkling eyes. “Woah, so pretty!” Jotaro smiled, refusing to tear his gaze away from you, wanting to soak all of your happiness into memory. “How’d you know this would be nearby?”

Jotaro had returned to Cairo years after the trip and only after thorough research on the place and on-site work for the Foundation, did he discover the place. Ever since then, despite the beautiful scenery, he’d walk across the sand devoid of awe and filled with regret and longing. But he couldn’t say that. “I’ve been wandering.”

“But, the promise said beaches in Tokyo,” you said, cheeky. He rolled his eyes in faux annoyance. Always teasing until the end, huh? “You’re lucky I’ll take this, but you have to take me to a beach date when we get home in return and many more after.”

His throat clogged in on itself and an overbearing amount of sadness gripped his core at the hopeful mention of a future you’d never get to be in. Although painful, Jotaro kept his cool facade on and said, “Already demanding more? Why am I not surprised?”

“Come on don’t lie to yourself,” you glanced at him with a curled lip and raised brow. “You’d still take me on that date no matter how much you say otherwise.”

And I’d take you to more if I could. “Who knows…”

You left it at that and returned your attention to the ocean. With a deep breath, you closed your eyes, wrapped an arm around yourself, and said, “This feels so nice.”

Jotaro watched you as you said this and only now did he observe how small you were compared to him. A part of him always wanted to know what it felt like when he’d remember the number of couples standing like this on the seaside. He always thought it was too corny and boring back then but after years of thought and reflection, he wasn’t that opposed to the idea.

And while he had the chance…

Without you noticing, he moved one step forward and raised his arms to pull you into a soft embrace. Oh… this- this is what it feels like… Jotaro could feel the sting in his eyes coming again as he held you this tenderly and so with a heavy exhale, he closed his eyes as he allowed himself to just... feel.

He felt your hands come to overlap his. “Jotaro-ssi? You’re much more affectionate today,” you giggled. “Is it my birthday or something?”

He shook his head, refusing to think about birthdays never to be celebrated. Struggling to keep his composure, Jotaro muttered, “I’m just… I just-” I wish it could be like this.

“Speechless too? Aigoo this won’t do.” You stepped back just enough for you to turn around and wring your arms around his shoulders. In return, he placed his own around your waist. With a smile, you got on your tip-toes and planted a chaste kiss on his lips. “I’m not expecting too much but I got to admit, I can get used to this. I’m just waiting for a snarky reply to top all this off.”

Jotaro, through his unshed tears and cracking heart, smiled and cupped your cheek. You kept your gaze on him as you leaned on his palm and nuzzled against it. “And ruin the moment? Not this time.”

“Well, how about you kiss me instead?”

He scoffed, albeit with a curl of his lip, and pulled you closer to him with one arm. He guided your face up to him and he leaned down until his nose grazed yours and his breath fanned your lips.

One hooded look from his to yours sent you the signal for you to reach up and close the distance between you.

---

It’s been a while since you had soaked in the beauty of the setting sun, and hours have passed until the night neared its end. For a brief moment, the two of you met with the Crusaders and in that short window of time, the group had engaged in a lively conversation mixed with talk about the mission.

As the clock struck 11:30, you and Jotaro returned to your shared room and agreed to settle for the evening.

And here you were, lying beside him under the sheets in the dark, awake like he was. Both faced each other with your arms tucked between your chests, while Jotaro’s arms wrapped around you- one underneath your side and the other draped across your waist.

“Tomorrow’s the day, huh?” You said as your fingers fiddled with his faded top. “After tomorrow, it’s over. We can go back and do what couples usually do. Go to school together, go on dates, celebrate each others’ birthdays, and much more.” In the dark, he could hear the bashful smile blooming on your face as you listed all your wishes to him.

Jotaro didn’t say anything, his heart growing heavier with each passing second, but he nodded regardless.

30 minutes until midnight… And then…

“Y/N,” he said quietly and you replied with a curt “hm?”. “Can I ask something?”

“You rarely do, so of course you can.”

He swallowed and continued, “What if… whatever we have now doesn’t work out in the long run, would you be upset if I somehow end up with someone else?”

You tilted your head. “Strange of you to ask on our first week of dating but I guess it’s better than late.”

“Would I be upset?” You shook your head. “Why would I? I don’t control how you get to live your life. If you find happiness in somebody else, then that’s good. If life says it’s not us, then it's alright.”

“You go be a successful man, marry someone worth your love, start a family, and live a long life,” you chuckled under your breath. “Would it be weird to say that I see you'd be the type to be a girl dad? I don’t know… I think seeing a little girl version of you running around would be cute.”

“But you asking that doesn’t mean you get a free pass to forget me that easy. Whatever I said just now is also my dream, alright? I want that for us,” You said. "And I know you’re rolling your eyes thinking about how I’m being a blabbermouth again and I'm being too romantic, but you know me by this point.”

You said all those with a lighthearted spirit, meant to tease and have fun, but all it did was cause a tear or two to roll down his face as he gazed at you. He didn’t know how long he had until he couldn’t hold it anymore. Jotaro could have had that with you- to marry you, spend much more time with you, be family with you… if only he did better.

He should’ve done better.

“Yah, don’t tell me you’re sleeping already.”

He ignored the wetness trailing down his face as he reached up to tuck a strand of hair behind your ear. “I listened… don’t worry.”

“Good,” you said as you burrowed close to him, nuzzling against his chest. “Or else I’m going to be extra annoying about it.”

He let out an empty chuckle as he hugged your waist tighter and nudged you closer until he could bury his face in the crown of your head. “I’m used to it.”

“Professor Kujo’s Stand disc has been retrieved. An agent is reportedly heading over as we speak. Prepare the patient now.”

His chest caved at the faint voices echoing in his head. Jotaro can hear them. His time here is coming to a close.

He’s about to wake up and you’d no longer be in his arms.

He held back a pathetic whimper as he took a deep breath in and let out a shaky exhale. “I’m sorry.”

You hummed. “Sorry for what?”

For what’s to come. For not fighting hard enough. “For everything.”

A hand caressed his cheek, moving slightly down to rest on his shoulder. “I’m not sure what you’re apologizing for, but whatever it is, I’m sure it’s nothing too bad. So I forgive you.”

He could feel his consciousness fade and wither as the distant voices and mechanical noises grew louder by the second. Whatever strength he had left was spent holding you as tight as he could before all of this would be over. He didn’t care if he began to sob or if you became aware of it.

He needed to feel you tonight before letting you go one last time.

“Jotaro-ssi?” He made a sound in response as he fell closer and closer to the void.

And the last thing he could linger on before then was you pressing yourself close and wrapping your arms around him with three closing words.

“I love you.”

---

“Is the patient ready?”

“Yes, doctor. Although, something peculiar happened.”

“Complications?”

“Not that. Just as the agent handed over the disc, the other nurses noticed that Professor Kujo seemed to cry while comatose indicative of the tears streaking down his cheeks.”

“Peculiar indeed. Reports said his memory disc got stolen too so he shouldn’t have any recollections about the past.”

“Perhaps it’s from supernatural causes? Or maybe it’s simply from the heart?”

“It doesn’t matter. Let us insert the disc now and spare the conversation later.”

[allhailsugu]

Rise and Shine | t. zenin x Reader!

Yesterday evening you spontaneously checked into a suite of a high class hotel offering a broad variety on massages etc. at their inhouse Spa to enjoy the weekend and so happens you just had the hottest night, before waking up in the morning looking forward to your Spa day.

Content: fluff!Tojixfem!Reader, explicit content; minors DNI - modern setting; married au - you are in early 30s; Toji is in mid-late 30s. TOJI's POV! Word count: 4k Author's Note: Was thinking about this for days and wanted to write something from Toji's POV. Here it is. I wanted it to be fluff so the scenes aren't too explicit.... (I guess.) Couldn't get fluffy Toji outta my mind so had to write him out. Here ya go! P.S.: Wrote this during work, don't tell my boss. jk P.P.S.: Since this is an AU he's Zenin, not Fushiguro, fyi. Not really relevant to the story but it's in the title.

I slowly began to wake, groggily opening my eyes and blinking as the late morning light filled the bedroom, illuminating everything perfectly. I groan softly, slowly stretching against you as my body was sore with the delicious aches of last night. I turned my head to look at you, a soft smile spreading across my face as I saw you asleep. Feeling me shifting next to you, you began to stir as well. I grin, seeing you starting to stir in your sleep. I shift my body, nuzzling my face against your cheek before I whisper softly, "Wake up, princess. It's morning." I reach out, my fingertips gently brushing over your side to tickle you playfully making you bend your body away from my touch, annoyed noises coming from you, your voice still hoarse from the escapades of the night before.

"Noooo.... don'ttt...!" You whine tired. I burst out laughing at your reaction as I reached out and let my fingers gently run through your hair. I leaned over and brushed my lips against yours, giving you a soft kiss.

"Mhmmm…ugh—" You tried stretching and stopped your movements suddenly. I chuckle softly, shifting under the covers and reaching out to pull your back against my chest, my fingers gently massaging and rubbing your stiff muscles. "Sore, baby?"

"Yeah… hella sore…" You said, your voice still hoarse and sleepy. Your mouth felt incredibly dry and you let your head slump back against my chest. I felt my chest rumble with a soundless chuckle, my fingers continuing to rub and massage your stiff muscles, working out the pain and soothing your sore limbs.

"I'll order some food to the room and then we'll get in the shower and I'll make you feel better..."

"You‘re a saint~…." You whispered nuzzling your head against my chest. A huff of amusement escaped my lips as I chuckled, my fingers rubbing gently in soothing circles over your back, rubbing and massaging out all the tension and pain in your muscles.

"I can't help but pamper you.. especially after last night. You were just so perfect, princess..."

You chuckled in response, "Loved ruining me didn’t you?"

I hum, leaning over and pressing a kiss to the top of your head, gently rubbing you in a soothing motion.

"Of course I did... and I want to do it as much as possible.... every day for the rest of our lives in fact..."

"As much as I enjoy having sex with you… I probably wouldn’t survive it, if every night was like last night." You said sighing, a sly smirk tugging on the corners of your lips. I chuckled softly in response, my fingers began to press a little harder along your back, a hiss escaping me as my own sore muscles flared up.

You immediately looked up concerned. Noticing I was just as sore and your own love language kicked in wanting to pamper me now.

"Aw, you are just as sore, baby." You said sitting up and gently massaging my shoulder. A groan of delight rumbled in my chest as I stretched my arms above me, leaning into your touch as you began to massage my bare shoulder, my eyes fluttering shut at the sensation.

"Mmmm... that feels good princess…"

"Tell you what, got an idea!" You said suddenly crawling off the bed, still naked you bend down grabbing the white shirt I wore out yesterday. Inhaling as you pulled it over your head 'cause it smelled just like me. Watching you put on my shirt instead of one of your own, I felt a possessive sort of feeling flood me at the sight of you.

"What do you have in mind baby..?" I asked curiously, my eyes flickering to yours as you shuffled to the phone in the suite, outside of the bedroom. 

You talked on the phone with the receptionist but since you were out of the room I didn’t really catch anything. After hanging up you came back into bed, sitting next to me while I was still laying down.

"I ordered fresh fruits and juices to help with our dehydration and sore muscles and I told the receptionist to book us the all inclusive SPA package which means, hot stone massages, oil massages and hanging out in the Sauna and pools for as long as we want~" You said excited slipping back into the covers next to me.

I smiled widely as I listened, my eyes widening a little as you mentioned all the amenities you booked. I hummed in pure pleasure, rolling onto my stomach and propping myself up on my elbows, looking down at you with a smile.

"All inclusive pampering for the both of us? A massage for our sore bodies, hot stones, oil massages, and sauna? Baby, you're spoiling me..."

You smile wide, biting your smile while your hand is traveling up to my cheek, your thumb brushing over the scar on my lips, forcing the corner of my lip to cock up. 

"Of course~! If I don’t spoil my king someone else might try…" 

I grinned at your words, leaning into your touch and turning my head to kiss the underside of your wrist.

"You're the perfect wife... How I ever get so lucky, I'll never know. You're truly too much for me…" I whispered, leaning forward and pressing a kiss to your lips.

"Giving that compliment right back at’cha.~" You murmured against my lips making me smile happily, deepening the kiss, feeling a sense of giddiness in the pit of my stomach at the thought of how far we've come. My tongue slid in between your lips, coaxing your mouth open so I could taste you. I ran my tongue over the roof of your mouth, feeling you moan against me, our bodies shifting closer together as I gently cupped your neck, my thumb rubbing against your cheek.

Feeling slightly aroused just by my kisses you try composing yourself with all you have, murmuring. “Baby… Baby, we gotta…” You tried speaking before trailing off and deepening our kiss yourself. I hum softly, a slight groan escaping me, feeling another rush of arousal hit me as we kissed. I pulled you closer, shifting to lean over you, my knees planting on either side of you as my body hovered above yours. I shifted my hands, gently cupping your face and tilting your head to the side so my kisses could trail along your jaw and down your throat. You let out an immediate aroused sigh.

I loved how responsive you were to even a tiny bit of stimulation, it made me want to push you to your limits again. I continued to kiss and caress your body, my hands trailing down over your shoulders and chest, pushing your body down into the bed.

"You're just so perfect..." I murmured between kisses, pressing my body closer as the kiss grew more heated, my need for you growing, as you apparently couldn’t hold back anymore either, since you began grabbing the hem of my shirt you were wearing. I growled lowly at the sight of you tugging at the shirt, my eyes darkening with desire as I looked down at you, watching as the hem of the shirt slipped up your thighs, revealing more smooth skin, my hands trailing down your side, one hand settling on your hip, my grip firm as I gently pushed you into the mattress, moving to pin you under me as I kissed you, hard.

You moaned immediately. Your body burning hot as you still tried slipping off the shirt but due to me on top and hungrily kissing you, you didn't manage. I kept you pinned under me, loving how helpless you were, your moans music to my ears, like always. I could feel my own body now burning, a groan escaping me as a wave of need washed over me. I wanted you. Badly. And I was going to have you, right here, right now.

I tore my mouth away from our kiss, moving on to leaving hot, wet kisses over your jaw and down your throat, nipping and biting your skin leaving tiny marks in my wake.

“Shirt…” You whimpered, as you were losing your mind already. Panting and squirming like the mess I always make out of you. I hummed, biting a particularly sensitive spot on your neck before gently tugging my shirt off of you having you fully nude again. Hands returning to your sides, my mouth continuing to bite and kiss down the expanse of your skin, my tongue darting out to taste you when I could, my body shifting, hands moving to your waist before gripping it, my nails biting into your skin as I felt my body moving on autopilot.

Trailing my kisses lower and lower over you, leaving hot, wet kisses as my tongue slipped out, licking and biting your skin when I could. My own breathing coming out in soft huffs as I kissed down your body, trailing a kiss over your navel, slowly kissing your stomach before my hands grabbed your hips and suddenly flipped you over, my body pressing firmly against you, my chest flat against your back.

I gently pushed your hair away from your shoulder, my free hand trailing down your side, slowly moving over your hip, gripping the soft flesh there with a firm pressure, my breath hot against the skin of your shoulder.

"You do things to me..." I whispered huskily, my body moving slightly to plant hot, open kisses up your spine and over your shoulder, gently grazing my teeth over your skin as I pressed against you. You whined feeling hot beyond belief, your whole body aching to feel me as you arched your back, tilting and pressing your ass towards me as I kept teasing you with open mouth kisses all over. I groaned deeply feeling your ass rub against my groin, my grip on your hips tightening as I gently bit your shoulder, the sound of one of us moaning echoing around us, though it was unclear who. My body arched against you in answer, the friction driving me wild, my hand slipping between your thighs to part them. I shifted slightly to bring my knee up to press teasingly between your thighs coaxing a high pitched moan from your lips as you gripped the sheets tightly. My knee pressed against your core, the hard pressure from my knee sending a wave through your body, a choked gasp slipping from your lips, my body shifting up to bite and suck at your nape. 

My own body was burning, a groan of pleasure rumbling through my chest. I shifted against you, the heat building between us growing with every passing moment, my body aching for you, my skin growing hotter by the second. I couldn't hold back, not with you, not like this. A low growl rumbled from my throat, a sharp nip to your shoulder before my voice came out hoarse and deep in your ears.

"Please... I need you..." I whispered huskily, my mouth leaving marks all over your skin, my hand coming up to caress your breast, massaging and teasing the tender flesh as I rolled my hips against you, my knee pressing closer between your thighs.

"Hiya—" You cried in surprise, your voice laced with desire. You needed me, too.

"Toji, please—…. Need you so bad—…!" You whispered breathy into the pillows.

My mouth went dry at your words, my eyes darkening with desire as the needy tone of your voice hit my ears, the sound of it going straight to my core. My mind was going dizzy with needing you, and before I could stop myself, my hand slipped between your thighs, gently touching your core. I groaned deeply when I felt how wet you were, my body shaking slightly, an animalistic sound coming from the depths of my chest as I gently pushed my knee closer to you, shifting in between your thighs to press myself closer. My fingers dipping between your folds, a groan escaping me when I felt again just how wet you actually were, my own body shaking with anticipation as my fingers slowly rubbed between your folds. My breaths coming out in huffs as my body moved against you, my teeth gently biting your neck. My fingers continued rubbing and stroking moving onto your sensitive bud, making your body jolt and shake as you began whimpering more. Little gasps in between your heavy pants making me grin satisfied while I turned my head to bite your shoulder, as you quaked and cried in pleasure, forcing you to come undone beneath me and you became completely helpless. Your body already close to it’s limit. 

Your sounds just enticed me further, your cries and moans feeding my fire, my fingers quickly becoming drenched as I stroked and teased you, abusing your bud, bringing you closer and closer towards the edge, teeth grazing your sensitive skin on your neck as you were now so close, my body could feel it. Aching and shaking with every second that passed, my lips continuously trailing kisses and bites up your neck. My thumb kept rubbing your sensitive tip, a groan escaping me as I moved close to your ear, my words huskily.

"Let go baby... you're so close..." I whispered in your ear, my breath hot and warm against your skin, each word sending a shudder through my own body, the need building inside of me with every second.

Your own body hot, hips bucking into my touch before your body began to jerk, shaky gasps and quiet cries as you gripped the sheets tightly, tugging them towards yourself as you came, your body shaking beneath mine. I watched as your body spasmed and shook in orgasm, feeling every tremble and wave shiver through your body, a groan escaping me watching the pleasure wash over you, my own needs becoming stronger, my hand quickly leaving your core. I feel your body tensing in my arms, your moans echoing in my ears.

"Beautiful," I murmur, my lips brushing against your neck, my fingers tracing gentle circles on your skin as you ride out the waves of your orgasm. "So incredibly beautiful, love." The sensation of your moans sending shivers across my spine. I couldn't wait any longer. My aching body needed you, needed you badly, needed you now. So in the next second I pressed my body against you again, my arms wrapping around you, lifting you up against my chest making you cry out in surprise, voice high pitched and shaky, while I put the fingers I was just teasing you with into your mouth.

Your  body slightly shivering from the aftermath of your recent orgasm as I already began to chase towards mine, aligning myself directly at your core while letting you suck on my fingers, tasting yourself swiftly before I slipped them out and tasted them myself. Your taste making me growl and smack my lips before I palm my aching length with the same hand, as it was so eagerly awaiting your tight walls. I slowly push into your well prepped core, coaxing a deep gasp out of you as I stretch you out. Just like I always do. I moaned deeply as I slowly pushed into you, my head dropping forward to press against your shoulder. A shuddering breath leaving me as I finally buried myself fully inside you, my arms coming up to your waist, wrapping tightly around you, my thighs shaking gently as they pressed against your own. I pressed my body tightly against you, feeling the weight of you in my arms, feeling the warmth of your body seeping into my skin, my eyes shutting as I relished having you finally so close again.

I stilled, just holding you close for a moment, every beat of your heart against my chest like music to my ears. 

"You feel amazing…“ I whisper in a husky voice, my lips brushing gently against your skin, my fingers gently gliding along your body. “I want to make you feel even better….“ I murmur softly as I continue my touch slow and sensual. "I want to keep fucking you like this forever. Just like this." My nose would trail its path down to the spot where your neck and your shoulder meet, my hot breath on your neck, placing soft nibbles down. And the need still burned in me, so I trailed my nose up your neck, lips brushing against your sensitive skin as I gently nuzzled my head against your cheek, before my lips find yours in a deep, heated kiss. I moaned into your mouth, tilting my head to the side, deepening the kiss, my tongue slipping into your mouth as my body began to move, rolling my hips gently, my hands moving low to rest on your hips again.

I pulled you closer, my fingers clutching your hips, guiding them, my lips leaving your mouth, back to trailing heated kisses down your neck as my hips rolled repeatedly against you. You moved your arm up over our heads to reach behind you holding onto the nape of my neck, while your other hand was gripping my thigh from the side. Each breath leaving me coming out hot and heavy against you, my breaths mingling with yours, our bodies finding a now perfect rhythm. The pleasure was building fast, the heat pooling in my lower stomach with each gentle brush of your body against mine, a low groan rumbling through my chest, my hips rolling and shifting against you, a slow yet intense build up, the fire burning brighter with each second that passed. 

With each push deep into you and your body moving against mine, I felt my body and mind going blank, all I could focus on was your skin against mine, the feeling of your fingers tightening against my skin, and the sounds you were making. My breath came out in pants, my head spinning slightly as pleasure spread through me.

I felt dizzy, my chest heaving, my breath coming out in huffs as my body was arching against you, shaking with each slow and deep push, my breath catching in my throat, coming out low and deep in my chest. A groan echoing from me as a wave of pleasure hit me. I was getting close. So close, my pace shifted slightly, picking up speed, my breath coming out in short, quick huffs, my head dropping into the crook of your shoulder, pressing my face against your neck.

Moans now came out muffled against your skin, hands moving to press firmer against your hips, helping our bodies move together while my hips were rolling faster now. A shudder going through me, my teeth gently biting and nibbling at your neck to muffle my sounds as moans started spilling from me now, getting more low and louder as I felt the tension growing deep in my gut, a low growl slipping from me as I began to feel you clenching around me.

I needed you, I needed you so badly, I couldn’t stop. I couldn’t slow down, my body was moving on its own now, my pace quicker and deeper, my hands gripping your hips a little harder, a low groan escaping me as that tension was growing stronger. The overwhelming feeling growing more and more, forcing my breath to get more and more shaky as I was close. Impossibly close, the coil was growing tighter and tighter, but I needed you with me, my head leaned up to your ear, the words leaving me husky and hot, my breath coming out in deep pants.

"Please... please... I need you... I'm so close... I need to feel you... come for me... please... come for me..." I whispered in your ear, begging for you to cum and tighten further around me. My plea making you clench around me as I groaned, eyes fluttering and my body shaking as that tension grew impossibly tighter. My hips rolling against you more urgently now, each shift of our bodies bringing me closer and closer to bliss, my moans and groans now unrestrained from my chest, the sound of them filling the air.

"Don't hold back, cum for me again. I want to feel every inch of you.“ I murmur the words as I gently press my lips against your throat, my hands gliding in a constant rhythm to your body, my lips exploring your skin with a reverence only reserved for you as your voice is my drug, and I am addicted. My body moves with frantic urgency, pushing into you with increasing pace and passion. "I want to make you cum again.... and again….“ 

And yet there was no need for my begging as my movements already pushed you over the edge. Your body tense, every muscle in you taut as you gasped, breath catching as you held it in before the tension in your lower stomach area snapped and unleashed a chain reaction of knots releasing through your whole body, making you shake and quiver against me, your core tightening and clenching around me in intervals, pleasure rippling through your core and I can feel each and every one of your contractions. The sound of my name tearing from you sent a shiver through me and my hips stuttered. The feeling of your core gripping me tightly set me off. I could feel the tension growing impossibly tight now, every inch of my body burning and shaking as I held you close, that fire burning impossibly bright.

My breath coming out in gasps, my hips still moving urgently against you as I felt that coil tighten further before finally snapping, my body going rigid as pleasure washed over me, my grip on your hips tightening as I groaned deeply. Waves of pleasure wracked over my body as I came fully inside you, hips jerking and pumping spurts of hot white mess repeatedly into you, leaving me panting and trembling as I leaned against you, my body shaking and shivering. I gently wrapped my arms around you, holding you close as the aftershocks of my orgasm rippled through me. I pressed my cheek against yours, my body feeling blissful as I relished the feeling of you in my arms, your name leaving my lips over and over in whispers as I held you close. 

A satisfied smile curled at the corner of my lips, my eyes closing as I slowly began to relax again, my fingers running gently up and down your back in a soothing manner as I simply held you against my chest, relishing in the feeling of you laying against me in comfort. It was... absolutely perfect. So perfect that I couldn't say anything. Couldn't do anything other than hold you and slowly drift as your own hand began to move over the taut muscles of my body.

We remained close, me now leaning against the headboard, you leaning against my chest as we finally relaxed fully, our breathing slow and steady again after this intense moment. I was exhausted but felt nothing but content at this moment. My heartbeat slowed to a steady beat in my chest, my fingers tracing over your back, gently following the lines of your spine as it dipped and arched, my head laying against the headboard as I held you, a calmness washing over me. I pressed a soft kiss to the top of your head, my fingers trailing over your shoulder, drawing little circles against your skin before my hand came to rest at your lower back, my grip gently rubbing and massaging you.

"Mhmm….I feel like I‘m dreaming…" You said in a low voice smiling softly as your eyes closed swiftly.

"Mmm...then this is the best dream ever..." I replied with a smile, my eyes half-lidded as my fingers massaged and rubbed you before I pressed another kiss to the top of your head.

[jimxnslight]

Chapter 5: Dodgeball

Summary: Elitist Academy is exactly what it sounds like: an academy that focuses on teaching students from elite classes of the magic community. When Y/N is thrown into the academy to learn alongside 8 men, she realises she’ll have to learn to work with them, whether she likes it or not.

Pairing: Reader x OT7 (Choose Your Own)

Genre: Magic School au, mystery, angst

Word Count: 4k

Warnings: domestic abuse, additional warnings might be added as story progresses

A/N: Exams are finally over, so here's an update. Hope you enjoy!

Taglist: @florabloomgirly @shawtylilsalty

Your gaze stayed fixed on the man before you, hunched over as he cradled his bruised jaw with one hand. Was this what Principal Park had meant when he had said the Academy wasn’t entirely safe? You had assumed that he had been referring to secret abductions in the middle of the night or underlying schemes being formulated in the shadows. 

Not outright attacks being done in the centre of the main hall while the morning’s sunlight still shone brightly. 

You paused as the sound of expensive dress shoes striking against the marble floor echoed around the hall, each step slow and confident to reveal someone entering through the same doors the guy a few metres away from you had stumbled through just a few seconds earlier. 

You would have ignored whoever it was and walked over to the guy still crouched on the floor, but at the last second your gaze caught onto a few strands of dark purple, causing your head to snap towards him in shock.

Jimin’s brother paused at the doorway, scanning the main hall nonchalantly with those familiar occult red eyes. Even without the dimly lit atmosphere and dark shadows he seemed just as menacing as he had last night. The only difference was that now you could just barely pick up on an underlying anger lurking behind the nonchalant facade. 

His gaze flickered to you for a moment, taking in your standing form beside the Tree of Life, before it ultimately fell on the guy on the floor. 

At the sight of Jimin’s brother the guy pushed himself off the ground quickly with wide eyes and hands hovering upwards in a sign of surrender. 

Wait… was he the one that was doing this?

As if to answer your question, Jimin’s brother walked over to him and grabbed his collar with a gloved hand, dragging him with it until he slammed him against the nearest wall. 

The main hall began to fill with students from the dining hall, all of whom seemed curious, and clearly entertained, by the current state of events. They all made sure to give the two a wide area of space though, evidently making sure they wouldn’t get involved. 

Typical. 

You didn’t know if you wanted to get involved either. There was that feeling back in your chest, the one of elation whenever you watched men fight each other; whenever they decided to inflict pain on their own rather than on you. You knew it was wrong to feel that way, your hate didn’t blind you that much, but you still couldn’t seem to help yourself.

Come on, don’t be a monster Y/N, you thought with a sigh. 

You forced yourself to take a step towards the two, opening your mouth to reluctantly stop whatever was going on, but then paused as you suddenly recognised who Jimin’s brother had pinned to the wall. 

Wasn’t that the guy that had bullied Seokjin yesterday? What was his name… Jihoon?

“Look man,” Jihoon said, hands still up in surrender as Jimin’s brother held his collar, “I don’t understand what I did! Please just let me go, I’ll do whatever you want!”

“Oh?” Jimin’s brother grinned, a devilish glint in his eyes that did not match his calm tone, “not so tough now, are we?”

His gaze dropped to the bruise on Jihoon’s jaw, which was now turning an ugly shade of purple, “that’s disappointing, I was expecting a good fight.”

You watched Jihoon cower a bit when his gaze raised to meet his once again, “you want me to leave you alone?”

“Y-yes,” Jihoon answered, so quickly that you almost felt bad for him. Jimin’s brother nodded slowly, clearly relishing in his fear.

“Okay, but only on one condition.”

Jimin’s brother leaned forward to whisper something in his ear, but to your surprise, Jihoon seemed to freak out at the action. His head immediately jerked backwards, causing it to hit against the wall behind him roughly. A pained groan escaped his lips. 

You narrowed your gaze at the excessive reaction. You knew Jihoon was a coward the second you had caught him preying on Seokjin, but still… Jimin’s brother had only leaned forward. Was Jihoon really that scared of him?

Jimin’s brother ignored the reaction, waiting for him to stop groaning over his head, before he leaned forward once again and whispered something near his ear. You felt everyone strain their ears to try and listen to his words, but they were spoken much too low for anyone, including you, to hear. 

His words elicited another reaction from Jihoon, but this time it was more of a shocked response than a frightened one. 

“You what?!” He said incredulously, his hands dropping to his sides.

But one withering glare from Jimin’s brother suddenly had him nodding instantly, “wait- okay! Okay, I swear!”

“Great,” Jimin’s brother grinned with fake amusement for a moment before it dropped.

“Now get lost.”

Jihoon scrambled away from him the second he was freed, half running through the front doors of the academy. It was almost comical the way Hannah, the blonde foreigner that had been with him yesterday, ran after him while calling his name. The two definitely made for an interesting pair, you’ll give them that much. 

You looked back at Jimin’s brother, only to find him already walking out of the hall without another word. His expression was far from the amused cocky bastard from last night, this time filled with hidden rage that you questioned. You distantly wondered what Jihoon could have possibly done to make him so angry. 

“Cheonsa,” a voice behind you stated suddenly.

You turned around to find an unfamiliar girl standing next to you, dressed in the same Elitist Academy uniform as your own. Similar to Hannah she was also a foreigner, but her dark brown hair was pulled into short braids under her maroon cap while her light brown skin stood out against her cream-coloured collar. 

“Sorry, what?” You asked, unsure of what she had just said.

While the students that had stayed to watch the spectacle began making their way to their classes, she just continued to stand beside you and stare at the door in which Jimin’s brother had disappeared behind, “the guy that just practically beat up Jihoon, his name is Park Cheonsa.”

“Cheonsa?” You repeated, tilting your head slightly, “that’s an… odd name.”

The word itself translated to ‘angel,’ but you’d never actually heard anyone use it as a name before. The irony of someone like him being named angel was also not lost on you. 

“He’s the principal’s son, which is why he can get away with acting out like that. I’d be careful around him if I were you.”

You almost snorted, but held yourself back at the last minute so that you didn’t come off as rude. Everyone in this academy had rich parents that allowed them to act however they wanted, it was practically a requirement in order to get into the school. 

Still, it was sweet of her to give you a warning anyway.

You gave her a smile, “thanks for the warning… I guess. What’s your name?”

“Oh right!” She breathed with an embarrassed smile, “I almost forgot, I’m Amelia!”

“Y/N,” you offered, “it’s nice to meet you, Amelia.”

“It’s nice to meet you too Y/N, you’re really nice,” she said, then added shyly, “it’s been kind of hard to find nice people in this Academy.”

You regarded her for a moment, contemplating her words. She must have been from one of the more lower class families. In a place where everyone was rich, the students treated each other based on how rich their families were. So while Amelia was far from worrying about when her next meal would be, she and the students like her were probably taking the brunt of the bullying in this place. 

It was a sad truth, one that had you sympathising with her. 

“People can be real jerks, I totally get it,” you agreed, offering her another smile, “but if it means anything, you can always consider me a friend. Only if you’d like to, of course.”

To your surprise, Amelia frowned, “that’s very kind of you, but… if you’re seen with me, won’t they start targeting you as well? I don’t want you to get hurt because of me.”

You couldn’t help but smile, a light chuckle escaping your lips before you could stop yourself, “you don’t have to worry about that, I’ll be fine.”

You were sure word must have gotten out by now about who you were. Whether it was regarding your ability or the identity of your parents, either piece of information would be more than enough to protect you from any kind of bullying. 

“Besides,” you continued, giving her a dramatic frown, “I don’t even have any friends. You’re really going to let me die of loneliness?”

Amelia just laughed, shaking her head at you, “I didn’t realise your life was on the line here. In that case, how can I say no?”

With a smile, you checked the time on your phone, noticing that your class was about to start soon, “I have class right now, so I need to get going. Maybe we can meet up during break?”

“Really?” Amelia said, almost in surprise, as her expression brightened at the offer, “of course, I would love to!” 

You nodded, “great, I’ll see you later in that case.”

You started to turn around, feeling bad that you couldn’t stay and talk to her for longer since you knew being late to class wasn’t going to do your grades any favours, but was stopped when Amelia suddenly placed her hand on your shoulder at the last second, as if she had needed to work up the courage to do it. 

“Hey, listen…” She started hesitantly, “before you go, I just wanted you to know that I’ll stand up for you if people start treating you badly because of me. I’m not the type to just watch a friend suffer silently.”

You smiled at her thoughtfulness. Obviously it was too early to tell, but you had a feeling that Amelia was going to become a pretty close friend after today. Or maybe that was just something you wanted to happen and you were projecting. Either way, you had no issues with getting closer to the sweet girl standing before you. 

-

-

-

“You’re joking right?”

Namjoon stared at you incredulously, his eyes narrowing in that way that always seemed to make whoever his target was at that moment feel like they had a baseball for a brain. Hell, it used to make you feel like the dumbest person on Earth until you finally stopped letting it get to you. 

You were sitting in the same History of Magic 101 class as yesterday, except the size of the class had evidently decreased. Instead, the lecture hall was now only filled with 8 other students, male students, aside from yourself, just as Principal Park had explained. 

“The ability to control magic was completely absent during the Mesozoic era,” Namjoon continued to insist, crossing his arms over his chest. 

You sat back in your chair, mimicking his action with a raised brow, “tell that to the dinosaur bones that were recently discovered to have traces of magic in them.”

He scoffed, “humans are the only species with the ability to influence magic, so how could this ability have existed when humans didn’t?” 

Making sure to keep your gaze on Namjoon, you focused on your peripheral vision to study Ms. Kari, who was standing on the podium. To your delight, you noticed her hands placed frustratedly on her hips as she gave both you and Namjoon a look mixed with exhaustion and irritation. 

“And how do you know dinosaurs couldn’t control magic back then?” You questioned, focusing back on the man sitting a few seats away from you to goad him further, “it would explain the traces of magic found in their bones.”

Out of the corner of your eye you noticed Cheonsa throw his head back in a muted groan before propping himself forward on his hands with a sigh. The rest of the class looked back and forth between the two of you, whether invested in the debate or confused by it you didn’t know. 

“The magic in their bones could have come from anywhere!” He argued, “it could have been absorbed from their surroundings or simply remnants of life magic from when they were still alive! Today’s animals lack the ability to influence magic, therefore it’s likely that the dinosaurs were the same.”

“Not necessarily,” you shot back, “perhaps dinosaurs became extinct due to their ability to influence magic while animals today survive only because they cannot? You ever heard of selective pressures, Namjoon?”

“Then what about-”

“This is the fourth time you both have broken into an argument after I asked a simple question to the class,” Ms. Kari finally spoke, interrupting Namjoon with a scowl, “I understand that you two seem to already have extensive knowledge on the class material, but these outbursts are disrupting my teaching.”

“If they don’t stop, I will have to start taking more severe action,” she threatened, making sure to look both you and Namjoon in the eye, “is that understood?”

Namjoon gave you one last look before turning to face Ms. Kari once again, “yes, Ms. Kari.”

“It won’t happen again,” you added.

But you lied.

It was definitely going to happen again. 

If Principal Park wasn’t going to switch your cohort, then you were just going to have to take matters into your own hands. See, if you were to keep causing disruptions in class, Ms. Kari would eventually have to take it up with the Principal. And since Principal Park would have to take action, but can’t kick you out of the school, he would have no other choice but to switch your class. He’d probably switch you to private tutoring, which you were no stranger to. 

All you had to do was argue with Namjoon a few times per class, which was beyond easy considering Namjoon’s unlimited ego and his constant need to prove himself right all the time. 

If everything went as planned you’d be out of here by the end of the week. 

But until then, you’d have to survive your classes the way they were at the moment. 

So you did.

The rest of the class went smoothly for the most part, aside from a couple more small arguments you started between yourself and Namjoon, until the bell rang and everyone began making their way to the next class.

You walked into the women’s dressing room, making sure to lock it before beginning to change out of your uniform. Your next class was physical education, which required you to slip into your academy-issued gym clothes. The gym uniform consisted of a white, fitted short-sleeve t-shirt that had been tailored to your exact specifications and loose red shorts that ended just below your mid-thigh. You decided to also pull on the matching red zip-up sweater, with the gold emblem printed on the lapel unlike the formal uniform, wishing that it would protect you from more than just a chilly breeze. 

You fixed your hair up into a ponytail as you walked out of the dressing room and started making your way out of the academy. The physical education class was to be held in the field in front of the school, so you stepped onto the grass reluctantly while scanning the area. 

The guys had already arrived, each of them wearing the same uniform you were while lounging around or just casually chatting with one another as they waited for the Professor to arrive. Some had opted to wear the sweater while others had chosen to discard theirs haphazardly at the edge of the field. 

You chose to stand off to the side, unable to stop yourself from sulking a bit at not having anyone to talk to. It sucked to be in a class full of men, but you reminded yourself that you just had to wait it out for one week. Then, hopefully, your plan would grant you some form of peace.

Too in your thoughts, you didn’t notice Yoongi had walked up to you until he was standing right beside you with his arms crossed over his chest. He stood for a moment, completely unnoticed by you until he suddenly spoke. 

“Stop that.”

You turned to him, gaze unintentionally falling on the black patch covering his left eye. It came as a surprise to you that he had approached you and started up a conversation considering he didn’t seem like the type to enjoy talking to others. 

“Stop what?” You replied, turning your face away to study the field once again. 

“You’re practically burning holes through everyone’s head with your glare,” he commented, “stop it, it’s annoying.”

You scoffed. What was up with this guy and always trying to tell you what to do? Maybe Jungkook was right and he really was some creep that was into that or something.

“If it bothers you so much, you can always just go away,” you said.

You could feel his gaze boring into the side of your head, making you shift uncomfortably before you turned to glare at him. He only titled his head slightly.

“You know,” he started, “Namjoon told us about your obvious hate towards our gender. Care to explain the reasoning behind such strong feelings?”

“No.”

He narrowed his eye, opening his mouth to probably prod you further, but to your relief you noticed the Professor stepping onto the field. 

He was a tall guy, maybe one of the tallest men you’d ever seen, and dressed in a dark grey tracksuit and black dress shoes. The zip of his jacket was pulled down halfway to reveal a white collared shirt and a neatly-made maroon tie. Everything about him seemed neat. His dark brown hair was trimmed and brushed tidily to the side while his gleaming black framed glasses sat on the bridge of his nose.

Without another glance towards Yoongi, you made your way towards the Professor alongside the other guys. You all formed a ring around him, waiting for him to start the class.

“This is Physical Education 101,” he said gruffly, “I’m Professor Son, but you will only refer to me as sir. Is that understood?”

“Yes sir!” You all exclaimed, and you couldn’t help but feel like you had joined the military.

“Now I know what most of your old high school Phys Ed classes must have looked like,” he said, eyeing each and every one of you, “they were seen as a break from studying, usually a period to waste time and have fun.”

“But from now on you can forget those days, because moving forward this class will take everything out of you. It will be merciless, just like the real world, so you’ll learn to suck it up, and hopefully, by the end of it, you’ll make something of yourselves.”

Mr. Son rested a hand over his hip as the other stroked his chin in thought. 

“Since today’s your first day, I’ve decided we’ll play a game of dodgeball,” he said. Then, as if a thought just occurred to him, he suddenly began to laugh, “hope you survive enough for your next class.”

There was something… scary about his laugh. While Cheonsa’s laugh had sounded like a warning, his just sounded cruel. But you were only playing dodgeball, how bad could it be?

When he finally let his laugh subside, Mr. Son waved a hand around, “now get into two teams, you’re old enough to do it on your own.”

At his words, everyone hurried to place themselves into a group as quickly as possible. Mr. Son was clearly one of the mean teachers, and no one wanted to get on the bad side of a teacher that already had it out for you. 

Since none of the guys really knew each other that well, the groups formed pretty much based on how close to each other everyone was standing. In a matter of seconds, groups of four students had formed on either side of you.

The only issue was that you had been standing mostly in the middle of the two, making you hesitate for a moment. With the groups already being equal, and you standing directly in the middle of them, you didn’t know which one you were meant to go into. But under Mr. Son’s scrutinising eye, you quickly shuffled over to the group on the right, barely paying attention to who was in that team. 

You unintentionally ended up standing next to Jungkook, who gave you a grin. He was one of the guys who had decided to discard the zip-up sweater and instead wore only the white, short-sleeve shirt with his red shorts. Under the sunlight you could make out an athletic, but toned, body, the thin material doing a poor job of hiding his prominent muscles. 

“You have a good eye, Y/N,” he said as Mr. Son turned away from the groups, “you’ve skillfully chosen the winning team, congratulations.”

Your gaze strayed from him to study the rest of the group. It was annoying that you had ended up in the same group as Namjoon, Jimin, and Yoongi, and of course Jungkook. But then again, joining the other group would have meant being teammates with Taehyung, Hoseok, Seokjin, and Cheonsa, who were equally annoying. Basically it was a lose-lose situation either way. 

To your left Hoseok, who was on the other team, snorted, but his expression was humorous, “sorry, what was that? Did you say the losing team? Because if so you’d be right.”

“In your dreams maybe,” Jungkook laughed, only for Mr. Son to roll his eyes.

“Yeah, yeah, leave the trash talking for the actual game,” he said as he brought out his wand and directed it towards the centre of the field. A neat line of dodgeballs appeared from thin air, bright red and soft-looking under the sun.

“Though we’ll see how much you’ll feel like talking soon enough. Now get in position.”

The two teams immediately separated, walking to either side of the field before crouching over the white line outlining its edge. You opted to crouch beside Jimin, who gave you a quick thumbs up before refocusing on the dodgeballs in the centre of the field. 

Even though you didn’t care much about winning a stupid game of dodgeball, you couldn’t help but study the other team anyway. Hoseok seemed the most into it as he called out suggestions to the rest of his team for reaching the dodgeballs before everyone else, while Cheonsa just rolled his eyes at the effort. Beside him Taehyung seemed just as apathetic, but he seemed to at least be a little less apparent about it. Seokjin, on the other hand, seemed like he wanted to be anywhere except here. 

The difference in attitude between Hoseok and his team was almost laughable. 

The nine of you watched Professor Son walk alongside the sidelines of the field until he paused beside the line of dodgeballs. He brought out his phone, seemingly checking something, before he faced you all once again. 

“The game begins at the sound of the whistle,” he announced, earning him a few nods. 

“Three,” he began to count, “two”

“One.”

Mr. Son suddenly brought his wand upwards, flicking his wrist so that it rounded into a circle in the air. Not even half a second later the sound of a shrill whistle cut through the silence, as clearly as if someone had blown into one right beside your ear. 

“Begin!”

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[happilyhertale]

Long Lost Love - Aemond Targaryen x female!reader, Part 12

Summary: You are the daughter of Daemon and Rhaenyra. When the invitation to Aegon and Helaena's wedding came, your entire family rushes from Dragonstone to King's Landing to take part in the festivities. You haven't seen your family in King's Landing for 6 years so you are very excited...

Pairing: Aemond Targaryen x fem!reader

Warnings: At the beginning none – eventually smut (uncle/niece)

Author’s note: Hello you! (:

This is my first fic so please be nice (: I thought I'd just try a little self-considered story. I hope u like it.

The events are not entirely similar from the series.

English is my second language, please forgive me if I made any mistakes (:

18+ NSFW

Word count: 4k

Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, Part 6, Part 7a, Part 7b, Part 8, Part 9, Part 10, Part 11, Part 13, Part 14, Part 15

· · ─────── ·𖥸· ─────── · ·

You're speechless.

He stands before you and holds out his hand to you.

Aemond wants to dance with you.

You don't seem to move at first, for some reason you can't move at all. Until Daemon nudges you lightly and barely noticeably with his elbow. He grins slightly without taking his eyes off the goblet he brings to his mouth.

Back in reality, you reach for his hand as if of your own accord. Immediately you feel a fire go through your whole body.

He holds your hand firmly, yet gently in his. He smiles shyly at you and leads you around the table, straight into the crowd. You are still speechless and cannot take your eyes off him.

Aemond dares to stand in the crowd with you, to embrace you and want to dance with you. Ever since he reached out to you, you feel like all the eyes in the hall are on you. You have never seen Aemond so willing to attract the public's attention.

He puts his hand on your waist and presses you tightly against him, his other hand holds your hand up. You put your hand on his shoulder.

You look him in the eye. He visibly swallows. As the music starts, Aemond leads you across the dance floor without a hitch. Every step is on point and you are almost impressed. You feel your body heat up as he guides you across the ball floor. You are lost in his beautiful purple eye and take in his scent. His scent, which you've been missing for days. And yet it seems that none of you dares to speak first.

Until he seeks your gaze with his eye, "Y/N I'm.. so sorry. I'm ashamed... I am ashamed that I made you feel that I was dishonest with you."

He sighs and his gaze flits briefly to the crowd, "That you had to see that kiss... I'm disgusted with myself."

You look at him, tears welling up in your eyes, he continues, "I assure you I pushed her away. Too late… Yes. But I pushed her away." His gaze is firmly fixed on you again.

"You... You pushed her away?", you whisper. He nods at you.

"Alys means nothing to me anymore. There was a time when she was close to me. But… she was never as close to me as you are. Since I found out weeks ago that you were coming here, my thoughts have… have only been about you. My wish to see you again... After all this time. I could think of nothing else but wanting to be close to you again."

You slide even closer to his body as you dance. He holds you close and looks at you gently.

"Yesterday, when I saw how close you were to the Stark Lord... I'm sorry, I couldn't bear it. I had to do something. I wanted to talk to you, but when you stood in front of me, almost crying... I couldn't say anything... I just wanted to hold you in my arms, but I couldn't."

Barely perceptible, he wipes away a tear running down your cheek with his hand.

"And… I haven't slept with you yet because it's important to me that it's perfect for you. Don't get me wrong... I want to make love to you. Oh, only the gods can guess how much I long to sleep with you. But I don't want to sleep with you out of temptation..." you interrupt him, "I don't want a perfect moment, Aemond... I want you."

You almost whisper the end.

He looks at you and barely noticeably shakes his head, "Y/N you don't know what that means. This moment is so important. For a woman even more than for a man. My important moment was in a brothel and it marks me to this day... and not in any positive way... " and again you interrupt him " Aemond... you are my perfect moment. No matter what the situation. With you... it's perfect. I trust you..."

He pauses for a moment. He must smile slightly. He leans lightly towards you and whispers in your ear, "You have no idea how much I want to kiss you right now."

You return his slight smile, "Then… just do it", you breathe.

He laughs briefly, "Oh, you really will be the death of me."

You lean against him, your face in the crook of his neck. You inhale his scent. How much you miss this... To be safe in Aemond's arms. Inhaling his unique scent.

Aemond can't help himself either and leans the side of his face carefully against your head.

You don't care what anyone else would say. You have had to do without his touch for too long.

After you have enjoyed your closeness for a while, you ask, "You can dance?"

He chuckles briefly, "Of course I can dance, I'm a prince after all. Just because I don't want to, doesn't mean I can't."

In response you press your face further into the crook of his neck.

"And furthermore, I didn't know any other way to help myself... I had to talk to the princess and… I had no other chance to get close to her...", he whispers softly in your ear.

You remove your face from his neck and look at him.

You have to smile slightly, "Aemond... Let's leave this stupid ball."

He looks at you, "Do I dance that badly?"

You have to laugh, "No. But I want to be alone with you... I've missed you."

He looks almost heartbroken as he finally nods.

He stops leading you across the dance floor and extends his arm to you. You are overjoyed to accept his invitation. As you take his arm, you lean close to his side.

As he leads you out of the hall, there are still a few pairs of eyes on you. Whether because you were dancing or because you were far too close to each other, you don't know.

But you couldn't care less.

Daemon's gaze meets Viserys'. Viserys nods at his brother with a smile and Daemon knows what that means.

He too has noticed how close you were. How much you enjoyed dancing close together.

Daemon has always known that you would have to wed someone someday. But still it pains him. It would be foolish to ignore any longer that you were likely to wed Aemond. What you feel for each other is probably more than a childhood love.

He leans towards Rhaenyra with a sigh and she looks at him, "I think we should prepare for our daughter to come to us soon with a request."

She looks at him questioningly, "What do you mean? Aemond?"

Daemon nods at her. Rhaenyra doesn't look happy, more worried.

Daemon gently takes her hand, "You know, there was nothing our daughter could do about it."

Rhaenyra looks at him.

"She's fallen for her uncle", Daemon smiles at her.

Rhaenyra has to suppress a smile.

"I am afraid for her. I'm not sure he's good for her."

Daemon sighs, "Who would have thought I'd be good for you? Try to look at it this way, the only good swordsman of the Targaryens, besides me of course, will consider it his life's work to protect our daughter."

She looks unconvinced, "Y/N is quite capable of protecting herself."

Daemon kisses her hand, "I am aware of that... But a capable man by her side, that can't hurt. I also think he's different with her. Almost tenderly... hopefully. And I trust her enough not to wed a tyrant."

"Let's hope so", Rhaenyra smiles slightly at Daemon.

After a short while she says to him, "I hope you realise that if he treats her badly, that I'll send you to him?“

He looks at her, one eyebrow raised, "I hope you are aware that I am on my way long before you can even send me."

Rhaenyra kisses Daemon gently.

Aemond has never led you anywhere so quickly.

He opens the door to his chambers and leads you inside. You stand in the middle of his chambers and look at each other. He swallows and reaches out for your hand. He holds it and strokes it gently with his thumb, with his other arm he embraces you. He simply holds you in his arms. You put your arms around his neck, hold yourself tightly against him. A tear leaves your eye. Not out of sadness, but rather out of the relieving feeling of being in his arms. You press your face into the crook of his neck again. A light sob escapes you as you inhale his scent. He just holds you and gently strokes your back.

"I'm so sorry Y/N...", he whispers in your ear. When he notices you sobbing again. Carefully taking your head from his shoulder, he holds your face in his hands and gently strokes away the tears, "No, my Love, please don't cry..."

You sob again, "... I... I thought I would never be here again... In your chambers... Just in your arms..."

He interrupts you with a gentle kiss. He leans his forehead against yours, "I would never have let you go..."

You just nod slightly.

"Come...", carefully he leads you to the bench in front of the fire.

You sit in front of the fire, he holds you tightly in his arms and gently caresses your arm.

Absently he looks into the fire.

You watch him discreetly... You have missed him. His beautiful face. These few days without him were hard for you to bear.

"It's rude to stare," you suddenly hear him say.

You bury your face in his shoulder and he chuckles lightly.

In time, you begin to caress his thigh. You draw light circles on his firm thighs with your fingers. You become more curious... Carefully, you let your fingers slide a little further upwards, still stroking him gently.

Slowly he turns his gaze away from the fire and looks at you from the side. But you do not return his gaze. You continue stroking until you are almost at his crotch. Your heart begins to pound harder and the thought of what you are about to touch makes you bite your lip.

"What are you up to?" he whispers in your ear.

Quietly you reply, "I... I want to do something good for you. You've only given me nice moments so far... beautiful feelings. I want to give you that too."

"Y/N, that was at least as nice for me... To be the first man to give you these feelings."

Nevertheless, you notice how the bulge in his crotch is getting bigger.

You look at him, "I want to be able to experience when you have such… beautiful feelings". He chuckles, gently strokes your cheek and kisses you passionately.

After a while you break the kiss. Unsure how to do it... what to do at all, you bite your lip.

"I'll show you what to do?" he asks you softly.

You nod slowly.

He kisses you again and carefully takes your hand, placing it right on his crotch.

A breath escapes your lips as you feel him. He is already hard. You look at him, he smirks.

He kisses you again and starts to move your hand on his crotch. Slowly you massage his length. You notice how his breathing quickens.

Aemond takes his hand off yours and starts to undo his belt. You continue to massage him, but interrupt the kiss. You want to see him.

He sits up for a moment and pulls his trousers down to the back of his knees. When he leans back again, you see him for the first time.

Unconsciously you swallow and bite your lip. Aemond caresses your cheek and pulls your chin up, he kisses you again. Between kisses he breathes, "Go on, touch him."

You look at him, a little unsure. But you dare, slowly you close your hand around his hard length.

He gasps briefly and closes his eyes. He puts his hand on yours and guides it. Slowly he lets it slide up and down. He squeezes a little harder and tells you, "You can press harder". You follow his lead. As you let your hand wander down his hot length, you notice him getting even bigger and harder.

He begins to moan and lets your hands slide up and down faster. This deep moan sends a wave of arousal through you. You feel yourself getting wet and you press your thighs together to at least try to get some satisfaction.

You take the lead and let your hand slide along him on its own. He groans again and reaches out with his hands beside him. He squeezes your knee, which is lying next to him on the bench. You can't help but kiss him. Greedily he kisses you back. The sounds of your kisses and moans fill his chambers.

Suddenly you notice your fingers getting a little wet. You look down and see little drops coming out of him. A light, clear liquid spreads over your fingers and his hard, pulsating length.

At this sight, the feeling rises in you that you must have more. You look up at him for a moment, his head leaning back, his eye closed. His breathing is rapid and interrupted by moans. He is so beautiful.

"I want to taste you," it escapes you.

He looks up, out of breath. His eye is dark, full of lust. He kisses you passionately.

"Just before I'm done... Then you can taste me...", he replies out of breath.

You look a little irritated, but you nod slowly.

Not for a second did you stop your movement. Aemond puts his head back again.

You look down again and something else occurs to you.

Carefully you slide down to the floor and push his legs a little apart. He looks down at you and gasps, "What are you doing?"

Sitting on your knees between his legs, you look at him, don't answer and just smirk slightly.

Your hand closes around him and you begin to slide it up and down his full length again. A deep grumble arises inside him and he watches you, full of lust.

Slowly you lean forward and you let your tongue wander along his shaft. Aemond moans loudly. When you reach the top, you surround the shaft with your lips and suck gently on it. He hisses, "Oh seven hells..., Y/N!"

With a "plop" you let him slide out, breathing heavily. You look at him, "You have to show me..." he just nods.

He leans in for a moment and kisses you. He lets himself fall back, strokes your cheek lightly with one hand. His hand wanders gently to the back of your head and presses it down lightly.

"Be careful with your teeth. Wrap your lips over your teeth," he whispers.

Your mouth closes around his cock, carefully he pushes your head down and up again. Delicately you let your lips glide over his length. This feeling makes the arousal between your legs flare up even more. You moan out.

Aemond responds with a twitch that travels once through his cock.

He whispers, "Take him... as far... into your mouth... as you can manage. Use...your hand...to help."

You try to take him all the way into your mouth, but he is too big. You gag for a moment, but you don't stop. And again you feel him twitch.

With one hand you grab the part of the length that doesn't fit in your mouth and you start stroking him. You squeeze him lightly and Aemond moans.

He lightly thrusts his hips rhythmically towards you. His hips tremble slightly as he controls the urge to rut into your throat.

A load of wetness leaks out of you and it would be a pure miracle if you didn't already have your underwear completely soaked. With rhythmic movements you try to satisfy your arousal. His breath is getting faster and faster, you can't help but moan again.

You let your mouth slide up and down faster. In your mouth you feel his length growing even bigger and you taste him a little.

You love it.

He carefully takes your free hand and guides it to his balls, he almost whispers between his gasps, "Squeeze them gently."

You follow his instruction. Tenderly you let your fingers wander over his balls, squeezing gently as you suck greedily on his cock. "You look so…  beautiful with my cock in your mouth," he whispers breathlessly.

His cock twitches more and more and the grumbling deep in his chest doesn't let up.

His hand first glides gently through your hair until he suddenly grabs hold of you and holds you tightly while his cock disappears almost completely into your mouth. This sight makes him come almost immediately. "Fuck, Fuck... Fuck! Y/N, take him all the way in your mouth... oh Fuuck, take all of me."

Suddenly he grips your hair tighter, his other hand claws into the sofa and you notice a violent twitch go through his balls and cock. You increase the tempo once more and suck eagerly on his cock. Aemond grips your hair even tighter as he inhales sharply, a moan caught in his throat.

His thighs tremble slightly. "In a moment... there will be a liquid in your mouth... swallow what you can..."

Then he moans loudly and your name passes his lips countless times.

With one last thrust from his hip, Aemond squirts his hot cum into your mouth, right down your throat. You have a large amount of liquid in your mouth and you try to swallow it all down. A little liquid runs down your lips, but you don't stop sucking and swallowing until you notice Aemond's grip on your hair loosening.

Slowly you lift your head up and wipe your lips with your hand.

Aemond's head is leaning back, his eye is closed. He gasps to himself, but he smiles.

You look at him for a moment. You have to smile. Carefully you stand up and then straddle his waist. He looks up and smiles at you, his hands find their way to your hips, he caresses you. You kiss each other gently.

"You taste delicious", you say with a smile on your lips.

He laughs briefly.

You kiss him again.

The next morning you wake up in your chambers. Aemond has spent the night in his chambers. You thought it wiser not to spend the night together, as the servants would come early in the morning to fetch your luggage. So that the carriages can be loaded for the hunt.

However, he did not miss the opportunity to accompany you to your chambers and kiss you passionately goodbye as well as gently caress your cheek.

You have to smile at the thought of your last evening. To feel him... and tasting... it was indescribably beautiful.

The heaviness of the last few days that lay on your chest has almost disappeared. You were hurt and yet missed Aemond at the same time. You are still not comfortable with Alys presence at court. You would prefer it if she would just leave.

But now Aemond is by your side again. You know how he feels about Alys and that nothing happened between them. At least not in the last few days... and apart from that kiss... You push the thought aside.

And again, you have to think of all the accidents that can happen during a hunt in the forest, and that makes the feeling of Alys presence a little more bearable.

Yet he went to the effort of dancing with you in public and explaining himself.... You're glad he reached out to you. And that your father talked to you. Almost stood up for Aemond...

You are jolted out of your thoughts when there is a knock at your door

"Yes?" you call out.

The door opens and four servants step inside. They curtsey slightly and the one speaks to you "Princess Y/N, we are to fetch your clothes and other things to load them into the carriages."

You slowly sit up in bed, "Yes, that's fine. There are two boxes next to the door. Please take them and load them."

The servants curtsey again and take the boxes. After you have bathed and dressed, you go to breakfast.

Your family is already gathered and light conversation fills the hall. Aemond is also at the table and your eyes meet.

You have to smile and bite your lower lip lightly. Even as you look away, Aemond is still looking at you with a smile.

Daemon notices and looks at you with a raised eyebrow as you sit down next to him. You kiss his cheek lightly, followed by a quiet "Daddy."

After a few more glances between you and Aemond, Daemon decides to tease you.

He looks at you from the side and turns to the family, "Did everyone have a restful sleep?"

You look at him confused. Even your mother looks at him irritated, "Since when do you care whether your fellow men have slept well?"

He shrugs slightly, "I don't know, I was walking along the corridor leading to the princes' chambers last night and heard unusual noises. So I was worried that not everyone had had a relaxing night's rest."

You choke slightly and have to cough, your gaze goes forward to Aemond. His eye is wide open, but he quickly regains his composure and looks unimpressed.

You look at your father, who smiles at you.

He wasn't near the chambers last night, why should he be? But he wanted to know if you were there. Just as you are about to answer, you hear Aemond's voice.

"Thank you for asking uncle, but don't worry, I really was able to sleep very relaxed."

Everyone at the table is now looking in Aemond's direction. No one says anything. Aegon even looks relatively amused and drinks his wine with relish. There is far too much surprise that Aemond and Daemon are talking to each other.

Daemon has to suppress a chuckle and replies, "Yes, I can imagine that only too well."

You look down at your plate and try to finish your breakfast as quickly as possible.

While standing in the courtyard, you watch absently as the carriages are loaded.

Your brothers look forward to the hunt. Your father does the same and looks forward to the wine.

Drinking wine, riding through the woods and killing animals. Except for the wine drinking, it doesn't sound very enticing to you.

Suddenly you hear a soft "My Love" in your ear. You turn around and see Aemond. You blush slightly, without knowing exactly why. Aemond has to smile in response.

You stand close together, "You'll come hunting as well?"

He nods slightly, "Of course. I am the king's son. My brother and sister are to be celebrated with this hunt... And I can't leave you alone in the wilderness after all." He smiles at you. Oh how you missed that smile.

"Well, she's not all alone, I'm still here too."

Aemond's jaw stiffens and as you look over Aemond's shoulder you see Rob.

"Rob," you smile at him. He smiles back and winks at you.

"Mmm, that's right. There are still dogs needed for the hunt", Aemond turns slowly in Rob's direction, his hand resting on your lower back. You whisper warningly to him, "Aemond..."

Rob chuckles slightly, "That's all right. After all, women like to bring the dogs to bed with them at night. That keeps them... warm".

You notice how Aemond stiffens. You also notice how the whole situation recharges.

"Rob? I'll see you later, yeah?", Rob smiles and gives you a quick nod.

You take Aemond by the arm and lead him away.

You stop in front of the royal carriages, the first ones already boarding them.

Aemond caresses your cheek.

You lean into the touch, "I don't like that we can't travel together."

He chuckles softly, "I'll see you when we arrive."

You nod at him. Aemond's gaze wanders briefly and no one seems to be looking, he takes your hand and gently kisses the inside of your wrist. You smile.

· · ─────── ·𖥸· ─────── · ·

Tag list

@leahjean  @afro-hispwriter  @jeyramarie  @powellssaturn @notabotiswear @hoshi-miharu-blog @random-human02 @m00n5t0n3 @sporadicshepherdzinebear @drewsgfduh @stargaryenx @dark-night-sky-99 @notabotiswear @ccosmic-illusion @darylandbethfanforever9 @grungegrrrl @spn-obession @carlottalhn @elle4404 @girl-with-an-orange-cat @genshinimpactislife @imjustboredso @tragicbucky @dollfaceyourfear @magnificantmermaid @mllemarianne @stargaryenx @mikariell95 @khaothick @aemonds-wifey

[starsscarmyceiling]

Cal/Merrin fic recs? 🥺🥺🥺🌹🌹🌹

ARE YOU KIDDING ME ANON YOU JUST MADE MY WHOLE LIFE! I would love love love LOVE to give you some recs over here!!!

Okayyy, first of all, @merricalfic is always a great place to start! I feel like here in the Merrical fandom, there are so many authors writing passionate and amazing fics for our fav space ginger and space goth lovers duo. There are plenty to die for, so here are some for ya!

Alriiiight, prepare yourself because it’s about to get looong!

Authors that I would just suggest you go and read all of their works:

believe_in_alderaan (@believe-in-alderaan) Yess, Bex has a series of oneshots called JFO Ficlets and Drabbles which is a series of just the cutest collection of our idiots falling in love!

Missuniverse5000bc and lightlark (@misfitz-7) Let me tell you…these two (who write a lot of amazing fics both together and separately) are like the real MVPs of this fandom. They have written SO many fics for us and I could not be more thankful for them!

myfaenwy (@myfaenwy) This author has a series of oneshots called But when I hold you I hold everything that is which is a very well written series that is just friends to lovers FLUFFY CUTENESS!

Oneshots:

you part the waters by januarys (G, 3k) Okay, I literally just read this, and it is so good! It is so well written it is almost astounding. The way this author has with words. It’s a first kiss story for the ages because I feel like this author captures Cal and Merrin’s dynamic so well (i.e., all of the unspoken understanding—that right there, is like the most Merrical shit ever imo)

Marriage; (noun) by Missuniverse5000bc (T, 15k) Okay, I know I already gave this author a shoutout, but I also literally just read this and it is fresh in my mind and I am dying. Our two fav oblivious idiots not realizing they are together but everyone else does at its best! And a few other delicious tropes to boot!

heart undenying by sunsorbit (@sunsorbit) (T, 10k) This is very well written and the tension dear freaking lord sweet baby virge Cal is like WHAT IS THIS WHAT AM I FEELING because the Jedi are a bunch of repressed weenies…so yeah he discovers what it means to feel attraction and it’s great.

you’ve broken new ground by sunsorbit (M, 6k) Okay, same author as above, same story, but from Merrin’s POV. Basically her being like omfg when is Cal going to notice that we are super attracted to one another WHEN??

A Failed Insurrection by aslanbrooke (T, 4k) Although this is based off a very heavy topic, this modern AU with both Cal and Merrin as police officers, is very well done. There is definitely some domestic bliss for our married babies with their own babies!

Funny Feeling by believe_in_alderaan (NR, 1k) Again, I know I already gave Bex a shoutout, but I put this one in here specifically because it is based off of a prompt suggested by yours truly AHHHH it’s so fluffy and cute oblivious Cal realizing in battle that he is in love with Merrin we love to see it.

Oneshots (Rated M & E):

I separated these out if smut is not your thing, but HEY if it is…😏😏😏

Let go of what you fear by Namesonboats (E, 3k) Okay so this is written by my giiiirl @namesonboats (also another author I am going to shoutout a lot sorry not sorry) and I mean, I am a sucker for one of the only other couple of modern AUs out there. It is very spicy and I love it like Merrin goes over to Cal’s apartment and tells him some great news, but then is just like…um yeah why haven’t we boned like yesterday??!!?!??

a different world by freedomatsea (@freedomatsea) (E, 2k) I mean, we love some awkward virgins doing it in the back of a space craft.

The Bad Girl and the Bounty Hunters by MaraLan (@darkowl-records) (E, 4k) Cal is kidnapped and guess who comes to the rescue??? OH YEAH. Ooooomg there is a line in this one and I am like…wow…that was good. That was very good for all of us.

Synchronous Orbits by FlyingMachine (M, 5k) Set after JFO, and it explores how Merrin and Cal grow close with one another (and yes there is some spicy stuff in there too) but it is amazingly well written and there are also a ton of fluffy and cute moments.

The Cave by ParaCord (M, 3k) Cal and Merrin get stuck in a storm, and they take refuge in a cave…so what do you think is going to happen hmmmmm? (they do it)

Multichaps:

What We Fight For by YamadaJisho (M, 61k) Okay, this one. This one and I cannot emphasize this enough, THIS ONE. OMFG. THIS ONE. SO. FUCKING. GOOD. First multichap Merrical fic I read and WOW. Set after JFO, Mantis crew sets up with the Partisons and they slowly fall in love as they do their part to save the galaxy.

A Path Forward by Namesonboats (M, 36k) Okay, another one by my girl, so good. Binged it in one day. Slow burn set after JFO. Oblivious idiots falling in love. Deals in serious issues of loss and what it means to carry on a legacy that is no longer around. SO GOOD.

Paths Aligned by Namesonboats (M, 77k) *DJ Khalid voice* ANOTHA ONE! Well HEY, look here QUEEN WROTE A SEQUEL!!! Set after A Path Forward and WOWIE I could literally talk about this fic alllll day (also binged this one in the same day lol). Cal takes on a purpose that I feel is so realistic; this should literally be canon. Lots of fun cameos by other SW universe characters. Sexy spy mission. Falling deeper in love. You know, just Merrical things.

Above Dathomir by RepeatOdyssey (M, WIP, 159k) Pretty sure this is the most popular fic in the fandom, and for good reason! An AU where Cal landed on Dathomir after Order 66 instead of Bracca. Very angsty slow burn, but hey, you know I am a fan of those. So good, really gets into their characters, and by the time they finally meet, you’ve already been taken on this amazing journey. Cute, awkward space cupcakes falling in love with a galaxy wide war and rancor attacks to just add to the angst.

Cultural Differences by MaraLan (E, 5k) (This is smut, obviously with the E rating) Lots of fun teasing between these two. They wanna bone and they know it. Author implements the game mechanics into the boning and I could not be happier about it (akaaaa Cal uses force slow and let’s just say he’s QUITE proficient).

Now, I am 100% sure that this is not even beginning to touch on all the many more amazing fics out there in our fandom, so Merricals, please I implore of you, if you love a fic and it is not on this list, please let me know on this post or send me a DM. There are a few fics out there on my “to read list” that I can think of already, so I will definitely update this list accordingly to spread the word of beautiful fics that need recognition!

Thank you so much for asking me anon! I loved compiling this list together! Hopefully this was helpful! 🥰😘🤩

Edit: there are some peeps I missed tagging, so if your fic is on here and you aren't tagged, just lmk!

[muddyorbsblr]

relinquish the crown: obsessions & fantasies

See the full 14 Days Collection here! Series Masterlist See my full list of works here!

Placement: before the main story; hours after 'intrusive thoughts', weeks before 'a glimpse, a touch, a tease'

Summary: The morning after you had Astrid removed from the palace, you had some rather concerning thoughts about Loki. And after he comforts you through the task of sorting through the traitor's belongings, you have some vivid dreams of him later that night.

Pairing: Loki x Reader

Word Count: 4k

Warnings: 18+ | smut (minors & pearl clutchers, don't even try me); mentions of Astrid; kinda public smutting (?); tension…a LOT of tension; themes of incest (he's adopted but still) [let me know if i missed anything!]

Things to be aware of: • horn dog era Y/N slowly entering the idiot in love era • entry for @sarahscribbles' Follower Celebration for 'rooftop' and 'pining' • final entry for my '14 Days of Valentines' event for 'first sex dream'

"Granddaughter, are you certain you wish to take on this particular task? You need not throw yourself into such a trying endeavor after she'd caused such distress in you."

The concern was evident in Queen Frigga's eyes as you faced her, so clearly perturbed at the thought of you taking on the planning of the festival for the Autumnal Equinox alone, just like Astrid had. Truly none of this would even be happening had you not ordered her removed from the palace last night due to her show of betrayal towards you.

It still sent chills down your spine trying to fathom that she'd despised you so much that she even considered plotting your demise. But what had you feeling as if you'd been dropped off in Jotunheim devoid of the appropriate gear to ward off the cold was how completely devastated you would have been if she'd been able to ensnare Loki into plotting with her.

How you found yourself thinking that a betrayal from him would utterly decimate your soul.

You quickly banished the spiraling thoughts from your head and addressed the Queen. "I'm certain, Grandmother. I would wish to go through her belongings and evaluate what she'd already accomplished and proceed from there. I see no reason why her efforts should go to waste simply because she'd chosen to betray me."

She gave you a single nod and sent you on your way, assigning two palace guards to stay with you through the process of sorting through the former lady in waiting's belongings. Once you were face to face with Astrid's bedchamber, feeling as if you were invading her privacy somehow, you found yourself overwhelmed with the premise of the situation.

Standing in the chamber of one who just yesterday morning you considered to be one of your dearest friends. A woman you'd known since you were mere children and she had such dreams of one day living in the palace…

"Like a princess," you'd whispered into the empty room, with only the cobblestone walls to hear you. "You wanted to be a princess since we were children. To live a royal's life. My life," you seethed, the words flowing from you as if Astrid had been right there in the room with you. You promptly stepped out the door and addressed the guards. "Bring over three crates, please. The state of the two need not be considered, only the final one. The one I'll send to her residence. And perhaps a torch. Aflame, of course."

While the guards were off to procure the items you requested, you began to sort through the disarray of the would-be traitor's belongings. Most had been fairly diminutive in significance, simple cosmetics, the smartphone she'd procured from Midgard, a handful of quills and inkwells…All things you'd decided to send back to her family's home.

It was only once you began sorting through the drawers and the chest of items she kept underneath the seat of her vanity that things begun to take a turn. First you'd found accessories that you were certain you'd lost in the last decades…even centuries. Small enough trinkets that you'd concluded that somehow it had gotten swept up in the daily cleanup of your chambers.

"Wretched wench…" You'd quickly made a small pile of the things you were certain belonged to you, taking note not to put them in any crate.

Then you'd begun to find the miniature portraits of you that one could procure from the mass production art dealers in the realm; portraits of everyone in your family could be purchased from them. And Astrid had numerous. Some of you alone, the rest portraits you'd had taken with the members of your family, particularly the ones created in recent years that included Loki.

What sent ice running through your veins was how your eyes had been scratched out in every single one of them, but notably much harsher in the ones where you'd been positioned next to the dark-haired prince. Running your fingers lightly through the gouges on each portrait, it was almost as if you could feel the anger coursing through her as she scratched away at your face on the parchment. Some notches even had what seemed to be dried blood at the edges, leading you to conclude these were done with her nails.

There was a stack of journals within the chest under the vanity seat that exposed more of Astrid's true character. One of which contained her notes for the Autumnal Equinox festival that had you questioning her calculations for the numbers that she determined to be spent on the merchants, the suppliers for the decorations, even the rent to give the children's school to hold a concert there seemed too low at first blush. You couldn't find any computations that could even lead to these numbers.

Turning the page further painted a clear picture of where here priorities were.

The next pages consisted of fabric swatches and sketches of numerous dress designs, all of them eerily fashioned after the dresses that you normally wore. Every fabric swatch making your stomach turn as you saw that they were set in the deep shade of emerald that Loki was known to wear.

At that moment the guards returned to the room with the crates you'd requested, and you made quick work to tear out the pages of Astrid's journal that contained the questionable computations for the festival for yourself, throwing the remainder of the book into one of the crates designated for rubbish.

It was her other journal that sickened you to your core. Page after page dissecting your movements, your speech patterns, the way you did your hair in the morning, all accompanied by long paragraphs on how she believed you were undeserving of the life you got to lead all because of who your parents were. "You should have been born a princess, then, you imbecile. Or marry a prince."

Another turn of the page laid out her intentions as clear as day. You could tell that the fixation and anger she had for you worsened at this point from how deep the grooves in the pages were as she wrote upon them.

It's not fair that she gets to have the life. The staff that she doesn't even use because she insists their efforts not be wasted on her. If that's the case then the space on Asgard shouldn't be wasted on her, either. And then to add the worst and most unflattering flourish to how she parades that her life is better than mine, she even has the gall to steal Loki from me. She doesn't even desire him! She just wishes to worsen my life further than she already has and monopolize his attention so he has no time left for anyone other than her. The selfish wretched bitch.

The next dozen or so pages held sketches of Loki in various stances and positions, insinuating just how ardently she'd been watching him over the last few years. The scrupulous attention to detail unsettling you to an extent that had you having trouble to keep on your feet. From the accuracy of where the lines on his face showed as he spoke or smiled, to the light behind his eyes that you knew only shone when he spoke with such passion. At the bottom of one of the pages, a sentiment that had you needing air.

I will have you ruling the realm, my King. I only need rid Asgard of that brat they call Princess.

You threw the entire journal into a rubbish crate and stormed out of the room, the tears stinging at the back of your eyes as you struggled to breathe.

The feel of large hands holding your shoulders made your eyes snap open, a mixture of relief with a touch of apprehension overcoming your system as you met Loki's gaze, the concern swimming in his eyes as he looked over you. "Darling, what happened? What did you see?"

Words failed you as you kept your eyes trained on the crate with Astrid's diaries, watching it closely as if you feared it would turn into a monstrous creature and strike you down to please its mistress. You were only faintly aware of a gentle touch to your chin before you were trying with frustratingly muted words to stop the prince from walking over and seeing her twisted thoughts for himself. He saw the journal containing her plans for the festival first, fingers tracing the inside of the spine where the page for her computations were torn out, looking toward the desk and then back to you with a knowing smirk on his face. You managed to answer him with a weak shrug and a half-hearted smirk of your own, signaling to him to keep turning the page.

His mouth turned into a grim line as he saw the fabric swatches and the designs, eyes flickering between the sketches and the dress you were currently wearing before his upper lip curled into a sneer displaying his contempt toward the traitor. "I would disavow her efforts on the spot if she even dared," he muttered, his eyes once again roaming your own dress before traveling up your body to meet your gaze. "The color would look ravishing on you, though."

You once again found your heart stuttering in your chest as it did this morning when you awoke in his arms, the urge to close the distance between you two and pull him towards you for a kiss overwhelming you. It mattered not that there were others present. "Fairly certain it's against the realm's customs for two royals to share the same color," you teased with a scrunch of your nose, tamping down the stray thought that crossed your mind once the words escaped you.

Unless you claimed me as yours. Made me your wife.

He closed the book with a resounding snap, smirking as he watched the guards stand in attention from the sound, meanwhile you merely shook your head at him in amusement. "There's more, isn't there, Princess?" You could only nod mutely as you eyed the crate again, knowing that you couldn't stop him from opening the other journal and seeing the words that were written about him. About you. The vitriol with which she alluded to her accusations of something so immoral…

And yet something you strangely couldn't find yourself to outright denounce. Especially after the morning you'd had, warring with yourself over the extensively vivid images your mind had conjured of you and Loki together. The urges that threatened to overcome you if you lost your grip on rationality for even the briefest moment. The kind that would drive the very wedge between you and Loki that that traitor seemed to so desperately wish for.

You wouldn't grant her that satisfaction.

The sound of the journal falling back into the crate made you start, looking back towards it only to be met with the image of the prince walking towards you before pulling you into a tight embrace, a hand cradling the back of your head and the other rubbing up and down the length of your back, a traitorous shuddering breath escaping you whenever you felt his fingertips brush the bare skin of your upper back.

You decided that perhaps the best course of action was to move away from him, to put even a semblance of distance between you two so that you may extinguish these torrid thoughts that had begun to haunt you, especially when he was this close. "What are you doing here, Loki?"

His hold on you tightened the slightest bit, fingers weaving into your hair as he held your head to his chest. "I knew you would be here, attending to the removal of her belongings. I'm simply here for you."

You found yourself once again feeling faint with how closely he was holding you, his arm wrapping tenderly around your waist when you made a motion to move away from him. "I told you I can handle this. Truly you need not worry."

"And I am telling you that you need not handle this alone. You won't get rid of me so easily, little Princess." He pressed a kiss to the top of your head, an unsettling coil tightening in your stomach as you stewed in the knowledge that if he knew the unsavory thoughts floating through your mind since this morning, he would leave. Possibly to another realm. Putting as much distance between you two as he physically could. "I should have her head for how she spoke of you in those pages."

"Truly? For that?" You moved your head to look up at him, immediately regretting the decision when you saw how the light from the late morning sun accentuated the features of his face, the sight threatening to steal your breath away. "What of the way she spoke of you? She fixated over you.  Obsessed, even."

"That? 'Tis nothing," he said with the faintest hint of teasing in his tone, pressing a soft kiss between your brows. "But the hateful words she directed at you were unforgivable."

You're wrong, Loki, you thought to yourself. The thoughts I have now of you…those are unforgivable. Like how I'm thinking of how easily it would be to tilt my head upward and suddenly your lips would be on mine.

"I'm afraid I don't understand what you need my help for in this, darling." Loki faced you where you sat on the rooftop, grasping the papers that held the dubious computations from Astrid as the wind blew around you both, the sight of his hair flowing about freely in the night air and lit by the faint light of the distant torches creating an image so beautiful it stunned you silent for a good few moments.

"I simply need to know that I'm not going mad, that my evaluation on her initial notes isn't driven out of spite or anger…that I'm not choosing to throw them away out of mere petulance. I need someone wiser than me and more intelligent than me to tell me that my actions were done objectively and without malice."

You felt your heart begin to sputter in your chest once more when he took a seat beside you on the chaise lounge, placing his arm around you to pull you close to him and making you mentally smack yourself across the face when you instinctively placed your head on his shoulder. You made a note not to breathe in too deeply for fear of losing yourself in the headiness of his signature clean and yet woodsy scent, a feat in itself as you fought to calm yourself from the way his fingertips traced up and down the length of your upper arm.

"Look at me, little Princess." The sound of papers crinkling on the seat faintly reached your ears before you felt his other hand lightly grasping your chin, turning your head to face him, the air around you growing exasperatingly thin as you saw just how close your faces were to one another. "Those numbers were so clearly pulled from thin air. They had no basis. To throw it all away now would not hinder you for even a moment. You have all the reason to abandon her work, and no one with half a brain would even believe for a moment that you did so with malice."

There was a borderline violent fluttering in your stomach when you felt him press a kiss to the bridge of your nose, his thumb softly stroking your cheek in a soothing gesture. "If you're certain," you breathed out, feeling as if there was this force that was now making the air around you both impossibly thick and bringing you closer together.

"I am, darling," he rasped, tilting his head and pressing his lips to the tip of your nose, the arm around you pulling your body closer to him while his other hand weaved his fingers through your hair. "Just as I am certain of this."

Nothing could have prepared you for the feel of his lips brushing against yours in a soft kiss, as if he were gauging your reaction. If you would pull away in disgust and berate him for moving in such an unwelcome manner…or if you were to react quite differently. Just as you were doing right this moment.

As you placed your hands on his shoulders, pulling him in for another, a strange calm washing over you as your lips moved in near perfect sync with each other's. As you both moaned into the kiss when your tongues met and slid against the other.

As he moved to tuck his arm under your knees and maneuver you so that you were laying down on your back atop the chaise, your chest heaving from catching your breath as he began to pepper kisses across the skin that was already exposed by your dress, down your neck to the top of your chest, and tracing your collarbone with his tongue. "We shouldn't be doing this, Princess."

"I know," you whimpered, arching into his kiss as he sucked a bruise onto the center of your chest, letting out a scandalous moan of his name into the Asgardian night sky. When you felt his fingers put the slightest bit of pressure behind your knee, you were all too quick to part your legs for him, desperately weaving your fingers through his hair to bring his face to yours so you could kiss him again.

"You know that what we're doing right now would have the entire kingdom frowning down upon us, little darling?"

Your mind was in a fog as you felt dextrous hands moving aside the fabric of your skirt that wrapped around you, the god letting out a groan into your mouth as his hands made contact with your bare legs. "I know," you gasped, moving your hands down and undoing the laces of his trousers, earning you a smirk that had your desire for him intensifying, a rush of wetness quickly pooling between your legs as he gently nudged your hands out of the way and pushed the fabric down his thighs. "I know and I want you regardless."

He captured your lips in another feverish kiss before asking as you felt the tip of his cock pressing against your entrance, "Are you absolutely sure? There's no going back once we cross this line. We would burn in their condemnation. In everyone's. Not just our family's."

Every nerve of your body came alive with each kiss, each touch, that all you could manage to do was arch to press your chest to his, urging him to inch his way inside of you. "Then we'll burn together. Please, Loki--"

A sharp moan slipped through your lips as he began to enter you, the sound piercing through the dead of the night. "Norns, you look exquisite like this, my darling Y/N." He slid deeper into you with every bit of praise that escaped his deliciously sinful lips. "Like a goddess. Like the personification of decadence. Of pleasure." He let out a broken sigh, sounding as if he was in pure rapture, when his hips became flush against yours, the entirety of his length sheathed inside of you. "Like you were made for me."

Words failed you as he reached a spot so deep inside of you that the stars you saw in the night sky seemed to triple, your thoughts spiraling into nothing but you and him, in this moment, as if there was nothing depraved in your coupling. You were simply two individuals who desired each other, no titles, no customs, no names to sully what you shared.

"As if you're mine," he finished with a grunt, the sound of your name in a broken moan making your heart swell. You reached out to grab a handful of his leather tunic, pulling him down towards you for a desperate kiss of tongues tangling and moans so resounding in the otherwise quiet of the night that you were sure you'd begun to rouse the attention of the still waking citizens of the realm if they stood close enough to the palace. "Mine."

"Yours," you cried out, completely beside yourself as he proceeded to suck a bruise into the base of your throat. "All yours."

It felt as if you were simultaneously being burned alive and subjected to the deathly touch of a frost giant all at once as you shot up from your bed, your chest heaving and your mind spinning from just how vivid your dream felt. Your mind played a cruel game with you, twisting your consulting with him on the roof and playing it moment by moment accurately up until the moment he laid his lips on yours and proceeding to turn it into a salacious fantasy of a tryst with him.

Every touch, every kiss, every forsaken inch felt so real. So real that you feared you'd actually done something while you slept. That perhaps you'd done what those people in Midgard did and…sleepwalked?

"Only I skipped sleep walking and jumped straight into sleep fucking," you grumbled into the empty of your room.

The sound of your door opening had you scrambling to your nightstand for your dagger, poised to attack who dared to breach your chambers at this implicative hour.

"Y/N?" You sighed in relief with a touch of exasperation at the sound of Loki's voice reaching your ears, placing your dagger back into your nightstand as your pulse hammered in your ears with every step he took towards your flustered form. It took all your strength not to lean in to his touch when he cupped your cheek and sighed in audible relief. "You're still awake," he teased with a wavering tone, as if he were putting in a conscious effort to retain a lightheartedness between you two.

"As are you," you murmured, giving him a half-hearted smirk. "What are you doing here, Loki?"

"I was so rudely plagued by a vividly horrifying dream that you were in danger," he breathed out, framing your face with both of his hands as he rested his forehead against yours. "I needed to see you. Ensure for myself that it was but a nightmare." You found yourself unable to breathe as he touched the tip of his nose to yours before pressing a soft kiss to it. "Now what are you still doing awake, little Princess?"

"Seems you're not the only one plagued by peculiar dreams," you huffed out, placing your hands around his wrists, as if you were trying to ground yourself in reality, removing yourself from the lurid dream you were pulled out of the best that you could. "Go back to sleep, Loki."

"I should say the same to you." You held still, allowing yourself the indulgence of losing yourself in the present moment as he pressed his lips to your forehead. "Goodnight, darling."

You scrunched your nose at him as he pulled away and stood from the edge of your bed. "Goodnight." You watched intently as he walked back towards your chamber door, giving in to admiring his form that was only currently clad in silken sleep pants set in his signature green, the fabric clinging to his backside as if in a tantalizing invitation for you to follow him.

It was only when you heard his chamber doors close across the hall from yours that you let out the breath you'd been holding, touching the spot on your forehead where his lips had just been, before pressing your lips to your fingertips, a deep shame overcoming you as you lost yourself in your imagination. Your mind returning to the dream, wanting nothing more in the present moment than to know the feel of the god's lips on yours.

"I'm fucked," you whispered into the quiet that had once again settled in your bedchamber. "I am so royally fucked."

A/N: I can't believe I actually did it. 14 days, 14 stories…and it's finally over. 😮‍💨😮‍💨 I've been writing for this even since the beginning of January and I'm so happy that I'm no longer on strict self-imposed deadlines and I can get back to…well, a few things, really. First I can start reading everyone's stories again 😮‍💨✌️

And then…I can officially say this…relinquish the crown is coming back! I'm so glad to say this because I'm going to start writing Season 1B, maybe some extra bits that take place in within Season 1A but doesn't actually further the plot, I can work on the what if…? episodes, and perhaps even an AU or two 😍😍

And finally…I'm gonna start working on requests again! I wasn't able to really do much planning when I was taking the requests in for the 1000 follower ones that were sent in, but now that everything's calming down some, I can resume planning. And also writing for the massive backlog from the 500 follower celebration 😅

'everything' taglist: @sailorholly @loopsisloops @unlucky-number-13 @imalovernotahater @coldnique @loz-3 @huntress-artemiss @salempoe @vickie5446 @athalialaufeyson @lokiprompts @sarahscribbles @kats72 @kikster606 @evelyn-kingsley @lokixryss @thomase1 @mischief2sarawr @peaches1958 @lovingchoices14 @goblingirlsarah @iamlokisgloriouspurpose @creationsbyme @maple-seed @mjsthrillernp @ladyofthestayingpower @mygfloki @sititran @glitterylokislut @ozymdias @fictive-sl0th @lovelysizzlingbluebird @lokidbadguy @mochie85 @silverfire475 @joyful-enchantress

Loki taglist: @calumance @severuslovebot @moonlightreader649 @i-stand-with-loki @nixymarvelkins @cheekyscamp @lokisgoodgirl @purplegrrl27 @thedistractedagglomeration

[recurring-polynya]

Writing/Art Update 2.20.2024

Well, I had another very solid week. I hesitate to call it good, because I didn't actually enjoy it very much, but I did grind out 8,642 words last week. I finished Chapter 8 and made a solid dent in Chapter 9a. Basically, I just tried to write at least a thousand words a day, which I accomplished almost every day. Yesterday, I only did 800, but I did 2000 on Sunday, plus the 800 was the ending scene for the chapter, so I deserve a little grace there. And it was a three-day weekend for my kids!

I am at the stage of the fanfic where most of the ambiguity is gone--I know what scenes are left and I just gotta write them. It doesn't matter if I want to or not, the fanfic isn't going to be done until I write them, so I just do it. I always worry that writing in this mindset is going to produce bad, unlovable writing--like, if I don't love writing this, how is anyone going to love reading it? Historically, though, that doesn't bear out--big chunks of Call Me Back and What We Do with Our Hearts were written in this exact fugue state, and I often end up loving them after the fact, and they still contain parts that are really funny or insightful or heartfelt or whatever. I literally do not know how this is possible, it just is. Also, like: there is going to be editing. It is truly astonishing how hard it is to slap anything at all down on a page and then how easy it is to shape it up into something good later on. It is a lot like throwing flat colors down on a piece of art and then adding a little texture and shading later.

The other thing I don't like about writing in this mode is that it makes me actually insane, which I don't like. I just roll word counts and percentages around in my head 24 hours a day and I'm not really able to relax and do things that are not grinding away at my writing. I can do it for short periods of time, but I think I have too much of this story left to tough it through, plus, like, what's the point? This is the thing I allegedly do for fun, and even though I really really really want to be finished, I feel like I should actually try to enjoy the process a little, at least.

So anyway! My first goal for this week is to be less insane about my fanfic. My second goal is to finish Chapter 9a (I think I have about 3-4k to go). My third goal is to edit Chapters 7 and 8 and send them to the beta.

After that, I'll just have 9b (of which I've already written about 4k) and the epilogue to do. After that, of course, there's still more editing, a beta pass for chapters 8->the end, and then I may try to read the whole thing through again from the beginning. So, 3 weeks, maybe, give or take a little?

In the interest of trying to have a little fun, I think I'm gonna try to post some previews for the next couple weeks? In the past, people have enjoyed previews. Today's is a little long, but it's the opening to the whole thing. It's below a cut for those who'd rather wait until the whole thing comes out.

“I don’t know if they’re trying to capitalize on Boy’s Day, or what,” Rukia said, idly inching her hand toward the plate of hot, steaming gyoza sitting on the countertop next to Renji’s stove, “but they’re having some sort of Seafood Festival out in East Sixth.”

A dish towel appeared out of nowhere, the tip whipping painfully against Rukia’s hand.

“Ow!” Rukia howled.

“They’re hot! It’ll hurt worse if you jam one of those in your mouth whole like I know you were gonna,” Renji replied, stuffing the dish towel back into his obi, and juggling the pan of gyoza he was currently frying. “What about a Seafood Festival? Why the Hell is the East Sixth having a Seafood Festival?”

“It’s being put on by the Train Museum, I hear,” Rukia continued grumpily, rubbing at her hand. “I guess they’re hauling a bunch of spring fish up from the Shiranui Sea at the other end of the line. It only takes a few hours to get out to Six. There’s probably carts making the run that we could take, but I would honestly just flash-step, at least on the way out. I want to eat my own body weight in katsuo. Possibly your body weight in katsuo.”

“Mmm,” Renji replied noncommittally, dumping the rest of his gyoza onto the plate and turning off the stovetop.

“I was thinking of asking Hisagi if he wanted us to take some pictures and do a little write-up for the Bulletin,” Rukia went on. “Get us a little walking-around money.” Not that Rukia lacked for pocket money, but it was a little more expensive than their usual weekend activities, and Renji got a little cagey when she tried to treat him to things.

“That’s a bad idea.”

“Why? We had fun the last time we played reporter!”

“Grab the bowl of sauce, would you?” Renji gestured with his chin as he picked up the plate of dumplings and the teapot to carry them to the table. “Don’t you remember when they built that damn train line? Took ‘em over over thirty years, and there were three to four articles every single Bulletin about the delays, the graft, the politics, the environmental impact, whatever. People got so mad about the idea of a train inside the Seireitei that it doesn’t even go anywhere useful. I didn’t even know they used it for anything aside from twee holidays for bored nobles.”

“I heard a story from my friend, Lady Akizuki, that the old head of the Seshimo clan actually lives on the train! He hasn’t set foot outside it in fifteen years!”

Renji cocked an eyebrow at her. He looked like he desperately wanted to hear about the Train Noble, but also did not want to be a guy who cared about Train Nobles. “Anyway, don’t mention the train to Hisagi unless you got six or seven hours to kill. Preferably when I’m not there.”

Rukia picked up the big, fragrant bowl of ginger dipping sauce with both hands. “It was just an idea. So what do you think? Do you want to go?”

“When is it again?” Renji asked, frowning.

“It’s running for all of May, but the weather has been so nice lately, I thought maybe we could go next weekend,” Rukia suggested. 

Renji was quiet for a moment, but Rukia figured that maybe he was just focused on serving her dumplings, which was, in her opinion, very important. 

“Ru,” he finally said slowly, as he poured her a cup of tea. “There’s something I need to tell you.”

“Is it that you want to go to the Seafood Festival with me?”

Renji took a big breath through his nose and let it out again. “If things work out, I’d love to go later in the month. Next weekend’s not gonna work, though.”

“Oh.” Rukia frowned. “That’s fine. That’s no big deal.” She looked down lovingly at her gyoza and then up at Renji hopefully. “Itadakimasu?” she asked hopefully.

Renji blinked. “Huh? Oh, yeah, please help yourself. That… that wasn’t the thing I had to say.”

“Well, spit it out, already,” Rukia groused, her mouth already crammed with gyoza. “Why are you being weird?”

Renji still hadn’t touched his own food. He had circled his right wrist with the thumb and middle finger of his left hand and was rotating it back and forth. He used to make that gesture a lot when he was young, and Rukia realized that she hadn’t seen him do it in years.

“I’m having some surgery,” Renji finally said. 

Rukia froze. After a long moment, she slowly finished chewing her dumpling and swallowed it. “Are you okay? What’s going on?”

“I’m getting my arm fixed.”

Rukia watched him rub his wrist for another few seconds. “Did it not heal correctly after the, um, accident?” “The accident” was when Byakuya had stabbed him through the forearm during a demonstration fight the week prior. Everyone was being very polite about it.

“Wellll…” Renji drew out. “I mean, no, that healed up fine. Very clean cut, Senbonzakura, as always. But, uh, while I was at the Fourth, the topic of my burnt-out kidou ducts came up. Captain Unohana thinks she can fix ‘em. And I’ve decided to, um, let her try.” “Oh,” said Rukia. Her chest was filling up with a lot of strange feelings. “Oh.”

[fachefaucheux]

WriteFest! // Days 2&3 + Thoughts on Moving Forward

Well...things are certainly...going.

I'm currently (well, as of yesterday) on track to finish on time, with 17,161 words written. That's a cool 116 words ahead of the minimum! And we're moving into the first weekdays of the challenge, where I expect things to get substantially more difficult, owing to me having to be, like, a functional human instead of a chaos gremlin hunched over a keyboard most of the day.

But one thing I'm hoping will keep me on track/keep me motivated to slap down another 3-4k after a day spent at the dissertation grind is that I'm now in uncharted territory. After I put down my Morning 1k (a habit I try to do no matter what, writing for 30 minutes before doing any other work/chores to ensure that I always write SOMETHING, even if the rest of the day doesn't go great), I'll be past where my first draft of Canticle ended. We're on to the final third of the book, where all the plot threads from the previous, uh, 60 chapters finally start to get tied together.

I have a basic idea of where things are headed. But the finer details -- the exact scenes, the moments of people being both big dumb idiots and tenderhearted weirdos -- are unknown. Which is a great thing! I work better in the unknown! Honestly, the last couple of of chapters of Canticle, where I've mostly been fixing style issues and condensing/reframing rather than covering new ground like I needed to do earlier in the revisions, have been a real slog because the plot's all there. The main conversations, the silly jokes, the odd observations. And writing scenes where I know exactly what's going to happen is, to me, incredibly, incredibly dull.

Popular advice is to outline thoroughly, especially for a story like Canticle that has a gorillion spinning plates. But it's just never worked for me, either in fiction or academic writing. I was the kid who wrote the essay first, then wrote the outline afterward because it was required to complete the assignment. The one who had to fumble through conferences with professors about upcoming projects with vague platitudes because what the essay's actually going to look like is still a black box to me, a week out from the due date.

That doesn't mean that I don't work on anything before then! Not at all. Before I sit down to write -- both for my day job as a historian-ish-thing and as a peddler of gay shenanigans -- I'm constantly thinking about what could happen. While doing the dishes, while on walks, when I should be paying attention to meetings. I'm reading. I'm researching. But the structure of what I want to write, the precise beats and references, never gets addressed before I sit down at the keyboard.

My best ideas come from launching into something half-blind and just seeing where it goes. Putting my weirdos all in a room with the right accessories and seeing how they decide to deal with one another. And when I'm running half-blind like this, I also tend to get on a roll more often. The words aren't so hard to come by. This process of mine does kinda end up generating a lot of editing work for Future Me to deal with afterward, but the moments of clarity, the unexpected jokes and softness, are ultimately worth it.

Anyway! Enough blathering! Time to get those words! Good luck to everyone else who's doing a writing challenge this month, and I'll see you later on in the week for another update!

[aurorafables]

From the Grey, Chapter 11.

Hey! I hope you will like this chapter :)

"It's all just… it's not me. We used to joke about this as two buddies. In the past, we would have teased each other without any problems. In the past, I wouldn't have wanted to carry him to bed while repeating to his lips that he is mine."

Pairing: Noah Sebastian X Nicholas Ruffilo

Warnings: 18+, Explicit, Angst, Past character death, Suicidal thoughts

Tags: M/M, M/F, Slow burn, Childhood friends, Friends to lovers, Family drama, Band fic, Masturbation, Accidental Voyeurism, P in v sex

Word Count: 4k

Cross-posted: AO3

11.

I woke up to someone knocking at the door. At first I was convinced that I hadn't fully awaked and that it was all just a weird dream, because why would someone bang Nowhere To Go on the door? But no matter how hard I tried to wake myself up, the noise just got louder.

“Nick, it's me!” Folio shouted, and suddenly the drumming made sense. “Open it, please.”

It was much harder to move than I thought. I almost fell off the bed and stumbled to the door with my shoulder against the wall. When I opened it, there was a bright light from the hallway. I pressed my forearm in front of my eyes and leaned against the door jamb, sure enough. 

“Good morning, Sunshine!” Folio greeted me with a wide smile.

“A little quieter, please,” I whispered, barely audible, because I had no voice.

“Can I come in?” Folio whispered back, and I just shrugged. A sudden backward turn was all it took for the whole room to start spinning around me. The sickness came like an express train. I made the short distance to the bathroom in much less time than I thought I could. I fell to my knees in front of the toilet and let out everything that was still in my stomach. Then I got sick again from the suffocating smell of alcohol and it started all over again. Folio held my hair back, which was really nice of him, because I had to hold on to the toilet seat to avoid falling into it. It finally got a little better, and I slapped my ass like a rag doll on the cold tile.

"Don't ever let me drink again," I looked deep into Folio's eyes, my voice still no more than a mumble.

“It's not like anyone could have stopped you yesterday,” he answered, and then jumped in about what happened the night before. I met them at the bar and it annoyed me that by then they were just as well off the alcohol as Noah was… I caught up to them quickly and probably overtook them both based on Folio's condition.

"I shouldn't have drunk so much," I said to the toilet roll holder.

“The fact that you broke up with Maya is a pretty compelling reason.”

I suddenly turned to Folio and, reading his face, tried to guess how much I had told them about what had happened yesterday. 

“Could this stay between us?” I asked hopefully.

Folio looked away.

“Unfortunately, we are already late for this.”

“What do you mean by that?”

"It's a good story, listen," he began cheerfully. “Matt went to you at noon because he thought you had fallen asleep. He knocked on Noah's room, and you can imagine how shocked he was when it wasn't Noah, and not you, but an unknown girl who opened the door with almost no clothes on,” Folio said, and he had fun imagining the situation. “So Matt sent the chick away after a system reboot and pulled Noah out from under the covers, then the poor boy got a nice cold shower. Matt was mad about the girl, and because Noah is in at least as bad a state as you are now… Then he walked up and down asking everyone in the crew where you might be. Be glad he didn't wake you up.” 

“I'm bursting with joy,” I rolled my eyes, which resulted in my head throbbing even harder. I carefully picked myself up from the ground. “Where are the others?”

“Jolly and Bryan are with Noah now, and I came to you.”

“And what did you say to Matt when he asked about me?”

“That you had a bad night because you broke up with Maya,” replied Folio.

“According to this, everyone already knows about it... “ I leaned against the edge of the basin with a resigned sigh. I turned on the tap and washed my face with cold water.

“Look on the positive side of things: this way Matt won't be so mad at you, and you're lucky because you don't have to sing tonight, unlike Noah,” he winked at me with a grin.

I put toothpaste on my toothbrush and started brushing my teeth hoping I wouldn't feel sick again while Folio put a painkiller on the nightstand that I couldn't thank enough for.

“Bryan said he would check in on you later. Also, you could save Matt a few gray hairs if you came down to lunch with us in an hour.”

“I'll be there,” I promised him before he left me alone, but after taking the medicine I was already leaning back on the bed. I closed my eyes, but my zigzagging thoughts and splitting headache wouldn't let me rest. Before I go down to the others, it wouldn't hurt to ask Folio what I told them. I squinted my eyes and tried to recall the night before when I arrived at the bar.

“The lost man!” Jolly greated me with open arms when he saw me. “Matt was looking for you everywhere.”

“He already found me, we ran into each other at the hotel,” I answered and sat next to him in the booth. I picked up the drinks menu and started browsing. “What are you drinking?”

“What not?” Folio asked back and raised his beer. The two of them had a good laugh about it, but I just kept reading the drinks, wondering where to start.

“Is everything okay?” Jolly asked, changing to a more serious tone.

I had already lied to two people when they asked something similar, and I was getting tired of having to pretend in front of my friends.

"Actually, nothing is okay," I answered in an emotionless voice. “But everything will be better after a few drinks, won't it?” I looked up at them hopefully.

"Maybe I screwed up," I told them after the umpteenth glass, when things started to get out of my control. “Maybe she didn't get enough attention from me…”

“And that's why she became a bitch?” Jolly snorted with a girl on his knee, who I didn't even know how to get there. Folio is long gone, and I suspect his disappearance may have had something to do with his consumption of the beer and the shots.

"Women tend to go crazy if they don't get enough love," the girl said, whose name I no longer remember. He didn't mind and kissed her as if I wasn't even there.

“You are a shit company” I muttered to myself, because probably no one was paying attention to me.

I looked around the place, which was packed with people even on a Thursday night. Folio said that you have to book a table on the weekend, there are so many people, so we were lucky that there was still a place for us. The music wasn't too loud, so we could have had a comfortable conversation if someone had wondered what happened to me... 

My eyes settled on a girl who was sitting at a nearby table with two of her other friends, and it wasn't the first time that our eyes locked. She was wearing a miniskirt with over-the-knee boots, and her hair was braided almost down to her waist. She smiled faintly when she saw me looking at her. 

“It's not your fault,” declared Jolly, and I turned to him surprised that he returned to our conversation from the girl's mouth. “Maya has already started quite interestingly, as far as I know…”

I frowned and drank the rest of the whiskey before all the ice melted. 

“What do you mean by that?”

“We'll discuss it at a more suitable time,” he glanced at the girl in his lap. I shook my head violently, wanting to know what he meant.

“If you started, finish it.”

Jolly sighed and gently patted her thigh.

“Would you mind leaving us alone for a bit?” he asked her. She nodded, and after one last kiss, she walked towards the bar. I looked impatiently at Jolly, who sighed again, shaking his head.

"I shouldn't have brought this up now," he said in a strong Swedish accent.

“There's no going back. What is it that I don't know about?” I leaned forward towards the table so I could better hear what he was saying.

“I just thought that you shouldn't blame yourself for the ruin of your relationship... Maya tried to hit on Noah, which is already quite unpleasant.” 

I just looked at my friend for half a minute and maybe didn't even blink.

“What did she do?”

“She flirted with Noah, almost kissed him. You weren't even together then…”  Jolly raised his arms defensively. “But Noah decided not to tell you, because we saw you were really into her.”

I laughed to myself as my soul, or my heart, or both, damn it, continued to crack under my chest. It hurt that Maya did this, but even more so that Noah wasn't honest with me. It's unbelievable how this evening could have gotten any worse, and I really could only laugh at the whole thing. Either that or complete madness. 

“Dude, I think it was supposed to be this way,” Jolly tried to reassure me, while looking at me understandingly from the other side of the table, but I didn't pay much attention to him anymore. I stared again at the girl with her long braid, because now she was alone, and while she was drinking, she kept glancing at me. Jolly followed my gaze. He shook his head, then put his hand on my hand to make me pay attention to him a little more. “It won't make you feel better. You're not like that.”

I would have liked to scream because he got to the point. A pretty girl might have been a good distraction, but I would have felt even worse afterwards. I glared at Jolly, who let go of my hand and leaned back in his chair. “You're an adult, it's your decision.”

“Fuck it. Fuck everything and everyone!” I grumbled under my breath, then I jumped up and cut through the crowd. I didn't stop at the girl's table, I didn't even look at her, but kept walking all the way to the bar. I don't remember much of what happened next, but I do know that I was stuck at the bar and kept refilling my glass.

Bryan arrived just as I was finishing my shower. I half-dried my hair with the hair dryer, then we headed towards the hotel restaurant. To be honest, I didn't have much of an appetite, my stomach still hadn't settled down, but I knew I had to pull myself together somehow by evening. As soon as we stepped out into the hallway, we met Steven and Matt. They both looked at me like someone had died, and then I understood why Noah didn't want to spread the word about breaking up with Karin. 

“Is everything okay, Nick?” Steven asked, putting his hand on my shoulder.

“I'll be fine,“ I patted his shoulder with a tired and not very sincere smile.

"If you get over the hangover, that's half win," told Bryan from the other side of me, which earned him a tongue out. Matt was strangely quiet, so I snapped at him. He was on his phone, and when I turned to Bryan with a question, at first he just shrugged.

"They had a bit of a fight with Noah," he muttered between the two of us as we let Steven and Matt forward at one of the doors. We were the first to arrive from the team and sat down at the big table. Jolly and Folio came shortly after us, and only one chair remained empty. I drank my coke more and more impatiently, looked at the time on my phone and saw that we had to go to the rehearsal in an hour. I sighed and leaned over Jolly.

"I'll go and get him," I told him, getting up from the table when Noah entered the restaurant. He was wearing sweatpants with a hoodie and sunglasses. He had probably just gotten out of the shower too, because the hair at the back of his neck was still wet. He turned towards us and just saw me sit back in my chair.

“Where did you go?” he asked me in a low voice as he sat down between Jolly and Steven.

“I thought I'd see if everything was okay with you,” I answered him, and in the meantime our lunch arrived, so we didn't talk anymore.

I was the one who finished eating the earliest and decided to smoke a cigarette outside while the others finished. I wasn't alone for long, and I didn't even have to look back to know that Noah had followed me out into the yard. 

"Danielle called me, she said she couldn't reach you," he began, looking into the distance with his arms folded in front of his chest. I wanted to see his eyes, because that way I couldn't decide what was going through his mind.

“I left my phone in my room because it was dead,” I said, staring at the road.

“Call her back because she seemed quite upset. Maybe she just found out about your breakup with Maya. “

I glanced at Noah from the side and saw how tight his lips were. As if you have a right to be angry…

“Did Jolly tell you?” I asked him.

“It doesn't matter who it was. I'm only sorry I didn't hear it from you.”

“I didn't have a chance to talk with you,” I answered him, but it annoyed me that it sounded like an apology, so I added: “I would have liked to, but you were busy last night.” 

Great... Now it sounded like a hysterical bitch said it.

Noah finally turned to me, even though he still had his sunglasses on.

“Why didn't you tell me?” he asked in a softened, almost worried voice.

I looked up at the sky and giggled in a scratchy voice.

“In front of the girl? Something tells me she was more interested in the size of my dick than my mental state,” I said sarcastically.

The muscles on Noah's chin tensed, but he had a solution for that.

“We could have a walk together. You are more important to me than that girl.”

For some reason, that sentence of his turned my anger on to such a level that I'm surprised I didn't shoot lightning with my eyes.

“And after that?” I asked him. I felt like the devil was inside me and I couldn't keep my mouth shut. “Shall we do that particular threesome thing afterwards? Would you like it?”

My anger evaporated as quickly as it had come. By the time I got to the end of what I had to say, soaked in poison, I wanted to punch myself in the face. I could only blame my idiotic behavior on the fact that I had a terrible evening, I was tired and hungover. Noah froze, then blushed, and I could almost hear the tension sizzling around him. I couldn't look at his face any longer, I felt embarrassed by my own stupidity. It's all just… it's not me. We used to joke about this as two buddies. In the past, we would have teased each other without any problems. In the past, I wouldn't have wanted to carry him to bed while repeating to his lips that he is mine. I took a big swallow and turned away to put out the burnt cigarette on top of the bin. When I turned back, Noah was standing right in front of me and I cursed his stupid sunglasses again for not being able to see his eyes. He grabbed my wrist, then pushed his phone into my hand. 

“Call your sister back. She's worried about you.”

His voice trembled as if he was overflowing with emotion, but even so it sounded firm and commanding. He went back to the restaurant and after a few calming breaths I did as he asked. I looked up Danielle's number and called her.

“Noah?” she asked excitedly as she picked it up.

“I'm Nick. Noah said you were looking for me,” I answered. She let out a tense breath, which made me start to worry more and more why she wanted to talk to me. “Danni, is there something wrong?”

“I talked to Maya. She called me and sobbed through the entire phone call.”

“Yes, we broke up over the phone yesterday. Just the way I didn't want to. It's completely understandable that…”

“No, that's not the problem,” interrupted Danielle impatiently. “She said she hasn't taken birth control for a few months. And that you have been together several times since then.”

I gripped the phone tightly between my fingers and the morning dizziness returned with renewed force. I crouched down and rested my back against a pillar. 

“Nick, can you hear me?”

"Yeah, I'm here," I mumbled in response as I stared out of my head and tried to slow my breath. “Do you think she's pregnant?”

This problem has so far been postponed since last night. As if everything wasn't messed up enough…

“I don't know, Nicky. Do you remember when was the last time you two…?”

It wasn't too hard to remember, because that's when I decided that I couldn't do this anymore.

“About a month ago, when she traveled to Vegas with us.”

"If she is pregnant, she should have known about it a long time ago," Danielle said, but her voice sounded uncertain. “If she suspects, she should have already taken a test.”

“Danni, now I... I have to prepare for the evening show,” I said while trying to push the despair into the background. Then in the evening, after the concert, when I'm alone, I'll have a chance to fall apart.

“Nick, listen to me!” she said firmly from the other end of the line. “Whatever it is, we'll solve it, you understand? Mom, dad and I stand by you. You are not alone. And remember, the situation is not as dire as it first seems.”

Her words brought tears to my eyes. A warning sign that I'm tired and a breakdown is too close.

“I know, and thank you. I love you.”

“Me too. Take care of yourself!”

I pressed the call end and leaned my head against the pillar. Out of the corner of my eye I noticed Noah watching from the door and I could tell he didn't know what to do. I think the reason why he was so insecure was because he hadn't seen me so desperate. I took pity and smiled at him, but my smile was more melancholy than cheerful. In any case, it was enough to make him walk towards me. I handed him the mobile.

"Thank you," I said softly, to which he just nodded. As he stood next to me, I continued to squat leaning against the pillar, he seemed even taller than he actually was, but I didn't mind. His height never bothered me, because under his tall figure and nicely shaped muscles, he was still the fragile boy whom I hugged every night so that he wouldn't have bad dreams.

"You don't look good," he said when I stood up. It was obvious that he wanted to talk, but lately it was unpredictable where we were going during our exchanges. Am I asking something stupid again about the girl from yesterday? Am I going to be hysterical because he was busy and I had to drown my sorrows in alcohol? Or is he just getting too close to me and I'm stuck between the pillar and his body while he stares at my lips and I forget to breathe?

I tried to put some life into my voice when I spoke.

“We have a show tonight. We have to focus on that now, after that... I don't know.”

Noah nodded, but at the same time he was scanning my face as if he could read everything from there. He was no longer wearing his sunglasses, we were both squinting in the strong autumn sun. I turned to go into the restaurant because I didn't know what to say to him. I didn't want to talk to anyone, not even him. But Noah grabbed my wrist as I was very determined about leaving, which for some reason hit me so badly that I yanked my hand out of his grip without thinking. I turned back to him and saw him looking at my hand, then at his own. His lips quivered and he couldn't hide how disappointed he was. I cursed myself because I was so tempted to hug him like I used to when something made him sad, but Danni's words echoed in my head. "There are times when you have to put yourself before others, Nicky."

I put my hands in the pockets of my jeans so as not to accidentally do something that I would regret later.

“Now I need some space. There's too much going on at the same time and... well, I want to be alone with my own thoughts,“ I tried to put into words my constantly crumbling psyche.

Noah watched for a while longer. Maybe he wanted to decipher it, because he couldn't really understand why I was so obviously avoiding him. I didn't really understand why either, but a subtle inner voice told me that I had to do this now. 

"If you need me, you know where to find me," he finally said resignedly. I couldn't have expected more from him, and I'm sure that my grateful smile showed how much his words meant. I turned around and walked in with the others. We had to leave for the rehearsal shortly, but luckily a coffee still fit in the time.

We played the remaining four concerts that week. Fortunately, time flew by quickly and I only noticed that I was on stage on the last stop of our North American tour. Noah put himself back into it and was in good spirits throughout, which I wasn't surprised about: Matt pointed out that our song Just Pretend had been trending on TikTok for weeks, starting an incredible upward wave in the band's popularity. All four of us were happy with the news, but Bad Omens has always been Noah's masterpiece, anyone can say anything. He was the one who constantly tried to keep the band alive, always came up with new ideas, and wrote the best songs and lyrics one after another. As we played our song Like A Villain, Noah's beautiful expressive voice crept into my consciousness.

"You need a new clean slate without the dents 

A place to put your pain, your consequence

When you look into the mirror, are you even there?

I don't wanna know all your secrets 'cause I'll tell

It's hard enough being alone with myself

I don't know how long I'll be holding on

How will I survive nearly 3 months at home? How am I ever going to handle not seeing him for so long? 

I know you tried your hardest, I know that you meant well

But you pushed me to the edge and I slipped, and then I fell

I don't know how long I'll be holding on"

Noah turned to me for a moment and smiled painfully. It was barely noticeable, just a stray glance, yet it was on my mind even as I was already at the airport hotel the next day waiting to fly home to Virginia the next morning. I took a deep breath and prepared the cigarette and the lighter on the bedside table. I knew I would need it later. Then I picked up my phone and dialed Maya's number. Time to clear some things up before I even attempt to move forward.