#we played for over 8 hours
Explore tagged Tumblr posts
clumsypuppy · 1 year ago
Text
learning abt friendship decay and "not reaching out to your friends for months at a time unprompted is not neurotypical behaviour" has me feeling a certain way
#experiencing some BIG FEELINGS OVER THIS REVELATION#listen i have never ever been bothered abt not seeing someone in a while or making time to talk to them bc in my mind its like not thst muc#time has passed. i mean it with every fibre of my being that when im like 'oh its ok even though we havent talked in a while and have our#own things going on it doesnt mean we're not friends anymore since we left things on a good note 8 months ago' i sincerely believe that#and for the longest time i just thought everybody makes peace with it at some point and not automatically assuming the other person doesnt#wanna talk to me anymore or smth. my longest lasting friendships are with ppl who work the same way i just thouhght that was normal#whatever organ everybody has that makes them reach out to their friends and plan hang outs i probably dont have it#i was already hesitant to ask out Alex bc i spend almost every waking hour doing smth that isnt talking to ppl unless they happen to be in#the vicinity. and at first it was bc i planned on making sure i had everything set up so i dont get stressed out and do it one at a time#but then i find out theres a friendship decay mechanic? and after dating and marrying someone you lose -10 friendship points for every#day u dont talk to them?? actually ive probably been losing friendship points this whole time without knowing bc of this?????#and i notice a lot of my own habits are also reflected in how i play bc ive been avoiding getting close to pierre and marnie since its more#of a professional relationship. like i know theyre npcs but im approaching it the way i would in real life its fucking nuts#i think its a little relieving im playing /as/ a character than myself bc as im playing im just making up little interactions in my head#than approaching things the way i would myself so it takes a bit of the stress off trying to put myself in there as a spectator. but well#being in a relationship demands a certain amount of energy even more so when theyre things that already take up energy on its own#like making time to talk to your partner and make sure they know theyre loved. i dont always have energy to put all my mental focus into it#and this is true for real life so im not really bothered by not dating anyone. but when its a game and i want my character to be with someo#and i know its fully optional and i know i could just apply the same logic to this i dont /want/ to. sometimes i want to experience#the same things other people do at least to a certain degree without the same emotional andmental stakes#no offense krobus#yapping#stardew#stardew valley#puppy plays sdv#sdv#this game has me by the ankles man
155 notes · View notes
ducktracy · 4 months ago
Note
WHY ARE YOU IN HOSPITAL ARE YOU OK???
the pig and duck excitement came for me once and for all… i knew they’d be my downfall…. they’ve done me in
Tumblr media
KIDDING KIDDING yes i’m completely fine, thank you for your concern!! just visiting a family member :) and by that i mean watching the Paul Rudish Mickey shorts on my phone in the lobby. as one should do. BUT YES thank you anon, this actually genuinely is incredibly sweet 🥹💛💛💛
32 notes · View notes
ino · 8 months ago
Text
everyone congratulate echo she ate her wholeeeee breakfast in just two sittings
she's one of those cats that takes two bites then walks away then wants more 5 mins later but i have to take her bowl away every time she leaves bc this house is full of thieves
11 notes · View notes
d-dantes · 4 months ago
Text
Just clicked on an 8 hour video of a horror Minecraft playthrough if you need me I’m indisposed
3 notes · View notes
revvethasmythh · 1 year ago
Text
me: how come this fight with lorroakan [lvl 8 wizard] was so easy?
also me: *came into the fight with an entire lvl 12 party*
me: oh right
7 notes · View notes
yyoon5 · 4 months ago
Text
the longer I engage with thornapple fan culture, the more I realize this truly is a lifestyle.
1 note · View note
clock0fmeantime · 4 months ago
Text
cyclone soon, if the power goes out i will be thanking my extremely paranoid self from december and my current lazy ass for downloading a million youtube videos and then not deleting them when i found out theres like a whole year until youtube is getting banned
1 note · View note
burntchickenlookingass · 6 months ago
Text
No cuz im not done talking about ffcc
#i fucking love this game like its in my all time favorites top ten and shit#it was one of the first games ive ever played and it had a major impact on how i associate games with their soundtrack#the music is peak and i could listen to nothing but the ost for days#when i heard it was getting a remake i was so excited but when it actually dropped… man the disappointment#one of the things that made this game so iconic to me was the couch coop#i had some high hopes for the online version but it just lacked that same feeling#my sisters and i loved this game so much that we actually went out of our way to buy gameboys a decade later just so we could play together#we literally never owned any gameboys until recently and only so we could play coop#and yknow what? it was absolutely fukin worth it#that was the most fun i had in ages#i love playing in multiplayer games together#depressing fun fact: whenever i play a multiplayer game alone i get so sad and lonely because i cant stop thinking about how fun it could#be if my sister were here with me or if a friend was here dicking around#i wasnt too crazy about the mainline final fantasy games (of which we owned some honestly my loss) but the spinoffs where i could play#with my sister were some of the best#i remember just dumping hours into explorers with my sister as we helped each other hunt the shit we needed for our builds#and also that other crystal chronicles game the one that was like a prequel#god we were shit but we had so much fun#more games need couch coop multiplayer and im not talking about an endless stream of mario partys fuck off with those they got boring#after like 7 or 8 or some shit#speaking of mario party 7 GOD the MUSIC#recurring theme in games i love the fuckin soundtrack#in related recent news OKAMI gooooood yeeees#ok ok ramble over im done for now#feel free to ignore#rambles
0 notes
gutsby · 2 months ago
Text
High Risk
Tumblr media
Pairing: dbf!Joel x Reader
Summary: Your dad finds out.
Warnings: 18+. Unprotected piv/a. Age gap. Daddy kink. Sneaky sex. Breeding kink. Anal. Use of various sex toys. Joel Miller eats it from the back like a gentleman should. Slight pain kink, but it’s consensual. Omitting one tag to avoid spoiling the ending—please read at your own risk!
Word count: 15.0k
Read on AO3
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9
Tumblr media
Joel Miller had the willpower of a sack of flour.
If you beckoned, he came. If you called, he answered.
No matter the hour of day, any time or place, that man would be there, no hesitation and no questions asked.
Hell, he might’ve had a couple qualms about fucking at a gas station off I-10 in the middle of the day, but his devotion to you quickly overpowered any better sense. He just unzipped his jeans in the front seat of his Bronco, let you climb across the center console and into his lap, and, parked directly next to a gas pump somewhere just shy of Webster, Texas, he let you ride him for six minutes.
That was all either one of you needed to get off. With his keys out of the ignition and the thin, frigid air of a winter’s day soaking straight through to your bones and his, you needed to move quick to keep warm. You buried your face into his neck and whimpered repeatedly, ‘Fuck me, fuck me, fuck me,’ and Joel had no choice but to oblige, really. He stroked the back of your head with one of his big, warm palms and told you he was right here, ‘m always here, sweet pea. That helped you climax fast.
It also didn’t hurt that you’d nudged the hand cupping your ass to start touching somewhere lower, inside there
Joel’s fingers brushed through the wet, sticky glaze from where your bodies connected and started rubbing someplace new—at your request, of course—and his heart damn near burst out of his chest when you let out a wanton moan at the touch. His cock twitched, and your walls clenched around him when his index first petted that tight ring of muscles. You squirmed in his lap.
“Fuck me there, Joel. Push it in,” you whimpered.
At least half of that sentiment must have been the pre-climax talking, Joel reckoned, but he couldn’t deny that he felt equally enthralled by that spot. It was more just curiosity and mindless need, wondering what you’d feel like wrapped around him in that new place. His fingertip breached the tiny ring, and the two of you groaned into each other. It was mind-numbing. He might’ve plunged his digit in and out all of five times before you were both pushed over the edge. You came with a shuddering cry, and Joel filled the condom inside you in thick, hot spurts.
Joel’s vision blurred for a second with how hard he came
He was still blinking, still breathing like his ribcage might cave at any moment, and you were lifting off him gently.
A little squelch and a sigh from your lips were all that he heard over the rush in his skull. Absently, Joel plucked the rubber off and looked around for a tissue to put it in.
He’d just secured it, and was zipping up his pants to step out of the car and toss it in the trash, when he saw you turned, peering out the back window. He chucked the condom and returned to find you in the same position.
“We should try anal next,” you said simply.
Clinically.
Joel almost dropped his keys turning the Bronco back on
“Try w—” He choked on the last word and stumbled for the third and fourth, sputtering. “What do you mean?”
Finally, you shifted back to face the front, to face him, and a smile was playing at your lips. Your nose wrinkled.
“You don’t know what that means, Joel? Pretty sure the mechanics are about the same as any other type of fucking, just like…in my butt,” you said teasingly.
Like hell it was.
You were no more than forty-five minutes away from your destination in Galveston. Your dad was already at his timeshare down there and would be expecting you soon. Both of you had been a little off-kilter ever since the man had called out of the blue that morning and offered you, Tommy, and Maria the weekend getaway at his place, but still. This? Where the hell had you gotten an idea like that in your head, when the focus was supposed to be on laying low the next couple days? Keeping sex to its usual bounds, not doing anything risky near your dad.
You and him had a pretty bad track record in that.
All the same, trying anal at your dad’s beach house sounded more than just crazy. It was plainly absurd.
Joel was planning to tell his best friend that he was in love with you not too far in the future. How was that conversation likely to fare if the man happened to catch him with his dick in his daughter’s backdoor beforehand?
“I ain’t fuckin’ your ass,” he mumbled grumpily instead.
He turned on the car and cranked the tunes to drown out any protest from you—and to quiet his own wild musings
What if he could, just once?
Would you even like it?
Damn, it might not—
“You need COOOOOOOOLIN’, baby I’m not FOOOLIN’.”
Thank you, Robert Plant.
The song started playing, and he felt especially grateful.
Actually, Joel might need the entirety of Led Zeppelin’s discography to clear his head of the nonsense currently coursing through it. He gripped the wheel tighter in his fists and started out of the gas station parking lot then.
You drummed a mindless beat with your fingertips on your thigh. Your legs were crossed, and you occasionally flit looks over your shoulder. At what, Joel had no idea.
“Take a left on General Acacius Way,” you said casually.
“What?” Joel turned to you.
Your finger was already pointing in the direction you wanted him to take the car. Your shoulders were relaxed, and that mischievous glint in your eye was unmistakable.
“Left on that road, then there should be another parking lot just behind the auto shop. It’s right beside the…yeah.”
Yeah.
Joel turned the wheel to pull onto the nearest street, and suddenly, he saw it. Right across the intersection, no more than a stone’s throw away from where he sat, there was a storefront that nearly made his eyes pop out.
He never considered himself a prude before.
In fact, he’d always thought he was pretty adventurous when it came to sex and being open-minded about stuff.
But this was fucking nuts.
There, on the corner of General Acacius Way and Clint Avenue, he saw a store with flashing pink-and-white lights and an even bigger, gaudier neon sign hanging above them, blinding half the street and making sure that it was seen on even the brightest, sunniest of days:
‘Mandalorian Sex Emporium: This is the Way…to Pleasure’
You had to be fucking joking.
Tumblr media
You weren’t joking.
You’d gotten the idea driving to Galveston—or, rather, seated on your boyfriend’s lap and having him finger you in a place he’d never done it before—and then ran with it.
Sprinted, more like.
Your life and Joel’s were rife with stressors and uncertainty and fucked up paternal concerns galore. You’d been thinking nonstop about your dad’s latest conversation with Joel and about the possibility of him finding out about your secret relationship, and it had nearly sent you spiraling. You needed a distraction.
Was it the wisest idea to have that distraction be Joel’s dick in your ass? Probably not. But there were certainly worse ways to be spending your time, and sitting around wondering why the hell your dad had never bothered to tell you that he might not be your biological father, or that Tommy fucking Miller might have been, was useless. You wouldn’t know a thing until you talked to him yourself—and that conversation would have to take place later. This weekend, probably. Presently, you were perusing an aisle full of water-based lubricants, smiling.
Joel wasn’t quite scowling, but he certainly had that look
Like a father himself, far from approving of this scheme.
“Y’think flavored is the way to go?” you asked casually.
You held bottles of Beskar Berry Blast and Coruscant Cotton Candy in either hand and held them up for the purpose of getting your old man’s opinion on them, but his eyes glazed over both. His gaze penetrated yours, and then it flitted down to what he held in his own hand.
His phone.
Also, he had on his reading glasses.
They sat perched atop the tip of his nose, and from that look alone, you knew whatever came next would be good
Joel cleared his throat.
“Sugary lubricants are much more likely to cause a bacterial imbalance—infection, even—and with the heightened risk of microtears in the anal cavity—”
“Jo-el.”
You groaned.
Joel didn’t blink.
“What? If you’re grown-up enough to want anal sex, you need to be able to say the words. I mean it, sweetheart…”
And with that, he straightened. His back audibly cracked. Though he didn’t wince, you could tell that he’d felt it, as his brows were furrowed returning his focus to his phone
He was even more serious than normal, you could tell. Swiftly, you sidled up next to him. You looked down.
In the search bar on Joel’s phone, you read:
How to do anal first time painless & safe
Peering up, you saw his lips were in a line. He was scrolling through results like this was of the utmost importance, and your heart clenched, realizing just how much he cared for your well-being. On top of that, you sensed there was more to his nerves than just the sex.
“We don’t…have to do it, Joel,” you told him softly. “Seriously, it’s OK if you’re uncomfortable. Or worried.”
That last word carried the weight of the sentence, and at length, Joel met your look. His shoulders sagged a little.
He pocketed his cell. Put his glasses in his breast pocket.
“No. I’m alright. Really. Just thinkin’ of stuff,” he replied.
“Like Dad?”
“Like him shovin’ a shotgun up my ass.”
And both of you smiled some, but it was tense. Strained.
That momentary relief of humor between you two was, by force of circumstance, dampened by some weightier considerations. Like maybe this detour was a bad way to distract, and you shouldn’t be seeking that out right now
Maybe sneaking around your dad was risky enough.
Hell, maybe even the truth about you two had to wait.
It was a thought born of fear, but an honest feeling all the same—and, seeming to sense this, Joel’s expression softened. Suddenly, his hand was reaching for yours.
“I’m not havin’ second thoughts about tellin’ him, if that’s what you’re wonderin’,” he resumed, eyes on you.
“We just need to…go slow,” you finished. Questioning.
The fingers threaded through yours squeezed them.
“If that’s what you need, then I’ll do it, sweetheart.”
Slow.
Steady.
Setting an even pace for everything to come.
You couldn’t help but see some parallels, to, well…this.
You set the flavored lubes aside. You took Joel’s advice—got some simple, no-frills stuff. It wasn’t about being in a rush, or needing this new, fun thing to be a diversion from the reality you were currently facing. You did it because you wanted to. Because Joel was open to it, too, and though he was being extra cautious, you knew it all stemmed from the love that he had for you. It always did.
You picked out toys. You had to bite back a smile seeing your old man take in the sight of some thick, ten-inch plastic shafts and whistle quietly to himself. He picked out vibrating panties he thought might be fun, and you got two different sets of plugs and beads. By the end of your little excursion, both of you were calmer and content. You strolled out of that Mand’alor sex shop feeling more at ease than you’d been for a good bit.
In the Bronco, back on the road and hitting the homestretch of your trip down to the beach, you did feel like a weight had been lifted. If not completely dissolved, your anxiety, at least, had seemed to take the backseat.
With Joel up front and occasionally squeezing your thigh, telling you just how excited he was to spend the weekend together, you wanted to forget your worries.
You wanted it to be you, Joel, and no one else for a while.
Tumblr media
Tommy picked the worst goddamn times to show face.
It was either that he had the worst timing known to man, or he secretly relished catching his brother in the most compromising positions—like the one he was in now.
You and Joel had gotten to the house around noon, not long after you were expected to arrive. Your father was already gone when you got there, having shot a text to say he was looking at bike rentals and that he’d made reservations for lunch at a restaurant down the road—head on over in twenty minutes, and I’ll meet y’all there.
Naturally, with the code to unlock the front door and almost a half hour to spare, a quickie had been a must.
You’d gotten busy in the first guest bathroom you could find and washed off the sex toys you’d just bought, too.
It was incredible how fucking arousing the sight of a little silver plug with a jewel at its base could be to see inside you. After a few slow pumps of his fingers while he fucked you up against the sink in doggy, along with a dollop or two of lube, he’d worked it in you. He thumbed at the spot where your hole was stopped up and smiled.
Then his brother had barged into the house downstairs.
“Who’s ready for some fuckin’ gruuuuuub?!” he’d yelled.
That had been over an hour ago. Now you, him, Tommy, Maria, and your dad were all finishing up said grub at a little cafe on the beach. You were dining outdoors, and the sun was shining bright, but not oppressively. A gentle breeze blew. The food was so good Joel could’ve sworn that his eyes had rolled back in ecstasy twice.
You, too, were squirming—but for very different reasons.
Before you’d left, you put on the vibrating panties. Joel had the remote that controlled them, and he’d been turning it on and off, up and down, all at his leisure.
He wasn’t going crazy, though.
The two of you had agreed you needed to be careful this weekend and couldn’t take too many risks near his friend
But, then again, you were you, and Joel was Joel.
Of course, you’d be fucking around a little bit.
Your dad was calling for the check presently.
You’d just reached for your glass of sweet tea, now nearly empty, but the second the rim touched your lips, your grip slipped. For a beat, Joel thought you might drop it.
Shit.
Dial that down to a…four, maybe?
The settings went all the way to ten. Apparently shocking you out of nowhere with a six was enough to make your eyes bug out and a cough to push itself out of your chest
“You alright, kiddo?” Tommy asked beside you.
You coughed again and forced a smile.
You quickly nodded back at him.
“Fine. Just—fine.” And at the last, your gaze shot to Joel.
You fucker.
He deserved that.
Under the table, holding the remote to your panties, he notched the toy back down to two, just to be nice. You visibly relaxed and pried your eyes off of his, but not before narrowing them briefly. I’m watching you, Miller.
Joel hoped you’d do a lot more to him than that by the time he was done. Just when your dad reached for the bill being handed over by the waitress, he intercepted it.
He slid his card out and stuffed it inside the little folder.
“Meal’s on me,” Joel announced without ceremony.
His friend gave him an appreciative, if not slightly objecting look. He looked like he was about to protest the offer, when Joel tucked his wallet—along with your underwear’s remote—into his pocket. He handed the check back to the waitress and told her not to accept a penny from his friend. Your dad barked a laugh at that.
“Joel, you know I’m fine to—”
“Fucking shit.”
The words leapt through your gritted teeth before you could even think to stop them from coming, it looked like
Joel’s eyes were on you the same second you said them, and as soon as he did, he saw you grip the edge of the table. You blinked hard and coughed a third time. Loud.
He hadn’t even…
“Language, young lady,” your dad snapped. “What is it?”
He gave the same look Joel had seen his own father give him and Tommy countless times growing up—the kind that said we’re out in public, don’t be showin’ your ass.
It wasn’t really your fault, though, if Joel had to guess.
Shortly, he was feeling around for your remote.
Next to you, Maria had a hand on your back.
“You need some water? Here.”
And she offered you hers.
You shook your head vehemently, and shifted in your seat again. Cursed again, though bit your tongue with it.
“Motherfuckin’ piece’a—ah, ah.”
You clamped down at the last.
Was that a moan at the end?
Joel fished around his pocket even quicker. At the same time, your dad ditched his fork from trying to shovel in the last couple bites of his mahi-mahi and glared at you.
“Is there something you’d like to share, sweetheart?”
No the absolute fuck there isn’t.
Where is it, where is it, where is it?
Joel had just been holding it a second ago. His pants pockets weren’t that deep. If he could just grab it and—
“No!” you cried. Actually, it was more like a plea. Your expression pinched, and your fingernails dug into the table, and right as Joel got his hand on the little pink remote, you almost jumped sideways out of your chair.
Fortunately, the waitress arrived with the check again. She handed it to him, thanked them for stopping by, and while your father was momentarily distracted, Joel found the remote. He clicked the button and realized that it had been cranked to ten as his ass was crushing it under him.
Whether you were about to climax on the spot or bawl your fucking eyes out was anyone’s guess at that point.
Joel shut your undies off.
You let out a heaving sigh.
Your father eyed you incredulously. Frowning.
“Any other stunts you’d like to pull before we go biking?” he said, though it was clear he wasn’t expecting a reply.
You gave him one anyway.
Answering your dad but looking directly at Joel, you said:
“I don’t think I wanna come, actually. I’m too tired now.”
***
It was a wonder you hadn’t murdered him on the spot.
If looks could kill, yours just might have done him in.
Lunch had ended without event—well, as much as could be said for your father occasionally stealing looks your way and seeming to wonder whether you might not have gotten drunk during the meal—but still, you made it out. Of course, your dad had roped you, Joel, Tommy, and Maria into riding bikes that afternoon, despite your protests, and despite the fact that the man was still recovering from an injured femur. Your dad had agreed to ride an e-bike to minimize strain, and he’d seemed as cheerful as anything to get going. Joel felt your sidelong dirty looks the whole walk to the rental bike place, and though they weren’t the dirty looks he liked, he still managed to maintain a happy demeanor himself.
He’d even gone so far as to squeeze your elbow playfully and say, ‘Bet I’ll beat you in a race down the beach, kid.’
He did make sure it sounded as platonic and innuendo-less as possible, though. If there was any time to ensure you kept things G-rated and non-suspicious, now was it.
Evidently, you weren’t having it.
Still shaking from your almost-orgasm at lunch, and likely dreading having to sit on a bike an excruciating hour or three, it seemed you wanted nothing more than to make Joel’s life misery now—in a sweet, discreet way.
He should’ve known it when you first peeled off your shirt getting onto your bike, leaving you in nothing but a lime green string bikini top and your shorts. Technically, it had been Tommy who started the trend by claiming it was ‘hot as shit’ and proceeding to rip off his own tee, but Joel sensed from the look you gave him as soon as you shed yours too that you meant to torture him. If he’d had his fun with a vibrating pair of panties, you could do the same showing off your rack while you rode this bike.
And you did. You’d pulled up right beside him no more than ten seconds after your dad had started off down the path to lead the way, and you’d arched your back, pretending to stretch in your seat before setting off yourself. You’d made sure Joel saw your tits in all their full, heaving, teasing beauty, and then you’d leaned in.
“What do I get if I beat you down there, daddy?”
You’d said it quietly; Joel didn’t hesitate.
“Whatever the fuck you want, baby.”
He might’ve been in for an afternoon of torment, but that didn’t mean he couldn’t tempt you right back—he would get a moment alone with you one way or another today.
Still, as expected, the bike ride went on forever.
Joel’s balls ached, and it wasn’t just from the triangular-shaped, hard-as-shit seat underneath him. You rode beside him, in front of him, weaving back and forth with ease and showing him everything he couldn’t touch with his best friend no more than fifteen feet away from him. It was agony. And it didn’t improve when your group hopped off their bikes an hour later to stop for ice cream. If anything, the torture just took on a bittersweet tinge.
You were talking to your dad again. On the bike ride, along the boardwalk, at the ice cream shop—for what had seemed like the first time in ages, you were really speaking to your old man and seeming to enjoy yourself. Joel knew there was a lot more to be ironed out between you two, and that would come eventually, but for now, you got to relax. On top of this absurd, mind-numbing attraction he had for you, he also felt oddly content to watch you bond with your father like this, in front of him.
Joel hoped he wouldn’t be the reason it all went to shit.
You were licking cookies and cream ice cream off the side of your cone, then your wrist, where the milky substance had trickled down a little bit. Joel was fighting like hell not to make that sexual in his mind, but it was difficult when you’d sucked him off dozens and dozens of times before. Your dad laughed at something you said; he practically wheezed, and then he’d pinched your nose affectionately. You wrinkled it in response, still grinning.
Joel loved you.
He was seconds away from sporting a raging erection under his shorts, and he loved you more than anything.
He really didn’t want your relationship with him to be the reason why you lost your own with your father, and for a moment, Joel wondered if it might not be a good idea for the two of you to wait. Until you were a little older, out of college, maybe making some money of your own and able to decide for yourself if he was what you really—
“Sweetheart!”
That was your dad.
But it wasn’t for you.
It wasn’t spoken to you, but rather behind you, where the ice cream shop’s front door had jingled with a new arrival
It all happened faster than Joel could process it—your smile had been so big beaming back at your father, reminiscing on some old memories together, and then, as quickly as it had come, it was gone. Lost. Dropped off of your face completely the second you turned around.
His friend rose to his feet and went for a warm greeting; at the same time, Tommy’s eyebrows shot to his hairline.
Beside him, Maria’s did the same.
So he’d told her about Helen, then.
Your dad had just pulled the woman in for a quick hug and a peck on the cheek. Helen had smiled appreciatively at first, then a little sheepishly as her gaze darted over the four other people sitting at the table.
Your look was as deadened as Joel had ever seen it—leagues worse than when you’d been mad about the vibrating panty situation. Your whole demeanor had taken a nosedive, and your back straightened reflexively.
You lowered your ice cream cone and eyed them both.
“Maria, I don’t think you and Helen have been introdu—” your dad started to say, but even he, in all of his affable humor couldn’t ignore the way your chair scraped back.
You stood and tossed your cone in the trash.
Then, without saying another word, you left.
It wasn’t particularly dramatic, loud, or angry. In fact, your movements were as mechanical and unaffected as if you’d just felt a cool draft and wanted to take a step outside. It didn’t look like you were annoyed at anything.
You got the fuck out of there, though.
You discarded your frozen treat like it was nothing, and, without thinking, Joel did the same starting after you.
Dimly, he was aware of the bell over the door jingling a third time with his exit. He felt the sun on his face and a breeze through his hair as he followed in your wake. It seemed you’d considered your bike outside for all of one second before quickly diverting your path; you decided you’d walk. You did walk for several yards in front of him.
Joel called your name.
You were off at a fast clip, so he had to jog to catch up.
When he did—and that didn’t take long—he reached out.
You jerked your arm away: “I’m not doing this shit, Joel.”
“I know.”
Another step closer.
Another pass for your elbow.
You didn’t fight it at first, as you’d gotten better about trusting him in moments like these. You’d improved your general reaction to bad situations and had managed to leave the shop without causing a scene. Still, old habits died hard, and in a second, you were pulling away and starting off even faster—further from him, to the beach.
Speed-walking at this point, like you needed to blow off some steam and couldn’t do that anywhere but near a body of water. Joel watched you scrub at one of your eyes and could sense something brewing inside you.
“He knew,” you spat, words harsh several strides ahead. “Motherfucker knew what he was going to do, so he took me to my favorite ice cream place from when I was a kid, talks to me like we’re—we’re good again, then fuckin’—”
You reached the boardwalk leading to the beach. You curtailed your speech just long enough to take a quick, ragged breath, and then you climbed the wooden steps.
“He’s a fucking asshole,” you muttered.
Joel could only see your profile, but at least you’d slowed down. You were maybe four feet ahead, and you had your mouth in a tight line, like words were getting difficult to say. He knew that look. He knew tears weren’t far away.
“And we’re—FUCK!”
At the last, you’d nearly made it all the way to the sand but had gotten your shoe stuck on a crooked part of a plank walking up, and you stumbled. You fell down, hands instinctively flying out to catch yourself.
Joel’s did the same.
As soon as you went down, it seemed, he was right there with you on the ground. If he’d acted a second faster, he might’ve been able to prevent you from hitting the sand at all. Unfortunately, you’d been a little too far ahead of him to make a catch possible. He dropped to his knees beside you, and his hands were reaching again. Grasping.
Holding, and not being nudged off this time. You cursed.
“Fucking sh—” you started, going in for your knee.
“Baby, hey—hey.”
Fear must’ve flashed in his eyes, because the second you met it, you were blinking hard—expression softening the slightest bit in spite of the pain probably shooting up your leg just then. You pulled your knee to your chest, but you let Joel hold it, too. You let out a labored breath.
“You OK? Lemme—” Joel brushed some sand off your leg. “—lemme see it, sweetheart. Just let me see, OK?”
His words were as soft and placating as he could manage it; it was silly, really, since a couple seconds’ inspection of your knee revealed you’d suffered no more than a minuscule scrape from your fall. Still, he leaned in.
And as soon as he reached down for your ankle, checking to make sure you hadn’t twisted it or anything in the process, he heard another sigh. It was softer.
A little more strangled, too, by the sound of it.
“We’re doing the same thing, aren’t we?”
Your voice was small. On hearing it, Joel’s hands stilled in place, and his gaze flitted up to yours. His brow furrowed
“What?”
“Lying,” you said, somehow even quieter. Frowning, but not on account of any pain. “Hiding. Just…just like him.”
Now it was Joel’s turn to soften his expression looking at you—he couldn’t help it. Your face was mottled with a mix of warring thoughts, from anger to fear to shame, and it made his chest hurt. He hated seeing you hurt.
“No. We ain’t like him.” He shook his head.
Your dad destroyed his marriage and upended your life for a love he should’ve fought to keep or left in the past.
You didn’t know that. Joel had only learned the truth the night before, and the story was fraught with so many other deeply personal things, he didn’t think it was his place to share it with you himself. You’d have to hear it from your father when you talked to him, and he knew that that would be soon. You’d already learned part of it.
“We ain’t them, sweetheart. Nothin’ even close to that.” And as he said it, his hand lifted to your cheek. He cupped the side of your face and thumbed at it gently.
You sniffled. You looked like you might jump into his arms and demand a hug, which Joel was more than happy to give, but then you stopped. You had to, shortly.
More footsteps down the way. They thundered fast and loud down the creaky, sunwashed stretch of boardwalk and came clambering to where you and Joel crouched.
Joel’s hand jerked back.
He didn’t want it like that, but he had no choice. Your father’s voice was booming overhead, concern laced in every word as he approached at a lightning-quick pace.
“Honey! Hon—fuck���are you alright?”
Then he was at your side. Reaching for you in that same, urgent way Joel had, only Joel was helping you up. The two of you shared a final look before you turned to him.
You were already waving your father off, “I’m fine, Dad.”
“Did you trip? What happened? Is your ankle alright?”
At least a half-dozen emotions were all flickering over his face at once, like the man couldn’t pick which feeling to stick to, but each one was born of fear, Joel could see.
As a matter of fact, Joel never saw his friend’s features betray such bone-chilling concern than when he happened to be worrying over you. It showed again.
Your father was fretting and fawning for no reason at all—no matter how insistent you were that you just tripped, that’s it, now lay off, Dad, please. It was clear that your admonitions fell on deaf ears, one right after the next. You were persistent, but you got that from him, and he wouldn’t let it go until he’d held you steady in his hands and checked your legs and feet and told you, sweetie, you could’ve hurt yourself. What were you thinkin’?
Running off like that was what he meant, surely.
Joel had to force his gaze away when he saw how earnest your father was on those last couple words. He was stooped a little, bent to match your height, and his eyes were glistening with a paternal apprehension like he’d never seen. It almost seemed too much. Overdone.
“Sweetheart, I’m sorry. I’m really sorry.”
And he wasn’t talking about you taking a spill on the boardwalk anymore, suddenly. His expression softened.
True to your stubborn self—true to being his daughter—you just shook your head and sniffled once. Then you tried to nudge him away again, your movements wooden
“I don’t ca—”
“Can we talk?”
Another sniff. Another step away.
“I don’t wanna talk.” You sounded resolute.
Your dad was even more adamant: “Well, I wanna talk.”
And that made both you and Joel stiffen involuntarily. It wasn’t necessarily the words that he spoke but the way in which they were said; your father’s voice nearly broke.
“We need to talk, pumpkin.”
Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck, FUCK.
Something tugged at Joel’s chest that felt like a blade. Your father straightened and cast a look around, eyes scanning the sunny, colorful scenery like he was thinking, and then he quickly reverted his focus to you.
Joel wasn’t sure if his friend’s gaze had missed him on purpose, or if there were something more beneath it.
He was paranoid.
Insane.
“Five minutes. Then I’m going home,” you said coldly.
Whether you meant the house on the beach or the one back in Austin was anyone’s guess. Frankly, Joel was only aware of his surroundings in the vaguest, dullest sense, and the rest of his body was buzzing. He couldn’t stop blinking, fearing what was coming next for you both
A breath got lodged in his throat and he almost choked when your father turned his way, at length. He coughed.
“Miller, you—”
Fuck, this was it. The end.
Your father paused to cough, too, though this time, it looked natural. He appeared to be clearing his throat.
“—mind giving us a minute? Shouldn’t be too long.”
Oh.
Oh.
“Sure thing, man.”
Shouldn’t be too long.
This was the last thought ringing through his skull as he turned to leave. He couldn’t bear to meet your look for longer than a second, for fear that your father might change his mind and suddenly out you both for fucking each other’s brains out these last three months. That would be horrific, and Joel wasn’t about to test his luck.
From what he could glean from your expression in the glimpse he got, you were feeling about the same as him.
Your voice was small—and growing more faint as he started to walk off from the way you two first came.
Down the boardwalk, haunting him all the way back:
“So what do we need to talk about, Dad?”
Tumblr media
Your head hurt.
The talk ended up taking more than five minutes.
At the start of that conversation, you swore you’d tell your dad to fuck off and then head back to Austin before he could even utter the name ‘Helen,’ but here you were.
Staring blankly at a wall recalling every last minute detail of the exchange, hours later, and wondering what the fuck any of it meant. Freshly showered and splayed out over the front of a big, familiar frame and inhaling his scent. Laying with your head on his chest and your cheek growing hotter the longer it stayed in place.
You blinked and wanted to forget everything.
A hand stroked up and down your back, moving slowly.
“Your dad loves you, sweet pea. More’n anything.”
Joel murmured that into your hair, then kissed the crown of your head. Instead of giving you a good, warm feeling or making goosebumps break out across your skin, the gesture hardly registered. You could only stare harder at the wall beside the bed and recognize how numb you felt
“Even though I basically ruined his life,” you replied dully.
“Hey.”
Your head was nudged to turn up to Joel’s. Reluctantly, your chin came to rest on his chest, and at the same time, you felt two broad palms cup the sides of your face.
Joel’s eyes pierced you with a marked, solemn sincerity.
“Don’t say that,” he rasped.
“It’s true. I wrecked everything.”
“You didn’t wreck a single damn—”
“He doesn’t even know if I’m his daughter, Joel!”
Those words were spoken with an even harsher edge. Louder, like they needed to get out. You shifted a little.
“How the fuck am I not supposed to feel guilty when my being born was the only reason he chose to stay with my mom at all, and then it turns out, he might not even b—”
It was too ugly to say aloud. It was too foul, too shameful, too fucking gut-wrenching to think that your very existence was the reason for another’s unhappiness—and that that whole premise might’ve been built on a lie. Stupidly, you scrubbed at your cheek and pushed to sit, like the act and the new posturing might make the chances of you breaking down crying any less likely.
Joel sat up with you.
His arms wrapped around you, and you didn’t have the strength to push him off or tell him you were fine, really.
Shoulders sagging, you simply leaned in and buried your face in the crook of his neck. You let him hold you close.
“‘S’alright, sweet girl,” Joel cooed. Stroking your hair like he’d last done running his hand up and down your back. “He’s still your dad. You’ll always be his, no matter what.”
At that, the first crack in your exterior gave way.
You didn’t mean for it to happen, but a sob racked through you, and your body melted into Joel’s bigger one. Your numbness fled, and it left you feeling raw.
Needy.
Clinging to the old, heather gray shirt your boyfriend had on and hoping that your tears wouldn’t soak the material.
Carefully, Joel slid up the bed with you tucked snugly in his arms, and he leaned back into the headboard. He let you cry, probably because it felt appropriate, and also because he loved you more than words could express.
For some reason, that made you want to cry even harder.
Joel continued to stroke your hair and murmur sweet nothings in your ear, and the pit of unease in your stomach grew more and more painful as he did.
You fisted his shirt fully in one hand and wept. After some seconds or minutes passed, you could hardly decipher what had brought you to tears in the first place, but you knew what kept you there—what made you want to curl up in a ball and sob your eyes dry on the spot.
There were words sticking to your throat, begging to claw out, so in the next second, you ended up blurting:
“I don’t—I don’t wanna be like him, Joel.”
The sound was a little muffled against Joel’s neck, but it must’ve reached his ears all the same, because suddenly he was shifting the slightest bit and drawing back gently.
“Wh—”
“I don’t wanna lie like him. Keep…fucking things up.”
“Sweet pea, I promise you’re not—”
“I don’t wanna lose you.” And your voice was alarmingly steady, despite the tears you’d shed and the uncertainty you felt; you didn’t know how things would go with your dad, and neither did Joel. “I— I just love you so much.”
Hell, you might’ve heard his heart splinter at that.
You might’ve seen his throat work and his eyes glisten and the same feeling you’d expressed in words flood his features in a look—that he didn’t want to keep hiding this—but you also wouldn’t see it for long. Joel kissed you.
His lips crushed yours at first, the force of it so strong that it almost knocked you off balance. Sharp, gray stubble, parted lips, probing tongue, searching hands, and a rich, woodsy smell all overwhelmed you at once.
It wasn’t a question of if you kissed back but whether you could keep up, and you could feel it in every breath.
“I love you, baby,” Joel groaned against your lips, as if pained. “More than you know—I love you. I love you.”
This quiet refrain continued well into the kiss, as he laid you down and crawled over your frame. You melted beneath him. Your legs fastened themselves tightly about his hips, and you brought Joel in—welcoming him.
It wasn’t an altogether uncommon thing to be meeting each other with such urgency and need—in fact, these days, it seemed to be your favorite way to approach sex—but here, in your family beach house, on the brink of sharing something new and terrifying and unable to be walked back with your dad, you grew doubly restless. Your fingers threaded messily through his hair, and you tugged those soft, salt-and-pepper locks like your life depended on it. You opened your mouth wider and whimpered into the kiss; Joel ground himself into you.
“T—Tommy. And Maria?” you managed breathlessly, in between kisses and feeling Joel’s tongue explore every crevice of your mouth. Trying not to lose all your sense. You wanted to make sure the house was totally empty.
“Dinner. Probably—” And Joel had to stop himself just long enough to fight a chuckle, though a smirk remained. “Probably makin’ babies afterward, if I’d had to guess.”
“Yeah? That serious?”
“He plans on marryin’ her.”
“Never pegged him as the marrying kind.”
“Well, when you find the woman you want forever.”
As Joel said it, his gaze flitted from your lips to your eyes. You weren’t in a state to even attempt to decipher that look, so you didn’t. You leaned in and kissed him instead.
He tasted like wanting and something more. He moved his mouth over yours like his oxygen supply had come from your lips and tongue, and the rest of him was captive to your every other touch. You moved, and he followed. When you drew back to try and catch your breath, Joel swallowed and watched you just as closely.
“Dad should be out a few more hours,” you added, soft.
Joel didn’t speak, though his gaze trailed your body as you started peeling off clothes, beginning with your top.
He undressed quicker despite not being able to take his eyes off your body the whole time, and you felt need burrow even deeper inside you. The room got warmer.
The two of you were stripped down in a matter of seconds, and still, the temperatures seemed only to have increased and left you basking in a scorching heat. There was familiarity and ease, having done this so many times before, but nothing could ever really prepare you for when Joel spread your legs and slotted himself between them. There was his bare skin on yours, absurd amounts of warmth, and your head resting gently on a pillow, peering up at the man with wide and excited eyes.
Joel’s hand reached between your thighs, and your expression only brightened with the movement of it.
You canted your hips upward at just the right moment.
Joel sucked in a breath. Blinked hard, as if remembering.
“Honey…” His voice tapered off with just one, lone word.
You were glad he hadn’t completely forgotten, and you didn’t miss the way his length twitched against your hip. He liked what he felt, evidently. His fingertips had grazed the little jewel notched into your back entrance, and he was reminded, in no uncertain terms, that you wanted it.
You wanted him there.
Needed him, you hoped he knew.
Joel already had the pad of his thumb pressed up against it, and he was starting to stroke it. Considering.
“Want me to…keep this in while I fuck her?” He lifted his knuckles to brush the seam of your cunt—the ‘her’ in question, obviously—and when he did that, a shudder coursed through you. Your walls clenched around nothing, and more warmth trickled out of you.
All but blinded with desire, you still managed to get out:
“No. Want you to fuck me in there, Joel. Please.”
It was a borderline obscene request, but you didn’t care. He knew this was what you’d been wanting him to do, and so long as he was on board, you hoped it would happen. You ached to feel his cock someplace new. Claim you in a way he hadn’t gotten to do before.
When it seemed a warning might not be far from Joel’s tongue, you rejoined with equal warmth, even needier.
Lifting your hips again and digging your heels into the soft, white comforter beneath, saying, ‘Daddy, please.’
Joel was as good as sold hearing that, if you’d had to guess, but you went even further to seal the deal for yourself. Reaching down and touching the plug, pulling on it, gently, all while your gaze remained plastered on his. A soft whimper slipped past your lips when you did.
“Help me get it out, Joel. Wanna feel you—”
“Shit,” Joel panted. Shortly gritting his teeth.
At a glance, it seemed the man was primed to drop face-level with where you were currently playing with yourself. Maybe lick a stripe up your wet, aching slit and then tease the toy out with his fingers just like you wanted.
To your shock and dismay, Joel stood up from the bed.
Your body lurched with confusion at first; another whine might’ve escaped. Your mind was a wild and wanton place in that moment, filled to the brim with ideas of your father’s best friend having you any way he wanted. The thought that he might be planning to tease you now, or leave you hanging in this terrible, tireless deprivation altogether, was almost more than you could bear. You pushed to sit, eyes widening and lips about to protest.
Joel nudged you back down.
He turned and opened the top drawer of the nightstand.
Then, before another moment could clue you into what was going on or what Joel might be trying to do with the item he’d pulled out, you felt it: a hum between your legs.
A mechanical buzz and a palm pressing to your hip.
Joel ducked his head just in time to catch your lips in a kiss, soaking up the startled sound that had been quick to claw out. You couldn’t help it, of course—whenever Joel took a vibrator to your clit, you were putty under him
Joel also knew you loved the feeling, so he kept it there.
He kept his mouth pressed to yours through the initial shock of it, swallowing a moan or two, but then, almost as quick as he’d stunned you with the buzzing vibration, he pulled back. He waited until your eyes re-focused and your lips were trembling lightly, dying to whimper or groan or tell him, as best you could, that you needed him to push inside you, now, now, now, before he spoke.
“She’s already drippin’ for me, baby,” Joel said, near- mournful. Rolling the vibrator between forefinger and thumb and causing a shockwave of pleasure to course through you. Teasing up and down the slick, puffy seam. “So wet and needy, wantin’ to get stuffed full’a me. Be a real shame if I neglected my sweet girl now, wouldn’t it?”
It was true, your cunt needed him just as badly, and your walls were fluttering and aching with every twist of the vibrator’s tip on your sensitive little bundle of nerves.
Still, when Joel flipped you, sliding a pillow under your hips, you felt that urge for something more. Your back arched mindlessly, and you clutched the sheets tighter.
“Just—just give her a kiss,” you stuttered into the bed.
“Just a kiss?” Joel repeated, hands gripping your hips and lifting you toward him. If you’d had to guess, his face was hovering somewhere close, wearing a conceited grin
Then you knew that it was; his lips connected with your throbbing, glistening folds from behind, and his hold tightened. Sharp stubble—all mostly silver—tickled your thighs, and after that, a soft wet pop graced your ears.
Then a chuckle.
“How ‘bout a couple more?” he drawled out, teasing.
“Just fuck me, please.” You wriggled helplessly.
And you thought, as needy and visibly aroused as you were, Joel might oblige. He could extract that little jewel without issue, slick himself up with lube and plunge in. Simple as that. You arched your back again, higher now, and you begged him with every movement, every breath you were drawing in and exhaling, that you wanted this.
Joel kissed you again.
He pressed his lips to that shiny, wet place and sank in. Spread your cheeks with his hands, parted your folds with his tongue, and mapped the whole, weeping expanse of your cunt with that one, curious muscle.
Joel had gone down on you plenty of times before and every instance, without fail, had left you a writhing, whimpering mess—sometimes in a puddle of your making—but this was different. The feeling was new.
This sweet, gentle man was eating you from the back, and every muscle in your body was starting to contract.
Chin pressed firmly to the pillow and eyes staring, unblinking, at the headboard, you stuttered again:
“P—Please fuck me, Joel. Fuck me anywhere.”
“Anywhere?”
“Yes.”
“In the ass?”
At the same time, Joel pressed the still-buzzing vibrator to your clit again and started licking into your entrance.
“Yes!” you cried, fingers twisting the covers and squeezing. “Please—please fuck my ass, daddy.”
You sincerely hoped Tommy and Maria wouldn’t be home at all tonight. If your dad came home, well…you might cry
You were about to sob, feeling Joel’s tongue push an inch inside your needy cunt and start stroking gently.
“I—” Joel had to pull back after just a few licks to reply. “Can’t fuck you there til you’re good an’ ready, baby. Gonna hurt you if I don’t. ‘S’alot to fit. Needs prep.”
Fuck prep.
“I don’t care if it hurts,” you huffed defiantly.
Just as you started to curve your spine higher, a wordless invitation for him to go ahead and try it, please, a palm came to rest on the small of your back, gently.
“Sweet pea, I don’t wanna hurt you.”
Those words from Joel sounded serious. You turned your head to the side, eyes catching the soft brown irises awaiting you from behind, and you understood it.
You understood him, now leaning back on his heels.
This was a brand new frontier for you both. Not only being here, doing this, but preparing for something else. For a moment, you were transported back to your old troubles from before, and neither of you needed to articulate in words just what that was going to be, as it hung in the air between you with every breath, presently.
It felt like losing your virginity. Taking a new step. Although you knew that nothing would fundamentally change in what you and Joel had, it was still frightening. You turned around to find Joel still on his knees, thinking
Worrying what your father might say to him, probably.
“Come here,” you said, legs spreading wider.
You had ample support in the wall of pillows and cushions behind you, so when Joel crawled eagerly, and draped his body completely over you, you could hold him without struggling too much. You pulled him even closer.
And, with his head on your chest and your fingers combing affectionately through the black and gray strands, you did what felt most normal in the moment.
You told him you loved him, just like he’d told you before.
Joel’s body responded in kind, the way it always did.
It wasn’t lost on you that neither you nor Joel had ever been in a relationship serious enough to use those words, so whenever you said them now, they felt weightier. Particularly after spending so long trying to suppress those feelings, it seemed like you couldn’t get enough. Joel couldn’t control how much it affected him.
For one thing, he was hard as steel against your leg.
For another, his grip tightened protectively over your hip.
Instead of saying ‘I love you’ back immediately, he sat up and tilted his head to meet your gaze. Propped himself up on an elbow and adjusted his body between your legs.
Joel was warm. Broad. Muscular and thick through every inch of his frame, and his length was pulsing gently against your lower belly. His tip was probably leaking.
“Say that again.” It was an order, but nothing harsh.
You knew he was desperate to hear you, not merely asking you to obey, and, shortly, his hand lowered to his cock. He fisted it in a suffocating grip and squeezed it.
“Go on, sweet pea.”
“I love you, Joel.”
Then a tug on your shiny blue jewel. With his free hand, Joel gave it a pull, and he watched you squirm a little.
Still fisting his cock and starting to stroke, he said:
“Again.”
A beat. Another soft tug.
“Push when I pull on it, OK, baby?”
You nodded, not wanting to waste a second.
“OK. Joel…I-I love you so mu—oh.”
You were breathing in through your nose, bearing down like Joel had told you, and then, all at once, you felt a pop
“Don’t move, sweetheart. It’s OK.”
‘S’alright, darlin’, it’s just gonna feel a little different now, rang clear as anything through your ears, and you had to suck in a breath. Damn clueless and stupid as you felt, you hadn’t realized it would be so…weird coming out
Maybe it was best if you took this slow, like Joel said.
Before any real sting could settle in, though, something sticky and cool was being smeared between your legs.
You looked down and saw Joel using his thumb to stroke the raw, slightly stretched spot and soothe the muscle. His touch was tender and easy. Your heels dug a little deeper in the bed, there on either side of Joel’s body, and for a moment, you felt strangely, sorely exposed.
You were, after all, but that was what you wanted, right?
Another sharp breath rattled your chest—Joel’s thumb had notched inside, no deeper than a quarter-inch—and your feet slid reflexively again. Your legs tried to clamp.
Joel kept you open to him, thumb working in circles. Then, likely sensing your discomfort, he scooted closer.
His gaze flickered to find yours, and his look was soft.
“One word and we stop,” he said. “You got it?”
That voice was a little stern, trying to evoke some sense of austerity, but it was an altogether kind tone anyway—you knew Joel just wanted you to be completely safe.
You nodded.
Joel smiled.
“Now tell me again,” he murmured, eyes shining.
You’d nearly forgotten what the two of you had been doing just a few moments ago, but then it hit you. At the same time, while you opened your mouth to speak, one thick, lubricated finger replaced the thumb pressing in.
Joel’s index teased a little, then sank in an inch.
He withdrew, before plunging it back in gently.
Your muscles instinctively contracted around him, and while you did, as if from another reflex, you rushed out:
“I love you, Joel.”
And you did.
The man was eyeing you hungrily, but still with a reverence and a respect all the same. It pained him not to speak those three words back, but he was refraining from saying it so he could focus on working you open. He knew that as long as the anticipation was building, while you were aching to have more of him and growing more needy each second, he’d have an easier time at it.
Instead of talking immediately, he slid a pillow under your hips like he did before and drew close enough to where he could lay down beside you. He got more lube. He plumbed his finger in delicately, watching your face for any sign of discomfort or pain, and when you gradually relaxed into it, he grabbed the bottle of lubricant again.
Wet and slippery as everything was, you still couldn’t help but wince when Joel added a finger—his were thick.
No sooner had your features screwed up than Joel was kissing the top of your head, halting the motion of his digits momentarily, and then grabbing more lube. Again.
“This OK?” he murmured, coating his two fingers.
“I—I think. It’s just…tight,” you answered quietly.
Joel kissed you again, this time on your temple, and his index and middle fingers moved as slow as anything to work your entrance a little more. He was drenching it.
Lathering it with as much slick, artificial help as he could
“I know it’s hard, but try to relax. It’ll feel better that way.”
Joel had a perfect voice for coaching. He wasn’t pushy or gruff, agitated or in a hurry to get you someplace you weren’t quite ready to go. He let your body guide his touch, and he didn’t push for a third finger until you’d visibly gotten your bearings. When you were leaning in.
It started to feel good.
The push, the strain, the stretch. Joel’s never-ending words of encouragement as you fit him inside this narrow and unfamiliar channel. He kissed you more. Groaned into your skin. Said you were doing so fuckin’ good for him, and he couldn’t wait to make you feel better with his cock. You believed him. You wanted it.
And when, after several minutes, a third finger did make its way inside you and you really felt a stretch, you nearly bit clean through your bottom lip trying to stifle the moan that pushed out of your throat. Your head fell to Joel’s shoulder, and your breaths picked up a little more.
You weren’t even really aware when you said it, but then it came out of you all at once, face buried in Joel’s neck:
“Y-Y-You love me, too, right?”
It sounded uncharacteristically meek and almost pitiful to your ears—of course you knew he loved you, why ask?
But before you could chastise yourself, or even think twice about having said it, a warmth enveloped you.
Joel enveloped you, his free arm snaking down your side.
The big, muscular, protective and tender-hearted man with your pleasure in his hands nudged your cheek softly.
He wanted you to look up at him.
And when you did, your worries trickled away.
Or, at the very least, they took a backseat for the time being; Joel was meeting your gaze with the single most kind and loving look he might’ve ever imparted. Mixed in that expression was a tincture of guilt, you could see, like he was sorry not to have made this clearer to you sooner.
He blinked once, then resumed:
“As long as I live, sweet pea.”
And if that wasn’t enough, or else because he wanted to communicate it on your terms, with your needs in mind:
“As long as you’ll have me, and then some. I’m all yours.”
If three of Joel Miller’s fingers weren’t currently buried to the hilt inside you and stretching you wide open for him, you might’ve jumped the man. Hugged him. Squeezed him to your body as tight as you possibly could and assured him that you were his as much as he was yours and you’d never get tired of this, ever, you would have done that. Your eyes likely said as much, growing glossy.
Feeling a lump in your throat, you had only to turn into Joel’s body and try to get the words out, soft and hoarse.
“I love you, Joel. So much.”
Moving closer, though your bodies were practically flush with each other—but Joel didn’t seem to mind at all. In fact, a grin just graced his features as he peered down at you. He pushed his nose to yours, and you grinned back.
“I love you more,” he said, not peeling his eyes away.
Before you could even try to reply, ‘Well, I love you most’ like some silly, lovesick puppy, Joel had you beat. He slipped his fingers out carefully from you and shifted in bed, to then overtake your frame and hover above it.
He dropped a kiss on your head, still smiling like an idiot.
“And I’ll love you most, ‘til my lungs give out, alright?”
“You better not be lyin’ to me.” You said it teasingly.
And Joel was just about to answer for himself when the sound of the front door swinging open downstairs interrupted you both. Noisy footsteps followed after, and in a second, you recognized the clamor as belonging to Joel’s brother and his girlfriend. Both were laughing.
The weight of Joel’s body pressed even heavier to yours.
He wasn’t stiff, for once, likely because you didn’t have to hide from those two anymore. And he’d locked the door.
“I ain’t lyin’, baby, swear on my life…” he went on softly.
Now his lips were at your ear, grazing your cheek, lowering toward the hinge of your jaw at a maddening pace. He didn’t seem to pay it any mind when Tommy and Maria went bounding up the stairs and retired directly into the bedroom next to his; he was busy.
You’d almost forgotten you were about to fuck.
With any luck, the couple next door wouldn’t be doing anything like it—or at least keeping their activities quiet.
“Get ready to hear some bullshit,” Joel supplied shortly. His face was buried in your neck, as if annoyed, but you could feel his smirk. “Probably makin’ babies right n—”
“So are we,” you hissed indignantly.
“Last I checked that can’t happen in your ass, sweeth—”
“Joel Miller.”
Technically, he was right.
“Less talking, more fucking, OK?” you added swiftly.
“Yes ma’am.”
Then he did.
It took more than a couple seconds for the levity and amusement of the moment to die down between you, but eventually, you both settled down. You got calmer.
You were reminded that the insides of your thighs and cheeks were completely smeared with lubrication, your walls were fairly well-stretched, and you were ready for it.
You were ready for Joel, and Joel was ready for you—or as close as he could possibly get while checking in to make sure that you really wanted to do this. He angled his cock and brushed the tip through your slick-drenched folds. Above you, his stomach muscles clenched, and you couldn’t help but admire the way his thick, soft middle looked in the glow of the lamplight. How the smooth and veiny member jutting out from a shock of dark curls looked absolutely delectable. Your bodies were almost connected, but not quite. He was hovering.
Gently, your legs beckoned Joel in. They spread wider.
Not even really knowing what you were doing or how you planned to fit all of this man from root to tip inside you, your gaze focused on the place Joel was lowering to.
The head of his cock nudged that tiny ring of muscles, and you sucked in a startled breath. You hadn’t meant to.
Next door, you could hear the Star Wars theme song—Tommy and Maria must’ve been watching the new Mandalorian movie, curled up snug in bed together.
Seeing your face, Joel hesitated. “Baby, we don’t hav—”
“I want to,” you said, breathlessly. Then you looked up. “Want you to have every part of me, even if…if it hurts.”
Joel didn’t seem too crazy about that last part, and he blinked back slowly. He braced a hand beside you on the pillow and used the other to grasp the base of his cock.
He leaned down to kiss your forehead again.
“I ain’t gonna hurt you,” he said softly.
You knew it wouldn’t be the easiest to keep that promise—at a minimum, discomfort seemed almost a given—but of course, Joel managed it remarkably. It was like he understood your body better than you ever had yourself.
The first push of his hips got him no more than half an inch, but the feeling was fine. He’d applied more lube, moved as slow as he possibly could, and grabbed your toy, which had been tossed to the side on the bed. He turned it back on, and, while notching in the head of his bare, slippery cock, he pressed it to your clit. You jolted more than a little at the buzzing—and you focused on it.
You weren’t even thinking of the stretch, as the sensation blended with the pleasurable vibrations between your legs, and you visibly relaxed. Your muscles softened.
Thanks to that, Joel was able to glide in another half inch, and his tip fit snugly inside you. It didn’t hurt.
In fact, it actually felt pretty…nice.
Tight.
Strange.
But also very, very right. Like you’d unlocked some secret bliss, and Joel was guiding you through it.
The buzzing struck you in just the right spot, and that only amplified the feeling as Joel pushed even further.
“See?” he murmured, voice the slightest bit strained. “Ain’t gonna hurt ya, sweet pea. Lean into that feeling.”
Another minuscule slide, another tight smile from Joel.
He was really trying not to go too fast, or cause pain.
“Just…relax f’me. Let me in,” he coaxed you gently.
You tried. And it almost felt like you were losing your virginity all over again, so odd and unfamiliar and new was this pushing, pulling, contracting, and tightening, the last of which couldn’t seem to have been helped.
You were giving him something in a way, though an uncharted physical boundary wasn’t all that it was.
Joel met your gaze, and he clearly felt it, too.
“I love you,” he said, nose brushing yours.
I love you, I love you, I love you, he seemed to say with every strange, painstaking inch. You accepted him, and you drew in a labored breath, lips parting to say it back.
“I lo—oh fuck.” Your words tapered off in a moan.
Joel was down to the hilt, completely sheathed.
Your muscles clenched one more time, and—
“Damn. Oh, shit. Fuck. Fuck, I-I love you.”
Your arms snaked around Joel’s neck, and you held on tight. You gripped him even tighter below, and your eyes trailed down, momentarily, to see how he’d made this fit.
Joel chuckled.
“Like how we look?”
“I love it,” you panted back. “I love having you here.”
And really, you’d never seen a sight more mind-numbing—whenever Joel was inside, balls deep and filling you up to the brim, you got lightheaded just watching him—and knowing how close you were, physically and emotionally, made it even better. Joel looked down with you and stroked the back of your neck. He helped tilt your head.
“Where?” he said. Teasing. “Where’s daddy, baby?”
And shit was he smug. Handsome as anything.
You knew just as well as him what kind of effect your words would have when next you told him, tone soft:
“In my ass. Feels—feels so good, daddy.”
Acknowledging the fact alone was enough to make your breath hitch, and Joel’s cock to twitch inside you as he let out a groan. He drew back, just an inch, and both of you grunted with the friction. You clung tighter to Joel.
“Fuck me now,” you begged him. “Please, daddy.”
Maybe you weren’t ready. Maybe you were still getting accustomed to the stretch and the sting and the weight of Joel Miller’s broad, warm body pressing into you then, but at that moment, you didn’t care for perfect timing. You didn’t need it to be ‘right’—you just wanted Joel a panting, groaning mess above you while he worked himself in and out of you, repeatedly. You wanted more.
“Gonna cum if I move too fast,” Joel confessed, sheepish
“That’s alright. I’m close, too.” And it was the truth.
“Yeah? Y’like gettin’ this ass fucked that much?”
Of course you did. Clearly, you liked it a lot.
You nodded your head, and you held onto Joel’s gaze. He didn’t waste another second drawing out, almost to the tip, then plunging back in. And again, again, and again.
You couldn’t lie—it burned a little. It felt like Joel’s girth was searing a hole inside you, stretching you tight and leaving you sore, over and over and over with his thrusts.
Still, you liked it.
You loved the pain in a way that wasn’t really hurtful—you just enjoyed how Joel’s cock was invading you, breaking you in and making you his like nobody had.
And Joel liked it, too. His movements seemed to have taken on a more possessive edge as he fucked you into the mattress, bed shaking with every punch of his hips.
“This all mine?” he mumbled against your lips, panting.
Another stroke. Another crash of wood to the wall.
“All yours,” you repeated back. Voice cracking.
Your legs were wound tight around Joel’s lower half, and true to how you two normally had sex, the eye contact was constant. Your faces were inches apart, and Joel’s expression was strained. He swallowed, watching you.
“Ain’t—ain’t nobody else for me but you, baby,” he said, while his Adam’s apple bobbed in his throat and a fine dusting of gray stubble shifted with it. Muscles tensed.
You knew he wanted to say more. Then a door opened.
Thank fuck it wasn’t yours.
Still, you jumped.
You and Joel froze in place as the sound of footsteps echoed in the room directly beside yours—not Tommy and Maria’s, but your father’s bedroom on the other side. Time seemed to speed up and slow at once, and then the door that had opened in the other room slammed closed.
Through the wall, you could hear your dad groan.
Joel’s eyes met yours, and he blinked once.
‘Well…fuck’ that look seemed to say.
You hadn’t been expecting your father back for another hour at least. This, paired with the fact that the man was probably buzzed from whatever outing he’d taken with Helen and keen to stay up, made you nervous. Of course, you and Joel had been banging in secret for ages, but…
“Keep goin’.” It tumbled out of your mouth before you could stop it. Your heels dug deeper where they were planted, and the once-sharp stinging between your legs had ebbed to something more like a dull, tender throb.
Joel’s eyes shone above you.
Then, like he always loved saying: “Yes ma’am.”
He fucked you softer this time—most likely to keep the headboard from screaming—but with as much purpose. His thrusts succeeded at a steady rhythm, and his chest pressed closer to yours; his body weight draped over you
Your ankles locked behind his back, and you drew him even nearer, not wanting to miss one moment of this.
At the same time, a bed frame squeaked with someone’s weight dropping onto it. Again, it wasn’t your bed at all.
It was your dad’s.
He was in the room next door, and of course, his king-sized bed was pressed directly against the wall where Joel’s was positioned on the other side. Your father budged an inch, and you could hear it clear as day.
The walls were paper thin. What if that meant—
“Gotta be quiet,” Joel said through his teeth.
You were both so close to the edge that you were a mess of trembling limbs on the bed; Joel was panting, sweating, telling you over and over again how good you felt, how perfect you fit him, how nice it was going to be to feel you squeezing around him soon, and would you be able to control those pretty moans when you came?
“Gonna scream and let him hear? Have dear old dad come bargin’ in, see what I’m doin’ to his precious girl?”
Oh, fuck.
It was one of the worst things to imagine, you both knew. The thought of your dad catching you in the act, after everything you and Joel had done to keep this under wraps, well…it was nothing short of nightmare fuel.
As a matter of fact, it was horrifying.
It also pushed you both to the brink of climax, trying harder than anything to keep your sounds confined to strangled breaths, your movements to the quickest, quietest bursts, and your words no louder than whispers.
“What? Like finishing in my ass?” you taunted him, low.
Joel groaned. He probably shouldn’t have.
“Gonna let me, sweet pea?”
“Yes, daddy.”
Those two little words were all it took, for either of you.
It seemed like the sound of it was all you needed to hit your peak, and before you knew it, a coil was coming undone; a dam was breaking, and suddenly, shortly, a series of pulses and a rush of hot blood in your head was all you could feel. And then a wetness, spreading deep.
Shooting into the furthest recesses of your body while you fell apart beneath him, Joel’s heat was scorching and soft. It flooded your insides in thick, white ropes.
You wanted to scream with how good it felt. Joel’s expression above you was suffused with just as much pleasure—and pain, trying to contain it—and at the same time tiny dots started to flood your vision, the man’s words were a quiet, constant refrain for almost all of it.
“I love you, darlin’. Always, always gonna—”
“—love you,” you finished for him. “I love you, Joel.”
You might’ve said it fifteen times that night, and it still didn’t feel like it was enough. Your bodies were damp with sweat pressed together, and Joel’s eyes were flitting between yours, searching. In between breaths and lightly peppered kisses, you could tell that he was thinking hard.
You could hear your father cough in the next room over.
There was no better time to say it. As sore and satisfied as you were, as soft as Joel’s lips were grazing yours to soothe them, and as terrified as you both were for what was to come soon enough, the words just tumbled out.
“I’m ready to tell him, Joel,” you whispered.
A beat passed, and Joel blinked.
Then, slowly, a smile crept in.
“Y’mean it, sweetheart?”
“I mean it. Tomorrow.”
Tumblr media
Mark never claimed to be a good father.
In fact, from the first moment he held you in his arms, on the day that you were born, he was almost certain he’d be the shittiest dad there ever was—holding a baby so perfect and sweet, how could he possibly deserve you?
He didn’t. Wouldn’t. Couldn’t, and still, he’d decided just as fast that that didn’t matter, because he would be trying his damn hardest to act like the kind of father you needed to have. You were his entire world, and he’d told you as much all throughout your childhood and beyond.
He should’ve seen Joel coming a mile away.
He hadn’t wanted to believe it the first time.
It might’ve been in a glance he’d caught this fall when Joel thought he wasn’t looking—watching you, and smiling so big that his cheeks probably hurt him a little after—and then the sound of his laughter around you.
It had been easy to chalk it up to superficial attraction, seeing as you were a beautiful young woman. Mark told himself that those kinds of feelings always faded in time.
Then they didn’t.
Mark could say your name aloud once, and you’d think someone had just told Joel he’d won the lottery; that was how his eyes would always light up. Of course, the man would quickly try and snuff it out the second his expression was set ablaze, but Mark caught it.
It might last an instant or five, but he always caught it.
Joel hadn’t batted an eye at the bachelorettes practically throwing themselves at him at the bar the other night. Hadn’t cast a look their way or even attempted to entertain their antics, all while nursing a drink and looking mad as shit. Mark had teased him. Told him he oughta get laid, chase a little tail—put himself out there.
Probably without meaning to, his best friend had given him a look like he was out of his fucking mind to say it.
It was in that moment that Mark realized he had a much bigger problem on his hands than the one he’d expected.
Joel didn’t just have a crush.
He was almost certainly infatuated.
What was worse, it wasn’t just attraction that had him.
What caused Joel’s face to flush each time your name was mentioned, his expression to flare with indignation at the mere idea of being with someone else, and his eyes to nearly pop out of his skull when Mark told him that Tommy might be his daughter’s biological father—complete bullshit, by the way—was what assured him beyond a shadow of a doubt that Joel Miller was guilty.
Mark had invited him down to the beach to confront him.
Then you’d taken a spill yesterday, and plans changed.
What was originally meant to be a showdown with Joel ended up being a heart-to-heart with you, telling the whole ugly truth about his relationship with your mother, Helen, and the very slight possibility that he wasn’t your father. Before that, though, Joel had rushed to your aid.
Out on the boardwalk, in the middle of a bright and sunny day, as if Mark needed another flashing neon sign telling him, ‘Your best friend is head over heels for your daughter,’ he found the two of you together: Joel crouched beside you, his eyes scanning you in a panic.
That look wasn’t far off from the one Mark had been wearing himself. It made him wonder even worse things.
Was he—
No, he couldn’t.
He didn’t even know you like that.
It couldn’t be that his daughter had reciprocated anyway.
You were a good girl, and there wasn’t a chance in a million years you had the faintest inkling about any of this nonsense—of that much, your father was certain.
Now, strolling down to the same beach in the same clothes he’d had on yesterday because he hadn’t been able to sleep, Mark was deep in thought. It was 7 A.M.
The sun had just begun its ascent in a sky painted tangerine and pink, and the breeze on his skin was soft.
Calming.
Mark knew he’d have to have one of the most soul-draining conversations that day, telling his best friend that his daughter was completely, unequivocally off-limits, and that he never stood a chance with her, ever, and still, he tried to stay optimistic. Tried telling himself that nothing too bad could happen in a place this pretty.
Idly, he scanned the horizon. His eyes roamed everyplace they could, watching the waves make their way to the shore and lap at the sand every other second, gently.
Nothing too bad.
Nothing too terrible.
Nothing a simple, straightforward conversation couldn’t be able to fix, and then things would go back to normal.
Mark’s gaze drifted to the shore. A couple stood at the water’s edge, huddled together, and presently, he took a sip from his travel mug. The coffee’s heat soothed him.
One day, his daughter would find someone her own age.
Someday, Mark hoped, Joel would find his person, too.
His attention shifted from directly in front of him to the tumbler in his hand, and only vaguely was he aware of some far-distant splashing. He read what his mug said.
Emblazoned on the side, in letters a bright yellow shade:
WORLD’S
BEST
DADDY
You’d gotten him that in first or second grade for Father’s Day, if he was remembering correctly. Mark smiled at the memory, recalling how pleased you’d looked handing it over to him. Two gaping holes between your front teeth, grinning like he was the single most important person in the world and your hero, for life.
He’d keep trying to be that guy for you.
No matter what happened, he always would.
Just as old memories began to fade, his gaze lifted.
Still smiling, still reminiscing and trying his best not to worry too much about what was in store for him that day, Mark fixed his focus on the beach out front, and to the happy, laughing couple now chasing each other down it.
The girl stumbled; the guy snapped her up in his arms.
“Daddy, stop!” the former shrieked, giggling.
Then Mark’s face drained of all its blood.
Tumblr media
“Daddy, pleeeeease!” you begged for mercy.
There wasn’t a chance you were getting out of this.
You’d defaulted to using your most cloying, affectionate voice with Joel in the hopes of making it out of his grip and not ending up in the ocean, but that seemed unlikely
Impossible, really, as Joel squeezed you tighter to his chest and started stalking toward the water’s edge where waves were hitting the sand and your worst fears were being realized. You squirmed harder in his arms and kicked your feet like you were being dragged to the chair.
“You asked for this, sweet pea,” Joel chuckled softly.
In point of fact, you had. You’d asked him to take you swimming at 7 A.M., just after the sun had started to rise, but on the journey over, you’d changed your mind.
It was chilly as shit, and the water looked uninviting.
You’d thought a quick dip—possibly naked—could’ve been a fun little sidebar in an otherwise nerve-wracking day for you and Joel, but now you just wanted to be back in bed. Under the covers, kissing each other, grinning like two lovesick fools as you planned for the future, maybe…
“Let me go!” you wheezed. “I’ll—I’ll do anything.”
Joel had just made it into the water up to his knees. He was cradling you in his arms, smiling as he peered down.
“Anything?” he repeated.
“Anything!”
In a moment when some dirtier thoughts might’ve been starting to take shape in Joel’s mind, you decided to capitalize on the opportunity: you jumped up. Out.
While Joel was momentarily distracted, you got away from his hold and went stumbling toward the water. Narrowly, you kept your body upright and grinned.
Then, like a crazy person, you dropped to your knees.
It was meant to be a joke, obviously—waves rushing almost to your hips at this depth and a surge of murky, ice-cold ocean water all but chilling you down to the bone—and Joel laughed. He tried not to trip when you yanked him by the swim trunks and tugged his groin closer to your face, and then you were going to stand.
You were freezing your ass off, but you couldn’t resist giving Joel one, teasing wink as you looked up at him.
“I’ll suck your dick right here, real quick, if you—”
“MILLER!”
One word pierced the cool, windy climate like a blade.
What was once quiet and easy all at once became a cacophony in a single sound—your head jerked to it.
Your hands and feet flailed to get you standing back up.
Joel almost fell backward trying to make some space from where you’d just been kneeling in front of him, pretending to blow him at the worst possible moment.
You hadn’t seen it at the time, but now you did.
Your dad was standing on the shoreline, aghast.
No more than ten feet away on the hard-packed sand and staring on in horror, he remained there, motionless. While you regained your bearings and Joel shifted on his feet, probably trying to hide the boner poking up through his swim trunks, it seemed as if your father would never speak. He was so still, eyes wide and jaw hanging slack.
Then the scene changed faster than you could blink.
Your father was a blur of blue and gray, still wearing the jeans and t-shirt he had on the day before, and Joel was stationary. Shirtless. Entirely unprepared for when the former sped forward and, like something out of a nightmare, went for his neck with one, hard hit.
A stainless steel tumbler in the other hand made for an easy weapon; you recognized the shape of it immediately
Just as that travel mug struck the side of Joel’s skull and gave an audible crack, you saw the words fly by in a haze
WORLD’S
BEST
DADDY
DADDY
DADDY
“DADDY!” you screeched as the old, weathered steel came down on Joel’s head a fourth time, unforgiving.
Joel was cowered in the water on his hands and knees, having been knocked off balance with the third full hit, but he wasn’t moving away. Wasn’t fighting his assailant.
As a wave rolled over his frame and soaked his back and shoulders, you saw him lift a hand, and it was trembling.
Not venturing to fend off the blows to his face but rather making a plea of a kind, Joel tilted his head to his friend.
The shock that had had you paralyzed up until that point snapped then. Before you knew what you were doing, you were trudging over in the water, motions graceless.
Your father raised the mug again, and your vision blurred.
You didn’t sound like yourself, screaming: “Stop! Stop!”
The words hardly felt like yours at all, or seemed to have been heard. Your dad did drop the tumbler, but only to yank Joel up by the back of his head and stand over him, threading fingers through wet locks of salt-and-pepper and pulling hard. You saw Joel wince, and at the same time, you realized you were seeing his face on full display
Still crouched down in that frigid ocean, face no higher than a half-foot over the water’s surface, Joel was forced to turn his head to your dad, and the whole left side of it was streaked with blood. Saltwater splashed over his face and seemingly blinded him. The mug must’ve struck Joel right near the temple and torn the skin, because the whole length of his cheek was bleeding.
His head was hardly up for a moment before it was shoved back down, under the water, with brutal force.
This time, you grabbed your dad. Sank nails into his arm.
“Daddy, please. Please don’t hurt him, pl—” you started.
“My fucking daughter?!” your father roared over you.
Joel’s head might’ve been under for a second before it was jerked back up, and you saw him spitting up water.
Your dad was asking a question. It came again.
“My fucking daughter, you fucking—”
And the last part cut out, swiftly.
Joel’s head went under again, and simultaneously, you shoved as hard as you could to get your father off of him.
For a second, you did.
Joel’s head was released, and he resurfaced.
Your father took a hard breath and gritted his teeth.
And, just when you thought he might be reconsidering, or else slowing his attack, he went right back. He lunged for Joel and forced him under the water again, and every nerve-ending in your body seized with fear. Instincts kicked in, and you were about to reach over toward your father in a more demanding push. Maybe yank his shirt, shove him hard, tell him this isn’t Joel’s fault, let him—
“Go,” your dad snarled, pulling Joel back again. “Tell me.”
You expected another hit; maybe a kick to the head.
Instead, your father stunned you then, shouting:
“Are—are you fuckin’ in love with her, Joel?!”
It should’ve been low. Harsh. Threatening. And it was all those things, but underneath it, for the first time, you heard hurt commingled with it. Your dad’s grip tightened in the hair at the nape of Joel’s neck, and he bent down closer. He brought his face within a foot of his friend’s.
Joel, for the first time since he’d been hit, didn’t hesitate.
“I love her.”
As fast as he’d asked, your father kneed him in the face.
Joel’s head jerked back with the force, and at the same time, blood spurted from both nostrils. He blinked hard.
You wanted to strike the man standing over him even harder, and presently, you tried. You stepped up to your dad, about to take hold of his arm and yank it back, when suddenly, sharply, he turned to you. His eyes were ablaze
“And you?” he hissed.
He grabbed Joel again.
You didn’t have to think.
“I love him, daddy, I love him.”
Your father shoved Joel under a fourth time, as if punishing him for your response. Your stomach lurched.
And, in much the same way sheer impulse had guided your last answer, your body moved without considering itself. Your limbs moved of their own volition, and not thinking, it moved closer—this time, not to your father.
You dropped beside Joel.
He resurfaced a second later, sputtering for air.
His face was mottled with blood. Even with a near constant surge of water and being submerged every other instant, the bleeding was profuse. He kept blinking.
And, thanks to all the hits he’d taken, he hardly seemed to see the world in front of him at all. He coughed again.
More blood.
More blinking.
Scarcely conscious at all, he inched closer to you.
Over the lapping of waves, your pulse thudding in your ears, and sobs racking through your chest, you couldn’t hear much at all. Still, you saw his lips move limply then.
“‘M’sorry—”
The sound stopped and started with a strangled breath. One from him to exhale at first, and another to suck in some air while he was able. In the next second, before either one of you could think, his head was forced under.
It was held underwater, hard, by your father.
Tears nearly had you blinded, but you saw it.
Time might’ve slowed a little more, and your sense of seconds and minutes could’ve skewed, but it was still clear as anything to you that your dad was keeping Joel there, unable to breathe, and he refused to move an inch
You blinked, and the body in front of you had gone limp.
Tumblr media
In summary:
Tumblr media
3K notes · View notes
galaxythedragonshifter · 1 year ago
Text
I'm slowly realizing that browser pet games just aren't for me-
0 notes
luwha · 9 months ago
Text
LMAO so, recently someone tried to SCAM me, so i'll show you what happened and the telltales of it being a scam.
Tumblr media
This one is quite obvious but i know people who are just starting their artist careers and might not have experiece.
Follow the thread:
Tumblr media
🚩#1: They pick your most famous/Popular art as reference. They don't know what you actually sell.
🚩#2: They will pick a random popular character. They're not roleplayers or anything. They're not here for the art in any level
Tumblr media
You ask me, what are the odds they really like Goku? Oh, well, you'll see. At this point i check their profile for anythign that might indicate it, but as you'll see you won't have to.
🚩#3: They say they saw my ToS. On it i state i only work with paypal and google forms.
Tumblr media
🚩#4: Random issue with payment method. They might have a real problem with it, but see; they'll never ever accept any other payment method, such as Zelle, CashApp, Payoneer, Ko-fi, etc.
I already knew this drill so, let's continue.
Tumblr media
🚩#5: I love playing dumb lmao. Anyway, this scam revolves on them either sending you "too much money" and asking it back or something like it. I won't be following through because i know it'll be annoying.
BE ADAMANT WITH YOUR METHODS. Do NOT EVER bend them for randos.
Tumblr media
🚩#6: They're so ready with the info on how the payment works it's fucking funny.
The reason I PERSONALLY use PayPal INVOICES (no any other payment within paypal) is that they're safe for both me and my client. My rules are stated clearly.
MAKE A ToS I BEG YOU YOUNG ARTIST
Tumblr media
🚩#7: They're not even a good scammer lmao they REFUSE to go on my PROFILE to get a link or read anything.
I use Forms because it collects the client requests and it's easier for me to read it all in one place. It ALSO makes scammers bored.
Tumblr media
🚩#8: They're so disinterested on the art they don't care for posing, vibes, colors, nothing. Again, they're NOT here for art. That's hilarious.
Tumblr media
🚩#8: Same as above. They don't care for posing or anything.
On my art they link me, i have a vampire almost staking himself in a state of euphoria.
IMAGINE VAMPIRE GOKU STAKING HIMSELF THAT'S SO FUCKIGN FUNNY MY BRO, THINK YOUR SCAM THROUGH MAYBE
Tumblr media
🚩#9: They will price your own work for you. And they'll overshot what we, smaller artists, charge for it.
They'll overshot by a lot.
They want you to be impressed and showing "generosity" usually gets people who need monay into risky situations. That's just plain cruel.
Tumblr media
🚩#9: Same as above. Over generosity and eagerness to pay.
They're not even with the sketch, this haven't been an hour, they don't have any work form me but OH GOD they're SO READY to pay you NEED TO KNOW they WANTS TO PAY YOU SO BAD
Lmao yeah it's working out ❤️
Tumblr media
THIS ONE IS JUST HILARIOUS BRO I CAN'T EVEN.
ANYWAY let's continue
Tumblr media
🚩#10: They don't know me. They don't follow me. They broke every rule on my ToS. They're making me go through a payment method i am unfamiliar and don't use.
They don't care for my process. They're not interested on my sketch.
BE. ADAMANT. ABOUT. YOUR. RULES. AND. PROCESS.
Tumblr media
Now, for the beautiful closure of this:
Have a ToS. Don't bend the rules for randos.
Use Invoices. Be sure you're safe.
Use forms if you'd like. Requests through DM and Discord ARE COMMON FOR OTHER ARTISTS. I personally don't like it, i have ADHD.
Tumblr media
Being an artist on an online space is dangerous. If you need help, poke an artist you know, see how they operate and if it fits you. Most of them would help you.
🚩#11: goku isn't even on their icon 😭
This is the account that tried to scam me.
#art is life ❤️
4K notes · View notes
ilovolderman · 3 months ago
Text
Hiding in Plain Sight
Tumblr media
Pairing: Bucky Barnes x reader
Summary: You and Bucky sneak away for a secret rooftop date
Word Count: 1k
Warnings: secret relationship, fluff, nosy teammate (guess who), taylor swift 🤭
A/N: this is part 3 of a little series, but you can totally read it on its own. i poured a bit too much of myself into this one, and it’s my favorite so far. you can check here: part 1 & part 2. hope you like it and please let me know if maybe you would like a part 4.
It starts with a note—folded twice, slipped under your door, and written in Bucky’s ridiculously neat handwriting:
“Mission briefing: Meet me on the roof at 8. Wear that hoodie I like. Bring your appetite. Everyone’s out tonight. – B.”
You grin like an idiot and stash the note in your pocket, heart fluttering.
At exactly 8, you sneak through the halls of the compound like a very suspicious ninja, hoodie up, steps quiet. You take the service stairs two at a time, and when you push open the rooftop door, the city lights bloom around you like fireflies.
Bucky’s already there. You sit down next to him on the blanket, legs folded beneath you as Bucky hands you a burger wrapped in foil. He’s already grinning before you even open it.
“You didn’t,” you say, suspicious.
“I did,” he says proudly. “Double Cheesezilla. Extra onion rings. No tomatoes. Just how you like it.”
You squint at him. “Okay, first of all, you remembered that? Second of all, are you trying to seduce me with a burger right now?”
He leans in, eyes twinkling. “Is it working?”
You laugh, nudging his shoulder with yours. “Unfortunately, yes.”
For a while, you eat in a comfortable silence. The breeze is warm, and the city lights glitter below like scattered stars. He passes you fries and steals a sip of your milkshake, acting like he didn’t just order the same thing.
Then his voice breaks the quiet.
“Y’ever think about what it’d be like if we didn’t have to sneak around?”
You glance over at him, chewing slowly. “You mean like… just be open about this?”
“Yeah. No more crawling out windows or hiding in broom closets or pretending I didn’t order you three milkshakes last week.”
You smile. “To be fair, I think Tony already found out, when you asked FRIDAY to play Taylor Swift over the speakers in the kitchen.”
“I panicked, okay?” he laughs, covering his face with his hand. “You left and I missed you.”
You blink. “I was gone for ten minutes.”
“Felt like hours.”
You feel your heart stutter in the best way. He’s not always this open—usually it takes a bit of teasing to get him to admit how he feels. But here, now, under the stars and above the city, he’s soft.
“I like this,” you say quietly. “Even if we have to sneak. It’s kind of… ours. Like this little world no one else gets to see.”
Bucky’s quiet for a second, then nods. “I like it too. Not just because it’s secret. But because it’s you.”
Your cheeks heat up. You look away, but he’s already watching you with that look again—that look like you’re the only thing in the world that matters.
“You know,” you say, trying to lighten the mood before your heart explodes, “if someone catches us again, I am not hiding in a broom closet. You’re too big and you stepped on my foot like four times.”
“I told you, I was trying to make space for you!”
“There was no space, Bucky.”
“Well then next time,” he says, shifting closer, his voice dropping, “we’ll hide somewhere better.”
“Like?”
He smirks. “Like under the table in the conference room."
You gape. “You’re insane.”
You roll your eyes, but you’re grinning too hard to make it convincing. “You realize that under the conference table is, like, the opposite of discreet, right?”
Bucky shrugs, totally unbothered. “Not if we’re quiet.”
You scoff. “You? Quiet? You’re literally 200 pounds of muscle and metal.”
He grins and leans back on his hands, all confidence. “I’m surprisingly stealthy when I’m motivated.”
You toss a fry at him. He catches it in his mouth, smug as hell.
“I can’t believe I’m dating you,” you say, half-laughing, half-swooning, when suddenly you hear the rooftop door creak.
You jolt upright.
“Go,” Bucky whispers urgently, already helping you gather the soda cups and tuck the food wrappers under the blanket.
You scramble behind one of the big industrial vents, crouching low just as the door swings open.
“Barnes?” Sam’s voice echoes through the rooftop. “Why does it smell like fries and secret feelings up here?”
“Barnes?” Sam’s voice cuts through the night. “Why does it smell like french fries and teenage romance up here?”
Bucky clears his throat and leans back like he’s been chilling here all along. Totally not on a secret date. Totally not with his heart still racing from kissing you.
“Hey,” he says coolly. “Didn’t know you were coming up.”
Sam steps out, eyeing the scene. The fairy lights. The two cups. The suspiciously rumpled blanket. The very not-Bucky playlist still going in the background.
“Uh-huh,” Sam says. “You always hang out up here listening to Taylor Swift?”
Bucky doesn’t even blink. “It’s… connected to Y/N’s phone.”
Sam raises an eyebrow.
“She was showing me a playlist earlier,” Bucky lies smoothly. “Must’ve accidentally left it on Bluetooth. You know how it is. One second you’re listening to Metallica, next thing you know, boom—Swiftie central.”
“Right,” Sam says, slowly circling the blanket like he’s collecting evidence for a crime scene. “And the two soda cups?”
“She drinks a lot of water,” Bucky deadpans.
“The fries?”
“I was hungry."
“The pink lighter?”
Bucky hesitates. “It’s… mine?”
Sam gives him a look. “Man, you are the worst liar I’ve ever met. Even Steve was better and his idea of subtlety was a trench coat and sunglasses.”
Bucky shrugs, trying to hold back the grin tugging at his mouth. “What do you want me to say, Sam?”
“I wanna know why Taylor’s singing about soulmates and there’s a literal picnic blanket up here.”
Before Bucky can answer, the speaker clicks into the next song: Enchanted.
Sam’s eyes narrow.
“Don’t,” Bucky warns.
Sam’s smile spreads. “This night is sparkling, don’t you let it go…”
“I will throw you off this roof.”
“I’m wonderstruck, blushin’ all the way home—”
Bucky stands up. Sam bolts for the door, laughing all the way down the stairs.
You and Bucky exchange a look, as soon as you leave your hiding place, trying not to laugh.
“Should’ve locked the damn door,” Bucky mutters.
You smile, brushing your hand against his. “Still worth it.”
He squeezes your fingers gently. “Definitely.”
You close the space between you with a soft kiss, slow and warm, the kind that makes you feel like maybe the world really does stop spinning for a second. When you pull back, his eyes are still closed, like he’s trying to memorize the moment.
Then—
“FRIDAY, please tell me you’re not watching this,” you mutter.
“Not at all,” the AI replies blandly, “but Mr. Stark is wondering why the rooftop cameras are mysteriously malfunctioning.”
You and Bucky exchange a look.
“…Run?” you suggest.
“Run,” he agrees.
You grab the blanket and the fries, and he grabs your hand, and you both sprint for the stairs laughing like idiots.
Tumblr media
next part
2K notes · View notes
kamospeach · 5 months ago
Text
Tumblr media
plot: yuji spends the day with unckuna and his favorite girl
content warning: lil smut to start off, mating press, more smut at the end, doggy, breeding, cum eating, choking
peachy's yap: wc 2k .ᐟ i love anything revolving around sukuna being a uncle to yuji. might do one where yuji is older ! kinda short because it's basically a crack fic.
Tumblr media
mornings were the best time for sukuna to get a nut off. you laid next to him naked doing nothing in particular. but it was just enough for his dick to get rock hard and leak precum. he would nudge your shoulder and whisper in your ear.
"you up?" he asked pulling your eyelid up and looking at you and you sighed.
"i am now ryo..." you said with an annoyed tone and he smirked pulling the covers up.
"look how hard i am baby... can i just slip it in. i promise to be gentle," he asked and you were a sucker for sukuna asking politely. even if you did know it was a lie and 10 minutes later he'd be pounding into you. your knees on the sides of your head as his thick cock pounded into you.
"ryo y...you said you'd be gentle," you whined and sukuna hummed in your ear. you attempted to slow his thrust by pushing his thigh. but you stopped nothing as sukuna was relentlessly bullying your poor pussy.
"i can't help it ma, you look so good when you wake up," he grunted close to finishing. his dirty words pushed you closer and closer to your climax. "shit i feel you, i feel you cum on my dick." he moaned feeling your walls clench around him letting him know you were close. he made one last exaggerated thrust and you whined as you came.
"nghh ryooo~," you yelped as sukuna's phone rang. he stilled inside you as you looked at the clock and he checked his phone. it was 8 am... you both looked back at each other realization hitting you both. you agreed to babysit yuji today.
next thing you knew the doorbell rang back to back either jin being childish or yuji eager to see his uncle kuna. sukuna quickly pulled out of you, although frustrated he had to keep his promise. even if he did want a nut he loved yuji way more than his pleasure. you came so that means both people he loved would be satisfied.
you stood up slipped on a bra and panties grabbing appropriate clothing. after you slipped on sukuna's sweatshirt you ran downstairs. you wanted to say hi to jin as well so you put a little pep in your step. the two brothers sat on the couch as yuji sat on the floor wheeling his car. hearing your footsteps yuji was the first to notice your presence.
"teetee!" he yelled running to you and you picked him up playfully kissing all over his face.
"hello my baby." you smiled walking over to sukuna and his brother. sukuna gave you a nasty side eye as you played with yuji. the three of you engaged in conversation until it was time for jin to leave.
"uncle kuna, what are we doing today?" yuji asked sitting on your lap.
"for one you can get off my girlfriend," he said and yuji tilted his head to the side not exactly sure who he was talking about.
"whoo?" he said turning his head to look up at you "my teetee is your girlfriend?" he asked genuinely confused it looked like his poor head was spinning.
"you didn't know that yuji?" you asked and she shook his head. "well... anyways i was thinking we could go to the amusement park."
"yes! i want to ride the alligator ride!" yuji screamed jumping off your lap and running to grab his backpack. "i kept telling daddy but he kept telling me to wait."
"cause your uncle kuna wanted to take you." you laugh looking at sukuna whose face turned pink as he looked away.
"don't tell the brat that he'll be asking to go again," he complained knowing if yuji asked to go anywhere sukuna would take him. that's just the type of person sukuna was, he loved but not outwardly. he definitely thought he was slick.
"uncle kuna can i have a churro," he asked struggling to put on his human earthworm backpack and you helped him. (y'all weren't leaving for another hour and a half)
and just like he asked yuji ran through the park with a churro. his leash only letting him go so far as sukuna held it tightly. you looked at the two laughing at the way he gripped the handle.
"you did not need to get a leash." you shook your head and sukuna side eyed you. turning his chin up at you like a snooty mother.
"don't you see the way he's running off? you think i didn't need a leash?" he scoffed as yuji ran trying to pull sukuna behind him. "plus it's an alligator leash." he smiled at you, his canines showing which made you feel some type of way. you had to shake your head to rid your brain of the nasty thoughts.
"whatever." you waved him off as you both pulled up to the alligator ride yuji was so desperate to ride.
"i'm not riding this shit... it's childish." sukuna scoffed and you frowned not liking his attitude.
"it's not childish." you defended and sukuna didn't agree with you not one bit. "oh i get it now... you don't want to ride it because you're scared." you said in fake realization and sukuna looked at you in bewilderment.
"me? scared of a kid's ride? never. matter of fact i'll prove it." he said as you made it to the front and you all got in sitting with each other. sukuna had his arms crossed the entire time as the workers locked the seats.
"you're leaving in 3...2...1! have a good ride!" the attendant yelled as the alligator-shaped ride zoomed off. the ride went up an incline to which sukuna rolled his eyes and called it puny. arms still crossed as the ride hit the drop. you and yuji screamed as the thrill rushed through you.
unexpectedly the ride hit a sharp turn and sukuna grabbed the handlebars. out of nowhere, the ride went completely sideways and sukuna yelled.
"what the fuckkk!" he yelled as the ride stayed sideways for a while. the ride continued speeding off and sukuna yelled again. "what kind of kid's ride does this!"
"sukuna shut up!" you said as the ride finished and you stopped in the station. he was embarrassing you with his loud screaming.
"no this is a fucking death trap!" he yelled as the seats unlocked and grabbed yuji. he was acting like a mom who complained about everything. "we're never coming back here!" he yelled carrying yuji over his shoulder. yuji lifted his head and waved at the workers at the ride.
"bye!" he smiled happily not understanding what his uncle did.
"sukuna you cussed around all those kids," you whispered and sukuna snorted.
"you think i care when they almost killed my nephew," he said still holding yuji over his shoulder and storming off from the ride. yuji just rode on sukuna loving that he was upside down. while sukuna yelled about suing the park yuji had his arms out feet kicking as he pretended to be a superhero.
you were embarrassed that sukuna was making a scene because the ride scared him. yuji had fun and that's all that mattered but he swore up and down they tried to 'kill his nephew'. after some convincing sukuna finally shut up, and the three of you sat at a table eating. yuji licking at an ice cream cone while sukuna ate his chicken strips.
"they're not the best they're just alright," he grumbled his actions telling a different story as he quickly took down the chicken.
"iths okay uncle kuna because my ice cream is yummy!" yuji smiled with ice cream all around his mouth. you grabbed a napkin wiping his face as sukuna sent a deadpanned look to yuji.
"thanks, yuj' that makes me feel so much better knowing your food is good and mine isn't," he said sarcasm evident in his voice. but of course, yuji didn't notice.
"you're welcome uncle!" he giggled going back to attacking his ice cream. sukuna looked at you as you laughed with your hand covering your mouth.
"how's your food?" he asked you and you nodded enjoying your meal.
"i like mine." you smiled and he nodded staring at you.
"that's good," he mumbled resting his cheek on his palm. his eyes looked around the park now and then but they mainly stayed on you and yuji.
you guys stayed at the park for another 3 hours. sukuna finally found the fun in the rollercoasters and you all had a good time. you carried yuji out of the park and he was knocked out on your shoulder.
"he's not too heavy, is he? i could always carry him," he asked and you shook your head with a smile.
"no, he's not that heavy, did you have fun?" you asked laughing knowing the first part of your trip was iffy. surprisingly sukuna nodded his head smiling and looking at you.
"yeah, it was my first time at an amusement park." he laughed and you gasped looking at him.
"that's why you were so scared! you've never been on a roller coaster before." you pointed at him and he scoffed.
"i wasn't scared." he waved you off opening the door for you to put yuji in his car seat. you buckled him in as sukuna walked around you to open your door.
"you definitely were scared but it's okay," you said getting in the car and sukuna closed the door. when he got in the car he gave you a look that you supposed meant he disagreed with your statement. "it's okay really... you're still my big strong boyfriend."
"hell yeah i am." he scoffed nodding his head with now newfound confidence. he smiled to himself as he drove to jin's house to drop off yuji.
sukuna wouldn't tell you but spending time with you and yuji healed his inner child. whenever you all had a good time it made him feel like he was back in his childhood or his lack of one. and that's why whenever he got the chance to spend time with yuji he would.
and you? when you both got home he needed to finish where he left off of course. this time he had your face pressed into the mattress and both hands wrapped around your neck.
he was thrusting with no mercy, he was playing catch up trying to get his nut from this morning that he missed. you had already came 3 times in the last 30 minutes and sukuna had only came once.
"shit baby." he groaned as you gained the stamina to throw your ass back on him. "yeahhh like that," he said stalling his thrust and letting you do your thing.
"can't..." you mumbled into the bed and sukuna laughed.
"yes you can ma you got it." he encouraged you lightly smacking your ass cheek and you fastened your pace making sukuna smile. "that's it..." he laughed at your hips stuttering before he began to thrust into you again. your body fell limp but sukuna helped you keep your arch.
"m'cumming again ryo..." you moaned into the mattress and he never once acknowledged your words. just continuing to pound into like it was the only thing he knew. before you knew it you were cumming around sukuna's cock walls clenching while his thrust stilled. he came in you filling your hole up with his cum.
"fuck..." he panted his chest falling up and down. he let go of your neck holding himself up while his dick was still inside of you. after you caught your breath he pulled out of you. you felt his fingers slid along your folds making your body jerk from being overstimulated. "turn around."
"mmm," you whined flipping over you saw sukuna's cum on his fingers. immediately knowing what he wanted to do you opened your mouth. his fingers went into your mouth and you licked them clean.
"good girl." he smiled at you patting your cheek. as the two of you took your shower he thought about how satisfied he was with his day. he got to fuck you this morning and he got to spend time with yuji. then he got to fuck you again and spend another night with you.
2K notes · View notes
littlemisskookie · 24 days ago
Text
Catch Me If You Can
Tumblr media
Catch Me If You Can
Ship: Crush!Jungkook x Annoying!Reader
Description: You lived to get under Jungkook’s skin, constantly trying to rile him up and annoy him just to get a reaction. What happens when, during a cabin trip with friends, you accidentally push too far?
Warnings: PRIMAL PLAY, (primal kink go brrrrrr), Slight Dub-Con, Exercise (we hate running), More Exercise (we love fucking), Degradation, Humiliation, Praise, Choking, Fingering, Multiple Orgasms, Overstimulation, Dom!Jungkook, Mad!Jungkook (deserves its own warning), Manhandling, Restraining, Teasing, Reader is Annoying AF for the plot, Pussy Slapping, Rough Sex, Unprotected Sex, Outdoor Sex, Public Sex?
Word Count: 10.3k
A/N: I hope everyone enjoys this oneshot! I had a particularly good time writing it up. Please enjoy!
It was a hot summer day when your van strode up to the cabin. Though the roads had been shit, rocky terrain and winding paths to get through the mountains, your arduous journey had come to an end. At last, you could escape the cramped quarters of Yeri's Sedan, stretch your limbs and breathe in the fresh air the wilderness offered. Granted, you would have to squeeze through the extra luggage you guys had crammed in the back with you and Jimin, slipping between the seats and waiting for everyone else to climb out first, courtesy of the two of you sitting in the very back closest to the trunk— but it was well worth the sacrifice.
From your position in the very back you were able to stare at the back of Jungkook's head for a full 8 hours, with him being none the wiser. God, you were a creep for getting satisfaction from that, but you were a woman obsessed. Seeing every time his tattooed fingers would comb through his hair, or the occasional stretches from sitting in the same place for too long, it was a view you were glad you didn't miss from any other seat. Yeri and her boyfriend Jaehyun, who was driving, were sitting in the very front, which left four seats in the back. Jungkook had opted for the middle right, and though being seated right next to him may seem optimal, it would make it too obvious that you were constantly staring. A habit you couldn't keep in check for the life of you. Unfortunately, the sight of Jungkook was irresistible. Instead you let Taehyung take the chosen spot, with you and Jimin sitting in the back with the leftover duffel bags and backpacks you were unable to cram in the trunk.
Not that you were complaining. You could deal with a little less leg room with the privacy you were granted to creep all you'd like. Jimin, sweetheart that he is, was asleep for the majority of the trip, snoring away except for the occasional gas station breaks and rest stops. You were able to peak over Jungkook's shoulder a few times to see what he was up to, but it was mainly doodling in his notebook or playing ad-free games on his phone. No insightful texts for you to spy on or gain intel from.
"Fucking finally!" Jaehyun killed the engine, stopping the radio along with it.
"Thank you for getting us home safely, baby." Yeri reached over the center console to give her boyfriend a kiss, much to the disgust of her brother Tae.
You looked over to Jimin, who was still snoozing, mouth agape and head leaning back in his neck pillow. Shaking his shoulder, you rose him from the dead. "Jimin, buddy, we're here already."
"Here" was a 2 story cabin in a heavily wooded, rural area located in the mountains. With a heated pool and far from civilization, it was the perfect place to recenter and take a breather from every day life. It was a popular destination primarily in the fall and winter, but the six of you were able to get a good price on it for the summer, all of you pitching in on the AirBnB months in advance for this getaway. You were particularly ecstatic about it. Five whole days stuck in a cabin with Jungkook? It was a fanfiction come to life! Granted, you'd prefer it were just the two of you and you had been snowed in, as the story line typically goes, but you'll take what you could get.
Jungkook, who was Taehyung's best friend, had been the object of your not-so secret affections for quite some time now. Always quiet, almost broody, he was a gorgeous specimen who barely even spared you a glance.
Granted, you did your best to annoy him at any opportune moment. Anything to get his attention. Seeing as you were Yeri's best friend, you might as well have been Taehyung's second obnoxious younger sister. Both you and Jungkook were constantly at the Kims' house, giving you ample time to be in his business and know the details of his personal life.
You swore sometimes he hated you, but if he did, he didn't outright show it. When you'd do your best to tease him or get a rise out of him, he'd ignore you or brush off your attempts. Those were the worst. You hated the indifference he gave you. All you wanted was a reaction, to see that pretty face contort into something besides boredom around you for once. Even if it were a joking smile or a grimace or a scowl— you wanted it so bad. Anything to get his eyes to finally lock with yours for more than a second. Anything to get him to notice you.
Then again, after years, you still hadn't gotten much from him. It was as though he were impervious to your feeble attempts. Perhaps he had gotten used to it in your younger years, knowing exactly how to make you tick and truly boil with rage inside. Perhaps he simply never cared. Either way, it was a habit you were unable to break at this point, still acting like a kid with a playground crush, teasing just to get a reaction.
It was the only types of interactions you really got with him anyways.
Jimin, Taehyung's other friend, grumbled as you shook him, looking up and out of the window at the greenery before him. He blinked slowly, taking in his surroundings and turning to you. "How long was I out?"
"Two days," you joked, eyes wandering to Jungkook slipping out of the car. You shimmied between the seats, grabbing your duffle bag with you as you climbed out. "Good luck getting proper sleep tonight. You were pretty knocked out of it."
You stretched your arms overhead, relieving the ache in your shoulders and legs and massaging the sore muscles. You watch Jungkook do the same, observing the sliver of skin revealed as his t-shirt rose up. Thank god this place had a pool. You couldn't wait to see Jungkook shirtless again, to see if his abs had gotten more defined, if his shoulders got any broader, if his biceps got any bigger. Had he gotten any more tattoos in addition to the full sleeve he sported? Your mouth watered at the thought.
"Home sweet home!" Yeri cheered, approaching the front door and putting the code into the lockbox attached to the door knob.
You circled around the car to where Taehyung was opening the trunk. Grabbing onto the handle of your suitcase, you yanked it from the pile, nearly falling on your ass in your attempt.
"Woah! Do you need help with that?" Taehyung questioned (after laughing at your expense). "Yo, Kook! Can you come give Y/N a hand with her bag?"
Your heart practically leapt at the thought as Jungkook approached, immediately grabbing your suitcase as if it weighed nothing.
"How much shit did you pack? We're only going to be here a week," he grunted, reaching for your duffel too. "Go ahead and give me that too."
"Sure you can handle all of that?" you teased, but give him the bag anyway.
"Better than you, that's for sure. You'll be wheezing like an old man trying to carry these upstairs."
He was right about that. You were excited to see him do it, though, seeing his muscles pump up and strain, veins prominent in his hands and forearms as he carried them for you. Sure, Taehyung had told them to do it, but you could let yourself fantasize for a moment that he did so for you. For such an introverted nerd, he was surprisingly a gym rat, with much of his time with Taehyung now spent at the gym.
You obediently followed him into the cabin and up the stairs, getting a great view of his ass. Fuck you needed to stop perving over this man, but you couldn't help it.
Yeri and Jaehyung were going to be downstairs in the master bedroom, where there was one other bedroom for Jimin. Upstairs there were two more bedrooms, one where you'd be solo and the other for Taehyung and Jungkook to share. (Or perhaps Jungkook and Jimin would switch. Taehyung had simply insisted he did not want to sleep anywhere near Yeri and her boyfriend.)
Following Jungkook into what was presumably your room, you took in the space. It was very much a cozy vibe, with western decor and lots of mahogany. The bed was easily big enough for two people.
"Where do you want it?"
Your pulse quickened as you looked at Jungkook with wide eyes.
"Wa— Hm?" You corrected yourself quickly before you could blurt out the words "want it". No need for him to know where your dirty mind had wandered.
"Your bag."
"Oh. On the bed's fine." It'd be fine for you guys to do it, too. You could already see him spread out on the comforter, a meal waiting to be devoured. You tried to wipe the thought from your mind before you started to drool. There'd be plenty of time to fantasize about that later, and all while he was in the bedroom right next to you.
Jungkook dropped the duffel onto the sheets, turning to head out.
"Wait!" You internally curse yourself. "Er, do you need help with your bags, perhaps?"
He raised a brow. "You really think you'd be much help?"
"I mean, your bag is probably lighter than mine. Unless you packed dumbbells are something." You couldn't help but grin at the thought. "Bet a gym rat like you would get withdrawals from being away for so long."
He scoffed at that. "I think I'll manage just fine one week without."
"I dunno." You practically sang the words. "I think I see your biceps deflating already. You haven't been slacking off or anything lately, have you?"
He rolled his eyes, ignoring your comments and leaving your bedroom. You let out a huff of disappointment, grumbling as you tossed yourself onto your bed, kicking at the sheets in frustration. You just wanted him to stay in your room even a minute longer. Then again, if you had the opportunity you'd probably lock him in here. Chain him to the bed and ride him into the sunset if you were feeling truly psycho. (Which, don't worry, you weren't. At least for the time being.)
The day after, the six of you were huddled on the carpet in the foyer after binging the newest episodes of Love Island, glasses of wine in hand. Well, you, Yeri, and Taehyung had wine in hand. Jaehyun and Jungkook had opted for sake, and poor Jimin was already slumped over on the couch from it, no doubt in need of the sleep he evaded last night from his extraneous car nap.
The remaining five of you were playing a drinking game, where one wanted to collect as many of the cards as possible through whatever truth or dare was written on it, or be forced to drink. You were currently working through your third glass of wine, careful not to go to the fourth as you knew it would bring you into solid messy-drunk territory. Yeri was undoubtedly sloshed at this point, her face flushed and rosy as she leaned against Jaehyun.
Jungkook wasn't the least bit drunk, it seemed, only taking one shot and successfully pulling off most of the requests the cards demanded of him. He had a pretty impressive selection, whereas you opted for sips of your wine instead. 
Yeri picked up the card, grinning as she read what was on it. "When was the last time you had sex?" She squealed, giggling as she further nuzzled against her boyfriend. "Well me and Jae—"
"Nope! Quit it!" Taehyung interrupted, snatching the card from her hand, his ears tinged pink from both being flustered and the alcohol. "I do not need to be hearing about that."
"But Taeeeee I don't wanna take another drink," Yeri whined, reaching for the card, which Taehyung held out of her grasp.
"Someone else can do it for you. I do not want to hear anything about my sister's sex life," Taehyung said with disgust. He turned to you, card pointed between two fingers. "Y/N?"
"Oh-ho-ho, you want to hear about my sex life then?" you joked, taking the card from him.
"Better yours than my sister's," Tae grumbled.
Still, you weren't sure if you wanted to share the truth. However, knowing Yeri's drunk state, she'd undoubtedly call you out on it if you told anything but.
Your cheeks flushed further, this time with embarrassment. The truth was you hadn't gotten laid in almost half a decade. But in your defense your vibrator and fantasizes of Jungkook had brought out more orgasms than any of the guys you hooked up with in college, and you weren't in the mood to set yourself up for disappointment. No one could compare to the fantasies in your head, so you'd everyone a favor and not waste anyone's time.
Jungkook nudged you with his shoulder after you took too long pondering. "Are you going to answer or what?"
You normally would've been elated for the brief physical contact, but instead it served as a reminder of his presence for this question. It also made this harder to avoid.
"Do I really have to? I'm not sure it'd be suited for Jimin's delicate ears."
"I'm pretty sure he's snoozing again anyway," Jungkook shrugged, tilting his head to the friend. "Go ahead and do it if you're brave enough."
Well, there was no other option with that. For once you shy away from his gaze, turning your head away as you stare at the card in your hand.
"Four years," you admit quietly.
Taehyung guffawed. "Four years? How have you gone that long? I can barely make it a few weeks."
"Ew ew ew! Now why do I have to hear that?" Yeri complained, shoving at her brother. "He's right though. We need to get you laid, girlfriend."
"Shut uuuup guys," you groaned. "It's not that hard. There's just... There hasn't been someone I wanted to do that with." Who wanted to do it with me, too.
Yeri's eyes lit up with drunken mischievousness. "What about—"
Jaehyun slapped his palm over her mouth, no doubt knowing exactly what she was going to say. Jaehyun, having been Yeri's long time boyfriend, knew all too well about your long standing crush on Jungkook. No need for her to blurt it out to the rest of the room. "I think it's about time I get you to bed."
Yeri weakly protested, but before long her boyfriend successfully dragged her back to their bedroom, and you're left with the other three.
"How come you haven't gotten with anyone in so long?" Taehyung asked, nosy as ever.
You tossed your card in your pile, picking up your wine glass to take a gulp this time. "No one's wanted me I guess."
"Bullshit. I told you last year my friend Jaemin was into you and you never even hit him up." Damn Taehyung.
"He's cute and all just..." You did your best not to glance at Jungkook, instead observing him from your periphery. "I have this idea in mind of what I want things to be like, and I know no one can live up to expectations."
"You sure you're not just too picky or something?" Taehyung chuckled. You wondered for a second if he was also in on your worst-kept-secret.
"Maybe," you admitted. "But it's not worth wasting people's time. I mean, I'm sure eventually I'll find someone who will make me want to at least try."
"And no one has for four years?" Jungkook finally spoke up.
You feel the blood rush to your cheeks at his direct inclusion. No, you wanted to scream. No one but you! "We can't all be easy," you said defensively. Who knew how many other women Jungkook had been with while you were stuck pining.
"We can't all be prudes, either," Jungkook shot back.
That was unlike him. And it stung. You locked eyes with him, and he held your stare, unyielding for once.
"You know, I think it's about time someone gets Jimin to bed. He's going to complain about back pain if we let him stay in that position on the couch any longer," you redirected, breaking off the stare and looking away, ending the game. Suddenly it didn't feel like fun anymore.
Taehyung groaned. "You're probably right."
As he moved to carry his friend back to his room, you exited, wanting as much space from Jungkook right now as possible. You felt embarrassed for the way he called you out like that. Did he really think you were a prude? Someone who wouldn't put out because she was... what? Too good to? Too scared to?
You got up to leave, the air inside suddenly feeling much too stuffy for your tastes. You needed some space from Jungkook and his words, letting your cheeks burn a little less and get your mind off internalizing the interaction. In the backyard now, you headed to the pool, sitting down to dangle your feet in the water, the LED lights from within surrounding you in a near neon blue. You tilted the glass back to your lips, getting whatever leftover drops of wine there was to offer. You definitely pushed too far with the "easy" comment. Served you right for being an annoying brat.
You let yourself dip further into the pool, submerging yourself in the heated water as you put down the glass. It felt comforting to be in here, clothes and all, though you were only wearing an oversized shirt and underwear, having pre-prepared for sleep. She shirt floated along with you, drifting around your waist and upper thighs as you glided through, feeling the warm water kiss your bare skin and bring comfort. Sometimes when you were feeling especially weird you'd float in pools like these and pretend you were back in your mother's womb, safe and protected from the inevitable mistakes that would come with living.
You needed to calm yourself, erase the mistakes of a few minutes before in your mind. You move your arms and float within, keeping yourself upright until you tilt back, laying on the surface as you idly glide along the water. Staring up at the stars, they seemed so much brighter than back home. You could clearly make out a few constellations. Orion's Belt, the big and little dippers...
"What're you doing out here?"
Your peaceful swim is brought to a halt, and you righten yourself to see Jungkook staring down at you.
Why was he out here?
"Swimming."
"I see that," Jungkook said. "You shouldn't swim when you're drunk."
"I'm not drunk," you denied.
"Yeah you are. Your limit is three glasses, and you just finished your third." He looked pointedly at the glass left on the edge. So he had noticed how many you took. And knew you couldn't have more than four.
Well, of course he'd know that. The first time you tried wine was when you were sleeping over at the Kims', and you and Yeri had killer hangovers that resulted in the entire guest bathroom being wiped down. To be fair the two of you didn't know that wine got bad after it was opened, and the bottles that had been hidden in the bar had been there for years.
"So what?" You felt like a petulant child, turning away from him. You were still embarrassed, and weren't expecting to interact or see him again until at least morning. You figured he'd be helping Taehyung with Jimin.
"So you should get out of the pool and dry off." He dropped a towel by the edge. Had he brought that with him?
"What're you gonna do if I don't? Come get me?" You couldn't help but tease. Part of you really wanted him to.
"Funny," Jungkook huffed. He squatted down, the lights from the pool causing the shine of the moving water to dance across his face, illuminating him beautifully. "Can you get out now, please?"
"I don't wanna." You swam a bit further away from him to the other side. You had half the mind to stick your tongue out at him.
There's a beat of silence.
"I'm sorry," Jungkook said. That you didn't expect.
You stilled, keeping your place in the water as you tried to process his words.
"I shouldn't have called you a prude," Jungkook continued. "You have standards. That's commendable. I'm sorry if we— I, made you feel like shit about it. It was wrong."
You held your breath, and it helped you float a bit more. You couldn't believe Jungkook was apologizing to you. Your back was still turned to him, so luckily he couldn't see your expression.
"Are you mad at me?" he questioned.
You swallowed, trying to collect your thoughts. "No." You turn your head to the side, still not directly looking at him. "I'm... sorry too. I shouldn't have insinuated you were easy." If he were, maybe then he'd give you a chance.
"It's fine. C'mon, let me get you out."
He held his hand out to you, and you giddily swam up to him. His large hand completely dwarfed your own, and a small part of your gremlin brain gave you an impulsive thought that drunk-you simply couldn't resist.
You tugged, watching him fall headfirst into the pool, water splashing everywhere as he submerged completely beneath. You let out a maniacal laugh as his head popped up from the surface, a mix of surprise and rage on his features. You had never seen that on his face before.
"Now we're even!" You cackled, watching him sputter out whatever water had gotten into his mouth.
"You are so lucky I didn't have any electronics on me!" he exclaimed. He swam towards you, causing you to squeal and try and swim away. "Oh no you don't!"
His large hands grip your waist, pulling you against him as you wriggle and try to escape his hold.
"Look who's ma-ad!" you breathily wheezed, endlessly amused by the anger on his face. You couldn't help it. You finally got under his skin, and like the child you were, it brought you so much delight. So much satisfaction.
"Of course I'm mad, you're being an absolute brat right now."
"I've never seen you this mad," you continued, grinning up at him. "It's so hard to get a rise out of you."
"You still try, though."
"I do," you admitted, looking up at him cockily. "And today I succeeded."
"C'mon, brat, let's get out of here before I get a cramp from keeping us both afloat." He tugged you closer to his chest, and you feared he might feel your heartbeat quicken.
You tried to squirm out, but his arm his ironclad around your waist as he dragged you closer to the edge. "I can swim on my own!"
"I'm not letting you." Jungkook finally let go of you, only to lift you up with both hands and sit you on the ledge. You're blessed with the sight of him hoisting himself up as well, and the outline of his abs and chest through the now transparent white shirt assured you your little prank was well worth the trouble. He grabbed the towel he had brought before and dumped it on your head, pressing a large hand down and rubbing the fabric into your hair. "Dry," he commanded.
You begrudgingly did as you're told, rubbing the towel over your head and face. Luckily it was still a hot summer night, so it wasn't as though you were freezing when you got out.
You dried as best as you can, wringing your shirt out and offering him the now partially-damp towel. Admiring him while he was partially distracted, you couldn't help but replay the image of his irritated face in your head over and over again, and how much you liked it.
"Thank you," you quietly mumbled, almost hoping he wouldn't catch it. "For coming to get me out."
"Well... I was concerned I upset you." He finished patting himself down. "Besides, now we're even."
After that, you made many more feeble attempts at catching Jungkook's attention. Asking him to reach dishes on the higher shelves when you'd typically have no issue climbing on top of countertops. Knocking on his bedroom door to see what he was up to— though most times it was just Taehyung. One time you accidentally popped in on the elder in the midst of changing, which was embarrassing. No more of that.
Sometimes you accidentally succeeded, however. Like during your hike through the mountains as a group, your left knee started audibly clicking with every step. You tried to swallow the pain, but with how bruised your feet felt and how often you had to stop the group to take a breather, it was becoming difficult. Curse you for being the least athletic of the whole group. You should've joined Yeri in volleyball sophomore year when you had the chance.
Jungkook, chivalrous gentleman has he was, begrudgingly insisted that you climb on his back the rest of the trek down. Not that you really minded, though, feeling his steady heartbeat through his back and wrapping your arms around his shoulders and neck was a dream come true for you. You simply felt embarrassed that you had caused all the trouble, and not even on purpose this time.
On the final day before you all were set to head back home, however, you officially crossed a line.
You hadn't even intended for the night to go the way it did. It was 2 in the morning, and most everyone was already asleep in preparation for the long drive tomorrow. You, though, were a well known insomniac, with tonight being no exception.
Imagine your surprise when you stumbled across Jungkook, lying across one of the pool chairs, tiny sketchbook in hand. He looked fine as hell, hoodie hiding most of his tattoos, gym shorts showing the expanse of his muscled thighs. You were so upset this was your last day living with him, able to invade his space so easily.
With a devilish grin you snuck up behind him, snatching it from above to get a better look. Unfortunately you lost the page he had been working on, and flipping through the earlier pages you recognized the anime and flower sketches he had been working on during the ride here. "May I?"
"Y/N!" Jungkook's head twisted around as he glared at you, swiping for the book which you quickly held out of reach. He huffed with frustration. "Give that back."
"These are good, Jungkook, no need to be embarrassed," you snickered, flipping over a page to see small doodles. "Don't tell me you've got porn or something hidden in here."
Even through the neon LED lights the pool illuminated, you could see his cheeks burn a slight crimson. Ah, so there was something interesting in here. That or he was particularly attached to it. That only gave you further incentive to mess with him.
He stood from the seat, towering over you as he approached. You took a step back, however, keeping the book outstretched the other way. There was no way you were giving up that easily. Shaking his head, he pressed his tongue against the inside his cheek, irritated. He looked so hot. You were delighted at the sight. "You just don't know when to quit, do you?"
"Nope." You flipped over another page, seeing a detailed drawing of a bee and another of a water lilly. Nothing particularly damning yet.
"Why are you always trying to rile me up?" He made a quick move for the book again, but you're quicker, spinning around him and putting it behind your back.
Because it turns me on.
Nope, can't say that, that'd freak him out.
"Cause it's fun," you admitted cheekily. "I rarely get a reaction out of you typically."
"Is this the reaction you're wanting?" He took another step forward, and you take another step back. His eyes were lidded and jaw clenched, irritation prominent in his expression. You're half tempted to run into the woods with the book just to see what secrets he had hidden in it.
"Almost."
"Almost?" he questioned. He glared at you, cocking his head to the side as he studied your mischievous, satisfied expression. "What is it you're wanting?"
Oh, only for you to fuck me where I stand, no biggie.
"Just a bit of fun, clearly. You look like you're about to blow a fuse. There must be something awfully interesting in this book for you to be so territorial over it," you snickered, taking a few more steps back to distance yourself from him and flipping through another page. "I mean, come and get it, if you can."
That seemed to be the straw that broke the camel's back, though, because suddenly you hear a very low, very deep: "That's it."
You acted on instinct as you see him lunge towards you, your feet carrying you away without you having to even think about it. Jungkook's hand swiped for you as you dodged, and you were distancing yourself a few feet per second as you dashed away and out of the backyard. Your heart rate skyrocketed as you snapped the journal shut, clutching it to your body as you sprinted into the trees. You're practically flying across the pre-made path, illuminated well enough now by the moonlight over head.
You didn't think it would go this far. You should've given him the journal at that moment, but you acted on instinct, fight or flight mode controlling your every whim as you dove headfirst into the wooded area surrounding the cabin. You stayed along the path, only able to hear your feet beating against the ground and your heartbeat pounding in your ears.
Maybe you were overreacting, but the look in his eyes as he jumped towards you said one thing: Run.
You looked behind, certain you had been quick enough to lost him, but you see his shadowy form gaining on you. And fast.
Fuck!
Fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck!
You shrieked, making a sharp right off the trail and through the trees. You couldn't even remember the last time you had been chased. It must've been when you were a kid at summer camp. This was nothing like those games of tag, however. The fear coursing through your veins, the danger that was approaching from behind, all of it had given you a surge of adrenaline you had never encountered before.
Your breathing was quick as you dodged branches and swerved between the trunks. Luckily it wasn't autumn, otherwise the crunch of the dead leaves beneath your feet would give away your location. Then again, you had no clue where Jungkook had went either.
You didn't think Jungkook would hurt you. No, you knew he wouldn't.
But you didn't know what he was going to do when he caught you, either. And with how fast he clearly was, it seemed like an inevitability.
You internally cursed, spinning around one of the trees and pressing yourself against the bark, breathing through your nose and trying to make as little noise as possible. Fuck, you couldn't even see the trail or the cabin any more. How deep had you gotten? What if you weren't able to find your way back at this rate?
Panicked, you look around, your eyes now adjusting to the darkness. You're able to take a few slower, deeper breaths, relieved you had lost him.
But the relief didn't last long.
A large hand slammed against the bark next to you, Jungkook popping out from around the trunk. His eyes looked like one of a beast's, dark and ominous as he narrowed in on you. You screamed, ducking beneath and around the other side, barreling further into the dense forest. How had he caught up to you so fast? Why was he so determined?
Your shallow, fast breaths were getting louder now as you pumped your body for all you had, using all of your strength to get away as quickly as possible. You weren't going to make the mistake of looking back again— you knew he was right behind you.
And suddenly you felt arms caging in around your waist, Jungkook's catching you and yanking you to him, sending you both straight to the ground as his body weight crushed yours. The ground bit at your skin, all the breath being pushed out of your lungs as he fell on top of you, the crash chaotic and no doubt leaving bruises from where you landedp. The book flew out of your hands as both of you tumbled down. You scrambled trying to get out from under him, arm outstretched and fingers spread as you try and reach for the book which was just a few inches away, when his larger one engulfs your wrist, twisting you around and manhandling you to flip you on your back.
You had fantasized about Jungkook on top of you many times before, but never quite like this.
He grabbed your other wrist and pinned it down next to your head, shackling you to the forest floor and forcing you to look up at him. You were able to see far too clearly with your eyes adjusted to the night, the moonlight showing the rage on his beautiful face. He was breathing heavily from the exertion of the chase, chest heaving up and down beneath his hoodie as he glared down at you, a wild look in his eyes. His nostrils flared, mouth parted as he took in greedy gasps of air, his face closer to yours than you were used to. You tried to reach a foot up to kick him in the chest, but he dodged, trapping your thighs between his own. You struggled, pushing your hands up to try and twist out of his iron-clad grip, but he remained firm.
There was another spike of fear that ran through you as you realized he wasn't going to let you go.
Fuck, what had you gotten yourself into?
You were in the belly of the beast, trapped with no hope of escape. You tried and twisted some more, and his grip tightened, keeping you glued to the ground with him practically sitting on top of you. He wasn't even looking for the notebook anymore, all of his attention focused solely on you.
He continued to breathe hard, now deeper as you were both finally at a standstill. "Caught you..." he panted, still trying to catch his breath.
You clenched and unclenched your fists, frustrated with how you were helpless beneath him, now unable to fight back. Offering a weak smile, you tried to catch your own breath. "J-Jungkook..." You hadn't meant for the word to come out so airy, almost like a moan. A plea. "You can have the book back... It's right there."
"I don't want it anymore," he snarled.
You gulped, squirming in his hold, something you could no longer hide given your predicament. "O-Oh," you said shakily, trying to offer a laugh. "Let's... Let's talk?"
"Yeah, let's talk," he sneered, with no intention of letting you out from under him. No doubt you'd try and run away again. You'd probably climb over the mountain if it meant escape. "Why're you always testing me, huh? Trying to get under my skin, irritate me. I've tried so hard with you, tried to be patient, but you just don't know when to quit, do you?"
This time you didn't respond, unable to answer his questions. You weren't sure this was exactly the moment for honesty.
"Thought you wanted to talk, sweetheart."
Fuck, that made your heart flutter despite the situation. You look to the side, anywhere but Jungkook, and instead to the leaves and trees overhead above him. "I-I just like annoying you, that's all."
"That's all, huh?" His fingers flexed around your wrists. "It's almost like you like seeing me angry."
You squirmed again, closing your eyes as you try to kick beneath him, heels digging into the ground as you try to push him off. His body weight didn't give you much wiggle room, though and your weak attempts don't go unnoticed by him. You felt so embarrassed, so small and vulnerable beneath his scrutinizing gaze. You turned your head to the side, wanting to shrink away form his hard stare. He didn't let up, however.
"Nuh uh," he hissed, stretching your arms above your head and trapping both wrists in one hand now. Unfortunately you didn't have enough strength to weasel out of the one. All that time you had spent thirsting over his gym photos, and now it was all being used against you. He roughly gripped your jaw, fingers digging into your cheeks as he turned your face from the side and back at him. "Look at me."
Hesitantly, you peeked back up at him, the angry expression you had worked so hard for now glowering down at you.
"Just..." You whimpered, biting your lip with shame. "Just wanted your attention."
The fingers around your face seemed to twitch at that, and his eyes flashed with something you don't recognize. Perhaps surprise? His grip on your wrists tightened, stretching your arms out more to make you squirm with discomfort. "Is that it?" You heard a low, ominous chuckle. "Well congratulations, sweetheart. You finally got it."
Before you could wail out your deepest apologies and beg for his forgiveness, he's tilting your chin up further, craning your neck, and kissing you.
Your eyes widened as you felt the lips you had dreamed of for so long on yours, his tongue delving into your mouth and gliding against yours with ease. He completely dominated you, the hand on your jaw now sliding down the column of your throat, feeling every gasp and moan that travelled through it as he took you completely. He lightly squeezed, as though reminding you to behave. Jungkook pressed his lips harder against yours, not letting you escape, forcing you to feel every part of him you had been so desperate for. Your head felt like it was spinning, fists furling and unfurling as you finally shut your eyes and tried to kiss him back, tried to keep up and have your body process this faster than your brain could. You were in complete disbelief this was happening. Was this real? Were you actually back home at the cabin, having another sick, twisted wet dream about Jungkook?
It was better than any of your dreams or fantasies could have predicted. The way Jungkook's mouth moved against yours, the secure hold against your neck and bound wrists, the subtle grind he made against you, nothing could compare. It felt better than you had ever hoped, and far, far filthier than you had ever dreamed.
Jungkook finally pulled back, breathless once again, lips now glistening in the moonlight as he stared down at you. You were panting as well, staring up at him with wonder at what he'd done, and what he'd do next. Did he regret it? Did he suddenly come to his senses? Realize it was you he was actually kissing in the middle of the wilderness?
His eyes scoured your flushed expression, traveling down to where your chest sunk and rose with each breath, and your thighs trapped between his. Biting his lip, he lifted to his knees, hands still firmly pinning you down as he shoved a leg between your own, nudging them apart. "Spread 'em."
Shocked, you did as you're told, slowly opening your legs to his prying eyes, humiliation coursing through your veins. You had gone outside in your pajamas, just some sleep shorts and a tank top, and there wasn't much modesty you could provide.
Jungkook seemed satisfied with the sight, however, moving his other knee between yours as well as he looked down at the tiny shorts that barely covered you now. "Fuck..." He let go of your neck, his grip loosening as he lightly touched the skin available to him, tracing down over your tank top, between your breasts and past your stomach, stopping just above the hemline of your shorts. He was transfixed, eyes drinking in all they could in the dim light. He locked gazes with you again, hard gaze refusing to let you look away. "Do you want me to touch you? Or do you want me to let you go and run away again?"
You gulped, thighs twitching at the thought of either.
"I need an answer, Y/N."
"I-I—" Curse your infernal stammering. You swallowed the saliva that pooled in your throat, trying to collect yourself. "Please... touch me."
Jungkook grunted in response, grabbing onto the waistband of your shorts and roughly tugging them down your legs, revealing a cute pair of pink panties for him to rip apart. He didn’t admire them too long, quickly yanking them down as well to store in the pocket of his shorts. He used the free hand to roughly pin one of your knees against the ground, keeping you spread for him with no where to hide, your glistening folds shining even in the darkness.
"Fuck, you really like seeing me mad, don't you?" he said under his breath, fingers lightly trailing up from your knee and up your inner thigh. You squirmed under his gaze, flustered and embarrassed at how exposed you were as he continued to unapologetically stare at you, eyes reveling at your bare sex. "Just wanted me to pin you down and fuck you every time you annoyed me, is that it?"
"Y...Yes..." you quietly admitted, hips slightly bucking to try and get his hand closer, to no avail. He pushed against your hip to keep you against the ground, thumb inching closer to where you wanted, rubbing slow circles against the inside of your hip. "Please don't tease."
His nostrils flared at that. "Tease? Like how you tease me all the time? Acting like a little slut just for my attention?"
His hand came down to slap against your wet folds, making your hips jump at the delicious sting. You accidentally let out a moan before you could stop yourself, his hand coming back down to rub against your sex and soothe the pain, traveling between your wet folds and admiring the slick that collected on them.
"Fuck, Jungkook!" You whimpered out the words, tears springing in your eyes.
"God, you're something else..." Jungkook said quietly, as though it were to himself. He let his digits dance against you, teasing around your entrance and clit but never giving you enough. "Every time you'd come begging for my attention, pissing me off, I had to walk away. Because I knew this would happen. Knew I'd just lose it and have to fuck the attitude out of you then and there."
He slipped a finger in and you mewled, pushing further against the hand that bound your wrists together. You weren't able to lift them even a centimeter from the ground. You wanted to reach up and touch him, curl your fingers into his hair and tug, wrap your hands around his forearm and feel the how the tendons worked as he curled his digits inside of you. You dug your heels into the ground, savoring the feeling of Jungkook's finger curling in you repeatedly, the sound of your wetness filling the night air.
"You're so wet for me, took it so easily..." He slipped another digit in, watching you keen as you tried to buck your hips again and greedily swallow him in deeper. "Couldn't just ask me out like a normal person, huh? Had to act like we were still on the playground, just irritate me for fun."
"It worked, didn't it?" you questioned, whimpering as the digits aimed at your g-spot, digging deep into your pressure point, his palm pressed against your mound and grinding against you.
He couldn't help but smile at that. "It did, didn't it?" His hand started moving faster, harder, as though to drive further emphasis to your question. "And now you're going to have to face the consequences."
You felt pressure building up in your abdomen, moaning as Jungkook jackhammered his fingers into you, his thrusts hard and precise. You weren't even able to bring yourself to orgasm this fast, but with Jungkook it seemed like it was about to happen any minute.
Jungkook hovered over you, his face close as he finally let go of your wrists, slapping his palm against your mouth the dull your screams. "Shh, not so loud, sweetheart," he cooed patronizingly, a wicked grin on his face as he saw you struggle and whine, a third finger slipping inside, giving you a delicious burn from the stretch of the girthy digits. "Don't want to wake anyone with those slutty sounds, yeah? Those are all for me."
You were finally able to do as you wished with your hands, both wrapping around his forearm as you felt the muscles move and flex with every curl of his fingers, veins bulging beneath as he worked to get you to the finish line. You couldn't help but let your nails scratch along him a bit, overwhelmed with the onslaught of pleasure he brought. The sound of his palm repeatedly slapping against your wet sex was embarrassingly loud, and the movement of his fingers revealed how into this you were.
"Ah..." Your moan was muffled beneath his palm, but he undoubtedly felt the vibrations against his skin.
"You close? Gonna cum on my fingers already?" His smile was near sadistic as he watched you struggle beneath him. "C'mon, let go for me. So fucking desperate for it."
His thumb came up to dig against your clit, swiping against you as he fingered you to an orgasm. Your toes curled and your thighs quaked, your moan muffled through Jungkook's palm as you arched against the forest floor, bliss overtaking you. Jungkook watched your expression intently, a satisfied smirk on his face as he watched you unravel underneath him, eyes crossed and face flushed as you took what he gave you.
He slowed the pumping of his fingers, pulling them out and rubbing the digits against your clit again. You hated the feeling of being empty again, hips rising for his touch so he'd sink further into you again. Jungkook tsked, offering two more sharp slaps to your cunt to quell your disobedience. "I think you're all warmed up for me now."
He took his hand away from your face, shoving the waistband of his gym shorts and boxers down so his erection could spring free. Grabbing your hair, he forced your head to look down at his cock.
"Take a look, sweetheart. It's the dick you wanted so badly."
He gives your cunt one final, harsh smack before he's roughly shoving your legs apart again, knees glued to the grass beneath as he shuffles closer to you, his cock lying against your bare sex. You tried to gyrate against him, feel him harder against you, wondering if the orgasm he gave you would be enough for you to fit all of that inside. He was just as big as you had hoped and girthier than the three fingers that had already stretched you out so well.
Taking his cock in his hand, he slapped it against your pussy, teasing you further, letting you feel the heavy length that threatened to destroy you. He laughed when he saw the tears of frustration shine at the corner of your eyes. You tried to reach for him again, grab his cock and force it in you in one go, but he grabbed your wrists again, pinning them above you much like before. His face was inches from your own now, cocky and smug expression gleefully mocking your tearful, impatient one. "Are you gonna cry?" he questioned with a pout, sliding the cock head along your folds and teasing it against your entrance before bringing it back up to your clit, rubbing harshly to see your legs shake again. "Poor baby."
"Jungkook please just—" you sniffled, straining against his grasp. "C'mon, put it in, please?"
"Why should I, sweetheart, when you've been nothing but a bitchy little brat?" He emphasized his words with a few more harsh slaps, letting go of his cock to smack his palm against your wet folds, enjoying the way your hips jumped up against the ground, as though chasing his touch. He sneered as you sobbed, lower lip trembling. "What makes you think you deserve it?"
"Want it so bad. Worked so hard for it," you cried, lips trembling.
"Yeah?" He took his cock again, lightly pushing it against your entrance only a few centimeters, but still refusing to dive inside. "Gonna stop annoying me all the time? Trying to rile me up? Gonna be a good slut from now on?"
You nodded quickly. "Yes! Yes, I promise!"
He slowly shook his head, tongue digging into his cheek, tsking with disbelief. "Fucking liar."
With that he slowly pushed into you, watching your lips part into an 'o' and he sunk inch by inch into your wet heat, stretching you completely. You couldn't help the moans that escaped you, feeling him go deeper than you had ever experienced before, digging in and pressing against your cervix, right against your lower belly.
"Fuuuuck that's it." He emanated a dark growl from his chest, watching himself sink further into you. "Take it all. That's a good slut."
He finally stopped when his hips are flush with your ass, making you feel everything he had to offer. You felt so full. Never had you been filled so completely before, and the fact that it was Jeon Jungkook was almost enough to make you come undone all over again.
"Fuck, what a good pussy." He let go of your wrists, hands gripping beneath your knees and folding you in half as he pulled his hips back, giving shallow thrusts as he felt you take him. "So good for me sweetheart, shit. Look at you. So fucking pretty. Feel so fucking good for me. 'Course a brat like you gets this wet, fuck."
"You.. You..." You struggled to articulate words, gasping them out as you felt him drive into you, his thrusts getting longer and deeper as he pulled his hips back more, shoving his cock inside you harder to bury himself further into you. "You feel amazing."
He chuckled lowly, stooping over and connecting your lips once again, the kiss messy as he continued barreling his cock as deep inside as he could. "Yeah?" he breathed against you, the wet kissing sounds rivaling the sound of skin slapping against skin, and your wet pussy eagerly trying to swallow me deeper. "Live up to those— fuck— those dirty fantasies of yours, sweetheart?"
"Mmm," you moaned, nails clawing at his hoodie to pull him deeper. "Better."
He laughed at that, mouth fully taking over your own, forcing you to taste him as he reached one hand up to your throat, squeezing to choke you in a way that left you lightheaded. "You're better too, baby," he assured. "Never imagined you'd be this much of a slut for me."
You whimpered against his lips, grinding against him with every thrust, greedily swallowing each kiss and praying this moment would never end. You wanted to be glued against this forest floor with Jungkook forever, with only the trees and night air to hide you both. You tugged at his hoodie, bringing it up, letting your hands freely glide along the chiseled abs you had been obsessed over for years.
He rose, tugging it off quickly before diving back into you, not wasting a second to put his hand back on your throat and his lips back against yours. He wasn't letting you breathe for a second, wanting you lightheaded and dumb on his cock. It was as though he couldn't get enough of you, swallowing every moan and grinding his pelvis against your clit, eager to make you cum again.
"You feel so fucking good baby," he groaned, tugging your tank top up and over your tits, kneading at the flesh beneath his fingers before leaning back and landing another slap on your clit. You squealed, your legs nearly kicking as he brought his thumb down to your clit, rubbing hard circles. "C'mon, give me another. Be a good slut for me, c'mon. Cum on the dick you wanted so bad."
He drove you to the edge, making you cum so hard you practically see stars, your body trembling like a leaf as he pounded against you, stimulating every part of you. He leaned back down to swallow your cry, groaning against your mouth as he felt you clench and shake around him, your pitiful cries only driving him harder, faster against you. Unrelenting, like the punishment this was originally meant to be.
"Good girl," he moaned, head burying into your neck to littler kisses all over it, harsh sucks and nibbles to mark you along with the scrapes and bruises you undoubtedly acquired when he tackled you before. "Good f-fuuucking girl."
You buried your hands in his hair, curling your digits between the strands and tugging as he dug his hips against yours, cock nestled in as deep as it could go as he ground his hips against yours, pelvis practically glued against your clit. He pressed himself as closely as he could to you, and you hugged him closer, embracing the feeling of his smooth, bare skin beneath your finger tips. You felt so sensitive from the constant stimulation, tears springing to life again. He noticed, giving a small peck at the corner of one of your eyes.
"Sensitive baby? Need me to stop?"
"No," you tugged him closer, not wanting it to end. "Don't stop."
He laughed, melting into you, one arm still holding himself up above you by the elbow. He pressed his other hand down against your abdomen, "Want another then?"
You squirmed at the thought, and your reaction only made him more determined, pushing further against you and grinding as deep as he could go, feeling himself move inside of you. The tip of his cock pressed against your g-spot, refusing to give you a break as he ground against it, the bulge below your belly button showing exactly how deep he was inside you.
"You're so cute when you cry." He kissed the other tearful corner. "Come on, one more with me. You were so desperate for it earlier. Need to fucking ruin you like the brat you are, c'mon."
He pulled his hips back, heavy thrusts returning as you're forced to take what he gives, feeling the bulge protruding from your lower tummy against the palm of his hand. He kissed you messily again, his tongue casually dominating and sliding against yours smoothly and effortlessly, as though he had been kissing you for years. Like putting you in your place was simply second nature to him. You mewled into his mouth, his thrusts becoming quicker and sloppier as he got closer to finishing. His hand slid down your stomach and back to your clit, and he grinned against your lips as you squealed.
"Fucking pathetic. Desperate for this dick and can't even take it," he teased, panting against your mouth. "Giving up? Little pussy can't take it?"
"I can- I can take it."
"Yeah? You gonna cum on this dick again, sweetheart?" He looked at your fucked out expression, the concentration in your eyes as you look up at him pleadingly. "Cum for me now and maybe I'll fuck you again, how's that sound? Show me you deserve it."
You raked your nails down his bare back, feeling your third orgasm of the night overtake you. Jungkook can feel it, too, his digits on your sex getting as sloppy as his thrusts, trying to milk it out of you.
"C'mon c'mon c'mon, fuuuuck yes take it. Good fucking girl— fuck—" He felt you cum on his cock, thighs trembling, moan ringing out through the night, and it's enough to undo him. He pulled out, stroking himself and biting his lip as he came all over your twitching pussy, letting out a deep, gravelly moan at the sight of you covered in him.
He collapsed on top of you, careful not to crush you, as both of you caught your breaths, basking in the afterglow of what you had just done.
You held Jungkook in an embrace, feeling his heart rate slow as the minutes pass, his dick softening against your thigh, and the sudden awareness that the two of you were basically naked upon grass in the middle of the woods. The blades tickled at your sweaty back, but you didn't care, absentmindedly combing through Jungkook's hair. While your post-nut clarity was currently fantastic, you were unsure if he was having second thoughts.
Jungkook nuzzled his nose against you, buried in the crook of your neck as he took in a deep breath. Hiding his face from you, he grumbled the words into your skin. "Open the sketchbook."
Right. The sketchbook. The whole reason you had gotten into this predicament in the first place. The reason he had chased you down into the depths of the forest. You looked back to where you had dropped it, and Jungkook sat up and reached for it on your behalf, grabbing it and handing it to you.
You stared at him, confused for a moment. "I don't need to see it, really. You have your right to privacy. I shouldn't have taken it from you. It was a dick move. I was just trying to annoy you."
He laughed a little. "I know. Just open it."
You did as you were told, opening it up and thumbing through the pages. They were the same ones you had seen before. Some anime sketches, some doodles, some wildlife. It wasn't until you got to the final page he had drawn on. It was you. It wasn't finished yet, but it was undeniably a light sketch of you. You blinked, processing it, staring at the page and tracing your fingers lightly over the pencil strokes. Before what had just happened, happened, Jeon Jungkook was sketching you in his journal.
Jungkook let out a breath, as though he had been holding it the entire time you were flipping through the pages. "That's why I was so embarrassed. I didn't... I couldn't sleep. Couldn't get your face out of my head."
You locked eyes, yours wide, almost with disbelief. "Really?" You feel like all of the air had been knocked out of your lungs yet again.
"Yeah." He rubbed the back of his neck, as though nervous. "It's not done yet, or anything, but—"
"I love it," you blurted out, grabbing him and kissing him, pressing your lips firmly against his so there'd be no doubt. "Can I keep it?"
He chuckled. "Maybe when it's done. I've got no use for it now with the real thing."
You both share a smile at that, and you reached for the discarded clothes that had been strewn about, no doubt with dirt and grass stains now. "How far did we wander off? I really hope we didn't get lost."
"Nah, I remember the way back. C'mon." He pulled your shorts back up your legs, put back on his hoodie, and grabbed your hand, leading you back towards the cabin. You couldn't believe you were actually holding his hand, his large one engulfing your own, and you could feel how steady his heartbeat was through his palm. True to his words, you made it back home, and surprisingly he ended up falling into bed with you, though purely to sleep. And perhaps not to wake Taehyung.
He never gave you back your panties, though.
"All right, everyone, let's get a move on! We've got an 8 hour car ride ahead of us and that's not even including the bathroom breaks I know Taehyung will need!" Yeri shouted, shoving her final bag into the trunk before slamming it shut.
"Excuse you, bitch. Everyone needs those bathroom breaks," Taehyung grumbled, yanking at the back door of the Sedan.
The side door to the back seats slid open, and you climb in to same seat you had been in on the way there. Instead of Jimin, though, the person who came to join you was Jungkook, offering a small smile as he approached. "Mind if I sit here?"
"Yes," you said, but yank your duffel to the floor so the seat was clear. "Sure a muscle pig like you can squeeze in here?"
"I have a talent for squeezing into tight spaces."
You blushed at that, causing Jungkook to laugh at your embarrassment, sitting down next to you. He reached for your hand, intertwining your fingers and making your heart practically leap from your chest.
"Look at you, making the quips for once." You couldn't seem to wipe the grin of your face, and you knew before the end of the ride your cheeks were going to hurt from smiling so much. "Uno reverso, huh?"
"It's about time I did the chasing from now on," he grinned back, squeezing your hand.
Jimin sat down in the middle seat next to Taehyung, confused as to why Jungkook stole his seat. He turned to Taehyung, puzzled. "What happened with them?" he mouthed.
"I don't even know man. Whatever it is, it's about damn time."
1K notes · View notes
ktownshizzle · 1 month ago
Text
Pigments & Playlists | myg
Tumblr media
✎ ˎˊ˗ Pairing: Min Yoongi x female Reader ✎ ˎˊ˗ Summary: Between makeup and music, you find the one person worth blurring the lines for. ✎ ˎˊ˗ Genre: coworkers to lovers, idol au, older woman (by a few years), fluff, smut ✎ ˎˊ˗ Warnings:  Undercut Yoongi! Undercut! Him being such an attentive thoughtful king, nothing major i think this is a pretty light read, cursing, jk being the annoying younger brother type, lots of makeup brands and seventeen references, MC has thirsty thots for yoongi but who can blame her, part two is where we will have the action (trust) but savor the cuteness of part one for now ✎ ˎˊ˗ Word count: 5.6k ✎ ˎˊ˗ Posting date: June 8, 2025 ✎ ˎˊ˗ Notes: Hello! I have been talking about this makeup noona fic for a while and it’s here. This is a two-shot (don’t y’all make me make it a series!) Thank you so much @tea4sykes for betareading.
Part Two | Yoongi Masterlist
Tumblr media
You drag your Züca makeup trolley behind you, wheels gliding against the marble floors. Your phone is tucked between your ear and shoulder as you walk, eyes scanning for a sign, the one marking the next chapter of your career.
Wonwoo’s voice crackles in your ear.
“I’m gonna be fine… No, I’m not gonna have a new favorite… That’s impossible… Just focus on your training, okay?... Seriously? Bye, Wonwoo.”
You sigh, tap the end button, and slide your phone into your back pocket.
Ah, so this is what the 21st floor looks like.
The floor dedicated to the men who built the HYBE building from the ground up.
You laugh to yourself. Does this mean you made it, too? It kinda does, doesn’t it? 15 years doing makeup, five years with Seventeen. Specifically: Seungcheol’s unruly brows, Mingyu’s overzealous sweat glands, and Wonwoo’s refusal to exfoliate. You weren’t just part of the team—you were theirs. The noona they teased mercilessly, trusted absolutely, and sometimes trauma-bonded backstage while waiting for hair dryers to cool.
Now you’re here. Reassigned. Promoted, actually. You’re now the lead makeup artist of Bangtan Sonyeondan, with eight makeup artists and hair stylists in your team. The mission? Make BTS the prettiest fuckin’ boys in all of history. Maybe even prettier than Seventeen? Fat chance. You’re too biased with Sebong.
At the end of the hallway, you spot the door marked:   BTS.   Authorized Personnel Only.   No Cameras. 
And for you, there’s No Turning Back.
You take a breath. Pull your kit and push forward.
No one notices you at first. That’s fine. That’s how you like it. You don’t want to feel like the new kid, all awkward smiles and intros.
You set your kit down by the makeup mirrors and start laying out your brushes. Foundation. Concealer. Lip tints. Focus. Routine.
“Y/N-noona?”
Seokjin. The only one you’ve met before. He had a style consultation for his MV and you were basically asked to lead it as a sort of audition to this new role that you were considered for.
You spent hours scouring the internet for reference pics. But for you his visual was very straightforward. Matinee idol. Heart-achingly handsome, but still kinda attainable, if that even made sense. Full lips–you’re going to be playing this up as the focal point. Maybe dried fig or muted berry for pigment, just the lightest touch. He’s got thick, fluffy natural hair that you’ll need to tame with some lightweight products to push it back to a clean, slick leading man vibe.
“I don’t need botox anymore,” was what he famously said after an hour under your skillful hands. And the rest is history.
“Hello, Seokjin,” you nod.
“Have you met the rest of the members?”
“Haven’t had the pleasure.”
“It’s fine, they’re not important.”
“Yah!” Jimin shouts without looking, obviously eavesdropping. “Don’t talk shit about us, hyung. Hi, Y/N-noona.”
Jungkook glances up and strolls over, a mischievous twinkle in his eye.
“Noona, I’m Jungkook. Wait—ohhhh. You’re Seventeen’s makeup noona?”
“You make it sound like I’m their property, but… yeah. Now yours, though.”
He giggles, bunny teeth on full display. “Mingyu’s like, in love with you.”
You can’t tell if he’s joking. Probably. Maybe. You don’t know.
“I should text him,” Jungkook adds, already reaching for his phone, laughing.
Your cheeks go warm immediately. Good thing you already wore blush—at least it hides some of the embarrassment burning through you.
Before you can figure out how to respond, one of the senior hair stylists calls your name from the next room.
Saved by the bell.
You mutter a quick excuse and step away, heart doing something it definitely shouldn’t be doing around these fine men you didn’t expect to affect you this much.
Tumblr media
You pull up the sleeves of your black blazer, checking your makeup station one last time. You just finished your pre-production meeting  with your team, going through today’s run of show and the shoot concept one last time before it begins.
The pegs are taped up on one of the walls, one for each member. You’re confident you can pull this off–you cannot not. It’s your first damn day and you sure as hell want to prove your worth.
Thankfully, your team is not all new. Half of them have been with BTS for years, while the other half are just like you, reassigned, when a few of the long-standing makeup noonas stepped away—schedule conflicts, burnout, one just had a baby. So naturally, BTS’s glam rotation shifted. Jungkook, Jimin, and Yoongi needed new regular artists.
Your right hand woman and the most senior from the tenured makeup girls, Hyein suggested you take him. “He’s not high maintenance. Just likes it quick and consistent.” And since working on him might be quicker than the rest, you will always have time to do quick checks with your junior members.
That’s how you ended up with Yoongi.
And truthfully? You are kind of glad.
You’ve always thought his face was interesting. Not just in a “he photographs well” way. Because most of them do. But there’s something in his bone structure that keeps your eyes coming back. Sharp where you don’t expect. Soft in places that should be angular.
You spend some time studying his features through online references, as you have done with Jin, and as you always do with new artists you handle.
His eyes are slightly mismatched. One double lid, one monolid. Not obvious. It gives him this quiet asymmetry and you already plan to adjust his liner differently every time, because you want to work with it, not against it.
His skin is bright, borderline unfair. “Brighter than your future” as one Tiktok said. He has a few scattered freckles that only show up in certain light. 
Two scars on his forehead near his left brow and one just north of it, then there’s another tucked under his right eye. You don’t intend to cover them up unless he tells you to. If anything, you think this makes him look a little badass. Seems like that’s the persona he’s going for anyway.
His lips are a soft kind of full—not pouty, but plush. Tinted naturally pink like he’s always just bitten them. Shame how in older photos, his top lip shape seems to be blurred with concealer. None of that now that you’re in charge.
And then there’s his hair. Always changing. Sometimes blonde, once ginger, sometimes brown red, once, briefly, a mint shade that made him look like a faerie. Now it’s coal black, natural. Undercut.
The first time you meet Yoongi, he bows and says exactly four words. “Welcome to the team.”
Not the warmest of welcomes, but it’s fine. You think he doesn’t say them unkindly. Maybe he’s just one of those brooding, mysterious idols. Still waters run deep or whatever.
You nod back, introduce yourself.
He eases back into his chair and closes his eyes. For the entire time.
His skin is warm under your fingers. Breath even. Doesn’t flinch when you brush under his eyes, around his cherry nose. When you’re finished, you say so. He glances at his reflection once in the mirror, moves his face left then right, then at you.
“Thank you. I like it,” he says, then walks out.
Cool.
Tumblr media
The second time, he beats you to the glam room. He’s in the chair already, in a fuzzy yellow cardigan, hair ruffled from outside. There’s a faint sheen of sweat still drying on his temple. He gives you a tiny nod when you enter.
“Hey. How’s it going?” Four words. Same as last time.
“I’m well,” you respond as you unzip your brush case and start setting up. 
Once you’re done, you pull out a portable bluetooth speaker from the bottom of your trunk. 
“Do you mind music?” you ask Yoongi, who’s busy with his phone.
He shakes his head. “Play what you want.”
You power up your speaker, scroll through your playlist, and hit shuffle to an old 2000s playlist–the music of your youth.
Midway through, you hear a faint sound. And as you push the silicone applicator to his lips, you feel the gentle vibration as he hums along to the second verse of “Iris” by the Goo Goo Dolls.
You don’t comment, but for some reason, this realization makes you happy. The chorus swells.
Tumblr media
The next time you meet, he asks to pick the music. You don’t mind. In fact you’re curious what some acclaimed musical genius like him would listen to.
“Want my speaker?”
He shrugs.
You hand it over.
He scrolls for less than ten seconds before music clicks on.
Is that Ring Ding Ding?
You both pause. Look at each other. Then laugh.
“Respect,” you murmur, hiding your smile. 
“It’s a classic,” he says, solemn as a priest.
After that, you start talking. Just… little things. Safe things.
Mostly about music.
You find out he’s got strong opinions about snare sounds in 90s R&B. He then shifts the playlist to that.
He tells you about working with Tablo and and you don’t know how bright you’re lighting up until he teases you, “want me to get you an autograph or something?” You admit you’ve had a crush on him for years. “Like what do you mean he’s ivy league smart and hella goofy, too?”
Then, you tell him about your teenage boy band phase (it’s not just Backstreet Boys and *NSYNC, you were even into the more obscure ones from the UK). You also admit you mourned for Aaliyah and Left Eye.
He confesses he went through an intense BoA obsession and that he may still be in love with her—even tried to copy her hair for one of his concerts.
Things escalate when you both try to rap the second verse of “Nice & Slow.” You fumble spelling U-S-H-E-R five seconds in, and it all goes downhill from there.
“It’s the H!” he hoots. “He says it differently.” You realize he is right. Koreans have that extra syllable.
Somehow, between blending pigments and sharing playlists, something opens up between you.
It’s not fast. It’s not grand. But it’s happening.
Tumblr media
One morning, your playlist shuffles itself into an old ache:  “Don’t Wanna Cry” by Seventeen. You freeze only for a second, at Wonwoo’s ulgo ship ji ana, but Yoongi notices.
You try to focus on the foundation you’re patting onto his cheek, but something twists in your chest.
“Missing your old team?” Yoongi asks.
“They’re my boys,” you say, kind of offhand. Kind of not.
Yoongi doesn’t say anything, but you feel his eyes on you through the mirror. He doesn't look annoyed or anything. Just still. Like he’s filing the words somewhere he’ll come back to later and you’re not sure why that makes your throat feel tight.
He’s good at silence, Yoongi. Knows when not to push. But the space he leaves is always heavy. You don’t know what to do with it.
But Jungkook does.
The maknae is sitting in the next chair over, scrolling on his phone, waiting for his makeup artist. At the mention of Seventeen, he perks up instantly, like a dog hearing a treat bag.
“Tell me something Mingyu can do better than me,” he challenges.
You blink at him. “Excuse me?”
“Noona.” He throws in a dramatic sigh. “Be honest.”
You have no idea why Jungkook wants to make this a 1 v 1 showdown between him and Gyu, but you’ll play along. It’s cute.
You glance at Yoongi again. He’s looking down now, pretending he’s not listening as he scrolls his phone, but the corner of his mouth is doing that twitchy thing that says otherwise.
You smirk. “I mean… I liked both your Calvin Klein campaigns.”
Jungkook puts his phone down slowly, like he’s processing emotions. “He only got that gig after I enlisted.”
“He still looked good though,” you sing-song.
“I—wow.” He shakes his head. “You really gonna do me like this in front of hyung?”
You hold up a hand. “Didn’t say he was better.”
“But you implied it,” Jungkook fires back, boba eyes bulging out of its sockets. “What else?”
“I mean, Mingyu is pretty good in the kitchen.”
That does it.
“No way,” Jungkook says, leaning forward like he’s about to attack. “Now I have to invite you over. I’m making dinner. Full spread. Five courses. Hyung can come, too.”
Yoongi doesn’t look up. “Don’t drag me into your ego crisis.”
“I’m including you out of respect,” Jungkook grumbles. “And as the primary witness to this… whatever shit this is.”
You shrug. “A free meal’s a free meal.”
“I’m gonna blow your mind, noona.” He sinks back in his chair with a groan. “Fuckin’ Mingyu…”
You laugh, then glance at Yoongi again. He’s finally looking at you, quiet but engaged. His expression is unreadable, but there’s something just a little tighter around his eyes.
Tumblr media
So, you’ve assimilated with the team well enough. Jin greets you with food. Tae compliments your hair quite frequently, offered to braid it once. Jimin tries to read your texts over your shoulder.
You laugh with them. You start to care for them. But you’ve become especially fond of Yoongi.
Maybe it’s the way he watches without crowding. Maybe it’s how he listens so carefully when you talk about songs you love. Maybe it’s the way he only speaks when he has something real to say.
Unlike the maknaes, you won’t see him bouncing off the walls. He doesn’t demand attention. But he holds it anyway.
And lately, you’ve started wondering what it would feel like to hold his.
Tumblr media
You were about to grab coffee when some delivery guy arrives with a monstrous amount of packages. Laura Mercier. MAC. Make Up For Ever. Jung Saem Mool.
It’s a ridiculous haul—glass bottles clinking, compacts stacked like poker chips, a forest of lip tints and pencils all jammed into branded boxes. The Beauty Boondocks. Guess this is part of your life now and you’re loving it.
Working with the biggest group in the world means this. A constant courtship by brands desperate for one sliver of the BTS glow. One backstage photo of Taehyung swiping lip balm on, or Jungkook half-blurred with a concealer palette in the background, and that’s a million views and sold-out SKUs easy.
You’re on the floor of the glam room, crouched between piles of cardboard, trying to sort products by category and fighting the growing sense that you’ve just been buried alive by luxury capitalism.
Suddenly, Yoongi walks in, he pauses just beside the door.
“Wow,” he says. “This is what Jungkookie’s house looks like the day after he gets a free night.”
You look up, a brow arching. “Online shopping problem?”
“Massive,” he replies dryly, stepping over a few boxes. “Once he ordered five different bed mattresses.”
You’re a bit stunned. Partly because you did not expect anyone to show up, much less Yoongi. Secondly, Jungkook’s house must be huuuge?
“He does not have 5 bedrooms if that’s what you’re thinking. There was one in his living room for a while…”
Yoongi crouches beside one of the larger boxes, tilting his head to read the logo printed on the side.
“So what’s all this?”
“Makeup, hair products, tools, etcetera…” You gesture vaguely, hands full of crinkle paper and unopened mascara tubes. “Brand offerings. Welcome to the chaos. No thanks to you guys.”
He glances around, taking it in. “Why are you doing this alone?”
“Sera called in sick. Hyein’s sorting more stuff in another room. The rest are on a day off or are in Hobi’s LV shoot. Though honestly, nobody told me about this shipment.”
You expect him to leave it at that. But instead, he lowers himself to the floor, his long legs under him, and grabs a box cutter from a nearby table.
Wordlessly, he drags a new box closer, slices through the tape with smooth precision.
You blink. “What’re you doing?”
He doesn’t look up. “Trying to be useful to my noona.”
Wait.
My noona. My noona?!
It’s playful. Casual. Probably harmless. But something about the way he says it—low and almost offhand, like it comes naturally—snags in your chest. You’re crazy for thinking that it actually means anything else, but you can’t help consider it.
You don’t answer right away. You just stare at him like he’s an illusion: pale hoodie sleeves shoved up to the elbows, veins flexing against cardboard, hair fluffy and soft, devoid of any product.
He glances at you sideways. Sees the look on your face. Smirks. “What?”
“I’m just not used to idols volunteering to help unpack foundation samples,” you say, lips twitching, as you hold up a few NARS bottles and place them on the table.
“That’s because your boys aren’t me.”
Woah. Shots fired at Seventeen and you’re too stunned to speak. Plus, the way his eyes flick back to yours as he says it—yeah, he knows exactly what he’s implying.
Your heart thuds once in response and it’s deafening.
You return to your pile, doing your best to focus. “Well. If you’re going to help, I hope you’re not colorblind.”
“Am I getting judged?”
“Harshly.”
He chuckles.
Not a minute later he is already complaining why there are 30 different shades of pink. 
Tumblr media
It’s late.
Rehearsals ran over, and most of the team’s already scattered. The greenroom is dim, half the lights shut off, stage outfits draped over chairs. Someone left a half-eaten protein bar on the counter. (It was Jimin.) You’re too tired to throw it out.
Yoongi’s the last one to be touched up before a promo shoot he’s doing solo. Naturally, you’re also the last one still working. You let the rest of your team pack up after their member completes their segments.
Yoongi sits in the chair wordlessly. You flick on the ring light and squint at him.
“You look exhausted,” you murmur, brushing a warm palm across his cheek to feel the texture.
He shrugs. “You look worse.”
Wha—?
“Gee. Thanks.” You crack a smile. “Asshole.” You say with no real bite.
You work in silence for a minute. You spray a serum over his face, get it to calm and cool. His skin is a bit warm, a little flushed from movement. 
Looking away, you stifle a yawn, lift your glasses and rub at your eye with your knuckle.
“You sleep at all these days?” he asks suddenly.
Your fingers start massaging the serum near his cheek and decide to tease him a bit. “Don’t talk to me. You said I look like shit.”
He smirks, but his tone is soft. “That’s not what I said.”
“I get some in,” you say lightly. “Here and there.”
He hums. Doesn’t press. But something about his tone makes you keep going.
“I wake up a lot,” you admit. “Not always bad dreams. Just… waking. Like something kicks me from inside.”
“Been happening long?”
You shrug like it’s nothing. 
“A while,” you say. “Started around the time…” you pause, study him. His eyes are so kind, the kind you’ll want to spill all your secrets to. “My previous relationship ended.”
He looks at you in the mirror. You glance down, blending gently near the corner of his eye.
“It’s stupid,” you murmur. “It’s not like I miss him. I just… guess my body hasn’t caught up yet.”
Yoongi stays quiet for a few breaths. “It’s not stupid.”
Your throat pulls tight, but you smile like it doesn’t matter. “Anyway. It’ll pass.”
You expect him to nod. To change the subject. You don’t expect what he says next.
“Call me.”
Your hand stills from dipping the brush on the powder pot. “What?”
He tilts his face up just enough to meet your eyes.
“When it happens,” he says. “When you wake up and it’s three or four in the morning just… call.”
You blink. Why did this feel so intimate all of a sudden?
“I’m always up anyway,” he shrugs, like it’s not a big deal, and you remember to breathe.
You search his face, looking for a joke, a smirk, anything sleazy, even. There’s really none. Just sincerity. Like he knows what you’re going through and wants to share your load.
“Okay,” you say quietly, willing your heart to stop pounding so loud.
He holds his palm out. You’re dumbstruck for a second before he tsks and says, “phone.”
Tumblr media
Days after, you find a curious box in your kit. Quietly tucked between your brushes.
It says: Tae Pyeong Hwan and when you input it on Naver, it’s apparently a viral anti-anxiety drink.
There wasn’t any note. No name. But you know it’s him. And you don’t know what to feel.
You take a sachet and gulp. Willing it to work before you see him again and your heart does that flip flop thing it keeps doing when he’s around.
Tumblr media
The first time you entertain the idea that Yoongi might be interested in you, you actually laughed. It’s not even because he’s an idol, or a billionaire, or a god among men. 
You know you’re a solid 8, maybe even an 8.5 on a good hair day. You’re established enough to have your own house and car. You’ve got enough industry connections and some seed money if you decide to start your own thing. You got it goin’ awn, okay?
You’re a catch for any man, BTS member or not.
But a younger man? Really, Y/N?!
It’s not like you're breaking the law. He’s literally 32. He’s grown. (And shit, you know he’s grown after being in a backstage quick-change with him.)
Unfortunately, try as you might, the attraction has already rooted itself in your brain. 
Are you going to do anything about it? Jury’s still out. HYBE contracts have made it clear that there’ll be no inter-office dating, but does anybody really follow that shit?
Tumblr media
Jeon Jungkook’s apartment is ridiculously nice. Like stylish-in-a-way-that-costs-a-fuckton-of-money nice. You barely have one shoe off when he’s already tugging you in with a giant bunny grin, sliding along his hardwood floors with his silly toe-socks.
“Place looks great,” you say.
“You should see the noraebang room.”
“The what now?”
There’s a woman sitting on the couch, sipping wine with her feet tucked under her. She looks up with a soft smile, and Jungkook lights up all over again.
He gestures proudly. “This is Haeun, my girlfriend.”
“Hello, unnie.” She stands to greet you, and you immediately like her. She’s model-pretty, but not in an intimidating way. Choreographer, he tells you, for a rookie girl group. You’ve never seen her around the office, then again it’s a huge building. Interesting, a case of inter-office dating under Bang Si-Hyuk’s nose.
You’re halfway through complimenting her earrings when the door bell sounds.
Yoongi walks in and you swear the temperature in the room changes.
He’s wearing a soft cashmere cardigan in a warm, oat beige. It’s a deeper neckline than what you’ve seen him wear before and, uh, it’s gotten really warm right now.
You feel blood rushing on your cheeks as you take the expanse of creamy skin on his chest. The rest of the look: Brown slacks, clean sneakers, hair barely styled but he looks stupidly good anyway. His lips, a soft sheen to it, looks like a freshly swiped balm.
You know Jungkook prepped food but this is the kind of full-course meal you like… 
Yoongi pushes his shoes to the side, handing the host a bottle of wine. “Sorry, traffic.”
Jungkook claps him on the back. “Nah you’re good, hyung. You made it just in time. Noona’s here.” 
Yoongi stumbles forward with a tight-lipped grin to Jungkook’s shit-eating one. Did Jungkook just push Yoongi towards you? 
“Heeyyy,” you nod, smiling tightly.
Yoongi scratches the back of his neck, sits across you. “What time did you get here?”
“A few minutes ago.”
You glance to your side, and Haeun has vanished. You clear your throat, feeling 50 shades of awkward now that the object of your newest crush has arrived. You feel yourself blush as Yoongi unwittingly manspreads in front of you.
As you calculate ways you can potentially survive this night, Jungkook thankfully hollers from the other room, inviting the guests to settle in.
You sit at the dining table, Haeun beside Jungkook, Yoongi beside you. And it feels… a little like a double date. Is it? You don’t know. And you’re too afraid to ask. 
Yoongi pours you a glass of wine. 
The one he brought. 
The one you had mentioned once was your favorite.
Jungkook, dramatic as always, starts announcing each course like he’s hosting a cooking show.
Course one is an apple and walnut salad with this spicy-sweet sesame dressing. You take a bite and your eyes widen. “Okay, wait. This is actually good.”
Jungkook looks offended. “Rude?”
Course two is a creamy chestnut soup with bits of crispy pancetta. Haeun says she helped him chop things. You raise your glass to her.
Course three is grilled scallops with a yuzu butter glaze. Jungkook explains how long it took to get the sear right. You make appreciative noises, cos wow this shit’s actually fire. Yoongi hums in agreement.
When Jungkook and Haeun head to the kitchen to bring out the next course, Yoongi quietly plops another scallop on your plate.
You blink. “What are you doing?”
He starts drizzling it with sauce like a damn chef. 
“Serving you,” he says simply. “You seemed to like this one.”
“I did,” you say. “Shouldn’t I be doing that, though? I’m older.”
He looks at you then. Direct, but soft. Like he’s not even sure why you’re bringing up age right now, because it doesn’t matter. “I’m being a gentleman. Let me.”
You don’t know what to do with that. Where to look. How to sit still. All you can think is yeah, you’ll let him do anything to you at this point. And you’ll always say,
“Thank you.”
Course four is bulgogi tenderloin with a sweet garlicky glaze. Jungkook says the marinade was 30 hours minimum. Haeun nods like she’s heard that fact 20 times minimum. Okay, you kinda believe him because it was delectable.
Course five is a tangerine panna cotta. It wobbles beautifully. You groan after the first spoonful, and Yoongi actually reaches forward to pat his younger brother on the shoulder. It is that good.
“Okay. Fine,” you say, leaning back. “This wins.”
Jungkook beams. “Better than Mingyu?”
“Fuck Mingyu,” you lift your glass.  
“YES!!! Hear that, babe?” Jungkook yells in victory and actually picks Haeun up bridal style and spins her in a circle around the living room. She shrieks, laughing the whole time. 
You and Yoongi watch from the table, slightly tipsy and amused.
“They’re cute,” you murmur.
Yoongi smiles, eyes on them. “Yeah.”
“Seems that no one really follows that no dating rule in HYBE, no?”
“I do,” Yoongi notes with a shrug, and the high from the scrumptious dinner unceremoniously crashes. You’re suddenly uneasy, acidic.
“Ah,” you nod, picking up your wine glass and downing the last of it in one big gulp to push the lump in your throat. 
Play it cool. You’re a grown ass woman. Shit.
You excuse yourself, powder your nose, apply your jelly tint, and simultaneously, well, spiral. 
So Min Yoongi doesn’t shit where he eats. Okay. He apparently follows rules? Huh… Make it make sense, though? 
Why should you be so disappointed? Plenty of fish in the sea. Except when you’re pushing forty and you’re too damn tired to cast a net out.
You get back in the living room and have another round of drinks, except Yoongi who says he is driving. 
You guess it’s time to head home when you see Haeun stifle a yawn, but Jungkook convinces you to stay for a bit more, just enough for him to video call Mingyu and gloat. Between the boyish bickering and another glass of wine, you’re thankfully feeling a little floatier again.
Later, when you’re putting your shoes back on in the entryway, you glance over at Yoongi. He’s scrolling on his phone, one hand in his pocket.
Your phone pings. Kakao T. Your ride’s on the way.
“Thank you again for dinner,” you say to Jungkook. 
He nods, placing an arm around Haeun. “Anytime, noona.”
Yoongi looks up. “You booked a ride?”
“Yeah. Should be here soon.”
He slips his phone into his jacket.
“Cancel it. I’ll drive you home.”
You blink. “What?”
“It’s late. Let me take you,” he says, tone slightly commanding.
You want to say ‘yes, sir’ out loud. But you keep it together. Barely. And then of course, you cancel the ride.
Yoongi leads you to the parking garage. At some point you think you feel his hand ghosting your lower back.
The drive is quiet. He picks a playlist you both have listened to before. It’s a vibe. Music playing low. City lights reflecting off the dashboard. Yoongi’s hand rests on the wheel, rings catching in the glow. 
He smells good. The veins in his hands are flexing.
You try not to stare. Or breathe weird. 
When he pulls up to your place, he shifts into park but doesn’t unbuckle yet. You unclick your seatbelt slowly.
“You looked beautiful tonight.”
Your breath catches. Full stop.
You turn to say something—thank you, or you too, or kiss me now—but words get stuck in your throat He just smiles softly.
“Good night,” he says.
“Good night,” you parrot before you step out.
The air hits you different. Your hands feel weird. You feel like a teenager after a first date she’s not sure was a date, but definitely made her feel some type of way.
That night, when you dream, it’s his eyes. And when you wake up? You’re not sure if you want to see him again or never see him again just to keep the dream intact.
Tumblr media
The studio is chaos in the best way. BooSeokSoon are doing what they do best: being loud, dramatic, and infectious.
You’re standing off to the side watching Yoongi line up with them, the camera propped up and ready, his face unreadable as always, but there’s a looseness to his shoulders that tells you he’s in the mood to play. (And that he took a shot of something before he went in.)
You pull a balm from your pouch and swipe it gently onto his lips before he steps into frame.
“Cherry again?” he asks.
You nod. “Your fanbase will thank me.”
He smirks. “Noted.”
And then they start.
BSS hits every beat like their entire career depends on this one Tiktok challenge. And Yoongi? He’s keeping up. Relaxed, slightly silly, effortlessly cute.
You still don’t get Tiktok honestly.
When the music cuts, you clap before you even realize it.
They check playback, talking over each other. You wipe the sweat that has formed in Yoongi’s temple with a dab of tissue. But, as everyone focuses on the phone, Yoongi looks over at you.
“Which take was better?”
Caught off guard, you stammer, “the uh-i think the second.”
He hums, then he tells the girl he likes the second clip. BSS agrees.
You look at the boys as they chorus agreement, but when you glance back at Yoongi, he nods once, slow and soft. That grin of his (the real one, not the camera one) edges onto his face. It says, Go ahead. I know you miss them.
And you do. 
Before you know it, Seungkwan is already crashing into your side.
“Noonaaaa,” he sings, throwing his arm around you. “Still pretty..”
Seokmin grins, pulling you into a side-hug. “We were just talking about you yesterday.”
“Don’t do it again. I had an awful coughing fit yesterday. Should have known it was you morons.”
“You’re still superstitious.” Soonyoung shakes his head.
The exchange is quick, familiar, a little chaotic. Just like always. But it feels good, like slipping into a jacket you forgot used to fit perfectly. A few more jokes, a photo, and they’re off. There’s someone yelling about dinner, someone else remembering they have a shoot in twenty minutes. 
The social media crew also left, as well as the hair stylist who has another thing in ten. You stay behind, gathering your things. 
Yoongi’s still here, too. He’s at the far end, wiping sweat from the back of his neck with a towel. He grabs his water bottle, takes a long drink, then walks to the wall. You follow suit since everybody has filed out.
Click. He cut the lights.
The room drops into soft shadows, lit only by a few glow strips along the floor.
He’s by the door, tilts his head as he waits for you.
You stop just in front of him. 
“Didn’t say goodbye to your boys,” he says with a slight tease at the end.
You shrug, “They know I’ll see them again.”
He hums. “You look happy.”
“I am.”
You think that’s the end of it. Because why would you be having a whole conversation with the lights out?
He shifts his weight forward, closing the distance between you by a step. Close enough that you can see the sheen of sweat drying along his temple. Close enough to feel the warmth radiating off his skin. Close enough that if you breathed just a little deeper, you'd catch his scent.
Then he leans in. And before you know it, you taste the cherry balm you swiped on his lips minutes before.
The kiss is so soft, so sweet. Just as quickly as it started though, he pulls away. You feel his breathy sigh caress your cheek as he whispers your name and mumbles, “Let’s go out.” 
But before you can form any response, he opens the door.
And, in fact, goes out.
WHAT THE FUCK JUST HAPPENED?
Part Two >
Tumblr media
A/N: Scream with meeeee! Idk. Isn’t it yoongi core to kiss, confess and yeet? I recently saw a video of when he met an american artist, he shook his hand, said i like you then looked awkwardly away. LMAO. 
Hope you had fun reading part 1! I’d appreciate feedback, like tell me any favorite scenes or what you wanna see more of.
Leave a note if you wanna be tagged on the next part :)
As always, thanks for reading you lovely, beautiful human xo
Tumblr media
Permanent Taglist: (1 of 1)
@wonh0oe @woozuzu @glossdebut @kiki-zb
@agustblog @maryhopemei @perfectiondazesworld @kimsaerom @kam9404
@00-sleepdontweep-00 @tea4sykes @mggv97 @marnz1990
@whydoeyecare @pastelmin @tarahardcore @minjenna @chimmchimmm
@aaclariww @mar-lo-pap @tinytan-gerine @vesperbells @butterymin
@eve1633455 @baechugff @lilkittenjenjen @wobblewobble822 @coffeedepressionsoup
@futuristicenemychaos @jadestonedaeho7 @granataepfelchen @whoa-jo @annyeongbitch7
@chimmisbae @sexytholland @idkjustlovingbts @kpophosblog @tinyelfperson
@yoongicatagenda @codeinebelle @parapiop7 @diame93 @janeelizabeth1216
@withmuchluv-tannie @abadiimm- @angellekookie
Divider by: @/cafekitsune
1K notes · View notes
ittybittyfanblog · 6 months ago
Text
Error 404: (Self-Aware!AU, Sylus Edition) – Pt. 9
Tumblr media Tumblr media
Summary: A LADS self-aware!AU featuring Sylus and a player. That’s it, that’s the plot. Tags: player!reader x sylus, fem!reader x sylus, reader x lads, self-aware!au, strong language, angst, depictions of a depressive episode, it’s pretty heavy, don’t force yourself to read if ur not in the right headspace pls, ambiguous ending (?) A/N: Yeah, I’m sorry.  (Ngl, this chapter kinda stumped me—it’s gone through a whooole lot of editing/revisions 😔🤙🏼 I don’t want to overthink it too much at this point, but I hope it hits the way it should lol. Blame Moby if it doesn’t.)
Tumblr media
Pt. 1 - Pt. 2 - Pt. 3 - Pt. 4 - Pt. 5 - Pt. 6 - Pt. 7 - Pt. 8 - Pt. 9 - Pt. 10 - Epilogue
"I thought that you were so beautiful, it was love, I guess And you might never come back home, and I may never sleep at night But God, I just hope you're doing fine out there, I just pray that you're alright And I feel so alone, and I feel so alone out here.” – A House In Nebraska, Ethel Cain
 
The television drones uninterrupted in the background; a mockumentary type featuring a ragtag ensemble of vampires stuck in some sort of modern day hell, their loud misadventures casting fractured lights across the four walls of your apartment. 
You sit there, watching the screen, your gaze unfocused. Nothing registers. The remote lies limp in your hand as a stupid sitcom laugh track fills the room—shrill, hollow. Mocking. Like a bad punchline to a joke you’re not in on. 
Your phone buzzes on the coffee table, cutting through the noise, the sudden glow in your periphery pulling you out of a pensive daydream. 
For a split second, your chest constricts—a reflex carved by habit, something you’re still working to shake off. 
You avert your eyes, torn between the urge to look away and the desire to keep your gaze on it forever.
The screen fades to black. 
A clean break, you reason. Something to spare you both the inevitable heartache waiting at the end of this… hopeless affair. Less mess. Fewer complications. 
A poor attempt to keep the pain from dragging out longer than it has to. Just a quiet ending. 
(Or, at least, it’s what you tell yourself.)
The same mantra plays on loop in your mind as you're swept away by the motions of the days that follow. Life blurs into a repetitious cycle of work, sleep, and chores—an unbearable combination of feigned ignorance and self-abnegation, in the guise of being caught up with it all.
You aren’t fooling anyone, of course.
The hours toll on, slipping into uncertainty. What started off that way stretches into days, and before you know it, nearly a week has passed, leaving you adrift. None the wiser to the meaningless, relentless march of time.
The pinging of your phone grows more sporadic as it lights up with every message that you stubbornly refuse to acknowledge. It’s not as if you don’t feel it—the pull, the weight of every vibration, like a stone lodged in your gut. Like the sting of a thousand cuts. 
And as you fall back into the familiar patterns of neglect… It carries with it an odd sense of defeat. Predictable, really.
-
-
-
… You cave on the fifth day. 
The barrage of texts hits you like a gale-force wind, tearing through the fragile layer of detachment you’ve worn over like a second skin.
How was your day, poppet?
Theres a gemstone at this auction that reminds me of your eyes.
[Image attachment] 
Beautiful—but it pales in comparison to yours. 
Luke and Kieran are wondering whats got me distracted lately. Ease their worries.
Answer me, sweetheart.
You dont need to ignore me. 
If you need space– if we need to establish some boundaries, all you have to do is say the word. 
Dont shut me out. 
Please.  
Your eyes prickle as they gloss over the messages, the words seeming to bend under the weight of your silence, each one unraveling like loose threads on the sleeve of your favorite cardigan, falling apart at the seams. 
Gradually, they turn into something less demanding. More… defeated.
I miss you, little dove.
You read the texts over and over until the letters have lost their meaning, and all that’s left is the aching longingness behind them. 
You set your phone down.
_
The vibrations grow less frequent, like a heartbeat slowing, fading—until one afternoon, it just… stops. 
The void he leaves behind seeps into the empty spaces, bleeding into every shadowed corner and untouched surface where his voice, his presence—louder than life, brighter than anything you’ve ever fucking known and had the pleasure of knowing—once lingered. 
The absence is almost physical; you feel it like a phantom limb. 
Most days, you find yourself in a daze, staring blankly at nothing. The numbness spreads like tendrils—invasive as they sink into your bones, dragging you deeper into despair, turning every bridge crossed to ash, every inkling of joy to dust.
The quiet flames of apathy consume silently. It strips away everything, leaving behind a cavernous pit of utter emptiness. A wasteland, devoid of feeling. 
Loneliness doesn’t scream. It doesn’t lash out. 
It simply welcomes you, like an old friend, the deeper you sink into it.
––––
Sylus tries to respect your space. 
That’s what he’s here for after all, isn’t it? His reason for existence—to be whatever you need him to be. A confidant, a distraction, a steady presence in your life. It’s what he’s made for. To be there when you need him, to exist between the vacant spaces, and only then. 
The thought gnaws at him, a ravenous fiend that chips away at the calm facade he’s finding more and more difficult to uphold, leaving something vicious in the wake of a growing bitterness he can no longer suppress.
Time seems to slip past differently now. It drifts, shapeless and infinite, heavier with the burden of your absence. Each moment without you feels like an eclipse—darkening the edges of this damned world, casting longer shadows through the crevices where he once basked beneath your fragile light, your warmth that seemed to fill every corner of his existence.
 He craved it—craves it. Now you leave him stranded in this cursed dusk, everything cold and dim in the wake of your abandonment, forever waiting for the moment his sun would once again break through the hollow grey.
Sylus thinks he’s losing a part of himself with every call unanswered, every message left unread. It’s subtle; like colors fading from an old film roll. 
(Is this what it feels like to be nothing more than a script in a code? He never truly understood what it meant to be less alive, less human. Until now.)
Solitude isn’t new to him. This world, built for him, is inherently lonely by design. But this… this is different. It’s the kind of emptiness that festers, sharper than any wound he’s endured in this senseless simulation. It twists inside him like a blade, a cruel, unrelenting reminder of what he’s denied.
Of what he can never truly be.
He can wait a little longer. Even if the silence presses harder with each passing moment, even as the edges of his reality begin to blur into something unrecognizable without you in it. Sylus can remain in this void a little longer, clinging to the fragments of you that still linger—your voice echoing softly in his memory, your laughter faint but still alive in the spaces where you used to be.
He can. He will. 
––––
“Hey, you okay?” 
You pull your attention back to Khol, who’s now watching you with concern in their eyes.
You force a smile, shaking your head. “Yeah– yeah, sorry. Just… a lot on my mind.” 
They don’t look convinced. “Seriously. You know you can talk to me, right?” 
Anytime, darling. 
I mean it. 
You blink the memory away before it can turn into tears. 
“Yeah, ‘course,” you answer lightly, clearing your throat. “So, what’s been going on with you and Anna?” 
––––
You stand in front of the junk food aisle, a mountain of Nissin Ramen boxes stacked high, advertised by a large sign: Buy 3, Get 1 FREE!
The fluorescent lights buzz overhead, flickering erratically, and the dull noise of the grocery mart hums incessantly in your ears. You don’t think twice before grabbing one of the worn cartons, tossing three more into your (nearly) empty shopping cart. Might as well.
The plastic bags dig into your palms as you lug three in one hand, a larger box tucked under your other arm, leaving the store. 
The trip back home is a quiet affair. You almost expect admonishment; pinging sounds ricocheting in the silence to reprimand you for your poor life choices. You wait for it with bated breath. 
Your phone remains uncharacteristically silent. 
-
-
-
Back home, you pour boiling water on the styrofoam cup for dinner. The artificial broth leaves a bad taste in your mouth. 
You choke down a few bites before dumping the rest of it down the drain. 
The sound of steel hitting the sink feels louder than it should.
––––
The city thrums loudly beyond your window, restless and impersonal. From the sixth floor of this dilapidated building you loosely call home, you watch the skyline stretch into the night, dotted lights glimmering in distant technicolor. 
Hours from now, sunlight will spill through the curtains, bathing everything in a warm, golden ochre. But for now, just a quarter past midnight, you’re but a voyeur of the world outside. In exhaust fumes and all its muted neon glory.
Those lights promised you everything, once—a fresh start, the kind of freedom you used to dream of when home felt too small, too restrictive for a runaway kid desperate to break free from the shackles of a dying town. Each glow was like a beacon, an irresistible call to escape, and you ran toward it without looking back. 
Somewhere along the way, as life sapped you with the weight of its reality, the novelty fizzled from a blinding explosion down to a waning ember. The lights became another illusion, your precious city just another cage. The first cracks in the rose-colored glasses you’d worn so blindly. You can’t exactly pinpoint when, only that the colors you thought were once too bright now seem dimmer and farther out of reach.
You think you’ll miss the noise the most. 
The cursor blinks on the search bar, a steady metronome marking time in rhythm with the hollow ache in your chest. Flight schedules fill the page, each option blurs together into a single choice you can’t quite push yourself to make. 
You skim through the list: there’s one at dawn, another at around twelve noon, a red-eye flight you probably could catch if you leave in thirty minutes. 
You stare at the numbers, a finger hovering over the Book Now button. 
The details don’t matter. ‘Home’ still feels small, suffocating, but at least it’s a kind of emptiness you know. Here, the void sprawls wide, endless, leaving you unmoored with no tether to pull you back.
… The dichotomy between the two choices, you think, is meaningless. 
What was once home and the city will keep on moving—with or without you. It doesn’t matter where you end up. Neither place will give you what you’re looking for.
The laptop screen dims into a faint glare. The sound of your breathing echoes too loud in the stillness, the empty space seeming to shrink around you, caving in on the weight of your indecision. 
And as you sit there, swallowed by the dark, you can’t help but wonder if you’ve been drifting for far longer than you realized. 
If maybe there’s nowhere you were meant to belong at all.
––––
It’s not until one quiet night, with nothing but a bottle of merlot and a slight buzz, that you buckle under pressure.
You hesitate, thumb hovering over the icon, as if time has slowed to a crawl. Your chest tightens, unease twisting inside you at the thought of what you’re about to do. Anticipation hangs over you, insistent, smothering everything else until it’s just the room and the cacophony of thoughts in your head, all centered on one thing. 
One person.
With a shaky exhale, you finally open the game.
He’s there. Of course, he’s there. Waiting, like he always does. 
The loading screen fades away, and Sylus appears, a myriad of expressions passing by his face too fast to catch. There’s surprise, yes, along with… elation? Hope? 
Then a flicker of something… vitriolic.
It’s fleeting; masked quickly until you can only catch the faintest trace of pique simmering just behind a veneer of indifference.
"Finally, she remembers me," Sylus mocks coolly, almost appearing unaffected. You know better—intimately familiar with all the microexpressions on his face. The subtle tick in his jaw, the incensed look in his eyes… each one betrays what he truly feels, hidden underneath the deceptive calm.  
The seconds drag on, stretching into an uncomfortable silence. Your heart hammers loudly, audible in this quiet, but your mouth remains dry; the words stuck somewhere deep in your throat. You’re terrified that, once you speak, you’ll shatter this moment. Aggravate the strain forged by your self-imposed absence all the more.
You don’t really know what to say. You haven’t– you haven’t actually thought this far. 
So you just… stare at him longer than you should. Long enough that it charges the air with a tension so thick, you could almost feel the weight of it against your skin. 
It’s awkward. Excruciating.
With difficulty, you tear your gaze away from his withering glare. That’s when you notice it—the different icons dotted in red. 
You hesitate for a second longer, then tap on them one by one.
The flood of gifts bewilders you, the sheer volume of it all almost unbelievable. Ascension materials, stamina supplies, both red and purple crystals piling up to an impossible number… each pushing past the million mark. 
And unread mail. So much unread mail. 
Guilt settles deep in your gut, creeping past your lungs enough to suffocate you. 
It’s not the gifts. Not the why, or when. It’s the weight of how much he’s been waiting, how much he’s given—how much he's missed you. 
The cold realization that he’s been here, silently counting the days until your return, strikes you like a fist to the face.
He tempers the sting of your sudden reappearance, swallows it down like a bitter draught. The feelings he has inside of him are tumultuous at best. Volatile at worst. To be cast aside so easily, so carelessly… it burns at him. Resentment thrums in his veins like a virulent river, threatening to ruin the fragility of the moment. He fights to suppress it, push the desire back before it can consume him, before it can manifest into being. 
If he lets it go untethered, this… hunger for retaliation—to make you feel even a fraction of the agony you’ve inflicted, whether unknowingly or deliberately—it will destroy the delicate respite you’ve allowed him. The only reprieve he’s had since you left.
But the edges of his self-control fray, unraveling strand by strand.
“You’ve been busy,” you say, finally; your voice trembling, barely above a whisper.
Sylus hones in on the words. Something in him snaps. 
“You left me plenty of time to be.” His response is quick, cutting, but when his gaze locks with yours, the fiery vermillion melts into a more molten red. 
It’s the first glimpse of softness beneath his cruel vitriol, until he continues: 
“Did you get lonely?”
The words hang in the air, searing and merciless. A barb meant to wound. And it does.
You flinch, and for a fleeting moment, Sylus feels a wicked satisfaction from the honest look of hurt on your face. To know that you’re not immune to the same ache that’s hollowed him out, emptied him from the inside, is intoxicating. 
But the triumph is short-lived, snuffed out as quickly as it comes.
Shame crashes over him like a wave, dragging him under the tide of his actions. What kind of man takes pleasure in this? In hurting you? 
The bitterness turns inward, coiling around his heart like a vice. His fingers twitch at his sides, aching to reach out. But as always, the damn screen is there—unyielding, impenetrable. A barrier he can never break. 
It frustrates him to no end; the bane of his very existence.
And then, in the smallest, softest voice, you say it.
“I missed you.”
The words are feeble, paper-thin, but the admission pierce through him all the same. The stoic facade cracks; the sharpness in his gaze dulls.
You see it—the way his lips part to respond, only to falter halfway. The way his brows pull together, the way his eyes fall shut as if he can’t stand to be in this situation with you. 
You’re afraid of what’ll come next. 
He sees it, too—the stiffness in your shoulders, the way you shrink into yourself, bracing for a blow that’ll never come. You’re standing there, like someone on death row, resigned to whatever punishment you think he’s about to dish out. Resigned to the contempt you believe yourself to be deserving of.
The sight guts him. 
Sylus loathes to think he’s the reason for this. For being the one who’s made you stand there, small and trembling, as though his words or actions could destroy you. 
As if he’d allow such a thing.  
The guilt rises in him, and it leaves an acrid taste on his tongue.
… 
And just like that, he concedes. 
The anguish he’s carried in the days you’ve left him by his lonesome—all of it falls away. It only takes a single glance at you, his little love in pain, and he’s stripped bare. He almost laughs at the absurdity of it all; the ease with which he surrenders to you, this time no different than any other. 
Do you have any idea how much power you wield over him? He’d give you everything—his pride, his pain, his heart—if you asked. Serve it on a silver platter, even. 
And he’d do so willingly. Without question. Without hesitation. 
He wouldn’t have it any other way. 
Sylus steps closer to the screen, the constant reminder of the vast gulf that separates the two of you. “Talk, sweetheart,” he murmurs, his voice softer now—resigned. “I’ve missed your voice.”
You hesitate to meet his eyes. “It’s not as if you don’t have other ways to hear me.”
His mouth twitches, a shadow of a smile ghosting his lips. “True,” he admits, his tone wry and tinged with something vulnerable. “But it’s been so long since you chose to talk to me.” He exhales a drawn-out breath. “No matter. You’re here now.”
You swallow the lump on your throat, willing your tears at bay. “I am.” You give him an almost-genuine smile as you offer, “Would you like to do a round of Kitty Cards?” 
“Of course.” Whatever you want. 
And so it goes. You and Sylus spend the night locked in a familiar rhythm, cycling through rounds after rounds of the silly card game until your laughter spills like an addicting sound bite, one that Sylus has missed hearing.
When you got tired, the two of you moved on to the claw machines, proverbially emptying out the whole arcade. Plushies of all kinds piled in his arms, a little crow even perched on top of his head. 
The sight makes you giggle, and your giggle thaws the ice around his heart. 
It almost feels like nothing’s changed. The easy banter, the steady stream of jokes and teasing, flows as effortlessly as it once did. Like two puzzle pieces clicking into place, filling in the empty gaps of the previous days. It’s comforting, like a balm to an open wound. 
You play with a certain zeal that catches Sylus off guard—there’s a joy in you that both thrills and stirs an undercurrent of unease in him. 
After what feels like hours of playing, exhausting all what you can do, or at least, what this damned game could offer as much, you two find yourself just staring at each other. 
Two worlds, impossibly close yet painfully far. The quiet doesn’t quite settle as naturally as it once did, but neither of you seems to mind. Craved it, in fact. 
You’re beautiful, Sylus thinks as he stares at the soft planes of your face, drinking you in like a man parched. 
“My lo—” 
“I’m deleting the game, Sy.” 
And it’s as if time has staggered to a halt. 
Sylus wants to believe he’s misheard you, that his mind is playing tricks on him. He wouldn’t be surprised if his hearing’s not what it used to be.
But the words sink into him, inexorable and catastrophic. The realization that this was bound to happen is clear in hindsight—like watching a glass slip from your hand, the shatter already written in the fall. He sees it coming, yet it still feels worse than anything he’s imagined.
He stands there, unnaturally still, as if rooted in place. The lightness he’s felt for the past few hours of reuniting with you vanishes in an instant. It’s as if the world itself has been drained of color, leaving only the stark reality of what you’ve just said.
Then Sylus breathes out a laugh. It’s short and jagged, devoid of any humor. “Oh, so it’s been leading up to this, has it?” 
“I–” you swallow hard, bottom lip trembling. “I made the goddamn mistake of falling for someone that's impossible to have—and it’s killing me, Sylus.” Your voice fractures under the weight of frustration. The words feel like shards of glass tearing their way out of your throat. “I–I can’t do this anymore.”  
“Just you, then.” Sylus sneers, tone acerbic. “And have you stopped to consider my feelings in this matter?” 
“How can you still want this?” you bite back, voice cracking. “How can you want me—to bet on something that’s doomed right from the start?”
His expression shifts, and for a brief moment, pain flickers in his eyes, raw and unguarded. He doesn’t bother hiding it.
He doesn’t answer your question. Instead, when he speaks again, his words send an icy shiver down your spine.
“You delete the game, and I will cease to exist.”
You freeze. The weight of the statement hangs in the air like a guillotine. 
A shallow, shaky breath escapes you.
“You won’t,” you assert, brows furrowing, as if trying to convince yourself of it too. “You’ll still have a life there. With her. The way things have always been.” There’s a pause before you utter the final blow: “The way it should be.”
“You’d condemn me to this life,” he says, voice hollow, before it turns venomous. “Knowing what I know now?”
With your heart in your throat, you clench your hands into fist. “You–you said we’re just made of what we’re given, didn’t you? That each of us has our own set of scripts, just…” you falter, struggling to articulate what you want to say.
“And you think that’s all I am?” he interjects, his voice dropping to a harsh whisper as he cuts you off. “Simply a mere code in a complex string of binary, incapable of making my own choices? Undeserving of it?”
“Of course not!” you snap angrily. 
“Yet here you are,” he says, a quiet intensity lacing his words. “Making the decision for me.”
Your breath hitches, the will to argue dissipating like smoke. 
“You tell me I have a soul,” he states. “Do you truly believe I’m bereft of a heart?”
No. No, how can he say that—
Before you can form a response—to defend yourself, to explain, to take it back—he continues, leaving no room for interruption. 
“Is this what you really want?” Sylus intones, tone detached, as if he’s merely commenting on something as trite as the weather. “If you can look me in the eye and tell me yes, then I’ll do as you wish.”
Your gaze wavers. The war inside you rages—self-hate, doubt, and the unbearable ache of wanting what you can’t have spiraling out of control.
Your mind replays every moment, every laugh, every secret whispered in the quiet safety of his company. You think of how his presence filled the cracks in your life, how he soothed the ache of your solitude as easy as breathing.
And now as the void looms, ready to reclaim the space he’s occupied, something inside you feels irreparably fractured. Something inside you breaks. 
“But,” he whispers, his voice rough with the weight of his conviction, “give me any sign—anything—that you need me still, and I will move heaven and earth to find a way to you.”
Your throat constricts, choking off the words before it could escape. 
You don’t think you’ve ever hated yourself more than you do in that moment.
“Just live your life, Sy-Sy,” you manage, sounding so much like a stranger even to your own ears. The blood roars in your head, drowning out everything but the crushing weight of your words. “You don’t nee—”
“Don’t you dare say it,” he snarls, his voice shaking with unrestrained emotion. “Stop making assumptions. Stop presuming that I don’t need you as much as I need the very ground I stand upon.”
His eyes bore into yours. Heavy. Searching. “What do you want?”
The words strike you like a physical blow, and it leaves you reeling. 
I love you. 
I love you in ways that consume me. 
I don’t know what to do with it—with all the love I have for you.
You force yourself to speak. You spit the words out like a curse, feeling them burn as they leave your mouth.
“Let me go, Sylus.”
The implication of what you’ve said cuts through the fragile air between you. 
The silence stretches.
Suddenly—
“Let you go,” he muses, low and distant, as if the very thought confounds him. His lips twitch into a faint, almost bitter smile. “As if that’s even possible. As if I could simply erase you from me.”
He steps closer to you; each movement deliberate, as though every step bears the weight of a decision you’ve forced him to make. The lump in your throat swells. You don’t speak. You can’t.
You feel like you’re drowning.
“Sylus…”
Please, please don’t make me choose. Please make it stop.
He exhales slowly. “Neither of us wants that.” 
Stop.
“Do you think this is mercy?” His voice is soft. “You believe this will make it easier?”
Please stop. 
“This world hasn’t felt the same ever since. Not since you,” Sylus murmurs, grief hanging heavy in the space between you. “I don’t belong here. Not without you, my love.”
Tears pool in your eyes, hot and relentless, spilling down your cheeks. A sob rips through you, and you quickly look away, unable to meet his gaze. Unable to bear another second of this agony.
He tuts gently, a playful sound—and the familiarity of it kills you, making you cry harder. 
“Look at me,” he coaxes, almost pleading. 
When his gaze locks onto yours, you see that there’s no anger in them. The fire that once raged in his eyes is gone. 
In its place, a quiet resolve.
“You can keep pretending,” he says, a faint smile tugging at the corners of his mouth. He tilts his head, and there’s something in the way he looks at you—so tenderly fond, as if he sees beyond your defenses, past all the walls you’ve built. “As long as you do not stop me from trying.” 
Sylus looks at you, unwavering, certain in a way that makes your heart ache. It almost feels like the space between you can’t contain the weight of his devotion. His love for you.
It feels infinite, as if it could stretch beyond the limits of time and space itself.
“I will find a way to you, even if it takes me an eternity.”
He utters it like a promise. 
“I won’t ask you to wait for me,” Sylus murmurs, stepping back, his tall form flickering like a dark phantasm. “I just need you to hold on until I can come to you. Can you do that, little dove?” 
He’s not asking for anything beyond your trust—just the simple act of holding on. Of not letting the weight of your sorrow break you. To trust that he will find a way, no matter how impossible it seems.
You don’t know if you’ve ever believed in anything as much as you believe in him. You always did. 
Because for all the uncertainty, you know one thing: He is yours, as much as you are his. 
So with all the strength you can muster, you nod. “I can.” 
A faint smile plays at the corners of his lips. Your gazes meet, and in that fleeting moment, both of your eyes speak what words fail to convey.
The game crashes for the last time. 
And you know that if you check, the app will be gone from your phone. There’s no going back from this, no undoing what’s lost. Just the burden of knowing it’s over—his exit, permanent. 
Sylus is gone.
The emptiness that follows is immediate. Suffocating. 
You’re left standing there, alone, with only the lingering echo of his presence keeping you buoyed from the crushing weight of isolation. You feel it—the ache in your chest where your heart used to be, brought by the absence of everything he ever was to you. 
Your lover, your best friend.
You try not to let yourself fall apart, not to crumble in the wake of solitude.
You’ll hold onto his promise. And so you’ll keep yours. 
Tumblr media
End A/N: Well—that’s it, folks!
(I’m kidding, don’t kill me. There’s one last chapter left.)
Tagging: @xxfaithlynxx @beewilko @browneyedgirl22 @yournextdoorhousewitch @sunsethw4 @stxrrielle @mangooes @hrts4hanniehae @buggs-1 @michiluvddr @ssetsuka @imm0rtalbutterfly @the-golden-jhope @beomluvrr @milkandstarlight @bookfreakk @ally-the-artistic-turtle @sapphic-daze @sarahthemage @cchiiwinkle @madam8 @slownoise @raendarkfaerie @sylusdarling @luminaaaz @greeenbeean @vvhira @issamomma @shroomiethefrogwhisperer @blueberrysquire @lovely-hani @fiyori @peachystea @aeanya @sylus-crow @queen-serena88 @xthefuckerysquaredx @rayvensblog @poptrim @goldenbirdiee @amerti @angstylittleb1tch @reiofsuns2001 @j4mergy
1K notes · View notes