#we were rOBBED of more interactions between these two!

[wildlcck]

@loyalpromise x

❛ keep thinkin' about what mighta bin an' you'll wind up losin' your damn mind- trust me. all you did was all you could do. it ain't like i ever had a kind word or thought for that boy. but... what those bastards did... well, i wouldn't wish it on my worst enemy. but, i would wish it on each an' every one of those fuckers- a thousand times over. i know you was... fond of him. ❜ she pats her shoulder in a gesture that manages somehow to be both firm and gentle. it's awkward, unfamiliar. but, well-intentioned, nonetheless. ❛ you got your memories. you got what you had. there ain't no takin' that away from you. ❜ she supposes they were are a lot alike, in certain ways. important ones. quiet, thinking, feeling types. who see more than they say. when she wasn't directing her ire at him, she'd mostly taken to either attacking him for being so very meek and/or spineless (to his face and along with some of the others), threatening or dismissing him entirely. but, maybe there was something more to the boy. that she, that they, either couldn't or wouldn't see. if anyone could, it would be mary-beth. maybe that's all that really counts, in the end. someone who looks to see you, really see you. and not look away. lord knows, that had been enough more than enough for her.

[selfruinarchive]

032 pain from graham

tired of only sitting , the sound of boot heels echo against waiting room floor. how long has it been? tick of clock feels endless , deep ocean hues watching it's hands. for moments it felt , they had been on top of the world. the belief that maybe , everything could work. but with news of teddy, that had all changed. daisy had worked so damn hard for what semblance of sobriety she held. and now she was ready to throw it all away , search for numbness while it all crashed down. hands rub against bare thighs , nails bit to the quick catching skin. ❛ you okay? ❜ attention turns to graham , searching for conversation that removes her from her own head. ❛ that's a really fucking stupid question, isn't it? ❜ laughter that falls from her lips feels drained of charm it had only hours ago. ❛ things will be fine , they have to. ❜ the singer's words are more to convince herself. ❛ teddy is stubborn . . . he'll be fine. ❜ she refuses to think about the what ifs , the fall out if the outcome isn't what they're all hoping for.

[sweatervest-obsessed]

Secrets, Secrets

Pairing: Steve Harrington x Fem!Reader.

WC: 1.2k

TW: Heavy make out, semi-public making out, hot hot Steve Harrington. Foreplay, but not smut.

A/N: Some sexy sexy Steve for your Wednesday night.

“She’s going to fucking kill us.” You giggled out, slotting your lips back in between his. 

“No.” He mumbled, pushing you into the wall even more, leg slotting between yours for support, among other reasons. “She’ll kill you. She just won’t talk to me for a few days” 

You huffed, causing him to pull his lips away. 

“Babygirl…” He whispered, kissing up your jaw and slowly making his way to your neck. 

You tried to ignore the way the nickname went straight to your core, and bit your lip to keeop the sigh stuck in your throat. 

He slowly pulled you impossibly closer up his thigh. The feeling of his breath fanning over your neck caused you to lean your head back against the wall. 

“Fuck. Steve.” You whined his name, closing your eyes, and tugging on his hair, causing him to moan against your neck. 

“Sweetheart.” He grumbled. “We have to be quiet or she’s gonna get pissed.” 

You shoved his chest slightly, causing him to detach from your neck, but still staying pretty fucking close. His pupils were dilated, and his lips were red and puffy from kissing you for the past five minutes. 

“Don’t give me a fuckin hickey then.” 

“Mouth gorgeous.”

“Oh please.” You rolled your eyes, tugging on your bottom lip with your teeth. You couldn’t help your self. He just looked so fucking good. And you promised your favorite cousin you would not sleep with Steve Harrington. But fuck, he was delicious. “You love my mouth.”

“You’re fuckin’ dirty.” Steve bit his bottom lip as he eyed your lips.

You grinded up against him, tugging on his hair again. “Never heard you complain about that before.” 

Steve had shown up to the bar in these jeans that hugged his ass in the most delectable way possible, and this tight button up with the sleeves cuffed right at his biceps, making you all but drool when he came up to your group. 

The look of surprise on his face when he saw you was definitely worth it. 

He quickly hugged Robin and Eddie, saying his hellos. But then he turned to you. 

“Hiya Princess.” Steve whispered in your ear as he gave you a hug, causing you to try and hide the blush growing on your cheeks as you pulled away. “Robin didn’t mention that you were in town…” 

“I’m actually in town for the whole summer. I got in this morning…” 

Steve’s tongue poked the inside of his cheek. “Huh. Good to know.” 

You bit the inside of your cheek and smile at him. “It’s good to see you too Steve.” It was going to be a long night. 

Robin watched this entire interaction, alongside Eddie. She had enough of the blatant flirting so she chugged her drink and grabbed your arm. 

You barely had time to truly ogle Steve up close before Robin had dragged you over to the bar to get another round for everyone. She ordered the drinks before turning and snapping in your face. 

“No.” 

“What?”

“You know the rules. You are not allowed to sleep with him.” 

You groaned and rolled your eyes. “You think so poorly of me Robs.” 

“Yeah, well I know you, and I know him. It’s not happening. Are we clear?” 

“Robin, we’re not seventeen anymore. I’m twenty-one, he’s twenty-two, we’re both adults.” 

“But I said no. I don’t want my favorite cousin and my best friend sleeping together because if it doesn’t work out, I do not want to deal with the bullshit between you two.” 

“Robs…”

“Y/n I’m serious.” 

“Yeah Yeah Fine.” You sighed and grabbed four of the glasses set down in front of you, walking back over to the table where her friends were. 

“If she didn’t want me to fuck you then she should’ve told you to show up in a fucking prom dress then.” You grinded against his leg slightly, causing him to squeeze your waist. “But you probably looked fuckable in that too.” 

“You think I’d look hot in a prom dress.” 

You shoved his arm slightly and laughed a bit. “Steve Harrington, You could be wearing a garbage bag and still somehow be voted People’s hottest man of the year.”

“You’re gonna make me blush gorgeous.” He mumbled, kissing your neck again.  

Once you and Robin had distributed the beverages, you watched as Eddie took the stage. 

The group had eventually abandoned the table and were the first ones dancing in the crowd. You and Robin would lip sync to the songs you know, or drunkenly scream words of encouragement to Eddie and his band while they performed. 

Once more people started to join in, Steve managed to covertly keep a hand on your waist or even dance with you subtly enough that Robin wouldn’t think anything of it. Robin was drunk enough that she didn’t see any of it, or if she did, she thought it was a trick of the light. 

Eventually it was packed, shoulder to shoulder causing you to lose sight of Robin. You had been dancing with Steve fully at that point, singing at one another and dancing up against each other. You had decided this was the moment to maybe sneak off. 

“I’m gonna run to the bathroom.” You yelled out to him, trying to be heard over the noise. 

He nodded at you and watched as you slid through the crowd off towards the the bathrooms. He waited until the song ended before following the same path you took.

“I have to get back because if she sees we’re both missing…” 

Steve laughed as he kissed you again. “If you're that worried about it then go.” 

You stayed right there, grabbing his collar and kissing him fiercely. 

“If she finds out—” You moaned softly into his mouth, cutting off whatever thought you were in the middle of saying. 

Steve had grabbed your waist and slowly started grinding up against you, almost dragging you up and down his thigh. He smirked at the moan and kissed down your jaw, back to your neck. 

Your hand made its way into his hair and you pulled on it, partially to regain some control of the situation, but also because you wanted to hear the pretty little moan that came out of his mouth when you did. 

“Princess…” He warned and you kissed his neck softly, trailing your lips up to his neck. 

You released your hold on his hair and kissed him. The tone of this kiss was definitely different then the past five minutes where you had basically almost fucked each other up against this wall. It caused Steve to falter for a minute, dropping his thigh, but not loosening his grip on your waist. 

He pulled away after a moment, a slight smile on his face. “What was that for…” 

You shrugged and wrapped your arms around his neck. “Want me to do it again?” 

Steve didn’t answer you, and instead kissed you again, pushing his whole body into yours. The two of you stayed like that for the next minute, slowly making out with one another. There was no rush, only languid kisses and tongues lazily exploring each other.

Robin was going to kill the both of you for a myriad of reasons. 

But you were about to jump off a building anyways, since you were sure you were starting to fall for Steve Harrington. 

[lorhaghanima]

so, it finally happened. writers of the hotd finally destroyed everything good about it, any potential it once had, all for some kind of... agenda?

they were destroying greens slowly during the whole season two. aemond, being hateful and vengeful, but not towards ones, who deserve it (the blacks), no - to aegon, his brother, his king. aemond not having any interaction with alys rivers, instead of it the whole season and a potentially large part of their relationship was given to daemon - prophecies, visions, support in war, romantic implications. helaena, whose scene of great loss was cut, happened because of incompetence of writers royal guards (absolutely impossible for a setting), somehow her mother's affair (which is also impossible, since there's know way criston could be the only and personal protectpr of helaena and kids), and she was robbed of her burden (choice between sons) and her grieve (she is already unhappy most of the time, not cheerful, not beloved, and her loss doesn't haunt the narrative the way it should - the way it traumatized the whole family daeron who). aegon crippled not in battle and with glory, but by betrayal of his own brother (supposed to be his supporter), also deprived of his rightful grieve and anger, and even his dragon - the most beautiful, the most loyal, sunfyre, so important for the original story and our understanding, how strong and unbreakable this bond can be - erased to one scene. alicent - oh, my sweet alicent, i will remember the one, who could've been - the one we lose completely. alicent, who always loves and protected the monstrosity and beauty and destiny of motherhood and queenhood, what have they done to you? alicent, who stands in front of dragon, to protect aegon (at least try to protect him), alicent, who cuts her husband's beloved daughter and heir to the throne because all of the injustice done to aemond, alicent, who loves, loves, loves, her sweet daughter helaena (even in first part of season two she says - but what have they done to my daughter?). alicent, the actual queen, alicent, beloved by the smallfolk, alicent, respected by the council, alicent, loyal to her family to the core. where did you go, my beloved?

And to the worst part - all of this was done for one purpose - to remind us once again about this targaryen supremacy. that they are chosen ones, that they are supposed to save everyone, that they are gods, not men, and they will not be punished by the story, instead - they will be victimised, they will be martyred, they will be rewarded for cruelty. The blacks have only two options in season two - they are either absurdly boring (cause they can't have any flaws, and supposed to be heroic - that's why it safer to make them blank and dull), or they are chosen, special, destined - to rule westeros, to ride dragons, to get whatever they want. this, of course, are qualities of the right kind of targaryens - the blacks, the connected with daenerys ones, not the whole family, obviously. This is the reason, why rhaenyra has nothing to do with the death of a child, somehow goes to the king's Landing and tries negotiations with alicent, breaks up with not-so-perfect daemon, tames bronze fury just because she can, and acting incredibly passive most of the season. This is the reason, why we don't have nettles - girl of color, of unknown birth, younger and more beautiful, who tames the dragon using only her wits, survives the story, surpasses the tragedy. of course we don't have you, dear nettles - you are a mirror, where targaryen, mostly daemon and rhaenyra, were supposed to see their flaws.

I remind you, that hotd is supposed to be an interpretation of a very specific story. One where dragons dance and house targaryen falls. One where smallfolk kills the dragons, where dragons are monsters, destroying cities, and targaryens are false gods and precarious rulers. The cursed war - kin against kin. The narrative, where everyone is dead long before the beginning, everyone is doomed. It's not supposed to praise house targaryen, on the contrary - it says 'look, what they've done, look, what they do', 'look, how treacherous, flawed, hypocritical, unnatural, brutal, unreliable they ALL are, even to each other', and what is most important - 'look, they can be killed, look, they can fall, look the dragons and their riders bleed, and we can destroy them'.

and all of this potential, all of this greekish kind of tragedy, lost... and i have no idea, what for.

[paradiseprincesss]

forever, not maybe | jonathan crane

hello hello! sorry i haven't been posting as much i've been busyyy and a little burnt out if i'm being honestttt but enough about me. when i say "catwoman mask" in this fic - i was thinking of the lace one ariana grande wore for tbim music video lol anyway...i had "off to the races" on repeat while writing this <3

summary: you have a secret life as catwoman that you've been keeping away from your boyfriend, jonathan crane. however, it seems he has a secret life of his own, too...

warnings: smut, p in v, fingering, choking, kissing, swearing, MDNI 18+ ONLY

word count: 3.6k

masterlist

“i’m working late tonight,” jonathan said over the phone with a sigh.

“again?” you asked your boyfriend, trying to feign the sadness in your voice.

jonathan had been working late night shifts at the asylum for the last few months; so often that you swore he saw his patients more than he did you. naturally, you missed him. all you wanted was to be in his arms again, laid up in bed as he held you and told you how much he loved you.

but the extra time away from him gave you more time for your…hobbies.

of course you felt guilty lying to your boyfriend about your whereabouts or what you were doing — but you couldn’t risk him finding out about you being catwoman.

every time you told him you were going to sleep, you’d really be getting ready to commit a heist, or worse, find batman and reign chaos in the city just to spite him. you’d always tell jonathan the reason you were so tired all the time was because you were having trouble sleeping when he wasn’t there — but alas, it was because you were out on crime sprees until five in the morning.

“i’m sorry, darling. i wish i could be at home with you right now,” jonathan said softly, his voice tinged with guilt.

“i know, jon. it’s okay — i think i'm gonna go to bed now. it’s late,” you replied, trying to sound exhausted as you yawned. “see you in the morning, baby.”

“see you then, darling,” jonathan said softly, “i love you.”

“i love you too,” you sighed, hanging up the phone.

as soon as you hung up the phone, you jumped out of bed and rushed to put on your catsuit. after you threw on your fitted outfit along with the matching mask, you were sneaking out your window in mere seconds, creeping off into the dark, crime-filled city that was gotham.

tonight, you were on the prowl for a certain villain though — the scarecrow.

the two of you had had a mutual distaste for each other. he’d once told you that you were “too morally ambiguous,” as sometimes you’d be robbing banks and committing heists, whereas other times you’d aid batman in the saving of gotham city. you thought he was full of shit, and you made sure to remind him that his plan to poison the entirety of gotham city with his fear toxin would never work every chance you got. 

the two of you had a strange dynamic — always messing with one another's plans and such, but last week, things seemed to have changed between you and him. 

it all started when he came to pay you a visit after you’d robbed two men at gunpoint, stealing their cards and some cash out of pure boredom. you heard footsteps behind you as you were counting stacks of cash, and once you glanced back, you saw the scarecrow himself approaching you in the quiet parkade you stood in.

the two of you never stopped to talk very much, as usually each interaction lasted no more than a few minutes, but tonight, neither of you were in a rush to leave. the scarecrow looked at you through the eye holes of his burlap mask, and for a moment, you felt oddly comforted by his presence. 

“catwoman,” he said, looking down at the cash in your hands, “we meet again.” 

“we meet all the time,” you retaliated, hearing his distorted voice through his mask. 

“we do, yes,” he replied casually, “but i’ve never gotten the chance to speak to you alone like this.” 

“that’s because you’re always interrupting me when i'm busy,” you teased, looking up at him with a small smile. 

you noticed he stopped talking to look closely at you, almost as if he was analyzing you. picking you apart detail by detail, his blue eyes trailing over every single inch of you. his eyes darted over the lace covering your eyes before he narrowed them, inhaling sharply. 

“...has anyone told you that you have a pretty smile?” he asked quietly, and you almost had to get him to repeat himself out of disbelief. 

“did i hear you correctly?” you asked, attempting to clarify what exactly he was trying to get at. “did you just compliment me?”

“it would appear that way,” he said with amusement.

you stood there staring at him for a few seconds, unsure of what to say before you scoffed, waving his compliment off.

“i have a boyfriend,” you huffed.

“a boyfriend?” he teased, his blue eyes widening under his mask. “is that so?”

you hummed in agreement, flipping through the dollar bills in your hands. “i love him. a lot.”

“i see,” he said once more, “i forgot to mention that i saw you last week, by the way.” 

“did you?” you asked nonchalantly. 

“sneaking out of your apartment window at midnight — i wonder if your boyfriend knows what you do when he’s not home.” he teased, causing you to stop what you were doing as your heart raced.

“you know where i live?” you tilted your head to the side to emphasize your confusion, causing him to chuckle softly.

“that i do,” he shrugged, “and dare i say, you really are quite the beauty when you don’t have this lacy little mask covering your face.” 

he gestured to your mask, causing you to roll your eyes which were partially hidden by the lace. “i told you i have a boyfriend,” you said harshly. 

“i can’t help but wonder what he would think if he saw you like this — stealing from the innocent people of gotham city.” you could almost hear him smirking through his mask by the way he talked. “hm?” 

“well — i don’t plan on telling him,” you sneered, causing the scarecrow to chuckle.

“so feisty,” he purred. “tell me about this ‘boyfriend’ of yours.” 

you crossed your arms, still holding the cash in your hand as you let out an annoyed sigh. “he’s a doctor,” you said, not-so-subtly bragging, “and…as much as i wish i could tell him about what i do, i don’t think he’d approve.”

he nodded, taking in everything you were saying. 

“but you don’t need to know the intimate details of my love life — quit asking.” you said, shaking your head as you shook the thought of jonathan out of your mind for the time being.

the scarecrow looked at you with intrigue, taking a step closer to you. as you took in all the details of his suit, you couldn’t help but notice how oddly familiar it looked — you’d sworn that you had seen this exact suit before. 

“you must really love him, don’t you?” he asked casually with a shrug. “well, maybe he knows more than he’s letting on.” 

“i highly doubt that,” you sighed, realizing it was time to head home since jonathan would be back soon. “i have to go.” 

he nodded, looking at you with those strikingly blue eyes before turning around and disappearing into the shadows. you stood there for a few moments quietly, struggling to understand why he felt so familiar yet so distant to you at the same time — it almost felt like you’d known him for ages. 

once you got home, you quietly reached for your front door before realizing it was locked. you’d made your way out tonight through the window, but when you looked up at it, you realized that there was no way you would be able to climb that high and get through it from the outside. 

“need some assistance?” a familiar voice called from the bottom of your porch stairs. once you quickly turned around in a panic, you saw a certain scarecrow peering up at you.

“what are you doing here?” you asked in a hushed whisper. “my boyfriend is going to see you. he’s supposed to be home from work any second!” 

“relax,” he commented, making his way up the porch stairs. reaching into his suit pocket, he pulls out a shiny piece of metal — a key. “i just want to help you, is that so wrong?” 

as he unlocked the front door and swung it open, you harshly grabbed his wrist, pulling him closer to you. 

“and why do you have a key to my boyfriend's house?” you asked with irritation. 

“because,” he said, his voice no longer distorted, “i live here.”

your grip remained on his wrist as he spoke softly to you, and your eyes met with his brilliantly blue ones — you only knew one person who had eyes that striking. you almost felt silly for not realizing sooner, but to be fair, he’d only come to realize who you really were just last week. 

it all made sense now  — the “late” shifts at arkham, the way he’d sometimes come home bruised and bloodied (which he said was because of his “violent” patients), and the way he’d always avoided talking about work with you every time you’d asked.

he shut the door behind the both of you as you gently let go of his wrist, looking at him in awe as he turned back around to face you. you still had your catwoman mask on, and he was still wearing his scarecrow one. you stared at him in silence, almost at a loss for words before you finally spoke up quietly, your eyes still locked with his blue ones. 

“you’re…” you trailed off, reaching up to tug at his mask, wanting nothing more than to take it off. “you’re the scarecrow…”

“and you’re catwoman,” he teased as your fingers ghosted the edge of his mask.

“shut up,” you blushed, “and take this off.” 

you gestured to his mask, but he shook his head as he stared at you through the eye holes. “i have an idea,” he suggested, “why don’t you make your way to the bedroom and wait for me, if you’re not too tired.“

“you cannot possibly be suggesting what i think you’re suggesting—”

“i am,” he said lowly. “...if you want to.”

without another word, you bit your lip and nodded, making your way to your shared bedroom excitedly. it was almost thrilling, the way he was commanding you and telling you to behave. it’s not that jonathan wasn’t bossy during sex (or in general if we’re really being honest here), but the added excitement of knowing your smart, calm, doctor boyfriend had a not-so-innocent side made it so much better.  

you sat obediently on the edge of the bed waiting for him. he eventually joined you, still in his scarecrow mask and suit, eyeing you down. 

“i’m sorry i didn’t make it clear,” he stated, “but i wanted you waiting with nothing on.” 

“but you’re—“ you tried to protest, as he was still fully clothed. 

“be quiet,” he growled, grabbing you by the throat, “unless you want a taste of my fear toxin, hm?” 

you swallowed, nodding as the grip around your neck made you dizzy, and you did as you were told to do. he watched you closely, looking at you through those eerie eye holes of his mask as you undressed hastily.

“slower,” he said, “give me a little show, won’t you sweetheart?”

you almost choked on your words when he spoke — you were enjoying it, though. something about your usually calm, collected, gentle boyfriend acting like this was triggering something primal in you. 

as you stripped down into nothing but your bra and underwear — which were matching, by the way — his pupils went wide at the sight. you sat back on the bed in your lacy undergarments, and he took a few steps closer, not yet getting on the bed with you.

“you really are perfect, you know?” he spoke softly, even though he looked rather intimidating, but it had you rubbing your thighs together.

“light of my life,” you breathed. “that’s what you are.” 

“is that right, my darling?” he asked, his voice giving away that although he was acting tough and composed — he was crumbling because of you. “are you forever mine?”

“forever yours,” you replied with no hesitation. 

jonathan made his way over to you, grabbing your face gently as he stood at the edge of the bed.

“i love you,” you whispered, and his grip on your face softened. 

“darling,” he rasped, “lay back on the bed for me.” 

you do as you’re told, laying back on the bed as he joins you, his hands immediately snaking behind your back to unclasp your lacy bra. 

“angelic,” he breathed, speaking softly. “how are you real?” 

his last words were so quiet, you barely heard him through the burlap mask covering his head. you were sprawled out on the bed, back resting on the pillows as his hands reached to tweak your nipples softly, causing you to moan quietly. he was hovering above you, propped up on his arms and studying your every reaction as he took in the way your body responded to his touch. 

suddenly, his hand brushed up against the lace of your panties, teasingly dragging his fingers across your skin. you let out a soft whine, shifting your hips slightly out of habit. “please,” you whispered, “touch me — scarecrow.”

as the words left your mouth, he was tearing your underwear clean off of you, causing you to get incredibly turned on — as if you weren’t soaking through your panties already. 

jonathan brushed his fingers against your sticky folds before slowly inserting one of his fingers into your tight hole, causing you to let out a vulgar moan as he toyed with your cunt. 

he continued to stare down at you as your back was pressed into the pillows, giving him a perfect view of your face as he watched from above. you let out a mewl as he started to pump a single digit in and out of your dripping cunt, your cheeks flushed a pretty pink shade.

“m-mm, oh my god—!” you moaned, feeling him curl his finger in a way that made your back arch. he let out a low hum before inserting a second digit, causing you to gasp. 

“jon,” you breathed, “f-fuck, yes—“

“i know, darling,” he cooed, watching you as he pumped two digits in and out of your tight, warm hole. “it’s a lot for your tight little cunt to take. i know, but don’t worry — i'll get you nice and stretched out before i bury my cock inside of you.” 

his filthy words caused you to tighten up around his fingers, making him let out a low chuckle from behind his burlap mask. “someone likes it dirty, hm?” he teased, and you let out a breathless moan. 

“c-close,” you managed to choke out. 

“who owns you?” he asked, fucking you with his fingers as he rubbed that spongy spot inside of you. 

“you!” you whimpered, “fuck, you do—“

your release hit you, hard and fast, as you clenched around his fingers. your vision was clouded with stars, pure ecstasy running through your veins. jonathan watched you like a predator watches its prey, his eyes running all over your body as he studied you through the eyeholes of his mask. 

you lay on the bed breathless, your cheeks flushed still, as he looked down at you sprawled out against the soft pillows. you could hear him breathing heavily from behind his mask — it almost gave him a power trip to see you like this; fucked out and submissive to him as he was dressed up as scarecrow. 

you let out a huff, closing your eyes for just one moment before they shot open again to the sound of his belt being unbuckled. you rubbed your thighs together and whined softly, causing jonathan to let out a low groan as his cock sprung free against his stomach, hitting the white button down shirt he wore.

he gave himself a few strokes before lining himself up with your dripping entrance. 

“how badly do you want it, baby?” he teased, rubbing his cock up against your slit slowly. 

“so bad,” you whined desperately, “please, jonathan—”

“try again.” 

“fuck, please! please, scarecrow…” you begged, hoping you’d get what you were wanting after fixing your mistake. 

it seemed to work because before you could whine anymore, you were letting out a filthy moan as he rammed himself into you, breaching your tight hole. even though you’d just taken his fingers, you hadn’t been able to fuck him for a few weeks, due to work and all — so you were taking a little longer than usual to adjust to his size. 

“m-my god, s-slow down—” you breathlessly gasped, feeling his cock pounding your cunt mercilessly as he set a fast pace.

“you can take it,” he assured you, still fucking you harshly as his hands come to grip at your throat. “keep squeezing my cock. fuck — like that.” 

you could feel him stretch out your drooling hole as you mewled, unable to form any proper sentences or get any real words out from the way he was fucking you. jonathan kept a firm vice around your neck, causing you to struggle for air slightly as his normally bright blue eyes turned about fifty shades darker. 

you didn’t know what was turning you on more — the fact that he was still dressed as scarecrow, mask and all, or how roughly he was drilling into your sopping cunt right now. 

“o-oh my god—” you whined, looking up at him breathlessly as he continued to squeeze the sides of your neck. “i-i can’t…”

jonathan was for sure having an ego trip right now — the way you were completely at his mercy as his cock pounded against your cervix, creating the perfect mix of pleasure and pain. the way you looked at him like he was your entire world — because he was — even while he was fucking you stupid. just everything about you had jonathan tripping out on ecstasy, pleasure, and dare i say love?

“what is it, my darling?” he cooed mockingly, cutting off your air supply once more with a harsh squeeze to your neck while he was balls deep in your cunt. “use your words, darling — you can do it.”

“c-can’t breathe,” you managed to rasp, your hands clawing at his, “let— go—”

satisfied with your begging, jonathan let go of your throat and placed his hands harshly onto your hips. his fingers dug into your sides as he continued to plow your pussy with no intention of stopping until you were ruined.

he could see the fear in your eyes — even if it was mixed with arousal — and it brought him closer and closer to the edge with every thrust. you, along with jonathan, were close to coming undone as well, your eyes rolling into the back of your head as pleasure consumed you.

“come,” he growled, “show me who owns this tight fucking cunt.” 

you let out a choked moan as he rammed his cock into you so deeply that you stopped breathing momentarily, before letting yourself tip over the edge. your release winded you, causing you to scream his name so loud that your neighbours would definitely know who was fucking you right. 

“jonathan! f-fuck!” you squeaked out, creaming on his thick cock. 

“scream my fucking name,” he said lowly, “that’s right — god, you feel so good.” 

he let out a low groan as he felt your walls tighten up around him, and he watched your every move as your orgasm washed over you. you looked so beautifully fucked out and mindless with every fleeting moment — it was perfection. 

it didn’t take long for jonathan to come after seeing you like this for him, and he let out a low groan, giving you a few more harsh, deep thrusts before filling you up completely with his sticky cum. he looked down at you quietly as he propped himself up above you on his arms one more, taking off his burlap mask and tossing it to the side. 

you gave your boyfriend a soft smile, letting out a huff of air as you rested your head on the satin pillows behind you.

“wow…” you said, trailing off into a soft chuckle. 

“i love seeing you all ruined for me,” he told you, brushing a strand of hair away from your face. “you’re something else, you know that?”

he helped you get cleaned up afterwards, making sure to be extremely gentle and caring towards you despite almost breaking you in two just minutes prior. after he had you tucked into bed, he placed a kiss on the top of your head as you snuggled into the covers.

“i’m going to go shower,” he said casually, “go to bed, sweetheart. you’ve had a long night.”

“mm,” you mumbled sleepily, “come to bed afterwards.”

“i will,” he assured you, placing one more kiss on your head, and another softly on your lips. “...i love you.” 

“i love you too,” you said softly, yawning as you found comfort in the sheets. “goodnight, scarecrow.” 

your sleepy words caused him to let out a quiet chuckle as he admired you. the light from the moon illuminated your face dimly as it casted down on you through the bedroom window. 

jonathan sighed to himself happily. 

you may have been catwoman to the outside world — sneaky and conniving — but to jonathan, you were just…you. those so-called claws of yours were nowhere to be seen as you slept peacefully in your shared bed, dozing off under the moonlight as you waited for him to come back to bed with you. 

“goodnight, sweetheart,” he said softly.

but you were already fast asleep — dreaming of him like always.

taglist: @girlinterrupted505 @ciriceimpera @jordyn-yeager @thevelvetvampyre @galactict3a

@xanaxiii @nocturnest @psylrd @bloodandglitter207 @humbuginmybones 

@oceanstem @futurefamousdeadmusician @jonathancraneslittlepet @esotericdoe

@kpopgirlbtssvt 

@ll4n4 @ilovetoxicfictionalmen @the-buddy-things @ellebelleshelby @wiseyouthinfluencer 

@abprill @minedofmoria @strangeobsessed @5tud10-54r4h @franzine-xii 

@stsrfujid @psylrd @eyraaaaaae @nyxxie-pooh @momoewn

@fauxcongenialite @ceruleanrainblues @o0laura

[handyowlet]

In reference to the Gaiman SA situation regarding the GO fandom at large:

I wish we* would stop hurting each other (*from here on out, we/us refers to the fandom at large and/or any particular fan).

We should remember that we are neither the alleged victims nor perpetrator in this situation. This isn’t about us, and our opinions only matter in so much as how we personally choose to engage (or not) in the fandom going forward.

We each need to do whatever it is that feels right to us and supports our own mental health.

If that means you’re going scorched earth, deleting any fan art/fiction you’ve created or consumed, blocking related tags, burning all of NG’s works, and cutting yourself off from any friends/mutuals you have who choose to stay in the fandom, that having any reminders or associations with the work and fandom is something you cannot live with, then we’ll miss you. I truly hope you find a new fandom to call home, and new mutuals to support you.

If that means separating the art from the artist (whatever that means for you), continuing to interact with other fans, and consuming fan creations because this fandom is home for you and you do not want or cannot live without this support system, I’ll be right there with you.

If you’re somewhere in between, or you change your mind, no matter how many times, you won’t be alone. And you are not a bad person for choosing what works for you, for changing that based on any new information we may get, and for needing to process that someone you may have admired may not be who you thought they were.

All of these are valid choices, and no one’s choice is any more valid or moral than anyone else’s. Well, I’d say (at least for me), with two very extreme exceptions: 1. If you have decided that no matter what we learn, if the accusations are completely true, maybe there are even more victims, that you will loudly and proudly support NG and attack anyone who doesn’t (fortunately, I haven’t seen anyone in this boat yet), and 2. If you’ve been actively wishing violence, suicide, murder, etc. on NG- or on Michael, David, Rob, or anyone else associated with GO- or his accusers (this I’ve seen too many times already).

Again, the overall situation isn’t about us, and we don’t really matter, except to ourselves and each other. Please take care of yourself, and try to support each other where you can (and if you can’t or won’t, maybe keep that to yourself).

Be kind to each other, and mind how you go.

[fuckyeahgoodomens]

Good Omens NYCC panel recap

   - Guests: Neil Gaiman, Douglas Mackinnon, Rob Wilkins, Maggie Service, Nina Sosanya and Guelin Sepulveda, it is said that Michael Sheen will join at the end over Zoom.

About Season 1

- What do they miss most when S1 wrapped and before S2:

Douglas: All the cast and all the crew. We were very big and cuddly family.

Neil: Yeah. 

Rob: David Tennant and Michael Sheen.

Nina: Missing the mentioned family and being part of the nuns sisterhood.

- At the beginning they shared several bts stories from season 1 and the book: 

First day of shooting in the bookshop was cancelled because of the blizzard and the second day they were foreced to shoot interiors because outside there were people with flamethrowers trying to melt what was there. So they build the set of Soho 2 inside.

Rob kept a lot of the vehicles from S1 and S2, all the motorbikes, the cars, and now I have topped it with Crowley’s Bentley.

A lot of nuns including Maggie had warts, but Nina didn’t want one.

Neil about Nina’s audition (read more here).

That both Michael and David both independently suggested that he might like to write a Good Omens stage play so they may swap roles each night.

About Michael originally being Crowley (more here and here).

About Terry and Neil being Aziraphale and Crowley - Neil: In the creation of Crowley Terry took the things that I did that he thought were hilarious, like wearing sunglasses indoors when I didn’t need to. He put a lot of me into Crowley but then we both put a lot of ourselves into both of them. (here, also this).

Michael Sheen is amazing mimic, Neil recalls that during one of the final scenes he had producer headphones on, the guys were acting and sitting on the bench and all of the sudden David Tennant started saying awful things about Michael Sheen, just, you know, there’s Crowley and Aziraphale talking and Crowley is saying all this stuff about how Aziraphale is fat Michael can’t act and all the stuff and I’m like ‘Whaat?! David is the nicest man in the world...’ and then the penny drops and it’s Michael sitting there doing pitch perfect as Crowley.

About Season 2

- What was like for Quelin to join the show:

She was a fan. The very first day was a bit like out of body experience, there was a scene where she interacted with David and Michael. So it was like, ‘Concentrate, Quelin, concentrate! It’s okay, it’s okay!’ And it was just overwhelming in the best of ways, honestly.

She plays angel Muriel. When Neil and John Finnemore talked about season 2, they realized that they didn't have another nice, well-meaning angels except for Aziraphale in Heaven, all they had were bastards, all awfull, so they thought ‘Let’s have a nice one’ and so they created angel Muriel, curious, gullible, well-meaning and chatty angel that spent 6000 filing in the same office in Heaven hoping that somebody would come in and the day would get more interesting and it doesn’t.  

She’s a 37th order scrivener, bottom of the pily, it’s her first time to Earth.

- They felt Terry’s presence also during filming S2.

- Douglas said that they started doing the ADR post production and that the difference between David and Michael is that David looks at the monitor and whatches what he’s done and Michael never watch, so now Michael saw himself for the first time and he was like a fan doing, ‘Oh look we’re back! And there’s Aziraphale!’.

- Neil about Maggie and Nina returning: 

It was a thing where one of the things I was very very certain before I started writing season 2 that there were two characters in it and I wanted them to be played by Maggie and Nina, so in order to make it clear to everybody reading the script, that they were going to be played by Maggie and Nina, I called the characters Maggie and Nina. Maggie and Nina liked being Maggie and Nina so the names stayed. 

Douglas joked that he thought that a bit lazy not to think up new names and it was hell on set. Later he jokes that since Muriel is an actual angel name, that Neil didn’t make that one either.

Maggie runs a record shop which is beside Aziraphale’s bookshop in Soho, Mr. Fell is her landlord, shop passed through the generations. Her shop looks across shop where Nina works.

Nina works in the independent coffeeshop Give Me Coffe or Give Me Death, she is good with dealing with people in Soho who come in, not afraid of dealing with them. Wears great cardigans. Her character is quite grumpy. There is a scene where at the start her love life is doomed and she is getting passive-agressive texts for Lindsay - Neil says writing the texts was some of the most fun they had  - maybe there will be a hope for her love life.

- About more characters:

Neil didn’t want to lose people because they are such a family and wanted Miranda Richardson back but Madame Tracy’s story had really finished and couldn’t think of more for here and her story had ended so beautifully so he wrote a new part for Miranda - she plays Shax, demon that was sent on Earth as the replacement of sacked Crowley.

Anna Maxwell Martin couldn’t make the filming (was in two shows and a stage play when they needed her), so Beelzebub is played by Shelley Conn. She demanded a lot more flies.

Donna Preston plays Mrs. Sandwich, and We’we never quite sure about Mrs. Sandwich’s profession but she’s definitely in Soho.

-When Neil started writing S2:

 In August 2019 he told Amazon and BBC at fancy breakfast, ‘This is the plot.’, and they said, ‘Oh, we like that plot.’ 

In December he and John Finnemore got together and Neil told him the plot and he said, ‘That is a good plot, but how does it end’ Neil said that he doesn’t have ends until he gets there but John needed one so Neil said, ‘How about this?’ and told him the end and John said, ‘That’s a good end.’ And that is the end we’ve got. 

He started writing it in the middle of the pandemic Summer 2020, writing with pencil to his notebook the first scene which is the first scene.

- Neil what will S2 be about:

Six episodes, each about 45 minutes.

There are some love stories in it.

We will learn a lot about Jane Austen we didn’t know before.

There is a lot more Heaven, a lot more Hell.

- What could be more eras for Aziraphale and Crowley

Douglas: 19th century Scotland, Neil: Edinburgh perhaps around 1827?, Douglas: That would be good, can you write that?, Neil: Oddly enough, episode 3 will take us to a little stint of body snatching in the era. For me it would be like 1941 and we’d go back to those Nazis. Douglas: That would be good and what about something biblical as well, could we do something? Neil: Bible’s good. Yeah back to biblical times, that would be really fun, we could do one of those in episode 2. (they are obviously talking about minisodes :))

- There was a clip from the show but only sound for those watching the stream. 

Listen here. 

Description from twitter ‘Crowley rushes into the bookshop holding plants and it’s so cute’.  

This pic should be from it :)

- Season 2 Release Date: Summer 2023

- At the end on the zoom dropped not on Michael but also David and Jon Hamm! :)

Watch here :), their banter was written by Neil, Staged-style.

Michael and David found out that there’s going to be S2 probably at the same time from Neil. There was always sort of hope after the end of S1 that there might be more story to tell. Jon found out about it from Neil during press for S1 as potentiality and then during covid Neil said an idea to Jon that we would start by walking down the street in Soho completely nude and he send me the beggining of the scene where Gabriel does not recogni- and the rest is deliberately cut with ‘Lost connection’, to the nude part Neil said, I knew that if he said yes to that he’d say yes to anything and then he says it is not actually there.

[rwbyrg]

Hello again! I was wondering, in your own opinion, what moment(s) for both Oscar and Ruby, really implied that there was much more going on with the two character, in the sense that their relationship was starting to evolve? Also what do you like about those moments? To add, do you think we will see it much more in volume 10?

Hello!! I think, generally speaking, all of their focused scenes imply there's more going on or that their relationship is evolving in some way. RWBY doesn't have filler. So when characters - especially ones as central to the narrative as these two - get focused screen time together (and romance-y tropes), it's done with intention.

Ruby's arc is about many things, but especially about how she's pretty much the last silver eyed warrior that can face Salem. Meanwhile, Oscar's arc is about defining who he is while under a curse that robs him of his identity. And in their first meeting, Oscar comments on Ruby's eyes, and she asks him who he is. Even their first lines to each other are mirrored in how they're spoken!

This scene really shows that their character arcs linked from the very beginning.

We get all the stuff I mentioned in my last post and more and none of it is necessary to do if it's not building up to something. Which it very clearly is.

I have no doubts we'll get to see more of their shared story in V10 onward. The V9 epilogue - what was supposed to be the final episode of the season - works as both a closing point for the Atlas arc, and a kick off for the Vacuo one. It's setting the stage for what is to come. A non-extensive list of what we know we're getting so far:

Nora's and Winter's character arcs; both of them struggling with responsibility, grief, and guilt.

Weiss will almost certainly be getting some focus by extension of that as well. Especially because her arc has always been about her family.

Ren being more open and trying harder to support those around him.

Qrow, more hopeful than he's ever been before and how much it's propelling him forward.

And then we have Oscar.

Oscar and the merge. Oscar Pine, Little Prince, pining at Ruby's grave in the desert. I talk about this set up a lot, and it's difficult to explain succinctly because it's got a lot of complex pieces at play (and has been going on since their meeting, as mentioned above). But if I were to try and break it down as simply as possible:

Ruby's fatal flaw is her grief. Her silver eyes are powered by, and the embodiment of, the preservation of life. She doesn't want to lose anyone else that she cares about and cannot bear the weight of responsibility that comes with it alone. So much so that she almost abandons her own identity via ascension because she is offered the choice to do so. She stays true to herself in the end as someone that fights, not for those she's lost, but for those she hasn't lost yet. And the narrative, through all their interactions, but especially the Tea Party, has placed Oscar front and centre in the position of who Ruby hasn't lost yet. Oscar, who wants nothing more than to be a part of the team that he keeps pushing away. Oscar, who just wants to be who he is, to preserve himself, but is being robbed of that choice via the merge. Something Ruby, can't protect him from.

RWBY loves to make its pairings thematically complimentary and it loves pushing characters to their limits. There is no way that the scenes and setup between Oscar and Ruby haven't been intentionally building to something big with how much their respective and shared conflicts are directly playing off of each other. There is no way CRWBY - with their limited budget and resource constraints - dedicated all that screen time to these two for it to not pay off at some point. And given this arc is the last one... now's a good a time as any for it to happen.

[reasonsforhope]

This is maybe an odd thing to put on a good news/reasons for hope blog, but I've also had people tell me that they find this info really, genuinely comforting, so I'm putting it up. Also, further understanding could do a ton to advance medicine, esp. re: allergies, autoimmune diseases, and depression. You can read more about this at the link.

"More than half of your body is not human, say scientists.

Human cells make up only 43% of the body's total cell count. The rest are microscopic [co-contributors].

Understanding this hidden half of ourselves - our microbiome - is rapidly transforming understanding of diseases from allergy to Parkinson's.

The field is even asking questions of what it means to be "human" and is leading to new innovative treatments as a result.

"They are essential to your health," says Prof Ruth Ley, the director of the department of microbiome science at the Max Planck Institute, "your body isn't just you."

No matter how well you wash, nearly every nook and cranny of your body is covered in microscopic creatures.

This includes bacteria, viruses, fungi and archaea (organisms originally misclassified as bacteria). The greatest concentration of this microscopic life is in the dark murky depths of our oxygen-deprived bowels.

Prof Rob Knight, from University of California San Diego, told the BBC: "You're more microbe than you are human."

Originally it was thought our cells were outnumbered 10 to one.

"That's been refined much closer to one-to-one, so the current estimate is you're about 43% human if you're counting up all the cells," he says.

But genetically we're even more outgunned.

The human genome - the full set of genetic instructions for a human being - is made up of 20,000 instructions called genes.

But add all the genes in our microbiome together and the figure comes out between two and 20 million microbial genes.

Prof Sarkis Mazmanian, a microbiologist from Caltech, argues: "We don't have just one genome, the genes of our microbiome present essentially a second genome which augment the activity of our own.

"What makes us human is, in my opinion, the combination of our own DNA, plus the DNA of our gut microbes."

It would be naive to think we carry around so much microbial material without it interacting or having any effect on our bodies at all.

Science is rapidly uncovering the role the microbiome plays in digestion, regulating the immune system, protecting against disease and manufacturing vital vitamins.

Prof Knight said: "We're finding ways that these tiny creatures totally transform our health in ways we never imagined until recently."

It is a new way of thinking about the microbial world. To date, our relationship with microbes has largely been one of warfare.

-via BBC News, April 10, 2018

[olenvasynyt]

I love fated mates stories, and that's why I enjoy Sarah J. Maas’ books so much. Her main couples are always somehow fated to one another.

So it really saddens me when it comes to Elucien’s bond, how it’s vilified by part of the fandom, how it’s seen as something disgusting that should be broken and forgotten. How they think it robs Elain of her freedom and her ability to make her own (informed) choices.

Where was that energy for all the other 10+ fated couples that SJM wrote about? None of the MFCs were instantly in love with their mates. They all had to deal with doubt and fear and unease to some degree. I mean isn’t overcoming those hurdles part of the journey?

I can understand why some people find Elucien's mating bond so jarring because so far, it has an important key factor that differentiates it from the other mated couples we've seen. The bond snapped instantly, and both Lucien and ELain knew immediately that they were mates. And this is not the same with any other main character mating bond. With Feysand's bond, they knew each other for a while but it snapped a bit later and only Rhys realized. And for nearly an entire book Feyre was ignorant to it. With Nessian's bond, there were signs from the beginning and Cassian suspected, but Nesta locked her feelings away and the bond didn't snap until later when she opened up.

But Lucien and Elain knew right in that very moment. And this is the main reason why they are so different from the other mated couples. And another huge, huge difference too: Elain has more room for choice than her sisters did with their mating bonds because of this knowledge. Because unlike them, she has known the truth from the very beginning. 

Feyre and Nesta were forced to be in the same room as their mates, but that's not the case with Elain. Lucien has been giving Elain space to choose.  He is cautious around her, because he sees that she is uncomfortable, that he fucked up, that she might resent him for allying with Hybern even though it wasn’t his fault and he did things to counteract that. From their interaction in the library, Elain made the choice between her mate and Greyson. And she chose Grayson. And we see how that worked out, and that rejection will play a part in her story.

However, Elucien's mating bond is still similar to other mating bonds we've seen, and that is mates always have issues with reluctancy and avoidance since they first start out. Like you said, none of the MFCs were instantly in love with their mates. Feyre was attracted to Rhys but she avoided him, same with Nesta with Cassian. 

In ACOFAS, two chapters apart, we see that Nesta avoids being in the same room as Cassian and Lucien and Elain avoid being in the same room.

Chapter 16 of ACOFAS: “Nesta had made it clear enough she had no interest in Cassian—not even in being in the same room as him”

Chapter 18 of ACOFAS: (Lucien) “I can’t stand to be in the same room as her for more than two minutes.”

And in ACOMAF we see that when Rhys takes Feyre to the night Court, she is quite happy to stay away from him, lock herself in her room.  She literally chucked a shoe at Rhys. When she finds out he is her mate she literally is so mad that she runs and asks Mor to take her away from Rhys.

People will try to deny those similarities, but it's the same thing. Literally those quotes that I shared from ACOFAS show that.

The differences are what makes their bond so jarring: again, Lucien and Elain already knew they were mates beforehand and they are also very different people compared to the other mated couples.  Elain isn’t one to snap easily and say her feelings; unlike Feyre, who chucked her shoes at Rhys, and Nesta, who kicked Cassian in the balls during one of their first encounters, and she continues to avoid him and snap occasionally throughout several books.

Lucien isn’t one to push and actively pursue his mate, unlike Cassian and Rhys.  He is able to keep his distance when he sees that his mate is uncomfortable and wants her space.

Like you said, this is part of the journey. Their journey is going to be very different from the other mated couples, but it's still the same in the end. They all have to deal with doubt and fear and unease. It's part of the journey SJM always has her FMCs make.

[sseomtada]

being [ruben dias]

shenanigans ensue at erling's party & later, you're interrupted by a surprise visitor.

warnings: none | wc: 4966 | 6/8

“Should I go with sapphire or teal?”

You held both options up to your chest, head tilting in the mirror with scrutiny before spinning around to do the same for your best friend. She surveyed the outfit choices. One was a jewel blue two piece with a blazer and wide legged pants. The other’s color reminded you of a hue you’d find in a rainforest, with a cropped high-neck top and maxi skirt.

“Second fit.” Aki came to her conclusion.

That’s what you were leaning more towards too. You loved the competitor, but it felt a little too CEO for a party. She wrapped up steaming out her corseted pink mini dress and summoned you to her vanity where she curled your hair.

“Should I expect to see any of your suitors tonight?” Your eyes met hers in the mirror.

Her expression soured. “Absolutely not. Why would I bring a packed lunch to a buffet?”

That nearly made your ear get burnt off as you cackled. The once perpetually booed up girl you knew had now morphed into a menacing serial dater. You were honestly impressed with her evolution. She gave the same energy she received and was refusing to claim anyone seriously until they met all of her needs.

“I can’t wait to watch your masterclass in live time.” You slipped into your outfit.

“Watch closely.” Her lips smacked post lip gloss application. “Even an old dog can learn new tricks.”

The revelation that you were back together with Ruben was still settling in with her. While she wasn’t upset about it, she was crossed that she had been robbed of playing wingwoman for you at events. You reminded her that Cindy was single and it actually worked to perk her up a little. Playing Cupid was one of her favorite pastimes.

While approaching the party, you realized that you had ventured into familiar territory. It only fully sank in once the car rolled up to the front of the building and you spotted the interior. How you failed to notice that Erling lived in the same spot as Ruben was beyond you. Well, almost.

You had been quite distracted by the later recently. The location also made you laugh, recalling that Erling had hosted the initial meeting at his place of work. He was a man that clearly liked to keep everything in close knit.

When you got out of the lift, both your mouth and Aki’s dropped a bit. This was actually what getting paid the big bucks got someone. His apartment was a sprawling penthouse, recently renovated to have the latest styles and fixtures.

“You’re here!” Cindy bounced over to give you kisses.

“We hope you weren’t too bored waiting for us.” Aki scanned a tray of treats that floated by.

“I think I managed quite fine…” Her voice trailed off along with her gaze.

You followed it to a tall brunette swaying along with the chill house music playing through the sound system. His face was familiar from some pictures you’d seen in Ruben’s apartment - one of his teammates.

Speaking of which, you felt him. The flesh on your arms raised, silent alarm ringing to alert your system to someone’s eyes being stuck on you. When you picked up on his trail, you found him cracking open a bottle of water. His cheeks rose with a smile before he took a sip.

Another alarm signaled, your target closer this time. It was Aki who peered between you two like a strict father who was chaperoning a dance. She told Cindy to give you two a second as she took you by the hand and dragged you over. Your eyes widened, body tensing to slow her momentum.

“Relax, I just wanna say something real quick.” She tugged a bit more to loosen you.

That did nothing to ease your nerves about the impending interaction. If anything, it only made your stomach twist tighter. Ruben was experiencing the same thing judging by the look on his face as she saw her coming in hot with you on her heels.

“Ruben.” Her voice was flat in greeting.

“Aki.” He swallowed thickly.

“I don’t have to remind you that I make promises, not threats, right?” Aki smiled humorlessly.

Ruben staggered out a nod. He knew exactly where she was coming from.

“Good.” She gave your fingers a squeeze and released them. “I’ll leave you two to do whatever it is that people who dated for five years - separated for seven on account of one person’s decision - and reunited while ruining my favorite chair in the office do.”

Both of you were left with open mouths and flaming faces as you watched her go back over to Cindy, who you realized would have lots of questions about the exchange. You knew that Aki was going to figure out the real reason her comfort sofa had been replaced. What a time and what a way for her to reveal it.

“That was a ramble. She can’t ramble when she’s truly upset.” Ruben whispered.

Your head inclined positively. “I think that actually went well.”

His shoulders sagged with relief. You instinctually placed your hands over them to give him a small massage. If it wasn’t obvious that something was going on between you two in any onlooker’s eyes, they would’ve caught on by now.

The way he looked at you would cement any suspicions as well. Ruben couldn’t stop himself from visibly appreciating the effort you put into tonight’s look. The feeling was very mutual. You loved him in all black, especially when his shirt strained against his chest.

He leaned forward, getting as far as touching noses with you until you reared back slightly.

“Have you told everyone here about us?” You breathed.

“I haven’t shut up about you in the past two days.” Ruben chuckled.

A hand curled around the back of his neck to bring him in for the kiss he’d so badly wanted. You did too, even more so after what he said. It wasn’t nearly enough to satisfy the craving you had for him, present company and all, but it was enough to satiate you for now.

The music lowered, but you hadn’t even noticed until you heard clinking on a glass. Your view switched from eyes you often got lost in to the reason you were all gathered here tonight. Erling waved, thanking everyone for coming out to celebrate the launch of his brand.

He went on to announce the biggest news of the night. It was the project Aki had been working so diligently to secure for him - a deal to collaborate on an activewear line with H&M. You had a timer set to drop the news on his website after the party so that it wasn’t spoiled.

“A team of hardworking women really went above and beyond for me, so thank you Erika,” He tipped his glass to his assistant and then towards your group. “Y/N, Aki and Cindy.”

You met all the kind smiles directed towards you with one of your own. If you weren’t already lit up like a Christmas tree, his move surely made that the case. Ruben’s hand curled around your waist to pull you in for a kiss atop your head.

“Let’s have fun tonight, but not too much. Pep can always tell when we’ve overdone it.” Erling wrapped up his speech.

The members in attendance groaned, man beside you included.

“Oh! One more thing.” He interrupted again. “Cheers to Ruben and Y/N! I don’t know how you got so lucky, but please don’t fuck it up. I love being her client.”

Aki whooped and the music resumed. You were definitely on fire, head to toe.

Ruben’s head fell and shook. Your arms wrapped around him as you made a small cooing sound. Poor thing, he had to take a lot of warnings on the chin on your behalf tonight. A part of you was smiling though. It was good to know that someone inside his camp was keeping him on his toes.

Celebrations got into full swing once the drinks really started flowing. Before the crowd got too involved with libations, Ruben introduced you to the people he spent the most time with. The tall brunette from earlier was John, you learned. You also did some low-key recon on his relationship status.

He’s here alone?

Poor guy has been coming to these types of events alone for a while now…

Everyone was letting a bit looser than you expected given Erling’s warning earlier. If the image of them somewhat behaving looked like Aki beating three of them in a row downing bulldogs, you didn’t want to know what full out was. Still, curiosity got the best of you.

“How do you guys act when not on your best behavior?” You quirked a brow at Ruben’s fellow countryman hitting a dance move you hand’t seen in ages.

He clutched his lower stomach subconsciously, gaze distant. “Let’s just say I don’t recall much about our treble celebrations.”

That was surprising. Even when you were younger with livers that could tolerate the cheapest of liquor in spades, he wasn’t much of a drinker. You’d only ever seen him drunk a handful of times, which was a blessing to be honest. He was the type to fall asleep anywhere.

“Sounds like it was a blast.” You hummed.

The feeling you had in his flat while taking in his accolades had made a reappearance. You didn’t know if it would ever get any easier - having to live all those moments of success he had secondhand. There would always be that voice in the back of your mind whispering that you should’ve been present for them.

“Hey,” Ruben must’ve sensed your longing, and tilted your chin up. “Remember what I said?”

You nodded and smiled, nuzzling into his palm. “I do.”

“Good, I just want you to focus on this. We’re here tonight because of you.” He beamed.

It hit you then that things must’ve been the same for him. The last time he’d been in your life, you weren’t anywhere close to being an owner of a multinational company. He’d missed your university graduations, the ladder climbing, your ribbon cutting ceremonies and all of the big projects that bore Bana’s credit.

“All those times you doubted yourself, those moments where you wanted to quit so badly…they never stood a chance against your belief in yourself.” His thumb ran gently across your cheek. “I’m so proud of you, Y/N, and I can’t wait to see how much more you achieve.”

You squeezed him tight. If there was anyone who had faith in you just as much if not more than yourself most days, besides Aki, it was him. Sometimes, you used to think that you were only doing it for him, pushing past the disappointment and doubt just so that he didn’t see you as a failure.

Hearing him say those words only validated the realization that your past thoughts had never been the case. You proved to yourself that with or without him, you were going to get to the point you were at currently.

“Come,” You took his hand in yours. “We can’t let them have all the fun.”

Ruben laughed as you downed the rest of your wine and pulled him in to dance with you. He spun you around, pressing his chest to your back. You peered at him devilishly over your shoulder while moving your hips in time with his.

That only lasted for so long before you felt him getting a little too excited. Your body pivoted to face his again, fingers joining behind his neck. He pressed his forehead to yours as you swayed and forgot the present environment in a more appropriate manner.

You didn’t know how many songs had passed until you came back to earth. There was noticeably more space in the apartment, a few bodies had cleared out while you were under his spell. A sight that caught your eye proudly was Cindy who was making hushed conversation with John on the sofa.

“This outfit of yours is doing something to me.” Ruben spoke into your ear.

A shiver ran down your whole body. He knew what he was doing, activating your senses like this and walking you right into his trap. You rolled your eyes mostly at yourself. That was exactly where you wanted to end up anyways.

“‘You trying to seduce me, Dias?” Your lip pinned between your teeth.

“Always.” He kissed your neck.

Just as your gaze was about to get lost behind your eyelids, you spotted Aki blowing kisses at a bottle of champagne. All of the lust fueled urges you were feeling took the back burner to newfound nurturing.

“You’re gonna have to put a pin in that.” You patted his chest.

Ruben gave you his best puppy eyes. “Hm?”

Your head nudged towards your friend who was now making a move on the poor alcohol, a finger trailing lazily down its side. He made a small ah sound, understanding what you meant immediately.

“Why don’t we take the party back to mine?” You looped an arm around hers.

Aki squinted at you. “Don’t you have knock to boots with that giant meany?”

It took everything in you not to laugh in her face. This was definitely the perfect moment for you to get her out of here. The next stage in her drunkenness would be a wildcard. You’d either be subjected to a long winded proclamation on how she felt about everything, or impromptu karaoke of Santana’s greatest hits. Neither of which suited the occasion.

“I have a bestie I’d much rather cuddle with tonight.” A little flattery always did the trick.

Her expression softened and she pulled you into a hug. The words muffled into your chest signaled that she’d slipped into the love bombing phase of intoxication, which you greatly preferred to her jazz rendition of Maria, Maria.

You began walking towards the door while dragging her slowly along. A hand raised to wave goodbye to Cindy and then Erling, the other stroking Aki’s back. Ruben was about to approach, but your eyes widened and your head shook quickly. The lion was almost out of the den.

As if she was an actual predator, Aki stiffened. Her glassy eyes found him instantly and you could see him holding his breath, waiting. She took your hand and dragged you the rest of the way to the door, her tongue sticking out tauntingly towards him.

Before the lift close, you saw Ruben laughing. He blew you a kiss, which luckily had gone unnoticed by your bodyguard. It found itself tucked into your pocket, remembering how you used to do the same back then.

You couldn’t wait to feel the weight increase as you collected those yet to come.

The following day at the office found your team one player down.

Given the night that transpired, you weren’t too surprised by that. You had to actually make good on your promise to bring the festivities home by dancing with Aki. Ultimately, that worked in your favor. It got her parched enough to drink water while also purging out some of the alcohol in her system.

What was surprising was the fact that she wasn’t the missing person. While her ability to bounce back was the quickest between you two, you weren’t placing bets on her peeling out of bed shortly after you did. And it was a good thing you didn’t take the risk.

She listened to the silence of the space, noticeably devoid of any fingers moving across a keyboard or faint music floating down the hallway like usual. Her hands then dramatically snatched the sunglasses from her face as she posed the same question rattling around your mind.

“Where’s Cindy?”

The inquiry hung for a second before a proverbial lightbulb went off in your head. You didn’t want to get too ahead of yourself, but you had a pretty good idea concerning the reason behind her discernible absence. At least, you hoped that was why.

“I think she’s cashing in one of those bonus days.” You smiled.

Aki shrugged, slipping her glasses back on. “Fair, poor thing works too hard.”

You focused on lessening the load for her upon her return. The more technical aspects of client management wasn’t particularly your favorite thing to do, but you’d suck it up for the sake of her finally getting the rest she deserved.

About half of the day passed when your best friend dragged herself into your office. She ran out of what little steam she had, which you completely understood. You commended her for even being able to lift a toothbrush into her mouth this morning.

That left you the sole survivor of Erling’s launch party. It took you back to the days when you first started Bana. Like that dollar and a dream saying, all you had was yourself, a laptop and an unhealthy amount of delusion.

You welcomed that energy and channeled it into the work laid out before you. One thing you never wanted to lose was that initial hunger. It was the motivation that would keep you going even when things were slowing down like they sort of currently were.

Any leads that Cindy had marked out, you followed up on with fervor. While you were at that, you worked on updating the company’s website and portfolio to reflect the latest projects you’d worked on.

When are you gonna give me a tour of your place?

You huffed out a laugh, typing.

Meet me there soon. Mine looks best at sunset.

Now that the cat was out of the bag, you didn’t have to worry about keeping him away from your home radius with a ten foot pole. It also helped that Aki was definitely going to be out of commission until the next day at the earliest. So there was no chance of a still awkward potential run in.

You wrapped up the last few emails on the list you had to send out and made your way back. Hopefully he wasn’t too eager to come over since quite the mess had been left from the previous night.

As soon as you got home, you cracked your windows to air out the loft and got to cleaning. Given that you didn’t know how much time you were working with, you put on an hour timer for extra encouragement. Dishes, sweeping, dusting and surface cleaning in that order all while you carried out laundry.

When the timer ended, you’d just returned from throwing the trash down chute at the end of the hall. With Ruben still not being there, you put your freshly cleaned shower to the test and then got into some loungewear straight from the dryer.

I’m downstairs.

You felt giddy as replied to him which floor you were on before you sent the elevator down.

“Hello MTV…” Your arm stretched above your head.

Ruben jogged over and tackled you inside playfully. You couldn’t help the giggles that fell from your mouth until they were cut off by his. He peppered your face with kisses and moved down to your neck.

“I missed you.” His nose nuzzled against your skin.

Even though it had been less than a day since you last saw him, you related to his remark. The hours you spent apart felt like days and sometimes even months, as exaggerative as that sounded. When you weren’t with him, in the back of your mind if not the forefront, you were always thinking about the last and next time you’d see him.

You stroked his hair gently, “I missed you too.”

Though you might not have millions of followers on your social media, you gave him the brand marketer’s version of a house tour. You’d argue that it was better. He got all the details from the imported quartz countertops, your treasured surgical steel knife collection, custom made sofa and  floor to ceiling tiled bathroom all the way down to the thread-count of your duvet.

“And now, as promised.” You dragged him back to the entirely windowed wall of your living room.

He’d arrived just in time to catch the sunset. It was luckily a good weather day in this perpetually drab city, grey skies making way for the blue he donned week after week. Hues of yellow, orange and a dash of pink illuminated the space, bathing you both in the sun’s warm kaleidoscope.

“I think your view is better than mine.” Ruben marveled.

That might’ve been true. The only thing you would change about your flat was to have a balcony like his. There was a unit with one a few floors up, but it was already occupied. You definitely weren’t staking out the developer’s leasing page on a regular basis to see if it became available.

Once the sun had disappeared, you settled onto the couch and lied on his lap. Unlike him, you reminded, you were not some Michelin star chef and also still had yet to do a grocery run. That left your trusted friend, the delivery app, to do all of the work for tonight’s meal.

Ruben wasn’t objected to the idea. In fact, he welcomed it a bit too eagerly. You almost took offense until he swiftly interjected that he’d been craving something different lately. It still had to be somewhat healthy though, special footballer diet and all.

You put in an order from one of your favorite spots. It was a small family owned Greek place that always used the freshest ingredients, something you were sure both your bodies would thank you for after a long day.

While you ate your mouth watering wrap, you curled up beside him and put on a random trending movie on Netflix. It quickly became background noise though. He was more interested in hearing about your recent events and how life had been since you moved to Manchester.

“There’s something else we have to talk about.” Ruben took a sip of water.

Your back immediately straightened. Those words were never the precursor for something pleasant. When matched with that tone and a more serious expression, you certainly weren’t excited to hear what was next.

“Should I be worried?” Your brows met as you tried to fight off the millions of scenarios that flooded your head.

“It’s nothing particularly bad, it’s just,” He scratched his beard. “Now that I play for City and we get so much media attention, being with me will come with a lot more than it used to.”

You breathed a sigh of relief. It was good to know that he wasn’t going to spring a surprise on you like the fact that he had a situationship he’d never really cut off, or that he was harboring a secret love child.

Funnily enough, the WAG thing never really crossed your mind. He’d only ever been the oddly cute buck toothed boy you fell for on the playground, even when you were watching him play before his senior debut. It was weird trying to reconcile that version of him with how others saw him.

“Oh no, do you have stalkers now?” You half-joked.

“Be serious!” Ruben warned through a grin. “I don’t, but some people do go a bit overboard with player’s partners. Taking pictures of them out in public, digging into their pasts, leaving malicious comments. I’ve been told that there’s some news about us so…”

The importance of what he was saying wasn’t lost on you. You’d heard about how intense things could get when publicly dating a footballer. With his looks and status, you honestly anticipated him having some fans that were obsessive in an unhealthy way. The fact that you hadn’t even really been out together publicly but already were exposed kind of proved that.

You appreciated him looking out for you. He knew none of that could ever change things, but still felt it was necessary to check in with you to confirm that you knew what all getting back together brought. It only made you want him more.

“All I do is work and I barely use socials anyways.” You wrapped your arms around his neck. “I guess the only thing I have to do is make sure I don’t leave home looking like a bum.”

He shook his head. “Impossible, you look good in anything.”

Your eyes did a full circle. There he was with his sweet words, trying to seduce you again. You had a thought to give him a taste of his own medicine and so you followed through with it. In one quick move, you straddled him and brought your lips to hover just over his.

“What about nothing?”

Ruben instantly sealed the gap between you and him. Even better, he muttered into your mouth. You swallowed his words, feeling them travel all the way down to stoke the flames already licking within the molten pit in your stomach.

Your tongue moved against and over his own while your hips dug deep into his. He trembled beneath you, hands falling to massage your ass. Most of it was left half exposed by your ridden up shorts, making your flesh rise to meet his fingertips and palms

Everything about him was so divine. The way he smelt, felt and tasted. You wanted to engrave each inch of him in your memory so that you’d never forget any of his being ever again. Your lips met his forehead, his cheeks, chin and neck.

They grew hungrier the more they feasted. You tugged on his shirt that was unhesitatingly removed with his help. Across the expanse of his shoulders, your lips traversed next, and then down to his firm chest. You became something of a woman possessed as your teeth pinched his nipple.

“Y/N!” Ruben gasped in shock.

You pulled away quickly, worried. “Did that hurt?”

“No, it just…” His eyes narrowed as a sly expression took over his face.

Instead of telling you what it did to him, he decided to show you. His hand trailed up your waist until his thumbs ran along the underside of your breasts. You shivered, teeth baring with a smile.  His fingers moved lower and began moving quickly, digging into your sides.

“Traitor!” You yelled and leapt from his lap.

“You started it.” He reached out a hand. “Come back, I won’t tickle you again.”

Your confidence in that statement was nearly zero. The escape you made from his clutches was made far too quickly for his revenge to be satiated. And his gaze still lingered with challenge. You took a tiny testing step towards him.

When he surged up to grab you midway, you shrieked again and easily dodged. Ruben gave you a look that screamed you were just delating the inevitable. You gave him one right back that said catch me if you can.

He might’ve been fast, but you had home court advantage. You easily weaved around your furniture to the kitchen. In the corner of the furthest end of the island, you gauged his stalking as he did the same.

“Ready to forfeit?” Ruben tested.

“I thought you liked to earn your wins.” You taunted before taking off again.

Your muscles fired up as you darted towards the bedroom. If you could make it under your covers, you’d at least have a few moments of extra protection from his treacherous digits. The neatly tucked duvet came into view and celebrations were imminent.

At the buzzer, he threw you onto the bed and launched an attack on your stomach. You tried to curl up, writhing and twisting your body in an attempt to fight off his fingers. It was to no avail, his hands had infiltrated beneath your shirt to tickle your bare skin.

Right as you were about to cry uncle, you heard your doorbell chime. That halted both of your actions. You sat up onto your elbows as he removed himself from your body. His brows raised as if to ask if you were expecting anyone.

You weren’t. If it was Aki, she wouldn’t have rung your bell since she knew the code. Though she could’ve been adhering to respecting your privacy had she heard you and Ruben scuffling from outside.

The bell rang again and you peeled yourself from the bed, straightening your shirt and shorts along the way to see who it was. You hoped it was her and not some disgruntled neighbor. Surely, you weren’t being that loud.

When you opened up, you took it back. You would much rather be staring down the barrel of aggravated eyes than the ones you met. It wasn’t as if you weren’t happy to see her, far from that, you were just stunned.

And truly in a pickle given the other visitor currently residing in your bedroom.

“Mom…” You regulated your breathing with a smile. “What are you doing here?!”

[superblysubpar]

*originally posted over on my old blog. If you happened to read/interact with this before, I'd greatly appreciate it if you left some love once again. I did re-edit/re-write some things.*

Midnight City:

part one | part two: "Frozen"

modern!steve harrington x fem! reader

Summary: Steve Harrington looks good tonight. You leave your meddling friends behind at the bar and Steve and you get a little lost in each other. | masterlist | steve's music | NSFW 18+

WC Range: 3k-6k

Warnings: modern Steve (smartphone use), drinking amongst group/reader (all of legal age), mentions of Ronance potential, fem reader, use of Y/N and petnames, a lot of swearing, making out in uber/public places, oral and fingering (reader receiving, steve performing), Steve’s a little possessive

Steve knew what he was doing, and you weren't going to fall for it. 

The hat, the blazer, the new amount of scruff on his jawline...he looked good.

The entire wait in line to get into the bar your eyes roamed over him as he talked with Robin and Eddie.

You knew you were staring. You knew you shouldn’t be staring.

As you walked in you saw him fixing the collar of the jacket in the grungy mirror by the door. He caught your eye in the reflection, licking his lips before smirking and asking, “See something you like?”

Cocky son of a bitch.

You rolled your eyes and patted his shoulder as you walked by, “You look nice tonight, Steve.”

You exhaled and bit your lip. You risked a glance back and regretted it immediately as you made eye contact with his stupid smirk.

Steve was your friend. Just a friend. You could appreciate how good your friend looked tonight. It wasn’t illegal to find him attractive. It wasn’t against any rules to think about his lips a little more than you had in the past. 

Your group found a table by the small stage and Eddie drummed on the table looking around, “We probably shouldn’t leave this spot, you guys wanna go get your drinks first?”

Robin craned her neck searching, no doubt if Nancy was here yet. You pushed her shoulder down and laughed, “Down girl. Don’t be so eager - remember, slow game. Just text her where we are,” you looked at the boys, “Go ahead, we’ll wait.”

Steve and Eddie nodded and instead of going around you, Steve squeezed between you and a stranger, pressing his hand to your lower back and mumbled a quiet, “Sorry.”

You willed your face to stay neutral as you mumbled something about it being okay as your body filled with heat. Robin’s mouth dropped as she looked at your face and you squinted at the crowd, biting your cheek.

She smacked your shoulder and you recoiled, “Ow. What the hell is your problem!”

She smacked your shoulder with the back of her hand a few times again, and laughed while shouting, “Holy shit you have the hots for Steve!”

“Robin!” you hissed at her and ducked down.

“Who has the hots for Steve?” Nancy’s voice ringing out over the din of the crowd behind your shoulder.

Robin grabbed her hand and pulled her to the table, “Y/N!”

Oh god, could the two of them be any louder?

Nancy’s eyes lit up in excitement and she opened her mouth but it snapped shut, her eyes twinkling as the boys came back to the table, Steve setting your normal drink of choice in front of you.

Robin cleared her throat, “No drinks for Nance or I, hot stuff?”

Steve shot her a look but responded cooly, “I only have two hands and so much cash Robin. Y/N knows how to pace herself. You on the other hand drink like you wanna swim in it.”

Robin made a face at him, pulling out her phone and began typing as Nancy tapped the table, “No worries, gives Robs and I a chance to talk some more. Come on,” she tugged Robin away from the table who put her phone away as your phone buzzed three times. 

You pulled it out and resisted rolling your eyes as you read the messages.

Robin: holy

Robin: shit

Robin: steve likes you

You started typing and saw Nancy’s name appear in the group chat, three little dots blinking and you waited.

Nancy: he does he totally does

You: guys stop it

You: we’re just friends

Nancy: don’t look now but he’s staring at you

Robin: aww he loves you

You glanced up to see Steve quickly look down and you bit your lip around a smile.

Robin: I SAW THAT

You set your phone on the table, screen down and gestured to your drink, “Thanks Harrington.”

He smiled and adjusted his hat nervously before grabbing his own drink. “Of course,” he held it up and you clinked your glasses together before you both took pretty big gulps.

Your phone buzzed and you took another sip.

“Where’d Eddie-”

“You gonna get-”

You both stopped talking and then spoke in unison, “Sorry, you-”

You clamped your mouth shut and your phone buzzed again and you sighed.

He pointed to it, “Your phone keeps buzzing.”

You nodded and took another drink, “Sure does, where did Eddie go?”

He nodded towards the bar, “Set his sights on a new prospect.”

You grinned and craned your neck to find the dorky metalhead leaning over the bar, chatting up a pretty honey blonde haired waitress.

You jumped at Steve’s voice next to your ear and his hot breath hitting your neck as he whispered, “Ten bucks he gets a fake number again.”

You turned and were shocked that your face was so close to his, your cherry breath mixing with his whiskey, and you narrowed your eyes, focusing on your competitive banter rather than your stomach flipping, “You’re a terrible wingman for your best friend. But, I’ll take that bet. I have faith in Munson. She seems interested.”

Your phone buzzed five times and as you glanced at it Steve took a step back and you picked it up as the girls returned to the table.

Steve fiddled with his drink and nodded towards your phone, “Who ya texting so much?”

Robin had a smug smile on her face, “Yeah, Y/N, you have friends other than us?”

You made a face at her and blinked at the screen.

Robin: Fuck that was cute. You guys are cute together. Cheers your cups together again. I want a picture. 

Nancy: If you get married I call maid of honor. Robin’s Steve's best woman. No arguing. It’s happening.

Oh my god, a match made in heaven those two. 

You tried to focus on responding normally while reading their messages, “Uh..um..Dylan.”

“Dylan?” Steve asked and you looked up to see his frown while he sipped his drink. Glancing back down to see why your phone had buzzed five times before they were back to the table. 

Robin: OH

Robin: MY

Robin: FUCKING

Robin: GOD

Robin: KISS KISS KISS KISS KISS KISS

You closed your eyes and clicked your phone locked and grabbed your drink and downed it, “Uh, yeah, Dylan.”

Robin smirked, pulling out her phone, “Dylan is your boyfriend?”

Steve’s knuckles hit the table a few times, his mouth twisting into not quite a scowl, but he didn’t look happy.

Your phone buzzed as you responded, “He’s not my boyfriend. We just hung out a few times.”

Robin: Watch this.

Robin waited until you looked at her and she smirked, nudging Steve, “Riiight. Hung out a few times. She means they had sex.”

“Robin,” you hissed for the second time that night.

Steve finished his drink, “Yeah, Robin. I got it.”

He tapped his empty glass and walked away and you turned on Robin, “What is your problem!”

She jumped up and down giggling, “Oh my god, he looked like you kicked him in the stomach. He’s so into you.”

Nancy smirked and slid your empty glass towards you, “She’s not wrong. Her methods were a bit blunt, but now you know. Even you have to admit he looked pretty heartbroken.”

Steve was heartbroken over you talking to another guy? You didn’t want to admit to either of these two that the thought made you want to squeal a little, but the thought of Steve Harrington being a little jealous when it came to you made your stomach flip. Could one of your best friends be more than that? As you thought you saw the two of them smiling wider at you, as if they were reading your thoughts and Robin started clapping her hands together. 

You pushed Robin’s shoulders down to get her to stop bouncing, “Okay, okay, okay. If he makes a move, I won’t say no. Okay? But I’m not gonna be the one to do it.”

Robin nodded and you pointed in her face, “No. Meddling. I want him to do it himself, Robin. I mean it.”

She zipped her lips and threw the key and Eddie timed it perfectly, pretending to catch it and unlock her lips as he slid in next to her raising his eyebrows, “Ooo secrets. Tell me.”

“Y/N and Steve love each other,” she responded immediately.

“Robin!” you looked at her in disbelief.

She shrugged, “What?”

You mimed her literally seconds ago locking of the lips and held your hands out, asking what she had to say for herself. She shrugged again, “I said I wouldn’t meddle or tell Steve. Gonna have to be more specific next time sweet cheeks.”

She turned you towards the bar and gave your butt two pats and Nancy made a sound from the back of her throat and you held your hands up, grinning as you backed away.

You sighed as you stepped further away from the table though, glancing across the room to see Steve’s tall frame over the crowd you pushed through. You watched Steve rub the back of his neck, tipping his glass back for a drop of whiskey. You meant what you said, you’d risk your friendship with Steve if he made the first move.

You sighed as he rubbed his new scruff and figured a little flirting wouldn’t hurt, a little nudge in the direction you hoped he wanted to go too. You already had a witty, fairly flirty banter on normal nights, it was up to him to push it further. But you could help get the wheels turning in his brain. 

So, you bumped his hip when you finally reached him, “Hey, let me get your next one.”

He started to shake his head in protest and you stepped in front of him, placing yourself between the bar and him as you waved for the bartender.

Your phone buzzed twice.

Eddie: Woah. Easy there, killer. Gonna give him an accidental boner brush.  

Robin: Delicious.

You smirked and clicked it locked. When you got your drinks and turned to him he was glancing at his phone, his eyebrows furrowed.

You smiled but internally started to panic that Robin had not kept her word, or worse Eddie was now involved and texting him. You hadn’t made him promise not to do anything. Those two could find a crack in any contract, slipping between the lines of questionable and reasonable decisions alone. Together, though, they were a terrifying tornado of well intended though slightly messy chaos. 

You handed him the drink and you both were pushed over to a large post, leaning against it and you took a sip. Needing to find out what those two were up to, knowing you sounded incredibly nosy, you still asked, “Who ya texting?”

He glanced up, “Uh…I don’t know.”

You narrowed your eyes, “You don’t know?”

He looked confused at your tone and glanced back down at his phone. You pulled out your phone and started typing.

You: I’m going to kill you

Eddie: what

Robin: why

Nancy: I know a good lawyer.

Steve kept talking, “Yeah, a random number texted me asking if I still wanted to get drinks. Do you recognize who it is? Did Robin give my number to someone? I have, like, five contacts and four of them are here with me.”

Hey Steve! You still down for drinks tomorrow night?

You tried not to let the emotions coursing through you show on your face, “Oh. No idea, sorry.”

You pulled out your phone and quickly typed nevermind before smiling, gesturing to the table as the lights dimmed and the crowd around you cheered.

You pressed through the people and Steve’s hand on your back was making you sweat. He had girls texting him to get drinks? 

As the band started playing you sipped your drink and stole glances at Steve’s jaw next to you. That green monster churning inside of you. Damn Robin for even saying anything about you and Steve. Damn Steve for the way he looked tonight. And damn whoever that number was.

How did this happen? How did you go from being friends, to thinking he looked good tonight, to being jealous, to having to stop yourself from reaching over and biting his neck.

He pulled out his phone and something came over you, making you push closer to him, bumping your wrist in front of his crotch. 

Think about getting drinks with some other girl while you think about, as Eddie so eloquently put it, my “accidental” boner brush Harrington. 

You felt him stiffen, his thumb pausing over his screen.

You took a sip and let your hand fall back down to your side and felt your own phone buzz.

Eddie: Nice

Robin: What happened to him making the first move?

You glanced over your shoulder to see the two of them smirking at you. Robin glanced down at something and smiled as you felt fingers brush your own.

Your breath caught in your chest and you closed your eyes as Steve’s fingers brushed and moved against yours. The backs of his knuckles barely brushing against your skin, tapping almost in time with the music. 

You focused back on the stage, feeling warm as Steve moved a little closer, his arm against yours now, goosebumps erupted on your skin despite sweating your ass off.

Was this really happening?

You felt your phone buzz and you ignored it, leaning in to Steve a little more. The song being performed pounding in your ears in time with your heartbeat, the haze of a smoke filled bar making everything feel a little heavier, a little hotter. Your arms pressed together, electric static coursing between you and he nudged his shoulder against yours. 

You glanced up at him, your eyes meeting as lights surged on the stage, it was like a freaking scene from a movie. 

It really was like a scene from one of your favorite romantic comedies, lights casting Steve in a golden light, eyes fixed on you like you were the only two in the room, music swelling around you as bodies pushed you closer together. His eyes bounced between yours as he started to lean in, his lips parted slightly, and a flash went off next to you, making you both turn and squint as Robin screamed, “Fucking hell! Shit!”

She quickly threw her phone down, her, Nancy and Eddie all grinning with their elbows on the table, blinking innocently and you rolled your eyes and Steve cleared his throat. 

Steve and you turned back to the stage, the moment had passed and you were honestly a little heartbroken. And a little annoyed at Robin, who you were sure was the reason you felt your phone buzz again.

When it buzzed again you rolled your eyes and glanced down. Your heart thrummed in your chest in time with the music building as you ignored the message from Eddie and clicked on Steve’s name.

Steve: Wanna get out of here?

You bit the inside of your cheek and glanced over at him. You took a deep breath and typed your message while smirking.

You: You can do better than that Steve.

He glanced at his phone and his lips twitched up on the left side. His eyes kept glancing up to you as he typed and your phone buzzed again while he was still writing. 

Eddie: You kids are so cute. Can I be both of your best man?

Robin: ARE YOU TWO TEXTING EACH OTHER WHEN YOU’RE FIVE INCHES A PART

You rolled your eyes and took a sip of your drink and almost choked on it as you read the message that popped onto your phone as Steve slid his own into his back pocket with a satisfied smirk on his lips. 

Steve: You’re right. I can. I ordered an Uber and it’s outside. We’re going back to my place and I’m going to show you how much better I can do.

Steve: all. night. long.

As you finally swallowed, heart threatening to crack out of your chest as you glanced up at him under your lashes, he grabbed the drink out of your hand, setting it on the table and pulled you through the crowd. 

You were breathless from how fast he was going, pulling you out of the bar and into the waiting car. You giggled from how frantic he seemed.

He grabbed your cheeks, “I’m really sorry about this, your tip is already doubled and if you run every red light I swear I’ll quadruple it.”

You looked at him confused but as he pressed his lips to yours and you heard the uber driver sigh and turn their music up, you understood Steve was starting his text message vow, lips a blazing. 

You moaned into his lips, your hands on his scruff, down his neck and under his blazer, scratching your fingers up his back slow and hard, soaking in the thing you had wanted to do since he pulled up to the bar that night. 

His kissing was slow and sure, his hand pulling your jaw open for him as his tongue dipped into you. His other hand squeezed your thigh before roaming up to your hip, under your shirt and toying with the lace of your bralette. 

His warm fingertips on your skin buzzed, his mouth opening against yours, his breathing slow and heavy, panting into you. His breath and yours mixing until it felt like you were the same person breathing, warm and heavy and stars dancing behind your closed eyes.

The car stopped and Steve pulled you out, backing you into the lobby door with his hands on your hips and his mouth on your neck, both of you stumbling inside. 

He pressed the elevator button, wrapping his hands on your lower back and nipping your skin and you moaned, your head falling back against the door.

He pushed you inside as the door opened, bumping another button before attaching himself to your lips again. His fingers held your chin as he kissed you softer and sweeter. Kisses that left your stomach burning, your lips buzzing, your body sweating. He sighed as his thumbs rubbed over your cheeks and pulled you through the open door.

You didn’t stop kissing, bumping into the walls and stopping in the hallway against a wall or strangers door occasionally. Catching your breath in big gasps of air against each other as the other kept their lips moving, refusing to take a break. Frantic, needy, hungry for each other and not willing to waste any time. 

Steve pushed you up against his door and pressed his hands over your head, leaning his weight into you and kissed you so deeply you felt yourself drenching your underwear, his lips sucked on your bottom lip as he opened the door.

Once his front door closed, you were ripping each other’s clothes off. His blazer on a lamp, his shirt in the sink. Your shirt you were pretty sure went behind a plant and you didn’t see where the jeans went. You were down to your bralette and underwear before you saw him press his phone and the same song that had been on in the uber came out of a speaker. He flung it somewhere before grabbing you and lifting your legs and wrapping them around his waist. 

He pushed you down into the couch and removed your underwear, his scruffy cheeks ticking your thighs before his mouth was on your soaking folds, licking a long and slow stripe through you.

You shuddered, “Steve.”

He licked you again, sucking on your lips before his tongue swirled on your clit, the bundle of nerves spasming under his attention. He moved to suck on the bead and you felt his spit pooling on it as he created a vacuum and two of his fingers dipped through your slick and into your entrance. 

The same song started repeating and you gripped his hat and yanked it off as your legs adjusted over his shoulders, him on his elbows and laying across the couch under you. 

You gasped as he pulled his lips away with a pop and pulled his fingers out and you choked out, “I-I like your haircut.”

He smirked up at you from between your legs, his lips rosy and glistening and his eyes blown out wide, pupils taking over the mossy color, his new scruff damp with you. He was handsome and perfect and he was only slightly cocky as he asked, “Yeah?”

You nodded and shivered as his fingers brushed through your wet folds, teasing as he watched how you threw your head back. He kept sliding them up and down, his large middle finger spreading you slowly as the music built and he sighed, his other hand wrapping under your knee, kissing up your thigh as he babbled.

“You’re so fucking hot.”

You whined as his fingers kept sliding, down to your entrance and teasing you and back up to your swollen clit, creating a friction that was building with the coil in your stomach as the music started over again. Kissing your thighs and the dips of your hips sweetly in contrast to the filth that was coming out of his mouth. 

He pulled through you slowly, his fingers making a v, “Your sweet pussy just dripping for me, baby.”

Holy shit.

“Making all this mess just for me,” his tongue swirled around your sensitive nerves again.

“Making all those pretty sounds.”

He licked sweet and quick around your nerves and into your lips before moaning, “I’m making this pussy mine. Nobody else right? It’s all mine. It’s Steve’s.”

You gasped as his tongue licked through you deeper, pushing into you harder and his nose brushed against your clit and you almost yelped from how overwhelming it all was. His words, his mouth, his nose. Steve was burying himself in you as deep as he could, devouring you like you were his first and last meal at once. Every time his lips and tongue moved, his nose hit your clit and you were panting under him as you gripped the couch and screamed as the music and Steve crashed into you.

And then you felt it. 

How his mouth and tongue were moving. How his nose kept nudging your clit at different angles. 

S.

T.

E.

V.

E.

You clenched around him and grabbed at his head, breathless, “Again. Do that again.”

He almost growled into you, repeating his spelling and you moaned as he finished the E and dug your heels into his back, “Fuck, fuck, fuck, Steve-”

He nodded into you, “Mhm. Baby. That’s right. Steve’s pussy. Say it louder.”

He started sucking your clit again, three of his fingers inside of you and curling before pulling in and out quickly in sharp thrusts. 

You were panting, sweating, his lips a vacuum seal on the bead of arousal as the coil in your stomach started to snap and your legs pushed against his neck and shook, “Steve, I-I’m-”

His mouth moaned against you, nodding into your folds and the beat in the music broke and you gushed over his fingers and mouth as you screamed, “Steve!”

He pulled his fingers out of you before he licked everything you gave him until you had to pull him away from the over stimulating kitten licks he was still giving you. He kissed up your thighs and stomach before resting over you and grinding his clothed bulge over your wet and tired self.

Your eyelids fluttering and your skin sweaty, you were sure you looked a wreck beneath him as he kissed up your shoulder and neck. He rolled his hips against you and you sighed, your arousal already building again as he kissed your mouth slowly. Yourself, his whiskey and your cherries dancing on your tongue and he whispered against your lips, “How was that for better?”

You laughed around his lips and reached down and started to undo his jeans.

He kissed you sweetly, grabbing your hands and pushing them up over your head, keeping a firm hold on your wrists and dipped down to your neck again. He sucked a bruise into your skin as you started to make a damp spot on the front of his jeans while rolling your hips against him.

He pulled his lips away and his breath was hot against your ear as his fingers started to trail down your body slowly sending a wave of shivers through your body as he asked, “Think I can do even better?”

Steve Harrington knew what he was doing. 

And you were definitely falling for it. 

[bitethedevil]

Living with The Devil You Know (Raphael x Tav): Chapter 14

Chapter: one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten, eleven, twelve, thirteen, fourteen, fifteen, sixteen

Read this fic on AO3 (Link)

Fic Summary: Tav broke their agreement by handing the Crown of Karsus to Mystra instead of Raphael. Not only that, but she also robbed his house and killed his incubus. Raphael is patient and he is determined to get his revenge.

…Tav isn't too bothered. She will figure something out eventually. Until then she just has to find a way to live peacefully with a devil.

Chapter Summary: Tav joins Raphael as he goes to get the signature of a new client. They quickly fall into old patterns as she goes back to the House of Hope.

WARNINGS: Starving Children, Depictions of Poverty, NSFW

After Raphael had snapped his fingers, they appeared in what looked like the inside of a very rundown cottage. Tav looked around. Raphael’s hand slipped from hers and went to her waist instead. He pulled her closer and spoke into her ear in a lowered voice.

“You will not interfere with anything you see today,” he said and ran his hand up and down her side in an almost soothing motion. “You will want to, but you will refrain from meddling in my business, or I will send you back home and the deal is off. Do you understand?”

She nodded.

“Very well,” he said and then called out to someone. “Clarissa!”

A scrawny woman with hollowed out cheeks entered the shabby room they were standing in a moment later. Raphael greeted the woman warmly with all the charm that Tav had remembered from meeting him those first couple of times.

The woman smiled at Raphael with an expression of relief, showing that half of her teeth were missing. Behind her followed a young man who Tav guessed was her son. He was just as skinny as his mother and his ribcage was showing under the tattered shirt he was wearing.

The son was looking at Raphael with the skepticism his mother’s expression lacked. The woman’s eyes went to Tav, and it was clear that there was a question in her eyes as to who she was. Raphael caught it immediately.

“An associate of mine. Don’t mind her,” Raphael explained. “Have you come to a decision?”

The woman’s eyes went back to Raphael, and she quickly nodded and lowered her head. It was unmistakable that the way that she acted around Raphael was exactly the same as lowborn usually did around nobles. She gestured to two chairs.

“Please sit, Saer,” she mumbled with her lowered head. “If it please you, of course.”

Raphael smirked and sat down. He gestured for Tav to do the same. She could see in his eyes that he was enjoying every minute of the interaction. The woman and the son kept standing out of respect, though it looked like they were barely able to. It looked like they had not had a meal for weeks.  

“I will sign,” the woman said. “In exchange for what we agreed on last time.”

“Splendid,” Raphael said and with a snap of his fingers, a contract appeared. “We will go through the terms together one more time.”

Tav zoned out when she noticed two small children playing outside. They were skin and bones, though slightly less so than their mother and their older brother. Tav would never get used to seeing children like that.

She came from a small village herself and though they were not well off by any means, no children there ever went to bed hungry. When she came to the Gate they seemed to be around every corner, especially between those that lived on the street.

There was something harrowing about how it looked like their eyes took up too much space in their boney little faces that lacked the puppy fat that all children should have.

“My associate has a tendency to let her mind wander,” Raphael said and managed to break her out of her trance. “Tav, dearest. You may be interested in focusing on the matter at hand.”

She turned towards the woman.

“Apologies,” she said to her. “I just could not help but admire your young son and daughter outside. You have beautiful children.”

The woman gave her a wide genuine smile.

“Thank you, milady,” she mumbled.

“The terms…” Raphael said in a slightly louder voice to pull the attention back at the contract. “You will receive enough gold to feed your children and your eldest will be granted an apprenticeship at the most prestigious blacksmith in the city. In return, your soul will be mine upon your death. Do we agree?”

“Yes.”

“Mother, please don’t—” her son said.

“I won’t hear it, Ben,” she said to her eldest son in a stern voice and turned to Raphael again. “I will sign, Saer.”

“Wonderful,” Raphael said and summoned a quill. “Whenever you are ready.”

Raphael leaned back in his chair as he waited for the woman to sign. Tav glanced at her eldest son who looked miserable at what was going on. She noticed that the woman blinked a lot, trying to focus her eyes on the contract and where she would be signing. When she did sign, it was with a messy script as if she could barely gather the strength to do so.

“A pleasure doing business with you, Clarissa,” Raphael purred, and the contract disappeared in smoke. “Young Ben will start his apprenticeship immediately and the gold will arrive to you on the morrow.”

The woman grabbed and shook Raphael’s hand in gratitude. There were tears in her eyes.

“Thank you, Saer,” she said.

“You are very welcome, my dear,” Raphael replied with a smile and put his hand on her shoulder.

He held out his hand to Tav who took it, and he snapped his fingers.

They appeared on a bench in the middle of nowhere. Tav realized she could see the small cottage they had just been in out in the distance. She could see the shape of the two young children playing outside. They were surrounded by fields and there was a small cluster of houses in the distance.

“Any questions?” Raphael asked and leaned his arm on the back of the bench behind her.

“Will they be alright?”

“The children, yes,” he answered. “Her eldest son will soon be able to take care of them.”

It was a slightly confusing sentence because of the way he phrased it.

“Them…meaning his mother too, right?”

Raphael looked at her and smirked.

“You saw the state of her,” he said and gently brushed a lock of hair out of her face. “You may be surprised to learn that in circumstances like this, it is very rarely the battle of staying alive that kills those like her, but rather the relief that the battle is over. She will fall asleep tonight without worrying about her family for once, and in that relief, she will stop struggling and her body will as well. Death will take her, and Clarissa will not wake up tomorrow morning…”

Tav felt her heart sink.

“And you knew that from the beginning, didn’t you?” she said.

“Of course,” Raphael said and shrugged. “I have seen it a thousand times before. People like her are such easy investments. Her soul is not worth much in truth, but the promptness of delivery makes it worth the trouble.”

Tav turned her head to look at the children playing in the distance. The children who would wake up the day after and find themselves orphans.

“How much money did she gain from this deal?” she asked.

“Two thousand gold.”

Tav’s jaw fell.

“You bought her soul for a measly two thousand? How long will that last them? A couple of months?”

“She would have sold her soul for one thousand, but I was feeling rather generous,” Raphael said. “If it is her children you fear for, their older brother will take care of them with the gold he will earn through his apprenticeship. They won’t have a lavish life by any means, but they will survive. Most likely they will grow old enough to end up as their mother, and I might be inclined to pay them a visit as well one day.”

“You are a vulture…” Tav muttered.

She saw Raphael smile in the corner of her eye.

“I simply helped a woman that no one else wanted to offer their help to.”

“What will happen to her?” she asked. “When she dies, I mean. Will she suffer?”

“Of course she will,” he answered. “Our dear Clarissa will experience her children starving to death in front of her eyes for the rest of eternity.”

That was a knife in Tav’s heart.

“The Hells were meant to be a place where evil people suffer,” she said with anger in her voice. “A mother wanting to feed her children is not evil. What else was she supposed to do?”

“She made a deal with a devil, fully aware of what I was,” Raphael said with a sigh. “It is people like her that makes the economy of the Hells function. She is consciously contributing to what you mortals would consider evil. That is enough to doom her.”

Tav looked back and forth from him to the children playing in the distance in disbelief. It wasn’t fair. Raphael was studying her face with complete calmness. It even looked like he was enjoying her reaction.

“It upsets you, doesn’t it?” Raphael said and ran his fingers through her hair. “If it is any consolation to that soft heart of yours, had Clarissa decided not to sign, they would all be dead within a couple of weeks.”

Tav knew he was right. No one helped people like them. She wanted to, now that she knew their fate, and she wished that she could turn back time and be the one to give them the gold so that they could survive. She also knew deep down that she had passed countless of people like them on the street without even sparing them a second thought.

It wasn’t her business. That had always been her philosophy. It wasn’t her business, and it wasn’t her problem. She had enough to deal with. This was not her business either, but by the gods, if it did not hurt to see the suffering up close instead of closing her eyes to it.

The sun was setting as they were sitting there. Tav was lost to her thoughts, as she just kept staring at the little house in the distance and the children outside. Raphael ran his warm hand over her bare arm and then he put it on her cheek.

“You are getting cold, my dear,” he mumbled into her ear before getting up from the bench. “Let’s go home for the day.”

She took one last glance at the house before taking his hand.

Raphael poured her a glass of wine and handed it to her before sitting down beside her. She still felt a little off, but there was something almost therapeutic about being back in the House of Hope.

It really did feel like home to her for some reason, and what an odd thought that any mortal should feel at home in the Hells. She suspected it had more to do with Raphael than the house itself.

“I never asked,” Raphael purred. “Does your friends know that you are here?”

She shook her head and sipped the wine.

“I am curious as to what exactly you have told them about your time here?”

“Not much,” she admitted. “Not to all of them at least. I talked to Astarion about it all, or most of it anyway.”

She caught his nose wrinkling in disdain for a moment.

“Yes, so I’ve heard,” he said.

She paused for a moment as a realization hit her.

“Scrying spell?”

Raphael smiled at her.

“Clever as always,” he said. “Curiosity got the better of me, I have to admit. It is below me to pry in such a way and it should not have happened.”

Tav thought about the two moments it happened: when they held hands and when he fed on her. It could not have been interpreted as anything else but him being jealous or at least possessive of her.

“We’re just friends, you know.”

“Please,” Raphael said and brushed it away. “Even if that was not so, it is your own business who you sleep with. I never expected that you should live in celibate for the rest of your life, simply because of your time in my bed…though, of course, I would not mind if you did…”

He gave her a teasing smile, though she knew him well enough that he was only half-joking. He did not like the idea of her sleeping with anyone else and it was as clear as day. She smiled back at him, and it was genuine.

It was as she had already forgotten everything he had shown and told her earlier. She did not care about it for the moment. It was nice to just be with him again.

“How have you been?” she asked him.

“I’ve been busy,” he answered and quickly turned it on her. “And yourself? Korrilla tells me you have been quite miserable.”

Tav put on the act of pretending she was surprised that she had been kept an eye on.

“Korrilla has been watching me?”

Raphael chuckled.

“Don’t play dumb, dear,” he said. “The two of you are not half as clever as you think you are. I know you have spoken to her and not just this one time. This house has eyes and ears everywhere.”

Tav went quiet. She did not want to confirm or deny because she did not want to see Korrilla in trouble.

“Cat got your tongue?” he asked. “I won’t hurt her. I was well aware of her loose lips even before I made a pact with her. I could not ask for a more loyal servant, so I am inclined to overlook a little slip here and there.”

She thought for a moment. It could not hurt to ask, and she was curious.

“Did you also know that I spoke to Hope while I stayed here?”

“Was I aware of your clumsy attempt at finding the hammer?” Raphael asked with an amused expression. “Even if I was not, you were not exactly subtle, dear. I found you trying to break into my vault, remember?”

She did. Even then she knew that he was not convinced that she was trying to break into it ‘for enrichment’ as she had lied back then.

“You never answered my question,” he said. “How have you been? I want to hear it from you.”

She thought for a moment and then sighed softly. She might as well be honest with him.

“It’s been hell,” she said. “So many conflicting feelings. Relief in the beginning…confusion, disbelief…grief. I found no comfort in my companions because they did not understand what was going on. Neither did I, really. I was just alone for a while, thinking of everything. Stewing in my own sadness. The fact that you returned my book and the message you left did not exactly help either…”

“Did you like it?” he asked with a small smile.

“It was wonderful,” she said. “It just broke me even further though, along with all the memories of my time here. I missed you but I would not admit it to myself. I would not admit that I was that stupid and self-destructive. By the time I found Korrilla, I had decided to lay it all to rest. To forget about you and move on.”

“As you should have.”

“As I should have,” Tav agreed quietly.

Raphael caressed her shoulder and smiled at her.

“This will most likely be our last night together,” he said. “Let us forget it all for a moment and not speak of such grim matters.”

“You are so certain I won’t stay,” she said. “How can you be so sure?”

“Call it a ninth sense,” he said. “We still have tomorrow to get through, and I saw the look in your eyes earlier. I know that it affected you. You felt grief for that woman’s children, and you felt that I wronged them. Love and sympathy for someone can only extend so far when you realize that the other person is incapable of those same feelings.”

She sighed and leaned up against him. She rested her head on his shoulder. She felt him tense up for a short moment before resting his cheek on her head.

“Who says I love you?”

“Mm,” he hummed and kissed her head. “Yes, my mistake. You said you hated me, isn’t that so? You do have a rather odd way of showing it, my dear.”

“It’s all a ruse to confuse the enemy, I can assure you,” she said stubbornly and wrapped her arm around his waist.

He chuckled.

“You have certainly succeeded in fooling me then,” he mumbled against her scalp. “No matter. A clever woman like you will see reason eventually.”

Raphael was on her the second they got into bed. His hands were touching every inch of her body, as if to commit it to memory. He was taking it slow with her but the tenseness of his body and the way he kissed her told her that he wanted nothing more than to devour her in that moment.

He was kissing, biting, and licking his way slowly down her body. Her breathing was getting shallower. Gods, she had missed this. Missed him.

“Raphael?” she murmured.

“Mm?” he growled against her skin.

“If this is our last time as you claim, then I want you in your devil form. Your true form.”

He looked up at her and chuckled against her belly. He changed into his other form at her request.

“No need to pretend to be romantic,” he purred. “I won’t be offended if you say that you prefer my tongue in this form.”

That was in fact not what she meant, but when his head dipped between her thighs, she remembered that that was another advantage of sleeping with him in that shape. She gasped and grasped the sheets when his long and forked tongue entered her. He did not miss a thing when it came to her reactions, as his eyes were locked on her as he did it.

He held her legs open to make sure she did not hurt herself on his horns. She did feel the urge to close them because the pleasure was so overstimulating. He did not move away or stop before she had already come undone once.

He leaned over her. He was more careful this time when he slid his length inside her. It was much bigger in that form and the first time they had sex it had hurt, but his patience and attention made it completely painless this time.

He made an effort to keep his pace down as he moved inside her and she could feel that it took everything in him to reel himself back. He was all but shaking. When he kissed her, she could taste herself on his lips and tongue. He had missed this as much as her.

When she was well on her way to her second orgasm, she heard a noise in the distance. It made Raphael pause his movements for a moment. It sounded like someone was screaming. Raphael thrusted into her again, making her moan, though the scream had thrown her off a little bit.

“It seems that Cassius has finally woken from his unconsciousness,” Raphael said against her lips, as if it was a completely normal thing to say.

He snapped his fingers and kissed her deeply. The second he snapped, she heard the scream abruptly stop. She kissed him back, but she could not let it go.

“What did you…do?” she asked breathlessly.

Raphael’s slow pace quickened slightly as he smiled against her lips.

“Cassius lost his right to his vocal cords for the night,” he said and kissed her softly, which was a stark contrast to the brutality of his words. “Don’t worry, my sweet. He will get that attention he so desperately desires tomorrow when we pay him a visit.”

She wanted to say something, to protest, but the pleasure Raphael was giving her quickly took over her mind instead as he quickened the pace of his thrusts further. His hand slipped between them to rub her clit and only a few moments later she fell over the edge once again. Raphael followed shortly after with a deep groan.

They got comfortable to fall asleep the same way they always had, with Raphael’s arms around her, holding her close. He kissed her neck before burying his nose in her hair and inhaling her scent.

She felt safe and more content than she had been for weeks. She found herself ignoring the intruding thoughts about Cassius and the things she would experience the day after. In that moment, she did not care.

In that moment she did not care how many people would have to suffer or die for her to never leave his arms again.

[raven-at-the-writing-desk]

Idia and his parents communicating ipad to ipad for Family day. I want to see it, it sounds like something out of a dystopia 😭 can you write it? (Hope I’m asking the right way!)

I seriously thought long and hard about censoring Idia's whole face out using his tablet in the banner 😂 I ended up choosing not to because leaving his face exposed makes Idia more vulnerable (which suits the tone of this interaction).

This piece was actually inspired by a scene from a cooking manga of all things if you can imagine that 😭 It was about two brothers fighting because they reacted so differently to a traumatic event; I reworked the elements of that for this scene

***Contains major plot spoilers for book 6 of the main story!***

Family means Nobody is Left Behind or Forgotten.

“Idia.”

“Dad.”

The air between the two floating tablets was electric—not from the devices, but from the charged tension they emanated.

On one screen was a circle encasing a triangle and skull emblem, a generic symbol for Idia’s infamous voice calls. On the other screen was a man that could only be described as Death itself, pale skinned and blue lipped, suited in a pristinely lab coat. His hair was a blue blaze, and his mouth folded into a neutral line.

Ortho floated between the two tablets, his gaze darting nervously between them.

“So nice of you to pay your son a visit,” Idia spat. A mean, pessimistic bite to his speech was the norm—but these were different, coated in something stronger. Not quite hate, but the distinctively metallic flavor of masked hurt. “What am I in for this time?”

“I’ve come to check up on you,” Mr. Shroud said carefully, as if placing each word down with a fine pair of tweezers.

Idia couldn’t suppress an audible scoff from slipping out.

For as long as he had lived (though could one really define “living” as being cooped up in his room 24/7?), Idia had never known his father to be particularly warm. He was an aloof man, as icy as the pits of Tartarus itself, dedicating himself to research above all else. Results over emotions, and facts over feelings: that was how Mr. Shroud operated.

Something about his mere presence made Idia freeze over, his limbs lock up like a machine with cogs that hadn’t been greased. The man he called father—where had he and mother been when their son needed them most?

Two years. Two years of crying alone, grappling with his guilt and his fears, shut away from the world. Researchers passing him looks of sympathy, containing their whispers amongst themselves. It was the robot parts gifted to him that kept him sane, gave him some semblance of hope.

The limp body of a child, entirely indiscernible on the floor, was still so clear in Idia’s mind. Mangled, the warmth robbed from it. As cold and as lifeless as the machines that populated Styx HQ.

“Give him back. Give him back to me…! Give me all of Ortho… His body, his personalities, his memories! EVERYTHING!! I WANT IT ALL BACK!!”

His tears had run hot, but his parents’ blood had turned to solid ice. He had fixated, and they had seemingly forgotten.

“Kk, sure. I’ll buy it even though I actually don’t,” Idia said sarcastically. “Go off, say what you want to say.”

If Mr. Shroud was offended by his son’s tone, his face didn’t show it. “I wanted to ask if there have been any… issues since ‘the incident’. More specifically, among ex-subjects A through F, regarding their experiences within our facility.”

Because we neglected to wipe their memories with River Lethe this time, Idia knew. He wants to know if they’ve been running their mouths off about Styx with all the online rumors on secret organization going viral…

“How should I know? I don’t make it a habit of monitoring my classmates’ internet posts. And so what if they do? It’s not like anyone has proof…”

“This is a matter of great importance, young man. If word gets out about what we are and what we do…” Mr. Shroud frowned and shook his head. “It puts our entire operation in jeopardy. As future director, you should be taking this more seriously.”

“I didn’t make that choice,” Idia muttered. All I wanted… was to be normal. But no, that freedom was already taken from me before I was even born.

“What was that?” Mr. Shroud’s volume rose ever so slightly, brows subtly drawing together.

“Wah, let’s not fight!” Ortho interjected, holding up two hands. “It’s Family Day, Nii-san! We should be doing fun activities as a family. Will you join us, Mr. Shroud?”

“Ortho…” Idia bit back a protest.

Mr. Shroud’s expression shifted, adopting mild amusement. “… The world’s first self-improving technomantic humanoid.”

“Yup, that’s me!” Ortho twirled happily. His outfit—black and blue, just like the school uniforms of the Ignihyde students— shone wonderfully in the sunlight.

“Fascinating. It’s been equipped with a new gear which seems to being it something akin to human joy,” Mr. Shroud mused. “I assume this was your doing, Idia?”

At the other end of his tablet, Idia clenched his clammy fists. There he goes again, acting like people are his experiments. Just data to be stared at, manipulated and studied.

Annoyance colored the tips of Idia’s hair red. Ortho’s smile, his happiness, was genuine. Of that, Idia was certain—but it was a waste of his breath to try and convince his father otherwise.

For Ortho’s sake.

A deep breath in, a deep breath out. He expelled his pride, and his flames cooled back to blue.

“Yes, I made his College Gear. Ortho’s officially enrolled as a student now, so I don’t get what the big deal is. You signed off on it.”

“An artificial intelligence with the capacity for organic learning and growth is an ever-expanding field of interest. Your mother and I granted our permission for Ortho’s enrollment so as to collect data on…”

There was a rattle and a slam from the other end of Idia’s tablet. His shaky voice rose, fire burning red hot.“L-Look, I… I don’t care what you think of me, or about school, or your work. But don’t talk about Ortho like he’s just an object.”

“Technically speaking, it is an accurate statement.”

“Ortho’s so much more than that!! He’s my brother. Kehehe… If you can’t recognize that, then maybe you aren’t as smart as you like to think you are.”

Ortho’s eyes widened. “Nii-san…”

Mr. Shroud pursed his lips. “You’re being emotional. Let’s think about this rationally—”

“One day,” Idia continued, his voice cracking. “Just one day of being normal boys with a normal family. Can’t you at least give us that? No, I guess you can’t, because all you care about is getting your results. The feelings of your sons don’t matter.

“You won’t acknowledge Ortho as his own person, but you’re the one that’s more machine than man. We may as well not even exist until you need to call on us for something. Y-You..: You didn’t even cry when…!!”

“Idia.”

Mr. Shroud’s face was a marble mask, free from feeling—but in his eyes was an immense sadness. Despair swirling in a vortex of lost souls, locked away and the key thrown out. “You think you’re the only one who has been suffering? Your mother and I…”

He didn’t finish the thought. Or else the marble would crack, and a torrent of tears would escape him.

Idia went silent. Harsh accusations rested on the tip of his tongue, unsure if they would be spat up or swallowed down.

“… Human beings choose to mourn and to honor the dead in their own ways,” Ortho said quietly. “Coping is unique to the individual. Even so, I think it’s possible to understand one another.

“Nii-san, Mr. Shroud. Why don’t we do away with the screens and speak face-to-face? Maybe then… we could understand each other.”

Idia gave a bitter laugh. “… Sorry, Ortho. I don’t think I could do it.”

“But…”

“He is correct. From the looks of things, it would ultimately be a fruitless, futile effort. We’re done here,” Mr. Shroud declared. “You have the day off from classes, so you may spend it however you wish. Play your video games or whatever it is children do these days to amuse themselves.”

Idia snorted.

“… Be well. Until next time.”

Click!

His video feed abruptly ended. The cord between him and his children, cut.

Back at the Isle of Lamentation, Mr. Shroud pulled up a keyboard and notes on his device. He began punching in his report.

Day XX / Month XX

I was worried about Idia’s emotional and mental state in the aftermath of the incident. The boy has experienced a number of hardships as of late. Regardless, he seems to be doing well. He is still as reclusive and as snarky as he ever was. However, I observed a marked change in his behavior with regards to Ortho.

Idia has become rather protective of the android of his own creation. He now truly regards it as his own brother and reports to enjoy spending time with it. This could yield promising therapeutic results in the future.

I will continue to log his progress.

Signed,

Director Shroud

[taldigi]

After seeing your art with Philemon it got me thinking, how do you think Joker feels about the Velvet Room after all is said and done? Like, his experience there SUCKED but it also wasn't really Igor's fault. But Igor also happens to look exactly like the evil god that manipulated and tortured Joker, and I don't know if he'd be able to differentiate the two so easily. Plus, even if it wasn't completely their fault, it's not like the Velvet Room does much to make it up to him. Just a: We are sorry you did not get the Velvet Room experience that you were supposed to. Please take a Morgana as compensation. So I can't help but wonder what his end views are regarding Igor and Lavenza, as well as how he'd view Philemon. What do you think?

Ohh- now I think it's a really interesting thought experiment

I think Joker is, so far, the only one that Philemon never appeared to in some form or another (main series). IIRC he appears to Makoto Yuki and KIND OF Yu Narukami.. but the butterflies in p5 are explicitly Lavenza.

Perhaps the altercation between the Velvet Room and Yaldabaoth is considered petty in comparison to some of the other fates presented in other games- perhaps Philemon felt it unnecessary to intervene in the same measures he has before- especially at risk of agitating Nyarlathotep into like action.

Maybe cause the stakes were never a world-ending one (world altering, yes- but Ending? No.)? Maybe because the beef was with Igor and not him? In the end, he trusted the VR to get themselves out of their own mess (Which they ultimately did- so he was right on that front.) I mean.. Yaldabaoth is essentially a toddler compared to shit like Nyx, and he barely interacted with that mess- both times.

Joker isn't a hate kinda guy, and I think he's able to come to terms with the fact that the VR were kind of always on his side- even if they don't go out of their way/are unable to assist more than they are allowed to. There is an element of affection when it comes to Lavenza after all, and Igor wasn't responsible as he was locked away- and Igor's demeanor is so radically different, even having the same face shouldn't affect too much. Unnerving, sure- but when isn't he unnerving? Canonly?

That being said, Joker's whole MO is "People with authority who don't use that authority to help others are assholes." and he exists as a kind of Lucifer allegory in that sense (is he not, after all, the ultimate rebel who chose to defy god? Joker is beauty, he is grace, he shot god in the face.) And.. should he have been aware of Philemon, I think he's on team "punch him in the face".

That being said, I have a feeling that Philemon would find that absolutely charming. How very Joker for an action so unlike Joker.

From what I understand of Philemon, is that his role is that of the guide. Even though his guidance-only approach seems underwhelming and roundabout, it's been the best solution that is able to empower humanity to save themselves from themselves. Rather than having to rely on a god to fix their problems.. which is a very very very p5 sort of narrative, it's an approach that emphasizes that the flaws and failures of humanity are important building blocks. Philemon snapping away someone to save them robs the rest of the world of their growth. Joker and Philemon are very very much on the same wavelength, if Semester 3 is anything to go by.

Would Joker be angry? Yes. Disdainful and Dissapointed due to being the designated nanny for an infant god? Absolutely yes! And he'll even take every opportunity to make sassy little remarks in retaliation. But... Hateful? Never.

[kierreras]

so, i think that there is one major flaw that made this season less enjoyable than others (except big john cause we all agree that his whole storyline is a disaster). the lack of pogues interactions was so noticeable. i absolutely adore each and every couple and i’m really glad that the writers gave them time to bond and develop romantic connections, but this show is first and foremost about friendship. we have pogues separated for the most part of the season. the first time we have john b/jj interaction past poguelandia is episode six. six!!! they are supposed to be best friends, but john b is preoccupied with his father’s gold obsession for the most part to even acknowledge that his best friend could be homeless. the same goes for his girlfriend. he didn’t show any interest in where sarah is staying, whether she has food, etc.  how many times the pogues were at the chateau this season? i can count two - when they reunited with big john in episode six and after john b was released from the police department in episode eight. i always considered twinkie and chateau as characters, honestly. however, this season the only pogue beside jb that was in twinkie is jj. it feels like the whole group dynamic was somehow sidelined. and i don’t think that it has something to do with couples getting some focus, because we also kind of had relationships storylines which were mixed with group dynamics without any problems in previous seasons. this season we havr a huge treasure hunt which kind of ruins the whole vibe. those local gold/cross treasure hunts were cringey in some ways, but they have one element that el dorado doesn’t have - we have a connection with them throughout one of the pogues. el dorado is big john’s focus, so it explains why we as viewers don’t feel some sort of investment into that storyline. i think that the lack of friendship moments is also to be blamed on limited screentime (the huge amount of which was wasted on el dorado). we literally had some scenes cut - like sarah talking to pope and cleo about rafe coming back (there was a bts of cline, jd and laci in their episode four outfits outside of heywards). also, in episode seven we could have had sarah and kie talk heart to heart, but that time sarah somehow decided to ignore kiara’s worry for jj. it was such a good moment for girls to bond through boys troubles, but i guess adding another singh “you know” line was more important. also, i really think that we were robbed on pogues interactions in general. like are pope and john b even aware that jj is basically homeless? if pope knows, why didn’t he invite jj to heywards as well? i’m sure jj doesn’t need the whole room to himself, but a simple place to sleep and eat would be nice. 

moving to sarah and jj. just imagine if jj was home when sarah came after being rejected by carreras? i would give everything to see them co-living for at least one episode! by the way, about carreras, kie simply lets sarah go after her parents acted like jerks and threw away a homeless sixteen years old girl. kind of unbelievable for me, but i understand that this whole thing happened so that sarah could accidentally meet topper. there was an opportunity to show the girls bond. was there at least one friendship moment with any of the girls with cleo? it’s such a waste. also, kie saw something between pope and cleo and she could have teased them about it. and do not even get me started on jiara interrupting cleope’s kiss and not saying anything. jj keeping his mouth shut? never heard of it. again, the whole group not having any reaction about kitty hawk? guys, your best friend was sent away and you are just acting like it’s not a big deal? by the way, i understand why many people like episode five. it has this chaotic vibe from earlier seasons. pogues (minus john b) are finally on the mission together and it is pure cinematography. we got their chaotic energy again, a bunch of friendly fights, comedic moments. and these things were exactly what attracted so many viewers in the first place. also, personally i was interested in this mission because pogues were there to get the cross, an artifact that really mattered to one of the characters. so once again viewers are emotionally invested in the mission. whereas there are no emotional investment in el dorado plot. i think in general friendship vibe was present in the first episode and somewhat in the end of episode eight. lack of pogues in the finale is very palpable and it sucks because we have so many wasted opportunities here. i will forever mourn that we didn’t have surfing scenes, hammock scenes, legendary obx parties like boneyard or kegger. still, let’s hope that in next season we will get back our pogues friendship moments. we were absolutely robbed this season, guys.