#what if we lived here with cats and puppies and no responsibilities

[gh0stinthelake]

@our-tiny-universe

Cottagecore aesthetic

[annewithaneofthegreengable]

Could you do fic for Toto Wolff with wife reader? Their son, Jack always wanted a pet but with them traveling the world for the races, it was not possible. But when Charles recently adopted Leo, Jack asks his mother to help him. Knowing Toto wouldn't say no to her. With "indistinguishable squeaky noises' when Jack got what he wanted all along. And "Aww! A PUPPY!". They both give Toto a very crushing hug. Just major fluff and cute. You decide how it goes. Thanks!! :))

Here you go! Enjoy reading it and I also add a small part of SMAU 🤭, well, since lots of you guys have been sending me texts telling me how much you like it! I read it all and I cherished each and every message. Love you all!

Jack was on a mission. He had been begging his parents for a pet for months now, but with their busy lives full of Formula One travels, it was impossible. He knew his dad would probably say no, but his mom was a softie when it came to family, especially him. So he went to her with a pleading look in his eyes.

"Mama, can we get a puppy?"

She smiled at his eagerness, knowing that she would have to be the one to persuade Toto. She lowered down in front of her son, ruffling his hair playfully. "Sweetie, you know your dad has a lot on his plate with work, right?" Jack pouted, his shoulders slumping. "I know, but I really want a puppy! Please, Mama? Can't you talk to Papa?" he asked, his eyes wide and hopeful. She chuckled softly, unable to resist his adorable expression. "Alright, alright," she relented. "I'll talk to him."

Jack's face lit up with excitement, his eyes widening. "Really? You'll talk to Papa?"

His mother nodded, laughing softly. "Yes, I'll talk to him," she assured him. "But don't get your hopes too high, okay? Your Papa is a bit of a hardass." Jack's expression soured slightly at her words, but he quickly brightened. "But you'll convince him, right?"

She chuckled again, ruffling his hair once more. "I'll do my best."

Over the next few days, she thought about how to approach the topic with Toto. She knew he was a bit of a worrywart when it came to Jack's safety, and a puppy was a big responsibility.

Finally, one evening while they were having dinner together, she decided to bring it up. "Toto," she began, her tone casual.

Toto looked at her, his gaze curious. "Yes, Liebe?" he replied, taking a sip of his wine.

She took a deep breath, preparing herself for his response. "Jack has been asking me for a pet," she said, watching his reaction closely.

Toto raised an eyebrow, his expression immediately becoming wary. "A pet? Like a dog or a cat?" he asked, setting his glass back down on the table.

She shrugged lightly, trying to appear nonchalant. "I think he's set on a puppy," she replied, gauging his reaction.

Toto's expression darkened slightly, but he didn't immediately shut down the idea. "We travel constantly," he said, his tone pragmatic. "How exactly would we care for a puppy on the road?"

She had expected this argument, and she was ready with a counter-point. "I've been thinking about that," she said quickly. "We could hire a dog walker or a pet sitter whenever we can't be there."

Toto frowned, his expression unconvinced. "It's not just about the physical care," he countered. "What about training and socialization? A puppy takes time and effort to raise."

She bit her lower lip, realizing that his concerns were valid. "I know it won't be easy," she acknowledged, her tone earnest. "But Jack has been such a good kid, and he's wanted a pet for so long."

Toto sighed, his expression softening. "I know he has, but can't just adopt a puppy on a whim."

She nodded, understanding his point but not willing to give up just yet. "I'm not suggesting we adopt one right now," she reassured him. "But we could at least talk about it, right?"

Toto leaned back in his chair, considering her words. "Alright, I'll listen," he said finally. "But you need to convince me why this is a good idea."

She took another deep breath, thankful that he was at least willing to listen. "Having a puppy could be good for Jack's development," she began. "It would teach him responsibility, and he would have a companion to help him deal with the stress of our travels."

Toto raised an eyebrow, his expression skeptical. "You think a puppy will help manage stress?" he asked, a hint of doubt in his voice.

"Having a puppy to play with and snuggle up with might make his time on the road a bit more bearable."

Toto considered her words, his expression slowly softening. "Alright, I'll give you that," he agreed reluctantly.

His resistance was starting to crumble, and she could see that she was slowly winning him over. "And don't forget," she added with a smirk, "puppies are incredibly cute. Just imagine how happy it would make Jack."

Toto rolled his eyes playfully, a small smile creeping onto his lips. "You're playing dirty, Liebe" he accused her.

She chuckled, loving the banter between them. "I'm just speaking the truth," she responded, her tone innocent. "A puppy would be a wonderful addition to our family."

Toto let out a small huff, a mixture of resignation and affection. "You're really not going to let this go, are you?" he asked, his expression resigned but fond.

She shook her head, a sly smile on her lips. "Not until we at least consider it," she said, leaning forward slightly.

Toto couldn't help the small chuckle that escaped his lips. "You're relentless," he said, his tone admiring rather than annoyed. "But you always know how to get what you want, don't you?" 

She smirked, knowing she had won the argument. "It takes a special skill to handle a stubborn man like you," she teased, her voice flirty.

Toto rolled his eyes once more, his expression a mix of amusement and defeat. "You're lucky I love you," he said, a hint of laughter in his voice.

Throughout their conversation, their voices never rose above a quiet whisper, so as not to alert their son that they were discussing his request. Jack was currently upstairs in his room, presumably doing his homework or playing with his toys.

With a conspiratorial smile, she leaned in closer toward Toto. "Jack is already prepared for a puppy," she replied, giggling softly. "He's spent hours online watching puppy videos. Also, he had spent quite some time playing with Leo last week, and did not stop talking about it ever since.” 

Just then, a small voice called out from the staircase. "Mama?"

She looked up to see Jack standing there, a hopeful expression on his face. "Yes, sweetie?" she asked, knowing exactly what he was about to ask.

Jack looked between her and Toto, his eyes slightly widened. "Did you talk to Papa about the puppy?" he asked, his voice filled with anticipation.

She smiled warmly at her son, her heart swelling with affection. She looked over at her husband, who was still leaning back in his chair, a resigned expression on his face.

"We've been discussing it," she replied to Jack, her tone light.

Jack's eyes widened even further, his whole body practically vibrating with excitement. "And what did Papa say?" he asked, barely able to contain himself.

Toto let out a soft sigh, knowing that he was outnumbered in this situation. He couldn't help but feel a pang of affection for his wife and son, especially when they both gave him those big, pleading eyes.

"We're considering it," he spoke up, his tone resigned but fond.

Jack let out a small gasp, his expression filled with glee. He practically bounced from foot to foot, his excitement barely contained.

"Considering it" seemed to be enough for Jack, as he squealed in delight and practically ran over to Toto, wrapping his small arms around his father's waist in a tight hug.

"Thank you, thank you, thank you!" Jack repeated, his voice muffled against Toto's shirt.

Toto chuckled, returning his son's embrace. "Don't celebrate just yet," he warned, his tone mock-stern.

Despite his words, Toto's expression was softened, and his arms remained around his son. He was unable to resist the infectious joy that filled Jack's face.

She couldn't help but smile at the sight of her husband and son, their bond evident even in this brief moment. She knew that once they brought a puppy into the mix, their family would be complete.

Toto slowly extracted himself from Jack's embrace, ruffling his hair affectionately.

"But there are some conditions," he said firmly, his tone serious.

Jack looked up at his father, his expression a mixture of curiosity and wariness. "Conditions?" he asked, his voice a little quieter than before.

Toto nodded, his expression still stern. "Yes, conditions. If we're going to have a puppy, there are certain things we need to take into consideration."

Jack nodded, his eyes wide and intently fixed on his father. "Like what?" he asked, his voice a little meek.

Toto ticked off the conditions on his fingers as he spoke.

"First, we need to decide on a breed that fits our lifestyle. We can't have a high-energy dog that we can't keep up with."

He paused for a moment before continuing. "Second, you'll need to help take care of the puppy. That means feeding, walking, and cleaning up after it."

Jack nodded vigorously, his expression determined. "I can do that! I promise!"

Toto chuckled softly, impressed by his son's determination and acceptance of the conditions.

He looked at his wife, who smiled warmly at him, then back at his son, his heart feeling a mix of amusement and affection.

"Yes, that's all," he answered, his voice soft. "If you're still willing to accept those conditions, we'll consider getting a puppy."

As Toto spoke, Jack's expression slowly shifted from determination to excitement. He looked up at his father, barely able to contain himself.

"So that means we can get a puppy now?" he asked, his voice hopeful.

Toto chuckled, shaking his head indulgently. "Not just yet, maybe tomorrow" he replied, his tone gentle.

A few weeks had passed since the discussions had concluded, and the day finally arrived when they would bring home their new puppy. Jack was practically vibrating with excitement, his face pressed against the car window as they made their way home.

Finally, they arrived at their house, and Jack all but pounced out of the car, running towards the front door. Toto and his wife followed more leisurely, their hearts filled with equal measures of anticipation and amusement.

When they entered the house, Jack froze in his tracks, his eyes widening at the sight in the living room. There, sitting in the middle of the room, was a small, fuzzy puppy, its wagging tail a blur.

Jack stared at the puppy in awe, barely able to speak. "Is… is that for me?" he asked, his voice soft and trembling with emotion.

Toto chuckled, ruffling his son's hair affectionately. "That's right. That's your new best friend."

Jack slowly made his way towards the puppy, his steps hesitant yet eager. The puppy looked up at him with curious eyes, its little tail still wagging excitedly.

Jack knelt down in front of the puppy, slowly holding out his hand. The puppy sniffed his hand curiously, then licked it, causing Jack to giggle happily.

"Can I hold it?" he asked, looking up at his parents with wide, pleading eyes.

Toto chuckled, his expression fond as he watched his son interact with the puppy. "Of course," he replied, his voice soft.

Jack carefully scooped up the puppy in his arms, cradling it against his chest like a precious treasure. The puppy wriggled a little, settling into a comfortable position in Jack's embrace, its eyes drifting closed in contentment.

Jack looked up at his parents, a huge grin on his face. "I love him already," he whispered, his voice filled with awe and affection.

Jack wandered into the garage, the puppy trotting after him on its little legs. The puppy looked curiously around the unfamiliar surroundings, its eyes wide and curious.

Jack settled down against a wall, leaning back against the cool, smooth surface, and patted his lap, gesturing for the puppy to come closer. The puppy obeyed, clambering up onto Jack's lap and nestling in comfortably.

Toto entered the garage, a fond smile on his face as he watched the interaction between his son and the puppy. Toto leaned against a workbench, folding his arms across his chest as he observed Jack and the puppy. The puppy had completely relaxed in Jack's lap, its head resting on the boy's thigh. It looked up at Jack with adoring eyes, its tail thumping quietly against the ground.

Jack was completely enamoured, his eyes fixated on the puppy in his lap. He stroked the puppy's soft fur gently, murmuring to it softly. Toto shook his head slightly, a small smile playing at the corners of his lips. "You two are quite the pair already," he commented, his voice filled with amusement.

Jack looked up at his father, his expression filled with joy. "Scout's so soft," he whispered, still stroking the puppy's fur. "And he's so smart. He learns things quickly."

The puppy looked up at Toto, its eyes seeming to sparkle with a hint of mischief.

“Papa, can we go out and play? Maybe me and Scout can find Leo.” Jack asked.

“Sure, buddy. But please watch out and be careful.” 

Jack and the puppy were out and exploring the paddock. Suddenly, they heard the sound of playful barking and saw Roscoe and Leo running towards them.

Roscoe and Leo bounded over to Scout and Jack, their tails wagging happily. The three dogs sniffed each other curiously, tails wagging in a friendly greeting.

Lewis and Charles watched as their dogs interacted with Jack and the puppy, a mix of amusement and fondness on their faces. Lewis chuckled softly as he watched Roscoe playfully pounce on the puppy, while Charles watched as Leo and the puppy sniffed each other curiously.

"Looks like they're already forming a pack," Lewis commented, grinning as he watched the dogs playfully wrestle together.

liked by mercedesamgf1, lewishamilton, georgerussell63 and others

y/n_user Say hello to our newest member in the Wolff family, his name's Scout Wolff

mercedesamgf1 Hello fur boss

user1 SCOUTS SO CUTE !!!

user2 New bestfr

user4 this is adorable

georgerussell63: scout 100%

maxverstappen1: 🐈's better

mercedesamgf1 🐺's better y/n_user Thanks admin redbullracing 🐂's better scuderiaferrari 🐎's better

carmenmmundt bring him to the race, wifey 🤩

lilymhe and I will bring my kids too, wifey 😚 alex_albon yours? kids?? wifey??? y/n_user yes, and 🤨 that's my wives right there! mercedesamgf1 wives? Liebe, we need to talk - toto wolff lewishamilton last time I checked I went to y/n's wedding only, not sure who she got married to

landonorris when can I visit Scout

y/n_user anytime little lando norris 🤭 oscarpiastri CAN you adopt me so that I can have Austria as my home race to🥺 y/n_user where can I sign 🙌🏻 oscar piastri-leclerc-wolff has a nice ring to it mercedesamgf1 Liebe? We have our child already? - toto wolff y/n_user the more the merrier AND give the acc back to the poor admin pls

liked by mercedesamgf1, lewishamilton, oscarpiastri, and others.

y/n_user Studied so hard so Daddy took us to the beach 🌊

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[tqmies]

WE'RE NOT FRIENDS | K. Gyuvin

Description. Gyuvin's not jealous - he doesn't even have a reason to be. You two were just friends who fucked sometimes! But in the back of his head, he knows he yearns for more, but do you?

Not tryna talk, just tryna kiss ya'. NOT FRIENDS // LOOΠΔ

Pairing. Fwb!Gyuvin x Fem!Reader

Warnings. MDNI. Smut, Curse words, Oral, Penetration, Condom Use (Wrap it), Crying (Not in a bad way)

Word count. 4K

Note: I wanted to do something better than this but I also wanted to get it out! Inspired by my anons who loved jealous gyuvin <3

You smile as you enter the dorm, greeted immediately by Gyuvin's friends. They must've known you were coming, you giggle as you follow through the hallway, Hanbin immediately going into a spiel about something that happened at work that morning.

You nodded in understanding, "You're so strong 'Bin, I would've thrown the drink at the customers face."

He laughed as he shook his head. "I'd be jobless."

You're about to respond when you're pulled away by a chattering Matthew, "Dude I have to tell you about this new machine they added to the gym-"

"Wait wait," Jiwoong appears out of seemingly nowhere. "First I have to show you this cat I took a picture of!"

He pulls out his phone, Hanbin and Matthew growing silent as they want to see the cat as well. You gasp in adoration as Jiwoong locates the picture. "Awe! Oh my goodness, he's so fat!"

Jiwoong nods. "Exactly!"

He's about to continue when Taerae comes barreling out of his room, dimples appearing as he speaks. "I heard your voice and came running."

You scrunch your nose, teasing. "Gosh, I didn't realize you were all so excited to see me."

"You need to come around more often so we can update you normally," Hanbin offers before looking apologetic. "Instead of clamoring around you before you can even make it to the living room."

You chuckle in response. "It's okay, I don't mind."

"Hao's out, but Ricky and Gunwook just left to go get us food! What do you want? I'll text them!" Matthew interjects, already typing on his phone before you wave him off.

You grip the box in your hand. "Ah, it's okay. I'm not staying, just came by to-"

"You're not staying?!" Yujin walks up before crossing his arms, wearing a pout. The younger always knew how to guilt trip you with those puppy eyes.

"I just came to drop off something for Gyuvin." You look around, noting that indeed, as you had thought, none of the boys around you were him. Funny how the others were more excited to see you.

"Oh come on," Taerae places a hand on your shoulder. "You should stay, eat with us!"

You stand awkwardly, not sure if Gyuvin would want you to stay. He hasn't even come out of his room to greet you yet. "I don't know.."

"Please?" Yujin begs, and you always had a soft spot for the younger boy. He reminded you of a little brother who just wanted his sister to stay for dinner. How could you say no to that?

"Well," You contemplate, you really should just drop the box off and leave. You sigh in defeat though, the faces around you looking so excited at the prospect. "Okay, I'll stay."

"Yes!" Jiwoong smiles, as the others look visibly happy as well. They were always so kind to you, and you were always glad Gyuvin's friends took a liking to you.

Oh, right. Gyuvin.

"I'll be right back, okay?" You say, making your way through to the point of the visit's room. You knock softly on his door, knowing it was just him alone in there, but also not wanting to disturb him if he was busy.

He opens the door, eyes immediately shifting to the box. He reaches it for it, "Thanks-"

You pull it back towards you. "Hey, how are you? Oh me? I'm doing just fine, thanks for asking! I did just drive all the way here to bring you this package that you ordered to my house so that way your roommates wouldn't get into it! Oh wow, thanks for the favor, I appreciate it so much that I'll even come greet you by the door when you get here."

He waits for you to finish your rendition as he looks down, your little mocking speech leaving him unamused. "You had plenty of people to greet you at the door."

You narrow your eyes, shoving the box into his hand in annoyance. "That's not the point, I came to see you."

Gyuvin just stares before he opens his mouth to speak but he's quickly interrupted by Matthew entering the hallway. "Food's here!"

You don't move, standing as you wait for Gyuvin to say something, anything. But he just gestures behind you before repeating, "Food's here."

You turn in disappointment, you don't know what you wanted him to say. But it definitely wasn't that.

You join the others at the dining table as they scoot over to make room for you. Seeing as one of them is missing, there's just the right amount of chairs.

Normally, you'd sit wherever there was room, but Ricky was quick to greet you and offer you the seat next to his. He pats the chair, "This one's open."

That's bullshit, Gyuvin notes. There were several other chairs that were open because not everyone was sitting yet. Like himself, who was waiting for you to sit so he could sit next to you.

That dream slowly dies in front of him as Jiwoong takes the seat to the other side of you, having to strangle off Hanbin for it. He shows you something on his phone that has you smiling brightly.

And for some twisted reason that he can't exactly explain.

Gyuvin hates it.

It's the same feeling he felt deep in the pit of his stomach earlier. He came out of his room right away to see you, but was stopped in his tracks when he saw the others hovering over you.

You seemed to forgotten who you had even come to see, so he sulked his way back to his room, unable to pinpoint what exactly it was that he was feeling.

Ricky, being the little shit he was, would call it jealously every time he would spill about his feelings —He only resorted to consulting him after Jiwoong suggested it was indigestion— but Gyuvin disagrees.

Why would he even be jealous? You two were just friends!

Friends who regularly fogged up his car windows from the backseat in an empty parking lot when he needed to clear his mind.

Friends who would often grind on each other in the dark of his room, his computer screen the only source of light in the late hours of the night.

Friends who were on their knees for each other when the other was stressed, because that's what friends are for, right?

But the word remained. Friends.

Even if he wanted to be jealous, he couldn't be, he had no right. You two weren't anything, he doesn't even think you like him like that.

But he thinks that if he has to watch Matthew wink at you one more time, he's going to slam his head against this table. But he's not jealous! Right... It was fine, everything was fine.

"Hao's gonna be upset he missed you, he's learning that one classical song you like on violin." Hanbin speaks up before leaning onto his hand. "What was the name? I can't remember"

Ricky vaguely recalls. "The one from Howl's Moving Castle?"

"Oh my gosh, he's learning Merry Go Round of Life?" You light up in your seat, clearly impressed. You forgot you had mentioned your love for the classical piece to them before.

Gyuvin can feel himself growing bitter, since when did you like that movie? Or that song? And why did he feel so left out right now? And even worse, why was Hao learning it for you? That felt so.. romantic.

"I've never seen that movie." Gunwook innocently comments as he places his chopsticks down.

"Me either." Taerae sighs as an idea pops into your head.

"Oh they're having a special showing of it at the theater next week for it's anniversary! I wanted to go but I didn't think anyone would wanna come with." You pout before raising a brow. "Unless you guys wanna go?"

The two are quick to nod and it's not long before the others pile on and ask if they can tag along too. Gyuvin's pissed, why didn't you just ask him? Of course he would've went to the movie with you. He didn't care what you two did, he just liked spending time together.

Truth be told, you were going to ask Gyuvin. He was your first option, seeing as he's your best friend, but since he was acting weird, maybe it'd be best to hang out with some of the other guys. What was his deal anyways?

Ricky breaks you from your thoughts. "Oh I saw this necklace the other day with your birthstone, but I wanted to ask you before I bought it."

Gyuvin is seething.

"Ricky," You smile as you place your drink down, eyes never leaving his. You were well aware of his habit of dropping money on his friends. That necklace was definitely way out of your price range. "You don't need to buy me anything."

"I want to, it was pretty." He grins, awaiting Gyuvins reaction in his prerifrial vision.

You quirk your head to the side. "I'm sure it was."

"Just like you." Ricky continues as he sees his friend gritting his teeth in the seat across from him. Ricky knew what he was doing, but he was tired of seeing you two run around in circles with each other. He just wanted to just nudge you two in the right direction, or so help him.

Now, Gyuvin could handle everything else. The other boys were just being friendly, he knows they meant well. But his notably attractive supposed best friend directly flirting with you in front of him?

Yeah, that was a no go.

Everyone else at the table grew quiet, knowing Ricky was treading into dangerous territory. Sure, they were a little overbearing at times but even they knew of the unspoken rules pertaining to you. It was known that you were off-limits, a rule set specifically by Gyuvin.

Your face heats up slightly as you stammer for a response, "O-oh.. well.. I think.."

Gyuvin stands, making a commotion as he does so, the noise of his chair scraping the ground enough to call everyone's attention. He turns to you, "Can I talk to you outside?"

You look to Ricky and then back to Gyuvin, unsure of what you should do. But you ultimately know better, "Yeah."

You follow Gyuvin to the balcony, him shutting the curtains away from the prying eyes of his friends as he slid the door closed, at least he knows they can't hear him out here.

He holds the railing, pretending to be entertained as he watches the cars below pass. He doesn't know what to say.

You shift on your feet, waiting for him to speak. You knew when your friend was angry, you just didn't know why.

"Did I do something?" You break the silence.

Gyuvin can't hold it in anymore, he changes the subject. "What are we?"

Your brows furrow as you look taken aback. "What are you talking about? You say it all the time, we're friends."

His lips press into a thin line before he admits, "I don't think friends get jealous over their friend like I do."

"What?" You lean closer. "Jealous?"

"Yes," He maintains, like it was the simplest thing in the world. "I'm jealous seeing the boys crowd around you! Or Jiwoong taking all your attention with some stupid pictures on his phone! Or Hao being able to play your favorite song for you!"

You look down. "Gyuvin-"

"Please just listen," He breathes in, afraid of what you might say. "I did walk out to greet you today, but you looked so busy with them that I felt like you didn't even notice me missing."

You lay your hand over his, encompassing it as he holds the railing. "You know what I was thinking the entire time they were talking to me?"

He shakes his head, willing his hands not to tremble under your touch. "What?"

"I was wondering where you were." You reveal, averting your eyes. "You're my best friend Gyuvin, I'll always look for you."

There it is, that ugly feeling in his stomach again.

"And that's all I'll ever be?"

You're shocked. "What're you trying to say?"

He cuts you off from asking anything further as he blurts out information he hadn't even had time to process yet. "I think I like you."

You stand straighter, still unable to look him in the eye. "You do?"

"I don't want you to go to the movies with Taerae or Gunwook, I want you to go with me! I should be the one buying you gifts, not Ricky!" He raises his voice a little in frustration as he recalls earlier.

The immediate clarity washes over him as he realizes he's out of line. "I'm so stupid, I'm sorry. I know we're not exclusive and I have no right-"

You cut him off from his ramblings with a kiss, lips crashing into each other with an all too familiar feeling. Except this time, it's not just lust taking over, it's something different. And you don't want it to stop.

You run your hands through his hair and pull him closer, if that's even possible, and deepen the kiss. Gyuvin's beyond surprised because if there was one thing you didn't do — it was kiss.

He can recall all the times you would be fumbling with his shirt as you tried to pull it off, and he would try to catch your lips in his, only for you to abruptly pull back and refuse. Friends don't kiss, you had said.

He really hoped this meant what he thought it did.

You gently release him from the kiss, cheeks flushed as you point inside. "Not here, let's go to your room."

"We can't go inside, everyone will hear." He reminds you before teasing. "And you're never very quiet."

You roll your eyes as you snark, "Yeah well you aren't exactly a silent mouse either."

He laughs under his breath before it dawns on him. "My car?"

You snap your head towards him as you look unconvinced. He's about to suggest something else when you grab his hand while shrugging. "Your car it is."

You drag him inside, running past a table of prying and confusing eyes, who's calls for your names you ignore, and yank his keys off the hook. You two bolt out the front door, and could the elevator be any slower?

Finally, you reach his car and climb into the backseat.

You immediately pull him onto you, wanting to kiss him until you couldn't breathe anymore. He was making you dizzy, you needed him more than ever.

He felt the exact same way, revealing in you as he was content on just kissing. His body betrays him though, your clothed cunt laid directly beneath his dick now, and suddenly he's grinding with such vigor despite the fact that you had only just began.

You break the kiss before you whisper, “Do you have a condom?”

His eyes widen, "Y-yeah, in the center console."

You wait as he just stares at you, you'd be lying if you said it wasn't a little awkward. "Well I'm a little stuck here so-"

He snaps into it before digging through and retrieving one. "Right! Right.."

You smile a little at his antics, you were horribly whipped. Though he doesn't take his pants off immediately, instead opting to pocket the condom. He fumbles with his hands a little nervously, "Do you think I can eat you out first?"

"What?" You stammer. Sure, he had done it many times before, but he never been this nervous. There's something so whiny in his tone, like he needs it more than you do. So you oblige, "Alright."

He lights up at that. "Lean back."

You had never been eaten out this way before, usually Gyuvin was grabbing you to sit on his face, to which usually ended up in you teasing and grinding on it. 

But he has no qualms about it, as he dives right into laying his tongue against your heat. He teases for a bit, running it over your clit before you buck up your hips in protest. “Please Gyuvin, just make me feel good, no one can like you.” 

His pupils blow wide. "Fuck, yes baby."

Then he gets to work, tongue entering you as you swear you start to see stars. He doesn't let up, burying his face between your legs as he holds them down on either side of the small car seats.

He's leaving marks on your thighs from how hard he grips them as leverage. He's swirling his tongue around your swollen nub, taking in the taste of you.

You gasp out in pleasure, hips slightly bucking but your strength is nothing against Gyuvins. You're lost in pleasure, but you miss him though, you want to see your pretty boys face. You want him to kiss you again.

"Feels so good," You moan out, tears pricking your eyes.

"You taste even better." He mumbles against your clit. "Love that I get to have you like this, who is this for? Please just say it's for me."

You nod, before remembering he can't see you. "You! Haah- only you!"

He speeds up, slurping you with determination you had never seen before. You grab around, unable to really see due to teary eyes, and attempt to pull at his hair. "Wait, wait."

He lifts his head up, "What happened?"

"I-I wanna.. see you," You babble, "Wanna see you, Gyuvin."

His heart thumps at that, you wanted to look at him? He crawls towards your face as he pulls you into another sloppy kiss, mouths sliding in motion as you can taste yourself on him.

You can also feel his dick poking at your leg, begging to be freed from its constraints. So you lean your hand down and press on it, while he lets out a strained, "Oh - shit - feels so good."

He trembles at your touch, unconsciously bucking his hips into your leg. You tap him, "Can you take your pants off?"

He nods, almost humorous in the way he throws his bottoms off. You sit up as he does too, and push him back against the seat. He still has his underwear on, so you draw your finger around the waistband of it.

You rub him through the material, watching as his face contorts in pleasure and he lets out stagnant whines. He wants more, but above all, he wants to be good for you. "Please touch me, please use me."

You can't believe the words coming out of his mouth. Gyuvin was always more leaning on the soft dominant side, never had he begged for you like this so shamelessly.

He doesn't stop there, even after you slide your hand below. "I want you to fuck me so badly, I can be good for you! You won't need anyone but me- fuck - agh!"

You graze the tip with your thumb before you start pumping him slowly, his plush lips parting as he moans. You can feel your wetness gathering even more simply at the noises he lets out, and you know you need him just as bad as he needs you.

"You look so good like this," You admit, wanting to tease him a little. "So cute with my hand wrapped around your swollen fat dick."

"Please, don't talk like that," His face flushes as he whines at your vulgar choice of words.

"Why not?" You play innocent, fluttering your eyelashes.

He turns away in an attempt to hide his face, but you still hear what he says loud and clear. "I don't want to cum in my pants."

You smile, quirking your head the side. "What if I want you to?"

"Then I wouldn't be able to fuck you," He mumbles as he bites his lip, though he looks like he'd give into your wish if you kept asking.

You perk up at his eagerness. "So I can't put your dick in my mouth?"

His eyes widen in protest, "N-No!"

"Shh," You speak as you lean into his ear, hand still moving as you suppress a giggle at him getting so worked up. "Where's the condom?"

He stiffs up at that, looking around for his pants as you remove your hand. He hurriedly rips open the package once he pulls it out of his discarded jean's pockets, and fumbles with his hands as he slides it on.

You move to lay down on the seats, Gyuvin craning his neck as he hovers over you. His length prodding at your entrance before you knew it. His tip running over your folds in hesitance.

It was far from the first time you've both done this, but he felt ten times more nervous than he ever has. And maybe a bit more appreciative. He winces, "I can't believe I get to fuck you."

You look him in the eye, finding his statement a little amusing. "What?"

"You're just so pretty," He mutters, and he avoids your eyes. "I always get scared that one day you'll decide you think one my friends is hotter, and just decide to stop talking to me."

Your face turns soft as his sudden vulnerability, even if he was about to rearrange your guts. "Trust me, that never would've happened."

"Really?"

"I kissed you back there because I like you Gyuvin." You confirm, the moment feeling so warm despite your lack of clothes. "I never thought I'd be with anyone but you."

He doesn't respond as he slowly slides into you, trying his best not to rut into you. He was holding back a lot tonight, he wanted to show you how much he cared. You couldn't help but feel this was romantic as well, even if it was inside a cramped car.

His eyes can't help but drift down, watching as your walls sucked him in perfectly. He lets out a soft, shattered gasp as you clench him when he finally bottoms out. "Mmm, you always take me so well."

You cry out a little before slurring out his name like a mantra. "Gyuvin, move, please move, fuck - I need you to move."

He moves back a little before he thrusts into you, hands intertwining with yours as he starts to pound into you faster. You weep, lost in pleasure as his tip kisses your g-spot repeatedly.

He can't help but let his emotions in again, "I hate how they look at you. Want to tell them you're all mine but-"

"I'm yours!" You gasp, squeezing his hand as it becomes too much. He's fucking you so deep that you can feel him in your stomach, and you're sure the bulge is visible.

He stops in his tracks, and you're scared you said something wrong. Before you voice it, he cuts you off. "Say it again."

You breathe, confused almost before you realize. You look him in the eyes as you repeat it. "I'm yours."

"Shit," His face flushes as he looks down. "I just came."

"From that?!" You raise your brows, this was unlike him. Never has he came this fast, and the embarrassment was about to settle in.

You're so in love, you don't even care. "Well-"

You're unable to say anything else as he thrusts back into you, catching you off guard. He trembling as he continues, "W-want you to-"

You shake your head, unable to fathom how he's even still hard. His stutter tells you he's sensitive though. "I don't need to."

"But I need it," He whispers lowly. "Need you to cream on my cock."

You can barely process his words as you grab his hand in yours, "Show me how bad you need it."

Gyuvin almost dies from shock. He feels he must've died already with how you treat him so heavenly. So he doesn't stop, pushing himself to the point over overstimulation as he shakes. Nothing you say could stop him now, he was too far gone into you.

"Can't believe you decided to choose me," He rambles as your bodies meld together. "I don't deserve it."

You feel yourself start to tear up, unsure if its from your feelings or from the intense pounding you're getting. Your eyes well up nonetheless, "I'd choose you every time."

He cranes his head into the crook of your neck as his pace never falters, sighing as he kisses away your tears. "As your friend?"

You borderline laugh, sniffling as you do. "Don't be stupid, I don't think we were ever just friends."

He thrusts into you one final time before you're crying out from pleasure, your orgasm running over you. You intertwine your hand with his as you pull him closer. He whispers you through it, telling you an endless string of I-love-you's with baited breath.

Yeah, you two were not friends.

[elix8r]

it’s raining, it’s pouring

PAIRING: cheetah hybrid!mark x house cat hybrid!y/n

GENRES: hybrid!au, smut, angst, enemies to ?

SUMMARY: Hating Mark could almost be considered your part-time job ever since Taeyong adopted him. But on one fateful night, a raging storm strikes, and with Taeyong nowhere to be found, you find yourself seeking an unlikely source of comfort - your annoying cheetah roommate.

WORD COUNT: 5.1k

WARNING: meandom!mark, brattysub!y/n, profanity, y/n being really mean to mark, unprotected sex, manhandling, humiliation, degradation, anal, foot stuff, face-fucking, rough sex, overall filthy stuff

Up until three years ago, your life could be described as utter paradise. With Taeyong being the best owner you could ask for, and living in the coveted top-floor penthouse, you couldn't have any complaints. That was, of course, until your owner one day brought home another hybrid without previously warning you. Apparently, the previous owner of the cheetah hybrid was moving back to America, leaving him in need of a new home. Being the generous owner he was, Taeyong offered to take him in without hesitation (and without discussing it with you beforehand).

The moment Mark walked through the front door, your feelings towards the fellow feline were set, and they had yet to change. He was nothing but a nuisance to you, and despite being in the same cat family, he seemed to be nothing like you. You even attempted to paw at his ears many times before, trying to confirm if he really was a cheetah and not an overgrown puppy. However, each time, you would be met with cries and protests from him, while instinctively his claws extended, confirming that he was indeed a cat.

By now, Taeyong had accepted that you were never going to be best buds with Mark (though the latter still tried his best, despite knowing your response each time). In the beginning, he had hoped that you would get over your distaste for the boy and ultimately welcome him to the family, but as time went on and you showed no change of heart, your owner had to accept the reality.

Mark always took your food, bed, and even toys that were specifically given to you by Taeyong. He was an annoying presence in your life, who seemed to not get the hint that you wanted nothing to do with him. And as always, the exact thing was currently happening as you caught Mark rolling around and leaving his scent all over the new bedding that Taeyong had gotten for you.

"But yours is so much better! I just wanted to try it out, just a little, plus you smell good!" Mark's ears slightly folded down as he desperately tried to explain why you had found him sleeping in your bed.

"That's not my problem! Take it up with Taeyong if you have complaints and stop getting into my stuff. It's getting really fucking annoying and creepy you perv," you sent him a harsh glare, and your eyebrows furrowed in distaste as you could now smell him all over your sleeping area.

"Why can't you share? I mean, Taeyong always tells us to play nice and get along with each other, but no matter how hard I try, you never do! You're always so mean to me, and I don't even know what I've done!" Mark pouted, clearly upset with how you were reacting to him. From the beginning, all he wanted was to be friends with you, but you seemed to reject him at every turn.

"Why do I have to share if Taeyong bought it specifically for me? I mean, I was here first anyway. You should just be happy that Taeyong even took you in. Otherwise, you'd probably be one of those strays we always see outside. You should be thankful for what you got, so stop trying to take my stuff too. Anyways, get out of my room," you huffed towards your bed, barely giving him a second look. You knew that you were probably a bit too harsh with your words, but your annoyance took over, and you couldn't take back what was already said.

Mark was hurt and defeated. He knew there was no point in arguing with you so he nodded quietly and left your room and headed towards his, where he turned to his computer so that he would be able to take his mind off of you and focus on playing games with his friends.

"Bro, she's such a bitch. I mean, I don't know how you deal with her. I've only met her once, and during that time, she almost clawed my eyes out," his friend Jeno, responded sympathetically upon hearing about what had happened.

"Yeah, I feel bad for you, man. Me and Jaemin get along fine, so I can't even imagine what it's like living 24/7 with someone you don't get along with. Oof, it sounds like a nightmare," Haechan shuddered at the thought, and Jaemin nodded in agreement.

"Why don't you just fight back and assert your dominance over her? I mean, you are the stronger breed. She'll have to respect you once you scare her straight. Use your predator advantages, and maybe she'll realize that you're not one to be messed with," Jaemin suggested, trying to help Mark find a solution. His words did intrigue Mark, and he had to admit that he had thought about what Jaemin was suggesting. However, he had hoped he wouldn't have to resort to using his powers against you and that you would eventually warm up to him on your own.

Typing and clicking noises filled the conversation for a couple of seconds as they all played online together. "Yeah, I guess. I'll think about it," Mark finally replied.

And think about it he did for the next few hours as he continued to play games with his friends. The topic of you didn't come up again as they were all too engrossed in their gaming. Meanwhile, Mark remained preoccupied with thoughts of you. He was so engrossed in the games that he didn't realize the time or the weather outside, something you were keenly aware of.

Taeyong should have been home by now, yet not a single sign of him was to be seen. You had been waiting patiently for your owner while spending time scrapbooking. Every once in a while, you would peer out your window to see if he was here yet as you were always able to predict when he would be coming in. But today, he seemed to be taking longer. The sky had been turning darker and darker, which laid an uneasy feeling inside of you.

It was quite embarrassing to admit, but even at your grown age, you were still deadly afraid of storms. You were unable to withstand them without the comfort of Taeyong nearby, and with no sign of him, you were becoming antsy. Where was he? Was he okay? These were all thoughts that ran through your mind as you went through all the scenarios of where your owner could be, but every single one led to a bad ending that you didn’t want. So you tried your best to get back into crafting.

Of course, that didn't last long as out of nowhere, a flash of lightning could be seen, followed by a clap of thunder so loud that it shook the house. You yelped out loudly as you felt yourself tremble. The lights flickered for a couple of seconds as rain could be heard heavily pouring down, and now you genuinely felt fear. There was nothing you could do except tuck yourself deeply under your blanket while hoping for the rain to settle down, but your wishes were in vain as there was no indication of it stopping anytime soon, and Taeyong was still not home.

You had already tried texting him and dialing his number, but it went straight to voicemail, which further drove you to worry. What if he had decided he had enough of you and chose to leave you? This thought, above all, made your stomach drop, and tears pricked at your eyes. Despite it being totally irrational and unwarranted, it was still a possibility and it scared you. Suddenly, another thunder could be heard, which once again instigated a whimper out of you. Without fully realizing what you were doing, you found yourself walking towards Mark’s door.

You weren’t sure that you had ever knocked on his door purposely, but here you were knocking. Laughs and talking could be heard from inside the room and you wondered how he wasn’t bothered by everything going on. While you frowned while trying to pull your blanket around your shoulders tighter, the door finally opened and revealed a confused Mark.

You looked absolutely terrified, which was not a look he was familiar with despite living with you for about three years now. You were visibly shaken and your eyes were wide with fear. Instantly, Mark was concerned.

"Hey, what’s wrong?" His brows were furrowed as he noticed you on the verge of crying (though you weren't sure if it was because of the storm, the absence of Taeyong, or even the embarrassing fact that you came crawling to Mark's room).

"Have you heard from Taeyong?" Your usual catty tone was nowhere to be found as you asked with a soft voice.

Until now, Mark hadn’t realized that his owner had not come home when he was supposed to, but at the realization, he too became worried. "No, I don't. I guess I just realized that he hasn't come home yet."

His response made your eyes widen. It was hard to believe that while you were worrying in your room, the thought of Taeyong hadn't crossed Mark's mind even once. "What do you mean you didn't realize? I know he's been coming home later recently, but not this late! I mean, haven't you seen what it's like outside right now? Where is he?"

It was obvious that you were beyond stressed, and even without smelling you, Mark could feel anxiety radiating off of you. It was indeed storming terribly outside, and now Mark was becoming worried knowing that Taeyong was out there. But seeing your state, he came to the conclusion that it would do no one any good to have the both of you freaking out.

"Hey, I'm sure he's fine. I bet he's just waiting out the storm at his work. Why don't you come in here and wait together for him?" His words did not do much to ease your tension, but you did oblige (if it were other circumstances, you would never agree to enter his room, but desperate times called for desperate measures).

"But why isn't he answering my calls then? He knows that I hate storms, and I can't go through them without him! Mark, what if he's never coming back?" You had plopped yourself on top of his bed, eyes wide and lips quivering.

Mark sighed. "Y/N, now you're being ridiculous. Why would he just abandon us? He's probably not getting a signal or something more reasonable."

His dismissive response lacked empathy for your concerns, and you were now shedding tears. "What do you mean more reasonable? I think my concerns are valid! Maybe he's tired of us fighting all the time! I mean, we haven't been the best for him, and I know he's been having a hard time with us. It’s possible that he had it with us and just abandoned us to run away!"

The concern he previously felt was now gone as your dramatic rant slowly started to irk him more and more. Everyone knew that you were the main instigator of your fights, always being unfriendly towards Mark, so to have you group him with you had him scoffing. "You mean more like you were not being a good hybrid like you should have been. I mean, you're the one always instigating fights. I try my best to deal with you, but you're so bratty. Honestly, I'm surprised Taeyong's been able to deal with you this long."

Throughout the three years of living with Mark, you could only count a handful of times that he responded to you in such a manner. He was usually mild-mannered and overall just nice, so hearing this from him had you shocked. It was such a switch and instantly, you could feel his annoyance towards you in the air.

"Ma-Mark, what do you mean?" Your cries had yet to stop, and Mark rolled his eyes at you. Were you that dumb that you hadn't caught on to how frustrated Taeyong had recently been with your behavior? Taeyong was usually very tolerant, but even he was having a hard time with you.

"Jesus Y/N, are you seriously that stupid?" Even Mark was shocked at how he was talking to you, but this pent-up anger towards you had been a long time coming. He had been holding it all in, trying to be as good as he can to you despite your actions towards him, but now he was reaching a boiling point. He was beyond annoyed, and maybe this cold hard wake-up call was needed for you to start behaving better.

"I'm not stupid! Who do you think you are to talk to me like that, you fucking bastard?" You tried to sound strong while defending yourself against his harsh words, yet the tears seemed to not stop. Frustratingly, you got up to further confront him, but to your surprise, his hands came up around your neck and forced you back on the bed. Clearly, your words had further driven him to anger.

It was clear that Mark was angry. He had never put his hands on you this way, and in response, you were also fuming. How dare he put his hands on you? "Get your filthy ass hands off me!"

Mark didn't listen, though, as he pushed you further into the bed and hovered over you. His eyes held a fiery rage that you weren't sure you had ever encountered, certainly not from Mark. No trace of your bravado could be found, and for the first time, you cowered in his presence. Chills ran down your body as you felt his tail moving all over your bare legs. Amidst the fear you felt from the feline, another emotion bubbled beneath your lower belly.

Never in a million years would you have expected yourself to be turned on by Mark, but here you were, unconsciously purring in response to his actions. The once sweet and amiable Mark was gone, and this new version of him that showcased himself in front of you was one that you couldn't help but find yourself incredibly attracted to. Alas, you realized that you, just a common domesticated house kitty, were no match for the fast and strong beast that Mark presented himself to be.

"You know I've been quite understanding toward you. I put up with your attitude for three fucking years, yet here you are, still not realizing how much of a spoiled and ungrateful little kitty you've been. Despite taking all your shit, here you still are with the audacity to be in my room and still be a bitch when I nicely allowed you in to comfort you. It's obvious Taeyong hasn't been doing a good job taming you to be the nice house cat you're bred to be. But enough is enough, and clearly, the soft approach isn't working, so I guess I'll have to be the one to straighten you out."

And with that, he pressed his lips against yours roughly, making his intentions clear that he wouldn't go easy on you. Teeth clicked against each other and as the kiss deepened, you found yourself caught between conflicting emotions. Maybe, you did deserve this, but at the same time, you couldn't help but feel a part of you unwilling to surrender to Mark's dominance this easily.

His hands roughly dragged themselves all over your body as you panted heavily against his lips. In an attempt to take charge, you wrapped your legs around his waist, intending to twist him around and position yourself on top. However, his quick instincts kicked in, and he caught on before you could even execute your plans. He immediately pinned you under him again.

"Tsk tsk, I told you. I'm in charge today, and that little move you tried to pull on me is going to cost you now," Mark growled, and all you could manage in response was a small whimper. Your body struggled to adjust to not being the one in control.

His hands were burning hot as they hurriedly moved to strip you of the only article of clothing that you were wearing. It was a large shirt that engulfed you, and most days you had no issue with it being the only thing you wore around the house. You found it to be the most comfortable and unrestricting for your tail, allowing you to move freely without any discomfort. However, if you had been made aware beforehand of the situation you were currently in, you would have reconsidered.

Being fully bare in front of Mark while he was still fully clothed made you feel hot in humiliation, but you fought against your impulse to cover yourself. Instead, you held your head high and maintained unwavering eye contact with the male feline before you. A devilish smirk ghosted his pretty face as his eyes started to move down, unashamedly wandering all over your naked figure and taking in every curve, making sure to not miss a single spot.

“Get on your knees.” His voice was stern and Mark could feel his pants get tighter and tighter.

“What if I don’t want to?” You coyly eyed him, still stubborn and unwilling to give in as easily as you knew Mark hoped you would.

With a firm grip on your chin, he was clearly losing his patience with you. "Don't make me repeat myself again. Get on your knees," he demanded with less composure than before. Reluctantly, you complied, but your gaze held a sparkle of mischievousness, indicating your satisfaction at successfully getting under his skin.

Your hands moved at a tortuously slow speed as you undressed him, knowing that it would be more fuel to the fire already ignited within him. This cat-and-mouse game you seemed to be dragging Mark into was entertaining you like nothing else before. Any previous anxiety and worry you had regarding Taeyong were not even thoughts in your mind right now, as you were fully occupied with pushing Mark to the edge. Pissed-off Mark seemed to be your favorite version of him, and it was a shame that it took three years for you to be graced with its presence, but better late than never.

You must have underestimated Mark though as you suddenly felt pressure on your clit. His foot had flexed up roughly against your pussy reminding you of who was in charge. You were biting back your moans as he seemed to have no plans of moving his foot while you finally got his pants off. Yanking his underwear down with the pants, his dick instantly freed, almost smacking your face.

"Fuck, Mark," you marveled at the sight. Even from the day you met him, you couldn’t deny (no matter how much you wanted to) that Mark was beautiful, but now it was fully confirmed that he was indeed absolute perfection.

With his cock glistening and tip pulsing red, your ears twitched as you felt yourself getting even further dazed with arousal. Your hands hesitantly wrapped themselves around his length and you heard a small groan release from within him. Your hands were incredibly soft and nothing compared to anything Mark had previously experienced. The slow strokes became increasingly faster and with wide eyes, you inched your head towards his slit before tentatively dipping your tongue in his slit.

“Shit, keep going.” He instructed and you could hear his breaths get more erratic the more you started to use your tongue.

You ran your tongue over the underside of his shaft before returning to his head wrapping your mouth around it. Mark was insanely receptive as you could feel his tail once again swiftly moving around your body the further you sank down his length. Once you could feel him hitting the back of your throat, you started to guide yourself back and forth, adopting a steady pace. Your hands moved to work in tandem with your mouth around what your mouth couldn’t reach.

With hollowed cheeks and reddened eyes that stared straight into his, just the sight alone could have him cumming. His hand rested gently against the back of your head and as he felt more and more pleasure, his hips started to penetrate deeper into your mouth. Then all of a sudden, Mark felt your teeth gently scraping against his dick which instantly had him harshly grabbing a hold of your hair and ripping you off his length.

Your head was pulled all the way back, almost straining your neck, but the only thing you could do was giggle at his reaction once you saw his face. With a stern warning he gave you with his eyes, you were shoved back down his cock with even more force than before. He mercilessly fucked your mouth and your claws dug deep into his thighs, yet he couldn’t care less. Deep grunts and lewd noises of you gagging and choking around him filled the room as tears drenched your face. You were sopping wet by now and in attempts to find some relief, you grinded down against his foot.

“Fuck, almost there,” he moans, and with one last deep thrust, you feel spurts of his cum painting your throat.

You try your best to swallow his load, but it’s too much as some seep out from the corner of your mouth and after what seems like forever, Mark pulls you off of him. Deep gasps come from you as you try your best to catch your breath, but it seems like he has no intentions of stopping as you’re quickly yanked up from the floor and thrown on the bed.

“Look at this,” Mark held your legs open wide as he examined your drenched pussy. “I mean you were grinding against my feet so fucking hard. You liked getting off against my feet? Fucking nasty whore. I mean that’s fucking embarrassing how desperate you are”

“Fuck, off.” You angrily spat out while you attempted to close your legs. It was indeed humiliating that Mark was making you feel and act like this.

He smirked at your words, "Oh yeah? You really want me to fuck off? Cause I will, I mean I already got my fix, no need to continue on." Panic instantaneously coursed through you at his suggestion to leave you like this, and without hesitation, you desperately reached for his wrist, holding him from leaving you.

"Wait, no. Mark, please," you begged. You knew he was getting off on this control he had over you, but you couldn’t really care less. There was only one thing you wanted right now, and you would do just about anything to get it.

“Why? I don’t owe you anything. All you’ve ever done for me was treat me like shit. Maybe you should’ve been a better kitty then.” You were losing your mind the more seconds went by he wasn’t touching you.

“Please Mark, I’m sorry.” Your eyes welled up, frantically begging for him. “I’ll do anything, please. I promise.”

As sadistic as it was, Mark couldn’t help but absolutely love seeing you like this. You looked helpless and desperate. “Anything?”

You furiously nodded. “Yes! Anything, Mark. Please, touch me. Use me!”

“So you’d let me choke you or do this?” He pinched your nipples hard and despite the pain, you continued to nod. “What about this? You like this?” Mark’s hand traveled down to your tail and tugged on it. Tails on hybrids were known to be off-limits to others as it was one of the most sensitive parts of your body so to have Mark do this to you was not only demeaning but also overwhelming, but you still nodded.

“Hmm, maybe you really are willing to let me do anything. What about here? Will you let me use it?” His thumb rubbed against the rim of virgin hole. You’ve had sex plenty of times but never had you ventured to have your rear penetrated.

Your already widened eyes grew even bigger at what Mark was insinuating, clearly taken aback by the feeling of his thumb. It was an unfamiliar sensation, but this didn’t necessarily mean that you were against it. Slowly, you nodded, letting out a soft whine at the new sensation that you were growing to enjoy.

“Please Mark, give me anything.” Your answer clearly satisfied him as he moved to rest his cock, which had hardened again, on your heat.

Smacking the head of his dick against your clit had you loudly moaning and without warning, he fully plunged into you, giving you no respite to adjust to his hard length before pounding himself into you. Squelching noises filled the room and while you would have most definitely been embarrassed if this was any other scenario, you were a little too preoccupied with screaming Mark’s name loudly as you felt indescribable pleasure.

Mark seemed to be sharing a similar sentiment to yours as he also let out loud moans and grunts as he continued to snap into you. You felt heavenly, so warm and tight, almost as if you were made specially for him and if he could, Mark would want to stay buried inside of you for the rest of his life.

“Ngh, so good! Please don’t stop!” You were practically screaming as your claws sunk themselves into Mark’s back in an attempt to hold onto something. You were incoherent and babbling all sorts of things.

Suddenly, when you thought you couldn’t feel any better, you felt the rough pads of Mark’s fingers roughly rubbing themselves against your engorged clit. Instantly, your eyes rolled to the back of your head and it didn’t take long before you felt as if the Earth was stuttering on its axis as you came.

Tears poured down your pretty face as you sobbed, but it seemed as though Mark was not through with you. Swiftly, he flipped you around, yanking your tail up, which had you shrieking in sensitivity. Your ass immediately perked up while your body slumped forward, completely at his mercy.

“Look at you, so pretty in submission.” You could hear him smiling as he teased you. He admired your pussy, so puffy and glistening from your orgasm before gathering your release onto his fingers and spreading them on your unbreached hole.

All you could do was gasp against your mattress at the sensation, clearly aware of what he was trying to do. Slowly, he prodded his finger into the hole, testing the waters on how you would react before going further. You were trembling against his finger, mewling out as your hands tightly gripped the sheets on his bed. The mix of vulnerability and excitement overwhelmed you, and you couldn't deny the pleasure that was slowly building within you.

“Fuck, you’re so tight, I’m barely able to get this finger in. How’re you going to be able to take my cock princess?” Quickly you whined back at his words.

“Mhm, I can ugh, I can take it. I promise.” You’re barely able to breathe out before you went back to being a moaning mess as Mark started to move his finger around.

Mark loved how receptive you were to everything he was doing to you. Deciding to try another one, he slowly slid another finger into your incredibly taut hole. You were clenching hard around him, but the second his hands wrapped around your tail again, you seemed to loosen up, which gave him room to scissor his fingers around.

“Please, just put it in. I need you, Mark please!” Your patience was waning and while you appreciated his attempts to loosen you up, knowing that it was not only your first time but also due to his substantial size, you were tired of waiting and now just wanted him in you.

Mark didn’t need to be told twice and he quickly yanked his fingers out before positioning himself on your pulsating hole. He gradually pushed into you and instantly, the tightness around his head had him rolling his head back. As he pushed himself further into you, your whimpers got louder as your back arched further to get closer to him. It was painful and an unfamiliar sensation, but the pleasure outweighed any other feeling and you were determined to take him all.

“Shit, you’re so fucking tight around me babe.” Mark mused as he finally sunk all of himself into you before pausing for a second to take everything in. Then, he started to rock himself at a slow pace before adopting a steady pace that was comfortable for both of you.

Once again, lewd sounds of moans and pants filled the room that was potently covered in the scent of sex. Your body quivered against his with his tight grip was the only thing keeping your body from fully slumping over. As you felt yourself loosening up, you felt Mark quickening his pace as he was now pounding relentlessly into you. His balls were harshly slapping themselves against your sensitive clit and you already felt yourself coming close to releasing for a second time tonight.

“Keep going, I’m close! Don’t stop!” You pleaded and it seemed that Mark was also coming close to combusting as you felt him tightly gripping your shoulders to give himself more momentum to thrust into you.

Ringing in your ears came first before everything seemed to cut to white noise as you felt yourself convulsing. You weren’t even sure if you were even awake, let alone alive as the sensation continued. As Mark continued to slam into you, chasing his release, he felt spurts of wetness coming from you. You were squirting and at the realization, Mark instantly came. Ropes of his cum painted your inside and when he finally pulled out, the sight alone was filthy and absolutely porn-worthy. Your hole continued to clench over nothing and his cum slowly seeped out creating an image that Mark knew he would have forever ingrained in his mind.

You had gone fully limp on the bed, with only small twitches giving an indication that you were, in fact, still alive. Mark had completely fucked you into oblivion, and not a single ounce of your previous bratty attitude seemed to have withstood as you didn't even bat an eye when Mark wrapped his arms around you both, trying to recover and catch your breath.

“Guys, I’m here! I’m so sorry, the rain had everyone—what the fuck!” Out of nowhere, the door to the room slammed open, showcasing your owner standing drenched from the rain and sporting a wide smile that quickly disappeared at the sight his two hybrids were found in. Shit, both of you had totally forgotten about Taeyong.

AUTHOR’S NOTE: happy birthday mark lee love you sm and stay rawr xd <3

[jayjj7]

chapter 49. square one

prev. | next | masterlist

a/n: last chapter tmr🙏🙏

reading danielle’s message gave you flashbacks of her injecting you with cat medicine. a funny memory to look back on now but reliving it was something you would not laugh at.

“hey dani!” you walk into the examination room, excited to see her but scared of reliving the past.

“hey y/n! get comfortable with the dog while i get the stuff” she smiles at you as she puts on some blue latex gloves.

getting comfortable with your patients was a key component of staying safe, not getting bitten by any animal was the end goal for everyone everyday. living by this goal, you played with the puppy a bit while danielle took stuff in and out of drawers.

“i missed having you here” danielle admits, setting a leash into your hands, waiting for you to put it on the dog.

“i missed being here with you” you smile, watching her return to her corner of supplies while you put the leash on the puppy.

“i’m glad we can spend time together more often again!” danielle sounds excited as she returns to where you are, holding a needle in her hand.

“if i moved back in we’d be together 24/7” you say jokingly but you secretly did want to move back in with her. living with danielle made you happy and had you looking forward to the next day no matter the conditions.

“you should” danielle says seriously, looking at you dead in the eyes.

“jeez, take me out to dinner first” you laugh as you hold the puppy in a comfortable position for all three of you.

danielle didn’t want to waste any more time, scared of things between you two changing once again, she couldn’t hold back. she cleared her throat, and dropped her smile.

“y/n? can i be your girlfriend?” she looks away for a second before turning back to you. a subtle red tint adorning her face and ears.

the room dropped quiet, the dogs loud breathing stopped, machines stopped beeping, animals stopped making noises, ryo stopped screaming. it was as if you could hear a pin drop in the room. you were scared of danielle hearing your raving heartbeat because of how quiet it got.

“if you inject the dog and not me, i’ll be your girlfriend” you smile trying to remain calm and regulate your heartbeat.

danielle didn’t say anything but instead focused on injecting the dog. she felt around the area making sure your hand was not present and it was indeed the dog she would be injecting. she even went the extra mile to put on her stethoscope to make sure it was the dog. you quietly laugh in response.

“that helps you dani?” you tease.

“your heartbeat is so strong”

embarrassment washes over you and you look away realizing she got you there.

“hurry up” your face heats up and the red tint that danielle had was now shared between the both of you.

“thank you! if your dog has any reactions to the shot please bring him back!” danielle calls out to the dogs owner as they walk out the building.

she runs down the hall to the storage room where you’re at. you decided to clean up and refill the dog treats to calm yourself down after danielle successfully injecting the dog and not her newly girlfriend.

“i’ll wait for you in the car?” she peeks from the door frame.

“yeah i’ll be there in a minute” you turn to smile at her, taking your doctors coat off.

“okay!” danielle turns the corner to clock out but stops in her tracks. seeing her leave made you turn back to what you were doing, leaving your back turned to the door.

danielle comes back into the room and kisses your cheek quickly before giggling and running out the room. her laugh is heard as she runs down and out the building. surprised, it takes you a minute to recalibrate and process what just happened.

taglist : [ @modanisgf @greenniee @milfcr @idkwhatim-doinghere101 @urwyf3 @flolio @imahallucination11 @pandafuriosa60 @kaypanaq @nnewjeansstuff @haerinkisser @brocoliisscared @starrynini05 @l-e-e-woso @kimminjiswife @herlv3r @linnnsworld @multiliker @jisooftme @beanwtf1 @trovao-penguins @sweetcandycum @elliesrosetoy @justaharmlesspotat0 @masuowo @glock19enjoyer @milkncinnamonrolls @vanessashands ]

[duelinthesun]

what is your favorite Phil fact please I yearn for knowledge

Hi, i'm so so sorry it took me so long to answer! That yesterday's message pushed me to finally finish this post. So here's a bunch of cute or interesting or just phil things I think about a lot

1. My favourite fact is that he's silly as you can see in his War is Over songbook, where he put a picture of himself in a trashcan right next to the excerpts from negative reviews of his music😭

Couple years later he referenced the Esquire critique in his Midnight Special performance (55:35)

This is the performance he watched with those college kids he met right before and here is one of them recalling it:

2. Another amazing thing is that he was R. L. Stine's classmate in Ohio State University and both of them were involved in the humour magazine The Sundial there. Phil once told Stine he should ditch the magazine and start writing novels. Stine did that and moved to New York to pursue career as a writer, which resulted in him writing the Goosebumps series!! Sure, even if Phil hadn't told him to leave, he *probably* still would've written them, BUT! what if not?? So, we can still say we have Phil to thank for the existence of the series

3. Whatever this is (shame he lost)

4. His last meeting with Meegan is something i think about frequently. She was so young when she lost her dad, and since she didn't even live with him she got to spend so little time with him:(

"On the last day that I saw him, we went to the flea market in Sausalito, and he bought me a set of encyclopedias. And I'm pretty confident that he knew he wasn't going to be seeing me again. And he also got me a cat, which he named Rimbaud. When I was 20, and read Arthur Rimbaud, it was like, "Oh, OK. I see." I do feel like they're seeds. He was trying to leave me with little bits and pieces that I would discover over time."

5. I can't find the source right now, but I'm 99.9% positive that i've heard it from @imgonnasayitnow (Hi Tori, I hope you don't mind me tagging you). So, when Phil went on a farm to buy Pigasus for DNC 68, he got attacked and knocked to the ground by a herd of puppies, which is the cutest thing ever

6. When he was arrested in Chicago in 1968 he was behaving like a 15yo boy and bragging about his music? Go off Phil (this is a pic of his FBI file i saw on Tori's account and honestly most of the fun things I know about Phil i know from them, they're the best😅 shout out to her!!)

7. Phil's drawings that look like they really are a 15 yo boy's doodles instead of a 30+ yo man😭 (I hope the Woody Guthrie Center puts them on a exhibition one day... please...)

8. And the last thing is his response to Boradside's critic Ralph Earle who mixed up Roger Taylor and Gregory Peck in his (terrible) review of Pleasures of the Harbor

[elliespuns]

Imagine if Ellie brings home a cat. And she thinks it's just a fat cat really... but then two days later it has babies on Joel's rug.

And Joel's the one that finds them. Maybe he was coming downstairs for coffee when he heard a weird little chorus of little meows... and we comes into the living room he finds a bunch of kittens lying on his new rug nursing on their mama. Ellie immediately starts begging him to let them keep all of them. At first he's like "I didn't want one cat, now you want me to keep 6 of them????" but eventually he caves and agrees that they can keep mama cat and ONE kitten, and they will find homes for the other babies around town (cue Ellie knocking on every door in Jackson and holding up a kitten while saying "you want a cat???? look at it, it's so damn cute!!!"

*laughs in emotional* I love this!

I can totally see Ellie bringing home this stray cat, thinking it's just a chubby kitty, only to wake up a couple days later to find it had a whole litter! *giggles, remembering how Joel was teaching Ellie about what litter means* And of course she'd guilt trip Joel into keeping them by giving him the puppy dog eyes and begging. That's our girl.

"Please Joel, we HAVE to keep them! They need us, look how tiny and adorable they are. I can't bear to split them up. Pretty please with catnip on top?" She'd plead in her best sad puppy voice.

Poor Joel, he'd put up a token resistance at first, grumbling about his rug and the mess and responsibility. But he'd be putty in Ellie's hands. Those baby kittens would wrap him around their little paws in no time.

"Dammit Ellie, fine...we can keep the mama and ONE of the babies. But you better help find homes for the rest, I'm not running a damn cat shelter here." He'd grumble, trying to sound stern while sneaking in pets and snuggles.

Then Ellie would make it her mission to find forever homes, door to door, holding out kittens and dazzling everyone with their cuteness until they couldn't resist. "Oh, you HAVE to take this one, look, she's so soft and cute. Yeah, I'm sure it's no problem for you to keep a cat... I'll even throw in some cat food to sweeten the deal."

Joel would just roll his eyes and mutter under his breath, but secretly be charmed by her enthusiasm and kindness in her heart.

[mjart12699]

Decided to post a fic I wrote a while ago on here since I have been too busy lately to write anything else anyway enjoy some Muriel’s not the Step Father He’s The Father Who Stepped up content

Woodcutters

I’ve always liked the woods. It’s always been calm, but not silent. There are little noises I can pay attention to and identify as I walk the path, feeling the dirt beneath my shoes.

It’s different now though. The woods are filled with the noise of people, scared people who came here out of fear of the city and settled right in the yard of my zio’s oldest friend.

The friend who is now my ma’s boyfriend, it seems.

Muriel seems nice, and from what Asra has told me he’s a good person. I feel calm around him, and so do the chickens and other animals that live here, so I suppose I can trust him. What’s weird is seeing how my ma is around him.

My ma was not very trustworthy of other people before she got sick, and she still had a lot of social anxiety after she woke up again. She’s been working on it. According to Asra and Finn, I’ve been a big help since we’re really similar. She got a lot better after we found Wojtek, a puppy that grew into a bear-like dog a few months after she was okay again. To see her so relaxed around someone, let alone Muriel, is a bit weird.

“Hey, Sawyer.” Finn’s deep voice pulls me back from my thoughts, and the scratch of my pen on the paper I grabbed comes to a halt. “Did you hear what I said?” He sits down next to me, and I feel his eyes on the paper more than see them. I shake my head in response, tracing imaginary lines in my mind across his dark hands as he fiddles with a foraging bag. “The adults are having another meeting, so your mama is going to be busy again for a little bit. I figured we could go look for some more of those honeysuckle flowers that you like, maybe practice some illusions?” I think on it for a moment before nodding, packing up my art supplies in my bag and standing up.

“I have to put my stuff away.” I sign to Finn before running off to my tent. It’s near ma’s and Muriels, towards the back of the hut and away from the people. Ma made a few jokes about how the three of us have that in common, the need to be away from the noise.

I open the flaps of the tent as I undo the locking spell, walking on my knees to avoid letting my dirty shoes touch the floor of the tent. I know it will get dirty anyway, but I don’t like the feeling of dirt touching my skin when I sleep. I tuck my art supplies under my pillow, shaking out my bag to make sure I didn’t miss anything and then repacking what I will need to take with me. My stuffed mammoth, my mini sketchbook, a piece of charcoal, gloves, extra socks in case the ones I’m wearing get wet, a sweater, and some candy so I don’t chew the inside of my cheek. Once that’s packed, I wiggle back out of the tent, closing the flaps and redoing the protection spell. I nearly fall back when I stand up and turn around to see Muriel, kneeling down to pet Wojtek right outside my tent.

“Sorry, I didn’t mean to scare you.” He doesn’t stand up, which I’m okay with. The man is ridiculously tall, my earliest memory of him being when Asra took me out here, I think I was a toddler. He had been wearing his chains, and his hair had been a lot longer. I also remember he didn’t seem as soft as he does now, a feeling I can’t really explain. “Your mom and I have to meet with everyone again, to talk about what’s going to happen. We- I mean, she wanted you to know where she was in case you’d need anything.”

I nod in response, feeling my hair brush against my neck and slapping it away when it itches. Muriel’s face changes when I do that, the same way that other adults do when I do anything considered weird. “It’s itchy.” Is all I sign before I walk away, finding Finn and his cat, Annette, on the outskirts of the settlement and taking one of the more wild paths with him.

I practice my magic a bit as we walk, summoning small gusts of wind in my hands and holding up leaves or flowers in midair with it as we walk, and sometimes coming up with small illusions. Finn’s job when we are not hiding from a bloodthirsty monster and his band of mercenaries is to dig up old bones and study them, paleontology. I went on a lot of his digs with him the year that we left Vesuvia while mama was sick. He had always kept me in the shade, putting big hats on my head and making sure I was wearing enough sun cream to “keep the people who make it from ever going out of business”. He talks about the bones he’s found as we walk, telling me what he thinks they might have looked like and asking me to summon the description in my hands, then summoning his own to compare. It’s a fun game we play, something that keeps my mind from wandering to the bad stuff.

By the time we find the grove where the honeysuckle is, the sun has started to head more into the evening, and a chill blows through. I pull my sweater out of my bag, the soft purple yarn smelling a little bit old and in need of a wash, but comforting.

“I admit that I brought you out here with another ulterior motive.” Finn’s large hands pluck several of the white and yellow flowers at a time before he deposits them in his bag. “You’ve been looking a little sad, and it’s easy to see why.” I turn away as he talks, knowing that he knows I am still listening. “It was nice and calm for a while, then the Countess hired your mama for a weird job. A week later she has to go down south with a scary lady and the best friend of your uncle, who looks and seems like the exact opposite.” Annette climbs some of the branches, her soft fur shining a warm brown in the dappled sun, her golden eyes watching me knowingly. “ Then she comes back after months of being away, right before the biggest party of the year, dating said guy.” He’s right about that, it was weird to see them together. Asra seemed really happy about it, and tried to tell me stories of him and Muriel when they were growing up while he and my ma were down south, but it still felt strange. “Next thing you know we are all running away from the city and into the woods and we have to set up camp around a bunch of other people, some of which have obviously not learned about camping etiquette.” This makes me laugh a little, because it’s true. Not a day goes by out here where someone doesn’t start an argument with another person about something stupid. I feel Finn’s hand on my shoulder, and look up to see that he also finds it funny. He kneels down to my level picking some of the flowers on the forest floor as he does, all ones we can use for medicine or food. “The point is, you’ve been holding in a lot, and it’s okay to miss your ma. I know you think that because you’re one of The Big Kids out here that you have to act brave and happy all the time, but you need to remember that you are nine years old. It’s okay to have all of the bad feelings.” I don’t like that he’s able to read right through me, but that’s what happens when you spend most of your life around someone.

My throat feels sore and wet, and the area behind my eyes hurts. I know it’s a sign that I’m going to cry, but I still don’t like it. Finn pulls me down, leaning against the small tree the honeysuckle had been growing around and letting me sit against his side. I rock back and forth against the tree, not able to do anything else to calm myself down. Finn fishes my stuffed mammoth out in response, tucking it into my arms and rubbing his hand up and down my back as I hide my face in my knees. Annette comes down from the tree, purring as she wiggles her way into my lap and kneading her paws in order to get me to release my legs from my grip, preventing marks that I would normally scratch into my skin. It feels like forever has passed before I stop crying, and it still feels stupid to cry over something like this when I’m done.

My legs feel heavy when we decide to go back, so Finn hoists me up so that he’s giving me a piggy-back ride. If I weren’t so tired from today I would protest, especially since I’ve been getting a bit too big for that, but Finn doesn’t seem to mind, and carries me easily all the way back to camp.

I’m nearly asleep when we do get back, but I’m awake enough to help Finn and Mazelinka, Zio Julian and Zia Portia’s kinda-grandma, with making dinner. Mazelinka tells stories as we make the soup, her time at sea and the antics Portia and Julian would get into when they were younger. Everyone who was at the meeting, the Satrinava’s, Asra, Muriel and Ma come and eat with us when the sun starts to set even more.

The soup is good, and it makes me feel nice and warm despite the temperature drop outside. Finn sits between Ma and I, chatting with her about what happened in the meeting as we eat. He’s always felt like a nice protective bubble for when I don’t want to talk, but I know from experience that Ma will ask me what’s wrong soon. She has a weird sixth sense for it. By the time I’m done with my dinner some of the adults have gotten out drinks, some dancing around controlled fires and others laughing loudly with each other.

I don’t like it.

Ma see’s that easily enough, and when Finn begins to dance with Asra and Julian she scoots closer to me.

“Time for bed?” I nod, leaning against her and breathing in the smoky scent that lingers on her clothes from the fires around us. Wojtek follows us when we stand up, yawning and stretching before sending a deep bark out into the woods, earning a howl in return. “We’re going to head off to bed, you gonna be okay?” I already know she’s talking to Muriel. I hear him hum in response before she takes hold of my hand and we walk back to the tents together.

It gets cold pretty quick once we leave the community fires, but even then I am slow to get into my tent and into my pajamas. Ma gets hers on from her own tent, tapping the outside of mine in silent question. I open the flaps to let her and Wojtek in, which makes the tent really cramped pretty quick.

“So, today was pretty long, huh.” Neither of us are good at small talk, or starting conversations, but it’s surprisingly nice that she’s trying to ease into what she wants to talk about. I nod, grabbing my quilt and wrapping it around my shoulders before leaning into her, nearly melting when she wraps her arms around me and pulls me down onto the pile of furs that make a bed for now. “I’m so sorry baby. I haven’t had a lot of time with you lately, and when I do there’s always other people around so it’s never just you.” I tell myself that I’m listening, even as she runs her tattooed fingers through my hair and the thump of her heart tries to sing me into sleep. “I can’t promise to spend tomorrow with you, but after all of this is over, we’ll do whatever you want. Day and dinner, does that sound nice?” I nod as I hum in response, and it doesn’t take long for me to fall asleep after she brushes my hair out of my face and Wojtek curls around me.

The snow is up to my knees out here, and my breath freezes as it leaves my mouth. There are structures that surround me, old and worn so much that it would be impossible to fix them up again.

Suddenly, the red sky no longer weeps little white flakes. Instead, they’re gray, and it smells awful. The ash nearly chokes me as I try to run through the snow, but I’m not paying attention, so I fall through the ice and the cold water seeps through my bones as sharks swim in protective circles. I don’t have the time to scream. I try to kick my way back to the surface, I should know how to swim, but it feels like something is holding me back.

I don’t look down to see what it is.

I can’t.

But I can feel her bones, and hear her soft voice.

I’m on the shore again, but the scene is different. It’s an island this time, and there’s no snow. Only ash. I wonder if it’s the same ash from before as I push aside the dry branches to walk through it, the feeling of dread in my chest doing just as much damage as the ash in the air.

I come to a building, brick and mortar and on fire. Ash piles out from it and I can’t tell if those who were once inside are still screaming or if it’s just the flames and coals. Something touches my shoulders, the same thing from earlier, and when I turn to see what it is my screams die in my throat.

The specter doesn’t have any defining features, just embers within shadows. Empty eyes see right through mine, and their hand reaches for my shoulders again. The touch is gentle, and filled with so much sorrow that it’s overwhelming.

I nearly vault out from my blankets, any sound dying in my throat when I throw up next to my bed. Wojtek is gone, and the tent flaps are open. I barely process that Ma comes in when I throw up again. She rubs my back and holds my hair away from my face for a few more minutes to make sure there’s nothing left in my stomach. I think she asks if I want to go to bed with her. I think I nod. Muriel is standing outside the tent, not enough space for him to come inside. I think I hear her say something about cleaning up, and then I’m passed to him.

He smells nice.

We go into his and Ma’s tent, where he gets water and a rag and sits me down near the bed. There’s a small orb of light, just enough that we can see but not too much to hurt our eyes in the late hours. He helps me clean my face, rearranging the furs in the tent so they’re more spread out before sitting me down in the middle. He leaves the tent for a few minutes, I think, and when he comes back Ma is with him. She gets me to drink some water, running her hands through my hair and pulling me close. I think I hear her and Muriel talking to each other, asking out loud if I might be sick. I shake my head, but I’m too tired to explain. I just want to sleep.

Ma lays down first, pulling me with her so that I can use her arm as a pillow. Muriel is the one that pulls the blankets over all of us, his thick arm wrapping around both her and I. He doesn’t seem to mind that I’m here, and the little nagging voice that tells me I’m in the way nearly shuts up when he pulls us both closer.

I’m confused when I wake up, and feel like I’ve been boxed in by a million blankets. It takes a few seconds longer than I’d like to admit for me to remember what happened last night, and another few for me to process that the reason I’m so squished is because I am surrounded on all sides. Wojtek managed to lay on top of me in the night, further boxing me in between Ma and Muriel. It was nice last night when it was nearly freezing outside, but right now, under a thick quilt and the sun beginning to rise once again, it is not.

I resign to my fate, however, when I remember that Wojtek is nearly twice my size, and even if he wasn’t here on top of me I don’t want to wake Ma and Muriel. I take a deep breath and settle back in, tracing imaginary lines on Muriel’s face while he sleeps.

I like studying peoples faces, it’s something I’ve always done as far as I’m aware. I’m not very good at telling how someone is feeling just by their face, and I have difficulty recognizing people whenever there is a slight difference in appearance, like when they change their hair, makeup or even the metal of their jewelry.

I’ve never really studied his face before. He wasn’t around enough to warrant interest, but now he’s around all the time. He doesn’t seem to like it when people stare, though, and after Finn explained why I just avoided looking at him in general. He has a scar on his cheek and brow. I mentally trace the scar on his cheek, and look at how there isn’t hair growing close to it like there is on the rest of his face. I wonder if the hair can no longer grow there.

I’ve gotten bored of tracing his face by the time Wojtek yawns and gets up, somehow managing to not not step on any of us as he leaves the tent for the morning. The change still wakes Muriel up, while Ma still holds on to a few more minutes of sleep. I had closed my eyes and pretended I was still asleep when Wojtek left, and I turned over when Muriel got up to get ready for the day. He’s still wearing most of the Masquerade outfit that the Countess gave him, although he took off the cape part, leaving only the shirt, pants and boots. Everyone else had managed to find their normal clothes after the fact, except for him.

He’s weird.

Ma finally wakes up after a few minutes, brushing my hair out of my face again before getting up. I wiggle back under the covers, knowing that it’s time to get up but not wanting to leave the cozy nest. I don’t know if they know that I can hear their hushed voices.

“Do you want me to stay while you talk to him?” Muriel’s deep voice is easy to identify on any day, even with the failing enchantment The Hermit gave him.

“If you want to, I won’t pressure you, but it has been a few weeks since we’ve been out here, gah, I don’t know how to talk about this…”

“It’s fine, I think I get what you’re trying to say… and you’re right, I shouldn’t just avoid being around him… I’m not sure how to explain why I have been either.”

“It’s okay, it’s understandable. You don’t have to explain right now, but I do think it’d be good for him if you were here while we talked.”

He hums in response, and I feel Ma’s footsteps come closer before she kneels down and gently shakes my shoulder.

Despite being awake before them, I still feel groggy. I turn over to see that she’s already pulled half of her hair back, although a lot of it still frames her rosy face. I sit up, still pulling my blanket around my shoulders and groaning when my stomach growls.

“Buon giorno piccolo, ti senti meglio?” She rests her hand on my forehead while she talks, pulling it away after a few seconds and scooting over a little closer when Muriel comes to sit down, a cup of water in his hand. “Do you still feel sick?” I think for a minute to see if my stomach still feels all twisted up, and nod when the thought of eating makes the nausea worse. Muriel hands the cup to me, his brows knitted together making the scar on his forehead move slightly. A little voice in the back of my mind wonders if it still hurts.

“Bad dreams?” I hadn’t expected him to speak, and everything feels slow before I am able to nod, doing my best to drink the water and get rid of the bad taste in my mouth.

“Would you like to talk about it?” Ma rubs her hand up and down my back, sending shivers through my brain and down my spine. “We’re pretty good at listening.”

My head throbs when I think about it too much, but I do my best to tell her anyway. “The sky was red, and I fell through the ice. There were sharks, and something was pulling me down.” Wojtek comes back into the tent, sitting down across Muriel’s lap and extending his paws into mine. “Then I was back on a beach, and I went through the woods to the building. It was on fire, and the thing that pulled me down just stared at me.”

By the time I’m finished with what I could recall from the dream I can hear Vesuvia waking up for the day as well, mixed conversation muffled from the tent. Ma pulls me closer, nearly into her lap and continues to rub my back, using her other hand to comb through my hair. Muriel looks at the floor, his hands busy petting Wojtek.

“Maybe drawing the thing in your dream will help a little, we used to do that all the time.” Ma’s idea normally works. Most of my memories of her from before she got sick are of us drawing together, her showing me how to mix paints to get the color I want and the way different brushes would have different strokes. We haven’t done it in a while. I nod against her shoulder, the movement making me skull throb, before standing up and going to my tent to get ready for the day.

We have breakfast just outside our tents, the first one in a while that’s at least a little quiet. Muriel had the idea in the first place, and Ma went to the campsite to tell Asra we’d be having breakfast alone.

I’m so used to someone trying to squeeze by me for something or bumping into me that it’s a little bit weird that we get to make breakfast and eat in silence.

I pull my hood up over my head, hiding the tangled mess my curls had become overnight and sitting down a few feet away from Muriel, close to the fire. I watch as he shakes the frying pan with the eggs, thinking of the paint colors I would need to get the right shade of yellow for the yolk.

“Do you want to try?” Muriel’s voice breaks my thought, and I look to see he’s holding a spatula out to me. I scoot closer, looking at him before grabbing it and trying to flip one of the eggs. The yolk ends up breaking, but when I try to give his spatula back to him he just scoots closer, putting his hand over mine to hold the spatula and flip one of the other eggs. That one doesn’t break. I still give the spatula back to him, preferring to watch and not fail at something so early in the morning. By the time ma is back from talking with Asra everything is cooked and served on three plates.

“Sorry that took longer than anticipated, Finn wanted to know if you were doing okay and then Nadia heard and yada yada yada…”

“It’s fine, Sawyer helped me with the eggs.” Muriel hands her the plate and gets the kettle off of the fire, pouring the hot water into three cups before settling back and getting his own plate.

“Did he now?” She has a weird look on her face, even as she stirs more cinnamon into her tea and crosses her legs to balance her plate, it’s like she’s hoping for something.

They chatter back and forth as we eat, mostly about the battle plans and safety measures taken in the forest. Everyone’s talked about those types of things so much that I’ve learned to tune it out, but it also means that I tend to tune out important stuff.

Like when ma asks me a question.

I look up from my plate, ma has her head tilted the way a cat does when they’re curious about something, as though it makes more sense at an angle. “Repeat?” I have to use both hands to sign most of the time, so I just set my plate to the side.

“We were talking about the things we could do today. I think we all need at least a little bit of a break before tomorrow.” She looks between both Muriel and I as she talks, taking a sip of her tea in between. “Got any ideas besides painting?” I stir the eggs and mushrooms on my plate as I think, tidying them into their own piles so they’re not touching.

Of all the things we can do out here, I’ve done most of them. I’m not saying that I would be bored with anything I’ve already done, I’m just worried that none of them would result in anything useful.

Muriel leans over to ma, whispering something in her ear that makes her nod, her smile changing to the one she wears when she’s about to beat Asra at cards, a rare occurrence. He turns to me, his plate almost cleared of the mushrooms. “Maybe you could help me with renewing the charms around the camp? The forest has had more traffic than it’s seen in centuries and the protective spells we’ve had up are nearly burnt out.”

Well, I have needed to work on my charms… I nod, resuming my breakfast with a set plan for the day.

“That’s great! I do have some stuff I need to work out with the Countess, so you two will be alone in that endeavor, but I’ll come back to paint sometime after lunch.” Wait, us two? “I’ll see you later.” She kisses Muriel and then kisses my forehead, standing up with her dishes seemingly without any thought.

I help Muriel clean up around the fire pit after we’ve finished eating, washing the dishes and putting them away. Wojtek helped with the dishes too, licking off any remaining food from mine and then following me around while I did my morning chores.

When everything’s all done and put away I go back to my tent to get my bag, making sure that nothing was misplaced before putting it on and stepping out.

I haven’t gotten to do much with charms quite yet when it comes to practicing magic. Asra focused a lot on water types and illusions at first, teaching both Finn and I the simple stuff. Ma always taught me about hedge magic, and after she woke up we all learned about various magics from Asra, but we haven’t really focused that much on charms for a while.

Wojtek bumps his snout into my hand, indicating that he wants me to rest it on my head while he leads me somewhere. It’s how we walk through the markets on a normal day, and at the moment he’s leading me towards Muriel. His head nearly reaches one of the lower branches, and the fur cloak he wears makes him look a lot bigger.

“Most of the charms were made by Asra, but some of them are mine.” I’m surprised I don’t have to walk very fast to keep up with him, his pace being slower than Julian’s, who practically leaps everywhere. “We actually started making them when we were a lot younger, when we first moved out here. Some of them had to be replaced over time, mostly from weathering, but others have held on for longer.” We stop walking when we reach one of the trees, huge and covered in moss. “Like this one.” Muriel gets something out of his pockets, long strips of cloth that he wraps around his hands and ties off at his wrists.

I have to wave to get his attention before signing. “What are those for?” He pauses wrapping his other hand before continuing with an answer.

“They’re to keep my hands safe, and these,” he pauses before pulling out two smaller strips, “are to keep your hands safe.” Wojtek sniffs the fabrics before sitting down at the base of the tree, taking a deep breath like he’d just run a mile. Inanna seems content to sit with him.

“We’re climbing?” I might as well ask all of my questions before I can’t ask them.

“Mhm, can I see your hands?” Muriel kneels down in front of me, showing how to wrap the cloth the right way so that it actually stays.

It feels weird.

“I’ll help you up to the higher branches, but most of them are pretty close together, so you won’t have to worry.” He leads me to the base of the tree after standing up again, eyeing the branch for a moment before looking back at me. “I’m going to have to pick you up for this one, will you be alright with that?” Looking at the tree, I don’t think I’d get up there any other way, so I allow it. Muriel puts me on his back, the same way Finn does, and jumps to grab onto the branch. I have to squeeze my legs to avoid falling off, but he pulls us up to balance quickly.

I get back down, holding on to Muriel’s arm without thinking about it so I can balance myself. I’m not really used to climbing trees this big.

“I can show you the branches to grab before you climb, and then I’ll follow.” Muriel looks around at the branches above us, pointing to a thick one I can reach. “You might have to jump a little for that one, but you can push your legs against the tree. I’ll be right behind you.” He’s right, even at the base of the branch I have to jump a little, pushing my legs against the tree for leverage and clinging to it once I’m secure. It takes a lot longer for me to get upright than Muriel did, but he doesn’t seem to react, he just climbs up after me and shows me the next branch and the next one and so on.

It feels like forever has passed once we reach the top, where a small, worn out charm dangles from a branch on a piece of twine. Stones and seashells decorate the center with twigs woven around them to create a rune. The closer I am to it, the safer I feel, but it’s a different safety than Asra’s magic.

Asra’s protective spells feel like tempered glass around you, watching the ocean from inside and hearing the echo of the things that pass. Muriel’s feels like diving into a nest of blankets and furs in front of a fire when there’s a howling blizzard outside.

I sit on the branch as close to the tree as I can get, looking over the trees and across the horizon. I can pinpoint the camp from here due to the smoke that rises from some of the trees in the distance, and behind me I can see a few of the small mountains, which ma likes to call glorified hills.

Muriel shows me the process to recharge the charm, which seems to make it age backwards somehow. His hands take on a slight green and bronze glow as he focuses on the spell for the first half, but then he stops.

“Hold out your hands, and concentrate on the rune and what it means to you,” I do as he says, watching as my hands develop a dim bronze and orange light washes over them. It flickers even as I try to focus, giving way to the green and bronze light from Muriel’s hands. “For a first try you did well. It took me several to even make this work in the first place. Then there was getting them all put up.”

I have questions.

I wait until we’re done with the charm, watching as Muriel hangs it back up on the same branch, which makes it rewind in its age within a few seconds. Once he’s done with that he looks below us, eyes bouncing from branch to branch and plotting a route back down. Before he can move to get down I tap his arm, making sure I have his attention before signing.

“How old were you when you moved out here?” He makes a weird face, his eyebrows raising and eyes widening, an expression that Asra says means someone is shocked. He almost says something a few times, but then decides not to.

“How about we talk when we’re on the ground again.” He doesn’t seem to want to answer at the moment, maybe it’s because we’re so high up.

I follow him down, sometimes having to hold on to him while he gets us to the branches that are further apart, much safer than jumping down.

Wojtek and Inanna are still waiting for us at the bottom, and their tails start to wag once they can see us. Wojtek runs in a circle at the base of the tree until we get down, wiggling in place in front of me while I pet him. We get back on the path to the next charm after catching our breath.

“My childhood…” Muriel’s voice is quiet, a deep rumble in the distance. “Wasn’t very pleasant. I had Asra, and they had me, but that was it. I had thought for years that my parents had abandoned me because they couldn’t feed me, and I grew up avoiding being a burden at all costs.” The brush is thicker back here, and I have to raise my arms to get through. “The people of Vesuvia were hardly ever kind to the children of the docks, and Lucio’s rule made their wariness of us even worse, especially when he began to collect us for dirty work.” The next tree is shorter, and we go through the same routine as we go up. Muriel pauses to talk in between branches, explaining that his parents had not abandoned him, but he just didn’t know what had happened to them. He explains how he met Asra, and their eventual decision to go to the forest. “I had watched and helped some people build their houses at the outskirts of the city when I was a little older than you are, and once I thought I knew enough we went to the woods to build the hut. It took most of the spring and summer. I had to fix a few things as we got older, like the fireplace and the roof, but it was worth it to escape the city.” When we get down again I don’t even recognize that my legs feel sore, too many questions going through my head to even think about it.

I ask a few more questions as we walk, most of them just verification of Asra’s retelling of their childhoods together. Those seem to make him a bit less nervous, and I get to hear some of the stories that Asra never told, like the fact that when they first met my ma was because Faust had tried to climb in through her window at the shop.

“First time I actually met your mother was at the shop as well, and she was still pregnant with you.”

“Actually?”

“Yeah. Your ma and her aunt were celebrating the solstice, and Matty had invited Asra and I. I hadn’t gone to the coliseum yet so I wasn’t as nervous about going somewhere like that if it had been a few months ago.”

“Did you like her then?”

“Hm?” The next charm is on top of a big rock that we’re approaching, so Muriel gets that one by himself pretty fast. It’s quiet for a minute before he answers. “I don’t really know. At the time I knew that she was someone who’d befriended someone I cared about, and I was really just making sure they were safe there.” He hits the ground with a thud, dusting his hands off and sitting down against the rock. I sit down with him and watch Wojtek try to play with Inanna. “I remember that she was more focused on making sure we all ate than making an impression, and that she enjoyed playing the banjo your aunt gave her. She fell asleep before everyone else though. I carried her up the stairs.”

“And me.”

“Yeah, I suppose I did. Don’t tell her I said that though. She won’t let me live it down.” I think he might be joking since he laughs after he says that, but I still won’t tell ma. “Let me know when you’re ready to go to the next one, we’ll take a rest for now.”

Inanna watches as Wojtek races around her, sighing when he starts to slow down a bit and walking off into the forest when she’s done entertaining him.

The clouds in the sky begin to gather, and the air begins to smell like it’s going to rain. I stand up immediately, but Muriel just kinda relaxes into the rock.

“We need to go back.” I jump up and down in front of him, pulling my sweater out of my bag and over my head to avoid any droplets. He takes a minute to stand up, dusting off his hands and unwrapping the cloth from them.

I try to make a run for it, keeping my sweater over my head and ignoring how my bag thumps against my legs. Wojtek runs ahead of me, his ears flopping and his fur getting soaked within a few seconds once the rain turns from a sprinkle to a downpour.

I’m not a fan.

I love the rain… when I am inside. However, when I am outside, it becomes difficult to enjoy. The water is cold and makes me shiver, making my clothes feel weird and stick to my skin. My hair gets frizzy and tickles my ears and touches my neck in a way that I just can’t stand.

Heavy footsteps follow behind me, getting closer and closer until I feel heavy furs wrapped around me and my body lifted up over someone’s shoulder.

Muriel gets us back to the camp faster that way, and I don’t think he breaks a sweat the entire time despite all the climbing that we did.

The magicians in the camp work to make shields over the fires to keep them from going out and the people huddled around them dry. Almost everyone else has resigned to staying in their tents.

The tent ma and Muriel stay in is filled with light, and ma opens the flap before we can. “No entry until you’re dry, come here.” She laughs as she lifts her hands, filled with a warm light that sends away all the water from our clothes and prevents any more from getting on. “Leave your shoes too, they’re caked in mud.” I don’t even wiggle around much before I feel her take my shoes from me, and Muriel sets me inside the tent. I’m still wrapped up in the cloak so I lose my balance and fall to the ground, and judging by the laugh I hear from outside ma definitely saw.

Untangling myself from the cloak takes a minute, and once I’m out of that I can see that ma has Muriel sitting on the ground while she dries his hair with a fluffy towel. He reminds me of when we have to dry off Wojtek with towels, the rare smile on his face proof that he might be enjoying it.

I always feel like I’m intruding whenever I see them like this. It’s weird, I know. I don’t know how to explain. I’m not jealous, I know that. However, I’ve never really witnessed openly romantic relationships up close. Zia Matty tells me about herself and Husain, the archeologist she’s married to. I’ve seen people on dates or strolls throughout the city, but I’ve never seen anything besides that.

Thunder claps outside of the tent, and lightning follows soon after, making the darkness of the forest outside not as heavy.

“It seems we’re in for some worse weather than we thought, huh?” Ma pulls out her bag, embroidered with bees and violets on the cloth, setting it on the ground and pulling out paint brushes, paint and paper. “Good thing we had plans for stuff that we can do inside, but first!” She turns to me, pulling another towel from the makeshift clean laundry pile in a corner of the tent. “Devo farti i capelli, sembri un piccolo leone.”

I don’t have to scoot very far to be close enough that she can do my hair, but it is funny to watch Muriel’s face as he tries to piece together what she said with context clues.

Ma talks to the both of us as she does my hair, stuff about her morning and how the meetings went. I can tell she’s leaving a few details out since I’m here, but I’m not sure I would want to know anyway.

The feeling of the brush in my hair is a familiar one, bringing up both pleasant and bad memories. I hated having my hair brushed when I was little, and would run away from anyone who tried to do my hair in the first place. Asra said that it took a while for ma, Finn and them to find a hairbrush that I wouldn’t scream at, and we still use the same one years later. She rubs one of the oils we managed to get from the shop in her hands, rosemary and mint, another familiar scent that almost immediately makes me relax a bit more. She always puts it on my scalp, massaging it in and combing whatever’s left on her hands through the rest of my hair. Asra likes to joke that it’s why my hair grows so fast. The longest I’ve grown it was down to my waist, but that was before ma got sick, and when she woke up most of her hair had been cut off.

That was the only haircut that I ever asked for.

Muriel tells her about how our morning went, finding a few of his own things within the tidy piles of stuff we have in the tent. He uses a knife to carve into a block of wood, the chips curling when they fall to the floor. It’s nice to watch, and I nearly fall asleep before ma’s done braiding my hair away from my face and down my spine. It’s still a little damp when she’s done, and it will probably stay like that until tomorrow because of the weather and just how much hair there is.

Even with the storm raging outside, it’s nice and cozy inside of the tent. The spells were put on all the tents when we first got out here to prevent leaking and damage still intact thanks to daily check-ins.

We sit around the lantern, each person focused on their own tasks and almost completely silent. It’s not awkward, for once. If anything, it feels right.

The paintbrush in my hand glides on the paper, leaving streaks of color over white that will soon longer show through. My favorite things to paint are mammoths, an animal that I’ve always loved. A majority of my books back home are about them, and I’m pretty sure Zia Matty and Asra are to blame. Matty liked to show off her illusions before bed, something she did with my ma and her brother when they were little, and with me before she fled from the plague. Her favorite one’s to do were often about ice-age animals, talking about the theories about them and what we know so far. Asra likes to say that they encouraged my interest in them after they crocheted my stuffed mammoth for me. Finn helped me gather my collection of books about them due to his job, even making a cast of a mammoth's tooth as a gift for my birthday one year.

I hope none of it has been destroyed by the raiders.

While the rain continues to pour outside, it’s warm and dry inside of the tent. The fabric of the tent is a deep blue, a little taller than most of the other tents around the camp so that Muriel can stand up in it for the most part. Furs cover the floor, keeping it warm compared to the cool ground. More furs are piled on one side of the tent, the makeshift bed ma and Muriel have been using. A chest of clothes and useful things from home is next to the bed, flowers painted all over it adding color to the space without looking odd.

Most of the noise from inside the tent comes from the sounds of Muriel’s knife scraping against the wood block, or ma’s erratic sketching on her paper. I look over and see that ma is painting a field of rolling hills with tiny blue flowers. Mine is almost finished, since I painted what I had seen in my dreams last night. It’s not as good as ma’s painting, but she’s an artist for a living and an adult so she would be better anyway. I scoot closer to ma and show her the painting I did. She takes it from my hands carefully, blowing on the paper to help dry it while looking at it. Her brows furrow while she looks at the paper. We spend a few minutes like that, just looking at the painting. It makes my heart beat faster and my throat feel tight because I’m worried I did something wrong, but she pulls me close again and sets the paper down.

“Do you want to talk about it?” I shake my head, and scoot back to my spot to grab more paper and my paint brushes again. I can see out of the corner of my eye that Muriel moves his head so that he can see the painting, and moves closer to ma to whisper something in her ear before going back to his carving.

I’m painting mammoths again. The field they walk in is covered in frost and small patches of vegetation, just like Zio Finn said they would. I like to paint them with bright colors though, using purples and blues and greens with the normal brown paints instead of just shades of brown. Ma is still working on her flower painting, adding small details with a thin brush and a careful hand. She’s used to tattooing skin and taking her time with it, so her paintings normally have a lot of tiny details that most people don’t notice in them. Muriel’s carving is starting to take shape too, and I’m starting to notice that he’s looking at my stuffie a lot in order to carve the mammoth.

The rain refuses to clear up, pouring harder with each hour that passes. The thunder and lightning doesn’t slow down either, and I wonder if we’re at risk of flooding. Muriel makes me think that he can read minds sometimes because right after I thought of that he told us that he built the hut here because it hardly ever floods, and if it does he has charms and protective spells around his hut to prevent leaks. He and ma enforce the charms on the tent for the same reason, checking the storm protecting thingy on top and drying themselves off when they come back inside. Muriel has me help him make more protective charms to put up directly outside of the camp and when we’re done with that I get out one of the books I managed to take with me and read while ma and Muriel do… whatever it is they do.

It was stupid to think we’d have a peaceful day.

The raiders attack when the sky is at its darkest, sending shouts through the camp and startling all of us in the tent. Ma tells me to stay put while she and Muriel go and help everyone, putting on her boots and cloak and leaving me alone in the tent.

I fiddle with the necklace my dad gave me and hold my stuffie while I wait for them to get back, rocking back and forth on the blankets and looking around the tent to keep myself busy. It’s hard to do anything else when I’m worried about my ma getting hurt or worse, and it feels like time moves slower while they’re gone.

It takes a while for them to get back, and when they do Muriel has a cut on his leg. Ma cleans it up and heals it, but falls asleep right after so he helps her into the furs and removes her shoes and cloak. I’ve seen her fall asleep after using a lot of magic, but never just from a healing spell.

“She fought pretty hard… no wonder she’s exhausted.” Muriel stacks the furs on top of her, brushing her hair out of her face and taking off the green bandana she has over her hair. “Are you alright?” I nod, finger combing the fur of my stuffie and rocking back and forth. “I… there has been a lot going on lately and if you need to talk to someone… I don’t mind.” I set my stuffie down to sign, my head tilted to the side.

“I’m okay.” I don’t actually know if I’m okay or not, but I tell him I am anyway. He sits with my ma for a few more minutes, not really doing anything when he grabs his carving stuff again. I watch as the wood curls when he pushes the knife against it, the pile on the floor slowly growing.

“Do you want to try?” He’s already carved out a rough shape for it, and he’s started working on details. “I’m not sure if your mom would be okay with you handling knives, but I started learning when I was about your age, and I’ll be right next to you.” I think his logic makes sense, so I move to sit cross legged on the cushions next to him and watch him carve the wood. He explains a few things while he does, and then hands the wood and knife to me. He shows me how to hold my thumb against the knife to guide it and how to keep my fingers away from the knife's path.

Muriel has taken over carving the wood by dinner time again, but he’s given me one of his older pieces to paint. It’s a carving of a bear, but I paint it green and blue with tiny flowers all over it.

Ma sits up and rubs her eyes, looking at us and at the top of the tent. “What time is it?”

“It’s close to sundown, if I had to guess.” Muriel puts his things away, looking at my ma when he’s done.

“I’m going to guess you two waited to eat until I was awake again?” I nod, bouncing my leg and still painting. “Well we should get started on that then…”

“You should rest, MJ.” Muriel tries standing, but while his leg is healed it must still hurt because he hisses through his teeth when he stands.

“You should too, but alas we are both adults here who need to eat and I’ve gotta feed this one here too.” She says all of this with a smile, standing up and ruffling my hair. Both of them end up working together to make something, ma heading out to the camp to check up on Asra once we had everything started. Dinner is okay, but I miss being able to cook on the stove back home. Even the fireplace in Muriel’s hut would be better, but he’s lent it to the Satrinava’s and Mazelinka uses it to cook for a lot of people at once most of the time. I show ma the carving Muriel let me paint after we’re done cleaning up, and I start to head to bed. Wojtek still isn’t back, but he’d be soaked anyway, so I start to get ready to go to sleep.

When I start to open the flaps of the tent, Muriel stands up, the carving he’d been working on in his hands. “Put this next to your pillow… it should help.” He hands it to me, and when I look closer at it I realize he’d carved runes into the back and the belly of the mammoth. I can see ma watching from the bed where she’s rearranging the furs and pillows before bed. She’s not very discreet.

“Thank you.” I sign to Muriel before heading to bed, doing a small spell to keep the rain from touching me before I get inside my tent.

I think the carving works, because I don’t have scary dreams that night.

[fuckyeahpunkflower]

Guys guys guys its AU time! With older Miles(18) and older Hobie (20). (Also no spider man powers, normal times)

Miles is attending a prestigious University in Northern New York after years of studying and applying for scholarships at Visions. Rio and Jefferson are super proud of him although a bit sadden that their baby boy is now a young man leaving the house.

On the plus side, Miles is SUPER stoke to finally FINALLY have his very own dorm ALL TO HIMSELF! no more cramped spaces, uncomfortable bunk beds or missing shoes (that somehow always made an appearance again when Ganke returned to the room) Miles admits he will miss Ganke but they'll definitely catch up over some games on the PS4 and summer breaks.

But the best part about this university in Mile's opinion is the fact they allow pets on campus and in dorms. Which means he can live his dream of owning a dog. He's always wanted a dog since he was a kid but his parents never thought he was responsible enough to take care of it ( but mainly because Rio and Jefferson didn't want to deal with a toddler and training a puppy at the same time) Now that Miles is grown he's decided its time to make his own decisions. And that decision was to get a dog the moment he moves into his dorm. It took him 2 weeks to get settled in with his belongings and getting familiar with his classes around campus but after that he was heading towards the nearest pet shelter he could find.

And here we enter Hobie Brown! He works at the local pet shelter which houses all sorts of abandoned and neglected pets. From your typical cats and dogs to reptiles, birds, and even fishes, Hobie is there to take care of them all! And on the weekends he playing with his band mates.

Anyway Cue Miles entering the pet shelter and he's immediately greeted with the site of Hobie. They make brief eye contact and Miles freezes in place lost in thought *Damn, I was not expecting to see someone so fucking cool and hot today oh my gosh get it together you're here for a dog you're here for a dog you're here for a-*

"You know usually people tend to rush straight to the pups and ignore me but with the way your staring at me right now I can't say I'm complaining. your face is the same shade as the pups little red rockets back there" Hobie snickers

"Bro WHAT!?" Miles yelled in utter shock. He was NOT prepared for any amount of what was said to him in that moment. "What- I mean- like man- that was the wildest response I've ever-" He stops rambling to gain his composure back. "Look man, I came in here hoping to adopt a dog, can you help me or what?"

Hobie looks at Miles with amusement in his eyes "Sure thing love, straight to the back we go!"

And that was Hobies and Miles first interaction at the pet shelter.

Back to the p o i n t!!!

This is basically a college Miles and pet shop worker Hobie (except its a shelter) AU merged into one. Basically Miles visits the shelter every week looking for a dog to adopt and Hobie shows him around. With each visit Miles begins to learn more about Hobie and his relationship with the animals at the shelter. Like how Hobie absolutely adores this grey African parrot that was left in the cage on the street. Its feathers are sparse and sheds but it loves to mimic Hobies Cockney accent.

Eventually Miles adopts a cute senior black Labrador named Orca due to the white and gray furs around her eyes. Even after getting his dog he still visits the shelter between classes to talk to Hobie.

So like yeah in order to keep this short before I literally write the first fucking chapter of this AU on here.

Miles is in college and develops feelings for Hobie while he helps him adopt a dog. They hang out sometime later and Eventually BOOM they're boyfriends :D

[pixiecactus]

About G/A and the separate futures phase. Whoever published it was a very dedicated shipper who got devastated by his response. I don't think anyone would lie about that because this fan was genuinely very upset over this. Despite being my favorite ship, I always had the impression that they would have at most some puppy love, but that it wouldn't be endgame. Then, everything connected for me. A friend of mine pointed out that many female characters of asoiaf (Sansa, Cat, Brienne, Dany, Asha), especially those who are outside the norm. They generally experience passions and/or have multiple romantic interests. And they are allowed to move on from those early love interests. And without the time skip. I end up finding it a bit unfeasible to expect that only Arya never goes through these experiences and that she should be only be with him and end. As if she couldn't live other paths? I know it's not a popular opinion, but I think it's a natural aspect to see other possibilities in life.  For me, if she were really going to end up with him (something I don't believe anymore). It would be more interesting if she could experience other passions. I mean in the most innocent sense, like a first kiss and things like that. George comments that he has always known the main characters' endings since 1991. And I don't think that includes G/A as endgame and like the only option in her life... I still like them a lot. However, I have a very different opinion from fandom

i'm going to fracture your ask into parts so it will help me focus on which part i'm actually answering, because my mind tends to hyperfocus on the smallest details, and i go ranting about them, and then i forget what i wanted to write in the first place. so here we go:

About G/A and the separate futures phase. Whoever published it was a very dedicated shipper who got devastated by his response. I don't think anyone would lie about that because this fan was genuinely very upset over this.

so i decided to make my response to this part a post of it's own, and here's the link to it. (x)

Despite being my favorite ship, I always had the impression that they would have at most some puppy love, but that it wouldn't be endgame.

i've come to agree with this notion as an adult, but from what i can remember during my brief time in the asoiaf fandom years ago, back in that time it was treated almost as common knowledge that gendry was arya's very own "ygritte" and how ygritte and gendry served the same purpose in the narrative for jon and arya, a "first love" figure. it seems that the show completely erased that type of idea from being discussed.

Then, everything connected for me. A friend of mine pointed out that many female characters of asoiaf (Sansa, Cat, Brienne, Dany, Asha), especially those who are outside the norm. They generally experience passions and/or have multiple romantic interests. And they are allowed to move on from those early love interests.

i want to say that i agree with this, but at the time i don't. let me explain, sorry for oversharing, but i have to say first that i'm one of the most aromantic fucks to ever exist, so i always have a hard time talking about these concepts because i know very well that they don't hold any significance for me, but my own experience is not the norm, and i have a hard time understanding how romantic interest or romantic love works in the slightest (skill issue on my part, i know). now with that out of the way, i want to tackle each character and their romantic interests as i see them.

let's start with sansa. this is all from my memory, though, as i haven't touched a sansa's chapter in its entirety in years (yeah, i know, but they're headache-inducing for me) sansa was enamoured with the concept of what a prince should be, and i think that her naivety completely blinded her when it comes down to joffrey. since she loved the aforementioned ideas of a handsome prince, i think she decided that if joffrey had the title of prince, those concepts must apply to him, and i guess that it helped his case that joffrey was pretty handsome. so sansa in her naivety, got a crush on an idea of joffrey who was only on her mind while she was actively overlooking any flaw or horrible behavior that joffrey presented. i guess this is why i have a problem with those posts that claim that sansa loves people so deeply. my response is that she is a child that doesn't know a thing about romantic love (and i know that's a bit rich coming from me)

i remember a little bit about sansa having a thing for loras tyrell, but what comes to my brain is sansa dreaming about licking the sweat of his chest, but i'm pretty sure that's an exaggeration, but 16 year old me remembers reading something sansa and loras's chest... okay i did find the part in the books.

Wed to Ser Loras, oh . . . Sansa's breath caught in her throat. She remembered Ser Loras in his sparkling sapphire armor, tossing her a rose. Ser Loras in white silk, so pure, innocent, beautiful. The dimples at the corner of his mouth when he smiled. The sweetness of his laugh, the warmth of his hand. She could only imagine what it would be like to pull up his tunic and caress the smooth skin underneath, to stand on her toes and kiss him, to run her fingers through those thick brown curls and drown in his deep brown eyes. A flush crept up her neck.

i classify this as purely physical attraction, but that's what i want to get to. from my perspective, sansa feels strong physical attraction to people, and her mind does the rest, filling in the blanks, but we never see her making an effort to know who the person behind the appearance she was attracted to actually is.

let me put a disclaimer here: this isn't me criticizing the character, i'm an aroace man that only feels aesthetic attraction, so i understand sansa in this aspect all too well. personally speaking, when i find someone beautiful, the only thing i want is to stare at them as one would to a work of art (and this has always happened to me with celebrities)

so other than the hound, my opinion is that sansa's romantic interests are purely based on physical attraction. and this ties with the notion that sansa believes that good appearance equals good character, when it isn't always the case.

now let's get to catelyn stark née tully. i guess that the three "romantic interests" that we could talk about here are littlefinger, but very loosely, because catelyn loved petyr as a brother, but he was in fact the one who was in love with her. and sure, we can talk about that time where cat, lysa and petyr played at kissing when she was no older than sansa and i think that littlefinger was younger than arya (?) but this example for me is just child curiosity manifesting itself (good thing that mononucleosis isn't a thing in this universe)

catelyn even as a young girl, had the knowledge that littlefinger was infatuated with her and that she didn't reciprocate her feelings, and from what i remember, she was betrothed to brandon stark at a really young age, and i think that catelyn was happy about this decision that her father made because brandon stark was going to be the lord of winterfell and the warden of the north, both very important titles.

so i'm currently using a search of ice and fire to find every time that brandon was mentioned in catelyn's pov, because i don't remember reading her ever waxing poetics about him and his handsomeness, other than that part in which catelyn's declared that she was disappointed the first time she saw ned, and how he was shorter and plainer than his big brother.

and then we have ned stark, the man that catelyn ended up marrying and learned to love. but even when this couple is one of the healthier relationships we ever had in the series as a whole, it wasn't without its issues. we can identify two shadows always lurking in the background following their marriage: the existence of jon snow and ned's refusal to answer catelyn's question of who was the boy's mother, and from ned's part, the fact that he was never meant to actually have the life he has now; it was supposed to be brandon, not him. from the way i see it, that could create a big "what if" for ned to wonder, at least at the beginning of their marriage, if catelyn was disappointed in him and if she still preferred to be able to marry brandon. these issues never got resolved during their marriage, but at the same time we saw they bonded; they were loyal to each other, and their relationship developed into unconditional love. i think that i'm not doing them justice with what i'm writing, but to be honest, i love that arya loves and admires her parents’s relationship, but i don't feel the same way that she does. i don't hate them but i don't like them either; they are just there, existing for me. (i guess it's a bad time to mention that i'm a supporter of the "ashara dayne was ned's first love" headcanon)

let me continue to brienne of tarth. i think that brienne's infatuation with renly is similar to the one of sansa with joffrey, except for the big detail that what made brienne like renly was the fact that he was kind to her. and of course this carries a big significance to brienne because she was accustomed to being scorned, to be rejected, or even to be pitied. but then again, i think that brienne is enamoured of a certain image of renly, without knowing the person fully.

look, i don't want to touch brienne's relationship with jaime, because absolutely i could never do them justice. did you see how bad i sucked at talking about cat and ned's relationship? i don't want to repeat that, even though in this case i do ship braime. but, what i will say is that gendrya and braime both share the aspect that they actually know the person, their character and how they behave before getting romantic feelings involved in the mix. let me point to the sign that says, "they had shared traumatic experiences together that strengthened their bond with each other."

my girl dany comes next. i want to preface what i'm about to write next with: once i was young and stupid and i actually shipped daenerys with drogo (i guess that i saw the relationship similar to how cat and ned marriage came to be) now that i'm a little bit older, i can see the relationship for what it is: a child bride slave and his slaver. now i think that daenerys's mind was trying to protect her from the big traumatic situation she was in and made her believe that she was in love with her so called "husband" because the ugly truth was too much to process. people always love to forget that dany is a young child as well.

we see daenerys exploring her sexuality later on with irri and for me, her relationship with daario, is charged with a strong physical attraction (i have my own theory that is meant to showcase that dany has developed hypersexuality, as sometimes happens with survivors of sexual trauma; a reminder here that dany was subjected to marital rape) and this is a way in which she can reclaim her sexual expression.

i'm going to skip asha (sorry!) because i remember the least about her, other that, i never understood the decision that the show took to make her sapphic (i'm using that term because currently i can't remember if her show counterpart yara was bisexual or lesbian; i have seen some people using one and other people using another) when in the book she's clearly straight, i really don't understand why for some people it's so difficult to conceptualize that gender nonconforming women can be straight and like men.

i really took the long road to get here (this wasn't a reference, by the way) but taking all that i’ve already written into account. yeah i agree with the thought that we see most female characters having different romantic interests and short passions through the books, and yes, i understand where people are coming from when asking the question: why would be any different with arya?

i will become the most positive and deluded version of myself to point out the next stuff about gendrya, how they seem to break the pattern, and why they could be an exception to this.

let's start by saying that when arya and gendry met each other, neither of them found the other attractive to the point that they created a preconceived notion of who they were supposed to be or behave.

they didn't become friends right off the bat; arya knew gendry as the bull, and gendry knew arya as arry, the two of them using aliases.

from there, their "relationship" started to develop from two strangers that were forced to coexist in the same space (this sounds a lot worse than what actually was, because contrary to brienne and jaime, arya and gendry didn't have any animosity towards the other at the beginning) to the very start of a friendship based on mutual trust and understanding.

i do think that they impressed each other, with gendry being the only one willing to go back for arya and then later on arya returning the favor.

that brings me to the "only gendry was different" part of the book. i'm sorry, but i live by this quote, and yeah, i know that the plain context is that arya is considering telling gendry her real identity and how she could be safe telling him because the queen wanted him too, but my main takeaway from this part is that gendry has earned arya's trust by being himself.

and i really think that for gendry the same statement is true. only arya was different, even more after he was told her real identity. because here comes this little girl, as brave and kind as they come, protecting him and a bunch of other kids (she's literally being mother wolf protecting her pack) even when she's part of the nobility and the daughter of a lord. arya's existence is challenging his very own preconceived notions.

so we have these two kids, who have become each other's more trusted people while they are in the middle of a war-torn country trying their best to survive. they have built a very strong foundation for their relationship to develop into something more.

a while ago, i read a post talking that for arya, loving people is easy; she is curious, friendly, and kind; she loves to participate in a community; she knows how to adapt; she's a very passionate character, but what doesn't come as easy for her is trusting people, and i wholeheartedly agree. and gendry with his obstinate and loyal personality, presented himself as reliable and steady, a strong shoulder to rely on, the perfect candidate to obtain arya's trust, if i say so myself. and all of this was before any of the two developed any romantic interest in the other.

i swear i'll get into the angsty part of the deal, but i need to write first that gendrya, in comparison to ned and cat and/or dany and drogo (since both couples were married before they really knew each other) seems to have chosen each other; they started to develop feelings and physical attraction out of their own volition.

i think that is super interesting that arya has never had a problem noticing attractiveness in boys/men before or after, but we don't get a peep from her regarding gendry in this aspect, but we can infer it when we pay attention to all the multiple times where arya describes his deep blue eyes, and his hair always falling between said eyes. arya's focus is on how strong gendry is and how muscled he is, thinking about it even when she's mad at him and how if she were to hit him, he probably wouldn't feel it at all because he's muscled.

Arya knew which prince she meant: Joffrey, of course. The tall, handsome one. Sansa got to sit with him at the feast. Arya had to sit with the little fat one. Naturally. 

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“A man does not choose his companions in the black cells,” the handsome one with the red- and-white hair said.

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She liked to pretend that one of them was Joffrey’s. She tried to picture how his pretty face would look dipped in tar. 

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“Her?” The Hound snorted. “Is she your mother, Dondarrion? Or your whore?” Dondarrion? Beric Dondarrion had been handsome; Sansa’s friend Jeyne had fallen in love with him. Even Jeyne Poole was not so blind as to think this man was fair.

.

The handsome man had a beard of a different color every time she saw him, and a different nose, but he was never less than comely.

.

“The gods must have loved him to give him such a voice, and that fair face as well.” He is fair of face and foul of heart, thought Arya.

.

Before summoning the serving men to carry him away, she knelt and felt his face, tracing the line of his jaw, brushing her fingers across his cheeks and nose, touching his hair. Curly hair, and thick. A handsome face, unlined. He was young.

time to bring another one of my favourite moments, so i don't think that it would be news for anyone who read the books, the fact that gendry dislikes edric dayne with a passion. what i think that people don't notice is that gendry started disliking him even before the reveal that he was the lord of starfall, and what was the motive for this? well, edric's only crime was spending time with arya and talking to her in highheart. then he learned that edric was a member of the nobility, same as arya, and i think that at that moment, gendry truly hated him.

so currently gendrya has graced us with a friendship that started slowly, but it ended up building a strong foundation, composed of mutual trust, understanding, and loyalty. a little bit later on, physical attraction was added to the mix, along with feelings of inadequacy and jealousy. and then it was cut short.

we had a slow but promising build on towards something more with no payoff in sight.

and from the top of my mind, i think that the only other couple that you could say the same about them, is braime.

so unlike sansa and brienne, arya spent a lot of time next to gendry, learning exactly the type of person he is. she never idealized gendry to be someone that he's not.

and unlike catelyn and dany, there was nothing forcing arya into a place where she develops romantic feelings for gendry as a duty, and it was the same thing for him as well. (again, this sounds so bad for the nedcat nation, but my honest opinion is that if you have two people forced to be married and then later on you learn that these people developed feelings for each other and now are in a loving relationship, it can be a "me" thing, but i cannot help but wonder if there was a little bit of conformism coming from both parties involved added to the mix)

can i say that from a reader standpoint, arya and gendry misunderstanding each other is just so perfectly angsty? i know that i'm biased, but i swear it hurts so bad to even think about it. no, but really. my dumb teen brain used to think that gendry's thoughts about his knighthood were almost "one track mind." and the actual meaning of this was gendry trying his best to climb the social ladder to be deserving of having the chance to get with arya.

but this couldn't be further from what i now consider the truth. this decision is about himself (as it should be!) i do think that gendry noticed arya's class blindness and how this would affect their friendship because in the society they live in, there's no way they could ever be equals, and more closely, the fact that arya's family would never accept their friendship no matter what arya said to him. this is all part of arya's own journey to accept the idea that people that she has known all her life are not the good guys and how her own family and their allies can be responsible for horrible things happening mostly to the smallfolk as well. this is something that the author has put emphasis on for arya to notice since mycah's death in the first book. 

and gendry has seen this happen for most of his life, if i have to guess. and this gendry no longer wants to sit as peacefully as you could get while looking the other way; this was what he was doing under lucan's mentorship (?) apathy will get you nowhere, afterall. i think that we could add the fact that back in harrenhal he lived as an armourer would, what his life was meant to be before everything went to shit, and maybe he didn't like it; maybe he felt helpless, and i think he was set into conforming to this way of life before arya showed up with the idea of escaping harrenhal.

so we have gendry making his decision to stay with the brotherhood, first because he liked the idea of how they gave the hound a fair trial; second, the brotherhood presented themselves as outlaws fighting for the biggest victims of the wars all around them, the smallfolk, and that is something that gendry believes in and is willing to fight for. third, this was his best option since his friendship with arya would be a thing of the past whether he wanted or not, and arya's family would send him to the forge, and as i said before, i don't think that's where he wants to be anymore. fourth, i can see him thinking that arya is so close to getting reunited with her family, and probably her happiness about this fact would help lessen the blow of gendry not accepting to follow her again. 

arya isn't able to see this decision in this particular light, gendry choosing to leave her only seems to fuel her abandonment issues and bring her self-esteem even lower than before. this is all happening while arya is already breaking down, thinking that her mother wouldn't want her anymore due to her appearance and reasoning that she's not worthy of rescue from her brother, who is a king now. and here's the boy, who she once considered her only true friend in the world, siding with her captors, the same people that kidnapped her and only see her as a means to get coin. i can see this reinforcing the awful idea that arya has of "other than jon, no one will ever love me" and of course this isn't gendry's fault, but it breaks my heart all the same.

and since then, the few times that arya thinks of gendry after getting separated from him, the thought that dominates over any other is that gendry didn't want to be her friend, and she was stupid for ever thinking so.

and that makes you think that if arya would consider that the friendship between them built in mutual trust was a lie from the beginning or gendry was just humoring her because she was a lady from a great house and him a lowborn bastard.

and this means for me that if we get arya and gendry reuniting, they're not going to hit it off; arya was hurt, and the trust and camaraderie they used to share are gone.

And without the time skip. I end up finding it a bit unfeasible to expect that only Arya never goes through these experiences and that she should be only be with him and end. As if she couldn't live other paths? I know it's not a popular opinion, but I think it's a natural aspect to see other possibilities in life.

oh god, this is where i'm very conflicted with myself. because, as a person, i completely agree with you here, but as a shipper, i don't want to agree.

and it doesn't help that it's probably less than a year since i discovered that the five-year time skip is no longer in the picture. my plan really was, i'll get back into asoiaf when twow is released, and by then arya is going to be 16 and gendry is going to be 20, which i learned a few months ago that they would have matched the age both should be (as a girl who is a highborn lady and as a boy who was under an apprenticeship) looking for a partner to marry. we really could have it all.

the thing is that i'm pretty sure that arya would get those experiences in braavos... the problem mostly relies on gendry (not really)

George mentioned the coming of age of Arya in Braavos in the context of how a writer had to discipline himself to write only as many chapters as were necessary to serve the story, saying that what Arya was dealing with in Braavos could make a worthy young adult novel in it’s own right.

.

"Arya is a lot of fun to write about. I could write a whole novel about Arya in Braavos."

meanwhile it's been a long time since i read a book of that particular genre... but all the ya books i still have stacked somewhere in my house from my teen years have a romantic theme as the main plot.

i'm inclined to believe that arya will have a romantic subplot in braavos just based on those previous quotes from the author, but at the same time, taking into account arya's personality and her curious nature, it fits and makes sense to see it as a possibility for me.

i'd dare to say that i'm a believer that "with the five-year time skip still in place, arya would have come back to westeros without a maidenhood for any man to claim"

now let me explain why i think that gendry could be the problem, but not really at the same time.

personally speaking, i don't find the notion of meeting a person when you're really young, falling in love with them, and them being your only romantic prospect as a healthy one. most likely is the aromantic cynic in me, but i believe that people in your life in the romantic aspect come and go and there's nothing you can do to stop them from doing so, so you better appreciate the time you have with them, and relationships are the best way to discover things about yourself.

but gendry in affc seems stuck in a sort of purgatory state. he's angry and seems to be consumed by guilt. this is my own speculation, but i believe that arya is front and center in his thoughts every day since she was kidnapped. and i'm desperate for someone to take him to the side and tell him that this isn't healthy. i get that the boy is grieving, and grief is expressed in different ways, and i have seen people theorizing that it has been around six or five months since arya was kidnapped in asos and gendry's appearance in affc, but my point still stands: this isn't healthy in the slightest.

and gendry doesn't seem interested in anyone around him, in a romantic or even friendly aspect, and that's why i have a problem with the widely accepted headcanon of gendry hooking up with one of the heddles, who it seems to be always jeyne, affc is showing us that gendry couldn't be more different than his father, even if he tried. the boy is not looking to get his dick wet with anyone. (i'll derrail here a little bit to talk about how most of the fics that follow the aforementioned headcanon have jeyne being the one seeking gendry out, and i have seen more than a few state that jeyne fell in love with him since the first time she saw him or since he came to live with them... and that leaves a weird feeling over me because in affc, jeyne is a 18 year old, already a woman grown, and gendry is a 14 year old, you know, an actual child)

now, with what i have said before, you'd think that i want gendry to experience another romantic prospect before reuniting with arya? well, no, i don't. but this time it doesn't have to do with gendry being his father's narrative foil but rather than somewhere along the way when grrm was writing gendry as a foil to robert in the sexuality aspect, gendry started to fit in a lot in a demisexual category and as a person that is part of the aspec community, i can't simply unsee it.

i don't think that this was the author's intention, and yes, demisexual!gendry is just another headcanon in a sea of them, but i live by this headcanon. like c'mon, what kind of boy rejects free sex offered to him in a society that doesn't see you as a man unless you have fucked someone?

and here's where the conflict in myself starts to show, because i truly believe that romantic relationships aid you in the process of discovering yourself as a person. but as the same person who knew that i was in fact asexual at the young age of 15 and succumbed to societal pressure from people around me telling me "that i couldn't know because i never had sex before" almost sounding as a "your statement isn't valid unless..." and after having a few romantic/sexual relationships in my early twenties, i can confirm that the 15 year old child that i was, still to this day, is right. and now looking back, i realize that i never had to prove myself to anyone, and i don't want gendry to go through the same things that i went through myself.

so... gendry is not interested in having sex or even having a romantic relationship with anyone else? good for him, and i fully support him. "only gendry was different" am i right?

For me, if she were really going to end up with him (something I don't believe anymore). It would be more interesting if she could experience other passions. I mean in the most innocent sense, like a first kiss and things like that. George comments that he has always known the main characters' endings since 1991. And I don't think that includes G/A as endgame and like the only option in her life… I still like them a lot. However, I have a very different opinion from fandom.

i said that i agree with the thought of gendrya not being endgame, and i do, but i think that my decision has a lot more to do with the fact that jonrya in all books is so strong, i'd be an idiot to not recognize it as such.

and this, plus the fact that i believe that the original outline is still relevant to the story, is why we truly respect jonrya in this humble gendrya household that is my sideblog...

but at the end of the day, it all comes down to preferences, and i like gendrya more than jonrya... it's just that i see arya and gendry as more evenly matched in a sense. i think that i have a problem with the fact that jon is arya's own idol, and the idealization of your partner in relationships is not something i find healthy.

and just because i want to come back to the beginning in a way, if we believe that the "quote" is real, gendrya having separated futures doesn't negate the possibility of them getting romantically involved in the first place.

so where i currently stand as a gendrya shipper, is if they happen, they happen and i’m going to be ecstatic for them, because i love them both and i want them to have good things in their life, i agree with you that they aren’t going to be endgame but i still have the littlest hope in my heart, it’s just both of them have so much life and fertility symbolism, you know?

and i think that i have to end this with the least positive version of myself, saying that i believe that grrm doesn't owe us anything as an author, and with every day that passes, i'm losing hope of ever getting to read twow... so there's the possibility that we will never know (?)

this isn't me trying to bring my favourite band into the mix, but i really think that gendrya is going to be my favourite "what if" and my best "i'll never know"

if you have read all of this post, thank you for putting up with me for this long. and thank you, anon for sending me this ask in the first place and for your patience. i'd say take a shot every time i wrote "i think", but that would be encouraging alcohol poisoning, so let's not do that.

[delopsia]

delly, i’m not really sure what you’d like to do with this (if anything), but the idea came to me in the middle of a big plate of pasta, so… bone apple teeth!

*whispers* i’m rambling here, forgive me

the hawthorn trio come into a small litter of puppies a la our good pal, archie! maybe it’s a little sudden 🥺 a dirty box on the side of a country road, but luckily the puppies are just old enough to not need a bottle to feed.

they’re still worried, though, and they become a lovingly spoiled little bunch in the floytt household. one could (funnily) think they’d get “one each”, y’know, 3 puppies and 3 people, but no. they all take an extreme liking to bobby. listening to him the most, seeking him out the most…

“sky daddy” rhett affectionately calls him when he’s curled up on the couch with 3 fluffy babies all over him.

“well what’re you then, land daddy?” he asks one day while they’re on a walking trail with the puppies. “sounds like a lawnmower.”

rhett and reader laugh, loud and bright in the crisp autumn air, all the way home.

when they hit the long drive, rhett unlatches the puppied and races them up to the house. eventually, they start expecting this after every walk.

rhett and reader can already tell bobby wants to keep all three of them… and no matter what, they’re not going to be the ones to break his heart. they’ve got the space and resources. they’ll just have to make the time with the rest of their responsibilities. but watching him on the floor with what are quickly growing into what appear to be three little wolves (maybe they’re husky mixes), trying to get them to listen to giggly commands is certainly a sight.

the puppys biggest vice is gnawing on their hands—mainly bobby and rhett because they let them 🙄 i do think the puppies do it with reader, too, but reader is trying to do that trick where you go “ow!” to try to teach the puppy in question that using their teeth can hurt. and it… works. most the time.

bobby jokes that puppy teeth are nothing compared to rhett’s.

(he’s gonna get them into some classes, don’t you worry, honeybee)

one day, the baby of the bunch gets rhett pretty good (for a puppy) while they’re playing, and rhett makes an offhand comment about needing to do something about this.

bobby just comes over to take the puppy, but not before lifting up to meet rhett’s eye. “pot, meet kettle.”

rhett does not tackle him, on account of the baby in his arms.

(omg delly, what are you naming the puppies?)

💐 t

ohhh my goodness, puppies!! 😭💐 this ask is so cute, omg. I spent way too long trying to find pictures to add to this. I cannot imagine actually living with three husky mixes (the one I have is PLENTY), but the idea of it?? Sign me up

Archie is only supposed to be coming over to bring back a few tools he borrowed from Rhett. It's only a handful of wrenches and a cordless drill, you know, stuff that you can carry in your hands without any help. So when Rhett watches Archie pull a whole cardboard box out of the passenger seat, he's more than confused.

And for some reason, that box is whimpering.

"Found 'em up o'er yonder on Butter Street," he tells you as a little ball of fur pokes its nose out of the top. "Figured... y'know, there's three of 'em 'n...three of y'all."

Bob and the two cats (Egg and Duchess) are standing in the living room like "we are not taking in three puppies." But Rhett's already got the three squirming babies in his arms, and one of them is licking your nose, and it's just so hard for him to keep telling you no.

So they become 'temporary' residents until they're old enough to find homes elsewhere. And he keeps insisting that they're not keeping them, even when he takes a nap on the couch with the three fuzzy babies.

"You're gettin' attached."

"No, I'm not!"

"Yes, y' are."

And Bob just keeps saying it.

Even when he watches Rhett and a stampede of puppies race each other up the driveway. Even when they snuggle up on his chest, when they cry until someone caves and brings them up into the bed, and when Duchess starts bathing the tiny black and white one.

He's not attached, but you catch him gathering them up into his arms and kissing the tops of their little heads. He's taught two of the three to sit and shake (the third is an ornery little bastard), and well...well, they need to stay another week.

Did you know that it's recommended that the litter stay together until they're twelve weeks? Oh, oh, wait, he misspoke. Sixteen weeks. They need to stay sixteen weeks. Yeah, he read that in a book! It's definitely true and not at all something he just made up on the spot.

You know what he's doing. Rhett knows what he's doing. But Bob doesn't actually admit that he wants to keep them until after Rhett tells a little white lie and says that his coworker wants one of them.

"Well, who said we were getting rid of them?"

"You did!"

"Well...I changed my mind."

And that is how you wind up keeping all three little girls 🌷 (from left to right): Fern, Sage, and Primrose.

Fern is the golden child. She's such a well-mannered sweetie, easy to train, gentle when taking treats, quiet, was the only one to not tear apart the toilet paper roll…

Sage is an odd one; she listens well and learns just as quickly as Fern does, but she's been known to only follow commands when she knows that she's being watched. Also happens to be the one who is notorious for digging under the fence and figuring out how to open doors.

Then you have Primrose. She's the dog version of Duchess. Won't step through water on walks, turns her nose up at dry kibble, and only sleeps on the bed/the orthopedic dog mattress. It takes a lot of effort to get her training to stick.

Rhett's biting habit may have been what influenced the puppies and their nipping because nobody really remembers them doing that when they first arrived? But you're actively trying to train them out of it, while Rhett just has one chewing on him like a bone.

Eventually, they just learn who is chewable and who is not (🙄)

Do you think Bob can get away with signing Rhett up for one of the obedience classes? Or will a chew toy help curb his nibbling habit...

"Pot meet kettle" 😭 Rhett can't even complain about the puppy bites because he himself is a hundred times worse, and Bob has the workplace embarrassment to prove it.

[what-if-queen-camilla]

Chapter 17

Garter Day 1990

Windsor Castle

"Mummy, Mummy, can we please get some ice cream???", twelve-year-old Laura begged her mum, looking at her with puppy eyes. They were at Windsor Castle today, to watch the Garter Day procession, which both Charles and Andrew were going to participate in: Charles of course as one of the Royal Knights, and Andrew as Her Majesty The Queen's Silver Stick in Waiting. As usual, she hadn't been too happy about the prospect of this gathering, especially as not only the two fathers of her younger daughter were in attendance but more or less Charles, hence Thea's, too, entire family: his parents, his siblings, his grandmother, not to speak of his wife… but both men and especially Laura had been begging her so desperately that she'd finally given in. Hopefully nothing she was going to regret later… "Yes, of course, darling, there you go.", she said, handing a bit of money to Laura, who beamed like a Cheshire cat, gently took her little sister by her hand and ran off to the ice cream truck up by the middle wards. She had long considered whether it was wise to come today but it was Andrew's last time as Silver Stick in Waiting to Her Majesty The Queen; he had once more been promoted and would be taking on other responsibilities from next months and Laura and Thea had been begging her to go and see Daddy taking part in the procession so she had finally agreed. Andrew, too, was happy to have both his girls by his side on this very special day: thank goodness, he really loved Thea and she adored him. Charles had also painfully learnt to keep his distance, he had had to. He was still in their lives and they tried to see each other as often as possible but for Thea he was just Sir (whom she loved dearly, but different to how she loved Andrew) and the they were very careful never to give anything away in front of their little angel. When Thea was present, they were just friends. It wasn't even a lie because they really were friends, best friends even, but also deeply in love… but that was just between the two of them. "Do you want chocolate or vanilla?", Laura asked her little sister once they had lined up in the queue at the ice cream truck, but something else had caught little Theodora's attention and before Laura was able to realise it, the little girl had loosened herself from her hand and ran up the hill to the upper words. "Thea!!! Wait!!!", she screamed in panic, following her as fast as possible.

"Hello there, young lady!", a familiar voice said and little Theodora smiled as she recognised Michael, Sir's Protection Officer whom she had met several times. "What are you doing here all alone? Where's Mummy?", the man asked, bending down and taking her in his arms. His Royal Highness had never actually told him but, to him, just as to some other members of his closest and loyal staff, it was quite clear that "little Miss PB", as they referred to her, could only be the Prince's child so they all made sure to keep an eye on her and having an almost three-year-old running around alone on the grounds of Windsor Castle on Garter Day wasn't something he could ignore. Everyone in his closest circle knew how much of his rare freetime he spent with "his best friend" Mrs Parker Bowles and all of them had a feeling that this was definitely more than friendship though none of them would ever mention something, and the way he looked at the little girl, the way his whole face brightened up whenever he saw her, the way he cuddled and played with her, said it all and, somehow, they all felt sympathy for this little family that wasn't allowed to be one so, deliberately or not, they all tried to help and support as best and decently as possible. "Mummy down there!", Theodora told him, pointing to the area near St George's Chapel. "Laura - ice cream!" "Laura and you wanted to get some ice cream?", he asked, and the little girl nodded. "Where is Laura?", he went on, quickly screening the venue for "Miss Laura" and, indeed, spotted her a few metres away, obviously looking for her little sister in panic. "Miss Laura!", he called for her and the twelve-year-old looked at him, sighing in relief when she realised that he had found her little sister. "Hello Michael!", she greeted him, slightly out of breath after her involuntary run up the hill. "Thank goodness, there you are!", she exclaimed, hugging her little sister tightly, before her voice became a bit more stern and she admonished her: "Don't ever run away from me again! That's dangerous! You could have gotten lost! What should I've told Mummy?" Theodora, apparently rather shocked at her sister's strong tone, immediately started to cry. "Ohhh don't you cry, little Miss.", Michael comforted her, pulling a funny face in order to make her laugh but it didn't seem to work. "Alright, m'lady, what could we do to cheer you up again?", he asked and Theodora replied immediately: "Sir! Sir, Sir, Sir!" "Would you like to say hello to Sir?", Michael asked, also looking at Laura who nodded almost equally excited as Theodora. "Alright, then let's go and see if we can find him!", he said, prompting Laura to follow him. They walked past a few corners, up and down several stairs and finally found themselves in a huge corridor inside the Castle. “Wait here, I’ll go and see whether I can find His Royal Highness!”, Michael promised, turned around, and disappeared.

A few minutes had passed, when they heard heels clattering on the floor in the corridor next to them. “Oh Thea, that might be the Princess!”, Laura whispered to her little sister excitedly, and just a few seconds later, indeed, Diana, followed by a bunch of servants, appeared right in front of them. “Your Royal Highness!”, Laura greeted her starstruck, performing a deep curtesy, but the Princess didn’t reply but instead gave them a look that almost froze the blood in their veins. “What are these brats doing here?”, she asked disgustedly. Instinctively, Laura pressed Theodoras hand tighter and protectively stood before her little sister. “Who let his bastard in here? Get them out of my way, immediately!”, Diana hissed at her servants, derogatorily waving her hand, as if the two girls were some sort of vermin. Laura gulped heavily. She had always admired the Princess but that behaviour really wasn’t princessly at all. “Come, Thea, we’re going.”, she said and this time ,thank goodness, Thea followed her without asking or complaining further.

“Bastard.”, Thea repeated what the Princess had said, once they had made their way out of the castle and Laura gave her an admonishing glance. “Sush! That’s a very mean word, Thea, we’re not saying this.”, she explained to her little sister, but Thea was curious now. “What - mean?”, she asked and Laura sighed. She wasn’t entirely sure about it, of course she had heard it here and there and knew that it was a swear word, but she didn’t know the real meaning herself. “That doesn’t matter, little one.”, she said. “Just don’t ever say that. It’s a very nasty word that a Princess should not use.”

“Oh there you are, my darlings!”, Camilla sighed in relief when she finally saw her daughters coming down the hill again, rushed over to them and hugged them tightly. “Where have you been so long?”, she asked, concernedly looking from one to the other. "Michael!", Theodora explained excitedly, adding: "Castle!", which caused her mother to frown her forehead. "You met Michael?", she asked and Laura nodded. "Castle!", Thea repeated and Camilla looked at her in confusion. "You're saying you've been inside the Castle?" "Yes, Michael took us.", Laura said. "He wanted to try and find Sir so that we could say hello but… he couldn't find him." She didn't even know why but for some reason she had a feeling that it was best not to tell her mother about the other incident so she kept quiet about it.

When the procession began with all pomp and circumstances, Camilla and her daughters happily waved at everyone to everyone they knew, Anne, Charles, the Queen Mother, and of course Andrew. "Daddy, Daddy!", Thea cheered excitedly, when Andrew walked past them. Of course, being as professional as he was, he didn't wave back but cheekily winked at her. Anne gave them a heartfelt smile, as did The Queen, and Charles and the QueenMother, who walked side-by-side, joyfully waved at them which made little Thea beaming with happiness. "Sir, Sir, Sir!", she exclaimed and Charles' face lit up in delight immediately. As sweet and heartwarming their moment undoubtedly was, as relieved was Camilla that nobody had noticed the emotions between them, as this sort of glances and smiles was definitely more intimate and deeper than those which "normal" friends exchanged and she was still afraid that, some day, it was all going to collapse like a house of cards…

[silvercaptain24]

@telemna-hyelle @anadorablekiwi

You Call this a Kidnapping!?!

A scream on The Komore usually meant one of three things.

Number one: Thoma had gotten startled by some sort of animal in the galley that wasn’t supposed to be in the galley. The list included birds, dogs, cats, Taroumaru, rats, spiders, and on one memorable occasion, three fish, a goose, and a pelican.

Number two: they were under attack.

Number three…

Well.

This instance fell under number three.

The moment Thoma heard Ayaka’s scream, he was already racing for her cabin. He snatched up the nearest weapon on hand (a soup ladle, he really needed to start keeping his polearm in the galley—) and burst in the door, fully prepared for a fight.

Seeing an open porthole, Ayaka laughing on the bed, and Kazuha in the middle of the room, sword drawn, was not exactly what he had been expecting.

“…ah. Hello, Kazuha.”

“Thoma. It’s good to see you.”

Thoma half-shrugged in answer.

“Bediou doing alright?”

“She’s been Bediou.” Kazuha shrugged.

Gorou made it in the room a second later, teeth bared, also ready for a fight.

“Oh!”

The moment he saw Kazuha, his sword dropped, and his tail started to wag.

“Gorou!”

“Kazuha! I didn’t know you were stopping by!”

“Neither did we.” Ayaka said, still giggling.

“Is some— oh. I see.” Kokomi said from the doorway, then walked away.

Probably the smart idea. Thoma wished he could do the same.

(But also he didn’t. Ayaka and Kazuha may be the sappiest couple not couple to live. Ever. But it was also kinda cute. And he still had a responsibility to Ayato. This was his little sister, after all.)

“Alright. Kazuha, I’m assuming you’re taking Ayaka.”

Kazuha nodded.

“If I can, yes.”

Gorou snorted, then hugged Kazuha and ran out of the room.

“Bye, Lovebirds! Don’t do anything crazy!”

“Gorou, don’t leave me with—” Thoma hissed, but Gorou was already gone.

Ayaka and Kazuha both looked at him with the biggest puppy eyes possible.

“Why are you looking at me!? You’re a grown woman, do what you want!” Thoma said, exasperated. Ever time, seriously…

“Yeah, but you’re the one left in charge.” Ayaka said, as she did every time.

“Go! Just be back by tonight, we need to start sailing for home to meet up with Ayato.”

“I swear to you, she will be.” Kazuha promised. Ayaka grinned.

“Yeah, yeah, get out of here.” Thoma rolled his eyes.

Ayaka hugged him, than followed Kazuha out the porthole. Thoma groaned.

“I should’ve asked for hazard pay.”

“I didn’t think you got paid?” Gorou asked.

Thoma groaned again.

“Don’t remind me.”

[krikeymate]

Okay so what’s your take on pets at the Carpenter house hold. You might have already touched on this subject. I can’t remember lol but This could be post 5 or 6. Or even your foster AU. But like half of me says Sams a cat person. But I also remember reading something of yours where Sam is like a dad sometimes or something. So the other half of me is like Tara really wants a dog and is begging for one and Sam caves and says they can get one but it’s 100% Tara’s responsibility but behind closed doors she absolutely loves the dog. They cuddle on the couch after Tara is asleep. She enjoys waking up early to talk the dog for a walk. Total dad behavior.

So, here's the thing: Sam is a dog (German Shepard) and Tara is a cat (Siamese), so Sam is naturally a cat person. I have a headcanon, based on absolutely nothing, that Tara was afraid of dogs when she was younger. She got more used to them as she got older, she never quite loved them, but after everything she's been through, she's wondering if maybe they should get a dog... for protection. (She brings it up to Sam and Sam is like Tara we live in an apartment in New York, where the fuck would we keep a dog?)

(They end up getting a dog. Gale forks out to get them a German Shepherd puppy to be trained as a service dog for PTSD. Sidney has one!)

You're 100% correct where Sam would be like this is your pet, I'm not having anything to do with the damn thing -> napping on the couch a week later with it. Sam falls in love with jogging because of the dog.

They end up adopting a couple of stray cats as well, because Sam sees the little things meowing on the street, looking so pathetic and sad, and is like well shit.

In Foster AU, Tara has an emotional support cat called sam. Little sam is a Russian Blue, as I think that suits this Tara very well.

[saturnskyline]

10 BL BOYS I WILL THROW HANDS FOR <3

tagged by @chaotic-aro-incarnate and @dream-thief-forever-amen, thanks besties!! 🥰

ngl this list was a fun opportunity to walk down blorbo memory lane lol. anyway here we go :D

1. team (until we meet again/between us)

i mean. he's my everything 🥺 idk what to say except that his huge puppy eyes have captivated me beyond belief and i would go to war for him any day <333

2. sean (not me)

this man suffered so much throughout the course of the show so it might be a little late to throw hands, but I WOULD STILL ABSOLUTELY DO THAT 😤😤 good thing he got his happy ending though

3. sky (love in the air)

best boy ever!!!!! would do sooo much more than throw hands for him ngl. sky deserves the entire world, and i'm just glad he has prapai to give it to him 💖

4. gene (lovely writer)

few bl boys have activated my "he's just like me fr" response as much as this guy did haha. literally my bestie and i adore him beyond words 🫶🫶

5. oh-aew (i told sunset about you/i promised you the moon)

the thing with oh-aew is that he just feels so REAL :( the way that itsay portrays queerness and coming of age is so incredible, and this boy did the absolute most. love him forever and ever 💕

6. pob (don't say no)

leon is just like me bc i too would lose my mind in front of this angel boy and his cat. cutie patootie is a GROSS understatement

7. yok (not me)

i mean what can you even say. he's the light of my life and he has never done anything wrong, nor will he ever. first kanaphan my belovedddd

8. pran (bad buddy)

his dimples make the world go round! that is a true fact, just ask pat jindapat!! or take my word for it i mean look at him 😭

9. porchay (kinnporsche)

BABY. BAAAAABY. deserves to live a nice life outside of the mafia and adopt cats and play music and be happy forever amen (also be with kim if he so desires fkshshd)

10. shi on (you make me dance)

prettiest smile in the world 🥹 he did fall for a loan shark, but hey, it all worked out! also, as a former dancer, he has a special place in my heart :)

idk who to tag soooo i'll just say, whoever wants to do this, feel free!! 💌💌

[starrypawz]

If it isn't too sore of a subject, I would love to see / hear more about Barney, he is such a handsome guy ❤

If so, what is something you are working on / thinking about working on right now that you enjoy?

So I unintentionally left this ask sitting here for a long time.

But this is Barney, some of you may remember him.

We adopted him at four months old from an independent animal rescue, he apparently was a pedigree but they wouldn't let us have his papers, story goes he was an unwanted wedding present from a husband to his second wife.

He actually shared my birthday (June 15th) and he made it to around... 14/15 years old I think we adopted him in like 2004/2005. He passed in early 2020 not long before the first lockdowns kicked in which was... weirdly well timed in it's own way.

As it turns out if you adopt a 4 month old puppy you are going to get thrown right into the 'second developmental period' aka 'oh no my dog is being a little shit all of a sudden send help', he was a bitey puppy and still was prone to being bitey throughout his life (mostly on objects thanfully) he managed to bite through several dog leads during this time. He turned out ok even though in hindsight I don't think anyone in my family really knew what we were doing because we'd never owned a dog before and there's stuff I would do differently if I ever own a dog again.

We also got thrown in the deep end and had to take him to the very within the first few days of taking him home as it turns out the rescue sent us home with the wrong food and westies have... sensitive stomachs. Didn't stop him from trying to eat everything however.

There's still chew marks on our living room door frame from him and probably a few of our chairs. He loved soccer/footballs but hated wheeled suitcases. He'd chase squirrels, stalk pigeons and sometimes try and chase rabbits, actually liked cats (at one point he actually had a friend in a local cat) but was terrified of sheep (once there was some local art stuff going on in town, someone put sheep in the church yard, he was not a fan, he would ever since that daytry and run in the other direction if he heard them bleat). He thought he was a lot bigger than he was and had several staffies he was the boss of and at least a couple of rottweilers, he did not like bulldogs very much (I think the wheezing freaked him out) and had beef with border terriers for a long time due to a particularly mean one down park, he had an eternal rival in a basset hound who lived over the road who didn't like him very much, one of his best friends was a mini schnauzer named Odo. He loved carrots, apples and cheese. He loved to swim but was not the biggest fan of a bath and was suspicious of the fountain in our high street.

For a little dog he had a VERY loud bark. He was a very good guard dog really but not the best thing when you live in semi-detached housing with thin walls.

He couldn't be trusted with tennis balls as he would rip them apart and then try and eat them, he loved those pig squeaky toys but would destroy them. Never give a westie anything with stuffing in it.

One year for Christmas I received a giant teddybear and Barney's reaction was to go 'Oh this would make a good dog bed' . Once we had to keep him clean for an entire week after a groomer visit as he was booked in for some professional dog photos at a local petstore, and yes once those were done he did get himself very muddy. He'd look white until snow showed up. His first response to snow was to think 'Can I eat this?' Once my parents were walking him in some woodlands and nearly lost him because he decided to chase after a herd of deer. He jumped in a lake once and sunk and when he came up he was green.

He was a grumpy old man from the start really, but he was also a very good boy.