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vampiriito · 10 days ago

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Pillow talk and the fifth amendment (1)

(JJ Maybank x pogue! reader x Rafe Cameron ) ..in which you found yourself torn between two worlds when your best friend, JJ Maybank, who you've been in love with since forever starts dating Kiara. In a jealousy haze you start hooking up with Rafe Cameron, the infamous kook prince. Do you manage to keep everything casual and under control? No, is it fun? Also kind of no, given you hate yourself each time you managed to orgasm. And especially since Rafe's favorite activity is to pick on you and your friends outside the bedroom..

"Plead the Fifth"

variants or less commonly plead the Fifth Amendment or plead the fifth

chiefly US

"For someone facing criminal charges, pleading the Fifth means exercising their right to remain silent and not incriminate themselves. If you worry about answering questions out of fear that you may be guilty of a crime, you have the legal right to plead the Fifth."

Childhood best friends, the best set-up for a perfect romance. The nights spent at each other's houses, doing things for the first time together, seeing each other in your most vulnerable state and still wanting to hang out with one another. These were all the perks of having a childhood best friend. What was not ideal though, is falling in love with said best friend and having him not reciprocate those feelings. Then it turned into the most messy situation you could ever think about without wanting to throw up.

You never condoned cheating. At least you thought your morals were strong enough not to. But watching JJ kiss and go on dates with Kie instead of you, bent the rules in your moral code just a little. A little kiss. Just one was enough for you. Like a proper, respectable kiss of course. No prudish shit. You though you deserved it, given you'd been in love with JJ for years. It was annoying at this point. But, as surprising as it sounded JJ seemed to be loyal enough to Kie. The town's infamous flirt, the bed slayer. The guy who would never commit, committing to Kiara Carrera and being loyal to her. What a fucking joke.

However, you couldn't help but watch him as he walked through the house. He was currently laughing with John B and Pope, obviously very drunk, but also very happy. He was talking and laughing with such ease, he seemed completely in his element. His messy, blonde hair looking so good on him.. he looked so handsome, you thought. But you also couldn't help but feel slightly pissed off. How could he be doing all this with Kiara, instead of you? Why her, and not you?

It was barely afternoon, and pregaming for the upcoming party turned into a bit more at the Chateau, everybody clearly tipsy already. Except for you. It was hard to do anything while watching Kie and JJ snuggle up each other or admire JJ from afar like a pining schoolgirl. You sunk into the couch even further eyeing the cheap vodka bottle on the coffee table, meant for pregame shots for the party tonight. Fuck my life, you grumbled internally adjusting your glasses.

JJ had noticed you had been avoiding him quite a lot recently. And this hadn't gone by him without him noticing. He knew very well what you were thinking. You were a shitty actor, never able to hide how you felt about people and things. Even after all these years.

He looked in your direction. You were watching him like a damn puppy. He couldn't tell if you were angry or jealous, but either way the look on your face made him feel a little guilty. He excused himself from the boys and started walking over towards the couch you were sitting on.

He took a seat next to you, the couch dipping when he sat down. He glanced at you for a moment, trying to read your expression. He knew something was off about you.

"You alright over here, all on your own?" He asked finally, a cheeky undertone in his voice.

Just as he sat down you reached for the bottle, unscrewed the cap and glanced at JJ a bit startled by his presence. "Yep. No need to check up on me.." you popped the p in the first word nodding and smiling tightly at him..

JJ raised an eyebrow at you, a slight smirk on his lips as he watched you reach for the bottle. He leaned back against the couch, crossing his arms behind his head in a casual manner. His eyes flicked over you, noticing the slight tension in your smile.

He chuckled softly, a hint of amusement in his tone. "Oh really? Cause you look pretty damn lonely in here all by yourself."

"Kie and Sarah left the couch like 10 minutes ago.. i wasn't alone or anything.." you spoke casually, leaning back and bringing the bottle to your lips, taking a pretty big gulp of cheap vodka. The liquid burned your throat as it slid down, and it was a pleasant feeling given you felt lightheaded and there was knot in your chest just from speaking to JJ.

JJ's eyes followed your movements as you took a gulp from the bottle, his smirk widening into a full-blown smile. He chuckled when you mentioned Sarah and Kie leaving the couch, almost like he knew something you didn't.

He leaned a tad bit closer to you, his voice a bit lower than before.

"You sure, sugar? Cause to me, it looks like you're hiding away from us all. Like you're avoiding somebody.."

"Why would i be avoiding anybody?" You turned your face to the side as he leaned closer, causing you to come face to face with his smug expression, your breath catching in your chest just a little as you lowered the bottle. You still raised your brow in a questioning look, a small amused smile on your face.

JJ's smirk widened even further as he noticed the way your breath hitched when he leaned in closer. He was getting a kick out of teasing you like this, and he could tell that you weren't completely indifferent to his presence either, no matter how much you tried to hide it.

He shrugged his shoulders casually, his eyes never leaving your face. "Oh, I don't know.. Maybe because you've been giving me a death glare all day. Or maybe you just don't like me. That could be it too."

You kicked his shin gently with your sneaker as if to tell him 'don't be ridiculous' before rolling your eyes, "i wasn't glaring at you, but you're right. I don't like you." the last part was sardonic, of course and he knew it too. It was still fun to be sarcastic to JJ, he knew how to match it better than anyone from your friends.

JJ winced slightly as you kicked his shin with your sneakers, not because it hurt him, but because he knew you did it intentionally. He chuckled at your sarcastic response, knowing damn well that you didn't mean any of it. He leaned even closer to you, his arm now brushing against yours.

He shot you a cocky grin, his eyes sparkling with amusement. "Oh yeah? That's a shame because I absolutely adore you."

"Yeah, yeah.. thanks for the heads-up. I'll consider changing my behavior towards you, then." you chuckled amused, although it was more because you were suddenly nervous. Pathetic. This was the guy you've known since you were 7. You saw him pick his nose and throw up after smoking weed together in the skatepark at 13 together. You shouldn't be attracted or flustered by anything he did or said, especially now that he was off limits as Kiara's boyfriend. So to cancel all that out you raised the bottle to your lips once again, taking a long gulp from it.

JJ chuckled at your sarcastic response, loving the way your banter went back and forth between the two of you. He could tell that you were still affected by his closer presence, but you tried to cover it with your witty comebacks. He watched as you lifted the bottle to your lips, his eyes lingering on your slightly pursed lips as you took a long gulp.

He let out a low whistle, the corner of his mouth curling up into a Cheshire cat grin. "You trying to drown yourself in that bottle, sugar?"

"There's this thing called pre gaming..." you mumbled sarcastically, scoffing at his jab and placing the bottle back on the coffee table and adjusting your glasses.

JJ chuckled at your sarcastic response, a familiar smirk tugging at the corners of his mouth. He leaned back a bit, his hand now casually resting on the back of the couch.

"Oh, I know what pre-gaming is." He shot back, his eyes now fixed on your face. "Just making sure you know your limits, considering you're such a lightweight."

"I'm planning on getting smashed when we get to the party.. in both senses of the word.." you spoke determined nodding faintly, the last part being mumbled more to yourself than for him.

JJ's eyebrows shot up at your response, his eyes widening slightly. He chuckled, amused by your confidence in your plans for the night. He leaned forward again, coming slightly closer to you.

"Both senses of the word, huh? And what exactly do you mean by that, sugar?"

"What do you think it means?" you asked, giggling slightly at his feigned ignorance.

JJ's smirk widened even more at your giggling, his eyes sparkling with amusement. He leaned in even closer to you, almost too close. His gaze held a hint of something else, something more intense.

"Well, I think it means you're planning on getting absolutely shitfaced at the party.." he said, his voice slightly lower than before. "And maybe something else.. Am I right?"

"Bingo!" you flashed him a thumbs up grinning a little and whisper shouting the fake praise, "nothing out of the ordinary anyway.."

JJ chuckled, his eyes never wavering from your face. He tilted his head to the side as he responded with an amused smile.

"Oh nothing out of the ordinary? You planning on finding some random guy at the party later or what?"

Unbeknownst to JJ, you already knew who you were gonna find. And you should feel guilty about it. You usually did, after the orgasms fizzled out and the self loathing settled in. But you little secret was your way of getting back JJ, despite not wanting the pogues to find out about it. You were getting fucked into the mattress and the JJ out of you and the person got.. well, sex?

You shrugged leaning back against the couch. Before you had the chance to speak though, Kiara's voice greeted her boyfriend warmly and wrapped her arms around his neck from behind the couch, cutting the conversation short before you said something dumb.

Kiara's voice interrupted the conversation, her voice cheerful and affectionate as she greeted JJ and wrapped her arms around his neck from behind the couch. JJ chuckled, turning his head to face her, his expression softening as he looked at her.

"Hey Kie.." he said, his voice soft and sweet. He placed his hands on her forearms, gently squeezing them.

The joy in his tone was incomparable to anything he’d directed at anybody else. Nothing could draw out such happiness from the blonde. You hated that about her.

In an attempt at self-defense, your brain shut itself off. Shielding you from processing the scene in beside you, your emotions ran cold like cement pouring down and across your neurons. It was the only way you could survive such a beating to your heart. You mumbled a small 'hey dude' towards Kiara, the greeting half hearted as you settled on scrolling on your phone, ending up in your messages app.

JJ didn't notice the change in your demeanor, his focus entirely on Kiara. He leaned into her touch, his hand tracing small circles on her forearms. He glanced towards you for a moment, but quickly turned his attention back to Kiara.

Kiara smiled warmly at you, completely oblivious to the inner turmoil going on inside your head.

"Hey Y/n.. you good?" she asked, her voice kind and caring.

"Mhm.. where did you and Sarah go?" you asked, your attention on the phone as you pulled up someone's chat and typed a text, a small smirk settling on your lips as you sent the message and waited for a response. 'Party at ur place tn? im almost offended u didnt invite me personally.'

Kiara shrugged, her arms still wrapped around JJ's neck.

"We were in JB's room, changing for the party later on.." she answered, her eyes flicking over to your phone for a moment before looking back at you. "Whatcha doing on your phone? Texting someone?"

Just as Kiara finished her question your phone lit up with a notification, the mysterious person replying to your text. You tucked the phone in your back pocket without checking it, your eyes fitting between JJ and Kiara. You didn't wanna deal with that today so you stood up casually, taking one final swig of the vodka, "y'know what guys..? i remembered i have to help my mom at something before the party.. I'll see you all later." you shouted, so the rest of the group could hear you along with JJ and Kiara, grabbing your skateboard from the floor next to the couch.

Kiara's eyes followed you as you stood up and finished the vodka, a bit surprised by the sudden exit. But she just smiled and waved at you, "Oh okay.. well, see you later then!"

JJ's eyebrows furrowed as he watched you grab your skateboard, his eyes narrowing as he listened to your excuse. "Wait, you're leaving already? But the party starts in an hour. Roughly.."

"I just said i need to help my mom with something.." you smiled as genuinely as you could, the weight on your chest getting heavier with each second you spent looking at JJ who had Kie's arms still wrapped around his shoulder loosely from behind. You were sure you died 3 months ago when they got together and this was hell. It sure felt like it. Maybe this was the ninth circle of hell..

"Right, your mom.." JJ said, his expression slowly turning into a frown. He knew you too well to trust that excuse. It was obvious that you were coming up with an excuse to leave and avoid the party.

Kiara glanced at JJ's expression before looking back at you. "Everything okay, Y/n? You're not ditching the party.. right?" she asked, her eyes slightly wide with worry.

Your eyes were fixed on JJ and his frown as Kiara spoke and you couldn't bring your self to tear them from him as you spoke, "Nah.. i would never ditch a Cameron's party, I know how Sarah gets with these things.."

JJ held your gaze for a moment, his frown still evident on his face. He could tell that you weren't entirely honest.

Kiara let out a small laugh, shaking her head. "You're right about that. She goes all out for her parties, and then ends up freaking out when people start making a mess."

She smiled warmly at you, her eyes sparkling with understanding. "Okay.. well, text one of us if you can make it later tonight, alright?" she said, gesturing to JJ

JJ nodded silently at her words, his eyes still fixed on you, his expression still troubled and confused.

"I'm good. I'll text Pope later so you guys can pick me up, yeah?" you grimaced slightly at the thought of texting JJ or Kiara, mainly because you knew they were always together and more than not ignoring the texts or calls so they could makeout or... whatever they did. You turned to John B and Pope and nodded in greeting, "Pope lemme catch you not answering my texts and I'll break this board over your head..!" you shouted teasingly at Pope, who was playing beer pong with John b across the room.

Pope and John B laughed and shouted back at you in unison.

"Ay, we'll pick you up, don't worry!" Pope said, shooting you a playful wink before focusing on the beer pong game again. Kiara chuckled at your teasing threat, shaking her head slightly.

JJ was still staring at you, his frown deepening as he saw Pope's wink and your interaction with them. He looked like he was still troubled by your sudden and suspicious departure, and was contemplating following you outside.

"Well, I better get going.." you said, hoisting your skateboard under your arm.

Kiara nodded in understanding, and John B and Pope shouted a quick goodbye as they continued their game.

JJ's frown deepened as he watched you prepare to leave, the tension in his shoulders evident. He mumbled something under his breath that sounded like 'whatever..', he was about to say something but Kiara cut him off.

"See you later!" Kiara called out, a wide smile on her face as she waved at you. John B and Pope echoed her goodbye with shouts and waves of their own.

The music was blaring loudly outside the dark bedroom you were locked in. You were hot, sweaty and barely naked for the convenience of the quickie. It was easier to straighten yourself up instead of dressing yourself back up from scratch while drunk. You were panting and moaning, trying to keep the sounds to a minimum as your hands rested on Rafe's chest, rocking your hips as you chased your last bits of pleasure before you finished. "Fuuuuck.." you drawled out lowly in ecstasy, your head thrown back, eyes closed shut.

Rafe's breathing was labored, his chest moving rapidly with each harsh breath he took. His hands were gripping your hips tightly, guiding your movements against his, his fingers digging into your skin.

"Shiiiittt... You feel sooo good..." he groaned out, his voice husky and rough. He watched you as you rocked your hips, your head thrown back and eyes squeezed shut as you chased your orgasm. The sight and sound of you had him groaning even louder, his grip on your hips tightening as he pushed himself deeper inside you. "You close, baby...?" he panted just as quietly as you.

Your eyes opened to gaze down at the older boy underneath you, nodding wordlessly, your lips parted in pleasure. Your hands slid up from his chest into his hair, carding your fingers through is light brown hair, your second orgasm in that night washing over you after a few more thrusts, causing you to whimper quietly and your body to shake softly.

Rafe watched you intently as your eyes met his, your nod sending a wave of excitement through him. He felt your hands moving up, your fingers tangling and pulling gently on his hair, his eyes closing briefly from the pleasure it gave him.

"Yeah, that's it.. come for me, baby.." he cooed, his breaths coming in quick harsh gasps as his body tensed beneath you. He could feel your body shaking and quivering against him, and it sent him over the edge. A low growl escaped from his throat as he came, holding on to your hips tightly.

He sat up quickly, grabbing your jaw and pulling your lips down onto his in an urgent kiss, his tongue pushing past your lips and delving deep into your mouth. His hands moved over your body, tracing every contour and curve taking fistfuls of your skirt and crop top, before finally his arms wrapped round you and he pulled you down on top of him, settling you on his chest as he tried to even out his breathing again.

You kissed him back sloppily before pulling away and swiping the back of your hand over your damp forehead, covered in a sheer layer of sweat and adjusting your glasses. You let him slip out of you, making sure to safely climb off from his lap given you were shitfaced drunk, opting to lay beside him on the bed to catch your breath.

Rafe let out a breathless laugh as you flopped down beside him on the bed. He was also sweaty and out of breath, his chest rising and falling rapidly as he tried to regain his breathing. He looked over at you, taking in your disheveled and flushed appearance, his eyes lingering over your body for a moment before he spoke.

"You're somethin' else, you know that?..." he said, his voice low and rough.

"You don't have to talk to me after we do this you know that right?.." you mumbled, grimacing to your self as you stared up at the ceiling in a slight daze, your words slurred. Just like usual you were starting to feel the guilt and self hatred fill you as you regained your breath. It was had not to, given Rafe was a psychopathic rich asshole, who's favorite past time was to pick on you and your friends. That was when he wasn't fucking the living shit out of you at parties or whenever you decided you wanted to call him up for a quickie."Talkin' is optional.." you mumbled breathlessly.

Rafe rolled his eyes at your words, his patience growing thin as you started to spiral. He glanced over at you, a hint of annoyance in his voice.

"Jesus, here we go again... I thought the sex always shut you up.."

You raised a shaky hand to flip him off without sparing him a glance, your drunk brain focused more on the song playing outside the bedroom, where the party was still in full swing.

Rafe let out a huff of annoyance, rolling his eyes at your rude gesture. He sat up, grabbing his discarded shorts from the floor.

"Oh yeah, real mature..." he grumbled, pulling his shorts on and standing up from the bed.

You stood up too, you legs slightly shaky as you adjusted your underwear and denim skirt along with your bunched up crop top. "You're the one who's hooking up with a 17 year old. What do you expect, Cameron?"

Rafe shot you a glare, his expression turning cold as he pulled his shirt back on. "Don't start with that age bullshit. You're the one who keeps coming back for more. And you're not a kid so drop the innocent act."

"Wow you are so good at pillow talk Rafe.." you mumbled as you sat down on the bed to clumsily put your vans back on.

Rafe let out a scoff, shaking his head in disbelief. "Oh, please. I don't hear you complaining about it when I have you under me.."

"Good point, this point's yours, 1-0." you mumbled in amusement, shaking your head at him.

Rafe smirked as he watched you tie your shoes, his eyes roaming over your body again, lingering over the way your skirt was slightly hitched up, revealing more of your thighs.

"I'm always winning.. 2-0" he said matter of factly.

"Don't get cocky with me Cameron.." you raised one brow, standing up from the bed and walking over to the door stopping before you exited the bedroom, "I'll text you if i wanna go another round, in case JJ breaks my heart by being the boyfriend of another girl..." you looked over your shoulder pouting slightly.

Rafe rolled his eyes again, his arms crossing over his chest.

"Yeah, yeah, whatever. I'll wait by the phone.." he said sarcastically, his gaze roaming over you again. He couldn't help but admit that the thought of making you forget about JJ was a bit satisfying. If not a bit pathetic.

One thing that you liked about the whole situation with Rafe was that he never complained about being used, in a way. He got sex and you got your distraction for the moment from your feelings for JJ; which will never be reciprocated. Rafe didn't want love and neither did you and it kept him away from the pogues, so it was a win-win situation. Except for the fact that if they found out, they'd hate you. But that was a problem for future you. Just like the hangover looming over your head, dangling like an anvil waiting to drop and crush you.

You rolled your eyes at Rafe before exiting his bedroom and making your way down the hall and downstairs through the throngs of people still partying. You were blinded by the sudden change in light and the blaring music, but you pushed through to the drinks table, one of your hands trying to tame down your messy and sex mussed hair.

The room was crowded with people dancing, laughing, and drinks flowing left and right. As you made your way downstairs, trying to fix your hair, some people looked up and eyed you. Some greeted you with smiles and small nods, while others looked at you more curiously, perhaps noticing your disheveled state. But everyone seemed too drunk or distracted to pay too much attention. You eventually reached the drinks table, where a wide selection of alcohol and mixers were laid out.

As you surveyed the selection, someone suddenly sidled up to you, their voice cutting through the thumping music.

"Well, don't you look like you had fun upstairs.." a male voice said, clearly amused. You turned your head to see Topper standing beside you.

"I don't have any spare change, strange homeless man.." you spoke sarcastically, not sparing a glance in Topper's direction, too overstimulated and drunk to care.

Topper let out a chuckle, shaking his head at your sarcastic remark. "Still as charming as ever, eh?" he teased, his gaze roaming over you, taking in your messy appearance. It was evident that he noticed your mussed hair and flushed cheeks.

"Rafe's upstairs Topper.. please stop bothering me before anyone thinks we're friends.." you rolled your eyes, still scanning the drink options.

Topper chuckled and held up his hands in surrender, feigning innocence.

“Hey, I’m not bothering you.. I'm just making small talk, no need to get your panties in a twist.”

He leaned in, lowering his voice, his smirk growing into a sly grin. "And don’t worry, I won’t tell anyone about your little.. activities upstairs.."

"You better... your best friend enjoys the activities as much as i do.." you settled on mixing some sprite with vodka in a cup to sip on for the rest of the night.

Topper chuckled again, shaking his head in amusement at your words. "Oh, trust me, I know all about it. And I have no intention of spreading any rumors or gossip. You and I both know that wouldn't end well for either of us."

He paused, taking a sip of his own drink before continuing, a cocky smile on his face. "But, you know, I have to admit.. I'm a little jealous."

"And here i though you were still obsessing over our little Sarah.." you took a sip to test the drink before glancing in his direction while raising your brow.

Topper shrugged casually, a small, sly smirk tugging at the corner of his mouth. At the mention of Sarah, he seemed to almost grimace, as if thinking of her brought back less than positive thoughts. "Sarah? That chapter is closed... For now at least.."

He turned to fully face you, studying your messy hair and disheveled state, a hint of amused curiosity in his gaze. "But you on the other hand... You're becoming quite the little party princess these days.."

"Well go hit on someone else Topper I'm not even interested in your best friend, Rafe— and he already made me finish multiple times.." you mumbled, shrugging in mock disappointment.

Topper chuckled, raising his hands in a placating gesture. A small hint of annoyance flared in his eyes, but he quickly masked it with his usual cocky attitude. "Easy princess.. I wasn't trying to hit on you. And I already knew you and Rafe weren't an item. I was simply making conversation.."

He paused, a grin spreading on his face. "Not my fault you're a little sensitive about it.."

"I ain't sensitive... I'm just not feeling it tonight, yeah? and you're still here bugging me.." you groaned, leaning against the drink table scanning the room for any signs of your friends.

Topper huffed in slight annoyance, his cocky smirk faltering just slightly. It was clear he wasn't used to being brushed off. "Fine, fine... I get it, I'll leave you alone.. But don't expect me to always be so polite and understanding, Y/l/n."

He downed the rest of his drink and set the empty cup on the table, before looking at you once more. "You know, you've really changed lately.."

"You don't even know me Topper.. Just leave already." you grimaced and tore your eyes from the crowd to shoot him a dirty look.

Topper raised his hands in mock surrender again, taking a step back. It was evident that the conversation was not going the way he wanted. His cocky demeanor started to slip, replaced by slight annoyance and resentment. "Alright, alright. I'm going.. No need to get so pissy with me."

He shot you a final dark glance before turning and disappearing into the crowd of party-goers, leaving you by yourself at the drink table.

You breathed a sigh of relief as Topper left, glad to be free from his unwanted company. Taking a moment to collect yourself, you sipped on your drink as you glanced around the room, trying to spot any familiar faces in the sea of party-goers.

As you took a moment to collect yourself and scan the crowd, a familiar presence suddenly appeared beside you. JJ stood silently beside you for a moment, his intense blue eyes taking note of your disheveled hair and slightly flushed cheeks, silently deducing what had happened previously.

He raised one eyebrow slightly but didn't say anything at first, just leaned back against the table and looked out at the crowd, watching the people dancing and laughing. After a moment, he spoke up.

"You look like you've been through the wringer." There was a hint of amusement in his voice, but also a slight note of concern

"How come you're alone?.. where's Kiara?" you spoke rather bitterly, the alcohol not stopping you from being grumpy as you stared at the people around you dancing and drinking.

JJ chuckled softly at your bitter tone, knowing that the alcohol was getting the better of you. He shook his head slightly, amused by your display of grumpiness. "Kiara's around somewhere, chatting it up with some of the other girls.."

He glanced over at you curiously, a smile tugging at the corner of his mouth. "And don't change the subject. You look like you've had a raucous night thus far."

"You're just letting your girlfriend walk around alone..?" you mumbled, scrunching up your face in confusion and taking a sip of your drink, still not glancing at JJ.

JJ chuckled again, clearly finding your confusion and prodding amusing. "Yeah, I am. Why? You worried about her or something? Trust me, she's more than capable of handling herself."

He paused for a moment, studying your face as you avoided his gaze, sipping on your drink. "You're deflecting again, by the way.."

"Dunno.. just thought you'd be all over each other right now.." you chuckled wryly, "and i just hooked up with some dude.. that's why i look like a racoon.." you turned to side glance at him, a small proud smile tugging at your lips.

JJ raised his eyebrows in mild surprise, a mixture of amusement and disbelief on his face. He chuckled softly as you mentioned hooking up with some guy, but also couldn't help but notice the proud grin you had.

"Really now? And who's the lucky guy?" He leaned in slightly, his tone becoming a little more teasing as he spoke.

"..Secret." you narrowed your eyes, still smirking up at him as you turned to face him fully, your head tilted to the side as he leaned in slightly.

JJ chuckled again, clearly enjoying your coyness and slightly teasing demeanor. He leaned against the table, mirroring your position as he studied your face, an amused smile playing at the corner of his mouth. "Oh, a secret, huh? I see how it is."

He paused, a hint of mischief in his tone as he continued, leaning a little closer with a raised eyebrow. "Come on, don't keep me in suspense."

"I'm not spilling J.." you chuckled in disbelief, your brows furrowing at his insistence, your eyes roaming over his face. His cheeks were slightly flushed and his lips were a bit swollen, probably from kissing Kiara. His blonde hair was messy and he just looked so handsome to drunk you.

JJ chuckled along with you, enjoying your banter. He noticed your eyes roaming over his face, clearly taking in his flushed cheeks and slightly swollen lips, a result of his time with Kiara.

He couldn’t help but notice the way you were looking at him, your eyes lingering on his face, your own cheeks slightly blushed from the alcohol (and your hookup). He smirked faintly, enjoying the attention. "Come on, you can't keep me in the dark forever. I won't snitch, I promise."

"Nah.. not spilling." you tskd at him shaking your head and finally breaking the eye contact by turning your face away a little and taking a sip from your drink.

JJ chuckled, the smirk on his face growing wider as you stubbornly refused to give up the mystery guy's name.

He leaned even closer, leaning himself against the table to get more in your face. "Oh, you're such a tease.. Come on, just tell me his name. I'm really curious about this guy who has you looking so disheveled and satisfied.."

The way he leaned closer, the way he smirked, the way he looked at you.. It sent a strange little spark of excitement through you, even in your slightly drunken state. It was almost like a game, how he was trying to tease the mystery man's identity out of you, and how you were refusing to give in.

You took another sip of your drink, trying to hold back the fluttery, light feeling that was starting to bubble up inside.

"Not a chance, JJ. You'll have to pry it out of me with a crowbar.”

JJ chuckled softly at your stubborn refusal, enjoying the playful back-and-forth between the two of you. Your stubbornness was both admirable and frustrating all at once, but it only served to make him more intrigued and amused.

He took a step closer to you, invading your personal space, and lowered his voice to a huskier tone, challenging you with a smirk. "Is that right? Is that what it'll take, huh? A damn crowbar..”

"Watch the personal space, blondie.. you have a girlfriend now, don't forget." you chuckled, raising one brow as he continued to crowd you from the side, causing you to grimace in amusement.

JJ chuckled again, enjoying the way you were trying to push him away, all the while still not giving up the secret of the mystery man you hooked up with.

He didn't move away though, he continued to crowd your space, his eyes gleaming mischievously as he teased you. "And what's that supposed to mean, huh? Just because I have a girlfriend doesn't mean I'm not allowed to get up close and personal with my friends.."

He leaned in closer, his breath hot on your cheek as he spoke, his voice low and teasing. "Besides, Kiara's fine with me having my own personal space.. and if I wanna invade yours, she won't mind either.."

"What an understanding girlfriend Kiara is.." you mumbled, letting out a small soft laugh, almost brushing your nose against his when you turned your head to the side to glance at him.

JJ laughed softly along with you, reveling in the proximity of your faces, your nose almost brushing against his.

"Yeah, she's cool like that.."

He paused, his gaze lingering on your face, his features slightly more serious as he spoke in a lower tone. "Besides, she knows she's the only one that has me wrapped around her finger.."

Great wow, lady boner gone, you thought sarcastically at the last part of his statement. What a way to bring you back to earth after almost suffocating you with the tension. "I don't doubt that..." you mumbled, turning to gaze forward again, your eyes scanning the crowd again, adjusting your glasses and taking another sip from your drink in hopes to squish the feeling down.

JJ chuckled again, noticing the way your demeanor shifted after he mentioned Kiara having him wrapped around her finger. He could sense the tension and excitement between the two of you just moments before, but now it seemed to have dissipated a little.

He watched as you averted your gaze and took another sip of your drink, a small frown tugging at the corners of his mouth.

He knew he had to say something to bring back the banter and tension from before, so he leaned in again, his voice softer this time. "Hey, don't get all sulky on me now..”

"Why would i be sulky.. I'm happy for you." you spoke, shrugging after casting another sideway glance.

JJ raised his eyebrows, a touch of skepticism in his expression as he observed your reaction. He knew you well enough to sense something was off, but he wasn't sure what.

He studied your features for a moment, searching for any hints of jealousy or discontent, but your face remained neutral.

"You sure that's all it is? Just being happy for me and Kiara?"

His gaze lingered on your face, trying to read your expression, hoping to get a glimpse into what you were really feeling. He knew you well enough to know that sometimes you put up a front, masking your true emotions behind a neutral facade. Which was both admirable and annoying because if JJ liked to do anything, he liked to pry.

He leaned a little closer, his voice quieter, as if sharing a secret. "You can be honest, you know... if something is bothering you.."

"And why would i be bothered?" you asked, turning to face him again, your faces close again, "seems to me like you want me to be bothered or somethin'.." you added, your brows raised teasingly, feeling a little bolder given you were shitfaced.

JJ chuckled softly, his eyes locked on yours, a mix of amusement and something else, something more, in his gaze. He loved it when you got bolder with alcohol coursing through your veins.

"You think so, huh..?” he said, a hint of playfulness in his tone.

He leaned in even closer, his breath mingling with yours, his voice dropping to a low whisper. "Maybe I do.. Maybe I want you to be bothered, to be jealous.."

You scoffed, shaking your head calmly although on the inside you were freaking out. Your faces were so close and you could just close the distance between you and kiss him once, just like you had been dreaming. But you didn't of course, no amount of vodka could make you cut your own head like that. "..and why is that?" you settled on asking, tilting your head to the side a little.

JJ held your gaze, the smirk on his face only growing as he watched the subtle shift in your demeanor. He knew it was driving you crazy, having him so close like this, but he relished the effect he had on you. Was it a bit asshole ish of him? Probably. But when did he care about being an asshole. "Maybe I like when you’re bothered and jealous.. Maybe it makes you feisty, more fun to tease.."

He leaned in even closer, mere inches apart, his voice dropping to a whisper once again. "Maybe I like seeing you all worked up, just for me.."

You knew he was just teasing you. Obviously. You knew you had to pull back slightly and back away a little, tell him it wasn't funny and such. But you found yourself wanting to push back, ricochet this tension, "trust me you'll know if i was jealous.." you smirked, dropping your gaze to his lips deliberately and then back into those blue eyes you knew so well.

JJ's smirk only widened as he watched your gaze drop to his lips and then dart back up to his eyes. He was enjoying this little push and pull, this back and forth of tension and flirtation between you two.

He leaned in even closer, his breath warm on your cheek as he spoke in a low, huskier tone than before.

"Oh yeah? And how would I know if you were jealous, huh? You gonna spell it out for me, or are you gonna show me?"

"There's no need. I'm very happy for you as your best friend.." you whispered, your words sounding almost sarcastic, the statements almost getting lost in the sound of the blaring music of the party around you both.

JJ chuckled softly at the sarcastic note in your voice, seeing right through your feigned happiness for him and Kiara. He knew there was more to it, there was always more to it when it came to you and him.

He leaned in even closer, almost so that his lips were brushing against your ear, his whisper hot and tickling against your skin. "Oh yeah? You sure about that, huh? You sure you're not just saying that to cover up how you really feel?"

Your eyes almost fluttered closed as he whispered in your ear but you managed to keep them open and yourself up on your feet. Surprisingly, given you were also drunk like a sailor. Your fingers reached up to adjust your glasses chuckling, "oh come on, I'm being honest here... Scout's honor J.." you mumbled breathlessly still smirking.

JJ chuckled at your attempt to keep yourself balanced and upright, his eyes roaming over your face, taking in your flushed cheeks and slightly glassy eyes. He knew you were drunk, and he knew he should pull back, but damn it if that didn't make you even more attractive to him.

He smirked back, his arm instinctively moving to help steady you on your feet, his voice dropping to a dangerously low tone. "Alright, alright. I'll give you the benefit of the doubt.. for now... scout's honor, huh?

"Whatever.." you mumbled waving a dismissive hand in his direction, your face turned away again as you sipped from your drink. If he wasn't gonna pull back you would have seriously did something you would have regretted in the morning. You forgot what you were talking about anyway, the whole tension and the fact that he smelled like weed and cologne always made your brain short circuit. You really were cursed.

JJ let you wave off the conversation and take a swig of your drink, watching as you sipped on it while turning your face away. He could still feel the tension between the two of you, thick and palpable like smoke. It was like the air was charged with electricity whenever you were this close together. It didn't change when he got with Kie. Although he desperately hoped it would.

He studied your face for a moment, noticing how the alcohol was clearly affecting you, making your mind hazy and your movements looser. He had an uncontrollable urge to touch you, to take your hand in his or brush his fingertips along your jawline, but he held himself back.

The party was in full swing around you now, the music blaring and the lights growing even more blinding, but it all felt distant and irrelevant to JJ in this moment. All he could focus on was you, standing there with your flushed cheeks and swaying slightly on your feet, looking so damn endearing and tempting at the same time. He leaned in a little closer, his voice lowered to a soft murmur. "You're really feeling the drinks, huh..?"

"Yeah.." you responded weakly, chuckling breathlessly as you studied the crowd dancing and drinking, your vision blurry and your head fuzzy.

JJ watched as you chuckled weakly, your gaze trained on the partygoers around you, all lost in their own world of dancing and drinking. The alcohol was clearly taking its toll on you, and seeing you like this, slightly woozy and disoriented, stirred something in him.

He leaned in a bit closer not able to contain himself from doing so, his lips close to your ear again, his voice gentle yet with a hint of concern. "Maybe you should sit down for a while.. You don’t look so good, you’re not gonna pass out on me now, are you?"

"Nah i won't pass out." you shook your head, locking eyes with him when he pulled back slightly, "but maybe you should go find your girlfriend, don't you think? wouldn't want people to think we're up to something standing so close.."

JJ's gaze held yours for a long moment as you locked eyes with him, a flicker of something passing between you two before you mentioned Kiara. He knew you had a point, they were technically together, and it probably looked a little suspicious seeing him so close to you instead. But a small part of him didn't want to leave you. He didn't want to go find Kiara, he wanted to stay right where he was, close to you.

He chuckled lowly under his breath before speaking. "Yeah... Yeah, I probably should..."

"Yeah you should find Kiara.. your dear girlfriend.." you mumbled, turning to lean your back against the table, your hands gripping the edge of it for balance, tipping your head back and groaning to yourself. You were feeling lightheaded and it felt like the room was spinning around you, mouth watering slightly.

JJ watched as you turned away and leaned against the table, your grasp on the edge of it and the sound of your groan sending a pang of guilt through his chest. He knew he should go find Kiara, he was her boyfriend after all, but seeing you like that, a small voice in his head whispered to stay. Or maybe the devil on his shoulder did, he was too tipsy to tell which.

He shifted on his feet, glancing around the room aimlessly for a moment before looking back at you, his tone softer as he spoke. "Yeah... I really should go find her..."

But he didn't move. He stood there for a moment, torn between his duty to Kiara and the inexplicable pull he felt towards you. He watched you leaning against the table, your head thrown back and your eyes closed, and he couldn't help but think how delicate and beautiful you looked in that moment. He had seen you like this before, drunk and swaying, but there was something different about this time, something that made his heart ache a little.

He let out a sigh, his conflicting thoughts weighing heavily on him. He knew he was being selfish, that he should go find Kiara and do the right thing. He had a girlfriend, and he couldn't just stand here mooning over you. But he couldn't seem to make himself move.

He stepped closer to you, his voice a low murmur, almost too low to hear over the music. "You really look out of it, you sure you'll be okay if I leave you here?"

"I dunno... maybe. Maybe not.." you mumbled almost mischievously, grinning drunkenly, your eyes still closed and your head thrown back.

JJ rolled his eyes at your drunkenly mumbled response, a mixture of annoyance and affection in his expression. He knew you were too drunk to care about how you looked or sounded at this point, which was both endearing and frustrating.

He leaned in a little more to study you closely, his gaze on your face, taking in your closed eyes and the lazy grin on your lips. "You're such a pain in my ass, you know that?"

He let out a soft huff, his heart skipping a beat at how effortlessly cute you looked in this state, all disheveled and tipsy. But he also knew you were in no condition to be left alone, especially with all the drunk guys at the party who would probably try to take advantage of your vulnerable state.

He leaned against the table next to you, his shoulder bumping against yours as he spoke. "I can't just leave you here like this, you're probably gonna pass out or something if I let you be.."

"What bout' Kie?.." you slurred, swaying a little and fake pouted to yourself, throwing your head back a little more.

JJ raised an eyebrow at your slurring voice, rolling his eyes as you swayed drunkenly and pouted like a little kid. He knew you were just being a nuisance right now, but there was also a part of him that found your drunken antics amusing.

He let out another huff, his tone slightly annoyed but affectionate all the same. "Of course we have to think about Kie... But also, you're my friend, I can't just leave you here all by yourself when you're like this.."

You let out another loud groan. You always hated when he friend-zoned you in the middle of the conversations, and you were happy you were too drunk to say anything at the moment resorting to just groaning. "Thanks.. what would i do?.. without a best friend like you.." you chuckled wryly, head still thrown back and eyes closed.

JJ smirked at your groan and the mock appreciation in your voice. He knew you hated being friendzoned, but that was because you both knew it wasn't just that. There was always something more between the two of you, something neither of you could fully ignore or deny.

He leaned a little closer, his voice a low murmur as he spoke, a hint of teasing in his tone. "You'd be lost, that's what you'd be. Drowning in your own misery and despair without me.."

JJ chuckled dryly as he spoke, his eyes on your face, watching the way your eyelashes fanned across your cheeks in the dim light. He knew you were far too wasted to notice his slight flirting, which made it all the more fun for him. He was treading a fine line between just friends and something more, and it was a line he had been dancing around with you for a long time now.

He leaned even closer, his lips practically against your ear as he spoke, his voice soft and rough. "But let's be honest here, you'd be lost without me.."

Your eyes fluttered open, letting out a sound between a scoff and a snort, your fingers reaching up to adjust your glasses "think it's the other way around but.. 'kay." you mumbled, rolling your eyes at his statement steadying your self on your feet.

JJ grinned at your response, enjoying the way you tried to sass him even in your drunken state. He always loved your stubborn attitude, it was one of the things that attracted him to you in the first place.

He chuckled softly, watching you adjust your glasses and trying to steady yourself on your feet, a small part of him finding your clumsy efforts adorable. "Oh really now? You think I'd be the one lost without you, huh?"

"Well.. not entirely sure given you have Kie babysitting you now.." you nodded side glancing at him and bumping your shoulder against his at an attempt on casualness.

JJ rolled his eyes at your side glance and the bump of your shoulder, a small smirk playing on his lips. "Oh please, Kiara's not babysitting me, she's my girlfriend. There's a difference."

He studied your face for a moment, his gaze flickering over your features. "Besides, I'm perfectly capable of taking care of myself, you know .."

"And here i thought you didn't even have the word 'girlfriend' in your vocabulary.." you mumbled teasingly, your eyes still scanning the crowd of drunk teenagers dancing around you both, the music blaring loudly throughout the Cameron house. Mainly to distract you from the tension growing between you and JJ.

JJ huffed a small laugh at your teasing remark, rolling his eyes at the implication that he was a ladies man who couldn't possibly commit to a relationship.

"Hilarious."

He shot you a dry look, a hint of sarcasm in his voice. "Real funny, I'm not as much of a manwhore as you make me out to be, you know.."

"Hey.. I'm just sayin'.. didn't know you could be loyal." you chuckled, looking up at him, leaning against the drinks table to your side.

JJ rolled his eyes again at your comment about loyalty, but he couldn't help but smile a little. "Well, surprise surprise. I do have a heart capable of being loyal. I know, shocking, right?"

He smirked at you, his eyes locking with yours as you leaned against the drink table, his voice a little more teasing than usual. "You always have such high opinions of me, don't you."

"I've known you my whole life unfortunately.. these opinions are facts." you shrugged feigning disappointment.

JJ chuckled softly, shaking his head at your feigned disappointment and your "factual" opinions about him. He knew you were mostly teasing, although there was a hint of truth in your words. You had known him practically his whole life, you probably knew him better than anyone, and that thought both exhilarated and slightly irritated him. "Aw, you're breaking my heart here, you know that. I thought you had some faith in me."

"I mean hey.." you turned to face him, smirking and narrowing your eyes up at him, "you wanna tell me you actually had been loyal to Kie these 3 whole months..?" your smirk widened into a small grin, whispering.

JJ's mouth opened and closed, his mind racing for a moment as he tried to come up with a witty response to your question. He knew he couldn't truthfully say that he had been %100 loyal to Kiara these past three months. No, that would be a straight up lie.

He leaned in slightly, his voice a low murmur, a hint of guilt in his eyes. "You... you don't play fair, do you..?"

Your hand shot up to cover your mouth, a small snort of laughter escaping you. You wouldn't admit it but the thought that he wasn't completely loyal to Kie, excited you a little. Maybe that was the alcohol talking. "I knew it." you mumbled, eyes wide and teasing after laughing for a couple of seconds.

JJ's eyes widened as you let out a snort of laughter, his heart skipping a beat at how adorably amused you seemed by his lack of loyalty to Kiara.

He tried to play it off with a small smirk, but there was a hint of guilt in his voice. "Yeah yeah, you're a regular Sherlock Holmes. Congratulations for figuring me out."

"What are we talking about here.. making out? hand stuff..?" you asked lowly, stepping a little closer "or like the real deal?" you grinned, unable to hold your giggles.

JJ's cheeks flushed a light pink at the bluntness of your questions, his mind immediately going to the things he had done that weren't exactly loyal to Kiara. Some things he hadn't even told anyone yet.

He glanced around, making sure no one else was listening before he leaned closer to you, his voice a low murmur, his eyes a little wary. "Wouldn't you like to know weather boy.."

JJ mentally cursed himself for that response, he should've just made the joke and moved on, now you'd keep pushing for more information, you always did. But then again, he knew you didn't know the whole extent of his lack of loyalty, so what harm could a bit of honesty do?

He took a deep breath before he spoke again, his voice barely above a whisper. "It wasn't the real deal if that's what you're asking..."

"So we're talking 'bj from a stranger'? or..." you narrowed your eyes still smirking, your gaze fitting over his face.

JJ's cheeks burn a brighter red at the boldness of your question, at your unwavering gaze that seemed to see right through him. He was surprised you weren't more shocked, but then again you had always been fairly blunt and direct. He glanced around again, still ensuring no one was near enough to hear the details of his indiscretions.

He leaned in even closer, his voice was almost hoarse as he spoke, his heart beating faster. "More like a few make outs ... a few handjobs …"

You opened your mouth to speak, but no words came out. You were a little taken aback but more than anything amused. Way too amused. And your mind was now filled with the image of how JJ looked when he got a hand job or made out with someone. Also very not fit for the situation. "Damn.. that's all?" you found yourself asking, studying his face intently.

JJ raised a eyebrow at your reaction, expecting a bit more shock, but you just seemed incredibly amused by it all. Which surprised him.

He chuckled a little wryly at your question, a smirk playing on his lips. Your intense gaze on his face was making it hard for him to think straight. "Yeah, that's all."

He smirked a bit more, raising an eyebrow as he looked back and forth between your eyes. "Did you want me to say more?"

"I'm just.. that's not that bad.." you shrugged, pressing your lips together in amusement. God you were enjoying this. You felt a weird sense of satisfaction flood your hazy and drunk mind as you looked to the side, breaking the eye contact with him, scoffing in slight disbelief.

There was some part of JJ that was surprised at your nonchalant reaction, at how okay you seemed to be with the lack of loyalty he had towards Kiara. You were usually pretty judgmental when it came to that sort of stuff, but you just seemed amused by it now. Almost satisfied, even. Which puzzled him, and aroused him at the same time. He leaned a little closer to you, trying to catch your eyes with his again.

"Yeah? 'Not that bad' huh?" He teased with a sly smile.

JJ paused for a moment, studying your face as you seemed to be deep in thought, your eyes avoiding his gaze. There was a sense of satisfaction in your demeanor that he could not miss, and it made him curious, intrigued. Did you actually like the idea of him being a bit disobedient? His mind started to race as he studied your face, his lips parted slightly.

He leaned even closer, his voice a low murmur "Why do you seem so... satisfied with this?"

"I.. i don't-.. I'm not satisfied.. i just find it amusing." you stammered, letting out a small nervous chuckle, glancing back up at him, "maybe cause I'm wasted.." you shrugged, still trying to suppress a small smile.

JJ raised an eyebrow at your stammered response, a small smirk forming on his face at your nervous chuckle. He knew you well enough to know when you were hiding something, and the way you were trying to suppress your smile was a dead giveaway.

He leaned against the drink table you were standing at, his eyes locking with yours, a hint of challenge in his gaze. "Yeah? Amused or.... excited..?"

"Now why would i be excited, you're an unfaithful asshole?" you asked lowly, raising your brows as you stepped closer to him, a small teasing smirk playing on your lips.

JJ chuckled at your blunt words, his eyes darkened as you stepped closer to him. The tension between you was growing, and he liked it.

He leaned back against the drink table a bit more, his eyes flickering over your face, a devilish smirk on his lips. "I don't know, you tell me. You're the one who's been grinning this whole time, like you're getting some sort of kick out of this conversation..."

"Hey.. that's because i knew it. You confirmed my suspicions and I'm happy about being right." you shrugged, returning his gaze heads on, still grinning like you didn't actually mean the words. Because they were only half true. If you were gonna admit it fully to yourself, you felt like you found the biggest loophole in history, one you could easily slip through. But you discarded that for now. It wasn't like what you were thinking was morally correct. That shit was messy and you wouldn't mind just being right. You couldn't do that to Kie, as much as you wanted to.

JJ chuckled at your response, his eyes glittering as he studied your face. Your grin was playful, almost cocky, like you were holding something back. "Your suspicions? You knew I wasn't being loyal to Kie, huh?"

He crossed his arms over his chest, his smirk widening. He loved when you were like this, cocky and confident, it was hot.

JJ's heart was racing as he stood a breath away from you. The proximity to you combined with the adrenaline rushing through his veins was making him feel a little dizzy, but in the best possible way. He could see a hint of something in your eyes, and it fueled him on.*

He leaned a little closer, his hot breath caressing your ear, as he spoke in a low, sultry voice. "You have no idea what you're doing to me right now.."

Your brows raised, your eyes widening slightly at his unexpected words. You could feel the small flush creep up your neck and you let out a low laugh. "Are you trying to bait me..?" you asked, a small smirk playing on your lips.

JJ chuckled, his eyes gleaming with a mixture of mischief and desire as he saw your reaction to his words. Your flushed face only fueled him further.

He reached out and gently caressed your flushed skin with the back of his hand, a sly smile on his face. "Bait you? Me? I'm just sayin' what's on my mind, sugar."

JJ felt a rush of confidence and boldness, fueled by the alcohol and the heat of the moment. He moved a little closer, his hand still tracing along your jawline as he spoke, his voice lowering even more.

"And I can tell you, you've got my mind going to some very interesting places.."

"I can't figure out if you're being serious or this is just some weird experiment to see if i bite the bait.." you narrowed your eyes, your eyes tracing over every detail of his face. You were freaking out internally of course, his words and touch and the way he called you sugar were all sending your mind in a drunken frenzy. Especially with the southern drawl his low words carried.

JJ smirked, his smirk widening at your narrowing gaze. He could see you trying to decipher his intentions, and he was enjoying the effect he was having on you. The way your eyes were tracing over his face, the way you responded to his touch and words... It was exactly what he was aiming for, and more. And he could feel the tension building between you.

He leaned even closer to you, his hand still gently resting on your jawline. He looked right into your eyes, his voice sultry. "Oh, I assure you, doll, I'm very serious.."

JJ leaned closer, so close that his body was now pressed against yours. He could feel your breath on his skin, smell the alcohol on your breath, and it was driving him crazy. He ran his hand down your neck, leaving a trail of heat behind as he spoke, his voice a low murmur, full of desire and tension. "You have no idea how much self-control it's taking me right now not to do some very bad things to you.."

"So it's that easy, yeah?" you asked, your expression smug and intense "you're biting my bait too y'know..?"

JJ paused for a moment, taken a little off guard by your words. He hadn't expected you to fire back so quick, and with such attitude. But he liked it, he found it sexy and intriguing. And he knew you were right, he was definitely biting your bait, hook, line, and sinker.

He smirked again, his eyes darkening with desire as he looked at you. He leaned in even closer, his lips almost brushing your ear as he responded in a low, dangerous voice that sent a shiver down your spine. "Yeah, doll, I guess I am..."

"I kinda like the tension though.." you nodded vaguely, "it's not wrong to have tension with your best friend... what is wrong though.. is what you're trying to bait me into..."

JJ chuckled, his hand slowly tracing along the side of your neck, sending chills down your spine. "Oh, the tension is definitely worth it. You have no idea how much."

He paused for a moment, his eyes locked on yours, his gaze intense and sultry. "You're right, sugar. We are best friends. And sometimes... best friends do very wrong things to each other.."

"You're talking to me like you're talking to a child.." you chuckled softly, your gaze glued onto his face, "still doesn't make it any less... treacherous and wrong." you shrugged grinning.

JJ's smirk widened as you chucked, enjoying the way you were responding to him. He felt a thrill of excitement coursing through his veins, feeding off your energy. "Nah, I know you're not a child. You're a grown woman, capable of making your own decisions. Just like I'm a grown man.. with very few limits.. very few morals.."

He paused for a moment, his head slightly tilting as he looked deeply into your eyes. "Sometimes wrong things feel so goddamn right.."

"Very few limits and morals, huh? and what if i have a strong moral code and i like doing the right things..?" you prodded, narrowing your eyes again, pressing your lips together in a questioning look.

JJ's smirk turned into a sly grin, his eyes sparkling with mischief. He knew you were playing a game, just as he was, and he was enjoying it immensely. "You're funny as hell, doll."

He chuckled softly, his hand moving down to rest on your hip, holding you against the drink table. "We both know you don't have a strong moral code. You like breaking the rules just as much as I do. We're both just very good at hiding it."

"This isn't about my rules. I don't have rules here.. i can hook up with as many guys as i want at this party.." you chuckled, crossing your arms over your chest, "including you. You're the one who's supposed to be loyal to one person." you mumbled mischievously, smirking up at him.

JJ's eyes darkened at your words, a dangerous glint appearing in them as he smirked back at you. He took a step closer, his body pressing closer against yours, his hand slowly sliding down your hip, leaving a trail of heat in its wake. "Yeah, maybe I am. But you don't seem real broken up by that fact, sugar... In fact, you seem to be enjoying it quite a lot.."

He lowered his head to your ear, his voice a low, sultry murmur "Admit it.."

"I'm tempted to.. but you know what they say in court.. anything you say can be held against you or something.." you chuckled once again at your own words, still fixing with your gaze, your eyes glinting with curiosity behind your glasses.

JJ smirked again, enjoying your quick-witted response. He knew you were playing with him, trying to get a rise out of him. But he was enjoying this little game of cat and mouse the two of you were playing. He took another step forward, his body now fully pressed against yours, his hand slowly sliding around your waist, pulling you against his chest.

"Hmm.. yeah, that's true. You can always plead the fifth, sugar." He leaned in closer, his lips just a breath away from your ear, his voice low and sultry.

"Plead the fifth..?" you snorted softly in amusement at his quick rebuttal to your smartass response. You always liked that about JJ. He could always take what you dished out no matter the context. Perks of being childhood best friends, i guess.

JJ chuckled at your snort, his smirk widening into a cocky, confident smile. He knew you could give as good as you got, and he loved it. There was something so sexy and exciting about your quick-witted banter.

"Yes ma'am. The ol' fifth amendment. The right to shut your damn mouth and keep your secrets to yourself." He gently grabbed your chin, tilting your head up so that your eyes met his once more, his voice dropping down to a sultry whisper.

"You're such a smartass.." you shook your head raising your brows. "Maybe i wanna speak my mind and not plead the fifth amendment. I'm a law abiding citizen after all.." your grin widened, continuing to challenge him, pushing the limit.

JJ chuckled at your words, enjoying your playful defiance. The more you pushed him, the more his desire and excitement grew. He loved it when you played this game with him. "A law-abiding citizen, huh? Sure, doll. Whatever you say."

He smirked, leaning in closer, his lips almost brushing against your ear again. "We both know your mind is filled with all kinds of not-so-innocent thoughts right now. Confess, sugar.."

"Can't confess anything.. i plead the fifth." you shifted the weight from one foot to the other, turning your face a little to the side, your noses brushing against each other as he leaned in to whisper in your ear.

JJ chuckled gruffly at your playful stubbornness, enjoying the way you leaned into him and the way your faces were now so close together. It was taking all his self-control not to just push you up against the wall at this point and kiss you senseless. But he wanted to play your game, and he wasn't about to give up yet. "Damn.. You're driving me crazy just by talking about not talking.."

He paused, his voice lowering to a sultry whisper, his breath hot against your ear. "I wish I could just kiss you right now, sugar.."

You weren't sure how you were still standing right now. Especially since you were already really drunk. That was one sentence you hoped to hear from JJ since you started liking him. But it wasn't the right setting, given Kiara was in the same house and she could always decide to come looking for her boyfriend. The same boyfriend clinging to you and practically begging you to hook up with him. As bad as it sounded, it felt like a win for you, even though it shouldn't.

"Oh yeah..?" you asked lowly, still smiling up at him, those 2 words being the only ones you could manage in that moment.

JJ's smirk widened as he watched you struggle to formulate a response. He knew he had you right where he wanted you. And he was enjoying it. His hand was still resting on your hip, his fingers gently tracing circles on the skin underneath your shirt. He relished in the way you leaned into him, the way your breath hitched, the way your eyes darkened with desire.

"Yeah.."

His voice was low and husky with a hint of pleading, his breath hot against your ear as he leaned in closer his lips mere inches away from your skin. "I wanna kiss you so bad right now.."

"I heard you the first time.." you teased, turning your face to the side again, your nose brushing against his cheek once again.

JJ chuckled, his smirk widening in amusement as he felt your nose brush against his cheek. He couldn't resist the urge to move even closer to you, his body now fully pressed against yours, trapping you between him and the table. "Oh, I know you heard me. But I just like hearing myself say it. I like the way it makes you squirm.."

He leaned in even closer, his breath hot against your ear as he continued to speak, his voice dropping down to a low murmur. "And I know you feel it too, sugar. I can see it in your eyes, I can hear it in your breathing. You wanna kiss me just as much as I wanna kiss you. Admit it.."

"Maybe... but just as a little experiment y'know?" you whispered back, your gaze fixed intently on the side of his face, "i mean we've been best friends for so long.. can't blame me for wondering, yeah?"

JJ chuckled again, his smirk widening into a cocky smile. "A little experiment, huh? I like the sound of that.."

His hand traveled from your hip to your waist, his fingers tracing the curves of your body. "Yeah, totally. I guess I can't blame you at all for wondering how different it'd feel.. being with your childhood best friend and all.. that must've popped into your head at some point, right sugar?"

"Did it pop into your head..?" you turned the question around, mirroring his smirk.

"Oh, it definitely popped into my head.." JJ's smirk widened as he spoke, his eyes scanning your face for a moment, taking in every detail. He loved the way you matched his smirk with your own, the way you were playing the same game as he was.

"More times than I can count, if i'm being honest..." He nodded, his body now completely pressed against yours, his breath warm against your ear.

"You have no idea how many times I've imagined what it'd be like to kiss you.. to touch you.. to make you moan my name as I-" He cut himself off, a low chuckle escaping his lips as he pulled back slightly, his gaze fixed intently on your face.

You met his gaze heads on again, knowing that he was imagining the same thing as you. It was like your own moans were echoing in your mind as you imagined being on top of JJ, despite the blaring music around you both. You pressed your lips together to suppress a nervous smile, adjusting your glasses and holding his gaze silently, not backing away but not saying anything either.

JJ seemed to pick up on your nervous smile as he held your gaze. He couldn't help but smile too, his eyes sparkling with a mixture of mischief and desire. He knew you were thinking the same things he was, and it was driving him wild, in the best possible way.

"You're good at this game, doll.."

He mumbled, his grip on your hip tightening just a little as his eyes flicked down to your lips for a moment, taking in their soft shape and fullness. He wanted to kiss you so badly, it was taking all his self-control to hold back.

"I am.. feels like we've playing for years, right?" you spoke, chuckling softly, the sound almost lost in the party sounds around.

JJ chuckled in agreement, nodding slightly. "Yeah, it definitely feels like it..."

He paused for a moment, his gaze still fixed on your lips, his eyes tracing their shape, his mind wandering to all sorts of dirty imaginings that he was desperately trying to push away. But standing this close to you, seeing you looking up at him with those eyes and that smirk, it made it very difficult for him to stay focused and not lean in and kiss you right there and then.

"Y'know.. your lips are a lot pinker and fuller than I've always imagined.." He mumbled, his thumb gently tracing the outline of your bottom lip, feeling the softness against his skin. His eyes darkened as he looked down at you, the heat and desire behind them almost palpable.

"What about about my lips?" you asked, raising a brow at the word 'imagined', swallowing down a small lump that was forming in your throat.

JJ's gaze was still fixed on your lips, tracing the shape of them lazily with his thumb, a small smile tugging at the corner of his mouth.

"You have no idea how many times I've thought about what it would feel like to kiss your lips.. to have them on mine.." His voice was low and rough, his mind obviously consumed by his own thoughts of you and the two of you together.

"Oh my god, i thought you were gonna end that sentence in another way.." you snorted a small nervous laugh, stepping back a little to laugh gently and nervously, placing your hands on your knees.

JJ couldn't help but chuckle as you stepped back and laughed nervously. He could see that you were feeling a little flustered and he couldn't blame you, he was feeling the same way.

"What? Did you think I was gonna say something dirty, sugar?" He asked, raising an eyebrow, his smirk widening.

"Yeah.. i mean when guys talk about my lips, they're always like: 'you have dick-sucking lips..'" you giggled again, locking eyes with him and shrugging.

JJ chuckled again, unable to keep the smile off his face at your words. Yeah, definitely flustered. He took a step closer to you again, leaning against the table next to you, his arm now brushing against yours.

"Yeah, guys these days can be pretty crude, huh?" He looked at you, his gaze locking with yours for a moment, his thoughts betraying him as he imagined what it'd look like to see your lips wrapped around him, your eyes looking up at him like now..

He had to stop himself from groaning aloud, his mind replaying the imaginative scene in front of him over and over, sending a wave of heat through his body. You on your knees, your lips around him, you hand following suit.. He took a slow, deep breath, trying to control his mind and his body's reactions, before speaking again.

"They've got no tact or class.. it's all just crude one-liners and vulgar comments.."

"I know right..?" you mumbled in amusement, watching every micro-expression on his face, letting out a small knowing chuckle.

JJ shot you a quick sideways glance, his eyebrow twitching as he noticed your knowing chuckle, realizing that you were paying attention to every small movement he made. He could tell you were picking up on the way he was reacting to you, and he knew he had to be careful with his words and reactions.

"Yeah.. it's annoying, honestly.."

He tried to play it cool, leaning against the table and crossing one leg over the other, hoping you didn't pick up on exactly what he was thinking.

"Well... you were telling me just a few moments ago how you... wanna hear me moan your name. So you weren't very far from crude one liners or vulgar comments." you adjusted your glasses, mirroring his smile.

JJ's smile widened at your words, his chest swelling with pride that you remembered his words from not even 5 minutes ago. He felt your mirrored smile, noticing the confidence behind it and knowing that you loved how easy you could make him flustered.

"Hey now.. I'm just being honest. I don't have to be crude about it." He chuckled, running a hand through his hair, trying to appear calm and casual.

You giggled, watching him intensely for a few moments. Before you were going to speak up though, Kie cut you off, greeting JJ and standing in front of both of you with Sarah. The greeting caused you to break the eye contact with JJ, grinning at the girls, who unknowingly walked into something. His girlfriend walked up to him slinging her arms around his neck, smiling at him lovingly.

JJ barely had time to react before Kie was in front of him, her arms wrapped around his neck, her body pressed against his. He had to resist the urge to wince at the interruption, his gaze flicking from her to you before he put on his usual cocky grin.

"Heyyy, Kie."

He greeted her, wrapping his arms around her waist, all the while silently wishing she would disappear or at least go somewhere else, so he could go back to flirting with you. Which he felt bad for thinking.

Kie leaned against him, burying her head in the crook of his neck, her arms still wrapped around his neck. She was completely oblivious to the tension between him and you, blissfully unaware of the fact that he was completely captivated by you just moments ago. She pulled back from him enough to look up at his face, her expression fond and affectionate. "I missed you."

She said softly, her voice sweet and loving. He couldn't help but feel a pang of guilt at the affectionate look in her eyes. But he pushed those feelings away, his eyes flickering back to you for a moment.

JJ forced himself to smile down at her, to look at her like a man who was smitten would, but it was hard. All he could think about was you. You and your soft, full lips, and your sharp, quick wit, and the way your eyes sparkled when you spoke to him. His arms around her waist felt tight, almost stiff, like he was holding her against him for the sake of keeping up appearances.

"Yeah, I missed you too, baby." He replied, managing to keep his voice even. His eyes flicked back to you again.

You could feel yourself grow annoyed again. Just like you would when seeing Kiara with JJ. You looked away from the scene and smiled at Sarah again, leaning back against the table casually, "Hey y'all.." you greeted both of them, adjusting your glasses. You were desperately trying to push down the conversation you just had with JJ, how he was practically begging you with his eyes to hook up with him. Or how you were practically undressing him with yours.

Kie turned to you and smiled at your greeting. She had no idea that what was going on just before she had arrived had any significance. She was oblivious to the fact that JJ's mind was consumed with thoughts of you.

"Hey! How are you? Did you just get here?" She asked, genuinely wondering without realizing that JJ's eyes hadn't left you since she'd showed up.

You shook your head and tskd at her question, a small smirk on your lips, "Nah.. i was upstairs.. doing something." you mumbled, your gaze fitting to the side as you remembered your small hookup with Rafe barely an hour ago.

Kie raised her eyebrows at your response, her expression curious and interested. She knew you well enough to know that 'doing something' could mean a variety of things, none of them boring or uninteresting. "Oh really? And what were you doing?"

She asked, her tone playful, like she was trying to coax the information out of you.

"Too bad i plead the fifth.. you guys will never know." you smirked teasingly, glancing between Sarah and Kie before shooting JJ an amused look knowing you talked about 'pleading the fifth' to one another.

Kie groaned, pouting at your response, knowing that it was unlikely she would get any information out of you. She was always curious, and your mysterious demeanor only served to heighten her interest. She opened her mouth to say something, but was cut off as she noticed the look between you and JJ.

JJ's heart skipped a beat as you shot him a look, the connection between the two of you palpable for a brief moment. He had to restrain himself from breaking into a smirk, remembering your previous conversation.

His mind went back to moments before Kie had interrupted, the way he'd been fixated on your lips, the way he'd wanted to taste them. He tore his gaze away from you, forcing himself to look at Kie instead, his arms still around her waist. But his eyes kept flickering back to you, unable to stay away for long. He was torn between the two of you, feeling guilty for the thoughts he was having and the feelings you were stirring up in him.

Kie noticed JJ's distracted gaze, the way his eyes kept darting towards you, even as he held her in his arms. She couldn't help but feel a twinge of jealousy and insecurity, wondering what was going on between the two of you.

"What are you thinking about, babe?" She asked, her tone slightly sharper than before.

JJ's heart skipped a beat again at Kie's question, realizing that he had been caught looking at you. But he quickly shook it off, plastering on a charming smile and looked down at Kie.

"Nothing, baby. Just... zoning out, I guess." He lied, his gaze flickering back to you for a moment before returning to Kie.

You on the other hand were looking down at your phone, pulling up the chat with Rafe to text him quickly. 'U owe me 50$ prick i told u i wasnt delusional jj was just begging me to hook up with him.' You texted the Cameron boy, chuckling to yourself at the memory of the bet you made with Rafe about JJ never liking you back that way, after you guys hooked up one random day.

A few moments later, your phone vibrated with a reply from Rafe. 'Yeah yeah. I'll give you your 50 bucks when I see you.' He would never forget about something that he owed, especially if it was a bet that he lost.

JJ's mind was still on you, despite trying to focus on what Kie was saying. He couldn't stop thinking about your conversation before she had interrupted, the way you had looked at him with that sly, seductive smile on your lips.

'Might be sooner than u think his girl just interrupted the whole thing. They're snugglin in front of me rn' you typed out the response quickly, following it with a over the top chain of broken heart emojis, chuckling as you did so, before tucking the phone back in the back pocket of your denim skirt.

'Damn. Wish I could see that.' He replied, adding a few of his own laughing emojis.

JJ and Kie had migrated over to some sort of couch and were sitting down next to each other, Kie practically on top of him, her head resting on his shoulder. Despite the close contact, JJ couldn't help but glance over at you, his eyes drawn to your figure, his mind still swirling with your words from not even 10 minutes ago.

'Where r u?' you typed, looking around you as if expecting to see Rafe in the crowd of drunk teenagers, still wearing that amused smile on your face. You noticed that JJ and Kie were now sitting down on the couch, Sarah next to you preparing herself a small drink at the drink table you were leaning against.

'Just around... why?' he responded, adding a few winking emojis.

Kie had cuddled up against JJ, her arm linked with his, her body pressed close to him. He tried to act natural, but his attention kept getting pulled back to you. The way you were casually leaning against the table, your legs crossed, the smirk playing on your lips. He desperately tried to keep his eyes from drifting down your legs again but was failing miserably.

'How vague.. u sound like a murderer' you rolled your eyes adding a 🔪 emoji at the end before pressing send and tucking your phone back into your pocket facing Sarah. "What you drinking?" you asked curiously. trying desperately not to look at the couple on the couch just a few feet away.

The phone vibrated again with a new message from Rafe, his response containing a laughing/crying emoji, followed by 'Not really in the murdering mood today lol'. Sarah looked up from the drink she was making, a smirk on her face.

"Just a shot mix. You want some?" She gestured to the different bottles of alcohol on the table, some half empty and others barely touched.

'Is that cs u have a party at ur house rn or what?' you replied to Rafe instantly, your shoulders shaking a little with suppressed laughter, "Nah.. I'd have a vodka orange if you wanna make that for me.." you shouted slightly at Sarah over the music, casting a small glance in JJ's direction and catching his eyes, given he was already looking at you.

'Oh yeah that too lol'

He texted back, his reply making you chuckle again. Sarah nodded at your request, grabbing a bottle of vodka and orange juice from the table, beginning to pour the drinks.

Meanwhile, JJ was caught staring at you again, his gaze fixated on you, like he couldn't tear his eyes away. You glanced in his direction, catching his eyes. He felt a jolt go through him at the eye contact, his heart beating a little faster. He hastily looked away, trying to maintain a nonchalant attitude.

'Stop puttin lol after every text rafe u look like my mom who js discovered lolling' you texted back amused. You broke the eye contact with JJ when you had to text Rafe back, your expression melting into one of amusement and awkwardness.

'Sorry lol' he responded, chuckling to himself at the thought of looking like a mom who just discovered texting shorthand.

JJ watched as your expression changed suddenly, noticing the mix of amusement and awkwardness on your face. He couldn't help but wonder what you were texting, who you were texting, and if it was about him. He took a deep breath, trying to remain calm and composed, all the while wanting to get up and tear your phone out of your hands to see who you were texting.

'Ur so dumb' you texted Rafe back before adding 'but seriouslt where r u' you added quickly, misspelling a word, evidence you were clearly more drunk than last time you saw each other. You looked back at Sarah, smiling as she handed you the drink, chatting with her while laughing and gesturing while talking for a few minutes.

Rafe laughed to himself at your misspelled word, finding the occasional tipsy text message amusing. 'I'm coming' he replied, adding a few eye roll emojis.

JJ tried his best to keep himself together, still glancing up every now and then to look at you. Every time you laughed, he felt a pang in his gut. He wanted to be the one making you laugh, to be the reason you were showing your bright smile. Sarah noticed JJ's repeated glances towards you, an amused smirk on her face.

'Where r u comin? im downstairs wirh ur sister and JJ dont make it weird' you texted, stopping your conversation with Sarah midway to text Rafe back, a small sense of anxiety washing over you at his text. You caught JJ's eyes again, a small knowing sparkle in them before looking away and at Sarah "what?" you asked her, grimacing in amusement and confusion.

'Oh you'll find out later' Rafe responded, adding a few eye emojis.

JJ watched as you read the text message, noticing the mix of emotions that flickered across your face, the sparkle in your eyes that he knew all too well.

Sarah chuckled at your grimace, taking another sip of her drink. "Nothing. Just observing is all."

'Haha real funny Rafe, later when tho?' you replied sarcastically, suppressing an excited smirk at Rafe's text to not weird out your friends. "What do you mean? what are you observing?" you asked Sarah, looking up from your phone in confused amusement and obliviousness.

Rafe chuckled to himself, enjoying getting you all worked up with his mysterious text messages. 'Whenever I want.' He responded, purposely keeping you in suspense.

Sarah chuckled again, casting a small glance towards JJ before turning back to you. "Oh, nothing. Just your little staring contest with JJ." She teased, her voice filled with amusement.

'Don't forgt ur the one hooking up wit me whenever i want' you replied to Rafe, not bothering to fix the typos, "I'm not starin' at JJ.." you mumbled, raising one brow in Sarah's direction and taking a slow, awkward sip of your drink.

Rafe chuckled at your text message, feeling a mix of desire and excitement at the thought of you. 'Is that a threat or a promise baby?' he responded, adding a few eggplants and fire emojis.

Sarah snorted into her drink, clearly amused by your response. She leaned in towards you, speaking in a low voice. "Oh really? So why does he keep looking over here every couple of minutes then?"

"Hold on.." you shushed Sarah, grimacing at your phone, 'rafe pls delete the eggplant and fire emojis or else im never sleeping with u ever agan,' you warned Rafe shaking your head at the screen of your phone before switching it off, "Dunno.. but I'm not staring, he is.." you shrugged, glancing at JJ once again, the grimace from Rafe's text still on your face.

Rafe chuckled to himself at your reply to his text, feeling a mix of amusement and annoyance at your threat. 'Damn, alright I'll remove them.' he responded, quickly deleting the emojis and sending a sheepish face.

Sarah raised an eyebrow, watching your interaction with your phone with amusement. She then followed your gaze over to JJ, who was indeed looking at you. "Uh huh.. and why do you think he's staring at you then?"

"I'm not sure..." you mumbled, humming. 'Wanna makeout?' you asked Rafe after glancing at Kie being all over JJ and feeling the jealousy spike up inside you.

Rafe smirked when he read your text. 'Always. Where you at?'

On the couch, JJ was still letting Kie snuggle into his side, but he couldn’t tear his attention away from you. Even as he listened to what Kie was saying, his mind wandered back to you. He watched as you seemed to be texting someone, a frown growing on his face.

'Downstairs having a drink with ur sister.' you answered quickly and looking up from your phone at Sarah, smiling awkwardly, "I gotta do something real quick.. is it ok if I'm gone for like... 10 minutes tops." you mumbled downing the remnants of your drink and fidgeting slightly.

Rafe quickly typed a response. 'Be there in 5.'

Sarah seemed surprised by your sudden need to leave, but she tried to stay casual. She raised an eyebrow, a smirk tugging at the corner of her lips. "Uh, sure I guess. What for?"

'Where? we're not makingout downstairs with my freinds around' you texted hastily before looking up at Sarah, "Just.. party things y'know?" you answered vaguely, shrugging.

Rafe's response came back quickly, filled with a slight hint of annoyance. 'The pool house. Hurry up'

Sarah shot you a quick skeptical look, sensing that you were being coy with your answer. But she decided not to pry any further. "Party things huh? Sounds important." She replied sarcastically.

'The pool house? how romantic r u there already?' you asked him, raising one brow at your phone before looking back up at Sarah, clearly distracted, "It is.. Do you guys have a pool house?" you asked Sarah, already looking at the glass doors leading to the pool in the backyard.

Rafe's response was quick. 'Yep. Just waiting for you.'

Sarah nodded, gesturing towards the glass doors. "Yeah we do, it's right over there. But it's usually just a place for people to chill and make out."

'Omg u were so making out with someone else there be4 i asked.' you texted back sighing outloud, "Yeah.. thanks.. I'll be right back yeah?" you smiled awkwardly sparing one last glance at Kie and JJ, your eyes falling onto the couple making out sloppily. Gross.

Rafe's reply was filled with sarcastic agreement. 'Obviously. Hurry.'

Sarah chuckled at your response, a knowing smirk on her face. "Yep, sure." JJ noticed your glance towards him and Kie, and for a split second, his eyes flickered up at you. He saw the slight frown on your face before his attention got called back to Kie.

You walked over to the glass doors, pushing them lightly to open them. You could see the pool house just a few feet away, the warm glow of lights behind it lighting up the night. You stepped outside, the cool night air hitting your skin, sending a small shiver down your spine. There were people scattered around the pool but the crowd was mostly inside. You didn't know if you were glad or not at the fact.

You stepped inside, shutting the door behind you with a soft click, locking it for good measurement. Your eyes fell on Rafe standing by the couch with a smug look on his face, as if he knew you were gonna end up here, with him again.

"Don't give me that look.. you owe me 50 bucks by the way.." you scolded teasingly before reminding him that you won the bet.

Rafe's smirk grew wider, his eyes flickering up and down your figure. "Yeah yeah, whatever. I'll give you the money later."

He stepped closer towards you, his arms wrapping around your waist. His scent was potent, a mixture of alcohol, expensive cologne, and smoke.

"I thought you were never gonna come." He drawled in a low voice, pulling you closer to him.

"Uh, well.. blondie was making out with his girl and doing boyfriend things and i got bitter.." you shrugged, placing your hands on his shoulders lazily "so i was like: i can also makeout with Rafe.." you continued, chuckling dryly.

Rafe chuckled too, his hands slowly rubbing up and down your hips. He leaned in, his lips gently tracing along your neck, leaving a trail of light kisses before making his way up to your ear.

"I don't mind you being bitter. It's kinda hot.." he whispered in a husky voice, nipping your earlobe before continuing his journey down to your shoulder.

"The thing is I'm not bitter over you.. why do you find it hot that I'm basically using you to get another guy out of my system..?" you asked furrowing your brows as you let him kiss your neck freely, already used to the ministrations.

Rafe paused his assault on your neck, his lips hovering just above your skin. He hummed lowly before straightening up, looking at you with a lopsided smile. "Maybe cause I like being used..?” he admitted, a hint of playfulness in his tone. His hands continued to rove up and down your body, seemingly not able to stop touching you.

"That's kinda kinky.. you seriously need a therapist, i think.." you chuckled, narrowing your eyes at him teasingly.

Rafe smirked at your comment, his hands sliding down to your hips, his grasp firm and possessive. He chuckled heartily, amused by your retort. "Yeah well you're the one who came chasing after me cause you're jealous of another guy's girl. So who's really the crazy one now hmm?" He pulled you closer, your body flush against his now.

"Whatever.. i just want easy sex and you're giving it everytime.." you teased leaning in to ghost your lips over his lazily.

Rafe hummed in agreement, his eyes flickering down towards your lips. He leaned in, his lips connecting with yours for a brief second, before pulling back slightly.

"And you're always ready and willing. That make us even right?" he teased back, his hands roaming down to rest on your backside, giving you a firm squeeze.

The pool house was dark and secluded, the only source of light from the single window in the back. Rafe backed you up against the wall, his body pressing flush against yours as he trailed his lips along your jaw and down your neck. His hands gripped your hips, pulling you close as he muttered against your skin.

"And you look so damn good in this skirt. You were just begging for attention out there weren't you?”

You scoffed, slight annoyance flickering in your eyes as he spoke but still gripping his shoulders tightly, "no... I'm just effortlessly hot.." you mumbled pulling him for another brief kiss.

Rafe chuckled against your lips, his tongue quickly sliding out to graze your bottom lip before pulling away again with a smirk. His hands slid down from your hips to the hem of your skirt, gently rolling it up so that his fingers skimmed along your bare thighs.

"Effortlessly huh? I think you're just begging to be taken right now." he drawled, his voice huskier than before.

"Don't think i have time for that.. beside we already fucked 2 times tonight.." you furrowed your brows again, mulling over his words as if it was a tough decision.

Rafe chuckled at your response, clearly amused by your mock indecision. He leaned in again, his lips brushing against your ear as he whispered. "That's even better. You're probably pretty sensitive after two times... I don't think you'd even take that long for a third."

He nipped at your earlobe, his hands continuing to caress your thighs, before he pulled back slightly to look at you. His eyes were darkened with lust, lips curving up into a smirk. "We don't even have to take our clothes off this time. I can just make you lose it with my fingers.. and maybe my tongue too if you're good for me."

His tone was teasing, but there was a hint of a challenge in it.

You smirked, raising one brow at him curiously "you're suggesting something that doesn't give you pleasure?"

Rafe's smirk widened, clearly enjoying the back and forth banter between you. His hands moved higher up your thighs, but he didn't move any further, wanting to wait for your response. "Oh no, trust me, I'll get plenty of pleasure. There's nothing more I like than watching you squirm and moan around my fingers."

He leaned in closer, his lips hovering just above your neck. "But we both know you just want to forget about that guy back there.. and I'm here to help."

"How selfless of you.." you mumbled teasingly, shaking your head as he leaned in closer.

"Yeah, i'm a real saint." he smirked, his hands moving further up your thighs and under your skirt, fingers brushing along the lace edge of your underwear.

He leaned in to kiss along your neck again, alternating between nips and gentle kisses, before he pulled back slightly and lifted his head from your skin. "Now, are you gonna put that sarcastic mouth to better use or not?" he purred in a low voice

"Nah.. I'm too drunk for that.. if you got a condom we can make this quick.." you mumbled shrugging.

Rafe chuckled in response, clearly amused by your bluntness. He shook his head, his hands moving up to grip your hips firmly before spinning you around so that you were facing away from him, your front pressed up against the wall.

"You always know what to say, don't you? No need to be drunk to be naughty." he whispered in your ear, his fingers working the button of his shorts open.

He pulled down his shorts just enough, his boxers still on, but already showing the bulge that pressed against your backside. He pushed you back gently, his hand on your back so that you were leaning against the wall more, before he leaned in, his mouth trailing along your neck and shoulder again.

"You gonna be a good girl and stay quiet for me, or do I need to shut that sassy mouth of yours myself?"

"I don't think i need to be quiet.. we're at a party asshole.." you sighed, your hands working to hitch your denim skirt up even more.

Rafe chuckled at your response, his hands sliding up your thighs to help you pull up the skirt. He leaned in, his body pressed flush against yours, his breath hot on your neck.

"Yeah, but I don't need everyone to hear what a pretty little moans you make every time I touch you. I wanna keep that to myself.." he drawled

He leaned down further, his lips and tongue trailing down your neck, nipping the skin every now and then when he found a certain sensitive spot. He slid one hand to the front of your thighs, his fingertips gently skimming along your lace underwear for a moment before slipping under the fabric.

He nipped at your ear, his fingers teasing along your slick folds as he whispered to you. "You're already so wet for me. You're just desperate to forget about him, aren't you?"

You tskd softly, your mind flashing back to JJ and the conversation you had with him before being interrupted by his girlfriend "if things went differently maybe i'd be hooking up with him right now, instead of you.." you mumbled, sighing softly as his fingers moved in small circles over your clit lazily.

Rafe's fingers stilled for a moment, his hand pausing as he heard your words. He let out a low, sharp huff of annoyance, clearly not pleased by your comment.

"Why don't you just shut up then and pretend it's him." he muttered, his voice slightly harsher than before.

"Sorry..." you mumbled meekly realizing how rude that sounded, glancing at him over your shoulder.

Rafe stared down at you for a moment, his eyes locked with yours. Despite your apology, there was still an edge to his gaze. He huffed irritably, his fingers moving again against your clit. "Don't apologize. Just pretend its him doing this and keep your mouth shut unless you're moaning." he ordered, his tone firm.

He bent down slightly, his mouth trailing down your neck and shoulder again, leaving a trail of gentle kisses before nipping at your skin. His free hand gripped your hip, holding you in place, his fingers digging into your soft flesh.

"Is this what he'd do? Would he be this gentle?" he whispered, his voice rough

Your breathing quickened as he spoke, small soft gasps coming out as you tilted your head back a little against his shoulder, your eyes fluttering closed, "I dunno.. I'd like to believe he would be.." you mumbled before letting out a small moan.

Rafe's tongue dragged along the skin of your neck, sucking on one spot for a moment before he pulled back. His hands moved back to the lace of your underwear, slowly pulling them down your legs.

"Well you should stop thinking about him right now." he purred in your ear, "You're all mine right now and you should be moaning my name."

He pushed you a little harder against the wall, his body pressing up against you, his free hand going up under your shirt, slowly gliding up over your stomach and upwards. He leaned down and kissed you between your shoulders, his touch firm. He moved back up to your ear, voice low

"Who's making you feel so good hm?" he teased

"You.. " you answered weakly, your palms sprawled out onto the wall for some support as his fingers quickened their pace, your head still tilted back against his shoulder.

He took one of your hands off the wall and brought it behind your back, his hand gently pinning it against the small of your back, keeping you pressed against the wall. His other hand continued to dance across your stomach, his fingers slowly inching down over your hip. "Good girl. It's only me." he purred, nipping at your ear again.

He took his hand from your stomach and brought it to the back of your head, gently grabbing onto a fist full of hair, tilting your head back to give him access to your neck again. He kissed and nipped at the sensitive skin, before he gently tugged your hair, pulling it back so that your back arched towards him.

He smirked, enjoying the way your body reacted to his touches. He leaned in and continued to kiss along your neck, his tongue trailing along the sensitive skin, before gently biting down on it.

"You like that, hm?" he purred "You like how I'm manhandling you, making you arch your back against me like this?"

You hummed, your body already pliable in his hands. Despite being madly in love with JJ since you were a kid you could never deny that sex with Rafe was always enjoyable, far more than you'd admit. And that was until you came anyway, after that you were filled with guilt and self hatred at the whole thing, knowing it was so wrong on so many levels. You still did it anyway. It was a secret and Rafe was the perfect blend between kinky rough and gentle and soft.

Rafe continued to kiss, bite, and lick along your neck and shoulder, enjoying the reactions you gave him as he slipped two fingers inside you easily. He loved hearing your soft moans and gasps, the way your body pressed and arched against his. But he also knew you felt guilty and conflicted and he took full advantage of that. He nipped at your shoulder again, his voice rough as he spoke against your skin.

"This is what you need, isn't it? You need me to manhandle you, to take control." He chuckled softly, hearing your breathing quicken.

"You like it messy, messy enough to make you forget." he whispered in your ear, his hot breath against your skin.

You nodded mindlessly, trying to steady your breath by inhaling sharply, writhing against his back gently. Your legs were trembling slightly as he pumped his fingers in and out of you, rather roughly, your moans getting a bit louder.

He shifted his body, his arms wrapped around you now, turning you away from the wall and moving you over to a nearby sofa. He pushed you onto the cushions, keeping a grip on your hair and his hand on the small of your back, pushing you down so that your chest was pressed onto the sofa cushions.

"Like this, hm? You like being pushed down like this, hm?" He leaned down, his body pressing against yours, his breath hot on your bare shoulder.

His mouth followed, his tongue and lips working their way across your skin, before he nipped gently at the back of your neck, his body pressing further into yours.

"Are you still thinking of another man now?"

Your forearms rested under your head as your body arched up, raising his body as he stood behind you, your knees pressing into the sofa to support your self, "no.." you breathed out, your voice a little muffled now, raising your head to take your glasses off to prevent them from breaking.

He chuckled, his hands roaming over your sides and hips, fingers tracing the curves of your body. He bent down, his mouth near your ear again, his voice low and gruff.

"Good girl."

His hands moved up to the bottom of your shirt, slowly pushing the fabric up over your back, his palms caressing your bare skin as it was exposed.

He continued to push the shirt up, until it reached your shoulders. He stopped there, pressing a kiss against the back of your neck, before gently pushing you back down onto the sofa. "Stay like that for me, will you?" he whispered, a hint of a command in his tone.

He moved away from you for a moment, taking in the sight in front of him. His eyes roaming over your body, laid out on the sofa in front of him, bent forwards with your head turned to the side, facing him.

His eyes darkened, a hint of a smile on his lips, before he slowly moved back towards you, stopping in behind you. His undone belt brushed against the soft flesh of your ass, causing you to let out a quiet sigh.

"You look so pretty, all bent over for me." he murmured, his hands moving to your hips, grabbing on tight as he pulled you towards him, closer to the edge of the sofa. He smirked as he watched you, your body obeying his every command, without question.

"Can we just.. make this quick Rafe.. please?" you asked furrowing your brows, your back arching up a little more into his hands, your back side grazing against his crotch.

He paused for a moment, his smile widening as you pleaded for him to make it quick. He knew you wanted this just as much as he did, even if it was a secret. He moved your hair out of the way, gently tugging your head back, so he could look into your eyes. "Why, are you in a rush or something?"

"Yeah.. if my friends come looking for me I'm screwed." you let out a breathless scoff, locking eyes with him.

He let out a huff of annoyance, clearly not pleased to hear that your friends were looking for you, and would probably put a stop to this. He continued to glare down at you for a moment, before giving in.

"You owe me." he muttered, one hand still tangled in your hair, holding you in place.

He moved to tug him self out of his boxers, pushing his shorts even lower down his hips. He didn't even bother taking them off all the way, he just left them on his thighs.

"You better not let me get caught either. Then we're both screwed." he said, his voice low as he positioned himself behind you.

"Mhm.. I'm more screwed given they all hate you.." you hummed, still looking at him over your shoulder in anticipation, fingers reaching to push your underwear tot the side once again.

He huffed again, clearly disliking the fact that your group didn't like him. He grabbed one of your hips, holding you in place as he slowly pushed his hips forward, pressing up against you. He brushed the tip of his cock over your folds teasingly, his voice taking a condescending tone.

"If only they knew what we were doing right now, instead of whatever they're doing.."

He leaned down, his chest now flush against your back, his other hand moving to the back of your hair, grabbing a tight fist full once again, pulling your head back to look at him.

"They'd hate me even more I think."

"Yeah and I'd be shunned from them completely, given I'm.. fucking the guy who's constantly picking on them.." you furrowed your brows, trying to speak through the clouding lust in your brain along with the ridiculous amount of alcohol in your system. You suppressed a moan when you felt him slip inside of you.

He chuckled at your words, his grip still on your hair, holding you in place as he slowly rocked his hips against you. "Mm, yeah, you're just a little traitor, aren't you? Doing this with me, the 'bad guy'."

"Are you even inside?" you mumbled, knowing the question got under his skin even though you could definitely feel him.

He huffed out an amused breath, clearly taking the bait of your question, even though he knew exactly what you were doing.

"Tch, you're a goddamn brat, you know that?" He pulled your hair a little harder, forcing your head back so he could look you in the eyes, a slight frown on his face. "And you better watch that damn mouth of yours, or else you'll get more than you bargained for."

He shifted his hips, slowly pressing further into you, and watching as you reacted to the fullness of his cock. "And yes, I'm in, you impatient little thing. Always so needy for me, aren't you? Even with your little Pogues around, you can't keep my name out of your mind and my dick outside of you.."

You let out a choked breath, your eyes fluttering closed as the small breath melted into a moan, tilting your head back a little and arching your body up.

He smirked at the sound of your moan, his hand slowly unraveling from your hair, but his grip on your hip tightens as he pulled you further back to meet his ruthless thrusts. "You're so cute, trying to hold in your little noises. Like they'll be able to hear us all the way out there over the music."

He moved his free hand around front to your throat, his fingers running over your skin before wrapping loosely around it, just enough to feel the vibrations of your moans against his hand.

"But I know there's a lot you're gonna have to repress for the rest of the night, hm? You're gonna have to look them all in the eye when you go find them and act like nothing happened between us."

"I already did that... we fucked 2 times like an hour ago remember?" you mumbled, your words mixed with your soft moans, digging your knees into the edge of the sofa as you arched up further, almost to the point of it being painful, enjoying the feeling of his hand around your throat.

He smirked, clearly enjoying the desperate way you were arching against him, chasing any friction you could get. He gave a gentle squeeze to your throat, watching to see how you'd react.

"Yeah, I do remember. But these little friends of yours seem pretty clueless. I bet they have no idea what's happening in here, hm?"

He chuckled, knowing that your friends were almost definitely too stupid to piece together what had happened, or what was about to happen.

"They probably think you're just in the bathroom or something, fixing that raccoon look you've got going on, huh?" he teased, his hand at your throat raising you so you were pressed flush against him, your back to his chest.

"You don't have to be an asshole you know?" you grumbled, soft gasps escaping your lips in strings, your head tilting to rest on his shoulder as he pressed you flush against his chest, still thrusting inside of you.

He chuckled, amused at your attitude, even in this position. He leaned his head down, nipping at your neck, his breath hot on your skin.

"Tch, I'm just messing with you. I think you know that by now." He murmured, his hand on your hip running across your stomach. "Besides, I always knew you kinda liked it when I'm an ass."

He continued to kiss and nip at your neck, leaving marks that would probably be hard to cover, but he didn't care. He wanted to make sure your friends saw. He wanted them to know.

"But I doubt they'll notice anything. They'll all be too distracted to pay attention to any of that." He paused, his hand wandering across your skin, before it started to move lower. "Except maybe for that one of yours. What's his name again?"

He didn't give you time to answer, knowing you would probably refuse to anyway. The hand that was at your stomach continued to move lower, his fingertips tracing over your skin, before they finally reached their destination. His fingers zeroed on your clit, circling it at a pace to meet his thrusts.

"Who are you talking about?" you asked, your mind fuzzy from the alcohol and all the sensations being inflicted on your body right now, arching against his chest as your face scrunched up in pleasure and confusion.

He huffed out a chuckle at your confusion, his words a growl in your ear.

"Ugh, the dark-haired one." He started to move his fingers, slowly and gently tracing over you, feeling you squirm and shudder against him. "The one who always looks like he's about to punch me?"

He chuckled at your response, a little impressed that you were even still remembering the names of your friends, and that you were still talking through all of it.

"Tch, yeah Pope, that's the one. I've seen him looking at you, in his little puppy dog way. You think he's gonna notice how distracted you are?"

"Stop speaking.. you're ruining the mood and you're not even right." you gasped out, unable to keep your eyes open "he's smitten with Kiara.. if anything he's in the same situation as me.."

He rolled his eyes at your response, a smirk still on his lips.

"Mm, if you say so." He said in a mocking tone, although he had to admit, you looked and sounded adorable right now, all pressed up against him, desperate for him in the middle of a party full of your friends. "But you are still mine, aren't you, baby?"

"Eh, are you going soft on me now.. taking about being yours and shit..?" you teased, smirking even though he couldn't exactly see it, "thought this was casual.."

He raised his eyebrows, a bit of annoyance at your teasing, but also liking how you could make fun of him even when you were like this.

"Shut up." He said, his hand wrapping around your neck again, giving it a gentle squeeze.

"It is casual, don't get ahead of yourself. I was just thinking I'm the only one who gets to do this to you, is all."

"Yeah.. guess so.." you replied, your voice strained as your pleasure continued to build. You felt his thumb slip past your bottom lip gently after his hand slid up from your neck to gripping your jaw.

He grinned at how your voice sounded when you answered him, your breath hitching from the way he was touching you. He couldn't help but admire how you felt in this moment, all desperate and wanting only him. He slowly pushed his thumb into your mouth, resting on your tongue, watching as your lips closed around it, without him even having to tell you to.

He gave a small gasp as you took his thumb into your mouth, feeling the heat of your tongue. He pressed you further into him, his chest to your back, his hand still tight on your hip as he rocked his hips into you.

"You're such a good girl, aren't you? Taking my fingers into your mouth like that, without me even having to tell you." He murmured, his voice low and his breath hot by your ear.

You hummed mindlessly, arching and writhing against his chest, your lips closing around his thumb and swirling your tongue around it, your moans muffled by it.

He groaned, enjoying the feeling of your mouth around his thumb, feeling you writhe against his body. "Damnit, you're making me struggle to focus, you know that?" He breathed out, slowly pulling his thumb out of your mouth, replacing it with two of his fingers instead.

He started to push his fingers into your mouth, in and out, getting them nice and wet. He could tell your eyes were still closed, your brain too clouded with desire and alcohol to do anything but follow what he wanted you to do.

"There you go, baby. Just like that. Look at you, all needy for me. You know that's a dangerous thing to do at a party like this, right? Letting me get you so worked up while everyone else is just a few rooms away?"

Your breathing was harsh and ragged, your mouth working around his fingers too lost in the pleasure. Your head was fuzzy, too fuzzy. The alcohol and the arousal making you lightheaded and helping you forget why you were here with Rafe in the first place. The thought of JJ with Kiara or anything else melting away as you chased your orgasm, your eyes fluttered shut now.

His smile widened as he watched you, seeing how desperate you were for him, hearing the sounds you were making as you worked around his fingers. He knew he had you completely at his mercy right now, completely consumed with the pleasure he was giving to you.

"Mm, you going dizzy on me, baby? You know how I get when you get all drunk and needy like this." He huffed into your ear, his breath warm and his voice low.

He loved how you were just letting go, letting him take control of you. He could feel your body shaking and shuddering against him, desperate and needy.

"I bet you're pretty close, aren't you? I can feel how hard you're shaking. You gonna be a good girl and come for me?" He purred into your ear, his teeth gently nipping at your neck.

You wanted to hold on just a little bit more. But it was impossible with him buried so deep inside, his fingers working into your mouth. You were sensitive anyway, having hooked up with him an hour ago too. So in a few moments your body shook gently, your jaw going slack a little, lips parting from his fingers and letting out a final breathless moan.

He felt you trembling against him as you came, a small feeling of pride washing over him that he was the one who made you feel like this, in a house full of people, where anyone could walk in on the two of you. He gave you a moment to catch your breath, his arms holding you up against him, before he leaned down to your ear again, his voice low.

"See, was that so hard, baby? Now, you gonna be able to walk out of here after this, or you think I'm gonna have to carry you?"

You stood there silently panting for a few moments, your head resting against his shoulder before speaking, him still buried inside you "'M good.. did you come?" you asked casually, your eyes still screwed shut.

He chuckled softly at your blunt and casual question. You were always straight to the point, even when you were drunk off your ass and had just came from him.

"Mm, not yet." He responded, his hands running over your body, enjoying the feeling of having you pressed against him.

"Too bad.. I'll owe you one, i gotta go unfortunately..." you mumbled, chuckling dryly.

His expression darkened slightly at that, a wave of annoyance passing over him. He was not a fan of being put out or having to wait for things he wanted, especially when he had just made you cum.

"Tch, really? After that little scene you gave me, you're gonna just get up and leave me like this?" He said, annoyance lacing his tone.

"Oh my god.." you mumbled in annoyance, "if my phone rings and my friends are looking for me I'm leaving, yeah?" you turned to face him, pulling him down so he was sitting on the sofa, straddling him and letting him slip back into you.

He was not expecting you to suddenly straddle him, and he couldn't stop the groan that escaped his lips when he was suddenly inside you again. He looked up at you, his eyes darkened with desire and annoyance.

"God damn it, you're so impatient. Just wait a few more minutes, I'm sure you can make your friends wait a bit longer before you go back out there—" He paused, a thought slowly forming in his mind.

His hands found purchase on your hips, his fingers digging into your skin to keep you in place.

"Actually.. I think I have a better idea.." He said, a sly smile slowly coming onto face.

You raised one brow, your hips moving instinctively in a slow lazy pace, "which is..?"

He chuckled at the way you moved your hips, a smirk still on his face. He leaned in a little closer, his hands gripping your hips a little harder to keep you from moving any further.

"How about you keep riding me, but I'll answer the phone for you when one of your friends calls you. I'm sure they won't know whose voice is on the other end.."

"Rafe.. don't be stupid, they'll know it's you. I'll make you finish and then I'm leaving.. i was supposed to be gone for 10 minutes.." you spoke quietly, your head tilting back a little as you continued to rock your hips gently, your body still sensitive from your previous orgasm.

He huffed slightly, a bit annoyed that you were shutting him down but he knew you well enough to know that you weren't going to listen. In the end, JJ's ego always came first after all.

He wrapped his hands around your body, his hands pulling you closer again.

"Damn it, you're going to be the death of me one day, you know that.." He murmured into your neck as he moved his mouth to your skin.

He continued biting and sucking at your skin, his teeth and lips leaving little marks along your neck, his hands starting to lead your movements with his touch.

"You're.. gonna.. owe me twice.. tonight.." He said, his voice sounding a little strained now, clearly trying to hold himself back from just speeding up and taking you like he wanted to now.

"Whatever.. just speed up I'll be fine.. i feel like a dick if I'm the only one finishing." you grumbled, your hands digging into his shoulders, your head still thrown back.

He chuckled at your words, amused at your annoyance and eagerness as you tried to urge him to go faster.

"You always say you'll be fine.. But I know how sensitive you can be after I make you cum, and I'm pretty sure you're sensitive as hell right now. You sure you can handle it?"

He said, a hint of teasing in his tone. His hands on your hips started to speed up now, pushing you down to drive himself deeper inside of you with a greedy sound.

"Damn it, you're so tight right now.. it's like your body is just clinging to me, trying to keep me inside you." He let out another huff, clearly struggling to keep himself from going further, his grip on you getting harder and tighter as he chased his release.

You chuckled at his amusing yet arousing words, your voice coming out in choked gasps and moans. You met his movements, raising and sinking yourself onto him as his hands guided you, picking up the pace.

He groaned in pleasure as you met his movements, the way you were bouncing on his lap just making him struggle more to keep control of himself. He was struggling to be careful with you, but he knew you wanted more and so he stopped holding back.

"Mm, you're getting sloppy. Just like me. I know you want it harder, don't you?" He growled into your ear, nipping at your neck again, before sucking on the sensitive spot where your neck and shoulder met.

He started picking up the pace a bit, no longer trying to be gentle with you. He could tell you didn't want him to be careful and he knew he wanted more of you, especially now since you weren't sticking around for long, so he felt like he had to take as much from you as he could.

"God baby, you're taking me so good.. So good.." He said, his mouth still on your neck as he continued to guide you with his hands on your hips.

Another small sound between a chuckle and a whimper escaped your lips, your head leaning forward while your hands slid up from his shoulder to wrap around his throat gently as your hips slammed down onto him more harder and sloppier.

He was a little taken aback when you wrapped your hands around his neck, not expecting it but he quickly enjoyed the feeling of having your slender fingers around his neck as you continued to ride him, your hips picking up the pace as he guided you more and more with his hands on your hips.

"Fuuuuck, you like it like this, don't you? You like being in control, don't you.." He growled in your ear, his voice becoming more feral as his body reacted to your touch more and more.

He could feel himself getting closer now, your body just taking all of him in, your movements becoming harder and more desperate as you rode him. He let out another moan, his hands gripping your hips so hard he was sure there would be bruises on your skin come morning. "Yeah.. yeah, I know you do.." He panted,

"You want me to spit in your mouth..?" you asked, letting your eyes flutter open and narrowing down at him as you grinned. You weren't expecting him, Rafe Cameron, to actually agree to your proposal. But you were drunk, and you just wanted to see his reaction. Your hips were still moving fast and sloppy, not losing the pace.

He was actually a little bit taken off guard by your question, blinking up at you with a look of surprise for a moment. But as he looked up at your smirk, he couldn't help but smirk right back, clearly intrigued by the sudden request - and slightly amused by it.

Without even a moment of hesitation, he gave a nod, licking his lips as he spoke. "Yes. Give it to me."

"Seriously?" you asked, raising your brows while a disbelieving grin spread over your lips still riding him clumsily and eagerly, already chasing your second orgams in the last 10 minutes.

He gave another nod, his eyes darkening further as he looked up at you, his smirk still on his face. He was clearly enjoying this, enjoying the way you were riding him and enjoying where this was going.

"Yeah, I'm serious. Unless you're just all talk and no action." He said, a challenge laced in his tone, clearly baiting you now.

"Nah.." you shook your head licking your lips as your hand cupped his jaw, tilting his head back and letting his mouth fall open. You leaned in, staring at his open mouth and smirked before spitting into his mouth. You leaned back, still smirking as your hips picked up their frenzied pace, grinning down at him.

He gasped softly in surprise as you leaned in and actually spat into his mouth, but he quickly recovered, swallowing the liquid and looking up at you with an intense, dark look in his eyes. He licked his lips, his tongue running over his bottom lip as he looked at you with a hungry expression, completely and utterly turned on right now.

"Fuuuck.. that was hot." He groaned, his voice becoming hoarse as he spoke, unable to keep himself together anymore as you picked up the pace on his lap.

He couldn't control himself anymore, his hands grabbing your hips to hold you down on his lap as he began thrusting up into you, his head dropping back in pleasure as he let out a guttural moan.

"You.. you can be so filthy sometimes... I like it.. I like it a lot.." He panted between moans, his eyes squeezed shut as he just let himself thrust up into you mindlessly.

"Says the one who just let me spit into his mouth.. dunno who's filthier." you mumbled between moans, your hands grasping at his jaw and throat as you sank and rose on his cock, your head tipping back in pleasure again.

He let out a low, gravelly laugh at your comment, his smirk returning to his face as he looked back up at you, his eyes dark and hungry as he watched you riding him.

"You've got a point there..." He said, his voice still a little strained as he spoke. "But I'd say we're pretty equal on the filthiness meter right now.. you just spat in my mouth."

"And you let me.." you repeated, your voice also strained, "and I'm pretty sure you liked it..."

He chuckled again, his voice still low and huskier than normal as he spoke again. "Yeah, I did. It was hot. And I liked it. I like all the filthy things you do and say."

His hands moved up to your waist and he lifted you up for just a moment before pulling you back down onto his cock, groaning loudly as he did. "Fuuuck.. don't know what possessed you to do that, but it was one of the most sexiest things I've ever seen."

His head dropped back again, he closed his eyes for a moment and let out a loud moan, his grip on your waist getting harder as his hips began to thrust upwards into you as you moved on top of him.

"You're driving me crazy.. you know that, right?" He panted, his voice a low whisper, clearly struggling to stay in control right now as he continued to move his hips against yours.

"You clearly liked it cause you're a filthy bastard, Rafe.." you mumbled almost inaudibly, your mouth parting a little open in pleasure.

He opened his eyes and looked up at you, a smirk on his face again, though it was more of a wicked, cocky smile than anything else.

"Yeah I do.. I'm a filthy bastard who loves when you do dirty things.. and say dirty things." He hissed, clearly enjoying himself right now, and obviously not bothered by your comment, instead it just seemed to turn him on even more.

He leaned forward and nuzzled into your neck, his lips gently sucking on the sensitive spot where your neck and shoulder met, his tongue moving against your skin as he spoke, his voice a low, gruff against your ear. "Tell me what else you want me to do, baby."

"Finish preferably.. we're in a time crunch here.." you mumbled, chuckling hoarsely, your hands carding through his hair.

He chuckled against your skin, his lips still on your neck, sucking on the sensitive spot, leaving a few love bites before continuing to kiss his way up to your ear. His voice was still that same growl as he spoke into your ear.

"Good thing I'm close then.. I don't think I could hold back for much longer anyway."

He lifted his head from your neck and looked up at you, his eyes dark and hungry again, his hands still gripping your hips tightly, his body clearly eager.

"Tell me how you want me to finish, baby. Do you want me to pull out or am I gonna have to find somewhere else to finish?" He panted, clearly struggling to keep himself together right now, his voice still low and his grip on your hips still firm.

"Dunno.. I'm giving you the privilege of choosing where to finish.. Just not inside.." you nodded vaguely, your head burying into his neck and grazing your nose against his cheek and jawline.

He groaned at your words, clearly struggling to hold himself back for a moment longer, his hands gripping your hips so tightly it was almost bruising. But he managed to nod in agreement, leaning forward to kiss gently at your neck again, his tongue licking against your skin as he spoke.

"Mmm... in that case.." He said, his voice low and shaky "I think I know just where to finish.."

He grabbed your hips and moved you off his lap, his lips moving from your neck to your ear, his voice a low, gravelly growl in your ear as he spoke again.

"Get on your knees." He said, his tone low but demanding.

He sat back a bit, watching intently as you got off his lap and onto your knees in front of him, still sat on the couch. He settled for standing over you, his eyes dark and hungry as he watched you now on your knees on the couch in front of him.

"I knew there was a reason I like hanging out with you." He said, his voice still low and a hint of a smirk on his face. "Now be a good girl for me and open your mouth, baby."

"Oh, you owe me a hundred bucks if i let you do that.." you mumbled incredulously, raising one brow before opening your mouth and looking up at him intently.

He chuckled as he looked down at you, clearly amused by your words. He gently reached down and tucked a piece of hair behind your ear, his hand resting on your cheek, his thumb gently rubbing against your skin, before he spoke again.

"A hundred bucks, huh? For this? I don't know.. I feel like I'm getting the better end of the deal here." His smirk widened as he spoke.

"You're such a lucky guy.." you mumbled sarcastically, rolling your eyes up at him. "Hurry up before i change my mind.." you scolded him, glancing down at his length in his other hand, getting ready to finish the job.

He chuckled at your sarcastic remark, his voice still low and huskier than usual as he spoke again.

"Oh I know I am, don't worry about that." He said, his smirk growing a little bigger as he watched you look down at his length in his hand.

"Yeah, I think I need to stop underestimating how filthy you are.." He said, his voice a little more shaky than normal, his hand still rubbing your cheek almost lovingly as he spoke.

He moved his hand from your cheek to the back of your head, gently grabbing a handful of your hair as he spoke again.

"Don't get sassy with me now, princess.. you've already got your mouth open for me and everything.. just be a good little girl for me and let me use that sweet mouth of yours just for a minute, okay?"

He ran his thumb over your bottom lip as he spoke, his eyes still dark and intensely watching you, his gaze dropping to your mouth, his voice becoming a rough, demanding growl.

"Now stick that tongue out for me, baby."

Your annoyed expression melted away a little as you stuck your tongue out, watching him and then his hand intently, your eyes full of anticipation.

He groaned when you stuck your tongue out, his eyes locked onto your tongue, watching it with almost primal need as he began gently rubbing the tip against your tongue, his breaths coming out in low, shaky moans as he did.

"Fuuuck.. you have no idea how hot you look right now.. with your mouth open like that, on your knees like that.."

He ran his free hand through your hair as he spoke, his voice still a low, huskier than usual and clearly struggling to hold himself together at this point. "I'm never going to look at you the same way after this, you know that right?"

"I don't care Rafe.. we don't even see each other outside sex.." you snorted in amusement before going back to sticking your tongue out, letting it brush against the tip of his cock again.

He chuckled softly at your blunt comment, his hand still gently running through your hair as he spoke again, his voice still low and strained.

"That's what makes it so dirty, though.. you're going to be my little secret.. just mine and no one's else's.. that sound good, baby?"

He gently ran his hand through your hair, his grip getting a little bit tighter as he spoke again, his voice a little more impatient now.

"Now be a good girl and open your mouth a little more for me.. I need to be able to put a bit more of myself in that pretty mouth of yours.."

He paused for a moment, watching your mouth as you opened it a bit more, his hand still holding on to your hair, his breaths coming out in a low, gravelly moan.

"Fuuuck.. yeah, princess.. that's it.." He spoke, his voice still a rough whisper, his eyes still watching your mouth intently, his hand guiding himself closer to your mouth.

Your eyes were fixed intently on his face, dropping down to his hand that was guiding himself closer to your mouth. You weren't exactly sure how you managed to get here, with Rafe Cameron standing over you, about to finish in your mouth. It was the kind of situation that would've made you sick with self hatred if you were sober. But you weren't. And all these things were done purely from the heartbreak of being in love with JJ, who was with someone else instead of you. So here you were, in the pool house of the Cameron's house, after hooking up with Sarah's meaner older brother at a party at her house. With your friends somewhere in the house. Insane.

He didn't seem to notice your thoughts swirling through your head, his own mind a blurry mess in the heat of the moment. He'd noticed earlier that you weren't your normal snarky, sarcastic self, but he hadn't thought about the reasons too deep. He never did

He was a fair bit preoccupied with the sight of you on your knees in front of him, your mouth open, ready to do exactly what he wanted you to do. He wasn't thinking about much else other than that. The sounds of people inside the main house were just a background noise to him and the only thing that was focused on was getting himself off.

He didn't notice the small sounds of people around the pool house either. Didn't notice the other drunk teenagers all around them, just having fun, ignorant to what was happening. Not that it would've bothered him if they knew. After all, he was Rafe. The bad part of the Cameron legacy.

All he could think about was the sight in front of him. You, on your knees in front of him, your mouth open and tongue out, looking up at him with those eyes of yours. It was just so incredibly hot, and the fact that you would normally never do something like this just made it even hotter for him.

He gently grabbed your hair in one hand, holding you in place with a little more force, not too much though. Just enough to remind you who was in control here. His other hand was still wrapped around the base of his now almost painfully hard length, which was now just an inch or two away from your mouth. He could feel himself getting more and more impatient, and he didn't think he could last much longer. He needed to finish and he needed you to let him do it in your mouth.

Suddenly, the sound of voices and commotion came from inside the house. He could still faintly hear music being blasted inside, but he could also hear the sound of people and talking. It was a bit too faint for him to identify what people were saying, but he knew enough that there were people in the house and they were getting closer to the pool house.

He paused for a moment, his mind becoming a bit clearer as he realized that the voices were becoming louder, clearly approaching closer and closer. "Fuck.. there's people coming..."

Your brows raised, closing your mouth and glancing back a the door of the pool house behind you, "So..? didn't you lock the door?"

"Yeah, its locked but-"

He was cut off as the sound of voices got louder outside the door, it seemed as though whoever had come in was now outside the pool house. Suddenly a voice rang out from the other side of the door. "Rafe? You in there bro?"

Rafe's body tensed up, his hand still holding onto you firmly, not wanting anyone who was outside to know that you were here and currently on your knees for him, his cock still in your mouth.

"Yeah, I'm in here." He called back, voice a bit harsh, trying to sound cool and unbothered, and not at all like someone who was in the middle of getting a handjob/blowjob by someone.

Being drunk and restless to get this over with you started moving your mouth over him gently, knowing he was close already, your hand accompanied by it. You could hear Topper, Rafe's best friend outside of the door, still speaking but you didn't care, in fact it made it even more exciting.

Rafe's mind was suddenly torn in 10 different directions at once, it was almost impossible to think clearly with you still moving your mouth over him and now the sound of Topper's voice outside of the door. He could hear Topper talking, asking some questions about something, but he couldn't hear exactly what.

He tried to respond to his friend, his voice sounding a bit strained and breathless, trying to keep up the pretense that he was doing something other than this. "Yeah, I'm just hanging out bro."

Topper's voice responded from the other side of the door. "Oh alright then, mind if we all come in and hang then?"

Rafe's mind raced, trying to think of an excuse to turn them all away, but he couldn't think quickly enough in his current position to come up with a reason that would make sense and keep them away.

He didn't respond for a few seconds, brain racing, but then he finally spoke up, his voice sounding more strained and urgent. "Uh, I'm a bit.. busy right now bro. How about you guys hang somewhere else, yeah?"

There was a pause from the other side of the door, and then Topper spoke up again, sounding confused and a bit amused. "Busy? With what? You're literally in the pool house all by yourself."

Your eyes were fixed on Rafe's face as you worked him, his hand raking through your hair almost affectionately, a silent praise for what you were doing and also helping you to guide your head.

His eyes widened as he heard Topper's response, realizing that there was nothing he could say. His mind was racing again, trying to come up with some reasonable excuse to keep them from coming into the pool house, knowing that if they came in at any moment and found him like this it would be a complete disaster. "Nah, but I'm just in the middle of something, man.... I'll come find you guys later, okay?"

His voice was still strained and sounded breathless, not at all like his usual confident and casual tone.

There was another pause from outside the door, before Topper finally responded, still sounding amused but with a hint of annoyance in his tone. "Nah, come on bro, we wanna hang out in here. Quit being a dick and open the door."

An amused look flickered in your eyes as you gazed up at him and you knew he was close as you sped up, you were surprised he was still able to talk as your hand and mouth worked on him so eagerly.

He took in a shaky breath as you sped up, his mind starting to go blank again thanks to how good you felt. He couldn't think straight, and when he tried to focus enough to speak to Topper and keep them away, he struggled to find the right words to say. Luckily his friend was still patiently waiting on the other side of the door. "Seriously, I... really can't right now, bro. I'm doing something."

Topper's voice came back impatiently a few seconds later. "Doing what? What could you possibly be doing that's so important? What are you, taking a massive crap or something?"

There was a small round of snickering from the other boys outside the door, everyone was starting to get impatient waiting for Rafe's response.

You were surprised at how dense Topper was. But it was exciting, your hand and mouth working together over him and watching his face contort in silent pleasure and his hand in your hair tightening ever so slightly. His hips would buck forward once in a while and you could tell he was impossibly close now.

With every passing minute the situation was growing more and more dire, Topper and the other boys were getting more and more fed up with his excuses as to why he couldn't let them in. Rafe's mind was racing to try and find some way out of this, but he was too focused on what you were doing to him to think straight. "Look, I'm not taking a crap okay? I'm doing... something else."

There was another pause from the other side of the door, before Topper spoke up again, sounding a bit smug now, as if he had just figured out what Rafe was doing.

"What's that? Are you having a private meeting with the five-finger-death-squad or something?" A few more laughs and chuckles echoed from the outside, everybody now certain that Rafe was having some kind of private meeting with his hand in the pool house.

Guys are so dumb, you thought when you heard Topper's answer. You would've snickered at his stupid joke which in retrospect wasn't even funny but your mouth and hands were a bit full at the moment, watching Rafe's face intently, trying to lock eyes with him.

If he wasn't on the edge of cumming he would've thought that Topper's joke was a lot funnier than it was, but at the moment all his mind was focused on was your mouth currently wrapped around his length and what it was doing. He looked down at you, eyes locking with yours, and tried to communicate silently that he was close, not really having the breath to vocalize it since he was too busy trying to stay quiet for the sake of his friends on the outside of the door. Meanwhile the boys were starting to get more and more eager and impatient, and Topper spoke up again, no longer able to keep a straight face with his next words.

"You don't need us to come in there to help out with that, we wouldn't mind waiting outside, bro."

There were a few more laughs and chuckles from outside in the crowd, the boys finding the whole situation quite funny and amusing, but also slightly annoying that they weren't being let in. Meanwhile Rafe's mind was struggling to come up with some witty comeback, something to say that would make them all go away, but at the same time he was losing his focus fast.

Your eyes were locked on his, your pace picking up knowing he was just about to finish, scooting closer to the edge of the couch you were knelt nest to and closer to him to take more of him in your mouth, bobbing your head a little faster.

He could see the expression on your face change as you scooted closer, feeling your body move closer to his. There was something in your eyes and expression that told him what you were about to do, he knew how much you liked to tease him and push him to his limits, and it was clear you were going to do just that here with the way you started to speed up even more. "I-I really can't right now- oh for fu-"

He cut himself off, biting down on his tongue to keep himself from moaning loudly. The last thing he needed was for his friends to hear him moan.

The other boys on the outside were listening intently, eager to catch whatever sounded like it might be a moan coming from inside the pool house. Topper was the one to speak up, his tone filled with both annoyance and intrigue as he tried to figure out what Rafe had just said. "What was that? Did you just moan, bro?"

Rafe's eyes widened at Topper's words, knowing if he made another noise like that they would know for sure what was really going on. He tried to respond, and for a few moments he actually seemed like he was going to pull it off.

"What? No I didn't moan, I just- oh fuu-" He started to speak, managing to string together a sentence, but then halfway through a slight moan escaped his lips.

This was definitely the funniest and hottest situation you were in. And the fact that this was Rafe Cameron out of all people was somehow even better. You wished you could laugh out loud, instead you sped up the process by swirling your tongue around the tip of his cock while bobbing your head, and it was obvious he was gonna finish any second now.

He was right on the edge and he knew it, and he was sure you knew it too which made it hotter for some reason. It was like you were trying to get him over the edge by any means necessary as quickly and as quietly as possible, and he was close. He glanced back at the door, his mind still half focused on his friends outside and whether or not they'd heard that last moan, but it was hard to keep his mind off what you were doing to him. As soon as he looked back down at you, he could see you were starting to pick up your pace and he knew he wouldn't be able to hold out any longer at that rate.

Meanwhile outside, Topper and the others were listening intently, trying to catch any sound that might give away the secret of what Rafe was actually doing in there. Topper's voice was the first to break the silence, clearly picking up on the last small moan Rafe had let out. "Dude I think he was actually moaning, that's funny as hell bro."

All the other boys were snickering and giggling at Topper's observation, realizing that Rafe was indeed doing some private meeting with his hand just like Topper had been guessing earlier. Another boy's voice piped up from the outside, some guy named Chase. "You think he's watching something raunchy in there or something?"

Topper and the others laughed at the suggestion from Chase, one of the other boys speaking up as well.

"Maybe he's watching porn or something." The thought of Rafe in there watching porn seemed to make everybody chuckle again, and it continued for a few more moments before the room quieted down again as they waited for any more sounds.

You were listening to the conversation outside and it was hilarious. You let Rafe slip out of your mouth and worked him with your hand, your tongue sticking out slightly to get him to finish there, as fast as possible before his friends somehow found a way to come in. You were still watching his face intently, amusement sparkling in your eyes.

As soon as you pulled your mouth away he felt the urge to moan much more easily, but he forced himself to be quiet for the sake of his friends on the other side of the door. He looked down at you, seeing the amusement in your eyes and knowing you were enjoying yourself immensely, and it was at that moment that he realized he was officially screwed, it was only a matter of time until his friends found out what was really going on. "Oh god - shiiiit-"

Another string of giggles and laughs came from outside as they listened to the sound of Rafe struggling not to moan and curse. Topper's voice piped up again, sounding more and more amused as the situation continued to progress. "Bro, it's like he's fighting off a demon in there or something, Jesus."

A few more strokes of your hand and you felt him finish all over your tongue. It was insanely hot and amusing at the same time, given his friends were outside the door and here he was, doing this.

The feeling of you stroking him to completion almost sent him into a complete spiral of pleasure as he had to bite his tongue even more tightly in order to keep himself from moaning loudly. Once he calmed down enough to regain control of himself, he looked down at you, his expression a mixture of both amusement and disbelief. He couldn't believe you had just made him do that and his friends were right outside the damn door. He whispered down to you, trying to keep it quiet enough that the others wouldn't hear. "I can't believe you just did that in front of my bros..."

You hesitantly closed your mouth and swallowed, flipping him off silently. He definitely owed you for this one.

He chuckled lowly, shaking his head as he watched you swallowing before flipping him off. Part of him couldn't believe what had just happened, but at the same time he was also extremely amused by the whole situation, especially his friends listening on the outside.

He looked down at you with a smirk, "I'll make it up to you for this."

"Yeah, right.. you owe big time Cameron.." you whispered, standing up from the floor and straightening your skirt and crop top from the previous activity along with your underwear, grabbing your glasses from the couch and putting them back on, "Do i have to face your friends..? Isn't there another exit out of this pool house?" you asked quietly as you watched him zip up his jeans and straighten his belt.

He chuckled, shaking his head as he fixed his pants and belt. He knew that after what had just happened in here he definitely owed you now more than ever.

"You don't need to worry about my friends, they'll get over it," He replied, shaking his head at your question. "And no, there is no secret way out of here, sadly. You're gonna have to walk out the front door like a normal person. But don't worry I'll handle anything my friends say."

With that said, he walked over to the door and opened it up, stepping back to make way for you to go out first. His friends were all still standing there waiting as the door opened, but they all froze for a moment as they saw you stand up inside, looking a little disheveled with your glasses on. The room was silent for a few moments as nobody said anything, until Topper decided to speak up, his voice filled with disbelief. "Seriously, bro? She was in here the whole time?"

"Hi guys.." you stopped awkwardly in the doorway, glancing at the group of kook guys outside the pool house, "How's the party?" you asked, snorting in amusement.

His friends burst out laughing as you said hi, still surprised and amused by your presence. They couldn't believe that you had been in the pool house all along, especially not with Rafe. Topper was the first to respond, shaking his head with a grin.

"The party is... definitely a lot more interesting now that we know you were in here the whole time."

"Just.. keep it to yourself yeah? and stop cockblocking your friend.." you sighed in mock annoyance, your eyes fitting onto every single guy sitting outside the pool house and then onto the drunk teenagers scattered around the pool behind the group of kooks.

His friends burst out laughing again at your comment, some of them nearly falling over as they pictured what you and Rafe had been up to in there. One of the other guys spoke up, eyeing you up for a moment before speaking. "Oh we'll definitely keep our mouths shut, don't worry about that."

You nodded slowly and awkwardly, adjusting your glasses and shooting them a thumbs up, "Right.. well, fuck you Cameron. You owe me big time, aside from the 50$ from the bet so.." you turned to Rafe flipping him off again before turning around, "I'm just gonna make this less awkward than it already is..." you spoke without turning around, walking slowly along the edge of the pool to make your way back into the house.

A/N: The drafts for this one are messy, but what do the Rafe girlies think? Surprised I'm a Rafe girl too? Idk what to think ab the smut.. Part 2?

Tag-list*:･ﾟ✧ @cali-888, @bee-43, @jjscoquette, @melsbels-zip, @stanseventeen

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coochiequeens · 1 year ago

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What these freaks did to those kids is cruel and unusual.

Madagascar will surgically castrate paedophiles under new law approved by MPs it is revealed - days after Kazakhstan announced same plan

A minister spoke in favour of the law saying: 'society must know what they did'

By ED HOLT

PUBLISHED: 14:29 EST, 7 February 2024

Madagascar's parliament has approved a new law which will see paedophiles surgically castrated for their crimes.

The new law comes just days after Kazakhstan announced a similar law where the country's worst offending child sex offenders will have their genitals surgically removed.

On February 2 Madagascar's parliament, The National Assembly, approved a law which legalised the castration of child rapists.

The old law stated that those found guilty of raping a minor would face between five and 20 years of forced labour.

However, this new law states that those found guilty of raping a child under ten-years-old will be surgically castrated and sentenced to life imprisonment. While if the victim is between ten and 13-years-old, they will instead be chemically castrated and face 15 to 20 years of forced labour. If the rapist is also a minor they will escape castration.

Madagascar's Minister of Justice Landy Randriamanantenasoa spoke in favour of the bill. She said: 'Society must know what they did and who they are'

Ms Randriamanantenasoa has rebuked similar criticism about respect for human rights by saying Madagascar is a sovereign country. This comes after Amnesty criticised the bill

Minister of Justice Landy Randriamanantenasoa spoke in favour of the bill. Le Quotidien, a French language newspaper, reported that Ms Randriamanantenasoa said: 'Society must know what they did and who they are.'

The bill was proposed by the President of Madagascar, Andry Rajoelina, last month and was one of his key campaign promises during his re-election bid last year.

International organisations have criticised the new law. The BBC reports that in a statement, Tigere Chagutah, Amnesty's regional director for east and southern Africa, said: 'In Madagascar, rape cases remain under-reported, and perpetrators often go free due to the victims' and their families' fear of retaliation, stigmatisation, and a lack of trust in the judicial system.

'Implementing chemical and surgical castration, which constitutes cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment, as a punishment for those found guilty of raping minors will not solve this and is inconsistent with Malagasy constitutional provisions against torture and other ill-treatment, as well as regional and international human rights standards.'

Ms Randriamanantenasoa has rebuked similar criticism about respect for human rights by saying Madagascar is a sovereign country.

The tighten of the law in Kazakhstan follows the death of Erkezhan Nurmakhan, five, who was lured to a paedophile's house after he offered her money for an ice cream

Saidolim Gayibnazarov, 48, who had previous convictions, was sentenced to life in jail and chemical castration

Kazakhstan announced its own draft law to remove paedophiles genitals on February 6 following complaints from MPs that the current law where paedophiles are chemically castrated was not deterring child sex offenders.

The tighten of the law follows the death of Erkezhan Nurmakhan, five, who was lured to a paedophile's house after he offered her money for an ice cream.

Saidolim Gayibnazarov, 48, who had previous convictions, was sentenced to life in jail and chemical castration.

Deputy Interior Minister of Kazakhstan, Igor Lepikha, said surgical castration was 'controversial'.

'In terms of ethics and the human side of the issue it is very complicated indeed.

'Moreover, we speak about these criminals being locked up for life - so there is no point in [castration] then.'

#Madagascar #Kazakhstan #Madagascar's Minister of Justice Landy Randriamanantenasoa #President of Madagascar Andry Rajoelina #Of course Amnesty would criticised the bill #Shut up Tigere Chagutah #Rest In Peace Erkezha Nurmakhan age 5

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defectiveporcelaindoll · 8 months ago

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Chapter II : Guilty as Sin

“If long-suffering propriety is what the want from me—

They don’t know how you’ve haunted me so stunningly.”

series masterlist Chapter I

pairing: post prison/ cm:evolution Spencer Reid x BAU AFAB!Reader (I like to think this is where Spencer is during the current seasons.)

summary: an unsub with a taste for couples and power imbalances leads Doctor Spencer Reid not only back into the classroom but down the hypothetical aisle with the BAU's newest Probie for an undercover assignment that may change his life.

genre: slow-burn romance, hurt/comfort, fluffy angsty

cw: age gap (Spencer is in his 40s, reader is 24), a couple y/n's (I'm sorry, I know I'm sick of it too.), fake marriage, hurt/comfort, harsh words and gossip about reader and Spence; info-dumping Spencer; pet names (angel) possibly eventual smut in later parts, female reader she/her pronouns, bad writing! lemme know if I missed anything and as always, lemme know what you think!

note: still third person pov, but this one is more from the readers perspective. Thinking maybe I’ll go back and forth between chapters if you see a quote in purple it’s readers perspective, if the quote is green it’ll be Spencer’s 🩵

wordcount: 2.1k

Of course, Penelope did not disappoint, popping a tiny confetti popper at the newlyweds as they made their way out of the conference room and into the bullpen, which felt like an awkward makeshift reception. The rest of the team offered playful congratulations, with Alvez going so far as to wolf-whistle and point out the way the couple's linked hands which in turn earned him a swift knock on the back of the head courtesy of Tara. It felt safe and joyous. Y/N tried to smile, hesitantly dropping Spencer’s hand as she collected her things, the anxiety of being away from these people, from her home and normal life, just starting to settle into her chest.

The flight to Seattle was long. Though Y/N had traveled by jet multiple times, it had never felt so massive as she and Spencer sat at the small table combing through the case file in comfortable silence. So far, three couples had been found dead in their quiet Seattle homes. Of the couples, two of the men had been professors at different colleges in the area while the third was the head of a non-profit organization. The women, were all nearly twenty years young and had worked for their husbands in some way before being married. At each crime scene, the unsub left a calling card of sorts. A feather in the hands of the woman and a beautifully written poetic line alluding to the dangers of an “unruly” woman in the hand of the man.

“These cards are beautiful,” Y/N mused, turning the evidence bag with the delicate stationery over in her hands. “Each line is poetic in nature but not quite right. See, ‘Wise men once said Wild winds are death to the candle’? And these feathers?”

“I don’t think any of these are actual published poems, more like plays at various poets' works. But the feather, by the look of it, it looks like it’s possibly from an albatross. They’re seabirds with wingspans that can reach up to nearly ten feet. There are several poems regarding that particular bird. The first one that comes to mind is Samuel Taylor Coleridge’s ‘The Rime of Ancient Mariner,’ in which an albatross is wrongfully shot down because a mariner thought it to be a bad omen. In older mythologies, the albatross was seen as good luck, bringing wind to sailors. In the poem, the mariner is forced to wear the lifeless albatross around his neck in place of the traditional cross.” There’s an excitement in Spencer that y/n hasn’t seen before, the way his eyes light up and his hand flail almost wildly. It’s endearing— cute she would almost say.

“It’s not a super common metaphor, but the albatross is also often used in association with guilt or shame,” Spencer continued, sitting back in his chair, eyes looking anywhere but at the woman in front of him. “Some authors use it to symbolize a curse…sorry.” He cleared his throat, shaking his head, his curls hanging gently around his face as he dropped his gaze back down to the file on the table.

“No-no, don’t apologize. That was all incredibly fascinating. I knew you are wildly academic, but why exactly do you know all of that about some random bird I’ve never even heard of?” Y/N's tone wasn’t teasing or harsh; it was full of genuine sincerity and curiosity, which took Spencer completely by surprise.

“My mentor… when I started at the BAU, he had a thing with birds,” Spencer chuckled, offering a small shrug as his gaze came back to meet hers. “I guess I just really wanted to impress him.” The jet fell back into a comfortable silence, except for the rustling papers, for another hour until Y/N decided she’d had enough and retreated to the small couch to rest her eyes for a bit.

The drive from the airport to the university was quick. The house they’d been assigned was cute, small, quaint, but certainly big enough for a professor and their spouse to be comfortable. There was an office for Spencer, a decently sized kitchen, and a living room that opened up to a sweet little patio. Truly, there should’ve been no complaints. As Y/N entered the bedroom, she frowned, her go-bag in hand as she shuffled around the nicely sized room, sizing up the singular king-sized bed. A knock at the bedroom door pulled her from her thoughts.

Spencer cleared his throat, his eyes falling between the bed and the woman in front of him before nodding. “Don’t worry, you can take the master if you’d like. The office has a pullout, and I really don’t mind.”

“That’s ridiculous. You can sleep here—we can...” her voice going up an octave as she tried and failed to play it cool. “It’s not a big deal, Spencer. We’re both adults.” She shrugged, tossing her bag onto the bed and turning to sit at its foot, her arms crossed tightly against her chest. Spencer read her like a book, seeing the young woman in front of him in the midst of a battle with herself, her pride and anxiety both fighting for control, though he knew she’d likely never admit that.

“Really, I’m okay. Thank you, though. I’ll be in my office if you need me.” He gave her a tight-lipped smile and a little wave before retreating down the hall.

For the next week or so, the duo did their best to make the space feel like a home. What it lacked in size, it surely made up for it in atmosphere. For a state that had a nasty rap for rain and gloom, it was surprisingly peaceful. There hadn’t been any rain yet, and the summer sun stayed up well into the night. There were moments where Y/N caught herself thinking that had it not been for work, this would be a really nice life.

When the semester started, they fell into a comfortable routine. During the day, Y/N carried the full course load of a grad student, while Spencer spent most of his time tucked away in his on-campus office, prepping lectures and reviewing assignments. At night, the real work would begin as they’d sit at their quaint little dining table with a pot of coffee or take-out containers and go over any developments in the case that the team had found back in DC. In the two weeks they’d been in Seattle, the body count thankfully hadn’t gone up.

As the weeks went on, the rumblings of the new “hot” behavioral psychology professor spread like wildfire. Those rumors were quickly followed by the fact that he was not only married, but his wife was a student. It didn't take long for people to begin connecting the dots. With every professor calling out her name and immediately sizing her up, the other students caught on fast. Of course, after that, y/n became hyper aware the way almost everyone looked at her and the whispers from professors and students alike that she was “the girl,” the reason Doctor Reid had to move out west. She’d expected it from the students; it was incredible gossip that she herself would’ve eaten up back in her first round of university. What she hadn’t expected were the comments made by her partner's new colleagues, whispers usually a little too loud as she’d make her way into a room.

“She really should be ashamed of herself. You know, I heard he only married her to minimize the scandal. I bet he’s miserable.”

On a normal day, the comment would’ve rolled right off her back, she’d file it away with the rest of the case's details. Maybe she was overtired just exhausted from the workload of simultaneously playing a grad student and an FBI agent, but today, she let the words seep beneath her skin, poisoning her mind. She hadn’t stayed for the class, instead turning on her heels, tears threatening to roll down her cheeks as she made her way back to the house. She felt absolutely ridiculous, letting her emotions consume her this way. The words weren’t true, nothing about her current life or situation was true, so why did it hurt so much hearing that people thought Spencer was miserable beside her?

Am I allowed to cry?

When she entered the house, she crumbled against the door, the tears freely flowing as she allowed herself to fall apart in the privacy of the home that was supposed to be empty.

“Y/N?” Spencer called, his footsteps echoing against the hardwood floors as he made his way down the hall. “What’re you doing here? Aren’t you supposed to be in class?” He froze at the end of the hall, taking in the crumpled form of his pseudo-wife. “W-what happened? Are you okay? Are you hurt?” The words came rushing out as he sunk to his knees in front of her, his hands hesitantly reaching out to cup her cheeks, his thumb trying to brush the tears away as quickly as they fell.

“I-I’m fine... You-you weren’t supposed to see this,” she sniffed, trying to pull away, to hide her face in her sweater, but Spencer wouldn’t let that happen. His hand staying planted firmly on her cheek, keeping her in place. “You’re supposed to be in your office...” she said, practically whimpering as another round of tears betrayed her.

“I came home to grab a book and a bite to eat... angel, what’s going on?”

“It’s silly—no, it’s stupid, and I shouldn’t even care, and none of this is real, and I—I...” She caught herself, her breaths coming short and quick, but Spencer didn’t move. He sat, patiently waiting for her to continue. “I know that it’s a story, that I am not really your wife, that you were never really my professor, and that six months ago you didn’t even know who I was.” Finally, she took a deep breath, her hand slowly taking his from her cheek and holding it in both of hers in her lap. “But it’s so awful, Spence... I’m just so tired of hearing how I’ve ruined your life, that I’m using you, that...” The last words caught in her throat as another silent sob racked through her body. “...that you’re miserable.”

“Hey, hey, hey. Do I look miserable? No, I don’t think I do and if I do, I sincerely apologize, I think it just may be my resting face.” his voice dripped the kind of sincerity that made Y/N’s heart flutter, a faint smile tugging at the corner of her lip. “You’ve got a good face Spencer, not too miserable…”

Spencer chuckled, taking the compliment with a little nod, as he offered her hand a small squeeze. “I’m sorry, you’re going through this seemingly alone, and if it would make you feel any better I can have a conversation with the other professors… and though I’ve never been in your exact position, I do remember what it was like to constantly be torn down by everyone around you. You’re allowed to cry, angel, allowed to feel all of the things you’re currently feeling. And while I might only be your temporary husband, I did sign that paper, and I do promise to take care of you and make you smile and protect you from every awful thing I can’t control outside that door. Okay?”

She nodded, her gaze falling to their joined hands in her lap as the last of her tears stained her now rosy cheeks.

“I’m going to need a verbal response, angel.” His tone shifted; it wasn’t quite as delicate or gentle as his previous vows had been, but it was just stern enough to draw her gaze back up to his.

Without ever touching his skin, how can I be guilty as sin?

“Y-yes. Okay.” With another nod, she took her hand from his, dragging it down her dampened cheeks. “I’m sorry about all this.” She offered him a small smile and a shrug. “I swear I’m not usually like this—”

“Stop it. There is nothing to be sorry about.” He rose to his feet, his hand immediately reaching out to help his partner up. “Now come on, I’ve got classes to cancel, and we’ve gotta get you cleaned up. I think we deserve to take the rest of the day off.”

“Doctor Spencer Reid, are you—are you proposing we play hooky this afternoon?” Y/N clutched her metaphorical pearls, mock shock consuming her features. Spencer rolled his eyes, a genuine chuckle passing his lips as he shook his head.

“What can I say, we’ve been here—what, going on three weeks? I think we deserve to see the sights. And besides, how else am I gonna show the world just how miserable I am by your side?” He teased, leaning in to press a gentle kiss to the side of her head. “Now come on, seriously, up, moving. Let’s go, I’m taking you out.”

“If it’s make-believe, why does it feel like a vow we’ll both uphold somehow?”

Chapter III: So High School

taglist: @olives-and-sunshine @iniyalovesall @suzysface @spencereidbasis @tatilolz @herbookgarden @guiltyyassin

#mgg #spencer reid #criminal minds #criminal minds evolution #criminal minds posting #doctor spencer reid #spencer reid imagine #spencer reid angst #spencer reid x y/n #spencer reid fanfiction #spencer reid x reader #spencer reid x you #spencer reid fic #spencer reid fluff

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sanakiras · 9 months ago

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LIAR, LIAR! [TEASER]

PAIRING — kim mingyu x reader

WORD COUNT — 1.4k (full fic will be 20k+)

RELEASE DATE — TBA, will probably take a while!

SYNOPSIS — in a dramatic turn of events, a rich businessman is found dead in his lavish estate, and the authorities believe it was no accident. as the detectives dig deeper, they ultimately end up with two key suspects: you, the businessman’s very own daughter, and your sworn enemy, kim mingyu. as the time progresses, tensions rise and secrets spill — and the truth has the power to either bring you closer together or tear you apart.

TAGS — murder mystery, rich rivals to partners in crime to lovers, whole lotta plot, dark comedy if u ask me, explicit sexual content, somewhat graphic depictions of death, everyone and everything is dysfunctional™, mentions of suicide, moral compass is nowhere to be found, angst

♪ aquartos - crystal city,, verydeadly - wolves (kanye west cover),, blue foundation - eyes on fire (4 ave version),, low - dancing and blood,, vessel - red sex

NOTE — one of my favorite episodes of going seventeen remains bad clue 2020, i loved mingyu’s role in it and i could totally see him portraying darker/morally grey characters and rock tf out of it so. i wrote this solely based on that idea. enjoy :D

i. TWO WEEKS SINCE THE MURDER

the interrogation room is unnecessarily bright, the noise of the water dispenser in the corner and the flickering led light above you running through your ears. the chair you’re seated on is uncomfortable, though it’s nothing compared to the tension you feel as the man in front of you treats you like you’re guilty of something.

“on september 2nd, sometime around six o’clock, your father reportedly got unwell, so he left his office early, choosing to do the rest of his paperwork at home. according to the information we got from the gps tracker in his car, he went straight home, took no detours. he arrived at your family estate thirty minutes later. then at eight o’clock, the police received a call from you, saying your father’s hung himself.”

you stare at the the inspector whose name you did not bother remembering before waving with your hand. “i’m aware. i’ve heard the recap of events many times at this point. this isn’t the first time i’m being interrogated, surprisingly enough.”

with a puzzled look, he raises his brow at you. “you don’t think you should be a suspect?”

“no, i don’t.”

“at the time of the incident, you were home, as well as two members of the staff. since the staff were on their dinner break and you were apparently in your room, it’s hard to say what happened, since there were no witnesses.”

“do you mind me asking why you think it’s murder and not just a suicide?”

he’s intrigued by the way you discuss the topic so casually. “your father was an important man. wouldn’t you want to know who killed him if that is the case?”

“sure. i’d thank them.” you smile at him, the hatred for your father shining through. “believe me, inspector — my father was a miserable man who surrounded himself with other miserable people. i wasn’t there by choice.”

“did he treat you badly, then?” he continues, trying to pry any information out of you.

you can only sigh. “i was his daughter by blood only. that’s all.”

with your demeanor softening into something sadder, the inspector’s tone changes into something different. “aside from you, and the staff, of course, we do have another suspect who we think could have something to do with your father’s death.”

that sparks your interest. “who?”

the inspector grabs his small pile of documents to pull a printed photo out of it, putting it before you. you visibly frown, because the person on the photo is someone you’re unfortunately awfully familiar with.

“kim mingyu is a suspect? seriously?” you ask, completely in shock. ironically, he’s the last person you’d suspect in a scenario like the one you currently find yourself in.

“what can you tell me about him?”

“he’s a year younger than me. we went to the same high school, same university, have some of the same friends. though all of that is relatively common in our social circle.”

“anything else?”

keeping the insults to yourself for now, you press your lips together. “our parents are good friends. well, were, now that my father’s gone. mingyu and i hate eachother to the bone, though.”

“any particular reason why?”

“i’m not sure where it started… there’s just something off about him. it’s always been there. he’s—beyond arrogant. always showing off his looks, his wealth, his charm, his intelligence. everything. he insults me, i insult him. we simply don’t get along, never have. nothing you haven’t seen before, i’m sure.”

the inspector raises his brow. “i think you may have left something out.”

“such as?”

his hand moves into the blue folder sitting on the table, taking another photo out of it, holding it up before you. “your father was often spotted with him. at events, business meetings — you name it. matter of fact, your father seemed to be accompanied by kim mingyu more than anyone else. which is interesting, considering you are his only child.”

your gaze turns sour, voice softer yet more hateful than before. “don’t tell me this is the reason i’m a suspect.”

“let’s just say it doesn’t make you look good.”

“you really believe i murdered my own father in cold blood because he cared more about kim mingyu than he ever did about me? that’s pathetic and ridiculous.”

“you wouldn’t be the first. it’s a plausible story.”

scoffing at the accusation, you shake your head. “we’re done here. the moment you have an actual lead, i’ll talk, but not like this. i’m still here grieving and you’re accusing me of being the culprit.” you get up in anger, taking your bag with you before slamming the door shut, not bothering to listen to what the man is trying to tell you to make you stay.

this whole shit-train started two weeks ago. your father was found dead in your childhood home, hung by a rope around his neck. instead of calling it a death by suicide, the police apparently have enough reason to suspect it was a homicide.

you’ve been questioned several times in the past few weeks, but there’s been a gradual shift in the behavior of the inspector and his handimen — they’re treating you like a suspect now.

which you are, for whatever reason. they have yet to come up with any actual evidence.

your contact in the police force mentioned to you that you’re not just any suspect — you’re one of the two main suspects.

and that is unsettling, especially when you discovered who else is.

as you go down the hall, you suddenly lock eyes with kim mingyu himself, who’s leaning against the wall with his hands in the pockets of his trousers. a few strands of hair hover by his cheeks, framing his strong features.

“what the fuck are you doing here?” you ask in a rather hostile manner, the scowl on your face deepening.

his lips part before he starts explaining. “they wanted to talk to me. again.”

“haven’t you heard the rumors, gyu?” you mockingly use the nickname, taking a step closer to him, “they’re saying there’s a possibility you killed him.”

your arch-nemesis looks back at you with a furrowed brow. “that’s ridiculous.”

“is it? you were always with him… it’s perhaps the only thing that makes sense in all of this.”

he seems offended you’d even insinuate something like that. “it’s really the other way around, though. you’re the one who hated him. i had nothing against the man.”

it’s true that you and your father didn’t exactly get along, especially the past few years, to put it lightly. you always considered him to be greedy, cold and unforgiving, and you certainly didn’t cry the moment they told you he had passed away.

“no, we all know how much you liked him,” you hardly make an effort to hide your disdain, “but they must not believe that, considering you’re just as much of a suspect as i am.”

he clenches his jaw. “i’m not guilty.”

“neither am i.”

it’s quiet for a moment as you’re both unsure of what to say next, a rarity between you.

a few years ago, your father mentioned you and mingyu could make a good pair. you proceeded to laugh in his face.

mingyu is a constant reminder of what you could be, and that’s the last thing you need in your life.

“if i find out you’re somehow involved in this—”

instead of immediately refuting the statement, he narrows his eyes at you. “then what?”

you realize you need to be careful with your words here — you can’t throw around threats to kill people as the top suspect in a murder investigation. “i’ll make sure you pay for it. they might buy your little golden-boy act, but i sure as shit don’t. i never have.”

a smirk subtly tugs at his lips as he leans more down, eyes flicking lower before they meet yours again. “i’d be careful with my words if i were you,” he firmly tells you, his lashes fluttering, “there’s always someone watching.”

only now do you take notice of how close you’re standing to him, and you look behind you, seeing the inspector that just interrogated you observing you and mingyu from a distance.

so you push yourself away from him, giving him a last glare before walking away.

mingyu’s eyes remain on you until you move past the corner. he only moves from his spot once you’re gone from his field of view, greeting the inspector with a kind smile.

if you’d like to be tagged in this once it’s released, leave a comment! <3

® SANAKIRAS — do not repost, remake or copy my work in any way whatsoever. translations are not allowed.

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the-scarlet-witch-22 · 1 year ago

Text

Love and Liabilities: Chapter Three (Agatha Harkness x Fem!Reader)

Summary: Upon starting your last year of law school, imagine your surprise when the woman from your one night stand turns out to be your professor.

Word Count: 6.1k

Tags: 18+ Minors Do Not Engage!! Light sexual situations (very light)

A/N: Hello! I got a bit carried away with this chapter, but I’m battling a head cold so I’m just posting all of it. I’d like to warn that I am: 1) not a lawyer & 2) not a law student (yet 🤧)… so I did some brief research on things, but I am not an expert!! I hope you enjoy this chapter, and feel free to let me know what you think. Thank you for reading!

Tag-List: @aggieslittleslut @gilmorelivie @harknessshi @neverfindmegone @ris-ris-mind @sabstance-blog @tr333sus

There was a special moment in every person’s life that made them reconsider all of their past choices. For you, that moment happened while sitting in the middle of a lecture hall, wondering how the hell the woman from your first one night stand turned out to be your professor. If this was the universe’s way of being funny you were seriously missing the joke.

Agnes, no, Agatha, you mentally corrected yourself, was passing around a seating chart, and you were fixated on her every move around the lecture hall. There was something so hypnotizing about her, but you couldn’t pinpoint what it was. The most obvious answer, of course, was that she had just fucked your brains out a few days ago, and the hormones were clouding your judgement. Flashes of her body pressing yours into the mattress as she whispered pure filth in your ear, driving you to an orgasmic high had you shifting uncomfortably in your seat. As if she could read your thoughts, you noticed her inquisitive eyes meet yours. But as quickly as she graced you with her attention, she looked away.

“Now, I know most of your professors use syllabus week as an excuse to put off lecturing, but we’re going to be diving right into the corrupt, filthy world of criminal defense law.” Agatha’s voice rang out through the lecture hall, and you saw a few of your classmates' shoulders slump at her words. “The purpose of this class is to make you question your morals; to rethink any existing ethical values you currently hold.”

Agnes-Agatha, was so well-spoken, and you found yourself hanging onto her every word. Her perfectly painted red lips were mesmerizing to watch as they twisted to form various syllables, and you were having a rather difficult time focusing on her lecture.

Standing in the center of the hall, Agatha held her hands by her side, and you watched her fingers slipping inside her pants pockets. “I want you to take every preconceived notion you have regarding criminal defense and erase it. When you’re a criminal defense attorney, it doesn’t matter if your client is innocent or guilty. It doesn’t matter if they are on trial for petty theft, or for first degree murder.”

She turned her attention to the PowerPoint being displayed on the huge screen, and you, alongside your very disgruntled classmates, pulled out your laptops to take notes. “The biggest mistake you can make in the courtroom is taking the time to care if your client actually committed the crime. That doesn’t matter. I don’t care what any professor or prosecutor will tell you; ignore them. We don’t care if someone is a criminal, but we do care about the motive. Why would someone commit a crime of that nature? What would lead them to have to behave that way?”

A few of your classmates appeared surprised at the professor’s words, but Agatha continued on. “To win over a judge or jury you need to not only be able to rationalize, but clearly justify why the motives lead to the actions of the accused. Nothing in life is ever black and white, there’s always an obscene amount of gray mixed in.”

Leaning back against her desk, Agatha clicked through the slide show. “Now, I don’t typically begin this until a few weeks into the semester, but you’re all 3L’s, yes? You should be up for a challenge on the first day.”

Not waiting for verbal confirmation, she pushed herself off the desk, pointing to someone sitting in the front row. “I see my seating chart is still floating around somewhere so, you, what’s your name?”

A petite girl with sleek blonde hair pulled back in a braid apprehensively looked at Agatha. “Blair Lange, Professor Harkness.”

“Well Miss Lange, you’re going to be my prosecutor.” Agatha gave her a rather menacing smirk. “If you’d join me, please.”

Looking around the room, she spotted the seating chart and went to retrieve it. Her eyes scanned the page, and you were captivated with the sight of her long index finger tracing along the various rows filled with names. “Hmmm, let’s see.” Agatha drawled out, voice sickly sweet like honey. “Who’s going to be my next victim?”

It seemed the universe was keen on laughing at you today, as you heard her call your name, slowly drawing out each syllable. Lovely. Rising from your chair, you felt dozens of pairs of eyes on you as you descended the stairs, but there was only one set that you were focused on. Agatha was observing you with an indecipherable expression on her face, and you felt your cheeks deepen in color at the prolonged eye contact.

“So class, we have our prosecution, and our defense,” She motioned to you, signaling for you to come closer to her, and she handed you each a packet. “I’m going to be the judge. I want you both to look at the following slides I have printed detailing the case and determine how you would have handled this.”

Blair’s face paled at that, and you couldn’t blame her. Cold calling was intimidating enough, but a mock trial on the first day was not exactly how you imagined starting your morning. There were a lot of misconceptions regarding law school; a lot of law students, yourself included, had no interest being in a courtroom. Corporate law dealt with complex contracts and deals for major companies, something you preferred working with. This was nowhere near what you wanted to practice, but it seemed Agatha simply didn’t care.

Agatha strolled back to her desk, leaving you both to read the information provided to you. Flipping through the pages, you noted how the case involved a woman being charged with attempted grand theft and attempted assault of the business owner.

From a first glance, there didn’t seem to be much for you to even argue. The defendant was a former employee of the aforementioned business, and had been fired mere hours before the incident. But, there were a few interesting details. The defendant had no priors, and, from what you were reading, multiple eyewitnesses reported the business owner pulling a gun on them. Your eyes were locked on one particular paragraph, and you remembered what Agatha had just said, about obscene amounts of gray.

Blair, for her part, looked fairly uncertain, and kept casting nervous glances towards the professor. Agatha ignored her, and after a few moments she clapped her hands together. “Alright, let’s begin. Now, all I want from the two of you is to have a lively debate on how you would take the information given to argue your side. You don’t have to use the argument given on the page, you can choose a different route if you have sufficient evidence to support. Miss Lange, why don’t you get us started.”

Clearing her throat, Blair looked down at the papers, and you noted how her hands were so unsteady they were shaking. “Right. Well I would argue that the prosecution proceeds with both attempted grand theft and assault against the defendant.”

Rolling her eyes, Agatha let out a deep sigh. “Miss Lange, I’m not asking you to read verbatim what is on the sheet in front of you. When looking at court documents, it is essential to not only be able to read what is given but to be able to put it in your own words.”

Blair kept her eyes glued to the page and Agatha shook her head in disapproval. “Fine, I’ll let it slide for now. If the defense could keep us going, let’s keep it snappy.”

Taking a deep breath, you looked up at Agatha. “The defense is pleading not guilty to attempted assault and grand theft.”

You noticed Blair looked up in surprise at your statement, as that was not printed in the court documents, while Agatha merely raised her eyebrows, turning her attention towards you. “Not guilty? Why?”

“The plaintiff stated in their testimony that both the attempted assault and grand theft were unprovoked, but the defense is arguing that both of these allegations have mitigating circumstances that I’d argue are grounds for immediate dismissal.”

Blair shuffled the papers around, and she appeared uncomfortable. “Professor Harkness, that’s not listed anywhere in here.”

Agatha held up a hand, signaling for Blair to stop talking. “Defense, if you could proceed.”

You could feel butterflies begin to flutter in your stomach as you realized you were taking a rather large leap in judgment. “On behalf of my client, I’m looking to not only have these charges dropped, but to formally charge the plaintiff with wrongful termination.”

“Does the prosecution have anything to add?” Agatha questioned, folding her arms across her chest.

“I’m not sure where to even begin, Professor.” Blair admitted, and you felt a quick twinge of pity for her, briefly wondering if perhaps you should dial it back.

Agatha frowned, and you could immediately tell she was displeased with that answer. “You don’t know where to begin? That’s the answer you’re going with?”

Blair remained silent, and Agatha took a deep breath. “My, my, you’ve completed two years of law school and you don’t know where to begin. Is there anything constructive you can add to this debate, Miss Lange?”

Stammering, Blair shook her head, looking anywhere but at your professor. “No, I don’t.”

“Disappointing.” Agatha admitted, and her eyes narrowed, pointing to the door. “Get out.”

Your classmate’s eyes widened, and you felt that twinge of pity grow even larger.

“Professor Harkness, please. I didn’t-” Blair stammers.

“Get out of my class. Now.” Agatha repeated, her tone growing more agitated with each word. “And don’t come back until you’re adequately prepared.”

The hall was dead quiet, and you were too shocked to know how to react, or if you even should. Nearly all of your classmates were dumbfounded as well, this wasn't a normal occurrence in classes. A lot of your former law professors were strict and had extremely high expectations of their students; endless hours of case studies and readings, roasting students who froze during cold calls, you name it. However, you had never witnessed one of them kick a student out of class, least of all during syllabus week.

To her credit, Blair left with a lot more grace than you could have mustered in her shoes. She swiftly grabbed her belongings and hurried out of the lecture hall, the sound of the doors slamming shut reverberated across the walls.

Agatha paid no mind to the noise, her focus was entirely on you, deep blue eyes narrowing ever so slightly. “There is no direct evidence suggesting that the plaintiff is guilty of wrongful termination, is there?”

Your eyes flickered between the papers in your hands and the alluring woman in front of you. “Not in those exact words, no.”

Agatha let out a low hum, taking a small step closer to you. “So you’re basing your argument off of what exactly? Intuition?”

A few of your classmates snickered, but you ignored them.

Shaking your head, you tried to muster any remaining confidence you could find. “No. I’m basing it off the written testimonials by four different employees, stating that the defendant showed up late on the day of the incident because they were at a previously scheduled doctor’s appointment.”

“But there’s nothing to support that the defendant was fired because they were late. Much less, that they were wrongfully terminated for it.” Agatha skillfully argued, poking holes in your theory with ease. “How do we know that they didn’t have a history of showing up late to work? Having an incomplete argument guarantees the prosecution will tear you to shreds, you need something more absolute.”

“That’s true.” You admitted, and took a pause before adding, “I think the defendant being pregnant makes things a bit more absolute though, doesn’t it?”

Agatha’s face remained expressionless as she slowly raised her left arm up, index finger tapping against her cheek. “Is that a question or your statement?”

Without hesitating you replied, “My statement.”

“And how do you plan on proving that the defendant was not only fired due to their pregnancy, but that both counts of attempted grand theft and assault should be dropped?” Agatha questioned, and it looked as if she was actively trying to restrain herself from stepping closer to you, but surely you were imagining that.

“The defendant had absolutely no priors, and they don’t have a history of being fired from previous employers.” You pointed out, setting your papers down on Agatha’s desk. “They had previously cleared coming in late in order to go to a scheduled doctor’s appointment, and it was stated that when they showed up to work that the plaintiff fired them. Written testimonials from multiple employees stated the plaintiff said it was unacceptable for the defendant to show up late, despite them approving the time off.”

Agatha’s lips pursed as she processed what you were saying. “You’re making an awful lot of assumptions. What of the attempted grand theft and assault?”

“Grand theft in the state of New York starts at $1,000. The defendant showed up at the business after they had been wrongfully terminated to request their pay from previous days worked, which would come out to around that amount.” You explained, hoping you had the right number. “As for the quoted attempted assault, no eyewitnesses noted the defendant raising even a finger to threaten the plaintiff. The latter, however, was seen pulling out a gun on the defendant, completely unprovoked.”

“And if the plaintiff claims it was self defense?” Agatha fired back with so much zest that you wondered how much she was enjoying this debate.

Tilting your head, you pondered her words. “Self defense against an unarmed pregnant woman? That won’t hold up well with the jury.”

“You’re certain this is the argument you want to back?” Agatha tested you again, her index finger moving from her cheek to lightly stroke her bottom lip, and you found yourself hypnotized by the motion. As if she could sense your distraction, her ever red lips tilted up to form a slight smirk.

“I’m certain.”

Her eyes bore into yours, searching for any hesitation or uncertainty. You held your own as much as you could, ignoring the flip flop of your nerves. Finally, after what felt like an eternity of waiting, she gave you a single nod, turning her attention back to the rest of the class.

“Not bad.” Agatha offered, and you immediately let out the breath you had been holding in. “A few of your arguments would have been thrown out, but you certainly appear to have the stamina for the courtroom.”

She gave you a subtle raised eyebrow at the last part of the sentence as you lightly blushed, confirming your suspicions she had most likely selected you on purpose. Heading back to your seat, you listened to her drone on to the rest of the class that everyone would eventually end up in the hot seat before the semester’s end.

“And it appears we are all out of time for the day.” Agatha announced, and nearly everyone let out a sigh of relief at that. “Come prepared to debate the best way to prepare an opening statement.”

Everyone eagerly filed out of the hall, but you lingered, slowly putting away your belongings. A few of your classmates congratulated you on surviving Agatha’s ruthless interrogations, and you merely offered them a brief thanks. Agatha also appeared to be in no hurry, as she leisurely shut down her laptop. You debated on if you should talk to her, if you should address the elephant in the room that you were both dancing around. Walking down the steps of the aisles, you were so wrapped up in your thoughts that you tripped on the last step and went flying forward.

Before you tumbled to the floor, swift hands wrapped around your waist and shoulder, helping steady you to the ground. As you went to thank your savior, you were surprised to find Agatha standing in front of you, bag dropped at her side.

“You’re always this clumsy, hm?” Agatha lightly quipped as she examined you. If you didn’t know any better you would say she was concerned. “Are you alright?”

“I’m fine, thanks.” You assured her, thankful she had been there to catch you. “Could I talk to you?” Looking around the room you noticed most of your classmates had left but you carefully added, “About the discussion in class?”

Agatha hesitated, and you wondered if you pushed too far, but after a moment she nodded. “I have some time now, my office?” She walked away before you could reply, swinging the doors open. “Try to keep up, and be careful not to trip.”

It didn’t take long for you to realize Agatha Harkness was quite feared in the law school. You lost track of the number of students who averted their gaze and scurried away as soon as they noticed her rounding the corner. It was almost amusing, at least Agatha seemed to think so, as she looked quite smug on the walk to her office. You made the trek in silence, and it eerily reminded you of a similar encounter you had shared with her only a few days prior. Upon reaching the office, Agatha quickly unlocked it, ushering you inside.

Agatha’s office was relatively spacious for a law professor, with high vaulted ceilings and large windows that allowed plenty of light in. The walls were adorned with large bookcases, filled to the brim with various titles ranging from Greek classics to biographies of different Supreme Court justices. She had a plethora of plants scattered around, and you learned from spending enough time in Maria’s office that Agatha knew how to properly water them. There was a large desk situated near the windows, with a high backed mahogany chair at the head.

Agatha took a seat, and pointed to two smaller seats on the other side of the desk. “Sit, please.”

You did as she instructed, taking note of the rather expensive looking whiskey near the corner of the desk as well as a few books the professor appeared to be reading. When you looked at her, you were unsurprised to find her curiously gazing at you.

“I assume you don’t actually want to discuss today’s class?” Agatha guessed, amusement evident in her tone.

“Not exactly.” You admitted, feeling another rush of nerves course through your system at finally being alone with her.

“Oh? Whatever did you want to talk about then?” Agatha bantered, leaning forward across her desk as she gave you an expectant look.

“Agatha…” Trailing off, you cleared your throat. “I mean, Professor Harkness.”

Frowning, Agatha reached her hand across the desk to brush against yours, chuckling as you jumped at the contact. “Just Agatha when we’re alone, dear.”

Nearly ripping your hand from hers, you folded them across your lap. “Professor Harkness, I really don’t feel comfortable calling you by your first name under these circumstances.”

Raising her eyebrows, Agatha leaned back in her chair. “Under what circumstances? After I just fucked you a few days ago and you just found out I was your professor?”

“Don’t say that!” You hissed, looking over your shoulder as if someone could have heard, despite the door being firmly shut.

“Honestly, dear, you aren’t the first girl to have slept with her professor, and you certainly won’t be the last.” Agatha stood up, walking over to an electric tea kettle she had on a bar cart. “Tea?”

Stunned by her casual response, you were at a loss for words. “You’re seriously asking me if I want tea?”

“Well I would ask if you would like some whiskey but I know drinking this early in the day is typically frowned upon.” Agatha jested, but upon noticing how upset you appeared she backed off. “Honestly, you didn’t know I was going to be your professor, I had no idea you would be walking in late to my lecture hall. No harm, no foul. No one has to know what happened.”

Her words made enough sense, and you reluctantly nodded. “I guess not.”

“It was just a one night stand, it didn’t mean anything in the grand scheme of things.” Agatha added, turning on her tea kettle, fingers raking over various mugs. “We can just forget it ever happened.”

You knew she was right, but you were surprised to find how much her words stung. “Right, well I’m glad we were able to clear that up.” Standing up, you grabbed your bag. “I shouldn’t take up anymore of your time. Thank you again, Professor Harkness, and I’ll see you in class.”

If Agatha was surprised by your abrupt exit, she didn’t show it. She nodded, pouring herself some tea. “It was my pleasure, dear.”

Leaving her office, you told yourself that you could relax and that Agatha was right, you could just forget that it ever happened.

Only it turned out the more you tried to forget something, the harder it was to put it out of your brain. The rest of your day was spent zoning out in the library. While you had wanted to get a head start on your hours of readings, instead you kept remembering the feel of Agatha’s body against yours, the taste of her tongue in your mouth. The feel of her long fingers tracing patterns on your inner thigh, her hot breath in your ear telling you how good you were for her. It was embarrassing, really.

Agatha made it quite clear in her office that it was a one night stand, and that it didn’t have to mean anything in the long run. But she continued to invade your every thought, until you inevitably lost track of time. The hours ticked by, and you knew studying in your apartment wouldn’t be any better. You normally had no trouble shutting out the rest of the world to focus on your class work, but there was something so magnetic about Agatha Harkness. This was wrong, and crazy, and you knew it. You had only spent one night with this woman, you barely knew her. But she was addictive, and she had somehow managed to rot your brain in the process.

Just as you finally started to get into your reading, you heard your phone ding. Letting out a disgruntled sigh, you shut your books for the evening and grabbed your phone, deciding it would be best to just try again in the morning. Scrolling through your notifications as you got ready to leave, you almost dropped your phone as you read the newest email in your inbox.

Not sure if you’re still on campus, but if you are, feel free to drop by my office. A few things I wanted to discuss from today’s class. -A

It was nearly dusk, and you watched the sun slowly begin to set over the Manhattan skyline, filling the sky with colorful hues of oranges, pinks, and purples. There were still plenty of people in the library, as a number of students had night classes, and you were frozen. Did Agatha know you were upset when you left? Was she going to ask you to drop her class?

As if you were in a trance, you mindlessly walked to the professor’s office, keeping your head low. You could feel your heartbeat, pounding so loud you feared it might explode through your chest as you reached her closed door.

Knocking twice, you waited for her captivating voice to tell you to enter. Upon doing so you found the woman who had taken over your every waking thought leaning against the windowsill of her office, sipping on a glass of what you presumed to be whiskey.

“Shut the door.” Agatha immediately requested, not offering you any other sort of greeting.

Gently closing the door as you entered, you lingered, unsure where to go or what you should do.

Agatha finally looked at you, and motioned to the whiskey on her desk. “Would you like a glass?”

“It’s probably best if I don’t.” You declined, once again remembering the last time you were drinking around her. “Thank you though.”

“You were upset by what I said earlier.” Agatha stated, setting her whiskey on the windowsill. She said it calmly and so matter of fact you almost wondered why she bothered saying it at all.

“I wasn’t upset.” You disagreed, but she gave you a pointed look in return as if to say bullshit.

“You were upset by what I said earlier.” Agatha repeated, stepping away from the windowsill. “Why?”

“I…I don’t know.” You replied, the lie burning like acid on your tongue, causing you to wince.

“You don’t know?” Agatha mimicked your words, and she seemed agitated as she began to walk towards you, closing the distance little by little. “You don’t know why you were upset?”

“Professor Harkness, I really don’t see why we have to go over all of this again-” You started to say until you were rudely cut off by a loud cackle.

“For an aspiring lawyer, you have an absolute shit poker face.” Agatha informed you, swarming in; you shivered as you were suddenly standing so close together that you were nearly face to face. “Why were you upset?”

Your face grew red from her scrutinizing gaze, and that only egged her on. “I think we both know why, don’t we, darling?” Leaning in until she was close enough to your ear, she leaned in to whisper, “You wanted me to fuck you again, didn’t you?”

“Professor Harkness, I…” You breathed out, feeling yourself grow dizzy, and you couldn’t remember anything but her name.

“I thought I told you to call me Agatha.” The professor gently reprimanded you, as her hand came up to cup the back of your neck, and you could smell the whiskey in her breath. “Just Agatha.”

As her tongue parted her luscious red lips, you lost any remaining functioning brain cells and closed the distance between you, frantically kissing her. Agatha tangled her fingers in your hair, tugging you impossibly closer. The professor was kissing you with fervor, and you slowly found yourself melting with every passionate movement of her lips. Her tongue slowly, teasingly, sought entrance to your mouth, which you granted without a second thought. You let out a series of quiet moans as her hands moved lower to cup your ass, greedily groping, and she chuckled at your reaction.

“So easy for me.” Agatha softly murmured against your lips, pulling back just enough to lead you to lean back against her desk.

You wanted to argue that no, you weren’t easy for her, but you both knew that was a lie. Her hands moved to remove the scarf you had been forced to wear as a result of the multitude of hickeys she had adorned your body with, and you watched her eyes darken at the sight.

“Well you certainly bruise easily.” Agatha teased, tracing every mark with her fingers, the overwhelming sensation causing you to whine. “And still so responsive. Fascinating.”

Thousands of thoughts were circulating in your brain, and every touch from Agatha made it harder for you to focus. Her lips attached to the side of your neck, immediately alternating between sucking and biting, lightly kissing each new mark she left. At this rate you were going to have to ask your roommates if they had any scarves you could borrow. Just as Agatha went to unbutton your pants, there was a loud thumping noise from the hallway, and you both leapt apart.

Panting, you felt a spike in your anxiety at the thought of being caught like this, even though rationally speaking you knew no one could possibly know what you were doing in here.

Agatha seemed to be having similar thoughts, as she straightened her jacket, clearing her throat. “Perhaps this isn’t the best place to continue this. Could I invite you for a night cap?”

In an attempt to get your breathing under control, you shook your head. “No, I think that would be a mistake.”

Shooting you a perplexed look, Agatha strolled over to the windowsill to pick up her whiskey. “A mistake? If I correctly recall you just kissed me, did you not?”

“You came on to me first!” You argued, and your brain appeared to be regaining consciousness as you remembered why this was such a bad idea. “I can’t risk this ruining things.”

“Someone certainly thinks highly of themselves.” Agatha dryly retorted, finishing off her whiskey and pouring herself another. “And what pray tell do you think this,” she motioned to you before continuing, “will ruin?”

“I have a job offer for next year.” You explained, and mentally cursed yourself for your lapse of judgment. “They never said fucking my professor would cause me to lose it, but I don’t think it would help my case.”

Agatha’s eyes shifted at that comment, and she let out a sigh. “And you’re worried about what, exactly? That we’ll give ourselves away and this unimportant firm will care so much about your deviousness that they’ll drop you?”

“It’s Stark & Strange.” You bluntly corrected her, not caring if you were being rude. “And I can’t really afford to fuck that up.”

You didn’t mention how literally you couldn’t afford to mess this up. Law school was expensive, and while you were granted a few scholarships to cover tuition, you still had to take out hundreds of thousands of dollars of loans. Plus not to mention the extra thousands you would have to spend in order to prepare for the bar. You were thankful your summer associate position paid so well, as you were able to pay for the majority of your rent for the year, but you weren’t exactly flush with cash. Working in corporate law would practically guarantee you opportunities you could never dream of having otherwise.

“Tony Stark is a dick, and I know for a fact he’s committed sins far worse than sleeping with his professor.” Agatha unhelpfully offered, but she appeared to sense how upset you were as she finally walked back over to you, setting her glass down on her desk before rubbing your shoulders. “No one is going to find out, dear. There’s really nothing to fret over.”

It was surreal, how one touch from her practically set your body ablaze with want. It was clear you were unable to control yourself when you were around the older woman. The thought of having to sit in that large lecture hall three times a week, watching her and obsessing over her every little move felt almost unbearable.

Hesitating for a brief moment, you moved your eyes to look at anything but her. “I think I need to drop your class.”

“Absolutely not.”

Frowning, you looked back to find her staring at you as if you said something incredibly stupid. “Why not? You have plenty of other students.”

“They’re morons.” Agatha insisted, rolling her eyes as if it was obvious.

Snorting, you shook your head at how dramatic she was. “Today was only the first day, how could you possibly know that?”

Agatha’s right hand gripped the desk, while her left absentmindedly played with your hair, gently stroking it. “I can just tell, I’m rather gifted that way.”

You couldn’t help but laugh. “And apparently very humble as well.”

Blue eyes sparkling, Agatha continued to twirl strands of your hair. “You have a lot of potential as a defense attorney. I saw it today during class. There’s a lot of fight in you, and passion. That’s not something that can be taught.”

Blushing at the compliment, you shook your head. “Thank you, but I really have no interest in being in a courtroom.”

Shrugging, Agatha dropped your hair, taking another small sip of her whiskey. “It never hurts to keep your options open.”

“I just don’t think this is a good idea.” You continued, keeping yourself grounded to reality. “I can’t…control myself around you.”

“But that’s half the fun, darling.” Agatha taunted, but showed you mercy as she went back to sit in her chair. “It’s ultimately up to you, but I think it would be a mistake to drop the class.”

Following her lead, you sat across from her, fidgeting your hands on your lap. “So what, then? We just avoid each other outside of class?”

Agatha shook her head in disagreement. “Too juvenile. Besides, that would just make it easier for us to give into temptation.”

She put a special emphasis on the last word, giving you a salacious grin, and you wiggled uncomfortably in your seat before you eventually responded. “I’m not seeing any other solutions besides me dropping your class and trying to get in another.”

“It’s far too late for you to get a spot in anything half decent.” Agatha insisted, and you knew she was right. At this point you’d have to take an extra class in the spring, and pay more money than you could currently afford. “Besides, I already have a solution.”

You looked at her, surprised at how quickly she had come up with something. “You do?”

“We’ll make a contract.” Agatha simply stated, and you stared blankly at her.

“A…contract?”

The professor deeply sighed, running her fingers back to unpin her hair, the dark curls messily framing her face. “Honestly, dear. Didn’t you spend the summer fawning over those big bad attorneys at Stark & Strange? Yes, a contract. We’ll each put our terms in and come up with an appropriate way to navigate this until the semester’s end in thirteen weeks.”

A contract. Hm. It was a bit cliche, sure, but you couldn’t think of anything better.

But still, you were curious to what extent Agatha intended to try and make this work. “What exactly would we be putting in the contract?”

Agatha shrugged. “This and that. No sex, obviously.” She gave you an inquisitive glance. “Unless you feel differently?”

Flashes of her fingers curling and twisting inside you had you squirming again. “No, I think that’s definitely necessary.”

Grinning like a cat that ate the canary, Agatha smugly replied with, “I thought so. Given your particular lack of self control, perhaps we could eliminate anything…carnal, hm?”

Glaring at her, you wondered where she got the audacity. “I don’t think it’s just me that’s lacking control, but that’s probably wise.” Another thought crossed your mind, and you quickly added, “Then again, we never did discuss the Agnes of it all, did we? Do you really think you’re important enough to need to give people a fake name?”

“You’re quite cheeky for someone who was practically begging me to fuck her in my office.” Agatha shot back, and shook her head. “Do you not give yourself an alias when you talk to strangers?”

Enjoying the banter, you gave a thoughtful expression before eventually saying, “No, I don’t think most people do that.”

Agatha narrowed her eyes, and she seemed unamused. “Safety, dear. For all I knew, you could have been a serial killer.”

You gave her a wide, innocent smile. “No, I just turned out to be your student.”

“You're not supposed to make jokes.” Agatha informed you, swirling the remaining whiskey in her glass. “Most lawyers aren’t funny.”

Ignoring her, you changed the subject. “And what is going to happen at the end of the semester?” You curiously eyed her, unsure what her response would be, or even what you wanted it to be.

“We’ll reevaluate of course.” Agatha explained, before adding with a smirk. “That is, if you pass my class.”

“Of course.”

“So do we have a deal?” Holding her hand out, you quickly realized she wanted you to shake it.

You reached out to firmly grab her hand, and her fingers intertwined with yours, blue eyes twinkling with mischief.

“We have a deal.”

Releasing your hand, she pulled out a post-it note, messily scribbling something down before sliding it over to you. “That’s my cell and personal email. Send me your terms by tomorrow night and we’ll put something together.”

Taking the post-it, your eyes scanned the writing before carefully pocketing it. “Right, thanks. I guess I should be going?”

Nodding, Agatha stood up to walk you to the door. Meeting you halfway, she carefully wrapped the scarf back around your next, tugging on it slightly and grinning at the shiver you let out. “I look forward to doing business with you, dear. See you in class.”

Exiting her office, your fingers fumbled through the pockets of your jeans until they felt the post-it note, and you wondered what the hell you just got yourself into.

#agatha harkness x reader #agatha harkness #marvel au #agatha harkness fanfiction #agatha harkness x female reader #lawyer au #agatha all along #agatha darkhold diaries

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lemedstudent2021 · 2 months ago

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books & stuff!!

i have been meaning to make this post for months now lol oops :') have been asked to recommend books and stuff so here i am finally, i will update with more as i go along and link what i can find. enjoy!

Islam

made a list of reads and resources for sisters looking into islam on reddit, indeed this blog was first made with the purpose of sharing things abt islam & muslim daily life & med stuff. so by popular request (a beloved moot lol) i present to u

*:･ﾟ✧ links to playlists:

5 pillars made plain (a playlist going through the foundation upon which Islam is built. Islam 101 if you will)

My moment of conviction (when reverts realised they were on the right path)

Jesus in Islam (learn how Muslims see Isa peace be upon him)

Keys to prophetic parenting (parenting from the perspective of the best of mankind!)

*:･ﾟ✧ resources in general:

Quran.com (listen to the Quran, read the tafsir (exegesis), and peruse reflections left by users)

Sunnah.com (books of Hadith (narrations of the prophet peace be upon him) categorised according to authenticity, the best of which belonging to Sahih Muslim and Sahih Bukhari may God be pleased with them both)

and:

Yaqeen institute (website & youtube)

Mufti Menk (scholar and speaker, passionate, sometimes funny, always informative) & my favourite dad joke of his lol

*:･ﾟ✧ books i have:

Islam for younger people (i reread this often ^-^)

Islam beliefs and teachings (this ones in my dads office lol)

answers to non muslims' common questions about islam (direct and satisfactory)

in the early hours (a book gifted to me and is dear to my heart)

islamic manners (another gift, a must read for everyone really)

God bless! *throws sparkles*

my library

sadly i am not as well read as i would like to be lol, my lil library is limited to the books i grew up with; a few older children novels and some non-fiction. i mainly want to read classics, literature and poetry alike, like shakespeare, the bronte sisters, jane austen, edgar allan poe and the like. ive been meaning to expand for years, but alas, i have yet to find the time (and motivation) to do so. not really into ya, id love to read crime and mystery though (like agatha christie) one day. wow just remembered my sherlock holmes phase while writing this :D

*:･ﾟ✧ currently reading (and i use the term reading very loosely lol):

the posthumous memoirs of bras cubas (download link)

the iliad - homer

the odyssey - also homer

probably more i forgor

*:･ﾟ✧ on my shelf (physical and metaphorical):

the black death - philip ziegler

hagakure - yamamoto tsunetomo

the ones who walk away from omelas (rec from a moot :3)

as long as the lemon trees grow - zoulfa katouh

there will come soft rains - ray bradbury

*:･ﾟ✧ favourite & most beloved reads:

the anne series (esp anne of the island)

children of the new forest

the secret garden

companions of the prophet (comfort reads of mine. also i have the revised edition and i only found my book 2, heres a pdf tho)

*:･ﾟ✧ others:

toxic childhood - sue palmer (was reading parenting books at 15 lol. tbf its a great read. i also had no friends so)

theres a sequel too (detoxing childhood)

a short history of the ottoman empire - erhan afyoncu (this is the only link i found beside amazon :'))

living in the ottoman lands: identities, administration & warfare (turkiye was beautiful & i still feel guilty abt not reading these two)

probably more i also forgor

thank u for reading this far and being patient with me i really appreciate it lol. happy reading!!

for my beloveds @notsolonedesert & @sporadicallyanenthusiast <3

#no im not procrastinating what makes u say that #God bless the internet archive. may its shadow never grow less #books #recs #hallelujah #i have achieved only this since the morning #and had lunch #NOT PROOFREAD #feel free to recommend yalls faves :D

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vettelsvee · 25 days ago

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MY TORTURED DRIVERS DEPARTMENT VOL. X ⸻ MIDNIGHTS A Formula 1 fics compilation based on Taylor Swift's songs from Midnights

This compilation will include short stories about all Formula 1 drivers (current of retired) of your choice. To request one, just send me a message on my Tumblr inbox with the driver you want me to write about alongside the song that will inspire the fic. The ones in bold are already chosen and will be written as soon as possible <3

These works will be driver x reader and will be, mostly, written fics and SMAU.

Taglist is open for all of you who want to join me in my very own tortured drivers department! Just let me know in the comments!

1. MAROON Sebastian Vettel x Best friend!Reader ⋆ SMUT You knew you were in love with each other, but maybe going too quickly just because you wanted to be more than just friends is what takes to lose you

2. ANTI-HERO Driver of your choice x Driver teammate!Reader Your team isn't as strong as you thought it would be with him, but after seeing the news, everything is being said about you and, specially, after a meeting with your team to discuss you leaving before the season even ends, make you realize that, definitely, you're the problem

3. YOU'RE ON YOUR OWN, KID Kimi Raikkonen x Driver!Reader (requested by anon!) You worked hard all your life to be exactly where you were at: winning races, fighting for championships and making your own name. You lost many people all those years, focused entirely on your career, but when your father dies you realize that you're alone in this world. You decide not to tell anyone, but when he sees you crying on the airport, you can't keep it anymore and realize that, after everything, you're on your own

4. VIGILANTE SHIT Spy!Driver of your choice x Ex girlfriend spy!Reader ⋆ SPY AU You were his everything, but now you're his worst nightmare. After finding out he was the real reason behind you being found guilty of crimes you didn't commit, you decide to disappear just to plan a revenge to make his life a living hell

5. BIGGER THAN THE WHOLE SKY Sebastian Vettel x Pregnant wife!Reader You were highly excited to be parents, but stress has you going like crazy. After feeling a bit off for a few days, a light bleeding makes you panic and, maybe, Seb was right: he should have protected you from the media so you wouldn't have lost your baby

6. HIGH INFIDELITY Boyfriend!Oscar Piastri x Teacher!Sebastian Vettel x Student!Reader ⋆ SMUT / UNIVERSITY AU You were dating Oscar, but just because you found him cute, nice, and a way to, somehow, not being alone... until you decided to give your favourite university a chance

7. DEAR READER Max Verstappen x Best friend writer!Reader After experimenting writer's block for a while, an idea comes to your mind when you start spending way too much time with your best friend: a story based on what you're wildest dreams with him

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dannyphantom-zero · 11 months ago

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Doctor Danny Chapter 8

Vlad managed to squeak out of the situation with a cash fine and Lex Luther was supposed to be under surveillance. Despite being "victims", experimenting or holding a citizen, albeit a meta, was still illegal.

Danny however was currently with the justice league. They had brought him to a hospital but there wasn't much they could do for him there after discovering Danny had strange abnormalities with his DNA and heartbeat.

Jason sat by Danny's unconscious body while everyone tried to figure out what to do with the situation.

"Why didn't you tell me your boyfriend was a meta human Jason?!" Bruce demanded.

Jason looked shocked at first which quickly turns to anger.

"Are you kidding me?! First of all, when did we have such a close relationship? Because lately we could only manage a small conversation. Secondly I didn't know myself" Jason bit back the anger billowing inside him.

"He's got unknown powers and now Lex Luther knows about him" Superman said with a serious tone.

"who was that other guy?" The flash asked.

"Vladimir Masters, billionaire former mayor of Amity Park" Bruce said.

Jason didn't look at any of them, his guilty gaze fell on Danny.

"He's, how can we even tell if he's going to be alright?" Jason said.

The room fell into silence.

"Have faith Jason, that's all you can do"

Jason clentched his fist.

"I don't think so, I'm going to find another way" Jason stood up.

He locked eyes with Superman, "dont let him out of your sight. He's a prestigious doctor. He's important-"

Jason walked out, "he's important, to me"

Superman sat in the vacant chair and tried his best to use his own powers to figure out Danny's condition. There wasn't much medical data on Danny to begin with so they weren't sure what we considered normal for him. More than once superman had been sure Danny's heart had stopped, yet he was still alive somehow.

Bruce had conflicted feelings about the good doctor. Jason trusted him, then again Jason was a murdering crime lord out for revenge.

He knew Jason and Doctor Daniel had a special relationship, after all, one doesn't usually cripple people for just a friend.

Joker had yet to recover.

Back in the bat cave Jason was taking full advantage of the access to the oicie records. It was harder than he thought it would be to get information on Danny because he wasn't born in Gotham but he eventually found a lead.

According to the hospital records paired with surveillance cameras outside the city, courtesy of Tim, Jason found that Danny had come from Illinois.

There was also that girl, Sam was it? Did she know his secret? She had to know something right?

Tim glanced over at Jason's screen.

"Oh that's the lead of that startup band Twisted Vines." Tim commented.

Jason's head snapped towards Tim so fast he almost counted it as a jump scare.

"Do you know where they'll be playing next?!"

Tim pulled out his phone.

"They have an app, let's see...seems like their doing a gig at Croscee's Pub tonight"

Jason stood up.

"I'm going to that and your coming with me"

Tim was grinning from ear to ear. So cool!

Later that night Jason and Tim in civilian outfits made their way to the bar. The band had already started playing judging by the muffled music pounding through the wall.

Jason opened the door and maneuvered through the crowd of people before resting in a corner.

Tim on the other hand has made his way to he front and was avidly cheering the band on.

Jason was growing slightly pissed off. Danny was counting on him and the best he could do was watch this stupid concert.

The music eventually ended and the crowd of people tried to swarm the band but security held them at bay.

Jason had other means, he snuck into their bus.

The band members were obviously shocked to see a stranger sitting in their tour bus.

"Jason??" Sam asked. They relaxed, if Sam knew this person than it was probably alright.

"What are you doing here?"

Jason stood up.

"It's Danny, we need your help. Danny's not waking up"

Sam motioned for then to go outside.

"He was attacked by Vlad Masters and Lex Luther"

Sam clentched her teeth, "Vlad"

When she noticed the look on Jason's face she explained, "Vlad wanted to get with Danny's mom and kill his dad. He also cloned Danny several times. One time he was successful."

Jason could feel the pits bubble up in his chest.

"I need to see him. That's the only way I can tell you"

"I brought a car"

Sam nodded, "give me a minute" she said before climbing back onto the bus.

Tim ran up to Jason, "did you talk to her yet? What did she say?" He asked.

"Alright, I'm good to go" she said slinging a couple of her bags over her shoulder.

Tim's mouth went wide open.

"So cool" he whispered.

The car ride there Jason went into more detail.

Bruce was a little surprised that the answers Jason had went to find were in the formation of some rock punk.

Sam was admiring the space when she caught sight of Danny. She dropped her bags and ran over.

"How long has it been?"

"A couple days."

"Do you know what they injected him with? What about the state he was in when you found him?"

"He was injected with a drug that I don't recognize in the system or otherwise" Bruce said handing her the tablet.

Sams expression darkened, "blood blossoms, fucking bastards"

"He was extremely agitated but Jason managed to calm him down just before he fainted"

Sam handed back the tablet.

"Blood Blossoms are extremely harmful to gh- to people like Danny"

"No matter what I need everyone in this room to swear an oath not to say anything about Danny's condition. I know someone who can help him but I need you all to ask as little questions as possible"

"Where do you have to go?"

"Illinois"

"Take the jet" Bruce said. Jason nodded.

"And here, this is the contact of a friend who can give you a log of Danny's normal condition and what to do if he takes a turn for the worst."

It was Tuckers contact. Jason and Sam left and Bruce got on the contact.

Tucker had become a software engineer for AmerTek Industries in Metropolis.

Flash said he would pick him up and left before anyone could object.

Tucker had been finishing up a report on a new robot the company was in the planning stages of creating, next thing Tucker knew he was in the arms of somebody going at incredibly fast speeds to somewhere.

"Oh" is all he said when they filled him in.

"Sams already on it huh" he sisd with a nervous smile.

"She always so on top of things"

"She told us we could find his medical information with you"

Tucker blinked, "oh yeah! We had to create an updated version. After the accident Danny couldn't get checked by normal doctors anymore. Thank ancients his parents were so oblivious-" Tucker stopped talking when he saw their faces.

"Did Sam not tell you about that? Maybe I've said too much. In any case if there's something you don't understand, let me know"

He handed over the digital file on Danny.

Not even two seconds later Bruce was grilling Tucker on what ectoplasm was and what machine caused this to happen.

There was also a detailed report on what devices the Fenton's had made and how they interacted with Danny.

"What's this page?" Tim asked scrolling onto the page filled with a list of all the ghosts Danny had fought and their abilities.

"I,uhm, well I don't think I should-"

Tucker shrank under Batmans judgmental stare.

"Sams going to skin me alive for this but, I suppose I should tell you everything"

The heroes listened, stunned at the words coming out of Tuckers mouth.

Not only had they not known about the mad "ghost hunting" scientists. They also had known about the portal to the infinite realms.

They were even more shocked when he told them Danny had been crowned king.

"He was a teenage superhero and we were his support team"

Tucker smiled, "nows he's still saving lives. Danny really is something else"

Bruce had went to eh next room to brood over his failure to see all of this whole Supes glumly accepted the fact that he couldn't have done anything without knowing.

"You guys don't need to be so down about it. Any transmissions Danny tried to get to you guys was most definitely being blocked by Vlad and his fancy equipment"

Clark shook his head.

"So Vlad and Danny have history" Flash said.

"Yeah, deep history. In fact. Vlad shares Danny's condition. They're both liminals"

Tucker scowled, "he's literally a villain. Danny's been dealing with this guy for years."

"I can't imagine being a fourteen year old hero"

A glum look passed over Tuckers face.

"We, haven't talked in a while. But I should've tried. I knew he was going through something rough. It was hard for him. Didn't help that he was bullied either. Danny too nice for his own good"

"For now, all we can do is monitor his condition. Have faith in your friend"

Tucker nodded. Danny would wake up. He was sure of it.

#danny phantom #danny fenton #dc universe #batman #redhood #dpxdc #fanfiction #jason todd #phandom #TuckerFoley #sam manson #clark kent #Superman #Flash #frostbite #Ghosts

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scaryspears · 5 months ago

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Clark Kent is Insane (Smallville)

I'm on the Smallville bandwagon, and I'm currently on season 7. I've seen some posts that find it unbelievable that people weren't interested in and crazy in love with Clark and stuff. I'm convinced that people stayed away from him because they thought he was crazy, or was that guy that always had something weird happening to him. It's obvious that Clark is attractive, but there's also another side to it besides his looks.

Clark would find himself in situations that would make people scratch their heads. Put yourselves in the perspective of the Smallville citizens.

I'm going to give some examples from season 1 (can't remember which episode)

Clark's powers get transferred to another boy named Eric Summers, and once Eric finds out about these abilities he exploits them. Clark tries to talk Eric into not being a bad person, and that ends with Clark getting smashed into the top of a car, bleeding from his nose and all. A lot of his school mates saw that, and word apparently travels fast in small towns. Everyone certainly found out.

In another episode, Earl Jenkins (played by Tony Todd) is a victim of the Luthors, and while Clark's class is on a school trip, the character holds the students hostage in order to threaten the Luthors. Whatever experiments Luthor corp did on him makes him shake violently, and anything he comes into contact with will shake uncontrollably as well (can't remember if it results in death). It's best to stay away from this guy. What does Clark do? Try's to speak to the guy and convince him not to do this, and stuff like that. Basically, the same thing he did with Eric Summers. It doesn't get him heavily injured, but it could've made things worse.

Clark would also go through a thing where his personality flips. Not knowing he's on red kryptonite, everyone probably felt like they were interacting with a completely different person, but with Clark's face. Everyone's just like "Clark Kent is letting his intrusive thoughts win?" And he would mysteriously forget what's transpired (due to switching bodies or his mind being taken over). He would be genuinely confused, and is frighteningly proceeding as if nothing's happened, despite being aware that something wrong has taken place, thanks to him or involving him.

When Clark accidentally causes his mum's miscarriage, the first thing he does is crashout. He puts on the red kryptonite and rides of to Metropolis. I'm pretty sure he was gone for months, robbing from atms and getting into fights with people.

When Nathan Dean (the banshee guy) showed up (around season 3-ish), Clark lost his sight temporarily... even though it's everyone's ears that suffered. That's weird.

Onwards, Clark would suspiciously be at the scene of a crime or some kind of incident. He's always involved in police business, and playing "investigator" with Chloe and Pete. Always on his way to save people, and do something that everyone will immediately think is stupid.

Around season 3 or 4, Clark marries Alicia. A literal stalker who tried to harm Lana Lang (the it girl of Smallville). Once he comes back from his honeymoon, looking all guilty, everyone whispers while side eyeing him. And of all things Mr and Mrs Kent are mad about, it's the fact that Clark married illegally (both Alicia and him were underage), and that he disregarded how sacred marriage is (even though he was on red kryptonite). That was terrible writing, but I don't remember them being too angry about Alicia.

There's also that time (can't remember if it was season 5 or 6) when Clark and Lois crash Lex and Lana's dinner party where they're celebrating their engagement. Clark and Lois are dressed as bikers, informal leather jacket outfits. They must've looked insane to everyone at that party, Lex especially. And then Clark proceeded to ruin the pregnancy announcement for Lex and Lana (he did it for the lolz).

Every time Clark is doing (or about to do) something everyone is probably side eyeing him, and thinking "What's he about to do this time?"

What's worse is that his parents don't seem to be doing anything about it. They don't appear to be worried about the fact that he might potentially be having occasional psychotic breaks, and other mental disorders going on with him. He's got main character syndrome, and a hero complex. Insert other mental disorders and illnesses of your choosing, because I'm not a psychiatrist nor am I trained in knowing about mental health.

If the writers intended on this, knowing that they couldn't make Tom Welling look like a pathetic dork, then it's a good call. Can't make him dweebish? Make him look insane. Even if Clark was a nerd, and looked like one, everyone would still be fawning over him (me especially). But fawning over a crazy person is risky because of how unpredictable they are. Not only that, but we've seen girls fawn over him before, albeit harbouring bad intent (to some degree for most). And of course, Chloe was super interested in him, and Lana would get jealous and shocked from whatever relationship he had outside of her, even when she was with another guy.

That's my Smallville theory.

#Smallville #lionel luthor #clark kent #superman #tom welling #chloe sullivan #mrs kent #mr kent #jonathan kent #martha kent #metropolis #lana lang #pete ross #luthorcorp #alicia baker #lex luthor

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gay-disabled-characters-showdown · 8 months ago

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LGBTQ+ Disabled Characters Showdown Round 3, Wave 2, Poll 12

A character being totally canon LGBTQ+ and disabled was not required to be in this competition. Please check qualifications and propaganda before asking why a character is included.

Check out the other polls in this wave and prior here.

Norma Khan-Dead End: Paranormal Park

Qualifications:

They are confirmed to be bisexual and autistic within the series she is form.

Bisexual and autistic

She's autistic and bisexual (she's just like me fr XD)

Propaganda:

Norma is very good queer and autistic representation, showing her struggles with her autism within the series (especially in season 1, episode 3) and is the one of the first characters in an animated young audience directed series to officially come out of the closet to someone, which is a big step towards good queer representation within animated series, especially those directed towards younger audiences.

She's a badass magical security guard. Also once she found out that the actress who was her special interest was a hella creepy spirit who was haunting her own theme park, Norma took her tf down. She had so many emotions about it, got her own song about how she'd adored and looked up to this actress and how betrayed she felt and how hard it was. Also! Also she is so absolutely sweet and loyal and! and her mom supports her which is so SWEET.

There's this whole episode dedicated to her and her mom, and her mom is already so supportive of her being autistic and wants to be a part of her special interest, but unbeknownst to her mom her special interest has changed. (We don't like evil ghost ladies that possess innocent actresses in this house). Her NEW special interest is the paranormal and it makes her such a badass in the show but also a mega nerd at the same time and the two are not mutually exclusive! And she gets a crush on a girl and has this whole thing about coming out as bi and even though her crush is straight it's not weird between them. She's constantly battling demons both literal and metaphorical but comes out on top with friends and family that love her.

Elim Garak-Star Trek: Deep Space Nine

Qualifications:

He has PTSD due to child abuse, as well as a painkiller addiction due to a brain implant. He is also extremely gay. Like literally everybody who watches DS9 immediately understands this about him. He was explicitly played by his actor, Andy Robinson, as attracted to Julian Bashir, and his only heterosexual romance is truly painful to witness. Andrew Robinson has also said that he has had a one-night stand with Dukat, one of the main villains of DS9 and noted lizard nazi. Do with that what you will. His closest relationship onscreen by far is with Julian.

Propaganda:

This man. There is a reason so many people are obsessed with him. Former spy, current tailor, forever an incurable bitch. Guilty of many war crimes, including onscreen attempted genocide. Once intentionally blew up his own tailor shop (with him in it) because he didn't want to ask for help with something. In his very first scene on the show, he wears an shirt that strongly resembles a watermelon, propositions Julian Bashir, and leaves while canonically high on painkillers. He has PTSD due to child abuse at the hands of the head of the space lizard KGB, who is also his dad, and a painkiller addiction due to a brain implant he has to help him withstand torture. He tortures a main character in one episode, and then a few episodes later they start having regular breakfasts together. Once got high on Space Weed and started systematically murdering people while making ominous announcements about chess over the PA system. The Most Character Ever.

Anything Else?:

He once told Julian to eat his rod. It was about a futuristic USB stick (datarod) but he still very much said it.

Submitted by @convenient-plot-device

#polls #poll #disability #disabled characters #lgbtq #lgbtq characters #id in alt text #lgbtq dcs round 3 #lgbtq dcs r3 wave 2 #norma khan #dead end paranormal park #elim garak #ds9 garak #deep space nine #star trek ds9 #star trek

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evidence-based-activism · 1 month ago

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Do women who commit rape/sexual assault actually get shorter sentences than men? I always see this claim circulated but never any actual data to back it up.

Hi! So, this one can be a bit tricky, because on the surface there often appears to be data supporting this. However, when we look deeper into the data, we find that there is not really evidence supporting a gender gap.

General Criminal Sentencing

First, I talk about the "gender gap" in general criminal sentencing in the reblogs of this post. The important part to note here is that (1) quantitative sentencing data cannot prove a sentencing disparity because it cannot take real qualitative differences between seemingly similar cases into account and (2) there is evidence that real qualitative differences account for a substantial portion (possibly even all) of the gender gap in sentencing (e.g., women are more likely to cooperate with the police, women are more likely to be the "accomplice" rather than primary offender of a crime, women are more likely to be the primary caregiver of a child, etc.).

So, for criminal sentencing in general, we can see that the appearance of a gender gap in sentencing is not truly motivated by gender but by real differences in criminal and contextual factors that happen to vary by gender.

Sex Crimes Specifically

So, what about sexual crimes? There's sustainably less work on this, likely because women make up such a small portion of sexual criminals. Further, the evidence we do have is flawed in many ways, which I will review. That being said, here's the current state of the research:

This study [1] found that "while male sex offenders may have received longer incarceration terms than female sex offenders, it was not chiefly explainable by their gender". In other words, it was not the gender of the offender, but other factors that happen to correlate with gender that affected the sentence length, which corresponds with the results found above.

Other work [2] has found that the gender difference in sentencing varies by crime type. In particular, non-assaultive (i.e., no physical contact) female sex offenders were considered less culpable by sentencing judges than non-assaultive male sex offenders. However, violent female sex offenders were considered more culpable than violent male sex offenders.

This study also found that female sex offenders consistently expressed "more contrition", pleaded guilty, and cooperated with the police more often than male sex offenders. This is relevant because sentences are commonly reduced for offenders who express remorse, plead guilty, and cooperate with the police. (Whether or not you agree with these practices is another matter; as it stands, they are frequently applied.)

They make note that similar "distinct and subtle differences in case-relevant factors" may "account for the difference in sentences". The previous, more plentiful, research on non-sexual crimes supports this possibility.

Further, to highlight the issues with other work claiming there is a gender gap in sentencing, consider this qualitative matching study [3]. The aim of this study was to match cases by qualitative factors so they could "compare apples to apples". Using this methodology, they find that female sex offenders were less likely to be sent to prison and receive shorter sentences when they are sentenced to prison.

However, a more transparent application of this methodology, as shown in [2], reveals that this matching process does not truly account for all the relevant qualitative factors. For example, one matched pair had a victim aged 9 compared to a victim aged 15; another compared a case involving a male victim to a case involving a female victim. Clearly, while there are benefits to such a methodology, it cannot account for all the relevant factors.

And indeed, the case matching factors in [3] do not match for offender contrition, guilty plea, cooperation with the police, offender role (i.e., primary or secondary offender), and other similar factors offense-related factors. Beyond that, they also do not take into account reasonable extralegal factors such as caretaker status (i.e., whether the offender has dependents). We know that all of these factors influence sentencing, and we also know they are correlated with offender gender (i.e., more likely to apply to women). As such, claiming to find a gender difference in sentencing when failing to consider these variables is disingenuous.

Again, it is more likely that these real qualitative differences are affecting the sentencing lengths, rather than a gender bias for women. I believe this conclusion is further supported by their own evidence that probation sentence lengths are similar for women and men. They also note that "as a group, female sex offenders presented to the court as younger, more likely to be white, and less serious offenders overall than male sex offenders" and that "perceptions of female sex offending as less dangerous may reflect, in part, documented differences in patterns of offending".

In other words, the gender difference found here is not actually driven by gender discrimination but by real differences between the groups.

The Importance of Considering Race

I would also like to highlight here the importance of considering race in this discussion. In fact, it's possible that apparent gender differences are actually racial differences [4-6]. (This work is on general criminal sentencing. It is likely at least some of these principles translate across crime types.)

For example, this 2009 article [4] found that White, Black, and Hispanic women all receive similar sentence lengths along with white men. Only Black and Hispanic men received longer sentences, and theirs did not differ from each other.

These results were partially replicated in 2018 [5], which showed that Black men received longer sentences than White men, White women, and Black women. White men and White women's sentence lengths did not differ. Note: this work also suggested that Black women received the shortest sentence lengths of all groups, so I would like to emphasize that this research too is limited by the issue described above. Namely, it cannot account for real differences between cases/offenders. For example, we know that being a single parent is likely to reduce sentence lengths and we also know that Black women are much more likely to be single parents [6], which is just one possible explanation for this finding.

These results were again partially replicated in 2020 [7], here they found that the gender gap was not driven by gender so much as the interaction between gender, race, and age. In particular, White men and women of all ages had similar likelihood of receiving a split sentence (i.e., partial probation), whereas Black and Hispanic men were usually less likely to receive a split sentence than Black and Hispanic women within each age group.

These interacting factors led to some interesting results. For example, White men aged 18-20 were the second most likely to receive a split sentence, behind only Hispanic women. (Please see the above discussion of qualitative differences and child custody in particular.) Further, Black men aged 21 and over were the least likely to receive a split sentence, but Black men aged 18-20 were more likely to receive a split sentence than Black women aged 21 and over.

Ultimately, this suggests that if there is a genuine gender gap in sentencing it would only apply to Black and Hispanic, not White men. That being said, the known qualitative differences between Black and Hispanic men and women (and between Black and Hispanic women and White women) suggest it's likely there is not any genuine gender difference. Instead, other relevant factors simply happen to correlate with gender.

Conclusion

Hopefully, this makes it clear how there isn't actually a straightforward relationship between demographics and criminal sentencing. Various demographic factors interact substantially, and real qualitative differences are hidden in quantitative data.

This was a bit complicated, so let me know if you have any questions!

References below the cut:

Hassett-Walker, C., Lateano, T., & Di Benedetto, M. (2014). Do female sex offenders receive preferential treatment in criminal charging and sentencing?. Justice System Journal, 35(1), 62-86.

Damiris, I. K., McKillop, N., Christensen, L. S., Rayment-McHugh, S., Burton, K., & Patterson, T. (2021). Gendered judicial discourse in the sentencing of sexual offenders: a new explanatory model. Current Issues in Criminal Justice, 33(2), 228-246.

Shields, R. T., & Cochran, J. C. (2020). The gender gap in sex offender punishment. Journal of quantitative criminology, 36(1), 95-118.

Brennan, P. K., & Spohn, C. (2009). The joint effects of offender race/ethnicity and sex on sentence length decisions in federal courts. Race and Social Problems, 1, 200-217.

Leiber, M. J., Beaudry-Cyr, M., Peck, J. H., & Mack, K. Y. (2018). Sentencing recommendations by probation officers and judges: An examination of adult offenders across gender. Women & Criminal Justice, 28(2), 100-124.

Livingston, Gretchen. “The Changing Profile of Unmarried Parents.” Pew Research Center, 25 Apr. 2018, https://www.pewresearch.org/social-trends/2018/04/25/the-changing-profile-of-unmarried-parents/.

Lehmann, P. S., & Gomez, A. I. (2021). Split sentencing in Florida: Race/ethnicity, gender, age, and the mitigation of prison sentence length. American Journal of Criminal Justice, 46(2), 345-376.

#feminism #patriarchal culture

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coochiequeens · 4 months ago

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This is why the west is seeing a backlash against the TQ+.

By Amy Hamm November 10, 2024

Trans activists in British Columbia, Canada, are demanding that a law which prevents dangerous convicted criminals from changing their legal names be repealed immediately.

Social justice legal group West Coast LEAF issued a press release, signed by numerous trans activist groups and organizations, demanding the change on November 7. In their letter, the groups claim that the province’s legislation “harms those most in need of legal name changes, including transgender people, Indigenous people, and survivors of gender-based violence.”

They also state that the “name change ban interferes with the human rights of transgender people to use their chosen names.” In addition to repealing the name-change ban, the groups are also demanding greater access to name change services, and “dignity” for the transgender community.

The legislation at issue is the province’s Name Act, which was amended earlier this year in response to public outcry over child-killer Allan Schoenborn being permitted to change his legal name, followed by a failed campaign to keep his new name hidden from the public.

Schoenborn murdered his three children, aged five, eight, and 10, in 2008. While he was found guilty of first-degree, pre-meditated murder, a judge ruled he was not criminally responsible due to mental illness. Schoenborn is currently eligible for 28-day leaves from the forensics hospital where he is serving his sentence, and may eventually be released into transitional housing in the community. Schoenborn does not identify as transgender.

The 2024 amendment to the BC Name Act ensures that all persons convicted of serious violent offences, or offences against children—even if they are found not criminally responsible—cannot obtain legal name changes. The legislation was proposed by the now-defunct BC United Party, which was the official opposition to the ruling New Democratic Party, under premier David Eby.

Eby held a sizable majority government at the time, but now holds the slimmest possible majority with a strong Conservative Party opposition.

Despite the obvious safety risk posed to the public by enabling men like Schoenborn to hide behind new aliases, BC’s trans activists believe that it is more important for transgender persons with violent criminal histories to have their gender identities affirmed.

If these activists have their way, criminals like Adam Laboucan, also known as Tara Desousa, would be able to hide their past by making quick and easy legal name changes. Laboucan, a trans-identified male and baby rapist, was the youngest criminal in Canadian history to be designated a “dangerous offender.” His crimes, which also include murdering a toddler, have been documented extensively by Reduxx. Laboucan currently resides in a female prison, with a mother-baby program, in British Columbia. Had his transfer to female prison gone unreported, it is plausible that Laboucan—if ever released from prison—would be able to enjoy anonymity and hide his violent, depraved criminal past from unsuspecting future victims.

Adrienne Smith, a female lawyer who uses they/them pronouns, also signed on to West Coast LEAF’s demands to reverse changes to the Name Act. In a statement included in their press release, Smith wrote that, for trans-identified persons, “[o]ur chosen names are human rights… This change [to the Name Act] hurts people standing farthest from justice, because it essentially sentences trans people to permanent deadnaming. That is unlawful, and it is wrong. Everyone should be entitled to the basic dignity of a name.”

Smith is the litigation director at CWHWC Trans Legal Clinic, a business that provides pro-bono legal services to “Two-Spirit, transgender and gender non-conforming people.” In addition to helping trans-identified persons obtain legal name changes, they also offer free hormone and surgery readiness assessments.

Another signatory, Didi Dufresne, a female who uses he/they/she pronouns, is the director of legal services for the non-profit QMUNITY. Dufresne asserted that the amendments to the Name Act are a throwback to laws that once criminalized homosexuality. “The criminal offenses listed include charges historically used to criminalize queer sex (like gross indecent, incident acts, exposure); charges related to sex work which are constitutionally suspect, and a number of non-violent offenses like breaking and entering or trespassing at night,” Dufresne wrote.

Other signatories include the Canadian Bar Association (BC Branch), PACE Society (which receives federal and provincial government funding), the Society for Advocacy for Gender-Affirming Healthcare, and the Union of BC Indian Chiefs.

In 2019, West Coast LEAF member Devyn Cousineau presided over the BC Human Rights Tribunal Jessica Yaniv hearings, in which trans-identified Yaniv sued female estheticians for refusing to wax his testicles. Cousineau referred to the waxing of trans-identified male testicles as “critical gender affirming care.”

Premier David Eby has not issued a public response to the demand letter

#Canada #british columbia #Drop the T #West Coast LEAF advocates for convicted sex offenders to be able to legally change their names for the sake of the TQ+ sex offenders #Name Act #child-killer Allan Schoenborn being permitted to change his legal name and almost had the new name hidden from the public #He killed three kids and he's eligible for 28 day leaves from prison?

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cherrsnut · 1 year ago

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Hostage - Chapter 6

Finnick Odair x Healer!Reader

Summary: Up until now, your life has been a solitary one. Being the sole owner of an herbal shop, and apothecary to many fishermen who have been injured. Just when your life seemed to follow the routine you were so used to, your life turns a 360 when you’re suddenly taken away for the 67th Annual Hunger Games. This turn of events forces you to accept the idea the Grim Reaper is stalking close behind you, faster than you had hoped for.

Tags: Extremely Slow Burn, Eventual Smut, Angst, Typical THG Violence, Forced Prostitution, Forced Lab Rat, Injury, Mental Health Deterioration, Psychological/Physical Torture, Death, Alcohol/Drug Consumption, Medical Malpractice, Fluff (bc they deserve it).

Word Count: 11.7k

Previous // Next

Chapter 6

It was day nine on the training facility. Which only meant it was three days to go until your feet stood on the harsh grounds of the Arena. Every passing day was another needle piercing your lungs, as you noticed the countdown coming closer to its end, you realized it was made harder for you to breathe. It wasn’t the muscle memory your brain was taught, it was as if suddenly you had forgotten the simple act of breathing, and all you could think about was controlling the air currents that sucked in and out of your mouth.

It was like your lungs were holding hostage the innocent air particles that were only out there to help you, and you felt like you coudn’t breathe now that the timer was close to its set.

This past few days you’d started to lose faith in God. It’s not like you blindly believed in him to begin with, but with the pained breaths you were expulsing, you slowly felt any sort of belief from a greater force be spilled out along with it.

Whether it was God, destiny or whatever, you soon struggled to be able to believe in any of that, because right now your position was different. You weren’t in that privileged stance; then, you had a home, work, food and water, you had whatever you needed to live, and it was easier to believe in that then, because you didn’t think about your own survival.

But it was different now, all of that was over. And after the Reaping it was a hard reality check that, the world indeed didn’t owe you a cent. And so, your Deist idea slowly faded into nothing, you simply lost faith in any entity, and at this point even yourself.

You didn’t know what you believed in, and it wasn’t like it mattered anyway. Whatever religion or personal truth was soon going to be vanished along your scattered body on the grounds of the Arena, and it felt very much like you were being executed for a crime you hadn’t committed. Punished for the wrongdoings of another person, and the wrong deeds of their fault had your life shorten, while the true perpetrator was out there enjoying their prolonged one, and they better understood their guilty freedom was in exchange of yours.

Yeah, you didn’t know what to believe in anymore, and it didn’t matter anyway. That’s why you abstained yourself from believing in anything, and if that meant you stopped looking at God’s metaphors in life, then so be it. Or to make it or poetic, you followed what Nietzsche once said “God is dead”.

By day nine it was obvious the Career group was formed. From District 1, we had Ezra and Ava, both loving siblings to each other, but definitely with lethal intentions to the rest of the Tributes, possibly even to their team members when the chance arose.

For District 2 we had the memorable Birch, and Nyla. You had found her curious for her preferred weapon choice to be a fishing spear, since it seemed it was expressly placed for the participants of District 4. But you wouldn’t judge her skills on her weapon, especially when you saw her expertise on handling that piece of weaponry, earning her the fitting title of hunter and it only seemed natural she was welcomed by the Careers.

Then came District 4, with none other than Vito and his double blades. It seemed Birch along Ezra had been interested in him not only through the way he handled the blades. Finnick’s games were still influential, since it only had been two years ago since he came out victorious, and they found his rapid net making to be the deciding factor for their admiration for him.

And lastly, were both Tributes of District 7, known for their lumberjack industry. It only took a quick look to realize as to why they were picked. Carter and Steph both had a muscular build, and they definitely exhuded strength and a feared determination of not backing down without a real fight.

You sighed looking at the formed group. It was disheartening the very knowledge that the strongest were in a group to fight off the weaker ones, and it felt bitterly unfair and personally against against you. Even more when Vito was along them and not you, meaning they saw you just as weak and useless as the rest, deserving to be killed right off the bat. Because for them, you had no use, comparing you with dead weed of the Arena, and they still found more ways to exploit the dry grass than yourself.

Your eyes met the grey tones of the slightly pigmented green of his irises, maintaining contact and understanding of each other’s presence. Carter’s eyebrow ticked up in acknowledgement. The ghost of your eyes haunted his, as he could feel the hoplessness that you body emanated, even when being many feet apart from each other.

You saw his lips curl up into a small smile. He hoped your grasped his gesture, to let it embrace you in a warm hug, all so he wouldn't have to see your present frown and to envelop yourself into his reassurance.

It wasn’t hard to comprehend the meaning behind his expression, he was just trying to make you feel better. But it seemed rather complicated to feel at ease when he already belonged to a deadly group, one of which had a participant that was a psycho and determined on pointing at you with the red dot of his invisible assault rifle.

But you still understood he wanted express his sympathetic side to you. You could imagine, and hoped, his secret hobby or lingering daydream didn’t involve the exciting thought of killing other people, unlike the Tributes of District 1 and 2. But rather, he was like you and Vito, here against their will, and obligated you all to be in the survival game by the choice of an mere outsider. And tho whomever created the Hunger Games to begin with, you didn’t have the prettiest words or thoughts about that person. And of course, you would never say them outloud. By the way Scarlett had reacted each time you cursed, it was like an unforgiving blasphemy to even proclaim your deepest negative thoughts about the Games.

You returned him the smile, unknown to him that your teeth greeted through your anxiety, to calm your scraping words of wanting to hide yourself to the world so no one could find you and, somehow be able to sneak your way out of having to be in the battling grounds. But that scenario was close to impossible, so you stopped yourself from thinking too much about it before you’d consider it.

”I get it, I’d smash. Although Finnick is more of my type though. But let’s get back to training, shall we?” The whispering words brushed past the side of your face, tickling lightly the crown of your ear with his warm breath.

And you stopped, before looking up at him. Your mind blank as it tried to grab onto any reason that was slowly flying away out from your ears. But your brain seemed to be damaged from the from broken wires by Vito’s words, and the sparking of the electricity was dancing around your mind, a sign of the overworked brain from a rush of confusing curiosity over what he meant by those words, which you quickly understood un thus the short time span electrocution that jumbled your brain around.

You mind run miles, and yet you weren’t unable to utter the words.

“With what I’ve seen so far, believe me, girlie. You’ll need it” he snickered at you. Your lips kept on closing and opening slightly, his extra piece of information meant to confuse you further, you knew that, and you still gave into his mind games.

Vito coudn’t help but hung a playful smirk up his mouth, amused by the rush of thoughts flashing behind your eyes. He felt victorious of course, he had his desired outcome so you would come out of that concerned trance he noticed you were having on a regular basis at training. But he didn’t expect you to have come out in such a funnily manner, that he coudn’t help the light giggles. Even more so at the creased brows you formed as you tried to compute further his words.

You managed to say something. “I didn’t know?” you said clumsily with a joking smile. You huffed a smile out at the situation. He lifted his hand up to his lips and chuckled further at your comment. Your expression was priceless in his eyes, and he coudn’t help himself from leaving you stunned like that. Oh, how much he loved doing that to you.

Caesar Flickerman had just called your name, his infamous smile, known to the whole of Panem sat across his well-known face. The many cheers that rang through the stage, from clapping sounds to the impatient voices of the citizens of the Capitol, were awaiting your shining entrance.

A few hours ago, the examination went… not so great. Vito had done his best in teaching you the refined arts of the knives, and you could grasp the basic concept of attcak, slice, and stab… that was it. Two weeks to learn everything about hunting down an vicioius animal one on one seemed like a challenging feat, not say practically impossible. So when you were standing below your future sponsors, it felt very much silly of you to try and use that weapon to show off your non-existent high levels skills, especially considering Vito was next in line. You cringed at that thought for the thousandth time today. It was embarrassing, you could say that much. So much so you didn’t even try to look up at them unless necessary. So when you did, you were met with the bored looks of the experienced viewers that had seen decades worth of fighters, and you wouldn’t be catalonged as one no matter how much you tried to disguise yourself as one.

But it’s not like you could do anything else. If they had even bothered bringing in some herbs or chemicals, you could’ve shown your more scientific knowledge. You knew a hundred ways to elaborate toxic poisons, and a millions ways to create antidotes for each and every one of them, that would’ve definitely earned you a more prideful look on your end. But then again, you were sure the Sponsors weren’t quite interested for you to elaborate remedies for basically anything. Afterall, they only wanted to see people killing each other; they just wanted to see violent and gruesome deaths, they wanted to hear their screams of horror as a familiar face was draining the life away from them, like a vampire sucking every ounce of blood to ensure your dried death. And being a doctor kind of went directly against what they preached. You weren’t like a hidden gem to them, more like a pain in the ass if you were able to heal someone back to life. And in the circle of betting games, the randomized traps scattered across the Arena, had the same element of uncernaty as the Sponsors had now that your card was placed on the table. Because now it meant you could take care of the Tributes. Your extensive knowledge was like a direct threat aganst the chosen Tributes they laid their money on. It wasn't just who would be more likely to come out victorious from a logical perspective, because you were brought into the mix. It wasn’t just strength, ability, and speed what they had to analyze, but also an element of luck. And unfortunately for them, that was something that coudn’t be measured in a logical way.

You sighed. The interview was your last chance to make people like you. If your skills wouldn't make them on your side, you hoped that maybe they would try to connect with you more personally. Perhaps if they felt bad about your death, you could win over their hearts. You needed to convince them you dying would only affect them negtively in the end.

You let another shaky breath, and stepped forward. The cling clang the heel needle resonated on the smooth and shining surface you were standing on, only to become completely soundless as you walked over, to none other than the famous blue haired waiting for you. You made sure your thighs turned to hard muscle, careful as to not be clumsy and fall infront of what seemed about five hundred people. Their eyes scanned you whole, so you coudn’t risk doing a mistake in front of all of them. You returned your gaze, shy and nervous as you wondered around the gigantic audience ahead of you.

It looked like a painting from the Impressionist era. Your first description of what was reflecting back your eyes was “A lot of colour”. Many dots of vibrant shapes and colors, raging from the warm tones of yellow and orange, to cooler ones like purple and tale blue; all painted above a black canvas.

The shining lights were flashing your eyes, needing a moment to readjust them to make better off the people of the Capitol. They were wearing odd and eccentric hats, an that was what you had previously confused to be expert brush strokes of an creative artist, was simply just the fashion designs of the Capitol.

Their eyes roamed over your every inch, awaiting what sort of good time you would give them. Whereas for you, they were on a dark canvas, they in turn they saw you against a white one, where your background scenery was filled with many sparkling glitter surrounded your promotional poster, with your face hanging there confidently.

Mr. Flickerman led you to sit opposite him, sitting on a home-like modernized version of an armchair. With the same colour as your dress, the designer was right to add the pillow below you. It was big, for anyone to regain themselves in whichever position they wanted and still be comfortable at the cute armchair. It reminded you of the warm and cozy cafeteria down the street of the Herbal Shop. And if you werte to recommend it to someone, you’d sincerely tell them it was best served under the winter weather with a hot chocolate protecting you from viruses that threatened to infect everyone.

“So Ms. Doctor from Distrcit 4, I’ve heard of something peculiar the other day” he started looking at you intensely. The pause, of course, for dramatic effect. Now you understood where Scarlett was coming from with the way she expressed her emotions. “I heard-”

Another pause. This was starting to feel gut wrenching. The large amount of people weren’t helping either, and you’ve been stuck in a cycle of insecurity of wanting to come across as likeable to them, and you weren’t sure how you could accomplish that. The first impression was was the deciding factor for the initial building blocks of a friendship, and that level of anxiety of the what ifs had your insides flip five times.

“You healed, none other than the Victor of the 65th Hunger Games, our Finnick Odair” his voice all of a sudden strengthened in volume, coming out in thrilled particles that drugged everyone replicating his mood, one of jovial enthisiasm. There were slight gasps in surprise, but definitely a lot of murmuring between themselves. Your eyes opened in shock, you had completely forgotten all about that.

Still astounded, you scanned over the room perfectly, the singular emotion that traveled in the air everyone breathed between each other, was that of simple curiosity. They wanted to hear your next words, they wanted to know what you brought to the table, they wanted to who you were.

This was the great start you needed. Even if it hurt your soul admitting it, you had to appreciate Scarlett's input for spreading this piece of information, so diligently it even reached the ears of the biggest TV host of the Capitol. Not only for your own sake, but as well for hers, you had to make the fullest of this little advantage.

Scarlett understood the public perception and opinion like no other; and when it came to Finnick’s name being brought up, it was your best bet to grow interest for yourself by using him.

You smiled brightly at what he had said. Making sure the shining of the lights reflected on your teeth just the same as the way your eyes sparkled in hopeful optimism. If you needed to sway public opinion to be on your side, this was your best bet to touch their hearts, and who knows? Maybe tickle them a bit to make their insides flutter happily.

You let a giggle escape through the microphone. “Yes” the tone of your voice thrilled with the taste on candied apple, to feed them the explosion of sweet delight down their throats.

“At the time, his fishing team came rushing in my Herbal Shop one day. You know, after they had injured themselves like they usually did” you started widening your grin at what you just came up with. It felt like throwing Finnick overboard, which was only more unfair on his end, now that he wasn’t with you to defend himself from the words that came out of your mouth.

But with these people, it was better the more you spoke, rather than staying idly still and quiet, in hopes the ordeal would pass by to detense the anxiety building up a tight knot from inside your throat. Even better? When your words sounded like a caramelized drink to their ears.

“You know, Finnick can be a little clumsy at times” you admitted. The microphone caught the way your tone dropped a few octaves as if mimicking you were in a vulnerable crowded place, giving away uncommunicated information that would make any Finnick fans squeal from joy. You placed a finger up your lips.

“But shhh, ‘kay? Don’t tell anyone I said that” you opened your mouth, showing your baring teeth to the audience. They laughed at your playful and cheeky personality that you gleefully showed them.

It worked, somehow it worked. But this wasn’t the time to get comfortable, the show was still going, and you’d give them the best version of yourself. You needed to leave your astounded expression for later, when you weren’t in front of televised cameras that were ready to pick apart the little of what you had shown them. Later, you would try to come up with reasons as to why it was so easy to captivate them, with whatever you had said to them.

Your very words that spoke enchantingly brushed the thin line between the truth and the uncertain lie, and to be honest with yourself, you didn’t know if they were either truthful or not. Because that wasn’t what was important right now, you just needed their attention to you.

A sudden realization hit you. They didn’t care about the Tributes, at least not nearly enough as the sponsors did, and that was only because they had a stack of money they were risking losing, a large amount that would make a significant difference in their wallets.

The public just wanted to see a show, and so you’d give them a show. They loved the gossip between the people they cataloged as untouchable, and that was evident with what you had told them about Finnick. If that’s what they wanted, you’d show them your secret facade that seems openly visible for them, as tasty as the sweetest honey they had never been able to come across before. One no matter the riches of the Capitol, they could never recreate that something that felt so pure, yet came from the inner depth of deception. You’d make them feel that a reincarnation of a Tribute like you will never happen again in near the history.

The blue haired chuckled at your words. You’d show them a different kind of spark, to make them feel you were the only one that could cure them from their embarrassing problems of the high society, an escape from their hard reality.

They had the nerve to complain about societal standards when the rest of the Dictricts were dirtying their backs with sweat and earth, whilst they washed themselves in the cash at the expense of your hard unpaid overwork.

Even with those staining feelings in your soul about them, you'd give them what they wanted. In the end you were still a slave of the Capitol, no matter how much you hated it. You shone under the lights of the stage, an eight-pointed golden star in replacement of your dull pupils.

If the wanted this, the show must go on then.

“You are a lovely girl” he started. “But unfortunately I wouldn't place my bet you” he lamented, caressing his eyebrows jokingly. Your heart dropped, and somehow you felt like he could see through your intentions. No, they’re not that smart to realize that. All they wanted was a big fun fest, and desired a good time, that’s why they had come here to begin with.

You gasped, learning from the best, none other than the unbeatable Scareltt. She was probably looking at you right now, Vito, Finnick and Mags beside her, expectant as to what actions you would carry out. You could sense her eyes, a look of determination, and hopeful you wouldn't miss this chance to change your game.

“Mr. Flickerman, you hurt me with those words” you placed a hand directly at your heart, theatrically trying to protect his confession from piercing your heart lika a dagger. You pouted very much staged, and of course in a joking manner.

“I’ll let you know, if you were a Tribute, I would not hesitate in rooting for you” you winked at him cheekily, a sly playful smirk coming up to your face. He only chuckled further at your words, earning you the clapping audience followed with warm laughter.

You could feel it, the way the citizens wanted to have a closer relationship with you. And to accomplish that you would need to captivate them further. Make them feel like there was a close friendship with them, make them feel important by sharing your masking secrets with them, make them believe they were present in your life.

Your lashes opened further at the realization. You just decoded how to make them like you, and you practically could hear your mind sing sang the little tunes of confidence that exhaled your body. This was a different kind of game, one the most cunning with the trickiest mind games would surely win over their hearts. And you had to be the best, so much so none of the other Tributes would beat you in this little game of yours, and you just needed to ace this. Especially when you were the creator of the rules to begin with.

“Tell us a little about yourself” Mr. Flickerman said between chuckles.

“Well, you know I’m a Doctor…” you thought further. “But do you know I’m that of a poison maniac” you admitted out loud. Everyone turned silent, and you could read the question as to what you meant by those yours. Your smile widened at the stunned look of the Host. They weren’t expecting that.

Bingo!

“Do tell us more about it” desired the important Host. “I’m sure everyone here wants to know as well” he directed his attention to his audience, earning the high tones of approval he was seeking. He tilted his face to his side, concentrating his look on your moving lips, impatient to know what you were about to reveal.

You let a dry snicker escape your mouth, one that ringed at the back of your tongue. You eyed him, with another convincing smile. “Being an medic, it’s only natural I give but the best quality medicine out there. And for that, I would poison myself to find the best remedies” you informed. You bit your lip down expectant as to what the reaction of the public would be.

“Wow. What an unexpected turn of events” he finally roared, his voice echoing in every corner of the set. The audience though, stayed quiet, and you could feel them staring in awe at what you had let out.

“Yup. From strange looking fruits, to snake bites. I have tried them all. An of course, that means I’m tolerant to most poisons” you turned to the audience, giving them a cheeky look. You just thought of the best response for this.

“I believe there's a saying that goes by ‘Don’t judge a book by its cover’. Next time don’t underestimate me, I have a few cards up my sleeve, Mr.” you giggled through the microphone. Mr. Flickerman simply smiled in amusement. The audience ruptured in an applause, with some people whistling which cut though the noise, at the revelation that you had kept hidden. You only chuckled more in flattery of their recognition of your talent. Your eyes readied on the blue haired, him giving you that of a laughing smile. Maybe it was a bit adventurous of you, but you winked at him jovially, earning him another round of chuckles.

When the noisy ambience died down, the blue haired Host turned serious again. And of course returned his unbearable pause. He knew what he was doing, creating intrigue among everyone that saw his show tonight, making everyone more focused with what he wanted to say. He opened his mouth to finally speak.

“We would love to keep talking to you,” he informed regretful at the sounds of disappointed guests among the public. “but I’m afraid time’s up”

“Aww, Mr Flickerman, you’re totally breaking my heart” you pouted in with a pitiful voice, all part of a playing joke.

“Don’t try to gulttrip me like that” he added, along with the laughs of the public.

You stood up, but before you left, there was something you needed to do to make sure you were the spotlight of the likeability between the Capitol.

“Love you all, and thank you for tonight” your hand placed on your lips, only to swiftly fly off to your captivating audience, blowing out loving kisses to them. And with that, you left the stage. And that you blissful mask was thrown away into the trash once you heard the roaring cheers for the next person behind you.

You never realized just how empty this kind of lively show would give you once the lights turned their focus on someone else. Your heart had turned like an empty void, and you came across something you hadn’t thought about during the show. The joy and elation you were showing was was never there to begin with, and it honestly left you exhausted having to overwork you body to achieve to emotions you wanted to convey.

“Love you all” the words you spoke earlier bouncing around your mind like a broken record, like it was trying to tell you something that you coudn’t quite grasp the concept of. Loving someone, you didn’t know what that even meant. Although you had never been loved by anyone, nor you have loved anyone before; unless motherly kind of love you supposed. But even with Edna, you weren’t quite sure if that was the case. And for the next five minutes you wondered around with that topic of interest, “What’s it like to love someone?” you muttered as you walked down the hallway to meet the rest of your team, already noticing they’re exciting movement towards you.

That question though, would quickly fade into the abyss of amnesia inside your mind, throwing away pieces of information that your brain deemed unnecessary worth remembering. Scarlett practically ran to you to give to the biggest, most suffocating hug you’ve the pleasure to experience, and for a moment you thought she was about to kill you right then and there from the sheer force, before the Hunger Games even commenced. She had really toned muscles, you thought.

You found yourself again at the balcony. It had been your comforting place in a way. When everything felt too real and suffocating, you simply came out to feel the seasonal wind against your face. No matter how high quality aircons are in the Capitol, nothing could beat the fresh air of the still night. Even the incoming noises of the busy city, coudn’t reach the high tower you were standing on. So high up you bet you could brush the texture of the soft clouds, only to find the disappointing reality, and to contrary to what you had hoped for. In return, your offering hand was covered in tiny cold droplets neatly placed on the surface of your skin from the forming rain that was happening inside the spongy clouds.

The cold humidity that exhuded a crashing reality to your silly thought. So it was evident you also felt the freezing particles of the night over your body, and with that, the winds that hide themselves during daytime, travelled further away into their destination under the beautiful moon shine.

You almost expected it to be Finnick, having met him last time in the exact same place, at the very same hour. But what gave away that it was indeed not your mentor’s presence was funnily the smell, it was warm and refreshing. It reminded you of what Athena had said to you days go, the smell of the sea never seemed to leave the sea shells when they touched each other , it was daring and in a beautifully wrapped up overpowered odor.

Vito smelled similar to Finnick, but your Tribute Partner’s was more capturing. It was a nice smell that anyone would willingly drown themselves into a sea of flower petals, and no one opposed to turn themselves under his very submission.

Finnick on the other hand, reminded you of the wild dandelions that grew a top of the mountains. Back home, when you needed provisions for medicine, you liked trekking up to the crown of a mountain about an hour away from your town. It was a wonderland of medicinal herbs, like God himself had planted them all for you. And without fail, you blew air out of those loving blooming dandelions, speaking away your impossible wishes and secrets. Fragile and soft to the touch, as light as the wind blew them through the air into the hidden places over the ocean, that’s how Finnick smelled like.

You looked up Vito. His brown skin glowed with the neon colors of the Capitol, but the real party was the reflection of said colors on his sclera, even more so the void of his black eyes showing that similar of an underground night club where everyone was welcomed, no matter how different they were labeled as by the unfair standards of society.

“Hey” he spoke quietly so as to not interrupt the peaceful stillness of the night. He wasn’t looking at you, and yet you still understood the serious undertone of his voice, already knowing the reasoning he wanted to talk to you. You didn’t need to be a genious to figure that one out. “Hey”

There was a moment of silence. The heaviness placed around both of your shoulders, the grief swirling your very essence into replicating those sorrowful eyes of yours. You huffed out air. It was exactly the same situation like having to see one of your family member's succumb to a lethal disease, fully knowing they weren’t going to make it, and you were left with the slow acceptance that you would never see them again. Never touch them, never feel them, like you somehow had to ignore the footprint they marked on your core memory, and having to live your days as the circle of life took away their presence, and you still too burdened by their ghostly unreal fingers walking along your skin.

It was unfair, because neither you or Vito deserved this, and you both knew this very fact. Why did you have to be punished by the crimes people you never met had atoned for? You have been even able to distract away your anger before, but now it was impossible for your unresolved gut feeling. Your throat squeezed at the feeling of that unfiltered emotion. But there was nothing you could do, because you were merely an ant in the way of a human shoe, the riched and powerful men couldn’t form an ounce of sympathy for you. And why would they? Your merely an insect living in their hunting society; you were invisible to them, so why would they care about what you had to say?

The crashing of your teeth were pressing against each other rather strong, and aggressively. A tight pain from your gums was a reflection that if you kept going, with what felt like an unlimited force, you’d end up breaking each tooth into merely tiny pieces, so small it could could fly away as powder.

A burning tear screamed its way down to you jaw, like a hurt soldier in the name of scalding revenge for taking his loved one away from him..

Vito let a breath out from the agony of the situation he got himself in. He looked at you, finding himself reflected in the same emotion of that female rage that was circling around in a rushed manner through the ducts of your veins.

“Tomorrow’s the day” he just said. And you hated the way he sounded so indifferent about it, like he gave up in that instant, like he had finally come to terms to the situation. But you hated yourself more, because you knew you should feel that way as well, you needed to accept tomorrow would be your grave. But it was one of those hard things in life you coudn’t quite grasp the concept of, it was one of those hard lessons were it only left you more confused every passing second. Because your death would be for absolutely nothing worth sacrificing yourself over for.

Another tear rolled down, this time taking the path to follow down the silhouette of your nose, only to sink down your lips like a damaged ship from a recent pirate fight, leaving you with the saltiness of the sourness you felt at the tip of your tongue.

“I’ll come back to get you. Don’t linger around the Cornucopia unless you want to die from the get go” he murmured the warning. But you were glad he still wanted to follow through the plan, a plan that only happened after the obvious acknowledgement that you were surely going to die if you didn’t have a willing participant to protect you. You were more than glad Vito was by your side.

Yet, you had another thought in mind. One very much different to the words he was speaking, and if he hadn’t felt the very same rage circling around his soul, Vito would have had trouble in trying to understanding what you were referring to.

”I hate them, Vito” you told him. “I hate them so much I could kill every single one of them”

He knew who you were referencing to, the stuck up people of the rich society of the Capitol. Even more so the sponsors whose empathy are as empty as a vacant lot, and he couldn't forgive President Snow for celebrating the Hunger Games for another year straight. To make a whole show about the death of another twenty three children and adolescents, to be nothing but a promotional cultural activity, like a national sport competition that needed to happen for the sake of Panem political affairs.

He tensed the corners of his lips into a frown. The built up tears that he promised himself he wouldn't let spill was threatening just behind his lashes to pour down his cheek. He bit his tongue unable to say anything, complicit of the confessing words that could lead you to your punishment. One that involved scissors, your tongue, no anesthesia and a lot of pain you weren’t ready to face.

Vito blamed you for making him tear up like that. He was trying to hold it, because it didn’t come from a place of sadness but rather the feeling of unfairness anger, that turned in an eternal resentment to seek out justice for the Capitol’s wrongdoings. Your words had hit straight to his chest, the cruel and cold words he welcomed in with open arms, because he had the same sentiment. Unlike you, it seemed easier to hide away that feeling into an old rusty box under a key he threw away into the ocean, so how did you open his chest to reveal his innermost gruesome desires?

The pure of your emotion was shared with him, and both of you cried through the fiery rage of the obligation you two had to complete. Both of you wished for the other to survive, while also drowning in self pity and a silent wish it was them who would come out victorious.

He clasped a hand behind your head and buried your face in his chest, letting you make an emotional mess all over his shirt. So after his invitation to ruining yourself on his clothes, you grabbed a hold of the rich textile behind his back, making sharp and hard wrinkles around were your fingers that were creating a fist, a burning sensation on your fingers from the slight rash at the stong grip.

And there the both of you stayed, venting away the crucial and clouding desires to take down this Roman Empire to build another one, based directly by your conjoined ideals. Ones you were sure the people from the future would look down upon your current systematic one, to preach your imaginary one.

A whimper escaped your lips, your cries becoming louder in that pit of uncontrollable fire. You were coming back from the wings of fantasy, and crashing down your unprotected landing to earth’s reality. A dry sob from the realization he would be separated from you so painfully soon.

“But the hardest part is leaving you” was what you wanted to say to him. He’d become your only friend, a bond built upon the same unfortunate situation, but still a friend nonetheless. You didn’t want to separate yourself from him. You didn’t want to die, you didn’t want him to die, you just wanted to be with him like this until the end of times, until Earth had become nothing but crust. For someone to find your fossilized rock, and coming across that of an emotive stone of two hugging skeletons, in each other embrace to face the chaotic disaster together.

But you didn’t want to die, you wanted to spend more time with him. You wanted the both of you to lose yourselves on the dry mountains of District 4; to swim and perhaps and eat fish he had gathered from the endless sea, and tell old pirate tell tales.

You didn’t want to die, and you didn’t want him to die. But that wish was simply unrealistic, in which fate didn’t have that wishful plan for the two of you. And fate had already spoken, and that meant you two wouldn't come out of this alive together.

“Fifteen” the countdown was halfway through. Your feet were stoned to the platform, as your veins run cold coursing through your body. You sucked in air, trying to stop the scraping thoughts of death from cutting around your soul.

“Thirteen” you gulped down hard, as a way to stop the gurgling feeling from your stomach to rise to your eyes, and start crying right there and then. The anticipated Hunger Games was close to commence, and for the first time a voice whispered in approval to something you had said earlier, you weren’t ready for this.

“Ten” by then you sucked in many more breaths, the anxiety overgrowing through your every artery, infecting your lungs into a garden of poisonous wild vegetation. Your chest heaved rapidly, trying to stabilize your tumultuous mind. Everything was hazy, and your eyes roamed every corner it could, trying to desperately find and hold onto anything that would put you into the guarding hands of safety. But this was the Hunger Games, you knew better than to blindly trust something or someone. And when it came to the Gamemakers, when you turned your back, their betrayal was exactly like a Judas kiss.

“Where’s Vito?” your voice got lost in the immense silence that surrounded you. He wasn’t next to you, and in his stead came the features of the terrified girl from District 5. Her brunette hair braided into twined low tails, giving her the absolute most innocent look on her.

Ice touched your wrists, hurting the passing blood that was blocking your veins at the sight, already grimly visualizing her end.

Your eyes started to water, “Where is he?” your chest was rising and lowering in uncontrollable rhythmic fast paces. Your eyes moved fast trying to reach the boy you could trust most in this secluded place. Your jaw trembled a chill, it seemed from the very moment you entered the tube, every shiver that run made incomprehensible shapes on your back like it was foretelling you about something, and it felt exactly like a warning by the way your hairs straightened in electric agony. It didin’t matter how much your body screamed at you to turn around, to not enter the place that was surely going to end up being the graveyard of all the participants. The alert were justified. You were going to die soon, and that what scared you into the shaking fear that echoed in your bones, cliterring against each other.

“Nine” you found him. Vito was looking back at you, the irises of his eyes like the sea before a storm, calm and peaceful, and slowly getting more disturbed by the cruel ripples drawing hungry circles on the water. They were dark, like the clouds that started to cover the sky of the ocean, and soon the electrical particles would float around in the air, welcoming the thunders and lightnings that had been anticipating to come out, to free their violence through the sea.

He gestured his head behind him, away from the Cornucopia that stayed in the centre of the circled Tributes. He was calm and collected, he was ready to face this, something your weren’t. He wanted you to run away and hide somewhere, just like he said the day before, “I’ll come back to get you”.

You followed his lead, and found yourself overlooking the structure of this place, of the Arena that the Gamemakers had expressly done for the twenty four of you.

Walls, that’s all you could see, worn out walls with wild vegetation escaping the stony cracks of it, that hinted this place had been abandoned for many years. They were as tall as twenty versions of you lined up vertically, and you supposed it was to make any possibility for a Tribute’s escape to be as the thin line of impossibility.

Your fingers curled weirdly at your side, from the tension of your joints. You huffed another air out, your eyes zigzaged around you, scanning the place whole under your heavy gaze. There were a total of six gaps on the walls that surrounded you, so much so it looked like tall hallways, it’s seductive sight whispering to you to cross over them and find out about what forbidden fruit laid at the end of the passageway. It was calling for you.

“Five” ten seconds had already passed. And with that thought, the beat of your heart was drilling in your ears. So much noise, yet everything remained quiet. The wind brushed the cold stones and caressed past your boots. With that you felt the faint finger touches of the breeze, cold and disheartening as it cried out nature’s remorse from having been involuntarily used as massacre artilletry for yet another year.

“Three” your heart beat drums were confusing your already hazy mind, feeling it heavier than what you were used to, and you detested it. You opened your eyes, leaving you with half lidded eyeballs, that were already suffering from blurred nausea. You needed to get out of your hopeless trance, that was whispering and placing bets on another, just how you would die. It was difficult ignoring those voices that screamed louder than messageman through the loud speaker, you needed to cool down your head before the countdown set to zero.

You wished you could've done that. But among the scraping noises from your inner depths, the low murmuring sound of “One” signaled you of something crucial had just started. The monotone voice annuciated the beginning of the Hunger Games. With that, a tear rolled down your stuffed face, its high speed symbolizing the heavy burden that carried the weight of its yearly resolution. The cries and screams of false whisfullness, one that not only happened inside the Arena, but it carried away with the very same distressing message to infect Panem with heartbreak.

And just like that. Bang! Everything started, the televised deaths from countless victims. Most of you were vulnerable sheep, waiting another day to pass and hope the big hungry wolves wouldn't choose you for their next meal, all stuck inside a unfair corral that gave them the advantage, and that meant you wouldn't be able to escape unharmed.

You stepped back, one foot out the pedestal. And before you could run away, another hit of nausea smashed you senses.

Everything was going too fast.

Next thing you saw was Ezra with a machete in hand, on top of a girl from District 12, blood covering whatever was left from her face. A splatter of crimson red across his dilated face, a sly small smile tensing his right corner into a sadistic smirk.

Nyla just got herself a long weapon, something similar of a spear, and was already looking at every individual that laid at her sight, including your petrified form suffering from the fogginess that numbed your brain into submission.

You shouted yourself to run, but you legs could only do that in forms of tiny steps back. You remembered the words that Finnick had told you at dinner, “it’s a bloodbath”. Sufficient to cover everydrop up to the fullest limit. All before the next victim, a fourteen year old boy from District 9’s head, almost split into two when Ava smashed an axe on him. It was like the faucet had been stuck and turned on, the bloody water overspilling to the white tiled floors, and staining everything. An innocent red that by the context behind was suddenly turned into an unforgiving shade of anguish.

You witnessed him tripping over a rooted plant, stubborn on staying strongly still, and cruelly be the deciding factor of his deadly prophecy. He tried to get up, and Ava’s much taller body caged him to the ground. With one swing move she stuck the sharp of the axe between his head, so hard when she tried to pull it out she struggled to do so, with traces of raw meat and the inner designs of his brain flying out, and making themselves present in the swirling thoughts around your memory for your further misery. It naturally splattered across her face from the sheer brutality and gruesomeness of the sin she had just committed. But its not like she cared anyway.

And with that blow, that boy was gone. His vitality thick liquid rowing down his head, and making itself noticed with lines drawing a disturbing picture in his face. The red of the blood had lost its colour, and you destested just how it had become a duller shade of crimson, like it was already in its process to rot away, starting off with the blood under the sunlight.

Ava didn’t need to keep going, but she did. She was an unstoppable force that was ready to take down anyone that she considered inferior to her that walked passed her vision, like a vicious lion with blood running down her chin.

That was it, he was gone from this planet, and away from his homeland, away from his comfort place to battle without choice even when he didn’t want to. He was to never come back to his family’s reassuring embrace. He was gone. Forever gone and to never come back again.

Another two steps back. His lifeless head turned unhumanly to you, his eyes were red as if he had cried many hours before coming to his deathbed. The drops of blood drawing lines from the ears down his cheek and nose. His eyes abnormally placed on yours, void of any terror and pain, just nothing. No happiness not sadness, no anger and not an ounce of fright. Nothing was there, just an empty shell, void of any shining pearl. Just nothing. He was gone.

His limp body was turned to you when you finally woke up from your trance, hyperventilating from the confusing and rapid forms and shapes that curled up and fused with each other, to be mixed and shaken up into colourful fragments that screamed threatening lines into your ears. Nothing made sense.

You trembled your jaw, and another tear followed down to your dry mouth. You opened your mouth, almost instinctively to scream away the distress you had built up over the days. Edna always told you there was no use in keeping yourself troubled by your emotions, and if you needed to release them, to scream away so much you could feel your soul screaming along with your body, let it vibrate in waves through your skin to alleviate it as well. Except this was not the timing to be doing that.

Your hand smacked to your mouth, blocking any sound that would give away your terrified presence. Another swarm of tears threatened to run down your face, this time in pouring rain. You gulped down, and with that you managed to drown back your scream.

Then you came across the picture of another girl. A beautiful redhead. Unreal with lightbrown eyes and pointy features. A beautiful red goddess, ruler of all the invading flames, tamer all any fire dragon she quickly claimed. She was like a blooming poppy when you had seen her in training, even more so in the breathtaking dress she had worn in the interview. A slender and shy girl, that what she portrayed herself as, as an innocent and vulnerable flower.

So why was she looking at you like that?

She was coming closer, a weird deranged expression across her lit charcoal features. She looked beautiful then, because now her animalistic eyes had turned yellow and her irises red in the purest form of insaned rage.

She was coming to you, a long knife in her hand pointed downwards, giving you the full view and the future glimpse of your deadly fate that was going to occur in the next minute or two, giving you an advantage of two seconds to understand the situation you were in. Your survival incticts quicked in, and you were glad your breathing corpse was as terrified as your mind at the oidea of the shapr item in you, in her hand to tear away the protective layers and pierce through your loved organs, circling around into a muchy smelly mess, or on the other hand, the greatest meal for those big and hungry vultures had encountered.

She twitched, and that was enough indication for you to run away, to hopefully be able to see the next twelve hours play out, still alive and well, no matter how lucky or ambitious that may be.

She screamed, more like she roared in pleasured challenge. Everything she ppotrayed herself as; from her shyness, her kindred soul, her peaceful nature, she had none of those adoring qualities anymore. On the contrary, she embraced a new side of her that eat away all the remaining good left of her. It was like she forgot the sympathetic teachings that grown ups had instilled in her. She wasn’t human anymore.

You were running for your life. Being someone with great knowledge about corpses taught just how fragile it was to begin with, more prominent injured become somewhat life altering. From broken tendons that hurt after long working hours, to crystal fragments stuck ti your knee could also be form geometrical pain from the scarring after being sat for a few hours.

And you were sure as Hell you didn’t want to find out, even in the small chance you lived long enough to find out.

You looked behind, wanting to see just how far she was. And to your regret the wild girl was just tailing behind you, a hand pushin forward against the air resistance to grab your forearm. You ducked away and turned to your right abruptly, hoping that would be enough for her to lose sight of you. A destructive shriek was all you heard, you were only frustrating her further, and a loud battling yell came out as a ball of fire that burned away her delicate features

You recognized her to be Linette from Dsitrict 8. You were surprised to say the least, you always had thought of that District to be more tame and peaceful, being in civilised cities and not knowing much about the outside world. They were in many instances at a great disadvantage because of this very fact. They dealed with the beloved Capitol’s textiles, and you cursed at yourself from letting that stereotypical thought question her eagerness and ability to come crashing down on you to kill you.

This girl had gone completely rouge, like another one of the traps that the Gammakers had created to kill you all. She didn’t feel human anymore, but rather another one of the puppets for the Hunger Games its exclusive usage to create as much chaos as it could through the Arena, and you wouldn't wait to find out the lengths she was willing to go as her first victim.

There was yet another sound, and even though your were hyperventilating, it oddly sounded like something good had happened, like you weren’t being chased anymore. You noticed your only pair of legs running, and that stalking demon presence gone you stopped. The air came in an out in ragged and heavy breathes, your stomach churned in pain, and you wanted to puke then. You gulped down that disgusting taste away in hoipes it wound’t later come up.

You looked back and scanned where the threat laid ahead of you, only to find yourhopes to become reality, even if they had made you guilty to have think that way about someone. Tears were swelling your eyes red, the pure of the salt irritating and hurting your scelera like your first attempt at diving underwater and trying to enoucter all sorts of beautiful sea creatures, but instead now, it was due to having a racing mtch with a monster that seeked blood and death.

A sob escaped your lips. Your eyes looked back at the returned concentrated stare of the black eyes you longed to see. His irises that were just below a a black tone, and more so a o dark greyish shade looked over your body in making sure you were in one piece, away from danger and hurt.

You were finally near the person you whole heartedly yearned among the chaotic violence. It dawned on you of the smart move you had done on the tran ride to the Capitol, he could protect you. He’d protect you, so you could later look after him.It ist wasn’t for that, you would most likely be dead in this very instant.

You slumped your shoulders down. And you cried, you cried out so much you felt everything else disappear. You breathed in sharp breaths earning the infamous hissing sounds coming from your throat. You moaned as well, because you were scared of everything at this point, and Vito was your only salvation at this moment.

You just wanted to be back in District 4 and be in Edna’s arms. To squeeze yourself in her body no matter how she retorted back many comments, coming at you in defense for her own personal space, that you were stubbornly invading, not caring that she didn’t want you so close to her.

But you coudn’t that, noy one or the other. This started to feel like a personal vendetta against you.

You should’ve have noticed it then, the way his irises clouded reason. He was away, far away from what was surrounding him; the corpse of the girl he was holding, the screams of pained anguish not so far away from the two of you, the cold stale air brushing his skin. He was simply out and switched off. That should have been a warning, because even though you hadn’t spent that much time together, Vito wasn’t the Vito you had grown accustomed to.

His expression was blank, a single drop of blood coming down his cheek, and yet he didn’t seem to care at all. His hand was queezing the girl’s arm, so much the beginning of the purple of a choking bruise was appearing in her forearm. The red head, though, didn’t try to wriggle her way out of him, instead her fingers wrapped themselves on her throat. Vito had given her life threatening injures, and you knew she was breaths away from death. Linnette gurgled as she looked you, the striking eyes of shock directed at you. She, as well as you and Vito knew she was going to die, and that only turned her bloody mess in a tortural refusal she was going to die so soon after the horn rang.

It seemed she wanted to say something, and you and Vito let the silence preserve for her, but she coudn’t say anything. Her last breath was taken away from her, and now she could only fall to the ground in that. She sat on a fetal position, blood scurring off her fingers that still lay squeezing her throat, trying to somehow stop the bleeding of her punctured vocal chords.

Every word she wanted to say would never be heard, being choked down by the meaty blood. She remained there, her body trembling and you hoped her light twitches weren’t from body spasms in trying to wake her from her slumber.

Another choke. Her veiny red eyes founds yours. Linnette opened her mouth to say the words she so desperately wanted to say. Her teeth were covered in brown red, and as she choke again she spit the red liquid that was accumulating in her mouth, overspilling in to the earthy ground. And along with her cut throat, the large quantity of lost blood made a river down the path you had just taken, going back to the Cornucopia to announce her death to the rest of the Careers.

The iron taste in her mouth was overpowering her senses, and soon, that was all she could think off. Her veins were cold as if someone or something had sucked her dry, and she for the first time appreciated the warmth that blood had provided her in the freezing winter season.

She breathed for air. Tiny gasps but still despairing nonetheless. Of course, the red haird had grown tired, and she lamented that all the air she sucked was to be escaped by the gap that Vito had done to her. There was no use in fighting anymore, she had lost. Tears formed in her eyes only to never be shown to the world. They simply got stuck in her lashes as she felt herself dream to another realm.

But you managed to understand one word she said in all the gurgling and choking mess. Her pink lips were pigmented with that of crimson, and as she spat another line of sticky and thick blood, she revealed the thought she had before she had gone completely limp. “Theo” she said in her final hiss.

Sprawled over the grassy ground and accommodated by a bed of her own blood. Her eyes were wide awake looking away from the two of you, wanting her final moments to be from her own introspective, thinking back to her homeland and family. And as the cold she had never felt filled her to her senses, she wanted her last thought to be of Theodore, her boyfriend from back home.

She had hoped you could relay her final words to him, which only filled her death with so much more unforgiving tragedy. Linette hated herself for not being able to say how much she loved him, she wanted to let him know she would never forget him. Even when they would be separated, she would remember him under the sunlight, while she could only fantasize about him from the moon afar.

Her trembling fingers were the last body partsc for her to completely cease from reality, and she hoped you and Vito could hear her unheard unspoken words. “I’m sorry” and she regretted that plead for forgiveness was turned into her final gurgle.

Linnette was sorry for her survival outrage. She wished for you to understand her reasoning behind why she did it to begin with. It was like a theatrical loving tragedy, making the main character of the novel kill in order to be back for the confort of her partner.

But something you didn’t know was that this story was just like that, a love story filled with the elements of melancholy and despair, all in the name to be close to your partners loving heart.

Before she left for the Capitol and into the death game, Theodore had come to her to lament with her. Theo proposed an idea, something that was on the back of him mind for a while, and he needed to expulse that though to her. He pleaded her to come back to him, that he was nothing but a heavy rock without her. He said “Come back, and let’s get married” that’s all he said, and that was sufficient for Linette to risk everything for him, and for a future life withing the warm embrace of each other.

She apologized to you, but if you looked close enough in the rampage of her mind, behind her heavy circumstances laid the final words for not being able to keep her promise to a loved one. She was sorry becasyue she coudn’t do the task that was placed on her, to come back alive in the security of his sweet kiss. She already missed him, and Theodore could only take on the idea of dying to be near his Darling. He was more than convinced to got through Death’s realm to find her, and come back with her and fullfill their lives together away from anyone, just the two of them.

Vito looked at you, somber caressed his expression by having to see her death, but it was especially haunting the knowledge he was the perpertrator of her murder. His finger dropped the stained weapon, that was swam droplets into the dry leaves of the trees towering you two.

His ragged breathings hinted you he was close behind when the chase occurred, a hunter hunting down a carnivore animal that was close behind your form, as it decided your were the her next meal. You hated thinking that, but you had to accept it. In this secluded place where no one would come to help you, you were at the very bottom of the food chain.

The dilation of his pupils spiraling around at the sudden adrenaline charge that sparked every sense in one singular thought, you. He was worried, and that fear was another loud and harder step to protect you, and with that primal surge of energy he completely ignored the voices of his principles and came running behind until he reached to get Linette.

And he had reached you on time.

You looked back at him, calling out his name in a weak and broken down tone, as a fragile as a ceramic vase being hit to the harsh cold floor. His face said something you coudn’t read, he was completely paralyzed and stoic. His eyes were faded into the high of the clouds. The storm you saw before, merely minutes ago was completely gone now, only left with the smoky clouds after the rain, calm but with a clear hint that a devastating disaster had just occurred.

“Vito?” Another cry left your lips. He looked as dead as the girl by his feet. Cold, unmoving, and hollow behind his eyes. But he was fine, he had to be. Vito was standing in front of you, you were seeing his breaths quickening through the movement of his chest. He was alive and well, only he felt dead inside as all the dead corpses lying around the Cornucopia when he had left it behind.

His irises were nothing you had seen before, none of his lively playfulness, nor the broken pieces of crystals that were crying out in pain. He was away from reality, and definitely far away from the life he learned with his family, a journey with not return ticket from his usual life.

It like his soul had left him.

His hands trembled by his side, the blade just beside his feet not only was stained with Linnette’s blood, but also his concious guilt of self disgust. The very faded eyes were stationed on yours, irises still and yet his pupil shaking like a chemical reaction was happening behind his brain. He was so eerily still it out you on edge, and a clear whisper told your to run away from him, readying your legs for another round of running.

But, why were you scared of Vito?

And yet in that emotional turmoil you wanted to answer, his gaze was still directed at you, with nothing. Your Tribute Partner was looking at a picture of his own guilt, one were an invisible pencil drew him with Linnette’s dead body beside him. But it didn’t stop there, no, the pencil was growing bold and recreated the many more murdered corpses it was predicting Vito would commit.

The blurred drawing of red lines, like that of a a spiderweb of blood decorated in the insides of his brain, showing his admission of a guilty killer. There was no coming back now, he stepped away from the stable line of human morality, and into the the abyss of murderous insanity. He was a murderer, and no matter your denying words he knew you would say to reassure him, it could not erase that simple, yet cutting fact.

“Vito?” you called out to him again, a tint of shakiness painted the wall of your throat, making the cried tone of yours break his heart even more. You huffed air expectantly, he was finally looking at you, the real you and not what his imagination tried to trick him with. He turned his fingers into a fist, obligating himself to feel the prickling pain from the stabbing fingernail on his palm, in a way he was trying to indulge himself in some sort of self punishment, especially after seeing your terrified form and dilated pupils.

And as cruel as it maybe, Vito didn’t mind the signing tunes of gratitude your heart whole heartedly sang to him. Deep in his soul, he knew you weren’t happy to have Linnette killed, but rather for saving you on your assured death scene. His eyes softened after seeing yours, scanning your colourful tones from your broken eyes, at least at ease him you were still alive, even against all odds you were still here. And that’s all he needed to know to feel like he could lift the deadly weight off of him.

Vito called your name. His eyes were still void, and the charcoal irises only made him look like empty black holes, powerful enough to suck you in and grab a hold on you, not matter how much your tried to scurry away from him.

“Run” he said. The new facade of Vito was showing up on the Arena. You half expected it was going to occur sooner or later, but you didn’t want to believe that would come in the form of that stoic expression he was doing. But the words he spoke, those were the hard hitting truth of the fantasy you tried to convince yourself was just that, and unreal expectation that only lived in your optimistic fantasy. The voice that you had gotten used to, was stranger to your ears. It was the sound of a thin thread of frost, creating little drawing of asphyxiating ice by your ear drums.

He didn’t repeat himself, looking down at you with nothing but that disturbed face of his. Following your every move as you cried some more, pleading him to stay with you. But it didn’t work, he was still and convinced of the meaning behind those cold words. And after some low sobs you gathered yourself to leave your friend behind, your only friend, the one you would give your life up in order for him to come back to his family.

His voice was echoing the singular words he said, leaving traces of tears down your cheeks and dampening your whole gear from the neck down. You wanted to scream at him, for ignoring your contractual agreement the two of you promised each other to carry, yet you still obeyed him. Even when his very actions were exactly like sending you to your horrible death.

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