#who he absolutely caught floating once or twice so he's gotta know what to do

[yarichin-imagines]

Hi!!! okokok, how bout a s/o who has a kind of quirk (just like bnha!), how do you think they would react? Like, I think they'd probably integrate into something related to sex or develop a kink (? LMAO

y'all i am so into bnha you have no idea!! also, for neutrality purposes, i'll be using the quirks of deku, todoroki, bakugou, uraraka, kirishima, denki, sero, iida, and satou, all from class 1A, mostly just because none of their quirks rely on physical appearances!!

tw: impact, dubcon (drugging, somno), dummification if you squint

Toono – S/O's Quirk: One for All – This Quirk is a union of two different Quirks, one that stockpiles power and one that passes itself on to another. The user can momentarily gain strength and speed far greater than any other Quirk and hero.

thankfully by the time he'd met you, you'd mastered the use of your Quirk

you were never the prance about type to flash around your power anyway

you preferred to use it for more mundane tasks – like opening pickle jars and carrying the groceries into the house in one trip

he found out about it on accident

he was on his way out when he caught you in the parking lot coming in––

with your car in hand, two feet off the ground

you'd dropped your fob somewhere underneath it and couldn't see

toono passed out

when he came to, his first questions revolved around whether or not the car was okay

once he wraps his head around it though..

he's way more into it than he tells you

but it also fuckin terrifies him

so much so that he really doesn't want you to use it on him

definitely has watched you use it so intently that he can nut off to it later

maybe one day he'll pluck up and ask you to activate it for some pictures he can keep

Kashima - S/O's Quirk: Half-Cold, Half-Hot – This Quirk splits the user into two, half of the user's body can emit ice, the other half emits fire.

honesty is a pillar to kashima's relationship

your quirk came to light a month or so into seeing him

and at first, he was mostly excited about the health benefits

he decides then and there that you gotta do him a solid and chill his side of the bed

that way he can keep cool when he sleeps

sometimes

even if he's half asleep

he'll grab your right hand with a lil soft tug

and in your drowsy stupor you chill his pillow so there's no need for a flip

makes him grin like an idiot every time

when he comes home from practice or from the gym he has you freeze and unfreeze the bathwater-- saves you guys a whole lot of ice

he doesn't mind letting you ease his muscles with your left side after all the heats works wonders that would make any rice pack green with envy

as a top, kashima's got complete control in the bedroom

all day, he'll ask you to close your eyes and heat something up, maybe it's a vibrator or a dildo

or when you chill something, they're usually beads or a plug

all for him to torment you with later on that night

Yacchan – S/O's Quirk: Explosion – This Quirk allows the user to sweat a substance similar to Nitroglycerin from the user's palms and ignite it to create explosions.

kyosuke recognizes it's too dangerous to use in the bedroom

but that being said, there's plenty of other stuff around the place to let you show off

your firework shows are always the best on the block

especially when he sets some off right when yuu isn't expecting it

mainly, yacchan appreciates your quirk when it comes to pulling pranks

It's really funny when you're popping ziploc bags full of nothing right outside tamura's dorm when he's trying to power nap before exams

and even funnier when he storms out in just tighty whities to yell at you

only to meet the flash of yacchan's cellphone

toono will fall asleep during study sessions sometimes and yacchan will facetime you so you can let out a boom and wake him up

he will most definitely fall off the bed and yacchan will most definitely record it

the two of you are the best of the worst that way

Shikatani – S/O's Quirk: Zero Gravity – This Quirk allows the user to cause people and items to float on contact. There is a weight limit on how much the user can levitate, and if this Quirk is used to much, it will cause the user to get sick.

it's really helpful when you help him deep clean

after all, if the supplies are gracefully floating behind him, that leaves his hands free to do twice the work, saving him half the time

but you're content to watch the beautiful boy work

if you help him clean like that, he won't ask for much more that day

he is very very conscious of how much you use your quirk

because he cares about you too much to let you get sick

since he knows for a fact that because of his ocd he won't be able to take care of you

and that stings

so on the days where the chores have all been done he gets the honor of experiencing the effects of your quirk in bed

he likes how it feels when your tease him from the air above

your throat feels more open

but it's not like he can do too much about it since the instant he gets too eager you always float just out of reach

sometimes if he's behaved very well, you'll suspend him

the headrush he gets is euphoric

but the best is how good you are when you blow out his back with your strap

after all, without gravity, your stroke game is literally out of this world

Akemi – S/O's Quirk: Hardening – This Quirk allows the user to harden any part of their body. This shell can withstand several tons of metal falling on the user, along with shock waves, explosions, etc.

there's nothing cuter to akemi keiichi than a brat

if you want to misbehave?

by all means

go right ahead

he'll leave it to you to exhaust yourself

that's the first time he saw you use it

he wasn't aiming to cause any major damage, he was only spanking you with his hand

but he'd been at it for almost an hour

then suddenly he'd pushed you off him after he'd slapped what felt like a solid rock

not that it could stop him

his eyes only grew darker

from then on out, it was all a game to see how far he could push before the shell wore down and you gave into him

Itome – S/O's Quirk: Electrification – This Quirk allows the user to discharge electricity out of the user's body. It goes out in all directions around the user, and can be used to even charge objects, such as batteries. There is a limit to how much this Quirk can be used, and if used too much, the user will short circuit their own brain, and won't be able to do anything for an hour.

of course you can charge his phone in a pinch when it dies at the worst possible moment

hotwire his car when he's already running late

restart the fusebox when there's a power outage

after hours, itome's not a hard dom

not in the slightest

but every once in awhile, he can be particularly malicious

like when he has you overcharge your vibrators to give him the liberty of overstimulating you for longer

really it's less about the scene and more about what comes after

due to the limits of your quirk, aftercare is all on him

that's what he likes the most

taking care of you completely

being able to coax you through your braindead state

clean you off and pose you all comfortable

you're all the sweeter when you come to, when you come back to him

Yuri – S/O's Quirk: Tape – This Quirk allows the user to shoot extremely strong tape from openings on the user's elbows.

the tape is good for fixing most messes yuri gets himself into, clumsy fuck

also waxing!

of course he's gonna be into it

he loves the sting it leaves when you pull it off him the most

and he feels it all over again when there's red rectangular patches all across his skin the next morning

though the gluey part is a bit of a pain to wash off

sometimes he'll leave it for him to pick at throughout the day -- that way he'll get the shivers, makes him hot all over again!

he literally cannot get enough

when you do your school work or anything that diverts your attention from him, he'll be tugging at your elbow

this way you can restrain him until you're ready to ahem

put him to use

you can also use your tape to toss him around, floor to bed to floor to wherever

sometimes you even tape up his face, cover his mouth until the drool renders the tape into a thin flimsy strip

you tie his hands tighter and tighter every time, and it never breaks him

he loves it

on the other hand, yuri can be quite the slippery fuck

for emergencies, you've got some of your tape stored away

you've woken up more than once hogtied, your quirk turned against you

like it or not, yuri can easily turn the tables and you're almost never expecting it

you might have an unlimited supply, but he's too quick for your own good

Tamura – S/O's Quirk: Engine – This Quirk gives the user incredible speed by engine-like protrusions in the user's calves. The engines are fueled by orange juice, and carbonated drinks will mess the engines up.

he calls a 40 meter dash every single weekend

he sets his treadmill to train for it the whole week

but he never beats you

and it seriously pisses him off

you're always faster, no matter the game

if anything, it motivates him

he'll take the bruised ego if it helps him get into better shape

the fact that sometimes, you let him win makes his "engines" overheat faster than you can blink

he'll chase you and chase you for hours

fueled on adrenaline and testosterone, there's no way he'll tap out before you

expect a long, hard bite once he catches you

he goes absolutely animalistic

that lilt in his voice when he finally gets to sink his teeth into your shoulder, even if it's through a shirt, that doesn't matter to him

"caught you"

Jimmy – S/O's Quirk: Sugar Rush – This Quirk allows the user to become stronger and faster every 10 grams of sugar they eat for three minutes. The more the user uses this Quirk, the dumber they get.

every time he catches you snacking on a chocolate bar his whole brain turns off

he's practically jumping, the way he bounces around

waiting for you to inevitably choke slam him against the nearest surface

wall, couch, bed, anything

he likes it when you just toss him over your shoulder

even more the way your hits are harder than usual

he antagonizes you on purpose

making sure to stuff a grocery cart full of sweets he knows you like so that he can catch you snacking and make him pay through the nose

he always asks so nicely

but when you won't give in, well that just won't do!

doses your miso with sugar, drops in three extra cubes in your milk tea, encourages extra flan for dessert

for the next three minutes, you're nearly tripping over yourself

everything is lighter

and then when the crash hits---

jimmy can finally take what he wants

and karma is quite the bitch

[kasienda]

Right Behind You - Chapter 1: Scandal

An Adrino Story - Friends to lovers Maybe the person you need is not the one you’ve had your eye on, but the one who’s been right behind you supporting you the whole time.  Chapter 1: Scandal Nino was awake.

Which was a crime.

His gig the previous evening hadn’t ended until well past four in the morning, and glancing at the glowing clock next to his bed it wasn’t even eight yet. He had managed maybe two hours of sleep.

And he could feel it everywhere in his body. The light peeking through the edges of his blackout curtains felt like an assault on his dry and irritated eyes. His left knee ached from a week-old injury caused by a bad landing during one of Carapace’s patrols. Even his thoughts felt like they were smothered in a thick cold fog.

He hated when the all night events hit on back to back days, but he needed the double pay at least a few times a month to afford his downtown Parisian apartment and without fail the requests for such events tended to land on the same weekend. No doubt, it would be worth it in a few hours. Once he had a cup or three of coffee. 

Or another five hours of sleep.

But his phone clearly had other plans as the blasted digital brick wouldn’t stop buzzing every few minutes. 

Nino left it in the other room every night to avoid this exact scenario, but he must have left it on some plastic container because the vibration was loud. And whoever this was, they were very insistent.

He sat up with a groan, very aware of the dull ache that stretched from one temple to the other. He let his head hang lifelessly to his chest.

The phone went off again. He glared through the open doorway. 

“I’ll make coffee.”

Nino tried to smile at the tiny green floating kwami, but it came out more like a grimace. “Thanks, Wayzz. You’re the best.”

He gave himself five minutes of just sitting with his blankets still wrapped luxuriously around him protecting against the chill of the morning. The phone had mockingly gone silent after almost ten minutes of near constant buzzing. He contemplated letting his head fall back to the pillows. But it was probably too late. Despite his fatigue, Nino was rarely able to go back to sleep.

He reached blindly to the small table beside his bed for his glasses, and then stumbled through his small apartment to the kitchen. Wayzz was already pouring black coffee into a cup.

Nino smiled at the ridiculous sight of the floating green creature handling an object twice its own size. It didn’t even look strange to him anymore. Really, Nino was unsure how he had ever gotten by without the constant support of the ancient kwami. 

He stepped forward to accept custody of the steaming beverage. He added a spoon of sugar and creamer. Before he could take his first sip, the blasted phone went off again.

Alya’s gleaming smile lit up his screen. He frowned at the device and immediately answered, even as he continued mixing his coffee. 

“What’s wrong?” he asked.

“How do you do that?” her synthetic voice demanded from the other end of the line.

“Al, except for my birthday, you haven’t called me in two years,” he stated flatly. Why was she even asking? They texted quite often, and whenever she was back in Paris they usually would have lunch or hang out with their mutual friends. But ever since their break up, she had not called. 

Well, except for his birthday.

“And today is not my birthday. And it’s barely morning! You know that I’m never up before ten at the earliest and twelve is really a better bet. And you’ve been blowing up my phone clearly trying to get my ass out of bed. So I ask again, what is wrong?” he said slowly, emphasizing each word before he licked the spoon he was using to mix his coffee.

“Have you talked to Adrien lately?” 

His stomach dropped. This must be really bad news. Alya didn’t usually beat around the bush. She was more like a bulldozer that went straight through things. And if this was about Adrien… “Like three days ago. Why?”

His phone buzzed against his cheek immediately. He pulled it away to see the headline she sent him. 

Supermodel, Adrien Agreste, batting for the other team?

Keep Reading on Ao3

He already hated it, but that didn’t stop him from tapping on the link. Nino sucked in air at the sight of the picture. Nino has seen a lot of professional shots of Adrien over the years. This picture was gorgeous. Or, it would have been in absolutely any other context. 

The picture captured three quarters of Adrien’s face, but only a bit of his partner. His hair caught the light and gleamed gold, not quite as perfectly in place as it would have been in the morning. Like he had run his hands through it just a few times. His normally peach cheeks were dusted with pink and his eyes were closed. He was pulling away from a kiss with a fair-skinned man wearing glasses. But Nino’s eyes focused on his friend’s mouth. Adrien’s lips were upturned in the slightest little smile - the dopey one he had whenever he was talking about the mystery girl he loved.

And that was the only difference between all the professional shots Nino had seen over the years and the front page tabloid. In this picture, Adrien looked… happy. Genuinely so.

And now, that beautiful private moment was now plastered all over every gossip rag from one side of France to the other. 

Likely without Adrien’s permission. 

How unfair that one little moment of indiscretion outed him to all of Paris. 

Nino’s gut twisted painfully. 

All of Paris included Gabriel. Adrien had never told his father about being bi, and it was no wonder as the uptight bastard was an ice statue of propriety with absolutely no feelings. 

“It wasn’t at an event, Nino,” Alya explained. “It’s around the corner from that pub we used to frequent after lycee, almost in an alley outside a club. But the photo’s too good for some random person to have just seen him walking by at this time of day. The lighting should have been terrible and the photo grainy.”

“So?”

“The photographer knew Adrien was going to be there and that there'd be something worth taking a picture of.”

“Shit,” he cursed, his free hand gripping his own shoulder. “I gotta go.” 

“Yeah, I figured.”

“Thanks, Al, for calling. He never would.”

“I know. I might be terrible at keeping in touch, but maybe we could schedule a catch up?”

In spite of the circumstances, he found himself smiling. “I would like that. When are you back in Paris?”

“I’m here now actually. When else do I read trashy gossip rags?”

He laughed. “Fair. How long are you in town for?” 

“Just the long weekend, but I wasn’t going to tell anyone because I didn’t have a whole lot of time and I’m going to be back for like six months in just a few weeks. Then, I read this, and well…”

“Yeah, thanks for the head’s up.”

“Sorry for waking you up so early.”

“You already know this was worth it to me. Thank you.”

“Of course, Nino. Anytime. Now, go track down a certain unfairly attractive supermodel, and make sure he’s okay. I’ll start researching who this bastard is and see if I can ruin his day.”

Nino laughed. Alya was protective of her friends, and positively vindictive. It was a scary combination. But Nino had always loved that about her.

“Nino?” 

“Yeah?” 

“Tell him I love him, too. He’s not alone.”

He smiled again. “I’ll tell him. Thanks again, Al,” and then he ended the call.

He drained his coffee though it was still too hot. Because he definitely didn’t have time to nurse it, and he definitely was going to need the caffeine rush today. He then immediately called Adrien. 

His friend didn’t answer, so Nino called again because there was no way in hell Adrien wasn’t doom scrolling through feeds obsessing over this story.

And again.

On the fifth try Adrien finally answered.

“Did it ever occur to you that when someone doesn’t answer it might mean they don’t want to talk?”

Nino shook his head, put the call on speaker, and thudded back to his bedroom to find clothes he could wear in public. “Never in your case, dude! Where are you? I’m coming over.”

“You don’t have to,” Adrien objected. “What are you even doing up? Didn’t you have an event last night? I was counting on you sleeping until noon!” 

“It went late. I never went to sleep,” Nino lied. He didn’t want to mention Alya’s call or plan for revenge yet, or admit to a monster headache. If he did, Adrien wouldn’t let him come over. 

“You don’t have to come listen to my sob story,” Adrien insisted. “Get some sleep. This isn’t important. It was my own fault. I was stupid.”

Nino rolled his eyes. “Shut up. Where are you?” He pulled a white t-shirt over his head, and placed the phone back to his ear. 

Adrien remained silent on the other end. 

“Dude, if you don’t tell me where you are, I’ll call Chloé and Kagami for back up in tracking you down.”

There was a sigh over the phone. “I’m at the hotel.”

“Room number?”

“427.”

“Be there in fifteen,” Nino promised. He jumped into a pair of khakis, kissed the brim of his red hat before slipping it over his head, and went straight out the door.

“Fifteen minutes is cutting it a little close, young master,” Wayzz chided from his left shoulder.

Nino had long stopped trying to get Wayzz to drop the title. The creature was as stubborn as he was old.

“Not if we take the superhero express.”

Wayzz’s disapproving frown did nothing to dissuade Nino from his plans.

Adrien needed him.

…

The door whipped open barely a second after Nino’s knuckles had knocked. For a second, neither of them spoke. Nino studied Adrien’s face carefully for signs of upset. His friend’s eyes were bloodshot as if he’d been up all night, but they weren’t puffy, so he probably at least hadn’t been crying. And his lips were curled into a relieved smile.

Nino returned the expression before pulling Adrien into a hug.

“How did you get here so fast?” Adrien mumbled into Nino’s shoulder.

Nino pulled away, and followed Adrien into the small hotel room. “Trade secret,” he deflected, hoping the humor had Adrien rolling his eyes instead of insisting on an explanation.

Maybe Wayzz’s paranoia was somewhat justified. Not that Nino had any regrets. Adrien didn’t push, and instead immediately fell backwards on the pristinely made bed. His friend clearly hadn’t even attempted to get any sleep last night. His green eyes stared blankly at the ceiling.

Nino flopped on the bed next to him, lying perpendicular with their heads side by side. 

“So why the hotel?”

Adrien snorted. “The studio has paparazzi.”

“You could’ve crashed my place.”

“But you weren’t there.”

Nino’s head rolled towards his best friend. “So? You have a key.”

Adrien’s gaze remained glued to the ceiling. ”Maybe I’m just embarrassed and didn’t want to explain anything.”

“You don’t have to explain anything,” Nino said. “If you don’t want to talk, fine. But I’m here. And if you do want to talk, I’m here for that, too.”

And then Nino just waited, listening to Adrien’s uneven breathing. He suspected Adrien did want to talk. But it remained silent longer than Nino would have expected under the circumstances. And Nino was blissfully comfortable next to Adrien’s warmth and familiar presence and Nino’s caffeine boost was fading fast. He quickly found himself nodding off. 

“Promise you won’t judge?”

Nino started awake. 

“Nino?” Adrien rolled onto his side toward Nino.

“Yeah?” Nino responded, trying to disguise the crack in his voice. 

“You fell asleep, didn’t you?” Adrien observed dryly.

“No!” Nino denied for all he was worth.

Adrien sighed, returning to his back. “I told you that you didn’t have to come.” 

Nino shook his head. “Come on! Admit it. You wanted me to be here.” 

Adrien sat up on the bed. Nino met his green-eyed gaze easily. “Yeah…” Adrien admitted. “I did.”

Nino gave a slight nod. “So, I’m here.” 

Adrien rubbed the back of his neck. “I just… I hate being high maintenance.” 

“You’re not high maintenance,” Nino said gently for what had to be the millionth time over the last ten years. “Your asshole father just has you brainwashed into believing you have to handle it all yourself. But you don’t. And today, you’re having a bad day, so I’m here.”

“A horrible day!” Adrien agreed. “And it’s only just started.” 

Nino sat up, spun his legs to be at Adrien’s side, and then shoulder bumped his friend. “So, let me make the rest of it better.”

Adrien grinned. “Thank you. Thank you for being here.” 

“You don’t have to thank me for that, mec.”

“I know, but I want to.”

Nino scooted closer. “So, do you want to talk about what happened? Or do you want to be distracted?” 

“How about I tell you what happened, and then you can distract me?” 

“Sounds good, mec.”

“I met him at the university library,” Adrien began, his gaze on the far wall, and not on Nino. But Nino gave him his full attention anyway. “I was doing research for my thesis. And when he saw me fumbling with a stack of textbooks he just offered to help me put my reference books away. And he started talking about physics and when we were done, we just kept talking. We ended up downstairs in the student union just having coffee. It didn’t seem like he recognized me.” Adrien tugged at his blond locks. “I’m such an idiot! Of course, he recognized me. How can anyone not recognize me? My face is on every other billboard!” 

“It makes me feel like you’re always with me,” Nino joked.

Adrien responded with a flick from his middle finger to the brim of Nino’s hat, sending the red keepsake snapping off his head. 

“Hey!” Nino objected. “Anything but the hat.”

“Right. Sorry.” 

“It’s fine, mec,” Nino soothed. If there was one person Nino actually trusted with his older brother’s hat, it was Adrien. “So, what happened over coffee?” 

“Nothing really. Like I said, we just talked. It was nice. Or… I thought it was. We almost split there, but then he whirled back around and asked me out. He seemed genuinely interested, and I had really enjoyed talking to him, I thought maybe it was worth a shot! Especially after…” he trailed off. And yeah, Nino knew Adrien was still pining after this mystery girl he worked with after years of her saying no. “It just felt nice to be wanted.” 

And god, if it wasn’t always the same story.

“We went to dinner at this little cafe. You know, even if he was acting the whole time, he really was a fantastic conversationalist. It was just so easy! And I thought… we had a connection? It was just one kiss. But apparently, the whole thing was a set up. I knew as soon as the flash went off. They had a screen for lighting and everything.”

He must have been good, Nino surmised. Adrien hadn’t been tricked by one of these looking for a moment of fame since they were seventeen.

“But I should have known better. Nathalie always says to never go out the same day they ask.”

“What?! You didn’t give Nathalie time to write a twenty page report on your potential suitor?” Nino asked mockingly.

Adrien barked a laugh. “Twenty? Try forty!” Then his mirth faded. “But I hate it, Nino. I hate being so suspicious and cynical.” 

Nino clamped his hand onto Adrien’s shoulder and squeezed in what he hoped was a reassuring manner. 

“And I hate it more when she’s right,” Adrien added in a whisper. 

At those words, Nino pulled him into a hug. “I’m sorry, dude. Wish the world was filled with more genuine people and less opportunists.”

“Yeah…”

It was silent again, and Nino was at a loss for how to fill it. But he definitely didn’t want Adrien spiraling in his thoughts for too long. 

“How’d your father take it?” It wasn’t the question Nino wanted to ask, but it was always best to get the Gabriel rant out of the way.

Adrien’s whole body went rigid in Nino’s arms. “I haven’t actually talked to him yet.”

Nino just hugged him harder. “How many times has Nathalie called?”

Adrien pulled away, and tossed him his phone. Nino unlocked it with practiced ease. Missed calls - three. Spaced exactly thirty minutes apart. Nino shook his head.

“That’s not that bad.”

“Bet she texts or calls you before she makes it to call number five,” Adrien countered.

Nino laughed. “You’re on. She’ll try you at least three more times. Anything in particular you want me to negotiate for?”

“I don’t want to talk to him today. Tomorrow is fine.” 

Nino waved his hand dismissively. “That one’s obvious, dude. I was thinking more like your working conditions in general?” 

“I would love it if we could move my fittings to early morning. Like super early. Five am? I’ve requested it before, but it costs extra to have a team there that early.”

Nino made a distasteful face. “I don’t know why you’d want to get up so blasted early.”

“I just want to get it over with so I have more time to study or hang out with my friends during the rest of the day. Is my company not worth a dawn wake up in your world?”

“This is my dawn! And here I am!”

Adrien’s grin faded. “Yeah. Sorry.”

“None of that!” Nino waved his arms dramatically. “We already established that when you need me, I am here!”

Adrien’s lips curled up into a soft smile. “Thank you.”

“So, are you okay?” Nino finally asked the question he had been wanting to ask since he arrived. Adrien had just been outed publicly.

Adrien shrugged. “Just embarrassed… mostly. You know I am comfortable with my sexuality. I was really only keeping it under wraps for father and the company.”

“Are you really okay?”

Adrien chuckled darkly. “How do you do that?”

Nino shrugged, his body going limp. “It’s my superpower, clearly. So you’re not okay, I take it?”

Adrien sighed. “I don’t know. I guess I was ready to be out with my friends, and the important people already know, but being outed publicly is terrifying. I feel so exposed. Like more than normal.

“And apparently, I do care what people think. But I hate that I care!” Adrien bit out, the bitterness and self-reproach clear in his tone. “I thought I didn’t, but I definitely do,” he added, his voice softer. “I wish I was brave enough not to.”

“Dude!” Nino objected. “You’re being too hard on yourself. It’s normal to not want to be judged. I know I wouldn’t want to be. Not when it wasn’t by choice.” Nino was out only with his closest friends. He had never talked to his parents. They weren’t exactly traditional, but they grew up in a country where homosexuality was met with prison time. Nino didn’t think they would disown him or anything, but he didn’t expect them to be thrilled. And he didn’t want to risk it. Not unless it was necessary.

Noël didn’t know either. Nino didn’t think his little brother would care, but Nino wasn’t confident Noël would remain discreet either. 

“Know that I’m with you every step of the way,” Nino promised. 

“Thanks, dude.” Adrien didn’t say anything more, but his blond eyebrows scrunched together so he was clearly thinking about something. “I definitely fantasized about my public coming out at some charity or something. Some event that could help the LGBTQ cause and community. And now it just feels so… tawdry. Like it’s just another sex scandal. And I feel like that possibility was stolen from me.”

Nino was quiet. “I’m sorry, mec. This wasn’t cool.”

Adrien shrugged. “And I’m maybe a little heartbroken. But I’m used to that.”

Nino’s chest tightened. It wasn’t fair. If anyone on this earth deserved love, it was Adrien.

“Anything I can do?”

“You’re doing it!” Adrien looked up and genuinely smiled, his green eyes impossibly bright. “You always do.” 

Nino smiled. “That’s because I love you, dude. You know that right?” 

“Yeah, man. Of course I do. And I love you, too.”

“What do you want to do for the rest of the day? Do you just want to hang out just the two of us? Or shall I invite the girls over?”

The girls meant Marinette, Kagami, and Chloé. But maybe Nino would include Alya as well since she was in town. 

“They will tear this guy to pieces.”

Nino nodded. “Exactly. He deserves it.”

“Do you think Marinette will actually come?” 

“I mean, I think if anything will bring her out of her cave of isolation to make you feel better, it would be that headline.” 

Adrien hesitated, another hand on his neck. “I don’t know… I don’t know if I want to face them. I’m so embarrassed. Chloé is going to give me hell for not seeing through this guy.”

Nino didn’t agree on that assessment. Chloé would definitely give him a hard time. But she’d do it at some point weeks or months in the future. She wouldn't tease him today. “If she does, remind her of the Antonia disaster!” 

Adrien laughed. Thank all the kwamis that that relationship had only lasted six months. Six long excruciating months. They had all hated Antonia, and not only because the feeling was mutual, but because she had torn Chloé’s sense of self worth into shreds. 

“Seriously mec, there’s nothing to be embarrassed about. We’ve all had colossal misjudgements in relationships. Like all of us.” 

“When has Marinette screwed up?” 

Nino’s laugh exploded from his chest. “Mec, you have no idea. Unfortunately, I am not at liberty to say.”

“What?! No fair! Why do you get to know, and not me?” 

Nino just shrugged. He probably would have had no trouble gossiping about Marinette to Adrien if so many of her secrets didn’t involve the blond in question. “I don’t make the rules. I just follow them.”

“What about you?” Adrien asked. “When have you screwed up in a relationship?” 

“Does a drunk hook-up count?” Nino asked.

“Depends! Were they cute?” 

“Not as cute as you,” Nino snarked back. 

Adrien actually blushed, and then just threw his arms around Nino again. 

“Thank you,” he said sincerely.

“For?”

“For being here despite my protests, for making me feel better.” 

Nino squeezes Adrien tighter. “Always, mec.”

“You can invite the girls, but can we do it at my place?”

“I thought your place had paparazzi.” 

“Just a van.”

Nino winced. That was almost worse than a crowd. A team on stakeout would be more invasive and they’d stick around for longer. 

They rolled to their feet. Neither had anything in the way of belongings and exited into the hallway.

“Which room is the gorilla staying in?” 

Adrien jerked his thumb towards the adjacent room. 

Nino knocked with a complicated staccato rhythm. The door swung open a few seconds later. 

“Morning, Big G!” Nino greeted enthusiastically offering a fist, which Adrien’s protector reciprocated, though his expression remained devoid of feeling. 

“We’re heading out,” Nino explained. “Back to his place. I’m ordering breakfast on the way. What do you want from Tom and Sabine’s?” 

The stoic man nodded and signed animatedly. 

Nino nodded. “Sounds good! We’ll meet you out front in fifteen.” 

Adrien shook his head as the door closed. “How is it that you know how to talk to him better than I do?”

“Sign language isn’t that hard, man. And I had motivation to learn!” 

It was hard to bribe a man if you didn’t speak his language.

…

Chapter 2

[themetaphorgirl]

Prompt: Emily gets drunk and comes back to the school and she voices her love for all of them and won’t stop hugging bby Reid. Can u imagine the CUTENESS. I cry your au makes me so happy

so I LOVE this prompt. and also my darling @criminalmindsgonewrong needed something fun with Emily. So I hope you like this!!

featuring Hotch’s secret weakness, children learning profanity and Alex’s “I mean business” ponytail

----------

“Hey, guys?” Dave called up the stairs. “I just want everyone to know that none of this is my fault. In fact, I should be considered a hero.”

Hotch, James, and Alex raised their heads slowly from their respective homework. “What the fuck is happening?” James whispered.

“Language,” Hotch whispered, nodding towards the younger kids piled in front of the TV.

“I say ‘fuck’ all the time, Hotch,” Derek said, only half paying attention.

Something heavy thumped on the stairs and a high pitched giggle floated up. Alex closed her Russian dictionary. “If Rossi is bringing another new girlfriend in here, I swear to god…”

Emily stumbled to the top of the stairs and flung her arms in the air like a gymnast landing a vault. “I made it!” she cheered.

Dave climbed up behind her. “Listen, I only lost her for like two seconds,” he said. 

“Oh, no,” James said. “You didn’t.”

“Did what?” JJ asked.

“Yeah, did what?” Penelope echoed. 

Emily grinned. “We went to a party!” she said. “And there was a tequila!”

Hotch slowly turned to glare at Dave. “It’s a school night, and you took Emily to a party?” he asked.

Dave shrugged helplessly. “She was very persuasive,” he said. 

“Very, very persuasive,” Emily nodded.

Alex rested her chin in her hand. “She told you a certain girl was going to be there, didn’t she?” she said.

“I’m very persuasive,” Emily repeated. She threw her arms around Alex’s neck. “Lemme...lemme braid your hair.”

“No, no, not this time,” Alex said, peeling her hands away. “Oh, I’m not excited about sharing a room with you tonight once this starts to wear off..” 

Emily smiled dreamily and raked her fingers through Alex’s hair. “It’s so red,” she mumbled. Alex sighed and dropped her chin in her hand again. 

Penelope and JJ leaned over the back of the couch to watch. “Do you think she’ll throw up this time?” Penelope asked.

“Oh, absolutely,” JJ said. “At least twice.”

Spencer looked up from his book. “Make her drink V8 again, that worked last time,” he said.

“Emily, we’ve been over this,” Hotch said. “You can get in serious trouble if you’re caught drunk on campus.”

“Oh, shit, no,” she whined. She fumbled in her pockets. “I can...I got…”

“Don’t show me your credit cards again.”

“My credit cards!” she said, waving her wallet at him. “I’ll...I can...yeah, I’ll give ‘em money and it’ll be fine.”

“No, it won’t be,” Hotch said patiently. 

Emily scowled and stumbled over to him. “Mr. Hotchner,” she said. “Mr. Hotchner, you gotta...why don’t you fuckin’ smile, dude?”

Derek burst out laughing; she whipped around and shook her finger at him. “This is a serious question!” she said. “I...I know you can smile.”

Hotch grimaced at her. “There,” he said. “Now can you please pour yourself back into your dorm room and sleep this off?” 

Emily frowned, plunking down on his lap. “You need to smile,” she said. She grabbed at his face and pulled at his cheeks. “It’s...it’s in there somewhere.”

“Emily, please,” Hotch said, pained, as her thumb came perilously close to jabbing up his nose.

“No, keep going, I wanna see what happens,” Penelope said.

Emily’s frown deepened. “Why won’t you smile?” she demanded.

“See if you can initiate gargalesis,” Spencer suggested.

“The fuck you say to me, nerd baby?” Emily said.

Spencer scowled. “Tickle him.”

Emily brightened. James immediately got up, gathering his homework. “This is going to end horribly,” he said. “Oh god. Oh, god.”

“He’s not smiling!” Emily said, digging her fingers in Hotch’s sides.

Hotch pressed his mouth together, firmly stoic. “Stop trying to tickle me,” he said. “You need to sober up, and I’m not ticklish, so-”

“Don’t ask me how I know this. Back of the knees,” Alex said.

Hotch’s mouth dropped open. “How did you-” he started to say, but Emily lunged for his knees, and he burst out laughing, trying to wrestle her off his lap. “God! Emily! Stop! Stop, you got me to smile, okay, I’m smiling!”

She tumbled to the floor and scrambled to her feet unsteadily, screeching with laughter. “I did it!” she said. “Aha! I knew you could...could fuckin’ smile.”

Penelope held up her phone. “I can’t wait to show this to her tomorrow,” she said. 

Emily staggered over to her. “You are so cute,” she said. She dropped her hands on JJ and Penelope’s head. “Two just...cute little princesses.”

“Oh, she’s really gone this time,” JJ said. She gently pried Emily’s hand off her head. “Emily, you should take it easy.”

“I can get you some snacks,” Penelope offered as Emily tangled her hand in her hair, giggling as the pompoms tied to her ponytail bounced. “Some nice saltines, maybe? A piece of dry bread? Something to soak up the alcohol in your bloodstream.”

“Hey, she hasn’t called me ‘cute’ yet, that’s how we’ll know she’s real bad,” Derek said.

Emily let go of Penelope’s hair. “But you are cute,” she said. “So...so fucking cute. You guys are all just...fucking babies and I love...all of you.”

“I’m only a year younger than you,” Derek said dryly. “Spencer’s the baby.”

“Hey!” Spencer protested. “I’m very mature for my age!”

Emily stumbled over to him, leaning over the side of the couch, and swooped him up in a snuggle. “You are a baby!” she said. “Just the babyest...fuckin’ baby.”

“You smell like hand sanitizer,” Spencer complained, squirming in her grip as she smacked kisses on his cheeks. “And I’m not a baby! Guys! C’mon, help me!”

“I’m not taking the risk,” Hotch said flatly. “Now that someone decided to blab.” Alex shrugged.

“Derek!” Spencer said, trying to wriggle away from Emily’s octopus-like hug.

“Nah, man, I’m not gonna take the risk either,” Derek said.

“Ooh! Try to initiate...gargling. Gargantuan. Gar...what was it again?” Penelope said.

Spencer scrunched up his face. “Gargalesis?” he said. Emily grinned and started tickling his ribs. “Noooo! Emily, no, stop tickling me!” He shrieked with laughter, kicking his legs at her and in an attempt to twist free. 

“Emily, stop torturing Spencer, he’s going to pee himself,” JJ said.

“No, I won’t!”

“Emily, you gotta stop, he has to breathe.”

“What?” Emily said, momentarily distracted, and Spencer tumbled off the couch and beelined to the table to duck behind Hotch and Alex. 

“Emily, you’ve got to chill,” Dave said. “We don’t want a repeat of what happened after homecoming.”

“What happened at homecoming?” Hotch asked, eyes narrowing as Spencer climbed onto his lap.

“Nothing,” Dave said quickly. Emily scowled and started scolding him in Italian; he shot back, waving his hands.

“What’s happening?” Derek asked. “What are we missing?”

“Profanity, mostly,” Alex said.

“Yeah, and you guys didn’t want me to learn how to say ‘fuck’,” Spencer said. Hotch covered his ears. 

Emily halted midsentence, holding out her hands. “Wait...wait…” she said.

JJ drew back. “Oh, she’s gonna hurl,” she said.

“False alarm,” Emily said. “We’re good. We’re good, everybody.”

Alex got up from the table and tied her hair back into a ponytail, snapping the elastic with resigned determination. “All right, Prentiss, say goodnight to everybody,” she said. “We’re going back to our dorm, and you’re going to sober up.”

Emily pouted and whined in Italian; Alex rattled something back and Emily sighed heavily. “Okay, okay, take me away,” she said. “Bye, everybody, love you.”

“Bye, Emily,” they chorused.

They didn’t see her again until breakfast the next morning; Emily sat with her head down on the table and a glass of tomato juice at her elbow. “So I take it things went well?” Dave said.

“Oh, I’m fine,” Alex said. “Miss Prentiss over here…”

“Shut up,” Emily mumbled into her folded arms. “Shut up, shut up, shut up…”

“Have we learned an important lesson?” Hotch asked.

Emily raised her head. Her eyes were still smeared with last night’s makeup. “That your ticklish spot is under your knees?” she said. 

Hotch’s ears turned red. “No, hopefully you learned a lesson about getting drunk on a school night,” he said. “Or, better yet, you’ve learned to not get drunk because you’re underage and it’s bad for your health.”

“Aw, come on, chief,” she said. She mimed finger guns at him. “Gimme a week, I’ll forget all about this.”

“Oh! I can help with that,” Penelope said. She handed her phone to Derek, who passed it to JJ, who propped it up in front of Emily. “Here’s the video! Maybe this will help remind you.”

Emily went pale. “Oh, cazzo,” she mumbled.

“That basically means ‘fuck’!” Spencer announced.

[honeypiehotchner]

Alone Together part one -- Bucky Barnes x Reader (College AU)

Fuck it, quarantine short story. This is part one. I don’t know how many parts exactly this will turn out to be, but my estimate is around three. (It’s for real a short story, I swear.) Oh, and the gif is the headcannon of what college Bucky looks like in this story (hot, to be brief).

Summary: COVID-19 caused your college campus to shut down, forcing everyone to return home. You have to stay on campus, and you assume you’re all alone, until you run into the school’s biggest flirt.

You practically float down the staircase to the kitchen on the first floor. The entire building shares one kitchen — one stove, one sink, one giant ice maker, but no fridge since you’re allowed a small one in your dorm room. It used to annoy the living hell out of you, sharing this small kitchen with a hundred other kids. But now that you’re alone, you almost love it.

You just wish that there was still a fridge. Now your only annoyance is having to carry your refrigerated ingredients down from your room in a bag. 

You want macaroni and cheese. So bad. 

Because of the lockdown, practically every restaurant is closed. And if they are still open by some miracle, they’re doing orders online or from your car. That’s nice and all, but you don’t exactly feel like interacting with anyone — period. 

Which might be a problem for you. It’s been days (maybe a week?) now since you’ve interacted with another human being that isn’t the police officer that paroles the building once or twice a day. He does so to check on you, but also to make sure no undocumented students are still here.

The officer is nice. His name is Clint. He’s friendly. He reminds you of your dad, what little you remember from him before he passed away. 

You carefully set out your ingredients and start the process of making your personal recipe of macaroni and cheese. It’s something you’ve perfected. 

Just as you’re stirring in the cheese with the cooked noodles, you hear footsteps on the staircase. Thinking nothing of it, you continue stirring, waiting for Clint to come in and ask what you’re doing. He always does that — asks what you’re doing. Even when you’re clearly doing nothing, because what else is there to do?

“That smells good.”

That’s not Clint. Your eyes snap to the stranger’s voice, only it’s no stranger at all. “What are you doing here?” You ask.  

James Barnes leans against the doorway, stupid smirk on his lips and arms crossed over his chest. “What are you doing here? I thought I was the lone survivor hanging around here.”

“Me too,” you mumble, not caring at all about hiding your disappointment. Sure, being alone for a long time might not be entirely good for your mental health, but it’s something you were looking forward to. And it’s just the fucking cherry on top that James Barnes is the one to ruin it for you. 

“What are you cooking, Red?”

“Red?” You question, raising an eyebrow.

James shakes his head. “Just a nickname.”

You roll your eyes. “Whatever.” 

The last thing you need or want is to be the target of James Barnes — the biggest fuckboy at this college. You’ve successfully avoided him all year by being yourself, hanging out in places he’d never be caught dead in, like the library. But of course, now that a global pandemic is on the rise, this is when you’re cornered. 

“You know, I think we’re the only two people here.”

You scoff, turning off the burner underneath your small pot of mac and cheese. It’s finally done, meaning you can escape back to your room.

“Listen,” you start piling your unused ingredients back into the bag. “We might be the only people here, but I’d like it very much if we could go back to the way things were, I don’t know, yesterday.”

James raises an eyebrow as you swing the bag over your shoulder. “Yesterday?”

“When I didn’t know you were here,” you reply firmly, picking up the pot. You step forward, but James doesn’t move an inch. You glare at him. “Do you want me to burn you? I will.”

“No, no,” he steps aside, holding his hands up in surrender. “By all means.”

You decide not to “accidentally” burn him and instead keep your distance as you bound up the stairs. You take them two at a time, glancing behind you once you’re on the third floor to be absolutely positive he isn’t following you. And he’s not.  

You let out a sigh of utter relief when you close your door behind you, clicking the lock into place. All you wanted was some mac and cheese. 

Now you have to deal with the realization that you’re not actually alone. And to make matters worse, you’re stuck here with James Barnes. Of all people, it just had to be him.

+++

“I told you, I’m not having a good time right now.”

Your best friend frowns. “I’m sorry.”

“I was doing so good alone. I was excited, actually, to be alone. But now I have to live here knowing I could run into him around any corner.”

“Well, maybe not any corner,” your best friend slows down your train of thoughts. “He wouldn’t roam around the girl’s floor.”

You raise your eyebrows. “Seriously? This is James we’re talking about.”

“Yes, I know,” she chuckles. “But he isn’t all that bad.”

“Don’t start.”

“I’m not starting anything!” She protests. “All I’m saying is that yes, James is a fuckboy. Absolutely no doubt about that one. But he’s...I don’t know. He’s a gentleman. He’s a player, but he’s respectful. He wouldn’t do some of the things I know you’re worried about.”

You chew on the inside of your cheek. “You’re sure?”

Your best friend nods seriously. “Come on, you know Steve?”

“Rogers?” He’s on the football team with James, you’re pretty sure. Or is it baseball? You honestly can’t remember. Hell, maybe it’s soccer.

“Yeah,” she nods again. “They’re best friends.”

“I knew that.”

“My point is, Steve keeps James in check a lot. I’ve seen it, trust me. James might be a player, but if he ever goes too far, Steve is there to get him for it.”

“Well I’m glad someone at least reins him in,” you breathe. “I don’t know what I’m going to do now that he’s here.”

“Stop worrying! You didn’t know he was there two days ago and you were fine.”

“He didn’t know I was here, either, that’s the thing,” you remind her. “But now he knows.”

“Yes, and I’m sure he’s super interested in you, a girl who wants nothing to do with him.”

“I told you how he stood in the doorway.”

“So? Friendly conversation.”

You give her a look.

“Like I said, he’s a gentleman. Besides, he only really goes after girls he knows he can get. He understands messages pretty quickly. So I’m sure he’ll leave you alone. And if you’re that worried, threaten to burn him again.”

You roll your eyes, remembering. That was ridiculous. “Not my finest moment. I wish I had thought of something more clever than that.”

“You will, don’t worry,” your best friend laughs. “I’ve gotta go, I think mom needs help with dinner. I still wish you would’ve come here instead of staying there all alone.”

“I told you, I don’t want to get anyone sick on accident. I’m better here.”

“But James is there.”

“And it would be my honor to get him sick,” you joke. “Go help your mom. Tell her I say hi.”

“I will,” your best friend sighs. “Bye. I love you.”

“Love you too,” you smile sadly, ending the call. 

Well, that didn’t make you feel better like you had hoped. 

+++

Two days pass without a single sighting of James. You call it a win. You almost want to put a little sign on your door that says “Days without an incident” that you can keep track on every time you come back to your room from doing something.  

Currently, you’re doing laundry. Normally you’d retreat back to your room while your clothes are in the washer or dryer, but since you’ve been in there all day, you decided to bring your laptop with you to the laundry room and watch Netflix. A small change of scenery, even though you’re still in the same building. 

It does have you on a bit of high-alert, though. Like the kitchen, the laundry room is shared throughout the entire building. Males and females. 

Which means you’re putting yourself in the position to run into James again. 

You ignore the nerves, trying to focus on the movie you picked to watch.

You look up abruptly when you see a figure skid to a stop in the doorway. James. Of course. You must’ve jinxed yourself by thinking about running into him. 

You press pause on Netflix, looking expectantly at the boy standing before you. “Can I help you with something?”

“Sorry, I…” James pauses, running his hand through his hair. “I wanted to apologize. I didn’t mean to make you uncomfortable.”

You stare at him in shock. That’s not at all what you were expecting to come out of his mouth. 

“It’s hard enough right now to be here alone, and I didn’t mean to make it worse, so I’m sorry if I did.”

You nod slowly. “Thanks. Apology accepted.”

He deflates, flashing a small smile.

“Oh, and uh, sorry for threatening to burn you the other day,” you blurt, not giving yourself a chance to think. “That was uncalled for.”

“Thanks,” he shrugs, stuffing his hands in his pockets. “I kinda deserved it.”

“I wasn’t gonna say that,” you chuckle awkwardly.

“But you thought it.”

“Oh, definitely.”

James rocks back and forth on his feet, his smile fading extremely slowly. “I know you probably want to be left alone, but if you ever want some company, uh, I’m in 245. We can...watch TV or something, or whatever, you know.”

You don’t know that you can ever recall a moment seeing James this flustered. It almost warms your heart. “Sure,” you smile softly. “Thanks for the offer, really.”

“Yeah, of course,” he shrugs. “I’m gonna,” he nods his head backwards. “See you around.”

You nod. “See you.”

Without another remark or any protests, James leaves you alone. You press play on Netflix, but you hardly pay attention to the movie. You’re too busy trying to process what the fuck just happened.

[sexualsebstan]

Would you mind? | s.s

Summary: Dating an actor has its perks

Warnings: smut, oral (female receiving), swear words, probably poor writing

Tags: thank you to @buckyreaderrecs for the idea, this pulled me out of my writing block rut! i hope you enjoy this.

———————————

The question had floated around in her head long enough, and working up the courage to even ask this of him. But she had to.

”Hey, Sebastian? Can we, uh, ” flitting with her hands and laughing to calm herself down some, her eyes met blue ones as she looked up finally. ”can we talk? It's uhm, important.” She finally got out, letting her hands fall to her side gently.

Looking up from his computer screen, his brows furrowed and he paid attention to the way she was acting.

”Of course, Y/n, come in.” He waved his hand, finding it odd she hadn't already come over to his side like she’d done so many times before. Stepping inside the office space, she made her way over and looked at her hands for a moment. Reaching out, Seb placed a gentle hand on hers to catch her attention.

”What it is, darling?” God, the way he looked when he asked that. Turning the charm up just a tad to really mess with her.

A quiet laugh left her, as she looked to him before taking up residence on his lap. With her hands behind his head and her face in his shoulder, she took a breath in before sitting up.

”This is ridiculous, I don't even know why I'm asking. But it's been on my mind. I was wondering if...” she finally looked to him a moment, nearly whining at how good he looked, paying the most attention to her. ”Since you're so good at being Bucky for the camera, maybe you wouldn't mind being Bucky for me?” It came out, as she adjusted herself, looking to him through her lashes. ”In a role-play situation of sorts?”

Seb could feel his breath catch as the words registered in his brain. She was really asking for him to roleplay as Bucky. Who would have thought?

”Princess, I- well, why not?” Oh. She wasn't expecting that. Sitting up a little straight and really looking at him now, she got a little sparkle in her eye that Seb couldn't help but adore.

”Really? You’re sure?” She asked gently, making sure she was hearing correctly. A light chuckle left Seb’s lips as he nodded.

”I'm sure, especially if I get a reaction like that out of it.” He reveled in the happiness she expressed.

”I couldn't help but notice you had kept the cover from The First Avenger, and it got me to thinking about it. You'd be okay with it?” She asked softly, letting her fingertips run down his arm.

”Of course I’d be okay with it, doll. Anything to make my girl happy.” The boyish charm, the hopeful eyes of a man not yet touched by war. Oh, Seb played Bucky amazingly.

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

It was later that night that Sebastian decided to pull down that cover just before she got there, dusting it off a little.

As Y/n stepped in, she paused, watching as Seb blew the dust off the hat and brushed it a little. Catching on, she sighed softly.

”They shipping you out again, Sarge?” She inquired, setting her glass on the nightstand as she stepped further in and shut the door. Looking up from his task, a small trace of a smile on his features.

”They are, unfortunately. I hate to do this to ya, sugar. But you know how it is.” Setting the cover down and making his way over, her hands coming up to his chest, his own going to her waist.

”Seems like just yesterday you came home. This your last night?” She followed his lead, biting back a smirk. It was honestly the most exhilarating thing, experiencing Sebastian being Bucky.

Humming a little, he nodded and pulled her in just a little closer.

”Sadly, but I’ve got you with me for a night longer, so that's all I'm worried about.” She let out a breath as she let her hands slide up to wrap around his neck, pulling him down some.

”Then make the most of it, Sarge.” The words left her lips just before he met her in a gentle, yet passionate kiss. Melting against him, she hummed ever so softly into the kiss. He pulled her into his chest, one hand sliding to the small of her back. He pulled away a moment, gently taking her bottom lip with his teeth, earning a sweet little whine from his girl.

Leaning down some, he smirked a tad as his hands slid down the backs of her thighs before he picked her up.

This earned a little squeal and soft giggles when he peppered her neck with feather-light kisses. Walking over to the bed, he laid her down gently, hovering above her.

Seb took a moment to drink her in, remember the way her hair fell against the pillows, the soft blush she sported on her cheeks. One would think he fell in love all over again when he took notice of the way she looked at him.

”Buck, you gonna stare at me all night?” Her voice broke his thoughts as he came back to it again, remembering his task at hand.

”You gotta excuse me, doll. It's my last night. Would I be wrong to not enjoy every moment I get to look at you?” He questioned, leaning down and capturing her lips for an occasional kiss, smiling at her gentle giggle between each.

”You will be the death of me.” Was all she could muster before pulling him down into a proper kiss, letting her hands roam to underneath his shirt.

He'd be a fool not to touch her, letting his hand come up to undo the belt of her robe. It came open effortlessly, exposing the matching bra and panty set she wore underneath. She whined a little when he pulled away but was quickly quieted when his lips met her neck.

”You’re so damn beautiful. I cannot get enough of you.” He whispered against her skin, leaving a trail of kisses from her neck to her collar bones, down into the valley of her breasts. Her body responded to his perfectly, arching up to be closer in any way possible.

“Bucky..” it came off her lips so effortlessly, he couldn't help but smirk to himself.

One hand slid up her side, reaching around back to unclip her bra.

”I wanna see you, pretty girl. Take all this off.” She didn't have to be told twice, sitting up slightly to wiggle out of the robe and let the straps slide off her shoulders. As soon as the straps came off she flung the item elsewhere, knowing it wouldn't be needed.

Warm hands came up to cup her breasts, lips pressing into her skin as he tweaked her nipples expertly with his fingers. The action caused her head to fall back with a soft and breathy moan leaving her.

”You’re absolutely perfect.” He whispered, leaning down and replacing one hand with his mouth, letting his tongue circle the bud. Pulling in a breath she looked down at him. The lines blurred between Sebastian and Bucky. Usually, when Seb was portraying Buck, he held a little more weight than himself. Bucky Barnes was the soldier who had to do some not heroic things, endure torture. Sebastian was a puppy compared to that.

Now, as y/e/c orbs met lust blown blue ones, she realized it was all Bucky at the moment.

Seb had switched from one side to the other, giving the opposite one the same amount of attention before pressing kisses and gently nipping at her skin as he moved lower. The sounds he received were music to him, wanting nothing more than to hear them forever.

”Please, ” the soft plea came from above him, looking up to the source. A completely lust-crazed girl was what caught his eye, a smirk speaking across his lips.

”Please what, doll?” He replied with a nip to her inner thigh.

”Please, Buck, do something. I need you.” Her words were coated in need of the smallest touch from the man between her thighs. His fingertips hooked into the sides of her panties, pulling them down her legs. He had to do it slowly, just so he could watch her go mad with want.

A groan mixed with a whine came from her, but it was cut off and replaced with a moan as soon as he licked a bold stripe up her folds.

His eyes looked up to her a moment, taking in the site above him. The way her back arched slightly, her eyes fluttered shut, mouth open slightly. His hands placed on her hips as he pulled her just a tad bit closer, letting her thighs rest against his shoulders. Once again, he licked up her folds, catching her clit and circling the bundle of nerves. A satisfied moan from both followed afterward, his hands placed on her thighs and fingertips digging into her skin as he continued his actions. Trying to hold back those sounds was harder than she thought, every so often one loud one would slip past her lips.

”Let me hear you, doll. Don't be shy.” He spoke from between her legs, running two fingers along her entrance before letting them plunge in slowly.

”Fuck, how are you so good at this?” She let out, her head falling back as she let pleasure consume her. A deep chuckle came from his throat, and she could nearly feel it against her core as he returned to kitten kicking her clit, while his digits pumped in and out slowly.

The coil tightened and she knew if he kept up like this, she’d come undone soon enough.

”D-don’t stop, please.” It only caused him to quicken his pace, switching out his fingers for his tongue once again, his thumb coming up and pressing against the bundle of nerves, rubbing quick circles. With each little lap of his tongue, she could feel herself getting closer. He knew how close she was getting just by listening and feeling how she was reacting. Seb was sure doing this would be the death of him, as her thighs clenched and held him in place as she bucked her hips for more.

”You gonna cum for me, princess?” A quick nod and whine were all he received in response from her as her fingers found purchase in his dark hair, tugging gently. ”Go on, cum for me.” It was all she needed to tip over the edge and let the coil snap as her orgasm washed over her, a call of his character’s name tumbling from her. Maybe he'd do this more often, considering she sounded perfect no matter what name she was moaning

As long as he was the one to make her cum, he would be her Bucky any day.

[a-dakhtar]

(same anon as dark souls, hope i can prompt twice) i also distinctly remember a post about altean!lance being alfor's brother. *puppy dog eyes* please?

> prompt rules: here

> prompt 1 / prompt 2

prompt 3: heavy the cosmos (pt. 1)

note: this grew to be too long anon so i’ve split it. that being said, i have no idea why it grew too long, and now i am greatly concerned. 

-

“You look… just like my younger brother did,” King Alfor murmured, his piercing blue eyes stuttering away from Lance’s face. “It is… rather disconcerting.”

“Oh,” Lance replied lamely, not sure how exactly to take that. “Sorry, I guess?”

The king – Allura’s dad, who’d died ten thousand years ago but had his memories saved as an AI – quickly said, “No, no! Nothing to be sorry for, young one. I was merely taken aback by it. Please, come closer.”

Hesitantly, not sure of his welcome despite the invitation, Lance crept into the room he’d seen Allura hole up in for hours on end, the curiousness that had brought him here fuelling him on. The tall man gestured him closer, as if he were a frightened cat, the kind smile he wore soothing whatever misgivings Lance might have had.

“I don’t think we’ve met before,” the king murmured, once Lance was standing almost in front of him. “I am Alfor. And you are?”

Lance stuffed his hands in his pockets, shoulders hunching as he realised he had no idea what to do now that he’d gotten to this point. Allura was going to be so angry with him for invading her privacy, holy crow. “Lance,” he introduced himself anyway, eyes drifting over to the field of flowers that surrounded them. “This is a pretty cool place.”

“Indeed,” Alfor smiled, looking around himself fondly. “I would bring Allura here whenever I could steal away some free time. Her mother used to love it here too.”

Allura’s mom? Lance wanted to ask, so bad, but he knew he’d already crossed a line coming in here, he couldn’t- “What was her mom like?” Quiznak.

Alfor laughed, a boisterous noise that brought a reluctant smile to Lance’s lips. “Oh by the stars,” the Altean gasped, wiping at an eye theatrically, “She was every bit the varka she was anointed as, loud and bright and so very brave. I-” he halted, mirth fading to a quiet melancholy, a quiet nostalgia that brought to light the wrinkles Lance hadn’t noticed before. “She was a remarkable woman, and I was a lucky man to call her my wife.”

Meaning she’d probably died. Sometime before Alfor had. Before Allura and Coran had been cryogenically frozen for ten thousand years.

God, Lance was an idiot.

“But none of that,” Alfor dismissed, waving a hand in the air to brush it off. “You are one of the new paladins, are you not, young Lance? May I ask which lion you pilot?”

Lance perked up at that, always willing to talk about his amazing blue lion, and proudly said, “The greatest lion of all, of course. The Blue Lion!”

(warmth fondness pride my paladin my paladin my paladi-)

Alfor let loose the same laugh as before, quickly defending himself at Lance’s offence with, “I’m not laughing at you, young one! No, it’s just- your predecessor had said the exact same thing before, many times! Ah, Blue truly knows how to choose her paladins!”

Blue rolled in fondness, pawing at Lance from her place at the back of his mind. He pawed back, or at least tried to, still unused to whatever bond it was they shared, still unused to having a sentient, robotic, space ship lion choose him, of all people.

A table materialised in front of them, a little round thing with fancy detailing like the kind his mama bought from antique stores. Two chairs accompanied it, fazing in like a cool glitch, equally detailed, and Alfor gestured at him to take a seat while he did so himself.

“I would be pleased to hear more of how you came to be here, Lance,” the king said warmly, eyes crinkling at the edges, “If you are free and have the time?”

He probably didn’t. Allura was probably calling for them all, demanding they train. Or maybe Coran was searching for him to help clean the cryopods. Or-

-the flowers swayed in the computer generated wind, Alfor’s hair glitched, ever so slightly, and blue trilled at him mournfully, at the remains of a king long dead revived by the press of a button.

“Sure,” Lance said carefully, sitting down on the offered chair and ignoring the happy look that crossed Alfor’s face. “But you gotta tell me about this other blue paladin guy, sounds like a genius to me.”

Alfor laughed, leaning in as Lance settled, and promised, “Oh, I will.”

#

“And then Shiro remembered this dude he fought in the arena with who had the exact same weapon and how he defeated him, and bam!” Lance narrated, miming Voltron’s counterstrike. “We won!”

Alfor dutifully clapped, expression clearly showing he was impressed. “This… robeast-” he stumbled over the word, “-sounds like a ferocious enemy. It is most impressive you were able to stay on equal ground with it, let alone defeat it. Your team is young, Lance, but gifted.”

Preening at the praise, Lance nodded, finally taking his seat again from where he’d been pacing, too caught up in bringing Alfor up to speed on what had happened since he’d last snuck in.

This had become something of a habit, stealing away from the group to have a few minutes with Alfor, making sure it was after Allura had come and gone to avoid running into her.

He felt bad about it, kinda, since this was her dad, and Lance absolutely knew he would’ve been jealous (and pissed) if someone had been doing the same with something that belonged to him.

But he also felt bad at the idea of… not coming here. At the idea of leaving Alfor behind in this huge field of pretty flowers with nobody but Allura for company. Sure, Alfor wasn’t actually a person, wasn’t actually the Alfor Allura and Coran knew. Sure, he was just memories and alien tech working to formulate what Alfor statistically would have said and in what tone and with what face, but…

… Still.

So Lance kept coming, time and time again. Kept an eye out for Allura and her long hair leaving the room, kept an eye out for just how much heartache she carried that day and her expressions; that little twist of her lips, the way her shoulders seemed lighter yet somehow heavier, the stronger voice she ordered them in – it all meant she’d visited Alfor.

And so Lance would visit after.

“You sure it’s okay for me to be here?” He asked anyway, fidgeting on the chair (and how exactly did the room materialise a chair?) as Alfor took a dainty sip of his fake tea.

“Of course,” Alfor replied with a smile, expression kind and welcoming. “I doubt I’m of much help, since you and your team seem to be outpacing myself and my own by lightyears, but I’m here anyway. And if nothing else…” The King paused, smile turning helpless, almost embarrassed. “I do enjoy your presence, Lance. I’ll be happy to have you for as long as it takes for you to get bored of this old man’s tales.”

Lance’s own lips pulled up into a grin, helpless in their joy, as he leaned forward and happily said, “No way, man! Your stories are great! Okay, so,” he threw himself back into his seat, determination furrowing his eyebrows. “I’ll keep coming. But if the others find out and they get pissed at me you gotta protect me, alright?”

Alfor’s snorted, amusement visible as he stroked his beard. “Hmmm… Let me think on it.”

Lance’s indignant squawk had him laughing.

#

The party had still been going strong when Lance had left it, struggling to keep himself in check and not bawl his eyes out like a little kid.

Coran sucked at comforting people, long arms struggling to eat up the distance the holomap spun through to reach the tiny planet known as Earth, showing the full breadth of distance between them.

So far away.

… But at least still there.

At least Earth was still there, Lance realised guiltily, taking in Coran’s heartbroken expression and misty eyes. At least he could still go there, right now even, if he wanted to leave the entire universe to the hands of the Galra. At least he knew his mom, his dad, his brothers and sisters and nieces and nephews were still all right.

Coran didn’t have that. Allura didn’t have that.

“But none of that, my boy.” Coran loudly said, slapping his hands against his thighs as he stood up. “We’ll get you home in a right tick! Just as soon as we defeat the Galra.”

Right.

He just had to stay strong till then.

He took Coran’s offered hand, squeaking a little as the Altean easily hoisted him up, and moved to follow. A tiny metallic whoosh whoosh noise hailed the arrival of Rover, the little triangle robot thing Pidge had suddenly popped up with one day, and Lance gave a distracted greeting to the thing as he followed Coran back to the festivities.

He wondered if Pidge would get him one of his own, if he asked nicely. Colour code the green light to blue and name it Estella, maybe. He glanced back at Rover, noticing again that it’s little beep boop’s were really cute, and-

Hang on.

He looked away, into the hallway, down the other end, Coran the only other soul present. He looked back, at Rover, the little machine floating genially towards the crystal, and-

“Wait, where’s-”

beep boop beep boop beep beep

beEP BEEEP-

“CORAN!”

#

“-y prince!” Steel in his hands, cold and metal- “Inhale, exhale,”

the stars were beautiful tonight, “-re you flirting with me, my lord?”

bayard in his hands, cold and metal- “ackshot, just like always”

umbasa, swirling up above, the constellation hidden in the cosmos, hidden in- 

“this isn’t right, alf-” but nobody listening. superstition, traditionalist, stuck on the words and lapels of his late mother, “don’t-”

quintessance. blue lion. other lions. “voltron.”

a woman’s face, red diafra’s under her eyes, red quintessance in her soul, and thirst drowning her whole-

umbasa. umbasa. umbasa.

a familiar voice, calling his name, “Lance?”

that wasn’t his name.

(that was his name.)

purple, alarms, a familiar, weary face with a scar across the bridge of his nose-

and bright yellow eyes belonging to a man that gripped his shoulder tight and said, “I’ll bring him back to you, every single time.”

ALaddoLrLance (who?) felt his lips pulling into a smile, trust and-

“what are you doing?”

“the quintessance-”

wrong, wroNG, WRONG- screaming, who was- Shiro? Shiro was screaming? W h y wouldn’t they listen to him he had to open his eyes and focus down the sight, align the target, pull back and inhale, and with the exhale, shoot.

bullseye.

“we do make a good team,” Lance murmured, the red armour holding him up squeezing him closer, holding him tight. “You guys make a good team!”

Red and blue, Alfor and Blaytz, pausing in their bickering to look at him, smiling.

HoNEggARvaR pleading with him, “my Prince no, we cannot stop, plEaSe-”

Lance woke up gasping.

[thedaveandkimmershow]

Our Tuesday wound up being one…

Loooooooooong…

Day.

Don't know what to tell you, it felt like using the Disney buses to get around was a pretty efficient strategy.

So.

After our Blizzard Beach experience was over yesterday afternoon, the girls took to Disney Hollywood Studios whilst we returned happily to the Animal Kingdom where we spent our morning.

We started with the It's Tough To Be A Bug experience because we're still kinda sore they took it away from California Disney.

It's still the blast we remember in interactive 3D complete with water and fog, crawling insects and dangling black widow spiders all making appearances inside the auditorium, not simply on screen.

Once the bug show was over, we headed over to Pandora for the Na'vi River Journey and then Avatar Flight of Passage.

Now the Na'vi River Journey's basically Pirates of the Caribbean without the shooting or the pirates. Just a peaceful floating on an alien river, immersed in an alien jungle environment complete with plant life, living organisms, and animals.

The Avatar Flight of Passage, though?

That was a crazy, breathtaking, original, headrush of an experience. They put you on that planet, plunging from high cliff tops to low valleys and oceans through jungle foliage, above villages, and away from flying predators… all on the back of a banshee.

It.

Was.

Amazing.

Incredible.

Unimaginable.

As in unimaginable that the experience we were having was actually possible. The imagery completely filled our visual fields and then some. The detail was incredible. And we travelled such distance both horizontally and vertically.

All.

While going.

Nowhere.

Not even off the ground.

Crazy. And wow.

Wow.

Wow.

And wow.

We finished that ride around 545, shortly before it was time for the park to close. And so, we followed through on an earlier plan we conjured and grabbed a bus for Epcot.

Cute thing about that bus ride: there was a tiny kid on that bus who was so fascinated by buses that he pointed them out, each one, every time, to his dad.

Or as he said, Daa-dee.

He'd exclaim in genuine excitement each time,

"Daa-dee, bus!"

"Daa-dee, bus!"

"Daa-dee, bus!"

Until he spotted Epcot at which point he exclaimed

"Daa-dee, ball!"

It was seriously cute.

Having been dropped off at Epcot, we made a beeline for the pork sliders 'n drinks, after which we ran into Linzy nearby who took us over to Mexico where Rachel was grieving a hugely disappointing margarita.

Now it's time to end our day and maybe score some easy rides over at the Magic Kingdom as every family lines up for the evening's parade as well as a well-earned trip back to the hotel.

On the monorail connecting Epcot and the Magic Kingdom, we're in a car with a family of five who're having a really.

Loooooooo9ng.

Day.

When we pulled into the station in front of the Magic Kingdom, we gotta announcement that the Magic Kingdom monorail was out of commision so we'd all be taken by ferry.

A lovely. Beautiful. Painterly experience.

See what I mean?

Once inside the park, we hustled straight for the Big Thunder Mountain Railroad that continued to be the blast we always remember. The second section of the track, especially, it was funny to watch Linzy throw her hands and arms in the air and be flipped to the side like a rag doll as the train went into a high-G bank. After that, we crossed the street to Splash Mountain where, after a bit of delay, we joined a young, newly wed couple for a huge drop from which they absolutely took a ton of displaced water head-on.

Call it the "splash" of "Splash Mountain".

It was a blast even with the delays before and after.

😁😁😁

Once again, by the time we exited that ride... the park was closed except for everyone who was there for the Boo Bash, a celebration of Halloween on a full-on summer's eve when, presumably, Covid would be less a threat.

Once we were out the front gates, it was clear how much of a mess everything was with everyone previously in the park now lined up for the monorails and ferries.

After a quick assessing and reassessing, Kimmer 'n Linzy decided our best course was to catch a nearby shuttle to the Polynesian Resort and, from there, call for a Lyft.

It was an effective way to beat most of the throng to the other side of the lake as well as avoid competition with all those who'd be calling in their own ride shares that would make for an inevitably longer wait.

The plan worked perfectly, by the way. And our feet were super thankful.

It would be around 10:40PM by the time we arrived at our home base pretty exhausted.

Still, the next morning, this morning, we did the 530AM thing again. And again, not as bad as it sounds. It's a slow moving ritual that eventually, eventually brings us full consciousness and into a state of readiness for the day.

So eight this morning? We're on the road with our Lyft driver, Gregorio, a Venezuelan gentleman with a deep knowledge of classical music leaning hard toward the Russians: Shostakovitch, Prokofiev, Stravinsky, and their contemporaries.

Our destination this morning is Disney's Hollywood Studios where we've got all things Star Wars on the agenda.

That proved an unfortunate aspiration as we'd made no moves to join the virtual queue for Rise of the Resistance and we had no actual design on Smugglers Run… so we took full advantage of the five minute, basically walk on, "wait" time over at Toy Story Midway Mania and had a literal blast.

This was a first for Rachel so she scored newbie scores. Between Kimmer 'n I, Kimmer was the most accurate between us, maintaining a significant lead most of the game. It's only in the bomus speed round at the end where I caught up to her and bested her by one smashed plate.

120,600 to 120,100.

Of course Linzy clocked in at 154,000.

Beat us all.

Now one thing I wanna mention is that on our way to Star Wars Land there was a group of young adults wearing bright neon t-shirts and walking alongside us. Some of them were walking pretty brusquely which prompted the following:

"Guys, there's no crowd. We can slow down."

Of course they don't slow down... they speed up.

At which point she says

"Well, thanks for taking my feelings into account."

☹️☹️☹️

Another thing I wanna point out is when we were just getting in line at Midway Mania, a kid runs up and starts walking along… which prompts his mother to say

"Sweetie. You're with the wrong family."

And then last thing I wanna mention is this young girl who was in line behind is for Aerosmith's Rockin' Rollercoaster. She was with her parents but obviously anxious about the ride. I don't blame her either. When that thing takes off from an absolute standstill… it looks like someone just hit the fast forward button.

Crazy stuff. And plenty to be anxious about.

Anyway, Rachel talked to her a little to encourage her 'cause she'd felt that same anxiety the day before.

So then we do the ride… and then the little girl and her parents do the ride. And I'll never forget when her aunt who was standing next to us just then asked her how it went… and all the little girl could do was to twice shake her head quickly from side to side. Whereupon her parents immediately got to work figuring out how many hugs to give and things to buy in order to pull her from her state of stunned silence.

Afterward we hit a light breakfast nearby then headed off for Star Tours. Rachel indulged some time Star Wars gift shopping afterward… then she 'n Rachel headed off for more rides while we mosied over to the Brown Derby patio for a pair of cool grapefruit drinks under an umbrella 'cause the SciFi Diner was booked as was the main seating area of the Brown Derby.

By the way, while we're sitting there enjoying ourselves, I happened to catch a family of four whose t-shirt uniform was Iron Maiden.

Dang.

That's all for now. We're heading back to home base for some peace and rest.

We'll see how long that lasts and then I'll fill you in on the rest of the night...

[lifeasabashly]

Berwick

So I’ve been applying for this camp, through work for the last four years or so, and this year, after almost deciding that I didn’t need it anymore, I got picked to go. It is based in the Berwick Forest, 40km out of Dunedin in May which usually would sound like a whole lot of miserable to me (as I am a sad sack throughout most of Winter) but for some reason I was keen to go. 

Arriving at an empty airport in Dunedin and realising I had been left behind was a shit start that really made me question if I had made the right choice. But that was the last time I had that thought. I got picked up by one of the Lions Club members eventually and dropped at the camp where everyone was already sitting in their ‘watches’ with their GP lines and beanies. I was in Green watch which suited me fab, my fav colour. I immediately was thrown into the team building exercise where we were writing a story about a hole in a balloon. It’s interesting thinking back now to those people I met, and how those relationships changed and grew over the 8 days I was there. 

My watch was made up of Moe (said Moy) (60s), Mark (60s), Julie (50s), Myself (26), Max (24), Erin (21), Kohan (19), William (18), Mikayla (18) & Harry (18). Such a range of people from all walks of life. 

I’d miss the orientation session, along with Charlie and Morgan from Trustpower so we briefly sat down and went through this before heading to our bunks. Being last meant I got a top bunk - which I was fine with as it meant I was closer to the warmth (and farts I guess). 

We woke EARLY the next morning, about 5.40am to bagpipes blasting outside our room. I freaking love bagpipes so this actually put me in such a good mood. We got dressed and headed to our first activity which was like a brain teaser type activity in the common room. It was far too early for me to be able to contribute anything useful  and I’m pretty shit at these types of things anyway so was happy to let the team lead us to success! Finally at 7 we got breakfast, typical camp style lining up for cereals, toasts, porridge the works. I went hard out of fear of not eating again for a long time and a huge day ahead. Before I knew it we were kitted up in our wetsuits heading to our first big activity - Kayaking. Now I’m not really for or against Kayaking. Can be fun, sometimes it’s just boring so I was keen to see what they had planned. We started in a pool, the tiny, local community pool that used to be used by a school that was now shut down. The water was ice. I wore my socks in. They made us do flips in the kayaks and taught us how to safely exit if we did flip on the river. 

Then we were in the river. I had chosen my paddle and kayak that I felt would suit me best, plus they were perfectly colour coordinated so thought I was away for the win. We had barely disembarked before one of our watch Will, had fallen out of his kayak. He was complaining it was too small and hard to maneuver. Me being the good Samaritan *coughs* offered him mine. This was my first mistake and lesson learnt. Never be nice. His kayak was tiny, it took me 3 goes to get in the damn thing without falling out. I was wearing my sneakers (as the river was colder than the pool) and I was incredibly cramped and uncomfortable the whole river journey. To my dismay when I fell out on a turn, I was trapped by my sneaker and spent a good 3 minutes flailing about until Will caught up and was able to help me out. Overall it was still fun though. When I had to get out of the kayak at one point to - kiss the front (the things these instructors made you do) I bruised both legs and by the end of the float (due to falling out so much) I was a freezing, shivering mess. But I DID IT. I think they were worried about hypothermia though as they sent me straight to the van where the heater was blasting. 

We headed back to lunch which was sandwiches and hot pies. God I love a good pie. So delightful. Then we had tea prep so I spent the next hour peeling & chopping carrots with Mikayla. 

Straight into Knots & the Confidence course after lunch. I gotta say, I am possibly the worst knot tier in the history of the planet. I had to be shown about 300 times before it stuck and then the next day I still couldn’t tell you what the damn knots were called. Lucky I had a watch full of able humans who had done guides and were just onto it to help me through the rest of the week where knots were ESSENTIAL to survival! The confidence course was fun. The very first part was a tyre wall which I felt very prepared for after spending Intermediate sitting on the tyre wall at lunch times. I must admit, once I was at the top I was still abit shaky/nervous going over the top. Even more so when we had to carry a bucket full of water over too! Erin struggled with this one, she just would not budge at one point, saying her arms/legs were giving up, bawling her eyes out and Leanne (one of our instructors) would not let her give up. She made it over and I’m glad, but I definitely had a moment of - this feels like bullying. It just shows you though, some people need it. The rest of the course was pretty tame, tarzan ropes onto walls, that sort of jam. It wasn’t until the last bit - a firemans pole that I got a bit nervous again. I don’t know what it is about them but they freak me out. This one was exceptionally high too! Leanne was there giving me technique and before I knew it I was at the bottom. Embarrassed at how easy it was! Unfortunately Moe, was close on my tail and did it straight after me without any technique and sped to the bottom where she snapped her ankle in three places. I got to do First Aid, but poor Moe was gutted. Her ankle did the floppy thing like Harry’s arm in Harry Potter. It was pretty gross but intriguing. She was in no pain! Just shock I guess. Ironically that night after dinner, we had our First Aid training. I was in bed by 9 and asleep by 9.01 for sure. Absolutely shattered.

Day two! We had games first thing from 6am-7am. Again, puzzles in the morning, not my forte. Esp not before kai. After breakfast we had toilet duties which is always a barrel of laughs right? Then on to abseiling. This was based at camp. The hill to the top was a bit of a bitch to get to but abseiling was fun! We did it three times, the third time blind folded. Beef was our instructor. He was a spunk. After lunch we were back on to knots and bush craft which I don’t overly remember doing but again I think this is because I was hopeless at it and all the knots seemed the same to me. Looking at the schedule it’s hard to believe that this took up most of the afternoon. I remember we had to pull a pole somewhere and tow a truck though. Then Dinner, then night exercise. This one was us carrying a massive heavy pole from one side of the camp to the other as a team. It wasn’t awesome. The walk back under the stars was lovely though.

Monday was our first sports session - Netball. I loved it. It made me think how some days I would just play netball and that’s all the exercise I would do.... this was just the first thing for the day! Our team lost, JUST. But our commitment and passion was 10/10! Next was mountain biking which I was super excited for but MAN it was hard. We got kitted up with bikes/helmets and then did some practice stuff on the icy grass/mud. We then headed up the hill. I could bike up all of 2 minutes as it was steep AF. Everyone had to get off and walk most of it. We learnt how to jump logs and break/maneuver down steep hills. I came off the bike twice, one time landing on another stationary bike but it was so awesome! Then we got to boost down the hill. It was SO fast. I felt alive. I loved it. 100% Mountain biker for life.

After lunch we were back into it with a ‘Bridge Exercise’ - they gave us tiny hints to what we were doing throughout the course - but they never really helped. This was intense. When we realized what we had to do, get from one side of the bridge, underneath it and come up on the other side - there was a lot of planning involved. And actually doing it, (and trusting your teams knots) was pretty crazy! We aren’t allowed to share photos of this and I didn’t get any, any way but this was such a cool challenge. After dinner our night exercise this night was hilarious. We were all blindfolded and either had to lead or direct our watch around camp. It was pretty freaky putting your trust in strangers this way, especially at night. I DID end up in a swamp. But it was so fun. Making the most of our other senses and what not. Pretty cool. And just when we thought we were finally done for the night, blindfolds off. I hear this blood-curdling scream and Leanne comes racing up to us in full diva/drunk actor mode yelling about how she pushed her brother ‘Eric’ off a cliff and he’s dying at the bottom. So off we trot following her to save Eric. I got the fun task of taking care of drunk Leanne who was going on about popping cherries, working her ‘night job’ and the likes. Much to Harry’s disgust as Leanne is his mums best friend. So entertaining. Finally with Eric stretchered back to camp and bandaged we were allowed to go to bed. 

Tuesday Tramp Day! This was what I was most nervous about, a 15km tramp through the wilderness. Seemed like not far but boy was it ever. It took us 12 hours. We went the wrong way twice and not just a few steps like probably 2-3kms each time. No instructors, reception, just a map (that wasn’t the best if I may add!) The majority of the tramp was up hill and it was hard. Erin couldn’t hack it. She got blisters day one and the whole tramp (before she got taken out) she was moaning about them and stopping every 20 steps. It meant we moved incredibly slow - I didn’t really get a chance to get tired. She was though. I felt sad for her because everyone was tired/sore in some way and she couldn’t just push herself. Anyway, she got taken out with Max, who was borderline collapsing at every turn and then we could pick up the pace. By 7.30pm it was dark, cold and we were so over it. By 8.30 we were finally at The Hilton, exhausted and starving. I ate mince boiled with instant mash potato and peas. It looked like spew but I devoured it. Then I went to bed, it’s possibly one of the worst huts I’ve stayed in. Made New Beers look like a resort. But I slept solidly. 

Wednesday we were up early to make our way to the Mahinerangi Dam. Damn son. It was huge. We had lunch first - chicken AND ham luncheon sandwiches - just bread and butter no shit, dried apricots and a cup-a-soup. Gourmet I tell you. We set up our tents, wet and dirty from the previous 2 watches and then got set up for our dam abseil. First one, no biggy, no dramas for me. Second one... I’m not quite sure what happened but I was afraid. I didn’t realise I wasn’t going to be able to use my feet and would just have to lower myself down. I think the shock of that suddenly happening just set me off and I burst into tears. Sobbed the whole dam way down. Need any more damn puns? Damn. Others didn’t do the second one, but Harry and Max went all profesh on us, bouncing off the walls like Spiderman. Show offs.

After the dam activities, we were off for another wetties exercise. Raft building. Each team member had to sail out to the island and back without getting our lines wet or drownies. It was actually a really easy task and we finished it so early we had heaps of free time. FREE TIME!? At Berwick? NEVER. I went and set up my tent, I got nominated to tent with the boys as we only had 3 person tents plus we wanted to avoid the snorers (Mark, Will, Max, Erin...) Kohan, in my tent didn’t bring a bed roll, so Harry and I ended up putting our two together and sharing. We played some president which I was excellent at for once. We had some snacks, then went and made dinner. Pasta packets - Mac & Cheese. This was actually pretty tasty. I ate heaps! After dinner we had another activity. Learning to use a GPS. They are super legit - who knew!? And Geo-caching is a thing. I’m 26 and I’d never heard of this, but people leave notes for other people around the world to find. It’s like a world-wide treasure hunt! So cool! Thankfully we got to have an early night and headed back to the tent. I slept in full gear - beanie, puffer jacket, merinos, socks - the works and was still shivering. I’m actually so glad there was no way of knowing how cold it was that night but there was ice on our tent in the morning. 

Thursday was another 4 hour tramp back to camp. We got lost... again and were late getting back. We went straight into lunch then an Initiative course. This was probably the best ever. Or maybe it was just I remember it so well as it was near the end of the week. It was loads of team-based activities that weren’t physically demanding but just hilarious and you had to use your brain and trust your homies to succeed. I got heaved over walls, thrown through ‘spider webs’, held my fingers against holes in a giant drum while the team filled it with water #frozenfingers. I had to sit on Harrys shoudlers  so we could all fit onto this platform after swinging across a mudpit. We then had to dive into another mudpit/lake, do a massive flying fox, ropes again and more. Dinner, then more sport afterwards. Cricket, which would have been amazing except it was inside and you couldn’t smash it so I got out pretty quickly. Had a few successful bowls however. 

Friday morning we had more sport - football (lame but fun for others) then breakfast and cleaning. Everyone was back from the tramps Friday and we were on dinner so had to prepare a shit tonne for the ‘’roast meal’ (8 Roast Beefs!). It was a huge job. Then we were off for our ‘river exercise’ which we were told - all being well you shouldn’t get wet. I have to admit by this point, I had very little clothing left and reaaaallly didn’t want to get wet if I could avoid it. So when our first team mate came across the river and dropped to the side, a sodden mess- I was hugely disappointed. I think this was the only task we actually had to ask an instructor for help. We had to be split into two groups on each side of the river and using our ropes (not getting them wet) we had to get each team member to the other side of the river and back. Thankfully, by the time I had to go across, not only was I being pulled back and forth #noeffortrequired but I did not touch the river with any part of my body! Great success! Harry got dunked which was sad for him but hilarious for everyone else. Back to camp for a quick lunch then we had another group activity (bridge building) and then orienteering. Both were fun, but orienteering took us ages! Makayla, Harry and I were in a team and these two just spent the time waffling. I had to be mother hen quite frequently to keep them on the job at hand! We played some truth or dare which was great on my part because I am an excellent question master and kept orienteering fun, but it was cool because you got to explore the whole camp. I saw a baby wild pig! And there was probably 3 times total I said over the course - surely they wouldn’t make us go up/down/through there.... alas, it was the right way. When we finally got back, Kev the instructor was on his way out to us to check we weren’t dead. Dinner was a bit emotional as it was our last night... then we had to go do our performance ‘Welcome to Berwick’. It was in the tune to ‘My House’ by Flo Rida and our watches show was definitely the best. We even had backing music... just saying. After that we all headed back to the rooms to spend time together before lights off as I knew I had an earlier flight Sat morning and wouldn’t get to do the last relay or wind down drinks/BBQ. Harry was quite distraught. He was crying and saying he didn’t want to leave and that Makayla and I were his best friends and I was just amazing. It was all quite overwhelming for me. I loved these two, so easily and quickly in this weird environment we’d been thrust in - but I guess for me I had a lot of friends, Chris and life to go back to and neither of them didn’t have quite that. So I will try be good friends to them both, because I think they need that. I know they’re gonna do great things. It’s exciting to watch.

Saturday morning was spent cleaning, trying to find all my shit and then a few tears saying goodbyes (even from me! Shock Horror!) Kev drove me away in the van and it was hard leaving. I really could have stayed there another week or more I think. I just loved it.The truth is I really didn’t miss home that much, I was too tired or busy... I didn’t think I had missed Chris even until I saw him and burst into tears. Now being back, it’s hard to explain how life-changing and inspirational it was. I feel like a dick talking to people about it and saying that that’s exactly what it was for me but people don’t really get it unless they’ve been. I LOVED not using my phone or having it anywhere near me, I LOVED the people I met and stories we shared, I LOVED being outside, being dirty and being completely me without anyone's expectations. I loved learning all these new skills and really pushing myself and then finding out how awesome I could be!

Finally, I must admit though, I LOVED coming home to an ice cold bourbon with Chris too. #OGhobby

[authorelizabethhunter]

I’m so very pleased to announce that Midnight Labyrinth is available to preorder at all retailers now! It releases on November 7th. Here are your links:

Amazon: http://amzn.to/2vTuXtN

iBooks: http://apple.co/2gyESmr

B&N: http://bit.ly/2vAHyGM

Kobo: http://bit.ly/2vALPtX

Smashwords: http://bit.ly/2esTdN7

    FAQ for new and old readers

Do I have to have read the Elemental Legacy novellas or any of your other books before I read these?

Nope! This is a stand alone book. Which means that even if you’ve never read any of my other Elemental universe books, you’ll be able to pick this one up and enjoy. This is an entirely new series set in an existing world, but you won’t be lost. I’ve even had beta readers who aren’t familiar with my other books read this one to be sure. So far, they’ve loved it.

Is this a paranormal romance?

Though there are some romantic subplots throughout the series, this definitely leans more into the paranormal mystery/urban fantasy genre. The focus is on Ben and Tenzin’s adventures, not on romance. (Though fans of Gavin Wallace will probably get a nice surprise.)

Will all my favorite characters from your other Elemental series be here?

I don’t know about ALL of them, but main characters like Giovanni and Beatrice, Carwyn and Brigid, Cheng (the pirate), Baojia, etc. will likely be popping up as supporting characters in these books. Ben and Tenzin have been an integral part of the Elemental universe, so you’ll see many familiar characters, though the focus will stay on them.

Will Midnight Labyrinth be available in paperback?

Absolutely! I might even be able to work out a preorder for paperback. I’ll let you know if I do.

Will the Elemental Legacy books be available in audio?

Yes! I’m working with a fantastic narrator for this series and he’s been working hard on the prequel novellas to be ready before November. The first, Shadows and Gold, is already finished and going through quality control over at Audible. I’ll post the sales links as soon as I have them. The second is going through proofing right now, and we’ll be starting on the third this month. Midnight Labyrinth audio will probably not be available on the same day as the paperback and e-book, but it should be available soon after.

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Is Ben going to turn into a vampire?

Dude. You didn’t really think I was going to answer that one, did you?

Had to try…

And for those of you who are not signed up for my newsletter, here is a preview of Chapter One:

MIDNIGHT LABYRINTH

An Elemental Legacy Novel

Chapter One

  He chased his quarry up the ladder, launching himself onto the gravel-strewn roof in Hell’s Kitchen. Ducking under a broken scaffold, he followed the dark figure who threatened to elude him. She was half his size, dressed in a black hoodie and leggings. She moved like a cat in the dim, pre-dawn light.

She was getting away.

He ran left, skimming the side of a cinderblock building before he leapt across a narrow vent, using longer legs to his advantage. He landed hard, rolled in a single somersault, then took to his feet in one smooth movement. He could feel gravel in the small of his back, and his arm was bleeding from the bite of a rusted ladder, but he kept running.

He was gaining on her. He scanned the landscape as he’d been taught, mentally calculating the most efficient way to get from his position to hers.

His lungs pumped in steady rhythm. In-in-out. He pulled in the humid air and tried not to choke. He’d been running at seven thousand feet the week before. His thin black shirt stuck to his skin. Grey light filtered over a city that still clung to the memory of the previous day’s heat. New York City in July. Another day; another sauna.

The small figure scrambled up the side of a building—sticking to the stained brick like a spider—then she disappeared over the edge and into nothing.

He wasn’t concerned for her safety.

He found the lips of the bricks she’d used to climb. He wasn’t as fast as she was. He was forced to take his time crawling up the side of the building, finding each finger hold and jutting brick to move his body up the wall. From a distance, he’d appear to be sticking too. He felt a fingernail tear, but he didn’t pause.

Hoisting his body over the edge of the wall, he kept himself low and scanned the urban landscape. Water towers and rusted fire-escapes mixed with recently gentrified gardens and sleek patio furniture.

She was barely visible in the distance, leaping from the top of one building to the next.

He ran after her, but he knew it was futile. She’d gained too much ground during his careful climb. She disappeared over the side of another building and Ben knew he’d lost her.

Panting, he followed her tracks, not allowing himself to slow down. He leapt over the edge of a familiar building and jumped fire-escape railings five stories down until he hung on the last rung of the old ironwork.

Ben Vecchio closed his eyes and did three rapid pull-ups, pushing his muscles right to the edge of exhaustion before he gave them a break. He had a runner’s build, but he was six feet tall. Moving a large frame quickly would always be a challenge. He dropped to the ground and jogged down West 47th Street to the deserted playground. The gate was locked, but he easily jumped over.

She’d taught him that trick early.

A small hooded figure perched on the top of a red and green play structure. Still breathing deeply, Ben jumped to the first platform and squatted in front of her.

“Believe it or not, you are getting faster,” Zoots said.

“That wall nearly killed me.” With the adrenaline waning, Ben was starting to feel his hands.

“But you made it up. That’s a ten foot brick wall and you climbed it.”

“Slowly.”

“But you climbed it,” Zoots said. “Remember, I grew up here. I know every inch of those roofs. I have the advantage.”

He shook his head. “Doesn’t matter. I have to be faster.”

It had to be more instinctive. He wouldn’t have the luxury of running in familiar places.

Zoots rolled her eyes and pulled out a cigarette. “Whatever, man.”

When he’d first moved to New York, he’d watched. There were parkour and free-running groups, but they were cliquish and Ben was a beginner. Though he’d been drilled in martial arts and weapons training since he was twelve-years-old, parkour was new to him. It was only the lightning-quick reflexes of a girl he’d met a few years ago that had attracted him to the practice. She’d moved inhumanly fast.

Of course, she hadn’t been strictly human.

Ben was. The sweat dripping into his eyes proved it. He wiped it away and sat next to Zoots.

He’d found her by watching. She wasn’t part of the group, but they knew her. She was the one they wandered over to talk to when they were practicing. Zoots was tiny—barely five feet tall—with a slight figure. Her skin was pale under her hood. Her short hair and her eyes were dark. She came out in the early morning and at night. He’d never seen her in the middle of the day.

It had taken Ben weeks to figure out who she was  and what she was to the runners in Central Park. If the young traceurs in the park had a guru, it was Zoots. She claimed to be self-taught from YouTube videos, but Ben suspected that Zoots was like him. He’d been running since he could remember, mostly to get away from trouble. She was just better at it.

Zoots ran everywhere, and she was a loner. She ignored Ben for weeks, until her curiosity got the better of her. She’d talked to him, and he’d eventually hired her. He wanted to learn parkour, but he wasn’t interested in joining any group. Zoots nodded and told Ben to meet her at Hell’s Kitchen Playground and to bring two hundred bucks cash.

So he did.

She finished her cigarette, flicked off the cherry, and carefully tucked the butt into a tin she kept in her pocket. “Same time next week?”

“Yeah.”

“You’ve been doing this for six months now. You know the basics. You sure you want to keep paying me for lessons?”

Ben raised an eyebrow. “You trying to get rid of me, Zoots?”

“It’s your money, man.” She smiled. “I just spend it.”

“I need to be faster.”

She eyed him. “That’s practice. You’re twice my size; you gotta figure out your own style. Tall means longer legs and longer arms, but it also means more meat to move.”

“I’ll keep paying you if you keep teaching me.”

“Like said, it’s your money.” Zoots narrowed her eyes. “You told me once you needed to learn this for work.”

“I do.” His fingers itched for a cigarette. He’d stopped smoking when he was fourteen—his uncle could smell the slightest trace of cigarette smoke—but he still wanted one occasionally. Especially when people started asking personal questions.

“But one of the guys in the park said you were in antiquities or something.”

Damn, nosy kids. “Yeah.”

Zoots frowned. “You jumping roofs at the museum or something?”

Ben couldn’t stop the smile. “I work for private clients.”

“Huh.” She nodded. “So… you’re into some serious Indiana Jones-kinda-shit, huh?”

Ben rose and raked a hand through his hair. “Don’t be ridiculous, Zoots. You think I’d look good in a hat?”

He caught the quick flush on her cheeks before he jumped off the play structure and walked toward the gate. “See you next week, Zoots.”

“Later, Indiana.”

* * *

Ben caught the train to Spring Street station, walking toward Broadway and his favorite cafe. He sat at the picnic tables outside Cafe Lilo and watched the growing rush of pedestrians filling the sidewalk. He read a newspaper someone had left behind while he drank coffee and devoured a bagel.

There was no typical crowd at Cafe Lilo, which was one of the reasons Ben liked it. Stock brokers, dog walkers, young parents and college kids all frequented the family-owned cafe. A few tourists came in, but it wasn’t a flashy place. That morning delivery and sanitation trucks competed in the narrow streets while a growing crowd of taxis and hired cars dodged between them, heading toward Lower Manhattan.

He flipped to the Arts section of the paper and made a few notes about gallery openings. An auction announcement. A charity gala sponsored by some outfit called Historic New York. A new surrealist exhibit opening at the Museum of Modern Art.

His sunlight quota met, he headed back to the building on Mercer he was still renovating. He’d called the massive, unfinished penthouse home for two years. Both stories had finished floors and the semblance of rooms. The roof garden was a work in progress.

He nodded at the silent doorman, who was known for discretion more than amiability, and took the elevator to the top floor. He had two full floors of the building. He pushed the button for the living area on the top floor, bypassing his office on the floor below.

The loft was home. It was office.

Finely honed reflexes were the only thing that saved him from the three inch thick book that dropped from the loft overhead.

The loft could also be a death trap.

He glared up. “What are you doing?” There were books—his books—scattered on the floor under her loft. “Tenzin, what the hell?”

Another book fell flat on the floor to his left.

“Stop throwing my books!”

A dark head poked out, cloaked in carefully placed shadows that protected her from sunlight. “Did you move my swords?” She held out another book, narrowed her eyes, and dropped it.

“Cut it out!” Ben shouted. “And no, I did not move your swords. I swear, Tenzin—”

“Are you sure?” A small figure floated out of the loft like the proverbial angel of book death, arms stretched out with two of his massive art books in her hands. “Are you sure you didn’t move my swords?”

Damn, pain-in-the-ass stubborn air vampire.

Ben glared at her. “I did not…”

Oh shit. He had.

“I told you,” she said.

“One sword, Tenzin! One. Sword.” He held his hands out, ready to rescue his books. “Do not drop those books.”

Tenzin hovered over him, a pissed-off, flying demon with a pretty, round face and a sheet of black hair falling around her. She looked young, but she wasn’t. She was one of the most ancient elemental vampires on the planet, born on the northern steppes of Asia thousands of years before. She was also Ben’s partner.

And a book abuser.

She wouldn’t have tried it when she’d been working with his uncle, Giovanni Vecchio. Of course, Giovanni was a rare book collector and a fire vampire who would have seriously wounded her if she tried.

Tenzin narrowed her eyes. “It’s not nice when someone messes with your stuff, is it?”

“I didn’t damage your damn rapier! The way you had it placed, it almost took out my eye every time I left the downstairs bathroom. So I moved it. I didn’t drop it on its hilt from a height of twelve feet!”

“It wouldn’t have taken out your eye if you weren’t looking at your phone all the time. You should watch where you’re going.”

“You’re making me mental.” His hardbacks were still suspended in the air. “Please put my books down. I will tell Giovanni you’re abusing them if you don’t.”

Tenzin had been friends with his uncle hundreds of years before Ben had been born, and they’d worked as assassins for a time. Tenzin wasn’t afraid of his uncle, but she found Giovanni’s disapproval annoying.

She floated to the ground, still staying in the shadows, and handed him the books. “There. Don’t move my stuff again.”

“Then don’t put it where I could do myself permanent bodily injury, Tiny. Not all of us can regrow body parts if we lose them.”

She cocked her head and looked at him. “That is a very slow and painful process, even for vampires.”

“And since I’m human, not an option for me. Please don’t put your swords in places that will gouge out my eyes.”

“Fine.” She bent down and picked up a single book. “Here.”

He took the book and ignored the dozen on the ground. “Thanks.”

Tenzin smiled, all ire forgotten. “You’re welcome.”

Then Tenzin flew back up to her loft and disappeared.

Ben looked at all the books on the floor. “Do you have any more up there?”

“Yes. Do you want me to—”

“Don’t toss them down.” He took a deep breath. “Hand them down please. After I put these away.” He picked up two more books. “Any calls or emails while I was out?”

“No calls.”

“But did you check your email?”

“No.” She sighed. “I wish you’d never made me an email account. It’s not the same as letters.”

“I know that, Tenzin, but it’s how the modern world communicates. And if you don’t check it every day, your inbox will take over the world.”

“Is that why you take your phone to the toilet?”

“Yes,” he said. “Now check your messages.”

Tenzin flew down and picked up a magazine from the coffee table. “Cara, check my email.”

A polite artificial voice filled the living area. “Checking electronic messages for Tenzin.” There was a soft hum before Cara said, “You have six new messages.”

“Read subject lines.”

She complained about it, but Ben was continually amazed by how quick Tenzin was with technology. She’d had limited access to the electronic revolution until an immortal tech company in Ireland came out with the Noct voice recognition program. Vampire touch wreaked havoc on any electronic gadget because of their amnis, the electrical current that ran under their skin and connected them to their elemental ability.

Wind and water vampires had bad reactions to electronics. Earth vampires could handle some gadgets a little better than others. Rare fire vampires like his uncle could short out the computer in a modern car just by sitting in the front seat.

No computers. No mobile phones. No iPods or tablets or new appliances.

But then came Noct.

“Reading subject lines,” Cara said. “From Beatrice De Novo, ‘I need a recipe, don’t ignore me.’”

“Delete,” Tenzin said.

“You should at least write her back,” Ben said.

“I don’t cook from recipes, so that would be useless.” Tenzin turned a page. “Next message.”

Cara read, “From Blumenthal Blades. ‘Desirable saber for your Eastern European collection.’”

“Save,” Tenzin said. “That sounds promising.”

Ben shelved three more books. “Because you definitely need more swords.”

“I always need more swords.”

“From Viva Industries,” Cara read. “‘All natural male enhancement from Asia.’”

Tenzin laughed. “That’s what he said.”

It took Ben a second to realize Tenzin had actually made a joke, then he grimaced. “Delete!”

“I do not recognize voice signature for the current account,” Cara said. “Shall I log out Tenzin?”

“No,” Tenzin said. “Delete ‘All Natural Male Enhancement,’ Cara. Next message.”

“From Jonathan Rothwell. ‘Confirming details for upcoming travel.’”

“Save,” Tenzin said quickly, glancing at Ben. “I’ll read that later.”

He kept his eyes on his bookshelves. “You going to Shanghai?”

“I haven’t decided yet.”

Ben tried not to react. Jonathan Rothwell was the personal secretary for Cheng, an honest-to-goodness vampire pirate who ruled Shanghai. He was also Tenzin’s ex… something. Former lover? Current lover? Ben had met Cheng on the very first job he and Tenzin had done together four years before, but he still didn’t have an answer.

It’s none of your business. Ben said, “We don’t have anything on the schedule, so whatever you want to do.”

Ben decided to reorganize the art section of his bookshelves. He’d had the hardbacks arranged by color, but Tenzin had screwed it all up. He might as well reorganize according to style and period.

Tenzin called, “Cara, next message.”

“From Rene DuPont. ‘Think about it.’”

Ben’s head popped up and his eyes went wide. “What?”

“Cara,” Tenzin called. “Move that one to the folder labeled, ‘Rene.’”

“You have a folder labeled ‘Rene?’” Ben asked. “A folder?”

Tenzin shrugged. “Know your enemies and know yourself.”

“He tried to kill me last summer in Scotland. Several times.”

Tenzin squinted. “Did he really try to kill you, though? I mean, you did steal a sword from him,” she pointed out. “A really valuable legendary one.”

“One,” Ben said, “I didn’t steal it from him. He stole it from me after I found it. I just took it back. And two, he wanted that old vampire to drain me, so yes he tried to kill me.”

“Your points are valid.” She flipped through the magazine.

“Thank you. What does he want?”

“I don’t know. Do you want his email address?” Tenzin looked up. “He often sends me funny jokes. You might find them amusing.”

Ben blinked. “Rene DuPont, thief for hire and the vampire who tried to kill your partner, sends you spam emails and you don’t mind?”

“You know, I don’t think he was serious about killing you,” Tenzin said. “That’s just his sense of humor.”

Ben was half tempted to ask her to forward Rene’s “funny jokes” just to find out what a sociopathic immortal thief found funny.

Then he remembered he lived with Tenzin.

Rene DuPont was a part of a clan his uncle had strong ties with, so Ben didn’t want to pick a fight unless he had no other choice. He and Tenzin had come off of their last confrontation with Rene looking like the winners and the reasonable party.

Ben smiled. Rene probably loathed that as much as he loathed Ben.

Or as much as he wanted Tenzin. Rene hadn’t been shy about expressing his admiration in that direction.

“You know what?” he said. “Never mind. Seeing that name in my inbox would just make my head explode. Tell me if you think he’s going to be in the US or if our paths are going to cross. That’s all I ask.”

“Okay. Cara, next message!” Tenzin yelled.

“From Novia O’Brien. Copied to Ben Vecchio. ‘Monthly meeting at Bat and Barrel?’”

Ben looked up. “Better read the whole thing. She’s been trying to pay off that favor for six months. She and Cormac are getting annoyed.”

“I don’t care,” Tenzin said. She dropped the magazine and flew back up to her loft. “It was a pair of opera glasses, but it wasn’t an easy retrieval. I’m not willing to waste a favor so they can mark it off their ledger. Let them be annoyed. Cara, read message.”

Cara read, “Good evening. Would love to meet and touch base with the two of you when you have a free night. Gavin’s new pub is getting good buzz. Saturday night at eleven work for you two?’”

Ben waited for Tenzin to look at him. “We need to throw them a bone.”

“I don’t understand the idiom,” Tenzin said. She turned her eyes and stared at the opposite wall, swinging one leg back and forth on the edge of her room.

“Yes, you do,” Ben said. “Don’t play dumb. Throw them a bone. Let them pay us back.”

She shrugged. “I don’t need anything from them right now.”

“It was two days work at the most—”

“And I refused to let them pay us for that reason,” she said.

“The O’Briens are a huge clan,” Ben said. “They’re independent, and they don’t like owing people.”

She smiled. “Well, they owe us now.”

“I know you live for racking up favors,” Ben said, “but we live here at their pleasure.”

Tenzin laughed.

The vampires in charge of the great city of New York were the O’Briens, a clan of earth vampires who’d taken over the city in a violent coup and held it for a century through numbers, wise bribery, and clever manipulation.

Ben and Tenzin had moved to New York with the understanding that Tenzin—a highly powerful and connected vampire—would demonstrate no ambition that would challenge the current vampires in charge. She would also use her influence and connections in Asia to increase foreign trade.

“All I’m saying,” Ben said, “is that unless you want cause an intercity incident, piss off a powerful earth vampire clan, kill a bunch of people, and take control of the city—which obviously you could do if you really wanted to—we should probably just meet with Novia and let her do something nice for us so her sire feels better.”

Tenzin dropped from her room and hung upside down, her face level with Ben’s. Talking to her like that was always disorienting.

That was, of course, why she did it.

“Is there something you need?” Ben asked.

“I’m hungry.”

“Doubtful.” He’d seen her drink a tall glass of blood three days ago while she was binge-watching a British reality show. At Tenzin’s age, she didn’t need much blood to survive.

Nevertheless, she glanced down at his neck and licked her lower lip.

“Don’t piss me off, Tenzin.” That was not their agreement. They were partners. He wasn’t food.

“Novia said she wants to meet at Gavin’s? Why Gavin’s? There are too many humans there.”

And Tenzin couldn’t be around humans too often. Unlike most vampires, her fangs never retracted, which could lead to some awkward staring in the wrong places.

“Gavin pays the extra tribute to have neutral pubs in every city,” Ben said quietly. “Novia is leveling the playing field, making the effort to accommodate your status. We should meet her.”

Tenzin narrowed her eyes. “You meet her first. Tonight.”

“Fine.” Massaging egos was all part of the vampire package.

Tenzin flew back to her room and Ben continued organizing his books, mentally composing the email he’d send to Novia.

Ben Vecchio may have been born in the Bowery to good-for-nothing human parents, but he’d been raised and mentored from the age of twelve by his adoptive uncle, a fire vampire of fierce reputation and a deep desire to be left alone. Ben knew more about immortal politics than most vampires. Their world operated on a carefully balanced network of allegiances, loyalties, family ties, and favors. It was feudal, but it worked.

Most of the time.

* * *

Tenzin watched him as he slept that afternoon.

Shining boy.

The lines around Ben’s mouth and eyes had deepened. Not much. But he’d grown from the young man she had known and into the man he would become.

Even so, he was her shining boy, eager to fix problems, fight battles, and seek treasure. He’d dragged her to this metal city and made her a nest in the sky, quick to reassure her of his plans.

It will be brilliant. It will be fun. We’ll get rich. Well, I’ll get rich and you’ll get richer.

Tenzin smiled.

Ben would go to the meeting with the young vampire and charm her into a solution both Tenzin and the New York hierarchy could live with. He’d negotiate with smiles and debate with quips. Ben was both her partner and her better half. He was one of the few humans who’d ever understood her, and possibly the only one who’d never feared her. Even her own sire feared her.

Not Ben.

He picked and poked at her as a hobby. He antagonized her and did it with a smile. She pushed him just far enough to drive him crazy. Why?

It was fun.

Their partnership was good. He was finding his way and meeting his people. Making connections and learning the ways of their world. He had time as long as she was with him. As long as she watched. His human experience would only add to the being he would become.

Of course, he did have that white knight tendency.

She’d have to fix that.

White knights had a tendency to get their armor bloody, and that could not happen.

Not until it was time.

Copyright 2017 Elizabeth Hunter

All rights reserved.

MIDNIGHT LABYRINTH Roundup! Preorder links/FAQ/Chapter One preview I'm so very pleased to announce that Midnight Labyrinth is available to preorder at all retailers now!