#would love to write or draw this weekend but i'm busy

[binah-beloved]

i was falling asleep, and then i thought about how Binah in LoR was probably becoming increasingly lonely after her time in Lob Corp, which is why she was trying so hard to have teatime with the other librarians and now i am 100% awake

[loggiepj]

illicit affairs

part 3 | part 4

"SOMEONE got flowers," Yelena teased the moment you set foot inside your office.

"What are you talking about?" you asked, brows only knitted in confusion.

When Yelena finally let you through, your eyes quickly caught sight of a bouquet of daisies on top of your desk. It came with a note that says 'Have a lovely day!' , and even if it had no name who it was from, you immediately knew it was from Wanda. She was the only one who knew you liked daisies anyway. And she now owned her own flower shop.

Anger and shame only filled you as you hastily threw the bouquet of flowers into the bin next to your desk, making Yelena gasp in horror.

Kate laughed. "That's the fourth bouquet she threw this week."

Yelena then grabbed the flowers and shook the dust off gently with her hands. "It's such a waste. Do you know how expensive flowers are these days? I'm gonna take this if you don't want it. This could be useful—"

"Why? You planning to reuse them?" Kate intervened with a nervous laugh, leaving her desk as she approached the blonde woman. In the untrained eye, it looked like she was only joking. But you knew there was a hint of jealousy in her words.

"What's in it for you?" Yelena replied, stepping back from Kate, hiding the bouquet behind her back.

"Nothing, nothing, of course," Kate nonchalantly answered. "So . . . you asking anyone for a date?"

Yelena sighed. "That's none of your business."

And as you listened to your friends banter on, your thoughts swam back to one specific brunette. One that had always occupied your mind these days.

You hadn't seen the woman since that very night. The very next day, while Wanda was still deep in slumber, sleeping peacefully like an angel in disguise, you silently crawled out of bed and left her in your apartment.

You didn't dare come back for two days, seeking for Kate's help as you took residence in her guest bedroom for the meantime.

Wanda sent a couple of messages asking where you were, and it only stopped when you blocked her. You hated yourself for feeling this way, for still feeling like a lost schoolgirl completely head over heels with the professor. You were weak. You were stupid.

Kate assured you that you were only human, it was natural to respond to natural urges, especially that it had been a long time since you'd had sex.

But you knew better.

If it was really a physical urge, and not Wanda herself, you needed confirmation.

MIRACULOUSLY the day after, the confirmation was in the form of your neighbor barista, Christine.

Christine had been writing her number a couple of times on the cup of the coffee you'd order everyday, next to your name that came with a cute heart drawing. But you hadn't entertain one single thought of finally asking her out.

You knew it was petty. Cruel. Selfish. You knew it would only hurt one of you, especially innocent Christine. As the saying would go, you shouldn't mess with the person who handles your food.

But on that weekend, you found yourself walking with Christine as you wander the streets of New York, finding strange street foods to try and fun carnival games to play. It would be wrong of you to admit you didn't enjoy any second spent with the girl.

Christine was nice. She was friendly, talkative and sweet, she even brought you your cup of coffee when she met you after work. You found out that she was also taking a couple of classes in the same university you worked at, wanting to become a lawyer one day.

And maybe Kate was right. If you only allowed yourself to be happy, just for one time, you'd be happy. And you thought life was finally merciful towards you.

Until you both bumped into Wanda and her twins as you and Christine headed towards the park. The twins were carrying bags of stuff from the nearby night market, while Wanda was holding two sticks of corn dog, probably she bought for her boys, and a cone of ice cream in the other.

And it was as if life had gone back on being cruel to you. Because all you could think about that moment was how Wanda looked both so beautiful and cute wearing a beanie around her head and a coat larger than her body as she licked her ice cream, trying to keep it from melting.

It tugged a string in your heart. And it hurt.

"Y/n!" Tommy said enthusiastically. "We didn't expect to see you here."

And if Wanda's glares sent your way were only daggers, you'd both be killed.

"Tommy," you replied. "Nice to see you without a cast. How's your arm?"

"Never better," he answered, as he swung his arm full of bags, pretending he was hitting a home run.

Billy added, chuckling, "He's always whining about it though, because it was itchy—"

"Shut up! I was not!"

You both laughed until you felt Christine hold your hand.

"Oh sorry, how stupid of me," you said. "Christine, these are Tommy, Billy and their mother, Miss Maximoff." You met Wanda's eyes quickly. "I used to babysit them when they were just kids. Guys, this is Christine, my . . . "

"Girlfriend," Christine confirmed, offering her hand towards them. And you froze, not really expecting her to say that. It was Wanda who reacted badly as she shook the offered hand of Christine's rather hurriedly and harshly.

"Hi," Tommy said, shaking Christine's hand last.

"How recent?" Wanda asked coldly.

"Come again?" Christine asked, giggling. "Sorry, it's just too loud here."

"Nothing," Wanda said, forcing a weak laugh. "It's just that Y/n is quite picky to date anyone. You're a lucky one, I guess."

"I'm sure she has no problem finding one, Ma'am," Christine replied with a challenging tone, making your lip tug upward. Her arm snaked around your waist as she pulled you closer towards her. "I've been trying to ask out this cutie here since the first time she bought coffee from our shop. Now, she took the bold move to finally send me a message."

"Is that so?" Wanda chuckled tauntingly, licking the melted drop of ice cream dripping down her fingers. The action made you grit your teeth. "Intriguing."

The conversation changed when Billy announced there would be an acoustic set playing that night near the park, inviting you both to watch it with them. But you respectfully declined, saying you didn't want to bother, your eyes never leaving Wanda and hers at yours, provoking you more.

AFTER you and Christine left them, Christine immediately apologized. "I'm so, so sorry, Y/n. Gosh, you might think I'm so forward—"

"For what?"

"For saying I'm your girlfriend. I know I'm not and we just dated." She sighed. "It's her, isn't she?"

You swallowed a lump in your throat as she went on. "I remember her face, she was the one who was looking for you I believe months ago. And you were so cold and frozen earlier when I touched you, thinking you were uncomfortable and all, so I panicked and decided to help. I don't know if that really helped anything. Gosh, I'm rambling—"

"Christine," you said, stopping her as you smiled. "It's fine. I'm not mad."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes. I'm actually grateful. Thank you for saving me from that awkward interaction."

You went on walking in silence, her arm looped in yours. The night was still young but you already wanted it to be over. Not because of Christine. But because Wanda had already spoiled the wonderful night. And you hated yourself for letting her affect you like that.

Seeing your dilemma, Christine tried to lighten the mood. "Would it be bad of me to assume you dated the milf?"

You both exploded into laughter before you began to talk about it. And Christine was very understanding. She realized then that the persistent way of her trying to ask you out made her realize that it was just a silly crush. And when she got to know you, it would be terrible to start a relationship with someone who was still not over her ex. And you completely understood her.

It was a mutual decision that you and Christine remained to be good friends and nothing more.

It was a happy night well spent with a newfound friend as you both met up with Kate and Yelena afterwards, who were apparently on a date that night. At least, it made you forget about a certain brunette.

WHEN you came back to your apartment some time later, there Wanda was sitting on the floor just outside your apartment door. She looked weary and tired, hugging her legs as she buried her head in her knees. When she heard footsteps, she immediately lifted her head to look. She quickly stood when she saw it was you who arrived and you could tell from her eyes that she was just crying.

"What are you doing here?" you asked calmly. You were tired to argue with the woman.

"Where's Christine?" Wanda asked, looking behind you.

"I gave her a ride home," you answered, picking your keys from your pocket.

Wanda nodded. "I thought . . . I thought she'd be staying here tonight—"

"And you see it best to wait here just to check?"

There was a small pause. And you knew you were cruel. But you wanted to hurt Wanda because she hurt you so much.

Wanda wiped the tears from her face as she quickly apologized and walked past you, heading to the elevator.

But maybe it was the haze from that night that made you wrap your hand around her wrist, stopping her from leaving. Maybe it was the bottle of beer you had earlier that made you kiss the old woman with fervor, pressing her against the nearby wall.

And maybe, it was the terrifying thought that you're not into Wanda anymore that made the brunette kiss you back with desperation and need, clutching your jacket so tight, claiming you as hers and only hers.

You both managed to enter your apartment with difficulty as you two began to devour each other, hitting vases and lamps along the way as you pulled her inside while taking each other's clothes off.

But maybe it was lust that made you settle on the couch as you both stumbled upon it, not wasting another second to head towards the bedroom, that made you crave for the woman straddled on top of you.

Wanda took off her brassiere then went to cup your face for another kiss. You stopped her, holding both of her wrists. Your eyes were on her breasts, her perky hard nipples.

Maybe it really was thirst that made you stare hungrily at her, how she still looked so perfect even at her age, that made your hands slide across her hips through her stomach just to cup her breasts and squeeze them.

The brunette let out a gasp on the harsh way you held her, but as she wrapped her hands around your wrists, you yanked her hands away, keeping them behind her back.

You leaned forward to suck one of her waiting nipples, closing your eyes as you savored the moment.

"Fuck, Y/n," Wanda moaned, squirming before you, helpless.

Your hand held unto her while the other slipped down to her back, inside her underwear as you played with her warm slick entrance. And it was so cruel to feel her dripping like this and you had barely touched her.

Wanda whined and shook her body, making you finally take mercy and let her go. Her hands automatically clasped unto the back of the couch as you went to devour her other nipple with same intensity, and three of your fingers finally slipping into her hole, fucking her slowly and torturously.

"Oh, god!" Maybe it really was the way Wanda sound that night that made you so aroused. You fastened your pace, making her grind her hips to meet your thrust.

Disconnecting your mouth, you leaned back to stare up at her and watch her ride your hand desperately. Hugging her waist to pull her closer to you, breasts pressing against your chin, you deepened your thrust.

"Y/n . . . Y/n, I'm—" And she sobbed a moan, her body trembling in waves as she came, her warm hole clenching around your fingers you thought they might break.

You helped her through her high, watching the angelic look on her when she comes undone before you.

Maybe Kate was wrong after all. It wasn't just any physical urge. Maybe you were still in love with Wanda. And no one could compare to her.

Maybe it was that thought that made you give up as you let Wanda kiss you fiercely, let her kneel before you as she took off your pants and underwear and let her worship you with her mouth.

THE NEXT morning was the worst as you slowly creeped off the bed, careful as to not wake the woman. But to no luck.

"Am I just a good fuck to you every now and then?" Wanda's weak sleepy voice brought a tear in your heart.

You went on dressing yourself, deciding whether to interrupt Kate and Yelena just to find a place to stay.

Hearing rustling of sheets, you turned to look at Wanda as she moved towards you wrapped only in your blanket. And she looked so helpless, that you want to take her back right that instant, to hug her and say how sorry you were for making her cry.

But you knew you couldn't. She almost killed you. It wasn't fair.

It brought tears in your eyes and you hoped she didn't notice them. "Y/n—"

"What do you want, Wanda?" you answered bitterly, almost yelling. "Do you want to cuddle under the sheets? You want a relationship? Well, you should have thought about that when you crushed my heart years ago!"

You fought back another angry remark from your throat as her eyes began to glisten with tears. "I'm so sorry."

You exhaled a frustated sigh, hand on the door. "Then I also apologize that this is all I can give to you. That you can't always get what you want."

You finally stepped outside, leaving the poor woman alone.

AUTHOR'S NOTE:

I truly appreciate your continued support in reading my stories. You can help me create more stories by supporting my writing thru this link.

Thank you so much ❤🥰

[izzabela]

Could you please write about earthrealm reader gets talked into by a few of the other champions to go back to outworld and when she does, she finds Syzoth at the entrance and spends the day with him and before she leaves he asks her to stay with him bc he loves her and wants to be with her?

Inter-dimensional Love - Syzoth x fem!reader

in which Syzoth falls for you at first sight

a/n: something something syzoth would be such a devoted husband

ship[s]: syzoth x fem!reader

warning(s): none, post kanon

"No, I'm not going!" you squeal behind your dorm door. Kung Lao and Johnny are trying to push in, though, shoulders ramming into the door.

"Come on, dragonfly!" Johnny draws your name out. "You have to go! No one'll be here since it's everyone's shooting day for my moooovieeee!"

You groan, weighing your options for your weekend plans. Yes, it would be great to train alone, even better without your idiot friends around. But, you're alone- and to be fair, it would be pretty fun to see the creative process of Johnny and his movies.

"Move out of the way," you tell them from the door. You can hear them step away, and you take this time to grab a little crossbody bag to shove some essentials in.

Opening the door, your hands are on your hips. Johnny is full on grinning, and Kung Lao is immediately behind you to push you to the portal.

"Finally! I am no longer a victim to Johnny!" he cries happily, and you roll your eyes playfully as you're being led.

You (joyfully) endure bickering between Johnny and Kung Lao before finally meeting up with Raiden and Kenshi. Raiden waves while Kenshi gives a nod of acknowledgement.

"Good afternoon, are you joining us today?" Raiden asks, and you sigh as you shrug.

"I was drugged and dragged out against my will," you feign depression and mimic a helpless maiden. Kenshi chuckles.

"As much as I hate shooting, Outworld is a beautiful place," all of you walk through the portal. "Just remember that it's temporary, and that we are just guests."

You nod, and the image of the maple trees and greenery of the temple transforms into white ceramic stone, beautiful blue skies, and foreign greenery and shrubs not known to you. It was intoxicating, Outworld mimicking a strong liquor that one gets addicted to.

In front of you, a woman in yellow and silver stands proud, along with other similar-looking women. A woman in blue and silver is present as well, and a man dressed in all green with lizard-like tattoos stands to her side.

"Welcome back, Earthrealm champions and warriors," the woman in yellow announces. "Though, I do not recognize you. State your business."

You gulp, explaining carefully to make sure you say the whole truth. How you were chosen as a champion, but due to your inadequate skills, you were benched for more intense training. How you avoided filming because you did not take part in armageddon.

"Basically, dragonfly over here won't do nothing but buzz, buzz, buzz," Johnny finishes for you, and you smile awkwardly.

"Accepted. I am Tanya, leader of the Umgadi, the Empress and the Princess's personal guards. Outworld welcomes you with open arms," her smile is cordial, but it isn't unkind.

"I extend my welcome to you as well," the blue woman steps forward. "I am Princess Kitana, Supreme Commander of the Imperial Army." You bow in response.

You turn to the man in green, who just stares at you intently, his pupils growing narrow and his iris's taking over.

"Will you not introduce yourself?" you ask carefully. Both women look at the man, and the green-clad man only moves when Kitana gently nudges his shoulder.

"Ah! Apologies.... I am Syzoth, Royal Emissary to the Imperial Crown and to the Zaterrans." You nod, though your eyes still linger over him.

As Tanya leads the way again to the palace, you take in the surroundings of Sun Do. Once reaching the opening from the portal entrance of the city, you guys hop in a carriage, taking the scenic route to soak in the city.

You and Syzoth are paired together with Raiden and Kitana. You're not really sure where the others are, and not like you care, when you whip your phone to take photos for your friends and family to see.

"What... is that?" Syzoth asks, his face practically over your shoulder as you turn your head to meet his gaze.

"I-it's a cellphone," you answer bashfully, cheeks warm at the proximity. "I have not been here before, so I would like to cherish it."

Kitana removes her mask, her face scrunched up a bit as she also asks you some questions.

"Are you not here for the movie shoot? With Johnny?" she asks, and you shake your head before answering.

"Kung Lao and Johnny wouldn't leave me alone when it came to me coming to see Outworld. I caved, so now I'm here." Raiden shakes his head in disappointment, and Kitana chuckles lightly at the anecdote. Seems she knows Kung Lao and Johnny well enough that something like that would happen.

"Princess, if I may," Syzoth speaks. "I would like to show her places not just in the palace." Kitana quirks a brow as she flicks her leg over her knee.

"You will have to ask Tanya about this," she states. "Why the interest, Syzoth? She is here for the shoot..." You interrupt them.

"I mean, not necessarily. I don't mean offense when I say this, but I may be bored just hearing Johnny yell 'cut!' over and over again." Kitana flashes a smile in amusement.

"It can be tiring... Very well. When we arrive to the palace, you may explore the city with Syzoth," Kitana rests her hands in her lap again. "Just do not be separated under any circumstance."

You both nod, and you can't wait for the carriage to stop at the palace steps.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Once at the palace's staircase to the doors, Kitana immediately informs Tanya of the change of plans. Surprisingly, she does not reject the idea.

Perhaps it has something to do with the fact your fighting skills lack.

Regardless, Syzoth immediately takes your arm and drags you around the bustling capital. The area closest to the castle is where the wealthy live. Huge, white stone buildings tower over the clean streets, and many of the stores are similar to the boutiques you see at home.

"This is where people in the court, merchants, or wealthy business owners live," Syzoth explains as the people wave and smile at you and him.

"Normally, they are not this kind to outsides. But, since you are with me, it is... manageable," you frown a bit, but you still take this time to look around and take pictures.

"You are nice, though, Syzoth," you offer a kind rebuttal. "Johnny talks about how adorable you can be sometimes."

Syzoth can't help but feel warm in his cheeks too, and behind him his tail is out and wagging. You look behind as well, and you cover your smile to take in the image of a grown man's tail wagging.

As you two walk, you don't realize that the crowds have grown a bit bigger, and there are definitely more people around. You can smell different foods in the air, different spices and herbs on sale, not forgetting the pungent smell of meat as well.

Voices shout in the distance, you can hear babies crying and children laughing too. The sizzle of oil on a hot pan, and the faintest sounds of music creat a harmonious symphony of natural bustle.

"This is the heart of Sun Do," Syzoth announces. "I prefer to stay here more so than the upper side of the capital."

"Why?" you ask.

"It reminds me of Zaterra, Zikandur province up north."

You listen to Syzoth talk about his life as a Zaterran shifter, how he was bullied and practically exiled. How he lost his family and friends, then gained some, and how his people look to him as a hero.

"And you? What is your life in Earth and Earthrealm?" he asks. You laugh nervously as you try to talk about something else.

You speak about your life as a training champion, how you work at a coffee shop, and how your life is incredibly mundane when not training or on missions. You mention your family and friends, and you show him pictures of them too.

"Beautiful..." Syzoth breathes, but he isn't looking at the pictures- he's looking at you. You turn away, hands cupping your face as you try to hide the obvious flush on your cheeks. However, Syzoth is trying to find your face, leaning over closer and closer to you.

"F-Food! Let's get food!" you exclaim, taking his wrist as you drag him to the nearest stall and push him in front to order food for you. You watch as Syzoth carries your food on a stick, and he carries a bag of... black chips?

"What is that? Chips?" you reach in to take one, and Syzoth is oddly excited.

"I did not know human can stomach insects and bugs," Syzoth said excitedly as he grabs a handful of his "chips". The insect is in your hand, but you turn to him with wide eyes and tears forming as you mumble a "what" out.

Syzoth sets his food down to try and calm you down, causing a little scene as your tears fall gently and slowly. His hands are calloused and slightly rough, but it's somewhat soft as he coos you and flicks your tears away.

"I did not mean to scare you! Please eat your food, it will make you feel better," Syzoth tries to calm you down, and you laugh wetly as you take a little bite.

Once calm, Syzoth loops your arm in his as you two walk together as he points out different spots in the heart of Sun Do.

He points out the spot where he helped Johnny and the others in escaping the General and Reiko. He shows you his favorite stalls for fried bugs and all things insects.

He also points out where he stays when he is not on emissary duties, a little room that's part of a huge building of small rooms. Kind of like an apartment complex.

You don't even notice the time pass, your only indication being the that the sky was now a dark navy, silver stars illuminating your scenery up above.

And another thing, Tanya and Kitana find you guys sitting together on a bench in front of the once busy street.

"There you two are," Tanya huffs. "The shoot has finished, and we are ready to escort you all back."

You and Syzoth nod, though you notice that Syzoth frowns a little more than smiles.

"The carriage awaits us, let us be on our way," Kitana says, hand out waiting for your acceptance.

You walk back with Kitana and Tanya as Syzoth sinks a little behind you three. You tell the princess and the guard of your experience, and how you wish to see more in the future.

The conversation continues on the carriage, and Kitana asks questions about Earth. Honestly, they were quite silly: questions about magic users, if people live long, and other childish questions.

Once at the path to the portal, Syzoth gets out first and comes to your side, hand out as a help for you to get down. You smile, stepping down gently as your eyes linger on him for a bit.

As you and your friends approached the portal, you can't help but look back continuously at Syzoth. Something about him made you want to stay- not go home.

"You comin' or not, slowpoke?" Johnny asks as the others walk in the portal. The words are stuck in your throat, trying to find a way to explain to them your change of mind.

"I think... I think I'll stay here. Just for another day," you say as you turn to look at Syzoth.

Syzoth is beaming, and he pulls you close to him as you and him run off together towards the carriage. Before Kitana, Tanya, or Mileena could say anything, Liu Kang interrupts.

"Let them be," is all he says, accompanied by his kind, signature smile.

You'd be back home, just... not at this very moment.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

i wish syzoth was real

anyways, see yall in the next fic!

[safarigirlsp]

Never Whistle in the Woods

Flip Zimmerman x OC

Word Count: 7.5k

Warnings: NSFW. Smut. Horror. Violence. Monster Action. Cryptids. Creepy things that happen in the woods. Backcountry flavor. Just a nice getaway with Flip. Those never go according to plan. I’m willing to continue this and write more if people like it!

Note: Going forward, I'm going to write characters from now on instead of Readers just because it's really annoying trying to switch back and forth for the non-fic writing I do. However, the female characters will be totally physically vague aside from having a name, so they can still easily be read as an insert by anyone who chooses to insert themselves.

Based on two requests I combined then butchered from rynwritestuff and @lumberjack00fantasies

AO3 Link

One of Flip’s favorite things was spending a secluded weekend out at his cabin, nestled in the forested mountains, away from the noise and mayhem of town. And away from people. Nothing cured a man’s love of humanity better than working with them. He enjoyed having a beer and a burger with his friends after work and he enjoyed taking his girl out to dinner. But he liked it a helluva lot more to take her with him into the mountains and not see or hear from another person for a couple days. Actually, it had become his favorite thing.

Knowing this, his girl, Kate, had booked him a nice getaway right up his alley. A solid week squirreled away in a truly remote cabin about as far away from humanity as he could get. It had taken a little online spelunking for her to land on the small town of Kitwanga, British Columbia, but its selling points of having a population of less than five-hundred, being a prime location for hunting and fishing, and being a true gateway to the wilderness with scarcely an outpost North between the little town and the Yukon, had sealed the deal. Besides, for the shrewd outdoorsman who wanted a less touristy experience with a friendlier populace for about a third of the money, British Columbia was a superior option to Alaska with all the same appeal.

Over-the-counter hunting licenses were available for all sorts of game that required a lottery draw or exorbitant fee in the States. Flip laughed when he read in the game regulations that it was strictly prohibited to shoot Bigfoot and that, should a sportsman encounter him, he was to be considered a protected species.

“How many big, hairy Canadians do you reckon had to get shot in the ass before they added that regulation?” He grinned at Kate, sitting with her legs curled under her on the seat of his rented truck as they bounced down the terrible excuse for a dirt road, sloshing in the mud and hitting potholes by the hundreds. Flip had twice hit his head on the bolt of the rifle secured in the headache rack above his head on the ceiling of the truck’s cab. He would have left the rifle inside their cabin, but they had been stringently warned not to take a step outside without it. Bears were a real threat and the animals here had little experience with humans, which meant little fear of them.

“Sounds like you better watch your own ass if you’re out wandering around in low light,” she teased back. “You’re big and lumbering enough to be mistaken for Bigfoot.”

“Yeah, but I’m a lot better lookin,’” he winked at her as he pulled into the only gas station in the tiny town. He filled up every day on their return in case the owner decided to take a day off. Electric pumps were a novelty that hadn’t reached this far north, it seemed. He was in a teasing mood, returning from a day of hiking and, as he put it, takin’ pictures of every goddamn thing in Canada.

“Depends on who you ask,” Kate laughed warmly. “I’ve waged a losing battle for quite a while trying to convince my friends you’re handsome. They tell me I’m blind or brainwashed.”

Five businesses in the tiny town were booming, frequented by most if not all of its citizens on a regular basis: the grocery store, post office, church, bar, and the gas station. Actually, Kitwanga boasted two bars. Flip figured this was a good insight as to the favorite pastime of the locals, especially since it doubled the churchgoers. There were no restaurants, but the bars had all the haute cuisine a man could want, so long as what he wanted was a cheeseburger or a sandwich or some chicken fried steak. However, one bar generously offered to cook anything a person brought in, provided the thing was somewhere between alive and kicking and starting to turn, and provided that gastronome paid in cash. Flip had already taken the owner and bartender up on this offer and handed over several trout he had caught that day to the owner’s wife and cook to fry for dinner. He had to admit it was some of the best fried fish he had ever had, and it paired wonderfully with the potent Moose Knuckle stout beer on tap.

The sign at the gas station read, Headed north? Need gas? It’s now or never. Two lonely gas pumps sat on a rectangle of cement on the otherwise muddy ground – the kind of pumps a person usually only saw on postcards from the fifties, with the rounded tops and numbers for cost and gallons that ticked by on a dial like an old one-armed-bandit style slot machine. A hand-scrawled sign in the window listed the hours vaguely as open from dawn ‘til dusk. An uninformed observer could easily mistake the business for being abandoned, or even condemned, a relic lingering in a ghost town. But for the metropolis of Kitwanga, it was a thriving business. There was even another vehicle at the pumps, a ’79 Ford truck with a lift and a winch on its bumper and a fat man in overalls leaning against the bed, pumping gas.

Flip stepped out of his truck and lifted the nozzle of the gas pump with a rusty squeal. He admired the view of his girl as she trotted into the gas station to forage for supplies. A brisk wind rustled his hair, tinged with chilled moisture. Above, low clouds in a grayscale palette churned in the sky. The snowy tops of the mountains were hidden inside the clouds and rain slashed across their facades in a grey haze. The rain hadn’t yet reached the foothills where the town and Flip’s rented cabin were nestled, but fog was creeping in from the base of the mountains and off a nearby river. Between the thunderclouds and the fog, it was as if the world was slowly closing in, like the vignette on a Bogart movie narrowing in on the dramatic eyes of a starlet.

Tilting his face up into the chilly air, Flip smiled. He loved rain and thunderstorms, and found peace in their chaos. Mainly, he loved holding his girl while a storm raged outside, or having a drink with her while they sat on the porch and felt the electricity in the air, and making love to her and feeling her shudder thunderously beneath him. His smile widened as he anticipated the evening ahead.

“Storm’s comin,’” the man at the pump said to Flip as he spat a string of brown tobacco into the mud. “You here for huntin’ or fishin?’”

“I’m mostly just here to take a break from everyday bullshit,” Flip replied in a friendly tone. “But I have tags for fishing and tags for bear and moose in case one happens to wander in front of me.”

“Storms are bad for fishin,’” the man said, nodding knowingly. “But they can be good for huntin.’ Storms bring the animals down from the big mountains. Moose especially like the mist and bears like to hunt in the rain when their prey can’t hear and see ‘em as good.”

“Good to know.” Flip smiled as he replaced the nozzle and turned to go inside and pay his tab.

“That your girl?” the man asked with a suggestive nod toward the gas station.

“That she is.” Flip turned to face the man, wondering if he’d end up getting in a fist fight while on vacation.

Not taking the hint, the man whistled appreciatively.

Flip decided the rube meant it as a compliment, so he simply agreed with a “Yup,” and went into the gas station. Kate had been suspiciously long inside anyway, something that nagged at the part of his mind that was always an officer on duty.

Inside the dingy little gas station, Flip saw his girl leaning against the counter engaged in an affable conversation with the attendant behind the counter, a squat older man with a heavily lined face and long silver hair in a braid hanging over his shoulder down to his gut. Flip wandered through the store, grabbing a few items that struck his fancy, some beef jerky, chips, candy bars, and other assorted junk food. At the back of the store, a menagerie of terrible taxidermy watched him with glassy eyes. Above the beverage coolers that lined the wall hung several deer and caribou and two enormous moose. A life-size grizzly bear stood on its hind feet in a corner, frozen mid-snarl, its head a solid three feet above Flip’s. He looked at its paws that were larger than his head and vicious curling claws, longer and thicker than his fingers. Facing such a beast, the gun he had in his truck now seemed very feeble. He grabbed a six-pack of stout beer bottles and an over-sized bottle of cheap wine and took his loot to the counter to pile it alongside Kate’s items.

“Have you heard about the wendigo?” Kate asked Flip when he joined her at the counter. The lilt in her voice told him she was highly amused. “My new friend was just telling me about it.”

“Yeah, wasn’t that the name of that stripper I arrested last year for blackmailing the mayor?” Flip smirked. “Wendy-Go?”

“He’s an idiot, I’m sorry,” Kate apologized to the man behind the counter, simultaneously elbowing Flip in the ribs. “Please ignore him and continue.”

The attendant gave Flip a sideways look and continued talking to Kate in a slow, backcountry drawl, “It is said the wendigo were people once, but now they are cursed. A wendigo is born during times of famine or in the harshest winter. When men are starving to death in the cold. When a man is weak, and he chooses the black path of cannibalism over death, butchering his fellows to save himself. When a man eats the flesh of another, he takes a curse upon himself. The wendigo lives in constant starvation, its body emaciated and rotting, only growing hungrier the more it eats. Its hunger can never be sated and it becomes a crazed beast with an insatiable bloodlust.”

“Is this insatiable bloodlust specific to tourists?” Flip asked sarcastically.

“Sometimes,” the man shrugged, unbothered. “It looks to punish those with greed in their hearts. Or, depending on which stories you believe, it seeks people who are like-minded to itself to build its own tribe.” He eyed Flip narrowly. “So, if a tourist is out greedily mining or wantonly slaughtering game, then yes, the wendigo will come for him.”

“Slaughtering is one of the few things I never do wantonly,” Flip deadpanned and slapped some cash down on the counter.

“You should be careful, son,” the old man told Flip seriously. “There are many ways a man can be greedy. He can be greedy for his woman and covetous of her.” Then he shrugged again. “But these are nothing more than old tales.”

“So, you don’t believe in the wendigo?” Kate asked.

“Oh, there’s no doubt in my mind he’s real. I’ve seen a wendigo twice. He has antlers taller than a caribou and wider than a moose, teeth like a wolf, and only skull sockets for eyes. But they glow. It’s the glow I remember most,” the man said genuinely as he counted out change. “I just don’t know if he was once a man, or something that was never human at all. Maybe the people who first came here created a myth to explain the monster rather than created a mythical monster themselves.”

“Maybe it’s a convenient way to scare pretty, gullible girls.” Flip smirked at Kate. Then he returned his attention to the cashier. “Let me guess, there’s something that wards off the wendigo? A silver crucifix or whatever? I bet we can buy it right here.”

“Nothing wards off the wendigo,” the man scoffed. “And he is far older than your crucifix. Why would a forest god bow to a stranger on a cross? Fire can stall him, maybe even frighten him, but it can only buy you time.” He looked outside the window at the building storm. “Not good weather for making a fire if you need it.”

“Damn shame.” Flip shook his head and began collecting their provisions in his arms. There were no courtesy bags.

“We do have flares,” the man suggested innocently. “They burn in any kind of weather, even underwater. All the bush pilots carry them.”

“Probably inside their emergency monster-hunting kit alongside the stakes for vampires and silver bullets for werewolves,” Flip laughed. “Go ahead. Load us up with some flares. Consider it a tip for a good campfire story.”

“It’s always smart to be prepared,” the man agreed as he placed two bundles of six red flares apiece on the counter and rang them up. They looked like bundles of dynamite.

Kate took the flares because Flip’s arms were already overfilled. She thanked the attendant and turned to leave.

The old man grabbed her by the elbow, stopping her and causing Flip’s hackles to rise. He spoke seriously, “Don’t whistle when you’re out in the woods. Whistling will summon the wendigo. Sometimes people hear whistling too, before it comes for them.”

“And these people who hear the whistling before it gets them,” Flip said as he edged his body between Kate and the counter and nudged her toward the exit. “They walk out of the woods to tell their story, huh?”

*******************************************************************************************

Their log cabin for the week was almost an hour’s drive from the gas station. It wasn’t that far as the crow flies, but the road was serpentine with switchbacks as it climbed the foot of the mountains and made even slower by soupy mud. It was set deep in the forest, surrounded by old-growth trees with trunks as thick as the truck’s bed. The sun set on their drive back. As it dipped below the mountainous horizon, the landscape glowed a shade of hazy purple only seen in the alpine. The clouds were the color of gunpowder and the rainy vapor was periwinkle. The spruce turned into an army of nearly black silhouettes with a light mist writhing among them as moisture rose from the damp ground as well as drizzled gently from the sky. The drifting mist made everything look as though it were moving. It gave the illusion of eldritch shapes in the trees creeping along the edges of vision and tree limbs grasping like clawed fingers as they swayed in the breeze.

Flip hit the brakes suddenly, slamming Kate forward in her seat and knocking her out of the reverie the gloaming forest had cast over her. A black shape froze in the muddy road a few yards ahead of them. Its eyes sparked cold white in the headlights and the fur on its back was raised aggressively.

“A wolf!” Flip said excitedly. “I’ve never seen one this close.”

The huge animal was coal black, its amber eyes reflecting white in the headlights in the way wolves eyes do. It stood frozen, staring down the vehicle, acting like the truck was a new creature intruding into the wolf’s territory. Something was wrong with its silhouette. Something with its mouth. It took several seconds for Kate to realize what it was. The wolf turned its head uncertainly, deciding whether it should continue on its way across the road or turn around from the metal beast with offense headlights. A dead rabbit dangled from its jaws, its legs swinging lifelessly and ears flopping limply. Its lifeless eyes glinted a dull red.

The simple reminder of nature’s brutality unnerved Kate unexpectedly and her hands felt suddenly cold. She gripped Flip’s hand, digging her nails into his palm with irrational harshness.

“Nature, red in tooth and claw,” he teased and grinned at her, but he laced his fingers through hers and squeezed her hand reassuringly. “Some redneck at the gas station told me that predators liked to hunt in the rain. Guess he was right.”

Night had veiled the forest with its velvety black cloak by the time they parked next to the porch of their cabin. It was silent enough to hear all the noises of the forest, from the chattering birds to the subtle rustling of deer browsing in the brush to moisture pattering lightly on the ground. A great horned owl as large as a man’s torso sat perched in a tree branch hanging near the roof of the cabin, its yellow eyes glittering like moonlight as it hooted an eerie cadence. It followed them with its yellow eyes as they unloaded the truck and carried their loot inside, its head turned almost fully backward like a creature possessed.

There was no light pollution and on a clear night, the moon and stars lit the forest bright enough to see easily. On a rainy night, moisture in the air brought out all the smells of the forest, the crisp spruce, the earthy soil, the embers in the fireplace. The cabin had no electric lines and was powered by a temperamental generator and a wood stove. A woodpile was stacked against the back of the cabin, complete with a large timber axe embedded in a nearby stump. Cell service was laughable. Flip loved everything about all of that. He was pleased it had running water, however, mainly because it would have greatly impacted his sex life if it didn’t.

Flip grilled steaks outside that night before the rain hit and they had dinner on the porch, counting lightning bolts. Then they tangled around each other in front of the fireplace, making love as the flames crackled and danced and the thunder rolled. Between dinner and fooling around several times, they finished the bottle of wine and opened another. Night fell early this far north in the autumn and the nights were long. The cabin was equipped with a tv, but it was one of those terrible old boxy things with a tiny screen and antennas. The antennas were only for show since there was no service. Instead, there was a vcr and a selection of campy nineties movies and some even campier porn. It seemed to defeat the purpose of being there to even bother with the tv. They hadn’t turned it on once.

“I’m wide awake,” Kate mused, propped up on Flip’s bare chest, looking down at him. “Let’s do something.”

“I have plenty of ideas,” Flip said huskily. “They’re all sure to wear you out.”

“We’ve tried your ideas. Several times. And I’m still far from worn out.” She smiled. “We’re here in a cabin, basically having a sleepover. Let’s play some sleepover games, the kind you play as idiot teenagers or in sororities in college.”

“I think girls have a lot wilder sleepovers than boys. And my experience with sororities is limited to sneaking in and out of them, so you’ll have to be more specific.” He ran his fingertips along her spine and kissed her throat, doing his best to interest her in another round.

“Later, you animal,” she laughed and shoved his face away while pushing herself up and off him. “You know what I mean. Sleepover games. Like Bloody Mary, or playing a Ouija Board, or the Midnight Game.”

“Packed a Ouija Board, did you?” he teased. “That would explain why your suitcase weighs fifty fuckin’ pounds.”

“I don’t think ghosts care whether or not you use a name brand.” She pinched his chest, making him flinch.

“What ghosts are you gonna find out here?” He squinted as he rubbed his chest. “The Donner Party?”

“Don’t you think they’d be fun to talk to? We can try Bloody Mary. I don’t think she has a centralized location,” she teased and pulled on her discarded pair of pajama pants and a hoodie. She threw Flip’s grey sweatpants at him. “Put that thing away or it might scare off the ghosts.”

Flip grumbled more protests under his breath, but he dressed in his sweats and a thermal henley. “How about we each stand in front of the bathroom mirror with the lights off. I’ll ask for Candyman. You ask for Bloody Mary. And we’ll have a Celebrity Death Match between vengeful ghosts?”

“You know the ghosts always get the cynics and the cocky shitheads first, right?” She shook her head and crossed her arms over her chest in a faux reprimand.

“Is that a rule?” Flip grinned. “I think the ghosts go for the morally corrupt woman who can’t keep her legs closed first. You’re in trouble, sugar.”

“There’s only one way to find out,” she said with finality.

“How about we play a fun game, like spin the bottle or truth or dare?” He winked at her. “I always pick dare. Do your worst.”

“I can’t imagine where a game of truth or dare with you would lead.” She rolled her eyes sarcastically.

Flip puffed his chest and stepped closer to her until their bodies were almost touching. “I have a better idea. You have some pretty big balls for a pretty little girl. Let’s see how big they really are.”

“Oh my god, Flip, if this is another ploy to explore that region further…” she laughed.

“Everything I do is some kinda means to that end.” He smirked. “But we’ll get to that later. Now, let’s go outside and whistle at the wendigo. There should be some of those sonsabitches around these parts.”

Flip went to the door and stepped into his muddy boots. He leaned against the doorframe, casually cocky, and raised an eyebrow at her in a challenge. “How ‘bout it, hot stuff?”

“I think we’d be better off trying to summon Bloody Mary than a wendigo,” Kate said hesitantly. “Plus, it will be cold out there.”

“I’ll keep you warm,” he teased. “How do you figure that trying to summon a ghost through our bathroom mirror would be safer than trying to call in a wendigo? At least a wendigo will stay outside. Besides, I know how psycho you’d get if I let another woman into our bedroom. Dead or alive. Don’t try to set me up, sweetheart.”

Rolling her eyes again, Kate pulled her coat on and slipped her phone into its pocket, feeling the bundle of flares she had absently pocketed at the gas station. There was no service, but its flashlight might come in handy outside. Grinning, Flip picked up the rifle that was leaning against the doorframe and slung it over his shoulder. Cocky though he was, he took the advice serious about the threat of bears and always having a gun on him out here in the wilderness. He held the door open for Kate and ushered her outside.

The air was thick with humidity but the rain had stopped for the moment, leaving the moisture on the air to chill their skin and turn their breath into ghostly thick fog. The porch was covered in slushy frost as bright as diamonds. Their boot prints left skeletal black outlines on the otherwise pristine frosty canvas as they descended the steps and walked into the forest that awaited them only yards away.

Flip offered Kate his arm and led her into the trees. The old growth forest felt like being inside a fairytale, surrounded by enormous tree trunks and relatively open ground at their bases. The roots of those great trees were so thirsty, they leeched most of the nutrients and left little for brush and scrub to encroach. After the rain, the ground was muddy and slick, with frost growing denser by the minute as the temperature dropped through the night.

Filling his lungs, Flip began whistling a terribly off-key tune as he walked through the woods. His casual swagger was the same as if he were taking his girl out for a stroll in the park. Kate winced when he struck a particularly loathsome note, and squinted her eyes at him, “What in the hell are you whistling?”

“Season of the Witch,” he replied, acting offended. “I thought you’d appreciate it.”

“I like the song, I don’t appreciate what you’re doing to it,” she laughed. “We’re not going to find any wendigo if you scare them all off with that horrendous noise.”

“I don’t hear you doing any better,” he scoffed.

Mainly in an attempt to save her ears from his screeching, Kate started whistling. She teased Flip first with her best wolf whistle. Smells were heightened in the damp air but sounds were muffled. In the silence of the forest, the whistle sounded unnaturally loud. Now that Flip wasn’t making noise himself, he found himself focusing more on his surroundings. He didn’t feel right, something he couldn’t put his finger on tugged at the back of his mind. It wasn’t just that noises were muffled by the dampness in the air, but something else that he found indefinable in that moment. He told himself it was just the product of being in an unfamiliar place, surrounded by unfamiliar vegetation that he found unsettling. The size of trees still seemed monstrous to him, and the smell of spruce instead of the familiar smell of pine must have been unsettling to his subconscious. And it probably didn’t help that he had cultivated a little buzz drinking wine for the past few hours.

A light gust of wind blew into his face and all of his senses sparked with alarm. He froze in place, seizing Kate’s arm to silence her whistling. The unmistakable scent of a wet animal hit his nose with the force of a slap in the face. Quickly evaluating his surroundings, he unslung the rifle from his shoulder and held it across his chest in high port. It would take him less than a second to aim and fire. But the forest was close around them, visibility limited to fifteen feet or so in any direction. If the animal was a predator, a bear or a mountain lion, it could cover that distance in less than a heartbeat if it wanted. He could still see the faint glow of the cabin’s lights. They hadn’t gone far, but there was no chance of outrunning an animal back to safety.

A heavy footfall sounded inside the trees ahead of them, muffled on the wet ground but distinctive. Straining his ears, Flip thought he heard a branch being brushed aside by something passing by it. Whatever it was, it was very close ahead of them. Flip’s thoughts raced, less cohesive and more a rush of images of nightmare scenarios that he weighed in an instant. He could hide himself and Kate behind one of the huge tree trunks and hope the animal passed them by. But whatever it was had to already know of their presence. If his feeble senses could hear and smell the animal, it had no doubt smelled and heard him much sooner. In that case, he decided it was best to hold his ground and meet whatever it was head on, straight down the barrel of his rifle. That would give them the best chance. Flip would have to make his shot count, and he’d probably only get one, but it was a decent chance.

Stepping in front of Kate, Flip raised his rifle to his shoulder. He kept both eyes open, not limiting his focus to only what was past the end of his barrel, but trying to expand his senses to the full spectrum of forest in front of him. He heard a heavy breath, something panting. Closer now. Flip clicked off the safety and tightened his finger on the trigger. The hardest skill for a hunter to learn, especially when hunting game that hunted him back, is to wait long enough for a good shot but not so long as to let it get him. He wouldn’t waste his shot until he saw his target clearly and could be sure of putting the bullet where it would matter most. His hold on the gun was rock steady, his breath stalled, his eyes unblinking.

The panting grew in volume until it seemed to drum in his ears. Odd for a stalking predator. Before Flip could reconcile that, a bear burst from the trees only feet in front of him. A huge grizzly bear lumbering toward him on all fours, the top of its humped shoulders taller than Flip’s head. His finger tensed, less than a millimeter of movement was required to fire. But something was off with the bear. It was panting heavily, saliva dripping from its open mouth and fog snorting in bursts from its wet nose. The bear stopped short at the sight of the man with a gun right in front of it, clearly surprised, very unlike a predator who had been stalking the man. Flip hesitated. If he didn’t kill the bear immediately with one shot – drop it right in its tracks – it would maul them both before it died. If the bear wasn’t hunting him, it was a foolish risk to take. Grizzlies were not commonly hunting predators; they were scavengers and fishers. Most people who were mauled by grizzlies had either gotten between a mother and her cubs or a bear and its food, or they had startled it like waking a grumpy old man.

Sniffing the air, the bear looked at Flip. He was so close he could see the small particles of moisture the bear blew out of its nose along with steam when it snorted. The bear’s little round ears flicked, one turning backward to listen behind it. The bear’s eyes were wide, showing white, in a nervous gesture that was common to both man and beast. The bear looked back over its shoulder and then broke into a gallop. Flip’s rational mind told him to shoot, but his instinct prevented him. The bear altered course enough to avoid running straight into Flip. It paid him no further mind at all, instead running right by him. Flip followed it with the barrel of his rifle as it passed by him so close that a string of white saliva landed on the rifle’s blue-black barrel.

Turning around about face, Flip followed the bear with his sights until it was well past them and showed no signs of turning back around. He looked back toward the place the bear had come from, still holding the rifle to his shoulder. He didn’t look at Kate when he told her, “Walk back to the cabin. Don’t run, but go now.”

“You want me to follow the bear?” she hissed. “He ran toward the cabin. I don’t want to get near him again.”

“Follow the bear,” Flip gritted. “If a bear’s runnin’ from something, we’d best do the same. He didn’t care about us anyway. Now, move.”

Uncertainly, Kate turned and retreated toward the cabin. They hadn’t gone that far, after all. Flip backed after her, keeping his rifle aimed into the black forest from which the bear had run. A shrill scream splintered the silence, starker than a bolt of lightning. Kate shuddered and Flip ducked, hunching his shoulders like he had taken a punch. The scream shrilled for several seconds, wavering on a blood-curdling note before trailing away. It echoed around them, seeming to float on the mist.

“That’s just an elk bugling,” Flip said, trying to calm Kate. Maybe it was in fact an elk, a sickly, ravenous elk. “Keep moving, slowly.”

“I’ve never heard an elk that sounded like that.” Kate shivered against more than the chilled air. “This is starting to scare the hell out of me.”

“Don’t worry, I’ll take your mind off of it when we get back,” Flip tried to joke but he couldn’t muster the required lewdness, his mouth was too dry.

The howling scream burst again through the forest. It was something like an elk bugle, but more howling and rasping, with a sort of growling mingled in at the end as it trailed away. It was closer now. Flip felt as much as heard it reverberate inside his skull.

“Whatever that is, it’s not an elk.” Kate had her arms wrapped around her body, trying to prevent herself from being overtaken by tremors.

“Sure, it is,” Flip lied. “They probably just grow ‘em bigger up here.”

Kate blew out a shuddering breath, fighting to keep her steps slow and steady.

“Pick up the pace a little, darlin,’” Flip rasped.

“You said not to run,” Kate hissed.

“I didn’t say to crawl either!” Flip gritted. “This is one hell of a time for you to start listening to me.”

Instead of moving faster, Kate stopped short. So suddenly, Flip bumped into her as he walked backward. A branch snapped somewhere inside the forest. It was strangely loud. Flip realized then that the snap only sounded harsh because the forest had gone utterly silent. The hundreds of small noises from birds and insects were gone. Even the drops of water falling from tree branches seemed to have stopped. The forest felt like a living thing around them, possessed of a presence all its own. Now that presence was altered into something darker and ominous.

“What the hell are you doing?” Flip’s voice had dropped to a whisper without his conscious approval. “I said keep moving. We’re not far from the cabin.”

“Turn around.” Kate’s voice trembled.

Dropping the rifle for a moment, Flip looked back over his shoulder. His nerves must be playing tricks on his eyes. He turned fully around, holding the rifle at high port across his chest. The view of the forest that met him was foreign. It wasn’t the same forest they had walked through only minutes before. The trees were more skeletal, their grasping branches more cloying. Moss hung from the branches like the lank hair of a corpse, and the ground was spongy underfoot, as if the forest was rotting around them. Even the air smelled stale and moldy. Thunder boomed overhead and lightning illuminated the forest in patches like a stop-motion movie. Most unsettling of all, the comforting glow of the cabin lights that could be seen through the trees had vanished or been snuffed out.

“What the fuck…” Flip’s voice trailed away as he took in the strangeness of their surroundings. A burst of lightning brought the forest into focus for a gleaming second. Bizarre shapes hung in the trees like a macabre abomination of Christmas tree ornaments, figures made from twigs lashed together with sinew to form pentagrams and humanoid shapes and horned beings. Flip swallowed thickly and ignored them. “We couldn’t have gotten turned around so fast.”

“We didn’t.” Kate looked around frantically. “I could see the cabin lights, then I heard that horrible bugle and looked around for it. And then the lights were gone. They couldn’t have all gone out, not all at once.”

“Lightning must have struck the cabin,” Flip lied again. Nothing about the forest looked familiar to him now and everything about it felt wrong. “Must have shorted out the lights.” There was no reason to scare Kate more than she already was. “It’s alright, we don’t need lights for what I have in mind when we get back.”

The scent of wet dog hit Flip again on a gust of wind, yanking his attention in the direction of the odor. He saw a heap of dark fur, glistening from the spotty rain and aimed his rifle at the creature. It didn’t move. Steam rose from the furry mass. Flip noted another smell on the air, something with a coppery aftertaste that coated the roof of his mouth. He edged forward, looking at the steaming animal down the barrel of his rifle, his finger resting on the trigger, ready to fire. He recognized the beast when another bolt of lightning revealed the horror to him.

“Don’t look,” he said to Kate, but it was too late. She clasped a hand over her mouth to keep her scream from escaping.

The huge grizzly bear they had encountered minutes before lay on its side in a broken heap of matted fur. Steam spiraled into the air from its torn-open belly, its entrails protruding from the mangled tissue like uncooked sausage. The gaping wound was only minutes old. The bear’s body temperature would plummet rapidly in the frigid air and it was still warm now. Even as they stared, the steam began to abate. Hanging in the branches of the tree nearest the bear carcass were several more bizarre figures crafted from twigs.

The screeching growling bugle erupted again, very close this time. Flip nudged Kate ahead, keeping his rifle at the ready, but not knowing where to aim it.

“Which way do we go?” Her breath came in shuddering puffs of fog.

“I don’t know,” Flip admitted. “Away from here.”

Amid a stand of spruce to his side, bare tree branches swayed in the wind, their spiky fingers waving ominously. Flip hadn’t noticed the wind pick up. Looking at the oddly swaying branches, he realized there was no wind. The air had gone as still as the inside of a crypt. The strange branches were bare, glistening wet and pointed upward, still swaying.

A flash of lightning illuminated the creature and Flip flinched so hard he almost fired accidentally.

What he had taken for bare branches was a set of enormous antlers, shaped somewhere between a moose and a caribou and as large as an Irish elk, with wide paddles and long spiked tines spurting out non-typically like broken fingers. It had a dark mane like an elk with a tawny, painfully emaciated body. Flat tines of several spinal processes protruded through the hide at the top of its high withers and one hip bone showed through the skin. But its head was the most terrible of all. Its face was in an advanced stage of rot, dregs of sagging flesh barely clinging to the skull. White skull bone gleamed in exposed patches, and its sharp, lupine teeth were long in the exposed jawbone and ragged. Its nasal cavity was bare, the fleshy nose rotten away, leaving only the pointed bones and a black hollow. It had no eyes that Flip could see, but there was an evil gleam inside its sockets, like embers inside a pile of ash. The monster shook its head, slinging water from its great spiked antlers. Then it leveled its head like a bull about to charge and fixed its glowing eyes on Flip.

“Shoot it,” Kate whispered, her eyes wide with terror.

“I don’t think it’ll do any good.” Flip looked down the barrel at the rotting flesh covering the walking skeleton and white bone peeking from beneath. The monster’s glowing eyes were not something found among the living. Without lowering his rifle, he looked at Kate and met her eyes. “It’ll come for me first. I’ll make sure of that, and I’ll stall it as much as I can. Get to the truck, darlin.’ The keys are in it. Run like hell.”

“I’m not leaving you!” she said vehemently, her voice losing some fervor when the creature took an ominous step closer, its enormous antlers swaying with its gait.

She felt for her phone, hoping there might be service. Not that another human could even reach them in less than an hour, making any idea of help hopeless. Her hand closed around the lumpy bundle of flares. With an excited breath, she freed a flare from the bundle and fumbled with lighting it.

The monster bugled angrily, a sound so shrill it felt like it grated along their spines. It rushed toward them through the trees, its teeth bared and eyes aflame. Flip fired, sending a bullet right between those glowing eyes. He even saw the bullet strike and tear away more rotting flesh, leaving a pearly white hole in the skull. It didn’t slow the monster or even make it flinch. He bolted another round into the chamber on instinct, staring down the barrel at the demonic eyes that were fixed upon him.

Kate popped the cap off the flare. The cap had an abrasive tip like a matchhead and she struck it to the end of the flare, holding it high as it burst to life. With their eyes accustomed to the darkness, the flare seemed as bright as sunlight, searing black pulsing spots into their vision. The monster squealed again, shaking its head with pain or irritation. Its antlers caught in the tree branches, stalling its advance. The flare burned and popped, hot on Kate’s face even at arm’s length and blindingly bright.

The landscape around them crackled and wavered, like a tv signal trying to come in through static. The trees looked less skeletal and more normal, like they had been before, and the strange twig figures vanished. The cabin lights glowed through the trees, yellow and warm, not far from them.

“It’s in our heads!” Kate shouted. “It’s making us hallucinate, but I can see the cabin and the truck now.”

“The light bothers it,” Flip said as he reached into her coat pocket, grabbing three flares and leaving her the remaining two. The monster wrenched its antlers free of the branches where it was tangled and lurched toward them in a shambling gait.

Shouldering his rifle that was of no more use than a club against the monster, Flip bit the cap off a flare with his teeth and struck the head. He rammed the end into the muddy ground at his feet, leaving the tip burning. The beast reared, shrieking with rage and clawing the air with its cloven hooves as Flip backed away. He could see the glow of the cabin lights now too. It was hard to resist the urge to run to the light.

Flip lit the next flare. Kate was a few yards ahead of him, gaining ground toward the truck. It would take whoever reached it first a minute to start it. Flip had a good throwing arm and even better aim. The monster lunged at him, rage overriding whatever else had been driving it to pursue them so far. Flip drew back his arm, took a second to aim at the gaping black jaws, and threw the lit flare as hard as he could. The flaming tip cartwheeled through the air like a throwing knife before the fiery head struck the monster right where its nose should have been. But it had no nose, its nasal cavity was exposed in its partially skeletal head. Robin Hood could not have struck a finer bullseye. The flaming tip sank deep into the nasal cavity, embedding itself there.

Screaming terribly, the wendigo shook its head and stomped its hooves, rearing and bucking like a horse that had stepped on a hornet’s nest. It couldn’t shake the flare free from its skull. The flames spread, shooting out through holes in the rancid flesh of its cheeks and jaws. It looked as though it breathed fire when it screeched, belching flare fumes and flames out of its hacking mouth.

“We’re not gonna get a better chance than this!” Flip roared at Kate as he burst into a run toward her. She had a few paces head start on him and sprinted ahead toward the truck.

Kate reached the truck first, yanking the driver’s door open and jumping inside. Flip could bitch about her driving all he wanted, but she dared not spare the extra second or two for him to take the wheel. Not with the eldritch monster galloping toward them, bugling terribly, flames bellowing from its mouth and nose. Flip had his one remaining flare in hand when he reached the truck. The engine roared to life.

Instead of joining Kate inside the cab, Flip vaulted into the truck bed and shouted for her to drive. Kate slammed the truck into gear, throwing Flip against the side of the bed. Regaining his balance, he dropped to his knees and planted his back against the rear window, making himself as steady as he could. Kate was speeding as fast as she dared down the muddy, winding road, and it wasn’t fast enough. The wendigo pursued them, galloping after the truck and gaining ground. Striking the tip of his flare, Flip held the flaming tip aloft, casting the entire truck in a halo of searing red fire. The wendigo allowed more distance between them, smart enough to keep outside of throwing range of another flare.

Kate took a slippery curve too fast, the truck fishtailing as she recovered control, slinging Flip from one side of the bed to the other. The flare was nearly whipped from his hand, but he clenched his fist tight to keep his hold. Gritting his teeth, he composed himself, using all his strength to keep his balance and keep his arm held high. He couldn’t afford to lose a flare. They only had three flares left, and it was going to take every last burning second of each one to reach town.

*******************************************************************************************

 © safarigirlsp 2024

Tagging some buddies!

[gracieheartspedro]

I Can See You

fem!reader x dbf!joel miller

Hi friends! It's been awhile (:

I am back to writing! This time, I'm planning on having many parts to this story. It's a DBF Joel Miller story, which I love to read, which means I had to write it, right?

I wrote this with no Y/N, instead each character gives her a nickname/pet name.

So here's Part 1, I really hope you enjoy!

Word count: 2.7k

Warnings: DBF! Joel, age gap-ish (reader is 25, Joel is 39), eventual smut, joel being a little bit of a perv, reader not having a filter, alcohol consumption

“Mornin’,” His Southern accent was even deeper than usual. My head peaks up from behind my computer, noticing his very tired eyes. The bags under his eyes still somehow did him justice. 

“Mornin’ Joel,” I mutter before taking a sip of my coffee. I watch as he finds his way towards my bosses office. He was only my boss at work, but at home he was just Dad. 

I watch his ass move in his jeans, shamelessly. 

Finding your coworker hot is one thing, it’s another when it’s also your dad’s friend and he was about 20 years older than you. 

I’ve thought Joel Miller was quite the looker since I was about 18. I had just started working for my dad. I was mainly just scheduling and doing work orders. Joel took me out to a work site one day, on my father’s request. He wanted me to get know some of the people who would be scheduling work from us. I got to sit around with the property manager of an apartment complex in a tight black dress in the dead of summer, watching guys replace windows. While outside that day, Joel worked alongside some of the laborers, his tanned skin and shaggy dark hair glistening with sweat. Something about him doing manual labor turned me on. Something awoke in me that day, and ever since then, I thirst over him in silence. 

I catch myself looking a bit too long, quickly averting my eyes to my computer screen. I act like I am typing something, glancing over to Joel and my dad walking out of his office together. They are discussing another project that Joel was overseeing that would keep him very busy in the upcoming months. 

“My girl here will be starting back at college in the fall, so she will only be part time for awhile,” My dad says, drawing attention to me. 

“Oh really, where ya going?” 

I blank out completely for a moment.

“UT Austin,” I finally answer.

“Smart girl, you living on campus?”

“Nope, just getting my master’s in Engineering so living from home makes the most sense.”

Joel shakes his head, “Master’s. Didn’t you just graduate high school?”

“I’m 25, Joel.”

His eyes scan me for a moment, realizing I’m much older than he remembers. 

“Ha,” He grumbles, “Time flies huh, Steve?”

“Sure does, you just wait for that Sarah of yours is off to college,” My dad laughs, slapping Joel’s shoulder. I wince, realizing again he has a young daughter. It wasn’t ideal, to say the least. 

“We got about 5 years on that,” Joel says, his eyes returning to mine, “Well it’ll be nice havin’ you around during our busy season.”

“Happy to help,” I reply, not really meaning it. 

“Hey, Joel, you and Sarah making an appearance at our BBQ this weekend? We invited the whole neighborhood and I can’t remember if you told me you’d be there.”

His eyes are still on me, “Yeah, I’ll be there,” his eyes return to my dad’s, “Just me and Tommy though, Sarah is goin’ over to a friend’s house.”

“Can’t wait!” My dad cheers, “Baby girl, can you make sure my schedule is cleared Friday evening so I don’t have to worry about when I can get the meat?”

“Of course, dad,” I grit my teeth, “I’m on it.”

-

“Hey baby girl, can you go grab me some extra plates?” 

My dad was over the top with his BBQs to say the very least. The whole neighborhood was in on it. Steaks, burgers, hot dogs, chicken, the whole thing. I spent all morning getting the huge backyard and cabana ready for all our visitors. We usually had someone come over to do all the setting up, but Dad made sure to remind me that I was living rent free and being paid on his payroll, so setting up was the least I could do. 

People littered the pool and backyard. I weave between people, giving smiles and welcomes where I could.

I walk in to the kitchen, the cold AC air hitting my bare arms. Luckily, I was wearing shorts over my bikini shorts, or else the goose bumps would be up and down my legs, too. I begin searching the cabinets for the large serving plates you always used for big gatherings. Leaning down, my triangle bikini top almost lets my boobs loose. I sit up straight, messing with the knots on my back. I knew tightening it could only help so much.

“Need help?” I almost jump out of my skin. I turn quickly, spotting Joel Miller standing in the kitchen with me.

“Shit, you fucking scared me,” I breathe loudly, patting my chest to make my heart stop racing, “I think I can get it.”

“Mhm,” He sticks a tooth pick between his teeth, “Lemme help, girl.”

God he was so fine. I hated myself for having a crush on him. But the domestic and simple gray t-shirt that hugged his arms so well and the blue jeans? I simply could not resist staring. 

No chance in hell. But I got to look at him every day and imagine it. 

I turn on my heels, holding the ties out to him so he could tie them. 

“I need them tighter,” I mutter, “Don’t want these puppies falling out in front of the Adlers.”

“Don’t want to excite Mr. Adler too much, he may have himself a heart attack.”

I smile to myself, biting my lip. He ties it, his fingers grazing my bare back slightly. 

“All good now, girl,” I turn to face him, looking up at him through my eyelashes, “Now what were you lookin’ for?”

“Serving plates,” I explain, “Dad is finishing up those steaks, needs more space.”

“Well let’s get ‘em and head out to all the fun,” He says, ducking down to the cabinet I was looking in originally. He finds them, handing them up to me. He looks so good looking up at me from this angle. 

“You want to grab us some beers,” I suggest, “I’ll meet you out there?”

“Your dad runnin’ low?”

“Probably, so grab three.”

–

“So, you going to be here all summer?”

I had no interest in talking to Tommy, but he was keeping me from toeing the line with Joel in my drunken state, so here I am. I sit in my lounger chair, wanting so bad to take off my jean shorts. I knew if I did, Tommy would take it as I’m making a pass, so I sweat extra. 

“I’m starting college in August, so yeah I’ll be around the office and staying home.”

He smiles, “Good to hear, love seeing you around.”

I smile back faking a cheery laugh, “Thanks, Tommy… care to grab me another beer?”

“No problem, sweetheart.”

I watch him walk away before searching the crowd for Joel. I spot him across the yard, talking to one of the newer neighbors. A single mom who moved in two months ago. My dad kept joking the other night that he’d be making her my stepmom, which only made me gag. She was beautiful, younger than my dad, but just about Joel’s age. 

A pang of jealousy rises within me. 

Joel finally catches my wandering eyes. He smiles gently, giving me a nod.

“Here, darling,” Tommy says sweetly, “Need anything else?”

“Yeah, actually,” Your brother, “Can you help me with something?”

“Sure, ‘s up?”

I sit up, leaning over making my boobs hang right in his eye line. 

If I couldn’t keep one Miller’s attention, maybe I could snag second best. My beer filled brain thinks about how they are cut from the same cloth, so they both are probably good at this. 

“Do you want to help me change a lightbulb?”

He raises his eyebrows, “I guess, where at?”

I smirk, “My bedroom.”

We sneak away, my eyes scanning the area. It didn’t appear as anyone was following us. My room was the last room on the left upstairs, so the anticipation as I guided him down the hallway was killing me.

Ever since Joel grazed my back earlier, I’ve been ready. So fucking ready. 

“Are we actually changing a lightbulb?”

I open my door for him, gesturing to him to follow me in.

In the dim light, Tommy was very cute. He was a sweet guy and I knew he’d be the first to jump on my idea. 

“You tell me,” I say, starting to untie the knot Joel tied. In my moment of trying to be sexy, I realize Joel tied the stupidest and hardest knot ever. Tommy notices my struggle, reaching around me, frantically trying to get the top off.

As it gets loose, I reach up to grab his neck.

“What the fuck is going on ‘ere?” 

His voice freezes me. Tommy looks towards the door in horror.

“Joel-“

“Tommy, you fucking know better,” His voice is so intimidating and scary, I cant even muster the courage to turn around, “Git.”

Tommy gives me eyes saying I’m so sorry, and I just stare blankly at my wall. I hear Tommy’s foot steps run down the stairs. I realize how drunk I am because my wall paper begins to move on it’s own. It doesn’t usually do that. 

“Now you,” His stride towards me is quick, “I’m not your Dad, but don’t think he’d like you fucking his employees.”

Maybe it was the liquid courage, “Who said I was trying to fuck him?”

I snap my head towards his stern and impossible to read face.

“Bullshit,” He spits, “He got through my knot, he assumed somethin’ was about to happen.”

“Well, even if that’s where it went, why are you putting your nose in our business?”

He chuckles darkly, “So now it’s ours, huh? I have you know, girl, Tommy’s business is my business. And you’re just makin’ my job hard.”

I tiptoe closer to him, “And what’s your job, again, Mr. Miller?”

“Make sure people are behavin’ themselves.”

I realize what he’s doing. My tipsy mind took a second to search his face for more, but I can't read him at all. 

“I’m behaving, Mr. Miller. I promise,” I reach up, touching his jaw, “No more funny business.”

It was the closest I had ever got to him. I felt a rush just touching him.

“Good, get your top back on and come down to the party. Your dad is looking for you.”

I look down at myself as he leaves the room. My fucking tits are out, and he didn’t even look down.

The game he was playing was not the same one I was playing.

–

The next morning, I have a pounding headache and no drive to leave my room. I was embarrassed and horrified. I knew I would have to face Joel and Tommy on Monday morning, so I had to make amends beforehand. I really didn’t want them to tell my dad and I was pretty out of line for trying to fuck Tommy when Joel wasn't giving me the attention my drunk ass thought I deserved.

After spending hours in bed, rolling back and forth thinking of a script to say, I figured that honesty is the best policy. 

Well, honesty with a little bend in the truth. 

I get showered and dressed. My usual summer time outfit was a crop top and short shorts, but today I needed to be more… conservative. 

I find a nice summery dress, that went to midthigh. It was yellow, not a lot cleavage, floral. Innocent. 

When I get downstairs, my dad sits in the living room, his feet propped up watching the news. 

“Where ya going, baby girl?” 

“I’m going for a walk,” I lie. 

“Wearing that?”

“Yes,” I nod quickly, “Do you need anything while I’m out?”

He shakes his head, “No, have fun, I guess.”

I could tell he was suspicious, but he wasn’t one to pester me too much. He had high expectations for me, but I always exceeded them. He never questioned me too much, unless it was about school. He didn’t even really care about my love life. He always got excited when I told him I was going on dates in college. I mean, I rather him be excited than bother me about the guys I was seeing.

I start my journey to Joel’s. I didn’t even know if he was home or not, I was going on blind faith.

It was hot as shit and I was not fully prepared to walk to his house in a dress and sandals. 

I could’ve just driven there and back. But no, I decided to roast in the hot summer sun.

–

When I arrive to his house, I just kind of stand in his driveway, catching my breath. He was home, his truck was here. 

I walk to the front door, knocking first then ringing the door bell. 

It takes about minute, but he gets the door. 

And he’s shirtless. 

It was the worst and best moment of my entire life. 

“What are you doing here?”

And it’s not quite the response I was anticipating when I arrived at his door. 

“I uh-,” I hear some stirring inside the house, which causes me to peak my head past Joel’s shoulder. 

I see movement, but my eyes find Joel’s again before I could focus in on it. He pushes me back a bit, coming outside and shutting the door behind him. 

“I came to apologize, but you seem busy.”

He shakes his head, “Not busy, just woke up.”

“With someone?”

What the fuck? Why can’t I shut my mouth?

“Pardon me?”

“Well I walked this whole way to apologize about my inappropriate behavior yesterday,” I explain, “But yeah, that’s it.”

The door creaks open and I am wholeheartedly anticipating a hot MILF or something. But instead, it’s a little girl. 

“Sarah, get inside!”

“Oh hi, I know you!”

I smile at the girl. She was cute, I had to admit. She looked a bit like Joel, mainly the smile. A smile I wasn’t too familiar with, because he wasn’t too keen on my jokes. Ever.

“Yeah, I work with your dad,” I explain, “Nice to see you, Sarah.”

“You too, do you want to have lunch with us?”

“Sarah she can’t st-” 

“I’d love to, only if your dad says it’s okay.”

He got himself in a pickle, but I was aching to have a conversation that didn’t involve me putting my foot in my mouth like I almost did again. Plus, some food and water would help the heatstroke I felt coming on.

He stares at me, almost like he wished I’d disappear, “Of course, come in. Sarah is making sandwiches.”

“I hope you like turkey and cheese!”

—

“Thanks for the sandwich, Sarah,” I say, wiping my face making sure I didn’t have mustard left over.

She smiles with her mouth full, “You’re welcome!”

“Hey Sarah, why don’t you go get ready for swim practice,” He suggests, “Me and your new best friend need to have an adult conversation.”

She looks up at him annoyed, “I guess, but don’t scare her away. She has a cool pool I want to swim in.”

I laugh out loud, “Yeah, don’t scare me away, Joel.”

He doesn’t laugh, he just looks at me with his lazer eyes. I just wish Sarah a farewell and shut my mouth, waiting for the storm. He stirs, eating another bite of his sandwich. 

“So you came to apologize, huh?”

I swallow, “Uh, yeah. I’m sorry for my inappropriate behavior. I had one too many yesterday.”

He nods, “Yeah you were practically falling out of that top of yours before you took Tommy upstairs. Surprised you didn’t have it off before then.”

My eyes widen, “Well that’s humiliating.”

“Don’t think anyone was particularly mad about it,” He says, “Maybe one of those neighborhood watch moms, but who cares about ‘em?”

I can’t help but smirk. Was he insinuating that he wasn’t mad about almost seeing my boobs?

“Yeah, they always give me the most disgusted looks when I’m out jogging.”

“Cause’ they miss bein’ young and beautiful,” He explains, “All their husbands stare, too.”

I can’t believe he’s talking to me like this, I find myself leaning in a bit to try to talk quieter. It seems like this is conversation we should be whispering to each other.

“Do you stare?”

Foot. In. Mouth. 

He smirks, giggling a bit. I finally got to see him smile.

“Of course, I do.”

----

Hehehehe tell me what you think! I'll be back with part 2 soon!

[chansbabygirlsstuff]

hi hi !! ur writing is so cute!

Request here,

can you write something like best friend's popular brother hyunjin who secretly likes reader (she does as well but thinks she has no chance) and then one day he confesses being all shy and shes like WHAT

anything like this u can decide i love whatever you write !<3

Hey beautiful, thank you for requesting, your lovely comment made my day! ( I was having a difficult day) so with lots of love, I will do this for you!

Song recommendation: Popular by the weekend

Popular

Paring:hyunjin!x!reader!

Warning: fluff

Your POV

Mr. popular passes through the corridors, his scent leaving traces behind him, leaning against my locker my eyes follow him and walk all the way outside, his smile flashing to his friend talking about something only them will know.

"Hello? Are you listening to me?" my best friend catches my attention from him "Mhm? Yeah I am" My eyes draw to her now

"so are you gonna go?" she asked seriously "Where?" I asked confused

"I JUST TOLD YOU" Her frustration lands on me "Sorry I didn't pay attention" I truthfully say "To my house" She sighs "My stupid brother is going to bring Ashley over to the house and you know she annoys my ass like I can't stand watching her being so stupid with my brother like she is all over him and-" I cut her off before she explodes

"Hey, calm down girl it's ok, I will be there for you" I calm her down "Thanks, but you know... it's not because I'm jealous of my brother is just that she is such a pick me and every fucking girl is gushing over him and it's just so annoying" I understand her, I wouldn't like seeing my brother with some other girl in my house about every day

"do you know if they are dating?" my curious heart asks feeling a ting of jealousy "I don't know, I hope not"

We get to class and sit down, I look over at Hyunjin who is sitting in front of me, oh my poor little heart, when will you stop loving him?

4:40 pm

Yeji and I get ready to head to her house, we walk outside the school's door and feel the nice weather hitting our faces "Ain't it lovely Yeji" I smile loving this weather and wishing it would be like this everyday

"the weather is nice" she smiles and closes her sweater, "how about we watch the new movie that just came out 2 weeks ago?" she asks me "What movie?" I ask curiously "Well the tale of the nine-tailed fox" She answered my question "Oh, the one where Lee Dong-wook appears?" she nods as we get excited about thirsting over a 40-year-old man.

We get to her house open the door and leave my stuff in a chair "Let me get the popcorn ready" I say heading to the kitchen "ok girl ima put your stuff in my room and get everything ready" she shouts from the door already hearing her steps as she walks through the stairs

"hey y/n" Hyunjin smiles at me while making something to eat for himself "Hey Hyunjin" my heart drops as I didn't see him at first

It's normal for me to be at their house so he is accustomed to seeing me around here, we have known each other since I was 5 and he was 6, Yeji and I knew each other from kindergarten and we always used to play with her brother in my house or her house, so we become friends a long time ago, but I feel like it all changed since we entered high school since I was 15 we don't talk as much as before, just small talks, no more movie nights or baking time with him like we sorta got uncomfortable with each other, he also became Mr, popular at school so I believe he feels better than us now. Now I'm 17 and he is 18 and yeah we are in the same grade because his dumbass failed chemistry in 10th grade, obviously, he was so busy fucking his ex-girlfriend and doing her work for her than concentrating on himself that he was swept away 1 whole year because of it.

"How are you doing?" he asked me smiling at me and looking back down at his sandwich "I'm doing good and you?" I ask looking the popcorn to put it in the microwave. "I've been good, what are you guys doing today?" he asked me to make another of our famous small talks "We are going to watch a movie and maybe I'm staying over" I smiled and continued doing my work. "nice, lucky you, I have to do a project for history fro next week" "ah yeah the ones about the empires?" I ask "Yeah, I got put in with Ashley" he whispers and rolls his eyes at me showing his annoyance, and I laugh silently "It would've been better if I got chosen to be with you, you are pretty smart and organized, and we known each other for most of our life" he continues to finish his sandwich. "yeah right? I got chosen with Lia, so it was not bad at all, just her brother is a bit creepy" I say making a weird face remembering her brother and how immature he acts.

"oh yeah Daniel is awful" I nodded and put the popcorn in the microwave not forgetting what he said about me my tummy filled with butterflies, but again I reminded myself I couldn't let these feelings get the best of me, he barely talks to me and yeji would be so mad at me if I ever get to date him.

"But if you ever need me to him in his place please tell me and I will do it with pleasure" he smiles grabs his plate and rubs my head while passing by to the living room.

my cheeks got all red by his touch, I placed my hands over them to soothe them down the popcorn finishes and I get out of the kitchen

"oh Hyuinjin you so funny" I hear a girl exaggerating her laugh, ofc she is here, I feel a bit down and go to Yeji's room.

"everything is ready" I get to her bed and put the bowl in the middle of both of us she starts the movie and we are already melting by seeing Dong Wooks face.

something in me doesn't let me concentrate on the movie and a tinge of jealousy gets to me, it should've been me who was with Hyun-jin right now, not Ashley.

7:24pm

"May I join" Someone opens the door and looks at Yeji with pleading eyes "No go fuck yourself" She stretches and lays down in another position, so I move aside and pat the side of my bed to let Hyunjin join us "See she's nice, unlike you?" he says getting on the bed sticking his tongue out at her "no y/n why did you let him in!" she groans while saying it getting annoyed and moving to the side of the bed to give me more space, he lays on his stomach and hugs a small pillow and gets near me, his head touching my arm of how close he is to me.

Butterflies run through my stomach as I try to control my breathing so I do not blush.

15min later

"He's not that even good looking," He remarks making both of our heads look at him "Shut up you dickhead, he is the most handsome guy to ever exist" She throws a pillow at him, but he throws it back, sitting up and getting comfortable back in the sheets, now sitting like I've been doing this whole time, but our arms connect he looks down on me and smiles, I smile back and quickly look back at the movie, now I do feel my cheeks blush

"did you see how hot Lee Yeon's brother is?" yeji asked me "Yes Rang has that type of bad boy vibe right? but he is so gentle on the inside like he is so cute" I say as we comment on the series. But I feel Hyuinjins head on my shoulder hugging my arm trying to get comfortable on the bed, Yeji gives her back to me and I see her sleepy eyes trying to fight the urge to fall asleep, I pat her head gently making sure she gets some rest but I feel Hyun-jin caressing my arm with his thumb up and down. I feel his breath get more relaxed but I tense up feeling nervous about him.

I try to ignore it and continue watching the movie "Yeji look at the puppy" I pout looking at how cute he is "yeji?" I called her again but I heard no response from her "Did she fall asleep already?" he asked me

"mhm, I think she did" I try to shake her but she does not react, hating that she left me alone with her brother again.

"mmh ok, I'm going for something to eat wanna come?" I nod and get out of bed with him turning the TV and lights off for yeji to sleep as we walk out to the kitchen.

"what are you craving?" he asks me "What about some ramyeon?"

"Sure that sounds good" he started to boil the water while I took the packets out

"so... how did the project go? I asked curiously about the 2 of them

"it was... ok I guess, I kinda ended up doing it all by myself and she was very annoying btw," he said a bit disappointed.

"well I'm sorry to hear that," I said relieved to hear that it didn't go well between them, he got next to me to grab the cups of noodles, and our hands brushed each other, our eyes met and our bodies froze

He pecked my lips and stared into my eyes waiting for my reaction, my eyes widened and my mouth gaped looking at him in shock, but I didn't say anything staying in the same position.

"I'm sorry I shouldn't done that without asking you, I-I thought t-that maybe you wanted i-it"he stutters nervously looking everywhere but my eyes.

"W-why did you kiss me?" I asked in shock, his face in fear "I'm sorry y/n I couldn't stop myself I don't know what came over me, I-Ii just really like y-you and-"

"You WHAT?!"

"I like you y/n, I have since we were young" I stare at him in pure shock

"wait so wait what? so you like me? And you tell me until now?"

"what do you mean until now? I was scared you were going to reject me"

"I would never reject you Hyunjin, I've liked you since I was like 8," I said a bit angry that this didn't happen before

"YOU LIKE ME?!?!" he raises his voice in shock and joy

"yeah I do" I get a bit shy saying it out loud

he cups my cheeks and kisses me delicately his lips feeling soft, tasting him on my lips is kind of my new obsession.

when we separate ourselves in our eyes we see our future we just started.

and that is how I started to date Mr popular.

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

Hi loves enjoy

please comment, like, and give support!

The tag list is open

Please check out my other works too

[bee-writes-n-spins]

Hi :> I have never requested anything on tumblr before lol. But I wanna see a Nagito or Izuru x (Ultimate fashion designer) (Fem or gender neutral) reader!

It can be oneshots or headcanon or WHATEVER!! But I really wanna see one of them both :)

Thank you for your time!!!🎀

a/n: uhhh sure. i have been pretty busy with winter guard rehearsals so im getting all my requests done at once lmao. and i have no idea how to write izuru. but anyways, enjoyyyy! notes: ____ is just a better way of saying y/n

nagito

so to start, i've said this before, but he will absolutely attend all of your runway shows! hell, he'll even model for you. let him be your mannequin.

he loves beautiful things! like your designs!

and he's a rich boy.

you need a really expensive type of fabric?

done.

a rare color?

already bought.

he just wants to see you be happy

you're sitting facedown at your sewing machine, frustrated about your upcoming show this weekend. things can't go any worse. three of your models got sick, one had to cancel because of a family emergency, and, to top it all off, the lace you ordered isn't gonna come in till next week!

suddenly, you hear a soft knock that breaks you out of your frustrations.

"____..? you okay?" it's the sound of your boyfriend's raspy voice.

"no. this show's got me in a tough spot and i'm literally about to scream," you grumble into the table. your mind is numb at this point.

he silently stares at you, worried for both your physical and mental health. he tip-toes over to you and gently plays with your hair.

"how 'bout you take a break..? i know it might not be the best to spend time with the likes of me, but i think you should decompress a little..."

you look up, eyes red and puffy from crying. you slightly nod.

"yeah.. i think that's for the best.."

izuru

he would genuinely be impressed

someone with an actual fashion sense?

finally, someone who doesn't bore him to death.

in all seriousness, he wants you to succeed.

so, he'll do anything to get you there

even if it means doing some... unsavory things

he is the ultimate everything.. and that includes murderer

you aways wonder just how rival designers go missing when you need them to or why a venue that initially turned you down came crawling back...

also, being the ultimate everything, he'll probably know some tips on how to do that really complex sewing pattern you've been trying for ages to figure out.

he might not like most people, but he certainly does like you.

you're relaxing by the fireplace, drawing up sketches on your tablet. winter is almost over, so it's high time you start working your spring collection.

already cozy, you feel an even cozier presence sit next to you. you smile warmly, immediately recognizing who it is.

"i see you're all warm now, my love," you giggle, giving izuru a small peck on the lips.

he nods slightly in response with a faint blush on his face. "yes indeed," he pauses for a moment as he peers over your shoulder to silently study your sketches, "don't use tool there, it'll make it look tacky."

you shrug him off. "yeah, yeah.." you say as you throw your tablet aside and cuddle to him.

he just stares down, a small smile on his face.

[ljnsdump]

If It's Meant To Be, It Will Be (Jaehyun x F!reader)

Johnny x F!reader

MINORS DO NOT INTERACT

When a heart knows, it knows. There's no explaining it. You can only trust it.

Genre: M/F, exes to lovers, angst, fluff, slight smut, suggestive, oneshot

Warnings: light smut, secret/hidden pregnancy, cursing

Word count: 6,187

My third published story! I am so excited for this. This is one of the stories that has always been in my vault for the longest time just like the other three. I hope you enjoy reading it! I apologized for not posting as much, college is too much. But I hope I can post a lot now since it's already the summer break. Also, I'm not the best when it comes to writing smut, please understand that I'm still learning.

Read at your own risk.

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Before going home, Y/N goes to the local grocery store to get milk for the babies. They're growing so fast and it doesn't take a long time to run out of their milk. She then grabs a bag of candies and cookies as well.

Her 5-year old twins sat on the stairs outside their house waiting for her with their nanny. When they see her car pull up in front of the gates, the two run and the nanny immediately comes after them.

"Mommy!" They yell and jump in excitement. "We miss you so much!"

Y/N pouts as her heart warms at the sight. She immediately gets out of the car and gets in the property. She lowers herself down to level with her kids. "My babies, I love you both so much. I miss you both a lot too." The two hold her hand as they go in. "Helen, can you please grab the things I bought, it's in the backseat of the car."

"Okay." Helen nods.

"Now what have my favourite babies been doing all day?"

"Mommy, I was drawing with nanny! We drew flowers, and coloured them and put the sun and clouds!" Her little girl, Janelle says. "Julien was playing with cars! He hit nanny on her leg as well."

"Julien, did you say sorry to nanny?" Y/N asks with a stern face and her son nods.

"Yes, I hugged nanny because I didn't mean to do it."

She smiles and hugs both. "Very good! I will give you chocolates for being a good girl and a good boy. But let mommy change her clothes first." The two nod and go to play. Helen, who was following them with the groceries, puts them away on the counter. "Helen, just watch them for a few minutes. I'll just change and then once I'm out you can take your break as well."

Helen nods.

Y/N has left the eye of the public when she was forced to break up with her baby daddy. He didn't know she was pregnant. Heck, she didn't even know she was pregnant when his parents casted her away. So she decided to live in a small town away from him and his family. She's been suffering all these years so she's fighting everyone for her kids. She even separated from her parents because of the fear that they might take the kids away because she was earning minimum wage before.

She's working in a small company right now that develops environmentally friendly alternatives for non-biodegradable packaging. She started out as a mere researcher and now she's one of the executives. This year they are planning to expand their business and endorse it to bigger companies for development. And they are doing their first pitch after her weekend off.

They are going on a business trip for two days. That's why she packed the bags for her kids as well because she's definitely bringing them. She has to.

"Helen, remember when I told you about my business trip? We're gonna be leaving on Sunday afternoon. So please make sure you have your things ready before then, okay?" She instructs the nanny. "I'll give you double pay for Sunday since that's supposed to be your day off."

"Yes, I'll be ready by then. I'll come in early as well so I can help you prepare."

Night time came, Julien and Janelle were sleeping peacefully on their own beds. She observes the two as she overthinks about what can happen if she brings them to the city. Well, it's a big city so it's not even sure if they would get a peak of the shadows of the people she's avoiding.

As they are travelling, Y/N plays songs and they sing along to it. Y/N is musically inclined and she wants the kids to adapt that from her. She wants them to have music as part of their relaxation, and bonding time.

They go straight to their hotel which the company already had reserved for Y/N and she just got an extra room for Helen.

She and her colleagues had a quick meeting during dinner just to run through their presentation for tomorrow morning.

They are 5 in total, the president of the company, Y/N, and three researchers who lead the development of their product.

Later that night, she took the kids for a stroll on the streets. They were so amazed by the flashing lights, the huge buildings and the cars passing by. She got them everything they wanted because she just wanted them to have the best time of their life.

Morning comes, Y/N immediately prepares herself. She puts on her formal black trousers and blazer over her white shirt. Simple yet it made her look very elegant and sophisticated. She styles her hair, puts on light makeup before slipping on her stilettos. Grabbing her bags and keys, she doesn't forget to kiss the two who're sleeping soundly.

"Cheer on mum." She whispers at them.

She gets there on time, her team just arrived as well. They are led to the conference room, where it is only them in their first and immediately starts preparing for their presentation. Y/N observes the seating arrangement, and plans on tactics and ways to make it visually pleasing to the audience.

"I'm kind of nervous." One of the researchers, Taeil says as he shakes his hands vigorously.

Y/N just smiles. "That's actually very normal. This is a big crowd and they're the real deal. But I'm confident about our product, so I trust you three to present it with confidence as well."

The executives started coming in, filling in the empty seats. "5 minutes." The moderator of the conference tells them.

Y/N immediately runs out to grab a drink of water on the nearest station. But her path was blocked with someone who had a smug look on his face.

"Found you." Jae says and her eyes widens.

"W-what are you doing here?"

He shrugs. "I'm just one of the board members."

"What?!"

"Don't worry, I'll make them say yes to your pitch." He winks and goes in.

It's like her spirit just left her body. Why is he here? He's a board member? How? He owns his own company so why is he still going around looking for more to acquire?!

She snaps back to reality when one of her teammates calls her. "Miss Y/N! 3 minutes!"

Instead of getting water, she immediately texts Helen out of fear.

To: Helen

Don't ever let anyone in your rooms, watch the kids intently please and don't let them out.

Y/N clears her throat as the introduction begins. Even if she is panicking after seeing his ex lover, she stands there with all the elegance she can give.

"We in Lively Co. had always been researching for the best alternatives for our common packaging in the market. We believe that we developed the best product for food storage considering the materials used, money it costs, and the benefit it gives to the environment." She starts and then it goes on before she introduces their research team to discuss product specific details.

Jae looks at her proudly. He's not even hiding the smile on his face that Y/N can't seem to avoid. He's always had the most gorgeous face and now all his features are more developed, he's more matured. Jawline sharper, eyebrows bushier, undercut hair, ear piercings. God, he looks so good.

The CEO of the company seated in the center smiles and claps after the presentation. "Good. It's very good. As you may know, we don't invite companies to pitch unless we see real potential on their products. We actually have decided about this after we took a look at the research papers, samples and all documents you submitted about this product. We just wanted to see your perception and how you'll present it to us because we also look out for people we work with. And it's a good thing we did this today, you guys are so good and I look forward to working with your company." He shakes hands with the president of the mere Lively Co, while the four behind hugs each other, crying in happiness.

Y/N smiles when Taeil turns to her. "I told you."

After the meeting, they are also invited to lunch and then are given a tour around the company. Fortunately, Jae is no longer with them during the tour.

When she goes back to the hotel after a long day, she sees Jae in the lobby, legs on top of the other, watching her walk in and her heart starts pounding again. He's in the same building as her kids.

"You guys go ahead, I just have to drop by the cafe." She lies to her teammates and watches them take the elevator.

He then walks to her. "Hi."

She grabs his wrist and pulls him out of the hotel. "What are you doing here?!"

"Just wanted to congratulate you. You did so well there, baby." Smiling slightly but she shakes her head.

"You shouldn't be here!"

"Why?"

"I don't know, maybe I don't wanna see you!"

He stops and looks at her face. She can't even lie. "Five years and you still haven't worked on your lying skills."

"I'm not lying, Jae."

"Tell me why you left without saying anything. Why when I went to your apartment, it was already empty and we were just cuddling there the night before that. I should have known that you hugged me the entire night, crying for no reason at all was because you were about to leave me."

"Your parents paid me to leave you." She admits. "Now please go away because I don't have the money to refund them."

Jae's eyes burn in anger all of a sudden. "And you exchanged me for money?"

"I had no choice, you know it's still gonna end regardless of what the reason maybe because it all boils down to me not being the best pair for you."

"Who are they to say that you're not the best for me?!"

"They're your parents."

"It doesn't matter! They don't matter! You know I love you so much, I was so ready to be with you!"

"It's all in the past now. Just go."

Their third and final day, they visit one of the plants of the company then go back to the building to have a small gathering to bid goodbyes. Jae was not able to attend the previous schedules they had the past few days but he definitely is not missing the get together.

As she's going to the conference room, her phone buzzes on her hand so takes a look at it.

From: Helen

Y/N, Julien is having a hard time breathing. He's having an asthma attack.

She immediately replies.

To: Helen

Use the inhaler.

From: Helen

I think it's empty.

Y/N bit her lip, looking so worried and her teammates turned to her.

"What's going on?" One asks.

"I-I need to go." She replies, in a hurry. "My son needs to be taken to the hospital."

Their eyes widen. "You have a son?!"

But before she could answer, she already ran off while dialling 911 on her phone.

Later on, Jae arrives and he notices that Y/N was not there. He goes to ask their president. "Is Y/N not with you guys?"

"She left. She said she has to take her son to the hospital." She replies.

Jae's eyebrows furrow. "Her son?" Then immediately goes out, meeting his assistant outside. "Let's go to the hospital nearest to the Diamond Hotel."

Y/N holds and plays with her son's hand as Julien is getting nebulized. He's scared of the sound it makes, that's why she's holding him.

"Was he always asthmatic?" The doctor asks.

She nods. "Yeah, he got it from his dad. He's asthmatic too and severely allergic to seafood."

Jae hears that and he immediately knows. "Y/N." He calls and she stands up in surprise, trying to cover her son.

"Why are you here?!"

"He's mine, isn't he?"

The doctor quietly calls the nurse over. "You guys can talk outside, we'll take care of Julien."

Jae immediately pulls her out of the emergency room. But before they can talk, Janelle runs to them and hugs her mom's legs. "Mommy! Where's Juls? Is he okay mom?"

The fright on her face is something that you can never compare with anything. Her heart is raging and she knows she's done for.

"Helen, can you take a walk with Janelle? I-I just need to speak to Mr. Jung."

Helen immediately takes Janelle away from them but Jae's eyes never leave the little girl. He can't believe that they have kids together, twins on top of that! The two look so much alike and they got some of their features from him like his bushy eyebrows, and eyes.

"They're my kids, aren't they?" She's on the verge of crying but Jae's eyes remain consistent. This is the only way to bring her back. After all those years he looked for her, wanting her to come back. "Y/N." He calls her again.

She frowns then whines. "They're mine."

He just wants to caress her face, and wipe her tears but didn't. If he shows her any remorse, she'll take advantage of it and talk him into keeping the kids to herself. "You hid them from me."

"Your family hates me, Jae! What was I supposed to do? I loved you so much but they kept pushing me! They kept threatening me!" She cries. "I left the world for Julien and Janelle, Jae. You will never take them away from me. I've sacrificed myself for them and you can't just come back to my life and take them like I don't matter."

"You are my first priority, Y/N." He replies. "I'm taking you and our kids back. My family will never have a say about it. And I will fight all of them who fight you."

She shakes her head. "You can't. You don't know what happens when you turn around, Jae."

"I will."

"No."

"I really don't want to involve my lawyers in this, Y/N." He says warningly.

She always loses. He always gets the better of her. "You can visit the kids then. But they stay with me."

"Love, you live far from this city  I believe. Plus you're going back to your home today, aren't you?"

"I can request a leave. We can stay here until the weekend."

He smiles slightly and pinches her cheeks. "Thanks." That's definitely enough time for him to bring her back. "They're twins! How on earth did we happen to make two at once." Y/N couldn't help but cough a laugh at what he said. The happiness he feels knowing he has children with her is beyond the heavens. He can't help but pull her into a hug. "I can't wait to spoil them with everything they want in this world." Resting his chin on top of her head as he imagines all the fun activities that he has in mind for their kids.

She pulls away, still feeling skeptical about all this because she knows that Jae will do everything to get his children. She just knows.

"Miss Y/L/N,, your son is all good now. He was such a good boy the entire time." The doctor says. "Now, I'll go ahead and prepare the prescription for his inhaler, and Nurse Wendy will take care of the papers."

Nurse Wendy smiles at them and says, "Follow me."

They go to their son first who is sitting cutely and behaving on one of the beds as his feet dangle. "Mommy! I'm okay now! I behaved with the doctors." He grins which earned him a hug and kiss from his mom.

"My baby is all grown up now, mommy is so proud."

"And daddy."

Y/N blushes when he hears Jae speak from behind her. "I'm sorry." She mumbles. "Love, your dad is here too."

He pinches her waist first before picking up his son and carrying him in his arms. "Hi, sport! It's good to see you!"

"He's my dad?" The little guy asks and the two nod. "How about Janelle? Who's Janelle's dad?"

Y/N couldn't help but laugh at his innocence. "He is also Janelle's dad."

When finally they're done in the ER, they went out and went to Janelle. Julien stays in his dad's arms and Janelle looks up to them.

"Mommy, who's that?" She points at Jae.

"It's dad, love." She replies briefly. The little girl's eyes widen.

"Really?"

Jae crouched down and stretched his empty arm to his daughter. "Yes, sweetheart." She runs and hugs him and he immediately catches her.

"Careful." Y/N holds Jae's back to stop him from falling. He reassures her with a wink and carries Janelle on his other arm. "Jae, they're heavy." She tries to take Julien but he hugs his dad tight.

"No, mommy. I want dad to carry me."

Janelle butts in. "Me too."

She sighs. "Okay." Helen watched them with a big smile plastered on her face. "Helen, we'll be staying here for a few more days. Jae just wants to bond with the kids. I'll just give you the fare to go home and take a break for now. I'll just call you when we come back." The nanny nods. "But first, please help Jae's secretary get all our things from the hotel because we will be staying in Jae's house."

"No worries."

The kids are cheering and singing while their dad drives the car and Y/N is on shotgun. They are just so excited and Jae can't stop smiling.

"Juls, please slow down. We just got out of the hospital." His mom warns him.

"So, I'm thinking maybe we can make bedrooms one for each of them? They get to choose what design they want to choose." Y/N just nods in whatever he says. Jae notices that she's been quiet, she's really not saying anything nor is her face indicating any feelings. "What are you thinking about?"

She shakes her head lightly. "Nothing."

Jae sighs.

After all day of shopping and playing, they finally go to Jae's house. It isn't any less than what Y/N imagined him to be living in. It just screams luxury.

Helen is waiting there as well to bid goodbye to the family as she leaves for home before them.

Jae takes out an envelope from his pocket he got from the bank earlier and hands it to Helen. "This is my token of gratitude for you taking good care of my family. Thank you so much." She opens the envelope slightly and ses a thick bundle of cash and she immediately thanks him.

When Helen and Jae's secretary are already out, Y/N take off her heels because her legs are about to give out already.

"I'll freshen up the two so that they can go to sleep now." She tells him. "Where's the bathroom?"

"Use the one in my room." Y/N looks at him as if saying seriously? to him. "And what if we find something there that we're not meant to find?"

His eyes squint. "Like what?"

"I don't know, you tell me."

Jae shakes his head as pinches her cheeks. "I don't go fuck around." She immediately elbows his abdomen, making him grunt.

"Mouth." She warns before walking past him.

Jae offers to put the kids to bed because he noticed that Y/N is too tired to move already.

"You okay?" He asks her and then sits beside her on the couch.

She nods lazily. "Yeah, why?"

"Nothing, just wanted to check on you since the two are asleep now." He replies and then pulls her legs on top of his lap. She's about to whine but he says. "Shh. You'll wake the kids up." Then starts massaging her legs down to her toes. "I know how hard you worked for Janelle and Julien. I know how much you tried to give them the best life and you succeeded in doing that."

"My life is dedicated to them, Jae. Everything I do and I will do will be for them."

"Good because I will be the one to do everything for you." He smiles slightly. "I can't believe we made the most beautiful pair of twins on earth."

She just smiles. "I'm tired."

"Yeah, I'll carry you to bed." Jae stands up and carries her to his bedroom.

Y/N immediately punches his shoulder when she sees where they're heading. "Jung Jaehyun, stop right there. I'm not sleeping in your bedroom."

"Yes, you are. Why would I let you sleep on a bed that's not my own when you're in my house?" He asks, as if what she wants is the most ridiculous thing in the world. "And based on how I remember it, we never broke up. Maybe we just took time off but we never broke up."

She laughs. "We took time off for 5 years?"

Jae lays her down on the bed. "Yes, and I have never sought for anyone else because I always knew I'd find you." Then flicks her forehead. "But you did."

"What?!"

"That guy who you hugged during the conference. You were smiling at him."

She rolls her eyes at what he said. She knows that he knows he's just a colleague. "I'll sleep now."

"Good night, mommy." He whispers while planting a kiss on her cheeks.

He then positions himself next to her, nestling under the covers. "Good night, daddy." She mumbles but Jae definitely heard, drawing a big smile from him.

The next day came, they had breakfast and decided to stay indoors since it's raining outside. They're in the living room all bunched up under a big blanket while they watch cartoons. The kids specifically asked the two to sit together with them.

"Mommy, daddy, moms and dads kiss so how come you two don't?" Janelle asks innocently.

Y/N chokes on her own spit after hearing that while Jae nods at her daughter, "I know, right? Mom doesn't want me to kiss her."

The two turn to their mom. "Why not?"

"Because dad did not brush his teeth." She laughs hysterically while Jae's hand sneaks under the sheets to pinch her side.

"Hey." He calls her out. "I did." And defends himself.

She continues to laugh. "You don't have proof."

"I can kiss you right and you'd be the one to tell if I brushed my teeth or not."

"Stop being so childish."

The two little people took their afternoon naps. Jae and Y/N finally have time to clean up and prepare for dinner.

Jae's arms sneak around Y/N's waist as she washes the plates they used for their snacks. "We can have dinner at Sailor tonight. Then we can walk by the boulevard."

"Yeah, that's fine." She agrees.

"Kiss me." Pouting his lips near her face.

"Jae." She warns. "Stop bothering me."

He sneakers and lets her go. "Fine, but after that, while the two are still sleeping, we can go ahead and prepare for dinner."

"Yeah."

So after she washed everything, she went to their room. He sits there shirtless, while reading a book. Her cheeks flushed with heat upon seeing his abs, biceps and arms on display.

She goes to the bathroom to change and prepare. Then comes back a couple of minutes later wearing a maroon, flowy, mini dress that hugs her tiny waistline just enough, showing off her collarbone, and perfect looking cleavage. She just curls her hair, forming big waves and then her make up.

Jae's eyes stays at her for a couple of seconds, raking her body, observing her figure and entire look. "You look hot." He blurts out.

"Thanks, I intended to." She sits on the armrest of the couch, crossing her legs and arms. "So what do you want to happen after this? We will be going back home on Sunday."

"Why can you not stay here?"

"First of all, I have a job." She says. "Second, why would I?"

"Because I want you with me. I want to be able to see my family everyday and take care of them."

She snorts. "That's weird, because based on how I remember before, you were working most of the time and you almost had no time for me. Now if you have no time for one, how much more for three."

Jae groans. "Look, that was before. I'm not leaving you behind now especially after knowing what it's like to live without you."

"We are not getting back together, Jae."

"Why not?"

Scenes from her past with Jae's family come back like they have just been dug out from the grave. "I-I just can't."

"Y/N, what will make you come back to me? I will literally do everything. I just can't let you go after looking for you for 5 fucking years."

"I can't leave my job."

"I can request for you to be transferred here. There's really no point of you working, I'll be the one to work for us."

"I really need to think about it."

He nods in agreement. "No rush, just take all the time you need."

They just stared at each other for a few seconds, observing each other's face comfortably. "Who told you to get piercings?"

His stares linger because of how tempting and vulnerable she looks right now. "You." He replies. "You said I look good with them."

"Well, I was right."

Jae pats his lap. "Come here."

"Why?"

"So we can make out?" She couldn't prevent a laugh at his bluntness. She walks towards him as he reaches both his arms to her. "I can't imagine how you fit two babies in this body, babe."

"You would've been turned off if you saw me pregnant. I was a pig."

He tilts his head to the side, furrowing his eyebrows. "Okay, first of all, never say that again. If one gets pregnant of course their body gets big, because there's a baby in them. They need to eat a lot because they're basically eating for two. So don't say that." His hands hold her by the waist and lift her up to set her on his lap. "I love you." Planting a kiss on her lips and watching her reaction. "I miss you."

Y/N holds his face and puts her lips on his. He holds her waist tighter as he devours her lips, like that's the only thing he's been craving for this whole time. His arms eventually find its way wrapping around her waist and the free hand holding her steady by the nape, turning her in all angles to make sure he tastes her the best way. She’s breathless and her lipsstick is all messed up now but he doesn't really care.

"Jae." She gasps.

He breathes against her lips. "Hmm?"

She doesn't say anything and just puts feathery kisses all over his face as her eyes tear up. Nobody knows how much she wanted this for the last 5 years. This is the only thing she asked for, just him and she can't help but feel like crying when she finally got what she wanted. "I fucking miss you. And thank you for accepting our children, I was honestly worried if you didn't want them. I was scared that when you found out, you'd wish they never existed."

Jae holds her back firmly, looking at her face. "Why? I would never do that. You know that you're the best thing that happened to me and all I ever wanted was to make a family with you."

She laughs. "I know, it's just that there are really things in my head that I wish aren't there."

"Well, it's time for you to stop thinking about those because I am the happiest right now with you, Janelle and Julien." Patting her head lightly. "And I really appreciate you making their names start with the initial of my first name."

Y/N smiles sheepishly. "Yeah, I just can't leave you out of the picture."

The lights of the restaurant shine perfectly on them. Jae and Y/N have gotten sweeter, and intimate. They are almost in sync, attending to both their children.

"What do you want to eat, love?" Jae asks Janelle, showing her the menu book.

Janelle points at the raspberry tart. "I want this."

"Jan, dessert is for later." Her mom reminds her.

"If she wants it--" Jae gets cut off by Y/N's glare and he just chuckles. "Mom's right."

As the waitress is taking their order, Y/N notices her batting her eyelashes to her man, smiling flirtatiously and suggestively. That annoys her to the bones, she holds Jae's hand. He notices it, looking at her with a comforting smile and says, "Love, what do you want?" Slowly massaging her hand.

"The pan seared scallops would do." She smiles.

As they were about to leave after dinner, Jae bumped into one of the people he knows in the industry.

"Jae! It's good to see you, man!" The guy gives Jae a manly hug. "Who are you with?"

"Oh, I'm with my family." He replies. "This is Y/N, my wife." Y/N kinda gets stunned and glances at Jae before offering her hand to the man. "And our kids, Janelle and Julien."

The man, Yuta, gets surprised. "I didn't know you had a family!"

"I actually messed up somehow, that's why I only was able to be with them now." He replies without hesitations. And Y/N has never ever thought she'd be more attracted to Jae. Nothing more attractive than a man who admits his mistakes.

As they drive home, Jae notices Y/N constantly glancing at him so he asks, "Is something wrong?"

"You were so honest telling that man earlier about how you messed up."

"That's because that's something I cannot deny." He shrugs. "And you, were you jealous with the waitress earlier?"

She scoffs. "I wasn't jealous. I was just under the impression that you were not interested in her so I did what I could to save you." Sarcastically, while crossing her arm. "Was I wrong to do that?"

"No, you weren't. I wasn't interested in her. I have you."

Y/N shrugs. "Whatever."

"Mommy, Jan is sleeping." They hear Julien from the back.

"Yes, love." She replies. "Just let her sleep, we're almost home."

They arrive home and Jae carries Janelle to their bedroom while Y/N walks with Julien. Then they prepare the two for bed and stay in there until the two are already asleep.

When they walk out of their kids' room, Jae asks, "How about you, babe? You good?"

She sighs. "Yeah." Then goes to their room.

Jae catches up, pulling her towards him and then locking her in with his arms around her. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing, Jae. I'm just tired."

He scans her face. "You look really beautiful." Whispers, then his eyes stayed on her lips.

"More beautiful than the waitress?" She jokes.

Jae can't help but cough out a laugh. "You're funny. I didn't even look at the waitress."

"I know, I was watching."

He pins her to the door and smashes his lips against hers. He's got the rough hold on her, and she just went along with the kiss, letting him dominate her. One of his hands slides down her dress and grabs her ass making her moan.

"You like that, huh?" He smirks against her lips. "You've just gotten more irresistible, Y/N. I'm holding myself back from bending you against my bed and fucking you so hard."

She pushes him back a little, locking their eyes together. "Why are you holding back?"

"Because our children are sleeping just  a few rooms down the hall and I remember how loud you can get."

Y/N rolls her eyes. "I promise, I'll be quiet."

"You just wanna be railed, don't you?"

Without hesitations, she says "Yes."

He places a quick peck on her lips then starts kissing her neck, sucking on her skin, marking her as his.

When Jae woke up, Y/N was no longer on their bed. He quickly washes his face and brushes his teeth before going out only to find the three in the kitchen. Y/N is cooking while the two watch her curiously, asking their mom constantly about whatever she was doing while munching on some fruits. Of course, Y/N answers them all with patience.

"Hi, dad." Janelle hugs his dad's legs when she sees him walk towards them.

Jae lifts then puts her in his arms. "Good morning, princess." He kisses her cheek then goes to ruffle his son's hair. "Good morning, sport."

Y/N watches him adoringly as he greets their kids. Jae then goes to her with a knowing smirk plastered on his face, snaking his free arm around her waist and kissing her cheek. "Good morning, love." The smell of mint on his breath lingers.

"Mom already allows you to kiss her?" The innocent ones ask.

Her mom pinches her cheeks. "Yes, because he already brushed his teeth." Chuckling at what she said.

Jae scoffs and pokes her side. "I always do."

"Stop, I'm cooking." She tells him. "You guys go prepare the table, this is almost done."

She watches his back as he walks away. He's sexy as fuck.

Jae helps Y/N bring the food to the table. They've been stealing glances, kisses and touches like teenagers again and it filled Y/N's stomach with butterflies and got her heart pounding. She's never been this happy and in love again.

"Jae." She calls him as they eat. "We need to go back home soon."

He looks at her tapping his finger on his fork, deep in his thoughts. "I'll go with you guys. I can't let you go, Y/N. We'll go and get all your belongings then come back here."

Y/N is very hesitant about the abrupt decision. They haven't given it enough thought. She wants to be with him and so do their kids for sure but there are a lot of things to consider.

As the kids are playing, in the living room, Y/N goes to Jae who was cleaning the dishes. She just leans by the sink, not saying anything.

He glances at her for a second. "What's in your head, love?"

"Everything?"

Jae puts the last plate on the rack and dries his hand. "You're worried about moving in with me." He states. "But there's no need to feel that way. I can't say this enough but you and our kids are the only thing that matters to me now. I can't... no, I won't let you go."

"It's just happening too quickly."

Jaehyun bites his lip, looking down as he thinks. Then he nods. "Alright. I'm not gonna force you to move right away but I'm still going with you when you go home."

"I might also change my mind. It's just that right now, it's too scary for me."

He just pulls her into a hug. They were deep into their conversation that they didn't notice their children sneaking up to them, embracing their parents legs because those are the only things they can reach.

Y/N tears up when she sees the two.

"Why are we hugging?" Julien asks cutely and innocently. Jae picks him up while Y/N picks Janelle up too.

Both Jae and Y/N look at each other. He wipes the tears rolling from her eyes down to her cheeks and that's the only time she noticed that she was crying. "Because mommy's just feeling so happy." He tells the kids.

"Isn't this better?" Y/N asks herself.

"Okay, you guys know what we will do today?" Jae asks. The children excitedly respond while Y/N is curious too. "We will go shopping to pick out designs for your rooms."

"Yehey!" The two cheer.

"Daddy, I want purple with fairies and princesses."

"I want cars and airplanes!"

Y/N watches her kids play. She remembers the looks on their faces when she introduced Jae as their dad. They were so happy and excited. Here, they have access to everything. They can have everything they need. Jae had been so responsible and just a good... scratch that, perfect, willing dad.

"Jae." She calls him softly and he immediately turns to her and hums. "We'll move in with you."

His eyes widen and a big smile spreads on his face as he embraces her and showers her with kisses on her face. "I love you so much. I can't wait to be with you forever."

"I love you too." She pouts and buries herself under his embrace. "I hope you know that. My hesitation was never about you."

-----

A little to long, my bad.

[ashoss]

Hii!! This is waterunderthebridge12, I just stumbled across your art of The Robin Declaration and it made my entire week <3333. I love Duke so much and I'm so glad there are others who love him too!!! I would love if you dropped your Duke-centric fic recs, I've only read a few good ones (that aren't just him being an outsider) so any recs are appreciated!

oh my god! hii! im so glad u liked the silly little doodle lol i would love to do an actual drawing for either The Robin Generation or the Robin Declaration !! they were such fun reads and i absolutely adored the way you portrayed all of them <33

unfortunately i dont really have a lot of duke-centric fics but i have a couple!

WHEN EARTH FINDS STARS. by orpheusaki

duke & jason, pre-WAR and signal

15.8k words, 4 chapters (unfinished)

"Let it be known that I completely detest the implications of what this situation is mirroring," Red Hood grumbles to himself and it's the longest string of words Duke has heard from any so-called Gotham vigilante, let alone the one who's known for shooting more than he is talking. "The fuck?" Duke mutters, because if he's already going to die, he might as well try and make sense of it. "I'm not going to care about whatever sob story you have," is what Red Hood replies with instead of explaining, "Where are your parents?" "Gone," is all Duke says, because it's really none of this guy's business. It's also the truth. Somehow, Red Hood sounds even more anguished about this information than Duke is, "Ah shit." (Duke steals the tires off Red Hood's bike and somehow gains a family.)

YOU HEAR ITS SONG FROM THE MORNING BIRDS. (series) by orpheusaki

duke & bruce, duke & batfam

9k words, 3 words (unfinished)

A series of Duke Thomas centric works, mostly featuring his growing relationship with his new kind-of-dad-boss-friend, Bruce Wayne.

Keep Your Head, Your Backbone, and Your Heart by MrMich

duke & tim, alfred, bruce

54k words, 6 chapters

The last thing that Duke expected on what was supposed to be just a regular patrol was being suddenly thrown five years into the past, coming face to face with a darker, more violent Batman than the one he knew, a broken family, and a Tim who was a foot shorter than Duke, and not even Robin yet.

A silent shadow flitted past him, just barely visible on the cave walls. He went rigid, tracking the shadow in the corner of his vision. And then he dropped to the floor, just in time, as a familiar black gloved fist passed overhead. He just barely missed being hit by the punishing blow that would have landed right on his temple for a sure concussion if he hadn’t dodged. “Batman?” Duke yelled. He somersaulted forward, just barely avoiding another strike. “B, what are you doing?!” “Who are you,” came the growled response. A shiver crawled down Duke’s spine at the grim hostility in Batman’s voice that promised violence, and something tightened in the back of his throat.

Family-- by incorrectbatfam

duke & batfam

3.3k words, 1 chapter

“Your assignment over the weekend is to write a poem about your family.”

Strange Bedfellows by snackbaskets

duke & steph & jason

2.7k words, 1 chapter

Little known fact about bats: they're AWFUL at sleeping alone. At least, the ones in the Manor seem to be, if the half-conscious kind-of-maybe siblings using Duke as a body pillow are any indication. When did he sign up for this?

Ghosts Of The Past by PlatitudinalTeen

duke & martha, thomas, duke & bruce

7.2k words, 1 chapter

Shortly after moving into Wayne manor, Duke discovers he can commune with the dead when his grandparents, Thomas and Martha Wayne begin to accidentally haunt him. ------- "No powers?" Duke repeated, even more confused as he tried to recall everything he had ever heard about Ghosts. "So, you can't possess anyone or make the lights flicker? What about telekinesis and all the other scary stuff from the books and movies?" "Those things can only be achieved by malicious spirits, dear," Martha told him. "We may be ghosts, but we aren't vengeful." They had made peace with their deaths, and even if they were still tied to the manor, it was exactly where they wanted to be. Thomas chuckled. "Yes, that's more of our son's department," he quipped, using his fingers to mimic Batman's ears. "Vengeance is a young man's game, really."

Starshine by zodarii_dae

duke & bruce, reverse robins

3.6k words, 1 chapter

Duke Thomas is a Gothamite, through and through. There’s not a lot he knows for certain, but he knows that the bagels are great, that Bruce Wayne is stupid rich, and that Batman will always protect him. That’s just how it is. So when Batman promises to bring him to his family, he believes him. Neither of them expected it to happen quite the way it did, but it all works out for the best. Or How Duke loses his parents, gains a new family, and becomes a vigilante- in that order, with some stuff in between.

necessary reminders by Quillium

duke & batfam

5.2k words, 1 chapter

Duke, as Signal becomes known and as Duke becomes part of the Wayne family.

*ao3 acc needed

hope you enjoy !!!

[cometcon]

I uh... I did it again. XD My brain has been going brrrr over this fucking GORGEOUS artwork by @zunkome2 on Xitter (click the view on Twitter button to see their art) and it inspired me to write fanfic of it. I love this art so fucking much!!!! I hope I can keep practicing and be as good as them one day. :D

So yeah, I could not stop thinking about this and I love that Blitz is canonically such a horse-girl, and I can totally see Striker realising and using that to his advantage in trying to draw Blitz in and hopefully get him on his side.

Anyway, my brain decided it was time to take like 5 hours of my day on and off making me try to write this to the best of my current ability. Enjoy. XD

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

Blitz was in Heaven.

An ironic descriptor, considering their actual location, but picking a better one would have been impossible right then; especially with a hellhorse nuzzling his chest ever so gently in search of another rawhide strip. Her mouth may have appeared vicious - and technically yes, that Lovecraftian maw was capable of crushing flesh and bone to mush in a single bite - but the non-business parts were also far softer to the touch than anyone less familiar with the creatures might expect.

"Sorry. I'm all out," he murmured regretfully, giving the beautiful beast a scratch on her forehead as she shoved her muzzle into his other hand. He had to take a small step backward however when she suddenly whipped her head up and to the side with a greeting whinny. Strange. What was that abou-

"Lot of others would've lost a limb for that." The unexpected voice made Blitz tense, tail shooting straight out behind him in surprise before curling tightly, an embarrassed flush rising to his cheeks. He peered around the hellhorse's neck, praying his mortification wouldn't be obvious to the cowboy now leaning against his mount's side. How the fuck had he arrived without him noticing? Striker plucked the wheat stalk from between his teeth and smirked. "She likes you."

Blitz coughed awkwardly and began backing away, mind and mouth both rapidly trying and failing to come up with a believable excuse for his actions. "I was just- uh… I was looking for… We had them at the circus, see, and I thought maybe- Strips are really good for their teeth, you kn- I mean of course you'd know that! I just-" Striker's eyebrows had been climbing steadily higher beneath the brim of his hat the longer Blitz waffled on, and in desperation he found himself resorting to a ridiculous escape route he hadn't used since he was nine years old. "Ah, I think I hear Luna calling me! Coming Loonie!" 

He skittered across the corral and clambered over the fence, cheeks burning hot as he cursed himself silently. Why had he turned into such a blathering idiot in front of the one person he'd actually hoped to impress this weekend? Blitz knew a ruthless killer when he met them and Striker was clearly I.M.P material. After a pathetic show like that though, there was no way he would want to-

The ground under his boots had begun to vibrate while he fumed, faintly at first, then increasing to a thundering roll. He instinctively darted to the side and kept walking, expecting whoever it was to just barrel past him at the reckless speed they seemed to be going. But his path was abruptly cut off by a fiery grey mass, Striker expertly bringing his mount from full canter to a standstill in a cloud of dust. He swung her around to stand side-on so he could look down at the choking imp, that shit-eating grin Blitz was quickly becoming familiar with exposing a gleaming gold fang to the sunlight.

"Pretty sure your hound went bean-pickin' with the rest an hour ago," Striker commented, leaning forward to rest an arm on the pommel, free hand tapping his thigh absentmindedly, "Since you got so much free time to burn, how 'bout you come help me check the fences? Got a few posts loose on the South end thanks to that pesky varg pack last night." The hellhorse shuffled under him, pawing at the dirt and snapping her jaws a little at the mention of vargs. "Bombproof wouldn't mind catching a few either, I bet. Maybe you'll get to see her on the hunt."

"Oh, uh…" Perhaps he hadn't completely blown his chances after all? Striker certainly wasn't behaving like he thought Blitz a dithering moron, literally chasing him down to offer another opportunity to spend more time together and bond with Bombproof. What an incredible name for a hellhorse… No, focus! He could salvage this. He just had to pull himself together and show what a great prospect his group would be compared to farm work in the boonies. Preferably without turning into a rambling mess this time. He forced a nonchalant shrug. "Sure, why not?"

Striker slipped his boot free of the stirrup, hand extending in clear invitation. Blitz's brain stuttered, immediately dropping every part of his own peptalk as it dawned on him what the other had actually meant.

"What, you plannin' on walkin' there? It's miles of Wrath terrain. C'mon Blitz, I don't bite," Striker drawled, head tilting as his eyes took on a knowing glint, "Unless you ask nicely."

Well that decided it. Blitz was reaching for the proffered hand before he could second-guess himself, so caught up in his whirling thoughts Striker had to correct which foot the distracted imp tried mounting with. Blitz didn't have long to stew in his humiliation at least, preoccupied by the ease of how he was hauled into the saddle, hands directed to grip the pommel while the taller demon reached around him to grasp the reins. Striker nudged his leg out of the way, retaking the stirrup and leaving Blitz to squeeze Bombproof's sides tightly with his thighs as she responded to her rider. A moment later they were galloping down the driveway, wind whipping past their faces and her powerful form surging below them.

Blitz was wrong. His time in the corral had been a beautiful experience, but still only comparable to Earth at best. 

Now he was in Heaven. 

And he never wanted to fall.

[judeable-brainrot]

https://www.tumblr.com/judeable-brainrot/764303674389463040/hii-anon-req-cause-im-idk-but-would-you?source=share

Idk if your requests are open but im so glad it was patrick who asked to see reader again, as a trans person i struggle to feel wanted or desirable and i feel like an outsider/left out and i have to beg to be treated as an equal so im glad it wasnt the reader who had to ask, i havent had a normal or easy hook up since transitioning and forgot what that privilege felt like, i was wondering if i could request a follow up where they meet up again? The way you write patrick, hes so respectful and cool and treats reader like a person and worthy just like anyone else, not walking on eggshells but not treating him like a fetish, a girl or something inbetween or like hes an outsider whos lucky to be in pats presence. he just treats reader as reader and i really appreciate that about your writing! I dont have any particular idea what i would want to see in a second part but id just love to see him again! Maybe some body worship and praise of readers skills in bed (i have been very insecure recently lol can you tell, i really need that praise kink)

Reader and patrick need to ruin each other for anyone else 😈

hi anon! i'm so happy my writing connected with you, i very much understand where you're coming from<3 you are always worthy and you always deserve good hookups ;)

you hadn't been able to get Patrick out of your mind since that night. no one had ever treated you so...perfect. you wanted him, needed him. again and again and again, as many times as he would allow.

he wasn't any better. you'd been the only thing on his mind for days and days and days. he'd jerked off and hooked up with other people but only ever thought of you. he needed to see you again, touch you.

Patrick reached out once the weekend neared, tentitavely sending you a message on Grindr. "hey. are u busy this weekend?" you smiled when you read the message, nearly giggling with glee. "no, i'm free. did you have something in mind?" "i just wanna see u." And that's how you end up pressed against your front door with Patrick's tongue down your throat, his hands on your thighs to hold you up against the wood.

"Couldn't get you out of my head..wanted you so bad, needed you." He mumbles against your lips, trying to devour you whole. You moan, biting his lip. “Yeah? Me neither.” Patrick’s eyes flutter. “Shit..bedroom..?” You point over his shoulder. “Down the hall, first on the right.” And he’s moving in an instant, carrying you into the room, kicking the door shut. He walks over to the bed, turning before he sits so you end up straddling his lap.

Patrick looks up at you like some sort of god or piece of art. It makes your heart flutter in an unnatural way for a second hookup. You reach down and pull your shirt up and off your body, top surgery scars on display to him. He fixates on them, then tentatively reaches out a hand to brush along the pale crescent shapes. You let out a small shuddering breath, arching into the touch.

He doesn’t say anything though, doesn’t draw attention to it, and just keeps moving his hand over your torso slowly. You tug at the hem of his shirt, wanting to see him too. He obliges and pulls it off. Your mouth waters at the hair on his chest, down to his stomach and past his waistband. You run a hand down the trail, following it until you reach his jeans. You just hold them there, not asking to remove them.

And he’s still just looking at you, looking and looking, before he slowly leans in and presses a soft kiss behind your ear. You inhale sharply, hands trailing back up to find his shoulders as he continues, kissing further and further down your neck to your collarbones.

Patrick gently lifts you and flips to lay you down on the bed, hovering over you as he continues his kisses down, down, until he reaches your sweatpants. “Can I..?” You look down at him, giving him a nod through hazy eyes. He presses a kiss to your hipbones, sucking on them as he works the fabric down and off your body. You can feel yourself staining the fabric of your briefs already and you know he can see it. He just smiles and nuzzles into the small trail of hair on your tummy.

“Missed you..the way you tasted…missed your cock..” He whispers against your skin and you whine softly. “Jesus..” He chuckles, hand moving under his body to undo his jeans. “Yeah? You like that? Like the thought of me not being able to function without your dick..” You arch your back, hips shifting on the mattress. “Goddamn, Patrick..”

He wiggles the clothing off, leaving you both in your briefs. You salivate at his bulge, pushing yourself up on your elbows to get a better view. “Can I…well, could I..maybe..” He looks up at you, rubbing over your hip. “What? Use your words.” You moan softly. “Fuck…I wanna suck your dick. Okay. Happy?”

And yeah. He is. So fucking happy.

Patrick’s face splits into a wide grin. “Yeah. You can, c’mon.” You’re both moving in an instant, him taking your place and you taking his. You gently run a thumb over the waistband of his briefs, silently asking. “Take them off..” You smile at the permission and slide them down his thighs while he kicks them the rest of the way off with his feet.

God, he’s big. But you don’t care. You just want him so bad. You lean in and kitten lick the tip, keeping eye contact with him as you do. He throws his head back against the bed, hands finding your hair. “Oh fuck…” You like that, love that, and take him into your mouth as much as you can, starting up a stable pace. What you can’t fit you work with your hand, squeezing his balls too. He’s writhing under you, pulling your hair and bucking into your mouth.

“Fuck! Oh god—you’re so good! Your mouth…oh fuck—so perfect, so good, man..”

He spills into your mouth soon after, cumming hard with a cry. You swallow what you can, some of it spilling out the corners of your lips. You pull off him and kiss over his thighs gently, rubbing his knee. He pants, speaking shakily. “T-That was…god..” You smile, wiping your mouth. “Yeah?” He nods, petting your hair gently. “Yeah..god, you’re so good at that.”

“Maybe I can..return the favor?”

[patrochillesvibes]

Patrochilles Kinktober

A Kinktober prompt list for patrochilles shippers across the fandoms.

I dug deep into the archives of Ao3 to bring you the top smutty tags of Achilles/Patroclus. Prompts are listed in no particular order.

Challenge yourself by reading, writing, or drawing from this feast of kinks. Combine prompts to make it even smuttier 😈

⛓️⛓️⛓️⛓️

For those looking for a little more inspo, I have put together a list of what I'm reading for kinktober. Check below the cut for my kinky rec list:

1-Roleplay

The First, the Thousandth by AdelineAround

Achilles and Patroclus play the concept of erastes and eromenos with each other.

2-Titfucking

A Request by Greyhound

Achilles can’t stop thinking about Patroclus getting off using his chest, and Patroclus is more than eager to comply.

3-Rimming

Teach Me A Lesson by Cosmicvoidance

Achilles needs to be taught what is considered proper running attire and his husband, Patroclus, is just the man to teach that lesson.

4-Cross-dressing

The One About Hotels by kink_anon

Patroclus meets a lovely lady at a hotel bar.

5-Frottage

Fountain of Youth by Luddleston

Achilles and Patroclus revert to their much younger selves and re-live their first time.

6-Degradation

a little distraction never hurt anybody by venbaoxia

Achilles is too horny to wait

7-Breeding

I Would Have Your Baby by tectonic

Imagining Achilles pregnant, carrying the baby that they had made together, the baby that Patroclus had planted in him, was far more appealing than he had expected it to be.

8-Overstimulation

if you know what’s good by firehearte

Achilles works too hard. Pat has some ideas about how to help with that. A nice buffet of kinks for you to feast on 😈

9-Cockwarming

Distraction by Cosmicvoidance

It’s the weekend and Achilles is bored. Patroclus is busy grading essays and Zagreus is at work. So what is the blond to do. Maybe being a distration will help?

10-Spanking

Under Covers and Darkness by SerahSerah

Achilles and Patroclus are making a life together in death, rediscovering each other, playing favourite old games and finding unexpected new comforts.

11-Masturbation

Study Buddies by kenzsza

Patroclus can't stop thinking about a classmate.

12-Foot Kink

That Night in Skyros by orphan_account

Patroclus comes across a very familiar face while in Skyros, and cannot resist paying a visit. This is very kinky, but major kudos for including Pat's foot fetish.

13-Voyeurism

Under the Fig Tree by SympathyForKittens

Achilles can't help but wonder where Patroclus disappears to whenever he is busy with seeing Thetis or training with Chiron. Suspicions only grow when Patroclus gives vague excuses for his absence. Achilles decides to find out where Patroclus goes when he's not looking.

14-Somnophilia

Lazy Mornings Are For... by Cosmicvoidance

Patroclus wakes up and decides to have a little fun.

15-Lingerie

The One About Online Shopping by kink_anon

Achilles explores the wonderful world of online shopping to buy his husband a very special gift.

16-Bratchilles

A Needful Thing by kink_anon

Achilles did not find Agamemnon’s summer solstice feast satisfying. Luckily, he has his philtatos to see to his needs.

17-Bottom Patroclus

the grey sea bore you by Anonymous

This bottom Patroclus fic is so perfect, that I had to give it its own category. This author gets it. *This* is how a Daddy bottoms. Read and learn bottom Pat truthers.

18-Sensory Play

Just the Two of Us by orphan_account

pwp in Elysium. A feast of kinks in this one 🔥🔥

19-Semi-Public

By Virtue of Necessity by GwenChan

Achilles can't wait until they get back to their tent.

20-Total Power Exchange

Anniversary gift by ColdShower

For the anniversary of their intense dom/sub relationship, Patroclus has a big ask for Achilles. Proceed with caution if you don't know what TPE is.

21-Edgeplay

my love, my libation by moshimochi

A cockring is acquired and Patroclus puts it to good use. A nice selection of kinks here 😈

22-Intercrural Sex

he is such a flood by irisesandlilies

Achilles and Patroclus are horny during a heat wave.

23-Deep Throat/Oral

equal footing by firehearte

It’s no secret that Patroclus has a thing for seeing Achilles in his clothes. He loves it almost as much as he loves tearing them off of him.

24-Praise Kink

Love, and How the Heart Grows Ever With Age by Cavalierious

Achilles and Patroclus practice sparring in Elysium. Things quickly get heated 😉

25-Body Worship

Reverence by Foxxoul

Patroclus takes control for once and worships Achilles.

26- Pet Play

He's A Biter by Orphan_account

Patroclus has a pet vampire 🔥🔥

27-ABO

in the pit of the sky by GwenChan

Finally reunited with his mated alpha after too much time spent apart, Achilles makes the best of it

28-Creampie

In Sleep and Waking by AdelineAround

Even in sleep, Achilles can't help but reach for his lover. Patroclus is more than happy to show him that reality can be every bit as tantalizing as his dreams.

29-Nereid Achilles

Sea Nymphs in May by LePetitMonstre

It's Nereid mating season! 😈😈

30-Mirror Sex

Just Watch by bluerug42069

Achilles and Patroclus get a mirror.

31-D/s

you are the currents that are pulling me onward by infinitesl

A moment of respite and pleasure on the Trojan shores (Pat putting his bratchilles in his place).

[sugarsfics]

Birthday

Summary: Steve says he never had a birthday party, so you give him one, even though it is not his birthday. The gang helps you plan and set up, let’s hope it stays a secret.  

Trope: Steve x reader; established relationship 

Warning: fluff, kissing, talk of drinking, use of y/n once

Word count: 1.0k 

30 Day Challenge: Day 3 Send request <3 

You and Steve were shopping for a present for your little cousin when your jaw dropped hearing the words that came out of your boyfriend's mouth, he had never had a birthday party before. “Wait what do you mean” he shrugged “I just never had one my parents would take me to a fancy restaurant with their friends then give me cash” poor baby “I’m so sorry” “Eh it's alright” he said kissing your forehead “I think they will like this one” he said holding up a drawing set.  

The drive back to Steve's place was quiet windows down, Duran Duran playing on the radio. But your mind was somewhere else Steve had never had a birthday party, you loved Steve so much and wanted to give him everything, give him the love he lacked from his parents. Even though it was the middle of August, and his birthday wasn’t till April, you didn’t want to wait till April to give him a party so why not celebrate his half birthday? “You ok” Steve said worriedly “Yes why” you answered quickly “Girls on Film was just on and you didn’t scream the lyrics at the top of your lungs” “ I'm fine just thinking” “About” “It's nothing” “If you didn’t sing your favorite song than its not nothing” he challenged “It’s just that you never-” “AH if you are getting worked up on me not having a birthday party before I will.....not sure what but don’t get work up about it ok” “But-” “Sh now let’s go inside there is a couch and a movie calling our names”  

The movie didn’t interest you at the moment you were too busy planning in your head Steve’s half birthday party. Where would it be? Who will come? food? drinks? cake? Games? Money wasn’t a problem just like Steve, you lived a wealthy life that is how you met Steve. It was at one of the big fancy parties this time your parents were hosting. You walked outside bored out of your mind when I figure came out from the dark “Bored too” said the figure “Yea not a kid friendly party” you joke. The figure came out from the shadows, and you were met with a handsome young man “You're that Harrington boy right Steven?” “Steve, but yea that’s me” he smiled. From that moment on you and Steve were always together at parties, soon becoming best friends than lovers. He has become one of the most important people in your life, he was so sweet, even though he knew your wealthy status he payed for everything. It was time to spoil him. 

After your movie date you went straight home writing down the plans, luckily the weekend you wanted to have it your parents would be gone so the party will be at your house. You would give a call to Robin tomorrow for a guest list most likely being her, the kids he is always with, and probably Nancy and Jonathan maybe that Munson kid. Food, you have a taco man that Steve loves so easy, his favorite snacks, popcorn chips. Drinks he loves his lemonade so many versions of that, water, juice boxes for the kids, maybe alcohol. Cake, he mentions for your graduation party he loves the cake which was chocolate and strawberry from the bakery three towns over. Games? Do you have games at parties for 19-year-old, since it is still summer your pool will be ready, maybe drinking games for later at night.  

The next morning you called Robin for the guest list “Y/N his birthday is April” “I know but he never had one before” “Yea ok so” “I want to give him a surprise one” “Ok fine it would be his kids, Eddie, Nancy, Jonathan, Hopper, Joyce and me” “That’s it” you said dumbfounded “Yea he not popular King Steve anymore” right you thought “Do you need any help” Robin asked “Not till the day of the party oh make sure no one tells him” “Gotta girly” “Thank you so much Robin” “anytime” next was taco man he was shocked to hear that it was such small party but gave you the yes that he will be there. The cake was ordered and would be picked up at 2 that day. Everything was going perfectly.  

Surprisingly, no one told Steve, Eddie and Dustin almost blurted it out by asking what time that party would be, but Robin caught them in time, but other than that he suspected nothing. It was the morning of the party and the plan was that Dustin was going to have Steve drive him around for a couple of hours while the rest of you set up. You had balloons on the ceiling, drinks in the cooler, taco man out back preparing, snacks on the table, cake in the fridge. Perfect. Dustin radio the kids that they were on the way. Everyone got into a hiding place “Dustin why are we at my girlfriends house- don't just walk in ”“ SURPRISE” Steve jumped back “What” “Happy half-birthday"

The party was so much fun. Steve was having the time of his life in the pool surrounded by the people he loved. The tacos were amazing, he lost count after his 4 plates. no one mentioned it but Steve started to tear up when everyone was singing happy birthday. He loved his cake and was shocked when everyone handed him presents. Overall, he loved his first birthday party. After everyone left the house was clean, you and Steve went up to your room. “Did you like your surprise handsome” “I loved it thank you so much” he said bringing his lips to yours. After putting on pj’s Steve hopped into your bed, opening your blanket for you to hop in. You snuggled into his chest “Can I tell you a secret” he whispered “Yes” you whispered back “I knew about the party” you sat up “How” “Well the kids were talking about it on the walkie in the same channel I'm on and you left your list out” SO CLOSE. 

Tag list: @thefreak0fhawkinshigh

[freefromthecocoon]

It's funny that it's worth shaking up your theory and you become the same as the one you're so tired of. You're the same. you don't have information, sources. only judgments. and each of you considers yourself absolutely right. so I don't even know where the healthier atmosphere is if she blocked you and you're still watching what she writes to her inner circle

and yes, I watched season 1. And no, I'm not stalking Norman. and even more so, I will not pursue Melissa. I pointed out Zabel, Norman and anyone else who involved in season 1 and made decisions, but you went straight to Norman proving who you think can be responsible for everything. you say that there are hints, references, callbacks to caryl canon and then you say that you are ready that it will only be only friendship. so...if the person you are defending is honest, at least once, will not play with the feelings of the fans and will take responsibility, and will not be offended by the truth, then maybe those who are disappointed in him will trust him more

The fact that Melissa is involved in her character's arc is wonderful. Did Norman and Zabel discuss about Daryls character? because phew they made him dirty. Oh, or the real fans of the show can't be so upset about what happened to their favorite character?

Anway, you can trust whoever you want to trust, even if they didn't do their job very well. That's your business. Leave it to others to draw their own conclusions. You're playing nice, positive guys. Be like that

Thank you for the ask Anon!

I have never claimed to have sources in the media or with AMC or anywhere official. My sources are Norman, Melissa and Zabel from what I have seen on screen be it through the show or through interviews. The other sources are fans who attended the premiere who have made posts here and on Twitter who have said we have so much to look forward to. I choose to believe all of them and if you choose to remain doubtful, that is your prerogative.

All I will say about how I am reading what "she" writes is that people send me screenshots. I have ignored a lot of it as I was hopeful that this weekend would have improved her morale, but sadly I was mistaken. The fandom almost died over the past two years on this hellsite. I feel like a lot of people were afraid to post their positive feelings here for fear of being not deemed a worthy fan of Melissa, Carol or Caryl. But I am thrilled to see more and more people speaking out positively about our hopes of everything to come.

I absolutely agree with what you said about everyone drawing their own conclusions. I think everyone should watch the show with their own eyes and make their own critiques. I am excited to watch Melissa and Norman tell the story of each of their characters and Caryl's story together. I hope you have a lovely evening. Caryl on everybody!

[ask-andrew-montrose]

MontY, hi,

I have tO sadly inform yoU that I will be soRt of too busy this weekend to meet up with you and that i HAve come down wIth a cough, and it's something Rather contagious, you shouldn't come see me! I absolutely haven't seen you since yesterday, such a pity, and I'm sure by the time I see you again I can pet your soft luscious hair again, just as always!

With much love, Your 🦊

Montrose rubs his bald, smooth, head as he thinks.Something sits in the pit of his stomach. But he ignores it for now.

He writes back,

"Feel better."

He signs nothing else, sending the owl away. Will had seemed like he had felt fine yesterday.....which meant. ..

It didn't matter what it meant. If Will didn't want to see him either, that was fine.

So fine in fact, that Montrose would just stay in his room and see no one at all.

He draws the curtains around his bed, not planning on going anywhere anytime soon.

[ao3-oner]

hiiiiii ur msi fic is amazing sjkdfhksd everytime u upload a new chapter it leaves me gagged and wanting for more. the way u write everyone is amazing!! like the depth everyone has>>

also i adore your suhwan, please talk about him,,, like about anything, i just like reading u talk about the characters in ur fics sdkfkdjf

Hi hi! Thank you so much for the ask! I'm legit so happy for the opportunity to rant about my takes on characters, like omg I would LOVE to talk about Suhwan (especially now that chapter 8 is up :) Where to start with my beloved son... I guess one of the first things I ever learned about Peyz outside of his e-sports career, being a Royal Roader and all that, was that his parents hired him a private at-home tutor for League of Legends. He has both a dog and cat, and (to my knowledge) is an only child.

This led me to two central conclusions about his character: 1. This boy is spoiled/sheltered af and 2. He is probably so so lonely. Other observations include that Suhwan is a sweet boy, but seems very uncertain in social interaction. He also has a tendency take things quite literally (see: his 15 second blank stare during the Worlds interview that lives rent-free in my mind).

I've already shared some of my Suhwan head canons in fics and other posts - that he taught himself to play chess on both sides of the board, he got bored one day and snuck into his mom's closet to try on heels/jewelry - but it all centers around his lonliness and desperately trying to connect with other people. I think that's part of what draws him to League - it's a team game, so everyone needs to work together. As the ADC, he becomes a fundamental part of that team, so people rely on him. If thinks that as long as he understands how the game works, how to play, how to win, then people will like him, people praise him, people will protect him, so he decides he wants to play more in order to connect with people.

I think Suhwan very much found the connection he was looking for on 2023 GenG - Wangho is great with younger members, Hwanjoong was literally a BRO before joining, and everyone was just very supportive of him during his rookie year. That environment allowed him to thrive and, while ofc not a perfect replacement, he became a solid stand-in for the massive pair of shoes Ruler left for him to fill.

Then Hanwha Life opened up their check books and bought his found family away from him.

Suhwan understands, of course, that it's just business - I'm sure he still hangs out with Hwanjoong on weekends sometimes - but there's definitely a major shift in the entire vibe of the team for 2024. Yes, they still all have fun, and they grow close and love each other, but there are definitely more cracks in the picture frame than there were last year. Some of that comes from Siwoo, and his slight contempt for the rookie player who got the GenG legacy that RuLehends fought so hard for spoon-fed to him. Some of it is from Geonbu, who's adjusting to being on an entirely new team for the first time ever and is still navigating exactly what he can and can't take with him. Part of it is Giin being more stoic than Hyunjoon ever was. The result is that Suhwan loses that firm network of support he had before, and falls behind - needs more time to readjust, gets declared as the "weak link" of the team...

Suhwan is trying his best to make it work. He's confident that if he can figure out what the problem is, he can solve it. But people are so much more difficult than game states - it's hard to know exactly where you stand, what would help, what wouldn't. Still, Suhwan is the carry. Everyone is relying on him to be there when it matters, so however he needs to adapt, he'll make sure that he doesn't disappoint them.

He's dedicated to proving that he's someone worth protecting.