#yvette (never satisfied)

[steviebbboi]

For your celebration, I would like to make a request 💙

Steve Rogers. Soulmate AU. "Are you fucking kidding me?"

Go wild, hon!!! And congrats!! 🎉🎉

The Heart and the Head (Captain America/Steve Rogers x F!Vigilante!Reader)

Pairing: Steve Rogers/Captain America x F!RogueVigilante!Reader

W/C: 5.2k~

Prompt(s): Soulmate AU, "Are you fucking kidding me?"

Summary: Finding your soulmate was always a dream for other people. But certainly not for you and Steve. It’s too bad that fate had other plans.

A/N: Well, lads, and my special lad @justagirlinafandomworld - this is a long time comin'. This ask was sent by the lovely Yvette back in September for my 200-follower writing challenge. It only took the new year and 100 followers later - im so sorry. The writing muse really left my soul after publishing my challenge and it was just terrible timing. Hoping the cosmos will bless me with more energy to write as I love interacting with you all on here, feel so grateful to have a community on here, and also because I still love to write for our bb Steviee Rogers. Hope this won't disappoint too much! Yvette, thanks for sending in this ask and hoping all has been well with you, lovie~

*Soulmate AU where people who have soulmates develop their soulmate’s heart rate on the inside of their wrists. It’s a light gray color that just slightly glows and when you touch it, it can fade but eventually comes back. When they meet for the first time/find each other, the heart rate burns slightly and becomes a permanent tattoo on their wrist. Doesn’t fade but turns into a faded black tattoo. 

Warnings: 18+ due to explicit language, angsty, Reader has powers that are mildly descriptive, sorta cliff hangar-y-(ish) but can be considered complete. Mild violent fight scenes and descriptions of theft/policework/etc.

Steve hasn’t ever given too much stock on finding his soulmate. To be honest, he never had the time to truly think about it. 

He knew that it would be aimless to try and find ‘them’, wherever ‘they’ may be out there. 

Even before the serum’s transformation, Steve was committed to enlisting– to contribute to keeping his country safe. It wasn’t fair for him to put his soulmate in a position to wait for him, only to find that he likely would never return from a war that was dead set on taking away lives to give more lives a chance.

Even when he fell for Peggy, even though they both knew that they weren’t rightfully each other's' ‘other half,’ he thought that maybe his fears surrounding love would end with her. But ultimately, his fears still came true. She was kept waiting for 90 years only for him to return to her, not dead, but heartbreakingly unchanged– forced to level with an incompatibility that went beyond not sharing the same heartbeat. 

Even with this knowledge, Steve celebrated the privilege of having his soulmate’s heart rate glow on his wrist. Not many people would develop the mark – he was surprised to see it still beating strong too when he woke from the ice. The knowledge that he was meant to be in this modern era oddly satisfied his deep seeded curiosity about his soulmate, not enough to go and find ‘them’, but enough where he was admittedly comforted by the jagged lines still running past his humming veins.

Despite not seeking ‘them’ out, seeing that mark was the only thing that he felt that he had to grasp onto sometimes. It felt familiar and felt like home.

One brush across his wrist was enough for him to start his day but ‘they’ never preoccupied his thoughts for too long lest he wanted to bring himself a shot of angst in the beginning of his day. 

But he couldn’t help the stray thoughts that would come sometimes when the day would be too idle. What did ‘they’ look like? They say that your soulmate smells like the scents that attract you the most. Would ‘they’ smell like fresh ambrosia? The potency of a fresh summer day? These questions stalked Steve when the days ran long and the nights became darker by each hour. Suppressing them became harder the more that he carried his mantle as Captain America. 

Witnessing his team, feeling the camaraderie, even seeing Tony and Pepper just reminded him of what he was truly living for– he wanted to serve and protect. He just never gave thought about himself, or to consider building his own life personally until after the blip. As everyone frantically looked for others and found them again, he realized the importance of being someone other than Captain America…of being important to someone. His soulmate.

But how could he place his soulmate into a position to cope with the fact that he’s not just Steve Rogers.

“Captain Rogers, an alert has just been registered within the parameters that you’ve previously requested.” The dulcet tones of FRIDAY’s Irish brogue interrupted Steve’s daydreaming.

Steve’s heart thundered in his chest in anticipation, “Thank you, FRIDAY.” More alert than ever, he pressed a few keys on his desktop to pull up a live feed of one other thing that seemed to preoccupy his mind lately. 

One thing that did come out of the Accords was that they’ve learned to finally listen. More than ever, Steve understood how important the Avengers needed to be mindful of reparations after their dangerous missions. Civil liberties should include repairing what was ruptured, and so, more efforts have gone into not only world-saving missions but also local crimes. 

There was a new vigilante on scene– every time that he’s sent an agent to apprehend said Enhanced, they seem to always slip right through their fingers. 

Until today.

Steve watched the masked vigilante calmly center themselves in the middle of the armed room – and with a gallant wave, the contents of the room that once sparkled expensive jewels and gems vanished leaving stark, blank empty display shelves. 

The robber’s face flashing a grainy smirk through the lens of the video, with one last wave of their hand, they disappear from view as if they were never even there. 

Watching the feed one more time, Steve couldn’t help but release his own smaller smirk at witnessing the thief in the act once more. FRIDAY promptly pulled up news headlines next to the feed to reveal in huge bold font:

“Brooklyn’s ‘Heart’ Makes Its Mark: Stolen Gems Become Jewels for the Local Community”

The Heart of Brooklyn. Steve had to hand it ‘em – it's not a bad name for the local hero. Certainly wouldn’t have minded one of those kinds of folks back in his day, could have saved him from getting beaten on so often.

Steve didn’t admonish ‘vigilantes’ as much as long as they carried on to do the right thing. However, the UN doesn’t seem to share that opinion – especially given the Accords. A stipulation that Steve still hadn’t had the time to fully process how he felt about it – this ‘Heart’ person committed crimes to benefit the people around them. The ‘Heart’ protected the people while he protected the world. How could he suddenly and justly prosecute when he was just like them once upon a time? 

If he were being honest, Steve held admiration for the vigilante. It didn’t seem like much would be getting in the way of their agenda to bring about their own sense of justice. 

Steve sighed as he looked at the official order of arrest for the ‘Heart’ signed and decreed by the state, along with the federal official government seal. A resolve settled in his chest as he did his best to put his unsettled feelings to the side to make space for Captain America. The ‘First Avenger’ who is sent to ultimately carry out and enforce these set of agendas that never seemed to benefit anyone else but the world. 

Though, as he geared up later that afternoon to investigate a solid lead, the admiration for this local hero didn’t seem to wane. 

Beads of sweat seemed porous as the anxiety-ridden man paced a few feet behind you before coming in close. His destabilizing emotions felt palpable despite the internal processing. The older man did a poor job of concealing his nerves, automatically putting you a bit on edge.

“Seriously, we need to move! It’s been too long– the police are on their way!” 

“Oookay, relax, hotshot. I’ve got some scatters in place to lead them in a tizzy for awhile, alright? Just keep an eye on the door fo’me.” You said with a forcibly placating tone that obviously had no effect on the semi-masked man behind you. 

You tried to work jobs on your own – it was better that way. Unfortunately, the prospects of this current lead led you to hire the most green man in NYC (as green as a thief could be) – but the score was too good to pass up. Thinking of what, who, and where this money could go was too high of a risk to lose.

Schematics of the building forced you to need a team to watch your six as you tried your hand at cracking the safe. But the poor guy’s nervous rambling and anxious pacing made it so hard for you to focus - you were spending more time calming the man more than getting the job done. 

“I’m telling ya, Heart - I think they’re onto us! We need to leave this place before we get caught.” The heat of the man’s breath hit the back of your ear from where you were kneeling. His rattling nerves are practically audible and steaming off of his looming figure, frustration fueled through you with an annoyed eye-roll.

“Listen, Mattie. Mike told me that you were good and that you were the one who wanted to come on this one. You need to calm down, buck up, and do what I need you to do- which is stand over there, keep watch and shut your mouth. Can ya do that?” Pure irritation was the only thing being emoted now in your command.

Mattie released a reluctant sigh as he petulantly stomped back towards his original position to face the windows, finally quiet for once since the entire time that they had reached the location.

“Thank you.” A reverent breath couldn’t help but escape your mouth at the newfound relief in the sudden, yet much needed, quiet. 

You were only a few more notches until you would be inside. When you felt the weight of the door give, your lips curved upwards in victory. Tilting the handle, you opened the steel opening…to reveal nothing inside of the safe. 

“What the fuck?!” Your thoughts were intrusive and scrambled as your mind tried to process the emptiness in front of you. You were so confused, the intel that you had seemed so solid! Unless…

Your whole body tensed as you stiffly glanced behind you to see Matt, who hadn’t noticed the newfound tension– too preoccupied with his own. He resumed his pacing and was anxiously looking out the window with angsty glances here and there. 

Turning back to the empty safe, you mutedly closed the heavy door as quietly as you could before calmly standing up from your posed position. 

“Remind me, ‘Mattie’ – what’s the color of the day?” Stoicism and a cold fury radiated off of you in waves, making the man across from you sweat profusely. His face turned pale as he responded dumbly, “Pur–uhm, huh?”

The pallid man’s answer infuriated you even more as your theory just became confirmed. You knew that the cops usually gave each other a code to indicate their undercover status - this guy must be so (ironically) green that he basically gave it away with his anxious pacing and his near-answer. 

A fierce growl left your snarled lips, “This is a fucking set-up!” Gathering your duffle in a rushed frenzy, you turned to the revealed, fumbling cop to state, “Tell ‘Mike’ or whoever you actually report to that we’re through, Officer.” 

The undercover mess was speed talking his excuses at you as you continued packing your duffle to get out of there when all of a sudden, tear gas canisters splintered through the glass windows. The shards sprinkled everywhere around you as you attempted to flinch away from the shattered pieces. 

Quickly crouching down behind a large cabinet, you could distantly see a blur of black tactical uniforms surrounding the darkened warehouse. Trying to control your breathing, you muffled a surprised shriek from hearing the distinctive multiple shouts, “POLICE! FREEZE NOW!” 

Your mind was in a frenzy but your body was in a frozen state, until it forcibly stumbled away from you as another canister landed in front of your feet. Releasing a loud curse, you panicked and ran into view. Ignoring the spearing voices shouting different commands, you gave a sharp wave of your hand, coughing up a lung from all the smoke invading your system but achieved your goal by vanishing from their naked view.

Although you had ensured your invisibility, you didn’t account for all of the smoke that was being inhaled, causing your coughing fit to exponentially expand. You also didn’t account for the glass that was suddenly in your face, successfully blinding you as you protected your face from the sudden crash. The brashed cuts of glass caused by the crash landing of something, or rather, someone that you would never have expected to see in the flesh: Captain America.

Attempting to muffle your coughs once more, the visual clarity of the renowned Avenger was hard to miss. His dark blue stealth suit on display and the States stripes in all of its glory had you gobsmacked with your mind running rampant once more.

You didn’t realize that your recent…behaviors would’ve ever caught the attention of someone so high up. The Accords were criminalizing all and any Enhanced beings, but you weren’t hurting anyone! The communities deserve more than what they’re receiving from state and federal governments. There wasn’t enough money, food – people needed help. 

For some reason, as you looked at Captain America, the hero that stood for the hearts and wellbeing of others, who stood there scanning the room for his enemy, for you– the hero hunting down those who he swore to protect– a sudden rush of hot indignation filled your entire body. 

How dare he stand there? How dare he use his gifts to triumph over the needs of others? How dare he?

A harsh snarl left your lips as your body reacted first, any sense or voice of reason leaving your mind. Your feet were suddenly rushing over to the super soldier, who heard your exclamation as soon as it left your mouth. Steve’s preparedness in your capture heightened his other senses as he listened for your rushing footsteps towards him. 

His shield at the ready, and with the smoke in the air aiding his instincts, he looked out for the sudden brush of fog and lept to action in blocking a sudden thunderous blow to his face. In the midst of throwing a vicious punch, ignoring the blinding pain to your fist from the hard metal’s impact, shock settled on your face on how easy it was for him to dodge your advances- but it didn’t stop you. Blind anger fueled in your veins and energy surged through you once more.

You and Steve proceeded to engage in a dangerous dance, with your relentless energy and forceful strikes attempting to land on his physical body. Steve was doing a careful job of listening to the brush of air as you attempted another punch, being attentive to the electric charge that only seems to be apparent when in close proximity with another human being, the swoosh of moving white fog, heavy landing steps of your physical presence. 

It became clear that despite you being invisible, your current environment was destined to fail you. Your muscles ached in pain as your breathing became heavier, exhausted panting leaving you even more breathless. After one more lousy and tired punch, Steve’s mindful gaze attested a faint outline of a physical body heightened by the fading smoke in the room. With a determined lock of his jaw, Steve quickly crouched down to land a quick swipe at your legs. 

Not expecting the swift move, you yelped in pain as his strong boots connected with your ankles. It was as if you were in slow motion with the way that you landed on your back. Muscles screaming in pain with a sharp ache on the back of your head pulsing in agony. Strength was distancing itself slowly but surely as your vision started fading. 

Laying flat on the floor, all you could make out was Steve’s bouldering figure standing over you, and all that left your mouth was a tormented whisper, “Traitor.”

As you passed out, whether from the pain or fatigue from your fighting blows, Steve only furrowed his brows in confusion from hearing your last words. All he knew was that his curiosity for you grew larger as he finally met the Heart of Brooklyn.

Both of you also neglected to pay attention to a telling zap that ran throughout both of your forms the moment that Steve’s body collided with yours. It’s easy to chalk it up to the familiar aches and pains of a fight.

Spoiler alert: it wasn’t. 

You came to in the quinjet, the flying saucer already up in the air with the way that you fumbled slightly on the metal bench. Blearily, you looked down to take in the feelings of your arms across your chest and your fists being swaddled in strong, metallic cuffs. The silver wristlets looked like they were made for something stronger than you, that’s for sure. But – they did the trick. With these cuffs on, you weren’t able to access your powers. With another flick of your wrist, you could’ve been invisible from peering eyes and out of these cuffs in a flash.

“Just remain calm, Heart, and there shouldn’t be any issues.” A deep-baritone voice cut through the frenzy of observations running through your mind. 

Blinking fiercely through the blurriness of fatigue, your eyes centered on the domineering force that was Captain Steve Rogers. The fury of the past day started to thunder the looming clouds that were your thoughts – feeling stupid is all you could center your anger into. 

You felt stupid that you allowed greenies to intervene in today’s mission. You felt stupid that you even trusted the people who decided to come along under the guise of ‘’the cause’’. And, you felt stupid that you even thought that you could take on Captain fucking America in his tight spandex outfit. His limb features and muscular figure were cut like no other. It became clear to you that images of the First Avenger could not compare nor embody the pure visceral power that this dude emotes in person. 

Sitting tall and straight, his helmet emphasized his determined blue eyes as they peered over your rigid position only to flit over the jet in wariness. It was like he was waiting for something else to happen with you on the plane, always monitoring.

You couldn’t help the derisive scoff that flew from your mouth, “The forever stiff and vigilant soldier for Big Brother, huh? Psh, pathetic.”

Your comment seemed to break his hard exterior as a tiny glint of– what seemed to be guilt, shined over his cerulean blue eyes. The glint disappeared though as soon as it came in, “Those are some abilities you got there. What else can you do?” The question seemed non-objective, though the curious tilt in his voice made the hint of warning glaze over his voice all the same.

Meeting his warning with your own blaze, you leaned in to whisper tauntingly, “I guess you’ll just have to find out.”

After hours of interrogation from countless federal agents, you were able to exasperate the last one with a long exalted sigh of frustration and the metal door slammed after their departure from the cold, steeled room. 

Your hands were still bound together uncomfortably so that your fingers interlocked together, creating the inability for you to snap out of your cuffs. Their analytics team detailed that a wave of your hand is one of the triggers to your abilities…giving you information that they don’t seem to be aware of all of your abilities. And you’d like to keep it that way. 

Short of whistling and popping noises with your lips out of boredom, the agency seemed to have given up and have finally sent in the big guns.

Ardently groaning your frustration, “UGH - finally! Captain Rogers, we meet once more. I guess your agents have finally had enough of my poor rendition of Uptown Girl till they put me back onto your plate, huh?”

Just wearing his suit, shield and helmet out of sight, the super soldier still embraced intimidation within itself by just baring his broad shoulders out a bit more as he stood before you. A beige manila folder in his grip as he clasped the belt around his waist. 

Trying not to look at the area south of his belt, you distractedly pointed it out, “That looks ominous.” 

A slight smirk fell on his pink lips, “It’s meant to be. You got some heart, kid.” 

You couldn’t help the weathered chuckle that erupted from your throat, “Wow, you really are as old as they say, huh ‘Cap’?” 

Blatantly ignoring your jab, Steve released a resounding sigh as he took the empty metal seat across from you. Setting the folder down with a sharp slap, he proceeded to read out your file. 

“What we know so far is your alias being measured by the media as, “the Heart”. Real name- unknown. From what our intelligence could gather, you’re an Enhanced with tactile and perception control—“ 

“Argh— blah, blah, blah, blah,” you interrupted with an exasperated roll of your eyes, “Just give it to me straight, Captain, what am I looking at?” 

If Steve seemed perturbed by your bluntness, he didn’t show it. Only gave you a knowing and understanding look with his eyes, “You may not be looking at anything if you’d just be honest with me. Drop the snark for once and tell me what you want. The Accords are here to protect not just others, but as well as you. I can’t help you do that if you’re hiding underneath all of the smoke and dagger.” 

A lump formed in your throat from how compassionate he sounded. If he was being sincere, it was convincing enough to bring a small glisten of tears in your eyes (not that you’d ever let them fall). 

With a clenched jaw and a speculative squint, you gazed back at Steve and met his compassion with curiosity. “Why would you want to help me?” 

Steve gave you another tired and soft smile, “Why wouldn’t I help you?” 

The barriers inside that were locked and solid lowered just a bit at the genuine tone to his voice. You couldn’t help but notice the softening around his eyes, or the long eye lashes that enhanced his stern looking features. But his smile, it felt so open. Suffice to say, it wasn’t what you were expecting from the super soldier that you criticized as a defector. 

Feeling your own features soften, your tense posture relaxed unconsciously as you leaned back into the discomfort of the metal chair. The cold parts of your cuff seemed to seep into your skin as you accepted this moment for what it is: a truce. 

Steve seemed to catch the moment your guard went down and mirrored your physical ease by leaning back into his own chair. Soft smile and gentle eyes still intact as he cut into the retired silence, “So, all cards on the table. What can I help you with?” 

Looking back into his soft gaze, you suddenly felt the air stifle around you and could barely keep eye contact with the man. Your voice was quiet as you spoke, “I only want to help people. While the Avengers are saving the world, there’s barely anyone around to help the world also save itself. Neighborhoods, communities— people are suffering.” Anger fueled through you as your words haunted the steel room, “People are going hungry and no one is doing anything about it. I got sick of waiting around for someone to do something— so I did instead.” 

A reverence caught in your gaze as you felt your heckles arise, “I’ve only done what was right. If I could do something with what I have, then maybe, I can restore some good into the world.” 

All the while, Steve hadn’t moved a muscle. Just silently listening and taking in your intentions and reasons for your “considered crimes”. There was something about the anger and rage that disguised something that Steve was all too familiar with— powerlessness. 

He understood what it felt like to be without resources. Memories flooded his mind of moments before the war, gaining food scraps from Bucky’s family as he could barely make dinner for the day. He remembered how it felt for his stomach to make unnatural noises of hunger and to feel a desperation for change. 

Powerlessness leads to motivation. To change. He knew it was possible— but he hasn’t seen it for some time, he realized. 

Until you. 

A stark realization embodied him as he took in your ambitious gaze and clenched jaw. A fierce embodiment of someone who understood their own capabilities and the willingness to do something good with it. In the most non-egocentric way, Steve saw himself in you. Not the broader back soldier, but the scrawny kid from Brooklyn who enjoyed stencils and baseball. He saw the version of himself that he had just now found again, through you. 

Cutting through the thick silence, each of your brains processing the sudden change in air, something seemed to resonate and click with Steve the minute that his eyes met yours once more. 

With a determined nod, he stood up and took out a small metallic pencil-shaped device and leaned forward to uncuff you. You looked at him in confusion and weariness as you felt the cuffs pressure release and you grip your wrists with a protective hiss. Rubbing the insides for comfort, you failed to notice the zap feeling once again as you touched your mark- chalking it up to the cuff release (again— spoiler alert: it definitely wasn’t that either). 

“Are you sure you won’t regret doing that?” You asked deliberatively. Steve only looked down at you with heavy silence. Meeting his gaze hesitantly, you were met with an instantaneous warmth that felt so jarring that your own eyes widened in surprise. His eyes were darkened with a certain cloud of suspicion and unknowing in the last few hours – but right now, it was colored with a vibrant hue of faith, as if he could see right through you. 

Before you could mask it, you felt your cheeks redden as you flushed under his familiar sight. You couldn’t deny that the super soldier was gorgeous…and tall..and had long eyelashes –

“Get up.” Steve interrupted your intrusive thoughts with a firm command. 

“And go where?” Getting up slowly, you felt weirdly nervous about leaving the metal-boxed room. The room that was your prison had felt strangely comforting. Under this new territory with Steve, you suddenly felt that the outside world was something new, and that you had to be ready to explore. 

As if sensing your newfound fear, Steve sent an easy going smile your way that you could only describe as a boyish grin.

“To go do some good.”

You couldn’t describe it but your entire body just felt off. You figure it must have been those cuffs that they put on you - maybe some weird Stark tech. Walking down the sleek hallways to the large gymnasium, you did your best to put your odd body aches to the side and reflected upon the past week. 

Lo and behold, the moment that you left the room, you were met with the rest of the Avengers and a welcome package to the team. You initially rejected it (not that they really let you - it was either join or go swimming with the sharks at the Raft) but Steve insisted that you had potential to grow - to continue your work, to help others and help the local communities that needed it. He mentioned how you were right – the Avengers couldn’t be everywhere. They needed people on hand, on the ground to help fight the good fight where they couldn’t.

The prospects of being an Avenger certainly incentivized you. You never thought you’d be able to live up to its name, but realized that if Steve was able to see something in you that you couldn’t, it may be worth a shot. As much as you despised him when you were off the radar, there was something that cleared in your vision and you quickly were able to learn that the team certainly didn’t unanimously agree with the dynamics of the Accords. You also learned that Steve did his best to keep everyone together, and that he also genuinely just wanted to help. 

Reluctantly, you realized - you admired him.

There was something about Steve that you found honorable. Was he handsome? Sure. Muscle-y? Sure. Light blue eyes that you could drown in? Perhaps. But it wasn’t just his looks that drew you in. The energy felt like something deeper and more ingrained…you respected him. And his capacity to understand that underneath it all, people were just people, and that we need each other. 

You’d like to think you could be like him some day. Or be on top of him, or under him…– 

‘’Stop that!’’ The parts of you that felt attracted to Steve certainly became louder as you spent more time with Steve. There was just something about him that you couldn’t seem to just put away. 

You’ve been training with the team, mostly Natasha, to become more equipped in hand to hand combat. Today, you were pleasantly surprised by the screens that greeted you at the gym. Natasha waved over to you and gestured you over with a curious smirk. 

“Hey!” Flushed from being lost in your thoughts, you stood next to Natasha reverently while staring at the computer screens in front of you. “What’s all this?”

“Penny for your thoughts, Ghost?” Natasha’s grin was unfaltering as she cued in your new nickname. Ghostface - slipped right out of Stark’s smug mouth after watching the footage of some of your enhanced abilities. Ever since then, the team has taken a liking to the codename. 

Rolling your eyes good-naturedly, you replied dryly, “Oh - the infamous Black Widow is asking me a question - your interrogation skills are quite unmatched. But I think I’ll keep my thoughts to myself.” 

Letting out a small chuckle, she turned back towards the screen and nodded for your attention, “I wanted you to take another look at the footage from the warehouse–,”

“Ughhh, do I have to? Why are you rubbing it in my face? I get it - Steve is way better at hand to hand combat but to fair – “ you interrupted childishly only for her to swat her hand in your face to disturb your complaints. “Relax, that’s not why. I want you to analyze your footwork in comparison to some of the skills that we’re learning right now. I want you to point out anything different about your moves.”

Sighing petulantly, you crossed your arms and proceeded to watch the grainy camera footage from Steve’s suit. After a few minutes of watching Steve kick your ass, you pointed out a few steps that you felt that you can do differently now. Natasha seemed to agree and continued to encourage you to point something out, but this time in your upper body movement. After a few more minutes of silence, you looked closer at your arms and noticed something peculiar right as Steve basically tripped you.

Brows furrowed in confusion, you gestured to the video once more and asked Natasha to go back a few seconds. It was hard to see, but you could see the sliver of your wrist exposed in the video. The quality wasn’t the best, despite the Stark tech, as Steve was moving pretty fast. 

Your heart stuttered as your brain attempted to process what you were seeing on the screen. Something that clarifies the ‘’off’’ feeling from the past few days, something that made sense of the dysregulation in your body– without thinking, you shoved Natasha’s bent form from the controllers and proceeded to go back and forth between seconds in the footage.

Natasha only frowned in confusion from the move and allowed her eyes to match your suddenly focused gaze. What she saw made her eyes widen in slight surprise. 

The height of both of your fixations was the slight glow of your soulmate mark on your wrist suddenly fading as Steve’s legs intercepted yours. Although faint, the mark’s glow disappearing from your wrist was too clear to dismiss as simply the trick of the light. 

Almost in fascination, you felt your body disconnect from yours as you found yourself unable to deny what you were seeing. How did you not notice it before? 

Steve Rogers was your soulmate. 

The following words escaped before you could even process them: “Are you fucking kidding me?” 

A/N: DON'T HATE ME! lol, I thought that I'd do a different spin on the Soulmates!AU where Reader is kinda left with this surprise. Wonder how Steve noticed his mark also fading away 👀 figured this would leave enough room to continue this universe if we did enjoy it. Ngl, not the biggest fan of this work -- I'm sure it needs some editing but tbh, I didn't wanna leave y'all hanging anymore! It's been too long since its been asked and I wanted to be able to publish it so it can finally be read! Regardless, hope you enjoyed it a bit and please leave your thoughts, lads <3 ta, for now.

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[whump-me]

Unseen Masterpost

A living weapon in a gilded cage

When the head of the Couvillion Syndicate dies unexpectedly, his ruthless and brilliant daughter Yvette should be the unquestioned choice to take his place. Or that’s what Yvette thinks. But her father’s people still see her as a child. They think they can take what is rightfully hers.

They don’t see that she’s every bit as cold-blooded as her father was.

She’s heard of a group that trains assassins with unnatural powers. A living weapon who can turn invisible at will sounds like just the edge she needs. But this organization won’t just give one of their assassins away. As always, Yvette will need to take what she wants—by any means necessary.

To Delta-Nine-308, who has never left her training compound, Yvette’s gilded cage is as good as freedom—and freedom is terrifying. She longs to go home to her familiar cell. But living with Yvette means soft beds and cookies and the novel concept of free time. It means late-night conversations with her desperately lonely captor, who has started confiding in her as if they’re friends. She’s never had a friend before.

She doesn’t want to give all this up.

And all she has to do to keep it is kill whoever Yvette wants her to kill.

---

Unseen is a novel in the Mind Games universe—a series of standalone stories about ordinary humans with superhuman abilities and the people who want to use or destroy them. It’s got living-weapon whump, a cold but conflicted female whumper, a sheltered and naive female whumpee (who is also a highly trained assassin), and a friendship as emotionally satisfying as it is deeply unhealthy.

Chapters Chapter 1 Chapter 2 Chapter 3 Chapter 4 Chapter 5 Chapter 6 Chapter 7 Chapter 8 Chapter 9 Chapter 10 Chapter 11 Chapter 12 Chapter 13 Chapter 14 Chapter 15 Chapter 16 Chapter 17 Chapter 18 Chapter 19 Chapter 20 Chapter 21 Chapter 22 Chapter 23 Chapter 24

(Here from a reblog? Here’s the most recent version.)

[thelegacylegacy]

Yvette left Jamie alone for a few minutes and came back with another sim in tow.

Jamie: who is this, Yvette?

Yvette: a little present for you, my dear

Jamie: what... I can't bite a human, that's wrong!

She knew it would take some convincing; after all, her son had put some stupid ideas in all his children's heads, but Jamie was thirsty and it was obvious the human's blood was calling him.

Yvette: come on, Jamie. Aren't you thirsty? You will feel so much better than after drinking those plasma packs...

And, to her delight, her grandson decided to listen to her and hurried to sink his teeth into the human's neck.

When he finished drinking from him, Jamie felt the guilt eating him away. But, at the same time, he had never felt so euphoric and satisfied in his life.

Yvette: that's it, Jamie. Good job

[griffinsboyfriend]

THEORIES FOR CHAPTER 20? JUST CAUGHT UP AND GOING INSANE

Giiiirl. I have a few crack theories but I think they’ve managed to write a good mystery here. Anything could happen, and given how wild the smut has been, and how wild the story itself has been, I’m willing to bet the final chapter will blow our asses wide open.

It’s 10 minutes long too according to the description, so we should be getting a lot. I feel like they’ve managed to stuff a lot in the short chapters throughout, it’s well paced so I think the ending should be satisfying. Btw, I’d love to hear yours and everyone else’s theories!!! But here are my crack theories:

1. Charles/Charlotte is the murderer and has been leading us on a goose chase this whole time to put our sights off of them. He’s a stalker who obsessed about MC when his aunt was alive. She was genuinely kind to Charles, inviting him over or asking for his aid with the house, it would make sense that he’d see MC in photos and developed stalkerish feelings toward him. I feel like they’ve done so many coincidences with him that it’s too convenient when the writers are trying to tell us he’s innocent. He just happened to have a TRASH BAG full of foxgloves? Sure, Jan.

Additionally, in the van, if you choose one of the dialogue options with Charles (forgot exactly what it is), he tenses up… almost becoming a different person before he resurfaces and remembers where he is. He’s had a handful of those type of interactions depending on the choices you make. Could be PTSD, but idk. It smells manipulative to me, and MC has fallen hard for his savior. Moreover, the van being unlocked? Really now? 🤨 well that was easy, wasn’t it…

That cologne too, it could be one of Charles’s cologne and he planted it in the van to frame Vince. I always thought that MC was being drugged whenever they went into their fantasies early on, but MC is quite horny so I believe its likely just THEM being them lol.

I think Charles accidentally murdered his wife by overdosing her, and his grief is unprocessed or not properly dealt with. But bc of this, his mental is likely not sane. He pushed away the grief bc he thought he needed to be there for his daughter, who pushed him away bc she hasn’t been able to properly grieve either and that’s just how kids can be.

1.5 crack theory: Yvette burned down the house bc she was worried MC would leave her father and her new co-parent, who she likely looks up to. I mean who wouldn’t, this MC is one of the greats certainly. Yvette wanting to become involved in the investigation late in the game feels pointed.

Ultimately, the dirty little secret could be our lover is the murderer and we can choose to stand by him and keep it, or not. But since this book is a stand alone, I’m doubting this I actually going to happen bc I think we’d need at least 2 more chapters to connect the dots.

2. Vince and Sadie are working together and are the killers. Vince is super dumb so he’d go along with anything Sadie said, even if she didn’t intend for real murder. I think there’s evidence in ch19 to suggest he’s dumb enough to cross the line. THEN AGAIN. The evidence only stacked up in the last chapter so I feel like… this is a red herring perhaps.

I truly don’t believe that Sadie wanted us to die or be burned alive. She’s evil but idk if she’s proven to be that evil. She’s conniving and manipulative, but I haven’t seen evidence suggesting she’d go that far. Then again she did try to hide her real identity, going so far as to get surgery. Post having sex with the mayor, she seemed obedient to him. So perhaps…

3. The Mayor is the murderer. He loved MC’s aunt but she never returned the feelings. He let his rich white man ego and pride get the better of him, he has the resources and money to make it happen without a second thought against him. I feel there’s less buildup for this though…

4. Charles and Sadie are working together to take down MC. This would be the real insane reason, and honestly I feel like I’d live if they did this! I’d have to hand it to PB if they went this route bc I feel it could be successful. They def led their audience on a wild ride, why not push them over the edge type of tease lol. There’s not enough evidence yet to suggest they’re working together but I mean this book has been fucking insane sooo…

—

I think whoever captured Yvette will force Charles to show his true colors. I can’t wait for the drama to unfold!!!

Also going into that van was the last straw. I KNEW the jig was up then. Whoever the killer is KNEW MC (and maybe Charles, if he’s not the killer) would be this stupid. It’s classic horror/thriller movie scenes.

I’m willing to bet someone is going to shut that van door and force MC/Charles to watch whatever is about to unfold. God I hope they obliterate us, man!!!!

[lysaige]

wake up babe it's time to re-read all of never satisfied in one night and be conflicted over whether you think january is a good person

[batplushies]

Ivy ESA moments

[mochaangel]

Yvette? Is that you?

Reading Never Satisfied update and really jazzed to see more Ivy. But im thinking...

[Spoilers ahead if you want to read the comic fresh]

Thierry is a husk. Husks' familiars get absorbed into them. Ivy is some lone familiar??? I mean it could be. But remember how Ivy has blue magic and that old missing representative Yvette(???) had blue magic. So either Yvette is a cat, her familiar is on her lonesome, or im just some kind of asshole!

[ohcorny]

♦Never Satisfied has updated!♦ New readers click here to go to the beginning! Support Never Satisfied on Patreon!

yvette i can't hold all this update

[vendetta-if]

Hello! I know i'm really late for the ride but i've recently played ch3 and it is so satisfying! Since the beginning i've been imagining my MC basking in blood of their rivals and drinking enemies' tears and your story gives exactly that. By the way, it's my first revenge-drived MC, so i've been thinking about their circumstances a lot. They are really calm and collected, maybe even gentle and friendly usually. But during the first mission their true anger and thirst for violence came out. I know that Luka and Ash are really ok with violent MC because it allignes with their job. But how do they react to really trigger happy MC? Like one minute MC is thinking straight and know what they are doing and the next they want to create a blood bath no matter the consequences because they suddenly feel like doing that? Also, i think that MC's powers are really corrupting in that situation because they make it so easy to kill and to do it in really disturbing way. Everyone is fascinated by this potential and my MC is only happy to indulge but can it lead to the point when MC's own family will be frightend by their power? (i'm sorry if smth like this has been answered already)

Reading the first two sentences of this ask made me giggle, Anon 🤭 I promised that Ruthless MCs can be very ruthless and I’m happy that I can deliver it 😁 There will definitely be more action scenes like these as the story progresses (for those who choose them, of course)

As for your question, Luka and Grandpa would definitely try to rein in a too-bloodthirsty MC a little because sometimes, you still need some people alive for information and stuff and killing some people at the wrong time can have pretty serious consequences.

Meanwhile, Ash… I don’t think they’ll mind much… Actually, maybe they’ll become even more impulsive and bloodthirsty too because they are indirectly encouraged by your MC’s actions, and as we know, they already have that streak in them.

But, I don’t think Luka, Grandpa, and Ash would ever be really frightened by MC, worried and a bit unsettled maybe, but not really frightened (also Luka would still see MC as a little kid they were 10 years ago sometimes 🥺).

Because if there’s one thing that all MCs share no matter what is their love and loyalty for their remaining family and loved ones. They would never be able to bring themself to hurt, harm, or betray them.

And about MC’s powers being corrupting because they make it really easy to kill people in a lot of different and disturbing way… That’s a really good point and yes, you are right.

If you are already pretty Ruthless during the Chapter 1 flashback where little MC accidentally (well, it’s not really accidental for ruthless MC deep inside) kill those 4 goons who wanted to hurt Viktor, that was the exact thing they felt. Like, “Oh, it’s that easy to totally decimate a living human being, especially ones that are way older and bigger than they were”.

I think the corrupting nature of some powers also affect a lot of other powered people, and in different ways too depending on their powers and personalities. Like Yvette, for example, if you can already make everyone likes and loves you and manipulate people’s emotions to get your way ever since you were a little kid, you probably won’t feel that guilty or maybe even didn’t consider it bad when you do the same thing as an adult and throughout your life. It becomes something normal.

[rosietrace]

Victoria Shard

†•°•══════ஓ๑𓄿๑ஓ══════•°•†

“One must never commit deceit while I am in sight. For I. See. Everything.”

— Victoria Shard, the beholding

╔══ஓ๑†๑ஓ══╗

General Information

╚══ஓ๑†๑ஓ══╝

Full Name — Victoria Lieselotte Hyacinth Shard

↳ Victoria; A name of Latin origin, meaning ‘Victory’; It also happens to be the name of the Roman Goddess of Victory.

↳ Lieselotte; Lieselotte is a name of German origin, meaning ‘God's promise’. It is derived from a combination of the names Lise, a diminutive form of Elisabeth, and Lotte, a diminutive of Charlotte.

↳ Hyacinth; A small genus of bulbous, spring-blooming perennials; The purple version of the Hyacinthus is typically symbolic of ‘seeking forgiveness’.

↳ Shard; A broken piece of glass.

Japanese ver. — ビクトリア リーゼロッテ ヒヤシンス シャード

Romaji ver. — Bikutoria Rīzerotte Hiyasinsu Syādo

Twisted from: The Magic Mirror

❏ — Snow White and the seven dwarfs (白雪姫) (1937)

V/A(日本語): Miyuki Sawashiro(沢城みゆき)

↳ Voices Raiden Shogun, Genshin Impact

V/A(英語/EN): Cheryl Texiera • Anne Yatco • Erin Yvette

↳ Texiera; Voices Kafka, Honkai Star Rail

↳ Yatco; Voices Raiden Shogun, Genshin Impact

↳ Yvette; Voices Arlecchino, Genshin Impact

Age: 19

Birthday: September 25th

Horoscope: Libra ♎

Species: Glass Faerie/Mortal (Half-blood)

Height: 189 cm

Hair color: Purple/Indigo

Eye color: Sapphire blue

Gender/Pronouns: Female, She/Her

Sexuality: Bisexual

Dominant hand: Left

†•°•══════ஓ๑𓄿๑ஓ══════•°•†

╔══ஓ๑†๑ஓ══╗

Extra Information

╚══ஓ๑†๑ஓ══╝

Homeland: Queendom of Roses, Northern Isle

『 Family:

Florian Shard — Father

Vivian Marigold Shard — Mother

Grimhilde Shard — Grandmother †

Yona Von Monarch — Godmother 』

Dormitory: Pomefiore

School Year: 3rd Year

Class: 3-A (seat no. 25)

Club: None

Best class(es): Incantations, Alchemy, Political Debate

Worst class(es): Morality

Like(s): Pastries, chocolate, her best friend, fashion, sewing, embroidery, needlework, swordsmanship, singing, honing her magic, family, satisfying her ambition

Dislike(s): Her grandmother, Malleus Draconia, losing the position of Pomefiore's housewarden, Rook's needless praise, lack of order, unsatisfied ambition, rumors, iron

Hobbies: Sewing, embroidery, needlework, alchemy, handling political/household affairs in her parents' stead, swordsmanship, spending time with Zen, singing in Pomefiore's forests, tending to the forest's woodland creatures

Talent(s): Alchemy, poison immunity, observance, multilingual, swordsmanship, spellcasting, sewing, singing, dancing, political handling, manipulation

Flaw(s): Manipulative, perfectionistic, protective, over-ambitious, cold-hearted, blunt

†•°•══════ஓ๑𓄿๑ஓ══════•°•†

╔══ஓ๑†๑ஓ══╗

Personality

╚══ஓ๑†๑ஓ══╝

Quite the complicated relationship many have with Victoria, honestly. Some love her, some hate her, and some outright fear her.

Victoria wears an air of elegant — and even queenly — grace. But a pretty face can only do so much to make up for a personality as cold as hers.

She cares little for most of the individuals around her. Not unless they have something that she can use for her little plans to satisfy whatever's fueling her ambition.

And to do that, her manipulative ways come into play. And based on how many connections she has — not to mention the number of information she has on other people — it's safe to say that she is frighteningly good at what she does.

She got that from her repulsive grandmother, of course. The apple may not have fallen far from the tree, but Victoria wants to make sure that that apple will rot.

A woman as perfectionistic as her always has a way of getting what she wants, after all. However, one can't help but pity the poor souls that get in the way of her plans. Some say they never come back the same, or never come back at all.

Oh, but what can you do? Rumors like that will always get on her nerves. It's best not to speak ill of Victoria, for she claims to ‘see and hear everything’. And sometimes, it doesn't feel like a threat.

†•°•══════ஓ๑𓄿๑ஓ══════•°•†

Unique Magic: Mirror mirror(鏡よ鏡)

❦ An ability that allows its user to hypnotize others into speaking only the truth through eye contact.

The user's eyes will typically roll back, as the set within their sockets will slowly but surely turn into glass.

The user must say an incantation before making use of this ability.

That incantation being; “Pitiful you, for speaking such deceit, but the truth must come to light. Mirror mirror, dispel their deceit, and bring the truth to light.”

†•°•══════ஓ๑𓄿๑ஓ══════•°•†

╔══ஓ๑†๑ஓ══╗

Thoughts on them

╚══ஓ๑†๑ஓ══╝

“Victoria perplexes me, frankly. While true that she's beautiful, one can't help but feel unsettled by her acts of manipulation. I do my best to ensure that they're becoming less of a common occurrence, but alas, she always has her ways.”

— Vil Schoenheit, housewarden of Pomefiore

“Say what you will about Tori, but you can't deny that she's a great friend when she wants to be — the best, even! Wha- Don't give me that look, you don't know her like I do!”

— Zenith Devi, Victoria's childhood best friend

“.... I don't have much to say about her. Beautiful, yes. That much is certain. Unfortunately, beauty can't make up for her disdainful attitude towards me. I will say, however, she is quite...”

— Malleus Draconia, housewarden of Diasomnia

†•°•══════ஓ๑𓄿๑ஓ══════•°•†

╔══ஓ๑𓄿๑ஓ══╗

Additional Trivia

╚══ஓ๑𓄿๑ஓ══╝

✑ Main Theme: Look What You Made Me Do by Taylor Swift

✑ Backstory: 『 A broken mirror 』 • 『 That single lie 』

✑ OC Playlist: TBA

༝ㅤ･ㅤ˚ㅤ。ㅤ.ㅤ⋆ㅤ꒷꒦꒷꒦ ✧̣̩⋆̩☽⋆゜【♛】

♛ Before Vil had arrived in NRC, Victoria was well acquainted with the former housewarden of Pomefiore — and they had promised to gift her the title of housewarden.

♛ Of course, that didn't end up happening. To become the housewarden of Pomefiore, one must make the most poisonous of poisons. And, unfortunately, Vil ended up making one that was more effective than Victoria's — thus causing her to lose her chance of becoming the housewarden.

♛ In the present day, Victoria and the former housewarden are no longer in contact with each other. And this is attributed to Victoria's belief that turning Vil into the housewarden was a ‘betrayal’ of the promise they had made.

♛ The crown of Pomefiore was a crown Victoria never got to wear. And so, as a compromise, she made her own crown. A replica. One of glass. And sometimes, she'd lock herself in her room — wearing the crown — and think about what could've been hers.

♛ Not many know of this fact, but she has quite a fondness for sweets; specifically chocolate! Victoria thinks she hides it well, but it seems she'll never be able to hide the excitement in her eyes when she sees the opportunity to eat a chocolate-based pastry.

♛ Victoria is a three-time champion of The Swordsman Solstice — a competition that's known throughout Twisted Wonderland as ‘the longest sword fighting competition in history’.

♛ Everywhere she goes, she always brings a small sewing kit with her. Just in case she finds the time to sew or embroider anything.

♛ Because her parents are significant political players in the Queendom of Roses, they are not home that often. So, in their stead, Victoria's usually the one handling the household affairs. (Depending on the matter of conflict, she occasionally assists her parents in handling political affairs.)

♛ Bickering is a common occurrence between her and Malleus. Due to their family's not-so-good history, the two of them can't help but snarl and stare disdainfully at each other. It's usually recommended not to get too close if their bickering transitions into an argument.

♛ When it comes to swordsmanship, Victoria incorporates ballet in the way that she strikes and slashes with her blades. And in terms of skill? She's second to none.

♛ In total, Victoria can speak up to four languages fluently. English, Japanese, German, and Latin.

♛ Victoria has a high immunity to poison. But never ask her why she has such immunities. Just don't.

♛ Victoria claims to value the virtue of truth. And to do that, that implies that she's never once lied. But she did, once. When she was seventeen.

†•°•══════ஓ๑𓄿๑ஓ══════•°•†

Appearance

†•°•══════ஓ๑𓄿๑ஓ══════•°•†

Victoria's tags

#victoria shard • #『 vic ♢ 』 •

#♢/🪞 — the queen

#『 malleutoria 🪞 』 || #『 nororia ⚖️ 』

†•°•══════ஓ๑𓄿๑ஓ══════•°•†

[snarkwriteswrasslin]

"Vampire landlord" Do with that what you will :)

Ahhh! I love this and I love you for sending it! I think I have an answer for you now, actually!! Remember way back when you actually sent me Seeds Of Unrest and I did that whole Edge x OFC x Christian thing? Well, hello to Yvette, Edge and Christian again.. This is kind of a newer / fresher look at it? I think we kinda.. danced around these three and this at some point on Discord and our talks actually inspired me to write this out for your answer. So.. Yeah.

There’s not really anything steamy here, just uh.. Heavy tension. That’s all.

Warnings:

Nothing, really.. Bear in mind that this is a vampire!edge & wolf!omega original character work, so things might... possibly.. get weird. Not in the sexual sense or anything, but like.. yes. Just weird. IE... The brood is portrayed here as an actual family coven of vampires.. And Luna is in a partnership with Gangrel.. And they’ve taken Edge and Christian in as their sons.. So it’s very much also a found family idea that I’ve had in mind for a while but never the guts to truly write..

Oh, wait.. yeah.. There are heavy hints that Orton is involved in this little tale somewhere, sooner or later... And it ends on a bit of a random cliffhanger, sorry!!

Tagging:

@kyleoreillysknee​​​​​​

@rampagewriting​​​​​​

@writertoo18​​​​​​

@thatnerdwriter​​​​​​

@wrestlingismyguiltypleasure​​​​​​

@chasingeverybreakingwave​​​​​​

@waywardwrestlewritingwaif​​​​​​

@sassymox​​​​​​

@heelchampbucks​​​​​

@hungmanhorsecarriage​​​​​​

@wardl0w​​​​​​

@ryantaylorgirl​​​​​​

@dilfmoxley​​​​​​

@hotyeehawman​​

@gabbynorth98​​

@bec0m​​

@irish-newzealand-idian-dutch​​

@daddyslittlevillain​​

@andie01​

@littlemsbliss06

@jayswhites​

@ghoulsworld​​​​

@uncrownedmox​​​​​

@gothcerulli

@linziland13 

It was a little after 9 pm.

That feeling of unease hadn’t worn off. I kept telling myself that Randy wouldn’t dare cross over to the vampire side of town. But deep down, knowing how insane Randy could be at times… I couldn’t entirely convince myself he wouldn’t if he didn’t want something bad enough.

Three sharp raps at the door of the little house had me jumping at least two feet into the air and scrambling for an old wooden bat that leaned against the door.

Something Luna’s son brought over just when it started to get dark. 

I could almost hear the dry tone to his voice then as he’d told me “If you won’t take a gun or keep a silver blade on you…” when he left it behind earlier.

Tiptoeing towards the window, I found myself peering through cheery red curtains and out into the darkness. In the distance, I could hear a lone howl and that had me tensing all over. The air felt heavy.

I was doing it again, letting my own fears get to me.

“The Alphas of our kind don’t typically come here. He isn’t lurking in the shadows. I need to get a grip.” I muttered it to myself, mostly to break the tension.

The door was being knocked on harder now.

I squeezed my eyes shut, hand shaking so bad I barely kept a hold of the wooden bat as I stepped towards it.

Sniffing the air had my body relaxing only slightly. It wasn’t the pungent and overpowering aroma of Randal or any of his pack mates come to steal me away in the darkness and drag me back to hell kicking and screaming that awaited me on the other side of the door.

Instead, I smelled old leather. Traces of copper that indicated that the surly man with the long blond locks who stood on the stoop must have just returned from either the blood bank or scouring the woods that lined the edge of the town square for deer or any other sort of game he could find.

It’s how they fed, Luna told me once. She never told me why and I never asked.

“Edge?” I questioned, my back pressed as heavily as I could get against the front door to the house until I was absolutely sure it was him and I wasn’t picking up on residual from his visit earlier in the evening.

“Yeah.” he answered.

I turned to face the door and took a few long and deep breaths to pull myself together. The bat fell to the parquet flooring with a quiet thud that seemed to echo all around the room and I rose to tiptoe, peering through the small pane of glass at the top of the door.

I wasn’t taking any chances. 

I knew I was safer here than I was on my side of town, but… I also knew just how calculating and ruthless Randal could be when he set his sights on something and got an idea in his head. I knew that mimicking scents wasn’t below him. Neither was doing something to potentially harm Luna and her family, then using one of them to gain entry to the house I was currently hidden in.

If he really wanted to find me, a silly little thing like unspoken boundaries and code of conduct weren’t going to stop him. Not that he’d ever had a code of conduct to begin with. Or common decency, anything like that.

,,to be fair  it didn’t stop you when you chose to go into hiding here, did it? You’re really only as safe as you choose to believe you are at any given moment. You know you’re putting Luna and her family at risk simply by being here. You know that sooner or later, Randal will find you. He is a monster, after all.” the reminder came just as Edge knocked a few more times, impatient.

“Just a second.” I finally managed to get the words out. I reached for the door knob and unlocked that, then I unlocked all 3 of the chain locks on the door and opened it just a slip, standing in it.

Edge stared down at me, arms folded over his chest. His eyes settled on the fallen bat nearby and he gave a dry chuckle.

“Is there something wrong?” I tilted my head slightly to gaze up at him, shuffling my feet. 

My heart started to pound. I was all too well aware of the tension that radiated off of his body and I knew exactly why. Working with Luna meant I got to hear things now and then. One of those things being Edge’s struggle with going to donor blood or animal blood.

I don’t know why, exactly, but I found myself wondering whether my blood smelled weird to him. I’d been working with Luna for over a year now and I still hadn’t grown accustomed to the scent of her if I were being perfectly honest. And being on this side of town…

The scent of death. Old and new. It mingled heavily in the air.

I wasn’t used to it at all. I’m not sure I’ll ever be used to it.

Edge’s teeth snagged on his lower lip and he cleared his throat, again, a sign of impatience.

“Luna sent me over for tonight.” he explained as he nodded to the room behind me, indicating that he wanted to come inside. I swallowed hard and eyed him, shaking my head.

,, He’s not a threat to you… At least not in the way Randal would be right now.” the thought lingered and while I knew that, there was also this lingering air of danger and mystery that seemed to roll right off the man standing in front of me.

He left me unsettled.

I couldn’t figure out whether that was a good thing or a bad one, either…

After the tension seemed to get thicker to a point where I found myself breathing erratically, I stepped aside and let him into the living room. Edge shut the door behind him and sank down onto the sofa.

I sat down at the other end. Very careful not to invade his space.

The dim glow of the television set filled the room and silence seemed to settle in until he spoke up again.

“Luna had a bad feeling. Thinks you’re in danger.” Edge explained, almost immediately falling silent again. A thoughtful look on his face. I didn’t dare ask what was on his mind. I didn’t dare say what was on mine, either. But the thought was weighing down on me heavily.

,, Oh, I’m in danger alright.. In danger of crawling right out of my damn skin at any second because I can feel my heat beginning. Thank god I have my suppressant patches and I got away from my side of town in time...” just the mere thought had my face burning hot and I didn’t dare meet his gaze. I cleared my throat and spoke up.

I got the distinct feeling that I probably didn’t want to hear his answer, but I knew I had to ask. I had to know if Luna had been feeling off all day too.

“Did she happen to mention why, exactly?” I asked the question in a series of shaky breaths.

My heart pounded harder against my chest. My mind filled and spun with the possibilities. Had Randal and his pack mates found out where I currently hid?

Edge eyed me and shrugged. “All she told me was that she felt like you were in danger tonight.”

I couldn’t help but stare at him out of the corner of my eyes. Studying him intently, searching for any possible hint whether I’d just caused problems for Luna and her family. Edge’s chuckle drew me out of my thoughtful daze.

“What?”

“You. You do realize if we wanted you dead or if we wanted to turn you, you’d be one of us or  dead already, right?” Edge shrugged as he mentioned it.

I nodded. Dragging my hands through my hair, I spoke up quietly. 

“It’s not so much you guys as it is… The threat me being here poses to you all.” I fell silent, grumbling to myself and pouting a little when Edge nearly doubled over, laughter so hard that he shook a little.

He stopped and the laughter died away. His eyes roamed over me slowly. Carefully.

I tensed and gulped under his gaze. If I thought my cheeks burned hot before, they burned so much hotter now under the gaze. He was moving closer to me.

“You really think we can’t handle a pack of mangy animals?” Edge asked the question as he shook his head in amused disbelief.

“I didn’t mean it like that, I…” I stammered, nervous. Getting more nervous with each second that passed. Because he seemed to get closer.

Sitting taller.

My eyes left his and settled on his mouth. The faintest hint of blood at the corners of his mouth a very real warning of the danger he was to me.

But the animal within didn’t seem to care.

She felt amused. Satisfied. Curious. And oh so dangerously attracted to the vampire sitting to my left. ,, almost as equally attracted as she was to his brother, who’d come by earlier, right after he left the first time..”  the knowledge of this had me curious. Wondering what was up with that. Telling myself that it was probably just purely physical.. But knowing that was wrong because for whatever reason... I felt this.. Pull... to both men.

I realized that Edge wasn’t the only one moving closer around the same time that the side of my leg brushed against his and the door was being knocked on, yet again. Edge raised a finger to his lips and muttered quietly, “Shhh. Don’t move. Stay put.” as he got up and strode over towards the door.

I tensed even more.

Not that I’d ever fully felt the tension leave my body. Just changing… From one form of tension to another.

I watched that front door like my life depended on it, only letting out a few long and ragged breaths when Luna’s other son Cristian stepped into the room.

And while I may have relaxed slightly, I was still in control of myself enough to know that either way I sliced things currently, I was still in danger.

,, but you’re safer here in this little house on this side of town than you are on your own. Here, you have freedom. You’re not just some little breeder who is frowned upon because she stubbornly refuses to breed with the first Alpha to pay her a passing glance… ”  

If that Alpha had been anyone other than Randal Orton, I may well have caved in.

Cristian cleared his throat and flashed me that megawatt grin, immediately flopping down on the right end of the couch after walking into the living room. He sprawled out, an arm going around the back of the couch lazily.

“Looks like you’re stuck with two stiffs tonight, princess.” Cristian teased, giving me a playful little wink as he held my gaze for more than a few seconds. I couldn’t help but stare right back at the man.

Edge grumbled to himself but flopped down onto the other side of the couch. I tried to focus on the television, on anything but the… sheer magnets pull I felt to both brothers.

I could feel the two glaring daggers at each other over my head and on more than one occasion, I almost spoke up about it. 

“Blondie here thinks we’re afraid of a few little mangy mutt assholes, Cris.” Edge chuckled, a teasing look when those almost golden brown eyes locked on me. I shifted around in my spot between the two of them.

“I never said that.”

“You did. I mean, kind of.” Edge explained, chuckling in amusement.

I needed to catch my breath. Pull myself together. Cristian’s hand brushed against my shoulder and the touch felt like an icy jolt. His arm remained around me, pulling me into his side just a little more, brazenly.

Edge’s leg was pressed against the side of mine and that jolt only doubled. And if I thought Christian were being more brazen and the bigger flirt, I was mistaken, because Edge’s hand settled on my leg, giving a squeeze almost playfully.

 I pulled myself off the sofa and spoke up.

“Popcorn. I think I’m going to go get myself some from the kitchen… Yeah… that’s what I’m gonna do.”

And as soon as I said it, I hurried out of the room as fast as my feet would carry me. I needed to pull myself together. Catch my breath. I couldn’t even think straight between the two handsome men... And that in itself was a very, very dangerous thing right now.

[nayutai]

Bad Boy Bakery

↠ Pairing Yeosang x Female OC

↠ Genre fluffy dirty angst

↠ Word Count 11.806

↠ Warnings infidelity (kinda sorta), mutual pining, unprotected sex, oral (f receiving), foul language, crude jokes, fingering, tattooed yeosang, mentions of criminal activity

↠ Summary Yeosang has a storied past and most of it is documented at the local police station. That’s the past though. These days he’s too busy running a semi-successful bakery with his best friends. After securing an order for the engagement party of well-known socialite Ivy Maxwell, he thinks his business might finally be taking off. He may have bitten off more than he could chew though.

It’s decided. Yeosang is going back to jail. Why he thought hiring the seven other misfits he used to run with to work in his bakery was a good idea he’ll never know. Bad Boy Bakery was supposed to be his way to get his life back on the right track and all these heathens do is test him every single day. He does a quick mental calculation of how much money is stashed around his house and he’s positive he’s got enough to post bail for a simple assault charge, but then again they might try to make an example of him considering his impressive arrest record. With the way he’s being tested at this moment though, he’s willing to spend every penny if it means he gets to beat Mingi into oblivion.

“Mingi, I swear to God if you fuck up another batch of egg whites I’m going to shove that whisk in your ear and beat your brains.” He glares at the clumsy giant vigorously whisking a bowl full of egg whites that already look like they’re begging for mercy. They have to have a full dessert spread ready for an engagement party that’s taking place in less than six hours and Mingi has ruined more eggs than Yeosang is even comfortable counting.

“Man, shut up. I did three years upstate. My arms are too damn strong for this which is exactly why I told your dumb ass to do it.” Everybody groans out loud at having to hear that exact phrase for what has to be the millionth time.

“That was over a year ago and you haven’t lifted anything heavier than a bag of flour ever since. Give it a rest.” Wooyoung garners a round of hearty laughter at his dig, looking quite pleased with himself at successfully bashing his friend.

“I make up for it by jacking off five times a day instead of four now so my point still stands.”

“I hope you wash your hands just as much.” The group of tattooed bakers loudly express their disgust when Mingi gives them nothing but a devious grin in response. Mingi, on the other hand, is phased by neither his friends’ disgust not Yeosang’s bristling anger as he dumps his third attempt at the egg whites into the garbage. So much for third time’s the charm.

Yep, Yeosang is going back to jail. 

Ivy is resigned as she carefully sweeps her brush across both of her cheekbones. The glittery gold of the highlight powder left in its wake perfectly complements the rich sepia tone of her skin. She’s just as precise in the application of her lipstick. Slowly, but surely, painting her lips a deep purple. She sighs as she gives herself a final once over in her vanity mirror. The inky black curls that normally adorn her head like a crown have been forced into straightened submission indicative of her mother’s urge to impress the crowd of people that Ivy can already hear beginning to gather downstairs. Her left hands feels uncomfortably heavy as it has ever since this nightmare first began.

As if sensing her procrastination, Ivy’s mother Yvette comes striding into her daughter’s bedroom. It’s easy to tell how much she’s enjoying playing her mother of the bride role. She hasn’t stopped smiling since Ivy’s engagement to her long-time “boyfriend” was officially announced last month. Needless to say, she’s the only one finding any joy in this situation.

“Ivy, sweetie, hurry up and come downstairs. Everyone is waiting to see you.”

“Yeah, right.” Ivy scoffs in response. “They just want to see this.” Yvette frowns at the way Ivy glares in disdain at the stunning ring adorning her finger.

“Ivy Elaine Peters, you better get it to together right now. Keeping this family business afloat requires sacrifice and its your turn now stop moping and get your narrow ass downstairs.” Her mother disappears back out the door before Ivy can get in a word of her own. Not that it would have mattered. Her fate has been sealed for the past twenty four years.

She slips her feet into the black patent leather pumps still sitting pretty in the box on her canopy bed. The red soled beauties are sure to provide more status than comfort, but such is life. Ivy gives herself one final pep talk, smoothing out the imaginary wrinkles in her slip dress. She looks more like a fashionable mourner than a blushing bride but this is her silent protest. She’ll make her damn sacrifice but she’ll dig her heels in wherever she can.

Ivy quickly spots her fiancee Seokjin cracking jokes with a few of her cousins near the front door. He beams at her when he catches her eye across the room, breaking away to come greet her. Not for the first time, Ivy wonders why she couldn’t just fall in love with him to make this whole process easier. Their families have known each other longer than they’ve both been alive so they grew up as best friends. Plus, Seokjin is genuinely a great guy. He’s charismatic, kind, and attractive to the point of unfairness. She has no doubt that he’d make a fantastic husband for someone. She just wishes that she wasn’t that someone. The only positive is that Seokjin feels the exact same way. He loves Ivy to pieces in the most platonic way possible. She’s quite possibly the last person he would ever consider marrying, but business is business and this is a merger that must be made.

“You look absolutely stunning, Vee.” She smiles gratefully at his compliment as he bends slightly to kiss her on the cheek. A camera flashes somewhere off to her right so she makes sure to play her happiness up for the photographer. With the combined notoriety of their families, any pictures taken tonight are sure to be all over the local and regional news outlets by morning.

“I could say the same about you, Jinnie.” The tips of his ears turn red as they always do whenever anyone compliments him. Ivy giggles playfully when he ducks the hand reaching up to tweak on of them like she always does, choosing instead to square up like he’s ready for a fight. Oh, Jin, ever the entertainer. The numerous peals of laughter that erupt around the couple as they take turns jabbing at each other like children tells her that their antics are paying off.

The two imposters spend the night putting on one hell of a show. Anyone would be hard pressed to find someone that didn’t think they’re madly in love with one another. Their parents couldn’t be more ecstatic about this outcome if they tried. 

Everyone is seated at the lavishly decorated tables set up in the backyard as an army of waiters replaces empty entree plates with various cakes and tarts that look almost too delectable to eat. The cheesecake placed in front of Ivy looks nearly too beautiful to eat. Topped with fresh berries and drizzled in what smells like some sort of hazelnut sauce. She wishes she hadn’t left her cellphone upstairs so that she could take a quick picture of it for her instagram. When she finally gets over her reluctance, she take a small bite. A borderline pornographic moan escapes her lips, catching Jin way off guard.

“What the hell wa-” Ivy cuts him off by shoving a forkful of the cheesecake into his open mouth. He groans in pleased delight, attempting to go in with his own fork for another bite, but she quickly slaps his hand away.

“Let me taste yours. Bite for a bite.” She pretends not to notice him sneaking another bite of her cheesecake while she tastes the chocolate tart in front of him. A hint of red chili lends a kick that perfectly rounds out the sweetness of the chocolate and the fresh whipped cream the dessert is topped in.

“I don’t know what bakery they used but we need to get them to do the cake for the wedding.” Jin declares as he practically inhales the chocolate tart. He signals the waiter to bring them two more for them to try while Ivy hums in agreement at his side. She makes a mental note to ask her mother who was hired to do the desserts tomorrow as she happily digs into the coconut cream cake being set in front of her.

Yeosang stares in awe at the payment he’s just received for the engagement party they’d done three days ago. His bakery has been faring better than most businesses do in their first year but the deposit currently pending with the bank is going to go a long way in making sure it stays that way. They had even sent two grand more than the $1,800 that the contract had stipulated. Yeosang had called immediately to make sure it wasn’t an accounting error because the last thing he wants is to be accused of stealing, but he’d been informed by the woman who had arranged the deal that her employers had been so satisfied with the food they wanted to “tip” him. Rich people are different.

He leaves his small office to clean up a little while it’s slow. He had let everyone else go early since there were no big orders to work on and Tuesdays are notorious dead zones. The bell above the door tinkles lightly as he cleans some wayward chocolate curls out of one of the display cases, cursing to himself because he’d told Seonghwa that he put too many but of course no one listens to him. Doesn’t matter that he signs those lazy bastards’ pay checks every week.

“Hello, how can I help you?” The young woman before him fidgets with the tie on her wrap dress inadvertently drawing Yesoang’s gaze to the womanly curves she possesses. The emerald green of the fabric highlights the warm undertones of her skin in a way that should definitely be illegal.

“My mother’s assistant told me that you did the desserts for my engagement party last night.” Yeosang curses mentally as he finally takes notice of the skating rink sitting on her left ring finger. He misses most of what she says next but tunes back in just in time to hear her ask if he’s available to do her wedding cake as well.

“What’s the date?” He questions, all business now that more money is on the table.

“September 9th. It’s going to be at the old vineyard across town.” 

Yeosang nods in acknowledgment. He pencils her in and schedules a day in two weeks for her to come back with her fiancee to do a tasting and make final selections for the other desserts they’d like to have. Ivy is turning to leave when she catches sight of a full-sized version of the cheesecake she’d fallen in love with at the party.

“How much is that cheesecake?” 

Yeosang follows her outstretched index finger to the hazelnut berry cheesecake that he’d come up with. It had taken him ages to perfect but hasn’t really taken off like he thought it would. Nevertheless, he makes sure to put one in the display case every day and he’s glad that he did.

“It’s $6 per slice. Did you want one?”

“How much for the whole thing?” Yeosang notices that she has yet to take her eyes off of the dessert.

“I’ll do $35 for you, beautiful.” For a second, he thinks that he may have overstepped his boundaries but she simply reaches into her bra to pull out a flashy, black card. The credit limit on that thing would probably pay off the loan on his storefront and then some. 

He tries not to focus on how warm it is when she places it into his outstretched hand. He could’ve sworn that she intentionally let her fingers graze his own in a less than professional way. Yeosang shakes the thought away as that can only lead to trouble. He packs her cheesecake up while she signs the credit card receipt.

“Have a great day,” Yeosang pauses to look at the signature line of the receipt. “…Ivy.”

“Right back at you.” She winks at him playfully and sashays outside to her car. Yeosang’s eyes are trained on her until she’s seated in her seated in the black Audi he’s just now noticing was parked across the street.

Ivy calls Jin the second she steers her car back onto the road, waiting patiently for him to answer. She’s practically vibrating from the few minutes she’d spent with…fuck she’d forgotten to get his name but there is plenty of time for that. One thing she’s sure she’ll never forget is how hot he is. Ivy would’ve never guessed that she’d be attracted to someone with quite so many tattoos but on him they had looked like priceless works of art worthy of being placed in the Louvre.

“Hey, Vee, what’s up?”

“Two things. One, the bakery that did the desserts for the engagement party agreed to do the wedding.” Ivy curses at a slow driver that cuts her off at an intersection, losing her train of thought for a second.

“And the second thing?” Jin presses. 

“Oh, I’m going to fuck the owner.” A thrill shoots through as she imagines those tattooed hands roaming every inch of her skin. She shifts uncomfortably in her seat as her body reacts to her impure thoughts. 

“Absolutely love that for you. What’s his name?” Of course he asks her the one question that she doesn’t know the answer to. She rolls her eyes skyward as Jin starts talking shit when he realizes that she didn’t ask her new crush his name.

“I hate you.” She pouts as she turns onto her street. “We have a tasting scheduled for the 17th so I’ll ask him then. I’m almost home so I’ll text you later.”

“Smell ya later.” Oh what she’d give to flip him off right now. 

The smile on her face when Ivy walks inside her parents’ house is genuine despite the fact that she’s spent all day doing wedding preparations which normally leaves her in a foul mood. Her high spirits don’t go unnoticed by her mother who is in the backyard pruning her orchids.

“What’s got you so happy?”

“The bakery that did the desserts for the engagement party agreed to do the wedding too. Also,” Ivy lifts the box holding God’s favorite cheesecake in the air. “he gave me a deal on the cheesecake that we liked.”

“Are you serious? He said that he was booked up the entire week of your wedding.” Ivy is a bit taken aback as he had specifically told her that he would be available, but she shrugs it off.

“Maybe he had a cancellation. Do want some cheesecake? This is your only offer because I fully plan to eat the whole thing right now.” Her mother tosses her pruning shears back into the box she keeps them in and follows Ivy into the kitchen where they make quick work of the heavenly dessert.

“Yeosang you fucking dumbass. How are we supposed to do a wedding and an anniversary party in the same damn day? Explain it to me.” Yeosang almost flinches when Yunho yells at him. He can’t think of a time the man has ever raised his voice before now and he’s known him since they were three. Not one to accept disrespect, Yeosang would normally react with anger of his own but even he has to admit that thinking with his dick has put them all in a bind. A socialite wedding and an anniversary party with a guest list longer than his body on the same day is going to take a miracle to pull off. 

“Listen these rich people gave us two grand more than they were supposed to as a fucking tip. If they had asked me to get ass naked and let people eat pineapple rings off my dick I would’ve said yes.”

“She had big tits didn’t she?” Jongho typically stays out of their petty arguments but he knows bullshit when he hears it.

“Yes, but,” The room erupts into a cacophony of groans as they all simultaneously throw the closest object at hand Yeosang’s hand. Luckily for him he’s always been quick on his feet. “What’s done is done you fuckwads so get over it and start mixing. We still have orders to fill.”

All eight of them are covered in flour from their frantic baking when they hear the bell jingling up front. Hongjoong happens to be the only one able to immediately stop what he’s doing so he washes his hands and goes to attend to the customer. Yeosang nearly falls backwards off of his stool when he hears the voice of the woman that had put them in such a bind. Wooyoung and San exchange curious glances before they wipes their hands on the front of their aprons and head up front as well. Yeosang feels like his stomach is going to fall out of his ass as one by one they all abandon their posts. 

“Satan, why are you doing this to me?”

There’s no reason for him to stay in the back like a coward so he follows suit, wiping his hands and going to the front counter as well. They’re all squished together behind the counter trying to get as close to her as possible. Yeosang shoulders his way between Jongho and Seonghwa and he finally understands why they all look like lovestruck school boys. He finds himself looking just as dopey as his friends when she turns that megawatt smile on him. She’s dressed a lot more casually today in a pair of jeans that had to have been painted on and a plain white baby tee. The little jewel glittering in her belly button looks like its winking at him and he has the overwhelming urge to flick it with his tongue. 

“Another cheesecake?” He nods his head towards the box cradled in her hands. She looks sheepish at being caught out. Yeosang thinks it’s cute.

“In my defense, it’s tasty as hell.”

“Just make sure you tell everyone where you got it.” He winks at her playfully which was an incredibly bad idea. She sinks her teeth into her plump lower lip and he knows immediately that despite the massive rock on her finger he would still make a move on her. Time to leave before he does something stupid.

“Alright you lazy sacks of shit, back to work.” They protest just as he’d expected but he pushes them all back towards the kitchen, rolling his eyes as they try to resist him.

“Hey, wait!” Yeosang shouldn’t have turned around. He should’ve kept going as if he hadn’t even heard her, but no, he just has to have manners. She’s propped herself up against the counter that makes her breasts nearly pop out of the scoop neck line of her shirt. “What’s your name?”

“Yeosang.” She repeats it back to him, testing it out on her tongue. Her voice curls around the syllables lusciously and he could die right where he stood. At this point, he’s convinced that she’s made it her life’s mission to ruin him.

Ivy is quick to call Jin when she gets back to her car which seems to be the norm every time she goes to the bakery. She knows that he’s going to make fun of her for being so excited, but she can’t exactly tell her other friends about the hot, tattooed bakery owner that she plans to screw so she’ll suffer the consequences. At least now she actually knows his name so he can’t hold that over her head anymore.

The 17th has finally rolled around which means Ivy has another opportunity to draw Yeosang into her trap. Jin currently sits cross-legged on the bed in his guest room where Ivy had spent the previous night as she models her potential outfit for the day. The yellow slip dress has potential, but Jin isn’t totally impressed. He sends her back into the closet to try on one of her other options. She reappears in a fiery orange tank top tucked into a pair of lightly distressed white jeans.

“Your ass looks great in the jeans so that’s a definite yes, but I’m not really feeling this shirt.” Jin comments as Ivy does a slow turn in front of him. He crosses the room to his closet to help her go through the clothes she’d brought with her to see what her other options are. He eventually helps her settle on a simple black tank top that perfectly molds to the curves of a figure.

“Alright let’s go eat some cake and hopefully get your cakes smashed.” Jin remarks as he herds Ivy towards the door. 

When they arrive at the bakery, Yeosang has just finished putting out the tasting plates that he’d prepared. Jin is too focused on the fact that he gets to eat cake before lunch without anyone scolding him for it to notice the way that Yeosang’s face falls when he sees him walking in with Ivy. She doesn’t miss it though. Nevertheless, he reaches out to introduce himself.

“Yeosang. Nice to meet you.” Jin reciprocates his greeting before pulling out a chair for Ivy to sit down in. 

Things are all business from there on as Yeosang slides the first cake towards them and Ivy has never been more disappointed in her entire life. Gone is the Yeosang that called her beautiful and responded well to her flirting. She blames Jin. 

“So this first one is a spiced vanilla cake with a raspberry cream cheese frosting with a little orange zest.” Ivy is so focused on the way Yeosang’s lips are moving that Jin has to elbow her to bring her back to reality. She sheepishly accepts the fork that she hadn’t realized was being presented to her to taste the masterpiece in front of her. 

As they talk about what they like and don’t like about the cake, Yeosang hands them each a scoring cards to rank their favorites. Regardless of the way she feels about him on a personal level, Ivy has to admit that Yeosang is incredibly good at what he does. He was able to take her obsession with his cheesecake and come up with such interesting cake options. She’d been slightly concerned that he hand’t asked for her likes or dislikes in terms of taste, but as they move from cake to cake she realizes that he didn’t need to. Everything tastes amazing. It’s no surprise that each cake receives the highest score possible on their scoring cards. Deciding which one to go with is going to be hell.

“If you don’t let me have the spiced vanilla one we tried first I am calling off this engagement and marrying Yeosang instead of you.” Ivy stands corrected. Yeosang chuckles lowly at Jin’s enthusiasm and the throaty sound sends a shiver down her spine. It’s unfair just how effortlessly attractive he is.

“Okay folks, let’s talk decorations.” Yeosang reaches to his right, pulling a sketch pad from the empty chair next to him. His hand loosely grips a pencil as he waits for Ivy and Jin to throw some ideas at him. Ivy would prefer to throw herself at him instead, but someone how she manages to focus her brain on cake design.

Both Ivy and Jin agree on the fact that they want something simple, but beyond that they have clue what they want. Yeosang busts out a quick sketch of a three tier cake with fondant branches bearing dogwood flowers climbing the height of it. When he presents the rough drawing to them, Ivy immediately falls in love. Thankfully, Jin agrees because she was prepared to fight him over this. They spend a little while longer picking out other desserts for people who don’t want or can’t have cake, but all too soon Yeosang is watching the happy couple disappear from his shop. 

The six months until the wedding seem to blend together. Business has picked up significantly in the previous weeks which has been good for Yeosang in more ways than one. The extra cashflow has allowed him to get ahead on some bills while also giving everybody a bit of a raise. According to Seonghwa, who is primarily in charge of the front counter since accidentally slicing his hand open, a lot of the new customers have been big names in the community that are connected to Ivy or her family in one way or another. The woman in question often stops in for a cheesecake. She always asks to speak to Yeosang, claiming to have questions about the wedding though he gets the feeling that she really just wants to talk to him. Every day it gets harder and harder to resist her flirtatious advances. He refuses to be a casual fling for some bored rich girl no matter how much his dick begs him to. Especially one with rapidly approaching nuptials.

Yeosang has never been a very spiritual person, but when he gets the call that the anniversary party he’d scheduled Ivy’s wedding over had been cancelled due to the wife having the flu, he knows that some divine being is looking out for him. He had planned to do his best, but with only one more week left to prepare he was still very unsure of how he was going to pull off two events of that scale in one day. The husband Johnathan Tooney, current district attorney in the next county over, sounds shocked on the phone when he offers them a full refund despite the fact that his contracts states that customers are only entitled to a fifty percent refund of any money paid if the event is cancelled the week of. Most of his customers pay half upfront and the remaining half afterwards, but they had chosen to pay for everything up front. Something Yeosang had greatly appreciated as it was a $2,600 job. Ultimately, Mr. Tooney tells him not to as they intend to reschedule the party as soon as his wife is feeling better and would still like for him to provide the desserts they’d contracted for.

The guys are all equally relieved when Yeosang delivers the news of the anniversary party’s cancellation. Things are smooth sailing from there as they throw all of their focus and energy into making sure that everything will be ready for the wedding next weekend. Not surprisingly, Ivy doesn’t make an appearance in the bakery that week, but what is surprising is that Yeosang finds himself actually missing her presence. Despite his avoidance of all her flirting, he actually likes talking to Ivy whenever she comes in. She may be a bored rich girl but her mind is just as captivating as the rest of her.

On the day of the ceremony, Yeosang is uncharacteristically antsy. He’s not sure what it is but he can’t seem to sit still no matter what he does. He’s itching to get this day over with so Mingi can buy him the beer he owes him. Wooyoung scolds him for being distracted when he almost drops one of the cake tiers on his way to load it into one of the delivery vans. No one has to vocalize just how disastrous that would’ve been because they all know but missing an opportunity to call people out on their shit is just not in Wooyoung’s nature.

“Look, I know you’re feeling some type of way because your crush is marrying a pretty boy that’s not you but I’m going to need you to at least pretend that you still want to get paid for this job.” Yeosang nods in acknowledgment because while he doesn’t like being yelled at like a child even he knows that he’s got to get his shit together and quickly. 

“Notice how he didn’t deny his crush on cheesecake girl though.” San pipes up as he hops into the drivers seat of the van. Everyone snickers, switching to full on laughter when Yeosang flips them all off.

Thankfully, the reception goes off without a hitch. The wait staff helps set up the extensive dessert table to save on time and it comes out just as Yeosang had envisioned it. He snaps a few pictures for the bakery’s website before they leave venue. Ivy and Jin had extended invitations to Yeosang and his staff to stay for the reception, but they’d all politely declined. They’re on their way out of the service entrance when one of the girls on the wait staff runs out with two giant paper bags in her hands. Apparently, Ivy had included enough meals in her catering package to feed the vendors that would be in the building on her big day which coincidentally included Yeosang and his gang of merry bakers. They’re all taken aback by the thoughtfulness of the gesture as Yeosang accepts the bags from the staff member who quickly runs back inside the dining hall.

“Cheesecake girl is a fucking saint.” Mingi hardly ever garners emphatic agreement from the rest of his friend group but today is one of those rare occasions.

Business continues as normal following the wedding. Product is flying out of the display case. Catering orders are still coming in left and right. Ivy still stops in once a week for a cheesecake and to flirt with Yeosang. The guys still tease him for his crush on said married woman. Everything is normal.

Until it’s not.

Jin looks like freshly printed money when he strolls into Bad Boy Bakery for the first time since the cake tasting all those months ago. The silver band on his ring finger glitters even in the fluorescent lighting. Yeosang is finishing up his closing routine when he hears the bell and emerges from his office.

“Seokjin?” The manila folder clasped in the other man’s hands makes Yeosang nervous. The last time someone in a suit approached him with a manila folder he was being presented with a plea deal and ended up doing ten months in jail for assault and grand larceny.

“We need to talk. I’ll wait for you to finish up.” Jin takes a seat at an empty table and hums to himself as he waits for Yeosang to join him.

He doesn’t have to wait long for the young business owner to emerge from his office with his keys and a denim jacket in hand. The mischievous smile on Jin’s face makes him uneasy, but he’s no bitch. Yeosang steels his nerves and schools his facial expression into one of bland indifference. He arches an eyebrow when Jin slides the folder across the table and produces a pen from the breast pocket of his suit jacket. The folder may as well be a poisonous spider with the way Yeosang refuses to touch it. 

“Whatever you think it is, I promise it’s not that.” Yeosang stares Jin down for a few seconds, looking for anything at all that would suggest he should end this whole interaction right now. He doesn’t find it.

With a resigned sigh, Yeosang flips through the contents of an envelope. He shoots Jin a look when he realizes that he’s currently skimming over a nondisclosure agreement. It looks to be focused around Ivy and Jin’s marriage. The word arranged jumps out him a few times and his eyes nearly bug out of his head. The agreement is vague on the finer details but Yeosang is comfortable enough with what he’s read to quickly scrawl his name at the bottom of the last page. Jin signs his name as witness and neatly tucks everything back into the manila folder.

“Now that we have that out of the way.” Jin relaxes back into the chair and fiddles with his wedding band. “Ivy likes you. She’ll never admit that because she’s stubborn but she likes you and wants you fold her like a towel.”

“Wait, wait, wait, are you saying that your wife wants to have sex with me? How are you okay with this?” Yeosang has always loved forbidden fruit but ruining relationships was the old him. He doesn’t know what to do with this information. Furthermore, he can’t imagine being married to someone like Ivy and being okay with her sleeping with someone else.

“That’s where the NDA comes in.” Yeosang sits in stunned silence as Jin gives him the true behind the scenes story about he and Ivy’s marriage and it’s nothing like the best friends to lovers trope that they’ve fed to society. Well, he guesses the best friend part is true, but they’ve definitely never been anything close to lovers and never will be. They’re simply holding up their end of a decades-old business deal. According to Jin, he and Ivy have already devised a plan to be divorced in a year.

“So,” Yeosang is a bit unsure on how to proceed. This is uncharted territory. “what exactly are you saying to me?”

“Stop feeling bad about wanting to fuck Ivy and just do it. She’s driving me insane at home talking about how hot you are all the time and I can’t take it anymore. She’s out of cheesecake so she’ll be in here within the next couple of days so make your move. Discreetly.” 

Yeosang lays in bed that night still shocked at everything he’s learned today. His mind and body have been at war over what he believes to be right and what his body craves. He’d love nothing more than to worship Ivy from head to toe and before today it had been a pipe dream. Now that he’s been given the green light, he’s still conflicted. It feels too good to be true. But he plans to take full advantage of all the good that comes his way until shit decides to hit the fan.

Ivy gives herself a final once over in the mirror. Her outfit is simple. Just a black bodycon dress paired with a denim jacket and her red converse. According to Jin, she should look like she’s making an effort but not too much of one. She’s hoping that this will do the trick as she grabs for her keys and purse, stuffing her phone into the latter as she waits for the elevator to reach the ground floor. 

She wants to call Jin for some last minute encouragement on the way over, but he’s being a boring businessman today and is in the middle of a meeting. Ivy is totally on her own and she’s panicking. Hopefully, Yeosang finds her nervousness cute enough to overlook the awkwardness.

When Ivy enters the bakery, one of Yeosang’s friends is manning the counter. A gentle giant with a kind smile. She remembers that his name also starts with a Y like Yeosang’s but she can’t put her finger on exactly what it is.

“Hey, cheesecake girl!” Ivy rolls her eyes humorously at the nickname the other guys in the bakery have given her. She can’t help that the damned cheesecake tastes as good as it does. Before the wedding, she’d had to up her trips to the gym from zero to one just to make sure she’d  still be able to fit into her dress on her wedding day.

Her heart drops a little when she scans the display case but sees no sign of the dessert that her soul craves. Yunho laughs are disappointment before disappearing into the kitchen. He returns with a box, smiling at the way her eyes light up. 

“Yeosang is with the other guys on a job, but he said you’d be in today so he boxed it up before he left.” He slides the box across the glass countertop into her waiting hands. Ivy digs in her purse for her card to pay for the cheesecake, but Yunho is quick to stop her.

“This one’s on the house. Boss’ orders.” Ivy is a bit taken aback. Hand frozen in her purse. Yeosang makes sure that she always pays a discount rate for her cheesecake, but she’s never gotten one for free before. 

“Oh…okay. Well, have a good day.” 

It isn’t until she gets back to Jin’s place — well she guesses it’s her place now too — that she realizes why Yeosang had decided to pre-package her cheesecake this time. A phone number is scrawled on the inside of the lid with a quick message from Yeosang asking her to call him. She squeals as frantically scrambles to pull her phone from the recesses of her bag. Yunho had told her that Yeosang was out on a job so she texts him instead of calling so as not to disturb him. 

She is happily digging her fork into a second piece of cheesecake when Ivy randomly recalls something weird that Jin had said this morning when he left for work. She was still half asleep and barely human, but now here she sits at the dining room table replaying the strange sentence that her brain had decided to finally comprehend.

Don’t forget to call the baker.

Ivy hadn’t been in the right headspace to question it then, but now that the puzzle pieces are clicking into place, it’s becoming painfully obvious that Jin had something to do with the reason she’s anxiously checking her phone every five minutes. The part of her that wants to chase him with a butter sock is overridden by the much larger part that wants to thank him profusely for whatever it is that he did. Unlike Jin, Ivy doesn’t have a harem of men, women, and others lined up to satisfy her needs whenever he’s feeling inclined. 

She’s three episodes into a Cold Justice marathon when her phone rings, scaring the living daylights out of her. It’s Yeosang. Ivy’s eyes widen comically as she freaks out over what to do. She chugs the rum and coke she’d been nursing and picks up the call.

“Hello?” She cringes at how apprehensive she sounds even to her own ears.

“Hello, Ivy.” He sounds tired which has given his voice a gravelly edge to it that’s making her blood sing. “I saw your message and thought it would just be easier to call you.”

Ivy isn’t surprised in the slightest when Yeosang tells her about Jin’s visit to the bakery the night before. That’s a typical Jin move to jump the chain of command to accomplish a job. Yeosang doesn’t seem to bothered by the strangeness of it all. He seems more relieved that his guilt for lusting after a taken woman has been absolved if anything.

“This is a first for me so I’m not exactly sure what to do.” Yeosang trails off. He’s out of his element here. It goes without saying that there will be no romantic dinners at expensive restaurants or long walks to the beach.

“This is a first for me too, but you’re a hot baker that laughs at my stupid jokes and I like that.” His throaty laugh in response makes her chest swell with pride at 

“I still want to take you on a date though so I guess your place or mine?”

Yeosang is sweating bullets as he punches in the elevator code for the penthouse suite in the swanky high rise at the address Ivy had given him. In his Michael Jackson t-shirt, ripped jeans, and sneakers, he knows that he sticks out like a sore thumb, but thankfully no one in the lobby had vocalized that to his face. He adjusts his duffel bag on his shoulder as the elevator smoothly ascends to the top floor. He’s been ecstatic when Ivy had told him that she wanted him to come spend the weekend with her since Jin would be out of town on business. This is going to be the first time that he’s seen her in person since they agreed to their little arrangement and he’s nervous to say the least.

The doors silently reveal a posh sitting area as well a lacquered black door adorned with a silver “P”. Yeosang grins at the door mat just outside the door. It depicts a crudely drawn cat with both middle fingers upturned and the words “fuck off” written in a speech bubble. It looks just as out of place as he does and for whatever reason it makes him feel more at ease. He reaches out to press the doorbell but the door is yanked open before he even gets the chance.

“Jesus Christ you scared me!” If his hands weren’t full of groceries, Yeosang would’ve clutched at his rapidly beating heart. Ivy chuckles, pointing to a little black dot above the door.

“We have cameras.” 

She grabs for a few of the bags in his hands, but he twists and turns to block her efforts. Their childish antics continue until Yeosang has finally had enough. He crouches down until he’s able to wrap his arms around her thighs, delighting in her squeal when he successfully lifts her from the ground. Ivy swats at his shoulders, but the brute simply crosses the threshold, kicking the door shut with his foot before walking deeper into her home. This first “date” is off to a great start.

“So what’s on the agenda for today, Mr. Kang?” Ivy drums on the marble countertop enthusiastically as she watches Yeosang unpack the groceries he’d brought with him. 

“As much as I love a good paying customer, It’s time for you to learn how to make this cheesecake yourself.”

“You better hope I suck at it or I’ll put you out of business.”

“I don’t mind a little competition.” Yeosang smiles deviously. “Especially when the rivals look as pretty as you.”

Ivy feels her cheeks heat up in the face of such flirtation and she’s never been more thankful for the fact that her darker complexion hides the evidence of it. She’s come to know him well enough to know that he would definitely rib her for that.

As it turns out, Ivy is a natural born baker. Yeosang’s heart swells in his chest as he watches her sway her hips to the music she’d turned on as she stirs the berry compote on the stove. His chest bumps against her back as he steps up behind her and he swears he sees her shiver. He rests his head on her shoulder, covering his hand with hers and slows down the speed of her stirring.

“You have to be gentle with the berries, love.” At the sound of his voice so close to her ear, Ivy’s insides turn to goo. 

“Maybe I don’t want to be gentle.” Her words hit him square in the chest and he wants to respond in so many ways, but he settles for a chaste kiss on her temple. He’d briefly contemplated taking it slow with her, but they’ve been dancing around each other for nearly seven months at this point and there’s no point in prolonging the inevitable. The wanton desire is mutual on both sides but he wants to hear her beg. Wants her desperate and needy for him.

He eventually removes his hand from hers, choosing to instead hold onto her hips as he continues to coach her through the next steps. She’s so focused on keeping her berries from sticking that Yeosang is able to catch her off guard when he slips his hands inside her tank top to rest them against her bare skin. The gasp she lets out makes him smile deviously. His hands drift up from her lower stomach until his thumbs are brushing the lacy cups of her bra. It’s Yeosang’s turn to be caught off guard when she presses her ass firmly against his front. The way she subsequently swivels her hips is nearly his undoing, but Yeosang has a game plan and he intends to see it through.

“You’re a naughty girl, Ivy.” He lowers a hand to tug on the elastic waistband of the tiny shorts she’s wearing, letting it snap back in place. She hisses at the sting but, if the way her head lolls back onto his shoulder is any indication, she loved it. Yeosang slides his hand lower as if he’s going to cup her over her shorts only to completely remove himself from her.

He busies himself with other things around the kitchen but he can feel her glare on him the entire time. She grumbles something under her breath that sounds suspiciously like the words “teasing asshole” but he choose to ignore it. For now. 

Ivy is visibly on edge as she waits for Yeosang to touch her again, but he doesn’t make a single move to do so. He simply dances around her in the kitchen as they finish up their cheesecake preparation. It has to cool once they take it out of the oven so they migrate to the living room while they wait. The episode of Bones that Ivy been watching before he’d arrived is still paused on the tv so she restarts it and settles in next to Yeosang on the couch. She lets out a girlish squeal when he hauls her into his lap instead. He spreads her legs so that they straddle both of his, letting out a content sigh as he rests his chin on her shoulder. Arms wrapped securely around her waist. 

He waits until she’s engrossed in the episode. Certain that he’s going to keep his hands to himself. If he’d been able to see her face, he would’ve been able to see the devious grin as she devised a plan of her own. Ivy shifts her legs around until both of her feet are planted on the floor between Yeosang’s. She swivels her hips in the cradle of his lap, snickering at the groan he lets out. Two can play this teasing game. She grabs both of his hands in her own and lifts them to her breasts. Yeosang just lets them linger there. This is her show now and he wants to see her directing skills firsthand. 

With her physical encouragement, he pinches her erect nipples through the thin layers of her shirt and bra. The breathy sigh in response to his touch gives him a high that he can quickly see himself becoming addicted to. She ups the ante by dislodging his hands to remove her shirt and bra. She places his hands back on her chest, sighing once more at the feel of him kneading her breasts without any hindrances. Yeosang licks and sucks at the column of her neck. He’s careful not to leave any marks which he’s sure she’ll be appreciative of later. Her needs grows and grows until she’s craving more than what he’s giving her.

“Yeosang,” The way she half moans his name sounds like the sweetest melody. “Touch me.”

“I am touching you, baby girl.” She grunts in frustration. Looks like she’ll have to take matters into her own hands once more. 

Yeosang is shocked when Ivy suddenly rises to her feet. He’s more than confused as he watches her disappear down a hallway off to the right of the living room. His breath catches in his throat when her shorts suddenly fly back into view followed closely by a pair of panties that match the bra on the floor by his right foot. He nearly falls over in his haste to catch up to her. He finds her in the bedroom that she’d pointed out as hers when she’d given him a quick tour earlier. She’s reclined amongst the mountain of pillows circling her swollen clit with her middle finger as she fondles one of her breasts. Her mouth is slightly ajar from the pleasure and he swears that he’s never seen a sight more breathtaking. Yeosang swallows, trying to get his wits about him when she speaks and breaks him out of his daze. 

“Clothes off, babe.” His limbs are a blur as he rushes to follow her instructions. With every inch of skin he reveals, Ivy finds herself falling deeper and deeper into his trap. 

She’d seen the tattoos that covered his arms and the back of his right hand, but the Hebrew script running down his side is new to her and she makes a mental note to ask him what it says later. Right now she wants nothing more than for him to hold her down with his weight and make her his. Yeosang’s eyes are practically glued to her center so shiny from her arousal. He licks his lips at the thought of how good she probably tastes and the mere idea of having her on his tongue nearly consumes him.

Yeosang tugs on his hardened cock as he slowly walks towards the oversized bed. She’s mesmerized by the appendage standing proud between his legs. It’s not over long but he can barely get his own fist around it so she knows that the stretch will be phenomenal when he finally gets inside. He grabs her by both ankles and pulls her into the center of the bed so that she’s flat on her back. She squirms in anticipation as he crawls over her. Lips and hands caressing every inch of her skin that they can reach. She moans deep in her throat when he finally covers her lips with his own in their first ever kiss. Her fingers find purchase in his hair, holding him to her as they ravage each other. Each exhale from her lips traded for his.

Ivy is brought back to the task at hand when a needy thrust of Yeosang’s hips has the engorged head of his erection pressing against her clit. She bites down on his bottom lip at the sudden onslaught of pleasure, rolling her hips up to get more of the addictive friction.

“Gotta taste you. Want you to cum in my mouth.” Yeosang’s words don’t match up with his actions as he continues to peck her lips over and over again. Eager to discover if his tongue is just as talented as his hands, Ivy pulls away to gently push at his head until he gets the message.

The first swipe of his tongue on her soaked flesh is purely self-indulgent. He’s thrilled to discover that she tastes just as sweet as he thought she would. Like the nectar of a fresh honeydew. He sucks her clit into his mouth, biting down on it gently before swirling his tongue around it to soothe the ache. Her eyes roll into the back of her head and she can’t decide if she wants to run from or towards his mouth. She doesn’t get the chance to decide as Yeosang anchors her squirming hips to the bed with one of his arms. 

He teases her entrance with a single finger, smirking at the filthy curses falling from her lips as she begs him to make her cum. He gives her clit a particularly harsh suck as he sinks his finger in deep. Her breathing starts coming in quick pants when he adds a second finger and then a third. When she starts folding in on herself, he pulls his fingers from her dripping hole. Her suddenly empty hole clenches around nothing as she complains about being denied the orgasm she was dancing on the edge of.

Her complaints die on her tongue when she takes in the sight of Yeosang walking on his knees towards her. Ivy sits up and meets him halfway. She can taste herself on his tongue as their lips meet for the second time and it has a fresh tidal wave of arousal all but gushing from her. His waning self-control is evident in the way he turns her around to face her headboard, pushing on her shoulders until she’s face down in in the sheets.

She whimpers at the heavy smack he rains down on her ass. He groans at the way it bounces before he grips both cheeks in his hands, pulling them apart to get a proper view of her waiting entrance. Part of him wants to tease her some more, but he doesn’t have it in him to wait one more minute. She nearly sobs at the satisfying stretch of him sinking into her eager flesh in one smooth thrust. He grinds his hips against her ass, relishing in the way her walls are hugging him so tightly. She clenches around him, trying to draw him back in as he eases his hips back only to roughly thrust his length back into her. He repeats that action a few more times to open her up before finally breaking loose. 

All forms of speech beyond broken curse words and his name are lost to Ivy as Yeosang demolishes her. His pace builds till it’s almost frantic. It feels like his length is vibrating within her and she can feel her orgasm approaching quickly. She tries to warn him, but he is already well aware. He slows his hips down to a gentle roll and the change in pace has her seeing stars as he can now expertly target that sensitive spot deep within her. He reaches underneath her to rub circles in her clit and she’s lost. Black dots dance around across her vision as the pleasure threatens to completely drag her under. His hips never stop moving as he fucks her through it. The erratic clenching of her inner walls soon proves to be too much for him. He pulls out of her wet heat just in time to release his seed onto her back.

Ivy collapses onto her stomach. Exhausted beyond measure. Yeosang falls next to her breathing just as hard. He’s not going to lie and pretend that he hasn’t dived into more than his fair share of pussy, but that was easily the best sex he’s ever had. He can barely breathe but that doesn’t stop him from leaning over to press his lips against hers once more. Their chests are still heaving when they separate, choosing instead to lean his forehead against hers. 

“I can’t feel my legs.” She whispers on a breathless laugh. 

“Good thing I’m the king of aftercare.” He pecks her lips once more before crossing the room to her en suite bathroom to get a warm towel to clean her up with. By the time he returns, she’s fast asleep much to his surprise. Normally, Yeosang likes to end his trysts with a massage, but she’s sleeping so peacefully. He cleans up his mess before sliding back into the bed next to her as he pulls a spare blanket over them. 

Yeosang awakens the next morning to an empty bed and the smell of coffee brewing. A shower is definitely in order before he seeks out Ms. Ivy. He walks into the kitchen a little while later to find her cooking breakfast in his t-shirt. It’s so domestic that for a moment he forgets that she’s legally spoken for until her wedding ring catches the sunlight from the picture windows.

“Morning.” He whispers into her ear. She jumps at the sound, obviously not realizing that he was awake yet. She relaxes against him when he wraps his arms around her midsection.

“Good morning, handsome. I’m almost done if you wanna grab some plates.” Yeosang preens at the compliment, kissing her cheek an obnoxious amount of times before grabbing plates and some silverware.

The sound of their forks clinking against their plates as they eat fills the pleasant silence as the two adults make faces across the table at each other like children. Yeosang can’t remember the last time he was this comfortable with a woman he was seeing. For the millionth time since he woke up this morning, he finds himself resenting the fact that she’s married. 

“I can feel you staring.” Yeosang doesn’t bother looking up see Ivy’s facial expression at being caught as he rinses the last breakfast dish to put in the drying rack. “Spit it out before I get old and feeble.”

“What does the tattoo on your side say?” He looks up at her then, searching her face. Ivy is beginning to feel that she shouldn’t have said anything the longer Yeosang remains silent. He drys his hands on a towel, walking towards Ivy where she sits sprawled across one of the cushy armchairs in the living room. He lifts her only to set her back down in his lap.

“May you rescue us from the hand of every foe, ambush along the way, and from all manner of punishments that assemble to come to earth.” Yeosang absentmindedly strokes his fingers back and forth across Ivy’s bare thigh. “It’s part of a Hebrew prayer of protection that my mom made me get when she realized that her scolding was falling on deaf ears.”

Ivy can’t help but giggle as Yeosang enthusiastically re-enacts his mother’s words all those years ago. She’s seen the articles in the local magazines. They all tell the same story of a young street kid that found his calling and turned his life around, but words on a piece of paper doesn’t capture the nuance of who Kang Yeosang is. He doesn’t shy away from who he was. He embraces it with open arms. She listens intently as he tells the story that will never be found in any magazine. The story of how he successfully graduated from small-time dealing to running guns, drugs, and the occasional fine artifact when he was only twenty three.

“Would you do it differently if you had the chance?” Ivy picks at the hem of the Thriller he’d been wearing the day before as she awaits his answer. She’s admittedly shocked when he he gives an emphatic no. 

“It wasn’t exactly something I could put on my resume, but it set this part of my life into motion.” She leans her head into the crook of his neck. Lulled into comfortable security by the vibration of his vocal cords. “I learned how to run a business. Granted, it was illegal, but I baked my first cake in jail which is what ultimately led to me opening the bakery and then meeting you.” 

Time is a forgotten concept as they sit in the armchair sharing embarrassing childhood stories and fleeting kisses when they just can’t help themselves. That’s how Jin finds them. Giggling like teenagers that have finally earned closed door privileges. Yeosang freezes when he notices Jin’s still unsure how to act around him. Ivy on the other hand is excited to welcome her best friend back home. 

“Jinnie!” She hops up to give him a quick hug and peck on the cheek before returning to her perch on Yeosang’s lap. Awkwardness is radiating off of the man beneath her in near tangible waves. He visibly relaxes when Ivy buries her fingers in the hair at the back of his head to scratch at his scalp.

“I missed you too, Vee. Good to see you again, Mr. Kang.” Jin winks conspiratorially at Yeosang as he cracks open the bottle of water he’d snagged from the refrigerator. “Take good care of my wife.” He adds as a parting shot on his way down the hall to his bedroom which sends Ivy into a fit of curses. Yeosang finds himself cracking a smile at the sound of Jin’s laughter somewhere down the hall.

It’s not the most conventional situation by any means, but Yeosang feels like he can make this work. He glances down at the grumbling woman in his arms. Yeah, he can definitely make this work.

Yeosang is elbow deep in bread dough for a new recipe he’s working on when he hears his phone ringing where he’d left it on the charger in his bedroom. He’s supposed to be heading to Ivy’s later tonight and he’s hoping to have her taste test his new bread when he gets there, meaning he can have no interruptions so he lets his phone go to voicemail. His phone rings again, but this time the song it plays catches his attention. The Alina Baraz song he’d set for Ivy’s ringtone drifts down the hallway. He instantly cracks a smile at the thought of the woman on the other end of that phone call. Passing up an opportunity to hear her voice is beyond Yeosang’s capabilities so he extracts himself from the dough, making a mad dash for the ringing device.

“Hey, babe.” She sniffles in his ear and all of his sense are suddenly on high alert. In all of the months since they started dating he can’t recall her crying. Ever. She’s just too happy. His mind runs through a myriad of horrible possibilities like film cuts. “Ivy, talk to me. What’s wrong?”

“I need you.” Yeosang has absolutely no idea what’s going on but his heart feels like it’s being ripped in two at the sound of her crying. He pulls his phone away from his ear when it pings. He has to swallow to keep himself together when he sees that Ivy has sent him her location. 

“I’m on my way, baby. I’m coming.”

The other cars on the road look like blurs as Yeosang weaves between and around them at break neck speed. The hospital that Ivy is at is supposed to be a twenty seven minute drive according to google maps, but Yeosang is parking his mustang exactly sixteen minutes later. He’s honestly surprised that he wasn’t pulled over on the way, but his euphoric disbelief is short-lived as he dashes towards the front doors of the hospital. 

“Can I help you?” The woman manning the front looks at Yeosang with a barely concealed air of distaste. He follows her eyes to his tattooed arms on display in the short sleeved shirt he’s wearing. He’s still pretty much covered in flour from his bread making and he can tell that she doesn’t think much of him. Normally, he would make an attempt to assuage people like her and show that tattoos don’t make the man, but he doesn’t have time for that.

“I’m looking for Ivy Kim.”

“I can neither confirm nor deny whether or not we have someone here by that name.”

“Listen, lady if you-” Yeosang is on the verge of falling into the trap of the old wench’s bias when he hears his name being called. He turns his head to see Jin waving him over from where he’s holding the elevator doors open. He flips the old lady off, delighting in her scandalized gasp as he jogs towards the bay of elevators.

Now that he’s closer, Yeosang notices the cuts and bruises that litter his friend’s face. He looks like he’s been beat pretty good, but he brushes off any questions about what happened. Yeosang is on the verge of choking on his nerves as he follows Jin off of the elevator to room 437.

“I’m going to get some coffee. You guys need to talk.” Jin claps Yeosang on the shoulder once as he goes back the way they came. 

He’d risked life and limb to get here, but now he’s afraid to take one more step. He has no idea what’s going on, but he can feel it in his bones that nothing will be the same once he steps through this door. Yeosang’s phone vibrates just then with a notification from the Nike app about some stuff he left in his cart. The little nike swoosh on his phone screen feels like a divine sign for him to stop being such a pussy and go in the room. 

Seeing Ivy curled into a ball in the middle of the hospital bed is nearly his undoing. The tears steadily streaming down her face catch the light from the hallway when she turns her head to see who it is. A sob racks her figure as she reaches for him. Yeosang shuts the door, plunging the room back into darkness as he rushes to her side. He’s not used to her looking this fragile and it’s killing him. He kicks his shoes off and climbs into the bed next to her, careful not to jostle the IV needle in her arm. She leans into his touch as he brushes her hair away from her face. The fabric of his shirt is no match for the barrage of tears that Ivy dumps on it. He lets her cry until she has nothing left. For a moment he thinks that she’s fallen asleep, but she whispers something against the skin of his neck. Her voice is so low that he can’t make it out even with her lips being mere inches from his hair.

“You’ve gotta speak up for me, love.” This time when she speaks, he hears her loud and clear.

“I lost our baby.” 

He can hear her saying something about a car accident and blood, but her words don’t register in his brain. Yeosang feels like the ground has opened up beneath him, but he’s not falling. Simply hovering, drifting in the void. He hadn’t even known she was pregnant and that’s definitely something Ivy would have told him so he’s guessing that she didn’t know either. Visions of a tiny child with her doe-like eyes and his nose flash across his minds eye. Yeosang has never given much thought to being a father, but knowing that he’d created a child with Ivy only for them to be ripped away like this is tearing him apart. He holds her impossibly close, trying to anchor himself to reality. Tears are flowing down his own face as he attempts to process what they’ve lost. 

“This is all my fault.” The guilt in her voice is nearly palpable. Yeosang cups her face in his hands to force her to look him in the eye. 

“You did nothing wrong, Ivy. Get that thought out of you head right now, do you hear me?” Ivy nods her head slowly but Yeosang is not naive. No matter what he says, it’s going to take a while before she actually believes the truth in his words. 

Jin hates to interrupt them. He loathes it, but life is cruel and Ivy’s parents just texted him that they just parked their car and are on their way inside. His feet feel heavy as he treks back down the hallway. He pokes his head into the dark room and winces at the muffled sound of them crying together. 

“I’m so sorry guys, but Ivy’s parents are on their way up.” Yeosang gets the urge to laugh despite the fact that absolutely nothing is funny. This is just adding insult to injury.

Ivy clings to him like a koala when he tries to stand and he’s got half a mind to say fuck the consequences and stay. That wouldn’t be fair to Jin though. He harbors no ill will towards the man even though he’s living the life he wants so for his sake, he extricates himself from Ivy’s grasp to put his shoes on. Her bottom lip quivers dangerously as he leans down to softly kiss her forehead. Jin pulls Yeosang into a hug before he can walk past him and it takes a herculean effort for Yeosang to keep it together. His heart aches with every step he takes towards the exit stairs. It feels like someone is taking a jackhammer to his chest.

He leans his head back against the headrest when he finally reaches his car. A pained yell bursts from his throat before he can even think of trying to stop it. His horn beeps erratically as he pounds at his steering wheel in anger. Yeosang has been through hell in his twenty six years on Earth and yet, he can’t recall a time when he’s ever felt this much mental anguish and despair. Part of him wishes that he’d never stopped slinging coke and running the streets because he’d have never met Ivy and thus would’ve never experienced this. He hates that thought the second it materializes.

The shrill ringing of an old school phone that Yunho had insisted on having as his ringtone breaks through his misery. Yeosang has no desire to utter a word to anyone other than Ivy but Yunho is a persistent bastard. He’ll just keep calling until he gets an answer. He clears his throat and hopes that his childhood best friend is having an off day with those damn spidey senses of is.

“Hello?”

“Dude, have you been crying? No wonder my spirit is unsettled. The fuck is going on?” So much for eluding Yunho’s questions. Yeosang huffs out a shaky breath. He’s not even sure he’s even fully grasped what’s going on himself. He can hear the sound of keys jingling on Yunho’s end.

“Listen, I’m gonna go buy an obnoxious amount of alcohol and then I’m coming over to you place. See you in twenty.” Yunho doesn’t wait for a response, hanging up the phone with a sense of finality. 

True to his word, Yunho’s car is parked in front of his building when Yeosang makes it home. His car is empty, so he’s guessing that he must have used his key and gone inside already. He’s not surprised to find Yunho nursing a beer on his couch as he scrolls through something on his phone. His eyes widen slightly as he takes in Yeosang’s haggard appearance. He knows he looks like shit so Yunho’s reaction isn’t unexpected.

It’s nearly three in the morning when they finally crash. Yunho is passed out in the guest room but sleep evades him despite the multiple beers swirling through his system. If he was sober, he probably wouldn’t make this decision, but he’s far from it so he reaches for his phone to FaceTime Ivy. The second her face replaces his on the screen, Yeosang immediately feels like he can breathe again. He’d been avoiding the feeling before now, but after everything that’s happened in the last twenty four hours? He’s tired of beating around the bush.

“I love you, Ivy.” The smile that spreads across her tired face brings Yeosang so much joy. There’s no telling how long it’s been since she’s graced the world with one of her radiant smiles. He takes it as a victory that he was the one to bring that out of her. 

“I love you too, Yeosang.”

[oodlyenough]

borderlands (or just tales if the borderlands series is too broad!) for the fandom questions :>

Ok I already did Borderlands main series so here’s TFTBL edition!

Favorite character: God this goes back and forth, Fiona-Sasha-Rhys are neck at neck truly... but at the end of the day I go with Sasha because I think she needs my support the most so I have declared myself #1 stan. :P (Rhys definitely needs it the least. Screw that guy.) 

Least Favorite character: lmao honestly everyone in Tales brings me some measure of entertainment ngl. But no love lost with Scooter’s death really. Stop hitting on Fiona she’s gay.

5 Favorite ships (canon or non-canon): Ngl everything’s like a distant second to Rhys/Sasha for me lmao... but then Fiona/Athena, Fiona/Yvette. I can’t really name any others without tossing in some main series characters, so I also like Rhys/Tim and, while we’re naming characters who’ve never interacted, Sasha/Amara. (Someone who grew up on the streets and Fights for Justice with her guns and, uh, her guns??? Sasha would be her #1 stan. If Rhys and Fiona get to crush on a vault hunter so does Sasha.)

Character I find most attractive: Stupid sexy Fiona 

Character I would marry: Sasha 💖 (I feel like Fiona would want too exciting a lifestyle for me, lol.)

Character I would be best friends with: I feel like Fiona would be hilarious. She would bring out all my meanest qualities, lmao. 

a random thought:

An unpopular opinion: Trust Fiona/Reject Hyperion is the superior route. ESPECIALLY reject Hyperion. Like I can see how [trust Jack] makes a good arc but rule isn’t even narratively satisfying or anything. I love [reject] Rhys but [rule] Rhys can choke. 

My Canon OTP: Rhys/Sasha!

My Non-canon OTP: Fiona/Athena they coulda been great if Janey were not an obstacle. 

Most Badass Character: Clearly Athena. No contest. Hands down. Not even close. 

Most Epic Villain: AI Jack was fun as hell and I loved killing him

Pairing I am not a fan of: Rhys/Jack 

Character I feel the writers screwed up (in one way or another): I mean if you stretch it to Bl3 definitely Vaughn’s weird mental break lmfao. 

Favourite Friendship: Rhys and Fiona! But I liked Rhys and Vaughn too, their friendship was the first thing that remotely endeared me to either of them. 

Character I most identify with: None of them really, every meme wants to know this but this just isn’t how I interact with fiction, I identified with a character one (1) time and I hated it and stopped watching the show lmfao. Maybe Rhys bc he seems like he had a pretty cushy life and I am also pretty privileged compared to everyone on Pandora.

Character I wish I could be: Sasha’s so cool man

[helenofsimblr]

Yvette suddenly grabbed the man off the floor by his throat with a strength she had never felt before, despite being so beaten, so hungry… so abused, it was effortless for her. It felt good. 

Judith: Good! Good! Let the rage flow through you!

As if Yvette needed telling that. She knew what to do, instinctively, the smell of the man and his blood gave her no doubts about what to do next…

***

Yvette moved to the wall still clutching the throat of the poor helpless guy. Judith could not help but clap and cheer quietly. There was no hesitation in Yvette, she felt nothing for this man, for his plight… nothing. All she could think about, was quenching this damned thirst, whatever it took. She had to satisfy it. She had to make it stop, she couldn’t take no more.

***

The man was pinned to the wall, and she sank her fangs into his neck. The man yelped in pain and tried to push or hit her, but she grabbed his right arm and easily pinned it right back to the wall.

Man: No!… please… arghh!!

The blood flowed into her mouth, it tasted so good, indescribably so! With every gulp she felt better but she wanted more and more… she would have to take more. 

[loveinthekeyofx]

Seeking Lovestruck RP Partners

Hi there all you amazing people! I was wondering if there were any Lovestruck RPers among my incredible followers and mutuals? You see, in my never-ending quest to satisfy my longing for Helena Klein, I'm hoping to find someone who would enjoy playing Our Lady of Sorcery and Mental Healing in an AU setting (Helena's world or ours, I'm not picky).

In return, I will happily play the female LI of your choice in a separate RP.

I do my best to read all the wlw routes, so I have some familiarity with them all, but I feel I'm strongest RPing Xenia, Cecelia, Yvette and, of course, Helena (FYI: playing Helena in return for getting Helena would be friggen awesome!!!! ).

My wheelhouse LI’s not withstanding, I can take on nearly any other female LI (I am awful at tsundere so Runa is a no :hangs head: sorry) if you can forgive me for being a little rough at first. I may also ask for a bit of time to re-read the route and take some notes, ask you for your headcanons, etc.. Yes, I’m that serious about giving you the best RP I can. 👍

 One important caveat: my MC is a bigger gal (yes, that means she's fat 😉).

 So if you're interested in RP and can get behind playing a chubby-chaser Helena (or a Helena that falls for brains before body and fun fact: I have some solid headcanon reasons why both are possible), do DM me, and we'll chat further. Thanks for your time! :blush: