#and a couple that are getting to be within range of that potential

[byanyan]

byan finally getting comfortable enough with someone that they'll let that person take care of them and even go to them for care any time they're sick/hurt/not in a good place mentally/etc. is such a fucking dynamic goal tbh

[jinusajas]

12/03/24: 04:45pm

lovesick!sung jinwoo x fem.reader

notes: loosely based on the hallmark movie drew gooden was watching and reviewing titled timeless love.

warnings: unedited; canon divergent to fit with this oneshot's storyline; potentially ooc; dark content; obsessive behavior; read at your own caution.

alternate title: your heart belongs to me.

sunlight streams through the open windows, painting the bedroom in brilliant hues of gold. dawn had long since morphed into morning, rousing a once sleeping couple back to consciousness.

the husband was the first to awaken, stretching out his limbs as a yawn escapes from his parted lips. wiping the sleep from his eyes, he trails his stormy grey eyes toward the form settled achingly close to him.

pulling down the comforter, he reveals your sleeping figure with your head buried within his chest. letting out a grunt of approval, he gently delves his fingers into your hair, massaging at your scalp, already grinning the moment you began to awaken.

he was the first to notice the smile that was beginning to spread across your features, basking in your sleepy giggles when he continues massaging at your scalp. "h-hey, if you keep doing that, i'll end up spending the whole day in bed."

jinwoo simply lets out a rich chuckle in response, allowing the tip of his nose to nuzzle against yours, eyes filled with adoration for you, "well, maybe that's what i want to do... keep you here in bed with me for the rest of the day-"

he stops speaking, eyes now turning affectionate at the pitter patter of footsteps quickly approaching your shared bedroom. already accustomed to such sounds, you sit up in bed, already anticipating their arrival when your kids, min-jun and sera, rush into your room.

hearing his children's laughter fills his chest with joy, allowing his son and daughter to jump on his bed, eyes already regarding the way his kids cling to their mother. he rests his cheek against the palm of his hand, admiring the way you pressed kisses against both of their tiny cheeks.

"hey, you guys are making me jealous over here."

sera was the first to move away from you, grey eyes lighting up when she suddenly lunges at him, "papa!"

welcoming his little girl in his embrace, he gives her a series of kisses as well, only stopping when min-jun comes closer to him as well, "dad, i'm getting hungry, can you make breakfast?" sera's eyes light up at the thought of having breakfast soon, with her nodding her head in agreement to her brother's words.

"well, who am i to deny my children's needs?" jinwoo was grinning down at his kids, "how's this for a plan: why don't you and your little sister brush your teeth and wash your face while your mother and i prepare breakfast?"

"yay!" both of his kids immediately rush away from him, giving him a private moment with you. just as you got out of bed, jinwoo wraps his arms around your waist, managing to capture your lips in a sweet kiss while basking in your soft giggles.

"behave, i need to take a shower real quick, then i'll join you in the kitchen." letting out a groan of your name, jinwoo allows you to escape from his loose embrace, not moving from his spot in bed until you disappear into your shared bathroom and locked it.

running a hand through his hair, making them even messier while letting out a yawn. he gets out of bed, remaking it as he places the sheets and comforter in place, adding the finishing touches by fluffing up the pillows and settling them against the headboard.

making his way towards the kitchen, he makes sure to make a fresh batch of cooked rice before making the rest of his side dishes ranging from his famous omelettes with sausages and a side of kimchi. with the table all set, jinwoo calls out to his beloved family.

"min-jun, sera! breakfast is ready!"

he strains his ears, trying to detect any sounds of pounding footsteps. yet... when all he hears was dead silence, concern began coursing through his veins. rushing out of the kitchen, he calls out their names again, voice cracking when he cries out to you-

only to receive the same, deafening silence in response.

the room was felt spinning around him, making him stumble before falling to his knees. his eyes look straight into the digital clock settled in front of him, the time reading 0800 as an incessant beeping sound breaks jinwoo out of his reveries-

"BOSS!!"

sung jinwoo wakes up with a start, covered in a thin sheen of sweat, his heart pounding in tune to the heart monitor his body was connected to. no tubes or wires covered his mouth as jinwoo takes in a deep breath to help with steadying his heart.

"boss, are you okay?! you've been out of it for a while now! i was so worried about you-" from beside him, jinho continues on with his concerned rambles as he looks away from him to see the familiar blue screen of the system:

[ player sung jinwoo's slumber has lasted for 21 days and 8 hours... ]

"where's min-jun and sera?" jinwoo asks in a hoarse tone, making jinho furrow his brows at him. "what? who are they?"

"tch, they're my kids." jinwoo was glaring at jinho, as if silently scolding him for his ignorance. "and my wife-" yet the moment he says your name, jinho's expression remains confused.

"boss, i hate to break it to you, but- you're not married at all. you've been single the whole time that i've known you."

"that's-" yet jinwoo's words were cut off the moment a nurse enters his room. she sees him sitting up in bed while pressing down on her communication device, "dr. choi, patient sung jinwoo has just awakened, come to unit d501, quick!"

jinho was immediately rushed out of the room, and the young hunter finds himself surrounded by a plethora of medical staff-

without a single sign of you in sight.

{ ... }

the weeks pass by in a blur, with his sister helping him back home. she keeps a steady hand behind his back, rubbing comforting circles behind his back, "oppa, are you alright?"

lifeless grey eyes meet with his sister's concerned gaze, making him force a smile as he gently ruffles her hair. "yeah, i'm alright."

he continues the trek back to his and jinah's shared apartment, thinking back on the events that had happened so far (according to jinho's recollection).

apparently, they had entered a dungeon together, and jinho had simply witnessed him taking on hundreds of enemies. jinwoo vaguely recalls how the system had ordered him to take out at least a hundred enemies within the span of an hour and how he had fought tirelessly against them with a single dagger-

only to feel something sharp pierce him at the back of his head, successfully rendering him unconscious.

that single attack was enough to knock jinwoo out for a total of three weeks-

within the span of those three weeks, he had dreamt of living a blissful and happy life with you-

but now that he was awake, he had long since lost such feelings of happiness.

"you know..." jinah's voice breaks him out of his momentary reveries, "jinho told me what happened, and he said that you... you wished to see your kids-"

"i'd rather not talk about it." jinwoo grits his teeth in response, hurriedly pulling up the hood of his jacket to help with hiding his expression from his sister. it wasn't like he wanted to remain so closed off from jinah-

it was the sheer fact that acknowledging how it was never real put an even deeper hole within his chest.

detecting the pain in his voice, jinah simply nods, walking beside her brother while softly sighing to herself. somehow, she knew that whatever jinwoo had went through truly took a toll on not only his mental health-

but his heart as well.

{ ... }

jinwoo felt guilty for remaining so closed off with his sister that he decided to cook her favorite meal later that night. while eating, he saw his sister trembling in her seat, eyes filling with tears before admitting to him, "w-when i saw you sleeping so deeply, like you were trapped in a glass coffin, i was so afraid that i would lose you- just like with mom a-and dad."

his heart twists even further upon hearing her admission, making jinwoo stand from his seat. he takes jinah's trembling form within his embrace, delving his fingers into her hair, "ssssh, i won't ever leave you... and i'm so sorry for making you wait for so long."

jinah sniffles and gives him a nod, "y-yeah, but, when you were still sleeping... jinho stopped by and helped a lot. he stayed by your side and gave me updates, s-so..." as his sister trails off, jinwoo felt a strange sense of relief at the thought of jinho helping his sister.

making sure that jinah was well fed, jinwoo makes sure to send her off to bed at a reasonable time for school. with all the dishes cleaned, jinwoo heads back to his room before taking out his phone. his gaze remains expressionless when he searches through the device while typing in a single name.

{ ... }

jinwoo and jinho were settled within ahjin guild's new building, with jinho looking over the thick notebook that held an almost frightening amount of notes pertaining to his boss's so-called dreamwife.

"this is the reason why you won't let hunter cha join our guild?" jinho looks away from the pages to meet jinwoo's gaze as he sipped on a cup of instant coffee. "yes, because i am already a married man and don't wish to have any distractions."

"does she know she's married to you?" jinho wasn't brave enough to flat out tell jinwoo how insane all of this was, since he still held him in high regard. after all, he knew that if it wasn't for jinwoo, then he wouldn't have had much success in kickstarting his own guild.

which was why he kept his own personal musings to himself, still doing his best to support the man he saw as his big brother despite it all.

"not yet." jinwoo glares down at his cup of coffee, "it's just... i know it's crazy, but you don't know what it's like to be in a coma for that long while experiencing something so vivid."

focusing his gaze on the dark liquid, jinwoo continues to reminisce about his dreams, "in my dreams, she was so real to me. her smile, her laughter, and the way she made me feel- every single thing about her has been imprinted on my soul."

finally meeting jinho's gaze, he gestures toward the filled notebook, "those pages contain every little detail that i know about her. from her favorite color to her favorite foods, to even her favorite books and movies- everything was written based on my memory of that dream."

jinho heaves out a little sigh before closing the notebooks all while sliding it back to jinwoo from across the coffee table. "you're right in saying that it is crazy, however, i'm stupid enough to follow with your whims and support you, boss."

{ ... }

jinwoo had a meeting to attend with the chairman, which was what brought him back to the hunter's association. he vaguely recalls go gunhee mentioning a new healer that would be transferring to seoul, and how he responded in a polite manner, doing his best to hide his disinterest.

when he steps out of the chairman's office, he nearly runs into someone, clicking his tongue as he wrapped his arms around the unknown person to keep them from falling to the ground.

"are you alright?" jinwoo asks, only for his eyes to go wide upon seeing a familiar head of hair.

"sorry, i got a l-little lost, is this the chairman's office?"

it was at that moment that jinwoo felt his heart cease its beat-

for he had finally found you.

{ ... }

heat was felt settled on your cheeks the moment you came face to face with sung jinwoo.

and gods above, he was far lovelier than you could have ever dreamt of. despite coming from a different country, you remained achingly aware of how a single hunter from south korea rose to the ranks, losing his former title of being the weakest in the world when he became korea's 10nth s-ranker.

in every candid shot you had seen of sung jinwoo, he appeared goofy yet incredibly cute at the same time. sure, you acknowledged his attractiveness on screen-

but nothing could prepare you when it came to finally meeting him face-to-face.

his boyish features were now amplified, with jinwoo standing well above you with his lanky frame. you take in the sight of his crooked smile and how his beauty seemed to be further accentuated by the sight of his sharp jawline.

you kept gawking at him for a few more seconds before quickly snapping out of it with a shake of your head. an introduction was felt settled on the tip of your tongue, yet jinwoo ends up further surprising you when he says your name.

"it's nice to finally meet you, my name is sung jinwoo."

you open and close your mouth in response, asking in an almost dumb manner, "h-how did you know my name?"

your question succeeds in making jinwoo stiffen in response, his outstretched hand remaining frozen. his mouth kept opening and closing, without a single word being said. "ah... well, the chairman was talking about you being our newly transferred healer earlier, that's why i knew your name."

you visibly relax upon hearing his explanation, letting out a sigh of relief, "oh, right, that makes sense!"

wishing to diffuse the awkward situation, you let out a gentle laugh and gesture toward the chairman's office, "ah, so, i guess i'll attend my meeting now-"

a gasp was felt lodged within your throat when jinwoo grips at your wrist, preventing you from moving forward, "wait."

you give him a questioning glance, earning a warm smile from jinwoo, "i'd like to welcome you here, so... would you care to join me for dinner later?"

the same warmth was felt against your cheeks, making you feel a bit shy when you give jinwoo a nod, "sure, i'd love to join you for dinner."

an overwhelming look of joy takes over jinwoo's features, with him letting you go to attend your meeting with go gunhee. "awesome, that's... great."

feeling dazed at the sight of his smile, you knew that the butterflies that kept erupting all across your abdomen prevented you from truly acknowledging the alarm bells that went off in your head, your mind slowly taken over with romantic daydreams pertaining to the famous hunter you had finally met.

and sadly, you would never know the true depths of sung jinwoo's obsession for you.

{ ... }

jinwoo had spent months preparing for this very moment-

and once he finally had you sleeping in the same bed with him-

there was no way he was going to squander it.

moonlight paints his room in subtle, glowing silver hues, painting our sleeping figure in an almost ethereal light. the powerful hunter was unable to sleep now that he had you so close to him-

exactly where he wanted you.

his whispers of your name remained constant, becoming so frequent that the syllables that made up your name felt like a prayer that fell from his parted lips.

of course it was like a prayer-

for jinwoo solely worshipped you.

you had come into his life in the most unorthodox of ways, where his first meeting with you happened during a mutual raid that happened when he first began his career as a hunter. he was barely out of high school when he attended a raid that nearly killed him.

somehow, he had gotten lost, nearly dying of starvation as he was left to rot-

life was felt quickly seeping out of him-

but that was when you came along.

you, with your gentle healing aura and kind eyes-

you, whose beautiful features were forever imprinted within his very mind the moment you healed him and offered him some food to help with regaining his strength-

you, who never once left his heart ever since that fateful day.

you became his sole source of light, using your existence as a means to push him forward when he was struggling so much with keeping his own life together (a sickly mother with a sister who relied on him in the wake of his father's disappearance).

you were the one who gave him the sole courage to face the many challenges that came with being the weakest hunter-

yet even when he was so close to death, your comforting presence never once returned to him.

by then, he was desperate to know all he could about you, and it was during this time that he realized that you had lived in a different part of the world, saving the lives of other hunters in gates that were more prevalent within your city.

but that didn't stop jinwoo's obsession from growing.

he kept what felt like thousands upon thousands of notebooks pertaining to you and your accomplishments, never once stopping his writings when it came to you all while praying for the day he would see you again.

up to the point where his fate had been altered by the events of the double dungeons-

jinwoo had never once stopped thinking of you. and when the system offered him another chance at life-

your face was all he could see the moment he accepts being the system's player.

while he performed all of the missions and tasks given to him, jinwoo had no intention of getting knocked out by the enemy, falling into a coma that left him helpless-

yet at the same time, the fact that he dreamt of you and the perfect life you had built together-

it only served to further solidify jinwoo's belief that you were made for each other-

made for him.

and it was only a matter of time that you would serendipitously appear within his life.

in fact, jinwoo had carefully orchestrated your transfer to seoul's hunter association branch. using the funds jinho had provided for him, he manages to find you, paying off your guild all while convincing your guildmaster to keep such a transaction a secret as the promise of your arrival further fuels his desires to see you again.

the waiting game for your arrival nearly killed jinwoo-

yet when chairman gunhee tells him about your transfer to seoul-

the hunter couldn't have been happier.

upon seeing you once more, he basks in your presence, knowing that you were by far the most beautiful woman he had ever laid eyes on. he ignores the need to chain you to him, wishing to take his time when it came to courting you-

because deep down, he wanted you to naturally fall for him more than anything else.

now, six months later, sung jinwoo finally has you exactly where he wanted you. unable to hide his feelings of pure devotion for you, he makes love to you after celebrating being together with you for half a year. after waiting far too long for you, there was no way he was going to ever let you leave him.

had you been awake, you would have noticed the crazed expression settled within jinwoo's gaze, his voice letting out soft coos of your name before laying beside you. he allows the back of his hand to caress at your bare skin, swearing an oath to never leave your side.

sliding his eyes shut, jinwoo carefully places your body against his naked chest, basking in your gentle hum as you buried your face deeper into his chest. hazy grey eyes look over toward his closet, knowing of the stacks upon stacks of notebooks he had dedicated to you were behind that closed door.

jinwoo supposes he could let his loyal shadow soldiers help with burning those books away-

after all, the shadow monarch had no need for them now that he has you in his arms.

end notes: lmao when the delulu is the solulu in jinwoo's eyes ♡

all stories are written by rei; please do not repost, plagiarize, or translate my works!!

[edenspoem]

carpenter!ellie 😩😩

𝐈𝐍𝐓𝐎 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐖𝐎𝐎𝐃𝐖𝐎𝐑𝐊𝐒. ♱

content: ignoring the fact that this request is a tad old, let me indulge in you some headcanons for her! smut, mdni, reader has a child, dork!ellie content, loser!ellie content, general storyline outline, fingering(r!receiving), oral(r!recerving), dom!ellie, rough-handling, mama petname, hint of breeding kink, fluff intertwined. this took a hot minute, sorry for the wait. (2.4k wc)

𝐈𝐍 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐁𝐄𝐆𝐈𝐍𝐍𝐈𝐍𝐆:

She was a shiny object of secular occupation. Glinted skin, tinted lips, pools of sweat in plaid, and hair like mahogany. It was eye-catching the first time. Stepping through the wide workshop door, the screeches of saws drowned everything out: the thoughts, the plans, the mental image of those kitchen cabinets you wanted done, but she drew everything back in.

Unfortunately, she wasn't the one that pulled you aside to chat about your renovation project. It took a rustic couple of days of contracting and working out blueprints before she was introduced first and foremost. Woodcraft of Wyoming makes customer-supplier relationships their top priority—and Joel made sure to put in nothing but good words.

“Hey.” She had specks of sawdust dusted across her cheeks, and a voice fit for an angel. Even held out her hand to you. “New girl on Goldpine?” Fallen straight to your knees, you were. Gorgeous girls in labor-intense jobs are the fucking sweethearts, and sweet-looking. Your opening thought was to chuckle—for no reason; there was a nervous weight on your chest. “Yeah..” It was airy and soft in the pit of your throat. “That would be me.”

And neither one of you knew how to continue threading the seam after; secluding hands in pockets, avoiding eye contact. Back then, you were simple strangers, so you had no clue that she was a virgin to regular conversations—with girls like you, at least. She communed with older folk, more often. Girls within her dating range are so damn confusing!

Not to mention, the unmentionables: Are you single? Are you gay too? Do you even like girls like her, big heart and small tits? Round eyes and long tears? Forest eyes, or ocean ones? Greyhounds, or tabbies? Do you hate coffee? Do you like video games? If you could bring one thing to a stranded, desolate island in the sea, what would it be—and why? Have you ever skipped town? Would you, if shit went south? This shit is the standard procedure for a girl heartbroken twice-over!

But you—you are the least confusing, and most wanting.

God, and she smells only of wood.

Woodlands, and processed bodies of wood. Something you expect from a girl of her plaid-wearing, converse-pairing type.

Oh, and has about every off-hand item linked to a sage carabiner in her belt loops. Rejects the idea of a purse or a backpack; pockets and loops are the way to go, apparently.

When she discarded her gloves in front of you for the first time, it was a pleasant discovery. They covered her tattoos: graceful, rebellious little things you are sure procured a lecture from her dad, Joel, who owns the place.

𝐈𝐍 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐈𝐍𝐓𝐄𝐑𝐋𝐔𝐃𝐄:

So, it came. Day utero, a week later: the day she had to go against the odds in her gut. So, let's say you're the cute girl on the block she wants to buy you a drink in the potential, rather near future? Forget it. You barely know each other and she was there on the clock, not to flirt with the client in her own damn house! She was the one responsible for getting your renovation project off the ground—well, deeper in it. That comes first. She had to accommodate every little need you spoke into the autumn air, every little direction.

Her heart did swing, however. She was in your world, and your voice was there too. She escaped into it, and ended up hours further in eveningtide with multiple cuts on her fingertips from lacking focus; your beauty the edge of a sharp saw. There would be a “Fuck!” or an even stronger “Motherfucker!” from her that pierced through the halls.

Again, and again, and again. The first-aid kit sees her face more than anyone else.

Soft memories of you seeped under the band-aids. Memories you think nobody will remember.

It was tedious work. It wore her and everyone involved thin, so that is exactly where you popped in. Pretty outfits and impossibly prettier artisinal platters in your hands, turning heads over the sounds of sawdust. Sunlight seemed to rain in even harder once you sauntered inside.

On her breaks, a camera would be taken out for recreation. Beyond the surrounding green belt of silence stands the backwoods; a cacophonic mural of birdsongs. Birdwatching opportunites. From the sink window, you could spot her. Each chirp that sounded, she took a polaroid camera to a perfect line of sight and snapped a photo, crinkling up her flecked nostrils. Then, you knew she understood the unspoken language of the woods.

She also never engaged much during them, reading the lips of everyone in the room—lingering on one pair the most. Yeah, yours. All the carpenters aiding you had at least something to start a conversation about: whether it be the area, who lives with you, what job you work. Humdrum things that come without thought or genuine intrigue.

But she watched. When it wasn't birds, it was you. She never meant to lurk on the sides. Sure as hell, she longed to say something—anything, but in the same chorus, not just anything.

She wanted to be the special one out of the bunch.

So, she studied you. Studied herself, next to your existence. Turns out you have more in common—and more chemistry, than a glorified hour of rubbing elbows and licking lips in a bar would provoke or reveal. Thank goodness she chose the route less traveled by.

“You go to museums quite often?” she spoke as she slid up the counter edge, sacrum leaning on the ridge. Convinced your ears were crafting speech from quiet air, you did not notice her. Whatever words she etched into the walls of her throat, practiced in the mirror a ritualistic amount of times, came out too soft. She repeated herself with a nudge, and a satin ribbon on the ends of her last words. Something you notice. “With 'ur son?” It lightened your eyes. “Oh, yeah.” It also lightened the numbed spots in your brain; she is a breath of fresh air. You wore unworn smiles for her. “He loves dinosaurs with his whole damn heart. Well, as he would say—with his whole butt, or whichever weird denominator he uses.” You get her to such an egregious level of delusion, she begins to consider marriage. With anybody, to be clear! Totally isn't limiting her options to you only. She coughs up a laugh. “Tch—he's just got an imaginative word bank. Don't knock'em, mama.” Defending the honor of your capricious son—whose humor is made up entirely of fart jokes—but she slipped in that sly nickname. You assumed she meant no lust, and no love by dropping it, an anxious pause breathing between it, but it sent a shiver right down your spine, and settled in the small of your back. Fucking romanticist.

You already thought she was perfect then.

But somehow, there was a whole lot more packaged perfection sat alone, and unwanted, inside this strange girl with doe eyes. If there was a mountain of boxes to carry in, she wouldn't even let your hands grace the edge of one.

She has an innate sensualism to her. When she did work, and when you did an admissable nothing, she enveloped the eye of your mind. Those little, lustful pit stains drooping from her shirt everytime she lifted her arms, were attractive. The swipes from the backs of her hands across her forehead, or even the covert decisions to unclothe her skin of those sweat-dried graphic shirts and fashioning them into facecloths and raveling back inside them before anyone could glimpse, made you lustful; sweating from the sight. Sunlight was upon her like a heliograph, yet you were the true bitch in heat.

𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐌𝐀𝐈𝐍 𝐄𝐕𝐄𝐍𝐓:

You only ever got together in the late autumn wrap-up of your project. Every prosaic interaction boiled to a point, and for both reaching, yearning hearts, it became too hot to handle. One had bent under the pressure and paltered for courage you couldn't even pry from stone: Ellie, baby-blue plaid and ripped-jeaned on your doorstep—with a bouquet.

Getting you to come to her place was the be-all and end-all to this relationship, and you are fucking glad it is. Learning more about the girl who already ticked all the boxes on being the perfect hitch to your perfect trailer, is exhilarating. Turns out, the endless commodities of nature fit into the palms of her callused hands, are weld into more than only houses. While a handful of you—including some co-workers who freeload on an average—had your fills of old, Texan-style dishes, Joel brought up punctual beats about his daughter, which she cringed at. Wrinkled faces passed around the room.

“C'mon, Ellie. Why don't you run up there and grab yer' guitar you made? Entertain your guest with a song?” Ellie sneered, silverware in her pinch clattering. “Uh—first off Joel, she's not a guest. She's my—” Though complaining, she could barely writhe her words out. The craven, cringing look on her face suggested this was her first time hosting a special guest ever. The words ghost the press of her lips, and only make it out in quiet mumbles. “Date. She is.. my date.”

All the sentient sound in the room died after. Sure made it easier for Ellie to decide that a family gathering was not her style, regardless if you knew everyone, essentially. She was none the wiser, and wiped her plate clean in record time just to gallop her autumn valentine up to her room with sweet and silken things alike crawling in her mind.

Her whispers are lithe on skin. “Think you're like the best fuckin' thing that's ever happened to me.” She had you kneeling into her love; sat in-between her barely-crossed legs, on the bed, close in a huddle and breathing into your neck. Telling you soft devotionals as if you're a bird born in shrouds that she gets to hold; her fingers trying to tangle with yours so that you may never leave. Capturing the memory like she captures a photograph. You spoke even softer. “Yeah?” The confirmation making her smile stupid in your neck. She replaces her teeth with a single, pulse-point kiss, smushing her nose. Everything is a no-brainer now that she has you to herself, for herself.

Of all trees in the forest: you are her one to carve. Ellie—the buried lover, the Ellie she kept swallowing inside, has crawled out at loathing last. This one is all-loving, eating the empty spaces that cling to your body: under the warming ears, in the pearl-shaped dip of your throat, each word that comes out. She creates little shavings of your body with the blades of her tongue, and is humming at the taste. Cleaning you, wetting your untouched skin, creating excuses for your clothes to come off.

Soon, her body is sweating upon yours; two lovers melting into each other. She drags you roughly into her mouth, arousing the bud of your nipple to stand to her lips. It hits her tongue, again and again, and is left with a wet shine. God, that fucking sight alone makes you cross your legs, and hope she does something about the uncomfortable nectar dripping down there.

She palms you about it.

“Fuck.”

In the most heavenless regions is where she shines. Literally, and figuratively. Shoving her face into the drenched secret of your spread thighs gets her soaked more than you predicted, or pictured. So when she opens her legs and pushes against you, it presses a premature moan out.

But it would not be alone. When her fingers snag and puncture in your hips, and her cunt—thick with an auburn bush—is smushing against yours, litanies of sounds spill out.

“Goddamn babe,” she huffs into a grunt, pouring all the attention solely on you. Her pussy is just lathering yours—pornographic, visual filth and more; the sounds are all you hear. “This is just what you needed, huh?” She hunches over your handled sillhouette, panting and wiping the thin hairs stuck to her lips. Her rosy face is afflcited by warmth, and shine, stare sleepy and soft. “Fuck—you look so pretty right now.” She said that, and it sounded like a revelation. With her lips curling, teeth showing, hips stilling and fingers trailing on you like you are a treasure, above and below the sea. You end up sharing the toothy smile with her. Then, her breath cuddles in closer. “Don't wanna hurt you,” She kisses your sensitive neck with a promise, unfolding the love letters in her heart. Quietly devouring your neck with wet mouthings and hot words that vibrate into your pounding one. She sucks in a sibilant breath before she continues. “But it's fucking hard not to go insane when you're so fuckin—” She stifles, and her lips pinch your skin; her intentions to mark you so obvious. She could finish you with this alone. “Mhh, so pretty babe.” How she handles you makes you feel pretty.

Customer relationships being the priority makes your pleasure her priority—in a determined tussle. When she manhandled you into some debased position; face down, ass up, you never expected her subsequent decision to put herself at a low level, too. She sits behind you, and the hand once so delicate in practice upon your face is pushing your thigh to make room for herself.

You could say she was the one being debased on her own accord. Her tongue took long, starving strokes of you, licking your pussy from behind. It drips off her tongue, down her chin, gets inside her nostrils. She whispers how much she loves it after doing it, chanting it.

Spanking is also a no-brainer. Something about the impulse gets her going. She whacks her palm across and immediately sinks her fingers in until it soothes, laughing like a fucked-out, pussydrunk maniac when your muscles shiver—her favorite part.

Will finger you if it means showing off those spire tattoos; she knows how bad you keel for them.

“God, she's just swallowin' em up.” The heads of her fingers push in, ease in and ease out. She slides out, and paints your entrance with the arousal coating her intricate digits in circles, intending to be as unapologetic as possible with it, and the sounds. She proudly chuckles when you whine. “Yeah, hear that?” “Mhm.” She made you infatuated with them, if anything.

She would give you another child, and compose all the needed furniture from scratch—if she could.

[hauntedbysmut]

Dark Desires

Tags: voyeurism, masturbation, mentions of violence (not against FMC), PIV, creampie

Full fic below the cut or you can take the link.

Darkness had fully blanketed Linkon by the time your hurried steps took you to your apartment building’s doors. A last minute mission with a particularly stubborn Wanderer had demolished your plan to get home early to call Caleb for your nightly chat. Taking another anxious look at your phone, the 8 missed calls and 13 unanswered texts from him glared menacingly from the apps on your screen. A bead of sweat rolled down the back of your neck, knowing that the sheer number of notifications was a bad omen when it came to your rather unpredictable and possessive boyfriend.

Boyfriend. A new label he had given himself the last time he visited, not content to be introduced as a friend anymore, especially around your friends and other men. It wasn’t enough that he owned your mind and body, he wanted everyone to know it, too. Heaven forbid any coworkers saw you as a potential love interest. The thought alone made you swallow heavily.

Pressing the elevator button repeatedly in hopes it would come down faster, your heart began to pound for an entirely different reason. You had spent the whole day teasing him in between work missions. Knowing he was coming back from his own mission this afternoon, you’d had the bright idea to send him some tasteful nude photos you took this past weekend and rather sexual texts, all with the intent for him to see them as soon as he landed and was within range to receive them again. Build up for tonight’s call. Then work ran late… and here you were, trapped in the lobby of your building, praying to gods who probably weren’t listening to get you into your apartment as fast as possible.

The sudden ding of the elevator doors opening in front of you drove you to action and you quickly entered, pressed your floor’s number, and spammed the “close door” button. Your foot tapped nervously on the tiled floor as the elevator finally began its ascent, floors seemingly passing slower and slower the closer you got. Dashing from the elevator seconds after it landed on your floor, you ran down the hall to your apartment and jammed your finger onto the sensor.

“Error. Please try again.” Sighing heavily, you pressed your finger down more firmly.

“Error. Please try again.”

“Come ON!” Your frustration was beginning to boil over as you pressed your finger down one more time, rolling it back and forth lightly on the pad to get it to read. With the small chime of success and a quick press of the doorknob, you stumbled in your front door. The entryway light dimly lit your path as you hurriedly threw down your bag and unlaced and removed your boots. Free of your shoes and bag, you padded into your living room, stopping suddenly as a small gasp escaped your lips.

With only a light glow from his phone screen and the entryway light shining on him, Caleb sat menacingly in the darkness of your living room. The armchair he rested in belayed a comfortable relaxation, but his face was anything but. “Caleb?” You craned your neck to look at him more closely, taking a couple of steps forward in an attempt to see him better.

He was leaned back in the chair, still wearing his uniform pants, which you noticed were undone at the top, as if he had released the button to give himself more room to breathe. His bare chest and abs shone with a light red tint from the mingling lights, casting him in a sinister glow, the shadows playing against the divots and curves of his body, and on his head, his colonel’s hat rested as if he had just come off duty. The metallic glint of his right arm winked from the armrest while his left hand rested against his face, just below his lips. He was smiling. Your legs trembled. Even knowing him as he was now, intimidating and taciturn, he could still make your body react with primal fear at times when caught off guard. His eyes took you in, one detail at a time, resting on each part of your body as if looking for some grave injury or illness that may have caused your delay. Finding nothing, his eyes hardened further.

“Welcome home, pip-squeak. Long day?”

Your eyes were locked on his, watching for any change in expression or twitch in his powerful body. Your legs were tense and ready to run at a moment’s notice. When none came, you shifted from one foot to the other, crossed your arms protectively across your chest, and answered him. “I had a mission that ran long. Nothing we couldn’t handle.” You paused briefly for any reaction. Nothing. “I thought we were video calling tonight?”

He hummed briefly. “That was the original plan, wasn’t it?” He swiped on his screen and your eyes snagged on a familiar photo. Your mouth dropped open in shock. Noting your reaction, he continued to swipe through the nudes you had sent him today. Despite his slow perusal, his eyes were still on you, a predator watching his prey. “Bold of you to send me such sensitive information when I could have pulled these up by accident in front of anyone.” His eyes glinted as his head tilted toward his left hand, still resting against his chin. “What exactly was your plan for us this evening when you sent these pictures?”

Your tongue felt like lead in your mouth, and you swallowed hard, forcing the words out. “I assumed we could spend some time on a video call together.”

He quirked an eyebrow. His smile hadn’t faltered this entire time. Your stomach roiled with butterflies at the lewd thoughts you’d shared via text with him today. “You were going to make me watch?” His voice was so soft, but the undercurrent spoke of danger. Goosebumps broke out along your arms and his keen eyes seemed to notice.

“No?” Your uncertain tone coupled with an apologetic smile had his smile sliding off of his face.

“You’re lying, pip-squeak.” He closed the phone screen, pitching both of you into a deeper darkness. The entryway light’s glow was only so strong this far away. He shifted in the chair, leaning forward until his arms rested on his knees, hands clasped together as he stared up at you from under the brim of his hat. His eyes were so dark they looked almost black, pupils expanded over the usually brilliant purple of his irises.

“Caleb,” you whispered. Another tremor rocketed up your spine and he smiled with predatory intent as he noticed your light shaking. He was like a viper coiled to strike, and you, a harmless mouse, were about to become his meal.

“Scared?” He stood up slowly, taking deliberately measured steps toward you. Despite your instinct to step back, you stood your ground, tightening your arms banded in front of your chest and staring up at him defiantly.

“As if.” Your voice wavered slightly, and internally, you berated yourself for how weak you sounded.

His left hand moved toward your face, brushing a strand of hair that had come loose from your braid back behind your ear. His fingertips grazed your neck as he let his hand trail downward, and another small shiver moved through you at the gentle but intimate touch. Struck stock still, you breathed in short bursts as his head moved forward, leaning down to your neck rather than your face.

His quiet chuckle brushed your ear as his nose bumped your pulse point. He lifted his head and you could feel his lips moving against your earlobe as he whispered, “Such brave words for such a scared little bird.” His left hand came up to snake around your waist, pulling you in closer to him, your feet making stuttered steps as he dragged your torso closer to his own.

You squeezed your arms tightly with your hands as the pressure of his body increased against yours. Much like his evol, Caleb was like gravity, ensnaring you in his orbit whether you wanted to be or not. His face continued its sensory trail along your neck and jawline before his mouth returned to your ear.

“Someone saw me open one of your pictures,” he began. Your eyes widened and a rush of air escaped your mouth. You turned your face toward him abruptly.

“What?!”

His eyes met yours, and they were flinty and hard. His voice was just as dark and angry. “Don’t worry, I made sure he wouldn’t see ever again.” You squirmed in his grip and untangled your arms, trying to push him away. His arm was like a steel band around your middle though, and you were unable to get any kind of distance.

“Caleb, did you kill him?” You searched for any kind of answer and when he didn’t say anything, you pushed against his chest again. “Caleb!”

His hands moved so quickly that you were unable to stop him before he gave you a couple of shakes, hands repositioned on your upper arms. “Nobody gets to see you like that but me. Do you understand?”

You shook your head and hit his chest with your fist repeatedly as you demanded an answer again. “Did. You. Kill. Him!”

Exasperation suddenly burst out of him, “Why do you care? He saw parts of you only I am allowed to see! Has someone else ever received those kinds of pictures from you?” He watched you closely to see if your expression would give the answer away. “Because if there are others, I want to know. NOW.”

You set your jaw stubbornly and shook your head.

His expression relaxed slightly. “Good.” He used his grip on your arms to place them over his shoulders, moving in as closely as he could be to your body. “You’re mine, pipsqueak. Say it.”

Despite the turmoil in your head, the knowledge that he had probably ended someone’s life just because they looked his way at the wrong time and had seen you, you couldn’t ignore the dark, twisted pull you still felt towards him. A single tear slid down your cheek at the realization that you were just as dark and twisted if you could still accept him like this. If you were still willing to be with him even if he would have you no matter the cost. He wiped the tear from your cheek with gentle precision, pressing his forehead against yours, his hat pressing up into his hair, and tilting his head back and forth while he waited for your answer. “Say it,” he murmured, his lips mere centimeters from your own.

You wished you were stronger, that this insane, unbreakable connection didn’t make you feel so out of control and trapped, but simultaneously totally whole. “I’m yours.” Your whispered confession brought his lips down on yours, the previously curbed affection bursting forth like a freed bullet, piercing your heart. You had lost him once. You knew you wouldn’t survive that again. You would take him in any form. If that meant accepting the new darkness that seemed to surround him, you’d do it. Neither of you would be alone ever again.

Your mouths met over and over in a frenzy, and in an effort to appease him, you opened your mouth and touched your tongue to his lips. He groaned into you as his tongue met yours, his dominance rising as he pressed into your mouth with reckless abandon. His hands were firmly locked around your back, bodies flattened against each other as you held on to his neck, legs straining as you pressed onto your tip-toes to be as close to him as possible.

He gave you a sudden nip to your lower lip and shoved you backwards onto the couch. Your arms slapped into the cushions as you braced yourself on impact. “Take off your clothes.” He stood above you, fixing his hat back onto his head. Eager to obey, you pulled at your clothes, unbuttoning your pants and shucking them down your legs, snagging your underwear with them. You peeled your socks from your feet and then ripped your shirt off over your head. Your clothes flung around the room as you hastily discarded them, bra following, Caleb stepped back to the armchair, sitting back down and resuming the position he had been in when you came home.

Panting and dripping across from him, you stared, waiting for his next order. You shivered in the sudden lack of his presence, cool air rushing around your body from your furious disrobing. Your nipples pebbled and strained into the semi-darkness. A brighter light flared to life in Caleb’s view, the screen of his phone lighting up the space marginally and causing your eyes to strain.

“Caleb?” You looked at him with confusion, a blush staining your cheeks red as his right hand clicked a few buttons on his screen.

“Since you wanted me to watch, I’m going to watch.” His smile caused your stomach to flip flop.

“Why is your phone on?”

“Because I’m going to record you.” You inhaled suddenly, pulse sky-rocketing at the implication. He let his eyes drag along your damp, tensed body, and dragged the pointer finger of his left hand through the seam of his lips. “That way, whenever I can’t be with you, I can watch you make a mess of yourself while you scream my name and know that I’m the only one who gets to do this to you. The only one who can touch you or watch you fall apart.” His hand fell from his lips and squeezed his cock through his pants. The dark outline of his length strained against his pants, the tip just below the edge of his underwear, peaking out of the unzipped crotch. “I’m going to direct you, love, and like the good girl I know you are, you’re going to listen, aren’t you?”

Without letting you respond, you watched as his right hand pushed the red record button and swallowed heavily. This felt so wrong, yet so hot. Getting to see how you affected him, knowing he would use this video later to touch himself and come all over his hand watching you, turned you on so much. A little moan slipped past your lips as the mental picture of him stroking himself roughly to your video played in your mind.

“That’s it, baby.” His encouragement reminded you of your new mission, and you looked up at him through your eyelashes. “Sit all the way back on the couch.” You shifted until your back was against the cushions, legs slightly dangling off the ground. “Now pull your feet up until you’ve got them both on the couch in front of you.” One leg at a time, you pulled your legs up until they were folded in front of your body, acting like a barrier between his eyes and your naked flesh. “Shift your feet outward a bit so I can see that pretty pussy.” You could feel your cheeks flaming at his request, knowing your wet lips would soon be visible to the camera and his greedy eyes. You dragged one foot out a few inches before repeating it with the other, letting your knees fall together in the center and biting your lip. Your face felt so hot, and the weight of his gaze on you was like a palpable force, even with him being feet away.

He groaned as he shifted, the brush of fabric against fabric your only hint that he was moving at all. “Spread your knees, baby.” You tucked your head against your chest, taking a deep breath, then gradually letting your knees fall apart. Caleb licked his lips. The way your arms were positioned next to you pressed your breasts together. A subtle pink tint warmed your skin with a mixture of your arousal and embarrassment, and the camera’s light gave your moistened lower lips a gorgeous glow. “Fuck, look at you.” His voice was like crushed velvet, so soft and supple it felt like a caress against your heated skin. “Take two fingers and drag them through your lips for me.” With a full view of his face, watching as his eyes took you in, your excitement mounted. You took a hand and dragged it across your stomach, knowing his ears were picking up every hitched breath, every tiny response your body made, even as his hand squeezed his erection erratically. You wanted to make him lose control.

Even though he hadn’t told you to, you let your other hand shift up and grasp a breast, eyes fluttering shut as you palmed it and then squeezed a nipple between two fingers. Your other hand continued its quest downward, playing in your curled pubic hair and spreading over your labias before you dragged them back up to your pubic bone to slide between your cleft together. The brief stimulation over your clit as your fingers moved made your knees twitch, and as you whined, Caleb hissed through his teeth. You dipped your fingers into your soaking hole, spreading the slick up and down your lips.

“Oh yessss…” He was mesmerized as you pulled your fingers out before plunging them back in. He sat up a little straighter, hand still gripping his dick through his pants, eyes locked on your fingers, even as your back arched from the stimulation you were giving your breasts. “Show them to me.” The need in his voice made you clench on nothing, the noticeable absence of him sending several pleasurable clenches through your core. You lifted your hand and spread your fingers, the fluid on them shining in the low light and stretching between them. You watched as his hips bucked up against his immobile hand, control beginning to slip away as he was riveted by your show. His right arm clenched the armrest as if to keep him from moving toward you, anchoring him in place. A thrill of power despite your submission sang through your bones, and you brought the fingers to your mouth, licking deliberately between them before popping them both into your mouth and sucking them clean.

You knew that this was a dangerous game. At any moment, he could snap and be on you, but for now, you internally celebrated the hold you had on him. Knowing he wouldn’t last much longer, you plunged your fingers back down into your cunt, pumping hard and fast and moaning with abandon as you gave yourself over to the pleasure. Your other hand continued to squeeze and play with your breasts as you fucked yourself with your fingers. The wantonness of the act made you feel bold and uninhibited. You let Caleb’s name slip from your mouth as you added a third finger. You could feel the build-up increasing and decided to go fully in with both hands, redirecting one to your clit while the other thrust in and out of you. The spray of your own fluids against your thighs and Caleb’s answering growls and moans drove you higher and higher until it felt like you were on the edge of a cliff. With a concentrated effort, you took the leap, strumming and stroking until you knew you were screaming his name, just like he wanted.

Caleb strangled his cock as your cries trailed off, fingers wet and shining as you ceased your movements. The shine of the camera light and the sheen of sweat on your skin created an incredible glow. You looked radiant. Sitting up fully, he pressed stop on the video and turned the phone screen off. He stood quickly and turned on the lamp next to the couch. Your eyes blinked blearily up at him, a satiated smile gracing your face as he looked down at you, naked and unashamed, bathed in the pleasure you had taken for yourself by his command. He dropped to his knees, reaching out to stroke your face with his left hand, pulling your right hand up to his mouth and licking your fingers clean.

“You’re so beautiful,” he moaned around your fingers. “So incredible.” He grabbed your other hand and began to lick it clean. “So sexy.”

His reverent expression gave you a new satisfaction. You reached for him, even as he pulled back, shifting to sit on his heels. His hands worked to pull his dick out, pushing his pants and underwear down to his knees. The swollen red tip leaked pre-cum and the new light showed the wet spot on his underwear as they disappeared down his legs. He reached out and grabbed your hips, pulling your ass to the edge of the couch cushion. His frenetic energy had you gripping his arms as best you could, a brief shock of knowing pinging through your pleasure-addled brain. You wanted him to lose control. His pupils, despite the brighter light, were blown wide, and you knew he was lost.

He shifted back up onto his knees and with a quick adjustment, plunged his full length into you. You cried out in surprise, unprepared for such a sudden intrusion, despite having come only minutes before. He drove a hard pace, using his leverage of your hips to shove you down onto him as he bucked up into you until you were halfway off the couch, fingernails digging into his arms as you held on for dear life. He fucked you like a man possessed. His eyes never left where you were joined, watching as his cock shone with your slick on each retreat only to disappear to the hilt as he shoved back in. The angle of the position had him driving up into your g spot on each press upward, and a strange pressure built that you had never felt before. He released one hip to press down on your lower stomach and you screamed as the change in sensation became sharper and more insistent.

“Caleb! Fuck!” You tried to breathe. Tried to warn him of what you thought might be coming, but it was too late. All reason, all sense fled your body as you seized along his cock, body tensing and squeezing as your eyes rolled back in your head and a feeling like none you had ever experienced short-circuited your brain.

Caleb watched in awe as your pussy pushed him out, squirting all over his torso. He looked up to see you convulsing against the couch, hair plastered to the sides of your face and mouth open on a silent scream as your dripping hole clenched on air. A roar of primal pride bolted through his brain and he shoved his now dripping dick back inside of you, pressing your legs further back into your chest, moving to half standing, and unleashing himself. All he could think about was the tight squeeze of your cunt, the fucked out look on your face, and the recognition that you were his.

He leaned forward and kissed your lips. You tried to kiss him back, but found it hard to focus after the barrage of pleasure you had just endured. It didn’t take long for him to lose rhythm and come inside of you, his whole body alight with you and the tight clutch of your body on his.

Both of you were panting hard as he lifted you into his arms, still buried inside of you, and turned so he was sitting on the couch. He draped you against his chest, kissing your forehead and wiping the sweaty strands of hair away from your face. Your skin slicked against each other as he shifted to get comfortable. His heart pounded beneath your ear and you knew yours kept the same pace.

“Caleb?” Your voice sounded weak and thready, even to your own ears. You coughed to clear your throat a bit more. He chuckled. “I love you.”

“I love you, too, pip-squeak.” He pulled you as close as he could, arms tight against your back and you felt him sigh in contentment. His head bent down to your ear and his voice was suddenly darker and more intense. “You’ll always be mine.”

[benz12313]

Surface Tension - Ridoc x OC!Doll

|Images are not mine|

Description: Despite wanting to be anywhere but the rider's quadrant, Daisy Jenkins loves her family, and so begrudgingly, she volunteers herself to go and throw herself to the mercy of dragons. She struggles with her confidence, but will a certain man with a penchant for mischief and a flirtatious attitude show her that she doesn't have to hide? That she too has a voice that can and should be heard? Will she be bold enough to claim him as her own? Or will she let him slip through her fingers, forever just out of reach? {Slow Burn/Mated Dragons/Friends to Lovers}

Warnings: violence, death, swearing

Next Chapter

Chapter One - Encountering Death

“Daisy Jenkins.” I tell the scribe taking names, silently cursing myself for the shakiness in my tone. To be fair I didn’t want to be here to begin with, but coming from a line of riders just famous enough to have a reputation to uphold, I’d had no other choice without dishonoring my family. Especially as an only child. It didn’t matter that I’d rather have been a healer, I’d been training for this since I’d turned six under the instruction of my parents and their closest friends. 

“Jenkins? As in Mikael and Raya Jenkins?” I nodded and the roll keeper smiled gesturing to the line of potential cadets waiting to go up the tower. “Good luck, I’m sure we can expect you to be a great rider.” 

“Thank you sir!” I said, nodding my head in acknowledgment before I made my way to the line, taking my place behind a mouse of a girl who had to be just below five feet tall and had little to no muscle, who was nervously twisting her hands and eyes darting around to anyone who’d gotten remotely close to her. She met my eyes for a moment, but before I could even shoot her a friendly smile her eyes widened in terror before darting away again, and I sighed. 

“Allies, no friends. Friends don’t exist among riders, at least not until after graduation. Death is far too common to be making friends among cadets.” My father's words rang in my head as I stared at the back of the girls head as we inched forward. She had long brown hair, that unlike my own amber-brown waves, wasn’t pinned in a braided crown atop her head. No, hers flowed freely, and I couldn’t help but frown. She wasn’t going to make it across the parapet. Between her shaking, her hair, and her severe lack of size, she had no chance. 

Not that I was much taller, but I still had more than thirty pounds of muscle and a couple inches on the girl. Not to mention the hundreds of hours of winter training across practice boards outside my parents home nestled in the mountains I’d undergone. If I fell off today, I’d just be an embarrassment. 

“Damn! This line moves so slow!” A playful male voice rang out behind me and I turned, heart launching into my throat as I schooled my features, fighting off my reaction to gape at the man. Standing behind me was a man that had fallen out of every wet dream and spicy fantasy I’d ever had. Brown, curly yet unruly locks that he ran his long fingers through, trying to get them out of his shining dark-brown eyes that were dancing with mirth. Sun-kissed skin, and tall, though admittedly not the tallest around (there’s an obscene amount of giants in this quadrant just from looking at this years applicants). He had to be close to six foot, and still towered over my five foot two self. He was lean, but I could see where muscle was beginning to form, and I could only imagine what a few years in this place would do to him. He winked at me, tongue darting out to wet his lips as he looked me up and down in a matter of a second, before a mischievous glint settled in his eyes. “What’s your name Doll?” 

“D-Daisy Jenkins.” I silently cursed myself for stuttering but he didn’t seem to mind, in fact it seemed to fuel something within him, and he just grinned wider. 

“Such a pretty name for a pretty girl.” He said, voice just a hair deeper than his first sentence and I hastily turned forwards, hiding the immediate blush heating my cheeks, neck, and ears. “Aww, don’t be shy!” He poked my side, and I squeaked in shock, jumping slightly and causing him to chortle with laughter that made my chest squeeze. I shot him back a glare with no heat as we entered the tower and I looked up the seemingly endless stairs with no protective railing. No doubt a ploy to weed out the pathetically weak. I gulped, hoping I didn’t fall into that category. 

“What’s your name?” I called over my shoulder to try and distract myself from the fear starting to lodge itself in my gut as we began the ascent. 

“Ridoc Gamlyn.” He said, male pride dripping off his words and I rolled my eyes, but found myself smiling softly anyway. “What’s a pretty thing like you doing in a quadrant like this?”

I snorted, ignoring how my cheeks flared despite the ridiculous attempt at a pickup line. “Rider parents and family lineage. Reputation to uphold and all.” I waved my hand in a dismissive way and he chuckled lowly. “You?”

“Can you imagine me in the infantry? This handsome face? Nah, too straight laced for my taste. Besides-“ He paused and then suddenly I felt his warmth next to my ear. “All the glory is with the riders. And I want a dragon of my own.” His voice was downright dripping with sex appeal, his tone low and breath fanning across my neck. I shivered and he let out another low chuckle before he backed out of my space again. “Hmm, you’re too cute for this place, you know that?” 

“You don’t even know me.” I shot back, even though it was mostly bluster, “How do you know where I should be?” He laughed lightheartedly as we made our way up the steps. 

“Fair enough cutie, I bet those thick thighs of yours could crush a mans skull.” He was teasing now, and my heart raced at the traitorous thought of him nestled between my thighs. 

“Are you volunteering?” I used every bit of confidence I had to send back that retort, and it seemed to work because when I glanced back his entire face was lit up, like a kid on Winter Solstice. He grinned, meeting my eyes and sending me a playful wink. 

“Most definitely. I’d die that honorable death.” He nodded eagerly, and then laughed as my cheeks reddened. 

“Oh shut it Gamlyn.” I shot back, groaning as I turned forwards again. 

But he most definitely didn’t shut it. In fact, by the time we reached the top I found he was incapable of any sort of silence, prattling on and on. If it wasn’t teasing and flirting with me, it was him making comments about those around us, how many steps there were, how excited he was to get a dragon, lamenting the start of classes, and seemingly whatever other random thought happened to pop into his head. 

I couldn’t say I wasn’t grateful for the distraction though, as by the time we’d made it to the top, my heart was light, fear nonexistent. A far cry from the dread that had begun to settle in my heart at the bottom of the stairs. I watched in silence as the girl ahead of me went out onto the parapet, which was mid-thunderstorm, shaking like a damn leaf. 

“Name?” I turned to see three hulking guys, all intimidating as hell, looking like gods amongst men. Two of them were marked ones, holding the dark, swirling relics inked into their skin. Children of traitors. Hot, but definitely more terrifying than my taste. I looked to the one holding the scroll. 

“Daisy Jenkins.” I said, keeping my voice steady as one of the men motions me forward, looking bored as hell.

I did as motioned, as Ridoc called out encouragement behind me. I’d missed the words though, because as soon as I’d stepped out onto the narrow stone, all I could hear was the howling of the wind as rain pelted my skin. It was cold and biting, each drop trying to pierce my skin with the force of little needles.

“One step at a time.” I nervously muttered to myself aloud, the habit I’d never quite kicked no matter how much my mother had tried to train it out of me. Adrenaline raced through my veins as I took a careful step, then another, and another. It was harder than usual with the pelting rain, but the hours of training had done me well. In regular weather, I could probably stride across the parapet with ease. 

I glanced forwards, heart stopping as I watched the girl wobble, only halfway across now. Then she dropped to her knees, hair clinging to her skin, unmoving and clinging to the stone for dear life. Three steps forward, and she still hadn’t moved. Four more steps and she was still huddled, unmoving and white knuckling the parapet. I stilled, half a dozen steps from her, my own panic starting to set in. I couldn’t move around her, I had to wait for her to move or fall. But she’d stopped not only me, but Ridoc and the rest of those behind us. Someone was bound to get sick of it and start chucking people off. 

“You need to move!” I yelled over the rain to her. Her terrified eyes flung to mine and I knew in a second that she wouldn’t, couldn’t,as fear had completely paralyzed her. She shook her head in fear as her hair partially blocked her vision. 

“Doll’s right!” Warmth settled itself near my shoulder as Ridoc was suddenly behind me, his body giving my own just enough space to not send me out of balance, but giving me warmth that I relished in amongst the bitter cold. “You need to start moving or we’re all dead!”

Movement ahead of her caught my eye, and fear sank into my gut. A damn ox of a man with bright red hair, obviously dyed, hulking muscles and an irritated expression was stalking towards us. He was the volunteer who’d been in front of this girl the entire way up the staircase, who’d been absolutely silent, other than a scoff or two at something Ridoc had said. 

“Shit!” I hissed, immediately palming a dagger off my hip and holding it at my side tightly. I couldn’t back away, so fighting was my only option if he decided to take us all out. “Get up!” I screeched but she shook her head, squeezing her eyes shut and having no fucking clue her death was about to be handed to her. 

“Sorry Doll,” Ridoc hissed, and before I could question him, he pulled one of the daggers off my chest brandishing it in front of us as his other hand wrapped around me, hand splaying over my armor covering my stomach, quickly steadying me as he backed us up three steps, putting more distance between us, the girl, and the monster stalking towards us with murderous fury in his gaze. 

“MOVE!” A male voice bellowed from behind us, no doubt one of the men who’d been taking names at the entrance. 

“Get up!” I called, desperation lacing my words. He was only five steps away now. 

“I can’t- AHHHH” I watched in horror as he lifted her like she was a damn rucksack and flung her off the side effortlessly. I forced my own terrified scream down and Ridoc tensed, pulling me tighter against his body as her screams were consumed by a crack of thunder. 

The murderer stared calculatingly between me and Ridoc before taking two steps towards us. “We’ll drag you right down this mountain with us!” Ridoc bellowed, voice sure and steady. The man stopped, and rolled his eyes before turning forward, stalking back to the other side, ignoring us once again. 

I let out a shaky breath as I waited until he was off the parapet completely, and then sheathed my dagger once more. Ridoc relaxed too, gently sheathing the dagger he’d borrowed, before his hand moved from my stomach to my waist, still steadying me. 

“Are you good?” He asked, his voice too close and I nodded. “Okay Daisy, you need to start moving for me, alright?” His tone had an undertone of teasing that snapped me from staring where the girl had disappeared off the side. I gulped as my vision turned watery and my eyes burned. 

Training was a lot different than the real thing. 

I fought off the tears, vision returning to normal as I nodded to him and myself, not trusting my voice to work without breaking. Ridoc’s hand left me, and I took a shaky step away from him, immediately missing his warmth amongst the biting cold. I was in a daze as I made my way across the rest of the parapet, not slipping once, but painfully numb, both literally and physically. I was drenched from head to toe, cold, and all I could picture was that girls face as she’d screamed. As she'd fell. As she'd disappeared into the haze on the cliffside.

It was only when I’d dropped onto flat ground that my stomach eased and I let out a breath I didn’t know I’d been holding. “Name?” A woman asked, giving me a small sympathetic smile. Her eyes were bored though. No real comfort. 

“Daisy Jenkins.” My voice was hollow, barely over a whisper but she nodded, seeming to hear me. I moved away, barely making it a few steps before hearing Ridoc give her his name, and I felt his presence beside me. 

“Hey doll, see ya around, yeah?” He asked, shooting me a heart stopping smile that made my breath hitch. But it wasn’t his carefree smile that caused my heart to ache, it was the barely concealed terror in his gaze, flickering just underneath his guise of flirtation. The way his eyes raked over my form like I meant something to him, like he’d almost lost something important. 

But that was fucking ridiculous right? He’d known me all of an hour or two. There was no way that much emotion was simmering just below the surface of his gaze. I had to be imagining things. Right? Right? 

“Sure.” I whispered, voice cracking and he nodded, backing away slightly, giving me more space than he had all afternoon. 

“Good.” He muttered, and then he was gone. A crack of thunder sounded, and I immediately missed his radiating warmth. Nothing but a chill I couldn’t shake remained, like he’d taken the last bit of light with him. I blinked, silently cursing myself for letting him weasel into my psyche in such a short time. 

C’mon Daisy, you’re better than that. Sighing, I stepped into the crowd that had gathered, neatly locking away every emotion I’d gathered since ascending the steps. Time for the next challenge. 

Authors Note: AHHHHHHHH! It feels so good to be posting again, and I have SO many ideas for this story. Let me know if you liked it! Next chapter will be posted in the next few days. ☺️☺️ Also if anything is spelt wrong let me know, I only have the audiobooks currently so I'm relying on google for name spellings and such.

[lonely-ey3s]

With All My Love : Chapter 13 | road trip - part one

Pairings: joel miller x f!reader (no outbreak)

Word count: 11.5k

Chapter Summary: After your engagement party you struggle to understand how you feel. However, after meeting with your therapist a couple times, Joel thinks a road trip would do you all good.

Chapter warnings: Chapter warnings: SMUT (18+ MDNI), public-ish sex, unprotected piv, anxiety, flashbacks of traumatic memories, mentions of PTSD anxiety, mentions of thoughts of unaliving, FLUFF, joel being an absolute lover, soft!joel, possessive!joel use of Spanish but with translations, use of y/n, and therapy session.

a/n: requests are open! please send prompts or things you would like to see more of!

Dividers by: @saradika-graphics 

Main Masterlist

Joel woke up before you that next morning, finding you still wrapped in his arms, sleeping peacefully. Your facial features relaxed, a small smile etched into your lips, nothing harming you in your sweet dreams. 

He turned his head and looked at the time, seeing it was close to 10 am. 

He gently kissed your head and stroked your cheek which caused you to make a hum in your sleep and turn off of him, cuddling up to the pillow as you turned around, staying deep in sleep. 

He took that opportunity to get up and get some sweats and a t-shirt on before coming over and kissing your cheek, stroking your hair back, whispering, “I’m just going to make some calls downstairs… I’ll be back.” he kissed your cheek again as you sleepily nodded and smiled, “Ok cowboy…” you said heavy with sleep. 

He brushed your hair back and then grabbed his phone from the nightstand and headed down the stairs dialing Diane’s number, Sarah and Elena were already up and cooking breakfast. 

Within a few rings, Diane answered, “Diane speaking…” 

Joel cleared his throat, “Mornin’ Diane, it’s Joel Miller, how are you?” 

Diane smiled, “Joel, it’s so good to hear from you. I hear congratulations are in order!” 

Joel smiled softly and chuckled, “Yes, thank you. I uh… I was wondering if I could talk to you however about somethin’ else, do you have a few moments to talk?” 

Elena saw him coming down the stairs and went to greet him when she saw he was on the phone and looked at him, holding up the pan she was cooking with, nonverbally asking if he wanted any, he nodded and smiled, walking into the living room, sitting on the couch. 

“I uhm, I know Y/N doesn’t have another session with you for another week but I think she may need an emergency session, we had an incident last night that may have knocked her back a few steps.” Joel held the bridge of his nose between his fingers as he explained your mental state, still feeling frustrated by it. 

“I’m sorry to hear that. I appreciate you reaching out and would love to fit her for an emergency session today or tomorrow. What happened if you don’t mind me asking?” Diane asked softly. 

Joel sighed softly and thanked her before explaining the chain of events. He also explained more in-depth where you seemed to be mentally, how you were anxiously telling yourself you were too much for him and worried that mentality could make you depressed or even potentially suicidal if it continued without intervention. 

Diane agreed and said that was a concern of hers too after hearing how you were. She offered to see you sooner rather than later and said she had some time this evening to see you, said it would be best for him to come with, and depending on what you wanted, he could sit in the session or not, but she wanted him there in case anything happened with triggers. He agreed and said he would bring you to her office at 4 pm. 

Joel ended the call and sat on the couch for a moment, thinking what he needed to do from now until then, he looked at his phone and dialed Tommy’s number as he said he’d call him this morning. 

It rang a few times then Tommy picked up, “Hey, how’s she doing?” 

Joel cleared his throat, “Still in bed but she’s ok. I just got off the phone with Diane, she’s worried about some things she said when I got into bed last night and is getting her in for a session later today.” 

Tommy sighed softly, “What did she say? Is she going to be ok?” he worried he did something more than just trigger you. He knew the fragility of someone’s mental and emotional state once they got home and worried somehow he set something a lot bigger. 

“She was sayin’ things like how she was too much, how she’s a burden. She kept apologizin’ too… like somehow her reaction to the trauma she went through was her fault.” he said softly, feeling anxiety creep into his mind now, “What if I’m not enough Tommy? What if she needs more than what I can give her?” Joel said quietly, almost close to a whisper. 

“Joel, you’re kidding right? If you aren’t enough for her, then what does that make me for Maria? You are ten times the man I am… you move mountains for that girl, you’d rearrange the constellations and planets for her if it made her smile. You can’t seriously think you aren’t enough. You…” he sighed softly and chuckled, “Joel, she looks at you when you aren’t lookin’ like you molded the moon to hang for her in the night sky. She was lookin’ at you yesterday with every ounce of love that woman possesses in her heart… you’re it for her. Now you’ve got that ring on her finger, she’d go down to the courthouse in a matter of seconds if it meant becoming your wife. You never have to worry about bein’ enough.” he said bluntly.

Joel lightly chuckled and put his head in his hand, leaning on his knee, “I just always worry I’m not doin’ enough, you know?” 

Tommy tsked and chuckled, “I constantly feel the same way. We are though, we just need to start believin’ it.” 

Joel nodded and looked up at the wall in front of him, it had a photo of you, him, and Sarah hanging from one of her soccer games which made his heart warm and made him smile, “Anyway… I need to get back to things but I’ll keep you and Maria posted throughout the next couple of days. Maybe we can have you over for dinner or something, yeah?” 

Tommy smiled and nodded, “We’d like that.” 

Joel softly took in a breath and told his brother goodbye, sitting on the couch a moment longer before getting up and heading back upstairs with two plates of food that Elena had made for you two. 

Joel had woken you up and made sure you were fed but after you had eaten you went back to sleep after taking a shower, the events of the last few days and especially last night wearing down on you. 

Around 3 pm Joel softly woke you up and told you he got you an appointment with Diane to help with what happened last night but he needed you to wake up so you could get there on time. 

You slowly got up, getting dressed in some oversized jeans, in a vintage sports pullover of Joel’s, and doing your hair up in a messy bun. The goal was to be comfy and get through the rest of the day. 

To be completely honest you weren’t only sleeping because you were exhausted, you slept because it avoided the growing panic attack you felt growing inside your mind, feeling at any moment you were going to explode. 

Elena said she’d stay another night to help out so that he wouldn’t have to worry about Sarah or the house when he got back. You two could focus on what you needed as she assumed this session would take a lot out of you that already was low and fragile. 

Joel held onto your hand as he drove to Diane’s office across town, you focused on counting stop signs while he drove, trying to distract yourself. 

He didn’t push conversation or try to talk, he knew you had a lot going through your head as he saw how quickly your eyes would move from one thing to another, how you were starting to pick at your cuticles again, and your knee would bounce when you sat still. He put the radio on low and let the music fill the air. Occasionally gently squeezing your hand or pulling it to his lips to gently kiss it as he drove. 

He pulled into her parking lot, shut off the truck and turned to look your way, “Do you need a minute? We are here a little early if you need some time…” he gently ran his thumb over the top of your hand. 

You looked at the office doors and shook your head, you knew you were safe there, you knew that Diane’s office was somewhere you could seek help in times like this when your mind wouldn’t stop. 

“I’m ok. I think I’d like to go in now… sit down for a moment.” you said quietly, keeping your eyes on the door, reading the address and phone number on the door over and over again, not letting yourself think about anything else. 

Joel nodded and leaned over, kissing your temple gently, “Ok mi vida, one sec, I’ll come ‘round and get your door…” he opened the truck door and was careful to close it gently, then walked around and got your door, holding out his hand. 

You were staring at the door still, reading the numbers and spelling the street out letter by letter in your mind, your lips moving but not saying anything.  

Joel looked at you then followed your eye line to the door, seeing what was on the door then looked back at you, “1124 Teterbeen Street, Suite B, what’s the phone number baby?” 

You looked at him for a moment and saw his hand out, his big brown eyes eager to help you. You took his hand and got out of the truck, repeating the phone number to him softly. 

“Good, now remind me what’s the address again?” he kissed your temple as he gently shut the door of the truck and walked with you towards the door, listening as you read out the address. 

He opened the office door for you and walked with you inside.

Diane’s office smelled of lavender and eucalyptus which instantly calmed you. Joel could feel the rigidity in your body melt just a little as you held onto his arm. 

Diane’s receptionist smiled at you and Joel and then pushed a button on the desk, which silently let Diane know her next appointment was here by illuminating a lamp in her office just a tad that sat behind her patients so it never felt like they were being rushed but let her know to start wrapping up the session.

“She’s just finishing up, please make yourself comfortable.” she offered softly. 

You took a seat by the waterfall wall she had to bring a calm presence to the waiting area, it was somewhere you always sat before your sessions. 

Joel had never been inside the office, just always dropped you off as Diane always recommended you come in alone so you wouldn’t build a co-dependence on him but today was different, today Joel was there if you needed him you told yourself. 'I'm not alone.'

Joel looked at the wall and moved his hand to take yours, “This is pretty… has it always been here?” he spoke softly. 

You nodded, “She usually has it on. I think it’s to help calm us beforehand… she’s Pavlov-ing us.” you let out a soft snort. 

Joel chuckled, “Pavlov-ing? Like the dog and bell thing?” 

You nodded, “Positive reinforcement I imagine can be conditioned in many ways.” you shrugged, “After all, she is a psychologist, an expert in mind control…” you joked. 

Joel shook his head softly and kissed your head, chuckling, “She’d find that funny…” 

Diane’s office door opened and a young man walked out, thanking her and shaking her hand before he walked to the reception desk to schedule his next appointment. 

Diane smiled at you and cleared her throat, “Y/N… it’s so good to see you.” she came over and you stood, putting on a fake smile for her. 

“It’s good to see you too.” you nodded and put your hands behind you, starting to pick your cuticle, Joel sat and looked at Diane, smiling softly. 

“Well, in today’s session I’d like to speak with you about what happened last night and you’re welcome to have Joel sit out here or if you want, he can come in with you, but the choice is yours. I’ll just have him leave for a few minutes towards the end for you and me to talk about a few things one-on-one.” she smiled kindly and held her notepad against her chest, waiting for you to lead the way. 

You looked back at Joel and then at her, nodded, “Yeah um… can he come?” 

She nodded and smiled, backing up a could steps, “Of course. Let’s take a seat in here.” she held her arm out to guide you into her office. 

Joel stood and put his hand on the small of your back gently, “I’m right here…” he whispered to you, then walked with you as you hesitantly walked inside, all of a sudden feeling very anxious. 

You came around and sat down on the couch she had against the wall facing her chair, Joel joined next to you and softly offered his hand which you took and gently squeezed. 

She sat down and smiled at you, watching you very closely as you looked around and analyzed everything, zoning in on a new photo she had hanging behind her chair, “New photo I see… that’s uh… the Oregon coast, Lincoln city, yeah?” it showed a famous landmark from Lincoln City, Oregon’s beach.

You were deflecting and she knew it. It was something you did in the first couple of sessions you had with her when you started, she had a hard time calling you out on it without you getting defensive, telling her there was nothing wrong with making conversation. 

She knew today was not a day to call you out, instead acknowledged but slowly crawled into talking about what was going on. 

She nodded, “Exactly. You ever been there?” she smiled, leaning back in her chair. 

You shook your head and softly exhaled, “No… but there’s a resident pod of whales that visit there every season… it’s a bucket-list trip Joel and I have talked about doing eventually.” you smiled and looked down at his hand holding yours. 

She smiled and looked at Joel, who was watching you very attentively, gently stroking your hand with his thumb, “I hear it’s a beautiful place to visit. Maybe you two can go on your honeymoon…” She nodded towards your ring and smiled, “Congratulations by the way.” 

You looked at your ring and then at her and lightly let out a breathy chuckle, “Thank you…” 

“When did that happen?” she probed carefully. 

You kept your head down, starting to fiddle with the ring, “Um… two days ago…” you smiled softly and cleared your throat softly, looking at her. 

She nodded, “Joel told me that you guys had a lovely engagement party thrown by some friends and family last night, can you tell me about that? What was your peach, and what was your pit?” she smiled softly. 

You two had used this term often, a good way to express the positives but also negatives of situations without tying them to negative ideas and behaviors. It helped you express things when thinking about it in this way, she seemed to get more out of you when you thought of traumas or events this way. 

You nodded and chuckled, “Uh… peach was Joel’s toast. He uh…” you looked over at him and smiled warmly, “He has a way with words, knows how to make a girl feel like she’s god’s gift to this world.” you chuckled and he smiled, gently bringing your hand to his lips and kissing it. 

“Just speak the truth, mi vida… you are god’s gift to my world.” he winked and smiled softly. 

You blushed and looked down shyly, leaning against him, looking back at your hands connected. 

“Sounds like a good peach. It’s a lovely experience and opportunity we get when we have someone love us that type of way isn’t it?” she said as she wrote something in her notebook. 

You nodded and inhaled, “Makes the pits not so horrible.” you admitted softly, focusing on anything but her, feeling under a microscope by how she was unwrapping you and the last 24 hours. 

She hummed in agreement, “I like that point of view.” she smiled and wrote something more down. 

“Now, on the other end, what was your pit?” she looked up at you. 

You bit the inside of your cheek, and focused on picking your thumb cuticle that was near raw, “I think you’re aware of what was the pit…” 

Diane took a soft breath in and cleared her throat, “I do… but I need you to tell me it in your own words… what made it a pit?” 

You stayed quiet, your foot gently tapping the ground, tears were starting to well up in your eyes, you didn’t want to relive what happened. You knew talking about it would take off the soggy Band-Aid you were using right now and that it would open up an already aching wound. 

“I know it’s painful and perhaps a little hard to talk about…” she leaned forward, “What went through your mind when it first happened? Start there…” 

You swallowed and looked at the corner of the coffee table in front of you, “When I was back in…” you jutted your jaw out and let out a breath, trying to keep yourself calm, “... on our last field assignment, we were out running a damn missile. Same… fuckin’ whistle when it comes down from the sky echoes the field.” rolled your shoulders back and tightened your jaw. 

“Same sounds that fireworks make when they fly up, right?” Diane softly asked.  

You nodded. 

“Tell me why you took cover by the shed, what made that spot feel safe?” 

You shrugged, looking up at her. 

“What made you run to that place rather than inside?” she pressed.  

Joel looked at Diane then you, gently squeezing your hand to give you a little boost of support. 

You looked at him for a moment then looked down at your hands, again tightening your jaw, speaking softly, “Joel was in there… and for a moment I thought I wasn’t safe… that I was back in an active zone… which meant he wouldn’t be safe with me going in there…” you let out a breath through your nose, “So I went as far as I could from his point of location…” you admitted. 

Joel looked at you as you admitted that and then looked at Diane who nodded at him, letting him know that’s what she suspected. 

You looked at Diane, “I didn’t want anyone to get hurt.” 

Diane wrote something in her notebook then bit the inside of her cheek, “I’m curious… let's say if Joel is with you when these moments happen- do you think he experiences the trauma you do, or do you know he isn’t in harm's way? Are you able to separate that in your mind?” 

Your body went rigid and you shook your head, eyes going numb and cold as you looked across the room at her, “I… I don’t know but I don’t want to think about that… I…” you looked down at the floor, “...there’s a peace knowing he and Sarah never will know that fear…” 

Diane nodded, taking a moment before asking, “Do you think that if he had been around when those fireworks would have gone off you would have felt safer?” 

You shrugged, “I… I don’t know.” you had a few tears fall down your cheeks, “Sometimes I can’t separate where I am from where I’ve been…” you sighed softly. 

She wrote something else on the pages then swallowed softly, “When you first took cover, what did you see, feel, hear that made you think you were somewhere you weren’t?” 

You closed your eyes trying to remember, and your knee began bouncing anxiously, “I remember hearing a faint siren in the distance.” your eyes began scanning behind your eyelids, “... the air was thick and dusty, like something may have been hit nearby… I… I could smell something burning…" your lip trembled, "...someone burning…” you whispered, voice breaking, “I couldn’t move… I… I felt cemented into the ground, heavy and…” your breathing became uneven, small jagged breathes as you started remembering details, feeling right back there, making it all too much, “I couldn’t breathe… couldn’t think, couldn’t hear… I felt like…” you shook your head feeling overwhelmed and stood up abruptly, snapping your eyes open, “No… I… I need to get out...” you began looking for the door.  

Diane and Joel's eyes snapped up to you, Joel gently reached out to touch your leg while Diane tried to hold your gaze, “Woah… ok… it’s ok… you’re safe.” Diane said softly, holding up her hands to ease you from her seat, using her hand to tell Joel to stay seated which he did, “Hey, eyes on me… let’s count down from 10…” she said calmly but firmly.

Your hands shook next to your side, fidgeting open and closed, “I can’t… fuck… I can’t do this…” You began to hyperventilate, eyes scanning for an exit, then quickly moving around the table, tripping slightly on the leg, hitting your shin, hissing, “Ah... fuck…” You kept moving and quickly opened the office door, making for the exit.

Diane pushed a button on her table next to her chair which signaled the front door to lock automatically. Her office was by a busy road, and she learned very early on with dealing with patients with PTSD to have this safety tool.

She followed you out calmly and slowly, putting her notebook down on her chair before leaving the room, Joel standing with her and following, eyes filled with concern. 

You pushed the door to open it but weren’t able to open it, which just pissed you off and made you panic, "Open the door…” you jiggled the handle again, trying to open it, “Diane, open the damn door!” your breathing became faster and panicked. 

Diane looked at the receptionist and nodded, she turned up the volume on some white noise that was playing around the office to help ease you. 

“I’m not opening the door sweetheart, it’s not safe…” she said, easing her way closer to you. 

You stood facing the door, placing your head against its cold glass, breathing frantically, “F-fuck… I…” you rolled up your sleeve and started flicking your wrist with a hair tie you had again and again, shutting your eyes. You were told that shocking your senses would help snap out of moments like this in the army. 

Diane heard the band snap against your wrist and nodded, “Good. Senses needing to be shocked I see... good job… you’re doing great.” 

You continued to snap the band against your wrist, slowly falling to your knees, “I can’t go back…” you whispered over and over. 

Diane’s receptionist heard what she had said and reached into a mini fridge she had below the desk and handed Diane an ice pack, something to shock the senses that wasn’t so abrasive to you. 

She knelt slowly, listening to what you were saying, “You aren’t going back… you’re staying here… staying safe. Shhh…” She waited for a moment then cleared her throat “Let’s try holding onto this, yes?” she said reaching out with the cold pack. 

You turned around, your wrist red and raw from the continuous stimulus to it, and sat against the door, facing them, taking the cold pack and holding it against your forehead, after a moment letting out a breath of relief and shaky breathes being taken in and out. 

Joel came and knelt by Diane, careful not to move too quickly, gently reaching out to put his hand on your knee, you looked up at him and saw how worried he looked, how he wanted nothing to do more than help you. 

You looked up at Diane and sadly sighed, looking hopeless, defeated. 

She softly smiled, “Whenever you’re ready we’ll go back and talk about how to help these moments, yes?” she reassured. 

You nodded and closed your eyes, “I’m sorr-” 

Diane cleared her throat, “What is our one rule in here about that…” 

You opened your eyes and softly chuckled, “Right… no apologies are allowed if they are due because of a trauma response…” you mocked her voice teasingly. 

Joel looked back at Diane then quickly back at you, “Ok, so that rule is carrying over into our home…” he chuckled and gently rubbed your knee. 

You rolled your eyes jokingly and smiled softly, “How did I know you’d jump on that rule?” 

He leaned forward and kissed your head, “Because you’re notorious for apologizin’ when it’s not warranted sweet girl…” 

Diane nodded, “We've found that’s a good indicator a person has been in toxic relationships where you are constantly accessing people’s emotions and reactions.” she sighed softly, “You most likely have it from your parents but mostly Charlie.” she suggested. 

You nodded and scoffed, “Lovely… one more thing from him.” you rolled your eyes and moved to stand up, handing the ice pack back to the receptionist who smiled and handed you a new one, “Keep it… seems to help.” she smiled kindly. 

You nodded softly and slowly took in a breath after a few moments, “I’m ready to go back…” 

Joel and Diane rose together from the ground and nodded as you led the way back into the room. 

You sat back down where you were and held onto the ice pack, taking a few deep more steady breaths. Diane and Joel sat back down as well where they had been. 

Diane pulled her notebook back out and talked to you a little more about what happened, and why it happened. She advised that if things happen like that again, you use things like the ice trick or something else to shock your system into snapping out of that mindset. She advised Joel on things he can do to help in moments where things like this could happen but advised him to avoid triggers if possible as the more you’re exposed early, can lead to bad habits of coping outside of your own timing. 

She looked at the clock with 5 minutes left and looked at Joel, “Could you give us a few minutes to wrap up?” 

Joel nodded and looked at you, “I’ll just be out by the waterfall, mi vida…” he kissed your temple softly and then hand before letting you go and smiled and nodded at Diane as he walked out and softly shut the door behind him. 

The moment the door closed you looked at her and chuckled, “Am I in trouble or somethin’...?” you joked. 

She chuckled, “No, not in any trouble. I just like to check on some things that people tend to not speak honestly about in front of their partners…” she smiled softly, “I need you to answer me honestly when I ask what I’m going to ask, and either way I’ll take your word for it.” 

You bit your cheek, “Damn, sounds like you’re about to ask me if I’ve killed someone…” you joked, deflecting.

She looked at you and nodded, “Well... we’ve never talked about it, and it would help possibly explain some triggers you have." she tilted her head and then softly and calmly asked, "Did you have to take any life back in Afghanistan?” 

Your breath got caught in your throat and you held tightly onto the cold pack, looking down shamefully, fidgeting with the edge of the square you held, nodding after a few moments of silence “4 lives…” you clenched your jaw, holding back tears. 

She nodded and wrote it in her notes, then softly cleared her throat before clasping her hands together and softly, carefully asking, “Because of that, have you ever considered taking your own due to guilt?” 

You kept your head down and tears fell before you looked up at her, “Once.” you cleared your throat, “It was for less than a day back before I got to go home. It was after I got back from Delta 42 and 30…” you looked away for a moment, looking out the window, “Maria had gone home, Reggie was pretty much unavailable from the time I got to base to when I left. The days got long… I was alone for a big chunk of it because they wouldn’t let me work.” you set the ice pack down on the coffee table and swallowed, “All your left with is your thoughts, you know?” 

Diane sat forward, giving you her full attention, “Sometimes silence is the most terrifying thing we can be left with…” 

You nodded and sadly smiled then bit your cheek, “I uh… I got low. Couldn’t sleep, kept having echoes of what happened in Delta 42 taunt me every time I closed my fuckin’ eyes it felt like.” you looked down at your hands, “Joel was busy one day, couldn’t talk much and without that… without having some connection to the outside, I felt so fuckin’ alone… so consumed by the loss and fucked up shit I’d done in the last 72 hours…” you lightly chuckled, tears welling in your eyes, “For no more than maybe an hour or so, I saw my pistol on the desk as a way to ease the pain, stop the chaos from swarmin’ my head…” you fidgeted with your hands, “But then something just clicked and it was like a switch toggled on in my head. I felt lighter, could fuckin’ think and breathe… I can’t explain why or what did it- but never touched that pistol again until I turned it in the day I left.” you looked up at her, eyes etched with regret, "Please don't tell Joel..." you said sadly.

She listened and nodded along with you, making notes here and there with details you had told her, making notes on things you said then looked at you when you stopped talking, “What's said in here, stays in here." she reassured.

After a few moments of silence, she asked, "Have you had any itch to harm yourself since being home?” 

You shook your head and cleared your throat, “No… Joel… Joel’s been so…” you smiled softly at your hands, “He’s been so supportive and loving that I’ve not had much time to get that low, you know?” you looked up at her. 

She smiled softly and nodded, “Joel’s a good one, he’s solid, has a big heart, and he adores the ground you walk on which adds to it all…”

That made you blush and smile. You couldn't have asked for a better partner, a better fiancé.

She lightly chuckled, “Compared to what we’ve talked about with regards to Charlie… Joel’s been good for you.” 

You blushed deeper and nodded, “I’m really lucky to have him… consider myself blessed to have even met him the way we did, you know?” 

She nodded and smiled warmly, “Now you’re engaged… how does that make you feel?” 

You looked down at your hand, messing with your ring, “I honestly had no idea he’d ask this soon, but… it feels right, you know?” you looked up, “He looks at me like there’s somethin’ worth lookin’ at. Fills my life with color.” you shyly looked back down, “I’m just ramblin’ cheesy stuff now…” 

She chuckled, “Rambling about what makes you happy, nothin’ wrong with that...” she smiled. 

You nodded and cleared your throat, “He makes me happy. I… I don’t think I’ve ever felt this happy in my life… never felt so… free…?” you chuckled. 

She nodded, “After what you’ve been through, that’s an understandable feeling.” she smiled and nodded a little then after another few moments of quiet she spoke softly, “I’d like to see you again in a few days, just for a short check-in, would that be ok?” 

You nodded and looked down, “Am I free to go?” you chuckled and then looked up. 

She nodded and stood, softly chuckling, “You call me if anything happens, even if it’s in the middle of the night, ok?” she opened her door.

You nodded and walked out of the room, “Thank you for your time today…” 

Joel stood hearing you come out and smiled at you. 

Diane nodded and looked at Joel then you, “Mind if I talk to Joel for a moment? Just to let him know how to best help you in the next few days?” 

You nodded and swallowed, “Yeah, no problem.” you came and sat in the chair next to where Joel was sitting, crossing your legs, grabbing a magazine, and looking down at it.

Joel looked at Diane and nodded, coming into the room with her, standing with his hands in his pockets as she closed the door behind her. She cleared her throat and offered for him to sit, “Oh… it’s a sitting conversation?” he asked nervously as he sat down on the couch. 

Diane chuckled softly, “Not necessarily, although what she’s going through is very serious… but nothing like… that.” she sat down and smiled softly. 

“So, what’s going on? How can I help her?” Joel asked, clasping his hands in his lap nervously but eager to listen. 

“She’s dealing with PTSD, so avoiding triggers will help, which I know can be done… you’re very aware of her environment and very protective of her.” she smiled warmly.

Joel felt empowered by that. To know his love and devotion to you traveled and was noticed by others.

“But what I’m concerned with is that if she gets to a low point she’ll… she’ll get low, really low.” she pursed her lips together to accentuate the meaning. 

He took in a breath and nodded, understanding, “What are warning signs to look out for?” 

“She’ll start to remove herself from normal social situations, she may start to say things that feel off... you’ll know what those are. I think the best thing is to keep her busy, check in daily, and maybe encourage her to write in a journal, she’d do well with that… but just, be there and let her feel her feelings but don’t let her be absorbed by them…” she said softly. 

He nodded and cleared his throat softly, “Sarah has a break comin’ up... Y/N mentioned that beach in Oregon earlier. While ya’ll were talkin’ I made some calls… I was thinkin’ of doing that in a week when Sarah's off school, do something to keep her busy but also somethin' to look forward to? What are your thoughts?” he sat a little closer to the edge of his seat. 

“I’m going to see her again in a few days, how about I let you know how she is then? She’s in no way to travel so soon based on today’s session but she might be ok in a few days after she settles mentally…” she said softly. 

He nodded and bit the inside of his cheek, “Anything I shouldn’t do?” 

She shrugged, “Ask her what her boundaries are. I think right now she just needs a lot of support, love, and patience. Some light distractions to keep her somewhat busy and not lame would be good. Things like movie nights, going to the grocery store, small car rides, things like that.” she suggested. 

“My brother, the one that set off the damn fireworks, should I keep him away? Would he be triggering?” he asked, sounding concerned. 

She shook her head, “Tommy and Maria… it would be good for her to be around them. She needs all the support she can get right now and Maria knows what she’s been through. Besides, what happened wasn’t anyone's fault, at least purposely, right?” she pressed. 

He nodded, “Right… it was all done with good intentions… just poorly executed.” he shrugged and chuckled lightly. 

Diane nodded, chuckling, “Tommy unfortunately has a record for poorly executing things like this doesn’t he?” 

Joel chuckled knowing what she was referring to; a work incident that Tommy was a little clumsy in after taking the three of them out to lunch and all of them coming back a little under the influence, “James had a hand in that too, you know?” he teased. 

She nodded and let out a louder chuckle, “I’ll never let him live that down.” 

They both chuckled and then Diane stood, “Anyways, she’s doing great, she’ll have a rough few days, but I think she’ll be ok, just keep me updated if anything gets bad enough where you can’t get her out of a… funk, you know?” she started walking towards the door. 

He stood and nodded, “I’ll keep you posted. Thanks, Diane.” 

She nodded and smiled before opening the door. You were reading a cooking magazine, deep in thought that you didn’t hear the door open. 

Joel smiled at you and walked over, sitting beside you, kissing your cheek then looking down at what you were reading, it was a recipe for a Tuscan Chicken pasta, “That looks good baby… wanna go to the store and get the stuff to make that tonight?” 

You nodded and looked at him, “But isn’t your mom cooking?” 

He smiled and looked at you, “If she is we can just cook it tomorrow but we can still go to the store? I’ll call her in the truck and ask…” he touched your cheek softly then tucked a strand of hair behind your ear delicately. 

You blushed and looked back down at the recipe then pulled out your phone and went to take a picture when Diane cleared her throat, “Take it home, just bring it back when you come back…” 

You looked at her and smiled, nodding then standing up, “Deal.” 

A week later 

You had gone in again to see Diane a few days ago and were doing much better. Elena stayed a couple of days after to keep you busy and monitor you while Joel had to go to work for a few important meetings regrettably. 

You’d never admit it, but Joel going back to work and not coddling you was what you needed. The less that you felt like a baby, the more independent you felt and the faster you adjusted and adapted. 

You still had a few hard moments over the past few days with being alone for too long after Elena had left. However, it pushed you to ask for help or reach out to friends like Rose or Maria.

You found yourself over at Rose’s offering to help with whatever she needed from day to day, not caring how small or silly it may be, you just sometimes needed to be around someone. 

Joel found when he’d come home most days he’d need to go get you from Rose’s as you would stay there until you knew someone was back home. 

After getting the 'ok' from Diane at your last session, Joel let you know that you guys were going on a road trip to the Oregon coast over the next two weeks and when you'd be leaving.

That in itself kept you busy as you packed for everyone, ran errands to prepare, and one morning instead of going on a run, cleaned the truck completely out.

---

His alarm went off at 5 am and you were already awake, buzzing with excitement. You leaned over and smiled as you kissed his cheek and brushed his hair back off his forehead, “Time to wake up, we gotta get goin’...” you giggled softly, kissing his shoulder. 

He chuckled sleepily and turned off his alarm before he wrapped his arms around you, humming, “5 more minutes darlin’...” he pulled you to lay on his chest. 

You giggled, “Joel you and I both know what ‘5 more minutes’ means and it’s not truly 5 minutes it’s another hour…” you tried getting out of his hold, smiling. 

The more you tried, the tighter he held you, keeping his eyes closed, trying to go back to sleep, “Shh, just let it happen… shh…” he teased as he held you tighter to him, starting to wrap his legs around you. 

“Damn it, Joel, you’re like a boa constrictor with your hold…” you couldn’t help but laugh and give up, “Fine, 5 more minutes…” you sighed and cuddled into him. 

He smiled and kissed your head, letting go of his hold a little, “Good girl, smart choice…” 

You blushed and laid your head on his chest, “How far are we drivin’ today?” you traced shapes on his chest. 

He hummed, partially back asleep, “We’re drivin’ to uh…” he drifted back to sleep, his arms starting to go limp around you as he was taken back deep into sleep. 

You smiled and chuckled and moved your head to watch the clock, letting 5 minutes go by before you sunk beneath the sheets and began kissing down his body, slotting yourself between his legs, dragging your lips across his bare cock making it hard quicker than you expected. 

Joel stirred and took a deep breath in, still somewhere between being awake and asleep. You kissed the inside of his thigh before spitting into your hand and began stroking him slowly, letting your saliva coat him while you pumped him in your palm. 

He groaned and turned his head in his sleep, feeling himself become aroused, smirking as he started to wake up.

You loved hearing those sounds come from him. It instantly made you wet against your panties. 

You were satisfied with your work and dropped your head to take the tip of your tongue from the bottom of his shaft up to his tip, dragging him out of his slumber, “Mmm still need 5 more minutes, amor?” you smirked as you kissed his tip making him grunt, slowly starting to wake up. 

“F-fuck…” he said as he felt your tongue swirl around his tip before sinking your mouth over him slowly, tongue flat against his shaft, softly moaning. 

You slowly bobbed your head up and down his shaft, taking more of him every time you went down.

He grunted and smirked, “Oh fuck, you’re takin’ me so good.” 

You moaned softly and pulled off with a small pop, licking your lips, “Mmm you taste so good baby…” You dragged your tongue up his shaft slowly, eliciting goosebumps up his body, “Can’t get enough of you…” you drew your lips back down and then started to suck on his balls softly. 

He gasped and gripped the sheets, cursing under his breath. He shut his eyes and swallowed a groan, making you kiss the soft spot of skin in his groin, “Mmm don’t you dare hold back on makin’ those sounds cowboy…” you stroked him in your palm.

He chuckled and let out a groan, “Fuck…” he hissed and let out a strangled moan, “Want you ‘round me…” he pleaded. 

You thought he meant your mouth so you went back to wrap your mouth around him, taking him deep and slow down your throat, gagging slightly at the size of him stretching your throat out. 

He groaned and his hips involuntarily bucked up, making you cough and moan as he went deep down your throat. 

You pulled off him and had saliva dripping out of your mouth, panting heavily, trying to catch your breath for a second, swallowing before you went to go back on him, starting to bob your head up and down again, this time a little faster. 

Joel grunted in absolute pleasure but shook his head, “Oh fuck... I need you… need you on top of me…” he groaned, jaw dropped and letting out a moan as you went down on him, moaning around his cock. 

You pulled off and smirked, kissing up his thigh, “You want me to ride you?” you asked breathlessly, slowly moving to kiss his stomach and up his chest. 

He smirked and panted softly, moving the sheets off to see you before leaning up on his elbows, looking down at you with those big brown eyes full of lust, “We’re gonna be sleepin’ in the same area as Sarah for the next 4 days… which means I don’t know the next time I’m gon’ feel your pretty pussy wrapped around my cock…” the smirked and looked up as you straddled him, your face hovering over his. 

You hummed and took off your panties, then took your shirt off, eyes bouncing back and forth between his eyes and lips, “I’m sure we can find ways… sneak around…” you started to grind him through your wet folds. 

He panted and grunted, laying back against the pillows, putting his hands on your hips, “Yeah? How would we do that?” he moved your hips at a slower rhythm than what you were, wanting this to last. 

You leaned down and started to kiss his neck sucking it softly, letting out a soft moan as his tip brushed against your clit, “We can always swing a quickie in the shower early in the mornin’ before she wakes…” you reached down between your bodies and lined him up at your entrance. 

“Think you can be quiet enough to do that? We tend to…” he grunted feeling you tease him at your entrance, “...fuck baby… you’re bein’ a tease…” he groaned feeling your lips suck against his pulse point. 

You grinned and kissed up his jaw then hovered your lips over his, “Finish that sentence handsome… we tend to what?” you looked down at his lips. 

He smirked and was lightly panting in anticipation, “We tend to enjoy each other in the shower, be a little louder than usual in there…” he bit his bottom lip, looking at yours, hungrily. 

You smirked, “I can be quiet if need be…” you sat onto his cock, slowly sinking him into your warmth, moaning softly against his lips, “I can be a good girl…”

Joel gripped onto you tightly, grunting as he felt you fully sit onto him before he sat you onto one of his elbows and cupped your jaw, “Yes you can be a good girl…” he said before pulling you down to kiss him deeply a few times before you pulled away by putting your hand on his chest and pushing him to lay down.

You started rocking your hips up and down on him, “Call me that again…” you panted as you softly moaned. 

He smirked up at you and bit his lip before lowly growling, “That’s a good girl, ridin’ my cock like that…” 

Your eyes fluttered shut and you smiled, nodding, leaning back to put your hand on his thigh then began riding him at a faster pace, up and down on him, moaning softly.  

He watched and groaned, seeing your tits bounce and the sight of him going in and out of you, “Fuck... you like that don’t you? Bein’ called a good girl…” he moved his hand up your body slowly before kneading your breast and playing with your nipple, keeping one hand on your waist. 

You gasped at the stimulation and nodded, “F-fuck that feels good…” you sat fully on him, his tip pressed up into your cervix, you swirled your hips, earning a grunt from him.

“Fuck baby, you like me that deep huh? Stretchin’ you out?” he cooed, sliding his other hand from your waist to between your bodies and using his thumb to draw circles into your clit. 

You gasped and bit your lip, “Y-Yes sir…” you cried out softly, suddenly feeling that coil start to wind up tight. 

He growled and he twitched inside of you, “Careful now…” he warned, “Callin’ me sir’s gonna get you in a different position where we’ll for sure wake up Sarah…” 

You opened your eyes and grinned down at him, continuing to circle your hips, “We aren’t road-trippin’ yet are we… sir?” you moaned softly feeling him twitch again inside you. 

His eyes went dark and he sat up quickly and smirked, before leaning forward and laying you on your back. 

He pulled out of you, “On your stomach… now…” he growled. 

You bit your lip and giggled then turned to lay on your stomach, “Yes sir…” 

He smirked and grabbed a pillow from behind him, and put his arm under your torso, pulling your hips up and sliding the pillow under you. Your hips are now slightly elevated, creating the perfect angle for him. 

He laid over you, squaring up behind you, lining up at your entrance, “You’re gonna be a good girl and cum for me?” he said lowly into your ear.

“Yes… yes please…” you begged. 

He kept himself at your entrance and used his free hand to brush your hair to one side of your body before sucking softly on your earlobe and plunging deep into your warmth.

You gasped and your hips rose up a little into him, gripping the sheets in front of you. 

He grunted and growled lowly into your ear, “Oh that’s it… fuck…”

He started rocking his hips into you, making you breathlessly moan as he whispered into your ear while letting out small grunts or groans,

“That pretty little pussy takes me so well…”

“Don’t cover your mouth. I wanna hear you…” 

“I know you can be louder than that…” 

“Such a good girl takin’ my cock like this…” 

You’d come undone within the first few minutes of him rocking slowly and deeply against that sweet spot. Your legs would quiver under him, becoming weak and melting into the sheets, mumbling how good he feels deep in you. 

He’d eventually start to buck into you faster and harder, putting his hand on your waist and one planted next to you to hold himself up, panting hard and quick, “Fuck baby you feel so tight around my cock…” 

He’d look to where you both were connected and the way your ass would shake as he slammed into you and smirked “Fuck mi vida, tu culo se ve bien rebotando así mientras me follo tu apretado y perfecto coño…” (Your ass looks good bouncing like that while I fuck your tight, perfect pussy…)

You’d arch your ass up a little with what strength you’d have left and try to thrust back into him to give yourself some added stimulation which only made things more sensitive and launched you into euphoria, “F-fuck don’t stop baby…” You pleaded as you moaned into the mattress to muffle yourself. 

Joel gripped onto you and grunted, “F-fuck…” he snapped his hips into you and then groaned as he spilled deep into you, his forehead falling against your back, panting as he stayed still inside you. 

After a few moments of silence, both of you came down from your highs.

He smiled softly and leaned his head up, “You were askin’ where we gotta drive today…” he kissed your shoulder softly, “We’re drivin’ to Albuquerque…” he softly rubbed your hip, kissing your spine, “But we should leave as soon as possible… it’s an 11-hour drive…” he kissed down your spine softly. 

You hummed and smiled feeling his lips, “We should get goin’ then… we already stayed in bed longer than we should of Mr. 5 more minutes…” you teased and turned your head to look at him as he kissed down your body. 

He looked up at you with those big brown eyes of love and adoration and smiled softly, “Touche… soon to be Mrs. 5 more minutes…” he came up and met his lips with yours, kissing you gently. 

After another hour the car was packed, and you guys were on the road towards Albuquerque, New Mexico. 

The first couple hours were spent with Sarah sleeping against the window and you reading a book while Joel listened to the radio softly in the background. 

Around the 5th hour, you put your book down and discussed some activities and stops along the way you all could take with Sarah and Joel needing some type of stimulation as the drive was getting boring. 

Sarah insisted on stopping in Moab, Utah at Arches National Park as well as the Cliff Palace in Mesa Verde National Park in Colorado. You agreed as you thought you could get some really good photos with your new camera and could get some practice taking photos of Sarah and Joel. 

Joel said he had purchased some Boise football tickets as their football field is blue and he’s always wanted to go to one of their games, he also agreed about going to Moab and said that your motel would be less than 45 minutes away from the park, it would be a good thing to do on your way in from Colorado. 

Sarah eventually got bored after the list was made and started going off with ‘eye spy with my little eye’ however there wasn’t much to go off of so you and Joel guessed things pretty easily. 

She pulled out a portable DVD player after 5 rounds ended in less than 10 seconds, frustrated. 

You chuckled and looked at Joel as she put headphones on, “Is this the longest drive we have for this trip?” 

He nodded and took your hand, bringing it to your lips to kiss it gently, “Yeah, I think the longest after this will be 8 hours from Moab to Boise…” 

You nodded and looked out the window, “You wanna switch after our next stop? I don’t mind driving…” you smiled looking back at him. 

He smiled softly and shook his head, “No, I like drivin’... keeps me busy.”

You looked back to make sure Sarah couldn’t hear before you smirked and looked over at him, “I could think of a few things I could do to keep us busy while you drove..." you teased.

Joel chuckled, “As tempting as that might be, we aren’t as sneaky as you think…” he winked at you.

You giggled and smiled at him, “Well for the record, if you need to take a break, let me know.” you kissed his hand and then leaned against the window, watching the road as he drove. 

—

With a few pitstops and several hours later, you drove into a quaint little motel in Albuquerque, NM. 

By the time you got there, it was around 9 pm, all you were doing was sleeping the night there and then leaving tomorrow for your next stop. 

When you all got checked in and into your room, the three of you took turns taking showers as you all felt gross from the drive.

You ordered some pizza for dinner and then you all watched a movie before passing out asleep around 11 pm. 

Around 3 am you woke up sweating, feeling your heart pounding but don’t remember having a nightmare so you just assumed it was due to the room being warmer than you were used to. 

You slowly got out of bed and went to adjust the A/C but seemed to not be working so you bit the inside of your cheek and tried to open a window but nothing was working to cool you off.

You came over and checked on Joel and Sarah, both seemed fine, most likely used to the heat. You leaned down and kissed Sarah’s head, pushing her hair softly out of her face, and then came over to Joel and kissed his head, making him stir but fall right back asleep. 

You took the notepad on the nightstand and wrote, ‘Going to sit by the pool, A/C sucks’, then grabbed a room key, and your book, and left quietly to go sit by the pool. 

You had short shorts on and a t-shirt, so you just walked out barefoot to the pool so you could put your feet in by the edge to cool off. 

You sat there for a few minutes before another younger guy came in, lighting up a cigarette. 

You smiled softly and nodded to be kind and acknowledge him then went back to your book thinking he would just smoke and then leave. 

After a couple of minutes of lingering, he cleared his throat, “Too hot for you too?” 

You looked up, “Pardon?” as you missed part of what he said, head stuck in your book. 

He smiled and started coming closer to you, “I asked if it was too hot in your room for you as well…” 

You chuckled lightly, “Oh, sorry. Yeah, it is.” 

He came and sat a few feet from you, rolling up his pants to put his feet in as well, “Not from the heat?” 

You shook your head and chuckled, “I should be used to it, I live in Texas but was born and raised in Washington.” you shrugged and looked back to your book, hoping he’d get the hint. 

He nodded and took a drag of his cigarette, “Ah I see. What part of Washington?” he let it out, filling the air around you with the thick odor.

You kept your nose in your book, “Oak Harbor.” 

He chuckled and smiled, “Ah, so cold Washington.” 

You nodded and hummed. 

He took another drag and then flicked his cigarette, “Whatcha readin’?” he nodded towards your book. 

You took a breath, “Uh, just a self-help book… nothin’ exciting.” you smiled and then looked back at the pages. 

He nodded and bit the inside of his cheek, “I’m Danny…” he stuck his hand out. 

You looked up and said your name, taking his hand and shaking it firmly. 

He chuckled and cleared his throat, looking up at the sky, “Nice night, huh?” 

You bit your tongue to avoid saying something rude, “Yeah, it’s not too bad.” you tried to read the same passage you’ve had to go over now 3 times due to him trying to talk to you. 

He turned and looked at you after a few moments of silence, looking down at your bare thighs that were showing due to the shorts you were wearing, “So, uh, what’s a pretty girl like you doin’ here in Albuquerque?” 

You were about to say something when Joel came in through the gate and cleared his throat, hearing him hitting on you, “There ya are, mi vida…” making his southern drawl really evident. 

Danny looked at Joel and then you, confused by the name, “Mi vida?” 

You smiled immediately hearing his voice and blushed, “My life.” You looked at Joel and then Danny.

Joel walked over confidently, “It’s Spanish, somethin’ of a term of endearment that I call my fiancé…” he came and sat by you, sitting purposely between you and Danny, offering his hand to him, “Joel… and you are?” 

Danny swallowed and smiled somewhat nervously, “Danny…” he took Joel’s hand to shake. 

Joel clenched his jaw and nodded, gripping onto his hand quite firmly, attempting to send a message, “Pleasure to meet ya…”

He nodded, pulling his hand away, and then slowly rose to his feet, “Well I think I hear my buddy callin' for me..." it was silent, "But it was nice meeting you both." he nodded his head towards you both.

Joel nodded and chuckled lightly, “Nice to meet ya… Dan was it?” he smirked knowing he was making him uncomfortable. 

Danny chuckled and nodded frantically, “Sure… yeah. Well have a good night.” he gathered his shoes and quickly made it out walking towards his room.

You chuckled looking at your book, starting to finally read again now that you felt safe, “You’re horrible, Miller…” 

Joel chuckled and turned towards you, leaning down to kiss your temple then cheek, humming, “Just making sure he knew what’s mine and who I was, that’s all…” he smirked seeing you blush. 

You smiled, “Why are you out here? You and Sarah seemed fine when I left…” You kept reading the page you were on but kept some of your attention to Joel.

“I have a hard time sleepin’ without you next to me…” he softly said, looking over his shoulder to make sure Danny left and there wouldn’t be any trouble. 

You hummed and smiled moving the book for a moment to kiss his cheek.

After a moment, he stood and started to take off his shirt and pants, leaving him completely bare aside from his boxers before he walked into the water. 

“Your note said you were too hot…” he swam up to you and floated in front of you, “How about you join me? It’s nice and cool in here…” he kissed your knee softly. 

You looked down at him and smirked, “Are you skinny dippin', Joel Miller, or did you leave boxers on?” you couldn’t tell from the angle you were at. 

He smirked, “I can gladly remove ‘em if it gets you to skinny dip with me darlin’…” 

You chuckled put your book down beside you and smiled down at him, “10 minutes then we're out and dressed in case we get caught…” You bit your lip and blushed. 

He pushed himself up from the edge and captured his lips onto yours, gently kissing you, before pulling back and nodding his head, “Strip.” he commanded. 

You turned a darker shade of red and then got up to put your book on a lounge chair, then stripped and covered your breasts with one arm and groin area with your other hand as you ran to get into the water. 

Joel removed his boxers and set them on the side of the pool then dunked his head under the water completely before slicking his hair back and swimming over to you. 

You stepped into the water and smiled feeling the water wasn’t completely freezing, humming softly “Slightly heated I see…” you dove your head down and begin to swim deeper into the pool. 

Joel nodded and chuckled watching you, seeing where you were going. 

After a few seconds, you popped up in the deeper end, slicking your hair back, softly gasping for air. 

“Did I ever tell you I swam for sport when I was younger?” he smiled. 

You shook your head, “Wait like swimming laps?” 

He nodded and smiled, “Exactly. Was pretty good at it too…” he said before he did as you did and dove down to swim towards you. 

You inhaled to hold a breath then sunk into the water to watch him swim towards you, you waved at him. 

You let out a giggle seeing him wave back and blow a kiss at you underwater before coming to the surface and gasping for air softly then looked down at the water to see him swim up to you and then breach the water in front of you and grin, “Come ‘ere you…” he gently grabbed onto your waist and pulled you close to him. 

You wrapped your legs around his torso and arms around his neck as he held you as you both floated. 

You smiled and played with his hair to slick it back, softly humming then smirking as you looked at him as you played with some curls at the base of his neck, “I seem to remember that the thought of me being wrapped around you in the water made you do some pretty naughty things in a specific boat’s bathroom cowboy…” 

He lightly nibbled on your jawline, growling, “You are correct my love…” his hands wandered between your bodies and he pressed his thumb against your clit, slowly drawing circles, “You wanna help me make my fantasy become reality?” he moved to suck on your neck softly. 

You gasped and let out a moan as you felt his thumb stimulate you, you felt like you melted with how slowly he was building you up, “Why don’t you describe to me what that fantasy was cowboy?” 

He nipped your earlobe with his teeth lightly and groaned, “I wanted to feel every inch of you while you wrapped around me… kissing your sweet lips…”

You moved your head back a little and cupped his cheek, “These sweet lips?” you leaned in slowly and kissed him deeply and slowly, slowly tangling your fingers in his hair, pulling him closer to you. 

His hands were everywhere, touching your waist, grabbing the meat of your ass and thighs. They’d carefully trial up your back and sides like he was afraid he might break you if he was too rough, continuing to kiss you passionately and deeply. 

You started to feel him rock your hips as you felt his cock begin to harden up against you. He mumbled against your lips, “Wanna mark you up baby, wanna claim you right here…” he said as he feverishly kissed your lips, slowly moving to you were pressed up against the side of the pool and him. 

He moved his lips to start marking up your neck, sucking small love bites into your skin. 

You moaned softly and ran your fingers through his hair, slicking it back as he did this, grinning, “Danny got under your skin I see…” 

He growled and pulled back a little, “Talkin’ to you when you have a ring on your finger…” he hovered against your lips, moving his hand down to line up his cock at your entrance, “Now that’s downright disrespectful talkin’ to a man’s wife like he was…” he panted and grunted feeling his tip sink into you. 

You gasped and moaned, “Mmm fuck... you mean someone’s fiancé?” you teased. 

He smirked, “When someone’s flirtin’ with you like that, you’re my wife…” he said as he sunk deeper into you and groaned looking into your eyes and watching your reaction. 

Your jaw dropped and you could feel the air start to leave your lungs as he filled you so tightly, nodding, saying with a hoarse whisper, “I’m your wife…” you put your forehead against him and moaned softly. 

“I didn’t get you a dainty small ring for a reason…” he whispered, groaning as he bottomed out, feeling himself completely fill you up, “I got this ring to make a statement…” he started to pump back and forth, slowly, “…to show every other man that you’re mine.” he gripped onto your waist with one hand and cupped his other hand on your cheek, lightly gliding his thumb over your bottom lip as he thrusts up into you, watching your lips part for him. 

You moaned and lightly gripped his hair and shoulder, grinning as you felt his thumb on your lips, leaning forward just a tad, taking his thumb in your warm mouth, sucking on it as you moaned. 

His eyes turned dark and he twitched inside you, making your eyes roll back into your head and pussy tighten around him. 

“Oh fuck baby… that’s hot…” he growled and started thrusting up into you a little faster, holding onto your hip, to keep you as tight down on him as possible, hitting your cervix over and over. 

You tightened your legs around him and moaned louder against his finger, panting quickly feeling yourself about to come undone. 

He moaned and grunted feeling himself close, “Can you cum for my baby? I need you to cum for me…” he pleaded pulling his thumb out of your mouth, “What do you need?” he groaned feeling you tighten around him. 

You panted as you moaned softly, then cupped his cheek, “Kiss me…” you whispered then pulled his lips to yours, kissing his lips deeply and passionately, moving your hips with his as he continued to thrust up into you deeply, needing more friction. 

He put his hands on your hips and panted heavily as his lips crashed over yours, feeling a deep pull in his navel. 

You pulled away from his lips and stalled your hips as you came undone, fluttering around him, tightening your legs around his hips, moaning and leaning your head back against the wall, feeling waves of pleasure crash over you. 

He clenched his jaw and within moments of you tightening around him spilled into you, grunting and panting as he kissed anywhere his lips could touch; neck, jaw, cheeks, he was everywhere.

You chuckled as your head leaned against the wall and panted softly, humming, “I should let more men flirt with me if that’s the side of you I’m gonna get…” you teased.

Joel softly nipped your jaw and moved his hands up your body, groaning softly as he pulled out of you, “Nuh-uh… you’re all mine.” he smirked as he kissed your throat softly, “All mine…” he leaned up and connected your lips with his, kissing you deeply, holding you up against him. 

You two returned to the room without being caught in the pool or Sarah waking up about 15 minutes later. 

In the morning Joel’s alarm went off around 7 am. You all got up with some groaning and moaning, still tired but got showered and ready then left within the hour, grabbing breakfast on the way. 

A little over 6 hours later you ended up in Mesa Verde National Park, driving to Cliff Palace. Sarah finally felt excited about something since driving up to this point was quite boring for her. 

You all went and saw the cliff palace, Sarah took a bunch of photos with her phone, you had your camera out and were taking photos of not only the landmark but taking candid photos of people around you as well as Sarah and Joel. 

Joel found you focused on taking a photo of an older couple holding hands as they watched the landscape together, it was a sweet sight to see, they both saw new things and enjoyed each other’s company. He snapped a photo of his phone of you in your element.

Once you were done outside, Sarah begged to go inside to see the museum they had in a building nearby to which you all three went in and finished within a half hour. 

Sarah got into the truck as you were leaving and leaned forward between the two seats, “How long is it to the next stop?” she asked nervously, not wanting to be in the car longer than she had already been in the last 24 hours. 

Joel looked at her from his mirror and chuckled, “Moab is only a 3-hour drive baby girl… I promise from here on it shouldn’t be so boring.” 

She smiled and nodded then pulled out the DVD player, putting on a movie for herself. 

You pulled out your camera and started looking through the photos you had taken, mentally marking which ones you may want to edit when you got to the hotel before you fell asleep against the window, feeling the sun warming you up as he drove for the last couple hours. 

—

Almost 2 hours later Joel leaned over and kissed your cheek, “Hey, we’re here…” You opened your eyes to see you were starting to drive through Arches National Park after he paid a park ranger for entrance.  

You sat up and smiled, eyes wide at its beauty, “Holy shit…” you rolled down the window and grabbed your camera, starting to snap photos of things as you drove by. 

Sarah rolled down the window and looked at Joel, “Can I stick my head out a little?” 

Joel looked back and saw there wasn’t any traffic behind them, “Yes but be careful…” he chuckled. 

She stuck her head out and you turned and took photos of her laughing, and smiling, the red rock in the background.

You giggled and then turned in your seat and took photos of Joel, “Give me a smile, cowboy…” you smiled at him.

Joel looked at you and smiled as you took a few shots before putting his eyes back onto the road, putting his hand on your thigh, feeling utterly happy in this moment with the two most important people in his life.

You looked ahead and saw you were heading into a tunnel, you giggled and looked at Joel, “Roll down your window baby…” he looked at you a little confused, and you nodded, smiling encouragingly. 

He rolled it down then you stuck your head out of the window as you entered the tunnel and yelled, “Woohoo!” letting it echo down the tunnel. 

Sarah realized what you did and yelled as well and giggled.

Joel let out a loud whistle and shouted as well before chuckling to himself at how ridiculous this all could have sounded to the people in front of you.

The echo was filled with sounds of you and your family’s utter pure joy.

To you, this was the best sound in the world.

Previous chapter - Next chapter

a/n: this will be a three-part chapter i think instead of two, there are certain elements I want in the next chapter/part of this trip but don’t want to over wash it so just warning ya’ll there may be an extra chapter

taglist:  @sarahhxx03, @blahkateisdone, @sunnytuliptime, @pedroscurls, @docharleythegeekqueen @pedritosgirl2000 @fancyyoouu @greendudenumber7

[heaven4lostgirls]

hello there! I absolutely love your writing! :) may I request some lily evans or poly moonchaser? with a gender neutral reader if possible 🙇🏻 thank you!! 🫂

pairing: lily evans x gn!reader

summary: reader gets into a quidditch accident, lily is just a worried gal xx

content warnings: mention of injury and potential death

word count: 1k

author's note: my first time writing for lily! i hope you enjoy this x

You groan softly, your limbs feeling as though they have concrete slabs pulling them down. Your head aches at the bright lighting of what you’ve come to assume is the hospital wing hurts your eyes.

You shift slightly to attempt to sit up, but you can only shift a little further up the bed. Your movement must have brough attention to you as all the noise suddenly dissolves into thin air before someone’s hand is on your shoulder.

“Are they alive?” you hear a panicked whisper before a thump and an ‘ouch!’ drifts around the small area.

“Yes they’re alive you idiot.” You hear a different sharper voice answer in an angry tone.

The hand on your shoulder moves to cup your cheek before you blearily blink your eyes open, straining at the light.

A quick movement in your periphery before the room is bathed in a warm and dimmer lighting

Your eyes meet bright green that stares worryingly down at you, “Alright Evans?” you ask hoarsely, somewhat amused yet mostly nervous.

You watch as Lily’s concerned expression melts away into annoyance with hidden fondness within her forest green gaze, “You absolute prick.” She hisses, pushing your shoulder gently.

You make a big scene about it, flinching away which has her drawing back her physical contact immediately, looking close to tears.

Your teasing expression immediately drops, “Hey, hey Lils, I’m alright.” You rush to say.

She nods jerkily, still standing tense and eyes wide with worry. You breath out slowly, unlocking your gazes as you look around your bed.

Sirius, James, Remus and Peter all stand around your head, watching you in varying states ranging from disbelief, amusement and worry.

“Alright lads?” you huff a laugh and watch as Sirius and James’ smile back at you, albeit a bit strained.

“So how come I’ve got an audience?” you joke. Nobody laughs as an uncomfortable silence filters through the room.

You hesitantly reach your hand out for Lily, who hesitantly places hers in yours with a small smile.

You squeeze her hand reassuringly before turning to the boys.

“Well?” you prompt when nobody looks ready to answer your question. James winces, opening his mouth to speak before Lily beats him to it.

“You fell off your broom!” She says harshly, biting her lip so harshly that it starts to turn a pale white.

You slightly tug on her hand which has her looking at you before you pointedly nod towards her lip.

She lets go of it with a huff, “You got hit with a bludger, you went down so fast nobody even noticed until it was too late.” She whispers painfully and you wince in sympathy.

“Hey. It doesn’t even really hurt that much anymore, I swear I feel fine.” You promise her, not looking towards the boys.

She exhales shakily, meeting your eyes once again as hers fill with tears, “You don’t get it!” she says harshly, a couple of tears escaping her eyes.

You coo softly, lifting a hand to wipe them away before she bats your hands away, wiping them herself.

You sigh, turning back to the marauders, “Hey guys, can you give us a minute?” you say sheepishly as Lily tries to compose herself.

They all nod comfortingly, sifting out as a pack with well wishes and promises to come back later.

“Will you sit with me?” you ask softly, opening your arms and shuffling further into the hospital bed.

She looks a little weary, eyeing your frame in suspicion before you huff, grabbing one of her hands and tugging softly. She lets out a gasp of surprise before giggling slightly and climbing into the small bed.

You both intertwine your limbs as you cuddle on the uncomfortably small bed, your head resting on her chest as she runs her hand through your hair. “I’m sorry I worried you.” You murmur into her ivory skin.

She hums in affirmation, pausing running her hands through your hair before she tugs your head back to meet her gaze.

“I was so scared,” she whispers, fear shaking her voice. “You weren’t moving for so long and I thought- I thought…” her voice breaks and subsequently so does your heart.

“I’m right here okay?” you rush to reaffirm her, “I’m right in front of you okay?” you soothingly tell her, grasping one of her hands and placing it on your chest, letting her feel your heartbeat.

“I’m right here.” You say again and she nods, sniffling harshly before pressing a firm kiss on your forehead.

“You’re right here.” She tells herself, rearranging the two of you until she’s the one on your chest.

You twirl her auburn curls around your finger as you run your fingers lightly over her arms.

“You’re so beautiful,” you murmur, breaking the silence in the room.

You can’t tell whether Lily’s blushing from your view but she does hide her face in your chest with a small groan so you can put two and two together.

You laugh softly, continuing to play and braid with her hair as you two peacefully co-exist in silence before you notice Lily’s breathing starting to get deeper as she falls asleep against your chest.

You smile lovingly down at her, in awe of her beauty before Madam Pomfrey opens up the curtains surrounding your bed slowly.

You meet her unimpressed expression with a guilty smile and a half hearted shrug. She  shakes her head in fondness before softly going over your symptoms with you.

“Any pain?” she asks at last.

You hesitate and she pins you with a maternal stare, “…some.” You concede.

She huffs, scribbling it down on her notepad with a sigh before looking pointedly at the redhead in your hold.

“I don’t suppose you’ll let me wake her up so I can do your physical exam?” she asks, sniffing pointedly.

You smile wide,  “Nope.” You reply cheerfully, popping the ‘p’. You’re sure she doesn’t actually mind by the way she muffles a laugh and conducts the rest of the interview mindful of her volume.

Once she’s left with strict instructions to call her as soon as Lily wakes up, you find yourself being lulled back to sleep by the rhythmic thumping of Lily’s heart as you lean back to rest your head against your pillow.

With quiet grumbling, Lily snuggles into you deeper as you wrap your arms around her, both dozing off in mere seconds.

[boinkingbattlemechs]

Kontio

Created during Ramiel Bekker's time with the Rasalhague Dominion, the Kontio is a feared yet controversial design. Apparently inspired by an encounter with a concealed ghost bear, the 'Mech makes use of stealth armor and—more controversially—claws, the implications of which came to a head when Bekker impaled his opponent in an initial combat trial. While the manner of his victory was inherently dishonorable, the efficacy of the design could not be denied, and the production of a test run was authorized, soon followed by sudden demand from Clan Wolf.

Primarily an export 'Mech, the Kontio has found a home within not just the ranks of Clan Wolf but the Capellan Confederation as well, from which the design's stealth armor and Triple Strength Myomer were acquired. In addition, the 'Mech sees some use among native Rasalhague warriors, who have far fewer qualms about the nature of its armament than their Ghost Bear brethren.

Having garnered a deadly reputation as a pilot killer, the Kontio is often focused down as a priority target or avoided outright by those who would find themselves opposing one, fearing they too may find themselves impaled on its claws if it gets too close.

A melee assassin first and foremost, the Kontio's loadout revolves around enabling its pilot to evasively close with their target and get the most out of its signature Triple Strength Myomer-enhanced claws.

The combination of a Kolibri Delta Series medium pulse laser and three Series 1 ER small lasers in each side torso, and the use of only 10 double heat sinks allows the 'Mech to quickly reach and maintain the heat levels required to activate its TSM. This greatly enhances the destructive potential of its claws and allows it to achieve the pilot kills the 'Mech is known for, while still providing respectable short-ranged firepower. Finally, almost as an afterthought, a Series 3c micro pulse laser was added to assist it against enemy infantry.

Powering the 'Mech is a 280-rated extralight engine, which saves weight while propelling it to a brisk 118.8 km/h. The use of a supercharger and the TSM enables it to momentarily sprint at speeds of 172.8 km/h. When coupled with its eight and a half tons of stealth armor and ECM suite, this speed enables the Kontio to deftly avoid enemy fire while rapidly closing with its targets. Lastly, the use of endo steel structure is employed in order to save additional weight for weapons and equipment.

[angel-kyo]

Pay it no mind

Part XXVIII

In which reader confesses their feelings to Gojo, but it seems these are not returned (maybe?).

Warnings: reader is on the receiving end of rejection (kinda), and the fact that I'm obsessed with unrequited love is a warning itself. Firearms, injuries and blood are mentioned.

Previous: Part I, Part II, Part III, Part IV, Part V, Part VI, Part VII, Part VIII, Part IX, Part X, Part XI, Part XII, Part XIII, Part IV, Part XV, Part XVI, Part XVII, Part XVIII, Part XIX, Part XX, Part XXI, Part XXII, Part XXIII, Part XXIV, Part XXV, Part XXVI, Part XXVII

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

Onoda Asahi had been a sorcerer what he liked to call a couple lives ago. He had left that world to have a normal job but ended up in the wrong side of the tax law. Sooner rather than later, the corporate life stopped fitting him.

He had then found a job that allowed him to keep a low profile. The only problem was that the salary was just as low. So, he had resorted to do some questionable jobs for anyone who could pay the right price.

When someone from his old life as a sorcerer had contacted him to get rid of a certain nuisance for a decent amount, he had accepted in a heartbeat.

“You can take out a curse but not a human?” Onoda asked to the man who had summoned him. “That’s some strange morality, alright.”

“You’re one to lecture.” The man took an envelope out of his haori and gracefully put it on the table. “If you must know, it is not about the when and the who takes them out, but the why. Their death cannot be linked to us.”

He looked at your finally immobilized form on the floor.

His employer informed him of your upcoming promotion to grade one, and the kind of missions you were taking. His role would be simple. He was just going to activate his technique, which could debilitate a target of his choice if it was within range, from somewhere near your battle.

A strong curse and a sorcerer who was not at their full potential; it was an easy equation. It would be another work accident.

Except that he kept failing. Without knowing the specifics of the curse you were fighting, he had been activating his technique intermittently in the areas where he has been informed you would be, but he could not keep it up for prolonged periods of time without being noticed, and he would not get too close to the battlefield for the same reason. As such, he had not been able to time his debilitating technique with the exact second when you may receive a fatal blow.

How did he know that? Because you were still alive and kicking.

The man who asked him to tail your missions had been clear to state that when did not matter much. In fact, it would be suspicious if an obviously planned attack happened that season. That is why it had to look like an accident.

“Half now, half when we get notice of their demise, whenever that is.” The man slid the envelope in his direction and stood up, straightening his haori. “But remember, Onoda, sooner is better than later.”

And he could not agree more, especially if half of his payment was still pending. So, if sabotaging your assignments would not work, he would try the direct approach.

That is how he had gotten into your apartment. He would end things there cleanly. However, when he heard you in the hall calling someone because you did not have your keys, and he opened the door discreetly so you would come in, he admittedly thought that would make you suspicious and this plan would not work either.

Onoda walked to the side of the room where his gun had landed after you kicked it out of his hand. He had hesitated to use his technique in your apartment because of the residuals and all. If a sorcerer came over, it would ruin the narrative of a-robbery-gone-wrong he had wanted to build.

A thief who thought the owner was not home, surprised in the middle of the night, gets scared and shoots once -no, twice- before running away.

He thought it was a believable story. Newspapers where full of those.

Of course, that fell out when the first and second shots had missed their target and not gone through your head as he had planned. He must have impacted somewhere else though, because there where bloodstains on the floor.

He picked up the gun and eyed your unconscious form.

He still had a bullet left.

Activating his technique as a shock instead of a field had allowed him to fightback and hit your head. If he left you there, bleeding and unlikely to wake up any time soon, maybe you would be dead in the morning, and he would get his paycheck in the afternoon.

If he shot you once more, he would make sure.

That was what he was going to do when he noticed a little girl standing at your doorway, looking at you.

“Your cat is on my window,” she said.

Onoda thought maybe the girl had been awaken by the racket of the fight. He had put a silencer on the gun as to not wake up your neighbors, but whatever the reason, what was a little girl doing by herself outside of her home at this hour?

“Are they sleeping?” the question was then directed to him with a curious look. That was not the man she had seen around before nor the homewrecker with white hair her mother had told her to stay away from, and why where you sleeping on the floor?

Onoda realized he had not much choice. The girl was probably too young to understand what was going on, but she had seen him, and that was an issue.

Suddenly, he decided that last bullet would have a different use.

***

It was past 1:30 a.m. when Nitta tried to park near your building.

She had returned to give back your keys, which she had found on the backseat of the car. She knew they were yours because she had not driven around anyone else that night, but when she had called to let you know she was on her way back, you had not answered your phone.

I need to be better at this, Nitta thought, I should have noticed they had left the keys there sooner.

She guessed that in the worst-case scenario she would find you sitting outside your door, but what she found was a police car outside your building and a group of people in the street.

When she stepped closer, Nitta heard a frantic woman speaking to an officer and understood what the commotion was about.

Someone had been shot in the building. The floor had been evacuated as a preventive measure, although the woman's daughter, the only person who had seen the suspect, had said the man had shot the lights off and escaped through the balcony. It was the girl’s scream at that what had woken up her mother, and she had found her neighbor unconscious and wounded. All officers in the area had already been alerted to look out for a shooter.

“Who was the victim?” Nitta asked to a man standing nearby.

“The occupant of the 101,” the man responded without paying much attention to her, his focus on the surroundings, as if waiting for someone to open fire from the dark. “I think they…”

Nitta was momentarily too shocked to continue listening to what the man said next, because she remembered all the relevant addresses that were given to her, including those of the sorcerers that she assisted on the regular, and she knew the set of keys she was holding was likely to include the key that opened the door to the 101.

***

“Gojo?” Ieiri’s voice was calling him from his phone, but he could not bring himself to say anything. “Gojo, are you still there? Did you hear what I said?”

He had. In fact, that had been the last thing he heard before the world went awfully silent for a second, and he felt his legs and arms going numb, as if all the blood in his body had been redirected to his heart so it could take the news Shoko had just delivered to him. Then Shoko’s voice had distorted like a breaking line.

[name]… Shot… Hospital… Major blood loss… Surgery… “You should come,” Shoko’s voice was firm but compassionate in that professional tone Satoru thought doctors surely had to be taught to use when acting as the messengers of bad news.

Early in the days you had started taking solo missions in your graduating year, you had sometimes returned wounded, and it had been Shoko’s job to patch you up and call Satoru to pick you up.

“Gojo, you should come. [name] did something silly again and needs to be carried to their room,” Ieiri said, a teasing smile forming on her face while she looked at you.

“I do not!” your shouted in the background.

But now there was something else in that tone that made Satoru feel like the ground was shifting beneath him, some genuine worry he did not like, because what if Shoko was not asking him to come and take you home but to come and say goodbye?

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

Note: I'll leave this here and go back to hiding slowly...

Thank you for reading!

Next: Part XXIX

@mavs-stuff @witchbybirth @crookedlyaddictedone-blog @tqd4455 @maybe-a-bi-witch @mo0nforme @maliakealoha @zacatecanaaaa @blushhpeachh @astriarose @missesgojosatoru @ba-ks @sukunasleftkneecap @songbirdlully @cole-silas @heijihattorisgf @chokesonspit @hersheyzzz @smolbeanzzz @luciledreamz @avidreadee123 @moonmalice @ratscandaler @sadmonke

[kastalani123]

So like. My Automaton Leo AU, right?

Leo isn't like, amazing at hiding what he is. He doesn't generally think about it too much? He functions close enough to a normal human usually, and whatever is too weird, the Mist generally covers it. Then, when he gets to Camp, oddities get chalked up to the fact that he's not only a demigod, but a Special™ one at that, considering the fire powers. And, like, no one considers that he might not be a demigod, so they heavily gloss over anything really weird. Only when they finally figure it out post-resurrection do they look back on those things and are like "Ohhhhhhh, that makes a lot of sense. How did we not figure it out earlier?????".

These things include, but are not limited to:

Leo being super panicky and frantic to dry off and get a moment to himself post their fall into the Camp lake. His actual life was threatened, because his Fire is magic, but it is not Greek Fire and he needed to stoke it for a good couple minutes to make sure it didn't go out completely. He was probably buffering through his Camp tour with Will, making him seem even worse with people than he already is, until he got some privacy. He gets exempted from water-based activities after the revelation

Him talking with Festus as easily as with anyone, and even clicking back instead of speaking sometimes. Not even the other Hephaestus kids can communicate with machinery that easily

Oddly hard to bruise and cut, even though he usually reacts with the appropriate pain. Also, his blood always did seem a bit too viscous...

The constant working without hallucinating from sleep deprivation. He does need to rest and/or do maintenance sometimes, but much less than a regular person. Annabeth is Very Jealous

The occasional uncanny valley when Leo's eyes are a bit too bright and his skin a bit too shiny and his blinks a bit too regular

The way some mythological creatures (gods, monsters, you know the roster) refer to him as an object or as worth less than the rest of the Seven. Even Nico tripped up when first meeting Leo, since he couldn't sense his like. Soul or whatever it is Nico feels in humans. Aka, Nico simply Did Not Notice Leo at first, or at least overlooked him as a member of the Seven (unintentionally)

He's always either too hot or too cold, never within an average human range. Makes sense for something made of metal that sometimes produces fire (metal heats up quickly but he has no automatic thermoregulation)

The Kerkopes talked about stealing him, or at least some pieces, along with the Archimedes Sphere, and complained about not being able to get even an arm off. The others were v disturbed at the time, thinking the Kerkopes wanted to steal just. Y'know. A genuine, flesh-and-bone arm. Also by the fact that Leo wasn't disturbed, just v annoyed

Asclepius being v weird with Leo, first ignoring him as a patient entirely, then stating that he's a medical doctor, he can't diagnose Leo with anything. Jason and Piper were ready to fight him before Leo drew attention back to the physician's cure (which he was still trying to get 1) for the ruse and 2) for Jason or another of his friends, just in case, meaning Piper did actually have it during the final battle and potentially he wouldn't have told Hazel and Frank about the plan)

[ducky-dawn47]

Random Legendary Au Facts /Headcanons Time!! At least those I can reveal up to the current chapter lol

1. Pigsy is glamoured to HIGH HELL. As was almost revealed in chapter 12! He intentionally makes himself a small, cute pink piggy bc he is incredibly self conscious, and to appear approachable to customers. His actual height is almost 7 feet tall! 6' 8", where his Glamoured height is kinda comically short lol, 5' 1". Only Mk and Tang knows what he actually looks like, Sandy has seen a couple glimpses, but never has had a chance to really see. And ofc yk Pigsy's Mom knows n shit.

What does he actually look like? You'll get to find out very soon actually!!

2. Tang and Sun Wukong in my fic are Trans!

3. Sandy and Mei are on the Ace Spectrum! Sandy is fully Ace / Aromantic, while Mei is Demi!

4. Mk's full power list as of Chapter 12!

Fully Learned Powers: Super Strength/ Speed, 72 Transformations, Clones, True Sight, Astral Projection.

Learning/ Not yet Mastered Powers; Super Hearing, Past Sight/Hearing, Healing/Power Regen Meditation, Shades.

Unlearned/ Unknown Powers (that the Audiance knows he has) : Lightning Travel, Shadow Manipulation, Shadow Travel.

5. Mei is an INCREDIBLY SMALL DRAGON! Typical dragon size/length is about 100-50ft on average within Mei's age range.

Mei is not even 7ft long. She is still the size of a hatchling, which is why her parents are so limiting/ Protective of her. And is also the reason she stays Fully/Half glamoured. It's dangerous for the public to know that a decendant of Dragon King's is so small, and bodes badly for the family as a whole. They only ones who know are her parents, Tang/Pigsy, Mk, Red Son, and now unfortunately, DBK. the general demon population doesn't know is because (thank the gods) Mei couldn't really be seen from the Balcony in chapter 6.

Why? Plot!

6. Red Son is an incredibly Rare creature! It's almost unheard of for Demons and Celestials to mate AND have children. Red's official 'Ancestry' is called a Bàntiān Bànmó, which just literally means Half Celestial, Half Demon. There are only 2 known Bàntiān's in the world! The other is a certain little girl that really likes Cats :)

7. 'Flower Fruit Mountain' is actually an island! A pretty big one too! When someone refers to FFM, they're usually talking about Wukong's territory as a whole, including the Ring of Fire, the Lagoon surrounding the Island, AND the island itself! When they're talking about MOUNT HUAGUO however, they mean the mountain Wukong lives in/ The Water Curtain Cave is in!

The island( including Lagoon and ROF) is about 75,000 Miles big! Or about a third of the size of Madagascar!

8. Humans take up the majority of the Earth/ Mortal Realm's population! With Demons being the second largest population at about 1/3 of it, and Celestials being the smallest at about 1/5th!

9. Lady Bone Demon is a Prophetess/ Fortune Teller in my AU! She sees the future ( or a couple potential ones) And thats her weak ass reason for going loco and planning a Worldwide Genocide!

10. It's been about 2,997 years and 1 month since Wukong has hugged or kissed Mihou. But, yk, whose counting? Hhaaa...

[dykehelly]

i feel like you’re the best person to ask SO: if i were planning on using dating apps to date women (i am), what are important things to know about bios/swiping and choosing/which apps to use etc? a baby lesbian needs ur help, if u don’t mind

hehehe! so during the past couple years I've only met people on lex and her. her is more of a traditional dating app, just wlw-focused (+nb +the occasional trans man +the occasional very lost cis man), so you swipe through people and see matches etc. lex is more of a general queer community/dating/hookup/event posting situation, where you set your location and radius and age range and then you can see all the posts that have been made within those parameters. I've used this if I'm looking for a specific situation (e.g. my milf hunting posts lol) or if I'm looking for a date at a specific time and want to cast a wide net. I've also made friends on there, had hookups that turned into friendships, found someone to non-sexually tie me up, etc. lol. I know people use hinge and bumble a lot, but I haven't used them.

as far as profiles, a few things I would include (some of these will be in drop-downs probably):

general type of thing you're looking for (casual? see where it goes? long-term relationship?)

whether you're looking for monogamy or polyamory, or open to exploring either (in my experience on her, it's about 50/50 mono/poly)

some reference to being trans positive to deter t*rfs (I believe the her app will ban people if they get too aggressive about their transphobia but there are still people who fly under the radar)

potentially interests or hobbies

this one is totally up to you but I added my like ~desired sexual role~ after a bad experience with a woman who was like. clearly looking for a dom top but did not express that initially. maybe more of a concern for casual dating/hookups tho

try not to make it too too long! also on any platform keep an eye out for bots.

also my biggest tip is that it's SO EASY for conversations to fizzle out on dating apps, so just talk long enough to get the vibe and then propose getting coffee or something as soon as it feels comfortable!

as far as choosing/swiping, I feel like that's very personal but as a rule of thumb just swipe on people who you think are attractive who also have similar relationship goals.

also don't be afraid to bow out if you're not feeling something or if someone makes you feel uncomfortable.

ALSO—my friends had to remind me of this—"not responding to an initial message" is not ghosting, and neither is "letting a brief conversation fizzle out." you don't need to formally withdraw from every conversation.

anyway. have fun!!!! good luck! <3

[ronkeyroo]

A positive Update

Friends, kind folk - Hello Again 🤍

Ever since my last update post, I've been thinking about it , a lot ;; I knew I needed time to cook and reflect, and im so glad I gave myself that...

2024 started rough for me; I fell severely ill again - I was too busy cursing my life and dwelling over how betrayed I felt by things still not getting better despite my efforts that I didn't realize I was walking into a self fulfilling prophecy. Its true that the struggles I'm going through are yet to be solved, that its gotten so much to the point giving up seemed easier, and that a couple individuals haven't been making it easier on me either; I swayed and i rattled and I steered within feelings ranging from confusion to anger to dismay and all of this back and forth did nothing but remind me of yet another self-destructive loop I just don't want to allow in my life anymore. Its exactly the kinda stuff that made me ill to begin with, and I've been so lost dealing with everything in between that i forgot to tend to the actual core centering all of this...

It grew unbearable how much emotional and physical turmoil I was pushing myself into, and knowing how intertwined these two elements have been; I had to draw a line before i majorly screwed myself over, gathering any bit of inner will to discipline myself back into some sort of clarity, enough to at least look through a lens OUTSIDE my pain for once, towards the kind of life I want to lead, and the kind of life I don't; and I came to an understanding.

From my physical state to my mental, to the people and memories I've experienced, both the good and the bad - I want to prioritize the good.

Not in a shitty ass, toxic optimism kinda way but in a "I want to prioritize knowing and living the possibility that even when it hurts, even when i want to be gone, even when life doesn't align - There's still every good reason in the world to keep moving forward, to face things from a perspective of growth & compassion, and to grow to love the promise of a better tomorrow even when today was unbearable." To know that I don't end or begin in my suffering, that the infinite potential I speak so fondly of applies to me, as well...

I want to be able to wield and create and share that goodness, too, Especially when it is already in decline...And for all gods sake, to internalize that all of this STILL exists and STILL matters even when it doesn't work the first couple or dozens of times.

As for my place here in Tumblr...I know the sentiment might feel silly to some but the experiences, memories, and connections I've made here have truly been such a significant force in my life, and i don't want to give up on that ;; Not because of my own insecurities, or an inner state of hopelessness, and especially not over a bunch of emotionally immature Anons that dont know how to handle themselves; I want to forgive all of that.

I'm stubborn, and there's an unyielding force within me that no matter how many times it is struck down, it proved itself ridiculously resilient. I'm perking up with with a fiery confidence realizing just how many times it rose back up, enough to realize it is an unchangeable part of me ;_; I shouldn't underestimate that force, and I want to keep living by its side. Whatever positive change I can sprinkle onto my life and the lives of those I care for, I will! And the reason why this space in particular is so important to me, is because so much of that already exists here, alongside you folks;

THAT'S the kind of energy i want to nourish and walk into the new year with! I want to continue growing as a person, challenging my inner turmoils, undoing the self punishing dogmas that still haunt me, stop flexing my teeth over things that don't deserve my time and god DAMN, just - indulge in the stuff that makes me happy, even when I'm going through unhappy times.

So yeah...I guess that means, I'm back & I'm staying ;_;)🧡

I know i may seem like a broken record when it comes to expressing gratitude but - Thank you, thank you thank you everyone who have reached out for me, who so fondly kept me in their thoughts and kept encouraging me whenever i was hurting, both then and now...You folks mean more than whatever ailment or struggle I can go through, and while I'm unsure of how the future will look like as I'm still going through various challenges- I couldn't have asked for a cooler, sweeter audience to have by my side whenever Its time to take a rest or hype over our sexy delicious blorbos!

Speaking of which....................I have been cooking quite a lot of things in the time i was away 👀✨ I most definitely intend to serve them, eheheh

[love-archer]

More to love. . .

♡ pt.1 pt.2 pt.3 (You're here!) ♡

♡.Obey me!

♡♡.TW? SFW! Pregnancy, Fem!reader, Implied couple

♡♡♡. Two years brewing in my drafts 😵‍💫

. . . A S M O D E U S !

♡ Asmodeus, the Avatar of Lust and embodiment of beauty, isn't typically associated with family life. Your fingers trace the lab report nervously. A baby. Your baby. His baby.

♡ That’s what’s whirling in your head as you stare at the lab report in the waiting room, fingers trace the laminated papers  nervously

♡ Would he accept this slowly or would he freak out? Wait, how can you tell him? Text? Drop it in a conversation randomly? Do those cute pregnancy reveal on Deviltube?

♡ The moment you decide to tell him is during a rare quiet evening in the Devildom. Asmodeus is meticulously applying his nightly skincare routine when you enter the bathroom, lab report clutched behind your back. "Darling?" His perfectly arched eyebrow raises, sensing something different in your demeanor. You slide the report onto his marble vanity, next to bottles of expensive serums and perfumes. His eyes widen, scanning the document. Silence. Then

♡ "PREGNANT?" His shriek could shatter glass. Dramatic reaction confirmed: tears sparkling like his favorite glitter eyeshadow  he launches himself into your arms. "A BABY? MY BABY? OH MY HELL!"

♡ His brothers will definitely hear this announcement. Lucifer will probably pinch the bridge of his nose. Satan would smack his door down, "Quiet down!". Mammon will immediately start calculating potential 'baby sponsorship' schemes with his modeling sessions. ♡ Asmodeus's excitement rapidly transforms into hyper-planning mode. ♡ Within days, he's calling every demon realm's top pediatric specialist. The pediatric specialists he consults aren't just doctors - they're the crème de la crème of the Devildom medical world. He has Solomon double-check their credentials and even gets Barbatos to recommend time-tested professionals who've dealt with human-demon pregnancies. ♡ He's ordering custom designer maternity wear for you (in matching sets, naturally). The maternity wardrobe he designs is EXTENSIVE. We're talking: silk robes with delicate demon realm embroidery, stretchy but luxurious dresses that "showcase your divine glow", custom pajama sets with his sigil subtly woven into the fabric, special occasion outfits for each milestone of pregnancy, even the undergarments are designer, because "comfort and style should never be compromised!"

♡ He's set into drafting elaborate nursery designs with themes ranging to "Royal Demon": Rich crimsons and blacks, with plush velvet and his signature roses to "Paradise Garden": Soft pastels with ethereal touches, butterfly motifs, and enchanted flowers that never wilt or to "Modern Devildom": Sleek lines with pops of neon, metallic accents ♡ Speaking of the nursery, with his never-ending favors to call in, he'd corner Leviathan or rather pester...

♡ "Leviiiii~ Don't you want to be the coolest uncle?" ♡ Finally, Leviathan would agree to use his brains and the cluttering materials in the ever-dim room to make a baby mobile. He'd throw ideas like Crystal flowers that catch and reflect light like anime sparkles or Something engraved with Asmodeus' mark in hot pink or one with a mirror....perhaps? ♡ From the moment pregnancy becomes real, Asmodeus persuades yoga into your monthly schedule after days with his sweet voice tugging you off the couch to pin you in his bed, cuddling and his hands rubbing your hips, his fleeting kisses on your cheek, "My darling.......Tension isn't good for either of you. Let me take care of those muscles."

♡ His idea of prenatal yoga is pure luxury - transforms his room into a private studio with scented candles, silk cushions, and ambient lighting. "Ambiance is essential for both beauty AND wellness, darling~"

♡ Always positions himself behind you during poses, hands carefully supporting your waist. "Just like that, love. Let me guide you..." His touch is surprisingly gentle, more caring than flirtatious.

♡ Gets absolutely delighted when the baby moves during sessions. "Oh! They're already developing my sense of rhythm!" He'll pause everything just to feel the movement, pressing soft kisses to your belly.

♡ Creates a special pre-natal skincare routine for you, researching safe ingredients for hours. His bathroom counter becomes divided between his products and yours, all labeled with cute heart stickers.

♡ Insists on documenting everything. Weekly photoshoots of your growing bump, decorated with flowers and silk ribbons. Has Solomon enchant a special album that captures magical 3D memories.

♡ The first time he holds the baby, his usual perfect composure completely dissolves. Tears pool at his eyes, but for once, he doesn't care. Keeps whispering "perfect, perfect, perfect" while counting those tiny fingers and toes.

❦ © love-archer 2024, all rights reserved ❦

[mysticmyths]

Please note that this has been edited from my previous posts and it’s been several months at least since I last wrote so in rusty!

🧚 I’m summoning all my medieval fantasy lovers who enjoy throwing headcanons around, plotting together, enthusiasm that is mutual, creating Pinterest boards and playlists. I really want to meet a writing partner who has the same passion for what we write, I want to completely immerse ourselves into the world we create and freak out over the couple we create. I only feel comfortable writing with non binary and women. It makes me uncomfortable to write with a cis man. I myself am a woman, in case you’re curious. I’m now 23 so I ask that my writing partners be 18+!

I’m looking for somebody who will want to stay up til late because we’re too excited to sleep, I want a friend as well as a writing partner. I’m mainly looking for mxf pairings right now, I’m fine with playing whichever gender. Truly doesn’t matter to me. I only ask please don’t just use me for male muses and expect me to constantly write against overly submissive and docile female muses. I really want characters with substance and fire and passion within their souls. I want to see personality. I want someone to world build with, plot together and create Pinterest boards and playlists, find memes and quotes to share to inspire. It really helps immerse us both and connect to each other as writers and to our world!

I’d really like for our plot to include enemies to lovers and kingdoms at war, and other suggestions I have are ;, sunshine x grumpy, fated soul mates, morally grey characters, spicy female characters, villain gets the girl, obsessive love, touch her and die, dark male characters, villains with a purpose to be truly sinister, found family, side characters, gods, vampires, witches, fae / elves and more, banter between our oc’s, plot twists, dark kingdoms, magic, royalty, and there are so many I’m missing but I can’t think of right now. I’d really love to write as or write against a female muse who has depth to her and isn’t overly submissive. I want complexed characters. I want spice.

I’m a sucker for one human muse (even if temporarily) and the other a fantasy creature. Though it isnt required! It’s optional. I love the angst and all of that to go with it. I don’t have a particular storyline that I’m set on but I do know I want kingdoms at war, enemies to lovers and potential mates if you like Idea. I adore soulmate plots.

I am an advanced writer ranging from adv lit to novella. Anything else bores me I’m sorry! I’d prefer for our story to have spice in it, I feel like it adds so much to the story. I write solely on discord.

For face claims I prefer realistic, be that as real life people, realistic art or AI’s. The option is open!

If you’re interested in getting to know me better and discussing a possible roleplay, interact and I’ll message you! But please, I ask you only interact if you’re willing to give the same kind of energy back. I’m a very excitable person and to receive none of the enthusiasm back in return, will likely cause me to grow disinterested. I just want to make friends and make a beautiful story! As for pairings, I would like for it to be a wlm pairing. I’m contented to play either a male or female muse! Most of my characters are the villain / morally grey type, so please be accepting of that. It’s what I feel most comfortable with.

[firstkanaphans]

thoughts about cat for cash and tigerlynx

You know what show got me really excited for Cat for Cash? Caged Again. Although the premise is completely different, I feel like the heart of the two shows is the same: learning the importance of love and family through the eyes of an animal. First and Khaotung keep saying that Cat for Cash is a comedy, but every time I watch the trailer, I start crying. I just keep imagining those poor cats grieving for their dead owner but trying to hold it together for both Lynx and the business, and then Lynx in turn using his budding relationship with the cats to learn just how much his mom always loved him. I really think this show has the potential to be amazing and I'm excited to see P'Au get the chance to direct something that isn't a Japanese remake.

There was a thread going around by a Thai fan on Twitter a few days ago talking about how FirstKhaotung are less popular domestically simply because they have chosen such risky scripts in the past. GMMTV's target audience (Thai teens and young adults) usually prefer more fluffy offerings and because of that, FK have largely slipped under the radar. I've been wondering if maybe they chose Cat for Cash specifically to try to improve their popularity within Thailand. I think one of them even made a joke about how P'Au was going to "clean up their reputation" after P'Jojo.

All of that to say that I think this is a good career move for them and I am very eager to see what comes of it. We'll get a full twelve episode series of just them—no side couples to split screen time with—and I feel like it's going to be a good palate cleanser after THK that will show off their range across genres. I'm excited! Hopefully they won't make us wait too long before they start filming.