#// i can’t believe i have to wait until the weekend for the next episode

[stormyoceans]

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/GJHxF4UbMAAydho?format=jpg&name=small

Do you think we're really going to get this, Monica? There are too many signs. although the plot is absolutely not new, but we get Jimmy in a medical gown, enemies to lovers, mountains again, the pursuit of the main character by bandits. is it possible that it will be filmed by Jojo? could today's mv be a future soundtrack? someone hurry up April so that at least one of these questions is answered.

BY GOD IT’S JIMMYSEA AS INTHU AND THAPFAH WITH A STEEL CHAIR!!!!!!!!!!!

okay, so, before answering you anon, let me just do a quick summary of the situation for people who may not be familiar with The Lore™

basically, before last twilight was announced during GMMTV 2023, the entire nomnom fandom was convinced that the show jimmysea were going to have with p’aof was an adaptation of the novel ทำนายทายทัพ by ดวินทร์

here’s the best synopsis translation i could find:

​​Indhu is a YouTuber and a fortune teller who never discloses his face to his viewers. He writes some articles on gypsy horoscope on the internet and in a few magazines. Even though someone wants him to do a fortune telling face-to-face, he always refuses. He avoids people since he has got a sixth sense and he doesn’t want to accidentally foresee someone’s fate. One day while doing a fortune telling for his close friend at her house, Indhu meets Thapfa, a doctor and his friend’s eldest brother. Thapfa is moody because his mother wants Indhu to do a fortune telling for him but he hates fortune tellers. Thapfa misbehaves against Indhu even though it’s their first-time meeting. Indhu is not happy with that. However, he foresees Thapfa’s fate that the man is going to face a deadly destiny in the near future. Thapfa has been harmed by someone several times after he had accidentally heard a secret about a man trying to kill his wife. He doesn’t recall the forecast he received from Indhu until Indhu sees him being attacked by a car. Indhu saves Thapfa from the accident and warns Thapfa that he might lose his life next time if he doesn’t do something to solve this issue. While the officers investigate the case and track down the suspects, Indhu’s friend asks him to allow her brother to temporarily stay at his weekend house in Mae Hong Son. Staying in the same house in cold weather and under the starry skies brings the two rivals, Indhu and Thapfa, closer. Without realizing, their relationship becomes closer and tighter as time goes by.

the main reasons nomnoms believed that this could happen were because this novel can be seen in bad buddy ep 12 and because way back in the days both jimmy and sea liked a tweet that compared them to the characters. in the end we got last twilight instead, even if recently, during the last twilight final episode event, jimmy said that he thought he was going to act in another project

the theory of jimmysea as inthu and thapfah has now resurfaced thanks to a frankly suspicious interaction between jimmysea and the last twilight admin while promoting the new MV:

jimmy has also used the 🔮 emoji in one of his last mirror selfie with sea and apparently p’aof mentioned that for his next series he would go back to the mountains (i can’t find the source on this tho, sorry ;;;;;;)

SO BACK TO YOUR QUESTION ANON. HONESTLY AT THIS POINT ANYTHING IS POSSIBLE AND IDK WHAT TO THINK ANYMORE. the emojis p’jojo used to describe his new series don’t really match with this story, but then again, it’s not the first time p’aof and p’jojo switch projects. like you said there are starting to be a bit too many signs pointing to this actually happening at some point to just chuck everything to coincidence and i personally would LOVE to see jimmysea in these roles. it’s the ‘enemies’ to lovers grumpy/sunshine science vs spirituality pairing of my hopes and dreams!!!!!!

so you know. MY CLOWN SHOES ARE ON MY MAKE UP IS IN PLACE MY WIG IS SECURED I WILL BE WAITING Y'ALL AT THE MASS MANIFESTATION EVENT AT MY HOUSE TONIGHT AT 9 WE'RE MAKING THIS HAPPEN WITH THE SHEER POWER OF DERANGEMENT AND DELUSION

[look-at-the-soul]

The Photoshoot (Part 29)

Cillian Murphy

Series Master list

Photos credits for Weekend Magazine goes to Mark Nixon (2014) 📸

“Baby?” Cillian called her from the door as he made his way inside the new apartment. “Bab-” he was cut in the middle of his words when he found the beautiful sight in front of him; Yael was only wearing his oversized sweatshirt, her legs bare… moving her hips from side to side to a beat of music he couldn’t hear. She was unpacking her photograph collection.

The photograph that was at the Gallery now was resting against the wall, fully protected until he finished the play in London and could take it to Ireland. A lot of people didn’t know it was Yael posing for her own photograph and they couldn’t even imagine that it was his legs that made a small appearance at the shoot, he couldn’t wait until it was hanging in his home.

The new apartment she got in Manchester as well as the previous one, but in a different area already had some furniture but Yael made sure to make it look incredible, she had a good eye for vintage pieces of furniture that changed completely the look, she even found an old china cabinet and turned it into a coffee station while he was busy with the play.

Wrapping his arms around her, he hugged her from behind, his lips connected with her neck.

Yael screamed first scared, then burst in happiness as she realized it was him, Scout woke up from his nap to check what was happening, once he got close, he started sniffing Cillian’s shoes.

“Enda gave me something for you.” He kissed her lips before walking towards the door to open the small bag he took for the two day stay.

Cillian gave her the Weekend Magazine with the interview they did and that Yael was in charge of the photoshoot because Enda asked for the favor.

“Oh I love it!” Making a little jump of excitement, she hugged him and then walked to the lounge to watch the photographs. “How is it possible you make it a simple red stripes t-shirt you’ve had for over a decade look this good?”

It was so fun to shoot those two, plus she loved the location Enda picked.

Cillian chuckled still feeling awkward when she complimented him. He leaned on the back of the couch, his hands at each side of her shoulders, Yael rested her head against the top of it, looking at him.

“I’m lucky to have the best photographer around.” He whispered before looking at her lips, leaning in to kiss her from behind.

“Where do you want to have dinner?” He gave her that look that made her knees go weak.

Yael pulled him by the neck of his jacket to pull him over the couch. Cillian landed carefully on top of her body.

“Here, you’re my food.” She confessed and as Cillian attacked her neck with loud kisses, she giggled next to his ear. “Kayla brought your suit this morning.”

Cillian thanked her while resting between her legs, as Yael was telling him how Kayla brought the most gorgeous dress she had ever seen, his lips moved down from her cheek to her jawline, and then south, to the side of her neck.

“…And then… oh.” She moaned. “Can’t believe you’re not listening to me.”

Feeling his laugh against her skin, made her close her eyes momentarily.

“You just told me the dress fitted perfectly, and how it’s a miracle you didn’t need to take it to a tailor to fix the length.” He answered sure and proud of himself.

Yael looked at him suspiciously. Perhaps he had a prompter hidden.

“Can I kiss you now?” But he didn’t wait for an answer. It was a slow kiss, an inviting one, the same that seemed to stop the track of time around them.

After pulling apart, his lips resumed his previous spot in her neck.

“Don’t leave a mark.” She had a very important event to attend.

As her leg moved up and down against his, she placed both hands inside the back pockets of his jeans, to press his body down.

***

“I have a question.” She asked then in bed, the sheets tangled around their bodies.

“Shoot.” His arm was resting covering his eyes, but he was awake.

“You said I should be prepared for a sex scene in the opening episode.” Yael recalled while a blush covered her face and neck.

Cillian looked at her, wondering where this conversation was going. “Hmm Tommy fucks with Lizzie.”

“I don’t mean to be a jealous bitch, but do you… hmm actually fuck her? Not Lizzie, I mean Natasha.” Her eyes searched for him, but before he could answer, she spoke again. “Sorry, must be uncomfortable for you.”

“No, and… no.” Cillian cleared his throat at motioned for her to get closer. “I don’t fuck her and neither does Tommy… it’s… it’s like a choreography if that makes sense? We just talk about the moves, we have to simulate the thrusting and the lights and the camera men do the rest.”

“And you never get, you know… turned on?” She saw Cillian shook his head.

“No, it’s the most embarrassing and awkward thing, there are at least twenty people around, you’re listening to directions, focused on the lines, the next scene, where to walk… and there’s a barrier between us, it’s not like we get skin to skin, at least not in that scene…”

“It’s very similar to my photographs, I can have two people naked and it doesn’t mean they’re sleeping together, just portraying something.”

Her hand started to play with his chest hair.

“And what about the kisses? There’s no barrier there.”

Cillian looked at her playfully, she was really curious about that. “The kisses you see in movies and all of that, are the worst.” He assured her. “It’s not a real thing, again is a choreography, it’s a tasteless kiss, it’s empty.” He tried to explain. But judging by her confused look, he needed to explain better. “Sit down.” He ordered. “Now I’m going to kiss you for real.” Taking her face in his hands, he looked at her lips and tilting his head a little, his mouth kissed Yael gently, with passion, like he always did.

“Now pay attention.” He asked when he pulled away. “But don’t kiss me back, don’t move your lips.” As Yael closed her eyes, he moved awkwardly, opening his mouth but never fully transmitting the passion they shared. “Did you see the difference?”

“You just moved your head.” She frowned. “That was Tommy’s kiss?” Cillian nodded.

“That’s how the kiss you see in the big screen are made.”

Yael pulled him in again. “I prefer Cill’s kisses.” He chuckled against her lips.

“Another thing that’s very important… Tommy drinks… a lot.” Immediately she tensed.

“He has a cigarette and a glass of whiskey for breakfast. But it’s not real alcohol, it’s tea, like the tea you prepare from the can… that’s the whiskey we get on set.”

“I never thought of that…”

“Are you sure you will be okay watching me drinking on screen?” He was worried of her reaction.

Yael nodded and snuggled against his chest. “It’s okay, it’s not you, it’s Tommy… and the booze isn’t real.”

Smiling, Cillian nodded pleased that Yael understood his work and at the same time he knew this must be hard for her given her reject to alcohol.

“Did you get the tickets?” Yael nodded, a driver left them in the reception, she put them next to the phone. “I just need three for some of the camera crew, Justin wants to bring his fiancée and brother to the premier.”

A serious face shadowed Yael’s smile. “But I already gave all the tickets… I thought you gave me all of them.” But since she was a terrible liar, she started laughing immediately. “I’m only joking! You texted me how many tickets you needed.”

Cillian arched one of his eyebrows. “So you like to play, huh?” Yael let out a nervous laugh, right before Cillian took the pillow she had as protection over her torso to start tickling her ribs, earning the purest laugh, she was gasping for air, asking him to stop.

He finally stopped pinning her against the mattress, her arms up over her head.

“I’ve four left.” Yael admitted out of breath. Cillian kissed her neck. “How about we give those to someone who couldn’t make it to the premier?”

Yael loved those moments in bed with Cillian, those were her favorites. Her nails scratched slightly at his hair, it was longer now, especially at the top he wore it parted on the side, the fringe constantly getting on his eyes.

As he leaned in to kiss her, she could feel it tickling her face.

“It sounds good.” He answered before she started making other kind of sounds that spoke volumes that she was having a good time.

----

“Hey, you’ll be perfectly fine Cill.” Yael squeezed his hand.

He had been so quiet on the way to the premier, looking at the window or at the floor. He decided last minute he wouldn’t be wearing a tie to the event thinking the pattern looked too old fashioned.

“I really don’t want to leave you alone…”

Yael smiled at him. “Stop making excuses, walk the red carpet, smile for a little bit, and I will see you inside.”

As the car puller over in front of the red carpet, Cillian was grateful the windows had a special protection, so no one could see through.

Sighing, Cillian opened the door a little, Yael pulled him for a good luck kiss.

“Try to enjoy it, that will make it easier for you.”

Reluctantly, Cillian got out from the car and Yael was able to hear the crowd cheering and screaming his name.

Before pulling away, she saw him waving his hand to no one in particular before walking towards a couple of fans to sign them autographs, she would be driven around the building to the other door.

The all access pass around her neck earned Yael easy access to the room, some crew from the makeup and custom department that she met while Cillian was filming greeted her, most of them had a drink in their hands or the waitress constantly were offering one, so she decided to ask for a bottle of water to keep them at bay. Big posters decorated the room, she was shocked to see that some of the photographs she took of him were printed at a big scale.

He looked so different, its been months since the last time she saw Tommy Shelby that she almost forgot about his cold lifeless stare, the imposing presence he had, so far away from the lovely man Cillian was.

Where are youuuuu? -Was the text she got from Lee-Anne.

She had invited her friend to the premier, along with Dean but he was away on a photoshoot in Paris, Kayla and her cousin Violet, and her brothers Issac and Ivan the twins, who were on her way. They were so excited to be at the event.

Found you! -She replied her friend.

“Thought you would be at the red carpet.” Her cousin asked.

Yael gave each a hug and looked around, she had never been to a premier. Then, she explained that she wouldn’t walk with him, it was his moment and neither of them wanted to open that door to the press and public.

“I think I just saw Tom Hardy walking by.” Lee-Anne cheered excitedly.

Violet almost choked on her drink. “The man looks like a Greek God.”

“Oh, you even got all access! Does the meet and greet include a happy ending?” Lee-Anne teased Yael.

“Stop it!” She asked blushing, she wondered how Cillian was doing, she knew he struggled a lot with this part of his job.

As the theater went dark a man started to thank the people who attended the premier and did a little speech about the upcoming season, he also reminded the crowd they couldn’t share anything or record the episode.

The moment Yael saw Cillian with the other woman on screen, her heart stopped beating, it was something she couldn’t put into words, to hear his voice on the speakers, the look of his eyes, his posture, the accent, the clothes.

She didn’t even know she was holding her breath until Cillian placed his hand on her knee when a particular song started playing, it was the same song that had been on repeat before entering the room.

Yael looked at him excitedly, his eyes sparkling.

She knew he disliked adulation and praising his own work, but for an instant, she was able to see he was proud and excited to share this moment with her. Yael took his hand, linking her fingers with his, in the background the figures blurred in a cemetery, her eyes fixed in his features, not fully believing the man in the peaky cap was the same sitting next to her.

***

Cillian declined the drink he was offered and shook hands with someone he wouldn’t remember later, his eyes found Yael in the distance laughing at something one of her brothers was saying, Lee-Anne and Violet were chatting with Natasha. As Cillian waved someone goodbye, he saw Helen greeting Yael.

“Look at you!” Helen rubbed her arms and took Yael’s hands in hers. “Where is the boss? Well, he thinks he’s the boss.”

“Oh! Helen stop, you’re gorgeous!” Looking around, her eyes found Cillian’s. “Right behind you.”

“I’ll tell my friend you said that.” He joked. “What did you say at the red carpet? I couldn’t understand anything for the noise.”

Helen passed her arm around Yael. “So, you finally got to see the series! About time.”

Cillian shook his head. “Don’t start brainwashing her… Where’s Damian?”

Helen loved teasing Cillian, she made him smile genuinely and she looked excited as he was about this project.

“Are you coming to the after party? It’s at my place.” A man asked.

“Do you remember Steve, my love?” Cillian asked her as Steve offered his hand.

Yael nodded. “Sorry, we can’t go.” And he started to say one of those terrible excuses, when the real reason was that he wanted to take her to bed and make love until their bodies couldn’t take it anymore.

-----

“Hello?” He asked while pouring the coffee into two cups.

“I assume you haven’t seen your email yet, so I will make the long story short for you.” Steve announced on the phone as Yael appeared in the room wearing nothing but a towel around her frame, his eyes devoured her body. “We broke all records last night when they released the first episode of season two! They want us to start working on the next season as soon as possible and you’ll be executive producer.”

Yael planted a silent kiss on Cillian’s cheek and then took a sip of her coffee, his free hand started to undo the towel. “I see.” He answered to whoever was on the other side of the line. “Thank you, Steve, I’ll see you around.”

She started to walk away, but Cillian stopped her. Spinning her around, Yael wrapped her legs on his waist. “What are we celebrating?”

Scout barked at them, he wanted to be part of it too.

“We just got renewed for season three!” Yael hugged him tightly, he had been unsure at times. “And… I’m going to be producer of the show from now on.”

“I told you that you would get the recognition you deserve, my love, you’ve worked so hard for this moment.”

Yael kissed him savoring the moment, knowing how much it meant to him, she was genuinely happy because she knew all the work and love he put into this project.

“How do you want to celebrate?”

Linking his hands behind her back, Cillian seemed to think about it for a few seconds. “Let me just finish with the play, and then we go on a proper vacation, wherever you want, I don’t care about the place.” His smile lighting his whole face couldn’t even compare to how happy he actually was.

****

Did you like the premier part? Would you like to see more Cillian x Tommy parts? I always love reading your comments 💕

[captain-sassy-socks]

GABIT INSP 2022 Part II - Q&A session #1

Disclaimer: I am writing this summary from my memory and the notes I have taken. I make no claim to completeness or accuracy since it's a very personal view. If anyone would like to add anything, feel free to do so in the reblogs or replies. Pictures are from different sources.

After a night of little sleep, I couldn’t wait to see Amanda on stage and ask her my very important question. The one I’ve been holding onto for 2.5 years.

First, Becky greeted us, and they showed a short tribute video of Amanda as Sam, Helen, and several other characters throughout her career.

Finally, Amanda entered, and the crowd cheered.

Somehow, she couldn’t believe that so many people still wanted to see her. She thanked everyone for being here with her, said she missed her mum terribly and feels her spirit/ghost is with us for the weekend.

She admitted to having had a crappy year, has eaten her weight through the pandemic, and wants to use this convention to kick the past year in the ass and start a new, better chapter.

Next, she apologized for not being active on social media and vowed to mend her ways.

After that, she tolds us little bit about Olivia and her remarkable ability to use logic to talk her way out of a strife. "Mom, I've always been a good kid. Please let me have this moment." How can you argue against that?

The other night, she had chatted with Teryl who sends her love. And Suanne feels like sisterhood.

She tolds us a story about how she woke up and Julia next to her didn’t make a noise (usually a loud snorer). Since Amanda feared Julia was dead, she poked her but didn’t get an immediate reaction until, a few seconds later, Julia snored again. That was a huge scare!

(this picture was displayed later during the 2nd Q&A but fits best here)

And the night before, Amanda couldn’t sleep, so she watched Gogglebox. (side note: Gogglebox is a British reality television series which documents families and groups of friends around the United Kingdom who are filmed for their observations and reactions to the previous week's television from their own homes.) She landed on an episode of Naked Attraction. She felt simultaneously attracted and repelled by what was happening: a dating show with naked people. Only strategically placed cards prevented her from getting a full view of the contestants. However, she reacted with "Argh, penis!" when the camera panned up the legs of an excited guy and the comment was “Oh, he shaved his balls.”. Now, she couldn't get certain images out of her head. It caused a lot of laughter in the room and became the running gag of the event.

Next, the Q&A part started (I can’t remember the first question) and I asked, “What is Samantha Carter’s favorite color? Please don’t say blue.” Amanda admitted she had never thought about it and went like “If you look at her house, maybe green... or orange...*walks from one side of the stage to the other*... good question... blue...*laughter from the crowd*... do what you want with it.” As an afterthought, she added, “Indigo? Indiorange?” (Thank you, Amanda. And yes, I will do whatever I want with your answer. I just have to convince my muse to settle for one option.)

Someone asked if she could only one thing for the rest of her life, what would it be - acting or directing? - Directing because she would have a longer career.

We got to talking about her dog, Riley. He’s doing well and she likes to take long walks with him.

Someone asked what her thoughts were on the AI reading. She said that the first script felt stilted and had poor grammar. But the second one was better, and she was surprised how well the AI nailed Jack’s sarcasm. She didn’t understand where the AI got the impression that Daniel would come down the stairs in Jack’s cabin and not Sam, and that, unfortunately, the AI is unable to write for Teal’c because it needs a certain amount of words, and “Indeed” isn’t enough.

Just before the end, Suanne surprised Amanda and joined her on stage.

They talked a bit about life in general and how good it was to see each other again.

On the screen, the last minute was counting down, and Amanda, who is known for overrunning, received the following message when she wouldn't stop talking.

That’s it for the first Q&A session. Since it’s already a long post, I decide to split the sessions and write a post about each of them.

[saintobio]

sincerely not. (7)

↳ gojou satoru/reader

with an arranged marriage set in place, the sacred bond is doomed with a wife who wants to make the relationship work and a husband who’s ready to ruin it all. unbeknown to him, a tragic fate already lies within the pages of his romance book.

genre. heavy angst, unrequited love, arranged marriage, modern au, 18+

tags/warnings. profanity, cheating, mentions of past abuse, mentions of pregnancy, undertones of manipulation, violence (not to reader), alcohol/intoxication, family drama, explicit smut and more filthy smut

notes. 13.7k wc! bc of the record-breaking length of this chapter, pls excuse any errors lmao :< i’m sorry for the delay but i hope the lengthy chapter will suffice. i aim to write lesser wc for the next chapters so i can update quicker :)

series masterlist -> episode eight

“Y/N! Y/N! Wait for me!”

The sound of tiny footsteps bounced off the walls as a little girl ran through the corridors of their mansion with a boy of the same age following her behind. Instead of taking their siesta, they were chasing each other through the afternoon heat, hiding from the eyes of their nannies until they made it out to the orchard. Squeals and giggles echoed through the open air before both children headed straight towards the one place where they always hid together—the treehouse, a small man-made shelter that was sitting on top of the mahogany tree.

“Haah! You run so fast,” said the little boy, crouching down to press his hands on his knees as he panted out of breath. No one else had occupied their treehouse in this sunny afternoon aside from them. “Where’d you hide your baby?”

The girl grinned and skipped towards an old chest where they kept their toys ranging from Satoru’s collection of Hot Wheels to Y/N’s Barbie dolls. Her favorite was a gift from her favorite Auntie, Satoru’s mom, who had given her the Baby Alive doll that she often carried around the mansion. “It’s here,” she cheerfully presented before swaying the doll in her arms. “She’s hungry!”

“It’s a girl?” Satoru rummaged through the chest box and grabbed his old Nerf gun. “Lame. A boy is better.”

“Hey!” Little Y/N protectively held her baby and scooted away, pouting as the mischievous boy sniggered at her. “Don’t show your gun in front of my baby! That’s bad.”

Being naturally playful, he blasted the foam dart against the wall and startled the girl from her seat. “What? It’s cool. Look, I’ll shoot this target.”

A visible frown appeared on Y/N’s face as she stomped her way out of the treehouse. “You’re making my baby cry! We’re leaving.”

“Wait—!” Satoru was quick to drop his toy to chase after the girl, pulling her back and wrapping his little arms around her. Her youthful, doe eyes looked at his cerulean orbs with familiar glint. “Don’t leave. Let’s play.”

Y/N could not help but to shyly avert her eyes because the boy was too close in assessing the emotions on her face. It was getting harder and harder to deny her crush towards the young heir of the Gojou clan when they always spent their weekends together. “But you’re scaring me with your toy…”

He held a hand up to make an oath. “Okay, no more.” And without thinking twice, he pressed his small lips against hers and pulled away to mirror the surprised look on her face. “You don’t like my kiss?”

The sweet moment limned her entire face with a rosy tint. “Y-You…” She tugged at his shirt. “Be responsible! My mommy said I can’t kiss a boy until I’m married!”

Satoru shrugged, not putting much thought into it as he took the baby from her arms and placed it on a toy crib. “Then I’ll marry you.” He was laughing when he looked at his cute playmate who now had her mouth parted in surprise. “I’ll be your husband then we can buy another baby. How’s that sound?”

“But… mommy said babies are made with love,” she countered, soon having her hand held by the young man. Love? Satoru didn’t believe it. His parents didn’t seem to share ‘love’ even before his mom gave birth to him. He was a child born out of an arranged marriage一a child only born in this world with the purpose of serving as an heir. He was definitely not made out of love, because if so, then why does his dad always hit his mom on the face? Why does he yell at her and make her cry?

Love means happiness, and if such happiness could not be sought, then love did not exist.

Either way, he still made her raise her pinky finger up so he could loop it around his. “I promise, we’ll get married,” he made his vow to her at the young age of six, “then we’ll have real babies and live in a big house. We should have a little boy, okay?”

Gojou didn’t think that he could still remember his past memories quite vividly as if they were movie scenes stored in his brain’s archive, staying with him as he grew older. He was happier back then—he still had his mom and life wasn’t as cruel to him as it was now. It was the same for you as you didn’t have to deal with the grief from your mother’s death because everything was picture-perfect, everything was a colorful fairy tale. While the images were clear in his mind, things have changed—what was once a beautiful friendship was now almost nonexistent after you grew apart and went through traumatic experiences that ultimately turned the both of you into strangers.

It wasn’t like he came into this marriage with his silly childhood promises in mind. Satoru had just started getting a flood of old memories the more time he spent with you as if someone was flipping through the pages of his romance book and decided to look back at the start of it all. He wanted a baby because it could mean that he would have an heir who would be a successor to both of your assets combined, something that only a father could wish for his child to have. His child would be powerful as a product of you and him that would tie your families together forever even if the road may lead to a divorce one day. While his reason may be practical, a baby with you also meant that his six year-old self was able to keep his promise, a silly promise that he was proud to fulfill as a grown man of twenty-five. Satoru didn’t value promises as much as he used to, but being kids in love, it was the last piece of a happy childhood memory that he could hold onto. All the other adolescent memories subsequent to the ones he had with you had been erased from his brain’s storage simply because the rest of his childhood was a nightmare. One of the reasons why he wanted to forget his past so bad was because they were nothing but traumatic.

He had no one to comfort him from his darkest days, no one except you, nineteen years after your last joyful experiences as juveniles.

“Are you staying late for work?”

His voice came out raspy as he spoke. “I don’t think so.”

For the past two minutes, Gojou allowed his wife to fix the tie around his neck because it had already become his morning routine for you to help him prepare for work in the wee hours of sunrise. You would cook breakfast, make him coffee, choose his business attire, and fix his tie. He may not outwardly admit it, but being a housewife seemed to have always looked good on you. You were caring, nurturing, and gentle—the same traits that he never really experienced again since his mom abandoned him.

And by remembrance, thinking of the recent encounter that he had with his mother still left a bitter taste in his mouth. It was bad enough that his nightmare started coming back since she showed up, he also could no longer sleep without you by his side because you provided the comfort that he needed during his most vulnerable moments. Who knew that you could be the one person that he could count on when his fragility was at its peak?

He was supposed to hate you, not find solace from you.

“Why are you asking?” he inquired, slowly tracing the slope of your spine with his palm.

You gave a subtle shake of the head as you knotted his necktie, soon fixing the creases on his collar to ensure that your husband would appear presentable. Satoru thought of how tempting it was to kiss your moistened lips when you were only a few inches away, but he chose to restrain his weird urges of being affectionate. “I have to pick up your suit and I kinda just guessed your measurements. It would be good if you can come, if you’re free.”

“A suit?” He began fixing his cufflinks before he walked towards the tall mirror inside of your shared closet. “You got me one?”

“Yeah, it’s a new collection from Givenchy. I thought it’d look good on you.” You stood meekly by the door while your husband fixed his hair in front of the mirror. All the while, Satoru couldn’t explain the strange fluttering in his chest when he learned that you actually went to purchase something for him. He spent the whole weekend with Sera complaining in his head how you never bothered to send him a text only to find out that you actually shopped for your asshole husband during your spare time. At times like these, he felt even more awful for treating you unfairly. How could you still be so kind? “Look, I can get it myself if you’re not available—”

“Come to the office with me, then we’ll go.” Satoru towered over you as he walked out and gave your bum a light pat. “Go get ready.”

“Oh… okay.” He could see the suppressed excitement that coruscated from your eyes when he offered to take you to the office with him. It must have truly made you happy to have your husband finally taking you to places other than neglecting you in your spacious home. He noticed how you would get excited at the littlest things, appreciating every kind gesture as if you didn’t have the world bowing at your feet. In that sense, this was the wife that Gojou liked seeing. His humble, caring, and submissive wife who would always obediently listen to him, not the cold one who gave him the silent treatment whenever he tried to talk. He wasn’t keen to encounter the same wife that night at the pool.

Satoru knew he had roles to play, but he had decided to be a nicer husband for once. He couldn’t be certain if his lack of hostility would last long, especially when he just received a text message from Sera that made his heart pound faster than it normally would. For the first time in a while, he was oddly nervous and confused. His agitation made him feel like a deer caught in the headlights because the idea of Sera was starting to feel wrong within the presence of his wife.

Sera: Good morning. I can’t wait to see you today. I love you.

He typed in a quick response.

Gojou: Me too.

He quickly deleted her messages on his phone before you could see them. Strangely enough, the notification that he received after sending the message was no longer from his girlfriend, but a text message from his close family friend and now Finance Director, Mei Mei.

Mei: If you’re gonna have an affair with a receptionist, at least make it discreet. There’s a mole in the company who’s spreading rumors about your infidelity.

Mei: Mr. Chairman isn’t gonna be pleased. Be careful.

Satoru almost crushed the phone in his hand as he released an exasperated sigh. Which traitor could have caught him in his clandestine dates with Sera? Perhaps it was a good thing to take you to the office after all. If people saw you around him and if they noticed how loving he was to you, no further rumors would grow and his reputation would not be tainted. It was the only thing he could do to save the image of your marriage and, as shameful as it was, to protect Sera from being the point of scrutiny.

It was already an unusual day when Satoru decided to invite you to come with him to his office instead of leaving you alone in the penthouse. Things have been going well since the night you comforted him and you weren’t sure if he was only being nice as a form of gratitude or if he was actually being genuine for once. You couldn’t deny that you still felt hurt for all the things that he had said and done, but those things weren’t new and you always seemed to find a reason to forgive your husband for everything.

Any wife would not be happy to see their husband cheating on them, but since you didn’t own Satoru from the beginning, you couldn’t really uphold your claim on him just because he wore the same ring. At the end of the day, Sera had his heart. When they were together, they probably didn’t even see their actions as blatant infidelity because they were only continuing what they already had before he was locked in an arranged marriage with you. For this reason, you couldn’t fully blame Sera for wanting to stay with a married man. There was no clear prospect on when their affair would come to an end so all you had by your side was hope. Before you could allow yourself to start a family with your husband, was it too selfish to wish that Sera would be out of the picture by then? You may be patient now, but things have been getting emotionally exhausting day by day. Being selfless and understanding didn’t even guarantee your happiness.

You just couldn’t find it in yourself to voice out what you truly wanted in this pathetic marriage without being labeled as the bad person. How could you pay for the repercussions when you never intended any damage to a relationship that you knew nothing of? It was becoming clear to your head how you shouldn’t be too kind to continuously let people step on you. If you were going to consider what was morally right or wrong in this situation, Sera was on the latter. Regardless of the grounds of your marriage with Satoru, you were still the lawful wife so she had no right to give you a disgusted look after finding out that you had slept with your husband. But because of your kindness, because of your sympathetic nature, and because of your desire to make this marriage work, you chose to keep your sentiments to yourself. Like always.

Ironically, when you and your husband walked into the C-Suite floor that morning, everyone was happy to see their Vice President with his spouse—all except for Sera who froze in her spot the same way Satoru did when you crossed each other’s paths near the reception.

She almost dropped the files that she was carrying while she stood like a statue, looking back and forth between you and Gojou and possibly wondering why her man decided to bring you to the office today. Seeing you there must have been an insult to her because you could see that the veins in her hands were becoming prominent. She wanted to say something, but realized that all prying eyes were set upon the three of you. The employees may appear as if they were busy, but you could tell that they were intrigued at the sight.

“Sera.” You didn’t know what came to your mind when you greeted her out of panic, also aware that all of the executives and their secretaries were all viewing this situation as something that one would see from a drama series.

And while Sera was visibly dumbfounded at your presence, she was professional enough to get her act together. “Good morning, Mr. and Mrs. Gojou.”

You couldn’t believe that this was the same woman who gave your husband hickeys when he came home from spending the whole weekend with her. More importantly, the husband who willingly slept with her was the one who grabbed your hand, intertwining his fingers within yours before he looked away from his mistress. “Get back to work.”

For certain, all words synonymous to being ‘shocked’ was how you would describe how you felt about this situation. You had no idea what Satoru’s deal was for holding your hand tightly as he walked past his lover and greeted the rest of the executives and their staff with a professional smile.

What exactly went on between them? What did they agree to after she supposedly found out that her married boyfriend cheated on her with his own wife?

“Oh my, you look lovely today, Y/N!” Mrs. Fujikawa cheerfully complimented while standing outside of her office. “Satoru must love you so much that he can’t be away from you.”

“Of course,” Gojou affirmed, smiling at you before glancing at his mistress for a fleeting second. “Can’t get enough of my wife.”

It was obvious how you were being used—either to conceal his adultery by parading you in his office or to show you that he was capable of choosing you over Sera at times where he had to. Both choices had you losing, but you tried to be oblivious for your husband’s sake. Everything was always for his sake, never yours. That was why you chose not to say anything when he took you inside his office where he immediately started with his work obligations.

There was no other word to be exchanged as soon as he was seated in his office chair because he had more important things to do, and staying silent was your only option. What you did, instead, was to walk towards the window wall while watching the bustling city of Tokyo from the top view. It was funny how you could see CFG and the Zen’in towers from a distance within the stretch of buildings in the central business district and you wondered if Gen was just having as much of a hectic day as she did the last time. Being in such a professional setup was quite suffocating for you, but it seemed to come natural for your husband. He was too comfortable in his seat, talking to the phone with his staff while he scanned through the documents above his desk. Seeing him like this had you realizing how he was truly made to run a company.

“Bring the updated financial report to my office,” he spoke to the other end of the line and slammed the phone down just as quickly.

You didn’t want to bother him so you took a seat at the nearby couch and grabbed a magazine to read. Inside your head, you were thinking of how Satoru felt during your awkward encounter with Sera because it must have irked him how he had to be seen with you instead of her. You expected that Satoru would once again blame you for putting his mistress in such a position, but he didn’t seem to bring up the topic even when the two of you were alone in his personal space. In the first place, how could he blame you? He was the one who took you to his office. He was the one who ignored the ‘love of his life’, holding your hand in front of her. You even felt bad that Sera had to see it and assumed that she hated you for allowing it to happen.

As much as the magazine helped with your boredom, your attention was stolen when you watched your husband from his seat. There was no reason for your heart to beat this fast when he was simply doing his everyday job in the office, handsome as ever with how serious his face was as he went through a cluster of documents. Your husband sure was attractive, but he was even more pleasing to the eyes now that he had the image of a powerful businessman. Satoru at home had a different aura than Mr. Gojou from the Gojou Group. It was almost as if you were starstruck.

Noticing how you spent the whole minute staring at his side profile, he then tilted his head to look at you. “Need anything?”

You blinked and looked away, smiling. “Nothing, sorry.”

A sudden knock on the door cut you off and a woman with braided silver hair that had bluish undertones came strutting inside the office with the requested file on hand. “Here’s the financial statement. I’ve included the changes in equity and everything else that you need to know before the general stockholders’ meeting. Didn’t you already have the updated file—” the woman stopped mid-sentence as soon as her eyes landed on you, “—oh, look who’s here.”

Satoru adjusted his suit before introducing you to the woman. “Y/N, this is Mei, the Finance Director. Mei, this is my wife.”

“Your one and only?” she teased him, receiving his annoyed eye roll in return. She then looked back at you with an amused smile. “Nice to see you in the flesh, Y/N. You look really classy and modest.”

Mei certainly talked too comfortably, but you acknowledged her with the same cordiality. “Thank you. It’s nice to meet you, too.”

“Do I have any meetings today?” Gojou asked, flipping the page as he studied every figure that was written in the financial report. “What’s my schedule?”

Mei answered by shaking her head. “No, you’re pretty much free today, but you do have to sign those papers on your desk. When are you getting a new secretary so you can leave me alone? I’m an executive, you know.”

“No one’s good enough.” Your husband gestured for her to take her leave while you gave Mei Mei one last smile before the graceful sound of her heels faded as she left. At once, the door was closed and your husband’s attention was all on you as he made a quick swivel on his chair. “Come here.”

The magazine was long discarded when you walked towards your husband, surprised by how he grabbed you by the wrist and made you sit on his lap before he rotated the seat back to his desk. The act made you weak on the knees, but you also didn’t understand why he did it. “Satoru, what are you doing?”

“You look bored,” he pointed out, placing a hand on your thigh while he reached for a fountain pen to sign a few papers. “Let me just finish this then we can go to that store.”

“It’s okay. I surprisingly like seeing you at work.” Slowly, you relaxed on his lap and rested your back against his chest. Maybe it was the perfect time to bring up the earlier scene. “And about Sera…why did you—”

“Don’t talk about her here.” His brows have furrowed even without looking at you. The walls were thin and he had to remind you of it. “Anywhere but here.”

You recalled Sera’s words when you first met her and how she told you that she and Satoru couldn’t really talk when they were in the office because his father would go berserk. You saw it in your own eyes how your father-in-law demeaned her like a pest, humiliated her in front of you to show her that you were better suited for her boyfriend. This must be the reason why they wouldn’t acknowledge each other too openly, afraid that any wrong move would put her in yet another shameful situation with the Chairman.

“Listen,” he spoke again, this time with a new topic to unfold, “don’t you think it’s best if our companies merged together? CFG could be part of our core investments and it’s beneficial for both companies.”

You shrugged while feeling his fingers tracing your thigh. “I don’t know. That sounds like an acquisition more than a merger and I kinda wanna stay out of the whole business talk,” you truthfully admitted, meeting his cerulean eyes as he leaned back on the cushion. “I leave it all for my dad and Gen to decide.”

“But you can convince him, right?” he encouraged, hand now moving between your legs. “He listens to you.”

Your father truly would give you anything that you asked for and you weren’t particularly happy about it. You never wanted to take advantage of his kindness. “I’ll respect my dad’s own decision and will leave it up to him.”

It seemed that Satoru had easily given up on bargaining when he released a weary sigh. Yet, while he stopped talking, his fingers never stopped moving from going further inside of your skirt. You tried stopping his wrist as you were nervous that anyone would walk in, but he didn’t really care. His lips were now trailing kisses on your jaw, allowing you to feel his hot breath on your skin. “S-Satoru, we’re in your office. You can wait at home.”

“So what? It’s been awhile. No one’s gonna come in,” he argued before slipping a hand between your legs, rubbing your clothed core with the tip of his fingers. The minute he touched your underwear, his eyes grew wide. “You’re wearing lace?”

You squeezed your legs shyly as you nodded. “Yeah.”

“Bad decision.” Before you could react, he was already pushing your skirt up to reveal the black lingerie that was gifted to you by Gen for your wedding. Your husband appeared to have liked it as he made you stand between his widely parted legs, hiking your skirt up just below your tummy so he could see how the lace hugged your waist perfectly. “You wore this for me?”

“N-No.” You denied it like your life was on the line. What you couldn’t deny, however, was how you were just as aroused when you saw the growing bulge on your husband’s pants. “Satoru, we c-can’t do it here.”

Knowing how stubborn he was, he twisted you around and pushed you forward to lay on your front with your elbows propped above his desk. Having the possibility of being caught in such an erotic position caused your adrenaline rush. You couldn’t possibly be enjoying this, right? Because when Satoru suddenly slid his fingers inside your lacy underwear, you couldn’t stop the moans that escaped your mouth because you shamefully loved every second of it. “We’ll do it quick,” he assured, orchestrating circular motions on your clit while pressing you further against his office desk. He glided his fingers between your plump folds to coat his digits of your slick—his skillful hand playing with your cunt before cupping the entirety of it. “Do you touch yourself when I’m gone?”

Was he out of his mind? You never imagined that your husband would try and talk dirty with you in his office. “I don’t—nngh!”

And Sera. What would Sera say? Why has he completely disregarded her?

“So you’ve only had my fingers inside you?” he whispered in your ear as you felt his weight on your back. “Do you want my cock inside you now?”

The bands of your lacy underwear were now resting on your thighs and two of his fingers entered your wet core by the time you gave a response. “P-Please—ah! Just d-do it quickly.” Hot. You felt hot, wishing that the air conditioner did a better job at cooling you down from your blazing arousal. Each movement of Satoru’s fingers that went in and out of your cavern brought tickles to your lower abdomen. “Mm—Satoru…”

“Be patient.” His tone was strict and you could hear the sound of his zipper coming down after he took his fingers out of your moistened pussy, kneading and squeezing your buttocks the same way he usually did with your breasts. “Sit.”

You whirled your head to look back at him and saw his throbbing pink head being positioned on your swollen entrance. He pumped himself a few times before manspreading on his office chair, holding your waist with his large manly hands to guide you. Your knees were shaking as you slowly allowed him to bury his hardened cock until you’ve fully sat on his member, grinding sexily above his crotch. You even had to arch your back because he locked your arms together from the back. “Wh-What if someone comes in?”

“Fuck.” Satoru was too absorbed by his own pleasure, now beginning to meet your hips with his own thrusts to have his wife bouncing on his cock. He watched how his shaft would disappear each time your buttocks met his pelvis. “Like that? We should do this position more.”

You suppressed your whimpers despite your desperation to just cry it all out because of how good he was with his rhythm. It would be embarrassing for anyone to catch you doing such an obscene act in your husband’s office, especially in broad daylight, so you tried your very best to restrain your filthy mewls. “F-Faster.”

Satoru’s guttural moans were deep enough to make you go crazy from this midday heat. “Shit. Shit. That feels good.”

You woke up this morning expecting that your day was going to be spent alone waiting for your husband to come home from work. You expected that you could burn the clock by continuing your sketches that you’ve left in progress, perhaps in the living room where you could have the best view of the Tokyo skyline. It never crossed your wildest dreams that you would find yourself being intimate with your husband in his office with only a wall separating the two of you from the eyes and ears of the executives, the staff, and most importantly, of Sera. What was going through Satoru’s head when he initiated sex with you? He was so eager to have you that he didn’t even care to wait at home.

Maybe, just maybe, you loved the desperation that he showed. It made you feel desired, wanted, and appreciated by your husband seeing as he was doing everything just to make sure that he was returning the sexual gratification that you were giving him. At one point, he had to manhandle you back on top of his desk, raising one of your legs up high so he could hit your most sensitive spot with the swollen head of his cock. The position allowed him to cover your mouth while he was plowing his member into you at a faster pace, so deep that he managed to release all of his thick semen straight into your cervix.

It was crazy to think that you were once a virgin who shied away from the idea of physical intimacy, often insecure about your skills in bed because you knew that some women were just far better than you ever would be. And yet, here you were, catching your breath on top of your husband’s desk as he planted a kiss on your spine before pulling your underwear up and lowering the hem of your skirt to cover you.

“I’m done for the day,” he announced, hoisting you up with one arm and sniggering as he saw you breathing roughly through your mouth. He didn’t even stay an hour long in his office before he decided to leave. “Get up, mommy.”

Heat permeated your cheeks. “I’m not pregnant.”

“You will be.”

You could’ve at least combed your hair and he could’ve tucked his shirt better because when you two dashed out of his office, you knew that most of the people were aware of what happened behind their boss’ doors. No one could really judge you for sleeping with your own husband except for Sera who was thankfully not anywhere in sight as you left the building together.

Somehow, why did things start to feel like a competition to you?

The mall was serene when you arrived, void of too many shoppers on a weekday because everyone else was stuck in whatever daily schedules that they still had. Going back to the mall reminded you of the day when Toji gave you a spark of inspiration to follow your dreams and start your own brand—providing you with an insight on how you could manage a successful business all by yourself. You haven’t given it much thought because you were still hesitant if your designs were worthy enough for the public, but each time the man crossed your mind, you could feel nothing but gratitude because he had become the blanket to your stormy days. His encouragement gave you a boost of confidence to believe in yourself without letting your insecurities swallow you.

From the last time you were with him, you couldn’t forget how the sales staff had mistaken you as his spouse because of how visibly comfortable you were around the Zen’in Group’s CEO. Whether it was the natural closeness or the undeniable chemistry, unfortunately, the innocent mistake now struck a problem with your actual husband who followed your tail as you walked inside the Givenchy store.

“Mrs. Zen’in, welcome back!” greeted the same lady who assisted you before.

You didn’t even get the chance to answer because Satoru became stiff at the name that you were addressed with, narrowing his eyes between you and the lady as if thinking if he had heard it correctly. “Say that again.”

“I’m sorry, sir…?” The lady was absolutely stupefied. You couldn’t blame her for being intimidated because Satoru could be extremely scary and domineering when provoked.

Sighing, you looped an arm around your husband and attempted to clarify the situation. “Satoru, it was a misunderstanding—”

“I’m asking her,” he sternly gestured his chin towards the lady, digging holes on her skull with the way his eyes bore into her, “what did you call my wife?”

“Oh, I’m… I thought she was Mr. Toji’s…” Her eyes widened in realization. “Oh, God! I am so sorry, Mrs. Gojou. I didn’t mean to.” The lady was desperate at showing how apologetic she was, even bowing in a full 90-degree just to let your husband know that it was an honest mistake and that she was never going to do it again. You had to be the one to tell her that it was fine and that she didn’t need to say sorry, soon facing your husband only to receive his frown.

“You wanna explain why she called you that?” he asked, clenching his jaws to signal his displease. You wondered why the thought of Toji seemed to ignite fire in his eyes.

“We just bumped into each other and then he helped me pick a suit, that’s all there is to it.” And with a lowered voice, you murmured, “I didn’t complain when you spent the whole weekend with your mistress.”

Despite being suspicious, Gojou couldn’t say anything more about your friendly encounter with Toji Zen’in because he was clearly too surprised by your audacity to make remarks about his unfaithfulness. What he didn’t like was how you called Sera, his one true love, a mistress. “Don’t call her that.”

You were guessing that he just didn’t want to make a scene as he willingly followed the sales staff towards the dressing room—the same staff handed you your husband’s phone and wallet while they assisted him in fitting the mohair suit that you purchased for him.

It was ironic how he ignored Sera this morning, but would defend her behind her back and you assumed that it was the opposite for you. If he could call you an attention-seeker, why couldn’t you call Sera a mistress? As apologetic as you were for unintentionally splitting them apart—the cheating, the hickeys, and her implication of you being the homewrecker to their relationship made up for all the factors that messed with your head in the worst way possible. When Sera requested for you to allow them to still see each other, you never exactly agreed. All you said to her was that you understood where she was coming from and that you felt sorry for getting in the way. You’ve already seen pain in their perspective and it was about time that they saw pain through yours.

The world must be playing with you because Sera’s name appeared on your husband’s phone as he received a text message from her. You weren’t one to snoop into his private affairs, but your curiosity won when you opened his phone to read the message.

Sera: I can’t believe you’d actually bring her here. I don’t care if it’s all for show. I’m not happy with it.

Your breathing ceased. Your face lacked color.

All for show? And here you were being a fool to believe that Satoru took you with him because he genuinely wanted to spend time with you. Truth was, he was only doing it to prevent Sera from being seen as the paramour that she was. Each time you let your guard down, you were always bound to be broken. You should have realized that the way of life around Satoru was to be constantly hurt by the lack of sincerity in his actions because how could he ever choose you over her? He was probably only partially grateful for the comfort you gave him when he had his nightmare, but if it had been Sera next to him, his kisses would all be meant for her.

You’re so fucking stupid, Y/N. The accumulation of tears made your eyes glossy and you had to keep them from spilling because Gojou no longer deserved them. He didn’t deserve all of you, forcing the thought in your head when you spitefully checked his photo album to see countless photos of Sera, even intimate ones, that he was storing shamelessly in his phone. There was only one photo of you out of the two-thousand that he had of her—it was of you standing under the Northern Lights, looking up at the night sky with a contented smile on your face. At that time, you were unaware of the revelation of who Sera truly was in his life.

It took you one click to delete your photo from his phone, locking the gadget back to its place just in time when your husband came out wearing the suit.

You couldn’t even look at his eyes when he showed you how perfectly tailored the outfit was for him. Every corner from his shoulders down to his ankles made him look princely in a one-million yen outfit. “You look great,” you simply said, finding your way to the mirror where he stood behind you with a satisfied face. While he became less hostile after wearing the suit, it was now you who displayed an apathetic visage from all the things you had seen on his phone.

“I like it,” he told you, grabbing you by the waist as he stared at you from the mirror. “Let me get you something in return.”

“No need. Just wear it for your dad’s birthday.” You drew in a deep breath, handing his phone and wallet back to him before you headed to thank the staff.

He seemed to notice the sudden change in your mood and he was aware that you were trying to avoid him because he spent the next hour glancing at your face wondering what he did wrong. He didn’t do anything wrong. He simply loved.

What was wrong in this marriage was you staying when all flags had no other colors but red.

Satoru was deeply bothered by how you were distancing yourself from him, again. He wasn’t dumb. He knew that you checked his phone and realized how you have read Sera’s new messages. The thing was, he wanted to tell you not to get the wrong idea. Showing you off was just a bonus to conceal his affair with her, but it was more so because he just wanted you around him in his office. The sex? That was not for show. He genuinely wanted it and he also wanted to tell you that he hadn’t really done it again with Sera ever since he got married.

Even with his reasons, his pride stopped him from explaining all of these to you. His head was nothing but a bubble of confusion because he was refusing to understand why he wanted to even redeem himself for you. He just couldn’t accept that he wanted to appease you. Satoru told himself that he wouldn’t care if you get hurt, that he wouldn’t care about cheating when he didn’t even love you—why wasn’t he feeling those same sentiments now?

But aside from his marital problems, he also wasn’t particularly happy when he saw his mother coming out of a car, dressed in a halter trapeze with her hair in a half-updo like how she usually did when he was younger. Tonight was one of the most important nights in the Gojou family as they were to celebrate his father’s 65th birthday at The Chateau where all of the most influential people in the business world gathered. The venue was overflowing with luxury that boasted of just how affluent the Gojou family was. The lavish banquet, the classical music, and the grandiose decorations in hues of white and gold一everything was an arrant display of power and wealth, something that his mother learned to despise so much that she left.

So, why the fuck is she here? Satoru had to keep it together when his mom walked closer to him, offering a hesitant smile as they met outside of the main entrance. He instinctively looked around for you and noticed how you handed your coat off to one of the personnels to reveal yourself in a sexy, brown Mugler dress that was made out of thick satin, cut generously to show a window to your cleavage. The dress fit like a corset that tightly hugged your curves, allowing a peek into your thigh from the side slit that would definitely attract every single man’s attention tonight. Gojou was going to lose his mind because you never showed him your dress since you two left the penthouse so he had no single idea what you had underneath your Burberry coat. He was not expecting that you would be wearing such a provocative dress at all.

He surely gaped at his wife, but remembered that his mother was only standing next to him and his irritance came crawling back. He found it twice as annoying how his mom even gasped at the sight of you. “My daughter-in-law, she’s drop dead gorgeous, isn’t she?”

“You have guts,” he scoffed at her, glaring without any remorse. “What brings you here? Don’t you hate all this extravagance that’s why you left?”

His mother showed her invitation card and held back a sigh. Just like you, she was patient at moving closer to fix the bow tie on his black Givenchy mohair suit. “Your father invited me out of Nana’s request,” she explained as she fixed her son’s collar, very similar to how you usually did it for him. “It’s been years. I don’t plan to hold a grudge on him for so long. We have reconciled.”

“Then you should know that I can hold a grudge for the rest of my life.” Satoru didn’t mean to be such an asshole to his mom, not when she meant the whole world to him for being his anchor and strength when he was younger. She was the first woman he ever loved, the only woman he treasured the most in this world if only she didn’t ruthlessly abandon him into the hands of an abusive father who tormented him by inflicting both physical and mental pain.

Satoru knew that he wouldn’t be half as fucked up as he was now if she stayed, and yet when he begged on his knees that Thursday morning a little over eight years ago, he remembered just how much it devastated him when the same mother chose to leave.

His mom recalled the memory like it was yesterday, that was why she tried to make amends by reaching out to her only son. “My son, I know you’re still upset with mom, but I had a reason—”

“Save it for someone who cares and get lost.” The son didn’t hold back from sending her a look so sharp it could kill. He didn’t even stay when he walked inside to meet you in the grand foyer where you talked to Ieiri who showered you with compliments for your chosen dress. With his mom around, Gojou was desperate for your attention to distract himself from getting angrier than he already was. “Hey.”

However, your smile faded when you looked at your husband who now had an arm locked around your waist. “Your mom’s here,” you strictly said, peering at your in-law. “Oh, Nana’s with her.”

Satoru gritted his teeth and refused to look back although he could hear Nana’s voice greeting his mother with familial warmth. “I don’t care,” he told you, wrapping a tighter arm around you. “What the hell are you wearing?”

“Oh, please.” Shoko let out a snort, following you two as you walked further inside the venue. “I bet you’re drooling over Y/N. She looks so good.”

Instead of blushing, you were forcing a smile. “I bet he’s not.”

“Well, he’s missing out.”

All three of you turned around to see Satoru’s best friend, Getou, dressed in a royal blue tuxedo that matched Ieiri’s one-shoulder sequined dress of the same color. If Gojou didn’t know any better, he would have assumed that the two were a couple.

“Ooh, matchy outfits,” you teased, beaming at your husband’s friends. It was baffling how you’ve smiled at everyone tonight except your own spouse. “You look nice, Suguru.”

Satoru’s brows had creased as he looked at you. “You have time to praise everyone but me?” He wasn’t throwing a fit but his friends sure sniggered at his sudden outburst of jealousy. No, he couldn’t be jealous. Why the hell would he be jealous? He was only annoyed that you’ve been disregarding him.

“You already know how good you look,” your reply was dull, but held his hand withal. You didn’t even take note of how he hasn’t taken his ring off for two weeks now. You were acting detached as if you were placing a wall between you and him, and Gojou certainly hated this version of you.

The tension remained even as all four of you entered the main hall to see the multitude of guests in fancy outfits as an ostentatious display of wealth. They were being served champagne by dozens of waiters and waitresses while they talked about their respective business ventures.

If Naoya Zen’in and his facetious nature was here tonight, Satoru was sure that the man would have already mocked whoever looked like a parvenu in his eyes. Though, for one of two things; none of the Zen’ins were invited because they were rivals, and there were no arrivistes in the party as all guests were born elites, aristocrats, and A-lists.

No one was nouveau riche except his step-mom who descended from the grand staircase with her bejeweled gown, fur scarf, and shiny diamond necklace. Satoru was disgusted at the sight of how the woman was trying hard enough to act like she belonged in the high society when she was and would always be a mistress-turned-wife.

The real woman to be respected in this party was his birth mom, but she was merely standing in one corner with Nana like the humble woman that she had always been. His mom was the first wife and should be given high regard, not the witch who faked her smiles towards everyone including him and his wife.

“Good to see you two,” said the woman, giving you a kiss on the cheek while noticing how Satoru didn’t want to greet her the same way. “Have fun tonight, okay? Your dad’s coming down in a bit. He’s still upstairs with Yuuta. You know how sweet of a son he is to him.”

Bullshit. This woman was making it seem like Satoru had never been a good son like his step-brother was. Yuuta wasn’t even related to him by blood to be acting like an ass-kisser.

As she left, Satoru knew that she purposely walked past his mother and ignored her presence as if she had all the fucking right to do so.

“Chill out.” Suguru was patting his back after noticing how hard he was breathing. The said best friend then handed him a glass of whiskey so he could just drink his frustrations out. “Are we still on with that Bora Bora trip?”

“Hey! I was gonna bring that up,” Shoko excitedly chimed in while you remained clueless next to your husband. “I’ve been working out just to get that perfect summer body.”

Satoru snorted, playfully. “No one’s gonna look at you, anyway.”

“Shut up, asshole. Are we taking your PJ or are we flying commercial?” she asked, sipping from her glass of champagne. “Y/N’s coming, right?”

You looked at your husband for answers. “Bora Bora?”

Shit. He hasn’t told you. “It’s uh, our yearly trip. We go there every year and spend a weekend getaway.”

Suguru’s eyes widened when his best friend traded looks with him. “Wait, don’t tell me Sera’s still going…”

Panic stretched across Satoru’s eyes. “Yeah, she’s—”

“I get it,” you interrupted as you concluded a theory in your head, “You guys always go with Sera, right? I don’t think I should go.”

Ieiri was full of concern when she looked at you, noticing how you scooted away from your husband. “Wait Y/N, you’re coming with us!” she encouraged. “It’s gonna be fun. I’ll be there and I promise you’ll enjoy the trip.”

Satoru, on one hand, pulled you back by wrapping an arm around your hips. “Yeah, you’re coming.” By pressing his lips on your ear, he whispered, “They’ll suspect if we don’t go together.”

You released a bitter scoff that mixed in with the glossiness of your eyes as if you were in complete disbelief that he was about to pull another Iceland on you. Still, you seemed to have agreed out of spite. “Sure, whatever. I’ll go.”

Later that night, you tried to spend as much time around Gen while Gojou was constantly being snatched by the elders that wanted to have a business-related conversation with him. You took notice of how he was being praised by your dad, claiming that Satoru was the perfect son-in-law and husband that he could ask for his daughter while proudly adding comments about his competency as an heir to the Gojou Group.

You could see Satoru glancing around every now and then to not lose his sight of you and you were so close to just dropping your cold act because it was getting harder and harder to resist him when he was now showing an ounce of affection. Frankly, you didn’t want to argue with him on his dad’s birthday but his constant insensitivity was getting on your nerves. The topic about the Bora Bora trip even amused you because you were aware that your husband only wanted you there so no one would have suspicions about your failing marriage. You didn’t want to think of how much chaos would ensue on a trip that had both you and Sera together, but you realized that you had to be there to finally give yourself an ultimatum if you could still stomach the idea of your husband loving another woman.

“Are you and Satoru fighting or what?” Gen sounded genuinely concerned with her question. “I was gonna say he can’t keep his eyes off of you but it feels like he’s bothered about something.”

Bothered because you’ve been indifferent to him all night? He made you feel that way since the day of your wedding and he couldn’t even stand the same treatment for five seconds. But for all its worth, you didn’t open up to Gen. “We’re fine,” you lied, changing the topic by mentioning your three year-old niece. “How’s Nina?”

“We got two nannies for her,” she answered, peeking at her husband who was engaged in a conversation with your dad and Satoru. “Nina said she wants a cousin.”

You chuckled, soon shaking your head. “She’ll have to wait for a long time.”

“How come?”

The owner of the voice was Nana whose arm was looped around your mother-in-law’s by the time they joined you and Gen in the cocktail table. Satoru’s mom even tucked in a few strands of your hair behind your ear and complimented you for looking absolutely stunning.

“I’ve been trying to live long enough to see my future grandchild,” Satoru’s grandmother added, eyes turning into crescents as she smiled.

“Nana’s right,” agreed by your mom-in-law, “I’m looking forward to seeing my son as a father.”

Right. While he still had issues to deal with, you doubted if Satoru was truly ready to be a dad and you just wanted to escape the topic of your pregnancy as it had so much baggage to unload. You couldn’t outright tell them your reasons for not wanting a child because it would require you to reveal the truth about your marriage with Gojou behind closed doors. Were they ready to hear that he has a mistress? Were they ready to hear that he was oftentimes mean to you? Ruining their image of Satoru was the last thing you wanted to do.

“We’ve been trying,” was all that you could say, “he wants a boy so…”

Thankfully enough, all attention had shifted into the man who was celebrating his 65th birthday tonight as he came down the staircase with his wife and Yuuta on either side, grinning at the guests and receiving their kind wishes before he began with his introductory speech.

“Thank you all for coming,” your father-in-law spoke with all eyes and ears on him, dressed in a custom-tailored Dolce & Gabbana champagne tuxedo as he stood high and mighty like a Chairman of the largest conglomerate should. “It’s my sixty-fifth year and I cannot wish for anything more than a happier life. I am in deep gratitude to have a beautiful, loving wife by my side and my son, Yuuta, who has just received an acceptance letter from Harvard,” his proud speech earned gasps of astonishment and a series of congratulatory remarks from the guests while he presented his new family in front of everyone, including his ex-wife and his eldest son.

Somehow, when your eyes found Satoru, you could see the immense pain and anger that he felt. The paroxysm of negative emotions that casted your husband’s face led you to believe that he was about to snap. Like a button ready to blast everything around him一he was close to letting his wrath overcome him until Suguru came to pat his back as a way of comfort. You didn’t know how much Satoru had been drinking but he didn’t stop himself from reaching for another glass of whiskey to drown himself with the hard liquor.

This was a nightmare for him. To see his father boasting about his new wife and son, to see the same father being insensitive to Satoru and his mom, to see the father having a wide smile on his face while overtly destroying the lives of his first family. For once, you wanted to eliminate your ill feelings for your husband just to sympathize with him because it was unimaginable to even think of the rage that enshrouded his mind.

“I am also very grateful to have my eldest son who has recently just married my gorgeous daughter-in-law, the heiress of the Creston Financial Group,” the old man continued, looking at Satoru who already had a face that was hard as stone. “He is doing a great job at running the company, probably better than I have in the last three decades. Watching him grow made me realize that the greatest gift that I have received is my family.”

You were not as surprised when Satoru left, storming out of the place because it sickened him to hear his father spouting the opposite of what he truly felt. You sensed his mom looking at him worriedly but couldn’t find the strength to chase after her son because of the fear that her presence would only ruin him more. Being his wife, you gave your mom and Nana a reassuring look before you came running after him with the hope that you could provide him comfort at such a distressing time.

Your heart ached because you would always find it in yourself to care for him. Satoru may value his childhood promises but you valued your marriage vows. To stand by his side through good and bad times, for richer or poorer, in sickness and in health. To stay true to him and love him unconditionally for the rest of your days. This was your promise and the very reason why you stayed with him.

Whatever pain he was feeling, you shared it. You could feel the same gravity resting on your shoulders as you ran out of the venue to look for your husband after an arduous walk around The Chateau. You were already panting out of breath when you found him sitting on the trunk of his black McLaren car, chugging a whole bottle of scotch with inebriated, carmine eyes that glared at the night sky.

“Satoru…” You walked closer, placing a hand on his shoulder and trying your best to take the bottle out of his strong grasp. “That’s enough.”

He raised the bottle higher so you couldn’t reach for it. “Leave me alone,” he spat, eyes showing signs of intoxication. “Weren’t you avoiding me all night, anyway? You wanna leave me so bad, don’t you? You’re tired of me.”

You assessed the emotions on his face. He couldn’t even stand straight on his own. “Do you want me to call Sera?”

By trying to reach for his phone, he swatted your hand away. “Why would you一you’re my wife.”

“I am, but you need her.” And this wasn’t you being selfless again. This was you deciding what could be the best for him in a situation like this. “Come on, I’ll give her a call so you can go see her and she can take care of you.”

It caught you off guard when he slammed the bottle on the ground, leaving the glass shattered to pieces the same way his heart crumpled when you offered to let him see his lover. But what took your breath away was how he got up and glared at you, appearing as though he was hurt that you were pushing him away. “I don’t need her right now!” he snapped, “she doesn’t even give a fucking a damn about... about… Fuck this. She hates it when I open up about all my fuckin’ trauma because she’s already dealing with her own problems, you understand that? You understand how much that hurts me?”

So this was how it was for them. You never knew that you would ever see the day where he would willingly reveal all of these to you. Surely, it was liquid courage that allowed him to spill the ugly side of his relationship with Sera一the reality that he couldn’t be himself around her because she wanted him to stick to being the ideal man who could handle things perfectly on his own. Sera did not want to lose the image of Satoru that she created in her head, and as a result, it hindered him from showing his vulnerability around her.

A soundless sigh flew out of your mouth before you wrapped your arms around his torso, hugging him close and resting your chin on his shoulder. You could feel his heartbeat vibrating against your chest as you rubbed his back to soothe him from his outburst. “Okay, I understand you. I’m sorry. Let’s go home now.” After pulling away, you wiped his cheek. “Give me your keys.”

There were tears in his eyes, but he was strong enough to hold them in. “No, I’ll drive.”

“You’ll get arrested for DUI. It’s bad publicity for your company.” You heard him sniff as you reached for the key in his back pocket, successfully fishing it out until you heard heavy footsteps heading towards the two of you. When you turned around, you were greeted by the demon that was Satoru’s dad. He had nothing but a look of antipathy towards his son who was now laughing like a maniac at the sight of his father and his step-brother coming after him.

“What the fuck do you need now?” Satoru’s grin was absolutely terrifying. “You gonna brag about your new family again? In front of me and my fucking mom? You’re so insensitive, aren’t you? You even invited her just to show off. Fucking asshole. I hope this is the last year you’ll get to celebrate your birthday一”

You let out a gasp as Satoru received a harsh slap left a bright red mark on his cheek. “Dad, don’t!”

“Dad!” Yuuta had a look of horror bathing his eyes as he attempted to stop further violence to ensue, but their father had already latched onto his eldest son by gripping his collar.

“You dare make a scene in front of my guests?!” The father snarled at Satoru with eyes that pierced straight through his soul. “Get your act together, you bastard!”

Before he could lay another hand on him, you protected your husband by forcing yourself in between the two of them. “Dad, please stop,” you begged, feeling Satoru’s shaky hands around your hips to hold you close. You had to ignore the sudden tightening on your chest for the sake of your partner. “H-He’s drunk. I’m sorry, we’re leaving now. Please go back to the party.”

The old man did leave while giving Satoru one last look and something tells you that the damage could have been worse if you didn’t try to intervene. How could he hit his own son? It wrecked you when you looked at your husband to see him laughing humorlessly because violence had always been something that he received from the man that he called his father. He had to endure being the punching bag for years without the comfort of his mother.

With this in mind, your heart softened into mush.

“Nee-chan,” Yuuta called, stepping back as he worriedly looked at his older brother. “Please be careful on the way home.”

You must be a superwoman because you couldn’t imagine how you managed to drag your drunk husband home despite his mindless mumbling and wobbly legs. You couldn’t even bring up how you saw Sera’s lipstick in his McLaren because now wasn’t the perfect time to show your unreasonable jealousy. A broken man was hiding underneath his drunken exterior and all you could do was to mend the cracks in his heart before it worsened.

Surely, he wouldn’t remember half of the things that he did tonight and you were only relieved because he could at least numb the pain that he was feeling. Drowning one’s self in alcohol was the same thing you did when you were desperate to conceal your heartache, and with that, you couldn’t blame Gojou for being inebriated out of his wits.

What was difficult was dealing with an intoxicated man who weighed twice as much as you, refusing to take off his clothes as he plopped himself on your shared bed.

“Satoru, please cooperate,” you were pleading at this point as you unbuttoned his shirt. Your heels and his shoes were discarded on the floor as you sat in the corner of the bed, trying your best to remove his top. “You need to get dressed so you can sleep comfortably.”

The effects of the alcohol were only heightening now, half an hour since he chugged the bottle of scotch like an alcoholic. His cerulean eyes were blank and his lips were parted as he stared at your face for the next few minutes. It was a good thing that he wasn’t on the verge of throwing up, but you knew better that he was about to be extremely hungover the next day.

“I don’t want to,” he stubbornly responded, pulling you forcefully to lay on top of him. “Hey… You see… You see the w-way those dudes at the party looked at you?”

Sighing, you rested your head on his chest with your legs on either side of his waist and listened to his garbles. “Mhm, which ones?”

“I’m gonna fuckin’ kill them,” he huffed, lifting your dress so he can squeeze your bum. “Don’t th-they know you’re mine?”

You stopped breathing for a moment, refusing to be fooled by yet another round of his game of playing pretend. “You don’t have to act, Satoru. No one’s around.”

His chest rose up and down heavily while you listened to the beat of his heart knowing that it was beating for another. “What do you mean?” he scoffed and you looked up to see his frown. “This isn’t acting. You are mine.”

“Sure…” For all you knew, he was saying this now because he was intoxicated but he would be back to being a complete douche tomorrow.

“Y/N…” However, as the man embraced you tightly, you no longer had the strength to move away from his grasp.You were attached both physically and emotionally—that was the saddest part of it. “My wifey.”

Gosh. He was definitely drunk. You could even hear his chuckles after he called you with such term of endearment. “Yes, hubby?” you played along, tracing his shoulder blades as he slurred his words.

“Don’t ever leave me… okay?” He held onto you like a child would do to a stuffed toy. “Promise me you won’t leave like she did.”

You assumed that he was referring to his mom. “Satoru,” you raked your fingers through his white hair, “your mom had her reasons. I’m sure she feels awful but maybe you can give her a chance to explain her side.”

“I don’t wanna talk about that.” His long arctic lashes fluttered while his lids were falling heavy. “I just… wanna forget everything about her.”

You could see the ring on his finger when he took your hand and entwined them together. It was crazy how something as simple as hand-holding could turn your heart into a state of frenzy. “You hate her that much like you hate me?”

There was silence that filled your bedroom on this dead of night. Silence that made you believe that he had fallen asleep because your eyes were also nearly shutting on its own.

But when he spoke again, you had to make sure that you weren’t dreaming to hear his next words. “I hate you because you remind me of her.” The admission had your eyes growing wide. “You’re exactly like my mom… kind, regal, and caring. Arranged to marry my dad. Had to carry a child for the sake of having an heir.”

“Like us.”

“Yeah, like us.” You could feel him running his hand on your back, yawning as he hugged you more tenderly. “And I’m scared that… if I get attached to you… you’ll leave just like her.”

Do people mean it when they say drunk talks are sober thoughts? That alcohol amplifies the bottle of truth that a person has been keeping inside of them for so long? In vino veritas—you’ve read it once and it means that ‘in wine, there is truth’. Since Satoru was under the influence of alcohol, could these words really be his hidden thoughts?

You could already hear his light snore when you gave him a gentle peck on the lips. “Then don’t do things that’ll make me leave.”

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

You thought that waking up to feel Gojou’s kisses on your shoulder was an extended dream.

When you opened your eyes, you realized that you were still in your brown Mugler dress while being spooned by the husband who still smelled like alcohol from the immoderate amount of hard liquor that he drank last night. Now the man was here, having woken up before you, feathering soft kisses on the crook of your neck as he snaked his hand around your waist.

He couldn’t still be drunk at 6 AM, could he?

“Baby…” Your voice was hoarse while you slightly turned your head to look at him. “Are you still intoxicated?”

His diamond eyes trailed down on your lips. “What happened to calling me daddy?”

Oh, God. You prevented yourself from blushing despite the heat that suffused your entire body. “What are you—”

You were cut off when he passionately locked his lips against yours, surprising you with a kiss full of ardor knowing that you were unaccustomed to receiving such affection. There was no way for you to read his mind but his actions showed you just how much he desired you. The gleam in his eyes, the hand that was moving to squeeze your bosom, and the lips that were moving in synchronization to yours were all and everything that sent trails of fire to your body.

Does he even remember the things he said before he had fallen asleep?

“Mmph!” you whimpered when he bit your lower lip, taking the opportunity to roll his tongue against yours while he worked on finding the zipper to your dress. His huge, manly hands were impatient and a groan left his mouth as he gripped your dress from the back and ripped it off. “S-Satoru!”

You were startled by the roughness in his actions, eyes widening to look at him in complete astonishment. There was nothing but a haughty smirk plastered on his handsome face as he sat up and unbuttoned the rest of his shirt, later throwing the garment on the floor. You were stuck in bed trying to process what was going on until your husband made you turn around so he could properly peel the dress of your naked body.

“I didn’t get to appreciate you in this dress last night,” he husked, kissing your bare shoulder before kneading your mounds from behind. His hot breath sent shivers to your spine as he whispered in your ear. “Take it off.”

Even if you were mad embarrassed, you still obliged and slipped the dress off your body while he also made an effort to rid himself of his clothing. You’ve seen each other naked countless times but you were always still shy and insecure around him. “You know I don’t like doing it in the morning.”

“Why?” he asked, tossing your dress to the floor before he pushed your back against the mattress. You were laying in bed with your legs closed until he forced them open so he could get in between. “You’re still shy?”

You avoided his eyes, too awkward to look at him. “N-No,” you gulped as you tried to laugh it off. The next thing you knew, he was pinning your wrist on either side of your head concurrently to when he latched his mouth back into yours.

His kisses were tender and deep, tracing the outline of your lips with the tip of his tongue as you breathed each other in. “No need to be shy,” his lips vibrated above yours, “We do this all the time.”

Twice a week. Thrice if he wasn’t busy. It was either before bed or in the shower before he would go to work. The excuse was always to ‘make a baby’ but sometimes you wondered if he was starting to genuinely like doing it with you. You were already deciding to tell him that he was never going to get you pregnant as long as you were taking birth control pills, but you were far too afraid to hear his reaction so you’ve decided to push it back once more.

As if the thought wasn’t already hurtful, your sadistic mind flew to Sera in the middle of a steamy make out session with your husband because you couldn’t help but remember the intimate pictures that she had in his phone. You were curious to know if he was careful enough to use a condom with her. How many times do they do it behind your back? Does he initiate it a lot? Does he tell her he loves her while he’s buried seven inches deep? Sera was ethereal and shapely with chocolate brown eyes and flawless ivory skin. You could imagine how much Satoru must love kissing every part of her body while she moaned for his name, telling him how much she loved doing it with him because in their eyes, having sex wasn’t wrong. It could never be a sin when she owned him from the start.

Because you were tortured by your own thoughts, you ended up pushing your husband off, pulling away from his kisses as unmistakable pain reflected through your eyes. “I-I’m sorry, I just…”

“What’s wrong?” he asked, moving your hair out of your face as he rested above you. You could feel his hard member brushing against your thigh while he gazed down at you in both worry and desire. “Look at me.”

You placed your palms on his chest, slightly pushing him away. “You and Sera do this a lot, don’t you?”

He was evidently annoyed by your decision to bring her up. “Can we not talk about her?” he questioned, leaning back in to leave open mouthed kisses along your jaw. “I want you, right now. I didn’t get to have you last night.”

You want me right now but tomorrow you’ll want Sera? You wanted to ask the question out of spite but became too distracted when he suddenly crawled lower to attach his mouth on your left breast. He sucked the rounded mass, squeezing it with both hands before swirling his tongue around your nipple. All that you could do was let your hand grab a fistful of his hair until he moved to your right breast to give it the same attention. “Nng. Y-Your teeth—”

You could feel his mischievous grin because his teeth grazed your skin, too late when you realized that he had his fingers doing circular motions against your clit. “You’re so wet already,” he claimed, stretching your labia apart and sliding his fingers between your folds. The moans that left your lips were embarrassingly loud. “I should have done this to you in your dress last night.”

“Y-You ripped it—aah,” you mewled, digging your nails on his back as you watched him lowering himself down. He was smothering you with soft kisses around your chest, stomach, and down to your inner thighs. By spreading your legs further apart, you could feel his mouth moving closer and closer to your cunt until his tongue found its way to delve into your slit. Holy shit. Was this how it feels to receive oral? “A-Aaah! S-Satoru—!”

He was parting the lips with his fingers so he could do a better job at lapping his tongue inside of your core, sucking your juices in and allowing the squelching noises to tickle your ear like a sweet melody. “Fuck,” he cussed under his breath. “You taste so good.”

Your nails were digging onto the duvet, desperate to hold anything as you stared at the ceiling of your bedroom. You were seeing stars as your husband did more by flicking his tongue on your nub, soon replacing his mouth from ransacking your sweet pussy as he palmed your whole genital with a cocky smirk. “Mm—!”

“Say you want me.” His eyes were condescending and lustful as you hoisted yourself up so you could rest your back on the pillow. Your husband had a cock that was too big for someone who had very little experience. Looking back on your first night, there had been major progress from the way he was treating you in bed with much more affection and allowing you to get used to the burning stretch that his length and girth would bring every time he buried himself inside of you.

By choice, you were desperate to have him now, too. “I-I want you…” You wanted to arouse him the same way he did with you. You wanted to please him better than he could do to you. You wanted him, all for you.

“Good.” Gojou was satisfied with the wanton look that shined in your eyes when he leaned in to give you a peck on the lips before he positioned his tip on your entrance. He didn’t immediately thrust it in, and instead, pleased your pussy by grinding his head against your clit. His shaft slid with ease between your folds, lubricated by your slick before he teasingly slapped your cunt with the length of his cock. He erupted into a snigger as he saw the look on your face. “I’m going in.”

You always found it funny how he would warn you when he was ‘going in’ because Satoru seemed like a guy who didn’t care if you were unprepared. Still and all, the preparation allowed you to hold back a moan, breath hitching as soon as your husband penetrated your cavern and warmed his cock with your velvet walls.

Both of you moaned at the same time as he lowered himself down to press his body against yours, intoxicating you with the skin-to-skin before he connected your lips back together. “Mmph—! A-Aah!”

“Ah—shit.” Satoru didn’t restrain his groans this time around. He got a little too excited at slamming his cock inside of you, forcing you to feel every ridge as his shaft with every hard thrust. His breath smelled of whiskey but you didn’t mind having him leaving marks on your neck as your nails scratched his back. “I can fuck you day and night and not get tired.”

The statement made your thoughts run wild. “D-Daddy!” And you weren’t expecting that word from leaving your lips each time your husband managed to hit your g-spot. He was visibly turned on with it, pulling away to kneel and continue rutting into you by holding your waist. Your breasts bounced wildly from the roughness of his thrusts.

“You like daddy’s cock?” He grinned like an idiot, gaze animalistic and overflowing with lust. With your legs stretched apart, he could see how your cunt swallowed the entirety of his dick, all red and swollen because of his size. He decided to make your moans louder by pressing his thumb on your clit, rubbing the sensitive button while jostling your hips at a better rhythm.

“Mm—yes! Please… m-more,” you begged like the submissive wife you were, grabbing one of your breasts and squeezing it with your hand. Gojou went absolutely nuts at the view. “H-Hard and fast.”

His eyes glinted with a predatory gaze as if the request elicited his dirtiest thoughts. “Mommy wants it hard and fast?” Soon enough, his playful smirk was back. “Come here.”

You didn’t initially understand his instruction when he hooked his arms under your legs, suddenly carrying you out of bed while you held onto his neck for support. Where’s he taking you? His cock temporarily left your hollow core as he made his way towards the window wall that had the best view of the Tokyo skyline. “What are we…?”

“Trying to conceive a boy.” His smile was impish when he pressed you against the glass wall and made a haste move to sink his cock back into your cunt. “Gen said this position works best.”

Dammit, Gen. How does Gojou not get shy talking about stuff like this with your older sister of all people? You never thought that your husband would follow her advice and make love to you while standing up, pressing you against the glass wall and ensuring that he was going balls deep inside of you.

And as requested, the way he fucked you was hard and fast as you glided against the wall like a ragdoll. The increased roughness and speed in his pace caused you a shockwave of intense sensual gratification that sent you to seventh heaven. The moans and the salacious sounds that came from his rough pace drowned your room with a surge of euphoria because Gojou never once stopped from plowing your cunt with his hardened member, deepening and hitting your most sensitive spot each time he penetrated you.

For the first time, Satoru was sincerely looking at your face, muttering the words, “you look pretty,” while he was chasing his climax.

“A-Aah! I-I’m g-gonna c-come,” every word that escaped your mouth came out in a hushed voice. The skin slapping noise resonated through your four walls each time his pelvis collided against yours. “So c-close—!”

“Fuck. Fuck, yeah.”

“Satoru, I can’t hold it in—!”

“Then cum,” he ordered, having you crying out his name as he watched you disintegrating from the intensity of your orgasm. You were creaming all over his cock while he continued to pleasure himself with your sweet pussy. “That’s it… Good girl.”

You were still recovering from your high when Gojou decided to pull out at the last minute, putting your legs down and forcing you to get on your knees. “W-Why?”

Docile like a rabbit, you watched him as he placed his cock at the same level of your face so you could wrap your hand around his shaft. You did your best to finish the job by pumping his length, soon filling your mouth with his cock as you bobbed your head back and forth, using yourself as a suction to his throbbing member. You looked up to see him throwing his head back and closing his eyes because you were seemingly doing great at sucking his dick.

“Can you swallow for me?” he asked, and as you released him from your mouth, you nodded obediently. “Open your mouth, show me your tongue.”

How does cum even taste like? You got your answer when your husband jerked himself off and released warm spurts of seed on your mouth—some of it splashing on your cheek and on your chest. It was messy but you couldn’t forget the taste of it being bitter, sweet, and slightly metallic. You swallowed the white liquid, much to your husband’s approval before he pulled you up and kissed you with gratitude.

For a moment, you were both catching the breath that you’ve lost until Satoru decided that it was a great idea to tease you. “You have my cum on your face,” he jeered, lifting your chin with his index finger. “I should take a pic and use it as my lockscreen.”

You swatted his hand and looked away, ashamed. “Stop,” you whined, pushing him towards the bathroom. “Go get me a towel.”

“Fine, stay here.”

There were butterflies in your stomach as you looked back at the intimacy that you just shared with your husband because these were rare moments and you treasured every bit of it. These times allowed you to think that you had a normal marriage and that all other outside factors didn’t affect your relationship like what reality has shown you.

It started as a nice day, but got ruined when you saw the notification on Satoru’s phone signaling an Ovulation Alarm when you just had yours a week ago.

Curiosity could truly kill a cat because when you unlocked your husband’s phone, the cycle was not made to track yours but none other than his mistress.

Sera.

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

[allthingsfangirl101]

No Bun In The Oven–Joe Keery

Request by prettygirllllll

I held my breath as I waited the two minutes. As time ticked by, I thought of all the other tests and the disappointment that always followed.

Joe and I have been married for three years. Ever since our first wedding anniversary, we've been trying to get pregnant. And with each negative test, I felt like I was losing myself. With each negative test, I couldn't understand how Joe wasn't losing faith in me.

Over the last two years, Joe has always been positive. He's always believed that we would get pregnant and never lost hope. Whenever a test came back negative, Joe went out of his way to try and make me feel better. Sometimes he cooked us dinner. Sometimes we went for a romantic walk. Sometimes we simply sat at home and watched one of our comfort movies.

I slowly slid off the edge of the bathtub until I was sitting on the ground when I saw the negative sign. The longer I stared at it, the harder it got to hold back my sob. When the sob finally released, it came out so rough it hurt my throat.

The sob took over my body until I was laying on the cold bathroom floor. I didn't care about how pathetic this was. I was completely and overly defeated and I wanted to let it out. I don't know when I finally stopped crying, but when I did, I didn't move. I remained on the floor for a while. I heard the front door open and close, but I remained where I was.

"Y/N?" I heard Joe's voice come from downstairs. "I'm home."

I didn't have the strength to get off the bathroom floor, so I just waited for him to find me. I could hear him jogging up the stairs. I closed my eyes, silent tears streaming down my face as I heard our bedroom door open.

"Sweetheart, you in here?"

My breath got stuck in my throat when he softly knocked on the bathroom door.

"Y/N?"

"I'm here," I said weakly. I opened my eyes when the door opened.

"Y/N!" Joe gasped. He ran to my side and knelt next to me. He gently reached down and moved some hair out of my face.

"Y/N, are you okay?"

Instead of answering him, I handed him the negative pregnancy test. He looked at it before instantly looking at me. He smiled sweetly as he gently grabbed me, sat me up, and pulled me into his arms.

We leaned against our bathtub and enjoyed the silence. Joe reached up and ran his fingers through my hair.

"Don't give up," he whispered. "Someday we'll see those two pink lines. I know it."

                                * * * * *

A couple of days later, I was still deep in my depression episode. This meant I called in sick to work, stayed in my pj's, and drank more wine than I should. I looked over my shoulder as Joe walked into the house.

"Hey, gorgeous," he smiled at me as he hung his keys by the door. He kicked off his shoes before sitting next to me on the couch.

"How's my girl?" He asked as he started to rub my ankles.

"I'm in the same spot you left me five hours ago," I mumbled. "What do you think?"

Joe sighed before moving so he was laying behind me. He tightened his arm around my waist and snuggled into my neck.

"Darling," he whispered, "you can't keep beating yourself up about this. We are going to have a baby. It might take some time, but lots of couples struggle to get pregnant. We've already gone to the doctor. He says to keep trying but. . . I think we should stop."

"What?" I gasped as I quickly sat up. Joe sat up too, instantly grabbing my hands and gently holding them.

"You want to stop trying to have a baby?" I barely got that question out.

"I'm not saying we stop forever," he clarified. "I'm just saying that we take a break for a while. We're putting so much pressure on ourselves and that stress could be why we aren't getting pregnant. Taking a break can help relieve the pressure."

"So you still want to have kids?" I asked, my voice soft.

He reached up and cupped my face in his hand. He used his thumb to gently rub my cheek.

"Of course I still want to have kids," he whispered, giving me chills.

                                * * * * *

After a lot of begging for some time off, Joe and I finally got an extended weekend. We decided to go to the mountains. We were able to rent a cabin for the weekend.

We've only been up here a day and it has definitely made a difference. We slept in, ate breakfast, binged watched a show, and did absolutely nothing important.

Too soon, the weekend was over. Tomorrow morning we were going back to LA, back to our normal life.

"Can I be honest with you?" I asked him at dinner.

"Of course," Joe smiled as he reached across the table and grabbed my hand.

"I don't really want to go home," I said slowly. "It's just. . . I've been thinking and. . . I don't know why I said that. I'm sorry."

"It's okay, gorgeous," he chuckled. "I feel the same way."

"You do?" I asked as I let out a sigh of relief.

"The last four days have been amazing," he said, slightly tightening his grip on my hand. "I've loved spending every second with you, darling, but we have to go back home. We both have jobs. And we should end our vacation on a good note."

After dinner, we headed back to our cabin and watched another movie. After the movie, we slowly got ready for bed. As we were brushing our teeth, I noticed Joe kept glancing at me.

"What's with you?" I chuckled.

"Nothing," he shrugged as he tossed his floss into the trash.

"Liar," I said with a mouth full of toothpaste.

Joe sent me his overly-innocent smile before walking out of the bathroom. I quickly finished brushing my teeth and joined Joe in bed. He was flipping through channels as I climbed into bed next to him.

"Find anything?" I asked.

"We could watch reruns of Golden Girls or we've only missed the first ten minutes of Clue."

We looked at each other and Joe smirked as he turned the tv off. He tossed the remote onto the bedside table and relaxed more into bed. He grabbed my waist and pulled me toward him.

"You know," I sighed as I snuggled into him, "I'm not super tired. Then again, we took like three naps today."

I gasped when Joe rolled us over so he was hovering on top of me. I smiled as I reached up and slid my hands up his chest until wrapping my arms around his neck.

"I can think of something we can do until we're tired."

                                * * * * *

A couple of days after we got home, I had a horrible feeling. I woke up with an overwhelming feeling of nausea. I bolted out of bed and ran into the bathroom.

"Y/N?" Joe called out. "Are you alright?"

As he asked that question, I fell to my knees in front of the toilet. As I emptied my stomach, Joe ran into the bathroom and knelt next to me. He instantly grabbed my hair, pulling it out of my face.

"What do you need, darling?" He asked softly.

When I was able to catch my breath, I slowly sat back. I looked over at him and we slowly widened our eyes. Without breaking our eye contact, Joe reached behind him and grabbed one of our hand towels. He reached forward and wiped my mouth for me.

"I could run to the pharmacy and get you saltines and soda water," he said gently. "And a pregnancy test."

                                * * * * *

We sat on the edge of our bathtub like every time before. Joe held my right hand while I held the test in my left hand. But this time as we waited for the results, things felt different.

When the timer on Joe's phone went off, we looked at each other. We sent each other reassuring smiles before looking down at the test. I started to cry when I saw the results, but not for the same reason.

We let out relieved and happy laughs as I dropped the test and wrapped my arms around my husband. He instantly wrapped his arms around me. I felt him lean down and kiss my forehead.

"I told you, beautiful," Joe whispered as he tightened his arms around me. "I told you we'd have a baby someday."

[zoe-oneesama]

AAAAA WHAT DID YOU THINK OF THE NEW EP (i screamed many times)

I really liked it! Alya really carried the whole thing, genius level planning in this one on her part! I have minor pet peeves, as per usual, but overall I had a fun time.

-I like that Marinette is getting more sleep on the weekends, lol, and that she can just show up at Alya's place and no one bats an eye. I even like the confirmation that Chat Blanc is a feature in her nightmares and something that she does still think about.

-I like that Nino's afraid of spiders, maybe it was established that he was already afraid of them in Anansi (I haven't watched it yet tbh) but if not it's a nice little continuity that he was effected by it in that way.

-I was cackling immediately when Shadowmoth started belaying his plan, which all hinged on Ladybug delivering to Alya a miraculous that she already had. Plus, I hate to get meta on ya Hawky, but if you explain your entire plan before the plan happens, that's media short hand for "this plan is going to go wrong".

-I liked that Adrien called out Nino's name first when he saw the news, and I liked that he also called out Marinette's. Just cute when they remember that he has friends and cares about them.

-Can't believe...but also totally believe that SM fell for the whole "I need to use the bathroom" ploy. Absolute child's play.

-Also I love all the comics that have come as a result of SM showing up to a fight with coffee. Please keep them coming, forever.

-Alya was a total boss in convincing SM that she's not getting her miraculous anymore. And I've always thought that the Fox is best when the enemy doesn't know they're there, so if Rena Rouge has to fight only in the shadows from now on, I support it.

-The Marichat (though not romantic) was peak. Him listening to Marinette after being so annoyed with being bossed around by Rena, him assuring her that they'll rescue her soon, her supporting his idea to head off Sentibubbler before he can expose Illusion-bug and out Rena's whole illusion. her trying to warn him about SM's attack, him lowkey trying to show off when he escaped the bubble the first time. I like Marichat best when it's friends having each other's back, so this watered my crops and cleared my skin. I am a simple woman of simple tastes and offer my Ladrien friends a hopeful prayer that you are next.

-I liked that Pegabug was only like 45 seconds, thank the Lord.

-I liked that Chat Noir saved Nino first and foremost (and uh left literally everyone else to Ladybug, thanks?) Still, bromance is bromance and I'll take my crumbs.

-I think (?) Chat Noir is over the Rena thing now? At least he's over Rena being on equal partnership as him with Ladybug, especially with how the Rocketear teaser is portraying their friendship as growing. That's not to say there's no possible angst to be had down the line if he finds out she's permanent or that She Knows.

Now the nitpicks:

-I don't love Alya's "Alya vision" but it's way better than how the "Adrien vision" looked.

-Also don't love Alya's fanny pack. Maybe if it was in a contrasting color? Or just solid? Why'd they make it the same pattern as her shirt but just...zoomed in?

-I get they're trying to ramp up the DJWifi drama for Rocketear (and possibly beyond) but I'm sorry Nino "Let's throw a city wide party for Boys Only and purposefully exclude and lie to the Girls about it because Guy Time is Guy Time" Lahiffe, were you bothered that Alya and Marinette wanted a little alone time to talk about something without you? Because I find it hard to feel to bad about that.

-Rena rushing through trying to give Chat Noir the right information making her be careless with her words while a bit frustrating is totally understandable. Also understandable is Chat Noir being angry about it because of how she worded it or because of the situation itself. But him destroying a piece of property in his anger is kinda frightening to me, especially when it's paired with him telling himself that the Miraculous Cure will fix it (implying that means it doesn't matter), which is just...eerily parroting things that I've had Scarlet Lady say, who if you recall, I'm portraying as The Worst(tm). So, that was less than fun.

-Pegabug has two hands, I do not understand how she didn't go for both the amok item and the butterfly broach (outside of the meta reason that the show might be over then). For sure she'll be kicking herself for that (and so will her detractors). And given how the Magic Charms and Senti[x]s have made akumas obsolete, I don't get why she couldn't have grabbed the Butterfly, but SM could get away with the Peacock and continue his terror that way. Them giving her a throw away Lucky Charm that didn't even assist in the fight at all combined with her only going for the coffee just doubles up on how contrived it feels.

-While I appreciate Chat Noir's turn around at the end of the episode, it does come out of no where. Maybe in order for this change to make a little more sense, Rena Rouge should've called him back when Illusion-bug left to be like "Okay, kit-kat, you're on now! We need you to make sure my illusion isn't found out, time for the two-person plan to become a three-person one!" At the same time, it is to Chat Noir's own credit that he realized what he needed to do on his own, so it's a bit of a mixed bag.

But uh I think that's it for now! One thing I've noticed in this season is that I feel the need to hold back on full salting because this is the first season that I feel like I need to wait until the next episode before I can complain about the current one because things are for once being continuous. I'm actually, like, pumped? For new episodes? Because they build off one another? Maybe they don't do it in the order I'd particularly like (why is Optigami and Sentibubbler so IN THE MIDDLE of the season when they should come almost right off the Season 3 finale, we seriously could've pushed Zoe and Su-han back to fit them in sooner) BUT they are building, and, I'm kinda excited for it!

[handsomelyhiddleston]

Smitten - Tom Hiddleston x Curvy Reader

Filming sex scenes wasn’t the easiest task. There are weird nude undergarments or socks or tape or sometimes just a nude co-star…With Tom, though? There were nerves and feelings and a deep down hope that he couldn’t tell that you were incredibly turned on as he mimed fucking you twelve ways to Sunday.

“Cut! That’s a wrap on today. Great work guys!” the director called.

Tom collapsed onto your chest, laughing as the tension left his body. “These never get easier.”

“I don’t know” you teased, playing with his hair as everyone left the set so you two could leave the bed with some of your dignity. “It’s a lot easier with you.”

Tom held himself up on his elbows. “Don’t tell me your past romantic co-stars have been less than gentlemanly.”

“Not all of them.” You shrugged. Being a ‘larger than the Hollywood standard’ actress had put you in some…not very flattering roles in the start of your career. Sure, now you were the romantic lead with a conventionally attractive male actor, but lets just say you’ve dealt with a lot to get here.

“Well, I hope you know you deserved better.” Tom kissed the back of one of your hands, rolling off of you.

“Coming from you, I may actually believe it.” You laughed, gathering the sheet around you as you left the bed, grabbed your robe, and started walking towards your trailer.

The two of you filmed the movie…Where you’d usually fall asleep in one of your two trailers watching other movies…

The two of you attended interviews…Where Tom would almost always defer to you and even stuck up for you when a few interviewers were borderline sexist or would comment on your appearance…

The two of you even walked a few red carpets together…Tom’s hand always placed at your middle or  on your hip or in one of your hands...

He invited you out to eat with him before or after any shindig the two of you went to…

He’d walk you to your hotel rooms with kisses left on your cheeks…

He’d even tried to convince you to spend the week before the premiere in London with him…

In your mind, Tom was just too nice. He was nice to everybody. It all seemed very friendly…Until…

You hadn’t been watching the interviews as they’d been posted. Some interviews you did together with Tom and others you’d been split up and put with other actors from the movie.

Your phone pinged…

*best friend* - HAVE YOU SEEN TOM ON FALLON?!?

Before you could reply, your phone started blowing up.

You scrolled through the texts until you saw Tom’s

Tom – Darling, I hope you know how much you mean to me. Regardless of what your answer is, I’d never want to lose your friendship. It’s not every day you get to work with one so incredibly kind and thoughtful and talented and beautiful and…every moment I’ve spent with you has been a privilege. Please put me out of my misery and let me know you’ll at least let me see you again.

“What the fuck?” you asked yourself, opening your laptop and googling “Tom Hiddleston and Jimmy Fallon”

You saw that the Fallon YouTube channel had just posted Tom’s segment of tonight’s episode…

“How are you doing, buddy?” Fallon asked, pulling Tom into a tight hug.

“I’m doing incredibly well at the moment, actually.” Tom answered, sharing that the movie you two had filmed together had done extremely well on its opening weekend just a few days earlier.

“I know! It was amazing. I’ve seen it twice!” Fallon replied, always enthusiastic.

“I’m so glad you liked it. Y/n is incredible, right?” Tom turned to the audience, loving that they cheered when he brought you up.

“Oh my god, you two are so good together. I kind of thought maybe you two were…you know…” Fallon waggled his eyebrows suggestively.

Tom threw his head back laughing, fidgeting with his tie and avoiding looking into the audience.

“Come on, you can’t tell me you two don’t have SOME sort of real chemistry. I saw the movie.” Fallon gave Tom a look like *Don’t lie*

“Well, perhaps we’re just incredible actors and you’re simply complimenting our craft.” Tom shrugged, trying to look anywhere but at Jimmy.

“Well, yes. The acting in the movie is amazing, but I don’t think that accounts for this.” Jimmy turned and pointed to the screen. It was a series of clips pulled from Tom’s interviews where all he did was gush about you.

“I missed being home, but it’s hard for anyone to stay upset when they’re around Y/n. She just lifts the mood in any room she’s in. You could say she makes anywhere feel a bit like home.” Tom had answered when a woman asked him if it was hard being on site away from home for 5 months.

When another interviewer asked Tom what his favorite line in the movie was, he answered, quoting one of your lines. “When she delivered it for the first time, it kind of took my breath away. I felt very unprofessional. I had to apologize and ask to start over. I couldn’t remember what I was supposed to say next. She tends to have that effect on me.” Tom laughed, a slight blush on his cheeks.

The final clip was one of an interviewer simply asking Tom how his day had gone. “I feel all out of sorts, if I’m being honest. Y/n isn’t here today because she woke up not feeling the best and with Covid still being an issue, she didn’t want to risk getting anyone else sick.” Tom answered with a sad smile on his face. When the interviewer shared that they hoped you would be okay and feel better soon, Tom answered with “I’ll make sure to pass on your sentiments when I bring her food later on.”

“COME ON!” Fallon laughed, throwing his arms up.

“I know, I know. I’m not very good at hiding how I feel, I guess.” Tom admitted, leaning back against the couch and laying his arm across the top. The crowd went wild.

“So, you admit it! Are you two together?!” Fallon asked, sitting on the edge of his seat.

“Unfortunately, not.” Tom answered, ducking his head as his cheeks flushed.

“Why?!” Jimmy asked. “You’re clearly smitten!”

“Hey, it’s not my fault!” Tom rebutted, looking to the audience for support. “I’ve tried!”

“Aww, now I feel bad for bringing it up.” Fallon chuckled and looked at the audience as they collectively ‘aww’ed. “How could anyone turn down this?!” He gestured towards Tom as the audience cheered.

“Well, if I’m to be completely honest I guess I haven’t actually TOLD her how I feel.” Tom confessed.

“Wait, what do you mean?” Jimmy paused.

“Well, I thought she’d catch on. I assume she has.” Tom laughed, fidgeting in his seat. “I’m pretty sure everyone else that knows the two of us can tell I’ve fallen completely head over heels for her.”

“Tom, Tom, Tom.” Jimmy shook his head.

“What?” Tom asked, nervous about what the answer would be.

“I’m sorry to have to tell you this, but I think you may just be horrible at flirting.” Fallon said with a straight face, the audience busting up laughing after.

“Do you think?” Tom replied, eyes gone wide in exaggerated surprise.

“I mean, I think you’re just so nice.” Jimmy laughed, trying to stay serious…“that everyone thinks you’re flirting with them…Which means, when you’re trying to flirt it just blends in.”  

“Well, how would you suggest I stand out then?” Tom asked, putting his elbow on his knee and leaning his chin on his fist like he was really paying attention.

“I mean…” Fallon slowly pointed towards the camera. “You gotta shoot your shot, right?”

The audience went wild at the suggestion. “Oh, dear.”

“I can scrap this and we can just talk about the movie.” Jimmy offered, making sure Tom knew that none of this had to go on the air.

“I mean, if it’s truly that obvious to everyone what have I got to lose, right?” Tom answered.

“That’s what we like to hear!” Jimmy cheered with the audience.

“Well…Y/n.” Tom paused, a soft smile on his face. “I don’t quite know where to start. I feel as though I may have been remiss by not just telling you how I feel. The consequence of such is that now I’m doing it in front of all of these people *gestures to the audience*…and I’m sure you’re laughing at how red I’ve gone and how flustered I am so I’m going to get to the point. Darling, you’re an incredible woman. I could list a million reasons why, but hopefully later you’ll give me the time to tell you them in person. What I really want to tell you now is that you make me happy. You inspire me. You make me want to be the best version of myself and you even make me believe I can achieve it. I’d be honored if you’d give me a chance.”

Fallon had tears in his eyes and most of the audience did, as well. “I…That was so beautiful. I think we need to go to a commercial break.” He was all choked up and stood to give Tom a hug.

You pulled up Tom’s text, your fingers hovering over the keyboard. “Are you still in New York?” you text him. The two of you were there for interviews. You were even staying in the same hotel.

“I am.” He text back, but the ‘typing’ bubble stayed. “Did you watch it?”

“I did.” You answered. “Come over?”

You saw the ‘typing’ bubble pop up and then disappear a few times. Instead of a text, you heard a knock at your hotel door.

“So?” Tom asked when you opened the door. He looked nervous, a look you didn’t often see from him. He had his glasses on and his hair was an adorable mess. He was even already dressed in his night clothes.

You didn’t answer. Instead, you stepped forward and placed your hands on each side of his face, pulling his lips gently to yours. He quickly reciprocated, his hands finding your hips as he walked you backwards into your hotel room.

“And to think, I could have been doing that for a whole year already.” You teased him, connecting your lips again.

“Don’t worry, my sweet.” Tom answered, pressing kisses across your cheek and down your neck. His lips paused at the shell of your ear and his voice dropped. “It just means we’ve got a lot of catching up to do.”

[bedbellyandbeyond]

Poking the Bear

(Story Post)

It didn't take long to confirm the wolf's pregnancy once the heat was over. Nathan was still upset with Reid so he didn't engage much with him during the appointment, and simply treated him as a doctor and nothing else. Dax was a bit concerned, but he was sure Nathan would warm up again eventually. The plan before all this had always been to spend as much time as they could up at Kent's cottage so he could see his kids, so that was their next stop. They called ahead and planned to stay about a week to make the travel worth it since going up and down to the city every few days wasn't reasonable. When they got there though, Kent was still a bit surprised. He took the twins first and got comfy with them on his couch before he asked any questions though, and let Dax and Nathan get themselves a couple drinks. “You're supposed to still be in cycle,” Kent pointed out when Nathan finally sat down with a glass of water. “You said you didn't want to be here for that.” Nathan nodded and took Dax's hand when he sat down beside him. “Yes. We’re going to talk about that.”

“You are, are you?” Kent huffed and pet the back of Grace's head as she sprung up little wolf ears and a snout to nuzzle into his arm. “Go on then.” “Well, the reason I didn't want to be here for my wolf cycle was because the wolf was in heat,” Nathan explained. “No kidding.” “Exactly. We didn't want a repeat of what happened last year,” Nathan said. “Two's enough,” Kent said, sliding a hand between his chest and Gabriel's curious nosing about. “Yeah, well…” Nathan started, nervous all of a sudden. “About that…” Dax began, but he also felt like he wanted Nathan to say it. Kent narrowed his eyes in suspicion. “What's wrong with you two? I can smell you sweatin' over here. Spit it out.” Nathan wrung his fingers together. “Kent.” “I'm listenin'.” “So, the thing is…” Nathan tilted his head towards Dax. “We're both expecting.” Kent grimaced. “Expectin’ what?” “Pregnant,” Nathan said. “We're both pregnant.” “What?” Kent growled. “What the fuck do you mean? You're pregnant again?” “We both are,” Dax piped up. “Well not me ‘again' in those words, but…” He pointed to his own and Nathan's stomach. “One and one.” Kent shook his head. “Uh uh. Nope. When we did whatever the fuck that was last time you were here, we didn't do anything worth makin' babies. Neither of you was on my dick. I was sober.” “You know what?” Nathan got up and opened his arms. “The language in here isn't appropriate for these two, so you can hand them over and I'll put them down for a nap so we can continue this adult conversation.” Kent huffed in Nathan's face and just got up to go put them down himself. Nathan waited standing there frustrated until Kent came back and sat down again. Kent slapped his own thighs. “Like I fucking said, I didn't dick down no fella that night. Y'all can't be pregnant.” “You're right that no one got pregnant that night,” Nathan stated. “But Dax and I chose to have a baby, the one I'm carrying. You were not involved in that. You got Dax pregnant the first weekend we came up.” Kent looked at Nathan and then down to Dax still sitting across from him, who just waved sheepishly. “No, I fucking didn't,” Kent stated. “Ah, well, you did,” Dax said. “Made me pretty sore actually…” “Shut up.” Kent growled, sticking a finger in his face. “You're not the one what gets pregnant ‘round here. I'd believe it if it were Nathan who went fuckin' feral on my cock that night.” “Ooh, let's not say it like that,” Nathan said, still standing. “Kids are fuckin’ asleep,” Kent said. “Yeah, I’m just not a fan,” Nathan said. “Maybe you'll be a fan of this.” Kent gave both of them the middle finger. “Fuck this. Whatever you two're on about, you need to get off the drugs.” “Kent, we're being serious here,” Nathan said, opening his hands. “I know this is hard to believe, but the night Dax had his little episode, it was because of a chemical he'd ingested that morning. It gave him the ability to get pregnant and made him behave the way he did.” “Fuckin' drugs,” Kent said shrugging. “I mean, you're right in that case,” Dax admitted. “But I didn't take it knowingly. It was mistaken for protein powder.” “You wouldn't need protein powder if you just ate some fucking meat.” Kent looked at Nathan. “What’s your excuse?” “We didn't know Dax was pregnant but we came to an agreement that we wanted to have another child, just the two of us,” Nathan said. “So, I'm pregnant.” Kent scowled at Dax. “You fucked the wolf?” “I absolutely did not,” Dax said. “Only the wolf can get pregnant.” “You would know. You're the one who fucked the wolf last year,” Dax said. “As a bear!” “That's still fucking weird, buddy.” Kent growled. “It is not! Animals are animals!” “Two very different animals...” “Boys. Calm down,” Nathan said. He sat back down beside Dax and took his hand. “The wolf was fertilised by in vitro fertilisation. Eggs were removed under anaesthesia—” “Drugs,” Kent commented, to prove his point. “Can you let me finish?” Nathan snapped. Kent just shrugged. “You don't make sense. My kid's aren't even a year old and you want to make another one just for you two, meanwhile limp dick's supposedly up the creek with another one of mine?” “In cruder terms, sure,” Dax said. “We already discussed this. It’s just how it worked out. We didn't know Dax was pregnant until after. At the end of the day, it is what it is,” Nathan said. “We're both pregnant and that's what’s going on.” Kent sighed started walking away to the kitchen. “…Wasted my money on two packs of beers for shit all, I guess.” Nathan sighed. “Now that that's over with—” “So, you can come live up here,” Kent stated, turning back to them with a freshly opened drink. Both looked at him. “What?” Kent shrugged and took a long sip of his beer. “If Nathan's knocked up, there's no risks, right? You don't need to be down in that city for the wolf cycles. You can just stay up here.” “First of all, we have jobs,” Nathan said. “Not in the summer,” Kent stated. “And don't lie to me and tell me you're gonna go teach when you’re about one day to burstin'.” Nathan scowled. “Second, our doctors are only in the city. We have to be nearby in case of emergencies.” “That ghost fucker was a doctor, no?” Kent said. “He came up here once. He can figure it out again.” “It's not that simple,” Nathan said. “And Reid's busy. He's not going to be visiting. Third, you act like we like hanging out around you.” “You love me,” Kent stated. “I absolutely do not,” Nathan said. “You love me.” Kent just shrugged again. “Makes no sense travellin' so much. Should just stay here for the summer.” “Oh, really?” Dax said, shook his head. “And you're going to provide for us? With what? Deer meat and berries?” “You’re having my kid,” Kent said. “Bears eat meat. Kid's a bear.” “We don’t know that yet,” Dax said. “Either way, you can get whatever fuckin’ food you want in town. If you’re really so damn poor, I'll fuckin' buy it for you. I don't give a shit.” “With what money?” Nathan asked. “With my money,” Kent said. “You got it, don't you?” They just blinked. “What do you mean?” Nathan asked. “My money,” Kent said, getting up slowly. “You should have it. I left a couple thousand at the cabin when y'all hunted me out.” “The cabin?” Nathan processed it. “The shit hole in the woods?” “Hey. That was my home,” Kent said. “And you're saying you didn’t get the cash?” “What cash?” Nathan asked, shaking his head. “You never said anything about any cash.” “I left you that letter sayin' to go watch my garden,” Kent said. “I figured you'd fucking find it!” “I didn't really go there much,” Nathan said. “Nari watched the garden for me. No one found any money.” “That's bullshit,” Kent said. “Call your Nari person. Get ‘em to give me my money. Fucker's probably pocketed it...” “Nari wouldn't steal your money,” Dax said. “He doesn't need it.” “I don't know this fucking Nari,” Kent said. “Call ‘im up right now.” “I can't, he's in Europe,” Nathan said. “Don't tell me in this fancy new future of yours you can't call other countries,” Kent said. “I just mean he's probably asleep at this time,” Nathan said, not remembering that Nari was very much a night walker. “Call him now.” Dax just showed them his phone and Nari's face on the call screen with speakerphone on. “Give it a moment to connect.” After a couple dial tones, an annoyed voice picked up. “…Dax?” “Nari! Hey! Nathan has a question for you,” Dax said. “Do you have a minute?” “Sure…” Nathan sighed. “Hey, Nari. Remember when you used to watch Kent’s garden for me?” “Yes.” “Did you ever go inside the cabin?” “Sometimes. If the sun was really bad…” “Did you ever find anything of particular value in there?” “Mm… Yeah, I guess. There was some money in like a box…” “Oh good. Did you—” “Yeah, something like 200k.” Nathan blinked and then looked over at Kent in shock. “Two hundred thousand dollars?” “Yeah, approximately,” Nari said. “In a box. Why?” “D-Do you have it?” Nathan asked. “Yeah. I figured I'd keep it safer than some trashy cave…” “Um, and you didn't think to tell me about it?” “Honestly, I sort of just forgot about it,” Nari asked. “Why? Do you want it?” “Uh, yeah! I’m with Kent right now, and he wants his money,” Nathan said. “Okay. Well it's in a savings account. Do you want me to wire it? I might have to be in Canada though…” “Can you just send me a screenshot? We can figure out the transfer later.” “Alright.” “Okay. Um, thanks Nari.” “No problem. I will be hanging up now.” “Okay, bye!” Nari hung up and Nathan took a breath. “How do you have that much money?” Nathan asked, staring at Kent. “I saved for twenty years,” Kent said. “How did you make ten thousand dollars a year eating animals in the ravine?” Nathan asked. “Big gun back home was always trying to buy my father's property. Never wanted to sell it, but the farm wasn't profiting. When I had to run, I needed some money, so I sold. When I got here, I also sold furs from the meat I ate and some furniture I made,” Kent said. “Didn't need to buy food, so I just saved it for tools and things…” “Has Nari sent the photo?” Dax asked. Nathan checked his phone and then showed Dax the screen where it showed a screenshot for a bank account with a balance of $263’050. “I wanted you to find it and put that towards my kids if I died,” Kent stated. “Kent, that's a lot of fucking money,” Nathan said. “You should've been clearer in your letter if you wanted me to find that.” “I imagine you don't have a bank account, do you?” Dax asked. “Fuck no.” Dax rubbed Nathan's shoulder. “What do we do? Cash out as soon as possible so Kent can have his money?” “Keep it,” Kent said. “What?” Nathan asked. “Kent, it's your money.” “I gave it to ya to keep safe and to support my kids,” Kent said. “Plus, I never felt good about selling that farm for so little... Feels like dirty money.” “I'm sure you want some cash though,” Dax said. “Let's be honest.” Kent shrugged. “Okay… 10k'll do me fine.” “10k. Still leaves us with a quarter of a million dollars…” Nathan said, just staring at the screenshot. “Are you sure you don't want more? This makes me feel weird…” “Listen. I saved that cash expectin' I'd need to use it to leave the country or something if the feds found me,” Kent said. “But my kids are more important now. I can make my own money. I always have.” Nathan looked to Dax who just shrugged. “We were worried about our finances with two more on the way and parental leave…” “Yeah, you need it more than me,” Kent said. “Well…” Nathan rubbed the back of his neck. “This is ridiculously generous, coming from you… But, if you're giving me this money for the kids, then… We can keep it in the savings account for them. I won't touch it for myself.” Kent nodded. “Fine by me.” “Well, we could just make it 250k even, take out the extra,” Dax suggested. “You know, just for now…” “Listen,” Kent said placing his hands on a shoulder each. “I'm askin’ you to stay here with me for some time. Just so I can get the chance to be there for someone havin' my kids. I never could before. Not the first time. Not the last time.” Dax looked to Nathan and Nathan sighed. “Kent… You understand we plan to raise all these kids, and we're not going to discriminate with ‘this kid is mine, that one's yours', none of that,” Nathan said. “So, if you're serious about being a part of all this, you need to commit to all the kids, not just your blood. Can you do that?” Kent looked Dax and Nathan each up and down, pausing for a moment on Nathan's midsection before looking him right in the eyes. “I can do that. Kid of yours is a kid of mine.” Nathan nodded smiling fondly. “Good.” Kent tilted his head to Dax. “Now if celery stick goes off and has someone else's kids, that's not my problem.” Dax shook his head. “That won't be a problem.” Nathan stepped between them and took Kent's shoulder. “Kent. I'm very serious about this. You're entering a relationship with both of us. If you genuinely don't like Dax, you need to say so right now, because the name calling is unacceptable. Insulting his dietary choices is also unacceptable.” Kent looked a bit taken aback, and he put a hand through his hair. “I… Listen, I figure you understand…” “Nathan, it's fine...” Dax said, placing his hand on his boyfriend’s shoulder. “No. I get that you're from another time, Kent, but Dax and I established a relationship on communication,” Nathan said. “That means communicating our feelings. I know you haven't known us very long, but you've managed to communicate your feelings about me to me in your own way. I need you to do the same for Dax. If you don't want to be in a relationship with him, then there's no relationship to be had with us beyond co-parenting.” Kent shook his head. “I like Dax, alright? I just… This three in one situation… I'm not used to that… People didn't do that ‘round where I'm from.” “I'm sure they did, they just never had a reason to tell you about it,” Nathan stated. He patted Kent's cheek. “Anyway, that's good enough for me, but it's Dax's opinion that matters.” Dax patted Kent's shoulder. “I like you too, bear boy.” Kent just turned away. “Is this over? Can I go check on the twins?” “Be my guest,” Nathan said. “We'll just put our stuff in the loft.” “The loft?” Kent asked. Nathan nodded. “Yeah. It's a bit stiff so we brought some blankets—” Dax nudged his arm. “I think he expects us to sleep in his bed.” Kent flushed red. “No, I—You can sleep wherever you fucking want!” Nathan grinned. “Aw, I didn't think you'd warm up that quickly.” “I'm not! I just, you did last time, so I figured you might want to this time…” “We slept in your room as a result of other activities that night,” Nathan said. “But if you want it to be the norm, it's fine, it's big enough for now. Maybe not when we're further along…” “I'm sure 250k can help get a bigger bed…” Dax suggested. Kent shook his head. “Do what you want to!” He then stormed off to go check on the twins, leaving the couple amused. “He still needs time,” Nathan said, going to sit back down. “He may be older, but he's still just a baby gay,” Dax concurred joining him. “Baby bi,” Nathan reminded. “Let's not erase his past.” “Baby Sbice,” Dax joked. “What does that make us?” Nathan asked. “Hm…” Dax paused to think. “Got it. Sgayry Spice and Sportop Spice.” “One, racist. And two, you are not a top,” Nathan said. “I went with Scary because you're a werewolf…” “Wow, okay. Insensitive. You're still not a top.” “I can be… And no Spice Girl works with vers or switch.” “Yeah…”

[rrasado]

Yo! If that's okay could i request the brothers (or some of the of your choice) reacting to a teen mc who already has a pact with a demon long before coming to the Devildom and this demon is pretty much their (very protective) guardian/caretaker? Like, the demon is really sweet and gentle with MC and babies them constantly but they're wary of the brothers (Nothing romantic, just platonic hcs!) Feel free to ignore if i'm bothering you!

Congrats on the 400 followers!!💞

Who’s The Guardian?

On another episode of “why didn’t I see this in my inbox before-“ but this is such a cute request.

I...haven’t played OMSWD in half a year ;-;. I never got past lesson 40 so, sorry in advanced for the OOC-

When you already have a pact

Lucifer

...is caught off guard, big time.

He probably skimmed through your files and records but not once did the thought of a seemingly innocent teenager already having a pact with a demon prior the exchange program crossed his mind.

That’s coming from someone who overthinks a lot.

As the so called right hand man of the young lord himself, he’ll want to conduct a thorough investigation on whoever this demon is. He can’t risk sullying the honor of Diavolo because of some minor slip up.

Under the guise of a friendly get together he asks MC to invite their demon pact mate over for a nice afternoon tea. Harmless correct? Well that -less becomes -ful when the demon immediate smothers their favorite human with such rare affections he didn’t knew demons were capable of.

He’ll attempt to be discreet about his intentions but, it seems the demon is more vocal about their displeasure of finding out that their dear human is living with seven of the most powerful demons in hell. So lucifer would blatantly put on a facade to keep the dignity of the council and the prince at peace. But if it were up to him...

“We all care for the human’s well being yes? A little cooperation is to be called for”

Mammon

...Feels betrayed. And disappointed

He...wasn’t MC’s first- oh god the others are laughing at him as we speak aren’t they.

Would probably try to not so discreetly compare himself to the demon, arms crossed™️

Is that why MC was so fast in making a pact with him? Like no fear whatsoever because they’ve already done this before? Now he feels dumber than before

It all ultimately ends with..the demon and mammon trying to out do each other when it comes to spoiling Mc whether material wise or affection, of course mammon is at a disadvantage given how much he denies his concern for not being Mc’s first.

But in the end, if anything bad no matter how small happens to the two demon’s beloved human, they’d probably set aside their differences and hunt down the source. It’s a whole other story if the source was mammon-

“Oi the human also has a pact with me Ya got that!”

Leviathan

...is both amazed and disdained.

On one hand- HOLY SHI- YOU’RE YOUNGER THAN MOST SUMMONERS AND YOU ALREADY HAVE A PACT? THAT’S SO SHOUNEN-

And on the other hand- wow...you’re such a normie for being able to pull in other races, what in the name of damned friendship is this-

But that disdain turns to envy, whether envying you or the demon sometimes it’s interchangeable- because he wished he was also that cared for. Being able to be brought gifts or being protective over- it’s the otome dream he’s secretly wanted.

But once he realizes that the demon just genuinely cares for MC, for whatever reason- he seems to understand along the way, maybe he to wishes to protect one of the few people that willingly put up with him with a wild smile. Teen mutuality huh.

He might even invite their demon pact mate over for a game or two- heck if things go well they three might even become a triumvirate. Overall he’ll learn to get along with them but...it’ll take a good while djdndnbd.

“H-hey...ya sure you wanna hang out with someone as yucky as me? Ah- wait I have games for three here somewhere.”

Satan

...Is highly intrigued suffice it to say.

The guy was highly enthralled when you managed to even make a pact with him through hard work and it seems there was a much farther history as to why.

Unlike the first born however, he’d be actually successful in hiding his true intentions when he decided to investigate whoever demon managed to wind up with the young human in the first place.

Those detective novels did him good Huh-

On a more serious note. He’d actually be encouraging to a certain extent until the demon directs their threats to him. Like how dare this lowly bastard make a point to the Avatar sin of Wrath- oh it was for MC’s sake...hard pass-

At one point he’s probably the closest to this demon in terms of peace next to Beelzebub since he’s the most serene of the brothers. Overall neutral to them unless the demon gives him a reason to.

“It’s nice to see the human having someone to lean on to...I wonder what would happen if that support were to suddenly collapse”

Asmodeus

...is sappy to the brim

Look at the lovely human already catching demons with finesse! Proud wine aunt moment™️. And the fact that it was prior to the program? Damn the kid has more potential than he thought.

At first the demon themself is gonna- Ehe carry MC away everytime asmo ties coming in but. With a little nudge and convincing they’d probably stay to listen to Asmo.

Trust me when I say these three will go shopping every weekend once everyone is comfortable with each other. And for what it’s worth they might even get matching outfits.

Asmo would probably try and nitpick how MC even managed to wind up in a pact with a demon without knowledge of the Devildom in the first place but at the same time he thinks it adds to the younger’s charm

These three end up being the child the mom and wine aunt dynamic and y’all can’t convince me otherwise.

“Ehh~? Oh don’t look so weary it’s bad for your face darling~”

Beelzebub

...For some reason happy.

Is this why MC managed to make a pact with his brothers so easily in so little time? Is this why the teen never seems to be bothered by any of his brothers’ threats? Overall he’s happy that you have experience.

He remembers something oddly like this...but in his case he didn’t had experience prior the fall wow way to go at angsting this am I right-

Because unlike him, a being millennia old was so confused of what’s in store for hell after the fall but he had no choice but to grit his teeth and bare the fear.

And someone so young managed to get a taste of a fraction of that experience but here was MC...laughing without a care whilst this other demon places a protective arm in front of them as they interrogate beel- oh wait they were talking to him-

Food as peace offering? You bet, thankfully they did settle with food and unlike first impressions- the demon actually is the most sensible to beel seeing as he was one of the few who...didn’t actively attempt to kill their human- in fact, the demon is probably the one to inform Beel of what demon food the young teen can actually eat and what they prefer.

“I see...ah, would you maybe wanna join us? Food always tastes better when shared”

Belphegor

...could care less until they talk about the whole time universe killing thing-

Ohhh boy- belphie run I’m telling you run- no beel won’t defend you on this one in fact I think I see mammon running with the demon but belphie run boy run-

In all seriousness him and the demon will take the longest to get into terms. Heck not even Mc’s convincing has effect, because the demon really really doesn’t like the avatar of sloth for good reason.

Depending on how the demon even winded up with MC. Belphie would also not like the demon.

That...is until something actually bad happens to MC-

The demon might blindly pin it on belphie but the thing is- he’s also panicking because if he and his brothers were there and the demon was there- wHO TF IS WITH THE TEENAGER-

He...didnt want to have what he did to MC happen again. Let him be the last one to harm the spunky human. I even considered him and the demon to never actually get along no matter how long of a time but...again it all depends on the Hows and Whys.

“I...Care for them as much as you do. Just- Tsk... I don’t need you to believe me.”

[coldshrugs]

dating savage

pairing: teddy/toasty word count: 770

Teddy’s getting used to the in-between. The constant texting, late night calls, weekends running through airports and living out of a suitcase. She plans her life by two time zones. It’s difficult to know where home is when everywhere feels like a liminal space. In two months (two short, amazing, exhausting months), the boundaries between Here and There have shifted, blurred.

Here means the center of an unmade king-sized bed in a Sunnyvale loft, tucked against Toasty’s side, sharing a bowl of ice cream. Orange sherbet sunset melting through the wooden blinds, while Aggretsuko plays on a wall mounted TV. He’s still barely unpacked, but the boxes are stacked neatly now–an improvement from her first visit. He kisses her forehead, cold fingers reaching for the spoon when it’s his turn for a bite.

And There, well… That means work she doesn’t care about doing, unrealized potential, and a sleep-deprived fog that never seems to lift. A half finished manuscript she’s too nervous to share, too busy to finish. Her family, a handful of weekend friends. Warm in its own way, if stifling, just like the Georgia sun.

She’s got one more day Here, though, and they’ve already started the ritual.

The rest of the evening will be spent like this–closer, even–and tomorrow they’ll wake up just early enough to catch the last minute brunch rush at the place he likes with the crunchy waffles. A lazy walk through town, hand in hand, until her eyes light up about a book or a scarf or some trinket he can whisk over to a cash register before she can argue about it. Then it’s back to his place for her luggage before calling to check out of the hotel she’s not even staying in.

Just like the thought of leaving him (a thought she plans to soothe with another scoop of cookies and cream), Teddy’s sigh is heavy. It doesn’t go ignored.

“You okay?” He asks over the TV.

“Mhm.” She swallows. “Just gonna miss this, until next time.”

“Yeah,” he exhales. “Next time.”

Toasty, pointedly, doesn’t look at her. His whole face is a violent shade of red, even in the low light. Something’s about to happen.

“You should stay.” It’s almost too quiet to hear. But very certain.

“Stay? What do you–”

“With me. Here. Like… move in.”

Here. In California. In a bed that could be theirs instead of just his. In a place they share. In a life she can admit to dreaming about it, if it's with him.

Toasty’s face is tight with worry when he finally meets her eyes. He isn’t ready for a response yet, so he continues before she can answer.

“It doesn’t have to be like, now. Maybe we can just start making the plans, y’know? And you could work on your book, no pressure. There’s space to make an office for you downstairs, and since I’ve barely finished moving into this place, we could figure out the rest together? I just… I know I want you around." A quick pause. "All the time.”

The explanation trickles out of him; like so many of his confessions, it’s the manifestation of things he’s held back from saying until he’s considered them front to back. So sure of what he wants, but a little nervous it might not be reciprocated.

Teddy’s grin grows under the spoon still sitting on her bottom lip. “Yeah. Let’s do it, let’s live together.”

“Wait, really?” He moves their snack to the nightstand and pulls her into his lap. “If you’re fucking with me-”

She cuts him off with a kiss, leans into him until he’s smiling against her lips and a goofy laugh bubbles up between them. “I’m serious! I wanna be here all the time too. With you.”

She presses her forehead against his, fingers skimming through his hair, and nods. He nods in answer, he believes her.

“God, I fucking love you.”

She turns back to the TV, getting comfy between his legs. He shudders at the skim of her fingertips over his forearms, wrapped snugly around her. The episode is ending, but they settle in for another.

“I love you too.”

Teddy hoards a secret little smile, trying not to laugh at how they can’t seem to help themselves. She’s never moved this fast before, but it’s so easy with him; they just fit. So she can forgive herself for the speedrun.

Dating Savage, as Toaster says.

Tomorrow is probably the last time she’ll have to leave. When she returns, it’ll be for good. This place is almost home for her, and the person twined around her feels like home already.

[scripturiends]

gave me no compasses, gave me no signs

Read on ao3

Summary: It was the one time her hunch had been wrong.

In which Han Joonhwi is acting suspicious, and Kang Sol A intends to find out why.

Rating: T

Word count: 3,848

Notes: Title taken from Taylor Swift’s ‘invisible string’: “Time, curious time, gave me no compasses, gave me no signs; were there clues I didn’t see?”

~

As promised, here is the Solhwi fic that I had hoped to be up before Episode 7 airs. I went straight to work after receiving positive feedback from an interest check post. As I mentioned there, the story isn’t necessarily dwelling on the current timeline, but is, for the most part, still canon-compliant. I totally made up all the legal jargon, so please bear with me. And, like the show, I decided to do ‘cutscenes’ instead of one unilinear fic.

I had a lot of fun with this little project for the past two days, so I hope you enjoy reading it as much as I did writing it :) I’d also love to hear your thoughts, please do send me a message or feel free to comment, it would mean the absolute world to me. Thank you and let’s all look forward to Episodes 7 and 8 this week!

The fic is under the cut. As a sidenote, this fic is un-beta’ed. All mistakes are mine.

~

I.

Kang Sol A swears she only drifted off for a second.

She had been burning the midnight oil for the past few days, well into the weekend, so much that the tension was radiating into her atmosphere, so much that the heat was starting to get to her head. Her Civil Code paper may not write itself, but neither could she if it took every ounce of her energy just to even sit up. So she plopped down on her bed, head heavy on her pillow, still fighting the urge to doze off.

She blinked, slowly, and as her eyes fluttered at an alarming rate, they eventually closed — just for a moment, I’ll count to ten and then wake up again — and stilled.

Birds were chirping outside her window when her eyes shot open, and that’s how she knew she messed up big-time. She woke with a start, frantically shaking off the books and papers off her person and frisking for her phone, silently praying that she wasn’t too late for her meeting with her project partner Seo Jiho, who she knows absolutely despises latecomers.

Sol A felt something vibrate from behind her, and an incomprehensible sound escaped her lips as she checked her phone. There were mountains of notifications that prevented her from checking the current time: self-set alarms, e-mails from her professors, reminders about today’s meeting with Jiho, and missed calls from a certain Han Joonhwi.

Clearing all of them at once, she finally reads: 9:07 AM. She was supposed to meet Jiho at 9:15. Sol A breathes a sigh of relief, but her momentary celebration is cut short when her phone starts to ring.

Han Joonhwi was calling again.

She didn’t even get a chance to speak yet when the voice on the other end asked, “Breakfast?”

Sol A put him on speaker phone as she packed up her things. “Can’t,” she replied mindlessly. “I have to meet with Seo Jiho and I’m already late. Eat by yourself.”

A few seconds of silence went unnoticed as Kang Sol A zipped up her knapsack and wore it over her shoulder. She finally picked up her phone and switched back to the handset. “Don’t skip breakfast, you hear me?”

Still nothing. “Joonhwi-ah.”

“Walk fast,” was all he said. And then he hung up.

That caught Sol A off guard, but she heeded the advice anyway.

She made it to the study room at exactly 9:13, only stopping by the entrance to catch her breath and tie her hair back into a ponytail. It was silent, so she half-hoped that no one would be there, but half-expected nothing less from Jiho. So she walks in, footsteps heavy, only skidding to a halt when she sees Jiho staring someone down, someone whose back looked all-too-familiar.

“You like her, don’t you?” she overhears from Jiho. “Kang So-”

Jiho suddenly fell silent at the sight of Sol A, and the man opposite him suddenly turned his head towards her. She was right about who it was — it was none other than the person she spoke with on the phone just a few minutes ago.

If Joonhwi was surprised, he didn’t show it.

But Kang Sol A did. She blinked once, and with a hint of dubiousness, she asked, “Who likes who?”

The men shared a look, and she was met with silence again, which was beginning to irk her. But she bit her tongue, took a seat across Seo Jiho, and grinned cheekily at him. “Sorry I’m late.”

“You aren’t...” Jiho replied, trailing off.

“I am by your standards. I know you,” she said matter-of-factly. “For Seo Jiho, ‘on time’ actually means ‘thirty minutes early’. Which means I’m late.”

Sighing wistfully, Sol A added, “I learned that the hard way.”

She locks eyes with Joonhwi momentarily, but he averts his gaze, expression unreadable. Sol A ignores this and tries her luck once more, eyes flitting from Jiho to Joonhwi and back. “Who were you guys talking about?”

This time, almost with no hesitation, Joonhwi finally spoke up. “No one,” he answered. “My roommate was just practicing his cross-examination skills on me.”

He stood up, giving Seo Jiho a final staredown. “They’re very poor at the moment. Help him out, will you?”

Then, without looking Kang Sol A in the eye, he gave her a soft squeeze on the shoulder, and promptly left.

Sol A’s eyes followed Joonhwi’s back, and stayed there even after he left. His touch lingered on her shoulder like a ghost, but instead of comfort, all she felt was fear. Suspicion. Restlessness. That maybe he was hiding something, and whether it involved her or not, she was keen on finding out just exactly what it was.

II.

“I’m telling you, Yeseul-ah,” Sol A insists. “Something’s up with him.”

They link arms, walking past the school entrance and into the lobby. Jeon Yeseul turns to her, hair falling perfectly into place as she lets out an angelic laugh. God, Sol A thinks. Even her laugh is perfect. But past the admiration for her Aphrodite-like features, Sol A feels like she’s being mocked.

She pouts. “You don’t believe me.”

“I do!” Yeseul defends. “You think he likes Kang Sol B.”

Sol A slides her left hand off Yeseul’s arm and holds her friend’s right one lightly. “So why are you laughing at me, then?”

“Unnie.” Yeseul wraps an arm around Sol A’s shoulder. “Has it ever crossed your mind that maybe Joonhwi-oppa likes you?”

Sol A almost choked on her spit. Of course she’s thought about it — after all, she’s a hundred percent certain that it was the name Kang Sol that slipped from Seo Jiho’s mouth a few days ago. But none of the evidence so far points to it being herself. And anyway, it’s not as if he’s shown any interest in Sol A as a woman. In fact, all he does is tease her. And she’s okay with that. And Sol B already likes Joonhwi. And they seem to be a far better fit than Sol A and Joonhwi. And it’s not like she harbors any romantic feelings for him, either.

She pushes the thought away before it could become bigger.

Sol A denies, deflects, and defends. “That can’t be right.”

“Why not?” her friend challenges.

“Why would he be avoiding me if that were true?” Sol A counters.

“People do that when they feel awkward around their crush,” Yeseul rebuts.

This is starting to feel like a game of chess rather than a conversation between best friends. “I think he’s just scared I’ll tell my roommate or something.” Before Yeseul could say anything else, by some stroke of luck, Sol A spots Joonhwi from her peripheral vision, walking past Lady Justice.

Yeseul smiles kindly at Sol A. She doesn’t doubt its genuineness, but she feels like it’s laced with mischief. “Should we test your theory, then?”

What does that mean?

“Joonhwi-oppa!” Yeseul shouts, waving at him from across the room.

She’s not going to ask him, is she?

Yeseul runs to Joonhwi, a light skip in her step. “I have something to ask you.”

Wait.

“Wait,” escaped from Sol A’s lips, barely a whisper before it started registering on her what Yeseul was about to do. And when it does, she finally sprints. “Jeon Yeseul, wait!”

“Oppa.” Yeseul bats her eyelashes at Joonhwi. Sol A was in tow behind her, feeling small but unsure why.

“Oh, Yeseul-ah,” Joonhwi greets. His eyes lit up at the sight of his friend and classmate.

While it pained Sol A to just sit back and watch, knowing that Joonhwi had been purposefully avoiding her, she let the scene unfold, trusting that Yeseul knew what she was doing.

“You haven’t been going to the study group sessions lately,” Yeseul starts.

Sol A hoped it would get a rise out of him, seeing as he was the one who started the group to begin with, but was barely showing up these days. Instead, all he said was, “The pair project in Civil Code has been holding me up.”

Yeah, right, she thinks. A second-round judicial exam passer and a former police academy student having a hard time in Civil Code? Why do I find that hard to believe?

Sol A scoffs, and Yeseul pinches her side. “Sol-unnie and I are meeting the others for lunch. You should come join us.”

“Ah,” Joonhwi drawled out slowly, as if coming up with an excuse to say no. Sol A expects it to be his next move. “I wish I could, but-”

Knew it.

“Kang Sol B will be there,” Sol A blurts out, fully aware that it’s a total lie. Still, she had to try.

Something in Joonhwi’s mood changed, and his face hardened. Still not making eye contact with Sol A, he excuses himself from Yeseul. “I’ll take a rain check today, okay?”

And without another word, he left again, leaving Sol A with the same emptiness that she had felt in the study room the other day.

Yeseul finally turns to Sol A, crossing her arms. “You’re right. He’s being weird.”

III.

A few more days without Joonhwi’s company, and Sol A was starting to feel its ill effects on her. She hadn’t realized just how much she took him for granted until he was no longer around to challenge her ideas, to annoy her over the littlest of things, to calm her down when she’s freaking out, to be her drinking buddy, to be someone she could tell any and every stupid story to, with the utmost confidence that he’ll keep it to himself or that he wouldn’t belittle her for it.

They’d been through too much together now, and even their fateful first meeting all those years ago didn’t faze him from her. In fact, her little scheme, no matter how deceitful at the time, brought him closer not just to her, but to Byeol, her mom, and to an extent, even Dan.

So what changed? What on earth did Seo Jiho say to him, and what on earth did she walk into, that made him close himself off from her? Proximity may not breed familiarity, but right now she wishes nothing more than to be in his orbit again.

Arguably the worst consequence of the lack of Joonhwi in Sol A’s life right now is having no one to eat with.

During one of her all-nighters at the dorm, she found herself with an intense craving for some ramyeon. She removed her earphones, partly to pull herself back to reality, but mostly to ask her roommate to have a meal with her. As if Sol B would say yes, but it was worth a shot.

“I’m going downstairs for a bite. You wanna come?”

No response, as expected from Kang Sol B. Sol A inwardly rolled her eyes, spinning in her chair to tease her roommate, only to find the desk empty.

She scratched her head while walking, wondering where Sol B could be at this time of night. And without a heads up, too… She was getting worried.

But it seems like her concern was all for naught, because Sol B was right where Sol A was headed.

And she was there with Han Joonhwi.

She was laughing. It was the first time that she saw Sol B laugh, maybe ever, and to see that Joonhwi could be someone who could do that for her, made Sol A feel proud. Like knowing Han Joonhwi was a privilege, not only because of the way he could make people comfortable around him, but also because Sol A had once been on the receiving end of it herself.

She should be relieved. In fact, she should be happy. Because it means that her guess was right, which means she doesn’t have to keep digging anymore. She could just tell Joonhwi that his secret’s safe with her, and they could finally go back to the way they were before... Right?

And yet something about witnessing the pair interact as a mere bystander didn’t sit right with Sol A. There’s a pang in her chest that she can’t quite comprehend — maybe she just misses him, or maybe it’s something else completely. Because if Han Joonhwi has feelings for Kang Sol B, and they’re together right now, then that leaves only one explanation: he must be avoiding her, and for a completely different reason.

It was the first time her hunch had been wrong.

Needless to say, Sol A lost her appetite and trudged back upstairs lifelessly, a bitter taste in her mouth and an ache in her stomach that she couldn’t quite place where it even came from.

IV.

Come Friday, Sol A was too exhausted to even think about Han Joonhwi. Between the endless deadlines and papers to write, her job in the copy room, and the Seo Byungju case, her energy had been too depleted and her social battery too worn out to even care that her relationships could be falling apart.

The only thing she has going for her now is the Legal Clinic, the one place where she could bury her nose deep in case digests and law readings and she would absolutely never get tired of it, because it’s the one place where she feels like she’s making a real difference, especially when people’s lives are at stake. It was the remaining part of her life where Sol A felt like she was in control, so these days, all her emotionally-charged passion was focused on this one thing.

But of course that had to fall apart too, when Professor Yang asked for her to stay after class.

He cut right to the chase. “I’ll be meeting with my defense lawyer today so I need you to consult with the client in my stead.”

Count on Yangcrates to always give Sol A a heart attack in under two seconds.

“M-me?” she stuttered.

The professor’s face twitched, ever-so-slightly, which Sol A took as a sign to backtrack and confidently proclaim that she’s up to the task. She knows there’s nothing Yang Jonghoon hates more than a quitter.

“Ah, yes, of course,” she accedes, with a little more verve.

He nods once in her direction. “And take Han Joonhwi with you,” he commanded.

She’s doomed. Not that she wasn’t doomed before, but now that Professor Yang had to drag her personal life into this, she was really in shambles.

Sol A clears her throat. “With all due respect, Sir,” she laughs nervously, “don’t you trust me?”

Professor Yang takes a moment to think about it. Sol A wonders if today’s the day she finally gets a definitive answer. But Yangcrates is as sly as ever. “This is your chance to get back at him for the Bad FaMa case. Make him your assistant this time.”

He walks away, leaving Sol A dumbfounded once again, but not before he adds, “Under my orders, of course.”

Sol A’s knees buckled at the thought. Normally, she would find this predicament to be absolutely funny, a chance to bicker with Joonhwi and learn something from him at the same time. But he’s angry at her, and she doesn’t even know why, and even merely approaching him has turned into a problem.

Everything in Sol A’s life right now is a problem. She wonders if it's getting Joonhwi back that would fix everything.

Upon leaving the classroom, she spots him getting a drink from the vending machine. She has to slap herself twice, just to mentally prepare herself, to muster up the courage to approach him again.

“Come on, Sol,” she whispers to herself. “This isn’t hard.”

Shaking off the nerves, she takes a step forward, but in a momentary state of weakness, takes another step back. “So what if he’s mad? That’s his problem. I’ve never given him a reason to be angry. He should suck it up. Not me. Come on. Just do it.”

A step forward.

“Just do it.”

A step back.

“Goddamn it.”

One final step back to boost herself forward, and she’s running towards him, pretending to be as casual as possible. “Han Joonhwi!” she calls out to him.

His eyes widen at the sight of her, knowing he has nowhere to escape.

“Did you get my text? Professor Yang needs our help at the Legal Clinic.” She smiled at him. “Let’s go.”

Joonhwi scratched the back of his head, and Sol A just knows it’s about to be another lame excuse. “I can’t. I’m meeting Sol B for our Civil Code term paper.”

He can’t even look at her, and Sol A wonders just how bad she had hurt Joonhwi for him to feel like this towards her. But that only lasted for a second, when she realized just exactly what he said. Then, her pity turned into irritation, as she accused, “Liar.”

Sol A crossed her arms, and glared at Joonhwi. “Did you forget that I’m her roommate? She went home today.”

V.

Sol A sat across Joonhwi inside the Legal Clinic, her eyes narrowed to slits. A profound silence enveloped the room, interrupted only by a sharp inhale from her.

“You like Kang Sol B, don’t you?”

The only response she got was Han Joonhwi’s signature smirk, playful and taunting, one that said, ‘You don’t know me, and you never will’.

She hated that.

She slammed a hand on the table, and pointed at him accusingly. “Don’t look at me like that. I would have kept your secret if you just asked. Is that why you were avoiding me? Because you think I’d tell her or something?”

The same smile painted on his face, Joonhwi exhaled defeatedly. “Kang Sol A, I thought I taught you to never make any claims with unfounded bases.”

An eyebrow perched up on Sol A’s end. “It’s not unfounded,” she argues.

“Where’s your evidence, then?” he dared her.

Sol A had been waiting for this. She listed everything he had ever done — or refused to do, which was spend time with her, speak to her, or even look at her, which was absolutely the bare minimum — since the incident with Seo Jiho up to this very moment.

He waves his hand dismissingly. “That’s all speculative.”

If his goal was to rile her up, then it’s definitely working. “Then what about what I heard Seo Jiho tell you that one time? And most importantly, you straight up lied to my face.”

“Circumstantial,” he quips. “That would never hold up in court, especially not when the only witness is yourself. How are you going to be both the defense lawyer and the sole witness?”

Han Joonhwi should be at the edge of the precipice here, and yet he has managed to flip the situation over and turn it into an interrogation for Kang Sol A.

Nothing can hide her frustration anymore. “I would never be the lawyer in my own case. Look, it’s still evidence. You asked, and I gave it. Seriously, Han Joonhwi, what’s with you?”

Instead of a direct answer, he points out, “You rely on your emotions too much.”

Almost immediately, she shoots back, “And you rely on the law too much. This isn’t a courtroom. This is a human conversation.”

He purses his lips, unable to say anything, and Kang Sol A continues. “You’re too stubborn.”

“And you’re too nosy.”

“You’ve benefited from it more than once.” Sol A’s patience is getting thinner by the second. “Can’t you just tell me what I did so that I can either apologize for it or call you out for being wrong?”

“You and Sol B are hardly friends. What reason would I have to be afraid?” Amusement gleamed in Joonhwi’s eyes; Sol A was astounded by how he could stay so nonchalant about this. “Think.”

She glared at him, but still ceded. Damn his tenacity. “Fine, I’ll play along.”

She rolled her eyes, and in a blasé manner, started to think out loud. “I overheard Jiho ask you if you liked Kang Sol, and then you started avoiding me. Yeseul asked you to join us for lunch, and when I said Sol B would be there, even though she really wasn’t, you declined. So I thought it was her that you liked. But it doesn’t make sense, because I saw you two hanging out at the cafeteria that one night-”

His arrogant expression changed to one of shock. “You did?”

“-and then you straight up lied to me about your plans. Unless you two are already dating-”

“We’re not,” he interrupts once more. Sol A eyes him with suspicion. “We’re not,” he repeats indignantly.

“-it could only mean that you do like Kang Sol…”

Joonhwi starts slowly nodding, face a little flushed, but somehow urging her on to continue.

“...just not B. You like-”

“Kang Sol A.” Professor Yang enters the room, calling out her name.

She’s sure her professor asked her to do something, but she was unmoved. At this point, she doesn’t think anything could pull her out of her reverie for the rest of the day.

A veil that covered her eyes was lifted, and she had never been so pitiful of the blindfold that Lady Justice wore. The scales Kang Sol A carried, as heavy as the burdens she was facing, balanced with Han Joonhwi holding them up with her. She wanted nothing more than to take his hand right at that moment, to feel the heaviness in its entirety, and thank him for staying anyway.

They don't talk for the rest of the day, but Kang Sol A is unbothered.

Her questioning attitude may have always gotten her in trouble in school, but this was the one time she was glad to be wrong.

Epilogue

Han Joonhwi fell asleep on his desk again.

He normally finishes up all his revisions early, but because of his agitation, the cold table seemed to be more inviting than the bed, where he simply ends up tossing and turning.

Despite the stiff neck it was bound to cause, he’s been doing it for days, only being woken up by his constant 8:30 alarms. This time, however, it was his gracious roommate Seo Jiho who finally interrupted him from his slumber.

Jiho slammed a sealed instant ramyeon pack on Joonhwi’s desk. He groggily looked up at his friend, whose hair was still disheveled, and asked, “What’s this?”

“It’s from Kang Sol A.” Before walking away, he deadpanned, “Do your own bidding next time. I’m not your messenger.”

Joonhwi took the cup ramyeon, spotting the bright yellow sticky note on it, not unlike the ones he’d put on Sol A’s notebook, or occasionally, her forehead. He smiled to himself as he read the message, walking out to heat up some water for breakfast, but not before carefully displaying the note on his bulletin board for the whole world to see.

Han Joonhwi,

For a second-round judicial exam passer, you can be so dense.

I like you back, you idiot.

Now stop sulking and have breakfast with me.

Idiot.

~

Send me your thoughts/fic requests here!

[writing-in-lesbian]

You wanted to sleep with a goddess but instead had to settle for a priestess

Pairing: Yelena / F!Reader

Tags: angst, fluff, happy ending, mentions of alcohol

Rating: PG-15 (I guess?)

Word count: 2.5k

Translation: Pridurok = jerk

Disclaimer: all the Marvel characters mentioned don’t belong to me (if they did, Nat would be alive and Wanda would be hugged and in therapy!)

Synopsis: Inspired on an episode of F.R.I.E.N.D.S “You and Yelena have been dating for almost 3 years and you plan on proposing on your anniversary, but the universe has other plans and after a game of true or dare game you have to confess who you were actually looking to hook up the night you and Yelena did it.”

AN2: English is not my first language so I apologize in advance for any mistake. I’m also on AO3 as: writinginlesbian

~~~~~~~

The light coming through the windows is the first thing you notice, the warm sensation on your skin rousing you from your deep slumber. Groaning a little, you refuse to open your eyes, instead cuddling further into the cozy feel next to you. Now that sleeps is evasive, the second thing you notice is your bladder demanding you take a trip to the washroom.

Opening your eyes reluctantly, the third thing you notice is the mass of sand blond hair in front of you, tightening your hold on her you smile and hum contentedly, earning a little grunt from the body in front of you.

Chuckling, your lips place a kiss on her bare shoulder before you finally release her. Stretching your body, your neck and back crack a little making you moan softly at the relaxation.

“You better keep quiet y/l/n or I won’t be hold responsible if I keep you hostage in bed all day” a groggily raspy little voice informs you, her Russian accent thicker in the mornings.

Smiling and shaking your head, you get up from the bed and march to the in-suite bathroom, hearing Yelena mumble something similar to spoilsport before closing the door as quiet as possibly.

Yelena Belova. Your girlfriend.

A little angry ball on the outside but a total dorky cinnamon roll on the inside (although she would never admit this to anyone), came into your life like a hurricane. Her sarcastic side and dark humor was one of the things you noticed right away, followed by those musky green eyes, capable of grounding and keeping you in your toes with just one look. How you got her to agree to date you after hooking up one night, is still something you have troubles believing it but here you are, sharing an apartment with her, a dog named Fanny (which she got to name) and just a week away of your three year anniversary… the one where you plan on proposing.

You got the ring ready, specially custom made to your request, paid by Tony (as annoying he can be, he’s been more family to you than your blood family). He squealed (actually squealed) when you told him about your plan for proposing and insisted on being your “best man of honor”. 

Finishing your business, you wash your hands and clean your face with cold water, staring at your reflection in the mirror and smiling at the sight of Yelena’s creams and her messy side compared to the organized one of yours. You can’t wait for Saturday to get here soon enough.

The sound of the alarm from your cellphone can be heard through the door, followed by a thud and then silence. You forgot to change it last night, so of course it ringed at 7am disturbing the dreams of the beauty in your bed.

“You better not have broken my phone again Yelena” you try to be serious while walking back to the bed.

“So it’s more important a phone than my sleep time? Okey, I see how it is, pridurok” she says covered in blankets, but you know she’s pouting.

You get back to bed, picking up your phone quickly inspecting it placing it on the nightstand, kneeling in front of her and slowly you take the covers off her face. She’s looking at you with and unreadable expression and you can’t think how it’s so similar to the one her sister often gives you during training sessions.

“No, you’re more important to me love… but this would be the third phone screen you break and I doubt Tony would be happy about it” you said while bopping her nose with your finger.

Yelena looks at you and cracks a tiny smile. You kiss her forehead, standing up you try to leave but her hand at your wrist stops you. You turn to her… only to find her middle finger directed at you.

“Still that damned thing woke me up and you weren’t here, so it deserves the fall” You chuckle as you see Yelena rolls off and pretends going back to sleep.

You go downstairs and start preparing breakfast after turning on the coffee machine. You know Yelena needs a little bit of a kick to fully wake up. While you wait, you open the “just add water pancake mixture” opting to add half milk and half water with a little bit of melted butter for extra fluffiness. After getting the pancakes ready, you go to the fridge to pick some fruit before placing it at the counter to be chopped.

Hearing soft padded steps nearing the kitchen, you grab a plate and put some pancakes on it, grabbing some strawberries and quickly cutting them in four, adding it to the plate along with some blueberries. The coffee pot indicates it’s ready so you grab a blue mug and fill it with the exquisite elixir, snatching some clutter, you place everything except the cup on the table just as Yelena enters the room.

Without a word she grabs the cup form your hands inhaling it before taking a sip. A hum and nod of approval is all you receive before a peck on your lips. Smiling you gather a plate for yourself and proceed to seat with her at the table. You both make small talk while eating before she asks your plans for the day.

“I’m supposed to meet with your sister in about an hour and then lunch with Wands and Bucky. Might get to see Tony in the afternoon though, depending on how my cellphone is” you try to be serious but the smirk on your face gives you away.

“Your phone is fine pridurok, I checked it before coming downstairs”

“Okey, then I shall be back around 6ish. Wanna do something babes? Get advantage of the weekend and that?”

“Maybe”

Before you can propose a plan, Yelena’s phone sounds. She looks at the display before answering.

“Hey mama”

You wave at her and she catches your intention, passing your regards to Melina before leaving the room. You decided to send a quick text to Natasha before texting Tony telling him you’ll meet him quick before heading to your lunch date to pick up the ring.

Cleaning up the table and putting the rest of the pancakes and fruit back on the fridge, you leave the kitchen and find Yelena still talking on the living room. You finish getting ready as you don’t wanna be late with Nat. This might be the most important coffee date you have with her, you know, since you’ll be asking for her little sister hand in marriage, so you don’t want to risk it by making her angry by being late.

Of all of Yelena’s family, Nat is the one you worry must about. She’s so fierce and protective when it comes to her baby sister. Despite being reluctant at first, (she’s your BFF so she knows all your dating history) she approved of you once she saw how happy you made Yelena, not before giving you the scariest shovel talk anyone can give. Melina and Alexei both agreed immediately, both of them giving you a slightly (emphasis on slightly) less frightening talk of “you hurt my baby daughter I won’t hesitate to kill you” talk than Natasha’s. You tried to joke by saying that if you ever hurt Yelena, she would be the first one to chop your head off before them. It didn’t make them laugh.

Grabbing the keys, you check your cellphone to see Tony’s reply consisting of only a thumbs up emoji. Making your way to the living room, you wave in front of Yelena, giving her a quick peck on her lips before whispering a “see ya later babes. Love you” before leaving.

// // //

You can’t help being nervous. In all your life you never imagined thinking of getting married. You liked your space and time alone, you weren’t afraid of intimacy or commitment, but you never quite connected with your past partners in the level you connected with Yelena. Strange thing honestly, considering how you started dating: hooking up after Steve and Peggy’s wedding. You both tried to keep it casual and secret, not wanting to make a huge deal about it. And you were fine with it until one day when you were having lunch with all your friends at Natasha’s place, you saw Yelena and your breath caught in your throat and you knew, you just knew you were in love with her.

“What has you smiling like an idiot?” A raspy voice brings you back to the present.

Noticing just now, Natasha is seated in front of you cup of coffee in her hands. You must have spaced out more than you thought since there is a refilled cup where your last empty one was.

“Yelena” you said it without a doubt, a smile on your lips.

Natasha smiled amused by it. In all of the years she has known you, she never saw you this smitten and happy with someone. And honestly she was happy it was with her baby sister. You both were a cute couple, with their ups and downs, but were still going strong and you both took care of each other.

“So where did you left her? It’s weird to see you without her attached to your side”

“She’s at home. I know she wouldn’t like to be up and out this early being Saturday”

“You asked me for coffee this early on purpose”

It’s meant to be said as a joke but giving the current topic you want to talk with her you don’t laugh.

“I did actually. I wanted to talk with you about something”

Natasha sees the seriousness on your face. She stares you for a little bit before her curiosity gets the best of her.

“Okey”

Your leg stars bouncing and Nat takes notice of it. Your hands grab the cup in front of you to avoid drumming the table with your fingers, a habit you do when your nervous.

“It’s about Yelena”

Nat’s brow furrowed slightly in confusion. You were smiling a few minutes ago so it shouldn’t be nothing bad, right?

“What about her?” You can’t help to flinch a little bit with the hardness of her tone.

Your fingers drum a little on the cup, you open your mouth but no words came out. You sigh.

Nat is silently observing you, giving the benefit of the doubt and actually waiting for you to speak, but since is her little sister you wanted to talk about, she can’t help but get impatient.

You heard her huff in annoyance after what seems seconds but it has been a few minutes, you got lost in your mind again.

“Iwanttoaskforyourpermissiontomarryher” you say in one breath, taking half of your coffee in one gulp and not looking at her.

Natasha blinks in surprise, trying to decipher what you just said. Her mouth opens slightly once she process what you just dropped on her.

“You… you want to marry her. My little sister, Yelena… you want to marry her?”

Finally looking up you see Natasha is a little bit speechless. Something you haven’t seen in like never. You try to gauge her reaction but she’s a master in hiding her emotions, so you opt to answer her honestly any question she might have.

“Yeah, I do”

“Have you proposed to her though?” a fair question.

“No. I wanted to talk with you first”

“Why?”

“You’re her big sister, your blessing is important to me Tasha. I know that we both think that this tradition of asking for someone’s hand in marriage is an archaic thing and that and Yelena would probably get angry if she knew I did this, but you mean a lot to her, she adores you and respects you a lot. I know I could work around your parents but if you were to oppose, I don’t think Yelena would be as happy. Plus you’re my best friend Nat, I care about you”

Natasha stays silent thinking in what you just said. Basically, you gave her a lot of power here, if she were to say no, would you really not propose? She has seen you grow by Yelena’s side and has seen the same with her sister. She knows you never would hurt her.

“So if I would to say no?”

Your stomach hurts at hearing that. You drop your eyes to the table before answering.

“I might postpone proposing but I would still do it”

“You really love her”

“More than anything, I’m in love with her Tasha” the smile on your face and the brightness of your eyes give her all the answers to the questions she might have.

When she found out you were hooking up with Yelena she was so mad and furious with you, more so when you denied it when she confronted you about it. She was on her way to forbid you to see her sister when she caught you both asleep on the couch. Yelena had her head on your chest while you hold her securely in your arms. Both your faces were peaceful and happy.

“When are you planning on doing it?”

You looked up surprised.

“Saturday at-”

“Your dinner anniversary”

“Yeah… how-”

“It’s all I’ve been hearing Lena talk about for the last week, this big dinner plan you have for it and how you won’t tell her what it is, so she doesn’t know what to wear and is a ball of nerves, is kinda annoying actually”

You can’t help but blush at hearing that. You know the Romanoff-Belova sisters are reserved so the fact that Yelena has been gushing about your relationship to her sister has your stomach doing flops and your heart beating harder.

Natasha studies your face and can’t help but smile with you.

“Alright y/l/n, you have my blessing to marry my sister. Don’t fuck it up okey? It’s my baby sister I’m trusting you with”

You are speechless for a moment. You know deep down that she would say yes, but hearing it saying it it’s another thing. You stand up and grab her in a bone crushing hug.

“O…key… need… to breath…”

“Sorry, sorry… thank you Nat, really, you don’t know what it means to me, truly”

“So you have a ring picked yet?”

“Yes. Actually, I’m meeting Tony before lunch to pick it up, wanna come?”

“Of course, I need to make sure my baby sister gets the best of the best”

You laugh and throw the napkin at her, she catches easily but laughs with you. You’re not nervous anymore, at least for the moment.

Now, you only need to ask Yelena… easy right?

[sixmapleleafs]

in your arms // frederik andersen

Warning: smut, relatively soft but some graphic description and language, innocence kink (kind of), brief mentions of anxiety and a bad day

Tears threatened to spill as you headed out towards your parked car, today had probably been the worst day you’d had since you started teaching. For some reason the kids were bouncing off the walls all day, unable to stay focused on any of the tasks you had set and whenever you tried to get their attention they purposefully ignored you, which led to you raising your voice properly for the first time and having to give a few of the kids a variety of different punishments for their rude behaviour. Usually, you wouldn’t be so harsh, you often allowed them to talk whilst working or freely share their ideas and opinions with the class but the things you were trying to teach were very important and if they didn’t give it their full attention then they would really struggle with the upcoming topics. ‘At least it’s Friday’ you thought to yourself as you unlocked your car and got in, that meant you had two days where you could sleep in and relax, and also that Freddie would be back in the city before you woke up tomorrow morning. Your phone buzzed in your coat pocket as you started the car, a message from Fred lighting up the screen.

How’s your day going? I miss you

The first few tears escaped as you read his message over and over again a few times, you hadn’t allowed yourself to think about how much you missed him, honestly it scared you a little how fast you were falling for him, but knowing he missed you made you believe he might be feeling the same way. You knew things had moved fast between the two of you in terms of how quickly you had opened up to each other - though you had yet to be intimate in a physical way - you assumed it was because you were honest with him before you started dating, you had already told him about your anxiety and your previous relationship and the toll it had taken on you mentally and he had been nothing but supportive as a friend, so it shouldn’t have surprised you that when he became more than a friend he let you set the pace of things.

Not great :( can’t wait to see you tomorrow

Shutting off your phone, you threw it into your bag and started driving back to your apartment. As soon as you got there you headed straight to the couch, flopping down rather dramatically and letting out a sigh of relief knowing you could stay there all night if you wanted to. After a few minutes you pulled yourself up deciding to place an order for food from your new favourite restaurant, one Fred had taken you to a few weeks ago, the food was a little on the expensive side but you wanted to treat yourself. Once the order was placed you had a shower before getting changed into something more comfortable and putting on your Spotify playlist as you sorted through all the pieces of work you had taken home to grade over the weekend, then you cleaned up a few things in your apartment so you wouldn’t have to keep looking at the mess. Your food arrived very promptly and you settled on the couch with your plate, putting on an episode of the big bang theory to enjoy whilst you ate.

You weren’t sure how much time had passed when there was knock on your door, dragging your attention away from the episode you were currently halfway through. Your brows furrowed in confusion, who would be knocking on your door this late in the evening? Peeking through the peep hole you saw a delivery man so you quickly unlocked the door and pulled your cardigan tighter around yourself as you greeted him.

“Miss Y/l/n?” He questioned politely, and you nodded in response. He smiled and turned to his side picking up a rather large bouquet of flowers, you let out a small gasp as you realised they must be for you. “Where would you like them miss?” He asked and you stepped aside to let him in.

“Just on the counter please” you couldn’t help but smile as you knew exactly who had sent them to you, “thank you”.

“No problem, have a nice evening” he smiled and headed back out if your apartment as you returned the sentiment. The flowers were absolutely beautiful, the different shades of pink complimented each other and you admired how the colours fit perfectly with the subtle hints if dusty pink you had around your apartment - something Fred had undoubtedly picked up on. A little white card was nestled in between the roses and you picked it up carefully to read the small black font.

I hope these make your day a little better :) - F

You smiled at the simple but thoughtful message, such a sweet gesture that you definitely weren’t used to. Grabbing your phone you quickly found Fred’s contact and hit the call button, the game wasn’t supposed to start for a few more hours due to the time difference so you hoped he would be free to chat. Just as you hoped he picked up on the second ring, his soft voice greeting you through the phone.

“Thank you for the flowers, you really didn’t need to do that” you didn’t like him spending money on you but you appreciated the gesture nonetheless.

“Its no problem my love” your heart fluttered at the sweet name he had never used before, “I wanted to cheer you up a little, even if I couldn’t be there tonight”.

“Well they definitely made me smile, they’re so beautiful” you gently ran your fingers over the delicate flowers, “they’re my favourite you know - roses” you felt the need to let him know for some reason but his small chuckle told you he already knew that.

“Yeah, I remember you said your grandmother grows them so I thought they probably would be” your cheeks ached from how much you were smiling and you knew you were definitely screwed, you were too far gone for this man. “Do you want to talk about your day?” His voice interrupted your racing mind and you could tell what was going through his head - trying not pry too much in case you didn’t want to talk but also concerned enough to ask. It wasn’t often that you showed him you were struggling, you had gotten very good at hiding your feelings but when you did let him in he tried his hardest to prove he was there to listen, not judge. So you told him about your day, all the things that had gone wrong and how you felt like you were failing even though you knew maybe you were being a little dramatic. He listened through all of your anxious rambling, his steady breathing helping to keep you calm before he jumped in with his advice.

“Whenever I have a bad game you always tell me that the next ones a fresh start, a clean slate and I think the same applies here baby. When you go back in on Monday things will be different, you’ll have another chance and everyday after that will be a new day. These kids are usually well-behaved right? Today they were just full of energy and couldn’t focus, just like Monday will be a different for you, it’ll be different for them and you’ll be able to get through to them”.

The two of you talked for a while until you let out a rather big yawn and Fred chuckled telling you to head to bed and that he’d see you tomorrow. Your next request fell from your lips before you could stop them.

“Can you stay here tonight?” You bit your nails nervously as you waited for his response.

“Are you sure?” His voice deep and intense as he questioned you, you bit your lip at the sound, unconsciously clenching your thighs.

“I just want to see you, please Fred” you begged slightly over the phone and you heard his release of breath over the phone and how he had to clear his throat before telling you he’d be there.

You were already asleep by the time Fred made his way to your apartment. He had told you not to wait up for him since the plane wouldn’t be landing until the early hours of the morning, and you happily welcomed sleep after the stressful day you’d had. He let himself in and due to the late hour he headed straight for your bedroom, the game had been fairly dull, an easy win for the leafs and though he was tired from the trip he was glad you had asked him to spend the night at yours, something fairly new to your relationship but a sign you were putting your trust in him. He knew you’d be asleep so he tried to be as quiet as possible when he removed his suit, though despite his best efforts you still stirred in your sleep, eventually opening your eyes.

“Fred?” You questioned, yawning and rubbing your eyes as you sat up in bed. It was then that he noticed you were wearing one of his t-shirts and he smiled at your sleepy expression, you looked adorable.

“I didn’t mean to wake you, elskede”

“Its ok” you mumbled, another yawn following as you returned his smile. He continued to undress and your cheeks heated as you tried to keep your eyes off of him. “You played really well tonight” you mentioned out of nowhere and his own cheeks turned red at your compliment. He made his way over to the bed, leaning over to place a kiss to your forehead before ducking down and capturing your lips, the kiss was far from innocent but he pulled away before he could get lost in it, knowing he’d have a hard time controlling himself if he didn’t, you were irresistible on a normal day and now that you were wearing his shirt and what he could only assume would be a pair of panties underneath, his desire for you was something else - but he’d never rush you into anything so he pulled away and got comfy under the covers, opening he arms to invite you to cuddle into him.

You peppered a few kisses along his chest and up his neck, as far as you could reach from where you were tucked under his arm. His hand was rubbing up and down your spine, reaching a little lower each time until it ran over your ass, you let out a breath as he turned to face you. He leant over to capture your lips once more, the kiss holding as much passionate and pent up lust as the last. The two of you laid next to each other, exchanging kisses and running your hands over each others bodies until Fred pulled back to press light kisses against your neck. The moan that fell from your lips was so sweet and oh so innocent, and it made his cock pulse with need.

Fred would be lying if he said he hadn’t thought about having you laid out beneath him, breathy moans falling from your lips freely as he made love to you. He often imagined the two of you in various scenarios when he lay awake at night in his hotel room, or in the shower after a date, hand wrapped around his cock with thoughts of you on your knees for him, with his hands in your hair and your mouth on his cock, or what it would be like to hear you moan and whimper as he pounded into you. Sometimes he’d wake up in the morning with his cock straining against his boxers, leaking and begging to be touched after a particularly vivid dream of you spread out on his kitchen table screaming his name with his head between your thighs. He knew it was wrong to think of you that way, but he couldn’t help it. You carried a sense of innocence that drew him in and made him want to take it away, he wanted to be the one to show you all the ways a man could make you feel and so when you let his name fall from your lips in a breathy moan - he was hard as a rock without so much as touch to his cock.

You could feel him hot and heavy against your thigh and the thought brought a rush of heat to your cheeks, if it was anyone else you would’ve pulled away but it was Freddie and you don’t think you could ever pull away from his touch. He was the reason for the heat building between your thighs and you couldn’t help yourself as you pulled his body closer to yours. He used his strength to move the two of you until his muscular thigh was between your legs, allowing you to grind your pussy over him, his tight muscles creating the perfect friction and desperate whines fell from your lips as your clit got the pressure it had been begging for.

Freddie immediately noticed your movements and groaned deeply in your ear, shifting his weight slightly so it would be easier for you to grind against him as he reconnected your lips. The new angle allowed his cock to rub against your own thigh and the friction on his sensitive head had him rutting against your body desperately. You were in your own state of euphoria as his tongue continued to fight yours for dominance and your hips moved freely against his toned thigh, your panties undoubtedly soaked through - in fact Fred could feel the damp fabric and just the thought of you dripping wet for him almost sent him over the edge right them and there.

“C’mon baby, cum with me” his voice was deeper than you’d ever heard it and your pussy clenched at his demand. You knew Fred would be dominating in bed, he was dominating in many situations and just because you hadn’t ventured into that part of your relationship didn’t mean you hadn’t spent many nights imagining the things he could do to your body, with his hands, his mouth, his cock. For a split second you thought about trailing your hand down his body and stroking his length but your nerves got the better of you and so you kept your arms wrapped around his neck, gripping onto his shoulders desperately as he continued to kiss you in the way only Fred could.

“Freddie” you whined as his lips found the sweet spot on your neck, the added sensation sending you over the edge. Your orgasm was intense and had you writhing underneath him as his own release followed yours rather quickly. You could feel the deep rumble in his chest as he groaned deeply against your skin. His body fell against yours as both of you came down from your highs, closing your eyes as you tried to catch your breath. A few minutes passed, the only sounds in the room being your heavy breathing before Fred pressed a gentle kiss to your cheek causing you to open your eyes. He was smiling softly at you and you couldn’t fight the smile that spread across your own lips when your eyes met his.

[b612sunsets]

Ahhh I’m happy to see someone else loving The Devil Judge - it truly is amazing 😭😭🖤✨ I love Yo-Han and Ga-on’s relationship I swear let them be destructive together!

I hate waiting for new episodes so please tell me one of your theories, it can be about anything! 🥰

Right?! I love it so much, it's really good to have our lilttle fam getting bigger, can't wait until it airs on Netflix, we will have even more people going crazy about it in here! (at least I hope it will become a Netflix series after the show ends like Beyon Evil - another love of mine) and yes, lawful husbands can be destructive together but only to the bad people pls 🥺

It's tough waiting for new episodes every weekend and at the same time I wish for it not to end so soon. It hasn't finished but I already want Jisung and Jinyoung in a second season or working together in another drama. Their chemistry on screen is too good to stop there

About the theories, there's a few I saw on reddit/twitter and I make my own based on it and after watching every episode, but I think it's too early to talk about them. However, since you requested it, there's some that come to mind as interesting enough to mention.

The fire and the story behind it narrated by Yohan

1- Some people think Yohan did start the fire because he found out about the dirty politicians real intentions and decided to destroy them all in the same place before Isaac could donate the money bc he is "a devil" and capable of that since he was a kid as told by the priest with the school incident and the nanny with the maid and dog thing. side note: not for pranking some kids who bullied him because that's all it seems like, right? But in terms of observing, thinking strategically and being one step ahead when needing to punish the whole classroom who wronged him even as young as he was and feeling satisfied while watching the result and staying out of it. A type of mentality probably encouraged by Isaac and the books he gave him to read, unlike a regular kid who would just fight back or endure it. And we still have to see if it really was Yohan that contributed to the maid's death or if it was something/someone else and the nanny thinks it was him.

They think that Elijah even saw him in front of the door right before the fire started and smiled at him instead of smiling at her parents, like she did in the gates of the cathedral in the previous scene, so that's why she hates him so much now because she can remember seeing him as the responsible for it. But Yohan didn't intend to kill/hurt Isaac and the rest of the family, thinking he could save them or something, and felt guilty that he couldn't do so. Some even said that Yohan delayed too much in trying to save them after entering the church and seeing Elijah getting her legs hurt, that it may have been shock but why would he remember everything and everyone so clearly if he was in shock?

It's a good theory but I have my own remarks: why wouldn't he tell Isaac about the politicians himself if he knew the dirty about them then? They had a close relationship and Isaac gave him books about punishment and everything, it wasn't like Isaac was too naive and wouldn't believe his half-brother. He wouldn't have donated if Yohan told him. "Oh he was being the devil and finding a way to punish them instead of just letting is slide and not donating" still, Yohan wouldn't risk Isaac and Elijah with such a dangerous plan if he could avoid having Isaac and Elijah at all in the destruction scene by telling Isaac about it. It could have been shock and Yohan wanting to look and commit to mind everyone's face in that day responsible for hurting his niece and not caring about anyone else but themselves, pushing him away and delaying his attempt to get to them in time, leaving Isaac and the family behind (after they almost donated them their money) and things like that. So he can avenge them now, like he did in the school with the kids. That's why as soon as he could, he canceled the donation in the most easy way by saying his brother wasn't sane enough to make that decision before dying.

There's also the theories about Isaac being the insane/evil one, which wouldn't surprise me because I've considered it since episode 3 but at the same time I'll not be touching that topic now and I don't know if I ever will unless proven otherwise in some other episode

2- The other theory I have and saw people discussing (the one I'm most inclined to believe because I'm Yohan biased but again it's too soon to be sure) is that the story Yohan narrated is mostly if not completely true and he experiences extreme guilt for not coming back and saving Isaac when the church collapsed on him, as seen in the character introduction by tvN translated in this tweet that we now know it's about Isaac:

The last words Yohan said to Isaac was that he was going to come back for him, so he experiences nightmares like the flashbacks we saw in episode 1 and that's why we don't see any scene of Isaac in the middle of the church after the fire staring at Yohan or during the fire and turning to stare directly at Yohan when he narrates it. Because they're dreams and his guilty conscience and he remembers them when looking at Gaon. The flashback of Yohan kneeling down and touching Isaac with Elijah's bear close to him could be after he got Elijah out from there and he went back to put the bear next to him kinda like a "Sorry for not coming back in time", a reassurance that his daughter for whom he died for is safe and will always stay with him, a "Goodbye". He wouldn't just let Isaac's body lying there, he would go back even if it was too late.

Another thing is that when Yohan is showing Gaon his scar after telling the story, there's a book fallen at his feet. I think it was the thing that fell when Yohan standed up from the table and choked Gaon (trying hard not to comment on that choking scene as a 🔥 Gahan moment for our delight and imagination bc that's not the point right now lol)

This is the book:

And the first page of this book says "Never again will a single story be told as though it's the only one." - John Berger

I searched about it and it can mean that never again will a story be told as if it's the only one that matters. It could also mean that never again will a story be so encompassing of the elements it tackles that no other story need be written about these elements. A story has many perspectives that cannot be understood by just a single viewpoint. Isn't that what this kdrama is all about?

One of the translations of what Yohan said after Gaon left was:

But there's also another version:

The meaning of what he said changes a bit depending on which translation is more accurate, more so when we add the book quote to the equation.

Kim Gaon and his connection to Kang Yohan

People think Gaon could be Isaac's relative in some way or just a look alike (I think it's just a look alike to contribute to Yohan's obsession/curiosity and their proximity from the start, that's why no one really comments on it, not even Gaon when he sees Isaac's picture). Dear God, let them not be related because it would make shipping our lawful husbands really strange, to say the least.

What I'd like to say and almost everyone is forgetting is that in the tvN character introduction we already have Gaon's past and know he wasn't always a goody two shoes, the man was a juvenile delinquent and can even fight (the rebellious phase he said he made the tattoo in episode 3?). He too sought revenge for his parents when he was 16 because they committed suicide after losing their money and being deceived by multi-level con artists posing as social service workers. But the teacher and Soohyun were able to hold him back.

Yohan's father could be one of the reasons for their death. He was a loan shark and might have lend them money after they lost it all and it caused them to have a great debt, that's why Yohan did a thorough research on Gaon and was interested in him (not only because he resembled his half-brother). They shared one enemy in common and maybe even a place (churches, Yohan's father tended to confess his sins in a church when his debtors killed themselves). Or Yohan might have researched about him at the time he knew Gaon was chosen to be the associate judge sitting on his left side instead of way before, because it's important to Yohan to know who he is dealing with and the dirty of their past if they have any. And then Yohan discovered everything and saw his picture and resemblance to Isaac.

The thing is: they have the same distrust/repulsion of powerful people who deceive the world and had a painful loss because of that. Both of them think they have the other exactly where they want but they get more confused about what it is that they really want from the other and get closer (as said in the summary of episode 5 that tvN released) while figuring it out. They will come to an understanding and probably join forces at some point. We saw it in the end of episode 4, the scene of episode 5 when Gaon says he can understand Yohan's pain but can't trust him if he doesn't tell him everything and then Yohan says Gaon needs to decide if he will get in his way or stay by his side. Gaon might go back to his rebellious days and stay with Yohan to seek revenge together while distancing himself from Soohyun and Jungho who prevented him from doing so

And that's about it! Thank you for your ask and hope my answer is satisfying enough! 💙 The hardest but also most awesome part is having to wait to see.

[melloian]

a hack-san review...

I finally got to watch it.

alright this my first review so expect it to not be a good critical. i swear alot and am immature so beware. Oh and I usually don’t do reviews, because I know I would sound god awful.

Review

So the episode starts off as tom wanting marinette to hurry up and go to London but Marinette pretends to be sick to involve going to see her aunt. Her dad ends up knowing her terrible lies anyway. marinette talks how ladybug cant leave paris or guardianship something like that. Following the next scene, clown (gabriel) talking about markov and how his intelligence isn’t artificial??

(yea i watched it on youtube f) expert coding left the chat So dusuu and nooroo gets worry because he akumantized him before and betrayed him, which is understandable. Nooroo was getting happy because they thought this would free their misery with his evilness. until this day i don’t understand how kwamis are fully good creatures but ok. Anyways clown wants to make sure he doesn’t betray by creating a sentimonster that is basically a virus that makes markov have forced negative emotions. Which its called hack-san.

Like what everyone said, this looks like code lyoko 

Anyways i wanna say a few things about the “negative” emotion idea. You telling me that this clown could just make a mother fucking sentimonster that forces negative emotion? This entire time, he been sitting on his ass and waiting yet he could just make another sentimonster that force negative emotions on people and akumantized them? Matter of fact, why the hell he even using nooroo if he can just use duusu at this point. He didn’t even have to akumantized markov, he can use this sentimonster with the same power and it will still play out the same way. Anyways back to the point. clown then turns to into edgymoth and creates the sentimonster as I say earlier. Anyways it cuts to the students hanging out. It cuts to alix and kim racing as markov is counting for them. Markov is basically multitasking along with playing chess and talking to scientist (i think). So alya basically got a text (or voicemail idk) from marinette. She lied to her boyfriend about it just her mom even though it clearly says marinette but he believed that anyway. So alya left. next shot, marinette and her family is at the train. Marinette then got message from alya so she ran to see her but her mother stops her. Her mtoher excuse is i lived and survived with her so you can survive too by staying with her on the weekends! cough 

Marinette proceeds to say she wants to hug alya before she go. so her mother lets her but only a few mins because the train going leave any minute. So marinette hugs alya and alya of course says she can’t leave, because she ladybug, oh what will we do without ladybug if she in London 😢! srsly why everyone so depended on her? I get she the only person to devilize but chat noir can catacylsm a butterfly.

can’t you just idk make illusion to act like ladybug is still there? oh wait that wouldn’t work. So anyway, Marinette gave her the earrings (and keys) and Alya instantly questions what she going do with the keys and earrings. Apparently Marinette wants her to be ladybug for weekend.

Man, she just can’t use any other miraculous? ouch. So anyways marinette trusts her (a person who be yeeting into her boundaries without permission and shit)  and leaves.  So in the next scene, she basically puts on the earrings and talk to the kwamis. And all of sudden she brags about  being ladybug even though she literally was nervous the last scene but ok. Trixx get jealous saying as if he was enough help already (he not wrong). Tikki say sometimes to trixx and all of sudden alya downplay herself being ladybug. Expect she just needed a new name! Anyways trixx tells her about the ladybug issue because then she have lie about everything what happen to the “real” ladybug. Tikki continues by saying that she also the guardian, which annoys trixx for some reason. Alya promises she try to do things right, am I right guys? 

The next scene (back to where the kids were hanging out), alya suddenly paranoid as fuck. She have a hard time telling nino about her mother and starting checking people emotions awhile being scared just to see if they ok.

Nino questions if she ok and alya proceeds to lie and tell if he’s ok. My man nino, you don’t know how to calm down your gurl? Cuts to Marinette and her parents. and uh...

Ngl, I kinda laughed this but that's kinda fucked up ngl. poor chat noir. Then her parents argue about dessert blah blah. Back to clown. So clown explains to degenerate (Nathalie) how the thing hack-san works. Degenerate thanks the virus can spread really quick which pleases clown.

Back to the children hangout as markov still multitasking. Markov falls for obvious virus (imagine being coded to be intelligent but can’t even tell that sometime that just randomly pops up is a virus) and press on it. Markov gets demon possessed by a virus and max looked in concern. Markov then becomes angry and starts insulting everyone and everything. Max asks what happened to him (isn’t it obvious? you saw it like seconds ago) but markov didn’t answer and stormed off. So then after allt hat happened, alya decided to lie to nino about her sickness and nino want to help her so he ran. Alya saw this as opportinuity to run, awhile trixx was speaking to her. Back to markov, him causing a rampage in the streets. then cuts to edgymoth monologue of inaccuracy. So he sends the demon (akuma) to posses markov like  he didn’t do enough damage. anyway he then speaks to markov and just admits he did this to him. Markov repsone to how “perfect” he is (god damn clown, you didn't have to say how sad u is everyday) and accpets the offer. Markov turns into recolored markov again (robostus). So recloored markov creates sonic boom. Marcaniel scene appears. The scene then cuts to max trying to find markov. He phone catches the call virus too and he answers it. He then gets controlled and alya witness this. Then alya got hacked with the virus and just takes off the phone screen. She figured markov is re-demonized (akumantized).  So it cuts too marinette still doing tips. Then the boom came near the train and the lights went out. Damn how strong was the boom? So marinette saw the virus and then noticed how this isn’t normal. She told her parents not to answer it but they did anyways. They became brainwashed and started targetting marinette. and uh..

bad parenting. Why you gave a child who too young to be exposed to radiation a phone. sigh.. moving on. Marinette counts on Alya to deal with this. Anyways it cuts too alya running to alley awhile trixx bullying as usual. Alya didn’t like the name superbug so she wants to change it. Then a transformation sequence happen. Totally not a recycled mister bug, rena rouge, and ladybug’s powerup transformation mashed too one (I know they on budget). 

And uh who is this again? I don't remember..

Its justice spots! Oh right, scarabella?

Her outfit is not bad, its looks well done. But i think the headband kinda ruins it. Anyways scarabella does her extra poses and names herself [copyrighted claim name]. Trixx thinks it could be better. scarabella tells trixx to hide in the yoyo so chat noir wouldn’t see him. Trixx rude asf as usual. Then scarabella process to do another poses and shit, alya for the love of god 

Then she question ladybug as name and then still go with ladybug. Chat noir notices and scarabella noticed and questions how long he been here. Chat noir claims he been here for the longest and how this could've been so much worse. So chat noir gets angry and say there can be only one ladybug. So he assumes she a sentimonster or akumantized villain.

alright bad jokes aside. It just reminds me of that terrible theory Adrien sentimosnter. Anyways, scarabella tries to tell him that ladybug gave her the miraculous. The chat noir go gets extremely mad and smacks scarabella so hard she almost breaks the wall.

God damn chat noir, you could’ve broke scarabella’s spine. I feel like this scene would just gave Adrien salters more reason to hate him. If you going to do a character feeling left out and getting mad this entire situation, don’t execute it like this! this would make people hate the character even more then feel bad for them. After getting smacked against wall, scarabella still tries to say ladybug gave her the miraculous.

Sorry pal, she never told you anything, not in this season so far. If anything, she should just tell chat noir to avoid tantrums like this. Chat noir used cataclysm awhile scarabella lucky charmed. She gets a trash bin and chat noir catacylsm the bin. Then she just beats the fuck out him and ties him up. She later tells him that if she was villain, she would’ve take his miraculous (she not wrong). Chat noir questions why she got the miraculous, she answered and chat noir just accepts her. and another scarabella trying to name herself scene. So they went to recharge. Adrien still complains about the “replacement ladybug.” scarabella answers as if ladybug didn’t have enough time. But adrien still anger and say 

Look I get Adrien frustrated but why the writer make him so unbearable in this ep? I would be ok with adrien being mad at marinette if they didn’t make him sound annoying. They proceed to argue and transform again afterwards. BAck to horror movie train, tom and sabine still looking for marinette. Marinette tried to escape but ended up getting captured by sabine, F. Trashmoth I mean edgymoth talks to recolored markov once again just for miraculouses again. So a random person come yelling for help, and scarabella fall for obvious bait that chat noir tried to warn her but she didn’t listen. Ended up in a trap and had to fight them off and head to the museum. Oh look, another obvious trap. Meanwhile, chat noir was questioning are they friends and stuff. scarabella tried to lie but only made chat noir questioned more. Scarabella tells him he just can’t know everything. So recolored markov started talking like average cartoon villain (you FeLl IntO my TrAp.) So chat noir begins talking about his “weak trap” awhile scarabella joins in. and another god damn it scarabella can you stop doing the posing and bad names already? So chat noir almost got capture until scarabella saves him and he thanks her.

ah man, like it wasn’t obvious at all. Anyways chat noir and who this again?

oh right my bad, red velvet cake.

Not in this universe edgymoth, not in this universe. Anyways recolored markov bullies red velvet cake and then tell his minions to attack them. Then another name deciding scene, jfc is this a running gag?  So red velvet cake lucky charmed a frying pan. As soon she got the frying pan, she just downplays her self again. Chat noirs encourages her (good boi). And he does the poses like red velvet cake do. ok imma let him pass because at least he didn’t do it frequently. So red velvet cake comes up with a plan. So red velvet cake decided to trick them by telling chat noir to catacylsm her earring just for them to give up. Of course edgymoth downplays this plan because she just a newbie yall. So red velvet cake tells them that if they drop the items and people first, then they surrender. Recolored markov accepts but wants them surrender first. But red velvet  cake wants to do the dropping first. This goes on and on. Edgymoth is a dumbass enough to accept (for a villain, imagine not listening the so called “high” intelligent robot) this offer so recolored markov does the same. So red velvet cake turned her self in. So markov drops all the items & people. Afterwards, marinette got up and saw recolored markov. So marinette though of taking the frying pan. Chat noir then turns himself in too and edgymoth celebrates not knowing he a dumbass for what he done. So Marinette smacks the shit of recolored markov and the demon got out. She then traps it. Shadowmoth just left shocked. red velvet cake then devilize the demon and undo the damage. So markov turns back to normal. Markov then saw that she not the other ladybug. Chat noir said good things about red velvet cake and pounded it. Edgymoth mad and degenerate sad. 

You would’ve win a long time ago if you wasn’t being a dumbass all the time and reakumanzting xavier 72nd times. So it cuts to marinette telling her trip at London. Alya tells marinette to talk to chat noir. It cuts to ladybug going near chat noir sitting down. So ladybug talks to chat noir about the identity stuff. Ladybug apologize to chat noir afterwards. Chat noir proceeds to talk to her, and worried if she could never see her again. Ladybug tell him she would never leaves him, ending with a wholesome scene.  end card..

Overall opinion?

It wasn’t a bad episode. But i will state few problems I had. 1. The entire idea of alya being ladybug. Even though she did a good job at being ladybug, this kinda infuriates me. Like chat noir already having  enough problems but this just adds more. Not the mention it was unnecessary. 

2. the capturing power. The virus made sense, but the capturing didn’t. think about it, his entire tantrum was from a virus. Why would capturing made sense.

3. Edgymoth re-akumantizing a robot instead of finding new victims. 

4. Trixx was unnecessarily rude here. Its slightly understandable but you didn't have to bully your own owner. 

5. Why didn’t Marinette just let alya use a different miraculous instead of the ladybug miraculous?? Chat noir and her could still save the day without a ladybug.

Anyways here’s the things I liked 

1. Ladybug trying to comfort chat noir.

2. Chat noir’s anger. Yea I know I said him hitting was bad, but his anger is reasonable. This entire season, ladybug haven't been telling him things and stuff so expect him to be mad. But what was unacceptable his attacking alya. 

3. At least edgymoth did at least tried to do smart idea ig...

4. Even though the sentimonster looked kinda bland, it looked nice. I think this sentimonster would be useful for another time.

Reminder: I don’t hate marinette/ladybug or adrien/chat noir. I just think they horribly written

Overall rating?

I'll gave it 4.5/10. Not bad, just not good either.

off topic: alright this took me all time, I had to keep going somewhere so am drained out. i don’t feel like correcting grammar mistakes right now.. Anyways imma go continue to what I was working on so see ya!

[bonjour-rainycity]

Imagine: Being friends with Alice and asking Carlisle for help on your chemistry homework

Characters: Cullen family, female reader

Rating: G

Word count: 2120

Warnings: None

Request by anon: Wait, omg I’m so happy I found a blog that’s updated recently and I’m definitely gonna ✨stalk✨ your blog and read all your writing after hw but if you’re still doing requests, I thought of something that I would just love to see written. And this could be short or something, y’know? It can be whatever you want it to be, but what if the reader is somewhat friends with the Cullens? Reader (maybe like 20 years old?) is invited to their house one weekend after bumping into Alice and becoming friends and from passing conversation, reader knows that Carlisle is a doctor so she asks him if he could help her with her organic chemistry hw cause she’s studying to be a med student? 

A/n Wow I’m so sorry this took me so long! It’s such a cute request and I loved writing it! Thanks for sending it in and for being patient with me :)

Shoot.

Mentally, I groan, stopping my progress towards my car.

I still have chem homework.

I fiddle with the keys in my hand, contemplating. You could go home…lay in bed…maybe with a pint of ice cream…and pass out in a stress and sugar-induced coma.

Oh, how tempting.

But then I remind myself of why I’m putting myself through the hell that is a STEM degree, and turn on my heel, heading back to campus. I know I won’t get any work done if I go home, so the library it is! Thank goodness it’s open twenty-four hours, because it’s creeping up to eleven and I don’t have the heart to return to one of the academic buildings.

Seeing as it’s Friday night, the library isn’t crowded. Still, I push past all the tables on the first floor and head up to my favorite spot on the second. Settling in at my favorite partially secluded table, I pull out my organic chemistry textbook, pop in my earbuds, and get to work.

{***}

A small, pale hand skims over the table near my book, and I look up with a start.

Alice Cullen stands by my desk, clutching a set of books that look too heavy for her thin arms, but she seems to be managing fine. She and I met during the first week of classes, and have been tentative friends ever since. We don’t see much of each other, given our varying degree programs, but she always greets me with a friendly smile and an offer to join her to study. I pull out my headphones, and give her a tired smile. “Hey, how’s it going?”

“Good!” She smiles excitedly, somehow keeping her energy levels at—I check the time on my phone—1:12 am! “Have you been here for long?”

I shrug, feeling the weight of the late hour on my shoulders. “Since around eleven. I was going home but then I forgot I have o-chem homework. I don’t think it should be taking me this long, but I’m struggling. Thankfully only half of it is due in the morning. The rest isn’t due until after the weekend.”

Alice peers over to look at my book and the problems I work through in my notebook. “Oh, those do look hard. But you know, my dad is a doctor, and he probably knows this stuff like the back of his hand. He’d be more than happy to help you.”

I blanch. An invitation to the Cullen’s house? And free help on o-chem homework?

But then I remember my manners. “Oh, thank you, but I couldn’t—”

“Please,” she squeaks, balancing her books in one arm and using the other to retrieve her phone. “We’d be happy to have you over! I’ll let my family know. Does tomorrow around lunchtime work?”

“Uh,” I swallow, not sure I’m believing my ears. “That works great, thank you! I can bring the food?”

She shakes her head, waving off the offer. “Don’t worry about it—Mom loves to cook and will be excited to really use the kitchen. Oh! And there’s this new series my sisters and I have been dying to watch. It’s called Broadchurch. Have you heard of it? Maybe we can start it and see if it’s any good!”

I nod dumbly, too tired and relieved for the help to refuse again. “That sounds fun! Thank you.”

“Of course,” she smiles, shrugging like it’s nothing. “What are friends for?”

My smile softens. She considers us friends. “Do you want to walk out together? It’s pretty late.”

She beams and waits while I collect my stuff.

{***}

I pull up to the front of the massive house.

Alice is waiting for me on the porch. She waves excitedly, and I notice her fiancé standing near the door, looking uncomfortable. I stifle a chuckle. It’s well-known that Jasper, introvert in every sense of the word, fell hard for Alice who is the embodiment of an extravert. I wave, grabbing my backpack and stepping out of the car.

“Welcome,” Alice practically shouts. Jasper gives me a polite nod.

I smile at the two of them, calling out my hello’s and climbing the stairs to the porch. The second Jasper opens the door, I’m greeted by the warm smile of Esme Cullen.

“Hello, Y/n, welcome to our home! We are so happy to have you here.” She extends a warm smile, one I can’t help but return immediately.

Alice leads us straight to the living room, where two of her adoptive siblings, Emmett and Rosalie, lounge. Rosalie sketches something I can’t see, and Emmett yells loudly at the TV, losing at a video game.

“Beat it, Emmett,” Alice chirps, dancing over and taking the controller from his hands. “We’re going to watch Broadchurch.”

Putting his frustration at the game aside, Emmett grins, standing and ruffling Alice’s hair. “Alright, I was getting my ass kicked anyway. Hey, Y/n, good to see you again.”

I return his greeting, familiar with Emmett from an intro to theatre class we had together last semester. The image of his interpretation of Juliet for our final project comes to mind, and I have to stifle a laugh. Emmett goes to leave the room, pulling Jasper with him.

“Send Bella down, would you,” Alice calls after them, already settling on the couch. “Rose, you know Y/n, right?”

Rosalie looks up from her sketching. She smiles briefly at me, then returns to her task. I sit awkwardly next to Alice, waiting for Bella so we can start the show.

“There aren’t many women in STEM.”

My head shoots up, wide eyes turning in Rosalie’s direction. She doesn’t look up from her work, but I know she’s addressing me—Alice is studying fashion merchandising and design.

“Y-yeah,” I stammer. Alice’s older sister is just so intimidating. Well-spoken, obviously intelligent, tall, prettier than anyone I’ve ever met, and top of her law class. She’s not exactly warm either, like her mother or sister—even now, there’s a cold bite to her tone. But the edges of her lips quirk up, and I can tell she’s being nice.

“Don’t let the guys push you around. What you’re doing is important, and you’re probably smarter than them. What do you want to do with your degree?”

The answer, always on my heart and mind, is automatic. “I want to be a doctor. So, med school is next.”

She nods once. “Good.”

And apparently that’s the end of our conversation.

I try to hide my smile by rummaging around in my backpack for my water bottle. It’s nice to feel supported.

Bella comes gliding down the stairs and twists into the living room, folding herself easily onto the love seat. She greets me, and then tosses me the throw over the back of her couch. Alice nods as if forgetting something, then reaches into a basket hidden between our couch and Rosalie’s chair and produces three more blankets, throwing two to her sisters and keeping one for herself. She shoots me a grin as each of us, even the serious Rosalie, snuggles up.

Alice stands, turning off the lights and then wraps back in her blanket and scoots near me on the couch. “I hope this is good!” With a grin, she opens Netflix and plays the first episode.

{***}

Broadchurch does not disappoint. Before I know it, we’re halfway through the second episode, eyes glued to the screen. Bella, who was definitely reading a book under her blanket at the start, has put it to the side, leaning forward and watching the show intently.

The front door creaks, then clicks closed, and Alice smiles, pressing pause on the remote. “Dad’s home.”

Before long, the famed local doctor comes in to say hi to the girls and to greet me. He’s just as welcoming as his wife!

“Alice told me you are having trouble with some organic chemistry homework?”

I nod, hoping it’s not too much to ask for his help. “I got a good start on some of the problems last night, but I keep messing up. I’m not really sure where I’m going wrong—there’s no answer key so I can’t work backwards through the problems.”

He nods, casually resting his hands in the pocket of his slacks. “I remember o-chem homework quite well.” He grins conspiratorially. “It is the bane of many a med student’s existence. Why don’t you girls finish up your episode and then join Esme and me in the kitchen for lunch? I can take a look at your homework if you like.”

Relief washes over me. “That would be great, thank you so much.”

He smiles warmly. “Of course. Now, if you all will excuse me….” With a twinkle in his eye, he leaves us to rejoin his wife.

This family is so nice! I wonder why they get so much flack at school?

Alice resumes the episode, and soon my musings are washed away as I try to piece together the mystery of the murder before the detectives can.

{***}

Esme is a wonderful cook. Carlisle sings her praises but doesn’t fix a plate for himself, saying he ate plenty as she was cooking. We all sit down at the table, though I’m the only one who eats in earnest — Bella claims to be filled up on snacks, Rose says she’s on a diet, and Alice takes a small helping for herself, every now and then poking the chicken in mild disgust. I don’t see what the problem is, the food is fantastic!

Carlisle sits down next to me, and I slide my textbook and notebook in his direction. He smiles, looking almost nostalgic. “I remember these. The good news is, as a doctor, you won’t be doing much of this in day-to-day life, if at all. But it is important for some courses you will take in medical school, so it’s best to master the concepts now. See, on number nineteen, you start the problem correctly, but get lost once you have to balance the equation to continue. Instead of waiting until the middle to balance, I would do that first, that way, you have a solid base before moving on to solve the rest of the problem.”

I nod, peering over at the paper intently. I hadn’t tried that strategy before.

Carlisle takes out a pen, and begins scratching out an equation. Then, he grins, shaking his head, and crosses it out, starting again in much neater handwriting. “Forgive my penmanship. Though, if you decide to continue and become a practicing doctor, your handwriting will soon be indecipherable, too.”

From across the table, Rosalie snorts, and I can’t help but laugh along. It seems almost a rite of passage for a doctor to have horrendous handwriting.

In clearer script, Carlisle continues working out the problem, then slides the paper over for me to see. He explains what he did at each step, and I nod along, trying to commit as much of it to memory as possible. He works out another problem in the same way, then asks me to try on my own. I smile tentatively as I go, hesitant to accept that I actually know how to do the problem now.

But I do.

It takes concentration to work through the steps, but I can, which is a far cry from where I was last night. Carlisle waves off my thanks, saying I just needed to try a different approach, but I had it within me all along. I bring up another section I had issues with—structures of the elements—and Carlisle teaches me a better strategy for memorizing a few and then figuring out the rest. By the time Esme and Bella have put the food away, my homework is done—in a fourth of the time it would have taken me struggling through it on my own.

“Seriously, Dr. Cullen, thank you so much.”

He smiles pleasantly, handing me back my textbook. “Of course. If you need help again, just come on over. I know the girls love having the company, and my wife and I enjoyed the opportunity to meet you as well.”

Esme appears behind her husband, laying her hands affectionately on his shoulders. “Absolutely, Y/n. Please come over any time.”

I pack up my homework and thank them once again for lunch and for the help. Alice darts to my side, grinning. “Ready to finish the episode?”

I feel so much lighter now that my homework is done, and I don’t feel guilty at all for spending time with my new friends. In fact, I may even indulge in that ice cream when I get home.

“Absolutely.”

A/n Thanks for reading! If you have a moment, here’s the link to my masterlist :)