#/this was hard because for some reason i forgot that yellow is the most difficult and insufferable colour to EVER exist. and i missed my

[keeps-ache]

◎ worship/her ◎

[transparent version below]

[lucy90712]

Winning La liga

A/n: sorry this took so long I had it done yesterday but forgot to post  Gavi:

- he's so nervous before the game like 10x more nervous than he has been before any other game

- it's really hard to watch him get ready while just staring blankly at the wall or mirror clearly thinking about the game in too much detail

- as there was no away fans allowed you couldn't go to the game which meant you couldn't be there right before they go out to hype him up so you had to do it before he left

- give him loads of encouragement while also trying to tell him that it won't be the end of the world if the team don't win as they still have loads more chances to clinch the title

- when he left he seemed less nervous but when you saw the videos of the team arriving at the stadium you could tell he was nervous again so after you know the warm up is over you text him with some last minute encouragement as well as a picture of you in one of his jerseys as he always says he likes to see that before a game

- most of the match you watch from behind your hands or a pillow as you can't handle the stress of such a big match but each time there is a goal you jump up and celebrate before going back to hiding behind something when the game restarts

- when the final whistle is blown you almost can't believe it but watching all the players celebrate brings an immense amount of excitement as well as a lot of relief as it has been a long stressful season

- Pablo is so incredibly excited about winning his first league title and you are so proud of him as you know how hard he works and how much effort he has put into this season which is all playing off now

- as soon as Pablo is in the locker room he finds his phone to FaceTime you because he wants to celebrate with you and he wants to see how excited you are as he knows you will be nearly as excited as him

- you congratulate him and the entire team as they come to check who Pablo is talking to even though they already know it will be you as you are the reason Pablo is always on his phone

- the two of you stay on FaceTime throughout the celebrations so you kind of become part of all the celebrations even though you aren't there in person at some point you even start to feel a bit sick from all the jumping around Pablo is doing with his phone

- at some point you tell him to go and enjoy himself with the rest of the team which he does but you get constant updates from him when he's on the bus and when they all arrive back at the training ground to celebrate with the fans

- eventually he arrives home and makes a grand entrance by chanting as he enters the door which definitely gets your attention as you were starting to fall asleep waiting for him

- right away he runs over and picks you up off the sofa to jump around with you as he somehow still has loads of energy even though you are exhausted from the small celebrations you did at home let alone the hours of partying the team did

- he holds you tightly to him while peppering kisses across your face as it's the only way he can think of to show you how much he loves you but also how excited he is but you love it especially when he stops to give you a passionate kiss on the lips

- when he finally puts you down he does not stop talking about the game he tells you every little thing that happened he rants about the tackles and getting a yellow card but then he gets all excited about the chances the team had and all the goals

- he looked so cute being so excited so for most of the conversation you end up just staring at him and looking at the way his eyes light up like you've never seen before it all just makes you so happy seeing his dreams come true

- at some point he moves on from talking non stop to being very affectionate and constantly wanting to have his arms around you which made doing your nighttime routine very difficult but you don't mind as it's always nice to have Pablo's arms around you

- when you finally get into bed Pablo can't sleep as he still has too much energy which you help him get out until he is starting to get tired enough to actually get some sleep

- until he falls asleep he cuddles you and thinks about how he can't wait to enjoy more of the celebrations with you in the morning

Pedri:

- Pedri has played a few big games in his career so far so he's not as nervous as he was before those but he is still quite nervous as winning the game means winning his first league title which is a big deal

- you try your best to keep him distracted until he has to leave by getting him to spend time with you doing the things he likes to do as that combination always puts him in a good mood

- before he leaves his family all arrive as you invited them over to watch the game with you and seeing them really seems to help him especially when he gets some words of encouragement from his mum and jokes around with Fer

- usually before every game you wait for Pedri after the warm up to give him a pep talk before going to your seat but as you won't be there in person you have to send him a text instead which you just have to hope helps settle his nerves

- Pedri reads the text you send a million times before the game because your words always help him get focused and ready to give his all which he really needs before this particular game as he doesn't want to make a mistake and mess up the teams chances of winning

- when the game starts you and Pedri's family all watch the tv intently and somehow you and his mum and up holding onto each others arms for support as that's the only way you will make it through the game

- as soon as Lewandowski scored all of you went crazy celebrating as it only took 11 minutes which made you relax a bit more as the team were clearly very motivated and playing really well

- with each goal you only celebrate more especially for Pedri's assist as much as it wasn't the goal he wanted to get you just know he will be over the moon to have contributed in probably the most important game of the year

- even when espanyol scored you guys didn't really care as it was obvious that they weren't going to win the game and Barca were going to be champions but when the full time whistle blew it almost didn't feel real

- it's safe to say there are a lot of happy tears as all of you are just so proud of Pedri and the team you especially have seen how hard they have all worked to get back to winning ways so you know this means everything to all of the players

- as you are celebrating with Pedri's family your phone starts ringing with a FaceTime call from him so you answer it and sit in front of everyone so they can all see him on the screen he is beaming from ear to ear as you guys tell him how proud you are

- he stays talking to you for a bit before you tell him to go and enjoy the celebrations and that you will see him whenever he gets home he tries to tell you he will be home as soon as possible but you tell him to enjoy himself and not worry about getting home

- eventually he makes it home after celebrating with the team for a few hours and as soon as he opens the door his family rush over to greet him while you hang back slightly to let them have their moment as you know how close they all are

- when Pedri sees you stood to the side he pulls you straight into his side so you can hug him too and of course he squeezes you extra tightly as that's the only way he knows how to hug you especially when he's happy

- after a quick conversation his family leaves so that the two of you can spend the rest of the night together and as soon as they do Pedri picks you up and starts spinning you around which makes you a bit dizzy but it's ok as you love seeing Pedri so happy

- once he puts you down he turns on some music and the two of you start dancing which is something you can never get Pedri to do even when you go out together so you savour the moment of finally getting to dance with him

- as you dance together he gives you lots of kisses and even gets adventurous by dipping you which made you nervous to start with but after he did it once you knew he wouldn't let you fall so you were happy for him to do it again

- when you stop dancing he takes you up to bed and before you can change into your usual pyjamas he is handing you his new champions shirt for you to wear as he wants to see his favourite person celebrating his best achievement other than securing you

- as you cuddle in bed he tells you all about the evening and all of the celebrations which weren't filmed all of which sounded a little crazy to you but he enjoyed himself and that's what matters

- Pedri doesn't stop talking until he heard you snoring slightly as you sleep on his chest which tells him he needs to get some sleep too but not before taking a picture to remember the night by

[sheepkebby]

Completing Hard Rain on expert difficulty

I don't even have a witty tagline for this one, this was just terrible

Day 1.

Once again joined by Tabitha, most god gamer alive. Today Ellis is wearing an outfit called 'Neon Slasher'. No idea what it is but it looks dope as hell.

So the first map wasn't so bad, that's how it usually goes with this challenge. We only died once, but we had used up quite a few health kits. By the time we got to the saferoom we were all out. So uh, yeah we didn't have a lot of supplies going into the next map.

Still, we tried our best! On maybe our second or third attempt, I got a message from our very good friend Black who asked if he could play too. Hell, why not? A third human survivor oughta increase our odds, right?

Well, not under these circumstances.

Y'know how I told you we used up all our medkits before getting to this saferoom? Yeah, we really needed those. We decided pretty quickly that we should just restart the campaign from the beginning and try to save as much resources as possible.

Luckily, we did just that! We got to the saferoom again without dying and we had three health kits to spare!

Now came the real challenge. We had the supplies. We had the audacity. All we needed to do was get through the sugar mill, and the rest of the campaign would be smooth sailing... Hopefully.

Let me tell you man, it was rough. I don't know how many witches we startled but I do know that I'll have that terrifying choir music ringing in my ears forever. I think avoiding the witches is the most difficult part of this entire campaign, if not this entire expert challange.

It was nice to cuddle my homies in a corner in terror as the witch killed the bot, though. Love canoodling with my homies.

On one attempt, I threw a Molotov at a tank right when Tabitha got incapped. So... yeah, she burnt to death. My bad. I immediately got my karma though, as a smoker dragged me into my own fire. I didn't get a screenshot of it, but here's an artistic recreation of the scene.

At some point, Black threw a pipe bomb and it blew up almost this entire shed. Like, it's just a skeleton now. I don't know why but that was for some reason really funny to me. Look at it. He turned it into a gazebo.

On another attempt, I had accidentally friendly fired at Tabitha, incapping her. I then immediately friendly fired at Black after that, incapping him as well. I also somehow managed to startle a witch in the process. This all happened within the span of a few seconds. I don't know how I managed to fuck up this badly. I really don't. I swear to god I'm usually much better than this.

I didn't even fight the witch that was running towards me. I accepted my fate. This was my punishment for what I had done.

I swear not every death was my fault, we all had our fair share of fuckups. I just had to bring up my blunders because even though it was painful it was also kinda hilarious.

Thank god there's like 8 respawn closets on this map. Like, there was one around literally every corner. I've got no idea how many times we had to rescue each other, but I know we had at least one or two revivals per attempt.

At least whenever I died I got to look at Nick's amazing outfit. The pink and yellow glasses are really a serve. Absolute fashion king over here.

Sadly, after about 15 deaths, we had to call it for the night.

We managed to get to the bottom of the elevator once, but I died juuuust across the street from the gas station. Maybe if I had an adrenaline or a bit more health I could've made it. At least we know it's possible! If we can do it once, we can do it again.

We're all pretty certain the sugar mill is the most difficult part of the campaign, no way the run back or the finale would be more cruel than this.

I'll look up some strategies from other players who've attempted this, and we'll try again tomorrow. Stay tuned for part 2!

In the meantime, look at my spray. I completely forgot I had it LMAO

[mypoisonedvine]

𝙝𝙚𝙖𝙫𝙮 𝙢𝙚𝙩𝙖𝙡 𝙡𝙤𝙫𝙚𝙧 (𝘱𝘢𝘳𝘵 𝘐𝘐) || sub!bucky barnes x dominatrix!reader

(𝘱𝘢𝘳𝘵 𝘐)

𝙘𝙝𝙖𝙥𝙩𝙚𝙧 𝙨𝙪𝙢𝙢𝙖𝙧𝙮 || your newest client asks you to give him a real challenge, and you’re happy to oblige.  

𝙬𝙤𝙧𝙙 𝙘𝙤𝙪𝙣𝙩 || 6.3k

𝙬𝙖𝙧𝙣𝙞𝙣𝙜𝙨 || smut but no actual sex (lots of handjob stuff though and some brief oral m receiving), overstimulation, multiple orgasms, more cnc (because of the overstimulation), bondage, edging, impact play (riding crop), brief cock torture (she just hits him with the crop a couple times), implied “kink as trauma response” (this is gonna be a theme throughout the whole fic), forced to break a rule/doomed to fail/impossible challenge (idk how to warn for this but yeah), forced voyeurism?, thigh riding (reader rides bucky’s thigh), some degradation/dumbification, brief/implied dacryphilia, a bit of angst/feelings

new parts posted on thursdays!  join the taglist here

“Can’t,” he sighed, “can’t come again.”

He looked so painfully adorable when he begged like that, his brow glistening with sweat as he jerked under your touch.  “Aw, poor baby,” you pouted, twisting your hand when it stroked over the head of his cock, “yes you can.  I know you can.  Just gimme one more.”

“F-fuck,” he whimpered, “Mistress, please— just stop, please, I can’t… can’t take any more…”

“I know you can, sweetheart— I know you can be my good boy and keep coming for me.  Tell me your color.”

“Yellow,” he whispered.

“Think you’re almost done?” you pressed, smiling when he nodded breathlessly.  “Yeah, there’s my good boy— gonna come again for your Mistress?”

“Yes,” he breathed, baring his teeth as his hips bucked wildly to try to avoid further sensation, “y-yes, one more, just one more, I’m gonna— fuck, gonna come, just don’t stop… fuck, it hurts.”

“I know, but you’re being so good for me,” you purred.  “You like it when I milk your pretty cock, don’t you?  Even though it hurts?”

He winced but nodded.  “C-coming, Mistress, fuck, I’m coming…!”

Since it was his fifth of the evening, he could only give you one thick drop of come that gathered at his slit before running down over your hand which finally slowed to a stop.

You both sighed with relief as you pulled your hand away and leaned back, admiring how beautiful he looked as he caught his breath, covered in come and sweat.

"Good job," you praised with a chuckle, "I hope I didn't go too hard on you."

"N-no, that was… that was really good," he sighed, slumping back onto the bed.  "Can I use your shower before I go?"

"Yeah, totally," you nodded.

After a long pause, you gave him a confused look.  

"I thought you were gonna shower?" you reminded him.

"Oh… I guess I have to get up for that," he sighed, making you laugh.

"Rest a bit longer.  You've had a… challenging afternoon."

He nodded a little and you got up from the bed to go wash your hands and freshen up a little, smiling at your own appearance in the mirror— sometimes you forgot how you looked when you did this, but there was an undeniable aura of power around you… especially after a session like that.

This was only your third week with James, and already the dynamic felt so natural between you— and yet, so fresh compared to your other clients.  Normally it took longer for a newbie to get comfortable with you, yet most of them had had multiple doms before and here was James, totally inexperienced and taking it all like a champ.  There was an air of innocence about him, you figured, in contrast to this undeniable strength and intensity that you caught glimpses of from time to time.

Sometimes, it felt like he was chasing an innocence he lost a long time ago.  Whatever it was that drew him to this, you were happy to help him along the way.

It was probably a little dangerous to enjoy sessions with a client so much; even though you often pretended that everything was about your pleasure and not theirs, obviously since they were the paying customer it was the complete opposite in reality.  But there was an equity to the dynamic with you and Bucky, he served you with a real dedication rather than for his own gain.  And you, meanwhile, had rediscovered the fun in this career that had originally drawn you to it in the first place.  It was less like a science now, more like an art— you let yourself go with your instincts and do whatever felt right in the moment, and both of you benefitted for it.  

“Come on, get up and clean yourself off,” you encouraged— gently, of course— as you left the bathroom and returned to find James laying sprawled out on the bed.

“I know you said falling asleep here was a one-time courtesy,” he remembered with a smile, “but I could use it now a lot more than I needed it then.”

Honestly, you didn’t see him smile that often.  It was pleasant; you hoped to see it again.  He did get up, though, and take the washcloth you handed him to wipe off the come that had gotten all over him.  “What are you thinking for next week?” you asked as you leaned against the wall.  “Any special requests?”

“We can discuss all that over the phone,” he decided.  You still didn’t understand fully why he didn’t like to discuss future scenes in person; it was like he wanted the in-person interactions to be as ‘in character’ (if you will) as possible.

“Alright, just keep me updated,” you requested with a shrug.

You got changed while he took his shower, and when he emerged to the living room he seemed surprised to see you sitting on your own couch.  After a moment, you realized it was the fact that you were in normal clothes that threw him off.  “I don’t think I’ve ever seen you in jeans before… or pants of any kind.”

You looked down at your outfit with a smile, glad it was at least still professional and not sweats and a t-shirt or something.  “Yeah, I guess you haven’t.  First time for everything, right?”

“Yeah, had a lot of first times with you,” he chuckled.  “Most significantly less mundane than this.”

A brief silence filled the room but it wasn’t exactly awkward, at least not for you.

“Well, I’ll see you next week,” he decided as he grabbed his jacket from your chair and slipped it on.  You’d been spending most of this session trying to forget how good he looked in the leather motorcycle cut, so that was out the window now as you tried to keep from visibly biting your lip while he walked towards the door.

Damn, he was fine.  But there were more pressing matters at hand.  Like preparing yourself and your apartment for your next appointment.  This guy wanted to get slapped around until he cried… shouldn't be too difficult, but your arms would probably be sore tomorrow.

Opposite of last week, I really want you to edge me tonight, as long as possible.

Don't go easy on me, make me hold it in.  I need a challenge this week.

-J

It was odd how emails from James made your week.

He seemed to prefer to communicate his desire with you this way; maybe it was easier for him, and you couldn’t really blame him for that.  The nice part was that you didn’t have to temper your reactions, if you had any, since you were always alone when you got his messages.  You might be old hat at it now, but you could remember a time that you had to hide a grimace when a client told you to your face what he wanted.  Not that you would shame them for it or anything (unless, you know, they paid you to), but you didn’t enjoy everything you did with these men.

Did you enjoy everything you did with James?  Yes, but you were pretending not to— for your own sake.

You dressed a bit differently for today’s session, more conservatively… not that it was especially conservative by any other person’s standards.  But it left your legs and chest covered, somewhat in the spirit of ‘mean corporate businesswoman’ aesthetically.  For some reason you felt like using a riding crop required wearing pants.

James certainly didn’t seem to mind, with the way he nervously cleared his throat after you opened the door.

“Good to see you again,” you greeted formally, “please, come in.”

He stepped past you, still looking at you and not at what was in front of him, meaning he ended up slamming himself gut-first into your kitchen island.

“Oh!  Are you alright?” you smiled when you noticed. 

“Yeah, I’m good,” he nodded, rubbing his stomach for a second but recovering quickly.  “I told you I can take a lot of pain,” he joked.

“Well, we’re going to put that to the test today,” you promised cryptically.  “You must’ve seen the crop on the table.”

He nodded again.  “Yeah....”

“Are you looking forward to it?”

“Yes,” he answered, a bit too quickly.

“Then let’s get you tied up, James.”

Straddling his lap, you realized the rope was a bit too tight when you saw it digging into his skin; maybe he wouldn’t mind that, but you did, so you pushed the rope back through itself to loosen it slightly.

“How long did it take you to learn all these knots?” he asked casually, watching your fingers nimbly work the ropes around his wrists.

“Not too long,” you shrugged, “I’ve only been doing this a few years… but I knew them before that.”

“Boating school?  Boy Scouts?” he suggested jokingly.

“Just a hobby,” you decided, dodging the covert question about your past.  “Were you a Boy Scout?”

“Do I look like a Boy Scout?” he countered with a scoff.

“Not anymore,” you shrugged, “but I bet you did once.  You’re sorta innocent, you know.”

He swallowed dryly, and you raised an eyebrow as you glanced from the knot you were tightening to his face, which looked a bit flustered.  “R-really?”

“Yeah,” you confirmed, leaning back on your heels to look at him straight-on.  “Are you surprised to hear that?”

He nodded quickly, and you laughed.

“Aw, you thought you were so kinky, huh?  So dirty,” you purred, running your hand up his leg until he tugged slightly on the newly-tied ropes— a subtle way to get him to test them for you.  “But you’re really not.  You’re just my sweet, innocent boy.”

He whined— really, properly whined— and you dug your nails into his skin until he hissed instead.

“I don’t think you believe me,” you noticed, leaning back to reach for the crop behind you.  “You think you’re so filthy and perverted, right?  Are you a pervert, James?”

“Yes,” he breathed, shivering as you let the crop slide gently over his skin— his abs, his hips, his legs which were already quivering so adorably.  “Yes, Mistress.”

“And how’s that?”

“I think about… getting hurt,” he admitted weakly, “when I touch myself.  And I touch myself all the fucking time.”

“Yeah?  How many times a day do you stroke that pretty cock, James?”

“Twice every morning,” he blurted out, “after that it depends.”

You didn’t let yourself show your surprise at that number.  “Depends on what?”

When he hesitated, you hit him sharply on the thigh and he winced.  “Depends on what I… what I end up thinking about.  Sometimes… sometimes something reminds me, and I have to get off.”

Something told you not to press on what it was that he needed to be reminded of, and why it made him want to jerk off so bad.  Something told you he wasn’t ready to tell that story yet.  “Did you touch yourself today already?” you asked instead.

“No, no ma’am,” he shook his head, voice wavering as you brushed the crop over his chest, “it’s… it’s different with you.”

“Yeah, I bet it is,” you smirked, hitting him on the stomach quickly.  “I bet you’re finally satisfied, right?  Nothing’s ever worked for you before.”

“Yes,” he moaned, crying out slightly when you hit him on the arm (flesh— you were too afraid what sound the metal one would make) much harder than before.  “The nights I see you, I… I can sleep.”

“You sleep better?”

“No, I just… sleep.”

You tried not to react to that, moving to a new question instead.  “Do you want me to hit you again?  Or do you want me to stroke your cock for you?”

An obvious choice to some, surely, but he seemed to really struggle with it.

“Which one do you think you deserve?” you asked instead.

“Hit me more,” he decided.

Instantly, you struck him once on the face and again on the shoulder, then moved down to his legs for three in a row in spite of the way his body jerked away instinctively.  

“Fuck,” he sobbed, “don’t stop— I need more…”

You focused on his legs, on the inside of his thigh where he seemed the most sensitive.  His twisted joy turned to true fear, though, when you brushed the end of the crop over his balls.  “Do you want me to hit you here?” you challenged.

“I… I don’t know,” he stammered.

“Let’s make a deal, James,” you offered, “wherever I hit you, I’m gonna kiss it to make it better.”

“Then hit me wherever you want,” he nodded, almost smiling at you.  He cried through his teeth when you whipped his shaft with the crop— not especially hard, in fact quite delicately, though the second was harder.  And the third, though not much more aggressive, was right on the sensitive tip; his eyes shot open and his hips jerked away.

“So good, such a good boy,” you whispered proudly, putting the crop aside to lean in and kiss his cheek where you’d hit him before, his shoulder, his arm.

You worked your way down carefully as he breathed heavily beneath you, whimpering slightly when you kissed his thighs and notably ignored his flexing, leaking cock.  “Please,” he whimpered.

“Shh, be patient,” you soothed, “be my good boy.”

“Your good boy,” he repeated, trying to restrain himself but already bucking up into the air again, “fuck, wanna be your good boy, Mistress.”

“Are you already close, pet, just from getting hurt?” you asked in a faux pout.  “You’re not gonna come if I give your pretty cock some kisses, right?”

“I— I won’t come,” he promised.  “Not until I get permission.”

“Baby, it’s gonna be a long fuckin’ time before you get permission,” you promised with a toothy grin.  “Look down at me, honey, I want you to see this.”

He hesitated for a second but obeyed, looking down at you with an expression that was full of awe as you gripped his cock and gave gentle, teasing kisses up his shaft.  It bobbed in your hands with each one, and he let out the most beautiful sigh when you kissed the tip carefully.

A wide lick made him jerk beneath you.  “F-Fuck,” he stammered.

“You said you wouldn’t come,” you reminded him.  “Can I keep going?  Are you gonna be a good boy?”

“Don’t stop, please,” he breathed, “I’ll be good.”

Taking the head between your lips, you suckled gently as he shivered and moaned.  You weren’t sure you’d ever been with anybody— on or off the clock— who was so sensitive.  And you loved it, honestly; who could resist those precious noises he made?

As much as part of you wanted to go nuts and really push him to the edge, you tried to be gentle and careful so as not to make it impossible for him to hold back.  But even then, when you gently grasped his balls in one of your hands and squeezed them, he apparently couldn’t take anymore.

"S-stop," he hissed, and you pulled back, sitting up.

"You were close?" you asked, and he nodded a little.  "Oh, what a good boy."

He whimpered briefly.  "Yes, your good boy, Mistress…"

Your fingers trailed delicately up the underside of his cock, making him shiver violently.  "I know you want to come, but you want to be good even more.  You're such a sweet little pet."

It seemed like the praises did more to keep him on the edge than the touches, so you kept both going; wrapping your fingers around the ridge of his head, you gave the most gentle and subtle strokes, and leaned in to whisper against his ear.

“Is this why you wanted me to edge you today, James?  So you could show me how good you can be?” 

“I-I don’t know,” he blurted out, rocking his hips as best he could while restrained, “I just wanted to… I just wanted you to make me wait.”

“Well, you don’t need to worry about that,” you laughed slightly, “I can make you wait all day.  Is that what you want?”

“No, that’s— not that long, I can’t wait that long,” he shuddered.

“Mm, that sounds like your problem, not mine,” you smirked.  “Not sure why I asked what you want, honestly… cause I don’t fucking care.”

His choked-out whine was too perfect to ignore.

“Oh, what a pathetic little moan that was, poor baby,” you cooed mockingly, “are you regretting it now?  You’re probably wondering what you got yourself into, ‘cause you’re worried Mistress is never gonna let you come.”

“No, I don’t regret it,” he denied weakly, “whatever you want— do whatever you want to me, just… give me what I deserve, please.”

You stopped touching him completely and he straight-up sobbed.  “You don’t deserve anything from me, James.  You don’t deserve me at all.”

He told you before that he liked when you rapidly cycled between soft and mean.  Kept him on his toes, apparently.  Honestly, you felt a little guilty talking to him that way sometimes, but his cock leaking enough pre-cum to soak the bedsheets beneath him was a sign you were doing something right.  “I know!” he cried.  “I know, fuck, I’m sorry, but I need you.  I fucking need you, Mistress, please— you know I’ll do anything.”

“I’m feeling generous today,” you shrugged, “so I won’t ask you for much.  Just beg me a little more.”

“Please, pleasepleaseplease,” he rushed, “touch me.  Anywhere, whatever you want, I just need to feel you.  I know I… fuck, I know I don’t deserve it, but let me try to— to earn it.  Please.”

You knew if he had it his way, he wouldn’t do much talking at all.  But you couldn’t just let him have it his way, now could you?  It was better to make him just the right amount of nervous, just the slightest hair uncomfortable, by making him talk to you.  And, of course, you liked the way his deep and rough voice got all whiny and needy like this.

One finger under his chin guided him to look up at you, those pretty blue eyes watery and sparkling and wide with misplaced innocence.

“Tell me who you belong to, James,” you instructed darkly.

“You, Mistress,” he whispered, “I’m yours, I— oh fuck…”

Unshockingly, he was reduced to only moans again when you started stroking his cock, the slick precum making every movement smoother.  “All mine, huh?  My little toy?” you confirmed, but he could only nod and swallow thickly.

You sped up quickly, getting faster and faster until you were really, properly jerking him off and he was biting hard on his lip.  Just when he seemed to really fall into it, get almost comfortable, you had to stop.

"Oh, fuck—" he gasped, bucking his hips up to try to chase your hand when you pulled away, but it was no use with him tied up.  You watched his cock bob in the air and smiled.

“Did you think it was going to be that easy?” you smirked.

Shaking his head, you tilted yours to look at him, reaching up to trace your fingers over his chest.  

“Don’t lie, baby, you thought I was gonna let you come, didn’t you?  You’re so sweet, James, and so, so stupid.”

He gasped, and for a second you thought you might’ve gone too far, but it shifted to a moan quickly and you realized he was having the time of his life.

“Just my dumb, brainless little toy,” you continued with a snarl, watching him tug at the ropes as his eyes fluttered shut.  “It’s okay, James, it’s okay… you don’t need to think, I don’t want your mind.  It’s useless.  I want this pretty cock, that’s all I want from you.”

“It’s all yours, Mistress,” he promised, cheeks burning bright red and eyes forced shut.  “All of it, I swear.”

“I know,” you cooed, holding his face gently to soothe him a bit.  But then your other hand wrapped around his cock and he was anything but soothed.  “Shh, shh, don’t make any sounds, you’re just a toy and toys need to stay quiet.”

You missed his noises, actually, but he looked so cute biting his lip and struggling to suppress them.  His cock was so swollen in your hand that you honestly wondered if it was somehow getting bigger.  Was that even possible?  Your mouth was watering regardless.

“I’m gonna give you a little break,” you promised gently, “but I’ll be honest, pretty boy… I don’t think you’re gonna like it one bit.”

The look he gave you beautifully balanced fear with anticipation, and you stopped stroking him to reach over towards the bedside drawer and pull out a vibrator.

“Your Mistress is feeling a little.... self-indulgent today,” you winked.  “And since I, unlike you, don’t need to hold myself back from coming, I think I might as well get myself off if I want to.”

His throat bobbed as he swallowed dryly, watching you closely as you stood up off the bed and started to carefully undress yourself.  It was a lot more fun to get naked when you were wearing something that didn’t actually show much skin— the button-up seemed to really get him going, his tongue mindlessly darting out to lick his lips as you opened one button at a time.

Once it was off your shoulders and on the floor, and he could see the almost-transparent bra you had on, you moved to opening your trousers as well.  Just to be mean, you faced the other way as you pushed them down over your ass; you heard his breath catch and you smirked to yourself, spinning to face him again in just the matching, dark red bra and panty set.

“What do you think, do you like this better than the black ones?” you asked coyly.

“I like you naked better than both,” he answered, and you grinned.

“I’m gonna let that backtalk slide just once because it’s not worth my time to go over there and slap you for it,” you decided.  “But don’t test me, James.”

“Yes, Mistress,” he answered dutifully, sounding a bit out of breath as he watched you climb back onto the bed, positioning yourself carefully.

You faced him straight-on and laid your legs over his, meaning your lace-covered pussy was in full view and only inches from his leaking cock— the damn thing looked sore by now, purple at the tip and just as desperate for attention as the rest of him.

When you pulled the fabric aside to show him your cunt, he hissed and looked away.

“Look at me, James, keep your eyes open,” you demanded, seeing how totally wrecked he looked when he turned his head back to you and stared down at your body with half-lidded eyes.  “Look at how fucking soaked my pussy is.  You remember how it feels to be inside it, don’t you?”

He swallowed, sighed, and finally (just barely) nodded.

“You remember how hot and wet and tight it is, don’t you?”

“Y-yes,” he choked.

“Well, that memory’s all you’ve got to work with, sweet boy, because I don’t think I’m ever gonna let you fuck this pussy again.”

He really, properly sobbed, tears streaming down his cheeks, and those arms flexed against the ropes defiantly.  “N-no, please—” 

“I’m gonna make myself come with this,” you promised, interrupting him as you grabbed the vibe, “and I want you to remember how it feels when I come around you, okay?  

Turning it on, you wasted no time pressing it to your clit, moving the end of the toy in slow circles and keeping a close eye on him as he watched you.  Your intention had always been to give him a show, but the embarrassing thing was how little of it was an act.  Ironically, even though you’d been edging him this whole time, having to touch him that way without any pleasure for yourself was almost as torturous.  You’d soaked through your panties by the time you had him tied up, to be totally honest.  So, giving into it and letting yourself feel good was a breeze.

“Think about when I was riding you, James,” you instructed, your own voice clearly affected by your pleasure now.  “Think about how good it would feel if I let you come inside me.”

“Oh, god,” he cried, leaning his head back.

“Think about my pussy milking every fucking drop of come out of you.  You know I wouldn’t let you stop until I was completely full of your come, I bet you’d like that.  I bet you’d like to eat your come out of me, you sick little pervert.”

“Fuck!” he yelped, tugging at the ropes harder now— for a second you thought he might really break them and jump you.  And for a second, you knew you’d let him.  It made your walls clench as you imagined facing the consequences of driving a man to the brink of insanity until he couldn’t help but fuck you like an animal.  It was a good thing he didn’t see you bite your lip as you imagined that.

“You know what I’m thinking about?” you taunted.  

“God, don’t tell me,” he sighed through his teeth, but obviously you ignored him.

“I’m thinking about what a good boy you are for me,” you cooed, your hips starting to rock up against where you held the end of the vibrator; you pressed it down harder onto your clit and moaned instantly.  “Yeah, I’m thinking about how pretty you look when you’re all desperate and needy and fucking pathetic—”

“Oh—” he choked.

“My dumb litlte whore, that’s all you are, James,” you groaned.  “I know you wish you could touch me, it’s all you can think about, right?  That pretty head of yours would be completely empty if it weren’t for thoughts of me and how badly you want me.  Right?”

“Yes,” he whispered huskily.

A shiver ran up your spine when the vibrator bumped into a more sensitive part of you, and you did it again and again until you thought you might lose it a bit faster than you meant to.  “This toy feels really good,” you informed him in a purr, gasping when you slipped the vibrating body of it into your pussy, “but it doesn’t feel as good inside me as you do.”

His eyes fell shut but he still winced a bit every time you made a sound; he couldn’t run from this, no matter how hard he tried.

“Oh James,” you moaned loudly, fucking yourself with the vibe for a moment before you pulled it back out to focus even harder on your clit, “I’m gonna come.  I’m so, so close… I can feel it getting stronger, I think I might make a mess on these sheets.  And the only way I’m ever gonna let you come is if you watch me do it.  So open your fucking eyes.”

He blinked quickly as he opened them, gaze scanning your whole body before settling on your cunt; you were sure he could see it pulsing as you got closer and closer, you knew he was imagining how it would feel.  You only spared a brief glimpse at his cock, bobbing between his legs, and wished you could just slip it in you now and come while it stretched you out. 

But that wasn’t what he was here for, sadly, and you were sure you were the only being truly denied of your desires, despite how it probably seemed from the outside.

“Oh my god,” you breathed, numbness starting to tingle in your legs as your orgasm built up quicker than even you expected.  “I’m coming— James, I’m coming, oh, fuck… right there— yes!”

A gush of heat warmed your cunt at the same time that shocks ran up your spine and down your limbs; you could feel your legs shaking, and you knew he could, too.  

It got so intense for a second that you had to pull the vibrator away, though you didn’t stop coming until a few moments later, eyes falling shut without you meaning for them to.

You actually laughed a bit, breathlessly, as you turned the vibe off and set it aside, although you weren’t sure exactly what was supposed to be funny about this per se.  When you opened your eyes, you saw James looking down and looking positively defeated.  But he looked tense, too, and you sat up on your wobbly legs to get closer to his face.  

“Relax, James,” you told him firmly as you examined him.

“I— I can’t,” he whispered. 

“Why not?”

“I’ll come.”

Nothing could fight your wide grin anymore, not when you heard that.  “Oh, baby… are you about to come without even being touched?  Is that how much you liked watching Mistress come?”

He nodded, ever so slightly, and you laughed.  Not quite a mocking laugh, moreso impressed.  Prideful, even.  You leaned in to give a wet kiss to his neck, licking over his pulse as he shivered violently.

“That’s my good boy,” you whispered against his skin.  He whined and you cooed soothingly right away, “oh I know, I know.  It’s so unfair, isn’t it?  Mistress gets to come and you don’t…”

“Please,” he stammered, “I’m so close, let me come, please.”

“But I don’t wanna see you come, baby— I wanna see you cry.”

You started to slide your hand down his chest and he jumped up to attention as he tried to squirm away.  “No, please, don’t— don’t touch my cock, not if I can’t come.”

“You can hold it in, can’t you?” you pouted.

“No, I can’t, I can’t,” he sobbed, watching fearfully as your hand moved down to his stomach and over his hips.  

“But I thought you were my good boy,” you frowned, suddenly wrapping your hand tight around his cock as he choked on a gasp.

“Mistress!” he sobbed.  “Please, don’t—  don’t move your hand, I’ll come.”

"Never fucking tell me what to do," you instructed firmly, just barely stroking as he cried weakly.  "I'm gonna touch you however I want and you're not gonna come because you're my good boy, right?"

"No, Mistress, I can't stop it, I'm gonna come— stop, please…"

"You'd better not fucking come," you hissed through your teeth, speeding up your movements and watching his eyes shoot wide open, "you'd better hold it in until I'm done with you."

"I'm trying— please slow down, can't take it—"

You shook your head, tutting disapprovingly.  "No, baby, I tell you what you can take."

"Oh— oh god, Mistress, please, please stop, please, I c-can't— fuck!"

You pulled your hand away the second his cock started to flex but it was too late: come was shooting from his swollen tip and painting his chest and stomach.  You didn't even wait until he was done to backhand him across the face.

"I'm sorry!" he yelled.  "I'm so sorry, I couldn't help it…"

You softened slightly when you heard his broken voice, saw the desperation and fear on his face— it was real, more real than the fake ‘no’s and the encouraging pleas for mercy.  "Baby, it's okay, you tried so hard," you soothed instantly.

Hope filled his eyes just as much as tears as he looked up at you.  "Am I still your good boy?"

"Always," you smiled, caressing his face where it was already turning red from your slap.  

You reached down and caressed his cock with the back of your fingers, watching it flex weakly.  

“Let’s get you cleaned up, alright?”

His lip twitched, almost like a wince.  “Do we… do we have to stop?”

You quickly glanced at the clock.  “Um, no,” you mumbled, “we still have time.  Just tell me what you want.”

“I wanna watch you come again…” he admitted softly.  “Is… is that okay?”

Although you weren’t sure what you’d been expecting, you were still surprised.  “Yeah, sure.”

“But… but closer this time,” he added, “not so far away.”

You were literally laying on top of him, how did that count as far away? 

“I wanna see your face,” he clarified.

“Okay,” you nodded, deciding to indulge him.  It was sort of like aftercare, except that this wasn’t exactly the ‘after’ part yet.

On your knees beside where he was leaning back against the headboard, you slipped your hand down into the lace panties again, finding your clit still swollen but not too sensitive.  A little gasp fell from your lips when you touched it, rubbing it carefully with two fingers while he looked up at your face.  

You felt slightly exposed when he watched you this close, and you didn’t know where to look to avoid direct eye contact.  Looking at his lips was just a little too tempting, so that wouldn’t work.

“My hands are a little tired,” you explained, “they might cramp up.  Maybe I could use your thigh…”

“O-okay,” he nodded, and you removed your fingers from your panties to sit down on the thick muscle of his leg.  You felt him tense up under you slightly, and you carefully began to rock your hips until your clit rubbed just right against the inside of your underwear.  Surely he could feel how wet you were— actually, you both could hear it, almost a wet clicking-like noise as the soaked lace slid against your skin.

The dynamic shifted slightly, not that you minded it, as he watched you ride him carefully.  Just as he couldn’t hide much from you when he was naked and tied up and baring his soul to you in the kinkiest way possible, you couldn’t hide your pleasure from him when he was looking at your face so up-close.  You let your hands carefully roam his body, narrowly avoiding the trails of cooling come he’d left on his stomach and chest, until you found his strong shoulders and held onto them for balance.

“Fuck,” you mumbled to yourself, biting your lip as your sore clit throbbed against his hard, muscular thigh.  

“Will you… could you kiss me?” he requested quietly, and your heart broke a little bit.  You shook your head, and he nodded in understanding.

“I’ll kiss you here,” you offered instead, whispering against his skin before you pressed your lips to his forehead, then his cheek, then his jaw.  “Is that better, James?”

“It helps,” he agreed in a sigh.  

“I’m close,” you warned quietly, pressing your cheek to his and weaving one hand into his hair.  “I’m gonna come again, on your thigh.”

“Let me touch you,” he begged, “just a little, please…”

You nodded, about to reach forward to untie one of his hands, but he snapped the ropes and you had totally forgotten he could do that.  He quickly ran his touch all over your body, calloused hands and bound wrists in stark contrast to your soft skin.  The metal one was a little cold but it didn’t bother you; the other was almost too hot, and it was like being warmed and cooled all at once.

He ran his fingers down your spine, he gripped one of your shoulders, he rubbed your legs: he did everything he must have been wishing he could do this whole time, even gasping as he ran one hand up your chest and over a cup of your bra.  Just as you sensed that he was about to ask if he could touch you there, you nodded and felt his metal hand tug down the red lace and grab your breast— thankfully not very hard, though he did give your nipple a quick pinch which made you gasp.

Burying his face in the crook of your neck, he finally settled his hands on holding your hips, just tight enough to slightly guide your movements as you rocked faster and more desperately.  “Please come,” he begged weakly, “Mistress, please… use me.”

It sort of hit you all at once then, like a punch to the gut.  Except, you know, a lot more fun than getting punched in the gut.

“James,” you gasped, legs quivering where they straddled his as a new patch of slick soaked the lace (and presumably his thigh as well).  He held you tight, kept you moving through it while your fingers tangled in his hair and your mouth fell slack for another, louder moan.

The way his lips moved over your skin, laving your collarbones and pulse point and the innermost corner of your jaw, was positively worshipful; reverent.  “Mistress,” he whispered, almost sounding like praise but tinted with awe.  Your movements slowed down to a stop and the two of you breathed a sigh together, unintentionally.  “Thank you,” he mumbled.

“What for?” you asked, blinking quickly and looking down at him, coming back to reality (though you weren’t quite sure where else it was that you had just been).

“I dunno, everything,” he decided.

“Don’t thank me,” you smiled.  “Keep paying me, though.”

He laughed a little, glancing away.  “Yeah, and I’ll pay you back for these ropes… sorry."

"No, hey, don't be sorry," you dismissed, getting up off of his leg and standing up to go grab a towel for him.  "I'm just sorry we still haven't found anything strong enough to hold you."

"It's fine, they're strong enough to make me stop myself when I want to do something I shouldn't, that's all that really matters."

You nodded to yourself as you dampened the towel and came back to wipe him off.

"I can do that for myself," he reminded you, sounding a bit embarrassed, but you thought it was sweet. 

“You just focus on getting those ropes off of yourself,” you decided with a little smile.

[dirt-cup-draco]

George x Reader- Firsts

hi hi, can you please do one with 7th year George where he’s dating a hufflepuff reader and they’re like 3 months into the relationship or something and she has never had any previous experiences....

You were avoiding George like he was a dungbomb and he knew it very well. He figured that if he’d given you some space you would’ve come around by dinner but you were still nowhere to be seen and George couldn’t help but think he’d scared you off for good. 

The night before you two had been cuddled up in your common room after everyone else had vanished for bed and he had promised that he wouldn’t get caught and he wouldn’t miss your date that weekend by getting detention from Filch. With a playful glare from you and a kiss on your cheek from him, you two had returned to reclining on the plush couch and talking idly about your days. 

When you had both grown a bit sleepy, George had meant to kiss you goodbye but neither of you had wanted to pull away. You’d been so warm in his lap and he could feel your every curve. He’d slipped a hand underneath your yellow jumper and then- you had pulled away, so harshly in fact that you had dropped to the floor with a squeak. 

After that you’d been red faced and unwilling to meet his eye. George had meant to apologize, for what he wasn’t exactly sure, had his hands been cold? Had he gone too far without realizing it? You’d told him with a faked yawn that you needed to be getting to bed and he needed to sneak back to his dorm without getting caught. He hadn’t had the chance to talk to you and it left him very uneasy now that he couldn’t find you. 

“Where’s your girl?” Katie nodded to the empty space beside George. Ever since the two of you had started going out, three months ago, you had eaten your dinner at the Gryffindor’s table and he ate lunch at yours while breakfast was reserved for your friends. Now, you were absent, but no one dared fill the gap in case you arrive.

“Uh- oh, yeah Y/N said she had extra classes tonight. I think she’ll be out soon, I’m gonna go meet up with her,” George chimed in, hoping his friends didn’t realize that he didn’t know where you were and that he hadn’t known all damn day. It seemed his bumbling answer had passed and George walked off, his plate still full. 

Walking the corridors, George wracked his brain for any indication of where you might be. He had tried your common room three times already and no one had seen you at all. You hadn’t showed up to breakfast, or you had once he had gone, and the same went for lunch. He felt as if he had done something wrong but he never thought you’d disappear because of that. If something was wrong, why hadn’t you come to talk to him? 

You two hadn’t yet had a bump in your relationship but the more hours passed, the more George viewed this as a bump. He was fighting helplessness, confusion and frustration. If you hadn’t asked him to leave so abruptly the night before he might think that you had just been busy all day, but even on your busiest days you had found time to see George for even a short while. Was he being selfish or needy? Of course you could do what you wanted with your day but you’d always been content to spend as much time with him as you could get and he felt the same. 

George’s stomach churned. Had your feelings changed? Maybe you were finding a way to tell him you didn’t want to be together. Maybe you were with someone else... No. George knew you and it didn’t matter how bad a relationship got, you would never cheat on him.

 He was lost deep in his thoughts, wondering what he could’ve possibly done, when he ran into someone. It took him a second to realize that he had even hit someone, let alone knocked them to the ground. It took three more seconds to realize that the girl on the ground was you. Your scarf was draped around your neck and your hair was messier than he had ever seen it but the howl of the wind against the school seemed to answer that question. Your nose was tipped with pink and you looked up at him with watery eyes. 

“Um, hi?” You finally squeaked when George dropped the the ground beside you, gathering you into a tight hug. Realizing he was squeezing a bit too hard he pulled back and found it difficult to look at you. His heart thumped against his chest with an unrelenting pace. 

“Been looking for you all day, love,” George explained, rubbing the back of his neck and looking anywhere but you. “Thought something was wrong and been worried all day,” 

You watched your boyfriend and found he couldn’t sit still. It was a common trait people associated with the twins but you knew he fidgeted most when he was nervous and right now he was rubbing his neck and bouncing his leg and shifting his eyes around the corridor without settling on one thing. Guilt burned deep in your veins as you saw how uncertain you’d left him feeling. You’d been similarly caged in your worry but you hadn’t known how to speak to him about it. 

“Is it okay if we go to my room?” You asked, hand brushing against George’s cheeks and he brought his eyes to yours. You felt a butterfly take flight in your stomach and you couldn’t fight the small smile it brought on your lips. “I just wanna talk, nothin’ bad,” You promised as George tried to hide his worry behind a crooked smile. 

Smiling through his discomfort was something you found George did often and you didn’t want to be the reason he did it now. Grabbing his hand and squeezing, you led him to your dorm. Both of your hands were clammy and George kept rubbing at his neck but you felt calmed by the boy’s presence. 

George shut the door behind himself as you kicked off your shoes and climbed in your bed, legs criss cross as you leaned forward and patted the space in front of you on the duvet. 

“Promise I wont bite,” You joked and George followed suit by taking his shoes off and climbing in your bed. You stretched your hands out in front of you and George set his trembling hands on top once you gave him a pointed look to do so. 

“Why’ve you been avoiding me?” He asked, no longer being able to hold it in as he looked into your bright eyes. You still looked at him like he hung the moon in the sky, so where had you been? Maybe he was going nuts... Was he really that clingy? 

“I was....scared,” You admitted and he was glad to let go of a breath he’d been holding in all day. At least he knew you had been steering clear of him and he wasn’t just so irrevocably attached to you that even ten minutes apart seemed like too long. 

“Did I do something?” 

Your heart jerked as George’s voice cracked and you had to squeeze his hands, kissing his knuckles to reassure he was perfectly fine. It seemed to help his shoulders relax from their tensed up position by his ears but he was still shifting uncomfortably. 

“You didn’t do anything wrong,” You started slowly, chewing the inside of your cheek as you tried to explain all that had been happening in your head since the night before. “Y-you know that you’re my first boyfriend right?” 

George nodded, eyebrows sinking to the middle of his forehead as he appraised you with more confusion. What did that have to do with anything? Maybe he wasn’t enough and you wanted to see what other fish in the sea there were... 

“Well... First boyfriend, first kiss, first everything.” You explained with red stained cheeks. George’s eyes found yours and he suddenly had a hard time breathing. Right. You hadn’t done anything before. There was nothing wrong with that, of course, but George forgot that before him, you’d only been on a three dates before. It was astounding to him no one had tried to snatch you up sooner. 

“I would never make you do anything you didn’t want,” George felt like he had to clarify, blushing to the tips of his ears as he thought of being your first anything. Of course he wanted....that with you. You were the most beautiful girl he’d ever met and the more he grew to love you, the more stunning you grew in his eyes. He wasn’t ready yet, and it seemed you weren’t either, but eventually he would like to be the one to lay you down and show you how loved you were. 

“I know that,” You smiled gently, brushing more gentle kisses over the tops of his knuckles and George couldn’t breathe. Your smile had returned to your face now, full force, and the last of his anxieties vanished. 

“It’s just that last night, I thought maybe you had wanted more than kissing and I panicked and then you were gone and I spent all night worrying that I’d made you angry or that you’d realize you don’t want someone who wants to go so slow...” 

You paused, feeling small suddenly as you prepared to let George in more than you had in your entire relationship. 

“I guess I’ve never been comfortable with intimacy of any sort, physical or emotional. It takes a lot for me to trust someone and because of that I have a hard time speaking my mind and letting others in. Y-you’re someone I trust with all of me,” 

“Y/N, you don’t have to explain if you don’t want-” 

“I do, George,” You promised, shuffling closer so your knees touched. “I want you to know all of me, at least mentally,” 

George felt his chest swell with pride. You trusted him. Giving you an encouraging nod, George quieted down in the hopes you’d continue.

“I have a hard time trusting because of my family. My parents might still be together but there’s never been two people less suited for each other. They’re always fighting, always going on about something, and it makes me skeptical of love. Or at least, I was skeptical. Dates never appealed to me and the few I went on were just proof that I didn’t trust anyone enough to have me; mind, body, or spirit. On the other hand, it’s isolated me. Everyone is dating, or it feels like everyone is, and I’ve barely just had my first kiss,” 

George brushed his lips against your cheek then and you smiled, doing the same. 

“There are days that I worry all I can do is the wrong thing, like everyone sees me and thinks I’m odd or stupid or annoying. And then that makes me feel like no one wants me around and so I stay away from people and it just makes me feel like I’ll never be happy again, I know it sounds silly-” 

“No, no,” George vetoed, hand resting against your neck, thumb brushing against your jaw as his eyes bore into you. “I understand, okay? We all have days like that I think... Like you can’t get out of bed and the weight is so heavy on your chest it’s hard to breath and like you’re never going to know what it’s like to feel okay again... I get it,” 

You were stunned into silence for a moment at George’s honesty. He was quite right that everyone must have those days, but you never thought your beautiful, silly, funny Georgie would. He seemed so immune to it all but you were honored he was letting you see otherwise. 

“And Y/N, I want whatever I can have of you and I don’t care if it seems slow to others. I’ve got your heart and it’s all I need. If eventually you want to give me more then I’ll be... well, I’ll give you all of me back,” He flushed and you giggled at the embarrassment. “All I’m saying is I like us the way we are and if you want me to keep my hands to myself then I can wait for however long you want and need,” 

You couldn’t help the burn behind your eyelids as your emotions got the better of you. You knew not every man was like George Weasley and you prayed you’d never have to be with anyone that wasn’t him. Your heart had chosen him and you realized in the quiet of your bedroom that George was it for you. You tucked the thought away, knowing it was a bit too soon to tell him such a thing, but you hoped one day you could tell him that you wanted him until the end of your days. 

“D-did I say something wrong?” George panicked watching the tears build in your eyes, his hands cupping your cheeks affectionately as he tried to comfort you. What he didn’t expect, was you to burst into giggles before throwing your arms around his neck. 

“No, silly,” You sniffled against his necks, pressing a fleeting kiss to his pulse. “You said all the right things and now I feel terribly silly for worrying all day and worrying you by disappearing,” 

George let himself smile as he pulled you tighter against him, leaning back on your bed and dragging you with him so he could tangle your legs with his and cuddle. “Consider my worries gone, darling,” He soothed and you nodded against the junction of his shoulder and neck, letting his comforting scent fill up your senses. You were giddy to realize your pillow would smell like his shampoo. 

“Missed you,” You muttered quietly, somehow fearful even after your conversation you would come off as too much by telling him such a thing. George caught your quiet words and kissed the top of your head. 

“Missed you too,” He spoke honestly as he ran his fingers through your hair. “Just promise next time you’re worrying about us, you come to me and talk about it? You can take some time to think about it if you need, just let me know where your head is alright? I don’t want to lose you over a bit of silence we could both fix,” 

Extending your pinky out from between you two, you looked at George as he linked his finger with yours in promise, a cheeky grin on his face as he lowered your hand and kissed you with a gentle caress of his lips. 

Fighting a grin, you thought you might be looking forward to all of your many firsts so long as they were with George. 

tag list: @stuckysdaughter @thehumanistsdiary @gaycatlord-stuff

[aggressive-positivity-network]

Okay, so you said I could send an ask for headcanons about the childhoods of some specific merc(s)... I think I would really like to read your headcanons about Soldier’s and Engineer’s childhood :)

Thanks in advance and I hope your well.

Ooooh…I’ve been waiting for this! And thank you for being specific and not just saying “the rest of them.” Sometimes I get overwhelmed with nine specific mercs to write for. Your specifics are much appreciated.

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

Soldier:

Soldier doesn’t talk very much about his childhood - whether it’s because something happened or he just doesn’t remember it, no one can tell. It’s nowhere in his file, either…he refused to do anything except tell fantastic tales of a fictional youth.

However, in a rare streak of almost lucidity, he spouted off the entirety of his younger years, much to the team’s surprise. Usually, if anyone asked directly, he changed the subject.

But now he described everything in vivid detail. And, with a bit of research from Miss Pauling, everything fell into place.

Apparently he had been born in a small military town in Georgia. His father was overseas, leaving he and his mother alone in their small yellow house.

In order to make ends meet, his mother worked at a nearby factory, mostly leaving Soldier to fend for himself and the house.

“Can you be a big, strong soldier like daddy for me?”

Soldier would always agree, finding his own food, his own entertainment, and his own friends. No matter what happened, he never bothered his mom. If anything, his job was to protect her.

That’s why, when his stomach started hurting and his arms and legs ached, he said nothing about it.

When he forgot the chores he was supposed to do and even the names of his friends, he didn’t bring it up.

When he felt tired all the time and some days could barely get out of bed, he just chalked it up to laziness like his mother did.

It turns out the factory they were next to was polluting the water next to the house with dangerous amounts of lead, which soon overcame Soldier’s immune system of steel.

He could barely remember anything anymore, and he became more and more distraught every day. Sometimes he would forget where he was and run outside, then get lost in the woods, only coming back once he remembered where he was supposed to be.

Soldier began to wear one of his father’s old helmets after his mom commented on his red eyes and the dark circles around them. He didn’t want to worry her. Besides, it helped bring back a few memories if he ever got lost again.

Finally, it got to the point where he didn’t even remember his mother, or his promise to her. He began to wander farther and farther away from home.

One day, he didn’t come back at all.

Out in the world with not a single memory to his name, Soldier wandered far and wide. He usually slept in barns and old, abandoned houses, cut off from most people.

Occasionally, he would find a family that wanted to “raise him as their own,” only to turn him away after finding him too difficult to care for.

He had frequent nightmares, ate little due to his unresolved stomach issues, and could barely walk ten feet without forgetting where he was going.

If he accidentally wandered into the same house twice, he would be chased out with either a broom or a gun - usually the latter.

He became “the demon child” in some counties, and “g*psy kid” in others, due to his long, unkempt hair, hidden eyes, and odd habits.

It even got to the point where Soldier couldn’t sleep on anyone’s property because he would be actively fought off like a wolf or a bear.

His only pleasure was an old movie theater that, as he recovered from his lead poisoning, remembered the location of and frequently snuck into.

The only thing that played were romance movies - which, like many children, Soldier hated - and war movies, which he watched over and over again with starving eyes.

Because of these movies, a single memory from his mother’s house came to him. A woman, tall and muscular from hard labor, giving him a shiny badge to hold, asking him to be a strong soldier like his father.

And thus began his life-long dream of becoming a military officer.

He trained according to what he knew from the films…which was mostly running, doing jumping jacks, and occasionally rolling around in the mud.

This only served to distance him further from his fellow human beings, but he didn’t care. Soldier had a mission, and he was going to do it well.

But the biggest change was his hair.

He had started cutting it off with sharpened rocks, but he was always saving up coins he found for a “proper army cut.”

Finally, he had quite the collection in a dirty mason jar, and marched into the barber shop in his town to ask for a haircut.

The manager was appalled, and at first refused, but Soldier stood his ground.

“Civilian, I’ll have you know that by denying a soldier with a haircut, you are denying America one of its best fighters! I can’t curdle the enemy’s blood looking like a hippie!”

After a short yelling match that, of course, Soldier won, the manager decided it would be in his best interest to comply.

He walked out of that shop with no hair on his head, but a huge grin on his face. Next stop, the ranks.

Soldier went from draft office to draft office, applying for and being denied entrance to the army for his obvious lack of mental stability.

This is when the personal retelling ended, since Soldier became very upset by the memory of his recruitment failures, but Miss Pauling concluded that he just bounced from state to state until Mann Co. found him, quote, “sitting in an alleyway, eating army draft paperwork while sobbing uncontrollably.”

Engineer:

Engineer also never really talks about his childhood, but both Medic and Spy (Spy knows everything about everyone on the team) know that’s for a good reason.

He grew up in a trailer community near an almost ghost town in Texas.

His father was an abusive car mechanic with a mean streak a mile wide and a shop full of failed inventions. His mother wasn’t any better - she was bitter and reclusive, only really coming out of her room to pick a fight with her husband.

However, what Engie lacked in family, he more than made up for in friends.

He had a rag-tag, Rugrats-esque team of pals from all walks of life: Rhapsody, the daughter of a struggling porn star; Tom, the son of two farmers wiped out by blight; Cici, an adopted girl that could barely walk into her trailer without a black eye and a string of slurs; Quinn, the nervous child of a single mother that serves as guidance to the other kids; And Fred, who didn’t seem to have any family, but had become a greaser big brother to all of them.

Together, they explored the desert near the trailer park, pooled their resources to feed and support each other, and used their individual strengths to get through each day.

Engineer, whom everyone affectionately called “Big Dell,” snuck parts from his dad’s workshop for his own creations.

By the time he was twelve, he could make a small, running engine for the soapbox cars his friends frequently raced.

No toy, piece of clothing, glasses, or tool was out of his line of expertise.

One day, though, upon finding that some of his parts were missing, Engineer’s dad gave him a terrible beating that broke a few of his fingers and left a huge gash near his eye.

Since then, he refused to fix, make, or even touch a tool.

He wouldn’t tell anyone what happened, but they could make a pretty good guess, since they knew where the scraps and parts had come from.

The whole group was furious with Engineer’s dad - their Big Dell was funny, smart, and was more loving than every family member they had combined. Even Quinn was red in the face.

They wanted to break into his dad’s workshop and destroy all of his inventions, just to teach him a lesson, but they knew Engineer would take the fall for it.

Instead, they rummaged through trash cans, searched their toy chests, and looked under their trailers to find things Engineer could use.

They waited until his birthday to unveil the massive pile of supplies they had stowed away.

Engineer immediately dropped to his knees and began to cry, and everyone else dogpiled him for a huge hug.

As the creme de la creme, they gave him a pair of welding goggles - the same welding goggles he wears to this day, having modified them so they still fit his growing body.

With his healed fingers and renewed spirit, he made each of them a gift: a toy car for Rhapsody, a skull ring for Fred, a full set of candle wax crayons for Cici, a chewable necklace for Quinn so they wouldn’t chew on their collar, and a mini-planter for Tom.

But Engineer was given the greatest gift - confidence in his own abilities and that he can be and was appreciated for more than his services.

This gave him the drive to build bigger and better things, which his friends happily assisted in creating.

Engie’s best memories are with that motley crew of scrawny, beaten-up kids.

But, as he became a teenager, the abuse grew worse by the day.

He was often kept in his dad’s garage to fix cars in sweltering heat and with nothing to show for his work except threats of what would happen if a customer complained.

His mother finally grew bitter enough to pick on him, wondering aloud and pointedly if she had made a mistake by having him, then immediately contradict herself by wailing in his arms about how she’s the most awful mother in the world, and how she would be gone soon, and then nobody would have to deal with her anymore.

Engie grew more and more distant from his friends as they either moved out, ran away, or, in Rhapsody’s case, died.

He thought of just shutting the garage door and turning on a car a couple times, but he would always return to his memories of the hidden cave of goodies his friends had collected or the many inventions they had helped him build.

It just wasn’t worth it.

On a night when his depression and self-doubt was especially bad, he decided to build a personal invention for the first time in years - a small, robotic chicken made out of bent gears and empty oil cans.

He worked on it for a few weeks, but made the mistake of leaving it on a work table once it was finished.

Engie came to work the next morning with his dad ready to chew him out. But, before any finger could be lifted against his son, he was interrupted by a sweet older couple that was having their tires replaced.

“Now, Ethan, ain’t that just the cutest thing you’ve ever seen in your life?”

“Hm?”

“That there chicken statue over there! It looks like it could very well get up and start peckin’ for worms, don’tcha think?”

Engie looked at the couple, then at his dad, then at his chicken. He slowly lifted it from the table and turned the key.

It started to slowly lean forward, then took a few steps on it’s long, spring-loaded legs. The neck went down, and the chicken’s rusty beak began to scrape at the pavement.

Now he had the husband’s attention.

“Didja build that yourself, son, or did your daddy help ya?”

Engineer looked at his dad for a split second before answering.

“My own sweat ‘n blood, sir. My daddy says I should stop wastin’ time on ugly thing-a-ma-jigs an’ put my hands to somethin’ worth doin’.”

The man smiled. “Well, this ‘ugly thing-a-ma-jig’ shows real skill. We could use somebody like you, once we train you up a bit.”

“Now hold on a damn - !” his father interjected, but was silenced with a cold stare.

“We’ll put ya through a state-of-the-art school, then put ya straight inta the work force. You can build whatever you like…and you’ll have a lot better materials than rusty tin. Whaddaya say, son?”

Engineer just nodded, and the man grabbed his hand and shook it.

“We’ll keep in touch.”

Engineer left that trailer park at age seventeen, leaving his fuming father and drunken mother behind.

He only stopped to visit Rhapsody’s grave before embarking on his new life.

There is still a stone plate with a message carved into it next to the headstone. If you brush off the leaves and dig out the moss, you can see Engie’s parting words:

“A friendship with you and the rest of the gang is the greatest thing I ever built. -Big Dell”

[guardianofrivendell]

Of bookcases and headaches

Merry x gn!reader

Requested: Yes, by a lovely anon for my 1k sleepover! “Congratulations! May I ask for 💙 with Merry, General Prompt 8 and/or 6?”

Prompts:  6 - Are you taking care of yourself? 8 - Is that my book? 

Warnings: no warnings, how about that?  

A/N: This got longer than I intended to... So this gets its own post and will be linked with the oneshots instead of sleepover drabbles. It was the first time writing for Merry (besides the preference posts) so thank you anon for this request! Also yes, this might have been inspired by the events of the past week :)

I’ve been out of my writing mood for weeks - ever since I’ve published Dwarves Always Knock Thrice and I hope I’m getting back into it with this fluffy comfort fic 🙈

Merry was on his way to meet up with Pippin in the Green Dragon, their weekly visit for a pint or two to celebrate the end of the week. Or the beginning of a new one. Any reason was a good one really. 

The all too familiar path took him past your house and he caught himself slowing down his pace every time, in the hopes of catching you outside so he could invite you to join him. 

Which was ridiculous really, since you were both friends who regularly talked to each other. It wouldn’t be considered weird for him to knock on your door and simply ask you to join him for a pint. 

But somehow Merry found it extremely difficult to do so. 

Most of the time he just lingered for a few seconds before he chickened out and quickly continued his way to his favorite pub, telling himself that next time he’ll be brave enough to do it. 

Today however it went a little different.

When he stopped at the white fence surrounding your yard, he noticed something different about your house. Something that didn’t feel quite right.  It took him a while before he realized what was wrong. 

The curtains were drawn. 

And it wasn’t even time for afternoon tea yet! 

Without a second thought, Merry opened the gate and made his way over to your yellow front door. Gone were his nerves and his doubts, replaced with worry for you. 

He knocked a few times but you didn’t answer. 

It wasn’t until he started knocking on your window, calling out your name that he heard the front door unlock.

“Y/N?” he asked. 

You had opened the door just a smidge, enough for you to be able to see who was so rude to disturb your peace and quiet. 

“Merry?” you croaked.

Merry’s face went blank when he heard your raspy voice. 

“Y/N? Are you alright? What’s wrong?!”

You winced at the volume of his voice, and one of your hands flew to the side of your head. “Shhhh,” you shushed him, stepping back into the darkness of your entrance hall and leaving the door open. 

Merry hesitated for a second, not sure if he should follow. But if you didn’t want him to come inside, you would’ve closed the door or told him to go bugger off. Right? 

Every curtain in the house was drawn, there weren’t any candles lit and Merry’s eyes needed some time to adjust to the lack of light before he could go any further. 

As he entered your living room, his eyes widened at the state it was in.  Books and scrolls scattered everywhere, like they were carelessly tossed aside without a second thought where they would end up. This was very unlike you. 

He watched you curl up in your armchair with a heavy sigh, tucking your feet under you and burying yourself under your blanket. It was obvious he had woken you up, which explained the raspiness of your voice.  

“This place is a mess, Y/N… ” “Yeah, thanks to you,” you accused him.  “What did I do?” Merry looked at you confused.  “You don’t have to yell, I can hear you just fine.” “Y/N, I’m not yelling,” he said, taking a few steps in your direction. “Are you sure you’re alright?”

You ignored his question. 

“My living room looks like a troll horde because I was looking for that.”

You pointed towards the small wooden side table where, in between empty teacups and dirty plates, lay a thick book with a dark blue binder. 

Merry recognized the silver lettering on the spine. 

“Is that my book? The one that you borrowed from me… A year ago or so?””

You hummed in response, burying your head in your hands.  “I know, I’m a horrible person!” 

He chuckled.  “Y/N, you’re hardly horrible. The complete opposite would be more accurate in fact.”

You raised your head a little too fast at his words and you winced. 

“I’ll go and make you some tea,” Merry smiled at you and made his way to your kitchen, taking the dirty cups and plates with him. 

He brought you a fresh cup of tea, almost tripping over the many books and paper scrolls on the floor in the process.  You took a sip and winced when you burned your tongue. 

“Careful, it’s hot. I thought that was a given,” Merry said, rolling his eyes in a playful geste. 

He took the cup out of your hands and placed it on the side table before he crouched down in front of you.

“Now will you finally tell me what’s wrong? I cannot help if you won’t tell me.”

Merry’s eyes met yours and you noticed the concern in them. He didn’t even try to hide it. 

“I hurt my head and now I can not bear any light or noise… And my stomach is upset for some reason. It’ll pass.”

Merry’s eyes widened. He did not know a lot about healing or injuries but he knew what it was like to have a concussion. It was that kind of knowledge you gathered over the years when you were friends with a Took. 

“It sounds a lot like a concussion, Y/N. How did you hurt your head?”

“Long story short, I thought I lost your book. I did not want to tell you because you were going to be mad at me and I hate it when you’re mad at me-” “When have I ever been mad at you?” he interrupted.  “Hush, I’m trying to explain something here. But then when I was lying upside down in my chair, I saw your book underneath my bookcase. That’s why I couldn’t find it!” “Should I ask why you were lying upside down?”

You raised an eyebrow at him and smirked. He would almost think your headache was gone, if not for the slight squinting of your eyes and your pale complexion.

“Do you really want to go there, Merry?” “Hey, if I’m missing out I want to know!” “It’s a great way to see things from a different perspective,” you explained with a smile, but it did not reach your eyes. 

He rested his chin on his hand. “Hmm, i guess you could be right. Now, continue, what happened with the book?”

“When I tried to get the book - your book - from under the bookcase, I couldn’t. It was stuck. So I gave it a good yank, but then the whole thing started toppling over!” “So rude!” he gasped dramatically. “Right?” you laughed, and this time it did reach your eyes. Merry was happy to see you were slowly getting in better spirits and pride filled his chest knowing he was the reason behind it. “I was able to stop the case from falling over, but most of the books fell off the shelves. A few of them hit my head pretty hard.”

Merry nodded in understanding. “Hence the headache. And your troll horde.”

You huddled a little deeper under your blanket and closed your eyes. 

“I didn’t feel like cleaning it up yet.” “When did this happen?”

You opened your eyes again but kept them trained on the ground. 

“Two days ago…” “Two days- Y/N, have you been taking care of yourself these two days? You should’ve called someone!”

You scoffed. 

“I know how to take care of myself, Merry. Besides, I was more asleep than anything else. I didn’t need help.” “You don’t have to do everything by yourself, Y/N. There are people who care for you, you only have to let them in.”

The silence that followed was deafening and Merry wondered if he had said too much. 

He jolted back to his feet and clapped his hands before he could help it.  You flinched and groaned softly, cursing him.

“I’m sorry!” Merry apologized quickly. “I forgot! I was about to tell you what I planned and I got excited. I’ll try and be good from now on.”

“We both know that’s impossible,” you chuckled. Merry was relieved you weren’t angry with him. 

“I’m going to the Green Dragon first, Pippin is probably wondering why I didn’t show up and I don’t want to make him worried. After that I’m coming back, okay? Then I’ll clean up your books so you don’t break your neck. In the meantime, you try and get some more sleep. I’ll be here when you wake up.”

He turned around and stepped into the hallway, but paused when you called his name.

“Merry?” “Yeah?” “You’re the best friend someone could wish for,” you smiled, fighting to keep your eyes open. 

“So I’ve been told...”

Permanent taglist:@roosliefje @kata1803 @entishramblings @artsywaterlily @sleepy-daydream-in-a-rose @marvelschriss @kumqu4t @myrin1234 @dark-angel-is-back @the-fandoms-georgie @lathalea @xxbyimm @sokkasdarling @katethewriter @aredhel-of-gondolin @leethology @thepeanutcollective @elvish-sky @moony-artnstuff @emmapotato88 @kirenia15 @vicmackeybullshxt @hey-its-nonny @moarfandomtrash @anjhope1​

If your name is scratched, it means I couldn’t tag you :) 

[tsukifanbase]

Obey Me! Brothers Visit MC During Autumn: Lucifer, Mammon, and Belphie

Authors Note: i'm thinking I might make this a series, like at the beginning of every season just something similar to this 👀 sorry I haven't written much lately! school's taking up pretty much all my time nowadays-- anywhosie, enjoy! [ also s p o i l e r s] (oh btw this is gonna take place after mc leaves devildom for the summer, before they come back to devildom) lmk if yall want pt 2 with the other characters

Warnings: fluff, bruh absolute just fluff everywhere like so much, mb a lil bit of angst but that's what all my writing is like so hehe

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

Lucifer

- i feel like lucifer would’ve visited you in the human realm before

- like probably sometime over the summer, but he hadn’t seen you in a while and he was starting to miss his favorite human :(

- not like he’d ever admit to that

- i don’t think luci would really be the type to wait until you summoned him for something, if he wants to make sure you’re okay, he’s gonna come see you lmao

- anyways

- lucifer had been staring out the window for quite a while- he had been doing paperwork, but somehow even when you were in a different realm, you managed to disrupt him

- he chuckled to himself at that thought, then sighed

- you had been rather difficult to focus around, always getting yourself into trouble

- luci couldn’t catch a break when you went to RAD

- he missed you

- a lot

- lucifer glanced back at his desk, where he had been working just moments before

- his eyes landed on an unsigned piece of paper that had your name on it

- you could come back home if he got you to sign it

- in truth, lucifer hadn’t really thought about finding a way to get you back to devildom. he certainly missed you, but the idea that he could actually arrange your return just hadn’t hit him yet

- until three days prior, when the sheet with your name on it appeared on his desk

- lucifer had a sneaking suspicion who put it there

- it was diavolo let’s be real

- the real mystery was why lucifer hadn’t gone to bring you the permission slip already

- he had waited- it had been three days, and he couldn’t make up his mind if he wanted to go give it to you

- lucifer didn’t want to put you in the position of having to choose between your life in the human realm or your life in devildom

- but he missed you

- and so, luci checked his watch to make sure it wasn’t three in the morning, then grabbed the permission slip before making his way outside 

- it would be okay to be selfish, just this once, right?

- lucifer arrived at your home at four in the afternoon, you weren’t there

- so he found a way to open the door, bruv you hid the key under the doormat he didn’t really have a hard time lmao 

- you walked into your bedroom at nearly quarter past four and immediately flopped onto your bed

- you didn’t even notice that lucifer was watching from your desk in the corner of your room

- he walked over to you and stared at you

- bro he literally didn’t say anything, he just waited ahaha thats not creepy

- lucifer crossed his arms over his chest and you finally looked up 

- your eyes locked and you quietly asked, “luci?”

- lucifer narrowed his gaze at you and answered you with an, “mhm?”

- and then you freaked out, because honestly you half thought you were hallucinating or something, you jumped up to give lucifer a hug

- don’t get me wrong here, i have the intense feeling that lucifer doesn’t like hugs, but i also have the intense feeling that you and the occasional brother are the exception to that rule

- so

- when you clasped your arms around him, luci barely hesitated in returning the gesture

- he pulled you close, like he never wanted to let go again

- you eventually pulled back to ask why he had come to visit you

- it wasn’t like he didn’t visit often, just usually he had a reason to, even if it was just because he wanted to check up on you

- oh and all that nerve luci had about being selfish for once in his lifetime, yeah that was gone XD

- so your question kinda caught him off guard, like it just seemed like he forgot because for a hot sec he was just staring at you like, ‘uh huh im sorry what was that?’

- when he didn’t answer, you took the lead

- “do you wanna go to the fall festival with me?”, you asked, a bright grin spreading across your face

- and obviously luci knew what a fall festival was, he just didn’t really see your request coming

- but i mean he nodded so lmao

- pretty soon y’all were walking down the street, stopping at random carts at the festival to look at autumn themed stuff

- luci didn’t have human money, so every time he showed a vague interest in something and you offered to buy it for him, he would start squabbling about not wanting you to spend your money and blah blah

- you’d wait until he started walking away from the cart and then buy it for him anyways ;)

- somehow along the way, lucifer suggested you guys hold hands to stay together in the crowd uh huh yeah right lmao

- it was nearing the end of the festival when you remembered there was a park down the street, so you turned to luci and asked, “mind if i show you something?”

- he agreed and you guys started walking down the street, and lemme say the park kinda blew lucifer’s mind

- he was aware that leaves on trees changed colors depending on the season, but he wasn’t expecting how beautiful they were 

- yellows, and oranges, some red, here and there

- and then he turned to look at you

- right at home, where you belonged

- wearing a shirt luci was pretty sure you stole from him, sipping warm apple cider

- the most beautiful thing in that entire park was you, he was sure of it

- lucifer felt the permission slip crinkle in his pocket, and he made up his mind about showing it to you

- he wasn’t going to

- “lucifer, are you okay?”, you sounded concerned, and you brought the hand that had been holding his own to brush a piece of his hair out of his face

- lucifer smiled at you, really smiled, and then replied, “yes, my dear, i’m quite all right”

Mammon

- ok so u guys remember when about two minutes ago i said lucifer wasn’t the type to wait until you summoned him

-well let’s give mammon some credit where it’s due

- he triedd to wait until you summoned him

- bb is many things but he is not patient XD

- ok lets get into it

- mammon was lying on his bed, staring at the ceiling

- he wasn’t really thinking about anything?? but he had been sitting there for like an hour lmao

- asmo and satan were standing in the doorway like, ‘is he okay? does he need a doctor?’

- since usually when people think of mammon they do not think, ah yes his normal activity of... doing nothing?

- then out of nowhere, mammon sat up and his brothers quickly fled the scene to avoid being caught lmao

- mammon got a big grin on his face, and he strut out of his room to go bother you

- he had gotten into the habit of going to find you whenever he was bored or lonely

- he arrived at your bedroom, and just before his fist hit the door to knock, he realized that you weren’t in there

- that you weren’t even in devildom

- mammon barely hesitated before spinning on his heel and heading to lucifer’s office

- he wasn’t even really conscious of what he was doing, but mammon knew why he was about to go ask to visit you

- he needed you, more than he ever truly realized

- when you arrived at your apartment that afternoon, you were greeted by your landlord in the lobby, he informed you that there was a strange man sitting outside of your apartment, who was insisting that he needed to see you

- you practically dropped the grocery bag you were holding, nodded to your landlord, thanked him, and then began sprinting towards your apartment

- mammon was sitting in front of your door, staring down at his hands, he didn’t even notice that you had walked up to him

- you immediately noticed something was off with him, so you dropped to your knees to bring him into a hug, “what’s wrong?”

- he smiled to himself as he wrapped his arms around you, “nuthin'”, now that you were with him

- after you both relished in being reunited, you hopped up and grinned at him, “you’ve got perfect timing!”

- you went to unlock your apartment door, and pointed at the grocery bag that you had abandoned on the floor- it was full of apples

- mammon stood and picked up the bag for you, “apples?”, he questioned, he wasn’t really familiar with human cuisine but it seemed a little bit strange to just buy a massive bag of apples

- “i’m gonna make desert!”, you opened the door and walked into your apartment, then closed the door behind mammon, “and you’re gonna help me”

- the smile you gave him made his heart melt

- he had missed you so much

- “pfffff, why would i do that?”, mammon’s cheeks were flushed red, he crossed his arms and looked away from you, trying to hide his embarrassment 

- you were grabbing something out of your cabinet, it looked like sugar, “because”, you smiled at him 

- “what kind of reason is that-”

- he helped you make the apple pie lmao

- mammon lifted a bite of the pie up to his face to look at it, “what even is this?” 

- he wasn’t asking in a mean way, he just genuinely didn’t know what he was looking at lol

- “just try it! i promise you’ll like it!”, you told him from the kitchen, you were putting away ingredients

- mammon huffed, and you gave him an offer he couldn’t refuse

- “if you try it, i’ll give you a present”, he immediately tried the dessert

- greedy boi

- mammon thought it was delicious, but he wasn’t about to tell you that, “i guess it’s alright, now you’re gonna gimme something?” 

- you nodded and walked over to where he was sitting, “hey, what’re ya doin’?”, you gave him a peck on the cheek

- mammon fell silent for a second, and then his face burst into flames as he watched you grin and return to putting things away

- and honestly that was the best gift you could’ve given him

Belphie

- ok so im sorry but belphie is definitely the type of demon to wait for you to summon him

- i don’t make the rules XD

- he is tired boy, and while he may love and care about you a lot, going to the human realm takes a lotttttttt of energy lmao

- like he has to walk allllllll the way to lucifer’s office and ugh just like no too much work

- so anyways lmao

- you hadn’t really planned on summoning bel at all

- you were lying in bed, a lazy morning like so many you had shared together

- this one was more beautiful than any you had ever experienced before

- the leaves were changing colors just outside your window, the sunlight of a late morning breaching your bedroom through the leaves, and hitting your face

- the weather had gotten colder recently, so you had added more blankets to your bed to accommodate

- or maybe you were trying to make up for the loss of your cuddle buddy

- either way, you were wrapped securely in blankets

- and everything seemed perfect

- except you were missing the best part of sleeping in, of staying in bed until the early afternoon

- you were missing your best friend

- so you decided to change that

- you barely had to think about how to summon him, one second, he wasn’t there, and the next, belphie was lying on top of you

- he was sleeping, as usual

- bel clutched you tight in his sleep, mumbling something about missing you under his breath

- he was dreaming about you

- because as little energy he had to go visit, that didn’t mean that belphie didn’t miss you

- in fact, nearly every day since you left devildom, bel had complained to beel about how cold his bed was

- bel had trouble sleeping for a while after you left, unbelievable, but true

- he had grown so accustomed to falling asleep every night to the sound of your breath, your scent, your warmth

- belphie opened his eyes mid afternoon, he realized why he had been sleeping so soundly when he glanced down to see who he was hugging

- your eyes were closed and he assumed you were asleep

- bel sighed blissfully and hugged you tighter, pressing a kiss to your head

- “i missed you”, he mumbled into your hair

- “i missed you too, bel”

[olivia-anderson-fanfic]

A Miraculous TikTok Account

Part 24

First

Previous

Next

People were starting to settle down as the night stretched on.

Chat felt kind of weird about the sleepover, if he was being honest. He was technically the host, but he hadn’t planned any of the activities. They also hadn’t let him help out at all. Sure, it seemed they were throwing the sleepover for him, but it felt weird to not be involved at all when it was being held in his own room.

(He also wasn’t stupid enough to think that they had decided to do the sleepover for purely innocent reasons. Rena and Ladybug were paying just a little bit too much attention for it to be mere curiosity. He had nothing to hide except for the trash and clothes he’d stuffed in his closet to make his room look cleaner, though, so he was fine with it.)

Still, it was kind of nice.

He looked at the other four.

Carapace was sitting cross-legged a few feet away, his back facing away from everyone as he worked on his bracelets. He was singing random showtunes to himself, but his singing was getting cut off at random due to his giggles at whatever he was doing. Chat tried to peek over his shoulder and Carapace gave an overexaggerated gasp and flung himself across the floor to keep the bracelets out of his sight.

“No peeking!”

“Alright! Alright!” Said Chat, shaking his head exasperatedly even as a smile threatened to make its way across his face.

Carapace narrowed his eyes at him suspiciously for a moment before slowly returning to his spot.

Ladybug was apparently only half awake, though it was hard to tell if this was the effect of the wine or the lack of coffee. Carapace had given her his hoodie when he’d seen her shivering and now she was swamped in the fabric. This didn’t seem to bother her, though, as she barely swayed in time with his singing.

Rena had finished all her bracelets for everyone already, opting to just make braids of each of their costume colors. Now she was weaving thread into Chloe’s hair.

Chloe was putting the finishing touches on her fifth bracelet. They were all the same, alternating black and yellow threads. Still, it took a while to make all the knots necessary for hers.

He looked down at the friendship bracelet attempts in his hands and bit his lip. The strings he’d chosen were knotted and bent awkwardly and, really, it was beyond repair --.

He gave up, tossing down the attempts and grabbing new strings. He started just spelling out everyone’s hero names on strings that were the colors of everyone’s eyes.

“Done,” he said, his ears burning with shame. He didn’t know anything about friendship bracelets or friendships and general and if it wasn’t clear to everyone before they’d definitely have figured it out now --.

“Wow. Amazing job, Chat. You’re a master craftsman,” said Chloe, sarcasm dripping from every letter she spoke.

“You… you don’t have to wear it.”

Chloe scoffed. “Shut up. I’m never taking it off.”

“Oh… but you don’t have to, really --.”

“I’m. Wearing. It. Screw. Off.”

“... okay,” he said, a tiny smile playing at his lips.

He gave everyone else theirs and, though he noticed they were all putting them on their ankles where they’d be harder for people to see, he couldn’t help but be happy that they were accepting them at all.

Carapace held up his five completed bracelets with a bright smile. “Tada!”

He walked around and started tying them to everyone’s wrists.

Chat saw both of the bugs look confused as they read over the block letters on theirs, Rena gave a short puff of laughter when she saw hers, and then he finally got to see his...

FURRY.

He rolled his eyes at Carapace but let him tie the bracelet to his ankle.

“What’s a ‘buggie’?” Said Chloe in a voice that said she was pretty sure she didn’t want to know.

“It’s a furry, but for bugs.”

“... how do you know that?” Asked Ladybug, sinking back into Carapace’s/her hoodie with a yawn.

“A few years back I joked that I was a furry and someone told me I was technically a ‘scaley’. Obviously, I had to know if everyone else was a furry after that or something else.”

Rena snickered. “Likely story.”

“It’s true!”

“Hm. Sure. Chloe, I’m done with you. Ladybug --.”

“I have an important meeting for work tomorrow, sorry.”

“Fine. Chat, c’mere.”

He hesitated before he made his way over and allowed her to start messing with his hair obediently.

Chloe shuffled over to Ladybug. There was a beat before Ladybug lifted the bottom of the hoodie and allowed Chloe to climb inside.

Carapace groaned. “Why are you stretching out my hoodie?”

Ladybug smiled and brought a hand up to stretch the neck so Chloe could pop her head out the top. “Forgot it was yours, honestly.”

“I hate you.”

“Guess I won’t fix this, then.”

“Wait -- Ladybug -- listen -- I didn’t mean it --.”

Ladybug and Chloe laid back and stuck their tongues out at him in unison. Carapace glared halfheartedly at them for a little while before walking over and laying on top of them.

“Ughhhh get off you’re heavy,” complained Ladybug. “You��re going to crush me.”

“Good. I’m squashing two annoying bugs.”

“Renaaaaa,” tried Chloe.

“Can’t help right now, I’m doing Chat’s hair.”

“Rena,” tried Carapace.

There was a moment’s hesitation before Rena gently tugged Chat over so she could help Carapace smother the two and still add colors to his hair.

“Nooooooo…”

“Chat help,” Ladybug squeaked, reaching out a hand in an attempt to pull him closer for help.

He considered the hand for a minute before pointedly looking away, a smile pulling at his lips.

Ladybug mumbled a curse and resigned herself to the fate of being crushed under three of her housemates.

Rena eventually finished with his hair and she took a picture to show him the results. He’d always wanted to do stuff with his hair, and since his haircolor was so light it wouldn’t have been hard, but his dad had never allowed it…

He smiled brightly and sent it to himself.

Rena shielded her eyes and he looked up at her, his smile dropping into a confused frown.

“Are you okay?”

“You’re, like… sunshine incarnate. Can’t look at you dead on, it’s too bright.”

“Right? He could give Adrien Agreste a run for his money,” joked Carapace.

He wasn’t sure if he was blushing because his housemates thought of him like that or because his civilian identity was apparently that popular. Still, he brought a hand up to cover his mouth as a new smile stretched across his face.

Rena slipped off of the pile of miraculous holders easily and took a seat about a meter away with her phone, leaning back in a pile of pillows. “Carapace, Ladybug, both of you should get to sleep. You both have stuff in the morning.”

“But --,” tried Carapace.

“I WILL knock you out if I have to. And there’s no coffee to keep you awake.”

The two groaned quietly and Carapace fell beside the two bugs. Instead of leaving, though, he just grabbed the nearest blanket and wrapped it around the three of them.

Chloe scoffed and started shifting around in the blanket/hoodie prison she was currently trapped in. “Hey, let me out, I’m not tired yet.”

Ladybug and Carapace wrapped an arm around her and held her still before she could get up. “We have to sleep, you have to sleep.”

“I don’t --.”

“Pillows don’t talk,” said Ladybug, nuzzling her face into Chloe’s neck with a yawn.

Chloe didn’t look particularly happy about it, but she did quiet herself.

Carapace reached his free hand towards Chat without looking over and he stared at it before taking it. He was pulled down to join the cuddle pile so fast that they knocked heads. There was a mumbled ‘ow’ and a hiss of pain, but otherwise it was hard to tell that it had happened.

Rena tossed a pillow at the lightswitch, which was… odd, but it did turn off the lights, so… yay?

He closed his eyes and wrapped an arm around Carapace’s stomach. He could hear the others’ steady breathing as they drifted off one by one.

But, for once, Chat wasn’t finding it easy to sleep.

Some things are easy to ignore.

For example, Chat could, for the most part, ignore the knowledge that he was likely the only person in the house who was genuinely interested in being friends. Everyone else was perfectly happy being friendly (because who wants to fight people in their own house?), but that’s not nearly the same thing.

But, since Chat was starved for affection, he opted to ignore what he knew to be the truth. Did it really matter if Carapace was only allowing him to hang off of him for the sake of preventing a strong akuma if he was getting the physical touch he hadn’t received since his mother had died? Did it really matter if Ladybug was only playing nicer for the sake of convenience if it meant he could get compliments from her instead of insults?

Kinda. But he was willing to push those thoughts aside.

And, while he wanted to ignore this problem too, he really shouldn’t. Their safety was much too important for that.

There should be very few people that knew where they were. There were the people who Chloe had hired to help her move in, Master Fu, each other...

But that didn’t explain why Chat’s room was left untouched.

The only thing that made sense for that was his dad… He tried to brush the thought aside like he had been doing for the entire night, but it was far more difficult when the others were asleep and weren’t serving as a distraction.

Would his dad sell him out? Sure, their relationship wasn’t near ‘close’, but that didn’t mean that his father hated him, right? His dad had known for a while, though, almost since the beginning. Why would he sell out now? The information was slightly more valuable now that they were living together, yes, but was that enough to make him betray his son for a super terrorist?

Worse yet, could his father be Hawkmoth? He didn’t think so, because his father had been akumatized multiple times, but there was nothing saying Hawkmoth couldn’t akumatize himself. Then again, he’d been pretty interested in Chat’s ring when he realized who he was… or was that just innocent curiosity? He also lived in the center of the area that Ladybug had mentioned she’d traced the akumas to, but so did every rich person --.

Carapace pulled him closer, his hand sliding up his back to work at a knot in his back.

“Aren’t you supposed to be asleep?” Chat teased, even as he pressed his face against his shoulder.

“You’re too tense.”

He let himself relax a bit. “Sorry.”

“Don’t apologize, it’s not your fault you’re the worst pillow ever.”

“Even worse than Chloe?”

“Somehow,” said Carapace, and Chat could almost hear the smile in his voice.

And, because it’s really hard to have bad thoughts when you’re cuddling a friend and getting a massage, Chat fell asleep in minutes.

~~~

Taglist

@nathleigh @sassakitty @th1s-1s-my-aesthet1c @blueslushgueen @woe-is-me0 @ladybug-182 @cas-and-their-refusal-to-write @trippingovermyfeet @melicmusicmagic

[hwrryscherry]

The one where Harry and Model Y/N miss their christmas flight and have a little fun on their detour.

blurb: It's the most wonderful time of the year so Harry & Model Y/ N rented a holiday house on the French Alps to celebrate Christmas with their families. It's finally the day to go and Harry is the one to blame when they lose their flight to meet their families in the Alps. Spoiler: Model Y/N gets furious at Harry's calm behavior.

warnings: fluff. They left Los Angeles on December 20th and arrived in the Alps on December 21st in case you guyst get confused.

word count: 7.1K

author's note: HIIIIIII guyyys! It's officially CHRISTMAS week and it's my favorite holiday ever sooo I imagined what Model Y/N and Harry would do on their holiday trip and I guess I'll post a blurb everyday with Christmas theme. AND i'll be suggesting a christmas song in every blurb. Enjoy and Merry Christmas♥️♥️♥️♥️

christmas song of the day: Santa Tell Me by Ariana Grande.

December 19th, 2020 - 11PM

    It was a very cold night in Los Angeles for you to be walking around in your pajamas with no shoes on, a face mask on your face and wet hair that left small water drops through the closet floor as you continued to walk between your clothes and your suitcase that was settled in the floor. You wanted to be laid down in bed, in your cozy and warm bed because you were so tired and a good night of sleep were everything you actually desired.

    As you tried to decide on the coats that you were going to take to your Christmas holiday in the French Alps. You felt a gaze directed to you, what made you bring your head up so you could see Harry stopped at the door frame. He looked very calm. Otherwise, you looked desperate; your flight was scheduled to 6:45 AM. You had to sleep as it was already late and you haven't even packed your stuff but at least you could do it with just some minutes unlike Harry. Anyway, Harry had his grey sweatpants on with a TPKW merch hoddie, his hair, unlike yours, was already completely dry. You probably have to stop washing your hair so late at night but now wasn't the moment to think about this.

— God, why didn't I pack earlier? — You asked rhetorically as you sighed taking some of your favorite pants and folding them right before putting them in the suitcase.

— Exactly! I told ya to do it earlier today but you said you still had time. — Harry said on a convincing way as he drank a sip of his water that he held in a bottle. You just rolled your eyes at him. You hated being stressed and you hated even more when you were stressing over something and Harry says something like "I told you so." You hate conflict and specially when it's with Harry and now was definitely not the moment, so you just shrugged it off.

— By the way, which suitcase are you taking? Because I found yours up in the shelf. — You said, never taking your eyes away from the clothes you were putting on the floor as you created combinations and outfits for you to have an idea before putting it in the suitcase; you were on your knees as you decided to which clothes you'd take with you.

   Harry went completely silent at the moment he heard you. This was the time he realized that with all the things you both were setting up for the trip today, he completely forgot of packing his stuff. Harry froze, he felt it through all his body. He knew how much you were stressed over all the things you both did today to get prepared for the trip, and he'd swear to god that you'd completely lost it at the moment he'd tell you he forgot about it.

   You looked over at him because of his silence and his expression said everything his mouth didn't. You stopped moving your hands immediately and kept a straight face at him literally praying he was only joking, but he wasn't.

— Are you for real? — You'd ask resting your hands over your thighs as you only received silence as a response — Harry, I can't believe you! — You'd say sounding extremely frustrated. You'd pass your hands over your face trying to wake you up more because truly, you were so sleepy right now. You'd feel your cold hands pass through your wet strands of hair before looking at him getting more into the closet now.

— Love, I'm so sorry! — Harry'd say entering the room and bend down next to you avoiding touching your clothes on the floor — It's just... I went all the way today resolving all the other stuff for the trip and I completely forgot about it! — Harry would say with puppy eyes, he actually felt kinda ashamed for just saying to you that he told you to pack before when he didn't even remembered to do it himself.

— I know, I know — You said getting more relaxed on the floor now crossing your legs — It's just, you take so long to do it everytime and we need to grab some sleep tonight — You'd say making an emphasis on the "so long" making Harry sigh. He instantly stand up after you finished talking, walking directly towards the shelf to grab his own suitcase putting it on the floor as he opened it too.

— No, I won't take too much time! I'll just grab some stuff. I'll show you and you tell me what you think! — Harry said as he opened his part of the closet immediately looking through the pants, the many pants he had actually — It's okay! — He'd say, probably trying to convince himself more than actually you. You have no idea why but whenever Harry had to pack his suitcase he'd take hours to do it, he would just take hours to decide on each outfit and then he'd decide when to wear it and if he was actually going to wear it, so yes, it would literally take hours.

   Later, Harry'd think about it all while he contemplated you from the bed. He was lying on his side, propping his head on his hand, so he could get a more proper look at you.

   It took both of you two hours to pack Harry’s suitcase and it was around 1AM now. You don’t think he knows what ‘'It’ll be fast’’ actually means. You were now in front of the mirror. You used the comb to brush your now dry hair while looking in the mirror. You have had long nights at work before and you've been very tired several times but this time, it felt different.

   This is the first time that you and Harry have decided what to do for Christmas and thank God there would be no hosting; but even so it's difficult to organize things for so many people. Harry has been so helpful, and you can't complain. Even though he was tired of being on set, he always donated his time to talk about Christmas, but how could he avoid it? He loved it. He loved being able to get together with his family and spend a good and happy time. Harry remembers the first Christmas you spent together. It was 2018 and you guys went to Holmes Chapel to celebrate. That was also the first Christmas of your life where you wouldn't spend it with your mother because, well, you didn't want to abuse it and take her to Anne's house. Harry realized how sad it had made you and surprised you on Christmas Eve afternoon when he came home from an alleged "supermarket drive" with your mother. He remembers how happy you were, your genuine smile that you just couldn't get off your face, and he remembers how much he fell ten times more in love with you that day. There was not even a year that you were together, god, as time flies.

   You have finished brushing your hair and put the comb in the first drawer of the counter. You left the bathroom to walk to your bed feeling Harry's gaze on you making you frown and smile at him as you lay on the bed covering yourself with the covers.

— Why are you looking at me like this? — You ask taking the covers up to your neck while turning to be able to face the boy's face, who was now accompanied by a tender smile.

— Nothing much, just memories! — Harry said as he watched the yellow light from his lamp reflect in your eyes —You're so beautiful it makes me angry sometimes. — Harry said pulling a chuckle from you. God, how he loved that sound. He then extended his arm to turn off the lamp leaving the room in total darkness, then going deeper under the covers as well.

— Oh, you're just saying that! — You responded by making him chuckled now with your fake modest — You set the alarm clock, right? — You asked him softly, trying your best to keep your eyes open even though they insisted on wanting to close.

— I did! — Harry said approaching you, feeling your body heat under the covers. He brought his right hand to your waist and pulled you closer to his chest, taking the opportunity to kiss your temple. — Let's sleep now okay? I love you! — Harry said feeling you nod and whisper a soft '' I love you too ''. It was a combination of you to say you love each other every night before going to sleep; you did it even when you fought, but in these cases I love you's usually came with "but I'm really mad at you."

December 20th, 2020 — 6:00 AM.

      You were in such a deep sleep, you two were. The truth is: this instability was not your thing. At one day you were in London, the next in NYC, the next in LA, then in Palm Springs and now back in Los Angeles, the hard part would believe you wouldn't be tired of it. And it's precisely because of tiredness that neither you nor Harry heard the four times that the alarm went off, but let's agree that having gone to sleep after one in the morning packing Harry's suitcase was a big factor to consider.

   5:00 AM, 5:20 AM, 5:30 AM, 5:45 AM... Nothing, you didn't even move, well, you did move to pull the covers next to you. For some reason your eyes slowly opened. You stared at the light coming from the curtains content with yourself for waking up even before the clock woke up, little did you know.

   You stretched and took your hands to rub your sleepy eyes then using one of them to get your phone that was powering on the nightstand next to the bed. When you unlock the phone screen and face the hours, you felt your heart beat faster. You blinked briefly to see if you were seeing the right time and got out of bed in a heart beat.

— HARRY! — You said basically screaming. Harry woke up quickly, his heart racing as he sat on the bed and watched you standing, putting on your slippers quickly. He watched you take a hair tie from the drawer of your nightstand and quickly tie your long strands of hair into a ponytail.

— What...What happened? — Harry said using his hands to rub his eyes as he slowly got up from the bed.

— It's already six in the morning, the alarm didn't go off! — You said quickly what surprised Harry, since normally you spoke even slowly — Come on, get up! We have 45 minutes to get to the airport, and it's a 35 minute drive. We need to start getting ready quickly. — You walked directly to the bathroom counter, pouring liquid facial soap into your hands and washing your face. You couldn't see it, but you heard the noise of Harry changing clothes in the room. You absolutely hated leaving the house in the morning without taking a shower, but you wouldn't have any time for that.

   You chose not to wear any makeup, as always in fact. You just put sunscreen on your face and loosened your ponytail feeling your long strands of hair fall over your shoulders as you retreated from the suite bathroom and spotted Harry wearing jeans and an oversized black sweatshirt walking past you to use the bathroom himself now. You opened your part of the wardrobe by grabbing yourself a black jan bell pants, a black t-shirt too and a pink sweatshirt over it in which you dressed up fastly, and put your white sneakers as well. 

— Have you finished? — You said putting your cell phone, charger, wallet and other essentials in your handbag as you approached the bathroom door observing Harry dry his hands on the towel and then saying a brief "Yes" after putting on his rings on his fingers. He turned off the bathroom light and turned to you while the two of you started walking towards the stairs, where you went down with your suitcases in hand. The original plan was to call a car to take you to the airport but clearly, there was no time for that, so you guys would go in Harry's car, which would be picked up at the airport by Jeff who had promised Harry that he would take him back to the house.

   The sun was still cold, that cold early morning sun where the sky still has that lilac color mixed with orange. You left your suitcase in front of the trunk and walked to the passenger seat next to the driver where you sat down and installed the belt instantly while Harry just put both suitcases in the trunk, then closed it and walked to the front of the car as well, and right after sitting in the driver's seat putting on the seat belt, he started the engine and starting to drive as well.

   The drive to the airport was quiet. There was little traffic, nothing compared to LA traffic but there was still a little. Harry prayed it didn't have any fans at the airport, not because he didn't want to see them, but because you were so late and he knew that neither of you would ignore your fans and just keep walking. When Harry parked the car, you might notice some paparazzi's outside, nothing too crowded actually. In less than two minutes, you were already out of the car with your bags on a cart walking, let's say, very quickly until the airport check-in. You were a little impatient to see that there was a line of about five people before you. You looked at the time on your cell phone and sighed, turning the screen to Harry showing that it was now 6:47 AM and there were still three more people in front of you. You had a frustrated and worried look, just the thought that maybe you can't make it to your destination and Harry realized that, he always perceives the smallest things in and about you; let it be a different sigh to a different gleam in the eye. He perceives everything, even though you're wearing a mask now.

   Harry wrapped you in his arms, hugging you tight and kissing your hairline as a form of affection. Your head was between Harry’s neck where you could perfectly smell his scent, and the comforting warmth he emanated; you could have sworn that nothing and no one could get you out of that moment, but then your turn came in line and a man called you.

— Good Morning ma'am! May I help you? — The man said trying to sound sympathetic. You were hoping that Harry could resolve this but apparently, the guy asked you and not him. You put a few strands of your hair behind your ears, and you formed the phrases in your head.

— Good Morning! — You said first, feeling Harry touching the ends of your hair behing your back — So, we had two tickets for the flight of 6:45 AM for Paris but, unfortunately we couldn’t make it in time. Is there any way that you could get us new tickets? Anything would be amazing!  — You said, while mentally praying that there was at least one flight that would take you there. The plan was that you were going to make a scale in Paris and then taking the train to the French Alps which would be a 5-hour train ride, but as you were counting on a direct flight to Paris, it wouldn’t be a problem to stay on a train for five hours.

— Look, ma'am. — The guy sighed looking a little frustrated. Harry touched your shoulders and squeezed a little feeling how hard your shoulders muscle were from tension — I do have a flight for Paris! — In the moment he said it you and Harry let out a deep breath relieved — But, it's going to scale in New York and London!

— And how many hours of traveling? — Harry asked getting a little closer to the counter putting his glove covered hand over the counter as well.

— Around 18 or 20 hours — The man answered and you and Harry sighed. You would be there in the morning on the LA time, and on the French Alps time it will probably be 6:30 AM too. You let out a long breath, and Harry looked at you attentively looking for any sign of giving up; he wanted to go, of course, but if you said it would be better to stay, he would be without a second thought.

— Well, we have to go, right? — You said softly to Harry and then redirected your gaze to the man and nodded. — Okay, we’ll keep the tickets.

—They’re economic tickets, all right? I see here that you had executive tickets — The man asked and you can't hesitate to drop a light chuckle.

— No problems! — Harry replied, and then he returned to finishing to configure the informations of your new tickets.

  It didn't really take long, a few minutes and you already had the new tickets in hand. As you both walked to find a place to sit, you remembered that with all the running from the morning none of you had breakfast. You checked your bags on the conveyor belt and went up the escalators at the big LAX Airport looking for a small restaurant to buy something. You chose the Urth Caffé & Bar because you were used to eating in there whenever you had to travel. It was a very cute and cozy place with a yellow lighting, wood tables and chairs that gave a whole charm to it. You both ordered a coffee; you ordered a latte and Harry ordered a black coffee, and to eat you both ordered bagels sandwiches. There were some fans in there this time. They were all pretty respectful and nice when they came over asking for pictures. You both took the pics and talked with them for a while until you had to leave which honestly made your heart aches. You loved when you could meet and talk to your fans, to create that connection it's so important to you but you couldn't risk missing another flight.

   As you were already settled up on your seats, you re-checked your seat bell probably five times in a row while the "In case of emergency" video passed on the little screen in front of you. Harry noticed you checking it again, and he used his hands to hold yours as a sign to stop you.

— Hey, you already did that... — Harry said looking directly into your eyes — Five times, love!

— Oh... — You whispered then redirecting yourself on your seat. The truth is, you're a model, you date a singer and you're probably more in a plane than in your own house, but you are terrified of it. You've always been, just the thought of being on a plane scares you. And we don't even have to say about whenever a turbulence would occurs. Harry knew that, and he took it as a responsibility of his to keep you calm whenever you were on a plane together.

— Oh, let's watch something together! — Harry said getting his upper body closer to you looking at your little screen — We can choose the same thing and watch it!

— Sure, something on your mind? — You asked as you grabbed the ear plunges of the plane trying to turn it on as Harry now were turning his phone off.

— I don't know! Since we finished watching Bly Manor, I have no idea what we should watch next — Harry said putting his phone on his pocket, and then grabbing himself his ear plunge.

— Oh god, and how good was it? — You said having a fan girl moment. Literally, you were such a fan of The Haunting series and all about it. You and Harry binged watching The Haunting of Bly Manor in like a day. — But.. — You turned on your screen and started to look through the christmas movies, yes you also loved them. Both of you do, who doesn't like christmas movies? — Oh, let's watch Princess Switch 2? We didn't have time to watch it! — You clicked on the movie, so you could read the synopsis to have an idea what would be about. You and Harry watched the first one back in 2018 and you guys really liked it so this could be cool. It's actually kinda crazy all of the stuffs you've watched together. It's crazy how you guys can watch a really serious and heavy movie and then watch all of Barbies movies on the same day.

— Alright, let's watch it! — Harry agreed as he searched for the movie himself — I saw in the trailer that there's a third twin on this movie.

— Love, they're not twins!— You'd say getting your movie ready to be started.

 — They're not? Of course they are! If they're not, then what are they? — Harry said putting his ear plunges on and getting the covers that the airplane company use to put on the seats for the passagers. You actually think it's cute that Harry has this thing on being under the covers and cuddled up whenever he was watching to a movie, and with the weather like this, it would be perfect. I mean, it's cold in LA with 46 F°, as you lived in NYC before you could only imagine how the weather was in there with 32F°. But anyway, you kinda missed NYC a little bit. It's honestly kinda messed up now because you haven't officially moved to LA from New York, but the last time you were in NY was probably in early May, before your birthday because you both celebrated your birthday in Holmes Chapel with Anne and Gemma.

— I don't know — You'd chuckle to answer his question feeling him spread the covers on both of you and snuggle himself on your chest — I think they're relatives in some point, but they're not twins! — You'd hear a soft "oh" from Harry as you put the ear plunges yourself and clicked the movie to play. In general, you watched the movie commenting on the scenes and you both really liked it, it was funny and not tiring at all. And then after it, you both bing watched The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills, I know it seems crazy but you've been so obsessed with it lately and anytime you were obsessed with something you'd usually make Harry get obsessed too. And I mean, it was a 5-hour long flight and you both could catch up with some housewives drama. The flight ended, and you both arrived in NYC, you'd have a 1 hour and a half stop and you managed to think you both could actually do something in this hour, obviously nothing to far away from the airport, you wouldn't take any risks. So you'd chose one of your favorite places in New York ever aka the M&M's Store. God, you loved this place, and you loved M&M's, and so did Harry.

   There were some paparazzi on the street, but this is NY and it's just a daily basis thing. You both walked around the store buying some really cool chocolates when you saw a cute one with marshmallows and you showed it to Harry getting a disgusted face from him.

— No, I'm so allergic to marshmallow! — Harry would say grabbing some kind of M&M's to see and you rolled your eyes recalling the number of times you both had this conversation before. You turned around getting right on Harry's front and looking into his eyes.

—  You’re not allergic to mashmallows! You’re allergic to one of the ingredients in it, if you do the homemade one you can eat it normally, oh my god! — You said trying your best to show your sassy side and Harry actually only continue saying this because he knows you'll react like this and he think it's cute, so he'd just get closer to your face and give a peck to your lips.

— I know, sorry! — He'd say smirking a little and fixing his beanie on his head with his left hand — I love the ones you make, by the way.

— I know, I'm such a master chef that's how I made you fall in love with me! — You'd answer him with a smirk on your face when you turn around to look more over the chocolates.

— And who said I love ye’, miss? — Harry said mocking you and you’d immediately turn to stare at his face with the most realistic offended expression you could create now.

— Um, excuse me? — You’d say with your righthand touching your chest with raised eye browns — If that’s how you feel I'm just gonna go over there look for Brad Pitt! — You’d say with your sassy tone starting to walk away from him but you were stopped by him when he grabbed your empty hand bringing you closer to him 

— Oh so you're overlapping me for Brad Pitt? — Harry said making you roll your eyes with a playful smile in your mask covered lips.

— Well, take it as a revenge for overlapping me for Mitch every day! — You'd say making him let out a loud laugh — But, I'll consider letting this go if we go to Victoria Secrets right now and you buy me my favorite fragrance!

— Oh, you're such a blackmailer! — Harry would say shaking his head slowly and crossing his arms close to his body watching you put your best puppy eyes on display — Alright, just because I probably love that fragrance more than you! — He said making you give him a big smile that he could notice by the way your eyes got smaller. This is actually a joke because it was pretty rare for having you ask Harry to buy you anything, you'd always tell him that you "didn't need anything", and specially when he comes home with those really expensive Gucci merch. Honestly, all the expensive things that you have, like, Chanel, Versace, Gucci were usually gifts from the brand and a few from Harry because you're much of a economizer thinking that these are actually pretty expensive things and you don't actually need. Why would you go around with a 3 thousand dollars Gucci bag when you can buy a super cute bag for 50 dollars? Yep, Harry didn't understand that on the many times he got you something expensive so then, now he rarely does it because he knows that the way for your heart it's probably the most simple and genuine he can be.

 In the VS shop, you were looking through the fragrances for you favorite one that was Bare Vanilla, it's probably the best. And you've been using it for years now, literally since you were a teenager. When you finally found your Bare Vanilla Kit, you were actually surprised by Harry behind you holding a set of lingerie on the color of pearl with some baby blue lace details. You looked at it and then later at the lingerie and then at him again with a "what is that?" expression on your face.

— Love, I know ye' came here to buy the fragrance but this would look so good in you! — Harry said making a louder voice while pronouncing the "so good" making you touch the fabric with your hands in silence thinking about it as you looked, yes it was really pretty. What can you do? Your man does have a good taste. — Ok I'll buy it as your christmas gift! — You said taking the lingerie carefully from his hand.

— For me? I was thinking more of you in it, but I can wear it if you want. I bet it will define all of my sexy curves — Harry said putting a hand on his own waist making a pose making you laugh out loud of his words, it's the sass for me.

— No, oh my god! I'll be the present. This could be the gift paper — You'd say winking on an eye at him as you tried to control your laugh seeing the smirk on his face, this little promiscuous guy.

   On your way back to the airport you noticed very similar words on a wall beside you and you couldn't hold your emotion when you saw it. It was a black wall written "Do You Know Who You Are?", as in Lights Up. When you showed Harry he got so smiley and blushed at the same time, it's just the shyness in him. You took a quick picture of it before actually entering the airport again. Right on time.

  You were about to face another flight with a six hour and 40 minutes of duration and god, in this cold weather, with covers, hoddies, M&M's, movies and your love made everywhere feels cozy and warm. On this flight, you agreed to watch The Notebook with Harry, and you liked it very much, not as much as he did, but you liked it.  You had taken your sneakers off staying with your socks only, you had also let your hair loose as you leaned your head on Harry's shoulder this time, fixing your covered legs under the cover and feeling the warm sensation coming from his body heat, it wasn't much until Harry realised that you were completely asleep when he tried to talk to you about how Ellie's mom had such an attitude when she decided to hide Noah's letter from Ellie all those years but instead, he saw your sleeping face on his shoulder and his heart melted at the vision so he just decided to let you sleep because he really thought you deserved to, and also, after the movie ended he did sleep as well.

   Your flight arrived in London by 7:28 PM on Los Angeles time. By London's time it was already 5:28 AM, and it had a 44 F° weather. You had a smaller scale time this time. It was a 35 minutes scale, thank god. You both took your time to walk inside the airport. You loved London. You really did. You loved the weather and the beautiful places to visit in here, oh and the cute british accents, you loved it.

   You both walked through the airport observing everything. The people, the christmas lights and the stores. Harry had one of his arms over your shoulders as you walked through it. As you entered the stores session, you'd spot World Duty Free store and look at Harry. — Let's go to World Duty Free and buy colorful highlighters so you can use it on christmas eve! — You say while stopped walking when you got in front of the referred store. Harry looked at the big illuminated sign with the store's name and then back at you.

— A colorful one? D' you think it'll look good? Maybe a gold one, no? — He said pushing you into the illuminated store. You loved that Harry knew this stuff and how sometimes when you'd have nothing to do he would let you put some makeup on his face because he knew you didn't like putting it on your face often.

— Yeah, a gold one would be better! I'll go find one, try looking for other stuff — You'd say getting out of his embrace and walking to the other corner of the store. You looked through the makeup wall in front of you as you searched for a gold highlight.

— Hello, may I help you? — A very young lady came to you with the store's uniform. You looked at her smiling tenderly and shook your head. — Oh no, thank you! I was just looking for a highlighter, but I already found it! — You said showing her the little package in your hand and she smiled back at you saying that if you needed anything else you could call her and you thanked. You would keep looking through the wall to see if you wanted anything else when you noticed a tall man coming over you. You looked at him because well, he was staring you.

— Hm... Hi, I'm Ryan! — He said shyly to you. You just stayed there looking at him with no moves — Hm, I just wanted to say that your American accent it's really cute and... Would you mind giving me your number? — He'd say nervously, and you let out a chuckle as you closed your eyes for a moment.

— I’m really flattered, but I’m here with my boyfriend, I’m sorry — You said softly as you could see Harry coming over to you guys with a very straight face. — There he is! — You pointed at Harry that quickened his pace a little when he saw you pointing at him.

— Oh, I apologize! Anyway, merry christmas! — He said with a tender smile as he walked away from you when you murmured a "Merry Christmas". Harry finally got to you and frowned his eyebrows a little looking at the guy’s back and then back at you.

— Who was it? — Harry softly asked containing his jealousy. Whenever Harry would say in interviews that he was an easily jealous person, he wasn’t joking. But he learned to contain it now because this was the biggest discussion maker on the beginning of your relationship.

— It was this guy Ryan trying to hit on me — You’d say with a smirk on your face because you knew this would tease him — He politely asked me for my number, and then I told him that I was here with my boyfriend.

—You should’ve told him you were here with your handsome and sexy boyfriend — Harry said with joking tone and you raised your eyebrows at him as you started to walk towards the cashier.

— No, I think just ''boyfriend'', is enough!  — You’d say mocking him before you paid your bill. And walked back to the departuring space for Paris.

   You confess that coming back to Paris made you a little nervous. The last time you were here was in February and it was quite...peculiar. But it would be just a scale and things would occur right.

   The flight for Paris were definetely the the fastest one as it lasted only an hour and fifteen minutes. You both had dinner in the plane while binge watching The Real Housewives of Bervely Hills, a little obssesed maybe? Harry had already warned Anne about both of you being late as you all scheduled to get there maybe 6 or 7 hours ago, but as the iconic Queen of Genovia said once ‘’A queen is never late, anybody else is just earlier’’. Oh, you both could’ve watched The Princess Diaries today, damn it.

— As we’re here, we have to admit it... It was quite an adventure, wasn’t it? Three cities in a day — Harry would say taking the ends of your hair between his fingers.

— It was, but I kinda wished we had a little bit more of time in London so we could go to the London Eye — You’d say causing Harry to happily agree with you as it was one of his favorite attractions to go in London.

— All I know is that when we get in there I’ll sleep for as long as I can.

— How can ye’ be sleepy? You slept all the flight from New York to London and I know it! — You’d ask really curiously about his answer because it actually made you surprised on how easily he could sleep. He could be sitting on the most uncomfortable chair in the world but if he closes his eyes, he’ll easily fall asleep.

— It’s my natural talent! Did you think that I could only sing? — He asked rhetorically with a very convincin' tone.

— I’m sorry then Mr.Sleepy! — You would say mocking him as you turned your phone on to answer your missed texts. Gemma has already sent you tons of texts about the house and how’s the climate in there. She told you that you both better be all wrapped up or instead she’ll push your face, oh the good old family love.

    When the plane landed, you and Harry grabbed your suitcases as fast as you could so you could get a cab to the train station and finally arrive on the Alps. You loved Paris in the winter. You loved Paris by the night, and that hasn’t changed. There weren’t paparazzi which contributed to keep you calm but there were maybe some fans spotting you guys and asking for pictures. They’d ask if you both were going to celebrate Christmas in Paris and you’d tell them that it’s just a scale. You were calm but Harry wasn’t. Since the prank in Paris from February, Harry has been incredibly more protective than he already was, and getting back in Paris actually remembered him of that night and that he wouldn’t let it happen again.

   But it all turned out good, the train ride actually felt so relaxing and that made you wonder why in the world none of you have ever traveled together by train. Neither of you slept, though, you both talked. Talked for hours nonstop. You talked about your jobs, your experiences, what you like and what you don’t. You talked about what you wished for 2021 and you even chuckled a bit when Harry said he was looking foward to put ring on your finger in 2021; bullshit, you'd think. But anyway, you'd talk on how in some way you both were grateful for having each other during the hard times we’re all living, getting to know each other better while there was nobody on the streets because actually, if the world was ending you both wouldn’t want to spend it anywhere else and with anyone else.

   The train ride was so calm, so great, so both of you. You were not the kind of couple that needed all luxury, that needed to go out every weekend to have dinner on a fancy restaurant, that needed to buy each other expensive gifts and needed to share every detail of what you did. You were simple. You were comfortable discovering a new world and experiencing things together on your own way and your own time. Neither of you needed all of those stuff. You only needed each other. You needed to feel the warm of each others body, you needed to be graced by the sound of each others laugh and voice, you needed to see the smile on each others faces and to know that even when times get hard you’d always have each other. Your relationship wasn’t perfect, none are. But in the end of the day love always win and if you love each other and it’s meant to be the rest will be history.

   As the sun was starting to rise, you leaned your back in Harry’s chest so you could both see the view from the big glass window. You had your hair loosened on his chest as he envolved you on his arms hugging you from behind supporting his chin by the top of your head. The light yellow sun made the snow even whiter and more resuscitating by touching it with its rays. The sky had this lilac and orange colors, and it seemed to have a breeze air, you couldn’t confirm it though as the train was warmed by a heater. You’d start murmuring to the song Turning Page by Sleeping at Last which caused Harry to smile tenderly. He knew you were doing it by a reflex and actually didn’t think he was going to listen to it, but he did. And he smiled because this had been you guys song for almost three years now. 

—Your love’s my turning page, where only the sweetest words remain — Harry would start singing really close to your ears. Really close and really softly, causing you to smile now but never taking your eyes of the view of the window — Every kiss is a cursive line. Every touch is a redefining place — You’d close your eyes caressing his arm around you and then opening your eyes again, messing with his rings that covered the fingers on his strong hands.

— I surrender who I’ve been, for who you are — You’d complement the song lycris with your eyes closed, feeling nothing more than peace.

— For nothing makes me stronger than your fragile heart — Harry kept singing holding you tight, because he never would want to let you slip away of his embrace — If I had only felt how it feels to be yours, I would’ve known what I’ve been living for.

— What I’ve been living for! — You complemented. There’s no other place either of you would want to be now. Of course this wasn’t the trip that you both planned, but it was better. It was different, funny and relaxing, and that’s the one thing for you.

   You both got out of that train feeling nothing more than peace, and that’s the spirit of the holidays, isn’t it? The cold sharp of air hitted your face immidietely and you both rushed to get a car that could take you to the holiday house. Gemma would probably kills both of you for not being properly wrapped up but she actually didn’t, thank god for her to be sleeping.

   When you both arrived at the house you struggled a bit to unlock it with the keys but it worked and you came across a beautiful Christmas decoration with a huge christmas tree with a lot of lights and some other cute decorations too. It almost felt like North Pole but it would probably be ten times colder than it was here. You both left your bags on the living room floor and went to take a small tour on the house, when you arrived at the kitchen there were a plate full of brownies and a small note.

    Harry & Y/N,

we couldn’t wait for you to arrive because we were so sleepy but we did those brownies for you guys. Eat it, you must be hungry! We love you and we're looking foward to see you in the morning

                                           — love, Anne.

— Your mother is the best person on the entire universe! —  You’d say showing the note to Harry and grabbing yourself a piece of brownie as he took the small paper on his hands to read it himself as you took a bite from one brownie—  And those brownies are the best thing I’ve ever eaten.

     TO BE CONTINUED.... Christmas special part 1

[god-of-dust]

i recently remembered that my fic Liminality was actually part of a bigger story; it’s old and don’t think i will ever complete it, but since @thetpot left me a lovely comment i thought that i could share some of the parts i had written, as a treat.

the story is set in the post-canon world. aang is in his twenties, dealing with grief, ptsd and depression and his avatar responsibilities. on top of that, he realizes that he’s fallen in love with zuko and this causes him to break up with katara; a lot of angst and self-hatred follow, because he feels like he’s breaking the heart of the woman he loves and betraying his best friend too.

so, here are some snippets! note: they’re unedited and also not in chronological order.

[Aang speaks with Avatar Yangchen in the spirit world]

“Avatar Yangchen?”

“Hello, Aang. It seems I'm the one you turned to in your moment of need, this time.”

“Why, though? I didn't think about you, I just... needed someone to talk to, I guess. Someone who has nothing to do with all this.”

“You don't want to have this conversation with any of your friends.”

“They're too close to Katara and I don't want to force them to pick sides.”

“And Fire Lord Zuko is, of course, out of the question.”

“If I saw him now, I wouldn't be able to keep my mouth shut and I'd spill my guts and it would be embarrassing for both and that would only make things even worse... he doesn't deserve this. I'm the one who messed up.”

“Why do you think you messed up?”

“Why? I fell in love with my best friend! I hurt Katara and I'll hurt Zuko too if I don't learn to keep my feelings hidden! I should have hidden them better from the start!”

“Is this what would make you happy? Learning how to hide your feelings, having no one the wiser?”

“I wanted to marry Katara and make her happy for the rest of our lives, and now I ruined our relationship because I just had to be like this! My life couldn't be simple, oh no, I couldn't just be with her, I had to want more—of course I hurt her!”

“I see now the reason you chose me instead of Avatar Roku or Avatar Kyoshi, whether you were aware of it or not. You're missing something crucial... something that not even they would see.”

“What is it?”

“You're an Air Nomad, Aang.”

Aang waited. Since no explanation came, he spoke. “Well, yeah, that's kind of hard to miss.” He gestured at himself, “orange robes, bald head, tattoos—you know, the whole package. I don't see how it should change things, though.”

“You know that, but you forgot what it means. The love you carry in your heart is the truest expression of our heritage. You can't love like Katara does, because you were raised in the Air Temples and your heart knows no boundaries or shame. Most people would consider things like distance, social status, race or gender, but you never put meaning in such limitations. That's the way of Air Nomads, Aang, our way.”

“But Katara loves me too, who cares if she's not an Air Nomad!”

“While her love for you runs deep and fierce, she has a different understanding of what it means. Sometimes, as you experienced, this can cause conflict. Katara expected you to have romantic feelings for her and her only. You certainly love her and did your best to grant her wish in full, but by doing this you failed to see that chain for what it was and how it would hurt you both.”

“This sounds an awful lot like 'you're destined to hurt everyone and you better not try to have a relationship ever again'.”

“I'd say it's more like 'you seem to be naturally inclined to love more than one person in a romantic sense and your culture never repressed this attitude like others would have'.”

“Am I really not capable to feel romantic love for only one person? I think I can learn. I learned a lot of difficult things that opposed my Air Nomad nature, so why not this one? I want to be with Katara. I miss her so much...”

“But you also want to be with Zuko, don't you?”

“I... I can't be with him. That wouldn't be fair.”

“Why not?”

“I don't want to push my feelings on him. I never asked for this and he certainly didn't either!”

“It seems our conversation has come full circle. You insist that Zuko will reject your feelings, that they will cause him distress and pain, but that's an assumption on your part—quite the heavy one, at that. Do you trust your best friend so little?”

“Of course I trust Zuko, I trust him with my life! It's myself I don't trust, and I don't want to jeopardize our friendship!”

“And yet, you treat him like a fragile glass sculpture. The bond you share has weathered way worse than a love confession gone wrong. Zuko himself has weathered worse.”

[Zuko’s pov, reflecting on something that had happened with Aang. i don’t remember if i had a plan for it, but it’s possible that it was actually the Papaya Incident from another fic of mine, He gives me the holiday I needed all the time]

Pebbles lay scattered on the sand, round and shiny from the waves. He picked one up and rolled it between his fingers; it was black, a solid weight, and smooth to the touch when he ran his thumbs over it.

His mind wandered, lulled by the sound of the wind and the sea.

Things with Aang were going well. After the initial period of embarassment on both parts, they'd eventually reached a new stability and stopped obsessing over every little thing they did and said. The hot springs accident had helped a lot and Aang's sun-kissed nature had done the rest; Zuko'd let himself be led, knowing that his friend was the most vulnerable, not to mention the one he trusted to make the right decisions—way more than he trusted himself.

He remembered what the old ladies had told him years before about the Island. Without consciously realizing it before, those words were the reason why Zuko was there—sitting on the beach by himself, holding a rock and waiting for the magic to happen.

A tingling in the back of his head reminded that he didn't know what the water would bring ashore this time. There were still so many sharp angles in him for the sea to smooth over, so many questions that may or may not be best left unanswered.

Nonetheless, he stayed. He'd always been too stubborn for his own good.

He threw the pebble over the water and watched it skirt on the surface. One, two, three, then down with a small plop.

Things with Aang were going well, and yet Zuko was antsy. He'd adapted and was comfortable in their situation, but something had irremediably shifted the night before. Something that was probably brewing slow and deep since Aang's confession.

They weren't kids anymore. It used to be a nostalgic thought for Zuko; it reminded him of how many years had passed already, of the responsibilities on their shoulders. The difference in their ages didn't feel like a chasm anymore, especially since their roles put them on equal ground; they'd matured, losing a big chunk of the recklessness of youth. Zuko'd learned to hold his temper (most of the times) and Aang'd learned to be serious and diplomatic (when needed).

Now, though, their adulthood also held a different kind of weight and Zuko was running out of excuses not to notice.

The arch of Aang's impish grin, the vibrations of his laughter, the scratch of his beard on Zuko's cheek as he hugged him... they pulled at strings that any other friend couldn't reach. Aang had always been special. This was another layer of Zuko's defenses slowly being peeled away, another way in which Aang was turning his life upside down to make him discover new paths and new meaning.

Zuko had never been attracted to a man before, which meant that of course Aang had to be the exception.

There, he'd admitted it, in the privacy of his own head, with the burning circle of the setting sun as a witness. He was attracted to Aang. He was charismatic and funny and handsome and fuck if Zuko hadn't wanted to kiss him the day before.

[more flirting]

“I never noticed that the tattoos on your arms are separated from the one on the back... and I guess the ones on the legs are separate too,” Zuko pondered, lazily following the blue line that traced Aang's spine and disappeared under yellow fabric to reappear again on both of his thighs.

“You've seen me half naked a million times and you're noticing it now?” Aang asked, all cheek and impishness.

“Well, yes, I wasn't really looking though.”

“You weren't, but now you are?” Aang's smirk turned almost lecherous as he wiggled his eyebrows in the most theatrical flirting in history. “I'm flattered, darling, but if you want me to take my clothes off to, ah, 'see the tattoo' you have to wine and dine me first.”

“...you just said I've already seen you half naked and I certainly didn't wine and dine you first.”

“Ah, but that was different—now you're looking!”

“What if I was only pretending not to look?”

“Then you already owe me the wine and dining, even though proper behaviour would have been asking me out before the ogling. I'd say I expected better from the Fire Lord of all people, but I understand the irresistible appeal of my toned, hot body.” He stroke some poses to show off his muscles and Zuko busied himself with a thorough examinations of his own fingernails. It was nothing he hadn't already seen anyway, no need to stare while his friend acted like a dork and interpreted what seemed airbending forms with abandon, since he already knew how Aang looked, thank you very much.

Which is why he was completely unprepared for the sulking, cross-armed Airbender hovering so close that he could taste his body heat.

“Stop ignoring me! Rude!” Aang lamented as a truly wounded man.

It should have been exhausting to deal with all that unbridled shifting energy contained in a single person, the constant pull that kept Zuko's attention inside the vortex that was Aang... and yet, it wasn't, because Zuko wasn't alone in this. Since that day a lifetime ago under the fiery eyes of Dragons, they'd never stopped dancing—they danced and pulled at each other's strings, dug in deep darkness and broke down walls to let the light in.

No force on the Earth could have stopped the blush rising to Zuko's cheeks as the split-second realization brushed his thoughts and exploded with bursting colors.

Spirits, he loved Aang.

Of course, this wasn't exactly new. However, it was the flavor of it, the quality of the burn, hot and vibrating and fierce, the senses amplified by the proximity of the wonderful man before him.

[Aang is acting strangely (bc of depression and all the rest) and the gaang notices]

Toph's inquisitive eyes didn't bear anything good for Aang. Her abilities always allowed her to slip into people's spaces, more often than not in a way that let her obtain blackmail material galore; his heartbeat quickened and he cursed himself because that was just what he needed, another incriminating piece of evidence in her probably already long list... for whatever his crime was.

Katara, Sokka and Suki stared at both of them, unsure of the meaning of their silent conversation.

Aang silently begged for some of his enemies to sweep through the windows and try to kill him. He would take them on all together if needed, as long as he could avoid hearing the next words out of the earthbender's mouth. Could he take a quick trip to the Spirit World? It seemed a nice option, to leave his unconscious body and his friends entirely behind.

Then, Toph opened her mouth.

“Out, Twinkletoes.”

She stomped a foot and raised her arms. Aang was catapulted out of the door, quickly and brutally, before he could realize that she was, in fact, being considerate and granting them privacy. Small mercies, indeed.

“Don't think I don't know that you know I know,” she announced as he pulled his arm until they entered the adjacent room. The ominous echo of the door closing made Aang discover that, mildly considerate Toph or not, in no way did he want to have this conversation.

“So, what's with you and Flame Boy there? Did he ask you to kill him again?”

Subtle as a ostrich horse mating call... or a boulder to the face.

“He didn't do anything, Toph,” Aang answered, trying to cover the giant tangle of mess in his chest with exasperation.

Toph, of course, wasn't fooled. “Makes sense, since he was acting normal—well, normal for his overdramatic royal ass.” She put her hands on her hips, legs apart in her best rooted stance. “So you're the one with the problem, and I bet he doesn't even know.”

“Please. I don't feel like talking about this.” The tiniest crack in his voice, as the surface of an iced lake that could break and swallow him up for a single misstep. His hand found his prayer beads and caressed them.

“Spill,” Toph ordered.

“I said no!” Aang shouted, “leave me alone!”

“While it's nice to meet your backbone again, I'm not going anywhere. Spill.”

Aang's blood was boiling. A distant part of him wondered if he was actually firebending from every pore of his body, like a human torch of anger. She taught him to stand his ground, didn't she? He was going to show her how good of a student he was. He didn't own her any explanation for anything. “Why do you have to be like this? It's always a game to you, poking and prodding at things that are not yours to know! Can't you see that I'm already miserable enough as it is?”

“I can see it quite well and I'm blind, Aang—that's exactly why I'm doing this! You've been moping anxiously and hiding it from everyone for months. I'm sick of your shit, you're obviously not managing to fix whatever the problem is, and you're going to tell me what's wrong right now!”

“Moping anxiously?” He laughed, an ugly sound, like scratching the bottom of a barrel. “So if I don't act all light-and-laughter every single moment of my life, you get 'sick of my shit'? How about you let me live and have emotions like a normal human being?”

“I would have bashed any other human being's head in for being so infuriating. You're lucky I'm trying to help you, though you don't seem to give a shit!”

The echoing silence constricted his chest. His temples pulsed. His eyes burned. They weren't getting anywhere, it was exhausting, he just wanted it to end.

“It's not just Zuko, isn't it?” Toph said too softly, after a too long pause. That gentleness didn't belong on her voice and Aang hated it.

“This isn't any of your business. I'm leaving,” Aang spat out.

He turned, ripped the door open and disappeared into the corridor; Toph didn't feel his footsteps—he'd probably airbended his way out of the building.

She shook his head, wide eyes staring into nothingness. “What the fuck is wrong with you, Twinkletoes?”

[follow-up to the previous scene]

“So, I may have royally fucked up,” Toph announced, spreading her arms in a dramatic fashion.

“What did you do to him?” Katara asked sharply. Toph registered her body humming with pent up energy, coiled and ready to snap.

“Yeah, what did you do? I haven't heard Aang raising his voice in years. You must have delivered some serious ass kicking,” Sokka added. At least it seemed like he wasn't sharpening his sword—not yet.

“I asked him what the hell's wrong and he blew up on me.”

Katara's eyebrows furrowed and she slowly asked, “What do you mean?”

“I mean,” Toph enunciated, “that he's acting weird. Weird as in he's got issues and he doesn't want to acknowledge them and he's shutting us out because he thinks that pretending to be fine is serving some sort of purpose when obviously it doesn't.”

Katara wasn't a ball of menacing vibrations anymore. In fact, she was unnaturally still—hesitating. “What do you mean, 'issues'?”

“Does he seem okay to you? Don't tell me you, of all people, haven't noticed! His responses are off, he speaks like he's reading from a script, he pulls out his magic avoidance tricks whenever we try to have any sort of meaningful interaction with him!”

“Of course I noticed,” Katara sighed. “I've been worried—really worried—since Bumi's funeral. I know that everyone mourns differently, but... he buried his friend and the next day he was already busy with some ambassador duty for the Northern Water Tribe. When I offered him support, he smiled and changed the subject. I thought that maybe Air Nomads have a different understanding of death, that this detachment is part of his culture. I should have trusted my intuition from the start instead of letting him sweep everything under the rug.”

[Aang and Katara break up]

“It's Zuko, isn't it.”

Aang squeezed his eyes shut. There was no hiding this. “Yes.”

“You clearly love him—it's so obvious now that I let myself see it.”

“Katara... I'm so sorry.”

“Please, don't. This is... I don't know what to say. Just—go to him, be happy together, whatever you need to do. Just go, Aang. I can't do this.”

He couldn't do this either. To see Katara, his strong, fierce Katara, with trembling lips and wet eyes was torture.

“I'm sorry,” he repeated, “I'm so sorry.”

He broke her heart. He loved her. He hurt her.

So he did what he always did: he ran away.

[Aang’s confession, first version]

“Aang, why didn't you tell me?”

“Tell you?” Aang questioned.

“About you and Katara,” Zuko answered. “I mean, you don't have to tell me, but apparently everyone else knew and I was the only one left out of the loop. Did I do something wrong?”

“No, Zuko. It's just...” Aang gestured weakly, like he was trying to conjure the right words from thin air.

Zuko waited for Aang to elaborate. It didn't happen. They kept feeding the turtleducks in silence, Zuko sitting cross-legged with his back propped on the tree and Aang with his pants rolled up and his feet in the water.

“Aang, I didn't want to pry or make you uncomfortable. It's your business—and Katara's, I guess... anyway, not mine. So, uh... sorry.” He scratched the back of his neck, self-consciously.

Silence, again, thick and full of undecipherable things.

When their eyes met, hundreds of lives dwelled behind Aang's gaze, heavy with unspeakable burdens. The eyes of the Avatar, reflections of a long, unbroken line of heroes and protectors. They had lived, they had seen.

Too much for Zuko, whose chest tightened in the struggle to catch his breath. What was happening? This Aang was so vulnerable, so... raw. Rarely had he seen his friend so close to unraveling.

“You don't have to apologize. You're right, I didn't tell you, but it wasn't because of something you did—it's because you're you, and I couldn't deal with it.”

“I'm... me? What is that supposed to mean?”

“I love you,” Aang said. “That's why Katara broke up with me, why I couldn't tell you. I love you and it's a mess.”

Aang's words might as well had been shouted, for how they left Zuko stranded and grasping at something, anything that was supposed to make sense of what he'd just heard. Because surely there was an explanation. Aang loved Katara to death and beyond. This was some kind of elaborate joke that Zuko hadn't caught up on.

“Come on, what really happened?”

Walls shut off any reaction from the Air Nomad. He was in business mode—imperturbable, collected, the perfect picture of the perfect hero; his smile was so fake it gave Zuko the creeps as he said: “I'm sorry. I shouldn't have burdened you with this. I'm leaving.”

This wasn't supposed to happen. It was happening all the same, though, and this was the crossroad where years of friendship could slip like water through Zuko's fingers if he didn't do something to stop it.

He was still petrified.

His hand moved and grabbed Aang's wrist and made him turn. They were face to face, touching yet almost unreachable. Almost.

“Don't go. I don't want you to—” leave me.

No flicker of acknowledgment from under Aang's façade of rocks and hollowness, though he'd stopped in his tracks and now stood there, staring, with Zuko still holding his wrist.

“I don't know what to say. This is... unexpected and I will probably need time to digest it, but please, don't go like this. We can talk.”

“I betrayed you.”

“What are you talking about?”

The façade was starting to fall apart.

“We were friends and I fell for you. You trusted me and I had to ruin everything with this. I'm sorry.”

What the hell? “Okay, you know what? Now I'm getting pissed,” Zuko growled. “You didn't ruin anything! Stop this fucking ridiculous guilt-trip right now!”

“This isn't a ridiculous guilt-trip!” Aang yelled, and there it was, the fire that burned down the walls.

“I'm shocked to discover that my best friend's in love with me since I had no fucking clue before this conversation, but guess what? It's not the end of the fucking world! You should know better, since you saved it once already!”

“How can you be okay with this?! It's creepy and it's wrong!”

“Do you want me to hate you? Because it seems like that's what you're waiting for, and you refuse to accept that I don't hate you at all!”

[Aang’s confession, second version]

“Why didn't you tell me that you and Katara broke up? I had to hear it fom Suki, of all people!”

“Oh. That. I, uh... kind of didn't want to tell you.”

“So it was on purpose! And you're evading my question.”

“It's... um. Complicated?”

“Did you cheat on her with Mai? I might have to challenge you to an Agni Kai for that.”

Aang choked on air, which made Zuko's eyebrows rise. “Please don't tell me you did it for real.”

“I didn't cheat on Katara, and especially not with Mai.”

“Thank Spirits. I wouldn't be able to win in a duel against you. So, what happened? Suki said she didn't know and she seemed sincere.”

“No one else knows, just me and Katara.”

“Is it a secret? I won't pry if it is.” He was so very curious, though—it was clear as the water from the pond in front of them.

“Definitely something that I wouldn't want people to know, yeah,” Aang said. He fidgeted, playing with his necklace and stroking its wooden shapes. “But you probably should.”

“I should?” The conversation was becoming weirder by the minute. “Well, tell me then.”

Zuko turned to face his friend and—was Aang blushing? The back of Zuko's neck prickled, a familiar yet undecipherable sensation. What was going on?

“Look, Zuko, I... uh...” Aang stuttered. He covered one of his eyes with a hand and took a deep, steadying breath, then muttered: “Ugh, it's like pulling teeth. Worse than learning Earthbending.”

Lacking a decent answer to that, Zuko waited for Aang to catch his thoughts, whatever they were.

Aang tried again. “You know we're friends, right?”

“Yeah,” Zuko replied, hesitant.

“I'm in love with you.”

“...what?”

The can of worms had been opened and Zuko could only listen and stare, mouth agape, as the Air Nomad barreled on. “One day I realized that what I felt for you was different than friendship and—I'd always chalked that up to you being you, you know? You've always been special to me, but it's such a tender feeling and it scared me a little, and when I talked about it to Katara she got mad and cried and broke up with me. So, uh, that's what happened.”

Turtleducks paddled happily on the water, the mother guiding her little offspring in swaying curves to peck at the breadcrumbs the two men had thrown for them. There was so much green in the garden, so much peace and sweet birdsongs. Time had no weight nor shape here.

It was Zuko's turn to be utterly uneloquent.

“That's... not what I was expecting. At all.” A memory suddenly surfaced and his face coloured. “Wait, so that time at the hot springs—you did it on purpose?”

“What? Spirits, Zuko, no!”

“Well, what should I think? You come here and you tell me that you're in love with me since who knows how long, I'm sort of freaking out right now!”

“Nothing changed! If you didn't realize before I told you, why are you so worried?”

“I—it's weird, okay?” Zuko bellowed. “And you can't say nothing changed, you've been in love with Katara for so long, and now you're not, and you love me!”

“But I do love Katara.”

“What? How?”

“What do you mean, 'how'?”

“Well, it's either one or the other, no? You must have a... preference or something for her or me.” He paused. “I can't believe I'm having this conversation.”

The sky was immensely blue, the perfect day for a ride on Appa, and Aang, too, couldn't believe he was having this conversation—but, surreal as it was, it was also necessary. Zuko was proving the point Avatar Yang Chen had made to Aang years before: Air Nomads had a particular outlook on life and love that clashed with the other cultures'.

So, it was the moment where Aang had to explain love to his (other) beloved all over again.

“I don't have a 'preference', I really love you both... there's no way to compare because you're not Katara and Katara isn't you, and in any case I don't care because you're both fundamental, irreplaceable elements in my life. I'm not expecting you to love me back, but it's very important to me to be your friend.” He touched Zuko's arm softly, a question for reassurance, and his voice was clear but low. “Can we be friends? You know—after this?”

The stutter followed by a lack of words, Zuko's averted eyes... they fed the pit in Aang's stomach, a slime-covered, abyss-dwelling monster, but he couldn't—wouldn't—force his hand. This was it, yet another crucial moment in their lives that made them or broke them.

“Your friendship has survived worse,” Avatar Yang Chen had said, so Aang closed his eyes and waited for the monster to strike or leave. I've survived worse, too. I'll be okay.

When Zuko got up and started pacing, Aang decided that focusing his own attention on something else was the best way to leave him space. It's a good sign that he didn't punch me in the face, right? He wouldn't still be here and pacing if he hated me. That doesn't sound like Zuko, he's way too impulsive to not explode in a situation like this. He's probably confused, and stuff. Yes.

He let his eyes wander, a bit more hopeful. Focusing on something else... like the turtleducks, who looked inviting indeed, all tiny and fluffed up and cute.

He took a piece of bread from the satchel and spread the crumbs in the grass in front of him with all the art he could muster; satisfied, he watched and waited. C'mon, there's food here! Delicious bread, just for you! Momo would have been on the loaf way before it was pulled out from the bag. They barely deigned him and his prize a glance. Rude! But he still wanted to pet them, because they were adorable. Making sounds to attract them would interrupt Zuko's brooding.

What to do?

Perhaps they wouldn't shy away if he got closer.

A man on a mission, Aang creeped towards the edge of the pond, slow and silent like the trained monk he was. One of his targets seemed to notice him and tilted its head curiously. Hello, little one. By some miracle, it started to head in Aang's direction.

[Bumi’s funeral]

It was more of a drizzle than rain, really. Tiny, steady droplets of water pelted softly Aang's smooth head and bare arms. The sky was partecipating in their mourning like the kind old friend that it was.

Omashu's mail service wasn't operative; a gentle stream slid down the railing instead. Bumi would have loved to slide on the now wet road—he probably did it every time the occasion arose, Aang mused.

Except now Bumi rested, too still, in an elaborately carved yet solid wooden box and wouldn't go sliding in the mail system ever again.

The King of Omashu was dead.

Bumi was dead, and with him the last person who'd survived from Aang's life before the iceberg. Now he was with the others, and they weren't gone... but they weren't with Aang either. They were spirits now. No one, not a single one would walk on Earth anymore—they would play in the crowded, sunny courtyard in the Air Nomad's memories, to be remembered and cherished with smiling faces and bright hearts.

[Aang and Aunt Wu aka the fortuneteller]

“First Katara, then Guru Pathik, then you! Why is everyone like this? Why can't anyone just give me a straight answer for once, instead of acting like my life is a series of riddles to solve? This 'fated Avatar' thing's gotten old and I'm tired of it!” He can barely breathe, his own element betraying him, and his voice cracks as the wood of a funeral pyre as he goes on. “Is this what I saved the world for? Giving everyone else a future where they belong, by sacrificing mine?”

“An interesting question, Avatar.”

“MY NAME IS AANG!” he yells, desperate, selfish as the day he was born, when all he cared for was survival; he feels stripped as raw and defenseless as then, tender skin in a world too bright and big, unable to carry himself through it and crying his heart out to fill his lungs with life.

He grits his teeth, suffocating the instinct to spill more useless words that he won't be able to take back.

[chrwrites]

Worth The Wait (LBSC Sprint Fic Challenge Secret Santa)

Happy Holidays, @sapphicmarinette! For this week’s @lovebugs-and-snakecharmers Sprint Fic Challenge I tried to merge all your prompts but I ended up needing to work on it a lot more so have this while you wait for the other one to be done! The prompt I’ve chosen for this one is “teaching Luka how to bake”, hope you like it!

read on ao3

When Luka asked Marinette to teach him how to bake, he didn’t expect her to make him do something so difficult yet frustrating for a start. He just wanted to do something simple that wouldn’t have made him feel like an idiot for burning a batch of cookies in the oven or said cookies being hard and tasting bad because he forgot some ingredient or added more of the other.

Luka knew how to cook, but when it came to baking somehow he ended up putting himself in danger or hazarding someone’s health. Juleka always picked on him for that, even though he was the one who cooked most of the meals in the house – being the oldest brother be damned – and he wanted to prove that he could do that, too.

Christmas was approaching, and he could use the occasion to do something nice for his family. Asking Marinette for help was the only reasonable choice: her parents ran the best bakery in town, who else could he have asked? It’s not like he wanted to spend more time with her, did he? Right, he definitely didn’t consider that.

Marinette was wearing a cute pink apron decorated with her signature cherry blossom flowers on a pocket when she opened the door for Luka and welcomed him in her house. She handed him a white old apron and smiled at him happily. Her hair was tied in a messy bun, and the blue of her eyes was shining bright. Oh, she was so beautiful when she was relaxed.

After Luka washed his hands, Marinette put him to work, handing him an empty steel bowl where he had to pour the ingredients he was going to measure, “What are we making?”, he asked.

“Panettone”, Marinette said simply, the shift in her voice as she said the word made him feel warm inside, and he turned to look at her, entranced by the sound of her voice. “It’s a traditional Italian sweet bread usually made around Christmas, Papa makes some to sell for the bakery every year but they’re smaller because people don’t buy it that much. This is my favourite recipe and he makes it for me only”, she said proudly.

“Wow, you’re sharing family recipes with me? I’m honoured”, Luka teased, and Marinette responded pointing one finger to his face, the tone in her voice light yet menacing, “You better not share it with anyone”.

“Of course I won’t”, Luka reassured, “Where do we start?”

Marinette immediately instructed him to measure the ingredients before he poured them in the bowl. He melted sugar nto water, then added flour and egg yolks as Marinette made him place the bowl in the stand mixer and started it. They left the machine work for a few minutes and Marinette made Luka measure the other ingredients, the tone in her voice was steady and professional as she guided him, and it made Luka wonder how many times she had done this to be so confident in her directions. Or maybe it was because she was at her place and doing something she loved that made her feel like this.

All Luka knew was that this side of her he hadn't seen before made him fall for her more deeply than he already was.

After they were done adding the other ingredients to the mixer, Marinette put away what remained of them and Luka helped clean the counter that had inevitably gotten dirty with flour.

They kept each other company, talking about everything and nothing, and Marinette ended up joking about how Luka was too strong to make something as delicate as a good dough, to which Luka responded feigning outrage.

When the machine was done, Marinette sprinkled a layer of flour on the counter and took the dough out of its bowl, showing Luka how to knead it in order to give it the shape of a ball before making him have a go.

Luka nervously got his hands at work, only for his quick movements to be stopped by Marinette’s soft hands and her quiet melodic giggle, “Try and be more delicate”, she said as she put her hands on his and guided them in the movements, “Like this”.

Luka couldn’t help but stare at her and notice how graceful she looked as she guided his hands, and when he noticed the patient smile on her face, he also noticed how close she actually was to him. She could feel her body pressed next to his, and not only her hands on his. He took a deep breath, only to end up inhaling the sweet scent of almond and vanilla that made him short circuit whenever she was around.

The dough he was supposed to be kneading was completely forgotten as he turned his full attention to her, focusing on the slight frown in concentration on her face and her parted lips. It made him feel breathless, his hands were still moving guided by hers, but he couldn’t feel anything but the warmth surrounding him.

Then she smiled, satisfied, and raised her head to look at him directly in the eyes. The sweet scent of strawberries hit him as soon as Marinette raised her head and Luka, yet again, got lost in studying her beautiful features as he took in the small distance between them.

“Try now”, Marinette’s voice rang, and her hands leaving his made him come back to reality, forcing him to concentrate on the reason he was there in the first place.

He hesitantly shaped the dough following the movements Marinette taught him, and when she said it was done she helped him put it into a new bowl so it could rise.

She covered the dough with a cloth as Luka looked at her, “What’s next?”, he asked.

Marinette giggled, “Now we wait, Lu”, she said, and took off her apron to put it away, motioning him to do the same. He did, but he couldn’t help the confused expression forming on his face, “Wait, we’re done?!”.

His question made Marinette’s face twist into an amused smile, “For now, yes.”

“But… We didn’t do much. Aren’t you supposed to teach me, Marinette?”, he asked.

“I did! We made a perfect first dough, we have to wait for it to rise now”, she said calmly.

“Oh. Okay. And how long do we have to wait?”, he asked. Having to wait for their dough to rise meant that he would be spending more time with her, and he couldn’t really complain about it, could he? He wouldn’t have traded time with Marinette for anything.

“Twelve hours”, Marinette said, biting the smile forming on her lips as she anticipated Luka’s reaction.

“What?!”, was all he managed to say, his mouth dropping open and his eyes wide. He asked her something simple, not something that would take them that long. But the face Marinette made as she put her hands on her mouth to cover her loud laugh made it so worth it.

“Hey, you wanted something to impress your mom and sister, I’m giving you that!”, she protested, “I promise it will be worth the wait”.

With the look she was giving him, Luka would have trusted her into anything, and when she asked if they could hang out for a while, he gladly took the offer.

It didn’t matter if it wasn’t for baking, he loved spending time with Marinette, especially if she grabbed his hand to lead him to her bedroom. 

It was a blissful afternoon, the shy December sun shone on them before it set down, darkening the sky too early. Luka didn’t mind, Marinette was there with him, and she was happy. That was what mattered the most.

She said goodbye to him with a warm hug and a quick kiss on the cheek, and he left her house feeling all giddy and with the promise to come back the next day. 

The dough had tripled when Luka saw it, and he understood why Marinette used such a big bowl for the dough they had made.

The first ingredients he noticed on the counter were pistachios, candied raspberries and white chocolate chips. Marinette’s smile was as warm as the day before when she welcomed Luka and hugged him, and he lingered to her touch for longer than he would have liked to admit.

She made him zest a lemon and an orange before they mixed all the ingredients together, chatting quietly as the mixer worked. 

“I feel like I’m cheating”, Luka commented as he watched the dough turn yellow and become softer.

It made Marinette giggle, “Come on, we’ll have fun decorating it later! That’s the most interesting part, anyway, now let’s add these”, Marrinette said, handing him the cup full of pistachios and white chocolate chips and keeping the red fruits for her. She popped one happily into her mouth, making Luka look away from her and focus on ingredients mixing in the bowl beside them.

Right before the machine signalled the end of its work, Marinette prepared the counter spreading butter with her hands, and gestured for Luka to do the same. His mouth twisted when he looked at his slippery, hands, but Marinette stopped him from walking to the sink to wash them, “You’ll need it if you don’t want to get the dough stuck in your fingers as you work it”, she said and smiled as she placed the dough on the counter and divided it in two.

Luka looked intently at her quick movements and followed them until his dough turned into a ball, and helped her put her dough into a round case.

“Now we bake it, right?”, he asked as he dried his hands on his apron, but Marinette shook her head, “No, now we wait until it rises again”.

Luka’s brows furrowed in confusion, causing Marinette to let out a bubbly laugh, “It’s less than yesterday though, don’t worry”, she reassured, making Luka let out a sigh of relief. Her mouth twisted into a lopsided grin, “It’s only eight hours now”, she concluded, and giggled again at his reaction.

“You didn’t tell me it was going to be this long!”, he protested.

“It’ll be worth the wait”, Marinette reassured, and invited him to stay with her for the rest of the afternoon.

They sat on the couch, freshly baked cookies standing on the table between them, and Marinette sat right beside him as she put on a movie.

“You know, I would have been happy with you teaching me how to make cookies”, he said, taking one biscuit from the plate and putting it in his mouth.

Marinette responded with a grin, “I wanted to teach you something special”, she said, and snuggled close to him to place her head on his shoulder. Luka closed his eyes, making himself comfortable and wrapping an arm around her. She started playing with the fingers of his free hand, quietly enjoying the moment. It didn’t take long for Luka to forget about the movie running on the tv screen and focus only on Marinette, how her head fit perfectly under his chin and how sweet her scent of almond and jasmine was.

Oh, how he wished he could call her his, and he quite selfishly admitted to himself that he was happy she had decided to teach him a recipe that took so long to learn because he could leave with the promise of her waiting for him every day when she kissed his cheek as they parted.

Marinette welcomed him with warm hugs and happy smiles, and Luka held her in his embrace before he took his shoes off and walked to the kitchen.

This time the counter counted only a knife and a butter stick, Luka tilted his head, grinning, “You know, if you wanted to hang out with me all you had to do was ask”.

It made her blush.

“I- I’m only doing this because you asked me to!”, Marinette protested. She walked to set the temperature of the oven, and Luka shook his head fondly. She straightened up and stood behind the doughs that now were uncovered, a little dome standing proud under the rim of the case.

“Now we have to cut a little cross and put the butter in so it doesn’t burn in the oven and it stays soft”, Marinette said, and Luka followed her instructions. She checked the temperature in the oven and set the timer to 50 minutes.

She walked to the living room and Luka followed, he was getting used to spending time with her like this, and he didn’t mind when she leaned towards him and cuddled in his chest, he welcomed her, his arms wrapping around her automatically.

They laid in silence, the only sound between them was some old sit-com and Marinette giggling at some gags. It was natural, and he wished he could spend more days like this without any excuses. Only him and Marinette being confident around him, and him enjoying her warm and sweet presence that never failed to make him happy.

The scent of sugar filled the room, and Luka allowed himself to enjoy the moment, feeling at peace as he held Marinette in his arms and let his fingers dance aimlessly on her arms.

He didn’t have control on the words that tumbled quietly out of his lips, “You know, I could get used to seeing you every day”. They made Marinette’s head jerk up to look at him, blinking through her black lashes, and the surprised expression on her face quickly turned into a shy smile. 

She looked down at his chest, her fingers tapping delicately on it, “I would like that”, she said slowly, biting her bottom lip as soon as the words left her.

Luka could feel his heart pound louder in his chest, and he reached for her chin, gently lifting her head to look at her in the eyes, leaning in to her.

He felt her shiver under his touch, her big blue eyes locked into his before they fluttered close as she leaned into him, he could feel her sweet breath on his lips, the beat of his heart making it hard for him to listen to anything else. She was there, and she understood what he meant, and she wanted to kiss him, and she was about to kiss him too, like he had always dreamt.

But just like in a dream, he had to be woken up by the sound of a bell ringing.

The timer Marinette had set rang right before their lips met, and Marinette scrambled to get up and go back to the kitchen to get their cakes out.

Luka sighed, taking a moment to recompose himself before following her. She gracefully pulled out their creations from the oven and placed them on the counter, then made him help her go downstairs in the laboratory at the back of the bakery. He followed behind her, carefully watching out for her to make sure she wouldn’t trip on the stairs.

She rummaged through a drawer right after they arrived, carefully pulling out two long skewers and sticking them through the bottom of the cakes before placing them upside down in an empty rack. 

“Let me guess”, Luka said, leaning his back on the counter and crossing his arms, “Now we wait?”, he gave her a lopsided grin, and Marinette nodded, “Exactly, are you coming back tomorrow?”, she asked.

“Oh. I thought we’d have to wait for it to cool up not until tomorrow”, he said, making Marinette start rambling about flavours and how they needed to develop before actually eating it. It was a process that took time and patience but the only thing Luka could focus on as he heard her talk so passionately about the subject was the way her eyes sparked, how her lips moved and how happy her voice sounded instead of the actual words she was saying. Oh, there was a new song begging to be written in his heart.

“It’s going to be worth the wait”, Marinette concluded, and Luka pulled a stray lock of hair behind her ear before lowering his hand, “It better be”.

Marinette gave him a kiss on the cheek as usual, only to linger for a moment longer as she wrapped her arms around him.

She felt breathless when she pulled away and watched him leave, her legs feeling like jelly as she started walking up the stairs that lead to her room.

She had only one day left before all of this was over and she hadn’t managed to tell him how she felt yet. It wasn’t like they wouldn’t be hanging out again. They would, and Marinette would have enjoyed it as she always did. It’s just that… cooking with someone is so… intimate. 

Marinette had never imagined her to be cooking with someone and feeling at peace, she’d usually get nervous if someone else was trying to help her in the kitchen because they didn’t do things the way they were supposed to be done, and she preferred cooking alone for this reason. But as usual, Luka made things different, he made them better. It shouldn’t surprise her anymore.

Luka made things easy, there was harmony, there was warmth and happiness. It made Marinette feel comfortable, and she wouldn’t trade it for anything else.

When Marinette greeted Luka when he walked back into her house the next day, she smelled like almonds and white chocolate, and it made him feel welcome as always.

The two cakes were out of their skewers and waiting for them along with pistachios, dried raspberries, white chocolate and cream.

She instructed him to boil the cream so they could make a ganache, and they spread a thick layer of the blend on the top of the cakes before Marinette sprinkled minced pistachios and the dried raspberries on it. 

“It’s all done now, we just have to wait until the frosting has dried and then we can eat it”, Marinette said.

The sigh of relief Luka let out made her giggle. 

“Don’t get me wrong, I’m very glad you taught me this and that I got to hang out with you, I just- I was running out of patience because I want to know what it tastes like”, Luka confessed, running a hand through his hair. 

Marinette smiled, and checked for one of the cakes standing on the counter, she gave him a satisfied smile, licking the thin layer that got stuck on her finger before getting a knife to cut two slices of their creation.

She passed him a slice, and brought her piece to her lips, smiling happily as she ate the first panettone of the season, it was tradition for her, and sharing it with him made it even more special.

Luka munched slowly, allowing the sweet flavour of the fluffy cake wash over his mouth.

The sweetness of the white chocolate was balanced perfectly by the raspberry and the pistachio, and the tinge of citrus exalted each flavour.

“This is amazing”, Luka said in delight, making Marinette smile proudly. 

“See? It’s worth the wait”, she said, tilting her head.

Luka nodded in agreement, “I don’t think I’ll be able to make it without you though”.

“Oh, I’m sure you can make it, it takes more patience than skill, and you’re a quick learner, too! You did great for your first try”, she said.

“Only because I have a great teacher”, Luka’s compliment made Marinette’s cheeks turn pink. She looked down, fidgeting with her apron and trying to find something to do to avoid his attention, only to notice that he left half of his slice on the counter. 

She straightened up, pulling the top coat he hadn’t eaten yet between her fingers and looking at him.

“You haven’t had the best part yet”, she said, hesitantly raising her fingers to his lips.

Luka hesitated for a second before allowing her to feed him, and just that gesture sent shivers through his spine.

The bite she so gently offered him was sweeter than the first one, probably sweeter than he would have liked, but having Marinette feeding it to him didn’t make him think whether he liked the flavour or not, he liked the girl in front of him, and when he saw her thumb get closer to the side of his mouth to clean it, Luka couldn’t help but take one step closer and wrap his hand around her wrist so it didn’t move from its place.

Marinette stood there, frozen, her pink lips slightly parted as she tilted her head up to look at him.

His free hand reached for her cheek, and she leaned into his touch, almost as she had been waiting for this, the gesture as natural as breathing. When he finally leaned in and their mouths met, it was like fireworks exploded through his chest, sending electric thrills all over his body.

It was sweet and gentle, and it tasted like it too. It tasted like Marinette, and it was love and care and passion and enthusiasm, Luka felt all of it.

She let out a content sigh as she wrapped her hands around the back of his neck, letting her fingers tangle in his short hair. He pulled her close, the kiss slow and dizzying leaving them gasping for air. Luka kissed her smile ligthtly before reluctantly parting from Marinette, and pressed his forehead on hers, not ready to put some more distance between them yet. 

A giddy smile appeared on his face, his eyes still half lidded as his calloused thumb graced over Marinette’s lower lip, “Definitely worth the wait”, he whispered.

[soranis-sunshadow]

My first attempt at fanfiction

I’ve had this stuck in my head ever since that interesting post about how Hordak’s brothers would react to him but not being a native speaker and being so self conscious about my writing has made me somewhat reluctant about posting it. I hope it doesn’t suck. Anyway.. here it goes...

 Constructive criticism is always welcome, just, please be gentle. It’s my first attempt at this and if you spot any mistakes, please point them out to me. Pretty please.

Through a mirror, darkly

The castle of Dryl loomed in the distance, perched on the side of a mountain, it bore witness to the new settlement that had sprouted at its base seemingly overnight. The once lonely monolith was now surrounded by scaffolds and life. Where once it had stood alone, isolated and self-sufficient, both a technical marvel and a monument to eras passed, it now had a following of dwellings in various states of construction growing all around it. It would never be alone again.

Following the war, Entrapta had invited Prime’s clones to Dryl. The offer had been made to them in the hopes that they might find a new home and a new purpose and Princess Entrapta herself was, for whatever reason, quite fond of them. Some of them had instantly accepted the offer. They had an instinctive reaction to comply with most requests. Others had accepted because Entrapta already had two of their brothers at her side, it felt natural for more to follow. Some accepted because this new direction was better than the nothing and silence that followed them every day after Prime’s demise and the abolition of the hive mind. A few reluctantly accepted because they had no other real choice. Not many other kingdoms were as willing and the ships in orbit were not pilotable without input form the hive mind. For better or worse, they were stuck on this world for the foreseeable future.

It had been a few months since the war and in the time passed, some of the clones had started manifesting unique personalities. Preferences and choices were still difficult, but individuality was budding all the same sometimes, even despite the wishes of the clones themselves. Some had been named by the locals, others have given themselves names and some still refused to be called anything other than Brother.

Yudi was one of the former. A local cat person had called him terrible and an utter disaster and despite his best efforts to make them stop, the moniker of Utter Disaster, shortened to UD  had stuck to him like thistle to clothing and just like thistle it was infuriating at the best of times. Despite his “prickly” personality, Yudi, was one of his more functional brothers. Some were still shy or lost, some were confused and some were paralyzed by all this new “choice” that had been forced upon them.

There was no time to panic, no time to wallow and no time to lick wounds. His brothers needed accommodations, supplies they needed safety and Yudi had chosen to tackle the problem head on instead of wallowing at its magnitude.

Without the hive mind, information was not as readily accessible and the better solutions to his problems were hard to find. Where once there had been thousands of voices, all working together to achieve the same goal, all in harmony, now he was left with either numbing silence or the dissonance of his own lonely thoughts. Doing things by himself was hard, but he would get better at it, he had to get better at it. His more vulnerable brothers relied on him getting better at it. Not to say that he was the only brother tackling the construction project or the long term agricultural goals or even establishing some form of production and economy for the kingdom of Dryl.

There were others here too and amongst them was his least favorite brother, the runt that had stranded them here in the first place. It didn’t help that the defect had apparently learned a thing or two in its exile and had started to put the knowledge to use leading to a sort of grudging admiration from some of his other brothers. He handled the planning of the new settlement, the logistics and even the construction itself through the use of the robotic drones. He had found a way to coordinate them through the use of some sort of neural interface but remained tight lipped on how exactly it functioned when asked about it directly. He would deny the existence of a neural link and maintain that the implant device he was utilizing was merely a long distance communicator with which he coordinated the drones. He insisted that should Yudi himself need the drones to assist with any task, he had to verbally communicate the task in explicit detail to the drones. Verbal communications was still hard. Yudi hated it and resented its necessity.

The things were clumsy and rather stupid and Yudi himself thought that he would do a far better job than the runt ever could with coordinating them.  But no, Hordak had to be difficult about it.

A bubbly voice broke him out of his thoughts.

“Greetings brother!” came from behind him, “I hope the day finds you in good spirit!”  It was Kadroh, one of the more outgoing and functional of his brothers. He had been a calming, guiding influence throughout the ordeal on all of them. It was hard to be anything but calm in his presence.

“Day, is a measurement of time, it can’t find me. It’s an abstract notion” Yudi had said without turning towards his fellow clone. “and you know I think spirits are nonsense”. He put down the electrical power panel he was working on and turned to face his sibling. “Greetings brother!”

Kadroh lets out a laugh “it’s a figure of speech brother” then smiles at him, “ I meant I hope your day is going well”

“Things could be going better, can’t concentrate on the electrical grid of this dwelling without these damn drones interrupting me when they get stuck in loops. How am I supposed to get anything done like this?”

“Peace brother, it will be done when it’s done, we are not on a schedule.” Kadroh puts a hand on his shoulder and looks at him with a disarming smile. “We are comfortable at the moment in the camp and Entrapta is almost done deactivating all of the traps in the castle.” He added enthusiastically. “Everything will be fine, no need to push yourself so hard”. He let go of his shoulder and bent down to the basket at his feet to take a package out of it. “Have you had anything to eat today, or drink?”

“I knew I kept forgetting something” he reached out for the package and took it gingerly from Kadroh’s outstretched hand.

“The locals call these sandwiches” he bent down and pulled a bottle of colored water out of the basket next. “what a silly name for a food, they have absolutely nothing to do with sand or magic, the Etherians are usually literal in their naming conventions but apparently, sandwich is one of those exceptions that proves the rule.” He chuckled and smiled broadly at him and then handed him the beverage.

“How would an exception prove a rule?” Yudi said through bites. He had been hungry. His brother seemed to have a knack for providing sustenance whenever he forgot about that bothersome need himself. Kadroh acted like a caretaker for most of them, always there to help and to listen to guide and to comfort.

“The argument states that if an exception exists or has to be stated, then this exception proves that there must be some rule to which the case is an exception to.” came from behind him in a haughty voice. How could they all have the same voice and yet sound so different? By the Light Yudi hated that particular voice.

“Greetings brother!” Kadroh piped in. “You look glum, are you feeling all right?”

“Hey defect” Yudi added with a sneering tone.

The runt regarded Yudi with a blank expression at first then raised a brow ridge and tiled his head slightly to the side. One of his ears twitched and he coughed in his hand. “Why would I not be feeling all right?” then stared with his uncanny red eyes at Kadroh.

After the abolition of the hivemind and being weaned off the amniotic fluid, the eye color of most of his brothers started changing from green to yellow. Apparently, san’s Prime’s influence, their natural eye color had been a golden yellow glow. Some had different shades, of yellow like lime, or saffron but the defect had uncanny glowing red eyes. Even the defect’s defective creation had the right colored eyes. That walking fetus may have been stunted and released from gestation before maturation but at least when it looked at you; it didn’t instill the same uncanny eeriness that the defect himself exuded.  What’s worse was that the runt insisted on highlighting the difference by painting the area around his eyes black. He was proud of being broken and that provoked Yudi even further.

“Oh, you know” Kadroh said absently “ you’ve been working yourself awfully hard brother” he shrugged "you could use a break and a sandwich” he walked between Yudi and the defect, blocking them off form each other and extending his hand towards Hordak, holding the packaged food out. “something tells me you too forgot to eat today”.

Hordak frowned at the offering. “I can’t be bothered with that now, I’m leaving tostart on the reparations project for Salineas in a few days and there are still drones that I haven’t had a chance to update to the new firmware.”

“Brother!” Kadroh said reproachfully “eating, hydrating and resting aren’t things you should be putting off” he looked at him pleadingly. “please eat this” he jerked the food towards him once more “for me?”

Hordak huffed and took the food bundle then started unpacking it. He took small bites out of it while standing and surveying the area. He eyed the electric panel that Yudi had been working on.

“Something to say?” Yudi pierced him with his golden glare.

“You are using uninsulated cables.” the runt said between bites. “The whole panel will be unstable,” he takes another small bite then swallows “prone to overheating and shorting out” he takes another bite “Perhaps I could assist you in making it more stable, it won’t take long.”

“I don’t need your help with this.”Yudi stated flatly. Oh but the defect sure had gumption!

Hordak simply blinked slowly and added. “But you do require assistance, this task is too complex to handle by yourself. A second pair of eyes might highlight minor issues you that might have gone unnoticed. The uninsulated cables are a simple mistake, it could have happened to anyone, no need to be defensive about it.”

Yudi straightened to his full height, walked around Kadroh and faced Hordak completely. “Perhaps I do need assistance, just not YOUR assistance. I don’t trust your ability to aid me in this task.” He snapped dismissively.

“Brothers!” Kadroh tried to interject in a calming tone but was interrupted.

“I’ve been stranded on this planet for decades, in the interim; I’ve handled far more complex operations than this.” Hordak said while gesturing with his hand at the buildings around them, his tone flat and gravely. He regarded his bother with half closed eyes, mimicking indifference but the slight wilting of his ears gave him away.

“Please!” Kadroh tried to squeeze in, his tone now urgent.

“As if anything you’ve done here hasn’t been failure after failure!” Yudi pressed on with gleeful mockery.

“THIS! He started in a harsh tone, then stopped and continued in a forced calm “is something that I have already successfully accomplished before, I built a whole city with nothing but my broken ship. If you weren’t so obstinate to fight me at every turn, this job would be done so much quicker.”

Yudi puffed up and, without really thinking, immediately bit back with “Prime gave you one job, defect! to die! And you couldn’t even get that right!!! Why should I trust you with anything else?” It came out sounding more like a bark than a shout.

The sound of shattered glass broke them both out of it. Kadroh was panting besides them having dropped the glasses and the drinks. He’s looking at Yudi with pleading, warm golden eyes. He tried to say something but all that came out was gasps. He opened and closed his mouth like a fish.  

Hordak lets out a feral growl, bearing his crimson teeth at them and clenches his fists, the rest of the sandwich dropped on the ground, forgotten. He too takes in a sharp breath, preparing to shout but then, all of a sudden, he stops himself, his grimace flattens to a neutral expression and he unclenches his fists. The only thing that comes out of his mouth is a tired sigh. He looks away from them “I don’t have time for this.” He then turns around completely and walks away leaving Yudi alone with Kadroh in the deafening silence that hangs around his departure for a few minutes.

“Brother! That was completely uncalled for!” Kadroh says with a reproachful tone after having calmed down. Great, now his brother is angry with him because of the defect. And Yudi thought this day was already terrible enough. Apparently there’s always room for more terrible.

“Was it?” he said to Kadroh’s face, eyeing him with squinting eyes. ”Was it really? It’s his fault we’re all in this mess, his fault Prime found this planet and didn’t glass the damn thing form orbit” he started adding faster “it’s he’s fault we’re stuck here, stranded and at the mercy of these creatures on this ridiculous planet, it’s his fault Prime got distracted at the end, and it’s his fault Prime’s DEAD! his fault we’re all alone now!”

“YES! Prime’s dead! And the universe is better for it!” Kadroh shouted at him snapping Yudi out of his rant. In a meeker voice he added “we’re better for it.” He looks away “If Hordak hadn’t done what he’d done, you wouldn’t be here to resent him for it. None of us would.”

“Brother I” Yudi tried to deflect but Kadroh interrupted him “That was cruel, brother! That was cruel and it was wrong!” he crossed his arms. “And I’m crossed with you.”

“I don’t want to fight with you brother” Yudi said, deflating. “please, forgive my outburst.”

“I’m not the one you should be apologizing to.” Kadroh added then turned around and left in a brusque pace.

[suntumarchive]

A commission for @trashbin-connoisseur ! Thank you so much! ;u;

Fandom/s: Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure Character/s: Donatello Versace x gender- and appearance neutral reader Kink/s: Hunger, stuffing, stomach noises, upset stomach, belly rub CW: Starvation mention

Plot: Donatello Versace is in a bad mood. Why? Simply because he hasn’t eaten yet. Since Donatello is a bit of a strange fellow and views taking a break from his work to eat as weakness, the reader convinces him to have some cake, and let them feed it to him. He enjoys it at first, but then is surprised by a stomach ache, which the reader helps him deal with by massaging him.

___

Donatello Versace lifted his gaze up to the window, and directly looked into the bright spot in the sky for a moment, admiring the winter sun that was hiding behind a thin layer of clouds. Such lovely weather. Even though it was still cold outside and a few stray snow flakes occasionally fell from the sky, it seemed like the perfect day to take a walk. But before that… he had to finish cleaning his shoes.

Well, technically, he didn’t have to. Donatello was just a bit eccentric about his shoes. Very eccentric. Even though the young man hated many, many things; dirty shoes were very high up in his list of most hated things in the world. He felt dirty, unattractive and unclean when there was just a bit of grey on his white sneakers, or a brown stripe across his fancy black leather shoes. They had all been so goddamn expensive, why did the world have to ruin everything he remotely cared about?! Before Donatello realized what he was doing, the brush in his hand went flying, and landed on the floor with a loud thud.

Oh. Oops.

“Don?? What was that?”

He rolled his eyes at your voice, and reluctantly got up to get the brush again… He wanted his sneakers to be pearly white after all. Just why was he in such a bad mood though? He woke up feeling fine today. How very annoying… Donatello was supposed to be happy. He deserved happiness more than anyone else. Or so he thought at least…

“Nothing!! I just threw the brush.”

“What? Why?”

The young man glared in your direction for a second as you entered the room. Why? No fucking idea why! It just happened! Did he have to explain everything to you? - No… it wasn’t your fault. It really wasn’t. He shouldn’t be rude. Donatello took a deep breath before he responded.

“Just because. … I’m kind of angry.”

“I see… is there a reason…?”

Before he could open his mouth to try and explain it to you, his body already helped him figure out the best way to let you know. An intense rumble erupted from his gut, filling the room with the deep, low sound of his complaining, hungry stomach. Donatello grunted softly, raising his eyebrows at his belly’s betrayal… not even his hunched over position helped with muffling the noise. Very quickly, the man’s cheeks grew rosy with shame.

“Oh, you didn’t have breakfast yet? But it’s almost lunchtime! Would you like me to make you something? Maybe some egg on toast?”

He found it sweet of you to offer that… Admittedly, he started salivating a bit at the thought of egg on toast, but as you most likely already knew – Donatello was a bit of a weirdo. He couldn’t step away from his work now. That would mean giving into his weakness, and he couldn’t let that happen. No more weakness. Never again. Donatello was a perfectionist – if he wanted the perfect, happy life, then he had to work for it. And a good step towards a perfect, happy life were squeaky clean shoes.

“NO. … No. I want to finish this first.”

You already knew that there was no use trying to convince Donatello once he had an idea implanted in his head… sometimes it would really be interesting to hear his thought process. But for now, you decided to let him do his thing, and sat down on the couch next to him. He glanced in your direction to check whether you’d make anything dirty with your feet, but luckily, you knew him well enough at this point to always take your shoes off and make sure your socks were clean before putting your feet on the couch. Satisfied, he went back to focusing on his own shoes, and immediately remembered why he’d thrown the brush. A yellow streak that simply wouldn’t get off… one would think that more expensive shoes would also be more resistant to getting dirty, but no…

GrrruuRRRRrrrglee…

Donatello grimaced, clenching his teeth, and you already knew another explosion was about to happen soon. Hunger was extremely uncomfortable for this poor guy. He had so many painful memories attached to the feeling, memories of sickness and loneliness, and he never wanted to feel hungry again, but… this was entirely his own fault. And that made him even grumpier. The more he felt his stomach twisting and cramping inside him, the more he wanted to yell. You felt kind of concerned for the white sneakers in his hands – it looked like he was scrubbing them so hard they would burst into flames pretty soon.

“Are you sure you don’t want to take a quick breakfast break-“

“Yes. I’m sure. I’m almost done.”

Donatello rather said that to comfort himself… but his stomach wasn’t impressed. Another loud groan cut through the atmosphere, and he grunted audibly before ramming his fist into his own belly, making you flinch at the sight. Of course, it didn’t stop his organ from crying. Now it didn’t only scream, it also hurt even more.

“Don, I bought a cake, remember? Wouldn’t you like a slice?”

Finally, it seemed he was ready to give in. He leaned back with a sigh, and turned to face you. There was a defeated look in his eyes that made you want to smile… almost.

“Fine… Yes. One slice. … Please.”

Good! You were relieved to hear he’d changed his mind. You were quick to make your way to the kitchen… of course, you knew very well that a single slice wasn’t gonna cut it. Donatello was a big guy with a big appetite, and he deserved more cake. More cake meant more happiness, right? That’s at least the logic he would use. It was a bit hard to understand sometimes, but you respected it… and very soon, you returned to the living room with three slices of chocolate cake, and a cup of coffee. For a moment, he seemed to panic at the sight of the amount, but his appetite was bigger than his reason… very soon, there was an excited spark in his eyes.

“That looks great. Thanks.”

“Of course”, you nodded, but hesitated before handing the plate to him…

“Donnie…?”

He smirked a bit… you only called him Donnie when you wanted something.

“Yes?”

“Do you think I could feed you?”

Truthfully, Donatello wasn’t too happy about that… he was so hungry, he wanted to wolf the cake down as fast as he could, and he hated it when he lost control in a way, even if it just meant letting you feed him… but fine. Today, he wanted to make an exception. Good deeds also made people happier, right?

“Sure.”

Looks like you were in for a treat! Usually he didn’t like being fed very much. Gratefully, you took your seat next to him, and immediately held up a forkful of cake to his mouth; you didn’t want to make him wait any longer.

You watched Donatello’s lips part, and greedily close around the bite… he instantly seemed to be more relaxed as he chewed, even though you could still hear his empty stomach begging to be fed next to you. Well, as long as he didn’t punch it again… He swallowed quickly, not leaving you much room to enjoy yourself before he opened his mouth for more. Promptly, you held the next bite up to his lips, and he continued to barely chew and swallow the big chunks audibly… But he seemed relaxed now. The flavor and texture of the creamy chocolate was so comforting to him… even though his stomach didn’t seem too happy about it.

I’m hungry for real food. Real, healthy food with real, healthy vitamins. Not… this.

Once you reached the second slice, Donatello seemed to enjoy it less and less, eating slower and slower… The noise of his stomach begging for more had changed into a weird, high pitched gurgling… He didn’t seem to mind it at first, but then he turned his head away all of a sudden.

“Thanks. I’m done.”

“Are you sure? You still have half left.”

“Yes.”

His responses were to cool and quick, you felt something wasn’t right. Did the cake taste bad? He didn’t even touch his coffee yet either… But Donatello also didn’t go back to cleaning his shoes. He just sat there, with his eyes partly closed, and his hands trembling a bit. The part between his nose and lips suddenly looked a little sweaty…

“Are you okay…? Did you eat too fast?”

“I did NOT.”

Oh, right, that was a potential weakness.

But when you glanced at his belly, you immediately knew what was up. He looked bloated, as if his stomach were bulging out, and the intense, deep rumbles had changed into constant bubbling, making his insides sound like a boiling brew inside a witch’s cauldron. Sometimes you forgot that Donatello’s stomach was very sensitive… he had been starved and struggling to survive for pretty much all his youth, and despite his claims and fear of coming across as weak, he was generally a sickish young man…

“Your tummy hurts, doesn’t it…?”

“Don’t say-“

GLRRRRRGRLUURRRghhh…

“… T… Tummy… h-hurts…”

How quickly Donatello’s expression changed from upset to suffering, his head tilted back and his eyes pressed shut… Now you were sure you wouldn’t take no for an answer. You gently placed your hands on his middle, causing him to gasp and give you a bit of an ‘excuse me?’ face, but it soon faded as you began to massage his belly. His insides angrily continued to bubble and churn underneath your touch, you felt bad for feeding him so much sugar…

“Is that okay?”

“… Lower…”

You moved down to the soft spot right above his belly button, making him inhale sharply. Did that hurt too much? Concerned, you wanted to pull your hands away, but Donatello suddenly pushed his own hand against yours… His warm touch made you blush a little.

“That’s the spot…”, he whispered, trying to lean back and give you more room to work, but he found it awfully difficult to relax... His abs still felt rock hard under your fingers, like he was clenching his muscles and trying to not let anything through. Maybe he was scared of you accidentally hurting him, maybe he was scared of seeming weak.

“It’s okay, you can let me rub your tummy… I promise I won’t hurt you.”

“Don’t call it tummy, dammit… that’s so embarrassing! Are you five or something??”

You called it tummy earlier too, dumbass.

With a small sigh, you continued kneading his belly… of course you didn’t even ask if he would lift his shirt for you, that would probably embarrass him way too much anyway… But at least you could feel his tense muscles slowly softening up as you worked your magic. The churning from inside his gut felt even more intense on your skin now, but at least now you knew the massage would actually reach him properly. Donatello turned his head to the side now, facing away from you… he obviously didn’t want you to see his pleasured grimacing.

It’s not that he didn’t enjoy your affection or appreciate you… he was just not used to someone caring about him. He wasn’t used to someone wanting the best for him… it was so difficult to just let go of this tough boy façade he’d kept up for all these years. As much as he always said he deserved to be happy more than anyone else, it was hard to let himself be when he was so scared of being hurt again.

GrroOOOAAAaaan…

“Owww…”

“Shh… it’s okay…”

The softness in his voice caught you by surprise… had he ever really said ‘ow’ around you before? You could feel the air inside his stomach starting to shift, and the young man whimpered along with his agitated organs... he kind of reminded you of a little boy for a moment. Maybe he did feel like that little boy again, the one with pretty much constant stomach aches nobody ever cared about…

“UUUUAAAARRRRRRP!!”

That… caught you by surprise as well. The belch was so loud, it felt like it made his chest shake. The uncomfortable scent of stomach acid and chocolate began to spread, and Donatello’s head fell back with a blissful, relieved moan. His eyes almost rolled back even.

“Oh God, that’s better…”

Even though his insides were still gurgling, and small burps continued to shoot up his throat, it didn’t seem to hurt him anymore… it was seemingly all just normal digestion at this point. You couldn’t help but smile at that.

“I’m so glad!!”

“Mhhrrrp… ahh… please keep going…”

There it was, your favorite expression of his… that soft, relaxed smile when he was genuinely happy. It was so much prettier than the half-evil smirk he usually gave you. Now you finally dared to lift his shirt, and continued to rub his now exposed belly. Even though he opened one eye and looked at what you’re doing, Donatello quickly relaxed again this time, purring with bliss at the lovely massage.

“Mhhm… that feels sooo fucking good…”

“Good, good… just relax and enjoy it then~”

No need to tell him that… Donatello gently placed his own hand back on top of yours, and moaned out loud again as his belly groaned against your touch. How quickly his pained expression had changed into this look of utter bliss! You felt your cheeks growing red at the sound of his pleased moaning. That was much hotter than you liked to admit… just watching him squirm softly while you massaged him, gasping and sighing at the feeling.

“Lower please…”

“Hey, you can jerk off later”, you teased him.

“No, I mean… under my belly button… please…”

Fine… you didn’t mind that. But honestly… you wouldn’t mind jerking him off either…

[august-diehl]

I Know What’s Best - Part 1

A/N: This is my first attempt of writing Dark!Steve, tell me what you think about it, I love feedback. :)

Summary: Being the only daughter of wealthy politicians, your life reeks of privilege. You would do anything to make your parents happy, and then you meet Captain America, how much is your life gonna change?

Dark!Steve Rogers x Innocent!Reader

Warnings: Extreme manipulation, stalking, dub con (non con) in next chapters.

Tags: @lostinthoughtsandfeelings​.

I Know What’s Best Masterlist.

Main Masterlist.

This is your second year of college in NYU, you want to become a lawyer just like your parents, your whole you wanted to make them proud, and you have. Your parents are politicians, successful ones too, your mother was one of politicians that installed The Reproductive Health Act, she is an avid pro-choice woman, and your father is running for mayor of New York, and the polls are saying that he has great chance of winning. One of his biggest supporters is your brother, Ian. He is thirty-six years old and his lovely wife is seven months pregnant with their first son, and you couldn’t be happier for them and to be an aunt.

Your parents insisted that you didn't have a room in NYU, since they live so close to the university, and you agreed, it didn't make sense to spend money on a room when you were blessed enough to have your parents to guide you in this turbulent time that was college, your grades were near perfection, your relationship with your family was great, your sister-in-law, Kaia was a great friend to you, her parents moved from Norway when she was still a baby. You’ve been in her home country a few times, it was gorgeous, especially in the winter.

To be completely honest, you were quite introverted, you didn't had many friends since boarding school, you knew a few people in your classes, but you never interacted with them outside of classes, sometimes you felt lonely, but Kaia was always inviting you to buy things for the baby, so you weren’t as lonely, Kaia was your best friend, you told her everything. One boy in your class asked you on a date, but after discussing with Kaia, you refused. You were sad because of that, but Kaia said that he might be one of those frat boys that just wanted to take advantage of your sweet nature, that made you feel better, after all, your family always knows what’s best for you.

You never had a boyfriend before, your parents always encouraged you to find a nice boy from a good family, but honestly, you never felt so strongly about a boy to the point of open yourself up to someone that wasn’t your family, it felt wrong in your eyes. It always has been difficult for you to have friends, especially having a romantic relationship. Kaia was Ian’s first and only girlfriend, he met her in high school, you were just a child the first time you met Kaia.

Now it was summer, you were on a break from college. You were going with your parents to a lot of galas, meeting new people, other politicians that work with your mother and possible allies for your father’s campaign. It was mostly older men and women, no one even close to your age, the youngest ones were around Ian’s age. To be fair you didn't want to go to those tedious events, but your parents needed you, and your support, and you would do anything for them.

You and your parents were in the limousine, Ian and Kaia had to leave earlier because she wasn’t feeling very well. You were tired, the light pink dress that your mother choose for you was making you a bit uncomfortable, and being in high heels for hours, didn't help your situation. 

“It was a great event, I was able to get many supporters for my campaign. Did you enjoyed yourself, Y/N?” Your father cut the silence, he was now taking off his bow tie, your father had a real distaste for them.

“It was a great event, as you said. The food was incredible, father” Truth was that you hated those events, the galas, the dinners, and the people as well. But you did it for your family, they needed you, and you would rather die than disappoint them first.

“Tomorrow we don’t have any event to attend to, what do you think about you, me and Kaia to go out to buy some clothes for you, Martha reminded me that your clothes are getting quite old, we can pick new ones for you.” Your mother took a strand of your hair and put behind your ear, she was smiling sweetly at you.

“Yes, that’d be incredible, Mother.” You smiled back at her.

“It would be a perfect way for you ladies to spend the day, me and Ian have many things to discuss tomorrow.” Your father smiled and gave his credit card to your mother, and she gently put it in her tiny purse.

“I almost forgot to give your medicine, dear.” Your handed a small piece of cloth and a bottle of water that was on the limousine compartment, you have a very rare and genetic disease, your body doesn’t produce certain hormones, so you have to take the supplements that have those hormones that your body doesn’t produce, but other than that, you are completely healthy.

“Thank you, mother.” Another reason why your parents insisted of having you at home while you go to college, you often forget to take your pills, so your mother zealously reminds you, and she makes sure that you take it every single day at the same time, she even keeps the bottle in your parents’ room. 

“Of course, dear.” Your mother kissed your forehead, you don’t remember much of the ride back home since sleep came with full force.

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

You woke up with the sun hitting your face, you looked at the watch and it was 7:30 AM, you looked at your body and you had your pj’s on, your mother must’ve changed you when you fell asleep. You remembered that you would spend the whole day with Kaia and your mother, you came down from your bedroom and went to the kitchen. The house was silent, your parents were still probably asleep, you liked the early mornings, it was always quite peaceful. The smell of pancakes hit your senses when you were on the stairs, you smiled to yourself, Pierre was already making breakfast. You entered the kitchen and it was, the small and happy frenchman, preparing breakfast for your family.

“Good morning, Pierre.” The chef turned around and gave you a smile, the man was on his forties, and cooking was his greatest passion. 

“Miss Y/N, breakfast will be ready in fifteen minutes, why don’t you sit and wait for it?” He gestured at the table.

“Thank you, but I’ll take a shower first.” You went back to your bedroom, you took a cold shower since it was already starting to get hot, you put on a summer dress that your mother bought for you, it was a light shade of yellow. You thought that the dress was lovely, and so did your mother.

You started reading one of the books that it was required for you to read for one of your classes, you looked at the watch again and twenty minutes has passed, you went back to the kitchen, your father was already sitting down, reading the news on his iPad. You went to him and gave him a kiss on the cheek.

“Good morning, father. How did you sleep?” You sat down on the left side of the table, you put the napkin on your lap, and one of the maids was bringing all the things for breakfast.

“Very well, Ian and Kaia will be here in a few minutes. And your mother is getting ready to out with you and Kaia, I’m sure you’re gonna have a lot of fun together.” He smiled and you smiled back, you wished that you could spend as much time with your father as Ian does, you love your mother, but most of the times, you miss spending more time with him. You heard the elevator open and Ian and a heavily pregnant Kaia came through the doors. 

“Hello, father, sister.” Ian gave you a kiss on the cheek, and helped Kaia sit down next to you on the table, she sat down next to you.

The breakfast was delicious, the conversation was nice, Ian and your father were discussing things about his campaign. Kaia was asking you what things you wanted to buy, and she told you that the baby was kicking her a lot, everything was ready for the baby to come, the only thing that Kaia and Ian haven’t figured it out yet, was his name. He was going to be born in the same hospital that you and Ian were born. 

“You’re still having difficulties to find a name, Ian?” Your mother asked, and Ian signed.

“Yes, we are trying. But there’s not a good name that caught our attention yet, we still have a few weeks.” Ian laughed, and looked at Kaia, who was laughing as well.

“Well, we must go now because is gonna get late.” Your mother looked at her watch and you and Kaia agreed, leaving your father and Ian. Your mother kissed your father and Kaia kissed your brother.

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

After shopping for most of the day, your mother suggested that you stopped to have a late lunch. After all of you were satisfied with the restaurant, you entered, despite the time, it was quite busy. The hostess took you to a table in front of the window, the view was really nice.

“May I be excused? I need to use the restroom.” Both Kaia and your mother nodded, and quickly went back to their conversation.

You entered the bathroom, not realizing that you were being watched. After you finished peeing, you left the stall, only to be scared by a man looking at you, curiously.

“I didn't mean to scare you.” He declared, after seeing you jump.

“It’s quite alright, but this is the ladies restroom, sir.” The man took a hard deep breath, you had no idea the effect that calling him ‘sir’ had on the man.

“I know, I was after you, I saw you entering the restaurant, you are a gorgeous woman.” He came even closer to you, he was towering over your frame, you quickly looked at his deep blue eyes, but their intensity made you look away, he seemed familiar, but you couldn’t quite place it from where.

“Do we know each other, sir?” He put his hand on your chin, and made you look at him.

“No, but we will, doll.” He placed his nose on your neck and took a deep breath, your lips parted, no one has ever done that to you before, but you couldn’t deny the tingles all over your body. “You will be mine, Y/N.” He whispered in your ear, with a low voice, goosebumps erupted all over your skin. 

And the blonde and strange man left you in the restroom, what could he possibly mean with being his? You laughed, maybe he was just being silly, maybe he knows Ian and decided to pull a prank on his little sister, you decided. Maybe that’s the reason he looks so familiar, you went back to the table, after washing your hands, but you couldn’t see the man anywhere. It was definitely a prank, you laughed to yourself.

[curiosi-tea-writes]

Loved Ones Visit (One Survivor pt. 5)

Pairing: Din Djarin / Cobb Vanth

Setting: Survivor AU / Modern AU

(Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4)

Summary: Cobb is given a chance to rewrite his history in the game. But playing a second season without Din proves to be much more difficult both physically and emotionally. A certain reward challenge proves to both hurt and help Cobb in its own way. 

Content Warning: Blood / Injured!Cobb

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

Cobb knew playing the game a second time after three years was going to be difficult. He knew having Din with him last time was a huge encouragement. But this time he was alone. Well, he had nineteen other players, but he felt incredibly alone.

He could imagine Din and Grogu sitting on the sofa every evening. He could almost hear Din’s laughter at Grogu’s attempts to list dinosaur facts he had learned from Cobb. But he knew he was alone. Worse than that, he was alone with almost everything reminding him of Din and their original season.

When Cobb got the offer to come back for an all-star season, he told the crew he had to discuss it with his family first. His family. It still surprised him to no end that that’s what they were.

Cobb moved across two states only a year after they had returned home from the game. A year of so many miles keeping them apart when they both knew all they wanted was to be together. Din’s apartment was bigger and his job was more secure than Cobb’s so it made more sense for Cobb to move. They lived comfortably, Cobb’s photography studio still wasn’t open, but he was making progress. He had never been happier than being there with Din and his son. Their son. It had taken them all a while, but Grogu was as much Cobb’s kid as he was Din’s. They were a happy little family.

Din, of course, had supported him. “Do you want to do it?” he had asked that evening as Cobb cooked.

Cobb had been weighing the options all day. He sighed heavily and nodded. “I think I do. I hate the idea of being away from here, from you two, but I would really like a second chance at this.”

“Then you need to do it.” There was no further debate on the matter.

That day that Cobb said goodbye to his boyfriend and their son was one of the worst of Cobb’s life. He couldn’t get the image of Grogu’s worried eyes out of his mind.

“What if you get hurt again?” Grogu had mumbled out as Cobb knelt to give him a hug.

“I’m gonna try real’ hard not to,” Cobb promised.

Grogu looked up at him with tears in his eyes. “Can’t you just promise that you won’t?”

Cobb took a shaky breath and looked up at Din for some sort of support, only to be met with the same look of pain and anxiety that Grogu had.

Din placed his hand on Grogu’s shoulder and took a shaky breath of his own. “He’ll be fine.”

‘Don’t tell him that,’ Cobb thought as he narrowed his eyes at his boyfriend. ‘You don’t know that for sure.’

Most nights he laid out on the beach, staring up at the stars. It had taken him some time, but he finally loved the stars as much as Din did. Although, not for the same reason. Din loved the stars for the vastness and uncertainty of it all. The fact that there could be, and probably were, millions of life forms out there. He loved the stories behind the constellations and how they came about. Cobb loved all these things as well, but he also loved the comfort he now found in the stars. Before Din, they were just stars. Now, he knew, given what time of night it was and what time of year, where the constellations would be. His eyes could fall on his constellation of choice within seconds of laying down on the sand. They reminded him of late nights where Din explained to him everything he knew and Cobb would listen intently. He felt slightly less alone because he had the stars.

Although he didn’t have Din this time around, he wasn’t as alone as he often felt. Although they had been on different tribes despite all switch-ups and hadn’t gotten to meet up until the merge, Fennec had been brought back for the season as well. Cobb and Din had kept in touch with a few players from their season - Fennec, Boba, and Migs. He was happy knowing that he had a genuine friend on the island. Sometimes she’d sit with him on the beach, just to silently keep him company. Cobb always appreciated that. It didn’t last very long, however. After winning three individual immunities, she was seen as a threat and promptly voted out by everyone but Cobb and his one other ally.

And then Cobb was back to feeling completely alone. Only the stars were his true allies at that point.

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

“Come on in, guys!” Jeff called as the ten merged members walked single file onto the beach and took a spot on the yellow mat. Jeff had that look in his eye that told any fan of the show something big was about to happen. “Before I tell you the challenge, how about I tell you what you’re playing for.” The Survivors nodded. “I’m sure you’re all hungry and missing home. So for today’s challenge, you’ll get a little taste of it. Burgers, fries, and soda on a boat. Ice cream for dessert. You’ll eat, you can shower, have a change of clothes, spend the night, return to camp in the morning.” The Survivors groaned, knowing this was a reward everybody wanted desperately. “One more catch.”

“Of course,” Cobb sighed and the player sitting next to him laughed.

Jeff gave Cobb a slight glare before smiling. “Burgers and fries are a nice taste of home. But what would be better than a loved one to share it with?”

Everyone cheered and gasped as Jeff began going down the list of Survivors. With each person called, Cobb’s heart broke a little more. He knew he couldn’t get his hopes up too high, it was the middle of the school year. It was highly unlikely that Din was able to get time off to come to the island.

“Alright, now that everyone’s here-”

“Jeff,” Omera, the one person Cobb considered an ally, spoke up. Cobb turned around to begin to explain to her that it was alright, but she continued anyways, “You forgot Cobb.”

Jeff began to give him a look of pity, much like his did a couple of seasons ago with the letters before he smiled brightly. “I’m just messing, Cowboy. Not the first time this has happened, but we have a loved one coming to visit who was actually on the show before.”

Tears formed as Jeff called out Din’s name and Cobb was off the mat faster than any of his tribemates had been when he saw his boyfriend jog around the corner. Cobb nearly knocked him over as he ran into his embrace. Din’s arms were tight around Cobb’s waist as he lifted him up slightly off of the sand.

“I missed you so much,” Cobb whispered in Din’s ear.

“I missed you too,” he whispered back, his voice muffled by Cobb’s shoulder, feeling his warm skin against his face. They broke apart and shared a soft and quick kiss, fearing that if they let it go any longer, they wouldn’t be able to stop.

“How’s Grogu?” Cobb asked quickly, so much of his focus on Din that he hardly realized his tears still streamed steadily down his face.

Din chuckled, his smile bright. He loved how much Cobb adored and worried for the boy. “He’s fine, we’re both fine.”

“Now, Din,” Jeff spoke, bringing their attention to him, “you know what it’s like to be out here, you’ve played this game. It’s incredibly taxing- I mean, you know. Cobb got sick last time he was out here. What is that like knowing he’s out here again?”

Din let out a half laugh, turning to face him. “Honestly, Jeff,” he sighed out, pulling Cobb tighter to him, “it terrifies me. I think he’s absolutely insane to be out here a second time. I’ve been going crazy sitting at home not knowing anything. But I would also never discourage him from something he really wanted to do.”

Cobb lowered his face to Din’s shoulder, his heart aching from the love and support he knew he had in Din.

Jeff smiled brightly and gave a nod. “I know I normally only ask one question. But, Din, you didn’t see Cobb’s face before you came out here.” His words were cut off by Cobb groaning half-heartedly into Din’s shirt. Jeff laughed and continued, “Cobb, you didn’t even have a letter last time you played. Did you not expect him to come?”

“I had hoped, but I didn’t assume,” Cobb answered honestly, lifting his head. “There was no guarantee Din would be able to get time off. I knew if he could, he would have come, but-”

“I actually called in a family emergency,” Din muttered. Cobb snapped his attention to Din, his jaw dropping. He didn’t know when he had stopped crying and had begun laughing.

Jeff laughed hard. “You really did?”

“There was no way I was missing this visit, Jeff,” Din stated seriously.

New tears formed in Cobb’s eyes. He pulled Din close again and reveled in the feeling of Din’s hands rubbing his back.

Jeff cleared his throat and laughed. “Alright, Cowboy, head back over-”

“Actually, Jeff,” Din interrupted. He laughed as Jeff gave him a look that seemed to only be saved for when all-stars decided to sass him. “Sorry,” he said hurriedly, “it’s just that I don’t know if we’re going to win this and it may be my only time to do it. So if it’s alright, I have something I’d like to say to Cobb.”

Jeff nodded and waved his hand for Din to continue.

Turning back to Cobb, Din laughed lightly at his confused expression. “Cobb,” he spoke softly. “You can’t predict anything out here, it’s not possible. I didn’t come into this game three years ago thinking I’d come out of it with someone as amazing as you in my life. Our story started on an island much like this, on Survivor. I felt it was only right for it to continue on Survivor. So,” Din reached into his pocket and pulled out a small red box. He kept his eyes on Cobb’s as he slowly sank down to kneel in the hot sand. He opened the box to reveal a ring; half wooden, half clear resin with a small cut of a woven weed stem inside it, one that Cobb recognised all too well. “Cobb Vanth, will you marry me?”

Cobb fell to his knees, wincing slightly at the pain, pulling Din into a crushing kiss. At this point, he didn’t care if it was going to hurt to stop. He pulled back, brushing their noses against each other. “Yes,” he whispered only loud enough for Din to hear, tears forming in his eyes. “Yes, of course I will.” He placed another small kiss on Din’s lips. “I love you so much.”

“I love you too,” Din spoke against Cobb’s lips.

Jeff cleared his throat, bringing both men back to the reality of the game. “So, let’s get this clear,” Jeff laughed out. “You said ‘yes’ right?”

Cobb laughed pressing his cheek against Din’s head, enjoying the feeling of the softness of his hair ticking his ear. “Yes, I said ‘yes.’”

Din took the ring out of the box and reached behind him to pull Cobb’s arm off of his shoulder. He smiled brightly as he slid it onto Cobb’s finger, remembering when he watched the part of their season where Cobb slid the woven ring into the same place.

“Alright you two,” Jeff said. “Sorry to break this up, but we have a challenge to get to.”

They exchanged one last kiss before parting and they each moved away to take their places. The father of one of Cobb’s tribemates shook Din’s hand with a smile as he joined the loved ones. Cobb’s tribe patted him on the back, Omera taking Cobb’s hand to get a better look at the ring.

“Aright,” Jeff called, clapping his hands together. “Unless anyone has any other pressing questions to ask.” Everyone laughed. “Let’s get to the challenge, then.” All the players stood up a little straighter. “Today, the challenge will involve both you and your loved one. We’re going to see how good you can communicate. You will be blindfolded and your loved one is going to guide you through a maze, over and under obstacles. You’ll have to race to collect five necklaces with the help of your loved one. First person to have all the necklaces collected and be back on your mat with your loved one wins reward. Sounds simple but if you fail to communicate, it will prove extremely difficult. Let’s get started.”

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

Cobb felt on top of the world. To him, he felt like he was back at home, recreating challenges for Grogu to take part in. Din had the louder voice between them, so that was also a plus in his books. He adored every direction Din called, utterly in love with hearing his voice. He had collected two of the necklaces and truly felt they would win the challenge.

Din tried to call out his name but it was too late. Cobb hadn’t ducked far enough down and managed to bang the side of his head on the bar he had meant to go under.

“Cowboy, are you okay?” Jeff called.

Cobb laughed and gave a thumbs up in Jeff’s general direction. He turned himself around a few times, attempting to regain his bearings when Din spotted the growing patch of dark red soaking into the yellow buff around Cobb’s eyes.

“Jeff, he’s not alright,” Din called quickly, already getting in the position to hop off of the tower he stood on as soon as Jeff gave him the go.

Jeff snapped his gaze to Cobb. “Everybody stop!” He called. “Stay where you are. Din, come down here. Medical!”

Cobb reached up and touched his temple. He couldn’t see still but he could feel the warmth and the wetness on his fingers and knew he must have hit his head much harder than he had thought. Din met Cobb down in the maze and guided Cobb to take a seat on the ground.

The medic rushed to them and lowered Cobb’s blindfold just enough to see the gash.

“What’s happening?” Cobb asked quickly. He felt fine, maybe a little sting. If it weren’t for the warmth against his face, he wouldn’t have even known he was really injured. He leaned into Din’s touch as he sat behind him, lightly rubbing his back.

The medic spoke up, “Just a bit of a gash, Cobb. You hit your head pretty hard back there. You’re fine.”

Cobb sat as still as he could, trying not to wince too harshly at the pain when his temple was touched with something cold. He still couldn’t see but he was grateful that Din was there. This would have been much scarier if he was alone with strangers.

“Can you tell us, mostly Cobb because he still can’t even see,” Jeff said softly, “what the diagnosis is? Is he okay to continue the challenge or is he done?”

The tone in his voice reminded Cobb just a little too much of when Jeff had to explain to him that he was being pulled from the game so close to the end. The wave of anxiety that washed over him made his ears ring and a tear was running down his face before he even had a chance to fight it. He reached blindly for Din’s hand, only realizing once he had it how badly his hands were shaking, Din’s tight grip attempting to steady him. “I don’t want to be evaced again,” he whispered, his voice trembling. He felt Din’s arm wrap tightly around him and he held his hand a little tighter, the one thing grounding him in the moment.

“You’re not getting evaced,” the medic explained. “It’s a pretty nasty gash, not deep, just long.” The medic traced lightly above the wound to let Cobb know exactly where it was. “It doesn’t need stitches. The blood made it seem a lot worse than it is but now that it’s mostly clean, I can say that so long as it’s kept clean and bandaged up, the worst case is you’ll have a pretty wicked scar on your temple to show off.”

Everyone gave a sigh of relief, even the players who had stopped in their tracks near them. Cobb was thankful that people understood how badly he didn’t want to leave the game again.

“So, in that case,” Jeff said, his voice a little lighter now that the weight of that question had been answered. “What about the challenge?”

The medic sighed and paused for a moment. “Well, I suppose that’s up to Cobb. I don’t see any reason why he can’t continue. I can easily patch this up and he can go about the challenge, I’d just want to patch it up better once he’s done. But Cobb, that’s unless you’re in pain or feeling lightheaded, it’s entirely up to you.”

“I’m finishing the challenge,” Cobb stated quickly. He wasn’t going to let something like this keep him from seeing Din.

“If you start to feel at all lightheaded, you let us know,” Jeff said sternly. “Really, Cowboy, we’ll stop the challenge if you do, it’s not a problem. I’d rather stop then have you push yourself too hard.” Cobb nodded. “Okay. Din, go back up to the stand. Cowboy, medic will patch you up. Let’s get back to it.”

Din squeezed his hand one last time, placing a soft kiss to Cobb’s hair before standing and making his way back to the stand. He was determined now more than ever to win this challenge.

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

“Cobb, wins reward!” Jeff called.

Cobb pulled the blood soaked buff and blind fold off from over his eyes and tossed them on the ground. He let his eyes adjust to the light as Din wrapped his arms around him tightly, kissing his cheek. As Cobb’s vision came back into focus, the first thing he saw was Din’s eyes as he smiled at him and for a moment, he was no longer in the game. For a moment it was just them in the entire universe. Cobb wondered if this is how it would feel on their wedding day. He was almost certain it would be.

The two men made their way next to Jeff as he recounted what they won. Cobb was looking forward to a night not only away from camp but with Din. He took Din’s hand and held it tightly, almost attempting to convince himself that he was real and there.

“Cowboy, I want medical to take another look at that gash and then you two can head on over to the boat.” Jeff clapped his hands together and smiled. “As for the rest of you, say bye to your loved ones and head back to camp.”

Cobb watched sadly as everyone said their goodbyes. He wished he had been given the option of taking someone. He would have taken Omera, he had already known that. But he wasn’t going to complain that it was only him and Din. He needed to just be with him.

The medics finished cleaning his injury and gave him instructions of how to handle it after he showered on the boat. Din gave them his promise that he would help with it which seemed to make them happy. With a final question about how Cobb was feeling, the newly engaged couple were sent off on a motorboat to be taken to the ship they were staying on.

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

Cobb wiped the mirror of steam in the bathroom after his shower. He turned his head a little to get a better look at his wound. It was already on its way to healing but the pain of it had finally set in. He had been as careful as he could to not disturb it while washing his hair, even having Din lend a hand when he realized it was much harder to shampoo and rinse around a cut than he had thought. Now looking at it in the mirror without the dirt from his hair making it darker, he could see that it wasn’t deep, just a long cut running from just above his ear to his temple.

He left the bathroom after treating and wrapping his wound and smiled at the sight of Din stretched out on the bed reading a book. Cobb let his body fall a little to the side, resting his shoulder against the door frame. He had missed just observing him so much.

Din looked up from the book and smiled brightly. “How are you feeling?”

Cobb laughed  little. “My head hurts but I’m excited to have a pretty awesome scar.”

“You are the only person in the world who would be excited to have a scar,” Din laughed out with a soft scoff.

Cobb took the few steps to the bed and sat next to Din’s legs. “Imagine how cool it’ll be when someone asks where I got the scar from and I get to tell them I got it on Survivor!” He sounded far too excited even to his own ears but he really didn’t care. He was incredibly happy. Happy that he wasn’t pulled from the game. Happy that he was with Din. Despite the anxiety caused from the injury, he could easily state that it was one of his favorite days to date.

Din sat up and took Cobb’s hand, lightly pulling him to lay down beside him. They settled down with Cobb’s head resting on Din’s chest, just like they would back home. Din ran his fingers softly through Cobb’s hair, careful not to touch the injury by mistake. “How’s the game been so far?”

Cobb knew it was an innocent question. It was a question that made sense to ask, especially given that Din knew the game personally. But Cobb wished he hadn’t asked. He tilted his face into Din’s shirt, trying to memorize the scent he already knew so well. He couldn’t answer. He knew the answer would be negative. He didn’t want Din to worry about him more than he knew he already was. He was too exhausted physically and mentally to stop his tears from falling. He held them back for so long at camp - through every fight with a tribemate, every frustrating day they didn't catch any fish, every injury. But now he was with Din and he knew he didn’t have to hold them back.

As soon as Din heard a sniffle and the coolness of his shirt against his chest, his heart shattered. He pulled Cobb up so they could lay next to each other. He wiped a few stray tears away from Cobb’s face with his thumbs. “What’s wrong?” Din’s voice was soft, barely above a whisper.

“I just-” Cobb’s voice broke. “Last game went so well and this one is just-” He closed his eyes, causing more tears to fall. He took a shaky breath. “It’s been rough,” he finally got out. “Everything out here reminds me of you and it drives me crazy. Fennec came back,” he chuckled lightly as Din perked up a little hearing their friend’s name, “so at least I had her after the merge but she got voted off three Tribals ago.” He leaned forward and rested their foreheads together. “I can’t wait to go home.”

Din pulled him closer, allowing Cobb to let his emotions out. He understood. Not even in the terms of knowing the game. He had spent most nights after Grogu fell asleep holding Cobb’s pillow. He tried to stay strong for Grogu, he was worried enough about Cobb without having to know Din was as well. So Din spent his days keeping them both busy to keep their minds off of it and at night he would let his own emotions out as quietly as he could, trying to take in the little bit of Cobb’s scent left on the pillow.

When Cobb had run out of tears to cry he took a shaky breath and pulled away just enough to wipe his eyes. “I’m sorry,” he whispered. “It’s just a game. I need to keep telling myself that, it’s just a game.”

Din shook his head quickly and placed a soft kiss to Cobb’s forehead. “I’m so proud of you.” When Cobb scoffed he placed his hand gently under Cobb’s chin to bring his face up towards his. “Seriously. Playing this game once is hard enough. Playing it a second time- I can’t even imagine. I am so incredibly proud of you.”

Cobb smiled brightly. He thought how strange it was to smile genuinely. He had missed it.

“Come on,” Din said with a nudge to Cobb’s arm. “Let’s go eat and get you some water. Don’t want you to get dehydrated.”

Cobb scoffed out a laugh as he got off the bed to follow Din out of the suite. “Yeah, don’t want to do that again.”

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

Dinner on the deck of the boat was perfect. They were able to watch the sunset over a nearby island and the way Din’s eyes lit up as the stars began to appear was priceless to Cobb. He was thankful that Din had played the game. He might be away from camp and unable to strategize with his alliance, but running ideas past Din made up for it. He was able to see situations from a different point of view, letting Cobb see better ways to go about them.

At dessert, they both fell silent. Cobb lowered his gaze and spun the ring around on his finger.

“Do you like it?” Din asked as he set his bowl of ice cream aside and rested his arms on the table. “I knew for a while I wanted to use the ring I made you but I didn’t know how to do it without you noticing it was gone. Then you decided to come back on the show and it gave me an opportunity I didn’t know if I’d get again.” He spoke fast, his hands fidgeting, suddenly nervous.

Cobb looked up and chuckled, loving when Din rambled. “I love it.” He reached across the table and took Din’s hand. He liked the way the ring pressed into his knuckle and Din interlocked their fingers, reminding him that it was there. ”I love you.”

“I love you too,” Din whispered, his voice threatening to break.

Cobb tilted his head a little, his eyes turning quickly from soft to worried. “What’s wrong, Darlin’?”

Din sighed heavily. He knew Cobb didn’t need him breaking down right now. He needed him to be strong. He needed to not feel guilty for leaving. “I miss you,” he decided on simply. He shook his head lightly and took his hands away from Cobb’s to bring them up to hold his face. He needed to be strong, Cobb needed him to be.

Standing from his seat, Cobb made his way around the table. He placed his hand lightly on Din’s arm, causing him to drop his hand from his face and bring his teary gaze up to Cobb. “Let’s go to bed,” Cobb whispered, tugging a little.

Neither spoke as they made their way to the bedroom. They moved around each other easily, as they would if they were back at home. It wasn’t until they were under the covers, their arms tightly around each other that the silence was finally broken.

“You really scared me today,” Din spoke, his voice barely audible.

“I was pretty scared today,” Cobb admitted. He pulled away just enough to look up at Din but the other man refused to meet his eyes. “It wasn’t your fault that I got hurt.” He knew where Din’s mind was, the same place it was three years ago. He knew Din had some overwhelming need to protect those he cared about and while Cobb appreciated his concern, he wished he didn’t have to endure the guilt anxiety he always faced when he was unable to do so.

Din sighed deeply, tears returning to his eyes, no longer trying to keep them away. He opened his mouth to reply but nothing came out. He just sighed again and closed his eyes.

“Darlin’,” Cobb said in what was a normal volume but in the quiet of the room sounded loud. It served its purpose in bringing Din’s gaze back to his, Cobb’s heart aching as he saw Din’s tears. He mirrored the action of wiping them as Din had done for him earlier. “It was not your fault.”

“I should have been paying more attention,” Din defended. “I should have warned you, I-”

Cobb crashed their lips together, silencing his mind more importantly than his words. Din hummed into the kiss and pulled Cobb closer. His hand out of habit found its way to Cobb’s hair, earning a hiss of pain as his fingers brushed over Cobb’s bandage, causing them to pull away. They took a moment to just stare at each other, the love evident in both their eyes. Both felt, for at least that moment, the weight of the day and the last few weeks lift off of them.

“Thank you,” Cobb sighed, nestling his head to Din’s chest.

Din pressed a kiss to Cobb’s hair. “For what?”

Cobb gave a soft laugh. “For coming out here.” He tightened his arms around Din. “I needed this.”

“Of course,” Din whispered. “I would miss it for anything, Starshine.”

Cobb smiled brightly, always adoring the rare times Din used that name for him. He always saved it for the softest and calmest moments between them.

They settled in for sleep but just laid in silence for a long time, neither really wanting to sleep. They just wanted to hold each other for as long as they could, not worrying about the game or the other players. They both thought about when Cobb had been evaced and they had found themselves in a no-so-different situation than the one they were in now. Just two people calming each other’s anxieties with a simple embrace.

Cobb eventually couldn’t tell if Din was asleep or not. His breathing was calm enough that he could have been, but Din very rarely fell asleep before him. Cobb always thought it was a habit from watching over Grogu, but he was never really certain.

“Darlin’?” he whispered as gently as he could. If Din was asleep, there was no chance it would disturb him.

“Yes, Starshine?”

He sighed happily and lifted his head a little. “What do you think about a beach wedding?”

Din hummed. “Seems appropriate. Is Grogu going to be our ring bearer?”

“I think he’d be pretty upset if he wasn’t,” Cobb laughed.

“Alright,” Din whispered with a nod. “How’s purple for our main color?”

“Purple?” Cobb asked. When Din nodded he shifted a little to look up at him better. “Why purple?”

Din smiled brightly, his eyes so full of love it made Cobb’s heart skip. “It was our merging color. We finally got to be together at the merge.”

Cobb closed the short distance and pressed their lips together in a soft kiss. He pulled away quickly, laughing as Din leaned in to follow his lips. “Purple sounds amazing, Darlin’.” He laid back down and held Din tightly. “I can’t wait to marry you.”

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

The morning went by far too quickly for either of their liking. After a quick cup of coffee they were put on a motor boat and on their way back to camp. Din held Cobb’s hand the entire morning, not wanting to let any space pass between them, fearing they might not get the chance to reconnect.

As the camp came into sight, Cobb could see Omera waving at them from the beach. Cobb smiled and waved back, the ring catching his eye as he lifted his hand. He spun it with his thumb as he brought his hand back down and smiled brightly. At least after Din left he would still have this reminder of him. It felt the same as when Din left him the original stem ring last time.

Din walked him up to the shore and gave him a deep but short kiss. “You stop getting hurt,” he mumbled against his lips.

Cobb let out a soft laugh. “I’ll try my best. This game likes seeing me get hurt.” He wrapped his arms tightly around Din. “Tell Grogu I love him so much. I miss him.”

“He misses you too,” Din admitted. He had tried not to tell Cobb how worried the boy was for him. “We’ll both be there at the airport when you come home, okay?”

Cobb nodded and took a deep breath. “Just a little bit longer.” He smiled despite his heart breaking at the idea of having to let Din go. “And then we can start properly planning our wedding.”

With one final kiss they finally let go. Din waved once he was back on the motor boat, and then he was disappearing into the distance.

Cobb took a deep shaky breath and nodded. He turned on his heel and smiled as best he could at Omera. “So,” he spoke as steadily as he could, “what’d I miss?”

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

Nineteen days later, Cobb got off the plane, a bounce in his step that he had been missing last time he left the game. This time he wasn’t heading back to an empty apartment. This time he was headed home to family.

“Dad!”

Cobb looked down to see a blur of Grogu’s green hat as he ran to him, throwing his arms around Cobb’s legs. His eyes flicked up to Din quickly who was smiling brightly. Cobb felt the happiest of tears fill his eyes. While Cobb had long considered the boy to be his son, it was the first time Grogu had ever called him “Dad.” Cobb knelt down and pulled the boy into a tight hug, not ever wanting to let him go.

“How was the game?” Grogu asked excitedly, seemingly not realizing the impact that his single word had on both his fathers.

“Honestly?” Cobb looked between the two people he loved most in the universe. “I think I won.”

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Note: This fic was honestly very self-indulgent and nothing else. I really started this as a one-shot that I assumed nobody else would enjoy, I just wanted to put it out into the universe because I wanted to read it and knew nobody else would write it. So the fact that people have actually enjoyed this and let me have fun with it means the world to me.

I left things open so I have the opportunity to go back and make a collection out of it, maybe add some random one-shots about Cobb and Boba's alliance or Fennec and Din's. Maybe I'll even add some proper Migs/Boba stuff in there. I'm not sure yet.

Thank you all for going on this fun little journey with me! And if you're wondering, yes, Cobb did win.