#<- [image of that one guy breaking his chains in the sunset]

[merry-fagoland]

[itsapeterthing]

Three’s a Crowd || Bucky Barnes

pairing: bucky barnes x fem!reader

summary: when you come down to visit your boyfriend, bucky barnes, at the wilson residence and see his interaction with sam’s nephews firsthand- you can’t help but entertain the idea of having a family of your own with the super soldier.

a/n: here’s some short and sweet fluff prior to the season finale! reblogs and/or replies are super appreciated!!

word count: 2k

warnings: mentions of starting a family? it’s pure fluff

masterlist || request || taglist

“Hey sleepyhead.” You hummed, running your fingers through your boyfriend’s hair.

At the sound of your voice and the gentle touch of your fingers slipping through his hair and brushing against his skin ever so slightly, Bucky opened his eyes to bet met with your figure sitting at his side, staring down at him. 

No matter how many times he woke up to see you first thing in the morning with the sunlight highlighting your features, he would swear he was in heaven- utterly consumed with the feeling of pure bliss.

“Hi, doll.” He smiled, his voice still raspy.

At the feeling of his hands moving to lay on either side of your waist you smiled. “Hi.”

“What are you doing here?” He asked, realizing that you had come all the way down to the Wilson’s home when the last place Bucky had left you before going on his mission with Sam was at your shared apartment in New York.

“I missed you.” You shrugged. 

“I told you I was coming home today, Y/n.”

“I know, Buck.” You said, now laying your palm against his cheek. “But I heard about everything that happened and I couldn’t wait another day to see you.”

Looking up at you and leaning into your palm that was cupping his cheek, Bucky couldn’t believe how he ever got so lucky as to have you.

Breaking him out of his moment spent admiring you, he heard the sound of Sam’s nephews running into the room, and turned his head only to see them playing with the famous vibranium shield in their hands.

“Hey!” He exclaimed.

Immediately upon being caught by the super soldier, the boys dropped the shield onto the ground, scurrying out of the room, no doubt scared about getting caught with their uncle’s prized possession.

“Look at you babysitting.” You laughed, playfully swatting at your boyfriend’s chest.

Bucky caught your hand midair and scoffed. “I’m not babysitting... it’s just... dangerous... you know?”

“Sure,” You smiled. “Whatever you say, tough guy.”

Grasping the dog tags that were lying on his chest, you gently tugged on the chain and brought his face inches away from yours. Seeing his sleepy, smiling face- you brought your lips to meet his for a soft kiss before pulling away.

“One more?” He asked, quirking his eyebrows.

“Go brush your teeth first.” You laughed, watching as he threw you a fake pout. “Then I’ll see what I can do.”

-

Although the two of you spent the remainder of the day apart- Bucky training with Sam and you helping Sarah with things she needed done around the property- you came together again on the docks that evening while the Sun began to set over the horizon.

Carrying a crate in your hands that you had assured Sarah wasn’t too heavy for you, you made your way near the boat again, laying your eyes on your super soldier boyfriend for the first time since that morning.

You swear your heart could’ve burst right in your chest, taking in the sight in front of you.

Bucky was stood at the end of the dock, one hand on his knee while he chatted with Sam and his sister beside him. His other arm- his vibranium one- was stretched out and you couldn’t help the smile that crept onto your face as you witnessed Sam’s nephews and other children you hadn’t seen before hanging off of it, laughing to one another in awe about how “cool” his arm was. 

With the golden hue of the sunset setting over your boyfriend’s features, you wished you had a camera on you so you could never forget the moment. You could’ve sworn you would’ve stood there for eternity staring if it weren’t for Bucky catching your eye, waving back at you smiling.

Although you couldn’t hear him, you watched as he said something to the kids, gently shaking them off of his arm, before striding over to you.

“Here, let me take that.” He offered, taking the crate from your arms and setting it down on the dock.

Watching as he did so, your mind was still utterly consumed with the image you had just seen in front of you.

“So kids really seem to like you, huh?” You asked.

“What?” He asked, before remembering what he had just been up to. “Oh that?” Bucky asked gesturing back towards where the kids were playing at the end of the dock. “No... they just like the arm, you know?”

As much as you loved your boyfriend, you knew that he was completely naive when it came to the positive effects he had on people.

“Buck...” You cooed, reaching for his hands and pulling his body closer to yours. “When are you going to realize that people like you for you? They think you’re cool! Sure, the metal arm helps, but just admit it babe- kids like you.”

Resting his hands on your waist, you watched as a teasing smirk formed on his face.

“Why are you so obsessed with how kids act around me today?”

As soon as he asked, you began to feel flustered by him not only noticing, but calling you out on it. You hadn't realized you were being so obvious, but you could barely help yourself. Seeing your boyfriend, Bucky Barnes, surrounded by kids? You couldn’t help but think of him surrounded by children of your own. All you could think about all day when not engaged in an active conversation with those around you was entertaining the idea of starting a family with your favorite 106 year-old man.

“I’m not!” You exclaimed, playfully swatting at his chest. “Why are you so obsessed with me being obsessed about you with kids? Hmm? Wanna answer that old man?”

Watching as you laughed while teasing him, Bucky couldn’t help but get lost in the moment.

“Buck-” You began.

“You know you look so beautiful right now?” He cut you off.

You bit your bottom lip to try to hide the large smile that was creeping over your face at his compliment. No matter how long the two of you had been together, or how many times he complimented you, he always knew how to make you feel the same butterflies you did the first time you met him.

“Especially with the sunset? You look beautiful all the time, doll, but... wow.” He said.

“Bucky, stop flattering me.” You insisted, running your hands up his chest before wrapping your arms around the back of his neck.

“I mean it, Y/n.” He said. “You’re the best looking thing on this damn planet.”

Utterly consumed in the moment, you couldn’t help but smile.

“Me?” You asked. “Have you ever seen yourself? I swear I want our kids to look just like you.”

As soon as the sentence slipped out of your mouth, you regretted it. It came out so naturally you hadn’t even had time to think about it before you essentially just confessed to your boyfriend that you wanted to have children with him.

Although you and him had no doubt in your minds that you would spend the rest of your lives together, you understood that now might not have been the best time to bring up such a big life change with both of you only being thrown back into existence half a year ago and him being consumed in his work not only in saving the world, but in saving himself.

Embarrassed, you tried to weasel your way out of his grasp, but he only gripped his hands tighter on your waist pulling you towards him.

“What did you say?” He asked.

“I’m so sorry! Forget I said anything-” You pleaded.

“No, Y/n, stop. Stop apologizing.” He said. “Were you... were you talking about kids all day because you were thinking about... were you thinking about me being a dad?”

As you looked into his eyes, you could see how serious he was and you knew you couldn’t lie to him.

“Yes.”

The two of you stood staring at each other in silence for a few moments and just as you were beginning to grow afraid that you might have ruined everything, you watched as your boyfriend began to chuckle, a light smile playing on his lips.

“What?” You asked. “What is it?”

“Thank God.”

Quirking your eyebrows you pressed again. “What do you mean?”

“What do I mean?” He asked playfully, pulling on your waist to tug you closer towards him. “Do you think I haven’t been thinking the same thing all day?”

“What-”

“Y/n.” He said seriously, the smile leaving his face. “You’ve been taking care of Sam’s nephews all day. Do you think the thought hasn’t crossed my mind? I know... I know I’ve been through a lot... we’ve been through a lot... but I want this with you.”

You could feel your heart swell in your chest, listening to your boyfriend’s words.

“What are you saying, Buck?” You asked.

“You’re going to make me say it, aren’t you?” He asked, smiling once again. “Okay. Today when I couldn’t tie the kid’s shoelaces because of my hand and you stepped in and did it for me I thought about how good of a mom you would be. You’d be such a good mom, Y/n. I’m a piece of work- I know that- but God you would be so good at it and if I have... you know... mini me’s running around I wouldn’t want anyone else because I know that they would be the most loved and cared for kids in the damn world having you as their mom.”

You once again couldn’t help the smile that spread across your face as you listened to your boyfriend’s praise. It wasn’t uncommon for bucky to worship the ground you walked on, but for him to give such a compliment regarding a future family of your own, you couldn’t help but feel as though you had been personally escorted to paradise.

Unable to find the words to describe the joy and excitement you were feeling, you spoke the only words you could find it in yourself to say to him.

“I love you.”

“I love you too.” He said.

“I want it all with you too, Buck.” You said, moving your hand to cup his cheeks, “And for the record- you would be a great dad. I know you put on the tough guy look for everyone else, but as the luckiest woman on the planet- I’ve seen the love you have in your heart. You would spoil those kids rotten with love.”

You watched as the very rare instance of blush coated Bucky’s cheeks. Still smiling- so much so it almost began to hurt- you pulled your boyfriend’s face towards yours, allowing your lips to meet his. Just as you were about to deepen the kiss however, you heard a loud whistle, sounding from behind Bucky.

Peeking behind Bucky, you saw Sam standing a few feet away, sleeves rolled up and hands on his hips.

“Hey!” Sam teased. “There’s kids here!”

“Thanks for ruining the moment, Sam.” Your boyfriend grumbled beside you, and you couldn’t help but chuckle.

You watched as Sam, laughing, took a swig of the beer in his hand, the sun setting behind him.

“I’m just messing with you, man.” He said. “Are you two staying tonight?”

The two of you glanced at one another, wordlessly communicating while smiling- both knowing what the other was thinking.

“I think...” You began. “I think we’re gonna start a family.”

When the words slipped out of your mouth, you and Bucky couldn't help but gaze at each other in awe of the situation. You were really going to do this. You were going to start a family with one another. You could hardly believe it, but you also couldn’t be happier than you were in that moment.

In front of the two of you, however, still stood Sam who spit out his beer at the sound of your words.

“Not on my sister’s couch you’re not!”

[dismal-alien-darling]

Like Glass

Alcina Dimitrescu x female reader 

Bela Dimitrescu, Cassandra Dimitrescu, Daniela Dimitrescu, Karl Heisenburg

Summary: Lady Dimitrescu almost looses you and becomes even more protective than ever before. 

Warnings/tags:abduction, being held captive/against your will, being held for ransom, being starved, severe bodily harm, mentions of torture, trauma, night terrors, angst, hurt/comfort, protective Heisenburg, protective Dimitrescu daughters, upset Alcina, protective Alcina, vulnerable Alcina 

y/n= your name 

y/L/n=your lycan’s name 

Alcina Dimitrescu had always been protective of you. Even when you were simply her “pet,” her “toy,” her “human play-thing.” Her protection had doubled when she had confessed her feelings for you and had taken you as her lover. It had then tripled when she asked for your hand in marriage, you now being her wife AND step-mother to her girls.

You and Alcina had been careful in hiding your relationship because as pure as your love was it was dangerous. You could very well have been used a ransom bargaining chip to hand over Castle Dimitrescu to an enemy family. So Lady Dimitrescu kept you close and safe...that was until one winter night. You had  ventured out into the grounds that night to watch the snow fall and as you enjoyed the peace of the snowfall you had been taken by an enemy house. The word has slipped, unbeknownst how, but it had slipped just the same. You had screamed and fought as best as you could but the ones that took you were by far stronger than you. By the time Alcina had heard the screams and had gone racing out of the castle, her daughters leading the charge, there was no sign of you except for the signs of a struggle in the snow.

As expected, two days after you had been captured a note was left at the castle doors demanding Castle Dimitrescu be handed over in exchange for you safe return. The letter stated they had three days to comply or else the next thing that would be showing up the doors would be your dismembered body.

During the next two days Alcina, the girls, Heisenburg (who had grown fond of you) and your lycan (a wedding present from Heisenburg) were tearing the countryside apart looking for you. The troop barely stopped to rest and when they would Alcina could be heard muttering; “Alcina you fool, you should have turned her when you had the chance...you idiot...she could have fought them off if she was turned...you should have been watching her...Alcina you idiot...” she went on and on. Your captors had been very thorough in covering their scent and their headquarters was extremely well hidden.

It was close to sunset on the third day and Alcina had collapsed on her fours sobbing into the grass, “I’VE KILLED HER! LUBIREA MEA I’M SO SORRY!” I’VE FAILED YOU MY POOR DRAGA MEA!” The girls surrounded their mother holding onto her crying on her shoulder, even Heisenburg knelt down and placed a comforting hand on his sister’s back. Their moment of despair was interrupted by y/L/n howling and barking down a lone well about 50 feet away. The group rushed over peering down into the well which had no water at the bottom.

“Call the pack y/L/n! She’s down there and we are going to destroy every single one them! They fucked with the wrong family!” Heisenburg commanded y/L/n who immediately turned tail.The girls and Heisenburg quickly descended down the well leaving Alcina, who couldn’t fit down the narrow entrance.

“There’s a tunnel mother! We’re coming y/n!” Daniela screamed as she, Cassandra, Bela and Heisenburg surged forward.

“Be careful my doves!” Alcina called down after them. Lady Dimitrescu stood over the well for five minutes...fifteen minutes...it felt like an eternity for her. She strained her ears for the slightest sound of anything she could hear. In the distance she heard the lycan pack fast approaching. Y/L/n arrived at the well and sat waiting with the rest of the pack behind them. Some more time passed when finally Alcina heard frantic running.

“Hurry Cassandra! Dammit don’t drop her! I should have carried her!” Daniela screeched.

“Hurry, hurry, hurry...you guys stop arguing! She’s lost so much blood we need to hurry!” Bela screamed her voice choked with tears. Alcina’s heart dropped to her feet as she saw the girls and Heisenburg at the bottom of the well you draped over Cassandra’s shoulder. The girls and Heisenburg made quick work of ascending the well passing you into Alcina’s arms. Lady Dimitrescu let out a combination of what sounded like a scream, a sob and a wail. 

“MY DOVE! CEL MIC WHAT HAVE THEY DONE TO YOU?!” Alcina wailed at the sight of her lover. You were absolutely battered within an inch of your life and covered in blood. There were deep chain marks around your wrists and your protruding ribs indicated you had been starved by your captors. 

“Come lycans! Tonight we will taste blood as we ruin a family line forever!” Heisenburg dropped down into the well again as the lycans followed suit one by one leaving the girls with their mother and you. 

Alcina was broken from her despair by the girls tugging at her dress. 

“Come mother! We must get her back home!” All three of them yelled in unison. And with that the Dimitrescus made a mad dash back to their castle while you lay limp in your lover’s arms. 

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

It had been several weeks since you were abducted and you were back to your normal self....well as normal as you could be now that you had suffered severe trauma. You woke up every night screaming and thrashing. In your night terrors you were captured over and over. You were beaten and starved over and over. Alcina would always hold you in her arms comforting you as you sobbed eventually falling back asleep. You had gotten the run down of what had happened a few days after your return; Heisenburg, y/L/n and the pack had absolutely decimated the underground home of the rival family. They had weened out the few directly responsible for taking and beating you. They still resided in the basement being tortured every day by the girls and Alcina. It was safe to say they wouldn’t be bothering any you ever again.

Ever since your abduction Alcina had been insanely protective of you and it was starting to become ridiculous. She didn’t let you outside unless supervised by the girls or herself. You hadn’t been alone for more than five minutes and Alcina had a death grip on you every night. She wouldn’t even let you walk down the stairs for fear you would “trip and break your neck.” Although Alcina had lamented not turning you when you were gone she still hadn’t done it because she was so preoccupied with keeping you “safe” and of course the normal commotions with Mother Miranda. You knew she was acting like this because you were taken but it was annoying you and not helping you in your recovery. One night you snapped.

“Alcina, drag mea, I know you want to keep me safe but you can’t treat me like I’m made of glass for the rest of my life!” you sighed pushing the log you were going to put onto the fire until Alcina had grabbed your waist pulling you back from the fire asking if you had burned yourself when you hadn’t even been close to the flames.

“I won’t apologize for keeping you safe cel mic it’s my JOB,” she stated gesturing for you to come back and sit on her lap where you had been. She furrowed her brows when you didn’t move.

“Look Alcina my love, I know that incident was a close call but I’m fine now and nothing has happened since,” you finished snapping your head around to look at your wife. Her whole body tensed. 

“Nothing yet...it is my job to protect you y/n.You’re my wife and the step-mother to my daughters and you will NEVER be away from me or hurt like that ever again!” Alcina was now yelling her eyes filling with tears. She let out a sigh resting her elbows on her knees placing her head in her hands. You couldn’t see but you knew she was crying. You strode forward quickly kneeling down so you could look up at her. You took her hands in yours leaning up to place a kiss on her chin.

“Alcina I-“

“I will never get that image of you out of my head!” Alcina sobbed taking your face in her hands. “You looked dead! I thought you were dead! We almost didn’t make it in time! And even when we did I couldn’t come get you myself! You wake up every night screaming and in tears because I failed to protect you! I should have turned you before we were wed and even now I STILL haven’t gone through with it! I’m a monster who almost lost the one person I have ever loved!” She finished her sobs racking through the room pulling you up into her lap. You went without protest wrapping your arms around her neck as she sobbed into yours. You two had never really addressed what had happened. The only time you did was when you first woke after being passed out for almost an entire day after you were returned safely to the castle. Lady Dimitrescu had not left your side the entire time you were recovering.

“Then let’s do it draga mea...” you whispered, “I think it is time. I’m ready to spend eternity with you and the girls.” As you said this Alcina lifted her head looking into your eyes and a smile stretched across her face. 

“Ok my sweet dove, we shall then,” sniffled Alcina as you wiped her eyes with your sleeve. “There is a full moon tomorrow? Does that seem right?” You let out an amused laugh and she did too. 

“Yes lubirea mea, that sounds simply perfect,” you agreed pressing your lips to hers. You were ready to become like her and the girls. You were ready to shatter your human form and embrace your new body. 

[moonlightwritesdisney]

YOU. — Wyatt Lykensen

Pairing: Wyatt Lykensen X FEMALE! READER

Requested: Yes / No

Warnings: vulgar swearing. descriptions of blood. unhealthy behavior. mentions of rape.

Author’s Note: please note that you (the reader) and wyatt are both adults in this image. Just to clear up any confusion!

Summary: The first time he saw you he couldn’t keep his eyes off of you. He follows you everywhere. He gets jealous when he sees you invite a friend over for old times sake. Things go way to far. You will be his.

HE ALLOWED THE LOUD CHATTER and birds song in the bright summer square of ZombieTown to be slowly drowned out by all his pulsing thoughts. He stood in the distance observing you. Out of all the people that passed by blocking his view, he kept his hard eye on you.

 The way your soft brunette curls laid untouched just inches away from your descending chest. Echoes of your honey dripping laugh rang through his twitching ears. The jealously and anger only grew worse.

Unbeknownst to you, not aware of the wolf watching you had just finished a few hours of shopping, you were making your way down towards the central parking just by ZombieTown’s large water fountain before you were stopped by an old school friend — who was male. 

He was so surprised to see, he complimented you and watched you laugh in sweetness. Both of you stood their for at least 20 minutes catching up on old burnt out memories he was trying to re-flame. He could read your mind. He felt the same as you. He knew you were uncomfortable and wanted to make a fast escape. You didn’t trust this guy but.

“Hey uhm- i was actually wondering if you’d like to have dinner and a movie tonight?” Was this guy serious? After a twenty minute conversation?! You weren’t one to be rude because of your passive personality. “Oh — uhm sure! I’d like that. I’ll be there at seven o’clock”.

 And with that you were off and on your way home. Wyatt watched as you retreated towards the silver Cadillac you owned in the parking lot. He watched all around him. He glared at the young man who was walking the opposite way. That dumb human. He couldn’t stand a chance against him.

Nonetheless, he knew you’d be his one day. He’d let you have the little amount of happiness this human could spare for a while. He’d imagine you helpless crying and running straight into his arms. The way your head laid on his shoulder while he rubbed your back in a calming manner.

 Leaving little kisses on our neck when he was in the mood, the warm feeling of both your sweaty bodies pressed together in pure erotic euphoria. Tingles ran down his spine as he imagines your soft smile in his mind. His heart raced at the thought of your body. Every curve and edge. All the imperfections you could name he’d find absolutely exhilarating.

“Hey man, curfew’s almost up you have to leave”. Another voice snapped him out of deep personal thoughts, he eyed a stern looking officer dressed in a blue SeaBrook uniform, who was very tired and just wanted to go home. He nodded his way respectfully and exited the shopping plaza. The walk to your house wasn’t long. 

The city had separate ZombieTown’s main housing and shopping lot so you had to drive at least a small distance to venture for a desired shopping day. He had taken the path towards your small apartment plenty of times, along with being a wolf came with advanced speed so he made due time. The sky swirled with light pinks and oranges making a beautiful sunset in the small town.

The crunching of grass under his feet made his anxious as he took a deep breathe, his footsteps became silent in worries of you discovering him. He stood calmly in your background his ears twitching hearing you humming to yourself softly — he figured you were in the shower getting ready for you date.

A scoff left his red lips in jealousy, he hated that it wasn’t him. ‘in due time’. He thought to himself confidently as he caught attention to light fogs of steam arising from the running shower. Now, Wyatt was no prude but he absolutely couldn’t resist. His curious brown eyes peered above the brick ledge.

A gasp hitched in his throat. His heart could explode at any moment. Their you stood, pampering yourself in the shower. Looking ever so beautiful. The water dripping down your pale dark skin. Your green textured hair soaking up the moisture from the water. 

He bit down on his lip as goosebumps shot up his back. You were marvelous. Your beautiful voice flowing through his ears as you sung. His eyes grew yellow, his animalistic nature taking full control. Fangs flashed from his mouth.

He tightened his fist in frustration. He wanted to take you right then and there. ‘All mine’. He thought as he found himself skewing up dirty — unholy images in his mind of him senselessly fucking you, clinging to him as you screamed his name. He knew it was wrong. The tightening he felt in his boxers was painful. Too painful to even bear. He wanted you, every inch. 

To him you were everything. All his. After having to agonize through his painful boner he regained composure after zipping up his pale brown pants and moved stalkingly towards the right his eyes casting view into your bedroom window, the soft white shades slightly parted allowing him to see through.

Different collages and pictures of close friends and things you adored plastered all over your walls. Small shelves that held small knickknacks and small plants lightly attracting ray of sunlight bent at the wall. Your bed, freshly made with the soft maroon red and pillows with the dark hues of blue designed with golden tassels laid neatly, untouched.

 You were somewhat messy, but very articulate and decorative. Which he adored. Small white bookshelves filled to the end with large literature of your liking. Pushed up against your light grey accent wall. Posters and cute pieces of art made by yourself were taped just above your bed post.

He adored your room. It was full of positivity, light, and all things that you adored. The sweet vanilla and shea scent from your body streamed into his nose like a running river. Licking his lips in anticipation he closed his eyes and exhaled your delectable scent. 

You walks into the small atmosphere the cold air hitting your bare legs, missing the warmth of the water and steam capture your body in a relaxing shower. It was a sewer green like color to which your full cheeks spread into a large smile ‘perfect’.

After reaching for a pair of distressed and ripped jeans that you had seen in the corner of your eye you pulled down the chain to your light which shut off you quickly threw your clothing on your bed and sat down on the edge freeing the sparkling red cap on your lotion squeezing the lotion onto your hand. 

It smelt amazing, ever since zombies had fought for more equality from the humans. Zombies from everywhere where now able to walk into any store much to the similar human version of their Victoria Secret and others. To which they could by all sorts of cute lipglosses, lotions, night wear, and clothing. The sweet deep smell of cinnamon and rose entered your nostrils as you rubbed the lotion into your calves working your way up to the top of your thighs.

The black pupils widened in arousel and wonder as he stared into the inside of your window without your knowledge — your hands slowly rubbing the white substance on the curve of your plush butt. He was awe stricken, so captivated by the goddess he had known as you. His heart thumped wildly in his chest he couldn’t get enough of you.

 Your finger pulled up the red belt loops of the maroon jeans your legs fitted around, securing the gold buttons of your jeans into the red holes in front. You sighed and fumbled with the thin green fabric you scrunched up the material and pushed your head through, then your arms.

You stood in front of the large white rimmed body mirror that leaned against the back wall with a cute colorful tapestry laid over it with pictures of close friends and fun stickers plastered on the corners of the glass. You loved the way your outfit looked. You felt very satisfied. A huge smile spread across your cheeks. The left of your head swung towards the opening crack of your door — the ring of your front doorbell. 

You drowned in confusion, your eyes reached over to read the square alarm clock on your night side table. ‘6:24’. ‘He is only twenty minutes early’. Which you thought was very weird. You had just met back with your old elementary friend hours ago , and only after having a seemingly awkward conversation for twenty minutes you agree to go on a date but he’s twenty minutes early?!

You pondered at the all the possibilities as to why he suggested this. But nonetheless you shook the feeling away and picking up your towel placing it in your pale green clothing hamper. Stepping out of your room and down into the wide hallway your fingers wrapped around the chilling gold door handle and yanked it open.

 There he stood, bouncing eagerly on his toes. His hair slicked back with hair spray, the clothing he wore was doused with heavy calogne — the foul heavy smell of the body spray stung at your nose the second you opened your front door. Which was something you didn’t find attractive at all. The wide smile he wore seemed like it was too toiled. Like he was trying to hard. His clothes. Ew.

He wore a bright blue and white plaid buttoned, with a black lambskin jacket over it unbuttoned, dark blue low waisted jeans and light brown flats. Yikes. How human of him. You absolutely hated what he was wearing. You knew he was being desperate. You could see it in his body language and his expression. You spotted bright red roses — in front of him you would have scoffed and sent him away.

 If he truly remembered you he would have remembered you like sunflowers instead of basic red roses. How bland. But instead, you gave him the benefit of the doubt. You knew the crippling and heart breaking sorrow of rejection, you were a zombie of course so being cast out was something you knew all to well. Instead you tilted your head to the side and forced your cheeks into a great smile.

“Are these flowers for me?” You asked clasping your hands together. He looked down then up at your a small smirk plastering on his thin lips — ‘ABSOLUTELY NOT SIR PLEASE GOD SO DISGUSTING’. These thoughts screamed in your mind as you watched him with pure unattractive as his licked his lips “yes they are actually”.

 He said with a very man-ly chuckle “they reminded me of you so I picked them up at the zombie market in town on my way here”. As if this dude wasn’t trying hard enough. He truly had to glamorize the fact that he picked the flowers up at a zombie store instead of the regular human one. So he was racist and trying to hard. Great. You let out an awkward laugh and stepped aside allowing him in before the air became filled with his disgusting aroma.

You had retrieved the flowers from his hand and immediately threw them carelessly on the counter. He didn’t question it but instead following closely behind you. ‘I’ll burn them later’. You thought with a pleasing smirk that played on your face. He had already sat down in your living space his flats sprawled on the floor and his feet kicked up on your glass coffee table. Dog behavior. You rolled your eyes he was stupid and too dumb to even understand basic manners.

 Football was playing on your small flat screen, you had taken a seat next to him your feet flat on the floor, your toes curling in the soft plush carpet. “Would you like something to drink?” you asked politely, the man turned his attention towards you, a curl in his lip “hm sure, the finest wine you’ve got?” He requested you stood up and went into the small kitchen opening the oak cabinet next to the sink you had set both wine glasses down on the marble countertop. 

The dark brown hues in your eyes scanned out the closed window above your sink watching the bright pink sky combine with beautiful colors of orange and red cascading over the oval clouds. You twisted the cork out of the bottle of white wine you had just bought from ‘Z’s Gruesome Groceriez” in ZombieTown. 

You wondered if this human had tasted zombie issued wine before, since well zombie wine was a lot more bitter than regular human liquor / wine. It had a hint of brains. You shrugged with a ‘hmp’. ‘He’s too dumb to even notice anyway’.

After filling both glasses to the half point you held both of them in your hands and carefully walked back into the living room where the human sat on your white leather couch his eyes and full attention soaking into the fourth quarter and a fumbling ball. 

You cleared your throat to catch his attention, he smiled towards you and took the wine glass from your right hand and thanked you focusing his content back on the television. “So .. what are you doing for work now?” you asked trying to break the awkward tension to which he perked up after taking a small sip and setting it down.

 “Oh well I’d never thought you’d ask, I work as SeaBrook patrolman, you?” You ignored the sting in your gut “I work as a journalist and a proud activist for the Zombie’s and Werewolves’ against discrimination movement, or ZAWAD, it supports the bright culture of both werewolves and zombies and brings everyone together. 

We try to unite the communities in SeaBrook instead of pushing away and we absolutely do try our best too peacefully speak our thoughts and have mindful conversations without violence.” 

You spoke proudly watching his intense expression burn into your eyes. He nodded slowly and pursed his lips which confused you nonetheless you still tried to ignore the screaming inside your head and gut ‘make him leave’. ‘this is going to end badly’. Chills scattered down your back in anxiousness.

 “That’s interesting and ... very sexy actually, your very passionate about it i can tell”. You internally cringed at that word coming out of his mouth. ‘Sexy’. He definitely wanted something, and it wasn’t a genuine conversation. You froze with disgust his nimble tender cold fingers resting on your knee. “oh uhm, thanks i guess”.

 You spoke trying to give him the hint, you weren’t interested even  if he was the last person on earth you wouldn’t. His hand inched closer towards your inner thigh a evil smirk plastered on his face. “god your so sexy”. He then leaned his lips towards yours capturing you in his grasp. You didn’t give an inch, you squealed in protest.

 You moved your arms to his biceps and tried to push him way from you , he refused now he was on top of you. His rough calloused hands slide up towards your collarbone, you groaned in anger “can you please just stop-- STOP!”  You shouted, his breathe was hot against your neck his left hand slide up towards your neck and pressed down onto your windpipe. 

You gasped gritting your teeth, you used your right hand to try and push him off but his strength held your arm down. You felt helpless, weak, worthless to know that you had somehow allowed this disgusting being to get ahold of you. That is, until you felt him grasping the metal of your Z-band. 

You knew that taking it off could potentially be a very dangerous action, which was only to be taken off in emergencies only. This was a very big problem and it needed to be stopped. His hand gripped the clasp of your band, you felt the dark veins pulsating throughout your body. 

Using the strength to lift your left hand which caused a small chime from your Z-band to sound, it unclasped from you wrist and fell somewhere on the floor. In just a few seconds the light around your eyes had turned a deep purple cracks plunging from under them. A low growl erupted from your stomach then submerged to your throat. 

The man felt you vibrate from below him, he had suddenly noticed you had changed. He gasped and stood up as you growled and snarled, you inched closer towards him as he took steps back defensively. “Stay the hell away from me you bitch!” He shouted sternly but the anger was hot and boiling inside of you. 

Turning into a zombie was something you couldn’t control. It was coded in your genes. Once your Z-band was ripped from you the monster took over inside you, just as it did for anyone. Your vision had turned completely red. The low grumbles and growling roared within you, this is what you were. A monster, and damn, were you proud of it. 

You stepped closer to the cowering man as he flared his arms towards you, which unfortunately, only agitated you more. In this moment you were gone, the zombie inside you was controlling you, and you smelt fear. Which was a bad thing. “Your a waste of human life”. Your normal quiet spoken speech had transformed into a lower deep growl. Using your zombie strength you grabbed the human by his leather collar and bite deeply into his neck, the loud scream leaving the dry of his throat. 

The blood seeped out of his neck like a river, you lifted him to meet eyes with a demon like growl “next time you better stop”. You seethed before letting him drop to the ground, the now scared human scrambled towards his feet holding the gushing wound his hand covered in red. He disappeared out of the living space and out of your life forever. Or at least you hoped he did. Grunting you walked over towards the crack between the couch and the pale wall, getting on your hands and knees you reach down for the metal bracelet. 

After securing it in your grasp you immediately push the clasps together around you wrist. ‘Online’. You let a content sigh slumping back beside the wall the dark veins in your arms slowly recoiled from your arms and legs. Your back ached and your head pounded. The sweet tasting blood of the humans still resting on your lips and along your cheeks. 

Finally, after about a few seconds you steadily returned to your feet. Ignoring the few blood spatters that were now fresh on the floor. ‘I’ll clean it up later”. You let a deep sigh release from your lips as you picked up the two wine glasses and brought them to the kitchen and discarded of the waste in the sink. 

You were fashioned in the bathroom taking a warm cloth and bringing it towards your face wiping off the dried blood. You sucked in a breathe the sound of your beating heart filling your ears. You didn’t feel at all ashamed for what you had done. That bastard human deserved it.

 The overbearing of your anxiety flared, you were worried you might get in huge trouble, since unfortunately, the human is never to blame. You had gone to bed that night in hopes for a better day the next morning -- the only problem was, he saw everything.   

[terrortalesv]

uncle skips time :-)

Benson has Skips watch Stella when something unforeseen arises.

Trade with @tr85n

Skips leans against his van and sips at a cup of coffee that is slowly but surely going cold. He looks up to see his boss approaching him hurriedly, holding his daughter’s hand. The yeti raises his index and middle fingers in greeting and places the empty cup on a nearby workbench.

“Skips,” Benson addresses him, sounding slightly out of breath, “can you do me a favour and watch Stella today? I know it’s short notice, but something’s come up and Mordecai and Rigby both have plans and–”

“Yes.”

“Huh?”

“I’ll look after her, just go do your thing, Benson,” Skips puts a large hand on his boss’s shoulder and offers a small smile.

“You sure? You’re not too busy?”

“Yeah, I’ve got nothin’ goin’ on.”

“Oh. Okay. Thanks, Skips.”

With that, Benson crouches down to give Stella a kiss on the cheek, then leaves, offering a “bye, Pumpkin!” as he goes.

—

“So, what’d you wanna do, Sweet Pea? D’you need to eat or has Dad taken care of that already?” Skips gets down on one knee to be slightly closer to her eye level.

“Yeah, I just had breakfast,” Stella bounces on the balls of her feet as she speaks, tone of voice much more cheery than that of most people he talks to at work. He can’t help but smile at that.

“And what’s the plan for today?”

The little girl looks at the ground for a moment, appearing deep in though, before the answer flies out of her.

“Blanket fort!” she shrieks, throwing her arms up into the air.

“Blanket fort?” Skips can recall Mordecai and Rigby mentioning one of those before, can form a vague image in his head of what it might look like, but is otherwise lost, “care to explain?”

“It’s a fort made of blankets and pillows and stuff! And you sit in it and it’s fun!”

He supposes that makes sense.

“So, all we need’s a few blankets and pillows?”

“Oh, and a couch,” Stella draws a rectangle in front of her with her index fingers to illustrate this.

“Oh.” Skips blinks. He doesn’t have one of those.

She seems to notice, because she becomes silent and thinks again for a second.

“Follow me! I know the perfect place!” the little girl grabs his finger and starts walking, to which the yeti responds by skipping slowly behind her.

—

Soon, they are standing in the living room of the house in the middle of the park, surrounded by a large pile of seemingly every pillow, blanket, throw rug and stuffed animal in the vicinity.

Stella stands back as Skips moves the coffee table out of the way and pushes the armchair up against the couch. When he is done, she starts laying pillows down on the floor, taking care to layer several on top of each other for maximum comfort. The yeti tosses the blankets over the couch, leaving a large gap between the ones at the front to serve as a doorway.

Stella finishes the project by placing two plushies in front of the fort, “so they can be the greeters,” she explains.

—

“Gah!” Stella cries, “Unc-ie Skips — I mean, princess! Help, the tiger is attacking me!” She rolls around on her back, holding a plush cat to her face, simulating an attack.

“Don’t worry, princess, I’ll save you!” Skips simply grabs the toy with one hand and puts it in a corner, then places a cushion in front of it to prevent any possibility of escape.

Stella sits back up, breathing heavily, “thanks. You’re… really strong.”

They both burst out giggling.

—

“Have you been in love before?” The question comes out of nowhere and catches the yeti off guard.

He is silent for a second, but decides to answer truthfully, “yeah.”

Stella stares up at him and settles into her spot on the floor, quietly prompting him to elaborate further. Skips sighs. As painful as it is to think about, maybe sharing the story with her would help some.

“Her name was Mona. We met at school. And, yeah. I loved her a lot.” He gently pulls a gold chain with a locket out of his back pocket.

“What’s that?”

The yeti carefully opens the locket to reveal an old picture of himself, whom Stella recognises, and a woman, whom she doesn’t.

“Is that her? She’s really pretty.”

Skips nods sadly.

She stares at the pictures, “can you tell me the whole story?”

And so he does. He tells her the same story he told Mordecai and Rigby all those years ago. He talks about how he’d been expelled from every school he’d attended up to that point, about meeting his immortal friends and the first run-ins with Klorgbane. He talks about meeting Mona, their connection, the skipping and planning of the prom. The Fists of Justice. How pretty Mona looked in her prom dress. How much fun they had that night, the way they danced.

As he’s recounting every little detail, Stella listening intently through it all, he feels tears brimming at his eyes, but refuses to let them spill out.

He takes a short break to breathe before talking about the fight. The next part he doesn’t mention in detail. He simply says, “and now she’s… gone.”

By this point, the little girl is looking up at him in awe, holding one of the plushies to her chest.

“Wow.”

—

Skips eats a pudding cup and makes a big show of listening as Stella rambles about whatever comes to her mind. He nods, shakes his head, mumbles in agreement, exaggerates his facial expressions and occasionally replies to her. He isn’t even sure if she’s actually talking to him, but he does it anyway. It’s the polite thing to do, he thinks. From what he can see, from where he is sitting, she’s having fun. And he has to admit to himself that he is too.

“Anyway, there was a shark in the lake but that’s okay because Applesauce got into a fight with him and saved us!” She waves her arms around excitedly as she tells this totally true story that definitely happened.

“No way!” the yeti places his hands on his cheeks and widens his eyes.

“Uh-huh! And there was a rainbow and it was really, really pretty and then we all walked off into the sunset. But Daddy said it was too early for a sunset and we turned around and it was actually a explosion!”

“What?!” Skips gasps, “you must surely have the most exciting life of all, Sweet Pea.”

“Yeah!” Stella bounces up and down on her knees, “but you have stories too. I bet you’ve got like a gazillion of ‘em!”

“Oh, no, none as exciting as yours.” He chuckles.

—

After his long day away, Benson approaches the house. He stops when he hears the sounds of giggling and chatting coming from inside. One of the voices is obviously his daughter, the other much more gruff.

He sneaks into the living room and stands there for a few seconds before taking a peek into the fort. It surprises him to see his employee sitting next to his daughter, Skips’ head partially obscured by a blanket, both of them wearing princess dresses and pretending to sip from tiny teacups. A few stuffed animals have food stains around their mouths.

“Oh, Mrs. Bear, you are so right, this has been fun!” the yeti says to one of the plushies, poorly faking a British accent.

Benson snorts. Neither of them seem to notice him, they’re clearly too busy.

“Hey, you guys!”

His boss’s voice prompts Skips to jump and drop his teacup.

“Daddy!” Stella cries, at the same time Skips yells “Benson!”

“You’re back,” it’s just the yeti’s voice this time. He clears his throat.

“Yeah, I’m back,” Benson chuckles, “can I come in?”

Only if no one ever finds out about this, Skips thinks, but his mouth simply says “yes.”

[honeyhan-123]

What You Can’t See

Summary: Bucky doesn’t understand how you could think were were just a one night stand. 

Warnings: Non-con/Dubcon, dark yandere Bucky, stalking. 

Word Count: 3.3k

AN: So a few months ago the lovely and incredibly talented @darkficsyouneveraskedfor​ gave me the title prompt ‘What You Can’t See’ and I’ve only just gotten around to writing it. This was also a request from my lovely purple and black love heart nonny who has disappeared recently, but I hope you enjoy. The prompt will be in bold. 

My Masterlist

Your thighs ache in the best possible way as you gingerly slip from the bed, careful not to disturb the man still between the sheets. You hadn’t meant to fall asleep but he had been insatiable last night and you had been more than willing to let him use you until you lost consciousness. But now with the sun streaming in through the blinds, your mind was of a different volition. Now it was time to go. 

You spared him one last glance as you crept towards his bedroom door and the desire to take a photo almost overpowered you. He looked so serene as he slept, his long brown hair tousled over the pillow and his body lacking any trace of the ruminating thoughts you knew he had carried around all night. A small part of you wanted to climb back into bed with him but you knew that’s not what this was, and it would be better for everyone if you saved yourself from the morning-after embarrassment. So you made your way out of his small apartment and out onto the bustling streets of Brooklyn, vowing to yourself that you wouldn’t become one of those girls obsessed with some guy they slept with once.

+

Bucky awoke slowly. It had been by far the best night’s sleep he had had in over seventy years. A smile was on his face as he reached consciousness and remembered the feel of your body underneath his. It had been better than he had ever expected even if it hadn’t happened quite the way he had been planning. Bumping into you at the bar Sam had dragged him to had been a complete coincidence but he wasn’t going to complain. He felt a stir between his thighs as he remembered the way you had felt wrapped around his cock as he had you in the bathroom of the dingy bar and then again and again back at his place. 

His hands trailed along the bed as he searched for your body, desperate to hear your moans of pleasure once more before he had to head into the tower. Mentally he was cursing Maria for calling a mission briefing on the weekend but he knew if he didn’t go they would expect the worst. Bucky’s smile soon fell off his face as his hands continued to search, only to find cold sheets. His eyes flew open and to his dismay, you had gone. 

Immediately he threw back the sheets and got out of bed, not even bothering to pull on some clothes as he searched his apartment. He was desperately wishing that you had just gotten out of bed to go to the bathroom, or better yet he would find you in the kitchen wearing nothing but his shirt as you whipped up some breakfast. He stupidly hoped that you would be making those pancakes he had seen you make a week ago when a friend had come over. He knew that if given the opportunity he would be very creative with the whipped cream you had coated your pancakes with. 

Even though a small part of him had known as soon as he woke up that you were gone, his heart still ached as he entered the empty kitchen. Why had you left? He knew it definitely wasn't because you hadn’t had a good time last night. He had lost count of how many times you had cum before he dared focus on himself. So why the fuck had you left? 

And what was he meant to do with his raging hard on now? Going back to using his hand after last night seemed like the worst trade off in the world. 

He let out a sigh of annoyance before heading to the shower, waiting the briefing to be over already. The scalding hot water dripped down his body as he fisted his cock, dreaming up images of what he’d do when he rocked up at your apartment that night.

+

The sky was darkening, the golden streaks of sunset slowly disappearing and turning into a twinkling twilight when Bucky finally made it to your apartment. The briefing had lasted hours and then he hadn’t been able to come up with a good enough excuse to get out of training with Sam afterwards. Even though over the months the Birdman had started to grow on him, his constant teasing throughout the day about where Bucky had disappeared off to the night before was getting on his nerves. He didn’t want Sam making such lewd assumptions about you.  Not that they weren’t entirely correct. 

He was glad that he had briefly stolen your keys to make his own copy a month ago. It made getting into your building much easier. The large pastry filled box was slightly awkward to carry as he climbed the numerous flights of stairs towards you since the elevator was out of order, just like it had been for the last few months. He cursed your landlord for not giving a shit about the people living in his building but he reconciled it with the fact that soon he would take you far away from here. Soon everything would be different. 

His fist rapped on your door and he tried to wait as patiently as he could for you to open it. He had no qualms about using his own set of keys to get into your apartment but he figured he should at least try and do this normally. 

When the door finally cracked open Bucky could hear your gasp as you recognised him beyond the chain. ‘B-Bucky? What… What are you doing here?’ You seemed lost and confused and Bucky wanted to take those feelings away immediately. He knew that he would be able to help you. 

‘Well I had planned on taking you out to breakfast this morning but you kind of ran out on me before I got this chance, so I figured I would bring breakfast to you.’ He held up the mint green cardboard box from BreadClub so you could see the pastries inside. 

If you seemed shocked before, now you were doubly so. ‘But… how did you know where I live?’

Bucky forced himself to laugh when in reality all he wanted to do was break down your door so he could hold you. ‘Doll, I’m an Avenger. It’s not that hard to do a background check.’ 

‘Oh… right yeah I forgot about that. But still… what are you doing here?’

‘I just told you. I wanted to bring you some breakfast.’ His patience was starting to wean as you continued to keep the door between you. 

‘Yeah, I got that. But what are you doing here? Don't you have somewhere else to be? Some Earth-ending event to stop?’ Your brows were furrowed as you spoke and Bucky could hear the fear starting to lace your words.

‘Nope. I’m exactly where I need to be.’

‘But why? I mean… we just had sex. We both got super drunk and hooked up. I don’t understand why you’re here. It was just a one-night stand.’ 

At this Bucky snapped and banged his fist against the door, forcing it open. The chain that had been in place snapped as easily as twigs underfoot. ‘Just a one-night stand? Oh Dollface you have no idea what you’re talking about. Do you seriously think that I would take just anybody back to my place for a quick fuck? I knew the moment I first laid eyes on you in that coffee shop you were meant to be mine. You’re more than just a one-night stand to me; you’re mine.’ 

Bucky felt as though he could almost hear the memory echoing around in your head and recognition flashed across your eyes. It hurt slightly that you hadn’t thought of that moment nearly as much as he had, but Bucky didn’t mind. From that moment on, his life had been changed. It was a change as irrecoverable as falling from that snow covered train all those years ago. 

He snapped the door shut behind him as he stalked inside your apartment, inwardly hurting as you retreated back a few paces. But that would change. You would come to love him just as he had you. ‘I brought us some pastries from the bakery around the corner, BreadClub. I know it’s your favourite. I figured they would keep our energy up tonight.’ 

‘Our energy? Bucky, I don’t know what you’re doing here but I would like you to leave. You’re starting to scare me.’ 

Bucky let out a humourless laugh, amazed at how you still didn’t seem to understand. ‘Dollface, I’m not going anywhere, not now, not ever. So why don’t you be a good little girl and lead me to your bedroom. After having you last night, I just can’t seem to get enough.’ 

When you had made no effort to move, too stunned by his presence, a flash of annoyance crept over Bucky’s face. He had been waiting for this all day, hell, he’d been waiting for this for months. He wasn’t about to let you ruin his plans. He would show you just how good together you were; how you were made for him. 

‘C’mon Dollface. Just take me to your bedroom and then we can both enjoy ourselves. I know you had a good time last night and that was while you were drunk. It’ll be so much better when you're drunk off of me.’ Heat flushed your cheeks as his words reminded you of the dingy bathroom stall where he had first taken you and then of his kitchen counter where he had eaten you out for hours before finally taking you back to his bedroom. You tried to ignore the tell tale tingy between your thighs as you relived the memories. That was not happening again. This man was clearly delusional. 

You watched as he inhaled deeply through his nose, a smirk gracing his sinful pink lips.’Oh Sweetheart, you want it, you want it bad.’ You blanched at the idea of him being able to smell you and quickly tried to deny it.

‘No I don’t Bucky. What I want is for you to leave. I’ll… I’ll call the cops.’ You tried to make yourself seem braver than you felt but any bravado you had mustered up quickly vanished when Bucky let out a bark of laughter.

‘You’ll call the cops and what? Tell them an Avenger is fucking your brains out? They wouldn’t believe you, and even if they did, by the time they sent a patrol car around I’ll have you begging for more. So why don’t you quit wasting everyone’s time and just be a good girl.’ 

You hadn’t noticed the tears starting to pool in your eyes as he spoke but you blamed them for blocking your vision as you made a mad dash around him. You barely got two feet to the door before his strong arms wrapped around your waist and he hoisted you up onto his broad shoulder. 

If he felt any of the kicks or punches you tried to land on him, he didn’t show it as he walked purposely through your tiny apartment towards your bedroom. No matter how loud you screamed, you doubted any of your neighbours would come and check on you, you didn’t exactly live in the best part of the city. 

You felt the air rush beneath your body as he threw you down onto the mattress. You bounced for a moment before trying to scramble away from him, only to be trapped by his legs coming to straddle your body beneath his. 

‘C’mon Dollface. You know I really didn’t want it to be like this but if you’re not going to be reasonable, I’m just going to have to show you I mean business.’ You didn’t bother responding to him. Instead you just sucked a deep breath in and screamed as loudly as you could, desperate to get anyone’s attention. 

Your scream didn’t get far however as his hand quickly clamped down on your throat, the cool metal pressing against your jugular, cutting off your air. ‘I am only going to say this once, so listen up. You. Are. Mine. And I am not going to leave until you realise that, okay Sweetheart?’ 

Panic seeped through your veins as he pulled out a long flick knife from his bomber jacket. He wasted no time in pressing the cool metal to the skin of your navel and you barely dared to breath and he slid it up and under your top before yanking it up fiercely, tearing through the thin material.

‘Oh, now that’s what I’m talking about. That right there. That’s why I can’t leave you alone, you’re too fuckin’ gorgeous.’ You recalled him saying similar things the night before, peppering your senses with little compliments continuously as he was inside you. It had made you feel incredibly sexy last night, but now it had an entirely different effect. ‘Well actually…’ his hand reached up to cup your jaw gently. ‘It’s only part of the reason.’ 

You felt your cheeks flush with heat as you registered his words and you cursed his silver tongue. How could he be saying such sweet things to you while this was happening? How dare he try and be the prince charming you had longed for in all your previous relationships when in reality he was the devil in disguise. 

His knife made quick work of your sleep shorts and your panties too. You felt the warmth of his hand against your most intimate parts as he groaned. ‘I knew you wanted me Doll. You’re so fucken wet for me. Just for me. Such a good girl, responding to me like this.’ You tried to swallow the bile in your throat caused by his words and your body’s betrayal. ‘I told you we belong together.’

His fingers played with your slick, swiping it along your folds and up to your clit where he swirled his fingers. You bucked your hips, whether to get away from his hand or closer to it you weren’t sure. The pleasure he was giving you was just undeniable and no matter how much you hated him in this moment, you could feel the familiar tension building slowly in your abdomen. 

‘You’re close aren’t you Doll? See how good I can make you feel. It could be like this all the time. Just let go and give in, give in to me Baby.’ You tried to shake your head, tried with your last remaining strength to throw him off but you couldn’t. You couldn't do anything but exactly what he said which was give in. 

You gasped for breath as you came, your walls fluttering around nothing as he continued to toy with your clit, unrelenting even as pleasure flowed through your veins. ‘That’s it. That’s a good girl. You’re so good to me Dollface.’ His praise only egged your pleasure on further, a dopey smile taking over your features before you could stop it. 

As blissed out as you were, you somehow hadn’t noticed him undressing with hasty and jerky movements until he was lying back on top of you. ‘All day I’ve been hard just thinking about having you again and now I’m here, I’m basically ready to burst. How embarrassing is that? But don’t worry Dollface, as I proved last night, I’m not just a one and done.’ He smirked down at you as he guided himself to your entrance, finding a very warm and wet welcome. 

‘Oh… Fuck Doll.’ He moaned into your ear, holding himself still once he was fully inside you. ‘You’re so fuckin’ tight, just milking my cock.’ You tried to block out the sinful words spoken as smooth as velvet but you couldn’t hide your body’s reaction. Not from him and not while he was inside you, filling you to the brim. 

Your nails dug into his back as he started moving, slowly pulling out inch by inch before sliding back in again. His pelvis grazed your clit which each move of his hips and you shuddered in his grasp. While the memories of last night were hazy from the copious amount of alcohol you had drunk, you remembered enjoying it and now with him rutting into you, the same feeling of ecstasy started to build. 

As he continued moving, his pace slowly building, the desire to push him off grew less and less. You knew your efforts would be futile as he was far too strong and with the way he was grinding into you, a small part of you didn’t want him to stop.

‘That’s it baby, you’re doing so good.’ His breath brushed against the shell of your ear and you couldn’t hold back the responding moan. ‘You like that huh? Me whispering dirty little things in your ear? It’s just like those audios you use to get yourself off isn’t it?’ 

You had no idea how he knew about those but he was right. His voice was so much more powerful and rich than those unknown ones stored on your phone. ‘You’re never gonna need those other men ever again. You’re mine, and I take care of what’s mine.’ His voice was starting to grow breathless, coming out in sharp bursts. It mingled with the obscene sounds coming from your cunt as he thrusted into you again and again, his balls slapping against your ass as he moved. 

‘I’m so fuckin’ close Doll, need you to cum first though…’ His voice was truly breathless now as he pushed up onto his haunches and wrapped your legs around his waist, never once missing a beat. 

You gasped in shock as you felt his metal hand dip down, in between your legs. His deft fingers played with your arousal, getting coated in it before coming up to your clit and circling it quickly. You fisted the sheets as your toes curled. Your release was so close, you just needed a little bit more. 

‘Play with your tits baby, play with them for me.’ You wanted to tell him to go fuck himself but your body was no longer obeying your brain as your hands came up to cup your chest. ‘Yeah baby, just like that. Such a good girl.’ 

It was his voice that did it, the way it flooded your senses and finally released the knot building in your gut. You couldn’t help the scream that came from your mouth as your walls pulsated around him, trying to milk him dry. ‘Fuck Doll. Fuck, fuck.’ His thrusts grew erratic and you knew he was on the edge. ‘I know your pussy is just begging for my cream but I can’t… God, I can’t fucking wait to fill you up though.’ He groaned out before suddenly pulling free from you. 

His flesh hand fisted his cock with strong and rapid strokes. Once, twice, three times, before his cum spurted out, landing in stips across your tits. The sound that came from his mouth as he worked himself through his orgasm was absolutely sinful and had you rubbing your thighs together subconsciously. The movement was not missed by him as a devious smirk came over his lips as he watched. 

‘Just can’t wait for more can you?’ You hastily shook your head, trying to find your voice as he collapsed beside you, his arms wrapping around your body like a vice. You felt him start to harden once more against your thigh. 

‘Don’t worry Doll, there’ll be plenty more where that came from now that you’re finally mine.’ 

+

Tags will be added in a reblog

My Masterlist

[hellfire-munson]

Looking Up Luke x Reader Pt 1

Pairings: Luke x Reader (Briefly at the end), Julie x BestFriend! Reader

 Warnings: Fluff, Brief mention of sad memories.

Word count: 2211

This is My first post so bare with me. I’ll get better at the edits and stuff as I learn my way around Tumblr. I also took inspiration from Paramore and the reader was strongly based on Hayley Williams in my mind but you can make her in your image. I don't own Paramore or their music. The song I took inspiration from is Looking Up.

     “Jules, you and Flynn are coming tonight, right?” You ask while you and your best friend throw you school books in your locker after your last period. Julie looks over and smiles at you.

     “Of course! The boys were wanting to tag along especially after I told them how you were in a band of your own. They wanted to know why you denied their offer after Luke heard you shred the guitar solo during that one rehearsal.” She says.

      “If he thought I was shredding that guitar, just wait till they see what I really got going on. Right now all they know and all anyone knows and thinks is I play guitar for the band. Also Luke wanted me to join so he could see me everyday.” You smile.

      “Wait, Jackie walked?!” She screamed excitedly.

      “Yeah, after her and I got into this huge argument about the upcoming shows and letting me actually sing vocals for MY songs she walked away, and someone had to take her place. I wrote this new song we are going to play tonight, you’re going to love it.” You smile at her.

      “Y/N this is amazing! Our mom’s would be so proud of us.” She smiles longingly.

     “Maybe we could collaborate one day, I know you’re a bit more popish than what Paramore is but we could make something work!” You smile at her. She jumps up and down loving the idea of the whole thing.

    “Yes! That would be amazing! Let's head home, we have to get ready for tonight. Oh how will we get in? I thought the venue sold out in minutes?” She asks turning to look at you as you two walk through the doors to your car. You pulled 5 vip lanyards out of your bag and handed them to her.

    “I got you covered girl, don’t worry.” You smile unlocking the door. The drive back to your house was filled with you blasting all your bands old songs and singing along. You were lucky enough to live in the same neighborhood as Julie and the boys so you often carpooled to school but the boys had things to do after school before the show so they went their separate ways. Julie was trying to help you choose your clothes for tonight but with you two being so entirely polar opposite it was hard. If anyone was to help you it should have been Luke since you two share almost the same fashion sense with a hint of Reggie mixed in. You eventually settled for an old cut up Sunset Curve shirt you “borrowed” from Luke with a lace bra underneath and you paired that with your highwaisted, ripped black skinny jeans and your studded Doc Martens. What you decided to do with your hair and makeup will come to you once you hit the venue. You gathered your things to pack into the car while Julie made some final accessory details to your look. She handed you your chain to attach to your jeans along with an assortment of rings and bracelets. Everything was looking perfect for your first big performance as the lead singer.

    “Okay, I gotta head to the venue for soundcheck. You, Flynn and the boys should be there around 6, the show starts at 7:00.” You smile, dropping her off at her house. You see the boys sitting in the garage waving at you. You smile and wave back before backing out of Molina's driveway and head towards The Orpheum.

           Soundcheck went perfectly and it left a little time to grab a light snack before you had to get ready. You knew not to go to the street dogs stand after the incident with the boys that ended their lives 25 years ago before they met Julie and you and somehow were brought back by the two of you. Your drummer’s  girlfriend decided to have catering come out with healthy choices which you were enjoying as we speak. Heading back to your dressing room the security guard stopped you saying there was a group of people here to see the band.

    “Oh that’s my friends from school, you can let them on back. Thanks Alan!” You smile popping a strawberry in your mouth.

     “You didn’t tell me you were playing the Orpheum!” You hear Flynn yell causing you to turn around with a piece of cantaloupe hanging out of your mouth.

     “Well you didn’t ask.” You say chewing the part that was in your mouth.

“Okay smartass. Also when did you change your hair color?” She asks pointing to your now orange hair. You smile slyly at her.

      “I did last night, but I wore it up in a hat today so people didn’t see it until now.” You say getting up to hug your friends. The boys are just standing at the door staring at you.

    “I don’t bite, you can come in.” You joke ushering them in.

“You’re playing the Orpheum tonight Y/N how does it feel to make it big?” Alex asks.

     “I’m not sure yet, maybe I’ll know after the show. Which speaking of that when you guys head down to the floor just find Alan and he’ll take you to the spot that’s reserved for you guys.” You smile at them.

    “Your hair is so bright.” Is all Reggie can say making everyone burst out laughing.

    “I can’t wait to see you shred the stage tonight. That day at rehearsal when you and Julie were goofing off… Holy shit, that was sick!” Luke says jumping up and down.

     “It runs in the family to be honest. Our moms were in a band when they were our age and my dad is a world known rockstar so I learned at a young age.” You smile winking at Julie.

     “Well we should start heading down so you can get ready. We are going to dinner after this to celebrate just so you know.” Julie says smiling at you. Once they left you started getting ready to meet up with your band to do your before show ritual handshake.

    “All right guys, this is the Orpheum. The place is packed with execs. This will be our big break. Let’s rock it!” Andrew says putting his hand in the middle as the rest of you follow. The opening band finishes their set signaling your time to go. The band runs out causing the crowd to erupt in screams of your name. You stay back to surprise everyone as they begin playing your new song.

    “Los Angeles! Are you ready!” You scream from backstage as the beat picks up.

Things are looking up, oh finally!

I thought I'd never see the day

When you smile at me.

We always pull through, oh when we try,

I'm always wrong but you're never right.

Oh you're never right!

       You run out causing everyone to scream as you work the stage to the music. Luke, Flynn and the boys look up in awe hearing your voice for the first time. The way you rocked out was breathtaking to Luke.

Honestly, can you believe

We crossed the world while it's asleep?

I'd never trade it in, 'cause I've always wanted this!

And it's not a dream anymore!

No. It's not a dream anymore!

It's worth fighting for.

     You interacted with the audience as you sang the lyrics. You shot a wink over at Luke when you noticed his jaw nearly dropped to the floor. Julie looked over at him and knew right then and there he has fallen in love with you even more than he already was. She smiled at her bandmate. She saw the smile break across his face as he began banging his head to the beat.

Could have given up so easily

I was a few cheap shots away from the end of me

Taken for granted, almost everything that I would have died for

Just yesterday,

Just yesterday

Honestly, can you believe

We crossed the world while it's asleep?

I'd never trade it in, 'cause I've always wanted this!

It's not a dream anymore!

Oh. It's not a dream anymore!

It's worth fighting for.

     You interacted with your bandmates as they played their instruments, dancing around the stage as you had the time of your life. Jumping and head banging with your guitarist.

God knows the world doesn't need another band, (whoa, whoa!)

But what a waste it would've been! (whoa, whoa!)

I can't believe we almost hung it up (whoa, whoa!)

We're just getting started (whoa, whoa!)

Honestly, can you believe

We crossed the world while it's asleep?

I'd never trade it in, 'cause I've always wanted this!

It's not a dream anymore!

Oh. It's not a dream anymore!

It's worth fighting for.

        You stood there smiling, taking a breath letting the crowd think you were done before you jumped off the drum stage singing the final line of the song.

I can't believe we almost hung it up!(whoa whoa)

We're just getting started! (whoa whoa)

Whoa! Whoa! Whoa!

       You dropped to your knees as you held the final verse as the lights went out sending the crowd into a fit of cheers and screams. You smile to yourself as you hold the microphone in your lap. The lights come back on letting you see the crowd still cheering you on. The surreal feeling you had was causing your heart to sing and you were pretty sure you saw a sign off in the distance of the audience that let you know your mother was proud of you. Composing yourself, you finished the night with 6 more songs.

    “Thank you guys for coming out to support a small band from this sleepless city. We are Paramore! Good night!” You said before running off backstage. You are met with your friends and a very starstruck Luke.

    “Oh my god! That was amazing! I mean we knew you could sing but that was epic! Why haven’t you fronted before?” Flynn asks.

    “Jackie wouldn’t let me. The band was my idea back when I was slowly getting back into music but I was still wanting to stay back and play. I wrote all the songs and let her sing them. When I finally said I was ready for a shot she threw a fit and when the rest of the band sided with me she walked.” You say taking a swig of water.

    “So this is why you refused to join us?” Alex asks.

    “That and your style isn’t my style of music. It’s to pop centric but I told Julie there might be a chance of collaboration in the future.” You smile seeing Reggie get excited about the idea.

    “And then we can do a country album!” He yells causing your bandmates to start laughing at your reactions. During your laughter you didn’t see a man dressed very businessy walk in.

    “Y/N…” Julie says tapping your shoulder pointing to the doorway.

    “Oh, hi!” You say walking over with your band to meet the man.

   “I’m Eric from Capitol records. Are you Y/N?” He asks.

   “Um, y-yeah I am.” You say reaching out to shake his hand. Your friends are eavesdropping behind you while pretending to hold a conversation of their own.

    “I’ve seen many bands here, I’ve scouted some of the biggest names in music but the energy you displayed tonight is something we’ve never seen but have been looking for, for our label. Capitol records would be happy to have you join. Here’s my card. Give me a call and we will set up a meeting with the head of the label and get you signed.” He says handing you his card.

    “Oh my, wow! Thank you. Also if you don’t mind me spreading the word but I know of another you might be interested in. I’ll send you their latest video if you’re up for it.” You smile sneaking a look over at your friend and her bandmates.

    “Of course, we are always looking for new talents.” He says before exiting the room.

    “Was that?! YES!” You scream jumping into Luke’s arms. Everyone starts dancing around cheering.

    “We are being signed to Capitol Records!” You yell into the air as Luke holds you close to him. His eyes never leave your smiling face. He throws caution to the wind when you look back at him and he crashes his lips onto yours making everyone stop and gasp.

    “Well it's about damn time!” Alex shouts as you two pull away.

    “Well damn Patterson, if that’s what I get for getting signed I wonder what I’ll get after I tell you I sent your video to him as well.” You smile.

   “YOU DID WHAT?!” The band screams together.

   “We’re all getting signed.” You smile.

    “I’m going to marry this girl.” Luke says kissing you once more with more passion than the first. Everything was falling perfectly into place and you couldn’t wait to see what the future holds for you all.

I don't know how good this is, it sounded good and looked good when I was writing so I’m throwing caution to the wind and going for it. 

@parkeret​ I promised I’d tag you in my first one, I hope it doesn't suck!

@issaxcharlie thank you for also pushing me to do this as well!

@cookiebuba

[catharrington]

Nothin’ but a good time. (E, 4.2k words)

@harringroveweekoflove day 1: POOL SEX. Also included: body worshiping. Billy being a jerk. Steve being dumb in love. And accidental voyerism.

***

“That sounds like a bad idea, Bill,” Steve had whispered. His hair making a pretty fan out along Billy’s bed sheets. His face sweaty, sticky, his hair colored black as the moonlight as it shifted around with his movements. His shoulders rolling to get comfortable. His plush, bright red, lips chewing on the lit cigarette between them.

Billy turned so he could see more. See how King Steve, his King Steve, looked as he so gracefully fell from grace. Really, as he so gracefully fell from Billy’s spent cock. Now limp and wet between his legs. Quickly getting colder in the chill of the drafty Hargrove house on Cherry Lane.

No matter what, Billy couldn’t look away. Propped himself up on his elbow even so all he could see was Steve’s gorgeous face. His naked chest. As it moved with each breath.

“Fuck,” he mused out loud. Billy’s wandering eyes, his parted lips gasping for a breath of air, made Steve’s own breathless exhaustion break into a cocky smirk.

“What were we talking about?” Billy chucked low.

Steve rolled his eyes. Sucking on the end of the filter of his smoke so some ash, some lit cherry sparks, tumbled down to his moonlight-dark chest hair.

Billy didn’t hesitate in reaching out his hand not supporting his weight to rub the ash into his skin. Mess up his carpet of curls, feel how damp with sweat fucking Steve left his chest hair. He flexed his fingers, dragging blunt nails through the coarse hair.

It only made Steve’s breath catch a little. His smile growing ever wider. “The extremely romantic date night you just asked me on, lover boy?” Steve mutters. Like Billy’s an idiot.

He feels like an idiot. With his hand feeling up Steve’s shapely, muscular chest. Feeling up his bushy chest hair. Feeling the way his heart is working under his skin. An idiot in love, for sure.

“Let me fuck you at the public pool.” Billy repeated what he had asked.

Had asked when? Steve was above him, his narrow waist working his whole body in seizing jerks over Billy’s cock. His thighs bulging, his head thrown back. Steve was so beautiful— Billy’s brain didn’t work sometimes while he watched.

“It’s all I can think about at work,” he admits at the end. Adds it on like a confession.

Steve’s smile falters. His brows pulling down as Billy’s voice takes on a much more serious tune. “You’re serious?” Steve asks.

“As a heart attack.” Billy breathes out.

Steve breaks eye contact. His big browns drifting downwards in consideration. “So, is this some public fetish you have?” He says it so quiet, in a whisper, moving his eyes back to look out from under his dark lashes at Billy. “Or... if you’re trying to impress me, baby; know you’ve already got me. All right?”

Billy’s hand stops moving across Steve’s chest. He holds onto his shoulder to balance as he climbs across Steve’s long legs. Straddling him just like how Steve had. With all the intentions of pinning him down, drinking him up.

“Oh, I got you, huh? Pretty boy?” Billy leans forward so his hair spills out across Steve’s collar bones. They jump up as if to meet his kisses as Steve’s breath hitches.

“Bill,” Steve hisses quietly through clenched teeth. His head, with the still lit smoke, moving back as he tries to keep Billy’s hair from catching on fire.

Billy settles on looking up at him, pressing his chin into Steve’s muscular pec. Watching as Steve’s throat works on keeping back his moans. As his hand plucks the smoke away then knocks into the headboard absentmindedly.

“I know I got you, Stevie. And you know you’ve got me. For as long as you’ll keep me. But,” Billy paused to lick across his bottom lip. Could taste sweat, and ash, and Steve. Like a campfire roaring with life in the middle of the cold, dark woods. “Can’t a guy have a little fun?”

“You drive me crazy…,” Steve whispered out. Tilting his head to the side just so, just so his black hair moved with it like fine silk, just so his cheek squished up against his shoulder, just so he could see Billy looking up at him.

“So that’s a yes?” Billy didn’t wait for a reply. He dipped down, capturing a nipple in his mouth.

Then reached down between them and fisted both their wet, soft cocks together.

Steve’s eyes fluttered closed so beautifully. His lips making a silent moan and a perfect ‘o’ shape. His knuckles rapping on the headboard as his cigarette burned forgotten. Ash dropping into his messy head of black hair.

Billy takes that as an agreement. Just as he takes two more whispered orgasms from Steve before the boy climbs out his window at 3 in the morning.

Next week, finds Billy with a closing shift. The clouds above the Hawkins Community Pool rolling in pink and yellow with the falling sun.

Steve stands by his red car. Legs crossed and arms crossed. The clouds reflected a shade darker on his sunglasses. Billy licks his lips as he comes out from the employees only offices. Finished with his check list of closing requirements. All he has to do is go home now.

Instead, he watches Steve. Spins the keys on his fingers a couple times before he works open the padlock keeping the pool closed after hours.

Steve walks through with those damn, long legs in a pretty pair of pastel swim shorts. A towel slung over his shoulder. The matching pastel stripes blocking Billy’s view of the cropped shirt showing off Steve’s lean stomach.

As he goes past, Billy slaps his ass.

Steve turns around with a half shocked grin, his hand shooting up to catch Billy around the throat. But he only pulls him in for a soft peck on the lips before brushing past. Throwing a middle finger over his shoulder for good measure.

Billy whistles low. Locks the chain link gates back up with his red shorts now much, much more tight around his thighs.

They take a seat on a couple chairs right in the middle. Right next to the ladder of the pool. Steve throws his towel down before lounging across a chair. He uses those long fingers to snatch off his glasses as he looks around.

The pool water wavers like a molten steel mirror. Without splashing children or exercising Moms, it sways only with the light wind. Letting itself reflect back a perfect image of the watercolor sunset happening above them. The sky darkening again so that it could cast Steve in his best lighting. Making his skin more pale, just like his pastel shorts. And his chocolate colored hair loses that brightness, it changes to silky smooth black.

Steve’s eyes get darker too, two vinyl records cut from the star studded moonlit sky. Their music vibrates Billy’s skin every time he sees them.

Billy drops down in the chair behind Steve. His leg folded up on one side and his body bigger, made of all lean muscle, so Steve grumbles as he's forced to lean forward.

But then Billy’s hands are coming up around his hips. Wide palms still hot from the blazing sunlight of the day circling around Steve’s swim trunk waistband. Billy pushes his fingers up to lay out on the space so generously left exposed from Steve’s crop top. Pulling him backwards by the softest part of his belly so he’s burrowing his nose into the back of that perfect hair.

“This is breaking and entering,” Steve mutters darkly. One hand laying over Billy’s, the other lifting to find that mess of honey blond curls.

“Humm,” Billy presses a kiss into the nape of Steve’s neck, “how is it breaking if I got the damn key, Stevie?”

He can feel it in his stomach as Steve rolls out a filthy moan. He’s letting himself be louder, much louder, than they ever could be at Cherry Lane.

Billy circles his arms around Steve’s waist completely. Yanking him backwards with a jerk so that he can angle up his hips. So that Steve can feel the way his cock is already proud and hard inside his red shorts.

Presses the shaft of it right between Steve’s ass, rocking him back down by his grip around his waist so he has no choice but to feel it.

Steve lets out another filthy moan, lets his head fall back on Billy’s shoulder as if it took all his strength to do so.

“Wanna fuck you so bad, baby,” Billy started rambling. His brain shutting off all it’s gates and locks as soon as it heard that moan. “Looked so damn hot waitin’ for me. Such a good boy showin’ up just how I asked.”

Steve shivered as Billy’s words left a hot trail of breath up his cheek bones. He arched his back, moving so his ass pushed into Billy’s trapped cock.

“Then why don’t you show me how to swim, lifeguard?” He asked, voice sultry and teasing. Perfect in every damn way.

Steve leaned forward in the chair to give himself just enough space to grip the bottom of his crop top and pull it off. His hair bounced as he wiggled, shifting his shoulders out the fabric, then letting it drop to the wet tile under them.

Like a magnet, like a force he couldn’t control, Billy’s hands reached up for that bare chest. Getting two handfuls of Steve’s pecs just to squeeze them hard as he can.

Billy muffled his own moans at being able to touch his boyfriend again by placing wet, open kisses up Steve’s neck. “What did I do to deserve you?” Billy kissed the question.

Kissing so hard his teeth scrapped, abusing Steve’s sensitive and pale throat.

Steve let himself enjoy the attention. Arches his back so his chest went up to meet Billy's hands. But only for a moment, until he reached up to catch Billy's jaw mid kiss. He pulls Billy's plump, cherry red lips towards him. Not to kiss— just to mutter close enough to touch.

“Nothing yet,” he whispered.

Then Steve stood up from the chair. Putting his hands on his hips as he looked down with a cocky grin as Billy lays out across his chair. Hard in his shorts, flushed red down to his neck. An annoyed grimace on his face.

Steve took a few timid steps backwards as if he feared Billy could leap from the chair like an angry mountain lion chasing his food. When Steve reached the ladder he had to turn to follow the curve of the metal handles.

“Let’s get this over with, okay? I really don’t want to be caught in public.” Steve said as he lowered down into the water.

Billy rolled his eyes. But stood up and followed. Not by the ladder, but by dropping down to his ass on the side of the pool and letting his feet dangle over. “Sure, whatever you say your majesty,” he spoke with his arms, bowing at the waist slightly to show he was all Steve’s to command.

“Yeah, Bill,” Steve splashed towards him, loving way too much how it made Billy’s fluffy hair limp. “Some people don’t get off to getting caught, or being a total jerk!”

Jumping off the side of the pool, Billy got Steve back with his own large splash. When he surfaced, he squirted water out his mouth. Steve grimaced deep, scrubbing at his face as it got all over his cheek.

While Steve was furiously wiping the spit from his cheek, he didn’t notice the way Billy pushed him up toward the wall until his hair was flat against it.

“Bill,” he gasped out. Droplets of water falling from his lips. Hands were wandering over his ass under the water already.

“You really know me so well, pretty boy, it’s so damn cute,” Billy groans out.

“That was an insult!” Steve defends himself weakly.

“Yeah, baby,” Billy growls, his mouth finds Steve’s neck again with hard kisses, “and you know insulting me gets me off too.”

Steve’s voice is cracking, his brows furrowed together. Those big hands have dropped down to cup his whole ass under the water. And for some reason they feel heavier, warmer, than they ever have before.

“No, ahhh—,” his words cut off with a throaty moan.

“Asshole,” He croaks out before finally letting his head drop backwards. Letting Billy have all the access to his neck and chest he could ever want.

Billy lifts Steve’s legs by the back of his thighs to wrap around his waist. Pushing and pulling Steve’s weight that’s now all soft and marshmallow under the water until their cocks are kissing. Rubbing their shafts together, making their shorts bunch up around their hips and strain with the grown lengths.

Laying his head back, letting his damp hair spread out on the tile of the side of the pool, Steve wasn’t quiet in his moans. His mouth hung open with his noises and hitching breaths.

His hands braced onto Billy’s shoulders as the blond moved down to catch Steve’s nipples in his kisses. Sucking one dusty rose colored peak into his mouth. Rolling it between his front teeth before caressing it with a gentle kiss.

Steve tasted like expensive cologne and the same damn chlorine pool water Billy’s been swimming in all day long. He was warm, hot to the touch, and firm under his hands.

Billy went between Steve’s nipples, lapping at each one like a starving man. Digging his fingers into the back of Steve’s thighs like he wishes he could grip at his chest. He made up for the lack of touching with a hard bite, followed by a soft kiss.

The ministrations made Steve’s throat wrecked. His breaths more messy moans and groans than anything.

Billy lifted him up farther along the wall, until he could lift his arms and use his elbows to keep him up on the slippery when wet tiles. He gripped Steve’s legs tightly to his ribs as he moved down, down to where the water licked around Steve’s mole dotted skin.

“Hold yourself up, pretty boy,” Billy ordered. Keeping one hand on the back of his thighs while the other moves him around by the hips. He watches as Steve shifts around to get comfortable on his elbows.

“Yeah,” he growls out, feeling feral as he looks upwards to Steve’s already sex flushed face. “Just like that. Perfect.”

Steve has enough sass left in him to roll his eyes. It makes Billy smile as he gets to work tugging down Steve’s swim shorts just enough to let his cock free. The curvy pink head and velvet shaft come free with a wet slap to Steve’s stomach. He can only get the shorts down mid thigh, but that’s enough for Billy.

Soft, little kitten licks are all he gives at first. Lapping at the chlorine flavor until he can taste the pearls of pre-cum off the tip. But Billy doesn’t like nice, or slow. And he can all but hear Steve’s blunt nails scratching across the tiles in the empty community pool. So he makes quick work of swallowing down Steve until he hits the back of his tongue.

“Oh, Bill! Oh!” Steve’s breath hikes. Threatens to give out on him. And his shoulders jump up as if to close himself off from the pleasure of being blown in a cool pool on a hot summer day.

He catches his breath in short gasping jerks. Billy can feel the way his legs tighten, even, around his ribs. So he steadies out his maddening pace, bobbing shallowly up and down the mid-length of Steve’s cock. Setting a rhythm to match his breath to.

Steve lays back so his head is flat on the tile. His eyes flutter closed as he enjoys the way Billy’s wet mouth works over his cock.

And Billy’s enjoying himself too, so damn much. His own legs tense as he holds up Steve’s weight. Still heavy even with the assist of the water making him float. Making Billy’s muscles bulge and grow hot even with the water up around his shoulders.

Each time he bobbed his head down to swallow Steve’s cock his chin touched the water. All around them the only noises he could hear was splashing, and the breathless and pretty as hell moans coming out of Steve’s mouth.

He stole one more glance up at Steve, one more lingering look up at that flexing Adam’s apple, before he dropped his head down under the water.

***

Steve lays so his head is completely thrown back, his chest heaving with the last of his air, as he feels Billy take him deep to the root of his cock. His shoulders give a weak little jerk as he tries not to come immediately. Eyes fluttering in the way he wants to close them and savor the moment, but he doesn’t want to stop looking around and remembering just where they are.

It’s then, as he’s letting his eyes wander the empty pool recliners around them. Usually bustling and filled with people. When he notices it. A yellow light flicking through the chain link fence.

Steve blinks a bit. Watching as the light sweeps across the water. But it’s when he hears their splashing and sex noises get drowned out by the clanking of the locked fence again, does Steve realize.

His hand moves to try and cup Billy’s hair. To pull him up from where he was jerking his cock so perfectly. The water took all the friction away so he could feel only Billy’s plump lips and eager tongue perfectly wet and warm against him. Steve didn’t want to stop.

And neither did Billy. He lifted for a second only to shoot a disgustingly handsome grin, suck in a breath, and go down under again.

Now, he was nuzzling his cock with his nose. His perfect, cute, round nose Steve loved to give him shit for. It pressed just on the side of his cock, while Billy’s mouth toyed with the sensitive skin of his balls. His tongue pulling in as much as he can take, sucking like he’s proving a point.

Steve could only tighten his grip on Billy’s messy hair as he rolled his head backwards again.

Looking up, he can see how the gate is open, and the light is still surveying. It’s only a matter of time before—

“Stop right there!” A booming voice broke into their perfect little silent moment. Accompanied by shuffling work boots as the flash light came closer. “After hours, this is trespassing!”

Steve lifted his one hand in the air, surrendering at the madness of the situation. He had to gulp down some chlorine scented air before he had enough in his lungs to reply with a meek, “Howdy, Hop!”

“What?” The voice loses some of its boom, but Chief of Police Jim Hoppers always has a loud voice. At least when he’s scolding Steve for something. “Harrington? What the hell are you doing here?”

The flashlight drops from Steve’s face so now he can see the Chief in all his bristling, uniformed glory. Thankfully, he had stopped a good few feet away. So maybe he hasn’t seen Billy.

“Not what it looks like,” he exhales.

“Of course not…,” Hopper shuffles around as if holstering something. He had taken his gun out to search the pool, that’s just fantastic.

“Seriously,” Steve’s voice catches with a breathy moan before he can stop it. Just for a second. He covers it with a wave of his hand before continuing. “Seriously! I’m here with Hargrove so he works here, he’s got a key— s-so it’s not a crime, right?”

“Figured as much,” Hopper grumbles, “Where is that bad influence?”

Steve whispers out a short prayer to God for that question. And then, as if Billy knows exactly that he’s being talked about, he moves his sinful tongue back up to swallow Steve’s cock to the root.

He has to control his breath more than he ever has. His body is edging hard, wanting to cum down Billy’s throat as it works over his sensitive head so perfectly. So warm and wet, and so dangerous. If he came now, if he made a sound like he did, they would be caught. It sends crackling electricity up and down his body at the thought of it.

His fingers pull at Billy’s hair mean-like, trying to punish him. And he manages to push down the way he wants to absolutely messily beg for the boy to continue with a couple shaky breaths.

“He’s getting his towel from the lockers. Should be out soon.” He turns over his shoulder with an innocent smile. Steve is surprised at his own voice, surprised he can talk at all with Billy’s throat milking his cock so hard.

“Getting a towel,” Hopper mused. Turning to look at the doors for the locker rooms.

Steve took that second to let out a silent moan. Parting his lips widely as if to scream in the way he wanted. In the way he will, as soon as Hopper leaves. If he even lasts that long.

“That’s all?” Hopper snaps, turning back to glare at Steve.

And Steve just barely covers his moan with biting down on his lips. Sucking them in and scraping his teeth against them as a mild distraction. “Yeah, yeah,” he laughs out. “Sure, Hop—,”

“You two boys better not be drinking!”

“Drinking?” Steve manages to hide a groan brought on by a particularly hard suck inside that word, dragging it out as if he can’t believe it. And he can’t. He can’t believe he’s trying to lie to Chief Hopper while getting blown.

“Geez, Hop, we’re not drinking okay? Just swimming!” He pleads.

“Just swimming?” Hopper’s glare has softened. His brow that was constantly up and suspicious lowered to a more fond exasperation.

“S-Sure.” Steve nods desperately.

“I come back in an hour, I won’t find two dumb teenagers floating belly up?” Hopper cracks a smile. Oh good, he’s joking. He must believe him, and that must mean he’s close to leaving.

Steve rolled his eyes, matched the laugh with a forced one. “Don’t be so ancient, man, holy shit.”

Hopper dips his head as if offended at the language. Steve tries to crack another good natured laugh but a moan almost slips out, so he claps his hand over his mouth. Hopefully, it comes off as comedy. Not as him trying to power through Billy trying really hard to make him cum right now.

A second ticks by of silence. Hopper narrowing his eyes at Steve, while he looks back with every ounce of pleading puppy-dog eyes he can muster. And Steve’s been told his puppy-dog eyes can be pretty powerful.

“No drinking?” Hopper asks.

Steve shakes his head profusely. His hand still covering his mouth.

“You two are gone in an hour?”

Steve nods, his hair messily falling around his forehead shakes with it.

“Jesus Christ,” Hopper rolls his eyes and moves his whole body with it. Turning around in a very interesting show of self battling. “Fine. You two don’t cause any more trouble,” he grumbled out as he turned to walk away.

“Thanks, Hop!” Steve yelled after him. Throwing out a weak, quivering thumbs up as Hopper waves over his shoulder.

As soon as he gets out the gate, Steve drops his head down and lets out a long, whimpering moan. His hand on Billy’s head pulling hard on those wet, golden curls, as he thrusts back up into Billy’s mouth. It only takes a couple. A few deep, hard, thrusts that punch his cock head into the back of Billy’s throat, before Steve’s cuming hard.

He keeps his hands on Billy’s hair so he has to stay down, stay under the shifting waters of the pool, and swallow his whole load. Steve feels it makes up for the torture of talking to Hopper. It also feels just so damn good.

His grip on Billy’s hair lets go when he starts wiggling around. He comes up from the water with his mouth open already trying to suck down a desperate breath. Billy’s lips are swollen, huge and cherry red. Like a lollipop. Like his damn sexy swim shorts uniform.

Steve growls from deep in his chest as soon as he sees Billy’s smug ass face.

“Damn, when I told you I wanted to drown in you, Stevie, I meant your pretty eyes. Not your big dick—,”

“I hate you,” Steve muttered darkly.

“And fuck, baby, how you kept your cool with that pig? That was really fuckin’ hot—,”

“I hate you,” Steve repeated. His hand petting through Billy’s hair didn’t match the hate in voice at all, and he was fine with that.

“Shucks,” Billy drawls out, his grin going up on one side. Turning into a lopsided smile. A real smile. Steve’s heart fluttered around inside his chest. “Keep showing off like this, you’re going to make a guy fall in love!”

Steve cracked his mean mug with a cloud-soft laugh, his eyes crinkling around the edges with it. He couldn’t stay mad, not even when he’s trying.

He pulls Billy down by a fistful of hair into a blistering kiss. Without shutting him up, Steve might start confessing shit Billy wasn’t ready for.

Not yet, at least. Maybe a couple more sunset swims and he’ll be ready

[qingxintea]

➼ chongyun || hiraeth

tw: mention of knives (no violence), kidnapping, explosion _______

you angled your camera to catch your face and upper body correctly and adjusted your blinds for the correct lighting. you put thin pieces of yellow and pink paper over your lamp to give off a sunset lighting sort of aesthetic in your minimalist room. your tiny cacao tree sat in the corner of your room, setting some sort of simple beach vibe.

then, you began to stream.

you watched as majority of your followers came to view as you sat in your rolly gaming chair. the greetings came rushing in and you noticed two of your friends had came along too, xingqiu and chongyun.

"hey gang, it's kingexplosionmurder here with your weekly sunday stream," you smiled and watched as comments came in asking you to notice them. beginning to select randomly, you flicked a short strand of hair behind your ear. "you have been noticed, yourlocalsugardaddy," you blessed them. and you swore you chose randomly.

on the other side of the screen, chongyun's face slightly flushed before eating his popsicle again. yes, that was his username, selected by xingqiu after the guhua heir was somehow able to trick him into selecting so. the situation must've been that he accidentally consumed some jueyun chili's, that was also xingqiu's doing.

he watched you smile as you explained your schedule for this stream, when he noticed you suddenly began laughing. it sounded genuine, he wanted to believe it was genuine, but there was a trace of disappointment in it. he observed your face, noticing you were looking at the chat box. "i agree too, scarymoose."

scarymoose: this streamer's kinda dog shit ngl 😐

by instinct, his fingers grazed over the keyboard as he analyzed the tone. this kid wasn't joking around with himself, he was really out to bring you down. he exhaled, shaking his head, wondering how you would deal in the situation.

yourlocalsugardaddy: miss karen this isn't yelp 🙄

he wasn't content with that yet, things could've gone onto more serious matters, but he knew you liked to keep your chat clean and peaceful. you went to the farther extents to keep that from happening, agreeing with rude comments yourself as a said joke, but actually have it sometimes harming you.

so chongyun tried his best to keep you happy.

redrumreaper: yo moose chill 😳

he recognized his friend xingqiu also trying to calm the situation as you just laughed it off and attempted to continue, sooner enough just beginning to ignore all his comments. some other viewers came up to your defense but in all honesty, you wanted to move on.

"s-so, i found some silk flowers outside of wangshuu inn yesterday, aren't they pretty?" you took a tiny bouquet of the said silk flowers and presented it to your viewers, holding it next to your cheek. the pink tone of the flowers matched the color of your cheeks and made for a nice picture. chongyun would've screenshotted it, but he respected your privacy.

yourlocaldumba$$: yes they're so pretty we love you 😍

13lue13erry: yes ong ong 💕 thiccer than my granny

Straw13erry: don't bring madame ping into this 💀💀

colino: are you sure it's alright to take from someone's legally owned property ?? much less from their garden

Straw13erry: u mean ur neighbors don't harvest ur flowers every day? 🙄 privilege spoke 🤚

yourlocalsugardaddy: vv pretty 😳

redrumreaper: simp 💀

you slightly choked over on your side and xingqiu calling chongyun a simp, for you. quickly clearing your throat, you regained your composure. your viewers could see that your cheeks had been dusted with a darker shade now.

13lue13erry: 👀

Straw13erry: 👀

yourlocaldumba$$: 👀

redrumreaper: 👀

sireluck: 💀

bazinga: 👀

dandelionn: 👀

poetichoe: 👀

"okay- anyways," you pushed that aside, watching the chain of 👀's coming in. you weren't too sure at what they were referring to, but just assumed that they were interested in xingqiu exposing chongyun. but, there was no way chongyun really felt like that, right? it was just a friendly compliment from what you believed. "just a tiny flex but y'all guys, i am so cracked at apex, not gonna lie. for all the new followers out there," you randomly commented. 'and to change the subject.'

"actually, you know what? fuck the schedule, let's go to trolling little eight year old kids posting selfies on instagram. due to certain reasons i'm just not gonna be blurring their usernames out, but please don't spam these people, i don't wanna be cancelled 💗" you sweetly smiled as you pulled up instagram and started streaming on your phone.

of course your sus notifications ruined it 🤡🤡

because xingqiu took advantage of the situation, sending messages to your discord. nothing mentioning your romantic life because he knew better than that, but just trolling. 'HEY GANG. ITS ME, TONY, AND TODAY WE'RE GONNA SEE IF IM FASTER THAN THIS MOUSE TRAP.' 'TURNS OUT, I AM NOT FASTER THAN THIS MOUSE TRAP.' 'AN UPDATE, IT HURTS. ALRIGHT. BYE GUYS.' you tried hard to contain your laughter, but certain giggles came out in the end, giggles that made chongyun's heart flutter.

xingqiu just kept spamming without a stop, to the point that you accidentally clicked into the notification instead of someone's username on a selfie post. so now everyone could see your group chat with xingqiu, chongyun, and a few other viewers that were actually your other friends.

13lue13erry: oh no 🤡

Straw13erry: 🗿

yourlocaldumba$$: HAHAHAHA WE'RE EXPOSED 🤡👌

just water support boy 😔: image.png

oh my god he's sending chongyun catboy edits. you made this concerning noise, glad no one really seemed to know who chongyun really was on twitch. you went back to instagram, beginning to dm a random kid, ignoring the situation that had just happened.

chongyun choked, slight heat running to his cheeks. what the fuck was xingqiu doing- how did he even get those pictures? maybe it was that one time xingqiu forced him to go to a furry con, but how did he ever get the time to photograph these? he nervously fidgeted and played with his fingers.

13lue13erry: 🤡

Straw13erry: 🤡

yourlocaldumba$$: 🤡

redrumreaper: 🤡

<— oraoraoraor

kingexplosionmurder: chav check

oraoraoraor: what

kingexplosionmurder: chav: check 😹😹

oraoraoraor: bruh

oraoraoraor: who tf are you

kingexplosionmurder: hope you like baddies cause i'm bad at everything 💗

oraoraoraor: bruh ok i'm blocking

kingexplosionmurder: stop dming me

oraoraoraor: 😐

kingexplosionmurder: stop dming me

oraoraoraor: wtf

kingexplosionmurder: stop dming me

oraoraoraor: wait wait UR that one twitch streamer?

kingexplosionmurder: stop dming me

oraoraoraor: ig ur fans gonna be so disappointed in you

kingexplosionmurder: stop dming me

oraoraoraor: hahaha wtf i'm gonna post this and tag you

kingexplosionmurder: stop dming me

afterwards you sent a barrage of really cursed images and left the person on read when they tried to complain and get a reaction out of you. you chuckled, extremely satisfied with yourself. this is what your viewers followed you for. you went on hunting for another user, "GO Y/N GO" filling up your chat.

you were just about to dm this other kid until you heard a ring from your doorbell. "oh what the fuck, i didn't invite anyone. but you know what, i'll pull something up to entertain y'all guys while i'm afk." searching on youtube, you typed in 'banana fish ep. 1' and clicked on the longest video you saw. then you got up from your chair, making your way to the front door.

you didn't mute yourself before because you thought there was really no need to, and you underestimated your mic sensitivity. god did you wish that you could go back and time and do just that.

twisting the doorknob, you opened your door and was met with... a certain, someone.

someone that you recognized and has caused you so much pain, and it was all so fun and games before they had to come along. "bruh. aight what you here for fam?" you played it super chill, though you were really sick and tired of this person's shit.

"(y/n). we need to talk," her stern voice made you flinch as you just stared straight into her eyes. you simply nodded your head and crossed your arms, shifting your weight onto your right leg. "we're thinking of taking you back home."

your froze, your breath hitching as you just stood there, waiting for her to go on. clenching your fists and looking down, you stayed silent for a little moment and questioned, "...why?"

"well, you have a stable income source, right?" she asked, putting her hands on her hips. "you can finally be of use to us," she clasped her hands together, a bright smile on her face. your finger twitched, awaiting an explanation. "you're a streamer, yeah? so you can be a useful asset to our family name."

"...you only want me to come back so i can make you all seem... good?"

and here you thought, just for a second, that you would be accepted back into the place where you really belonged. your shoulders slumped, as small tears began to well up in your eyes. "and for our profitable gain of course, it would be a shame to not acquire that from you."

you composed yourself and looked up. "im afraid my profit can only cover for one person, and it would be myself that i focus to make a suitable and independent living out of. you've kicked me out ever since i've graduated from college and had me fend for myself, now inviting me back once i have a stable job?" you breathed, fiddling with the sleeves of your black hoodie.

"oh, not inviting, dear. taking."

confused by her words, you let your guard down as she suddenly pushed a warm cloth over your mouth as you let out a constrained scream. you tried to break free of her grasp, reaching for the switchblade in your pocket, but the drowsing chemicals from the cloth took control of you and you felt disoriented. "you... bitch..."

your head hit the floor.

》●✿ time ● skip ✿●

silence.

thats all you heard when you awoke.

pure, unfiltered silence that overwhelmed you as you were completely lost. what was happening?

you tried turning to the other side of your childhood bed, the moon casting light shadows into your 'room'. there was a rope around your wrists you noticed, so you brought them up to your lips and starting gnawing on them until it broke apart. (guys we feral its not a furry instinct ok?/ ??  ?)

the material had irritated your skin, but you put that aside for now. escape- thats what you really needed to do. it was fairly dark, but you didn't have a good estimate of time. the analog clock was broken and set to a different time that displayed 11AM. you sat up, your fingers running along the frame of the window next to you.

for a moment, you stopped, thoughts rushing into your head. what if you could start a whole other life here where things could finally be peaceful, what if you didn't have to feel so isolated anymore, what if you could- ...

no. (y/n), get yourself together. what has happened will anyways stay there, and there is no healing scars. ...still, you couldn't shake off the feeling of missing this home so much when you had an amazing childhood, though full of fake actors who had manipulated you.

opening all the cabinets silently, you grabbed things that you assumed would come to your aid. a tiny backpack, which you then stuffed with other things around it. a first aid kit, a spare knife just in case, along with a clean oversized sweater and a couple dollar bills. all that, along with a compass.

you turned towards your window, stepping on your bed.

pushing open the sides of your window, your stepped on, the brown coldness of the frame coming in contact with your feet. you shivered just a little bit before stopping to think. what would you do once you were out of here? you barely knew your way here. and not to mention, your devices were still left at your other house, so there was no way of contact.

...

did your stream ever end? even if it did, had you muted yourself before leaving? no, you didn't, and you could remember in precise detail. someone out there, anyone, would be willing to help, right? you couldn't possibly be here forever, not when you're basically blown up all over your socials?

your friends, yes, your friends! xingqiu and chongyun were watching the stream and had made obvious interaction in doing so, and they'd be willing to protect you. if they just had a lead...

but... what lead was there? all they heard was the woman's voice and, that was probably it, wasn't it? only a voice with no other clear features that could identify her. it looked like you were doing this on your own.

you came in contact with the blades of grass tickling your feet and conveniently found a pair of sneakers outside. it definitely wasn't yours, and it smelled like the scent of your old room. most likely, it belonged to someone from inside your house, lavender and mint, but who inside there was in the age range to wear modern day sneakers..?

brushing that question aside, you unhesitatingly laced them on and they were just a bit too big, but you could manage.

you breathed, inhaling the freedom intertwined air, a much needed factor of bringing you back to your lost sense of happiness. then, the fear struck you once again, because you needed to improvise now. you needed to run, but which direction? you barely knew this place at all.

you dug around your pocket for the compass you had and it was pointing east. you remember that stepping out of your house was facing west, so you were going the right way... but who knows how messy the path was? it couldn't have been an exact pathway, but going directly ahead was your simplest option.

you heard a pair of footsteps coming from inside the house, probably a few seconds away to opening the door. you sucked in your breath and ran, ran as far as your legs could take you. your intimidating speed and played into your advantage, and taking one last look, you saw the lights on, before continuing.

a few minutes into it, you felt some elemental energy. it was a sense you learned to develop since you were young, giving you the upper hand in a variety of situations. you followed the trail of glowing lines, the air starting to get colder and colder. you shuddered, the crisp coldness nipping at your skin.

you sat below a tree, taking your backpack off your shoulder and took out the oversized sweater. you put it on over your black tee and light blue skinny jeans, its nostalgic aroma filling your sense of smell.

it was... warm.

it shouldn't be warm.

the warmth proved as a sign that someone had worn it before, but this size was from what you knew, too small to fit the woman you came across again, and you absolutely did not recall any other beings within the house. it was a small household.

suddenly, you remembered what she said.

we're thinking of taking you back home. you can finally be of use to us.

plural. you should've noticed it before and you shook your head, slightly disappointed in yourself. you didn't remember any other birth siblings. could it be the fact that during the time, they had, in a way, replaced you?

you sat up, then suddenly went drowsy. your eyelids were getting heavy as your back hit the same tree. ah, that clever bitch. you chuckled to yourself, but still unsatisfied how this was gonna end. reaching inside your pocket, you grabbed a bomb that a little kid gave you, and threw it as far as you could. it wasn't as far as you hoped, but it was exceptionally far considered your sleepy state.

in a few couple seconds or so, it was going to explode. you did that to divert the attention of her and slowly ran as far as you could. a few seconds in, you gave in, hoping that your efforts were enough. 》●✿ perspective ● shift ✿●

chongyun heard an explosion.

he raised his head in the direction smoke was coming from, and made a run for it, then stopping to think. no, you're smarter than this. he gathered his shit together and remembered that one day klee gave you a bomb. he deducted that you had used it as a diversion, and began to search around the area.

and finally, he came across your sleeping body. to ensure your living state, he crouched down and let two fingers travel across your neck, searching for a pulse, and was relieved when he found one, pulsing at a normal rate.

he then carried you on his back, picking up the pace since he deducted someone was out for you, would you need a distraction. he remembered some details of the woman, she had ended your stream with your sleeping form in her hands, a dirty smirk coming across her lips. she had dark hair with some natural highlights, but that was all he saw because the rest was concealed by a cloak.

a few minutes, maybe half an hour later, you began to stir. chongyun decided that he ventured far enough to liyue and slowed down for your comfort. he wanted you to get some well deserved rest. but slowly, you woke up, but only the tiniest movement was made. your eyes were still droopy and you wanted to return to sleep.

but the sight of pastel blue hair kept you from doing so.

you felt the familiar silk coming in contact with your arms as he kept on trudging forward at a more consistent and smooth pace. "..chongyun?" you muttered out weakly, earning a small smile from the male. he hummed in response, continuing forward.

your mind was cloudy, unable to interpret the language of the world. but softly, words effortlessly escaped your lips, "... did i do the right... thing?" blinking multiple times, you awaited his answer.

"yes, yes you did," his soft voice reached your ears, making you smile a bit. you nuzzled deeper into his shoulder, clinging onto him tighter, unwilling to let go.

"thank you," you whispered.

he chuckled a bit before responding, "anything for you."

_____

bro ending is a little off because i'm wrote this at 2:53AM and so my brain has went ⬇️⬇️ also i'm just hungry

copy and pasted from my wattpad,, @ppeachtea_

[psycho-pass-saiko]

A bit change in order of the events in Gekijouban. What would happen if Akane was also kidnapped with Kougami?

…

Inside the abandoned chapel,the air was damp and smelly. It was already past sunset, the base of the enemy was enlighetened with dim lights. At the center of the chapel, six bodies were present.

“No! NO!” A desperation mixed furious voice escaped from Kogami’s sore throat. A man with a quite bulky appearence, started to walk towards Akane. Kogami tried to rise on his feet but the chains around his wrists were pulled instantly to sides once he moved. He grunted through his teeth, tasting the metalic taste of his blood in his mouth. He was bleeding, almost everywhere. His black shirt was shattered, half of it was hanging from his abdomen to the ground. On his bare skin you could see the whip wounds as well as small yet good amount of blade cuts. He was chained through his wrists, his arms were forcefully hanged to his sides by a blonde woman and a midget man. They once again pulled his arms to warn him to behave. Pain was everywhere. He had a high tolarence of pain yet he just wanted to whine, laying on the cold stone floor. But he knew he couldnt. Because-

“Fuck off!” Kougami, once again cursed when he heard Akane’s distressed voice. His blurry vision focused once again on her. The bulky short haired blonde man was now next to her, grabbing her arms over her head, he sat on her waist.

“Looking at him, maybe we should have called him “Target Romeo” instead of Delta, hmm?” said the black man with a whip in his hands. For a second Kogami didnt hear him as he was too busy worrying about Akane at that moment. He hissed, rose on his knees. He grabbed the chains with his palms, pulling them forward. The men who was handling his chains were caught off of guard so they tripped one or two steps, allowing him to have a step forward. It was enough for him to face the bastard. Their leader, with a bionic arm and leg was nowhere to be seen. Instead of him another man of his, with a basic black shirt and trousers but striking red hair , was carrying out their torture session. He startled when beaten up Kougami got closer. With a calm yet bloodthirsty whisper, Kougami looked directly into their torturer’s eyes.

“If you touch her one more time,” he narrowed his eyes, continued with his stone cold voice. “ I will tear you apart limb by limb with my own teeth.”

Everyone in the room halt for a second.

Red haired man was the first to break away from the hostile threat of his. He gulped down, smirked eagerly.

“Not before i tear you apart, you rice-rat.” Just as he finished his sentence, his whip found Kougami’s face. With a sudden pain he kneeled down once again, gasping for air.

“Kougami! Get the fuck off me right now!” Akane saw the moment whip hitting his face. She was also tortured, kicked, punched, even stripped halfway from her clothes. She had only her cargo pants and bra on, her torso fully naked. But nothing hurted as much as seeing him suffering in front of her, more than her. She felt the furious tears coming to her eyes but instead she growled behind her throat, facing the man who was on her stomach. Short haired blonde man was gazing upon her,as if she was a meal he was about to enjoy. She frowned with rage. “Get of me!” hissed. Who was sitting on her was a very muscular man with bionic limbs over his chest and shoulders, twice--no, triple size of her. She realized taking a breath got harder every second. But she didnt care about it, her only thoughts were about how to kick this prick’s ass as soon as possible. She heard some chain clatters but couldnt turn her head as the guy grabbed her chin with a force. “You are one wild cat, arent you?” His disgusting giggling almost made Akane throw up, but she had nothing in her stomach to do so. So she spitted on his face instead.

“Free me and i will show you what kind of cat i am, you idiot!” she threated him but only got another laugh as a response. Fingers around her chin squeezed her skin more.

“I now see why he is favoring you, kitty. Its much more fun when your partner is wild and reluctant as you are.” The bulky guy, suddenly grabbed her left breast with his free hand. Akane, flinched with the sudden touch but didnt make any sounds, only frowning more. He leaned forward, more of his weight crushing her. His face was so close that she could smell the alcohol from his stinky breath. Akane heard a sudden gasping from her left and looked towards it. Only to catch Kogami’s gaze with hers. She felt shivers on every part of her body. Not because the touch on her skin, but the look in his eyes. His usual bright blue shines were nowhere to be seen. A fresh red wound was over his right forehead to end of his right cheek, covering his agonized expression. His gaze was now pitch black, reminding her a black hole. The monster inside him was already ready to take the control. She almost saw the image of a hellhound. Kogami, didnt- couldnt hold himself anymore, with a exhale, he released the creature inside of him.

A loud thud and one painful scream.

These were the only things Akane could hear when her face once again forcefully pulled back as the guy was kissing, nimping her bare neck now.

Everything happened in seconds.

Kougami, now more different than his usual self, more brutal, grabbed the chain in his right palm and pulled with a sudden inhumanly power, breaking the steel. The woman who was holding the chain fell on the floor but no one cared about her at that moment, since Kougami was already attacking the man in front of him. His right hand, chain still hanging on his wrist, grabbed the neck of the red haired man who was smirking. With a hoarse growl under his breath, he cracked his neck bone as he closed his grasp over him. Man’s body went limp, the smirk still on his lips. Well, he didnt find time to change his expression. Kougami opened his fingers to drop the corpse in his hand. He remembered the second guy who was holding the chain on his left arm when his arm pulled backwards. But Kougami didnt move an inch, only aimed for the guy who was still on Akane. Swinging his right arm back, he threw the broken chain in his right hand to forward. Chain, as his plan, found its aim, tangled around the bulky guy’s neck like a snake as Kougami grabbed the steel and pulled him back. The blonde guy, with shock and confusion, reached to his choked throat with both of his hands, releasing Akane. Making the biggest mistake. Akane without spending a second rose up halfly with her torso and punched the adam apple’s of the guy’s, just over the chains.

She felt the crack before hearing it.

First his eyes shutted down then his body went unconscious over her. But this time Akane pulled herself to left, saving herself from getting crushed by his massive shape. The chain over the laying man was fiercely pulled back again, only then she hurried and pulled her legs from the weight of him. She quickly stood up, turning to Kougami’s side. He was being dragged on the floor as the woman who fell before also started to pull the chain attached to his left arm. Akane panickly turned back to the body of the bulky man, she grabbed the dagger which was placed on the belt of his right leg, then dashed towards the enemy.

Kougami was on his knees and right hand, but another strong pull made him fell on his left side. His bare chest scraped over the rough stone floor. He felt his skin peeled. With a sour whine he blinked. Just before of his blinking, Kougami saw a glance of a brunette hair although his blood was blocking his sight. Akane, reached to the attackers. Woman dropped her grip of the chains and reached over Akane. But she squated down, attacking from low ground, she stabbed her side, near to her kidney. Blonde woman grunted with immerse pain and doubled over, yet Akane saw the odd smile on her face. With a shiver on her spine Akane elbowed her face before turning over the other guy, leaving the dagger on the woman’s body . As she lifted her head to right she was startled when she found a chilly feeling of the metal, now a gun was on her forehead.

“Stop right now! Kneel!” shouted the short, ponytailed man. She could see his hesitation, even in his prosthetic yellow eyeball.

Akane sighed, gave him a bold look.

“You are not even holding the handgrip right.”

The guy, one hand on Kogami’s chain other holding a gun to her, frowned with confusion. And this moment was the moment she was yearning for.

She quickly hit the inside of his gun holding wrist and with a twist she took the gun from his hand, now aiming his head with a stable aim.

“Loose the chain. Now.” She hissed with a wrathful expression on her. Her finger tensed on the trigger.

Short man instantly dropped the chain that he was holding and without even looking his back started to run with gasps.

Not until he disappeared into the darkness of the corridor in front of them Akane relieved. But she immediately tensed up again, turned to her behind. Kougami was laying on the ground, facedown, seemed to be unconsicous.

She panicked and reached to his body in a couple of steps. She glided on her knees next to him on the ground, carefully turning him to his back. His left arm was reaching backwards on the ground, as she carefully grabbed his arm bringing to his side.

“Kougami?” a shaky voice called his name.

She didnt get a response.

All those years as a detective, all those corpses or the murder scenes she saw, nothing made her lose her cool, not completely at least.

But now, she felt her heart stopped. All the blood in her veins, turned into ice.

“Kougami!” She gasped with a dying scream, holding his face between her palms. He was cold. So cold. Or was it her fingers? She couldnt tell the diferrence as the panic spreaded over her body more each second. She slicked his bloody damp hair aside, tried to open his eyes. But they shutted down once she stoped touching his eyelids.

Her hands started to tremble, moving around his limp, wounded body. She felt the bruises, semi healed wounds, open and still bleeding cuts.... there was so much blood, so much... while her fear grew bigger inside her own chest, she remembered her first-aid lessons as she leaned over his teared shirt to listen his heartbeats. Just the second agter she put her left ear on his heart, Kougami coughed harshly, shaking her head. Akane quickly pulled her head back and leaned over his face.

“Kougami?! Kougami, can you hear me? Kouga-“

“Stop screaming for a second, please.” He whispered with his dry chapped lips, voice hoarse. His eyes were still closed but a second later they opened slowly. A grayish blue flames showed themselves under the yellow dim lights. His gaze went over her as far as they can, since he couldnt even move his head.

“Are you okay? Do you have any wounds? Where are they- UGH!” She slammed him down when he desperately tried to rise on his elbow.

“For fucks sake, stay down. Oh my god,” she cursed between her sobs. Wiped her own tears to see him clearer, as she was only looking a distorted vision of him a second ago because of the burning tears in her eyes. Kougami knew it was serious, if she was cursing.

“Are you in pain?” He asked softly. Akane looked at his eyes. She saw the pure worry inside of them.

“You are the one who was laying dead just a second ago, dont you dare ask me if i am in pain. Of course i am,” She sobbed once more trying to block the unstoppable tears. She leaned over his face, her forehead on his.

“Please, dont, dont ever do that again.”

Kougami wanted to tease her with a joke but tiredness was stronger. He only sighed to her lips. “I am okay now. Calm down. See?” His trembling right hand placed on her left hand, grabbing his face. As he moved his arm the chains tied to his wrist jangled.

“To be fair, i would much rather have the chains in the bedroom.” No matter how tired, Kougami was Kougami at the end. Akane snorted a small giggle, growing into a real laugh. When he heard her cracked laugh his lips also carved into a grin.

Akane leaned back to look his face properly, did a damage control. Except the whip wound on his face, everything was intact. His right eye was red with blood but it was also responding to her moves, meaning it was okay. She carressed his cheek slightly. “Thank you.”

Kougami leaned over her small palm, silently.

“You did all the job, i was tied down.” He opened his eyes, frowning, was obviously recalling the time when Akane was under that guy minutes ago. “ I should have skinned them alive-“

Akane, silencing him with her thumb on his lips, leaned and put her head on his chest again. Finding peace with his heartbeats. She closed her teary eyes, feeling his hand gently stroking the crown of her head.

‘’What it is in your small head, hmm?’’ asked Kougami.

With a sudden chilly wind, her short hair slicked back of her face. Akane slowly opened her eyes as she smelled the salty damp air of the ocean.

Her gaze met with the softest orange colored sunset of the beach where they were laying on a lounge chair, together.

As she tried to fathom the abrupt change of the scenery, she blinked once or twice. Her head was still on his chest. She could hear the steady heartbeats under his broad ribcage. She softly turned her head back to other side, placing her left ear on his chest. She encountered with his beauty, lighten with the mild sunset sunshine. His usual sharp features were now gentle than ever. Without realizing she reached over his cheek to caress his face. Kougami, leaned over her almost ghostly palm. He frowned, fixing his ocean gray irises on her caramel ones.

Akane only smiled as a response.

Thats was all a memory huh, she thought to herself.

Over their kidnapping, a year had passed. A year was a short period of time but the changes were severe on their life. He was now back in Japan, working for Foreign affairs. He had to travel a lot, as expected. And one of those travels turned out to be a good chance as a vacation for them. So here they were on a famous beach yet rather quiet one at the moment, cuddling as the sun was leaving the horizon for the moon to lighten the night.

She knew he was important to her. But that day, when he was lying half-dead in front of her, in her palms; she learnt he was essential to her, like every breathe she took.

She didnt want the world to turn without him.

She didnt want the sun to burn without him.

And most importantly, she didnt want to live a life without him.

Akane put her left palm on his chest, taking a slight boost from his strong muscles, she lifted her head. Now eye to eye, she let her smile get bigger. The whip wound on the right side of his face was almost gone.

‘’Uhm, nothing, just some memories.’’ She whispered, eyes falling down to his lips.

Kougami relaxed his eyebrows, completely letting himself vulnerable in her presence. He always knew the possibility that she could also get nightmares like him, or visions. And he knew it was not some bright memories she recollected a while ago, in his embrace, shaking subtly. He slowly turned his face to the left only to give a small kiss on her palm.

‘’I suggest you to stay in the moment, inspector.’’ He chuckled as Akane frowned lightly.

‘’ I am not one anymore,’’ referring the change in her title by the Sibyl system’s decision.

‘’ You are always one for me.’’ Said Kougami, fixing his eyes on her. He grinned when she got the meaning behind his sentence.

Clever girl, as always.

Another ocean breeze rushed through their embraced bodies, urging Kougami to cover his book holding hand over her back, gazing towards the horizon.

I cant judge her though, everything feels like a distant dream, he thought to himself. Her softness against his firm body, fair scent of her shampoo and salty ocean, complete calm and peace..

These were not the words or moments he kept in his mind so often. Yet, he decided to burn this moment to back of his eyelids. Like he had done to all the times he shared with her.

‘’ Didnt know you could be so poetic,’’ her voice pulled his eyes to herself again. One word from her lips could make him burn the world, destroy everything in sight. But instead, that one word happened to have more affect than any other, holding his ice cold heart with the warmest hug. ‘’Shinya.’’

Next thing he knew, he was already leaning forward to catch her lips like she did to his heart.

...

Here goes second attempt of me writing a lovely-dovely Shinkane, i hope you guy can enjoy now imma yeet myself to outer space byEEE

[louezem]

Saying Yes - Brothers

Summary:  Katniss and Peeta had a bitter break up years ago and went their separate ways. Katniss knows nothing of Peeta's life now, until a stunning blonde walks into the exclusive bridal salon were she works, to buy her a dress for her wedding - to Peeta Mellark.

Written for @promptsinpanem

Part 5 - Brothers

Eight Weeks Later...

Part 5 - Brothers 

Eight weeks later:

“Good evening, Mr Mellark, it’s nice to see you,” the doorman welcomed him with a tip of his head.

“Good evening,” Peeta returned the welcome. “I’m here to meet my brother for dinner but I need to go upstairs first. When he arrives can you send him to The Arena?  I’ll meet him at the bar.”

“Of course, Mr Mellark, I’ll let him know.”

Peeta strode through the hotel lobby, acknowledging staff members and guests alike with a nod or a smile before using his keycard to access a small private elevator that rose directly to the penthouse he’d shared with Glimmer.

It felt a little weird being back in this space.  He’d moved out of the hotel and into a very nice apartment a short distance away a couple of weeks earlier.  The views weren’t as spectacular and there was no room service or overnight dry cleaning at his new place, but he was enjoying having a space that was just his more than he’d expected.  He liked displaying his own art on the walls of his home and cooking in his own kitchen again.

He opened the sliding doors to the patio and stepped outside, glad that none of the Glimmer’s personal staff were around to observe him as he said a last goodbye to the place that he’d called home for quite a while.  He walked to the infinity balcony and leaned over admiring the view over the city and listening to the faint sounds of the crowds and the traffic far below.  He could feel the autumn chill in the air, the days getting noticeably shorter.  It was almost sunset, so he decided to stay and watch from this vantage point one last time.

The media attention had been pretty brutal in the weeks immediately following his and Glimmer’s break up, usually casting him in the role of a gold-digging gigolo who’d used Glimmer to further his career in her Grandfather’s chain of hotels and then broke her heart.   They didn’t let up until a couple of photos of Glimmer and her entourage of girlfriends started showing up on online as they partied their way across Europe.  When a photo of Glimmer dancing closely with the sovereign prince of some small European principality showed up on twitter the interest in Peeta finally began to fade.  He smiled to himself, knowing Glimmer most likely leaked the photo herself to draw the attention off him, if the winking emoji she’d text him around the same time was anything to go by.  But she’d never admit it to anyone else.

In the bedroom he gathered the last few personal documents and books he’d forgotten into a box and dropped his keycard in the drawer of the bedside table, switching off the lights on his way out.      

He felt sad that this chapter of his life was over but not heart-broken like he thought he was supposed to be.  He should be on his honeymoon in Europe right now, for god’s sake, but instead he was single again.  He kept waiting for some stronger emotion to hit him but the simple truth was, he was okay.  If anything, he was a little excited about the future and the new opportunities that were already presenting themselves.  It wasn’t like back when…

An image of a pretty dark-haired girl with tears running down her face came into his mind, immediately morphing into a more recent memory of a gorgeous woman with flashing silver eyes climbing into a taxi and driving away…

He shut down that train of thought quickly.   Dr Aurelius had said no good would come from letting his mind wander down those paths.  In the weeks since he’d bumped into her again, Katniss had made a reappearance in his dreams, costing him more than one night of sleep lost to restless tossing and turning.  So much so that he’d started painting in the small hours of the morning again.

He dropped his box of things off in his office downstairs and headed to the bar where he immediately spotted a head of blond wavy hair almost identical to his own.  

“Hey Rye,” he greeted his brother and slipped onto the barstool beside him, letting his eye run over the room.  Like everything in the hotel the restaurant exuded sheer luxury - from the long polished mahogany bar to the more private dining areas with deep seats upholstered in sumptuous dark blue velvet and tables set with the finest sterling silver cutlery and cut crystal glassware.  The only thing he didn’t personally care for were the large displays of snow white roses, but they were something of a trademark for the owner, Coriolanus Snow who insisted on them in all his hotels.

“Peeta.” Rye welcomed him with a pat to his shoulder and raised his finger to catch the attention of the bartender. “What are you drinking?”

“My usual please, Finch,” Peeta smiled at the bartender who came to serve him, a slender natural red-head with fox like features and pale eyes, “and whatever my brother wants.”

“A double on the rocks, and put it on his tab.” Rye winked and raised his glass.

Peeta chuckled and Finch gave them a closed lipped smile before scurrying off to get their drinks.

“This is some place,” Rye commented.  “It’s a far cry from the spit and sawdust of Abernathy’s bar, back home.”

“It is,” Peeta chuckled.  “Is the old man even still alive?”

“Sure is, and as surly as ever.  But enough of small town news, tell me how’ve you been,” Rye looked him up and down.  “We haven’t talked much in the last few weeks.  You don’t look too bad, all things considered.”

“Thanks, I’m doing okay,” Peeta lifted his drink and clinked it off his brother’s glass. “I’ve been busy with events here in the hotel and moving to my own place.  Next time you’re in town we should meet up my new apartment instead of the hotel.  I’ll cook you a steak.”

“It’s a deal,” Rye agreed. “I’ll bring the beer.  None of your fancy wines, thank you very much. You got a big TV?”

“I’ve got a regular TV and sports on cable,” Peeta laughed. “I prefer to use my walls for my paintings, not a huge flatscreen.”

“You can spare at least one wall for a decent 60 inch. The one in the suite we stayed in upstairs before the wedding was awesome.  We did you move out anyway, I thought you could live at the hotel for free as a perk of your job?”

“There is a private suite that comes with the package but with Glimmer due back in town soon I thought it was best to find my own place.   Better to keep a little healthy distance between us until things settle.” 

“Probably wise.” Rye agreed.  “Have you talked to her at all?” 

“Sure, a couple of times.  Honestly, we’re fine with each other.  I mean, yeah, it feels strange being a single guy again.  I miss her company and I miss sleeping beside someone at night.” He let out a small chuckle. “I even miss Caesar, but all things considered we’re good.”

“I’m glad you feel that way. Glimmer is a great girl,” Rye sipped his whiskey, a thoughtful look on his face.  “Stupid dog, though.  Give me a mutt over a pampered pooch any day of the week.”

“Hey Caesar is great.  He might be small and fluffy but he has the heart of a great dane,” Peeta chuckled.  “The little dogs always do.  Besides—” Peeta stopped. 

“Besides what?”

“I think Glimmer may have done the right thing by calling the wedding off.” Peeta confessed. He cleared his throat. It was the first time he’d admitted as much out loud to anyone.  “Moving out will make everything less awkward in the long run, when she starts to see someone new.  I don’t think she’ll be single for long.” 

“Does it bother you?  The thought of Glimmer with another guy?”  Rye was watching him.

Peeta knew if he tried to lie, his brother would see right through it.  No one knew him the way Rye did.  He considered his response carefully, as he’d asked himself the same question a million times.

“No.” He answered truthfully.  It was the first time he’d fully admitted it, even to himself, and with it came a sense of relief.  “It really doesn’t bother me and that’s that thing.  It should, shouldn’t it?  I mean, I should be turning green with jealousy at thought of Glimmer with someone else, but I’m not.  All I want is for her to be happy.”

“Hmm.  What about you? Have you had any thoughts about moving on yourself?”  Rye raised an eyebrow. 

Peeta shook his head.  “No.  Relationships are the last thing I’m thinking about right now, and maybe not for a long time.”

“Who said anything about relationships? You have needs. You’re a young reasonably good looking guy—”

“Gee, thanks!” Peeta laughed at the back handed compliment.

“—all I’m saying is the ladies love a guy like you, and there is nothing wrong with a little healthy no strings attached fun.  Or a lot of healthy no strings fun if you prefer.  How about Finch over there?  She a bit of a fox and she keeps looking at you like she sees something delicious she’d like to eat.”

“Delicious but toxic,” Peeta snorted, shaking his head.  “I don’t do casual hook-ups but if I did I’d never choose someone at work.  It would be unprofessional.”

“But dating the granddaughter of your employer wasn’t?”  Rye laughed out loud.

“That was different, I was working someplace else when I met Glimmer.”

“Okay fair point,” Rye conceded, tipping his head.  “But tell me why you just described yourself as toxic?  Don’t tell me you bought into all that bullshit the media accused you of.”

“No, but look how my last two relationships ended.  The love of my life cheated on me and broke my heart, then my next serious girlfriend dumped me on our wedding day.  Even if—"

“Wait.”  Slowly Rye rested his drink on the bar and turned to face his brother, all former joviality had left his face. “Peeta, do you still believe Katniss Everdeen is the love of your life?”

“That’s an odd question to ask,” Peeta frowned.

“Humour me.”

“Fine then, the answer is yes,” he gave a slight nod of his head. “Yes, I believe Katniss is the great love of my life.  Hopefully not the last love. But the great one.  I loved Glimmer but it wasn’t the same.   I don’t think I could ever love anyone again the way I loved Katniss.”

Rye let out a deep sigh and ran a shaking hand though his hair.  “I was afraid you were going to say that.”

Peeta’s frown deepened. “Rye, what’s wrong?  You’re acting weird.”

“Peeta, there is something I need to talk to you about.  It’s been playing on my mind for some time, since long before the wedding was cancelled, if I’m honest.”

“Okay.  This sounds ominous.  It’s nothing to do with your health is it?  Or Graham, or Mom? The business back home is doing okay? Because you know I can help with that if you need—”

“No, no – calm down, the business if fine, Mom and Graham are fine, or at least they were, last time I spoke to them.  By the way, Mom said to tell you how foolish you were for letting a prize like Glimmer slip through your fingers.”

Peeta rolled his eyes. He could care less what his mother thought of him or his life, not when she couldn't even bothered to come to his wedding.

“Stop deflecting Rye.  This isn’t the first time you’ve hinted you had something on your mind and you’re not usually the type to hold back, so whatever it is, spit it out.”

“I worried if I do you’ll punch me in the face.”

“Rye, so help me—”

“Look, let’s move over to a table.” Rye threw back what was left in his glass and nodded to the bartender for another.  “We might need a little more privacy for this conversation.”

Once the brothers were resettled in a quiet corner with fresh drinks in front of them Peeta sat back and waited.

“It’s about Katniss.” Rye began nervously.

“What about her?” Peeta frowned.

“It’s about what happened between her and Gale Hawthorne the night of Madge’s party.”

Peeta looked at him, his frown deepening.  That was not what he’d been expecting to come out of Rye’s mouth.

“I already know what happened Rye.  I don’t need to hear the sordid tale of how you caught my girlfriend making out with another guy again.”  His tone was dismissive.

“Peeta, did you ever wonder why Katniss gave up trying to contact you after you broke up with her?” Rye’s voice shook a little as he spoke. He was nervous.

Peeta met his brother’s worried gaze with a now stony one of his own.  “I reckoned she figured out it was pointless to keep trying.  You caught her red handed and she knew that I’d never forgive her. Cheating is a deal breaker for me.  She knew that.”

“Okay, that’s reasonable.  But did you ever stop and ask yourself why you didn’t see her around at school later on, when she had a full ride to go to Panem U?”

“Yeah, she had, for tuition.” Peeta nodded. “We’d planned to live in the dorms for freshman year, and if we could find roommates we liked to share expenses with us, we’d rent a place and live together off campus after that. For the first month or so after school started I did look out for her.  Fuck, every time I saw a girl with olive skin and dark hair I hoped it was Katniss.” Peeta grabbed the whiskey bottle Finch had left on the table, and tossed back a shot.  “But after a while I figured out she must have gone somewhere else.  I guess she decided she didn’t want to see me either.”   

Rye locked eyes with him. “Before I tell you this, I need you to know that I’m really sorry. I want you to keep that in your head and remember it when I’m finished.”

“Sorry for what?”  Peeta eyed him warily.  “You’re starting to freak me out now, Rye.”

“I fucked up and got it all wrong, Peeta.  Katniss didn’t cheat on you with Gale the night of Madge’s party.  Or any other night.”

Peeta sat deathly still, his face impassive, as he stared at his older brother. The only reaction he showed to the grenade his brother had just launched at him was the darkening of his eyes from blue to black.

“What the fuck are you saying to me, Rye?  You’d better explain what you just said.  Fast,” he growled.

“Okay hear me out.  I need to start at the beginning.” Rye put up a placating hand.  “You remember that I had a massive thing for Madge Undersee, right?  I even thought I might be in love with her, but she only had eyes for Gale Hawthorne.” 

“Sure, I remember.  You always had a thing for blondes.”

“Still do.” Rye laughed dryly, but with no humour.  “I ended up crashing Madge’s party that night with a couple of the guys I used to wrestle with back in High School.  Cato and Marvel.  It was already late when we got there and Katniss was there hanging out with Madge and Gale. They’d all had a few drinks and looked pretty comfortable with each other.  Katniss and Madge were dancing and Gale was watching them both.  I didn’t think anything of it.”

“Katniss and Gale were friends since they were kids,” Peeta interrupted. “Madge was her best friend in High School.  Off course they were friendly. The only reason I wasn’t at the party too was because I was due at the bakery the next morning at 4am to finish a wedding cake, so Katniss tagged along with Gale instead.”

“Anyway,” Rye continued. “As the night went on I drank more and I managed to corner Madge on her own in the kitchen away from her friends.  I asked her to go out on a date with me, begged her to give me a shot, but she turned me down flat. I kept trying to charm her until she got pissed off told me to leave her alone, that she liked someone else.”

“Let me guess, that someone was Gale?” Peeta asked.

“Yeah.” Rye confirmed with a nod. “So I backed off with my tail between my legs, grumbling all the while to the guys about what was so special about Gale that made him so popular with the ladies, and what had he got that I hadn’t got.  They laughed, saying he had quite a reputation with the ladies and he was well known for frequenting the slag heap with different girls, but lately he’d been there a lot with a certain Seam girl.  They were looking at Katniss when they said it.”

Peeta raised an eyebrow at this.

“Anyway, by then I was drunk and feeling pretty sorry for myself.  A little while later I decided to call it a night and left to walk home when I heard some rustling and caught sight of Gale back in the trees.  At first I thought he was taking a leak, but then I realised he was leaning up against a tree because he had a girl backed up against it.   This kinda made me see red because Madge was back at the house waiting for him to make his move and he was here, wasting time with another girl.”

“Katniss.” Peeta growled, downing another shot.  It might be ten years ago, but it still hurt.  

“Yes.” Rye nodded.  “It was Katniss.  I saw him bend down and kiss her, but she must have seen me because she shoved him away and came running after me and we argued.   She tried to say what I’d seen was nothing, that she’d only gone outside to check on Gale because he was drunk and he came onto her.  She swore she never invited it.”

He took a deep breath. 

“I was so angry I couldn’t think straight.  I yelled at Katniss to get the hell away from me and to stay the hell away from you and told her she wasn’t good enough for you.  Gale came over and tried to throw a punch at me for yelling at Katniss, but he was a drunk as I was and he missed and we both ended up on the ground.  Then his friend Thom and Madge came out of the house and broke it up.  Katniss was crying and Madge took her inside.”

“I know this part Rye.” Peeta’s icy voice cut across him abruptly.  “But you never said anything about her shoving him away before.  You made it sound like she was a willing participant, that she was all over him.”

“I know.  I know I did.” Rye threw his hands up in the air. “I thought she shoved him away because she saw me, but I only found out years later that I was wrong about all of it.  After what Cato and Marvel had told me about Gale and a Seam girl at the slag heap, I put two and two together and made five.”

“When did you find out you were wrong?”  Peeta spat out, his head spinning.  The repercussions of what Rye had done were huge.  The whole path of his – and Katniss – life had changed because of what Rye said he saw that night.

“Not until a few years later.  Believe it or not, it was Gale who confronted me.  He and Madge were engaged, and I had long moved on.  They came by the bakery to order a wedding cake.  While Madge was distracted talking flavours and buttercream with Dad, Gale asked could he have a word with me outside.”

“At first I thought he was going to bring up my old crush on Madge, but instead he started talking about that night. He basically said he wanted to clear the air and Katniss’ name, and he confirmed everything Katniss tried to tell me years before was all true.”

A heavy silence fell between the brothers and Peeta sat stiffly as his brain tried to process this new information.

“But if he had feelings for Madge, why was he trying to kiss Katniss that night? That makes no sense!” Peeta burst out. 

“I asked him the very same thing.  He said his feelings for Madge were new and he never expected a girl like her would look at a Seam guy like him, let alone date one.  He was confused by what the true nature of his feelings for Katniss were.  They’d been friends for so long and everyone including his  family told him they’d end up together eventually but then she started dating you and he was worried he’d missed his chance.  So when one presented itself, he took it. He said he had to do it.  Just once.”

“And the seam girl he’d been sneaking around with at the slag heap?”

“Leevy Collins.”

“I can’t believe I’m only hearing about this now,” Peeta muttered dropping his head into his hands. “You should have come to me with this when Gale first told you, Rye.”

“I know.” Rye shifted uncomfortably in his seat.  “Gale told me Katniss gave him hell afterwards.  He felt bad when he found out that you broke up with her. They didn’t speak for a long time, but Madge invited Katniss to the wedding hoping they could patch things up.  Gale told me I should try and encourage you to go as well.  He hinted that Katniss wasn’t seeing anyone.”

 “Wait, so Katniss and Gale didn’t speak again until Madge’s wedding?”  Peeta exclaimed.  “That was years later!”

“I guess so.  I don’t know all the details. Katniss and Prim moved away when Prim finished High School. I guess they moved to the city then.  I didn’t keep tabs on her.  After you left she wasn’t on my radar.  I heard her Mom had died—”

“Wait, what - Mrs Everdeen died?!?”  Peeta's head shot up in shock and he suddenly realised just how far he’d distanced himself from his home town if this news never reached him.

“Yeah, I think it was the winter after you left to go to school that I heard a rumour about Katniss’ Mom.  Talk around town was she was really sick.  By then Katniss was working double shifts in Sae’s diner but she got another job working evenings in Abernathy’s.  Mrs Everdeen died about a year later.  Cancer, I heard.”

So Katniss finished raising Prim alone. Peeta thought. She had no one.

Why didn’t you tell me any of this back then?” Peeta clenched his fists tightly. He’d had arguments with his brothers before but he couldn’t remember a time when he’d ever felt so angry with Rye and it hurt.  Rye was his big brother, the one he could depend on who always stood up for him and been there for him. Deflected their mother’s rage onto himself when she would beat up on Peeta too hard.  “You never said a word.”   

“I didn’t think it would make any difference.  You never mentioned Katniss again, I thought you had put it all behind you.  You were living this amazing life in the city, you’d a great job, travelling all over the world in private jets, you had a gorgeous, sexy girlfriend.  I thought it best to let sleeping dogs lie.” 

“You could have told me some things, Rye.  I would have liked to know.  I would have sent flowers to Mrs Everdeen’s funeral.  I liked Mrs Everdeen, she was troubled but she was kind to me.”

“I didn’t want to make things worse for you, Peeta.” Rye’s tone had taken on a slight edge of annoyance.  “Don’t you remember what you were like back then?  After you left home any time anyone tried to talk to you about Katniss, you snapped their heads off.  You made it very clear you didn’t want any information from back home, Everdeen related or otherwise.  So in the end it was best not to say anything.”

“I was hurting, Rye.  I was devastated and angry, thinking my girlfriend had cheated on me and lied to me.”

“I know Peeta, and I get that now. I’m sorry. I take full responsibility.” Rye looked away, his guilt and shame written all over his face.  

An uncomfortable silence settled between the brothers, neither knowing where to go from there.  Even through the haze of his own anger Peeta could see how deeply upset Rye was.

“No.” Peeta eventually broke the silence. “It’s not completely your fault Rye.  It’s mine too.  I should have trusted my girlfriend when she told me she loved me instead of believing the worst of her.  I should have listened to her version of events. Maybe if I didn’t always feel like I wasn’t good enough for someone like her to love, we could have resolved it.  I was always waiting for the other shoe to drop, testing her feelings, hoping if I showed her how much I loved her she would be more demonstrative when it wasn’t in her nature.”

“Back at the hotel, the day before the wedding, she said…” Rye trailed of, shaking his head.

“Back at the hotel she said what, Rye?” Peeta prompted.  “Don't stop now!.”

“She asked me if you were happy.  She made me promise to take care of you, for her.”

Peeta swallowed deeply, tears stinging behind his eyes.  Even this tiny sign that she still cared for him was too much.  

“Is there anything else, I should know? Any more surprises?” he cleared his throat, almost unable to speak.

Rye nodded hesitantly.  “There is one more thing,” he said, obviously troubled. “I promise this is the last of it.”

“Go on.”

“Somehow Mom found out about what happened, I don’t know how. Maybe she overheard me talking to Dad. She threatened Mrs Everdeen with Child Protective Services if Katniss went to the same school as you.”   

“Jesus Christ.”  The tears behind Peeta’s eyes finally began to fall.  He knew the threat of CPS would have terrified Katniss.  She’d confided her fears about her mother’s mental health to him many times, and was worried about leaving Prim to go to school.  He knew, with absolute certainty, that his mother making such a threat would have been enough to stop Katniss leaving for school, even if they hadn’t broken up.  She would never risk her sister ending up in foster care.

“Peeta, are you okay?”  Rye put his hand on his shoulder but Peeta shook it off and stood up.

“After everything else, it’s too much.  I don’t know what I’m supposed to do with all this new information Rye.  I think I need to talk to Dr Aurelius.”  Peeta wiped at his eyes and tried to compose himself, suddenly remembering where he was. 

“Everything you’ve told me tonight has turned everything I believed about Katniss upside down.  I spent years believing the worst of her and it burned a hole in my soul.   It changed me as a person.  Now I find out all this.  Our family destroyed her, Rye.  You, me, Mom.  We took away her chances.  I shouldn’t have let that happen, I was supposed to protect her, we protected each other.  I’m the one who let her down and needs her forgiveness, not the other way around.”

“For what it’s worth, even when you still believed the worst of her, you had already forgiven her.” Rye offered.  “You were ready to let go of the anger.  All it took was seeing her that day, on the steps of the hotel.”

“Maybe so.  But now I have more questions than I have answers.”  Peeta was so confused.  “This changes everything.”

“I think you should go find her and talk to her.  Get some closure.”

“Do you think she would she want to talk to me?” Peeta shook his head. “I didn’t just break up with her that day, I tore her apart, Rye.”  Peeta brought his hands up, rubbing his temples which were beginning to throb.   “I called her unforgivable names and told her to crawl back to the slag heap where she belonged.”  

“Peeta, you have to know how truly sorry I am.”  Rye’s voice shook with emotion. “I never meant to cause—"

Peeta put his hand up to stop him. “I know.  But what’s done is done.”  He pulled out his wallet, throwing a handful of notes on the table.  “I’m going to leave now.  I have a lot of thinking to do.”

He left the table and made his way across bar being careful to avoid catching the eye of any of the other diners.  On seeing him approach, Finch came straight over.

“Please see my brother’s room and tab are charged to my account,” he instructed smoothly.

“Of course, Mr Mellark.  Have a good evening, sir.”  With a smile she retreated to serve another customer.

“Peeta, wait.” As he turned he found Rye was standing closely behind him. “I’m worried.  We’re brothers.  All I ever wanted was what was best for you. Are we going to be okay?”

“I need some time, Rye.  I need to process how I feel about all this.  This… this was huge.  What happened that night changed the course of my life.”

“Fair enough.” His older brother watched with saddened eyes.  “I understand.  Please call me when you’re ready to talk.  I’ll be waiting.”

#Without looking back again, Peeta walked away.  He didn’t remember bidding goodnight to the doorman, or climbing into the cab that took him home.  He let himself into his apartment, chucking off his suit jacket and loosening his tie before heading straight to the kitchen where he grabbed a bottle of whiskey and a glass.

Peeta flung himself onto his sofa, exhausted, his arm flung across his eyes as he tried to reconcile everything Rye had told him.  He felt like a steamroller had run over him.

Katniss didn’t cheat on him.  Katniss didn’t lie to him.  It wasn’t real.

Katniss didn’t cheat on him.  Katniss didn’t lie to him.  It wasn’t real.

Katniss didn’t cheat on him.  Katniss didn’t lie to him.  It wasn’t real.

Again and again it went around and around in his head.  How it must have hurt her when he’d taken Rye’s word over hers.  How betrayed and alone she must have felt.  A sob caught in his throat. 

“Katniss, I’m sorry, I should have believed you,” he spoke into the shadows of the empty room, feeling hot tears finally burning a path down his cheeks, whether from sorrow or shame he didn’t know.  “I’m sorry, I love you, I’m sorry,” he sobbed until he finally passed out.

READ on AO3

[bearseokie]

Fortune for the Well-Being (M) | BTS

image isn’t mine, credit to the owner.

↠ genre: ot7, mafia! au, angst, smut

↠ warnings: mature content, graphic details, violence, language, detailed torment, blood, murder, use of weapons, sexual acts, gore, etc.

↠ words: 2.2k

↠ summary: Seven men are chosen to perform in a plan to erase one of the largest mafias in the states.

↠ A/N: idk when I'll get the full fic written, I just wanted to toss it out there for future purposes.

Prologue

Park Jimin.

The speakers boomed, lights flashing different colors as eyes shifted around. Drinks were splashed on to other people, the smell of liquor so thick in the air that your eyes would burn and water. Gold stanchions line the aisle of magenta carpet, felt rope creating a barrier between who was important and who wasn't. The back of the building sat colder, lights dimmer, and fewer people crowded around. Large bodyguards stood at doorways, nodding as those who seemed fit to be in the special area passed by.

Behind thin walls and curtains, sins were being passed around. Men flirted with women, seducing them into plans they'd both regret in the morning. People wore little to no clothing, being tossed around like ragdolls at anyone that seemed horny. A darker room sat in the very back left, concealed by a thin, black wall. Windows covered by red curtains, moans came from the circle-lighted room. The large couch against the wall curved to fit the entire room for any activity preferred by the owner.

And there the owner sat on a rainy, Thursday night. Gripping a girl's hair as she bobbed on his length. Jimin's head was back against the leather couch, lips parted with light sounds applauding the girl's motions. Another girl was to his left sucking on his neck, careful to not break the skin, as that was a rule he enforced on everyone in the club. His right hand was palming her large breast as she moaned, pushing into his touch.

The movement of the girl's mouth wrapped around him didn't stop as the papers were handed to him, halting him palming at the second girl to his side to take them from the tall bodyguard, a curious look on his face. Scanning over the top page of the stack, a burst of delirious laughter came from him, his now free hand motioning the other girl to stop and for both to leave him. He pulled himself back into his pants, leaving them undone as he crossed his left ankle over his right knee, opening the pages to skim over the words.

"What a fucking joke," he claimed.

Kim Namjoon.

The small office buzzed with workers, the staff stumbling over one another trying to finish work for the day. A light knock on the office door made everyone freeze, time almost stopping in place. People held their coffee in their mouths, afraid to swallow, staplers were held down to keep from popping back up, copy and fax machines were immediately turned off in fear of a loud sound that would anger their boss while he spoke.

"You're all welcome to leave early," Namjoon called, the door slowly shutting closed and lock clicking.

Sighs of relief filled the office, people scrambling to collect their belongings as everyone moved toward the stairs and elevators with glee. The office became dead quiet, the only sound being made inside the locked room. Muffled screams came from the man sitting before his desk, a bandanna wrapped around his head while another was stuffed in his mouth as he cried in pain. His fingers gripped the arms of the chair as a pen was severed into his right hand, a pair of scissors breaking the skin of his left hand as it threatened to enter just as the other did. The interrogation scene was working as the man aggressively nodded, breaking as the bandannas were removed. Telling Namjoon all that he knew about a businessman that was planning to invade one of Namjoon's businesses, he would soon prevail and the threat would be eliminated.

The man was walked to the elevator and taken care of by the man guarding the building. Returning to his office, a stack of paper was noticeably sat on his desk, small drops of blood now soaking through the top few pages. Bending over the desk, he read the top page, opening the stack and reading over each sheet before he threw himself back into his office chair.

"This will be interesting." he shook his head, turning to his left to look out the wall to floor windows at the dusk-fulled sky.

Jung Hoseok.

"P-Please!" the man shouted, getting kicked into oblivion by Hoseok standing over him.

The concrete was no pillow to him, skin already matted by the cracked cement under him. Hoseok's hands gripped his white shirt, lifting him against the wall as his head rammed into the brick. The street was empty, sunset colors eliminating over the two of them as they both wrestled against each other. A stack of paper had been sprawled on the concrete below the two men, now covered in marks and dirt from their shoes. The man had walked up behind him, handing Hoseok the papers that were neatly together with a binder clip. The man didn't realize who he handed them to until he was flipped to the ground, his face immediately meeting the pavement.

"I'm just the delivery guy, man!" he pleaded.

His reply was neglected as a strong punch launched at his jaw, blood spilling from his mouth and onto the Hoseok's fists.

A few more hits were swung before Hoseok believed he learned his lesson, nodding in approval as he watched the man slide down the wall and back on to the concrete pavement. Looking around him, he noticed all the papers scrambled on the ground as he bent down to retrieve them, reading them slowly with furrowed brows.

"What the fuck is this mess?" he questioned, balling the papers up as he glanced around the scene before him, dumbfounded as he shrugged and walked off carrying the pages.

Min Yoongi.

"Don't think about using that anywhere near me." Yoongi's teeth clenched as he spoke, the man in the suit shooting him a weary look while he glanced over the armory, an AK held tight in his hands.

The white walls behind the weapons shined under the bright lights hanging from the ceiling, the large door ajar while they held the transaction. Heading back for the open door, the large man stopped suddenly as Yoongi stomped up to him, his jaw clenched tight with a firm look on his face. The room was silent as his finger lifted to the taller man's chest.

"If I even hear a whisper about where you got these guns from, I'll kill you on sight the next time you see me." he threatened.

The man violently nodded, swaying around him as he made a quick rush from the armory and out of the building, seagulls calling out as he opened the door of the large garage and slammed it shut. Yoongi sighed, shutting down the armory as he locked the door back, making his way toward the old, wooden piano sat against the wall of the garage. Taking a seat on the bench, his eyes caught sight of the thick stack sitting beside his note booklet. Running his eyes over the cover page, he scoffed and placed his booklet in front of the stack, fingers grazing over the keys as a melody echoed through the almost empty space.

Kim Seokjin.

Cameras flashed, screams and whines calling his name as he waltzed past the crowd and into the building. His assistant scampered behind him, attempting to keep up with a coffee in one hand, a stack of papers in the other. A man held the doors open for Jin, the scent of makeup and fresh clothing seeping into his nostrils as he let out a deep breath, peering around the room as people rushed around to set up the photo shoot scheduled for today.

"I said I'm not interested." Jin's eyes rolled as he noticed the stack of paper still in his assistant's arms. "It's not for me."

His assistant whined once more but kept quiet as he left to change into the preferred outfit for the photo shoot. Everyone cheered at him as he gathered attention to his poses, gleaming like it was his place to be in front of a camera. The stack was tossed into the garbage while he worked, fake smiles shaped on his face to fool the staff around him that his morning hadn't been tough. That he hadn't been in a high-speed chase with some maniac with an assault rifle.

The shoot ended, an airy dressing room ready for him to rest in once the cameras were shut off. The light blue walls were soothing as he stepped into the medium-sized room, settling into the area. He headed for the couch, finding a bottle of wine and glass set on the coffee table beside the same stack of papers from earlier.

"I told you, no!" he yelled, cheeks red as his assistant stumbled into the room with a worried look. "I thought you threw this away!"

"I did!" they claimed, shaking their head as they exited the dressing room, escaping the words tossed at them by Jin as he flipped the pages over and over until he got to the last one, going silent.

"Hmm," he said to himself. "Maybe this could work out."

Jeon Jungkook.

Loud groans came from two men as their wrists held them up off the ground, chains clinking in the hold of the ceiling as they swung back and forth. Jungkook was pacing before them, moving around with a cheeky grin on his face. His eyebrow was cut open, blood seeping down his face and dripping on to his chest as he walked. A large table sat in the corner of the meat locker, an array of knives and tools set out, usually for use of the meat kept stored, but in this case, revenge. He walked towards the table, index finger running over each of the sharp objects as he lifted a large machete up and faced the two men.

"This one?" he asked innocently.

The men swung faster, faces red in anger as they spouted ways they'd hurt the younger man. He nodded, setting the machete back on the table and picking up a simple screwdriver before turning back to the two, swaying men.

"This one!" he called with another grin as he walked before one of the men, who kicked out his leg at him. Instantly the screwdriver was sent into his leg above his kneecap with a yelp.

Jungkook gripped the man's leg with his left arm, wrapping his right hand around the screwdriver inserted into him, twisting it as the man jolted under his hold, the man beside them silent in shock. Jungkook's expression shifted, eyes becoming darker than before as his lips flattened together, continuing to twist the screwdriver until the man was shrieking in pain.

"Care to keep causing issues?" he questioned as the man shook his head quickly, tears sliding down his face. Jungkook looked to his left as the other man watched the scene carefully, trying to reason with him before he began his own torment.

"Thanks," Jungkook said to the window of the large SUV outside of the meat shop, the window opened slightly as dark figures moved behind the tinted panels of glass.

"This came for you." spoke a dark voice from inside the vehicle, a stack of papers departing through the open window, he noticed his payment was put under the binder clip as he took it.

The car pulled off, leaving him to stare at the pages of words, his mouth forming a pout as he nodded his head, looking up as the car drove off.

Kim Taehyung.

Foot bouncing under the table, Taehyung sat nervously in the metal chair while staring down at the handcuffs chained to the table. Images flashed in his head from the night before, his pocket knife being pulled from his jeans, flipping it open as it was stabbed into another man. The blood seeping all over his hands as he moved the liquid around with his index and middle fingers, the metallic scent filling his nose. The man's shock and pleas for him to pull the knife out and escape. The police escorting him to the car.

A knock came from the door as a detective stepped in, an unreadable expression on his face as he pulled out the metal chair on the other side of the table and took a seat, hands clamped around a stack of papers that he moved to the side.

"Do you find pleasure in it?" he questioned, making contact with Taehyung's handcuffed wrist to catch his attention. "Answer me."

"Sometimes, if they really deserved it" he whispered, looking down at the handcuffs again to avoid eye contact.

"People like you make me sick." spat the detective. "The things you've done. The people you've killed. Doesn't that get under your skin, huh?"

"It just doesn't," claimed Taehyung, eyes blank as he looked back up at the detective.

"Good." nodded the detective, a confused look on the younger man's face as he tilted his head. "Then this will appease you."

Sliding the stack of papers around and toward Taehyung, both of their eyes scanned over the cover page.

"Fortune for the Well-Being?" Taehyung's voice couldn't hide the curiosity.

"You and six other men in the country have been chosen for this program. The charm, the brains, the aggression, the passion, the looks, the strength, and the disturbed. It's the perfect combination for complete and utter chaos."

[poc-movie-supremacy]

My Fancy Boy

After a late night at work, Andrew comes home to a sleepy husband and daughter. As they relax, Steven gets Andrew to tell him his favorite story: How they got engaged. 

This is the final instalment of the Hello Sunshine universe. Hope you guys like it!

-----

The apartment was dark when Andrew opened the door. Work at the restaurant ran a little late so Andrew was just happy to be home. He toed off his shoes and hung up his jacket before silently padding his way throughout the house. When he reached the door to the living room, he noticed a dark blue light flooding through from the crack in the door. Andrew smirked and opened the door. 

Ratatouille was playing on the screen to a small audience. Steven was laying on his back on the sofa half asleep. Methodically, he rubbed his hand over his daughter’s back as he watched her sleep. Her hair was mused as she clutched Steven’s necklace in her tiny hand. Andrew’s heart fluttered at the scene. Quickly he bent down to press a feather-light kiss to the top of his husband’s head. 

Steven preened at the touch, smiling up at him. “Hi honey.”

“Hey sweetie, I’m home,” Andrew joked. Steven smiled up at his husband but didn’t say anything. Moments like there were better fit for quiet reverence than sugary sweet compliments. Slowly, as to not disturb the sleeping child, Steven lifted himself up to let Andrew slide in. He quietly settled himself, one hand in Steven’s hair, the other on their daughter’s back. 

“She really likes your engagement necklace, and ring,” Andrew noted. Her grip on the special piece of jewelry was tight. Steven hummed. 

“She likes the clinking sound the ring and the sun make. Multi-purpose gift,” Steven joked. Andrew rubbed a certain spot in Steven’s hair eliciting a happy noise from the lavender haired boy. “Do you remember the day you gave me it?” Steven whispered. 

“Of course, it was the best day of my life.”

“Tell it to me again.” 

A few years ago…

Andrew paced around the room worrying his bottom lip. Niki, Annie, Rie, and Adam watched him curiously waiting to see what was making him so upset. Niki kept shouting out possibilities but Andrew just ignored her. Finally, Adam got fed up and forcefully asked Andrew why he wanted them at his apartment sans Steven.

“Oh my god are you breaking up?! I won’t be apart of this, Steven’s my friend too.” Niki immediately asserted. That got Andrew to stop his pacing and stare confusingly at Niki. 

“No, no, Steven and I are not breaking up. Quite the opposite actually, I wanna propose.” 

“Oh that’s great! Much better than breaking up, this I can help with.” Niki said, relieved. Annie started laughing at Niki’s comments. Rie gave an encouraging smilte to Andrew who was frankly starting to lose his mind. 

“Why do you need our help. He’s your boyfriend, and he did a worth it: lifestyle episode with Kristin about engagement rings so you already know what he likes,” Adam points out. 

“But a proposal is special, he needs to plan out something great for his fancy boy.” Rie contended with Adam.

Niki snorted. “Andrew could be in his boxers telling Steven the worst pun imaginable and feeding him cheese and Steven would be head over heels.” The quartet frowned in various stages of disgust at the image that sentence invoked. “I do mean that, but man do I regret saying it.”

“This isn’t helping.” Andrew groaned into his hands and resumed pacing. 

“Well, Adam is right, you do know him very well. What does Steven like?” Rie gently asks him. 

“Basketball and Video games, he likes period dramas for the yearning, and anything food related. He likes going to the beach right as the sunsets because he swears swimming and walks along the Riviera are best at night. He hates going to parties, preferring to stay inside and perform science experiments. He’ll rarely get drunk, but if he did it’s only on red wine. He’s such a fancy boy.” As Andrew talked a soft hush fell onto the room. The audience quietly listened to Andrew wax poetic about Steven. A light blush tinted Andrew’s cheeks and a small, dopey smile graced his lips. Liquid adoration pooled in his eyes as he thought about his boyfriend. That’s who I wanna spend the rest of my life with, his brain decided, my sunshine boy, my fancy boy. 

The romantic mood was broken when Niki not so quietly whispered to Annie, “Geez and I thought I was a romantic,” which made Annie snort loudly. 

Slowly, Andrew blinked out of his daydream of happy days with Steven lim to the sad kind of Steven less reality. 

Adam gave him an unimpressed look. “Like I said, you already have everything you need.”

---

Two weeks later, Steven and Andrew were walking hand in hand along the beach. As of today, they’ve been dating for two years. Andrew’s special gift was tucked in a nice pouch in his pocket since he, for the life of him, couldn’t come up with an excuse to wear anything baggier to the beach. Nerves quietly ate away at him as Steven rambled beside him. His hands swung around wildly as he told him some long-winded story that happened to Marielle, Ryan, Shane, and Sara.

When they neared the destination, Andrew gently guided Steven onto the beach towards the picnic basket. Thank god no one stole it, there was some expensive wine in there. Steven’s face lit up at the sight before him. “Sunset beach with the good wine! You know me too well, Andy.” Steven gave his boyfriend a kiss on the cheek before plopping down onto the blanket.  

Not well enough to know if you’ll say yes, Andrew anxiously thought. He sat down next to Steven side to side, and asked, “Eat now or swim now?”

“Eat now, nothing like a nighttime dip, Drew.” Steven reasoned. Andrew smiled and set about unpacking the picnic baskets. He made them a plate of lasagna and a loaf of garlic bread. Steven licked his lips excitedly at the sight. They don’t bother with plates, choosing instead to eat straight from the tupperware. 

The sun has finally set and the moon is starting to peak out, bathing them in silvery light. It made Steven seem paler, like a silver statue. Andrew thought that the golden jewelry he picked out would offset him wonderfully. 

He turned up some soft music as they set about eating. They fed each other more than they fed themselves if they were being truthful. Whispered words and light giggles danced around them. When they couldn’t eat anymore, Steven absent-mindedly ran his hands over the planes of Andrew’s body. They waited for their food to digest before they went into the ocean. 

They raced in hand in hand, until Andrew picked up Steven and tossed him into the ocean. Shrikes and giggles filled the air. The water was icy cold and chilling to the bone. Shivers and goosebumps raced over the boys. Steven got back at Andrew by dunking him in the ocean. They swam together for a while until Andrew got too tired. He left the beach to dry off and re-rehearsed his speech. Nerves were shaking him to the core. Steven was sad for him to leave the water, but he was having too much fun swimming to leave as well. 

Andrew watched quietly as Steven trekked back from the ocean. His dark blue, almost royal blue hair was wild, half in a cowlick half matted to his forehead. Water droplets slowly made their way down his bare chest. A big smile shone on Steven’s face, brighter than the moon itself. Andrew’s breath caught in his throat. He knew if he was ever going to do it, now was the time. 

“To celebrate our two year anniversary, I got you something. I know jewelry isn’t your thing, but I thought it suited you.” He got out the necklace from his back pocket and held it in front of Steven. It was glittering gold with a sun hanging at the end. Etched onto it was the words: My Fancy Boy.

Steven’s breath was caught in his throat. Tentatively he ran a finger along the gold chain down to the sun. The rays were thick squiggly lines and the sun was a shiny, smooth ball. “Put it on me?” Steven whispered hoarsely. He turned his back to Andrew and nervously played with his hands. The air around them was tense like a glass sheet. Steven could feel and hear every slight difference to the norm. He felt heat radiate off Andrew as he kneeled above him. His fingers were warm against Steven’s. 

Once the necklace was on, Steven fingered it a little before pouncing on Andrew. The glass tension broke. 

Andrew smiled as Steven deliberately placed loving kisses on his boyfriend’s face. His whole face was concentrated, like this is how he would repay Andrew and he had to do it right. 

“Perfect, wonderful, mine,” Steven almost growled into Andrew’s ear. 

“If you loved this gift,” Andrew said with a laugh, “you’re going to love what else I have for you.” A sense of seriousness washed over Andrew. It made Steven sit up, confused, and sit beside Andrew instead of on top of him.

Andrew sat up and patted his pocket to make sure the ring was still there. Reassured, he softly cupped Steven's cheek. “You are the best thing that’s happened to me. Your giggle is music, the scrunch you do when you're happy could make an atheist believe in god. I’ve lived without you and it’s been torture. Something so awful I never want to experience it again, so” Andrew pulled out the ring and got down on one knee. Steven’s eyes were as wide as saucers and shining. Andrew wondered if he’d stare long enough he would see stars and galaxies. 

“Steven Lim, would you do me the honor of becoming my husband.” It was a simple gold band with a single diamond in the middle and two rubies surrounding it. Steven, usually so energetic, was dead still staring at the ring. Andrew was starting to get nervous, wondering if he’d done this too soon or asked him wrong. 

His grip on the ring was lax, loose enough for Steven to slip it onto his finger. As he silently admired the ring, he whispered, “Steven Ilnyckyj does have a nice ring to it, doesn’t it?” His eyebrow quirk at the pun stirred Andrew out of his self-deprecating thoughts. As fast as a bullet, he picked up Steven and twirled him around. 

“I was worried you were going to say no.” He admitted into the crook of Steven’s neck. 

Steven hummed sympathetically and ran his hands methodically through his fiancé’s hair. His nails were growing out which felt good on Andrew’s skull. 

“I’d never say no, this is all I’ve wanted for a long time. I’m not letting you go, neither will this ring or necklace. I’m a very lucky man Ilnyckyj, to have gotten a boy like you.” Later on, he would take off the ring to put it with his necklace. Taking care of a baby was hard work, having his keys, and ring in the same place was a blessing. Plus the baby loved the jingle it made.

“You tell that story so well honey.” Steven sleepily murmured.

“It’s my favorite story to tell.”

[brattywriters-anonymous]

A Rose in Harlem

Chapter two.

Oc x Erik story

Based on Teyana Taylor’s VII & KTSE

Warnings: Cursing, physical contact, feels!

Winter, 2013.

Syd cursed out as she felt the stinging pain of her broken and bloodied nail. Erik tried to grab her right arm, not even phased by the dark red bruise forming on his left cheek. Syd pulled her arm back and yelled, “Get off of me!” Erik pressed backward, throwing his hands up. Myles saw the disaster on Syd’s right index finger. “Oh, baby, That nail gotta come off!” He grabbed a fresh bottle of Dasani, poured the water on top of her finger. Diluted blood streamed down the concrete. “It hurts so bad! MM MM.” Syd shook her head over and over.

Erik approached her again, with napkins and a first aid kit. Before she could protest his presence, he grabbed her right hand, placing her index finger into the napkin. “Hey, Syeda. I am so sorry.” At first glance, she paid attention to his chest and the necklaces that were on display. He had a linked chain with a silver ring attached to it, and another smaller chain with the letter “N” on it. Then a sudden stinging sensation hit her injured finger. He put peroxide on it, to sterilize it. “That’s what you wanted to apologize for?” She yelped out in pain. She looked back up at his lips as they formed a wide smile. “Well, for that too. And for being too forward. I’m from Oakland baby, we state what we want. Closed mouths don’t get fed.” He wrapped her finger in the Band Aid, and kissed the uncovered part as he winked at her. She couldn’t deny what her body was doing in reaction to the care that he took for her in those few moments. In the December brisky yet-sunny weather, Syeda was feeling rather--hot. She briefly exhaled as he surrendered her hand.

--

After a successful meeting went completely south at the end, Syd retreated to her favorite local Coffee Shop. Harlem Coffee Co. She gotten Chai tea and a croissant. She needed to calm her nerves so after her 30 second encounter with “Erik” or whoever he is, “N!” She scoffed aloud before opening her macbook. She began to shuffle through photos that she took on her own, with a few models that were current students at her Alma mater, Columbia University, out to Highbridge for the official first shoot for UPTXWN. She wanted to represent not only Harlem, but all of uptown. Where it’s been, where it is, and where it’s going.So she did the first shoot on the High Bridge. She grabbed her Canon Rebel T5i that she bought herself for her birthday, and took some sunrise shots at 6 am on an early July morning. She really took the photos, and uploaded them to her laptop. She was too preoccupied with her showrunning position for fall fashion week that she didn’t even take the time out to edit them. They sat in her Macbook for over 5 months and it was about time that she started editing. Simultaneously, she was texting Myles informing him that the next shoots would be in Sugar Hill and Marcus Garvey Park and to blast the text and email out of a 10:00 am call time for the Following Wednesday and Thursday.

--

MYles🧡💁🏾‍♂️✨

Are you okay? I know you broke that nail pretty bad.

Yeah. 😩It hurts, but I’m good.

Alright. I’m sending the texts out now, emails will be out by tonight, l8r.✌🏾

Syd took a sip of her tea she saw a name pop up on her laptop, coming from a contact, “Sin”

--

Sin

Syd, it’s Yasin. The plumber. I know you said you’ll let me know if you’re free for a late lunch. You free now?

Syd read over each word then she saw three dots pop up at the bottom of the screen.

Sin

…

Turn around👀

Syd’s face turned into one of confusion. She made a 180 to see Yasin sitting on a table in the corner of the shop. She smiled as he motioned her over to him. She retrieved her belongings and walked over to the booth. “I was just about to ask you to meet me at my favorite coffee shop, and here you are. Girl, you must be an angel or somethin’.” Yasin drew across the table to her direction, he motioned out to her right hand and saw the Band Aid. “What happened Syd? You okay?” She brushed it off. “Yeah it’s fine, this guy was being a complete asshole so I socked his ass.” Yasin’s eyes fanned completely opened when she told him what happened. “Oh, so you fight guys out here?” He sat back in his chair. She reached out for his hand and honestly stated, “Only if I have to.” and smiled. Yasin side eyed Syeda, trying to get a read on her. She came off so mysterious. As old vinyl records of 90s and early 2000s music sprawled out on the living room area floor of her apartment ran across his mind, he grabbed her hand and asked, “So what you about, Syd?”

--

Yasin and Syd spent the next 3 hours discussing education, Islam, politics, and polyamory. Sin let Syd know that just because his mother allowed it and his father participated, doesn’t means that it was what he wanted out of life. “I’m 27 years old, it’s time that I find the right woman to build a family with. To live the life that Allah gifted to us.” Syd was about to be 25 her next birthday in two months. She let Sin know that even though she understood the overall benefit of having a 3 or more person income household, she wanted something that was exclusively hers. “I share my creativity with the world. I share my image to the world. I don’t want to share my love to the world too. I want something sacred.” Yasin nodded as he paused and took a look at his watch. “Oh shit. Ma, you lucky I got finished with all of my clients before I got here, I would’ve been late to all of em by now. It’s 6 pm.” Syd scanned over to the top right corner of her Macbook 6:30 pm. She’d only gotten half of the pictures done, so it looked like she was going to be pulling another all nighter. “Oh, I’m Sorry.” She started packing up her things and getting up. “I have to finish this anyway. So I’m gonna go back home.” Yasin stood with her and assisted her out of the booth. They walked out to a beautiful orange sunset, almost complete. Syd’s hair blew along with the wind again. As she swept the hair out of her face, Yasin reached his arms out and pulled her in slowly. “I had fun today Syd. To think, we met earlier this morning to you cussing me out.” Syd playfully nudge his shoulder. “Yeah, you were late. Which in turn, made me late for my business meeting.” “Let me make it up to you.” She tried to back away but his grip trumped her attempts. “How?” She raised an eyebrow. “Let me take you out tomorrow night. My homie is having a block party up Washington Heights. You wanna slide through?” Sin looked her in her eyes, she couldn’t evade his staring. Syd responded by slightly pecking him on the lips. “Sure.”

--

Syeda wrestled with her keys, finding the door key to let her into the building of 63 Morningside Avenue. She finally unlocked the hallway door, she sat at the bottom of the stairs to take off her extended high heels. She overheard Ziggy talking to Erik, “Yo I don’t know what you were thinking earlier, man. Syd don’t play.” She smiled when Zig made the infamous statement. She scurried up the steps and tried to silently unlock her door. CLINK! Her keys fell to the ground and all chatting stopped across the hall. The door opened. “Syd.” Her name sounded like honey coming from Erik’s lips. She slightly closed her eyes to it. She turned to face Apartment 2B. “N.” “N?” Erik was puzzled. She pointed at her own neck. “Your necklace.” He looked down and jumped. “Oh. Yeah. My father’s side of the family is from Africa. My African name is N’Jadaka. Zig is my cousin on my mom’s side.” he pointed over to 2B.

Syd looked stunned, shocked. “Oh, I’m sorry. I just figured you were lying about--” “About what? My name?” he chuckled. “Nah lil mama. Besides, I don’t think I could lie to you even if I wanted to.” She exhaled. It was light but still heavy enough for Erik to hear. She took a step backward into her apartment but as soon as she hit the closed door, she yelped. “OUCH!” She held her right hand with her left, dropping her heels. Erik immediately stepped in and grabbed her shoes. “Here, let me help you out.” He turned the key and opened the door. Syd turned the light on in the foyer area. “Thank you, N’Jadaka.” She repeated his name in a smooth manner that was pleasing to his ears. “You’re welcome, mooie bloem.” Syd perked up when she heard the familiar dutch nickname that Mr. V gave her. “Yeah, when you bumped into me, I stood by the stairwell..in shock I guess.” He laughed and continued, “I heard him call you beautiful flower in his language. I’m intrigued. Why?” Syd closed the door behind her and locked it, figuring that he was staying for a while, because he walked further into the studio, by her couch.

She placed her keys on the hanger beside the door, shimmied her bubble coat off, placing it on a misplaced dining room chair. “My middle name. It’s Mariposa. The cuban national flower. My mom was Cuban and African American. Afro latina. She was born in Cuba. Her and her family moved to Philadelphia when she was 8. Her father converted to Islam, her and the rest of the family soon followed. She met my dad, He’s also Afro Latino. They had me, Syeda Mariposa Diaz.”

Erik marveled at her story, appreciated that she knew her ancestry. “You have a beautiful name. So your mom honored her Cuban background and gave you an Islamic name?” He finally took a seat, awaiting her response. She nodded and sat next to him, “Yup. That was the idea.” He reached for her right hand, “May I?” She hesitated, then gave in, “Don’t break any of my other nails! They charge for fixing broken nails!” Syd looked Erik in his eyes, smiling. He grasped her hand and kissed it with the same tenderness as he did earlier and finally spoke, “Never.” She blinked a couple times to get herself out of the trance she found herself in after his lips left her hand, she actually had to look away from him as he removed the Band Aid from her finger.

“I heard your right hand man, he said you have to remove the nail. You haven’t done that yet.” He held her finger closer to her overhead lamp so he could further investigate. “Hell no! It hurts. I was going to go to the nail shop to get it removed.” “For what? So they can charge you for something you could’ve done? Nah. I gotchu.” He quickly stepped out of her studio. She shot up and began to panic a bit.

Oh my gosh! Syd, what are you doing?! You just letting this man take care of you like some damsel… Even though he is the reason why you’re hurt.---He Looks so damn GOOD though. Damn. He can’t be in here for too long!

Syd attempted to press the power button on her phone but it didn’t turn on. Signaling that it died. “Shit.” She mumbled. She shuffled around the back end of the studio where her bed and nightstand were. She reached over the opposite side of her bed, closest to her window, for her charger. She heard a laugh and turned over in fear. “Damn. My apologies Syd. It’s just me. I needed my first aid kit. You got tweezers right?” She pulled herself off of her queen sized mattress and retrieved her manicure kit from her bathroom. “In here.”

--

“AHHHH!” Syd exclaimed as Erik used the tweezers to pull the remaining acrylic off of Syd’s bleeding finger. “There. The bleeding should definitely stop after this.” He sprayed the alcohol on a cotton swab and patted on her nail bed. She squealed in shock as he wrapped a new Band Aid on her patched up digit. She took her hand back, relieved that the pain is subsiding. “Thank you. You didn’t have to do that.” “You’re welcome. No sweat. I was in the Navy. I helped out injured people all the time. I’m used to it.” Erik spat out as he returned the manicure kit back in the bathroom, washing his hands. Once he dried them he clapped them together, and cut the light off. “Okay beautiful. Don’t go slapping other niggas upside the head. I gotta bounce.” Syd followed his trail to her front door, “Bye Erik. Thank you again.”

🌹

[0bsidian5ire]

Accelerate the Fall

Summary: For the people of Eorzea, the Rising is a time to remember all that changed with the 7th Umbral Calamity.

For Summoner Kharagal Mierqid, it's a time to celebrate Bahamut's escape from Dalamud. Preferably without freaking everyone else out. Fortunately, she's got good friends and knows of a great place to let loose.

Originally posted here.

"You sure you don't want to watch the first showing of this year's The Rising with us, Kharagal?" Carmen asked as she finished changing into something flashier than her usual ninja leathers. For the huyr, that was yet another set of ninja leathers that were a brilliant shade of Rouges' Guild green.

Kharagal glanced up from where she was trying to diagram out all the different versions of Bio III in an effort to keep busy and grimaced to herself. "Not really." She played with one of her horn-rings and looked out the window at the Lominsan sunset. The color reminder her of Teraflare. "It's not the same for me as it is for you guys. I shouldn't spoil it for you."

"Because you where still in the Nhaama Desert?" Carmen opened the door to the rest of the house and looked back at Kharagal. "You know nobody thinks less of you for not being here while the Calamity happened."

"Yeah, I know." Kharagal rested her head against the wall behind her. All she had seen of the Calamity was that one night, Dalamud ceased to rise and months later, a wave of aether had swept across the desert. It would be much easier for her if that was really all it was. Her aether unconsciously shifted around to match itself more closely to the Dreadwyrm's, reminding her of why that wasn't the real reason she didn't want to watch The Rising. "Attunement's a little too close I think." It wasn't quite the truth, but it was close enough.

Carmen's eyes narrowed. "And you think that'll make a difference tonight?"

Kharagal nodded. "Normally it's okay that there's a lot of bleed, but I've never felt him this happy since we sent the Warring Triad on to the Lifestream. Not to mention that the rest of the eikons aren't all that talkative at the moment, so I'm not getting a break from him either."

Carmen was about to say something when Alex walked in behind her. The elezen glanced at his wife and arced an eyebrow. "Something wrong?"

She gave Kharagal a pointed look. "Nothing major. It's just that Kharagal thinks Bahamut's being too pushy."

Kharagal glared at Carmen and decided not to correct her. "Instead of remembering what it's like to be stuck in Dalamud for five millennia like normal, I'm remembering how good it feels to break out of Dalamud." Kharagal's eyes met Alex's and saw nothing but understanding there. "I don't want to remember how horrible it was for everyone one else. Not yet, not when all I can think about is how it finally gave us a chance to send him on."

Alex gave her a searching look and nodded. "Kharagal, it's fine. Breaking out is always messy." By this time, his blue eyes glowed gold and the familiar blood-red aura writhed around him. "You want to have fun blasting stuff to pieces with Demi-Bahamut on the anniversary of the Calamity? Go do it. You'll feel better afterwards."

"And after that, go get some sleep. No wonder you haven't been sleeping well all week." Carmen waved and followed Alex out of the room. Kharagal let out the breath she'd been holding. It still surprised her when her surrogate family members didn't just accept that it was normal for her to hear voices in her head, but encouraged her to go along with them when possible.

After sunset, Kharagal teleported to Northern Thanalan and made for Dalamud's Talons to enter Dalamud. The Alliance had sealed up all the currently known entrances to the caverns beneath Carteneau, but there was nothing they could to do to divert the atherial flow that led from the internment hulks to the Talons. Provided one was a master at manipulating aether, the hulks were essentially a short, if subtle, teleport away.

She emerged from the flow on the internment hulk where Nael van Darnus had been fought. The air was thick with Bahamut's aether and Kharagal automatically went into Dreadwrym Trance without even thinking about it. She eyed one of the remaining holotransmiters and let Deathflare tunnel though it. Take that Nael. The sight of melting Allagan architecture was one of the most satisfying things Kharagal had seen all day. In the back of her head, she felt Sophia's pleasure at the deserved destruction and Sephirot's wry irony at her and Nael's respective roles in relation to the Dreadwrym. It was the first emotion she'd felt from the other eikons in a while. Kharagal still wasn't as deep into Dalamud as she wanted to be. "'Tania!" she called out and sent a pulse of aether out.

With a roar, Twintania rose out of the depths of Dalamud and nearly crashed onto the hulk. "Channeler!" the dragon shouted, "You are coming below?"

"Yes!" Kharagal walked over and climbed onto Twintania's back. "The lowest hulk is nearly gone. We finish with it today."

"Good!" Twintania took off and plummeted onto the lowest hulk. The aether emitter had been broken off it and the decking around the control console was pock-marked with Twister indents and Conflagration footprints. Twintania had been busy.

Kharagal inspected the joint where the internment hulk me Dalamud's inner shell. As melted as it was from repeated Liquid Hells, the metal still held. She summoned Demi-Bahamut who gleefully punctured the metal with multiple casts of Ahk Morn. It still held. "No magic I can normally form breaks it. I assume you're trying more then Liquid Hell?."

"I am testing everything I know on it and they are not working." Twintania told her. "Megaflare might do it."

"I still can't cast that one," Kharagal grumbled. "Teraflare it is." She leaned back against the control console and began pulling on the aether around her. Demi-Bahamut coiled around her and rested his head on her shoulder. "At least here the aether isn't a problem."

Twintania curled up against a bulkhead across from Kharagal and narrowed her eyes at Kharagal. "You are still getting visions when you cast it."

"Yeah." A memory of Dalamud crumbling around her accompanied the influx of aether. "Right now, I'm seeing it even when I'm not trying to channel him at all. Hydaelyn is back where she was she was when Dalamud fell and I can still sense all the aethertrails of the fall." Kharagal looked over at where Bahamut had been reforming. "I'm even annoyed other people don't think it's a good thing he finally got out."

"And now you know why mortals can't understand us!" Twintania laughed.

"I suppose that's why Tiamat hates me." Kharagal shivered as an image of Tiamat, unbound, gazing up at her in horror was scrawled against her mind's eye. She scratched Demi-Bahamut's tail. "She tells me to never come back to the Delta Quadrant until my aether stops trying to take the shape of an abomination." Kharagal rolled her eyes. "Never mind that at the time, I was facing an Ascian and had better things to worry about then what my own aether would be like afterwards."

"You are not going back to her."

"Tiamat?" Kharagal snorted. "No, not when I have the rest of Azys Lla to explore. Besides, I know how Nidhogg is when he's angry. I am not going though that again." Her pull on aether tapered off and Demi-Bahamut looped though the air over Kharagal. "Well, that should be good enough."

"Do you want to cast it from my back?" Twintania shook herself and got to her feet.

"Yes," Kharagal laughed as she climbed on Twintania. Last time, the section of decking she'd been on had given way beneath her. Twintania flew right over the joint and hovered there.

Kharagal took all the aether she'd absorbed from Dalamud and pulled it into the Dreadwrym Trance she was already in. Usually she could only cast Teraflare when she was desperate enough to pull from the hidden aether reserves every mage had, but Dalamud was saturated with Dreadwrym aether. Absorbing it as her own was almost like drinking from an never-ending vial of Max-Ether; the hardest part was stopping. As the force of the trance expanded, the parts of Kharagal's aetherial aura that didn't match her body became more visible. The usual crown of dragon horns and Allagan augments were first, followed by the massive set of double-jointed wings. Aether-claw tipped fingers traced out the geometry of Teraflare and Kharagal forced a monstrous quantity of aether into it. The geometry split the aether into a trillion lines and diffracted them across the joint and parts of the internment hulk.

Metal shrieked and the joint disintegrated. The internment hulk began bleeding fire and crashed further down into Dalamud. Ceruleum leaked down the wall, aiming for the fire-wreathed hulk. They met in an explosion of superheated metal and unstable aether. Twintania roared in approval and flew out of the blast zone, Demi-Bahamut close behind her. In her head, Kharagal felt Bahamut's pleasured aether lick over her in contentment. I am never tempering thou, mortal, not even if the Echo is lost, Bahamut rumbled. Thou desirest the power to break the chains others cast, with little regard for the cost! It is a waste to change a longing that resonates with mine own so well.

My favorite place for you is the Lifestream, Kharagal shot back.

A place I am free to go where I want; for now it is freedom enough! Bahamut's aether licked down the parts of Kharagal's aura that mimicked his before sleepily coiling around her in the back of her head. It would have been more terrifying if Kharagal hadn't seen dragons in Anyx Trine do the same thing with their dragonets. It also was not the first time Bahamut had decided she was more useful to him untempered.

Twintania landed on the same internment hulk Kharagal had warped in on, jolting Kharagal out of her thoughts. "This feels good," the dragon laughed. "I do not want to wait long until the rest are gone."

"You still want to leave with me then?" Kharagal asked as she climbed off Twintania.

"Perhaps. You say the world is changed from what I knew. I will think on it." Twintania launched into the air and divebombed back into the depths of Dalamud.

Hopefully it is changed enough for you, Kharagal thought to herself before casting herself into the atherial flow.

The teleport back to Dalamud's Talons was easier then the teleport into Dalamud. What made up for it was the sudden loss of a Teraflare-powered Dreadwrym Trance and Demi-Bahamut. Kharagal's aether collapsed back into what served as its non-attuned shape and Kharagal leaned against a talon of aether and yawned. For once there was no agitated need to go do something, except sleep, which rarely came these days. A mental check on Bahamut revealed he was still coiled around her and for once not paying attention to anything in particular.

Kharagal smiled to herself and teleported to the house in Mist she and her siblings shared. She burst out laughing when it turned out nobody else was home. It looked like she would finally be getting a fuller night's sleep then everyone else would.

Author's Notes: Based on the headcanon that tuning your aether to a eikon's doesn't just give you knowledge of how to cast their techniques, but also the memories of when those techniques were cast. Which for Teraflare is well... yeah...

[hachama]

I was inspired by my hatred of Quentin Tarantino and Eli Roth to write what I consider to be a better version of a "bear Jew." A Jewish multicultural teenager, living in the Ferguson area, summer of 2014. CW for troubling themes, violence

Aug. 14 I can hear the pop pop pop of gunfire, and the deeper thump of smoke bombs and tear gas grenades.  My father, hands clenched on the recliner armrests, looks like a statue carved from oak.  The news station has been on the TV for the last week.  I think he cries when I go to bed at night.  My mother tried to get him to turn it off, or at least change the channel.  Failing that, she's been cleaning, and checking her herb garden, and chanting to herself in the kitchen.  I can smell sage, and rice cooking, and cardamom, and fear.  I wish I had something to do, other than squeezing as far into the corner of the couch as I can, pretending to read the same nature magazine for the fiftieth time.  I can't look away from the news, either. A boy was killed, and the city, simmering in the summer heat, has caught fire.  I've never seen so much anger, or so much grief, from so many people at once.  Dad won't let me leave the house, afraid that the dark skin we share will make me a target.  Mom doesn't say, but I think she feels the same.  

Aug. 15 I couldn't handle another day in the living room, listening to my father breathe as if a vice was wrapped around his chest.  I crawled out my bedroom window and sat on the roof.  Tendrils of hair, shifted by a gentle breeze, tickled the back of my neck.  A fly buzzed near my window, but I shut the screen too quickly for it to get inside.  Mom would flip if a fly got in her house.   In the distance, I could hear the roar of voices, pops and thumps, but it was far enough away I could close my eyes and pretend it was the ocean.  I wish it was the ocean. I stayed out on the roof so long, the sun set and the moon shone down.  I played with the six pointed star on a chain around my neck, and my carved bone bracelet, trying to make sense of the past week.  We are all one, that's what Grandmama says.  And we are all made in the image of the divine, according to Nonna.  And life is precious, Mom and Dad both agree.  The teachers at school say that the police are there to protect us from criminals.  But the news says the cops shoot people who are unarmed.  Someone's wrong, and I think it's the teachers, and the police.  I think I may have prayed.  For help?  For guidance?  For the strength to do something, the wisdom to understand?  I don't know.  Mom called for dinner and I lost my train of thought.  

Aug. 16 I snuck out today, to see the protesters.  To join them.  I saw the mayor say that there would be a curfew, but my curfew is 10 PM so being out after midnight won't happen anyway.  I recognized a couple kids from school, but I don't think they saw me.  I hung around the edges of the crowd. Right around sunset, as I was starting to walk home, I noticed a truck following me.  It had tinted windows, and no front license plate, and extra lights mounted on the roof, like spotlights.  I turned down an unfamiliar street, and it turned after me.  Something told me I should run, and I did, but high schoolers don't outrun trucks.  They accelerated past me, hit the brakes, and three white guys jumped out.  They looked mean, wearing baseball caps and t-shirts with beer logos and big black boots.  I tried to back away, but the tall one grabbed my wrist and wouldn't let go.  I struggled, and he laughed at me.   "Look what we got here, boys.  A half-breed.  Does your daddy like white women, girl?" he asked.  The way he said "half-breed" made the hairs on my arms stand on end.  No matter what I said, he was going to hurt me.  *I'm sorry, Dad, I should have listened* flashed through my head.  One of the other two pulled my star pendant out of my  collar.  The tall one laughed, a nasty sound.  "Oh I see how it is.  You're one of *them*.  Two for one special, boys."  He broke the chain pulling my necklace off, leaving a welt around my neck.  I could feel that I was about to start crying, and just then the moon rose above the trees.   The moon's light made the stinging line on my neck feel like it was on fire.  With my free hand, I reached to cover it and felt my skin splitting. I got home just before 10, tired to my core, and went to bed.

Aug. 17 Mom saw the broken necklace on the table by the door and started crying.  I realized I'd somehow made it home without my shoes.  My feet were caked in red mud when I went to bed.  I took a shower.  The water felt like stinging needles, like I had a sunburn.  There was no welt from the chain breaking, no bruise on my wrist from the tall man's punishing grip.  I changed the sheets on my bed, dumping the dirty ones directly in the washer.  No need to upset Mom more. The TV reported that three men, known white supremacists, violent criminals, had gone missing.  In other news, someone saw a bear near downtown. I'm going out again tonight.