#<- sort of but i'd rather be safe than sorry

[bambiraptorx]

Draxum's hands were shaking. Badly, Raph noted, staring at the noticeable tremors in the yokai's hands.

[TW: self-destructive behaviors, eating issues/implied disordered eating]

He'd seen Draxum's hands shake before, back in his own time, when the Hidden City was first discovered by the Kraang and quickly overwhelmed with all the hounds and mechs and zombies they could throw at it, and the Resistance had to declare the ruins unsalvageable, not worth trying to win back.

He'd seen them shake when Casey had returned a month after being declared missing in action (declared dead in all but the use of that word; all M.I.A. meant anymore was that there was no body to bury), not only alive and minimally injured, but hauling a four-month-old baby in a makeshift sling.

He'd seen them shake when he'd woken up from an artificial, anesthesia-induced slumber, a grey, lonely night with no stars, to see the face of the man who'd had to amputate his hand and tell him, "you barely survived as it is, Raphael," a heavy guilt weighing down his shoulders and carving new lines into his face.

He didn't know why they were shaking now. He focused on the vials Draxum held, ingredients for some chemical or other he needed to synthesize, seemingly vibrating as a result of the trembling hands that held them. Was it exhaustion? When did Draxum start working today?

When was the last time he had a meal?

Raph voiced his thoughts.

"I'm not hungry," came the answer, not enough in and of itself to give Raph what he needed to know, if not for everything he knew about the person Draxum was. Is. Would one day be?

"Draxum. That's not what I asked you." Raph reached out hesitantly, ready to withdraw his hand if it was rejected. The scientist didn't respond, at least not immediately, his back to Raph even as his hands still shook.

Something in Draxum's shoulders relaxed--not truly relaxed, so much as lost the tension holding him stiff and upright--and he sighed. "I can't stop now. There's too much I still need to do." His hair lay limp and matted against his back, greasy from lack of washing.

How long had Draxum been doing this? Destroying himself? How long had Raph not noticed it?

"Just a quick break," Raph tried. "Get a small meal in and get back to work after that."

A sharp headshake. "I can't--I can't. If I stop now, I'll lose all momentum--I have so much I need to do tonight--and I've gotten behind over the last few weeks, I can't fall behind my schedule any further, and besides, I haven't earned it yet--"

Suddenly Draxum whirled around, the vials in his hands dangerously close to spilling. "All of yokai-kind is depending on me. I can't let them down. I can't let more lives be lost! Too much is at stake here to simply take a break!"

The picture was familiar, heart-achingly so. It only took a flicker of imagination to superimpose Raph's own brother, to replace Draxum's desperate, bloodshot eyes with Donnie's wide, worried ones. The concerns were practically identical: the certainty-laced fear that rest now would be paid for later in agony and blood.

"What's yokai-kind gonna do if you work yourself to death?" Raph replied, as gently as he could, reaching out for the vials Draxum gripped so tightly. "Whatever you're doing here, who's gonna do it if you can't? Me? You know I'm not a science guy, Drax."

There's so much weight on your shoulders, Dad, Raph thought. Let me help you carry it.

Raph took hold of one of the vials, tugging gently. At first, it seemed as though Draxum wouldn't let go, that he would hold on even tighter, chase Raph out of the room and return to killing himself slowly. But after a few seconds, the scientist's trembling hand loosened, allowing Raph to slide the glass from between his fingers and set it back in the holder. He took the second with no resistance, and did the same.

Raph allowed himself a small smile, a tiny flicker of the ever-present tension between his shoulders melting away. "Okay, Draxum. Let's get you some food, maybe a nap, and see how you're doing after that."

This mad scientist at least, he could help.

[rotclaw]

[bradshawsbitch]

‏‏‎ ‎‏‏‎ ‎‏‏‎ ‎‏‏‎ ‎‏‏‎ ‎‏‏‎ ‎‏‏‎ ‎‏‏‎ ‎‏‏‎ ‎‏‏‎ ‎‏‏‎ ‎‏‏‎ ‎‏‏‎ ‎‏‏‎ ‎‏‏‎ ‎‏‏‎ ‎‏‏‎ ‎‏‏‎ ‎‏‏‎ ‎‏‏‎ ‎‏‏‎ ‎‏‏‎ ‎‏‏‎ ‎‏‏‎ ‎‏‏‎ ‎‏‏‎» ‎𝐢'𝐥𝐥 𝐠𝐮𝐢𝐝𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮

⁘ amongst salt water skin and silken sheets lies insecurities and innocence, but also tenderness and a willingness to learn...

› pairing; bradley bradshaw x f!reader

prompt; ❝  well,  honestly i’ve never really had sex before and was kinda hoping you would teach me.  ❞ and  ❝  don’t be nervous,  i’ll guide you through it.  ❞

word count; ~ 6.1K

× chapter warnings; loss of virginity, virginity as a normative concept, p in v sex, no use of y/n, smut, porn without plot, creampie, hair tugging, praise kink, innocence kink, corruption(?) if you squint maybe, rooster is a consent king

request; by @diorrfairy. I'm so sorry this took so long my love 🫶

disclaimer; I was rather torn with how I wanted this fic to go. on one hand I wanted it to be how I wished my first time was, yet I did not want to accidentally make it seem as if this is how a 'first time' is supposed to be, if that makes sense. I therefore tried to make it realistic in the way I experienced sex for the first time, but still making it softer, and sweeter, and the way I figure I'd want a first time with someone you love to be. for me sex hurt the first like five times but also my first bf was 6'5 and he was fucking huge so like yeehaw.

tagging people who might like; @roleycoleyland @roosterforme @lewmagoo @theharddeck @seresinsweetie @sebsxphia @rhettabbotts

Being with Bradley was easy. It was sunny, comfortable, and safe. The soft gaze of the aviator could turn your knees weak in a heartbeat. The way he touched you, the way he listened and understood you - and most of all, the way he never pushed you harder than needed to explore new things if you didn’t want to.

Previously, in all relationships you’d had - whether platonic or romantic, you found that people pushed you. Pushed you to participate in things you maybe weren’t entirely ready for, or didn’t wholly feel comfortable with. Like the first time you got drunk, even though you’d told your friends you’d rather just try one beer and then drink soda. 

Bradley, however, understood the need for you to feel comfortable and safe. He understood that you needed time to contemplate, to reflect, and to sort of turn and twist an event in your mind a few times before throwing yourself headfirst into it. 

So, when the two of you started getting serious, and you, with heat rising to your face, confessed that you ‘hadn’t done much’ in the sexual department, his amber gaze had softened. He’d smiled softly, cradled your cheek in one of his large palms, and placed a tender kiss upon your lips as he promised to take everything in the pace you deemed appropriate.

He wasn’t in a hurry, he’d said before enveloping you in his arms, letting you nuzzle your face into his chest and his safe embrace. Inhaling his scent and feeling his strong arms and hands holding you so delicately, you truly felt safe in his promise not to rush anything.

Bradley had not quite understood your timidness when telling him about not having too much experience. He figured maybe you’d fooled around a little in college with some boys or girls, but that you hadn’t had too many mind blowing sexual encounters. As beautiful and kind as you were, Rooster had a hard time imagining anything else. However, his mother had raised him to always respect a ladies wishes - however small or big that wish was, and he was nothing if not a caring soul himself. He always wanted you to feel safe with him, wanted you to feel you could confide in him, and lay worries and hardships for him to carry with you. 

Which was why he was perfectly content to spend lazy afternoons making out with you straddled on his lap, only sneaking in a squeeze of your ass sporadically - keeping his hands placed gently on your waist, only ever letting them grace slowly upwards to your ribcage and to the wire of your bra. The small little noises you made drove him wild, but he wouldn’t be the person to push you. No, Bradley was more than willing to wait until you asked him to touch you. 

However, as compassionate and patient a man as Bradley was - he was also a little insecure. He had never felt the way he did with you, and he was glad that you both seemed to be on the same page of slowly cherishing each other’s comfort. Felt secure in that this was something you both felt was something special.

Your relationship was not something that needed to be rushed, because both of you felt that this might be it. But one human can only take so many rejections before they start to wonder if it was something that they did wrong. Had he been pushy? Had he made you feel so uncomfortable that even after months of dating you didn’t want him? Or was it simply the fact that you didn’t find him attractive or arousing enough?

These thoughts swirled and tainted the most noble of intentions within Bradley. He so badly wanted you to feel the way he did about you, that it somewhat clouded his perception. Every sweet, bashful smile as you pulled away from him turned into a confirmation that there was something he was doing wrong.

Perhaps you were not a person who wanted what he wanted. He would be okay with that if that were the case, but as he pondered these possibilities in bed after a particularly nice day at the beach with you, he realized that the best way to go about it was to talk about it. 

He smiled as he reminisced on your walk, feet bare in the sand. His heart did double-time as he remembered the way your eyes sparkled, and the way you’d pulled on his hand to draw him into the water with you. Covered in sand and salt water, the two of you had spent the majority of the day in each other's arms (when you were not indulged in very serious bouts of splashing wars) before retreating to Bradley’s home. 

Which was how Bradley found himself perched on his bed after a nice shower to wash away the sand and salt, feeling content with the conclusion he had come to. The water was still running, as you were washing away the day as well, further fuelling Bradley’s thoughts. He was torn from them when you emerged, clad in a large, white, oversized silken button-up. It was rather old, and some of the buttons were missing. Your skin looked soft as it gleamed in the glow of the evening light. Looking at you, Bradley couldn’t help the soft smile that stretched across his lips as he raised his arms to signal he wanted you near. 

Mimicking his smile, you happily straddled his lap, making yourself comfortable before holding up a small container that Rooster hadn’t noticed before. 

“What’s that?” his voice was low, as if the energy of the room shouldn’t be disturbed by loud talking. Fingertips dipped into white cream, before gently ghosting across the skin of his face. 

“It’s to soothe the skin, baby,” you explained softly, massaging the cool cream onto Bradley’s warm face. He hummed in reply, letting his hands grasp your hips, running his thumb up and down over the soft silken material. His eyes fluttered shut as you carefully made sure that every surface of his skin was carefully covered, even going down to cover his throat and neck. 

“All done.” was whispered against his lips, punctured by the soft feel of your plush lips upon his. Your chest had fallen closer to his bare upper body, and the small container now found its resting place on his nightstand as your hands splayed on his pecs and shoulders. 

You deepened the kiss, your tongue curiously exploring and wetting Bradley’s lips before meeting his own tongue slowly. Bradley couldn’t help the groan that escaped him as you pressed closer to him, your tongue so languidly moving with his own, couldn’t help gripping  your hips just a little tighter at the small noises you were emitting whilst hesitantly rolling your hips against his grown hard-on. 

“Sweets…” Bradley rasped, breaking the kiss. Normally, you would look down and look bashful, but this time your lips traveled across his jaw, fluttering over his pulse point as you hummed in acknowledgement. As you reached a particularly sensitive point and nipped softly, Bradley let out a low moan, his hands moving up your waist before they skimmed back down to let them rest on the globes of your ass. Kneading and grasping he groaned again, not noticing the way you had stopped kissing his neck. 

Tensing ever so slightly, you sat up from your position, looking down as nerves fluttered restlessly in your stomach.

“Honey,” Bradley’s voice was soft “talk to me, please. Am I doing something wrong? Do I make you uncomfortable?” his fingers gently asked you to look him in the eye from their place at your chin. Blinking, a small crease formed between your brows. 

“N-no, never! I’ve never felt as safe as I do when I’m with you.” the answer came to you easy, spilling truthfully from your lips as you looked into your boyfriend’s amber eyes. 

“Why do you ask that?” 

“I can feel how tense you are sometimes when we’re like this… you always pull away from me darlin’, and I just wanted to make sure we’re on the same page, okay? You can tell me anything. If I’ve done something, or if you just don’t feel like ever doing anything– or if I’m not, y’know, doing enough to turn you on–” he was rambling. He knew he was and yet he couldn’t stop; his worries and anxieties coming out in a way he didn’t want them to. He was almost thankful when you cut him off.

“Bradley, do you think I don’t want to have sex with you because you don’t turn me on enough?” if you weren’t feeling nervous butterflies in your stomach at the aspect of actually feeling ready for taking this step with Bradley, you would have laughed. 

“I don’t know… Maybe? Mostly I’ve been worried that I have made you feel unsafe with me. Or that I’ve done something to make you feel as if you don’t want that part of our relationship like that,” it was Bradley’s turn to look bashful. Saying it out loud always made you realize how bizarre some of your thoughts could sound. 

“Honey…” you smiled, leaning into your boyfriend again “I– I just… you know I told you how I haven’t done much?” Bradley nodded. 

“Of course. I am in no way trying to rush you - I totally understand you may have had other experiences with sex before that makes this uncomfortable and–”

“No, Bradley.” you groaned “you don’t understand–” sighing, you paused for a moment. Maybe it would be better to spell it out. “well… honestly, I’ve never really had sex before–” 

Silence hung between two lovers, Bradley’s brows raising slightly in surprise, a feeling of deep guilt settling uncomfortably in his chest. 

“Honey… I am so sorry. I never meant– I mean, I figured you must have, you’re so out of this world beautiful…” Bradley looked at you, his eyes soft and filled with love. “I’m sorry, my darling, I just wanted to know if there was something I had done - I will wait for as long as you need,” he straightened up to place his lips upon yours in a soft kiss. 

Shaking your head, you broke the kiss, smiling softly at him. 

“And– I was kinda hoping you would teach me,” you finished your interrupted sentence, letting your fingers sneak into the hair at the nape of Bradley’s neck, tugging and twirling strands of hair there to ease your nerves. Again, Bradley looked at you with such adoration and love that it nearly took your breath away. His hands were back to soothingly rubbing your sides and hips, the way he held you making you feel precious and secure. 

“Darling…” his voice was low but riddled with unspoken emotions, one of his hands moving to cradle your cheek “we don’t have to do anything you don’t want okay. I’m not going anywhere.” his assurance meant the world to you, but you’d felt ready for some time now. 

Mulling it over as you first noticed that when the two of you had ended up entangled in bed, or on the sofa, it didn’t make you feel as panicked as it had in the beginning. It felt exhilarating now. It felt like something you wanted. Something you desperately needed with Bradley. 

“I really want to.” your voice was firm in its choice, and Bradley sat up more from his position reclined against the headrest to be able to place his lips all over your throat. 

“I really want you…” Bradley murmured against your skin as his lips skimmed over the parts he knew had you the most breathless. It drew the tiniest of gasps, followed by a high pitched whimper from you the way he spoke so huskily, so close to your ear, his warm breath momentarily dizzying you. 

“Bradley…” you mewled softly “Please!” Bradley’s head was spinning from the sheer thought of loving you like this, but hearing your sweet plea made his breath hitch in his throat, his hard-on jolting slightly in his boxers at the words. Perhaps he should feel some type of embarrassment over that reaction, but he couldn’t find it in him to do so. Not when you were perched on his lap, clad in a loose fitting silken shirt, looking like the divines themselves. 

“You say stop and we do, okay?” Bradley searched your eyes, and you nodded, tucking your bottom lip between teeth as anticipation swirled through you. “Gotta hear you say it, honey,” Rooster smirked, reaching up to gently let his thumb draw out your bottom lip from between your teeth. That single act had your breath hitching as he let his thumb trace your lip. 

“I say stop and we stop.” you confirmed and Bradley smiled up at you 

“Good girl.” 

Blinking slowly, you took in the two soft spoken words that had drawn out the most sinful sound from your lips. “Oh, God,” you whispered softly, face heating up in embarrassment. Bradley gently shushed you, before letting his hand inch up your ribcage, his thumbs gracing the underside of your breasts. 

“It’s okay, little dove. It’s normal to react this way, alright? Nothing to be embarrassed about.” his voice was so soft, so soothing, that it made you keen even more, needing him closer to you. 

“You have no idea how much it turns me on to see you react to me like this…” Bradley wanted you to know that there was nothing shameful in the way you were reacting, and he desperately needed you to understand he never wanted you to suppress any sounds or feelings that might arise between the two of you. He wanted to see it all, hear it all, experience you and your love in its purest form. 

His hands wandered ever so slightly further up, gently letting his palm encompass the swell of your breasts in his hands, eyes flitting up to yours to see your reaction to the advancement. Letting out a stuttered breath, you let your head tip back at the sensation of his hands warming the silk against your skin.

As Rooster gently kneaded and pressed against your flesh, another breathy moan spilled from your parted lips. As he let his fingers gently pinch at your pebbled nipple, you cried out, suddenly feeling the need to move. You rocked hesitantly in Bradley’s lap, and another relieved whine left your lips as his hard-on rubbed against your damp underwear. 

“Fuck, honey… you’re so beautiful,” Bradley grunted out, trying to hold himself back and not grip your hips and grind you harder down on to him. He truly did believe you had never looked as beautiful as you were now, breath labored, skin glowing in the light that managed to flitter into the room, gently rocking against his lap. He whispered praises against your sternum as his hands slowly kneaded your sensitive flesh, his hot breath fanning over the exposed skin as the shoulder of your night shirt slid down your arm to reveal your breasts. 

Bradley took his time kissing and loving your chest, his large hands working up and down your sides, squeezing at your breasts before letting his tongue flutter over hardened nipples, teasing you as you let out soft, high pitched noises. Your brows were furrowed together, eyelids fluttered closed as you moved your hips down on him, panting slightly from the pleasure of his hard cock brushing your clothed clit every so often. 

“So pretty…” Bradley murmured before he sucked one nipple into his mouth, groaning at the feel of his lips wrapped around your flesh, relishing in the cry it drew from you, reeling at your body reacting by collapsing closer to him, a hand flying to grasp and tug at his hair. You were pulling him closer, and your movement was starting to become a little frazzled as you were overcome by the pleasure Bradley was giving you. 

“Brad–” you were gasping, almost clawing at the back of his head, not sure if you wanted to push him closer to your chest or tug him away. Squirming in your boyfriends’ lap you cried out again, whimpering softly over and over again as you felt his lips release the nipple he had been sucking on, moving to give the other some much needed attention. The cool air against your saliva slick skin had you mewling again. It was all so much, too much, it felt too good, it was dizzying and overwhelming, and Bradley’s hands were touching parts of you you didn’t know were sensitive and–

“Stop!” it was gasped, breathlessly as your eyes shot open, chest heaving before looking down at your boyfriends worried face. 

“Too much?” Bradley cooed, reaching up to let his fingertips grace your cheek. Nodding shyly, you leaned into his touch, face heating at the notion that you needed a break. 

“It– it was too good, I-I couldn’t…” you trailed off, not entirely sure why you had asked him to stop. There had been a pressure building and sparking in you, and it frightened you. The pleasure you felt when the two of you made out, when he touched you, it was tame in comparison. No one else had ever made that… pressure happen before. 

Bradley shushed you softly, licking his lips and smiling softly up at you “S’okay, darling… we’re not in a rush, are we? And if you decide that’s enough for tonight, then that’s alright too.” he assured you, thumbs rubbing against your waist. He couldn’t help that his eyes flickered momentarily to the glistening skin around your breasts, an unfamiliar feeling swirling deep in the pit of his chest at the sight of his saliva marking your skin. It almost made him groan with pleasure, seeing himself on you in any capacity. 

“No, I… I really want you. I truly feel ready, because I’ve been thinking of loving you like this for so long now…” you trailed off, again looking down at where your body sat on top of his, stomach flipping a little as you took in the sun kissed skin of his abs… and that dusting of hair that disappeared beneath his boxers. “I just feel a little nervous” you admitted in a whisper, not being able to help the fluttering nerves within your stomach.

“Don’t be nervous… I’ll guide you through it, sweet girl,” Bradley murmured, nudging his nose against yours before letting his lips slowly move with yours, taking his time to let his tongue taste yours, until your arms were once again wrapped around his neck. 

“That’s it… good girl, keep going,” Bradley whispered against your lips as you again hesitantly rolled your hips against him. Soft mewls left you at his words, and Bradley couldn’t help but smiling into the kiss, filing away every reaction to his actions for later. 

“Does that feel good?” he hummed as he gently gripped your hips, helping you find the right angle to let his cock catch at your entrance before sliding up to your clit. The silk of your panties was dark with your slick, and Bradley could soon feel it covering his own underwear too. 

“Yes,” you breathed out, letting your forehead press against his “it– feels funny,” you whined, squeezing your eyes shut as that pressure started to come back, even stronger now. Bradley hummed low in his throat, one hand making its way between your bodies to put more pressure where you needed it. 

“Bradley!” you gasped, body jolting slightly as his leaking cock head pressed harder against your sensitive clit. “It’s okay, baby… you’re alright, I’ve got you,” Bradley whispered as he kissed right below your ear, not stopping the slow but steady rocking of your hips. 

“I feel like I’m gonna– gonna–” your trembling voice was interrupted by your small gasps and soft moans, again taking your plush bottom lip between your teeth as the sensation grew stronger. 

“You’re doing so good, honey– don’t stop; just let go for me, baby,” it was as if you needed Bradley’s soft guidance and assurance, because as soon as he told you to, you could feel that pressure spiking, before it snapped and shot through your entire body. The pleasure coursed through your veins as you came with a loud cry, followed by small whimpers of Bradley’s name, burrowing your face in his neck as you whined softly and rolled your hips a couple of more times. 

“There you go… such a good girl… are you alright, doll?” he’s murmuring softly and sweetly against your neck, your pulse thudding hard and fast against his warm lips. Lips that have curved slightly upwards as you cling onto him, fingers gripping at his slightly flexed biceps. You nod against his shoulder, placing a languid chaste kiss to his exposed skin. 

“I’m– I don’t think that’s ever happened to me before” heat again spread across your face, and Bradley couldn’t help the way his chest filled with pride, and an unfamiliar emotion that stirred somewhere close to his abdomen. “Did so good, honey. Looked real beautiful for me,” Bradley smiled, gently holding your hair back from your face before pecking your lips. His hands roamed down your body, until his fingers played with the hem of your underwear. Snapping the elastic slightly, making you gasp, he chuckled softly.

“Can I take these off?” nodding, you felt anticipation roll inside you in stormy waves as the two of you moved your bodies so Bradley could take your underwear off. Bradley’s hands kneaded softly at your thighs as you settled back on his lap, his amber eyes searching your worried face. Licking your lips, you took in Bradley’s completely naked form. Sure, you’d seen naked men before, but nothing compared to the golden tan of Bradley’s skin - the ripple of his abs, the dusting of hair that traveled from below his navel to his pubic bone and– oh god. 

You of all people was aware of Bradley’s size. He was tall, muscular, slightly burly, and his strong embrace always made you feel safe - whether he was lifting you and dropping you into the ocean earlier today, or if he made a point of helping you reach something high up (even if you didn’t always need the help) - but you hadn’t really used your imagination to be able to conjure this. Resting, hard as a rock, against his stomach, you wondered silently how on earth he would fit in you. 

“Honey,” Bradley tried to keep from chuckling, smirking, or sounding too smug when he spoke “it’s alright. We’ll go as slow as needed, love. I’ve got you.” and you trusted your boyfriend, you truly did, but still - how? 

As a distraction, Bradley’s ever working hands had snuck upwards, the pads of his fingers now caressing your sensitive clit, drawing a soft mewl from your parted lips. “That’s it, relax,” he murmured in encouragement as his fingers gently rubbed at your core, letting his middle finger slip further and further into your heat. 

“Oh!” pitching forward, you rested your forehead against your boyfriend’s broad shoulder, moaning involuntarily at the feeling of Bradley pumping his finger in and out slowly, stretching and preparing you. It felt good, that one finger didn’t yet feel uncomfortable. It was when he added a second one that you whined a little and squirmed against him. His voice soothed you, and as he found a spot within you that had you gasping every time his fingers graced it, you found your hips slowly starting to rock against his rhythm to seek out more of the feeling.

“Bradley…” his name tumbled from your lips in a needy gasp as his lips attached themselves to the delicate skin of your neck. You could feel his hot, wet tongue glide over the skin, his teeth nipping slightly before letting his lips close over the area to gently mark your neck. 

“Yes, sweetheart?” his reply was murmured against your skin, his mustache scratching lightly above your pulse point. “Think I want–” you paused “think I want you now…” it was strange how the words rolled off your tongue, embarrassment filling you up slightly at the admission, even with Bradley’s fingers knuckle deep in your pussy. The soft groan that reverberated from your boyfriend's chest made you squeak slightly in surprise, your walls clenching around his fingers as the sound spurred on your arousal. 

“Alright,” Bradley withdrew from the crook of your neck, where he’d had his face nuzzled, to look you in the eyes, giving you a soft smile as his fingers too withdrew from within you. 

“Do you have any condoms, sweets?” he murmured, tilting his head upwards slightly to place a chaste kiss to your warm cheek. Shaking your head no, you placed a soft kiss to his warm lips, admitting to him that you had been on birth control for some years now. You momentarily worried he might ask why you’d bother with contraceptives if you were a virgin. You’d rather not go into detail about how it can regulate your cycle. He just smiled, eagerly chasing your lips for another kiss as his hands stroked up and down your waist - where your silken shirt had created a halo around your midsection. 

“Tell me again what we’d do if you said a certain word?” Bradley looked into your eyes, his brown ones calm and filled with a serenity you could easily get lost in, as his large hand gently held your chin. Licking your lips, you managed a small smile down at your lover as you sat straddled across his lap, his hard cock leaking precum all over that faint line of hair that drove you absolutely insane with want.

“I say stop and we stop.” 

“Good girl,” at your slight shiver at the deep timbre of his voice, your boyfriend couldn’t keep his smirk at bay, loving how well you responded to his praise. 

Large hands gripped your hips as you rose slightly to your knees, your own hands which had been alternating between gripping Roosters biceps, clinging onto his shoulders, or being wrapped around his neck, now fluttered hesitantly down his chest, over his abdominals and down to that tantalizing little trail… The sound Bradley let out sounded relieved yet also a little strained as you hesitantly let your fingertips grace the underside of his hard cock, following along the prominent vein that ran along it. 

“Should I—” you licked your lips, gaze flickering up momentarily to his “should I touch you, before we..?” Bradley smiled softly and shook his head no “I am embarrassingly close to coming just from seeing you like this honey… it’s alright,” a soft smile spread on your lips as you still let your fingers curiously feel around your boyfriends hard shaft, feeling the ridges and veins, surprised at the silky feel of the warm skin. Humming softly you settled on letting your hands rest upon his shoulders again as he again gripped your hips to guide you into a position he deemed appropriate. 

Bradley’s head was spinning as he positioned his cock against your entrance, gently dragging his swollen head between your slick folds, having to take shallow breaths as he heard your whimpers and mewls. He repeated this motion over and over, ghosting over your hole, alternating between stimulating your clit and the sensitive skin around your heat. Soon enough you were rutting against the underside of his cock, making him slicked with your arousal. 

“Fuck, you feel so good!” Bradley groaned as you buried your face in the crook of his neck, desperately trying to get more of him. “Bradley! Please, please,” you whined, biting down slightly on his skin, drawing a deep moan from his parted lips. He let the very tip of his cock slowly enter you before he withdrew again, sliding his cock up towards your clit again. You had gasped and moaned at the short sensation, and Bradley could tell you thought you could take all of him with the way you were bucking your hips, trying to sink down on him.

“Slow down, baby… I’ll get you there, okay? Can’t take all of me yet…” he murmured against your temple, letting his lips linger there for a moment before he again lowered you slightly onto his weeping cock, the very tip breaching your core. 

You were panting now, as Bradley stilled your hips on him, this time not withdrawing as he let himself dip slightly deeper into you. Eyes widening, you whined at the sharp sting of his girth stretching you. 

“Shh, honey, you’re alright, I’ve got you,” his calm voice grounded you and you nodded against his shoulder. Bradley had done his best to prepare you, and you were thoroughly wet for him - but still, as he gently lowered you deeper onto him, tears sprang from your eyes at the sharp sting of being stretched by him. 

“I’m sorry, love.” Bradley furrowed his brows as he gently guided you to look at him, wiping at the tears that had leaked from your lashes. “Do you want to stop?” he murmured, large palm soothingly stroking up and down your spine. 

Even though the sharp sting wasn’t exactly comfortable, the feeling of his warmth, and the feeling of being so full still made your insides vibrate with feelings of love and arousal - a feeling that felt rather paradoxical in relation to the sharp stings you felt whenever you moved. Ultimately you spoke a tiny no, leaning into Bradley, seeking his solace and his safe embrace. Whenever you felt vulnerable, or were hurting, you sought out his safety. 

“Being so brave, little dove… being my good girl,” Bradley cooed, letting his strong arm wrap around you, his other slowly moving downwards, gently letting the pad of his finger rest against your clit as he lowered you a few more inches, until finally you sat flush against him. Biting your lip, your fingertips dug into the skin of Roosters biceps hard as he shushed you and praised you even more, making your stomach flip and your heart stutter in your chest. You had no idea mere words could ignite such a fire within you. 

Speaking softly to you, whispering praise and words of love into your ear, Bradley slowly let his fingertips grace over your back, down your arms, over your thighs, your breasts.. as his thumb gently swiped over your nipple, you let out a needy moan. Gently pinching, he drew out another whimper from you, and your breathing seemed to pick up again as he rolled it between his fingers, his palm massaging and kneading your flesh. 

“S’that feel good, honey?” he smiled as you looked him in the eyes, biting your lip and nodding as you experimentally rolled your hips - scrunching your face up, you whined softly at the feeling of discomfort, which was soothed by Bradley’s quick, distracting hands. 

Letting your lips crash against his, Bradley groaned as he used both hands to knead and pinch at your tits and nipples as you rocked slowly on his cock. Gasping and whimpering, you tried lifting your hips and sinking down again, finding that if you did it ever so slightly, it didn’t sting as much and it actually felt good when the tip of his cock hit that little spot inside you. 

“Bradley!” you whimpered against his lips, his name slightly muffled. After the initial pain, you were reeling from the realization that your boyfriend’s cock was buried in your pussy, and he was letting you ride him slowly. Moaning, you leaned slightly back, taking in the sight before you. In your frenzy, you had messed up his hair, and his eyes were glossy with lust, lips slightly swollen. The setting sun was making his tan skin glow, and the freckles that had formed on his shoulders made him look all the more incredible to you. 

“Fuck, god, you’re so fuckin’ tight… feel fucking incredible, Jesus, baby… I love you,” Bradley’s eyes were rolling upwards as you rode him a little faster, his cock pulsing with every slight movement you made. 

“I love you,” you whispered, the words ghosting over his skin. Bradley let his hands wander from your tits down to the globes of your ass, squeezing and kneading your asscheeks as you moved up and down on his cock. 

“Can I take over a little, baby?” he murmured into your ear, licking your lips, you nodded quickly, feeling Bradley’s grip on your ass tighten as he lifted and grinded you down against him. A gasp was quickly followed by a loud moan as he angled your hips ever so slightly, making your clit catch on his pubic bone. He sped up slightly, guiding your hips so they rolled and bounced slightly in time with his small thrusts, the head of his cock brushing that spot again and again, making you whimper and keen over and over. 

“Fuck, fuck, fuck,” Bradley grunted and groaned as he fucked you onto his leaking cock. He was so fucking close, you were gripping and clenching so hard around him, and he was sure he was going to blow his load soon. “Baby you feel so fucking good.. god, this tight little pussy was fuckin’ made for my cock, wasn’t it? Was made to be fucked by me,” Bradley grunted as he babbled, that feeling he felt earlier exploding in his chest at your needy mewls. 

Growling, he took your loud moans as his go ahead to go just a little faster, fuck you just a little deeper. His one forearm wrapped around the curve of your ass as the other snuck up between your shoulder-blades, where he gripped the hair at the nape of your neck. A loud cry spilled from your lips as your eyes fluttered close, your body instantly relaxing and going almost limp in his hold as you moaned repeatedly. Growling, Bradley bucked his hips to fuck into you instead of lowering you down on him, and your needy cries made him almost black out with pleasure. 

Soon, he heard you gasping, moaning and crying his name over and over in pleasure. “That’s it honey, tell me who’s making you feel good.. who’s fucking this tight little pussy of yours so good,” his words made your eyes roll back into your head, and with a cry of his name you came for the second time, your slick creating a creamy ring around the base of his cock as he fucked you through the first orgasm you’d ever experienced with someone inside you. 

Whimpering and mewling, the waves of pleasure didn’t stop coming, it just kept going as Bradley’s cock pumped fast and deep into your wet cunt. Your bedroom was filled with the sounds of skin slapping against skin, a wet sound that you found rather arousing, and your labored breaths and moans. 

“Babe, god I’m so close,” Bradley moaned, holding you tighter to his chest as he gasped, his cock and balls pulsing with the need to release. “Should I pull out?” he wasn’t all together sure he could. “No!” you whined, fingers tangling themselves in his hair. You’d never felt like this before. Your chest was swirling with the need to keep him close, keep him inside of you, you never wanted him to leave.

“Need you, Brad, need you!” you could barely form a full sentence, your words sounding more like whimpery babbles. At your pleas, Bradley grunted and groaned before he swore loudly, his hips bucking before his cock twitched and his release spurted deep within you. 

Feeling his warm seed spilling in you, your eyes rolled back slightly again as you moaned. Bradley’s whole body was shuddering as he ground you down against him, his balls tightening again and again as he released ropes upon ropes of his cum deep in your pussy. 

Sweaty bodies tangled together as you slumped forward against his heaving chest, your own breath labored and unsteady. Nuzzling into his pecs, you could hear and feel the way his heart beat hard inside his chest. “Love you,” you murmured, kissing at his sternum. Rooster’s large hand caressed the back of your head as you both came down from your highs. 

“Might hurt a little when I pull out…” he murmured against the top of your head, and you let out a dissatisfied whine whilst pouting. 

“Are you okay, honey?” he continued, and you smiled and nodded, feeling perfectly content as you laid in the safe arms of your lover, having just given him all of your love, and receiving all of him and his love back. 

AHHHHH fuck this one took forever to finish, and i'm not entirely happy with the ending - but i hope someone might enjoy it still<3 please let me know what you think! i'm always open for constructive crit <3

special thanks to coley and em for helping me through my writers block and cheering me on<3

[dceasesd]

why juni ba’s the boy wonder has my favorite jason characterization of any contemporary comic run: a needlessly in-depth analysis (pt.3)

go check out part 1 and part 2 if you'd like! this is a long one, sorry guys.

if you haven't already i'd recommend you check out pt. 1 & pt. 2 (linked above), but if you haven't checked them out i've been going over some of the main things people have been criticizing ba's characterization for: 1. the typical boiling down of jason's character to "the angry one" 2. his lack of strategy going into the fight with the demon is out-of-character 3. the neighbor's kid interaction

alright, so this last point is purely based off of one page of the entire comic: the one where the child of one of jason's neighbors is dragged inside his home when his mother see's jason coming.

first off, i love this page. it might be my favorite page in the entire issue. everything about it is great. just thought i needed to say that.

anyway, there's some people who are seeing this page and reading it as "jason protects kids! that's one of his big things! why are they scared of him?"

here's the thing, though: the kid isn't scared of jason, the mom is. the kid is literally playing dress up as the red hood-- he's not scared of jason, if anything he's trying to replicate him. little kids dress up as their heroes all the time; why is this kid any different? it doesn't really make sense for the kid to dress up of something he's scared of (not everyone is as weird bruce wayne), especially a real person that could be a real threat rather than a concept. i doubt you see many kids in gotham dressing up as the joker or something, because that's just asking for trouble.

the dress-up honestly seems like a ploy for attention to me. the kid clearly knows that red hood lives in his building (which is honestly so funny. take off the mask jason you're giving you're position away (actually this is a really good instance for analysis but i'm determined to not go on a tangent)). if the kid knows red hood lives in his building, what better way to get his attention that dressing up as him and playing pretend? if the kid was scared of him, he wouldn't want to draw that sort of attention to himself. if he had a sort of hero-worshippy thing going on like i suspect, then he would want to get jason's attention. to sum it up,

it's the mom who pulls him away when jason nears, because she either a) perceives him as a threat, b) doesn't want her kid to try and replicate him even more, or, the most likely option, both! the kid isn't scared of him, but the mother believes they should be.

once again, we come back to the whole perception vs. reality theme i talked about in part one! we've come full circle, everyone!

when looking at the neighborhood's perspective of the red hood, ba gives us a few contradictory examples. there's the kid and the mother, obviously, but there's also a slew of other citizens who interact with him at the beginning of the issue, both in fear and camaraderie.

the unhoused man and the people outside of his building clearly have a familiarity and are comfortable with him, while the shopkeeper is terrified and literally has a banned poster on his wall featuring jason (i am so curious what he did to deserve that, if he even did anything at all). from this, it appears that jason's reputation teeters between fearful and familiar-- a sentiment that also colors jason's relationship with his family.

furthermore, this concept underscores just how lonely jason is-- one of the only good relationships he had in his current life was his fucking landlord, for gods sake, and he's dead.

i think it's important to note that jason doesn't respond to the friendly greetings from the men-- he could attempt to build camaraderie, the roots are there, but he chooses not to. he could work to try and show the mother that her son is safe with him, but he chooses not to. why? jason is obviously lonely (as ba states in the panel below) and he caves pretty easily when damian asks him for help (both of them are so desperate for human interaction its tragic). so why does he distant himself from the community?

obviously it is in part due to the vigilante lifestyle, but it is also jason's perception of himself and how he believes others perceive him, especially in regards to his family (ba is literally hitting readers in the head with that theme baseball bat).

he doesn't see that the kid with the mask looks up to him, all he sees is the mother pulling him away. he sees the banned poster in the store. and, as ba narrates, "he was sure he'd been forgotten about" by his family. utrh is jason's twisted way of attempting to reach out and connect with bruce, and obviously that doesn't work-- so he chooses loneliness over rejection.

like in part one, though, damian refutes this idea by describing bruce's perspective, showing how what jason believes differs from actuality. bruce hasn't forgotten about him and doesn't hate him, as he suspected, but instead harbors guilt over the situation and desires to make it better, which jason must come to understand to be able to open the locked door and begin to move past his trauma.

so, that's what the little kid in the red hood outfit looks like to me. i actually have a lot more i'd like to say about the boy wonder, especially in regards to the whole "door to my past life" thing and what ba does with lighting and blocking in his artwork, so i may do a little post on that as well! i was gonna try and shove it into this one, but i've run out of room! i hope you guys liked my analysis, if you'd like to chat about the boy wonder or any other comics, my dms, asks, and reblogs are happily open! thanks for reading! :)) <3

pt. 1 / pt. 2

[saphronethaleph]

I'd Have Two Credits

The field was silent, and Mara Jade Skywalker was almost invisible.

She would have been completely invisible, hidden in the long grass, but her red hair was sort of a giveaway… still, it was close enough.

Then she shifted slightly, and fired her blaster rifle.

The skeet she was shooting only appeared after she’d pulled the trigger, and skeet and blaster bolt converged before vanishing in an explosion.

“Not bad,” Kyle said. “What does Luke think about this kind of thing, by the way?”

“Shouldn’t you have asked that before agreeing to help?” Mara replied, firing again. A second target flew across the range and exploded, and Mara smirked slightly.

She was sure her husband wouldn’t have a problem, not really. He’d grown up a farmboy using a blaster to protect himself, after all.

“Aunt Mara?”

“Safing the range,” Mara declared, flicking the safety onto her rifle.

“Confirmed,” Kyle agreed, from inside the bunker, and Mara rolled over onto her back.

“Hey there, Young Ben,” she added, smiling up at Ben Solo. “What brings you out here?”

The teenaged trainee Jedi looked serious.

“Aunt Mara, I’ve got a problem,” he said. “I… don’t know who to ask, but… can you help?”

Mara picked up her comlink.

“This sounds private, Kyle,” she said. “Sorry.”

“Copy that,” Kyle agreed. “I’ve got some training of my own to do, anyway.”

Mara flicked the switch off, and sat up.

“Okay,” she said. “What’s the problem?”

“I’ve got… suspicions,” Ben answered. “I feel like people are keeping something from me.”

“Yeah, probably,” Mara agreed.

Ben blinked.

“Huh?” he asked.

“You don’t know everything about my past,” she pointed out. “That’s because some of it is private. You don’t know everything about Kyle’s past, either. I don’t know if Kyle knows everything about his own father’s past… but what you’re actually saying is that you think people are keeping something important from you. Is that right?”

Ben nodded agreement.

“It’s something to do with me,” he said. “It’s when… Uncle Luke is talking about me. When my parents are talking about me.”

Mara frowned, thinking.

“I do know what it is,” she said. “And I also know why you haven’t been told yet, Ben… and it might have been a mistake, but here’s why you haven’t been told.”

She patted the grass next to her, and after a moment Ben sat.

They looked out together towards the skies of Ossus, and the Jedi Temple some kilometres away.

“It’s because they don’t want to put too much pressure on you,” she said. “There are some things which are too much strain to comfortably put on a child… and I say that as someone who had too much strain put on them as a child.”

“You turned out all right,” Ben muttered, almost accusingly.

“Eventually,” Mara conceded. “Eventually. But it took a long time, kid, and it’s an ongoing process too. I still wake up sweating in the night, because of the person I used to be… because of the weight that was put on me, by someone who wanted me to be a tool. Rather than to grow up as a child.”

“I still don’t think it’s fair,” Ben said. “I’m old enough to know.”

“Maybe you are,” Mara allowed. “But maybe you aren’t – and once you know something, you can’t unlearn it. Your family is keeping this from you, but it’s out of love… and Luke didn’t take it well when he learned something similar, and he was over twenty at that point. So it’s partly about making sure you learn in the right way.”

She shrugged. “But, hey. I’ll keep a close eye on you, and see if I come to a different opinion, okay? You are my favourite nephew.”

“I’m your only nephew,” Ben objected.

“Makes it an easy choice, doesn’t it?” Mara asked. “Doesn’t make it wrong, though.”

They sat in companionable silence for another minute or so, and an insect buzzed past with wings that droned deeply and resonantly.

“You’d never know there’d been a supernova blast hit this place thousands of years ago,” Mara said, then saw Ben’s expression.

“Aunt Mara,” the teen began, sounding like he wasn’t quite sure if he should ask. “What should I do if I hear… voices?”

“Voices how?” Mara asked.

“Talking to me,” Ben answered. “Suggesting things. Telling me things.”

“Well, in my experience, a voice in your head is usually Emperor Palpatine,” Mara told him. “Persistent bugger, too. Took five years after he died to finally get rid of that voice… but, fortunately for you, Ben, I’ve got experience in how to deal with that kind of voice.”

Ben didn’t say anything, but his expression looked relieved.

“If it’s about something horrible happening,” Mara began. “Like, an injury, or hurting yourself, you just think… yeah, that would suck. And then you keep going. If it’s telling you to do something, you think… do I actually want to do that? Will I still want it later?”

“And if it’s telling you something?” Ben checked.

“Then… best thing you can do is ask someone about if it’s true,” Mara replied. “But, you know, Ben… if a voice in your head tells you something that’s true, something you didn’t know, you know what that means?”

“...no?” Ben replied, frowning.

“It means you have every reason to think there’s an actual person, trying to manipulate you,” Mara said, her voice suddenly firm and her eyes very much like her maiden name. “And if it turns out that someone is trying to manipulate my nephew, I would very much like to know about it so I can ask them to stop. With a lightsaber.”

Ben was silent for about fifteen seconds.

“Is my grandfather Darth Vader?” he asked.

Mara promptly stood up.

“Right,” she said, and flicked the comlink on. “Kyle!”

There was a crash sound.

“What?” Kyle asked, sounding distracted. “I was getting the skeet shooter into position for testing my defence, and dropped it!”

“Never mind that now,” Mara replied. “Contact your friend Jan, we’ve got a force-user to track down and kill.”

“Right, right, on it,” Kyle replied.

That done, Mara crouched down again.

“Yes,” she said. “I wish you didn’t have to find out this way. Like I said, Luke didn’t take it well and he was over twenty at the time…”

[milla-frenchy]

The agreement (Blackmail part 2)

4k3 | Javier Peña x fem reader x Joel Miller (post OB) Chapt summary: you can't get Javi out of your head. You and Joel go back for more Warnings: 18+ mdni. sharing, oral (f/m receiving), unprotected piv, spitting, cum eating, anal play, threesome, double vag penetration, double creampie, degradation. a/n: @not-a-unique-snowflake-blog thank you so much for beta-ing me again 💕💕💕🫶🫶 And helping me with the title 😭 Playlist | ao3 | series masterlist | masterlist

Part 1

“Look at me, sweetheart.”

You opened your eyes and looked at Joel, whose cock was buried deep in your pussy. He stopped and looked at you thoughtfully. He gently stroked your hair.

“Are you with me, darlin’?”

“Yeah, sure. I'm here, baby.” You put your hands on his hips and pushed your pelvis towards him, so he could continue fucking you.

Joel began to fuck you slowly again, scrutinizing you with his eyes. He slipped his hand down to your pussy and rubbed your clit under his thumb, gently, the way he knew how to do so well.

“Come for me,” he murmured.

In a few seconds you were cuming, followed by Joel pulling out just before jerking off, and shooting his cum all over your lower stomach. He grabbed a towel from the nightstand and wiped you off.

He lay down next to you, his elbow bent and his hand holding his head up, facing you.

"Tell me what’s happening."

“I’m fine, Joel. Just tired."

You had returned from Bill and Frank’s the day before, after your supply trip.

“You’re thinking about him, aren’t ya?”

You lowered your gaze feeling the guilt. 

“I’m…I’m sorry.”

Tears welled up in your eyes, and Joel wiped them away with his thumbs when they started to fall.

“Sweetheart… It’s ok. We went to his apartment after a  mutual agreement. I know that what happened was unexpected. For both of us. But… I liked it too.” He was trying to meet your gaze.

“I shouldn’t have reacted like that. I should have… stayed detached.”

“Baby… it’s not like we can block our emotions. This is the principle of emotions. And isn't it better this way? Rather than fuckin’ a guy who would have disgusted you. I'd rather have seen you enjoying it."

You hugged him and said “I love you, Joel.”

“I love you, baby.”

You hadn’t talked about that night before this moment. Joel showed no resentment. But you were disturbed and had trouble getting the images of the evening out of your head. When you were making love to Joel, Javi's face would sometimes appear in your thoughts.

And you felt guilty.

You went out to do the planned tasks. You sorted the clothes collected by the patrols, and Joel cleaned the sewers. His task was arduous but it paid the best in ration cards.

You were walking towards your apartment late in the afternoon when you ran into Javi who was obviously going to take his night shift. You hadn’t seen him since that night.

“Hi, hermosa. Miller.”

“Peña”, Joel replied.

“Hello”, you whispered.

“Glad to see you returned safely from your outing.”

Joel grumbled “thanks.”

You tried to regain your composure and said “have a nice day” to Javi. He was looking at you, smiling. You blushed and said “let’s go, Joel.”

You continued on your way, Joel placing his hand against the small of your back and Javi watching you leave.

Joel and Javi crossed paths the next day.

“Did your outing go well?” Javi asked.

“We’re not friends, Peña.”

"Of course. We're doing business, that's all. You still seem a little tense. More than usual, I mean. Well, you're not exactly the most relaxed man I know,” Javi said with his usual insolence.

"Fuck off." Joel left without looking back.

The next week, you were finishing your work when you heard “Hi, Hermosa” behind you.

You froze before turning around and saying “Hi, Javi.”

“How are you, Hermosa?”

“Javi… you can’t call me that. It was business, that’s all.”

“Really?” he smiled kindly.

You looked at him annoyed but his soft teasing smile disconcerted you.

“I am available if you need to do business together again.”

And he left. You were stuck in place, feeling your panties getting soaked and said “Fuck!”

When you got back to the apartment, you lay down on the couch and quickly slipped your hands into your panties. You slipped your middle finger into your pussy to recover some wetness before sliding it over your clit and rolling it under your fingers. You put your other middle finger in your pussy and came quickly, feeling the spasms contracting it.

You said “Fuck…fuck!” again.

Joel returned shortly after. He hugged you and asked how you were.

“I saw Javi today. When I was leaving work. We just said hello.”

“You don’t need to justify yourself, sweetheart. It’s ok.”

You had been hugging for a few moments, then he said “you want to see him again, don’t you? Like the other night”

You pulled away and looked at him with wide eyes.

“Joel I… No… No. I don’t want to see him again.”

Joel took your hands and said “I understand why you do baby. Really. The way he behaved towards you… I understand.”

You looked at him questioningly. You couldn’t believe he was saying that to you. Joel had always been a gentle lover, attentive to your desires, but possessive. And there he was, proposing you to see Javi again, with the possible risks that this could entail for your relationship.

He hugged you again holding you close, and said “I love you, sweetheart. I'm not worried about our relationship. We are the survivors of a damn apocalypse, in a QZ where our life is reduced to picking up shit. What if we allow ourselves more? And if we can do it through him, then I'm ok with it."

“I don’t understand why you don’t wait for this desire to pass, baby...”

“Because I don’t want the temptation to consume you and be more difficult to manage. I prefer to anticipate it.”

You hugged him tighter and said “I love you, Joel. But are you sure?”

“100% baby. I loved it too, you know.”

The next day, Joel went to meet Javi.

“Miller?”

“I’ll be quick. She liked the evening at your place. She liked you, and she’s everything to me. I told her that if she wanted we could do it again. No need to ask if you agree with this idea, I think?”

"Course not. Are you ok with that?”

“I told you, she’s everything to me. So yeah. But no chair for me this time.”

Javi smiled and said “You impress me Miller. I don’t know if I'd be able to do it.”

“You would be.”

Javi smiled. "Tomorrow evening?"

Joel nodded and they went their separate ways.

The next evening, you arrived at Javi’s place. His apartment was as clean as the last time.

“Good evening, Hermosa. Joel.”

You noticed that it was the first time he called him by his first name.

“Good evening, Javi,” you replied.

“Javier,” Joel greeted him back.

“Come in for a drink.”

He suggested that you sit on the couch while you had a drink. You downed your drinks, enjoying them more than last time, even if you and Joel were slightly uncomfortable.

“Pe… huh… Javier. The conditions are the same as last time, okay?” He turned to you and added “you’re in charge.”

You nodded and Javi added “of course.”

Joel and Javi looked at each other and nodded. They stood up and took off their tops: brown shirt for Javi, denim shirt for Joel. They kept their jeans on.

You wondered where Javi had found such a dated shirt. Oddly enough, it suited him very well.

You looked at them, standing in front of you.

Two men with dark hair, Javi's darker.

Of equivalent size.

Javi was slightly more slender than Joel. His body was more agile, while Joel's was all strength.

Joel, a little older than Javi, stood more hunched.

His face was serious, marked by hardship, while Javi's was mischievous with a sparkle in his eyes.

Both were stunning, breathtakingly beautiful.

And both were just waiting for you.

Javi offered you his hand, and you took it getting up from the couch. You barely dared to look him in the eye. 

Javi leaned down to kiss your cheek, and said “there’s no reason to be embarrassed, Hermosa. The three of us are here because we want to, because the other evening went well. We want to have fun again. Joel and I, as well as you. Ok?

You looked at him, then Joel, who told you “he’s right sweetheart.”

You nodded and smiled, and said “ok.”

You held out your hand for Joel to come closer, and you kissed Javi on the lips.

Joel kept your hand in his as he moved closer to you. He came up against your back and kissed your neck. You moaned. Having these two men against you gave you butterflies in your stomach. You turned to Joel to kiss him while Javi was now against your back with his hands on your hips. He ran his hands up along your breasts and then down to your hips, breathing in your hair and neck.

Joel took off your shirt and Javi unhooked your bra before taking it off. Joel took the opportunity to take your breasts in his hands and caressed them gently. Javi placed kisses on your cheek, then up to your earlobe, his nose brushing against your skin. He moved down to your neck, his hands still on your hips, before sliding them down to your stomach and unzipping your jeans. He slid them down to your feet, kissing your body as he knelt down. You lifted your feet to remove each leg of your pants, as you kissed Joel. Javi stood up and ran his hand over your soaked panties, saying “mmm Hermosa” softly in your ear.

Joel took you by the hand and said “follow me, sweetheart” and led you to the dining room table where he leaned you against it, butt against the edge while Javi took off his jeans.

Joel pulled you closer to him, pressing his crotch against you. He was hard. He kissed you, hands on your hips, before leaning down to your breasts and taking one in his mouth while he caressed the other. He sucked on your nipple and swirled his tongue over it, before moving on to the other.

You looked at Javi then at Joel, waiting for his approval. He looked up at you and nodded. 

You said “Come here, Javi”. Javi approached, his cock erect and hard. You kissed him and took his cock in your hand, running your thumb over the tip and spreading the precum. He growled into your mouth. Joel stepped aside and removed his jeans and boxers, while Javi faced you. He placed his lips on yours and slipped his tongue into your mouth, mingling it with yours as you jerked him off.

Joel moved closer to you and you got on your knees. You looked at them in turn, before taking Javi in your mouth and jerking Joel off. You looked at them again. Joel's gaze was intense. You moved away from Javi before taking Joel in your mouth and jerking Javi off.

“Damn Hermosa… you’re fucking hot.”

“Get up, baby” Joel said before grabbing you to help you. “Sit on the table.”

You leaned against the table and Joel lifted you to sit on it. He spread your legs with his large hands before kneeling between them. “Lay down, baby” he said.

As you lay down, Javi moved closer, jerking himself gently. He said “fuck… Hermosa you’re so beautiful.”

Joel ran his tongue over your pussy and you moaned under his tongue. He spread the folds with his fingers and ran his tongue more gently before coming to tickle your clit.

“Will you suck my dick Hermosa?” asked Javi.

“Yeah, come here, Javi”, you replied.

You turned your head towards him, he was holding his cock at the base. You ran your tongue over it before placing your lips around his tip and caressing it with your tongue.

You felt Joel’s fingers dig into your pussy, while he focused on your clit with his tongue. You moaned, making Javi groan in turn as you sucked his cock further and further, depending on the rhythm of his hips.

Joel sat up and stood up, and said “make her cum Javier.”

They switched places, Joel bringing his cock to your mouth. “Wanna suck your cock, baby”, you said.

“Take it sweetheart. Suck my dick. Make me feel good in your mouth” you nodded and took him in your mouth, before feeling Javi’s breath on your pussy. He ran his tongue, his saliva mixing with Joel’s in your pussy.

“Doesn’t she taste good Javier?”

“Yeah… You taste so good Hermosa. Joel, you're a lucky bastard.”

Joel smiled at Javi for the first time, and looked back at you “You’re doing well, sweetheart. So good for us.”

You looked at him, before lowering your gaze to his cock which was sliding into your mouth.

Javi stuck his tongue into your pussy and was fucking you with it, while his nose rubbed against your clit. He held your legs apart with his hands. You placed your hand on his head, moaning more and more.

“You’re gonna cum baby, right? Come in his mouth baby. Soak his tongue.”

You stopped sucking him as your pleasure mounted, keeping him in your mouth until you came in Javi's mouth. He held his hands tight around you to keep your legs from moving too much and keep you within his reach, continuing to lick you until the spasms stopped. Joel pulled out of your mouth as Javi stood up, and bended over to twirl his tongue over your pussy again. You jumped at his touch on your overly sensitive clit, before caressing his head with your hands.

While Joel helped you get up, Javi went to sit on the couch and said “Come sit in my lap, Hermosa. Facing him."

You walked over to him before sitting on his thighs. He slid his hand up to your pussy, avoiding your overly sensitive clit for the moment, but sliding his middle finger into your hole.

“Come get sucked Joel,” Javi told him.

Joel came closer to you and said “open sweetheart. Stick out your tongue.” You did as he told you, waiting for him with your tongue out. He placed his cock on your tongue, grabbing your chin with his hand to lift it up, and dripped his saliva onto his cock, watching it slide down to your tongue. And he slid his cock into your mouth. Your eyes were fixed on him. Javi grabbed one of your breasts with his other hand, continuing to gently slide his middle finger into your pussy.

You didn't move, letting Joel handle the movements. He pushed himself deeper and deeper into your throat, his hand resting on your head, the other falling down his body.

Javi said “give me a second Joel” and Joel withdrew. Javi grabbed his cock in his hand and lifted you up, pushing his cock into your pussy and you impaled yourself on it “oh god… Fuck, Javi…”

“Missed my cock Hermosa?”

You looked at Joel before answering, who nodded.

“Answer him baby. Tell him.”

“Yeah fuck… yeah I missed it.”

“I missed you too, Hermosa. You have quite an effect.”

Javi lifted you with his hands, and moved his hips to start fucking you. His movements were slow, and allowed Joel to come back into your mouth. You let him resume his pace, your lips wrapping around his shaft.

“Are you still too sensitive, baby?” asked Joel.

“No… I don't think so Joel. It’s ok.”

Joel knelt down and watched as Javi’s cock slid into your pussy. Your wetness slid down to his balls. He came closer and licked your clit with the tip of his tongue.

“Oh god, Joel!” The sensations were indescribable. Javi’s cock was buried in your pussy, your legs raised. Javi held them apart. Joel sucking on your clit.

“Fuckin hell hermosa… you’re so hot. So good for us.”

You placed your hands on either side of Joel’s face and leaned against Javi’s chest, letting him lead the pace. You heard Joel grunting against your clit.

“Fuck… I’m gonna cum again. Fuck…”

“Come on, baby. Come on his tongue and on my cock. I wanna feel you squeeze me again and soak me. Couldn’t stop thinking about it since the other night.”

You came, throwing your head back and squeezing Joel’s head so hard he groaned.

Joel pulled away to look at where your two bodies met and said “fuck baby… such a fuckin’ slut. Let’s go to the bedroom now.”

As you were about to get up, leaning forward to support yourself on your feet, Javi held you, hands on your hips and fucked you at a fast pace “fuckin’ soaked hole...” before letting you get up.

Once in the room, you lay down on the bed and said “come fuck me Joel.”

Joel lay on top of you and thrust into you, making you moan.

Your gaze was fixed on him but you were lost in your emotions. You loved everything about this evening. The way they fucked you, the way they shared you.

You stared at Joel. Intensely.

“What do you want, sweetheart?”

“I want you to…” You bit your lip.

“Tell me,” he said, thrusting hard.

You cried out in surprise, and said "I want you to talk to me. Dirty. Joel, please…"

“Fuck… you want me to tell you what a slut you are? Wanna hear it out loud?”

“Yes Joel…fuck…yes, please.”

"I can't believe you were reluctant to come back here, when your slutty holes just wanted to be filled by both of our cocks."

He grabbed your chin in his hand and added "That's what you wanted? To be filled by two cocks? Mine isn't enough for you, you need two big, fat cocks?"

He brought his hand down and squeezed your throat. His gaze was black. He held you so tightly that you could just nod your head.

“We’ll give you what you want.”

He released his grip on your throat, continuing to thrust into you.

“Javi, I want you in my mouth.”

Javi knelt on the bed, holding his cock in his hand. You looked at him, and stuck out your tongue.

“Fuckin christ, woman,” Joel said, fucking you harder.

Javi placed his cock on your tongue, just the tip. He jerked himself off while watching you, then Joel fucking you. And he slid his cock into your mouth, you rounded your lips to welcome him. He placed his hand on your cheek, and felt his cock through your skin.

Joel buried his head in your neck, kissing it, then came to bite your earlobe. His head brushing against Javi’s hand, before pulling out of you.

“Come fuck her Javi.”

Javi smiled, before saying “you like being shared by our two cocks, huh?” You nodded, looking at Joel.

Javi came and lay down between your legs and slid his cock inside you.

Joel was standing next to the bed, jerking off gently. “You take both of our cocks so well darlin. You’re doing so well for us.”

He walked over and fondled one of your breasts, still jerking off. He leaned towards you and said “open up baby”. As you opened your mouth, he spat in it and clamped your jaw shut with his hand.

“Fill her up javi. Then I’ll fill her cunt too.”

You groaned at his words.

“Look at me hermosa. You're going to get filled by two cocks, like a little slut. Is that what you want?"

“Yes! Yes Javi, that’s what I want.”

“Yeah? Want your pussy filled with both our cum? Wanna feel them running down your thighs?”

You nodded.

"Ok baby. I'll give you what you want.” He picked up the pace and put his arms under your shoulders to fuck you harder. Joel was still jerking off next to the bed.

“Fuck…I’m gonna cum hermosa. Gonna fill this tight cunt.”

He thrusted in two more times before spreading his cum deep inside your pussy. Once his balls were empty, he withdrew, and Joel took his place instantly. He looked down at your folds to see Javi's cum starting to leak out. He ran his fingers around picking some up and stuffing them into your pussy.

“You want both of us, right? Can't miss a drop baby.”

He lay down between your thighs and bottomed out in one go. He put his fingers covered with Javi's cum in your mouth for you to lick them.

“Fuck. Such a slut. With your pussy dripping with the cum from another man. You’re so fucking soaked of his cum and so wet, I'm sure you could take both of our cocks in your pussy."

He growled against your ear, and his words hurried your orgasm.

“You’re such a whore, you know that?”

“Yes Joel…yeah.”

“Tell me what you are.”

“I’m a whore. I’m a fucking whore.”

Javi sat in the chair watching the whole scene.

Joel picked up the pace, unable to stop talking. “Can’t believe it, I thought you were a nice girl who wanted only my cock. But one cock isn’t enough for you anymore, is it?”

You couldn't answer anymore. He smacked your cheek. Not too hard. “Fuckin answer me.”

“Fuck. I want two cocks Joel. I want your two cocks. So bad.”

“Shit… I’m gonna fill you too.”

He grunted before thrusting deep inside you and shooting his load. Your orgasm rushed over you.

“Oh god Joel…” 

He collapsed on top of you, trying to catch his breath.

He finally got up while you were still lying down, and said “come see this Javi.”

The two men were standing at the foot of the bed, looking at your sore pussy, with their cum leaking out.

You heard the curfew sirens and Joel looked worriedly at Javi, who replied “stay here tonight. It's too late for you to go back. The bed is big enough, we’ll squeeze in.” The two men came to join you, each from one side.

You fell asleep.

You woke up a few hours later, Joel and Javi’s bodies pressed against you. You felt some of their cum still leaking from your pussy but you didn't have the courage to go to the bathroom. Javi was against your back, his cock resting against your ass.

You stretched your ass towards him, at the same time as you took Joel’s cock in your hands, jerking him gently. You felt them wake up at the same time.

Javi’s hand came to squeeze your breast, before moving down to your thigh. He lifted your knee to give himself access to your pussy, and you felt the tip of his already hard cock directly slide into your hole.

Looking at Joel, you saw that his gaze was on you.

“Looks like you don’t need any preparation to take his cock baby? Still full of our cum huh?”

You bit your lip and just nodded, while Javi was pounding in you.

“Don’t stop jerking me off,” said Joel. You resumed your movement, stopped when Javi entered you.

“How is her pussy, Javi?”

“Ruined. I slide in so easily.”

“Mmmm” Joel muttered. Lie on your back Javi.”

Javi withdrew before settling in as Joel asked.

“And you sweetheart, come ride him.”

You moved on top of Javi, before grabbing his cock in your hand and pushing it inside you.

“Is the lube still in the top drawer?”

“Yeah.”

Joel went to get it and coated his cock with it, before putting the bottle down.

"You’re gonna prepare my ass, Joel?”

“It’s not your ass I’m gonna fuck."

“Wait what? I never…”

“There’s always a first time, baby.”

You looked at Javi with a panicked look, but he just said “come on Hermosa. You’re fuckin’ soaked and still dripping our cum from last night. You’ll take us easily.”

Joel kneeled behind you and spread your ass cheeks.

“Fuck… you’re gonna be so full….”

He leaned against Javi's cock, which had stopped his movements. Joel started to thrust and told you to lean on Javi’s chest.

You leaned forward and felt Joel’s cock sink into you.

“Fuck…Fuck! Joel, wait. It's too much. I don’t think I can -”

“Yes, you fuckin’ can.”

He didn't stop. He felt the walls of your pussy adjust to the two of them. He continued to thrust until his balls were against Javi's.

Looking up, you saw the look in Javi’s eyes, who nodded at Joel. And they both moved. 

“Oh fuck… Cant’ believe… God. Cant’ believe I’m getting fucked by two cocks."

Javi smiled and kissed you, before telling you “you’re really doing well Hermosa, you’re so good for us.”

“You can do better, darlin’.“

“What? What do you mean, Joel?”

Joel put his thumb in his mouth and spat on your ass. He caught the saliva with his thumb before applying it to your asshole.

“Shit Joel…”

“Stop whining. I know you like it” and he pushed his knuckle into your ass.

“Fuck..Yeah. Yes I do.”

Joel smiled as he looked at Javi.

You felt full. Two cocks in your pussy, Joel's thumb in your ass.

Joel told you “I’m sure if there were three cocks here, you’d take one in your mouth.”

“Fuck yeah…I bet she would”, added Javi.

They continued for a few minutes, and you heard Javi breathing harder.

“You’re gonna cum Javi? You’re gonna cum in my pussy?”

“Yeah Hermosa…I’m gonna fill you again.”

“Go ahead Javi. Cum in her pussy, and don't pull out until I fill her too. Not gonna be long.”

Your clit had been rubbing against Javi’s crotch for several minutes, and you felt like you were going to cum soon too.

“Fuck… yeah… ‘m gonna fill you Hermosa. Oh… oh god….”

Javi's cock twitched as he came, his cock crushed against Joel's.

“Fuck. I’m gonna fill you too baby.”

Joel growled louder and louder, and you felt Javi’s cum starting to leak out of your pussy.

Joel stiffened and shot his cum into you. 

He collapsed on top of you, still straddling Javi and you came for the last time that night, full of their cum.

Before pulling out, Joel said, “You’re gonna have to help me find more after pills, Javi.”

Part 3

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

Thank you for reading 🙏 Comments and reblogs are greatly appreciated ❤️

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[unofficial-underfell]

Hey guys, I've been thinking about making this post for a long time and I think its finally time I do so. After realizing that some of my last work was done over a year ago, I don't think I can really ignore it anymore. While I haven't quite thrown in the towel on this quite yet, it's pretty evident to me and I'm sure to everyone who still follows this blog that my fervor for the project has drastically decreased. And has been kind of dead for a while. The comic has not been a priority to me, or posting online much at all actually. I did some soul searching and found that I'd started relying on outside approval for my art instead of doing art for the sake of wanting to tell a story and express myself throughout my work. I have limited energy and depression and sometimes it feels like i get such little progress done even though it takes all of my energy. While I'm trying to go to the gym more and build better habits my energy levels and mood still have a lot to be desired, and I'd rather use the limited energy I have to work on something I'm more passionate about.

I've been trying to grow my skills and absorb more stories and I've moved around a lot and started to listen to what I really felt, and I found that a lot of the art I want to focus on deals with heavier and more mature topics. I do love this story, and all of the characters and I feel like I could make a really clever subversion of what is expected from an Underfell comic. But I feel like in these uncertain times with the world and with all of the stuff going on right now, I'd like to use my energy to work on stories that hit closer to the things that I feel are important. So that's why I've not been posting much.

I'm working on a book, and I've actually got quite a lot of progress done on it, but because of all the horror stories online about people stealing author's original works, I'm kind of holding off on publishing any chapters before I can copyright the first draft of the novel. So my online activity will still be pretty scarce for a bit, though I'll still post occasionally on my @cosmicpixel01 account. I'll try better to not be so radio silent though lol. Even if that means I'll post something boring about my dog or books I'm reading just so everyone knows I'm still alive.

I don't want to call it quits on the story. But I also feel like you guys have been kept waiting to see what happens for a really long time, and that makes me feel so guilty. I will try to finish up the pages I have in the works, and I'm probably going to switch to a different format that is some drawings, some writing to finish the story. I'm sorry that I wasn't able to finish it the way I intended for you guys, even with all of the support and kind words and even the fanart that I've kept in a folder on my desktop. I am letting a lot of you down, but I feel like the radio silence is probably more irresponsible than just going out and saying something. And I'm sorry I've kept you all waiting for a not-so-happy update on the blog.

I hope that some of you will continue to follow me for some of my other exploits and see whatever other things I have going on, but I understand that you all followed me for Undertale so I don't want you to feel any sort of guilt if you decide not to. I'm just happy you all supported me for so long.

I'll try to work on this blog again soon, and if anyone has any questions, my asks are open, though I'll probably keep the asks private. Until then I hope everyone stays safe out there. And from the bottom of my heart, thank you.

-Avery

[emeritusemeritus]

No Good Deeds [George Weasley x Reader]

Part 1 2 3

Part 3

Title: No Good Deeds. Part 3.

Pairing: {George Weasley x Reader} mentions of previous Fred Weasley x Reader.

Timeline: Set a few years after DH, loosely following Canon.

Summary: A few years after Fred’s death, the investors of Weasleys’ Wizard Wheezes demand changes to the name. All it would take is two years of a fake marriage to fix the issues, but no good deed goes unpunished.

Warnings: Fake marriage trope because we love the cliché. Mentions of death (Fred). Friends to lovers. Slow burn but mentions of kissing and eventual smut. Swearing. George calls us Angel. Drinking. Angst, sadness, grief. Tags will be updated with each chapter.

This one got a little sad I’m sorry, I’m in my Freddie feels right now 🥀

Arriving at the shop, you noticed that Ron was still not here yet as the shop was in complete blackout except for the window lights which remained on at all times. You pulled out your wand and recited the unlocking spell that Fred had created and personalised, as well as the counter spell for the anti-alohamora charm he'd placed upon the building. You locked the door behind you with a flick of your wand and illuminated the store, making your way straight up to the office. The store looked good and tidy, though you did notice during your ascent up the stairs that there were a few stock items that needed replenishing, something you could do once you'd set up everything in the back.

Around half an hour later, Ron burst through the office door, calling for George and immediately froze upon seeing you sat there at his brother's desk.

"Oh, thought it was George this morning," he says, running his hand over the back of his neck, slightly embarrassed at barging in.

"He had some stuff to sort this morning, said I'd cover for him," you explained with a little shrug, grabbing the floats from the safe and the morning banking book.

"Oh right, yeah okay," Ron says, following behind you as you walk down the stairs. "Think he's got a secret girlfriend?"

Ron's words make you momentarily freeze, having not expected him to say that.

"Don't know Ronald," you said with another shrug and a smile, "but if Percy can get a girlfriend then George definitely can." Ron laughs with a nod and helped you set up the shop as you work together, laughing and joking like usual. He tries to pry into George's love life a little more, assuming that you know more than he does but you successfully manage to deflect his questions, hopefully without any suspicion.

You winced as the stones of your engagement ring caught the palm of your hand for the third time since you'd been restocking the shelves and looked down to see a little imprint of the outline cut into your hand. You sighed, checking around you to see where Ron was before walking up towards the office and turning left instead, towards the flat. Approaching the wooden door, you took a deep breath in and tried to gather your courage, suddenly feeling emotional and overwhelmed at returning to the flat you'd once known so well, dreading stepping through the door.

You huffed out a breathe and opened the handle, immediately greeted by the dark corridor that wrapped around the flat. You walked past the closet and then past what used to be Fred's bedroom, pausing only briefly to touch the doorframe as you felt your lip wobble, tears threatening your eyes. You shook them away and carried on walking towards George's room, looking for something specific that you knew he had, hoping he wouldn't mind you borrowing it.

You felt uncomfortable intruding like this, but it was the only solution you could think of. You stepped through the door and found the room to be much neater than you imagined, with only a few pieces of clothing and ties strewn on the floor in the otherwise rather tidy bedroom. You walked over to his dresser, seeing his leather watch box on top and raised the lid. Immediately you were met with a photo of you, George and Fred in your fifth year, building a snowman in the courtyard at Hogwarts. You all looked so young and happy, dressed in layer upon layer of warm clothes topped with coats and hats as you beamed at the camera, Fred's arm wrapped around you and George holding onto your shoulder, each one of you proud of the enchanted snowman you'd created. A tear leaked out of your eye and you bit your lip to try and prevent anymore from falling as you quickly wiped it away, unable to take your eyes of Fred's infectious smile. You placed the photo down onto the lid and reached to grab a silver chain that was beside the watch that his parents had given him for his 17th birthday, the same watch that sat beside an identical one in the box. You'd bought both of them a chain for their 17th birthday with a little engraved pendant attached that you had customised. The engraving was a 'w' sign with a little star at the top, the very same sign that would become the logo for the shop. Fred was buried in his chain, having never taken it off, but you noticed that George hadn't worn his much in the past few years, which you understood. You took out the chain and slipped the engagement ring through it before securing it around your neck and tucking it underneath your shirt. The last thing you wanted was to lose the ring and this was the only way you could keep it safe whilst you were at work, knowing you'd be panicking if it was in your pocket all day and you vowed to keep it at home tomorrow. You closed the lid of the watch box, casting one last glance at the photo before walking out of the flat and back down to the shop. Ron was none the wiser and you carried on restocking the love potions, no longer hurting from the ring, as Ron grabbed the skiving snackboxes in preparation for you opening the store.

You briefly thought of George as you wiped down the counter, wondering if the furniture had been delivered yet and what he was doing at home before a knock at the front door dragged you out of your musings. Verity had arrived for her shift and you let her in with a wave of your wand, greeting her before disappearing into the office for one last check over the inventory books before the shop opened.

"Morning stranger," you heard a voice say a little later as you deposited some cash into the safe. You turned around and saw George leaning on the door frame, arms crossed with a smirk on his lips, looking well rested and quite frankly, very handsome in his suit and burgundy shirt.

"Morning Georgie," you smiled, locking the safe and turning to face him completely.

"You ran off this morning," he teases, stepping forward to sit next to you on the desk, his long legs leaning beside you.

"I left a note," you countered in a mock-argument, giving him a wicked smile. He chuckles and nods, his eyes flicking over you.

"Did everything come okay? Didn't expect you in yet."

"All set up," he says with a nod before frowning gently, his mouth opening and closing twice before he says the next part, "look about last night, I'm sorry if-"

"Georgie," you said, moving to stand and place your hand on his chest to stop him. "I offered."

"Yeah not for me to sleep with-

"It's fine, actually it was nice to sleep beside someone again," you said honestly, the image of Fred's smiling face from the photograph filling your mind as you thought of the only person you'd ever shared a bed with. "Except for the snoring, that I could do without," you joked. He immediately grabbed you and pulled you into him as you let out a little squeal at the sensation of his beginning to tickle you.

"Snoring!?" He repeats with a shout, trying to look outraged but the grin on his face told you that he was far from angry. "How rude Mrs Weasley," he jokes, stopping the tickling but still keeping his hands on your waist. His eyes flick down to your left hand and his brows knit together momentarily as you follow his train of thought.

"Couldn't let Ron see it yet," you said as you both looked at your left ring finger, "I have to confess something though."

"Don't say you've lost it already," George says with a small, goading smirk which transforms into a laugh as you hit him on the chest for the little dig.

"No I haven't lost it," you say with a huff before reaching down into your shirt and pulling out the chain that sits around your neck, the ring hanging off of it like a pendant, knowing he'd recognise it instantly, "had to borrow this from you, is that okay? Please don't be mad, I tried to put the ring on my other hand but it kept digging in and it cut me and."

George immediately stops your babbling by pressing his lips to yours, a move that shocks you to your core as you stand there frozen, feeling his soft lips on yours. The kiss lasts no more than a few seconds but you can't help but stay perfectly still, more than surprised by his actions, your eyes slowly fluttering open after instinctively closing as he leaned in. George pulls away and looks at you with equal amounts of surprise, as if he couldn't believe what he'd just done too. His shocked expression drops from his face after a few moments as he draws in a breath before explaining, never taking his eyes off his chain around your neck.

"I'm sorry, I couldn't think of any other way to stop you rambling," he says with a small tilt of teasing in his voice before his gaze flicks up to look directly into your eyes, a soft look on his features. "I don't mind, looks good on you."

He strokes your arm as he pulls away and without any other words, he walks through the office door and down the stairs, leaving you utterly bamboozled as you stare at the spot where George had just been. George just kissed you. George Weasley had just kissed you.

The rest of the day was a bit of a blur, with paperwork and inventory checks needing your attention and taking up most of your time. You'd run into George a few times over the course of the day and each and every time you had felt his eyes on you before you even knew he was there. The look in his eyes was unfamiliar to you, like he was deep in thought or concentration but it only seemed to be when he caught sight of you which was strange. At one point he had winked at you as you walked through the store after grabbing some lunch for the both of you and it made you feel giddy and restless as there had seemed to be a shift in your dynamic since the kiss.

After your last inventory check was done and recorded in the files, you stepped out onto the shopfloor at 10 minutes before close to ask George about what he wanted for dinner tonight but you stopped short when you saw him laughing with an unfamiliar woman next to the till. They were stood pretty close together and she was laughing at something George was saying as he chuckled along, looking fairly animated in his reply. Your eyes rolled when you saw her laugh and reach out to touch his arm, a move you'd seen over and over again in all those tragic muggle romantic comedies that Hermione had made you endure over the years. You couldn't deny that your stomach sank at seeing the scene before you, George and the pretty woman flirting openly in the near empty shop, especially after he kissed you earlier in the day. You considered just backing away and pretending that you'd not seen what you had but that plan was immediately rendered impossible when you heard your name called out by a very familiar voice. George.

He waved his hand at you, gesturing for you to join them and you willed your feet to move across the floor, trying to force a smile onto your face though inside you were a maelstrom of hurt and rage.

"This is her, y/n," George says, introducing you as you approach them, placing his hand onto your waist as you stand next to him. "She came up with these, bloody brilliant actually," George says, holding out the familiar packaging of the weather in a bottle product you'd created together in your sixth year. "Excellent diversion tactic or just a harmless prank if preferred, a rain cloud will actually follow the receiver around and it creates no mess, except for the unsuspecting victim, they'll be wet through."

Usually, George's praise would have made you blush, especially as his hand held your waist so openly, but in the current circumstance you just felt enraged. The woman he was chatting with had pulled away from him and clearly had a face like thunder at your interruption, though she tried to mask it around George.

"It seems your employees are very talented," she says with a tight lipped smile that certainly didn't reach her eyes. You didn't miss the inflection on the word 'employees' and it pained you not to roll your eyes at her purposeful goading. You shot her a sarcastic smile in return before looking around for Ron but you couldn't see him.

"Employee?" George says questioningly before looking down at you, pulling you in slightly, "my fiancée." You froze, feeling suddenly on the spot at you tried to search for any sign of Ron or Verity in hearing distance but there was no one else around.

The woman seemed to baulk at the new information and all pretence of a smile dropped from her face. She suddenly made up some excuse about having to collect something from Flourish and Botts and quickly hustled out of the store, leaving you and George alone.

You snorted as you watched her exit, "should rename the shop 'Weasleys' Wizard Whizzes, with how fast she just ran out."

George barked out a laugh before checking his watch and flourishing his wand, effectively closing and locking the door. He nudges you with his hip as he squeezes past to get to the tills, opening up the first one that Verity had manned for most of her shift.

"So fiancé Eh?" You said quietly, moving around to the second till to begin cashing it up just as George had with the first one. George gives you a little look as he counts the sickles before jotting down the total on the little piece of parchment beside the till.

"Only one more day before we tell mum, might as well start the rumours," George says with a knowing smirk. The mention of telling Molly made your stomach lurch and it was all you could think of as you counted each galleon, knut and sickle in the till.

"You ready my beloved?" George asks jokingly, reaching for your hand as he puts the last of the cash in the safe.

"What about the accounts?" You ask, looking through the inventory receipts laid out on your desk.

"They can wait till morning, I'm starving, let's go home," George says, taking your hand and begins leading you down the stairs. His use of 'home' gave you a warm, fluttery feeling that made a goofy smile want to cross across your lips, knowing that he meant both of you.

You walked out of the shop and George turned out the lights and locked up with his wand before placing it into his suit jacket pocket, never once letting go of your hand as you walked around to the back of the store and apparated back to your flat.

As soon as you made it back, you walked into your bedroom and threw off your bra just as you did everyday, followed by your socks and jeans, changing into your loungewear straight away. You threw on a big cardigan and walked back out to see George in the kitchen, looking through the fridge.

"Made you a cup of tea Angel," he says with an absent nod of his head as he peruses the ingredients.

"Thank you!" You gush, elated at the prospect of having a warm cup of tea, "I knew there was a reason I'm marrying you," you joked.

George huffed mockingly, closing the fridge as he turns to face you. He'd taken off his suit jacket and rolled up his sleeves and you couldn't deny how good he looked right at that moment.

"Not my movie star good looks? Towering height? Flaming red hair?" He jokes, stepping closer to you.

"Hmmm," you pretend to think, dramatically tapping your chin, "no it's definitely the tea."

"Remind me why I'm marrying you again?" He teases, reaching behind you to grab his drink.

"I'd say my impeccable sense of humour and sharp whit but we both know it's for a savvy business move," you replied with a sarcastic grin that falls from your face as you watch George's face sink. He recovers quickly but you definitely saw the stricken expression on his face and you immediately regret your words, though you were of course only stating facts.

You start tea as George nips in the shower and as the rice begins to boil and the chicken comes out of the oven, the kitchen heats up exponentially and you have to take off your cardigan due to the heat, casting it to the wind to land somewhere on the sofa behind you. Just as you reached for the jar of sauce from the cupboard, you saw the bottles of daisyroot draught you'd bought for George a few days ago and pulled it out for him before adding the sauce to the chicken.

"Georgie, I got you some daisyroot, if you want it," you said, turning to face him as you stir the bubbling pan. He's wearing his pyjama bottoms and a black T-shirt as he rubs his hair with the towel, walking barefoot into the kitchen. He opens his mouth to reply but he seems to briefly pause, focusing intently on something around you before snapping out of it a few moments later, looking bashful.

"Great, yeah great, thank you," he stammered, stuttering through his words as he avoided eye contact with you and walked past you to grab a glass from the top shelf. You frowned at his peculiar behaviour but decided not to question in, realising that it might be an adjustment thing from him moving in with you, after all the only person he'd ever lived with as an adult was Fred. Perhaps you shouldn't have bought him the daisyroot, thinking that somehow you might have overstepped.

"Tea's nearly ready," you say, perhaps a little delicately in hopes that you wouldn't upset him but his reaction is normal so you try to put it out of your mind, putting it down to a bad turn.

"This is amazing Angel," George says, taking huge forkfuls of the chicken curry and rice you'd haphazardly thrown together. You smile appreciatively at him and scoop up some of your own food, admittedly taking much smaller bites than George. "So, you ready to tell Mum tomorrow?"

Your eyes shoot up to his with a glare, seeing him smirking at you and you roll your eyes, feeling a lump in your throat and nerves at the pit of your stomach.

"Yeah can't wait," you mutter sarcastically, already anticipating what could happen in your mind, picturing her utter elation, or her outrage.

"You know she'll be happy right?" George says, scooping up another forkful of rice.

"You think we can actually convince them?" You ask, changing the direction of the conversation slightly, not realising how much that question had been playing on your mind. George is quiet for a minute as he considers his answer, taking a sip of the daisyroot before picking up his fork again.

"Don't see why not," he says with a little shrug before turning to look at you with a little smile, "not exactly unheard of is it? Falling for your best friend."

George's words make your stomach flip and roil in numerous ways, the smile on his face only furthering those complicated feelings within you.

"Guess not," you reply, trying to act neutral as you absently eat your food, though you couldn't deny that your appetite had waned dramatically from the topic of conversation. "So, do I wear the ring tomorrow or do I put it on after work?"

"Whatever you want Angel," George says, reaching for his glass again, "Ron's off tomorrow and I doubt Verity would notice anything even directly under her nose, it's just you and me." When you don't reply, silently considering your options, George leans over and grabs your hand on the table, stroking where your engagement ring should be. "Keep in on my chain tomorrow, around your neck and then put it on before we get back to mum's," he suggests, a softness to his voice that made it seem like a hopeful request. You nod and smile at him, still feeling a little conflicted as you tuck into the rest of your meal.

When you climb into bed later that night, your thoughts are consumed by your situation, of your impending engagement and your future after that. Truthfully, you hadn't taken much time to process everything since that first initial day, getting caught up in George moving in and all the things that came along with that. You were already anxious at returning to the Burrow tomorrow, having only been back a handful of times since the war, once for Harry and Ginny's engagement party and a few other dinners that never quite felt the same as before, like something obvious was missing, as it always was these days. Your thoughts were plagued with what ifs and nervous thoughts of what lies after but mostly all you could think of was Fred.

You had to remind yourself that you were doing this for George and for Fred's memory, to keep the business exactly as it had been created, to honour Fred. They were your oldest friends, your best friends and you'd give anything for them to succeed and to be happy and if that meant sacrificing your own life and happiness temporarily, then you'd do it in a heartbeat, regardless of the emotional strain.

You felt shame at lying to the people that had become your second family, that had housed you and welcomed you into their home like one of their own. You felt sad that you were holding back George from finding someone and even more conflicted that the idea of George finding someone else caused you to hurt in ways you couldn't explain. And most of all, you felt immeasurable guilt at your arrangement with George, namely because it felt like you were disrespecting Fred. Moving on, even though you were never officially together, seemed to imply that you had chosen George over him, that you could be so selfish and heartless that you'd marry his twin brother after his death, casting all of your memories away and rendering them insignificant. In your heart, you knew Fred wouldn't see it that way and he'd be proud of you for doing what you were doing for his and George's sake, though your mind wouldn't listen to a word of that, instead choosing to attack you.

As soon as the idea crossed your mind, you pulled back your covers and hauled yourself out of bed to crouch on the floor, reaching for a large shoebox that was stored under your bed, filled with your most treasured items. The top of the box had scribbles all over it in both in pencil and quill ink, with writings and drawings of Weasley products all over in a mixture of yours and the twins' handwriting. You sat and chuckled at the difference between everyone's writing; yours was the neatest and most consistent with cursive tails and joined letters. George's writing was small and a little 'curly', though it was quite neat for a boy's writing. Fred's writing however, fluctuated between indecipherable scribblings and various levels of darkness as if he's taken too much ink on the quill. You ran your fingers over the markings, smiling to yourself, before opening the lid to the shoebox. You didn't do this often, only when you needed to feel him, to be surrounded by memories, like right now.

You pulled out a stack of photos front the top, some magical and some not, seeing you, George and Fred at various ages and places during your Hogwarts years. You looked through them with fondness before coming across a photo of you and Fred at the Yule Ball in your sixth year, both of you dressed in your fanciest clothes. Fred's rust coloured waistcoat matches his vibrant, long hair perfectly and you looked at the photo carefully, thinking of how handsome he looked. Memories of dancing and laughing through the night entered your mind, both with Fred and George after George had stolen you away for a dance when Fred had stepped out to get drinks. Fred had walked straight up to the pair of you pretending to be angry and had tried to steal you back, both of them never missing a step of the waltz choreography as you were passed back and forth between the brothers, their matching red hair just a blur as you spun around.

You couldn't stop the tears that filled your eyes and steamed down your cheeks as you looked at the photo of Fred, trying to remember every little detail about him, the scar on his eyebrow and the light freckles on his cheeks, his smell and his laughter. You put down the photos and picked up the button that was underneath the stack, one of the buttons from your dress that night that Fred had unceremoniously ripped off of you, this singular button popping off and rolling underneath his bed, only for you to find it two months later. You placed the button down onto the photos and pulled out a stack of letters that you'd saved, some from Fred and some from George, not feeling strong enough to be able to read them at the moment.

Just as you pulled out a little stuffed toy of a Niffler that Fred had bought you in your third year and cuddled it into your chest, there was a gentle knock at the door. You called out for George to come in, trying to stash the things away before he could see them and get upset as well as quickly wiping away your tears before looking up to him.

Whatever he wanted from you disappeared the second he saw your tear strained face, crouched over a box he recognised immediately.

"Angel," he says quietly, which only makes more tears fall. He moves like lightning over to you and immediately wraps his arms around you, sitting beside you and pulling you into his embrace so that you were near enough sat in his lap. He holds you, rocking gently as you cry, no longer seeing any reason to hold back your emotions.

"Your T-shirt's all wet," you say in a weak, apologetic voice with a sniffle a few minutes later, pulling away from him slightly. "I'm so sorry, it's not fair of me to do this with you," you say, noticing that his own tears are working their way down his face.

"Not fair? What do you mean?" He says gently, allowing you to pull away but not completely, keeping a comforting hand on you.

"He was your brother, your twin, I-"

"Enough of that," he says with a shake of his head, reaching down to wipe away a tear under your eye, "he meant everything to both of us."

His words make you want to cry all over again but you don't, trying to stay calm as you rest your forehead on his shoulder. His hand strokes your back as you try and calm your breathing, feeling a little embarrassed by your outburst after you'd got it all out of your system.

"I'm sorry, I hadn't considered how hard this must be for you, you and Fred were together for-."

"It doesn't matter," you say, cutting off George, not wanting to explain that you were never really together, "it's not that, not really, I just really needed him."

George gives you a single nod that holds all the weight of understanding, clearly knowing exactly how you felt.

"I remember this," George chuckles, pulling something out of the box delicately. It was a piece of parchment with the ingredients for the ageing potion you'd found in an old potions book that the twins had used to try and enter their names into the triwizard tournament. You'd warned them that it wouldn't work against Dumbledore's age line but they hadn't listened. Attached to the sheet of parchment with an old paper clip was a photo you'd taken of the twins in the infirmary, both of them sporting wild white hair and beards, including bushy eyebrows, their arms around each other with cheesy smiles.

You watched as George reached down to touch an old, faded T-shirt of Fred's that was tucked down into the bottom of the box, an old quidditch T-shirt that had outgrown him by his third year, golden thread stitching up a hole in the collar and another smaller one on the seam of the sleeve. You wore it to bed nearly every night for years, the softness and the smell always so comforting to you.

George's fingers ran across the Gryffindor logo for a moment before catching sight of a keyring he'd bought you from the Quidditch World Cup, the green shamrock dangling from the binder ring, the Ireland logo on the back a little scratched up now but the green, white and orange colours were still as vibrant as ever.

"I bought you this," he said with a smile, placing it into his hand as he inspected it. You nodded eagerly, remembering it clearly. You'd painted the boys faces before leaving the tent with the face paint you'd taken with you and when they'd been to look at the merchandise with the limited money they had, they'd both returned with matching green and white scarves, Fred decked out in an obscenely large hat and George had nervously held out his hand to you, passing you the keyring as he moved you to stand between the twins.

"Knew you would want a momento from the trip but I didn't think you'd appreciate one of those hats like Fred and Ginny had," he says, a fondness in his eyes as he looks at the metal keyring.

"I used it everyday for five years," you said, giving him a little smile. "I caught it on the door one day and I thought I broke it, had to reattach the shamrock and then I switched it out, it means too much to me to get broken or lost."

George looks up at you with emotion filled eyes, a look shared between you both that held so much depth that it stole your breath for a few moments.

"Feels like another lifetime," George says after a few minutes of silence. You made a noise of agreement, flicking your eyes down to look at the box filled with distant memories that were now bittersweet and a little twisted.

"You're wrong, you know."

George looks up at you with a puzzled frown, confused by your words. You breathe out a puff of laughter and smile at him, reaching for the hand that wasn't holding the keyring.

"Fred isn't the only one who means everything to me."

Your words seem to affect George in a way that you hadn't anticipated as a tear comes to his eye, his hand tightening around yours before he pulls you into his lap, wrapping his arms around you. You hug him back without question, feeling his soft (and now dry) T-shirt against your skin, his arms around you and the comforting smell of his hair and skin taking over your senses.

He pulls away ever so slightly and for a moment you think he's going to kiss you again, his face so close to yours but he doesn't, slowly releasing you from his hold until you climbed off of him, a little disappointed.

"Right, enough mushy shit, we need a plan, for telling your family," you say, standing up and pulling your pyjamas back into place.

"That was what I came to tell you," George says, moving to stand as well as you bent down to slide the box back under your bed. You turned around and looked at him expectantly, wanting him to elaborate. "Mum sent an owl, said something about a gnome infestation, apparently they're vicious this time of year, dad's been bitten twice just walking to the car."

"Oh."

"I was thinking we could meet them at the leaky cauldron or get a meal out? We'll need to tell them soon," he says, rubbing the back of his neck.

"Invite them over! I can cook, might need to leave work early to prep everything though," you reply, trying to save the plans you'd made.

"Really? You don't have to but,"

"They need to believe we're really together, what better way then to show them that we're living together," you say before reaching a bump in the road, "your stuff will probably need to move in here though, can't have it look like we're sleeping separately, we're not exactly priests."

George nods, following along with your train of thought. "I could bring more of my stuff over? Litter it about, just for a couple of days?"

You shrug in reply, "I don't mind."

"I'll write to mum now and offer them to come here, take the day off tomorrow, then you won't be rushing around, like I know you will," he says with a knowing smirk that you roll your eyes at.

"But you'll be on your own."

"I'll send Ron an owl."

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[hatsue-exe]

Hi, may I request for a law and kidd (separate) on how they'd react to their s/o (fem) that she's bi and admits to having a girlfriend in the past? If so, do they accept her or...? Sorry if a bit... Detailed.

Kid and Law reacting to their partners being bi

cw: she/her!reader; bisexual reader; mentions of sexy times, but nothing explicit.

wc: 1.1k

Law:

Law always knew. He's seen you… interact with women and men before you two got together, and never had a problem with it.

However, he does feel a little hurt that you have more romantic experience than him, and it might be read the wrong way.

"How… How do you feel about our future? Together, I mean." He asked a bit awkwardly one night, lips against your forehead as you lay in each other's arms.

"I don't know. I would like to be with you for as long as we can."

"As long as we can?"

You closed your eyes. "We're pirates, Traf. If one day it's not safe or smart for us to be together, then I wouldn't want to stand in your way." Law sat up in the bed, looking at you with concern in his golden eyes. Where was all of this coming from? "I had a girlfriend a long time ago." You explained. "She wanted to join a crew and I thought I'd go with her, but she didn't want me there. Thought I'd slow her down, hold her back. She wasn't wrong, I mean, I know I get so worried when we're fighting. If you ever felt the same, I wouldn't blame you, ya'know?"

Law's face was contorted with something you didn't quite understand. It worried you for a bit. Was he distraught by the revelation you weren't straight? Was he angry you didn't tell him before?

"You had a girlfriend." He states, and the way the word seems heavy on his tongue puts you at unease.

"Yes. Does that bother you?"

"I thought I was your first partner too." His eyes avoid yours, embarrassed. You knew Law wasn't the most emotionally open person, but the realisation that you're his first ever relationship is still a bit shocking. "But I'm not upset. I'd never be upset over something like this. I'm just…"

"Just a bit conflicted?"

"Something of the sort." He pondered a bit more, lips a thin line. "To be clear, you'd never hold me back. If anything, knowing you worry makes me want to be stronger, so you don't have to. So I can protect you. And if we ever cross this ex of yours, I'll make sure to rip her heart out for hurting you."

You giggled, knowing that if your boyfriend's crude sense of humour was back, you were good.

"Don't be jealous now."

"'Got no reason to be." He whispered, nuzzling his face in your neck, kissing the little marks he left there a while ago. "She lost. They all lost. You're mine now."

"Yours. For as long as you have me."

"Forever then."

Kid:

Kid threw hands because someone called him a "lil' fag" at a bar once, but you never fully understood if it was because they implied he's gay or if it was just the disrespect — or if it was just Kid being Kid, he will throw hands anytime for any reason.

It still made you kind of sceptical of coming out to him.

Until you bumped into your ex.

Kid had dragged you out of the ship to look for metal scraps in a shady market, and you were waiting a bit behind him when you heard a voice calling your name. A few feet to your left stood your ex girlfriend, waving happily. You had parted ways amicably, the relationship just wasn't working and you both wanted very different things, besides, you had grown to be much more like friends, rather than romantic partners. You walked up to her and she immediately hugged you tight. 

"Oh gosh! I missed you so much! It's been so long!"

You laughed at her excitement, hugging her back. "Hey. Missed you too. How have you been, why are you so away from the island?"

"Oh, I got married! She's in the marine, so we're switching places constantly."

"Wow, congrats! So… the Marine is here now?" You tensed up and she noticed, so she took your hands in hers, a soothing habit from when you were together.

"No, don't worry. I know you're with a pirate crew now. 'Ve seen your wanted poster and all. We're with a small ship to make urgent repairs. Sea kings." She shrugged. "We're actually heading to Sabaody."

"That's great! I was there a while ago. Go to Shakky's bar, she's amazing. Best bourbon in the area."

"You still remember it, hun? Cute."

She lifted her hand to pinch your cheek when you felt a presence behind your back, her wrist being grabbed by a metal hand, a flesh one curling around your waist to pull you away from her.

"Hands off."

"Sorry." Your ex smiled. "Didn't know you were with someone too."

"She doesn't have to tell you shit, now get off her personal space."

"Relax, Eustass. We were just talking, she's… an old friend of mine."

Kid looked at you weirdly, sensing your hesitation, but he let go of her wrist and stepped back. "We gotta head back before they notice all the shit I stole, come on."

"I'm sorry." You whisper.

"It's okay, babes." She gave you a quick hug. "Good luck out there."

You follow Kid's steps quietly while he takes a turn to an empty road so no one will see the huge bag of pillage on his shoulder.

"I'm not stupid, ya' know? That was no friend." He turns to look at you. "I fucked people before. I know you fucked other people before as well. You could've just said."

"It's different, Kid."

"How?"

"She's not 'people', she's another woman."

"And?! If anything, that's hot." You rolled your eyes at him. Of course, that'd be his reaction. "But I don't care, honestly. I know I come off all macho sometimes, but I thought you'd know me better to trust me with it. Not that you have to tell me shit about your sexuality, like…" 

He mumbled away before you interrupted him: "I get it, Kid. I'm sorry for doubting you."

"I'm sorry for being an ass. She seemed decent." You just side hugged him as you walked back to the ship. "And if ya ever miss girls, I won't mind partaking in something different for once."

"Sure, Eustass. We just gotta do it with another guy first, what do you think?"

"Like Killer?"

Well, that made you stop in your tracks. "That was a fast answer."

He blushed a bit, but before you could ask more the noise of men running in your direction made you both have to race.But oh, you were going back to that one later, definitely.

a/n: kid is also bi, there's no straight punk people. i hope you liked this and sorry for the long wait <3

[wexhappyxfew]

Hi! I love your Silver Bullets girls, and Carrie x Douglass has a special place in my heart (even more since your last writing with them). So, for them I'd like to ask 35. (kissing their bruises and scars) from the Touch prompt list or 5. (the last thing they're thinking about before falling asleep is always the other) from the Subtle love list. 💗

HI FRIEND!!!! thank you so much for sending this and i am so so glad carrie and dougie have meant a lot, alongside the Silver Bullets girls (it seriously means SO MUCH and i always say it but its true!!!) THANK YOU FOR THE OPTIONS TOO!!!! i couldn't help myself and went with the second prompt (5) and decided to focus on some of their earlier meetings with one another and how they've developed into the people today. let's just say, i had a lot of fun! thank you SO MUCH!!!!! :D this was so much fun! <3 (and sorry for the wait for this....the semester was its usual chaos haha!)

greenland

(a/n): safe to say, for my carrie x dougie enjoyers, this was FUN to write. we get a bit into life before the annie bradshaw era of silver bullets! WITH captain birdie faulkner. BUT, because i am a sucker for someone who haunts the narrative and is simply talked about, we don't actually meet birdie here, just hear about her as a leader and all (a running theme!). we also get a bit into the storyline of what dougie means when he said he wanted to ask carrie to 'dance in greenland in THIS PIECE. and also carrie's dislike for greenland lmfao. please enjoy!!! <3

Greenland was anything but green, it seemed.

Maybe that's why the Vikings called it that - to freak the living fuck out of any sort of enemy that was bound to come this way and make them mistake what was actually a stupid ice block for well - 'green land'.

The landing had been less that superb and Captain Faulkner had dismissed them all to the bar to the left of the tarmac for the rest of the evening off.

Birdie Faulkner was everything, including a realist, and she seemed to understand that the rather harrowing conditions of their landing was something that required at least a drink or two before bedding down for the night.

With a half-finished beer, Carrie was sure that she could've fallen asleep in that very chair for the time being, but she had to present herself a best she could. With the newest B-17 group collected, Silver Bullets was formulated and crafted by that oh-so-brilliant mind of Birdie Faulkner, and they all had her to thank. And Carrie had to look a bit more put-together than usual - prove she's not just a wash-out bombardier with lackluster experience. That she deserved the spot in Silver Bullets more than anyone else.

"So?" a voice came from her right, settling into the other plush, leather seat at her side, the smiling face of Bessie Carlisle appearing as she popped open her own beer bottle, "Greenland, huh?" Carrie smirked and rolled her shoulders and glanced around.

"It's cozy, really," Carrie offered, "I'm considering taking a swim in the river, suntanning-"

"Okay, smart ass," Bessie said with a chuckle, her boot nudging her own foot, "can't say I'm complaining. Finally out of those training cycles, working towards the war. Maybe, we'll actually put ourselves to use instead of waiting just to go on a practice run." Carrie watched Bessie and then smiled widely.

"Love it so much that I may tell my future husband that 'Hey, we're moving to Greenland!', pack up the truck, babe, forget Brooklyn, home is where the grass is a solid as a fucking rock," Carrie said, sipping her beer, "not to mention the weather. I love to freeze."

"Someone's happy." a new voice chimed in, as Francis settled into a chair opposite them, sucking down a portion of her beer and grinning, "I've never seen you so enthusiastic about something." Carrie deadpanned.

"I'm really jumping for joy over here, Monty." Carrie told Francis, raising her glass of beer up in mock ceremony, "You know me so well." Francis and Bessie burst out into laughter as Carrie leaned back in her chair with a sigh and looked towards the ceiling.

"When the hell are we going to England?" Carrie asked, counting the flecks of rotting wood in the wooden ceiling, her eyes tracing the pieces that stuck out of the ceiling panels before losing her spot and recounting, "If I could just get another beer started, I'd be ready by tonight to head out. No pit-stops for me, I'm just fine with a beer stop and then jetting off to England and calling it a day."

"I wish I had the same energy towards that, Bergie, I really do," Bessie said, "afraid to say I'd ask for a few hours of sleep thought over that."

"Sleeps overrated half the time!" Carrie admonished still staring up at the ceiling, "How you gonna get a thing done when sleep's-"

"Exactly what you need." Carrie blinked a few times and into focus above her head came James Douglass - fellow bombardier, with whom Bessie had introduced on one of Carrie's first days after her transfer on base.

Carrie remembered first time seeing him coming towards them, with that carpet on his face he called a mustache, a sharp smirk, a rather loud, somewhat obnoxious voice, a quick hand-shaking, before he was wrapping his arm around her shoulder and pointing out to various areas along the base like they'd been friends for years - something that had caught her completely off guard. And ever since then, with their few chance meetings, they'd been nothing but a trifle of teasing jabs and somewhat good-natured fun.

Key word: somewhat.

Because she could never actually read James Douglass unlike Benny DeMarco or Hambone Hamilton who were just about as sweet to her as her grandma's hotcakes. He'd see her and beeline, make a few jokes, flirt shamelessly, and then go dance with the next girl who'd take his hand. He was quite the character and Carrie usually didn't engage in much conversation past when he'd come to seek her out.

Except now, he was hung above her like a hyperactive golden retriever, like the dog, Kering, that had lived down the street from the Achterberg's in Brooklyn all her life. Running out of the Wilkes house anytime the door opened, barking and sniffing and tearing around the neighborhood like a lunatic. Yeah, Kering the golden retriever who looked like he was a lunatic reminded her exactly of James Douglass.

Nice to know home was never far.

"What are you trying to say, huh?" Carrie asked, still slouching in the chair and staring up at him hovering over her. Douglass grinned at her, showing off his pearly whites and that charming look on his face and he let out a chuckle.

"You know, a little sleep never hurt a soul. Only reason we're even alive," Douglass said, reaching forward to rub her shoulder, "makes the brain happy or some shit. Makes people less….cranky."

"You calling me cranky, now?"

"Cranky. Now that's just one of many words-"

"Oh, you little-"

"Alright!" Bessie said standing and shoving Douglass pack from where he currently was occupying Carrie's headspace, "Nice to know some things never change." Carrie glanced at her as she sat up and Bessie raised a brow with a smirk.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Douglass said from behind Carrie, before he moved around her chair and took the other open seat in the grouping of four, and kicking back to relax. Carrie watched Bessie before looking at Francis, who was rather interested in her cup of beer, before glancing at Douglass, who was already looking at her.

"What?" she murmured, before he made a face and she rolled her eyes.

"How was the flight over, Douglass? Invigorating?" Bessie asked Douglass, with a smile - leave it to Bessie to be sweet as cream on any given occasion.

"You woulda thought Greenland would be, well, fucking green-"

"That's what I said!" Carrie butted in, getting looks from the other three, before settling on Douglass who was watching her, with a mixture of interest and annoyance, but she couldn't seem to decipher the two and sank back in her chair, "Greenland's cold as fuck, not some East Coast paradise I'll give ya that." She heard Douglass chuckle at that as Carrie took in more sips of beer.

"With the way we were flying in, I wasn't even sure we were gonna make it at first, I'll tell you that," Douglass said, "you sit in that nose and you swear to God that you'll smash right into the tarmac. Good ole Ev Blakely don't let that sorta stuff happen though."

"Yeah, a real crap shoot." Carrie muttered, "Thought Birdie was gonna bring us in sideways." Douglass raised a brow as he sipped his beer.

"Guess you can say they lied about the fucking weather, too," Douglass offered, "really nice place here. Could barely move my fingers and toes when I actually stood up fully." Bessie let out a chuckle and started sipping her beer again as Carrie narrowed her eyes at her.

"Hey, they're putting on some music to dance, y'all wanna come?" Judy Rybinski's joyfully said as she appeared behind Francis, "C'mon Bessie, I know that look anywhere, you wanna!"

"You know me too well, Jude," Bessie said, getting to her feet and finishing off her beer.

"I'm coming with! No shot I'm missing a chance at good music and good company." Francis said getting to her feet, "The company part may be a stretch-"

"Oh c'mon!" Judy said, taking Francis' hand before looking at Carrie and Douglass unmoved in their chairs, "You two coming?"

"I'm going to continue working on these beers, Jude, but I appreciate it," Carrie said, "Greenland's officially fucked me up." Judy let out a chuckle.

"You enjoy that then, Bergie," Judy said before looking at Douglass, "Dougie?" Carrie glanced sideways at Douglass who sat quietly, before glancing over at Carrie and then Judy again.

"Maybe next time," he said with a nod, "I promise you a dance, got it?"

"Sounds good! Don't have too much fun!" Judy called before she disappeared and some Artie Shaw began playing over the speakers.

"Good to know we have one thing in common, Bergie." Carrie slowly looked over at Douglass, that annoying nickname rolling off his lips like it had before, "We both hate Greenland." And he grinned at her and couldn't help but smirk back.

"First off, don't call me that. Second, you might be right about that," Carrie said, sipping her beer again, "you know that it's called Greenland because of the Vikings?" Douglass let out a chuckle and shook his head.

"Nah, you're fucking with me," he said, "the Vikings? The guys with the horns on their heads?"

"I'm not kidding," Carrie said sitting up and fully meeting his gaze for the first time since he had hung overtop her, "I swear to you, they did it. Tricking their enemies. For the sake of how much can they fuck a person in the head." Douglass watched her for a moment, before letting out a laugh and sipping his beer again, before smirking.

"Maybe they were just being smart," Douglass countered, "before they knew that it was just one sheet of ice for miles on end. Then they realized what a shitty name Greenland was." Carrie stared at him for a moment, before smiling slightly, unable to hold back her grin.

"You really know how to get under my skin, don't ya?"

"Guess you could say I know what makes you tick."

"Oh so now you suddenly know everything about me, huh?" Carrie said, leaning over to give his shoulder a playful shove, "Well, go on, what's my favorite color?" She watched him and noticed him glance at her lips - surprisingly - before moving back to her eyes.

"I don't know….blue probably." Carrie watched him and stilled for a moment.

"Uh….yeah, actually." she said quickly, and forced down the way her cheeks flamed (and for what she didn't know), "Alright, well, where do I come from?"

"Brooklyn." Douglass said, laughing at the look on her face, "Look, sweetheart, that New York accent ain't just a voice with Southern twang. I know if I was walking down the streets, and I heard your voice, it'd be you."

"God, what the hell." murmured Carrie as Douglass chuckled, "You won't get this - school subject." Douglass looked at her and then smirked before leaning forward.

"Something with math, right?" he asked her confidently, "You don't just get interested in this sorta shit without having some interest there." Carrie watched him and tilted her head.

"Are you mind-fucking me or something?" she asked him, "How the hell-"

"Just good at reading people I guess." Douglass said with a smirk, "Contrary to popular belief, Bergie, I usually know what I'm talking about. There's a reason I'm a bombardier and not just some journalist or something." She watched him and licked her lips.

"Is that why you joined?" she asked him, "The Air Force? Flying in B-17s?" Douglass glanced at her and nodded.

"Had to join the fight somehow, couldn't just sit back and let the fucking Nazis think they could walk all over us," Douglass said, finishing his beer, "that sorta stuff just don't fly around here. Well, except us. We fly." The two burst out into laughter, before they both died down and looked to one another. For a moment, they were quiet regarding one another with somewhat hesitant gazes as Carrie finished off her beer.

"Well, I'm gonna head-"

"Did you wanna-"

They both watched each other, before breaking out into laughter and righting themselves.

"You go." Douglass said.

"I was gonna head out. Get some rest. Pretty tired." she said quickly, her heart racing as she smiled at him with a nod, "You?" Douglass stared at her and for the first time, she saw the sudden shyness in his gaze as he glanced away from her and then back.

"Just…was gonna get another drink, but you head out, get some rest," he said, before smirking at her, "you need it."

"Oh, you asshole." grumbled Carrie knocking his shoulder before standing to her feet, Douglass following suit. The stood there for a moment, looking at one another - usually, if this were a Silver Bullets girl, she'd give them a hug, but with Douglass, she felt frozen in place. She stuck out her hand instead, to shake, and he shook her hand, and she felt more awkward than ever before, as she shook back. His handshake was firm though, and confident and suddenly made her feel like some 16-year-old girl in high school and balked.

"Well, I'll see you around." she said, stumbling back a bit, "Night!" And she disappeared quickly - like she always did. She found the barracks, promptly settled into bed, and then stared at the ceiling, counting the dried pieces of wood hanging from the panels again.

And she replayed the look in James Douglass' eyes - over and over.

And for the first time in years, all she could think about was James Douglass' eyes that had watched her like that, as she tried to fall asleep.

To say the least, it was the best sleep in months.

[storiesofsvu]

Back to Home

Emily Prentiss x reader Covers a bingo square. Warnins: language, hurt/comfort, deals with Emily coming back from the dead. Not sure if it's as good as I'd like, but I was just rolling off the fact that I hate that everyone was so upset with *her* rather than Hotch/JJ who lied and kept it secret all that time. And this is what we're left with.

Tears slowly streamed over your cheeks as you sat in the hard plastic hospital chair for what felt like hours. Your vision blurred; your ears buzzed with noise but you never really heard anything anyone was saying as the team slowly began to leave the emergency room. It had honestly even been a bit of a miracle you’d made it there in the first place, getting the unofficial call from JJ once they’d realized what was going on. While you were part of the FBI, you weren’t in the BAU, you normally wouldn’t have been let in on a case like this. The room was practically spinning, your cheeks were stained with the remnants of tears you had cried out as your fingers twisted the diamond ring on your left hand, one that Emily had given you less than a month ago. A promise of a future together, of plenty of memories to build, a life to grow, one that had been torn away from you in a matter of hours tonight. JJ’s words still ringing in your ears, ‘she didn’t make it off the table.’ You felt a sturdy hand wrap around your shoulder and without looking up you could tell it was Aaron, no doubt feeling responsible to make sure you got somewhere safe tonight,

“I’m not ready to say goodbye yet.” Your voice choked out, rough and raw from holding back sobs earlier.

“I know.” He squeezed softly, “but we can’t stay here much longer. Doyle’s still out there, we need to get you back home Agent Kennedy.”

“Agent?” Hotch’s voice rang clear through your mind and you blinked out of your memories.

“Kennedy?” JJ’s voice was softer and fully shook you out of your nightmares and you finally looked back up at the two of them.

“I’m sorry.” You shook your head with an apologetic smile before you gulped, “I’m… not sure I understand…”

“Emily is alive.” The woman’s voice was soft, her small smile even softer as she sat across from you, her eyes attempting to read your face, “she’s been in hiding since Doyle got to her.”

“Like.. witness protection?” You asked. Normally your brain should have been able to wrap around this in seconds, processing it like the agent you were, but every single fibre within you seemed to have come to a halt. If someone had asked you what one plus one was you would’ve answered eleven.

“Sort of.” Hotch replied, “but the important thing is that we now have Doyle in custody.”

“He escaped Korea… are you sure this is even safe?” You finally looked up at him, tears threatening to spill over your cheeks, “I cannot lose her twice.”

“She’s the only one who can help us get to Declan and end this.” JJ assured, her hand reaching out to squeeze at your knee and you nodded.

“The team doesn’t know yet. I just wanted to make sure you got a heads up. She’s on her way here now.” Hotch commented.

“What?!” Your head shot up, lips parted as you sucked in a breath, “she’s… here?”

“We’re meeting in the round table room in fifteen if you’d like to be there. If you’d prefer a private reunion we can arrange that but there isn’t much time, we need to get to work asap.” The blonde offered and you shook your head.

“No…no..” You wiped away a stray tear, “if you give me even just a moment alone with her I’m not letting her go. And I know this is important. Just… give me a minute to.. get myself together.”

“Alright.” Aaron nodded, swiftly moving past you with a brief squeeze to your shoulder so he could gather the team.

JJ stayed with you, knowing that if you were to be left alone you would never move, frozen in your confusion, in your need for this to all be true yet the terror of it being a nightmare. That if you were to leave Hotch’s office you’d find yourself wandering into the roundtable room to find it empty, that this was another one of your recurring dreams. She handed you a tissue, helping you fix your slightly smeared makeup with a reassuring smile before you finally let out a solid breath and gave her a nod. She only dropped your hand once you hit the doorway of the room, letting you find your way around the table to drop into a chair. The team was used to having you around, even after losing Emily you were someone they consulted with relatively regularly and considering the case, no one batted an eye to you being there today.

You did your best to focus as voices began to fill the room, eyes flitting from one person to the next, your heart thundering in your chest so hard it shifted into your ears. No matter how much you tried to listen to the information all it turned into was a pulse in your head, voices drowned out by your brain telling you this was all your imagination. Until you heard the gasp beside you, the voices speaking their disbeliefs, the sound of footsteps stalling in the doorway to the roundtable room and with one deep breath the scent of her shampoo invaded your scenes from across the room.

“But… we buried you…” It was Spencer’s voice that brought you back to reality, surging you back to the day you’d watched her coffin sink into the dirt and you glanced up at him.

A few other comments were said as you tried to gather your composure, watching Emily cautiously moving through the room, her lips spewing apologies as she went. It wasn’t until your eyes finally landed on her that you let out a shaky breath of relief. She was real, she was there and she was suddenly a foot away from you in a now empty room.

Emily’s hands were shaking, her gut churning harder with every step she got closer to you, she could taste the bile creeping its way up her throat. Somehow coming back from the dead was more anxiety inducing than actually dying. She knew this was going to be intense, she knew it would be a lot, and while Hotch had warned her you’d been looped in, he’d failed to mention that you would be in the room.

“I’m so—” She hadn’t even gotten the sentence out before you’d launched out of the chair and for the briefest second she thought she was about to be hit. Instead you wrapped your arms around her, tighter than she’d expected and she let out a little squeak, causing you to leap away, hands shooting to your mouth.

“Oh god, I’m so sorry.” You muttered, “are you okay? I didn’t mean to hurt you.”

“No, no!” Her hand jumped up to your arm, tears blooming in her eyes, “I just… I didn’t exactly expect any warm welcomes.”

“So… you’re really okay?”

“It was touch and go for a while.” She admitted after a heavy sigh, “and I wont lie, things still hurt like hell every so often but yeah… I’m healed… I’m okay.”

“Oh god.” You launched back around her once again, your arms wrapping around her shoulder so tightly you thought you’d never let go.

Emily let herself melt into your embrace, she’d been so worried how everyone would react and somehow you ended up being the single person who seemed to not hate her today. You clung to her with every ounce of love you ever had for her before all of this happened and she very happily buried her face into the crook of your neck. Soaking you in, breathing in the scent of your perfume, the feel of your skin against hers for the first time in months, aching to never let you go.

“We don’t have much time.” You murmured, your lips brushing against her neck and she shuddered.

“Why don’t you hate me?” She asked, her voice shaking as she finally pulled far enough away from you to gaze down at you and you choked out a laugh.

“How could I?” Your lips broke into a grin, “I love you, and you’re alive. How could it get better than that?”

“But…. I abandoned you.” Her voice softened, her hand coming up to caress your cheek, “and the team… and they don’t seem too happy.”

“It’s not your fault!” You nearly laughed, “Doyle…” your voice began to shake as tears flooded into your eyes, “I mean…. He did everything he could. If we were further from the hospital… who even knows…” Emily’s chest tightened at your words, her hand squeezing at your arm.

“You.. you were there?” She asked and you nodded.

“Hotch wouldn’t let me on the scene but I was in the ambulance with you. And I’ve never been more scared in my life. But that doesn’t matter.” You brushed away a tear, your hand reaching out to Emily’s cheek to wipe away her own, “what matters is you’re here now. And before you ask again, no, I will never hate you. Em… Doyle thought he killed you and your life depended on him thinking that he did.”

“You’re not mad about Paris?”

“You had no choice.” You squeezed at her hand, “you’d already ditched both of your phones, the only burner you had left no doubt he destroyed before the warehouse. It’s not like you had any way to contact me. The choice wasn’t yours and was made before you were even out of the coma. Sure, I missed you to hell and back, and every inch of my being wishes that I could’ve been put into hiding with you, but… I feel like then it would’ve been obvious you weren’t dead. And that means you wouldn’t be here right now.”

Emily grasped your hands in hers, taking the plunge to lean in and kiss you and your right hand quickly came up to caress her cheek, letting out a soft whimper at the feels of her lips finally against yours again. She never wanted to pull away, wanted to remain in that moment forever but she knew there was so much more to work though. When she finally did she found her hand playing with yours, cool metal meeting the tips of her fingers before she glanced down and her head tilted.

“You’re still wearing your ring?” She glanced up to you and you smiled, a huff of a laugh escaping your lips.

“I never wanted to give up on you.” You shrugged, “because the only future I saw was with you. The only future I wanted was yours. Even if you didn’t come back.”

“Oh sweetheart.” She stroked at your cheek again, her fingers affectionately pinching at your chin, “I never once stopped thinking about you, never stopped loving you.”

“I know.” You smiled before the two of you jumped at the sound of a knock on the door, glancing toward it as Hotch spoke.

“I hate to intrude, but Emily, we need you now.”

“Yeah.” She nodded toward him, glancing back to you who nodded.

“Go.” You squeezed softly at her hands, “just fucking come home to me in one piece this time, alright?”

“I will. I promise, and I don’t make those lightly.” She replied, leaning in to kiss you gently, “I love you.”

“I love you more.”

“Not possible.”

The rest of the day felt like a blur, every time you caught yourself staring blankly at your computer you were certain that you’d dreamt the entire thing. That you would wander up to the BAU’s floor later with a smile on your face only for it to be replace with tears as the fantasy came crumbling down around you. Instead, you were met with extreme relief when seven p.m. was closing in and you felt a warmth on your shoulder, followed by Emily’s perfume invading your senses and you looked up with a bright smile. While she looked a little worse for wear, and you could tell she was utterly exhausted, she was there, a tired smile on her cheeks as she gazed down at you.

A tired smile that grew large when you jumped out of your chair to wrap her in the tightest hug, pressing a tender kiss to her cheek. She had been so scared about coming back, about how everyone was going to react and after getting the cold shoulder from her team all day she was certain that you would’ve had time to process everything and you would be mad too. Instead of cold, she was met with your hand grasping hers, fingers interlacing and she felt the warmth bursting through her body starting from her fingertips shooting all the way down to her toes. A warmth she hadn’t felt in seven months, one that she had nearly forgotten what it felt like and the one that she had missed more terribly than anything else in the world.

“C’mon.” You murmured, squeezing at her hand, “let’s go home.”

———————————————-

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[nompunhere]

You've been staring me down all day. Not that I don't appreciate the attention, but it's... getting a little unnerving. My reading is interrupted a rather loud rumble from your stomach, from your position on the couch. I look up from my book to see you, of course, still looking at me. There's a sort of conflict in your eyes. Consideration, as you eye my curled up form, tucked into my favorite chair.

I offer a nervous smile and speak up. "So, eheh, sounds like we're about ready to get started on lunch-?"

"Get in my belly."

...I must've misheard you. "I- Sorry, what was that?"

"Get. In. My belly."

That low growl hardly sounds like you. I can see saliva building up at the corners of your mouth, your features painted in sharp relief to my eyes as fight-or-flight starts to kick in, involuntarily. It must be evident in my expression, by the way you jerk that piercing gaze off of me so abruptly, bowing your head to run your hands down your face.

Hesitantly, I set the book aside and sit up, tense. "I'm- I'm afraid I.. don't understand?"

You growl again and snap your eyes back up to mine. "It can't wait any longer—I need you in there. Now."

I flinch back and scrabble against the chair as you abruptly stand and start towards me. I can't get my limbs to work right. I don't- what- "What's going on? I-I- W-what are you- you doing?"

"You have no idea how long I've been holding back, do you? For your sake. You'll be fine. But I'm not, and I won't be, not unless you can sate me." You're exceedingly close, now, looming, arms to either side of me and watching my every move with what I now recognize as hunger in your eyes.

Out of panic, my arm flies toward your face, but you catch me by the wrist before it makes contact. The reflexes of a predator, I can only imagine. I tug at it with a whimper, cowering against the back of my seat. I trusted you, but now- now-

"I don't want this either. But this has to happen, before I start actually hunting down strangers. This is the better option. You'll be fine, I promise you. But I need this."

Your growl is the last thing I hear before my world goes dark, and damp, and hot.

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

It's... calmer than I expected. No acid, for one thing. Seems you weren't lying about me being alright. ...Physically, at least. The walls shift and knead, but they're strangely passive. You'd gone quiet after, er, eating me, even if your guts hadn't. It took a while for you to come to your senses and reassure me that you truly mean no harm, dragged out of your instinctual post-meal bliss by the sound of my terrified and betrayed sobs. I'd only just calmed down a bit, soothed by the sound of regret and urgency in your voice to make amends, before you succumbed to the urge to nap.

And now, I... don't know what to do. It seems safe enough, at least? So here I sit, hidden away deep within you, listening to your sleeping body's inner workings. All that fear, slipping away into.. boredom? ...Peace, let's call it that.

It's soft, at least. I think the warmth is starting to get to me, bringing with it a deep drowsiness. Maybe this.. isn't so bad. Maybe I can still trust you. Maybe I could, mm, join you, in your.. nap...

———————————-

DNI NSFW blogs, blogs that post exclusively hard and/or fatal vore, weight gain blogs, proshippers, TERFs, ace exclusionists, etc.

[cilil]

For the kiss prompts asks: Eönwë and Gothmog, no. 6 on a falling tear

AN: My pleasure! ❤

Prompt: Kiss on a falling tear (prompt list here) Pairing: Gothmog x Eönwë Warnings: Some angst

Eönwë's wings twitch agitatedly and his talons scrape against Gothmog's scaly skin when he's carried into the Iron Mountains, out of sight of Angband and, hopefully, to safety. 

"I don't understand," he laments, the first thing he's said in a while. 

"I'm setting you free," Gothmog says quietly. 

It's a decision he hasn't made lightly and one he may pay for, but he's made up his mind and doesn't want to argue. 

His resolve, however, melts when Eönwë looks up at him with teary blue eyes. 

"Why? Am I no good even as your prisoner?" 

Gothmog stops abruptly when he hears a sob. He's freeing the winged Maia from captivity and he's crying because he thinks he did something wrong? What goes through Eönwë's head is truly a mystery to him at times. 

Gingerly, Gothmog pats his pale golden locks and sits down, placing him on his lap. 

"You know that's not true," he says. 

Yet his clumsy attempt at comfort does little to dry Eönwë's tears. Not knowing what else to do, Gothmog bends down to kiss and lick his cheeks until every single tear is gone. The liquid nearly makes him flinch as it touches his lips, but it evaporates quickly and leaves a pleasant salty taste on his tongue. Delicious.

"I'd give you the world," he mumbles. "And this is why I can't stand the thought of you getting hurt or killed in there, even if I want you by my side. Can't you see that?" 

Eönwë is no longer crying, but his eyes remain clouded with some sort of pain Gothmog isn't sure he understands. "Then why do you continue to be evil? You could–" 

The Lord of Balrogs shakes his head. "You know I've never been welcome over there in pretty paradise, evil or not. They don't like monsters."  

"Maybe neither am I, in that case," Eönwë draws his wings around himself to stop himself from shaking. "At least not the true me."

Gothmog snorts. "I know, bird, I know. But they'll take you back. Even if they know what you're capable of on the battlefield, they won't care. You're too pretty and obedient for a monster." 

He senses that his words cause more distress than encourage Eönwë, so he tries nudging him gently. 

"Come on. Fly home, bird."

"I..." Whatever protest Eönwë wants to utter ends in a sniffle. 

"No, listen. Get across the sea as fast as you can. Tell your lord you ran away because someone didn't pay attention. I'll say the same." 

"D-do you..." Again, emotions overwhelm Eönwë before he can finish his sentence. 

Gothmog holds his head in his hands. "I care enough about you to want you safe rather than hurt or dead, if that answers your question. Go now... please."

Thanks for reading! ♡

taglist (sorry I have to format it like this until Tumblr stops breaking my tags):

@uruk-thighs @edensrose @elanna-elrondiel @eunoiaastralwings @i-did-not-mean-to

@just-little-human @melkors-big-tits @numenhore @sauron-kraut @singleteapot

@stormchaser819 @urwendii @wandererindreams

[jake-whatthefisgoingon-kiszka]

Sorry this took me a while to update again, but I am pretty happy with how this one turned out. Without further ado, part 5!

Pairings: Jake Kiszka X Danny Wagner **slash

Warnings and tags: 18+ only!! Minors not for you! Adult content including: insecurity, some body image issues, going through difficult feelings, very light smut including: flirty touches, kissing and more kissing, dad Jake AU, uncle Danny AU

Word count: 6k

**Quick message after the cut

[A/n: I’d just like to preface this chapter by saying that men should always feel validated if struggling with self and body image issues. I do not believe or suggest that Jake should feel any sort of way about his beautiful, beautiful body. The feelings referred to in this chapter are that of basically an OC and their purpose is not to shame anyone but instead to focus on how difficult it can be to take care of yourself and be a parent. That being said, the remainder of this story will not focus on this insecurity. Quick shout out to Trust Me, Darling for all of the complicated emotions untangled there]

Jake tried to keep his focus at Wednesday afternoon’s practice, but when his roaming eyes flicked over to the bleachers and he saw a now familiar form sitting there, he couldn’t help but let a smile warm his face.

“Come on girls! One more time and then your parents should be here to pick you up!” Jake shouted at the youngins running across the field with their soccer balls. Some of them were more entertained by running with their friends, some preferred to kick the grass rather than the ball, but a few of the girls were actually starting to really get the hang of it. It felt good to watch them successfully get the ball from point A to the goal, even if they weren’t quite ready to advance to scoring and blocking yet.

He waited until everyone except Emma had been picked up, trying to ignore his bubbling excitement as Danny approached from behind.

“Are we walking you home today little miss Emma?” Jake asked, taking the whole ignoring Danny a step further.

“No, my uncle is here to get me” she replied matter-of-factly, making Jake chuckle as he finally turned to face him.

“I don’t know, I think maybe we should make sure you guys get home safe” Jake continued, gathering his backpack after shoving all the balls back into the sports bag.

“You still don’t trust me?” Danny asked, faking sounding hurt as he scooped the bag up from underneath Jake’s hand and tossed it over his shoulder, silently offering to carry it just like he had the first time they’d met. Only this time Jake willingly let him.

“Actually, I’m glad you don’t mind walking with us because I have a favor to ask you” Danny continued as they started off as a group down the neighborhood.

“A favor?” Jake raised his brows. Since when had they gotten on those terms? He didn’t know, and honestly didn’t care, but he was curious to see what Danny wanted from him.

“Friend of Rudy’s came by the shop yesterday. We got to talking and he told me he had this old acoustic he was looking at selling. Says it needs some TLC, but he cut me a good deal since I worked at the shop” Danny spoke, continuously keeping his eyes ahead on the carefree girls who walked in front of them, making their stroll slower than it needed to be but much appreciated nonetheless. “My sister told me you’re quite the guitar expert, was wondering if you wouldn’t mind helping me get it back in good condition?”

“Your sister flatters me” Jake replied, wondering once again how often he was the subject of their conversation. “What are we talking? Change of strings? Tuning? I can do small body repairs but to keep the integrity I might have to refer you to someone else for any major work”.

“I’ve got it at the house if you want to come take a look? Promised Emma I'd take her to a bookstore so yesterday we killed two birds with one stone. She got her books and I got my guitar”.

Jake scratched his chin and nodded his head “I suppose I can do that”. Danny didn’t know it yet, but in Jake terms agreeing to do a favor like this meant he would actually put his whole heart into the project. He wasn’t too busy at work for the time being, so besides practice he should have plenty of time to work on it for him.

“I wasn’t sure if I would see you today” Jake continued, looking down at his feet and kicking a pebble over to the kids who giggled and started kicking it down the sidewalk on their own.

“I know, I said I’d be patient, but I got excited when I picked up the guitar. Left work early today so I could offer to pick Emma up” Danny revealed, his own shy smile gracing his lips as he spared one look in Jake’s direction.

“You could have just called me. Who knows I might’ve been able to talk you out of buying it if it’s a piece of junk”.

Danny chuckled, making a mental note that Jake was basically giving him the green light to reach out to him whenever he wanted.

“Can I show Luna my new books?” Emma asked Jake once they reached their front porch.

“Sure, but Luna we’re not staying long. We still have to go home and eat dinner before bed time”.

“Ok Daddy!” The kids took off first down the hallway, disappearing into Emma’s room while Danny led Jake further.

“You okay?” Danny asked when he sensed Jake’s sudden trepidation.

“Yeah, I’ve just never been back this far before” he replied, quickening his pace to catch up. Jake had never had a reason to visit the guest bedroom before, but now here he was following Danny through the door.

For some reason he’d expected to see something different inside; posters across the wall, maybe a messy bed, something that fit the image of the rouge younger brother Danny put off. Instead it looked like any typical guest bedroom, plain walls, a muted blue duvet spread neatly across the queen size mattress that Jake couldn’t help but wonder how much room Danny’s form took up on it at night.

His eyes continued to scan across the room, settling on a small stack of books laying in a neat pile next to a crumpled up pack of cigarettes on top of the dresser to the right. Jake turned to ask Danny about his reading habits, but his words hung in his mouth when he saw Danny to the left. The closet door was open and he stood with his back to Jake as he peeled his shirt off and tossed it into the basket inside.

“Sorry!” He quickly turned back around, trying to hide the blush that crept across his face after just that one look. Danny was slim that you could easily tell, but shirtless you see just how brawny he really was, especially in his shoulders and arms.

“Sorry, didn’t have a chance to change after work, was dying to get out of that dirty shirt. Am I making you uncomfortable?” Danny asked, genuine concern in his voice like he hadn’t even considered the idea that Jake would get flustered if he quickly changed.

“No, I just-” Jake’s voice trailed off, too embarrassed to admit that he liked what he’d seen a little too much, but glanced over again anyways. He was relieved to see Danny had a new shirt on, albeit it was barely a shirt with the sleeves cut off and the arm holes torn open to the point it barely clung to his chest anymore.

“Is that it?” He pointed over to the black guitar shaped case he saw sitting in the corner of that side of the room, purposely changing the subject so he wouldn’t have to continue his train of thought.

“Umm, yeah” Danny moved to collect it off the floor and placed the case gently on the bed so he could open it up and give Jake a peek. “It’s nothing fancy, but I’m hoping with a little fixing up she’ll sing”.

“No, this is a nice model”. Jake picked up the instrument, feeling the familiar weight in his hands and examining the body. It was in good shape, few scratches on the back, but no cracks or warping. “Oh yeah, this will be easy”.

“Great! So how much will I owe you?”

Jake laid the guitar back into the case and secured the latches on the sides. “Don’t worry about it, but I do expect this to make us even” he turned to joking to mask how nervous he really was as he grabbed the handle and let the case come to rest down by his side.

“Oh, right, we’re good” Danny chuckled as he rubbed the back of his arm. Actually he’d much prefer to continue to have a way to persuade Jake to hang out, but since he’d seemed a lot more willing recently maybe he didn’t need much of a reason anynore. That was a comforting thought, hopefully it meant he was doing something right.

“When do you want it done by? I should have everything I need at home so I could probably have it ready by the weekend…” Jake trailed off, hoping Danny remembered their previous agreement to see each other this weekend.

“No rush, but this weekend sounds good. I cleared my calendar” Danny replied, dropping the hint that he only had one big plan, and that was spending as much time as Jake as he’d allow him.

“Ok, well I will see you then?” He started to excuse himself, but just before he could turn back towards the door Danny called out to him.

“Wait! One more thing”.

A steady hand came to rest on Jake’s waist, tugging him back as another hand cupped his jaw and pulled him into an unexpected kiss. It took a bit for Jake’s mind to catch up and compute what was happening, but moments later his lips were softening and he was allowing himself to kiss Danny back.

“Is this okay?” Danny questioned, not pulling away just yet but wanting to check in and make sure Jake didn’t want to punch him in the face right now.

“Yeah,” Jake’s breath came out hot against his lips, his tongue darting out to lick at them and bring Jake’s taste further into his mouth, “yeah this is okay”.

“Good” Danny’s lips pulled into a relieved smile next, “because I’ve been wanting to do that for a long time”.

Jake let his free hand that wasn’t still gripping onto the guitar case for dear life reach around to the back of Danny’s head and guided him down until they were connecting again, Jake sighing into the kiss this time. “Me too”.

When Jake got home he felt like he was in a daze the rest of the evening. Thankfully school and practice had tired Luna out quite a bit, so after dinner and some reading time she fell asleep right in Jake’s arms on the couch and he carried her off to bed.

Normally he’d be more than ready to lay down and relax until his own tiredness caught up to him and pulled him into sleep, but he fidgeted around in the bathroom for a while after his shower trying to keep his mind occupied with anything other than Danny.

With his nails trimmed, face cleanly shaven, a random gray hair he’d never noticed before plucked straight from the top of his scalp, and even some facial moisturizer on, he finally gave in and crawled into bed.

Of course the first thing on his mind was how it felt to kiss Danny for the first time. He’d been so nervous for no reason. It felt warm, and comforting, and his lips still tingled from the memory as he grazed his fingertips over their sensitive nerve endings.

It was good, nothing earth shattering but that was more than okay, because good meant he could feel again, and his feelings were coming crashing down onto him like a heavy weight settling onto his chest. Just as vivid as the kiss, he remembered that glance at Danny shirtless. Attraction was there, clearly after Monday night’s activity Jake couldn’t deny anymore that he was into Danny. Insecurity crept in between the cracks in his thoughts though, cracks that had formed over the years of being alone and growing older.

Jake had never been the overly confident type. He knew he was good looking of course, but he couldn’t help but pick out little things he could improve on and compared himself to others- especially when he practically had a carbon copy walking around that he grew more and more different from day by day.

The way his hair frizzed when he broke into a sweat, the slant in his septum he’d finally gotten fixed last year after years of being annoyed by it, the shuffle of his feet when he was tired and didn’t realize he wasn’t picking them up. They were all hardly significant things others didn’t seem to notice or care about, but Jake scolded himself anyways. And now, having seen Danny’s near perfect form, he found himself comparing again.

Would Danny have the same awestruck reaction when seeing him shirtless for the first time? Or would he be disappointed?

Jake forced the thoughts out of his head and turned onto his side, wrapping his arms around his heavy chest and squeezing his eyes shut. It was just his inner subconscious working against himself. He had to fight those feelings because he knew they were wrong and would only hold him back. He was done holding back. This was his chance to relearn to love again, and in being loved, return to loving himself once more.

“Bad news Jakey, all the flights are canceled. Well maybe not all, but ours for sure” Josh’s voice spoke over the cell phone speaker since both of Jake’s hands were a little busy with restringing Danny’s guitar when he called.

“Oh shit, what are you guys going to do?” Jake replied, trying to split his focus. “They can’t get you on another flight?”

“Yeah they can… tomorrow” Josh chuckled defeatedly. Jake could tell he was frustrated, but also what are you really supposed to do in situations like these. “It’s just a shame we already checked out of the resort. I wouldn’t mind staying in Palm Springs another night if we hadn’t”.

“Yeah, yeah, very romantic engagement getaway. We get it” Jake teased back, just trying to keep the mood light. “So you’re coming home tomorrow then?”

“Late tomorrow night. They told us we could show up to the airport and try to leave early but I don’t want to take anyone else’s chances away. We’re not in any hurry. I don't have to be back at work until Monday anyways”.

Jake hummed his understanding, eyebrows pinching at the center as he concentrated on pushing a particularly stubborn bridge pin out.

“Anyways, I was calling to see how my Lun-bug is doing? Is she excited for summer?”

“She’s excited, though I don’t think she realizes how boring it will be to stay home with dad almost every day for two months. She says she just wants to stay up late and sleep in”. It was easy for Jake to talk about his daughter to Josh, both of his brothers really were great uncles, but Josh did tend to go above and beyond to vie for her affection.

“Seems she’s got her priorities straight!” Josh wholeheartedly laughed. “Oh to be five with no cares in the world”.

“Umm, five and three quarters” Jake corrected him the same way Luna corrected everyone else, causing his brother to laugh again.

“Well, that’s the update. I know how badly you were dying to take us out to congratulate us, but unfortunately we will be late to the party” Josh sighed once the amusement wore off.

“I was not planning on taking you out” Jake scoffed, shaking his head at Josh’s presumptuous premise. “I’m busy this weekend” he let slip, knowing now Josh wouldn't actually be planning to hang up soon anymore.

“Busy?” Josh’s voice raised in pitch, obviously asking for more details.

“Danny and I are… hanging out”. It felt weird to phrase it that way, but neither of them had discussed any specific plans other than wanting to see each other, and now that Josh was going to be almost two days delayed in coming home he knew he couldn’t ask him to watch Luna. Not that he needed a babysitter, right?

Danny was exceptionally good with the kids, at least from all he’d seen, but it wouldn’t be much of a date with Luna tagging along. He certainly wouldn’t feel comfortable testing any waters while she was around just yet. Though she was familiar with Danny already, growing up all she ever knew was her Dad so to suddenly bring someone else into their life, Jake certainly wasn’t ready for that big a step.

“So this Danny guy has stuck around? You haven’t kicked him to the curb yet?”

“Don’t make it sound like I’m an asshole” Jake grumbled. Just because he hadn't been trying as hard to find someone as Josh thought he should’ve been, didn’t mean he hadn’t been trying at all.

“But you are kind of an asshole” Josh replied, waiting for the rebuttal that never came.

“Yeah, you’re kind of right” Jake set the guitar down on the table he’d been working at and rubbed his eyes with hard pressure in his fingertips until he saw colorful blotches dancing around. “I don’t want to fuck this up. I think I really like him”.

“Well then don’t” Josh offered his bit of advice, “fight for it Jake. Don’t let the rest of the world get in the way. You deserve this”.

Jake let his brother's words sink in, it was nothing he didn’t already know, but hearing it from his most trusted other half made it finally start to stick. He inhaled a grounding breath and reopened his eyes. “I’m happy for you Josh. You deserve it too”.

“Thanks Jakey” he replied softly, some slight strain in his voice now. “Okay, I’m gonna hang up now before I start getting emotional. Since when did we become such sappy sentimentals?”

“Speak for yourself” Jake huffed a strained laugh of his own, knowing full well Josh could sense his torrent of emotions stirring just under the surface. “I’ll let you go now, got to figure out what to cook for dinner soon”.

“Alright, I’ll talk to you later, and I want to meet your new friend soon! You can’t keep mystery guy all to yourself forever”.

“Yeah, we’ll see about that”. Jake picked up his phone and hit the red end call button before Josh could pester him any further.

He was right though, Danny was a bit of a mystery. Maybe that’s why he was becoming more drawn in each time he saw him. Introducing Danny to his brothers would have to come eventually, but for now he needed more time alone with this enigmatic man to figure out what it was about him that was breaking Jake out of his shell.

“Luna! What do you want for dinner?” Jake called as he made his way through the living room and into the kitchen. His brain was too preoccupied to put together a whole meal, so instead he let the toddler pick which meant they ended up eating grilled chicken, peas, and macaroni- could’ve been worse.

Both of their plates were cleared and Jake let Luna stand on a stool at the sink to help wash the dishes, glad she was still young enough to find dunking the pans and plates in soapy water entertaining as he scrubbed and dried.

After her bedtime story Jake got Luna settled down for the night and went back to work on the guitar for a bit longer before calling it and getting ready for bed himself. Tomorrow was Friday, which meant all he had to do was make it through one more day of work and the weekend would be here.

Friday turned out to be a terrible day. Everything that could possibly go wrong seemed to be hitting one right after another. First there were problems with tax forms which were annoying and tedious to fix, but needed to be done immediately. Then Jake had to step in and take over for the festival planning since that team in charge of that was terribly behind. They had quite a few artists at a local festival agree to donate a portion of their profits to the foundation, in exchange they were in charge of having a booth at the festival.

Jake hated festival planning. There were always so many working parts and extra people to manage, strict schedules to adhere to, and extra hours of work associated with all of that, so he usually handed them off to others. At the end of the day though, he was still responsible for ensuring everything involving the midwest branch was running smoothly, which is why he was a little bit peeved that they had waited until Friday to ask for his help.

“Alright, start sending out those memos. Attach the schedule and band list. Monday morning I expect a recap of response” Jake finished up with his final instruction as he packed his work laptop in his weekend bag. After hours of combing through everything with the team he was just about drained, but everyone seemed a lot more confident in what their role was in getting things back on track.

It was already a quarter after six when he loaded his things into the car and headed home. His phone rang, and he hit the answer call button from the screen on his dash just as he pulled up to a red light. “Hey! I am on my way now. Thank you so much for picking Luna up for me”. Jake answered the call, having text Emma’s parents asking if they could pick both the girls up from school since he had to stay late.

“No worries, I was actually calling to tell you Luna wanted to know if she could sleep over”. Emma’s mom replied.

Jake thought about it for a moment. Luna had never stayed anywhere overnight without him, but he knew she did well sleeping regardless of where they were so he wasn’t too worried about it.

“I really don’t mind. Those two keep themselves pretty entertained, and we ordered pizza when we got home so she’s already eaten” she continued, hoping to ease Jake’s mind.

“Okay, let me just run home and pack her a bag real quick and I’ll run it over?”

“Sounds good!”

As soon as he got home Jake dropped his laptop bag off on the kitchen table and headed into Launa’s room. He filled a backpack with pajamas, two changes of clothes just in case, her bear bear since he knew she wouldn’t go to bed without it, and grabbed an extra blanket from her stash just in case.

“Hi Daddy!” Luna exclaimed when he showed up to see her for a moment and make sure she still actually wanted to stay the night. “Want to come see our tent!”

“Tent?” Jake glanced over at Emma’s mom for clarification since the darkening clouds outside signaled it was going to rain soon. In fact there was a weather advisory out for flash floods this evening.

“It’s in Emma’s room” she chuckled, noticing his slight panic.

“Alright” he let Luna take his hand and drag him towards the room, rambling excitedly the whole way. “We had pizza for dinner but I gave Emma’s dad my ‘ronis cause I don’t like em”.

“Well I’m sure he appreciated that” he replied, centering his focus on her instead of letting his eyes wander further down the hallway.

In the middle of the room there was a princess tent large enough that the tiny toddler mattress from the bed fit perfectly inside. It was already packed with lots of stuffed animals, but Jake went ahead and unzipped Launa’s backpack to reveal her favorite.

“Bear bear!” She squealed, snatching it from his hands and crawling into the tent to place him perfectly in the middle.

Just like that Emma came running into her room and joined Luna in the tent, the two of them getting right back into playing whatever they had been before Jake arrived.

“See, I told you they’re fine” Emma’s mom backed out of the doorway so Jake could slip out. Before he could stop himself he glanced over to the room at the very end of the hallway, seeing the door closed. “Danny hasn’t been home yet today” she continued, cocking her eyebrow when Jake looked back at her pretending to be confused about why she was mentioning it. “I’ll tell him you stopped by” she offered as they made their way back towards the front of the house.

“Oh don’t worry about it. I have his number” Jake replied, suddenly feeling awkward about having looked for him. “Let me know if anything happens or if you need anything”.

“Go home, get some rest. I’ll take good care of her”.

Jake smiled and nodded, he believed her, Luna was in good hands. Now all that mattered was that he had the house entirely to himself for once in quite a while.

Once back at home, Jake heated up some leftovers but after just a few bites he decided he wasn’t hungry. He tidied up the kitchen since there was a little mess from this morning, taking the opportunity to thoroughly wipe down his coffee machine and organize all his mugs in the cabinet.

Afterwards he started a load of laundry, walking around the house and picking up stay articles of clothing Luna had left behind and tossing everything in the washer.

Only an hour had passed but the storm clouds outside made it look like night had already arrived. He debated getting his laptop out and checking emails, but after the day he’d had at work literally anything else sounded more appealing than that. He could have gone to bed early, gotten caught up on some much needed sleep, but a nagging feeling kept him from relaxing.

Eventually he ended up just sitting at the table in his office, staring at his phone laying there silent, not a single text or notification, debating if he should make this call or not. Deciding he was being ridiculous, he picked up the phone and found the contact, bringing the speaker to his ear as it rang a few times.

“Jake?” Danny finally answered, surprised to see his name come up across the screen.

“Are you busy?” Jake asked, trying to sound nonchalant when he knew Danny wasn’t just at home.

“No, just had to get out of there for a while” he answered, his voice trailing off as if there was something the matter.

Jake wanted to press it, but he bit back his worry and instead got to the reason why he’d called. “Your sister is watching the girls tonight. Did you…” Jake was fidgeting, shifting his weight in his chair uncomfortably, “did you want to come over?”

Danny’s voice softened at the offer, a slight taunt building behind his words, “you want me to come over?”

He was excited, but his question in return was also giving Jake the opportunity to truly consider what he was proposing. He was home alone, and he was inviting Danny, he had to know what that meant right? Danny hoped so, because he already knew he wouldn’t be able to behave.

“I mean, if you want to then yeah”.

“Okay, I’m on my way right now”.

Wherever Danny had gone off to, it must not have been far because within 10 minutes he was texting Jake back.

Come outside

8:12PM

Jake grabbed a light jacket since a strong breeze was starting to blow through bringing the storm nearer, and made his way to the front door. He stopped for a split second to peer out of the tall narrow windows on either side of the mahogany to see Danny in his driveway leaning against his motorcycle. He was in his usual faded black jeans and his pair of worn in chucks, but instead of just a t-shirt he wore a black hoodie and his mess of curls were hidden underneath a snapback hat turned backwards on his head. He looked soft, like Jake could just run into his embrace and everything else around them would melt away.

“I see you got this thing running” Jake kept himself pulled together as he closed the front door and hit the lock button. For a brief second he looked around the neighborhood, no one was outside. He was being anxious for no reason.

“You sure you don’t want a ride?” Danny asked, pushing off to grab Jake by the waist and plant a swift kiss to his cheek before letting him go again. “It clears the mind”.

“Maybe just this once?”

Though he actually agreed, Jake hesitated as he tried to figure out how this was going to work. A wide smile spread across Danny’s face, like he secretly knew Jake was more enthralled with the motorcycle than he let on, then grabbed the handles and swung his leg around. He started the bike up again, its newly refurbished engine purring to life as he twisted at the waist to pat the tiny spot on the seat behind him. “Where to?”

“Anywhere” Jake replied, stretching onto the tip of his toes in his boots to grab onto Danny’s shoulders and climb onto the back. “Just get me out of here”.

They took off slowly down the street, picking up speed gradually but never going too fast. Jake moved his hands from Danny’s shoulders to his waist, trying to figure out where to grip so that he felt secure until one of Danny’s hands came around and tugged on his arm, making Jake slide closer against his back. He wrapped his arms around Danny’s midsection, feeling the warmth from his body across his chest and the heat emanating from the engine down his calves.

Just as they made it a few blocks over, the rain started. First in a tiny sprinkling Jake could barely feel prickling against his cheeks, then it came down in a steady drizzle, dampening his hair that whipped wildly behind him.

Jake wrapped his hands around his forearms that still encircled Danny, closed his eyes, and leaned back so that he could feel the wind and the rain on his face.

Before long they were slowing down again and Jake lifted his head, reopening his eyes to look through the blur of rain that had collected on his lashes seeing that they were crossing the old highway at the fringe of the suburb. Once they made it across, Danny pulled into a small dilapidated lot where cars used to pull over for a break from driving and used the muscle in his leg to put the kickstand in place.

He waited for Jake to dismount first, who stood there as the rain really started to pour, confused about why they’d stopped here of all places. “We’re almost there, just up that hill”.

Danny turned the bike off and stuffed the key in his front pocket before he grabbed Jake’s hand and took off up the narrow concrete path that led to an overgrown rest stop, complete with a covered stone picnic table. Under the oning and out of the rain, Danny stepped onto the bench and took a seat on the crumbling table, looking out over the empty highway and the soaked landscape.

Jake joined him on the table, quietly listening to the thunder rumbling in the distance and the sound of rushing water as the rain ran off the top of the shelter and started to pool on the ground in front of them.

“Our parents used to take my sister and I up here for lunch in the summer” Danny began, his eyes distant as if he were seeing through the wet and the dark and into the past where it was still warm and sunny. “They live right up that highway, just about two miles. So close, but I haven’t even been to see them since moving over here”.

“Why not?” Jake asked, turning his attention away from the downpour and to the man next to him who sat as still and rigid as the concrete structure beneath them. He looked like a statue that belonged in an art exhibition the way he had his elbows propped up on his knees and he slouched over deep in thought.

Something seemed different about Danny today. He wasn’t this spirited young rebel Jake had grown accustomed to, but instead he was darkened, troubled. Jake only found this new side of Danny intriguing though, a deeper layer he was exposing of himself. Jake felt like this was a part of Danny he could relate to, and it made his blooming affection towards him only grow exponentially.

Danny sighed and sat up for a moment to pull his hat off and shake off the droplets that clung to the fabric before raking his fingers through his curls and slipping the hat back in place. “Don’t know, guess I’m scared to”.

Jake bit his lip, not having the knowledge of what their relationship was, but still able to sympathize with him nonetheless. He felt the same way about his in-laws most of the time. He knew it was absurd, but his mind had made up this delusion that they thought he wasn’t good enough. That he’d never been good enough for their daughter, for the job they’d given him, and as a Dad to Luna. It was a hard feeling to live with.

“It’s just I’ve spent the last six years trying to run from them, from the perfect person they want me to be. My sister, she gets it, she’s everything they always envisioned for her. College, good job, married to a man who supports their family, she’s always so put together and perfect… I couldn’t do that. I couldn’t force myself to conform to those standards, so after only a year of college I took off and I haven’t been back since. At least not until now”.

Danny poured his overflowing emotions out, just like the seemingly never ending rain surrounding them, and Jake sat and listened.

“I did a lot of stupid things. Got into some sketchy shit. Got some tattoos, piercings, whatever. I dress the way I want now and I’m happy with how I turned out, but I don’t know if they will accept this me”.

For a moment they sat there without speaking again until Jake figured out what he wanted to say. He reached his hand over and closed his palm around one of Danny’s, the simplest of touches but one that Danny had given him before.

“There is nothing about you they shouldn’t love. Even so, if you’re happy then I’m sure they will eventually come to understand. You should find the time to go see them, I bet they miss you”.

Danny cracked a small heartless half smile, but he turned his hand over in Jake’s grasp and threaded their fingers together. It felt good to get that off his chest, the life slowly returning to his eyes as he looked over and met Jake’s captivating gaze.

His hair was sopping wet, and it clung to his neck in chocolatey tendrils. With his free hand, Danny reached over and ran his fingers through his strands, amazed at the way they slid through without any tangles. Jake closed his eyes and leaned into the touch, allowing Danny comb through his hair over and over again, each time feeling the way his fingers brushed against his scalp.

Unable to take it any longer, Danny leaned in and captured Jake’s cold lips with his own. Jake sucked in a breath, but soon he eagerly returned the kiss, loosening his jaw and slotting their mouths together as it quickly deepened. He squeezed Danny’s hand in his own, trying to ask for more, but instead Danny slightly pulled away.

“It’s a good thing it’s raining so hard, otherwise I’d think you could hear how hard my heart is pounding right now”.

Jake’s eyes widened at the confession, his own pulse starting to quicken when Danny brought his hand up and pressed Jake’s palm firmly against his chest. “Here. Feel it?”

It would’ve been nearly impossible to feel the thumping of the muscle through the thick fabric of his hoodie, except Jake was so tuned into him that he did actually believe he felt it. A soft thump thump thump against his rib cage beating in time to the tempo of the rain droplets above them.

“Danny” Jake mumbled, barely registering his small hmm? in response. “Kiss me again”.

Danny didn’t need to be asked twice, he quickly closed the gap between them once more, reaching around Jake’s smaller form and pressing his hand against the small of his back to get him even closer. A shiver broke through, running up Jake’s spine and he felt his limbs going numb.

“Are you cold?” Danny asked without removing his lips from Jake’s. He didn’t get a reply though, only a stubborn press of his mouth harder against him. “Want to go back? To your place?”

Jake finally relented, the idea of getting him somewhere dry, and not wide out in the open, more appealing than continuing their make out session here.

“Please?” He replied, unintentionally giving puppy dog eyes so wide that Danny smiled for real this time and gave him one last peck before they ran back out into the rain together.

Tags: @sanguinebats @kultavalo @lipstickitty @gracev0609 @lyndz2names

[eternal-armin]

SO, HOW SHOULD i begin this?

this is the first time i'm going to do a multi-part fic that goes beyond like 2 or 3 parts (rip to the chandelier fic.) bear with me ;;;; but i'm obsessed with everything everywhere and i wanted to do something with the abilities evelyn and joy specifically have. and, of course, the angst that can come from it. looked over this as much as i could but im exhausted so my apologies for any errors ;;;

pairing : five hargreeves x male/transmasc reader [he/him pronouns]

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where : five is instantly intrigued by the eighth sparrow, a kid just like himself, which makes him try to seek him out specifically; nothing better than a second opinion about time from another person who knew its intricacies, right? well, he... may have gotten more than he bargained for.

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warnings : future mentions of trauma, fighting and injury (specific mentions of choking), existentialism, reader is just exhausted of life and shit in general, future cheesiness and such because i said so, depression, a whole lot of 'if i can bend reality to my will then how much does it really matter' kind of questioning (later on for the most part.)

the disheartening sight of seven other people—ahem, sorry, and one very confusing cube—was made endlessly puzzling by the appearance of a kid behind them. someone who looked five's age. physically, anyway. they both seemed equally entranced by the other; the kid's eyes were wide, his lips slightly parted, as if seeing someone he had been missing for decades. he furrowed his brow a bit, cocking his head, and klaus found himself peering where five glared.

"well, would you look at that? they've got a little brother, too!"

"zip it, klaus," he hissed, though with a certain degree of gentleness in his voice, even excluding the volume he had to use. looking back at the balcony, he was wearing more casual clothes with a sort of... varsity jacket of the sparrow academy's traditional colors and emblems. he was a sparrow, meaning he was born in 1989, meaning he was around thirty years old. so why did he look thirteen? it clicked then, suddenly; his power could have something to do with time. five felt instantly that he needed to speak with him. and if it needed to be done by force, then...

hands crossed neatly over his lap, barely restraining that very obvious agitation, ben chimed in with, "dad, who the hell are these assholes?"

a chorus of "shit" rang out amongst the umbrellas. five stared at him with the same amount of emotion as usual, mostly overrun by confusion, however his sentimentalities ended there. that balcony, barely a few yards from where five stood, held something—someone, rather—that could be an answer to his predicament. or at least help figure out if he could retire or not. if this world was safe enough to stay in. there was a whole host of colorful characters. if he was the sparrows' number eight, what exactly inspired reginald to adopt him as well? or was it just sort of a convenience thing?

luther stepped forward along with klaus. "is that really you?"

no amusement struck ben. if anything, he somehow managed to look more annoyed.

"and who are the weirdos on the balcony!"

"they are the sparrows. my children." reginald's controlled, vaguely irritated voice was such a contrast to diego's harsh tone.

much to five's chagrin this moment was a bit more important than staring at a boy. he turned on his heel, narrowing his eyes at the old man. "i'm sorry, what do you mean your children? that's not possible, old man."

"of course it is! i think i'd know, wouldn't i?"

well. something was very wrong, wasn't it?

the sound of footsteps and shuffling caught his attention and yet again he looked back forward; all of the sparrows once situated haphazardly on the balcony now stood across the tile threshold. the kid was shorter than he expected, in all honesty, and he seemed to be the least serious out of all his siblings—not to say that he looked like he was having fun or that he was laughing, but that he didn't want to fight. he looked like he would avoid it at every cost.

"everyone else can see ben, right?"

"cute hat, sundance."

"they call themselves the umbrella academy," reginald interrupted, "a group of scheming, perfidious malcontents who accosted me in the fall of '63 when i was away on business in dallas. be warned—they claim to be my spawn." all throughout reginald's little schpiel, five and the other kid maintained eye contact, five puzzled at his existence and him puzzled by five's puzzlement. he seemed to find it weird but, oddly enough, he didn't seem weirded out specifically. occasionally five would glance about the rest of the sparrows, gauge them if he could, and when that happened he would sometimes catch the barest glimpse of the kid looking at two of his sisters with confusion.

should i be worried? he was probably thinking to himself.

with five on his opposition? absolutely.

"claim? look, five, what the hell is going on?" allison sounded like she was moments away from boiling over.

"not sure yet, but it's concerning."

"is he telling the truth?" seeming to sense the steadily-rising tensions, the kid started, very slowly, to back away, retreating to the furthest reaches of the carpet before the battle had even begun.

"not the part about us being perfidious." vanya seemed to kind of placate that cowardice in him. maybe he even smiled at vanya.

"no! no, we're amateur-fidious, at best!"

"but we are his children, this is our house."

"yeah, we grew up here."

"yeah, yeah, we grew up here," alphonso mocked, getting a snicker from jayme, however the kid just shot them both a slightly judgmental look.

"i kind of think we would've noticed you," sloane said, to which luther stated his name and offered out his hand. sloane did not accept, really she didn't do a thing, and some whispers broke out amongst her and her little brother, whispers that five couldn't make out.

"okay. none of you belong here."

"oh! well, then. i guess we'll just pack our bags and move out."

christopher babbled and chittered, milking chuckles from his brothers and sisters. five had to say he looked way better smiling than frowning, though he figured it would probably be the same for anyone.

grace came in to the living room, heels click-click-clicking, holding a plate of cookies in her hand and apologizing that she couldn't do better. five couldn't catch the precise details. it was just kind of nice to see her again, even if she was certainly in need of a... few repairs.

"mom." diego's sentimental mumble caught some of the sparrows off-guard. the kid included.

"she's a robot, you perv."

"it's not a robot."

"don't call him that!"

"or what?" ben challenged.

"come closer and find out." bickering broke out between the two families, vanya and marcus actively trying to keep everyone's heads on straight, and five may have lost track of the conversation. until ben threw the first punch, anyway. he ducked back, watching as luther next was flung like a ragdoll across the room, landing on and breaking the poor couch. he saw the boy duck out and wanted to chase but first kept his loyalties, attacking ben and getting lost in a flurry of sharp punches and occasionally-failed dodges.

"you're alive. that's—great, or possibly horrible, i haven't decided yet."

"is that some weird kind of smack talk?"

"it's more of an existential problem, really, ben."

"awesome. well, here's your next problem." with his arms extending back and torso leaning forward, a grimy tentacle quickly burst from his chest, though not fast enough to stop five before he blinked away and onto the balcony.

"y'know, even though you're a total asshat now," five began, rudely cut off by another attack which he yet again evaded with ease. it was easier to land a punch and he watched as ben crashed into the ground. "it's nice to see you again. really." after seeing a particularly disturbing scene between diego and the cube, he stepped in to save allison from a few of the other sparrows, yet again finding himself on the second-floor balcony.

"thanks," allison managed through uneven breaths.

"no problem." both standing up, both dusting themselves off, they saw someone rounding the corner. it was him. still, that look of passive pacifism remained, now somewhat stoic in nature; he didn't want to fight, but he may need to. he was resigning himself to that fact and five could see it in his setting expression. and most importantly, there was also endless loyalty. oh, well.

five furrowed his brow, readjusting his jacket. "go help the others. i'll handle this one."

his new opponent almost seemed to space out, eyes narrowing just a bit as if being flooded by tons of new information. with grace and precision, and certainly speed, he set into a defensive stance. five blinked behind him to try for an attack and it was blocked. he continued to block, evade, block, evade, as fast as five tried to attack. the only sounds he made for a while were little grunts.

every failed punch and every successful block was adding to five's aggravation and his exasperation.

"y'know, five," he said, and hearing him speak for the first time startled five terribly, "delores wouldn't like you fighting like this! i'm not doing anything to you!" that shocked him so bad he misfired a punch but it landed for the first time because of how he went to dodge. he was weaker than five first surmised, falling onto the ground, and five continued to strike him back down until he was pinned and unable to move. he looked enraged, face twisted, eyes wide, teeth bared and gritted, glaring daggers at the kid, who looked to be in quite a bit of pain.

"how do you know my name?!" he barked. "how do you know her name?!" five got no answer and that was endlessly more irritating. the kid slammed his hand onto the ground and grabbed the first thing he could, a small piece of rubble, but five watched as, in those few fractions of seconds, that small piece of debris turned into a metal candlestick.

a metal candlestick.

the moment five saw that, he teleported, reappearing just a few feet away. he pushed off his total confusion; no time. the kid kept the candlestick in his hand when he fumbled to stand, not getting even a moment before five tackled him into a headlock. he didn't think twice about the look of pain on the kid's face because that wasn't exactly imperative and he didn't hesitate at the sounds he made.

the kid raised the candlestick again and five watched in subtle horror as it flitted between many different forms, each punctuated by a small sound and a bit of light. he only recognized a few of those hundred forms before he saw it land, like a wheel of fortune, on a knife and he plunged it down. five jerked out of the way of the blade. even though he had once been so hesitant to fight, so afraid of hurting other people, he seemed finally able to push that away and actually defend himself. he may not have been particularly strong, but he was swift and flexible while wrenching himself out of five's grip and adept at landing hits that would still make five flinch and pause. the kid blocked a punch and the moment that they came in contact with each other, the world around them... changed.

from the slightly destroyed upper floor of the academy house, it became an office building, papers flying about while people panicked about the violent fight between the aisles of cubicles. in that moment of confusion, he landed a hit on five, right in the gut. after a pained second, eyes squeezed tight, he grit his teeth and kept fighting.

the office building had become a high-rise skyscraper that they were fighting on the edge of.

another punch and they were on the deck of a cruise ship.

another block and they were in a spanning parking garage. the kid advanced and forced five to back up, closer to the edge of the space, and certainly to a painful fall. he continued to evade every attempted hit, no matter how five had calculated them, before pouncing on him and shoving him right out of the concrete monolith, plummeting down toward the ground along with him.

"how the hell are you doing this?!" five shouted, voice swallowed up by the shouting winds. he grabbed his shirt, bunching up his collar tight enough to cut off his breathing. the panic in his eyes welled up very quick.

and then they were back. instead of hitting the hard pavement ground, five lost all the air in his lungs when he thudded onto the carpeted academy floor, gasping for a second as the kid scrambled away from him, coughing and wheezing.

five hadn't even strangled him for that long, what the hell?

five forced himself to sit, to stand, shooting the glare to end all glares at the boy across from him—however he didn't attack yet. after all the disorientation he felt from those few... transitions, he wanted to keel over and vomit. he was in no condition to fight. luckily, however, neither was his opponent.

killing the kid would not get five his answers, no matter how badly he wanted to do it.

the kid was on the ground, propping himself up on one of his hands, his entire body seeming wracked by pained, nauseated tremors. he looked to be heaving, expression conflicted, exhausted beyond exhausted. he held his head the way one would when suffering from a bad headache.

his question went unanswered, which just served to annoy five further. "are you a time traveler or something? no. a multiversal traveler? do you work with the commission? that's the only possibility i can think of." knowing about delores, knowing about his name, certainly knowing his past, instantly transporting both of them to different places, it could all connect to multiversal travel.

but that spacing out part, before he could dodge like some highly trained professional, and that debris-to-candlestick-to-knife part? those still kind of puzzled him.

the kid wrinkled his nose. "that's the only possibility? you've got a narrow range." for someone who sounded so pained and exhausted, he could manage some mouthiness. somehow he sounded more genuine than sarcastic, though. strange. what about him wasn't?

five's eye twitched and his lips pressed hard into a scowl. "a narrow range? a narrow range? my 'range' isn't narrow! i've seen so many possibilities unfold! do you even know what i had to do to get here?" his words hissed with pure venom. that didn't faze his opponent, even whilst he jabbed an accusatory finger at him, as though somehow this was his fault.

"i do, actually," he managed, although still short of breath. "you got trapped in the apocalypse for a few decades, offered a deal from the commission, broke your contract with them and became a fugitive, got back to your family, and have been trying to evade apocalypses ever since. third time's the charm, right, five?" he recounted it all with the cadence and sensitivity of a history teacher summarizing an important, yet complicated, period of time.

"how could you possibly know—stop calling me that! how are you able to do any of this!"

"i'm not gonna stop calling you by your name." he laughed through his words. he laughed.

"is my exasperation funny to you?"

"i-i mean, kinda! do you know how many ways i've seen this conversation going?" five stilled like a statue. "this was the most common outcome. well, uhm, aside from you just killing me. it's just a little funny how you always react the same way." he shrugged a bit, as though this was simply some high school gossip, and not (one of) the most puzzling thing that five had ever been exposed to.

"look," five began, trying to steady himself. "if you don't tell me how you know about me—how you know about delores—this will become a timeline where i kill you. okay? capiche?"

he raised his hands in surrender. they shook. "capiche, five."

"stop. calling me that."

"to even the playing field, i'm [y/n]. there." he sat forward, resting his elbows on his knees, checking his hands. yet again he seemed to space out, just for a moment this time, before going through a grounding technique. he looked determined now, not as tired as before, though it did remain rather clearly in his eyes. [y/n] was just a kid again. he looked like a pathetic, sick kitten. "it's my power. i was born like this. you travel through space and time, i travel through reality. all of reality. alternate universes, as you know them. close by, far away, ones almost exactly the same and some with very distinctive evolutionary branches. the further away the world, the... stranger they get. i can see literally any possibility. so i—i fucking know you, five. i know you. i know your brothers and your sister and your in-laws and your niece and every other niece or nephew you could've had. there are so, so many worlds where i was an umbrella, or your friend, or stuck with you in the apocalypse, or... something like that. that's how i know you, and know delores. i was there."

sister, singular?

fuck, why was that his first take-away?

five narrowed his eyes slightly. "you can see every alternate universe," he said, slowly, as if clarifying something to [y/n] when he really needed the clarification for himself.

he nodded. "use them, too."

"use...?"

[y/n] broke into a little smile. his answer remained unknown because their restrained conversation was interrupted by one of [y/n]'s sisters. just one glance and his smile disappeared, staring at five with now-widened eyes, mouthing something along the lines of 'get the fuck out.'

five didn't need to be told twice. a flit of light and he had disappeared to who-the-hell-knows-where.

"who the hell was that creep," jayme mumbled, watching as [y/n] stumbled to his feet and dusted himself off. she grabbed him by the scruff of his jacket out of instinct to make sure he didn't fall over.

"uh... someone pretty interesting," [y/n] said, staring at where he'd once been, the flash of bright light still burned into his eyes. he wanted to find him. maybe needed to find him. probably because something in the world was very wrong, even if no other timeline had figured it out yet.

if any of the umbrellas knew where to hide out, it would probably be klaus, right? simple solution. kind of. as long as he could sneak out undetected by his siblings.

a good bit of time had passed when you finally had the chance to scope out the hotel obsidian. you had changed into something more casual and lowkey, sunglasses now balanced atop your nose and a nice light scarf about your neck. music played over your headphones and you wandered inside of the place, stricken with the sight of heavy art deco. it was rather nice, actually, when you took the time to appreciate it. then again, your mind was rather preoccupied with what was probably a very big deal. on the other side of the lobby, in the little bar and lounge area, you could spot a few of the hargreeves siblings. most notably five, now wearing a white bathrobe. soon his eyes glanced to you and you could feel his gaze sharpen. he looked back at his brothers and excused himself, stepping off the stool and teleporting to you before his feet hit the ground.

"what are you doing here," he hissed through gritted teeth.

"i mean, our conversation got cut off earlier. seemed right to continue it, y'know?"

five looked back at his brothers and then at you once more. klaus was staring after him but you didn't know if he recognized you; luther and diego were still totally enraptured in their chinese food.

the look on five's face told you a whole lot; it was critical to him to talk with you, figure things out, because he guessed—and guessed right—that you weren't just here to politely finish a conversation. something weird was going on, whether he wanted to know or not. "alright. okay. fine. just," he grasped your shoulder after a second and then you were both gone, reappearing instantaneously in a room you assumed to be five's. small cot in the corner, bunk bed opposite, and a couch.

god, you wanted to throw up. you clutched your stomach, squeezing your eyes shut for a minute.

he crossed his arms and looked at you. "so where exactly did we leave off?"

you paused to scrub your mind, trying to recall. a few blinks broke the few seconds of spacing out. usually you weren't this forgetful, but, uh, today was an interesting one. "i said i can use those universes and that confused you. and then jayme came around and i told you to leave."

"right," five muttered. "what exactly did you mean by that?"

"well, obviously i can use them for information." your voice was somewhat soft, actually, which was mighty strange to him.

"hmph. how could i forget." five's flat voice was thick with sarcasm.

you managed a smile. "but i can also use them for skills and stuff. the dodging, earlier; i can't really do that here. there's a world where i star in fighting movies and stuff, where i'm good at dodging and i'm fast and flexible, and i can... link my mind, i guess, and use those skills. and the... the candlestick. knife. thing. i can change things to whatever another me is holding. i can change my clothes. i can change reality."

"so, in essence, your mind is able to find every other instance of you across time and space and access them? and... communicate with them, i suppose, in some way or another."

you shrugged a bit. "about explains it. but the—... can i ask you something?" you suddenly sounded sheepish, hesitant, like you were constantly rethinking what you were about to say. five furrowed his brow, a little surprised to see that look on your face, and he really didn't like it.

"depends on what that something is," he responded, speaking cautiously.

you found yourself spacing out again, but this time not to access some alternate plane of existence. every other universe had its own noise, and every other universe was persistently audible; that loud buzz was starting to give you yet another headache. it was probably possible to overdose on tylenol, right? suddenly that constant look of exhaustion on your face was even more obvious to five. for a moment, he seemed almost sympathetic to that. he could certainly understand it, at the very least. "you've got about twenty-eight years of experience on me," you began, forcing your voice to be steady. "do you have any clue how to deal with the, uhm, existential part of it all?" lightheartedness seemed to be a skill of yours. five could respect it.

you doubted, sincerely doubted, that there could be anything in the world to help you from the persistent noise. or from the pain and exhaustion of swatting from world to world to world in the span of thirty seconds during a fight. it was a wonder you were still walking.

"why should i help you with that, exactly? your family tried to kill mine."

"i didn't try to kill anyone. i hid upstairs the entire time. well, uh, almost the entire time. i can be an ally to you guys. i'd... prefer to be allied with you guys." if anyone else in the world knew about the ins and outs of the umbrella academy, five had no doubt in his mind that it would be you and your presumably-torturous ability. it would probably be a smart idea on their side as well, to ally with you.

"before i agree to help you at all, how can i be sure your family isn't using you as some sort of... puppet? some sort of inside man?"

you shrugged a bit after a second. "i wouldn't be a very good choice."

"seriously? do you think i'm stupid or something?"

you crossed your arms, looking at him with narrowed eyes. "no. i know you aren't stupid. and i'm pretty sure that your first choice wouldn't be a 'weak thirteen-year-old kid with a power that cripples him with headaches and exhaustion whenever he uses it,' either. not to mention that said kid can't hear what's going on sometimes because of literally every other sound in the expansive multiverse." the words were sarcastic but the tone was very genuine, almost excruciatingly so.

"i have... so many more questions now."

you shrugged a bit. "i can answer some of them, i guess." considering that you knew almost all the ins and outs of his life, it seemed only fair to share some of yours. you were too tired to steer the conversation back to why you had came. perhaps you'd already forgotten it.

"why exactly are you thirteen? you were born in 1989, you had to be."

"... i chose to stay this age."

"how can you just choose to stay that age?" exasperation met with confusion in a very strange voice of five's. even after all he'd gone through and learned, you were just springing question marks all over the place. god damnit.

"i can manipulate almost every aspect of reality, five," you said, softly, in response. "it's not out of the realm of possibility to stay thirteen. not for me."

five nodded slightly after a second. that nod steadily turned into a shake of his head. "jesus—i should've grabbed some coffee." he pinched the bridge of his nose, shaking his head. "just give me a second."

"oh. uh, no need." glancing about the room, there was a small corner table, atop it an ice bucket and some plastic cups for water. he watched, for some reason a bit puzzled, as you placed your hands on it. spaced out. and it flitted to a fresh coffee pot and a mug. they seemed like something from a diner.

well, that would make sense, wouldn't it?

you poured him a cup and handed it, still steaming, over to him.

five scowled a bit, staring down at the filled mug, before his sharp gaze landed on you again.

"it's just coffee, five. it's not poisoned or anything. here." you plucked it back out of his grasp and took a sip, waited a few seconds, and handed it back. "see? you're fine."

after a second, he nodded. "right." he didn't find himself bothered by drinking from the same mug you had. he'd done a lot worse things, hadn't he?

"so... what were those other questions?"

after taking a few healthy swigs, he cleared his throat. "your ability—it really taxes you? even after all these years?" five would never admit it, but the coffee was pretty goddamn good. whatever diner your alternate-self worked in was worth a visit, if it existed in this world. "is that why you were shaking and panting so much earlier?"

you felt a bit embarrassed. "yeah," you mumbled. "i trained with it a lot, but, i wasn't very strong to begin with." you sat down carefully on the sofa, pulling a bottle of painkillers from your coat pocket.

"when's the last time you had a dose?" five asked, mug to his lips, shooting you a side-eye.

"... maybe three hours ago. why?"

he clicked his tongue and shook his head, plucking the bottle out of your hands. "not now, then."

"dude! what the hell! i-i need those!"

"well, i can't keep asking questions to someone sick from taking too much tylenol. and you can wait three hours."

you groaned but didn't complain, just settling back against the comfortable cushions. "fine. i'll wait." and you mumbled 'you're just like sloane' under your breath.

"good," he mumbled, sitting down beside you after tossing the pills onto his bed. "you said you could hear every sound in the multiverse. something tells me that isn't a hyperbole."

you nodded a bit and slouched down, trying to figure out a decent analogy. "when you remove a door from its threshold, you can always hear what's on the other side, unless you actively tune it out. just, for me, there were never doors. it was always like this. every single feasible universe is out there, fighting for my attention, almost every waking moment." you recounted with a deep sort of mourning. five couldn't blame you, he supposed. you had been robbed of silence, of pure solitude, of privacy. his heart almost ached for you.

had you been born with the doors off their frames? he wanted to ask, he really wanted to ask, but it was probably going to be way too... private of a thing. personal. from what he could tell.

"and i thought wrangling that crowd of toddlers was bad. i can't imagine hearing everything they do, everywhere, constantly," he mused.

you cracked a smile. it had been a while since you were able to joke around with someone, even if that someone had interrogated you like a police investigator. "oh, it's the worst," you giggled, and he laughed along. "i mean, it's bad enough knowing what your brothers do into their socks, it's even worse to walk in on them over, like, over two thousand times."

"i've known you for a very short period of time, but something tells me that's the worst thing you've ever said."

for someone in a very persistent and terrible bout of pain, your laugh, and your smile, were incredibly bright. five couldn't really say that he was expecting this when first appearing in the umbre—ahem. in the sparrow academy building, but he wasn't exactly complaining. this could be nice. he really hoped it would be, anyway.

silence fell on you two for a while. the overbearing static was starting to edge back in now that you had nothing more to say. the pain was ebbing.

"... something's wrong." you sounded deadly serious, it was horrifying.

"s—sorry?" five felt like he had whiplash after such an extreme diversion from the topic.

you seemed to be fighting that urge to space out a whole lot more. this was important, you needed to stay on track, and yet your stress was doing exactly the opposite of tunnel vision. shit.

five noticed; and he kind of needed you to talk, as fast as possible, so reached out and pinched your neck, successfully getting you to tense and wake up, in some sense of the words. offense was replaced with gratitude in your eyes. "i don't know exactly what. no other universe has figured it out. but you aren't supposed to be here, this isn't your timeline, that's—a very big problem. it could potentially 'rip a hole in space and time.'" five muttered along with you, cussing and hanging his head.

"why didn't you say this first?" he hissed.

"i'm sorry!" you sounded very genuine and he felt rather bad. "i-i—the interrogation and then the pain and then the... getting along with you, i forgot." it was another world, some utterance of 'not normal yet' that brought the thought back to you.

your voice was cracking. you felt far worse than five could ever make you feel.

"... it's fine. it's fine."

"it very much isn't. you know that."

five knew it all too well. he groaned, pinched the bridge of his nose, and downed the rest of his coffee. "fantastic."

"i mean, it may be a problem we can solve." you shot him a smile, a tired and weak little thing, but it did comfort him a bit.

"the universe will really mind if seven dumbasses stick around?" his humor had soured, but it was still there. you felt very guilty, unable to look him in his eyes, shoulders slouched as if defeated in some great thing.

"she's a stickler for rules."

"hmph." he scowled a full-face scowl. "no retirement yet, i guess."

out of all the things you could ever have seen, heard, felt, and known, one thing seemed... important. emotionally, anyway. "if it's, uhm, any consolation... retirement did look good on you, by the way."

he couldn't help but smile a bit. somewhere out there was a world where you and five were friends well into his retirement, be that at his confusing age or his chronological age from 1989, where he was happily retired with no time-threatening anomalous issues to draw him out. even if he was bound to die in this timeline, there was some comfort in knowing many other timelines saw him content. "i'll take your word for it."

[caffeinewitchcraft]

No pressure to answer but you're a really good writer so I figured I'd ask for advice.

I have trouble writing properly "evil" characters. And for a thing I want to write and flesh out I need an evil person who is nevertheless a good parent who loves their aon and I'm having trouble properly balancing that.

Do you have any advice or reference I could use?

Thank you for the compliment!

I love that you're considering creating such a nuanced character. It can be easy to drop a villain into a story who never gets any sort of background or clear motivations.

Most "evil" characters think they're good people. What defines them as "evil" in a story isn't who they are, it's how their actions affect the interests of the protagonist. I think the MOST important thing to do before starting on a villain is to understand your protagonist.

Is your protagonist very moral? If they saw abuse in a grocery store, would they directly step in? Or call security? Or do they need a personal stake in the matter to take action?

What does your protagonist WANT? Is their goal an object? is it to save a friend? Or maybe it's to protect themselves?

Now what's the FASTEST way your antagonist can get in the way of that? That's going to be your villain's motivation and what you need to keep in mind.

now onto the parenting bit!

Is your villain doing the bad thing to BE a good parent? (ie ritual sacrifice to cure their sick child) Or is your villain's agenda separate from their parental duties?

Since you mentioned that you're having trouble balancing that, I'm going to assume that it's the latter and your villain is doing bad things sometimes and is being a good parent others.

(I'm sorry this is getting long, it's such an interesting question!)

What's a good parent? Unconditional love is definitely part of that, imo, and you mention that they love their child. But what does love mean to them? Is it providing a safe home? is it forgiving them all wrongs? Is it fair discipline?

Pick one thing. That's going to be your villain's parent motivation. "Provide a safe home."

Say that your villain wants to blow up the city the hero lives in. That's the villain's motivation. "i'm going to blow up the city." They've got bad history with that city and so they just want to wipe it off the map. Their villain agenda has nothing to do with their child. The protagonist has no way to know that they're a loving parent unless they can see it. So now you have to involve the child in the altercation to show both sides of the villain.

----

The hero shows up at the villain's lair with an army.

"Stop," the hero cries with their friends behind them. "Don't blow up my city!"

The villain, rather than laughing at the hero as they usually do, is uncharacteristically panicked. They divert the hero and company with an (uncharacteristically) non-lethal light show. The hero battles through their disorientation and manages to get close to the villain. Just as they're about to strike, they hear the villain talking quickly.

"--to Aunt Jane's house," the villain is saying. The hero can't make them out clearly, but they know the villain is crouched near a door. There's a second figure in the doorway. "Okay? We talked about this. Tell Aunt Jane the word apple pie."

"that's two words," a small, young voice says.

"That's right," the villain says in a thin voice. "You're so smart! That's why I know you can do it. Go on. I--I or Aunt Jane will pick you up from school."

"I want you to pick me up from school."

"Me too." The villain kisses their offspring on the forehead. "Go."

The hero blinks stupidly as the villain turns. "You have a kid?"

"I was hoping you'd be in the city when my laser activated," the villain says. Any softness they'd had is gone, replaced with the familiar sneer. "Looks like you're here for a sample."

------

The fight moves on from that point.

Villain Motivation: "Blow up the city."

Parent motivation: "Provide a safe home."

Both motivations are satisfied in the above scene and both are shown to the protagonist. How the protagonist responds depends on their character!

Basically, my advice is to treat the antagonist as two separate people. One, is as the villain. The villain has an impact on the story. Their goal directly opposes the protagonist and the protagonist is driven to stop them.

The other is as a parent. IMO, treat this role as an NPC with cut scenes. They love their child, but it doesn't divert the plot. You need to SHOW the cut scene (in the example above, the instructions to go to Aunt Jane's) but it doesn't stop or influence the battle.

It's helpful to remember that being a good parent is a good quality but not necessarily a redeeming trait, if that makes sense. The protagonist can admire it, for sure, but they can't let the antagonist get away with their evil deeds because of it.

Hopefullly this helps a little! Or at the very least is coherent, lol.

Thanks for the ask!

(all answers are tagged #caffeine answers)