#*Yesterday Once More plays softly in the background*

[woso-fan91]

Forever After All (Steph Catley x singer reader)

Steph and reader started dating before both got famous. Let‘s get a sneak peak on a few parts of their story.

2015:

Steph stepped onto the pitch as a Melbourne Victory player for the last time. It was already decided that her next loan step would be Melbourne City. Her eyes scanned the stands before landing on her girlfriend of four years Y/n. She smiled and waved at Steph with a bright smile and Steph waved back. Both of them decided to go out tonight, no matter the outcome of the game just enjoying eachothers presence.

Later that night both Steph and Y/n sat in their booth at their favourite pub enjoying a cold beer with some fries and the jukebox playing softly their song in the background.

Later after their dinner together Y/n took Stephs hand and they walked to Y/n‘s truck. Charmingly Y/n opened Steph the door on the passenger site and let her get in.

Y/n started the truck and drove to the hill where she and Steph kissed for the first time.

After she parked the truck she grabbed the Maglite in the back of the truck taking Steph to an old oaktree cuddling up with her favourite defender.

Steph relaxed into your arms with a content sigh playing with Y/n‘s fingers knowing her scedule will become more hectic once the season starts.

She had no clue how right she was. Sure they lived together but their time alone became sacred.

They got into a routine and Steph felt, that was something that was bothering her girlfriend.

2020

The defender woke up alone in bed and your side of the bed was cold. With a sigh she stood up brushing the wrinkles out of your shirt she usually slept in. Steph usually slept in one of your shirts because they were more comfortable than her own and they smelled like you. She found you in the kitchen drinking tea: ”What are you doing up Baby?“ Surprised Y/n looked up: ”I could ask you the same dear. You need rest after your tough game yesterday.“ Steph stepped between your legs, wrapping her arms around your neck: ”I know but I usually sleep better when you‘re with me.“ You wrapped your arms around Steph‘s waist: „Sorry Love, I couldn‘t sleep properly so I thought getting up would be better than to wake you up.“ The moonlight shone through your kitchen window and danced across Stephs face. You couldn’t help yourself and kissed your girlfriend lovingly, she looked so beautiful in just your shirt, hair up and face void of makeup. It wasn‘t always easy dating a professional footballer who was on the move to England and with your own career kicking off but you knew deep down, that your love was worth everything.

A cold beer's got twelve ounces

A good truck's got maybe three hundred thousand

You only get so much until it's gone

Duracells in a Maglite

A needle drop on a forty-five

Are the kinda things that only last so long

When the new wears off and they get to getting old

Sooner or later, time's gonna take its toll

They say nothing lasts forever

But they ain't seen us together

Or the way the moonlight dances in your eyes

Just a t-shirt in the kitchen

With no make-up and a million

Other things that I could look at my whole life

A love like that makes a man have second thoughts

Maybe some things last forever after all

2023

You and Steph did a year of long distance but with close to 17.000km distance you decided to follow your girlfriend to England. Of course you were scared that Steph would not be happy to have you close again but with the help of Caitlin you decided to bite the bullet and hop on the plane.

You usually lived ob the outskirts of town so the bustling city of London kinda came as a cultural shock. You felt out of place but Caitlin‘s sure hand helped you relax. You were aware that Stephs ex was also in London and both met up regularly. A part of you was bothered by it, knowing how close they both still are but the other, bigger, part of yourself trusted Steph with your life and knew she would never cheat on you. They were still friends after their love fizzled out.

Caitlin drove you to the training facilities and you followed her inside. She guided you to the field where the rest of the Arsenal girls were practicing.

Katie McCabe looked up when she saw her girlfried return with another girl by her side and hollered playfully: ”Oi babe, you cheating on me?“ Caitlin snorted next to you before yelling back: ”Yep, you caught me with my missus.“ Katie laughed and the other girls came closer. Last one coming closer was Steph and when she realized it was you, she dropped her bottle surprised: ”Baby!“ Nervously you scratched your neck and smiled sheepishly: ”Hi…“ Steph stepped closer placing her hands on your cheeks: ”What are you doing here?“ You placed your hands on Stephs hips: ”Surprise?“ und smiled nervously. Steph kissed you infront of her team and you happily kissed her back, picking her up and twirling her around.

Kim cleared her troat: ”Want to introduce us Steph?“ Steph smiled brightly at her teammates: ”This is Y/n, my girlfriend of 12 years.“

Leah and Alessia put 2 and 2 together figuring out who you were: ”Wait, Y/n as in Y/n Y/l/n the country singer?“ Blushing slightly you nodded: ”In the flesh.“ Alessia squealed: ”Oh my god, we‘re such huge fans!“

Later that evening Steph posted a photo of the two of you curled up on her couch with the simple caption: ‚My love is finally home ❤️‘ and tagged you in it. You weren’t sure if it was a hard launch or a soft launch bit you didn’t exactly care either.

FM station on the outskirts

Blue jeans after years of shift work

All fading out like I always knew they would

The strings on this guitar

The first love lost on a young heart

Those things are gonna break after the getting's good

'Cause the new wears off and they get to getting old

Yeah, sooner or later, time's gonna take its toll

They say nothing lasts forever

But they ain't seen us together

Or the way the moonlight dances in your eyes

Just a t-shirt in the kitchen

With no make-up and a million

Other things that I could look at my whole life

A love like that makes a man have second thoughts

Maybe some things last forever after all

They say nothing lasts forever

But they ain't seen us together

Or the way the moonlight dances in your eyes

You settled in nicely in London living with Steph again getting back into spending your time between the studio, writing songs, planning a proposal and spending time with Steph.

Your chance for the proposal came, when you had a huge gig at the O2 Arena in London. Steph and the girls interested got VIP tickets on your insistence and enjoyed their night and the sold out Arena.

You picked up your old guitar, the one that Steph got you for your one year anniversary, and smiled into the crowd: ”Well London, how are you guys doing? Enjoying yourself tonight?“ The crowd cheered loudly and you laughed happily: ”Well, I‘m so happy we’re on the same page here. I got a little surprise for you. You guys know I‘m not a fan of phones during concerts but for this I‘m willing to make an exception. Most of you know I‘m happily taken and very much in love with my girlfriend Stephanie and she is here tonight with some of her friends.“ The crowd cheered for Steph who blushed prettily and you turned to your security: „Guys, can you please help her up her?“ while the staff brought out a chair. As instructed they helped Steph onto the stage and she looked mildly nervous but intrigued what you were up to.

With a smile you took her hand and led her to the chair placed infront of the stool you would sit on. You pressed a tender kiss onto her lips under the roudy cheers of the crowd. Laughing you pulled back: ”Okay, okay, sorry I couldn’t resist. I mean can you blame me? Look at my Missus…“ Steph swatted you playfully: „Thin ice buddy.“ You gave her a crooked smile: „I know but I enjoy living on the edge.“ Steph shakes her head laughing and you decided to get back on track: ”But let me be real now… Baby, we‘ve been together for 12 years now. I watched you thrive on and off the field and I‘m so extremely proud of you. Watching you kick ass at the worldcup in the summer leading your team to such hights I couldn’t help but fall more in love with you every second of every day. We had our ups and downs but we always managed to get through and end up back on top. You‘re my everything Steph and I want to spend my forever with you. The next song kinda puts our relationship to paper and I‘m extremely proud that I wrote this song completely my myself. This is Forever After All.“

When the song finished you took the guitar off and got on one knee infront of Steph: ”I don’t want to do life without you Steph. You made sure I started to believe in a forever kind of love again so I want to ask you something really important: Stephanie-Elise Catly would you do me the honour to become my wife? Will you marry little old me?“

Stephs eyes were brimming with tears: „Fuck yes!“ The laugh that bubbled in your throat was a laughter of facilitation and you took the ring out of the box and put it on her finger. You shared a sweet kiss while you saw the flahes from the cameras: ”Make sure to send me those pictures aye?“ You looked over: ”For the last song I want the Arsenal girls here with us! This is The Angel“

A little look in the future

You were sitting at Stephs hospital bed, holding her hand where her weddingbamd glimmered in the sun. She was weak and you felt it won‘t be long until the Lord called her home first. Deep down you knew that you would soon follow your wife. A lone tear ran down your cheek and you pressed a kiss to the back of her hand: ”Rest love. I know you‘re in pain, just sleep I will be right here. With one last deep breath you knew he took Steph home. Your kids cried out but you smiled despite the tears: ”Kids, look at your mother… she is at peace now and will watch over you guys from above.“ Just as you said that, the sun seemd to get stronger and warmed all your faces and hearts "See, she shows us, that she‘s home. That she‘s fine“

Just a few weeks later, after you made sure that there was nothing to worry about your kids anymore you followed your wife home.

As you arrived you saw your parents laughing with a younger, healthier Steph. You looked down on yorself. The wrinkles were gone and you looked just as young as Steph. With a last look back you heard the voice of your son ”Tell mom hi. We love you so much.“

Your parents pulled you in a hug after all these years apart ”We‘re so proud of you dear. You got a good one there.“ With a bright smile you nodded ”I know. She‘s my Forever After All“

Steph stepped up to you ”Hi Baby. Welcome home, I missed you“ and with that you did what you always did when you still could: Picked the Love of your Forever up, twirled her around and kissed her with all the love you felt.

And I know there'll be that moment

The good Lord calls one of us home and

One won't have the other by their side

But heaven knows that that won't last too long

Maybe some things last forever after all

After all

[personasintro]

Mutual Help | #16

𝐛𝐚𝐧𝐧𝐞𝐫 𝐜𝐫𝐞𝐝𝐢𝐭: @kithtaehyung

↳ 𝐬𝐲𝐧𝐨𝐩𝐬𝐢𝐬; in order for you to pretend to be his girlfriend, he helps you with your sexual desires ⏤ he calls it mutual help

⇢ 𝐩𝐚𝐢𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠: jungkook x reader

⇢ 𝐠𝐞𝐧𝐫𝐞: fake dating au, fluff, angst, smut, slow burn

⇢ 𝐰𝐚𝐫𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐬: explicit language

⇢ 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐝 𝐜𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐭: 2.2k+

⇠ 𝐩𝐫𝐞𝐯. | 𝐢𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐱 | 𝐧𝐞𝐱𝐭 ⇢ 

When the very anticipated notification comes in the form of a message saying 'I'm here', you wish you could be enthusiastic about it like yesterday when you went to sleep. Unfortunately, that was before you realized waking up at five in the morning is extremely tough. Especially for the person like you, and someone who went to sleep late even when your best friend was kind enough to remind you to go to sleep early.

Well, you were always known for going to sleep late and Jungkook seemed not to forget about that.

Stumbling out of your apartment building, you see him walking out of his car with a huge grin, probably finding your current appearance more than amusing.

"Good morning, baby. Ready for some adventure?" he jokes, wiggling his brows as he goes to hug you and places a single kiss on your temple.

"Morning." you grumble under your breath, poking him in the rib when he keeps teasing you with his doe eyes.

"God, I forgot what an early bird you are," he laughs, scrunching his nose in the process of his nonstop teasing. "Here let me take your bags." he says, reaching for the two travel bags you packed yesterday.

"Thanks." you murmur, following him to his new car.

Black Mercedes that he finally bought after speaking and dreaming about it for at least two years. You'll never forget the happy grin he had when he came to pick you up in his new car, showing you all the functions it has even though you barely understood half of what he was saying.

"Fuck, how much stuff did you pack?" he complains, opening the truck where he places your two bags next to his one.

"Just necessary stuff." you inform him, causing him to scoff in response. You notice the dark green camera bag in the truck and it sparks your interest. "Did you bring your camera?"

"Of course," he says, closing it shut as he walks to the driver side while you do the same, walking on the other side to the passenger side. "I gotta catch those memories." he says over the roof, making sure you see his sparkling eyes.

For the first time in the morning, you smile back before you make yourself comfortable in the seat, setting it into a more lying position.

"Who are we picking up?" you ask, silently admiring how silent the engine is when he turns it on and drives out of a parking lot.

The navigation already starts to give him directions, while he heads towards the main road. He looks cozy, especially in one of his black oversized hoodies and black cargo pants. You're not surprised by the choice of his outfit, especially the color. It's six in the morning and even though it's the middle of July, it's still chilly in the mornings. You're wearing one of your purple hoodies as well, matching it with some old leggings that won't be missed if you rip them.

"Jimin was supposed to take his car but it's too small to fit the rest of the gang. So they're going with Hoseok's friend's car and we're picking up some girls, plus Taehyung."

You shouldn't be surprised by the information that there are more girls coming on this camping trip. Jungkook told you that Hoseok's friends are going as well, but still, you're quite surprised by it. So far, there is no mention of Kiko and her possible attendance.

"Would you mind if I close my eyes for a few minutes?" you ask him, fumbling with your eyes as he picks up the speed.

The sky is painted light blue while there's sunrise around the corner. It creates a calm and nice view, especially when you're still tired.

"Not at all," he tells you, turning off the radio that's softly playing in the background. "You should rest till you can. Once Taehyung is here, there won't be any time to rest." he chuckles, leaving you giggling knowing he's more than right about that.

"Oh my god, I love this song!" Taehyung shouts excitedly, singing his heart out along with Harry Styles' voice booming out of Jungkook's car speakers.

Laughing, you shake your head at your friend who sounds really good but is still too loud, especially when you barely got any sleep. The ride to get Taehyung wasn't that long, it took about fifteen minutes to pick him up and he hasn't shut up since then.

Five minutes later, you picked up Hoseok's friends in front of some apartment building. When Jungkook got out of the car, he helped to load their bags into the truck as he introduced himself to them. You could barely hear their conversation but when they got into the car, sitting next to Taehyung, they introduced themselves.

Minjae and Seulgi. They both look like they're your age, while Minjae's hair is black and short and Seulgi has a high strawberry blond ponytail that frames her face.

And here you are.

They seem like nice girls, very communicative and they both warmed up to all of you quickly, despite the fact that they barely know you. It confirms your thoughts when Minjae speaks up, reacting to Taehyung singing his heart out at Harry Styles' song.

"Let me tell you, Harry Styles is so fuckable!" She comments with so much enthusiasm that it makes you and Jungkook laugh, her friend reacting by exclaiming her name in disbelief. But Minjae just shrugs her shoulders innocently and looks at her friend. "Don't tell me you wouldn't fuck him, if you could."

"I'm not saying that, but--"

"See?" she interrupts her friend, causing Seulgi to let out a groan which makes you laugh even more.

What you don't expect is Minjae, who's sitting behind you, leaning forward as she plops her head between your and Jungkook's seat. "What about you, Y/N? Wouldn't you fuck him?" she asks, wiggling her brows as you shake your head at her, a huge grin settled on your lips.

Glancing at Jungkook, he stares at the road but gives you a quick glance of curiosity before he turns his eyes back to the road. With even Taehyung finally shutting up, everyone stays quiet while they wait for your answer and it makes you mentally groan at their damn curiosity. But well, at least you can be honest when they ask.

"Fuck yeah." you answer, causing Minjae to squeal in triumph.

"Yah! Since when?" Jungkook speaks up, glancing at you for a brief moment and giving you a good glimpse of his furrowed brows.

"I don't know, he's pretty hot. Have you seen him?" you shrug innocently, smirking when Jungkook glares at you. Reaching for a water bottle beside your legs, the one Jungkook bought you, you take a gulp.

"He's not that hot." he grumbles, toning out the voices of Minjae in the back while she asks Taehyung something.

All you can hear is Taehyung's response. "They're dating."

You and Jungkook don't react, both pretending to be busy with driving and staring out of the window and admiring the trees. But you still hear Seulgi whisper a little 'wasn't he dating Kiko?' and a little gasp she lets out when Minjae nudges her shoulder and silently tells her to shut up.

Great, so they know her too.

When Jungkook told you the location of your camping trip is near a lake, you don't expect such a breathtaking view. You knew there'd be a lot of green around you, but you don't expect such an open space as you drive into the resort. The area is secured with a fence, which makes everything much safer and you don't have to worry about possible bears giving you a goodnight, which Jungkook reacted with a laugh telling you there are no bears when you shared your worries. The gateman that opens the gate for you is an older man, giving you a cheerful greeting and briefly explaining to you there's a nearby building where's the bathroom and little shop in case you might be needing or missing something. It's definitely different than you expected it to be, it's even better.

Everyone in the car shares your enthusiasm while Jungkook follows Jimin's directions he has sent him through voice message and drives through the road. Even when he parks beside white Hyundai, your mouth is agape and eyes focused on the beauty around you. There's a lake just a few meters away from you, with a spacious meadow with nearby trees and bright sky above your heads. You can notice a few people already unpacking a lot of stuff, including Jimin who's holding two unrecognizable packages of something with a frown on his face. His eyes briefly turn towards Jungkook's car and the frown disappears as he waves with the packages still in his hands. You wave back, laughing at his cuteness while you undo the seatbelt and wait for Jungkook to turn the engine off. As soon as he does that, you're getting out of the car just to be met with Jimin's crushing hug he gives you.

"You guys made it!" he exclaims happily, hugging you tighter before he pulls you away.

Smiling at him, you're reminded of how he likes spending his free time with friends. "Of course, we did." you grin, hearing the rest of them getting out of the car.

Jimin hugs Jungkook and Taehyung while he excitedly asks them about your ride and how amazing this place is. Well, you definitely agree with that. You notice Taehyung introducing Minjae and Seulgi to him, causing him to give them a polite wave which is a lot less affectionate than the hug he gave you. But you're all close, so it makes sense.

"Hey everyone!" Someone calls and you turn around, seeing Hoseok waving at all of you.

A round of greetings resounds from the group and you as well, hoping there won't be any negative memories with Hoseok. You know he apologized and he seems to be happy to see all of you, and you hope it could stay this way. When he smiles at you and urges everyone to follow him, he explains everything they've done so far.

"We've got four tents in total. We started to build it but the only one who seems to know how to do it, is Jimin so far," he chuckles, "But we need someone strong to bring wood for the fireplace from that building," he explains, pointing far away at the building. "Jungkook?" he asks, causing the younger male to nod as he gives him thumbs up.

"Great, Namjoon's going with you." he tells you, and your brows frown for a moment before you realize you don't remember anyone named Namjoon. It must be Hoseok's friend Jungkook mentioned.

Just as your curiosity starts working, a blond male appears while dusting his black sweatpants before he looks up and sees all of you. "Oh, hi." he smiles, waving at everyone while a cute dimple pokes out of his cheek and you almost squeal.

He's cute. He's wearing a black cap with some white shirt that's already dirty from the soil.

"Hey, Joon!" Minjae greets him, while Seulgi joins her and waves at their friend while they go to greet Hoseok and Namjoon with a hug.

"Joon, you already know Jungkook," Hoseok says, causing him to nod while he grins at your best friend. "This is Taehyung and Y/N." he introduces you and Namjoon waves at the both of you again, smiling at you while you do the same.

"It's nice to meet you." you smile at him.

"Likewise," he grins, "How was the ride?" he asks, eyeing everyone.

"Cool, we enjoyed the view so much!" Minjae answers.

Just as Jimin calls Taehyung to help him build a tent, while Hoseok starts to give instructions to Jungkook and how he can help, you don't notice another person coming along this trip. How could you, not until the person suddenly comes in the view holding a few packages of what seems like a marshmallow.

"Hey everyone!" she calls, but even you can tell she's trying to sound too cheerful at the sight of everyone being finally here.

Automatically, your eyes go to Jungkook who spots her and recognizes her voice immediately, his own widening at the sight of his ex-girlfriend.

"I brought these ones instead of the blue ones." she explains, her eyes shifting to Hoseok who nods.

"That's fine! These ones are better anyway," he waves, causing her to nod as she places the packages at the top of some plastic box.

Hoseok goes back to talking to Jungkook who nods understandably, but you know he's just trying not stare at Kiko who occupies herself with helping Minjae and Seulgi, trying to build a tent by themselves.

"Y/N, right?" You hear a few meters away from you, Namjoon glancing at you with the same friendly smile. You nod, smiling back at him politely. "Can you help me with this one?" he asks, trying to figure out which part of the tent is right.

"I don't think I'll be much help, but I can try." you joke, already walking towards him.

"That makes two of us." he jokes back, causing you to giggle.

Maybe this camping trip won't be as tense as you expected it to be. It's definitely awkward seeing Kiko here as well, but everyone seems to be cool and chill about the fact two exes are about to spend their weekend together.

But are you and Jungkook going to be?

[marleyybluu]

Just Sit On It

Spooky x f!reader

Warnings: 18+. bit of fluff and flirting, bit of cockwarming, very much self-insert (inspired by yesterdays events), no use of y/n

Word count: 980

A/N: I had to give this to my favourite boy🤷🏾‍♀️

(Not my gif.)

"You want me to just sit on it?" You ask with fake annoyance in your voice and a quirk in your brow. Spooky chuckled and nodded, a little glimmer in his eye as he looked at you. You two had just finished... whatever round of sex that was, you'd lost count after a while. Both of you high as fuck and missing each other after months of no physical contact, chuck it up to being adults with busy schedules. Sucked.

You were done, out of it and tired— growing a bit sore from how he handled you, not like you'd complain anyway you liked it. You thought he was done too, when you attempted to bait him into one last round he'd respectfully hit you with, "Nah I'm tired for real."

You shrugged and put your shirt back on, chilling in the comfortable silence aside from your music softly playing in the background. You hated a quiet room, especially during sex. But it only took a few minutes for his shirt to come back off claiming to be hot... well it was hot, summer was approaching a lot quicker than it usually did and it was the type of heat to make you angry and irritated with any and everything.

As he lay on his stomach you smiled gazing at his back, how smooth and muscular it was, clean and free of tattoos, unlike the rest of his body. He felt your eyes and asked what was up. You told him you wanted to sit on his back and he let you, you drew faint art on his beautiful skin, and ran your finger down his deep spine. Oof, you loved a deep spine, something about the depth of it was so sexy.

Soon he mentioned he wanted to take off his pants. Again, he was "hot." So you got off and he took off more than just his pants, he nodded over for you to come back and you say there. "I thought you said you were good?"

"I am."

"So why would I just sit on it if you're good?" You challenged with a smirk on your face. Spooky wasn't about to have this back and forth, actions were louder so he sat up and reached over for you, cupping your meaty thigh in his large hand and pulling you on top of him. You gasped feeling him against your sore and yet aching clit.

"Just sit." He shrugged. "And this is comfortable for you?"

He nodded reaching for your hands, interlocking your fingers with his. God, he was just so fucking cute sometimes. You looked down at him as he looked up at you, nothing was said and that's what you liked about your dynamic, you two could just sit like this. Naked or half naked talking about whatever was on your mind or not talking at all.

Adorn by Miguel had come on and you began to hum and absentmindedly move around, for a brief moment forgetting you were both naked on your lower halves. Spooky smiled it was always nice to see you comfortable around him considering when you first met you were so shy you wouldn't even look at him.

He let go of your hands and rested his warm palms on your hips. "Come here."

You beamed and with no hesitation leaned over to meet his lips. Your hands rested on either side of his neck, your lips moving in sync— you could kiss that man all day if it was possible. You felt the bottom of your shirt hike up and pool over your lower back, his hands on your bare ass once again. His favourite part to grab.

One last peck and you pulled back. Spooky noticed the look on your face, a look he was too familiar with— when you wanted to say something but you were too chickenshit to say it, still a bit reserved with your thoughts even though it was clear you could be open and honest with him. "Say it. I could see it in your face." 

You sighed all this temptation was getting to you. "You wanna put it in?" He asked. You bit your lip and nodded, silently thanking God that he was a mind reader at times. You leaned forward reaching between your bodies you gently wrapped your hand around his girth and slowly sunk down on him, he always stretched you out so nicely. 

And that was it, you just sat on it and it was nice (?) and warm... really warm and slick. You actually did not want to move but he did, pushing his hips up into yours, you placed your hand on his chest saying, "Wait, don't move." 

He stopped his actions and resumed holding hands with you. "You're so pretty." He complimented, you blushed looking to the side so he wouldn't notice how embarrassing it was that you couldn't take compliments, especially from him. Your slight distraction was cut short when you felt him move, you giggled turning to him. "Stop..." 

He did it again. "Stop what?" 

"Spooky... I can feel it- ouu, stop." 

He rested his hands under his head and let out a hearty laugh at how flustered you were until he was now feeling something, with your hands planted on his chest you looked down at him with a knowing look. He let out a shaky moan when you did it again. "You stop." 

"Stop what?" 

"Baby, shit, I can feel you tightening around me." You were easily flexing your walls around him in retaliation. He pushed his hips up into you causing you to moan and fall forward, he did it again, carefully thrusting in and out of you-- your pretty love faces like artwork, his favourite thing to watch. You sucked your teeth in realization. 

"Did you just bait me into another round?" 

"Always." 

Slick motherfucker.

Y’all… oof I had to. I’m still reminiscing. I miss my man😭

If you liked this fic feel free to like this fic

Comments and reblogs are appreciated.

Peace and love🤞🏾

🏷️ : @skyesthebomb @darqchilddaydreamz @realhotgurlshit

[jaemmphilia]

☾ anyone but you ☽

☾ synopsis: after being let down too many times, you've finally hit your limit. ☾ featuring: non-idol!bang chan x gn!reader ☾ prompt: "you really thought i would fall into your arms?" ☾ warnings: angst, no happy ending, breakups, chan is neglectful towards reader, no pronouns used, but written with a male reader in mind ☾ disclaimer: this is simply a work of fiction and does not represent bang chan as a person. ☾ © triplejracha, 2024. do not copy, translate, or upload to other platforms.

read hjenthusiast's version here!

you pick up your phone as you feel it chime on the coffee table in front of your couch. you pick up the device and press the little button on the side, your screen lighting up.

gnabnahc has uploaded a video to their story.

you press your finger on the notification and your phone unlocks once it recognizes your face. you watch as the Instagram app opens to your boyfriend's story. you also notice that chan posted this video to his close friends' list.

it's neither a long video nor a short video, you recognize your boyfriend's closest friends; jisung and changbin. you assume your boyfriend is taking the video because you can hear his laughter in the background. the three males are at some club, the hip-hop music loud, but faint simultaneously.

jisung is chugging a bottle of some alcohol you don't really care to know the name of. you hear various voices cheering the younger male on as he finishes whatever is left in the bottle.

you notice that the video you just watched had been posted about two hours ago. you press on the right side of your screen and the app plays another video chan posted.

it's a video of him mouthing the words to some song you recognize as one of chan's favorites. changbin appears behind chan, a half-empty cup in his ring-clad hand. he begins to sing along with chan and chan's last video plays.

it's a video of jisung hunched over a toilet, chan, and changbin's booming laughter in the background. all you can do is roll your eyes as you turn off your phone, tossing the device to your left.

you can expect to sleep in an empty bed tonight, just like last night and several nights before. you just wish you weren't alone on your anniversary.

you wake up to the sound of glass dishes being moved around and knocking against each other. you allow your eyes to adjust to the mid-morning sun beating into your room before you get up.

you make your way to the kitchen where you see your boyfriend hunched over, looking into your fridge.

"babe, where are your eggs? when was the last time you went to the grocery store?" chan says to you, rising from his hunched position to look at you.

"i had no reason to go to the grocery store yesterday," you say back to him, your arms folded across your chest, your body language stiff and uninviting.

chan doesn't pick up on your closed-off aura, which doesn't surprise you. he's been distant with you over the last few months and you were tired of coming second to everything in his life.

"chan, we need to talk," you say softly, your back coming into contact with the cold marble of your counters. the cool sensation sends a chill to your arms.

"'course, babe. what's on your mind?" chan says, continuing to make himself breakfast.

"do you know what last night was?" you question him, your body remaining stiff as your eyes follow his every move.

chan ponders for a second. you can see his brain trying to think of an answer to your question. "no, was it a special date?"

all you can do is sigh. of course, he had no idea. you should have just ended things when you first noticed that things shifted in your relationship.

"as much as i want to tell you what day it was yesterday, i don't think you deserve the satisfaction of knowing," you say calmly, knowing that blowing up at him won't do much but make you more upset than you already were.

chan gives you a puzzled look, halting his movements as he looks at you for the first time in a while. "what do you mean, babe?"

hearing him call you something so endearing and loving makes you nauseous. knowing that to him, it holds so much affection but to you, it's empty.

"just, listen to me, chan." you say to him. your voice remaining calm and neutral.

chan gives you his full attention, his body language radiating nervous energy. serves him right.

"i think we should break up," you start, looking at the way his mouth opens and closes, ready to protest. you hold up your hand. "you should have seen this coming, chan. you've been neglecting me for months now. i feel like you're prioritizing everything else in your life but our relationship." you explain to him, fighting back the tears that want to spill from your eyes.

"i've been nothing but loving to you, y/n!" chan defends, his voice rising as he expresses his anger and frustration.

"is going clubbing with your friends on your anniversary loving?" you say, making chan shut his mouth. "you thought i would just fall into your arms?"

chan doesn't say anything as he gather his things to leave. once he gets to your front door, he turns back to look at you before saying:

"i will fight for you. no matter how long it takes. i will fight for your love again."

you can only hope he's being serious.

[sehnsuchts-trunken]

Take Me On A Joyride

Bradley Bradshaw x Penny’s niece!reader 3k words

summary: After two months of successfully sneaking around with Bradley, things finally kick off.

a/n: because who wouldn't want more fucking rooster bradshaw???? i personally always want more of him so. fair warning, this is like, practically smut? not really but this goes further than allusion, i'd say. idk. maybe part four will actually be smut, who kows?

sequel to "Tuesday Night", “Not A Coincidence” and “Rooster At 5, Bradley At Night", can be read seperately tho

top gun masterlist

The soft hum of boiling water filled the air, sunlight dripped through the window down the kitchen counters as you rested your head against a cabinet and listened to the old-school radio Bradley had thrifted from some flea-market a few weeks ago play softly in the background. You turned with a yawn and poured two cups of tea, traipsing back into the bedroom on tiptoes (you were barefoot and the laminate floors were colder than you'd thought when you had rolled out of bed).

"Here", you muttered, carefully handing one of the mugs to Bradley. He'd sat up while you'd been in the kitchen and the covers were pooling in his lap, leaving him with an adorable bedhead and an incredibly bare chest that had you practically drooling. You could just so resist reaching out and touching him - letting your fingertips skip over his skin, brushing along his collarbones, his abs...

"Thanks", he said, already blowing air into his cup while you settled back into bed next to him, pressing your side into his just slightly. He was warm, so unbelievably warm, like he always was. You let out a tiny sigh of content and closed your eyes, resting your head against the back wall and relaxing. Because you could relax here, wholly and absolutely. With Bradley next to you, the scent of him on every pillow, every blanket, every shirt, even the one you were wearing right now. Especially the one you were wearing right now, because he'd worn that yesterday and you'd picked it off of the ground this morning when you'd got up to go to the bathroom.

You heard Bradley shuffle around, his cup clink to his side table and felt the mattress shift before he dropped a soft kiss to your shoulder. You smiled, deep and genuine, but kept your eyes closed. He'd have to do a bit more than that to get your attention. But he knew that, of course, and he was only just getting started.

He brushed another kiss onto your skin, a little higher up, and one more and one more and one more - trailing a line of kisses from your shoulder to your neck, reaching one hand around to put on your thigh, stroking softly up and down and oh yeah, he had your attention now. He definitely had your attention now.

You could feel his grin against your skin when he realised it too, his thumb grazing the hem of your shirt (his shirt), raising it up just a little, making your breath hitch. He chuckled at that.

"Are we a bit sensitive?", he whispered against your skin, pressing a few more open-mouthed kisses against your jawline. You took a deep breath in and out and opened your eyes again, tilting your head to the side so he could reach the sweet spot on your neck as you carefully put your cup onto the side table, just to be safe.

"You should know that by now, Lieutenant", you muttered, a small grin on your lips because you knew very, very, very well just what you'd done right now.

If you'd learnt anything about LT Bradley "Rooster" Bradshaw, it was that he had a name kink. You'd found that out the second ever time you'd kissed him, on the fateful Thursday morning in Penny's bar two months ago, and had ever since used it against him whenever you'd been able to. Which had been a lot.

And it proved the right choice once again, because that absolutely animalistic grunt left his throat that had you going feral every single time. So admittedly, maybe the whole name kink thing wasn't just for him, maybe it was for you as well. Maybe when you brought it out, that was always the exact moment when you decided there should be no going back anymore, because after that Bradley would not go back anymore. Or maybe you'd made that choice two months ago because by god, you would never be going back ever again either.

"You're a menace", he murmured against your neck before pushing away, his fingers digging into your thigh to pull you down. You squealed, reaching up to claw at his biceps as your head hit the pillow again.

"Bradley!", you laughed, winning at least a grin from him before he leaned down and captured your lips in a kiss, finally. You sighed into him, pressing your nails into the bare skin of his arms, combing up into his hair to tug at his roots as he pushed himself onto one elbow and brushed his hand up your thigh, raising the hem of your (his!) shirt over your hips, his thumb stroking over bare skin... Your breath hitched for the second time this morning.

Bradley moved down to your throat again, to your collarbones, to just where the collar of your (...his) shirt began, pressing open mouthed-kisses everywhere, biting down on your skin when he realised he couldn't go farther down, soothing the sting with his tongue, biting, kissing the same spot again and again.

"Roos", you sighed, already regretting the words before they'd left your mouth.

"Can't leave marks, I know", he muttered before you could as much as finish - you'd said it so often by now that you weren't even surprised. But you and Bradley had managed to keep this whole... relationship? you hadn't yet put a name on it, but whatever it was, you'd managed to keep it a secret from the squad so far. You weren't about to risk that for a hickey, however insistent Bradley was.

But it was difficult. It was so incredibly difficult to say no to him, with his fingers sneaking up your stomach and his lips just above your collar.

"Yeah", you breathed, sinking one hand further into his hair and tossing the other one up to clutch at your pillow as he pushed your shirt up, up and up, and moved down, down and down your body. You let out a sound somewhere between a moan and a gasp and threw your head back at the feeling of his moustache against the inside of your thigh, his fingertips dancing down the skin of your stomach, anticipation building higher and higher, an open-mouthed kiss pressed to your bare skin, a bite an inch higher, the same again, again and again until-

"Bradshaw! Emergency, you've got a shaker, right? Mine broke and I need one for the party tonight and-"

It was Bradley's fault, definitely, that you hadn't heard the key being turned or the door being opened. It was Bradley's fault as well that you couldn't scramble up and try to hide nearly as quickly as you wanted to - the very second you heard Jake's voice call out in the hallway, you were sitting up, raising yourself up on your palms. Just that Bradley was kind of in the way a bit and had wanted to sit up at the same time and now your knee bumped right into his temple.

"Shit!", you cursed as Bradley groaned, raising a hand to press it to his head and sitting up on his knees. You had a little more room now, a little more room to rush to get up as well, Jake pushed into the back of your mind because hell, you'd just maybe given your boyfriend-situationship-whatever-thing a concussion. "Are you okay? Oh my god, Bradley, are you alright?"

You reached out to take his face in your hands, to turn his head and try and see if you'd actually, seriously injured him.

"Yeah, yeah, I'm good, I'm fine, I-"

"Oh hell no."

You froze at the sound of Jake's voice. Bradley did, too. Then you turned your head just the slightest bit, as if in slowmotion - yes, there he was, Jake Seresin, leaning against the doorway with an unmistakeable grin.

"You're hooking up", he said, with an astoundment in his voice that you'd never ever heard come out of his mouth ever before. "You're hooking up. I should have known! Of course you're hooking up. Phoenix will kill you guys when she finds out I knew first."

"Hangman-"

"I'll just text her. I'll just text her right now. You're hooking up, Bradshaw, wouldn't have guessed you're actually getting any! And Junior too, aren't you basically family? I mean, if Maverick ever decides to marry Penny-"

"Jake! Oh my god, stop talking!"

You took a deep breath in, closed your eyes, ran a hand over your face and then looked at him again. You'd known Jake could talk, he'd always talked annoyingly much, but he'd never talked this obnoxiously. He did, however, always have that horrible fucking grin on his face and right now, you could have strangled him for it.

At least your shirt (Bradley's shirt) had fallen back down. You didn't think you'd have survived this encounter if you'd been naked.

You threw one exasperated glance at Bradley, who took your hand and pressed a kiss to the back of it and alright, maybe you would be fine. You'd kept this a secret for two months, but... Maybe you'd reached the point where the squad could know. After all, you had been dating for two months now. That had been quite enough time to get to know each other, privately, on your own accord, without any pressure from outside, from any other people.

"Yes, we are hooking up", you said, and if you hadn't deemed it impossible before, you would've said Jake's grin deepened even further. "But kind of... not only that. We've been going on dates, too."

This wasn't the perfect moment to talk about it. By god, this wasn't even a good moment to talk about it. But you knew Jake - he'd probably already texted the group chat about you and Bradley, you'd rather he spread the truth than some run-down version of what the last two months had been. Even if you weren't that sure what exactly the last two months had been.

Jake whistled appreciatively.

"So this is actually happening then", he laughed. "Good on you Bradshaw, who would've guessed. Got yourself a girlfriend."

Your eyes widened at that. Bradley was still holding your hand, resting on the soft covers, but he wasn't moving, wasn't brushing over your knuckles or dancing his fingertips along your wrist, staring down Jake with almost a scowl. You knew when Bradley stopped moving, that was when it got real.

Oh lord, hopefully he wasn't scared off now.

You hadn't kept it casual the last two months, of course. You hadn't started a whole "friends-with-benefits" situation, no, you had in fact been going on dates, had spent most of your nights in the same bed, had woken up in the morning to eat breakfast together and drink a cup of tea, had kissed each other good bye when you'd had to go to work and had flirted over the bar counter at the Hard Deck when you'd been sure none of your friends were around. But you hadn't yet put a label on it. And until just now, it hadn't felt that necessary.

But the silence stretched for two seconds too many and you were just about to open your mouth and deny that you were Bradley's girlfriend in any way, shape or form, when he took it upon himself to speak up.

"Yeah, Bagman", he sighed, clutching your hand tighter, "She's my girlfriend, cat's out of the bag. You satisfied?"

Jake raised his hands and chuckled, taking a step back into the hallway.

"Me? I don't give a damn. Just hope you're satisfied, Junior, otherwise, you know..." He winked and was out the door then, disappearing around the corner and into the kitchen before you could even begin to roll your eyes at him.

"Shaker's in the right cabinet and then get the fuck out of my house, Seresin!", Bradley called after him, tilting his head back, closing his eyes and taking a deep breath as you stared at him. Stared at this hunk of a man, all broad shoulders and rippling abs and the strength to throw you over his shoulder, the skill to sing and play the piano like an absolute god, the looks to kill about three people every time he walked into a room, who you'd been hooking up with for two months now... Stared at this man who was your boyfriend, apparently.

Before he'd even fully turned back to you, you were already pulling your hand from his and straddling him and pushing him back onto the mattress. He let out a choked gasp, then his hands found your waist and he was pulling you onto him like you were magnets, drawn together like some invisible force, unable to be without each other ever again.

"Girlfriend, yes?", you asked, your voice a bit too breathy to sound quite normal and your lips tugging into a grin you simply couldn't push back down.

"If that's what you want, yes, absolutely", he nodded - you couldn't help but notice that his voice sounded a little husky, that his eyes traveled down, that his hands brushed just high enough along your back to still be decent. God damn it, this man would be the death of you. And it seemed like he felt quite the same way about you too. Maybe that was part of his charm - that he always let you see how much you affected him.

You bit your lip to stare at him for just a second (at his hair and his eyes and his nose and his lips, his lips, his lips) before leaning down and finally kissing him again. You didn't think you would ever get enough of kissing him.

"Roos", you mumbled, pulling back, eyes still closed, breaths still mingling, foreheads still pressed together, "Bradley, baby. I want to be your girlfriend so badly."

You leaned back in then, desperate, starving and frenzied, digging your teeth into his bottom lip, swiping your tongue along his, sighing into his mouth, scratching your nails along his collarbones, shifting just the slightest bit down his body, your naked thighs against his waist, against his hips...

You let out a soft moan, pushing away from the kiss just to breathe against his lips, your eyes squeezed shut and your skin burning up. Bradley pulled one hand away from your hips to cup your face, to brush your hair behind your ear and run his thumb along your cheekbone.

"Look at me", he murmured, in that soft tone that you couldn't ignore even if you wanted to. Your eyes fluttered open all of their own accord - you had to blink once, twice, before you could actually focus on him, before the haze disappeared and before you could see the faint bits of red on his cheeks, the way his pupils had widened. A grin spread on his lips when you finally looked back at him. "Good girl."

Good girl.

You sucked in a deep breath and tried to ignore the shiver those words sent down your spine.

"Jake's still somewhere in the kitchen", you muttered (you could distantly hear his footsteps and the sound of a cabinet closing now that you listened for it), because as much as you loved Bradley, you were not about to sleep with him with Jake in the next room.

"Bagman", he groaned, clenching his jaw and soothingly moving his hand up your back, away from the risk of staggering into the indecent. "Hasn't stopped annoying me since we got here and just cost me a joyride."

He did have to smile a bit at that, leant in, pressed his lips to yours for a moment and then let his head sink back into the pillow. You had to grin as well.

"Well don't worry", you promised, bending down to nuzzle his nose with yours. "Now that I'm your girlfriend, you can get a joyride anytime you want."

With that, you pulled your legs from him and rolled onto the colder, less comfortable side of the bed, laughter dying on your lips and Bradley groaning next to you. Your chest was still heaving, your shirt ridden up almost to your stomach now, the covers messed up and tangled around Bradley's legs and you were feeling incredibely mushy inside. You wanted him between your legs again, wanted to straddle him again, wanted to feel him everywhere, on every inch, every curve of your body again, but you couldn't, not right now, not here, not with Jake in the kitchen, not when he'd already almost seen you naked.

Bradley made some sound of approval and reached for your waist again, to pull you into his side, to drop an innocent kiss to your clothed shoulder and smile at you.

"That's true", he muttered. "Now that you're my girlfriend, I've got everything I could ever want."

[jaozendry]

"I'm better now, right?"

Pairing: Gar Logan x GN!Reader

Warnings: mentions of suicide attempts

YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED.

Summary: Gar finds you in the bathroom crying and tries to understand why. You decide to explain to him what happened last year: February 10th, 2022.

Author's note: trauma dumping dont mind me!!!! </3 ; the damian wayne fic part 3 is coming btw!!!!!!!!! <3

______________________________________________________________

Gar rushes to the bathroom after he hears you sob quietly, but also loudly at the same time. It's the first time he's seen you in this state, in the shower, no less. Here you are, sitting in the shower with hot water covering your teary eyes with Another Love by Tom Odell playing in the background.

Gar pauses your music and turns off the shower. He didn't care if you didn't clean yourself yet, that's the least of his worries: he wants you to be okay. He wraps a towel around you so you can feel comfortable.

"What happened?!" he asks in horror. "I heard you cry, I- are you okay?!"

He wipes away your tears and holds both of your hands. You sigh in sadness, asking yourself if you should tell him about... last year. February 10th, 2022. The first time you tried to kill yourself.

"I- uh..." It is clear that you can barely speak. Gar looks at you in the eyes with the patience of a literal saint.

"It's okay, take your time." he says, smiling faintly and his voice slightly breaking.

"It's about... you know... last year. February 10th 2022. You know what happened-"

Gar immediately stands up to check the date upon hearing those words. A horrored expression clouds his face when confirming that the date is indeed February 10th, 2023.

"It's been exactly a year." you declare, still sitting on the floor, a towel wrapped around your body.

Gar immediately rushes back to you, standing on his legs to be on your level and taking your face softly.

"Don't worry, Y/N. You're feeling better now, right? It's all in the past." he explains with half a smile on his face.

"I know, but like, I remember it like it was yesterday." you admit, tears welling up. "I remember every single thing I did. I was in the shower exactly a year ago, pills inside my desk drawer, thinking if I should do it. I should've talked to my sister, she was literally in the house! I should've talked to my parents, to anyone! I should've... I shouldn't have done this to them... to you!"

You break down in tears, holding your stomach while Gar hugs you.

"It's okay, calm down. Talk to me, let it out. You have the chance to right now." he comforts you, his eyes welling up tears as well. You take a deep breath before continuing your explanation.

"I literally remember the music I was listening to while waiting for the pills to work, what clothes I was wearing, the faces of the cops when they showed up, everything! The look on my mother's face when she saw me, the disappointment in my father's eyes, all of it is still in my head."

Gar holds your hands tightly to prevent you from losing control of yourself. He caresses your face and nods for you to continue.

"I remember every room I was in at the hospital. Everywhere I went that day, it's still in my mind. The worst is like... the mental hospital. I felt trapped, because I was! I remember everything that happened there, how many times I cried and at what time, thinking what would happen to me. I was thinking about my family, my friends, even my teachers and most of all... you. What would you think when you found out?! I'm just- I'm sorry."

Your green-haired boyfriend grabs your hips and finally lets the tears in his eyes drop while you quietly sob. He wipes away your tears once again before kissing you on the forehead.

"Look, when you did it, I was terrified... of losing you." he explains. "I didn't care how many days of school you missed, or how much homework you would have to catch up on. Your life is worth so much more... so please... don't throw it away. Let me help you. Please."

His voice starts breaking and his tears drop more and more. He finally breaks and hugs you to avoid worrying you. He kisses your cheeks repeatedly and holds your head.

However, you felt comfort when you heard those words. You didn't feel trapped and alone anymore. Someone was actually there for you. It felt like a fairytale. The both of you finally calm down enough for Gar to whisper this into your ear:

"You're stronger now. Don't let it go to your head, okay? I'm here."

[senjusonlygirlfriend]

Hospital visits

SPOILERS FOR THE LAST EP BELOW THE TWO CUTS! READ AT YOUR OWN RISK!!

𝑪𝒘/𝑻𝒘: 𝒎𝒆𝒏𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏𝒔 𝒐𝒇 𝒃𝒆𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒊𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒉𝒐𝒔𝒑𝒊𝒕𝒂𝒍, 𝒍𝒐𝒔𝒔 𝒐𝒇 𝒎𝒆𝒎𝒐𝒓𝒚, 𝒇𝒍𝒖𝒇𝒇

𝑪𝒉𝒊𝒔𝒉𝒊𝒚𝒂 𝒙 𝑮𝒏!𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒅𝒆𝒓

𝑺𝒖𝒎𝒎𝒂𝒓𝒚: 𝑮𝒆𝒕𝒕𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒂 𝒄𝒂𝒍𝒍 𝒇𝒓𝒐𝒎 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒉𝒐𝒔𝒑𝒊𝒕𝒂𝒍 𝒔𝒂𝒚𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒚𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒃𝒐𝒚𝒇𝒓𝒊𝒆𝒏𝒅 𝒉𝒂𝒅 𝒃𝒆𝒆𝒏 𝒊𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒎𝒂𝒋𝒐𝒓 𝒂𝒄𝒄𝒊𝒅𝒆𝒏𝒕 𝒘𝒂𝒔 𝒉𝒆𝒂𝒓𝒕 𝒔𝒕𝒐𝒑𝒑𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒆𝒏𝒐𝒖𝒈𝒉. 𝑩𝒖𝒕 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒘𝒆𝒓𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒏𝒌𝒇𝒖𝒍 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒉𝒆 𝒘𝒂𝒔 𝒔𝒕𝒊𝒍𝒍 𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒆, 𝒂𝒍𝒊𝒗𝒆 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒔𝒂𝒇𝒆. 𝒀𝒐𝒖 𝒑𝒍𝒂𝒏 𝒕𝒐 𝒗𝒊𝒔𝒊𝒕 𝒉𝒊𝒎 𝒕𝒐𝒅𝒂𝒚, 𝒂𝒔 𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒅𝒂𝒚𝒔 𝒔𝒆𝒆𝒎 𝒍𝒐𝒏𝒆𝒚.

Chishiya laid in his hospital bed, thinking. A lingering feeling of forgetting something had floated around in his mind, making him scratch his head. He only had to stay in the hospital for three more days, then he could go home. The thought of seeing you again in both of yours shared apartments put a small smile on his face.

He would finally be able to go home and change out of these hospital clothes, and have a real home cooked meal. During his daydreaming the door opened, as the person's footsteps walked closer to his bed. He glanced over to the left side of his bed, only to see your amazing face.

"Sorry, did I wake you?"

You had pulled up the chair closer to his bed, giving him time to take in your features. You were wearing one of his jackets, a white vip up one that gave him an odd sense of familiarity. A plain tee shirt was worn over it along with a pair of black jeans. You had your normal backpack, and he deduced that you just got out of your college class.

"No, just thinking."

The tv played softly in the background, some random soap opera show running. You had slid your backpack off and sat it down on the floor, and took off a tote bag that was under your arm. Sitting it down on his bed, you looked around in it before pulling out a crocheting hood and a ball of yarn. Chishiya moved his pillows so that he could now be sitting up.

The two of you sat there in a comfortable silence, as his cat like eyes watched you loop the yarn. Soon you had a full square, and had started the next one with a different color.

"That's a stylish jacket you got there. Where did you get it from?"

Chishiya's voice stopped you in making a loop in the yarn you were using. You looked up at him and smiled. He knew that smile, it was one you made before you were going to tease him.

"Yeah, it's pretty awesome. I got it from a certain someone's closet."

The both of you were smiling like idiots at each other. Chishiya then patted at the empty space on the bed on his left side. You giggled, climbing up on the bed as if you were a little kid again. Chishiya's arms had wrapped around you, tucking you into his side.

Your hook and a long piece of yarn was still in your hands, as if they worked on auto pilot. You sighed, enjoying being in his presence again.

"I missed you, like a lot. "

"Didn't you see me yesterday though?"

He had a sly grin on his face, a glimmer of mischief in his eyes. Your hands had stopped their work as you set the hook down at the end of the bed. Shoving your face into his chest, you rub your cheek into it. Your voice came out muffled against his clothes.

"Ok and? I could stop visiting if you want?"

He knew you were joking, but still caught a little bit of a sad tone in your voice. The first time you visited him you cried, a valid reaction to your s/o almost being killed. He had held your hand, telling you all about how he was alive and wiped some of your tears. He deduced that you visiting him and making jokes a little more than normal was your way of coping with what was happening.

"As if I would ever let you do that."

He squeezed you a little more against him, as your laughter filled the room. Chishiya was finally happy to hear that beautiful sound again. Once the two of you had died down he had realized something. That something was that you fell asleep on him. He had looked at your sleeping form, scanning every perfect detail in your face.

Leaning down he kissed the crown of your head, promising both himself and you mentally that he would do better for the both of you. He didn't want to waste a chance for a second life with you now, would he?

[mignonricciardo]

i feel like pato would be the best cuddle. especially after like a long day or bad day. soothing circles on your back, mumbling something in spanish groggily. falling asleep to sitcoms.

pato is the softest ever and whoever isn't familiar with pato you're absolutely missing out

I feel like pato's love language is absolutely physical touch. pato has always got a hand on you, or your arms are always brushing or ankles brushing underneath the table. he's always holding your hand or wrapping his arms around your waist. he also loves quality time, so cuddling is the best of both worlds.

he's also always tired, so he's always on the verge of falling asleep when you cuddle. I'm imaging it now after yesterday's Indy 500 result. inside pit lane, once he's been cleared, you give him a massive hug without even saying anything. you knew he was okay after the crash, and you were more concerned about how he felt with the potential to win slipping away with only a few laps left. he immediately melts into your hug, burying his face in your neck and wrapping his arms as tightly as he could around you.

in the RV once he's done all his duties and showered, the two of you cuddle on the bed with new girl playing softly in the background. he loves new girl and has watched it so many times he could quote each episode without another thought. you don't talk much, knowing he doesn't want to talk about the race ending for him, so you just lay with him, hands running up and down his back and fingers intertwining with his. he'd lay with his head on your chest, arms wrapped around you or tracing you arm. he'd whisper sweet nothings in spanish, grinning when you ask him what some of them mean as his voice grows raspier with sleep.

[sweater-daddiesdumbdork]

Life Is Short So Make It Sweet

Chapter Ten: Pretty Girl Honey

Summary- 7.3k Curtis Everett x Plus!Sized Reader. Your and Curtis's relationship is growing each day as you both learn who you are to one another. Your past sometimes works its way into your mind and out into the open. Fortunately, Curtis is happy to help you work through it.

Warnings- Sexual content, thigh riding, use of pet names, feelings of doubt, past trauma surfacing.

A/N- Thank you all for reading, commenting, and sharing this series. The love shown to Curtis and Honey has completely stunned me, whenever I hear how simply relatable it is, I want to reach out and give you the biggest hug because you are not alone in those feelings. Thank you so much for being such an incredible and supportive community. Special shout out to @what-is-your-plan-today. Dividers made by @firefly-graphics.

Chapter Nine / Masterlist

You and Curtis fell into a comfortable routine over the next few weeks before Thanksgiving. Beginning of the week you two stayed at your own places, sharing texts throughout the day, and for now, you two managed to go out together at least once a week, which suited you just fine with how much you had going on with the after school drama club that you volunteered for.

So your Friday night you opted for the two of you to stay in to watch a movie, well more like so you could sew costumes while making an offer to have some movie playing in the background if Curtis wanted to watch something. Instead, he let you have the living room for your project without distractions. It was relieving for you, for once your boyfriend didn't need you to prioritize him over anything else, and didn’t make you feel guilty about your projects or grow angry that you chose something over him. 

Learning to be in a relationship with Curtis was a real eye-opening experience from your previous one.   

For most of the evening, Curtis let you do your thing after making sure the lighting in the living room was plenty for you to sew by, offered to make a quick dinner later, and then went to work on his Camaro in the garage to keep from distracting you. 

Later that evening Curtis made sure to pull you away to eat some dinner with him, which on this night he had made egg omelets and toast with a side of fruit salad and yogurt that you had brought with you for the weekend. 

During dinner, he was sure to ask about the play, as well as offer to help with the displays, because he could be pretty handy with some tools if you needed the help. The two of you also read over the play together. You found that Curtis had a knack for Shakespeare, including giving you a real show during dinner. Hand to his chest, his tone deepened as he recited. 

“Tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow, Creeps in this pretty pace from day to day, And all our yesterdays have lighted fools.” He sprang up, grabbing at your hand and pulling you up to a stand with him, pulling you in closer. “The way to dusty death. OUT! OUT, BRIEF CANDLE!” He paused, his brows coming together as he thought. “Shit I forgot the rest.” 

You started giggling while glancing at the script. “Life’s but a walking shadow…” 

“Oh right! Life’s but a walking shadow, a poor player. That struts and frets his hour upon the stage.” He wrapped his arms around you, the two of you swaying slowly in the dimly lit kitchen. 

“If I knew you were gonna serenade Shakespeare to me, I would have chosen something not quite so dark. Maybe Romeo and Juliet?” 

Curtis snorted as he shook his head. “Not Romeo and Juliet, that play pisses me off.” 

“It is unsatisfying in the end, not that Macbeth is any better.” You chuckled softly while letting your hands slide along his chest. 

“How about you finish working on those costumes and I will clean up? But not too much longer tonight Honey, cause I will be dragging you to bed soon.” 

You couldn't help the rush that spiraled through you listening to him, giving a nod while going to tiptoes to press a kiss in thanks and you split away back to your sewing. 

You were muttering under your breath a while later while trying to put some thread through the needle when Curtis started making his way through the house after closing the garage down for the night. Turning off the house lights on his way through until he joined you in the living room. “Come on Y/N, let's call it a night?” 

“Just… this last…” Your tongue stuck out from the corner of your mouth as you just about went cross-eyed trying to get it to thread. “... one…” 

“Mmhm.” He strode in and collected your stuff off the couch into a neat pile for the coffee table. “Didn’t your mama ever tell you that your eyes will stay that way?” 

You huffed out in frustration and held your hands out, handing over the thread and needle for him to take and put with the rest of your messy sewing kit. “Would you still like me if I had crossed eyes forever?” He crashed on the couch next to you, his arm circling around you and pulling you to straddle his lap. ”Curtis!” You yelped out in surprise, still shocked once in a while whenever he chose to handle you like you weighed nothing. Something he seemed to take much enjoyment in because as often as you claimed you were too heavy for him to be doing that, he would brush it off and do it twice as much to prove a point. 

“Course I would Honey.” He winked at you and slid his hands along your waist, working his hands just under your sweater to find some bare skin. You shivered in delight at the feeling of calloused palms still slightly cool from being out in the garage earlier laying against your skin. “You just about finished those costumes?” 

You wriggled to get comfy in his lap, your legs folded in a kneel on each side of his thighs and your eyes started to drift now that you were relaxing for the evening. Your hands slid against his chest, fisting slightly in the fabric of his shirt. “I just got to finish the three witches and I’m done with that part of it. Got till mid-December to get this all pulled together.” 

“The kids must be excited?” His hands started to warm up as they started to rub against your back, letting you sink into him a bit more as your body loosened in his hold. 

“Very… Mmmh.” You leaned in closer, pulling up his shirt slightly. “Can we finish this in the bedroom Curtis?” 

“You don’t have to ask me twice.” He didn’t even give you a chance to move off of him, an arm slipped underneath you and with a push off the couch, he lifted the both of you. You wanted to scold him, tightening your hold around his neck and legs around his waist, but you hid your face in his neck, eyes screwed shut, afraid that the two of you might not make it up to the bedroom on the second floor.

“Don’t you drop me!” You muttered against his shoulder, still hiding your face and making him grunt in a slight laugh as he started up the old wooden stairs, all their old house creaks seeming louder to you. 

“Pretty Girl, I would never drop you.” 

It wasn’t till he lowered you on the bed, his hand coming up to ease your hold around his neck did you open your eyes and let yourself bounce onto the bed. “You really shouldn’t…” He didn't let you finish when he crawled over you and started to kiss you, muffling your words to turn into a needy hum as you started to pull his shirt off. When you got it mostly up his chest, he pulled up, this time looming over you as he yanked it off and tossed it over his shoulder to land someplace in the bedroom. Leaving his bare chest above you and making you squirm underneath him. 

“Not tonight Honey, I’m gonna do what I want, when I want.” He fell back over you, his hands pressed on either side of your head while he hovered in close to you, the only thing between the two of you now was his dangling chain that pooled against your chest and your own shirt that suddenly was too hot to keep on. 

Curtis loved seeing you get all shocked, the way your eyes would widen and you would clutch at him while those little protest noises turned into soft little gasps and moans. He kissed you till you quieted your mind in a haze, knowing now that if he let you sit with your thoughts for too long they would eat away at you till you worried yourself out of the mood. It had been a long week, he simply wanted to enjoy being with you as stress free as possible. 

You brushed your hand through the hair on his chest, your fingers tangling in the chain as you pulled him closer and let you take your own kiss, rolling underneath him while your thighs spread to let him settle in closer. Making out in heated kisses, he pushed up your shirt enough to see your bra, rubbing a palm against it and giving a firm squeeze so you would arch into him, that hunger he craved in you sparking. “Let me get this off you.” He tugged, having you lift enough for him to discard your shirt in the same manner he had done with his earlier.

How he got so fucking lucky, he really didn't know. You constantly brushed off praises like you didn't deserve them, although he could see that you craved it. When he had you mindless, just giving into that pleasure sensation inside of you, you would freely bask in his praises. With each touch he gave you he thought he had you there. Your eyes were glazed in lust, your body rolling up to press into him while your nails dug into his back, to ground yourself. His fingers danced across your back till he could twist your bra clasp apart and draw it away to release your breasts. 

Fuck he loved your tits. You were so sensitive there, every pull from his mouth or flick of tongue had you giving him those sweet noises. Huffs of impatience in wanting more as he sucked a nipple in his mouth, a hand sweeping over his buzzed head and grasping at the back of it to press him closer. A flush of kisses was followed by the scrape of his beard, and that always made you gasp. Every time. The rasp of his beard trailing anywhere on you always had you start begging, pleading for more. Curtis loved it, loved this needy mess in his bed he made you. 

Tonight he was sure to mimic it, his chin pressing through your cleavage and twisting to kiss the curve, his other hand cupping the other one while he muttered into your skin, “You have the most perfect tits Honey.” 

There was that puff of impatience from you, a glance up through his lashes saw you pushing your head back into the pillows, whining out. “Suck on them Curtis, bite them. I need it.” He sunk his teeth around one perfect nipple to tug, making you cry out and grab at the back of his head. “Yes, it makes me so horny when you play with them.” A light slap made you jolt, rubbing your hips to his for the friction. 

“You are so pretty like this Honey, my pretty girl.” He groaned out, his hands sweeping down to your waist to hold you still but it wasn’t needed. You went stiff under him, eerily quiet from the small moans and whines you were doing earlier. It made him lift his head in alarm, looking up at you to where you look closed off from him suddenly, wary. Something changed between the two of you and Curtis refused to continue when you closed off like this. “Y/N?” He lifted himself off you and you were tentatively wary, your touch just barely there on his chest. “Are you okay?” Curtis untangled himself from over you to lay at your side, concern on his face. “I didn't hurt you did I?” 

The room turned silent in those seconds he waited for you to answer him, his hand was heavy on the curve of your waist and your gaze went from him to his hand on you. Pretty Girl, you would be such a pretty girl if you didn't have all this weight on you. You could be a pretty girl someday maybe, then I would want you. It ate at you the way that voice was so strong in your mind after so long and of course it had to show up right now. It was your greatest shame and suddenly the small dim light on in the bedroom made you feel so self-conscious that you pulled your arms over your chest to hide from sight. Curtis’s tone was so worried that it made the pit in your stomach heavier as if someone had hit you. It was almost overwhelming how much that one word could knock you completely over. “Yeah I’m fine Curtis, just more tired than I thought I was.” You whispered in the dark. Maybe you could make yourself smaller, curling up slightly so you wouldn't take up so much space. “Sorry, I didn't mean to… Would you be mad if I just went to sleep? I can leave, I probably should go home. I’m sorry.” You could feel yourself starting to ramble, the panic that you messed up settled in your chest, and couldn’t stop yourself. 

You went to pull up to search for the few clothes you had gotten out of, but Curtis’s hand grasped your elbow, pulling you gently back to lay down. “We can just sleep Y/N, nothing has to happen. But I don’t want you to go.” He let you go, seemingly unsure of what you wanted, and tried to give you some space. “All your stuff is here for the costumes and you are packed for the weekend. Stay, please.” 

He was so genuine that you felt conflicted about what to do, but in the end, you gave a nod and a soft whisper. “Okay, I’m sorry.” 

“Don’t be sorry, I’m tired too.” He tried assuring you while getting up out of the bed. Going into his dresser drawers, he pulled out one of his old shirts, knowing you liked how soft they were, a bit too stretched out after all the times they had been washed and handed it to you. You gratefully took it and slipped into it, stripping out of your pants under the blankets. Curtis just seemed to know that you wanted to be covered because he also found some sleep shorts for you. 

“Can you turn all the lights off Curtis?” You asked as you settled back onto the bed and pulled the blanket up. He flicked off the nightlight that he had in the bathroom, leaving the room in almost complete darkness. Having stripped down to boxers, Curtis eased his way back to the bed and stretched out under the blankets next to you. He felt a mile away from you even though you knew he was just inches. You couldn't bring yourself to reach out to touch him. Especially now that you pulled away.

 In the darkness of the room, you couldn't even tell if his eyes were open, you felt shielded, able to lick your wounds and push the fears back behind a locked door. “Good night Curtis.” You said so softly it was barely a whisper. He didn't hesitate though. Nothing about Curtis was a whisper. 

“Rest easy Y/N.” His hand was gentle as he closed the gap between you two and rubbed at your back soothing.

Curtis laid there most of the night going over what happened in those few moments, trying to recall where he touched you and what he said. He respected your aversion to him kissing anywhere below your breasts, knowing that it was because you were self-conscious, even though he assured you that he loved your softer body. One day he was sure you would be okay with it but he respected that it wasn’t something you were comfortable with for now. You had no problem with him touching you, so it certainly wasn't that. In the dark, he would glance over to see you curled on your side at the edge of the bed like you were trying not to take up any space, but he wanted you in his space, in all of it. His house for the first time felt warm and welcoming again like when his grandparents were here, it felt like home. 

Twisting to his side, his fingers traced along the curve of your cheek, still trying to figure it out. All he could remember was telling you how pretty you looked, which was true. In the light spilling from the en suite across the bed, your eyes were full of excitement and lust, your lips parted to give those soft little moans and sighs that turned Curtis hard while he pulled each one from you. Your chest arching into his mouth and hands, your nipples grazing against him for every nerve-ending jolt he could give you, it was like you were all his and he couldn’t get enough of you. In your sleep, you were far more accepting than earlier when you closed off. Muttering in your sleep, you turned into his touch and that made Curtis smile at the sweetness in the gesture. Dropping his arm to your waist, his hand flattened in the small of your back and eased you closer from the edge. You gave a sigh as if you were waking up, but then you turned into him, resettling with your head against his chest and your arm over his stomach like you were hanging on. 

Hours later Curtis eased out of bed, knowing that he wasn't going to sleep any longer. You would wake up soon, so far you had been pretty predictable. On Saturdays, you sleep in till about eight, then if you two don't mess around a bit and cuddle, you would go seek out coffee. Sometimes you even brought your coffee back to bed, not ready to leave the small happy bubble you two created in the blankets on the weekend. Curtis made your coffee just how he had seen you make it. A glance at the kitchen clock showed the hour arm nearing eight as he made his way back into the bedroom.

You were just starting to wake up when Curtis set the coffee mug down on the nightstand, seeing you peek out from under the blanket with a sleepy whimper. “Is that coffee?” 

“Mmhm, it's still hot so be careful.” He warned as he went around to the other side of the bed and settled in while you pushed up to a seat and wrapped your hands around the warm mug to sip cautiously at it. You rubbed at your face a bit to wake up more and after you set your mug back down, you slipped back down into the blankets, cushioning your head on your pillow. Curtis's hand dropped gently to brush your hair back a bit. “How did you sleep Honey?” 

“I always sleep well when I’m here.” You assured him while lifting yourself up a bit to brace against the headboard in a sit and reached for his hand to weave your fingers with his, a show of assurance that you were right where you wanted to be.

“Y/N, I wanted to talk about last night.” He bluntly said, never was one to shy away from what needed to be said. “What happened that made you get all up in your head and pull away?” 

You stared down at your joined hands, more so looking at the way Curtis’s seemed to swallow yours in the most supportive way. He gave a light squeeze in support and you could feel your face screw up a bit, your nose wrinkling up in that way it always does when you are feeling a lot at once. “I do have to apologize for that.” 

Curtis cleared his throat and a gentle grasp on your chin lifted your gaze up to his. “No, like I said last night, you don't owe me any kind of apology. It's really as simple as if you are not in the mood, then you are not in the mood. That's not at all what I’m concerned about.” He pulled your hand into his lap, trailing his thumb pad over your knuckles. “You looked so shut down and just not enjoying yourself, and I want to know how we can work through that so that doesn’t happen to you. You know that you can be open with me, I want you to be.” 

He could see you giving it some thought, working through the night before just as he had in those early morning hours when he couldn't sleep. Curtis kept the gentle caress over your knuckles, willing to wait as long as it took for you to answer. 

“It’s the word pretty.” You finally confessed with a sigh, almost like you were ashamed of yourself. Curtis stayed silent to let you further explain. “I-I heard you call me pretty girl and just… this time it just hit differently.” You squeezed at his hand, really trying to ground yourself. “You ever hear this shit in your mind, like telling you that you need to be better, do better.” 

Curtis nodded in understanding. “Sure, all of us have something we are just not confident in.” 

“Well mine sounds like shit my ex used to say to me.” You could have sworn you felt Curtis tense up a bit. “It was always… You would be so much prettier Y/N if you just lost some weight, tried a little harder on your appearance, and took some pride in yourself. You could be a pretty girl.” 

Curtis snorted in disgust. “That man is a fucking asshole.” 

You gave a sharp laugh and a slight nod. “That’s one way to put it. He was very stuck on appearances. Whenever we went out, he wanted us to look a certain way. Jake was always trying to help me lose weight. At first, I thought it was because he wanted me to be healthy, you know? Concerned for me, that made it a little easier to handle I guess. It’s nice to think that someone cares so much they want you to stay with them as long as possible.” You continued on and Curtis already hated this guy Jake for making you feel like this. “Then over a year ago it clicked that it was… all this…” Your free hand waved over yourself. “he had issues with.” 

“So you left?” Curtis filled it in and you nodded. 

“Yeah, I got offered the job at Mason, broke it off with him, and came here. And now you know. I’m still working through so much of it. I didn’t realize how… much he had changed the view I had of myself. Now that we are involved with one another, I'm recognizing more and more how toxic the last five years with him had been.” You looked a bit wary at him, almost like you were nervous about what he was going to say. “I should probably see a therapist.” 

“Okay, well first your ex was an asshole. You don’t treat someone you care about like shit which is what he did. Second I think you are sexy as fuck and your body is yours. Do whatever you want and I’m going to support you Y/N. If you want to see a therapist, you should, I’m going to support any decision you make for yourself.” 

Your expression started to ease as he continued. “And if saying Pretty Girl upsets you that much, I will do everything I can to not say it, although to me you are. The word for me feels like that sensation I can’t take my hands off you, I just want to love you all over and show you what that word feels like.” Wide-eyed you stared at him in surprise. 

“Wait, that's what you think of when you say that? I don’t want you to stop.” 

“Well, I don’t want you to freeze up like that Honey.” He countered, tilting his head a bit towards you. “But I have an idea if you want to try something out of your comfort zone.” 

“What's that?” You ask curiously and his palm pats his lap, showing you he wanted you to straddle him.

Sucking on your bottom lip while you considered what he was asking, you pulled yourself up to move to your knees, your fingers unweaving from his. “If you don’t like it, all you gotta do is say stop Y/N.” Your gaze lifted and met his, warmth spread through you at his heated glance and you felt the trust there. 

Your leg lifted over him to straddle his lap, his hold immediately rests on your wide hips and pulls you in close to him so that you could lean into his chest whenever you wanted to, leaving the space between you two entirely up to you. Your hand instinctively moved to touch him, you loved tracing his various tattoos scattered across his torso. “I’m going to show you, but you just tell me to stop, m’kay?” His hands rubbed up to your waist while you gave a nod.

“I will, promise.” You said, your tone wistful as you continued to explore his taunt muscles that flexed under your touch, down to the small roll of his belly that was covered in soft dark hairs. 

When your fingers curled in the band of his boxers, you glanced up at him but Curtis gave a light shake of his head. “Not this time Honey, hands up.” He instructed and it was instinctual that your hands shot up over your head and the tee you were wearing was tugged over your head. As soon as it was gone your hands dropped to cover yourself even though the curtains were pulled to keep the room dim in the early morning hours, still self conscious about him seeing you too closely without clothes on.

His hands were warm when they circled around your wrists, firm as he eased your hands off your body and pulled them to rest them on your thighs. “You can touch me, rub your hands on yourself, but no covering yourself up.” His brow raised at you and you nodded in a quick motion. His gaze fell to your breasts and a calloused yet gentle hand covered one, lifting slightly as he moved his thumb in gentle patterns along the underside curve. His other hand was still at your hip and pressed you against him, making you rock forward slightly. “You gotta straddle a thigh Y/N, pick one.” 

Another shift of your legs had you straddling his slightly raised right thigh, giving him the pressure he wanted on your pussy. “Start to move when you're ready.” He nipped back at your neck, dragging his beard against your skin and making your breath hitch, a hand shooting up to cup the side of his cheek, scratching lightly with curled fingers to feel the scratch against your palm. 

You could feel the words starting to bubble up, saying that you should be underneath him because you were too heavy. But they died in your chest, your heartbeat picking up with excitement as he worked his way to the top of your breasts. “What are you up to Curtis?” You take a chance on finding out but a deep chuckle answers you instead, brilliant blue eyes taking you in as his hand at your breast gives a slight squeeze while rocking your hip forward once again, dragging you against his muscled thigh, bare up until the boxers he was sporting bunched up from your movements. A shudder raced through you, feeling just how good the stimulating movements were. You felt a spiral of heat race through you causing you to whine out his name and try to hide your face, feeling momentarily doubtful in your actions. 

“Keep going Honey, feels s’good right?.” He told you while giving another firm squeeze of his hands. “You feel so fuckin’ good grinding on me. I can feel how wet you are getting.” A nip followed his words while you rocked against his thigh again. “Pressing that pretty little clit against me some more Honey, get yourself off.” 

Your hands shoot to his shoulders to steady yourself after your hips seemed to move on their own, giving little bucks when the sensation was too good to control your speed.  pressing a bit harder into his thigh this time, your body arching upwards to meet his hands wherever they roamed on you. “So good…” You muttered, his thumb now dragging against your nipple and pulling harshly to tease you. He wasn't lying the night before, he loved your breasts. Dragging his tongue across your nipple while sucking on it made you press faster, dragging your throbbing clit along his tense thigh. Your fingers dug into his shoulders, leveraging yourself higher, faster. Little surprised gasps escaped you while he lifted his mouth from your breasts to claim those noises as his own in a claiming aggressive kiss. You pushed back down to grind into his thick thigh, forgetting all your worries about being too much in his lap. It was all about chasing that feeling, grinding yourself against steady muscles and the slick noises your pussy was making. Your slick starting to build, friction burning you in just the right way. 

“Riding so good Honey.” A hand grasped your hip to slow you down a bit, really dragging your cunt along to make you whine out needily. “Just feel that sweet pussy make a mess on me.” He continued, squeezing your breast and bringing his mouth back to you, sucking in your nipple. 

“Yeah?” You spat out as you grabbed his head, holding him to your chest while your body took over to get that good feeling building in your stomach and fluttering in your pussy. 

“You’re taking this so well Honey.” He muttered against your breasts, tugging from one to the other side, still helping you rock into his thigh with enthusiasm the faster you started to chase that sensation. Your belly felt like it was going to snap, your thighs quivered and your fingers dug in sharply now, making Curtis groan at the pain you caused. “Fuck, that’s it Honey, look at you riding like you want something.” 

Your mind was clouded with all the most pleasurable sensations, daring you to chase after that feeling for as long as your legs could hold out. Tilting yourself to just drag your clit against him needing at that hard pressure he was sure to give you. “Curtis I want it.” You started to plead, your head falling back and putting more arch in your hips, his thigh now a mess from your dripping slick and your pussy clenching for more. It was a terrible tease that was tantalizing in the promise of an orgasmic blissed ending. 

Curtis lifted away from your bouncing breasts, dragging his thumb against your lips and you sucked onto the pad, whining against his finger with swirls of your tongue. Moving on instinct to chase your pleasure. 

Curtis was sure you were so close, the way you rubbed against his thigh, shaking from the exertion of muscles, you were getting sloppy, less controlled. Your body was screaming to release, pleading eyes kept falling to him and he grasped the back of your neck to drag you close, and kissed you hungrily, dragging out a pleading groan from you. When you two broke, Curtis huffed out in a quick demand. “Cum for me pretty girl, you are doing so good, give it to me.” 

One of your hands dragged over his shoulder and down his chest till you clutched at his chain, the metal tangling in your fingers and biting into your skin, leveraging yourself to chase that ending. You felt it, it was right there, a couple more grinding pushes against his thigh had you curling to his chest, gasping against his shoulder as the wave crashed through you while your body quivering in his hold, Curtis wrapped you into his arms, rubbing at your back and rocking you slightly. “So good Honey, relax… It's okay I got you.” 

You panted lightly and your muscles all burned from moving against his thigh in the manner that you did. You were slightly sweaty, still in a daze as Curtis brushed your hair back, and pressed his mouth to your temple, while whispering how good you were, his good girl. Tilting his head to look down at you, he waited till you pushed off his chest and eased off his thigh to balance back on his lap, catching the last of your breath. “How are you feeling?” 

“Good and used.” You giggled softly and blinked at him, your reaction made him smile. 

“Just what I was hoping for.” He hugged you and let you cuddle in close to him till you were ready to start the day. 

The rest of the week Curtis dropped pretty in different ways. Sometimes he would press the word into your skin like an invisible tattoo when he fucked you so good you would cry. “You look so pretty Honey with those tears.” His hands would rub at your still-shaking body, easing you to relax. 

Other times it might be when the two of you were doing your grocery shopping, trying to incorporate more meals together so you would have him pick out a couple of things you could make at your apartment instead of going out. You would be standing at the refrigerated display of vegetables, plucking up bell peppers trying to decide which color to get when he would slip up behind you, his chin tucked on your shoulder. “What's my pretty girl looking for?” Your thighs would tighten in response, recalling all the times he used that word making you orgasm. Your breath would stutter in surprise at the reaction of your body. If he noticed, he didn't mention it. 

You would send him a text with a snapshot of your outfit for school that day and his response would be a string of texts about how good you looked, just how pretty and stunning you were, leaving you floating on a cloud the rest of the day. 

A couple of days before Thanksgiving found you cutting up those bell peppers when Curtis came over for date night. He brought a bag in with him, which had several changes of clothes that you made room for in your dresser drawer so he could stay overnight, both of you agreeing that at this point instead of leaving at the end of Sunday, they could stay and spend the night, leaving Monday for work from each others house. The next step in the relationship. To be honest you were a little nervous and very excited to have reached this point with Curtis. 

“Where do you want these?” He pulled his boots off and shrugged off his jacket while you wiped your hands dry to go around your kitchen counter to greet him. 

“I left a drawer open for you to find.” 

“Good, I will put them in after.” He pulled you in for an affectionate kiss, making you giggle a bit at his affection. 

“After?” You questioned while hanging up his coat in the closet, stuffing his beanie in the pocket so he would find it tomorrow. 

“After I said hey to my best girl.” He winked and inhaled deeply. “What have you got cooking?” 

“Chicken fajitas. I need to finish them up. You know where the bedroom is.” You winked at him as you left him to take care of his stuff, which he was quick to do as it wasn't much, clothes in the dresser and some toiletries in the bathroom.

He was soon joining you as you started to pull it all together. “Anything I can do to help?” 

“Nah, relax. Have a beer. How was work?” You hummed out while working, sensing him brush a hand along your back in passing as he went to do just that. Sighing when he sank into a kitchen chair and cracked open a beer, the fizzy noise of the bottle muffled in his hand as he screwed off the cap. 

“Decent, kept on schedule and Gilliam is talking that we might be too busy for our January layoff. Although I was looking forward to the time off. “ 

“What do you even do when they lay you guys off for the season?” You asked as you slipped it into the oven and joined him. His arm was held out, enticing you to join him in his seat, and nervously you perched on his thigh before he tightened his hold. 

“Usually some project that old fixer-upper needs. This year I was going to redo the living room floor. Those old wide-beam floors could be stunning once more if properly stripped down. Course to do that I gotta take everything out of there and pack up the bookshelves so they don't get all dusty.” 

You reached for his bottle and sipped from it. “Paint too?” 

“Might as well do it all if I’m doing the floors.” 

“Well Mister, you are in luck because I am a master painter.I repainted this when I first moved in.” You waved your hand around your tiny apartment and Curtis smirked a bit. 

“Oh well fuck how did I get so lucky, how much do you charge?” he joked and you pondered what you wanted to ask for payment. 

“You are lucky, I’m cheap.” You swung back to the stove to stir the peppers and chicken before sliding them into the oven to keep warm. “I will do it for free.” 

“Free? No no… you must let me do something for your time.” He came up behind you, wrapping you into his arms while you stood at the counter, peeling apart the tortillas needed for the fajitas. “I could…” A kiss on your neck made you giggle when you felt the brush of his bristles against your sensitive neck. “... take you out?.” Another kiss just behind your ear had you sinking back into him. “They have an after-hours slot opening at the aquarium.” And that caused you to ease around, suddenly very interested in what he was saying and not just what he was doing. 

“Like one of those nights where you drink wine and enjoy walking around with just adults?” 

Curtis gave a nod, a bit of a shy twist of his mouth as his thumbs brushed lightly at the small of your back where your skin dimpled. “Exactly like that. Are you interested in going?” 

You nodded enthusiastically and wrapped your arms around his neck, going to your tiptoes to flutter kisses around, finally reaching his lips to really show your enthusiasm. “Absolutely! I would love to do something like that Curtis!” 

Clearly, he had picked correctly because your enthusiasm shined all over, even when he slid his hands down to your ass and grasped enough to lift you to perch on the edge of the kitchen counter, bringing the two of you closer to eye level. “I will secure our tickets. It’s happening right after Thanksgiving, so keep your calendar free.” 

“Of course, whatever day you pick will work for me, Curtis.” You wrap your legs around him to keep him close to you, running your hands up his chest while your smile grew wider. 

“I did good?” He smirked a bit while his fingers traced your sides and settled on the thickness of your hips, where he loved to squeeze just a bit, hold onto you cause you were his girl and he loved how comfortably he could settle in between your thighs. 

“Oh very good, I can’t wait to go.” You started to kiss along his jawline and his neck, able to find those little sweet spots of his that made him groan in appreciation. For now, you two were just making out, you would really show him tonight in bed when you rolled him to his back and crawled up between his thighs. You were taking delight in the way you felt him really giving into your direction, the little grunts and groans whenever your tongue pressed to his skin or your lips traced an intoxicating pattern against his neck. 

“You keep going like this and I’m going to forget the last thing I needed to ask you.” He confessed another firm squeeze to your hips to let you know that he needed to focus. One last playful bite to his earlobe had you moving back slightly, your fingers playing at the short hairs at the back of his buzzed head. 

“We can easily pick this back up later, how about we eat dinner and you can ask me?” You offered him, which Curtis glowered playfully at you, his thumb and forefinger catching your chin. 

“Yes but only because it is important, otherwise I would be taking you apart right on this kitchen counter.” 

“Kinky bastard.” You scoffed as you loosen your hold on him and pushed him back slightly to slip down and warm up the tortillas while Curtis grabbed plates from the dish drainer and some utensils. 

“Only for you.” He winked with a quick nip of a kiss to your cheek and moved to finish the task at hand. 

Once it was all set, you two were both making your fajitas the way you liked them and had gotten a few bites in, both of you far hungrier than was known, you wiped some salsa off the corner of your mouth. “So what was this other thing you wanted to ask me?” 

Curtis was thoroughly involved in his food, so his eyes sprang up in question at first but then he seemed to remember, going to take a swipe of his beer to cleanse his mouth. “Thanksgiving, did you have any plans?” 

“No, I don’t have enough saved up to fly home or the time to drive it. I will be headed back to the classroom to give it a good cleaning before the kids all return back from vacation. Why?” 

“Tanya invited us over for the holiday, along with Ella, Sophia, and Grey." He cleared his throat a bit, his voice dropping with less enthusiasm. “She did mention Edgar if we were okay with him coming.. She pulled me aside and demanded I bring you, but I told her I would discuss it with you first.” 

Filling another tortilla up with peppers and chicken, Curtis handed over the container of salsa automatically knowing what you would put on them. “If you want me to go, I would love to Curtis. I can call her later to see what I can make.”

He waited while you made yours before making another for himself. “And how do you feel about Edgar being there?” 

You picked at your fajita before taking a bite and chewing slowly, giving it some thought. “How do you feel about him being there Curtis? I made my peace with him the other night. I have no issue hanging out with Edgar and getting to know him better.” Of course, you turned it around and Curtis had to figure out how he felt about Edgar being around after Halloween. He hadn’t yet really talked with Edgar about it, things were tense between them at work. Edgar was doing his best to give Curtis space at the train yard. Was Curtis ready for forgiving? “It is up to you Curtis. It wasn’t just me he hurt on Halloween.” You reached across and let your hand rest against his arm. “Seems like Tanya feels the same way.” 

“I will talk to her about it, I’m still not sure how I feel.” He admitted and you nodded in understanding. 

“Whatever you decide Curtis, I can’t wait to spend Thanksgiving with everyone.” 

You could tell by the way his eyes softened and he smiled that it was important to him, that these people were basically his family, and getting to bring you into the mix meant a lot to Curtis. 

And you felt the warmth curl through you that you could give him that.

[thedemonicpup]

Midnight Skies and Chocolate eyes

By Ripley Salem

                       Chapter 8: Fleeing the dream. 

Fear turned into numbness in Steve's body as his weary limbs barely carried him along. Steve was tired, not exhausted. There was no description of the type of day he had endured but he never wanted to live it again. 

Something sways and groans in the distant eyeshot of Steve, it looked old, worn down and on its last legs. It was questionable as to how this structure was still standing in the wrath of the upside down. Step by step Steve makes his way to the swaying structure, It looked to be an old cabin of sorts, not thinking twice and ready to sleep. Steve goes inside of the rickety cabin.

Steve goes to shut the door but the door snaps off its hinges, sighing Steve searches around for somewhere suitable for him to retire to his slumber. Coughing and sneezing Steve finds an old mattress “it'll do” he hoarsely and very coldly speaks with a shrug. Steve lays himself down on the mattress, springs poking into his sides it wasn't very comfortable to sleep on but nonetheless Steve finds himself drifting but not yet full out. 

A crash of thunder startles Steve awake, panting, sweating. He ironically springs up from the mattress. His vision clears to see he was in his bedroom once more, as he looks around everything appeared as it should, Metallica was softly playing in the background like Steve had left it, Steve sighs in relief was everything with being attacked by vecna and being in the upside a dream? Steve looks to his bedroom window he could heat the rain hitting against the glass and the rumble of thunder, he remembered that there was a storm that had hit Hawkins. Everything seemed completely normal, relaxed and as it should. “Did you have another nightmare sweetheart?”  murmurs a gooey heart melting sleepy voice, Steve looks to his left to see his beloved metalhead laying next to him in his bed looking up at him with those chocolate eyes. Steve's heartflips as he gazes down at Eddie who seemingly was naked beneath the sheets. 

“U..uh yeah I think I did”  Steve answers flustered and blushing a crimson red  “uh..Eddie this might sound strange but why are you naked in my bed?”  Eddie's eyes look at stece like he is stupid, Eddie raises his hand to Steve's cheek caressing it softly “Stevie, we've been dating for nearly a year now, you invited me to live here with you, we got engaged yesterday. Don't You remember?” Steve looks down at his hand to indeed find a ring on his finger. Steve knew that Eddie's touch to his face felt real, so he turns his face and kissed Eddie's palm. Steve smiles at Eddie “o..of course I remember…I uh..the nightmare really shook me up is all.” 

Eddie nods and smiles softly at Steve coaxing him to lay back down to cuddle “come on baby, it was just a dream your safe here with me I'm not going to let anything hurt you I promise” Steve smiles and lays back down cuddling into Eddie's warm alive body, Steve rests his head against Eddie's chest he could hear Eddie's heart beating, Steve's eyes turn heavy as the droop to a close, he murmurs as he kisses Eddie's chest “I love you my beloved”  Steve smiles as he falls back to sleep he was living the dream right now. 

……

……

Steve's eyes pinged open, dust particles and dirt invaded his senses…tears form.

[purifycantyouhelpme]

Blood Is On My Hands | Chapter 3 | Izzy x Stradlin x Reader

A03Link<3

Word Count: 1538

Shortly after I killed Steven, I immediately cleaned up the evidence. Cleaning the blood off the knife and putting it back like nothing happened was easy. Changing my clothes and putting my bloody clothes in the garbage cans outside was also easy. All I was wearing was a white tank top and medium sized black shorts, I never wear shorts. Cleaning the blood off of the couch however was not. There was so much blood and it was taking too long for it to come off. Once I heard the police drive by and the police sirens, I immediately ran out of the house from the backdoor.

The next day, in the morning 12:00 AM, (Y/N)’s P.O.V

Me and Izzy were sitting in my living room, playing Sonic 2 on the Sega Genesis. Izzy was Sonic and I was playing as Tails. We were at Aquatic Ruins Zone Act 2. “You suck at this game.” Izzy teased me. “That’s because you keep on leaving me behind.” I punched him pretty hard in the shoulder and continued playing the game, Izzy paused the game and said, “I’m really glad that you’re feeling alot better.” He put his hand on my shoulder and smiled. I looked at him and I smiled back. There was a loud knock on my door. Who could be here this early in the day?

“I’ll get it.” I got off of the couch and walked to the door. Before I opened the door, I looked through the peephole. There were 5 police officers, standing in front of my door. I was really nervous and scared, think they were going to arrest me but I kept my cool. I opened the door and asked. “What’s going on, officers?” One of the officers pulled out a picture of Steven and held it up to my face. “Do you know this person?” One of the officers asked me.

“Yes, that’s Steven Adler. My best friend. Why did you ask?” I was getting even more scared. What did Steven do? I could hear Izzy’s footsteps coming close to me, he stood right next to me. “I’m sorry to tell you this ma’am but, your friend, Steven, was murdered in his home yesterday.”

My eyes widened when I heard that.

Tears were falling down my face, I was sniffling, trying to not cry in front of them. Izzy held me close and let me rest my head on his chest. “It’s okay, (Y/N). I’m here for you.” Izzy said softly to me and he gave me a kiss on my forehead while trying to comfort me.I didn’t bother to respond and or say anything to Izzy or the officers. I’m in extreme disbelief. I know that Steven has hurt me and betrayed me but he didn’t deserve to die.

A few weeks later 4:00 PM, (Y/N)’s P.O.V

I knocked on Eva’s door, I was breathing heavily because I was really nervous to tell Eva what has been going on with me these past few months and I was

It have been a few weeks since Steven died and I still can’t get over it. His death affected me mentally, it made everything worse for me. Eva finally opened the door. She took one look at me, took a few steps to me and asked, “(Y/N), are you okay?” She put her hands on my shoulders, she was worried about me. “Yeah, “I’m o-okay.” She replied softly, I looked away from her.

I walked into her home and I sat near the kitchen table, resting my head on the table. It felt pretty warm here. It was quiet here, no TV, no background, nothing, Just pure silence. Eva shut the front door and locked it. “Can I get some ice tea please?” I asked softly, catching my breath. “Sure,” Eva walked to the refrigerator and started pouring me some lemonade tea in a cup. She walked over to the kitchen table and set the cup on the table. “Thanks.” I said as I took a sip of the drink. So refreshing… I looked around to see where Eva was and she was sitting on the couch. Breathing in and out slowly, I threw the cup in the kitchen sink. It’s time to tell her.

“Eva, I want to tell you something very… i-important.” I said slowly, struggling to get the words of my mouth. She turned her head to look at me, making sure she was listening to what I was going to say to her. “What is it?” She asked. I put my hand on my chest, looked down slightly, and said, “The reason I have been a-acting paranoid and s-scared of everything and d-distant from S-Steven… is… because–” Stumbling with my words, I could feel myself being ready to cry. “S-Steven… raped me.” I confessed, tears were flowing from my eyes. I couldn’t hold in my tears anymore so I just kept crying with my hand on my chest. “I don’t believe you, (Y/N).”

My eyes widened in shock when she said that. Why would my best friend not believe me?

“He just died and now you decided to say that? You’re just trying to make him look bad and be the victim. I thought you loved him–” Fists clenched, I wanted to hurt my best friend for saying those things to me but instead, I interrupted her by saying, "You're a… horrible friend. I wish I never met you," in a soft tone. I immediately ran out of the house, still crying.

A few months later, night time, Izzy’s P.O.V

I was behind Eva’s house with a kitchen knife in my hand. The wind was blowing the trees and on my body and hair. It didn’t matter if I got sick or not because I was wearing a black jacket and some pants and my hood was on. It has been a while since Eva and (Y/N) talked to each other. It's weird to see them apart. They’re really close and hang out with each other almost everyday. I know why they haven’t been talking to each other. (Y/N) told me everything that happened between them. And maybe Eva should have just supported and comforted (Y/N).

Footsteps approached, it was Eva. She was taking the trash out. Walking towards Eva, I pulled her by her shirt and dragged her to the back of her house. “Hey!! Let me go!” She yelled but no one could hear her and didn’t listen. I slammed her against the wall with one hand while pulling the knife out with the other hand. She tried to push me off but to no avail. Smiling that I was about to kill her, she looked at me confused and shocked. “Izzy?!” She yelled again. Before she even processed what was happening, I immediately stabbed her in the forearm. Eva was kneeling down, her hand covering up her wound while she was breathing heavily in pain.

“I heard that you told (Y/N) was lying about Steven…. raping her, instead being there for her.” I said to her in a soulless voice, no remorse or mercy. Look at her, she is struggling to get up or even talk. How pathetic. “My love was right, you are a horrible friend.” I laughed maniacally. I grabbed her by the collar and stabbed her in the chest multiple times. Blood was all over my hands and clothes. Seeing Eva’s lifeless body made me smile.I heard someone coming toward this way. Oh shit, I’m fucked. The person who came here was (Y/N). She looked at me in shock and fear. I didn’t know what to do so I froze, dropping the knife on the ground. “I-I-IZZY?!” (Y/N) screamed in horror. She can’t believe that I killed her best friend. She was shaking and was about to cry. This is it, I’m done. It’s time to tell (Y/N) the truth. “(Y/N), I killed Steven and.. E-Eva," I confessed to her as she started to cry. I smiled, put my hands on my chest and said, “I did this for you. I killed Steven because he did something horrible to the person I love." I explained in a lovely voice. Before I could even explain why I killed Eva, she said, "I… I don't care about Eva anymore.” She sniffed, walking towards me. She sounded somewhat happy. “I love you, Izzy.” She gave me a kiss on the lips as my eyes widened in shock. I didn’t expect her to like me after what she just witnessed. Killing her two best friends was worth it after all. She smiled at me as she tried to wipe her tears.

“Police, put your hands up right now!” The police yelled. Of course the police would find me. It was only a matter of time. I raised my hands up along with (Y/N).

A/N: Yeah, I know, rushed ending but I hope you enjoyed this story. I had a lot of fun writing this story. Thanks to anon on Tumblr for requesting that I write a Yandere! Izzy x reader story.

[meetmymouth]

the intimacy of little things: iv

au ⌕ florist!harry x photographer!ofc

notes for this chapter: smoking and alcohol consumption

WC: 4k+ | PINTEREST BOARD | PLAYLIST

Bad dreams catch up to Harry on a Thursday night, waking him up at exactly five o’clock to his curtains dancing in the air due to the open window. It’s dark out, and the breeze is abusing every inch of his body; his legs, his toes especially, so Harry finds himself hugging his duvet even more, trying to catch the last bits of warmth that have been taken away by various nightmares. He looks around his bedroom, as if the place is alien, and he smiles as soon as his eyes detect a dark shadow by the door. It’s Bo, lying near a pair of his trainers– a pair he’s left there because he was too tired after work, and he’s snoring softly, his snores accompanying the whistling sounds of the passing cars outside.

He tosses and turns, trying to find a comfortable position, though the sleep won’t come. He keeps thinking about the dreams, the way he was being chased by something– someone, and once again finding himself at the house he grew up in, naked, and bruised. If he were to press his thumb on his thighs now, he knows he would feel the pain as fresh as ever. He doesn’t, though. Instead, he gets up, washes his face, and tries to get ready for the day as Bo watches.

He wears the same jeans he wore yesterday, then finds a jumper, already thinking about going back to bed once he gets home tonight. It’s cold, the flat, despite the heater being on, so he sips his tea in the kitchen exactly where most of the sunshine hits. He listens to the pigeons hum outside, with Bo munching on his kibbles by his feet as the sound accompanies the humming sounds. As he watches the baby blue sky outside, his phone goes off, and it brings a smile to his face, the smile widening as soon as he unlocks the phone and checks the text. He knew before looking at the sender who it was from. He knew from the text tone, so it’s no surprise the smile gets bigger and bigger while he reads the ‘good morning’ text accompanied by a selfie, and a photo of Talulah’s new favourite slippers.

He leaves the house with a smile on his face, and remembers to text his sister right before putting the car in drive. She responds right away. He sends back an emoji. It’s easy– life, right now, is easy.

He walks inside the shop five minutes later than his usual time, though no one bats an eye as they each give him a smile and a series of ‘good morning’s follow close behind while he keeps walking to the back. There had been an influx of orders, some from parents who would be attending graduation ceremonies and some by hopeless romantics, though Harry still finds something for him in each order, smiling at some of which included a message– a note for the recipient. He lifts up his head when he hears heavy boots walking towards him, says hello back to Jo, and they roll up their sleeves and crack on with Jo starting with a beautiful but modest sunflower bouquet while Harry gets his hands on a bouquet of roses, each collected from the fridge at the very back of the room. The antique radio on the counter sings as they work. It’s Beach House. Harry can’t help but sing along: ‘You should see– there's a place I want to take you’.

He trims the roses best to his ability, hands reaching for more cocculus to add in between, and he just places them sparingly amongst the red, dazzling roses. He brings them up to his nose, to smell, and a smile appears on his face at the sight– they’re soft, and some harsh– prickly under his nose, but they look breathtaking, almost as if the bouquet is a photograph. The radio plays another tune, indie he reckons, and Harry keeps adding and removing things, finally deciding on a few gypsophila– baby’s breath, to make the bouquet look a bit softer, sweeter. While the tune in the background sings about the sweetness of a lover’s lips, Harry finishes the bouquet, ties the end, and places it on the counter with a satisfied grin, thoughts of a girl with stars in her eyes on his mind.

He turns to the sound coming from his left, and nods at something Jo has said, though his mind is elsewhere.

“Where’s Bo,” she repeats– Harry is sure of that. “Bring him around, will ya?”

He smiles at the mention of the Lab. “He’s out and about, on an adventure I believe.”

“You think you’re so funny.”

“Yeah.”

“So,” she nods, then starts placing her tools inside the pockets in front of her apron. “What’s their name?”

“Pardon?” Harry raises an eyebrow. He copies her, placing the scissors inside the little pocket.

Jo smiles. “Your head is on the clouds. Someone’s got you whipped, I can tell. We all can, really.”

“Have you been gossiping behind my back?”

“Yeah– we always do.”

“Piss off.”

“So?” She looks at him with a grin. “Name?”

Harry gives up. He has to. His face– his lips turn upwards before he can even say her name.

“Talulah,” he says. “Her name’s Talulah.”

It’s quiet until it isn’t at Wild at Heart. Getting two birthday arrangements and one baby shower, Harry thanks whoever or whatever’s up above for blessing him with work. For the most part, though, Harry spends the work day at the back, processing orders with Cam. They unpack some new flowers–delphiniums–which takes them about an hour, and have the ends of the stems sliced off. Cam brings three empty buckets and they place each flower into the buckets with such delicacy and care, and Harry smiles when she takes her phone out and captures a few shots of the flowers.

The back-house work doesn’t end there for Harry. He knows he’s got plenty of help at the shop, though he still loves doing everything on his own, especially cleaning. With the help of Finn this time, they do a deep clean at the walk-in– their giant refrigerator where the flowers are kept. It’s freezing in there, so they try their best to work with their coats on as they wipe each shelf, scrubbing dirt off of some and Harry remembers why he loves being so hands-on at his job. He realises how much he learns about his colleagues every time they’re stuck in the walk-in for hours, or at the back processing and unpacking orders. He learns about their girlfriends or boyfriends, their life at home, their favourite food or favourite restaurants. He loves it, learning more about the people he works with, and he reckons these are the things that make him excited about waking up, and coming into work in the mornings.

Harry picks Talulah up from her flat, and they drive to the restaurant with Talulah’s phone connected to the radio. Something happy plays in the background, at least it sounds happy to Harry. ‘I won't smoke if you don't no more/ 'Cause I know you hate the taste of it/ I don't wanna picture our firstborn/ If you've stopped discussing names with me’. Talulah sings along, and Harry thinks it’s the most beautiful sound in the world, despite her vocals being weak–her words–. She insists that he chooses the next song, so he takes her phone in his hands when they stop at a red light, and smiles when he notices The Kook’s ‘Naive’ on there. He chooses that one.

“How are we feeling,” Harry asks, referring to who’s waiting for them inside when he puts the car in park.

At first, she doesn’t speak, only looks outside her window, and it makes Harry feel uneasy all of a sudden. Uneasy, like she just realised what’s happening and what they’re about to do, and Harry fears she will make him turn the car around and take her back– anywhere that is not here. That doesn’t happen though, and she turns to him with a smile, hand already in the air as she strokes his cheek with her thumb. Harry leans into the touch with eyes shut, and basks in the warm feeling of her skin against his.

“I’m nervous,” she starts. “But not in a bad way, if that makes sense?”

Harry nods, turning his face a little so he can press a butterfly kiss on her palm. “She’s nice, I promise.”

“I trust you.”

“Good,” he smiles, nodding. They unbuckle their belts, and open their doors at the same time. “Let’s go.”

When they get out of the car and Talulah holds onto the hand Harry extends, he takes his time to look at her outfit.

Despite the muddy weather outside, she’s dressed in all white– white wide leg jeans and a turtleneck paired with a plaid coat that looks extremely cute and cosy on her. She holds her bag in her other hand just so she can hold Harry’s hand which he finds precious, and they finally walk inside Flat Iron. He knows from Talulah that their mutual friend Ariel is the head chef here, and that she’s also Daniel’s sister. Despite that, he isn’t that bothered, as long as they have a great time tonight.

They’re greeted with smiling faces and nods when Harry gives Gemma’s name, and they pass table after table, finally reaching the table his sister is sitting at. She looks up, dressed in a red blouse with a pussy bow, and their eyes meet, then her gaze is turned to Talulah. She looks her up and down– only briefly, then at last, smiles.

“Hello, you two,” Harry welcomes her hug, pressing his cheek in the crook of her neck.

They pull apart, Harry feeling Talulah’s anxious gaze on them, and Gemma gives her a dimpled smile.

Harry speaks first.

“Gemma,” he smiles at Talulah, his smile widening when she notices her fixing her jeans. “This is Talulah, my girlfriend.”

It feels good, to be able to say that out loud, it feels wonderful.

“Hi,” she says, extending her hand, voice silky and honey-like, but still shy. “Nice to meet you.”

Gemma chuckles, and ignores the hand as she goes in for a hug. They hug briefly, Gemma returning the greetings, and they finally sit down.

“I don’t get to see Harry this much. Not twice a month, at least,” Gemma quips, earning an eye-roll from him.

“Gemma.”

“I’m just taking the piss, Harry, relax.”

“Well,” he quips back. “Don’t.”

When he turns to Talulah, he finds her smiling at them both, so he does too, placing his hand on her thigh as they start talking about Talulah’s job. She sounds confident, though Harry knows by now that that’s not how she feels deep down. He knows from the way her hands seem to shake from time to time when she goes to take a sip from her water, and the posh accent that comes into play whenever she feels nervous. Despite all that, Harry watches with a smile on his face as she talks about her job, and when he looks at his sister, their eyes meet.

She tells him everything he wants to know with just one look in her eye.

“Did you think about the house, Harry?” Gemma says after a moment, placing her spoon down.

At the mention of the house, Harry grows frustrated. He feels Talulah’s muscles tighten, his hand still on her thigh, so he turns to her, giving her a look as if to tell her ‘I told you so’.

He clears his throat, and takes another sip from his water. “I did. And… I’m not buying the house.”

“Harry…”

“I’m not, Gemma. I think it’s time we let it go. Let it all go,” he nods. He feels Talulah’s hand on his as she gives it a squeeze. “I don’t want to talk about this any further. Especially not tonight, please.”

“Okay,” she agrees, and it’s astonishing how easy-going she’s being about it.

Harry nods, feeling grateful, and turns to Talulah.

He motions at his souffle. “Try mine.”

“Y’sure?”

“Yeah,” he grabs his spoon and digs it into the puffy looking dessert, then brings it closer to her lips.

She opens, and lets him feed her, though neither of them notice Gemma watching them intently, eyes darting between Harry and Talulah, bottom lip trapped between her teeth in thought. It’s just the little things, the sister finds herself thinking, such small things that come together and create such intimacy.

The intimacy of little things is what’s captivating about love.

Harry turns to his sister when she clears her throat, and watches as she downs the last bits of her wine. She reaches for her fork, and puts some more tiramisu in her mouth. When she’s done chewing, she nods like she has something to say.

“How did you two meet?” Gemma asks.

“At the shop– Harry’s shop,” Talulah says, making Harry raise his eyebrows.

He shakes his head, squeezing her thigh fondly. “We met at Ariel’s Christmas dinner.”

She looks up at him. “Yeah, sorry.”

“Don’t apologise,” Harry chuckles, then turns to Gemma. “We’ve a mutual friend.”

Gemma nods, giving them a tiny smile. “That’s sweet.”

“How is James?” Harry asks, taking a sip from his water.

Talulah watches the interaction intently.

“He’s good. He’s on annual leave. Bored at home,” she laughs. “How’s Bo?”

“He’s fine. Still lazy. Still looking to adopt a cat?” Harry asks, hand finding Talulah’s under the table as he intertwines their fingers. He turns to Talulah. “She’s obsessed with cats and other people’s pets in general.”

Talulah laughs. “Cats are my favourite–”

“–Excuse me?”

She turns to Harry, and reaches for him. She squeezes his chin playfully. “Bo aside.”

“Right.”

“You two are disgustingly cute– and yes,” she nods. “I’m still looking to adopt a cat. We’re just waiting until we move to a bigger house.”

He knows where she’s taking this, so he changes the topic, asking more about her job and new position. They joke, laugh, and get tipsy on wine, and Harry couldn’t be happier. He doesn’t drink much, since he’s driving, but watches Talulah get more giggly on wine with a smile on his face. He feels like he’s on cloud nine, having Talulah and Gemma in the same room, talking and joking about anything and everything.

He’s lucky, he knows as much.

When they’re saying goodbye in the carpark, Gemma hugs Talulah first, pleasantries and ‘so nice to meet yous’ flying in the air, and Harry notices how she hugs her a beat longer, and whispers something in her ear. With furrowed eyebrows, he watches them pull apart, and the smile on his face is back when Talulah’s hand finds his right after they pull apart and say ‘good night’. Hand in hand, they walk to Harry’s car, and he doesn’t let go before bringing her hand up to his lips and pressing a chaste kiss at the back of her hand, then on her palm. When they’re in the car and Harry turns the key, the radio comes alive, the song still playing softly as he puts the car in drive.

“So,” Harry sighs when they arrive at Talulah’s flat. “Thoughts?”

“About what? Your sister?”

“Yeah… about tonight… anything, really.”

She smiles. Unbuckling her belt, she reaches for him, placing her hand on his cheek. “She was lovely, like I said. And I had a wonderful time, Harry.”

He leans into the touch, eyes closing only for a moment before he opens them, and takes the sight of her in. She’s smiling as her thumb strokes his cheekbone, and Harry smiles, too, reaching just like her to stroke her bottom lip with his thumb.

“You’re so beautiful,” he whispers. “So, so beautiful,” he adds, smiling when she looks down.

She brings him closer to her by the neck, closer until their lips finally meet in a heated kiss. It’s warm, both their mouths, and so wet, though neither of them seem to mind the sloppy, lazy kiss. Harry bites her bottom lip, earning a soft moan as she tries to keep up with his kisses. She tries, so hard, and bites his bottom lip playfully, in spite of him, and they both chuckle into the kiss, mouths open and warm breaths hitting each other’s lips. He keeps pressing tiny kisses down her chin, to the side of her neck before he licks across a particular area on her neck, then grazes his teeth over the now-wet flesh ever-so-gently, clearly hoping to leave a faded mark.

“Come upstairs,” she whispers, making him smile.

All he can do after that is nod, and Talulah watches as he locks the car and catches up to her before they go up the stairs. Her hand works the key, and they enter into the flat’s warm embrace, the smell of fresh laundry and the food she’d probably cooked from earlier hitting every sense and fibre in his body. It’s a home, it’s warm, and it’s her space. So, being able to witness all this, being in her home, her space, means the world to Harry. He feels safe.

She goes straight to the kitchen, turning the kettle on like it’s a practised act. And it is, he knows it is.

“Tea?”

“Sure.”

“Go sit down, I’ll bring it to you,” she gets their mugs ready, then takes the milk out of the fridge. “I’m gonna put some honey in mine, would you also like some in yours? I’m craving something sweet.”

Harry purses his lips in thought, then nods. “Sure, babe.”

She smiles, pulling the jar of honey closer, and she gets a spoon out of the drawer. There’s a beat of silence, sans the kettle, so Harry watches her fiddle with her phone until the speakers come alive. It’s Paul McCartney’s ‘Arrow Through Me’, which makes him smile and hum along to it as she works in the kitchen, filling both their mugs with hot water. She pours the milk with such concentrace on her face, then opens the jar for honey. He watches as she puts a small amount in both of their mugs, then brings the spoon to her mouth and licks it– licks it good, and throws it in the sink.

“I’m glad your sister understands you regarding the house,” she says, sitting beside him as their mugs sit on a pair of coasters. “Right?”

Harry hums, reaching for his mug. “I hope so. I hope she didn’t just say that because you were there.”

“Would she do that?” Talulah’s brows furrow.

“She would, yeah. She’s done it before. Not this time, I hope.”

“Hope so, too.”

“Thanks again, for coming– it made me really happy.”

She smiles, an ‘aw’ leaving her mouth as she carefully grabs his cheek and brings him into a sweet, innocent kiss. She pecks twice, then reaches for her own mug.

“Thank you for asking me. I had a lovely time, Har.”

He smiles. “Forgot to tell you,” he says, making her look up. “Jeanette phoned this morning.”

“Oh.”

Harry bites his bottom lip, like he regrets sharing that piece of information with her. “I’m– sorry, I ruined it, didn’t I?”

“Harry,” she sighs, placing one hand on his knee. “You didn’t. She’s your client. If anything– I feel terrible still, for making you leave in such a hurry. You had a job to do–”

“–I don’t care, T. She just– she phoned and thanked me. She was, well, she tried asking about you but I was quick to shut it down. We hung up after that.”

“Yeah, well,” she shrugs, taking another sip from her tea. “She phoned me as well. Oh– I have an appointment with that therapist. This Friday.”

“You do?” Harry smiles, hand finding hers on his knees. He squeezes. “That’s lovely– amazing.”

“Yeah. I’m nervous.”

“About?”

“Where to start… and that sort of thing but– don’t really want to talk about that at the moment. Tonight’s been lovely.”

He yawns into her palms. “What do you want to talk about, then?”

They both know what’s about to come. So, when she surges forward and captures his mouth with hers, neither of them are surprised.

Days go by, weeks catch up to one another, and on another Friday, Talulah finds herself in yet another therapy session. This would be her fifth session, having them every week, after work, and she could feel the change creeping in, the comfort of having another person whom she can talk to without worrying about saying the wrong thing and being judged. Of course, having friends like Zayn, and also Harry helped– she knew she could talk to them anytime she wanted, but having a therapist, she found, was liberating, having a stranger listen to you.

“Talulah,” Amanda walks over to her while she sits on the navy sofa. She looks up, and Amanda smiles. “Shall we go in?”

Without hesitation, she follows her into her small office, and takes her seat on the petrol green sofa, hands already on her lap as she starts playing with her fingers.

“How are you?” Amanda smiles, clicking her pen.

“I’m good, thanks. How are you?”

“Good, thank you… so, what have you been up to since last week?”

When she leaves the building, her phone goes off, and it shows Lauren’s contact on the screen. She asks if she’s up for a couple of drinks in Soho, so Talulah agrees, thinking she doesn’t have anything better to do on a Friday but go home and get in bed.

They meet at a pub with Lauren already two Margarita’s in, and she orders herself a beer, suddenly feeling like she can stomach the bitter drink.

Lauren takes a sip of her drink, and purses her full lips. “How was therapy?”

“It was good. I think we’re getting somewhere even though it’s been… challenging– talking about certain stuff. I like her.”

“That’s great, love,” she smiles, reaching a hand to squeeze hers. “I’m so happy to hear that. How is Harry?”

“Harry… he’s good!” She smiles at the mention of his name, missing him more than ever now that they haven’t seen each other since last week. “We both have been busy. I miss him.”

“Oh, babes, you’re way too cute. When do I get to meet him?”

“Oh. Uh, actually, I could text him and see if he would like to join?” She bites her bottom lip, suddenly nervous.

Lauren smiles, and nods her head enthusiastically. “Please!”

A text to Harry confirms that he’ll be there in half an hour.

Harry arrives, dressed in wide leg jeans and the jumper Talulah has gotten him. She can’t help but look him up and down, smile, and when their eyes meet from across the room, he smiles, too, his steps quickening to get her faster. She opens her arms as soon as he’s near enough, and they embrace each other for a little while, her head in the crook of his neck and his on her shoulder as he presses a kiss there, over her clothes, then another on her cheek before she does the same.

“Hey,” she says, looking up at him.

“Hey, yourself.”

“Thanks for coming, this is Lauren,” she turns to Lauren, finding him watching them with a grin on her face– though, she feels like it’s all the margaritas’ fault, the way she’s smiling.

Harry goes in for a hug, and introduces himself. “I’m Harry,” he smiles at her.

“Nice to meet you– heard so much about you,” Lauren looks at Talulah, the grin getting bigger by the second as she rolls her eyes at her.

They sit down, Harry orders a beer for himself.

Zayn and Jules arrive, and Harry looks so happy that Zayn could make it, presumably because he’s always so intimidating and ‘cool’ around people. They get along well, sit down and have a chat about work together, and Talulah enjoys seeing them interact– not just with Zayn but her other friends, too. She notices how intently he listens to every store her friends come up with, how he’s eager to learn more about them. They talk about a footie game after work sometime next week, Zayn immediately coming up with names who will be a good pick for their team– Harry and Zayn’s. So you guys are playing on the same team? Of course we are, Jules, have you seen his legs– he needs me.

They walk outside the pub hand in hand, Harry placing a kiss on her temple as everyone walks to their cars, but not before sharing hugs and ’see you soons’: ‘let’s do this again!’.

“Where’s your car?” Talulah asks, the two of them still in front of the pub, swaying side to side with Harry’s arms wrapped around her.

He tightens his hold on her, and kisses the top of her head, making her look up at him from his chest. She smiles at him, he copies, and they press their lips together, meeting in a tender, lighthearted kiss.

“There,” Harry motions at his car with his head, and she follows it. “I’ll drop you off,” he murmurs, kissing her nose one last time before they start walking in the direction of his Mini.

When she reaches for the aux cable, Harry chuckles, and places his hand on her thigh, just like he always did whenever they travelled together.

‘Watery eyes/ That howling wind, she's waving hi/ Her other hand's in mine/ Oh-oh, silhouette/ She's growing tall and fine/ She's got my back/ She'll follow me down every street/ No matter what my crime’.

to be continued...

[flowerfan2]

Read the coda to 8.03 on A03 here, or from the beginning here.

A continuous story of season 3 episode codas which creates one unified story - the Ted/Trent interactions we don’t see...

Chapter 8

Ted watches the cab with Michelle and Henry in it pull away from the curb and drive off down the street.   He’s pretty sure Michelle sussed out what he was trying to do as she left, when he wouldn’t let go of Henry’s backpack, but it still hadn’t worked – he wasn’t able to tell for sure whether she was wearing a ring or not.  He doesn’t think so.

He doesn’t think, frankly, that Michelle and Jake are necessarily going to make it as a couple, not if Jake gets annoyed when he and Michelle chat like old times.  It seems like Jake should understand that’s how they connect – he does have the benefit of all those counseling sessions when he was theoretically helping them work on their marriage – and yet he seemed annoyed at their easy banter.  Of course, banter alone doesn’t make a healthy relationship, as Michelle so often reminded him.

Ted doesn’t know why he can’t let go of all this.  He’s not the first person to get divorced, the world is full of them.  Hell, Trent is divorced, and Rebecca.  Pretty much everyone he spends his time with is either single or in a dysfunctional relationship of one kind or another.

He should really listen to what Rebecca said.  Stop letting yesterday get in the way of today.  There’s a handsome man out there that is waiting for him to make up his mind, and as patient as Trent is, he might not wait forever.  So what, exactly, is holding him back?

He allows himself a good long sigh, straightens his back, and calls Trent.

*****

Trent should be surprised to see Ted’s name pop up on his phone, but he’s not.  He knows Michelle and Henry are heading back to the U.S. tonight, and he has prepared himself for another long, agonizing talk where he consoles Ted about his feelings for someone who isn’t Trent.  

Trent had thought Ted was finally coming to terms with it all.  Last week at the pub Ted had sat close and looked at him fondly, given Trent hope that maybe they were on their way back to being together.  But then Michelle and Henry came to visit and that hateful, unethical excuse for a therapist whisked her away to Paris, and Ted was spiraling about his ex once more.

Trent has already heard all about the fun Ted, Beard and Henry had together, including their great Beatles sing-along.  It stings that now Beard hangs out with Ted and Henry, when over the summer it had been Trent and Darla showing Ted and Henry all their favorite places in London.  But that was when Ted wanted to be with Trent, and now he’s still not sure.  Or at least, not sure enough.

Trent answers his phone.  Just because he wants something doesn’t mean he’s going to get it, and no amount of self-pity is going to keep him from being there for Ted when he needs it.

“Hello?”

“How you holdin’ up, buttercup?”

Trent frowns.  “I rather thought I’d be asking you that.”

“Nah, I’m good.”  A pause.  “Really good, actually.”  Ted’s voice has dropped a register, and Trent feels his breath catch.  “Wonderin’ if you were free tonight?”

An hour later Ted and Trent are curled up together on Trent’s couch, jazz playing softly in the background, mostly empty tumblers of whiskey on the coffee table.  Ted is lying on his side, pressed against Trent’s chest, and playing with his hair as they make out like horny but somewhat lazy teenagers.

Ted’s hand starts to wander south, and Trent, despite himself or maybe in a delayed burst of good sense, stops his progress by taking his hand in his.

“Ted.”

Ted noses at Trent’s jaw.  “That’s my name, don’t wear it out.  What’s up, sugar?”

“Maybe this isn’t a good idea.”

Ted freezes.  “Oh.”  It’s only one syllable, but the hurt comes through.

“It’s not that I don’t want to-”

“Then what is it, exactly?”  Ted sits up, awkwardly disentangling them and shoving himself to the other end of the couch.  “All this time, I thought you were pining for me, was I wrong about that?  Did I somehow misread your intentions, Mr. Crimm?”

“There’s no need to get angry, Ted-”

“Don’t you tell me how to feel.”  Ted gets up, stumbling as he straightens his clothes.  “I thought you wanted this.”

“I do want this,” Trent says, keeping his voice calm.  He rises and puts his hands on Ted’s shoulders, stilling his anxious sway.  “I want you.”  

Ted is blinking furiously, but the message gets through.  “You do, right?  I’m not – I’m not too late?”

“No, sweetheart, you’re not too late.”  Trent puts his arms around Ted and pulls him close, cradling Ted’s head against his own.  “I’ll say it as many times as you need to hear it – I want you.”

“I want you too,” Ted mumbles, tucking his face against Trent’s neck.  

They stand there like that for a long moment, Trent rubbing circles on Ted’s back while Ted finds his equilibrium.

“Thank you,” Ted says finally, pulling away enough to meet Trent’s gaze.  

“For what?”

Ted brushes his fingers through his hair, already mussed from their make-out session.  “For making us slow down.  For knowing…”. Ted looks away, scrubs a hand over his face and shakes his head.  “For knowing that it isn’t a good idea to do” he waves a hand around “too much, just yet.”  He looks up at Trent, vulnerable and open.  “But, soon, maybe?”

“I’d like that,” Trent says, and presses a chaste kiss to Ted’s lips.  It’s sweeter than any kiss they’ve shared so far tonight.  “I’d like that very much.”

[cottagecore-onceler]

Chapter 4 / Onceler x Reader

(Laura Les - Haunted playing in the background)

This time, the journey was quick. You weren’t making stops or looking back, you just wanted to get to your cabin. April was particularly warm, but that day the morning air was cold and you were shivering in your light jacket. You didn’t care. Over the past half a year you and Onceler had become so close, you needed to see him to know it was real. Nothing could stop you now. 

You felt anger. Not at him, at yourself. But it wasn’t necessarily a bad feeling. It felt empowering. Like you owned the world and had the power to do anything you pleased. Haunted was blasting on your airpods, practically shattering your eardrums. You felt hysterical, in a sort of good way though. As if you felt everything at once. As if you felt everything at once and it wasn’t an issue at all. The anger quickly vanished, leaving you energised. You felt good. You were gonna get him, no matter what.

You could see your cabin on the horizon. There it is, your little corner of the world. And there he was as well. Standing in front of it, looking at you with a smile. There was something different about him. For starters, he seemed taller, which you initially thought was absolutely impossible. His clothes were different as well - he was wearing green, tailored pants and an elegant shirt with a green tie. What seemed like a matching coat was laying on a bench at your doorstep. He ran in your direction.

- I didn’t expect-

He didn’t let you finish as he grabbed your face and pushed it into his. His lips were soft and tender, as was the unexpected kiss. His hands were warm and precise, caressing the back of your neck. You put your hands around his waist pushing him closer, as if muscle memory took over your body, still dwelling in the memory of that bike ride 6 months ago. You felt calm. No questions had to be answered. This was all you needed to know.

- 6 months - he said after what seemed like eternity of kissing - we’ve lost 6 months. But we’ll get them back. Just don’t leave, ever again.

- I won’t - you whispered, holding onto his body.

...

(Carol - So Low playing in the background)

You shed a single tear.

Onceler’s head was still lying comfortably on your lap. He looked confused.

- Y/n? Why are you crying? - he sat next to you and wrapped his arms around you - it’s okay. It’s good. 

A big, fat lump emerged in your throat. Unable to speak, you curled up in his arms.

This memory. This particular memory hurt the most. As years passed, it felt increasingly more like a cancer, growing in your brain, taking over bigger and bigger parts of your neglectful mind. It was the beginning of your new life and the end of a version of you which died with it. You had every reason to hate her - she was weak and unambitious. She couldn’t have accomplished what you have. You had to let her go. Nevertheless, that week the two you had spent together when you came back was the best time of your life. All of the joyful, naive innocence of your past self was preserved in it, forever.

...

(strongboi - honey thighs playing softly in the background)

You woke up to the smell of pancakes. 

- Where are you sneaking off to? - you yawned, stretching your arms. 

Onceler was fully dressed and preparing breakfast, while you were still lying in bed. He looked adorable with an apron over his suit. Last night assured you about the realness of your relationship. You two were definitely a thing now. 

- I think you might’ve forgotten that I need to go to work - he laughed - but I’ll be back around noon.

- Can’t you take a day off? - you insisted.

- Not today - he flipped a pancake - I have a very important meeting. But we could go to the lake when I get back.

- I’ll consider it - you grinned - wait, when did you get groceries? Everything in the fridge must’ve rotten when I was away.

- Yesterday, before you arrived - he said with a smile - your kitchen is now fully equipped, no need to thank me.

- Wow, okay - you were impressed - you can take my bike to work, it’ll be faster than walking.

- You can’t bike in a suit - he laughed, handing you a plate of pancakes - I called a cab. You get some rest and unpack, I’ll be back as soon as I can.

- You need to show me your new workshop - you said, biting into your breakfast.

- Yeah, sure - he replied with a hint of anxiety in his voice - but it’s under construction now. We had an accident last week.

- What accident? Everything all right?

- There was, um, a fire. But it was small, we just need to… repaint the walls. That’s all, nothing serious.

- Okay - you said - then we can go see it together when it’s ready.

- We will - he put on his coat, came up to you and gave you a kiss. You didn’t want him to go anywhere - but in the meantime, get some more sleep.

You finished your breakfast and took a shower. It was 6 A.M. “Why would he wake up so early?”, you thought. The thneed business must’ve been going well. You cleaned up around the cabin, unpacked your stuff and went outside. You laid a blanket on the freshly grown grass and started reading a book. Spring in the Truffula Valley was beautiful - the trees were blooming and you could hear birds chirping all around. You put the book aside and laid on your back, gazing at the sky. Subtle rays of sunlight had reached your skin from in-between the blossoming Truffula tufts. You missed this place so much. It seemed almost unreal how everything was suddenly going your way. 

- Y/n! - you suddenly heard Onceler’s distant voice - where are you?

- Backyard! - you yelled.

- Meeting finished earlier than I expected. And guess what! - his slender silhouette emerged from in-between the trees - I took a week off. 

- That’a amazing! We can pretend to be on vacation - you grinned.

- Hey, I’m not pretending! - he laughed and sat next to you - this actually is a formal vacation.

- Don’t remind me about my unemployment - you sighed - I don’t think the cinema will take me back. I should start looking for something soon. 

- Not yet - he kissed your forehead - let’s just enjoy the vacation for now.

- We could stay at your cottage as well, you know - you covered your eyes with your hand, as sunshine brightened -  I don’t mind.

- I actually think I prefer it here - he smiled - this part of the forest is way nicer.

- As you wish - you smiled back at him.

- Aaaand… before I forget - he reached into the pocket of his coat - I thought it would be nice to get you a little welcome home gift.

- You shouldn’t have! - you got up, excited.

He took your hand and put a bracelet around your wrist. It was a string of big, irregular pearls, each different from another, all glimmering in the sunlight.

- No! - you looked at him, stunned - no way! It’s beautiful!

- It’s hand made and one of a kind - he said, still holding your wrist, surprisingly gently, as if he was afraid he could break it - I’m glad you like it!

- I love it! - you kissed him, wrapping your arms around his waist.

That was the first time you noticed he smelled different. His usual perfume was spicy, with a little hint of tabacco leaf sweetness.You remembered it exceptionally well after the night you had spent together in his cottage and you could swear you smelled it in the morning, when he was getting ready for work. You really liked this scent. Now he reeked of something industrial, like car fumes or tar. It was almost suffocating.

- Hey, what is it? - he asked, noticing your wry expression.

- Um - you tried to be delicate, but the odour only seemed to intensify becoming more and more nauseating - you stink.

- Ouch! - he laughed nervously and for a moment you felt really stupid - it’s probably because of the construction. After the fire. You know, paint smells.

- What are you painting with? Sulflur? - you covered your nose mockingly.

- Now that’s just mean - he scoffed - I promise to wash my suit, happy?

- Very much so - you replied - so, what’s in the itinerary?

- How bout that trip to the lake?

- We could do that. But first I need to go to Greenville for some oatmilk.

- You don’t drink regular milk? - he seemed surprised.

- Do I not look like I’m lactose intolerant? - you laughed.

- Well, since you eat cheese, I assumed you’re not - he scoffed.

- Cheese doesn’t count. It’ll take me an hour tops. Then we go to the lake.

- How about - he kissed your bare shoulder and made that amazingly adorable smile - we go to the lake now and I’ll get oatmilk tomorrow morning. I need to get something from my cottage anyway.

- Can I come with you? - you asked.

- I’m pretty sure you’d hate it - he replied - the construction workers are everywhere, it’s a huge mess.

- Okay then, let’s go to the lake - you said - just, please, change your stinky clothes.

...

(The Cranberries - Dreams starts playing in the background)

Just like that memorable evening 6 months ago, he hopped on the bike and you sat behind him, wrapping your arms tightly around his waist. This time you didn’t feel nervous at all. For the first time in your life you were truly, fully happy. Everything was going your way and nothing could disturb your new-found peace of mind. Moreover, for the first time in your life you felt calm thinking about the future. It wasn’t mysterious and anxiety-filled anymore. Future looked fun.

The lake was only 30 minutes away from your cabin, in the opposite direction to Onceler’s cottage, which was also why he’d never been there. 

- Turn right! - you screeched as he almost hit a tree, not knowing his way around this part of the forest - if you break my bike, I’ll break you.

- Will you relax for a second? - he laughed - I know how to ride a bike.

You were relaxed. How could you feel any different? Holding onto him, your entire body felt at ease. You dreamed about this moment for half a year, entrapped in this stupid town with no one to talk to. The tingly sensation in your chest which accompanied your daily phone calls was now spread all over your body. You’ve never felt this kind of joy. You’ve also never been truly in love before. It was a new kind of high, completely unknown to your confined perception of reality. As moments passed, you forced your brain to focus and remember each and every detail. The softness of his hands, the tone of his voice, the warm wind in your hair and the way he’d constantly look around his shoulder to check if you were still there, as if you could just vanish into thin air. You wanted to experience everything as intensively as humanly possible.

When you arrived at the lake, Onceler was amazed.

- This is the most beautiful place, okay, I have ever seen - he said, looking into the clear, turquoise water. 

You smiled - that was your exact same reaction when you accidentally found this place almost two years ago now. The lake itself wasn’t very big. It was connected to a stream which ran through the entire Valley, from the eastern parts, near the lake and your cabin, to the west, close to Greenville and Onceler’s cottage. Its water was extremely clean as there was no city nearby. Actually, pretty much no one would come here at all. Truffulas growing in this area were way taller than regular ones, their tufts were also slightly bigger. Must’ve been something about the water and its healing properties. They grew densely around the clear, perfectly blue lake, making the scenery exceptionally charming.

You immediately took your clothes and the bracelet off - exposing the prettiest set of lingerie you could find in your closet -  and jumped into the water. You got so warmed up during the ride, the cold water felt exceptionally refreshing. 

- Come on in! - you shouted to Onceler sitting calmly on the shore.

- Na-ah, not yet - he winced - isn’t it freezing?

- It’s perfect.

You relaxed your arms and legs. Your body was floating on the surface of the lake, gently, undisturbed. The sun was shining directly into your face, which made the cool temperature of the water feel slightly warmer than it really was. A weak current was slowly sweeping you away from the shore.

“He seems anxious”

This thought appeared out of nowhere, almost as if someone else said it in your head. You took a deep breath and dived into the water.

“Why does he seem anxious?”

You really couldn’t shake off this sudden, intuitive feeling that something is wrong. You knew you were probably just overthinking, but he really did seem different. Like there was something he wasn’t telling you. Could it be possible that he changed his mind about you? It really didn’t seem likely - he gave you all the reasons to trust him. You knew damn well that if you let yourself worry about it too long, your mind would spiral out of control. God, what if he only started dating you as a prank? “You’re better than this”, you thought, deciding to simply confront him about this instead of succumbing to your anxiety-filled brain.

- Hey - you stepped out of the water, wrapping a thneed around your shoulders - you seem nervous.

You sat next to him, feeling his warm hand grabbing yours.

- Nervous? I’m not nervous - he scoffed.

- What is it then?

- First of all, your hand. It’s super cold - he smirked - I’m pretty sure you shouldn’t be outdoor swimming in April, I know it’s really warm in the sun, but it’s just not the same…

- Stop joking - you interrupted him - I can see you’re worried about something. Be honest with me.

- Is it that obvious? - he looked at you with a half-smile.

- I guess - you sighed - is it, um… something about me?

- No! - he grabbed both of your hands and looked you in the eyes - don’t ever say that. Don’t ever think that - he took a deep breath - This… us… it’s the best thing that ever happened to me.

- What is it then? - your face was inches away from his. 

- Let me finish - he smiled - I am crazy about you, y/n. I have been ever since that evening half a year ago. Do you… do you feel the same way about me?

- I do - you whispered - but you’re changing the subject again.

- I’m just… worried about the company. That’s all, really.

- You can go back to work if you want to.

- But I don’t. I want to spend this week with you. I’ll try to stop worrying, I promise - he laid his soft hand on your cheek and brushed it through your hair.

- You could talk to me about it too, you know? - you said with reproach.

- Yeah, and bore you to death? - he laughed.

- It’s not that boring. I mean, when we talked on the phone it seemed pretty exciting. 

- It’s not… that exciting - you could sense that peculiar hint of anxiety in his tone - no work talk yet, okay? I promise to let you in on every possible detail of my business next week - he smiled before his lips pressed softly against yours with a short, but tender kiss - now let’s just enjoy our vacation.

...

The next 5 days felt almost unreal. You passed time walking around the forest, swimming in the lake and playing cards in the dim sunlight of early Spring evenings. Each morning you woke up wrapped securely in his arms, covered in warm rays of sunshine coming from your curtain covered windows. Your cabin was soaked in the smell of pancakes he made every morning. 

You used to think you were happy before. You used to find comfort in your loneliness, seeing yourself as perfectly self-sufficient. You really thought letting anyone into your small, sheltered world would shatter it forever. He became such a vital part of your life so quickly, you couldn’t imagine living this way anymore. Suddenly it seemed like there had been a longing in your soul and body to which he was the only right answer. Everything has changed.

You fell asleep with your head on his chest. You had some wine this evening, which must’ve been the reason why that nightmare returned. Onceler was once again sitting in a ridiculously large chair, in a top hat and a suit, with giant, endless piles of money behind him. You weren’t in the room with him. Once again, you were standing outside, watching him through a window. Paralysed, unable to move or speak. Suddenly everything started spinning.

You woke up covered in cold sweat.

- I just had the worst…

He wasn’t there. You were in your bed alone.

You immediately stood up, startled. His book, his clothes and toothbrush were still there. His coat was gone. Your heart was pounding out of your chest. Maybe he went outside for a midnight stroll? You went outside - he wasn’t there.

- Onceler! - you screamed hysterically. 

Dead silence.

You went back inside, started brushing your teeth, preparing for organising a search party. Feeling completely and utterly helpless you decided to go through his stuff. Between what seemed like hundreds of dirty, plain white shirts your fingers stumbled upon a creased piece of paper. It was a blueprint.

The toothbrush fell out of your hands.

(Mareux - Perfect Girl playing in the background)

[flxffyclvuds]

Late night

please- this is just my late night fantasy and my to-do with my special someone >//<

“Now,” he bows slightly, holding out his hand “Shall we, love?”

A smile's present on their face as he looks at his darling with love. It feels just like yesterday when they fell head over heels for him. They softly grasps his hand, pulling him close to each other.

Their hand rests on their lover's upper back whilst the other holds his hand. As the music plays in the background, the couple is soon consumed by their own world where their problems and worries are no longer present. The faint smell of the fragrance released by the candles scattered around the room fills their longs.

Neither broke eye contact with each other as they dance in their shared complex. It felt like a scene out of the movies they both watched when they're bored.

"My, aren't you dashing"

"I could say the same for you darling"

Soft chuckles accompany the music as they continue to sway around their living room. No matter how rare of an occasion to have a wondrous night such as this one, it made the future ones more meaningful.

It was like a reminder of the first time they met. Where he was so caught up with choreography that he didn't notice a figure completely enamoured with him. Once the music stopped, he finally saw them. It was now his turn to fall in love.

As cliché their love story may be, no one could deny that it was like the ones in fairytales.

Taglist: @wilczachannn @aphroditesgarden

[asoulofatlantis]

My current situation and playing Pokemon Purpur

I started playing Pokémon Purpur yesterday.

As you know I am currently a bit... troubled by health issues (as I seemed to have fallen back into the problem that Corona had left me with after barely a week without pain), some work issues (which seemed to be kinda, sorta solved but somehow aren’t - not that this makes any sense, but its really hard to explain) AND there is also the fact I feel a bit lost in the wonderful world of gaming for a while now. After finishing the Cold Steel Saga (+ Hajimari with Spreadsheet) I felt a bit empty and it seems like ever since then I can not find what would make me happy again game-wise. I am trying to finish all routes in Fire Emblem: 3 Houses, but the closer I come to playing Edelgards route (which I am the least interested in) the more I feel like I might prefer to leave the game with were I was last time - finishing Azure Moon once again XD There are plenty of games I want to play or replay for a live reaction, but I can not find myself to be in the mood for any of them, whenever the chance arrives. After playing Kuro 1 and being kinda disappointed from what I saw of Kuro 2, I’ve decided to go back to CS3, because that is my favorite Trails game and I really missed Erebonia and Rean and the Rest of the Cast. But somehow replaying it isn’t as motivating as I thought it would be. I feel like I should have just watched a Lets Play on YouTube and be done with it, without having to play it myself for the fourth time. Don’t get me wrong! I love the game and Rean and the plot and everything. Its just... replaying such a text-heavy and story-intense game is something for a bored week off (with no stress or health issues playing around in the background) and not for jumping from what little freetime I have every weekend to the next few hours of free time I have the next weekend and the one after and so on. Which, sadly, is my current situation.

I have to admit, this is all my fault, fully and completely. I had some health issues like 3 years ago and had to drastically change the hours per week I am working to be able to fix this and was stuck with the (a lot) smaller income for two years and didn’t handle the small amount of money very well and took small loans here and there and used my credit-cards until I almost reached the limit. With so much money to pay back, I had to go back to work full time and its so not working for me. My immune system is down the drain and so is my emotional health (not as bad as back then, but its still not very nice) and the lack of freetime is killing me (not very softly)! I am desperately trying to pay back the loan until summer, because then I have to drastically lower my workhours per week once again and this means (especially with the current situation in the world) that I will have a hard time handling my money once again. I need to find a new place, because my rent has become to much to bear but my beloved cats have destroyed part of the flat and... lots of stuff going on that is stressing me out.

But enough of my stupidness and personal problems. Lets talk about the game!

So after hearing different first-impression-reviews from different kind of people, I decided that playing yet another Pokemon-Game might be just what I needed. I decided to go with Purpur and here is my first impression so far:

- I think the beginning was a tad too slow, but I liked how they introduced the starter, it was really nice

- Giving us a Champ as our rival seems a weird decision and even tho I get that a lot of people keep mentioning that our player is kinda talented, it seems weird that we as a newbie have it so easy fighting against a champ - yes, we had the strength of the Elements on our side but our friend is a freaking Champ, she should be able to work past that. Of course I get that that way, she can be our guide easily, but I really missed the times were we actually had a Rival that got the Pokemon with the elements that is strong against ours and was an actual challenge. Our rival being a champ already is also taking away some of the motivation to best her. She already is a champ, getting through all the Arenas again, even with new and weaker Pokemon, should be a piece of cake for her.

- The whole school thing seems to be nothing more than a plot device and feels weird, given how we make a big deal of entering the school at the start, just to skip all the school days so we can go on our (granted, it is at least school related) journey through the region.

- We have to wear that ugly school-uniform through the whole freaking game. I get gender neutrality and all but I want to wear a skirt and I should have had the right to chose between trousers and skirts. Because I look like a ranger or something. Which does absolutely not fit with my fancy hairstyle and my freaking lipstick.

- Speaking of which, clothes aside, they really made sure that you can customize your character to your hearts content before the game start. I think that is the first game EVER where my character starts with my actual haircolor and eyecolor. You can even change the form of your eyebrows and chose lipsstick with you want. I do think more Hairstyles would be nice, but other then that, I think they really tried hard with Color-Options and different eye-shapes and so on. (Which makes it even more frustrating that we have to keep wearing those ugly clothes...)

- The beginning of the game (tho a tad slow) is rather unique and thus kinda a nice change from the usual formular (although they did try to change it previously, this time, it is definitely quite different - mostly in a good way.)

- What I like the most so far in the game (I am really still relatively at the start of my journey) is variety the game finally offers. You can go tree routes and you can do them all at the same time. So I started finding a big Pokemon for some shady guy in search of some weird magical herbs. Then I went for my first gymleader and now I am on my way to fighting the first base of Team Star (btw. infiltrating their base by jumping into it from a cliff is forbidden and the game forces you back onto the cliff ^^’) and its really nice to be able to change between whatever you are doing relatively at your own pace. You very likely could also finish one route first and then do the other, I do believe that the game makes that possible. Having the choice to do whatever you want whenever you want is kind of nice.

- The Palea-Region is far too big, especially for a “first” open world game in the Pokemon-Franchise. I got lost a few times already and that even tho they have a map where you can mark you goal that helps you navigate a bit.

- The performance-issues everyone keeps complaining about are there but are not a big issue and not half as bad as they make it sound. I have an old Switch (I want the OLED-Version, but I feel stupid to give that much money - that I really don’t have - to buy a console I already have ^^’) and I do believe the frame-drops aren’t that immense. You can barely feel it and the game catches up relatively quickly - at least that is how it was for me so far.

- There aren’t enough Trainers on the street that you can fight with. And the fights are usually relatively easy.

- Especially compared to the wild Pokemon running around in masses everywhere. Most wild Pokemon can kill you pretty easily, because a lack of Trainer to fight with, means is harder to gain the needed level. Not to mention, its really easy to accidentally stray from the path to far and end up in a place were your Pokemons level is just not ready for. I feel like for this game (even tho I usually do not like that method) it would have been wiser to make it so, that the wild Pokemon and the Trainer-Pokemon are around the level of your own Pokemon (at least not straying too far from it, so it will neither be to hard or to easy for you...), but what's done is done.

- The mini-mission before the Arena-fight was weird and unnecessary and didn’t give me anything, not even fun.

- Having a picknick was more fun in Pokemon Sword. Although making a Sandwich seems kind of easier then stirring the curry right XD

- The Auto-Battle-Option is a nice thing, but I think its unfair that you get less EXP for it.

- Also, while the Pokemon all gain EXP after a fight or a catch, they seem to all get around the same amount of EXP, regardless of their level, which means leveling up the weaker Pokemon you have catched is a real chore and thus is kind of annoying yet again, despite the EXP being shared between the Pokemon.

- I do not feel like my mysterious travel-companion-Pokemon is really faster then I, when I run ^^’

So okay, that was ist for my first review.