#HE'S FUCKING SHELL SHOCKED

[sosoffete]

The haunted, terrified “shit, I fucked up”, shocked, “what the fuck do I do now?” look of a man who slept with the woman he loves’ best friend. 

Seriously speaking, if he didn’t love Rebecca or at least had some sort of undefined but still very strong and love oriented feelings for her he wouldn't be so upset. The man is literally shell-shocked for fuck’s sake!

[hamable]

I need Brennan to win an award. I need the world to know how exceptional a storyteller he is. How do you plan something like this?

I’m suddenly seeing the rat grinders as a sort of self insert for him. Not character-wise, but as tools for writing a mystery. Usually you start with the solution and work backwards. Brennan had to concoct this solution and prepare for every possible thing that the best DnD players he’s ever known might do to crack his story wide open. He needed an entire party of character foils whose primary goal was to cover their tracks and account for periphery details to outsmart The Bad Kids. An unfathomable amount of work to be able to tell this story at the pace it’s being told.

I found myself remarking earlier in the season how much planning and foreknowledge he had to have to have the variety of dome projections from @caitmayart he does and now I realize that’s just scratching the surface.

[lotus-pear]

regret

[emmabirb8]

I think the part that frustrates me the most is the fact that THEY CREATED THE PERFECT OPPORTUNITY FOR A COMPLETELY UNHINGED VAMPIRE GUILLERMO AND THEY FUCKING SQUANDERED IT

[sinnohstruggles]

We need to talk. About us.

Seriously Juniper. I'm going to break up with you over this vigilante nonsense, and you're just acting like it's fine. Although let's be real, I basically already have.

What the fuck is wrong with you. Genuinely.

Fuck if I care anymore. It's not my job to babysit you every time you have a tantrum and freeze everything around you.

Maybe you should go back to your mother. At least she would find a good use for you.

-CD

...

[mousiekosmos]

this is an incredibly compressed version of the rant i will eventually set free without warning onto the internet but am currently thinking about how smooth and considered scara's voice and tone and intonations are throughout the entire game and then how during THAT scene all his vocal control thoroughly dissolves and it takes on this almost raspy sort of quality to it that constantly sounds like he's doing everything in his rapidly diminishing power to keep himself halfway composed and trying to convince himself he isn't being defeated again and just FUCK MAN patrick pedraza is a god

[vermillioncrown]

I can't put into words how much I love SI!Kagami. So mean and yet also just here to have fun. Sadistic bastard who is also the only one who acknowledges that this is just high school basketball. Doing his very best to keep his head on straight even though he is at the clown show, surrounded by clowns, wearing clown shoes. Compliments aside, would he and Takao get along if they actually talked? They seem to have similar senses of humour. And both think Midorima is impressive (Takao much more so).

warms si!kagami's heart (you get a 🫰 instead of an 👌)

on takao - that's good judgment. he's been nice and casual for the moment that si!kagami interacted w him, so no dislike or tension on si!kagami's part

any future interactions depends on how interhigh goes (yknow. with the training camp thing, possibly)

[padfootastic]

randomly thinking about- james potter had a posture so great that even voldemort commented on it hours

like everytime I see that line knowing i just laugh at that detail and the audacity in voldemort's voice.

it's tied to the "my father didn't strut" as top tid bits we got about jfp

hehehehe james was such a top tier character is it rly a wonder we have an entire cult for him? like, it’s so funny that the literal big bad’s kryptonite is the potter family 😭

also lol @ poor harry always getting this kind of info from his enemies. like he knows nothing about his dad except he looked like him, strutted around the castle, and had great posture. is it rly a wonder he has daddy issues?

[hellfireeddiemunson]

Hey guys I just met Dan Howell I’m waiting for the q&a im losing my fucking mind

[you-usuratonkachi]

Issues i have with Stranger Things S4 Vol 1 and 2 writing

SPOILER WARNING FOR VOL 2

Okay, so I stayed up until 3 am to watch Vol 2, too scared that if I waited I would get spoiled something. Ngl, before Vol 2 dropped, I felt like Vol 1 had built up too much plot for it to be resolved in 2 episodes, no matter how long they were, there was way too much to address, too many plot lines opened or brushed upon and I was really doubtful that 2 episodes could solve them all, but I stayed trustful because generally speaking ST is a good show with good writing and going by the interviews I’ve watched, it seemed like everyone had their shit together. Well, after watching Vol 2, I can officially say I had reason to doubt this season could be wrapped up well. 

The number one problem of this season is character writing. 

The Duffers got so many characters to fit into the narrative and I know it’s not an easy thing to give space to them all in a story. I write myself and I understand that, but despite already having too much on their plate, they decided to add /more/ characters and spent way too long developing side-storylines instead of giving a semblance of relevance to the main characters. 

1. The whole Cali gang storyline is useless to further the main plot and it’s blaringly obvious that they didn’t know what to do with them. The only person needed from their group was El and she wasn’t even with them for most of the season. They clearly looked at Jonathan and Will in California, as they thought “El needs to go get her powers back”, and went “so what the fuck are we gonna do with these two?” and thought the only way to give them screentime was by finally bringing up Will’s sexuality. The only reason Mike was there was because 1. it helped that there was one less character to deal with in Hawkins (this way they gave him a semblance of storyline too) and 2. a love triangle was more interesting than Will simply addressing his sexuality for a new character (that would have been one more character to deal with anyway). They could have left Will’s sexuality alone, as they have mostly done until now, but think about it, if they didn’t bring that up for the Cali gang, what was left of the plot for them? Literally nothing. So they purposefully CHOSE to give them no plot and let them be carried by the love triangle storyline and I have issues with that, because what kind of lazy writing is that? If you are going to bring up something like this and make it the only relevant plot-line for a whole group of characters, you MUST give them a status quo, something happening that changes the status quo, a development and the final resolution which HAS to be different from the initial status quo. But what they gave us is Mike in love with El and Will in love with Mike (which we already knew since before. If you didn’t watch the show with your eyes closed, it was obvious that Will was into Mike. As a watcher, I always thought that would never be addressed properly though, because there was no way to make Byler happen, seeing how Mike was framed to have an epic love with El, and I was perfectly okay with that. I didn’t ship them, I wanted Will to grow out of his crush for Mike and get a new love interest that would love him instead), created tension out of their buttholes, because what was the reason for Mike being awkward with Will at the airport and the rest of his ooc behavior? He’s been shown to be clueless about Will’s feelings so his behavior only made sense if he was dealing with internalized homophobia. Except he’s so in love with El so what’s the issue here?? There’s no issue. They made Mike Wheeler behave with no logic, just so it could create tension in the love triangle and make the stale plot-point feel like it was getting a development. But it didn’t. The start of it and the end are exactly the same. Mike is in love with El, WIll is in love with Mike. Nothing changed for any of them. Will simply suffered more. For no reason. The only plot line for the Cali gang is “Will suffers unrequited love. He cries. Some realize it, some don’t. Everything continues as per usual (except three main character developments get assassinated. RIP Will, Jonathan and Mike. You weren’t needed this season)” 

2. Okay now that I’ve touched upon the 1st unnecessary love triangle, let me mention whatever the fuck the second unnecessary love triangle was: Steve, Nancy, Jonathan. Another love triangle leading to fucking nowhere. Why. Just why. Same as the first one. The show started with Nance and Jonathan having issues and ended EXACTLY the same. Jongathan is still lying to her, but they are still a couple. At least this one makes you feel like it’s actually leading somewhere different, and how could it not when Jonathan has no plot relevance anymore? I’m surprised they didn’t kill him off this season, but I imagine he was so useless they couldn’t find a relevant way to off him so they are keeping him for now. How can this feel satisfying? The whole tension between Nancy and Steve felt like a cheap affair. It was really disturbing and I cannot phantom why it happened at all. Nancy already knew that Steve has changed. Dude, she was there for season 2 and 3. She didn’t need the six-children-and-a-camper speech for that. They were already good partners in crime. They worked perfectly well as friends. 

3. What they did to Eddie’s character is a crime. He was the most likely character to die because there was no way to clear his name, but they didn’t go any surprising way about it. He died alone as he battled off some bats, saying he didn’t run away this time like that was some kind of big accomplishment (no, seriously, if you’re going to make him die as a hero you have to AT LEAST  make him go against the main villan, not BATS). He died unseen and UNMOURNED by the end. For no reason other than they had no way to clear his name and it would have been an hassle to keep hiding him around. Nobody cared about his death but Dustin (and the uncle, I’m surprised they remembered him), just because he happened to be the character that was with him. 

4. There’s a parallelism in the story that didn’t pay off (okay, a lot of parallelisms that didn’t pay off, but this particularly stood out to me) in El’s storyline. A part from the fact that we have never found out how Brenner survived all those times, but when they have that dialogue as he traps her in the NINA room, El asks him if he ever loved/cared for One as Brenner stays silent. The whole conversation really rang me back to her conversation with Mike, so when I watched I wondered if there was any kind of connection? It’s really the same argument. But by the end as Mike gives her his “i love you” speech (all prompted by Will, using Will’s words, murdering Will’s feelings in the process) that doesn’t seem to pay off in any way, I’m not sure what I was supposed to get out of that blaringly obvious parallelism. So did Brenner love her after all? Or is Mike’s love fake and manipulative?? What was the reason for the parallelism? What’s with the love/care justapposition? What’s the message here??? Uncomprehensible.

5. The Robin and Viki whetever-the-hell-that-was?? Why was Viki even there? For 2 minutes in total. Which made Robin another queer pining for a straight, suffering in the background. YOU ALREADY DID THAT WITH WILL. NO NEED FOR A REPETITION. Plus why, as a watcher, should I buy the Robin/Viki pining, when Robin and Nancy were RIGHT THERE with a proper relationship development. If I had to see Robin pine for a straight, I’d rather see her pine for Nancy?? At least that made some kind of sense and it actually added something to the dynamic of the main group. Of course it would have sucked balls anyway, because again, it’s just a repetition of Will’s storyline, but if they really had to, that would have made more sense. The best course of action was to not give her any love interest at all if they had to make it so half-assed. And I know the ending is meant to imply that Viki is not so straight after all, but that doesn’t make me feel any better about the fact that we got the same gay-pining for the whole season TWICE. There’s only one question and it’s WHY. Wasted screentime. 

6. Yuri’s change of heart. Because of a lukewarm motivational speech. Given to him by the other russian in the situation. Am I the only one who does not buy into it? The fact that Enzo (I like calling him this) is the one to tell the guy “you’ve seen what’s at stake”. Enzo doesn’t understand HALF of it, let alone Yuri?? Who’s convinced by the idea that his family is going to suffer as his family has been given no importance whatsoever in the earlier part of the show and he was shown as a lone wolf the whole time? That might have convinced Enzo, but Yuri?? That was weak as hell... but let’s say I buy into it, the airlift was still useless. Everyone was dead in the prison by the end, monsters included, they could have escaped the same way they came in, it’s not like Katinka brought them to America at the end. They still had to catch a plane for that. So?? Another road to nowhere. 

7. They used the we-still-have-a-date-to-go-to motivation twice, both with Jopper and Lumax. 

8. Jason searching for Eddie with a whole gang to end up with two dudes assulting the two black kinds in the show, one of which is ELEVEN YEARS OLD. All that built up for a racial stand off that, again, amounts to nothing. Since they brought up the entire basketball team, I at least imagined that they would have a frontal stand off with the whole hawkins gang at some point, that would have been interrupted by the actual evil and some people would actually die in the process. Honestly, they should have died as the upside down took Hawkins over. They played up the ending like so many would die at the end, and ONE character properly died. And when i say properly I mean that it’s the only confirmed death, not that they gave him a decent death. 

9. Speaking of which, they didn’t show how Max came back to life. One is left to imagine that El kickstarted her heart with the power of her mind, I assume... but I ASSUME. I have no idea why they didn’t show it?? 

I probably have other complaints but these are my main ones. In conclusion, the season was weaker than it was hyped up to be. Some things were great, but it lacked something that the previous seasons had - the characters finally getting to fight together at the end. That amazing moment that happened in every season where all separate storylines finally paid off together as the characters reunited. It leaves one wondering why they took the decision to ship people to California and have Hopper in Russia. The fact that they were so phisically far made so many characters have no relevant part in the main storyline and, to include them in it, the Duffers CLEARLY had to make so many questionable decisions and write goddafwul monologes (i didn’t put this as a separate complaint, because it falls under the assasination of the Cali gang’s character development, but what was that? Smelly cheese delivered with zero emotion, their reunion after El blows up the NINA facility was so much more emotionally charged than whatever that was). Istg the only character that they managed to give a real, well-done and rounded development this season is Max (and partly El, except again for that whole I love you situation with Mike). I do applaude them for how they wrote Max this season, but at what cost... 

[ehslye]

try hard not to kill me (ramble under da cut)

this was not meant to be the way it turned out cus he wasn't even grinning when i sketched it BUTTTT 

- jelly being partially voidsent means he siphons aether out of his enemies when he fights (re: no avatar)  - the longer he fights, the more he feeds on said aether which sends him into a bloodlust so he grows more off kilter n fights like a starved man (literally) - enshroud is sort of the catalyst to him losing his shit – he says fuck the scythe n lunges w/ his claws :] he fought like this while trapped in pandaemonium its all survival instinct babey

[megagrind]

An unstoppable force (a movie adaption of a book looking pretty shitty from the trailer) meets an immovable object (the lead actor is a kid from my summer camp)

[sir-snow]

I don't believe in therapy.

Let's just read Neitzsche and do kinky stuff together.

That'll be healthy, right?

[nanaslutt]

JJK men's reactions to you using your safeword

Incl: Gojo, Geto, Nanami, Toji

cont: fem reader, established relationships, multiple positions, throatfucking, choking, asphyxiation, rough sex, squirting, dirty talk, aftercare, comfort, fluff

MDNI

°❀⋆.ೃ࿔*:･°❀⋆.ೃ࿔*:･°❀⋆.ೃ࿔*:･°❀⋆.ೃ࿔*:･°❀⋆.ೃ

Gojo:

Your knees were folded to your sides as Gojo stood behind you and bullied his massive cock into your cunt at an inhumane pace, the pleasurable pain making tears spill down your cheeks. "S-satoruuu-" You cried when he angled his cock to fuck right into your sweet spot, making you dizzy.

Your legs were starting to ache from the position he had you folded in, his hands under your knees keeping you snug there so you were unable to move, completely at his mercy as he manhandled you and fucked your cunt. "You look so pretty when you cry from my dick y'know that? Fuck I should take a picture." Gojo giggled, watching your face contort in the mirror in front of him.

You gasped when Gojo's cock suddenly slipped out of your pussy as he released you from his hold and made you stand on shaky legs in front of him--not for long though. The white-haired man then wrapped his arms around your torso, lifting your body off the ground a few inches as he slipped his cock back inside your cunt with ease as he started up that same brutal pace once more.

Gojo grit his teeth at how tight you felt in this position. "Oh fuckkk, baby look, I can see my cock through your stomach like this. I'm so fucking deep." He grinned, staring at the bulge through your tummy with a fucked out smile. You were caught too off guard to reply. He was right, he was deep, too deep. 

You were positive that Gojo was hitting your cervix in this position, he was so fucking deep. His wet balls were pressed flush against your ass, making it so every inch of his massive cock was stuffed inside of you. "F-fuck T-toru t-too deep-" You cried, your nails digging into his arms that held your body as you grasped him for dear life.

It wasn't uncommon for you to cry and whine during sex with Satoru, which is why he didn't take your please seriously, per usual. "Oh yeah? I'm too fucking deep?" Gojo moaned against the shell of your ear, making eye contact with your teary eyes in the mirror.

You sobbed when he thrust harder inside you, his fat tip absolutely crushing into your cervix, sending a painful jolt shocking through your stomach. "N-no really-" He gave you a few more hard thrusts as you cried on his cock, that same fucked out grin on his face. "R-red Satoru red!!" You yelled, squeezing your eyes shut in pain, your nails digging into his arm breaking skin from how hard you were grabbing him.

Immediately Gojo stopped moving inside you, his previously cocky smile fading from his face in an instant as he pulled out of you and set your feet down on the ground. "Shit, baby, what happened, talk to me?" Gojo asked, keeping his arms around your body as he lowered the both of you onto the plush carpet in front of the mirror.

Tears continued to flow down your face as you caught your breath, your hands coming down to press against your pelvis as you felt the dull ache inside you Gojo's cock had caused. "T-too deep, it really hurt." You said between gasps. "I'm so sorry princess I didn't know you were serious," Gojo said honestly, his arms wrapping tighter around your body as he held you against him, his watchful eyes staying on your face in the mirror.

"'S okay, it just really hurt." You sniffled, keeping one hand on your pelvis as the other wiped the tears from your face. "No, it's not, I'm sorry I really should be more careful," Gojo replied, pressing soft kisses against your shoulders and neck, his warm hands rubbing over your body to try and get you to come down. 

You stayed silent as you tried to catch your breath. "Good job for using your safeword princess, I'm so glad you said something. Never wanna hurt you like that." Gojo whispered after a while of the soft pampering kisses. You nodded in response, your breathing finally having evened out. "Thank you for stopping." You responded, one of your hands reaching behind you in the mirror to caress his cheek, making him look at you through the mirror.

He smiled softly at you before nuzzling his head into the crook of your neck. "Oh, course baby. Does it still hurt real bad?" He asked curiously, noticing how your hand was still pressed against your tummy. "It's a little sore...' nd I'm kinda nauseous." You replied, wincing in pain.

Gojo leaned into your hand that was holding his cheek as a silent apology before he moved his arms to scoop under your legs, one against your back as he picked you up with ease, cradling you in his arms. "Let's get you in the bath then I'll get you some tea, how's that sound baby?" Gojo asked, tilting his head at you for your approval. When you nodded he leaned forward and kissed your eye, swollen from your tears. You closed both eyes, letting his soft lips kiss the ache in your now dry eyes before he pulled away and whisked the two of you to the bathroom.

Geto:

The dark-haired man's hand pressed against your head, effectively shoving you deeper into the mattress each time he fucked his hips against yours. You gasped and whined each time you felt his hips connect with your ass, the fat of your ass rippling from the roughness of his thrusts.

"Take that fucking cock- take it-" Geto groaned, his one foot perched on the bed giving him the perfect leverage to fuck into you hard and fast. He had come home from a mission particularly worked up, saying something about how it went on longer than he thought and there were more casualties than he would've liked. So when you so graciously offered your body for Geto to take out his anger on, he would've been a madman to decline. 

You didn't know he was going to be this rough though. It almost felt like Geto was distant somehow, his mind still in work mode. He threw his head back and let his eyes fall shut as he mindlessly thrust inside your pussy, the wet squelches echoing in his ears only fueling him to fuck you harder, faster, so he could hear more.

You cried his name against the sheets, your words coming out muffled from how hard he was shoving your face against the mattress. "Be good, be a good girl baby." Geto groaned, his head tipping down as his eyes found yours, which tried to look at him through your peripherals. 

You were feeling an ache start to form in your back from how deep of an arch he had you in, and his head squishing your face against the sheets was making it hard to breathe. His hard thrusts knocking the wind out of your lungs didn't help. You didn't want to tell him to slow down though, you knew how worked up he was, and you could take a little discomfort, it was fine. 

"Fuckkkk- you're sucking me in." Geto groaned. He pulled his hand away from your hip to land a couple of harsh smacks against the fat of your ass, one after the other, before he gripped the fat in his hand, his nails digging into your skin. That's when your mental state caved in. 

You could take a little pain, you could take a little discomfort, but you couldn't take it anymore. You wanted to bite your tongue for Geto you really did, but the pain soon overcame the pleasure, the ache in your bones became too much and you still couldn't shake the feeling that Geto wasn't mentally here fully. All the factors combined made you lose it as you lost your arch and tried to escape Geto's grasp, crying out, "S-stop, red- red, s-top."

Geto was certainly fully there now, snapping out of whatever daze he was in as his cock slipped out of you as your body curled up on the bed, your arms wrapping around yourself in comfort as fat tears streaming down your cheeks.

"Woah woah, baby, cmere, shit come here," Geto whispered, pulling up his boxers quickly before he laid next to you and pulled your body atop his, his hands rubbing over your back as you stayed tense, your arms wrapping around his shoulders as you buried your head in the crook of his neck, sobbing. "I'm sorry, i-i'm sorry." you cried, the guilt of not being able to please Geto the way you thought you should've washed over you.

"Hey, no, why are you sorry? You did nothing wrong. What happened baby?" Geto asked carefully, trying to look down at you as you held onto his body for dear life, trembling in his arms. "I-it was too much." you sniffled, trying to catch your breath. "I'm sorry, was I too rough?" Geto asked, clarifying your words.

"Y-yeah, I felt like you were out of it... I don't know it sounds so s-stupid now that I'm saying it out loud," you whispered into his neck, your words coming out choked and choppy. Geto stayed silent, save for his whispered hushes as he tried to get you to calm down. "I shouldnt have said anything i-i'm sorry. I couldn't even k-keep my word." You added, referring to how you said Geto could take his anger out on you. 

"No baby, you're allowed to tap out any time you're not comfortable. I don't want you to force yourself, that's why we have the safeword, right?" Geto asked, raising his eyebrows as he looked down at you, your head still buried in his neck. You nodded against his neck, he was relieved your sobs had turned into soft sniffles, he hated to see you upset. 

"You're right though, today really took a lot out of me. I thought taking you up on your offer would make me feel better because sex with you always does, but I'm just not feeling right tonight, I should've told you instead of trying to take it out on you like this, I'm so sorry." Geto explained, his warm hands rubbing soothingly along the soft skin of your back, making you relax into him.

"I-it's okay Sugu," you replied, nuzzling your head into his neck deeper. "Is it okay if I just hold you like this?" He asked, softness lacing his tone. You smiled softly, shutting your eyes as you nodded, "Please." You replied quietly. Geto's arms squeezed tighter around you, he wished he could somehow be even closer to you than you were right now, he had this thought a lot.

"I love you, baby, I'll be more careful with you, promise." He said, tilting his chin atop your head as he shut his eyes, heaving a deep sigh as he absorbed the warmth from your skin. "It's alright Sugu, really. I love you, I'll make you feel okay again only by snuggling. Just don't let me go." You whispered. Geto felt his heart swell at your words, how could someone be so cute?

Nanami:

You lost track of how many times Nanami had already made you cum on his tongue. His fingers inside of you had been drilling into your sweet spot for so long you were almost going numb. Your insides hurt from the constant pestering but you couldn't deny that it did feel good, sex with Kento always did.

After almost four hours of continuous orgasms and berating from Nanami's tongue and fingers, you thought he would be done--and he might've if you hadn't just squirted, the release sending blood rushing to Nanami's cock as he was suddenly reenergized from watching your face contort as you squirted all over his face.

"K-kentooo-" You cried, your nails digging painfully into his scalp as he ate you out like a man starved, your pelvis bulging from the inside out as he finger fucked you like his life depended on it, expertly angling his fingers to press right against your g-spot. "You can take it, sweetheart, need to see you squirt again," Nanami mumbled against your clit, too fucked out and absorbed in eating your pussy to pull away from you fully.

Nanami had always been the type of man who ate pussy for his own pleasure, but he never took it as far as he did tonight. Something about you interacting so well with his students had ignited a fire inside him as his brain created fantasies of the two of you starting a family together, his mind using the visuals of you patting his student's fluffy pink hair as you cooing at your own child, one that you had created together.

"I- I can't I can't- P-please-" You choked on your own moans, your face contorting in painful pleasure as your head shook back and forth against the tear-stained pillow. Nanami had a deep blush spread across his face as he looked up at you, the only time Nanami's eyes had left your face this night was to roll back in his own head when the pleasure of eating you out became too much for him.

He looked so handsome, his chiseled face buried between your thighs, wetness messily smeared all over the bottom half of his face and the inside of your thighs, he truly was fucked out. "Just one more time then I'll give you my cock, gonna fuck you so full." Nanami cooed, saying his words like they were supposed to be comforting. 

You felt your heart drop in your stomach at the promise of Nanami fucking you after this. In any other scenario, you would've been overjoyed to finally have Nanami inside you, as he always took extra time to stretch you out for him. But right now, you wanted nothing more than a break... or maybe a 14-hour nap. 

You shook your head as you felt your orgasm come on, the sensation feeling sore in your tummy as it crept up on you. You were sure if you let this go on you were going to pass out, it was too much. You bit your lip and squeezed your eyes shut, thinking your actions over in your head quickly, to prevent this from going any further, before you decided to speak, "Red Ken- r-red-."

Despite how gone and fucked out Nanami was, he snapped back to reality in an instant, the clouds in his head clearing as he pulled his mouth away from your cunt, stilling his fingers inside you. "Red? You wanna end it right now?" Nanami asked softly, watching your face with great attention and concern as he breathed hard, trying to catch his breath.

You nodded, your legs fighting to press together to escape any more pleasure. "Alright, alright." You could tell Nanami was still a little out of it, but he complied with great haste. Slowly slipping out his fingers he sat up and allowed you to snap your legs shut, your sore cunt throbbing from how long Nanami had been eating you out. "I'm sorry sweetheart, I'm sorry, are you alright? I got a little carried away." Nanami said, blinking away the fogginess from his eyes as he crawled up to sit back against the headboard, pulling your body to sit on top of his.

Your hair was a mess, your face was wet with your tears and your eyes were all out of focus. You laid your head against Nanami's shoulder with a sigh and allowed your body to slump against his, relishing in the break you were granted. "I was going to pass out if I didn't stop you." You whispered, still out of breath as you heaved into his neck, your hot breath tickling his skin.

Nanami smiled in embarrassment as he held your body tightly against his, one of his large hands cradling the back of your neck, the other scratching up and down your back. "I'm so sorry, I didn't realize it was that hard on you my love. Does anything hurt?" Nanami asked. He leaned back and cupped your face in his hands, his disheveled look making you smile weakly at him, how did he manage to look so handsome all the time?

"It's a little... sore down there." You whispered, looking away as you felt your face heat up from his intense gaze. Nanami shut his eyes briefly, slapping himself internally for getting so carried away. "It's my fault." He said, biting his lip. "You interact so well with the kids I couldn't stop thinking about how you would be with one of our own." He said honestly, the already intense blush on his face spreading to the tips of his ears as he laid his heart out for you.

Your eyes shot back over to his in an instant, your eyebrows raising in surprise. "Y-you mean-" You started, your sleepiness getting put on the back burner as you put 120% of your focus onto the man in front of you. "I... fantasize about starting a family with you a lot. I guess it got the best of me today. I'm sorry, I really didn't mean to hurt you." Nanami said, averting his gaze as he spoke. You don't think you've ever seen him so bashful before.

"Kento you're so cute, so so cute." You said, a smile spreading across your face as you wrapped your arms around his neck, leaning forward as you peppered kisses all over his face. Nanami groaned as you smothered him with attention, simultaneously bringing him down with you and washing away the guilt he was feeling. "I know you didn't mean to hurt me, I should've said yellow though, maybe that would've eased you up a bit." You smiled, pulling away to look into his eyes.

Nanami's face scrunched in embarrassment at how carried away he got before he looked back to you. "I'll make it up to you. I promise." He whispered, leaning his head against the crook of your neck as he wrapped his arms tightly around your body, making your chest come flush with his. "I'll clean you up in just a moment, just let me hold you right now." He mumbled against your skin, his deep voice sending vibrations throughout your body.

"Take all the time you need Kento, I'm not going anywhere." You replied. You wanted to address what he had said about how he thinks about starting a family with you frequently, but you decided to not open that can of worms right now, in fear it would rile him up again if you revealed that you too, dream of starting a family with him. 

Toji:

"Mph-nghh-" Vulgar, embarrassing noises spilled from your mouth, being forced out from your throat as you gagged and choked around Toji's fat cock. "Take that shit pretty girl- fuuuuuck-" He groaned as he gripped the entirety of your throat with his large hand, squeezing as he felt his cock bulge out in your neck.

You had your head hung off the side of the bed as Toji stood in front of you and fucked his massive cock down your throat, his heavy balls slapping against your upper face, making your eyes squeeze shut as he facefucked you. "Such a sloppy fucking mouth, goddd-" Toji grit through his teeth as spit bubbles and saliva pool out the side of your mouth, smearing onto your chin and his thighs.

All you could do was moan and cough around him as he forced his massive cock down your throat at a ruthless pace. This had been your idea, and Toji had practically jumped at the opportunity to try this with you. You told him you wanted to get better at taking his cock down your throat, so what better way to do that than to give yourself no other option? In this position the only thing you could do was try to breathe the best you could around him as he fucked into you like a fleshlight.

"Good fucking girl, taking me so well." Toji groaned, shaking his head as he looked down at your sloppy face and your eyes that were all out of focus, rolling back in your head. "So pretty." He said under his breath, biting his lip. Toji thrust his hips flush against your face, his balls pressing against your nose, blocking off any last air source you had as he stilled his cock inside you.

He gripped your throat harder, trying to feel his cock pulse through your neck as he cockwarmed himself in your throat. His eyes fluttered in his head as he let your throat squeeze around him, his balls twitching with how intense it felt. Your eyes shot open in alarm when you tried to breathe, but could not.

You were instantly kicked into fight-or-flight mode as you slowly ran out of air. To be honest, you would've been alright for another thirty seconds or so, but it felt so much scarier in that moment, you thought if you didn't get a breath in that second, you would die. You moaned in alarm around Toji's cock, the man just groaning and praising you in response when the vibrations went straight to his balls. 

You thought fast, remembering your safe signal as you reached your arms up and tapped his thigh repeatedly. The consensus had been two taps, but you were panicking, so you gave him a couple more than two. It only took Toji a couple of seconds to realize you were using your safe sign before he was groaning an "oh shit" and pulling his cock out from between your lips, his hand abandoning the hold it had on your throat.

Strings of spit connected from your lips and chin to his cock as you coughed and sputtered for air when he pulled himself out. You spun your body around and sat right up on the bed as you fought to catch your breath, your hand coming up to grab your own throat when you felt how sore it felt. "Fuck baby, you alright?" Toji asked, reaching his hands out to push your hair away from your face, his hands grabbing your shoulders and rubbing up and down along them.

You couldn't respond yet as you continued coughing out the flem from your throat, trying to get a full breath of air before you spoke. "Couldn't breathe, huh? Were you scared?" Toji asked, his hands cradling your face as your coughing calmed down, your hand coming up to wipe your spit-slicked mouth with the back of your hand as you nodded at him.

"Shit, I'm sorry sweet thing. Didn't mean to scare you." He smiled at you, the scar on his face stretching as his lips curled up. Your eyes met his darker ones as his thumb slid under your eye to wipe away your tears, his gaze watching you carefully. "You wanna be done for tonight?" He asked, making sure you were tapped out completely. When you nodded he nodded back and reached one of his hands down to pull his boxers over his hard cock before he sat next to you on the bed, pulling your body close to his.

"Maybe that was too much too soon, huh?" He asked, his large hand rubbing the side of your head. You nodded, staying silent as he calmed you down, your heart still fighting to slow down in your chest, trying to recover from such a scare. "That's alright, we can take it slow next time. It was my fault, got too excited." Toji whispered as you shut your eyes and let yourself melt against his warm palm.

"You did so good though, y'know that?" He added, making you bury your head deeper into the crook of his neck, resulting in his smile growing. "Made me feel so good princess." He praised, rubbing your head soothingly. "Thank y-ou." You whispered hoarsely, your voice making Toji cringe when he realized the damage he had done to your vocal cords. "Let's get you all cleaned up and I'll make you somethin' for 'ur throat. You sound horrible." He laughed, ruffling your hair as he spoke. 

[omgeto]

☆ WHEN YOU BREAK UP AND MAKE UP — NANAMI KENTO

summary: fed up with your stagnant marriage, you serve your husband divorce papers as a final cry to show you're tired of his behaviour. but you forget that, although he doesn't always show it, your husband never goes down without a fight.

w/c: 3.5k

cw: angst to fluff, nanami may come across as an asshole but he means it with love, plot with a dash of porn at the end, so mdni!!, semi-public sex (you fuck in an elevator) afab!reader

authors note: first fic on the new blog (wild) but I actually really fw this fic, hope you all do to. not fully proof read so ignore mistakes!!

nanami's footsteps echo through the dimly lit hallway as he approaches your apartment. his heart pounds against his ribs, a mixture of irritation, confusion, and hurt swirling within him. he had seen the divorce papers, his name scrawled across the top in bold letters, and the shock has left him simmering with resentment.

with a determined exhale, he raises his hand and knocks on your door. the door swings open, revealing his surprised expression. his eyes widen as he takes in your clenched jaw and the tension etched into your features.

"kento," your voice wavers, a mix of surprise and something he can't quite place.

"i didn't expect to find divorce papers on my desk at work," he bites out, his tone sharp and impatient.

your cheeks flush slightly, your gaze flickering away for a moment before returning to meet his stare. "it got your attention, didn't it?" you retort, your voice tinged with exasperation.

"attention?" nanami's voice drips with sarcasm. "you think serving me divorce papers at my job is the way to solve our problems?"

"you've been distant, nanami," your voice holds a trace of weariness. "we've been living separate lives for weeks. i needed you to know that something has to change."

nanami's irritation flares, his patience wearing thin. "dropping divorce papers on my desk is your way of communication now?"

"you've brushed me off every time i've tried to talk," your voice holds a hint of frustration, your eyes betraying a simmering anger. "maybe this is the only language you'll understand."

nanami's annoyance collides with a stubborn resistance, his grip on his emotions hardening. "you know i've been busy," he states curtly.

"busy ignoring me," your voice is edged with bitterness, your expression growing weary.

nanami's frustration deepens, and he steps closer, his gaze unwavering. "you could have talked to me."

you look away, your jaw clenched. "tried that." he reaches out to you but you brush him off, backing out of his space. 

you didn’t know what the exact turning point of your marriage was, but once it came it was overwhelming, swept you both up in a whirl of frustration. nanami didn’t feel like yours anymore – he was a shell of the guy you married. there were no more morning kisses, gentle touches, or late-night talks that once filled your lives. the silence in your shared space became a chasm, widening with each passing day. you pleaded for his attention, for a connection, but it was as if he was slipping away, becoming a stranger.

"you’ve taken this game of yours too far," he scoffs, disbelief and a hint of frustration in his voice. nanami had never imagined it would come to this – the thought of you leaving him was a reality he was struggling to accept. he wasn't blind to the shifts in your relationship, the growing distance, but he had convinced himself that it was a phase. a bad period that could be smoothed out with a little time and patience.

when you gathered your belongings and walked away, nearly a month ago now, he allowed you to go, certain that this was just a phase, a moment of frustration that would pass.

"i thought we were just going through a rough patch," he continues, his voice carrying a self-assured edge. "didn't think you'd take it to this extreme. you really tried to embarrass me at work with that shit, everybody saw y’know, my colleagues, my boss.”

your eyes narrow at his response, the frustration that had simmered inside you starting to boil over. "It's not a game, nanami. this isn't some ploy for attention."

“so you’ve given up on me then? on us?” he asks incredulously, stepping closer to you, studying your face.

your gaze holds his, determination mixing with the hurt that still lingers. "i didn't want to give up, but i can't keep holding on to something that's slipping away."

nanami's eyes search yours, a moment of vulnerability flickering across his features before he masks it with his trademark confidence. "you think i'll just let you go that easily?"

you meet his gaze head-on, the tension between you palpable. "it's not about whether you'll 'let' me. it's about whether we're both willing to put in the effort to fix what's broken."

his smirk fades, his gaze intense as he studies you. "and? are you willing?"

nanami didn’t realise how silent his home was without you in it. when he returned, he sat in silence, the weight of your ultimatum sinking in. ‘it’s not a game nanami’ your previous words repeatedly echo through his mind. he had always prided himself on his rationality, on his ability to see things logically, but when it came to you, it was an unfamiliar territory,

he had grown accustomed to the routine of his life, the predictable patterns that had lulled him into a sense of complacency. he had convinced himself that the distance between you two would eventually close on its own. and now, confronted with the reality of your departure, he couldn't deny the truth any longer.

“you’ve really fucked this up nanamin,” gojo lectures over the phone to nanami, “you deserved getting embarrassed at your job.”

“i didn’t call you to be told off,” nanami says, pinching his nose “i called for you to tell me what to do.”

“Isn’t it obvious?” gojo questions, “you know what she wants.”

“If i did, i wouldn’t be on the phone with you, would i?” nanami snaps, frustration brewing.

“she wants the guy she married.” gojo states, ignoring nanami’s tone.

“I am that guy,” there was a pause, as if nanami could see gojo’s pointed look through the phone, “well i thought i was that guy. but i know she doesn’t want to divorce me for real, she loves me.”

“does she though?” gojo questions, “remember nanamin, i was there when you guys got married, the way she looked at you then… isn’t how she looks at you now.”

nanami ends the call abruptly, pacing around his living room. gojo’s words sticking in his mind. he had reached out to his friend seeking guidance, but it’s becoming evident that the answers he’s seeking might not be as straightforward as he had hoped.

gojo’s words struck a nerve, he was right. nanami remembers the early days of your relationship, the excitement, the adoration - the way your eyes would light up when you looked at him. but now, the distance, the hurt, it was evident.

he was going to make things right, he had to. you were his wife - his soulmate. he’s known that from the day he laid eyes on you, and he doesn’t want to let you out of his grasp.

it had been months since you served nanami the divorce papers – he was stalling. you couldn’t deny that he was trying though, the daily flowers that you received, the take out that was delivered to your house without you asking, was a testament to that.

you got daily calls, texts and emails from him asking you about your day, about your wellbeing. he was showing you that he cared, and it  was as if he was courting you all over again. 

his efforts didn’t go unnoticed, your friends and family could see the subtle smiles you couldn’t suppress and the softening of your eyes when his name was mentioned. they hoped for your sake that nanami would keep consistent.

you felt hopeful, and that made you feel dumb. 

but you just needed one more push to feel secure, to feel like this would work – would last. which is why you were standing in the lobby of your lawyers office, your feet tapping nervously against the floor as you wait for your husband to arrive. 

“hi, my love,” he greets, the familiar pet name coming out like a whisper, but it doesn’t go unnoticed, “i guess we should head up there.”

“yeah, lead the way,” you say, your tone warmer than you expect as you take in his appearance. he was dressed in one of his signature crisp suits, in fact it was your favourite suit of his, and he was wearing the hell out of it.

you follow him to the elevator, the hallway stretching ahead as you both walk side by side. you haven’t felt like this in a long time, like a pair, a union. nanami’s presence beside you is both familiar and foreign, a reminder of the life you once shared and the uncertainty of what lies ahead.

“we don’t have to go this meeting you know,” nanami forces out, but you ignore him pushing the button of the floor you need to be at.

“love listen, it doesn’t have to be this way,” he persists.

“and what way is it kento?” you argue, “just because you’ve been sending me flowers, and asking me how i am each day, doesn’t mean you’ve magically became husband material again.”

“trust me, i know that.” he scoffs, “you’re a real piece of work bu-”

“and you’re a real piece of sh-” you start, stopping yourself as you realise that you were the one going too far.

“as i was saying,” he continues, “you’re a real piece of work, but you’re worth it. you always have been, from the moment i met you i knew you were going to cause me trouble but i ended up loving you for that.”

“well tell that to your actions for the past–” you pause, feeling the elevator coming to an abrupt stop, “why did the elevator just close… the last thing i need right now is to be trapped.”

nanami's gaze shifts to the control panel, his eyebrows furrowing. "looks like we're stuck."

you glance at him, your heart racing for a different reason now. "stuck?"

nanami's eyes meet yours, his smirk undeniably playful. "Seems like fate has its own plans for us," he remarks, his tone holding a hint of amusement.

you roll your eyes, unable to suppress a small smile despite the circumstances. "great, just what I needed today."

he chuckles, his fingers expertly unbuttoning his cuffs as he begins to roll up his sleeves. "well, at least we have some time to ourselves. might as well make the most of it."

your eyebrows raise at his nonchalant attitude, your surprise momentarily replacing the irritation. "are you serious right now? we're stuck in an elevator, and you're acting like it's a casual evening at home?"

nanami's grin widens, a mischievous glint in his eyes. "why not? it's not like we can do much about the situation. might as well enjoy each other's company."

you huff out a breath, torn between annoyance and amusement. as you observe him making himself comfortable on the elevator floor, you can't help but shake your head. "you're unbelievable."

he pats the spot next to him, his inviting gesture a silent challenge. "come on, it's not so bad. we can reminisce about old times, or argue about who's the better cook."

you find yourself hesitating, the absurdity of the situation sinking in. with a resigned sigh, you take a seat beside him, your shoulder brushing against his. "old times, huh? you mean the days when you used to bring me breakfast in bed?"

nanami's smile softens, a nostalgic gleam in his eyes. "yeah, and you'd always complain that the eggs were overcooked."

“because they always were.” you retort, with a chuckle. you missed this, being in his space without any of the extra noise.

“i can cook breakfast for you again,” he proposes, “if you just come home.”

“kento i don’t know if i-”

“do you remember our first date,” he interrupts, “my car broke down on the way home from the restaurant, so i put you on my back and carried you for 5 miles.”

“you carried my heels too,” you add, laughing softly to yourself at the memory. your first date with nanami solidified that he was the man for you, the way he shamelessly gave you a piggy back ride, heels and all.

nanami’s gaze locks with yours, his fingers gently grazing your hand “it was worth every step.”

a warmth spreads through your chest, a mix of nostalgia and a newfound vulnerability. "you used to be so sweet," you murmur, your voice laced with a bittersweet longing.

his fingers inch closer, your hands almost brushing against each other. "i can still be sweet, you know," he replies softly, his gaze never leaving yours.

your heart skips a beat, the air around you growing charged with unspoken emotions. "you have a funny way of showing it."

he tilts his head, his lips curving into a genuine smile. "maybe I've been out of practice."

as the silence settles between you, the confined space of the elevator seems to amplify the intensity of your connection. the past rushes back, the moments that you shared, the love that once flourished. but you're both here now, in the present, faced with the choice of whether to rebuild or let go.

nanami's fingers finally find yours, his touch sending a jolt of electricity through your veins. "i want to make it right, to fix us," he admits, vulnerability lacing his words.

you meet his gaze, the weight of his confession hanging in the air. "It's not that simple, kento. we can't just go back to the way things were."

his thumb traces a soothing pattern on the back of your hand. "i know. but maybe we can start anew. rediscover each other, learn from our mistakes." 

you study his face, the sincerity in his eyes making your heart ache. maybe he had changed, maybe he was willing to put in the effort to mend what was broken. maybe, just maybe, there was hope for your relationship after all.

the elevator's walls seem to fade away, leaving only the two of you in this suspended moment. The past and the present merge, and as you search his eyes for any signs of deceit, you find none. only a genuine desire to make things right.

"i've missed you," he whispers, his voice holding a vulnerability that resonates within you.

“you swallow the lump in your throat, your grip on his hand tightening. "i've missed you too."

nanami's fingers burned with a mixture of yearning and desperation as they reached out to trace the curve of your cheek. his touch was electric, sending a surge of heat through your veins. your breath hitched in response, your heart pounding against your ribs as his thumb brushed over your skin.

his touch was no longer tentative; it was a declaration, a silent proclamation of his desire. the air seemed to crackle with tension as his gaze bore into yours, his eyes dark and smouldering.

"i've wanted to do this for so long," he confesses, his voice a low growl sending a shiver down your spine.

his fingers slide from your cheek to your jawline, his touch igniting a fire within you. the space between you seemed to vanish as he closed in, his lips hovering just a breath away from yours. your eyes flutter closed as his thumb brushes over your lower lip, his touch setting your skin ablaze.

and then, his lips crash onto yours with a fierce hunger that leaves you breathless. it was a kiss that ignites a wildfire, a blaze of emotions that had been suppressed for far too long. his lips moved against yours with a fervour that matched the intensity of his touch, a dance of passion and longing.

his arms encircle you, pulling you flush against him as the kiss deepens. his mouth moves over yours with a possessive urgency, his tongue seeking entrance and igniting a fiery tangle of sensations. the taste of him was intoxicating, a heady mixture of desire and nostalgia.

your fingers claw at the fabric of his shirt, needing to feel him, to ground yourself in this moment. his body presses against yours, every contour and ridge igniting a cascade of sensations that pooled between your thighs.

his hands trail down your back, the touch leaving trails of fire in its wake. when he cups your hips and pulls you impossibly closer, a moan escaped your lips, swallowed by the intensity of the kiss.

as the kiss broke, your foreheads rest against each other, your breaths ragged and laboured. the air around you was thick with desire, the space between you charged with an unspoken promise.

"i need you," he murmurs against your lips, his voice laced with desperation.

your fingers tangle in his hair, pulling his head down for another searing kiss. It was a kiss that spoke of pent-up longing, of a love that refused to be extinguished. your bodies moulded together as if they were meant to fit perfectly, every touch a symphony of need and surrender.

“tell me you need me, love,” he gasps out, and you nod against him, “no i got to hear you say it.”

“i need you, i do,” you whimper against his lips, as his fingers slip below the waistline of your skirt, gently grazing your clit, “k-kento we can’t, have you forgotten where we are?”

“don’t tell me you’ve become shy whilst we’ve been separated,” he chuckles, smirking as he continues to toy with your pussy “you don’t remember all the times i’d have you bent over my desk in my office?” 

you bite your lip at the memory, feeling yourself get wetter as nanami’s fingers enter you, his thumb pressing against your clit. nanami knew you inside and out, he knew how exactly where to touch, how to get you whine and writhe against him as you are now.

he took advantage of your exposed neck, biting and sucking against your collarbone as he continues to stroke your cunt. you were gushing over him, repeatedly clenching against his fingers, as he twists and pushes in and out of you. 

“you always get so wet for me,” he praises, pulling his fingers out of you, his digits glistening coated with you. you can smell your own arousal from his hand as he grabs your chin, forcing you to stare at his lust filled eyes. “ride me.”

you didn’t need to be asked twice, you discard your skirt off on the elevator floor, as he unzips his pants. he strokes his dick as it gets harder just at the sight of you. he was back was against the wall, his legs sprawled out widely, the perfect opening for you to climb right into his lap.

you slid right onto him, letting out an exhale as he fills you. he presses a sloppy kiss against your lips as your cunt grips onto him. your hands dig into his shoulder as you bounce up and down on him, his hands having your hips in a firm hold to keep you in place.

nanami couldn’t keep his eyes off of you, the way you were taking him in like you needed him, was a sight he could never get tired off. you were so pretty, all fucked out on his dick, your eyes glossed over in a daze, the only thing you were focused on was him. 

“d’you see now why i could never let you go?” he teases, thrusting upwards into you as one of his hands trails up to caress your cheek, his thumb parting your lips, “because this pussy’s mine.” 

he quickens his pace, eager to get you to come undone all over him, the way your movements became slower, lazier, he could tell you were nearly at your peak. you bite on his thumb, suppressing your moans, as his merciless thrust begin to become too much. 

“m’close kento, i-it’s too much,” 

“I know my love, you’re taking me so well,” he praises, pushing deeper into you, “just hold out for a bit longer.”

“i-i can’t i-” you couldn’t finish your sentence as you feel yourself release all over him. nanami groans out his head collapsing in your cleavage as he finishes inside of you, your juices mixing with his. 

the only sounds that can be heard are you both trying to catch your breath. nanami keeps his head pressed against your tits, still inside of you. you toy with his hair pushing his hair back to leave a gentle kiss against his head, his arms tighten around you and it was as if you could feel him smile against you. you knew from then that you and your husband was going to be okay.

“kento?” your voice wavers, a mixture of uncertainty and hope lacing your words.

“yes? my love,” he responds, his gaze locked onto yours.

your heart flutters as you gather your courage, the weight of the past and the possibilities of the future intertwining in your chest. "I think we can cancel that meeting with my lawyer."

nanami's smile broadens, but it's different this time – it's a smile that carries the weight of understanding and a newfound determination. he holds your gaze, and you can see the sincerity in his eyes, a silent promise of change and rediscovery.

you eventually got out of that elevator and you didn’t go home to your separate apartments, you went home, together. 

extra an: so guys what did you think?? first time writing for smut, and for nanami so if it’s shit spare me. but I love him and I’d never divorce him. DIVIDERS FROM @/CAFEKITSUNE !!

[buryustogether]

songbird

the ghoul x f!reader

summary: you used to be a singer in your vault - that skill comes in handy when you least expect it, and least want to use it. but who are you to say no when cooper tells you to sing for him?

wc: 5.7k

warnings: swearing, talk of murder, blood, alcohol, gun violence, sexual tension, smut, fingering, p in v sex, biting, possessive sex, possessive cooper

You had to admit - if you and your companion didn't find shelter soon, one of you was going to drop and the other wouldn't hesitate to feast on what was left.

The deserts of the Wasteland were harsh - you had known that the moment you stepped out of your vault those months ago and you had been faced with nothing but a searing sun, sand that got stuck places it shouldn't have, and creatures and fellow people alike who would risk it all simply for a quick grab at the pack on your back. But it seemed like this past week, God or Satan or whoever the fuck was controlling this shitshow of a world was in a bad mood. The heat was unbearable, even at night when the chilly winds should have weaseled their way beneath your vault suit and cooled your burning skin. Creatures mutated by the long-settled radiation were feeling the anger of the wasteland, as well, charging without warning or provocation. To top off a less than perfect week, your water supply had run out yesterday, and unless the skies opened up and released a storm of rad-infested hail upon your head, you weren't sure you would find any more before you keeled over and kicked it.

Struggling to plant your feet stable in the mounds of sand beneath you as you made your way between the shells of buildings that had once stood tall and proud, you glanced over your shoulder at your companion. Cooper was better adapted for this kind of environment than you were, what with his hardened skin and the wide brim of his hat shielding his face, but even he looked worse for wear. When he picked up his head, seeming to feel your eyes on him, you quickly averted your gaze and set your attention back on moving one foot in front of the other.

"Fuck're you lookin' at?" he said, his voice raspy as he called out through the dry air.

"Nothing," you snipped back, refusing to give him the satisfaction of facing him again. "Just wondering if I'm going to have to carry you the rest of the way, asshole."

The heat was making you both snappy - you hated it.

Your first meeting with Cooper hadn't gone smoothly. Hell, your second or third hadn't, either. You weren't exactly sure when you had fallen into a more comfortable presence around one another, but it sure as shit hadn't happened overnight. You'd been only half a day fresh from your vault when you'd seen him scavenging madly over a mess of bodies he'd dropped where they stood, searching for a number of vials kept in their pockets that he let drip into his open mouth like a fountain of youth. When you had called out a friendly hello to him, he'd nearly shot your brains out. Cooper had taken in your shocked expression - as you'd clearly never seen a ghoul before - as well as the stark blue of your vault suit and the pack over your shoulders, then promptly told you to scoot your ass back around to wherever the hell you had come from. Of course, you hadn't. You'd followed him from a distance, watching as he'd picked his way across the dusty sands until he'd wrangled you with the lasso at his hip, told you to fuck right off, and left you tied to a number of old pipes in the basement of a nearly collapsed building.

A day later, you'd tracked his footprints in the sand to a little settlement, where you hadn't ducked away quick enough to avoid his gaze. He'd threatened to blow your brains out if he caught you following him again. He'd only half-delivered on that promise when, not ten hours later, he'd planted a fist-sized hole in the skull of a raider attempting to cut your throat for the Pip-Boy affixed to your wrist.

From then on, he'd simply chosen to ignore you as you followed behind him like a lost dog, intent on staying with the biggest, baddest wolf in the yard. After a week, he'd tossed you a part of his rations. A week after that, he'd - not too gently - invited you to sit at the campfire with him when he saw you shivering beneath your thin, vault-issued blanket a good few yards away.

Somewhere along the way you'd started to talk. Started to share - at least, you had. Cooper had simply tucked his hat over his eyes and pretended not to listen while you rattled about this and that until he physically couldn't take it anymore and told you to go the fuck to sleep.

These months later, having accompanied him all this time, you didn't hesitate to call him a friend. Maybe something more, if you let the ache between your legs when you looked at him speak for you, but you knew it was a fantasy and nothing more, so you decided to stick with 'friend.'

Back in the present, you swallowed and winced when your throat barked with a bout of pain in response. You didn't think you'd make it another mile, let alone five, which was how far Cooper claimed the nearest town was. Despite the months you'd spent adapting out here to the wastelands, you were still attempting to cope with the hardships that came with it. Vault life wasn't anything like this; there was always water to drink, beds to sleep in. Cool air to bask in when it got just the slightest bit too hot. Of course, you didn't voice these complains to your companion. If you did, you had no doubt he'd tell you to shut the fuck up and deal with it.

Just as you were about to ask if you could take a short break and get away from the harsh sun beating on your back like repeated blows from a red-hot hammer, a gloved hand wrapped around your arm and held you in place. You jerked to a stop, nearly falling back on your ass as Cooper held you where you stood. You prepared a strongly-worded question as to just what he was doing before you followed his gaze downward, to where a small handful of pairs of footprints traveled perpendicular to yours. Together, you tilted your heads to the left where the foreign prints were headed, and it was there you found a small slope leading downward into what may have once been a shopping mall. From where you stood, you were able to see that the glass dome around the center of the mall had been shattered, letting out the gentle sound of music and human hollers.

You exchanged a look with Cooper, each of you sunken from the iron-fisted heat weighing you down, then slid down the sandy slope after him when he took off toward the shopping mall.

If there was one thing you had learned about Cooper since planting yourself at his side and refusing to leave, it was that he valued silence above almost everything else. You, on the other hand, had come from a talkative vault, where gossip reached every end of every chamber only an hour - at max - after anything noteworthy had happened. Your companion had once called you the biggest yap he'd ever heard, and you would have taken it for a compliment had he not told you to shove it a moment after. The two of you had been silent nearly the entire day now, save for a few venomous barks at each other, and you cleared your scratchy throat in an attempt to lighten your shitty moods.

"I used to read about shopping malls in the magazines," you said, leaning your weight backwards as the sandy slope shifted downward. "They had all kinds of stores inside."

"Thanks for the reminder," Cooper bit back, quickening his stride. "Would have fuckin' forgot without you here."

You let your eyes roll into the back of your head as you struggled to catch up to him, your boots digging into the uneven earth beneath you. "When I was a kid, a few of my friends and I would draw pictures of clothes - because, you know, we only had our suits - and then spread them across one of our rooms and pretend to shop. It was stupid, but it we made entertainment where we could."

"Now, was this before you started pretending to be Billie Holliday?"

You gave him a sideways glance. "Who's that?"

Cooper shook his head and took off ahead of you. "Jesus fuckin' Christ."

During one of your, as your companion called them, yap sessions, you had confided in him that your vault valued the arts above anything else. Since you were a child, they had encouraged you to find something you enjoyed, as long as you were able to call yourself an artist. Painting hadn't worked out too well. Writing had been a bust. But then you'd discovered singing - a way in which you were able to express yourself without actually saying how you felt. You could drape the tunes in metaphors and similes, bump the second verse from the first, and when you were done, everyone would get to their feet to applaud as if your songs were the best things they'd ever heard. Cooper hadn't expressed much interest in this, instead taking to calling you a songbird with her wings clipped when he deemed you were at your lowest and needed to be kicked while you were down.

Of course, you hadn't shown him - you would have to be long dead for that - but over the course of the few months you'd known him, you had confided in your notebook carried in your pack all the little things you'd come up with that complimented his persona. How the gold at his heels called for you with each step he took. The way his hands, encased behind leather that creaked, held a smoke so delicately you could have imagined it was you. The rasping curl of his words when he smiled while he spoke and how each word cast a spell that made you want to follow him until the sun exploded and the earth was gone.

Cooper was an enigma you couldn't help but wonder after, and every scrap of himself he tossed to you led you on like a dog on a leash.

The music and echoing sound of laughter from deep inside the shopping mall became louder as the pair of you approached, eyes scanning for snipers on the roof or guards posted at the busted-out windows. There wasn't a person in sight, only mannequins stripped of their clothing hanging out the openings and long-shredded posters clinging to broken glass. Cooper led the way inside, picking a path across the wreckage and rubble stacked haphazardly against the entrance. You felt your pulse tick up when he produced his gun from the worn holster at his side, tapping his trigger finger against the side of the firearm in time with the music winding its way down the wide corridors.

As you followed your companion through the shopping mall, you couldn't help but ogle at the numerous attractions you passed. Shops had been boarded up and torn open again, giving you a glimpse of tattered clothes still on hangers, books tipped over on shelves, pre-war machines behind display cases that were covered in two hundred years' worth of dirt and grime. Gang signs and dirty catchphrases had been spraypainted along the walls and windows in a rainbow of colors. In the center of the long aisle you were wandering, a carousel meant for children sat neglected, still fitted with cartoonish horses who had seen better days than these.

"Did you used to come to these often?" you asked as you stepped across a mannequin missing its head.

"Shut the fuck up for a minute." Cooper raised a hand to pair with his little spat, silencing you from asking any further questions. His tongue darted out between his cracked lips as he placed his steps carefully around shattered glass and wind-up toys that would declare your position to the entire mall. He led you around a few wide corners before coming to a stop behind an old escalator, motioning for you to take cover. You crouched to peer around the other side, pulling your bag strap tighter over your shoulder. You were met with a sight that made your lips part in wonder.

Made up in the center of the mall's large atrium, directly beneath where the glass dome had been broken out, a small encampment of people had established what looked like a tiny town. Tents rested just inside nearby shop windows and winking Christmas lights had been strung above their heads. Lanterns cast shadows along the faces of the camp's locals as they milled back and forth, sharing dinners, reading from books - and dancing. Booming from a solar-powered stereo was a symphony of fiddles and guitars, harmonies of trumpets and clapping in time with the beat. A woman's tinny voice came through the speakers and she reminisced about an old lover who had gotten away. As you watched the people dance and stamp their feet along with the music, you found yourself drumming your fingers along, as well.

You were so engrossed in the music that you nearly missed what Cooper had his watchful eye on; the fridge-sized container with several spigots on its sides marked with a large piece of paper that read 'Clean Water.'

You and Cooper ducked back behind the escalator.

"Bunch of fuckin' idiots," said Cooper as he pulled a red-capped round from his bandolier and loaded it into his gun's chamber. "That shit'll attract every goddamn raider and feral within the mile."

"They're just having fun," you said, unsure of why you felt so defensive of these people you didn't even know. Maybe it was because they reminded you of your fellow vault dwellers back home. There had been a dance or performance like this nearly every night.

Cooper scoffed. "Fun like this gets you killed, little lady."

Your eyes widened as you watched him pull back the hammer of his firearm. "You're not going to just go up there and start shooting, are you?" You knew for a fact that he would. You'd seen him do it before - draw his pistol and start spinning the trigger because a raider or flock of ferals had what he wanted. But this - this was something different. Before he could do anything more, you reached out and grabbed his upper arm in a grasp so tight your knuckles paled. He flashed you a dark, dangerous look from beneath the brim of his hat, but you refused to let go. "Cooper, these people are innocent. They haven't done anything to us."

"Listen here, dollface, and listen well," he said, quickly spinning you around so that your back was pressed against the escalator. He caged you in, his gun hand still in your grasp and his other arm propped against the wall beside your head. You tried your damndest to not flush when you felt his breath on you, when his hips came just inches from pressing up against yours. "If we're goin' to be carryin' on this little arrangement, you need to learn to keep that pretty mouth of yours shut when I tell you to shut it. Now, I know you vaulties think everyone and their mama is goin' to repay that silly kindness of yours, but do not be mistaken. Keep yappin' and I will drink my fill of that there water while I make you watch, and then I'll tip the rest of it onto the floor. You hear me?"

You were at a loss for words, your tongue dry and your knees beginning to feel wobbly from the lack of water and proper rest. Just when you were about to let your eyes fall back down and accept that he was going to clear out the settlement for their water, footsteps echoed past where the two of you stood. Cooper snapped around and raised his pistol, his other arm still caging you in, and aimed down the barrel at a few young men approaching the rest of the locals beneath the glass dome. Instead of yelling, instead of dropping their belongings and begging for their lives while they pissed their pants in the presence of a ghoul, the men waved and smiled friendly grins.

"No need to hide," one said, gesturing the pair of you toward the others. "Y'all are welcome to come and make yourselves cozy. The more the merrier!"

They continued on, greeted by the other locals with shouts of welcome backs and fond hugs, paying no mind to the wide eyes and parted lips of you and your companion. Breaking away from Cooper's little cage he had created with himself and the wall - as much as it pained you to - you peeked back around the escalator. The young men pointed your way, and a number of people waved in kind and beckoned you forward. You found yourself taking a few steps toward the inviting sight of fresh water and the smell of food being cooked over one of the fires when Cooper snagged you by the back of your suit's collar and pulled you back into cover.

"Where on this good green earth you think you're goin'?" he said in a hushed tone, bringing your face close to his with a commanding grip on your jaw. Another flutter of excitement, of blood rush, bubbled to life in the pit of your stomach and began to travel south, but you suppressed the urge to lean into his touch. You didn't pull away, either.

"They invited us," you said, your eyes wandering back over to the light flickering from the lanterns and fires. "It's rude to turn down an invitation."

Cooper harrumphed and released you a little harsher than necessary. "What you've got is a one-way ticket to bein' on tomorrow's menu, sweetheart," he said, tilting his head to follow your gaze and keep eye contact when you looked away. "If you've about had your fill of the real world up here topside, then be my guest. Go and let'em fatten you up. I'll pour one out for 'ya tonight."

Deciding not to wonder if he would actually pour one out for you, if you really meant that much, you scoffed and shook your head. "You know it's okay to let your guard down every once in a while. Smile, maybe? Wave back? No wonder you're so damn bitter, old man."

Cooper stared down at you, and you wondered briefly if he was considering slamming your head into the side of the escalator. Would he drag you away with him, you thought? Or would he leave you for the strangers just around the corner. After what seemed an eternity, he hummed a short little note and nodded his head toward the camp. "You want to play friends, little lady? Go ahead. See how far that gets you before I've got to turn around and put one between the eyes of a man who's not lookin' just for the sake of lookin'."

With the faintest hint of a smile, you blinked up at him. "You'd turn around for me?" you asked in a murmur.

He matched your heated gaze, dark eyes intense and flaring a torch in your belly. "I suppose you'll just have to find out one of these days."

Swallowing thick, you took a breath, then turned and led him toward the little encampment of people. Heads turned as the pair of you approached, and you found that most of them smiled. You waved to those who offered little shakes of their hands, trailed by a ghoul stalking in his own shadow and resting the crook of his palm on his pistol. You were met by a kind-faced woman near the large tank of water, and she was forced to speak loudly to be heard over the sound of the thumping music.

"You folks just get in?" she said, already fixing two bowls of stew from a large pot simmering over a fire.

You broke yourself from the staring match you were having with the pot, the same one Cooper was still stuck in. Although, he may have been watching the chickens that roamed inside a little pen nearby as he licked his lips. "Yes, ma'am," you said over the trill of the woman's singing. You so desperately wished you knew the words so you could sing along. "I hope we're not imposing."

"Not at all!" A bowl of stew was pushed into your hands, and you forced yourself to be polite and not spoon it down your throat immediately. At your side, your companion gave the rim of the bowl a lick with the tip of his tongue before tipping it to slurp up. "We pride ourselves in being an open community. We might be small, but that just means there's more to share." The tin cups of water she handed over didn't last but five seconds before she was refilling them. "Make yourselves comfortable and stay however long you like. All we ask is that you keep your weapons holstered and don't disturb the music."

You and Cooper took seats at a dining table that had been dragged over from the cafeteria, neither of you speaking much as you both wolfed down what was in the bowls in front of you. Both of your spoons went untouched, each electing instead to drink up the strangely-colored meat floating around inside. Cooper finished much faster than you, and shucked off his gloves so that he could dip his scarred finger in to collect what juices were left. When he was finished, the bowl looked as though it hadn't even been used.

Watching him with a small smile, you let up from your own bowl and said, "I'm waiting."

"For what, exactly, little lady?"

"Your apology." You lapped up the rest of your stew before politely setting your bowl inside of his. "You wanted to -" You hesitated and glanced over your shoulder to make sure no one was too close to hear you. "You know." Then you settled a rather self-satisfied smirk over your features. "And look where we are now. So I'd like my apology now."

Cooper sucked on his finger, ensuring he was getting every last morsel of the stew that he could, and your attention was pulled down to where his lips wrapped around his digit. A part of you began to imagine it was yours. He noticed you staring and grinned wide. "And you know what I'm waitin' for, darlin'?"

"What?"

"For you to walk yourself over there and get me seconds."

You rolled your eyes, but nevertheless grabbed your stacked bowls and began to make your way over to where the woman was tending to the pot. "You'd better be thinking about your apology," you called over your shoulder. When you turned back around you nearly collided into someone retreating back to their spot with their own dinner. You jerked to the side, attempting to get out of their way first, and in doing so rammed yourself into the stereo set on a table in the center of the little camp. You watched in horror, bowls clasped to your chest, as the stereo tumbled over the edge of its pedestal and fell to the floor, where it shattered into what must have been hundreds of pieces. The camp became shrouded in a tense, shocked silence as every eye in the mall turned to face you and look upon your sin.

"I..." Your voice carried through the atrium and down the corridors of the shopping mall, sounding like an isolated cry for help. "I'm so sorry. I - I didn't mean to, I really didn't. Here, I might be able to fix it." You bent down to try and gather the pieces with your free hand, and the moment you did, a number of the camp locals drew weapons to aim in your direction.

"Now," came that familiar drawl behind you as you heard a hammer lock into place. "Are we really goin' to be killin' each other over some silly radio?" asked Cooper, and you felt some of your nerves ease slightly when you felt his chest press against your back.

A man to your right hissed. "You killed him!"

You shook your head viciously. "No, no! I - I didn't kill anyone. I'm sorry, I really am."

"You killed Sterry!" a woman accused.

"Sterry?" You looked down at the broken stereo and began to scoop up the bigger pieces you could find. "I - I can fix Sterry, I swear -"

"There's no fixing Sterry," moaned the woman who had served you stew as she sunk into the closest bench, looking as though she were about to faint. "He's dead. And you've killed us all."

You glanced back at Cooper, who wielded both his pistols now, each pointed in a different direction toward locals who had drawn their weapons. He offered a shrouded look that screamed, 'Now, didn't I tell you so, sweetheart?' You took a shuddering breath and faced the woman who had served you. "What do you mean?" you asked.

The woman placed her head in her hand as if she'd already accepted her fate. It was a daunting sight, the face of a woman so cheery and joyful such a short time ago, now deflated as though someone had let out all her air. "This place," she said, gesturing vaguely to the mall around you. "It's infested." The word was so heavy you felt as though you nearly choked on it. "Infested with creatures that will tear us limb from limb now that you've ruined everything. The music! The music was what kept them away, and now that it's gone..."

As if on cue, from the darkness of one of the long-winding corridors straight ahead, there came the bone-rattling sound of a feral hissing and snapping its weathered jaw. A few of the locals scrambled back as the creature emerged from the inky blackness, arms twisted and eyes sunken so far back into its skull they looked like they were forever pointed toward the sky. It took a rushed few steps forward before Cooper's arm rotated and he put a hole between its eyes. The feral dropped to the floor, leaking dark blood that stained the tile floor.

"Stop being so dramatic, Uma," said an older gentleman who stooped at your feet to begin gathering the pieces of Sterry. You immediately dropped to your knees to help. "We've fixed Sterry before, and we'll fix him again. It won't take long. But while we do, we'll need something to drive those creatures off..."

Your stomach dropped when, as you stood to hand over the pieces of the stereo, you felt Cooper's hands - still fitted with his pistols - rest heavily on your shoulders. "Well, then, y'all folks are in luck," he drawled, and you could practically hear the smirk playing his lips as he spoke. "I've got my very own songbird right here. I'd be happy to lend her to 'ya if, say... you filled our flasks from that there tank when the time comes for us to leave."

"Cooper," you hissed through your teeth as you spun around to face him. Singing for your vault was one thing, but singing for a bunch of strangers in the middle of an infested mall while ferals stumbled from the darkness all around you? He may as well have tossed you back out into the wastes. "You are not going to fucking trade me -"

"Done," said the old man as he sat down and began to sort Sterry's pieces. "Have your girl start singing - anything her heart desires. Just long enough for me to fix old Sterry here."

Giving the man a mock salute that didn't quite raise to his brow, Cooper shoved you onto a bench so that you stood over the rest of the camp. From this angle, they were all able to see your petrified expression and your hands shaking at your sides. "You heard the man," your companion said and smacked the back of your knee. "Get to it, songbird."

"Cooper, I can't -"

Before you were able to finish, Cooper turned, his ears pricking at something yours did not pick up, and dropped another feral that had been silently stalking the camp from the other side. A few of the locals yelped in terror, fleeing into shopfronts and tents.

"Sing for me, sweetheart," Cooper said. He sent you a wink, tipped his hat, then unleashed another round of lead into the darkness which only his eyes could penetrate.

You felt as if you were going to vomit. Sweat began to form on the back of your neck as you fisted your hands and swayed slightly where you stood on the bench. Turning your head, you met the eyes of a few camp locals watching you from their hideouts, their expressions filled with fear, anger, anticipation. They were waiting. Expecting. Needing. Attempting to push down the swelling that was beginning to form in your throat, you looked down at Cooper as he emptied his pistols of empty shells before reloading in order to fend off the ferals attacking the camp - the very camp he'd wanted to take out not half an hour ago.

He'd told you to sing for him. So you'd sing. For him, and only him.

Clearing your mouth and opening your lips, you took a breath and forced yourself to sing. "Death will come from where the earth meets the sky." Your voice wobbled slightly, rusty from having not singing since you left your vault. That, along with the fear and dehydration sitting on your tongue. "The sand is scorched beneath his step, the future decided by his eye." As you sang, the miniature explosions banging from the barrels of Cooper's pistols created a short, quick beat you unconsciously began to tap your foot along to. "He'll come for you all in the end, you'll never be free... he'll come for you all, but never for me."

Ferals shrieked in response to the gunfire, to the song torn right from your notebook in your pack, and one by one, like stage performers who had practiced this dance a hundred times, they dropped at the feet of the camp.

"Death's got a girl who croons his songs, which is why he never stays for long. He's got to run back to his lady, just as harsh as he, he's coming for you, but he's running back to me." As you sang you realized your voice was getting louder, louder, swelling until it filled the mall's atrium and every corridor far beyond. You tapped your heel along with the rhythm you'd created, closing your eyes and imagining an audience of one; a ghoul with his arms slung out across the chairs beside him and a knowing smirk playing his thin lips. It pulled you forward, pulled forth a song you hadn't realized was already in you. "He might sound mean, but I swear, he's kind. He's just got to peer into these eyes of mine. I'll ride with him, and he'll follow me, leaving behind a trail of blood far as the eye can see. Oh, my baby's got teeth to bite and a gun to blow, see his smoke and soon you'll know. Death ain't my man, he's my right hand. He'll come for you all in the end, you'll never be free... he'll come for you all, but never for me."

You had just been nearing a second verse when, from where it rested before the old man on the table, the stereo jumped back to life and filled the atrium with thrumming, pulsing folk music. It drowned out your voice, silenced you like a gunshot, and the ferals teetering on the edge of the darkness leading to the rest of the mall stumbled back into their hiding places. The camp locals slowly emerged from their hiding places, chattering excitedly about Sterry and his newfound love of life. Feeling a little stupid still standing on the bench, you climbed down and shuffled away toward where you had been originally sitting.

Taking a seat, you rested your forehead on your arms and exhaled a shaky breath. What had you been thinking? Singing a song for the man you'd become hopelessly fascinated with while he was just a few feet away, battling ferals who were intent on tearing out your throat and taking your voice with it? You were such a fucking idiot. You wouldn't be surprised if he told you to never open your mouth again.

Just as promised, your flasks were filled to the brims with fresh water before you went on your way, leaving the mall atrium and the singing, dancing camp locals behind as you picked your way back outside. Neither you nor Cooper said much as you continued your trek to nowhere, leaving a pair of footprints like echoes in your wake. Your cheeks remained flushed long after the mall had disappeared into the horizon, and long after you picked out an abandoned building to set up camp for the night. For once, it wasn't from the heat.

You sat across the lantern and what light it cast from Cooper, who stared into the little beacon as if he were watching the most fascinating flick within its glass. You held your notebook in your lap, thumb marking your place as your tried to write, but nothing would come to mind save for the things you'd sung about today. Mortification stirred like a serpent in your belly, and you briefly considered excusing yourself to get up and throw up outside.

"Let me see that book you've got there."

Your head lifted at Cooper's request - more of a demand - and unconsciously tightened your grip around your notebook. Your notebook - full of songs, melodies, lyrics. The most recent half of which you had written about the ghoul staring at you. "This?" you said, your trembling voice giving way to your nerves. You forced out a chuckle and smacked it shut. "It's nothing worth looking at."

"Why not?" he said, voice rasping lower than the baritone he usually held it at. You swore his gaze was hotter than the sun during the day and the fires at night. "You got more songs 'bout little old me in there?"

Fuck, he knew. Fuck all, he knew. You felt your flush deepen as you pointedly tucked your notebook into the bottom of your pack and flipped the top shut. "I... I don't know what you're talking about," you said, avoiding his eyes. Instead you focused on the fraying tip of your boot. "I wrote that a long time ago. Back in my vault."

"Uh huh." Cooper stared you down for so long you thought that perhaps time had frozen. Then he took a barely-there breath. "Come over here, songbird. Let me get a good look at you."

For a long, long moment, you remained still as you ever had been. What was he saying? Normally the only time he let you close to him was when he invaded your personal space to deliver a shove or to smack your knee or thigh to tell you to get a move on. Your breath hitched when you finally lifted your head and found his gaze boring into yours, heavier than a ton and white hot like a branding iron.

"I ain't goin' to tell you again, pretty girl."

As if he had you on a fucking leash - because you swore he did - you found yourself pitching forward, crawling on your hands and knees toward him. He spread his legs slightly, enough to give you room to fit between them, and hesitantly, so very carefully, you rested yourself against his front. His rough, scarred hands, free of his gloves, came up to rest on the swell of your hips as if they were made to be there, fitting like puzzle pieces against your skin beneath your vault suit. You stared up at him, backlit by the lantern light, and let his thumb drag down your bottom lip until it slipped from his touch.

"Didn't think my songbird had such desire in her," Cooper chuckled, his warm breath fanning across your face.

You relished in the goosebumps that crawled over the planes of your skin. "I... I don't..."

"Oh, you'd be dead wrong if you said that little ditty you sang today wasn't all about desire." He settled back deeper where he sat, giving you more room to settle against him between the columns of his thighs. Your lower belly rested against his crotch, where you felt the hard outline of his cock straining against his trousers. Your heart skipped a beat or three. "If you wanted to ride with death, sweetheart, all you needed to do was ask."

Cooper sealed his lips to yours without word or warning, pulling a surprised little noise from the back of your throat that he swallowed up with fervor. As the initial shock faded, you found your eyes slipping shut and your mouth moving against his, lips opening without fight when his tongue demanded to explore your own. Bracing yourself with one hand against his thigh, you reached up with your other and cradled the back of his head, knocking off his hat in the process.

Swift to get a move on, to feel you against him and swallow up more of your sounds, Cooper easily flipped you around so that you were now lying flat on your back and he was hovering over your prone form. Both tingling excitement and nauseating nerves pulled groans from your lips as he moved to pressing harsh kisses and nips to the column of your neck, licking up red spots that would surely bruise come morning time. He shucked off his duster and abandoned it somewhere behind him, at the same time, by some skill you had no idea anyone possessed, also grasping at the zipper of your vault suit to pull it down as far as it would go.

It didn't take long for you to shimmy out of the suit, leaving you in just your underwear, the seams of which he traced with his calloused finger. It sent a chill running up your spine despite the heat prodding at your skin.

"My songbird sounds real pretty when she's singin'," Cooper muttered as he sucked a bruise into the swell of one breast over the cup of your bra. "I bet she sounds even better screamin' for me."

His hand plunged beneath the waistband of your panties and began to explore your folds, pulling a long, whining moan from your lips. He ate you and your whimpers up, devouring your lips like he wanted to eat you whole - maybe he did - while his middle finger ran up and down your cunt a few times before deftly finding your clit and applying a bit of pressure to the sensitive bud. You cried out. It had been far too long since you'd seen any real action. It didn't take long before your folds were soaked, and he was able to gingerly nudge his finger past the entrance of your pussy. It felt foreign to have another person thrusting their finger in and out of you, building you up to a kind of high you hadn't known since far before you left your vault. In less than a few minutes - something he would surely tease you about later - you felt that familiar coil snap in your stomach and you soaked his hand with a loud, throat-rattling wail that escaped your lips and flew right past his.

Cooper pulled back with a self-satisfied smirk and pulled his hand from your panties, lifting his spread hand to show you to slick you'd coated his digits with. You were only able to huff for breath and watch with hooded eyes as he brought his fingers to his mouth and used his skillful tongue to lick off your cum. You briefly wondered what else that tongue of his could do, what it would feel like to have him lap up your pussy like it was the only thing to guarantee him his daily hit of medicine.

"Sweet as honey, baby," he cooed, bracing himself with one hand while the other worked on the buckle of his belt. "Well. Maybe Tennessee honey. You ever had a taste of that?" He knew you hadn't. But that didn't stop his smirk from growing in size when you numbly shook your head. "Don't you worry your pretty little head about it, baby. We'll get you a lick one day. 'Til then..."

Your limbs dancing with pins and needles, you lifted your hips to help him tug off your panties. "I'll just have to settle for what I've got," you exhaled with a hazy smile.

Cooper grinned wide, a smile that bordered on the edge of dark, as he tugged down his trousers just enough for his cock to spring free. He was thick - larger than you'd expected - and his member was rough and scarred like the rest of him. It made you want to feel him all the more. "I'll promise you somethin', darlin," he said as he positioned himself at your entrance and you locked your legs around his waist, heels digging into the edge of his gun belt. "I'm better than anything else you'll taste these days." With that he slid into you, filling you at once to the brim like he just couldn't wait to feel you from the inside. A loud, sharp yelp escaped your lips as your back arched instinctively, curling yourself up into him. He only waited a few moments for you to adjust before he started moving, pulling himself out to the tip before thrusting back inside your welcoming cunt. You were able to feel each and every ridge of him, every scar, and you swore you were getting drunk from just the feeling.

"Fuckin' shit, girl," he groaned, moving to press the flat of his hand to the base of your neck so that he could keep you in place while he fucked you. "Better than I could've fuckin' dreamed."

Cooper's thrusts began to increase in speed, your moans and whimpers accompanied by his low, almost growling snarls he panted against the shell of your ear. You couldn't believe this was happening. You were being fucked by the ghoul you'd been following all these months, the ghoul you'd been watching and studying and falling hopelessly for. And it felt good. It felt so fucking good, a part of you wasn't entirely convinced this entire scenario wasn't a dream concocted by the recesses of your mind.

"God, Coop," you heard yourself moan as your nails dug crescent moons into the fabric of his shirt. "Feels so fucking good..."

"Atta girl," he muttered, moving his head down so that he could suck at the junction where your neck met your shoulder. "Such a sweet little songbird." His grip on your hips tightened as his movements increased even further. "Might just have to fuck you good every night so I can hear you sing for me."

You panted deep as you felt your second orgasm of the night approaching at an alarming rate. Your hips bucked up to meet his with each thrust, the sound of skin on skin filling the abandoned building in which you had taken shelter. "Don't have to - ah! - even ask. I'll sing for you any time, Coop."

Cooper's breaths came shorter, sharper, and it wasn't long before he came with a harsh bite against your shoulder, one that spilled blood into his awaiting mouth and pulled your own orgasm from deep within your depths. You shuddered and cried for him, tugging him close and holding him there for several minutes after your highs had faded and your breaths evened.

Finally, he pulled himself off of you. A short whine escaped you when he slipped from your heat, and he chuckled low before tossing you your panties to slip back on. When you were both covered again, you sat up and crossed your legs as you basked in the afterglow of what had just taken place. Cooper dug around in his saddlebag for a moment before producing his inhaler and drinking up a shot of his medicine, shaking his head against the sudden buzz that came with it as he sat back on his elbows and stared at the lantern light.

"I..." You struggled to find the words so desperately clawing at your chest. "I hope you don't..."

Cooper reached up and pulled your wrist out from under you, causing you to fall back on the ground beside him with an 'umph.' He let his arm cushion your fall before sweeping a few strands of hair from your face and giving you that crooked smirk which made your legs fall numb all over again. "Oh, don't you worry yourself, songbird," he said. "I ain't lettin' you fly away from me any time soon."