#I noticed there's only 4 fics for the pairing on ao3

[telleroftime]

I'll probably be writing them anyways because he seems like a fun person to write for, but I also wanna know if anyone else would be interested too.

[turtletaubwrites]

A Good Catch ~ Part 1

✨600 Followers Fic Celebration!✨

I am so grateful for all of you! This has been such a wonderful time, and having all of you around to nerd out with, and to share my writing with is the best! Shanks won the poll for the next x Reader fic, and I hope you enjoy it!

Pairings: Shanks x Fem!Reader

Word Count: 4367

Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 (End)

Ao3 Link

Summary: You are an unlucky fisherwoman having a bad day, until a red haired pirate captain offers to help you out. You're pretty sure he only makes it worse.

Rating/Warnings: 18+ ONLY, MDNI, AFAB!Reader, She/Her Pronouns for Reader, Reader-Insert, Eventual Smut, Fluff, Angst, Teasing, Flirting, I feel like there's some romance tropes I could tag, but I usually just write smut, so please let me know what silly tropes I have in here 😅

A/N: I am having so much fun with this one! I'm doing my best to keep it to 3 parts, so wish me luck 😅 Please enjoy this fluffy first chapter!

| masterlist | about me | rules | ao3 | ko-fi |

“Now I’m gonna get murdered by pirates,” you grumbled to yourself as the ship crept ever closer. “Just fucking perfect.”

The windless sea was no challenge for the massive pirate ship. All you could do was sit with your pile of fish, jealous of the huge oars guiding the threat to you. 

Dread loomed as that jolly roger closed the distance, like an animal baring its fangs before it strikes. Crossed blades, and a sinister skull with red stripes over its left eye socket. 

You didn’t pay enough attention to the gossip and wanted posters to remember who was headed your way. 

Not that it matters. They’re pirates. 

It was too much to hope that they’d pass you by. 

A few voices carried over from the deck, until a tall man leaned over the side. His bright, red hair hung still against this stupidly windless sky. 

“Hey, friend,” he called, the sun at your back giving you a glimpse of his wide smile, even from so high above you. 

“We’re not friends,” you countered, crossing your arms to keep him from noticing your shaky hands. 

“I suppose not. You seem like you’re in a spot of trouble though, and we’re happy to help.”

His deep voice sounded so friendly. Genuine. Charming. 

He’s just trying to lure me into his trap. Who knows what they’d do to me on that ship…

“The sun’s getting pretty low for a small boat to be all the way out here,” he judged, trying to block the glare as he looked down at you. “I don’t think we’ll be getting much more wind today.”

“Thank you, I’ll be fine.”

His pause made your skin itch, wishing he would stop looking at you. 

“We can bring your boat with us. I’m assuming you’re from that village a ways to the west?”

It must have been a trick of your eyes, it couldn’t happen so quickly. But you swore the day inched closer to night faster with every second. You watched the light grow golden as it lit up the red haired man, and his pirate ship.

Fuck.

“I refuse to be rescued,” you choked out, nails digging into your arms. 

“Okay,” he said in an annoyingly teasing tone, “if you insi–”

“I’ll pay you for the service! I had a great haul before…”

“Sounds good to me,” he laughed, deep and hearty. As if he were truly happy. 

You had thought pirates would seem scarier. Maybe this is worse.

You barely heard his shouts  as men started to lower ropes down, prepping to save you. 

“You should know I’m armed,” you yelled up at the back of his head, continuing when he faced you again. “Anyone touches me, and they’ll lose a hand.”

“I’ll be on my guard then. I’ve been running out of those.”

You didn’t understand, or appreciate his teasing while you waited. 

~

“Welcome aboard!”

Pirates echoed the red haired man’s welcome, and you assumed he was the captain as the rest busied themselves about. He sat on deck, calm as if he hadn’t a care in the world. Now that you were so close, you couldn’t help but notice the rippled muscles of his chest and stomach between his mostly open shirt. 

Besides the cloak over his shoulders, he didn’t seem to wear anything that could mark him as captain. Unless his red hair, and three scars over his left eye… 

“Oh.”

“Oh,” he asked, moving to stand beside you. 

“The jolly roger,” you pointed to the menacing skull. “You must be the captain.”

“Good eye,” he leaned in with a smile. 

His smile should have a completely different word. The sight from your boat was nothing compared to seeing the way this man's lips curled slowly, the left side starting first as it grew, as if he was enjoying the act of smiling itself. And his eyes…

His eyes were way too close to you. 

“Are you alright?”

Concern broke that smile, and he called for someone to bring water. 

Your face flushed, hot to the tips of your ears. You realized that you hadn’t heard what the pirate had said because you were too busy swooning over his pretty eyes. 

The water was welcome, and you gulped half of it down, suddenly embarrassed about how fucking fishy you must smell with your day’s catch beside you. 

“Is there anything else you need, miss…”

Trying to catch your eyes, the pirate leaned toward you. He reached for your shoulder, and you jumped back, spilling water down your chest.

“I’m so sorry, love. I forgot about your warning.”

His soothing voice felt real as he went to a knee in front of you. 

“I do hope you will spare me my fate, I swear that no one on this boat will forget it again.”

He’s really too charming. He’s either the sweetest person in the world, or some sort of demon with powers of seduction. 

You nodded. It wasn���t like you could truly defend yourself anyway. The fear of being at their mercy kept you hyper aware of all the moving bodies around you.

“How long until we’re at the village?”

The sun was almost gone from the sky now, and you just wanted to be home. To scrub this stupid day away, and pass out. 

“It should be about three days from now.”

“Three,” you choked out, dropping the now empty mug of water, which he caught without taking his eyes off of yours.

“We’ve got some business on the other side of the island. We'll be stopping by the village to restock supplies before we head out.”

“You didn’t tell me that,” you snapped, voice louder than you meant it.

He just smirked, tilting his head.

“Sorry, love. Would you like us to toss you overboard? I don’t think you had many rescuers lined up.”

For some reason, you couldn’t get your mouth to remember that these men could kill you as you growled back at him.

“You didn’t rescue me. I paid you for a trip back to the village.”

His lips quirked as if he was fighting not to smile again. He looked down at your haul, fish still flapping in the net. 

“That is a really nice haul, miss. Afraid it’s not enough for a direct trip, though.”

Pirates came to take your fish away, and it broke the spell his irritating eyes had on you.

“Please, save this one! You can have it, just… Make sure you cook it well.”

The two men with the net followed your gesture to that fish, assuring you they would obey before taking it away.

“Why’s that one special?”

The weight of this long ass day hit you, a heavy sigh leaving your lips before you looked back at that pretty captain. 

“It was a good catch.”

He huffed a laugh, the clear amusement he got from your words making you simultaneously annoyed, and pleased. You were mentally smacking yourself for that. 

Don’t be attracted to pirates, dumbass. 

“I’m Shanks. I don’t know if you heard me before, but…”

Your skin flushed again, and he seemed to notice, a warm, evil smile slowly forming on his lips.

“What’s your name?”

“You don’t need to know it.”

He gave a real laugh then, loud, and infectious. You had to remind yourself that he was laughing at you.

“What would you like us to call you then, huh? “Fish Girl?” Maybe “Fail Boat?” Or how about “Damsel in Distress?” I think I like that–”

You ripped your hand back as soon as you’d realized what you’d done.

But it was too late.

Your idiotic, suicidal hand had shot out and smacked him, hard, right in the center of that gorgeous chest of his.

The deck roared with laughter while you shook with horror. Shanks had looked down at his chest, and when he lifted his face to yours he looked stunned. If you hadn’t just signed your own death warrant, you might have thought his face comical, brows raised high, with his mouth and eyes wide. 

“Go easy on the girl, captain,” teased a tall man with gray hair, shaking his head at Shanks.

“Yeah, come on, captain! What kinda hospitality are you giving, insulting our guest like that?”

A whole group of pirates crowded around him, reprimanding him, and giving him a few gentle punches and shoves. 

Your mouth hung open. The sight of these pirates being so playfully disrespectful toward their captain didn’t fit in your brain. None of this made sense with what pirates were supposed to be like. 

“Fine. Fine! I’m sorry, miss…”

He’d broken away from his men, leaning toward you with that question. 

“Y/N.”

He hit you with a new grin to outshine all the others, making your breath hitch.

“What a beautiful name for a damsel in distress.”

You didn’t need to hit him this time, as pirates did the job for you, even throwing things at him from across the deck. 

Maybe it was the overwhelm, the fatigue. Maybe you’d gone insane.

But laughter built in your stomach, growing through your body, until you were shaking with it. You had your hands on your knees as it took you over, and the pirates around you joined in. 

How can pirates be laughing and smiling like this with me? How can it be genuine? 

Amidst the continued roars of his men, Shanks shook his head, gesturing for you to follow him. 

“Where are we going?”

“I’ll show you.”

Frowning at the back of his head, you followed through the wooden halls until he opened a large door, gesturing for you to go inside.

He rolled his eyes when you hesitated, before going in first. 

The large room was tiled, with lockers and showers, and there he stood in the center, grinning like a creep.

“I’ll pass,” you deadpanned, backing out the door.

“Come on, fish girl,” he taunted, “you stink, and I think you’ll be easier to clean than the blankets you’ll sleep in tonight.”

Blood rushing to your face again, your mouth opened and closed as anger and embarrassment fought to take over.

Shanks laughed again, but tried to stifle it. 

“Sorry, you’re just,” he motioned to his lips, mimicking your movements. “You’re a fish girl.”

“Shut up,” you seethed, leaning toward him. “I’m not taking a shower on a pirate ship when anyone can–”

“I’ll guard the door for you, okay,” he assured, finally seeming to take something seriously. “I’ll make sure no one comes in.”

Now his stupid smile was soft, small, and sweet. You hated it.

“Oh right,” you scoffed, “like I'd trust a pirate captain. Who’s gonna stop you from coming in?”

“What makes you think this pirate captain would even want to come in here, huh?”

“Fuck you,” you breathed, turning to leave.

He was so fast. You jumped back as he blocked the door. He saw your wide eyes, and moved out of the doorway so he wouldn’t block your exit, but he still leaned close.

“I’m sorry, Y/N. Really, okay? I promise I will sit right outside this door, and not let a single person come inside until you’re done. There’s fresh clothes for you over there too. Whatever you need.”

A very fine trembling worked its way around your body as you studied him. It seemed like such a bad idea to trust him. 

But you were exhausted. 

“You’ll sit in front of the door?”

He straightened up, a look of relief brightening that serious face.

“I will.”

“Will you wear a blindfold?”

“If that’s what it takes,” he agreed with a smirk.

“And let me tie your hands behind your back?”

Shanks sucked his teeth as he leaned back. You had a second of fear as he started taking his clothes off.

But all he removed was his heavy cloak, revealing that he was missing his left arm. 

Guilt hit you, apologies about to pour out, but he held his palm out. 

“Afraid I can’t do that, but I promise I’ll do the rest. Is that alright, Y/N?”

~

This is really nice soap.

Still on edge, your body started to relax a bit with the delicious smelling soap on your skin. 

But every time you felt a moment of relaxation, you’d remember the pirate on the other side of the door. 

“You’ve gotta make it tighter, sweetie. Otherwise it won’t work.”

That fucking sentence kept tearing through your brain. The way he’d run his fingers across yours while you adjusted the cloth to blindfold him. The way his hair and skin had felt and smelled as you moved it into place. The way he’d rasped those words while he grabbed your wrist to guide you, giving it a gentle squeeze before letting his fingers trail down your skin. 

The way you had let him touch you without arguing. His fingers had taken advantage of the moment, but it had felt almost electric to let him.

“Fuck,” you muttered to yourself.

“Y/N, is everything alright?”

“Uh, yeah. Thank you.”

How did he hear that over the shower?

~

“What the hell is this?”

“Sorry, love, I'm afraid I can't see what you– ow, hold on!”

You definitely had a few red hairs between your fingers after ripping his blindfold off. 

The pirate captain got to his feet to meet your eyes, and fucking snorted.

“What is wrong with you,” you fumed, tossing the blindfold at his face.

The fact that he caught it before it hit him only pissed you off more.

“There has to be something else I can wear,” you demanded, pulling at the frilly lavender dress he stuck you with. You looked like some creepy porcelain doll.

His face was going as red as his hair as he tried not to laugh.

“I’m sorry, no one’s– we don’t have anyone your size,” he choked out, clearing his throat before continuing. “We have a few more dresses like this, though. They were supposed to be a gift for a princess, so you should feel honored!”

“Fuck you.”

His lips were fucking quivering as he fought his laughter. His eyes flicked down to your clenched fists, and he relented.

“Right, sorry, okay! You can have some of my clothes, you’ll just have to roll them up, alright?”

Very judgmentally looking him up and down, you raised your brows at him.

“Do you have any shirts that actually button up all the way? Or do you expect me to let my tits hang out like yours.”

Shanks cackled then, catching himself on the wall, his eyes even tearing up a little. 

You kicked yourself for saying something so sexual in front of a fucking pirate.

“You’re a funny one, fish girl,” he teased between hiccupped laughs, “but you definitely look like a damsel in that dress.”

You kicked the pirate for being such a dick. 

“Fuck, sorry,” he huffed, wincing as he rubbed his shin where you’d kicked it. 

“Follow me. I definitely wanna get you outta that dress– I mean into different clothes,” he almost yelled, warding off a slap with his arm. “So you stop hurting me!”

Practically boiling with a mix of anger, embarrassment, and fear, you let yourself be guided along. The lantern lit halls were roomier than you would have expected, and you could hear the distant voices of the crew. 

“Here we go,” he said gently, opening another large door. He went in first again, and you entered what had to be his quarters.

Of course. We’re getting his clothes. 

It was full of rich, dark woods, red blankets, a desk that seemed to have more bottles of alcohol than anything work related on it, and a delightful, almost spicy scent filling the air. 

The room was a bit messy, and you felt out of place standing there in that frilly dress while he dug through his wardrobe, tossing clothes to the ground as he searched.

“Here, love, how about these?”

“Do you have a belt?”

~

Managing to roll, buckle, and tuck at his clothes, you were mostly satisfied as you checked the mirror.

Even with all the buttons done up, you still had to tie his shirt to keep your chest from popping out like his does. 

“You almost finished? The party’s star…”

Those pretty eyes brightened when you opened the door. His little smirk made you frown, and he held his hand up.

“You were right, Y/N. This definitely suits you better.”

He offered that hand to you, and even in the warm glow of the lanterns, you could see scars, callouses, and thick veins that made your breath hitch for a moment. 

Your hand had almost reached his when he pulled away.

“Almost forgot,” he teased, his voice somehow lower than normal as he stepped out of the doorway for you. “I’ll lose my only hand if I touch you, right?”

“I…”

“Well, I definitely won’t risk that.”

He stepped further back, letting you follow him into the hallway. 

Your brain seemed to stutter, unable to join the moment as it flew through conflicting emotions. 

Like why it upset you that he wouldn’t risk it. 

Shanks moved in close, his spicy scent filling your lungs as you looked up at him. 

“Just let me know if that ever changes.”

He turned away after a subtle wink that made your brain short circuit. 

“You comin’? I’m hungry.”

Still barefoot without your fishy shoes, you chased that red hair down the hallway.

He really is some sort of seduction demon.

~

“Hey, girly. Is this jackass treating you alright?”

“This is how you talk about your captain?”

The older man with long, gray hair ignored Shanks’ protests as he looked you over.

“You should be more worried about him,” you grumbled, narrowing your eyes at the captain.

“Ha, I’m sure you’re right.”

He grinned down at you, before motioning toward the fire. 

“Come on, the food’s almost done.”

The crew had found a remote beach, and set up camp. Their camp supplies seemed to be mostly alcohol. 

Shanks had said they had business here, and that they’d go to the village in about three days.

What kind of business are pirates getting up to on my island?

The thought was pushed aside as Shanks called for you. Most of the pirates were holding their plates, or using boulders or crates while they ate. Captain Shanks had a dingy little table by the fire, and was waving you over. 

“Come on, love. Let’s eat, and find out why that fish of yours is so special.”

The day's events hit you again, but you joined him in a mismatched chair, and grabbed a fork. 

It smelled good.

“Here,” Shanks demanded, shoving a mug of some kind of alcohol into your hand, before standing and lifting his own to address the crew. “Here’s to our luck! We found an unlucky fisherwoman, and now we’ve got good eats. To Y/N!”

The sheer volume of their enthusiasm made your eyes go wide as you faked a sip.

“So tell me, fish girl,” he leaned toward you, the small table not leaving much space between you. “Why is this fish so special?”

Ignoring him, you focused on your plate. The way it looked and smelled was perfect, but you had to know.

He watched your movements, following along as you pierced into the flesh, bringing the first bite to your lips. 

It was perfect. Whoever had cooked it had treated it right. The tender meat and the subtle flavor were given just the amount of spice to balance it out.

It would have sold well. After all it took to get it, you were grateful that it didn’t go to waste, and tasting it yourself was wonderful.

Even if you were sharing it with a pirate.

“This is incredible, Y/N. You really are a fish girl.”

Letting out a sigh, you dug in, trying to enjoy the meal that had put you in this situation. The night was filled with the sounds of music, laughter, and endless calls for cheers, the clanging of metal mugs like the shifting heartbeat of this joyful crew.

“So, I had someone take a look at your boat, in case we could help fix it.”

“There’s nothing wrong with my boat,” you spat out, wishing you could have enjoyed your meal in peace. Without this too fucking handsome and annoying pirate captain.

Shanks tapped his fingers on the table, a smirk playing at his lips. 

“That was the report,” he said softly, the teasing tone building slowly in his voice. “They did say that one of the oars is missing.”

“Thanks for the report,” you grumbled, watching the fire now.

“Come on, just tell me what happened. How’d you get stranded out there?”

“It’s none of your business.”

Your face felt hot, the fire not close enough for the burning in your skin. 

“Consider it payment then. For my clothes, and for my company,” he taunted, his voice dipping low. 

“I could do without the latter.”

“You wound me, sweet damsel.”

He put his hand to his heart, chuckling at your frown before chugging whatever was in his mug.

“It was a really good catch,” you mumbled, giving in. He scooted even closer to you, excitement in those lovely eyes, mixing with the light of the fire.

Shanks kept that beautiful mouth shut, just tilting his head toward yours as he waited.

“My grandma used to talk about her best catch. That was it,” you said flatly, gesturing to your empty plate. “She made me promise that if I ever caught a fish like that, I had to eat it myself, eat it with friends.”

“Don’t waste a fish like that on berry, sugar. It’s a gift.”

He raised his mug as you mimicked your grandma’s voice, and you brought yours up with a sigh, still just pretending to drink.

“I’m honored, then. Your grandma was right, that fish was amazing.”

Memories of her seemed to join you at the table, bittersweet, and heavier than you’d like. 

“Sorry, Y/N. You, uh… You doing okay?”

“I’m fine,” you coughed, a hint of anger back in your voice as you fought against the prickling in your eyes.

“Well,” he drawled out, extending the word for way too long, “you still didn’t tell me how you got stranded out there with nothing but the perfect fish.”

Groaning, you put your forehead on the dingy table and blurted it out, as if you could make it not true if you said it fast enough. 

“I caught the fish. I saw what it was. It started to slip through my hands. I knew it’d sell well, so I didn’t want to lose it. I ended up tripping over one of the oars. I should have let it go, I could have grabbed the oar if I’d seen it slipping. But I was greedy. I wanted to sell that stupid fish instead of eating it, and now grandma’s probably cussing at me from the afterlife.”

Shanks at least had the decency to shove his knuckles between his teeth before he started laughing. 

“Oh, fuck you,” you huffed, standing to leave the captain’s dingy table.

“Wait, please,” he called, catching your fingers in his, and pulling you back toward him. Only to drop your hand as if he’d been burned when you met his eyes.

“Fuck, I’m sorry, Y/N. I didn’t mean–”

Whatever you might have said was lost in a wave of too many things at once. Humiliation over the whole thing, fear that these pirates could still hurt you, especially if you fell asleep, and the burning in your stupid cheeks because this gorgeous asshole held your hand. 

What the fuck is wrong with me today?

The moon was mostly full, so there was plenty of light on the sand as you walked away from the camp. They were so fucking noisy, but the ocean beckoned for you to sit, gentle waves like your grandmother’s sweet voice. 

When she wasn’t giving me shit, you thought with a laugh, digging your toes in the sand. 

“The ocean makes me feel better too.”

His deep voice annoyed you more than it startled you. 

Shanks sat beside you, but not too close.

Ignoring him did not make him go away. 

“What do you want?”

“I wanna make your shitty day better. How can I do that?”

“Take me home.”

“Three days on that one, love. Anything more immediate?”

Your plan to stay up all night was already failing, exhaustion dragging you down.

His eyes were so soft under the moon, the hint of a smile brightening his face.

“I don’t want to sleep out in the open with everyone. Is there somewhere… safe where I can sleep?”

Shanks nodded, looking down as he cleared his throat. 

“Of course, let me take you now.”

The ship itself seemed to be sleeping, so quiet with only a handful of crew watching it as the rest camped on the island. 

Red hair under lantern light guided you through those wood paneled halls again, until he led you to the guest quarters. 

“Here’s the key, and you’re welcome to shove this chair under the door knob as well. Breakfast will be at the beach in the morning,” he laughed, running his fingers through his hair. “It’ll probably be the afternoon depending on the hangovers, but you– Are you alright?”

He knelt at your feet, looking you over as you slumped onto the bed.

“How long were you out there today? Have you been drinking water? Are you…”

This charming pirate stopped himself from touching your forehead, and some insane, fatigued part of you reached out, grabbing his hand with both of yours. 

“I lied,” you confessed, voice quiet and close, his pretty eyes on your lips. “I can’t cut your hand off. I’m not armed.”

The slow smile he gave you now was your favorite, somehow making the light in his eyes shine brighter. Your hands reluctantly let go of him as he shifted, but instead of moving away, Shanks touched his calloused fingers to your cheek. 

“Your secret’s safe with me, sweetheart.”

Likes and reblogs bring me much ✨dopamine✨ thank you so much!

a/n: I am obsessed with these two now. What the heck. I need Shanks to make fun of me like that 😅

Tag List: @shewrites02

Part 2

| masterlist | about me | rules | ao3 | ko-fi |

[saiyanprincessswanie]

Mine - Part 4

Pairing: Soft!Dark Steve Rogers x Female Reader

Word Count: 2643

Summary: Steve and Reader struggle with whether they can trust one another or not. Both have feelings but is it enough to forgive and start over? Will they be able to have the future they each dream of?

Series Warning: NON/DUB CON, Swearing, Angst, Possessive Behavior, Jealousy, Kidnapping, Male Masturbation, Somnophilia, Drugging, Light Bondage, Physical Fighting, Rough Sex, Choking, Female and Male Oral, Breeding Kink, Multiple Orgasms, Forced Orgasms, Spanking

Please READ the Warnings!! These will be touched on throughout the series.

A/N: Sorry for the long wait with this fic. I just have recently been able to type again after my right shoulder surgery.

A/N 2: This chapter isn’t as dark as the other ones.

Moodboard by @fictional-affairs

Thank you to my beta readers @lfnr-blog-blog-blog & @pigwidgeonxo

Reblogs & Comments on Tumblr are welcomed and encouraged. Even if you leave an emoji you will make my day. 😊💜

I do NOT give my consent to have my work translated or reposted on any social media platform, apps, or third-party sites. If you see my work anywhere besides my personal Tumblr & AO3 accounts, it has been stolen. I will NEVER give written or verbal permission to repost or translate any of my fanfics as they’re MY intellectual property. 🚫 🚫

Time seemed to go by slowly as you sat in the bedroom window watching as Steve finished chopping up logs for the fireplace. A faint sound of thunder echoes throughout the room and little goosebumps rise on your skin. You snuggle into your hoodie to chase away a storm that is brewing not just outside but within you as well. Steve grabs a bunch of logs and starts heading to the house. Light rain falls from the sky covering the ground below. You hear the door open and close downstairs followed by him walking around. 

The storm seems to pick up as the wind blows through the trees. You hear footsteps coming up the stairs and your hands start to fidget in your lap. Will he be in a good mood today? Your heart is beating faster and faster the closer his footsteps reach the door. Suddenly a key unlocks the door and you hold your breath. Which Steve will greet you today? The door creaks open and you sit as still as you can. 

“Doll? I got a fire going in the fireplace and soup simmering on the stove. Why don’t you come join me?” His words held no authority in it but a simple request. 

You slowly stand up and turn to face him, walking over to where he stood in the doorway. Your eyes glanced over him as he stood before you in a flannel shirt, jeans, and boots. He gives you his million-dollar smile and pulls you in for a hug. Closing your eyes you let him envelop you in his arms. Your arms wrap around his body and you just give in. A minute later he is taking your hand and walking you down the stairs. 

The warmth from the fire hits you as soon as you descend the stairs. The smell of wood burning and soup filled the air as you took a deep breath in. Gosh if this was only a different time and place you would swear you were home. 

Steve leads you over to the table and pulls your chair out for you. You offer a shy smile and thank him. Steve kisses the top of your head and walks the short distance to the kitchen where he can still see you. 

Your eyes scan the dining room and kitchen. Steve was right, this is how you wanted your future house to look like. It’s as if he took all the ideas from your head and made it a reality. Everything in here was perfect except the man you once loved was a kidnapping, psychopath who had ripped away any trust you had in him. Tears lightly poured from your eyes and before you could do anything Steve was wiping them away. 

You hadn’t noticed that he brought the soup over to the table. Instead, he kneels next to you and continues to wipe them away gently as he takes in your shaking body.

“Doll, what’s wrong? You know you can speak to me about anything, right?” His voice is laced with concern and his deep blue eyes stare at you taking everything in. 

You shake your head as you continue to cry. What if you shared the truth about everything with him? Would he still carry out this twisted plan?

“Steve I can’t, I won’t share my thoughts cause you will just be mad at me. I don’t want to be humiliated again with your punishments. Let’s just eat and forget about it, okay?” 

Steve just stared at you. He knew something was weighing on you but did he want the truth? What if it was about leaving could he keep his composure? He shook his head knowing that this was tearing you apart inside and being this nervous around him wasn’t healthy.

“Please, doll, I promise I won’t be upset with you. Just tell me the truth.” His hand caresses your cheek. “I swear I won’t punish you for being honest with me. All I want in this world is for you to be happy with me.”

Your gaze drops to your lap where your hands are and you take a deep breath trying to calm yourself. You look back up into his blue eyes and decide it is now or never.

“It’s not that easy Steve to tell you this. There is no question that before all of this, I loved you from the moment I met you. Your smile drew me in and I knew I was yours forever. At that time you would flirt but always held back with me like you were searching for something else or maybe someone else. That was until recently and your emotions shifted so quickly that I felt overwhelmed but excited that you finally wanted me. But that’s a lie 'cause you just want to breed me.”

Steve’s breath hitched and he was about to retort before you cut him off.

“That night we made love, I finally felt like my dreams were coming true and that maybe you had loved me all along. But that’s not the case. You said it yourself last night you want me to listen to you and not question anything you say. But how can I not question your behavior? You’re mean, and controlling and you have a device on me to keep my super soldier serum from working. You talked about how I broke your trust, have you ever considered that you shattered my trust with you? The love I once had for you is slowly falling apart and I don’t think I could ever love you under these circumstances.”

Steve listened as you poured your heart out. A part of him wanted to be angry about what you’re saying, while another part of him couldn’t believe that you were once in love with him. Once? Steve shook his head, maybe he was going about this in the wrong way. He never liked bullies and from what she is saying he sounded just like one.

“Steve trust goes both ways. If you want me to earn yours then you must earn mine as well. This dominant thing you’re doing over me won’t work if you want true love and a family one day. I’m pleading with you to stop this madness and let’s work on us before my love goes out like a flame never to be lit again.”

He takes a breath in and out trying to contain himself. Yes, he could see what she was saying about him. Steve did want her to make a family with but it was more than that. Little did she know he loved her the same, from the very beginning. He didn’t think for an instance that Tony would match them together in a million years, that’s why it never went beyond flirting. Steve took her hands in his and decided he needed to be honest.

“Look doll, I have loved you from the day we met. I never thought I would ever have a future with you. Not until Tony said we matched. I was so focused on finding the right woman who could have my children that I got blinded along the way. I’ve never wanted to hurt you nor do I plan on it. I just want a chance at us. For what could be? But it’s hard to trust your intentions after you tried to run away from me. How can I know if what you’re saying is the truth?” His eyes pleaded to hers as he searched her face for answers.

There is no way he loved her for that long. But, what if he is telling the truth? She closed her eyes and thought back to the beginning. Their awkward conversations, the silly jokes, him always complimenting her, the soft touches when no one looked and then it clicked. Her eyes opened wide and a tear fell from them again.

“I’m sorry I tried to run away but I was scared. I didn’t know what you wanted to do with me. You can believe this to be the truth. With how messed up this situation is I don’t want to be away from you. Look if we both try, maybe we can work towards trusting one another again. What do you say?”

Steve gave you that smile you always loved. He leaned in and gave you a soft kiss on your lips. “Let’s try again and work towards trusting one another. I promise to not harm you or take you against your will again. But know this, if you are lying to me you will know my wrath, and trust me when I say you haven’t seen the mean side of me yet.”

The last sentence sent chills through your body. By the way, he was looking at you, you swore there was something evil brewing. You kept telling yourself to relax and everything would be okay. If you did decide to run, the time had to be right. For now, your feelings were telling you to try things with Steve. What’s the worst that could happen?

The next morning you woke up to Steve cuddling you close and your legs tangled together. You had gone to bed in just his t-shirt and he slept naked.  The rain had ended overnight and the sun was rising in the sky. You reflected on last night after you spoke your truth. Steve let you sit by the fireplace and read a book instead of locking you in the bedroom. It was a nice moment between the two of you when he sat on the other end of the couch with your legs in his lap. 

Before bed, Steve had told you that tomorrow you both were going to try to start over again. That he would follow your lead on this while he learns to trust you again.

You smile to yourself as you soak up all the cuddles from him and let out a sigh of contempt. Just as you wiggle your butt from excitement you hear a groan behind you.

“Keep that up and I’m going to fill that pretty pussy.”

A giggle escaped your lips. “So what if I want you to?”

Steve’s eyes opened at that comment and he had a grin on his face. “Is that so?” He questioned. 

When you wiggled again Steve quickly rolled you onto your back and parted your legs so he could now lay in between them. Steve pushed his shirt up and pulled it off quickly. He rubbed his cock against your already wet pussy. You couldn’t help but be excited cause you knew how well Steve was between the sheets. Steve’s cock started to get covered in your arousal and the tip of his cock kept nudging your entrance until finally, he slid home. 

Both of you let out a groan once he was fully inside you. You wrap your legs around his waist and your hands claw at his back when he starts moving with hard thrusts. Your nails rake down his back with every thrust of his hips. Steve is on his forearms so he can kiss and swallow your moans. With every thrust, you moan and gasp in pleasure. He keeps a steady, hard pace and you end up squealing in pleasure as he hits a certain spot inside you that has you seeing stars. With every thrust, you’re getting closer and closer to your impending orgasm. Steve quickly scoops your legs up with both arms and pushes your legs to your chest deepening his thrusts. 

Your fingernails scrape down his arms as you try to find a way to ground yourself from the pleasure he is giving you. Steve keeps thrusting into you harder and harder while he starts to play with your clit. It brings your orgasm to a peak as you scream his name into the abyss. Your pussy clenches down on his cock as he continues to plow into you. Once you come down from your high Steve pulls out of you and flips you over to your stomach. Pulling you to your knees he sinks back into your velvety walls and fucks you hard and fast as his fingers dig into your hips. 

This is everything Steve has wanted from you. You're being submissive to him whether you realize it or not. Your head is on the bed, fists clenched into the sheets while you moan out incoherent words. He desperately wants to fill you up and breed you. He knows having a baby will link you two forever and the time to start that family is now. 

The faster Steve is pounding into you the closer he is getting to his high but lord he needs you to cum one more time. His left-hand leaves your hip and his fingers move down to circle your clit again. All it takes is a few swipes and you're screaming his name to the heavens above. Your cunt grasps his cock and milks him dry as Steve cums deep inside you. His groans fill the air as he gives a couple more sloppy thrusts into you. Steve looks down on your spent form and leans over your back to kiss your shoulder. 

Once he pulls out of you he goes to the bathroom to clean himself up before he returns to you with a washcloth. Gently he cleans you up and throws the washcloth in the laundry hamper. You’re completely exhausted and feel like you can barely move. If you had your super soldier serum running through your veins instead of suppressed you could have kept up with him, no problem. Now your body could just roll over to your back and look up at him. 

He was smiling down at you looking like a man who just finished a successful mission. You lifted your arms a little to show him you wanted a hug. Steve lay next to you and brought you in for a hug. He held you close to his chest as you snuggled into him. Your cheek rubbed against his chest hair as you enjoyed this feeling of euphoria. 

Maybe things could work out between you both and you could have a happy ending? It just depends on how Steve decides to treat you, like an object or someone to be loved unconditionally. You both promised to start over and this was the best way to show each other how much you loved one another. Hopefully, he will begin to trust you over time and maybe get your super soldier serum flowing through your veins again. I mean it’s not like he wants you like a regular woman, right? There is always going to be that adventurous side of you and you’re going to want a normal life that isn’t just sex. Though you had to admit this is the best sex you’ve had in your life. It’s everything you dreamed of minus the kidnapping part. 

Steve kisses you on the forehead and groans as he stretches. “Why don’t we get in the shower and I will cook breakfast for you? I’m sure you’re hungry. What does my lovely doll want to eat?”

You smile up at him and answer, “Well I do have a craving for pancakes and you sure do make the best ones.”

Chuckling, Steve nods his head. “I can do that for you, doll.”

Steve rolls out of bed and pulls you to your feet. As you walk to the bathroom Steve slaps your butt playfully. “Though first, I think I need another round of you in the shower.”

You squeal in delight as you head to the bathroom. Maybe this could work, you think to yourself as the hot water sprays down on both of you. Today is a brand new day to figure out whatever it is between the two of you. 

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[theheartbreakprincesss]

red lips and rosy cheeks, a criminal minds imagine

pairings: fem!reader x bau!team (platonically of course) and fem!reader x spencer reid (if you squint a little)

word count: 800ish

warnings: none i think. no use of y/n because i don’t really vibe with that. no angst, a little fluff, maybe? it’s mostly just funny i think. also not beta-read, or like we say in ao3, no beta we die like men.

author’s note: i have been binge-watching criminal minds for a couple weeks now and of course i’m obsessed with it, and this visual of spencer becoming a little flustered over seeing his crush all dressed up popped into my mind. it’s my first time writing an imagine with the reader as the main piece in the story, so idk be gentle with me? i also never wrote for criminal minds and i’m only in season 4. i just wrote this instead of sleeping or actually writing my other fics. sorry if this is terrible anyway. i’m open to feedback! thanks for reading <3

Working for the FBI could be a handful, sometimes, but the job had its benefits. You could catch criminals and help people, make a difference, you know? But something you would never expect to count as a benefit was the possibility of being called in the middle of a date.

You didn’t even want to go on that date, but your long-time friend Emma had insisted she knew a guy that would be perfect for you. Emma knew you since you both were undergraduates working on their degrees, so you had figured it wouldn’t hurt to give the guy a chance.

It wasn’t your best moment.

Not that the guy turned out to be a psychopath or something like that. But the ice of your drink had barely started to melt when it became clear that Sean wasn’t the guy for you, and by the end of your martini, you could see that Sean was too self-centered and trying too hard to be something he was not, with the fake watch and the well-pressed but clearly cheap suit and exaggerated tales of his life. An hour into the date and you were begging to the universe to offer you a way out of that bar.

Thankfully the universe seemed to listen to your plea, and you let out a relieved sigh when you saw Garcia’s name on the screen as the phone rang. Apparently, Hotch wanted everyone at the office right that moment.

That hurry was what prompted you to go into the BAU headquarters straight from your date, thinking that a stop by your apartment to change would take too much time and that you could take the clothes out of your go bag and change out of your outfit once you got there.

“Hey there.” you greeted as you walked into the bullpen. “Is everyone here yet?”

“Rossi and Prentiss are on their way.” Morgan said from his desk. “Wonder boy is getting coffee.”

“Oh, okay.” you mumbled, moving to take off your coat and wondering if you would have time to wipe off the red lipstick before the briefing.

“Damn, pretty girl.” you heard Morgan say, that suggestive tone in his voice that annoyed the life out of you. “Did we interrupt something?”

“Only the most boring date I have ever been on.” you scoffed, nervously fixing your dress. It wasn’t inappropriate or something, just very different from what you used to wear. It had been Emma’s idea, actually, to pair that black sleeveless dress with knee-high boots. “He spent the entire time talking about himself.” you rolled your eyes.

“Oh, look at you!” Garcia exclaimed as she got into the bullpen. “You look like a million bucks, darling.”

“Thank you, Pen.” you said. “What’s the case about?”

“A woman went missing in Indiana this morning in the same way three more disappeared in the last month before they were found dead.” JJ told, walking out of her office. “Oh, hot date tonight?” she asked.

“Disappointing, actually.” you laughed. “Can we not talk about it?”

“Talk about what?” you heard Spencer’s voice from behind Penelope.

“About her date.” Garcia said. Spencer joined them as they all stood near your desk, two coffee mugs in his hands. His messy hair was the first thing you noticed, looking like he had been dragged out of his bed. He handed you the second coffee mug, the one with little cartoon kittens stamped on it, then his eyes really focused on you.

“Oh, thank you.” you mumbled, taking a sip of it.

“I– yeah, I…” he stammered, eyes moving up and down, up and down.

“Are you alright, Doc?” you asked, using the nickname you had given him a few weeks into working together.

“Ooh, I think you broke pretty boy.” Morgan laughed.

“It’s probably the red lipstick.” Garcia pointed out, joining Derek in his laughs. You waited for one of Spencer’s famous info-dumps, where he would talk about how red lipstick used to be made out of crushed beetles in Ancient Egypt or something, but he was still silent, lips parted like he meant to say something but couldn’t figure out what.

“Do you need me to reset you or something?” you were now having a bit of fun with it. It wasn’t like you were trying to be mean, but both of you had been dancing around unspoken feelings for a while now.

“I… you look pretty.” Spencer finally managed to say.

You put the mug to your lips, trying to hide the blood that was rushing to your cheeks as Morgan whistled.

“Go on, wonder boy.”

“Derek? Shut up.” then, you looked at Spencer again, who was timidly smiling at you.“Thanks.” you mumbled.

Spencer looked at the mug on your hands, focusing on the stain of your lipstick on the rim of the mug.

“Uh, did you know that the first known red lipsticks were created by crushing gemstones in Mesopotamia over 5.000 years ago?”

•

[lincolndjarin]

Oh Honey. ✩ Chapter 4

chapter four : painting the roses red

series masterlist ao3 kofi main masterlist

a/n : omfg im so sorry for how long this took to get out, with finishing another a fic and the holidays ive been swamped and this chapter was a bit of a monster (haha) so it took a lot of writing and rewriting but i'm relatively pleased with how it turned out. i hope y'all enjoy the penultimate chapter of oh honey!!

pairing : monster!joel miller x mortician!reader

rating : 18+ mdni - explicit content, read all warnings

word count : 11.7k

summary : feeling are hard, especially when your boyfriend is a blood thirsty monster and you’re supernaturally attracted to him.

warnings, etc. : dead dove do not eat, angst, graphic violence, language, smut, joel and reader are both not in good headspaces, dubcon (reader & joel are compelled to be together, all sexual acts are consensual but there is a uncontrolled attraction between the two characters), fingering in every sense of the word, joel is real beastly in this, spit kink (so much spit guys), oral m&f receiving, monster sex, vaginal&anal penetration, double penetration, body horror, rough sex, tit fucking, thigh fucking, cock warming, cum eating, size kink, period sex, blood drinking, gore, multiple orgasms, overstimulation, you know how joel has a big dick in every fic? what if he was literally 8 feet tall and an actual monster? that's how big his dick is in this, somnophilia, spit as lube, i'm making a lot of stuff up regarding vaginal&anal elasticity, biting, marking, death, readers hair is long enough to pull, i'm probably missing tags cause this chapter is a lot but tldr - joel is a monster with a monster cock and he's putting it in all sorts of places. this is a monster fucker fic - proceed accordingly

“Joel…” You give him a wary look as he bares his teeth at you, a low rumble starting in his throat as your instincts kick in. “Joel!” You yell like you would if you were scolding a dog and he freezes in place. 

Your head is fuzzy and you can only hope that his is as well. That supernatural attraction you have for him suddenly feels as if it’s increased tenfold. 

He doesn’t just smell good anymore. He has an aura now, the air around him is heavy, like you’re breathing in water. The scent of it is thick with lavender and peppermint, it’s a fresh and earthy smell that makes you want to inhale deeper. 

You want to touch him, taste him. His skin looks so smooth like this, pulled taut and tight, you have to fight the urge to run your fingers across it just to see if it’s as silky as it looks. You want to grab him by the antlers and hold him in place so you can just breathe in the floral smell of his breath. 

He hovers above you, unmoving as if waiting for a command. His large glassy eyes give you a curious look and you take the opportunity to sit up a bit straighter. 

He’s scratching the hardwood. 

It’s the silliest detail to focus on but Joel clearly loves his home, he takes such good care of it and the last thing you want is for him to accidentally destroy it in this state. So you do the only thing you can think to do on such short notice. 

“Let’s go to bed Joel. I’m tired.” You get to your feet extremely slowly, he backs up enough to let you stand. Practically purring when you hold your hand out, he reaches his out to meet yours. Your entire hand fits in his palm so you just take one of his fingers, wrapping your hand around it as you lead him down the hall. When you open his bedroom door he rushes in excitedly, curling up on the mattress in the middle of the room. 

You reach up, turning the overhead light on but he immediately flinches, snarling as you quickly turn it off. 

“I’ll- umm, go get a lamp.” You turn to leave but a large hand grips your waist. You put your hands over it, carefully peeling his fingers off of you. “I’m just going to the living room… I’ll be right back.” He huffs. You feel his exhale on your back as you hurry out into the hall. Your stomach churns instantly. 

It’s hard to be away from him under normal circumstances but just being in a different room now makes you want to hurl. 

You move swiftly. Unplugging the first lamp you find. 

You should run. 

The smart thing to do right now would be to grab his keys off the counter, get in the truck, and call Tommy. 

But is that what you really want? 

You’re trying to think of any reasons you have to not be with Joel but your mind is so cloudy, you can’t recall a single thing. 

So you take the lamp back to his room. Plugging it in, dimly illuminating the room before shutting the door. 

Your body isn’t sure what to do. 

You’re afraid. More afraid than you’ve ever been. But also disturbingly aroused. He sits on the bed. If he had a tail you’re certain it'd be wagging. He looks so excited. How much of him is still Joel? Certainly not all of it, it seems like him but… beastly? He doesn’t seem to understand boundaries or human etiquette in general. 

But his eyes are Joel’s. 

It’s all of Joel’s personality traits with absolutely zero inhibitions. 

Once the lamp is plugged in and on he makes his way to the edge of the bed before reaching forward, one talon hooks onto your shirt collar. He tears through it, dragging you forward as you stumble into his lap. 

“You’re sleepy?” He grumbles. You nod frantically and he tosses you down onto the mattress. You land with a soft thud. You can add ‘not aware of his own strength’ onto the list of things you know about Joel in this form. 

He’s got a single pillow and a thin sheet. You lay your head on the pillow but have no time to grab the blanket as he lays down beside you, his entire body curled around you. 

Your face is pressed into his chest and you get a chance to inhale his sweet scent. 

It goes straight to your core. 

It feels like you must be gushing at this point. 

You decide to turn around. It doesn’t cross your mind to not turn your back on him until it’s too late. He grabs you, pulling you flush against him. His talons scrape across your clothes. Every slice has you wincing, you’re waiting to see blood but he’s careful. 

He never so much as nicks you. 

You remain unmoving through the process only watching until he begins to peel your clothes off of you until you’re in your underwear which he immediately makes quick work of. 

Okay. 

You're naked in bed with your monster boyfriend, what could go wrong?

“Pretty.” He speaks in a low bellowing tone. 

“Thank you, Joel.” You whisper back. “You’re pretty too.” He only exhales sharply in response. You go ridgid immediately when he slowly traces a claw up and down your stomach. When his hand begins dipping lower you instinctively recoil, thin scratch lines follow his movements, but he’s careful to not ever break the skin. “Not there-” He holds a hand in front of your face, letting you watch as he retracts it back into the skin, his maw nuzzling into the back of your neck as he does. You take his hand in both of yours, inspecting his fingers, seemingly no longer sharp but you’re still apprehensive. You hold him close to your face in an attempt to keep him away from your most sensitive bits, not wanting to take the risk of having your insides torn to shreds. He bumps an uncoordinated finger against your chin instead, poking at you until you apprehensively open your mouth a bit. Immediately he takes the opportunity to push a thick, gangly finger past your lips. 

You inhale sharply but you can’t help yourself as you run your tongue along the digit, his skin tastes like sugar cookies and before you’re even aware of what’s happening you’re completely lost in the taste. 

His fingers have practically tripled in size and as he tries to push another finger into your mouth your jaw aches at the stretch. 

“Ole-” Is all you can mumble out as he scrunches up tighter around you, your throat constricting around him as he probes deeper. Could he break your jaw like this? He definitely could, you’ve seen first hand what kind of violence he’s capable of yet for some reason you don’t push him away, he’s being careful eith you. 

Slow and methodical as he rests his head atop of yours he moves his fingers in and out of your mouth. It’s sort of like a blowjob. If you were blowing two boney dicks. It’s only a matter of seconds before you’re salivating wildly at the taste, your chin slick with drool as he watches each motion intently, slowing when your eyes begin to water. 

“So, so pretty.” He withdrawals his fingers, sucking them into his own mouth before languidly letting his tongue drop out of his maw, licking up the spit from your chin. You’re gasping faintly, his tongue is hot silk on your lips as he slides the appendage into you. The sound is obscene as he runs his tongue along the inside of your cheeks and across your teeth, tasting every single inch of you that he can reach, and he reaches pretty far. You gag when he pushes in deeper, his jaw practically wrapped around yours as delves deeper. Finally you retch when his tongue slides into your throat and he withdrawals, licking any remnants of your saliva from your lips before staring at you with a satisfied look.  

“Sleep?” Even when he whispers it feels like he’s shaking the very foundation of the house.

“Yes Joel, we should sleep.” Your voice is already raspy from the brief interaction. He picks the blanket up between two talons, pulling it up over you before wrapping himself around you entirely, caging you against his chest and between his arms. 

You should be afraid, you should be absolutely appalled by everything that’s just happened but you’re tired. You’re so, so, tired and Joel is warm. And he’s safe, no one and nothing can hurt you here with him. 

You haven’t slept well in ages. 

And he smells so nice.

When his breathing slows and the large expanse of his chest heaves you shut your eyes, unable to find the energy to do anything else.

You wake with a start when Joel bumps his face against yours, when you open your eyes he’s staring at you rather nervously, a slight anxiety behind the darkness of his eyes. 

“Are you hungry?”  He mumbles, knocking a few items towards you on the bed. You stare at the bottle of water and poorly constructed sandwich, the bread squished and torn. You can’t help but smile at the gesture.

“Thank you.” You sip at the water before eating the messy sandwich, it isn’t terrible, and he clearly made an effort. You stifle a laugh at the thought of him in this state maneuvering around the kitchen. He sits patiently beside you, occasionally scratching at his antlers until you’re finished. Once you’re taken care of in that regard he makes a hushed whining noise that has your head turning in an instant. “Are you okay?” It almost sounds like he’s in pain as you scoot towards him, keeping the blanket held up against your chest to maintain some sense of your modesty. He nods, almost looking bashful as the parts of his face that are still intact blush red. 

“Can you sit with me?” He motions towards his lap as you nod, moving to sit between his legs with your back to his chest. His hands go to touch you but he stops himself hovering above you until you nod. 

“It’s okay, you can touch.” You’re less nervous now that you’ve had him in your mouth, certain he isn’t going to tear into you. And with that his hands pull down the blanket. He tosses it aside as he pushes your legs up onto his, spreading you wide open as he rests his head on your shoulder, inhaling deeply. He makes sure you can watch him retract his claws before he tilts his head forward before letting a thick line of saliva fall down his tongue onto your breasts, watching with heavy breaths as it falls down your body until it crests above your mound. With a sharp inhale you can feel him drip along your seam. Once it’s where he wants it he happily glides his fingers across your core, rubbing his spit in, before you’re even a little ready for it he your entrance, pushing a finger into you as the air is punched out of your stomach by the suddenness. He leans forward to get a better view as your pussy sucks him in. 

You’re dizzy. Drunk purely off of his touch as you lean back to rest against him as he pushes further till you’ve taken his entire finger. Delicately, like you might break, he fucks you with the digit, it isn’t until he begins moving in and out that you see the mixture of slick that pouts out of you like a fountain. Some of it’s his spit but the rest is an intricate design of reds, pinks, and whites. You hadn’t even remembered you were on your period, everything has been such a whirlwind. 

He doesn’t seem to mind getting his hands dirty. If anything the sight of blood seems to egg him on as he speeds up, opting to curl his finger every so often to press the spongy nerves there that make your ankles dig into the mattress and your back arch off of him. Your stomach tightens with every press of the tip of his finger against your insides. 

“Joel- oh my god, Joel please.” You ramble a messy chant of his name as his other hand glides down your torso. He barely even has to ghost his fingers over your clit to make you lurch forward, seeing stars as he holds you tight. Your walls tighten around him as you come with a choked up cry. 

The second you come you don’t even have a second to breathe before he’s lifting you up by your hips, squeezing to maneuver you so you’re flat on your back and held up by your ankles

“Joel!” You yelp in surprise but you're silent the second he reaches up to put his finger into your mouth, your tongue melting against his skin, reveling in the taste of the mixture. The sharp tang of your own fluids is present but they’re overpowered by the traces of his saliva. Your eyes shut as your hands grab his wrist, sucking him clean in the process. It’s warm, like how scotch would go down but it tastes like maple syrup and you just can’t stop. 

You want more. More Joel, as much as he’ll give you. You grip his finger with your lips as he removes it with a faint pop, settling down by your legs. His crooked spine curls up even when he lays on his stomach like this. In any other instance you’d feel self conscious of the way he examines your most intimate areas in the lamp light but you’re too blissed out to care. You start to prop yourself up to look down at him but just as you do he starts touching you again. You collapse down onto the mattress with a filthy moan as he pushes his finger back into you, with much more ease this time around. As his pointer finger twitches and wiggles around within you you feel his middle finger drifting lower. You’re so slick between your legs because of everything that he doesn’t need any sort of lubricant to press into your other hole. You’re thankful for how slow he goes. Alternating between soft nudges against your g-spot to deeper presses into your ass as he tries to fill you as much as possible. 

The sound of flesh slapping together fills the room as he begins moving rapidly, in and out, and in and out, and in and out. Until you can’t think straight. You don’t make a sound, only able to open your mouth in a silent scream accompanied by gasps. 

You aren’t entirely sure what his intentions were with how long he fucks you on his hand until he finally pulls it away, his breath hot as he salivates at the sight of your twitching, puffy holes. 

He was warming you up to take his tongue. 

Once his mouth latches onto you he can’t control himself. Immediately he delves into the soaking wet heat between your thighs, poking and prodding every nerve and sensitive spot within you. You watch with morbid fascination as he unhinges his jaw enough to fully envelop your pussy. His teeth graze the plush skin of your mound as he pushes further into you, the tip of his tongue pokes at your cervix but he just keeps pushing. 

“Ah-” You gasp, hands darting downwards to grab at his curls, holding tight as he flattens the base of his tongue against your clit. In one fluid moment he pulls himself out of you, sliding down, prodding at your asshole. It’s a foreign sensation as he licks up and down, from your puckered hole back up to your clit. It leaves you buzzing and craving more. He teases between your clit and hole, slurping and humming, as if he were eating a delicious meal. 

You don’t do anything but stare at the ceiling trying to stay conscious as he pulls orgasm after orgasm from your weeping cunt. When your legs begin to shake and go limp on either side of his head he grunts in discontent, simply picking up each of your ankles and setting them on his antlers as if they were stirrups. He seems to prefer you in that position and you do too, you don’t have to worry about anything other than remembering how to inhale and exhale, and he has all the access he could possibly want to the home he finds between your legs. 

Funnily enough he’s more human than ever when his face is pressed into your folds. He certainly talks more, constantly mumbling into your tender flesh. 

“S’ so sweet.” It isn’t the first time he’s said that, you can’t help but wonder what you taste like to him. His mouth is a bloody mess as his lips wrap around your hole as best they can, trying to pull more blood from you. When he briefly pulls away he exhales, satisfied, before returning to his work. “So- so fuckin’ sweet.” He growls, the vibrations pulling an almost painful orgasm out of you. “Fuckin’ made for me.” 

He’s relentless and endless. 

When he knows you can’t take anymore he gives you small breaks. Nipping at your thighs and chest to satisfy himself instead. He doesn’t break the skin, just scraping his teeth against you while trailing the faint sting with his tongue. You come to your senses briefly as he’s dragging his teeth over your pebbled nipple. There’s no more shame or hesitation, you can’t control yourself as you grab him by the antlers, bringing up to your face as you hungrily open your mouth. He obliges immediately, spitting onto your waiting tongue before going back to his work. 

It doesn’t take much after that for you to be completely gone. Melting into his eager maw, letting him have you entirely. 

Are you still conscious? If your eyes are open they aren’t seeing anything. You’re pretty sure you’re asleep. If you are, it isn't slowing him down in the slightest but you can’t complain, you couldn’t form a sentence if you tried. 

You just let yourself sleep.

And you don’t dream. 

His head is using your stomach as a pillow as he snores softly. There’s a bottle of water thrown down beside you that you gratefully take, drinking the entirety down in one go. 

The sound of your drinking makes him stir. 

When he wakes he crawls upwards, he presses something sort of like a kiss to your lips before adjusting you both.

He lifts you into his lap, cradling you between his thighs as he rubs you down against the tent in his pants. As far as you can tell he hasn’t sought any relief of his own these last couple days but it certainly feels like that’s what’s about to happen. You can feel his monstrous cock against your legs, you hadn’t even considered until just now that it would have gotten bigger along with the rest of him, too distracted by everything else, but you’re suddenly aware of how just massive the thing pressed against you is, a small tree trunk nestled between your thighs as his fingers pull your ankles apart to further rub himself into you.

One large hand holds you in place as the other tears at the pants you still can’t believe survived his transformation, they don’t survive the small razors of his talons though as he slices through the flimsy fabric and your mouth falls open in disbelief. 

He slaps his length down onto your stomach, pulling you down so you’re essentially sitting with it between your legs. His breath is hot and heavy against your face. 

It’s as if he’s sizing himself up, trying to figure out just how far into your stomach he’d go. Your fear is apparent as you stare down at the sheer size of him. 

A tree trunk was definitely an exaggeration. 

It’s closer to a baseball bat. 

To accomplish his size his foreskin has pulled back a bit, now giving you a perfect view of his leaking tip, angry and red. 

You gulp, almost comically. 

How the fuck are you supposed to fit something the size of your forearm into your vagina? The simple answer is you aren’t, at least not now. He lays you back down on the bed, your heart rate picks up at the thought of him trying to squeeze himself into you but thankfully he moves upwards instead. 

He sets his dick down onto your sternum. His massive hands come down to push your chest up, trying to wrap your tits around his length roughly as you gasp. 

“Joel- Joel let me do it, hon.” You gently lift your own hands to remove his, carefully avoiding his extended claws as you do so. He grunts but relents, placing his hands on either side of your head as he lets a thick line of spit fall off of his tongue onto your tits. Without missing a beat he begins to rock himself between them. 

Slow and steady at first but quickly he picks up his pace, grunting and clawing at the mattress around you as he tilts his head back. You can’t help yourself as you open your mouth, letting his cock head slide in and out of your mouth. It’s the closest you’re gonna get to blowing him when he’s this size. 

If you thought he’d tasted good before you’d been sorely mistaken. He tastes comfortable and familiar now, like hot chocolate and marshmallows. 

Sweet and sticky as he leaks onto your tongue. 

He doesn’t last very long at the speed he’s going, needy and desperate to paint your face.

With a few more quick thrusts he falls forward, his body arching over yours as he comes with a snarl, tearing into the mattress, as your face is coated in his cum, more than you’ve ever seen before. Enough to completely cover the bottom half of your face as your mouth falls open. You’re ravenous in your efforts to lick it up. When he calms down a bit he leans back to help you, scooping up his spend with his fingers and pressing it onto your tongue. With greedy little sounds you swallow every last bit. 

“You’re okay?” He mumbles as you sit up. 

“I’m good.” You smile, when was the last time you thought clearly? Your head is spinning, everything about him is too good to be true. It’s as if you never feared him at all. 

He gives you a few minutes to recover before he’s raring to go again. You watch as his cock slaps up against his stomach as he stares at you. 

“Already?” You give him a skeptical look as he nods. He picks you up once more, spreading your legs apart as he settles himself between them. 

Grabbing you by your hips he begins to move you up and down. The only effort you have to make is squeezing your thighs around him, he does the rest for you, stroking you up and down his length as if you were his own personal fleshlight. Your tits bounce with each slam downward, you cunt aching from the friction. Eventually he spits again, watching as the string falls down to his cock, effectively coating him and making it easy to move you quicker. When he leans down, licking the pulse points on your neck you wrap your fingers around his antlers in an attempt to steady yourself. 

He’s not touching you enough. 

He ghosts over your clit with every thrust but it just isn’t enough contact as you whine. After a few more agonizing seconds you feel a sharp pinch as he finishes across your chest. When he pulls away his front teeth are slick with blood. Your hand flies to your neck and you quickly find the source of your brief pain. He looks ashamed as you shake your head.

“It’s okay, you just got excited.” You whisper, he doesn’t shy away as you pull yourself up to wrap your arms around his neck. “It’s okay.” He hums softly and you feel him continuing to lap at the wound. 

He doesn’t give you a break this time around. 

Holding his hand in his lap as you ride his fingers, keeping your arms around his neck as you use him as leverage to help you lift up and off of him only to slam back down. You struggle to catch your breath as you chase that satisfaction you aren’t sure you’re ever going to reach. Will it ever be enough? Or will you always feel this painful hunger for him? 

You don’t get a chance to linger on your worries as he grinds his palm upwards into your clit, pulling an orgasm from your exhausted body. You’re so full, almost too full as you lay limply against him. Two monstrous fingers pressed into your weary cunt and one in your ass as you let out a sob of pleasure. 

“Joel- Joel I can’t do it anymore, I-I’m too tired.” You sniffle in his lap as he runs a hand through your hair.

“Can I- can I put it in while you sleep?” He mumbles. In any other circumstance you’d be furious at that kind of question but the idea’s too appealing. He’s too appealing. You nod and that’s all he needs. He lays back on the shredded mattress as you straddle his lap. His cock stands stiff in front of you as you trace a finger through the coarse hair at the base, lightly scraping your fingernails across the prominent vein running along the underside of his shaft before finally sitting up, trying to line him up at your entrance before taking a deep breath. 

“Jesus- fuck Joel.” You’re unable to form any sort of coherent sentence as you lower yourself down onto him. You’re thankful for whatever mysterious force makes you crave him so dearly because you’re certain that without it you’d be in immense pain, the ruddy head of his cock feels like a fucking grapefruit being squeezed into your vagina. It’s a slow, arduous process. He makes no effort to rush you, remaining quiet outside of his whimpers as you struggle to push him in deeper. It becomes clear at one point that he isn’t going to fit any deeper unless he wants to poke your lungs. You’re slick with sweat, panting as you look at him for approval. His eyes stare in awe at you, a finger tracing the vague bulge in your stomach where he rests inside of you. 

You’re so weary you just fall forward onto him. Laying your head on his chest, his cock pulsing within your walls, straining to adjust to him as both moan in unison. You want to stay awake, you want to ride him and watch his face as you take more and more of him but you’re so fucking tired you can’t even keep your eyes open. Trying to get just a bit of rest. 

He doesn’t seem to care what part of you he’s fucking as long as he gets to stick himself somewhere. At one point he tries to put it in your belly button and you have to swat him away. 

You don’t get much sleep, he doesn’t seem to need much of it so you don’t get any either. 

“Wake up.” You feel his maw rifling through your hair, his teeth softly scrape against the back of your neck. “Please.” 

You hum, half asleep, and reaching around in the darkness to gently push his face away as he huffs with indignation. 

“What’s wrong? Are you okay?” You massage the tense flesh of his jaw as he tilts himself down, nudging his nose against your face. 

“Missed you.” 

“Oh, honey, I’m right here, I’m not going anywhere.” You murmur, a pang of sympathy fills your chest. “I’m just tired.” 

You’re always tired. 

You weren’t sleeping well before your monster boyfriend was spending every waking moment fucking you senseless and you definitely aren’t now. 

He whines, high pitched from the back of his throat. 

“You feel a lot of big emotions when you’re like this, don’t you hon.” Your voice is soft and raspy as you reach for him. 

“Got bored without ya.” He grumbles, leaning into your touch as you struggle to find his eyes in the darkness. 

You want to enjoy his praises more but you still aren’t l sure if it’s him at this, how conscious is the Joel you know in there?

“Joel?” 

“Hmm?” His tongue pokes at your jaw as he hums. 

“How much of this is really you? Do you remember our dates? Our fights?” 

“S’all me. M’just bigger.”

“Mhmm. Is it a little fuzzy for you? Being near me?” 

“S’warm.” It is. He’s like a goddamn furnace but you don’t care if you get burnt as long as you stay warm. 

“Yeah?”

“And fuzzy, I s’pose.” He inhales deeply, snout buried in your hair. “I like bein’ near you.” 

“I like being near you too Joel.” You’re almost certain you don’t. A nagging feeling in the back of your mind tells you that something is horribly wrong here. Any of those thoughts vanish though as you realize he’s still nestled deep within you, something that you’ve been waking up to more and more often. Your cunt flutters around him as you cautiously slide him out of you. A flood of relief washing over your sore muscles as you do so but the reprieve is short. 

He twists you around so you’re on your hands and knees, briefly thrusting haphazardly between your thighs before grunting in frustration, slapping himself down on your back. After a brief pause you feel the familiar sensation of his saliva on your lower back, his cock sliding through the mess as he plays with the meat of your ass. Eventually he moves, you’re a little worried he might try and fuck your ass like this but thankfully he seems more than content just rocking his hips against the swell of your cheeks, watching your holes twitch eagerly until he can’t help himself, sliding back into your still puffy cunt. 

“Christ Joel!” You squeal as he presses up into your cervix in one hasty motion.

You can practically feel him in your throat as he snarls, once again taking complete control over your body as he holds your hips, pulling you back onto his length. He’s so thick, splitting you open, pressing into every soft spot within you until you’re seeing spots in your vision. He’s hell bent on trying to squeeze himself into you entirely despite the fact that it simply isn’t going to happen. 

How long have you been here? 

As your mind wanders he seemingly senses your mood shift as a large hand begins rubbing soft circles into your clit until you forget any of your concerns. 

It’s easy to lose your train of thought when you’re coming your brains out. 

“Joel, Joel, Joel.” You gasp out as his grip on your hips tenses.

“Fuck- I fuckin’- bunny-” He unravels, face buried in your hair as he rambles. 

He isn’t far behind you, when you come he pulls out quickly. His cum coats your spine, a few flecks settling in your hair as you collapse, already tired again, now with a satisfied Joel laying on top of you. 

“Love you so fuckin’ much.” He mumbles, barely audible. 

You pretend not to hear it. 

It’s a never ending cycle. 

Wake up, fuck, drink water if it’s there, sleep, repeat. 

You don’t say anything but Joel as he wrenches the word from your throat over, and over, and over again. 

Until you wake up with his head between your legs, the moment you smiled down at him he pulled off of you with a grunt.

He stumbles back and away from you, groaning in pain, your instinct is to immediately go to him but he holds his hands up in front of himself to stop you. 

“Joel?”

Your hands fly to your ears, your palms trying to block out the sound of his wailing. It’s somehow worse, watching it in reverse. The way his bones break so suddenly, his skin ripples and does its best to adjust but it looks like agony as it tries to push itself back into its proper shape despite the fact that there’s simply too much blood in his body. He’s leaking out the excess. Eyes, ears, nose and mouth, the blood just has nowhere else to go. You want to help him, to hold him but you can’t seem to move, you’re a captivated audience to the macabre display. 

His mouth is the worst of it. His jaw retreats back into its proper place before the skin has time to mend and the teeth have time to retract, making a gruesome mess of the bottom half of his face as his mouth does it’s best to hold too many teeth that are too big and too sharp as the push his tongue back into his throat while butchering his lips, reducing them to bloody shreds. 

Finally your brain manages to move your limbs as you rush forward, taking his face in your hands, trying to calm him down as he roars, pained and frightened. You press your forehead to his, whispering to him. 

“Hey- hey you’re okay. You’re okay.” His antlers begin to retreat back into his skull with a wet crunching. Each inch further has him wincing and crying out as you rub the tender skin of his cheeks as the holes in the flesh splice back together. 

Until it’s finally over and everything is quiet. 

Then it happens. 

It’s like waking up.

Like you’ve been trapped in a dense, dense, fog. A salt and peppered, vanilla flavored, pine scented fog, and when the mist clears you see the truth that was hiding from you these past few days. 

And you see the monster. 

It doesn’t matter that he stayed here with you and didn’t hurt anyone during this cycle. It doesn’t matter that you’re ‘destined’ to be with him. And it doesn’t matter that he loves you. 

You’re looking at a monster. 

And that fact has nothing to do with the creature he turned into. He killed people, good people, innocent people. How the hell are you supposed to love him like this? 

You don’t love him. 

You can’t. He’s sick, he’s a murderer. 

And you haven’t even addressed Darlene in the slightest. 

He’s a monster, and a killer. 

And currently he’s sat across from you with a rather stunned look on his face, holding the blanket up over his waist, blood still slick on his skin. 

You do the only logical thing that comes to mind and you stand, walking out of the room, grateful that he doesn’t try to stop you. You search his laundry room for clothes, eventually finding a stretched out Fleetwood Mac shirt in the dryer and some basketball shorts that fit you well enough. 

You’re trying to recall the events of the last few days but it’s all so blurry it makes your head hurt as you walk back into the kitchen, desperate to just get out of here. 

Your phone is on the counter, dead, you don’t have a way out of here so with a sigh you unravel your charger, plugging it in on the counter. You listen for any signs of Joel but you hear nothing, a part of you wants to go check on him but you can’t bring yourself to face him. 

He’s a murderer. 

Why can’t you seem to remember that? 

Your stomach growls as your phone buzzes to life, your hunger taking priority as you start looking through his cupboards until you find a cereal box, not bothering to find a bowl you simply reach in. The generic sugary flavor coats your tongue as you try to remember the last time you ate anything. You certainly ate at some point, you’re pretty sure Joel didn’t eat, he’s probably hungry. You shove one last handful of cereal into your mouth before setting the box aside for him. As your phone slowly powers on you’re met with an ambush of notifications, you quickly grab the device, silencing it as you watch your screen fill with messages. The majority are from Maria but you have a few from an unknown number, you scroll through those ones first. 

[ hey are you good? Marias worried sick about you ] 

[ this is tommy btw ] 

[ i’m sorry ] 

He certainly knows what happened. Does he think you’re dead? His last message is from two days ago, Maria sent you about a dozen messages a day, some are still coming in. 

[ Are you okay? ]

[ Please text me back. ] 

[ I’m gonna send Tommy over. ] 

[ I wanted to tell you. I’m sorry. ] 

Lot’s of apologies, you aren’t sure you forgive them. You text Maria back regardless. 

[ can you send tommy to pick me up? ] 

You don’t bother telling her where you are, you know she knows. She’s typing for quite some time based on the little bubble you stare at until you finally get a one word response. 

[ Okay. ]  

You don’t bother collecting your things, a mess of restraints and tools still scattered around the room, when the truck pulls up outside you grab your phone, for the first time since you left him in his room you hear noise from the end of the hall. As the door creaks open you rush to the door, not even bothering with your boots as you run out barefoot across the grass to the truck.  

“Christ, you look like shit.” He jogs across the front of the hood to open your door, taking your hand as he helps you up and into the truck.

“Thanks, Tommy.” You grumble to yourself, you haven’t actually looked in a mirror in about a week and considering everything you probably do look a little unpleasant. He makes his way back around the truck, immediately defending himself as he gets back into the driver's seat.

“I’m just sayin’, could be worse. Maria and I were worried he might have-” Both your heads tilt up as you see Joel on the porch, holding up the stretched elastic of his barely held together pajama bottoms with one hand, a profound sadness in his eyes as he meets your gaze. 

“I’d like to go home now.” You murmur, thankfully Tommy makes no effort to talk to his brother, simply putting the truck in reverse and pulling out of the driveway.  

It’s painfully quiet. 

He doesn’t turn on the radio as the two of you drive in the silence. A silence that remains until you’re pulling into the driveway that leads up to your camper. You’re tired, confused and not in the mood for conversation as you mumble a ‘thank you’ and open the door, before you can even get the door halfway open he reaches across you, pulling it shut. 

“Wait.” 

“Tommy-”

“I’m not gonna make excuses.” He gives you a look that can only be described as pure desperation so you take your hand off the handle. 

“Fine.” 

“I just wanna make sure you’re okay.”

You aren’t sure. 

“I know how Joel is when he’s like that, he’s got no self control.”

“I’m okay, Tommy.” Are you?

“You can always call me, or Maria, if ya ever need anything.” He says it in earnest as you nod. “And don’t worry about… everything, Maria always recovers within a few hours.” He gestures with his hands and you nod once more. There’s a brief moment of silence until you open the door again, this time without any resistance. “If we don’t hear from you Maria’s gonna come knockin’ on your door.” He tries to lift the mood as he laughs halfheartedly, you muster up a smile as you turn towards him.

“Thanks, Tommy.” You whisper before closing the truck door, not looking back as you twist the door knob. 

You take a long shower. 

Standing under the scalding water until it runs cold. Tommy was right, you do look like shit. Your skin is bruised in several places, especially your waist, despite the lack of pain. There are dark bags under your eyes as you run your fingers across the skin, and your hair is an entirely separate problem, tangled with dried spit and other fluids in certain parts. It takes ages to comb through it all with your fingers, you’re hopelessly trying to wash yourself clean of his scent. No matter how hard you try you can’t seem to be rid of the scent of pine that lingers on your skin. 

Eventually your fingers dip lower. You’re not sure what you’ll find but you’re genuinely surprised to find everything to be normal, you’re a little sore and tender in some spots but other than that you’re completely fine, once again Tommy was right. You step out of the shower, wrapping a towel around yourself before darting out into the kitchen, not bothering to change as you dial the name of the takeout place. You order a pizza, feeling absolutely famished as you search around for some clothes. You put a pair of thin pajama pants on, careful to not put too much pressure on your sore bits before grabbing Joel's shirt, pushing down the twinge of shame as you stare at the Fleetwood Mac logo in your mirror. 

You can’t help it.

It isn’t your fault he’s so easy to want. 

What had you been doing before you got distracted by Joel for… 

You check your phone,

Six days. 

Jesus. 

You shake the feeling of horror off. You were trying to find justice for your aunt. You’ve got a bit until the pizza’s delivered so you sit at your table, plugging her laptop in and opening a random folder, desperate to think about something other than those five days. 

Focus on Darlene. 

Do right by her.

Sleeping with the guy that killed her probably wasn’t the best way to do that but you shake the thought off.  

There’s more video files than you even know what to do with, as you flip through them you realize she was basically doing video diaries on a daily basis. 

“Fuck.” You grumble to yourself. It’ll take literal months to get through everything. After a few more minutes of trying to sort things out you find a video that is specifically named, standing out in a crowd of default files. When you scroll further you find a few more, you sort them into a separate folder until you have five files in total. 

Benni.mp4

Benita&Darlene.mp4

Eulogy.mp4

TrailCam18.mp4

JMiller.mp4

You stare at the list blankly before turning your gaze to the treeline outside. The sun is setting, Joel never came for you. You set the laptop on your bed, with trembling fingers you close the curtains around the camper before pouring yourself a glass of water. You take small sips, hoping the nerves that have plagued you all day might subside but you know they won’t. 

The pizza gets delivered. You eat slowly, putting off your task until you can’t any longer. 

Finally, when you can’t put it off anymore you go to your bed, sitting with your back to the wall as you open the first file. You’re mentally trying to recall how old Darlene was when she passed, the video is from nearly twelve years ago and you had thought she was significantly older, but the face you’re met with is startlingly similar to your own. There are a few glaring differences but she is no doubt related to you. Chewing your lip you press play. 

Benni.mp4

The camera shakes as your aunt takes a few steps back, an unseen spectator holds the camera, Darlene pushes up her boxy thick rimmed glasses as she laughs. 

“This, ladies and gentleman, is the new headquarters of the Mothman Maidens!” She takes a step to the side revealing the camper, brand new, with the for sale sign still on the window. 

“When did we agree on that name?” The voice behind the camera speaks. 

“You don’t like it?”

“Eh.” The camera shifts as the voice shrugs.

“Always so negative, bunny.”

“That’s even worse, I hate that.” 

“But you’re my bunny!”

“Your Benni. You know I hate that bunny shit.”

“Same difference.”

“Oh stop, hold this, let me do it.” She passes the camera to Darlene and now you’re watching a woman with bright red dyed hair and warm brown skin take her place. “Why are we doing this again?” The camera shakes as Darlene continues to laugh. 

“Because someday when we’re famous it’ll be good for us to have videos of our humble beginnings.”

“Clearly extremely humble.” She nods sarcastically before gesturing behind her. “I’m Benita Rivera and I’m joined by the incomparable Darlene Wilson in our newly purchased first home.” 

“Monster hunting headquarters.” Benita ignores her entirely, grinning from ear to ear as she begins walking backwards towards the camper. 

“My lovely lady here has insisted we move to the middle of nowhere so she can finally prove once and for all that she’s absolutely fucking bonkers.” 

“Ha ha.” Darlene mumbles, lighthearted and sarcastic. 

“Let me show you the rest, it’s way bigger on the inside.” With an exaggerated raise of her eyebrows she swings the door open, reaching for Darlene’s hand as she pulls her up into the camper, the familiar steps that you’re used to aren’t yet built. The camper looks extremely different. The interior is painted bright colors, the furniture is mostly metal and vinyl as they walk through the space, boxes scattered about the home until Darlene sets the camera on the counter to show off the two of them. Laughing as they dance around the kitchen. 

And then the video cuts. 

Benita&Darlene.mp4

The camera is being held by neither one of them now, an outside force films your aunt and Benita standing at what appears to be an informal wedding ceremony. Darlene dressed in navy blue dress pants with a clean white shirt standing across from Benita in a knee length eggshell sundress. Both of them grinning from ear to ear. You don’t recognize the man behind them who’s speaking, telling a story about the first time he met Darlene. 

“I now pronounce you wife and wife.” With a small chuckle he takes a step back, Darlene and Benita holding each other close as they kiss each other, people off camera cheering as they walk back down the aisle with each other. 

There’s a cut to the first dance. 

The two of them spinning around the small room, arm in arm. Adoration in each of their eyes as they laugh, Darlene pulling her close for another kiss. 

The rest of the video is spliced together clips of the wedding. 

The rest of the guests dancing, a toast where Benita calls her “my darling Darlene.” The cutting of the cake, and many, many kisses between the happy couple.    

And the video ends. 

Eulogy.mp4

The vibes have changed significantly, the camera now appears to be set up on a tripod, Darlene sits alone at the table in the camper. Her eyes are rimmed with red and her hair is falling out of a chaotic mess of an updo. Some time has to have passed based on the grays that now decorate her scalp. 

You have to check several times to make sure the video is playing, the screen seemingly frozen until she finally blinks.

“They wouldn’t let me attend the service.” She whispers, a hint of malice lingers on every word. “Said I’d just cause a scene.” Her jaw twitches as her expression of sorrow turns to rage. “I’m her wife. How could they not let me see her? They said it’d only upset me further, I know what that actually means, it means that that thing really did a number on her. They don’t want me connecting the dots.” She sniffles. 

She takes a deep breath. 

“Benita Isabella Wilson.” Her voice is already trembling. “I’m sorry. I’m sorry that I moved us here, and that you were involved in any of this. I don’t want to do this without you, yet here I am. Lost in the woods without my compass. I just don’t understand how this is fair. You were kind, you were good.” You watch as she gets more and more upset. “You didn’t even believe in any of this bullshit, you just wanted to be a part of my life. It should’ve been me, not you.”

She takes a deep breath, looking directly into the camera lens. 

“I’ll find the thing that took you.” 

The video ends. 

TrailCam18.mp4

The footage is grainy and extremely dark. Poor quality night vision of the woods, you don’t recognize the area but how could you, it all looks the same when you’re out there. Nothing happens for quite some time, just motionless green until in the corner you see a flash of movement followed by a disheveled man running into view, taking center stage as he trips over a tree root. He lands face first in the dirt, he can’t be much older than you as he rolls over to sit up and stare at something that hasn’t yet come into view, shaking and screaming. 

The trail camera doesn’t have audio and you’re forced to watch the slaughter in harrowing silence. 

You know what’s coming but it makes your stomach churn regardless. 

Joel. 

In all his glory. 

He has the appearance of a beast but even with the terrible camera quality you can see clear as day that it’s him.

Emerging from the trees, shoulder hunched forward as you watch the muscles of his neck twitch, knowing the tell tale sign of his snarl. His victim unfortunately can’t seem to find his footing, of course it wouldn’t matter if he did, he’d never outrun Joel. 

Turns out knowing he’s killed and actually seeing it are very different things. You feel sick as he grabs the struggling man by the back of the neck, slamming him into a nearby tree until the spastic movement of his legs and arms stops completely. 

You feel sick. 

Your lip trembles as you watch him feast. Tearing into the split open flesh as you look away from the sheer brutality of it. 

Thankfully the video cuts to Darlene sitting in the dark of the camper, the only light source appears to be coming from the laptop screen in front of her.

“I fucking knew it.” She lets out a harrowing squeal of laughter. “Joel fucking Miller.” 

There’s a manic look in her eyes as she swallows. 

“Joel Miller.” She repeats, sadder, this time. 

The video ends. 

JMiller.mp4

The video opens with a somehow worse looking Darlene setting up the camera seemingly above the fridge. She doesn’t bother brushing the tangles that fall in front of her face away, her hair now streaked with gray. She looks up at the camera, opening her mouth to speak but a knock at the door has her turning, immediately swinging it open to welcome Joel into her home. They exchange pleasantries like old friends as she pours him a mug of coffee and he sets down his toolbox. They talk for a few minutes before Darlene goes quiet, it’s barely noticeable but you catch the brief silence before she speaks once more. 

“Where were you this past week?” She sips her coffee. “It’s not like you to not answer the phone.” He shrugs, leaning back against the counter. 

“Contractor job out of state.” He responds with his usual seamless excuse as she nods. 

“Really? I drove past your place and your work truck was still there.” With another sip of her coffee the energy in the video changes drastically. A tension bubbling up between the two of them. 

“Tommy drove.” His answer is short and clipped as he sets his mug down behind him. 

“I went to visit Maria and Tommy was there. With your little one.” The conversation has a blatant hostility to it now as they stare at each other, a pause before Joel speaks again. 

“I meant to say I took Tommy’s truck.” 

“Tommy’s truck was parked outside of the house.”

Silence. 

Joel’s foot taps nervously on the tile as she stares at him, waiting for an answer. 

“Where were you Joel?” 

“That’s none of your business.”

“Why not just say that instead of lying?”

“Why am I suddenly bein’ interrogated?”

“What was so important that you had to be gone for a week and leave your young child behind?” If her goal was to make him snap it works.

“I will not have my ability to parent her questioned.” It almost sounds like a snarl, looks like it too with how he straightens up. He realizes his mistake quickly though, pinching the bridge of his nose as Darlene doesn’t so much as flinch. “What’s this about?” His voice has softened significantly.

Her expression is conflicted 

“I know what you did.” Is all she whispers as she turns to stare at him, the vibes going from upsetting to downright unbearable as you watch with bated breath. 

“Darlene…” For a fleeting moment you think he might actually confess. “I don’t know what you’re talking about. 

“Get out.”

“Please, I’m worried about you. You clearly aren’t in a good state of mind-”

“I want you to get out.” 

The footage cuts to black. 

You shut the laptop the second the video ends. The date had been a two weeks before Darlene died. 

Joel killed Benita. 

He probably killed Darlene.

You don’t want to move. You don’t want to do anything but you stand regardless, crawling into bed, clutching your phone in your hands. 

You’ve got a few missed calls from Joel but no texts. You’re too tired and too upset to deal with him right now, you’ll take care of it in the morning. You know what you want and you’re going to get it. 

No more lying and dancing around things.

You want answers and you aren’t taking no for an answer. 

Your head hurts. All the time. Time moves too slowly and too quickly and you can’t ever really seem to find your footing after seeing the videos.

[ are you working? ] 

[ everything okay? i can be there in ten ] 

You don’t want to be alone with him. You’re worried you won’t be able to control yourself. 

[ can we meet somewhere? ] 

[ of course ] [ whatever you want to do ] [ i can pick you up after work ] 

[ i’ll meet you there. see you at six. ] 

You send him to the place and turn your phone off, your nausea lets up a bit, as if your body knows you’ll see him soon. The smell of him that wafts off of his shirt helps a bit but you’re still aching for him despite how badly you wish you weren’t. You roll back over in bed, still exhausted as you set an alarm for later tonight. 

That’s how you end up in an empty Applebees. 

Just you and two waitresses who you watch play on their phones as you sit in the dimly lit booth. Your leg bounces up and down wildly as your eyes dart to the door.

Joel fucking Miller. You ignore the way your heart skips a beat at the sight of him in jeans and his green jacket. His eyes light up when he sees you but immediately shift to shame when he sees your expression. Brushing past the waitress he quickly rushes over to you, sitting across from you in the booth.  

He starts to speak but you silence him with a glare.

“Here’s how this is gonna work. I’m going to ask you some questions and you’re going to tell me the truth. You aren’t going to make shit up, or tell me I’m crazy, you’re just going to answer.” You look up at him expectantly, his expression is riddled with guilt as he nods.

“Okay-” He begins to start but you stop him once more.

“If you lie to me even once I swear to god I will leave and I will call the police. Are we understood?”

“Police aren’t gonna do anything…” He starts mumbling but the look on your face shuts him up. “I understand.”

“I want the truth. The whole truth, with no tricks or left out information, you’re going to tell me everything.” Your leg continues to bounce as one of the waitresses sets two waters down on the table, when she asks if she can get you something else to drink you both say no in unison. Watching as she scurries away.

“I’ll tell you whatever you want to know. No more lies.” He reaches across the table, trying to hold your hand but you quickly pull away. The smell of him is strong enough as is, you don’t need to feel his skin on yours, it’ll make you too vulnerable. 

“What are you?” Might as well start off with your most pressing questions. He chews his lip, as if he’s trying to figure out how to phrase it. 

“I’ve looked for answers, never found a proper name for it, Tommy seems to think we’re something adjacent to a wendigo.” You’re floored by the blatant honesty, a part of you assumed he was going to make things up again but it’s nice to know he isn’t hiding it anymore. Like a weight has been lifted off of you. 

“How long have you, you know, been like that.” 

“My whole life. Hard to predict when I’d lash out, it wasn't until you started your cycle that I would have found a strict schedule.”

“Did you know who I was?”

“No. I just knew you were out there, that’s how it is for the males, it’s easier for the women.” Women? You hadn’t considered there were others outside of the Miller brothers. 

“Is it just you and Tommy?”

“It’s genetic. My grandfather passed it to my mother, who passed it to Tommy and I.” He’s never spoken about his mother before but the way he scowls when he mentions her makes you want to avoid the subject. 

“So Sarah…?”

“It’s always been easier for her, she’s got the temper for it.” 

“When does she… transform?” 

“Whenever she wants, she’s not linked to anyone else the way we are, if she ever really lost her temper she might pop but she’s more mellow than the rest of us. Better than my mother ever was.” 

“Do you have control over it? Could you transform right now if you wanted to?” 

“Probably, I’ve never tried to do it on purpose, it doesn’t exactly feel great.” The sound of his bones popping in and out of place rings in your ears as you shudder. 

“So Sarah doesn’t ever do it?”

“She did when she was younger. Usually when I did she would too, just so she could stay with me. Once she became a teenager she stopped, I can’t remember the last time she changed.” He takes a sip of his water, clearly gauging your reaction to the onslaught of information he’s giving you. 

“Do you all eat the same thing?” He sits up a little straighter when you ask.

“No. Sarah never hurt anyone, ever. I made sure of it. Tommy doesn’t hurt anyone either.” 

But Joel does. 

“How am I supposed to forgive you, Joel?” The cold professional tone you’ve been managing to hold up is slipping as you lean closer to him and whisper. 

“Please-” He reaches for you again and you continue to move away. 

“You killed Darlene.” You’re losing your composure quickly. 

“I didn’t.”

“You killed her wife.” 

“It was an accident.” He sounds like he’s in pain. Like the mere reminder of his actions is hurting him but you can’t stop. 

“How many accidents have you had?”

With that he goes silent and you can’t help but assume the worst.

“It was less before you moved here.” He mumbles, the statement makes bile rise in your throat.

“So it’s my fault?” Your voice pitches up causing the waitress who’s headed in your direction to make a sharp turn in the other direction. 

“That’s not what I’m saying.” He whispers, clearly trying to calm you down but it isn’t working in the slightest. 

“It sure sounds like it is.”

“It used to be only one or two every cycle-”

“Only?” Your eyes are wide at the ruthlessness of the statement. “Is that supposed to make me feel better? That you only killed one or two people? Those people had families, they had lives.”

“You think that doesn’t bother me?” He’s starting to lose his nerve as well the silverware clinking as he slams his hand down on the table. 

“Clearly it doesn’t since it was only one or two.” His anger doesn’t scare you anymore. You’ve seen him at his worst, nothing scares you anymore. 

“Stop putting words in my mouth.” He begs, voice getting softer as you watch the waitresses staring at you from across the restaurant. 

“I’m only repeating what you just said.” You hiss, trying to make your conversation look less confrontational. “What about Tommy? He only eats animals. Why can’t you just do that?.”

“I’m not Tommy.”

“Have you tried?”

“I can’t try anything, I’m not in control.”

“You listened to me, what if I told you to only eat animals?”

“You don’t want to see me eat.” Sure, it’s upsetting but you could learn to live with it. The image of the man he smashed against the tree flashes through your mind and you move on. 

“What did you mean when you said you didn’t kill Darlene?”

“I- I couldn’t do it, couldn’t bring myself to hurt her. Tommy did it for me.” In a disturbing sort of way you almost find peace in that fact. 

“I thought Tommy didn’t hurt people?” As your conversation quiets the two girls thankfully turn back to their phones. 

“Only a few over the course of his life, mostly when he was younger or if a hiker was unfortunate enough to stumble across him when he was already feeding.” 

You open your mouth to ask more questions only to realize you don’t have any more. At least not any you can think of in this state. 

You thought this would take longer but he’s been open and honest and you don’t know where to go from here. You have your answers. Even if you don’t like them, now you’re in a weird state of limbo. 

You stand up, unable to stand how stuffy it is in here, thick with his scent as you walk towards the door. He hurries after you, throwing a tip down on the table despite the two of you never ordering. 

It’s cold but easier to breathe outside, he can’t fill the entire world with his smell and the breeze helps you think clearer as you stare at him hopelessly. 

“So what do we do?” You finally ask, unable to avoid the inevitable. 

“I’ll do whatever you decide, whatever you want.” 

That’s the problem. You don’t know what you want, nothing makes sense and you hate him for what he’s done but as much as it bothers you you don’t want to lose him. 

“I could leave, move back to the city.” You offer up, unsure of any other possible options. 

“If your goal is to keep people from dying, that's the last thing you want to do.” There’s a beat as you glare at him, waiting for some sort of elaboration. “I’ll find you. Even if I don’t want to, the minute I lose control I will come after you and I seriously doubt that you want me running around a heavily populated area like that.” 

Great. 

“So I’ll stay and we’ll break up.” 

“You really believe you’ll be able to stay away if I’m just down the street? You think I’ll be able to control myself when the time comes again? Now that I know your- your taste? I won’t stay away.” 

“Fine, fine…” Your mind is desperately racing for some sort of conclusion to this nightmare. “Maybe we should invest in some sort of tranquilizer? We could keep you docile when you’re-”

“Tommy and I have already tried that, doesn’t matter. He shot me up with five doses of bear tranquilizer and I didn’t so much as yawn.”

“So I can’t move away, I can’t break up with you, and we can’t calm you down in the slightest. This is perfect Joel, what the fuck am I supposed to do? Let you keep killing people and pretend I don’t see the massacred state of every body that comes across my table?” A few stray tears start falling as you hastily wipe them away with your sleeve. 

“You could kill me.” He mumbles as you scoff.

“Be serious.” You shoot him a glare but his expression doesn’t change. 

“I am.” 

“I’m not doing that.”

“Why not? No one else gets hurt, and you’re free to go.” He can’t seriously be suggesting this. 

“What about Ellie?” 

“I’ll talk to Tommy, he can take her.”

“Don’t.” You stand up straighter. trying to look stern as you scowl at him, unfortunately it ends up feeling more like a pout. 

“What?” He looks tired too. Does being away from you cause him the same distress that you feel?

“Don’t talk about this like I’d ever seriously consider such a thing.”

“There aren’t any other options. You don’t want to be with me, what else are we supposed to do?”

“What about this last week? When I stayed with you you didn’t hurt anybody.” He fed on you, that much is clear now. 

“You really want to do that every month for the rest of our lives? That lust filled state for five days straight with no end in sight? You barely survived one week of it.” He’s got a point but what are your other options?

“I was fine.” 

“You barely ate, you were dehydrated.” He steps towards you but you don’t flinch this time. 

“What if we just lock you up? With iron chains or something.” Your voice is dripping with despair now, there’s barely any fire left behind your words. 

“If I don’t eat something I die.” 

“There has to be another option.”

“You don’t want us to be together and we can’t be apart. I just don’t see any other ways for this to work.” He sighs, rubbing his temples as he stares at the pavement. 

“I never said I didn’t want to be together.” You whisper and he immediately looks back up at you. 

“Do you?”

You do. 

“I don’t know.” You’re on the verge of tears again as you stare at him. Joel. Your Joel. Made for you and waiting for your decision Joel. Joel who was honest with you, so you should be honest with him. “Everything hurts without you and it hurts with you and I want to forgive you. I really believe that someday I could but not if you keep killing.” 

He stares at you, never looking away, pity in his eyes. 

“I love you.” He murmurs. It’s the last thing you need to hear right now. 

“Don’t say that.” 

“I do. And I know that that means less because I am genetically predisposed to unconditionally loving someone, and I’m sorry that it’s you.”

“Stop it. We barely even know each other. We’ve been dating for a few months.” You’re going to lose it completely if he doesn’t stop, your mind feels so fragile, if he isn’t careful you’ll shatter completely. 

“I know that. And I love you.”

“Don’t do this.” You’re begging now but he refuses to let up. 

“I’m sorry that you have to be loved by me.” 

“Joel. Stop it.” 

“And we both know why you won’t kill me.”

“I don’t need a reason to not want someone dead.” You wipe the endless stream of tears that now flow. 

“Just say it, it’s easier to just say it.” He looks so soft right now. So harmless as he speaks with that low drawl. 

“It’s not true.” You whisper, willing it not to be. 

“You love me.” He says it like it’s some universal truth, it makes you want to slap him. 

“I don’t, I’ve only known you a few months, and you’re a terrible boyfriend.”

“I could be a good boyfriend. If you let me. Let me try, let me earn your forgiveness, please.” He looks as upset as you feel now. His eyes, big and sad. 

“You killed people. You’re going to keep killing people.” If you don’t remind yourself of that you’ll forget. Being near him will make you forget. 

“Do you think that’s the life that I wanted for myself?” His voice cracks and when you don't respond he just keeps going. “I didn’t want someone to be forced to want me, I didn’t want to turn into a fucking monster once a month, and I never wanted anyone to get hurt!”

You both stare at each other for a beat of silence before you burst into sobs. It’s too much. Every single thing right now is just too much. What are you supposed to do now as you stare at him? A man who loves you, willing to do anything he can to make you happy, even if it means dying. 

“Joel.” Your lip quivers as you stare at him, a suffocating despair clouding over both of you as he steps forward, his gaze softening as he pulls you into his arms. 

“We’ll figure it out, bunny. I promise, we’ll be okay.” 

It certainly doesn’t feel that way. 

He takes your face in his hands, staring at you with an intensity you’ve grown accustomed to. 

“Let me make this right. Please, bunny, just let me fix this for you.” He whispers, kissing your forehead. 

You’re so tired. 

You just don’t want anyone else to get hurt, Joel included. 

You’re tired of being afraid. You’re tired of being confused. You’re tired of feeling like you’re crazy. 

You've been tired since you moved here.

So you nod. 

“Let me love you.” He mumbles as he wraps his arms around you again, both of you reflexively inhaling the scent of the other. 

“Okay.”

want to know what monster joel looks like? you can find out here because there is now wonderful art of him -> monster!joel art

want updates on chapters? follow @lincolndjarinnotifs !!

[porcelainseashore]

Ghosts from the Past (1)

Series Masterlist

Pairing: Agent! Leon Kennedy x Dancer! Informant! Fem! Reader

Summary: 7 years after leaving behind everything you’ve known, you’re suddenly thrust into facing a ghost from your past, Leon. Navigating where you stand with him brings up old memories, painful truths and countless questions. At the same time, you have to deal with a bunch of strange occurrences at your dance company. Set after Resident Evil 4 Remake.

Warnings: 18+ Swearing, Recreational Drug Use, Alcohol, Eventual Smut, No (Y/N), Canon-Typical Horror and Violence, Blood, Injury, Torture, Infection, Medical Experiments, Psychological Trauma, Nightmares

Content: Post-Resident Evil 4, Exes to Lovers, Partners to Lovers, Angst, Hurt/Comfort, Lack of Communication, Romance, Fluff

Author's Note: This fic takes place after Part 1 Teenage Headache Dreams so feel free to give that a read first. Note that I might get a little creative with RE lore and chapter updates could be longer than before, so please bear with me. Thank you to all those who gave feedback and followed me on this journey so far! 🫶

AO3 Link

Chapter 1: The Invitation

7 years.

7 years since you last saw him. 

But he hasn’t stopped haunting you.

You were stumbling your way through the sweaty crowd in one of the nightclubs you usually patronized. The thumping electronic beats resounded in your ears, as throngs of people writhed and shook to the music, raising their open palmed hands towards the DJ, like they were praying to some demigod. The room was bathed in a swathe of dark red light, and you were parting it like a sea of blood.

Dark kohl liner accentuated your eyes and your lips were the color of bruised plum, smudged slightly due to the humidity of the place. Your body was slick with perspiration, glittering under the lights, and it was barely covered by pieces of lace and a leather harness. A random guy pulled up next to you, whispering lewd nothings in your ear as you shoved him aside nonchalantly.

You were drugged up, high out of your mind, but everyone else was anyway, so why did you even care? Something instinctual told you to get to the middle, no matter what. So here you were, pushing your way through unapologetically, like you were on some unspoken mission.

And there he was. In the center. Blonde hair, blue eyes, t-shirt and jeans, just like you remembered him, as if time had not passed at all. As if it was only yesterday.

He stared at you intensely, wearing a scowl on his face, unspeaking. You noticed how tired he looked, like he just wanted to end it right there and then. So tired.

Maybe it was like those indigenous myths you had read about in class when you were young. The saying was that if one faces death, death has no choice but to grant them a final dance. Were you now in the shoes of death, frozen to the spot, watching him so he could cross over to the other side? Except, he wasn’t dancing. He remained there, completely still, eyeing you emotionlessly.

“Leon…” you mouthed, as your voice was drowned out by the blaring sound system.

The next moment, he disappeared into thin air like a shadowed specter, a faded memory of what you once had. 

Suddenly, everything around you erupted in flames, the bright light dazzling you and the scorching heat against your skin causing you to shrink away in fear. Your lungs felt like they were suffocating as you coughed vehemently due to the thick smoke that enveloped you. What the hell was all of this?

As you attempted to make a run for the exit, you noticed piles of bloodied-up bodies lying on the floor, surrounding you in a tight circle. Tripping over them, your eyes widened in shock as you began to recognize who they belonged to. There lay your parents, Leon’s parents, Kayla and the rest of the cheerleaders… the count went on as you frantically tried to shuffle yourself backwards, away from the source of terror, until you heard a deafening screech tearing through your eardrums.

BRRRNNGGG!!!

The sound of your alarm clock jolted you from your sleep. Hitting the ‘off’ button in response, you cursed out loud as your body shuddered uncontrollably. Your blanket and sheets were wet and clammy with puddles of your sweat. Trying to calm yourself, you took a quick gulp of water from the glass sitting on your bedside table and started to slow your breathing down.

Why were these dreams getting more and more frequent? You’d see Leon each time and then everything would turn to shit. There was just so much carnage and destruction back there, it nearly felt real.

You turned accusingly towards the framed photo of you and Leon back when you had posed together for your college graduation, still standing upright on your bedside table. Gripping it tightly till your knuckles were white, you opened one of the table drawers and chucked it inside, watching it clatter into the darkness as you shut the drawer back roughly.

Fuck, Leon! Why? You cried out internally, begging him to stop with the nightmares. Cradling your head in your hands, you broke out into sobs, whilst at the same time chiding yourself for not moving on from him all these years.

Bzzzt bzzzt. The burner phone on your desk interrupted your thoughts abruptly.

You sighed, picking yourself up from the bed and groggily trudging towards it. Flipping the phone open, you were greeted by yet another cryptic text from your handler.

The Chancery. Cocktail event. Tonight 7pm.

Right. Not like she would give you any more information on what this was about. As an informant, you were on a need-to-know basis and had to be happy with whatever scraps you got.

Your mind took a trip down memory lane of how you even landed in such a position in the first place. Ever since that fateful day where you decided to leave and never turn back, you used up whatever savings you had and ran all the way from the Midwest of America to the capital of Germany. There, you naturally fell into the arms of the renowned Silje Völker dance company, who had welcomed you so warmly you even forgot about her peculiar, icy demeanor back when she had scouted you from the dance showcase.

You thought moving to another country and making a new life there would help ease the pain of losing Leon, but you were wrong. Still, it couldn’t be worse than remaining in the place where the catastrophe happened and everything reminded you of him.

Then, about a year ago, some men in black suits handed you their card, reaching out with a proposition. Work for the US government as an informant. We need people like you, they said. There was something fishy going on with Silje, a wealthy, eccentric heiress, and artistic director of the dance company you were part of. She even owned the theater where your training and performances were conducted, and that venue was now under suspicion. As you had worked your way up to become one of her principal dancers, you were now in a prime position to gather the information they needed.

They were just so convincing. It reminded you of what Leon had said when he was younger. About wanting to protect the innocent and make a difference in the world. With that, you didn’t even think; you just said yes. 

Yes. To honor the memory of the boy you loved. Yes. If only you could have just said that one word to him, and to whatever he wanted. Yes.

So now you sought to betray the woman whom you saw as your surrogate mother. Your mother who had helped you find your way in a foreign country, where you were all alone, afraid and distraught. The one who nurtured you into the woman you were standing here today - bold, cunning and adaptable. It felt like life was playing a cruel trick on you. One you could not win.

After rushing through your daily routine, you gathered your things, slipping off an elegant, black cocktail dress from your hanger and stuffing it into your day bag, before heading out to the theater where you normally spent your waking hours training.

You greeted Silje, or Frau Völker - as she preferred to be called by the other dancers, except you and a select few - on the way in. Silje was a tall and wiry lady, with an aristocratic air about her. She consistently wore her platinum white hair in a tight bun, which pulled tautly against the skin along her jawline. For as long as you’ve known her, she never once took off her pitch black sunglasses, whether outdoors or indoors. Her dull-colored clothes covered her arms and legs fully and expensive leather gloves lined her hands at all times. Despite her fragile figure, she commanded authority and projected an intimidating presence.

As you entered the dance studio, she stopped you, gesturing to the dress peeking out of your bag. “Going somewhere special tonight?” 

Nothing could remain hidden from her astute gaze for long.

“Oh, just an international exchange at the embassy,” you lied through a perfect smile.

“How patriotic,” she crooned. You had gotten used to her dark humor and sarcasm by now, so you didn’t pay much attention to it as you shrugged in response.

“Well, enough chit-chat. We have a lot of work to do.” She clapped her hands twice to raise the awareness of the rest of the dance company. “Let’s go through the second part of the Rite, shall we?”

“You-” She pointed a bony finger in your direction. “Need to make those jumps lighter.”

You nodded, acknowledging her criticism that she dished out to you in front of everyone.

“Be in the air, not tied to the ground, my dear.” 

As she flashed over a wide, toothy grin, for a split second you were sure that you saw razor sharp fangs emerging from them. However, they were gone the moment you looked back again.

━━━━━━━━━━━

That evening, you exited out of Friedrichstraße station, one of the main shopping districts in central Berlin. The bustling streets were brightly lit against the darkening sky, as you darted in and out of the swarm of human traffic to get to the embassy. Your heels clacked along the pavement as you made a right, hurrying towards a closed off street, which was heavily fortified with barriers and fencing. 

From afar, you could make out the five-storey, gabled building with beige stone slabs, and the American flag hanging over its front entrance. One of the guards checked in with you, jotting down some notes against your name on his clipboard as he ushered you indoors. 

Dropping off your winter coat and day bag at the makeshift cloakroom, you slipped a couple of spare coins into the tip jar and headed up to the function room. Lively chatter and background music spilled out from its open doors into the corridor you were in. 

You checked yourself anxiously in a reflective surface nearby to make any last minute adjustments. Since your handler hadn’t revealed much of why you had been requested, you wanted to make sure you looked the part and fit in, in case you needed to do some sweet talking with, what you might guess, the elite members of society.

Your hands were trembling ever so slightly as you smoothened out imaginary creases in your shimmery, black satin dress which clung snugly to your body, emphasizing your curves. It had a low, backless design that teased just the right amount of bare skin without raising a scandal. Despite that, you were still debating whether it was too little or too much. In fact, the length of the dress reached so close to the floor, it was a wonder you hadn’t had an accident while walking around in it yet. Maybe you should alter the hem of it in the near future.

The sound of the hallway clock chiming at 7 sharp disrupted your inner monologue, as you realized you should adhere to your punctuality. Making the final touches to your loose, tousled bun and swabbing your lips with a light layer of rouge stain, you finally broke away and entered the function room.

Drinks and canapés lined the long, white banquet tables to the side, while men in snazzy suits and women in fine threads gathered around in their cliques, conversing with each other. It felt like you had gone back in time and were thrown into some 70s gala party, where you didn’t know a single soul. 

A waiter stopped in front of you carrying a tray of bubbly champagne in tall flute glasses. “Madame?” He offered you one from his delicate hand.

You nodded gratefully, taking it before situating yourself at a corner of the room, sipping your drink slowly. Glancing at your watch, you observed that 15 minutes had passed since the supposed meeting time of 7pm. Scanning the room proved fruitless as you didn’t find anything of note.

Where was your handler, Bergmann? What was this party for? You wondered.

At some point, you felt a shadow loom over you from your left shoulder, but you didn’t have a chance to react until it spoke.

“Talk about seeing a ghost from the past.”

Your ears perked up at the voice that you would recognize anywhere, except it sounded deeper and gruffer this time.

No, it couldn’t be… 

Alarm bells started to ring in your head, as you tried to convince yourself that this was one of your nightmares again. Maybe you had fallen asleep on the U-Bahn and now you were lucid dreaming. 

You pinched your arm, not daring to look in the direction of the source of the voice. This was just a dream. 

“Yeah, that’s not gonna help.” 

Or not.

Your breath hitched as you turned sharply to your left, coming face-to-face with a pair of electric blue eyes set in a hollow stare, the dark circles under them giving away his fatigue. His chiseled face was marred by a cut he was nursing on his bottom lip, and his mop of blonde hair was almost like how you remembered it, but longer at the bangs and lighter in color as if it had been bleached in the sun. He was also suited up, black this time, but you could tell he had grown bulkier and more muscular underneath.

How was this possible? What was going on?

You couldn’t even begin to comprehend the scene in front of you, as everything around the room began to spin and your vision blurred. There was the sound of a glass breaking, and the last thing you were conscious of was a strong set of arms wrapping around you, followed by a yell, “Give her some air!”

Then darkness came to claim you.

━━━━━━━━━━━

There was something wet on your face and what felt like a cold breeze, causing a shiver to run through your spine. Then, you sensed a light tapping against your cheek.

“Hey, hey. Wake up.”

Your eyes fluttered open and you were met again with those vivid blue eyes. As you came to, you realized that you were out on one of the balconies, your head propped up by his suit jacket while you lay on the ground. 

He held out a glass of water in his hand. “Here.”

You pushed yourself up on your elbows until you came into a sitting position, before taking it from him gingerly. Your body was still shaking as you drank from the glass and at this, he took his jacket and placed it over your shoulders to cover you.

“Thanks,” you managed weakly.

“Don’t mention it,” he replied, while carefully helping you to your feet.

There was a moment of silence as both of you eyed each other without a word. However, it seemed as if he wasn’t surprised to see you, which was weird.

“Leon,” you stuttered. “How-”

The balcony door slid open.

“Ah, there you are!” A young man with a communication earpiece, whom you assumed was one of the staff members, called out.

He glanced between the two of you knowingly. “I see you’ve gotten acquainted.”

“Bergmann will see you now.” He signaled towards the elevators past the crowd.

Leon gave him a quick nod. “We’ll talk later,” he whispered in your ear as you followed the man leading you towards the top floor of the building.

Passing by an unassuming door on the fifth level, he rapped it thrice and you heard the distinct tone of Bergmann informing you to come in. He pushed the door and held it open for both of you before he left.

A woman in her late 40s with curly, auburn ringlets and donning a light gray pantsuit greeted you and Leon.

“Kirsten Bergmann,” she introduced herself while shaking Leon’s hand.

“Leon Kennedy.”

“Of course,” she smirked. “USSTRATCOM’s golden boy.”

You were confused, but started to piece together bits of the conversation. Leon had been alive and working for the government this whole time?

“So you’ve met my informant.” Bergmann motioned at you. “She seems to have a flair for making a spectacle of herself recently.” She frowned disapprovingly, referring to the incident that happened earlier that evening. 

You bowed your head in embarrassment, but Leon appeared completely indifferent.

“Anyway, Hunnigan will be joining us on comms shortly.”

With that, she turned to one of the screens in the room which had been switched on and was showing a connecting symbol. A few seconds later, a bespectacled lady with her hair neatly tied back appeared on it.

“Hunnigan here. Shall we get to it?”

Bergmann took the lead on the discussion. 

“My informant will be an invaluable asset to Agent Kennedy’s mission. She has nestled herself deep within the target company and gained the trust of Ms Silje Völker, who has started to, on her own accord, disclose further information in confidentiality to my informant. All the intel has been fed back to HQ.”

Pressing a button, Bergmann brought up a blueprint map of the theater on another screen, except this had additional markings on it in your own handwriting.

“As you can see, exploration of the target site has shown multiple hidden passageways, false doors and even additional depths absent in the original plans. A copy of this has already been forwarded to all of you.”

This time, Bergmann turned to face you, folding her arms as she continued.

“In addition, my informant has secured various key connections that will prove the validity of our findings and help Agent Kennedy gain a foothold on getting access into the target site easily.”

“We are certain this is the base of operations,” she added, almost triumphantly. 

“And I shouldn’t have to remind you how this case needs to be handled with the utmost discretion,” she warned, gazing strictly at Leon and Hunnigan. 

“We have to ensure that US-German relations remain solid and the last thing we want is for this thing to blow up in the public. Much less in the capital.”

“Understood,” came Hunnigan’s unwavering reply. “I’m sure Leon will be able to manage that.”

“Perfect,” Bergmann replied, looking rather satisfied with herself. “My informant will work closely with you on this. There are sights to see, people to meet, and she will accompany you-”

“With all due respect, I don’t need a babysitter.” Leon suddenly piped up from the middle of the room.

You watched in astonishment, your jaw falling ajar, as he insulted you in front of your colleagues. His harsh words stung you inside. It seemed as if he hated you, and wanted nothing to do with you. But why?

“I am more than capable of finishing this myself,” he continued firmly.

Bergmann’s brows furrowed and her nostrils flared, as she looked at Leon like she was about to reprimand a child. “I assure you, she-”

“Take her off the case,” he demanded.

“Agent Kennedy!” Bergmann raised her voice. “That’s not your decision to make.”

From the intercoms, Hunnigan concurred, “I’m sorry, Leon. It’s been endorsed by the higher ups.”

“This is fucking bullshit.” He smacked his hand on a nearby table in defeat.

A tiny smile appeared on Bergmann’s face and you knew she had a trick up her sleeve. “Besides, Agent, how good is your German?”

He glared at her pointedly. “Good enough.”

She laughed mockingly and proceeded to speak with him in German, using a mixture of complex and colloquial sentences, which you noted that Leon was having a fair amount of difficulty processing. Then she turned to you, indicating that you should answer, and you complied with her order obediently.

“She’s fluent, even passable as a native.” Bergmann remarked smugly. “You, on the other hand, won’t last a day with that grasp of the language.”

Leon didn’t respond, but instead resorted to shooting daggers at her.

“Well, now that part’s over and done with, let’s move on to the logistics.” Bergmann stated simply, as if the previous altercation had never occurred.

She pushed forward, briefing you and Leon on the capacity in which you two should work together, how to approach comms, backstories and the like, including the next steps required in the task ahead.

At the end, she requested you to step outside and wait for Leon on the ground floor, as she relayed further details to him that you were not privy to. You had grown accustomed to this sort of treatment, even if you didn’t like secrets being withheld from you. So you waited patiently on one of those stiff, high-back wooden chairs in the lobby, for the man you thought had been a ghost all this while to find you.

How did he survive? Why didn’t he say anything? Was he still upset about the past? Is that why he had treated you with such venom at the meeting? You had a million questions running through your head. Nothing made sense. Maybe the only reason why you weren’t having a mental breakdown at the moment was because you knew you had a job to do.

“Something on your mind?”

You whipped around, startled by the unexpected intrusion. It was Leon, regarding you with curiosity despite the constant scowl on his face.

You sighed, catching your breath and lowering your hands that had been clutched at your chest. “Wanna start talking?”

“Not here,” he replied. “Somewhere less open.” He glanced around before adding, “More rowdy.”

You nodded, understanding that he wanted a place without prying ears. “There’s a grimy bar that’s always packed to the brim in Neukölln. No one will give a shit there.”

He scoffed. “Sounds like my type of bar.”

Pointing at his attire, you commented, “You gotta get out of that suit though. Not unless you want to attract some attention.”

He leaned against the wall, allowing his bangs to fall over his eyes as he folded his arms and smirked at you. “Suits me.”

[luchicm04]

You will forever be my always

Masterlist

Summary: It's been months, and he's still obsessed.

Pairing: Tonowari/Omatikaya!Fem Reader

Word count: 4.7k

Overall warnings: teasing, hurt/comfort, implied character death, fluff, mourning, edging, eventual smut⚠️

All characters belong to Avatar, and all rights are reserved to me.

A/N: This is my second original fic. English is not my mother language so if I have many spelling mistakes, please let me know. Hope you liked it <3

posted on ao3

Tonowari had been heartbroken, years back, when his mate had died during childbirth. Both Ronal and her baby died at the same hour. The clan grieved the loss of their Tsahìk; Tsireya and Aonung grieved the loss of their mother; Tonowari grieved for his mate and lost baby. 

That was a long time ago, 4 years back. Tonowari’s grief came to a halt the moment he met you, the eldest Sully sibling, allowing your family to stay. 

“You there. Sully child,” he called out to you, waving you over. 

“Yes, Olo’eyktan. What is it?” 

He gestured for you to follow. You noticed the other Na’vi staring as you passed by. He led you inside the chieftain’s marui. There, he shut the door-like fabric and sighed. 

“Come here.” 

“Is there something wrong?” you asked. 

Not saying anything else, the Olo’eyktan closed the distance between you two. A pair of strong arms wrapped around your waist, pulling you close. Before you could speak, your lips were captured by the chief’s. 

You stood there for a moment until you snapped out of it and moved away from him. “W-what are you doing?!” 

He didn’t move, his arms still wrapped around your waist as he pulled you closer to him. He finally spoke. His tone was harsh, but not mean. More pleading than anything else. 

“Give me a chance.” 

“What do you mean? A chance...?” you questioned, bewildered and still shocked from what had happened before. 

Tonowari let one of his arms slide. The hand he had on your waist was slowly placed around your back, pulling you even closer to him before his hand started to move upward. Instinctively, your eyes closed halfway and went to look at the floor, blushing. 

“A chance at happiness. Let me make you happy.” 

“But... I don’t understand, you...” 

He stopped his hand from continuing the path it was making and sighed, trying to keep himself composed, hoping for your cooperation. Hoping for your understanding. With another movement, both his hands went to your waist again, holding you firmly. 

“Look at me, please.” 

You looked up at him hesitantly. His eyes held a lot of feelings you couldn’t decipher. 

Tonowari’s hands tightened around your waist a little bit more. A hand lifted itself to your chin, raising your head as he stared straight in your eyes. 

“Let me love you. I’ve waited and searched far and wide for someone like you. Someone who understands the grief of losing their partner, of losing someone precious to their life. I see that person in you.” 

You stared at him in surprise. “How did you know...?” 

He smiled at your confusion. It was obvious he was getting through to you. He finally spoke again, still gripping your chin to keep you looking at him. 

“A person’s eyes speak volumes. There is so much pain in yours, and I know how you feel. The only way to make it better is to allow someone to ease it for you.” 

“Tonowari, I... I don’t know if I’m ready for that,” you whispered, half scared and half anxious. 

His grip on your chin tightened. He leaned closer to you, until only mere inches separated your bodies. His hands slowly started to wander to your hips. 

“Let me make you ready.” 

You gazed at him. His gorgeous ocean-blue eyes, his splendid tattoos decorating his face... He was undeniable beautiful. The truth is that he caught your attention from the moment you saw him the day your family got here, but he always seemed so untouchable, so intimidating and serious. Not that it didn’t stop you from having sinful thoughts for several nights though. 

His hand moved further down from your hips and up to your back again as he continued to pull you towards him. Tonowari then let go of your chin, moving his other hand towards your neck with his thumb rubbing circles over your skin as his face moved closer to yours. Your breaths became heavier the moment your lips almost touched each other. 

“W-wait... what i-if someone sees us?” 

He chuckled, pulling you closer to his body. His hands traveled back to your hips again as he spoke. 

“Let them see. I am the Olo’eyktan. I can do what I want... and I want you.” 

“B-but... my parents, my siblings, your kids -” 

“Forget about them.” His grip tightened even more... to the point it almost felt like a pinch, though it may have just been his strength. “They’ll forget about it too once we are together. Once I make you mine for lifetimes to come.” 

You felt your heart would eventually burst out of your body with the speed it was beating. Suddenly, you could no longer think straight. The more you thought about Tonowari's words, the less you wanted to think at all. The amount of stress you had been subjected to for the last days had been crushing you. Your parents' expectations, the need to check on your brothers and sisters, the return of the sky people, the worry for spider, being forced out of your home and having to adapt to a new environment where its people did nothing to help you nor make you feel welcome. Even your past relationship, while sharing mutual affection, felt more like a duty to the people than a free choice. You no longer wanted to think about it. For once, you chose to be selfish. Tonowari was right there, declaring his feelings for you and after that simple proposal, your already dazed mind just snapped as you gave in and kissed him 

Tonowari was surprised when your lips pressed against his. Your kiss was passionate, hot, and most importantly, filled with emotion. This wasn’t just some innocent crush; this was a deep and meaningful need for each other. His hand slid up further, gripping your hair a little bit. His other hand slid back down, to your back again, as he pulled you closer, pressing you against his body. 

You couldn’t help that small moan that escaped from your mouth, but you no longer cared about being subtle. He had given his word that you would not be disturbed, and any rational thoughts you held on to had disappeared from your mind the second his skin touched yours. 

His hand moved to your side, where he scooped you up from your waist. His lips never left yours, the intense feeling of lust and love both being satisfied at the same time. His other hand slid down once more, and this time landed on your rear... holding you tightly against him. His breathing was heavy, but he didn’t care. He was ready to spend a lifetime of pleasure with you by his side. 

While this experience was extremely pleasurable to you, you were running out of air. He had no problem; he was Metkayina after all. They could hold on to their breaths for Eywa knows how long. However, despite having spent weeks in the clan, you were still learning. And the fact that this whole... everything had caught you by surprise didn’t help. Regretfully, you separated your lips from his and your breath came back in soft but hoarse gasps. 

He was breathing heavily as well, though not as much as you. His grip on your rear and back loosened slightly. He didn’t want to suffocate you. 

Tonowari stared at you with desire, his eyes flickering from your face to your body. He was about to say something when a knock was heard on the door. He growled low in his throat, annoyed at the interruption. 

You were equally upset, but the logical part of you told you that this was to be expected. He was the Olo’eyktan, the leader of the clan. If his people needed him, he should be always open to help in any way possible. After slightly regaining your composure, you moved away from him. “You should go see what they want. It could be something serious.” 

He nodded, his grip finally loosening fully. His face was flushed with adrenaline, and despite the fact that he was irritated at the interruption, he knew that you were right. He took a deep breath, walking over to the door and flapping it open. 

While he left to deal with whatever had happened, you silently just stood there. You began to feel a little uncomfortable with the passing minutes. He was standing right outside the door, but it still felt weird to be inside his home. Having nothing to do but wait, your eyes unintentionally began to wander around. You knew it was wrong to peek at his personal things, but you felt like it was okay. Sort of. After all, you both had been kissing just a little while ago. While looking around, you could see Tsireya and Aonung's separate pods. You imagined being part of the leader's family gave you such benefits. You also saw spears held in the walls, different tools and furnitures. Nevertheless, one object under a blanket caught your attention. A leather headpiece carved with a big seashell on its front. 

That headpiece was actually the symbol of the Tsahìk of a Metkayina clan. Tonowari had hidden it before you entered, as he didn't want you to see him as just a leader looking for a replacement, but as a man who loved and cared for you. 

After a few minutes, Tonowari eventually returned, shutting the door behind him. As he stepped inside, his eyes caught sight of you standing near his children's pods, staring at the headpiece in your hands. He slowly walked over to you. 

“Did this belong to the previous Tsahìk?” 

Tonowari’s eyes widened when you asked that. He didn’t expect you to recognize it as part of his clan’s tradition, and it was rarely used outside of ceremonies. 

With a nod, he replied with a soft tone. 

“Yes, it did. My mate, Ronal... she wore it during her time as Tsahìk. That is, until her death. Sadly, my children never had a chance to witness their mother rule as Tsahìk.” 

You hummed in understanding. It made sense for him to keep it. Ronal had been Tsahìk of the Metkayina and his mate for years. Still... 

Tonowari realized how you were staring at the headpiece, and how your eyes were still unmoving. He walked closer and picked it up, gently placing it on your head. A sign of him naming you the future Tsahìk. 

He spoke, his hands placing themselves on your hips. 

“If everything is alright with you, would you... come spend the night with me in my quarters? That is, if you wish to... become my life partner.” 

Although you had accepted Tonowari's previous offer, this was too much. Especially after spending time in his home. You suddenly realized how much you didn't belong in that picture. He had two children the same age as your brothers and sisters. He had had a loving mate who he still loved; you could see it the instant he looked at the headpiece. He had a life made up, and you weren't sure how you fit in it. “Tonowari, you can't just name me the Tsahìk of your clan. I'm only an outsider, and you already have Tsireya as Tsakarem. Besides, I haven't even finished my training.” 

Tonowari sighed softly, your rejection hitting hard. It hurt to see how you did not believe yourself to be a good match for him. He had thought that, perhaps, after all this time, you would grow to care for him and love him to the point where you would accept his office. He was wrong. 

He slowly removed the headpiece from your head, placing the ceremonial piece on its previous place. Then, he turned around, walking over to a bag hanging from the ceiling, opening it and rummaging around. 

You said nothing, hoping he didn’t take it very badly. In the best case, you could just forget about this and go back to your normal lives. Or maybe see each other without formalizing anything. At worst, you didn’t know what he would do. He was truly a gentle person but having power over a whole clan made him dangerous if he wanted to be. You just hoped your family wouldn’t get involved in this. Or find out at all. 

After a few minutes, Tonowari took out something. He walked over to you, holding out a necklace in his hand. It was carved from a seashell, with the same emblem as the headpiece, though this one looked like it was made for you. 

“This is a tradition I wish to begin. All Metkayina Olo’eyktans give a carved necklace to their intended. It is a sign of the beginning of a formal relationship. You have yet to answer, though. Will you be my mate for lifetimes to come?” 

You stared at the necklace. Ot was beautiful, shining with various sea colors that made it look like some kind of precious relic. It appeared to be the perfect size for you, too. He must have somehow figured out your measurements. “I... It’s beautiful. I thank you, truly, I do, but... are you sure you want me?” 

Tonowari nodded silently as you stared at the necklace. It was indeed the perfect length. He had studied your measurements on the few occasions he had happened to meet you at close range. 

He smiled at your gratitude, but his smile turned into a sad frown as you continued your questioning. 

“Yes, I am sure. If there was a doubt in my mind, I wouldn’t be giving you this necklace. I know that you are afraid, that you are insecure about being a proper match for me. But know this; my heart desires you.” 

You sighed, feeling like your world was about to crumble depending on what you would decide. But, in the end, you had made your choice long before this conversation. “As mine does for you.” You turned around, waiting for him to place it on you. 

He nodded again and moved to place the necklace around your neck. He was careful, not wanting to accidentally hurt you in any way. After securing it, he took you by your hips again, pulling you close to him. 

“Now that you belong to me, let us celebrate. Come,” he opened the door to his pod, leading you inside. 

Your steps started hesitant, then slowly gaining confidence. As your father would say: to hell with it. The more you thought about it, the better your choices seemed. Both of you were lonely, filled with responsibilities and under lots of stress and feelings too complicated to comprehend. This was a logical decision. There was nothing wrong with it. He was the leader of the clan, so what? You were Tsahìk- in-training, learning from your grandmother back in the forest and firstborn daughter of Toruk Makto. He was decades older than you? Well, there was not much to fix there. After being named a hunter and officially an adult, and having actively participated in the war as both a fighter and a healer, you felt mature enough. Besides, your family had begged to be allowed to stay here; becoming Tsahìk could help cement the decision. 

The moment you entered his room, he closed the door behind you. He took you by your hand, leading you closer to his bed. His other hand went to your back again, tracing your curves with his fingers. His grip was firm, but the way he handled you was gentle, as if he feared hurting you. After your body made contact with the bed, he slowly laid next to you, pulling you into his arms. 

His eyes never left you. He was watching intently you, looking to see if you were ready for this... 

You exhaled heavily, opening your eyes to look at him. To really See him, which you did. You saw his tired but shining eyes, his scars obtained after arduous battles, his tattoos symbolizing multiple feats and memories. And you felt seen by him. Your insecurities, your weaknesses, your worries. Your emotions were like a wild current, indomitable and fierce, but he was the shore, gentle and sturdy, ready to receive you and adjust to you no matter the force you inflicted. He was your wall, your support. And you were his spark, like a river that stopped his heart from drying out and filled him with new affection at the same time. Without saying anything, you reached for your braids. 

His heart skipped a beat as he saw you unbraid your hair. You were beautiful. Your silky hair was just begging to be brushed, just begging to be run through with one’s fingers. The way you moved towards him told him just how much you wanted this. He pulled you back into his embrace, pulling your head towards his to rest on his shoulder. A few moments of quiet passed as he just sat there like that, enjoying the peacefulness of the presence of your body against his. 

“I want you, Tonowari.” 

Tonowari closed his eyes as you muttered those words. Hearing them was what he had been waiting for. When the silence came right after, he pulled you even closer to him. He was your Olo’eyktan now, which meant that you belonged to him, and he belonged to you. This had been his wish for a long time, but now, he would make those wishes come true. 

“I want you too.” 

You slowly brought your kuru forward, letting the tendrils slowly interweave together with his. Right there and then, you felt it. Everything he was. Everything he had been. And everything he wished to be. With you. You closed your eyes again in pleasure, resting your head against his broad chest while your hands gripped his arms. Despite your previous experiences, this feeling could not be compared to them. The feeling of choosing and being chosen freely, without duties or expectations in the middle. It was impossibly liberating. You opened your eyes, watching through your completely dilated pupils the way he held you close and listening to his hard breathing. 

Tonowari held you close, feeling your hands grip his arms and feeling your body press gently against his. His breathing sped up, just as yours did. 

Your hands were brushing against the scars in his body, making him shiver slightly from the sensation. His muscles tensed underneath your touch, making his body move closer to yours. His breathing grew more erratic as your fingers tightened into his body. 

With a soft moan, he pulled you even closer, his hands grazing against your lower back and sliding towards your hips. 

You remained clinging to him as he took out your top and bracelets and pulled the cord holding your loincloth together. You gasped, feeling the cold air hit your now naked body. Combined with the newly made bond, everything you experienced felt multiplied by a hundred. Through it, you could see how Tonowari was looking at you, and it was turning you on too much for you to handle it. 

Just looking at your body made him want you more than he ever had before. Your curves were hypnotic as they swayed with your movements. Your hips and breasts moved like waves on the ocean. Your skin was iridescent and soft, making him want to run his hands all over it. 

He put his hands around your waist, bringing you to the edge of the bed. He slid the loincloth off, his eyes never leaving you as he did. Once he saw you fully naked in front of him, his jaw dropped. You truly were flawless. 

“Tonowari... I need you.” 

The sound of your voice was all needed to hear to snap him out of his trance. He pulled himself back to reality and gently laid you down, his gaze never straying your body. He slowly removed his garments as well. As he dropped each piece of his clothing, he stared at his body, unable to tear his eyes away from it. Finally, when he was completely naked, his eyes locked with yours.  

“Say that again.” 

“I need you.” 

Those simple three words, when spoken with such desire, made his body respond to your command instantly. In a few swift moves, he was behind you. His hands gripped your hips tightly. His body against yours, pressing against your back, his hot breath was blowing on your neck. One hand squeezed tight against one of your tights, while the other hand brushed against your back. 

“Again.” 

“I need you; I need you, Tonowari, please.” 

“You will always have me. I am yours, and you are mine. No one else can take me away from you. No one else can lay a finger on you. Not without suffering the consequences. You and your family belong to me now, and I mean that not as your leader, but as your mate. We belong to each other and all that comes with that. No one else will have you, and I would never let anyone take you away from me.” 

His words made your already rapid-beating heart quicken its pace even more. “Wherever our fates take us. I will stay by your side – be it from the forest to the sea, from the start to the end of our time, together.” 

Tonowari smiled. He was happy to know that you would stay by his side, no matter where or when. He knew that having you was the best decision of his life. 

“You are mine. Now and forever. There are no boundaries between us. We will face everything together, and I trust you whole-heartedly. Now,” he gripped your hips tighter, if possible. “Show me just how much you need me.” 

“How would you like me to prove myself?” you asked in a seductive tone. 

“Make me feel like I’m yours. Make me feel loved. Make me want to hold onto you like I’m drowning and you’re my only saving grip. Make yourself mine. Show me how badly you want and need me. Be wild, be daring, be passionate.” 

“Very well.” You leaned to whisper in his ear. “I will make you feel loved unlike anyone ever has. I will make you mine. And we will be truly united for ages to come.” 

Tonowari's entire body tensed up as you whispered in his ear. His fingers gripped your hips even tighter. The way you spoke about making him feel, the way you spoke about making him yours, it was enough to make his body tremble in pleasure just from the words.  

"Words sound good and all, but let's see if you can back them up." 

His free hand went to your chin, and moved your face forward, his mouth meeting yours in a deeply passionate kiss. 

While the two lost yourselves in the kiss, you subtly moved your body to be on top of him, your core meeting something hard, which made you release a moan that was drown by his lips. 

He smirked at your subtle move, as he felt your soft body on top of him. He loved that you weren't shy with him, that you were willing to claim what you wanted. He loved the noise you made and quickly responded, his mouth taking over yours. He was lost in the moment, and he had no plans of stopping any time soon. 

“Will anyone else be interrupting us? Your children?” While you were willing to let it passmthe first time, you couldn’t guarantee the safety of the next person who dared to interrupt you. 

“My children will not enter without warning...” He paused to laugh at the suggestion of them just barging in, and he shook his head. They would never just walk in with something this sensitive going on. “But if they’re ever curious, I’ll inform you. A code only for you to know.” 

“Like what?” 

He gave you a mischievous smile, as he thought of a word for a code. His mind immediately went to your name, but that would be too obvious. So, he decided to use a word linked with your family and clan, one that no one outside of your family would know. 

“If they ever walk in, just say: Meyo Na'vi, yotulka.” 

“What does that stand for?” 

“It means Child of the Forest, my love. Only members of the Metkayina clan would know what that means.” 

“Mmm, I like it. And hearing it from you makes it even more special.” 

He wrapped his arms around you and pulled you onto him. Your hips were pressed tight against his, your chest pressed against his. His forehead rested onto yours, as he looked into your eyes. 

“I have something else that I'd like to say to you before we continue. Do you want to hear it?” 

“Of course.” 

He grabbed your hands and placed them on his chest, your fingers feeling his heartbeat. 

“This heart belongs to you, and only you. I pledge it to be yours and yours alone. If it stops beating, that is because I would be dead. It shall only beat fast when you are near, because it wants to be close to you. And when you touch it, it shall thump slowly for you, because you are my only desire. My only love. And nothing can ever replace you.” 

“Tonowari, I love your caring words and affectionate speeches, and Eywa knows I would do unspeakable things for you, but please. Do not make me wait any longer.” 

He chuckled at you being so impatient, and he took that as his cue to finally take control. He took hold of your hips, his hands on your thighs. And he began to move you. Slowly at first, he began to move you in a circular motion, his hips pressing against yours. The more they moved, the more the rhythm sped up, moving your bodies together in sync. 

You whined at the sensation. You had fantasized about this moment for days, but it still felt incomplete. You needed more, needed him, to complete the bond in both body and mine. And he knew it. “Tono...wari... ah.” 

The moment he heard your whine filled with desire, it was all he needed to hear. He was at your command, following every whim of your body. Every movement you made was the signal he needed to bring his movements in tune with yours. He leaned forward onto your neck, his breath hot and heavy on your skin. He bit gently on your neck, letting the sensation send chills throughout your body. 

“Ah! Please, Ma’Tono... I want you now.” 

The way you said his name sent a shiver down his spine, making him shudder in pleasure. Your body began to get him heated, making him want you even more. However, he just looked at you with a grin. You had said he spoke too much, so now he wished to tease you a little.  

“I like hearing you beg. Say it again.” 

“A-ah! Please!” 

Your desperation turned him on like no other. And he knew he'd have you screaming his name soon. 

“Still not a complete sentence. Say it again. And this time, say it like you really mean it. I want to hear it.” 

“Gah! Ma'Tonowari, I beg you. Grant me the honor of finally being able to join you, without any type of limit. Let our union be complete and we may be united until the end of our days. Let our bodies come together and the fruit of this exchange result in a new life” 

The moment you were done, he knew that the words that you felt towards him were more than just mere desire, but complete love and devotion as well. Your desire was his desire now. And it would always be that way. 

"The honor is mine to have you with me, my beloved. We are now one in flesh and in soul. This is our union. So, I command you, my love, to join with me, and let our union be perfected." 

“As you wish, my love.” And you dived in, eager to experience a future with him as your bodies became one. As your minds became one. Your love solidified in a moment, forever intertwined in a union that only they could truly understand. Their souls became one with their hearts beating in unison. And nothing would tear the bond they created. 

Vocabulary list: Marui (pods built in the giant mangrove-like trees alongside the shores and are protected from crashing waves by giant reef barriers), Tsahìk (head shaman, high priest, interpreter), Olo’eyktan (clan leader), Tsakarem (Tsahìk-in-traning), Toruk Makto (toruk rider), Kuru (neural queue)

[gvtted-ratz]

read all our tags/ratings. they r important n give u all u need 2 decide if u wanna actually read or not. do not like the tags/rating? do not read.

FEM ALIGNING/IDENTIFYING PPL (unless mutuals/friends) DNI WITH OUR MLM WORKS. fem ppl can still request tho. respect our wishes or get blocked. yes we do read/check everything. we tag appropriately/use tags that go with our posts.

want 2 request? find the rules: here!

want 2 see all the fics? find em: here!

Soft To The Core

König x M!Reader

Last Edited: 03/01/23

TW: death mentioned

AO3 LINK -> HERE

anon: 4 with König and he/him male reader. That is all <- frothing at the mouth but being SO COOL about it (4. accidental touching!!!!)

Word Count: 767

Notes: hey again bestie… i see u. i have our dms about the man n u frothing btw. Also. ik absolutely nothing about guns n stuff so uh. oop ig… also. i made the reader like. kinda techy n speak some russian? i was listening 2 gore by graveyardguy as i wrote this just so u know. Didn’t influence much of the thing but the title is definitely from the song.

You hum as you clean your sniper rifle; the disassembled piece of metal all over your lap. Usually, you would be around a table or even in your own assigned room. However, today they had a mandatory room check. While you didn’t mind it, having all the tables and sitting areas taken out in the cafeteria as well as the shooting range didn’t help. This leads to you sitting underneath a small pine. It’s fairly young, being only large enough to cast enough of a shadow to give you cover from the sun.

While you don’t mind cleaning your gun, making sure your laptop was in better shape or needed to be put back together was more interesting. While you’ve done it a hundred times before, for you, it never got old. You enjoyed taking apart the electronic gadgets and putting them back together. Seeing how they work and even improving them intrigued you more than going out on the field and sending bullets people’s way to splatter their blood everywhere. The missions they assign you in KorTac have been nothing but boring or a pain. You’ve never actually trained for this part or even with the rifle at all. You are more of someone who hacks cameras, reads coding to try and find anything that could give enemies away, and even disarm some bombs via the tech you have on hand during said times.

Now, while it’s not something you prefer doing, you can’t help but enjoy at least one of your members. König, or King as many call him, is your favourite man. Despite his awkward social interactions, he’s never been particularly rude to you. Nor has the giant Austrian ever tried to get on your nerves. He keeps to himself mostly, leading to you having to seek him out if you want company. Sometimes he’s out and about, though he’s either alone or towering over the other soldiers.

Of course, that doesn't mean he’s not deadly. You’ve seen him out on the field. He’s truly a rampaging beast. He picks up enemy soldiers and cracks their backs over his knee. He’ll gun them down or snipe them, giving a laugh or giggle. He’ll yell out in a happy tone “I have some cash!” whenever he gets his hands on even a single coin. He’s wilder and more brutal. And you couldn’t help but notice. However, despite noticing it, you didn’t treat the man any differently.

A large pair of military-issued boots appear in front of your crisscrossed legs. Looking up, you see the man you’ve been thinking of as you cleaned the barrel of your gun. “Ah. König,” You say, giving him a small smile. “Привет! How has my favourite man been?” König’s hands are loosely holding each other, nearly touching his stomach with his chosen position.

“Ah… Ich meine, es lief gut…” He says, looking uncomfortable standing there. You gesture to the ground next to you, letting him know that he can sit beside you. With confirmation now obtained, König lets himself fall into a seated position right next to you. He ends up knocking his knee into your thigh; you wince at the sharp pain but laugh it off.

“I’m so sorry..! I did not mean to hit you. Bitte vergib mir!” The large man starts to apologize immediately, already beating himself up over the accidental touch. You wave him off, trying to make your smile softer to try and reassure the Austrian.

“ нет, нет! Все хорошо, ты в порядке!” Your words seem to calm him down a bit, despite him not exactly understanding your words. “Besides, König, I say you’re sharp as a knife but Soft To The Core.” You’re not sure why, but the words felt right to say.

“Ja? Well… They do say beauty is on the inside, Freund,” He tells you; a nearly inaudible chuckle escapes him. You feel another smile pull at your lips at his words.

“They sure do, мой возлюбленный. They sure do.” You mumble. With some silence between the two of you, it’s easy to hear the shout of one of your captains letting you all know that the mandatory room clearance has been finished. You playfully smack König’s shoulder, clasping it as you stand. “Let’s go back, да?” When he gives you a nod, you shove your gun parts into the duffle bag you brought just for it. “Let’s go then! Maybe we can grab some food once these bozos clear out.” With those last words, you take the lead, König following behind you quietly and with genuine happiness shining in his eyes.

[moonchild1]

AO3 List PT.2

here's part 2 of my favourite bts fics on ao3 ♡ if you have any of your own recommendations feel free to tell me I would love to hear them ♡ some contain smut so no minors do not interact find pt. 1 here...

s- smut a- angst f- fluff

all of btssmutgalore’s work (sadly they aren’t on tumblr anymore)

all of univsa work

all of personasintro's work

roommates with benefits by joonswhistle f s a

↬ You and Namjoon are roommates. You're both really horny one morning. So you come to an understanding:

1. It's not a regular thing.

2. It happens on the couch.

3. Kissing is allowed.

4. Condoms, always.And just like that, you're roommates with benefits

seoul underground by hunniejimins s a ft. jungkook

↬ You're a crime & corruption journalist for one of the most esteemed newspapers in Seoul currently investigating drug trafficking in Hong Kong. A hit is taken out on you and as a twisted stroke of luck, a member of a rival gang inadvertently saves you - Jeon Jungkook. He kidnaps you and brings you to the gang's kingpin, Kim Namjoon, who initially had plans to kill you, but a certain bracelet ends up buying you time. Things only get further complicated when they realize who you are and what you can offer them.

OR

Namjoon and Jungkook both fall in love with you and it's a mess, but monogamy is overrated anyway, right?

Covenant by fringesofsanity f s a

↬ You are betrothed to Kim Namjoon, the heir of a real estate mogul. To say that it was a fairytale romance would be erroneous. You’re instead loped in the sad tale of the rich and melancholy.

Faith by AndrastesChosen f s a

↬ It's time to let yourself believe in someone. You're probably an idiot for it, but you're going to put your faith in this man named Namjoon. (AKA You fall in love with underground rapper Namjoon and make a difficult choice so he can follow his dreams)

Partners by btssmutgalore f s a

↬ As a part of a literature assignment, you get paired up with Kim Namjoon, a guy you’ve never even heard of.

the wedding arrangement by sugalights f s a

↬ You are in love with your best friend, the only man who matters, Kim Seokjin. Unfortunately, he's just gotten engaged to someone who isn’t you. Even more unfortunately, he expects you to help plan the wedding alongside Kim Namjoon, his other best friend and, based on your first meeting, just another judgemental jerk. Putting aside your distaste for the sake of your friend’s happiness, you both set about giving Seokjin the wedding of his dreams. Following a rough and satisfying affair at the caterer’s, you strike an unusual deal: you and Namjoon will be enemies with benefits until the wedding is over. And after six months of wedding planning, you both just might learn that weddings aren’t usually the end, but a brand new beginning.

formula for love by bluesxde f s a

↬ newly single and in the midst of a bitter divorce, with a custody battle thrown in, chemistry professor kim seokjin tries not to fall in love with the new library assistant. and fails, horribly

The Stranger by btssmutgalore f s a

↬ When your plane hits turbulence, you start panicking and tell some of your biggest secrets to the attractive stranger sitting next to you.

Before Your Very Eyes by vyduan f s a ft. myg poly au

↬ After decades of being friends, Y/N finally realizes just how attractive Yoongi and Seokjin are and wonders why she never noticed. Except, Seokjin might be getting back with an ex and Yoongi is a permanent fuckboy. Is Y/N just desperate to get laid or does she love them? (And if she loves them, is she too late?) Oh, and also, THEY WERE ROOMMATES (but there are three beds)

Amalthea by Daechwitatamic s a

↬ You can count on two things in life. One: that your lifelong best friend Minji will always be there for you, in your corner, your brightest star. Two: that you'll never be free from her older brother Seokjin's orbit - the gravitational pull is just too strong.

Paris For A Day by automnesleaves f a

↬ On his last stop of his European tour to spread Korean culture, Kim Seokjin, the South Korean president's son, plans to escape his duties for a day to enjoy the sights of Paris with your help.

In other words: a slight adaptation of Roman Holiday, one of my favorite romantic films.

arranged by obiwrites f s a

↬ If you thought entering an arranged marriage with the person you love would be a dream, you were in for a rude awakening. Jung Hoseok was far from the doting husband you’d dreamed of and most of it could be chalked up to the fact that he was in love with his best friend. And you are without a shadow of a doubt, not her. But what happens when Hoseok starts to realize he doesn’t want you to be her? That there might be more than meets the eye with you?

piece by piece by underthejoon f s a ft seokjin

↬ a collection of drabbles where your love life is muddied up by two men – the one you love and the one that loves you.

tip 143 (for ∞ seconds of love) by minlouvre f s

↬ Even though he is everything you find attractive in a man, your friend and co-worker Jung Hoseok is just exactly that - a friend and co-worker. For some reason, you have never found yourself attracted to him even though all the girls and guys around you go absolutely crazy for him. But that all changes for you one night while scrolling through Heart2Heart, a sex live cam website...

the december of our adulthood by vyduan a

↬ Jimin collapsed all over you and the middle console from his seat in a fit of giggles and did his best to tease a smile back onto your face. “Thanks for picking me up so early on a Saturday morning, Y/N. You’re the best friend a guy could ever have.” Even after all these years, you couldn’t control the dip of disappointment at his words. It wasn’t that you didn’t love being Jimin’s best friend. It was more that you knew you would never be anything more. You grunted in acknowledgment and pushed the sadness down, burying it under years of practice and half truths. You would be content with what you had. You would be satisfied with the love Jimin was willing and able to give. You were not entitled to anything more. It was enough. It was enough. It was never enough.

[therhythmafterthesummer]

Safe Haven (M) ~Bang Chan

Pairing: SpaceRebel!Chan x WitchQueen!F.Reader Themes: Fantasy AU | Sci-Fi AU | Royalty AU | Soulmate AU | Slow Burn | Mutual Pining | Angst | Smut | Fluff. Word Count: ~127k | AO3 Synopsis: Being a rebel fighting against a galactic oppressor was no easy feat, but it was something Chan took great pride in. As they took part in a stealth mission, Chan and his friends found themselves stranded on an unknown planet, and meeting a mysterious ally; an ally that, over the course of five long months, will help Chan regain hope.

Series Warnings: Third person POV · Very loose and liberal usage of Star Wars concepts (mostly to refer to weapons and tech). you don’t need to know anything about SW to read this, trust me · Physical descriptions of the main female character such as: can visibly blush, having long hair, and being short · Violence · Swearing · Mature themes and language · Original characters · Graphic smut (later chapters) · Mentions of the members of other groups (later chapters) · No one is straight, beware · Each chapter will include its own individual warnings. Chapters marked as M (Mature) either include highly detailed violence, or smut.

Due to all the abovementioned warnings, this story is intended for an adult audience only. Minors please do not interact.

Index: Day 1. | Day 2. | Day 3. | Day 4. | Day 5. | Day 6. | Day 7. | Day 8. | Day 9. | Day 10. | Day 15. | Day 17. | Day 60. | Day 82. | Day 90. | Day 91. | Day 92. | Day 152. | Day 159. | Epilogue.

Post story drabbles/one shots ⤷Available exclusively on AO3. An account is required to read these.

Author’s note: the idea for this monster started while i was watching Obi-Wan Kenobi… one thing led to another and now we’re here. this series is special to me, i fell in love with every single one of the characters and i’m ecstatic about it. i’m really just posting it for the heck of it since this is purely self-indulgent (i literally went mmmm, i need more fantasy AUs, guess i’ll do it myself). English is my second language, so constructive feedback on grammar, pacing, plot, etc is always welcome :) 16/08/2023: i started writing this series sometime in July 2022... then i started to publish each chapter from September 2022 until November 2022. in July 2023, i decided i wanted to re-work it since my writing has developed quite a bit and i felt like i could do a much better job... so i did. i’m genuinely much happier with this version of the story, and i hope that those that read it back then, and those that will read it now get to enjoy it as much as i do (: if you notice any weird formatting/sentences, don’t hesitate to point them out to me! this fic is a monster, and there must be things that i missed for sure hahah

Disclaimer: the story presented in this work does not represent Stray Kids in any way; anything described in this story and all actions performed by the characters are purely fictional, this was created just for good fun.

© therhythmafterthesummer 2023. all rights reserved. do not repost or translate my stories.

[bookworm551]

The Great War | Neteyam x Omatikaya!reader

Summary: You and Neteyam were childhood friends, always looking out for each other, but when the Sky People returned, neither of you could have anticipated the way it would affect your relationship with one another.

A/N: This is my first fic in a hot minute, so I got a little carried away. Part one of probably three, but we’ll see haha. I’ll be posting this to my AO3 account as well under Witbeyondmeasure501. Also, yes, I had this T.S. song playing on repeat as I was writing this.

7.9k words

Pairing: Neteyam x Omatikaya!reader

Warnings: Canon-typical violence, mentions of death, angst.

Part 2 Part 3 Part 4 Part 5

War can stain the most beautiful things.

Not only does it burn your home, take away your loved ones, or drain your health, it casts its shadow over every happiness you have, even when you aren't always able to see it. It was naive of you to think that your relationship with Neteyam would be any different, that it would be unaffected by the weight of the war.

Both of you being young and ambitious, you were enlisted by his father to be aerial scouts, a job that was relatively safe but still helpful. You and Neteyam were proud of each other for doing something useful, and you were grateful to have each other in the field.

As time wore on, things got riskier. You would both come back with more cuts and bruises than before, but the time you spent tending to each other's wounds definitely made up for it. In fact, sitting together and applying healing balm to your injuries as you exchanged jokes and stories helped you both forget the dangers waiting beyond the entrance of the village.

The strain had started out subtly. When the two of you were 15, during one of the raids, Lo'ak had convinced Neteyam to join the ground troops in plundering the Sky People's train full of weapons, and in the process, the older Sully boy was injured and had to be rescued by his father, who proceeded to reprimand him as soon as they landed safely in the village. You watched him walk to a healing tent with injuries to both his torso and his pride and ran over to walk with him.

"It's not your fault," you told him as you came up to his side. "Lo'ak was being a skxawng, you should not have gotten in trouble for him." Neteyam sighed in irritation. "Not now, please," he said curtly. He was holding his injured side with his hand, and it seemed to pain him to climb over the higher parts of the cave floor. You lept up to the ledge in front of him, turned around, and offered your hand to help him up. "I am fine," he said and ignored your hand, opting to pull himself up instead and grunting in pain.

You rolled your eyes at him. Normally, he was very rational and composed, but if there was one thing that put him in a bad mood, it was being reprimanded by his father. You knew that the pressure of being the oldest son to Olo'eyktan weighed on him constantly, and the war didn't make anything easier for him. Still, you didn't appreciate his attitude towards you when you did nothing wrong, especially because you weren't quite used to it from him.

Time wore on, and so did the war. Once, when you were about a year older, you had been grazed by a bullet on your side. It was nothing serious, a flesh wound that you could take care of yourself, so you decided not to say anything, but when you all returned, Neteyam noticed. He always noticed.

"What is this?" he asked, moving your arm out of the way to get a better look at the graze that was slowly oozing blood. "Nothing serious," you responded quietly, looking around to make sure he didn't attract any attention to you. Neteyam looked at you with a hard stare. "You were shot," he stated matter-of-factly. "You need to go to my grandmother or Kiri."

You shook your head in protest. "There are others who need their attention more than I do," you explained. "I can take care of this myself." He held his stern gaze, but you knew his rational brain would agree with you that there were more serious injuries for the healers to care for. Letting out an exasperated sigh, he took you by the arm and muttered, "Come on."

You protested weakly before realizing that he was taking you back to his personal tent. Once inside, you sat down as he pulled out some salve and cloth he had stashed away. In the time since the Sky People had returned, you had both become proficient at mending wounds. Without saying anything, he lifted your arm and rested it on his shoulder so that he could begin cleaning your wound unencumbered by it.

Under your hand, you could feel the tension in his shoulder muscles. You studied his face as he worked in silence. At the first touch he made to your graze, you tensed and hissed in pain. "Sorry," he muttered, carefully working to clean it with a damp cloth. "It's fine," you responded in a strained voice. Silence settled over you again as he attended to you.

Usually, he would try to ease your discomfort by talking or trying to crack a joke, but this time he worked in silence. It made you a little uneasy, so you tried to lighten the mood. "If you think this is bad, you should have seen the other guy," you told him with a small smile.

No response.

He continued working in the salve with focused attention. Though you knew he was being as gentle as possible, you couldn't help but grimace in pain and tighten your grip on his shoulder. He stopped working for a moment to give you some reprieve, glancing at your face to make sure you were alright before continuing his job.

"It is not that serious," you whispered, desperate to break the silence that was now making you feel nervous. To that, there was a small response in the form of a scoff, but Neteyam's face remained stone cold as he reached for a cloth to bandage you with.

Watching him, you could see the effects of the war on his face. Across his cheeks and forehead were faint scars from the action he had seen. Even his expressions had changed to a much more serious look. It used to be almost effortless to make him smile, but recently, it was something you didn't see very often. Even in your current circumstance, he would've at least said something back, but his silence indicated to you that he had something pressing on his mind.

You tried again. "You know, next time maybe I will just go to Kiri," you said teasingly. "She and I have much better conversation than y-”

"You could have been killed," Neteyam snapped finally, cutting you off.

"What?" You replied in confusion. It wasn't that you didn't know you could have been killed; that was obvious. It was his tone of voice that caught you off-guard. He had never snapped at you like that before.

"You could have been killed," he repeated in an angry voice. He pointed at the graze on your side and then moved his finger a few inches over to the center of your stomach. "A few degrees over and you would be dead." You sighed, regaining your composure after being caught off-guard by his tone. "I am aware," you told him calmly, "but, as you can see, I am not dead." He wasn't amused.

"I am being serious," he said gravely. "You are lucky to be alive." You were starting to get annoyed. "So are you," you shot back. "So are all of us every day we return home because every day we go out and fight is a risk, a big risk." He stared at you with hard eyes but said nothing. You took a breath to try and calm yourself. You didn't want to fight with him.

With your hand still resting on his shoulder, you gave him a gentle squeeze and rubbed your thumb along the side of his neck. "I take my chances, and so do you," you told him. "But that is what we do to keep the People safe." His gaze finally softened, and he sighed and shook his head. After a beat, he whispered, "This was too close."

You couldn't help but give a small smile at him. He was being protective, and you couldn't fault him for being stressed about the war. You felt fortunate that neither Neteyam nor yourself had been injured too badly in the war, but you couldn't deny that this was a close one.

It wasn't the last close one either.

As you both got older, you were given more responsibilities with the war. In being closer to the action, you both saw more blood stain your lives. You still continued to patch each other up when necessary, but after what was said when he helped you with your bullet graze, neither of you could really bring yourselves to smile much after those missions.

Over the course of time since you had been involved in the war, your relationship with Neteyam had undergone a serious shift. Before, you were both bright-eyed and happy, enjoying your days running around together with your friends and his siblings. It was easy to be around him, to be open with each other.

You used to listen to him talk about his father, once a sojourner from the stars and now the leader of the Omatikaya. You knew how the responsibility of being the oldest son to Olo'eyktan rested heavily on his shoulders. He used to listen to you complain everytime you got in trouble for being out too late. The first day after he had bonded with his ikran, he had taken you flying above the forest.

After years of being at war, the gaiety in your relationship had eroded. Conversations about the stars turned to war strategies. The physical touch that used to be so casual and thoughtless went from playful pushes and hugs to careful and deliberate tending of wounds. Your words evolved from friendly challenges and jokes to variations of the words "Be safe."

The care you had for each other never wavered; on the contrary, in fact, it strengthened. However, you were both becoming hardened versions of your previous selves, and it made it difficult on your friendship. With every mission, your former carefree self fractured off.

Of course, the biggest shift occurred when your mother died.

She was in a hunting party when you were 17, just on the verge of becoming a fully realized member of the clan. She was an excellent hunter, possessing more patience than you ever could. She and the others in the party had gone just to the edge of what was considered the safe zone. Since the clan's migration into the mountains, it was difficult for the Sky People to attack them directly, but Jake had set a perimeter for their safety.

That day, there had been a troop of Sky People in large mecha-suits placing heavy explosives around the area to level the ground to start building a new station for their soldiers. Many members of the party decided to engage with the Sky People, but they didn't realize that they would be quickly outnumbered by the human soldiers and their machines.

You weren't there in the hunting party that day. You were sitting just inside the entrance of the village campsite when the two survivors of the party returned covered in blood. You recognized Kana and T'seyet as they slid off their pa'li. You knew that your mother had been with them.

Your blood ran cold. The two Na'vi were rushed to the healing tent, but not before they confirmed that the rest of the hunting party had been killed.

You felt like your spirit had been pulled from your body. It took a few moments for you to do anything. Lo'ak and your friend Ehlaya were standing not far from you and were by your side in a moment, but you didn't register their presence until Lo'ak touched your arm. You turned towards him in a daze, your eyes wide and uncomprehending. "My friend," Ehlaya said softly in a horrified tone, "I am so sorry."

You looked at her distraught face and that suspended moment of silence came crashing down as a wail rose out from your mouth. Your vision blurred, and your knees gave out. Lo'ak managed to catch you before you toppled to the ground, but grief poured over your body like ice water. You couldn't hear your friends' words. You couldn't hear your own anguished cries nor the cries of the families of the other slain Na'vi.

You couldn't see that Neteyam had arrived and was crouching before you. You couldn't feel him as he held you tightly to his chest. You just felt grief. Overwhelming grief.

After that day, you were different. Your tone was harsher and your temper shorter. Neteyam, blessed with an abundance of patience and empathy, never left your side through the worst of it. Even when you felt cross with him, he never held it against you, even when it would have been fair for him to do so.

Not long afterward, Neteyam completed the Uniltaron trial and was inducted as a fully mature and realized member of the Omatikaya. His bravery and skill in combat had proven his worth as a warrior of the People. The ceremony honoring his coming-of-age had been one of the first times you had genuinely smiled since the loss of your mother. You watched with pride as he was blessed by the Olo'eyktan and Tsahik.

Now that he was of age, whispers began spreading about Neteyam choosing a mate. His skill as a warrior, his status as the son of Toruk Makto, and his devastating good looks made him desirable to many of the young Na'vi women in the clan. At first, you were amused, especially when his siblings brought it up to tease him. After a while, though, the topic lost its humor as people continued to speculate over whom he would choose.

Deep down, you had always had a faint hope that he and you would be together when you were grown. You never let yourself think about it too much when you were younger, but now that you were older, you realized that the pool of eligible women in the village vying for his attention was a lot larger than it had originally seemed.

To make matters worse, you now thought about it every time you saw him speak with a woman. There were many capable hunters, formidable warriors, and talented healers all around him, and the whole subject left a bitter taste in your mouth.

You began flying in missions again a month after your mother's death. The action and adrenaline gave you a much-needed distraction from the clan gossip. After one mission, when Neteyam came back with a gash on his shoulder, you watched as one of the young healers offered to dress it. You felt a stab of jealousy when he graciously accepted her offer and followed her into one of the tents.

You knew you were being ridiculous, but it still stung when you thought about how it was usually you he went to for such things. You also knew it was ridiculous to think that you were the only woman he would look at. It didn't make you feel any better, though.

With Neteyam being a fully-fledged member of the clan, you started seeing him less. He had become more involved with the war and acted as his father's right hand. You felt him pull away from you bit by bit every day, and you didn't know how to stop it. When you wanted to talk, he was always busy. He was never with his family except late at night before they all went to bed. You spent some time with him briefly during meals or on the occasional hunting party, but his mind seemed preoccupied with other things.

Despite the bleak circumstances, you grew excited for the day you would be able to complete your own Uniltaron trial. You knew it was dangerous, but you felt prepared. A few weeks before your trial, Jake called you and other Omatikaya together, including Neteyam. There were many warriors gathered together sitting around their leader, and you joined next to your friend.

"Listen," the Olo'eyktan began, "we've been getting our asses handed to us out there trying to take out that base." The base in question was the one constructed where your mother had been killed. Your clan had made numerous attacks on it since it was so close to the border, but every time, the Sky People were prepared, as if they knew you were coming. It had led to a lot of bloodshed.

"Now, our enemies know when we're coming," he continued. "I'm thinking they have constant movement sensors or thermal imaging that lets them know we're coming. So, here's the plan."

The plan was simple enough but extremely risky. To avoid being caught on the movement sensors, you and Neteyam would take your ikran only partway to the base where Jake estimated you would still be outside the range of the motion detectors. Then, armed with electromagnetic devices you had stolen in a previous raid, the two of you would covertly place them in a perimeter around the base. Once activated, the field would jam the motion-detecting radar as well as interfere with any thermal imaging.

In addition to setting up the jamming devices, you would also rig explosives near every entrance so that when the Sky People came out to fight, the first wave would be taken out. Once everything was set in place, Neteyam would signal his father with their throat comms, and the rest of the party would fly out and attack.

"Why only two of us?" Neteyam asked when his father had finished his initial explanation. "Why not more of us to set up everything?" Jake nodded his approval at the question. "We can't risk getting picked up by those detectors. I figure if there's only two of you, if they see anything, they'll just assume you're animals. However, it is of utmost importance that you remain as subtle as possible, and do not engage with the Sky People until backup has arrived."

You nodded your understanding at him. You could see why he chose the two of you. Even though your clan knew how to hide amongst the trees, you had proven exceptionally stealthy, even by Omatikaya standards. There was no one in the clan who could find you if you didn't want to be found. Neteyam was the same way, so it made sense that Jake chose you for this role in the mission.

After being dismissed, you stood by the entrance of the war tent waiting for Neteyam to emerge. He often stayed behind to speak with his father after such meetings. Even now, you could hear their voices, and you would have never thought to eavesdrop on them until you heard your name.

With your ears perked up, you couldn't help but lean toward the tent to understand what was being said inside.

"I do not believe she is fit for this mission," you heard Neteyam say. "She has not yet completed Uniltaron, this mission should be for warriors." Your stomach dropped at his words. How could he say such a thing? He wasn't wrong about you not being a fully mature member of the clan, but you had gone on countless missions before, and this was hardly any different.

"Listen, son," Jake countered, "I know you're worried for her, but I'm confident in her ability to help execute this plan. Besides, she has her Uniltaron trial coming up very soon. She is very capable of doing this." Even though you were hurt by Neteyam's words, the vote of confidence from the Olo'eyktan warmed your chest.

Neteyam didn't give up so easily. "Why not just send me and Lo'ak instead, if warrior status doesn't matter?" To that, you were personally offended. Not only were you much stealthier than Lo'ak, but you could actually follow orders when they were given.

"Nice try," Jake said, "but I need someone out there who I know isn't gonna screw around and start fighting before it's time." Vindication.

"She doesn't have the necessary battle experience," Neteyam argued further. "She will be-"

"Enough. My mind is made up. Don't push this anymore." Jake's voice had a hard edge to it that made talking back next to impossible.

"Yes, sir," Neteyam replied obediently, though you could still hear the frustration he was trying to suppress. After a moment of silence, Jake said, "You're dismissed."

You stepped away from the tent before Neteyam could walk out on you listening. Besides, you didn't want to talk to him anymore. You were too hurt and angry at him for trying to get you off the mission to speak to him. You knew if he saw you, you wouldn't be able to pretend like nothing was wrong, and he would eventually figure out that you spied on him and his father.

His words echoed in your head. I do not believe she is fit for this mission. How many times had you flown together into the face of peril? Neither of you could keep track of the number of times you had spent listening in battle meetings, sitting in medical tents after a fight, or exchanging quick words before flying off to let the other know you wished them luck. You thought he saw you as an equal.

Your anger hadn't subsided the next day as you prepared for the mission that night. Avoiding Neteyam took special skill when you were both preparing for a special mission together.

The day passed slowly, but finally, you and the rest of the war party were preparing to leave. Unfortunately, you weren't able to avoid Neteyam anymore, and he came up to you as you were strapping your bow to your ikran, Kazi. Still upset, you gave him a wordless glance before continuing to secure your saddle.

"Nervous?" he asked, noticing your lack of eye contact.

"No," you answered flatly. "I have flown many missions before. This isn't any different." He watched you quietly for a moment. "This is different," he said. "You have never had to be so close to the fighting." You scoffed. "I am capable of handling myself, and thank you for having so much confidence in me," you answered, your words dripping with sarcasm. You knew you would be bad at hiding your anger.

Neteyam noticed your sharp tone and pointed words because he always noticed when something was up with you. "I am confident in you," he defended, confusion crossing his face. "Why would I doubt you?" You clenched your jaw briefly before replying shortly, "You tell me."

"What does that mean?"

You stared up at his face in irritation. He held your gaze, and you could see he was trying to figure out what was upsetting you, so you looked away in hopes that he would drop it. "Nothing," you mumbled, checking the straps on your saddle again for no reason other than to avoid looking at him.

Neteyam grabbed your shoulder firmly and turned you to face him. He looked at you closely, and you could see that a thought had occurred to him. "Did you-" he didn't need to finish the question, you knew what he was asking, and the fact that you knew what he was asking clearly made you guilty. Did you spy on me? You looked away, embarrassed but still upset.

Reading the answer to his unfinished question on your face, he stepped back and took a deep breath in exasperation, running a hand down his face as he fought to stay composed. After a tense pause, he looked down at you, appearing just as frustrated as you felt. "I don't even know where to start with you," he said finally.

Even though you felt bad about eavesdropping on his conversation with his father (and even worse at being caught), you weren't about to apologize when you still felt the sting of his words from the previous night. "It doesn't matter," you told him mutely, "and it doesn't change the fact that I am coming on this mission."

He closed his eyes for a few seconds, a sure sign that he was checking his temper. You hated seeing him like this. It used to be that you could count on one hand the number of times Neteyam came even remotely close to being annoyed with you. Now, it felt like every other time you spoke together, you had some sort of verbal spar.

"I did not mean to insult you," he said in a low voice. "And I am confident in your abilities. I just-" he paused, searching for the right thing to say. "I don't want to see you hurt."

You felt a bit of guilt creep over you, replacing some of your irritation. You couldn't blame him for being concerned. You were worried for him every day he left the entrance of the cave. You knew deep down that all these negative feelings you were both experiencing in your friendship lately were rooted in how much you both cared for each other. When you thought about it like that, it was hard to stay mad at him.

He placed a hand on your shoulder, his touch a comforting feeling you had missed. You looked up at him, this time without any hostility on your face, and he looked at you softly. It was nice, this moment of peace between you two. Then, in a quiet voice, he said, "Please stay back. I can do it alone."

Two sentences and that brief peace was shattered, and your animosity immediately returned. You huffed in exasperation and knocked his hand off of your shoulder. Before either of you could say anything else, Jake's voice called out to the war party, "Let's get mounted, we move out in two minutes."

Shooting one last angry look at Neteyam, you swung up to mount Kazi and attached your queue to hers. She hissed and beat her wings a few times in response to feeling your own agitation, making Neteyam take a few steps back. You patted Kazi a few times to soothe her, not looking down at the warrior. He stood there for a moment in hesitation. This was usually the time when you would tell each other to be careful. You had never flown a mission without wishing each other's safety beforehand.

Finally, he came up to your side and placed his hand on your thigh. You tensed slightly under his touch but didn't try and shake it off. He looked up at you from the ground, and you could see the mix of emotions on his face. "Be safe," he said quietly, and you could really feel how earnestly he meant it.

You should swallow your pride, just let go of your bitterness and say it back. You wanted to, but you were also too stubborn to forget that he wanted you off of this mission. So, instead of reciprocating the wish, you just mumbled, "I will."

You didn't look at him, knowing that seeing the expression on his face would just make you feel worse than you already did. You felt his hand slide off of your leg, and you watched him out of your peripheral vision as he mounted his own ikran beside his father.

In the cover of the night, you and the other warriors flew in silence. You couldn't help but think of the way you left Neteyam. You kicked yourself mentally for not saying it back. You decided when you landed at the halfway point, you would try and make things right with him.

It didn't take long before Jake started flying down toward the canopy of trees. You all followed suit and descended as well. You gave Kazi a few pats when she landed, and through your bond, you implored her to stay with the rest of the ikran. It wasn't so much that you thought the words for her to understand, but it was more like you just wished for her to stay, and she could understand.

You dismounted and zeroed in on Neteyam's lean form illuminated by the glow of the plants around you. Taking a deep breath to reassure yourself, you came up to him as he stepped off of his own ikran. "Neteyam," you said quietly, "I did not mean-"

"All right, you two," Jake interrupted, approaching you and his son. "You know your orders. Stay low, and stay out of trouble. Keep radio contact to a minimum."

"Yes, sir," you both said in unison.

Jake nodded in dismissal. You returned to Kazi and grabbed the sack full of jammers, strapping it securely to your person. You checked that your knives, one on your thigh and the other across your stomach, were securely in place. You held your bow and grabbed as many arrows as you could hold. Giving your ikran one last comforting pat, you turned back to Neteyam.

He was speaking to Jake in a low voice, and your stomach tightened in fear of him revealing that you listened in on their conversation from the previous night. However, you realized this wasn't the case when Jake grabbed his son by the back of his head affectionately and pulled him close so that their foreheads touched. You could remember a time when Jake would have had to stoop to do so, but now the two warriors stood at eye level with each other.

Pulling away, your leader gave a swift nod, and you and Neteyam made your way toward the base on foot. He set a brisk pace that you had to match in order to keep up. The silence between you two was thick and charged with negative feelings. You felt the guilt gnawing at your heart from what you had said, or rather, hadn't said before.

Remembering your resolution to apologize, you figured if you didn't say something now, it would be too late to say anything at all. Once you were well out of view from the rest of the party, you slowed down. "Neteyam," you called out softly. He stopped moving and looked back at you in concern. He was clearly in mission mode and thought something was wrong.

You held up a hand to assuage his concerns. "About earlier," you began uncomfortably. You hated apologizing, and you weren't very good at it. "I should not have listened in on you and your father last night. It was wrong." Neteyam said nothing, and his face stared at you passively. Taking a breath, you steeled yourself before saying, "I'm sorry."

Your apology hung in the air for a moment, and in that time, you had the dreadful thought that he would just turn around and keep moving through the forest.

Finally, he gave a large sigh that let out some of the tension in his broad shoulders. He was a better person than you in that he would always opt for peace over furthering an argument, and he knew how difficult it was for you to apologize to anyone.

"What is this between us?" He muttered questioningly, gesturing loosely between himself and you. "Why is there this anger and bitterness?" He sounded drained and insecure, two attributes that vastly contradicted who he was most of the time. You looked at the ground, ashamed of how you let your relationship deteriorate like this.

"I don't want to fight anymore," he said quietly, walking over to you. You looked up at him and realized just how close he was to you. You could count the individual glowing spots on his face.

"I don't want to fight anymore either," you responded in a whisper. "I'm sorry."

His amber eyes softened as they looked down on you. Dropping his bow, he lifted his arms at the elbow with his palms up, and, following suit, you placed your own forearms on top of his. The two of you stood there holding each other's arms in the dark for a second. It was the closest you had been in a long time.

"I'm sorry, too," he said after a moment. "I should not have said those things to my father." He traced his thumbs over your skin, causing your face to warm. "I'm just worried you will do something stupid like get hurt." This earned him a small smile from you, and it released much of the tension between you.

"When have I ever done something stupid?" You pretended to be offended. He smiled back at you softly. "Too many times to count," he murmured. You wanted to make a smart retort, but as you looked up at him, the way he was gazing back at you made your breathing falter. It was like he was trying to memorize your features, counting the tiny scars and glowing marks that were scattered across your face.

In the blink of an eye, he came back into focus, and you both remembered that you had a greater task at hand. Reluctantly, he pulled away from you and stooped to pick up his bow. Immediately, you missed his touch, but you nevertheless picked up your bow and set off with him through the trees.

You moved quickly through the forest, feeling a lot lighter without the weight of your remorse in your chest. As you got closer, you started moving slower to be more discreet. Creeping to the edge of the clearing, you both peered at the base illuminated by the artificial lights in the darkness. Your heart was pounding as you realized that this was the place where your mother died, and you needed to take a calming breath. Seeming to read your thoughts, Neteyam placed a comforting hand on your lower back.

Shaking yourself out of your thoughts, you set down your bow and arrows and reached into your pack to hand him two of the four jammers. Your orders had been that he would set up one on the north and west sides, and you would set up on the east and south sides.

He gave you a quick nod and moved to start setting them up, but you grabbed his arm and turned him to face you. "Be safe," you whisper as quietly as you could. He gave you a quick smile and replied, "I will."

Okay, you had that one coming.

"Don't do anything stupid," he whispered, causing you to roll your eyes playfully as he disappeared without another sound.

You moved slowly to ensure you didn't raise any alarm. Once you had set up your jammers, you returned to where you had set down your weapon. Neteyam was already waiting for you there. You sidled up to him, and when he noticed your return, he pressed his throat comm and whispered, "The perimeter is set, ready to move to phase two."

Phase two involved activating the jammers and setting up the explosives while the rest of the war party would fly in on their ikran now that the Sky People wouldn't be able to detect their presence.

After Neteyam paused briefly to listen to his father, he whispered, "Yes sir. Over and out." Activating the jammers meant that in addition to disrupting the sensors for the Sky People, it would also interfere with the communication with Jake and the others. Now, the plan was at its most vulnerable. If something went wrong here, there was no way for the two of you to alert the war party.

Neteyam pulled out the explosives from his own pack. He handed them wordlessly to you, and you both silently split up to set up the explosives at each entrance.

The base was relatively small, more of a depot really. It had a large operating unit that was connected by a long hall to the hangar. The hangar had two large bay doors that you knew contained several mecha-suits and other heavy machinery meant for war. In the operating unit, there were two doors on every side except for where the hall tunnel connected. The hangar had one regular door beside the bays and one on the opposite side. Spread across the clearing were several large metal crates that you suspected housed an assortment of weapons.

At each entrance, you placed one explosive and two on each bay door. They stuck to the doors, and you twisted the dial until you heard a click, indicating that they were set. When a human opened the door, the movement would trigger the explosion.

With everything set, all that was left to do was wait. You returned to where you set down your bow and arrows. Neteyam was there waiting, too. You were both crouched on a tree, your arms brushing with how close you were to each other.

Before long, the war party emerged over the trees on their ikran. You felt your heart pound as they approached, knowing that the peace of the night was about to be destroyed by their attack.

As they closed in, Jake and a few others threw grenades into the center of the clearing. They didn't do much damage, but that wasn't the point. Setting off the alarms and turning on the emergency lights was the point. And that's exactly what it did.

Shortly after the grenades went off, there were several large explosions at the doors of the base. The Sky People standing behind the doors had been obliterated. Smoke surrounded the base as the alarms kept blaring. As you had expected, more of the humans poured out of the blasted entrances, and the chaos of battle began.

Amidst the noise, you and Neteyam called out for your ikran. You saw Kazi circle in the air before descending to where you were hiding, but before she could land, one of the humans began firing at her. Screeching in pain, she pulled up and twisted away to avoid the gunshots.

Anger flared in your chest. You pulled back an arrow and let it fly. It made its home in the stomach of your target, but another human nearby had noticed his comrade being shot and looked at where you were crouching on the edge of the clearing. He turned his gun to you and started shooting. You and Neteyam ducked behind the trees just in time to avoid being injured.

You moved quickly behind the trees, the gunfire following after you. You paused behind a tree for safety, nocked another arrow onto your bow, and turned out to shoot the soldier, but when you did, he had already fallen with one of Neteyam's arrows sticking from his ribs.

More Sky People flooded out from the base. You saw Kazi land not far from where you were standing. Still holding an arrow on your bowstring, you ran out from the trees over to where she was waiting.

Several humans stood between you, but their attention was spread all over the place. You shot at one who was aiming at Kazi, and taking your knife from your stomach, you slashed it through the neck of the one closest to you. As you nearly reached your ikran, you saw a small object sail through the air and land between you. You barely had enough time to slow down before the grenade exploded, knocking you backward with its force. Screeching, Kazi flew up frantically away from the explosion.

Ears ringing, you pushed yourself up from the ground as quickly as you could and grabbed your bow. The human who threw the explosive was standing off to the side right between one of the metal crates and the building of the base. You saw as he raised his gun towards your ikran. Anger burned in you. Your mother died here in this clearing, and you would be damned if your ikran was killed here, too.

You pulled back your arrow. He was standing with his side to you, making him a tough target. You opted to shoot his gun instead, knocking it out of his hands before he could start shooting. He stood surprised for a moment as you ran towards him, pulling your second knife from your thigh. The soldier also pulled a knife from its sheath and crouched as you approached swiftly.

Once in arms reach, he sprang forward and swiped at your legs with his knife. You lept right, narrowly avoiding a gash on your thigh, and slashed your knife down at him. You managed to catch his arm, but it wasn't very deep. He reeled back in pain, scowling deeply at you. You scowled back and hissed at him.

He launched himself forward again at you. You tried dodging again, but this time he seemed to anticipate it. Swapping his knife to his other hand, he sliced at your waist, catching the side of your stomach and cutting deep enough that the blood immediately started dripping down your side. He came back at you with his knife, but you managed to parry with your own, and with your other hand, you ripped off the soldier's air mask.

Immediately, he was gasping for breath, and you were able to plunge your knife into his chest. As he dropped to the ground, you fell back against the metal crate behind you. You held your hand over your bleeding wound, wincing at the pain. It was a pretty bad cut, bad enough that you knew you should move away from the fight to bandage it to stop the bleeding.

You stepped away from the crate still clutching your side. Kazi wasn't too far from where you were standing, and the coast was clear for you to hustle over to her.

What you hadn't realized at the time was that not all of the doors had exploded in the first few moments of the battle. You didn't notice that you were standing next to one of those unopened doors. You couldn't hear the footsteps running towards the unopened door from inside. You barely registered what happened as you were thrown back off of your feet when the door exploded before your head slammed against the metal crate, and you passed out.

You weren't sure how long you were out when you came to again. The sounds of voices echoed above you, but it was hard to determine what was being said. You concentrated on bringing the noises into focus. You could discern a woman's voice calling your name above you.

"Mother?" You said weakly. You opened your bleary eyes and saw several faces hovering over yours. "No, child," one of the faces told you. You blinked several times, trying to pull them into focus. You finally made out Mo'at as the source of the voice speaking to you. The other faces above you belonged to Kiri and Neteyam, both full of concern.

You groaned in pain. Your head throbbed, and your side burned. "Do not move," Mo'at instructed sternly. Kiri pushed her brother's shoulder. "You should leave," she told him gently. Neteyam shook off her hand and shook his head. "I'm not going anywhere," he said resolutely.

You reached a hand up toward him. He took it immediately, and you were dimly aware of a warm substance on his hand that you learned later was your own blood.

"Wha- what happened?" you asked weakly. Instead of getting an answer, Kiri held up a smoking leaf and blew toward your face. Breathing in the sweet scent of the smoke, you felt the world become distorted, and you drifted out of consciousness again.

The second time you woke up wasn't so confusing. You blinked your eyes open and found that you were in one of the healing tents. Light was pouring in from the entrance, illuminating the inside of the tent.

You started to move, but a sharp pain in your abdomen caused you to gasp and lie still. From beside you, a figure you hadn't noticed sat up quickly.

"You are awake," Neteyam said groggily. He seemed to have fallen asleep against the side of the tent and was roused by your movement. "So are you," you responded, your voice sounding hoarse. "Have you been sleeping here?"

He shook his head a little. "I didn't mean to fall asleep," he admitted. You hummed. What remained of his war paint was smeared across his face, he still had some blood dried on his arms, and he was trying to blink the sleep out of his eyes. It was sort of comical.

"You look terrible," you told him. "You look worse," he retorted. That made you smile. "How do you feel?" Your hand went to your head. It was still aching, but not as bad as before. Your cut on your abdomen radiated with pain even though you weren't moving. "I've been better," you admitted with a grimace. "What happened?"

Neteyam moved over to you and crossed his legs as he sat. "I'm not sure," he muttered. "One moment, I see you fighting a human, the next, you were nowhere to be seen." He wasn't looking at you as he spoke, his eyes fixed on a spot far away. "When my ikran found me," he continued, "I looked for you and found you bleeding and unconscious." His jaw tensed at the memory. "Your ikran was standing over you, protecting you. She barely let me get to you."

You smiled softly, your love for Kazi warming your chest. "Is she okay?" You asked. He nodded. "She took some bullets to her wings, but she'll be okay," he answered. You were relieved.

"When I got to you," he continued, "you were bleeding very badly. For a moment, I thought-" his voice faltered, and he closed his eyes to regain his composure. Your chest tightened. You reached your hand out and grabbed his arm comfortingly. He placed his own hand on top of yours and sighed.

"I picked you up and took you back here," he said finally. "My grandmother and Kiri worked for a long time to patch you up." You had a flashback of Mo'at's face hovering over your own with Kiri helping next to her.

You lay in silence for a moment. Neteyam was still staring off into the distance, thinking about the events of the night before. You could feel his thumb rubbing gently across the top of your hand. Finally, he let out a sigh and looked at you. "I told you not to do anything stupid," he whispered, his voice tight with emotion.

You swallowed thickly. It was hard to see him emotional when he was always so composed and rational. "I know," you told him quietly. "I didn't mean to scare you." He managed to give you a sad smile and ran his hand over your forehead.

"I should get my grandmother," he said at last, moving to stand up, but you held onto his arm. He looked at you questioningly. You gave him a wry smile. "You seem tired," you said with exaggerated concern. "I think you should lie down for a while. These blankets are quite comfortable."

He stared down at you with a slow smile spreading across his face. "Is that so?" He questioned. You nodded your head solemnly, trying to suppress your own smile. "Well," he said, shifting his position to lie down beside you. "In that case, maybe I can rest my eyes for a moment."

You chuckled at him and then immediately regretted doing so as your wound sent pain throughout your torso. "Don't make me laugh," you groaned. He settled in next to you gently. "I will do my best," he mumbled, pulling you close. It wasn't long before his breathing slowed, and you knew he had fallen asleep.

Part 2

[takaraphoenix]

Camping & Bonding (Part 4)

Tags: m/m, Erica Lives, Boyd Lives, Jackson Doesn't Leave, Pack Mom Stiles, Pack Feels, True Mates, fluff, hurt/comfort, camping, mutual pining, m/f

Main Pairing: Derek/Stiles

Side Pairings: Scott/Allison, Boyd/Erica, Jackson/Lydia

Teen Wolf Characters: Mieczysław 'Stiles' Stilinski, Derek Hale, Erica Reyes, Vernon Boyd III, Isaac Lahey, Jackson Whittemore, Lydia Martin, Cora Hale, Scott McCall, Allison Argent

@writersmonth Prompts Part 4: season + school

Summary: Stiles thinks the pack should go camping, as a bonding exercise. Much to his surprise, Derek agrees with his plan. So the pack goes off into the mountains to camp together.

This Fic on AO3 | This Fic on FFNet

Stiles Summer Stories 2024

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Part 4: The Confession

They brought enough eggs to make twenty omelets. While the wolves went on their morning run to also hunt a little meat on the side of those eggs, Stiles went to forage for mushrooms and herbs with Lydia and Allison. A little walk of their own. It was nice. Chilly, but beautiful. The orange and red and yellow leafs. And every now and again, they saw the pack running by in the distance.

When the three of them returned to their camp side, they started prepping everything for breakfast before the wolves returned from their hunt. Once again, Derek dropped a dead animal in front of Stiles, which was going to keep freaking Stiles out. Just because he knew how to take them apart didn't exactly mean he enjoyed the sight of dead animals, especially not when they were unceremoniously dropped metaphorically in his lap.

"Good hunt," Stiles offered when the Alpha kept staring at him. "Now go wash up. Seriously."

And since when did Derek need this much affirmation? Still, it was kind of cute to see that preening Derek did at the praise before once again rounding up the pups to herd them to the creek for a quick wash. Shaking his head, Stiles waved Allison over to help him take apart the catch of the day.

"We could save some cuts for lunch, we brought enough bread to make sandwiches," Stiles suggested. "I was thinking we could go on a hike, so take them with us. Yes, we. All of us. Stop groaning, Lydia. It will not kill you, I promise you that."

Not that Stiles himself was the biggest fan of hiking. But he knew the pups needed the exercise and he knew this would be a great way of bonding. Plus, he'd heard the view was breathtaking.

"You do know what Derek is doing though, right?" Lydia asked, while stirring the omelet.

Stiles looked confused at her. "Uhm, currently? Taking a bath, I guess?"

"No, Stiles," Lydia heaved an exasperated sigh. "You look so confused every time Derek drops the hunt in front of you. I thought it was weird yesterday."

"Yeah, it really was weird, right?!" Stiles threw up his hands. "Thank you, Ly-"

"No, your reaction was weird," Lydia furrowed her brows. "Like you didn't know what he was doing. And now again. You don't know what he's doing, do you?"

Stiles paused, looking at her. "What… What do you mean? What is he doing?"

"How do you not know that, I thought you researched werewolves to the smallest detail."

"Don't sound so accusatory," Stiles glared. "How am I supposed to know everything. There might be things even I missed. Or didn't deem important at the time due to the massive volume of research to be done. Also school. Like. There are more things than the supernatural that I have to do too, studying and helping Scott study, and take care of my dad, and the household, and the pack-"

"He's courting you, Stiles," Lydia blurted out to interrupt him. "He's bringing you the game he caught himself, and don't think the wolves haven't noticed how much you two smelt like each other this morning. Jackson froze up and told me. You two weren't just sharing a tent."

"We shared some body-heat," Stiles defended with a blush. "But that's not-"

"Stiles," Allison offered him a small, nearly pitiful smile. "You're the only one who can sway Derek. Don't get me wrong, he listens to everyone's opinion, he learned to do that. But… but you are the one who can convince Derek of any of our ideas and who always has his ear and trust. You're his second, Stiles."

At that, Stiles huffed out a laugh. "No, I'm not. Peter is Derek's left hand."

"Not his left hand," Lydia heaved an exasperated sigh. "His second. His second half. The co-leader of this pack. The only one to outrank the left hand. How do you not see it."

Stiles froze and stared at the girls a little dumbly. He wasn't Derek's mate. He would know if he was Derek's mate. They'd known each other for well over a year now and they had been… close, for months. And Stiles was the one who figured these things out! Erica and Boyd. Jackson and Lydia. Allison and Scott. Heck, Allison and Scott were how Stiles had figured out that mates were a real thing, he had put that together. He would know if he was someone's mate.

/break\

Something had happened while the wolves bathed. When they returned, Stiles was… jittery. Even by Stiles standards. Derek frowned as he watched his mate cautiously.

"Training," Derek growled after breakfast. "Pair up. Erica and Jackson. Cora and Isaac. Boyd and Scott. Don't groan at me. You have predictable patterns that your usual go-to sparring partners know. Switch it up. Now go."

"Sourwolf," Stiles huffed annoyed as soon as the betas got up. "Don't growl at the pups."

He had his arms crossed and he was glaring at Derek, making the Alpha falter a little. Damn it, he needed to have better control. But when Stiles was upset – and especially when Stiles seemed upset with him – it still messed with Derek. Perhaps because Stiles was his anchor, Stiles calmed him, so when Stiles was upset, his anchor was the reason for Derek's own upset feelings.

"You flinched away when I touched you earlier."

How much Derek hated admitting these things. He crossed his own arms, trying to brace himself, glaring at a point behind Stiles – where the betas were training with each other and decidedly pretending they couldn't hear Stiles and Derek's conversation. Allison and Lydia were pretending to be busy with the clean-up. Stiles stared at him in bafflement.

"I didn't…" Stiles trailed off and then sighed. "I didn't mean to. I was just really in my head and you startled me. But, Der, c'mon. Even if I flinched, that should not make you lash out at the pups! They didn't do anything."

"They didn't," Derek agreed, with a heavy sigh. "I'm… sorry. I just… It messes with me when you… When something is wrong with you."

"Why," Stiles frowned at him.

Derek remained stubbornly silent. He couldn't tell Stiles. He shouldn't tell Stiles.

"Why," Stiles asked again, more pointed, his eyes narrowed. "I need you to tell me, Derek."

"Why do you need to know," Derek growled. "It doesn't matter."

"It does!" Stiles threw his hands up in the air in exasperation. "If it affects our pack, then I need to know, so I can figure out what to do to avoid it!"

"I don't like when you're upset, or hurt, or – or when anything is wrong with you."

Stiles stared at him like the air got knocked out of him. "They're right."

Derek tensed at that, hunching over a little like he was bracing himself. "Who was right."

"The…" Stiles motioned over to Lydia and Allison. "The girls! They said that I'm your mate. That's what kept me so distracted during breakfast. Because surely that can't be, right. 'Surely, Derek would have told me at literally any point during the past months that we've been friends, that I've been in his pack. There's no way he would have kept something like that from me. Even if he doesn't want me, he knows how important the trust between us is to me, he would have told me the truth,' while I replayed pretty much every single interaction between us since I joined the pack, I kept thinking that. And I guess I'm fucking wrong, huh."

The more he talked, the more bitter and louder his voice grew. He turned away from Derek, a sneer on his face. The cold autumn breeze carried over a scent of misery and Derek's inner wolf whimpered because he knew they were the cause of it.

"I could have been okay with you not wanting me, Derek," Stiles turned to look at him with a devastating look on his face. "You know I can handle rejection. But this… this is about more than you and me. If I'm your mate, I'm the Alpha mate. That… That's really fucking important information regarding our entire pack and I should have known that. You should have told me."

Derek didn't know what to say, or how to say it, not that he got a chance to, because Stiles barreled on. "I deserved to know. You know how weird the past months were for me? I kept cuddling up with my classmates, I fucking nuzzled Jackson at school the other week. I genuinely started to think I was losing it but no. No, I'm the Alpha mate, of course have I been more in tune with the betas. Which also, explains why I keep thinking about them as the betas! Part of me has gotten really fucking worried that I kept mentally excluding myself from them, like, what, was I not seeing myself as pack, what was my problem? But no. No, my problem was that I'm not a beta. I just didn't know it. Because nobody fucking told me."

Stiles was radiating frustration and anger and hurt and all Derek could do was watch and listen quietly, knowing his mate needed to vent. He always talked a lot, especially when he was being emotional. Maybe it'd help him to get it out of his system.

"I would have been fine, Derek," Stiles whispered, and the whispering scared Derek much more than the yelling. "I was in love with Lydia for years and I was fine when she rejected me and got back together with Jackson and we're friends now. I would have been fine if you just told me that you don't love me. We could have led this pack together. As friends. Even if you don't want me."

Suddenly, it felt much colder than it had any right to, and it had nothing to do with the season. The blood in Derek's veins froze as Stiles' words – all of his words – finally fully sank in and context was webbed between them. Stiles was angry because Derek hadn't told him. Stiles… expected rejection. Because of Derek's actions, or rather his inaction, Stiles thought he wasn't wanted.

"Can I… talk now?" Derek asked softly. "Can I explain why I didn't tell you?"

With a sarcastic smile, Stiles made a gesture that indicated 'the floor is all yours'. Derek took a deep breath, trying to mentally prepare himself to talk about his feelings. The feelings he hadn't shared for good reason so far. But that had hurt Stiles, the last person he wanted to hurt, and now he had to fix this somehow, he had to make Stiles stop hurting.

"I want you, Stiles," Derek looked his mate directly in the eyes, wanting for Stiles to see how serious and sincere he was. "I want you more than I ever wanted anything, I want you so much that it scares me, because if I… if I had you, I could lose you again. I would lose you again."

Stiles stared at him in confusion. "That doesn't even make sense. If you don't have me, you can't lose me. Well, great, but you're also not having me, so what's the big difference."

"The difference," Derek growled and ground his teeth together hard. "The difference is that every good thing I ever dare hope to have dies or is otherwise forcibly taken from me, Stiles. P… Paige died. My family died. Laura died. Boyd and Erica were taken and tortured because they were part of my pack. Everyone I love gets hurt because of me. And the thought that someone hurts you, takes you away from me – from the pack, from your dad – all because of me? I can't… I would much rather not have you than lose you for good, Stiles."

In front of him, Stiles crumbled. The anger and hurt melted away to make room for the most heartbroken look Derek had ever seen. Stiles walked up to him, with careful and slow steps, as though he was approaching a cornered animal. Once he stood close enough, he reached both hands out for Derek's face, gently cupping it and leaning closer.

"You big, dumb idiot," Stiles heaved a sigh. "Look at me. Look at me. I'm the human who runs with wolves. I got hunted by a less than sane Alpha. I got tortured by an evil hunter. I regularly get attacked and nearly killed by whatever evil lurks in Beacon Hills. And I'm still standing. You are not getting rid of me that easily. You are not going to lose me that easily. I love you. You and me, we save each other. That's what we do, Derek, and that's what we'll continue doing."

He leaned in, more and more, until Derek could feel the ghost of Stiles' breath against his lips and for once, he didn't hold back. He wrapped his arms around his mate and pulled Stiles into a kiss filled with all the emotions he'd tried to reign in these past months. Stiles practically melted against him, warm and firm and there. Right there, in Derek's arms.

[ourflagmeanswaystar]

your handprint’s on my soul (i wanna be your endgame)

ao3 | buck/eddie | rated: T | 45k words

hi!! i just posted the last chapter of my latest buddie fic (excerpt below) and am gonna post the epilogue later tonight (9/4)!

i’m really proud of completing this, i think it’s like a fun lil jaunt through some light angst and self-discovery and pining that ends heartwarming. i originally said it was kinda a vehicle for my favorite headcanons and tropes so in honor of that, here’s some of the most poignant tags, descriptors, tropes, etc.:

every chapter is named after a song that often gave me the idea for whatever happens in that chapter

post-s7

getting together

buck being christopher diaz’s second father

eddie gay awakening ft. bobby’s hot priest

fwb to lovers

idiots in love

gratuitous italics and commas and em dashes sorry

:)

Eddie was 16 when Adriana got her first pair of glasses. He drove her to the appointment. He still remembers when they stepped outside the doctor’s office and she froze, little hand grabbing his arm. “Oh my gosh, Eddie, the trees.” He looked out across the parking lot where she was pointing, but he just saw the same old trees how they always looked this time of year, the leaves starting to dry up. “They— they don’t look like blurry blobs anymore!” She ran across the parking lot to the biggest trees, with Eddie instinctively looking both ways on her behalf and chasing after her. Her beaming smile up at him as she examined the details of the leaves has stuck with him all these years. Eddie doesn’t care if it may not be the most tasteful analogy to use for sex with Evan Buckley, but it’s the one that works. He could say their first kiss felt like he’s actually breathing correctly, using his full lung capacity for the first time. He could say falling into his messy bed sheets together felt like the rest of the world could have apocalyptically burned down and he wouldn’t have noticed. He could say this is what everyone’s been talking about this whole time. But this is what makes the most sense: How people describe getting glasses and seeing leaves on the trees for the first time. It’s like until two weeks ago, he couldn’t even see the trees at all. He had just adapted to a barren tree-less landscape, and it was fine, he didn’t even know anything was missing. Then his eyes were opened to this whole new world a little after midnight in an overstimulating gay bar in West Hollywood. But he didn’t realize until now that he was still only seeing the surface. Those two other guys, who he can’t even remember right now, were like the blurry blob trees Adriana had described. And now, with someone who knows him better than anyone else in the world, he sees everything. Every last leaf; he sees and catalogs every last detail of Buck.

[sephstones]

Writing Patterns - Hazbin Hotel Edition

Rules: List the first line of your last 10 (posted) fics and see if there's a pattern!

I wasn't specifically tagged, but I saw @eirenical doing this and it seemed like fun. I'm focusing it specifically on my Hazbin Hotel fic. I don't actually have 10 fics posted on ao3 for this fandom (yet) so I'm cheating and a lot of this will be unposted WIPs from my docs folder. Consider it a taste of what is (hopefully) to come! ;)

List the first sentence of your last 10 AO3 works.

The pain howled through her, screamed out of her for all of Heaven and Hell to hear.  (The Fall, Charlie/Vaggie, 5/10 chapters posted)

An angel was missing. (Second to None, Lute-centric fic, 3/4 chapters posted)

aaaand, that's it for what I've posted on ao3 so far. The rest of these are WIPs that still only exist in my docs:

“You know,” Charlie said, carefully fastening the ribbon into a bow, adjusting the ends and double knotting it at the center, "this isn't so different from what we saw this afternoon." (Trust Exercise, Charlie/Vaggie)

The woman's voice emanated from the television and weaved its way through the hotel, up one staircase and down another, twisting amongst the bottles behind the bar, wrapping around Vaggie's waist and sending shivers up her spine. (Working title 'The Music Lesson', Charlie/Vaggie, possibly other pairings TBD)

Charlie pressed her face into Vaggie's pillow, breathed in the familiar scent of Vaggie's hair. (Aftermath, Charlie/Vaggie)

Vaggie was still pacing their hotel room when Charlie returned from the zoo with the Seraph Emily in tow. (One Short Day, Charlie/Vaggie)

She loved when it felt like this between them, when Charlie was in the right mood to get a little rough with her, when Vaggie could test just how far she could go without breaking apart beneath Charlie's hands. (Unrestrained, Charlie/Vaggie)*

"Such an angel," Carmilla said with a smile. (Out for Love, Carmilla/Vaggie) *

"You can't be serious," Vaggie said, gripping tight to her spear as Charlie invited the smiling Emily and scowling Lute inside. (Working title 'The Saint of Joy', probably Emily/Lute and Charlie/Vaggie with some past Vaggie/Lute baggage, but still mostly brainstorming here, so could definitely change)

She realized her mistake far too late to save herself, just moments after she returned to a Hell with Lilith in it (Working title 'Overload', Lilith/Lute)

*this is the first sentence of what I currently have written, but probably won't remain the first sentence by the time the fic is finished.

Do you notice any patterns?

I'm awful at analyzing my own writing, but the first thing I noticed was that I tend toward relatively short first sentences? This left me very tempted to include more than one sentence for several of these, but I resisted!

I'm not going to tag anyone specifically, but if you think this looks like fun, I'd love to see your first lines too (and feel free to tag me if you do it!)

[sensitiveheartless]

20 questions for fic writers!

Tagged by @feralrookie! :D Thank you for the tag!!

1. How many works do you have on ao3?

10! (technically, kinda)

2. What's your total ao3 word count?

379,547

3. What fandoms do you write for?

Just Bungou Stray Dogs! It's also the first fandom I've written for, actually. :D

4. What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

This is how it feels to take a fall (Dazai goes feral, time shenanigans)

Plate :( (Dazai breaks a plate, experiences emotions)

Dazai and the Moving Detective Agency (Howl's Moving Castle AU)

Chuunyaa's Pawsitively Catastrophic Day (Chuuya is turned into a cat, it's short and pretty much just shenanigans)

Wish in one hand (First fic I wrote, and the first one I posted — Dazai has emotions about handholding)

5. Do you respond to comments? Why or why not?

I try to, but I've been absolutely terrible at it lately — whenever I'm particularly stressed I start worrying that the negative emotions are going to leak through into what I'm writing and make my tone sound weird, so then I end up turtling in on myself and not saying anything at all, no matter how much I want to engage with people. It's a bad habit, and I want to work on it, so I'm gonna try to catch up on comments! (I treasure every single one of the ones I receive, so for anyone who has left a comment and hasn't gotten a response from me yet, thank you and I am very sorry about my inability to form words in a timely manner skdjfksd)

6. What is the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

Probably An Unsent Letter, since it's pretty much just a short snippet of Dazai being sad while he's leaving the mafia. And even with that one, I have in my head that skk still get together after the four years apart, I just didn't write it. I am dreadful with sad endings — although the ending to "This is how it feels to take a fall" is a little bittersweet, perhaps.

7. What's the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?

Hmm...I'm gonna say Dazai and the Moving Detective Agency, because it's the one with the longest buildup, so I think it has the most catharsis, at least for me! But I tend to give all of my fics happy endings because, as established, I am a wimp when it comes to hardcore angst. I will say that Zut Alors I Have Missed One is probably a contender for happiest as well, just because that fic had no angst whatsoever and was just Unhinged

8. Do you get hate on fic?

Nope! Everyone's been lovely! I have gotten some for my art, but honestly it was pretty toothless and I couldn't take it seriously lol

9. Do you write smut?

...Yeh. :0 There was an attempt, at least — one fic, and I made it anonymous (so on the extreme off-chance that anyone notices a discrepancy between my total ao3 wordcount listed here and the summed up wordcounts of the fics viewable on my profile, that's why!) It's also another fic I need to finish, I hit my writing roadblock with that one at the same time as all my others, and it's almost doneeee I just need my brain to cooperate >:|

10. Do you write crossovers?

Not any proper crossovers, only things like the Howl AU and the Little Mermaid AU, where I took the settings/plots and put in BSD characters.

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

Not that I know of!

12. Have you ever had a fic translated?

...Possibly? I'm not actually sure, I've given a couple people permission, but I'm not sure if anything came of that, I haven't heard one way or another :0 I do have a tendency to use puns, which I realize might make things difficult for translations

13. Have you ever co-written a fic before?

No, not so far — and given how tempestuous my schedule has been, it'll probably be a while before I attempt anything like that! Sounds fun, though

14. What's your all-time favorite ship?

...I mean, it's gotta be soukoku, because for all that I've enjoyed a lot of fictional pairings before (for example, Howl and Sophie specifically from the HMC books, Beatrice and Benedick from Much Ado About Nothing — I like bickering duos, what do you know — Peter Wimsey and Harriet Vane, currently falling down the Hualian rabbithole because I'm reading Heaven Official's Blessing with my friend, and there's lots of other ones), for as much as I like all those, I haven't really had much of an urge to write anything for them.

So, purely in terms of me wanting to mess around with two characters and write them over and over and over again, it's really only skk! They hit the exact right combination of braincells, I guess lololol

15. What's a WIP you want to finish but probably won't?

Hmmm...honestly, most of my WIPs I still intend to finish at some point or another — first priority being the ones I've already started posting, of course! Although...just due to time constraints, I might not get around to writing the thief!Chuuya/detective!Dazai one I was planning a while back. (and I mean a WHILE lol) I didn't write very much of it, and honestly most of the reason I wanted to write it was for comedy — so maybe I'll turn it into a short comic series instead, because I do think some of the bits were funny :0

16. What are your writing strengths?

That's a hard one; I tend to look more at the ways I want to improve my writing then at what I like about it, and I nitpick just about everything I create, art and writing alike. But if I had to pick something, I would probably say dialogue? That tends to be what I write easiest, at least. I still want to get better at that too, though.

17. What are your writing weaknesses?

Descriptions and action scenes. I've been making myself write them more, so I think I'm slowly improving (the Howl AU has been great for that! It pushed me to write all sorts of scenes I wouldn't have normally :D ), but those two things remain what I get bogged down by the most.

18. Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language in fic?

Depends on the circumstances, I think? I'd include translations if I did. I do tend to include Japanese honorifics when I'm writing in the canon universe, because there's not really english equivalents and it feels like I'm leaving something out when I just do their names straight — although I did take them out when I was doing the Howl AU and the Little Mermaid AU, just as a setting thing.

19. First fandom you wrote for?

Bungou Stray Dogs — like I mentioned in the ship section, this is the first fandom where I've really felt the urge. Although I did write things when I was little that very blatantly yoinked in various creatures and concepts from the things I was reading and watching, which resulted in stories with pirates and weeping angels and Ringwraiths all running around in the same place. But I didn't usually bother with bringing in actual characters from those pieces of media, or even using the settings, I just made ocs and had them run around in my own made up world.

20. Favorite fic you've written?

I like all of them for different reasons, but I think my favorite overall has to be Dazai and the Moving Detective Agency. It's the longest thing I've ever written, and when I started out I wasn't sure I'd be able to do it — so the fact that it's most of the way done (currently chipping away at the epilogue, it is getting to be a LOT of words) makes me really happy. And it's just been so much fun! Writing characters I hadn't before, piecing the world together, working out the magic system, writing Dazai being a mess and Chuuya being cool, it's all been a blast. And I seriously need to finish the epilogue, because the followups are living in my brain and they demand to be freed aksdfjksdjfk

But yeah! I'm not sure how many writers I know on here have already been tagged, so I'll just go open tags on this one! :D If any of y'all write and feel like doing this, then go for it!

[whatdoidosatoru]

Sweet Nothings

PART 4 of The Only Exception

part 1 - part 2 - part 3 - ao3 wc: 4938 pairing: Baji x OC (reader insert bc oc is very vaguely described) tags: smut, oral sex (f and m receiving), face-sitting, fingering, thigh-fucking, dirty talk, penetrative sex, he's so nice!!!!!

tag list: @bontensbabygirl @mrsryuguji - thank you so much for expressing interest for this fic I genuinely feel like crying when I think about it!

summary: post-exam stress turns into a fun night meeting Baji's friends :)

music:

Sweet Nothings - Neck Deep

Just The Girl - The Click Five

She’s a God - Neck Deep

Last of the Real Ones - Fall Out Boy

You and I - Anarbor

Feeling This - blink-182

Closer - Nine Inch Nails

MINORS DNI!!!! 18+

Baji

The following week went by incredibly slowly. Yuna and I had classes and work so we couldn’t see each other, but we kept messaging throughout most of our days, apart from when we were working.

Every time I felt my phone vibrating I felt giddy, like a teenager in love. The feeling was explosive, overwhelming. That girl will be the death of me. Even Chifuyu couldn’t help but notice and take the piss out of me for it.

“I don’t think I’ve seen you smile this much since you stopped beating people up for shits and giggles.”

“Piss off, Chifuyu, I’m the embodiment of sunshine. I’m always smiling.”

Chifuyu laughed, “Sure, that’s why that old lady ran away when she saw you in front of our building today. Because you’re too cheerful.”

I flipped him off, still grinning at my phone and the latest selfie from Yuna while Chifuyu was setting up a show for us to watch.

Yuna🖤💙, 21:36

if my future werent on the line id just sleep in tomorrow tbh my eyes cannot stay open anymore midterms will be the death of me fuck this shit wanna move in with me in a cottage in the middle of nowhere and own some goats off the grid well get some cats as well ill take my dog back from my parents just us and animals and sometimes mai you can invite matsuno to visit tell him to bring us books when he visits

Boyfriend Material🧛🏻, 21:40

You’ve definitely got a good plan there But please go to sleep, you need rest before your exam <3 I’ll be home by the time you’ve finished and you can come over for lunch if you’d like

Yuna🖤💙, 21:42

thats kinda making me wet ngl

Boyfriend Material🧛🏻, 21:43

Lunch is making you wet? Have I told you how weird you are?

Yuna🖤💙, 21:43

you making me food and also coming to your place is, dumbass but anyway! off to sleep i go, tell matsuno im taking him up on that challenge to beat his ass in uno when i meet him good night hot stuff <3

Boyfriend Material🧛🏻, 21:44

Go to sleep, woman! And have the best dreams, preferably of me c; And good luck!!!! For tomorrow!! I know you’ll smash it!!! <33333

“Yuna’s coming over tomorrow after her exam to wipe the floor with you in uno.”

Chifuyu threw his head back and let out a villainous laugh.

“Does she know she’s talking to a master strategist and an uno master?"

“Listen, I know you’re my best friend an-”

“Brother, but continue.”

“....and all that. But if I’m not in her corner I don’t have sex. So if I have to make team Yuna t-shirts don’t be surprised.”

To that, he launched a piece of popcorn at me.

~

When I got back from work I jumped into the shower, counting down the minutes until Yuna came. When I finished making noodles, she rang the bell to be let upstairs. I all but sprinted to the door to let her in, standing with the apartment door open, just in my towel, waiting to see her face.

“I hope that food I smell is for me because if I don’t have something in my mouth in a minute I’ll riot.”

She was grumpy and tired, it was obvious from the way she dragged her feet on the stairs.

“I’ve got something you can put in your mouth.”

“Baji-kun I’m gonna bite it off.”

“Ooooh ‘Baji-kun’? I didn't think you were this serious. The food is ready, there will be no need for biting off my dick, you hater.”

Yuna reached up to grab my face and kissed it before making her way inside. She’d never been inside my apartment before, but the kitchen was right next to the front door, so she didn’t have to wander before lunch. I served her the food, sitting down next to her to eat and hear about her day.

“...and I knew he was going to put that ridiculous text in the exam and I almost screamed when I saw it. Unfortunately, Hana said she didn’t even get to that part with her revision so I didn’t have anyone to check the answers with.”

She practically inhaled the noodles and vegetables, doing a little dance as she ate.

“But anyway, I’m getting the results in a week, which is shit because if I failed it’s gonna ruin the whole night out! These are amazing by the way. I haven’t eaten all day until now so sorry if I was hangry.”

She was tripping her own sentences, trying to say everything at once. All I wanted to do was grab her face and smother her in affection, but I was trying to give her space to relax and reach out when she wanted to.

When I told her about my day, we moved to my bedroom. As she was taking it all in, lingering on the vinyl collection, I towel-dried my hair and started to look for some clothes to put on, but she stopped me, dragging me toward the bed and pushing me down.

“I could hardly focus on what you were saying earlier.”

“Something on your mind, sweetheart?”

“The food was amazing, but I want to taste you.”

Oh. I see. She unwrapped the towel from around my hips with a pleading look in her eyes. I pulled her hair up and used her own hair tie from my wrist to tie it back. With a soft smile, she took my cock into her mouth, not breaking eye contact.

My eyes rolled back and I struggled to keep myself sitting up to look at her. All I wanted was to lie down and process the sensation, but the intensity in her gaze was somehow holding me in place, the only thing moving was my mouth to let out a moan.

“Fuck it’s so warm,” I managed to squeeze out as she nodded, hummed in affirmation, and licked along my slit, teasing with her soft tongue. I wanted to burn this into the insides of my eyelids - Yuna on her knees between my legs, one hand on my balls, the other on my shaft, and her beautiful mouth enveloping my cock, hollowed-out cheeks as she sucked in air around it, her head bobbing up and down slightly, and most importantly, her eyes gazing into mine like she was memorising every detail of my face that was twisting into expressions of pure pleasure.

“Your mouth is so pretty-ah-when you do this. Fuck you’re so hot like this.”

My words just kept coming. She needed to know how she made me feel and it seemed to make her hollow out her cheeks even more and suck with more intensity - I felt my orgasm coming rapidly.

“I’m so close sweets, can you take it?”

In reply her hand found mine and placed it on her ponytail so I gripped it tight, leading her into the pace I needed to finally exhale and spurt cum into her throat. She carefully removed her mouth from my cock and opened it to show me milky white cum on her tongue, promptly swallowing it and showing me her empty mouth.

I groaned and pulled her into my lap for a deep kiss, her hands flew to the back of my head to grip my hair and she was straddling my lap. My hands were holding her hips tightly squeezing her skin and I could feel the heat radiating from her pussy.

She started rubbing myself on my thigh, but only slightly. I held her tighter and moved her hips back and forth, intensifying the friction between her core and my leg. She started moaning into my mouth and keeping the pace on her own, clearly getting more and more pleasure than just with her own small movements.

“Keisuke I need you,” her moans were so cute, barely pronouncing my name through whines.

I pulled her off my lap to unbutton her jeans and take them off along with her underwear.

“How do you want me?” She moaned into my mouth as I swiped my fingers through her wet folds.

“All to myself, sweetness, but I’ll make do with your pussy on my face for now.”

I could feel her arousal leaking, soon to be smeared on my face. I lay on my back, waiting for her to position herself over me, she gripped the bed frame and hovered above me.

“I’m gonna need you to get lower, can’t reach you like this.” I grabbed her thighs to try and lower her.

“I’m scared I’ll crush you!”

How cute.

“What a way to die, feasting on your sweetness, suffocated by sweet,” I lightly slapped her thigh where it met her ass, “soft thighs of a gorgeous woman. Now sit.”

With that, I pulled her all the way onto my face and, as soon as she was met with my eager tongue, she let out a scrumptious moan. I licked a long strip from her entrance all the way to her clit and started circling the soft sensitive bud and spelling out my name on it. Every time the tip of my tongue finished an S, I could feel her thighs twitch, making me dig my fingers into her.

Her moans turned to whimpers, whimpers to cries, and with a breathy cry of my name she tightened…and let go. I drank her release slowly, gently, to not overwhelm her, and let go of her thighs. She collapsed on the bed next to me, breathing heavily.

“I’ve…fuck I’ve never done that before.” With a quick roll, I was above her, pinning her to the bed and kissing her deeply, making her taste herself on my lips.

“Stick around and this won’t be the last time.” I winked at her and helped her up to put her clothes on.

I rummaged around my wardrobe looking for a minute and pulled out a dark grey band hoodie. Yuna’s eyes widened when I handed it to her.

“I told you I’d give you a hoodie you can sniff like a weirdo.”

“Kei…The Black Parade? If I had any energy left I’d cry. Thank you."

She launched herself at me with arms wide open. I embraced her tightly and kissed the top of her head. If I’d known this would make her so happy I would’ve done it right away. She got her book bag and I went to put the plates away before we went to her flat to get her things.

I couldn’t believe my absolute luck that I got to flaunt her in front of my friends and she agreed to sleep over tonight. I was practically skipping on the way to hers. We were holding hands again and I swear I could feel her smile burning into the side of my head every time I stopped looking at her.

~

She packed up a pyjama top, toothbrush, some skincare stuff, and makeup while I was looking through her bookshelf, picking up some books to see what she read.

“Why doesn’t it say what they’re about on the back? Who is the Guardian and why am I supposed to care that they think this book is ‘moving and engaging by turns, with an ending to blow down walls’? Just tell me the plot dammit!”

Yuna laughed softly, “Unfortunately, it’s all too common these days. That’s why I rely on the internet.”

Placing the book back, my gaze went over a nail polish basket. Out of curiosity I picked up a few bottles to look at them more closely and was met with a light chuckle from the door.

“You want me to paint your nails, Kei?”

“I wouldn’t mind that. Do you have black?”

“Do I have….Baji Keisuke look at me and ask me that again.” She couldn’t keep a serious face on, immediately grinning at me.

“Fair point, so will you do it?”

She walked over to me, all of her stuff packed into a rucksack, and placed a kiss on my fingers.

“Of course. You’ll look even hotter with black nail polish on while you’re fingering me.”

Immediate hard-on. It wasn’t fair.

~

On our way back to mine, we stopped by a shop to get some snacks and drinks for tonight, I could feel Yuna growing more anxious by the minute. Having arrived at the apartment, I got to dusting and cleaning up while Yuna excused herself to my bedroom to put on some makeup - something about feeling more put together to help with her nerves. Chifuyu was on his way home from work so he should be the first one out of the group to meet her. 

Twisted Firestarter, 14:26 She’s really nervous rn Please be nice to her Or I’ll burn your pillows c:

ChiFOOLyu, 14:27 I’M ALWAYS NICE I get it man don’t touch my stuff if you don’t want to be strangled in your sleep :D I’m home in 20 mins 

Twisted Firestarter, 14:28 Just saying, the gang might be too much to handle so it’s be nice if she had another person apart from me to talk to

ChiFOOLyu, 14:29 👌

~

There was a knock on the door and a faint voice coming in, “I hope both of you are dressed because I don’t need any more jump scares today!”

With that, Chifuyu unlocked the front door and walked in, tossed his keys on the shelf in the hallway, and took his boots off before walking over to us sitting on the couch. Yuna took a deep breath and grinned at him, immediately turning to banter to mask her nervousness.

“Matsuno-kun, I heard you think you could hold a candle to my absolute domination at card games?”

Chifuyu all but threw himself onto the couch next to her, acting like they’d known each other for years.

“My deepest apologies, Yuna-sensei. All I want is a chance to play against a world-renowned master such as yourself. And you can call me Chifuyu, no need to be so formal.”

“Okay Fufu, but chumminess is not going to make me go easy on you.” She said with a wink. I liked seeing her growing more and more relaxed with Chifuyu, even though she was nervous as all hell earlier.

“Fufu? Aight…are you painting your nails, Keisuke?” He clocked one of my hands spread across Yuna’s lap, the other in the air trying not to smudge the freshly applied coat of black nail polish.

“I’m pretty sure you have eyes, Chi, Yuna is painting them, not me. And what of it?” I knew he didn’t mean anything negative by it, but it wouldn’t be us if we didn’t tease each other for no reason.

“Fuck off trying to insinuate shit. Yuna, could you paint mine as well? Might make me seem more badass since I’m not fighting anym-” A silent, but intense look in my eyes made him stop talking and smile at Yuna instead.

Yuna lifted her head to look at him when she finished painting my other hand and reached for Chifuyu after instructing me to be careful not to smudge anything.

“Wow your cuticles are so neat,” she inspected his hands before taking the nail polish and started applying, “what happened to your face anyway? That scratch looks fresh.”

They started chatting about all the cats we get at work and how some are absolute bastards to take care of, sometimes we get scratched up. Just looking at the energy between the two of them was soothing.

I no longer had to worry about there being any awkwardness in Yuna meeting my friends. I was still waiting for her answer to being my girlfriend, hopefully, tonight might make her see she is wanted and I wouldn’t hide her away.

~

A few hours later, after we dried our nails and joked around with Yuna, my phone rang. When I picked up, I could hear two sets of voices, one clearly not talking to me, the other trying to be loud enough for me to hear, but unfortunately loud enough that I had to move the phone away from my ear.

“MIKEY FORGOT WHICH BUTTON HE NEEDS TO PRESS CAN YOU BUZZ US IN,” I could hear Mitsuya shouting over Mikey and Draken arguing in the background.

I hung up and pressed the button next to the porta phone, waiting for them to make their way to my door. They were still arguing over who knew which button to press when they walked in and I took the pizza boxes from Mitsuya’s hands.

“Yeah well, it’s Baji’s fault for not having us over anymore.”

“It’s not like we ever needed an invitation?”

“Yeah well, Mr.Big Shot over here is too busy for his best friends because he’s going to be a very important vet someday.”

“I live here, too! You can come and visit me!” Chifuyu shouted at them from the couch where he was keeping Yuna company.

Mikey’s gaze stopped on Yuna’s face as she shyly waved and smiled at them.

“Oh hey, new best friend. I’m Mikey, you’re Yuna, right?” He flashed her an angelic smile, earning a smack to the back of his head from Draken.

“Behave, Mikey.” Draken shook his head, reaching to shake Yuna’s hand, and walking back to the kitchen with me, handing me the watermelon he brought with him.

We cut it together and moved the pizzas to the coffee table while Mikey and Mitsuya were trying to be normal around Yuna. Chifuyu seemed to be fending off Mikey’s overbearing closeness pretty well so Draken and I could bring all the drinks and cups to the gathering spot. 

I sat next to Yuna, sharing the couch with Chifuyu, while Draken was spread out on the other one, Mikey sitting on the floor with Mitsuya. I had plugged my phone into the big speaker under the TV and played some music as background noise to our conversations.

Yuna seemed to be enjoying the company, often being asked about her studies and hobbies. When she wasn’t talking I could hear her humming along to the music and tapping her fingers on my leg in the rhythm of whatever was on. I passed her some pizza and fruit to eat, which she accepted with a massive smile on her face.

Mikey ended up falling asleep curled up on the floor while Chifuyu was arguing with Draken about who bought pizza the last time we had a gathering like this one.

~

“DID YOU JUST BLUE SHELL ME YUNA I SWEAR TO EVERYTHING HOLY-” Chifuyu was getting frustrated at nearly winning at Mario Kart - again.

Yuna just playfully chuckled and continued playing, Draken taking the opportunity to speed past him and win the race, sharing a conspiratorial smirk with Yuna.

“That’ll teach you not to knock me into the mud next time.” She replied, smacking him on the arm.

I took the controller from his hands and started a new race, ready to obliterate everyone involved.

~

It was late by the time the guys left, but I wasn’t tired in the slightest. Yuna’s face was blushed from everyone complimenting her and being really nice and genuine with her, as they should’ve been. She helped Chifuyu clean up the plates and glasses and I accompanied her to the bathroom to brush our teeth and for her to remove her makeup.

“I’ve been thinking…” She started.

“Oh no, what about?”

“Kei I’m serious. I’ve had a really good time tonight. Everyone seemed so genuine and friendly.”

“They can be, yeah. That’s why I’ve been friends with them for the past, uhhh, I want to say around ten years, give or take.”

“I want to be your girlfriend, Kei.”

I stood there, completely shocked, with the toothbrush forgotten in my mouth, staring at her reflection in the mirror. Her lips were stretched into a smile, toothbrush still in her mouth, and all I could think about was how I wanted this moment to last forever in its glorious bliss. I quickly spat the toothpaste out and rinsed my mouth, grabbed her hips and spun her around to face me

“You’re sure? I don’t want you to rush your decision just for my sake.”

“I wasn’t planning on rushing it, dumbass, it just feels right.”

I let my hands roam up and down her hips while she finished brushing her teeth and immediately pulled her in for a deep kiss. For the first time as a couple. I picked her up, causing her to break out into a fit of giggles and wrap her legs around my waist, and carried her into my bedroom, walking past Chifuyu, who was still sitting on the couch scrolling on his phone.

“Hey Yuna, maybe we-”

I cut him off before he could stop us, “Not now, pal, my girlfriend and I are a bit busy at the moment.”

“Girlfriend?! Congrats bro!” He returned to his phone, grinning, no doubt alerting the group chat.

As soon as I shut the bedroom door and dropped her on my bed I began undressing, Yuna giggled trying to take her t-shirt off,

“‘My girlfriend and I are a bit busy’ I love the sound of that, mister boyfriend Baji Keisuke.”

I put my hair up into a ponytail and hungrily began kissing up her legs to where her panties started.

“Shhh I’m busy kissing my girlfriend,” I murmured between the kisses, “my beautiful girlfriend,” I nipped at her panties and rolled them down to her ankles, “my gorgeous girlfriend that I’ve somehow managed to pull,” with one hand I held her hips down while the other went to her clit to softly rub it, “my perfect girlfriend who’s going to be so good for me right now and tell me how she wants to cum, hm?”

I looked up at her and, holy shit, her face was already scrunched up in pleasure, her mouth slightly open, her breaths coming out in sharp puffs. One of my fingers was sucked into her needy hole, curling upwards to press on her sensitive spot. She whined at the sensation, squirming under my hand.

“I asked you something, Yuna. How do you want to cum?”

She half-opened her eyes and with a strained voice slurred, “On your fingers, please, Kei.”

How could I not oblige when she asked so nicely?

I inserted another finger into her, attaching my lips to her clit and slowly swirling my tongue around it, drawing sinful moans out of her mouth. She grabbed my hair to bring me even closer to her and I could feel her soft walls tightening around my fingers.

Yuna let out a cry and her juices coated my fingers, I just couldn’t help but lick them clean, before squeezing her thighs and pressing kisses along them, biting to leave marks behind. Making my way up to her, she ran her hands all over my body, admiring me with glassy eyes and hair all over my pillow and her face.

I hoped she wouldn’t mind a little bit of roughness, seeing her spayed out on the bed like that, with her eyes closed, hair sticking to her forehead, made me feel like a wild animal. Like I could bite her flesh forever, leave little reminders of myself on her thighs and hips, which is exactly what I did. She mewled in pleasure whenever I started biting a new bruise into her soft skin.

“Kei it’s s’good,” she was already slurring.

I pulled away and pressed her legs together in the air in front of me, placing my painfully hard erection between her thighs.

“Hope you don’t mind waiting a little more before I fuck you.”

She whined in response as I started pumping my cock through her thighs. Her soft, plush skin felt heavenly on my wanting erection, it grazed her pussy with each thrust, and soon enough I was keeping a steady pace. Her face was flush in frustration, her hips lifting to get more friction on her puffy clit, little whines falling from her lips as she couldn’t get what she was after.

When I was close to finishing I dropped her legs, knees falling towards her chest, and leaned down to grip her lips into a deep kiss. She smelled like freshly squeezed oranges, refreshing my mind as I breathed in her scent. Yuna’s hands roamed across my back and settled in my hair, scratching my scalp, in turn making me shiver with the sensation.

I aligned my cock with her dripping core and dragged it along her soft, puffy folds to make her sigh in frustration one more time before I sunk into her warm, spongy walls.

The noise that came out when I fully sheathed my length into her was something I would be chasing for the rest of my life. A long, sinful moan of anticipated reward that was finally here after all the teasing.

“She’s sucking me in so well, so obsessed with me,” I couldn’t help but tease as her pussy clenched around my dick with every thrust.

Yuna looked up at me, glaring, and managed to bite out,

“Maybe she was feeling ignored while you were playing with my thighs instead!”

So cute while she was angry.

“Don’t be a hater, Yuna, or next time I’ll only fuck your thighs and make you beg for attention to your cunt.”

That shut her up and made her roll her eyes, her attitude was immediately cut short when I slammed my hips into hers and made her gasp louder than before. I chuckled and pressed a kiss onto her lips, licking her bottom lip, before pushing myself up and pressing her legs as far to her chest as she could handle, getting a better angle to thrust into her deeper than before.

She cried out in pleasure when I picked up the pace, my mouth couldn’t contain grunts as her warm walls drew me in and clenched around me - with my name on her lips she came and a ring of white formed around my base. Her orgasm only made me more feral, slamming into her drenched pussy with a ferocity I hadn’t used before, as her moans turned more and more desperate, borderline pornographic.

“Kei please slow-fuck-down ‘s ah too much!” She was half-slurring her words, eyes shut, mouth open in ecstasy. I slowed down for a few thrusts to oblige.

“Overwhelmed?” I asked her, to which she only nodded lightly.

With a grin I slammed into her harder, still not speeding up, but she didn’t say anything about roughness. I grabbed her legs and hugged them tightly, resting her calves on my shoulders. I lazily dragged my cock in and out of her, barely putting in any effort, waiting for her to beg me to speed up again.

I didn’t have to wait long, but this pace made me feel so needy, I wanted to pound into her like it was my last night on earth, I wanted to make her scream my name so loudly that there would be no doubt in anyone’s mind about who was making her see stars.

When she finally spoke again my cock twitched inside of her with excitement.

“Kei baby faster please,” She whined and I had half a mind to jump on the request, but the other part of me wanted to make her beg.

“You sure you can take it, sweetheart?”

“I want it, please.”

“How much?”

“Mmm-what?”

“How much do you want it?” I wanted to watch her squirm with want.

“I need it. I need you, Keisuke. I need your cock deep and fast,” her eyes were glistening, “please.”

With that I doubled my thrusts, her moans immediately rising in pitch. Her fucked-out face scrunching up while her mouth hung open, lewd moans slipping past her soft lips. I wanted to kiss them, but this position was just too good to stop. I grunted with my quick movements while her toes curled on each side of my neck. The next best thing to do was to kiss her ankles, making her chuckle mid-moan.

“Kei ‘m sooooo close don’t-fuck-don’t stop!” Yuna was gasping for air at this point and I was almost at my tipping point, desperate to spill inside of her.

I reached down to smack her ass and draw out another whine from her mouth, she was trying to say my name again, but all that came out was a long moan as her walls contracted around my dick once more, releasing another orgasm and making her spasm in front of me.

That was enough to milk my cock of everything I had in me, long ropes of cum spurted on her walls and I slowed down to ride it out with her. I slowly pulled out, some of our cum very lazily leaking out of her abused hole. With a kiss to her swollen clit, I gently pushed her up to the pillows and went to the bathroom to get her a warm towel while trying to ignore Chifuyu’s protesting about my walking out of my bedroom naked.

After cleaning her up (gently, trying to shush her overstimulated whines), I lay in bed next to her and drew her closer into my chest. She released a happy humming sound and almost immediately started snoring. I could definitely get used to this, I whispered into the back of her head,

“You’ll be the death of me, sweetheart, I feel like I’m falling in love.”