#Messier 25

[quiltofstars]

M25 (right) and Pluto // Dave Erickson

The open cluster M25 can sometimes find itself behind some of the planets in our solar system on the sky. This was the case in 2012, when the dwarf planet Pluto passed near the cluster!

[cosmicfocus]

Star Birth in Sagittarius

Open Cluster Messier 25. After birth blues of hot young stars. #astronomy

Open Cluster M25 Image exposure: 60 minutesImage size: 39.1 x 26.1 arcminImage date: 2022-07-30one arcmin is a sixtieth of a degree. In the world of amateur astronomy, I’ve noticed that open clusters are a favourite for observational astronomers but much less so for astro-photographers. I’m not sure why, because open clusters are an important stage in the life cycle of the stars. The age of…

[goresevraq]

gur sevraq asking why perennial won't speak to him is so. like. imagine if your ex (whom you broke up with to hype up an emotionally inconsistent new beau) started sugaring the literal worst person you know, who is also your frenemy, who is also the only remaining link you have to the living world, because you are dead. and your new person is also dead in an unrelated incident. so now all you're left with is your ex who still won't acknowledge you exist but clearly has time for The Worst Person Alive, what the fuck is even up with that

[temis-de-leon]

Day 8 - Unwanted kiss

Characters: Diavolo x fem!MC

25 kisses challenge Masterlist

Main Masterlist

CW: non consensual kiss, implied other types of sexual harassment (not from Diavolo's nor MC's part), MC defends herself, pre-established relationship

.

There were a dozen reasons that could explain MC’s presence in his office. Did she miss him? It wouldn’t be the first time she visited him out of the blue with a wide smile, hands locked behind her back with a certain innocence that made him put his paperwork aside in order to pay her attention.

Sometimes she'd need his help for homework and in what universe would he say no? Of course, there were also the official meetings, but having part, if not all, of the brothers and his butler there made bonding time with her barely impossible.

No, Diavolo perfectly knew he very much preferred their private meetings, the ones where he could ask about her daily life without an audience and where her eyes were fixed exclusively on him.

So when he heard a knock and the one to enter was MC, he couldn’t help but smile immediately. However, her sour expression made him stop in his tracks. She was pulling the hem of her pleaded skirt down and her hair looked messier than ever.

“MC?” he called, but she wouldn’t raise her head.

Diavolo was in the middle of getting up to console her when she handed him a slip of paper showing a familiar signature and RAD’s official stamp. He grabbed it and read it, his face unpleasantly serious and stomach churning in worry. The signature belonged to one of the professors and his message described, amongst a myriad of insults to the human race, how MC had been seen punching a fellow classmate.

He gasped in surprise, instantly setting his gaze on her. MC still didn’t seem able to look at him.

“Is this true, MC? You punched another student?”

She sighed heavily, crossing her arms before finally locking eyes with him and nodding in silence. In a subtle movement that didn’t escape his notice, she pulled her skirt down again. It didn’t take him too long to put two and two together, and when it did, nausea hit him like a train.

Then anger.

He forced himself to stay calm, not wanting to aggravate her further, and the teacher’s notice, which he’d make sure to revise later, slipped through his fingers and fell to the carpeted floor. MC’s hands met his and he felt the primal, dark and visceral, need to keep her close.

“I’m afraid you will have to explain to me exactly what happened, MC. What did he do…?”

“He kissed me” she interrupted him, but would not let go of his hands. Not that he minded it. The sickening tendrils of jealousy filled his guts for just a second before he pushed them down. It was not what she needed at the moment.

“He’s part of my fanclub and has been asking me out for days, but I always said no. He asked again today, but I had a test and I was tired and I wasn’t in the mood to be nice and he had the brilliant thought of kissing me as a way to finally get me to accept his proposal… So I punched him. And the teacher saw, I guess, so now I’m grounded”

Diavolo listened carefully at her nervous monologue, discreetly caressing her knuckles while walking towards the sofa and sitting down next to her. She didn’t seem to be afraid, just frustrated and profoundly disgusted.

“I’m deeply sorry, MC”

“You don’t need to apologize...”

“Allow me to do it still”

He felt his cheeks heating up, the warmth only increasing when he bent down to kiss the back of her hands and her fingers let go of his to cradle his face and scratch the back of his neck.

There was nothing he wanted more in the three realms than stay next to her and enjoy her touch, but it wasn’t the moment.

“Wait for me here”

He got up, straightening his uniform.

“Where are you going?”

MC stayed on the couch and the distance between them felt impossibly long. He bent down, constraining himself to kiss her on the lips as to not remind her of the recent experience, and spoke in a whisper.

“I’m going to personally take care of them”

.

.

Taglist: @ourfinalisation  @owlisbuffering  @chizukimp4  @ravenredwine @darkflowerav  @beatlebeesstuff   @mehkers

[bibbityboppitybillyharvgrove]

Last Minute - D.Malfoy

Summary - It was only a few days until Christmas and Draco’s girlfriend is still doing some last minute things for gifts. Draco finds her tangled up in yarn and sleep deprived in the library.

Word Count - 916

Warnings - Female reader, period mention, not sleeping, not proofread

Author’s note - Welcome to day 20!! 5 more days and then we are all done with the 25 days of fics! I know this one is later than usual but I had to work and my accelerated winter class started today so I had homework to do. I hope you enjoy!

my masterlist

25 days of fics masterlist

Feedback is welcomed and encouraged!

Enjoy!

not my gif

not my gif

It was close to Christmas, the clock ticking closer and closer every minute. Every minute she didn’t spend working on her gifts was a minute wasted. She had been awake for over 24 hours, crocheting her gifts by hand rather than with magic. She liked the repetition of the stitches but now she wasn’t so sure about that. She found solace in the library, it was quiet, the fire was crackling, pages were turning, and the smell of old books mixed with a warm fire. It was the perfect atmosphere to get shit done.

She had completely forgotten, however, that she promised Draco that they would go to Hogsmeade together, so when she hadn’t shown, Draco looked for her. He checked her room, checked the common room, checked the great hall but came up with nothing. That was until Theo had told him she was half asleep in the library. So Draco had thanked his friend before making his way to the library, the only place he didn’t think to check. When he had walked in, he saw her on the second floor, going up the stairs only to find her asleep at the table, tangled in yarn. 

“Love, wake up. Let’s go back to the common room,” He instructed as he gently rubbed her back. She jolted awake with a gasp before grabbing Draco’s arm, twisting it painfully. “OW! It’s me! You’re boyfriend!” He shrieked, this caused Madam Pince to make her way up to the second floor and kick out the couple.

“I’m sorry, Dray. I feel terrible, are you okay?” She panicked as they were escorted out of the library after untangling her from her yarn. 

“I’m fine, love, are you? I’ve never seen you so tired,” He asked her concerned. She yawned loudly before turning to her boyfriend to answer.

“I’ve been trying to finish all of my projects for Christmas, I didn’t realize how close it actually was until I was able to sit down and start my list.”

“When was the last time you got some sleep?”

“Well I just-”

“Library doesn’t count.”

“I have no clue then, maybe after our potions exam?”

“That was 2 days ago!” Draco was surprised he hadn’t noticed his girlfriend not sleeping, now that exams were over and break was about to start, he was able to sneak her into the boys dorm more often. He was completely drained the last two days with exams and letters coming from home so he had just been putting himself to bed earlier than usual not thinking about his girl. “When we get back to my room, you are going straight to bed. You can’t go on like this, it’s not good for you.”

“I know but I need to finish this! It’s important that I finish my gifts before Christmas!” She protested but with a stern look from Draco she sighed but agreed to go right off to bed. 

As they entered his room, Theo, Blaise and Mattheo were all gathered around Theo’s bed goofing off and joking around. The three boys turned their heads as the door opened, surprised to see the state of their friend. Her under eyes were a lot darker than normal, her gait was clumsy, her hair messier than normal and her eyes were glassy and heavy. “Salazar, what happened to you?” Mattheo asked her, feigning disgust.

“Fuck off, Riddle. I haven’t slept in nearly two days, my period is coming, I’m hormonal and tired, of course I look rough,” She told the boy off, the group surprised with her attitude but brushed it off.

“Get into some comfy clothes and go to sleep, principessa. Do you want to borrow one of my sweaters?” Theo asked her sweetly.

“No thank you though Theo. I’ll steal another one of Draco’s, but I will steal a pair of pajama pants,” She smiled at her friend before heading to her boyfriend’s trunk, pulling out a warm sweater, nearly missing the pair of flannel pajama pants that were tossed her way and heading to the bathroom. She changed out of her school uniform and into the borrowed clothing, gathering her dirty clothes and headed back to the room. Her boyfriend was already laying on the bed waiting for her.

“Do you need us to go somewhere else? We can go to the common room,” Blaise offered.

“Yes-” Draco started before his girlfriend cut him off.

“No, it’s okay. I’ll probably fall asleep in a few minutes anyway. Chat away, it won’t bother me.”

Draco stuck his tongue out at the trio childishly before opening his arms to his girlfriend who just about collapsed into them. Not even a minute after she had settled herself against his side, her head resting on his chest and listening to his heartbeat, she had fallen asleep. He let out a chuckle seeing how quickly she had fallen asleep as he pulled the covers up over the two of them.

“Is she already asleep?” Mattheo asked.

“Yep, passed right out once she was comfortable,” Draco replied, fondness laced in his tone as he watched his girlfriend sleep peacefully.

“Whipped,” Theo muttered behind a cough.

“I am. But hey, at least I have a significant other, Nott,” Draco shot back, causing a roar of laughter from all of the boys in the room including Theo himself. She hadn’t even stirred at the noise, still just peacefully sleeping in the arms of her boyfriend. She was right where she wanted to be.

[astronerdscorner]

Smoking Companions or Messier 82 & 81

Bode and Cigar Galaxy or M81 & M82 in the constellation Ursa Major about 12 million light years away from us.

M81 (left) is a Hubble-type spiral galaxy, like about 10% of all spiral galaxies.

M82 passed its galactic neighbor M81 about 500 million years ago and this significantly increased the star formation rate in M82 (starburst). As a result, it is one of the brightest galaxies in the infrared and also in the radio wavelength range.

Almost 15hours of data were used to process this picture.

Bilddaten:

- RGB 153 x 300s / Gain 100

- Dual 29 x 360s / Gain 100

- 25 Flat Dark

- 25 Flat Darks

- 25 Darks

Setup:

- Skywatcher 150/750 F5 PDS

- Omegon 571C

- Skywatcher EQ6R Pro

- Zwo Asi 178mm als Guide cam

[wolfnlamb]

Can I touch you more?

Suwa Rei’s never been intimate with anyone before until he starts dating you.

Disclaimers: under 18 do not interact. Rei losing his virginity. Rei's the age he is in the anime, about 25. Fem reader, reader has long hair, wears a dress, vaginal intercourse, male receiving, fingering, established relationship, it’s not mentioned but reader takes bc. Word count: 3k. Crossposted on ao3: https://archiveofourown.org/works/45403453 Thank you @brujaovermoxy for beta reading and always encouraging me to write <3

Rei lays in bed nervously, still fully clothed in his hoodie and blue jeans. He tries holding eye contact with you from the foot of the bed, but his nerves get the best of him, looking away. He eyes your naked thighs and bare shoulders. You wore a strapless dress this afternoon, the one he always says is pretty, knowing it'd be easier to take off once you both were alone. 

You wanted his first time to feel good; have him relaxed and feeling safe. He was a different kind of man; quiet, a little uncomfortable around large groups of people, and always insisting on staying in for date nights. You knew he loved gaming but if you could convince him to leave the house, he always enjoyed walking around the aquarium or the zoo. It took a few dates before he reached for your hand; it happened one day while you both gazed at the tropical fish exhibit. You expected the first kiss that day too, but it never came. 

Soon after, he admitted he’d never had sex before. You could see how much it embarrassed him to tell you that night. Of course, this didn't bother you at all. The information tied all your suspicions together. You explained to him that whenever he was ready for more, you’d be ready too. 

Rei decided the very next day, he was ready. A soft, reassuring smile lit your face when he finally looked back at you, and his jaw relaxes. You crawl across the mattress towards him, and he scoots to the side to make room for you. Laying on your side facing him, you prop your head on your arm.

“We can do whatever you want,” you softly tell him. 

Rei hums, the vibration deep in his throat as he contemplates what exactly he does want. He isn't sure where to start. He knows what sex is and how it works, obviously. He's seen couples passionately kiss in movies, he's heard musicians sing about wanting to touch their lovers. Some of his video games even have scenes where the characters are being ‘intimate’ (He plays those at night when everyone is sleeping) But he doesn't know how to mimic them…how to show this same passion to another. More so, he's worried he’ll fuck it up. 

While Rei’s lost in his thoughts, you place your hand on his chest gently, and it brings him back to the moment. 

“Do you want to kiss for a little bit?” 

Kissing. A kiss. Yes. That's what he wants. 

Rei nods slightly and turns to face you. His blue eyes look a little bloodshot, and his hair’s a bit messier than usual. But he looks beautiful, regardless. So sweet. You brush his fluffy bangs back from his forehead, caressing him softly and his eyes flutter. Knowing he may not make the first move, and wanting to take the pressure from him, you lean in and press your lips to his. Your noses smash together by accident, not expecting him to lean in abruptly as well, and you laugh. Panic spreads across his face for a split second and he apologizes quietly, but you return his apology with another kiss before he can continue. 

His lips are chapped, and he smells like cinnamon. He must have eaten a mint beforehand, you think, which makes you smirk into your kiss. You slip your tongue across his lips a few times, urging him to part his lips. 

The softness of your tongue on his lips has him in a trance, and the thought of touching each other's tongues sends a jolt from his abdomen down to his crotch. He opens his mouth and lets you swipe along his, and he moans involuntarily. Still, with eyes closed, you search for his hand and bring it to your hip, and his fingers dig into the softness of your flesh, scrunching the fabric of your dress.

The afternoon light seeps in between the blinds above the bed as you two continue kissing, becoming more feverish for more. You want so badly to push him back and climb on top, to grind down onto him desperately. But you're going to take your time with him and go at his pace. The more he gets used to your lips, the way you tilt your head to the side and he follows your lead, the more he eases into the rhythm. His hand grips your hip more, and he pulls you closer to his body, letting his fingers slowly gather the material of your dress. Soon your ass is exposed, the coolness of the room drifting across your skin. 

Rei pulls away just a few centimeters, lips swollen and a deeper hue than before. 

“Can I touch you more?” he asks, his deep voice ringing in your ears. 

“You can touch me however you want, Rei,” 

His hand grazes across your exposed hip, sliding down your thigh. 

“Will you tell me to stop if you don't want to do this anymore?” he asks, his eyes diverting back down to your mouth. He can't bare the thought of you not wanting him at this point, the humiliation of fucking up a perfect moment with you burning unto his cheeks. What if he ends up being really bad at this, and you find him pathetic?

You notice the blush appearing on his face. 

“I won’t want you to stop, trust me,” your giggle makes his lips curl up into a smile. 

You drape your leg over his hips, straddling him, and he slides his hand up your thigh again. He wants to squeeze the plushness of your ass so badly.

“I promise, I’ll say something if I need to. But you have to promise you’ll tell me if you don’t like something, alright?” 

Rei nods quickly and hums. “Mmmhmm.”

And with that, he grabs your ass tightly, kneading his fingers at a steady pace. You both continue kissing and groping on the tiny bed, Rei letting you suck and kiss his neck while sliding his thigh between yours. The pressure of his jean-clad leg against your core makes you whimper, grinding down on him. 

Eventually, the pulling and grinding of each other makes your dress slip down, exposing your breasts just barely. Rei sees your nipples peeking from the top, and he dips his head down to kiss them. He licks at the pebbled skin, kissing around the sensitive nub. The sensation has you panting, soft moans escaping your mouth, making his cock twitch in his tight jeans. Rei sucks one of them between his lips gently and you grab a handful of his hair. 

He pulls your dress down more and cups both of your tits, massaging them sweetly. He loves how soft you feel in his hands, and how you whimper each time he licks them. He isn’t thinking about how bad he might be at this anymore. All he can think of is how he’s making you feel good, and that makes his cock even harder. 

“Rei,” 

He snaps out of his trance when he hears your voice, worried he overstepped. He looks up at you.

“Take your shirt off,” 

You both lean upright in bed and he quickly throws the blue hoodie off then begins pulling his old gaming T-shirt up over his head. He struggles a little, getting his arms caught awkwardly and you help him lift it off completely. Your laugh puts him at ease, a little smile appearing on his face just before he cups your face for another kiss. 

The tent in his jeans is so glaringly obvious as he sits on his knees while kissing, hands trailing down to hold your tits again. It keeps poking between your legs each time he moves, and soon you realize he’s rutting his hips instinctively against you. 

You pull him back down into the bed, kissing his scarred chest. Your lips lead all the way down to his belly button, his happy trail appearing just beneath his waistband. Rei’s breath hitches in his throat as you kiss along his waist, gently planting your lips across his skin. The warmth of your breath so close to his cock has him inhaling deeply. His needy breaths make your core ache even more, the slickness soaking your panties thoroughly. 

You lean back while straddling him and pull your dress over the top of your head. Rei’s eyes trail down your body and land on your panties. They’re so sheer, letting him see your bush. His heart starts to race faster. There’s a small gossamer strand connected between your thighs, glistening in the sunlight. 

“Do you want to take these off?” you drag your hand along his jeans as he nods, his own hands working to undo the stubborn button at his waist. 

At the foot of the bed, you help shimmy his jeans down while he lifts his hips up, thinking maybe you’ll leave his boxers on for now, and keep easing into the moment with him. But Rei hooks his thumbs under the waistband and pulls them down too, letting his cock spring out of its confines. 

You don’t shy away from the sight and take the time to admire him: his girth is perfect, laying against his abdomen, thick and hard. There’s a sheen on the tip of his cock, so shiny with his arousal. 

Rei watches you stare at his cock, wondering what you could be thinking. A blush appears on his cheeks again, spreading to his ears. You slide your hands up his thighs, feeling how muscular he is, and how soft his leg hairs are. Standing back at the foot of the bed still, you tell him how good he looks. 

“You look so sexy like this,” your voice laced with a playful lust. 

He scoots closer to the edge of the bed towards you and wraps his arms around your waist. He kisses your tummy, thinking about how beautiful you are and how he can’t believe he gets to touch you. 

“You're the sexy one, I can't believe you’re with me right now,” he says

As you run your fingers through his hair, he lifts his head and rests his chin on your stomach. His fingers start to slide under the strings of your panties. You help him, placing your hand over his as he pulls the lingerie down to your thighs. Your slick is sticky, clinging to the fabric as Rei watches. 

You’re both completely naked now. Rei runs his hands up your legs, the curves of your ass, and up your sides, admiring you. 

“Lay back down again,” you tell him. 

Reluctantly letting you go, he scoots back and lays his head against the pillows. You crawl between his legs, pushing his thighs wider so you can nestle between them. Rei’s thoughts begin swirling in his head rapidly. Your face is inches from his cock, and it can’t help but pulse at the sight of your pretty face so close to it. He might cum right there. 

“This will feel really good, if you’ll let me,” you say, your breath fanning across his erection. 

You rest your cheek against his thigh.

“Can I touch it?”

“Yes,” his reply is husky, filled with anticipation of what’s to come. 

Still resting your head, you take his cock in your hand, squeezing it gently as you slide your fingers up his shaft. You can feel him pulsing under your touch. 

“Just relax, we have plenty of time,” you coo at him. Rei closes his eyes, bringing the back of his hand to his forehead. Maybe if he keeps his eyes closed, he can settle down. Seeing you stroking him between his legs, feeling your hair draped across his thigh is pushing him over the edge. He doesn’t want to finish too soon, especially since he hasn’t gotten to please you yet. 

Lazily you stroke him, watching your fingers glide across the velvety skin of his cock, squeezing the tip to coax his precum out. Your index finger toys with the slit of his cockhead, spreading his arousal languidly. Rei moans softly and opens his eyes again to gaze at you. Smiling, you press your lips against his shaft and kiss him sweetly. 

“Does this feel good to you?” 

“Yes it does, it feels so damn good.” 

You press his cock against your lips again, kissing and licking up from the base. At the tip, you take him into your mouth. Rei’s stomach flexes, and the sensation of your wet mouth on him makes his eyes glaze over. He’d imagined so many scenarios of this exact moment before, but nothing could compare to the actual feeling. The soft but firmness of your tongue encircling his cock. Or the sounds you make as you hold him in your mouth. Or the look in your eyes each time you gaze up at him. The thought of how willing you were to please him made his chest burn with desire and happiness. 

Rei’s hands make their way to your face and brush the few strands back that keep falling. He can feel your chin pressing against his balls with each bob of your head, and the swirl of your tongue around his shaft. Rei’s mouth falls open as he gapes at your mouth, full of his cock. 

“Wait—wait, slow down,” Rei brings your face off of him, your lips swollen and glistening. Something takes hold of him and he pulls you closer, kissing you deeply. He tastes the mixture of your tongue and himself, sweet and salty. It leaves him feeling dazed and pulls you to this side, slipping his hand down between your legs. He traces his fingers across your lips, spreading your slickness. Rei feels the urge to spread your lips apart and plunge his fingers into you. He knows this is something you’d probably like, but he hesitates. He presses his forehead to your temple, his breathing somewhat steady again:

“I wanna finger you,” he says slowly just before pressing his lips to the corner of your mouth. You giggle. 

“Go ahead, I want you to.”

You place your hand over his own, atop your pussy, urging him to rub his fingers up and down your slick. Rei’s eyes dart down to watch, lips parted as he tries not to pant. You push one of his fingers down between your lips, and he can feel how much more wet you are at your entrance. 

Rei works his finger into you, slowly, feeling the inside of your gummy walls. He slides it in and out curiously, listening to the sounds of your slick and the whimpers escaping your mouth. You’re so warm and wet…and slippery. His finger slips in effortlessly with each stroke. His mind wanders to how his cock would feel sliding into you, making it twitch against your thigh. Your hips buck into his hand at one particular swipe of his finger, hitting your spot just right. 

“Does it feel good right there?” he asks breathily against your face. You whimper and nod, spreading your legs wider. Rei presses his palm down firmly to your clit and you sigh. 

“Put another in, please,” you plead to him. Your skin feels so hot and sweat collects across your brow. His long, slender fingers seem to reach perfectly inside you. Rei does as you ask and slips his middle finger in. He shoves his face into your neck more and nips at your sensitive skin while curling his fingers inside you. Your moans become repetitive, telling him how good he’s doing. Rei’s hand works a bit faster, matching the speed of your moans. He wants you to cum so bad for him. 

“Oh fuck, that feels so good–” you mewl. You slip your hand down to your pussy and begin rubbing tight circles on your clit. Rei looks down to watch, noticing your movements, trying to mentally take note. 

“Go faster,” you tell him. Rei pumps his fingers in rapidly, but the angle of his wrist begins to hurt. He leans up beside you where he can thrust faster. He can feel your pussy tightening around his fingers, watching his ministrations, hand glistening from your slick. 

You can feel a wave building up inside your core as Rei finger-fucks you for the first time. You're amazed at how quickly he caught on to what he was doing; how he watches you intently with each buck of your hips and tightening of your pussy. As he leans over your side you admire his lean arms as the muscles contract, the many scars scattered across his back, and the tiny moles dispersed along his back and hips. You're enamored by him. 

“Mmmph–Im gonna cum,” your voice cracks as your orgasm approaches fast. Before another word can escape, you shake uncontrollably as it hits you. Rei watches how you shake; the way your skin ripples and hips gyrate upwards in awe. With his fingers still inside you, he feels you spasming, sucking them in further. Grabbing his arm tightly, you cling to him, digging your fingers into his skin. 

“Come here,” 

Rei climbs on top, careful not to put his entire weight on you. You reach down to his cock, still so hard and flushed a darker hue than the rest of his skin. You give him a few pumps before he reaches down too, dragging it across your still-sensitive bud. 

“I want to fuck you so bad, can I?” he whispers.

You nod, and he begins pressing his cock against your folds, sliding between them and searching for your hole. He struggles, pushing in at awkward angles, and you caress his arms reassuringly. Rei’s blush appears again and he stutters. 

“M’sorry, I–”

“Here, it's okay,” 

You grab his cock and guide it, sliding it down until it catches your entrance. Smiling, you grab his face and as he pushes in gradually. 

“You can move fast if you want, I like it,” you tell him between kisses. Rei sheaths himself completely in and you clench around him. You nip at his lips a little harder, trying to encourage him to let go of his inhibitions. He’s lost in the feeling of your tight pussy, feeling so connected to you, cradled inside. Below him, you're lost in ecstasy; so open to him, pleading with your eyes with parted lips. His hips begin rutting into yours instinctively.

You pull him down on top, wrapping your arms tightly around his neck. Rei gives in, letting his full weight lay across you as your legs wrap around his hips, too. He doesn’t know he lasted this long up until this moment, but he’s never been more thankful. 

The sun has set more by this time and the rays shining into the room are a deep orange. The room is filled with the sound of the creaking bed mixed with your moans. Rei’s panting picks up more; deep and gravelly, occasionally cracking from how good it feels to fuck you. He can't stop kissing you; always pressing his mouth to yours between his heavy breathing. 

He can feel a tightening in his core, steadily rising as he continues thrusting deeply. He’s losing his composure, wrapping his arm around your head to hold you in place. The chanting of your voice, begging him to keep fucking  you rings in his ears. 

Before he can get the words out, he’s cumming in you, hard. His cock pulses as his hips rut erratically.

“Oh fffuck, fuck,” he whines into the pillow, still holding you tightly. 

You hold him close still, keeping him inside you. His bangs are stuck to his forehead and the nape of his neck is drenched from his sweat, too. You kiss him, a few pecks to his panting mouth and he chuckles. 

“Are you okay?” he asks. A silly question at this point you think,  but endearing. You laugh while nodding.

You both lay in the messy bed together, trailing your hands across his chest, caressing his face as his eyes start to show that familiar sleepy look. 

“That felt amazing…you felt amazing,” he says, breaking the silence. Grinning, you lay your head on his shoulder and he drapes his arm over yours. 

“Good. I wanted this moment to be perfect for you.”

Rei pauses.

“Do you think I was good at it?”

You laugh by accident, snorting through your nose and Rei gives you a perplexed look. 

“Um yes, I’m gonna say you were really damn good. I don’t think I can go very long without you now…”

Your hand snakes down his abdomen and playfully cups his balls, making him jolt. You both giggle at each other just before Rei kisses you deeply and pulls you on top of him. 

[beardedjoel]

closer | part ten

joel x f!reader. non-apocalypse au  

series masterlist | main masterlist | ao3  

chapter summary: joel is doing remodeling working on your parents’ house, but sneaking around is proving harder than you’d thought. 7.8k words.

chapter warnings: 18+ MDNI, age difference (joel is 42 and reader is 25), inexperienced reader, soft!dom joel, posessive! joel, nipple play, dirty talk like filthy mouthed joel this chapter, praise kink

a/n: i still can’t get over all the attention this story has been getting, thank you all so much for reading it makes me emotional!!! also jealous joel is my lifeblood please enjoy

Joel lays awake, watching you sleep next to him again. Shit, you look so beautiful when you’re just peaceful like this, with none of the usual worries he can see constantly running through your head when you’re awake. You’re a worrier, more likely than not to be nervous at any given moment, and most of all, a pleaser. While that works to his advantage so much of the time, he hopes you know that you deserve everything good he gives back to you. He does love your dynamic together, the way you’re desperate to keep your status as his good girl - it practically makes his blood start to run hot just thinking about it. He just wonders if you know that despite all of it, you always please him, always interest him, no matter what happens.

He wants to let you stay like this forever, living in a peaceful bubble, but he tries to remind himself this is all just likely fleeting. Soon enough you’re going to move away, start this new job full time, meet new people and be a normal twenty five year old. Joel sighs lightly as he starts thinking about it too hard, the prospect of losing you to someone else, someone more ‘age appropriate’. Whatever the hell that means, Joel thinks with a scoff. It should be enough that you two like to spend time together and it feels like your bodies were practically made for each other every time you join them and feel the absolute mind-blowing bliss that only you’ve been able to provide for each other. You even fit perfectly under his shoulder when you’re just sitting on the couch together. It’s all too… good to be true, Joel thinks to himself, trying to put a little mental distance between himself and the gorgeous girl sleeping in his bed. 

He doesn’t get very far with it because you stir, and it’s maybe one of the most adorable yet sexy things he’s ever seen as you let out a sighing little moan and stretch a bit. Your eyes flutter open and see him looking at you, and you immediately smile seeing Joel’s warm eyes looking back at you. He immediately jumps at the chance to hold you, having held back for fear of waking you up. You nestle yourself into his chest and breathe in, loving that this is the first thing you get to experience this morning.

“Hello,” you say groggily into his skin, and he pulls you in tighter.

“Mornin’, pretty girl,” he says, and your heart nearly explodes at this pet name. How is it possible you’re waking up next to the most attractive man you’ve ever seen and the first thing he does is tell you that you’re pretty? This can’t be your real life, right? It has to be some long con, some dream that’s been lasting for weeks.

“You think I’m pretty, huh? Even like this?” you look up at him, knowing that you almost always wake up with messier hair than the average person and puffy eyes.

“Even more so like this. Means I got to be with ya all night,” Joel replies, playing with your tangled hair in his hands. He uses his grip on your hair to angle your head just right for him to lean down and kiss you, and you lazily let him move your head wherever he needs it as you kiss him back. He pulls back, gathering you into him around the shoulder again and sighs.

“Today’s the day, right? Starting work at my parents’ place?” you ask him.

“Mhm,” he replies. “You ready to pretend you don’t know me?” he teases you.

“Not even in the slightest,” you say, laughing a little. 

“Gonna be hard to take my eyes off you, y’know.”

You feel your cheeks go a little warm, knowing the intensity of the stare he’s talking about. “Me too,” you say shyly before groaning at the thought of playing it cool all day today with Joel.

“We just have a little time before you gotta sneak out of here,” Joel says after glancing at the clock. “Want me to make you anything?”

“What? No, you don’t have to,” you say a little too quickly. 

“Don’t have to, but I want to,” Joel counters. 

“How about cereal,” you suggest. Joel groans a little at your simple solution but nods. 

“Whatever you want, darlin’.”

You head downstairs with him, Joel quickly making coffee for you two while he offers you a few choices of cereal. It’s fun to learn a little about him by the options he presents to you - a sugary cereal, some grain heavy healthier one, and granola that seems more in the middle of the other two, so you go with that one. You two eat mostly in silence, Joel hurrying with his meal so he can quickly get ready and meet his crew at your parents’ place at 8:00.

“Alright, I’ll see you later on then?” you say, standing near the back door in Joel’s kitchen, getting ready to leave. He has his hands planted on your waist, and leans down to kiss you, his hand snaking around to your lower back, pulling your body flush with his. 

“Mhm,” he murmurs, his lips still sliding against yours. He reluctantly pulls himself off of you, a glint of desire flashing in his eyes as he looks at you. Sometimes it hits you that this man has that look in his eye because of what you do to him, the way he sees you. 

“Stop looking at me like that,” you say, biting the inside of your lip.

“Like what?” Joel coos. “This?” His eyes are hooded, looking at you like he could never get enough of the sight of you right in front of him, like he has dozens of ideas of all the filthy things he wants to do to you written behind his eyes.

“Yes,” you breathe, “Exactly like that.”

“What’s wrong with it, hm? Does it make you all wet, sweet thing?” he says, low and suggestive.

“Yes,” you breathe out again, barely able to say much else as Joel’s body presses to yours.

“Good, wanna keep you wet all day for me, darlin’,” he says, lightly running his lips along your cheek and down to your neck.

“Fuck, Joel,” you whine, grasping around his neck and fluttering your eyes closed.

“Sorry, baby, time for me to get ready,” he says suddenly, moving his head away from you.

“So unfair,” you murmur, frowning and standing there despondent as he steps away from you. 

“I know, but what fun would it be if you got everything you want all the time?” he teases you with a smirk. “You can let yourself out, and I’ll see you in a bit,” he says, turning to walk back towards the staircase.

“Oh, shoot, your shirt,” you call after him, tugging at the fabric. “Let me go change back into my clothes.”

“Don’t worry ‘bout it,” Joel says, smiling back at you. “You keep that one.”

Your hands are still bunched around the fabric, and you hold on tightly for a few moments, knowing this will be your new favorite article of clothing now that he’s given it to you. You head out the back door, peering your head out and sneaking your way over to your apartment, once again feeling like you’re in some kind of movie where you’re an agent doing special-ops espionage because of the way you take every move so seriously, paranoid your parents will see you leaving Joel’s house.

Joel starts working on your parents’ shortly after and he brings along two people from his crew to help speed things along. It was a rather uneventful morning, they spent their time removing tiles and keeping mostly to themselves. You pop your head in to check in on them, but let them know you’re about to go see an apartment complex downtown so you won’t be around for a while, but they can call you or your parents for anything. You could swear Joel frowned a little at what you said about apartment hunting, but maybe you’re imagining things. He keeps up a polite, professional persona around his crew, indicating he’d heard you and giving you a close lipped smile. When he makes sure the other two guys aren’t looking, he gives you a quick wink before you walk away, smiling to yourself.

The apartment wasn’t really what you’re envisioning for yourself, but you figured you had to start looking somewhere. It’s in a good location, which was a plus, but you couldn’t quite set your heart on it - you really can only focus on getting back and seeing Joel again. You’re truly starting to have a love/hate relationship with the way he seems to take up your entire mind, leaving you unable to even do something as simple as apartment hunting without him feeling like a major distraction.

You arrive back at the house to find Joel and his crew - you learned their names are Ian and Chris - almost finishing up for the day. You stand in the doorway, leaning against the frame as Joel fills you in on what they’d accomplished. You can’t help but notice that Chris’ eyes linger a little bit on you after they lit up when you entered the room. His head had snapped up at the sound of your voice, his eyes locking onto yours, but you immediately averted your gaze, feeling completely uneasy about it. Sure, he’s an attractive guy and close to your age, it seems, but you mostly shrugged it off, just waiting to be alone with Joel. 

Chris keeps up some idle chatter with you while Ian finishes packing up his things, explaining that they drove here together so they have to wait on each other. You listen politely, but really can only think about the pounding in your chest, the unresolved feelings and desires Joel had planted in you this morning before you’d parted ways.

“So what do you like to do around here?” Chris asks, and you realize you actually have to focus enough to answer him.

“Nothing… yet, I guess. I just moved here,” you reply. Can’t really say the truth, which is that you’ve been having wild amounts of sex with his boss for the last few weeks, can you? “I probably should get out more,” you say with a smile.

“Yeah, for sure, I know a lot of spots, if you -” Chris starts, but he’s interrupted by Ian and Joel coming into the room. Joel narrows his eyes at Chris, seemingly sizing up the situation, before turning to Ian.

“You boys ready?” Joel asks, and they both nod. Chris waves a goodbye to you, and you stand up to let them out.

Joel stays behind for a moment, letting them know he has a few remodeling details to iron out with you and your parents. You shut the door behind Chris and Ian and make your way over to the kitchen. Upon hearing the front door close Joel breezes into the room with you, leaning down and planting a kiss on your lips. He pulls back and gently holds your chin between his thumb and forefinger, looking down at you with a completely different expression than he had all day. 

You lean back on the kitchen table, slowly lifting yourself onto it so that you’re sitting on the edge. Joel slips in between your legs and presses himself close as you continue to devour each other’s lips, taking your time tasting each other and placing little bites on his lower lip. 

“I feel like we’re going to be really bad at sneaking around,” you say with a chuckle. 

“Kind of turns me on, havin’ to resist ya all day,” Joel says, his voice low and gravelly as his lips brush against your neck now. 

“I hate it,” you reply. “Just want you all day, all the time. Especially after the stunt you pulled this morning.”

“I know, baby.” His breath tickles along the skin of your neck, trailing down to your collarbone. Joel noses you there before placing a small kiss, his lips drifting down slowly to your collarbone.

“You stay wet for me all day like I asked?” he asks, his voice gruff and alluring as his hands grip at the fabric of your dress. You let out a small moaning “mhm” sound, and Joel pulls your dress down until your bra is exposed. It’s lacy and pretty, and while you weren’t sure Joel was going to see it, you seem to be putting on your nicest underwear lately just in case he does. Joel runs his hands over the bra, inspecting it. 

“Y’know I like this, but honestly…” he trails off, reaching around to your back and unhooking the bra. “I like when you have nothin’ on under your clothes, makes it easier for me to imagine these perfect fucking tits when I look at ya.” He pulls the dress further down, exposing your chest, and quickly follows with the bra, sliding the straps down your arms. “There we go,” he coos, tracing a finger over the swell of your breasts. It swirls around one of your nipples and you scoot your hips into him at the feeling of it. 

Joel’s head leans down and takes the hard bud into his mouth for a few beats, then his tongue slides over to the curve of your breast, his lips landing there and he sucks hard, then flicks his tongue. He repeats it several times over your chest, continuing to return his warm mouth to your nipples in between giving you small hickeys. Your eyes roll back a little as you flutter them shut, small whimpering sounds escaping your lips. 

“You like when I mark you, sweet girl, huh?” he murmurs close to your chest, the vibration of his deep voice rumbling across your skin, sending electric sparks through you. 

You give him a nod, and mumble out an “Mhm,” so caught up in the pleasure of this moment. “Want to look down and know who I belong to.”

“Oh yeah? And tell me, who do you belong to?” He bites lightly on your nipple and you moan quietly, arching into the sensation, feeling heat pool between your legs now.

“You, Joel, all yours,” you say, breathy and moaning with each new place his mouth touches. You’re aching so badly for him, your cunt probably dripping already just from these few moments he’s spending on you. His hand pulls up the fabric at the bottom of your dress and reaches under, and you’re panting in anticipation, finally about to have Joel in the way you’ve been thinking about all day long. A distant noise suddenly takes you completely out of it, and Joel’s hand freezes where it is on your thigh. 

“Shit,” you whisper, sobering up from the intoxication of Joel’s mouth on you. “That’s the garage. My parents…” 

Joel pulls back, and you whine quietly, the aching between your legs screaming at you to do something about it, even more so knowing you can’t right this second. You’re off the table and quickly trying to get dressed when you hear the door starting to open. You dart over out of view and quickly hook your bra, pulling your dress over the top of your body and checking to see it’s not too disheveled looking. You walk back to Joel just in time to see your parents entering the room, making sure you’re standing a good distance apart from him. You can still feel his lips where they were on your skin and you have to physically plant your feet not to go bounding over to him to pick up right where you left off. 

“You guys are home early,” you say in a chipper voice, trying to smile convincingly as if Joel didn’t just have his lips all over your tits right on the kitchen table you are all standing next to.

“Doctor’s appointment,” your mom says, motioning her head in the direction of your dad. You nod, and Joel stands somewhat awkwardly until they seem to acknowledge him.

“Howdy,” Joel says, waving to your parents. “Just finishing up for the day, you’re right in time to get filled in on everything.” You’re angry that he’s so good at this, that he’s not completely falling apart right now. Maybe he is on the inside, but you’d never be able to tell looking at him right now. Your parents listen intently as Joel talks, thanking him what feels like a dozen more times for the work he’s doing. You can tell that the conversation is winding down, and you feel a little panicky, not wanting to let him leave your sight just yet.

“I was just about to offer Joel something to drink, to relax while we sit down for a few minutes after he worked all day,” you blurt out, desperately trying to keep him around for a bit longer. 

“That’s a great idea,” your dad says, giving you an approving look. They’re beyond grateful that Joel was willing to do this work on the house for them before they were fully unpacked and settled in, meaning much less work down the line for them. So, you figured that they would very much approve of keeping him company with a cold beverage after a long day of work.

“You two enjoy, we’ve got groceries to unpack,” your mom chimes in, and you suddenly realize they were under the impression they were joining you two for this if they didn’t have something else to do. You breathe a discreet sigh of relief and turn to the fridge. 

Joel watches you pouring two glasses of iced tea, chatting aimlessly with your parents for a few extra moments. You’re half listening, trying to focus on anything but how the feeling between your legs isn’t seeming to go away. 

“Your daughter was awful nice to the crew, so can’t thank you enough for havin’ her here in case we need anything.” Your ears perk up at the mention of you, and you turn towards the conversation, holding the glasses in each hand. Your parents are both smiling, looking happy that Joel seems pleased, and you’re beginning to wonder if they’re as charmed by him as you are. 

“Ready?” you ask Joel. He nods and leads you to the back door, sliding it open for you. You step out and the glasses immediately sweat into your hands with the warmth of the day. 

You two sit at the outdoor table tucked off to the far side of the patio in the shade, and you hope the angle to the house is just right to shield you from your parents inside. You lean back, taking a long sip on your iced tea. 

“They really adore you, I think,” you say with a cheeky smile, wiggling your eyebrows jokingly. 

“Dunno why, I’m just a guy fixin’ their bathroom.” Joel shrugs, taking a drink as well. “Damn that’s good,” he comments quietly, looking down at the glass. 

“Hey, don’t say it like that, there’s plenty to be adored here. You’re doing them a huge favor, it’s very kind.”

Joel snorts a little, seeming uncomfortable with the compliment. “Yeah, okay, guess you’re right,” he finally replies. He gets still and quiet for a moment before looking up at you again. “Apartment huntin’ today, huh? When’re you moving out?” Joel asks. 

“Uh, yeah, I’m not sure yet. I think I was looking just to feel productive, or something. Things are going well with unpacking everything, but I want to make sure they’re really set, you know? My mom is a bundle of nerves if things aren’t perfect, so… I don’t want to hear about it down the line.”

“Hmm, I hear ya,” he says thoughtfully, “My mom can be similar in her own ways.” Your ears perk up a little, seeing as he hasn’t mentioned much about his family before, and you like him opening up to you. “For someone with everything so in order, she sure is a frazzled lady most of the time.”

You laugh, able to relate to that. “Must be a mom thing,” you joke, and he finally flashes you a smile. 

“So… not any time soon, then?” Joel asks tentatively with avoidant eyes. You press your lips together in a small smile at the fact that he seems to be so worried about when you’re leaving. 

“No, probably not. I like it here for now - I think I needed a change like this before I start my new job. I lived somewhere really busy for so long, my brain didn’t even know it needed this break, I think.”

“City girl movin’ out here to the suburbs of Austin… sure you’re not bored?” He smirks a little at you.

“Don’t forget I grew up in Texas, too. I do miss my friends and familiar things in Chicago, but I’m definitely not bored here.” You raise your brows a little and Joel chuckles. ”And how can I leave when I have you next door?” You’re half teasing, but Joel furrows his brow immediately, looking deeply into your eyes.

“Don’t miss out on any opportunities for me, darlin. That wouldn’t be very fair to yourself,” Joel says sternly, but still keeping most of the sweet way he speaks to you intertwined in his tone. 

“Yeah, I know,” you reply sheepishly, regretting what you said. “I was just… I’ll keep that in mind.” You pause for a moment, chewing on your lip. “I think I want to stay the whole summer, if they’ll let me.” You flash your eyes up to his, trying to convey the feeling you’re having towards him, that you don’t want to leave him, you want this summer to last for as long as it can. 

Joel’s lips twist back up into a smile, and his eyes lock on yours, soft but needy, a silent ache behind them that you can’t quite read. “Good,” he replies, leaving it at that. 

“Do you think I was believable in there with my parents?” you ask, absentmindedly tracing your finger through the condensation on your glass.

“Could use some work. You were a little flustered,” he quips sarcastically, his gaze looking your body up and down with a smirk.

“Well that’s because you made me flustered,” you scoff.

“It’s too easy, darlin’. Don’t blame it all on me.” 

“Wh- no it’s not,” you retort, despite knowing it’s true. “I’m not that easy.” You cross your arms defiantly to try and drive your point further.

“Baby…” he coos, locking his eyes onto yours. “Are you tellin’ me that right now I couldn’t get you wet, practically beggin’ me on the verge of comin’, with just my words?” His leans back in his chair further, surveying your reaction.

Now you are flustered. “Th- that wasn’t the question, Joel.” You can’t believe him being so forward when your cunt has barely stopped aching from the way his mouth was on you inside the house. You silently curse him in your head, but mostly because he’s right.

“But it’s true, ain’t it?” He tilts his head, the devious smirk growing on his lips.

“M-maybe,” you stammer out, slightly shaking now, your hips shifting in your seat.

“Say, ‘yes Joel’,” he pauses, looking at you with dark eyes. “And I’ll tell you what you want to hear.”

You lick your lips, breathing out a long breath. “Yes, Joel,” you murmur quietly.

“There’s my good girl,” he says, an emphasis on the last two words that makes you squirm excitedly a little bit. He looks at you as if to say, ‘see? knew all it took was my words’.

“D-do it,” you say suddenly, and Joel leans forward, looking at you intently.

“Do what?” he asks innocently, although you know he already knows exactly what you’re asking.

“What you s-said. Talk to me, and see what happens,” you squeak out before you can lose the nerve. Joel looks at you from under his raised eyebrows, glancing around quickly before turning his attention back to you. 

“Right here?”

“Right here.” You nod.

“Oh, you are a dirty little thing, you know that?” He shakes his head slowly, leaning onto the table even further. You’re sitting close enough that your knees have been touching this entire time, and you’re suddenly very aware of the connecting point between them. “Wouldn’t have guessed it, just lookin’ at ya for the first time, y’know, that you’d turn out to be such a little slut for me.”

You gasp lightly, fighting the urge to avert your gaze from his. You try to look unfazed, taking a sip from your iced tea, but you swallow it heavily, giving you away.

“Thought you were just a shy little thing, who’d have thought you love beggin’ for my cock so much,” he continues, “Doin’ anythin’ for me to be my good girl and get this cock inside of ya.”

You flutter your eyes shut for a moment, feeling the familiar restless urge to squirm in your seat. You take a deep, steadying breath, trying to fight Joel’s words to prove a point. “I wouldn’t do anything,” you say, putting on an air of confidence.

Joel laughs a little, low and suggestive. “Right,” he says before tracing his hands along his glass now, and your eyes flick to the way his fingers are rubbing along the condensation, water dripping onto his fingertips. Nope, you immediately think, averting your eyes to the grass in the distance. Joel tuts. “Y’can’t even look at these fingers, sweet girl, without wonderin’ how they’d feel inside of you right now.” 

You shake your head, trying to suppress your smile and the aching building in your core. Joel’s so fucking right, you can already feel yourself getting embarassingly wet.

“I can tell ya how they’d feel, though. So fuckin’ good, baby, buried in your wet pussy, all for me. Makin’ you feel so good while I fuck you hard with my fingers, just how you like it. You’d want that right now if you could, wouldn’t you, sweet thing?”

“Fuck,” you grit out simply, setting your jaw. The picture he’s painting is exactly what you’d like from him right now. You press your thighs together tightly, trying to ignore the throbbing ache that’s now distractingly present between them.

“You couldn’t stop there, you insatiable little thing, though, could you? Always askin’ for my big cock to fill you up. Askin’ for me to fuck you till you can’t think straight.”

“Joel…” you murmur, closing your eyes, the sight of him too much combined with the words right now. Your breathing quickens, and you have to stop yourself from moving your hand in between your legs just for a minuscule amount of relief from the sexual tension you’re feeling.

“Yes, darlin’?”

“Keep going,” you mutter, eyes squeezed shut.

“What’re you doin’, sweetheart? You could just have me touchin’ you right now instead.”

“I want it so bad,” you say, breathless, all the recent words he’s been saying washing over you, sending nearly painful throbs to your cunt. “Keep talking.”

“Baby, you’re just desperate for it, aren’t you?” You can hear the smirk in his voice, and it pisses you off but mostly turns you on. “Bet even when we aren’t together, you think about me and get all wet, don’t you? Need to touch yourself just to stop from goin’ crazy over it.”

You nod furiously, peeking your eyes open now and seeing him completely enraptured by your expression, heavy lidded with desire but painfully repressed.

“Oh, look at you, needin’ me so bad right now. I can see it written all over you. Just like the first few times I noticed you watchin’ me. Knew you were gettin all worked up over me before I even talked to you, just like right now. Probably soakin’ right into that chair…” he tuts. “Say the word and I’ll touch you, give you what you need.” You don’t respond, simply feeling the tension inside of you building close to a boiling point, and it’s starting to feel so achy that it feels good. You rub your thighs together a little bit to relieve it, and a small whimper escapes you.

“You know I want to give you this cock, fill you up and fuck you till you’re screamin’. Don’t you want to be a good girl and take it like I ask?”

‘Yes!” you call out, unable to stand it anymore. Your hips are writhing on the chair as your thighs move together. “Fuck… please, Joel… I need it,” you say quietly, feeling completely exhausted and broken down just from his words.

“Lemme see,” Joel asks, nodding down at your lap.

You pull up the long, flowy dress you were wearing over your knees, then up your thighs. You glance around quickly, seeing nobody around, but you scoot your chair a little closer, trying to hide most of you from view to anyone but Joel. You spread your legs wide, then pull the dress the rest of the way up.

“Good girl,” he breathes out in amazement, seeing the large dark stain on your underwear that’s starting to also seep onto the portion of your dress that you’re sitting on. You peer down at it too, speechless at the effect of his words before covering it up and looking at him expectantly. “C’mon,” he gestures, and you stand up, following him across the yard quickly, hoping that if your parents saw you two, they would just assume you were going up to your apartment alone and saying your goodbyes to Joel.

You two rush up to the door of your apartment, and you fumble with the door, dragging him inside and shutting the door. He slams you up against the wall next to the door hard, pressing his body close. The feel of his hard cock through his jeans so close to your throbbing pussy is almost enough to make you come after the way you’re worked up from all his dirty talking.

“So fucking wet, and all from me just talkin’ to you,” he says, shaking his head. “Told ya it was too easy,” he murmurs, his head close to your neck, breath tickling you there. 

“Joel… I swear if you touch me only once right now I might come,” you say, completely breathless, your body begging for the release as your hips press into him hard. 

“Fuck, you can’t be serious, sweet girl…” He pulls his head back to look you in the eye, an incredulous look on his face.

“I am… I feel like I’m about to explode, please fucking t-touch me.” You shake under his stare, under the small touches he’s giving you over your body. The throbbing between your legs is completely taking over every thought, every movement you make. 

“Now hold on a minute…” he starts, and you buck your hips forward with a whine. He dips his head back down to your neck and kisses it, traveling up to your lips. Your desperate, whining sounds moan into his mouth as he kisses you, and you devour his mouth immediately. His hand slowly travels up your thigh, bunching the fabric of your dress along the way. The other hand pulls on your nipple through your dress, and you nearly scream, another pulsing sensation and rush of wetness coming between your legs. Your hands dig into where they’re wrapped around his back, sliding forward and scratching down his arms. You’re almost angry now with the anticipation, and you feel a growling noise wanting to escape from you.

“Joel,” you demand everything with his name on your lips, and he decides to give in, pulling the dress up enough to slide his hand under. He tears your soaked panties to the side and presses a finger to your clit, rubbing it slowly. You cry out, the climax already starting to rage through your body and your hips shudder forward into Joel’s finger. He presses down hard, circling it frantically now that you’re already coming. You try not to scream, burying your face into his shirt and moaning. The build up to this seemed to translate into just as intense of a release, your whole body tense, burning and tingling with pure, overarching pleasure.

“My - f-fucking god…” you yell out, biting onto the fabric of his clothes now to muffle some of the sound. Your hips push down onto him a few more times, and you release a breath, feeling your body relaxing back against the wall. 

“You are somethin’ else, you know that, beautiful girl?” Joel says, nuzzling your neck and making you shiver with the way his facial hair is brushing against your skin.

“What the hell, Joel,” you say with a small laugh. “How do you do that to me?” You collapse into him, head resting on his chest, your breathing finally evening out. He pulls you off the wall and into his arms now as he takes his hand out from under your dress. 

“Beats me, sweetheart. You just like what I’ve got to say, huh?” he teases, rubbing your back in large, soothing circles. 

“I really do.”

Joel really doesn’t like the way Chris was looking at you yesterday. He doesn’t even want to get deeper into the thoughts he was having about the way Chris was talking to you at the end of the day, either. He had a look in his eye that Joel couldn’t mistake for anything other than lust, the craving desire of your perfect fucking body, and he wasn’t going to stand for it. Not only is it unprofessional when they’ve been invited into your home to work, for Christ's sake, but on a personal level it just leaves him bothered. The thought of Chris lusting after you and succeeding makes his blood boil a bit more than he would care to admit, but he can’t help the feeling all the same. Chris has always been a good worker, skilled enough, and the reason you chose him for this job was that he was easier to spare from the current project he was on since he’s on the newer side with the company.

He hasn’t acted or done anything that warrants reprimanding or firing yet, but Joel saw the look he gave you when you appeared to chat with them yesterday several times. It also didn’t get past him the way Chris had lingered his eyes on your ass when you were leaving the room. The way he was torn between elation at seeing you in your pretty little dress, so fresh and beautiful looking, and absolute anger at the way Chris’ eyes roamed over your body quickly when you weren’t looking at him was a constant war inside of him now. 

The second day of renovations rolls around, and after stewing about it all night while you had plans with your parents, he’s half irritated at Chris and half horny since he hadn’t gotten to fuck you last night to soothe his slowly bruising ego. Maybe Chris would be a better fit for you, Joel starts to wonder - he’s right around your age and a nice guy overall. It’s not a crime to be attracted to you, or even ask you out once the job is finished, but not a second before, the businessman in Joel thinks to himself. And yes, he’s being very hypocritical, he realizes. 

You’re perched in the living room with your laptop when they arrive, and you kindly let them in although Joel received an extra key from your parents in case nobody was home when they needed to work. 

“Good morning, guys,” you call out sweetly as the three of them file in with their tools for the day. 

Ian mumbles a good morning, Joel tries to keep his greeting neutral, and Chris almost has a little smirk on his face as he greets you. You narrow your eyes slightly, feeling somewhat exposed all of a sudden, but try to remain friendly before jumping to conclusions. 

“Anyone need any coffee or anything?” you ask, taking a sip from your own mug as you stand next to the coffee table in the living room. 

Everyone shakes their head except Joel, who does request a cup of coffee. He waves the two others on to the bathroom to get set up without him as he follows you into the kitchen. Your gaze immediately softens at Joel once you two are alone and you start to pour him a cup of coffee. 

“This is gonna be worse than yesterday, I think,” you say quietly, quickly wetting and then biting your lip in the way that makes Joel absolutely wild. You’d spent the entire evening trying to comprehend what Joel had brought out of you earlier in the day. Who ever heard of a man making you come practically by only talking dirty to you? You felt a little pathetic, but if there’s anyone you want to be pathetic for, it’s this gorgeously broad, dark eyed man in front of you right now.

“I know, baby,” Joel whispers as he takes the mug, his fingers purposefully brushing along yours, sending a set of sparks straight up your spine. You fight the shudder but Joel sees it anyways, smiling smugly down at you for a moment. “We’ll make sure to make up for all of it later,” he promises, a low, suggestive tone filling his tone. 

You nod with a twist of your lips into a small smile, then you shoo him off to avoid any suspicion and return to the living room where you had been working while you waited for the three boys to arrive.

You can hear the idle chatter and noise of them working down the hallway for a few hours, Joel’s voice cutting through and going right to your heart. It’s hard to focus on your work knowing he’s right there, muscles probably bulging and flexing as he works. You can hear the occasional sound of power tools and the quiet, casual conversation between the three of them to pass the time. They saunter out into the living room a few hours later, and you look up from your laptop, where admittedly you’d only been half working this whole time - you wish the internet wasn’t so damn distracting sometimes. 

“Just about to eat lunch at my place, if that’s alright. We don’t want to intrude,” Joel announces to you, ever the picture of professionalism.

“Sure you three don’t want to just eat in the kitchen? It’s no problem,” you ask, trying to survey your eyes over all of them to gauge their reactions. 

“Oh, I don’t know…” Joel starts, but you cut him off. 

“I’ll join you guys, I should probably eat something too,” you say, giving a polite smile. Chris and Ian looked convinced, glancing at each other and then nodding, walking their coolers over to the kitchen table and sitting down. Joel flashes you a playfully irritated look behind their backs before joining them. You make a quick sandwich and join them at the table, sitting cross legged on your chair. 

“How’s everything going?” you ask, opening the conversation up. 

Chris seems to jump on it, answering first. “Great, we’re really coming along.” He smiles, and you aren’t sure how to feel about the way his eyes look, a strange hunger behind them. You nod politely and continue eating. 

“What were you working on?” Chris suddenly asks you, and you start a little, chewing slowly for a moment. 

“Oh,” you say, quickly flicking your eyes to Joel, who is completely unreadable right now as he crunches on a potato chip. “I’m starting a new job, so just getting some remote stuff done before the office opens up for us all,” you tell him. Chris nods enthusiastically and presses you for more information. You explain your new role in marketing for the company, that you’re going to be leading a team of people eventually so that’s exciting, and while Joel and Ian are listening intently, Chris is really stealing the show. Maybe he’s just friendly, you think to yourself, nothing wrong with that. You do, however, notice his eyes quickly dip to your nipples that you know are poking through your shirt, and it makes you want to cover up. It was stupid of you to not wear a bra with people in the house, anyways. 

You carry a pleasant conversation with everyone, a kindling fire burning under your skin just being across the table from Joel, unable to recognize the way you really feel about him in the open. It’s enough to make you feel achy between the legs, and you hope you aren’t getting flushed thinking about the way that man was talking to you just yesterday. 

After a few more hours of work, Joel, Chris, and Ian come out of the bathroom as you’re taking a break from work to organize some boxes of papers your parents had moved with - documents, recipes, old appliance manuals. They probably don’t even need a good majority of this stuff anymore, and you really don’t know why they didn’t do this before moving in, you think with a sigh at this boring task in front of you. 

Joel stands at the kitchen table and fills you in again, saying they should finish this bathroom tomorrow and be able to move on to yours afterwards, if everything goes to plan. Joel is distracted for a bit, helping Ian pack up the last of his things when Chris walks up to the table and leans down, his palms splayed against the surface of it.  

“This might be forward, but would you ever want to do something sometime? With me? I think we’d get along,” he says, his tone of voice very suggestive as to what he means by getting along with him. You open your mouth and then close it quickly, stunned by the direction things are taking. 

“I - uh - I don’t -“ you stammer, trying to reject his advances, but he interrupts you before you can form a coherent thought. 

“You have a boyfriend or something?” Chris asks, and you narrow your eyes slightly at the way he says it. “I’m just saying… I think you’re really beautiful.” Your eyes look past him, darting around the room, unsure of what to do right now. You have zero interest in any of what he’s saying about you two making plans together, your mind completely set on another man. 

“Oh, no I don’t, but I -“ you start, but you’re interrupted by Joel clearing his throat in the entryway to the kitchen. You were facing the opposite way, not seeing him come in, and it startles you. 

“Time to go, Chris,” he says coldly, and you know then that Joel overheard this conversation, or at least part of it. You feel the pit that was growing during your entire encounter with Chris sink into your stomach at lightning speed. You look desperately at Joel, but his eyes are on Chris, and you know him well enough now to see the silent irritation glowing in his dark irises.

“I’ll see you,” Chris says, a little less cocky this time, almost like a kid caught doing something wrong. They leave the room, out of your sight into the living room, but you can hear a quiet conversation starting between Joel and Chris. You don’t know if it was deliberate on Joel’s part to make sure you heard this, or he simply couldn’t wait until they were outside. You stand up slowly, trying to be quiet as you get closer to the conversation, feeling completely caught in the middle right now. Could Joel be angry with you too? Maybe you hadn’t rejected Chris’ advances soon enough, you’d gotten completely tongue tied. Did Joel even care if you went out with someone else?

“What’re you doin’?” you hear in a hushed, angry tone. “You think that’s professional?” Joel’s fist clenches and releases as he tries to hold himself in from completely lashing out. He can’t let the personal aspect of all of this cloud the way he reacts to his employees.

“N-no Joel, I don’t,” Chris’ voice replies, sounding small. 

“You leave that girl alone while we’re workin’ here. Y’know how bad you’d be makin’ my business look? And in front of my damn neighbors?” Joel snaps, laying into him. He’s trying to keep it as neutral as possible but his anger keeps threatening to bubble over, picturing how uncomfortable you’d looked when he reached the doorway. He breathes out a staccato breath to release some of the tension as Chris’ eyes dip to the floor. 

“Yes, of course. I’m sorry, it won’t happen again,” Chris stammers out. 

“Alright, kid. That’s all. Do better,” Joel says, giving a final scolding and a clap on his shoulder. 

Once they leave, Joel stalks into the kitchen where you’ve been listening around the corner, a near feral look in his eyes. 

“Go upstairs,” he says, short and commanding. 

“I- Joel - “ you begin to stammer out, wanting to explain your side, and Joel looks at you, fire flaring across his eyes. 

“I don’t want to ask again, sweet girl.” Despite the pet name, his tone is thunderous now and you realize you’re just slightly afraid enough to immediately obey. You know for a fact Joel wouldn’t hurt you, but you don’t want to test his patience in a time when he seems this wound up.

You nod quickly and rush to the sliding door, stepping outside and heading upstairs to your apartment, checking behind you several times but Joel isn’t following you. Once you’re inside, you stand a few steps from the door, catching your breath from the emotion of the moment while you wait to see if Joel is coming to see you. 

You wait for what feels like an eternity, despite it likely being only moments. A swirling mixture of anxiety and weirdly, desire, is churning inside of you, confusing you even further. The door swings open slowly, and Joel steps inside, the feral look in his eye faded slightly but still present. He looks… detached, almost, like he’s not moving of his own accord. He shuts the door with a strange calmness before locking his eyes on you and beginning to stalk over to you.

You are not afraid, this is Joel, the man who has done only good things to you, never pushed you beyond what you were comfortable with, and yet, you can’t help but wonder if you should fear him, so large and imposing right now. The look in his eye turns downright greedy and devious as he quickly closes the gap between you, his lips coming straight for your own.

[starcrossedreaders]

Authors Note: YALL ARE FEINING. Here's part three THE FINAL PART, Enjoy!

Here's part 1 and part 2

Warnings: sad coming home, mentions of thoughts of suicide, mental breakdown, FLUFF, AND NSFW (YALL FEINS ARE BEING FED) P in v, cock warming!

Fumbling with your house keys you fell into your quiet, lonely apartment. These past few weeks you have been living in a melancholic state of depression and solitude. Days have been short as nights have been long. Each waking second you spent crying or questioning what to do next with your sad lonely life. You were even questioning the 'what if's', even if the thoughts were not so great.

Although tonight was different. Tonight was supposedly 'fun' and 'exciting' as your friends took you out to the club. Despite going against your best wishes they came and drug you out of the house stating the alcohol and bright lights will "heal the soul". It in fact did not. Instead, it left you sitting at a table alone drowning your sorrows. You were upset because you could have been doing this at home without everyone around.

The mass amounts of alcohol you consumed left your legs numb and your heart even number. At this point you wouldn't care what happened to you, as long as you got to see Leon again you would be happy. But no, the universe had to be cruel to you. Like it has been your whole life. Leon was the only good thing that has ever come out of your 25 years of living, and yet. He was brutally taken away from you.

Your dark and messy apartment greeted you, mocking and mirroring your current state of mind. Slamming the door shut, you locked it as you treaded to your even messier room. Clothes were thrown everywhere, and your bedsheets needed to be washed. But, you were too afraid to lose the true musk and vanilla scent of your late lover.

But tonight, tonight was different. Your bed was made, clothes neatly folded and put away, and a candle was lit as the tv lit up the room. You had to rub your eyes, once, twice. Your brain wasn't playing tricks on you, and your room was clean and set up how.....

How Leon would keep it.....

That's impossible

Leon is gone

Gone

gone

gone

He will never come back. That's the exact thought that haunts you at all hours of the day. The exact thought that has left you in this state. The exact thought that has been pushing you to the brink of sanity and it just took its final shove.

You pulled at your hair as your breath got stuck in your throat.

He's gone.

Throwing your bag on the ground you paced your room.

He's gone. He's gone. He's gone. He's gone!

Screaming you rush and start throwing your clothes out of your closet and on the floor. Your throat hurt as your lungs burned from the lack of air.

"HE'S GONE," after throwing half of your closet across your room you turned to your perfectly made bed.

The white comforter and folded blankets pushed you even more. You swiped your arms across the large bed sending blankets and clothes across your room.

"HE'S GONE. HE'S GONE. HE'S GONE!" You pushed out the last of the air from your lungs gripping the comforter.

Before you could throw that a pair of strong arms wrapped around your waist, pulling you into their warm strong chest.

"Shhh baby, I'm here. I'm home," That angelic voice.

The angelic voice that has talked you through so much. Has yelled and cried and laughed with you.

Your eyes widened as your body went limp in his arms. The scent of musk and vanilla floated to your senses. You gasped as everything you cried and prayed for was wrapped around you.

Your bottom lip quivered as a loud sob racked through your body. Your shakey hand rose to cover your mouth as your body shook.

"Oh my god...." your whisper was barely audible as you slowly turned around to face....to face...

Leon.

Leon your home.

Leon your best friend.

Leon your lover.

Leon your soulmate.

Another sob racked through your body as your eyes met his piercing blue eyes. You really couldn't believe your eyes. You couldn't look away. Afraid that once you blink or look away he will disappear. Your brain has a knack for sick jokes like that.

"L-Lee?" He could only nod his head, as tears of his own slipped down his cheek.

Finally letting go you cried. You cried and cried. Hiding your face in his chest, soaking his shirt with your tears. Leon rocked your body hushing your shaking form as he rubbed your back.

You don't know how but you ended up on your bed with you in Leon's back.

"Y-yo-you're home," You hiccupped as you pulled back to look at Leon.

Your head was light as the alcohol from the night wore off as your throat ached from your yelling.

"I'm home," He dropped his head on yours connecting your foreheads as his hand came up to your cheek. His thumb rubbed back and forth as he look lovingly at you.

"I'm home...I'll never leave you again," More tears slide down your cheeks at his words.

"I thought I lost you. I thought-" You had to take a deep breath.

"I know love...I know." His grip around you tightened.

"I'm sorry, I'm so sorry," Your brittle voice was on the verge of breaking again.

"I'm sorry for everything I said to you that night. I never met them, I=I thought I lost you forever and I would never be able to say sorry and tell you... Tell you I love you. I love you for everything you do. I love your perfections and imperfections. Your weird sweet tooth. Your lous ass snoring, your protective behavior. I love all of you." You took in deep breaths as you finished your small rant.

"I love you to the Milky Way and back. I love your weird obsessions and weird cravings. I love the way you always have my favorite snacks, or how you always keep the apartment cold even though you hate it. How you can read my body and know when I want to go home, or how you make my lunches in the mornings. I love how patient you are with my job, how you understand and worry and care. I love you."

As the moon faded and the sun woke your bodies lay heavy as you slept in a deep slumber. This would be the first night you actually slept. Being pressed up against Leon's warm body put your body at ease causing you to drift off into a deep slumber.

Leon was happy to be home with his baby. He couldn't handle being away from you, knowing the lies that were fed to you. He would never leave you like that, ever.

Leon played with your hair as he admired your sleeping form. Purple bags sunk into your eyes, and a small crease lay between your eyebrows. That wasn't there before he left. Frowning himself, he brought his hand down, using his thumb to rub away your crease.

This small touch pulled you from your slumber. Fluttering your eyes open, you scanned your surroundings. Last night felt like a fever dream, you were scared to go to sleep afraid that your mind was playing a cruel trick on you. But, your body went against your best wishes and floated you off into a deep sleep. So when you opened your eyes you were a little shocked but very relieved to see Leon was still here, with you.

"G'morning love," His deep husky voice sent a wave of hot pleasure down your body.

"Morning," you smiled a little as you sat up to stretch.

"How did you sleep?" Leon's lazy boyish smile made your heart flutter.

That was the same smile that you first saw. The smile that caught your heart and will hold it in captivity until the end of eternity.

Leon wrapped his hands behind your thighs to guide you on his lap. Wrapping your arms around his neck you smiled. "I slept better now that you're back." You looked like a hopeless fool in love. Your hair was knotted as a faint blush painted your cheeks.

"Me too love," His thumbs drew small circles on your thigh.

Getting more comfortable you slightly ground on Leon semi-hard on causing a moan to leave the back of his throat.

"Baby- stop moving," HIs voice was stern and full of command.

"m'sorry," You mumbled. You just missed Leon so much, his touch was overriding your senses and all you wanted to do was fuck him.

"I missed you s'much, need you," Your whiney voice was filled with need as you ground your hips into Leon's, hoping for any type of friction.

Leon groaned as he shot his hands to your hips in a bruising grip. "Fuck- hold on love," He lifted your body up moving your underwear to the side as he fisted his cock out of his boxers. A shiny pearl sat atop his slit, but it wasn't enough, despite spreading it along his dick.

Bending over slightly he let a line of spit fall past his lips onto his dick. Rubbing it down he guided your hips down towards his. He teased your soaking hole by gliding his tip between your wet folds. Going back and forth a few times he finally gave in and dipped his tip into heaven. The feeling of Leon stretching you out had you gasping. Squeezing your eyes shut you laid your head on his shoulder. The further Leon went, the more stars blurred his vision. The feeling of your warm walls wrapping around him had him on a different planet.

Leon slid his hands from your hips down to the back of his thighs bringing you closer to him. Your warm cunt swallowed him whole leaving you guys to sit there in pure bliss.

Leon's hot breath ghosted over your neck as he ran his hands up and down your thighs. Wrapping your arms around his neck you sat there taking in his scent. Leon mumbled sweet nothings in your hair as he kissed the crown of your head periodically.

With Leon's hands roaming your body and him stuffing you full you swore your sleep could wash over, taking you under. Keeping your eyes closed Leon could feel your body weight getting heavier.

"Love?" The only response Leon got was a soft snore leaving past your lips.

Leon smiled slightly before he kissed your head. "I love you."

✧⋄⋆⋅⋆⋄✧⋄⋆⋅⋆⋄✧

Taglist: @hermizery @alewesker @ballorawan740 @lastaceylia00 @lazycig @littledreamybeth @aussiepineapple1st @chunnies @sonicsolos

[quiltofstars]

M25 // Christian Liska

This unnamed open cluster is about 2,000 light years from Earth and contains about 600 known members. It is also not particularly young, with an age estimated to be about 67 million years old. In other words, this cluster came into being right before the dinosaurs died out!

[annieqattheperipheral]

Highlights:

responsible for: official game jerseys, replica jerseys, and fan apparel (no fanatics bs haha!!)

multiyear agreement

the new Bauer jerseys will have an entirely new look. Team names and logos are currently "in the works," and will be officially unveiled when they're ready. Currently, details on names and logos are being kept under wraps

a portion of replica jersey sales will go back into the game and will help to create and support a program designed to introduce more girls to hockey

expected to launch next season with all six teams in the league (a new program separate from Bauer's "Grow the Game" and "First Shift" initiatives)

"It's a commitment from both partners and an understanding of how important it is to continue to grow the participation not only for the growth of hockey in general, but for the growth of the PWHL and creating opportunities for girls and women in hockey" Messier said. "So we agreed to take a portion of the funds through the partnership, that will come from royalties from replica and apparel sales and put that in a fund to help design a specific program around the PWHL."

And this just made me proud:

Yayyy! Good moves ahead!

[lpanne]

My Cross Stitch Journey

I think i've been cross-stitching for over 25 years at this point and i just wanted to chart my journey and make a couple of notes about the latest step i've taken (no longer caring about the back being perfectly neat). I'm not saying everyone's journey needs to be like mine, but i just want to share somethings that i've only discovered in the last year as i'm wondering if i just missed it being commonly available knowledge or if my sharing what i've learned will be helpful to others.

So the rest of this post below the read more will be about ways to make stitches look neater, but will lead to a messier back.

Again i want to preface this with you can have beautiful cross stitch pieces without doing any of the things i'm about to discuss. This is meant more as an explanation of why stitches get wonky sometimes even when you have figured out getting your threads to lay flat and stitching all in the same direction.

First, I learned that once you finish a stitch, the next place you bring your needle up through can have a huge impact on neatness and the ability to stitches to fill in areas next to previously stitched sections.

So in the above picture i have drawn a completed cross stitch where the top arm started on the upper left and went back down into the cloth on the lower right. So if i'm going to start a new stitch i want to start in one of the green holes or if i had to yellow. Not red. If you bring your needle up through one of the red holes it will make this completed stitch's top arm elongate and lead to messiness. It is especially bad in you go for the bottom far right hole. Also if you are going to stitch around this second with a second color getting your needle through a hole with an elongated arm can sometime be an issue.

Also, i only highlighted the closets holes, but if you are going to start a stitch further away think about what direction you are pulling your thread and will it be passing under the cloth near the red or green holes.

Second, I realized that making sure your top stitch all are stitched in the same way is very important. I don't mean having all your stitches having the top arm being upper left to lower right verse upper right to lower left (that is important too, but i feel like that information was one of the first things i was told). I mean that in a section try to maintain for the top arm upper left to lower right and don't mix in lower right to upper left. This can pull the stitches in a weird way and can make them look messy (if you are looking super closely). See below for an illustration. The numbers are the order of steps the needle took in and out of the cloth.

In this illustration i only drew one of the arms as it was easier to see, but caring this much is only super important for the top arm. Also to call back to my earlier point in the bottom half going from step 2 to step 3 would be having the needle going into one of the red holes i outlined in the first diagram which again can lead to some elongation of stitches.

Sometimes i don't follow these suggestions but i am more aware of these issues, and i am watching for times when i ignore them and i try to mitigate the issues like the example below.

So what do i do in patterns that have an outer line of stitches like my kyubey pattern? i really like the danish method of stitching (stitching a row of arms in one direction and then going back to the start of the row with the crossing arms); however, this leaves you at the beginning of where you were stitching. So i came up with this method to be able to still kinda danish stitch but end your thread at the other end of the row. (The colored lines are the thread on the back side of the cloth.) This is a very niche solution but it is helpful in some instances like the above example.

you will see that i'm doing something i said not to do above. I am mitigating the issues though by having the top arm being the one that is following the suggestions i wrote above. Not following the first suggestion on the bottom arm can make stitching around that area a little harder but it won't look as weird as having the top arm being elongated.

[just--space]

Messier 101 : Big, beautiful spiral galaxy M101 is one of the last entries in Charles Messier's famous catalog, but definitely not one of the least. About 170,000 light-years across, this galaxy is enormous, almost twice the size of our own Milky Way. M101 was also one of the original spiral nebulae observed by Lord Rosse's large 19th century telescope, the Leviathan of Parsontown. Assembled from 51 exposures recorded by the Hubble Space Telescope in the 20th and 21st centuries, with additional data from ground based telescopes, this mosaic spans about 40,000 light-years across the central region of M101 in one of the highest definition spiral galaxy portraits ever released from Hubble. The sharp image shows stunning features of the galaxy's face-on disk of stars and dust along with background galaxies, some visible right through M101 itself. Also known as the Pinwheel Galaxy, M101 lies within the boundaries of the northern constellation Ursa Major, about 25 million light-years away. via NASA

[hee-blee-art]

r60 (fugitive android medic) & breaker (outlaw engineer turned rancher)

[ID: two sketch pages. the first shows r60, a thin masculine android with light skin and short dark straight hair. he is shown in various outfits, including a cowboy hat and wool-lined coat and various cowboy shirts, and in various situations, standing, smiling, looking serious covered in blood, and using a stethoscope. in the bottom left he is shown in his lab state, with smoothed back hair and in a skin tight suit with a corvus logo, all clean, next to his fugitive state, where his hair is falling forward, he is dirtier and messier, slightly damaged, and wearing western-inspired clothes. the second shows breaker, a strong pudgy man with light skin, dark curly hair, and a short beard. he is shown at two ages, 25 and 30, and with and without his mechanical full face mask. his 25 year old self is shown with a collalr shirt and cardigan, a bag, a lanyard and ID card, and round glasses. at 30, he is shown looking scruffier, in a t-shirt, and with a cowboy hat and scarf. end ID]

[livingforstars]

Local Group Galaxy NGC 205 - January 8th, 1996.

"The Milky Way galaxy is not alone. It is part of a gathering of about 25 galaxies known as the Local Group. Members include the Great Andromeda Galaxy (M31), M32, M33, the Large Magellanic Clouds, the Small Magellanic Clouds, Dwingeloo 1, several small irregular galaxies, and many dwarf elliptical galaxies. Pictured is one of the many dwarf ellipticals: NGC 205. Like M32, NGC 205 is a companion to the large M31, and can sometimes be seen to the south of M31's center in photographs. The above image shows this galaxy to be unusual for an elliptical galaxy, in that it contains at least two dust clouds (at 7 and 11 o'clock - they are visible but hard to spot) and signs of recent star formation. This galaxy is sometimes known as M110, although it was actually not part of Messier's original catalog."

[apod]

2023 June 2

Messier 101 Image Credit: NASA, ESA, CFHT, NOAO; Acknowledgement - K.Kuntz (GSFC), F.Bresolin (U.Hawaii), J.Trauger (JPL), J.Mould (NOAO), Y.-H.Chu (U. Illinois)

Explanation: Big, beautiful spiral galaxy M101 is one of the last entries in Charles Messier's famous catalog, but definitely not one of the least. About 170,000 light-years across, this galaxy is enormous, almost twice the size of our own Milky Way. M101 was also one of the original spiral nebulae observed by Lord Rosse's large 19th century telescope, the Leviathan of Parsontown. Assembled from 51 exposures recorded by the Hubble Space Telescope in the 20th and 21st centuries, with additional data from ground based telescopes, this mosaic spans about 40,000 light-years across the central region of M101 in one of the highest definition spiral galaxy portraits ever released from Hubble. The sharp image shows stunning features of the galaxy's face-on disk of stars and dust along with background galaxies, some visible right through M101 itself. Also known as the Pinwheel Galaxy, M101 lies within the boundaries of the northern constellation Ursa Major, about 25 million light-years away.

∞ Source: apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap230602.html