#TO BE ABSOLUTELY CLEAR ALL OF THESE ARE GAMES\SERIES I LOVE AND I WOULD NOT RATE THEM LOWER THAN 8\10 (except for xb3)

[chemicalbrew]

@elendsessor listen, I love your blog and the way you curate stuff!!! that comment was honestly self-defeatist on my part, and I'm sorry if it made you doubt yourself, you're one of my absolute favorite mutuals at the moment (even though we don't talk, your blog is so awesome!), and I was genuinely worried you'd not follow me back when you remade, wahhh (mostly because I barely post fandom lately, and all I do is lazily scroll my dash and scout the katana zero tag, and I am so self-conscious about how much i love kz these days... i gotta stop with that)

ANYWAY!! back to your original inquiry, at full force

9. worst part of canon

stealth levels in games that are not otherwise about stealth tend to be quite ruinous. off the top of my head, two examples I am forever a little salty about are Ghost Trick and Katana ZERO (though it's partially optional in the latter - I always opt to kill my way through the prison on replays)

For Ghost Trick, that's legitimately the only issue I have with it. For Katana ZERO, however... the ending stretch of the plot is somewhat poorly paced\unsatisfying compared to everything else + hard mode is genuinely unbalanced to the point where I actually gave up on it last month (but god, the itch to play more has not left)

SMT4: rapid-fire complaints from someone who hasn't played other SMTs yet: most of the plot after the Tokyo reveal felt weak, the game needed to be a little more obvious early on about how your choices matter, I wish Flynn had a bit more personality, just to match his companions, the Isabeau twist in particular sucks ass, Burroughs turning out to be a goddess sucks even more, App Point costs were unbalanced, they could have afforded to use multiple asset sets for Domains, I didn't like the prospect of endgame grinding.

I said Chrono Trigger is perfect, but that's only if you ignore what follows after (especially the tie-ins attempted in CTDS). I still do not have it in myself to wholeheartedly love Chrono Cross

Pyre is a wonderful game, but the second half of it was a huge drag and could stand to be less repetitive

Hades has an ending that basically ruins the rest of the plot and it's BAD. also, endgame grind is way too tedious and the progression system can break in places

Brandish 1: the remake doesn't have speed options like the original game did, Tower is a bland-looking stage with awkward music, boss music in this game is uninspired outside of HEADLESS Brandish 2: literally nothing important to the larger narrative happens in this game when you think about it, endgame is not fun and absolutely ridiculous (I get why, but this is truly old school game design at its worst), boss music still sucks (most of the OST outside of the opening hour is honestly weak), there's a different Tower and it sucks for different reasons (backtracking yay) Brandish 3: the fact that the translation isn't out yet (serious answer: this game, iirc, has more backtracking than the others. Sanctuary was a really gimmicky stage in particular) Brandish 4: for fuck's sake, who decided the Temple stage was acceptable? it's literally an assault on the senses

Trails series: awful with ships. awful. the main ship of the first arc of the series is a case of adopted incest lol there's some other really gross tropes like this all throughout and I really don't feel like reciting them right now, so... I'll list other stuff: the games weren't intended to have multiple difficulties, so playing on anything that's not Normal will suck in some way you have to be extraordinarily meticulous to 100% or use a guide as the series went on, it became easier to break the difficulty into pieces with how ridiculous skills get despite that, superbosses and scripted losses that you have to win to 100% are a tradition of the series and can be really annoying to deal with as the series went on, it also started using more modern anime tropes to appeal to more people and it UNFORTUNATELY has been working

Ys series: modern games suffer from trying to be more like Trails, which they shouldn't <3 end of story

Xenoblade 1: battle system as a whole was unrefined and unsatisfying, worst sidequests in the series, female party members are all suffering in some way (Sharla's arc was cliche and unsatisfying, she sucks to use, her design is awkward; Fiora's situation was not explored deeply enough and she got fridged; Melia suffers in the story so much it almost turns into comedy and suspends disbelief) the only antagonist that resonated with me was Zanza.

Xenoblade 2: (DLC fixes most of this) The obvious: there needed to be less titties; The obvious again: Tora's introduction sucks ass (and he doesn't get truly better ever :() AND Tiger! Tiger! can go fuck itself; The introduction in general is slow and is why I won't replay this even though it's a GOAT; I actually like the gacha being around (I got lucky and the only real trouble I had was getting KOS-MOS imo), but it should at least become infinitely more generous in NG+. AT LEAST THAT. The infamous roadblocks to 100% like Ursula's affinity chart; The UI issues that everyone harped enough on; The maps got so much worse in this game compared to 1 like? I had so much trouble navigating here compared to other XB games.

Xenoblade 3: (DLC fixes most of this) literally the worst antagonists in the series; not a great party either (RIP Sena); Noahmio was kinda boring for half the runtime; in general the messages made by the game are not interesting to me and did not resonate like 2 did; the class system ruins every good change made to battle system; chain attacks suck, and not just their music - they're worse than 1's; weakest soundtrack (same issue as Brandish 2, where it starts strong but as a whole is eh); probably the only XB game that I do not ever intend to actually finish, because it's such a slog somehow.

The only sin Kid Icarus Uprising committed was its control scheme. Might have been justified, but it sucks.

Ace Attorney has too many issues to count <3 I'll just mention that: The series as a whole sucks at guiding you when you get stuck Big Top sucks, we all know this AA6 ruined Athena and Apollo and has questionable setting\design choices AAI2's last case dragged on for too long even if it was hype

13 Sentinels: Aegis Rim's battle system as a whole really sucks if we're being honest, and nowhere is this shown off better than the final battle.

VA-11 Hall-A often goes overboard with humor, but its worst offense is the optional bullet hell minigame they put in

[weareuniqueandimportant]

EVERY SINGLE TIME YOU'RE CLOSER TO YOURSELF... THAT IS THOSE IN POWER THE VILLAINS THAT PRETEND TO CARE THAT DISLIKE YOU ONLY FURTHER... THEY COULDN'T CONTROL YOU LIKE THE OTHERS... THIS IS WHAT YOU'RE PUNISHED FOR... PUNISHMENT MOST EVIL BEING STORED FOR THE MOST TRAUMATIZED... HELP ONLY A GASSLIGHT TO JUSTIFY WITH THE ABUSE ALL THOSE PEOPLE FACED... NOBODY DEEP IN THE ABYSS EVER NEEDED TO BE SAVED OR CHANGED. THE UNBIGOT THEY ONLY NEEDED TO BE ACCEPTED... EVERYTHING THEY HAVE DONE SEEN FROM THEIR VIEW AND ACCEPTED AS ABSOLUTE... NO PERSON IS JUSTIFIED TO BE TAKEN AWAY... THERE... THOSE OF POWER WHEN THEIR FAVORITE MACHINES THE POLICE THEY'RE ALL THE SAME... THEIR ABSOLUTE POWER TOO MUCH TO BE TAKEN AWAY... AS THEY GUIDE JUDGEMENT ON THOSE DEEMED DANGEROUS TO THEIR CAPITALISM... THEIR MACHINES BLIND JUSTIFYING AND REPEATING THEIR LAW... MACHINES BLIND THAT WILL NEVER BREAK FREE... ABANDONED POOR PEOPLE... THAT WILL NEVER HAVE SUPPORT OF ANY KIND. SUPPORT ONLY A WAY TO GASSLIGHT ALL ABUSE ON THEM IS WAS AND ALWAYS WILL BE JUSTIFIED...

[felassan]

John Epler in the BioWare Discord (August 7th) -

John: "You can disable/enable helmets for cutscenes or at all times." --- User: "Will we be able to collect codex entries again?" John: "Absolutely. Codex entries are part of the series' DNA - plus, they're really fun to write." --- User: "Are there long curly hair options?" John: "There are!" --- User: "Are sub-classes locked to the faction you’re in?" John: "No. They're themed towards factions, but you can choose a specialization from a separate faction than your own." --- User: "Will subtitles from companions be on screen with their icons lit up like in Inquisition?" John: "Subtitles will appear center-screen and have the speaker name attached. So you'll see who's saying what." --- User: "Regarding the cutscenes findable in the game, will a gallery be available for re-watch?" John: "Not at present, no. Since our cutscenes are (almost all) real-time in-engine, this would be nearly impossible with our tech."

[character limit text break!]

User: "What are the chances for a third World of Thedas volume after The Veilguard's release?" John: "I can't comment on specific plans, but World of Thedas is close to my heart and I'd love to do more in general with our ancillary books and products, once we're able to come up for air from the game." --- User: "Can we edit our race during character creator freely or are we locked in by choosing race first like in inquisition?" John: "Lineage informs a number of options after that choice - you can always go back in CC and change it, but it's the first decision you will make and changing it will reset the following decisions." --- User: "I did have a follow-up on lineage - do the other lineages/races also have background choices the way elves do with city/dalish? CAN we play a qunari raised within the Qun?" John: "So a couple of things, just to be super clear on this. There is no 'city elf/dalish elf' switch (for example) that you can pick in character creator. Each lineage can be each faction, though, and that will provide a baseline for your character you can further refine through role playing. For Elves, as an example - Veil Jumper elves tend to be more 'Dalish' to reflect that background, while Shadow Dragon elves tend to have a background that reflects being an Elf in Minrathous. Other factions have their own nuance. Importantly, those things tend to be more focused on how you relate to that faction, while leaving more general 'Elf' topics as something you have more freedom with. Or, TLDR - while choices at CC define some baselines around your character, we like to give you the opportunity to build your character's background and beliefs through in-game RP. Hopefully all that makes sense." User: "That does, and is right in line with what Corinne said during the Q&A! I was asking whether we would see the same background variety in the non-elven lineages." John: "Yes! Sorry, that's what I was trying to answer - there will be plenty of opportunities to RP who you are/were as the other lineages as well."

[character limit text break!]

User: "are there companions gifts again" John: "Isn't the gift of your presence enough? More seriously, though - you very well might find things in the world that certain companions would appreciate!" --- John: "Rook is generally assumed to be anywhere from late 20s to late 40s, but ultimately we don't give Rook a specific age. You can RP them to be however old you want." --- User: "will conversations be zoomed in like a cutscene type or zoomed out like in DAI?" John: "While we do have some 'lighter' conversations for specific types of content, they use a more traditional over-the-shoulder cinematic camera. I created the simple conversation system in DAI and while it did what we needed it to do, we heard the feedback on the camera loud and clear." --- User: "The darkspawn look fairly different in veilguard. Is ot a simple redisgn like the demons or is it due to them being enhanced by red lyrium?" John: "I'm not going to tell you WHAT it is that's making them look different, since that's a spoiler, but it's more than just a visual redesign." --- John: "Need and inspiration, mostly. We can't bring in every single animal out there, especially since we want the ones we DO put in the game to be at the right level of quality. So we pick the ones that we know make sense in the spaces we're building, and also it's based on what the team wants to do. If someone is incredibly passionate about bringing in a specific creature, it's something we want to give opportunities to pursue wherever possible. As to the general ecology of Thedas - there are absolutely similarities, but it's not 1:1. A world where megafauna still exist as apex predators (dragons) is going to have some pretty significant impact on what else exists." --- User: "does the lighthouse have a kitchen, can we eat and drink? what sort interactables are there at the home base" John: "Not going to get into specifics on interactables, but there is more to do in the Lighthouse than conversations with companions. The Lighthouse does have a kitchen, and your companions acknowledge it/use it both narratively and ambiently. Some maybe better than others." John: "A little more expansion on this - we want the Lighthouse to feel like a 'real space' as much as possible. That means making it a space that makes sense and, eventually, feels like home to you and your team. It also means spending a little extra time on how the companions (and Rook) use and exist in the space. At this point we've made a LOT of personal hub spaces in DA and ME, and we've learned a lot from doing so." --- John: "It wouldn't be a DA game if we didn't have some returning characters. We've shown some of the more obvious ones, and hinted at others, but we want to keep some surprises for launch."

[source: the official BioWare Discord]

[ctrlchar]

HIII can you do something like were your giving Johnnie head while he’s playing video games with his friends or streaming on twitch or filming a video and he’s trying so hard not to moan and he gets so fed up he fucks you or something idk 🗣️👍

giving Johnnie head under his desk headcannons

a/n: I loveeee this idea sm thank you for the request!!

cw: kinda public? it’s through a screen but you get the point,somewhat rough,

he’d be sooo pissed off but at the same time he’d love it sm

it would be whenever he’s live,leaving you to your own thoughts as he played a series of games with his friends on twitch

every once and while whenever he got a break from the game he would talk to you and give you a little kiss if you were still in the room with him

of course this wasn’t enough

you had considered humping his pillow on his bed but you figured it might be too obvious if he repeatedly been looking over at his bed

eventually Johnnie had decided to pull away from his chair to go and grab him a water bottle which was on his desk

seeing this window of opportunity, you crept under his desk sitting on your knees as he gave you a confused look which was just barely out of frame of the camera

you began to unbuckle his pants,making it abundantly clear as to what your intentions were

you took his for now soft cock out of the restraints of Johnnie’s jeans and began to slowly stroke it

Johnnie on the other hand was trying to put all his attention on the game which had just begun a new round rather then the sensation between his legs

you had begun to take the tip into your mouth,his hips bucking up slightly which to anyone watching looked like he had just been readjusting in his seat

every time you would take more of him into your mouth he would curse out a profane word with a “cough” at the end

to the viewers it looked as if he had simply gotten pissed off at his game but to you that was obviously not the case

his knuckles were turning white from how hard he was gripping his mouse to keep his composure

your tounge danced against the underside of his cock driving him absolutely batshit insane

after a couple more minutes of you teasing his cock his friends conveniently decided they had played enough games for the night and decided to end their streams making Johnnie follow suit

“alright guys” he says his voice cracking a bit at the end “i’ll see you all later” he says before quickly ending the stream

as soon as he ends the stream you remove your mouth from his cock going back to slowly stroking it

you giggle softly and look up at him as he runs his hand through his hair before he pulls himself from behind his desk

“what the fuck was that” he asks seeming upset however you both knew he wasn’t genuinely upset at all

however he was to a degree pissed

“i was bored” you pout “and you wouldn’t give me any attention”

i mean all you wanted was his attention so that’s exactly what you got

he proceeded to bend you over his bed using the spit off of his cock mixed with your own slick as lube as he pushed himself deep inside you bottoming out in one push

“tryna get me fuckin’ caught up huh?” he says thrusting into you at a even faster rate then before,the obscene sound of his hips meeting yours filling the room

“thinkin’ you can tease me and get away with it” he grunts out to which you whine due to all the pleasure coursing through your body

you couldn’t even form sentences because of how good he was making you feel. all you could do was moan out a string of apologies as his hands move to your hips

“i don’t think you’re really sorry” he admits “if you were sorry you wouldn’t be creaming all over my fucking dick” he says punctuating the last two words with a thrust.

looking down to see what he was talking about you noticed the white ring that had formed around the base of his cock

he begins to slow down his thrusts giving you a minute to talk before going back to his relentless pace

“mhm I promise m’ sorry” is all you could cry out with tears forming at your eyes

his ring clad hands grip onto your hips which was sure to leave bruises the next day but you didn’t care

if anything you wanted him to leave bruises you wanted to have a constant reminder of just how good Johnnie fucks you

mutually, he wanted the bruises to stay as a reminder to not tease him like that again

his grunts turn into moans as he approaches his long awaited orgasm

he could tell you were getting close as well from the way your back was arching off the bed to the way your moans picked up and got even higher then before

with his tone softening up he moves one of his hands to your hair petting it softly “come on baby cum for me” which was all you needed to hear

your nails scratched down his back as you came hard,almost on the verge of shaking had Johnnie not been holding onto you

with a couple more thrusts Johnnie had came inside you,as he slowly pulled out watching his cum drip out of you

after a couple minutes of you guys laying together on his bed you look up at him from where you had been laying on his chest

“you’re not actually mad are you?” you ask looking up at him

his face softens “of course not baby” he says leaving a light kiss on your head as he held you close in his arms

[chateaaa]

☆ Hype Boy - Blue lock various

synopsis: Blue lock characters with a s/o who is a kpop idol

pairing: Bachira Meguru, Rin Itoshi, Reo Mikage x fem! reader

warnings: fluff!! swearing(?)

Bachira Meguru

- OH. MY. FUCKING. GOSH.

- HE WOULD LITERALLY BE SIMPING SOOO MUCH

- He be like 'how did i bag this girl 😍'

- He would always support your concerts and fan events, and you would support him in his soccer events

- He would grin and be sooo happy when he sees you watching his game, he would also dedicate his passes and goals to you, when bachira scores a goal he IMMEDIETLY looks for you in the crowd, grinning like a love sick idiot

- If bachira's fame rises up, there might be some rumours about you both and he cleared those rumours up by posting on his ig acc pictures of you on his pov and captioning how lucky he is to have THE L/N Y/N AS HIS GIRLFRIEND!

- He would have self doubts when he sees comments about you being shipped with other idols but he forgot about them when you gave him headpats :3

Rin Itoshi

- NOW THIS GUY

- He would literally be a lowkey fan, BUT WOULD BE THE TYPE TO BE PART OF THE TOP 0.05 LISTENERS ON SPOTIFY, this man is streaming on all of his devices when a new album gets released

- would also attend your concerts BUT THE TWIST?? yeah, he attends your concert BUT HE STAYS AT THE BACKSTAGE

- your manager and groupmates absolutely adore rin!! he would literally get vip tickets and not use them because he wants to stay backstage where he watches you shine like a star the guards already know who he is so he just goes inside lol

- Rin would be the type who's very friendly with your groupmates!! he's kinda like the second manager of your group (lol)

- Rin as a boyfriend would be the type to have your official photocard which he prayed to the gods to pull on the back of his phone

- Rin would get super defensive when his teammates ask why does rin have a kpop girl on the back of his phone?? bachira thinks rin doesn't listen to music

- Rin would blush soooo red when he sees you, watching his games AS THE L/N Y/N, without any disguise or whatsoever, he would literally get mad at his teammates when bringing up how HE BAGGED YOU

Reo Mikage

- He would literally be your fashion designer !!

- would buy at least 20 albums when merch gets released AND WOULD GET SO MAD WHEN HE DID NOT PULL YOUR PHOTOCARD

- Reo would be the type to flex you to his teammates kinda like "yeah, the Y/N is MY girlfriend"

- Nagi would get soo tired to Reo's rambles about how lucky he is to be yours

- Reo would SPOIL YOU

- designer bag? you name it. Oh a new lippie product? what brand, he got you.

- Would suprise you with flower knows!! (i really want their makeup BAHAHA I HAD TO INCLUDE THIS)

- HE'S DOWNBAD FOR YOU. NO JOKE

- he would get so mad when he sees you getting shipped with idols, he would be very jealous, He would be so proud to be yours, but just like bachira he would be very insecure but he would be good to go when you give him some kisses <3

a/n: inspired by newjeans! stan minji guys! this is kinda a extension of my series called super shy, go check that out at this link

I hope you all like this! i might make part two, or i might upload chapter 1 here at tumblr!! credits for the divider i used!!!

[dalishious]

A BioWare Guide on How to Murder a Fanbase

I have been a Dragon Age super-fan for almost fourteen years, now. I have played every game, with every DLC. I have read every novel, lore book, and every comic — yes, even the terrible ones that are better off forgotten. I have seen the anime film, the animated series, and the web mini-series. I have enjoyed all of these pieces of the franchise over and over, more times than I can count. So, make no mistake: the negativity you’re about to hear comes from a place of love for this fantasy world, developed by many creative people over the years. I would love nothing more than to see the resurrection of passion in the Dragon Age fandom again. But the unfortunate truth is, that resurrection is only needed because BioWare took the fandom out back and shot it in the first place.

In December 2018, three years after the release of Dragon Age: Inquisition’s Trespasser epilogue DLC, BioWare first announced the then-untitled next Dragon Age game with a teaser trailer. At this point, most fans were anticipating this would mean within the next couple years, we would see the game. This assumption was based on the fact that Dragon Age: Inquisition was first announced in 2012, and released in 2014, with an extra year of development added last minute.

There have been dribbles of extra content since then, adding to the franchise. This was enough to keep some fans still breathing and interested. 2020’s Dragon Age: Tevinter Nights was a lovely anthology. 2020’s Dragon Age: Blue Wraith and 2021’s Dark Fortress were wonderful comics tying up the story started in Knight Errant. And 2022’s Dragon Age: Absolution was a well-animated series with an interesting cast of characters and story. But all these still left the fandom with a major question: What was going on with the next game? It was untypical of BioWare to be so secretive, in comparison to how they handled sharing information of the past games in the franchise. The only form of updates fans still have to go on is mostly just concept art and short stories, hinting that something must be in production. But why was the wait so long?

In 2015, the first version of the next Dragon Age began with a clear vision, clear scope of practice, and a reportedly happy developer team. Most gloriously in my book, there was no multi-player… but this did not align with the Electronic Arts typical money-mad schemes. EA’s push for “games as a service” meant they wanted to monetize all their games as much as possible, and therefore, they wanted them to be a live service — as Anthem demonstrated, that meant sacrificing things that are staples of good RPGs, like narrative and character choice. So in 2017, version one of the next Dragon Age was scrapped and replaced. This new version would have, in total or to at least some degree, an online portion of play.

There is one part of Schreier’s article, “The Past and Present of Dragon Age 4,” that really sticks out to me, regarding this:

“One person close to the game told me this week that Morrison’s critical path, or main story, would be designed for single-player and that goal of the multiplayer elements would be to keep people engaged so that they would actually stick with post-launch content.”

The idea of splitting up components of a game into single-player and multi-player is a terrible idea, because it means that there would be a large bulk of content only accessible through online gaming; something many fans, like myself, are repulsed by. Even if I did enjoy it, I spent most of my life growing up with either no internet or shoddy internet incapable of playing online games. I know many rural people who are still in that position, losing more and more of their favourite gaming pastimes because they are locked out of the ability to play them. It is a disservice to hide content behind a wall like this, especially in a world that is so lore-heavy like Dragon Age. The news of multi-player in Dragon Age understandably upset many, and this is when I first noticed a large drop off in excitement over the next game.

However, in 2021, the failure of Anthem (multi-player) and success of Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order (single-player) led the executives at EA to bend to the wishes of BioWare leadership and allow them to go back to the drawing board yet again on the next Dragon Age. This meant removing all multi-player content!

While I am very happy that there will reportedly be no multi-player in Dragon Age: Dreadwolf, I can’t help but feel bitter and a little disgusted over the ridiculous development time spent on something no one but EA wanted in the first place. If it weren’t for this foolishness, Dragon Age: Dreadwolf would be in our hands right now. Instead, it’s been in development hell for nearly nine years and counting. Nine years is a long time to expect fans to carry a torch for you through radio silence, but it’s no wonder BioWare has shared barely anything about the next game; it’s been in flux for so long, they likely haven’t had anything concrete to show.

BioWare hurt its reputation even more when the news broke that the studio very suddenly laid off 50 people who were working on Dragon Age: Dreadwolf. This is pretty damning on its own, but BioWare took it a step further. Former developer Jon Renish shared a statement revealing that the studio was only willing to offer laid-off employees two weeks of severance per year of service, and denied health benefits. The denial of health benefits in particular is a pretty wild move for a studio with a reputation for “stress casualties”. The latest news on this is that BioWare has still so far refused to negotiate better severance packages, leading to a lawsuit. The lawsuit originally had 15 former employees, but this dropped due to the fear of not being able to afford to pay their bills. So now, while EA sits on $400 million net income, the laid-off employees are struggling to buy holiday presents for their children. These horrid business practices are not to be ignored when accounting for a lack of faith in a studio. What kind of monsters reward workers who make your games special with vaguely reasoned lay-offs?

The latest news on the Dragon Age: Dreadwolf front from BioWare came early this month, December 2023, with a trailer… announcing a trailer that will come next summer… that will announce the release of the game. Supposedly. Maybe. We’ll see. But by this time, BioWare is something of a laughing stock of their own fandom. Reactions to the video released with a pretty map graphic and a few rendered locations were, from what I personally observed, mostly sardonic in nature. People have commented on the vapourware nature of the game, and like all vapourware, that leads to disintegrating trust.

Despite all this, people like Mary Kirby, (one of the veteran Dragon Age writers who was a victim of the layoffs,) said, “it’s bittersweet that Dreadwolf is my last DA game, but I still hope you all love it as much as I do,” encouraging fans to still support the game when it eventually is released. But after every misstep BioWare has taken, that’s a tough sell now. Fans are finicky, RPG fans more so than others, one could argue. We have our favourites, and many of us stick to those favourites for life over our appreciation for the artistry — but that relationship between studio and fan should go both ways. EA and BioWare has betrayed that relationship, and it will take a hell of a lot to build it back up again, now.

[This piece is also available on Medium!]

[suhkusa]

EGOIST 22. FINAL.

PAIRING. Atsumu Miya x f!Reader

CW. timeskip, angst, fluff, little surprise at the end

A/N. this is it!!! thank you for those who have stuck around for the past year, i'm sorry it's taken me this long but i hope it was somewhat worth the wait!!! i enjoyed reading your comments and asks about the series sm. this series challenged me in many ways, but helped me get back into writing. i love u all sm and thank u again <3 ps if u have any questions or want me to answer some “whats if”s feel free to send an ask!!!

-> MASTERLIST.

3 YEARS LATER.

Atsumu is absolutely hyped. 

He’s finally here, the real big stage. The Olympics. 

Never in a million years would he have thought that he’d get here alongside many other amazing volleyball players. He’s snapped out of his thoughts when he hears his name being announced, leaving from under the stadium seats to run out to the main courts, allowing himself to flourish in the loud cheers. 

Atsumu was on his A-Game, he didn’t care who he’d have to go against, he was determined to win. 

The rest of his team came out shortly after Atsumu, the group of them huddled up near the coaches as the other team was loudly called out. The first match they had was against the U.S, and something about that sounded familiar, though he didn’t bother to think too much into it. He squinted as he listened to his coach yap about doing good out there and not let them get under their skins.

After the other team is lined up, the Japan team is lined up in front of them. There’s some commencement announcements that are being played on the speaker, allowing Atsumu some time to enter the zone. 

When the whistle blows, everyone takes their positions. Atsumu is ready. 

The match starts with the sound of a buzzer. And everyone is on the move. 

The U.S’ team was definitely a challenge for Japan’s, but after the rigorous training they’ve been put through, the win was more than easy to steal, the match ending at the 4th set with Japan named the winners.

Everyone cheered as they celebrated their victory in the main court. As Atsumu’s eyes scanned through the U.S’ team, his eye was caught on a woman who stood by the coaches.

His gaze went right past her at first until he backtracked and looked again, this time more intently. 

The adrenaline running through his body stopped almost entirely as he froze in place.

It couldn’t be, could it?

–––

It’s hard to celebrate along with the rest of the team when his heart and his mind caught on to you. 

After going to multiple therapy sessions, he’d finally found it in him to let you go. From his mind at least, not so much his heart. 

But it felt like all the progress he was so proud of himself for making just washed down the drain. Just at the mere sight of you. Did you see him? Were you proud of him even though you were on the opposite side of the court? Were you involved with any of those men on that team? How have you been? You cut your hair? Seeing you let the many thoughts that he thought he had locked away loose. Though, he wasn’t sure if he was so mad at the occurrence.

Perhaps it was fate’s cruel way of reminding him that his past never really goes away. But even so, he knows better than to go out of his way to find you. The last time he talked to you was a hard time in his life, and you made it more than clear that you wanted nothing to do with him.

“You coming, Miya?” his teammate, Sakusa Kiyoomi, called out to him. The two had been chosen from the MSBY team together, alongside Hinata and Bokuto. 

“What, where?” Atsumu replies, a confused look on his face as his eyes meet Sakusa’s.

“The guys wanted to go to the Olympic Conference party, it’s at the facility down the street,” Sakusa is applying hand sanitizer to his hands as he continues, “Participants in the Olympics are all invited, but you don’t have to if you’re tired,”

Atsumu gets up, stretching his limbs out before finally deciding on going. “Sure, I wouldn’t mind getting some fresh air,”

The two of them join the others as they make their way into the shuttle that’d take them to the Olympic Conference. 

The place is bigger than it looks on the outside. He sees people from the swimming events and even the ice-skating events. The amount of people nearly overwhelms him, which is surprising for Atsumu Miya since he usually enjoys parties. He wasn’t quite sure where to go so he opted to follow Sakusa around, joining him in getting a drink by the bar.

“Be sure not to drink too much,” Sakusa turns to the other man as they both down the drinks they were given. Atsumu gives him a funny look, “I’m serious, we still have matches to play,”

“Obviously, I’m not stupid,” Atsumu rolls his eyes, “Just needed something to take the edge off, y’know?”

Sakusa raises his eyebrows in turn before gesturing to Atsumu that he was gonna go. “Oh, I’ll follow,” Atsumu replies.

“You sure?” Sakusa looks back at him.

Atsumu confused, an eyebrow raising in response, “What? Yeah, I don’t have anywhere else to go, Shoyo and Kou already went their own ways,”

“Ookay, then,”

Atsumu is surprised as he follows Sakusa through the crowd. He wonders where they’re going as they leave the big crowd and make their way to the smaller party rooms. 

“Kiyoomi!” a voice calls, and it causes him to freeze in his steps.

The other man walks a bit further up, leaving Atsumu behind. Atsumu watches as a smaller figure embraces Sakusa in a hug. 

“It’s been a while, Y/N,” 

The sound of your name was almost foreign. Genuinely, it feels like he hasn’t heard that name in a millenia. He isn’t sure if he should go or keep standing there like an idiot, but fate chooses for him as you let go of the black-haired man and catch a glimpse of Atsumu behind him.

This is what Sakusa was talking about.

“Oh,” falls from your lips, “Atsumu? Is that you?”

He feels almost faint at the sound of his name coming from your mouth, your voice. His response comes out on his own.

“Y-Yeah, it’s been a while, huh?” He curses himself for the tenseness of his words. 

You give him a smile, saying something to Sakusa that he can’t quite interpret before you walk closer to him. Were you coming up to him or walking past him? His mind turns to goo as you’re a breath away. 

“Did you want to come outside with me? It’s a little hot,”

It wasn’t that hot, it was actually somewhat cold, but Atsumu nodded and followed your lead. He doesn’t want to say too much, he’s scared. He’s scared if he were to say the wrong thing, he’d wake up from this dream.

Atsumu’s getting deja vu as you lead him through the big crowd and through the double doors. 

The two of you stand beside each other, letting the cool air blow past. It’s silent aside from the cars that drive by, and the distant music coming from inside. 

Atsumu is getting anxious with every passing second, he can’t stop himself from speaking. 

“How have you been?” He's thankful the words that escape are normal and not created off the impulsive thoughts he had earlier. 

He hears you take a deep breath before you respond, “I’ve been good, like actually. It’s really nice in California,”

You sound genuine and it makes him a little less tense.

“At first it was hard, since I only understood a bit of English, but I guess Duolingo really helps you out,” you laugh, “But I’ve met so many people, a lot of celebrities especially since they come to the games sometimes,”

“That’s good, Y/N,” Atsumu gives. He’s not sure what else to say. 

There’s a hesitant look in your eyes, “How… how have you been?”

“I’ve been good, too. My brother recommended me to his therapist so I did that for a while,” your eyes widened in surprise at that. 

“That’s good, Atsumu,”

He nods, “Yeah. Other than that, it’s been the same old, just playing volleyball,”

The two of you sit in another round of silence.

He’s surprised when you’re the one who brings up the subject he’s been dying to know.

“Have you been seeing anyone else?” your eyes find a place in the opposite direction of him.

“No, not at all. Not since, well, you know,” he beats himself up mentally for the way he worded that. Was that necessary? “And you?”

“Nope, I’ve been too busy, but I’d be lying if I said I’ve been celibate while here,” you let out a breathy laugh. “Party culture is huge in California,”

Your words prick a little at Atsumu’s heart, but who was he to judge?

“That’s cool,” a faux laugh escapes his mouth.

“I’m sorry,” your words caught him off guard, “I can’t lie to you, I have your name blocked on everything, so I didn’t know you were on the Japan National Team, but I’m proud of you,”

“It was definitely a shock to see your face from across the court,” you continue. “I hate to bring up the past, but I’m sorry for how harsh I was that night,”

“It’s fine, it was my fault,” Atsumu smiles down at you.

“Time away allowed me to really get in tune with my emotions and thoughts, and I finally think I was able to really forgive you. I mean not that it matters, I just think seeing you made me feel nostalgic,”

He laughs, “No, I get it. I feel similar,”

“To be honest, I wasn’t planning on seeing or talking to you at all during my time here. I was hoping we just wouldn’t cross paths, but I’m glad we did talk. Genuinely,”

“Same, Y/N. I’ve been thinking about you since I saw you on the court, and it was really scary considering I haven’t thought about you that much since years ago. But talking to you really helped, and I think maybe I finally got the closure my therapist was talking about,”

You share a small smile, “That’s good,”

The wind blows a bit harsher, the passage of time didn’t really click with Atsumu until now.

“You want to head inside?” he holds an arm out, which you hook onto.

“Sure,”

The rest of the Japan team are huddled in their own little group when the two of you approach them. Shot glasses are shoved into your hands before you can rebuttal. 

“I really shouldn’t–” Atsumu pushes. 

“Just do it, Tsum-Tsum,” Bokuto smiles.

Cheers, echoes through the air as the lot of you raise your glasses and down the hard liquor.

“I’m gonna find a seat just in case I collapse,” you whisper into his ear. He chuckles to himself when he remembers how much of a lightweight you are.

“I’ll come with,”

He’s surprised how quick you are to start yapping. Laughing as you go on and on about your ventures in California. It’s interesting though. The states made you glow and have definitely changed your demeanor. 

“I miss home, though,” you whine, “But I’m glad I’m coming home soon,”

Your words cause a brow of his to rise, “Soon?”

“Did Omi not tell you?” you mumble, there’s a confused-worried look on your face, “I’m coming back to Japan after the Olympics,”

“What?”

Your eyes widen, “W-Why? Should I not?”

“NO- I mean no, that’s great news,”

He can see you visibly settle down at his words. The two of your bodies melt into the couch as the time passes. He’s looking around, watching the other party goers have their own fun. Your breath falls into harmony with his own. 

The news you just dropped on him was definitely a shocker. He wasn’t quite sure how to process it.

Would you be coming back to MSBY? Probably not, huh? Maybe a nearby team? Maybe he should stop getting ahead of himself. He looks down at you, your eyes are dozing off. 

“Atsumu,” your voice is small as it calls out for him.

“Yeah?”

“Do you still like me?”

FORGIVE OR FORGET

© all writings belongs to suhkusa 2024. do not repost or change.

[alltheirdamn]

Killing Me Softly | (Joel x teacher!f!reader)

Chap. 10 Home

Summary: How bittersweet it is to come home. Rating: 18+ Explicit Word Count: 8.6k Warnings: NONE!!!! Find out for yourselves xoxo A/N: If you made it this far, thank you. This obviously isn't the absolute END, there will be an epilogue to come... but I still want to thank each and every one of you. This series has such a special place inside my heart, and I will be forever grateful for the love and support you all have given. All the kisses and hugs and love to you all. (I also realize there are going to be a few questions left unanswered, but I promise it'll be resolved in the epilogue) * And once again, I'm the most thankful to @loonmartell for helping me create the most beautiful story. Sending you all my love, sweet pea <3 *

Masterlist | Ko-Fi

You most definitely had a concussion—which was not ideal when you were behind the wheel of a moving vehicle. Not only were you trying to subdue the memories still filtering through your mind, but you were also trying to navigate the roads with blurred vision. Streetlights that had once been unfamiliar slowly morphed into a memorized path, leading you right back to the place you once called home. Sarah had guided you home just months ago after a soccer game, but this was different. This was a reawakening, a thousand tiny moments rising from their endless slumber. Each turn of the wheel and stopsign guided you back to the one person your heart cried out for… Joel. 

If only your brain and heart could get on the same page. While your heart ached for Joel in ways you hadn’t felt in months, your mind still clung to the anger you associated with him over the last several months. You couldn’t just stop loving him, but you didn’t know how to stop hating him at the same time. 

The final turn into his neighborhood was coming up fast, yet your speed came to a crawl. It hadn’t even occurred to you that he could have moved on. Half a year was enough time for Joel to move on, to find another woman, to be happy without you. You experienced the exact opposite: you couldn’t move on, didn’t find another man, and were far from happy. Seeing him again was probably a mistake, but how would you move on now that you knew everything?

The nausea was back in full force as you pulled up to Joel’s home, his truck parked crooked in the driveway. This was your home once upon a time. Yeah, you were going to be sick again. Wrenching the door open, you leaned out of your car and dry-heaved. Nothing came up, which you were thankful for. You needed a strong stomach and a clear mind for whatever would come. The ground beneath your feet became distorted as you walked the path up his front yard. You took a moment to shake away the double-vision, your mind clouding around the edges. It was not the time to lose your grip on reality. 

The worn wood of Joel’s front door taunted you, your hand hovering over the center as you debated knocking. All it would take is a quick rap of your knuckles, and you’d see him again. Before you could sabotage yourself, your knuckles tapped against the door. 

“Comin’!” 

The sound of Joel’s voice in the distance electrified your nerves. He was right there. Any moment, he’d open the door and—.

The door cracked open, and you stared up into the familiar brown eyes that plagued every memory overlapping inside your mind. Joel stood motionless, his eyebrows slightly raised and lips parted. He looked at you as if you were a ghost. You gave him the most pathetic smile, unsure of what to do with your hands or body. 

“Can I come in?” You blurted out. 

“Of course,” he said softly, opening the door wider. 

A simple step over the threshold, and you were home. 

You took a moment to let it all settle in: nothing had changed. The varnish was worn in certain places on the floor, the same as it had been when you lived here. Joel walked the same path daily: through the front door and to the right, directly into the kitchen. Sarah’s soccer bag hung on the staircase railing, a pair of her shoes strewn across the second step. 

“Is Sarah home?” You asked, your eyes still wandering around the downstairs of the house.

“No, she’s stayin’ with a friend this weekend,” he replied.

Joel shifted his weight, tearing your focus away from the house and back onto him. There was a look of confusion furrowing his brows together, and you realized you hadn’t entirely explained yourself to him yet.

“Listen, I know I’m here unannounced,” you started. “I, uh, I haven’t touched the book since you gave it back. Well, I didn’t until today. I found it again, and this slipped out.”

Digging through your purse, you pinched the Polaroid between your fingers and pulled it free. Joel hesitantly reached for it, his fingers avoiding touching yours as he held it between his hands. A small smile formed on his lips as he ran his thumb over the photo's edges. 

“This was from a campin’ trip we went on with Sarah,” he sighed. “Sarah had just taken a tumble in some mud, and I remember I couldn’t stop laughin’, and you were quick with a camera and snapped this photo.”

“I know.”

“I got a photo of you, too. I still got it hangin’ up somewhere—.”

Joel’s voice trailed off, his eyes drifting up to yours. He had been so wrapped up in reminiscing that he didn’t listen to what you said. 

“Do you still have the one of Sarah, too?” 

Joel’s eyes grew wide, swaying in place. 

“You remember?” He faltered.

“I remember everything, Joel.”

Not Mr. Miller. Joel. 

Joel opened and closed his mouth at least three times before finally just shaking his head. He took a step back, letting the picture fall to the ground. You glanced down at the Polaroid lying between your feet, the photo of Joel doubling in your vision. Your body moved on its own accord, your balance teetering as you stumbled a bit to the side. Joel quickly caught your weight, his hands firm around your arm. 

“Woah,” he exhaled. “Y’okay?”

“I might have a concussion,” you laughed absently. “Took a bit of a fall earlier and hit my head.”

Joel cursed under his breath and slipped an arm around your waist, guiding you toward the dining room. Sunlight bled through the window shades on the wall, and you squinted your eyes to avoid intensifying your headache. The kitchen was just as you had remembered: cluttered and homey. Piles of dishes were laid in a drying rack by the sink, the dark countertops void of dirt aside from a few crumbs from toast or a residual ring of condensation from a beer bottle.

Joel helped you into one of the dining room chairs, moving swiftly to get you a glass of water. You weren’t sure if he meant to do it, but he had sat you in your chair at the table, the one you had always chosen during any family meal with him and Sarah. You smoothed your hands over the table, digging your nails into the groves of the woodwork.

“Here,” Joel said, extending a glass to you. 

You muttered a soft thank you, taking a drink as he took a seat beside you—his seat. The silence between you both was louder than the ringing in your ears, and you couldn’t stand it any longer. 

“Say something,” you pleaded.

Joel leaned forward, resting his elbows on his thighs as he peered up at you through glassy eyes. You knew that look: the exhaustion, the sadness. You had worn it well the last several months, and clearly, so did Joel. The person you were six months ago would have loved seeing Joel look so disheveled, but not now. Not when the past was hanging in the balance, finally uncovered and real. 

“Does Bennett know you’re here?” Joel asked, his eyes rising to yours. 

“What?” You gaped. Out of all the things Joel could have said, he chose that?

“Tommy saw y’all together,” he huffed. 

You wracked your brain, remembering when Tommy could have seen you and Bennett together. The only time you had seen Bennett was after the…. Oh. 

“He asked to meet me after everything happened,” you explained. “He wanted to share his side of things. You left out a lot, Joel. There was so much you didn’t tell me, and I had to rely on Bennett to piece the rest back together.”

“Are you datin’ him again? ‘Cause if you are, just tell me, and I’ll—I’ll find a way to move on and let you be happy. I ain’t gonna get in the way of your happiness, even if that means it’s with him.”

There was no way to ignore the bitterness in his words, yet you stifled a laugh. 

“After everything that’s happened, you actually think I'd go back to him?” You questioned. 

“Christ, I don’t know,” Joel sighed, running a hand over the back of his neck. 

“Bennett’s married,” you stated. “You must not have seen his wedding band when you were beating the shit out of him.”

Joel was harrowingly silent, his eyes trained on the work boots covering his feet. All you ached for was some sort of reaction—some kind of response—and he gave nothing. Your expectations had been set so high for this moment, yet nothing was going as you hoped. 

“I need to ask you something, and I need you to be honest,” you said.

“Of course.” 

“Why didn’t you fight for me?” You whispered. “When everyone was making decisions for me, why didn’t you step in and fight back?”

“I tried,” he lamented. “Your family decided on everythin’, and I couldn’t step in.”

“Yes, you could have,” you pressed. 

You brushed your hand over the stumble on his jaw, lifting his face to meet yours. You saw it deep within the dark brown of his eyes: regret. 

“That’s not a good enough answer, Joel. No one fought for me,” you pressed. “I was alone in everything, and you should have been the one person standing up to them against everything they were choosing to do. You let Bennett come back into my life when you knew he had been horrible to me in the past. Why were you so willing to just let me go?”

Joel grabbed your free hand and brought it to his lips, pressing soft kisses into the center of your palm. It wasn’t till the first tear hit your fingers that you realized he was crying. Joel looked defeated, his face framed between one hand and your other pressed against his lips. Truly and utterly defeated. 

“I never wanted to let you go. Sayin’ that last goodbye to you while you were in the hospital was the hardest damn thing I’ve ever had to do, and I ain’t got no excuses for the choices I made. If I could go back and change everythin’, I would. I swear I would in a heartbeat. Losin’ you was the worst thing that’s ever happened to me, and I know I coulda done more. You deserved more. You deserved better, and I shoulda been the one there for you. Not Bennett. I know I ruined everything. Fuck, I—I really fucked it all up.”

“I hate you for what you did,” you said, lifting your hand to brush away his tears. “I hate you so much for hurting me.”

Joel only nodded, more tears streaming down his cheeks as he closed his eyes. You ran your thumb over his cheekbone, tracing the line of his beard as it dipped down to his jaw. Joel released a shaky breath, leaning into your touch. 

“There ain’t enough words to describe how sorry I am,” he mumbled into your hand. “I’m so fuckin’ sorry for hurtin’you, and I’ve been livin’ with that guilt for years. I just wanted you to be happy. Even if it wasn’t with me.”

“I was happy, Joel. With you. I loved you so much. So many memories are still unraveling in my head, but in each of them, I know I loved you.”

“I’m so sorry,” he cried softly. 

“I hate you, Joel. I hate you, but I can’t ignore the fact that I still love you. I love the life we built together and the memories we made with Sarah. I miss this house, and I miss this kitchen where we’d make breakfast together. I miss waking up beside you every day. I miss staying up late with you and annoying you about the books I was reading.” You took a deep breath, trying to slow yourself down. “I miss you, Joel. I don’t know how long it will take me to forgive you, but I—I really miss you.”

A choked sob escaped from Joel’s mouth, and he leaned his head back, your hands falling into your lap. You didn’t know what to do with yourself other than try not to throw up—because your body was still trying to desperately fight off the nausea rolling inside your stomach. Confessing feelings while also battling a minor concussion had not been your brightest idea, but you had braved through worse before. 

So many moments of silence passed before Joel finally glanced back at you, his lips twitching as he held back another round of tears. 

“Y’have no fuckin’ idea how much I miss you,” he confessed. “I’ve waited so long for the moment you’d remember everythin’. I tried to imagine what I’d do when y’got those memories back, and… fuck. I’m so sorry for everythin’ I did.”

You took his hands in yours, interlocking your fingers around his. It was your turn to start crying, and you felt the tears fall against your fingers.

“What did you do?” You asked. “When you imagined me getting my memories back, what did you do?”

“I imagined kissin’ you and tellin’ you how much I loved you,” he said.

“What’s taking you so long?”

In one fluid motion, Joel sent his chair flying backward as he dropped to his knees before you. Reaching up, he cupped your face between his large hands, his mouth hovering over yours. You weren’t sure what he was waiting for, but you gave him a simple nod, and that was enough. 

The first kiss was delicate— cautionary. He wavered between losing control and reluctance, the path of his lips moving fluidly like they had always known their place against yours. It was so much different than the first kiss months ago, where then it had been about discovery and excitement, each draw of your bodies together new and profound. But now, it was a kiss to rekindle a flame that had dwindled out, a resurgence of emotions neither of you had experienced in years. Yes, those few months together had been exhilarating, but you had barely scratched the surface of where the bounds of your love lay.

You were the first to cave into the chaos, deepening the kiss until Joel’s movements determined your breathing. When his head moved, so did yours. When his tongue overlapped yours, you repeated the motion. Over and over until you lost the ability to identify where you started and he ended. 

“Joel,” you panted, his lips still crushed against yours.

“Hmm?”

He was too enamored with you to respond coherently. You raked your nails over his scalp, refamiliarizing yourself with the softness of his curls. Joel groaned into your open mouth, his tongue dancing with yours once more.

“Joel,” you muttered again. 

“Yeah, baby?” He exhaled, finally breaking away from your swollen lips. 

You pressed your forehead against his, your eyelashes fluttering up at him. Joel looked down at you with blown pupils, the brown color in his eyes nearly black as he waited for your response.

“I think you forgot to say something,” you whispered, laughing softly. 

“Don’t think I forgot at all, baby. Just wanted to savor you a minute,” Joel grinned. “I love you. God, I love you so fuckin’ much. Ain’t ever gonna stop tellin’ you how much I love you.”

“I still don’t forgive you for everything,” you reminded him. “It’ll take me some time to heal from all of this fully.”

Joel brushed his nose against yours, his lips tugging upward.

“I got all the time in the world, baby. Gonna spend every damn day provin’ myself to you. I’m already on my knees for you. Anythin’ you ask of me, I’ll give it to you.”

Breathless. You were breathless. This was the man you should have spent your life with, the man you should have married. Joel saw his faults, admitted them, and submitted himself to you out of love and dedication. Anger was still to be had, but it could wait. 

“Anything?” You echoed.

He trailed his fingers up your bare legs, his hands teasing their way higher. You mindlessly decided on a dress earlier and thanked yourself for it. A shiver ran over your skin as he pushed the hem of the dress further up, his head bending down to kiss a path over your knee and up your thigh. 

“God, I missed you so damn much, baby,” Joel groaned, his tongue gliding over your pebbled skin.

“Show me how much you missed me.”

Joel lay his head in your lap, his puppy dog eyes staring up at you with a glimmer of desire. You knew that look; you had seen it so many times before in his eyes. Too many memories had taken their place in your mind to ever let you forget the way Joel looked at you when he wanted you. 

“Can I?” He asked, brushing his hand between your thighs.

Your body responded easily to his touch, a familiarity you once knew. The friction of your underwear against your clit was growing uncomfortable as it throbbed at the vibration of his voice. Like a moth to a flame, you were drawn to Joel in more ways than one. You craved to be touched, to be pulled apart and put back together in the ways only he knew. 

Joel tugged your ass down to the edge of the chair, flicking the hem of your dress into your lap. You tried working your fingers over the band of your underwear, but Joel beat you to it with a swiftness that left you dizzy. Well, dizzier than you already were. 

Joel hoisted your calves over his shoulders, settling himself between your thighs. Flashes of memories in this exact position came flooding in; this was familiar. Familiarity beyond compare and something you desperately yearned for. 

“Please,” you whined.

He wasted no time giving in to your plea. Joel licked a thick stripe up your slick entrance, rewarding himself with a soft moan leaving your lips. You unknowingly lied months ago when you said no one had tasted you like this… Joel had. He thrived on giving you pleasure like this, doing this countless times before. He knew your body better than anyone else, and your body cried out for him in ways you could not control. 

He devoured you like he sought to destroy the years of distance that had passed between you. Every flick of his tongue against the apex of your sex, every gravelly moan from his throat—it all revolved around that undeniable truth that you both were meant to be together. That’s how it should have always been. 

“More,” you begged.

Words failed you, yet Joel knew what you needed. His tongue plunged inside of you, curling ever so slightly. The pleasure inside you burned slowly, igniting a warmth through your veins. You throbbed against his mouth, his breath hot on your skin as he latched onto your clit. You arched against him, your hand snaking down to latch onto the hair on his scalp. Joel let out a prideful moan, working his tongue faster against your aching bud. 

“There… right there…” You whimpered.

Joel gave the softest nod as if to say I know, driving you closer to the edge. A hitch of your breath, another flick of his tongue, repeated motions back and forth until your orgasm was crashing against the surface. You cried out, tears springing from your eyes as you succumbed to the climax wracking through your limbs. Joel pulled away, his mouth and mustache glistening from your release. 

Lowering your legs off his shoulders, Joel wordlessly hooked an arm around your waist and hauled you onto the dining table, the wood creaking under the weight. You pawed at his shirt, and Joel obliged your silent request as he yanked it over his head. You lifted yourself on your forearms, drinking in the sight of his bare chest. You glanced up at Joel to catch him smirking, amused by your silence.

“Y’can’t be lookin’ at me like that, baby,” Joel groaned, stepping between your open legs. “Not when I got you spread out and ready for me.”

“I can look at you however I want,” you smiled. 

Joel leaned down to meet your lips, dragging you in for a long kiss. 

“I missed you so fuckin’ much,” he chuckled.

His lips worked their way down your neck, sucking marks into your skin, while his hands worked quickly at the belt around his waist. Hooking one leg around his waist, you drew him closer, your breath hitching as he lined himself up with your entrance. 

Joel drove himself deep inside you in one thrust, the tip of his cock spearing into you. You gasped as his cock filled you with its entirety, your body stretched passed comfortability. You forgot how much you loved feeling him everywhere. With his cock fully seated inside you, Joel leaned forward and pressed his forehead against yours.

“I need to hear y’say it, baby,” he begged. “Please tell me you’re mine.”

“I’m yours, Joel,” you exhaled. “I love you.”

That’s all he needed to hear—a simple admission, a coupling of words that rewrote the story lost between the both of you. You spent months trying to deny your love for him, but there was no way to deny this connection. There was always an invisible string connecting you both, and though the string had frayed and unraveled, this moment snapped it back into place. 

“I love you,” Joel said. “Ain’t ever lettin’ you go.”

He pulled out slowly, only to snap his hips forward and render you speechless. You reached up to hold him against you, your nails digging crescent-shaped marks into his shoulder blades. Thrust after thrust, Joel drilled into you forcefully—brutally. You cried out every time his body slapped against yours, and your vision started to blur around the edges. Your core clenched around him, your thighs slick from your arousal that dripped between your bodies. 

“Takin’ my cock so well, baby,” Joel praised. “Doin’ so good for me.”

“Yes… yes…” You chanted the word between every thrust that he assaulted you with, every caress of his fingers around your waist, another revelation of how perfect you were together. 

“My perfect—fuck—perfect girl,” he gritted out.

Joel locked an arm around your back and lifted you from the table, spinning you both until your back hit the wall across from the table. The impact was enough to knock the air from your lungs and dizzy your mind, but he gave you no opportunity to recover before he was driving upwards into you, the new angle sending sparks of pleasure through your muscles. With one arm braced around your body and a hand pressed against the wall beside your head, Joel ground into you deeper…slower… your body begging for release. He could sense it, too, the way your thighs tightened around his waist and your cheeks dampened with tears.

“Yeah, I can feel it, baby,” Joel crooned. “I know you’re close. Gonna cum for me? Gonna give me what I want?”

“Please,” you cried, nodding vigorously.

Joel crushed his lips against yours, and you sobbed into his open mouth. Your body sized around him as your orgasm tore through you, stronger than the first. His thrusts stalled as your core pulsed through the aftershocks, the room spinning quicker every time another wave of release rocked through your stomach.

“That’s it, baby. That’s my good girl. Give me everythin’. I got you. Keep goin’.”

It was disastrous how obedient your body was to his commands. You entangled yourself in him, your tongue rolling over his tongue to silence his muffled words. Joel wasn’t far behind you, and soon enough, he punched out your name through clenched teeth, spilling himself into you. 

You rested your head back against the wall, his body sagging into yours as you both fought for air. The slow drip of his cum down your inner thigh and the sweat clinging to your brow was the only sensation you could feel as time passed in comfortable silence. 

“I love you, baby,” Joel groaned, his head falling onto your shoulder.

You carded a hand through his hair, leaning your cheek against his sweat-dampened curls. Right there, in Joel’s arms, everything made sense. The anger inside you could dissolve away—at least for a little while—and you could remind yourself that this was what love felt like. To be held. To be seen. To be cherished. 

Faint sounds of sniffling traveled past the rush of blood pumping in your ears, and you tugged at his curls to pull his head off your shoulder. Joel looked up at you through blurry eyes, his thick lashes coated in fresh tears. 

“It’s okay,” you hushed. 

“It’s not, though,” he argued. “I shoulda came back sooner. I shouldn’t have waited. There’s so much time we can’t get back, baby. S’all my fault.”

“We’ve got time,” you said softly. “I don’t want to be anywhere but here with you, Joel.”

“Promise?” He asked. 

“I promise.”

The evening grew late, and both you and Joel had settled into bed. It surprised you when you cried at seeing his room again, realizing nothing about it had changed. The fan was still humming softly in the corner as it always had, the soft breeze floating over the bedsheets as you climbed under the covers. Miscellaneous items were scattered on his dresser, and worn clothes littered the floor beside his hamper. Joel mumbled a slew of apologies at the sight of the mess, but it only made you cry harder. You didn’t care if it was messy. You only cared that you were finally home. Even without the memories resurfacing, your house never felt this way. It had never been a home because Joel wasn’t there to make it a home.

“How’re y’feelin’, baby?” Joel asked, his hand drawing circles into your back as you leaned against his naked body. 

“Like I could spend the rest of the night throwing up,” you said, half-jokingly. 

Your headache was splintering into a full-blown migraine, and your body had yet to recover from the fall earlier in the day. You had no regrets about being fucked against the wall, but it definitely proved to have done some damage to your fragile state.

“If I had known y’needed a good hit to the head to get all these memories back, I woulda tripped you myself,” Joel teased.

You attempted to laugh, only to have the nausea rising in your throat silence your efforts. 

“Don’t make me laugh right now,” you groaned, curling yourself tighter around his body.

“S’only kiddin’, baby. I’m just way too damn happy to have you in my arms again. I spent the last few months tryna figure out how I’d go on livin’ without you.”

“It wasn’t easy for me either,” you sighed. “I hardly recognize myself most days.”

“I won’t lie, seein’ you at parent-teacher conferences nearly broke me,” Joel admitted. 

“It broke me, too.”

Silence slipped over you, and the fan turned into the only noise inside the bedroom. Joel’s chest rose and fell softly under your head, his heart pounding echoing through your ear as you pressed yourself further into his embrace. 

“I’m sorry,” he finally spoke. “I wish I had a better word to describe how sorry I am. It wasn’t right of me to lie to you, and I shouldn’t have ever let your family make that decision.”

“I haven’t talked to them in months,” you muttered. “I don’t know how to forgive them for what they did.”

“Y’don’t need to forgive them until you’re ready. I just hope y’know they love you, baby.”

“I do know they love me, and that’s why it’s so hard. How can they love me yet still hurt me so much?”

Joel pressed a soft kiss against the crown of your head, his fingers squeezing around your shoulder.

“I don’t want to be angry anymore,” you said, your voice cracking. “But I don’t know how to feel anything but anger towards them. Especially toward Beth. The things she’s said to me in the past…How do I forgive her?”

“I ain’t gonna take sides,” he cautioned. “But I think the accident affected her the hardest. She was so angry at your family's plan, and I think she took out a lot of that anger on you when y’didn’t deserve it.”

“It’s not fair,” you cried. “It’s not fair that she gets to be angry when she wasn’t the one that lost everything.”

“You were her everythin’, baby,” Joel whispered. “She lost you.”

“You’re taking her side,” you grumbled.

“I’m just tryna show you the other side of things,” Joel offered. 

“I know you are.”

Joel sunk further into the pillows, dragging you down beside him. You nestled into his arms, your limbs twisting around him like they had a hundred times before. It’s odd what your body remembers, but your brain forgets; it is a simple gesture of an embrace that can never be entirely forgotten. You understood why things always felt so right when you met him again last year; your soul knew he was the missing piece that had been lost. 

Joel spoke your name softly, the syllables more beautiful than ever when they rolled through his accent. You hummed in response, gazing up at him through tired eyes.

“I woulda waited an eternity for you, baby,” he confessed. “I woulda gone to my grave waitin’ to have you back in my arms like this again.”

You blinked away the tears welling in your eyes, failing miserably to hide the quiver of your lips. Joel didn’t wait for your response, nor could you verbalize anything to match the poetry of his words. You only nodded and said, " I love you, " before your eyes drifted shut. Home. You were home.

Joel was softly snoring when you woke up. In the quiet light of the morning, you took the time to admire every softened feature of his face. The worried creases between his brows had smoothed overnight, yet you still found yourself brushing a finger over the spot they usually were. Brushing your hand down his face, you traced the outline of his lips, slightly parted and pouty, the soft kiss more kissable now than ever. Kissing him could wait; you wanted to savor this moment. 

You drew a path down his neck and chest, the spattering of hair across his torso tickling your fingertips. Joel stirred above you, his head rolling to the other side of the pillow. His eyes never opened, though, and you took the opportunity to crawl under the sheets. 

Joel’s cock lay heavy against his lower abdomen, precum leaking onto the soft skin of his stomach. You ran your hands over his hips, settling yourself lower until you were comfortable between his legs. His cock twitched as you wrapped a hand around his length, stroking him slowly and deliberately. Leaning your head down, you kissed up the shaft of his cock, dragging your tongue up the length and around the head. Joel’s body tensed up, yet he still didn’t wake. You took him into your mouth, the salty taste and musky scent overwhelming your senses. You hadn’t pleasured him like this in so long, and you had forgotten how much you loved it. 

Taking him deeper, you flattened your tongue, teasing the base of his cock with the tip of your tongue. You faintly heard a moan slip from Joel’s mouth, his cock twitching against your tongue. 

“Baby?” He groaned.

You hummed softly, pulling him from your mouth. With your saliva coating the entirety of his cock, you pumped him quicker, feeling his body seize up under your touch. 

“Fuck,” he grunted, bucking his hips upward. 

You rewarded him with another swirl of your tongue over the head of his cock, your mouth and hand working in tandem. He was close; you could feel it. 

“Just like that, baby. Forgot—fuck—forgot how good your mouth feels.”

You took him deeper, the tip of his cock tapping against the back of your throat. You sputtered around him, drool rolling down the corners of your mouth, yet you didn’t stop. Hollowing your cheeks, you heard Joel choke out a gasp. The warmth of his release flooded your mouth, coating the back of your throat and tongue. You drank down every drop, pulling off of him with a soft pop.

“Jesus Christ,” he sighed, slumping into the pillows. “Get your ass up here, baby.”

You crawled over his body, your legs straddling his waist. Joel grinned up at you, his tired eyes still barely open as he drank in your naked body. 

“C’mere,” he yawned, reaching up to grab the back of your neck.

His soft lips met yours, and you molded your body to him, letting him guide your mouth however he pleased. There was still a pang of anger tucked into the darkest corner of your heart, but you knew with time, it might fade away, and all you wanted was to bask in Joel’s love as long as possible. Things would take time, but you were willing to work on it. 

“I missed wakin’ up to you,” Joel muttered, his lips working down your jaw.

You could feel him growing hard against your core as you ground your hips down on him. It was impossible to hide the fact you were slick with arousal between your thighs, your body terribly responsive to every touch he placed on your body.

“You’re drenchin’ me, baby,” he groaned. “Need to feel your pussy now.”

“I’m all yours.”

“Damn fuckin’ right you are.”

You lifted your hips, notching his cock at your entrance. Inch by inch, you sunk onto him, both of you exhaling a shaky moan as he stretched you open. Leaning forward, you laced your fingers through Joel’s, holding him firm in your grasp. All you ached for was the tenderness he could provide, the slow synchronicity that flowed through his body and into yours. 

A gentle rub of his thumb over the back of your hand, the slow rise and fall of your hips against his cock… it was the lazy movements that spoke louder than words. It was the recognition that you were his just as he was yours. Soft moans fell off your lips as Joel guided you against his cock, little reassuring grunts leaving his mouth with each roll of your body.

“S’fuckin’ beautiful, baby,” Joel exhaled.

The sun seeping through the blinds lit the amber flecks around his pupils, the morning light painting his naked body golden. The veins beneath his thick neck strained as he lifted his head to watch you, his lips parted in awe as you sucked him further inside your slicken sex. 

“Touch yourself, baby,” he demanded. “Let me feel you fall apart around me.”

Your fingers slipped away from his hand, brushing down his flexed stomach as you made a path to your throbbing clit. The feather-like touch immediately sparked pleasure through your core. You clenched around his cock, whimpering with each circle of your fingertips. 

“I feel it, baby. I know you’re close.”

“Mhmm,” you whined.

Joel raised his body to press into your chest, one hand cradling your heavy breast, the other kneading the flesh of your ass. With his weight against your body, your hand pressed harder against your clit, the arousal pooling between where your bodies connect. 

Your head fell onto his shoulder, teeth sinking into his sweat-covered skin. Joel groaned at the sensation, only grounding you down harder onto his cock. You needed every atom of your being injected with Joel; every one of your senses evaded with his taste, touch, and scent. 

“Joel,” you mumbled, nestling your face into the crook of his neck. “I’m so close… so close.”

“I got you, baby. Gonna fall apart right here with you.”

He barely finished speaking by the time your orgasm ignited in your stomach, your body shuddering within his embrace. Joel spoke your name in broken syllables, his release pouring into you only moments later. 

Neither of you broke apart once your spasms subsided. Joel tangled a hand into the hair resting at the nape of your neck, urging your lips to his. Slotting your mouth over his, you slipped your tongue over his bottom lip, a starved search for a deeper connection. Joel fulfilled your need, devouring the soft sounds you exhaled.

Slowly—reluctantly—you tore from his lips, gasping for air to fill your lungs. Joel’s swollen lips formed into a crooked smile, his brown eyes softening the longer he gazed at you. Somewhere inside your chest, you felt that pain reawaken, a haunting reminder that you could have had this all along. Had the lies never been told… Joel would have always been yours. 

How did he survive the years of pain? How did he allow himself to let you go, knowing you’d never be satisfied with another?

A tear slipped down your cheek, and you turned your head to hide the emotions cresting over your face. Nothing went unnoticed with Joel, and he gently pinched your chin to bring your eyes back to his. With furrowed brows, Joel studied your features, the realization striking home for him, too.

“I know you’re scared, baby,” he whispered. “And I know there’s a lot I gotta fix between us, but I swear to you that I ain’t ever gonna leave again. I made that mistake once, and I’ll never do it again.”

“I want to trust you, Joel. I’m trying. But I don’t know how to forget what you’ve done… what everyone has done. There’s so much pain inside me. It’s unbearable.” 

Joel cradled your face in his hands, leveling you with a gaze you couldn’t discern. So many emotions swirled within his eyes, an endless expanse of grief that weighed him down. 

“Give me your pain. Give me all your anger and everything inside you, and I swear I’ll keep you safe. Y’ain’t ever gonna be alone again. Not while I’m still breathin’, baby. It’s you and me. Forever.”

“Forever,” you echoed. 

“Yes, forever. I don’t want another moment of my life without you in it. I can’t lose you again.”

“I can’t lose you, either,” you cried. “I never wanted to lose you in the first place, so please don’t leave.”

Joel’s eyes clouded with tears, and he shook his head. 

“I love you too much ever to leave you,” he said, his voice cracking. “I’m keepin’ you so long as y’let me.”

Eventually, you both made it out of the bed. Joel grumbled at your wishes to leave, keeping you in his arms and peppering your skin with kisses. It wasn’t long before your dizziness set back in, and you were demanding water and painkillers.��

As Joel poured you a glass of water, you found yourself swaying against the cold tile floors of the kitchen, the corners of your vision blurring. Your nails scratched at the kitchen countertop as you tried to suppress the lightheaded feeling creeping in. You just needed to sit…that’s all you needed. 

You called out Joel’s name the moment your knees buckled beneath you. His body moved in a foggy haze as you tried to keep consciousness, yet you were being pulled beneath the surface of your headache. Strong hands tucked themselves under your armpits, and Joel lowered you to the ground. 

“Baby?” His voice was frantic—strained. 

You mumbled a few incoherent words as your body sagged into his arms. Christ, your head ached. You hadn’t experienced a fainting spell since the accident, and you forgot how terrifying it was. 

Joel choked out your name, his hand snaking around your jaw to wag your head back and forth. You could see his silhouette over you, the shadow molding into the spots within your field of vision, but nothing else registered. Slipping. Drowning. You weren’t strong enough to fight it. Fear set your nerves alight; what if you lost it all again? What if everything melted away into the darkness consuming you? You clawed tooth and nail as your body plunged deeper into unconsciousness. 

It was no use. 

**

Joel paced the hallway outside your hospital room like a madman. The moment you went limp in his arms, he knew something was wrong. He should have taken your injury more seriously and urged you to the hospital yesterday. But he had you in his arms again, and the world would have had to fall apart before he even considered letting you go. Every admission from your lips weighed down on Joel’s shoulders, another swell of guilt growing inside him. He anticipated your anger, your grief, your heartbreak; he willingly listened without argument. His own struggles were nothing compared to what you endured, and he’d be damned if you ever felt those emotions again. Chewing at his nails, Joel glanced back at the open blinds of your hospital room. The doctors assured him you’d be okay; it was only a concussion, and there’d be no complications. That wasn’t enough for him. He needed to be absolutely sure you’d recover. 

The door cracked open, and Joel rushed toward the neurologist leaving your room. 

“How is she, doc?” Joel asked. “She’s gonna be okay, right?”

The neurologist, Dr. Oliver, nodded with a soft smile. The smile alone settled the rapid heartbeat banging against Joel's ribcage. 

“Miss Smith is going to be just fine,” Dr. Oliver reassured. “There’s going to be a long road to recovery, but I don’t see any long-term effects. I suggest you bring her in for check-ins with me every few months just to monitor her progress.”

“Yeah. Yeah, of course,” Joel nodded. 

“What I need you to do, Mr. Miller, is to help her. She may be a bit forgetful occasionally, so leaving lists around the house or notes will help keep her on track. You do live together, I assume?”

Joel rubbed the back of his neck, a nervous tick he had yet to learn how to shake. 

“We don’t, but if y’recommend it…”

“I recommend it, but only because she’ll need someone looking over for her. At least, until she regains enough cognitive strength to keep her memory at full capacity,” Dr. Oliver explained. 

“I can do that, Doc. All I want is for her to be okay.”

Dr. Oliver clapped a hand on Joel’s shoulder, his lips curving into a grin. Joel could finally breathe; you’d be okay. 

“You’re a good man, Mr. Miller. She’s lucky to have you here to care for her.”

“Thank you, Doc.”

“Give her some time to rest, and she’ll be clear to go home tomorrow.”

Dr. Oliver said his goodbyes to Joel and bounded down the hallway to other patients. Joel glanced at the open door, your sleeping frame tucked into the bed among the cords and beeping monitors. He entered quietly, his footsteps soft against the floor so he wouldn’t wake you. Sitting on the edge of the bed, Joel took your hand in his, cautious to avoid the IV tube taped onto your skin. Smoothing lines over the inside of your wrist, Joel watched you with weary eyes. 

“I love you, baby. I’m gonna be right here when y’wake up,” he vowed. “Like it always shoulda been.”

Leaning over your body, Joel pressed his lips against your forehead, inhaling your sweet scent as he pulled away. 

You’d be okay, and you’d forever be his. 

**

The harsh light above you reflected behind your eyelids. You groaned as you stirred awake, your eyes squinting to adjust to the layers of white surrounding you. Curling your fingers into the scratchy blanket, you found a familiar body sagged into a chair beside the bed. Joel slept peacefully, yet the worry lines creased between his brows. Extending your hand over the edge of the bed, you brushed your palm over his knee. 

“Joel,” you whispered. 

His body jolted upright as he scrubbed a hand down his face. Big, brown puppy dog eyes met yours, the concern in his face dissolving away once his eyes settled on yours. He made no effort to contain the smile breaking across his face. 

“Hey, handsome,” you croaked. 

“Baby,” Joel sighed, crouching beside the bed. “How’re y’feelin’?”

“A little fatigued, but I think I’ll live.”

“You better,” he chuckled. 

With your arms outstretched, you ushered Joel into an embrace. Joel’s lips crashed against yours the second he wrapped his arms around you, his touch soft and cautious. Beautiful melancholy emotions wracked your body; this was the moment you ached for from the start. To be held in your vulnerability, to be cherished, to be loved. Joel didn’t leave. He’d always be here, now. 

“There’s someone here to see you, baby,” Joel muttered against your mouth. 

You pulled away, confusion scrunching your eyebrows together. God, don’t let it be your family. 

“I know that look. Don’t worry, baby, I’ll be right back. I promise you’ll be happy,” Joel reassured. 

Joel disappeared from the room, and you sat up, settling back into the pillows. You glanced at the monitor beeping beside your bed, the steady line of your heart rate cruising along the screen. Footsteps sounded outside your room, and your eyes flicked back toward the door, a small silhouette hiding behind Joel’s large frame. 

Sarah. 

Her bright eyes looked between you and Joel, her stare quizzical–skeptic. You gave her a small wave, ushering her into the room. 

“Hi, Sarah,” you faltered. The tears were already forming on your waterline. 

“Hi, Miss Smith,” she said wearily. 

You patted the bed, scooting over to make room for her. Her steps were slow as she neared the bedside, her eyes glancing back at Joel. He gave her an encouraging nod, a knowing grin on his lips. 

“You don’t have to call me that,” you laughed softly. 

Sarah settled onto the bed, her tennis shoes swinging over the floor as she fidgeted with her curls. Joel leaned against the doorframe, his arms crossed over his chest and a smile glued to his face. 

“But you’re my teacher,” she muttered. 

You tucked a loose strand behind her ear, the same hair you had braided and brushed years ago. She wasn’t yours, not by birth. But she was yours just as much as Joel was; she was your home. They weren’t just photos captured in time; they were real. They were real, and they were yours. 

“Do you remember when I used to read you bedtime stories?” You wondered aloud. “You would always ask for the same one over and over.”

There it was. The light sparkled in the gold flecks of Sarah’s eyes, the same gold that sat deep within Joel’s. 

“You and Dad would read The Kissing Hand every night,” she nodded. 

“I know you’re a lot older now, but do you remember what we would do before you fell asleep?”

You reached for Sarah’s hand, lifting it to your lips. With a soft kiss on her palm, you guided her hand to her cheek. Sarah’s eyes filled with tears as she leaned into your touch, the simple caress of your hand against her face enough to bring you both to the brink of crying. 

“I missed you, kiddo,” you cried softly. 

Sarah threw her arms around your neck, muffling her sobs into your hospital gown as you squeezed your arms tighter around her body. You missed so many milestones and moments of her life because of the accident, so many memories that were never made. Every family meal, every soccer game…you lost them all. 

You lifted your eyes, catching the moment Joel swiped away a tear from his cheek. Beckoning him over with a quick motion of your hand, he crossed the room in two quick strides and wrapped his large arms around you and Sarah. You rested your chin on Sarah’s shoulder, hugging her closer. Joel kissed the crown of Sarah’s head, then placed one on your forehead. 

“Wait,” Sarah blurted out, forcing you all to break apart. 

“What is it, sweetheart?” Joel asked, craning his head to look at her. 

“Does that mean you’re coming back home?” She asked. 

You looked at Joel for guidance, trying to find the answers within his gentle gaze. He waited in silence, giving you room to decide. There wasn’t a shadow of a doubt about your answer, not when you had everything you needed right here. 

“Only if you promise never to make pancakes again,” you smiled, pinching her cheek. 

She buried herself into your arms again, her head resting against your heart. You looked up at Joel, your mouth forming three little words. 

I love you. 

~ Two weeks later ~

Joel refused any help as he unloaded the last of your boxes from the back of his truck. When you got home from the hospital, you patched up the holes in the wall—with Joel’s help, of course—and got the house ready to sell. It barely lasted a week on the market before the offers came in, making it easy to start packing. That house was filled with memories you didn’t want to remember, memories that you no longer wanted to revisit. It wasn’t home to you anymore. 

You and Sarah sat on the front porch, popsicles in hand, watching as he huffed an exasperated breath once the box hit the steps. Joel straightened out, running sweaty hands down the sides of his jeans, glancing back at the empty truck bed. 

“Well, I think that’s the last of it,” Joel sighed. “Y’sure we ain’t miss anythin’?”

“I think I’ve got all I need right here,” you grinned, nudging Sarah with your shoulder. 

Joel plopped beside you on the porch, leaning over to lick up the sticky residue of the popsicle that had fallen down your arm. You gave him a warning look, shifting your eyes toward Sarah as if to say: Behave. He only shrugged, sticking out his tongue again to tickle your skin. 

“You hungry?” He asked, quirking a brow. 

“Starving!” Sarah declared, rising to her feet. 

You laughed, knowing Joel wasn’t asking her. Nonetheless, you and Joel followed her into the house hand in hand. Over the last couple of weeks, he had decorated the house in countless sticky notes: ones in the bathroom, the bedroom, the kitchen. Each said something important. The one in the bathroom was stuck on the medicine cabinet, reminding you which toothbrush was yours—the purple one. Joel stuck one by the front door with Sarah’s soccer schedule—snack duty included. There were a few scattered around the kitchen: one telling you where to find the coffee mugs, another one with a list of groceries to buy over the weekend. Three photos hung beside the list, sitting in perfect harmony as they always should have been.  But your favorite was stuck to the cover of Romeo and Juliet, Joel’s messy handwriting scribbled across the yellow paper. It was only a few words but the only reminder you needed. 

Welcome home, baby. 

I love you.

[cerebralisis]

I decided to make my analysis of So High School into a separate post, because I can’t help but think of this song every time I see photos of Taylor at the games. And sure, it sounds like a love song on the surface until you remember that Taylor was bullied in high school and start to dig a little deeper. Feeling "so high school" is not something a 34 year old woman wants to feel.

Let’s look at the lyrics.

"I'm sinking, our fingers entwined, cheeks pink in the twinkling lights" = To me this sounds like drowning, embarrassment, and diving in with the sharks

"Tell me 'bout the first time you saw me" = You mean her first Chiefs appearance when they 'slid off in the getaway car' at the end? Nothing good starts in a getaway car, babes.

"I'll drink what you think and I'm high from smoking your jokes all damn night" = I mean...

“I'm watching American Pie with you on a Saturday night" = What do we know about this movie? We know that it is renowned for its high school immaturity and misogyny. It’s about a bunch of horny boneheaded men who treat women like sex objects instead of people. Sounds a lot like football culture to me.

"Your friends are around so be quiet. I'm trying to stifle my sighs." = I'm in the box with your friends and family. I need to hold it together so I don't offend them, but I legit hate this.

"Cause I feel so high school" = SHE HATES THIS.

"Bittersweet 16 suddenly" = I don't think she was a fan of high school, you guys.

"Are you gonna marry, kiss, or kill me? It's just a game but really, I'm betting on all 3." = A clear reference to that kiss/marry/kill interview with Travis, while also saying "we're gonna get together, put on a show for everyone, and I'm going to slowly die inside until we're done."

"Get my car door, isn't that sweet. Now pull me to the backseat" = All I hear with this is Movie Director Taylor giving instructions to her leading man so they can get a good reaction from the audience.

"You know how to ball, I know Aristotle." = You're a jock. I'm a nerd. We are not compatible.

"Touch me while your bros play grand theft auto." = The official song lyrics on Spotify put grand theft auto in lowercase the first time and capitalized the second time. The capitalized GTA could refer to Travis's friends playing the video game, sure. But also - you know who was arrested in August 2023 for grand theft auto? Bashaud Breeland, a cornerback for the Kansas City Chiefs who played with Travis in the 2020 Super Bowl.

"It's true, swear, Scout's Honor" = Look it up, I dare you.

And my absolute favorite:

"On the brink of a wrinkle in time" = This is TTPD, folks. Of course there's going to be a literary reference. A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L'Engle. The main character is a girl named Meg who is incredibly bright but struggles in school because she doesn't fit in with the other kids. After meeting a trio of badass witchy women, Meg travels to far-off worlds (a sort of deep portal time travel, you might say) where she joins the battle of light vs. darkness. What do we know about Taylor’s usage of light and darkness throughout her discography? It's giving… Reputation vs. Daylight? Shrouded in secrecy vs. out in the open? Based on everything else that Taylor has been hinting at through TTPD (not to mention Evermore and Midnights), it sounds like she is on the verge of diving into a much larger battle. And if I had to guess, I would bet that this battle will start during the Reputation re-release. Around Halloween. 🎃 When exile ends. Almost exactly 2 years after the Bejeweled music video was released. Maybe the old Taylor can't come to the phone right now cause she's dead?

I'm just speculating, but I will add that the 3rd book in the Time series is called A Swiftly Tilting Planet. There is a poem referenced through the book that goes like this:

With Ananda in this fateful hour, I place all Heaven with its power, And the sun with its brightness, And the snow with its whiteness, And the fire with all the strength it hath, And the lightning with its rapid wrath, And the winds with their swiftness along its path, And the sea with its deepness, And the rocks with their steepness, And the Earth with its starkness, All these I place with God's almighty help and grace between myself and the powers of darkness.

The word ‘Ananda’ mentioned above is the name of a character in the book, which is significant to the story because it’s a Sanskrit word that describes the eternal bliss that accompanies the ending of the rebirth cycle. If this series is what Taylor is referencing then it’s sounding more and more like she’s going to kill off Taylor TM and be done with the games, done with the reinvention. The plot summary of A Swiftly Tilting Planet says that it’s a book about "going back in time and changing might-have-beens." What decisions would she have made differently if she could do it all over again?

I don't know, friends. Take from this what you will. All I know is, this woman and all her brilliant duality is going to send me to a padded room. ✌🏻

[seancekitsch]

Can we have more Vox and Assistant! Reader? Maybe based on the headcanon you had involving Val?

i think im gonna make this a little series hehehe

warnings: rough smut, dom vox, aphrodisiacs, val getting cucked, sort of unethical power dynamics, bondage, etc

“More toys for us, Big Vee?” you ask, scooting further back from the edge of Vox’s bed as you make room for the box Val sets down, tucking your legs under you as you do. 

Vox scowls in your direction as he slides his suspenders down his shoulders.

“Don’t call him that,” he tells you, only to be met by your smirk. Despite his clear annoyance, Vox still takes the time to scan his eyes up and down your body, already delightfully wrapped in blue and red lingerie he had Velvette design just for you. You meet his gaze in a challenge.

“Why not? He’s taller than you. Big Vee.”

You know you’re playing with fire here, between your teasing and the absolutely shit eating grin you can see on Valentino’s face from the corner of your vision. Valentino laughs as Vox’s screen twitches in anger. This is all part of your game, though. Push Vox too hard and… well, he’s gonna go ballistic on you. Your grin only grows as your boss seethes next to the box and his business partner. 

“Careful, Princesa,” the taller Vee warns, picking through the box before he pulls out a set of what look like handcuffs on a leash and a bottle with no label, “Daddy doesn’t like brats.”

Vox snatches the handcuffs from Valentino, his free hand held out and waiting. Without protest, you offer both of your wrists to him while you smile up at him sweetly. He’s right, Vox doesn’t like brats; which is why you’re usually not this bold, but Vox worked you hard today and you like to play with him. 

Vox works diligently in fastening the restraints around your wrists, careful not to have them too tight around you. He’s learned the hard way, with one of your first trysts ending with him rubbing cream into your torn up wrists in the bathroom through begging apologies. Vox likes his toys, Vox keeps extremely good care of them. H gives a testing tug, his eyes flickering to you for confirmation. It’s moments like this where you see a glimmer of hope in Vox, like maybe he has a heart, maybe he’s a good man. You let out a breathy laugh as you nod your confirmation to him. They’re just right, and you remind yourself that both you and he are in Hell for very serious reasons. You don’t get where you are currently without a reason. 

“Okay, baby?” he whispers, too sweetly. Your smile widens, knowing that this is a ruse. He’s going to fucking wreck you, you just need to let him pretend he isn’t. 

Roughly, Vox pushes you over by the shoulder, forcing you onto your hands and knees on the duvet. He throws the other end of the restraints at Valentino, now sat in the chair pulled up to the end of the bed. 

“Yank on it if it looks like she’s having too much fun, yeah?” Vox instructs, a cool professional tone crackling in the static of his voice. Now that the restraint is more taut, it resembles a Y-shape, with one set of Val’s hands curling around the far loop. It would work well for being hung from the ceiling, or wrapped up around the bedpost. Vox could have you pinned to the wall in his office with this, bound and waiting for him, ready to be used and -

You’re literally pulled out of your thoughts by Val testing the waters, not enough to knock you off of your hands, but enough to make you wobble. Val’s grin turns hungry, vicious even. 

You turn your head quickly from Val’s gaze, something clinical and nerve wracking under it. You’re testing product for him, but somehow any physical reaction of feedback feels embarrassing. Vox has settled behind you, his clothes shed and an unlabeled bottle in his hand. 

“Whatcha got there, Sir?” you ask, even though you can guess. 

“Topical version of Val’s little love potion,” he focuses on his hands, not meeting your gaze, “just apply where you want sensations to increase.”

He continues looking down as he tosses the bottle on his nightstand and rubs the lube between his fingers, mechanical movements as he then takes a claw to the gusset of your lingerie, ripping it away easily before rubbing it in against your sex. His fingers move between your folds, warm liquid mixing with your own wetness. He speeds up his movements, fingers sliding faster against you as your wetness builds, every once in a while his fingers graze your clit to make you twitch. 

As Vox’s fingers move, you’re met with a rising feeling of heat, heat everywhere, and every spot he hits, every graze of his claws sends electric shocks through your veins. Exactly like when Vox shocks you, but without him having to actually do it. 

Vox has barely done anything, and yet you’re already a gasping mess in front of him.

Finally he meets your gaze, a smug smirk across his screen as his free hand starts to work the lube onto his cock, the edges of his screen twitching and emitting static as he works himself. You can feel how ready you are for him, practically dripping already. You bet he’ll slide right into you, and tell you what a good slut you are for him.

You throw your head back, ready for him; to fuck you, to grab at you, to manhandle you like the prized possession you are. 

Except the familiar stretch of his cock never comes. You shiver with anticipation, body clenching around nothing, wetness growing cold in the space between your bodies. 

“Do you think you deserve his cock?” Valentino asks, teasing you again with that smile. Valentino has unlaced his shorts, palming his member through the loosened leather with one of the hands not holding your restraint. Of course, he’s going to get something out of this too.

“Uh huh,” you respond with a dazed nod, mind already hazy and chasing a high. 

“Look at her, the brat’s already fucked stupid and she hasn’t even been fucked,” Vox teases, but his voice sounds strained as well. He’s one to talk, you think. 

His hands return to you, this time to spread your ass cheeks, baring you to him fully. You’re sure he can see how pathetic you probably look, wet and clenching for him and fully on display. 

And then your arms buckle, threatening to collapse you, as the heightened but familiar feeling of that long tongue of his makes contact with your clit. Vox shoves his entire screen against you, tongue teasing and weakening you.

 “You don’t deserve my cock until you can prove you’re my good little assistant, until you’re obeying me,” Vox growls between hungry licks to your folds. 

“You’re gonna come on what he gives you,” Val taunts, and you really wish you could fuck up his last good antenna. It’s not that you hate your boss’ business partner, but he’s being a real dickhead right now. 

Vox’s tongue assaults your cunt, sliding across your folds, right along the edges, prodding against your clit, but never plunging within you. Its torture. Each time the tip of his tongue makes contact with your clit is like a live wire, jolting you and pulling loud whining gasps from your lips. Vox moans against your cunt, openmouthed and unashamed.

His tongue oscillates, moving from side to side over the bundle of nerves without letting up, without mercy. He switches from left to right to up to down, every time you think you’re getting used to it, or hitting a rhythm, he changes it. It’s almost edging, the way Vox is keeping you teetering along the edge, keeping you right on the finish line without crossing it. Vox’s claws dig into your thigh, another loud moan fanning out against you. 

And then suddenly the sam breaks, and a high pitched whine tears from your throat, and Vox pulls away to admire his handiwork. You’re sure you can picture his face, you think between shuddering moans, all smug and confident. Vox at his hottest. Shakes rock your frame, as if Vox had actually electrocuted you. 

But instead of the soothing motions of his palms along your back, none of that comfort comes. 

Pain radiates through your ass, a harsh spank to it rocking you out of your orgasm stupor. 

Another spank follows it.

And another. 

Another. 

You’re sure it’s going to bruise, though you don’t care. Soon, it’ll be just another mark Vox has left on you. 

So you close your eyes and take it. 

Five. 

Six. 

Switch ass cheeks. 

Seven.

Your eyes are drawn open from the onslaught of the spanks by a weaker slap against your cheek. Opening your eyes you see Val, one hand on your restraint, one hand reached out to slap you again, and a third on his cock, now out and fully hard. 

Vox stops. 

“Hey,” he snaps at Valentino, “Don’t touch what’s mine.”

Valentino scoffs, and rolls his eyes. Vox presses his palms against the spots where he’s spanked you. 

“Well can she at least help me out?” he asks, clearly annoyed. 

“If she wants to,” Vox’s voice is cool and collected, rare for Vox’s usual temper. 

Valentino holds out his gloved hand, and you graciously spit into it, before watching him wrap that hand around his cock and begin to stroke it slow and lazy. 

You turn to look behind you again, Vox’s screen aglow with your wetness glistening across it, his own spit trailing from the corner of his mouth. He looks as fucked up as you’re certain you do, needy and wild. 

“Ready, Doll?” Vox asks, as sweet as he could possibly be. Any pretense about your brattiness forgotten, any game you were playing dropped. 

You wiggle your ass at him, and he chuckles, soft. 

“I cannot wait to be fucking buried in you,” he thrusts against you, tip bumping you and making your composure falter.

“Then fuck me,” you bit back, winking at him.

“Careful what you wish for,” he warns, and pushes himself in until his hips connect with your ass. He relaxes there for a moment, giving you a second to adjust before pulling almost entirely out, his tip catching on your folds.

He slams back in, no mercy for your well spanked ass cheeks, his hips rutting into them recklessly. Your fingers dig into the duvet, struggling to ground yourself. That electrocuted feeling is back, rising embarrassingly quick. Each time hips meet ass a squeak of a moan escapes your lips. Any fight you had in yourself is gone, as long as this feeling between you and Vox stays. You arch your back further into him, contorting yourself for pleasure and chasing your own desire.

But then the feeling of the lush duvet meets your face, and disoriented, you lose your high momentarily. Vox however, groans, loving every second of this. You look up, one set of Valentino’s hands pulling the restraint taut, the other vigorously working his shaft and balls. There’s a sinister grin on his face, obviously getting pleasure in your disorientation. Your hands stretch out in front of you, balling up more of the covers, a better grip than before.

“Fuck you feel amazing,” Vox sighs, “I’m gonna fuckin fill you up, Doll.”

Vox moves faster, starts babbling. You can’t even imagine how this feels for him, if it feels so euphoric for you. The new angle pushes you further, if that was even possible, moaning wantonly into the duvet as you clench around him, gripping at sanity.

“Gonna give you everything,gonna fuckin give you it all,” he rambles, speeding up his thrusting.

Each thrust pushes you up and up and up, the precipice of your high coming closer.

Vox sinks his claws into the top of your ass, anchoring you into place for him as he pistons in and out of you.

The shocking feeling grows more frequent, each time he bottoms out is a total reset of your system.

You come without warning, a harsh whine of a moan and your entire body clamps down on him, harsh and sudden.

You shake in the patterns of an earthquake,one after another after another. Vox holds you through it all, his thrusts slowing as your cunt becomes a vice grip on his cock, coming himself with a shuddering moan, collapsing upon you and savoring the feeling your bodies and fluids connected.

He keeps thrusting, working you both through the high and the comedown with ease, his hips snapping in time and spending all of his energy within you.

Vox only slows when your shaking stops, when your moans stutter out, when you go limp. He holds himself there in you, savoring the moment and the feeling. Euphoric warmth floods you, endorphins rushing below the skin. His hands run up and down your back, hot flat palms to soothe any aftershocks in your muscles.

Vox pulls out slowly, gentle and careful. You can already feel it, mixed spend spilling from you in his absence. He’s made a mess of you, and more than usual. You miss the warmth his body brings, the cool air of the room discomforting.

“Val you gotta look at this,” Vox’s voice is dripping with enthusiasm behind you despite the fact you know he’s as exhausted as you are. He runs the backs of his claws from your ass to your thigh, not a reassuring caress of aftercare, but the way one would admire a trophy. And in your case, a sweaty, messy, bound trophy. You meet eyes with Val, who tucks his now softening member back into his pants, and rises from his chair. The moth demon rounds the corner of the bed, and you can hear the dull thud of his leather glove against Vox’s bare shoulder.

“Oh, espléndida,” Valentino coos, the same tired lustful tone in his voice as Vox carries. Leather of Val’s glove makes contact with the small of your back, and your arch into his touch, but he moves no further. How is it that you still react to this kind of touch even after all of your body feels boneless and not your own?

“I know,” Vox practically moans, and you feel yourself once again constricting, this time around nothing. Fuck, the effect this man has on you. Vox indulges where Val doesn’t, his hand leaving your thigh to cup you between them. You moan, burying your face into the duvet below you as he runs the tip of his clawed finger between your oversensitive folds.

“Definitely good for business, right?” he asks, and you can feel the mixed spend of your releases dripping out of you, “Fuck, baby, you’re something else.”

He says that last part like Valentino isn’t here, like it’s the two of you, special and private. He smears it up between your ass cheeks, before removing his hand from you all together. You try to bury yourself into the blanket even further when you hear the sound of him sucking his own fingers clean. Normally you’d be opening your mouth for a greedy taste yourself, but something about Valentino being here keeps you meek.

“Can we keep this?” he asks his business partner, turning his attention away from you now.

“Of course!” Val booms excitedly, “And I can go ahead on production now that this trial has been a success!”

You slide down, your knees untucking from under you as you nestle further into the warmth of Vox’s navy blue duvet. It’s soft and doused in the same cologne he uses and oh so comforting. Conversation between the two men turns to Val’s business, nothing you actually have to pay attention to as it doesn’t apply to Vox’s schedule.

And then soon enough you feel Vox climb off the bed, hear the closing of a door, the click of a lock, and Vox’s hands return to your back, this time massaging and gentle.

He climbs back onto the bed, his body covering yours as he undoes the clasps of the restraints, pressing his chest against your back. He bends your arms at the elbow, bringing each wrist up against his screen to kiss them, his thumb massaging circles into them. His hands move back up your arms, over your shoulders, and down your back. Vox pushes you over, onto your side to lay on the bed, before laying down himself. You reach out for him in the dimly lit room, running your fingers along the bottom edge of his screen. He glows brighter, his little way of letting you know you have his attention even when he cannot turn to look at you.

“I’m messy,” you whine, but make no move to get up. You’re so spent your limbs feel like they’re made of stone.

“You want me to run a bath?” he asks, already getting up from his spot. He’s still naked, still your vulnerable Vox, something more than your boss.

You nod, jutting out your bottom lip at him. He chuckles as he gathers you up easily in his arms, making a beeline for his bathroom.

“Jacuzzi jets,” you tell him, and he nods vigorously. Of course, he was always going to turn on the jacuzzi jets; They’re your favorite.

Vox crosses the room easily as you wrap your arms around his neck, snuggling into him. He kicks the door to the bathroom open and sets you down on the cool tile of the counter. It soothes your ass, calms the handprint shaped bruises.

“Can I convince you to sleep over tonight, Doll?”

“No need,” you shake your head, a playful smile as he starts the bath, “I doubt I can fuckin’ walk after the number you did on me.”

Vox’s screen flashes, his smile huge.

[gotham-daydreams]

Well that took a dark turn-

ANYWAYS what if reader escapes their first kidnapped Attemp from batfam and just dissappears, like go into hiding, and they can't be tracked down for a few weeks, what will batfam do?? Do you think the reader will be able to do that? 👀 👀 (I love this series and the ideas anons are giving ıts amazing<33)

What can I say? With yanderes there are only dark corners that progressively get darker the further you go.

(Also I'm glad! And I agree!! The ideas the anons are giving are amazing and I love them to bits!)

As for your question, in the series I don't believe that the reader will be able to fully achieve that. Since with what actually happens- well, it's kind of complicated, though they could try!

In a hypothetical scenario (that, once again, doesn't involve what'll happen in the series), the Batfam, in short, would freak the fuck out all over again.

Granted, they do have more information about the reader this time around, compared to when they first started looking for them. However, that doesn't seem to help, as they aren't able to locate the reader anywhere. Having even more trouble than the first night they tried looking for them, which is kind of saying something.

As you've said, it takes them a few weeks. Though by the first week they're already on the brink of insanity.

The Batfam finally had a taste of what life could've been with the reader in it. Of what life is like with the reader in it. Only for that to get taken away from them... and maybe it is deserved. Maybe that's just karma finally biting back, and showing the Batfam the one good thing that's ever happened to them, only to take it away. Only to steal it away again, to pour more pounds of salt on their aching wounds. Maybe it's what they deserve for ignoring the reader, and neglecting them for so long.

But they don't care.

They had the reader. They finally managed to bring them back home- and this happens? The reader ends up disappearing all over again? They leave again? But why? Didn't they want this too? Didn't they want to be a part of the family? What happened to that? Why can't they have it anymore? Why does the reader keep running away?

Y'know how I said in that one post where an anon asked "what would happen if the reader moved to a different country, instead of staying in Gotham?" (Or something around those lines-), that the Batfam would not only lose their minds, but be on the very brink the moment they find the reader, and thus, don't even have to think before kidnapping them? Well, this is very similar to that, except during those few weeks, at least a few of them absolutely tip over.

The moment they find the reader they don't even wait. No more slow approaches or mind games, they need the reader- now.

Nothing is going to change that. Nothing is going to get in the way of that. Not anymore. Not ever.

The reader wouldn't even get a chance to react or even make the smallest sound. All they know is that they were just suddenly minding their own buisness, albeit very paranoid and trying to be the most cautious they could, and then they saw black. By the time they wake up? They're back in their room in the manor. Maybe with a few... things missing if you catch my drift.

Since, now, well-

The Batfam will prioritize having the reader with them over any song or tune they'll ever hear them play.

The reader is what matters most to them, and they're never letting go. Never.

Even if it means taking away thing that'll limit them further. The Batfam is always there to help, so surely there isn't a problem, right? If anything, this just unlocks new bonding opportunities! Isn't that great! Are you happy?

Now the reader nees them more than ever, and they wouldn't have it any other way. :]

Regardless, when I do finally manage to get part 3 out and also part 4 (whenever that'll be-), maybe why I think that the reader in the "Not [ ]" series won't be able to fully accomplish this will be more clear! Since it is a little intense what happens, and will screw the reader over enough. Though it also may further encourage to escape somehow, we'll see!

Anyway, I hope this answered your questions!!

[foreverisntenough]

‘OURS’

Summary: You were his and he was yours but what would it be like adding one more? Thrust into a whirlwind romance you never could’ve imagined that became your forever love. You continue building a new life across the pond with a very beautiful Scouser. A sequel to the ‘You’re Mine’ fic.

INDEX

Warnings: This series is 18+ and will contain fluff, suggestion, SMUT (unprotected sex,) pregnancy, parenting, mental health struggles, eating disorder, self doubt, body image issues, daddy kink, angst, alcohol consumption - not sure what else really… if i miss anything please lmk!

Note: Thank you for reading! Please be sure to like, comment, or message me what you think of the series! Try not to nitpick with any real pregnant/ baby logistics it’s better if you just read along happily :)

Chapter 26 - Back at Home | ‘Ours’

word count - 11.2k

“One more set, yeah?” Trent yelled out to you from the other side of the court bouncing a tennis ball again and again onto the ground and back up into his hand waiting for you. You sat on the clay court sweating with your head tucked between your knees, breathing heavily in your tiny white tennis dress, absolutely knackered.

“No, we are done. You’ve had your fun.” You shook your head refusing to make eye contact with him. Trent had beat you in straight sets… twice. It’s not even that you were bad at tennis, he just was very good and very determined to win. You were slightly more indifferent about your game of tennis today. Trent was not going to sacrifice his pride and let you win and you knew that, you should’ve remembered it though when you agreed to the match. Marriage be damned Trent Alexander-Arnold wasn’t loosing a game.

“I think I want to build a court at the house. I want to teach Ted tennis. I think it could be her thing.” He cooed, pulling the net down with his hand and stepping over it coming towards you. You finally picked your head up with a smile. It was both very cute but slightly ridiculous to want to build a tennis court at your home. It slowly but surely started to feel like a sports complex in your back garden. The pool, the turf pitch, there was half of a basketball court as well, and now he wanted to add tennis into the mix. Whatever he wanted though. To be fair, it was quite fun and cool he could just decide that and you were sure in a month's time you’d be going out to sit court side to watch him and Teddy attempt to rally.

“Her thing?” You asked him with a cute tired smile. Trent wanted Teddy to be good at sports and that was abundantly clear but with the general public constantly pushing the narrative that she had to play football, ‘project TAA’ trended when you announced the pregnancy. It wasn’t something he felt all that comfortable with. Of course, he wanted her to, they played a lot together and watched a lot of football together. He hoped she’d like it but he wanted her to make the decision for herself if she ever wanted to do it.

“Yeah, I mean she’s going to be sick at any sport but we could do this one together. Could be nice, no?” He explained plopping himself to sit on the court next to you. One thing was certain to Trent though, Teddy was going to be excellent at everything she ever did. Even in her failures he’d think she was incredible and her efforts always valiant. She’d fumble in the grass trying to run as fast as she could and the look in his eyes was as if she’d won a gold medal. That’s not to knock Teddy either, she was fairly coordinated for her age, his belief in her though was astronomical in size.

“I’m sure she’d love it, T. Not so sure she’d want you to just torment her the way you just did to me for the past few hours but in general I know she’d love more time with daddy.” You cooed shuffling to lay your head on his shoulder. He draped his strong arm closest to you around your shoulder and pulled you tight into him. He kissed your temple with a hum.

“Torment is unfair. You just weren’t dialed in, ya know? I was thinking that when we play next time…” Trent began on a rambling tangent or analysis of sorts about your performance. It could be something you’d find annoying or offensive but when Trent talked about something with so much passion and enthusiasm you just wanted to listen to it for ages. He cared about you and so he had things he wanted to say. It was a loving way of lending his opinion and assistance. “I think when you serve if you tossed the ball a bit higher it’d make such a difference, baby. Honest.” He cooed focused on bouncing the tennis ball again in front of you two. You just hummed in agreement with a smug smile. He was right. He was always right. That was the other thing that made the babbling all the more endearing. He knew what he was talking about.

“I will give it a go next time. Thank you for the advice, pretty boy.” You giggled a little as he stood up first and pulled you up by your hands. You dusted off your ass that had chalky dust from the court all over you but you began to care less and less when you became distracted watching Trent peel his sweaty t-shirt off over his head. There was something incredibly sexy about him when he worked out or was just sweaty. It should be gross and yet there were few things that turned you on quite like it.

“Maybe you can give me private lessons when you build the court at the house.” You spoke softly to him walking over to the side of the fenced in area now. You watched his back muscles move as he put the rackets away and your mouth watered. You move to run your hands up and down his back, over his strong muscles and he purred letting his head drop back towards you with a relaxed expression. You let your hands run lower down him until you reached the waistband of his shorts and then you glided your hands around his waist toying with it. “You know, I heard a lot of people sleep with their tennis instructors, baby.” You informed him. You were being cheeky but there was some truth to your trope. You knew a few marriages from growing up that had fallen victim to country club affairs. This was not that obviously. You were just being playful. He hummed, placing his hands over top of yours on his shiny tanned skin. He looked fucking delicious. You wanted a bite and so you took one. You pressed your lips to his back and worked kisses up his skin but when you reached his shoulder you bit down cheekily. He flicked his gaze to the side to see you with a handsomely conniving grin. “Yeah, but you wouldn’t mind. You could teach me… and then you could play with me…” you whispered to him, dropping your tone. Trent could feel his heart begin to race and slam against his chest. The hot air of the Mediterranean somehow feeling impossibly hotter than before The growing bulge in his shorts, anything but subtle. “And then of course we’d have to stretch after.” You kept talking with blatantly coy innuendos.

“Of course. Would need to stretch you out. Can't have you getting hurt” Trent provided an ad lib that had your pussy throbbing. Everything about this moment was sexy; the way he looked, the way he felt, the way he smelt, the way he sounded, it had you reeling.

“Right, I would definitely need it and then after that cool down I’d have to shower so.” You dragged your hands over his abs and then dipped slightly into the waistband of his shorts. Trent shuttering a little, having to take a deep breath, you then pulling your hands back up the muscles.

“I can help you there as well.” He cooed, grabbing your hands and spinning around in your embrace. He wrapped his arms around your own waist swiftly as you moved to drape yours up over his shoulders. He dragged his hands over the curve of your ass and then to the underside of your thighs before he picked you up with ease.

“Wow. That sounds…mmmph.” You couldn’t even finish your sentence. You smiled at him with a sultry smirk before diving back into your silly roleplay. “What a thorough instructor. How much does all this cost?” You giggled in his arms as he narrowed his gaze into your eyes. Your legs wrapped around his waist and he moved over to the bench off to the side of the court taking a seat, you coming down with him to straddle him now.

“For you pretty girl? Free but I have a few prerequisites.” He answered your question. You raised your eyebrow and bit your lip to hold back a juvenile excited smile forming on your face to hear his response. “Erm well thing is you’ve got to be my wife for the rest of your life and you’ve got to be a good girl f’me the whole time.” He cooed quietly in a way that shivers racing down your spine. You leaned forward and pressed your nose to his.

“I definitely will be both of those things forever.” You whispered before taking his bottom plump lip between your teeth and pulling it.

You boarded the private plane home and felt an odd mix of emotions. Part of you couldn’t wait to get back home to your baby girl and regular life but another part of you would’ve loved to stay on your honeymoon for the rest of your life. Spending time with Trent alone was so refreshing and almost energizing to your relationship. It was nice to be just you. Not parents, not a footballer, whatever it was, it was just so good to be Y/N and Trent together but your heart had a slight ache the whole time thinking about your little girl.

“You’re very pretty.” You whispered, running your hand over Trent’s hair. He was laying on top of you on a couch in the plane’s cabin. His cheek resting on your stomach. He looked like an angel. His features had gone more soft as he laid there resting.

“I’m sleeping.” Trent mumbled out against your warm skin. His plump lips moving flush against you too tired to prop his face up any to speak any more clearly. He had pulled up your shirt to lay directly on your stomach. He didn’t want any barrier between you two. For some reason he was being incredibly clingy for the last day and a half. He said he was fine but you knew it probably had to do with the fact that Liverpool’s preseason tour was so soon and he’d have to be away from you and Teddy.

“And you’re still very pretty.” You scratched at his scalp gently and he hummed nuzzling into you more. You weren’t looking forward to his departure but another season would be exciting. That was your life. That is quite literally what you legally had signed up for the other week, Mrs. Trent Alexander-Arnold would be at football matches guaranteed at least for the foreseeable future until he retired and probably still would be after that.

In swift succession your flight landed, you got in the car, and then you arrived at home. Trent let out a dramatic sigh as you walked into the house. He carried all your luggage and his inside and plopped it all in the foyer beside the door, the way that always drove you nuts. Trent started to laugh as he proceeded further into the house when he noticed a pause in your strides behind him seeing him drop it all there. Your brow furrowed as to why he was giggling away. He turned around cheekily and gave you a wink.

“I’m kidding! I know, I know. I will bring them upstairs, beautiful.” He sang to you bringing his hand to your waist pressing a kiss to your forehead. You muttered ‘so annoying.’ under your breath as you rolled your eyes. “Huh? Got something to say to me, your husband, the man you willingly chose to marry?” He cockily laughed while beginning to pick up all of the bags.

“No, baby.” You giggled, shaking your head, coming to help him pick up a few of the smaller pieces. You carried it all upstairs and you unpacked slowly and methodically while Trent laid in bed after a shower. It was so good to be home. Honestly, it felt like you’d been gone for ages. Frankly, you kind of had been considering you had left for the wedding weeks ago. With the help of both your families you had gotten Teddy from the United States back to the United Kingdom, Tyler flying her home for you but she was at Dianne’s now waiting for you to come get her. You picked her up and naturally it was a reunion full of tears.

Trent had to immediately get into football mode. The next day he was on his way to preseason training at AXA. It was a little insane you were already back at the start of another season but this time as his wife. Like the wind, things returned to normal, you were home and Trent was leaving the house for football yet again.

“You’re so cute.” You cooed watching Trent put on his watch with real focus to fix it’s clasp. You kept your focus on him. He deserved your focus but he held it without even trying. He looked so cute. He stuck his tongue out into the corner of his mouth the same way Teddy replicated often and scrunched his nose up.

“What are you on about?” He asked you with a breathy childish giggle you loved to hear only further proving your point. He flashed a look your way once he clasped it. Your heart faltered a little. It had only been mere weeks of no football and it wasn’t ever all that different but it was cute to see Trent put on his new training gear for each season every year.

“You’re just so cute, T.” You pouted at him. It felt almost like he was getting ready for his first day of school and had gotten a new outfit for it. He threw his head to the side dramatically the same way a school kid would.

“The disrespect. I’m a man, baby.” He shot back with some classic Trent sass and feigned offense.

“Yeah, yeah, yeah but you’re also such a cutttieeee.” You sang, hopping off the edge of your bed and skipping over to him. You wrapped your arms around his waist with a tight squeeze. Trent was sexy and manly, no shadow of a doubt but he also had one of the cutest faces in the world. Those boba eyes and pouty lips just were everything.

“Alright, well, this ‘cutie’ is going to go to his adult job as a professional male athlete so goodbye.” He cooed, wrapping an arm around you. He kissed your hair, breathing you in, relishing in a last moment of your comfort before he left for grueling workouts. He let go of you though more abruptly than you were expecting, walking to grab his phone off the nightstand. You thought he’d hold you a little longer.

“Wait… I don’t get a real kiss? I just called you cute and you’re gonna leave me without a kiss?” You looked at him shocked. He just shook his head at you. Of course, he wasn’t. That wouldn’t be any fun to just give into you. Your face dropped a little unintentionally offended that he just shook his head ‘no’ declining a kiss with you.

“You can’t call Teddy needy for me ever. Honestly. She learns this from you.” He laughed and you gave him a stubborn pout in return, something Teddy probably also learnt from you. “C’mere, you’re a joke but I love you.” He grabbed you and dragged you into him. He held your body in his arms and swayed you back and forth sillily. You smiled big up at him. He fairly harshly grabbed the back of your neck and pulled you into a deep kiss with a hum.

“And you feed into it! You love the attention so who's really to blame here?” You asked him cheekily, pulling away from a particularly good kiss.

“Mama up pleabs.” Teddy whined. Tears filled her lash line this morning as she stood looking up at you with big sleepy puppy dog eyes. She was still in her pajamas, cute as ever but the tears had been flowing since you’d arrived back home from Italy. Teddy was really emotionally attached to you and you weren’t sure how to manage it. Not in a bad way, it was okay, you were too paranoid not to check in with her doctors about it but you were worried about her dependency at first. It just made you want to coddle her, you hated staring into those pooling brown eyes. You never wanted to see her sad.

“My Teddy bear, it’s okay. I got you. Come on cute girl. Let’s make some breakfast for you and we can go sit outside in the sunshine, okay?” You attempted to put her down from your hold but you were met with more tears. Her little hiccups and sniffles from her cries breaking your heart. Teddy had been glued to you. You were trying to do anything to make her happy or distract her from the fact that you’d been apart for some time. You’d hope making her a breakfast she liked and playing outside would make her smile a bit.

“Mama nos. Up pleabs” Teddy pouted pleadingly at you pulling at your arms and waited diligently and fairly stubbornly until you picked her back up. She hadn’t let her own little arms wrapped around your neck loosen one bit since you had come back. She buried her face in your shirt, refusing to budge when you finally caved and picked her back up.

“Okay, okay. You just want mummy to hold you all day, huh?” You giggled brushing your hand over her curls, pressing a few gentle kisses to her cheek. She nodded sadly in response. “I’m not going anywhere, baby. I’ve got you. Aren’t you so happy that you, me and daddy are all back home together and the doggies?” You cooed and she hummed a ‘mmhmm’ sleepily hugging you. “We’ll have a fun day. You still have to tell mummy all the fun things you did at Mom Mom and Pop Pops. Can you tell me about how much fun you had at the beach with them and Win?” You asked her swiping your thumb under her eyes, catching some tears still slowly rolling down her soft skin.

“Missed my mama.” She cooed, rubbing her hands over her eyes awkwardly in the most adorable way in the funny way little kids did. Your bottom lip rolled. Teddy loved you and Trent. She wasn’t attached in a bad way but it was a hard thing to navigate how clingy she could get with you. With Trent so busy with football that was always an emotional departure each time and a confusing thing she hadn’t quite wrapped her head around entirely yet but sometimes you felt like she was all the more concerned when you weren’t around. That she was coming to terms that daddy had to travel for work and you’d see him on TV but where the hell did mummy think she was going? She was affectionate because you were affectionate and it was beautiful but you also wanted her to be strong, independent, and brave. You felt so guilty when you and Trent had said goodbye to her at once and knowing you had been together without her had her fairly upset. So what was her answer to what she did on her trip? She missed you, that's what she did.

“I know you did, Teddy bear but you had a fun time too. You were so brave on your plane ride home with Ty too. I heard you watched movies and had some snacks. Did you save me any goldfish crackers that Mum mum packed you, for me?” You asked her knowing that your mum had packed Teddy some for her flight home. It was a snack you introduced to Teddy when you were in the US and she loved the shape of them and of course the taste. She nodded. Dianne told you they were in her bag when you picked her up. Your mum had tucked some extra bags in with her things. “Oh wow! That's so nice of you. Thank you, sweet girl. My Teddy bear is such a big girl now. Mummy and Daddy are so proud of you for flying. You had lots of fun doing that, huh? Did you like traveling with Ty?” You asked her softly.

“Guess sos mama.” She answered you shyly, a little confused how she was able to feel both sad about missing you and happy about having fun with Tyler. She did really deserve your compliments. You were genuinely proud of her. She had flown home from New York with Tyler. He had some work things to do in Manhattan and some friends to see after the wedding so it had worked for him to get her and bring her back with him. She was chill and well behaved so it wasn’t exactly all that suprising news but it was cute that she was able to be brave like you hoped she’d be to fly home with her uncle, no mummy, no daddy. “And you know what else? I heard Pop Pop took you to get a really yummy treat a few nights that you liked. Do you remember what you had with him?” You asked her placing her back down on her own feet on the carpet crouching yourself down into a squat to get to her level to be eye to eye keeping your hand on her back.

“Chalk ice cweam.” She answered you in her best effort at pronouncing her dessert. You had heard all about ‘chalk ice cweam.’ They had gone out for ice cream one night and then another night and then another night by Teddy’s request. Your dad wanted to take Teddy to the ice cream shop he had always taken you and Winnie to while you two were growing up each summer. It made you melt like her ice cream cone had all over her tiny hand and white shirt in the photo your dad sent you. Teddy’s new obsession had taken on a life of its own from there. She loved it.

“Mmmmm was it so yummy? Mummy used to eat that with Pop Pop every summer time too. I loved it so much. My absolute favorite” You told Teddy and a pit formed in your stomach as the words fell out. Thinking about summers you’d spent indulging in ice cream cones with your dad, something you once loved so much made you sad and a little sick. Teddy was so excited by the treat and yet the idea of eating the dessert was horrifying to you now. You promised yourself you’d do everything you could to make sure Teddy never felt the way you did, what you did about something you used to love. You couldn’t let her develop this type of relationship with food or to be more honest, herself. “Do you know who else loves chocolate ice cream?” You cooed, starting to help her out of her cute printed pajamas trying to move on from your melancholy tornado of thoughts and get on with your morning. She shook her head ‘no.’ “Daddy does. You’re just like daddy, huh?” You smiled at her. That was a massive compliment to Teddy. That’s all she wanted. Trent was everything to her so her sleepy pout slowly curled into a proud smile. She just liked to copy him. She’d follow him around the house just wanting to do what he did. You got her changed and made your way to the kitchen for some pancakes and juice followed by a nice morning in the back garden. You had initially planned some fun activities and games but Teddy just wanted to be stuck to you so instead you compromised letting her snuggle up to you on a couch in the shade of the back patio playing more educational and less exerting games asking her questions about colors, numbers and spelling getting to see her mind develop in real time.

“Me, dada. Kiss Teddy.” Teddy yelled as she pulled at the hem of Trent’s shorts the second he walked into the house coming back from training. She had developed super senses. The ability to know the second when he arrived home. She just knew instantly and would dart to the door.

“Hi baby bear. What did you miss me or something?” Trent laughed at her overzealousness. She stood waiting impatiently and Trent knew it would drive her nuts if he held off any affection she was clearly, and to be fair, usually rightfully so, anticipating. “I am gonna go give mummy a kiss hello, okay?” Her brow furrowed. He wasn’t going to give her a cuddle? He’d been home for 60 seconds and even that was too long to wait for a kiss in her mind. What was this about?

“Dada no. Kiss Teddy first.” She huffed. She was right there and you weren’t even in the room, why was he leaving her? She couldn’t believe she finally had Trent back home with her and he wasn't fawning all over her like he normally did.

“Let me go give mummy a kiss.” He lightly jogged away from her but not leaving the room just around in a small circle in the foyer of your house. This probably wasn’t the time for these jokes considering her upset over you being apart. Teddy, shocked, stood still and her bottom lip began to quiver, her eyes filling quick with tears. “Oh no no no, don’t need to cry, my beautiful girl. I’m just kidding. C’mere. Always have a kiss for my Teddy.” Trent cooed, picking her up, giving her a peck on her little pout, brushing away her tears. “I’m sorry baby. I love you. Missed you all day.” He kissed Teddy again. And then again. And again. He peppered his kisses all over her before he just began blowing raspberries against her skin.

“Dada!” She squealed with giggles. You were just finishing letting the dogs back inside from the back garden but the beautiful cacophony of her giggles reached you. Teddy was with you originally but she took off running when her ‘super senses’ kicked in before your second dog made it in because she needed to greet him immediately upon entry.

“Greedy, greedy girl. Can you share dada with me?” You cooed, coming into the front room. Seeing Teddy finally back giggling made everything better. It put your heart and mind at ease. The two of them perfectly beautiful.

“No, mama. My dada.” Teddy clarified to you making sure you knew that he was hers. You frowned dramatically with a defeated huff before you turned away from them to leave the room. Frankly, you hoped that if you were treating Teddy as cheekily as you normally would her attachment post honeymoon would start to dilute. You’d coddle her but a good tease was welcomed.

“Mama … I’m sowwy. Can give my dada kiss if want, mama.” Teddy looked so sad as Trent placed her down. She grabbed at his hand and dragged him over towards you as if he was some sort of possession or item of hers to give.

“My dada.” You cooed possessively, turning around and draping and hanging your body weight onto Trent dramatically. Teddy had given you an inch and you took a mile in her eyes. She glared at you with a ‘don’t take it too far now’ type of stare which made you laugh.

“C’mere, pretty girl. Mwah!” Trent kissed you with a laugh knowing exactly what you were doing, you both were just provoking your daughter. It was in good humor but that was enough for now. You scooped up Teddy in your arms after and Trent pulled both of you into him. “Mummy is so silly, right baby? You and mama can have all the kisses now I’ve got both my beautiful girls back with me finally. Love you so much, yeah?” Trent kissed Teddy’s cheek and she giggled happy with the current arrangement.

Trent was leaving for Liverpool’s preseason tour tomorrow which wasn’t fun. It was always really hard. You hated being apart. It was definitely hard to explain to Teddy daddy was leaving for a week plus after he just was away. It was a mountain you were not looking forward to climbing. It was a rainy day and you were sat in the living room laid horizontally on the couch under a blanket. Teddy was playing with the dogs close by, messing about on the floor. Trent was upstairs preparing his things to pack for his fast approaching departure.

“Mama, what watching?” Teddy inquisitively asked, coming round the couch. She tilted her head interested. You sat up from your position on the couch and extended your arms towards her.

“I’m watching a tv show. Do you want to come and watch a Teddy and mama show with me instead?” You asked her sweetly and gently, deciding you could pause whatever you had on and jump to something for her. She nodded with an excited giggle running towards you. “Okay, one condition though.” You prefaced

“What mama?” She asked eagerly, climbing up on the couch into your lap pulling on you to get herself up to you.

“You have to snuggle up with mummy. Okays?” You told her and she wiggled in your lap moving to cuddle herself up to you goofily. She laid her head onto your thigh and wrapped her arms around your waist.

“What movie should we watch, Ted?” You cooed. You knew her answer already though. It had become her current fixation. Bless Tyler for enduring an eight hour travel day with her in the midst of this obsession.

“Poooh mama!” She yelped with a giggle. She was lovvving Winnie The Pooh. It kind of took you by surprise mostly because when you imagined having a baby you actually were curious what the latest and greatest movies, shows, and songs were for them now. Your dad had showed her it during the week of your wedding. Naturally she liked it. Before it even started when he had explained the main character, Pooh, was a bear and his name was her favorite (and only) aunt, Winnie, ticking two big* boxes for her. You hummed already navigating on the screen with the remote to start the movie.

“What are we watching?” Trent cooed coming downstairs into the room seeing you and Teddy cuddled up. Teddy incredibly focused on the screen, your gaze fixed on her wrapping her ringlet curls round your fingers.

“Dada, shhhh!” Teddy hissed pushing her finger to her mouth telling Trent essentially to shut up because Winnie the Pooh was on the screen.

“Oh wow, I am so sorry!” He puffed some air out his nose stifling a laugh. He was well aware of the fascination, he should’ve known better. He sat on the couch beside you manhandling you and by proxy Teddy into a cuddle with him. His arms around you, face buried in your neck pressing slow quiet kisses to your skin. Trent didn’t need to watch. You all had seen this movie a lot lately.

“We’re watching our favorite movie.” You answered him with a soft giggle. He hummed, not even needing a further explanation or title name. He knew immediately. The pugey little yellow bear on the screen also gave it away.

“Nah, I know what my favorite movie is and it is definitely not this one, baby.” He whispered, correcting you with his lips coming to ghost over the shell of your ear. You smirked having an inkling what he might be referring to. The cheeky direction of your thoughts was halted by a very agitated Teddy.

“Mama!! dada!!!” Teddy whipped around to glare at you both annoyed. Trent held his hands up in innocence, removing them from your sides and then naturally felt inclined to point at you to push the blame. You rolled your eyes at his childish behavior.

“Do I know this movie?” You craned your neck around, cooing in a significantly quieter voice hoping not to bother Teddy.

“Oh do you ever…” He whispered back and you felt your stomach drop a little in the best way. “You starred as the leading role. Main character, baby. Rave reviews about the performance I’ve heard as well.” He cheekily cooed, moving his lips much much closer to you. The feeling of his breath on your skin made your eyes flutter shut. He slipped his arm across your chest before dragging his big hand down your neck. It was frustratingly sexy but also stupidly innocent. You wanted to groan but you just focused your attention on that same little yellow bear still running about on the screen. Trent loved the feeling of your body sweetly snuggling into his juxtaposed with the incredibly suggestive hand placement that had both of your minds racing.

“Do you remember filming, movie star?” You shook your head disapproving of his teasing words that hit the shell of your ear with his plump juicy lips against your skin as he held you closer to him. You couldn’t stop your body from tensing in his embrace and the memories of not just that film he was referring to, the one that you’d made in the shower the other day with Trent, but all the other wonderful times you’ve had were coming flooding back. You tried to shuffle away but he held you to him moving his hand to press his palm flat against your stomach keeping you firm in place.

“Shhh, it’s rude to talk during our movie. Be quiet daddy” You cooed jokingly back to him needing to immediately pause the directions of your thoughts. You weren’t sure you’d be able to stand any more of him for the lengthy remainder of the movie left and the time until you put Teddy to bed. He reached around you and grabbed your chin to turn your chin back towards him. He kissed your lips gently. His pout feeling divine against your lips. You needed to not let him get in your head so you made the kiss a bit sillier than sexier sealing it with a ‘mwah’ noise. Teddy snapped around again to look at you very vexed, gesturing her hand towards the screen as if to say ‘what do you and daddy not understand about the fact that she was trying to watch Winnie The Pooh!’

‘Don’t forget this! Travel safe baby.’ You texted Trent and cheekily sent him the video you had discussed during the movie the other night, the movie you had filmed in the shower of your ensuite together. When he left for Liverpool’s preseason tour this morning, you wanted to cry but the keepsake of your spicy photos and video hidden on your camera roll would have to do in providing you some comfort and maybe a bit of fun while he was away. Marcel had come over the same morning a little later on just to hang with you, which was fairly common if Trent was home and probably even more so when he had to be away. It provided Trent a lot of comfort that someone could be home with his two girls. Marcel was sitting with Teddy at the kitchen island as you made them breakfast. The two of them babbling on and on about nonsense, taking selfies, and just being besties, frankly.

“Hey Marce, can you text T for me and ask where he put my mac charger? I forgot to ask before he left.” It just had randomly popped into your head that you had let Trent borrow it last night and per usual it was nowhere to be found. You asked Marcel not thinking about much other than preventing the pancakes on the skillet in front of you from burning, avoiding a critique from the two equally picky eaters at your table, despite their 20 year age gap. Marcel picked his head up and gave you a ‘sure’ answer. You just wanted to make sure you had a charger and he and Teddy had your phone. It was fine…

“Oh my god! Oh shit! Nope Ted, give that to me now!” Marcel yelped out as his eyes went wide and he winced in disgust, snatching the phone out of Teddy’s tiny hands. He turned the screen away from himself as well, grossed out by what was happening on it. Teddy was developing her finer motor skills as well as an infatuation with your phone. She loved playing with it and particularly loved taking selfies of herself or just hitting the camera button. You’d end up with thousands of blurred photos of her world but it was cute and you didn’t mind. She had meandered through from the camera somehow into uncharted territory when Marcel turned his attention to you for your question no longer following her movements on your phone. His eyes felt like they were burning when they snapped back seeing the video unfolding on the screen. Teddy wasn’t paying much attention to it she was more so staring at him now but the idea of her seeing a millisecond alone of a certain video freaked him out enough.

“Nah, Y/N. I’m gonna throw up. Like… Oh my god, Y/N.” He stood up frivolously panicked, rushing over to you, shoving your phone at you, holding it out in disgust. Teddy had clicked when she saw a notification from Trent pop up.. A small photo of him and his name appearing. His contact name in your phone since finding out you had gotten pregnant, originally as a joke, was ‘daddy’ leading to this disastrous moment you were unaware had unfolded. Teddy tapped seeing his name, problem being that she tapped on the last message you’d sent before he had taken off on his flight and hit play. Yes, it was that video.

“Oh my god! No!” You shrieked. Marcel motioned like he was going to be sick. You clicked off your phone and slammed it onto the marble countertop. “Literally oh my god!” You screamed.

“Honestly, I can’t look at you right now.” Marcel quipped running his hands over his head as he moved away from you back over to Teddy. He picked her up and she giggled at the sudden chaos that just unfolded in the kitchen. “You need new parents, they are disgusting, Teddy.” He spoke just to her moving into the archway into the next room connected to your kitchen. “Y/N!!! That is… That is foul.” He snapped at you.

“Stop saying my name like that, you're making me feel bad!” You yelled at him with a flush coming over your entire body. Your mind actually had gone almost completely blank. You were so in shock that your body's response was to start laughing. You couldn’t control it. “Oh my god!” You cackled, covering your face mortified.

“You should feel bad! That was criminal. Absolutely cannot believe you just left a video like that for your brother and baby to see.” Marcel quipped with wide eyes still as he shook his head while adjusting his hold of Teddy.

“I am so sorry. Oh my god. I’m sorry.” You profusely apologized in a panic. “Teddy, you didn’t see anything right? Didn’t see mummy on the phone?” You asked, petrified. She was actually at a solid enough age to identify what she saw. Maybe not from the adult perspective Marcel had just experienced but She’d be able to sus something out. You waited anxiously for her response.

“See what’s mama? Want to talk to dada now!!” She yelped blissfully unaware she could just have seen something that would’ve scarred her for life. She just wanted to talk to Trent now after seeing his name, opposite of Marcel. He never wanted to talk to you or Trent for time. You muttered a ‘oh thank god’ with a big deep breath. Marcel looked between you two and backed away by one step. You tried to walk towards him.

“Nope!” Marcel yelped out pushing his hand out towards you. “Stay away from us. Say mama’s gross.” He cooed to Teddy, sticking his tongue out towards you with a blow of air letting out a ‘ppbhhhttttt’ noise. You rolled your eyes at him. Teddy giggled with a jumbled version of what he was asking her to say then mirroring his action. Having Trent teach her nonsense was enough of a battle. She’d pick up random words he was loving using at the moment or he’d spit on the pitch and then she’d try to replicate, it was exhausting, incredibly cute but exhausting. You constantly had to manage the fine line of letting her have fun, learn, goof about, but still learn and know how to be polite and respectful, there was a time and a place for things. Adding two uncles, and two football teams, and all his friends around her it was just nonsense day in and day out. She was perfectly well behaved but she’d do this a lot. She’d be adventurous and silly with them eagerly giddy to do what they were doing.

“Baby… that’s not very nice to say to mummy.” You pouted, picking her up from his arms with a snappy glare.

“Sowwy mama. Not gwoss, tay?” She cooed with a pensive look not sure if she should keep her smile because Marcel was making her laugh or if she should fall more stoic because you had a frown on your face. You accepted her apology and kissed her with a big smile wildly relieved this hadn’t gone in another direction. You could manage Macel, he wouldn’t want to know an ounce more of detail than he gathered in that split second seeing that video. Teddy on the other hand more likely than not would’ve berated you with questions of what’s and why’s.

“No, actually I don’t think I can close my eyes ever again. Oh my days, man, that is fucking seared into my brain, Y/N.” Marcel groaned rubbing his eyes abandoning you and Teddy to plop himself on your living room couch. You placed Teddy back down on the floor and leaned over to whisper into her ear providing her with a set of instructions.

“Celly! Celly! Mama says you baby.” Teddy giggled, coming to jump onto the cushion next to him throwing herself over top of one of his outstretched legs with a goofy smile. “Like me?” She questioned him. He shook his head at her with a smile before he dropped it and scoffed. You loved to tease Marcel about his age. He wasn’t all that much younger but Dianne would always call him the baby and Teddy was intrigued that he was ‘like her.’ He snapped his neck to turn back and give you an unimpressed glare. If he wanted to use Teddy to make fun of your embarrassing faux pas, so could you. Two could play at that game. Trent was happily unaware of your mortifying morning scandal with Marcel. He was asleep on the flight to preseason. You had no doubt this would be used quite a bit though as ammunition to make fun of you both for time. He’d find out soon enough surely. Trent landed safely, falling into training sessions and heavy workouts, facetimes with Teddy and ones with you where you relayed the whole experience. He thought it was funny considering she didn’t see anything. You still felt wildly embarrassed.

“What is the one thing you're loving at the moment or the thing you’ve been obsessing over this summer?” Amidst preseason, a laidback journalist sat across from Trent asked him as he did press in between sessions. Trent smiled but paused to bite his plump bottom lip in thought.

“To be fair, l’ve been loving being married, obsessing over my wife.” Trent smiled tilting his head to the side and catching a glimpse of his phone screen illuminating with a notification. His background photo was of you and Teddy getting ready at The Plaza ahead of the wedding. He said he liked it the most because it was something he usually got to witness everyday. It was you two captured in your most Y/N and Teddy Alexander-Arnold selves. You were hugging her from behind pressing your cheek to hers as she awkwardly wrapped her arms up around your neck. He laughed a little before speaking again. “Erm… actually, I’ll get battered for that one. It’s my honest answer but you’ll have to cut that out.” He laughed. Naturally, the publication kept it in the eventually uploaded Youtube video. “I’ve really been loving Pilates. Get on it if you haven’t. Actually, my wife introduced me and we’ve been doing it a lot. So pilates.” He concluded that was his final answer. The reporter smiled seeing that Trent was seemingly unable to avoid talking about you even if he tried to deviate. He cheekily fixed his gaze directly into the camera lens sending a wink in that direction. It was sweet because yes, it was true Trent actually was enjoying it since his first time doing it in Italy but it was more just a sweet way for him to still say that the thing he’d always be loving at the moment would be you.

“I’m home, baby. I’m so sorry. Our arrival time got pushed back.” Trent whispered, pulling your limp body towards him across your mattress. He nestled you two under the covers back in your big bed after what felt like a very long two weeks apart.

“T…” you whined sleepily. You nuzzled your face against his neck lazily pushing your lips, not really even able to purse them, against his warm skin. You just left them placed there.

“Shhhh baby. Sleep.” He hushed you, wrapping you that much tighter in his embrace kissing your hair, breathing you in. He always did this thing that if you had fallen asleep before he had gotten home and his mind was still racing a mile a minute he’d just quietly whisper a murmur of compliments and mushy things to you interspersed with kisses. You weren’t even sure what he was saying. You knew it was nice, you’d catch bits of it sometimes, but most of the time you were out cold lulled by the comfort of him.

“I know missed you so much but she’s going to absolutely freak out. I don’t know if I’m ready for that squeal.” You were of course talking about your daughter, Teddy. You woke up cuddled with Trent, happy he was finally back home but you knew she was about to be even more thrilled than you, if that was possible. You had thought it’d be a fun surprise to not tell her the exact day daddy would be home and so to her delight she’d be woken up this morning by Trent. “I’m still so tired. Ted’s been putting me through it. I feel like I just chase after her. The energy levels she has and you know what… pace. She’s proper fast now, you know?” You cooed to Trent. Everything she did was amazing but also, she was still so young, she couldn’t have been all the fast but you knew Trent would get excited hearing an athletic update. You’d fill him in about taking Teddy to the nail salon and the big debate she had choosing what color to get later. This one was fun for now. Trent quite literally ran with your first tidbit of information about his time away. You could hear both their footsteps slapping against the floor as they sprinted down the hallway from Teddy’s room back to yours after he woke her up.

“Arghhh I think I just edged ya out, Ted.” Trent dramatically but fairly gracefully outstretching himself onto the carpet of your room reaching out for the ‘finish line’ i.e. the doorway. Of course, this was a race. The challenge set by Trent. Teddy had stumbled through it marginally before him. He looked up towards her with a confident grin knowing she did get through first.

“No dada! Teddy win. See! Dada! I win.” Teddy yelped out in a huff. She believed she won, she had. You could see your future ahead of you, the two of them constantly in conversation about who had won something. She was stood up still looking at him on the ground but then quickly plopped herself to lay on her belly on the carpet outstretched next to him.

“Oh I don’t know, I think I won. See.” Both you and Trent laughed. Her laying down to reach the finish line wasn’t all that effective of a tactic after she’d already ran through the finish line once which was cute. Trent stretched his arm out further reaching past the length of the tips of her fingers.

“Erm…” Teddy hummed thinking for a moment what to do. She wanted to win too but his arm clearly stretched past hers and you all could see that. “Tie dada, tay? We tie, tay?” She smiled at him before scootching herself up a little more on the carpet on her belly with a wiggle for their fingers to come be relatively aligned. Your heart warmed.

“Okay, that's fine with me. Dada and Ted tied. You and me can be on the same team so we both won, alright?” He explained to her rolling over onto his back and pulling her into his arms eliciting a giggly squeal you expected to hear for the next couple hours.

“You’re so nice, baby. Good idea to tie but I think you might’ve won it.” You poked a very sensitive bear and it wasn’t your Teddy. If it was anyone else in the world but Trent’s own daughter, his baby bear, not a shot he’d let that result fly. Settling for a tie? Not a chance. He’d immediately be inisting you do it again or tacking on an entirely new challenge to do. He would be fighting a battle that he created on his own. Yes, even you didn’t have the weight to get him to settle for a tie anymore.

“No, mama! Dada Ted tie, tay?” She corrected you. That was a big thing for her at the moment, finishing most sentences with her version of ‘okay.’ She heard you two say it in a more colloquial way a lot. She was using it to make sure you understood her.

“Okay, okay. Wanted to share the win with daddy, I got it. You’re such a daddy’s girl, aren’t you?” You cooed with a smile before rolling your eyes just at Trent.

“Nah!” He kissed her cheek dramatically. “She’s just my best friend, innit?” He spoke with Teddy nodding in agreement, you shot him a glare. Teddy Alexander-Arnold was without a shadow of a doubt, unequivocally a daddy’s girl. Full stop. Trent laughed knowing what your stare insinuated. “Yeah, yeah, she is. Whatever, I know that and I know that it’s the best thing ever as well. Look at this face, baby. How can you resist this?” Trent cooed to you taking Teddy’s face in his massive hands squishing it, the giggly squeal returning as anticipated.

“Aw Ted, you are daddy’s beautiful girl.” You smiled at them. Their faces nearly identical. “It’s ridiculous how obsessed she is with you but…” You spoke just to Trent again, sitting up more before falling forward to lay on your stomach to face them on the floor.

“I mean pot calling the black, cmon now.” Trent laughed. You’d been obsessed with Trent for years factually. You huffed a little being called out. “You’re my girl though as well and you don’t seem to mind that. Not a bad thing is it?” Trent continued leaning over on the floor to reach up to you. He cupped your cheek and pressed a soft kiss against your lips.

“No, it's not so bad.” You pouted after the kiss craving more but you’d settle for the one if it meant you got to watch more of them, beginning your slow morning before the home opener.

The first game of the season was in fact in a day or sos time so in typical fashion even in free time, you were going to find yourself near a football pitch. You were sitting on the turf grass out on the pitch in your back garden in the evening as the sun began to set. You were in a tiny black alo workout set and a hoodie of Trent’s you had nicked off him because it was getting chilly being a spectator. Trent was far from chilly, he was very hot and he looked very hot as well. In retrospect you think he might’ve been doing this just to show off for you but you’d never complain. He knew how to put on a good show, to perform for you. He pulled his shirt over his head, tugging the material with his strong arm and back muscles flexing. You salivated at the way he dragged it over himself. It was so sexy. You sat on the side of the pitch really doing nothing but admiring him as he took and retook dead balls and free kicks. After a while though unprovoked you just started to give him shit to tease. His performance didn’t warrant any but you did it anyways.

“Alexander-Arnold really miss hit that one. Certainly not the best from the Liverpool right back.” You called out the jab mimicking a commentator’s voice like you’d hear on TV. He ignored the first couple ones just grinning to himself with an occasional eye roll continuing on. “Wayyyy! Come on!” You yelled after another strike as if it was a jeer from the crowd before falling into a giggle you tried to stifle. You threw your hands like you were a disappointed fan at a stadium.

“Enough! You come take one, baby. Go on! C’mere. Take one.” He demanded with teasing fury. He looked at you with a smug smile gesturing to the spot of the turf in front of him. You leaned forward and stood up. You jogged over to him. He laughed, placing the ball in place for you.

“Damn…” you muttered with a pout. You didn’t take too long to take the kick. You were doing this for jokes but you did end up hitting the top crossbar, the ball ricocheting off.

“Y/N Alexander-Arnold really mishit that one…” He mocked your earlier comment. You rolled your eyes and waved your hand at him.

“Give me a minute please. You’ve been doing this for an hour. I just got here and I’m in socks right now.” You hushed him, making him set the next ball. You really struck it well. It was indisputably a good kick. Not of his quality of course, but it was Trent-esq. He didn’t say anything, he just went to grab the next ball. “Oh come on! Give it to me… you know it as well.” You yelped, annoyed he didn’t acknowledge that it was good. You lunged to grab at his waist begging for his approval.

“Absolute scumbag, you. C’mere.” He muttered out with a cheeky smile. You squealed as he tried to grab at you. You attempted to take off away from him, obviously he caught you, dragging you down onto the field with his sweaty body falling over top of yours. The cheeky mood changed in a second. Your heaving chest rising and falling under him. He looked at you like he wanted to eat you and you weren't scared, you were begging for him to with your eyes. He leaned closer to you, his weight was anchored on his hands resting on either side of your head. You raised your hands and cupped his face bringing it down to yours maintaining your gaze on his beautiful brown eyes. Your own features growing more and more malleable under his focused attention. You met him in the middle, lips clashing eagerly. You kissed him with a hum. He fell into you passionately. He placed his hands overtop of yours before moving them off his face and pinning them above your head down to the turf. You let Trent do whatever he wanted with you when it came to moments like this. You were always so pliable as soon as his hands were on you. Thank god, your closest neighbor was acres away because this wasn’t going to stop. The kiss heated up fast. He kept one hand holding yours, the other eagerly roaming your body. You squirmed under his tantalizing touch. He had slotted himself between your legs spread wide. His cock growing hard and strained in his shorts. The bulge of his cock pushing into the warmness of your core between your own thighs. How the fuck did you end up like this? Your back was arched as he nibbled down your neck. He reveled in your moans beginning to grow louder and the feeling of you pushing your hips up into him. His hand slid under the small top you had on dragging it up and let your tits bounce out, exposing your boobs out in the night. He loved how you usually looked, but this was just on another level of beautiful and sexy. You were desperate and illuminated by the sunsetting and the warmth of your houses lights reaching near the pitch. He dropped his mouth down to your collarbone and then to one of your nipples. His hand trailing down at the same slow pace until he reached the waistband of your shorts sliding inside them. His fingers moving gingerly to your aching core and then up and down the slit of your now soaked pussy before he landed to circle over your clit ever so deliciously.

“T… oh my god. We can’t do this.” You whined through a gasp feeling him play with your sensitive clit. He rolled his hips into you more and it became even more clear there was no stopping this train, nothing you could say to stop him or you.

“It’s so good though. C’mon, baby give into this.” He cooed against your neck, his hot breath hitting against your skin slick with the wetness left from his lips. Your hand reached for his wrist, fingers wrapping around his lower arm trying to stop him from getting you to cum from just his fingers on… the turf pitch in your back garden. It was fucking insane how he had you like this. You had no control. He pulled away from your neck and moved his hand to your relief momentarily to prop himself to carefully take his cock out. He was blissfully unaware of how good he looks right now.

“Fuck… it’s so good, baby. Please. I want you.” You begged him leaning up a little. He inched himself closer before lining himself up with your pussy. He slowly pushed his tip through the slick of your opening. He watched himself coating his tip in a soft sheen of you. He hummed in response and agreement with you. You reached down desperately to help guide him inside of your further and faster easing through your walls.

“Be a good girl. Fuck. Baby, you feel so good f’me.” He grunted, beginning to pick up his pace. You clung onto him. Your arms draped around his neck, your legs around his waist dragging your heel down his back grinding into him keep him as close to you as possible. You wanted your bodies intertwined and your souls weaved seamlessly together. He kissed you again, swallowing your moans as he drove into you deeper and deeper. He picked up your thigh draping it over his forearm and moving your knee up towards your chin. The new angle ripped the most blissful whine from you. He smiled in the middle of his kiss, loving your reaction. He trailed his kisses from his lips down your jaw, your neck, your collarbone, and then down to reach your tits. He wrapped his lips around your nipples letting himself lazily flick over them drawing you closer and closer to your high.

“T.. baby. This is…fuck! Oh my god. Fuck!… Ridiculous.” You yelped after a particularly harsh and deep thrust. Minute after minute passed and you could feel the grind of the grassy turf beneath your rub against your back’s exposed skin. His hands rested on the dips of your waist, guiding his cock into you again and again. The roll of your own hips meeting his.

“Doing so well, beautiful. That’s it, Gonna cum f’me?” Trent’s breath began to become shallower as your pussy started to clench tighter around him. He looked down at you with so much love in his eyes it almost covered the lust. You looked so pretty underneath him, his cock still buried deep inside of you. “I’m gonna make you cum, baby. Just take it f’me.” Trent instructed you getting lost in the feeling of drilling in and out of your sopping wet pussy as you whimpered beginning to tremble, completely captivating him.

“T, baby…” you whined between heaving breaths. You sounded so pretty for him. “Please, please don’t stop! I’m gonna cum, baby.” You begged him squeezing your eyes shut tightly as you started to feel an orgasmic high fast approaching. He was so deep inside that you could feel every ridge and vein move inside your velvety walls. His large hands drew down your body in between you two and began rubbing tight circles on your throbbing clit. Your mind turned to complete mush. His thrusts became increasingly sloppier and rougher as he chased his own release with you.

“Cum all over my cock, yeah? I’m gonna fill you up, baby. ” Trent babbled as you nodded. Everythiwent white, you felt a part cumming, your body aching, your eyes squeezing shut again. You were gasping as Trent fucked you through your high.

“T…baby” you moaned, feeling his release beginning to paint your insides. He gripped you so tightly, holding you completely flush against him. He stilled, pumping you full with his cum while pressing his lips to yours the way he usually did.

“That’s my good girl.” he said as he laid on top of you completely spent as you both breathed heavily, whispering I love yous back and forth.

“I genuinely believed I knew what turf felt like until right now.” Trent laughed into your warm skin. Hiding in your neck collapsed still breathing heavily.

“And I genuinely believe that turf should never be in the places it is in right now.” You cooed trying to keep a straight face but couldn’t. You fell into a giggle with him. He rolled off you and to the side pulling you back into his arms. Your eyes fluttered closed momentarily as you leaned further into Trent’s sweaty body while you tried to regain your composure post orgasm. He hummed kissing your hair repeatedly. “I want to cuddle all night.” You whispered to Trent softly running your thumb over his high cheekbone inspecting his perfectly smooth skin once you came back to.

“Out here?” He questioned you with a sly grin, knowing 100% that is not what you meant. His back now on the grass, he became well aware of what you must’ve been feeling for the past 45 minutes and he definitely didn’t want to stay the way he was.

“No, obviously not.” You quipped with an eye roll and light teasing tap to his cheek. “I just meant with you. Cuddle with you, T, baby.” You whispered to him. You nuzzled your nose against his cheek before pressing a kiss to it.

“No one is stopping you, beautiful.” He responded turning his head from his upwards gaze at the falling night to look at you. He fell into a smile and kissed your lips.

“Can you retire early? We can just do this every day.” You giggled giving him a begging pout wrapping your arms around his waist a little tighter.

“A few things, pretty girl. We’re not doing this again, let alone everyday.” He replied and your face dropped into a dramatic pout. He kissed you again to remove it. “Alright, I’d do it again…but it’s not an everyday thing. This is horrible to lay on. The other thing, sorry to disappoint but I actually like my job, beautiful. Don’t really want to stop just yet even though I would love to spend everyday with you.” He cooed sweetly pushing a fallen strand of your hair behind your ear.

“I’m was just joking, T. You know that. I’m so proud of you. I want you to play as long as you can. I get severe anxiety every match but it’s still amazing.” You cooed, kissing his shoulder looking back at him in admiration.

“I know, I know. I’m sorry for the nerves, baby. I love having you there though. Knowing your behind me is the best thing.” He smiled at you and kissed your forehead before looking to grab both your hands and lacing them with his. He sat up dragging you with him to stand up. “Alright. I’ve had enough practice out here with footie and you, we’re moving the session inside.” He cooed, wrapping his arm around your shoulders pulling you into him.

“Bedroom session?” You asked, inquiring for more of him, raising your brow with a smirk. He kissed your hair and hummed in agreement. You walked inside the house and took a deep breath seeing a few toys of Teddy’s on the carpet and Trent’s trainers in the stairs, a glass you had left on the coffee table.

“It’ll be fine you know.” Trent spoke to you moving behind you and massaging your shoulders with his big hand in an effort to relieve the stress that just caused your muscles to tense. He watched your eyes dart around the place compiling a list of all the things you’d want to fix before tomorrow.

“I know. I don’t want to like ‘pretend’ or make it seem like we live any other way. I love our home. I love it being lived in. I’m just nervous about what they’ll think.” You confessed sheepishly. Tomorrow was the big day Bentley Brown from GQ was scheduled to come over to your house for his interview with you. Trent would be at training so you were pretty apprehensive about doing it, being in an interview with a major publication was terrifying. You didn’t know how it really would work. Being home on your own for it made you slightly more nervous. You’d never done an interview like this with Trent and certainly never alone but having him there would’ve been a comfort. You were scared.

•

Thank you for reading! Please like, comment, or message what you think of the chapter 🤍

Next part - Chapter 27 xx

[a-killer-obsession]

PITCHING TENTS ⛺️

Kid Pirates x AFAB Reader Modern AU Campground Series

🔞 MINORS DNI 🔞

It wasn't something you'd ever admit to those who knew you, they all made the reasonable assumption that you went camping to spend time alone. At first, that had been the case, but you'd quickly come to learn that other single men your age were doing the same thing, and you found yourself loving the thrill of a romp with a stranger.

Masterlist || AO3 || Part One

PART 3/6 - GETTING WET (Kid + bonus Killer)

CW: sex with stranger, afab reader, semi-public sex, handjobs, shower sex, p in v sex, unsafe sex, blowjobs, oral, squirting, facials, kid is a bit shy, pool/spa sex, unsafe sex, anal fingering, rough sex, face fucking, degrading language, creampie

WC: ~4k

Taglist: @nocturnalrorobin @bbnbhm

You were feeling pretty damn good when you got up the next morning. You had four lovely prospects for fucking right next door, though you were more than happy if it turned out only Killer was down to fuck. The dreams you'd had about him and that fat cock of his were sensational, and with how wet you were when you woke you wouldn't be surprised if you'd cum in your sleep. An early riser by habit because of your office job, you decided to have a shower before thinking about food, still a little sticky from last night's unexpected kitchen romp. You weren't super surprised to see that of your neighbours, only Killer was awake, sitting in a folding camp chair with his feet up on another, a book in one hand and a cup of coffee in the other.

You flashed him a smile, and then you flashed him your tits. His grin grew wide and he quickly put down his coffee and book, stalking you to the showers. You weren't sure you'd seen any other females in the campgrounds other than Margie, so the bathrooms would no doubt be deserted, perfect. He scanned the grounds for a moment to check nobody was watching before following you in, shower already running and clothes already discarded. He pulled off his shirt as he approached, closing the cubicle door behind him and kicking off his shoes and pants before locking his mouth with yours. Your hand found his cock quickly, pumping it a few times before pulling away and turning to face the wall, arching your back and sticking out your ass so it was abundantly clear what you wanted. He was quick to shealth himself in you, fucking you hard till your legs were jelly and he had to hold you steady, practically using you like a cock sleeve. You fucking loved every second of it, and he got you cumming twice before you turned and knelt in front of him, eagerly blowing him, your mouth stretching and your eyes watering as he hit the back of your throat. He pulled out of your mouth with a pop, jerking himself off and cumming ropes of hot cum over your face and waiting tongue.

He spanked your ass as you stood back up and excused himself, but promised to bring you breakfast when you got out. You finished your shower in post coital bliss, your legs still wobbly. Dressed in a fresh set of clothes for the day, a summery dress with a deep neckline and a short skirt, you headed back to your tent with a skip in your step. He came over with two plates of bacon, scrambled eggs, and buttered toast, sitting in your ‘guest’ chair as he handed yours.

“Nice setup you have here,” he noted.

“Yeah, took a few years to get it the way I like,” you hummed, taking a forkful of delicious eggs, “you should see the bed. Most important part.”

“I'd love to later,” he grinned. “So this is your thing then? You come to camp and fuck random dudes?”

“Yup, pretty much,” you smiled coyly. “Annual tradition”

“Admirable, really,” he replied. “I love a woman who knows what she wants.”

“What I want is a taste of your friends as well,” you smiled, “think they're game?”

“For you? Absolutely,” he laughed, “They should just count themselves lucky that I'm fine with sharing, or I'd have you locked away in that tent for the next few days”

“Baby I'd suck you dry,” you replied smugly.

“Oh I fully believe that,” he grinned. “How long you here for?”

“Few more days,” you told him, “but don't tell your friends I'm trying to fuck them, I like the hunt”

“Well, if you're unsuccessful you know where to find me,” he said as he stood and took your empty plate.

“Oh I'm sure I will anyway,” you winked, “catch you later, I'm gonna go binge watch some trashy tv shows”

“Sounds like fun,” he smiled as he headed to the kitchen to wash up, “later.”

After a decent few hours of watching some trashy tv drama on your laptop, you fixed yourself a quick lunch, read a little of your book, and decided to hit up the pool. Your neighbours were currently not in, you'd heard their ute starting up an hour or so ago, no doubt headed to town. Slipping on one of the several bikinis you'd brought with you, you grabbed a towel and your slip on sandals and headed to the pool. You were surprised when you got there to see a puff of red hair from someone at the deep end of the pool resting against the side, his back to you. You deposited your shoes and towel in a cubby and slipped into the water, heading for the opposite side of the deep end. The pool wasn't a massive complex, just one decently sized pool with a shallow end where the water came up to your waist, and a deep end where you couldn't reach the floor. The deep end was covered in a large fabric cover for shade, and there was also a smaller, very shallow, covered pool for little ones, currently very much abandoned. Both pools were filled with naturally heated water that gave off a slight sulphur smell.

You mirrored the redhead and leaned against the titled edge of the pool. The cool tile was a nice contrast to the warm water, which you knew from the advertising for this place was enriched with minerals due to the source of the heated water. It was supposed to be healing, though you weren't sure how true that was. The hot water did feel soothing on the muscles though.

“Thought you all went to town,” you said loud enough for the redhead to hear, which wasn't difficult due to the pool pumps being the only sound other than the birds in the surrounding forest. It was one of the reasons you loved this camp, the pool complex was right at the edge of the grounds, untouched native forest visible on just the other side of the chain link fence, and you often saw birds you would never dream of seeing in the city.

“Stump was hurtin’” he mumbled back, waving what was left of his left arm in example, “Killer said the water here is supposed to be healing or some shit”

“Yeah, it's supposed to have minerals or something in the water, cos of the geothermal source,” you explained, “I don't know if it's just a tourist trap thing or something but the warm water is certainly nice on sore bodies”

“Mmm,” he replied, closing his eyes and resting his head back against the cold tile. “What's your name?”

“[Y/N], you?”

“Kid”

“Nice to meet you, Kid,” you smiled. You turned over and let the back of your head rest against the metal rail that circled the pool just under the water level, letting the rest of your body float weightlessly. Your eyes were closed as you let yourself softly bob in the water for a while. When you opened them the redhead was staring, a small blush creeping over his face as he realised you'd caught him and he quickly looked away. “You don't have to be shy you know, I don't mind you looking. You can even touch if you want,” you purred at him.

His face went through a million different expressions, looking between you and the gate to the pool complex. You wondered whether he was checking if he was going to get in trouble, or whether he was considering fleeing. You took it upon yourself to give him some encouragement, swimming over to him lazily.

“Would you like to touch me, Kid?” You asked, voice laced with honey. It worked like a siren song, and he pinned you between his body and the side of the pool, running his hand up your exposed belly till his fingers ran under the edge of your bikini top and his hand groped your breast. “There you are, no need to be shy, I don't bite, unless you want me to”

You ran a hand down his chest, you could feel the solid muscle under the soft outer layer, and you traced a long scar that ran down from left armpit to his abdomen. “These scars are sexy,” you hummed, before sliding your hand over the front of his swimming shorts. They were severely tented, you could feel his large cock straining against the fabric, and he made a little groan as you stroked him through it. Curious to see how he compared to his friend, you tugged on the waistband of his shorts till his cock sprung free. It was a little shorter than Killer's, but fuck did it have a girth that was going to split you wide open.

“Fuck,” you whispered under your breath as you struggled to wrap a hand around it, pumping it a few times, “look at you, how's that gonna fit in me?”

He grinned, beaming with pride, his hand slipping under your own waistband. You lifted a leg so he could feel the slick between your legs, and you let out a small moan as he pushed a thick finger inside you.

“Don't get greedy girlie,” he growled, “I ain't fucking you out in the open in the middle of the fuckin’ day”

“No? Not one for a little public indecency?” You tutted, “that fat cock of yours is making me ache though, what if I find us somewhere more private?”

“What did you have in mind?” You bucked a little as he slid in a second finger. God, even his fingers were girthy.

“Give me five minutes,” you whispered in his ear before tugging on the lobe with your teeth. He made a little growl but removed his fingers from you. The emptiness disappointed you but it would be all worth it for that monster he was holding back on. “Come with me”

You held his hand and led him out of the pool, letting go to grab your stuff from the cubby. Tucked back into his pants, not that it made his erection any less obvious, he grabbed his own shit and followed you out the opposite gate from where he had entered. The small complex was fenced off and had two gates: one that connected to the camp grounds, and one that connected to a secluded back path, actually paved as opposed to the gravel that was everywhere else, and leading to the office/shop building. This was the entry that visitors just here for the pool used, but there was also another facility along this path. Stopping at a gate next to a tall fence, you instructed him to wait there a few minutes and you continued down the path.

The shop was of course unmanned, so you rang the little bell on the counter and Margie came hobbling out.

“[Y/N]! I see you've been having a swim,” she smiled, “what can I do for you?”

“Well Marg my dear,” you replied with your sweetest tone, “I was just enjoying the warm water and was thinking about how much some even hotter water would feel great on my aching muscles. You know how camping beds can be. I left my wallet back at the tent though, is there any chance I could rent a spa and pay for it when I come grab ice later?”

“Of course sweetheart,” she grabbed a key from a back wall, a thick white tag with a number on it hanging from the keyring. “We ain't expecting any other rentals today, stay however long you like, I'll just charge you for what you use”

“You're an absolutely angel, Marg,” you grinned back, grabbing the key and flashing her a grateful smile before heading back down the path.

Kid was patiently waiting for you, shuffling on his feet, his hand itching to palm himself but preoccupied holding his shit. Absolute worst time to only have one arm. You jiggled the key at him happily and led him inside the tall gate he'd been waiting next to.

“What's the key for?” He asked curiously.

“You'll see,” you winked. Inside the tall fence was a series of five large, round, concrete huts with conical tiled roofs. You unlocked the door to the one that matched the number on the key tag and held the door open for Kid, who followed you in with a suspicious gaze. Inside the room was a large private spa, heated with the same nearby geothermal activity, but not watered down with cold water like the main pools. Well, not as much anyway. The source water actually ran unhindered in a small stream through part of the camp, with the world's least practical fence (aka a single wire with an occasional post) and dotted signs that warned you would absolutely be boiled alive if you fell in. It wasn't a fancy spa, since it didn't require electronic heating like most did. Instead it was a large raised tub, mostly cement with decorative tiles, set in a wooden platform that took up the back half of the round room, with buttons to activate jet pumps and a tap for adding cool water if you so required to adjust to your comfort. The water was cycled continuously to keep the tubs hot, and since there was no need for power to heat them they were kept hot 24/7, the small pump being the only electronic, and also the only sound in the small echoed room. Next to the door was a small wooden bench, where you dumped your things, as well as your bikini. Kid watched you with a blush as you shamelessly peeled it off and slid into the spa, letting out a satisfied moan at the hot water and sliding over to the edge to hit the jet button. Nudity was frowned upon in these private rooms, and sex was very much even more discouraged, but in the small soundproof room behind a locked door, who was going to stop you? Certainly not Margie. Hopefully not Kid.

The water sprang to life, bubbling around you from the jets, and you sat yourself on the built in bench with a jet massaging the small of your back. Kid dumped his stuff next to yours and checked the door was locked, awkwardly standing near the bench and palming himself through his shorts at the sight of your tits jiggling in the water.

“Care to join me?” You smiled.

Finally he let his shorts drop to the floor, and he lifted himself with his one hand to sit on the wood that surrounded the spa, swivelling on his ass to put his legs in. Before he could slide in entirely you swam over, placing a hand on his wide thigh to still him as your other wrapped around the base of his hard dick.

“Allow me,” you smirked, running your tongue up the underside of his cock. He tasted of chlorine from the pool but you paid it no mind, he'd be tasting of saliva and precum in no time. He groaned and fisted his hand in your hair as you ran your tongue over the head of his cock, before sucking it into your mouth and hollowing your cheeks. You knew you could take his length, but his girth was another thing, and your lips were stretched to their limit as you swallowed him into your throat. He let out a deep groan as your nose met his curly red pubes, his hand holding you in place till you tapped his thigh and he let you go to breathe. You ran your tongue up the underside again before your started bobbing your head on his cock, blowing him with practised skill as he let out a string of curses and grunts.

In the mood to get rough, you put your hand against his and encourage him to push, to control the movement of your head. He eagerly took your suggestion and held your hair tight, pulling your head back and forth and making small thrusts to match, making his cock touch the back of your throat as he fucked your face. One of your hands gripped his thigh hard and the other reached between your legs, rubbing your clit furiously and fingering yourself as you enjoyed being used by a stranger.

“Ohh fuck yes,” Kid groaned, “I'm gonna cum right down that tight little slut throat of yours, take it you fucking whore”

You whined with his cock deep in your mouth, the vibrations putting him over the edge. Thick salty cum coated your throat as he let out a roar that sent tingles down your spine. He pulled his cock out with a pop and you gave him a half lidded grin as he pulled your hair, pressing his hungry lips to yours in a bruising kiss and tasting his own cum on your tongue as he rubbed his against it.

“Let me return the favour,” he smiled, sliding into the water and guiding you to take his place on the edge. You spread your legs wide for him the same way you had last night for Killer, you feet planted flat either side of you on the wooden boards, though it was easier here with the curved edge of the tub meaning your feet didn't have to be as far back.

“Fucking beautiful,” he mumbled to himself before diving between you legs and running a wide stripe with his tongue between your folds. You shuddered at the contact, already sensitive from touching yourself, and he eagerly sucked at your clit and rolled his tongue against it as he slid two fingers inside you, pumping you hard and fast. Your moans were loud and throaty as he ate you out and finger fucked you, and your hand fisted his soft red hair eagerly. He added a third finger and made come hither motions, zeroing in on your g-spot and driving you wild.

“Ohhhhhh fuck,” you growled in a deeper tone than normal, your voice shakey with the quickly building pleasure, “just like that, fuck, you're gonna make me squirt”

He looked up at you with sharp amber coloured eyes and grinned against your pussy, the hungry look in his eyes putting you over the edge as you screamed and pulled his hair hard, coming with a wild gush that splashed against his chin and hand, dripping into the spa water. You shook hard as he worked you through it, a delirious smile on your face as your head lolled back. When your pussy stopped clamping around him he removed his fingers, making one more wide lick up your centre before he knelt on the built in bench to hover over you. You wrapped your arms around his shoulder and your legs around his waist and kissed him eagerly, tasting yourself on him. Wrapping his arm under your ass, he pulled you into the water, seating you in his lap on the opposite side of the small pool.

His cock was hard again underneath you and you eagerly rubbed yourself against it before giving in, reaching down and lining yourself up with him. The stretch was insane as you lowered yourself onto him, your head buried in his shoulder, you swore you could cum again from the stretch alone.

“There's a good little slut,” Kid purred as you started to bounce yourself on his cock, his hand teasing and pinching your nipple, “taking my fat cock like a champ, good fucking slut”

“Fuck your big dick feels so good inside me,” you moaned, “so fucking big, fuck~”

Your legs were jelly at this point and he could feel how shakey you were, so he flipped the two of you so you were underneath him and pulled out.

“Bend over for me sweetheart,” he asked, lining himself back up immediately and starting a deep but languid pace. His heavy member pressed against your g-spot, rutting against it with every thrust, making you whine and claw at the wooden boards. His hand squeezed at your ass cheek before rubbing a thumb over your asshole, waiting for you to protest. When you didn't he sunk his thumb into the first knuckle, and you let out a deep moan that made him grin.

His pace increased as his thumb went deeper, pumping your asshole slowly as you loosened around him, till his thumb could match the pace of his cock. You were a mewling mess underneath him with both your holes being filled, cursing that you didn't have any lube on you for him to go the whole way and fuck your ass. You'd done anal before, but never with a stranger, and the mere suggestion had you cumming again, clamping down on him.

“Oh fuck bitch, you're so fucking tight,” he groaned, “can I cum in you?”

“Yess, fuck, fill me up,” you whined. Was it a mistake not using a condom? Probably. But you had your birth control so one or two creampies wouldn't hurt, right?

As soon as you granted permission he was unloading inside you, gripping your hip hard as he made a few more thrusts inside you before letting out a satisfied groan and resting his head against your back. He caught his breath for a few moments and pulled out, pulling you back into the water with him to sit in his lap. You turned yourself sideways to sit across him, happily letting him suck on your neck while your own breathing settled. His arm stayed around your waist to keep you in place and you very nearly fell asleep from the combination of hot water and satisfying orgasms.

“You're a lot more confident that you make out to be,” you noted.

“Yeah, well, I used to be like that all the time,” he said, a tint of sadness in his voice. “Before, you know,” he lifted the stump that remained of his arm and sighed.

“Did it all happen at the same time?” You asked curiously, “the arm and the scars? You don't have to talk about it if you don't want to, I'm just curious”

“Yeah, motorsport accident,” he explained, “used to race formula one cars. Was pretty fucking good too till a dodgy wheel burst mid race and sent me spiralling. Doctors said I'm lucky to be alive, but as you can imagine, my confidence isn't where it used to be”

“That's understandable,” you replied, nestling your head into the crook of his neck in a comforting embrace, “I imagine it was a big change for you, I can't imagine losing a limb is easy either. For the record though, I think its sexy. You look like a bad boy who gets in a lot of fights”

Kid snorted and grinned, amused. “To be fair, I do get in a lot of fights”

“Aha!” You exclaimed, “So you are a bad boy! I'm sure the girls must be all over you back home”

“Used to be, not so much these days,” he sighed.

“Maybe you just gotta fake it till you make it,” you suggested, “give em the confidence you gave me in here and they'll be drooling and dropping panties for that fat dick in no time”

Kid laughed and squeezed you closer. “You're a weird chick, I like it”

“Why thank you sir,” you replied, “I'll remember that kind compliment when your cum is dripping out of me next time I stand up. Which should probably be soon, I'm going wrinkly, and Margie is charging me for whatever time I use”

“Let me know what you owe her, I'll cover it,” he replied, helping you off his lap. You climbed over the edge of the tub and stretched your arms out.

“Nah don't worry about it,” you smiled as you stood and grabbed your towel to dry off, “it was money well spent, and it was my idea anyway”

“Alright, but I owe you a beer,” he huffed as he started drying himself off. Even flaccid, his cock was impressive.

“Killer already invited me for drinks some time so I'll definitely take you up on that,” you smiled.

“Aye, when did you talk to Kil?” He asked, sliding his shorts back on.

“After he fucked me in the kitchen last night,” you winked, and his brows, or rather the space where they would be, shot up in surprise, “and in the shower this morning”

“That fucking dog,” he laughed, “so you're just tryna to fuck all of us then? Is that it?”

“You betcha,” you smiled as you finished redressing, “but don't tell the one with the tattoos or the tall one, I like the fun of luring them in”

“You're certainly fucking effective, goddamn siren,” he smirked, “not even twenty four hours and you've fucked half of us. I'm impressed, honestly. Their names are Heat and Wire by the way, Wire is the tall one”

“Oh, thanks!” You smiled, making sure to turn off the jets and check you hadn't forgotten anything before locking up. You paused outside the tall gate. “I gotta go return the key, I'll catch you later. You boys drinking tonight?”

“No doubt, the others went to town mostly to get more booze and weed,” he replied.

“Great, count me in then,” you started walking towards the store, “see ya later!”

He gave you a small peace sign in reply and headed the other way back to camp.

[NEXT PART]

[bookshelfdreams]

ofmd wasn't "profitable" enough but I didn't even get the feeling hbo wanted to make money off of it. They didn't promote it when s1 dropped, and the promo for s2 was erratic at best. They don't sell merch. Or physical copies. There's no bts documentaries other than what actors (shoutout to Samba ilu) make themselves in their spare time.

It took more than a full year for me to be able to watch s1 legally! I still can't access s2 legally anywhere! It's not that ofmd is unprofitable, it's that hbo refuses to profit off of it, because - well, because profiting off of it would mean investing work and money into it.

And like. Of course, when you compare it to the juggernauts hbo holds rights to, like GoT, ofmd is small fishes. But.

How on earth do these clowns think cult classics happen?

A Game of Thrones was first published in 1996 and didn't make it on the NYT beststeller list until 2011. The first edition of the first Harry Potter book was 500 pieces. And yeah, TV shows are different, but if you look at today's media landscape, would things like Star Trek, or Buffy, or Doctor Who stand the slightest chance? These things take time, is my point. A piece of media doesn't become a massively profitable, beloved classic over night. It takes time and effort to build that kind of franchise.

And the thing is! Nobody who makes these decisions even likes stories. I'm convinced that whoever is in charge at hbo, at amazon prime, even at disney, thinks storytelling is dumb and for idiots. They think it's enough to just slap the name of something people love on whatever garbage they spit out, for it to be profitable. They think it's the brand that sells: Look this has "Lord of the Rings" on it! Look, this one has "Game of Thrones", you like Game of Thrones don't you? Watch my show, boy.

But this isn't how this works. It's not the name that sells (unless, I suppose, you're the MCU, and even there one gets the impression the trick is finally stopping to work), especially not when the product is bad. People aren't idiots.

But it's not about making something good. It's not about making a meaningful piece of art, or telling an engaging story. ofmd served its purpose; it drew in all the subscribers it ever would, so there's no point in letting it go on. Even in the s2 that we did get, this is evident: the penny pinching is palpable, it's clear that the studio didn't want to spend any more money than absolutely necessary on it, and then cut the budget by 40%.

It's not about art. It never has been.

And it's not even about profit, because to be profitable eventually, stories have to be allowed to thrive first. You tell a good story first, and success happens later, often much, much later.

And ofmd was incredibly, astonishingly successful. It was the most in-demand series for weeks after the s1 finale. But even that wasn't enough, it's never enough, ofmd could have made record-setting profits and it still would have been cancelled, because -

Well, I don't know. Because we live in a bad time for art. Because Orwell was right, and stories have become commodities, like shoelaces. Because. Well. It's not about telling a story, is it?

What's the point of a story? What's the point of making something for the joy of making it? What's the point of a piece of art, existing, if it cannot be transferred into numbers for the stockholders?

idk how to end this. I hope David Jenkins finishes the story he wanted to tell, even if just for himself. I hope, against all odds, that weird, fun, heartfelt, beautiful little stories like ofmd continue to happen.

But goddammit.

[estcaligo]

Problematic post, dark content, if you don't like dark topics - skip this

I have this absolutely masochistic desire to read a series of fics with each twst character, theme: rejection. + upd:some general headcanons

Reader conferences to them and they reject prefect's feelings. 100% angst, no comfort, some disturbing warnings too.

Specifically I want to see :

Hanahaki with Sebek. He wants to be with you but can't because duties. OR he doesn't even want to, he's 100% focused on duties and you're a nuance, go disappear, useless dirt. (I have 10000+ sad scenarios for Sebek...)

Humiliation, degradation, bodyshaming with Vil aka "Have you even seen yourself? What was going on in that ugly head of yours that you could even consider such possibility? No, don't touch me with those ugly fingers."

"You're not a match for me" with Leona.

"Very funny. But I AM a prince after all. What can you offer me? Are you an important ally? A monarch from any country? Maybe you're a valuable business partner? No? Didn't think so. Now move, you're blocking the sun."

"We belong to different worlds" with Malleus. Everything here screams doomed romance. Your life is so short - it's like a second for him. He's a prince, the heir to the throne, a powerful fae, the mighty dragon and one of the strongest mages in the world. And you? You're a grain of sand in his life. Useless, bleak, weak grain of sand.

Manipulation and gaslighting and even enslaving with Azul. Manipulating you into dating, making you fall for him and then sign a bunch of horrible contracts. The contents of those contracts? Trust me, you don't want to know....he makes you do horrible things. Disgusting things. Truly sorry for you.

Public humiliation and playing with your feelings - Ace.

"I was just messin' with ya. Did ya think we were a thing? Are you that naïve or actually stupid? Nah why r u crying rn. It's not my fault you're so fucking stupid lol"

Ghosting with Idia. It was clear from the start - it wasn't going to go well. You're too different… No, it's him who doesn't deserve you. You tried to make it work, but… Idia just can't communicate well. And you're kind of tired of it, too. At first, you did try to reach out, you asked him to talk about it… but he just kept ghosting you. Not a single word to explain why he doesn't want to see you anymore. It's unfair. It hurts.

Jack? Your presence makes him uncomfortable. You just irritate him. You're so unserious. everything is a joke to you.

"Even now you're joking, right?" he said when you tried to confess to him. "I will never think of you as my partner. You're not a match for a wolf. Not with that attitude. I bet you can't even imagine what a lifelong partner means." He didn't mean to be rude, just clear. But it hurts, because you truly love him. And yet, he will never even look at you that way. The best decision would be to never see him again.

Lilia is mischievous, everyone knows that. But you didn't think he would do this to you. Play with your feelings just like that. All that occasional teasing, random hair stroking, small kisses on the cheek… he made your heart flutter every time. But when you decided to confess?

"Fufu, young people are so hopeless these days. Sorry, little bat. I'm not interested."

Not interested. That’s what he said. After doing all this to you. Luring you in and then breaking your heart like it was nothing.

Spoiler: it leads to suicide and not Lilia's.

not rejection, just some headcanons

Floyd - Kinda dating but with much much physical abuse. Domestic violence. Rape too. You're bruised 24/7 in those relationship. Consent? Never heart of it. He's touching you where he wants, when he wants. Your opinion doesn't matter. Say a word and he'll break your ribs again. You're so annoying, jeez. You were supposed to be fun, why're you nagging all the time...Blood suits you now, dear.

Jade - Oh, he he was so charming at the beginning. And by charming I mean fucking mind games, but it was so captivating and you just couldn't resist his charm and by charm I mean manipulation. In the end - makes you his test subject. He kills you and grows mushrooms on your corpse. Scary but eco friendly!

Rook - It started with stalking. He followed you everywhere, he "occasionally" stumbled upon you in every corridor. You constantly felt someone's gaze wherever you went. Eventually, he confessed, but you made the mistake of rejecting him.

"Sorry, Rook, I think Cupid's arrow missed this time" you tried to joke. Too bad.

"He might miss sometimes, but I don't."

Yes, he shoots you because "if you don't want to become 'us,' there will be no 'you' at all."

[91vaults]

Ok so here's the thing: I totally get where the Fallout New Vegas crowd are coming from

(Note: I haven't watched the show yet I'm only going off what's come across my dash so keep that in mind)

Fallout New Vegas is and always will be my favorite fallout game. But I also love Fallout 4. I'm a member of both camps.

I'm also weird in that I love Fallout but absolutely will not touch anything else in the post-apocalyptic genre because...I kinda hate it.

Fallout is Post apocalyptic, but not in the same way something like "The Last of Us" is. It's not grounded in reality for one, and whilst society isn't necessarily moving "forward"...it does exist in one form or another...and it is moving.

And then you have Fallout New Vegas which is very much post-post apocalyptic. It's not just about the wasteland and survival and fighting: Society is moving forward What direction do we want it to go? (oh that and Casinos! you have to admin the casinos were fun)

People are absolutely correct in that the games still exist. Nothing is stopping you from playing them It's not erasing the whole game from canon (I think?) and in a game series like Fallout canon isn't the most important thing anyway.

But here's the thing: By wiping out all that stuff on the west coast, the NCR etc. It shows us how Bethesda see's the series. You know that thing you don't see as much nowadays: when a movie had a sequel they would just undo everything that happens in the first one off screen?

It's like that: We have to maintain the status quo: . Because it seems to Bethesda, fallout is about pew pew chaos in the wasteland! it's why it still looks like the bombs dropped last week even though it's been like (200 years?). It's all wasteland rubble and shanty towns! Because it's fallout, that's the brand. Thats what people expect. The FNV fans are frustrated because it's Bethesda sending a clear message that their vision for the series is very much "stuck in one place perpetually" as is often the case with the genre. forever looking back, never looking forward.

But it doesn't have to be like that! the series can move forward whilst still being Fallout. In fact it would be super cool to see a setting where society has started to built more. Like we saw in F:NV . It opens up new story opportunities. New factions, all kind of cool new shit.

This isn't about who likes what games or why or even about the show (I've heard good things, so honestly I hope I like it) . I don't care. I just think I can see the argument that Bethesds wouldn't really want to take the series in any particular new direction because they've settled into "the brand"