Tumgik
#This post will be reblogged a few times for visibility before closing
haveyouheardthisband · 5 months
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Submissions will be closed in one week!
To put it simply, we were not at all expecting this blog to reach this level of popularity (thank you!!), and thus were completely unprepared for the amount of submissions we got - over 20,000! At our pace, posting one submission per hour, it would take us about two years to do all of them (not accounting for duplicates, so the real ETA would be a bit less, but still just as preposterous.)
So, before the backlog gets even more ridiculous, we've decided to close submissions, effective one week from now. We don't know when or if we'll open them again, so get them in now - but do keep in mind that, ultimately, nobody knows if this blog will even still be running two years from now, so it's no guarantee!
To preemptively answer a few questions:
The blog is not closing down - we will continue to operate as usual.
We have no plans of increasing our post rate beyond one per hour. We have enough on our plate as-is.
We're still trying to work out a convenient way for songs to be added to existing submissions. EDIT: This has been implemented! See this post for details.
If you have any other questions, reply below or shoot us an ask.
Seriously, thank you all for the love and enthusiasm you have shown towards us and our silly poll blog! :-)
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abbyshands · 4 months
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abby drabbles for vday <3
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a/n; hey, all, happy valentine’s :) i was originally gonna have a fic for this but i was only able to do a few drabbles today &&& i don’t like any of them but it’s fine. also, woeeefully i have carpal tunnel, so with that and me needing to focus more on speaking out on palestine, fics will be more inconsistent (dw btw i am very much fine, just need to rest my hands <3 [which i obv did not do when i wrote all of these so quickly!])
♡ INCLUDES: sub!cam girl!abby bench pressing w/a vibe between her legs, dom!rival prosecutor!abby fucking you in her office, sub!football abby x dom!nerdy!reader
P.S.; please keep in mind that palestine is very much still bleeding. please look at the below links to learn of ways that you can help the people in gaza, and how you can learn more about this ongoing issue overall. please don't stay in the dark about this: like each post, reblog them, etc. if you like my work, then i am asking, demanding you to take the side that i'm on. free 🇵🇸, always.
LINKS: ways you can help | 🇵🇸 masterpost | MORE ways you can help I places to boycott, and families you can help escape | learn more
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a/n; ib by this post! <3
♡ imagine cam girl!abby, 185 pound barbell in her veiny hands as she pumps the load up and down, muscles flexing under the pressure. her face is red, body slick with sweat as her figure caves. you’re looking at her from the end of the bench, poised between her legs as you watch her workout. you crank the setting of the vibrator up for a third time, feeling your own heat build up as you listen to her whine and whimper. “come on, baby. just a few more reps for me, you got it,” you coo, knowing how close she is, hands weakening as the pleasure bubbling up in her core battles to take control. her filming camera’s in your hands, the one she used to go live and make videos with on a daily basis. you pan it to the wet spot that’s visible on her gym shorts, the smirk on your lips widening as the view nearly makes you drool. “look at her. so pretty like this, such a desperate girl,” you whisper more to yourself than to abby, earning a whorish whine from her lips as she pushes the bar above her head again and again. “mmm, s’that feel good, baby?” you coo as you bring a finger up to rub her over her soaked bottoms. abby’s face scrunches as she throws you a bit of an attitude. “y- you know it does,” she nearly snapped at you, and you can’t help but laugh. “hear that? she’s getting bratty with me,” you say, making sure to zoom in on her shaking legs as you give her thigh a small slap, earning a yelp from abby. you know full well her fans are going to go wild for this video, perhaps even more than you. when abby finishes her reps, body too weak to go on, you prop the camera up beside yourselves and place your hands on the sides of abby’s thighs. “good girl. did so well for me, didn’t you?” you ask, the only other noise being the buzzing of the vibe and the sound of abby’s little whimpers. “y- yes, ma’am, i did. n- now please let me cum,” she begs, and you feel merciful. you crank the vibe to the highest setting, and apply more pressure to her pussy with your fingers. you thumb her clit in circles, and watch as abby’s abdomen begins to tense. you push her shorts out of the way for better access, and remove the vibe to pump your index and ring into her soaked pussy, fingering her like a fucking pro. “f- fuck, so close, please, don’t stop,” she whines, and it’s not long before you’ve got the cam girl drenching your fingers in her cum, hips bucking for both you and the camera as it captures every little second <3
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♡ imagine rival prosecutor!abby, who you just won a huge case to, grabbing you by the wrist the second she could, and yanking you into her office. she was bending you over her desk at a rapid speed like she had so many times in the past, forcing you to take the seven inch strap that’s considerably a part of her at this point. “fucking whore. always fucking up my cases. let me show you how that, fuck,” she says as she thrust into you, deep, “fucking feels.” you only get to feel her when you make her lose a case, being the only way she can properly get her anger out. sometimes, you almost want to lose your cases on purpose. “well, maybe you should do your job better,” you challenge her, and, god, she does not like that. she grabs you by the neck as she pounds into you from behind, thick fingers digging marks into your skin. “don’t talk to me like that,” abby remarks as she pushes herself as deep inside you as she can possibly go. she’s so down and dirty with you, using your body like a toy, then discarding you until the next time she loses a case. “f- fuck, a- abby,” she’s got you stuttering soon enough, brain foggy with your own arousal. abby quickens her pace the second she can feel you getting closer to your high, chuckling. “yeah, you like that, huh? get so cockdrunk off this dick every time,” abby grunted. when your moans get too loud to the point where she thinks you’ll make the whole office hear, her large hand covers your lips, muffling those sweet, little noises. “shhh, shhh, baby. you’re my whore, mine alone. don’t want anyone else to hear those cute moans of yours,” she teases. soon enough, she’s got you soaking her cock in your cum, a whiny mewl of her name muffled by the hold she has on your lips. once you’re finished, she very briefly cleaned you up. but then, once she was done, negligence. “abby—“ you begin, ready to beg her for a little more of her attention. but she cuts you short. “none of that. you know this, sweetheart. i’ll fuck you when i lose.”
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a/n; very much inspired by this :3
♡ imagine sub!football!abby (x nerdy!reader) winning the last game of her season. there’s an after party, of course there is, but the buff girl who’s dominant in every aspect of her life, almost, can’t resist spending some time with her girlfriend first. “yeah, honey. played so well for me, didn’t you?” you coo as abby grinds her pussy desperately into your body, your hands digging into her hips. abby’s gorgeous nipples are bouncing up and down before you, perfect, and you make sure to take one of them into your mouth whenever one’s close enough to your face. “mmm, f- fuck, i did, baby, i did,” she moans, voice needy as she thrusts her naked body into your own. the friction she feels from the denim material of your jeans drives her crazy, rubbing up on her clit in the best way possible. your glasses fog up each time you pull her down for a sloppy, wet kiss, tongue dancing with hers as she grinds her pussy into you, desperate. “such a good girl. that’s it, reward yourself, baby,” you encourage her as she goes on, rutting herself into you. she moans as your pants brush up on her clit, burying her face into your neck to bite it, stifling the whiny moans falling from her lips. your hands grab her ass, gripping it as she pushes herself against you as hard as she could. “f- fuck, i love you so much, love you so much,” abby lets out in a whiny moan, easily making you smile. when you’ve got her on the brink, you take one of her breasts into your mouth, tongue swirling skillfully around her nipple. you give her a few small slaps on the ass as she chases her high, cumming all over your jeans in the end. you smile as you cup her reddened cheek, kissing the tip of her nose as she panted out heavily above you. “there’s my football star.”
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saintslewis · 7 months
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❝ 𝐒𝐋𝐎𝐖 𝐌𝐎𝐓𝐈𝐎𝐍 - 𝐋𝐇𝟒𝟒 ❞
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pairing: sir lewis hamilton x fem!reader
summary: when he comes back from arguably most demanding races of the season, he truly wants to be cuddled up with his girlfriend especially when they haven't seen each other in two weeks.
warnings: established relationship!, mild smut (18+ MDNI), cussing. the usual. typos.
wc: 2.6k
requested: yes | no ~ this lovely request right here!
saint team radio: i wanna scream, this was supposed to be out in SEPTEMBER!!! but now it’s here 🤭. lil one shot before releasing “Break my Soul” and i hope you guys enjoy this one. plus i’m getting used to writing smut now 😧 anyways bye! love ya!
taglist: @non-stop-imagines @lorarri @thisismeracing @httpsserene @mauvecherie-writes @yeea-nah @queenshikongo3 @cherry2stems @planetmimi @alika-4466 @arshiyuh (lmk if you wanna be tagged!)
pls like, comment and reblog! 🫶🏽 (i’m watching you 🤨)
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"I know what you are." You gasped as you watched Bella confront Edward in the forest. The morning sun was shining its rays through the large windows and sliding doors of the large house. The couch was slowly sinking you into it, the packet of cookies from your favourite bakery nestled next to your comfortable figure.
Understandably, it was quite early in the morning, 9 am to be precise, to be watching Twilight and munching on cookies but to be fair, Roscoe had woken you up for early morning snuggles. Deciding to check the time on your phone, you became distracted by your wallpaper of Lewis with you next to him with the green mountains of Bali right behind you both, flowers behind your ear to celebrate your birthday.
You truly missed him a lot, these past two weeks felt as if they dragged on and on the longer you waited to see him. Only being able to see him on your phone screen and tv, his fashion becoming a staple for you to follow almost every week. When his face appeared on screen for a post race interview, you would find yourself admiring him and completely closing off to whatever he was saying into the mics. Even seeing his car drive around gave you butterflies, just hearing his name would make you stop in your tracks every single time.
Lewis' face quickly invaded your mind, no longer focusing on the movie before you. Although you had tried to distract yourself with giving yourself tasks to do along with completing some work you probably missed, doing those things were just always better with your boyfriend around. Physically being on each other's space was something you needed desperately, a true connection when realising that you both had the love language of physical touch.
During these two week, you would resist the urge to touch yourself in thought of Lewis, deeming him to be the only one who could find your sweet spots so much better than you could. Embarrassingly enough, you had resorted to watching fan edits of him just for you to feel something. All you did was like a single video on your feed then you fell into the rabbit hole of his fans being extremely talented and feeling the way you felt but you would sleep better knowing that you had him all to yourself at the end of the day.
Snapping you out of your daily daydream about your boyfriend, your phone buzzed with a notification from the front gate of the house to say that a car has entered the driveway and you immediately jumped up in excitement, alerting Roscoe. "Come on boy, Dads is home." You smiled to the energetic dog who was eagerly waiting for you to put your slides on.
Opening the front door wide enough, Roscoe ran right past you to greet Lewis as the man was taking his luggage out of the trunk, giving his affection to his dog before standing up straight (with a bit of caution) to look at you standing just a few feet away. He studied you from head to toe, the Nike pro shorts were barely visible underneath the +44 sweater that you helped design. Your braids were fresh, nails done and from what he saw, a small but new tattoo on your hand and he swore his stomach flipped at the sight of you.
"Hey baby!" You expressed as you threw your arms around his neck, his head buried itself into your neck and your scent filled up his nostrils. "Hi." The tired voice vibrated through your skin, sending shivers down your spine. His large hands were resting on your lower back moving ever so slowly, causing goosebumps to rise on your skin. Moving your heads back, you gave him a sweet peck as he looked into your eyes afterwards. Studying his face a little, his eyes were a little droopy and his face wasn't as bright as you saw it on facetime hours ago. Letting go of the hug, you moved to help him with his suitcases but noticed that he seemed to walk a little funny as he walked into the house.
Finding him in the kitchen drinking a glass of water, you chose to lean back into the counter next to him. "Knowing you, I can tell you didn't eat so how about you go shower and i'll make breakfast?"  You suggested and all the man could do was smile and lean in to kiss you, tasting your strawberry chapstick before going upstairs with his hand on his back.
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A hearty breakfast and him talking about how the race went in terms of strategy then a few discussions of random stuff, you both opted for chilling on the couch to catch up on a bit of TV. Lunch was ordered and you two spent the afternoon just being in each other's presence. You then decided to showcase the clothes you had bought during the two weeks he had been gone, each dress and skirt getting shorter than the last with his exhaustion preventing him from wanting to take you right then and there.
Changing back into the original outfit you had on, he quickly changed into his gym wear to work out in the home gym he had built in before you had moved in. "Will you be okay to workout, Lew?" You asked, filling the glass with small heart shaped ice cubes, ironically matching the tennis bracelet you were wearing. "I'm fine sweetie, I promise." He muttered as his eyes trailed down to your chest, the +44 sweater long gone as the day became hotter. "Eyes up here, babe." You giggled as he didn't even seem to hear you say anything.
"What?" He snapped out of it, making you laugh a little harder. "Go do your workout stuff, you dork. When you come back, we can do some skin care." You smiled as he held your hips with his grip tightened. "I can think of something else-"
"Lewis, I'm gonna bite you. Go." You narrowed your eyes at the man who walked away giggling as if he heard the funniest joke.
Nighttime was slowly approaching and dinner was already prepared, finding pesto really easy to make. Lewis was still in the home gym, your phone buzzing with instagram telling you that he posted on his story. Clicking on it, you saw how your boyfriend took a full body mirror picture with his shirt completely off and he looked a bit breathless. The lights glistened on his abs and tattoos, accentuating his tan even more. The v line was showing as his shorts sat quite low on his waist and you were left speechless, gripping the blanket so much that you could barely feel your hand anymore. Rubbing your thighs together, you tried to relax your thoughts by reminding yourself that he still has what seemed like an injury on his back.
But to be fair, nothing could stop him, not even an injury.
You tried distracting yourself from the instagram story by playing some music and doing some online shopping. Hearing his heavy footsteps enter the room, his sweaty self looked at you with a look you knew all too well but you decided to not do the deed tonight because you thought he needed to be well rested for this.
"You gonna go shower?" You stopped what you were doing and faced him with crossed arm with a little smile on your face. He came a bit closer and you backed up. "Lew, get away. You're sweaty." Your cheeks started to hurt from the smiling and all he did was open his arms as he came closer to you. "Lewis, I'm so serious. Babe wai-" You didn't even finish your sentence before you bolted, heading up to your shared bedroom and he chased after you with both your giggles filling the air.
"Baby, stop moving. I can't put on the under eye mask." You pouted, holding the cold cucumber scented applicator in your hand. "It's just cold." He muttered, holding the back of your legs as you stood between his legs. "C'mon gramps, it'll take like 5 minutes then you'll forget it's there." Knowing how he'd react to the nickname, you received the nastiest side eye you've gotten from him. Doubling down in laughter, you held onto the bathroom sink counter for dear life as you continued to laugh with him.
As the laughter died down, you fixed your braids into a bun and put your hand out for him to give up his hair tie that he has had on the whole day. "I like your earrings, love. When'd you get them?" He asked, now standing behind you as you made eye contact in the mirror. His eyes still had the same look as when he came out of the gym. "Remember that one bracelet you brought back from Milan last month? They opened a store in Central london so I think it was Thursday." You nodded as you told him, removing both your under eye masks to then fully wash and moisturise your faces.
Lewis opted to watch you complete your routine as you did like to take your time with it, the scented candles creating the perfect atmosphere. His left hand came around your waist, his other hand holding onto your hip and his head dropping into your neck with small butterfly-like kisses peppering your skin. You stopped everything you were doing to feel exactly what Lewis was doing to you, his large hands lowering down your body with each kiss.
"Lew, baby. You need to rest." You whispered, unable to speak from his soft kisses. "Missed you so much, just wanna feel you.” He whined into your neck. As he picked up his head to kiss even further, you already turned your head to look at him, your face filled with worry.
“Can you not make that face?” You slightly jutted your lip out, his face sending a completely different message. “Is it working?”
“No.” You tried your best to hide the smile from your face, your boyfriend’s face dropping at the answer. Backing away from his embrace, you walked into the bedroom, fully aware that he was following right after you.
Sitting down on the edge of the bed, you watched as Lewis stood in front of you then locked eyes with you. “Love, can I at least eat you out?” His whiny voice sounded out and you were fully taken by surprise. You had yet to experience this side of him in the bedroom but if it meant hearing that voice all over again, you were all in.
Not even waiting for your words, the man dropped down onto his knees, holding your thighs as balance as he maintained the eye contact with you. “Please, please baby. I’ll be so good, I promise. Won’t tease you, I’m starving. Just wanna taste you.” He rambles, his eyes slightly closed as his voice drops the closer his face gets to your thighs.
You couldn’t believe what was actually happening, so much so that it took you a few seconds to even think of a response. His chocolate eyes looked up at you with such anticipation, eagerly waiting for you to say something, anything. All you could do was nod and within seconds, he began kissing up your thighs, silently thanking the universe for bringing the two of you together.
Between her slight panting, you remembered that his back was in pain from earlier in the day, giving you an idea. “Lew.” You called out, his head rising to stare at you once more. “Lie on your back, don’t need you to hurt it more than it already is.” You said, slowly guiding him to stand up with you then push him down onto the bed by his chest. He huffed out a slight chuckle at your eagerness.
Once the clothes were off, you crawled up to straddle him but catching him by surprise, your lower body was closer to his face than he thought. Your legs were on each side of his head, your dripping core was hovering right above his mouth, he could’ve sworn he was in heaven. Gently holding onto his braids, you lowered yourself slightly yet not fully sitting, afraid that he wouldn’t be able to breathe.
“Y/n baby. Sit on my face, please.” Lewis groaned from underneath you, his breath hitting your core making you slightly shiver. His large hands creeped up onto your ass, bringing you down onto his face with a grip. Once you had gotten used to him devouring you like a touch starved man, you eventually found your rhythm and began moving in perfect harmony with his tongue, slightly pulling his braids when you felt the all too familiar knot into your stomach .
Your orgasm ripped through you, your moans bouncing off the walls of your shared bedroom. When wanting to lift yourself off of him, he continued to lick and suck on your sensitive clit, overstimulating you quite a bit. Your moans grew into whimpers and that’s when Lewis knew that you were beginning to feel tired, your body slightly shaking from the intense sensation of your release.
Now having a bit more energy, you actually lifted yourself up from his mouth and wanted to go down on him as you craved to have something that would give him the same sensation that he gave you. Before you could even reach his hard on, he held onto one of your hands. Kissing your palm, he spoke up. “Can you please just fuck me? I need to feel you around me, sweetie.” Lewis asked, the same look from before wooing you so easily.
You continued making your way down on him until he suddenly flipped the both of you. “Lew! Warn a girl next time!” You wanted to roll your eyes at him but he just smiled and leaned down to give you a breathtaking kiss, feeling butterflies in your stomach once more.
“I’ve got you, baby. Just let me make you feel good.” He smirked, holding your legs to go around his waist. Once entering you, it truly felt like this should go on forever, have this night replay in your mind like a broken record. His hips snapping against yours would bring you back to reality, seeing stars once the familiar knot returned to taunt you. With the way he was pounding into you, you would’ve never thought he had back pain the whole time.
You screamed upon your 4th release, your body flopping against the sheets as you tried to catch your breath. Lewis emerged from the bathroom with a warm and slightly wet towel to gently wipe your pussy, you sucked in a breath as your sensitive clit felt the material against you.
Once fully done with aftercare for you and himself, you looked up at the man as you layed on your front to look at him laying next to you. “I truly love you, Y/n. Couldn’t thank the stars enough for you.” He expressed, the look in his eyes sending a deeper message into your soul.
“I love you so much, Lewis.” You responded and you could feel the love radiating off of each other.
This was love and you could forever drown in this feeling with Lewis right by your side.
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formulateez · 11 months
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mission failed (TEASER) | op81 + ln4
pairing: oscar piastri x fem!reader x lando norris
genre: filthy smut with a hell of a build up summary: the last time oscar and y/n had their fun, lando had to hear all of it. out of playful retaliation, he tries to fuck with them as a joke, but it backfires and he ends up literally fucking with them. word count: definitely something over 4-5k words, it's not exactly finished right now note: for the sake of the plot, oscar and lando share an apartment in monaco and y/n has been friends with the both of them for quite some time now :D
warnings: 100% nsfw, threesome, lots of making out, oral (m and f receiving), just barely any mxm but its not really the focus here, someone gets restrained for a moment, use of pet names, definitely more but i have yet to actually reach the smut part! i also haven't decided if i wanna make it a dp fic or not... :P requested?: no, but @/ay7ton's reblog gave me the inspo for this fic so i felt inclined to write it bc who wouldn't wanna get tag teamed by landoscar :D
extras: dividers and banners made with template from @/cafekitsune !! gif is from @/oqiwans !! // also!! if anyone would be interested in being in the taglist for whenever i get to posting this fic, feel free send me an ask or a dm!! <33
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Oscar listens closely for the sound of the door locking, almost guaranteeing a few moments of privacy. You could feel Oscar almost tense up, looking over to your left to glance at Oscar. Before you could have a chance to speak, Oscar's lips already found themselves on yours.
Despite your eyes widening, you don’t hesitate to return the kiss. It’s gentle yet still heated, leaving shivers trailing down both of your spines. Almost as if neither can get enough, the kiss deepens, and Oscar moves to softly push you onto your back.
Oscar's hands roam your body with familiarity, while your hands find a slight grip in his hair. Your hearts nearly pound in unison as you both knew that Lando could walk into the living room at any moment. The both of you fought to keep your situationship a secret, but the adrenaline from the risk of getting caught brought too much excitement to pass up. You find yourself consistently peeking at the bathroom door, almost bracing for Lando to interrupt the moment.
Oscar's lips softly graze your cheek as he starts to trail kisses down your jaw, making their way to your neck. You lightly grip Oscar's hair, silently warning him to not leave any visible marks.
Oscar’s lips briefly tug into a smirk before he softly whispers, “Pretty girl, you know pulling on my hair like that is just going to make me wanna mark you even more.”
You rolle your eyes as you tug him down by his hair to connect your lips again. Both of you were momentarily distracted and didn’t notice that the shower had just shut off.
Panic flashes through Oscar as he hears the door unlock, and he abruptly breaks apart from you. You almost didn’t want that moment to end, and you found yourself wishing that Lando would occupy himself just a little longer. You couldn’t help but want to steal a few more kisses from Oscar. With the way Oscar's final glance towards you appeared, it seems as if he thought the same. The both of you quickly situate yourselves and return to whatever you both were previously doing on your phones.
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Oscar debates in his head before opening his mouth to speak. “I had fun watching those two Transformers movies with you earlier. I used to think the movies were kinda corny but they’re fun to watch with you.” You felt a slight blush creep onto your cheeks as a soft smile tugs at your lips. 
“Yeah,” you contently sigh, “I had fun too, usually people don’t really enjoy my taste in movies.”
Oscar returns your smile before taking a step towards you, brushing a strand of hair behind your ear. Gently grabbing your waist, his voice drops to a low, intimate tone. “Speaking of which, I was thinking we could continue that fun in my room. Free from the worry of Lando wondering why we’re taking forever to clean up.”
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taevbears · 6 months
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To Be Loved - 04
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There may be something there that wasn't there before.
⤑ pairing: namjoon x reader (a bit of reader x ot7) ⤑ genre: hybrid au, romance, hurt/comfort ⤑ rating: 18+ ⤑ word count: 6.7k ⤑ warnings: the boys are still kinda mean and very guarded around the reader, slow burn, very brief mentions of toxic relationships and bullying, mentions of physical abuse, implied violence, Epik High name drop lol, cliffhanger ending ⤑ note: first post of 2024! hope you guys had a great start to the new year. this story is just about wrapping up now, but i'm also ready to move onto new projects that i want to release this year. hope you guys enjoy, and comments/reblogs are greatly appreciated! :)
Chapters 01 | 02 | 03 | 04 | 05 (End)
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When it rains, your life is at a standstill. Time moves so slowly, so seamlessly, the days start to blur together. The grey skies, the endless rain, the muddy roads, and the thick fog that surrounds the gloomy forest. They are a constant that you can’t escape from.
The old manor, tucked away in the deep forest – far from any traveling paths and roads – appears to be stuck in time. And you feel like you’re stuck with it.
How long has it been since you arrived at the manor? A few days? A week? Two weeks?
With a sigh, you look away from the water gently knocking against your window and muster the courage to get out of bed. Cold air strikes you once you’ve come out of your blanket cocoon, and you try not to shudder as you walk barefoot around your bedroom.
By now, you’ve memorized what parts of the floor creak loudly, and you’re careful to avoid those areas, only crossing them slowly and quietly if necessary. Still, even if you’ve successfully finished your morning routine without a sound, he waits by your door.
“Little human, are you sure you’re not afraid of us?”
You catch your breath, but only for a second. Every morning, the bear hybrid waits in front of your bedroom as you’re waking up with a grumpy but determined look on his face. As if he absolutely refuses to go to bed until you answer his question.
“Good morning,” you start, blinking at him as you calm yourself down. He arches an eyebrow at you. “No, I’m not afraid of you.”
Taehyung holds your gaze, reading your face, looking for any subtle tell that you’re not being honest with him. You steel yourself as best as you can under the intensity of his stare, focusing on one of the moles on his pretty face.
Then, when satisfied, he nods his head. His mouth forms into a straight line, making his cheeks rise a bit in what you think might be a smile. Then, he saunters off down the hallway without another word.
You release the breath you’ve been holding.
The first time Taehyung did this was the morning after Namjoon showed you his private garden in the greenhouse. He scared the shit out of you, leaning against the doorframe as soon as you opened the door, just like when you had first met him. And he seemed to doubt you when you had stuttered out that you, in fact, don’t find him to be terrifying.
“I should get used to this,” you mumble to yourself, closing the door behind you.
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Breakfast seems to depend on who is awake to make it. Sometimes, Seokjin is up in the early morning and has already started cooking by the time you and the other hybrids come down the stairs. Sometimes, Yoongi already has it prepared before his nocturnal instincts kick in and makes him want to sleep all day. Sometimes, it’s Hoseok and Jimin in the kitchen together, but one of them dances and entertains the other, riling up contagious giggles and distractions from the task at hand.
“Can I help with anything?” you offer when you see the two together.
Hoseok visibly flinches when he hears your voice, still a bit nervous when you’re around. But at least he doesn’t avoid you anymore. It’s as if he’s accepted that you’re inevitably stuck with each other. At least, until the storm passes.
“No, no, you’re a guest,” Jimin reminds you, flapping his black wing to shoo you away. “Just pull up a chair and relax. We’ll have this ready shortly.”
With that said, the two turn back to their tasks. Jimin tends to the fish he’s frying over a pan and Hoseok diligently cuts some vegetables. No resumed laughter or conversations while you awkwardly linger with uncertainty.
You know they mean well. You know that Namjoon had talked to them about treating you nicely while you’re staying with them. But you’re starting to feel like a burden. Restless. Useless. They don’t let you lift a finger with any of the house chores, even if you want to help out to show your consideration and appreciation.
“Are you sure? I don’t mind,” you try again.
Jimin’s shoulders tense a bit. You think he’s starting to get irritated. He doesn’t look at you as he repeats, “It’s fine. You’re a guest.”
It’s not until after you leave the kitchen when you hear their voices chatting again.
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If anyone were to look for you, they’d find you in the old manor’s library.
There, they’d see you uncovering the written secrets and adventures within its vast collections of stories. You spend most of your day there, wrestling with a blanket as you switch from one comfortable position to another on the large sofa, so engulfed with your book that you don’t pay attention to anything else.
Not the way that time fleetingly drifts from morning to the late afternoon.
Not the way the sound of rain and the rumble of thunder begin to lull you to sleep.
Not the pair of glowing eyes that catches you napping mid-story, blanket slipping off you and onto the floor.
The next thing you know, you wake up to find that the book you’ve been reading has been placed on the table, the corner of the page turned to hold your place. The blanket that was partially covering you is now completely pulled over you, snuggly tucking you in beneath its warmth.
Someone was taking care of you while you were asleep. But as you look around, you see no one else in the room.
Sometimes, Jungkook drags you out of the library and brings you into the gaming room instead. There are a variety of board games, puzzles, and video games to play together, and all of them are addictively fun. No doubt, this is easily one of Jungkook’s favorite parts of the manor.
It also happens to be Seokjin’s favorite spot as well.
You see the wolf hybrid sitting straight on the couch, face stoic as he mutters under his breath, thick eyebrows drawn together in concentration as his fingers rapidly fidgets with the buttons and joysticks of the controller. His pointy ears twitch slightly when he hears you and Jungkook come in, but he doesn’t look away from the screen, too focused on what his character is doing.
Jungkook pulls out a puzzle for you two to do together, dumping all the tiny pieces onto the table. The two of you work in relative silence to put it together, but a question keeps lingering in your mind.
“Hey Jungkook, have you been tucking me in when I nap?”
From your peripheral vision, Seokjin’s ear swivels toward you. The movement of his hands still as a red flush starts to color the back of his neck.
“No,” he replies, a bit surprised. “Why?”
You frown a little. If not Jungkook, then who?
“No reason.”
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On the rare occasion you’re not in the library or with Jungkook, you find yourself wanting to stretch out your legs and wander around the old manor.
There’s a timeless charm about it all. You imagine the previous owners lived like kings and queens here, throwing extravagant and lavish parties and banquets. An orchestra of music lively plays from the grand ballroom, and an incredible feast is on display with the finest plates and utensils. You imagine the guests dressed in their best suits and ball gowns, a variety of rich colors filling into the manor to dance the night away.
As you explore bits of the manor, you feel a pair of eyes watch you from the shadows. The same pair of resentful, glowing eyes that have been quietly observing you ever since you found yourself here.
You can always tell when he’s nearby. The room gets quieter. You become self-aware of each breath you take, the way your body tenses under the penetrating gaze, of the nervous flutter in your heart as every fiber of your being tells you to run.
And usually, you would. The moment you feel the discomfort crawling beneath your skin, you listen to your instincts and walk right back out of the room you entered.
But today, you face the shadows of the room. The panther hybrid that silently eyes you in the darkness.
You told Taehyung this morning that you weren’t afraid of them, right? And cutting through this room is the fastest way to get to where you want to go.
With a brave face, you lower your gaze from the panther and bow slightly in greeting. “Hello, Yoongi. I’m just passing through.”
In the darkness, the pair of eyes widens a bit. It’s the first time you’ve talked to him since you arrived at the manor. The first time you even acknowledged him.
Had your gaze lingered a little longer, perhaps you would’ve seen it. But you briskly walk across the room to exit, muttering an apology beneath your breath for disturbing him.
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By evening, after leisure activities and daily housework around the manor are done, everyone is gathered for dinner. Each night is something a little different: hot stews and soups, rice bowls and stir-fry with vegetables and protein, marinated meat and seafood. There’s always plenty of side dishes as well, and always something to satiate each of the hybrid's cravings for certain food.
For the first few nights, there’s still an awkward tension in the air as you and Jungkook sit with the pack. Everyone's a little quieter, shifting glances with each other in wordless conversations. You feel like the elephant in the room, hard to be unnoticed and yet something no one really wants to address.
Except Namjoon.
Across the table, Namjoon would ask you how your day was, looking at you as if you’re the only person in the room with him. He’d ask about the books you read that day, what your favorite parts are, if you’ve seen the movie adaptation. And one of the hybrids – namely Jimin, Taehyung, or Jungkook – would comment how they didn’t realize there was a book version and ask about the differences from the original.
If you mentioned a game with Jungkook that you played that day, Namjoon would proudly state that he’s quite good at puzzles and riddles, and challenges you to a round next time. And the other hybrids – Seokjin, Yoongi, and Hoseok this time – would roll their eyes and grumble about how he is undefeated.
Even if you tell him that you slept most of the day and did absolutely nothing productive, Namjoon would still smile and tell you that rest is important. That he’s happy you feel comfortable sleeping well in the manor. He’d ask you if you had any good dreams, and listen to them even if it’s just the most mundane thing you could barely remember.
And you can’t help but think about how Kangdae never asks you questions like this.
Kangdae never bothered to ask about your day, how you’ve been, what you’re up to. So much of your relationship with him revolved around what he wants, what his plans are. It didn’t matter how you felt about them, as long as he got his way.
Yet, Namjoon seems to want to know everything about you. Your hobbies, your interests, what you like to do throughout the day, what you dream of.
It’s… different from what you’re used to. But it’s not entirely unwelcome either.
Like Taehyung, Namjoon has a question to ask you. Every night after dinner, as the other hybrids begin to clear away their plates and put their leftovers away, Namjoon comes up to you and inquires, “Would you like to spend the evening with me?”
Shyly, as your heart seems to flutter each time he does, you answer, “Of course.”
Stuck in the manor, and with the ongoing storm still strong, your options are rather limited. 
Sometimes, he takes you to his greenhouse again where you can see the slow progress of his little garden. Sometimes, you’d take him up on his challenge and try to beat him in a puzzle or game. Sometimes, it’s a quiet evening where the two of you are reading books side by side, or watching a movie until you end up falling asleep, and you’d wake to find his arm protectively around you, holding you close. Sometimes, the night is full of laughter and chatter as the two of you share a bottle of wine by the fireplace and talk for hours about life, music, art, and whatever comes to mind, and realizing that he’s such an easy person to talk to.
Despite the circumstances, you enjoy hanging out with him. A lot more than you ever thought you would.
There’s something sweet and kind about Namjoon. He’s incredibly smart and humble, his down-to-earth personality helps him see the beauty of life, art, and passion in ways that are almost philosophical. He has very admirable traits that unveils the more you get to know him, yet he still keeps his certain secrets close to his heart about what creature he is and where he goes when he isn’t in the manor. Admittedly, he has many physical traits that you find attractive as well, from the deep dimples on his cheeks whenever he smiles to the bulge of muscles in his arms and chest.
It feels strange and new, a feeling you’ve never felt with anyone before. A feeling that you can’t quite place whenever you feel Namjoon’s pretty eyes on you or when he’d accidentally brush his hand against yours.
While the days seem to move slowly, almost in a standstill, time flies quickly when you’re with Namjoon. Before you know it, hours passed, and he is already escorting you to your room in the east wing.
“Good night, Namjoon,” you tell him once you’re inside the room, leaning against the doorway as you face him.
“Sweet dreams,” he replies, smiling at you in a way that makes his eyes form crescents and the dimples stretch along his cheek with his grin.
There’s a moment that lingers. One that feels like the night has ended too soon, and this is a chance for either of you to say something more. To not let the moment pass.
Just as he’s beginning to walk away, you call out to him. “Namjoon?”
“Yes?”
Would you like to spend the evening with me?
The bold question nearly comes out of your mouth, and you feel your face heat up when you realize what you’re about to ask him. Instead, you merely say, “Thank you. I had a nice time with you.”
His face softens a bit as he tells you, “Me too. I’ll see you tomorrow.”
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Another day rises, gloomy as always. But for once, you don’t let the constant rain damper your spirits.
Perhaps it’s because you’ve been here a little while now. Perhaps it’s also because you have no idea when the rain will let you go. Perhaps it’s because you simply want to change things up from the dark and dreary. But if you’re going to be stuck in a manor with a bunch of hybrids, you might as well make the most of it. Right?
“Good morning, Taehyung,” you greet him the moment you open your bedroom door. He looks taken aback, as if you wouldn’t suspect he’d come to your door like he does every morning. “How’ve you been?”
“Fine.” He blinks at you, still confused. Maybe even a bit suspicious. The sleepiness that’s usually on his face isn’t present this time. “Are you all right?”
“I am,” you reply easily, giving him a polite, friendly smile. You’re about to head down for breakfast when you turn to face the bear hybrid again. “Thanks for always checking on me, by the way.”
Taehyung smiles a little to himself. He’s still a bit guarded around you, just as all the other hybrids. But to both of you, it’s a small start to change. “Sure. No problem.”
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In the kitchen, you hear Hoseok and Jimin before you even see them. The two of them are in charge of breakfast again, singing a song they both know and shaking their hips as they stir and cut.
“Need any help?” you offer again, still in a good mood after talking to Taehyung.
Jimin barely glances at you. “We got it. Don’t worry.”
“Are you sure?” you try again. “I can make a decent kimchi fried rice.”
“It’s true,” your number one supporter – Jungkook – pipes up, seemingly summoned by the chance to readily defend your honor and your cooking. “I tried it. It’s so good.”
You smile fondly at the bunny hybrid, and without thinking, you begin to pet his back affectionately. A mistake you instantly regret.
At your touch, Jungkook immediately tenses. His eyes are scared wide as he stares back at you, and you quickly draw your hand back.
Stupid, you scold yourself. His owner was physically abusive. Of course he wouldn’t feel comfortable with you just touching him. “I-I’m so sorry, Jungkook. I didn’t— I should’ve realized—”
“No, no, it’s okay,” he insists, his voice soft. “It feels nice. I’m just… not used to it.”
Hoseok and Jimin are quiet as they watch the exchange between you two. All three hybrids note the guilt and distress on your face, and sense that you genuinely feel bad. Even as Jungkook takes your hands and brings them to his face and chest, trying to cheer you up, claiming that he knows that you won’t ever hurt him.
You’d never hurt any of them.
In fact, in the days that you and Jungkook have been in the manor, it’s clear that the two of you at least care about each other. From the little things like when you ask him how he slept the night before, or when Jungkook shares some of his food with you. To the obvious things like when Jungkook’s eyes would sparkle with fondness whenever he talks about you, or how you’re always looking out for him even when you seem busy reading a book.
Perhaps there’s some truth in Jungkook’s story from the first dinner together. Perhaps you aren’t like the other humans after all.
It makes you rather odd, peculiar to the rest of the hybrids. A beauty, but a funny girl.
Jimin ruffles his feathers a bit, as if he seems a bit confused about something. Then, after a bit of hesitation, he asks, “You said you can cook kimchi fried rice? What else can you make?”
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It isn’t long until the kitchen fills with the aromas of your meal. You’ve been here long enough to know what each of them prefer as well, and with the three hybrids helping you finish making breakfast, you can’t help but feel proud of the abundance set on the table before you.
“Enjoy the meal, guys. I’ll see if the others want to join us,” you decide as the three hybrids already take their seats around the table. They nod their heads and express their appreciation, but the hunger in their eyes makes them impatient as they start to fill their plates with food.
By that time, Taehyung is probably fast asleep and you don’t want to bother him. You’re trusting that Jimin or Hoseok would save some food for him later. You also don’t have any idea where Namjoon would be, but you suspect that Seokjin would be in the gaming room like he usually is.
Just as you’re crossing the threshold leading to the gaming room, you feel him.
Eyes watching you from the shadows.
Normally, this is when you run. When your fight-or-flight instincts kick in and you turn back from the room as quickly as you entered. When you’d flee to another room as if he’d chase you out.
This time, you try to address the guarded presence in the room.
“Yoongi?”
There’s no answer. But if you were to see him, you’d see his ear twitch at the sound of his name. The gaze feels more intense, making your skin crawl, but you don’t let it scare you.
“I helped Hoseok and Jimin with breakfast today,” you continue and wait to see if he’d respond back. He doesn’t. Still, you meekly add on, “I wasn’t sure what you like. We saved some for you and the others. If you try it, I hope you like it.”
You take the following silence as your cue to leave, scurrying across to get into the game room. You feel uncertain if engaging in small talk with the leopard hybrid will change his impression of you at all.
Until later on, when you return to the kitchen, you see that his share is missing from their refrigerator. And Taehyung and Seokjin are sitting together eating their shares.
“Jimin told me that you made this,” the bear hybrid says when he sees you. “It’s good, right Seokjin-hyung?”
The wolf hybrid chokes a little in surprise, as if he’s just finding out now that the food he’s eating was made by you. It’s nearly devoured, but Seokjin coolly replies, “It’s not bad.”
You smile a little at this, feeling a bit proud of yourself. “Then, I’ll make something more delicious for you guys next time.”
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“It’s nice what you did for everyone,” Namjoon tells you later that day, after dinner and during another evening date with him. He pours you a glass of whiskey, and you smile and take it from him. Congratulations are in order for finally getting the other hybrids to warm up to you.
“It’s the least I could do,” you tell him honestly, taking a sip and letting the liquor burn your throat a little. You grimace a bit, swirling the golden liquid in your glass. “You’ve all been nothing but kind to me.”
Your eyes are fixed on the alcohol, but you can see Namjoon staring at you from your peripheral vision. It’s such a softened look, almost endeared. You try to tell yourself the warmth on your face is from the whiskey and nothing else.
“I hope this means you’ll consider staying after the rain,” he nearly whispers. He doesn’t hide that you’re more than welcomed to. That, for whatever reason, he wants you to stay with him for a long time.
Perhaps a few days ago, you’d easily decline. You didn’t want to burden any of them for overstaying. You didn’t think it was even possible to be amicable with them.
But today proved you wrong. Today felt like a change to something new. Something that just wasn’t there before.
You take another sip of the whiskey and state, “I’ll think about it.”
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Staying in the manor has been on your mind lately.
Day by day, it feels like time continues to move too slowly. The rain seems to come and go now, but it’s still too dangerous for you to leave the old manor on the chance that the storm will pick up again soon. Or that you might end up getting lost in the dense woods. Or any other excuse that seems like a bad idea to leave.
So, you stay.
You stay until Taehyung no longer questions if you’re afraid of them every morning.
It’s become a routine at this point.
Every day, the sleepy, handsome face of the bear hybrid is the first thing you see when you open the door to your bedroom. “Good morning, little human. How did you sleep?”
And you smile back at him, genuinely happy to see him. “Morning, Taehyung. I slept fine, thanks for asking.”
“That’s good,” he responds, nodding a bit to himself before he starts to head to his room. You’re not sure how long he waits for you to wake up, or why he still insists on checking on you before he turns in for bed, but you appreciate the gesture nonetheless.
“I hope you sleep well,” you tell him before he goes. And Taehyung just looks back at you and smiles.
You stay until Jimin no longer sees you as a guest in his home.
To your insistence, Jimin starts to see you helping around the manor more. Without anyone asking, he sees that you’d fix snacks for everyone in the afternoon, cutting up fruits or spreading tuna mix on crackers. He sees you dusting around the east corridor on days when it rains, tending to Namjoon’s flowers as they begin to bloom and grow, and folding laundry with Jungkook.
You’re really starting to make yourself at home here.
Jimin preens his black feathers, neatly fixing his wing as you’re sweeping around with a broom and dustpan. He doesn’t think you’re even paying attention to him until he hears you murmur, “They’re so pretty.”
“What is?”
“Your feathers,” you tell him with a shy smile. “They’re a really unique color.”
“Oh.” He feels his chest puff up a bit, swelling with happiness. In the shelter he ran away from, and even the lake where he was born, he was always the odd one out – the ugly duckling of the group. Hearing you compliment him makes his heart stir as he quietly mutters, “Thank you.”
You stay as Hoseok begins to realize you’re not a threat to them.
It takes a while, but slowly, eventually, Hoseok no longer flinches or looks at you with terror when you’re near him. Where he even tries to make small talk with you at the dinner table, or when he’s with another hybrid. Seeing how gentle you are with Jungkook – and these days, to the others – seems to assure him that you’re not an enemy to him or his pack.
At the library, Hoseok sees you and Jungkook together. It isn’t unusual to find you here, but Jungkook must’ve wanted to spend time with you.
In his bunny form, Jungkook falls asleep on your lap. His little body is comfortably stretched out as you absently scratch his head and behind his ears, and then massage his back. He’s practically melting at your touch, whiskers twitching with content.
Jungkook is completely safe with you. Despite his past with his previous owner and the horrors he had to face before he met you, he’s let his guard down with you.
Perhaps that’s why Hoseok finally musters up the courage to approach you. “I saw the movie for this, but I think I like the book better so far.”
You look up at him and smile. “Oh, that’s a good one! I like the book better too.”
He returns your smile, still a bit nervous, but eventually, he sits next to you. Neither of you say a word as you quietly read your books together. But the implication of it all, the wordless comfort of being around each other’s presence, is more than enough.
You stay as Yoongi starts to respond back to you.
Shortly after you and Hoseok spend the afternoon reading together, the leopard hybrid jumps down and reveals himself before you. He regards you with cautious eyes still, and you’re frozen in your spot, not sure what to expect.
Then, as if he’s the nervous one, he breaks eye contact with you. “I didn’t know you listened to Epik High.”
You blink at him, but then remember you’re wearing their merch shirt. “Oh, I do! I went to their concert a couple years ago!”
He looks surprised. “I didn’t take you as the type to listen to hip-hop.”
You smirk a little at his reaction. “Namjoon didn’t tell you? I met him when he was still an underground rapper.”
You stay as Seokjin shows you a different side to him.
On the day when it was so cold that the rain turned into snow, you and Jungkook decided to have a snowball fight in the courtyard. The other hybrids could hear you screaming and laughing from inside the manor as the bunny hybrid chases you around, cackling like a madman as he carries mounds of snow in his hand. 
When you see Jimin and Taehyung, you run to them for help, trying to hide behind them. The two look a little unsure of what to do until you peek out from behind Taehyung and hurl a snowball at Jungkook’s shoulder.
Hoseok laughs at the three of you split up with Jimin and Taehyung catching on quick. Yoongi and Namjoon watch by the doorway with amusement as you play with the youngest hybrids.
But as Seokjin watches, his tail is wagging and his pointed ears are perked with interest. His big eyes follow the snowballs being thrown, and his body lunges a bit, as if ready to catch them before he forcibly stops himself.
Hoseok notices and bends down to gather the snow on the ground, forming them into a ball. “Hyung, let’s show these kids how it’s done.”
You’re a bit startled when you come face to face with the wolf hybrid, not expecting him to join the fight. He’s in his wolf form, bigger than any dog you’ve encountered, and much more intimidating had it not been for the playful way Seokjin stretches out his front paws and raises his butt, wagging his tail as he eyes the ball of snow in your hands. When you throw it, Seokjin immediately takes off and bites the snow in midair, ruining your surprise attack.
Jungkook laughs when he sees this. “Wow, Jin-hyung, you’re so mean!”
And then gets hit in the face with a snowball by Hoseok.
You stay because Namjoon asks you to.
An awful flu has you bedridden for a couple weeks after the big snowball fight. Despite how many extra blankets are over your body, you’re still shivering beneath them. You’re coughing and sneezing until your chest and throat aches and you can’t breathe properly through your nose. All you can eat are liquids because solid food makes you nauseous.
Jungkook is so worried about you, he’s standing by your bedside with tears in his eyes, telling you not to die on him.
And you, a blob beneath several blankets – voice hoarse and completely congested, feeling like this illness has you fighting through hell and back – try to assure him as best as you can that you’ll be fine.
Surprisingly, all the hybrids step up to take care of you.
Seokjin cooks you chicken noodle soup, Yoongi brews you ginger tea with honey and lemon, Taehyung leaves plenty of water by your nightstand to keep you hydrated, Hoseok often places a cool, damp washcloth on your burning forehead to reduce your fever, Jungkook makes sure your bed is comfortable by adding on more blankets and pillows from his bed to yours, and Jimin shoos away the other hybrids when they want to check on you so you could rest properly.
At some point, Namjoon must have gone into your room as well.
After dozing off, you open your eyes to see a smerlado flower on your nightstand, resting on top of a book and a note. In Namjoon’s handwriting, he writes that he just finished reading the book and thought you’d like it. And as you flip open the pages, you see sticky notes and tabs of Namjoon’s thoughts and comments as he was reading through it.
Your mood instantly lifts as you read through them, smiling and laughing at some, itching to add your own thoughts into others. You keep hoping to turn the page and see another comment from him, even if it’s just a note that says to remind him about a particular paragraph later since he has more to say than what he could write. And only part-way through the story, you ask Jimin to get you a pen and some paper so you could write Namjoon back.
For a little while, it goes on like this. Little handwritten letters shared between you and Namjoon, especially when it still hurts to talk and you keep sleeping on and off all day. It becomes one of the things you look forward to the most, receiving a letter from him, even more so than the book he pairs with it to keep you entertained while you’re in bed.
The rain has stopped. The snow has stopped. And honestly, once you recover from this flu, you could technically leave the manor and the hybrids behind. Night falls and the moon is so bright. The stars look beautiful without the clouds masking their lights.
“What are you thinking about?” Namjoon quietly asks, visiting you for the evening as he always does. Even when you’re sick in bed, he’s adamant about courting you. He reads your notes, and you watch the dimples on his cheeks form when he comes across something funny or endearing. He brings you tea, flowers, more books, and puzzles, but spends most of his evenings just talking to you. Even as you doze off, he watches over you, comfortable with your presence as you feel his fingers linger by your face and lips.
Tonight, as you look at him, you think he looks handsome under the moonlight. Tall, strong, and the indigo colors of his eyes look magical as his gaze falls on you.
“The storm stopped, but…” you trail off, a wave of emotion hitting you so suddenly. You think about how the hybrids are just starting to warm up to you, how Jungkook is right at home here, how this was your goal from the very start and you can’t imagine parting ways from any of them now.
Namjoon doesn’t need you to finish your sentence. His hand finds yours, warm and big, yet it holds yours so gently. “Then stay. This is your home now, too.”
You decide to stay because you want to.
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Six months have passed since you and Jungkook first arrived at the old manor. Dinners have been livelier after the snowball fight. The hybrids have gotten used to you being around, regarding you with warm smiles whenever they see you. 
And you feel safe when you’re with them. You feel at home.
On a clear and starry night, after Yoongi casually mentions that the old owners of the manor seemed to have hosted balls and parties long ago, you and the hybrids decide to dress up and throw your own party for fun. Remnants of this are found in the attic, the servant quarters, and even the grand ballroom itself.
It’s in a closet where you find a beautiful ball gown. It feels like it’s been made for you the way it perfectly fits your body, the shade of yellow complimenting your skin tone, and the exquisite details that make the dress sparkle. There’s a giddiness in you as you go all out, fixing your hair and makeup for the first time in ages.
When Jungkook first sees you, his mouth falls open in surprise.
You start to feel a bit self-conscious when he doesn’t say anything. “I look silly, don’t I?”
“No! Not at all!” he quickly assures you with a laugh. “You look beautiful.”
As you wait in the east wing, Jungkook hops off ahead to inform the others that you’re ready. Music begins to play from the ballroom, and you take a deep breath in.
Tonight, you feel nervous, and you’re not entirely sure why. Every night, for the past six months, you’ve spent your evenings after dinner with Namjoon.
This time, it shouldn’t feel any different, except it does.
Careful of the steps, you slowly make your descent down the stairs. Once you’re at the middle landing, that’s when you see him.
Namjoon is also dressed up tonight, but he looks like a prince straight out of a fairytale story. As he steps down the stairs from the west wing to meet you, he stares at you in awe. Then, with a charming smile, he extends his arm toward you and asks, “Shall we?”
You smile back shyly and wrap your arm around his. Then, together, the two of you walk down the rest of the steps that lead to the ballroom.
It’s enchanting, the way the chandeliers glow and sparkle above you. Yoongi is on the piano and Taehyung on the violin. Seokjin and Jungkook are dancing together, giggling and goofing around, and Hoseok and Jimin are sitting together with an open bottle of champagne shared between them. 
You feel their gazes on you and Namjoon the moment you two enter. Even Yoongi and Taehyung momentarily stop playing as they look at you.
“Don’t mind them,” Namjoon whispers when he sees that you’re getting a little anxious from the attention. He takes one of your hands in his as his other hand holds your waist. “Just keep your eyes on me.”
Hoseok waves for the music to start again, and a romantic tune fills the ballroom. You and Namjoon start to dance together. It’s a bit clumsy at first. Namjoon winces every time he nearly steps on your feet and mumbles embarrassed apologies. But you smile and assure him that it’s okay, almost feeling like no one else is in the room except you and him.
After a while, Yoongi changes it from live music to songs from his playlist, still keeping the romantic atmosphere as Taehyung and Jimin dance together, and Hoseok stares at the leopard hybrid with eyes begging for a dance as well. You’d think Jungkook would want to cut in to dance with you at one point, but he still seems to be having fun with Seokjin and they copy each other’s silly dance moves.
“I’m going to step out for some fresh air,” you tell Namjoon, and he nods his head, saying he’ll go with you.
While the party continues inside, the two of you enter the balcony where the cold, night air hits your skin and makes you shiver. You feel his hand on the small of your back, rubbing you gently to keep you warm. And it works. You feel the heat on your face as the peaceful, beautiful night surrounds you two.
There’s a serious look in his eyes, as if he’s contemplating something, before he asks you, “Are you happy here? With me?”
“I am,” you reply honestly. You can’t thank Namjoon enough for taking you and Jungkook in that night of the storm, despite almost hurting one of his packmates. You can imagine a life without him and the other hybrids now either.
“Do you ever think about going back?”
“Sometimes,” you admit. You miss your family, and every now and then, you wonder how they’re doing. How much has changed in that small, provincial town since you left. You even think about Kangdae sometimes, though you’re certain he must be with another girl. They must all think you’re long gone by now. “I don’t think I will, though. I like being with you. And the others, of course.”
Namjoon smiles gently. “Then, I’m glad you stayed.”
“Me too.” You mean it, too. Your eyes meet Namjoon’s, and you can’t help but think of how pretty they are. How attractive he is. How you’re so tempted to just move a little closer and just—
“I have a confession to make.”
You feel your heart race. “What is it?”
“I think – I knew – from the moment I met you,” Namjoon begins, his voice soft. The strokes of his thumb on your back feel more intimate as his gaze falls on your lips. “You’re the one. You’re my—”
A commotion interrupts from below.
You hear Seokjin barking and snarling angrily, followed by the deep, rumbling growls from Taehyung and Yoongi. Voices are shouting. People you don’t recognize.
Everything seems to move in slow motion as you and Namjoon look over the balcony to see flashlights waving in the premise of the manor. Some of the hybrids are out there in their animal forms, warning the group of intruders to back away.
“Namjoon,” Hoseok interrupts, coming to the balcony with urgency in his eyes. “It’s the humans. They’re—”
A gunshot fires.
Your blood runs cold as the deadly sound rings in your ear.
And, to your horror, you hear a voice that you do recognize, shouting your name.
“Babe, I know you’re there!” Kangdae yells, looking up at you from where he stands. “Come down here and say hello! Or I’ll shoot your darling pets one by one.”
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Thank you for reading ♡ Comments & reviews are greatly appreciated!
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antiquarianfics · 10 months
Text
Taken pt. 8
If Bucky Barnes could time travel, he would go back to that morning. He would hold you a little tighter in his arms, and he would kiss you a little deeper. He would pull your daughter in between the two of you, letting her giggle as loudly as she wants whilst her parents kiss her cheeks and tickle her belly. If Bucky Barnes could time travel, he would have told you not to go to the park—to go anywhere else. But Bucky Barnes can’t time travel, and his wife and daughter are gone.
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a/n: woooh! this part got me excited to write!!! y’all, things are heating up! also, what if i just, idk, post a part early for once. surprise!
warnings: swearing, blackmail, mention of murder, themes of conspiracy, canon typical violence.
note: I do not own the character Bucky Barnes or any other Marvel affiliated characters. Any and all characters are a work of fiction and any likeness to real persons is wholly unintentional.
You do not have permission to copy, translate, or repost my work; however, feel free to like, comment, and reblog.
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He doesn't cry, though. He doesn't scream or hit anything. No, he can't. Not yet. For now he can only hold his sleeping daughter close to him and listen to the gentle breathing of a child who hasn't slept or eaten well in weeks.
It is all he can do to stay strong for his daughter.
The trip back to the States from Siberia was certainly tense, but Bucky is certain that it was preferable to the conference room he is currently sat in. He has been in many a debriefing, but he has never been in one reliant on a toddler.
“Bec, honey,” Natasha says softly to Rebecca, “I know it’s all bad memories, but can you tell me what happened to you and your mom while you were away?”
Rebecca looks at Natasha unsure before looking up at Bucky from where she sits in his lap. She had developed a habit of looking to you for permission to speak while in HYDRA’s custody and the habit has transferred to Bucky. After all, the toddler essentially traded one parent for another.
Bucky smiles encouragingly at his daughter, “Go ahead, love.”
Becca looks back to Natasha and takes in a deep breath.
“Just start from the beginning, yeah?” Natasha encourages.
Becca nods shyly before finally speaking.
“Mommy and I were at the park. I was swinging really high and jumping off. Then, Mommy said we had to leave, and she started walking really fast. Then we were in a box, and it was dark, and I was really hungry. We were there for a long time.”
Bucky bites the inside of his cheek while he rubs his flesh hand comfortingly up and down his daughter’s arm.
“You’re doing great, sweetie,” Natasha says. “What happened next?”
Becca nods. “Dr. Frost took us to the room where he hit Mommy. He wanted to know about “The Asset.” Mommy said that was Daddy.”
Bucky visibly tenses in his seat and makes eye contact with Natasha in front of her. She sends him a tense smile in hopes of providing some comfort.
“What did Dr. Frost want to know about your dad?” Steve chimes in. While Natasha sits in the chair directly across the table from Becca, where she sits in Bucky’s lap, Steve sits at the head of the conference table a few feet away.
Bucky had insisted that not too many people were in the room to question Becca when Steve finally convinced him to let the team talk to her.
“Buck, I know you don’t want her to have to think about it anymore, but if we’re going to stop Morozov and avenge Y/N, we need to talk to her. She’s the only one who knows anything, and we’re desperate for a lead here, pal.”
“He kept asking Mommy about words that didn’t work.”
“Do you know why he wanted to know that?” Steve pushes.
“Steve,” Bucky warns as he becomes exceedingly more uncomfortable with the interrogation of his daughter. Steve makes eye contact with Bucky, and the face he sends tells Bucky he has no intent to back down. But he’s sorry about it.
“They wanted to keep me,” Becca says, scrunching her face.
Bucky scrunches his own face in confusion, and anyone observing the pair would be able to note their resemblance on the facial expressions alone.
“What do you mean, honey?” Natasha asks tensely.
“I do not know,” Becca says, confusedly looking back up at her dad. “But Mommy got really angry and pulled the…” she trails off, searching for a word you’d taught her all those weeks before. “Handcuffs?” Becca says, continuing when Bucky nods, assuring that she is making sense. “Mommy pulled her handcuffs off the wall. They wanted her after that.”
The three adults look at each other, trying to make sense of Becca’s story. Nothing was adding up. If they wanted Becca to begin with, why would they stop? Why would they kill you just to return her?
“We were there for a long time after that. They hit Mommy a lot. They asked her to do something for them, but she said they had to give me back to Daddy.
“They took her away. When she came back, they hurt her until she stopped moving.”
Becca finishes her testimony, and the Avengers are nowhere closer to understanding what HYDRA was planning. Bucky, however, begins to think about all his daughter shared, and he thinks maybe—just maybe—they didn’t actually kill you.
A month goes by and Bucky Barnes insists his wife isn’t dead. His friends all insist he’s grieving, but he knows better. Something about Rebecca’s story just doesn’t add up, and he is sure there’s more going on than his daughter could possibly know.
He has taken to keeping to himself, only really talking to Becca, who he has diligently kept close to him at all times. So, when he is called in for a meeting for the first time since Rebecca’s rescue mission, he isn’t sure what to do. He settles for letting her sit in the briefing room with her headphones on, turning on a cartoon for her to watch. After she’s settled, he turns to the team.
“What do we got?” He asks, mouth held tensely in a thin line.
Then, with the flourish expected from the director of SHIELD, Nick Fury waltzes into the room, answering Bucky’s question as he goes.
“President Atkins was found dead in the presidential suite of the White House at 9 AM this morning,” he says, taking a seat at the head of the table. He presses his fingers together in a triangle formation, taking on an introspective look of sorts.
A wave of shock passes through the Avengers.
“If we’re all here,” Tony speaks up from his seat at the conference table, “it must not have been a natural death.” He says it as a statement, but it is a question.
“Exactly,” Fury confirms. “We’re not sure who or how, but someone is loose who is capable of breaking through top of the line security without being detected.”
“So, possibly inhuman? Alien?” Bruce muses from Tony’s right.
“Or, it’s a defected SHIELD agent,” a new voice speaks up.
The room’s attention is drawn to a darkened corner of the large conference room. Bucky squints to make out the figure of a man, and he is surprised he hadn’t noticed the stranger before. Then again, one doesn’t have to be on guard at all times when surrounded by Earth’s mightiest.
The faces of the original Avengers team are confused, and Bucky wonders if the stranger is someone they know.
Finally, the man steps forward.
“Sorry to scare you guys. I’ve just always wanted to do that. The light was out in the corner, and I just couldn’t help myself.”
“Coulson?” Steve asks surprised.
“You died in The Battle of New York,” Natasha says, shock evident in her voice.
“Only for a few minutes,” Coulson shrugs with a lighthearted grin.
“Where have you been?” Tony asks tensely.
“Tahiti. It’s a magical place,” Coulson says ominously and with a smile.
Steve, Tony, and Natasha share a look. Coulson makes eye contact with Bucky.
“Sargent Barnes, it’s a pleasure to meet you! You know, if you have a minute later, I have a trading card of you and,” Coulson rambles only to be cut off by Fury.
“Agent Coulson,” Fury says, quickly ending Coulson’s fanboying and placing the conversation back on track.
Coulson straightens up and nods, clearing his throat.
“Like Director Fury said, President Atkins was found dead in his room this morning. We have reasonable evidence to believe this was an assassination carried out by a former agent.”
“And what evidence is that?” Bucky asks, eyeing Becca in the corner to make sure she’s still occupied with her show.
“Well,” Coulson says, moving to grab the tablet sitting on the conference table. “After the death of the president, two more assassinations took place.
“The Secretary of Defense, Elizabeth Fitzgerald, was found deceased in her home at 11:26 AM, and the Director of Homeland Security, Antonio Smith, was found deceased in his office in the capital building at 12:58 PM.”
“Okay,” Sam speaks up for the first time since Bucky had arrived. “That still doesn’t explain what makes you think a former SHIELD agent is responsible.”
“I’m glad you asked,” Coulson says, turning to a screen on the wall to his right. He taps the tablet and security footage appears.
Bucky and the team—Steve, Tony, Bruce, Sam, Natasha, Wanda, and Clint—all turn their attention to the screen. Bucky thinks the camera is portraying the backside of the U.S. Capital Building—a camera meant to watch the perimeter.
“SHIELD received this video from a trusted source within the Capital earlier today,” Fury says, nodding for Coulson to play the footage.
The video plays, and seemingly nothing is out of the ordinary at first. The wind gently blows the grass far below the camera, and no one is walking on the pavement directly below the camera. Approximately 30 seconds into the video, though, the camera catches movement in the bottom right corner of the screen. A figure swiftly walks to the edge of the Capital’s platform, quickly looks back over their shoulder, and jumps off the platform.
“Wait, go back,” Tony says.
“Was that?” Wanda asks, looking warily at Natasha who nods to say she saw it, too.
“There’s no way,” Sam says, leaning forward in his seat as if to see the frozen frame better.
“So, when you said a former agent, you meant…” Clint trails off, looking at Fury and Coulson for confirmation.
Bruce sits next to Tony, hands clasped underneath his chin in thought, eyes trained on the screen, analyzing it.
Coulson and Fury nod, but before anyone else can say anything, Bucky speaks.
“It’s Y/N.”
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ko-fi
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@just-henny @jasminocano @browneyedgirl22-blog @barnesboo1967 @matchat3a @unkasworld @qwertyb2577 @raajali3 @yoruse @iilsenewman @alysianc @fairytalegirlofurdreams @marvelxlevram @casa-boiardi @buckybraneslover111 @hhiggs @smolracoon25 @questionableratatouille00 @heytheredemonsitsyourgirl @thearieunhinged @sebastianstansqueen @middaystarlight @talesofadragon @killerwendigo @ozwriterchick @kandis-mom
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Note
thank you!! My request is: Joel x female reader. Age gap. They met after Joel and Ellie arrived in Jackson, they started to know each other, at first they kept it a bit like a secret but then, when things started to get more serious, they didn’t hide anymore. Things got so serious that after a while (not immediately, like a year or two) Joel asked reader to move in with him and Ellie.
Ellie loves reader and she’s more than happy that Joel found his special someone. Could you add a scene where reader is with Ellie one afternoon and they see Joel with a woman, acting really intimate, which connects to reader’s thoughts about Joel being a bit weird the previous days. She thinks he’s cheating on her, also because the woman is really close and intimate to Joel in that situation.
She wants to leave before he sees her but Joel notices her presence, tries to talk to her but doesn’t deny the accusations at first, (so a lot of angst!!!) which makes reader think she lost the love of her life.
They don’t talk for a few days and try to ignore each other when possible, despite living together. Ellie is sad and suffers from this situation. Joel loves reader too much to ruin things so he puts his pride aside and tries talking to her. They eventually talk it through, he was not cheating (choose whatever the alternative to that is!!) maybe a little fluff at the end or also something else? You choose!
also, if you have any rules or have triggers about something that I requested please let me know and change the story how you need to.
And I’m extremely sorry if this request is too long and detailed.
thank you!!!
Guiding Lights - a Joel Miller one shot.
Characters - Joel Miller x Reader
Word Count - 8.7K
Warnings/Tags - 18+ only Minors dni. Typical canon language, Swearing, Angst, Fluff, Alcohol consumption, , Sus!Joel, Soft!Joel, insecurities, suspected cheating, no actual cheating, I think thats all?
A/N - @addictedtotlou This is my first ever fic request and I cannot thank you enough for sending it through, and also for dropping into my inbox to let me know it was you that requested it! I'm sorry it took so long but I hope you enjoy <3
Feedback, Reblogs and comments are always appreciated!
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You often find yourself reminiscing on the day you met Joel and Ellie, it feels like forever ago now, though it has only really been a few years.
The winters in Wyoming were never kind, but that year, Mother Nature had been particularly cruel. Strong winds and vicious snow blizzards reduced visibility to almost nothing. You had heard those posted to the lookout stations talking over lunches and complaining about how bad the conditions were getting.
So in a bid to keep the good folks of Jackson safe, Tommy and Maria decided to double the number of patrols around the commune in an attempt to keep an eye on the horizon for any potential threats who could be hiding just beyond their sights.
Needless to say, it had been a rather slow work day in the Tipsy Bison, with the usual counting and re-counting of stock, checking on the latest brew of beers and whisky, ensuring everything was going as planned, and cleaning of the already immaculate bar, all finished in record time.
Expecting the usual after-work rush that never came, you sent the other two bar staff over to the mess hall to see if the kitchen needed any help with preparations for tomorrow's meals.
As the two said their goodbyes over their shoulders, you heard one of them mumble a shocked "What the hell?"
With your interest piqued, you stepped out from behind the old wooden bar and crossed the floor to the large square windows at the front of the building. Your eyes followed their gaze and watched as the afternoon patrol crew filed through the large wooden and steel-clad gates of the commune.
You waved as a few of your regulars passed you, a few tipping the brims of their ten-gallon hats. You quickly realised what had drawn your colleagues' attention when your eyes landed on two new faces in the middle of the crew.
The first newcomer was a man; he wore a thick brown winter coat and jeans that looked like they could stand up on their own, and you could see the toe of his work boot was mended with what looked to be duck tape. His eyes were sharp and focused, darting around him as if in search of someone or something.
Instantly, he gave you the impression of someone who had been on the road for quite some time. Having been there yourself, you felt a surge of sympathy for him, but you were still wary of him, not knowing why he had been brought inside the walls.
The second was a girl, whom you assumed to be the man's daughter; she was small and looked to be in her early teens. Strands of her tawny brown hair peek out from under her winter hat. big, bright eyes, taking in her surroundings in wonder, while the man stared straight ahead. The girl seemed to be unaware that all eyes were on her, from those who stood on the street to others standing in shop windows, just as you were.
You followed the other barstaff out to the porch and offered the girl a small smile as your eyes met, she quickly looked away without returning it. It wasn't often that Jackson took in new people, opting to keep off the radar to try and protect what you had here. Maria was on this afternoon's patrol and had no doubt made the call to bring the two into the commune.
As the crew passed, heading further into the small town, you saw the man's head snap to the left, and he opened his mouth.
"Tommy!" he shouted, his deep, booming voice ringing in the silence. In an instant, he was off his horse and running in the direction of the scaffolding that had been put up to repair some of the damage to a neighbouring building.
You watched on in stunned silence as the two men ran towards each other, unsure of what the newcomers intentions were, but before you had made it down the two steps of the porch, the man wrapped his arms around Tommy and began laughing, disbelief colouring the sound.
The two men stood embracing each other, both breathless from laughter, and you knew immediately who the newcomer was. This was Joel, Tommy's brother.
Tommy had spoken of him before; usually after one too many whiskies at the bar, he would open up to you about how guilty he felt about staying off the radio. He would say things like, "It's only a matter of time before he comes looking for me, Y/N; what am I supposed to do? Turn him away?" and "One thing about my big bother is that he's persistent."
You had always offered words of understanding and comfort and almost always cut him off and sent him home after those conversations, knowing that no good could come from him drinking any more alcohol.
Part of being the town's main bar tender was also being a listening ear whenever someone needed it, but with Tommy, it was different. He and Maria had become your closest friends, and you would always be there when either of them needed you, working or not.
You always got the sense that something had happened between the two men that couldn't be fixed. As you watched the brothers reunite, you realised that the thought couldn't be further from the truth.
Maria caught your eye as she dismounted from her horse and jerked her head to the side, beseeching you to join her. You nodded at her and crossed the road to where she was standing, hitching her horse to one of the many posts dotted around town.
"Maria, is that who I think it is?" You asked her quietly, not wanting to draw attention to the conversation.
"Yeah, it is," she spat. "I don't know how the hell he found us out here." She continued, venom dripping from each word.
You knew that Maria had never actually met Joel, but from the stories Tommy had told you both in the early years, she knew what he was capable of and decided then and there that she did not like him. You, on the other hand, had a more objective outlook on things.
You were not involved in the same way Maria was, of course; she and Tommy were married after all, so you could understand her reservations when he opened up about his past with his brother and the things they had done and what they thought they needed to do to survive.
The problem was, Maria had been in Jackson longer than you and Tommy and therefore had less of an idea what a brutal hellscape it was outside the walls. Maria wasn't stupid; she knew that it was dangerous, but it had been so long since she had to live like that, to really be surviving, not trusting anyone you met along the way, not knowing where your next meal was coming from, or if you were going to make it to worry about the next meal.
You, on the other hand, had lived that life for longer than you would like to remember, and though you didn't have innocent blood on your hands, they were far from clean. So you could sympathise with Tommy and the demons that clearly kept him up at night. So you felt the hatred that Maria has for Joel was a little unfounded.
"I'm happy he found him again," you admitted, unable to help the undercurrent meant by your works. What you really wanted to say was "This should have happened a long time ago if you had let him respond to Joel's calls on the radio" Meeting her narrowed eyes, you saw a flash of anger in them. No doubt you will get an earful for that comment later.
You knew what she was going to say: that Joel wasn't going to fit in here in Jackson, that Tommy was better off without him, and that you should keep a safe distance from him. But she didn't have the opportunity, as Tommy was already walking towards the two of you.
Joel had walked back to where the girl waited on her horse; a worried, almost disappointed expression crossed her face as he gestured towards Tommy. You watched as he gently helped her down from the animal, making sure she was steady on her feet before the pair followed behind Tommy.
"Y/N, Maria, ah… this is my big brother, Joel," Tommy announced, his tone a mixture of pride and nervousness.
"Hey, it's good to finally meet you; I've heard a lot about you." You smiled kindly at him; he nodded once in response, his expression guarded.
"I'm Ellie! It's nice to meet you," the girl chirps cheerily before shoving her elbow into Joel's ribs. "Joel, say hello," she all but hissed at him, which makes you chuckle.
"It's lovely to meet you, Ellie." You beam.
"It's, uh, good to meet you," he managed quietly.
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Two years later...
A loud knock at your front door startles you. Your hand flies to your heart as you curse under your breath. Who the hell would be calling on you at this hour of the morning?
You pad down the hallway and open the door to find Joel standing there, hands shoved into the pockets of his jeans, shifting his weight from one leg to the other. He seemed keyed up, and your heart drops to your stomach; something must have happened.
"Hey, is everything okay? Did something happen? Is Ellie alright?" You squeaked at him, the panic rising in your chest causing your voice to go up an octave.
"Yes, darlin, everything's fine, Ellie's good; don't worry; I just need to talk to you about something, that's all," he assured you in his thick Texas drawl.
"Everything's good… but you need to talk to me about something at 6 a.m." You questioned him dubiously, arching an eyebrow at him.
"I promise everything is fine; I have morning patrol and was hoping I could catch you before I head out," Joel explains, the ghost of a smile playing on his plump lips.
"Ah, okay, that makes sense, sorry; c'mon, handsome." You laugh as you open the door for him to enter and close it after him.
He follows you down the hall into the small kitchen, lingering in the doorway and studying you. You can feel his eyes roaming your figure as you pour him a cup of coffee. Strong, black, no sugar—just the way he likes it.
Turning with the mug in your hand, you let out a breathy laugh at the sight of him. He looked wired, far too awake for this hour of the morning. Was he sweating?
"Joel, baby, are you alright?" You ask curiously as you hand him his coffee and take your usual seat at the end of the dining table.
"Yeah, I just…I wanna ask you something but I don't know how" he confessed sheepishly, his large hand coming to scratch nervously at the back of his neck.
"I'd like to think you know me well enough by now to know you can ask me anything." You said it with a smile, hoping to calm whatever was causing his nerves.
"Yeah, no, I know, I just don't want to freak you out; there's no pressure, and I understa-"
"Just spit it out, Joel." You interrupt him. In the two years you had been with Joel, you had never seen him struggle for words with you, and it was making you anxious.
"Okay," he huffs out, pulling the dining room chair out so he could sit facing you. He takes a long drink of coffee before continuing, and the suspense is killing you.
"So I was speaking to Ellie, and you know we both love you; hell, sometimes I think she likes you more than she likes me!" He chuckles fondly: "Look, we've been seeing each other for a while, and now that everyone knows, I think it would be good, you know, f-for Ellie if she had a…I dunno, like a mother figure on a more permanent basis." The words were falling out of his mouth like an avalanche. He desperately hoped he was making sense, but you still weren't understanding.
"Permenant basis? What do you mean?" You ask, confusion clear on your face, making him laugh again.
"Yeah, like on an everyday basis," he enphasises. Urging you to grasp the meaning of his words.
"Okay, um, I mean, yeah, I think that's a great idea. I love that kid. I will tell her about making an effort to hang out every day." You promise him sincerely and are touched that he thinks of you as a mother figure to his daughter.
"That's not really what I was thinking, baby; I mean, on a permanent basis, like you would live in the same house." He husks softly, his eyes searching your face for your reaction, and his heart sinks to his boots as he watches your brows knit together.
"Did you have another fight?" You ask him, reaching your hand up to stroke the side of his face, your thumb lingering on the heart-shaped patch of his beard where the hair refused to grow. "Ellie's always more than welcome to stay here when she likes, but Joel, I don't think her moving in here is the answer."
He takes your hand from his face and holds it between both of his; he huffs all the air from his lungs and slowly takes another deep breath. Straightening in his chair, he locks eyes with you.
"I knew this would be an easy ask, but I didn't imagine you making it this hard on me," he says exasperatedly, huffing out another loud laugh.
"I don't understand." Confusion layers your tone, and you are sure your face is doing the same.
"I'm not asking if Ellie can move in with you; I'm asking if… if you would like to move in with us Y/N" He admits. His brown eyes are soft and lingering on your face, and his thumb is tracing small circles on your wrist.
This was not the conversation you were expecting to have over your morning coffee; your brain was barely functioning, and your mind started to race. The last two years of your life, with Joel and Ellie passing by before you in a blur of colours and memories.
You had sympathised with Joel's struggles to adjust to life in Jackson, and given that you worked in the only bar in town, he quickly became a familiar face. You ignored Maria's warnings to stay away from him; after all, she didn't know him from Adam, and you felt it was unfair to judge someone on the things they had done as the world fell apart overnight.
So, slowly but surely, you found yourself at work, hoping each night that he would stop in so you could get to know him better, and he always did. Always opting to sit at the bar, despite there being plenty of more comfortable booths to sit at.
At first, it was always you who initiated the conversation, asking him how his day was, how the patrol had gone, and how Ellie was fitting in, and you listened tentatively to what little information he would give you. Until eventually, after a couple of months of the same routine, he started to open up to you.
He would ask you how you were, how your shift had been, if you had a good day off, and on occasion he would let slip that he "missed you yesterday" when he called in for a drink on his way home from patrol, only to be disappointed that you were nowhere to be found.
It made you giddy; he was on your mind constantly; it made you feel like there was a swarm of butterflies in your belly, but you thought it was only harmless flirting as there was a considerable age gap between you both, with Joel being in his fifties and you in your early thirties, you didn't think Joel would be interested in a relationship with you.
But how wrong you were! After a couple of weeks of late-night drinks after the bar had officially closed, Joel had bitten the bullet and asked you out, though he asked if you wouldn't mind keeping it between the two of you as he didn't know how Ellie would react to him seeing someone and you gladly accepted.
You understood that Ellie was and always would be his first priority, and you admired his unwavering dedication to her, especially after finding out that Ellie wasn't his blood relative; he had taken her on as "cargo," as he affectionately put it. As a way to get one step closer to finding his brother, but she had worked her way under his skin, much like she did with everyone she met. It was so difficult not to like her. With her quick wit and foul mouth, she never failed to make you laugh. She was definitely his daughter, blood or no blood.
The thought of Ellie brings your mind back to the question at hand: should you move in with them? Was now the right time? Was Ellie even okay about this? Did she even know Joel had asked you? Each question raced through your mind until your mouth found one it could form words around.
"What does Ellie think of this?" You asked Joel intently, reading his face for any signs of worry or panic at your question, but there were none to be found.
"I mentioned to Ellie a few months ago that I thought it would be nice if you were around all the time, and she agreed, and then I sat her down yesterday and told her that I was thinking of asking you today, and she was all for it. I don't want you to feel pressured in any way, though; it's okay if it's too soon; you can say no, and we won't be offended in the slightest!" Joel assures you, his voice is low and genuine.
He lifts his right hand to the side of your face and gently brushes the hair out of your eyes, his calloused thumb stroking back and forth as you lean into his touch, allowing your eyes to fall closed. Taking a deep breath, you throw caution to the wind.
You close your eyes, taking a deep breath, your voice drops to a whisper. "Yes, I'll move in."
Suddenly your body was moving, and not by its own volition; your eyes were still closed, so your brain was having trouble registering what was happening. When your eyes flashed open in surprise, you were caught up in Joel's arms, spinning around your small kitchen with your feet no longer planted on the floor.
"Joel!" You squeal through breathy laughter, placing your hands on his broad shoulders to steady yourself.
"Are you sure, baby?" He asks, his eyes sparkling with delight.
"Yes, I'm sure handsome, but I have one condition!" You warn him, arching a fluffy brow.
"Name your price, sweetheart," he smirks at you through the whiskers of his full moustache.
"I get to tell Ellie," You beam back at him, your hand rests on the back of his neck, fingers scractching lightly at the curls that have formed there.
"I think she'd like that," he ghosts against your lips, lightly brushing his nose against your own until you lean up and crush your mouth to his.
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Three years later...
It has been a hectic few weeks for the community in Jackson, working through yet another savage winter. You were just through the middle of it, and the end was in sight. The snow storms were not as frequent and the winds were not as wild.
Work has been keeping you busy. You are still the main bartender at the Tipsy Bison, but much to Joel's dismay, you have also picked up a few patrol shifts to lend a hand to Tommy as a few of the older patrol crew stepped back into other work duties due to ill health.
It has felt like months since you and Joel have spent any quality time together, despite living in the same house and working in the same community. Whenever you were both home, he seemed distant and preoccupied, as if there was somewhere else he wanted to be. You tried to engage him in conversation, but he would only give you short answers before retreating into his own thoughts.
At first, you thought that he might just be stressed out from work duty or the weather, as bad as it has been, but as the days turned into weeks, you started to feel a growing sense of unease. You have never seen Joel act this way before, not with you at least, and you don't know what to do.
You miss his closeness; the late-night conversations at the bar while you finished up your shift—all of that has stopped, and no matter how many hours you spent trying to figure out why, you always came up blank.
So needless to say, you were looking forward to spending some quality time with Ellie this evening to help take your mind off your worries. You had stood under the shower for longer than you intended, just enjoying how the steaming water rolled down your tense frame.
With a sigh, you shut off the water and wrapped yourself in your towel, headed into your bedroom to get dressed, and you couldn't help but feel a surge of gratitude that the house had heating, an especially rare commodity with the world's current condition. Jackson really was a paradise of sorts.
"Ellie! C'mon kiddo, we're going to be late for the movie!," You shout from the bottom of the stairs, shrugging into your winter jacket.
Movie night Fridays have quickly become a tradition for you and Ellie, especially now that the winter has rolled back around and it's too cold to spend much time outdoors.
"Alright, I'm coming; Jesus, keep your hair on!" Ellie mutters as she makes her way down the stairs, where you wait for her.
"We only have 20 minutes before the film starts, and I know you're going to want to get snacks, so we've got to make tracks." You laugh as she rolls her eyes at you.
"Alright Mom," she mocks, sarcasm dripping from each word.
"You're such a little shit, you know that, right?" You tell her fondly with a warm smile.
"I know, it's all part of my charm," she grins.
"Ah, I see, and does Dina know all about your charm?" You playfully jab her ribs with your elbow, wagging your brows up and down.
"Ugh, you're so annoying; you know that, right?" Ellie counters, always so quick-witted.
"I know, it's all part of my charm," You repeat her words back to her, earning another eye roll.
The two of you leave the house and trudge out into the snow; thankfully, the blizzard has calmed, and now fat, fluffy flakes of snow flurry around you like something from a movie scene.
As brutal as they can be, you have never seen anything more beautiful than Jackson in the winter. It was like something you would see on a postcard of a ski village in the French Alps, all timber buildings and string lights illuminating the small town.
On Friday nights, the mess hall was turned into a makeshift movie theatre for the youth that lived in the commune, offering them some respite from the grind of daily life. It was complete with candy, drinks, and, of course, pop corn.
At first, Ellie hadn't seemed all that interested in going, not knowing many kids her age, but after a lot of coaxing and the promise that if she didn't like it, she didn't have to go again or even stay for the full movie, Though she quickly found her feet with Dina, the rest was really history.
"Where's Joel tonight? I thought he was going to come with us." Ellie asked curiously.
"Oh shit, I meant to tell you earlier; he said Tommy asked him to cover the evening patrol tonight, so he can't make it." You explained, not really sure why Tommy needed him to cover after already doing the afternoon patrol, but it must have been important, so you didn't give it a second thought.
You and Ellie walk in silence for a few minutes, enjoying the peaceful walk through town. You were about to ask her how she was getting on with her work detail when she came to a standstill.
"I thought you said Joel was on patrol tonight?" she demanded, her face contorting in confusion.
"Uh yeah, Ellie, I just told you that." You confirm, your own confusion mirroring hers.
"Then what the fuck is he doing in the bar?" She fumes, gesturing behind you to the window of the Tipsy Bison.
Sure enough, there he sits at the bar with Jenna. Joel was nursing a whisky, and she was playfully peeling back the homemade label of her beer bottle. They are sitting in the corner booth by the window, leaning towards each other to the point where their heads are far too close to be appropriate.
In that moment, your breathing stopped. Your stomach sank to the floor, and an overwhelming sense of panic and dread began to claw viciously from your chest up your throat, resting heavy on your tongue.
"Are you okay?" Ellie asks nervously, not really sure what to do or say in this situation. It could be nothing, but even to her, it definitely looked like something.
"Y-yeah, I'm good. Ellie, why don't you go on down to the mess hall, and I'll meet you there in a few?" You tell her more than ask, your eyes never leaving the window.
"No way fuck that I'm staying with you!" she demands, her eyes growing wet around her long lashes.
"No, Ellie, I need to talk to Joel; I will catch up with you in a few, okay?" You meet her eyes and nod in the direction of the mess hall. She only nods in response; your tone is final as she turns on her heel and storms towards the makeshift movie theatre.
What the fuck is happening right now? You trusted Joel; it never bothered you when the ladies in Jackson would bat their eyes at him or when their glances lingered a little too long. You took it as a compliment; hell, if you were them, you would stare too.
Your relationship was built on a foundation of honesty and trust from the very beginning. You have told him things you have never shared with another living soul, and he has done the same with you. Never in your life did you think you would be lucky enough to share a connection with someone the way you have with Joel, let alone after the world had ended.
And now here you stand in the middle of town, watching the man you love cosy up with another woman in plain sight, not even having the decency to try and hide it from you.
You stand there for another few minutes, watching how he leans across the table to talk to her, laughing and caressing his arm in response. It sets fire to your blood, and you can feel it moving like molten lava in your veins.
You're moving before you realise you have made the decision to do so, your feet carrying you furiously forward, up to the short creaking steps and through the entrance to the bar, and then there you are, looming over their table. Your eyes bore holes into his skull. He jumps in his seat and scrambles frantically to hide the notebook that was sitting open on the table between them. You didn't pay it a second glance.
"I didn't realise the bar needed patrolling this evening," you state pointedly at him, ignoring Jenna, who is doing everything she can to avoid eye contact with you, fidgeting in her seat, and clambering to get her things together. Grabbing her coat and scarf from beside her.
"Hey darlin, I thought you and Ellie were heading to the movies." He asks, his voice rough with his attempts to hide his nerves.
"We were on our way there when she saw this cosy scene from the street." You gesture with your hand towards the table, your voice icy as you let your hand drop to your side with an audible slap, which made Jenna flinch.
"I think I'm going to head out…" Jenna murmurs in a small, quiet voice, still avoiding your gaze.
"That is a wise decision" You agreed without taking your eyes of Joel.
She throws Joel a cryptic glance before clambering out of her seat and quickly making her way to the door, shooting Joel an apologetic glance over her shoulder, which only fuels the rage bubbling up in your throat.
"What the fuck?" You growl at him, doing your best to keep your voice under control. The last thing you wanted was to cause a scene. Especially not at your workplace, regardless of whether you were on shift or not.
"What's wrong with you?" he asks, genuinely confused by your anger.
"Please tell me you're joking," you seethe.
"What? I can't have a drink with a friend." He scoffs, incredulous.
"Seriously Joel? Since when have you had to lie about working to have a drink with a friend?"
"Don't you think you're overreacting just a bit?" he countered, avoiding the question.
"No, I really don't think I am. How could you do this? How could you do this in front of Ellie?!"
"I don't know what you're talking about," Joel huffs back at you, his eyes never leaving yours.
Your eyes begin to prick with anger fuelled tears; the feeling of betrayal rips through you, leaving you exposed to his hard gaze. You can't take any more of this. It feels like the room is closing in around you. That you will suffocate if you don't leave right now. You look at him once more, and the fact that he hasn't denied it or assured you that this is anything other than what you fear it to be ,allows your world to crumble around you.
"Alright," you manage in a broken whisper that comes out as a choked sob.
With that, you turn and bolt for the door, desperately gasping for air but unable to get enough to fill your lungs. You have to brace yourself on the railing of the porch. You can feel his eyes on you as he watches you leave from where he sits frozen at the table, but he makes no move to follow after you.
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Willing your legs to move, you push off the railing and slowly make your way to the mess hall, slipping in just as the movie is starting. You can see Ellie is sitting in the middle of the crowded room, and she has saved you a seat beside her.
You make your way to the restroom, taking in your reflection for the first time that evening. Your face is red and splotchy from crying, your eyes puffy, and your lips swollen from your teeth worrying at them. With shaking hands, you reach out to turn the tap on, splashing the icy cold water over your face as you try to make sense of what has just unfolded.
You knew Jenna; she is one of the few people trained in blacksmithing in Jackson, but you had never been especially close with her. She would frequent the bar and chat with you about her work day and vice versa, but that was the extent of your relationship with her, and you have never seen Joel interact with her. It just didn't make sense; why would he throw everything away for a fling with someone who lives in the same commune? Did he really think you wouldn't find out?
You do your best to shake the thoughts from your head, focused on spending the rest of the evening with Ellie, you will do everything in your power to shelter her from this. So with a deep breath, you put a smile on your face and left the restroom, smiling and waving politely at familiar faces as you made your way to your seat, stopping by the makeshift concession stand to grab Ellie some popcorn and a soda on your way.
"Hey, I've got you some snacks, kiddo." You whisper to her, not wanting to interrupt the film.
"Thanks, are you okay?" She murmered with a small smile. Taking the snacks from your outstretched hands.
"Yes, of course everything's fine; there was a mix-up with the patrols, so Joel didn't have to work tonight after all." You reassured her softly.
It cut you to the bone to have to lie to her to cover up his indiscretion because you didn't want her to think any less of him. He is her world, and she is his, and you wouldn't be the one to jeopardise that.
It cut you to the bone to have to lie to her to cover up his indiscretion because you didn't want her to think any less of him. He is her world, and she is his, and you wouldn't be the one to jeopardise that.
You weren't really sure what movie was even playing tonight, so lost in your thoughts that it was just a blurry hum in the background. Ellie had to nudge your shoulder several times to tell you that the movie had was over. Glancing around to find a steady stream of people filing out of the mess hall.
"Sorry, Ellie, I'm just a bit distracted tonight; work has been so hectic recently, and I have so much to do when I open tomorrow." You do your best to laugh it off. Hoping that she will let it go and that she wasn't being as observant tonight as she usually is. The girl misses nothing.
"It's okay, the film was a repeat anyway," she shrugs, not pressing you on the matter, though you know all too well that the questions will come eventually.
"Shall we head home? It sounds like it's getting pretty rough out there," you noted, as another howl of wind wipped around the wooden building.
"Sounds good; I want to have a shower before Joel uses all the hot water again," she ribs in a peel of bright laughter that sends warmth radiating through your now hollow chest.
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When you reach the house, you find it in darkness. Joel hasn't made it home yet, and although you are beyond angry, you can't help but worry about him. Of course he can look after himself, but it isn't like him to be out this late if he wasn't on patrol.
The seething voice in the back of your head reminds you that he could be with her. You try to push those thoughts out of your head, but they linger like a dark cloud, casting a grim shadow over what was your perfect - or as perfect as it could be - life.
"I'm going for a shower and then head to bed, you okay?" Ellie asks, once again pulling you from your thoughts.
"Yeah, of course, kiddo, no worries. Do you need anything? You want some tea?" You offer as you head to the stove and place a pot of water on to boil.
"No, I'm good. Thanks though, g'night!" She calls over her shoulder, and then you are alone in the small kitchen.
"Night kiddo," You call quietly to her as you reach for the herbal tea blend that you and Ellie grew in your little garden last summer.
As you wait for the water to boil, your mind starts to race with worry and anxiety. You can't help but think of all the possible scenarios that could be keeping Joel out this late, and the thought of him being with another woman makes you want to break things. You have tried to push those thoughts out of your head so many times this evening, but they keep creeping back.
A few hours later, you are sitting in one of the armchairs in the living room, desperately fighting to keep your eyes open, but in the end you give up, gently placing your book on the coffee table and removing the blanket from your lap. You look at the clock on the wall, and it's just after 3am.
You pad into the kitchen and leave your mug in the sink, too tired to wash it now; that's tomorrow's problem. Heading up the creaky stairs to your bedroom and crawling into the cold sheets. It feels wrong going to bed without Joel by your side, but he is god knows where right now, so you lean over, turn the bedside lamp off, and sink into a restless, uneasy sleep.
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You wake to the wintery morning sunshine seeping through your bedroom window. Instinctively, you run your hand across Joel's side of the bed; it's unmade but cold, so he did come home last night, but he was up before you, which is unusual.
Instinctively, you run your hand across Joel's side of the bed; it's unmade but cold, so he did come home last night, but he was up before you, which is unusual.
Slowly sitting up in bed, you stretch your tired bones, sore from your restless few hours of sleep, and swing your legs out of bed. It's only 7 a.m.; you don't usually open the bar until midday, so you have plenty of time to get ready.
You slink down the stairs, careful not to wake Ellie as you do so. Heading into the kitchen mid-yawn, you stop in your tracks as you find Joel standing at the stove, hovering over a pot of boiling water on the closest ring to him.
"Mornin'," he husks without turning; he must have heard you yawning with his good ear to the doorway.
You ignore him, knowing full well that it's petty and childish and ultimately will not resolve anything, but with the way he behaved last night, you feel the cold shoulder is justified.
You both continue with your morning rituals in silence. It was awkward and uncomfortable, but you didn't know where to begin broaching the subject, and the more you stewed over it, the more you felt he should be the one to open the conversation with an explanation, but if you were being totally honest with yourself, you were beginning to worry that you may have jumped to conclusions.
But when you thought about the way they were huddled together, her hand on his arm, and the way she tipped her head back in laughter at each thing he said, the pit in your stomach grew. As did the silence between you.
Things went on like this for days, with the two of you skirting around each other and avoiding eye contact. Only speaking to each other when absolutely necessary, like dinner times, and giving each other your work duties for the week.
You could see the effect this was having on Ellie; she has been especially quiet the last few days, so once Joel leaves for work, you sit with her on the couch and try to get her to open up.
"Ellie, is everything okay?" you ask, trying to keep your tone light.
"I don't know. You and Joel have been acting weird lately, and it's making me tense." She shrugs, not meeting your gaze.
You take a deep breath, knowing that you can't keep avoiding the issue. "Yeah, we've been having some problems. But it's nothing you need to worry about, kiddo."
"It doesn't seem like nothing," she retorts. "You guys haven't spoken in days. It's not like you."
"I know, Ellie. I just don't know how to fix it." You sigh.
"Maybe you could start by talking to him," she suggests.
"It's not that simple, Ellie. There's a lot going on." You shake your head.
"Well, maybe it would help if you talked to me about it," she offers.
"Thanks, Ellie. But it's not something I can really discuss with you. Just know that Joel and I are working through some things and we'll get through it." You smile softly at her, grateful for her kindness.
She nods, not looking convinced but not pressing the issue. You sit in silence for a moment before she stands up. "I'm gonna head out for a bit. Need to clear my head."
"Okay, kiddo. Be safe," you say, watching her leave.
You're left alone in the quiet house, the weight of your problems still heavy on your shoulders. You know Ellie is right; you need to talk to Joel. But the thought of confronting him is daunting, and you don't know if you want to hear what he has to say.
What if he doesn't want you anymore? What if he's not happy and hasn't been for a while?
You decide that enough is enough. After work this evening, you are going to speak to him and attempt to clear the air, hear his side of the story, and try to move forward, if not for the sake of your relationship but for Ellie. It's not fair to have this weighing on her shoulders; it's not her fault, and you hate seeing her unhappy, and you know that Joel will feel the same about his if nothing else.
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The workday drags on uneventfully; the only thing standing out was that Jenna had come to the bar for the first time since that evening. She gave you a small smile, and you returned it with a polite nod. You were at work after all and took it upon yourself to remain as professional as possible.
Jenna approaches the bar and orders her usual, which you pour for her without issue, though it makes your skin itchy to be this close to her.
"Have you spoken to Joel yet?" she asks quietly. Wiping her fingertips across the bartop.
You stare at her blankly; the audacity of this woman boggles your mind.
"No," you respond curtly.
"Okay, well, when you do, come and find me. We'll have a lot to discuss." She states matter-of-factly, the ghost of a smile playing on her lips.
Before you have the chance to give her a piece of your mind, she is walking away from the bar, her long auburn hair swishing to her lower back. What the fuck is her problem?
You try to get through the rest of your day without dwelling on the conversation you had with Jenna, focusing more on the impending conversation you are going to have with Joel this evening. Thinking about what you were going to say to him, how you were going to explain how you felt, and how hurt you have been over the last few days.
You lock up the bar and head towards home for the evening, taking a little more time than you usually would, feet dragging, dreading the fight that would likely ensue once you had spoken to him. You tell yourself you will keep a level head, but you know deep down your temper would not allow that to happen if he gave you some bullshit excuse.
As you approach the small, snow-covered pathway that leads to the back porch of your home, you pause there, unable to bring yourself to go inside. So you take a seat on the second step and watch the flurries of fluffy snow as they make their way through the air to join the pillowy blanket that covers everything in sight.
You sit there for what feels like hours. Jackson was always quiet; it needed to be in order to keep what you have here safe, but as you sit in the darkness, the only light coming from the dim porch light and the light seeping through the thin linen curtains from the living room, it feels eerily silent and still. The sound of the backdoor creaking open made you jump. The heavy footsteps that followed, however, were all too familiar.
"You gonna stay out here all night?" He asked quietly, his voice low and soft.
"No, I was just… well, I don't really know what I was doing." You offer a small laugh, void of any humour.
Joel takes a few steps and groans loudly as he lowers himself to join you where you sit. He is quiet for a few moments until he finally speaks.
"I wanted to say that I'm sorry. I'm sorry for the other night and how it must have looked. I'm sorry for not explaining to you then and there what it was; I didn't want to tell you, and I still don't really. But I promise you on my life that it is not what you think it is, Darlin," he says softly, regret heavy in his tone.
"I don't understand Joel; I just want to understand what the fuck has been going on," you pleaded, hating how desperate your voice sounded.
"I know, baby, and I'm going to tell you. I just didn't want to ruin the surprise. I also didn't want to tell you without speaking to Ellie first, but I spoke to her at dinner, and now she understands." He assures you, his hand coming up to brush your cold cheek for the first time in days, and it was impossible not to lean into the heat of his palm.
"Okay, so now everyone knows but me, why were you all cozied up with Jenna? Why did you lie to me about going to work?" You challenged him, removing your face from his touch.
"Hold on," he huffs, shifting his weight to one hip as he fishes for something in his back pocket before continuing. "It will make more sense once you see this, or I hope it will at least," he offers as he hands you a beaten-up, leather-bound note book.
"What is this?" You ask him, you remember seeing it on the table in the bar the other night.
"Would you just open it?" he sighs, rubbing his hand through his patchy whiskers nervously.
You do as he says and open the notebook, and what you find takes you aback. The notebook is filled almost front to back with little sketches of rings and little notes about different metals and gems in his familar handwriting and another that you don't recognize.
"Wh-what is this?" You repeat, stunned. So many thoughts racing through your mind and you are beggining to realise that you have completely misread the situaiton the other night.
"I know I was going to have to tell you about it eventually, you know for your size and all but I was planning to do that after I asked you…but then with the other night I wasn't sure what to say and I was kind of pissed off that you where angry at me, I didn't stop to think that you weren't in on the secret and what it must have looked like to you," Joel's hand came to rest on your knee squeezing reassuringly as he explained the circumstances that lead to what you saw in the bar.
"I have been meeting up with Jenna over the last few weeks, she's the only blacksmith in Jackson that used to make jewelry…specifically engagement rings," he paused allowing his words to sink in before finishing his explination.
"We've been trying to figure out how to make you one, what metals mix well from what I have found on supply runs, whether to hold off if I could find a stone or a gem, or if we could make it without one,"
You stare at him, a mix of astonishment and disbelief washing over you. The pieces start to fall into place, and you realize the truth behind Joel's actions. The anger and hurt that had consumed you begin to melt away, replaced by a flood of emotions, the most promanent being embarrassment.
"You were planning to… ask me?" you stutter, your voice barely a whisper. The weight of your accusation hangs heavy in the air as you struggle to comprehend the situation.
"Yeah, I was. I've been saving up for months, looking for the right opportunity, and I wanted it to be a surprise. Jenna's been helping me because she's skilled at crafting intricate pieces. I wanted to make something special for you, something that would last a lifetime." Joel nods, his eyes filled with sincerity.
Tears well up in your eyes as the realization of your mistake dawns upon you. You reach for Joel's hand, intertwining your fingers with his. "Oh, Joel, I'm so sorry," you say, your voice trembling. "I jumped to conclusions without knowing the whole story. I never thought…I feel like such a peice of shit, I'm so sorry"
"It's okay, darlin'. I should've communicated better, explained everything to you beforehand. I understand why you were upset." He squeezes your hand gently, his thumb caressing your knuckles.
"But why did you lie about going to work?" you inquire, still wanting to grasp every detail.
"We thought it would be best if we kept it a secret until it was ready. And I didn't want you to suspect anything. I wanted the proposal to be a surprise, and I was afraid if I told you I was hanging out with Jenna, you'd figure it out before I had the chance." He shrugged.
"Joel, I can't believe you're doing this. You've put so much thought and effort into making something special for us. I don't deserve it. I don't deserve you. I have been so awful to you over the last few days," You let out a shaky breath, your heart filled with a strange mix of relief, shame and joy.
A soft smile graces Joel's lips as he brushes a strand of hair from your face. "Don't say that, sweetheart. You deserve the world, and I want to give it to you. I love you more than anything, and I want to spend the rest of my life with you."
Tears stream down your face now, but they're tears of happiness. You lean in and rest your head on Joel's shoulder, feeling the warmth of his presence envelop you. The weight of the misunderstanding lifts, leaving behind a newfound sense of trust and appreciation.
"I love you too, Joel," you whisper, your voice filled with sincerity. "I'm sorry for being such a bitch and for overreacting. I should have known you'd never do anything to hurt me."
"Hey, we all make mistakes, darlin'. It wouldn't be the first time I've got pissed at you for something I misunderstood now is it?." he chuckles quietly, pressing a kiss to the crown of your head.
"I guess no ones perfect," you echo his laughter leaning into him further.
As you sit together on the porch steps, surrounded by the beauty of the snowfall, you realize that the snow isn't the only thing that's melting. The icy barriers that had formed between you and Joel are slowly thawing away, leaving behind a comfortable quiet.
"So, now that the cats out of the bag, will you…?" he asks his deep voice thick with emotion.
"Will I what handsome?" You look up at him teasing, your eyes twinkling.
A playful grin tugs at the corners of Joel's mouth as he meets your gaze. "Will you marry me, my beautiful, stubborn, and occasionally misunderstood partner in crime?" he asks, his voice laced with a mixture of nervousness and hope.
Your heart skips a beat at his words, and a surge of excitement courses through you. You pretend to ponder his question, a mischievous glint in your eyes. "Well, I don't know, Joel. I mean, after all that's happened, can I really trust you with my heart?" you tease, a smile playing on your lips.
Joel feigns a look of hurt, placing a hand dramatically over his heart. "Oh, come on now. I've endured snowball fights, kitchen mishaps, you and Ellie ganging up on me and even your questionable taste in movies. If that's not true love, I don't know what is."
Laughter bubbles up from within you, and you lean in closer, pressing your forehead against his. "Joel, you are my love and my rock. Of course, I'll marry you," you say, your voice filled with so much love.
In that peaceful moment, wrapped in the calm of the snowfall and the safety of his strong arms, you realize that there will be silly arguments, misunderstandings and cold shoulders, but you will always find your way back to each other. You let out a sigh of contentment as Joel presses silent kisses against your head, happy to sit here forever wrapped up in him.
Knowing that Joel and Ellie will forever be your guiding lights.
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SUBMISSIONS ARE OPENING AGAN!
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thegreatestsandwich · 2 years
Text
Your name has echoed through my mind (Aemond Targaryen x f!reader)
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Pairing: Aemond Targaryen x Reader
Word count: 1.8k
Summary: You often enjoy testing his limits, but this time, he tested yours.
Warning: Mentions of cringy sex, voyeurism,  really possesive behaviour, read if you want, but if you are a minor, leave! why are you here?!
A/N: Guys, I really don't know what is happening, like my posts are getting shaddowbanned and don't even show on the tags or on my tumblr, I don't know if it's a glitch or something, so I decided to post it again? I hope this time it shows.
Coments, Reblogs and Asks are happily received! I love to read your lovely coments :)
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You waited until the sun set before returning to Dragonstone, the gates of the castle were closed and the roars of the dragons made something inside you to tremble. Guards were patrolling the entrance, some carrying swords. Your lips lifted in a smirk.
Did the little one-eyed prince did this for you?
You thought it was adorable, it wouldn’t stop you though, but the thought that he was putting this much of security made you giddy. You waited for a bit until a guard passed. You breathed deeply and ran to one of the walls, your back pressed against the warm stone and counted.
Seventy. Seventy-one. Seventy-two. Seventy-three. The guard passed once again. ‘So that’s how long it takes to take one round.’ You thought.
Have walked around these streets more than ten times during the last few days while you were looking for the best ideal option to enter the castle. At first, your idea was to climb the walls of it, you were a very good climber, but after noticing how tall the walls were, you quickly left out that plan. So now, your best option was to just enter through the door.
You scrambled towards it, using the shadows as your hiding spot. Your palms scrapped against the floor, they still stung with the last time the prince found you, his rough treatment shouldn’t excite you but it did. Only one of the many reasons of how fucked-up you were.
Sweat began dripping down your spine. There was little to no coverage being out here at the open. The place was heavily guarded and the moonlight was illuminating it. If someone would just stare for a moment, they would indeed find you there.
What would Aemond do if he discovered you on his precious place? Would he hurt you? No, he probably would kill you, display your mauled corpse on the outsides of Dragonstone.
Yes, that sounded just like him.
But, if he wanted to kill you, he would have done it already. That was obvious. You wouldn’t even stan a chance against him on a fight, he was that good. And that was extremely sexy.
You dashed from shadow to shadow, using the walls and trees to cover up, light spilled from the large opening of the entrance door. A few members of the royal family were visible, the oldest son and his twin sister siting around on a horizontal structure, he was boringly looking at her playing with something on her hands. Their long white hair was something recognizable, a token of superiority or something like that.
You hesitated for a moment, you needed to find a way across them. Boots scuffed against the stone behind you. You trembled, perfectly knowing that sound. You slightly turn around, the light of the moon illuminated the stone, there was no sign of life other than the guards. You waited and waited, slowly straightened up.
A large form stepped out of the darkness. Oh fuck. You froze for a second as you recognize his slender figure, a long black leather coat on his body.
Aemond had been watching you, his eye reflecting the light of the moon, accentuating the beautiful violet color. He had threated you before, banning you from Dragonstone and here you were, trying to break in.
He didn’t say anything but still haven’t approached you in any way yet. His fingers curled around his sword, the blade shining as deadly as he was.
You smirked, he wasn’t going to kill you, well, at least not yet. His head nodded to the side, turning around and walking away. You followed him intrigued by his action and completely aroused by him, by his dominant stance, by his silence, by the sword, just everything.
Aemond slowed his pace, accommodating to your steps. He wanted you to follow him but you didn’t understand why, he guide you through the gardens keeping into the darkness, curiously avoiding every guard. He walked with a predatory looseness, the rolling of his hips were calculated, the angle of his head was high and proud, the white of his hair shining against the moon, the straightness of his shoulders were elegant.
He stopped, hiding behind a tree. You walked close to him, brushing your body against him, sharing the darkness and his warmth. He stifled for a moment and you didn’t even bother to hide your smirk.
Moments passed and the silence still surrounded you, your eyes followed his gaze, trying to see what he was seeing as the gardens were empty. You frowned, what was he waiting for?
Suddenly, a set of footsteps starteld you, taking away your gaze from Aemond, you manage to catch the sight of Alicent Hightower. The queen. His mother.
Aemond’s hands grabbed your waist and pressed you against the tree, your eyes on his mother. His fingers wrapped around your neck. “Don’t say a word.” He lifted you off the ground, your legs quickly circling his waist. “I believe I have told you to stay away from here.” His gaze was dark and wild. “What should I do? You deserve punishment.”
Unable to speak, you tilted your head upward, silently offering your throat. Your form shook with terror and excitement. Not knowing what he would do to you. You were on his control, you couldn’t escape him and as he became scarily still, looking at you so intently that it made your cunt clench around nothing, you force your body to stay as still as possible.
“I give it to you, ñuha byka rūklon.” His eye watched you hungrily, shifting his hand to your shoulder, allowing you to breathe. “And you love that, my hands on your throat, controlling everything.”
You gulped a mouthful of air.
“I’ve never met anyone as you, ñuha byka rūklon.” Aemond lowered his head, dragging his nose over your cheek.
“Aemond? Are you here?” His mother called out.
He chuckled, his lips pressing quickly against your cheek, making you arch your back, pushing your body against him, needing more contact. He growled. “Naughty, my mother is here.”
He was aroused like you. Long, thick and hard, only for you. He kissed your neck, lightly biting it, scratching it, the hurt made you moan.
You wanted to reach for him, to hold him closer, to toss away that horrible eye-patch and he held you, sucking on your skin. “Another noise and I will ripped out your throat without any regret.” Aemond lifted his head, his eye watching obsessively at his handiwork. He smirked. “I wouldn’t even hesitate.”
“You would miss me.” You shuddered against his body. “You would be bored without me.” Your voice was hoarse, raw from his abuse. “So miserable.”
Aemond looked at you with amusement. “You should be afraid of my words, my little wildflower.” He pressed you more into the tree. “I’m quite dangerous.”
“I’m quite dangerous as well, little prince.” You smirked. “You wouldn’t survive at my grasp.” You wanted to do more than play, you wanted him to devour you whole. He grabbed your face and turned it towards his mother.
“Is that a challenge?” He pressed against you, slowly moving against your cunt. “I like challenges as I always win, but that’s not the question.”
“What’s the question then?” You close your eyes as he pulled your head back, licking up your neck, over to your chin.
“Would you be a good girl and stay quiet?”
Your lips parted and he captured them, thrusting his tongue between your lips, both of your tongues dueled for dominance, he growled and you knew in that moment that you were his. He kept his grip on your throat, clenching and unclenching the pressure on it, controlling your breaths. You rocked against him, grinding your cunt against the bulge of his pants.
Aemond’s hands quickly pushed your clothes away from your body, doing the same with his pants. “Do not make a sound, you don’t want my mother to see us.” His hand grabbing his cock, guiding it against your entrance, slowly using the tip to separate your lips, coating it with your slick. He huffed a laugh when you tense as he lined himself up at your entrance. He thrusted deep.
You loudly moan, bucking against him, digging your nails against his still covered shoulders.
“You’re tight.” His jaw clenched, frowning in arousal. “Wet and mine.” He sank deeper into you.
You shuddered at his speed, wiggling trying to get him deeper.
“Be still.” Aemond bit your neck, holding you in place and forcing you to take him all. “My mother could hear you, you want that? You want her to see the kind of whore you are?”
You squeezed against his cock, making him groan at the sensation. You couldn’t even describe the sensation and you became addicted. You panted and clutched to him. Aemond lifted his head and stared at you as he force his mouth to yours, tugging and pulling in sync with the thrust of his hips.
He fucked you like the animal he was, the only way he could do it, driving into you again and again. The dominance he showed you made your brain go fuzzy, the world spinning around you, the thrilling of knowing his family was looking for him. “Yes, yes, yes.” You didn’t care to stay quiet, you needed him. “Harder, Aemond, fuck me harder.”
He growled but complied to your demand, his face contouring with desire. Aemond closed his eye when you clench around him again and you hated that. Your hands quickly grabbing his face. “Me, look at me and only me.”
He opened it once again, his focus on you and only you. He held nothing back, pounding into you as the sound of footsteps came closer to your hiding spot. Aemond bit your neck and you almost screamed, clenching one final time. He stopped, his eye closing as he began cumming, splattering the inside of your cunt, painting your walls with his seed.
Your face hide against his neck as he held you closer, your arms and legs weak and his body supporting your weight against his. He gently rocked, trying to keep the feeling a little bit longer, his cock buried deep in your cunt. His mouth searching yours.
“Your mother.” You whispered against his lips, as he throw away his pants, beginning to walk with you on his arms, at some point he had slipped out of you and you felt his cum leaking out of you. “She will see us.”
He shushed you. “She will only see us if you keep talking.”
“Someone will see us.”
“Trust me.”
“Never.”
“Good girl.” He kissed the side of your head, as he made his way to his room. This wouldn’t be the only time he would fuck you on this night.
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rocknrollbabe14 · 2 years
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Stuck With You (Joseph x Reader) (Request Part 2)
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Stuck With You (Joseph x Reader) (Request Part 2)
Rating: 18+ MINORS DO NOT INTERACT. ADULT THEMES HEAVILY DISCUSSED. 
Request: Could you write one where the reader and Joseph are trying for a baby? Could it be smut including unprotected sex? (I will put the rest of the request in Part 3 now since I don’t want any spoilers lol) @thomas-ellis
@kellysimagines since you asked to be tagged in part 2 dear!
Warnings: Mentions of periods, mentions of emesis (vomit), mentions of pregnancy, possible difficulty getting pregnant?, depression?, anxiety? I think I covered them for now. 
Author’s Note: I was originally only going to make this into two parts, however, I figured this would be lengthier so I decided to break it into three so readers would not be overwhelmed. I have the other part almost completely finished but will wait a few days to post it. I appreciate all the support. Feel free to reblog :)
It had been several months since you and Joseph, your fiancé began trying to get pregnant. It was becoming all you could think about. A lot of your friends from high school and those you had met through college were getting married and having babies. You felt like you were behind everyone else. It wasn’t that you were in a hurry to have a baby or get married but it was always something you dreamed of since you were little and the sooner it could happen, the better. Joseph was twenty-nine but he didn’t appear to be as stressed.
If you went to the grocery store, you immediately picked up on the children who were crying whether they be babies or toddlers.  If you went to the park for a walk, you noticed the children playing on the playground and their parents watching nearby. It instantly made you want a baby even more. There was the question as to why you and Joseph hadn’t officially tied the knot yet by some friends. The answer was simple. 
He was ready to give you the wedding of your dreams but he was so busy right now doing cons and traveling. You didn’t want his career to suffer at all because he had wanted this so badly for so long. His dream was finally coming true. Marriage was only a piece of paper and the last name change. He treated you like a wife already. He told you he would marry you anytime you were ready. You stared down at your engagement ring, admiring it, twisting it.
You had bought a few pregnancy tests to keep on hand. You were waiting for some signs to show up like a missed period, morning sickness, etc. You eyed the calendar you all had in the kitchen. You marked when you had your period last and it had been a little over a month. But you didn’t want to get your hopes up because seeing one line would make you feel slightly devastated. You knew in reality it wasn’t the end of the world but it would momentarily feel like it. 
Joseph was being extremely patient throughout the whole process. He didn’t seem to let it get to him at all. Anytime he visibly noticed you get frustrated, he was there to calm you down. He told you it would happen when it was time. It may have slightly annoyed you at the time, but he was right. You were doing laundry when he came through the door of the home you all shared.
“Love, I’m home.”, he announced as he closed the door, take out from your favorite restaurant in his hands.
“Hey babe. You’re too sweet.”, you laughed at him as he came over, placing a his free hand on the small of your back and sharing a kiss with you.
He sat it on the kitchen counter. “I might be.”, he winked before you came over to him, sharing another kiss with him. 
This one was deeper. You had missed him. You missed him even when he was just gone for a few hours or few days. He offered to take you anywhere he went. You all broke your kiss and just looked into each other’s eyes for a moment. Truth be told, you could look at his forever. His brown eyes were so dreamy even though he was your fiancé. You understood why so many girls around the world had fallen for him also. 
He began pulling boxes out of the bag before grabbing plates out of the cabinets. 
“Did you have a good day love?”, he looked back at you as he began dishing out portions of dinner.
“Yes but I missed you the entire time.”, you smirked at him.
Suddenly, your nose crinkled a bit. For some reason, you could really smell the food. It was like it had an overwhelming smell. It was your favorite but you instantly felt your stomach turn. Joseph heard you go quiet and turned back to view you. He saw your eyes closed, you silently praying this nauseous feeling would subside.
“Love, are you okay?”, he asked, concern evident in his voice.
“Um I’m gonna go to the bathroom real quick.”, you sighed, feeling the nausea increase.
Anytime throughout your life when you felt nauseous, you could feel it increase and knew you better get to the nearest trashcan or bathroom. There was a certain threshold it would cross and that was happening now. You took fast steps from the kitchen to the bathroom, throwing your all’s guest bathroom door open and instantly kneeling on the floor over the commode. There was no way you could make it up the stairs. It felt better just for a moment before growing worse.
All of a sudden, you felt the contents of your stomach come up the wrong way. You absolutely hated throwing up. You would rather do anything but throw up. You heard Joseph come through the bathroom, but you didn’t have time to speak to him before having to vomit again. 
“Oh love. Oh no.”, he sighed as he kneeled down on the floor beside you, instantly pulling your hair back. 
You felt him rub his hand up and down your back as you waited to see if your punishment was over. It wasn’t. You vomited again, hardly having anything to come up. You felt tears roll out of your eyes as this usually happened when you had to vomit. You took deep breaths, waiting for another wave to hit you. You were thankful when it didn’t. It gave you time to regain your composure. 
You were comfortable with Joseph but you hated him seeing you vomit. He eyed you with concern, his eyebrows crinkled in worry. 
“Have you felt sick today love?”, he questioned, his voice soft.
You shook your head before leaning back against him, most of your energy gone. “No, it just happened all of a sudden.”
He kissed your head and continued to rub his hand up and down your back. You all stayed like that for a few minutes, him allowing you time to recover. He was the sweetest and everyday he continued to remind you why you loved him and why you wanted to build a life with him. You closed your eyes, allowing him to rub his hand up and down your back gently. 
“Do you want me to put the food in the fridge?”
You nodded. “I have no idea what has come over me.”
Joseph smirked. “Do you think it could be pregnancy symptoms?”
Your stomach twisted at his words, you trying to comprehend what he asked. Your eyes looked up at him, he still held his smirk before brushing his hand through your hair. Part of you wanted to believe it was but the other half of you was not getting your hopes up. 
“I don’t know. Maybe.”
Your mind began to ponder his question. You were a few days late and now you were throwing up. You attempted to try and stand up but you felt slightly dizzy. Joseph noticed you holding on to the bathroom wall. He quickly grabbed you.
“Maybe you should lay down, love. You look extremely pale.”, he sighed as he helped you over to your all’s bed.
“I’m fine.”, you sighed at him.
He was very overprotective of you but not in a bad way. He just worried about you especially when he wasn’t home. He texted you several times a day and called in the mornings and evenings no matter how busy or packed his schedule was. You laid back in bed and he covered you up, sitting on the edge of the bed.
“Go eat Joe. I’ll be fine.”, you eyed him as he took your hand.
You wanted him to eat but you just knew right now the way your stomach was twisting and turning, you couldn’t handle the smell. He just sat there with you for a few minutes before getting up, and going back into the bathroom. Your body felt so hot. It felt like you were on fire. Your mind instantly thought about your blood pressure. He came back with a wet washcloth and placed it on your forehead. 
“Fine. I’ll eat. But then I want to know if you’re pregnant.”, he chuckled as he bargained with you in an attempt to make you smile.
“Fine. As long as I’m not dizzy and I need to pee.”, you smirked at him. 
He kissed your cheek before you felt his weight lift off the bed and he made his way out of your all’s bedroom. You laid there, the room spinning slightly but as a few minutes passed, it almost felt like you had never gotten sick. You decided to look on your phone for a few minutes and before you knew it, Joseph was back in your all’s bedroom. He bypassed you, going straight into the bathroom, opening the medicine cabinet where your pregnancy test was stashed. 
He came back into your all’s bedroom, eyeing you seriously before laying a pregnancy test on the bed beside you. “Go pee.”
You stopped what you were doing instantly, looking up at him. “Joe.”
“Yes love?”, he asked, confused at your sudden sense of seriousness.
“What if I’m not again?”, you sighed, once again twisting your engagement ring nervously. 
Joseph’s face changed from playful to serious. He picked up on your anxiousness. He sighed, taking a seat on the bed. He easily stopped you from twisting your engagement ring by taking your hand in his, holding it tenderly. 
“It’ll be okay.”, he eyed you reassuringly, his eyes focused on you. 
You didn’t think it was that simple. There were no indications you had infertility issues but you couldn’t help but wonder. The false hopes are what hurt the most. You could count the number of times you missed your period just by a few days, thinking it was time to take a test. You did, only to be met with one line of disappointment. Seeing Joe get hopeful made you feel even worse. When you saw the impending excitement of fatherhood in his brown eyes change to altruism as he attempted to comfort you, this discouraged you from wanting to keep trying. 
One you could remember as if it were yesterday. You and Joseph were counting down the minutes until you could look at the pregnancy test. His phone alarm went off becoming the moment of truth. You grabbed it, waiting to turn it over until you brought it close enough for Joseph to see as well. With a deep breath and Joseph rubbing your arm for encouragement, you flipped it over. Your heart instantly sank as you noticed one line. 
You felt the tears well up in your eyes almost immediately. You sat the test down, notably defeated. Joseph noticed and immediately took you into his arms. 
“Love, it’s okay.”, he spoke quietly as he kissed your head, instantly feeling you begin to sob into his chest. 
He closed his eyes, blinking away his own tears and gulping away his pain from watching this affect you as much as it did. This was supposed to be a happy experience for you both with no stress or pressure, however, now Joseph was realizing that was near impossible to avoid. 
“No, Joe. It’s not. I’m done trying.”, you sobbed into him.
He kissed your forehead. “Love, it’s okay. We can try again. Don’t stress about it.”, he breathed.
“No, I’m done.”, you reiterated as you pulled away from him, tossing the test in the trash. 
He watched you. His once happy fiancé was now broken and fragile, feeling like you had failed him. But you hadn’t. Sure, he wished it had been positive because he wanted a baby with you. You all would lay in bed talking about whose personality it would have, which features it would inherit from each parent, and how it would feel to hold it in your arms for the first time.
He watched you walk out of the bathroom on him and he felt like his entire world was crashing down around him. Feeling you pull away from him devastated him and made this moment that much worse. He couldn’t make things better right now. That killed him the most. You always told him how level-headed he was and that he always could find a bright side to a dark situation. He eyed the door with tears in his eyes, blinking them away quickly, and preparing to put on a brave face and be strong for you because he knew you needed him. Now more than ever. 
“How do you know it will be okay?”
Your voice was now weak and fragile. 
He smiled reassuringly. “Because I just know.”
“Maybe I’m broken.”, you looked down at his hand in yours.
He sighed, before raising your chin to look him right in the eyes. “You’re not broken, love. Good things take time. You know, I didn’t get an acting degree overnight. I had to work for it. Put blood, sweat, and tears in it. Anything worth having doesn’t come easy.”
You felt tears come in your eyes once more, struggling to blink back your tears. “I know but it’s just been a disappointment lately.”
He nodded, biting his lip. “I know, love. But this could be it. We will get through this.”
His hand gave yours a reassuring squeeze before he kissed your head again. You easily eyed the bed for where he had laid the pregnancy test. You nervously took in your hand, the plastic crinkling in your hands. Joseph felt your weight ease off the bed and he easily let your hand go.
“I will love you, either way, darling.”, he said as you turned to go into the bathroom. 
A soft smile came across your face and you finally felt a bit of confidence you needed to do this. “I love you too, Joe.”
_____________________________________________________________________________________
After just a couple of minutes, you opened the bathroom door, a small creak catching Joseph’s attention. This caused him to look up at you. His lips instantly curved into a smile and he had that look in his eyes again. You had sat your phone as a timer, leaving it in the bathroom with your pregnancy test. You gave him a small smile before sitting down on the bed beside him.
He took you in his arms, never saying a word. He just wanted to be in your company and be supportive of you. You laid your head against his chest, just closing your eyes and listening to his heartbeat. This was comfort for you. It seemed like just seconds had passed before your phone timer went off, breaking you both out of your current state. The fear of disappointment washed over you as you eased up from the bed, Joseph following suit. 
You went in and grabbed the test, still turned to where you couldn’t read it. You held it nervously, cutting your phone alarm off. Joseph was waiting at the vanity and mirror in the guest bathroom. His eyes were full of anticipation. He took you in his arms and you eyed up at him.
“Ready?”, you asked hesitantly.
“As ever.”, he responded. “You got this love.”
You sighed, closing your eyes and taking a deep breath before flipping it over, bringing it to where you both could see it. Your mouth instantly fell agape and your free hand covered your mouth, a gasp escaping out. Two pink lines were staring back at you. You looked up to see Joseph’s reaction. He was staring down at the test before he turned his head to view you, his mouth agape and eyes bright with excitement.
“Oh my God. We’re pregnant!”, you eyed him.
“We’re having a baby, love!”, he said his mouth agape, eyes bright and filled with excitement. 
He took you in his arms, the test still in your hand. You all hugged tighter. You all had finally done it. Happy tears began to fall out of your eyes, Joseph’s the same way. You all laughed in surprise, hugging again before sharing a deep kiss. It felt like you all were on top of the world. What you all had dreamed of was finally a reality. You all spent a lot of the night still looking at this little test, still in shock this was real.
The next morning you called your OB/GYN, telling them you had missed your period and had a positive at-home pregnancy test. They told you to come in for some blood work and ultrasound so they could estimate the baby’s current gestation and make sure everything was as planned. You were very thankful Joseph was home and able to go with you. Your nerves were on edge, now the reality something could go wrong plagued your mind. 
Joseph reassured you that they were just making sure the baby was alright and that they did this with every woman. You all checked in when you arrived and you sat in the waiting room surrounded by women with newborn babies and some who were pregnant. You prayed easily everything was going to be alright. You knew it was your nerves but now you knew there was a baby there and you wanted to do everything you could to make sure you kept it. 
They called your name and immediately sent you to the lab upstairs to have HCG levels drawn. Joseph went upstairs with you but waited in the lobby as they called you back for lab work. You saw needles and instantly felt nervous and tad bit nauseous. You had always hated needles. You made small talk with the younger phlebotomist who was taking your blood. She gave you a warning before she took your blood, giving you a chance to look away. 
Before you knew it, she was done and placed a bandage on the small puncture in your skin. She made sure you felt okay before letting you stand up. You eased yourself up, feeling a tad bit nauseated but it quickly went away. You cleared the door and Joseph got up, joining you as you both went back downstairs. It was a waiting game for about an hour before they called your name again.
You both went back this time. The nurse took your weight and vital signs first before she brought you back to a room, asking you questions of when your last period was, when your symptoms started, and when the at home pregnancy test was positive.  She said the doctor would be back in a few minutes, leaving you and Joseph together. He could read you like an open book. 
“Nervous love?’, he asked, taking your hand.
“Very.”, you admitted.
That was about all you had a chance to discuss before the doctor came in and introduced herself as Dr. Beckett, but she had taken care of you for some time now. She listened to your heart and lungs before she scribbled some notes down. 
Dr. Beckett went on to verify the information given to the nurse. It felt as though she asked a thousand questions about your medical history. 
“Your blood work looks good. Your HCG level is 60,230 mIU/mLs. That’s perfect for this time. We are estimating your baby is right at eight weeks but we are going to do an ultrasound to confirm everything.”, she smiled as she looked up from her papers.
You nodded as Joseph smiled at you. Dr. Beckett discussed what to expect in the next few weeks, when to make another appointment,  and symptoms to be mindful of before extending her congratulations. The nurse came back in and instructed how to prepare for the ultrasound. Your heart was beating out of your chest knowing you would see your all’s baby in just a few minutes. It was all becoming real now. Really real. 
The ultrasound technician came in and introduced herself before asking you to pull your shirt up. Joseph sat beside of you as you laid back on the table, lifting your shirt up. She grabbed the bottle of ultrasound gel, warning you it would be cold before squirting it on your stomach. It was still mostly flat, with no visible sign of pregnancy yet. It looked like you were just bloated. You made a face, getting a chill from the gel as Joseph let out a small laugh. 
She kicked the machine on, instantly applying pressure to your abdomen with the transducer. The room was quiet as the high pitched noises rang in your ears. Joseph took your hand as you all looked at each other. 
“There it is.”, she finally said. 
You all both looked at the screen and saw a tiny little blob. You could see its head and arms just taking shape. The baby was laying perfectly to get a good look at it. She took some pictures of it, pointing out its head and body. 
“That’s our baby.”, you smiled at him, tears in your eyes again.
“Our baby looks like a peanut.”, he laughed, tears in his eyes, before he wiped them away with his free hand. 
“Everything looks great. Looks like you’re around eight weeks and two days.”, the ultrasound tech smiled before she gave you all a few more minutes to look at your baby.
Joseph leaned over and kissed you, relieved and happy to finally see and know the baby was alright. You smiled and wiped your own tears away as she printed several images for you all to take home. You wiped your stomach off with a towel.  You all scheduled your next appointment and were on cloud nine. In the car, all you could do was look down at the images of your all’s baby. 
When you all pulled in the driveway, Joseph shut the car off, watching you eye the pictures. He smiled, just taking this in. He hadn’t seen your face glow like this in a while and it made his heart happy. 
“Look at it, Joe.”, you smiled as you pointed out the baby’s little arms.
He smiled, holding onto the edge of the ultrasound pictures, bringing himself closer to you. “It’s so tiny.”
You kissed his cheek. “I can’t believe I’m pregnant with our baby.”
He smirked, turning to look at you. “We finally did it. Can you imagine my mom?”
You elbowed him playfully. “She’ll be ecstatic.”
He chuckled. “That’s to put it lightly.”
“Baby Quinn, mommy and daddy already love you so much.”, he smiled as he placed his hand on your stomach.
You laughed as you shared a deep kiss with Joseph, excited for what was to come.
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“I mislead audiences on purpose”
I was talking with @firepony67 a while back about something I noticed even further back, and I realized it’d probably be worth putting in a post. And then I sat on this draft for a while longer. But I’m trying to write up some of my lingering thoughts about Utsukushii Kare now, so I’m finally circling back to this. I’ve written before about how Sakai Mai (Utsukushii Kare’s director) has stated that she tries to follow the yaoi manga tradition that places semes on the left of an image/frame and ukes on the right and how this plays out in Utsukare. If you’re interested in more depth on this topic, this post is a good place to start, but you might want to work your way up from my last reblog and then move upward. I got a lot of help with finding background quotes on this from @xnoel and relied on translations of press material from @sparkling-rain (as usual, I highly recommend checking out their master post of translated Utsukare articles and other stuff). The screenshot-as-pull-quote below is from @sparkling-rain’s translation of this interview with Sakai Mai from the first season’s visual book.
When I was looking into this issue, I came across a quote from Sakai about the seme left/uke right thing that included a reference I didn’t quite understand at first.
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(A quick note, because I had to look it up: your “oshi” is a celebrity/idol that you support/root for/are a fan of/advocate for. And I gather it sometimes applies to other types of people or even things? But it seems it’s mostly used in reference to famous people and related stuff.)
So, what did Sakai mean about misleading the audience on purpose in the hand-kiss scene? It was only when I went back to re-watch season 1 a while back that I figured it out--or at least, figured out what I think she meant.
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In episode 3 of season 1, we see the hand kiss from Hira’s perspective. It’s one of the few times Kiyoi is on the left side of the frame. And it seems fitting for him to be in the seme spot. He’s initiating a few different kinds of closeness with Hira in this scene. Not only does he initiate physical contact by asking Hira if he wants to kiss him and then offering him his hand (even though he pulls it away the first time before Hira can get close), he also asks him a bunch of personal questions and drops some hints about associating with Hira more (like when he tells Hira to always keep his camera with him in the future, showing an investment in Hira’s availability to do certain things that suggests they’ll be spending time together). Basically, he’s moving towards Hira, in his prickly way. If he’s pursuing in a sense, then he belongs on the left side, right?
But Sakai said she was misleading the audience here. And in episode 5, which is the first episode in which we see things from  Kiyoi’s point of view, we see this scene from another angle, both in the literal and figurative senses of the phrase.
At first we see the hand kiss from the same angle as before. But after that, we get this counter-shot. I wish I knew how to make gifs because Kiyoi’s expression here is only truly visible when he’s in motion. In a screenshot like this one, you might think he doesn’t look terribly affected, but his eyelashes are fluttering like mad. (If you’re familiar with the show it’s a pretty memorable moment, so in that case you may not need to see it again to recall how significant an effect this has on Kiyoi.)
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And where’s Hira now? He’s on the left. This whole thing was Kiyoi’s idea, yes. But has he stayed in control of the situation? For all his posturing and faking Hira out and everything, in a very real sense he has lost the upper hand. He offered his hand, yeah. He knew Hira would probably try to make use of the opportunity. But how could he have known that Hira would literally bow down to him in such an abject way, that he would kiss his hand in such an intense, devoted manner and turn this gesture into something so loaded with meaning? Or, maybe more to the point, that he would give him such a case of the vapors? 
This is actually a prime example of the way Hira, by ostensibly debasing himself, actually takes control of an interaction with Kiyoi. In the act of making himself a “servant,” he also simultaneously makes himself “Lord Hira” (the one who “gets stubborn about the weirdest things”). That’s a whole other topic I also mean to write a post about, but for now, suffice it to say that Hira has taken the leeway Kiyoi gave him by offering his hand and has used it to turn the tables on Kiyoi in a certain (very real) sense. When you get the full picture by adding in Kiyoi’s perspective on this moment, you can see that Hira is still very much a seme in this interaction.
I have an additional side note about the little fragment of subtitle in this screenshot (which uses @lollipopsub​‘s subtitles, which are no longer up as of this writing but I hope will be available again at some point--they’re very thoughtfully done, with an attention for detail that you don’t find in either Viki’s or GaGa’s subs for this show). Echoing Hira, Kiyoi says here that they were like “two dots that never connected.” Kiyoi continues by saying, ”until the last day of high school.” But for Hira, even the events of that day, kiss and all, didn’t constitute a connection. When he says the same thing about himself and Kiyoi as “dots” that “never connected,” he just follows it up by saying, “and eventually the last day of high school came about.“ I find it really interesting that Hira can assert himself in his sneaky but undeniable way, blow Kiyoi’s mind with this tiny gesture, and still look back and tell himself, “nah, we never connected.” 
Anyway, that’s what I think Sakai Mai may have been implying by flipping Hira’s and Kiyoi’s usual positions in the frame for this scene initially but then reasserting them when showing the same event from Kiyoi’s perspective. And I think that’s what she meant when she said she “misled” us.
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My Top 10 of 2022
I thought it'd be fun to share my favourite ten photos from last year. Surprisingly, I found it a bit difficult to narrow them down (I'm never really in awe of the pictures I take, though they do grow on me), but I decided for these (LONG POST WARNING!):
10 - The Leucistic Nilgans (Reblog / See post)
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I was counting Egyptian geese when one clearly stood out right away. Nilgans without an eye patch, woah! So, yeah, I gave all of my attention to our friend here, who didn't enjoy that at all. Birds don't like it one bit when you stare at them. They know you're up to no good, but I managed to snap a few shots before this pretty goose (or shelduck) got into the water, and safe from the weird man. The others around me didn't feel threatened - I wasn't looking at them.
9 - The siskin bunch (Reblog / See post)
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It was a long winter day when I finally managed to get some decent shots of siskins. These were birds that had always eluded me, first to spot them, and then to photograph them, as they normally forage too high, though usually in flocks. The geography of this lake helped me stay at eye level, and as plenty of them were going from branch to branch looking for food, I got this quite nice shot, even if the light that day was constantly changing and far from the best (and my cheap-ass lens depends a lot on the natural light).
8 - The epitome of a robin (Reblog / See post)
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Rotkehlchen was always going to make it in this list, wasn't he? Oh, yeah, I remember that day. I was there to photograph the rare penduline tits that stopped coming to that spot the very same day I decided to go to see them. When my hopes were practically gone, this lovable guy showed up, looking at us the photographers waiting for the birds that never came and probably wondering: What are those idiots doing there? The other two guys kept on their business, while I couldn't resist to get down and picture him. I didn't get any penduline tits, but I got a big reward nonetheless: The epitome of a robin.
7 - Serenity coot (Reblog / See post)
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Just a damn coot, right? Nothing special... Well, you see, I have this habit of taking pictures of whoever is there, and this time, Blässhuhn was there. I interrupted my chat with some other guys taking photos that you meet along the way and I decided to just snap this fella, who was actually preening uncontrollably. However, I captured this brief moment where everything seems to make sense, and that gives me tranquillity and inner peace just by looking at it. This should be just some regular photo, but it has something, something that touches me inside.
6 - The 'intersex' mallard (Reblog / See post)
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Ever since @namu-the-orca told me about what I had actually photographed, I've been absolutely keen on this little girl. When I saw her again, she had a boyfriend, she was getting harassed by other drakes (because she's actually a female), and I totally had to snatch more pictures of her. In that exact moment, she just happened to open her beak, and I caught a lovely picture I really like. Now, I know she lives there. She's always there, and I pay attention to her, I look at her, and I enjoy knowing she's around, but I don't think I will be able to take a better picture of her than this one.
5 - The making of a wildlife photographer (Reblog / See post)
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I don't want to keep raving about this guy, but he was so amazing that I did things I'm not very proud of just to get a snap of him. And I did that because I wanted to tell my little Tumblr world that this bird is amazing. First thing I'm not proud of is getting into a swamp to get close to him, and the second is playing playback (I genuinely had no idea that thing actually works and I was surprised it did) so he would just get furious at me, thinking there was a competitor in the area, and sang from a more visible place instead. The result was really nice, though. It looks like a typical profile photo in a bird catalogue, but I'm no wildlife photographer, and that's stuff some of them do, and I personally would rather avoid doing that kind of stuff. The picture is nice, but I think that what I did was wrong. Birding sadly also means disturbing birds by definition, so we shouldn't do extra stuff. My only comfort is that the guy was already singing non-stop.
4 - Finally goldfinch (Reblog / See post)
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You've surely seen better pictures of goldfinches than this one, but it's been a personal struggle for me ever since I started this hobby and I was so happy to finally get a nice photo of one. It looks nice, that's for sure, but no wonder the feeling of accomplishment helped me decide for this one. Goldfinches are common, but in my experience, they're shier than other birds, and for a guy that just walks around with his camera, that's a problem. In this case, I was super lucky, since two goldfinches were having some beef, so they were 'busy', and I also was in the perfect position for this particular shot only because I had just got there (there's a slope to get to the lake and then I'd have been too low).
3 - Jabba the Spatz (Reblog / See post)
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I simply thought this was a hilarious shot! Its other photos ended up being way more popular, but I still love this loafing baby sparrow with a dopey facial expression. Also, it was loafing just in the gap of those stones. Also, it was loafing right in front of me and couldn't care less about my presence. Sparrows are usually great models, and they're such cute birds. I always enjoy photographing them.
2 - The not-yet-blue daredevil (Reblog / See post)
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This one is very nice. Like, for me, this one and number one are miles ahead of the rest. The story behind this one is simple: I heard baby whinging and there I went. A blue tit chick was chasing mom or dad, while another (this one) seemed to be a bit more independent. After the initial recognition of the situation, I saw that one of them was hanging low and relatively close to me. I lifted my camera as quick as I could, shot, and the moment was gone. I immediately checked the photos out on the display and I seemed to have got only blurry shots. As usual, I cursed my luck, but when I got home, not only this one looked sharp, it looked amazing. The pose, the colours, the whole moment... I realized I had taken a pretty damn good photo, and the difference between having it or not was such a fine line.
1 - Und die Dohle (Reblog / See post)
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My current laptop background. It was April 2nd and it was... Snowing! I guess I haven't lived here long enough or it doesn't snow enough for me not to lose my sh*t when I see snow, so as soon as I saw this spring miracle, I grabbed my camera and went out. I wanted to take pictures of birds in the white snow! However, my choice of destination was perhaps questionable, as instead of going to a place with higher altitude, I went to the lowest point in the city... So there was no snow... But it was still snowing!
I like all the photos I took that day with the snowflakes falling from the sky, like this one or this one, but the jackdaw is by far the best. I spotted two jackdaws among all the crows that normally hang around there, and I was determined to finally get a nice photo of one of them. However, they were incredibly shy. No matter how far I was, if I took a step in their direction, they'd feel threatened and fly farther away from me. The snowfall was increasing, it was getting late, but I wanted my jackdaw photo. Eventually, I managed to approach one by making sure a trash can was blocking their view, and it worked! My knees were most likely hurting, but from there, I snapped a few shots, and one came amazingly well.
I love everything. The snow falling, the expression, I mean, the jackdaw looks fierce and majestic, and it has such a dramatic aura. Once I checked that I had indeed taking a good photo, I thumbed-up a crow that I may or may not have given peanuts earlier, and that was waiting next to me for an extra treat. There was no treat, but he got a photo too, since he was there.
If you read the whole thing, I hope you enjoyed knowing a bit about the background of what I do for fun, or at least I hope that it wasn't too unbearable. If you also have a favourite picture from this blog, I'd love to hear from it!
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awsok · 9 months
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there's so much we don't know about baylan and shin it fascinates me! like at all times i am thinking about:
what was baylan's relationship with his own master like (and how has that influenced his relationship with shin)?
what was baylan like as a jedi knight? (did he ever question the order before it fell? what was he like as a general during the clone wars?)
did he ever have a padawan when he was part of the order? if so, what was their relationship like (and how did it end)?
how did baylan survive order 66 and the jedi purge?
what caused baylan to see the jedi as "weak" with "no future"?
what was shin's life like before she met baylan? (did she know she was force-sensitive? did she ever have family or a community?)
how did shin and baylan meet? what drew him to her (or her to him)?
what made baylan decide to train shin? (was he looking for an apprentice? or did he just stumble across her, realise she was force-sensitive and — what? decide she could be useful? want to protect her from inquistors?) what made shin agree to be trained?
how old was shin when they met (and as a result, how long has baylan been training shin)?
how did their relationship develop? when we see them in ahsoka there was an unexpected warmth between them: mutual trust, a hint of playfulness. but there is also a significant distance: baylan gives the orders and shin follows, shin asks questions but rarely receives answers. baylan is visibly furious and protective when ahsoka throws shin into that rock in 1x04, yet a few short episodes later he sends shin away and leaves her to fend for herself. did they use to be closer? or is this as close as they've ever been?
how does baylan see shin (both what he consciously tells himself and what does he really feel)?
how does shin see baylan (both what she consciously tells herself and what she really feels)?
baylan said he was training shin to be "more than a jedi": what does that mean exactly? shin clearly draws on her anger for power and both wield sith-esque orange-red lightsabers. yet baylan also criticises anakin and ahsoka's legacy of "death and destruction" and claims to "serve a greater good".
and of course. what the fuck is baylan's mission?
this is absolutely an invitation to put your headcanons and theories in a reblog/the tags/the replies/my askbox/your own post/literally anywhere as long as i can read it. they make me soo crazy and i need to know everyone's headcanons right now immediately. pleak
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solidwater-arts · 6 months
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[ID: An illustration of a person with light skin, brown hair that covers their right eye, round glasses, and bright red eyes with a mint green radiation symbol-shaped reflection. They are wearing a blue hospital gown stylized like a dress, black shorts under the dress, and their limbs, chest and neck are covered in bandages. It is looking at the camera with expressionless eyes and puckered lips. They are floating with their knees close to their chest and their right arm resting on the side of their body; their left arm is not visible. They have injuries all over their body, and their skin is bleeding heavily. The flesh on the left side of their face seems to be falling apart.
They are backlit by a faint mint green glow, and surrounded by white particles. /End ID]
Here they are! The ghost! Don't worry, they can't feel pain anymore [PT: anymore. End PT]
I never rendered detailed injuries before and it was surprisingly fun. In general I really enjoyed drawing this one. However all the blood and injuries covered most of my rendering so I made a bloodless version too.
I used no refs whatsoever because there's something wrong with me :P
I also played around with filers and made a few different versions of this one. I will add them in a reblog because Tumblr hates when a post has text, images, and a read more at the same time
This took 3 days counting breaks, and around 26 hours in total, not counting the sketch which was done traditionally. Dunno how many layers it has but enough that IbisPaint takes like 30 seconds to load up the preview. For this reason I will not be checking how many layers it has :P
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Alien Blues
Pairing: Keigo Takami/Hawks X autistic reader
This one shot contains fluff, nesting, maybe some angst, and something that I always call 'autism dominance' (idk the real term for it, but it's basically and autistic individual who's traits are more noticeable than usual, probably due to stress)
DO NOT REPOST/PLAGARISE
Reblogs are greatly appreciated.
Based on this post
Quirk is from my Fan Fic series, Endless Forms Most Beautiful (but not the same universe) and you can read the info sheet here
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Right now you just wanted to cry, but you almost visibly recoiled at the thought of your face feeling wet and sticky with salt.
The whole day, all you wanted was to be buried in your lover's arms, wings wrapped around each other, tucked into the corner of your apartment that was turned into a nest.
But instead you were stuck shoulder to shoulder with every type of stranger possible on the subway home from your dream-turned-nightmare 9-5 job.
You swear you've almost been fired a couple of times today. From your 'informal' work attitude because of you're stimming, to not wanting to give you're sweaty palmed and just generally unclean superior physical contact.
You can almost feel how moist your bones are inside your body, and count every air molecule that that you felt pounding against your skin as your finally freed from the metal cage of nightmarish speed. Speaking of nightmarish speeds, that's the one you chose to run at to guarantee no more sensory problems on your way home.
You wish you could fly, you really do. But the contract your company had with you which meant you couldn't use your quirk, unless it was for what was classed as a genuine reason.
As you closed the door to the apartment, you peeled your feet out of the ridiculous dress shoes the company had you wear so you could morph you feet into a more comfortable and natural state.
Stretching your wings and arms above your head, you wander your home searching for pillows, blankets, and most importantly, your beloved, Keigo Takami.
You heard the door open and close mid forage, and you whip your head around, eyes locking on the intruder.
"Keigo!" You sobbed, not realising your love was going to be home so early. Soon you found yourself breaking down in his arms.
"Hey, hey. Baby calm down. Let's get you into the nest, and I'll get you some snacks." He offered, and all you could muster was a quiet 'mhm' , and as soon as your body hit the circular mattress in your living room, you went limp, and Keigo left to get something to eat from the kitchen, as well as the blankets you had dropped.
"Today was shit." You spat out. "They kept on touching me."
"I know, baby bird. How about we finish the nest, order some takeout, and watch that ghost show you like?"
You look up at him from your spot in the nest, baffled.
"You're willing to watch Lockwood & Co. with me? You never do this."
"Sometimes sacrifices need to be made to make people happy."
~*-*~Timeskip~*-*~
A few pizzas and a finished nest later, you and Keigo were cuddling, your back to his chest.
He suddenly spoke up,
"I don't think she did look in the mirror."
You turn to look at him with a raised eye, questioning him.
"The one with the curly hair? I personally think she had enough time to look while George got the net."
. . .
There was silence for a bit before Keigo spoke.
"Nah, I don't think so, c'm'ere."
And before you knew it, you were pinned, deft hands working at your sides, causing you to writhe and giggle, almost to the point of pain.
"NO KEI- STOP, PLEASE." You squealed.
"Only if you stop being such a smart ass."
"AAAAHHH, FINE FINE JUST STOOPP, PLEASE."
. . .
Keigo flopped down onto you, and you welcomed it, the pressure grounding you.
"Y'know," you said, "I lied about what I said earlier." You admitted.
"Oh, shaddup."
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That was fun to write
This prompt was made by @mirukosbitchywife
I hope I can use more of them in the future
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Anyways, bye for now :]
-Ez
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velvet-gloom · 3 days
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Persona Ships and a Moment in a Thunderstorm
These are just some ships I like, no hate to your favorite if I leave it out. This unedited textpost was getting pretty long anyway so I’ll probably just do another one eventually
Ren and Makoto: The storm hits in the evening while Makoto is at Leblanc with Ren, and it’s bad enough that he absolutely refuses to let her walk home (the call to Sae is awkward, but she does agree it’s better for Makoto to stay put). They throw on some old kung-fu movies in Ren’s room and she grabs him for safety every time there’s an especially loud crack of thunder (she’s totally not scared though, how dare he think that). Then the power briefly goes out and she clings to him so tight he’s convinced he broke a rib. The next morning, Makoto wakes up early and puts her time as Ren’s kitchen assistant on their roadtrip to use, making him coffee and breakfast as a thank-you and a reminder that it’s okay to have his friends do nice things for him for a change.
Aigis and Makoto (P3 Makoto, obviously): The storm wakes Makoto up sometime around 2 or 3 in the morning, and he goes downstairs to stretch his legs a little, even if it’s just to walk around the first floor. Aigis is down there, looking out the window at the storm and thinking to herself. Makoto doesn’t say anything, he just sits next to her and shares the moment until she asks what the sensation of rain falling on you is like. He racks his brain for a good answer before giving up and just saying “wet” with a shrug. Aigis talks about how that’s another thing she never would have wondered about before meeting everyone in SEES, never pausing to give rain a second thought. Makoto asks if she wants to go outside and just spend time in the rain, enjoy it even if she can’t feel it, but she says she has a much better reason to stay inside as she holds Makoto’s hand (Makoto of course being completely willing to go outside with her for a casual walk, unphased by the pouring rain, strong wind, extremely poor visibility, and deafening thunder because he’s just built different). They don’t say much after that, but it’s more than enough to have a little bit of extra time together as they watch the lightning dance in the sky.
Chie and Yukiko: Not together at the time of the storm, but immediately after Chie texts Yukiko asking if she wants to walk around town and see how much damage it did. Yukiko loses it when they see a tree branch thrown through an empty car and Chie makes a joke about it looking like a giant steak skewer. It really doesn’t look like one and Chie knows it’s not funny, but she’s too busy staring at Yukiko and smiling to point that out.
Kanji and Naoto: Post-P4G where they’re both living together, Kanji digs out a bunch of old board games and they take some time to heal their inner children. Kanji doesn’t even remember where half of them came from, they were just in one of the boxes when he moved. He found the box and started reminiscing about being a kid and getting them but never having anyone to play with, and Naoto half-jokingly suggests they play to pass the time. He’s embarrassed, but does actually take her up on it, and she decides she’s all in when they make it a competition to see who can win more. They play all the ones that work with two players and it’s actually pretty close, but Naoto still ends up winning. Then they probably start making out once they run out of board games
Sumire and Akechi: They’re curled up on the couch watching Featherman together when the storm starts (credit to @maze-of-my-design’s reblog of my incorrect quote for that putting that image in my head) and keep watching together until the power goes out right in the middle of a big climactic episode at the worst possible time. Sumire has candles so they light a few for visibility and spend some time talking about random stuff and enjoying the atmosphere. Eventually Akechi complains about feeling sore and Sumire realizes how much he physically carries his stress and insists that he let her give him a back massage. She’s not a professional by any means, but she knows the importance of taking care of your muscles and this human angst pit has knots in his back that have probably been there since birth. Even with Sumire just kinda winging it, Akechi almost leaves his body from how much it helps, which lets her know she should definitely do it again. Then they just keep cuddling until the power comes back on while talking about Featherman plot holes.
Yu and Marie: If it’s during P4G, Marie definitely decides it would be fun to run around in the rain and Yu has to sprint after her to make sure she doesn’t get swept away by a flood. It’s exhausting, it’s stressful, and he’s smiling and laughing by the end of it because he got to spend time with Marie. They end up seeking shelter in the Shiroku Pub until the storm ends while Marie bombards the patrons with questions. If it’s after P4G, the thunderstorm is happening because Marie and Yu were too comfortable during sleepy morning cuddles so Marie summoned the storm to prevent them from having to go to work (that one might be less in character but it’s also hilarious so it’s going here).
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