#and don't let you know the destination until 3 days before the trip

[rafeandonlyrafe]

weekend away

words: 3.2k

a/n: of course inspired by these precious pictures of drew <3

warnings: 18+ only, dad!rafe, mom!reader, established relationship, theyre maaaarried <3, VERY FLUFFY, descriptions of breastfeeding, smut, p in v sex, unprotected sex (but reader is on birth control), rafe is like the best dad everrr

“okay…” you look into your trunk, mentally going through your checklist. stroller, check, folder up and ready for daisys car seat to be placed on. diaper bag, check, with extra diapers just in case. pump, check. carrier, baby carrier, check. extra change of clothes, check.

you have everything you could possibly need for daisy, not even realizing that you completely forgot about yourself.

“got your suitcase packed, baby?” rafe asks, daisy in his arms, happy to be cradled there, looking up at her daddy with wide eyes.

“shit!” you squeal, before covering your mouth. daisy may be too young to understand your words, but you still try not to curse in front of her.

“hey, it's okay.” rafe can instantly see your nerves skyrocketing. of course you were too focused on getting everything for your daughter that you completely forgot that it's a weekend trip you'll be going on too.

“okay, i um- ill just throw some clothes in a bag then-”

“baby.” rafe easily switches daisy to one arm, wrapping his now free one around your shoulders. you relax into his hold, reminded how protected you feel by rafe. “we aren't in a rush. we can delay taking off for a bit, okay? it's not that long of a drive.”

“okay.” you nod, arms circling around his waist as you turn to face rafe, pressing your cheek into his side as you smile down at daisy. “hi baby. mama is a bit of a mess right now.”

“don't talk about yourself like that.” rafe says softly, leaning to press a kiss to the top of you're head. “you're doing amazing. you juggle so much, it's a surprise you don't forget things more often.”

you let out a little chuckle, which daisy copies as her little mouth turns into a smile.

“okay, ill go get started.” you sigh. you can't believe your mind has been so scattered and focused on getting daisy ready that you completely forgot about doing anything for yourself.

“we will help.” rafe closes the trunk, heading back inside to follow you up the stairs. “not sure how much help daisy will be, but you got me at least.”

you end up packing pretty quickly, especially since you're bringing a big suitcase, way too big for just a couple days out of town, so you're easily able to throw in more than you need, just in case.

“alright.” rafe hums. “both suitcases loaded, we just need to get daisy in her car seat.”

“great.” you groan. daisy recently developed a hatred for her car seat, after you planned a nice weekend trip a few hours away from the outer banks.

“how about i try?” you know it won't make a difference, but you nod, letting rafe carry daisy towards the car, trying to distract with coos and even snuggling his nose into her tummy, but by the time she's over the seat, she turns straight as a board.

you can barely watch as her sweet face turns to one of sadness, tears falling down her cheeks.

“oh my poor baby.” you coo after rafe gets her all buckled in. “you want mama to ride back here with you?”

you're not sure it will help, but you climb into the backseat to sit next to the car seat while rafe gets in to drive.

“it is almost nap time, maybe she'll fall asleep quickly.” rafe shrugs as he pulls the car out of the driveway, always extra careful when he's bringing you or daisy anywhere.

“maybe.” you hum, petting over her forehead and down her nose until her cries stop, eyes close, and her chest begins to rise and fall slower.

you don't even realize as rafe happily drives you to your destination that as daisy falls asleep, so do you, head resting against her car seat as you catch up on some rest.

rafe smiles when he sees you in the backseat completely knocked out, even snapping a picture when he stops at a toll.

he keeps the radio down low to not wake either of you until he arrives to the airbnb, a delightful cottage right on the beach. it's not too different from home, but the bigger city offers more things to do, and you plan to take advantage of your time away and show daisy all the things she hasn't experienced yet like zoos and museums.

“babes.” rafe calls out. “we're here.”

“oh my gosh.” you let out a yawn, stretching your back out from the awkward hunched position against the car seat. “that went by so fast.”

“thats what happens when you sleep the whole way.” rafe chuckles.

“shut up.” you giggle, leaning between the front seats to press a kiss to his lips. “thanks for driving us. we love you so much.”

you know you can speak for your daughter, it's so evident how much daisy loves rafe, even if she can't find the words yet.

“love you too, baby.” rafe looks back at daisy, the mirror set up on the headrest of the seat to give him a view of her face. “we should get inside quick, she's gonna wake up hungry.”

“ugh, my poor boobs.” you whine. you love getting to breastfeed daisy, and feel so lucky that you have a good milk supply, but it is hard on your body as well.

“you're amazing.” rafe says earnestly. you turned his life around completely when you began dating him, and it only got even better when daisy was born. he made a pact while she was still inside your tummy to get his shit together, mend his life that was broken.

“oh, shush.” you blush, rafe still able to make you feel shy to this day. 

you get out of the car, looking at the airbnb. you swear it looks even better in person, the warm sun beautifully illuminating the white stand as you walk in, punching in the code that you had already memorized.

you know rafe is bringing daisy in, so you take a moment to inspect the house, the two bedrooms and one nursery as well as the open living area, big windows pointing out to the ocean.

you hear daisys cries before rafe enters with her in his arms. “she's ready for you.”

you take her quickly, sitting down in the plush armchair as you adjust your shirt and nursing bra to free your nipple, which she quickly latches onto.

you can hear rafe bringing in your bags and everything you need for daisy as you nurse and stare out at the ocean.

“all done, baby?” you ask her after she pulls away, a blissed out, happy look on her face.

“ill burp her.” rafe picks daisy up from your arms before you even realize it, clearly missing his girl as you close up your bra and pull your shirt down. you follow rafe out onto the back deck, wrapping your arms around his waist as you listen to the familiar sounds of waves hitting the shore.

“are you tired from the drive?” you ask him. “you can nap and ill entertain daisy and make us dinner.”

“im okay.” rafe turns around to tug you into his side. “and let's just order pizza or something, this is vacation, you don't have to cook.”

“okay.” you get on your tiptoes to press a kiss to his cheek before leaning back against his side. you'll order later, after you've started out at the ocean with him, the uninterrupted sea of blue.

--

“ah, ah, ah.” rafe stops you, taking the baby carrier out of your hands. “ill wear her.”

you nod, grabbing the diaper bag and slinging it over your shoulder, which rafe also takes after he puts the carrier on.

“baby, i can carry something.” you laugh as he gets poppy out of her carseat, her cries instantly stopping now that she's free of the car.

“i know you can. but im a good husband, and i got it.”

“okay.” you shrug. “whatever you want baby.”

rafe loads daisy into the carrier, adjusting her to face outward so she can see all of the animals as you walk through the zoo.

“sunscreen.” you remind rafe, putting the cream onto daisys delicate skin. you swipe it across rafes nose as he makes a face.

“you need it too.” you chastise, smearing it across his face, rubbing it all in so he's not embarrassed. you'd already applied sunscreen underneath your makeup at the cottage earlier, so you just refresh your exposed shoulders.

you make quick work of admissions at the zoo, having already bought your tickets online.

“what do you wanna see first, baby?” rafe asks, hand looped together tight with yours. 

“umm, how about the red pandas?” you motion towards the asia section of the zoo.

“sounds perfect.” rafe very willingly follows you throughout, daisy happily watching the animals as well as smiling at anyone who passes by.

“stop, they're so cute!” you coo as you look at the pandas. “i want to pet one.”

“don't tempt me to figure out a way for you to do that, baby.” rafe laughs, your pout quickly disappearing off your face, knowing it's not beyond rafe to bribe a zookeeper to let you feel the red pandas fluffy tail.

“what would you like to see, daisy girl?” you coo, rubbing your fingers over her cheeks.

“let's check out the chimpanzees and then we should probably find a place for you to nurse.” rafe is well aware of daisys feeding schedule, and you had to choose between taking her to the zoo during nap time or having to figure out feeding her during the trip.

“sounds good.” you allow rafe to loop his arm around your waist. 

rafe is just as delighted by the chimps swinging across their play structure as daisy is, her hands clapping together, chubby cheeks pushed up in a happy smile.

she cries when you walk away, but you recognize that the attitude is mostly from her being hungry.

“come on, baby.” you coo, finding a quiet shaded area with a comfortable bench.

you cover your front with a light blanket as rafe sits next to you, gently rubbing your shoulder and stroking over your hair as daisy feeds.

“she's probably gonna take like a 15 minute milk nap after this.” you say to rafe. “we can go check out the natural history museum.”

“good idea.” rafe nods. “i know how much you like to read random ass signs.”

“ugh, not my fault i like to learn information! unlike you, dummy.”

“hey.” rafe tickles his finger into the crook for your neck.

daisy falls asleep when she's done nursing, just as you predicted. you tuck her into the crook of your arm, not wanting to risk transferring her to the baby carrier, she'd most certainly wake up.

rafes hand stays on your back throughout the entire museum. you look through every sign, every taxidermied animal and the prehistoric scenes of the area the zoo has set up.

daisy stirs in your arms as you walk outside, the afternoon sun on her face waking her up. “hey princess.” you tell her, always surprised how quickly she recovers from her naps, now wide awake seconds later.

“wanna go to daddy? yeah?” you hand her over to go back into the baby carrier, heading towards the north america section. you like seeing the moose, and rafe the brown bears, while daisy gets an absolute kick out of the american otters, watching them swish through the water and flip off the glass partition.

you continue through most of the zoo, deciding to rush through the aquarium and skip the africa section as daisys nap time quickly approaches.

you exit the zoo hand in hand with rafe, and for once daisy doesn't fight being put in her carseat as she instantly falls asleep.

--

daisy is sitting in between your legs, giggling as she runs her hands through the sand. you keep a close eye on her to make sure she doesn't try to experiment and eat any, but you're also distracted by rafe sitting shirtless next to you.

“when daisy is older, we should take her to the west coast so we can watch the sunset over the ocean.” he says, moving closer to you to wrap his arm around you.

“id love that. its so fun bringing her places.” you know daisy is too young to remember this trip, but she has loved staying someplace different, getting to see all sorts of new things. 

you head back home tomorrow, back to the reality of the outer banks.

“baby girl is gonna be beyond spoiled.” rafe laughs softly, leaning forward to readjust the bow on the top of her head.

“if you spoil her as much as you spoil me, she sure will.” you lean into rafes side, gently watching the waves until daisy starts to get tired and bored, crawling back towards you.

“nursing then bedtime, alright daisy?” you coo at her, picking her up as you walk with rafe back into the cottage, dusting your sandy feet off before going in. “it's a long drive again tomorrow and daddy needs a good sleep.”

“mmm, i was hoping after you put her down we could…” rafe clears his throat. your eyes widen, understanding what he means.

“yeah.” you nod, sitting down in the armchair that has become your prime feeding place over the weekend trip. “id really love that.”

“perfect.” rafe bends to press a kiss to your forehead. “im gonna go shower. let me know if you need any help getting her down.”

daisy happily latches onto your boob, pulling off when she's about halfway done as she gets fussy.

“oh, girly.” you giggle. “you're just tired!”

you move into the nursery to change her into pajamas as well as make sure she has a fresh diaper before finishing feeding her. by the time you set her down in the crib, she's out like a light.

you grab the baby monitor and bring it into your bedroom, smiling when you see rafe sitting on the edge of the bed, towel wrapped around his hips, hair still slightly wet from the shower.

“she's asleep?” he confirms as you place the baby monitor on the dresser.

“she is.” you move quickly over to rafe, bending to press a kiss to his lips as your hands move quickly to undo his towel, opening the damp fabric to reveal his cock.

you kiss as your hand explores his length, feeling it harden beneath your fingertips before you begin to stroke.

“you're gonna kill me, baby.” rafe groans against your lips. “ive missed your hands so much.”

“missed this too.” you confirm. sex with rafe has been scarce since daisy. your body took a while to recover, and while he was patient throughout that, even once you were ready to have sex, daisy often interrupted you by needing her diaper changed or to be rocked back to sleep.

“come on, i want to see you.” rafe tugs at your shirt.

you stand to lose your tank top, removing your bra next. you still feel a little insecure about your stomach. you lost a bit of the weight you gained throughout pregnancy, but you don't know if you'll ever get back to how you were before.

“hey-” rafe stands, seeming to sense your feelings. “you're beautiful.”

“thank you.” you say, tears welling up in your eyes, but not from your insecurities, but from the sheer love you have for rafe.

“now get on the bed so i can show you how beautiful i find you.”

you take your pants and underwear off as you lay down, placing your head on the pillows as you look up at rafe. you used to be much more adventurous when it came to sex, trying out different positions or even introducing toys, but just like in many other ways, being a parent has made your sex more boring.

rafe drapes himself over your body, his cock rubbing through your folds. until daisy is much older and always sleeps through the night, there's still a chance she will wake up, so speed is of the essence.

rafe lines his cock up, pushing it inside of your tight heat with a low groan, needing to stay pretty quiet to not wake daisy, glad that the ocean out the window is providing her some white noise.

“god, you feel so good.” rafe says, eyelids fluttering closed as he stills, allowing you to adjust to his length.

you let out a moan, reaching up to wrap your arms around rafes shoulders, pulling his body against yours.

your chest rubs together as rafe begins to thrust, thankfully not moving too much as your nipples are so sensitive they sometimes hurt.

“i love you.” you whisper to rafe. “i love you so much.”

“we should have a wedding.” rafe says mid-thrust, making your eyes widen as he continues talking. “we should renew our vows when daisy is old enough to be our flower girl.”

“okay.” you nod. you have no problem with throwing an actual party to celebrate your marriage, considering when you found out you were pregnant and told rafe, you settled for a small and quick courthouse wedding with just a few family members and friends in attendance.

“i just love you so much.” he says, voice slightly strained as he continues thrusting.

“i know.” you lean up again to press your lips against his, his mouth staying slightly ajar as he pants.

“i love daisy too. i love our family.” rafe is moving so fast inside of you, rambling as he fucks you. “i wanna have more kids. after we renew our vows and i give you the wedding you deserve.”

“okay.” you giggle, smiling up at rafe. “we can do all of that, baby. we have all the time in the world.”

rafe nods, eyes closing as he concentrates on moving his hips just how you like it, the same motions that got you pregnant with daisy, now prevented from happening again with your daily pill.

“close.” rafe warns, and you're not far off either, only needing a couple more thrusts before you cum with a muffled shout, having covered your mouth with your hand just in time.

your cunt squeezing around him as your high pushes through your body is all rafe needs to spill inside of you with a soft moan of your name.

his arms give out as he rests on top of you, but you don't mind the weight as you stroke your fingers through his short hair. 

it's comforting, the silence, the way your bodies are pressed together, but it's interrupted by a cry through the baby monitor.

“i got her.” rafe says before you can even react. he pushes himself out of bed and pulls on a pair of sweats before rushing into the nursery.

you take a moment to reach over to the tissues on the nightstand, cleaning yourself off at least good enough for the night as you wrap the blankets around yourself.

you try to stay awake until rafe comes back in, to tell him yet again how much you love him, but by the time he's done changing daisys diaper and gets her back to sleep, you're deep in sleep.

rafe smiles as he reenters the bedroom, seeing you all wrapped up with a slight smile on your face as you dream. rafe lays down next to you, wondering how he ever got so lucky.

[sapphosclosefriend]

- Money, Power, Glory pt 5 -

Pairing: CEO! Silverfox! Natasha Romanoff x Escort! Fem! Reader

Genre: smut, fluff, a little pining??

Summary: your Christmas vacation with Natasha couldn't start off in a better way… Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4

Word count: 5.2k

Warnings: top! Natasha x bottom! R, Natasha has a penis, big age gap (N=56, R=24), very brief drinking (N), SMUT, anal play (R receiving), butt plugs (R), anal sex (R receiving)

A/N: this story contains smut so anyone who isn’t 18+ DNI. I already have something in mind for the next part, but after that I still don't know how it will go…anyway, Merry Christmas to those who celebrate and happy holidays!!! As usual, likes, reblogs and comments are very appreciated! Enjoy ♡

Masterlist

To say it was cold was an understatement and soon a part of you regretted getting out of bed, despite the turmoil of emotions that plagued your mind any time you stopped for more than one second and got the chance to let your thoughts run free.

It had been weeks since that one beautiful weekend in Cuba and Natasha’s words still echoed clearly in your head.

“You make me wanna be perfect.”

You didn't care about her being “perfect”, she already was, but the thought of Natasha caring about what you thought of her made you feel special, deep down. You made sure not to bring up the topic if not prompted by her, though. You remembered very clearly the uncertainty in her beautiful eyes as she had said those words and, despite the reassurance you had tried your best to give her once she tried to apologize for her confession, you knew she still wasn't completely confident with the things she felt with you.

After her confession, for some time, asking you to spend more than a couple hours with her, something you had done almost as soon as you got to know each other, had started to feel almost overbearing to Natasha. It was her instinct immediately screaming at her to run away, just like usual, but the deal she had made with herself pushed her to try her best this time around. So she ended up doing what had plagued her mind for hours to no end, she asked you to spend Christmas with her. She knew it wasn't a holiday you particularly liked to spend with anybody, so she hoped there could've been a remote chance of you possibly agreeing to spend it with her.

She honestly didn't like how, deep down, she was starting to feel something extremely close to desperation at the prospect of, by chance, spending the day alone, yet again. It usually wouldn't have upset her too much, but this year she felt herself being more emotional than usual, thanks to the tumult of emotions you had been making her feel, which is why she knew that doing her usual trip to that place would've been so much harder than usual…

But luckily enough for her, you said yes and spared her heart an ache she really wasn't looking forward to feeling.

You didn't know what you were expecting when she said she'd bring you to a special place she liked, but a gigantic, wooden mansion in the woods wasn't exactly what you anticipated. At first it didn't really feel like something that would fit Natasha’s character, but when you thought about it a bit more, it was actually the perfect place for someone like her. Yes, it was still incredibly luxurious and slightly over the top, like the strong, stone cold CEO everyone knew her to be, but the quiet nature surrounding it, completely void of the chaos of the city and any people, felt like the real Natasha, the quiet, almost slightly shy one you had gotten to know in private.

You knew she had worked nonstop right until you had left, so you were pretty sure she would've appreciated what you had planned for your first day of vacation.

As soon as you got to your destination and she had given you a brief tour of the beautiful place, you were in her bed, not to do anything scandalous for once. You had barely given her the time to get in the bedroom before you were pushing her on the soft mattress and getting to work to give her the best massage you could, trying your best to relax her tense muscles at least a little bit. Thankfully, it had definitely worked because not only was she moaning the whole time in a way that you could barely ignore by the end of your little session, but she was out for a good three hours as soon as you finished your job.

You wanted nothing more than to bask in her relaxed beauty as she soundly slept next to you, but her calmness almost immediately lulled you into a delicious slumber as well.

You had unfortunately woken up from your nap all alone but you thankfully found her quite easily, despite the extremely large building you were still unfamiliar with.

You immediately missed the warmth coming from the cracking wood in the fireplace as soon as you stepped foot outside. Despite someone having taken care of the previously fully white hangout area right outside of the living room, there were still traces of snow over the large terrace as you shakily crossed it to reach Natasha. Maybe you underestimated the weather a bit too much and you definitely shouldn't have gone out only in sweatpants, uggs and a sweater but it was too late to change now, you needed to be with her.

She was leaning over the railing, facing the frozen lake a couple of feet away from the house while she lazily smoked a cigarette by herself. You had strangely never seen her smoke, but the lighter always sitting on the coffee table in the terrace back at her home suggested she sometimes indulged herself in it. She heard you way before you were able to reach her and, by the time you were by her side, she was already welcoming you with open arms, waiting for you to sneak in front of her to close her coat over the both of you.

"You're gonna freeze to death, detka."

Her murmured words and her voice, still slightly raspy from sleep, warmed you up just a little as you sneaked a hand out of its warm spot to snatch her cigarette and take a drag, appreciating even the small traces of warmth on your fingers from the end burning. Your breath, mixing with the smoke in the cold air, created a thick cloud in front of the two of you as you gave her back her cigarette.

"You should stop."

A sense of déjàvu seemed to suddenly hit Natasha as you repeated the words she'd heard from every single one of her wives. But the usual hints of annoyance she expected to feel at the thought of someone trying to tell her what to do surprisingly never came, leaving her only with the faint need to grant your wish and prevent you from worrying for her.

“If it'll make my sweet girl happy, maybe I will.”

“My”, that word hit you so deep and kept echoing in your mind over and over. How good did it sound, the idea of being Natasha's girl, of being the one next to her in life. It must've been even colder than you thought for your brain to get lost in such thoughts once again. You promised yourself you wouldn't give them air, yet there you were, melting in her arms at such simple words she probably didn't mean in such a deep way. Ok, maybe she did mean them in the exact way you were hoping…

You admittedly couldn't stop thinking about her, the deeper and deeper feelings you had for her plagued your mind all. the. time. And the only thing that reigned in your head every second of every hour was pure, emotional chaos. You knew you had to decide whether you wanted to try to pursue her in a less…professional way, but you hated to admit that you didn't know if you were brave enough to do so. You were still technically working when you spent time with her and hiding behind your job admittedly gave you a small sense of reassurance while you tried to get a grip on your spiraling thoughts.

You hated the fact that you were making her wait, you still hadn't given her a sign as clear as hers that you reciprocated the way she felt for you, and you knew that, if you waited for too long, your chance would've slipped away.

You didn't even really know what caused your stupid hesitation and you hated yourself for it. You could only do what felt the most fitting lately and tried not to think about it for too long. And the beautiful woman pressed right against your back, despite being the cause of your dilemma, at the same time easily gave you the perfect distraction any time you needed.

“It would…tho, I've got to admit, you're so hot when you smoke, jesus christ!”

You used the pretense of the icy weather to hide most of your face behind her warm coat, but she immediately noticed your genuine shyness behind the action at your spontaneous admittance. It warmed her heart every time you left some appreciations slip and got embarrassed for it. She only chuckled at your words and finished the rest of her cigarette in silence, soaking in the calmness from simply being in each other's presence.

As soon as she was done smoking you couldn't help but turn around in her arms, hugging her under her coat and breathing in her intoxicating scent from your warm spot in her hold. Your not so sneaky kiss on her neck as you hugged her could only make her need to feel your lips on hers and, lifting your chin with her index finger, she finally lost herself in a soft kiss. For once, you managed to lazily make out without your clothes immediately ending up scattered everywhere and you had to admit that you loved the tender, yet still passionate, moment just so much more than you expected. You gladly would've spent the rest of the day frozen in that moment, but you knew that, if you didn't stop yourself, you were the one who would've ended up frozen to death. And you wanted to live long enough to at least show her what you had ready for her…

“I have a surprise for you”

You barely managed to break the kiss to murmur the words against her lips and the small glint in her eyes made your stomach flutter like crazy.

“Another one? You're spoiling me, pretty girl.”

She seriously had to stop calling you all those names or else you were sure you wouldn't have been able to handle being called anything else ever again.

“I'm barely repaying you. You do so much for me.”

You felt your cheeks slightly warm up at your own words and the way she sweetly kissed your lips as a response certainly didn't help. You felt some of your confidence come back, though, once your mind went back, once again, at what the rest of the day would've been.

“Now, how about you go get comfortable on the couch, relax a little and wait for me? I'll be quick, I promise.”

“Yes ma'am.”

She smirked as she muttered her words, knowing that was the most you could manage to boss her around. She was more than happy to comply, though. Not only was she actually curious of what was to come, but she knew she would've done basically anything in her comfort zone to make you happy.

So she did just what you said. She made herself a drink, sat on the couch in front of the fireplace and patiently waited for you to finally come back to her. She barely had the time to get herself lost in thought, before the sound of your footsteps got closer and closer to her. The white fur trims were the first things she saw once you rounded the corner and, as soon as your full figure graced her eyes, a playful, yet genuine, smile broke out on her face.

You had decided to do something a little more playful, and got yourself a red velvet mini dress with white fur trims at the bottom of the skirt and the top of the cleavage. If you had to be honest, you didn't even mind it, the dress itself definitely wasn't on the cheap side and you actually felt quite pretty in it. You also knew that Natasha liked something a bit different from time to time, so the thought of making her happy was most definitely a big plus.

“God, detka! You only get prettier, don't you? “

Despite your innocent facade you had purposely put on, your big smile and brief giggle were the most genuine thanks to her words. You couldn't help but lean over, giving her a perfect view of your cleavage in the meantime, to give her a quick kiss on the lips as a way to thank her.

As you turned around to move towards an armchair near the couch she was sitting on, she noticed the small pouch bag you'd been holding behind your back the whole time and couldn't help but grow curious as you got something from it. Leaning over to get the object you were looking for, the short skirt rode up your thighs deliciously, barely covering your center. Natasha knew she would've ended up leaning her head down to get a peak of what was hidden from her if you didn't straighten your back once again. And the initial, very brief, disappointment, immediately got replaced, once again, by anticipation as she intently observed your every movement. Gosh, you were driving her crazy while barely doing anything…

You held the mystery item behind your back the same way you were doing before with the bag and made your way back towards her, stopping in front of her. Natasha could immediately notice the mischievous nature behind the tiny smile you were trying to hide. She was starting to grow restless and she would've almost jumped on you if you didn't start talking.

“You've been very very good this year and I think you deserve a nice reward!”

She didn't utter a word as she waited for you to finish. Curiosity was eating her up, though, and sitting still on the couch, with you standing in front of her, your beautiful body perfectly on display for her, was getting harder by the second.

Thankfully, you easily got her attention as you showed her what you had behind your back.

“But first, you need to help me out with something.”

Your innocent voice and the glass candy cane that was hanging from your index finger, something most definitely void of any innocence, created a contrast that Natasha immediately felt in her pants. She had long given up by then, knowing that even the smallest thing you did or said could've easily gotten her riled up in a matter of seconds.

Her full attention was soon back on you once you'd gotten a secure hold of the candy cane and licked its tip before slowly pushing it into your mouth, stopping only once you had gotten down to its curve. Natasha couldn't stop a low groan of hers at the sight and unconsciously gripped her own thighs as to control herself once you leaned down. Your raised eyebrow and your eyes moving from hers to the toy made her understand what you wanted her to do. Your hollowed cheeks as she slowly pulled the candy cane out of your mouth, helped her pants feel even tighter and your pop once she fully pulled it out made it even worse.

Before she could make sure to calm herself down a bit, though, you turned around and leaned down a little, resting your hands on your own knees. Your new position made the skirt of your dress ride up dangerously and, soon enough, Natasha was finally able to fully see your surprisingly exposed center. She could only hum from the beautiful view of your already glistening core.

“Go on, put it in.”

Your words finally pulled her attention back to your face, as you now tried your best to look back at her. Happy to comply with your playfulness, she immediately went to push the end of the glass toy, now wet from your spit, into your pussy, but your giggle made her stop her movements as her smirk fell.

“Not in there, silly!”

She was at a loss for words and, thinking it was all a dream, she had to make sure she understood you correctly.

“Are you sure?”

You just smiled and nodded as a response and, seeing her still stuck in place, you wiggled your ass a little to get her attention back to her task in hand. Natasha took a deep breath to try to get a grip on herself. She knew that the tent in her pants was only destined to get worse in a matter of seconds.

Once she finally pushed the glass toy into the tight hole of your ass, she couldn't help but loudly curse. Your soft moans as she very slowly pushed more and more of it inside of you were already driving her crazy. Not wanting to go too fast she stopped herself once the straight end of the candy cane was around halfway inside and admired the amazing view in front of her. She could see how you unconsciously tried to squeeze your legs together as you softly whimpered from the different, yet extremely good, feeling.

As soon as she noticed her free hand getting closer to her own pants almost as if on its own, her attention was back on you. You slowly started to move back and forth over the glass toy Natasha held still in her hand and, the thought of possibly feeling her cock inside of you instead, surprised you with a loud moan of your own. Despite the toy's girth being quite alright, you soon found yourself needing more. You wanted her, you needed her. You could also hear Natasha's breathing getting a bit quicker partly thanks to her own hand now massaging herself through her pants.

So you pushed down one last time and, once you reached the curve of the candy cane, making the older woman groan at the lewd sight, you fully lifted yourself off of it with a breathy moan. The toy left a small opening once it left your hole and Natasha couldn't stop herself from imagining what it would’ve looked like if it was her cock you had fucked, instead. In that moment, the need to manhandle you on all fours to fuck you until you couldn't remember your own name hit her stronger than ever since you had known each other. But she did her best to hold herself back to find out what you were planning to do next.

The older woman was partly thankful once you moved away to rummage through your pouch bag, giving her some time to catch her breath and quickly finish her drink in one go. Once you got back, she knew it was all in vain, though.

Of course, the first thing she noticed was the butt plug you were holding that you had covered with lube. How could it not be? She had to admit it took her a couple of seconds to snap out of her trance as she admired you once again standing in front of her, this time offering the new toy to her. Once she was finally able to move a muscle and grab it, you turned around and leaned down like before, waiting for Natasha to do what you silently asked her to. The cold metal on your skin slightly made you jump in surprise as she moved the tip over your hole to get some lube over it too. Feeling her applying a bit more pressure, you tried to relax as much as you could, but couldn't hold back a whine as she gradually pushed more and more. Natasha's low cursing kept gracing your ears and only made you more eager to please her. You held your breath as the widest part pushed past your ring and, just like that, the rest slipped in almost as if on its own, making you yelp in surprise.

You giggled at your own reaction and, looking back at her, you found her eyes still on your center as her hands gently moved over your cheeks. Natasha couldn't believe how much she was being affected by everything you were doing and the sight of the red stone on your tight hole and your pussy now most definitely wet, were starting to make her twitch in her own pants. You still hadn't explicitly said if you wanted her to fuck you, so she made sure

to make the most out of the beautiful view in front of her, definitely more than enough for now.

You unfortunately put a stop to it to stand back up, taking a deep breath and turning around to face her once again.

“Much better!”

Your smile was filled with fake innocence as you leaned down to kiss her on the lips and whisper to her as if you were telling her a secret.

“I'll wait for you in the bedroom”

You barely had the time to leave the living room before she was catching up on you and following you towards the bedroom, shamelessly admiring your exposed thighs. She couldn't stop thinking about what was hidden under your skirt and her anticipation kept growing bigger and bigger with every step you took and every gentle sway of your hips.

You wanted to treat her to a night all about her, and you also selfishly wanted to do it because you liked it too, but she apparently was more needy than you made her out to be.

As soon as you got into the bedroom and you tried to make her lie down to properly worship her body, she was pushing you to stay under her instead. The way she had manhandled you and her slightly flushed cheeks as she hovered over you, made your center spasm around the plug still inside of you, drawing a moan out of you. She couldn't waste one more second, her cock was almost painfully hard and the sight of you lying down under her, with your skimpy dress and your legs open, were making her, if possible, even more eager to have you.

Seeing her frantically taking her pants and underwear off all while looking at your core made you pathetically whimper and you couldn't hold yourself from moving your own hand downwards to gently rub your clit in the meantime. You both knew you wouldn't have been able to indulge yourselves in any foreplay today, so you let her climb on the bed, between your legs, as you made yourself comfortable, ready to let her do whatever she wanted to you. But, before you could lay your head on the pillows, she made you turn around and pulled your ass up, making you kneel on all fours before her. You could barely breathe, she was always the one in charge during your sessions, but this was a slightly different side of Natasha you still hadn't met, unfortunately.

She ran her hands over your ass cheeks once again, lifting your skirt while doing so, before gliding her palms over the small of your back and upwards. Once she got to your shoulder blades she gently, yet purposefully, pushed until the side of your face was pressed against the mattress and your ass was in the air. You could see her admiring you from the corner of your eye and after a few seconds she leaned down a little to get closer to your face.

“Can I take it out, detka?”

Her soft voice was so much different than her actions and it made your heart flutter. You could only eagerly nod and whisper a small “yes, please”, after which she immediately straightened her back up, kneeling behind you, and took a deep breath before taking a hold of the end of the plug. She gently pulled on it, making you gasp at the incredible feeling, and gradually pulled it out. Natasha couldn't help but moan at the sight of your ass stretching over the largest part of the toy and the need to feel you got almost unbearable.

She made sure to get a hold on herself, though, wanting to make the experience as comfortable as possible for you, and thoroughly lubed her cock.

“You ready?”

As soon as you answered positively, she positioned her cock against your ass, trying to calm down her breathing in the meantime.

Your mouth opened in a silent moan as she slowly pushed the head of her cock inside. It felt overwhelming yet not nearly enough at the same time and you didn't know whether you wanted her to stop or give you more. She wasn't even halfway inside when she stopped moving for a little bit to let you get used to it and, in the meantime, admire once again the way your ass tightened around her.

She couldn't believe how good you felt around her even without moving at all and she ended up having to focus on your beautiful face to distract herself while you got more comfortable. Your eyes were closed while you grasped one of the pillows for dear life and your lips looked even more tempting than usual as you shakily breathed through them. She would've gladly leaned down to kiss you with all the lo-care she had, but she wanted to wait for you to be more at ease.

“Please, move”

Your small, trembling voice that finally graced her ears after a bit, sounded heavenly to Natasha, who, taking a hold on your hips, slowly pulled out a little, before pushing back in, gradually going just a little deeper each time. She basked in the blissful sounds you were making and, once she settled on a regular pace, she finally left herself get lost in the pleasure. You finally got to hear her guttural moans as she fucked you still at a quite slow pace. You were sure there couldn't have been a more beautiful sound in the world and you would've gladly done anything to listen to it all the time.

Natasha's hold on your hips kept getting tighter and tighter, almost to the point of it being painful. You knew she was holding back and while at first you were thankful for it, you were once again feeling the gnawing need to feel more of her.

“Oh shit”

Natasha couldn't help but curse under her breath once she started feeling you pushing back against her every thrust, and your loud moan as you tightened around her once again did nothing but drive her wild. You tried to look back at her to admire her beautiful face of pure bliss and, once her eyes met yours, you couldn’t help but moan and move a little bit faster, making her movements quicken as well.

You settled on a steady pace and, while it satisfied you for a bit, you soon found yourselves needing more and more and more. It seemed like it was never enough.

You were desperate to feel each other cum as soon as possible, but, at the same time, you didn't want the blissful moment to end.

After a bit, sensing both of your orgasms approaching, Natasha pushed as much of herself she could inside of you, staying still for a couple of seconds and admiring you as you tried to hold yourself upright. You could barely breathe, if you thought she felt big while fucking you, you were wrong.

Once she finally pulled out, she graced you with a loud groan as you collapsed on the bed. Your and Natasha's heaving was the only sound in the room as you tried to recover as much as you possibly could.

You only noticed the tear that had escaped your eye once she gently wiped it with her thumb, before leaning down and kissing your cheek so softly you barely felt it.

“Are you ok?”

She barely pulled away to whisper her words, lowly speaking as if to make sure no one else could hear her. You only nodded while looking at her beautiful face and basked in the feeling of her hand gently running up and down your back.

“Do you wanna keep going?”

This time your nod was more eager, despite your energy starting to run low, and before she could ask you again, you made sure to confirm your desire with a firm “yes”.

As soon as you complied, she once again kissed your cheek and helped you turn around, letting you lie on your back to face her. She looked so beautiful, even more beautiful than usual, if that was even possible, and you suddenly felt an overwhelming feeling tugging at your heart at the sight of Natasha softly smiling down at you. You almost wanted to cry, but before you could get even more emotional than you apparently already were, you caressed her cheek and leaned up to deeply kiss her on the lips.

As you kept languidly making out, she ran her hands over your thighs as she settled between them and made you open them as much as you could. Once she broke the kiss, she leaned her forehead against yours and pushed her cock back inside of your ass, making you whimper at the even more intense feeling thanks to her closeness this time.

Thanks to the orgasm you both were about to reach just minutes before, you soon found yourselves settling back into a regular pace, gradually growing quicker by the minute.

You couldn't hold back another whine when Natasha straightened her back to stand on her knees, putting some distance between the two of you you admittedly hated deep down. But her hold on your waist as she resumed with a fast pace and her other hand moving to your clit, easily clouded your mind once again.

She was making you once again get closer to your peak incredibly fast and as much as you tried to hold it back for as long as you could, knowing that she was equally close to cumming, made you get even more lost in the highest pleasure you'd ever felt. She looked like a straight up goddess as she breathed hard through her mouth with her eyebrows furrowed, and her eyes roaming every snippet of your figure she could, made you feel like you couldn't be blessed by anything holier in your life.

You never wanted her to stop gracing your eyes and ears and skin. You wanted, no, needed her at all times and the moans that you couldn't hold back were unfortunately the only thing you could offer her back.

You could feel it coming, oh how sweet was your peak going to be, like no other in your entire life.

There it was! It was coming to the surface! No no no no, it wasn't a moan! Why couldn't you stop it!

“I love you!”

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Part 6

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Tags: @fxckmiup @natashasilverfox @dmenby3100 @marvels--slut @dvrkhcld @elenimoris @mrsrushman @mrsromanoff @thalia-is-not-ok @alianovnasposts @clintsupremacy @taliiiaasteria @meowymari @lissaaaa145 @natashaswife4125 @olsenmyolsen @angrywhisperslove @aemilia19 @setsuna1415 @letsboandy @mrsromanovaa @wizardofstories @karsonromanoff @scarlettbitchx

[genshin-impact-unofficial]

Naughty Little Secret Pt.3

Reactions of Genshin men finding your spicy literature.

Bonus Ft. Scaramouche, Itto, and Xiao

(Part 1) Diluc, Cyno, and Thoma (Part 2) Childe, Albedo, and Alhaitham

Tags: PG-13, Sexual Themes, GN!Reader, Technically SFW, Crushes, Lot more cussing in this one, Use of the word dick but not sexual lol, All these boys dont know how to regulate emotions, Bullying scaramouche, fluff-ish?, Spoiler: Xiao wants to be dominated! Notes: (repost)

Scaramouche

You worked your ass off to rise up in the Fatui ranks. Not everyone could handle the cut throat atmosphere that you had to endure day in and day out. But still, it really takes a special kind of self-loathing to accept the position as the right hand General of the Balladeer. It’s almost like he enjoys making your life hell. You endured it simply because you’ve come too far to let that little brat ruin it all. 

 “General Y/N, be ready to leave at dawn.” The harbinger stated to you, lounging casually at his desk, appearing not to have a care in the world. You turn around slowly and don't even try to hide your annoyance on your face. Your hands were already literally and figuratively full of paperwork that you had every intention of completing before this point. You take a deep sigh and pinch the bridge of your nose to keep the growing migraine at bay. 

“Yes sir, where shall I prepare us to go?” You ask calmly, it was not worth it to get snippy with him this early. He would surely only take it as a challenge.

“Hmm... I feel like exploring the ruins of Mondstadt.” The man shrugged, glancing over at you to see your reaction. 

“Mondstadt?!?! That’s a three day trip sir. Are you-” You stopped yourself when you saw the devilish grin on his features. This was exactly what he wanted. “Orders received, I’ll inform the convoy to be ready at dawn.” You stated sharply and swiftly turned to exit the room. What a dick. You were no stranger to these impromptu expeditions. Chances were, Scaramouche really did have business to attend to at the destination. What never ceased to boil your blood, was the fact that he loved to withhold this information from you until the very last minute. You packed light and awaited your next orders like usual. 

 -

The first leg of the journey was incredibly dull since you had refused to travel in the same wagon as Scaramouche. Even when he went out of his way to push your buttons during stops, you would only give him a short reply and walk away. It was quite annoying to the harbinger. Having nothing to entertain himself with left the Balladeer in a terrible mood. By the time camp was set up for the night, he stormily resigned to his quarters immediately.  Scaramouch’s belongings were already left on his sleeping cot when he entered. It was no doubt set up in advance to avoid risking anyone getting on his bad side. He opened is bags to retrieve his intelligence reports.... but the contents inside were unfamiliar to him. What an incompetent crew!

“I’m going to have someones head for thi-” His agitation ceased when he read your name written neatly on the ledger inside the pack. About time...something interesting. Without any regard for your privacy, he flipped through your notes. Ugh, you could be such a bore sometimes. You were his favorite play thing, but above all else you were also a diligent attendant. There was nothing but concise notations on work matters inside, so Scaramouche tossed it aside and searched further into the bag. His next finding was a book, seemingly a fiction novel with a bookmark indicating you were still in the midst of reading it. Boring.... The man thought while mindlessly skimming through the pages. 

The cool night breeze hit her bare skin, raising goosebumps all over her body. Only the scorching warmth of his hands could be felt as they explored her every curve. The lewd sounds of their passion rang throughout the trees and her legs began to tremble in pleasure as he- Scaramouche immediately slammed the book closed with far too much force and threw it back into your bag. He didn’t even bother zipping it up before storming outside. 

You had just finished your duties for the night. It took twice as long since your infuriating boss just had to throw a tantrum and go hole himself up in his quarters. Your tent was luckily also set up and ready for use. Maybe you would even treat yourself to a little reading, that is if you didn’t pass out from exhaustion as soon as your head hit the pillow. You didn’t think twice before opening the bag atop your bed. Huh? This isn’t- 

“Y/N TAKE YOUR STUPID STUFF! ESPECIALLY THAT FILTHY PORNOGRAPHIC BOOK OF YOURS!” Scaramouche was bursting into your tent and just about whipped your bag at you. The boy’s expression was incredibly uneasy, his bright angry blush could be seen from Celestia. On one hand, you were positively furious that he had the nerve to snoop through your things, but on the other hand you examined the sight of your flustered boss.... now that was new. 

“It’s not porn...” You forced down your utter embarrassment and rolled your eyes at him. “It’s just a little romance novel, don’t tell me that’s what’s got you so utterly nervous? Did you need someone to guide you through its contents?” You asked in a low sultry tone while taking a couple slow prowling steps towards the harbinger. His eyes were now as wide as saucers, bewildered, he stood frozen in place. 

“You’re being ridiculous.. I don’t - How dare you assume-” Scaramouche tried to form a complete thought, or maybe a threat, but it was painfully obvious he had lost his ability to think straight with you leaning in so close to him. Personal space was getting awfully scarce when you saw the Balladeer’s eyes flicker for a fraction of a second to your lips and back. You grinned wickedly, deciding it was time to put the helpless boy out of his misery. 

“Well then!” You suddenly clasped your hands together, leaned back, and shoved Scaramouche’s pack roughly into his arms. “Since you’re all set, then out you go.” You smiled cheerily, spinning him around and kicking him out of your tent without a second glance. “Nighty night, see ya in the morning sir.” 

Scaramouch stood rigidly outside your tent, face burning, utterly disheveled, and reeling from the interaction he had just had. His heart pounded wildly in his chest, but he couldn’t tell if it was from the thrill of your attention or from how absolutely fucking livid he was at you.

Itto

You weren’t an ‘official’ member of the Arataki Gang per say, but you were no stranger to their big goofball leader. Itto had slowly wormed his way into your daily routine and he had no plans of leaving anytime soon. The oni and his friends were a blast to be around, but you just weren’t the type to run around causing mischief. You worried that you would just end up being a killjoy. Instead of being a stick in their ever-exciting mud, you settled for hanging in the background of their antics and just reveling in their positive energy. You even brought your own entertainment so you wouldn’t be a bother to them. 

Itto on the other hand, had been dying to recruit you into the gang since FOREVER! You were so cool and smart all the time! But every time he offered you a spot, you politely declined. Damn! That just made you even cooler! He wouldn’t quit here though, it just wasn’t in his nature to give up on something so important. Itto gathered his boys and hashed out their next plan. Impressing you with their mad skills didn’t seem to do the trick. Maybe.... maybe they needed to impress you even HARDER! The gang chattered in excitement, an extravagant burping tournament already forming in their little heads.

“OR how about you try to appeal to Y/N’s interests?... Ya know, like trying to get to know them more?” Shinobu interjected before their tournament plan actually got momentum. Itto contemplated her words for a moment before breaking out into a wide grin. 

“Yeah, yeah yeah! You’re onto somethin’ Shinobu!” Itto praised. “I gotta show them how well we get them! Then Y/N will be begging to join the gang!” 

“Ok well... I don’t know about-” 

“Come on boys! We got some work to do!” It was too late. Itto was charging full steam ahead before his second in command could get another word in. The oni had to play it cool the next time he saw you. If you caught wind of what they were trying to do, it might ruin the whole plan. The whole operation was considered a “Super-Top-Secret-Arataki-Gang-Stealth-Mission”. It was all so brilliant, but the only problem was.... how was he supposed to figure out your interests without asking you? 

You were always so thoughtful, like when you make the time to listen to Itto rant on and on about his latest and greatest plans. He just wanted to listen about your favorite things too! Itto hardly took his eyes off you as you settled into your usual spot to read. That’s it! He’ll get into reading! That way he could talk book stuff or something! All he had to do was read all the books you read. Easy!  

The next day, Itto scoured high and low at every bookshop in for the title he saw you reading. He got some strange looks from some of the shop owners, but in the end he found it! He ended up selling a couple of his Genius Invokation TCG cards for the mora, but it would all be worth it in the end if it meant you would become their newest member. The oni was so excited he couldn’t even wait for the boys. He ended up sitting right outside the bookshop and cracking open the volume. Itto flipped around the pages, his version of ‘speed reading’ as he calls it, until a specific passage stuck out at him.

He sunk his teeth into her supple skin, and latched onto her neck. Red and purple love marks littered her needy body. Big rough hands gripped at her thighs, sharp claws claiming them for his own. The next sound was that of tearing fabric for her undergarments were no more. His mouth watered, it craved her, and he would restrain himself no longer.- 

“Boss! Did you find it?” Itto was startled when he heard his gang arrive. 

“Uhhhh HEy! Nope! Not a thing.” He said shutting the book and shooting to his feet. “Wow look at the time! I- uh... I got to go eat supple. I MeAN GEt SuPPER. Hahahah I A GOtta gO ByE!!!” Itto could hardly control the words spilling from his mouth. He took off running, leaving the gang utterly confused.

Itto struggled to sleep that night, unable to grasp the thought of you reading those graphic depictions all the time with a straight face. The next time you encountered the oni, it was transparently obvious that something was very wrong. Itto’s signature loud and confident personality had done a complete 180. He refused to look at you... like at all. You feared you’d done something to offend the big lovable goof and you decides this had to be sorted out right away.

“Itto is something wrong?” You had to resort to cornering the man to get him to talk to you. It was a humorous sight to see, you blocking the path of a huge oni that could easily barrel through you. Of course, the moment Itto’s eyes met yours, a fresh blush began to bloom across his face. He broke, instantly coming clean about everything.

“WeWantedToHaveYouJoinSOSoSoBadWeTriedToFindOutMoreAboutYouYourBookIsFullOfSomeDirtyScenesAndNowIDontThinkIWasSupposed-” Itto spoke impossibly fast and you couldn’t understand the flustered jumbled mess at all. You placed a comforting hand on his arm, encouraging him to take a deep breath. After giving him a moment to collect himself, you prompt him to start again but slowly... 

“The gang and I really like when you’re around. We want you to enjoy being around us too. So I thought if I, uh.... ya know. If I figured out what you were always reading about, that I would learn more about you. I just ah... didn’t expect the um...” 

“You read my...” You paused, the pieces finally slotted together in your head. “Oh archons! Uh actually, you can just leave me here Itto. I need to find a big rock to go die under now.” You said absolutely mortified. It was your turn to not be able to look for friend in the eye ever again. Covered your cheeks that were sure to be red as the oni’s horns now.

“What? Hey, come on now Y/N.” Itto jumped to action and like a switch he was immediately trying to cheer you up. “It’s not that bad! The rest of the gang doesn’t know a thing, and I promise my mouth is locked shut! I swear, oni’s honor!” He held one hand in the air and the other over his heart. “How about I tell you a secret? That way we’re even and no one has to be embarrassed, yeah?” Itto suggested. He leaned down to meet your eye line and to offer you a sweet smile. “Let’s see, ooooo I got it! So one time when I was practicing my mad skills on the beach my great sword slipped right out of my hand, the handle hit me straight on the noggin. Knocked me right out for hours.” You couldn’t help but giggle a little, it did sound very Itto after all. Seeing you smile spurred him to continue. “That’s not even the worst of it! When I woke up, bunch of salt water leaches were latched on my neck and chest. I couldn’t let the boys know, I have an image I gotta keep here. So when they asked me about the marks... I may have told a little tiny lie that they were hickeys.” Now you were struggling to breath with how hard you were laughing at the ridiculous story. 

“Okay okay I feel better. You win.” You hold up your hands in playful surrender and Itto’s triumphant smile was once again where it belonged. It reminded you why you loved his company so much.

“Of course I win! They don’t call me the one and oni for nothin! HAHA!” 

Xiao

Reading mortal ‘light novels’ was something relatively new to Xiao. He may not be able to see why you love it so much, but he respected seeing the passion in your eyes while recanting the epic fictional battles. It was endearing enough that the yaksha agreed to read some of the suggestions you made for him. The strange nuanced situations sometimes confused Xiao, but you were always happy to break it down logically for him. It had become a pleasant pass time for both of you.

“Y/N I finished this one.... It was good i think.” Xiao handed you back the book you had lent him. 

“Pfft, you think? Did you like the story?” You chuckled, amused. 

“The last one, I liked that one more.” The adeptus stated decisively. Xiao would never speak negatively about your interests. But... sometimes he opted to change the subject instead. 

“Ah, you have good taste.” You praised him, the excitement was evident from your expression. “I just finished the squeal yesterday! It should be on the desk over there, you should definitely check it out!” Xiao nodded and couldn't help but be amused. He grabbed the top book off your desk, not caring in particular if it was the correct one. The trivial plots were not his reason for doing any of this anyway. He would never tell you, but it was so he could in sit here beside you and just be content in your company. He didn’t know many people comfortable enough to spend hours together in silence. It was a relief not to be required to fill it with idle conversation. Xiao settled in the chair next to you and absentmindedly began to read the repetitive lines of words. Just  like the volumes before, he began to see the plot set up to follow the same tropes and struggles all over again except, huh....

He sat obediently in front his charge, and it was as if her power hungry gaze could swallow him whole. She wanted to control his every breath and moan while she had him here. His heart, body, and mind belonged to her to do with as she pleased. Her orders were direct and clear and he would always desperately follow. When he dis as he was told he was always rewarded by her noises of ecstasy. The sound of it sent a pleasant shiver down his own spine. He lived for this, for her, and he would serve her until she was nothing but satisfied-

“Xiao are you alright? You look feverish.“ Xiao tore his eyes from the pages and locked onto your concerned gaze. He was lost. How was he supposed to handle the thoughts swirling in his head? Your book was so... lewd. How could someone like you read? Did that mean you thought of.. “Xiao?”

In a split second, the yaksha was gone in a puff of black smoke. You were left alone and baffled by what the hell just happened. Was something wrong? He usually explained before leaving suddenly, or at least had the decency to say goodbye. You thought over and over in your head, but it all became clear when you spotted the abandoned romance novel on the chair. Ohhh no. 

-

It had been two weeks since your interaction Xiao. It only took a couple of days before you were able to push past your humiliation and call out to him. You waited.... but It became clear that the adeptus was avoiding you. Even your trips up to Wangshu Inn proved fruitless time and time again. Was this guy being serious right now? The remaining feelings of embarrassment and annoyance had completely dissolved into fear by the second week. You began feeling worried that your friend may have just completely dropped you, or was out there hurt. The weight of it all was eating away at you. You finally made the decision that you had to know for sure.

“XIAO!” You yelled off the rooftop of the inn. “I know you hear me! If you didn’t want anything to do with me anymore, at least tell me to my face! I won’t force you to be my friend, but at least be honest! Please, I just can’t take this!” You call out loudly into the wind. It would look absolutely mad to any passersby but you didn’t care anymore. 

“You’re being absurd.” Xiao’s voice muttered, appearing without a sound on the rooftop.

“Xiao! I’m so glad you’re o-” You almost were so excited to see the boy again that you started to step forward without thinking. Remembering the situation, you restrained yourself. You wouldn't want to make him uncomfortable. It was obvious from his avoidant gaze and rosy complexion that he was just as uneasy as when you last saw him.

“Who’s telling you that I want nothing to do with you. It’s nothing but a lie.” Xiao stated seriously. Blush or not, he seemed offended by the accusation.

“No one said anything. I assumed as much since you’ve been ignoring me for weeks! What am I supposed to think Xiao?” You explained to him frustrated. You perhaps still felt a little hurt, but you didn’t realize how much. Not until you felt tears begin to prick at your eyes. “It’s hurtful to go from having a best friend, to meaning nothing to them.” You cross your arms and try to blink away the tears threatening to fall. Xiao is the one to step forward next, clearly processing what you had just said and barely coming to a realization. Fuck, this guy can be so dense sometimes.

“Y/N, I’m sorry. I have hurt you while I was only thinking of my own shame.” His voice was soft and earnest. “Please believe me when I say, I never wanted to stop being close to you. And please allow me to resume doing so.” You smiled, of course forgiving Xiao without hesitation. But not without conditions.

“I forgive you... But as my best friend, you have to promise not to tell a living soul about that book. Not a peep, nothing! I’m talking, take this secret to your grave.” You beam up at him, officially declaring him your best friend for the first time. 

“R-right of course.” Xiao’s composure stuttered once again, a fierce blush returning to his cheeks. “I promise, not a word...”

<A/N: This was an ask from my old blog! I was scared for a moment it was lost to the ether but I found it in my documents! Writing flustered Scara is so fun NGL!>

[lunaekalenda]

"Love, you have to be quiet, please." A knot of nervousness tangles on your stomach as you give Sukuna your arm again, stretching it towards him. His gloved hands take it softly, and he smiles to you, before moving with the chair next to you, kissing your forehead. "It won't hurt, I promise."

Who but him would know better? You watch all the ink on his muscled arms, that disappear under the short sleeves of his t-shirt. His body is full of them, and you know it. He recommended you to get it on your arm first, and you trust your boyfriend, specially since he's a proffessional tatto artist. Taking a wipe to clean the area, he smiles at you, while the cold alcohol touches your skin.

"You don't have to do this, you know?" It was your idea, after all. To get matching tattoos designed by the other. You nod a couple times, scared your voice won't flow because of nerves. He takes the transfer, where his calligraphy and a cute flower near the word. You weren't able to see what he wrote until now, as he did before with yours, and your surprise is colossal when you find the exact same expression you designed for him.

He showed it to you on your very first day walking around Shibuya, with your hands tangled and him showing you every tiny corner of his city, where he grew up and were he was dying to return. He was your personal travel guide around Tokyo, your language teacher and your company during the trip. You remember being in front of Hachikō's sculpture, watching people passing by the enormous crosswalks, when Sukuna explained that to you.

"Visiting Shibuya with you is a dream. Thanks for letting it come true." his hands took yours before kissing them. "You know, there's not a ton of words than can describe what I feel for you, but, curiously, my mother language does have one. Koi no yokan. That's exactly what I felt when I met you." his voice got lower and he got close as he spoke. You remember vividly how his nose lovingly rubbed against yours while his mouth searched the way to yours.

"What does that mean?" your voice wasn't more than a whisper against his, and he smiled, lips already touching yours while he explained it to you, before he left a kiss.

"Means that, somehow, I knew I was gonna madly fall in love with you, irremediably."

You remember vividly every single minute of that date, and seeing the kanji on the transfer made you smile to Sukuna, who smiles as well. "We're definitely destined, love." you laugh, looking at the elegant kanji your boyfriend made for you, followed by a tiny gardenia. You stretch your arm towards him again, as he finishes preparing the machine. Taking your arm and getting close for another forehead kiss, he smiles widely.

"Ready, love?"

You smile back at him before nodding. "Ready"

i was studying japanese and found this expression, and somehow i wrote this ehe (just a little drabble)

taglist <3 : @followthecherryblossoms @turquoiselace

[wonwussy]

Route 14

pairing; seungkwan x reader

genre; fluff

notes/warnings; teeth achingly sweet and fluffy. maybe slight angst of that mutual pining, but not true angst. um... nothing too crazy though. unless you don't like road trips. then you probably shouldn't read. this is part of the cupid for you collab with svthub. this is for my valentine, @seokgyuu! mitchie, i'm sorry i didn't leave many messages... i was afraid i was going to give something away! i hope you enjoy reading this as much i enjoyed writing it. i hope you don't need to see a dentist for cavities after all the sucrose shoved into this tiny package. <3 i hope you have a wonderful valentine's day!

word count; 2178

You glance at Seungkwan out of the corner of your eyes, struggling to hold back a smile as he sings along to the radio at full volume. You always love listening to him sing, and how it never fails that the sound of his voice brings a smile to your face. It was one of the many things that you love about him.

And he had no clue.

Of course, why would he? You never shared how you feel about him, too scared it would ruin your friendship. You had been best friends for as long as you can remember, which was a middle school drama class that had caused you to shrink back and him to flourish. He was vibrant and funny and all the things you thought you weren’t then. He realized you were laughing at his antics, and he was drawn to you. He hadn’t left your side ever since, and you had been grateful every day.

There were times where he needed you, just as much as you needed him. This is one of those times. A short road trip. Seungkwan never liked driving alone, especially on long distances, and you always ended up in the passenger seat when he decided to get some space and air from the city. Today is no different.

“Did you know today was Valentine’s Day?” he asks suddenly, pulling you from your thoughts of days gone by.

“Hm? Is it?” You pause as you check the date on your phone, scrunching your nose when you realize he is right. “I forgot. Then again, I think my brain is still stuck in January, the month that lasted five years,” you joke with a laugh, leaning your head back against the seat.

Seungkwan scoffs and shakes his head, readjusting his hands on the steering wheel. “It didn’t last five years. You’re just being dramatic.”

You stick your tongue out at him, before letting out a laugh. “And if I wasn’t, I don’t think you’d like me as much.”

He mutters something under his breath, though you can’t quite make out the words. He clears his throat and chances a quick glance at you. Even though he couldn’t look too long, eyes have to be kept on the road, it’s enough for him to appreciate how pretty you look. The sun shining on your skin, hair styled perfectly messy (even if that wasn’t your aim when you were getting ready), eyes fixed on your phone. Just… perfect. Comfortable. Beautiful.

“Where are we going anyway? You didn’t say,” you ask after a moment, not looking up from your phone in your hands.

He shrugs one shoulder and taps the steering wheel with his thumb lightly. “I don’t know. Didn’t have a plan on the destination. Maybe I’ll just drive until I decide to stop, turn around, and go back home,” he replies. It’s only a half lie. He knows where he’s going to stop, but he’ll turn around there and go back home. “Did you have anywhere specific you wanted to go?”

You shake your head and peer out the window, watching the scenery fly by. You aren’t sure where you are, nothing seems familiar, but you trust Seungkwan to not get too lost. And if he did, you have apps to get you back. “No. Wherever is fine.” Just as long as you are with him.

He nods once and reaches over to turn the radio back up as you settle back in the seat, your attention turning back to your phone. Your thoughts drift back to Seungkwan, and your friendship, and you have to fight the urge to sigh over the whole situation. How you fell for your best friend, and now you are struggling with whether or not to tell him. Did you want to take that chance and possibly ruin your friendship?

Sure, there had been flirting between you two over the years, but nothing ever serious and always innocent. The feelings crept in slowly at first, then hit you all at once. You know what it feels like to hold his hand, but to know how it REALLY feels to hold it was another story. You want to know. You want his touch to stir the butterflies, to make you giddy, to make you feel like that middle schooler who was laughing at those silly little jokes the classmate was making. You wonder what it’s like to kiss him, to have him hold you at night, to feel him touching you everywhere with those pretty hands of his.

You inhale sharply at the thought, and you can feel the heat creep into your cheeks. You reach for the bottle of water in the cup holder and take a long swig, hoping it will help you cool down back to normal.

Seungkwan furrows his brow and glances at you as you grab the water, and he can tell there’s a shift in the air in the car. “Are you okay?” he asks. Why did it feel more charged between you two? Could you sense how he felt about you? What was on his mind?

You nod a little too quickly, recapping the bottle and letting it settle between your legs. “Yeah. I’m fine. Great. Never better,” you answer, knowing you sound unconvincing. You clear your throat and shift in your seat a little, turning your head to look outside. ‘Change the subject, change the subject, change the subject,’ you tell yourself silently. You need to get your mind into different thoughts, before you get too weird. Then he’ll know for sure something is up. Lucky for you, Seungkwan speaks up before you can say anything.

“Hey, there’s like a roadside lookout up here. Let’s stop,” he says as he checks his blindspots. Of course he knew it was coming up. He scouted this route a couple days ago, and had Hoshi and Chan go with him to make sure it was a good spot. He, of course, didn’t tell them what it was all about. They wouldn’t have been able to keep it a secret from anyone, and he needed it kept a secret. If everyone knew, if you knew, he’d chicken out and claim it was false.

He switches lanes to pull off at the exit, letting the music fill the space between you. You sit up a little as you set the water bottle aside, your eyes fixed out of the window as the car takes a beat up road through some trees. “Um, are you sure we aren’t heading straight into a Hills Have Eyes situation?” you question as he swerves around a large branch in the road. It certainly didn’t seem like it was a path anyone ever took. At least not often.

“I mean, the sign said it was this way, so it’s gotta be this way,” he assures you. He knows for sure, since he had been already, but you couldn’t know that. “You trust me, right?”

You lick your lips as you look over at him, studying his profile. It is an innocent enough question, but for you, in that moment, it holds so much. “With my life,” you reply softly, a small smile pulling at the corners of your mouth. Your smile only grows when he smiles at your words, shifting your gaze out the windshield.

“Good.”

It isn’t too much longer before the car reaches the end of the path, which opens to a large leaf and dirt covered patch. It must be where people park so they can walk to the lookout. The spots are all empty, so it seems like you two are the only visitors right now. Which makes sense, given the road out there was debris covered and uneven. Must not be a popular spot.

Seungkwan parks the car up by a run down wooden post, marked by animals and automotive paint scrapes from those who didn’t stop in time. He doesn’t say anything as he turns the car off and climbs out, stretching his arms above his head. He reaches back in for his sweatshirt, motioning for you to join him. “Grab your sweater. It’s a little chilly because of the shade,” he informs you, before shutting the door.

You nod as you follow his advice, before exiting the car as well. You follow suit and stretch your limbs out, glancing at him as you pull your sweater on. “It’s quiet out here. Peaceful,” you comment as you meet him up at the beginning of the path.

He smiles as he looks around, shoving his hands into his sweatshirt pockets. “It is. I like it. Seems like a good spot to just… get away. Clear your mind, y’know?”

“Definitely.”

You two fall silent as you make your way down the dirt path, and you can’t help but scan your surroundings. Tall trees, moss covered logs, squirrels watching you warily from their perches. It is almost straight from a storybook, though usually in those stories there is some big bad wolf waiting to ruin everything. You just hope a big bad wolf doesn’t ruin things for you.

The path isn’t very long, and when you reach the end, you’re greeted with a spectacular view of the landscape. The green rolling hills covered in shadows from the clouds drifting by, a lake brilliantly reflecting the sun off in the distance, the blacktop of the road winding off into the horizon. You let out a breath of amazement and smile, just taking it all in. It is gorgeous, peaceful, and you want to make it yours and yours alone. Well, yours and Seungkwan’s.

Seungkwan has already seen the view, appreciated it, so his eyes are on you. Taking in your smile, the wonder in your eyes, how your chest rises and falls as you breathe in the clean air. To him, you’re more beautiful than the clouds, the hills, the trees. To him, you’re perfect. He licks his lips as he digs his toe into the ground, silently urging himself to say something. Before the moment is gone. Before he loses his chance, possibly forever. “I really like you,” he blurts out, his brows furrowing as you speak at the same time.

You blink as his words sort themselves out in your head, your heart nearly stopping. You know what you said, what you couldn’t stop yourself from saying, but did he really say the same thing? And did you both confess your feelings to each other at the same time? Suddenly, laughter spills from your lips, and Seungkwan can’t help but join in when he realizes what’s happened. “Are you serious?” you ask through your laughter, turning to face him.

He can’t help but laugh even more at your question and nods. It’s not how he pictured this going, he’d never in a million years think you felt the same way, but it was perfect. It was you and him, and it honestly made sense that it happened like this. His laughter finally subsides and he nods again, studying you carefully. “Yeah, I’m serious. I’ve liked you for a long time, and things weren’t making complete sense until recently. I was so scared to tell you, because I didn’t want to ruin anything or make things awkward. That’s why I planned this whole thing,” he confesses with a sheepish smile.

You let out another bark of laughter and shake your head at the ridiculousness of it all. “You idiot! You knew this was here the whole time? The view? You had this trip planned here to do this?” You let yourself fall against him, wrapping your arms around his neck as you hug him, while he catches you and holds you close to him. “You idiot,” you repeat much softer. “I’ve had feelings for you for a while too. I didn’t want you to find out, because I thought you’d be weirded out.”

You can feel his breath against your neck as he scoffs, and you pull back a little to look at him. “I thought you were going to figure out this whole thing earlier. I asked about the day, asked to take a drive… I thought you caught on when I pulled off the road,” he tells you with a grin.

You shake your head and lean up to press your lips to his in a soft kiss. And there they were. The butterflies. The giddiness. The pure joy. It was a quick kiss, lingering just long enough for you two to revel in the first kiss bliss. “No, I didn’t. I thought you knew what I was thinking earlier,” you shoot back breathlessly.

He lifts his head and quirks an eyebrow as he looks down at you. “When you grabbed the water? What were you thinking?”

“Nothing. I’ll tell you later,” you reply quickly, before kissing him again. “So, where are you taking me for Valentine’s Day?”

He scoffs again and rolls his eyes, gesturing to the landscape in front of you. “Isn’t this enough?” he replies, your laugh echoing against the hills.

[keketopia]

Tamaki Amajiki with a Mermaid Reader

You and the Big 3 took a little road trip to a campsite.

Tamaki had a crush on you since you first arrive in U.A. but knowing him, he doesn't have the balls to ask you out. Tamaki always admired everything you do. How you were so curious about his quirk, how you were insanely smart. Seriously, you once solved an algebra math question nobody could answer. And I mean NOBODY! It got to the point where people would ask you for help.

Another thing that he admired was your eyes, he didn't know what it was about your eyes that made him fall in love with you more. Your eyes were so inhuman…almost…siren-like. He swears there was a strange, alluring quality that's drawing him towards you. Your sharp cheekbones were your most defining feature of all. Even Mirio & Nejire agreed that there was something abnormal about you. But then again, humans come in different shapes and sizes.

Nejire once joked that "She's like a beautiful mermaid, who draws people in with her natural beauty" Little did she know, she was right.

Anyway, you've arrived at your destination. It was a tiny cabin with a campfire in the front and a giant lake in the back to go swimming.

"Wow, only one bed," you said as you walked into the bedroom

"Good thing we brought sleeping bags," said Mirio who was toting a bunch of stuff.

"You sure you don't need help holding all that stuff?" Nejire questioned.

"Oh no, I'm fine" Mirio expressed with a big smile on his face.

"Alright, so who is going to sleep on the bed, and who is going to sleep on the floor?"

"I dips the bed!" Nejire jumped on the bed.

"Alright, Y/N and Tamaki, looks like you're both sleeping on the floor"

"Wha-"

"Yeah, I'm taking the bed" Mirio got closer to Tamaki

"Plus, you can get close to her~" Mirio whispered.

Tamaki blushed like a tomato and immediately went to a nearby wall to place his head against. For the rest of the day, ya'll just made smores, went swimming (except you of course), and went on a walk. It was already dark by the time you all made it back to the cabin. You all got freshened up and started getting ready for bed. Both Mirio and Nejire shared a bed while you and Tamaki slept in sleeping bags on the floor. By then, you were all fast asleep, nothing could be heard other than the tiny snores and the crickets chirping.

Everything was nice and peaceful until you woke up unexpectedly. You check the clock "1:14 a.m." Tamaki woke up too, surprised that you were awake. You got up from the floor and walked out of the bedroom. Tamaki was questioning why you got up so late but thought you were just hungry or thirsty. But for some reason, he too got up and followed you. He doesn't know why, he just let his legs carry him.

When you walked past the kitchen and headed toward the back door, Tamaki was confused. Where were you going? He sneakily exits through the back door and hid behind a tree so you wouldn't spot him. He peeks to see you by the lake.

Before Tamaki could question anything else, you started taking your clothes off. He was taken aback by your action and quickly hid to silently scream.

"W-What is she doing?!"

He peeked once more to see you fully naked, standing by the lake. Good thing you had your back towards him, but that didn't help that he could see your butt.

"C-Come on, Tamaki. D-Don't be a pervert"

He then sees you getting closer to the lake, putting your arms above your head, bending forward, slightly bending your knees and dove into the water.

He assumed you were taking a skinny dip but why so late, especially in the early morning?

He was about to go back to the cabin when he heard a noise coming from the lake, it almost sounded like…screaming! Was it from you? You were screaming in agony. Were you in trouble?!

Without wasting any time, Tamaki rushed to the cabin, grab a flashlight, and boosted to the lake before jumping in. As soon as he was in the water, Tamaki turn on the flashlight and started to frantically look for you. Eventually, the light spotted a naked figure, whose body was twisting and turning under the dark lake. As he swam closer to help you, he notice something that stopped him in his tracks.

Your skin was turning grey and scaly, your nails began to grow long and sharp, and some skin began to grow between your fingers. What was happening to you?

A single fish-like fin was growing down your back and your legs began to form into a tail. You then stopped screaming, meaning your transformation was finally over.

Tamaki couldn't believe it… was he dreaming? Were his eyes deceiving him? Or was he actually seeing a real-life mermaid in front of him?

It didn't take long for you to notice a bright light shining on your body, so you turn around to see Tamaki, looking at you like he doesn't know who you are. You gave him the same look he was giving you, you were caught! You two stared at each other until Tamaki snapped back to reality to realize he was drowning.

He quickly began to swim up as he was running out of air. Thankfully, you grabbed him by the hand and brought him to shore, which took a few seconds since you were a fast swimmer. Once he was out of the water, he took a moment to breathe as he held his breath for so long. He got his breathing straight before looking at you, you were still in the water, with a fearful look on your face.

"What- How- You- Tail-" He couldn't talk properly because he was so stunned.

You tried to speak to him but all that left your mouth were high pitch calls and wails, sort of like a whale or dolphin. You forgot that mermaids can't speak while in their aquatic form, you guys communicate in a special kind of sign language. You've been on land for too long.

Tamaki looked at you confused, he knows you were trying to say something, but all that was coming out were noises.

"I guess you can't talk, huh?"

You looked at him for a second before you climbed out of the water. Tamaki move a bit so you can have some space Once you were fully out of the water, you just laid there, in the grass. Tamaki took this as an opportunity to fully inspect your fish-like appearance.

You had 3 slits in between your ribs, on either side of your body. He guessed those are your gills, that allowed you to breathe underwater. You had webbing between your fingers, tipped with razor-sharp claws in place of normal fingernails. You had spiky pelvic fins that helped you move left & right and up & down, and are half the length of your tail. Your dorsal fin was even longer, stretching from the base of your neck to the near tip of your tail. And let's not forget about your caudal fin, it was almost the shape of a dolphin but with a stinger growing out in between.

Just as he was done studying you, you suddenly started to scream in agony again. Tamaki panicked, he didn't know what was happening. All he could do was sit there and watch you scream in pain while tugging the ground

Your grey and scaly complexion was turned back into your normal human skin tone as your dorsal and pelvic fins started to disappear. Your webbed hands turn back into human ones. Your tail started to tear apart and there sprouted your legs.

When the transformation was over, you start breathing heavily as you were in so much pain. Tamaki looked at you in shock again, you just went from mermaid to human in just a few seconds. If his jaw wasn't dropped from the moment he witness you transform into a mermaid, it was now. You were laying there in front of him, on your stomach, fully naked, all that was left was your bloody fin.

"A-Are you okay? You sounded like you were in a lot of pain"

"I'm fine, my transformation is supposed to be painful. It's dreadful, but I'm used to it" You replied, giving him a small smile.

You then got up, much to Tamaki's surprise as you were still naked. He quickly covered his eyes with his palms as he blushed madly.

"H-Hey! Warn me if you were going to stand up! You do realize you have nothing on!" He panicked, clearly flustered.

You just walk over to where your pajamas were and put them on, you then approach Tamaki who still has his eyes covered as he does not want to see any nudity.

"You can uncover your eyes now"

Tamaki slowly removed his hands from his eyes to see back in your pajamas, he felt relieved.

"Now I guess this is the part where I explain everything," You said nervously as you sat down next to him.

"Yes, I thought you were quirkless"

"I am, but the whole mermaid thing is not a quirk. I'm actually a mermaid"

Tamaki looked at you with a non-believing face.

"I know it's hard to believe, but I'm not lying. There's a blood test that proves I'm not human"

"And where is it?"

"At my house, after this road trip is over I'll show you the results"

Tamaki thought for a while. What if you were actually telling the truth? I mean your file and the U.A. staff did say that you were quirkless, but they could be wrong. And 80% of the ocean was still yet to be explored, who knows what other sea creatures were out there. Part of him wants to believe you, really, part of him wants to, but he isn't certain as they were always said to be a myth.

"O-Okay, Let's say I-I do believe you, what are you doing h-here on land and not in the ocean?" Tamaki questioned

"Well…" You looked uncomfortable. Tamaki instantly regretted asking that.

"I-I-I'm sorry! I didn't mean it to be personal! Y-You don't have to answer!" He apologized.

"No, it's fine, I was going to answer anyway"

Tamaki perked up, he was ready to listen to what you were about to say.

"A couple years ago, my sister was captured by humans." Tamaki was appalled, he did not expect that answer.

"We were hunting for food near the surface when a giant net came out of nowhere and trapped my sister, seeing her being hoisted up out of the water was unbearable as she was the person I loved the most. She took care of me when our mother died. And now she was gone. I can't even tell you how much that felt"

Tamaki's felt his heart drop, he felt so bad, he didn't know you were going through that.

"When I saw my sister being carried away, I followed her to see where she was going, and I saw this boat with a few men on it. My sister ambushed them before she was forced inside this giant safe. A few minutes later, a helicopter appeared and more people came, they took my sister and flew away. As risky as it was being on land with humans, I couldn't just sit there and let her be taken away. So I decided to come on land and look for her"

"Eventually, I came across two nice humans during my journey, they helped me look her"

"Did you guys find her?" Tamaki asked

"We did, but a lot went down after that" You responded.

"W-What happened?" Tamaki questioned, already nervous

"Well, for context of where my sister was, she was taken to a military base where she was used as a lab experiment. They took her blood and her skin. Somehow, she escaped and we were reunited. We went back home but later returned a month later due to the lack of food for us. I wanted to ask the humans for help but my sister didn't trust humans after what they did to her. We ended up in a fight because she felt betrayed. We later reconcile and teamed up to ambush the man that hurt my sister. We attacked him but the humans put a stop to it. We parted ways and she went back to the water. She brought another one of us and attacked the same men on the same boat, they ended up killing one of them who happens to be one of the men's Dad."

"The son of that man sought vengeance and wanted to get revenge on the person that killed his Dad, meanwhile my sister came back on land to try to get me to come back home, however, she was shot by the son and she died. I still think this is all my fault" You felt your emotions run all over your body and you fought back your tears.

"If I hadn't convinced her to hunt near the surface none of this would've happened" You sniffled.

Tamaki felt like he was about to cry after hearing that story. You went through so much, you didn't deserve any of that to happen.

"Hey…it's not your fault. What you did was very brave. Risking your life to find your sister was a really brave thing, even though your sister didn't feel the same way" Tamaki reassured. He place his hand along your back and started to rub circles on your back, comforting you.

"You're a strong and amazing woman, I'm really sorry for what happened, but always know that your sister is watching over you and even though she isn't here physically, she's here in your heart" Tamaki gave you a comforting smile. You hugged him, catching him by surprise. He hesitated before wrapping his arms around you. Patting your head in comfort.

This was a beautiful moment, you could be in this way forever if Tamaki didn't unexpectedly asked. "N-Now are you going to tell me why you were sneaking out in the middle of the night to jump in the lake?" Well, it was fun while it lasted.

"Ummm…" You broke the hug.

"Well, basically my skin was getting dry and irritated for the past few days due to me not being in the water for a while. I've been wearing baggy clothes to cover up my skin so no one would notice. This night I couldn't take it anymore as it only got worse, I had to be in water ASAP" You responded.

"What happens if you don't get in the water?"

"I die from dehydration"

Tamaki was horrified. "O-Okay"

Everything went silent. You both just sat there, by the lake, not talking, it was awkward. Not a word was spoken until Tamaki manage to say,

"D-Don't you wanna go back in the water, with your p-people?"

You didn't look at him, you just stared into space, thinking about what you're going to say.

"Well, I did thought about going back home at one point, but I chose not to"

"Why?"

"Because...I...I fell in love"

Tamaki felt his heart drop once again. He knew it. You were falling for someone else. What did he expect? Who would even love someone like him?

"O-Oh...w-who is this p-person?" Tamaki said on the verge of tears.

"You"

Tamaki turned his head with a surprised look on his face.

"M-Me?! W-Why me? I'm not good enough for someone like you. I probably won't be a good boyfriend"

"Oh hush! You'd make an good boyfriend, and you ARE good enough. You're amazing! You made it to the Big 3 despite your crippling anxiety. You are the most kind and handsome man I've ever met. I stayed on land because of YOU, I want to be with you, I won't be if I go back to the ocean. I love you, Tamaki!" You were practically grabbing onto his face, bringing it towards you & squishing his cheeks. Tamaki's face turned bright red by how close he was to you, he wanted to pass out.

You realized your actions and quickly let go of him "Sorry, too much?"

Tamaki took a minute to calm down "L-L-Little bit..." Man was blushing mad hard.

"So...do you feel the same way?"

Does he feel the same way?! Of course he does, if he had the chance he would shout it from the rooftops, but that would be embarrassing.

"I-I-I-I..." Tamaki was finding it hard to say the words. He could feel it coming out of his throat, why can't he say it?

"I-" Tamaki began to panic, this was so embarrassing.

"It's okay, you got it" You said, encouraging him.

"I-I...I do" Tamaki felt relief as his shoulders droop down as he finally said the words he wanted to say to you all day.

"There you go, you got it big boy" You patted him on the head.

Tamaki blushed at the nickname you gave him. Big boy?! Were you trying to kill him?!

You continued to pat his head when you heard a voice.

"Hey, is everything okay? We heard screaming" It was Nejire, along with Mirio. They were both awoke by your agonizing screaming, you can tell from their faces that they were both tired. You felt bad for waking them up, but it's not your fault, if anyone was feeling pain, they would scream, right?

Mirio and Nejire approach you both. "What are you doing up this late? And why are you both wet?" Mirio questioned.

Tamaki's eyes widened, he thought very hard on what to say to them, thankfully you came up with an excuse very quickly.

"Oh, me and Tamaki were taking a walk around the lake, but then we both fell in by accident"

"Oh, well we heard screaming, we just wanted to make sure everything is okay"

"Everything is fine, Togata" You smiled.

"Well, let's go back inside and get you two dried up so we can go back to sleep" Nejire added before yawning.

You and Tamaki got up and you all went back inside the cabin. Tamaki looked at you and you looked at him back with a finger pressed against your lips, signing to him that he should be quiet. Guess you want him to keep the mermaid thing a secret, meaning he can't tell anyone, not even his longtime best friend. He still doesn't even know that if you're telling the truth, mermaids aren't real...unless they are. He has so many questions that were yet to be answered. Guess he will find out the truth after this road trip is over.

This was my first every story I've written on Tumblr. I hope you all enjoyed this random fanfic that just popped into my head, maybe I will make a part 2 if I come up with any ideas.

This was heavily inspired by Freeform's drama series, Siren. I love the series, I recommend you watch it!

Anyways, that's all for today. Bye!

[th3houseofleaves]

answering the prompt from @birds-of-x prompt of the day in the quotev community <3

"🌵 what is their dream road trip? alternatively – if they don't care for road trips that much – what are they normally like during road trips? if they have yet to go on one, then how do you imagine their first road trip to be like? would they thrive, would they just care about reaching their destination somehow, or would they just wish they had stayed home instead?"

answering this for KIT, DOVE, and THE VASILYEVS

CHRISTOPHER WARREN:

kit loves road trips. he doesn't have a dream road trip per say because he cares more about the quality time, traveling, and views + sight seeing than he does the actual location. when he does get to go on a road trip (say, for a mission or for fun), he's the most excited and the least prepared. he was never taught how to pack appropriately for trips so he always underpacks and he'd run out of clothes on longer trips unless they stop or someone let's him borrow clothes (which is easier said than done bc he's tall and has long legs so pants are always the most difficult bit). like he'll pack maybe two days worth of clothes thinking that'll be enough and his other necessities like a charger for his phone, his computer, a notebook, maybe a switch or something, so he'll have things to do when / if they stop and stay the night somewhere. and he'd never go on a road trip alone. ever. he might be a skilled hero who's been doing that shit for awhile by this point, but he still isn't about to travel between states or anything by himself. he knows how dangerous that can be. his favourite person to travel with is roy tbh, they vibe together so hard – if they're with other people, they try and keep kit and roy from controlling the music lmao. bc kit will play the worst music ever and roy will encourage it. dick, until they start working their issues out, is one of his least favourite people to travel with bc they get on each other's nerves. and dick won't always let him drive. which he hates. his very first road trip was with his godfather cole! he was maybe seven and cole picked him up from school that day and decided they were gonna go on a little road trip, it wasn't a long drive or anything, but it was nice. probably just to a nice beach somewhere outside of star city. it was, at that point, the most fun he'd ever had. bc they went somewhere new and cole was singing along to the radio and making him laugh and they stopped to get food n ate in the car and kit was so excited bc cole let him sit in the front seat while they ate. it's his most treasured memory.

DOVE BAEK:

dove has technically not been on a road trip... unless you count the time they ran away and hopped on a bus to central city. which was not the most pleasant experience ever. like kit i don't think they have a dream road trip destination, but i do think they've made a list of places they've heard people go to on road trips so that they could do that one day. when sparrow is a little older probably. if you count their bus trip as a actual road trip than their first one was awful. it was hot and kind of loud and they were so carsick the entire time. plus people kept looking at them weirdly bc they were a young teenager traveling on their own. they couldn't even try to lie about that if anyone asked, their behavior (& obvious lack of adult) gave them away. they were so fidgety and nervous and trying so hard to look like they weren't doing anything wrong that it was pretty clear they weren't supposed to be there. they also ran out of snacks before they got to central city and that SUCKED so bad. if you don't count that, then their first road trip is gonna be a little bumpy but overall fine. they overprepare and try to account for every worse case scenario. they bring extra everything (most everything, reenie and jason talk them out of going totally overboard). they're making sure they have an actual map in case they lose cell service and their phone won't work to get directions. they cannot read a map. they're anxious and excited all at the same time and they'd keep having to pull over so that dove can get out and see the sights or let out some energy which they can't do in the car. if they're driving (especially if it's just them n jason) they're gonna hold jason's hand bc they are sappy sometimes and they like doing that. they're most anxious if they travel anywhere with sparrow, not because he's difficult to manage or anything, but because they're a little overprotective and scared of anything happening to him. if their son is coming along then they've gotta bring someone else too. sometimes reenie, sometimes avis, jason if they can. they care about reaching their destination safely, they don't really mind where they're going as long as everyone ends up there in one piece.

VASILYEV FAMILY (sam, noah, aeron, milan, logan, thea)

this family would have the most chaotic road trips. we're talking full chaos. they're renting an rv or driving multiple cars, they're getting lost, someone is getting left behind around least once, someone loses their luggage, they get banned from at least one restaurant, aeron terrifies everyone when they drive, they almost get into an accident, and someone breaks their phone. multiple anxiety attacks ensue, at least 2 panic attacks, thea logan and milan spend part of the trip confused bc there's no subtitles when their brothers (cousins in milan's case) are talking and those assholes forget that english is the common language sometimes. milan defaces public property while sam is losing his mind trying to get everyone back together. there's one (1) arrest and it's never who they think. they make a tally every time sam looks down with their shit. thea has to wrangle logan and aeron. arson is accidentally committed. basically it's a mess. a fun, exhausting mess. all of them have gone on road trips, both together and alone or with other people. thea used to love going on drives with her other younger siblings and when she went away for college she drove with a friend and had a good time. logan didn't rlly do road trips until they met the rest of their family but she'd been on one or two, her family was more about big vacations honestly. noah and aeron used to go on trips all the time, usually to one of the next cities over to go to concerts or just get away from their house. milan didn't do road trips before meeting all of them but he did take cars for joyrides which... he considers the same thing much to his family's horror. noah is the one who jokes about wishing he stayed home when really he loves it the most. thea is the one who actually wishes she stayed home once the chaos starts. aeron is the one who keeps adding stops because they wanna see everything. milan goes along with it but he's also trying to get them to stop at bars & clubs, he's moderately successful. logan usually teams up with the two of them and causes chaos, she's almost certainly the one who almost hits something when she drives. sam is the oldest and he's trying to keep everyone together and safe and hopefully out of jail. he is so tired. sam and logan are honestly the ones who decide where they're going and usually it's a vague location instead of a set place. like maybe a national park but they also wanna see other stuff in the area or whatever. but logan's responsibility ends there.

[thewheelieweirdclub]

West Coast Mish

It had been a hot minute between biking missions. My knee had finally recovered from the buggery that was the Tassie Trail, and the iconic duo had a 4 day window in April, booked in months prior. What we were going to do with those 4 day was undecided until just a few days before. As mentioned previously planning is not our strong suit.

The Tarkine in the North West has been an alluring destination since I found out what it was. Australia’s largest temperate rainforest, home to Huon Pine and Tasmanian devils. I thought ‘what better way to soak up its beauty than ride through it’. Logistically this was going to be challenging as I wasn't keen on another hardcore bike packing trip just yet (the naughty knees were recovered, but probably not up to that kind of spanking). So it was decided we'd drive to Corinna, leave the car there, ride our roadies up to Arthur River, take on the 160km Tarkine loop, then ride back to Corinna the next day...easy right?

Let me preface this by saying this was a hilarious yet completely disastrous trip and literally nothing went to plan. Although in order for things to not go to plan there has to be a plan, of which there wasn't, so I guess that kinda checks out? or is that too many double negatives?

Day 1.

Big day ahead, so we meet at Sophie’s abode in Hobart at 5am, and after a few bike rack malfunctions we hit the road (not before a cheeky MaccyDs breaky). We're beyond excited to see what fuckery we get up to, and are chomping at the bit to get our butts on those bikes. Alas just out of New Norfolk Sophie’s bonnet starts emitting a kind of green hazy smoke (bugger). Concocting a new plan, I uber back to Hobes and pick up my car, swing around and head back to New Norfolk to pick up a Sophie, who has dutifully unloaded her car. We ditch her car and get back on the road... a mere 3 hours behind schedule, mind you. It was here that Sophie came up with the phrase that would be the theme of the trip, 'adapt and overcome.' Too bad I couldn't remember it for love nor money...

We picked an arbitrary time of 2pm, “As long as we're off by 2pm”. This was completely misguided and a gross underestimation of what the upcoming 110km gravel ride would entail. Now the reader may be asking, why road bikes? Why would someone ride a road bike along an unsealed road in the middle of the Wild West? Roads so filled with corrugations and pot holes, so steep they'd make even the grittiest of gals get off and push? I actually don't have a clue, but it seemed like a good idea at the time.

We ride the Fat Man across the Pieman River and pack up the bikes, ready to metaphorically ‘fuck this puppy’. It's here that Sophie and I have our friendships first somewhat terse moment. Whilst Sophie is a stop-and-smell-the-roses kinda gal, I'm more of a let's-get-this-show-on-the-road-STAT kinda gal. Poor Sophie felt pressured by my impatient huffs and sighs, standing there just staring at her waiting for her to do just something, anything! Granted this serves no one, and I learnt a valuable lesson in patience that afternoon. At 2pm we hit the old gravel road and were soon greeted with hill, after hill, after big motherfucking hill. It rained, a lot, but whilst our knicks were sodden, our spirits were not dampened. That was until we did a casual watch check. We had been on the road for just over three hours and we'd covered a meagre 38km and 1400m of elevation (Just your average Kununyi summit). Anyway this realisation had us both in absolute stitches because it was nearing 5pm, about to get dark and we still had nearly 70km to go....big LOL. I don't know what was so funny about this situation, but it was just so classic Sophie and Sammy we could do nothing but laugh. Ever the optimists, we calculated that we had covered the majority of the vert for the day already, so that was a small win.

Sophie's life flashed before her eyes when a suicidal wombat kamikazed out onto the road, she clipped its thicc rump with her front tyre, both lived to tell the tale.

The sun left us, the rain did not, we pumped some classic drum-n-bass and got on with the task at hand. The rest of the day kind of just flew by as they tend to do when you're in the zone, with your best mate, grinding out in a magical part of Tasmania. I mean I think it was magical but it's hard to tell when the sun sets just after 5pm.

We had a few realisations in these hours of grind. 1- That we were heinously remote 2- that we were heinously unprepared (I hadn't thought to bring a jumper or bike lights and neither of us had shoes aside from our bike shoes- WHO DOESN'T BRING SHOES AND A JUMPER TO THE WEST COAST FOR FUCKS SAKE) and 3- "You can't die of exposure if you just keep riding." Anyway, writing this I feel like the ultimate Hubbard, in fact its kind of down right dangerous to behave the way we do. But with each adventure/failure is a lesson learnt, and we're damn lucky to be sitting in our cosy living rooms writing in retrospect about our silliness.

Anyway, 5km out of Arthur River Sophie’s light dies (of course it does), so we're led by the head torch I've borrowed off her that is quickly dimming. We make it into town just gone 10pm, exhausted, exhilarated and excited for a shower (bike packing with a touch of luxury). We're feeling particularly smug too, who needs specific gravel bikes when a roadie can get you 110km through some pretty hairy roads without a single puncture?! ohhhh you sweet silly summer girls, how little did you know…

We eat our slightly grim dehydrated meals and get our butts into bed. We'd booked an Airbnb with two rooms but we're both so obsessed with each other we chose to sleep in the same one.

Day 2.

The OG plan for today was ambitious, and after yesterdays antics, we knew we didn't have it in us to make the 160km Tarkine loop. Despite this being the whole point of the trip, we actually do know where to draw the line sometimes, and decided on a more manageable 70km loop. 5km on our way north, I am blessed with my first ever puncture. First ever! Lucky I had my spirit puncture guide by my side. With her instruction and a few big LOLs, some pissfarting around and an hour and a bit later, I got the job done. Back on the road we go, and by this time our motivation for even 70km had seriously waned and our smugness over our lord roadies was diminishing. The constant rain and grit from yesterday had coating our chains in cement, leaving the bikes and riding feeling horrendous. We set our sights instead on the beautiful town of Marrawah, a mere 10km away (oh how the mighty have fallen). Marrawah was absolutely stunning, we rolled through some gorgeous greenery down to the beach and set up shop for some lunch. The sun even graced us with her presence and I decided a non negotiable nude swim was on the cards. We tootled down to the end of the beach where we stripped from our stinky knicks and dashed into the surf, no better feeling. After another prolonged lunch break we'd earned a stout at the local. All in all a minuscule day of riding, but I guess it's not about the distance covered but instead- the good times (of which there were many).

This got us back to our accommodation at a fairly early time. Neither of us are able to sit still for any amount of time, therefore it was decided now would be the perfect time to learn to twerk via some YouTube videos. I'll spare you the details but we'd best stick to being health professionals/bike riders because Beyonce aint calling us up any time soon.

Day 3.

The day to end all days. We set the alarm for 5am knowing that we had a gravelly gritty day ahead. We were out the door pre 6am, which for my Sophie girl is a rapid turn around and I was ever so proud.

With the sun rising after 7, we had a blissful hour of night riding which was a supremely pleasant experience. Dead quiet sealed roads while the sun rose over the somewhat barren west, was a dreamy start to the day. We soaked up those 30km knowing that would be the last road for a while, with the rest of the day entailing the aforementioned gravel beast…

The first hills came quickly while we made bets on how many cars we would encounter that day, I think I went with 4 and Sophie 7. The first of these cars was some kind of zooped up lift kitted 4WD filled with tweens drinking XXXX. They were baffled but appeared completely delighted at happening upon these two loony gals. Poor Sophie was a tad behind on a particularly piggish hill and was bombarded with question after question from these boys (as they drove next to her going 7km/hr) on what we were doing here and did we want a lift and were we SURE we didn’t want a lift?!!? Sophie also got offered a coldie, which at 8am on a 14% incline was an easy but respectful decline. Off they hooned and Sophie was one closer to winning today’s car bet.

Not far into the grav section and both Sophie’s front AND back breaks start failing… fuck. This is not an ideal situation as the road was incredibly undulating and as one can imagine rather terrifying without a mechanism to stop yourself. Ever the optimist sophie decides that the best way to stop is to drag a foot along the ground and then worst come to worst yeet herself off into the bushes. This goes incredibly poorly, she hits a particularly techy patch and with no way to slow down hits a large rock and does herself a cheeky burst puncture. She dutifully changes the tyre whereby she pinches the next inner going in, and has to do the whole thing over again. Good lesson learnt. We whip out a bag of Percy Pigs (all the way from England, thank you Sally-Anne Malone you’re a true god send). I wonder if anyone’s ever eaten Percy pigs on the west coast of Tasmania before? And off we roll once more!

Both of us are feeling physically very good, legs are fresh and we’re keen to make it back to the car in good time. However we start mumbling about the mechanical issues, and at what point we need to start thinking a little more seriously about safety. We laugh and decide we’ll keep going “until the next mechanical.” “The next mechanical” was a mere 3km down the road whereby I get my first puncture for the day. This wasn’t a serious enough mechanical so we laughed it off, changed the damn thing and away we went. About 30 minutes later I got another flat, ya kidding me right now? I checked to make damn well sure there wasn’t anything stuck in the tyre, patched the flat because at this point we were long out of spare inners and off we set…again. Alas, the road had other plans, and a few kilometres later I had ANOTHER flat. Did I mention it’s pissing with rain, and as I’m trying to patch repair this one it’s getting wetter and increasingly more difficult for the sticky patch to adhere, I pinch puncture it again on the way back in (turns out I also still have a bit to learn). By this point a few more cars have passed us, we have 35km to go and have started to have more serious chats about what the fuck to do. Our patch repairs are not holding, and therefore I’m left with a nonfunctional bike. Neither of us are quitters but the option at present is to start walking the 35km or to get the thumb out and hitch. Eventually we agree to say at the same time we’ll try and get a hitch. And lucky enough half an hour later a Ute and a shiny looking car with Melbourne plates stops. We chuck our bikes in the Ute and the kind Melbourne people lay a tarp across the back seats for us (we look a bloody state by this point). And just like that we’re back in Corinna.

Wowee what a journey! Not what we set out to do but my god it was an adventure. You can get hung up on achieving your goals but then anything else can be viewed as a failure. And when I look back at this trip I don’t think of failure, I think of hectic times in the wilderness just figuring it all out with my pal. We learnt a lot about gear, safety, resilience and the power of a positive attitude. We stuck together, made decisions together and had a metric fuck tonne of fun together…mission accomplished.

ADDIT: you’ll be pleased to know since the writing of this blog both authors have invested in gravel bikes. HOLD TIGHT.

[jackredfieldwasmyjacob]

btw i'm going to amsterdam next week. lol.

[blueeyedheizer]

Can you please do #2 & #9 with Eddie ? Can you make it to where the reader is in a relationship with Steve but after meeting Eddie they have some sort of affair and agreed it was a one time thing but Eddie is falling for reader. Add whatever else you would like, I really enjoy you're writing ! <3

#2 "This is a one time thing”

#9 "Don't go [on that date/mission/business trip/ to *destination*...]." "Why?" "You know why." (nsfw - smut under the cut 🔞 mdni)

tw: cheating, smoking, ooc eddie??? idk why but i'm kinda struggling to write him show accurate :((( reader is a bit of a bitch🏃🏻‍♀️i wouldn't wanna be steve

Your hands were resting flat against Eddie's chest, both your heavy breaths and moans filling the room as you rode out the last of your orgasm, slower and slower with each passing second until finally your hips came to a stop, your head falling forward in exhaustion.

With one last sloppy kiss to his lips you flopped down on the sheets beside him, eyes closing in bliss as you regained yourself, your body relaxing.

"We can't keep doing this, Eddie." you spoke through panted breath, breaking the comfortable silence and opening your eyes to stare at the ceiling.

"You said the same thing last time, sweetheart." He replied, reaching for the pack of cigarettes that was on his bedside table. He lit one up and pressed it between his lips, taking a deep drag. "...and the time before that."

"It was only supposed to be a one-time thing. We have to stop."

"Or... you could break up with him."

A couple seconds of silence went by and you let out a sigh, running a hand through your disheveled hair. You knew this conversation was bound to happen at some point, but you didn't want to face it.

"I can't." you muttered, taking the cigarette from him.

Eddie held himself up on his forearm, his free hand coming to run through your hair lovingly. You tilted your head to meet his gaze.

"Why not?"

"Because I love him, Eddie." you snapped, your tone harsher than you intended. Eddie's hand immediately stilled in your hair, taken aback. He didn’t say anything for a moment, his eyebrows slightly narrowed. "I love him." you insisted, holding his gaze. "And— And I can't just throw away a five years relationship because of a couple of months of messing around with you." you mumbled, inhaling and blowing the smoke through your mouth before passing the cigarette back to him.

Eddie chewed on the inside of his bottom lip for a moment, clearly biting back his words and fighting the anger rising in him.

He laid back on the bed without a word, an uncomfortable awkwardness settling over you the longer the silence went.

Eddie's cheeks flexed when you eventually scooted closer to him and cuddled against his chest to break the tension, tracing lines and circles on his tattooed skin with your fingertips, the gesture contradicting every word you'd just spilled out to him. Eddie had managed to bite his tongue for this long, but as he felt the warmth of your body against his, he reached his breaking point.

"That's fucking bullshit and you know it." he spat. You looked up at him, your fingers stilling. "If you really did love Harrington you wouldn't be here right now."

And deep down, you knew he was right.

Steve was a good boyfriend; the best boyfriend a girl could ever ask for. He was kind, understanding, loving. He made you feel things you never thought you'd feel, so much that the thought of starting a family with him had often crossed your mind throughout the years. In other words, you were convinced Steve Harrington was the love of your life.

And yet, despite having the seemingly perfect life with the perfect boyfriend— here you were, in Eddie Munson's bed, the 'town freak' and alleged cult leader everyone warned you about while Steve worked his shift at Family Video, probably looking forward to the end of the day so he could come home to you and then take you out on your weekly date.

'This is a one time thing', you and Eddie had agreed that night you slept together for the first time, promising you would never mention it again and move on with your lives first thing in the morning.

But before you knew it one night turned into two, then three and four, until you lost count. And this could only mean one thing: your love for Steve could not be as strong as you thought it was. Because what you were doing with Eddie was wrong, so wrong, but you didn't want it to stop. You didn't want to stop seeing him.

Still looking up from Eddie's chest you reached your hand out to touch his cheek but he flinched away, reaching his arm to stub the cigarette into the ashtray as an excuse to get a little further away from you.

"Eddie, please. Look at me." you tried again, and this time he let you. You tilted his head and leaned in for a kiss. "I'm sorry." you murmured against his lips, your thumb rubbing over his skin softly. You kissed him again, and what was supposed to be just a simple kiss turned into something different as Eddie returned for more, your hand sliding from his chest to the back of his neck to keep him close. You moved to straddle him again, keeping your lips together, the kiss growing needier each second.

"Don’t go on that date tonight.” he panted against your lips, leaning up for another quick peck. He traced the outline of your face with his fingertips, staring at your slightly swollen lips.

"Why?"

“You know why.” He grunted and pulled you down by your neck to press your lips together again, his eagerness making you moan into the kiss.

“Say it.” you taunted, reaching between your bodies to take his hardening cock into your hand. You began pumping him in long and slow strokes, watching as his brows furrowed in pleasure and his lips parted to let out heavier breaths. "Say it, Eddie."

"Because I fucking love you, Y/n."

[deceitfuldevil]

Heartbeat

Matt Murdock X Reader

Summary: You were ashamed to admit it, but you still had a distaste for flying. So when you finally convince Matt to take a vacation for your 3-year anniversary, you didn’t fully take into account that you’d have to fly to your romantic destination. But Matt was there for you, before you even realized you needed it.

Warnings: basically just a fluff overload, a few swears, pet names (honey, sweetheart, darling), mentions of a fear of flying (obvi), established relationship, kissing, all that jazz.

Word Count: 1.2K

You were over the moon that you had been able to convince your boyfriend, Matthew-workaholic-Murdock, to take a vacation with you; truly. But you may have not completely thought it through. It’s not that you weren’t grateful, hell it took months of dating just to convince him to take a night off from his daredevil activities. It’s just that you wanted to go somewhere special for your 3 year anniversary, and you couldn’t exactly drive to Paris. Much to your dismay, you had to fly.

When sitting on the couch of your now shared studio apartment, you bought your plane tickets with Matt by your side. He was practically still drowning in your dread that filled the air.

“Okay, we’ve bought the plane tickets now. Why are you still tense?” Matt asked, wrapping his arm around your shoulder. You took a deep sigh, and admitted a buried fear of yours. “I. . . I don't like flying.” you said smally, vaguely ashamed of yourself.

“You don’t like flying? How’d I never find this out after three years of dating you? And didn’t you used to go on trips all the time when you were younger?” Matt questioned, somewhat amused at your distaste for aviation.

“Hey, we’re not officially 3 years until Paris. Also yes, I did travel a lot when I was younger. I used to be a lot worse about flying, I’ve gotten better. It still just makes me. . . anxious.” you confessed, nesteling into Matt’s side.

“Honey I promise you everything is going to be just fine. We’ll sit next to each other the whole time and I’ll be there for you no matter what, alright?” Matt said reassuringly. Running his hand up and down your arm soothingly. You breathed a sigh of contentment, relaxing under his touch.

- two weeks later -

The day of your trip finally came, and you were in line to board the plane. Surprisingly there was more excitement coursing through your veins than nervousness at the moment, but as soon as you found your seats and the plane started to depart from the gate that excitement fizzled out. But Matt was there for you.

A soft hand on your knee, brushing his thumb up and down the inside of your thigh. Then as you started to take off, the worst part for you, he’d held onto your hand and you tightly squeezed his back. Your free hand twitched sporadically as you tried to focus on leveling out your breathing, thankful Matt wasn’t in your ear shoving down words of encouragement like most people would think is helpful. He stayed silent, letting his physical presence do all the comforting. As soon as you’d reached a cruising altitude he’d lean over and give you a quick peck on the cheek, assuring you that everything was alright.

You tended to listen to music when you flew, it was a good distraction. So you didn’t even notice (mostly because you were trying to not pay any attention to your own anxieties) that your heart rate was still consistently high despite the fact you’ve just been sitting for the past 20 minutes since take-off. But Matt noticed, he always does.

Matt smoothly moved up the arm rest in between the two of you and extended his arm over your shoulder, pulling you into his rather calm embrace. “We’re safe darling, it’s okay.” He said reassuringly, causing you to face him with a perplexed facial expression.

“I know Matty.” You said, thinking maybe he was the one getting nervous now. Matt looked to his left to see the stranger in the aisle seat already knocked out and then back to you as he whispered “your heartbeat is still very fast sweetheart, I can tell you’re still anxious.” He said in a low whisper.

Not wanting to believe your own body still wasn’t over your fear of flying you held two fingers to your pulse point and counted. Matt kept his arm around you as you realized sure enough your heart was ready to beat its way out of your chest. “So it appears I am…” you said sheepishly, further snuggling into your boyfriend's embrace.

“Why don’t you listen to my heartbeat? Maybe hearing something calm will help.” Matt offered, soothing one of his hands over the back of your head as he ran his fingers through your hair. You nodded in agreement and placed your ear to his chest, sure enough the steady and calm heartbeat thumping along in Matt’s chest was more than enough to soothe your anxieties. Unintentionally, you fell asleep in minutes.

It wasn’t until 7 hours later when Matt was gently nudging you and rubbing the side of your arm that you woke up again. You looked around to see an empty plane and a few swooning airline attendants.

“Hate to burst your bubble but we’ve got to get off the plane now honey.” Matt said with a sweet and soft tone, one of the stewardesses nearly going weak at the knees over the tooth-rottenly cute display of love you two were showing.

“Oh, shit.” You said groggily, quickly grabbing your carry-on and departing from the plane. Matt was right behind you with a huge smile on his face. When you turned to face him at baggage claim to see that smirk still plastered you rolled your eyes at him.

“Something tells me you enjoyed that little nap I took more than me.” You said teasingly, poking at his chest in an accusatorial way.

“And would it be a crime if I did, counselor?” He mocked back, looking cheeky as ever.

“Maybe, but I’ve got a few punishments in mind if you’re willing to serve the time.” You said slyly, wrapping your arms around his neck as you played with the hair at the nape of his neck.

“Oh sweetheart, that’s what the hotel is for.” He pointed out, leaning down and connecting your lips to his in a loving kiss.

—

A/N

Hey all! This was a totally self indulgent fic as I wrote it shortly after my vacation. . . that I had to fly for. Yeah that’s me, I took trips all the time as a kid. I’ve been on more airlines than I can name. Once when I went to Ireland (8 hour flight) I threw up every, single, hour. But I’ve gotten a lot better about flying, in fact my most recent vacation was my first time flying alone. Now I usually pop a dramamine and listen to some music when I fly, trying to knock out for the majority of the flight. Apparently I’m still not completely over my fear because on my flight home twenty minutes after take-off, much like this story, I got a notification from my watch that my heart rate was consistently over 120 BPM even though I’d been sitting for the past 10 minutes. Anyways I talk too much, but I hope you all enjoyed this fic and thanks for reading!

Much Love,

—Skyler

[ackerfics]

the parent trap — levi ackerman (x)

— levi ackerman x female reader (modern au | the parent trap au)

— warnings: controlling parents. other than that, it's pretty much the anxiety of meeting your s/o's family for the first time.

— summary: the last chapter before the epilogue. even though it's quite unexpected but both levi and altair received quite a welcome from your family.

— word count: 10.7k

— notes: hi, apparently, i'm not dead and ... i can still write long-ass parts and stories. i've been in a bad spot the past couple of weeks ... where i don't find it in me to interact with anyone, even my friends and close family members (like i reply to their messages days later and never get back on talking to them). i just feel so drained these times. anyway, soooo, i hope you enjoy this bc i freaking miss tumblr so bad. ^^

reblogs are greatly appreciated !! <3 my masterlist is here if you want to check out the previous chapters uwu

“Wow, what the hell, this is a huge house.”

Caelum looked over at his twin brother, who was gawking at the mansion (borderline castle) in front of them. The younger boy mindlessly hummed under his breath.

Every person’s first impression of the [Last Name] manor has always been amusing to watch, leaving behind astounded yet spellbound faces. As much as Caelum wanted to pull Altair into the house and introduce him to everyone he knew in this place, he pensively stared at the balcony overlooking the driveway and fountain of the front yard. The double doors were open and there’s no sign of the woman he was dreading to meet after a few months. Despite the beauty boasted by the mazed hedges surrounding the fountain, Caelum wasn’t feeling the welcome to his grandparents’ home. The gardeners a few ways from the parked cars were waving at him with smiles, to which the little boy reciprocated half-heartedly. He went back to staring at the manor until he felt a warm hand on his shoulder, making him jump.

Silver eyes met with yours and suddenly Caelum felt like he could breathe again. You tilt your head, wrapping your arm around his shoulders, and rubbing comforting circles over his suit. “Let’s go, little prince.” Caelum nodded at you with a small smile, patiently waiting for the four of you to start walking to the entrance. You returned it, turning to Levi and Altair right after. “Thank you for coming with us, love,” you murmured to Levi, who ducked a little to let you whisper in his ear. “I can’t thank you enough for doing this.”

“Of course,” Levi told you. “It’s about time I formally introduce myself to your mother anyway. She has every right to be mad at me for sweeping her daughter away without her knowing. I just hope she won’t make me feel like shit for it.” Levi said everything in a rush, his face impassive and he’s occasionally gulping down his nervousness.

He was acting like this was when you got an impromptu call from your father back in university. Levi froze up in the middle of the cafe you two chose for your random date when you told your father about having a moment with your beau. It wasn’t an experience he’d like to relive. Yet here he was, standing in front of the stairs leading to your childhood home.

Your chuckles brought a small smile to his face. Leaning up, you kissed him on the corner of his mouth, with your lips lingering on his skin. “Don’t worry, Maman mellowed out through the years. If she gives you hell, you have me by your side to defend you. Plus, I have a feeling that she won’t be as haughty as she was twelve years ago.” You lightly sigh, thoughtfully walking in the front yard and waving at the gardeners. You wistfully smile. “So much has changed even though I only visited a month ago.” You eye the new flowers decorating the hedges. Your mother always favored roses. However, instead of the romantic blossoms, there were carnations of various colors.

The entire trip towards the countryside of London has Altair questioning if they’re nearing their destination every few minutes. It came off as something endearing to you and Caelum but Levi was having none of it, thus, telling the older twin to sleep it off so that the car ride appeared faster than normal. The cityscape turned into pastures until your entourage of two cars arrived in a gated estate that spanned for miles. There was a long road leading to the main manor and for the people who only stepped on this place for the first time, it baffled them how wide the land under your family name was.

Now, Levi and Altair were at a loss for words as they stood in front of the manor. For them, being greeted every time a butler or a maid passed by wasn’t exactly the most normal situation.

For Caelum, however, it was a monotone routine.

“Welcome back, Mistress [Name]. Welcome home, young master Caelum.”

“Hello, young master.”

“Young master, I baked your favorite cake for dinner tonight.”

“I hope the flight back home is nice and cozy, Mistress [Name]. It’s good to know you came back safe and sound.”

“Have a good stay in the manor, Mistress and young master.”

Yet it was something he thoroughly enjoyed since he grew up under these people’s care and guidance. When his mum wasn’t around in this manor because of an urgent call from the studio, the maids made sure to have his every concern checked out. During the times when he’d rather isolate himself from prying eyes during galas, the butlers always noticed whenever he appeared too tired to communicate with doting relatives and guests, giving him a reason to escape the scenario by reminding them that it’s way past his bedtime. So, with every greeting from the help, Caelum returned them jovially. The dullness present in the hallways of the manor immediately lifted with the younger twin’s genuine replies.

“I’m glad that you came home without any hitches.”

The entire group paused in the middle of the foyer.

Caelum looked away from the two winding staircases and gripped his brother’s hand, eyes flickering from the floor to the couches arranged in the space between the stairs. That welcome was not what he expected this early. He expected it to echo during dinner, not this soon. Altair raised an eyebrow at his little brother’s actions, shifting his gaze to the rather bedazzled woman donning a white suit making her way down one of the stairs with a flourish that only women in noir movies have.

“Oh, Hange, you’re looking amazing, dear. It’s been a while since we talked. And Oluo, I give you my most heartfelt gratitude for attending to my daughter’s whims. Who knows which corner of the world she will go to next time.”

Oluo bowed his head while Hange pursed their lips in an attempt to not blurt out anything comical yet scandalous.

You tried to school your face in a neutral expression, your hand on the crook of Levi’s elbow tightening its grip on the fabric of his suit jacket. Your ex-husband felt your nervousness. As much as Levi was shaking internally, he unwound his arm from yours and wrapped it around your waist, his fingers rubbing circles over the bodice of your dress.

“I’ll ring the maids to further prepare a more extravagant buffet for tonight’s dinner.”

The woman reached the middle of the staircase when she saw the twins standing beside each other. One of them was staring down at the shiny hardwood floor while the other one was narrowing his eyes at her. The boy under your care wouldn’t stare at her openly with those judging eyes so she figured that the one who was finding the flooring interesting, was indeed her grandson. Then, she noticed the man wrapping his arm around your waist. She hummed out of reflex, running her eyes from the top of the man’s well-kept black hair to the tip of his dress shoes. So, this was the man you married back when you’re gallivanting in America. The one who she threatened to cut down for you to come back home. Still, she smiled in that usual manner of hers that sent chills down every person’s back. The woman continued walking until she stepped on the floor of the foyer. She never once lifted her gaze from the black-haired man, who leveled his stare with hers.

“Maman,” you greeted, patting Levi’s hand on your waist to let him know you’re about to give your mother a greeting.

“Ah, my darling dewdrop,” Geneviève [Last Name] announced, her face remained in that cool blank canvas. She opened her arms for you to bury yourself into, her lips now tugged into a forced little smile. Lightly kissing your cheeks as your welcome-home greeting, your mother held you at arms-length with a hand cupping your cheek and glacial eyes running over your features. “I’ve missed you terribly, sweetheart. You never visit these days.”

“I visited last month.”

Maman hummed thoughtfully, her hand still caressing your cheek as if you’re a sculpture she just made and added to her collection of masterpieces. The comparison in her head almost made her laugh, for you’re definitely one of her most-prized masterpieces. After hearing the news that you were going home, Geneviève casually told the help to prepare a lavish feast worthy of your arrival, as always during every visit you did in this labyrinth of a manor. Only this time, she had to control her cold exterior since you have people tagging along, those people being her other grandson (who she had an inkling of) and your ex-husband (who she doubted the entire time you were in America). Her gaze unconsciously flitted to something behind you, her eyes meeting that of the narrow-eyed twin. It took a moment for her to look away from that sharp gaze, only to linger at the boy you nurtured for more than a decade.

Caelum. That’s his name. Rare were the scenarios where there were only two of them in one room. It was awfully awkward for Maman to keep a casual relationship with her grandson. She remembered how he cried the first time they met when he was a baby. Almost as if she was the monster parents in fairy tales warned children about.

It was a stab to her carefully frozen heart.

You noticed how your mother kept looking at something over your shoulder, prompting you to turn around to where her gaze was fixated at.

Altair stopped glaring at Maman the moment you were met with the sight of the twins. Your eldest son blinked before looking at you, his shoulders relaxing at the familiarity of your warm irises. But it wasn’t Altair Maman was staring at. Your heart pinched at Caelum’s stiff disposition. Your mother never had a soft spot for children before, even for your son. Despite you standing in both parental roles in Caelum’s life, she still dared to suggest putting him to adoption, and it was something that caused this entire debacle. So, what has changed now? Why was your mother looking at your youngest son as if she was missing out on something? Or maybe Maman thought that it was due time to show how much she cared.

No secret parasols over sleeping little boys or extra strawberry tarts for hungry grandsons.

Was this the time for your mother to stop leaving a trail of ice inside your home?

Maman clapped to gain everyone’s attention, jolting you from your little trance. “Shall we retreat to the main dining room, everyone? I believe all of you are famished from the trip. Do follow me.”

Levi listened to each and every story your childhood holds.

Every single tale you unfold during your relationship with him was exactly like the atmosphere your childhood home brought to him.

You told him of the hallways that were endless rivers of ice where you pretended you’re an ice skater with your socks on, twirling ballet dances you learned on the polished floor. You recalled the parties you attended in this place, how extravagant they were. Levi remembered how you pulled him to the middle of his apartment to slow dance to a song that was once played in one of those parties. You two pretended that you have the freedom to attend to your family’s galas with the love of your life, without criticism and judgment, as he twirled you until your back pressed against his fast-paced heartbeat. You giddily shared one time during a rainy day that you were so honored to have a hall of books in one section of the mansion. College Levi grasped what it looked like based on your vivid descriptions but now, he could see it even though he only saw the most shallow parts of your family’s manor.

The earlier nervousness Levi held gradually disappeared at each step towards that main dining room your mother mentioned. The hallway all of you were walking on had glass windows that stretched towards the ceilings, the rays of the noon sun making everything glow. Even with a straight face, Levi could straight-out say that your childhood home was built on enchantment. His admiration for the architecture fell short when he noticed that you’ve grown silent ever since your little group landed in London. Before coming here, you suggested that Levi and Altair stay in your house in the city instead of finding a hotel to accommodate them.

During your preparation in your house, you were fidgeting.

“Is it okay for me to sleep here, beautiful?” Levi tentatively called out to you in the doorway of your room. He was leaning on the doorway with his arms crossed, silver eyes trailing over your frantic figure. You were trying to find what to wear in front of your mother, dresses, and suits of various colors and patterns littering your bed. It seemed like you didn’t notice him standing by your door. Levi pushed himself from the doorframe and walked towards you, placing his hands on your arms. You quickly turned to him in surprise, visibly relaxing when you saw that it was Levi. He stared at you with a little quirk on his lips. “Hey.” He pressed his lips on your right temple, your contented hum letting him fully hug you.

“Hey,” you greeted back, your hand brushing over his forearm. You tilt your head to let Levi bury his face into the crook of your neck, his lips ghosting over your skin with light kisses. “I’m sorry I didn’t notice you by the door. Did you need anything?”

Levi took in your flowery scent with closed eyes. “I asked if it’s okay that I sleep in your room. You know I don’t mind if I take the couch in your living room, right?”

You turned around to cup Levi’s cheeks in your hands. His hands were still snug on your waist, his thumbs rubbing circles over your blouse. “I know I’m fine with us sleeping on the same bed. It’s not like we didn’t share one for years back when we were together.” Your eyes became half-lidded as you caressed his cheeks, your face turning pensive. “But if it makes you uncomfortable sleeping in my room, I won’t have any say in it. Whatever you decide is perfectly alright with me, love. I don’t want you to force yourself in situations that might not sit right with you.”

Levi let out a little blissful sigh. “I’m not against us sleeping on the same bed. You know that, beautiful.” He pressed his forehead as gently as possible on yours. “You’re the reason why I can sleep normally. I’ve never slept peacefully throughout those eleven years without you by my side. This, right now, sounds like a blessing — even if it will only last for a couple of days. So, thank you.”

You were silent for a moment before looking down at the carpeted floor while your hands slowly trailed from his cheeks to his chest.

“I’m sorry,” you whispered. “I’m so sorry for leaving you and Altair behind. It’s so naive and uncalled of me to do that.” You felt soft lips on your forehead and you wanted to cry from the tenderness that Levi showered on you, something that you didn’t deserve. “I’ve hurt you. I don’t know why you even want me back. What if something happens again and I’ll put a stop to this fairy tale of ours? What if Altair won’t have his mum back? I truly want this to work between us, love, but I can’t seem to stop thinking about what ruins this again.” You closed your eyes to prevent Levi from seeing how glassier they became. “I don’t deserve your forgiveness.”

“Look at me.”

You did and your breath hitched at the enchanting smile on Levi’s face. Just a smile from this man could render you speechless. Every single thought in your mind vanished at the affection etched in the specks of his irises, at the way his eyes drooped that always made your heart stutter. You wished to look away because it wasn’t healthy for your chest to beat this loudly. However, the firm hand touching your face prevented you from doing exactly that.

“Yeah, I was hurt when you left but I know you were, too, when I didn’t chase after you.” Levi had to make you believe that none of what happened eleven years ago was your fault. If he had to sound like a broken record while proving it, so be it. As long as you were starting to feel confident that it wasn’t just you who put a stop to your domestic life back then. “What happened all those years ago won’t change the fact that I’m planning on getting back together with you. Hell, I was willing to ask eleven-year-olds for advice — eleven-year-olds, beautiful — just to get everything right this time. I even followed you here to ask for your mother’s approval in marrying you again. I don’t want another eleven years of me talking to the moon and night sky — wishing that I get to see you one last time.

“Beautiful, I want to make this right. So, will you let me?”

If you said no, Levi would’ve gotten on the next flight back to Los Angeles but seeing as he was trailing after you through this long-ass hallway, Levi was relieved to have you say yes.

All that was left was your mother’s approval.

God, that sounds like something impossible.

When your mother walked down the stairs, Levi instantly thought how much you took after her. You two were almost the same person (only the lines on your mother’s face differentiating you two). He never had a clue on what your face looked like when you’re pissed off because he never had any reason to elicit that kind of reaction from you during your relationship. However, as your mother descended from the second floor of the manor, Levi witnessed the most unnerving blank face he ever saw on a person.

With a white suit on and hair pinned back on her head in an elaborate bun, the presence of your mother shouted how superior she was amongst the people waiting for her to reach the end of the stairs. Levi had to bite his cheek to control the scowl that was forming on his face when he saw how your mother scanned him from head to toe with an impassive expression. Is that what he looked like when he sometimes didn't like strangers trying to chat him up? Levi would have to lessen his frown in public because he had seen what it did to this woman. It was anything but physical (because the lines on her face could be signs of old age).

It pushed her back into this shell of an individual, Levi concluded.

His guard was up the entire time because you once told him she bought a company to prove a point without a blink.

The giant double doors leading to the dining hall opened, the aroma of different dishes enticed everyone’s stomachs to grumble. Fuck, how much food was on that table? If Levi wasn’t part of any of this, he would immediately say that everything on the table was fit for the entire workers of his tea plantation. He then felt a tug on his sleeve. Looking down, Levi was met with Caelum’s small smile, his hand pulling him to one of the chairs at the table. His throat became dry when his younger son directed him to the chair on the left of where your mother was supposed to sit. He had to check if this was the right chair but Caelum was already sitting on the chair beside him, the little boy putting the napkin on his lap.

Grumbling inwardly, Levi chose to sit on this cursed spot. Good thing you were right across from him.

“I believe there’s no need for words,” Maman stated, poise still in her posture even when sitting. “The food is prepared for all of you, so enjoy.”

Levi watched Hange make a dive for one of the main courses like a mad person. He also noticed that Oluo disappeared when they went inside the dining hall. He looked around and the said butler was one of the help pouring the juice and iced tea in glasses. Levi went back to his plate. He stayed still for a moment, eyebrows knitting at the arrangement of utensils laid out in front of him. There were forks of various sizes beside his plate, even different kinds of knives and spoons.

What the fuck? Levi lifted his head to survey the dining hall, only to slowly look away when he met gazes with your mother. Shaking his head, he rolled his tongue against the inside of his cheek in mild annoyance. Movement in front of him prevented him from choosing the wrong utensil.

You were teaching Altair which spoon is for which type of food or which fork is needed for the salad, your whispers are only for the boy to hear. Altair was attentively listening to you, looking up at you when he chose the outermost fork for the salad. His beaming grin was everything for you when you told him he was correct. A stare that signified a cry for help alerted you to fix your attention to Levi.

You nearly let out a small laugh at the look of your ex-husband. He only slightly narrowed his eyes at you when your lips tugged a little bit in a smile. You mouthed, “salad?”

Levi nodded. His eyes then followed your finger, pointing at the correct fork on your side of the table. Now knowing the correct fork to eat his salad, Levi felt his lips quirk a tiny smirk, eyes flashing a glint of gratitude towards you. While he was scooping up a good portion of various foods to his plate, your mother was eyeing him at the corner of her eye, trying to observe his mannerisms when placed in a situation that called for guessing. Your mother eventually stopped inspecting your ex-husband when you turned to her to ask her a few questions about your father. The entire lunch was only Levi silently asking you from across the table about the appropriate utensils for every type of food he placed on his plate. But when he was about to ask for your guidance as he shifts towards the roast beef, you were preoccupied in a conversation with your mother.

Now, he’s stuck.

“Dad?”

Levi turned to Caelum, who was staring at him with brilliant silver irises. “Yeah, Cae?”

Caelum pointed at the second knife beside his dad’s plate. “This is the meat knife. You’re going to eat the roast beef, right? I saw you trying to communicate with Mum.” Then, the boy squinted his eyes as he relayed his observation. “Though you look like you’re trying to shoot her with a laser using your eyes.”

The black-haired man laughed a little before ruffling his son’s hair, making it curl at the ends. “Thank you, Cae. Good thing you’re right here beside me. Shooting your mom with a laser is the last thing I’d do in any lifetime anyway.”

A pleased smile lights up the younger twin’s face. He looked down at his share of roast beef and stuffed his mouth with a large bite, asking something through a mouthful of his favorite food. “Are you enjoying here, Dad?”

Levi still understood his son’s question. “Yeah, I am, surprisingly. Your mom and you are with me and Al, so I guess we’re in good hands while talking to your grandmother.”

He watched Caelum once again gobble a huge bite of the roast beef on his plate. Amused at the complete effect of this certain food to his son, Levi marveled how such a boy with a meek appetite threw that away for the sake of his favored food. Well, Levi’s one to talk. When he was younger, he always preferred to eat smaller portions like Caelum; but if his mom cooked seafood and tarts for their meal, he would turn into a completely different kid. Making a laugh through his nose, Levi noticed the smear of sauce at the corner of Caelum’s lip.

Levi took his napkin and reached out to wipe his son’s mouth clear of sauce. “There. You better slow down, kiddo. There’s plenty of roast beef for you to eat even at dinner. They won’t go anywhere.”

Caelum gulped down the roast beef. “I’m happy that you’re enjoying your stay here so far, Dad.” He dropped his voice in a whisper, making Levi duck down as well. “Grand-Maman can be quite a handful. It’s a surprise she’s this kind for guests. I was expecting her to let her guard up because you know, you’re the one who paid a visit, Dad.”

Levi didn't know what to feel from that statement. He inconspicuously looked at your mother from the corner of his eyes. He couldn’t deny that there were similarities between you and the older woman. Spending time with you during university, Levi was always caught off guard whenever your expression dulled because of a certain situation, very much like your mother’s default face. It happened when somebody was hitting on you while your group of friends was watching or turning down confessions without remorse. They also appeared when your mother called while you’re hanging out with Levi. That empty smile that never reached your eyes was something Levi vowed to never inflict on you. Hell, he even saw Caelum make that cold expression.

And people say that the Ackermans had the most fear-inducing resting bitch face.

Figuring that he wanted to be in your mother’s good graces, Levi opted in humming as his response.

“So, Levi Ackerman, correct?”

Fuck.

Levi looked up from his plate with a pleasing smile on his face. He hoped that he didn't look like someone who got irritated. His smile twitched at the snort coming from across the table. Levi pointedly glanced at Altair, who was downing a glass of iced tea to conceal his hilarity. Caelum appeared to be wide-eyed while you never lifted your stare from your plate, grips on your utensils tightening, expression never betraying what you feel of the unlikely situation unfolding in the dining table.

Fixing his attention back to the head of your family, Levi solidified his smile. “Yes, Ma’am, that’s my name.” Treat this as a random recitation (read: humiliation in the means of grilling someone), the ones where you fucking went through in university, specifically with the merciless professors.

Maman dabbed the napkin on the side of her mouth before coolly regarding Levi. “We finally meet, then, Mr. Ackerman.” The look you shot became unnoticed as she vacuously smiled at the black-haired man who married her daughter without so much as a hello to them. “Would you care to join me for a cup of tea later in the afternoon?”

Oh. That sounded civil enough.

Your breath hitched. Hange winced. Even Oluo shifted his head towards the matron of your family.

Damn, is having tea with his (again) future mother-in-law that bad?

Levi was rigid in his seat.

This is worse than he thought.

Your mother calmly waited for the maid to finish putting the tea set on the table underneath the gazebo.

It was as Caelum said, your childhood home’s backyard is magical enough to be painted in fairytale storybooks. There were flowers wherever he turned his head to, blooming under the delicate care of the help jovially passing by with their wide brim hats to protect them from the sweltering heat of the afternoon sun. It reminded him of the busy days in the plantation, the flower garden bearing similarities with the one his mother started, which was later cultivated under Mikasa and Annie’s cooperation. The picturesque scenery didn’t help in lessening the tension pulsating in his shoulders. He was staring at the spot right above your mother’s head, zeroing on a solitary purple flower between the vines wrapping around the gazebo. The silence was deafening and Levi shifted in his seat as subtly as he could.

The click of a teacup or a spoon became the only sound surrounding the pair. Maman looked down at her teacup with a straight back, her hand showing years of finesse as she dripped honey onto her drink. It was agonizing for Levi; but for the older woman, she took her time. She tapped her teaspoon against the rim of her cup before putting it on her saucer. Sipping on her tea, she failed to notice that Levi was still sitting like a sculpture in front of her. Maman sighed a little when she took a sip of her drink, the flowery undertones of her preferred flavor letting her breathe even just for a moment.

Eyes similar to yours, they met with Levi’s.

“What are you waiting for, Mr. Ackerman?” Maman asked him, slightly raising an eyebrow at the immobile guest. “The cup of tea won’t be as good when lukewarm.”

Levi knew that so he quickly shook his head to keep himself grounded in the reality that your mother was willing to talk to him. He leaned forward and poured himself a cup of tea. Might as well critique the tea in his mind and ask for a recipe. Without any additives to his drink, Levi took a sip. He detected a faint taste of roses but there was a slightly tangy citrus aftertaste if you let the drink settle in your palate for a little longer. It doesn’t need the slightest hint of additives, it’s perfect just the way it was presented. He could tell that this was homemade as well since there were small amounts of bitterness lingering right after the citrus. They steeped it too long or maybe it’s because of the roses they used.

“I assume it’s not to your liking?”

Levi lifted his gaze. Your mother remained neutral but the slight raise of her brow indicated that she was curious about Levi's hesitance while sipping his tea. Levi cleared his throat before saying, “It’s a very well-made brew, Mrs. [Last Name].” The arch on the older woman’s eyebrow rose. Once again, Levi shifted in his seat. “But I’m more of a black tea kind of person.”

Your mother hummed under her breath. “Yet you make a variety of tea flavors in your company. I thought one would broaden their tastes in that industry.”

She knew of his business, it seemed. “I grew up liking black tea. I find sweetened ones a little too much.”

“I see. That’s quite strong for a young child to drink.”

Levi placed his teacup back on the saucer. “I wasn’t one for sweet things, Ma’am.”

“Oh?” Maman expressed interest in the statement. “What made you change your mind?”

Was he really saying this to your mother of all people? She looked like she’s ready to skin him alive with just a wrong move on his part. Levi picked up a blueberry scone from the tiered stand. “It was [Name] who slowly made me change my mind.” He quickly closed his mouth to avoid any interrogations but the look on your mother’s face betrayed no malice. She appeared to be attentive. “She always took me to the nearest cafe in our university, even when we were just friends. It wasn’t an immediate change of heart. It took me years to get used to the taste of macarons and macchiatos. But, now, I associate those flavors with her no matter how many years have passed.” The whole time Levi was talking, he wasn’t meeting your mother’s gaze.

A breath of laughter came out of Maman. “It seems she carried that habit all the way to the other side of the sea.”

The older woman faced the maze-like hedges. There was no coldness present in her expression, unlike what the other suitors saw while she interviewed them or what the other wealthy families in the galas connected her with. An air of wistfulness enveloped the matron of your family, the crease in between her forehead evening out as she breathed in the nostalgic scent of the garden. Her little moment of tranquility was overshadowed by the churning feeling of shame and blame. Both of which originated from her treatment of you and your son. It took her years to realize that what she was doing did nothing to uplift the legacy of the family she married into. Instead, she turned it into something more controlling and pernicious. She remembered what her mother-in-law said.

I picked you as my son’s potential wife because there was no other choice. It wasn’t because you appealed to me, it was because we were tired of looking for someone striking.

It hurt.

But seeing as Orion gradually fell in love with her, she took the role seriously to prove her mother-in-law wrong. She remembered how her husband’s mother paid no mind to family matters after she entered into the portrait. It looked like everything was placed on Maman’s shoulders the moment she said ‘I do’. The grudge she held for the woman who stood as a mother to her husband lasted until the older woman breathed for the last time. To this day, Maman always prioritized family, sticking to the old ways of maintaining status in society. Her realization came too late when you ran away from home, to another continent, just to get away from her authoritarian views of leading the family.

Maman never witnessed you walking down the aisle to the person who made you feel safe. She failed to remember the birthdate of her grandchildren because she was never told that you were carrying them. She always told you to act a certain way to attract suitors worthy of the [Last Name] surname. She was absent during your ballet recitals even though she was the one who told you to pursue it. She waved away your dream of designing dresses and ball gowns, determined to have you take over one of the businesses that the family owned. There it dawned on her that she was never a mother to you, to begin with. Her eyes flickered at the thought. Maman became slightly frantic as she tried fixing her gaze solely on one object. She lifted her head and tightened her hold on the handle of her teacup.

“I didn’t like you, Mr. Ackerman.”

Levi nearly choked on his scone. He opened his mouth to ask if he heard her right but your mother continued talking.

“You were merely a distraction for my daughter.”

Levi swore he felt Time stopped.

“You were never good enough for her.” There was a hint of disbelief in her voice that made her tone quiver. “I threatened her when I found out she married someone way outside of our circle.”

“You mean someone poor?” Levi bluntly asked, face stony and void of emotions. “And what do you mean by ‘threatened’? What the fuck did you say to [Name] that made her fly back here?” The word triggered something inside him. The truth is sitting right there, all in the form of your annoyingly unsympathetic mother. Now he will find out what really pushed you to leave him.

“Yes, I didn’t want her to marry someone who wouldn’t manage a single day in a lavish lifestyle.” Levi clenched his jaw, his fists curled on the armrest of his chair. Good thing that there weren’t any maids standing close by or else they would’ve seen how his grip crinkled the cushion of the armrest. Maman went on. “And to answer your other question, Mr. Ackerman, yes, I threatened her.” It looked like Levi was waiting for her to add something so she did. “It was your business that I threatened her with for her to come back to us and forget about her life with you.”

Levi slackened his jaw. The tea plantation?

The shock on the man’s face bubbled a sardonic laugh from your mother. She took a sip from her tea before slightly lifting her chin with a sarcastic smile. “I would do everything just to give my family glory. Even cut down what’s important to the people giving them happiness. I was that malicious to think that by putting a stop to your starting business, my daughter would come back to my arms. She was too selfless to try to have you give up on your dream, Mr. Ackerman, because I know people like you will also do everything to cling onto someone way more important than a risky move in the business sector.” Maman looked away from him. “She was supposed to come back alone. The child was a miscalculation.”

“How fucking dare you,” Levi murmured dangerously. “You’re cold-blooded.”

Maman smiled a little. “Maybe I am.”

“Calling your grandchild a fucking miscalculation? The grandchild who wished to have a normal family because you couldn’t give him the kindness and guidance that he needed? The kid you’ll willingly put into adoption because you thought [Name] wasn’t taking care of him enough? Fucking bullshit.” Levi was seething. “And manipulating your daughter and taking away something that makes her happy sounds like a nice plan for you? What the hell is wrong with you?”

“She wasn’t supposed to run away from here,” Maman punctuated it with a tone that offered no openings for rebuttals. “[Name] shouldn’t have flown to America. She wasn’t supposed to meet you.” Desperation was evident in her eyes whilst Levi carried anger in his. “She was supposed to be inheriting the fortune to our family, not dally with someone without us knowing. What do you think I felt, Mr. Ackerman?” Her voice kept rising and rising. “I was worried that she might have made the wrong decision. I was thinking of her well-being as her mother.”

“Yet you acted as if you’re not.”

Maman sharply inhaled. The world caved in when she heard those words. The grudge she held for her mother-in-law and the need to prove her wrong vanished without a trace. All that was left was a gaping hole inside her chest. She was never a mother to you, to begin with. She bit her lip to prevent herself from spiraling down the rabbit hole she just made. Levi’s eyes will forever haunt her. They were like bullets shooting down her perch. There was no sign of sympathy nor understanding. In their stead, blankness covered his silver irises, showing that it was her fault that all of this fiasco happened. It was her being your puppeteer that the twins thought it was better to swap places and spend the week with their respective parents.

“Is it that satisfying to see your daughter drift away from you? To have your grandson be afraid of you until he’s aloof whenever you’re around?”

Maman took a deep breath. To calm herself down or to gather patience, Levi would never know.

“I get that you were trying so hard to make your family as perfect as possible,” Levi laughed through his nose, “but people are suffering because of you. You’re a fucking sick bastard if you ever thought that amounts to happiness.” Levi stood up, loosening his white button-down over his forearms. “You know what? I don’t care if I don’t receive your blessing in re-marrying your daughter but do remember,” the black-haired man sneered, “I won’t let you ruin this for the second time.”

Just as he was about to leave the gazebo, Maman uttered, “I didn’t like you because I was once in your place.”

“Are you fucking kidding me?”

“I beg your pardon?”

Levi turned around. “And do tell me what makes us both so similar?”

The older woman straightened in her seat, head tilted to meet the glacial stare of her future son-in-law. The smile on her face wasn’t like the others. It was colored blue this time. It wasn’t even forced. If anyone from the massive estate saw this, they would be having a field day because Geneviève [Last Name] never blatantly smiled at anyone except her husband and daughter. The man standing in front of her was frank and didn't give two shits about anyone. At first, she didn’t see why you fell in love with such a brash individual. You’re royalty fit for a prince. This man is more of a protector than a marriage prospect. Yet you two fit like unlikely pieces of a puzzle. With that in mind, Maman shed the chilly exterior for the first time in years.

“We were placed in unlikely situations that led to an uncalled downfall. For me, it was accepting the arranged marriage proposal by the [Last Name] family until I spiraled into someone that I vowed to never become. For you, it was marrying my daughter and separating for years. I didn’t ask to be in this family because I was never my mother-in-law’s first choice for Orion, much less the second. You, on the other hand, were just roped into my dilemma of being a better mother and wife.”

Levi’s left eye twitched as he watched the woman struggling for her next words. It looked like she was spitting out a hairball but that could be an exaggeration on Levi’s part.

“For that, I am deeply sorry.”

Ah. So that’s why she looked constipated.

Levi nearly blurted out that he didn’t need the apology. It was too late anyway. He opted to stay quiet, inserting his hands in the pockets of his slacks as he hummed in response. There was no point in trying to erase what happened with a half-assed apology. It wouldn’t change the fact that he and Altair suffered for eleven years without you and Caelum. Might as well be impassive about it.

“I know you won’t accept it, Mr. Ackerman—”

“Levi. Call me Levi. ‘Mr. Ackerman’ sounds like I’m an old man.”

Amusement painted your mother’s features before they slipped away when she took something in between the sconces.

“I know you won’t accept my apology, Levi, but I hope you accept this.” Your mother pushed a velvet jewelry box towards the center of the table. It was a striking shade of beige with gold linings. It caught Levi’s eye and his curiosity prevailed over his previous anger. Maman opened the box and nestled between the plush was a ring with the most brilliant diamond as the main attraction. It glinted even without the help of artificial lights. “It’s the [Last Name] family ring. Even though my mother-in-law showed no concern for me joining the family, she was still resolute in not giving this ring for the proposal. My husband fought to give this to me. He won. And now,” Geneviève smiled at a wide-eyed Levi, “this will be yours for your proposal to my daughter.”

“Why?” Levi uttered. “I can buy any ring out there.”

Your mother laughed. “Yes, I won’t disagree with that, Levi. But you can’t buy this ring. It has been passed down since the previous century.”

The black-haired man was at a loss for words. He couldn’t help but echo, “Why?”

“Think of it as my gift for you, Levi. Welcome to the family.”

“Cruella. That’s who she is in my head.”

“Grand-Maman doesn’t have an obsession with furs though.”

“Well, she looks like she can kill dalmatians at random times of the day.”

“She’s allergic to dogs, Al.”

The two boys were left to loll inside the massive library of the manor. After watching over them for a couple of minutes, your assistant, Armin, called from the studio after hearing that you’re back in London. Two clients were inquiring for you to design their wedding gowns and suits. With a kiss on each of their heads, you went out of the library.

Altair was just telling Caelum about his first impressions of their grandmother. Just like any other guest, Altair already had an idea of how Maman ran things in this household. Even though they were just assumptions, the older boy’s gut feeling never failed him. If he surmised from that short encounter that his grandmother from your side of the family screamed like any supervillain he knew, then that thought would stay in his mind until the older woman changed his mind.

“That’s a bummer,” Altair murmured under his breath. “Either way, she seems like a Cruella to me.” The older twin sighed while staring at the paintings on the ceilings. Fairies were in every corner, their hands cupping butterflies that glowed rainbows. Altair pouted when he remembered the face his now grandmother gave him while sizing them up. It sent a shiver down his spine. He wanted the comforting ambiance of his granny Kuchel now. “I don’t like the way she looked at me earlier.”

Caelum reluctantly looked away from his book. Once he saw the despondent expression on his brother’s face, he tucked a bookmark between the pages and placed the novel beside him. “Al, Grand-Maman has always been like that. Don’t take what happened earlier to heart, alright?” When Altair made no move from his spot on the long couch of the middle of the library, Caelum increased the volume of his voice. “Al.” It was only then that the older boy shifted his head to meet the firm gaze of his twin. “I know Grand-Maman will grow to acknowledge you and Dad as part of the family. It will happen eventually anyway. She’s just a little wary of guests, that’s why. So, don’t worry if she appeared too wintry earlier. That’s just the way she is when there are new people around.”

A small half-smile lifted Altair’s lips. He appreciated how alleviating Caelum’s words always were. “Thanks, Cae. You’re extremely awesome, did you know that?”

The younger boy laughed. “You just boosted my ego.” Caelum calmed down from laughing, flashing a smile on his older brother. “Any time, Al. You can always talk to me. I’ll always listen.”

Altair couldn’t thank his twin enough. He figured that words couldn’t encompass the swell of gratitude inside his chest, all of it directed at the fact that he finally found his family. It was even funny to think about because the two of them were at each other’s throats during the summer camp. Pulling pranks on one another and getting placed in the isolation cabin for roping in their camp director. If his pride and ego got the best of him during the summer camp, Altair wouldn’t have his complete family. Hell, he wouldn’t even know that Caelum is his twin brother and that their mom is across the ocean. As Altair laid on the long couch counting the butterflies on the ceiling, he had another crazy idea that made him sit up from his comfortable position. Without any words, Caelum only raised an eyebrow at this.

“Hey, is it possible that I’m going to be lost in this place?” Altair asked with an eager glint in his irises.

Caelum hummed. “If you have a poor sense of direction that is.”

The older twin slowly nodded with a smile. He stood up from the long couch and stretched his arms before putting his hands behind his head. “Do you mind if I explore this mansion for a while?”

“Go ahead,” Caelum murmured, eyes never leaving his book.

The grin spread on Altair’s face as he walked out of the library with a small spring in his step. He was too excited to get to know the house where you grew up in. He heard from Hange and Oluo that this place is pure magic even if loneliness exuded from the walls and paintings. He looked from left to right the moment he stepped out the doors of the library, choosing to lightly jog to the right where the stairs to the next floor resided.

“Just don’t go to the stairs. That’s where Grandpa and Grand-Maman’s office and rooms are!” When there was no response, Caelum looked up and blinked at the absence of his brother. He muttered, “I hope he doesn’t go to the next level, I heard that Grandpa just arrived and is doing work from home today.” Knowing how busy his grandfather was, disturbing him was the last thing anyone in this mansion should do. This was the reason why the east side of the second floor became off-limits to visitors. Then, Caelum shrugged. “Al is probably going to the west side of the manor anyway. Hmm, I could use some refreshments and croissants.”

Closing his book and tucking in under his arm, Caelum headed to the left of the library — the kitchens his destination.

“Whoa, is this Mom?” Altair breathed upon entering a supposed library on the second floor. The library was smaller compared to the one he was in with his brother yet this one spoke like homeliness to him. Inside the little library was a huge portrait of your family, with you only being seventeen when it was taken. “She looks so different here.”

Your hair was longer, your eyes slightly dull, your lips quirked in a small smile that didn't reach your eyes — you were somewhat lifeless.

Altair slowly looked away from your younger self and focused on roaming around the small library. There was a fireplace sitting underneath the portrait and a desk placed in the middle of the room, with double windows behind it to let the light in. It looked like an inventor’s workshop, only without the little innovations. There were papers strewn everywhere yet they looked well-kept. Tiny knick-knacks lined the desk made Altair smile. He walked over to examine each one. He picked up something that was made from popsicle sticks, with paint decorating the figure’s body. A small teddy bear however caught his eye. This one had a dress over it, something cut out from tulle and pasted together to create an illusion of an extravagant piece of clothing. The sound of someone entering the room made Altair drop the teddy bear, his back pressed against the edge of the desk.

The boy was more of a cautious kitten at this point. Altair stared wide-eyed at the man who was just as shocked as he was. He was quite dapper. If it weren’t for the strings of white weaving through his hair, Altair would’ve thought he was younger than his original age. The shock ebbed away from the man’s face, giving way to an amused smile.

“I see you have discovered my secret garden.”

Altair looked at anywhere except this man.

A laugh resounded from him. “The only person who knows when to enter this room is someone who’s very much your age, young man. And even if he knows when I’m available for his stories, he doesn’t visit me that often.” He placed the fancy cane stick he was holding on the side of one of the single chairs at the side of the room. He made himself comfortable on the plush chair, exhaling in satisfaction as he finally sat down after long hours of meetings. “You can sit, young man. That way you can tell me your story.”

The smile on the man’s face was anything but condescending. It nearly made Altair sit on the opposite chair.

Instead of following the man’s harmless invitation, the young boy scratched his undercut. “Uhm, I’m not supposed to be here?” To whom this question was directed, he never knew. Altair took small steps towards the opened door. He pointed at the hallway with a sheepish smile and nervous chuckle. “I think my Dad is looking for me somewhere … around this huge house. Nice house, by the way. It’s really great! Uh,” he looked at the doorway before grimacing at the raised eyebrow the man donned, “bye!”

“Wait.”

Oh, God.

Altair slowly looked behind his shoulder. The man is now leaning forward in interest. “Allow me to introduce myself.” He placed a hand on his chest, lowering his head in a slight bow. “My name is Orion [Last Name]. I’m sure you know my daughter.”

Oh, he does, seeing as the daughter of this man is his mom.

“And I think I have an idea on who you might be, little one.” A little twinkle of something Altair couldn’t pinpoint flashed in the man’s irises. “I hope you’re willing to let your grandfather get to know you. What’s your name?”

Ah, this is the cool person Caelum was talking about, the one who was making time for him while inside this mansion.

“Uh, Altair,” he recited dumbly, his train of thought thinning.

“A beautiful name, indeed.”

“... Nice to meet you?”

Another bellow of laughter came from your father. “And I, you, little Altair. Would you like to join me for a cup of tea? I’ll have someone deliver them here.” Your father opened his tablet and tapped his fingers on something. He flickered his gaze on the still standing boy. “What kind of food do you prefer?”

Altair rubbed his elbow. “Just some cookies.”

“Okay, a platter of chocolate chips and a teapot of a favorite tea of mine.”

The boy nodded his head, eyes roaming around the expanse of the room.

“My offer still stands, you know?”

“Oh,” Altair muttered, hastily sitting on the chair opposite from the man that claimed to be his grandfather. His hands were fidgeting on his lap, not knowing which topic he should put onto the table for a conversation to start. Talking to his gruncle Kenny seemed like a breeze, he simply had to rile up the older man to extract a heart to heart. The man sitting in front of him was not in the same circle as his gruncle Kenny. This man was more on the refined side of the spectrum. Even the way he was sitting shouted that he should be respected and not thrown a bunch of insults. This lasted until two butlers entered the room with the tea and cookies. Altair noticed the familiar scent of the tea.

At the sign of recognition in the boy’s face, Orion lightly laughed as he poured tea in both teacups. “One time,” Altair looked up when your father started relaying his story, “when a conference didn’t go exactly as we planned, this brand of tea managed to calm my nerves. I vividly remember how it was a mix of cinnamon and jasmine. Quite an unusual flavor to put together but surprisingly, it managed to soothe my palate.” The older man sipped on his teacup and hummed a low sound of delight. “I slept for more than four hours that night. You could say that this tea was a blessing sent from unknown entities — it worked like magic. Do you recognize this brand, little adventurer?”

Altair gulped down the familiar flavor of chamomile and raspberries down his throat. “I might be too biased for this, sir, but I think it’s from Dad’s company. I could be wrong though.”

A twinkle of amusement appeared in Orion’s irises. “Exactly. It’s from your father’s tea business. I knew the Ackerman name rang a bell when I first asked my butler about the brand. Levi makes the most exceptional tea out there.” Orion warmly smiled at the young boy. “I extend my wishes for his business’ flourishing. I hope to see it grow into an even bigger blossoming tree.” The echo of porcelain clicking against each other punctuated his remark. “Oh, and do call me grandpa! I’ll only permit you to call me sir if you’re one of my business partners.”

The weight on Altair’s shoulders lessened tremendously as he sighed, a smile replacing the blank mien he had earlier. “Okay … grandpa. I’ll be sure to tell Dad you appreciate his tea.”

Orion gave a hearty laugh, ruffling Altair’s hair affectionately. “That’s more like it, little adventurer.” Silence and then, “You know, I was curious about your father when [Name] told me stories of her university life.”

“Really?”

The older man nodded. “Apparently, your mother described him as a somewhat stoic person who puts people into place with his words.”

“That’s Dad, alright,” Altair murmured before taking a bite of his chocolate chip cookie.

“Yet she also told me he was heartwarming and kind, blunt but his words mean well to keep her in check. At first, I couldn’t imagine my daughter being with that kind of person. I never imagined [Name] dating someone at all.” Altair smiled at the man’s upset nature. It reminded him of Levi when the topic of Altair growing up entered the conversation. “When she told me about Levi, I knew that she was starting to slip through my fingers. But, what really made me want to fly to America was the news of you and Caelum being born. Your births were what made me realize that I missed something extraordinary in my daughter’s life. Truthfully speaking, I was ecstatic when she mentioned that she’s coming here with Levi and you.”

“I was excited, too!” Altair chimed in, his smile so bright that Orion immediately saw a younger version of you looking at him like that. “The stories Caelum told me while we were on a camping trip were all so fantastical that it made me even more curious about Mom’s childhood home. He mentioned that you two have secret meetings whenever he visits this place.” The boy tilted his head. “Meeting you right now is so much different than meeting Cruella—” Altair bit the inside of his cheek. The smile on his face turned into a tight one, lips pursed and eyes wide. Quietly, he whispered to himself, “Oops.”

The silence was so loud until Orion laughed once again. Altair had the knack for making this man double over in genuine amusement. The older man’s laugh ended with a hum before it started again when Altair shrunk against the back of the chair as if it could aid in turning him invisible. The latter’s face turned a prominent shade of red that spread towards the back of his neck. “Please don’t tell her I called her that,” Altair faintly supplicated.

Orion wiped the corners of his eyes with a slight chuckle. It has been a long time since he heard someone blatantly describe his wife like that.

“You can trust me on that, little adventurer. It’s quite entertaining how that name naturally sprung from you. I bet Caelum, the little dreamer that he is, thinks the same, too. He only never mentioned it out loud to anyone, much less to me or your mother.” He patted the top of his cane, eyes gaining that faraway look that was clouded with reminiscing. “I admit that Geneviève can be quite the villainess of a short fairy tale. She has that effect on other people, too, with the way she dresses and all. I bet others call her meaner names than Cruella. That name actually has a nice ring to it, if I have to say the truth.”

Altair visibly relaxed, the breath he prevented coming out in a sigh.

Conversations flowed from the two of them like a steady stream. The awkwardness Altair exhibited when he got caught by his grandfather vanished without a trace, in its place was an ever-growing curiosity as the older man told him a story of a star merchant in search of the brightest star in the universe. He never noticed how the older man described the star as the most silver pinpricks in the midnight tresses of the sky, almost like the pair of eyes he inherited from his father. Orion relayed how the star merchant was a traveler of his own, having not found the brightest star yet until the end of the tale. Altair was left confused because it was a different story than what Caelum told him during the camping trip. When he asked why this little story sounded different, Orion simply smiled and told him,

“The star merchant was just in the process of completing their journey. Now, little adventurer, what do you think will happen to the star merchant next?”

Levi was shaken, his hands constantly running through his hair, with his fingers trembling from the chat with the matron of your family. He was not a nervous man who shied away from any first conversation. Above all, he’s the opposite of that. However, in Levi’s case, his emotions were carefully schooled as a defense mechanism that prevented him from spilling too much on a single person. That reason was what held him back from interacting with you during university.

With a quivering sigh, he straightened himself and buried every bit of the aftermath deep inside his throat.

There was only one person to who he would gladly go at the moment.

His footsteps brought him to a window seat with your figure on the plush foam, hands scribbling on a sketchpad, and face scrunched in concentration. A natural smile made its way on his face. You’re just so beguiling to look at. Eyes gaining those soft corners, Levi maneuvered his way towards you. Upon reaching you, he placed one of his knees on the cushion and carefully wrapped his arms around your shoulders. He felt you slightly flinch at the contact but you eventually relaxed upon registering his familiar scent. Levi pressed a kiss on the crown of your head, his smile growing when you leaned back on his chest.

“Hey, love,” you greeted, looking up at Levi’s face. “How was your talk with Maman?”

Levi sighed, sitting down on the cushion behind you. He shifted a couple of times to find that perfectly comfortable position, but not before pulling you until you rest in between his legs — your back against his chest and his chin nestled on your shoulder. He hummed, brushing his lips on your skin before answering, “It was fine.”

You turned your head to give him a dubious look. “You’re not telling me something.” You sat up and faced a blank-faced Levi, your body angled to meet him eye to eye. Your hand gently cupped his cheek, with him unconsciously leaning at your touch. “Did she say anything upsetting to you?”

He tried staring at the flowers beyond the glass panes but you pushed his face so that he wouldn’t look away from you. Your furrowed eyebrows made him breathe a laugh, finding your expression endearing. Leaning forward, Levi kissed you on the cheek, never pulling away even after you felt the sensation of his plush lips pressing against your skin. He inhaled your scent, the comfort lacing the sillage running through his entire being. He tightened his grip around you, pulling you closer to him as if a mere disturbance would take you away from him. You were always his secret garden — around you, he felt magic at every little action of affection.

“Levi?”

“Hm?”

“What did she say to you?”

He merely buried his face in the crook of your neck.

“You know you can tell me anything, right?”

His smile transformed into a grin, a silent laugh washing over him.

“Why are you laughing?”

He took out the velvet box from the pocket of his slacks. The small emblem of your family name’s initial brought the butterflies to life. Levi showed it to you and your rambling stopped. He didn’t even have to peek at your face to know that the box took your breath away. “This. This is what she gave me at the end of our talk.” He opened the velvet box and the ring was once again out in the open. “It will suit you even better than the ring I gave you twelve years ago.”

You stared wide-eyed at your family ring, hand covering your mouth while an overwhelming surge of happiness came in the form of gliding tears. “You have it.”

Levi kissed your jaw. “Yeah.”

A watery laugh emanated from you, the disbelief still present on your face. “I can’t believe it,” you murmured.

“It’s all thanks to the twins. So,” Levi trailed off, lifting his head from your shoulder before tilting your head to face him. With a spellbinding grin that made you see the stars, he uttered, “What do you say? Will you marry me again?”

The kiss you gave him amounted to a million yeses.

taglist:

@loveprisms @halparkebitch @omlbarnes @a--nonymousse @nunufx @misslovingpearl @softsakusas @whalerus @sakuxxi @littleagxs @izzy-rose010 @dora-the-grownup @dren-whalen @whosveenus @bokkunto @alwayssleepingforreal @haikyuutothetop @awkwardspontaneity @tenaciouswritersheep @leviskata @hexll @poeticsorcery @shadowolf993 @pirate4ngel @purplecandygerl @p1nkfl0wers @kpostedsum @lynnleanist

for those who are in italics, i can't tag you :<<

[wheeler-beretta-harwood]

It’s Vacation Time Baby!

Your 1st vacation is a romantic getaway with an AEW wrestler of your choice. Where are you going and what are you doing when you get there? Who picked it out and why?

Your second vacation is a road trip with 5 AEW wrestlers of your choice. Why did you pick each person. Where are you guys going? Any must do road stop?

You are reading my mind, sweet tits, I was just thinking about a possible vacation imagine!

Alright, okay, Imma try something new and see if I can make myself fall in love with someone through writing...

Oh, who am I kidding, I already love the man: Trent Beretta

We have been together for about 3 years now, and it still feels like we just got together. Well, not really, because we know much more about each other, and I love him even more now. But you get the idea. For our anniversary, Trent decided to plan a little vacation for us. He knows I am not specifically fond of lying in the sun at a beach all day (because all I get is a severe sunburn and sand in my ass), so he thinks about other destinations. He comes up with a list of 3, and then comes up to me to make me choose one. It's either a trip to Iceland, a roadtrip through Romania to visit famous Dracula spots, or a vacation in Norway to see the Northern Lights. I can tell by the way he says those options that the last is his favorite. He doesn't like to admit it, but he has a soft, very romantic side to him. So as much as I'd like to see some gory vampire stuff, I go for the Northern Lights.

And thankfully so! Trent really went all in with his planning, finding one of those glass dome hotels where you can see the night sky all the time. When we arrive in Norway, it is freaking cold. I knew it would be cold, but damn, I feel like a popsicle, even in my winter coat. He laughs at my shivering before pulling me close, keeping me warm in his embrace. I snuggle into his body as much as I can, wrapping my arms tightly around his waist. "Come on, let's check in so you don't freeze to death before seeing some Northern Lights."

Once we are inside our personal glass dome, and the warmth hits us both, I realize we are really here...on our first romantic vacation. "Thank you for this, Trent." I smile up at him before kissing him. Still those damn butterflies going wild in my stomach. It's wonderful.

We prepare for the night, and decide to stay in the dome to look for the natural phenomenon. It takes three nights until it finally happens and I see a bright green stripe flicker in the night sky. I get overly excited, jump up from the bed to stand on it, giddy beyond measure and point it out to Trent. "Look, Babe, there it is! It's so green!" He smiles up at me before standing on the bed next to me, arms wrapping around my torso, pulling me close into his chest.

"It's beautiful. Isn't it the most beautiful thing you've ever seen?" I add, completely mezmerized.

He nuzzles into the crook of my neck, placing a soft kiss there before answering me.

"Not quite, Sweetcheeks." I look at him in confusion, but when he smiles at me and suggestively raises his eyebrows, I get the hint.

"God, you're so cheesy!" I laugh, but feel my cheeks heat up from his compliment.

"Only for you, Y/N. Only for you." He pecks my lips and then turns his head to look at the colorful night sky again.

"I love you, Trent." I say as I kiss his cheek before copying him and looking up again.

"I love you too."

The roadtrip

My AEW roadtrip crew:

1. Eddie Kingston: Just imagine being trapped inside a car with Eddie for hours. Exactly. Pretty self-explanatory. And best decision ever.

2. Danhausen: Whenever the good mood dies down, Danhausen will make sure to bring it back up. Air-conditioning not working anymore? Danhausen will uncurse it. Traffic jam? Danhausen will live comment on all things happening around.

3. Ruby Soho: We need someone who'll take care of us. Especially of me and Eddie. We're a bit reckless, so we need someone to make sure we are fine. And Ruby gives me caring mama vibes.

4. Cash Wheeler: I want my boy to be around, too. But no Dax. I am selfish and want Cash to myself, if that is possible with 6 people in a car. I'll always try to sit next to him, so I can pretend to fall asleep and put my head on his shoulder. Yes, I am cheesy like that.

5. Nyla Rose: Have you ever checked out her twitter? She's ridiculously funny, I'd love to have her around for this. I feel like we could have a fun little back and forth with nasty jokes, making everyone else in attendance a bit uncomfortable...not that I/we care, though.

Where we go:

We are definitely roadtripping through Ireland and Northern Ireland. I have mentioned it before, but I really want to go there someday. So why not with my favorite crew?

We get a rental car and drive around the whole country, along the coast. Important stops are definitely Cliffs of Moher, the Stairway to Heaven, the Giant's Causeway, every Whiskey distillery we see, and of course Dublin. We all get a little drunk while checking out a few of the famous pubs (except for Ruby, who has to drive next), and visit the Guinness Brewery (...God, I really want a Guinness right now). Nyla is completely wasted at some point, which Eddie finds hilarious - mainly because he has a strong case of the giggles himself. The only person that you can't tell is drunk is actually Danhausen...because he is pretty wacky to begin with. As final act of one very drunk day, we end up at a Karaoke bar where we all steal the show...because we are by far the worst performers: all 6 of us together, desperately trying to perform Sia's "Chandelier", but it sounds like everyone is singing a different song. Everybody's also off-key, but differently off-key, so we sound like a bunch of hyenas fighting over the last piece of zebra meat.

[skiyoosmi]

post-break up heartaches

verse 1. in the car that used to drive us to our home

⤷ kuroo tetsurou, oikawa tooru — more characters coming soon

⤷ verse 2 | verse 3

⤷ play. never let me go by ghostly kisses, forget about us by clinton kane

commissions: open

⇢ KUROO sighs for the umpteenth time of the day. he was so fucking exhausted and his body's about to give in to sleep any moment now. work has been beating his ass; there was this newbie who kept on messing up the documents needed by the board and for the whole day, he had to be the one to fix said issues. it's not like he wasn't paid enough for that; if anything, his paycheck was one of the most beautiful things he laid his eyes on— but god, even his body has its own limits and yet...

"ya.... yer not supposed to do this anymore. y-ya left me, remember?" you slurred, index finger pointing right at his chest as he circled his arms around your waist, huffing as you practically dropped all your weight on him. here he was, suddenly given the task of having to take you home after your supposed-to-be designated driver, miya fucking atsumu, also drank his brains out with you.

"be patient. still heartbroken because of you, y'know?" kenma softly tells him despite the tipsy feeling lurking in the back of his mind, shaking his head as he looked at you, whose system finally shut down and were now dozing off in the black haired man's arms.

"..... still?" he mumbles, looking down at your figure and he feels his heart contract with pain all over again.

"you can't expect her to be fine immediately, kuroo. it was your wedding day, supposed to be the greatest day of her life and yet it became the worst one... you left her at the altar alone."

he didn't reply anything— or rather, he was unable to. because what can he say to refute the truth? nothing. instead, he proceeded to his car with you still in his hold. he places you on the passenger seat, locking the seatbelts before jogging to the driver's side.

the car ride was calm as you slept soundly with your head occasionally hitting the window lightly as it swayed from side to side. he was sure as hell that if you were sober right now, you wouldn't even have the thought of seeing him cross your mind. he just knows for sure that you despise him with your whole being... at least, that's what he thought until...

"i'm sorry, tetsu. please come back," you whimper in your seat, voice quiet but he heard it nonetheless, "tell me what i did wrong so i can fix it."

the pitiful sounds and mumbles you made struck kuroo right in the heart and which makes him pull over an empty but safe road, just a block away from your (previously shared) apartment. looking over your form, he finds himself reaching out to touch your face, caressing your cheeks as drops of tears fell down slowly on them, "you didn't do anything wrong. you were fine. you were so perfect."

you squint your eyes at him, probably wondering if this was real or just a part of your drunken imagination. nonetheless, you hiccuped, "y-you... you left me and i... i still can't even bring myself to hate you... i just wanna ask you why? i just want to understand."

he thought he also knew the reason why but every single time he thinks about it, he's only led to one conclusion: because he was a coward. no way was this any of your fault— it's definitely not your fault that right at that moment, as he stared at the mirror, wearing the black suit you chose for him, the sudden fear of commitment loomed over him. it's not like it was your fault he suddenly got scared of losing you the way his parents lost each other. but now he thinks it's ironic, because he lost you anyway.

maybe... just maybe, if he had just met you where you stood at the altar, instead of leaving you alone in it, maybe he would've been happier. maybe his days would've started more with a smile from you as you helped him fix his necktie before going to work. maybe, the working hours he spends in the shitty corporate world would've been more worth it if it meant he can come home to you at the end of the day. maybe... maybe he wouldn't have to be stuck with this lump in his throat as he wonders what could've been happening if he just chose to show up and vowed his life to you.

but he didn't.

"i realized i wasn't just ready to tie my life with anyone yet. that's all there is to it, yn."

so with a heavy feeling stuck in his chest and a quiet promise to never see you again for the sake of not hurting you further, he starts the car's engine again, ignoring the words you replied but he was sure they will haunt him for a very long time... again.

i can wait for you no matter how long it takes, tetsu, you know that.

⇢ OIKAWA gives you what seems like a guilty smile as he stands in front of you, opening his arms and gesturing you to come closer. but the stoic expression on your face takes him back to the reality that the last thing you wanted to do today was to actually fetch him from the airport. it just so happens that his three best friends were caught up with work that they had no choice but to send you, the main ex-bestfriend slash ex-girlfriend, to him.

why did you agree when you practically loathe him with your whole being? well, it was probably because you weren't the devil who would reject your friends when they were literally on their knees as they begged you and for some reason, you thought he'll look pitiful going back to his home country after five years with no one to welcome him. yeah, that's it. it's not like you're still in love with him or anything.

"my car's just around the corner," you begrudgingly walk towards the car park with him quietly following. at the moment, he knew better than to get on your nerves or else there would be war. he hates that this happened to the both of you but he can't blame anyone else but himself. because who wouldn't hate their ex-boyfriend if they suddenly broke up with them over a phone call?

tension filled the car as you both sat beside each other. perhaps, this was what other people were talking about when they say that it's impossible for exes to be friends again, to not feel any awkwardness because you were sure as hell that the word "awkward" was an understatement of your situation right now. nevertheless, your eyes couldn't help but wander to his figure as he adjusted his body, opting for a more comfortable position in the passenger's seat.

he looked more youthful and you felt bittersweet— proud that his whole aura screams of "success" which meant that gone were the days where he longed to get that winter cup trophy, nor the times when he overworked himself and put a strain on his knee which led to countless arguments with you. if anything, he looked happier and it sucks because you're not even close to feeling that way... not without him.

"i heard you've finally gotten yourself your own condominium? that's great, yn!" he exclaimed as soon as you began driving to your destination, a hope lit within him that maybe you might just respond to him. just one smile, that's all i need, he thinks.

but you remain focused on your driving, choosing to reply with a single nod and a soft "yeah..."

disappointment fills his heart as he faces the truth that your relationship has really been ruined, along with your friendship. all because he was foolish to think that he couldn't handle the physical distance between you two. realization dawns upon him that he just made that same distance worse as you pull your heart further away from him.

"... i actually bought it for the two of us, you know?" he whips his head to your direction in surprise, heart clenching as he watch you let out a sad chuckle, "i just... i thought it would be nice if we had a place to permanently stay at and for you to have a home to go to when you're at japan. but yeah... i guess things doesn't go our way sometimes, does it?"

"i'm sor—"

"it's okay. i'm fine now," you quickly reply, shaking your head but keeping your eyes on the road. he tries to ignore the tears that start to form in them because he has no right to stop them, knowing full well that he was the one who caused them in the first place.

as if on cue, you halt your vehicle in front of a familiar apartment and much to your dismay, you find yourself looking back in the past when you used to live in that same place, making wonderful memories with the chocolate haired lad with you. you clear your throat to stop the sob that desperately attempts to escape your throat, "uhm... we're here."

"oh, yeah. we're here," he numbly states, already missing you despite the mere inches of space separating the two of you. you just felt so far away and he hates it. but this was the path he chose so he gets out of your car along with his things, turning to you once more, "uhh... thanks for the ride, yn. i know you probably hate me but yeah... it's very nice of you to put that past us and i guess i just want to say sorry for hurting you... i just..."

"i don't hate you, tooru," you softly tell him, "i just don't want anything to do with you anymore. to see you this happy, without me, is like a slap in the face because i'm not. it still hurts and i'm not fine. i just hope this will be the last time we'll see each other. be safe on your trip back to argentina. welcome home."

and with that, you start the car's engine again, no longer having the energy nor the strength to hear his reply. but he wishes you did because as he watches your car drive further away from him, he can't help but wish that he can take back time so that you don't have to go to that condominium and instead, go inside the home you once shared with him.

but i'm not happy, yn. because how could i call this place my home when you're not here with me?

at that moment, unbeknownst to the two hearts that long for each other break at the same time, you finally let out the tears and cries that you've been keeping since you saw him, knowing that no matter how much you try, you'll never be as happy as you were with him— simply because he left you with a hole in your heart that no one else can fill.

© SKIYOOSMI, 2021. reposting, translating, editing, copying and any kind of plagiarism are strictly prohibited, thank you.

[winteringdream]

O2. grocery shopping goes wrong

SYNOPSIS ; being part of a big friend group has its perks. as summer nears, you find yourself living the ultimate summer dream. but, catching feelings for one of your best friends makes your summer more complicated than it should be

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After taking a bus to the destination all of the teens are exhausted. It was now 1 pm and Jay opens the door of the beach house.

"Our home for the next few days. Shoes off though."

Everyone quickly kicks of their shoes and plop down on the sofa in the living room.

"Jay! Give us a house tour!" Sunoo suggests. The beach trip had only been possible because of Jay's amazing beach house he had talked quite a lot about.

The house, which looked more like a modern house at the beach, had two floors.

A big staircase that was situated weirdly somewhere between the kitchen and living room led to the four bedrooms and bathrooms.

"And this is the last room, the same as all the other bedrooms." Jay says, ending his tour.

"Let's choose roommates right now. I really need a place for my bags." Yeji says. She points to the staircase. All the bags had been placed on the stairs.

Four rooms meant that there would be three people sleeping in each of them.

"Should we just play rock, paper and scissors?" Jungwon suggests.

"Rock, paper, scissors!" Riki suddenly exclaims. Everyone in the group, caught off guard, throws a random move.

Jay and Jake, the first ones to lose, get the first room in the hallway. Yeji, who was the second one to lose, joined them.

"I just know my plans to sleep in are not going to happen anymore." She whispers to Xiaoting, before taking her bag to the room.

The second round ended with Riki, Heeseung and Hikaru in the second room.

Xiaoting, Sunghoon and you in the third, and Jungwon, Rei and Sunoo in the last.

All of you passed out after taking the bags to the room and didn't wake up until 3 pm.

Jake and Riki were already in the living room, whispering as if they were teenage girls talking about their crushes.

"Yeah, let's do that. You're so smart, Jake." Riki excitedly whispers.

"Yeah, Jake is so smart." Heeseung mocks as he walks down the stairs.

"Heeseung! Jake just suggested to do a campfire on the beach. With marshmallows!" Riki beamed.

"Oh."

"What do you mean "oh"?"

"I thought it was about the ynwon ship."

"Wait! Heeseung, you're so smart!"

"We need marshmallows." You say, typing out a list in your notes app.

"Meat as well." Jungwon adds. "And instant ramen."

Heeseung's mentioning of the ynwon ship had resulted in you and Jungwon being the ones to go grocery shopping for the camp fire.

Riki and Jake had insisted on making the two of you go to the store.

"Does anyone like melon milk?" You ask.

"Ew, no." He scrunches his nose in disgust, "The banana and strawberry ones are more known for a reason."

"They really need to stop shipping us." You mumble under your breath.

"What did you say?"

"Why do they suddenly ship us and make us do things like this? I feel like it'd be so awkward if two people from the friend group would date eachother."

You reach for more banana milk and toss them into the cart.

"You mean that you'd think it would change our dynamic as friends?"

"Yeah, don't you think so?"

"But what if you can't help falling in love with someone?"

You stop with counting the amount of milk you got.

"What do y-"

"Hypothetically! I meant it hypothetically! Like you can't really control who you like..."

"I guess so."

The two of you walk silently towards the self scan.

"Let's just forget about what I said just now, the likeliness of our friends getting together is pretty small." Jungwon says when he gets on the bike.

"Mhm." You hum in agreement, "It's probably going to be nothing serious."

TAGLIST : @hiqhkey

[monster-bait]

Hi, I see lots of people asking about stories of yours that you've taken down for publishing and it made me wonder. Do you have a place where people can read synopsis (plural??) of upcoming books/books that have been taken down? I saw the teaser for Sweet Berries at the end of your Farm book, but I don't know the one coming in 2022 I don't think and I wanna get hyped! (Have read Sweet Berries stories, but the book is gonna be bomb)

I don't have a synopsis landing page, but my website is about to get an overhaul, so that might be changing!

In the meantime, here's the tentative order of things:

Parties, GW book 2- Several months after a weekend girls' trip, suburban elves Lurielle, Ris, and Silva are still affected by their experiences at the resort and the orcs they met there.

Lurielle discovers that being in a multi-species relationship has its challenges: meeting Khash's family, introducing him to hers, and facing the harsh realities that lie ahead if they stay together. A lifetime together or a lifetime apart - she must decide if she can bear the heartache the future holds.

When Ris returns to the resort on a whim, an unexpected encounter with a slightly familiar face upends this elf's desire to be a free as the wind. Ainsley is simultaneously everything and nothing that she's looking for - smart and sexy and completely unattached . . . but how long can they "keep things casual?"

Silva struggles to juggle the expectations of her family and seeing Tate in secret until she becomes tangled in her web of lies, necessitating a choice - following the carefully mapped life of privilege her family has planned for her in their Elvish community . . . or throwing it all away to follow her heart, for a man with his own heart full of secrets.

Parties is a multi-POV story, following all three girls through a succession of soirees, each one winding their separate story lines - and the work friends - tighter together.

Sweet Berries - Grace has a job she loves, a community she adores, and plenty of friends . . . but her lack of bedroom action has left this event planner too horny to think. When one ill-advised night at the bar leads to her giving an exhibitionistic show to an unknown presence outside her bedroom window, she thinks she’d hit a new low. When her voyeur turns out to be a nebbishly charming mothman, Grace needs to decide if she can trust her body — and her heart — with this garnet-eyed stranger before he flys out of her life for good.

Sweet Berries is a monster/human romance novella featuring high heat and a lot of heart, with a guaranteed HEA. It is the second book in the Cambric Creek Romance series, and can be read as a standalone. CWs: human/nonhuman romance, nonhuman anatomy, size difference, exhibitionism

Pride - Don’t ever go into the forest alone, gorza, there are strangers there who will take you away.

She had grown up in the shadow of the forest, with the story of the boy who’d disappeared into its black confines having been passed down in her clan for generations. She never imagined the story’s subject might be real.

Nineteen, rebellious, and queer; trapped in a marriage she never wanted, Elshona wishes that she too could disappear from her life, never to be seen again. When she meets a sharp-toothed stranger in a pub, whose past bears more than just a passing resemblance to the tale she’s known all her life, she does the one thing she was taught not to do: follows him into the night, out the door and away from her family and all she knows, all the way across the sea.

Pride is a Girls Weekend side-story about Tate and Elshona: how they meet, their shared connection, and the pain of not being accepted and leaving home behind. It's a story of queer acceptance, chosen family, and the ties that bind us, for better or worse. CW: ALL the emotions

Moon Blooded Breeding Clinic - Returning to Cambric Creek is the last thing Lowell Hemming wants to do, but when his career as a photographer is put on hold, he’s not left with much of a choice. Suffocating under the weight of the Hemming family name and the confines of his small hometown, the monthly full moon is the only time he doesn’t feel trapped. When an intriguing flyer requesting healthy male werewolves catches his eye, he finds himself calling Moon Blooded Breeding Clinic, signing up as a donor for their catalog.

From the outside, recently divorced Moriah has everything - except the one thing she wants: a child of her own. Desperation pushes her to contact a very unconventional clinic with an unparalleled success rate . . . all she needs to do is align her reproductive cycle to the full moon and pick a werewolf from a catalog with whom to mate.

Moon Blooded Breeding Clinic will feature a high heat slow burn that examines real-world issues through the unique lens of Cambric Creek. CW: knotting, breeding, werewolf/human relationship.

Changes, GW book 3 - hahahaha, nope. Not yet!

Wheel of the Year - Ousted from her coven, hurting for clients, and struggling to keep her aging family home, socially awkward witch Ladybug is at the end of her rope. When she rents the attic bedroom to a silent, unsmiling drider, she thinks her life might be on the right track to improve; when she lets him into her bed, it will never be the same.

Wheel of the Year is a series of short vignettes, centered around the witch's sabbaths. CW: arachnophobia, spider anatomy, biological aphrodisiac, HUGE size difference, non-human/human romance.

Beneath the Linden Trees 1 - In a time of war and kings, the orcs of clan Duh’lar have secured the mountains for their own, and if adopting the customs of men is the only way to keep it, they will do what they must. Peace and prosperity follow, but when war comes to the Easterlands, the Lord of Linden Hall must decide if the orcs will honor their treaties.

Beneath the Linden Trees follows tree orcs and the women they love, and how the decisions of one affects the lives of the others:

Aurelie is a well-bred human Lady from the Easterlands, promised in marriage to the youngest son of the orc lord, sent away from her father's keep to her new home at Linden Hall. To her shock, her betrothed is warm and kind, well-spoken and indulgent . . . but after several weeks in residence in her new home, she has still not laid eyes on Tilianus, the orc she is to marry.

Lisette and Gelgrah, a witch destined for the stake and the orc who rescues her, have built their home at the base of the mountain, far from Linden Hall. When war comes to the mountains, Lisette realizes their little family is at risk of being torn apart.

Eh'lazar is an acolyte at the temple of the moon, learning the ancients arts from the high priestess, Eonar, before he is cast out for dabbling in darker magics. Hardening his heart, he cultivates a reputation as a powerful necromancer, capable of raising an army of the dead . . . but when war comes to the mountains, he must choose between cementing his power and the elf he once loved.

Beneath the Linden Trees will be a three-part series (for now) that should be read as a series. CW: typical period-era violence, human/non-human romance, size differences

Rosemary & Time - She had always known the way through the wood, until the day the wood changed.

When Thorn follows a light into the forest, the world she thought she knew falls away. Memories and lives already lived shift and dance in her head, obliterating reality and leaving her at the mercy of the fae to whom she is forever bound. Jack of the lanterns is the last person she ought to trust, but as she is thrust into the world of the high courts, he is all she has.

Surviving the treacherous Court of Autumn's capricious Queen and her deadly consort are only the start of Thorn's journey through the wood, and she must decide if she is willing to play their game forever . . . or free herself from her captor, the man she has loved for several lifetimes.

Rosemary & Time is a topsy-turvy journey through the world of the fae, where magic and memory weave a confusing tapestry, and where nothing is ever what it seems. It is a standalone story, but is connected to Girls Weekend, and recommended for the richest reading if both worlds. CW: it's the fae, baby. All the content warnings.

Reunions, GW book 4 - I promised happy endings for all my babies, and after a lot of suffering, this is the book in which they finally get it.

That's what I have planned for now!