#and more open company. for reasons that are probably obvious

[sgiandubh]

The door faces North

This has been, by far, one of the most complex investigations I have ever done in this fandom, and I am truly sorry for the long wait I had to inflict on many of you & for the uncharacteristic radio silence in DMs and comments. During this peculiar journey, I checked, double-checked and cross-checked as many details as I could and I carefully considered at least two different theories, of which I still think they do not exclude each other. I am now confident enough to make not only an educated guess, but also a daring bet on SRH's next whisky move.

Also, sorry for the length of this post. Truly sorry - think of the completely pulverized night sleep I had to give up, in order to bring this to you.

But first, a word on Marple's obvious PR tip on the Hopetoun Estate refurbishment and distillery old/new project. I am fair game enough to tell you the obvious: her overall recounting of the principals is roughly correct, spare perhaps one or two minor details. Correct, but dry - she limits herself to the technical documentation submitted by Golden Decanters and The Hopetoun Estates Trust to the West Lothian Council for approval. She correctly points out that S is not a visible part of the deal, at this point in time and she does a decent summing up of a very, very, VERY plethoric amount of bureaucratic information. She concludes, and I think she is partially right, that he might be interested in becoming an investor (I am taking things a bit further, though). But in doing so, she focuses on the development phase of the project only: the possible connections with SRH and his own spirits business are less, if at all, obvious.

I am going to give you my view of all this charade and, if I am going to mention (and probably repeat) some things already found by her, I am going to focus on the people: this is where the whole story starts to become remarkably interesting, at least to me. After all, I remember promising you some more clarity. Here's an honest, fair play take.

Little did I know, when I started to write about that (now defunct) company, Midhope Castle Distillery, Ltd (https://www.tumblr.com/sgiandubh/748597198794670080/the-info-provided-above-is-correct-but-outdated?source=share), that my investigation would turn to this:

... for it was to be just an almost random layer of a juggernaut matryoshka of defunct or still active companies, featuring roughly the same people and no less than 6 different name combinations centered around Midhope, Hopetoun, etc.

The following pics will give you an idea - feel free to open them in a separate tab, for clarity . I preferred this synthetic approach, because otherwise you will curse the shite out of me. But it had to be done, with or without Depon, Advil's Greek cousin (and before you ask a graphologist, this is my handwriting, and nobody else's 🙃):

The only explanation for the whole almost frantic Midhope/Hopetoun crisscross/hopscotch (LOL) combos I can think of is two people trying to secure one (several?) credit lines or to attract significant investors for their project and ultimately failing to do so. But I might be wrong (although I doubt that, thank you). Out of this entire maze ( I swear I now have a migraine), there are only two active companies remaining: Golden Decanters Ltd (renamed GD Spirits Ltd, in April 2022) and Midhope Ltd (renamed Skosk Ltd, in July 2023). It is on them I am going to focus my gaze.

GD Spirits Ltd was incorporated in Berwick-upon-Tweed, England (just across the Scottish border), probably for tax reasons, on March 11, 2015, the nature of its business being listed as 'wholesale of wine, beer, spirits, etc.'. It started with a team of two women: Julia Mackenzie-Gillanders and Ann Medlock, whose names we are going to see over and over again in all the eight corporate avatars. Later down the timeline (LOL for three decades and a half), on January 30, 2018, they were briefly (until July 19, 2018) joined by two very interesting professionals: Mrs. Margaret Boswell, an attorney at the very prestigious international law firm Gide Loyrette Nouel (Paris and London offices)...

...and Ken Robertson, former Corporate Affairs Director at Diageo Whisky, a subsidiary of the international Diageo group, one of the major players on the world spirits' market:

The second company, Skosk Ltd, was incorporated in August 2021, in Perth, Scotland, its nature of business being listed as 'distilling, rectifying and blending of spirits', with the clear intention to align with the exacting criteria prescribed by the 2009 Scotch Whisky Regulations:

[ Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scotch_whisky - sorry, I don't have time to wax lyrical on this, and neither do you]

This time, we only meet again the two distillerettes, Gillanders and Medwick. Up until now, at least, nobody else (attorney, former sales executive, whisky expert) has joined the platoon - TBC? I would not speculate and leave all options open.

There is little to 0 transparency on Skosk's financial situation, at the moment and to be honest, it looks very much like S's co-star (hehe)'s Irish business venture...

... but I was a bit more lucky, and the numbers more chatty, as far as GD Spirits was concerned:

Paging all shipper chartered accountants out there, but to me, it doesn't look great, at the moment. Cash is ridiculous, the net worth is hemorrhaging and the current assets are negligible, compared to 2020, when I think they managed to secure one or two credit lines, but not nearly enough for what they needed. Just enough to pay themselves and their external consultants and cover the operating costs, if you ask me.

The revised Planning Statement, of 8 February 2024, posted first by Marple, echoes my initial guess (COVID blew it up, see link to the first post) and the above assessment:

Mark this: 'Discussions are now proceeding with investors and there is a realistic prospect that work will begin in the near future (2024/2025) to implement the permission.' Given that they will start with the road and parking rehabilitation and upgrading, probably overlapping with the distillery building, it would make sense to begin this autumn at the earliest, with the most urgent: access to the site itself.

The initial Planning Statement, dated 9 July 2020 and re-posted on March 21st, 2024, tells a more detailed story. This is part and parcel of the current project as well, since the revision is just pointing out the changes operated, not the entire rest, which remains unchanged. You be the judge:

Also keep in mind this tiny, tiny thing: the Business Plan is 'submitted (...) under Private and Confidential Cover'. See where I am looking?

The initial plan was (and still is) for GD Spirits to produce their own booze, using Midhope's own barley (this is very important for the rest of my theory!). They even offer an overview of the real impact of their project on the local economy:

20 to 38 initial new job creations for a £ 15 to 30 million investment is not 'huge', madam Marple. Cumbernauld is huge. This? This is rather modest, if you ask me. But hey, what do I know about the labor market, right?

That initial Statement tells also the story they want to tell about the genesis of their idea, the scouting for the right location and a couple of other interesting details:

So they are telling us they started to look for the perfect location in 2018 and oh, hello, they found the Hopetoun Estate rather quickly, already starting the pre-planning application consultations as early as July 2019 (don't get me started, please):

If so, then why did they incorporate not one, but two different companies clearly linking them to the Estate (Hopetoun Estate Distillery Ltd and Hopetoun Estate Whiskies Ltd) the same day and as early as May 23rd 2017 (and both dissolved in December 2022), as my above penciled timeline (LOOOOOL) shows? Who is really behind this project and why this entire ballet? It's like me pre-emptively looking for rental properties in (let's randomly guess) Lisbon, when it's just wishful thinking, heavily projecting and with 0 guarantees I will be posted there, right? I mean, I adore and deeply know Lisbon and I would be thrilled to go there. But I am not currently looking for any rental property, just like that, because that would be a #silly, rookie mistake. In their case, I think there's a different situation - again, you be the judge.

A first answer, as to who is really behind that project, was given by the UK media, back in 2020:

How odd, when we know that both Mrs. Boswell, the well-traveled attorney and Mr. Robertson resigned from GD Spirits in July 2018. Do they still say hi to the two distillerettes? Do they quietly keep an eye on the project? Are they silent partners? Business angels? Shareholders? Time to remind you that under UK law, there is 0 visibility on the shareholder's structure of a company. You just see the officers (Director, Secretary, etc), on the Company House website. On an umpteenth, last- second cross-check, it became apparent that Mr. Robertson remained involved in another company of the distillerettes, Hopetoun Estate Whiskies Ltd (yes, the one mentioned above), until its voluntary strike-off, in December 2022.

Their best laid plans do mention OL, and how could it be otherwise? But all this £ 15 to 30 million hullaballoo for 20.000 people only (who counted them and how?), on a seasonal basis?

High-end restaurant, luxury B&B, event spaces, you name it. Interesting, to say the least.

And, for the people in the back, who still think SRH has a 100 years lease at Midhope (Jesus H. Roosevelt Christ, the stupidity!):

This is why he commented as a 'member of the public'. At face value, there is no public involvement into that project. Yet. But it is my belief there is a vested interest in all this, justifying the comment, the visit, those papers rolled in his fist, etc. At first, I thought that was a visit to Lallybroch by the Exec Producer of OL's Season 8, to discuss technicalities - and shared that privately with a wonderful friend only. I mean, why not and still perfectly possible. But then, as I could not sleep tonight and felt guilty to have you all waiting, I started to connect some tiny dots.

Like this one, for a start:

Yes, I know, Marple told you that FIRST, I would not dare say otherwise, because if I did there would be a transcontinental screech. That trademark application was filed at the US Patent and Trade Office in September 2023 and I thought (and still partially do) it was a potential rebranding solution to The Sassenach's EUIPO nightmare (much exaggerated by the fandom's toothbrush experts):

But you also know I am an idiot and I always check people's CVs, when I follow a thread. This morning, the one Distillerette I am particularly interested in is Mrs. Julia Hall-Mackenzie-Gillanders (née Scales) and not like *urv would be.

Her LinkedIn profile is exceptionally talkative, too:

... and a BA (with Honors) in Fashion Design, class of 2005, at the Northumbria University.

The Financial Times article 'From packing boxes to wine deals worth millions', you can read on her LinkedIn page, tells a very interesting story. It is the story of a shy underdog (lots of temple bells clinging, at the moment), who made it by sheer persistence. It starts like this:

'When a painfully shy young woman contacted a fine wine merchant and said ' I have no qualifications- can I help?', she got the job and today is signing deals worth millions of pounds.'

It obviously did ring a bell and if SRH knows she exists (she is married, *urv!), and I dare to speculate he does, it must have struck a deep chord. Would I do business with her? I wouldn't speculate, although I am not very sure. Would he? He'd probably listen very carefully to what she has to pitch, for a start.

And what she has to pitch is also very interesting, in his world. A brief look at the Golden Decanters' website shows a first high-end single malt sourced collection of 4 exceptional expressions already sold out:

And when they mean high-end, they mean gold leaf labelling and all the tralala:

And, some last minute news, too:

Remind me, because I am an old woman, after this white night: wasn't The Sassenach (no comment, we agree to disagree and I am very skeptical), a blend?

We have these dots, then:

Bold Underdog ->spirits business->high-end collection of single malts sold out->business partnership with owners of Midhope Castle, fictional Lallybroch in OL, including a distillery and whisky production with Midhope/Lallybroch barley -> visit by the male lead and spirits entrepreneur (also the fictional Lallybroch laird) to Midhope/Lallybroch and vested interest in the estate's most recent business project....

What if The Sassenach would be included, for a start, in that new Blended Collection? And could it really be fanfic to imagine a future high-end, limited edition, Lallybroch whisky produced at Midhope, with Midhope/Lallybroch barley? It wouldn't be the first time, would it: after all, they did it with that limited tequila batch.

As I said, because I am (remember Someone? LOL) a 'silly cow', I was hoping he wouldn't do it. But my guess is he might very well do exactly that, with those people and under that label.

It's half past eight AM, local time and I need a strong, black coffee.

I rest my case (and I am bracing myself for the screeching). I will answer Anons later, after I come back from the hairdresser's. Appointments must be kept at all costs. Thank you all for your patience.

[seilon]

im Really hoping taemin’s partly doing this to maybe gain more freedom in his concepts and such and what he’s Allowed to show or write or sing in his mvs and albums and all that. but i dont know enough about the new agency he’s bouncing to to say if they’re better or worse on that front

[long-live-astronerd-ghost-king]

Ectoberhaunt 2023. Day 5. Hunt and Haunt.

~Well, here we go again, good old Ghost Hunger AU~

Description: The Ghost Zone is inherently a violent place. You can hunt or be hunted, there is no other options. However, for some reason the Halfa does not understand what is happening. And no one rushes to explain it. NB! ghost cannibalism is mentioned.

Prompt after memes

Suppose there’s a conventional division among ghosts. Some of them are potential predators capable of hunting their own kind, while others are only able to absorb the surrounding energy and therefore build up power more slowly than hunters.

So, predation is used as a method of survival in poor ectoplasm areas of the Ghost Zone, less often as a means of gaining power. Even less often hunters are created.

It is obvious that the appearance of a hunter who is the son of human ghost hunters in a haunting place without stable sources of ectolasm has caused panic in the society of the dead ones. For the newly formed ghost to have ectoblasts, fangs or ghost sense is a rarity and great luck. So the newcomer had everything and more to be a serious threat. An awful danger for the surrounding spirits…Right?

But Danny doesn’t know the specifics of his new biology ectology!

Even though he’s a hunter, he’s never had a ghost hunger. Probably because thanks to his parents he has an amazing ectoplasm concentrator in the basement. Soon everyone understands that the boy does not attack first. Those who return through the portal never report any losses at all. He does not bite or attempt to capture cores of other spirits. At first, the ghosts think it's a trap. Smart enough for a beginner. Not everyone has the tenacity to pretend to be an idiot to get close to them. But the Phantom never feeds on them. He’s…safe?

What’s more, Danny seems to think they’re a threat to the city. Which is fun and weird. Normally, there is no competition for feeding using human emotion. But the owner of the lair did not like the smell of fear in the air. Is this ghost broken?

When the ghosts who visit Amity realize that the halfa does not know that he can hunt them, rather than just guard his territory...Well, it explains a lot. Everyone agrees not to explain the situation to the boy so that the city behind the portal remains a relatively safe haven during the during a "hunting season" and other troubles in the Infinite Realms.

~~~~~

The problem arises when Phantom begins exploring the Ghost Zone. What if the other hunters make the boy stop being a freak?

In addition, more experienced ghosts may well attack the careless halfa. And Amity Park under the control of a more predatory spirit would be a terrible outcome. Most dead ones near the portal are used to the fact that the area before Wisconsin is open to travel and migration without the threat of being eaten.

All rational ghosts try to avoid the territory of hunters. If you can’t defend yourself, there’s too much risk of being a free meal. It’s much safer to settle down with spirits with similar energy levels at door clusters. If the hunter does not purposefully show up at your lair, you will have a much better chance of keeping the afterlife.

Those of the Ancients who have won their position and those of them who were created for it have become accustomed to isolation. Although all the Ancients have lost the need to eat 'cause they have absorbed enough energy, legends about their past are still be nightmares for all spirits. Just because they don’t need to eat other ones doesn’t mean they won’t. It is clear that a weaker hunter can also be hunted. No reason to risk.

Therefore, how freely and fearlessly Phantom communicates with Frostbite, Clockwork or Pandora is puzzling. Does he feel threatened at all? The Ancients find this experience refreshing. Lil communication without fear makes them feel sympathy for this youngling. Danny is always glad of their company. And the boy is not afraid to express his opinion. It is strange but...pleasant?

Their minions from time to time complain that they teach a potential enemy but it is very difficult to see a possible rival in Phantom. Danny is always in trouble. The youngster is silly and careless. Like a wet kitten that can’t even make a threatening hiss. So Ancients, to their own surprise, don't mind helping him. Why isn’t his naivety annoying?

For example, Frostbite’s trying to teach Danny hunting and tracking techniques because he thinks the little cub doesn’t know how to be what he supposed to be. Meanwhile Danny sees his attempts as a course of self-defense that he can use against ghosts who try to infiltrate his city.

~~~~~Bonus~~~~~

Some insufficiently powerful ghosts mimic predators to scare away dangerous spirits and protect themselves. Skulker is quite pleased that he managed to deceive halfa:

[jellyveesh]

oh, paw-lease!

fandom ## hazbin hotel (dog-sinner reader)

characters ## charlie morningstar, vaggie, alastor, angel-dust, husker, lucifer morningstar

prompt ## it would seem a new sinner has arrived at the hotel, sporting a set of bouncy ears and an eagerly swaying tail. how will this new canine companion fit into the dynamics of the hazbin hotel?

contains ## SHOW SPOILERS, gender-neutral reader, canon-typical character behaviours/habits, reader is annoyingly bubbly but in a puppy-dog way, reader is gen z, no one in this show is morally good (obviously), NO ROMANCE, autistic-coded lucifer, fan theories are used, stereotypical 'dog' characteristics, brief mention of valentino (cringe)

masterlist part two potential - open to writing for more characters

when you first arrived at the hotel, you were pretty much fresh-meat in hell, and definitely of a different generational variety to the other residents (much to their confusion and mutual horror).

charlie welcomes you to the hotel with open arms and a huge smile - and everyone is blinded by the two balls of sunshine chatting happily in the doorway. vaggie convinces her to let you in, and you settle into the hotel extremely well.

you get along well with everyone... well, nearly everyone!

CHARLIE MORNINGSTAR

for obvious reasons, charlie adores you - your bubbly nature sharply contrasts the mellowed nature of husker, the over-the-top nature of nifty and the sneakiness that alastor maintains

but charlie isn't stupid and she obviously knows you're down here for one sinful reason or another, so she doesn't think you're harmless...

no matter how much that fluffy tail thumps against the floor, YOU ARE NOT HARMLESS

she enjoys using you as the focus point of redemption exercises - mainly because most of the residents like/are indifferent to you, and you just like everyone

planned a group fetch session one time, ended up with you passed out in the entryway the second they entered the hotel

you are her therapy dog sinner at this point, whenever she feels like she's bordering a panic attack you just poof magically appear and comfort her - using some very interesting jokes (gen z humour is honestly more traumatising than comforting, but it works in charlie's case), and allowing her to play with your tail and ears.

bought you tons of squeaky toys...

overall, is extremely happy you arrived at the hotel, and wouldn't change you for the world

VAGGIE

vaggie enjoys your presence - especially considering you seem to be about as sane as you can be, considering you're in hell and you're a sinner

like, she can have an intelligent conversation with you and then NOT feel the sudden urge to smash her head into the nearest wall (*cough* alastor *cough*)

you're her excuse to get out of the hotel, even if it's for five minutes

"i need to walk the dog" type excuse - you go along with it, because like... who doesn't enjoy walks?

despite you being a sinner, you have a lot of dog features - it's honestly hard to tell you were ever even human once upon a time, under all that fluff and fur - and you LOVE those shitty little squeaky dog toys

vaggie hates those squeaky dog toys

definitely hides them around the hotel so you can't find them

too bad you've got a sensitive sniffer and find them everytime

you stayed outside hers and charlie's room the first time she hid them, obnoxiously squeaking the toy just to be petty and kept her awake

now you just enjoy it looking for the toys, it's like a game

overall, vaggie enjoys your company - you can be very energetic and sometimes overwhelming, but you can be equally as soft and silent

she thinks she wouldn't mind you hanging around for a little while longer

ALASTOR

alastor can't stand you.

you're a dog, he HATES dogs - for many obvious reasons, of course

not that you've explicitly done anything to him, so he tolerates you - just keep an adequate distance between the two of you, and you'll be just peachy

overtime, you become accustomed to the fact that alastor will probably never like you - and you definitively become softer around him in order to accommodate to his needs

you don't necessarily know WHY he doesn't like you, but the way his eyes shift tell you that he's uncomfortable

you soften your tone of voice, make all of your movements extremely predictable and slow, and make sure to keep your pesky tail in check

overtime, this 'submissive' tactic (it's not really, but it's better to say that than to say alastor is fearful of this cheery little puppy) begins to break down alastor's carefully crafted walls

the first breakthrough was when alastor invited you to go to the library with him - you had to physically hold your tail down as it began wagging excitedly

you guys sat in the library for hours, mere inches apart from each other - your tail softly thumping against the couch, and the soft static of alastor's radio filling the air as you both read your respective books

you guys cook together (more like he cooks and you just watch excitedly, having no thoughts behind those beady puppy-dog eyes) - you have so many questions, and he answers each one with endless patience, and tells you you're a 'good dog' whenever you hand him a kitchen tool he needs

you love being called a good dog :3

overall, he's not used to you yet - but he's getting there

complete avoidance has turned into greetings, light touches here and there, and invitations to join him in his endeavours

i'd say that's a job well done

ANGEL DUST

angel had a temporary urge to taint your giddiness - it didn't last long, but long enough that the guilt of it eats him alive most days

but he adores you, and you quickly become fast friends - you act as an escape from his job, your personality so contrasting from his day-to-day

angel buys you tons of cute outfits, most of which contain chokers or pendants after you expressed that you used to wear them when you were alive - and wearing them brings you a strange sense of comfort

definitely got you a charm that said 'if lost, call angel dust xxx-xxx' and hooked it onto a little doggy collar as a gag gift

you still wore it though, and he just became absolute putty at the way your tail wagged

angel sometimes wakes up to you curled up at his side, with fat nuggets mirroring you on his other side - he doesn't mind, he actually loves the fact that he's your first comfort-call

no one snitch, but he wraps all of his arms around you and your tail thumps softly against the comforter in your sleep

in regards to angel's job, you're extremely understanding - hell is hell, and people get by in different ways

but you are FIERCELY protective of your newly found friend

in the episode where angel stands up to valentino for nifty's sake, you are trembling at husker's side - not out of fear, but out of pure anger and the desire to protect your own

however, when valentino lays hands on your precious friend? you're between them in seconds, teeth bared, ears flat against your scalp and low rumbling growls coming from your mouth

you make it very apparent you are no bark and all bite when valentino tries to bypass you to approach angel, snapping your jaws at him, and watch with mixed triumph and disgust as the moth-man scoffs and turns away

as soon as valentino is no longer in 'threat' distance, you turn to help angel to his feet - no words needed, and simply pressed your cold snout to his cheek as you felt his trembling hands in yours

from that day onwards, you pick angel up from work everyday without fail - even if it means sprinting across pentagram city just to get there on time

your consistent presence discourages valentino from keeping angel overnight, which fills you with pride - at least you rattled the fugly moth during your last encounter

overall, you're best friends - angel would burn the world for you, and you'd do the same for him, and that mutual respect for one another makes you a force to be reckoned with

you'd be surprised at how downright dirty the 'innocent' little pup could get when with the spider

HUSKER

frenemies through and through - but it's more like one-sided frenemies, because you simply have no enemies (except valentino. fuck you valentino.)

you and husker were not close AT ALL when you first arrived at the hotel, and instead opted for the stereotypical dog-cat relationship... a relationship built on pure contempt just for each others species, and spent a good portion of the first few days growling and hissing at one another

so, how did you two become fast friends considering your clear hate?

you.

you did the one thing that proved to husker you understood how cats functioned...

you brought him a mouse!

a dead one. a dead hell mouse.

now, to everyone else in the hotel, the display was disgusting - and several of them scrambled away from the bar with shrill screams - but, to husker, it was a sign of peace

and, from that point onwards, you became friends

that's literally it

husker wouldn't mention it to anyone, but he is an absolute cuddle bug - and having you, someone with no regard for personal space, around and jumping into hugs actually soothed his stolen soul

oftentimes, you two are found comfortably lounging on the couch - limps tangled together (and tails coiled around each others)

the two of you have a habit of falling into your more animalistic urges when it's just the two of you - so mutual grooming is not uncommon, and you've woken up several times to husker's tongue dragging across your head

he definitely pretends it doesn't happen after, but you both know

you make sure to return the favour, much to his distress - considering you just kind of... slobber, everywhere

when you two fight though it's actually vicious - biting, scratching, clawing, etc. absolutely scaring the hell out of everyone

but then after like two minutes you two are like "well, that was fun!"

husker is ultimately more playful in your presence, but he's still grumpy and if he asks you to go away - you will listen, because you understand not everyday is a cuddle day

overall, husker hate-loves you - you're a solid consistent in his day-to-day afterlife now, and he can actively become more relaxed with you around... and whilst that's why he loves you, it's also why he hates you, because you make him weak

LUCIFER MORNINGSTAR

lucifer has definitely hyperfixated on several animals during all of his years in heaven and hell - so i have no doubt he hyperfixated on dogs, or some kind of canine, at one point

and you're about as humanoid-ly doggy as it gets, or as humanoid-ly doggy as he's seen

and when you show interest in his hyperfixation on ducks, you instantly become his new favourite sinner at the hotel - although you enjoy ducks simply for dog-related reasons, you also enjoy how happy lucifer seems to get when speaking about them

you make a note to yourself to never harm another duck in your entire afterlife

with lucifer being autistic, and you seemingly having adhd qualities, you perfectly compliment each other

your friendship is the definition of "he asked for no pickles" with a tiny lucifer all teary eyed in the background

after lilith left, lucifer has had difficulty in maintaining his wings - and, much to his displeasure, you walked in on him trying to preen them, and struggling to reach the harder to get places

i mean, he has 6 wings, i wouldn't look after them either

but when you offer to help, he melts - guiding and directing you on what to do and what not to do, smiling adoringly at the look of concentration on your face and the way you stick your tongue out the corner of your mouth

as a reward, he preens you in return, expressing his thanks through the subtle gesture

preening is a sign of affection with birds, and i feel he would give into those mannerisms the more he hyperfixates on ducks

overall, lucifer absolutely adores you - and although the goal for the hotel is to redeem sinners, he lowkey hopes you're never redeemed

he'd simply miss you too much

and he definitely treats you like a little kid sometimes (theoretically, you are the youngest, generationally...)

[theveesbf]

𖹭 ࣪ 𓈒 ⊹🍵 If you love me let me hear it ₊ ◌ ۪ ࣪

✮ notes -> hey everyone! since dating hcs with her is what won the polls, here it is! I hope you guys enjoy it as much as I enjoyed writing this <3

★ warnings -> none

✮ content -> general dating headcanons with lynette. gn reader.

︰⌗1₊˚⋆ 🍵︰confession ꒷꒦˚｡

☆ Lynette would be confused of her feelings at first, so she never engaged on anything relates to them before being sure of what she was feeling.

☆ After realizing she's in fact, in love with you, Lynette would be a bit nervous of confessing to you. It's not that she was all that nervous about it, but it would be a bit humiliating to confess to you just to get rejected.

☆ So it took her some time to actually confess, but it was nothing that unique. Lynette probably just pulled you aside and told you about her feelings.

︰⌗2₊˚⋆ 🍵︰affection ꒷꒦˚｡

☆ Lynette wasn't the most affectionate person. You see, there's a reason most people actually believes on her robot acting.

☆ But for you she's willing to open some exceptions, just don't abuse it. Lynette lets you hug her sometimes in public, and shocking, she actually likes to hold hands with you when walking around Fontaine.

☆ In private Lynette might let you kiss her in random times on the cheek or forehead. On the lips only if you ask before!! And maybe if she's too stressed or in need of some extra affection, she also gives you the permission to pet her ears.

☆ Lynette likes to just have you around, in the same room as her, even if you two aren't saying anything. Just the fact you're there with her is enough.

☆ Whenever she wants to give you a gift, she asks her siblings for help. Lyney always ends up helping 99% of the times with his usual romantic knowledge.

︰⌗3₊˚⋆ 🍵︰dates ꒷꒦˚｡

☆ Dates with Lynette can either be just hanging around at home with her doing absolutely nothing, or going to a restaurant and then stopping by a nice place to talk.

☆ It isn't that much unique, but it holds a lot of feelings. Lynette likes your company, so these dates are the perfect for her.

☆ Sometimes on special occasions she asks for more help from her brother to where to take you, like when it's your birthday! Those dates are the rare times where she takes you to more fancy places and even take her siblings some times if you want.

︰⌗4₊˚⋆ 🍵︰feelings ꒷꒦˚｡

☆ Lynette loves you a lot, it's comparable to the love she has for her siblings. Lynette is not the type to say her feelings for you if you don't ask, but if do ask, she's more than glad to tell you about it.

☆ Since we all know she is from the fatui, it's quite obvious that she knows how to fight, and she's willing to threaten anyone who may seem dangerous for you.

☆ Obviously she's going to talk to you first because Lynette doesn't want to make irrational decisions, but if you are also with a strange feeling about a person, she's going to keep an eye on them.

︰⌗5₊˚⋆ 🍵︰random ꒷꒦˚｡

☆ Lynette loves when you give her something while saying "I saw this and thought of you...". It could be the most useless thing ever, she's very grateful for it.

☆ She never told her siblings about her relationship with you until you showed up being all cheesy with Lynette. They were so confused about what was happening and why she didn't tell them. She said that "you didn't asked me about it."

☆ Lynette likes to cuddle quite a lot to be honest. When it's late at night and you two are awake, she likes to just lay down with you and cuddle, while you pet hear ears.

[dn-imagines-in-2023]

DATE NIGHT

Light

Is pretty open to whatever you want to do. If you ask him to choose, he'll go with the classic dinner at a nice restaurant and maybe go to a museum or something.

He's a very good conversationalist. He loves to learn so he's very easy to talk to; he remembers details.

'Oh, they hate this color, I better pick a different tie.'

If you're doing something fun, he'll have a good time. But he's not a fan of the 'lay around on the couch' kind of dates, they make him feel unproductive.

L

He LOVES the lay around on the couch type of dates. They're a good safe option for him when it's not safe for him to be in public.

When it is safe for him to be in public he's completely shameless. All of his habits and quirks are out on display for the whole world to see and he does not care if he gets judged for it.

So if you can't handle the secondhand embarrassment of your boyfriend having his bare feet out for free, you're going to have a bad time.

If you do go out, he likes quieter, more private dates. A library, a park, places that aren't too crowded or chaotic.

Cafes and bakeries are always a win for obvious reasons.

Misa

She really goes all out. You have to schedule your dates with her, because they can be like 6 hours long.

She's a big fan of classic romantic dates. The 'dinner and a move' kind of thing.

I think she would absolutely love to take you to a masquerade. A chance to experiment with fashion and dance with you all night? She'd be all over it.

She would also like shopping dates. She loves to pick out clothes she thinks would look good on you and will let you pick out things for her too.

Takes lots of cute pictures through the night and displays her favorites in her room.

Mello *NSFW mentioned*

He’ll only go on dates with you on his off time- work always comes first. He has to beat Near by any means necessary, that means his love life comes second to that. In another world where everything was resolved neatly, he would likely be more willing to engage in romance.

Mello loves an adrenaline rush. His favorite dates are always a little risky and you always end up sweaty and out of breath (in a good way.) 

I imagine he would like taking you out for drinks and going dancing- probably to raves rather than nightclubs. 

The dark is a nice excuse to hold your hand- so you don’t get separated of course. 

When you’re so exhausted and dizzy you can’t see straight, he’ll call you both a cab and you’ll do everything short of have sex in the back of it.

The real fun starts when you both get upstairs ;)

Matt

Matt loves relaxed stay-at-home dates. You hop on multiplayer on a really relaxing game like stardew valley or minecraft and just lay in a snuggly pile of blankets together. 

I think he would also like dates where you make something together- trying a new recipe, or making an art project. It might not turn out great - he doesn’t have a sophisticated palette or a lot of artistic skill, but he would have a lot of fun.

He doesn’t mind going out once in a while, but he doesn’t like dressing up. He hates wearing ties. He’ll do it occasionally for your sake, but it’s not his favorite.

Near

He doesn’t really do specifically set out *dates*. You both just… end up in each others company.

It’s never a case of ‘Let’s set aside this Saturday at 7 for a date night.’ Usually, you just end up in his room while he’s working, you distract him, and you two end up spending the next six hours talking.

I imagine he would like that type of date, where you sit and have a really, really good conversation for hours and hours.

Especially since you’re one of the only people in the world who can really keep up with him.

He might bring out something for you two to work on together, some of his toys, puzzles, models, etc.

He likes meticulous, detail oriented work. Introduce him to knitting/crochet and you two can sit and knit together for hours. (embroidery would also work for this.)

Matsuda

Silly goofy guy.

He likes new experiences, he’s willing to try just about anything once. So if you have a really wild date idea, he’s probably down with it.

If he’s the one to come up with the date, he tries to put some thought into it and make it personal to you. But he has trouble coming up with new ideas so he tends to stick to what he knows - you two have a dedicated date night restaurant you both like.

I have no idea why, but I imagine he would love live theater? Like specifically musicals. Take him to see Hairspray, he’ll have the time of his life.

[naughtyneganjdm]

Naughty or Nice - Chapter 13

Summary: Negan and Y/N get ready to leave her family's farm, but when certain things are revealed it leaves an explosive amount of emotions for everyone.

Characters: Negan, the reader (OC), Maggie, Glenn, Hershel, Beau, etc.

AO3 Link: https://archiveofourown.org/works/51464518/chapters/134344273

Warnings: Swearing, severe angst, etc.

Notes: This is my second to last chapter. It's long. It's very angsty and I love you guys who put up with this the whole time and those who have taken the time to comment! I appreciate you all.

You can tell yourself that it’s going to be easy breaking up with someone, but it never is. Especially when it’s someone you consider to be an overall good person. A person where there is really no good reason for breaking up with them. Other than you just don’t love them and they aren’t for you. So many people would tell Y/N that she was crazy for giving up Glenn. He was sweet. He was caring. He was cute. But he just wasn’t someone she was in love with. Standing before his bedroom door this morning had her feeling awful about the decision she was about to make.

At first, she considered actually sitting down and talking with Glenn. That was probably the most kindhearted option and the best thing to do, but she couldn’t gather enough strength to wake him. Negan and Maggie had broken up the night before, agreeing that they didn’t belong together. Telling Glenn that to his face when Glenn was actually good really made things hard. Because of that she decided to write Glenn a letter. It was vague, but it just stressed that she found someone else that she realized she was in love with and it was an attempts at letting Glenn down easily instead of hurting him.

Thinking back on her relationship with Glenn, it was always pretty obvious that the only reason she continued on with the dating part was because she actually enjoyed his company. When Glenn showed up in Y/N’s life, she was always busy and deep into work. It didn’t really give her time to socialize or date.

There was no plans on having Glenn in her life. Hell, he was just a guy that delivered her pizza to her late one night that was nice to her. Both of them just enjoyed talking to each other. Glenn confessed that most people didn’t treat him like a human being and she lacked connection with people outside of her job. They hit it off in that sense. But what she really needed was a friend and Glenn provided that for her.

Asking Glenn on a date was more so a way of her trying to get him to spend more time with her instead of her having to order pizzas every time she wanted to talk to someone. What was nice about everything was being able to have someone to share moments with. To not feel like she was alone, but she never truly felt like she was in love with Glenn. They only had sex because Y/N felt like she had to after how long they had essentially dated. For her, she never felt connected to it. She loved Glenn in the friend way so it only felt awkward any time she had to get intimate with him.

When Glenn asked her to marry him, it was on a vacation they had taken together to France. They were in front of a bunch of strangers, miles away from home and they were going to be stuck together for days. The only reason she told him yes was to avoid hurting him and making things awkward. Sure, she wanted Glenn in her life, but not in the way that she wanted to spend the rest of her life with him.

Quietly turning the doorknob, Y/N was hoping that Glenn was still sleeping. Thankfully when the door partially opened, she could see that he was deep in sleep. Stepping into the room, she gazed over Glenn and felt her chest ache. Hopefully by the time that he woke up she would be long gone. Setting the letter down on the corner of the dresser that was in his room, she took a look at Glenn and sighed. Grabbing a hold of the engagement ring that Glenn had given her, she tugged it down her finger and held it between her fingertips. It felt weird taking it off after this long, but she knew this was genuinely the best thing for both of them. Setting the ring down on top of the letter, she knew that he would be confused, but this had to be done.

Taking another look at Glenn sleeping reminded her of the past. Glenn was a good-looking guy, there was no question in that. Most women would be lucky to have someone like Glenn in their lives. That was why she always felt bad for wanting more. Glenn was enough. Just not in the terms of what she needed in her life. Sure, this wouldn’t be the last time she would see Glenn. This was just the easiest way of breaking up with him and making things easier for both of them. Knowing this wouldn’t be the last time seeing him made things easier. Although she assumed he may never want to see her again after all of this.

Backstepping toward the hallway, she wanted to make sure that she didn’t make any noise to draw him to wake up. Glenn was a pretty light sleeper so this made it hard enough as it was. Taking extra time to close the door, she realized she likely looked silly in how she was acting, but those extra steps to keep him asleep were necessary. Once the door clicked closed, she waited outside of it. Listening closely, she was thankful that she didn’t hear the sounds of Glenn moving around inside telling her that she successfully escaped. Standing still for a moment longer, she finally tip toed back toward the stairs that led to the attic.

Originally, Negan had talked about them revealing things to her family, but that was before he had broken up with Maggie. Truthfully? She was happy they changed their plan. Instead of sticking around, they were just going to leave before everyone woke up. It was the only way that made sense for her. She had written letters for everyone. Everyone except for Hershel. Everything that she had to say had been already said to her father. Once she was done with them, she put them on the counter and addressed each letter to the person it went to.

So it was very important to still move quietly throughout the house. Avoiding conflict and confrontation was key. After everything from the night before, she didn’t want to fight with anyone. And as strong as she was, she knew that she probably couldn’t tell Maggie to her face what she had done. This was good enough. It was easy for everyone and it avoided more fighting.

Closing the door that led to the attic, she moved slowly up the stairs. She was sluggish in her movements. Both from depression and her trying to be quiet. At the top stair she heard a squeak that made her wince. Damn this house for being as old as it was. Standing beside the bed was Negan attempting to prepare the shirt that he was about to put on. Hearing the stair squeak drew him to look over his shoulder at her, flashing her one of his charming smiles.

In his eyes Y/N could tell that he was still tired. They had talked most of the night. If anything, they might have gotten an hour of sleep together. It was nice having someone to talk to. With Glenn, Y/N never felt like she could truly connect with him. A lot of her feelings were deep and Glenn was always so positive. It took someone like Negan who could see both the positive and negative in life to help her hear what she really needed.

“Hey there beautiful,” Negan was cheerful in his delivery, turning slowly on his heel. “How’d everything go?”

“I’m a wimp,” she confessed, throwing her hands up when she realized everything she had done was to save herself from more stress and drama. Wiggling her fingers in the air had Negan smirking, but his eyes narrowed showing that he was confused. “My hand hurts. I wrote everyone a letter. I know that was the plan with my family and I thought about talking things out with Glenn, but I just couldn’t bring myself to actually do that. So I wrote him a letter too.”

Heading over to the corner of the room, she rest back against the wall to stare out at Negan who dropped his arm down and was holding his shirt at his side, “I couldn’t even have the decency to break up with him to his face. I just left the letter and the engagement ring on his dresser. I didn’t even go into details in the letter. I just told him I found someone else that I realized I was in love with. That he was a perfect guy and I still cared about him, but I just wasn’t in love with him.”

“What’s wrong with that?” Negan quipped, his eyebrow arching in curiosity. By the expression over her face, he could tell that she didn’t think it was a good way to break up with someone. Moving across the attic, Negan outstretched his arms to place his hands over her hips. Drawing her near him, he tipped down to press a loving kiss over her forehead and she sighed.

It was a loaded question. There were so many things wrong with how she decided to break up with Glenn, but she didn’t want to talk about them. Not right now.

Brushing her fingers through the dark curls of hair that covered Negan’s chest, she gave him a weak smile and looked down. Negan’s jeans were hanging low at his hips giving her plenty enough of a view to have her heartrate quicken. The v-line on Negan’s hips were incredible and she loved his body. A lot of people were attracted to the muscular type, but she was in awe of Negan’s slender physique, “Did I just miss you putting your pants on?”

“I did just change out of my pajamas,” Negan snickered, tapping his fingers against her chin. Leading her to tip her head back, Negan’s expression grew arrogant and she knew that he liked her being naughty with him. “What? Is seeing me shirtless not good enough for you.”

“Come on Negan. Play fair. You know that I love every part of you,” she frowned, sliding her hands down from his chest toward his slender abdomen. Negan’s eyes fluttered to a close when she reached the area just beneath his bellybutton where there was a softness to his flesh. Even the small smirk he gave when she dragged her fingertips further down had a fire growing inside of her. “I’m just suggesting that maybe seeing you changing out of your pajamas and into your pants would have helped me get through the day.”

“Is that so?” Negan’s right eyebrow arched, a growl falling from his throat. Stepping back, Negan unhooked his belt that he was wearing after tossing his shirt back on top of the bed. Dropping her gaze, her lips parted and her breathing grew louder. It was hard to really focus on what with Negan. His body or his incredibly attractive features? Because it was hard doing both. “If it’s the only thing that can help you make it through the day, then who the fuck am I to keep that from you?”

There was something sensual about the way that Negan dragged his fingers across his belt and over the button in his pants. Being sexy wasn’t something he had to try hard at, but he was doing his best to put on a show for her right now. Even the way he dragged down the zipper of his jeans had her heart skip a beat. Ever so slightly, he began to tug at the material of his jeans. Inch by inch he started to reveal his body to her, stopping when he reached the area to reveal the dark curls of hair that surrounded the base of his cock.

“Is this good enough for you?” Negan taunted her, very much aware of the fact that she wanted more.

“Now you’re just being a tease,” she alerted him with her throat growing dry at the sight of him.

“Oh? I’m a tease?” Negan dramatically repeated, turning on his heel and lower his pants just enough to reveal his small bottom her. His antics had her rolling her eyes, but his laughter was cute in itself. “Is this better?”

“I thought you wanted to be good to me,” she played back, sucking faintly at her bottom lip when he shot her a flirty glance over his shoulder.  

“Oh, it wasn’t my ass that you wanted to see?” Negan rambled, turning to face her again. Enthusiastically pushing at the material of his jeans and his boxer briefs had them pooling at his ankles. Throwing his hands up in the air in an arrogant fashion and giving her the biggest, cheesiest smile had her laughing. “Better?”

“You’re ridiculous,” she confessed, stepping forward to brace her hand in over the center of his chest. Tipping up on her toes, she brought their lips together having him hum against her flesh between their kisses.

“And you love me anyways,” Negan slurred, his tongue brushing out between her lips. Pulling her flush against him had her gasping out, her right arm hooking around his shoulders. Behind heavy eyelids, Negan stared down at her and shook his head. “I love you so fucking much.”

“And I love you,” she assured him, dragging her left hand down over the side of his face. Stroking her fingers through his short beard had him leaning into her touch and sighing. “You’re a sight I could never get sick of.”

“I do have a pretty nice dick,” Negan admitted causing her to roll her eyes and laugh. “Hey, you’re the one that came in asking to see it.”

“You do, I agree,” she whispered, drawing her finger across his bottom lip. With him pressing faint kisses at the pad of her thumb, she knew that she needed to be able to focus. “But I meant in general. Fully clothed, partially clothed, completely naked…I could never get sick of you.”

“That’s good,” Negan snickered looking down between them and she did the same. “Every part of me belongs to you.”

“So that?” she tipped her head down to stare at his semi erect body. “That’s mine?”

“All yours,” Negan snorted, burying his head against the side of her neck to press wet kisses over her flesh. “If you want, you can touch it a few times, but that’s probably it. We need to get out of here before everyone is up and about. Maybe later tonight after Santa delivers the presents under the Christmas tree, you can let him come down your chimney.”

“Oh wow. That sounds like quite the offer. I don’t know, is Santa going to be dressed up in his suit?” she lowered her hand down between them to curl her fingers around the root to his masculinity hearing him growl. Pressing his forehead to hers, Negan smirked and shrugged his shoulders. “Because I think I’d be more willing to let him come down my chimney if he was dressed appropriately.”

“If that’s something you’re interested in, we can make it happen,” he whispered, his eyebrows furrowing when he looked between them to watch her touching him in delicate strokes. “I just have to warn you it may be the skinniest version of Santa Claus you’ve ever seen. He’s been on a bit of a diet.”

“I can work with that,” she nibbled at his bottom lip having him faintly moan when she gave it a small tug. “It’s too bad we can’t get in a quick session before we go.”

“I kind of fucked myself over in this situation,” Negan informed her with a growl, grabbing a hold of her wrist to stop her from getting him completely rigid in her touch. Damning himself, Negan licked his lips and huffed. “I already have Beau and Erin up. They are packing their things. If I didn’t I would have had no problem doing that.”

“I guess we will just have to wait until tonight to get that visit from Santa,” she chuckled giving him one final kiss before stepping back and away from him. Huffing out, Negan looked down and reached up to pinch the bridge of his nose. “You’re not wrong. We do need to get out of here before everyone wakes up.”

“Fuck,” he grumbled bending down to grab his boxer briefs and his jeans. Working them back up his body, Negan took some time to adjust his length in a way that would be comfortable enough for him to zip his jeans back up. “I didn’t think you would be ready to go for another round this morning. Otherwise, I wouldn’t have woken them up.”

“I’ll survive,” she assured him, patting him on the chest and then heading over to the bed. Snatching the shirt that he threw on top of it, she tossed it back to him and he caught it. “The buildup for tonight will make it that much better.”

“I feel like you have to flash me your ass or your tits to only make this fair,” Negan explained which made her laugh at the bluntness of it. “I just gave you everything here.”

“You’re almost fully erect Negan, is that really what you want?” she pointed down toward his groin hearing him huff him response. Stepping forward, Negan brought her in closer to him and hovered his lips in over hers. Gasping out, she felt Negan’s fingers caress up under her shirt to trace his rough fingertips over the lengths of her back. When he slid them back down, his fingers sank beneath the material of her pants to caress at her fleshy bottom. Purring against his lips, she felt her heart rate quicken and she shook her head. “You really do like torturing yourself, don’t you?”

“Probably,” Negan scoffed, giving her bottom another firm squeeze before pulling back and away. Pulling his shirt on had her laughing with the expression that he was making. “I promise to be a good boy from here on out.”

“You better,” she noted heading over toward the window that was in the attic to stare out at the land with the sun only just starting to come up. Thinking about everything she had already accomplished today made her let out a loud exhale. “You don’t think I’m a bad person for breaking things off the way I did with Glenn, do you?”

“You didn’t just take off with no explanation,” Negan reasoned with her going back to packing his things for them to leave. “I think what you did was appropriate enough. I told Maggie the same thing you did in your letter to Glenn. So what makes mine any different than yours?”

“You actually broke up with her to her face?” Y/N suggested, looking back over her shoulder at Negan to watch him gathering his things. “You’re stronger than me. I don’t think I could have dealt with Glenn’s reaction to him finding out I was in love with someone else.”

“Glenn will be fine honey,” Negan stood up from where he was and headed over to where she was standing. Cupping her face in his hands in a tender grasp, his eyes connected with her and he tried giving her the support she needed. “I know you are going through a whirlwind of emotions right now, but you have to trust me. Everything is going to be okay. I promise you that.”

“I’m sorry for being all over the place with my feelings right now. I just feel like a terrible person,” she frowned allowing Negan to pull her in closer to him. Placing her hands in over the center of his chest, she looked up at him with her saddened expression and he shook his head. “After everything that has happened, I don’t know.”

“You’re not a terrible person,” Negan hushed her dragging his thumb out over her bottom lip. “You just want to be happy for once and I really don’t think there is anything wrong with that Y/N. You deserve happiness just like everyone else does.”

“With what Hershel said last night,” she started, but Negan hushed her trying to keep her from letting her thoughts linger with her father.

“What he said doesn’t matter. Nothing he says matters because it’s a bunch of bullshit. He’s a liar,” Negan stressed lowering down enough to press a tiny kiss over her lips. “We’re going to get you away from here and then you are going to realize that everything is as it is meant to be. You will be happy, I promise.”

“How do you think people will handle us leaving together?” she inquired, her face flooding with contemplation. “I forgot to leave the keys with Glenn, but I will set them by the door when we finally do leave.”

“I don’t know. You pretty much told me that we were terrible at hiding things,” Negan replied, letting out a long sigh. An arrogant smirk tugged at his handsome features when he clasped her jaw between his thumb and his index finger. “Maybe the whole family knows at this point. I mean last night, when you first came in here, we weren’t quiet. I think we almost put a hole in the wall with what you were doing originally.”

“I was upset,” she reminded Negan who simply nodded. When she came in here, she just wanted to feel like the center of Negan’s world. Maybe she was too rough, but he handled it well in swaying her to what she really wanted. “I just wanted to feel something else other than the pain. My father tried to suggest that both you and Glenn liked Maggie more than you did me. I told you the things he said last night and they were just eating away at me.”

“I know what you were doing because I’ve been there,” Negan assured her capturing her lips in another kiss that lingered. “I just know that rough sex is not the way to fix a broken heart. You needed to be made love to and if people heard, well then…fuck them. We don’t have to deal with them again after this. What these people say to you just aren’t true and you deserve so much better.”

“Well, Maggie will probably have to get her things from your apartment and Glenn with mine since he does live with me,” she acknowledged realizing how awkward that was actually going to be when the time came.

“I can send Maggie her shit,” Negan suggested with a bounce of his eyebrows. After last night, Negan was not stressing about things as much as Y/N was. Things were done and cleared as far as he was concerned. If Maggie still wanted to be part of his life in some fashion. Alright. If she didn’t, that was okay too. He didn’t care what everyone else thought. “And with Glenn, I can go over if you need me to. Hell, you can just give him the apartment because you can move in with me. That’s the plan anyways.”

“I haven’t even seen your apartment yet,” she pointed out with a laugh knowing that they were just jumping right into things. “You really think it’s going to work out, don’t you?”

“I know it will,” Negan answered her giving her another quick kiss. Stepping back, he moved over toward his things again and made sure that they were packed away. “We should get going though. I have some ideas for what we can do when we get home. That way you can get settled in better.”

“All of my stuff is by the door ready to go,” she reminded him, heading over toward the bed to sit down on the edge of it. Bracing her hands back on the bed, she looked up at the decorations she did for Negan at the start of this trip and observed the room. “I’m taking everything in. This will be the last time I see this place.”

“Your room and this room is definitely something I will always have fond memories of,” Negan snickered, shooting her a glance back over his shoulder. “Oh man. And the barn. I’m serious about the two of us getting a farm together after we get married. Just so we can recreate that little session we had in the barn. Your father would shit his pants if he knew what we did in there.”

“Yes, he would,” she agreed with Negan, a smile tugging at her lips. “Good. He deserves to get angry over the shit he has pulled.”

“Yes ma’am,” Negan slurred, standing up from the ground to pull his things over toward the stairs. Snapping his fingers, Negan headed back for the bed to grab his backpack that was sitting on it, letting out a frustrated sound when the things fell out of it. “Make sure that fucking thing is zipped up before you fucking grab it Negan.”

“Talking to yourself is a pretty solid thing,” she teased him, lowering down to help him pick up the odds and ends that had fallen out of his backpack. Reaching for the thing that had slid under the bed, she felt her heart skip a beat when she realized that it was a jewelry box. Kneeling back, she opened the box and let out a hesitant sound when she saw that it was an engagement ring inside. “Negan?”

“What?” Negan’s smile was big when he lifted his head, his eyebrows bouncing up in an arrogant motion until he realized what she was looking at. The color drained from his face when he attempted to grab it. “Hey…”

“Was this for Maggie?” Y/N inquired, her somewhat happy expression turning to confusion when she observed the ring closely.

“It’s complicated,” Negan went to reach for the box, but she pulled it back and away from him. A sense of panic flooded his veins when Y/N stood up from the ground and headed over toward the corner of the room with a chill flooding down her spine. “I can explain.”

“Go for it Negan because I know it’s not for me. You told me clearly the other day that we were going to get a ring when we went back to New York, so why don’t you explain this for me?” she couldn’t take her eyes off the ring feeling her heart hammering in her chest. Her limbs went numb and hot. It felt like the room was spinning around her. “You always stressed to me that things weren’t very serious with Maggie, Negan. So why the hell do you have an engagement ring in your backpack?”

“I bought it weeks ago,” Negan reasoned with her, stepping forward and placing his hands together in attempts to get her to look at him. “Maggie kept talking about wanting to get married. She wouldn’t stop talking about it. So I got confused…”

“You were going to ask Maggie to marry you on this trip?” she pushed for information watching Negan’s head tip from side to side. “You told me it wasn’t that serious Negan. You repeated multiple times that you two weren’t even living together so I had nothing to worry about. And you have an engagement ring for her?”

“Now hold on a minute,” Negan requested, his voice getting raspier when she snapped the box closed. Damn, he should have hid this fucking ring better. Both Beau and Y/N got upset by it, even knowing that there were no plans to actually give it to Maggie. “This was before anything happened with you. Okay? I bought the ring, I considered asking because I knew I hated being alone. Maggie was getting antsy and I don’t know. It was a buy that I regretted the moment that I did it. The box sat in my top drawer the whole time. When we were packing to come here, I was looking at it and Beau came into the room. I panicked and I shoved it into my bag. I didn’t really consider asking Maggie to marry me after the moment we spent together.”

“That’s bullshit Negan. You wouldn’t have been looking at it if you weren’t considering it,” she countered hearing a breath catch in Negan’s throat. “You threw all that shit on me when we first slept together about how we were meant to be together and you still brought an engagement ring just in case.”

“Y/N, come on,” Negan snickered finding himself uncomfortable that she was getting so upset with things. “What’s going on here? Yes, I bought her a ring before the two of us were together. Yes, I considered asking her to marry me here before we got together. But right now, we’re broken up and I’m ready to start my life with you. I want to be with you.”

“It means that you were in love with Maggie. Like genuinely, full-fledged in love with Maggie,” her words were coming out broken, tears burning at her eyes when she thought about everything that her father said the night before. “Hershel was right. Maggie was always the perfect one.”

“No. No she wasn’t,” Negan noticed that she was picking up on the insecurities of the things that her father had said. “I did it because I was afraid of being alone. Not because I thought Maggie was the love of my life Y/N. It’s because she was acting like she was going to run and I got worried.”

“Which means you were scared of losing her,” she repeated having Negan let out a confused sound. “God, I just confused you Negan. You were in love with Maggie and this ring says everything. You are going to realize the mistake you made. I took my sister away from a man that actually did love her. This is…”

“Hey!” Negan snapped his fingers to try to pull her thoughts back to him, his eyes narrowing when he tried to reason with her. “What does it matter Y/N? Why are you acting like this right now? You love me.”

“Of course I love you, but you were in love with my sister and I took the man that she was in love with. The man that was going to give her everything and…” she felt the guilt tearing away at her when Negan attempted to reach for her wrists. “God, I’m everything my father says I am.”

“No, no you’re not,” Negan tried to pull her to him, but she yanked away from him and he could see that she looked like she was about to be on the verge of a meltdown. “You are reading this all wrong Y/N. It doesn’t matter what I felt before I was with you. This ring, it was the same exact thing you did in your relationship with Glenn. You agreed to the things that Glenn wanted because you didn’t want to be alone. You wanted to feel close to someone, even though you knew that you didn’t love him. We’re the same. The two of us are exactly the same. If you take a moment to really think about it. You will see that.”

Anxiety and her fears were clouding her judgement. Negan could see that in her eyes and her expressions, “That night we first got together, I had no idea you were related to Maggie and I knew that I wanted to be with you. You are this close to having everything you’ve ever wanted and deserved. Don’t let your family ruin this for you.”

“I’m ruining the perfect life for my sister in order to be greedy. Sooner or later you are going to realize that Maggie is the one that you want to be with,” she insisted with a whimper going to step back, but Negan shook his head, his facial expression becoming stern. “I can’t do this Negan. I’m breaking Glenn’s heart, I’m ruining my sister’s future, I’m only confusing you right now because…”

“You’re not,” Negan pulled her in closer to him trying to grasp her face in his hands to get her to focus. “I know you are going through things right now and we will get over this because we love each other. The two of us are meant to be together Y/N. You have to understand that. You’re my soulmate and…”

“Your soulmate died Negan and you just got confused because I got tangled up in your web,” she reasoned with him feeling like she could drop at any point. It felt like her face was on fire. Everything ached the more she thought about all the details of everything she had missed. “I’m no good for anyone Negan. Getting with me is just going to make things toxic and…”

“You have been in this family way too long Y/N. You’re just upset because you are here,” Negan whispered, his head pressing forward to try to rest it against hers to have her relax. “When you are away from them, you are so strong and you don’t care about anyone’s shit. But your family has a way of getting under your skin and breaking you down. You’re not the bad guy Y/N. You never have been. You were the victim and they are gaslighting you right now. You have to fucking see that. Please don’t overthink this.”

“This is a hard thing to forget Negan,” she lifted the box and Negan took it, sliding it into his back pocket. “You loved Maggie enough to want to keep her with you. Even at the office, I was the first person to make the move. I knew you were dating someone and I didn’t care. I just found you so appealing and…”

“We cheated. So fucking what?” Negan scoffed, throwing his hands up in the air when she pulled away from him. “Yes, we cheated and we had incredible sex, but we also connected on another level that I haven’t done with someone in a very long time and I fucking know you feel it too. If I loved Maggie like you are saying that I do, I would have never let what happened between the two of us happen. So please just take a minute and realize…”

“I can’t,” she frowned, turning on her heel to head down the stairs and Negan was quickly stumbling after her. “Negan. I just think I should leave on my own, okay? I have to go.”

“No. No, you’re leaving with me, Beau and Erin,” Negan claimed with apprehension in his tone, his body locking up when he followed her down to the second level. “Please, think this through. If you weren’t heart broken because of your father right now…”

When they reached the bottom, Negan stumbled over his own feet and almost fell over. Grasping a hold of Y/N’s hands before she could take off, Negan had hopes that he could appeal to her to stop her from freaking out. Before he could say anything else, the sound of a door being pulled open was heard. Gazing back, Negan rolled his eyes and cussed out when he saw that it was Glenn standing in the doorway to his bedroom holding the letter that he had obviously read and Y/N’s engagement ring.

“Motherfucker,” Negan scowled, his face scrunching up in anger. “This is just my fucking luck. Come the fuck on.”

“Can we talk about this?” Glenn ignored Negan’s frustrations, moving into the hallway with Negan still holding onto Y/N’s hands. Tugging her hands from Negan, she shook her head and shoved her hands into her pockets to keep Negan from touching her. Red flooded into her face showing the discomfort she had with Glenn running out and interrupting them. “I think this is something we really need to talk about.”

“Now is not the time buddy,” Negan warned with a huff, finally getting Glenn to notice that he was there. Anger flooded into Glenn’s brown eyes with Negan telling him what to do. “We are going through something right now and…”

“I think I can decide when it’s the right time for me to talk to my fiancée,” Glenn exploded on Negan, his voice growing louder and it made Negan step back.

“Ex fiancée,” Negan stressed that word because in his mind? Y/N was his fiancée now after what they had experienced together on that loop of decorations the other night.

“Excuse me?” Glenn was visibly ready to fight until the sound of another door opening followed.

“What’s going on out here?” Maggie’s surprised eyes gazed upon the commotion that was happening outside of her room. Glenn looked like he could die on the spot, but also appeared to be enraged. When her eyes fell upon the ring that was between Glenn’s fingers, she let out a gasp. Clutching the door, Maggie turned white as a ghost. “What’s happening?”

“I’m leaving,” Y/N claimed, holding her keys up in the air letting them jangle. Heading for the stairs, she was eager to make a quick escape since this situation was only getting worse. This was not how she wanted to have Glenn learn about things. She was meant to be gone by now.

“Wait!” Negan snapped following her down, but he wasn’t the only one. Maggie and Glenn were on his tail which only irritated Negan more. Once she got downstairs, Y/N grabbed her things and she was quick to make it to the door. Heading toward the car, she threw her things in the trunk and they were all outside with her. “You are rushing this without thinking.”

“All I’ve had is time to think Negan,” she vented letting out an upset breath with Glenn and Maggie approaching them.  

“I still don’t understand what the hell is going on,” Maggie demanded some kind of an answer, throwing her hands up in the air trying to get everyone to pay attention to her in the moment. “Why the hell is Y/N leaving? What is going on? Someone needs to start giving me some answers.”

“She wrote me a letter breaking up with me and she gave me the ring back,” Glenn informed Maggie, fear in his voice when they stood in front of the car door not allowing Y/N to leave. At this moment Y/N was both annoyed and infuriated. This was embarrassing that it came to this. Glenn shifted on his feet, his shoulders shrugging when he spoke in a whisper. “Are you leaving because of us?”

“Glenn!” Maggie scolded Glenn in something close to a whisper.

“Because of you?” she repeated, looking between Maggie and Glenn. Both of them looked like they could die on the spot with her questioning Glenn’s response.

“What’s going on?” Hershel called out from the steps and Negan’s overwhelmed growl of frustration filled the air. With her father bringing the attention to him, it allowed them to see that not only was Hershel out there with them, but so was Shawn, Annette and Beth who had obviously all heard the commotion of their bickering. “Do you all know what time it is? You’re out here screaming at one another.”

“What the hell is going on right now?” Y/N let out an uncomfortable laugh noticing the guilty features over both Glenn and Maggie’s faces. Having Hershel ask that question too was also borderline amusing. Pointing between Glenn and Maggie had them turning their eyes back to her instead of her family. “You want to know why I’m leaving? I’m leaving because Hershel requested me be gone in the morning.”

“And we’re going with her!” Negan spoke up, his tone determined when Y/N spun on her heel to glare back at him. Waving his hand about, Negan wanted to make sure he made everyone aware of what their original plan was together. “Beau, Erin and I are going with Y/N. We’re all going back to the city. Back home.”

“No, you’re not!” Y/N bickered in frustration trying to pull away from Negan when he attempted to touch her arm again. “I’m going alone.”

“Give me a fucking break Y/N,” Negan begged of her, sadness behind his eyes that she was having a breakdown of this caliber. “You know this is what we planned. It’s what we’ve had planned all along. Don’t let your father ruin this for you. Your father asking you to leave only sped up this plan by two days.”  

“Daddy asked you to leave?” Maggie wondered looking back over her shoulder at Hershel who had his hands buried in his pockets from where he was standing on the porch. It was like Maggie was completely ignoring the things that Negan had said to Y/N. “Why?”

“He demanded me to leave. Told me he wants nothing to do with me and I plan on giving it to him,” Y/N answered and the sound of Annette getting upset from Y/N’s confession was heard. Refusing to look at the rest of her family, Y/N bit back on her emotions and gave a simple nod. Having her eyes locked on Maggie’s made sure that she had her full attention with Maggie. “You should feel so good though Maggie because he let me know that you are better than me in every way. Negan sees it. He sees it. Glenn sees it. Apparently, everyone knows that I’m trash and you’re better than me.”

“Why does that whole statement feel like you are angry with me?” Maggie was offended that it felt like Y/N was mad with her over the things that Hershel undoubtedly said the night before. “It’s not my fault that daddy is the way that he is with you. It never was,” Maggie asserted herself and there was fury in her green eyes when she spoke. “I told you last night that talking to him about your mother was going to end up with you in pain. It was going to ruin things. I asked you not to do it.”

“I tried listening to you,” Y/N reminded her of how she tried to leave with Maggie, but Hershel trapped her in the kitchen. Maggie was there, she knew that it took a while for Hershel to force Maggie away. “I didn’t get an answer anyways. I was just reminded again about how imperfect I was. How awful I am. I know it’s not your fault Maggie, you really are perfect. And I know that.”

“No she’s not,” Negan threw his hand up in the air drawing Maggie’s eyebrows to bounce up. “No one is fucking perfect and certainly not Maggie.”

“What the fuck Negan?” Maggie scowled at her ex-lover when Negan shot her a glare and his hands found his way to his hips.

“No one is perfect,” Annette tried making her way down the steps to get everyone to calm down. “I don’t know what happened, but we should probably head back inside and talk things out. Your father may have said something ridiculous last night, but this is my home too and I have a say in who stays and who goes.”

“I agree with her,” Negan blurt out, his hands pointing in the direction of Annette. “We are all emotional right now and I think we need to talk some things out. Rushing into decisions fueled on confusion and anger will only hurt people more.”

“Wait, I’m really having a hard time understanding…” Glenn pushed forward into the group still holding onto the letter and the ring that Y/N had left behind for him. “If you don’t know about Maggie and me, then why did you break off the engagement and want to leave without me?”

“Come again?” Y/N stammered, her lips parting when everyone in the group went silent. Turning toward Maggie, Y/N let out a hesitant laugh and looked to Glenn. “What do you mean about you and Maggie?”

“Listen,” Maggie held her hands up in a pleading motion to try to calm the situation. “There is an explanation here.”

“I’m all fucking ears Maggie,” Y/N chided, her hands curling up into fists at her sides when she felt her heart begin to hammer in her chest. “What explanation is that?”

“I was spending a lot of time with Glenn because there was always things going on. And we started really enjoying being around each other,” Maggie slowly spoke out, her hands gradually raising up to try to hint for Y/N to keep calm. “One thing led to another and we ended up…sleeping together.”

“Good lord,” Hershel scoffed from where he was standing on the porch, lowering down to bury his head into his hands when he listened to the drama that was going on in his family. Everyone made some kind of noise in response to what Maggie had said aloud.

“It was an accident and we didn’t mean for it to happen, but it did,” Maggie explained to her sister drawing a laugh from Negan’s lips when he looked to Glenn with a shocked expression. “We just realized that we had so much in common and I know that he’s your fiancé, but things just happened and we wish we could have changed it, but we can’t.”

“Glenn?” Negan repeated pointing toward Y/N’s fiancé letting out an amused breath. Cutting through the anger with his laughter had others looking to him confused. “Fucking hell Glenn, you were supposed to be the good one between the two of us.”

“I’m not a bad guy,” Glenn claimed, placing his hand in over the center of his chest. This was not a situation Glenn was comfortable in and he hated being the center of attention with all eyes on him. “I kept trying to tell Y/N yesterday about things, but I just…”

“Got interrupted,” Y/N finished looking to Maggie knowing that Glenn was on the verge of telling her something last night, but Maggie stopped him abruptly. “So it was just the one time? That’s what you are trying to tell me here? That’s it? Nothing more between you because you realized it was a mistake?”

There was a silence that followed causing Y/N to let out a stressed sound and shake her head, “That’s a no.”

“You obviously don’t like good sex,” Negan commented getting a frustrated expression from Glenn and Maggie threw her hand up in the air. “Come on Maggie, Glenn was a virgin when he got with Y/N. You really think I’m supposed to believe that he’s a good lay? That tells me you definitely fell for the personality because a sex god Glenn is not.”

“You told him I was a virgin?” Glenn seemed upset when he turned to look at Y/N with upset in his eyes. “That’s not something you should be telling someone Y/N.”

“I told her too,” Y/N stated looking to Maggie who seemed like she was about to drop from all of this happening. “I don’t know if she knew before you slept with her or after, but she knew that you were a virgin too.”

“That doesn’t make things better,” Glenn fought back, the color growing more vibrant in his face. “I told you I was a virgin because I didn’t want to make things bad for you. Telling everyone about it makes it seem like I’m horrible at sex.”

“It’s not always about the sex Negan,” Maggie looked to her ex-lover hearing Negan let out a laugh. Folding his arms in front of his chest, Negan was amused to hear this shit coming from Maggie. “Sometimes it’s about connecting with someone on a level that you may not understand, but it’s there. That’s what happened with us. We were just connecting and things happened. It doesn’t have to be good sex for it to happen more than once.”  

“Are you saying I’m not good at sex?” Glenn huffed, turning to look at Maggie. There was a silence between all of them and Negan gave a tip of his head. “I’m not bad at it. I thought you enjoyed it with all the times it happened.”

“All the times it happened?” Y/N chuckled repeating the words of Glenn which only worried Maggie more. Glenn seemed more upset that Maggie said he was bad at sex than he seemed upset over what was actually going on here right now.

“Don’t worry bud, with more practice you are bound to get better. Hopefully,” Negan mocked Glenn, reaching out to pat him on the shoulder firmly. Shoving Negan’s hand away had the two girls groaning out in disgust over the two men’s reaction. “I’m just trying to be positive here.”

“By mocking me?” Glenn went to bicker with Negan further and it only had Negan chuckling in amusement.

“Not everyone is good at sex Glenn, some people have it,” Negan started, pointing toward his chest before pointing back to Glenn, “Some people don’t. That doesn’t mean people aren’t going to want to be with you.”

“I can’t believe this was going on under my roof,” Hershel seemed overwhelmed while he rubbed at his face. A loud sigh followed when Annette moved in beside Y/N to get her to try to calm down. Moving closer to the group of them, it was obvious Glenn looked like he was about to pounce on Negan for embarrassing him. Y/N looked like she was going to freak out and Maggie appeared to feel like she just wanted to disappear from the moment. Stepping in beside Glenn had Y/N’s eyes raising up to Hershel. “You see what you caused by coming back here?”

A loud exhale escaped Y/N’s lungs with how that seemed directed at her, “What I caused?” Y/N snapped back at Hershel, a rage flooding through her veins. Pushing through the crowd and toward her father had Annette trying to reach out to her. “Maggie fucks my fiancé under your roof and I’m the problem? I caused this?”

“I told you,” Hershel advanced toward her, shaking his head when he looked to Maggie and Glenn, “you would have known last night if you would have just listened. Anyone with eyes could see the boy was smitten with Maggie. When it comes to you and your sister, people are always going to pick your sister.”

“What the fuck is wrong with you?” Negan called out from where he was standing, attempting to move forward, but Y/N placed her hand in over the center of his chest to get him to stop before he could get in Hershel’s face.

“This is the second time that Maggie has done this to me,” Y/N reminded her father, her tone getting even more upset hearing her father defending what happened with Maggie and Glenn. “First, she did it with Shane and that fucking destroyed me. I was just a teenager dad. And then she does this with my fiancé and it’s my fault? How did I cause this?”

“Maybe if you spent more time on him and less on worrying about me, it might have not actually happened,” Hershel grumbled under his breath and he knew what it was going to do to Y/N with tears burning at her eyes. “You were so damn busy focusing on hating me that you allowed the two of them to spend time together. Can you blame the boy for falling in love with your sister?”

“I don’t know if you genuinely believe you’re a decent fucking person, but you’re a vile piece of shit,” Negan spat trying to get around Y/N, but she did her best to keep the two of them separated. “Who the hell says this kind of shit to their own child? No wonder she feels so shitty about herself with the way that you talk to her. You deserve to be knocked on your ass old man.”

“Negan, please…” Y/N begged doing her best to keep Negan from getting himself in trouble. “I can handle this myself.”

It took Y/N touching his face to pull his attention away from Hershel. Behind his angry hazel eyes, Negan obeyed when she asked him to stop. Even though he wanted to rip this fucker limb from limb, he allowed her to take control of the conversation.

“I don’t even love Glenn, but to hear that coming from your mouth is so fucked up,” Y/N declared, her voice breaking from all the yelling and upset that was going on between them. “You have no idea what you do to my self-esteem Hershel.”

“You didn’t love me?” Glenn spoke in a whisper instead of Hershel responding to Y/N. It wasn’t the person that she wanted to talk to, but it pulled her to look away from her father toward Glenn. Lowering the letter and the ring down at his sides, Glenn visibly looked upset to hear that.

“Why are you acting upset? You didn’t seem to care when the two of us were together? Yet all of a sudden last night you have a change of heart?” Maggie pushed finding herself fed up with the way that Glenn was responding to things. “You told me that you loved me.”

“I love how this was sold as a mistake and now the two of you love each other,” Y/N shook her head with disappointment behind her voice. “Is it real this time Maggie or was it your attempt to actually upset me again for something I’m sure I’ve done to scorn you?”

“I didn’t want to hurt you Y/N,” Maggie suggested throwing her hands up in the air. It was horrible that her whole family was hearing all of this. “What happened with Shane was me being an awful person. I did terrible things back then and I know that. I want us to be close again Y/N. I wanted things to go right. Having this happen with Glenn was the last thing I wanted.”

“Now Maggie has two men fighting over her and then there is you,” Hershel waved his hand in the air pointing over toward the car. “Weren’t you leaving?”

“Okay old man fucking river,” Negan couldn’t hold it in any longer stepping forward, urging Y/N behind him in a protective stance. “I have had it up to here with your fucking nonsense with the way that you treat Y/N. If you weren’t so fucking old, I would knock you on your ass and I’m still considering doing it. I don’t know what the hell is wrong inside of you that makes you want to treat one of your children, one of your own flesh in blood like you do, but you are one sick son of a bitch. And I’m not fighting anyone for Maggie because Maggie and I broke up last night. Reason being, she told me she cheated on me and I told her I was doing the same. And you know what? I’m head over fucking heels in love with your daughter and it’s not Maggie. It’s Y/N and I’ve had it up to fucking here with the way you treat her.”

Again, every person in the crowd made a sound that was either shocked or upset, but Negan didn’t give a shit what they thought.

“Hello Jerry Springer,” Shawn whispered heading over toward the swing that was on the porch to take a seat on it knowing that this was only going to go south from here on out.

“I really don’t care what you fucking think of it either. Y/N is perfect in every way fucking possible and because of you she can’t fucking see it,” Negan was already so upset that Y/N was so prepared to leave since Hershel left her with some terrible thoughts last night. “All I want to do is be with her and she’s so goddamn focused on the horrible shit that you say to her.”

Everyone still seemed so shocked about the truth that he dropped, but Negan just felt his anger building up further inside of him, “Since you’re so big on fucking rules Hersh, I fucked your daughter in your house so many fucking times. We did it in the barn. We did it in her bedroom. We did it in the attic. Both your daughters have called me daddy Hersh. And you know what? I’m a better daddy to both of them than you ever will be. At least I made them feel fucking good. You on the other hand are a miserable piece of shit.”

A gasp fell from Maggie’s throat when Hershel’s face grew red, his breathing growing stronger. There was silence and it was broken up by Beth letting out an amused chuckle, “Holy shit.”

“You’ve been sleeping with Negan?” Maggie called out from behind them getting Y/N’s attention. Hershel had stepped back and away into the house when Maggie approached the two of them. Looking to Negan, Maggie pointed over toward Y/N noticing the way that Negan nodded. Maggie lifted her hand like she was going to speak before turning to quickly bring her knee into Negan’s groin. A groan filtered through the air when Negan fell forward into the snow, his hands clasping onto himself. “That’s really low Y/N.”

“Maggie!” Annette chastised her stepdaughter for what she did to Negan who was down on the ground in pain.

“What I did is low?” Y/N lowered down in attempts to check on Negan with his face buried in the snow. His face was red and the vein at the side of his neck was bulging after how hard Maggie kneed him. “You have got to be fucking kidding me. You slept with my fiancé. I slept with Negan the night before we came here. I didn’t even know he was your boyfriend when the two of us slept together the first time.”

“Bullshit Y/N! This is because of what I did with Shane. You slept with Negan to get back at me for the stuff with Shane,” Maggie insisted which in follow had Y/N rolling her eyes. “You know that I’m right. You always held that Shane shit over my head, so when you had the chance to get your nails into my boyfriend…”

“You have no fucking right to be saying this when you were sleeping with my fiancé,” Y/N corrected Maggie on the way that she was acting, amusement flooding her veins at the thought. “I knew you would pull the Shane thing over me. I should have seen this coming a mile away. I actually did. I told Negan I had to break it off with him originally because I knew it was the way that you would react.”

“Because it’s fucking true,” Maggie bickered with her younger sister while Negan continued to lay between the two of them after Y/N slowly got up to stare down her sister. “There is no other reason for it.”

“I had no idea that Negan was your boyfriend. We were alone at the Christmas party for our work. We got to talking and then we got intimate with one another,” Y/N thought back on what happened with her and Negan. Lifting his hand up, Negan reached for Y/N’s hand and she helped him back up to his feet. Negan’s hand was cupped firmly over his groin holding himself and Maggie scoffed. “I didn’t know he was your boyfriend Maggie because you refused to be in my life over something that Hershel did when we were kids. If you actually tried to stay in contact with me, then this would have never happened. I was just so in love with Negan that I couldn’t stop what we started before we knew you two were together. I’ve never felt for anyone the way that I feel for Negan. I love Negan very much.”

“And so did I,” Maggie suggested making Y/N roll her eyes. “I did.”

“You only liked being with Negan because you thought he was a good fuck and because he had a big dick,” Y/N reminded her of the things that Maggie bragged about when they were alone together about Negan. “You didn’t care about Beau, Erin or the things that made Negan tick. You just cared about whether you got off or not.”

“I am so uncomfortable right now,” Glenn whispered under his breath after what Y/N just blurt out in front of everyone.

“Good for you,” Shawn waved his hand about in the air and Annette hushed him. “Hey, if he’s got it you gotta give the man credit.”

“Shut up Shawn,” Maggie demanded of her stepbrother and he threw his hands up in the air. “It was more than that.”

“Was it though?” Negan could barely get a line out without wincing, but he shook his head. “Our relationship wasn’t that deep Maggie. You and I both know that.”

A loud booming sound went off that drew all of them to jump and they looked back to see that Hershel was standing on the porch with his shotgun in his hand, “Listen here. I’ve heard enough of all of this. You’re going to gather your things and you are going to get the hell out of here.”

“Holy shit,” Negan laughed when he realized that it was him that Hershel was pointing the shotgun at. An amused rumble fell deep from within his throat when he shook his head. “What are you gonna do Hershel? Fucking shoot me?”

“If you want your kids to still have a father, you are going to gather them and you are going to get off my property,” Hershel asserted himself, stepping down from the porch. It didn’t scare Negan that Hershel had his gun on him, instead Negan actually laughed. “I’m warning you son.”

“You’re not gonna…” Negan cussed out, stumbling backwards in the snow after Hershel shot at Negan’s feet, but ended up just missing him. “You crazy old son of a bitch.”

“Hershel!” Annette called out to her husband trying to draw him to knock it off. “What in God’s name are you thinking?”

“Daddy!” Maggie gasped attempting to try to help Negan up to get away from Hershel.

“Why the hell are you shooting at only me and not him?” Negan demanded to know, scrambling back in the snow again realizing how close he was to getting shot. “Both him and I did the same exact thing, yet I’m the one that is getting shot at?”

“Hey,” Glenn stepped back with Negan pointing back at him. “I don’t need to be getting shot at for this.”

“That would be a hate crime Negan,” Beth suggested drawing everyone to look back at her. Having all eyes on her felt uncomfortable, but they were all floored with her answer. Shrugging her shoulders, she pointed toward Glenn and shook her head. “I mean, it would be.”

“What is going on?” Beau’s voice called out from where he was standing at the door after hearing the gun go off. A sense of worry flooded his veins when he saw that Hershel pointed the shotgun back at Negan again. “Erin is upstairs! What in the world are you doing Mr. Greene?”

“You get up there and you grab your things! Leave!” Hershel demanded only to feel Y/N reaching for the gun. Fighting with her father, she finally got it from his hands and heard Hershel releasing a frustrated growl.

“Hey! Hey!” Beau moved forward on the steps, holding his hands out. “How could all of you be doing this when Y/N is pregnant? The stress and getting physical with her won’t be good for the baby! You need to stop this right now!”

“The baby?” Maggie repeated with a sense of shock and even Y/N’s eyes got big. “You’re pregnant?” 

“I’m pregnant?” Y/N questioned looking to Negan with a confused expression and Negan half laughed.

“He took the whole trying for a baby thing very seriously,” Negan answered Y/N when Shawn came over to reach for the gun in hopes of taking it away. When Shawn disappeared back into the house to put the shotgun away it made Maggie let out another upset sound.

“You two are trying for a baby?” Maggie couldn’t help but be upset hearing all of that. “Please tell me that you are joking. We broke up last night!”

“Come on Maggie, we’ve been on the offs for a long time,” Negan reasoned with her knowing that it all sounded bad, but it was just how things were. “Yes, we want to have a baby together. Yes, we are trying for a baby and we are engaged. We are going to get married on New Years.”

“How are you engaged when we were engaged?” Glenn still seemed so confused by everything watching Y/N lower her head into her hand. “I don’t understand how the two of you are planning this future together when you were engaged to me.”

“Because she didn’t love you,” Negan answered for her, finally getting up and wiping his hands off on his pants. “And I really don’t think you have a right to be offended there Glenn. You and Maggie cheated as well. Acting so surprised isn’t a good look for you.”

“I can see why Hershel shot at you,” Glenn hissed, stepping forward in the snow to push into Negan’s chest.

“Enough!” Y/N screamed out, finally tipping her head back and letting out an overwhelmed sound. With so much bickering, she couldn’t help but think this was genuinely all her fault for causing all of this drama. “You all need to just stop this shit. You want to know why Negan is the one being shot at?” Y/N turned to her father feeling her heart hammering inside of her chest. “You might think it’s because Negan is disrespectful. No. That’s not it. And it can’t be because he slept with both of Hershel’s daughters. Hell, Glenn did the same thing. Glenn even had sex with Maggie under the same roof which Hershel acted like that was sacrilegious to do. The thing is the reason that Hershel shot at Negan is because Negan cheated on his sweet, sweet Maggie. It has nothing to do with the fact that Negan and I got intimate all over the place. It’s not because Negan says it like it is. It’s because Negan fell in love with me and he dumped Maggie.”

A silence fell over all of them when she called Hershel out for his behavior. And when they thought about it, it did actually make sense what she was saying, “Come on Hershel. Tell me that I’m wrong. When you found out that Glenn slept with Maggie, you told me that it was my own fault. That I deserved it. You didn’t get upset with him for cheating on your middle child. You shot at Negan because he cheated on your favorite.”

“Wow,” Glenn muttered, his words coming out quietly when he actually thought about what Y/N was saying. “Mr. Greene, I did do the same thing that Negan did. It may even be worse what I did because I was engaged to Y/N.”

“Are you asking me to pull the shotgun out on you son?” Hershel questioned, his gaze locking with Glenn who shifted on his feet uneasily. “Then don’t speak up.”

“Yeah, how dare Glenn make a good point. How dare he have the common sense to add two and two together,” Y/N went off on her father feeling her body shaking with how upset she was. Hershel’s face was red and he was saying nothing. “Glenn was engaged to me and he found love with Maggie. Which hey, good for them. I’m glad for them. I find love with Maggie’s boyfriend, not knowing that he was Maggie’s boyfriend and suddenly we are the ones that are wrong? This only confirms everything I’ve said with the way that you are with me.”

No one said a thing and Y/N sighed loudly knowing that her father would never admit to the things that he did that were in a negative light toward her.

“Daddy,” Maggie finally spoke up, folding her arms out in front of her chest. “She’s not wrong. It doesn’t look good. Negan has two children here and you did that. We broke up last night and we were just going to keep it between the two of us until after Christmas because I knew that you wouldn’t handle it well. You do have a clear bias when it comes to me.”

Hershel scoffed and Maggie sighed, “I am in the wrong daddy. Glenn was Y/N’s fiancé and I knew that. I knew what I had done in the past with Shane and how much it hurt her, but I still let it happen. If you’re mad at Negan and Y/N, you should be just as upset with me and Glenn too.”

“What’s really sad is that I’m head over heels in love with that man,” Y/N declared, her words coming out shaken when she pointed to Negan. “When I’m with Negan and his family it is the only time I’ve ever felt seen and loved in my life. And I love his children too. Beau, he’s the most incredible boy I’ve ever met and he has the biggest heart.”

“Then let’s leave,” Beau spoke up, moving down the stairs toward Y/N seeing that she was getting emotional. “We can all leave together. We don’t have to be here. Let’s just go.”

“Beau, your father loved Maggie before I got involved with him,” she insisted feeling Negan moving in behind her to try to touch her and she shook her head. “More than anything, I want to be with you and your family Negan. I do. But I know better. I have to leave.”

“Please don’t do this,” Negan begged, his expressive eyebrows furrowing when he tried following her toward the car that she had already packed to leave. “You’re emotional right now and you just don’t know what you are doing.”

“I know what I’m doing Negan,” she frowned, shaking her head and letting out a long sigh. “I’m doing what’s right.”

“Please,” Beau reached for her this time instead of Negan, his young features visibly upset with what was going on. “Just wait for me and Erin to get our things out here. Then we can leave. You don’t have to run away. We aren’t like your family.”

“Beau,” she whispered, stepping forward to brush her fingers throughout Negan’s son’s hair. “You were the best part about this whole trip. I’ve loved every minute that I’ve gotten to spend with you because you are awesome. I’ve never met someone so talented and capable of so much at such a young age. You have the biggest heart and you stand up for what is right. Your mother and your father raised you to be such an incredible boy and I know things are going to be good for you in the future because you are amazing Beau. You really are. But my father isn’t wrong.”

Stepping forward, she wrapped her arms around Beau and gave him a big hug, squeezing him tightly in her arms, “I ruin everything. If I was in your life, I would somehow end up destroying your life like I have everyone’s here. In a perfect life, I could be part of your family, but I’m far from perfect,” she stepped back and away, tears still burning at her eyes when she reached for the door to her car. “Thank you for being the best part of these days for me.”

“Hey,” Negan attempted to reach out to her seeing that she still got in the car and wasted no time in pulling away. Beau stood beside him upset, not sure how to react and Negan’s hands found their way to his hips where they rested. Silence surrounded them and right now all Negan felt was anger. Anger toward these people that they all had a hand in breaking apart one of the most amazing women he had ever known. Finally moving, he stepped before Hershel and there was still anger in Hershel’s eyes from everything that went down. “I hope you’re proud of yourself.”

There was no response. That was a shock.

“Go get your things and grab your sister,” Negan instructed looking back at Beau with a frown. “We’re leaving.”

----

Digging through the drawers in her office at work, Y/N continued to grab a few more things that were personal items. After packing them into the boxes that she brought with her, she leaned back in her chair and took a look at her office. Once she made it back to New York City, she tried going home to her apartment, but her mind was still going crazy. Lingering thoughts built up inside of her and it led her to come to work. Most people weren’t here because it was Christmas Eve. There were still a few people that came in to finish some things, but she was thankful that she would be left alone for the most part. Right now, what she needed to be was left alone.

If you would have told her when she was younger that she would have been one of the top people at an advertising agency in New York City, she would have never believed it. This right here was everything that she dreamt of growing up. When she was younger, New York City was the one place that her and Maggie used to always talk about. It was the one place she longed for the most because it meant she finally made it. It meant that her art wasn’t a waste of time and everything she did to get here was worth it.

Even her office was a dream come true for anyone. It the corner office is one of the taller buildings in New York City. Two walls of her office were large windows that gave a stunning view of the city and it was part of what she loved about her job here. The views were stunning and always inspiring.

When Y/N left home and finished college, she just went to the nearest city and worked her way up. So when she got a call from a rival agency in New York City it almost didn’t seem true. Convincing Glenn to go with her at the time was hard. Their original home was near his family, but he wanted to be with her. If Glenn hadn’t found love with Maggie, it might have made her feel guilty that she ended up dumping him, but it seemed like she helped him find something more anyways.

Outstretching her hand, Y/N grabbed a photo that was on her desk of their group at the company. When she got to the company, everyone was very welcoming to her. Back then, the people that were on Negan’s team were originally uneasy with her because they thought Negan would be the one in charge. It reminded her of how she treated Negan at first, always giving him a hard time. It was hard being a woman in charge considering most men never liked it. Even though Negan was always good with her, when she thought back on things, she realized that she definitely could have been better with Negan herself. It was surprising that Negan fell so hard for her because she knew that she could have been better to him from the start.

Before all of this, she knew that this was the job that Negan wanted more than anything. And at the moment? That ate away at her. She stole this job out from under Negan. For years Negan worked at this company and helped build it up to what it was today. Yet, given the chance to jumped right into this position and took it from him. There were no questions that this job really should have gone to Negan. Those in charge just wanted to prove something when they were able to steal her away from their rival company.  

“You need help with anything?” a voice beckoned her from her thoughts drawing her to look to the door to see Simon standing there. “I’m going to head out and go be with the family, but I wanted to make sure that you were good before I left.”

“I’m fine Simon. Go be with your family,” she waved her hand in the air dismissively. It was obvious that Simon was curious as to why she was in her office packing things up, but he never questioned it. He just let do her thing and she appreciate that he left her alone.

“Are you sure?” Simon offered up a final time pointing back toward the rest of the open office area. “I can grab you a coffee or a dessert or something? I brought in a yule log that my wife made. It’s really good.”

“I think I’m good Simon, thank you though,” she appreciated that he was trying with her, but she almost assumed that he wanted her to unload on him and right now she wasn’t even sure what she was doing for the most part. “I want you to have a good holiday with your family.”

“Yes boss,” Simon gave a wink and tapped his hand against the doorframe before stepping back. For a moment he lingered and it looked like wanted to say something, but instead he pulled his jacket on and left.

It was weird having Simon being so nice to her since he was one of the people that hated her at first. And she didn’t blame him. His team was originally destined to take over at this part of the company, but then he had to remain where he was.

Getting up from her chair, she headed over toward the corner of her office so she could look out at the city. There were so many things running through her mind and she wished that things would be easier than they were.

The sound of her office door closing was heard and she sighed to herself, “I appreciate what you are trying to do Simon, but I really wish you would just go home to your family.”

“While I would love to go home to my family, I was hoping that you would be willing to talk,” that familiar raspy voice responded causing her heart to sink, a sharp exhale falling from her lungs. Lowering her head, she immediately knew who it was and she let out an uneasy sound. Footsteps approaching her made her cuss to herself when a warmth pressed in behind her. “What are you doing Y/N?”

“I’m packing up my things,” she responded, closing her eyes and wishing that he wouldn’t have come here and found her. “This job should have gone to you Negan. It was always yours and I stole it from you. I’m going to quit and suggest that they give you this job. You’re the one that should have had this whole time anyways. Everyone here respects you and knows that it should have gone to you.”

“Did you already quit?” Negan wondered, stepping in behind her when she finally turned to face him. It was obvious that she had been crying most of the day and she likely looked like shit. “Did you?”

“Not yet. I was going to wait until after Christmas. I was just packing things up to make it easier,” she explained looking to the boxes that were on her desk. “What are you doing here?”

“I’m here for you,” Negan stammered, his long eyelashes fluttering before he moved over toward her desk. Opening up the boxes, Negan frowned and grabbed a few items from them. Watching him start to unpack the boxes had her letting out a frustrated breath. Negan was putting everything back where it was before and it upset her. “You’re not quitting this job Y/N. I won’t let you do that.”

“I appreciate what you are doing here Negan, but you know just as well as I do that this job should have gone to you,” she didn’t know whether to stop him or not while he continued to return her things to where they were previously. “You know that you are better in this position anyways. The people respect you, you do better work…”

“No,” Negan shook his head, ignoring what she was saying because he thought it was bullshit anyways. “You see, I like the position that I have. I like my boss and I think I’ve been the most productive I’ve been in a very long time because you and me? We make a good team. So no, you aren’t quitting because you belong here. You have always belonged here.”

“Please stop,” she begged of him when Negan finished up with the items and stacked the empty boxes to place them near the door. She wasn’t fighting him. Her body was just frozen when he stepped before her, his hazel eyes full of emotion while he looked her over. “You know just as much as I do how much you wanted this job.”

“Yeah, I wanted this job,” Negan agreed with her sucking at his bottom lip and shrugging his shoulders. “But you got this job and I realized how much I genuinely liked working with you. Trust me. We’re better together than we would be apart. I’m comfortable where I am at this place. And I don’t want it to change. This company is the best it has been in years because of us being a team and working together.”

“Negan,” she lowered her head when Negan stepped forward, his hand lifting so he could stroke his fingers in over the side of her face.

“I’m doing what you deserve,” she protested and she genuinely believed it. “I’m just going to move back to the old city that I was in and see if…”

“If you quit, I quit,” Negan vowed drawing a scoff to fall from her lips. “I don’t want to be here if you aren’t here. So if you’re thinking of leaving this place, then they are going to lose me too because I don’t want to be somewhere you aren’t.”

“Negan,” she frowned hating to hear him say that, but when she lifted her eyes, she knew that he was being serious. Here she was trying to make things better for him and give him what he wanted originally and he was giving her shit. “You’re being stubborn.”

“I am fucking stubborn,” Negan threw his hands up in the air and shrugged his shoulders. “We know that. We’ve know that for a long time now. But I don’t want to be somewhere you aren’t. So unless you want me to leave this place to…”

“You love this job,” she reminded him, a shuddering breath falling from her throat when cupped her face in his hands. “You really love this job.”

“I love you more,” Negan countered, his eyes falling up on her lips when he gave a simple shrug. “I don’t want to be here if you’re not going to be the person in charge because I’ve grown to enjoy where I am in the company. I don’t want it to change. I know the two of us make a good team. Like I said, we’re better together than we are apart.”

“We won’t be able to work together after everything,” she suggested hating that the warmth of his hands comforted her while he stroked over her face in attempts to calm her. “I don’t even know how you knew that I was here…”

“I have my ways,” Negan responded with a long sigh when she turned away from him and headed over toward the window to look out at the city.

“In other words, it was Simon,” she thought aloud knowing that he was the only person that could have told Negan that she was here.

“You know,” Negan began, his voice sounding sad when she gazed out at the city. “I wish you wouldn’t have run off like you did.”

“It was better for everyone that I did,” she claimed still feeling incredibly emotional about everything that happened back at the farm. “I was just going to make things worse and it was going to cause more fighting. It was better that I left.”

“Me and the kids left immediately after too,” Negan informed her stepping forward to caress in over her shoulders. Even though he knew she was upset and she was confused about how she felt with things, he wanted to show her that he was still supportive of her. “I don’t think you realize how much me and the kids do actually love you.”

“I hear you,” she whispered, shaking her head when the warmth of Negan’s body pressed in closer to hers. It was never a question of if they loved her or not. She knew that they loved her. They showed it in their actions and their words. It was just the truth that she knew about herself that kept her from them. “The problem is exactly what I said though Negan. I have so much baggage and I’m a mess…”

“As do I,” Negan reminded her, tipping down to nuzzle his nose in against the side of her neck. God, she hated that her body loved him as much as it did. Even the smallest things he did had chills filling her veins. “I’m a fucking asshole who pisses everyone off. I have loads of baggage that comes with being with me so it shouldn’t bother you. Your baggage is something I’m very willing to take on and help carry with you. Because I love you.”

There was so much that she wanted to say, but she just couldn’t. Instead she stayed in front of the window with Negan wrapping his arms around her to hold her tightly in his grasps, “I fucking love you so much. I understand that you are a broken. I’m broken too, but for the first time in a very long time I feel whole again. And it’s when I’m with you.”

Urging her to turn in his arms, Negan brushed her hair back behind her ear and shook his head, “I know why you feel the way you do and I understand everything being overwhelming. Your family is overwhelming and they have trained you to always blame yourself. To always feel bad about who you are, but I like who you are. I love you. I love everything about you. Waking up with you in my arms over the last few days has been the best possible thing I could think of because it’s the one time that I truly feel alive. Where my heart finally feels like it’s beating again. I always felt cold to everything, but with you, I feel that warmth again.”

Having Negan confess his love to her in this situation had her crying. After everything that happened, he was still doing his best to try to convince her of his love.  

“You are beautiful. You are sweet. And you hold my heart in your hand. Everything I am is yours,” Negan peppered kisses over her face with every word he spoke drawing her body to shake. “I meant what I said when I told you that if I couldn’t be with you, it would fucking destroy me.”

“I know that’s what you think Negan, but being with me would be worse for you than being apart from me,” she tried to suggest and the expression that he gave her showed that he felt otherwise. “I’m serious Negan. It might hurt right now, but if you were with me, you would feel more pain in the long run.”

“You have a very skewed view about the woman I love,” Negan stated with a firm shake of his head, his thumb and index finger capturing her jaw to get her to look up at him. “I see you for who you really are Y/N. Not this version of yourself that your father has made you believe that you are.”  

A shuddering breath fell from her throat when Negan knelt down before her on one knee, his hand grabbing a hold of hers while the other reached into his jacket pocket to pull out a jewelry box. Pulling open the top, Negan revealed a gorgeous engagement ring that took her breath away and she felt her eyes tearing over, “Erin and Beau helped me pick this one out. We all agreed it was the best one for you because it reminded us of you. Regardless of how you feel about things, you stand out to us Y/N. You are beautiful. You lighten up a room and you shine like no other when you let yourself shine.”

Holding the ring up, Negan’s dimples became more prominent with his smile expanding out over his features, “I love you with everything that I am Y/N. When I’m with you, I feel whole and when I’m not, I’m in physical fucking pain. Everything hurts when you’re gone because I love you so fucking much. I want to be the person that you come to when you’re sad. I want to be the arms that hold you when you need that comfort. I want to wake up every morning and see your face because your face makes me the happiest. I love you so much and I want to spend the rest of my life with you.”

It was quiet. Most people were gone, so it was actually scary quiet how everything was when Negan wasn’t talking, “It’s Christmas Eve Y/N. I know this ring isn’t as sweet as our previous one, but I think it was perfect for you. Y/N, will you make me the happiest fucking man alive and do me the honor of marrying me?”

A whimpering breath escaped her lips. She was crying. He was crying. This was what she wanted more than anything. This was a perfect proposal in a place that actually meant something to her. Yet, she didn’t answer. Lowering her head had Negan letting out an uncomfortable sound because she didn’t respond like he thought she would.

“You have can have that perfect life Y/N. We can make it, together,” Negan stroked his thumb over the top of her hand, lowering his head to try to get her eyes to connect with his. “We’ll get married on New Years. You can move in and we can start a family, together. With the four of us, we will be the thing that you always deserved. A family that loves you, that wants you happy. We can keep trying for a baby together. We can have the perfect life, all you have to do is just say yes.”

Y/N’s face scrunched up and a saddened sound fell from her throat, “I know that you are upset about what happened at your family’s home, but they are just a mess. They have been victim blaming you all along making you think you are the bad person, but you’re not. Don’t let those people determine your future and your happiness Y/N. Let me, Beau and Erin give you the love that you always deserved.”

“Negan,” she began, using her free hand to reach up to wipe at her eyes with the back of it. Call her a fool, call her what you want, but she knew that she was not what was best for Negan and his family. “I’m sorry, I can’t.”

Pulling her hand away from his had him letting out hurt exhale when she moved around the office to go over to the couch to sit down on the edge of it. Negan remained still in the position that he was in, his body slouched over and his hand that was holding the ring lowering down to the ground. Turning down the best proposal she would have ever likely gotten was against everything that she wanted, but she felt like saying yes would be greedy and hurt those that she actually cared for.

“You and your family deserve better than me,” she made it clear how she felt hearing Negan’s breathing loud while he braced his hands on the floor of her office. “You are a gorgeous man, with an incredible job. I know you can find better than me.”

“There is no one better than you,” Negan whispered, finally get back to his feet. When his eyes met hers, it took her breath away to see that he was actually crying. Full on crying over how this was going. “Why can’t you see how much I fucking love you? I don’t want anyone else. I don’t want to keep looking. I know how my heart feels and it loves you. It wants to be with you. No one else. Stop letting your father fucking rule your life Y/N. You aren’t the person he let you believe that you are. You found someone who loves you more than life itself. Someone who would do anything for you and they would go to the ends of the Earth to make you happy, yet you are denying yourself that happiness. Because of what some angry, old farmer said to you? I love you Y/N.”

“I love you too,” she whispered feeling the noticeable chest pain that she had because it hurt to hear Negan upset and to see him that way. “I love you so much. It’s crazy how much I love you Negan. I meant everything I said. With you is the only place I’ve ever felt like I belonged in this world…”

“Then marry me,” Negan begged one final time, a tremoring breath falling from his throat, but once again it was followed up with a shake of her head. “I don’t understand why you are doing this to yourself. To me.”

“I just can’t Negan,” she whispered, her breathing uneven when he dropped his arms down at his sides. “I can’t. I’ll consider staying at this job, but us? We can’t do this. I’m sorry.”

Getting up from the couch, she stepped forward to drag her hand down over the side of Negan’s face. There was misery in his eyes when she headed for the door leaving him alone in her office. It hurt seeing him like that, but she knew deep down if she were to marry Negan, she would only give him more trouble in the future. She wanted him happy and, in her mind, the only way he could be happy is he found something better than her.

----

Tags: @slutlanna976 @fuckthis-and-fuckthat @jennydehavilland @de-gabyconamor @ibelongtonegan @smallsadjellyfish @labyrinthofheartagrams  @msjamesmarch @thebeautysurrounds @hotfornegan @redmercysugar @caprithebunny @tuttifuckinfruitty @emoryhemsworth @a-girl-interupted @akumune​ @stoneyggirl2 @xsarcasticwriterx @haleygreen23 @xhannahbananax03 @sanctuaryforthelost @burningredaffair @killaweiser @dead-of-niight @ayumi-wolf @hollyismentallyillhelp @promiscuousbarnes​ @tone-stark @lanadelnegan @flippittygibbitts @stickyhuesos @dilfsandmartinis

[purinfelix]

by midnight ⋆⭒˚｡⋆⊹₊ ⋆

pairing: carlos sainz x reader summary: you find yourself at one of the hottest parties on campus, eager to land a kiss before New Year strikes to avoid bad luck warnings: none w/c: 2.3k

a/n: i can't believe this is my first proper carlos fic even tho he's my fav driver - also is this a uni au ?? college au ?? sort of idk ... anw hope you all enjoy this and i wish you all a happy new year !! <333

As you stood in the corner of the dimly lit room, with no company other than the half-empty glass of red wine you’d been cradling for the past hour, you were beginning to question what you were doing at this New Year’s Eve party in the first place.

Of course, your mind was quick to point to the obvious reason - you had come because your friend asked you to. Because she had burst into your dorm room about a week ago with a sparkle in her eye and an invite to a party hosted by what she referred to as ‘high profile university elites’, which you understood as ‘popular kids who were yet to realise they’d already peaked in high school’. Nonetheless, her eagerness and incessant begging had somehow convinced you to trail along with her to the party and the numerous shopping trips preceding it.

You had to admit, there was a tiny part of you that was excited about it. You enjoyed going out and the occasional dance session but after an extremely stressful university semester you weren’t sure you could handle any more chaos or drama. But it was something different, something interesting - something to look forward to in the break routine your life had become. Especially since your friend seemed very insistent on the possibility of you meeting some new “hot singles”, and whilst the dig at your uneventful love life didn’t go unnoticed you let it slip considering it wasn’t entirely untrue.

Maybe it was this possibility that had urged you to tag along with her, despite not knowing any of the hosts or people she had listed out. However, if it weren’t for her constant reassurance that she would be at your side the entire night, you probably wouldn’t be standing at the front door of whatever unlucky house had been chosen to host the event, so dressed up you felt a little silly. Your hands trembled slightly at your sides and you felt stupid at how nervous you were. But, as the door opened for you by a boy who looked like he had already had too much to drink from his crooked tie, you swallowed your nerves and reminded yourself that even if you knew no on else, you had your friend to lean on.

At least, until a mere hour had passed into the party and she was nowhere to be found. She had told you she was going to go introduce herself to some other people and that she’d be back to meet you in the corner where she had left you. And the last you saw of her she had been standing a little too close to a guy you vaguely recognised from one of your marketing lectures, and hand ultimately decided best to leave her to enjoy herself - even if that meant awkwardly taking up space, biding your time, and avoiding eye contact with anyone.

Your friend had discussed at length, and much to your dismay, about how this wasn’t just any old New Year’s Eve party like one thrown at a frat house. Rather this was one organised by your university’s wealthiest, most popular, most talented students - which had been one of your biggest turn-offs from it initially. And as you leant against the corner of some vintage-looking wallpaper, you couldn’t help but observe the atmosphere that reeked of elitism, snobbery and daughter laughter. People around you chattered away without cares in the world, donning clothes that surely came from stores you weren’t wealthy enough to know of. Others danced in the centre of the dimly lit room, some moving with elegance and others waved their arms around, drunk on a mixture of whatever expensive bottles their peers had brought.

But, to your surprise, there was something - or rather someone - that managed to catch your eyes from the other side of the room. It was what seemed like the only other person not involved in some sort of conversation, dance circle, or the lips of whatever partner they had brought. And it seemed he had noticed you too by the way his deep brown eyes had locked onto yours, even in the shadowy lighting from where he sat on the cough. He was handsome, there was certainly no denying it, especially not when the eye contact and the slight quirk of his lips alone were enough to make your heart rate quicken. You took a shaky sip from your glass, watching as he ran a large hand through his dark hair that was styled in a way you could only describe as ‘princely’, the gold cufflinks on his shirt sleeve flashing as he did.

He’s way out of your league and your tax bracket, you remind yourself. But there’s something about the way this handsome stranger is looking at you that makes you feel compelled to him. Almost like he’s cast an invisible string around your waist and is slowly pulling you towards him. A grandfather clock in the corner tells you there’s less than half an hour until midnight and the strike of New Year’s, and until you can get out of here without missing too much. Half an hour to work up the courage to go up to him, talk to him, to do anything other than stand her paralysed under his intense, yet insanely attractive, gaze.

Your feet unstick themselves and go to take a step in his direction, until your friend appears suddenly around the corner, her hand already on your wrist. She’s talking to you about some people you “just have to meet”, half dragging you with her to the kitchen. But your eyes are still stuck on him, and he watches you go with an expression that’s equal parts amused and disappointed that your charged staring competition didn’t last longer.

You find yourself in a circle with three other people, forcing a smile on your face and trying your best to act as if you care while your friend introduces you to them. One’s an engineering major, the other in medicine, and the last you can’t even bother to remember, your brain busied with plans on how to get back to the lounge, and the handsome stranger. You nod incessantly as your new company drones on about final exams and papers, eager to have the conversation done with you.

“Well, seems like there’s not much time left until midnight,” one of them says, which catches your attention, and your friend laughs along.

“And you know what they say about a New Year’s kiss, hm?” she chimes in, “that failing to lock lips with anyone after the countdown will bring in a whole new year of loneliness!” She nudges your arm and you swallow the urge to make some excuse, settling on rolling your eyes with a resigned smile.

“You found the lucky guy yet?” the engineering major says, looking directly at you with a suggestive sort of look.

As if summoned by the question, you spot something out of the corner of your eye. A familiar tuft of dark hair snakes its way around the kitchen hallway - it’s him. Now that the two of you are standing you truly get a sense of how tall he is, and you can definitely see that the dark suit he’s wearing is doing his figure justice. He moves quickly, purposefully, as he pours himself another drink and is already making his way out of the kitchen. Though, not before looking back and shooting you a quick smile. The sight renders you incapable of speech and basic function, as you go to take a sip of your own drink and instead spill your glass’ remains onto your dress.

Your little circle erupts into groans and worried cries, your friend trying her best to laugh off the total fool you’ve made of yourself in front of them. Luckily though, it seems the handsome stranger didn’t stay long enough to witness your little accident, so you don’t mind too much as your friend ushers you off to one of the bathrooms, pushing past bodies that move along to the pulsing music. Your head throbs as your friend shoves you in and shuts the door behind her.

“I can’t believe you,” she sighs, grabbing handfuls of toilet paper and throwing them at you as you sit on the closed toilet seat, “that was so embarrassing, and you’ve completely ruined the dress we spent ages picking at.”

You clearly couldn’t care less as you dab at the large stain on your dress with indifference, as she paces back and forth and waves her hands around to express her frustration.

“It’s really not that big of a deal, they all seemed like assholes anyways,” you mutter. Your quip seems to calm her down as she takes a seat on the bathtub rim. She takes a moment to glance at her phone in her hand before letting out a tired sigh.

“And now there’s less than three minutes until midnight and neither of us is getting a New Year’s kiss.”

“There’s nothing keeping you in here with me, you know,” you say, a smile in your voice as you watch her expression turn hopeful.

“You really wouldn’t mind?”

“I mean, I don’t really want to spend New Year’s Eve alone but I don’t want you to as well, I think I’ll manage.”

She lets out a squeal, pulling you in for a quick hug whilst being careful not to get any of the red wine you’ve spilled on your dress onto hers.

“I’ll meet you outside in half an hour,” is the last thing she says to you before turning and leaving the bathroom to rejoin the crowd that’s formed to count down the seconds until midnight. It’s almost funny that you’re alone once more, only now with a gigantic red stain and under the harsh white light of this lavishly decorated bathroom. Sitting back against the toilet, you close your eyes and try your best to enjoy this moment of peace, and ignore the fact that this may just signal another year of loneliness - as your friend mentioned. You can hear the partygoers outside getting ready, pulling out tiny confetti canons and ushering others into the lounge.

“10!”

“9!”

Suddenly, the door opens and you jerk up to scold your unwelcome intruder. That is until you notice it’s him, the handsome stranger. He looks equally surprised to see you until you realise he probably wasn’t expecting anyone to be sitting alone in the bathroom during the countdown to New Year’s. Your throat is dry but you still manage to croak out some form of a response.

“What are you doing here?”

“I could ask you the same thing,” he says, and you notice he’s almost panting. You gesture to the stain on your dress with an expression that says “duh”.

“Oh, right, well I just wanted to get away from all the chaos and loudness, you know.”

“8!” The crowd outside keeps going, and they seem to be getting louder.

“You didn’t find any lucky girl to kiss when midnight struck?” you say, trying your best to make light of how insanely awkward this interaction is. He rubs the back of his neck and looks down at his feet shyly.

“Well I did, she was standing in the corner of the room all alone,” he takes a couple of steps towards you and his voice is sheepishly quiet.

“7!”

“She sounds like a loner,” you retort and he lets out a dry laugh. You’re trying to play it cool and act as if you’re not dying to just kiss him already, because you know that’d be too forward, especially for someone like you at a party like this.

“Well, I thought she was beautiful, at least until she got dragged away by her friend.”

“6!”

“Really?”

“Yeah, but then I saw her later in the kitchen talking to some guys and figured she’d be more interested in them.”

“5!”

“I’m sure they were boring,” you decide to play along with his game.

“Really?”

“Yeah, and I’m sure she would’ve much rather been talking to you instead of them, and hearing her friend talk about how if she didn’t kiss someone by midnight she’d have to deal with another year of being single,” this catches his attention, his eyebrow quirking up alongside a smirk spreading across his face.

“Really?”

“4!”

“Yep, until she spilled a bunch of wine on this dress she bought and ended up in the bathroom trying to clean it off.”

“3!”

”Sounds unfortunate.” He’s towering over you now, looking down at you with a softness in his eyes and a playfulness in his tone.

“Extremely.”

“2!”

You finally find the strength to stand up too, and almost immediately his hand finds its way around a strand of your hair, twirling it absent-mindedly. It moves to your cheek, then your chin, which he cups softly so that he can look into your eyes properly. You feel on fire underneath his touch. At this distance, he’s breathtaking. His eyes are almost enchanting and you feel tiny underneath their gaze, swallowing a lump nervously. He watches you intently, eyes flickering between his own and your lips - it’s clear what he’s thinking.

“1!”

The crowd outside erupts into cheers and the popping of confetti canons, but you’ve forgotten about them immediately as his lips crash into yours with a passion you realise haven’t experienced in a while. It’s not forceful though, it’s too perfect to be anything else. His hands snake around your body and support you - almost lifting you up into him, and you let him, your body turned to jelly under his touch. All the night’s eye contact, the silent messaging, the tension, has been squeezed into this single kiss and it just about knocks you off of your feet. Finally though, your lips separate, and you feel so dazed you can hardly form words.

“Carlos,” he says heavily.

“Huh?” you mumble, mind still processing.

“My name, my name is Carlos.”

“Oh, right, Happy New Year Carlos.”

[daisykihannie]

Our little secret (S.CB+B.CN)

pairing: Dom!Chan+Dom!Changbin x ftm!reader

warning: NSFW, overstimulation, teasing, threesome, praise, degradation, spit, cum, lots and lots of cum, scratching, giving oral, receiving oral, unprotected sex, NASTY NASTY BOYS, daddy kink, sir kink, 99% smut and 1% fluff, porn WITH plot

@getyourdirtyhandsoffme thank you for the idea! I hope you like it! I think I got a little bit carried away with this one. oopsie-

You had become pretty close with the idol group stray kids since you had been a frequent backup dancer for them. It was currently comeback season and you were all staying insanely busy with the hectic schedules of performances. It was Friday night and you just got back to your apartment about three hours ago after practicing.

Your friendship with them had grown over the last two years and it felt like you had become a part of their little family. You were the closest to them out of all the back up dancers, you being one of the only ones with a permanent spot in the lineup.

You were taking a hot shower to clean off all the sweat and grime from the extensive dance practice. The hot water working like magic to help relax your aching muscles. You heard your phone chime once, then twice, then three times. The only reason for your phone to be blowing up like that would be the group chat.

You chuckled inwardly at yourself knowing it was probably the 8 males being crackheads in the chat. In no rush you finished up your shower and stepped out. You wrapped a towel tightly around your hips and used a smaller one to start drying your hair.

You draped the towel over your shoulders to catching any remaining water from dripping onto your skin and grabbed your phone off the bathroom sink. You unlocked it to see more than 20 missed texts in the group chat. You opened the chat, reading through what you missed, plopping down on your couch still in just a towel.

You saw Chan and Changbin begging the others for company in the studio while they worked. Their brains going into overdrive and melting, or so their dramatic asses claimed. You looked at the clock seeing it was past midnight and your insomnia was raging. You weren't gonna be able to sleep for a while and you'd be bored out of your mind so you shot them a quick "I can be there in 20 but, y'all better not bore me to death after I go out of my way to keep your asses company." you sent the text with a chuckle, immediately receiving responses.

Changbin and Chan were promising not to be boring, saying they love you, singing your praises while the other 6 men were wishing you luck and basically planning your funeral after you end up getting bored to death. You turned off your phone and left it on the couch while you went to your room to get dressed.

You put on some light grey sweats, that showed the outline of your packer a bit, and a white Muscle Tee with black lettering on it. Your top surgery scars barely visible after so long, the skin just barely more pale and pink than your skin tone. You started to feel more comfortable wearing the top around the others considering you could remain very stealth about your transition now without any obvious scars.

Your hair was still very damp as you grabbed your keys, slipping on your Vans and walking out to your car. The studio was only about a 15 minute walk from your apartment but it was mid autumn so the cool breeze nipped at your exposed skin, your wet hair making you even more chilly so you decided driving was the best option.

When you arrived, you still had about 5-ish minutes till you said you'd be there so you took your phone out of your pocket to see even more missed messages of the boys arguing about everything and nothing at the same time. A lot of teasing was happening towards Chan and Changbin about them "being in love with" you which made you snort out a laugh.

You headed up to the top floor where the studio was, standing in front of the fogged glass door just two minutes early. You could hear the two males arguing but couldn't make out anything they were saying, knocking a bear all the members used to communicate their presence. you heard Chan loudly telling Changbin to shut the fuck up and the door flung open to a smiling Chan, dimples on full display. He had a slight blush on his cheeks and ears but you just assumed it was from the teasing from his other members.

"Miss me?" you said with a cocky smirk, walking into the studio and plopping on the leather sofa in the back that Jisung normally napped on, tucking one ankle under your knee to sit comfortably, leaning back with a sigh.

"Chan missed you a lot for sure." Changbin retorted taking a jab at his Hyung. "Definitely not as much as our binnie though." he said, jabbing back without any hesitation.

"We get it, you're all in love with me. No need to argue boys, there's plenty of Y/N to go around." you said in a joking tone, eyes still shut as your head was resting on the back of the couch. You couldn't see the fact that both their faces were heating up as they both checked you out, your words sparking something almost primal inside of them.

They both know you said it as a joke but they really wished that somewhere deep inside, you meant it. "Don't say something you'll regret babe." Chan said, flirting as per usual but normally it wasn't directed at you but you shrugged it off thinking he was just going along with the jokes you started.

"What if I don't regret it?" you said, eyes finally meeting Chan's eyebrow cocked with a smirk as you finally saw his dark, almost hungry expression. He looked like he was bound to attack at any moment. A groan left his throat, resonating somewhere deep in his chest.

oh?

You felt your cheeks start to get hot as your stomach started doing back flips. What the fuck was that and why was your body responding to it like a horny teenager? You kept your composure as you continued teasing them.

"What? Cats got your tongue? You and Binnie have never been so quiet before. Has little old me made you unable to speak?" You said, the devilish smirk growing on your face as your eyes flicked between Chan and Changbin's faces, both sporting the same fire in their eyes. They looked so-

Your eyes traveled down their figures, noticing they both had their dicks reacting to you and your words. You licked your bottom lip subconsciously as your gaze met theirs again. You adjusted in your seat, placing your other foot on the ground and pushing your hips forward a bit, your packer looking a bit more prominent now. Their gazes landed on your lap and you realized.

They were both needy for your cock. The silicone one in your pants that looked like you were starting to sport your own hard on like they were. Then it hit you. They don't know that it's fake. To them you're biologically male just like them.

oh shit- what the fuck am I supposed to do now?

They both rolled their chairs over to either side of your thighs, placing their hands on your mid thigh to test the waters, seeing you bite you lip and look up at them with such need made their dicks twitch against the fabric of their pants. You had a pleading look in your eyes that made the need to devour you, that much stronger.

Little did they know that you were only half pleading for them to ruin you. The other pleading for your brain to come up with a way to tell them that you don't have a dick. The wetness in your boxers making it that much harder to think.

You started to feel dizzy as your abs started to constrict as the kneeling your thighs, slowly going high towards your aching core. Chans other hand slipping under your shirt to feel your abs tensing. Changbin's other hand was palming himself through his pants, slowly, watching you squirm under their touch.

"You look so fucking handsome like this Y/N." Changbin growled at your, his eyes fucking you from afar. You let out a soft whimper at his words, feeling overwhelmed by all the stimulation for their hands. Chan started to move the hand in your shirt higher, right as the pad of his middle finger was about to touch the scar your eyes widened, grabbing his wrist to stop him.

"Wait!" You yelled a bit frantically, sitting up straight. You took a few deep breaths, both the males removing their hands from you and freezing, a terrified look on their faces thinking you regretted giving them consent and you didn't want this.

"Y/N... I'm so-" Changbin began to speak but was cut off by you. "Shut UP- just-" you let out a sigh realizing your voice was a lot harder than intended because of your fear. You never planned to come out to anyone in stray kids and definitely not like this, you soaking your boxers, panting and needy while Chan and Changbin were painfully twitching in their pants, hungry for you.

"I'm sorry- look I- neither of you have done anything wrong just- fuck- how do I even tell you this...?" your words failing you, brain still dizzy from the previous events. You let out a groan, placing your face in both your hands trying desperately to get your brain to work.

"It's okay Hun. Just take your time." Chan said reassuring you, putting his hand on your knee and rubbing circles onto the fabric with his thumb to reassure and encourage you.

"I just need to rip the band-aid off..." You sighed again removing your hands, clasping them in front of you, staring at them like they were the most interesting thing on the planet. "I'm- iwasbornagirlandstillhaveapussymsofuckingsorry." you spat it all out in one breath, finding your burning face in your hands, eyes screwed shut as you waiting for them to yell at you for misleading them.

But it never came. You looked at the two males from between your fingers seeing confusion on their faces, screwing your eyes shut again. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to mislead you. I just-" this time you were cut off by Changbin.

"That- that's it? You're still a guy. Still a man, and I can say I'm still very much attracted to you. I still would like to continue but only if you do." Changbin cooed at you, his words shaking you to your core, causing you to drop a bit more into your boxers.

"You're still Y/N. Our handsome baby boy. Your biology isn't going to change that. I'd still love to show you just how handsome you are if you let me." he had a slight growl in his tone at the end of his sentence. They still wanted you? They were actively waiting for your consent again.

You sat up again still pretty shocked, the devilish smirk finding your lips again as your pussy began to throb. "Then show me. Show me how handsome I am. Show me just how hungry you are for me and my cunt." you said finding a new sense of confidence from the way Chan and Changbin continued eye fucking you and the tent in their pants never leaving.

You didn't need to ask twice. Chan put one knee between your spread legs on the couch, leaning over you and attaching his plump lips to your neck, sucking softly and trailing kisses around to find your most sensitive spot. When your back arched off the couch, your hips slightly bucking against the thigh resting against you core, Chan couldn't help but moan as he began sucking and biting harshly at the spot, sure to leave a bruise.

While Chan was making you squirm with his lips and tongue on your neck, Changbin ran his hands under your shirt, fingertips finding your hardened bud, not even taking notice of the scars on your chest as his nails dragged across them for a moment. You were breathing heavy, biting your lower lip to keep and noises inside.

You were doing a pretty good job of staying quiet until you felt Changbin's hot breath on the skin of your abs, followed by his wet tongue tracing the edges of the muscles up until his lips ghosted over your sensitive nipple, his breath sending chills down your spine, causing you to rut against chan's thigh again. You inhaled sharply when he tensed his thigh muscles, pressing against your throbbing cunt.

"We wanna hear you baby. Come on and let out those pretty moans of yours." Chan's voice was commanding, dark and sultry. Your thighs clenching around his in desperate need to be touched. You let out a symphony of moans and grunts as you tried to ride Chan's thighs. Changbin sucking and biting at your nipples, the pain was causing your skin to burn in the best possible ways.

"P-Please..." You started begging. You didn't even know what exactly you were begging for or from who but all you knew is that you needed more. so much more from both of them.

"Please what pup? use your words~" Changbin said against your chest, looking up at you and you fell apart under their touch. "S-sir... Daddy... P-Please... t-touch me, fill me, t-taste me... Fuck! please! I've been good! I need you both so fucking bad!" You're sure you were screaming for them now, thank fuck the studio was soundproofed.

"Good fucking boy." Chan growled into your ear, the praise shot straight to your needy cunt. Clenching around nothing, desperate for their touch. Chan and Changbin were quick to work together to strip you completely, your pussy red and glistening in need and desire.

Chan licked his lips and Changbin but his, not taking their eyes off your figure. Hair a mess, Chest rising and falling heavily, legs spread to have your pussy on display for them, your enlarged clit visibly throbbing, looking so fucked out just from the foreplay. Your eyes lidded as you watched the both of them undress in front of you, their cocks rock hard and slapping their abs when they pulled their boxers off.

Their tips were angry and leaking. You waiting for their next moves, completely at their will. "Please Daddy and Sir, use me like your own personal sex toy. Please" You were growing impatient, needing them to touch you now or you felt like you'd die.

"Fuck- Such a pretty slut when you beg for our cocks." Chan said as he dropped to his knees between your legs, his face close to your core, licking his lips hungrily, ghosting his lips over your throbbing clit when he spoke his lips grazing ever so slightly across it causing you to let out a whimper and arch your back. "Keep your eyes on him and use that pretty mouth to make him cum like the good pup you are." Chan said before wrapping his slightly swollen and wet lips around your dick (clit) and sucking, rolling his tongue like he was made to eat you out.

Your eyes rolled back and your right hand tangled into his hair, holding his face against your core, already feeling a bit dizzy from the magic he was working on your dick. Changbin climbed onto the couch, kneeling on your left, his cock leaking as he placed the tip against your bottom lip. "Open, tongue out." you didn't need told twice.

You looked up at him opening your mouth and letting your tongue roll out, his cock felt heavy on your tongue. You let out a deep groan from your chest fighting letting your eyes roll back in your head to keep eye contact with Changbin. His hand fisted your hair as he ran his cock up and down your tongue to get the shaft lubed up with your spit.

He leaned forward and spit onto your tongue and the tip of his cock causing you to let out a whimper. "Close." he said and your lips wrapped around just the tip of his cock. Your legs began trembling as Chan kept eating you out like his life depended on it. Never pulling away to breathe as his tongue laps at the juices that poured out of you, his tongue switching between fucking into your tight hole and going crazy on your dick.

You were moaning desperately around Changbin's cock as he fucked mercilessly into your mouth, groans falling off his lips, keeping eye contact with you as your eyes kept trying to roll back into your head, your moans sending vibrations through his cock as you got closer and closer to your high. You tried to pull Chan off of you and he grabbed your hand from his hair pinning it to the couch as he moaned against you, vibrations sending you over the edge.

You came hard on his tongue, your left hand on Changbin's hip as he continued to use your mouth. Your orgasm ripped through your body, grinding against Chan's face as he continued to help you through your orgasm into overstimulation. Your nails digging into Changbin's hip, making him hiss, the pain bringing him closer to his own climax, your eyes were rolled back into your head as the after shocks coursed through your trembling body.

Chan stood from between your thighs, lining himself up with your throbbing core and rubbing your hip to prepare you for the stretch. He pushed into you slowly, a scream escaping your throat as your nails dug into Chan's bicep, Changbin's cock still stuffed into your mouth, sending him tumbling over the edge, pushing his cock to the back of your throat, making you gag around him as his cum shot down your throat, swallowing everything, your throat constricting his tip, casing his orgasm in your throat all the way to the end. He pulled out, breathing heavy, your moans began filling the room.

You were dizzy, in the best way possible as Chan began a slow place, still rubbing your hip to soothe the pain. "You're being such a good boy. So pretty for your Hyungs. So fucking tight- fuck- so good!" Chan moaned out, moving slowly in and out of you, fighting every need to ram I to you till you were dumb from his cock.

"P-Please f-faster... h-harder" your words were sliced and barely coherent. you were already starting to go brain dead from the insane amount of pleasure, overstimulated. Chan picked up his pace, slamming into your g-spot, pushing you over the edge again. You were clenching around Chan's throbbing cock, him riding the waves of your second orgasm with you.

"Fucking hell BABY-" Chan hissed and maintained a brutal pace, slamming into you as your nails dug into his back, sure to break skin. Your back staying arched as you came around his cock repeatedly. "Fuck- how many was that sweetheart? 4?" Chan asked you.

You shook your head, only being able to moan and scream in pleasure. unable to speak or think really. "hmmm 5?" he asked, slamming into your g spot again, you nodded frantically as you felt another orgasm about to tear through your body. Chan's stamina was something you could never imagined as he pulled you through your 6th orgasm. Changbin was watching for a bit before he pushed his index and middle finger into you mouth.

You sucked on the digits, swirling your tongue around them, moaning around them as tears started to fall down your cheeks in pure ecstasy severely overstimulated from the way Chan abused your insides. Changbin pulled his fingers out, drenched in your saliva and his fingertips brushed against your dick, your back arching harder off the couch and your nails drawing blood on Chan's back, making him his in a mix of pain and pleasure.

"no no no no please- fuck- too much! sir!" you were screaming so loud that you could hear yourself over the blood rushing loudly behind your ears. "Fucking- i'm- I'm close. Fuck! where should I?" Chans thrusts got sloppy, Changbin trying to make you cum again with Chan, circling your sensitive dick over and over again causing you to squirm under the two men. "I-in. s-side." you could barely speak but Chan understood.

"Hyung's gonna fill our good boy so well." Changbin purred into your ear, never removing his hand from your dick. His lips attached to yours feverishly as Chan's cock twitched inside of you filling you with his warm seed. You begin punching Chan's thighs and scratching Chagbins ribcage, a low groan ripping from Chan's chest as he rode out his high. Pushing you to yet another dry orgasm. you lost count of how many you had, Changbin still tongue fucking your mouth, swallowing your screams and moans, him moaning along with you as your nails dug into his flesh.

Chan pulled out of you with a hiss, his cock sensitive to the cool air, your pussy pulsing and clenching around nothing while the mixture of your cum and his poured out of your pussy, dripping down the front of the couch, every muscle in your body spasming after everything. Changbin pulled away from your lips, making you whine from the lack of their body heat against you, but it didn't last long as they both got comfortable on either side of you, sandwiching your trembling body between them.

"You did so so fucking good for us. Such a good boy." Chan cooed and began peppering your body and face with soft kisses. "You're so handsome in every way pup. Absolutely perfect. Never let anyone change your mind about that." Changbin cooed and started to massage your trembling sighs and nuzzle into your hair, placing a kiss to the top of your head. "You're our pretty boy. Ours. Never forget that." Chan said, nuzzling into your neck.

Your body finally gave out from exhaustion, falling asleep between the two boys who lied with you for a bit then got dressed, cleaned you up, then got you dressed. Looking at the clock they saw it was about 5am. They texted the GC and said they were heading back, you had fallen asleep in the studio and they were gonna let you sleep at the door in their room. They didn't need to know any other details about tonight and why you were so exhausted or why they literally made no progress on the track.

That was for you three to know, and the others to never find out. But you looked way too fucked out when they arrived to the dorms. Still knocked out cold in their arms, covered in their marks, Chan and Changbin covered in bloody scratches.

"Y'all are fucking nasty. When we said don't bore him to death we didn't mean to fuck him to death." Jisung said, taking his bowl of cereal to his room as the three of you climbed into Chan's king sized bed, falling asleep all together.

[gallusrostromegalus]

so if AEIWAM has Rukia starting off as lieutenant, what's the justification for sending her to the Living World at the beginning of the story?

(in the manga, she doesn't get the lieutenant's position until after the end of the Soul Society Arc, even though everyone agrees she's the obvious candidate for it. the position is left vacant after Kaien Shiba's death, with the actual duties being split between 13th company's two 3rd seat officers -- whose names ofc I don't remember, but one of them is Isane Kotetsu's younger sister?)

(I seem to remember Rukia initially not actually having *any* officer's seat because Byakuya wanted her kept away from the more dangerous missions. which is why she's on bog-standard Hollow patrol at the beginning of the series)

(idk if this throws a wrench in your worldbuilding, but you've got a whole construction site going on so what's one more trip hazard? 😅)

About four months before the canon series begins:

-----

Ukitake probably would have been less upset if he'd received the message at the office. Or in person.

Instead, the message had been delivered to him by private courier at his home, right in the middle of dinner. Interrupting his dinner after a long day was enough of a reason for Ukitake to read the boy the riot act, but the sheer- What the hell was he thinking? Was he thinking at all??

He squinted at the letter again. Technically, it was only sent to him on the order of "The Kuchiki Clan" so this could, theoretically, be the nonsense of several different people, and not necessarily Byakuya specifically.

"Best to go address them collectively." He sighed, folding up the letter, sticking it inside his robe, and getting up.

"Sentaro? Kiyone?" he called from the hallway, putting on his Captain's Haori, as this was Official Business. "I need to step out for a bit, you two are in charge until I get back."

"Sir!" Sentaro saluted with enough force that he winced from hitting himself in the head.

"Let me come with you!" Kiyone said cheerfully.

"No, this is a private matter. You stay here and make sure the Division doesn't catch fire." Ukitake said, tying Sogyo No Kotowari to his belt. Hopefully it wouldn't come to that, but the average mule could learn a thing or five about stubbornness from Byakuya and a show of force might be necessary. He waved to his two third-seats, and stepped out the door.

It wasn't a long walk, but the cool night air gave him some time and space to think.

Someone in the Kuchiki clan had filed a Legal Injunction to prevent the promotion of one Rukia Kuchiki to any seated officer's position. It had arrived less than an hour after Ukitake had sent in the paperwork to finally fill his long-open lieutenant's position, and Rukia wasn't back from her patrol in the Rukongai, so it wasn't Rukia who had told them. Someone was keeping a much-too-close eye on the 13th's operations, and interference like this was dangerous as well as disrespectful.

There was a brief pause at the front gate of the compound where the new guard attempted to rebuff Ukitake by saying he needed to have an appointment.

Hm. I actually am angry. Ukitake decided, as the little prick went on about the importance of security to the clan. He turned away from the guard, squared up in front of the gate, and with a moment's concentration, he kicked through the bar and both doors to the gate neatly off their hinges, quietly enjoying the way one of them cartwheeled over the grounds and around the main building until it came to a stop with a loud splash inside the koi pond.

"Ah. Ukitake-Taicho is on his way to the main house." The guard said over his communicator as Ukitake strode into the compound, having done a very sensible about-face. "Perhaps open the main doors for him."

Indeed, he watched the servants scramble to open the main doors to the house, the maid taking her post to greet him and the others scuttling away at speed to not be on the scene, one of them going so far as to dive into a nearby bush.

"Welcome Ukitake-taicho." Bowed the maid. "The family is currently at dinner."

"Oh good I can speak to all of them!" He beamed, breezing past her and any pretense of etiquette and striding into the family home.

There was an ominous rustle of blossoms in the courtyard.

"I love him like a son, Senbonzakura, but he's behaving rather badly and needs to be corrected." Ukitake explained, not breaking his stride save to give the zanpaktou a sideways glance. "-Unless this is somehow Ginrei's tomfoolery, in which case your master will probably turn him inside out before I have the chance."

Satisfied, the ancient tree stilled.

"Thank you." Ukitake nodded, turning down the hall and came to the dining room, whose doors seem to have been surreptitiously left open rather than risk the wrath of his foot.

"Jushiro," Byakuya spoke calmly as though this were no more than a social call. "-this is a surprise."

"It is a surprise!" Ukitake agreed, voice strained as he tried to keep his tone lighthearted, tossing the legal injunction onto the table. "-I thought you all knew better than to try to tell me how to run my division!"

Byakuya, two of his uncles, a spare cousin and a handful of houseguests all stared at the letter.

"Sorry to interrupt dinner, but the letter only designates that the directive has come from a clan member so I'm not entirely sure whose nonsense this is." Ukitake explained, hands casually on his hips as he waited for an answer.

Byakuya took a sip of water, set his glass down, delicately dabbed his lips dry, and then stood up. "It is my directive, and no-one else's." Behind him, Ginrei reached over to swipe the document from the table and read it at speed. "I think that I've been quite reasonable, given the circumstances."

"Would you like to elaborate on your reasoning here?" Ukitake asked, a sentence that most people recognized as a giant red flag to about face on whatever they had been doing.

If Byakuya had a spiritual animal though, it was probably a Bull, and he interpreted the red flag as a signal to charge. "Given the paucity of heirs the Kuchiki Clan possess, as the head of the family I cannot allow any member to be exposed to an unnecessarily risky position. I am perfectly content for Rukia to be a shinigami but I cannot condone the additional risk of being a seated officer, let alone a lieutenant."

"Are you INSANE?" Hissed Ginrei, staring bug-eyed at his grandson.

"I don't see what all the fuss is about." Byakuya huffed.

Ukitake pressed his hands together in front of his face and sighed deeply. Ah. Yep. That's what I thought.

"Captain Kuchiki." He said, tipping his hands forward for emphasis. "Do you want to step out into the garden with me?"

"Not particularly. I am in the middle of-" Byakuya began and Ginrei grabbed the entire tablecloth in both hands and pulled, ripping the entire meal from the table with a loud shattering of dishware and even Byakuya flinched at the severity of the display.

"OH HOW CLUMSY OF ME." he snarled at his grandson, sauce dripping off his kimono. "Why don't you take our guest out to the garden while this gets cleaned up?"

"...Yes." Byakuya muttered. "I understand the Koi pond has a new architectural feature."

Out in the garden, it was darker, calmer, and easier to speak freely.

"Do you remember the oaths you took when you joined the court guard, and the additional ones you took as captain?" Ukitake asked as they stood in front of the Kio Pond and observed the actually rather aesthetically pleasing way the door had managed to land mostly upright with one end buried in the mud at the and then tipped just enough to be caught by one of the carefully placed standing stones in the middle of the pond, fish gumming at it excitedly.

"I do solemnly swear that I will support and defend the Citizens of the Soul Society against all enemies, foreign and domestic, that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the Court Guard and None Other, that I take this obligation freely, without any compulsion, reservation or secret purpose, and that I will faithfully discharge the duties of the office on which I am about to enter." Byakuya recited easily.

"Good, good- um." Ukitake rubbed his hands and grimaced as he tried to figure out how to put this "-That bit about 'allegiance to the Court Guard and None Other' You understand what that part means, right?"

"That I have sworn loyalty to the Court Guard and nobody else." Said Byakuya, still confused.

"Right. Right- you understand how 'Nobody Else' includes your own family, right? You're Captain first and Kuchiki second, and an injunction like this looks like the head of a Noble House interfering with the running of the Court Guard and that a hell of a lot like Sedition." Ukitake growled the last word.

Byakuya's eyes widened and he was silent for a long moment. "...Ah."

"Gods help me if Yamamoto had seen this- you understand why we have these rules, right?"

"The warring clans era-" Byakuya started.

"-was still going on when I was a boy!" Ukitake yelped. "It's not long gone-!"

"-Least of all for the Captain-General." Byakuya nodded, wincing. "I. Have made a mistake. I will withdraw the injunction immediately."

"Thank you." Ukitake sighed.

"Thank you also for your. Discretion." Byakuya said, carefully eyeing Ukitake.

"He won't hear about it from me." Ukitake put his hands up in disengagement, the major crisis averted but still- "Look. Is this about how I run my division or is it about you and Rukia?"

Byakuya watched a particularly round red carp swim by, knuckle between his teeth, before answering. "...The Latter."

Ukitake nodded slowly, and took off his captain's Haori and undid Sogyo no Kotowari from his belt, folding up the coat and setting it aside on the ground, sword atop it. "There. My Official Business is concluded. May I speak to you as a friend?"

Byakuya glanced up at him and nodded, turning to face his longtime friend-

The crack from Jushiros backhand rang out through the night loud enough to startle the fish.

"How DARE you disrespect Rukia like that? Do you think she's stupid? Weak?" Jushiro snarled, wide eyed and furious.

Byakuya didn't react for a moment out of shock. Some of his colleagues always had violence on the table as an option (Unohana could reassure someone they would be alive for a long while yet in a way that make one's blood run colder than a january morning), but coming from Ukitake was a nasty surprise, like being bitten by a previously friendly dog. Byakuya's cheekbone reddened and Jushiro tried to pretend his knuckle wouldn't be bruised in the morning, but eventually Byakuya closed his eyes, turning away from him.

"...No."

"Then what's this about?" Jushiro demanded.

"She has to do a tour in the living world to be a seated officer." Byakuya spoke quietly. "-And even someone like Kaien Shiba was killed by a Hollow."

"I know." Jushiro sighed, rubbing his brow in frustration. "I know." he repeated, softly this time, dropping his hand and grimacing.

Byakuya looked sideways at him, eyes shining.

"Believe me- I've done everything I can to prepare her for this and then some. She's as ready for this as anyone can be." Jushiro tried to reassure him. "...But you can't keep her locked away from the horrors of the universe. That'll kill her more surely than anything she might face in battle."

Byakuya sighed, rubbing his face, but nodded. "No. You're right." He mumbled, looking exhausted. "She needs to go, and I have no right to stop her."

Jushiro opened his arms, offering Byakuya an embrace, and to his surprise, Byakuya stepped in, leaning heavily on his friend's shoulder.

"It hurts." Byakuya mumbled.

"I know. Gods above, I know." Jushiro sighed, rubbing Byakuya's shoulder. "Can you believe what you just said?" Byakuya nodded into his shoulder.

"As in, can you believe it right now?"Jushiro asked, pushing Byakuya back upright and holding him by the shoulders. "Because Rukia is going to be here any-"

"NII-SAMA! NIIIII-SAMAAAAA!!" Rukia almost shrieked with joy, bounding through the house behind them and sliding onto the porch with such force that she actually slid right off it and into the garden lawn, quickly recovering and sprinting for them. "GUESS WHAT?! UKITAKE-TAICHO JUST NOMIN- oh hey Ukitake-Taicho! What are you doing here?" She started and stopped.

"I lightly misjudged your arrival home, but don't worry, I haven't told anyone yet!" he smiled cheerfully.

"Oh- Um- Ukitake-Taicho nominated me to be his Lieutenant!" She beamed, all brightness and joy at Byakuya. "This means I can finally take my tour of duty in the Living World! I know, I know it's a serious responsibility but- Oh come on! It's so cool! I'll get to see what's been going on in the human world- there's that magical Cocola Juice that Kira tried that almost cured his depression, and building with the Tests Of Skill Renji saw-oh! Maybe I'll learn how to drive an Automobile like Momo did!"

Byakuya managed to smile softly at her as she rambled about the other wonders of the living world, and put a hand on her shoulder.

"I'm very proud of you." he said, and meant it, even if he was holding back the and I'm absolutely terrified for you.

Rukia sniffled, eyes welling up with tears. "R-really?"

"Of course. You've grown into a fine shinigami. Hisana would be proud too." he smiled gently, opening his arms.

Rukia's lip wobbled, and then she tackled him for a hug, sobbing into his chest. Byakuya stroked her back as she babbled her apologies about being so excited but she's waited AGES for this and she wanted Hisana to see and-

Byakuya looked up at Jushiro as she cried, looking on the verge of tears himself. Jushiro squeezed his arm to reassure him before putting his own hand on Rukia's shoulder. "Rukia! This is a happy occasion!" he teased.

"Sorry, Ukitake-taicho." she sniffled, almost rubbing the tears away on here sleeve before stopping and pulling out a handkerchief, a habit Byakuya had spent the previous forty years ingraining into her.

"Why don't you go tell Ginrei the good news and I'll see if the kitchens can whip up something celebratory?" Jushiro smiled and Rukia nodded, bolting off, nearly sliding off the porch again, and calling for her adopted grandfather.

"Thank you, again." Byakuya whispered. "I had been exceptionally foolish. If the injunction had gone through- even without the captain-general's reaction- ...I would have terribly hurt her."

"Yes. Yes you had." Jushiro nodded. "But I'm glad I caught you in time, for both your sakes. Let's go see about getting Rukia some cake, or should we break out the good sake?" ***

The following morning, Byakuya awoke to a bright light and a piercing headache.

"Nii-sama?" Rukia called softly, and once again, Byakuya was forced to wonder what God had blessed Rukia with an apparent immunity to Hangovers.

"Rukia?" he groaned.

"Can I ask you something? Well. Two things?"

"Sure, just- ow. Come in and close the door after you?" He groaned, sitting up. Six AM, barely four hours since the party had wrapped up. Rukia entered, shutting the door against the early morning light and sitting down beside his bed.

"I- it occurred to me while I was cleaning up and I couldn't sleep, but- I promise, I won't be angry, but I need to know-" She sighed. "It's been one thing or another preventing me from doing my required tour of duty in the living world for AGES, and- You didn't have anything to do with that, did you?" Byakuya was silent for a moment. "Some of it, yes." He admitted.

"...Why?" She asked, sounding pained. "I- I promise I've trained and studied as hard as I can-"

"If something happened to you, after I promised Hisana- I- I don't know what I would do!" He snapped, entirely too distraught for this hour of the morning. "I'm sorry, Rukia. You're my sister and all I have left but it was still wrong of me to try to hold you back, just because I was scared of losing you."

Rukia stared at him, stunned, before she tackle-hugged him again, slamming him back into the bed.

"...I love you too, Nii-sama." She mumbled from the middle of his chest. "-But you are so STUPID sometimes!" she groaned from his chest.

"My Apologies." he sighed, staring up at the ceiling. "It's genetic, so you need to watch out for it too."

Rukia tipped he head up, squinting at him.

"That is. A Joke." he smiled down at her and she groaned, rolling off his chest to lie next to him, and he wrapped his arm around her shoulders, enjoying her presence while he could.

"What was the other thing you wanted to ask?" he said after a few moments of pleasant silence, the morning chorus of birds starting to sing.

"Oh yeah!" Rukia sat up, gesturing out in the general direction of the gardens with her thumb. "What's the front gate doing in the Koi pond?"

[whatdudtheysay]

Businessman Toji Fushiguro X F!reader

CW - Smutttt, toji's big dIcK, Slight jealousy, oral(f and m receiving) , face fucking, breeding, marking

☄. *. ⋆☄. *. ⋆

My second ever fanfic - dw another is in the drafts for Toj 𓁹‿𓁹

This isn't proofread or spell checked so sorry for any mistakes ・❥・

𓆩♡𓆪𓆩♡𓆪𓆩♡𓆪𓆩♡𓆪𓆩♡𓆪

ˏˋ°•*⁀➷ˏˋ°•*⁀➷ˏˋ°•*⁀➷ˏˋ°•*⁀➷ˏˋ°•*⁀➷

Being Toji's pA was never easy. He was a successful businessman who owned several large companies that featured in mainly security and in charity. You couldn't help but admire your boss though. I mean. You had basically been there when he started the business. Of course you had doubts. You yourself had to pay for different bills and food but you never thought about quitting and soon enough Toji built his company up and it became successful, allowing him to open up a lot more.

And while working with Toji for a long time. You couldn't deny that you had a somewhat small crush on him. It started when you noticed little things about him. How cute he looked when he was focused on work. His grunts when he was frustrated with something he was reading or when he looked bored out of his mind responding to emails.

At this point, your crush was almost obvious. Toji noticed how you changed over the past few weeks. How you became flustered if your hands brushed against each other, how you made sure you were almost a metre away from him at all times - even in cramped spaces like elevators or cars.

At first he thought he had offended you in some way, thinking he had accidentally said something but when he confided In his business partners - Gojo and Geto, they told him straight.

"She has a crush on you. It's obvious."

Toji didn't believe them at first but then he started to see it. Your body language to him doing anything gave it away and soon enough, he began to devise a plan. Just to see if his partners assumptions were true of course.

You were both working overtime and Toji invited you to work together. He was at his desk whilst you were on this couch, clicking away and occasionally taking sips from your cup of tea, trying your hardest not to look over at him.

"Any updates on tomorrow's meeting?" Toji asked suddenly, closing his laptop and turning in his seat to turn off his monitor.

You sat up immediately, clearing your throat.

"Mr bing wants to have the business meeting at his office, he's also inviting his son since he's the heir." You explained, clicking through the email you were sent. "He also noted that it'd be nice if you bought megumi with you. He wants him and his son to have a somewhat friendly relationship."

Toji hummed thoughtfully. He knew the only reason they wanted megumi to come along was for both heirs to get along and do more business.

"Tell him megumi won't attend. He has to focus on studies." Toji stated, getting up from his seat.

"Really? Forgive me, but I thought it'd be a good idea for both of them to be on good terms, sir."

Toji's ears prickled once he heard you call him sir but he knew he had to let it wait a bit longer.

"No. I won't have megumi making friends with other businessmen just for the sake of making more money." Toji explained.

You nodded and closed your laptop, following him to the door. You both left the office, with you struggling to keep up with his large paces whilst still trying to shove your laptop into your bag.

Toji finally reached the elevator, stopping abruptly which caused you to bump into him, quickly mumbling apologies once he gave you a side glance.

He clicked the button and you both waited in uncomfortable silence, the only sound of you rummaging through your bag.

The sound of the elevator rang through the empty halls, the doors opening. You both stepped in and like always, you made sure there was about a meter gap between the both of you.

"Do you have any plans for the rest of the night?" Toji asked, breaking the silence once the doors closed.

You shook your head and fished into your blazer pocket for your phone.

"Probably just get to sleep..."

He hummed once more. Another minute passed by and you were getting nervous just being in the same space as him. Your eyes moving from the light at the top of the elevator that showed the floors moving by to your black heels, awkwardly pulling the hem of your skirt lower anytime you felt Toji looking over at you.

The elevator light suddenly flickered and you curiously looked up. The elevator shook slightly, catching you off guard, causing you to accidentally stumble against Toji.

Before you could move away from him, the lights flickered once more before turning off, the only source of light being the emergency button.

Toji cursed to himself.

"They still haven't been able to renovate the rest of this area.." he mumbled, taking his phone out, his other hand wrapped around you, keeping you close to him.

You felt self conscious. Should you say something? Your breasts were pressed against his side, one hand resting on his firm chest. You glanced up at him to see he was focused on his phone, typing something.

You guessed he didn't realize but how you were oh so wrong. Toji knew how close you were to him. He was fighting his morals with how your chest was pressed against him. Your smell, your small breaths, your hand on his chest.

"I sent a message to Geto. He said he'll come as soon as possible. Might be a while though...You ok with hanging on a bit longer?"

You nodded. You didn't really have a choice though.

Once his grip on you loosened, you took it upon yourself to create distance once more, letting your bag fall onto the marble flooring.

Toji frowned at this.

"Miss L/n."

You looked up at him, still being able to see him despite the lack of light available.

"Sir?"

"Have I done anything to make you mad?" He questioned, hands digging into his pockets.

"Of course not, Mr fushiguro. Why would you think that?" You frowned slightly.

He shrugged, closing the space between you two in a swift movement which made your heart race.

"You get so nervous around me." He sighed, his voice deeper. "And you always wanna be so far."

You couldn't breathe, his strong cologne flooding your nostrils as you looked up at him. You couldn't avoid him now.

"I've....been busy."

He raised a brow.

"You sure that's what's bothering you?" He asked, a hand moving to play with a loose strand of your hair. "To me it looked like you just have pent up frustrations."

You swallowed the saliva that was pooling in your mouth, breaking eye contact with him.

"Sir- I -" you stammered, not knowing what to say.

The only thing you could think about was how turned on you were by everything that was happening. Sadly, reality hit you.

"Sir...we shouldn't be this close.. you're my boss." You explained, turning your head completely this time.

His fingers locked under your chin, forcing you to look at him again.

"Tell me if you want it miss L/n. If you don't then we can continue like this never happened." Toji put it simply.

You knew the best thing would be to tell him no but you also knew that you'd be dumb to refuse. Any girl would immediately say yes and that's why you found yourself nodding.

Toji wasted no more time and instead attacked your neck, kissing and sucking whilst his hands roamed your body hungrily. It was all so fast but you found yourself loving the way his hands felt on every part he touched.

His leg slid between your legs with ease, grinding against your clothes clit, making you groan, your hips moving against him with need, his hands moving to undo the buttons of your shirt.

Toji moved away from you, a smirk plastered on his face.

"Never knew you'd act like this much of a slut." Toji's finger moved over your bottom lip, smearing your lipgloss before dipping into your mouth.

You felt your stomach do several flips. Your mind was whirling at the current situation, the only objective on your mind being that you wanted to please him.

His thigh moved away from between your legs, making you pout. He chuckled slightly before crouching in front of you, raising your pencil skirt and pulling down your underwear.

You felt yourself blush at the white and pink strawberries that decorated them.

Toji smirked at the sight, letting them pool at your ankles, a hand tapping your thigh, signalling you to raise a leg out of them.

"You're too fucking cute aren't ya, y/n?"

You barely had time to answer, a choked gasp vibrating through the closed space once his tongue met your clit, sucking and licking against your bud, skillfully moving down to your folds.

"Sir! Not there-" You whimpered. Despite your protests, you found yourself grinding against his face needily, hands grabbing his hair desperately as he took you to a state of euphoria.

"Fuckkk- Toji!" You mewled as his fingers slowly entered your dripping cunt.

"So fucking wet down here princess." He murmured, sucking your clit harder whilst he thrusted his fingers into you at an amazing speed.

"Shitt-" you cried, tears gathering at your eyes as you felt a familiar scorching heat gather in your stomach. "Tojii- Gonna cumm"

He moved away from your clit, fingers still fucking into you, his other hand moving to work against your clit.

"Cum on my fingers, princess."

Toji's permission sent you over the edge, your orgasm washed over you, your back arching in pleasure as your hole clenched around his digits. You had been so pent up just from him alone and this was more than a reliever. But you knew it wouldn't be enough.

Toji withdrew his fingers, sliding them into his mouth and letting an almost pornagraphic moan, making sure they were completely clean before dropping his hand.

"You don't look satisfied yet...you want more huh?"

You nodded shyly, watching as he took off his blazer and undid his belt, discarding of both.

His eyes stayed on yours whilst he undid his zipper, tugging his pants down along with his underwear, his dick coming into view. You looked down, eyes widening as you took in the view.

You knew damn well that guys like Toji were big as hell but you didn't expect this. Your mind was going blank just at the girth.

"Want a taste?" Toji whispered against your ear.

You nodded reluctantly, wondering if it would even fit in your mouth.

"On your knees then."

You licked your lips, dropping to your knees after, palming his base before bringing the top to your lips. You gulped nervously before allowing the tip to enter your tongue. Sadly, Toji wasn't feeling as pitiful, instead grabbing the back of your head, pushing you down onto his dick.

You gagged uncomfortably as his tip reached the back of your throat, your nose resting against his pelvis. You felt yourself becoming light headed just before Toji pulled you back. You gasped, letting air fill your lungs.

Toji leaned over you, his hand grabbing your chin so you were looking up at him.

"You can do better than that can't you princess? You do want me to fuck you don't ya?"

You nodded hurriedly. You were too pent up and horny to just let this opportunity go.

He let go of your chin and you moved towards his dick again, taking his hard length into your mouth and bobbing your head, your tongue resting flat against the underside of his cock.

Toji groaned in pleasure, his hand moving to the back of your head once more, being more careful whilst using your mouth for his pleasure.

Your hand shamelessly moved between your thighs, rubbing your swollen clit with need, moving back to pay more attention to his tip.

"Ahh, fuck- Right there- Shit. Good girl." Toji praised, bucking his hips to meet your mouth. "Fuck. Gonna cum princess. Take it all in, ok?"

You hummed around his dick, glancing up at him, your brows knitted as you tried your best to take in more of him.

You still managed to look so fucking pretty with makeup running down your face and his cock halfway down your throat. It drove Toji insane. He couldn't contain himself anymore, taking it upon himself to push you against the wall, hands on either side of your head whilst he repeatedly pushed his dick down your throat, his balls slapping against your chin, saliva bubbling around your mouth.

You managed to breathe through your nose, hands resting against his thighs. Toji thrusted deeply into your mouth a few more times before you felt his seed fill your mouth, toji's moans filling your ears as he did so.

"Fuckk, y/n." He mumbled, letting his dick rest in your mouth for a few more seconds before finally pulling out, a drawstring of cum connecting you both.

"Be good for me and swallow it all." Toji cooed.

You winced, swallowing all of the warm liquid that was in your mouth, the salty taste making it more addictive.

You lolled your tongue out, showing him you had swallowed it all. Toji chuckled breathlessly, helping you to your feet and bringing you into a warm kiss. It was heavy but slow, the type of kiss that would've had teenagers giggling and kicking their feet.

"You look so messy, princess." He cooed, a hand wrapping around your neck.

"Please Toji..." You whimpered, melting in his embrace. "I really want it."

He smirked at your shameless begging.

"Since you've been so good for me, I'll give you a reward."

You gasped once he lifted you with ease, immediately locking your legs around his waist, your arms moving to his neck.

"Have you..." Toji trailed off, eyes focused on your exposed cleavage.

"Had...sex before?" You asked, sounding a bit too innocent for someone who'd just been gagging on his dick two minutes ago.

"Yeah."

You nodded, noticing the way his gaze slightly darkened.

Toji didn't deserve to be jealous but the thought of another man's hands on you did spark a few emotions.

"Focus on me, alright?" Toji informed, moving off of the topic.

"Yes, sir."

You almost drove him mad with that title, his tip rubbing against your folds before he pushed into your entrance.

You let out a loud moan, nails digging into the back of his shirt, your heels falling off your feet.

"Fuck. You're too tight down here-" Toji cursed. "Relax for me princess."

You took a deep breath, trying your best to listen to him. You knew he'd be stretching you out but you didn't think it'd be this hard. You took a few more breaths and held onto him tighter, relaxing slightly which allowed Toji to slide in more.

"Shit- there we go. You're so good for me," Toji praised, his words of encouragement letting you relax even more, his dick sliding deeper and rubbing against your walls.

Toji rubbed your thighs soothingly.

"Come on princess. Just a bit left."

You shook your head, your breathing becoming more shallow.

"'s too much tojii- can't take anymore." You whined, drooling at the heavy sensation in your stomach.

"You can do it. Trust me." Toji encouraged.

You were reluctant to agree but you did so anyway, taking a moment to relax once more, letting Toji slide himself further, his hips meeting yours.

"Fuck, told ya it'd fit." Toji chuckled, his hands gripping your thighs harder.

Your head lolled to the side, eyes almost rolling back at the feeling of being so full.

You groaned once Toji began to thrust into you with almost animalistic speed, your toes curling at the bubbling heat in your pelvis.

"Fuck, Tojii-! It's too much-" you whimpered, more tears falling from your eyes.

Toji licked your stray tears and kissed you, this one more rushed and messy than the last, saliva dripping down both your chins.

"Fuck- can't help it y/n. Your pussy feels so fucking good." He grunted, looking down at where you both met. "You wanted me to fuck you badly didn't ya?"

You groaned once you felt his finger rub against your clit, your orgasm crawling closer.

"Shitt- Toji! You're gonna make me cum"

Toji's hips moved faster, drawing you closer to your orgasm.

"Come on y/n. Cum on my dick." Toji moaned, biting your neck roughly.

You whimpered at the lewdness of it all. Toji's dick kissing your cervix, the slapping sound of his balls hitting your ass, his mouth marking your neck. It was all you needed. You came hard around him, your walls tightening around him with more force.

Toji didn't slow down his harsh thrusts until he saw a white frothy ring around the base of his dick, a shit eating grin appearing on his face.

"Such a good girl." He praised, kissing your cheek.

You thought you were down with it all once Toji pulled out, slight confusion coming over you once Toji dropped and turned you around. His hands pulled your hips out, his dick sliding into you once more but with more ease, making you hiss.

"Tojii-" you whimpered, your mind going blank, only being able to focus on the drag of his cock against your walls.

"Give me a minute princess. Gonna cum in this pretty pussy."

Alarm bells rang in your head at this but you were so fucked out and the thought of Toji cumming in you got you even hornier.

You felt your stomach flip, chasing your orgasm with more need, your hips moving back to meet his hard thrusts.

"Shit- gonna cumm againnn Toji -" you cried. His hand met yours and instinctively you grabbed ahold of it, your legs shaking as he continued to bully his way in and out of your walls.

"Fuck-"

Toji gave you a few more hard thrusts before spilling his seed deep into you, your orgasm hitting you at the same time.

Your eyes rolled back, you would've fallen if it wasn't for toji's grip on you. You both shuddered against each other, a small whimper leaving your lips once he pulled out of you.

Toji helped you step back into your panties, pulling them up quickly. You pulled your skirt down and rested against the wall.

You looked over at toji, buttoning his pants up and bending down to grab his belt and blazer that he threw to the side. You sighed, buttoning your shirt up before fishing your pocket mirror out, patting your hair to make sure you looked decent. You glanced at toji to see him checking his phone once more. As soon as he turned it off, the elevator suddenly whirred back to life.

You leaned to pick up your bag, suspicion growing.

"Did... Geto just get here?"

Toji nodded, a smirk on his face.

"He was always here, y/n. I owe him for the elevator malfunction.

You narrowed your brows at him, blush coating your cheeks once you realised it was his plan all along.

"Don't be upset, princess. Just wanted you to be honest with your feelings." He hummed, a hand sliding around your waist before kissing you softly.

You pouted slightly, Toji grinned at your expression.

The doors finally opened and you were both in the main lobby. Toji lead you out, his arm around your shoulder.

"How bout you come back to my place. I'll make you feel better, hm?"

[insomni-frog]

Caviar does Caviar things

I have no clue what to title this, this is my first time writing something in a while (so if you see any spelling mistakes or grammatical errors, no you don't /j)

Summary: Caviar goes back into the Duskgloom Sea because Black Pearl has been behaving oddly.

It was a fool's errand really.

No one in their right mind would willingly sail towards the Duskgloom sea if they knew what was good for them—and they would probably vow never to sail again if they knew what lived in those salty depths.

But Captain Caviar was no fool; in fact he would've considered himself an even bigger fool to ignore what was happening in those waters.

That sea witch enjoyed her quiet, and anyone dumb enough to sail in there would learn that rule very quickly; if they didn't end up soggy crumbs first.

So constant rumbling storm clouds and crashing waves—in the usual unnervingly serene waters—was a dead give away that something was wrong: even a landlubber would be able to spy something amiss, so it was even more blaringly obvious to an experienced sea hound like Caviar.

It was the whole reason he even embarked on, what was basically, a one-cookie suicide mission. Braving the briny depths in the Black Shark once more, like a foolhardy idiot, just to perform a wellness check on the sovereign of these waters.

Who, last time he saw her, seemed pretty keen on turning him into a past tense.

And for all Caviar knew he could've been navigating himself straight into a watery grave made especially for him. But he had a hunch it wasn't like that. After all the ol' sovereign of these depths, while having a nasty habit of sinking ships and (at best) marooning their sailors, didn't give chase past the waters she called hers.

So the infernal storm that seemed to keep brewing larger and angrier with each passing day, pulling in ships passing by and leaking out well past the boundaries of her territory, was enough for Caviar to dismiss what ever worries he had about sailing back to this place; however it did open up a completely different set.

Such as what ever it is he was even looking for. He wasn't a doctor, even if he knew his way around a medkit, and he was pretty sure not even Baumkuchen would know how to treat or give a diagnosis to a mermaid larger than a soda whale.

And then there was the angle that it was something not physical affecting the gigantic sea beast. While he didn't know the details, he did know that there was a decades old grudge constantly weighing on her mind; and that wasn't something one could fix with a pat on the back and some well wishes.

But at the same time he couldn't just sit around and do nothing about it. Sure there was a chance that it was nothing, and all he was doing was recklessly risking his dough here. But if it wasn't then he was putting the lives of thousands of cookies on the line by just twiddling his thumbs and hoping the Duskgloom Sea would calm down on its own.

So here he found himself, navigating himself through unsteady waters and into the nest of a crankier—and probably more jamthirsty—than usual mermaid.

It wasn't like he hadn't done it before, it would hopefully be no different than the last time: even if he didn't have the company of one Candy Diver Cookie this time. All he had to remember was the passage of sparkling coral reefs that would take him straight out of the graveyard of ships the sovereign called her playground if things went south.                                     *** He maneuvered past the remains of ships once grand—recognising a few of the makes and models (all though his memories had them in better condition)—creeping deeper into the dreadful lair. By now he thought the sea witch would've made herself known, considering she had been doing that plenty over the course of the week, but there was neither hide nor hair of her.

Which he had to say was impressive, considering he estimated the mermaid to be just about as big as two soda whales from tip to tail.

She could toss around ships like they were toys and here he was struggling to find a singular scale of her. For a brief moment it made Caviar wonder if she had moved on to clearer waters, but that was highly unlikely to be the case.

And it also wasn't like he was going full blast trying to find her: Caviar wanted to find her, not for her to find him. So he was relying on dim lights to guide him, because he certainly could not use sonar (he wouldn't take to kindly to someone blaring a siren into his ear, and he doubted she would as well).                                     *** At this point Caviar was pretty sure he had gone in deeper than he had before, which was easier to do considering there wasn't a raging mermaid on his tail. But that unnerved him more than it comforted him: If the sea witch wasn't here she could be of doing who knows what.

But his nerves were both settled and jumped when he finally caught a glimpse of the territorial mermaid.

She was nestled away in a little hollow made of ship wreckages, a shelter for her slumbering form that would send anything swimming the other way.

Yet here Caviar was, piloting the Black Shark closer inch by inch to get a proper look at her.

The sea beast was turned on her side, chest rising and falling slowly with each breath, and one could confuse it for a peaceful respite if it wasn't for the way her face was contorted into an irritated snarl—which was a common expression for the mermaid, but not in this way. Her eyebrows furrowed, eyes screwed shut, lips curling in the slightest manner and exposing just the pointed tips of her sharp teeth. It wasn't a look of anger that could boil the sea.

It was one of pain.

And Caviar didn't have to question what was causing it for too long; as he watched her try to roll onto her other side just for her to seize up and immediately flip back into her original position.

On the surface there wasn't anything glaringly wrong, no massive wound or missing scales, but as Caviar squinted in the low light and practically leaned against the window of the Black Shark for a closer look—he spotted it.

A bowsprit: It was wedged underneath her obsidian scales and lodged into a softer part of her, becoming Earthbread's worst splinter.

To think something that small and insignificant to the large mermaid was the cause of all this trouble—it was almost hard to believe. But if that was the cause then... Caviar couldn't just leave it like this.

So he did the most foolish thing he had done all day (besides sail into the storming Duskgloom Sea.) He exited the Black Shark to brave the slumbering sea witch head on. It wasn't like he had to worry about going soggy, any cookie with a pinch of salt in their dough could face the waters without much fuss—so for a salty sea dog like him there wasn't much to fear.

Besides the sharp teeth of the sovereign. But even if he turned back now he had a sinking gut feeling that not only would he be seeing the wrath of a restless mermaid, others would too.

He'd rather nip this in the bud before she stormed into a maelstrom so large it could sink the entire Crème Republic in one go; even if it meant the chance he would be reduced to nothing but crumbs in the process. But he'd rather turn to crumbs trying than letting others shoulder the responsibility for his cowardice.

And, as much as he wouldn't admit it outloud, he didn't like seeing the sea witch in so much discomfort.

Caviar treaded the waters quietly, creeping towards her imposing form that wasn't any less intimidating lying down. He kept a close eye on her scrunched up face, constantly checking to see if those terrifying eyes had peaked open or not—but they didn't. So here he found himself floating over her tail and mulling over his next course of action.

He couldn't just grab it while floating and pull it out, he would need to get his footing first. And the only footing in sight was that massive tail of hers. So, with a less than eager heart, he allowed himself to land atop her scales and waited with bated breath to see if she would wake.

She didn't. Her face scrunched a little more, but soon returned back to the disgruntled look of before.

Caviar would've breathed a sigh of relief if he wasn't worried about waking her. So, as quietly as he could, Caviar took a gentle grasp of the bowsprit. He positioned his footing for a better hold, after all this had to be down in one swift move—because he doubted the mermaid would let him have another go.

But as he adjusted his footing, and made sure his grip was firm, he could feel something shift behind him. With an apprehensive glance over his shoulder, he came face to face with the irritated sea witch.

She too was looking at him over her shoulder, those piercing eyes staring right into him with an unblinking stare. She didn't say anything, it was like she was still trying to process what she was looking at. And Caviar wasn't planning on letting her get the upper hand now, so with a quick grin he lurched his whole body forward.

The bowsprit slid loose, and with it so did he. They were both tossed backwards in the water from the mermaids tail thrashing in discomfort.

Caviar gave it a quick once over to make sure it had come out in one piece before dropping it to the ocean floor, the sea witch could decide what to do with it now.

Speaking of said sea witch, she did not look happy.

He tried to turn and make a break for the Black Shark, but she was much quicker. Caviar's whole body was seized in one of her hands, her thumb and index finger wrapping dangerously around his throat as she gave him a squeeze. He could hear the water rush around them, and before he knew it the both of them broke the surface.

Lightning crackled above them and illuminated the mermaids face, who looked about ready to bite him in half with how her lips were snarled. Her fingers clutched tighter around his throat, and Caviar was felt like his head was about to pop right off his shoulders as he squeezed his eyes shut. But as quickly as the pressure came, it disappeared.

He curiously peaked open his eyes to see the sea witch looking at where the literal thorn in her side had been moments prior. While she did that the storm clouds that had been brewing non-stop over the course of the week started to ebb away, allowing thin beams of moonlight to shine down upon the two of them. The waters turned calm too.

Without the feeling like his head was about to explode, he could see in her other hand was the Black Shark, held like it was simply a children's toy.

Her gaze flicked back to him, but it didn't carry the same ire as before: in fact she just looked plain exhausted. With a loud humph Caviar was unceremoniously dropped into the drink below, the Black Shark alongside him. He watched as she receded back into the depths and he was left to float in the waters unnerving calm.

He didn't stick around to question why she didn't sink him right then and there, preferring to get back into Black Shark and leave while the sea witch sunk to have her long awaited sleep.

After all perhaps it was just best to let sleeping mers lie.

                                    *** Black Pearl sunk back into her abyss, exhaustion permeating her entire being. As she curled beneath the wreckages she called a nest, finally able to lie on her comfortable side, her eyes landed on the bowsprit tipped with her jam. She reached out and pinched it between her fingers, like it was nothing but a toothpick.

This thing was the culprit behind all her discomfort, the reason she couldn't sleep. She had tried and tried to dig it out herself, only resulting in pushing it deeper beneath her scales.

Yet that meaningless pile of dough had pulled it out in one go: like it was nothing. It made her grumble and hiss in irritation.

Didn't he know who she is—she's the sovereign of the abyss—and yet he helped her.

She flicked the bowsprit away into the depths and settled down for her long awaited rest.

Yet she struggled to get thoughts of that do-gooder cookie and his stupid smug grin out of her head.

Next time she saw him, she'd sink him for sure.

[wouriqueen]

Toxic friendship my beloved. I can't wait for Taeho and Inha's relationship to go off the rails. I mean we've got this perfect set-up.

(My 2 cents no one asked for about why their weird friendship WILL go wrong - and not just because of Hyewon - under the cut).

Taeho's tricky promise

Taeho promised to give Inha "everything he wants" as long as Inha lets Taeho use him as a golden rope to reach the "major leagues". Taeho then said, "We just have to decide what we want to do", and I guess they decided they wanted to make Inha Kangoh group's CEO. But!

Is becoming CEO "everything Inha wants" ? What if there's something else ? Will he expect Taeho to give him that too ?

Matter of fact, what if that promise is the reason Inha went for Hyewon without holding back even though he knew Taeho liked her? Maybe he wanted her - or decided he did... - and felt it was his right to go for it because of that promise?

Why does Inha seem okay with not having a clear idea of what Taeho is getting out of doing all that for him? Oh wait, he isn't! Cue the next point.

Han "I only exist for you" Taeho

Why would Taeho even say that LOL. I mean don't get me wrong, him telling Inha something so intense had my imagination juices flowing, but. It's obviously not true. Taeho didn't enter this deal out of affection for Inha. He himself called it an "economic proposition".

The only reason he'd answer that to Inha's question - "what do you desperately want" - would be to conceal the truth. Which is? The easy answer is Hyewon, and I'm sure that's part of it, though it's unclear how much Taeho's feelings for her have changed or not after 10 years. But would it really be it? I don't think so. If the only thing Taeho wanted was Hyewon, he'd have opened that door back when she tried to pick him 10 years prior - but he didn't.

Inha's anger

In episode 3/4, Inha seems angry at Taeho (re: when they think their plan might fail, and then the beach). And I wondered why that was, but it's obvious.

Taeho's cockiness

Inha's probably pissed about how cocky Taeho has been acting, and even more pissed about the fact that he can't shut him down because Taeho is, in fact, good at what he does.

Does Inha have an inferiority complex ?

Think about how their relationship started - Inha feeling judged and embarrassed while Taeho dished out life lessons, Inha asking for friendship then getting rejected only to be presented with an "economic proposition".

And the dynamic never changed, Inha constantly receiving things from Taeho. No matter how strong the affection was, Inha having a chef cook a meal for Taeho's birthday with money he didn't earn or Inha giving Taeho rides is nothing compared to Taeho getting him into a great uni and getting him closer to his dad/the CEO position, laying out a whole plan Inha just has to follow. Or at least he wouldn't see those as equivalent (and I doubt Taeho would, either).

Is Inha jealous of Taeho's place in his father's life ?

Inha clearly hoped his father would want him - remember his disappointment when he was made to leave his father's house before dinner that one time. He was even more hurt when Taeho explained his father must have called him to the house just to bother his wife. And hurt AGAIN when he found out it wasn't even his dad's idea, but his sister.

Yet he doesn't get to properly meet his father face to face until episode 4, while his more competent friend has been the chairman's right hand man for 5 years. That's gotta sting.

Inha isn't dumb

Highschool Inha knew nothing so he probably thought the terms of his deal with Taeho made sense.

Yet as they grew up, Inha must have realized at some point that something was off. That Taeho is clearly brilliant and savvy enough to get a great job in any big company and become a key player. That he hasn't needed Inha to get him into Kangoh or anywhere else. Taeho has yet to use Inha as a rope, which means he has yet to collect his payment.

Except Inha doesn't know what Taeho wants! He knows he said he wanted to "play in the major leagues", but that's so vague it barely means anything. He knows he may still want Hyewon, but Taeho can't have her AND honor his deal with Inha. Clearly so far, he's picking Inha.

So what does he want? And most importantly - why can't he tell Inha about it?

Of course we know it probably has to do with Taeho's parents and why he can't share that secret. But if I was Inha, I'd feel nervous, suspicious and powerless. Of course he's angry.

And then there's Hyweon. Gosh I can't wait. It probably won't be like I want it to be but I hope it's intense.

[artificial-transmutations]

Alpha Firefighting

Reece felt bad about his job. It was not that it was particularly hard to do or that he was bad at it. The colleagues were reasonably nice (although they were often a particular kind of person that Reece didn't like very much in general). The pay was good, fantastic even for the kind of work he had to do.

No, that wasn't the problem, really. It was just that Reece sometimes felt like his job was useless, in the grand scheme of things.

He worked as a financial account manager for a big insurance company and more often than not, Reece felt like he the world in general could very much do without his job, or the company he worked for. On some occasions, he even asked himself if society wouldn't be better off without greedy capitalistic companies like the one he worked for.

Even though he always tried to do the right thing, this lack of sense troubled him a lot. He donated money and blood, didn't eat meat and tried not to fly too much, but this kind of central pain point in his life kept nagging on him.

In the nights, he often dreamed of a more fulfilling live. He pictured himself as a doctor, or a nurse. Perhaps a paramedic, or a firefighter. He even could imagine himself as a social worker or a veterinarian. But every time he woke up, he was still the same old balding office worker.

Reece wasn't too young, and he had his fair share of bills to pay, so as much as he wanted, a job change would have been a really bad idea at this point in his life, however unhappy his job made him.

One evening, when he came back from work, he passed a carnival that was still under construction. Reece was a big fan of these kinds of events. They provided fun and distraction for people who needed it most. There were many different reasons why someone might feel depressed, and there was nothing wrong with having fun to forget about them. Besides, the bright colors and colorful costumes always brightened his mood.

Strolling over the place, Reece watched the busy people erecting tents or shacks. One tent was already finished, and when he passed it, he heard someone calling from inside. It was a raspy old woman's voice asking "Do you want to know your fate?"

Reece stopped. A fortune teller's tent! Reece didn't really believe in that, but he admired the acting skills of fortune tellers, as well as the ambience, so he didn't mind to indulge in this kind of event from time to time.

He had nothing better to do this evening, so he turned around and entered the tent, and said: "Why not?" in his usual soft and friendly voice.

The lady sitting behind the table looked up at him. She was an older woman, probably in her fifties, with long black hair and dressed in a red robe. On her head was a kind of turban. In front of her was no crystal ball or deck of cards, but a single burning candle.

She regarded him with a mysterious smile and said: "Welcome! You are my first customer in this city, so I will give you a special reading."

The air in the tent was heavy with incense and Reece was happy like a young boy. He liked it when the show people were in character like that.

He nodded happily and said: "Okay! Tell me everything, please."

The lady looked into her candle and moved back and forth, like she was in a trance, before she said: "I see your fate... You are a good man, perhaps one of the best that walk the earth. But the thing that pains you... your job... you won't escape it until you retire. Your fate is to be unhappy for all of your working life."

Reece blinked. That was both unusual and sad. Normally, fortune tellers made a show of telling you unspecific good things that were coming his way. This prediction... was hitting too close to home. His unhappiness with the situation must have been so obvious that the old lady picked up on it.

Without thinking too much, he answered: "But... I don't want that. I want to have a job that's important!"

The lady opened her eyes and stared at him, before she answered: "The fate that is read is what life has in store for you. You can, however, change it. But it will cost you dearly."

"How much do I need to pay?"

"You don't have to pay in money, but in what makes you special. Do you want that?" The question sounded genuine and unjudging.

Reece didn't need to think about his answer much:

"Yes, I think I would gladly pay anything to be able to help people in my job."

The old lady smiled and blew out her candle. "Then go on and do so!"

From one moment to the next, there was pitch black darkness in the tent.

"Uhm... hello?" Reece called but stopped again at once. His voice didn't sound like it was reflected from the fabric walls of a tiny tent, but more like he was in a bigger room. He stood up and felt around until he found a light switch. After he flicked it, cold neon lights came on.

Reece was astonished. He wasn't in the tent anymore, but he was standing in some sort of locker room. It wasn't hard to discern what kind of locker room, either, since there was a lot of equipment and uniforms hanging around that pointed to one particular job.

"A firefighter?" Reece mumbled as he looked around.

"Reece, hurry up and get changed!" yelled a voice from outside.

What kind of magic was this? Did the old lady somehow made people think he was a firefighter?

Nevertheless, almost automatically, Reece disrobed. The moment he put away his suit into one of the lockers, it became a more casual attire, jeans and t-shirt. However, Reece was more concerned with the clothing still on his body, his underwear. He was sure he put on a comfortable pair of boxers this morning, but he was wearing a loose jockstrap. That didn't make sense! He didn't even own such a piece of underwear!

To make matters worse, the jockstrap was quickly changing, getting tighter and... No. No, that wasn't what was happening. It was filling up! His junk was getting bigger, mightily though. He wasn't getting hard, it was just his flaccid dick getting longer and girthier, alongside with his balls that swelled with masculine seed.

The changes didn't stop there, quite the opposite. Reece watched in amazement, as his body transformed, from his groin outward in all direction. His ass grew fitter and firmer, and his belly sucked itself in, revealing clearly visible ab muscle that stretched a bit, giving him some centimeters of extra height.

At the same time, his calves firmed up with muscle. They didn't change size a lot, but his fat melted away and was replaced by dense muscle.

As the changes reached his knees on the one end, his chest began to itch, as hundreds of small hairs sprouted on the changing flesh. It went a long way from the pudding-like consistency to two hard slabs of muscle, coated with manly hair. The changes continued down his lower legs and his arms. Biceps and triceps filled with mass, two strong arms that were made for breaking doors with a fireman's axe. His muscular legs gave him the necessary stability to do so. His feet enlarged a good one or two numbers, which would certainly help him keep his balance. Finally, the changes reached his head. Stubble formed on his chin and his hairstyle became a stylish, yet douchey cut. With his face squaring into the perfect male form, Reece’s personality changed.

Damn, was he looking good today. He gave his ample cock a last tug before he quickly changed into his uniform, ready to do his job.

Finally, he put on his sunglasses, grinning at his handsome reflection. He didn't have a particularly deep connection to his firefighter job, but the uniform looked awesome on his alpha male body, and he got to spend time with his bros. Besides, a lot of chicks and fags looked up to firefighters, which gave him plenty of material to stick his dick in.

After the operation, he needed to snap some new tinder pics and wait for the inevitable stream of thirsty comments from which he could choose from for tonight. He didn't discriminate if it was a boy or girl worshipping him, unlike most of his bros, but he got them all. He was, after all, a true alpha.

Be sure to check out my riot page for more stories, pictures and early access!

[fallintosanity]

So y’all wanted more rants about information security & data privacy? Let’s talk about the two main privacy paradigms that are currently competing for dominance in Big Tech. For the sake of not writing a full goddamn thesis I’m going to only talk about models that actually address user privacy (so NOT Facebook’s “privacy is no longer a social norm” bullshit), and only in the context of the USA with a light dip into GDPR. 

Very broadly speaking, Big Tech in the US is coalescing into two camps regarding privacy: “opt-out privacy” and “opt-in privacy”. Apple is the flagship and main driver for the concept of “opt-out privacy”. Over the last few years, they’ve leaned heavily into the idea that data should be kept private by default, and only shared under limited circumstances at the user’s request. In other words, the user has privacy by default, and must opt out of that default for data to be shared.

Google is likewise the flagship and main driver for “opt-in privacy”: the idea that data should be shared broadly for the benefit of both the user and the service provider, and sharing is restricted on a case-by-case basis at the user’s request. In other words, the user shares data by default, and must opt in to privacy where desired.

It’s not a coincidence that Apple and Google are the leading drivers for Big Tech’s privacy models. Mobile phones are the most personal devices most people own: your phone goes with you everywhere, and on average, most people check their phones 344 times(!) per day. If you’re like roughly half of US mobile users, you have at least one personal health app on your phone. And until very recently, nobody was stopping shady advertising companies from harvesting every drop of user data they could from people’s phones. All this has made mobile phones one of the primary battlegrounds for digital privacy. 

Let’s look at Apple’s model first. 

(cut because this is 2k words and I don’t want to murder anyone’s dashes)

You’ve probably seen at least one variation of the recent iPhone privacy ads:

And you’ve probably heard about all the features Apple has been introducing on iOS and the App Store to improve users’ control over who accesses their data, when, and why. Apple is going all-in on the idea that data sharing of any kind should be the exception, not the rule. They appear to be actively working to gut the advertising industry by methodically removing or blocking the mechanisms advertisers use to track users. 

Apple can afford to do this for a couple of reasons. First, they make the vast majority of their money by selling hardware, not data-fueled ads. While they do have an advertising business, according to Apple’s own privacy policy, “Apple’s advertising platform does not track you, [...] and does not share user or device data with data brokers.” They admit they do still perform some targeting, but claim they only do so if the targeted group contains more than 5,000 members - which is at least way better than Facebook’s ability to target a single person.  

This gets into the second reason why they can afford to gut the broader ads industry: Apple has a wealth of first-party targeting data (I’ll explain what that means in a minute), meaning that not only do they not need other advertisers or data brokers, but also that they’re in direct competition with those other advertisers and data brokers. So going all-in on privacy is good for Apple’s bottom line both from a user value perspective, and from a competitive one. 

Now let’s look at Google’s model. If you open your Google account, right on the first page of account management are two sets of privacy settings:

Note the language used: “personalize your Google experience” and “choose the privacy settings that are right for you”. Google has two reasons to collect your data which are mostly tangential to each other. The first and most obvious is that Google-the-advertising-company needs your data in order to more effectively sell ads to third parties. This is what most people think of when they think about Google and privacy: Google wants user data to sell for profit. And, well, yes. Google has built its empire on the back of its ads business, and ads pay for pretty much everything else Google does. Google needs to be able to sell ads to keep funding all the legitimately cool shit it’s doing. 

Speaking of legitimately cool shit: Google-the-tech-company’s longest-standing desire has been to create the Star Trek computer in real life: a virtual assistant that “understands you, and [...] can have a conversation with you.” (That’s not just journalism speculation, either - it was explicitly the goal told by Larry & Sergei to employees when I worked at Google.) This is the second reason why Google needs your data: so it can be your own personal Star Trek AI assistant. As anyone who’s worked in an executive assistant role will tell you, you can’t provide useful assistance without having access to just about every component of your employer’s life. Similarly, if you let Google have access to your personal data, it can do a lot of genuinely useful things. 

This is why Google’s stance on privacy is so focused on choice: they’re trying to thread the needle between “if you give us your data, we can honestly improve your life” and “if you give us your data, we’ll sell it to third-party advertisers who do all kinds of unpleasant things with it”. The way they’ve internally resolved that ethical conflict is by believing - and trying to convince everyone else - that allowing them to sell your data for profit is a choice you willingly make in order to gain the benefits of Google’s technology. 

You can also see the split between opt-in and opt-out privacy in the two most influential laws regulating privacy and the use of user data. The California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA), as currently enforced, uses the opt-in model: CA residents have the option to stop the sale of their personal data, but the law assumes that user data will be sold unless and until the user chooses otherwise. The CCPA even uses language similar to Google’s: on their website, they say the CCPA “gives consumers more control” over the collection, use, and sale of their data. 

The EU’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), on the other hand, primarily uses the opt-out model. This reflects the EU’s stance that privacy is a basic human right, as codified in the 1950 European Convention on Human Rights. The GDPR holds that personal data may not be processed unless there is legal basis to do so, sets strict limits on what constitutes a “legal basis”, and requires companies to collect and use only the minimum amount of data required to fulfil the given legal basis. 

While the CCPA and the GDPR use opposite privacy models, the two of them combined with Apple’s insanely effective efforts to stamp out data harvesting (as well as another effort I haven’t talked about at all, which is the death of the cookie) are having an interesting effect on the entire advertising industry. To explain this, I need to sidetrack briefly into what I mean when I say “the advertising industry”. 

Most people think of Google and Facebook when they think of advertisers. And, yeah, those are two of the biggest ad-space sellers in the world - but there’s a lot more to the industry. Data brokers like Acxiom, Epsilon, and Oracle America are among the thousands of companies who buy and sell the user data that allows Google and Facebook to effectively sell targeted ad space. The reason you’ve probably never heard of them, however, is because (for the most part) they aren’t the ones who collect the data in the first place. 

To vastly oversimplify a stupidly complex industry, you essentially have two types of data brokers: first-party and third-party (with the user themselves being the second party). First-party entities are the ones that collect user data directly for their own purposes; third-party entities buy data from first parties and sell it to other third parties. One company can be both a first- and a third-party entity depending on the situation. For example, Facebook collects your data as a first-party entity, and sells it to a third-party marketing company (let’s say Acxiom). Acxiom combines Facebook’s data with data it’s purchased from other first- and third-party companies and uses it to sell ads. Amazon collects your data as well, making it a first-party entity on its own website. But if Amazon buys Acxiom’s datasets, Amazon becomes a third-party entity for that data. (Cookies are part of this whole data collection and usage ecosystem, but how they work is another entire essay.) 

Where the fuck am I going with all this? Back to CCPA, GDPR, and Apple. While they’re all going about it in different ways, the end result is turning out to be the same: a noose around the neck of third-party advertising. If companies are allowed to collect user data for their own legal purposes, but not sell it, then suddenly all those third-party entities become irrelevant and having first-party data is critical. This is what I meant earlier when I said Apple has access to a wealth of first-party data for its own ads business. Apple doesn’t need to sell user data because it makes money from hardware sales, and it doesn’t need to buy user data because it has its own. 

Google also has huge amounts of first-party data, but the difference between them and Apple is that Google makes the vast majority of its revenue from selling ads, which depend in part on all that juicy third-party data. Honestly Google is probably going to be okay here still; they have enough else going for them (including their move into hardware sales via the Pixel) that the loss of revenue from selling user data to advertisers won’t hurt them much. But companies who rely entirely on advertising and the sale of user data, like Facebook, will and already do see a huge revenue impact from the move to restrict access to user data. 

So what does all this mean for you, the user whose data is in question? 

It’s too soon to say for sure, but the good news is that it looks like Apple’s moves are forcing Google to shift further toward opt-out privacy than Google might otherwise have preferred. And for the vast majority of companies, it’s more cost-effective to comply with the various existing and incoming US privacy laws (including CCPA) by using GDPR as a baseline - meaning opt-out privacy may soon be the de facto standard. 

This doesn’t mean all companies are actually going to comply in good faith, or at all - already reports are showing “loopholes, bypasses, and outright violations” of Apple’s measures; and GDPR enforcement, especially against Silicon Valley, is painfully low. But privacy industry experts generally agree that the trend is toward stronger protection for users against the unwanted use and sharing of personal information. 

As a user, you can help this trend along by actively enforcing your privacy rights wherever you can. If you’re in the EU, take advantage of the GDPR and file complaints against non-compliant companies. If you live in California, exercise your CCPA rights by digging through the privacy policies and settings of your accounts until you find the “do not sell my personal data” toggle. Whether you have an iPhone or an Android, go through your device’s settings and enable every privacy protection measure you can. Likewise, if you have a Google account, take five minutes to go through their privacy checkup feature. It’s actually quite well done, and will give you a better idea of what Google is collecting about you. 

The more of us who do this, the stronger the signal we send to both Big Tech and legislators that we want these protections and we will use these protections if we have them. For too long, companies (like Facebook) have argued that users don’t really want privacy - but they’re dead wrong. We just have to prove it to them.

[pixxyofice]

hey main tumblr. I've been normal. (Has not been)

Making ocs for the main party is super fun, especially if you like thinking a lot about the dynamics of it. Which I have! A lot!

This is Melodie! They/Them, maybe also drae/draer if I want to be obvious about them. Paper type.

Loop doesn't know who they are...

The funniest backstory ever I have for them is like. In the Hypothetical Reason They Are A Party Member is that in the pre-game canon game, like if it was normal, is that Melodie would be an EXTREMELY missable party member. If you don't talk to a random NPC early in the game they don't pop up later to be talked to and then recruited by Siffrin. In their first appearance in the game they haven't shaved that side of their hair yet.

Their backstory goes like this. They're from the country. you know the one. it's the reason i tagged this as spoilers. They were out of the country for a brief trip in Ka Bue, probably either a study program or to help out with something else. Undecided. On the day they were to return, something... happened to the boats, and they ended up on the continent Vaugarde was in.

A very young teenager, at most, spending time wandering alone. don't think too much about it! haha! this results in them being a lil' awkward, flip flopping between too quiet and too loud in a way that causes them to move on too quick. And then they are 23 (they think), and someone with white hair and an accent kinda like their own approaches them, and... they're with some people they've seen before, they think, the saviors?

and Melodie get introduced. and they want to travel with them more. and they open up. Melodie's still quiet at times, but it's so much easier to open up when people are encouraging and don't hound you for forgetting things that are supposed to be simple. Not in a mean way, anyway.

So by the game's start, they're... a little loud, but in a nice way. Creative. A lil' rambly (a bit much, but always nice to listen to, even if the points go in a bit of circles).

Oh, and, of course, i've thought about THE PARTY DYNAMICS.

Melodie and Mirabelle would be light novel fans together. They make silly poses together to make their lives better and to pose out what the characters are described doing. they laugh about it. They would get into discourse about their favorite characters.

I did mention Melodie was creative, right? Melodie writes some stuff in their spare time, and as one third of the book club, Melodie sometimes is like 'i could use this in my book' and when they say it out loud without meaning to once, Odile takes interest, and now Melodie and Odile have life experiences talk that Melodie can take to adjust things in their lil projects! and also Odile can be the contstructive criticism person.

One thing that helps Melodie out of their shell is that Bonnie is there. to vaguely remind Melodie of some people they can't remember. and be annoying with. And when everyone laughs about it, Melodie does it a lil more!! and bonnie actually does appreciate it! just... not all the way. (reminds them of their sister, too.)

... and...

hi guys i have normal thoughts about these three in particular. many thoughts that get crushed into paste whenever i even try to describe them. Um. I can try though.

Siffrin and Melodie are like. We're similar, but different in ways that makes us seek the other out for company. Our white hair, the way we form words, the small ways we mumble. Melodie breaks out of their shell with a shout, shaking and smiling, while siffrin slides out so slowly. They sit together, and they chat about things they know the others won't get. They remind each other of things forgotten if they remember but the other forgets. they love puns. Siffrin mastered making them, Melodie mastered understanding them and laughing along!! and, of course, the slowly approaching crush that both of them have been festering but have been COMPLETELY ignoring.

Melodie and Isabeau are shopping buddies. Melodie, as a way to get out of their shell, has been getting slightly interested in fashion, and Isabeau is so, SO eager to help out! Along the way this turned into 'get them some new experiences' and 'we make each other better we think about each other all the time we'll encourage each other until our dying breaths.' Melodie started getting used to touch due to Isabeau touching them casually and shouting at him to keep their hand there, and that spreading to the others. Isabeau calls Melodie Mel, and it... hasn't quite spread to the others yet. (Melodie wonders why.) Isabeau admires Melodie for the way they subtly change and Melodie admires Isabeau for the way he has Changed and... of course... the crush they have on him. which is 100% totally unrequited, because he likes Siffrin, and they just HAD to get a crush on someone who already liked someone else!

melodie knows odile is the one isabeau goes to for his own crush. so like, why not follow suit, right? it's not like isabeau likes them back, so it's totally fair. Odile would understand. (odile is the Sufferer)

the most hilarious and fucked up dynamic of three people all in love with each other of all time, i think. (siffrin unaware of both crushes, melodie only aware of the isabeau one, and isabeau aware of both. melodie is also aware of isabeau's crush on siffrin. help them)

I have more I want to say, but... um... getting embarrassed so this is all for now!! um! yay!!! posts this in the tags and flees