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#anything to help finish book 6
snow-ag · 9 months
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First pull and-
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jesuisgourde · 9 months
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having a brain-splitting migraine in the evening is so weird like i got home from work and passed out for 2 hours and woke up at 11pm and i can’t tell yet if it’s going to make my shitty sleep schedule even shittier
also it was like the worst migraine i’ve had in quite some time, driving home was torturous all the lights were so unbearably bright and also my wing mirror is broken so it vibrates really loudly on the freeway and that sound didn’t help any
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izhape · 2 months
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hello! i really need help :(
im a trans gay native with a broken ankle and without any income coming in thanks to not having short term disability insurance and unemployment denying me.
im reposting this donation post with updated information and to have it circulate again. thanks to your help, i was able to pay my portion of rent, but unfortunately things are only getting worse for me
instead of the initial 6 weeks i was told I wouldn't be able to walk, today i was told i now can't walk for three more months due to my ligaments needing to heal properly. this is a problem because my roommates refuse to sign a longer lease to give me time to heal, and the lease ends in June - the month that i will just barely be able to walk and do physical therapy and won't even be able to return to work yet during.
i need at least $200 to pay for insurance for my car, and i also need help paying my phone bill (which is $75 a month) and my portions for rent are $426 each month as well...and I'm not going to have any money coming in.
i do have a temporary remote job i will be working at the end of this month, but it's only two paychecks before the job is finished. i will update this post if i find stable remote income while i heal, but until then, im in some deep water. this is a long time that i won't be able to do anything, and i need money to help me move on top of everything
if you need any info about me, my living situation, etc. please don't hesitate to dm me! it's a lot to type up here but im an open book and i understand any hesitancy to help without more information. reblogs seriously help and even a single dollar donation means the world to me. thank you 🙏
my paypal
my venmo is @/hyLian, has an animal crossing icon
thank you so much. have a good day! photos of my X-ray pics under the readmore if you want them
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coffeebeanwriting · 1 year
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Reasons your Novel Might get Rejected
Thinking of publishing traditionally? Here are some reasons why a publishing agency might reject your book. Don’t let any of these reasons keep you from writing, but rather help you strengthen your craft!
1) Your target audience is unclear. Are you writing for middle-grade boys or adult females? Suburban single mothers or war-enthusiast who love everything weaponry and explosive? Of course, your story can end up appealing to multiple categories of people (take Harry Potter for example). But if you know who your prime reader is, you’ll be able to use the correct language, voice, and reading level for them.
2) Your query letter or synopsis is lacking and doesn’t hook the agency. A query letter and synopsis are two different things presented to an agent or publishing company. You must be able to properly sum up your  book in an interesting way for an agency to want to peruse your novel. You have to pique their interest.
A query letter is a brief summary used to capture the attention of an agent/publishing company. A sales pitch one might say. It typically contains your story's main hook, some details about the book (genre, similar books, etc.), and some facts about yourself. If the query letter is successful, the agency will go on to read your synopsis/pages.
A synopsis is a summary of your entire book from start to finish and what happens in it (including character arcs and plot). This is all done in less than two pages.
3) Predictability. It may be predictable characters, or the plot itself. Either way, predictability isn't good. What's the point of reading a book if you can already predict the events? Conflict is the heart of all stories and if your book lacks conflict/stakes, it can become predictable. Give your characters inner conflict just as much as you do physical. Make it difficult for readers to know what your character will do.
4) Your story starts way too early. From what I’ve researched, a huge reason why books get declined is that they start wayyy before anything happens. You’re revealing tons of background information or your character is doing pointless things when they should be approaching the inciting incident. The inciting incident is the scene that launches your character on their journey and should happen sooner than later! 
5) You aren’t balancing showing vs. telling. Contrary to popular belief, a novel should have a bit of both (but... probably more showing). If you spend every scene in extreme detail, you risk slowing your story down. If you tell everything, you aren’t immersing your reader.
6) You’re spending too much time in Act 1. A story consists of three Acts. The beginning, middle, and end. The rising action/set-up, the middle/climax, and the resolution. Don’t spend too much time in Act 1 setting things up. You’ll want to properly pace your story so that it doesn't drag on too long before hitting the heart of the story.
7) Simply... bad writing/grammar. Also, consistent POV is important. This one is self-explanatory, but if you care about what happens in your story, you should also care about the grammar and prose! Typically, hiring editors is a step you must do before taking your novel to a publishing agency.
Instagram: coffeebeanwriting
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edenesth · 3 months
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The Way to His Heart [7]
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Pairing: general!Seonghwa x wife!reader
AU: arranged marriage au (Joseon era)
Word Count: 4k
Summary: Life has been hell ever since your mother's passing many years ago. Despite being from a prominent family, you've never received the privileges associated with it. It only got worse with the arrival of your stepmother and her daughters. When the intimidating General Park was in search of a wife, your father seized the opportunity to dispose of you, simultaneously securing a connection with the powerful general—killing two birds with one stone.
Part 6 | Fic Masterlist | Part 8
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"Has anyone seen the mistress?" Seonghwa inquired, having lost sight of you since breakfast that morning.
He had combed through almost the entire estate, searching for you in the House of Lotus and with Eunsook, but to no avail. He had even gone as far as to check Yunho's temporary quarters, only to find the physician alone and engrossed in his work.
The general felt a twinge of embarrassment as he recalled asking the doctor, "Do you have any clue where my wife is?" only to have the taller man furrow his brows in confusion and reply, "Wha— not to be rude, but how would I know that, my lord?"
Your husband cleared his throat loudly, looking away and feigning nonchalance, "Don't get clever with me; I'm just asking. If you don't know, just say so."
Yunho lowered his head and suppressed a laugh, "You're right. My apologies, my lord. I hope you find Lady Park soon. Her next dose of medicine is almost ready. It would be best if she takes it while it's hot; the taste is slightly more bearable."
"Right, I'll find her soon. Don't worry."
The physician nodded, "I have no doubt that you will, my lord."
With that, Seonghwa hastily exited the room, questioning his decision to come there in the first place. He couldn't fathom why he assumed you would be with the handsome doctor. Even though he hadn't found you yet, there was a sense of relief in knowing that at least you weren't anywhere near Yunho, as he had feared.
And that's how he ended up back at your quarters, interrogating the servants responsible for maintaining your garden. A frown etched on his face as they shook their heads in response, "No, master. Mistress hasn't returned here since leaving for breakfast this morning."
Worry crept in as his mind conjured up wild scenarios. What if you had been taken away? What if you got hurt somewhere, unnoticed by anyone? What if—
His eyes landed on the pavilion in your garden, and it struck him. Remembering your determination to learn lady etiquette, he chastised himself for not thinking to check his own study. He had searched almost every corner of the estate except the very place he frequented the most.
Please, let her be there.
Fingers crossed, he hurried towards the study. If he didn't find you there, he might have to organise a search party.
"There you are."
His words escaped in a breathless whisper as he spotted you standing amidst his numerous shelves, completely engrossed in the book cradled in your hands. Instant relief washed over him, and he struggled to look away. Bathed in sunlight by the window, you appeared almost ethereal in that spot, your side profile captivating.
The marks on your skin had started to fade a little, with the help of Yunho's ointment, proving its effectiveness. For your comfort, the maids were instructed not to apply makeup if you weren't leaving the estate. Besides, no one here would dare consider you anything less than beautiful; you were adored by all. Your scars only strengthened everyone's determination to protect you, not just your husband.
He continued to quietly admire you from his corner, hesitant to disturb you. As you finished one book and reached for the next on a top shelf, he chuckled at your determination, especially when you went on your toes, biting your lip in concentration.
Eventually, he sighed and approached you, reaching effortlessly for the book you were attempting to get. You gasped as you felt his presence and saw his hand beside yours, "Y-you're here, Seonghwa."
Both your breaths hitched, and your eyes widened as you turned around to face him, realising the closeness. Surprised, you stumbled backwards, and his reflexes kicked in, his arm circling your back immediately, pulling you close. Frozen, your hands rested on his chest to steady yourself.
"Yes, I'm here." He murmured, his eyes shifting to see you biting your lips shyly again, the action reigniting his desire to kiss you. You stood still as a plank, heart pounding as he slowly closed the space between you. You held your breath when feeling his nose touch yours. Never having been kissed or wanted in your life, you didn't know how to react or what to do. Was this what married couples normally do?
Maybe now you'll find out.
A chill ran down your spine when you felt his lips brush lightly against yours, "Can I..." He muttered in his deep voice, gazing down at you with hooded eyes.
Before you could form a response, the door to the study slammed open, startling the two of you, and causing you to jump apart as if caught doing something scandalous.
Damn it, so close!
"Oh my god, I'm so sorry, sir! I didn't mean to interrupt; it's just that—" Jongho was a mess as he stumbled in, panting and sputtering his apology.
You quickly waved to the assistant to signal it was fine before bowing to the general, "No, please, don't worry! I was just leaving anyway. I'll see you at dinner, Seonghwa."
Smiling at you, your husband nodded, "Yes. See you, my dear," The smile disappeared as soon as you left the room, causing Jongho to gulp nervously, "This better be good."
The assistant quickly collected himself, "Oh, it will be good, sir. I can promise you that." He said, rushing to make sure the doors were shut tightly before going back to debrief his master on his latest findings.
Eunsook heaved a sigh of relief upon seeing you, her concern evident as she observed you pressing your palms against your red cheeks, "Mistress, are you feeling alright?" She inquired, checking your forehead for any signs of fever.
You nodded, "I-I'm fine," attempting to calm your rapid heartbeat. The almost-lost moment with your husband lingered continuously in your mind; your first kiss had come perilously close to happening just moments ago.
"Thank goodness, you're alright. We've been looking everywhere for you. Where were you?" She questioned, and you replied, "You were looking for me? I was just reading in Seonghwa's study."
The elderly woman continued, "Yes, your medicine is ready. Physician Jung suggested taking it while it's hot," With an obedient nod, you followed her into your room. As she fed you the herbal soup, she casually asked, "You were in the master's study, you say? Did he find you there? He was searching frantically for you."
Your blush returned as you recalled the sensation of his lips brushing against yours, "Y-yes, he knows I'm safe. Don't worry." You reassured her while the head maid beamed, unaware of the fluttering in your heart as you tried to compose yourself.
Unlike you, the general did not have the luxury to linger on thoughts of your intimate moment. He vowed to himself that once your family received the retribution they deserved, he would dedicate all his attention to you. He turned serious the moment Jongho began speaking, updating him on the latest intel gathered about your family.
"What? Do those fools actually believe I'd swap my wife for one of them? Not even in their wildest dreams will that ever happen." Seonghwa scoffed in disbelief. The mere thought of your stepsisters was enough to repulse him, and he couldn't wait to send them to an early grave.
He pulled out the Jang family records again, asking, "And as for this... are there any updates? We only have a few days left until I return to work."
Jongho nodded proudly, presenting a couple of documents obtained in a not-so-honest manner, "You were right, sir. Your suspicions were accurate. We found just the thing to prove it. With this, we can finalise the plans and finally set them into motion."
"Good job, Jongho. How about that private investigator of yours?" The general inquired, his mind already buzzing with excitement as he plotted your family's demise.
The assistant bowed in gratitude, "He's still maintaining his cover in the Jang estate. He expressed his desire to assist us with the plan. Apparently, he's a huge admirer of yours, sir. That seemed to be his primary motivation for readily accepting my offer."
Seonghwa narrowed his eyes, his mistrust evident, "Is he now? Have you done a background check on him?"
"I have, sir. He's in the clear; I can vouch for him. I'm confident he harbours no ulterior motives other than a genuine admiration for you; he wants nothing more than to be recognised by you."
The general nodded, picking up the newly retrieved documents, "If you say so, I guess it won't hurt to have an extra helping hand. Make sure to pay him handsomely. Now, go get some rest; we'll be getting busy soon." His heart was immediately eased by his aide's assurance. If Jongho trusted this person, there must be a good reason.
"Yes, sir."
In the days that followed, Seonghwa appeared awfully busy, often confined to his study with Jongho for endless meetings. The next morning, you found a collection of your lady etiquette books delivered to your doorstep, with a servant mentioning that the study was required for important discussions between your husband and his assistant.
Assuming he was loaded with work after taking several days off, you didn't dwell on it much. While the general focused on perfecting his plans, you spent your days refining your etiquette with the head maid's help, working on correcting your posture, walking, table manners, and way of speaking.
The two of you only had brief encounters twice a day, during breakfast and dinner. Seonghwa apologised repeatedly, promising to spend more time with you once he completed his current project, and you reassured him that you were fine.
Time passed quickly, and before you knew it, a new week had begun, marking your husband's return to work. After your customary breakfast together, you walked him to the entrance of the estate, where his carriage awaited to transport him to the palace for the morning assembly with His Majesty, the King.
"This is as far as you'll see me off. It's cold out here, so don't spend too much time outdoors, okay? Head back to my study if you want, and take your medicine on time." He reminded sweetly, tucking a loose strand of hair behind your ear.
You smiled appreciatively, assuring him, "I will, Seonghwa. Don't worry about me. Have a good day at work." His heart melted at your words, and the sense of being husband and wife settled in. Having someone waiting for him at home felt unexpectedly warm, and he realised he could get used to it.
That's right, just keep smiling like that.
Rubbing his thumbs over your hands, he pressed a kiss onto your knuckles, saying, "I'll see you later, my dear."
Eunsook and Jongho exchanged knowing grins as they guided their master and mistress in opposite directions—Seonghwa into his carriage and you back to your quarters.
Carrying you in his thoughts, the general commenced his journey to the royal palace. He had always harboured disdain for the Minister of Military Affairs, but it had never been potent enough to instigate his downfall. However, circumstances had taken a drastic turn with your arrival. Your father had gravely miscalculated if he believed this union between you was a wise decision; in reality, it paved the way for his own undoing.
Unfazed by the attention, he arrived at the assembly, becoming the centre of attention for all the ministers and officials. Their curiosity was stirred by the general who had adamantly refused marriage, yet now found himself wedded against his will. Speculation abounded about whether he would cause a scene, as all members had been notified of his special agenda.
Your husband, however, remained unaffected by the scrutiny. He anticipated the spotlight, fully aware that these old fools relished nothing more than witnessing his misery. Despite his recognised achievements, it didn't automatically translate into wholehearted acceptance from these higher-ups. Their displeasure was palpable, harbouring reservations about his young age and the potential threat he posed to their established ranks.
The revelation of his marriage to you only fueled their satisfaction, as they believed that being tied to the Minister of Military Affairs would ensure Seonghwa's perpetual subordination, always a step below his father-in-law in rank.
"Good morning, General Park. You seem to be in quite a good mood." Your husband felt his eye twitch, hearing the voice he wasn't looking forward to.
Speak of the devil.
Facing your father, he smirked, "Good morning, Minister Jang. I can't deny that I am feeling quite good." It satisfied him to see your father's grin falter slightly, knowing the old man probably didn't know what to expect, but it surely wasn't this. The last thing they all expected was for him to appear... pleased.
Before the minister could voice any questions, the King entered the hall. Along with everyone else, the general knelt and bowed deeply, performing the formal greeting. In unison, they chanted, "Your Majesty, may you live a long and prosperous life. We wish for you ten thousand years of life and reign."
"You may all rise," declared His Majesty before expressing joy at the presence of his favourite subject, "Seonghwa, my boy! You're finally back! Oh, I cannot wait to hear all about your week off."
The minister raised a smug brow, eyeing your husband and presuming that his week could not have been too pleasant with you around. While he was almost certain of that, it seemed the general was adept at keeping up the act. Your father eagerly anticipated hearing about this important agenda without delay.
"Tell me, my boy. Is your wife as beautiful as we all speculated? There must have been a good reason for the minister to keep her so well hidden all these years." The King inquired, his excitement evident as he leaned forward in his seat.
Seonghwa chuckled, "Your Majesty, perhaps it wouldn't be too appropriate for us to engage in idle chatter in this meeting. After all, I'm sure all the ministers and officials here have more pressing matters to discuss and probably care little for the details of my marriage." He was merely teasing at this point, knowing full well that everyone was eager to hear about his past week.
"Nonsense! What could possibly be more important than your recent wedding? If anyone here has no interest in what General Park has to share, you are welcome to leave the assembly."
While leaving the assembly might seem like a simple option, it practically equated to a death sentence. Without the King's explicit permission, no one would be allowed to exit on their own. This implied that whoever refused to listen to what your husband had to say might as well be choosing a path leading to their demise.
All the higher-ups immediately bowed their heads low with clenched fists as they voiced in unison, "Of course not! We wouldn't dare, Your Majesty!" They were well aware of Seonghwa's subtle assertion of power over the King. Regardless of their high positions or ranks, he would always be the favourite. While it might go unnoticed by the less perceptive, it was a clear demonstration of authority, a warning not to cross him.
"Very well, I suppose I'll divulge a bit about my wife since you're all so eager to hear about her," The general couldn't conceal his shit-eating grin, pleased to have put these elderly men in their rightful places. The King applauded enthusiastically, "Please do!"
Minister Jang's earlier arrogance evaporated with your husband's unmistakable show of power, and he could only suppress his irritation as he waited to hear what Seonghwa would say about you.
"To answer your question, Your Majesty, she is even more stunning than you all might imagine, perhaps the most beautiful woman in all of Joseon, both inside and out, at least in my eyes. And you were right, my King, she truly is perfect for me. For that, I'd like to express my gratitude for sending her to me."
The entire room stood at a standstill as everyone tried to process his words. It was almost surreal that the formidable General Park, who had always been so adamant about never marrying and was coerced into this union without a choice, openly expressed his admiration for his new wife. Apart from the King, who genuinely relished hearing it, the rest of the assembly remained sceptical, wondering what game Seonghwa was playing.
"And because of that, I regret my earlier decision of not having a proper wedding ceremony. I now know my wife deserves only the best, which brings me to the important matter I'd like to address today, Your Majesty. I was hoping you would grant me permission to fix that. I'd like to plan a grand wedding to make up to her."
Your father narrowed his eyes dangerously; this was the furthest thing from what he had expected. He would rather die than give you a grand wedding. He thought he was finally done with you, believing you could have perished for all he cared. Yet, here your husband was, requesting to host a grand wedding? And for you?
Over my dead body.
His Majesty couldn't contain his joy, letting out a surprised laugh, "Oh my, Seonghwa! I'm so proud of you; I was beginning to grow worried you'd never allow yourself to love again. And of course, you can have a grand wedding! We shall host one as grand as a royal wedding if need be! Heavens, I cannot wait to meet this new Lady Park of yours; she must be something for you to have changed this much!"
Minister Jang cleared his throat, "Your Majesty, if I may cut in."
The King nodded, "Why, of course. It's your daughter we're discussing; do you have any ideas for the ceremony?"
Your father shook his head, "N-no, my King. I was hoping to remind the general that my daughter prefers simplicity and that this would not be necessary—"
With a smirk, Seonghwa cut him off, "Well then, minister, it would seem you do not know your daughter well enough, or at all."
The Minister of Military Affairs stilled at that; obviously, the general knew more than he let on, "Wha— that's not true! My eldest has always been one for frugality and would never ask for much, let alone a grand wedding; she might find that burdensome."
"Has she really not asked for much, or has she not been permitted to have a voice at all?" Your husband pressed, watching expectantly as the minister sputtered lame excuses, caught off guard.
Not oblivious to the fact that Seonghwa was attempting to convey something, the King raised a brow at Minister Jang's defensive demeanour, "What is it that you wish to say, my boy?"
Panicked, your father gulped, afraid of what the general might reveal. Not once did he think the heartless General Park would ever care about what happened to you. He assumed that, just like all the members of his family and estate, your new husband would also cast you aside and not bat an eyelash if you died, as had happened with all his previous marriage candidates.
"Your Majesty, even though Minister Jang is now my father-in-law, I feel compelled to speak out against the injustice I perceive for my wife," The minister did not dare to look up as he felt cold sweat dripping down his back, listening anxiously to what Seonghwa was going to disclose, "No matter how much he thinks she prefers simplicity, it just wasn't right for him to have sent her to me all alone on our wedding day."
With a frown, His Majesty eyed your father judgementally, "All alone? Please elaborate, Seonghwa."
Suppressing his sly grin, your husband continued, "My assistant found her wandering all by herself by the entrance of my estate, without a chaperone, any servants or palanquin bearers. And what's worse, she barely had anything on her, only carrying an empty duffel bag. Tell me, Your Majesty, who would believe her to be a noblewoman from a powerful house? I simply cannot understand why the minister could do this to his precious daughter."
"Is that true, Minister Jang?" The King's emotionless voice rang across the hall, and the minister shivered from the chill running down his spine, "W-well, yes, but—"
Everyone jumped when His Majesty slammed his fist against the handle of his throne, "That is simply unacceptable! It doesn't matter how much you insist your daughter favours simplicity; what you've done is completely ridiculous. Can you even call yourself her father? Oh, the poor girl."
Your father bowed all the way down immediately, pressing his forehead against the floor as he begged for forgiveness, embarrassed to have his wrongdoings exposed at assembly for everyone to listen like this, "Please, Your Majesty! Forgive this old fool for taking my kind daughter for granted! I will do anything to make up to her as you wish, a grand wedding if you will."
As if seeking Seonghwa's approval, the King looked at the general, "Would that suffice?"
Shrugging, your husband pressed his lips into a line, "I suppose I do have one condition, though," His Majesty nodded, "Name it."
The general smiled, "I've troubled you enough with concerns regarding my marital matters, Your Majesty. For this wedding of mine, I'd like to personally make the arrangements with the minister and his family, preferably at his estate."
"At his estate and not here? Why is that, Seonghwa?" The King asked, unable to contain his curiosity.
"I just want to see where my beloved wife spent all her childhood; I'm curious about the environment that made her so precious."
As the King showered praise on your husband for his apparent sweetness and saw it merely as Seonghwa being hopelessly in love with you, Minister Jang knew better than that he had an ulterior motive, and it couldn't bode well. The general clearly has something up his sleeves, but in the presence of His Majesty, your father found himself with little choice but to comply.
What do you want from me, Park Seonghwa?
« Preview of Part 8 »
"What?! A grand wedding for that useless thing? Oh, you've got to be kidding me!" Jinah screeched, her frustration evident as she pulled at her hair.
Jinhee, in disbelief, glared at your old prison cell of a room from a distance. Servants had been ordered to fill it up with things to make it seem like a storeroom in preparation for Seonghwa's visit, "Maybe we've underestimated her. It seems she actually got the general wrapped around her finger."
Minister Jang had nothing to say except to hold his head in his hands. He couldn't forget the King's disapproving looks directed at him all throughout the assembly after what your husband had revealed. Not just His Majesty; but even the other ministers and officials had been staring at him weirdly, not understanding him for what he did to his own daughter.
Jinjoo stomped around like a brat, "Father, you promised us that marrying her to him would bring us satisfaction! What the hell is this?! I refuse to accept this!"
Having had enough of their whining, the minister threw the wine glass beside him onto the floor, "Be quiet, all of you! Do you honestly think the wedding is what matters now? My position could very well be in danger, and you care about that? Fools! Get out of my sight!"
The three were taken aback by the minister's unexpected fit of anger, and their mother quickly gestured for them to leave the living hall at once. Once they were gone, Lady Jang sat down beside her husband, "What is it, dear? What's wrong?"
"Park Seonghwa knows something, I'm sure of it. He said some things today that could make me look suspicious, and if anyone starts digging around, I fear they might find out what we've been trying to hide..."
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Woohoo, shit's about to go down! Are y'all excited? HAHAHA🤭
I'm also shook that I'm like 20 followers away from reaching 1k! Thank you all so much; I just want you to know that it's your encouraging messages and replies that have been motivating me to update as quick as I can, really appreciate it!
As always, hope you enjoyed and let me know all your thoughts! <3
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toxicanonymity · 7 months
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Hunger.
7k, raider!Joel x f!reader
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Raider master list ⭐ Joel master
raider playlist 🖤sweet pea (smutty)
SUMMARY: Joel takes you on an eventful trek. You have a bit of a meltdown and he comforts you in a way he hadn't before. He kills a guy. And later, Joel finally goes down on you because he craves you and can't physically resist. WARNINGS: I8+ oral f receiving 🎉, unsafe P in V, creampie, jacking off, brief violence (og raider typical?), hurt/comfort, neglected animal (he's ok), angst, dark fluff, emotional tension, POV changes. A/N: 1/3 smut. Can read alone - Joel has been resisting the urge to kiss you. Carter is Joel's right-hand man. Jack was your bf Joel killed. Happy 6 months to the 1st raider Joel fic, have some oral.
—You 🌸🫛—
You're reading in a clover patch at one end of the trailer while Joel chops wood. Two of his men come up the hill, and Joel tells you to stay put while he talks to them. Even when Joel addresses you, they don't look in your direction. They stay in the doorway of the trailer. You put your book face down and start looking at the clovers while you try to eavesdrop.  You can't hear what they're saying, but it sounds like someone might have tampered with one of the vans. You brush your hand through the leaves, and one catches your eye. Without plucking it, you gently separate it from the others to make sure it's not an illusion. There really are four leaves. You smile and get down on your stomach to look at it. You think about leaving it so it can grow more. That's what you did when you found one earlier in the week, but you pluck this one.
The men go back down the hill, and Joel goes inside for a moment before emerging again. You're laying the clover leaves flat between the pages of your book when Joel calls you inside. Then he leans against the trailer with an arm above his head, the side of his wrist resting near the top of the door frame as he waits for you.  He's wearing a body holster now. "C'mon, let's go," he shouts so you can hear him. 
"Ok," you call. 
You just want to finish pressing the clover into the page, but he rushes you: "Now." 
"What for," you ask.
"Cause I said." He disappears inside, and his back looks so broad, framed by the holster straps. 
You come in and pout in the window nook with your book closed, waiting for him to explain. There's a belt on the kitchen table.  Joel emerges from the bedroom and tells you he's going down the hill to help fix the van, and you're coming.  
“you good in that?” he asks, looking at your spaghetti strap dress. You nod. You like the dresses he gave you, and it’s still warm enough, you think.  He confirms, “Sure ya won’t be cold?” and you nod. He seems glad. 
He approaches the kitchen table holding something strappy and leather. He pulls out a chair and faces you in the window nook. 
"C'mere," he says. "Gonna carry your gun today." 
"Oh," you put down the book. Sounds exciting. Sounds like he trusts you. "Yeah, sure," you try to play it cool. He takes your knees and swings your legs toward him. 
"Gonna see if this piece'a shit's worth anything. If not, ya wear mine okay?" He thumbs the shoulder strap of his holster. 
You frown and mutter, "I like when you wear it," eyeing the muscles straining his white shirt.  He suppresses a smile, but you see it in his eyes. 
"Gimme your leg," he commands. You give him your leg on your shooting side. You watch his face. He has a toothpick behind his ear.  He bends your knee and puts your foot on his thigh. He lets the skirt of your dress fall all the way down your raised leg, exposing your panties. His eyes linger there, and he draws in a slow breath as he unbuckles the strap of the holster. He wraps the strap around your thigh and mutters, "good."  He slides the strap into the buckle, then tightens it. "Too tight?" He asks. 
"No."
He fastens the buckle on your inner thigh, and his massive hands map your thigh, checking the fit. You flinch in pleasure as his fingers graze the edge of your panties.
There's a long ribbon dangling from the other end of the holster where another strap should be. He laces it through two hand made grommets on each side. There are two more empty holes on the top of each side. 
"Here," you offer and take both ends of the ribbon from him. You tie it in a bow on the outside of your thigh. 
"That gonna hold?" He asks. 
You shrug. "Feels ok, what do you think?"
He's not listening. His eyes have returned between your legs. You spread them a little more, and innocently widen your eyes. He wets his lips, and his gaze remains for another inhale, then he pries his eyes away, sticks the toothpick in his mouth, and lets your foot down.  You stand up and he hands you your gun, then adjusts himself, quickly cupping his crotch through his pants as you slide the gun into the holster. 
"Walk," he mumbles. 
You walk the length of the kitchen. 
It's a weird sensation, having one of your legs burdened by a weight while the other one is free. But aside from that, it's fine. 
"Alright?" He asks.
"Yeah." 
He nods, "Good. C'mere."  You stand right in front of him, between his knees. "Hold your dress up for me."
You hold it up over the holster. 
"Higher. Belly button." 
He grabs the belt from the table and when he picks it up, ribbons are dangling from its holes. The ribbons have their ends burned and melted like a shoelace for threading.  He fastens the belt securely around your bare middle, then threads the loose ribbons through the empty grommets on the top of the holster and secures them. 
He turns you to the side, tugs at the ribbon, and mutters, "good." Then he can't help but grab a handful of ass, and your bottom lip creeps under your teeth.
As he turns you to face him again, he takes the toothpick out of his mouth and gives you a serious look. "Comin' with me today, sweet pea. Ya do what I say, understand?"
You nod.
"I say get outta here, ya run. I say stay put, ya don't fuckin' move." 
"Got it."
—-
He puts the toothpick behind his ear and picks up a few pieces of jerky off the counter as he stands up. He hands you a piece. 
You take a bite and chew it as you walk down the hill. You watch his jaw flex when he chews.  You tell him, "This one's good."
"Cause Carter made it," Joel notes.  You cringe at yourself,but he doesn't seem offended. "Turkey," he adds. 
Turkey, that's why. Much better than venison. You haven't had poultry in a while, not even grouse. Traps have been empty. 
"I love yours," you tell him. 
Joel gives you an appreciative pat on the back of your head, then his hand trails down your back, over the swell of your ass. He slides his hand under your dress and palms your butt cheek. He lifts it, then lets it drop. 
Joel brings you around the front of the stash house where the vans are normally parked and tells you to wait. There’s only one van. One of the other guys took the second van to get gas and isn’t back yet. 
You reach under your dress and adjust the holster as you sit down on a patch of grass to watch. Joel's muscles glisten and flex as he lifts the hood of the van and props it open. He looks around the inside of the van and dabs his head with a bandana that he tucks back into his pocket . He looks under the van while you pick tall blades of grass and braid them together. 
When he's done, he tells you they need a part. Need to go to the junkyard and see if they can find one. You’re going with him and Carter on foot.
The junkyard is a few miles on the other side of Joel’s trailer. You go down that side of the hill and walk through the abandoned mobile home park to get there. It’s the first time you’ve seen most of it close-up, aside from through the scope of Joel’s rifle. The rest of the journey is mostly on a dirt road, and you have to climb through a fence to get into the junkyard. 
It feels like you’re there for a long time. You hear the weak bark of a dog in the distance. Joel thinks it’s coming from the woods. It stops.  There’s a house that looks abandoned, but Joel thinks there might be junkies in it. He says they gather around there. He’s even found one sleeping in a car. When Carter finds a part they think will work, they have trouble taking it off the truck. They don’t have the right tools. Brute force isn’t an option because it could easily break. 
The three of you cautiously approach the house and the barking starts again. The structure is run down, and the windows are busted out. It’s small, can’t be more than a couple of rooms. 
—--
As Carter sweeps the house, you go around back with Joel, and there's the dog. He's skinny and his bark is weak and strained. He's chained to a pipe on the side of the house. The pipe has been pulled a little bit outward so it's leaning, but he wasn't strong enough to free himself. He's a scrappy little mutt with a floppy ear. Probably less than 20 lbs (9 kg). You and Joel both stare at the dog, then Carter calls from inside, “Miller!”
Joel looks around to make sure you’ll be alright for a minute. “Don’t move. Stay alert. Hand on your gun.” 
As Joel goes inside,  Carter says, “Think he’s alive.” 
“Infected?”Joel asks. 
“Nah, see the track marks?”
“Piece’a shit left his dog to die.” 
Outside, the dog watches you. He sits attentively with his head down.  You put on a soothing voice for him. "Hey, buddy. Whatcha doin'?" He lowers his head almost to the ground as he slowly stretches his arms out, then his tail starts to wag hesitantly, staying close to the ground. He begins to whine.  There are a couple of bones behind him with no meat left on them at all. 
Carter comes out to watch you.  There's a metal bowl upside down out of the dog's reach.  "He needs water," you say. Carter looks around then reaches into his backpack and hands you his water. You pour some into the dish for the dog, and his tail begins to wag with more pep. When you reach out to touch the dog, he flinches and backs away, then cautiously returns and gets closer to you than he was. 
Carter gets closer, and when he reaches out for the dog, it growls and barks ferociously. Carter isn't afraid–it's too small to be afraid of. He reaches for the dog's collar and the dog chomps his hand with a vicious growl, high pitched from his throat. He doesn't want to let go.
"DAMN!" Carter yells. "SHIT," he shakes his hand.
"No," you firmly tell the dog. The dog lowers his stomach onto the ground and raises his brows pathetically with a whine. 
"He's just scared," you tell Carter as he rinses the wound with the rest of his water.
"I know, I know," Carter nods. He puts his water back in his backpack. "Feisty little fucker." He spits on the ground. 
“We’ve gotta get him out of this,” you mutter.  
Carter tries to stop you. “Don’t touch–”
You hold your hand out to the dog, and Carter sighs in resignation. The dog reaches his neck out to sniff you, then licks you. He lets you touch him. Then you touch his collar and he growls, but not as bad. The collar has inner spikes that must be hurting him. It's too big and has some slack hanging down from where it's been tightened.
Joel comes outside with a bag of tools clinking heavily against each other. 
"What the hell's goin' on out here?" You give Carter a hopeful glance and he doesn't snitch on the dog for biting him. 
You look at Joel. "He's gonna die if we don't get him free," you explain.  Joel lunges toward the dog and you try to warn him, "WAIT-"  Joel stops short of bending over and instead looks at you. The dog goes after his ankle, bearing his teeth and going nuts.  Joel shakes his leg free. You tell the dog, “No" and he submits on the ground with a whine. Joel looks at the dog and raises his gun. 
"You wouldn't," you whine. "He's protecting me."
“Course i wouldn’t. Damn.”
Joel steps closer and aims at the drain pipe behind the dog, shooting the chain to break it. It hurts your ears but it works. The dog yelps and skips out from the building, chain dragging behind him. Joel takes the bag of tools back to the truck where they found the part, leaving Carter with you while you try to free the dog. 
"C'mere," you sit back on your knees and open your arms for the dog. With the freedom of movement, you can work the collar off him. The dog whimpers and paws at the collar with you. When he lets out a sharper, high pitched whimper, you freeze as it triggers a memory. Your chest feels hollow and long-buried grief stabs at the backs of your eyes. You push it away. You don't want to cry. You want to be tough and whatever else you need to be for Joel to always take you with him. The dog whimpers again and you return to the task. You free him from the collar and he trots away from the house. 
— Joel ⛓️ —
When he gets back, the dog is playfully pawing at your knees.  You scratch behind his ears and he rolls over. One look at your face and Joel knows what you want. 
"Alright, let's go," Joel says and looks at the ground next to you. He steps forward and the dog growls. "It's ok," you tell the dog and you reach for Joel's hand. 
“Maybe he wants to come with us,” you say as casually as you can. 
Joel clenches his jaw and shakes his head. 
"I can take care of him," you plead, your eyes big and watery. "He's not big, he doesn't need much." 
Joel shifts his weight as he looks at you for a moment. "I know ya get bored-"
"Not because I'm bored," you protest. "He's hungry."
"No," Joel tells you firmly and your tears overflow. God damnit, not here. He's hungry because he was chained. He'll be fine now.
Joel doesn't want to share resources, doesn’t want the barking to attract attention, and doesn’t want someone to come after the dog–after you–if there’s anyone left to come. The junkie inside is as good as dead, but they run in packs and they’re dangerous.  
"It's for your own good, sweet pea.” Joel really thinks it is. 
You shake your head no. "I had one," you sniffle. "Before." 
Joel’s nostrils flare at the shake of your head, then his stomach drops. He doesn't want to know about before. He does, but he really doesn't. He covers his mouth with the crook of his thumb as he rubs both sides of his beard. Before. It gets harder and harder to avoid. He shakes it off.  All he can do is keep you safe and take care of you the best he can, which means taking care of only you. He shakes his head no again, then reaches into his backpack. He throws a piece of jerky as far as he can. “He’s fed, Gonna be fine.” He throws another piece. 
You watch the dog run off for the jerky, but you're in a trance, thinking about something else. 
“Let’s go, baby,” Joel steps forward, wraps a hand around the inside of your bicep, and gently pulls.  You try to resist walking, and his grip gets firmer. You stand there watching the dog, feet planted on the ground, muscle tensing under Joel's grip.
Joel faces you and cups your face with both hands, making you look at him. He gets a few inches from your face and lowers his voice.  “Ain’t gonna spank ya in front’a Carter, but ya better move.”  He means it. Non-negotiable.
He grabs your arm again, and as he starts dragging you away, you blurt out, "Her name was Daisy. She saved my life."
Joel ignores it.  “Move. Now. Or I’m pickin’ ya up.”  You relent and stop resisting. Smart. He wouldn't want to regret bringing you with them.
Joel squints into the ground as the two of you walk. Carter walks ahead, not wanting to get in the middle of it.  “Maybe this one could save me, too," you suggest. "if you’re gone.” 
Damnit sweet pea, you sure are smart. Nice try, but that's what Carter is for.
"Dog that size?” Joel laughs. You compose yourself. You walk in silence for a few minutes, but Joel is still thinking about it. “How,” Joel asks, and adjusts his backpack. “How’d she save you? Must’a been bigger, right? meaner?”
Carter looks over his shoulder with a side-eye at the word “meaner,” but doesn’t reveal his injury.  
You don’t answer Joel. You're checked out. You keep eyeing the tree line, but you wouldn’t. . . There's no way you’d run, right? 
You look at him with your eyes red. “You don’t wanna hear it.” 
The vacant look on your face makes Joel stop in his tracks to face you. “Tell me,” he demands. 
You sniffle and look toward the tree line again. “Can I go pee?”
Joel can’t read you right now, which disturbs him. “Yeah,” he mutters and puts his massive hand on your back, guiding you to the edge of the forest. 
He starts to come in behind you, and you ask him, “Do you mind if I go?” 
He swallows and furrows his brow as he looks at you. You must read his concern, because you hand him your bag. He nods. He steps into the woods, but tries to give you some space, without losing track of you. He doesn't wanna have to chase you down, but damnit he'll tackle you if he has to, to save you from yourself. His stomach is uneasy.
There’s a hollow, rusted truck about 30 paces away. You go on the other side of it. Joel knows you’re not just pouting about leaving the dog. There's more to this. But you’re right, he’s not sure if he wants to know. 
Until he hears you sniffling, and it's not just sad, it's scared, painful.
Ah, fuck it. He moves as quietly as he can.
“Sweet pea,” he says softly as he walks around the old hollowed-out car. You’re squatting–not peeing, just hugging your knees, facing the abandoned car. You're shaking and your cheeks are wet. There's not much space, but Joel gets between you and the car.  He takes his backpack off and drops it to the side.
“She wasn’t afraid like me, Daisy,” you choke out and wipe your cheeks with the heel of one palm.  “They,” you croak. You pause and try again. “He had a gun-” you close your eyes. “Pointed at, pointed at me," you take a deep breath and keep your eyes pinched shut. "He was, he was gonna—but she wouldn’t," you choke on a breath. "She wouldn't stop barking.”  
"Shhhhh, it's ok." Joel cuts you off. It's too hard to see you re-living this. He doesn't want you to get to the details. He squats down. His head is full of pressure, and his heart is full of rage. You take shaky, shallow breaths. 
He puts a hand on your shoulder and lets his knees into the ground. “Breathe,” he says. “Breathe, sweet pea.”  You lean forward, letting your weight into his arms, and he holds you for a minute as you regain your breath.  He cradles your head.  "Yeah, you're okay, I got ya."  He buries his mouth in your hair. "I got ya, baby," he whispers. You wipe your eyes on his shoulder and your cheek catches on the holster.  When you lift your head, you apologize and he shakes his head no.  He brushes a fresh tear off your cheek, and arousal stirs in his pants.  
“Who did it,” he asks, unable to mask the darkness in his question. 
“Just a guy,” you tell him. A guy like himself, Joel assumes with disdain. 
“What kinda guy” 
You sigh and he hates making you think about this, but he needs the answer. “Mean. Had a gold tooth.” 
Joel takes a deep breath and nods. 
"FEDRA," you add, and Joel's face goes cold. His mind goes blank. For a moment, he doesn't even breathe as the life is sucked out of him and replaced by ice cold rage. FEDRA. Not a guy like him.
 “How’d ya get away?” Joel asks. 
You look at him for a second, doing a double take at his face.  You shake your head. “You don’t wanna hear it." You bury your head in his neck again. You’re right, he doesn’t want to, but he insists.  
“Tell me.” 
“Jah–” you stop and look at Joel’s face. His jaw clenches. He knows what's coming, but the thought of FEDRA has fortified him with numbness. 
“S’okay, sweet pea.”
“Jack shot’m.” 
Joel takes a deep breath and looks up at the forest canopy, then bows his head and looks at your knees, bracketed by his own. For a moment, Joel is filled with an uncomfortable appreciation for Jack. But that fades into, no, it should have been Joel, he should’ve had you all along, he should’ve been there to save you *and* your dog. 
“He take good care of ya?” Joel asks in self-loathing. 
You shrug. 
“Better than. . .now?” He can take it.
“No,” you shake your head. “He didn’t shoot him dead.” 
Jackass fucking moron cuck. He left that motherfucker breathing? Suddenly Joel is glad he killed Jack. 
Joel nods, “I see.” He keeps nodding slowly, looking to his right at the moss on a far off tree, clenching his jaw.
"And I didn't have a gun," you add. "Cause I killed a guy Jack said not to." Joel scoffs. You could've killed the guy yourself if not for Jack.
You continue,  “and. . . Jack didn’t cook.” Joel chuckles, caught off guard -- he'd forgetten his original question. You keep going, “And he didn’t–I didn’t–I didn’t feel the same,” you wipe your eyes.  This has gone far enough, and Joel knows it's his own fault. His stupid question.  He takes the toothpick from behind his ear.
You look at him with your eyes all watery, and Joel's cock twitches. The next thing he knows, his massive hand is wrapped gently around your jaw. You put your hands on his shoulders, then straddle him. You wrap your arms around his neck. 
"Mmm," he sighs as your warm crotch meets the bulge in his jeans, and he swells harder against you. He holds your face about two inches from his, looking down at your mouth, then your nose, and your eyes again. He puts his toothpick in his mouth and looks past you as he lets go of your jaw. You bury your head in his neck, blinking warm tears into his skin, making him harder. He whispers your name. He relaxes and takes the toothpick out of his mouth just in time for a branch to fall on the car with a loud clang. 
"All good?" Carter yells from the treeline. 
“Shouldn’t stay here long,” Joel mumbles as he puts it back behind his ear. ”Bad area.” He eases you off his lap back onto your feet, as you both stand up. He brushes dead leaves off his pants and your knees. He adjusts himself, puts his backpack over one shoulder, then reaches down and you take his hand.  You walk a few steps together and he looks back at you slightly behind him. He realizes you’re shaking. He drops your hand, goes in his backpack, and pulls out a flannel that he packed even though you said you were fine. He unfolds it, holds it out, and helps you put it on. 
“Thanks,” you whisper and rub your nose. He keeps his hand on the back of your neck as you walk.
Joel stews and broods as you leave the forest together. He wants to go back in time and kill everyone who’s ever hurt you, anyone who let you get hurt, and anyone who failed to hurt the people who hurt you. His muscles are all tense, and his veins are throbbing.
When you get to the treeline, Joel asks Carter, "Can ya gimme five?"
"Sure thing, boss.".
“No ones gonna miss that asshole," Joel mutters as he checks his gun then sets his sights on the house. 
Joel can’t go back in time, but by God, he’s got to kill someone. He drops his backpack then hurries back to the abandoned house, rifle in both hands. When he gets there, he puts the rifle around his back and grabs the dog chain off the ground on his way in. 
—---You 🌸🫛-—
You and Carter look at each other. “How’s your hand?” you ask him. 
“It’ll be fine,” he reassures you. “I dunno where the little bugger went,” he looks around for the dog.  
You both ignore the sound of the chain thrashing around until you hear grunting and look toward the house. Punches are landing. Carter puts a hand on his rifle but doesn’t move yet. Joel grunts and yells between punches. A minute later, Joel steps out of the house, walking backwards, with the chain pulled taught, and a bloody man dragging behind him. Joel kicks him up against the wall, hits him in the face with the butt of his rifle, then wraps the chain around the drain pipe where the dog was tied up. Joel hits the man again, then aims the rifle and calmly shoots him. Even if you never see the dog again, you're certain the dog is better off without that man. Joel wipes blood splatter off his brow and scowls at the ground as he walks back to you and Carter.
“Ya good?” Carter asks him. 
Joel nods. He’s sweaty, chest heaving.  You try not to let your eyes linger on the remaining blood. You observe his throbbing veins instead. The whole scene has you clenching your thighs.
You walk mostly in silence. When you stop for water, you realize you're being followed. Joel doesn’t notice, but you see the dog duck behind an old car when you turn around. You keep a straight face.
You hear something in the distance. Dust is kicked up down the road. Carter says, “Finally.”  It’s the van that still works, picking you up. You didn't know it was coming and wish the dog could follow you the rest of the way home, but you don’t say anything. You're glad he's unchained. 
—–
When you get back to the stash house, Joel works on the broken down van. When he’s done for the day, he takes you back to the trailer and washes the grease off. When he comes out of the bathroom, you're sitting in the window nook looking at your book, but thinking about the dog. He comes over, wiping his hands off on a towel. "Wanna go out 'n' shoot?" He seems to want to cheer you up.  
Joel goes first. He looks through the scope at the trailer park. Ever since those guys showed up one night, he's looking for other raiders or troublemakers. Then he lines up a shot at the usual target. Your eyes are on his biceps. When Joel is about to take aim, the rare sound of ducks honking startles you. They should’ve already flown South. Joel gets up on his knees and aims toward the front of the flock. He hits one, shifts ahead of the flock, and hits another. It gives you butterflies. You hear a thud as the second one hits the ground. 
“Nice!” you tell him. He winks at you and puts the gun strap over his shoulder. You smooth your dress under your butt as you stand up, then adjust the thigh holster. Joel groans as he stands up. You peer down toward where the birds fell, and something is moving up the hill. A bird, moving strangely. A dead bird, in a little dog's mouth. 
You gasp. Joel looks at you, then follows your eyes. The bird is as big as the dog.  His mouth is open wide to fit the neck.  He crests the hill and drops the bird. "Good boy!" You praise. He does a happy circle and trots back down the hill. 
You look at Joel and try not to smile. Joel puts his hand on his hip and shifts his weight to one leg. He looks down at the ground and rubs brow with the flat of his index finger, squinting. When the dog returns with the second bird, Joel mutters, "alright, big guy," and squats down to accept the bird from his mouth.  Then you barely hear him mutter, "good boy." The dog does another circle and trots around the other side of the trailer. 
 "How'd he find us, all this way?" You marvel. 
"Must have some hound in’m," Joel shakes his head. “Guess ya made an impression.” 
Joel starts a fire and boils two big pots of water. The dog keeps a respectful distance, lounging in the same clover patch where you were sitting earlier. Joel chops the heads and feet off the birds, and tosses them on the ground. The dog scurries over, wagging his tail. He drags one of the duck heads over to the grass to chew on with his butt in the air and his tail wagging furiously, all the way upright now. 
Joel beckons you back inside to wash up and change. He takes a quick shower while you take off the flannel and wash your hands in the kitchen sink. You take off the belt, untethering the ribbons, but you leave the holster on. You sit back down in the window nook.
—-
When Joel comes out from the bathroom, he sits down, manspreads, and pats the kitchen table in front of him, looking at the skirt of your dress as you get up from your seat. You unholster your gun and set it down, then use your hands to help yourself onto the surface, sitting on your dress so your thighs won't stick.  Joel spreads your knees so he can be between them, and grabs your ass to scoot you closer. 
He lifts the dress to look at the holster, and he puts his toothpick in his mouth. 
"s'prised it worked," he mutters. He eyes your legs and runs his hands all the way up your thighs with a deep breath.  "Looks good on ya, too," he murmurs. He thumbs the ribbon of the holster, then unties it. He unbuckles the real strap, too. Then he lifts your knee, slides the holster out from under you, and sets it aside with the gun. He runs his hand over the indentation in your skin from the buckle. "that hurt?" He asks. 
"No." 
He puts his elbows down on either side of your hips, and his biceps rest against your thighs. He looks back and forth between your breasts and takes the toothpick out of his mouth. Without taking his eyes off you, he throws it into the kitchen sink and it hits the metal with a light plink. 
He furrows his brow and looks at your body, then puts his cheek flat against your breast at the lace neckline of your cotton dress while he palms the opposite tit. He turns his face to nose your nipple, and it hardens through the fabric of your dress. He dampens the cotton with his mouth as he flattens his tongue against it. One hand holds your back, near your shoulder blade for leverage, with his thumb hooked under your arm. 
He kisses wetly at your breast through your dress, then glances up at you. His hands slide up to the straps of your dress. He gently nudges the straps off your shoulder. His fingers skim your nipples as he curls his thick fingers into the lace neckline, then pulls the dress down below your tits.  He presses his wide tongue onto your nipple and closes his eyes as he latches onto it. Then he lets go with a soft pop and sucks below the nipple as he massages the other breast.  You're gushing arousal with your legs wide open.  He inhales through his nose and his stomach growls. 
"Joel," you sigh, resting your hands on his muscular back. You watch his vein 
His only response is "Mmm," into your nipple.  You're throbbing, and the more attention he pays to your tits, the more your cunt aches to be filled. You want to let him explore your body, it's not something he normally does, but it also makes you want his cock so bad. You want him to slide you off the table and sink you onto his massive erection. He's really taking his time.  You take a deep breath and try to relax. Your clit twitches. 
Joel pulls down the dress a little more, exposing an inch or two below your breasts. He switches sides, dragging his mouth to his right, your left.  With your left nipple in his mouth, he looks up at you and makes sleepy eye contact. His pupils are blown wide. 
"Joel, I want it," you plead.
His tongue trails as he moves his mouth an inch to the right of your nipple, then he closes his eyes again. He licks and sucks the outer curve of your breast, massaging the other one with a thumb lightly brushing the nipple, then the heel of his palm flattening it into your breast. His eyes open to watch his massive hand moving languidly on your breast. 
You whine his name again and slot your fingers into his dark, curly hair. He doesn't look up. You finger his curls and the pads of your fingers lightly caress his scalp. He pulls his mouth off your breast and backs his head away enough to look at your body. You let your fingers fall out of his hair and rest back on his shoulders. One of his hands moves to rest on your hip, his fingers curling around your flesh and his thumb brushing the hem of your dress. 
His voice is low and husky. "Ever feel like ya just. . ." He meets your gaze with hungry eyes, then looks at your lips. "gotta have your mouth on somethin’?"
His eyes fall down your body as he sits back and palms himself through his jeans.  You whisper "yeah," with a smile and begin to scoot off the table so you can suck him off. He abruptly leans forward and stops you with both hands firmly on your hips. He doesn't let you move. His brow furrows. He looks back and forth between your breasts and noses a nipple again. He murmurs low and gruff into your supple skin,  "Ain't talkin' 'bout you."
Your chest erupts in goosebumps.  He drags his hands down your dress to the bare skin of your legs, then slides his massive palms back up your thighs, slipping his fingers under your dress, leaving his thumbs hooked on top. You brace your hands on the table to lift your butt for him. His hands keep moving up, reaching your hips.  The fabric of your dress bunches above your ass, then he curls his fingers under the waistband of your panties and begins to take them down. You let yourself back down on the table as he slides the underwear down your legs. It dangles between his fingers as he brings his hand to your neck and caresses the side of your throat with his thumb.
You feel the damp cotton against your throat and smell your own arousal as he grips your jaw. He locks eyes with you for less than a second before his gaze drifts downward. He returns his other palm to your breast, fingers slotting under your arm to hold you steady as he pushes you down until your back is flat on the table. He nudges your thighs farther apart.  He sucks in a sharp breath through his nose and hums "Mmm." 
He drops the panties on the table. He spreads you open and thumbs your folds, bringing the moisture up to your clit.  He hunches over to bring his face between your legs and his left hand reaches up to fondle a breast.  He drags his nose through your slick and inhales, then moans at your scent. He plants his mouth on the crease of your thigh. He sucks the skin into his mouth, then lets go. He runs two knuckles through your folds, then gently nudges his middle finger  inside. Your walls spasm around the intrusion and he breathes, "god damn." 
He pumps his finger once and adds a second digit. You moan, and he hums a deep "Mmm," in response.  He takes his fingers out and sucks one, then both into his mouth.  "Fuck," he breathes. 
He doesn't waste any more time, spreading you wide open with his thumbs and burying his face in your cunt. He starts at your entrance where your wetness pools and licks up from there, punctuating the first lick with a kiss on the clit that makes your thighs tremble. Then he laps at you more selfishly, like he's thirsty, like he needs to drink you. His tongue starts flat and stiffens as he digs for more and explores each crevasse. He moans into your folds.  You've never felt anything as powerful and precise as his tongue.  It's stronger than his fingers.  It makes you tingle in one swipe, then presses into the tingle for relief.  He holds you gently until you wriggle in pleasure and he holds you down firmer with one forearm across your lower belly.  
He breathes through his nose and moans as he devours you. When he pauses, he draws in a deeper breath through his mouth then exhales vocally against your wet cunt. 
"Feel good?" He asks with a glance to your face, then plants his mouth on your clit. 
He slides one then two fingers into your core again and you gasp then answer "y-yeah," as he sucks your clit while he pumps them. 
He takes his arm off your abdomen to unbutton his pants and take his stiff cock out. He pulls his face away from your pussy. You're throbbing, and your body races to replenish all the moisture he's sucked up. He gathers some on his fingers then also spits into his hand and wraps it around his length. You want it inside you so, so bad. You hear the squelching as his hand moves up and down his shaft. 
He brings his face between your legs again and puts his arm back on top of you to hold you still, angling his elbow so his thumb is planted at your clit. He laps at you again, moaning into your throbbing, swollen lips. He firmly licks between your clit and hole, then thrusts his tongue into your entrance and you whimper. He tilts his head and jabs his sharpened tongue into you again and again, pumping his cock all the while.  He noses your clit as he sucks and laps, then fucks you with his tongue again.  
You writhe under his arm. "Yeah," he whispers before planting his mouth again. He works your clit with his thumb as he thrusts his tongue into you, dragging it against the top wall, and your desperate cunt twitches against him. You let out a long whine, and his thumb gently rubs the top of your clit, over your hood. 
"Joel," you whimper and it turns into a moan. 
His thumb slows down, and he gathers more slick on his fingers. He wipes it on his shaft, then pulls you by the thighs closer to the edge, unsticking your bare ass from the table. You sit up on your elbows and whimper, "want you. . ."  
He's holding his cock, chest heaving. "Want this?"
"Yeah-yes," you whimper. "Please."
He gazes darkly at your cunt and decides, "Ain't done yet."
You whine his name as he puts his face between your legs again. He sucks your clit for a few seconds until you're whimpering, then he plants his mouth a little lower.  He flattens two fingers to rubs your clit while he fucks you with his tongue. You moan his name as your climax seizes you, and you clench around his tongue. He moves his hand from your clit to your mound to hold you steady as you come. He withdraws his tongue from your hole and laps up and down your folds for a few seconds as you continue to twitch. 
Then he stands up, holding his stiff, wet cock.  His face is flushed, and he's shiny from the nose down.  He braces a hand on the table and teases your clit with his swollen tip.  You flinch in pleasure, still reeling from your first orgasm. He notches his tip at your wet little hole, holds onto your thighs,.and shoves himself into you with a groan. He stays in for a moment, sighing “Ohh, fuck,” admiring your body as it rushes to accommodate him. You spasm around him, still twitching with aftershocks.
He backs up then slams into you with a low growl from his chest. It's a lot to take, but god it feels good. He lifts your legs and puts his arms under your knees, wrapping his hands over to hold your thighs as he buries his length in you, grunting and sighing. His balls slap against your ass. His biceps flex, and It isn't long before you begin to moan and writhe, and squeeze his cock. 
"Good girl," he breathes. "Good, sweet pea."
He closes his eyes and fucks you through it. He breathes deep and slow, like he's trying not to come yet.  He slows way down, moans, then bottoms out and begins to pulse. He brings his hands to either side of your body and hovers over you while he thrusts slowly with each warm burst he releases. You milk his cock until his balls are empty, then your contractions fade. 
Joel hovers there, admiring your body. Then he slides out and sits down on the chair between your legs again. His armpits are warm and humid on your thighs.  He puts one hand on each breast and lowers his head to rest his cheek on your lower abdomen, tickling you with his beard. He wipes his mouth on your belly and a spot of drool from the corner of his mouth hits your skin.  He stares off at the front door of the trailer in a trance, gently cupping your breasts. He mumbles, "Taste so good, sweet pea." 
You reach for his hair and he doesn't stop you from fingering his curls. His eyelids droop, and after a few seconds, he closes his eyes.  You lightly massage his scalp again. 
He only allows himself a minute or two before he tenses and clears his throat. He lifts his head and slides his hands under your arms, helping you sit up straight. 
“I'll check the birds,” he says as he tucks his cock away.  He squeezes your thigh and gives you a wink before he stands up to go outside. 
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Thank you for reading and engaging 🖤 It means the world to me when you show him your love! whether this post is new or old. I also love when people throw a comment when they re-read. It's like adding coals to the fire that keeps me warm and writing lol.
You can find more raider!Joel oral on the raider master list under hypotheticals/imagines/HCs.
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sluttywoozi · 9 months
Text
May Flowers | Like A Cowboy Final Chapter
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Like A Cowboy | Cowboy Like Me | Give You My Wild
Pregnancy is hard, but April showers bring May flowers, right?
Rating: M (18+) | WC: ~7.2k (~2.8k plot, ~4.4k smut)
Warnings: pregnancy, pregnant sex, pregnancy kink, fingering, masturbation, (healthy) possessiveness, oral f. rec., piv sex, multiple orgasms, crying during sex, creampie, aftercare
Reader Notes: has breasts and a vagina, about 6 and a half months pregnant, gets carried/lifted by Mingyu (he’s a strong ass cowboy with big bulging muscles)
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“Honey, can I get you anything before I join you?” Mingyu asks softly from the doorway, fondly observing the way your book rests on your swollen belly. 
You look over, shaking your head with a sweet smile before returning your attention to your book. You’ve been reading like crazy since your stomach started growing, consuming every word you can find on childbearing and childrearing. He tries to read the books when you finish them, but with you no longer able to help as much outside or inside, he doesn’t have a lot of spare time. He doesn’t mind though, would run the whole ranch by himself if it meant you got to rest like you deserve, and it’s more than enough that you still take care of the cooking and linens. 
He doesn’t think you know how grateful he is to have a steaming meal on the table every time he comes in after a long day of labor in the thawing spring air. He makes the effort to tell you, but he’s sure there’s another way. Maybe he could show you, but you only want gifts for the baby right now so anything he gets you wouldn’t be for you. He could hire a farmhand from sun up to sun down and use the day to pamper you, but he’s not sure you’d like that either. 
You’ve become… sensitive. About your body and about having all of his focus on it. 
Mingyu, of course, already thought you were the most beautiful and precious creature to ever walk the earth, and you’ve only become more so since your pregnancy began showing itself. You glow, your whole being radiates light and sweetness, and though you’re a bit quicker to cry than before, you’re also prone to telling him you love and adore him at the drop of his cowboy hat. 
He’s changed too, growing much more protective and somehow less clumsy if it means saving you from your new lack of coordination. You’re unused to having the equivalent of a butternut squash attached to your front, and it shows in the tender spots he finds every night. You’re tender about the squash itself too, lamenting each shift that no longer fits and mourning every dress you have to let out, though you try to hide it from him. 
He assumes you don’t want him to know that you’re experiencing some negative feelings too, especially after the little gathering he’d thrown you last week. Some of your friends are with child as well and they were all absolutely exuberant, going on about how wonderful it was and how they almost didn’t want it to end. Your smile had turned false then, though he doubts they noticed. He doubts you think he noticed, but Mingyu sees everything when it comes to you because he’s always paying attention. 
That’s why he’s also caught onto how physically sensitive you are now, too. You grimace every morning as you secure your bodice, wince whenever he accidentally touches your breasts in the night, catch his hand and guide it to your hip if you notice he’s going for your belly. He’s trying to stop touching you in these places, but it’s difficult when he’s so used to you loving when he touches you anywhere. He misses being close to you, misses making love to you, but he’ll give you space for as long as you need it. Or he’ll do his best to, at least. 
It’s something he keeps in mind as he gingerly climbs into bed next to you, shuffling close enough for a kiss before exchanging an, “I love you,” letting his head drop heavily to the pillow, and promptly falling asleep.
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Mingyu blinks awake to moonlight barely peeking through the curtains and a hand gently tapping at his chest. 
“S’wrong, honey?” He mumbles, his fingers tangling with your own as his head lolls over so he can squint at you in the darkness. From what little of you he can see, you’re nervous. That wakes him up, makes him shift onto an elbow and lean over you, his hand releasing yours so he can cup your cheek and bring your eyes to his. Is it something with the baby? Is something going-
“Nothing’s wrong! I- I think I… I want you, Mingyu.”
That’s the last thing he expects you to say, and the reaction it causes in him would bring him to his knees if he were standing. Heat flashes down the back of his neck, all the want in his body rushing into his cock as it hardens in his underclothes, his eyes going half lidded and his mouth dropping open as he leans in to press his lips to yours. 
“Did you have a dream?” He questions, kissing your cheek and forehead before continuing, “Can I touch you? Kiss you?” 
“I never fell asleep,” you groan, rubbing your legs together beneath the sheets, “And yes, Gyu, please.” 
He’s gentle with you, turning you onto your side and bringing a pillow to rest under your belly. You lift your head so his arm can reach around and cradle you to him, leaning your body against his and draping your thigh over his leg to open you up. He doesn’t want you to have to support yourself at all, wants to give you whatever you need, whatever you want. Which, apparently, is him, so he won’t make you wait. 
His free hand slides between your thighs, his arm brushing against your belly and his cock jumping against your back as his fingers glide over your folds. You’re so wet he gasps into your neck, two of his fingers dipping inside and finding you hot and slick, “Did you touch yourself?”
“I tried, but it wasn’t enough. I didn’t want to wake you, though, you work so hard and you need to sleep,” you whine, bucking into his touch. 
“Sweetheart, you can tell me that you need me anytime and anywhere and I’ll give myself to you,” Mingyu promises, pressing his teeth into your shoulder and letting his fingers sink deeper, spread apart, fuck up and in. You’re so responsive, your body writhing in his hold and your thighs shaking against his as you near the edge. It seems your heightened sensitivity is working in his favor now, so he twists his thumb over to rub your swollen clit and digs his fingers in just a little harder. 
At this angle, he can tap his fingertips right into that patch inside you that makes you gush, and he can feel you tighten around him, feel you get closer and closer to the edge with each grind against that spot. He wishes he could taste you, feel you on his tongue, but that might be a bit much for you tonight so he’ll talk to you instead. 
“So perfect for me, my pretty wife all round and full with my baby, fuck,” He gasps into your hair, his cock throbbing and leaking where it’s pressed into your back. 
His words must be enough to get you there because suddenly, your back is arching and your whines are echoing throughout the room as your slick floods his hand. It almost breaks him, feeling your walls hug his fingers and knowing how much better they feel around his cock, but he holds himself together long enough to see you through to the other side of your release. 
You’re sobbing by the time it’s over, so Mingyu gently withdraws his fingers before cleaning them with his mouth and wrapping you up in his arms. He rocks slowly, humming so you can feel the vibrations in his chest and smiling to himself as he feels you start to come down. 
“Did so good for me, honey,” Mingyu murmurs, pressing a kiss to the side of your head and ignoring the insistent pulse of his dick. 
“Thank you, Gyu, love you,” you mumble back, already on the verge of falling asleep in his arms. 
“Love you, baby,” Mingyu promises as he shuffles out from under you and to the bathroom, starting up the shower and leaving it on cold before wetting a cloth with warm sink water and carefully cleaning you up. 
He’s not sure if a cold shower will actually help considering he’s harder than he has been in months, but it’s worth a shot. There’s no way he’ll be able to sleep like this and he doesn’t expect it to go down on its own, so the shower is his best bet. 
Every muscle in his body tenses when the icy water hits his skin, and even after five minutes of shivering under the spout, he’s still rock hard. He grimaces, letting his head drop back to rest against the tiled wall as he gives up, turns the shower to warm, and wraps a hand around his cock. His own touch is never as good as yours, but it’s all he’s known for the last few months and it’ll continue to be all he knows until you’re ready for him again. 
Truthfully, he’s over the moon at getting to touch you at all tonight, getting to be so close to you and unravel you like that, and he knows all he needs to do to push himself over the edge is think about you. His hand starts moving of its own volition as he calls to mind the thought of you touching yourself, the delicious squeeze of your walls around his fingers, the breathy sighs and moans you’d let out. 
He can’t swallow the punched out groan that leaves him when he remembers taste of you on his fingers, or stop himself from gripping his cock tighter, or slow his hand when it starts to speed. The wet slap of skin on skin fills the shower, and though Mingyu wishes it was you and him making those sounds together, he got to touch you tonight and that’s more than enough for him. 
It’s more than enough that you’re carrying his child, letting them grow in you and with you, taking care of them and nurturing them with your body until they’re ready to be loved in person. The idea shouldn’t send heat zipping down his spine, but it does and his hips follow, thrusting his cock into the sleeve he’s made with his hand as a coil starts to wind in his stomach. 
It’s wild to him that just a little bit ago, you were doing this, touching yourself and chasing that release, and when you couldn’t find it on your own, you knew you could wake him up. You still felt guilty, he knows, but he’s ecstatic that you reached out to him, both physically and metaphorically. He’s missed you these months even as he slept next to you every night, and to be so close to you was fulfilling beyond measure. 
It’s what will push him over the edge, what will make that coil in his belly snap, and he can feel his heart start to race as he gets closer and closer. He pictures you, sleeping peacefully on your side in your nightgown, pressing your hips back into his, night after night. You, bent over the railing of your front porch all those moons ago. You, with one injured hand above your head and the other holding yourself open for him.  You, under him and on top of him and all over him, just you you you. 
You’re all Mingyu needs, all he wants and all he will ever want, and as he thinks about putting this baby in you, pumping you full and keeping you full until it took, until there was evidence beyond rings and a vow that you’re his and he’s yours, it breaks him. His cock pulses in his hand as it hardens further and starts to spit cum, his desperate grip damn near cutting off the circulation at the head. His head thunks against the tile and he whines your name, feeling the wave overcome him and letting himself drown in it. 
Trembling under the warm water, he attempts to catch his breath, his eyes still clenched shut and his hand still fisting his cock. He needs to sleep soon if he wants to get any work done on the ranch tomorrow, but he just can’t find the strength to move yet. The water is what spurs him, going from warm to cold to freezing in what feels like no time before he turns off the shower and dries off the excess moisture. 
His pants from before will need a wash, his prespend having soaked through the fabric, so he scurries naked to the dresser in the chilly night air and opens the drawer as quietly as he can. He pulls out the first underclothes his fingers touch, climbing into them before sliding into bed next to you. You’re still breathing softly, one arm folded beneath your head and the other cradling your swollen belly, and Mingyu feels all the love in his body rush into his heart as he watches you sleep peacefully. 
“I love you,” he whispers softly, so quietly that it’s nearly lost in the creaking of the house and the wind blowing through the trees. His hand covers your own before he bends at the waist to press a kiss to your stomach, “And I love you.” 
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Leaning back into the rocking chair, you heave a sigh and let your eyes fall closed. Your fingertips are starting to ache, as is your back, but you’ve got a whole stack of linens to repair and there’s still daylight left, so onward you’ll go. 
The baby has been quite active today, aiming little kicks right into your kidneys and line dancing all over your bladder, but you’re glad for it. The movement of the baby means they’re growing like they’re supposed to, and you’ll always take the aches and touch-sensitivity and endless trips to the bathroom over the alternative. 
This journey has been rife with worries, many of which you neglected to share with your husband, and reminding yourself that your family is about to grow is what gets you through the day. 
That, and Mingyu. 
He’s outside right now, tending to the flower garden he started for you after you felt the quickening. It’s full of your favorites, and some medicinal herbs as well. Marigolds for their healing properties, peppermint and ginger for your morning sickness, stinging nettles for your nutrition, and chamomile for your sleepless nights. 
He spent hours researching, and even conferred with the town midwife to determine what would be best to plant for you. 
Nearly every time you look at it, you’re moved to tears thinking about just how much he loves you. This seems to be one of those times, and you press your palms to your eyes as if you could stem the flow of saltwater. The tears spill over onto your cheeks anyway, your breath hitching on a sob that you couldn’t swallow for the life of you. 
These crying spells started around the same time your belly made itself known, and they’re one of the many aspects you won’t miss when this baby finally comes. Along with the fact that you can barely stand to let anyone touch you anymore, not your mother, not your father, not even your husband. You hate to see his face fall every time he reaches for you, but you’re just so tender all over, which is part of why you cry so often. 
Your tears dry up soon enough, but not so fast Mingyu doesn’t see. When you pull your hands from your eyes, you catch sight of him. He’s standing with his hands on his hips, biting that plush bottom lip and making you itch to tug it out from between his teeth. Instead, you swipe the sheen from your cheeks and give him a shaky smile through the window. 
He sends back a small, fond grin and laughs to himself, disappearing from view as he returns to his weeding. You let the smile drop and arch your back, rubbing at a persistent ache in the lower curve of your spine. You’ll have to have Mingyu try to work it out for you before bed or you won’t be able to sleep at all tonight. 
You still can’t believe what you did last night, waking him up and begging him to touch you like that. You haven’t been in the mood for months, and suddenly you needed him so bad you just couldn’t take it anymore. It came over you like a cresting wave, starting in your mind and rolling down to your core. 
You did your best to relieve the ache on your own, but you couldn’t reach far enough to get your fingers inside with your belly in the way and eventually, your back started to hurt too much with all the straining. You knew you’d never get to bed if you still felt like that, so you did the only other thing you could think to do. 
You woke up your husband. 
And, goodness, did he relieve that ache. 
The problem is that it wasn’t enough. Now that you’ve felt his touch again, you want more, you want everything. 
But you can wait until he finishes his work outside and eats the dinner you’ll make for the two of you. There’s no way you’ll interrupt him just so you can ask him to satisfy your desires, even though he told you to do exactly that just last night.  
.
You were wrong. You were so very wrong. 
As soon as you started thinking about Mingyu touching you again, a spark lit up in your center and now you feel all warm and, dare you say, wet. 
You can’t focus on your mending, your fingers stinging with pin pricks, and you also can’t take your eyes off your husband. 
He took his outer layer off, leaving him in just a white tank and his denim trousers, and every time he lifts his shirt up to wipe his sweat, you see a flash of his toned, glistening abdomen. 
He’s doing it on purpose. You know because he caught you looking and smirked, and you haven’t bothered to look away since. You’re not sure what your expression is telling him but you know your eyes are full of a heat that only he can cool. 
When he whips the tank over his head and uses it to mop at the sweat on his chest, you decide you’ve had enough. 
You shoot up (as fast as you’re able) from your rocking chair and march to the front door, throwing it open and standing on the edge of the stairs with your hands on your hips. 
You forgot to put on your shoes so you can’t actually go haul Mingyu inside like you want to, but he must have heard the door open. He appears from around the corner of the house, his muscles shimmering in the waning sunlight and flexing with every step. 
“Hey, baby,” He calls, grinning with happiness like he doesn’t know exactly what he’s done. “I was wondering when you’d break.” 
He stands shoulder-level with the railing of your front porch and folds his arms on the wood before resting his chin on the cushion they create. The way he’s looking up at you through his eyelashes has your heart fluttering, and when he reaches a hand out to tug you closer, you give him yours and move on instinct. 
“I knew you were teasing me,” You shake your head, squeezing his hand and moving your shared grasp to your belly before flattening his palm over it. You haven’t been able to let him touch you much over the past couple months, finding your skin too sensitive for even your clothes, but you want him to feel what you feel. 
His whole face lights up in a beam bright enough to replace the sun when the little kick thumps right under his hand. Before you know it, his eyes are filling with tears and he’s taking your free hand to bring it to his face. You cup his cheek, brushing the tears away with a gentle thumb and feeling your own eyes welling up.
You try to kiss him but you can’t bend over enough to reach, making you pout and let out a huff. 
“Back up a little, honey,” Mingyu instructs before disentangling his hands from yours and letting you step away. He plants his hands on the railing and gets a foot on the foundation of your house, hauling himself over the fence with more grace than you expected. 
“The stairs are right there,” You point out with a laugh, stepping back as he crowds you into the wall. His hands brace next to your head and he leans into your space, his lips inches from yours as he whispers, “Is it a crime to show off for my wife?” 
“Never,” You breathe, tilting your chin to press your mouth to his. He kisses you deeply, sighing like he’s just tasted the finest whiskey and moving as close to you as your belly allows. 
When his hands leave the wall and find your body, they’re tender, soft on you, like he knows just how sensitive you are. And of course he does, because he’s your husband and he knows everything about you. 
Down to the fact that when he angles your head so he can kiss you like he wants, it makes your knees weak. His hands move to your hips and squeeze just a bit harder, just enough to give you some more stability as he kisses you until you’re dizzy. 
“Can we go,” You gasp in between kisses, “Inside the house?” 
“Can I carry you?” He responds, waiting for your nod to sweep you up into his arms bridal style. He’s so strong, holding you steady as he walks to the front door you’d left open. He toes off his boots before he walks inside, knowing you’ll scold him if he tracks dirt on your clean floors.  
Crossing over the threshold with him like this brings up memories of your wedding day, of when he surprised you with the house he’d built with his own two hands for you to share. It’s a home now, and in just a few months, there will be a new member of your family to make it even warmer. The thought nearly makes you tear up again as Mingyu lumbers up the stairs to your bedroom. 
You swallow down the emotions rising within you, refusing to cry yet again, and smile up at Mingyu as he carefully places you on the bed. 
“How do you think we should do this?” He inquires, his eyes on your bump and his hands on his hips. You go over the positions you’ve used in the past, but most of them won’t accommodate your stomach. 
“Maybe from behind?” You suggest, beginning to unbutton your dress before his hands take over for yours. You arch a brow, watching as he meticulously pushes the buttons out of their openings and remembering all the repairing you had to do while he was trying to put this baby in you. 
“I wanna be able to look at you,” Mingyu counters, his eyes caught on the movement of your breasts as you work the dress off. You’re left in just your shift and bodice, and the look in his eyes sends your confidence rocketing up. 
“How about,” He starts talking only to stop and take hold of the backs of your knees, “If I pull you to the edge of the bed and stay standing? We can put some pillows under your hips to prop you up.” 
Picturing it in your head, you work out the logistics and find his plan to be solid. The bed isn’t too low to the ground, but you still won’t be at the height of his hips so the cushioning is a good idea. 
You nod with finality, reaching for the pillows above your head and pulling them down to hand them to Mingyu. He slides one arm under your back and lifts you enough to slide one, then the other pillow beneath your hips, leaving you at the perfect height. 
You could almost laugh at all the planning required for making love in this state, but the heat is flooding back into you as you watch Mingyu slowly undo his belt. 
He’s staring at you with half-lidded eyes, his gaze roving over every inch of your body, clothed and unclothed. His cock strains at the denim of his jeans, the dark blue growing darker where the head must be. 
You can’t even see him but you want him in you, making you wonder if you’re still stretched from last night. You don’t want him to get you ready, you just want him to fill you up again and again and again, just like he did all those months ago. 
You open your mouth to tell him but gasp instead as he shoves his trousers and underclothes down, revealing his hard, swollen cock. It’s leaking at the tip, flushed and so so pretty, and you almost wish you were laying the other way so you could have him in your mouth. 
You don’t think you can wait though, fighting to tear off your bodice and pull your shift up. It’s difficult with the pillows beneath your hips and it occurs to you that you should have gotten undressed before getting comfortable, but that’s rectified easily enough with Mingyu’s help. 
He lifts you as you tug the fabric up, his eyes following the hem and his breath catching when your belly is revealed. You raise your arms when he takes over, pulling the fabric over your head and tossing it so it lands on the dresser instead of the floor. 
There’s an expression of desirous awe on his face, his eyes wide and warm and full of something you don’t recognize. His hands hover over your skin, unsure of whether or not he can touch you, and when you nod your consent, he places them on your hips and opens his mouth to speak. 
“Seeing you like this, knowing it’s our baby growing in there, knowing you’ve got a piece of me inside you all the time… It does things to me.”
You haven’t thought about it that way before, and you feel your core squeeze at the idea of always having a little part of Mingyu with you. 
He grins down at you, a feral, possessive glint in his eye, as he watches you process his words. His hands sweep over your body and for once, you don’t feel the need to guide them away. Instead, you want them all over you, want him all over you. 
It’s like your sensitivity has turned in his favor, and you feel goosebumps rising on your skin in his wake. You fight back a shiver when he carefully trails his hands over your tender breasts, his eyes observant and his bottom lip bitten between his teeth. He brushes his thumbs over your nipples, just the barest touch, but it still has you arching your back and swallowing down a whine. 
“Ohhh, this will be fun,” Mingyu smirks before leaning down and pressing a kiss to your belly, “But I’ll be gentle with you, sweetheart, don’t worry.”
“I know you will be,” You breathe as you reach down and sink a hand into his hair, attempting to lift your hips for him so he can pull off your underclothes. “Let me,” He says as he pulls your hips up with one hand and tugs down your drawers with the other. They land on top of your shift and his hands hover over your skin, his eyes meandering along your bare form as he tries to decide where to touch first. 
You’re growing impatient, having been teased enough before he even brought you inside, but you know he’s missed you. You’ve missed him too, wished almost every night that you didn’t feel the way you did and that you could just be with him, and it seems your wish has come true. 
So, you can wait. 
You can wait as his touch skims over your belly and back up to your breasts, as his eyes become cloudy and dark when he sees for himself just how much they’ve grown. As he lightly twists and pulls at your nipples, as he curls himself over you to suck one into his mouth. As he brings you up higher and higher until you think you might fall over the edge, just from this. 
When he trails his kisses down your stomach and starts to kneel, you know you can’t wait anymore. “Gyu, please. I need you,” You implore him, your thighs tensing as you feel arousal starting to seep out of you. 
“Can I taste you first? I wanted to last night but I didn’t want to push you,” He breathes, his fingers tapping at your hips and his eyes big and round. 
You really want him to fill you up but his mouth would feel nice too, and you suppose you should let him get you ready at least a little knowing how delicate you are right now. You also just might happen to love giving him what he wants. As soon as you sigh, “Yes, honey,” he hauls your thighs over his shoulders and dives in, making you gasp and claw at the bedcovers. 
His tongue glides through your folds and you can feel the pained groan he lets out, feel the vibrations move through your center. He worships you, sucking your clit, licking your folds, pushing his tongue into your entrance to get a taste at the source. It feels so much better than you remember, so much warmer and wetter, and when he shakes his head to bury his tongue deeper and coincidentally rubs your clit with his nose, it makes your hips jump. 
He brings them back down with gentle hands and you untangle yours from the sheets to cover them with your own, squeezing at his knuckles and wrapping your fingers over his. You can’t see him over your bump but you can hear him, hear every whimper of pleasure and groan of want, hear every noise his tongue makes as it slides in and out of you. His nose keeps dragging over your bundle of nerves and every single pass pushes you closer to the edge, sounds of your own escaping your mouth, unfettered and unfiltered. 
You’re about to tell him you’re getting close but he suddenly presses the tip of his nose hard into your clit and shoves his tongue as far inside you as it can go, and that’s all you need. 
That’s all you need to cum, to cry, to keen, your arousal flooding onto his tongue and your thighs snapping closed over his ears. He moans into you throughout your whole release, drinking down your wetness with an open mouth and prying your legs away from his head when he finally needs to breathe.
Tears stream down the sides of your face, your eyelashes fluttering as you blink away the stars swimming in your vision, and when he takes one final lick from your entrance to your crest, you can’t help but shudder. He cautiously slides your legs from his shoulders one after the other, and rises to his feet on shaky knees. 
“Alright, baby?” He rests one knee on the edge of the bed and leans over your bump to press his you-soaked lips to yours. You make an affirmative noise against his mouth, bringing your hand up to cup his cheek when he tries to pull away, not wanting the kiss to end just yet. He hums and kisses you deeper, seeming to understand that you need this contact right now. 
You know Mingyu won’t rush you, he never does, no matter how desperate his need is. Which is why you wrap your legs around his waist and pull him into you, gasping when you feel his hot, leaking cock come into contact with your core. 
“I want you inside me,” You break away to exhale, watching his jaw clench and his eyes grow darker. 
“I’ll give you whatever you want, darlin’, you know that,” He dips back down for one more kiss before standing upright and guiding his cock to your entrance. The tip notches in easily, your arousal and earlier release opening you up for him, and he grasps the backs of your knees with big, calloused hands. 
“I can hold your legs, baby. I don’t want you to strain yourself,” He offers, his voice deep with want. He hooks his arms under your knees after you untangle them from his waist with a thankful hum before slowly pushing into you. The stretch is delicious, stealing your voice and all the air in your lungs as he carefully spreads you open. 
You’re glad he suggested this way because you want to look at him too, want to watch his face as he feels you for the first time in months. He almost seems like he’s in pain, his mouth dropped open and his eyes clenched shut. He’s making weak, punched-out noises as he slides inside you, his fingers gripping tighter with every inch. 
When he bottoms out in you, it’s like you can’t breathe. He’s so thick and long, and he’s buried so deep, it makes you want to cry. You look a bit closer and find, to your surprise, that Mingyu is crying. There are tears slipping out of the corners of his still-closed eyes, and he opens them to reveal a desperation you don’t expect. 
“I’m sorry, baby, fuck, ’m sorry,” He forces out, his hips stuttering against yours.
“What are you so-,”
“I can’t hold it, I’m gonna-.”
His head drops back and heady moans escape his parted lips, his abdomen tensing every time he ruts into you. His cock jerks against the clutches of your walls as a warmth pools deep inside, making you gasp and arch your back. He’s never reached release so soon, but you can’t blame him after he’s been without you, and honestly, it makes you feel ridiculously wanted. 
When his hips stop moving and his cock stops leaking, you expect him to pull out and give you his fingers or tongue, but he stays rooted inside you, his cock still hard and his eyes determined. He starts fucking you slowly, pushing his spend deeper and deeper even though he must be sensitive by now. 
“Mingyu, you don’t have to, I already-”
“Do you still want me inside you?” 
“Yes, but-”
“Then I’m staying,” He promises, falling into a gentle rhythm, his movements eased by your wetness and the sticky cum he’d filled you with.
“Enough with the interrupting,” You whine, raising your hips to meet his and trying to fuck him back as much as your heavy belly will allow. His cock twitches as he laughs sheepishly, giving your legs a squeeze with his hands and breathing, “I’m sorry, honey. I won’t do it again.” 
“You’d better not,” You threaten half-heartedly, gradually losing yourself to the pleasure of his movements. Every time he bottoms out, your walls flutter and clench around him, attempting to hold him inside though you know he’s stronger than you. When he draws his hips back, yours follow, sparking a familiar push and pull, give and take, that you’ve perfected together in the years since you wed. 
Your head tilts back when the tip of his cock strokes the one spot inside you that always makes you gush, your moans rising in volume and your legs twitching in his hold. He notices this, of course, and aims every thrust at that spot, nearly panting with exertion as he fucks in and out of you. You feel the coil in your center winding tighter and tighter, your walls sucking his cock in deep and hugging him like you never want him to leave. 
“Will you touch yourself for me?” Mingyu asks, his voice thready with pleasure. “I’m getting close again, it’s so- Ahhh, so sensitive and your cunt is so perfect.”
You acquiesce immediately, one hand gripping at the sheets and the other sliding down your body and around your bump to find the throbbing little bundle of nerves nestled in your folds. One circle has you getting wetter, another has you clenching down, and a third has you falling over the edge. 
You must drag Mingyu along with you, his cock growing impossibly harder and starting to shoot cum inside you. The release is strong, like a tidal wave overcoming you and pulling you under. It blurs your vision, fills your ears with a roaring sound, makes you shiver and squeeze uncontrollably around him as he fills you up for a second time. 
With your arousal and his spend, you’re overfull, making a combination of both seep out around his slowly softening cock. You open your eyes to find his still shut, his face slack and his knees visibly shaking. 
“Gyu? Honey?” You speak softly, so as not to startle him. His eyes blink open, full of tears again, and you feel your face break into the fondest smile of all time. You want to pull him close, hold him to you, comfort him, but he’s still got you by the legs and you’re not sure he’s ready to move yet. 
“Missed you so much,” He nearly whimpers as he pulls out, a veritable flood following in his wake. “Love you so much.”
“Baby, I love you,” you coo, wiggling in his hold until he releases your knees and lets you clumsily scoot back on the bed, the pillows falling to the floor in the process. You hold your arms out to him, hugging him tight when he climbs onto the bed and curls around you, his legs tangling with yours and his arm cradling your belly. 
“I’m sorry I made you wait so long,” You already felt guilty for not being able to let him touch you like you used to, but seeing him moved to tears by how much he missed you has you reeling. 
“Don’t apologize, darlin’, it’s not your fault. You’re doing important work, growing our baby, and I know there are changes that come with that,” He assures you, his hand gently stroking your skin and his eyes raising to yours to make sure you’re alright with his touch. 
You smile, tears rising in your own eyes, and cover your hand with his. There are changes that come with this journey, good ones and bad ones, and you wouldn’t trade them for the world. Not when you know that it’ll all be worth it in the end, when you finally get to hold the baby you’ve been nurturing and protecting with your own body. When you finally get to hold the baby you and Mingyu made together, the one that will be the perfect blend of you and him. 
You don’t know what they’ll look like, sound like, be like, but you love them already, and you know Mingyu does too. 
You nudge him before he can fall asleep, whispering a soft, “Let’s get cleaned up, hm?”
He nods drowsily and peels himself off of you and the bed, reaching for the ceiling to stretch his back and eliciting a sigh from you as you watch his muscles tense. Holding his hands out to you, he waits for you to entwine your fingers with his before carefully pulling you up into a sitting position and helping you shuffle off the bed. 
You follow him into the bathroom and stand shivering on the tile as he starts the shower and bundles you up in his arms from behind. You melt into him when he scoops your belly up and holds it for you, easing the constant strain on your back. He sways you lightly, enough so that you start to drift off where you stand. 
When steam starts coming from the shower, Mingyu holds a hand under the stream to test the temperature and, finding it just cool enough for him and just hot enough for you, helps you climb in. 
He was the one half asleep before but it seems that making love has taken all the energy from you, leaving you to lean against him as he washes you with gentle hands. 
“Do you want to take a nap in the guest room before we make dinner?” He asks into your neck, just loud enough for you to hear over the rush of water. You nod, your head lolling forward and back before you just tip back and let yourself rest fully on him. He chuckles, wrapping his arms around you and pressing a kiss to your hair before shutting the water off and helping you out of the shower. 
He takes a fresh towel from the stack in the cabinet and lovingly dries you off, dabbing at your belly and breasts instead of rubbing because he knows the texture of the towel is too much against your skin. 
“Want me to carry you?” He swipes at his own body much more roughly before throwing the towel into the hamper.
You hold your arms out and he laughs again, whispering, “You know I can’t carry you like that, baby.” Pouting, you hold onto his neck as he lifts you sideways into his arms and walks you to the guest room, both of you naked as the day you were born. 
He lays you down, crawling into bed next to you and murmuring, “Can I keep touching you?” 
You turn your head, pressing a kiss to his lips before whispering back, “Yes, Gyu, please keep touching me.”
He grins a sleepy little grin, mumbling an, “I love you, baby,” to you before leaning down to peck the top of your belly and speaking into your skin, “And I love you, baby.” 
You won’t cry again, you won’t cry again, you won’t cry again. 
“I love you, Mingyu,” You whisper back, tilting your chin down and covering his hand on your belly to breathe, “And I love you, baby.” 
There’s a little kick under his hand, you can feel it from the inside and he can feel it from the outside, and you exchange sweet smiles before finally falling into blissful slumber. 
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AN: and with that, Like a Cowboy is finished!! This will be the final part as i'm not interested in writing kid fics, so i hope it was a good way to close out this couple's story.
This is the one year anniversary of my posting Like A Cowboy, and I can't believe how much myself and this blog have grown since. I've made amazing friends, gotten closer to my best friend, and gotten to know you all. I've spent so many hours writing so many words (over 200k by now) and i can't wait to spend many more hours writing many more words
thank you to all of my followers, old and new, for supporting me and loving my work
thank you to @petrichor-mingi for beta reading this and many other works for me and thank you to @svthub for supporting me and helping me grow!
thank you to @absentcaryatid for leaving my first ever review and convincing me that my writing is worth reading
thank you to @bbychocolat for being my cheerleader and convincing me my work has value 💕
and thank you to @sluttywonwoo for getting me into seventeen and mingyu in the first place, and for getting me to write for fun at all 💖
i love you guys 💖
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hellishlibrary · 3 months
Text
Loser Yan Smut
since the poll got 94% for yes to loser yan smut imma do it ^^
Losers do smth to me istg 😩
anywho— fem reader! reader implied to have slight muscle mass. (For all the strong girlies out there)
Warnings: Story build up, pegging, face sitting, sub character, dom reader, slight biting kink???, teasing, slight bondage, cowgirl (yan riding reader), slight feminization, masc fem reader, reader has a pussy, and cumming on stomach in pt 2
NSFW STORY BUILD UP BELOW CUT
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You and Ozzie, didn’t know each-other- Well you didn’t know Ozzie. Ozzie knew everything of you from your favorite color to your date of birth. He was really just a loser that rambled about anything and the legend of Zelda any chance he got. Meanwhile you were the schools star female football player. Ozzie had drooled over rival football players getting tackled, wishing that it was him.
It was a regular high-school day, you were walking towards your algebra class and you see in the corner of your eye, a slim, pale, boy staring at you in awe. He quickly looked away and blushed, you smirk and find this amusing, maybe you’ll entertain this little big crush of this mysterious boy. You sit in your usual seat and start your assignment, solving the problems with slight trouble, you wonder and ask your seat mate next to you and he says he doesn’t understand either. So you ask the boy who was staring at you earlier for a bit of help.
“hey- do you know the answer to number 5 and 6?”
“Oh— uhm, it’s -27.96 and for number 6 it’s 2684.29..”
The poor boy struggled with the simple sentence and was a blushing mess. You smiled and thanked him, before writing the answers down on the paper. Ozzie then finished the assignment with ease and watched as reader, you, struggled a bit. He was about to offer up help, but didn’t want to be a burden for you. Ozzie then sighed and pulled out his sketch book and doodled your beautiful toned figure and your beautiful face off of memory, it was almost identical to you. Near the end of class, Ozzie quickly collected his stuff and walked out of the classroom, trying to speed to his next class and not get targeted by assholes. Alas, luck was not on his side and he got slammed into the locker by two boys and their girlfriends giggling as their boyfriends target the poor boy. You then walk by the group of people and head over to them, noticing one of them was your teammate on the football team. Then seeing the bloody nose loser on the floor panting, and teary eyes. “Hey- back off Elijah! Leave him alone!”
“do you know this freak, [name]?”
You roll your eyes and push the guy out of the way and help the guy on the floor up and walk away from the now, annoyed group. The boy now looking at you with a blush and bloody nose from being slammed into a locker. You glance at the scrawny looking man and smile. The boy looks away from your glance, his face turning a deep red hue.
“th-thank you for helping me from those guys..”
“oh? Those ass holes, don’t mind them, they’re just insecure jerks”
You shrug and walk the mysterious guy to the nurse, walking awkwardly beside him, his slight heavy breathing and eyes darting towards you every few seconds. You two soon approach the nurses office and get Ozzie’s nose cleaned up. You then awkwardly say goodbye and get to your next class with a tardy pass.
———
1 week later
———
It was another late Friday afternoon; game day. Where you had its final game against your biggest competition! You put on your shoulder pads and cleats, making sure your jersey was on correctly. You then hear the coach call for your team, you smile proudly and jog up to the bench on the sidelines, watching teammates look at each-other with fierce eyes and snarling faces.
Half way into the game, and it was your turn to shine, you get into position. Another male teammate teases you before they blow the whistle and everyone scrambled to get the ball. As you caught the ball you threw it to your teammate, the teammate fumbles the ball and falls, tearing the muscle in his knee. Ozzie watches as the game stops, envying the teammate getting your attention, seeing both teams get on their knee as they check the players knee, they then take the player out of the game, tending to him. Ozzie watches as you get back into position and sigh, seemingly stressed.
Ozzie watches until the end of the game, his eyes observing both your beauty and brawn like perfection. He thinks for a bit before walking over to you, ‘accidentally’ bumping into your chest. You look at the boy who fell on the ground and smirk. Your ego getting the best of you.
“Hey baby, what are you doing here, Ozzie, right?”
Ozzie almost creamed his pants at the nickname, but he let out a shaky breath. His face red and heated, as he looked up to your beautiful face. “Sorry.. I wasn’t looking where I was going (reader)” Ozzie says in a quiet and elated tone. Ozzie then was taken aback when you pulled him in by his waist, your tits pressing against his collar bone.
“I think that you’re lying to me, pretty girl.”
You said in a flirtatious manner, your hands still on his waist. Ozzie could blissfully live like this but his body started to react. His dick began to harden, he quickly realized and tried to hide his erection. You notice and chuckle, your breath against his face. You pull away and let go of his waist, slipping a piece of paper into his hoodie pocket.
As you walked away, he starts to read what’s on it. It reading your house address and a little message stating; ‘wanna have a good time pretty boy?”
He shutters and smiles sickeningly sweet, his dick straining against his pants as he already knew what you had in mind. He hopes that you don’t mind that he already knows where you live, and that he knows your parents are on vacation for the next two weeks.
As he walked to his house happily, when he opened his door, his maid greeted him and took Ozzie’s bag off of his back and calmly put his bag away before bowing and turning to finish cleaning. Ozzie then walked out to his room and started to prepare for his punishment for being a perverted loser, so he locked his door and walked to his closet and opened a hidden, locked, drawer. Filled to the brim with toys, one being your old vibrator and another being your dildo you’ve lost recently.
Ozzie then grabs lube and your underwear and pulls down his pants and underwear before pouring the the cold lube on his man pussy whilst grabbing your vibrator and dildo and sets the vibrator on medium, while he gently fingers his hole to loosen it up before plunging the dildo in his hole.
Ozzie lets out whines and moans as he accidentally brushes against his prostate in a rushed lust filled vision.
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Pt 2??
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weasvlys · 5 months
Text
Band Rehearsal
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Rodrick Heffley x Y/N (Fem! Reader)
Warnings: Smutty, oral sex (female receiving), unprotected sex, sexual graphic content, explicit language, interrupted sex.
Word count: 1579.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Math..." you said under your breath as you looked for your book in your locker, until suddenly a hand closed it, "ahhg" you gasped, Your gaze immediately settled on the worm-eaten black nail polish, without a doubt, it was Rodrick Heffley, "What is your problem?" You asked him angrily, ever since you entered the band it seemed like he never got tired of bothering you, he had a smile from ear to ear, a bit mischievous, he clumsily put his hand on his head and his elbow on the locker, trying to... flirt?, “Band Rehearsal, at 6, and don’t be late!” he said, emphasizing the last sentence, and vanished.
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It was frustrating to be with him, his joking look and his mischievous smile, always feeling his gaze on you, it made your legs tremble, and when he reached his hand a little lower on your back, a little higher on your leg, or he came a little closer than normal, you could feel your heart beating faster, and the most frustrating thing was not knowing if he did it on purpose, to make you nervous and lose focus, or worst, it simply didn't mean anything to him and he did it accidentally.
You arrived at his house, expecting the garage door to be open, however, it wasn't, frustrated you went to the front door, you rang the doorbell twice and waited for the answer from his cheerful mother, who always welcomed you with a kind smile, and regularly a "you look beautiful today", however, you didn't receive that, you heard some heavy and fast feet coming down the stairs and when the door opened you saw an agitated Rodrick, "Hello…" you said in a sigh, you could avoid getting nervous at his look, "Can I come in?" you said in a sigh, you couldn't help but get nervous at his gaze, immediately Rodrick opened the door wider, letting you into his spotless house "It's the kitchen door" he said, referring to where the garage was, as soon as you walked in and saw that, again, you were the first to arrive, "They're late.. again" you said, "Today it's just you and me", Rodrick said, that, for some reason made you feel butterflies "How come?", you ask, and Rodrick gave you a look, confirming your biggest fear, on that occasion, it would be just you and him.
The practice started, you were the vocalist, and just that time you couldn't concentrate, and you couldn't reach any note correctly, so, by the fifth time you stopped Rodrick's rhythm, he got up from his stool so hard that it almost flew away, he threw the drumsticks to the wall in front of you, that genuinely scared you, "What's wrong with you?!" You asked upset, "Y/N, this is the fifth time we do this, can't you concentrate? Y/N?!" he said, putting in front of you, "What's wrong?", his voice was starting to calm down, he looked you in the eyes, that made your voice crack, "I-I don't know..." you said, his eyebrows raised, worried, he bent down a little to be right at your level, "Y/N" he said in a sigh, almost sexual, "What's wrong?", that tender and soft way he spoke to you made you let it all out, "I'm nervous, okay?!" you said, frustrated, "And if we perform in front of an audience, will you still be nervous too?" Rodrick said, "No! I-" you tried to retort, but that one couldn't seem to get out of your throat.
"Look, here's what we'll do" he said as he sat down on the couch in front of you, "I'll sit here, I'll look at you and I need you to forget the nervousness. I won't stop until you do..." those last words seemed to have a different kind of connotation, you decided to ignore him, there was no chance to think what could be inside his mind "One.... Two... Three..." as soon as he finished you started, looking him straight in the eyes, however, by the second verse, his mischievous smile made you lose your concentration again, you suddenly shut up and lowered your gaze, Rodrick snapped his mouth, sighed and said "Have you ever heard of when we are nervous we have to imagine the audience naked?" Those words made you tremble, you nodded your head without saying more, "We'll do that, but literally" his voice became deeper, he got up from the couch, and without taking off his lustful look, he lowered his hands by the edge of his shirt and lifted it, slowly, letting you see his thin, but marked abdomen, that took your breath away "Start again" he said, "Rodrick-" you try to reply "Just do it" he said interrupting you, you rolled your eyes and started again, but after a few seconds, the smile that was forming on his lips weakened you, "Wow, I didn't think it would be that easy", he lowered his hands again, this time to his pants, he placed his slender fingers on the buckle of his belt, he opened it slowly, with a mouth open, his fingers traveled to the button of his jeans, he opened it, and pulled down his pants, revealing his boxer, where you could perfectly appreciate his bulge, big and juicy, bigger than expected. 
You could not avoid looking at his crotch and he, looking at your reaction, laughed, "Do you like what you see?", he asked laughing, he knew what he was doing, he sat down again "Start again", he commanded, but the words were not able to come out of your mouth "Do what I tell you to...", that second reply made you feel weaker, you could not resist, and you started to sing, that situation, unusually, made you concentrate a little more, but not quite, you went out of tune again and Rodrick, without saying anything, got up from the couch, came closer to your face, gave a soft and sweet kiss on your cheek, then on your jaw, on your neck, and you couldn't resist moaning, he started to lower his kisses, and when he reached your crotch he knelt in front of you, he put his fingers in the edge of your jeans, unbuttoned them, and started to pull them down, without letting his gaze off, "Keep singing", he said, almost in a whisper, and you followed his order, every note was perfect while you felt his hot breath on your panties, and without further ado, he put his cold fingers on the edge of your panties, and he began to pull them down along with his kisses.
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He opened his mouth,letting his tongue out, which made a line right across your entry to your clit, where he dedicated some soft and gentle strokes, not taking his eyes off you for one second, to then the band rehearsal was officially over, and now your mouth only let out pornografic moans, which sounded across the four walls.
He stood up, looking at you to the eyes and said in a deep full of lust voice “That’s exactly what I wanted to hear”, took you by the neck and passionately kissed you, which you replied, you took your hands inside is boxer to found his big hard-rock cock, the moment you touched him he deliciously moaned, like he was dying for it to happen, “Yes~…” he said, he pulled his boxers down and you finally saw hies 9 inch dick bounced out of his jeans, with a red trobbing tip, waiting to be inside you.
“Get in the couch baby, please~…” he said, in such a desperate way, almost begging, you got in four, shaking your ass, waiting for him to enter, he places his tip on your crotch, and even he was desperate for it to happens, he started to torture you, letting it in a bit, your as soon as he did, que took it out, in exasperation, you gasped, “Please Rod… Let me feel you…” you said, you never thought you’d would he saying that, “You wanted in?” He asked, almost growling “yes… please” you responded, “how much?” He replied, letting it a bit more, “Aggh~Fuck… so much” you said, moaning, and with no further action he strucked his 9 inches right inside you, letting the wet noices out, followed by a fast in pain and pleasure “Awwh, you are so wet, and so hot…” he said, so loud that could be heard outside, he late his big cock out again, and stuck you, one more time, allowing him to feel your sweet spot, “Yes Rod!” You screamed, and all of the sudden, key noices started to sound, and the sound of the lock on the front door, “Rodrick?! I’m home!”, Mrs. Jeffrey was home, and with no hesitation you and Rodrick started to get dressed up, as quickly as you could, the steps came closer and door opend in a blink, fortunately, you where already all dressed up, “Oh! Hi hon’, didn’t knew you were home” she said, “where in a rehearsal, mom.” Rodrick said in a shaky nervous voice, “Oh, sure thing, I thing I heard you outside” she said and left the room with no further action, and laughs came out of the both of you, “Next time, we’ll do it in my place”, you said, “Next time?” Rodrick replied in that same teasing way.
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loguetowns · 1 year
Text
the one that (almost) got away
roronoa zoro x fem!reader
it takes him 12 hours to realize
3.6k words
a/n: ok listen, i think i started writing this like 6+ months ago and it’s just been sitting in my drafts bc idk how to commit to endings so y’all are gonna have to take this as it is. also i have no concept of how sailing works or how long it takes oops
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9:00 pm
“y'know, there's really no point to a farewell party if the one leaving isn't there.”
you look up from your spot on the library floor. your eyes land on the green-haired swordsman leaning against the doorframe and you smile.
“i’ll be there in a second. i just have some more stuff to go through.”
zoro eyes the mess of books surrounding you, recognizing a few of nami’s atlases and robin’s textbooks. “you haven’t finished packing yet?”
“i’m mostly done. i’m just trying to decide which books i want to keep.” catching his eye, you joke, “why? you want me gone that bad?”
crossing the room, a scoff leaves his lips. nothing could be further from the truth.
“you got me. i am so sick of you,” he says with a grin. “can’t wait to get rid of the annoying librarian invading my napping spot.”
zoro plops down on the bench behind you, catching a whiff of your shampoo as he lies down. you sit with your back to him, sorting through your piles, but zoro can hear the smile in your voice when you speak.
“you’re such a pretender, eh?”
zoro puts on a look of overdramatic offense, a hand on his chest. “me? you’re talking about me?”
at his poor acting, you turn around. you rest your chin on the bench, your face so close to zoro’s that one could only describe it as a kissable distance.
“you act like i'm all in your space, but nami told me that you never used to spend any time in here at all!”
“pfft, why would you ever trust what that con artist has to say?” zoro pokes your forehead. “you see it with your own eyes. am i or am i not here every day?”
you purse your lips as you think back to the last few months; he’s right.
you’ve spent most of your days in the ship’s library, and zoro has almost always stopped by. in the beginning, it would be for a few minutes, but over the last little while, he’d be in here as long as you were.
zoro smiles as he watches you think, eyebrows furrowed as you replay the last few months in your head. little do you know that this is exactly why the library is his new hideout. watching your pretty little mind work — doing what you love, thinking and studying and reading — is a far better use of his spare time than anything else he could be doing.
“anyway,” he says. “i guess your silly star stories have been a good trade-off.”
now it’s your turn to be mock-offended.
“silly star stories? you’re the one who asked about the constellations in the first place!”
“only because you kept talking about these fictional gods like they actually did something important.”
“says the guy who's completely enthralled by hades,” you roll your eyes.
“king of hell, god of the underworld,” he grins. “that’s my kinda guy.”
zoro laughs when you shake your head at him. he’ll never tire of teasing you; you are far too adorable with your little sigh and a ghost of a smile on your lips.
“did you know,” he says with a playful look. “that you still owe me about ten more constellation stories? d’you think you could squeeze in one more before we head up?”
zoro smiles at you, and you can't help but smile back. 
you have so many treasured memories with zoro in this library; ones of just the two of you (him napping while you studied), ones with nami and robin (and sanji until nami kicked the boys out for their incessant bickering), and ones where the night listens in as you recite the history of the stars.
whether you were telling the story of another righteous deity enacting justice, or the tale of mere mortals who insulted the gods, zoro would listen with his eyes closed, lying across the bench as he is now, and you’d sit in front of him as you are now.
everyone’s waiting for you upstairs and you hate to disappoint, but some things are more important — like telling a silly star story to a silly swordsman.
“of course i can.”
12:00 am
raucous laughter and cheering that’s loud enough to deafen anybody; empty plates, once piled high with food, now scattered around the room; bottles on bottles of sake and rum and whiskey and every liqueur that one would hope to find on a pirate ship.
these are zoro’s requirements for a good time, and suffice to say that your farewell party has them all in spades.
zoro watches his friends’ tomfoolery from his spot at the table (currently, luffy’s trying to get franky to see how far he can slingshot him) when you plop yourself into the seat beside him.
“this,” you say as your arm knocks against his, “is the best party i’ve ever been to.”
zoro takes a swig from his glass, “you haven’t partied until you’ve partied with pirates.”
“seriously! you guys are insane!”
as if to prove your point, franky chooses that exact moment to show off a juggling sequence involving a barrel of whiskey, a giant potted plant, and a squealing chopper.
you gasp at the spectacle but quickly dissolve into laughter when nami saves chopper, and it’s with both awe and pure excitement that you turn to zoro. laughter is etched into your lips, your cheeks are flushed, and zoro can’t help but marvel at how you’re even cuter when you’re having fun.
“what, you’ve never seen a cyborg man toss a speaking reindeer in the air before?”
you nudge him with your elbow, “well, excuse me for leading such a mundane life where animals don’t speak and men don’t tinker with their bodies.”
“ah, but that’s where you’re wrong.”
you look at zoro quizically.
he takes a sip of his beer, “most men do tinker with their bodies.”
it takes you a moment to catch his innuendo and zoro roars with laughter when the realization hits you. embarrassment tinges your pretty face and you shove him with a loud “ew, zoro!” but he can’t stop cackling.
“you’re disgusting!”
you make to swat zoro across the chest but he quickly catches your hand. he leans in to waggle his eyebrows at you, “but i’m not wrong, am i?”
you groan loudly, which only makes him laugh again.
perhaps it’s the alcohol that let his inhibitions go, or maybe it’s the fact that he doesn’t have much longer with you, but when you hastily change the subject and there’s no longer a reason for him to still be holding your hand, he doesn’t let go.
when nami joins you two, his fingers slips between yours and to his surprise, yours do the same. sanji joins your threesome, then franky and robin, and in no time at all, it’s no longer just the two of you at the table.
but zoro doesn’t care.
drunk, carefree, and more content than he’s ever been, zoro closes his eyes and smiles. he lives in the moment, and in this moment, he’s happy — happy with a full stomach and a full glass, happy to be surrounded by his favourite people, and happy that, under the table, you’re still holding his hand.
3:00 am
“and what’s that one?”
hands swinging between you, you and zoro dodge the tide as you roam further and further from the thousand sunny. the sand is cool under your feet and the tide kisses your toes with each step. your other arm is stretched above you, pointing at a constellation in the distance.
“what is this - a pop quiz?”
you smile, “i want to make sure you don’t forget about my ‘silly star stories.’”
zoro groans, “has anyone told you that holding grudges isn’t healthy? keeping going and you’ll turn into a bitter old thing some day.”
you stick out your tongue, “you’re just afraid you’ll get it wrong.”
“wrong?” zoro scoffs. “i’ve gotten the past six right.”
walking along the beach, you and zoro fall in step with each other and your footsteps match the ebbing waves in perfect rhythm. you smile in his direction and his chest is flooded with a warmth that has nothing to do with the copious amounts of alcohol he’s consumed.
“alright, let’s see what we got here.”
zoro follows your gaze at the cluster of stars you’ve chosen, and he grins when he sees the constellation. “really? at least try to make this hard for me, please.”
his cocky attitude leaves you speechless, making zoro laugh. 
“you’re so annoying!” you shove him with your free hand and the force of his stumble pulls you along, and you shriek as he drags you into the ocean with him. he doesn’t let go of you, not even for a second — not when water splashes your legs, not when zoro’s pants get soaked as he spins you around. 
your laughter is warmth in its purest form, the kind that you can feel all the way down to your cold toes. when he sets you back down, you give his hand a little squeeze, to which zoro answers back with a tender smile.
now with wet feet and a distance between you that’s even smaller than it already was, zoro continues to walk alongside you.
“moving on from your pathetic distraction attempt,” — you let out a dramatic gasp — “i’ll tell you exactly who we were looking at.”
pointing at the starry zodiac sign, zoro speaks with complete confidence.
“virgo the maiden, otherwise known as persephone, wife and muse of the best god of them all, hades—”
“fanboy much?” you tease but zoro pretends not to hear you (the little tug of his lips tells you that he does).
“—who snuck her a pomegranate seed because he couldn’t bear for her to leave him.”
zoro puffs his chest with pride, relishing in this one niche study of which he is now an expert. it’s incredibly endearing how pleased he is with his answer and you almost feel bad for correcting him.
almost.
“good answer,” you grin. “but you left out the little detail about how she was kept in hell against her will.”
zoro gasps, “are you accusing my idol of being a kidnapper?”
“your idol!” your cheeks already hurt so much from smiling but another giggle slips out. “first of all, these aren’t my accusations. historians have told their love story this way for years—”
“slander is what this is.”
“—and secondly, why would you want to look up to hades? he’s literally the antagonist in every story.”
“he’s the king of hell! that’s so bad ass.” zoro winks at you, “don’t be surprised if you hear them calling me ‘zoro, king of hell’ some day.”
“what’s wrong, demon of east blue doesn’t go hard enough for you?”
embarrassment rushes to zoro’s face and he’s never been more grateful for the night. “who told you that? was it usopp or nami? i bet it was nami.”
“i might hold a grudge but i don’t snitch,” you flash a mischievous smile. “anyway, let’s get back to how you want to be just like devil who tricked a poor girl in returning to the underworld.”
“come on, can you blame a man for doing whatever it takes to stop his beloved from leaving him?”
it sounds like an innocent question — harmless banter, really — but something in the way he says it makes you stop dead in your tracks. a silence falls and in its wake, all you can do is stare at the man you’ve spent the last several months with, the same man that you have to say goodbye to tomorrow.
moonlight falls unto the both of you and bathes zoro in soft light. it illuminates his eyes and when you meet his gaze, you see a sense of longing there that you feel in your chest. a longing for what, you don’t know — or rather, you don’t want to know.
at least, not yet.
so you hold his hand a little tighter, and underneath the watchful eye of the gods and constellations, muster a smile,
“i guess not.”
6:00 am
if this was any other morning, zoro would be awake and working out already. he'd be done his fourth set of bicep curls or, at the very least, working on his form. he could even be in the middle of deadlifts (because he knows not to skip leg day), but he definitely wouldn't still be in bed the way that he is right now.
the thing is though, if this was any other morning, he wouldn't have you sleeping next to him, curled into him like you were made to be a perfect fit.
he's never been more glad to still be in bed.
your breath matches the rise and fall of zoro's chest, perfectly in rhythm with the waves outside his window and the beat of his heart, like the universe meant for all these things to be in harmony at this one singular moment in time.
your lashes flutter in response when he shifts his weight.
he takes a peek at you, “psst, are you awake?”
eyes still closed, you manage a noncommittal grunt but your body says otherwise.
zoro can’t help but smile as he watches you start to wake up. your toes wiggle beneath the covers and you rub your eyes before looking up at him with an adorably sleepy look that he would love to wake up to every day. 
if only he could.
you focus your gaze on zoro like he’s an anchor in a sea of slumber. the way that you look at him, as if he’s the only thing that you see, fills his chest with a golden warmth akin to the breaking dawn.
you offer him a soft smile, and zoro wonders if the sun knows that you glow brighter than it ever could.
“why are you up at this ungodly hour?”
he chuckles, low and tender, “’m used to it. i’m usually up by now.”
“freak,” you mutter. zoro laughs, and you can’t think of anything else that sounds more beautiful at six in the morning.
you’re not usually up this early but what you notice is that, at dawn, time has a habit of moving slowly. it’s as if the morning casts magic upon those who rise with the daylight — and you’re so thankful for that.
because if time moved any faster than this, you’d have to say goodbye that much sooner.
“are you going to miss us?” zoro puts his arms around you.
you murmur into his chest, “of course, i will.”
“who do you think you’ll miss the most?” 
you give pause and zoro’s almost certain you can hear his heart beating a little louder — he can definitely hear it. he doesn’t typically get nervous like this but, then again, nothing about the way you make him feel is typical.
you seem to have come to a conclusion because you look up at zoro and he holds his breath. 
“sanji.”
he blinks.
“wait, are you serious?”
you’ve never seen zoro looks so wonderfully scandalized before, and you burst into a fit of giggles. as soon as you start, he knows he’s been had. he scowls but only for a moment; for who could be upset in the presence of such twinkling laughter?
 “silly man,” you snuggle closer, "of course i’m not serious.”
“okay, good.” you can hear the smile in his voice. “i don’t know if my ego could handle losing to him.”
zoro holds you close, his thumb tracing circles on your skin. his movements are slow, steady, comforting — ‘round and ‘round, in the same spot, like he’s drawing an invisible mark that is only known to the two of you.
"but, you know,” you hum, careful not to disrupt the peace. “you wouldn’t.”
“wouldn’t what?”
“lose.” and after a beat, you quietly add, “you wouldn’t lose to anyone.”
and just like that, zoro’s on cloud nine, airborne and weightless. he’s always known that he has a place in your heart, but this is the first time that you’ve ever hinted about where that place may be. if he allowed himself to be hopeful, it almost sounds like a confession. 
but almost isn’t good enough for him. zoro wants more — wants to find out exactly where he belongs in your life, wants to know if he can make himself at home there. 
it’s a shame that he’s out of time.
you interrupt his thoughts with a whisper, barely audible above the sound of the ocean and his aching heart,
“will you miss me?” 
more than anything.
9:00 am
surely, zoro’s dream to be hades has been granted. otherwise, why would it feel like he’s in hell, standing on the deck, all alone and watching your dinghy sail away from the thousand sunny?
zoro’s had his fair shares of farewells while aboard the ship, and to be honest, yours wasn’t any more emotional than anyone else’s. you left with a smile as beautiful as the morning sun and with far less tears than he expected (which he’s thankful for because he would hate to see you cry). as far as bittersweet goodbyes go, yours was definitely more sweet than bitter.
and yet, here zoro stands, with a bad taste in his mouth that he can’t explain. he can still see you from where he stands, and watching your little boat in the distance is the only thing that seems to settle his uneasy heart. 
should he have bid adieu privately? maybe he should’ve left you with a memento of some kind? should he have done more than offer you a quick hug? was it his imagination, or did you hold onto him just a beat longer than you needed to?
zoro’s so occupied by these messy thoughts that he doesn’t even hear sanji approach him.
“well?”
startled, zoro can only stare at the blond cook. ignoring the dumb look on his face, sanji continues.
“what’d she say when you told her?” sanji nods in the direction of your boat.
“told her what?”
“that you love her,” sanji takes a drag of his cigarette, looking at zoro directly now.
he speaks so frankly, so matter-of-fact and candidly, that it takes zoro a second to really register what it is that he’s saying. 
he loves you.
and as soon as he thinks it, the truth comes barreling through all the doubts clouding his head. clarity floods his chest as he comes face-to-face with what his yearning, pining heart has been trying to tell him this whole time.
he loves you. he loves you. he loves you. he loves you. he loves you-
fuck.
he loves you.
and he never told you.
epilogue — 9:30 am
sails closed, your boat floats with the current and the salty breeze reminds you that your adventure with the strawhats has come to a close. compared to the never-ending bustle of the crew, it’s almost too quiet being at sea alone. the silence lends itself to your overactive mind, working full time to unravel the tightness you feel in your chest.
you’re lost in thoughts of what could’ve, should’ve, and would’ve been — so much so that you don’t even hear the commotion behind you. it’s not until you hear zoro call your name that you hear the frantic swimming and you whirl around.
“zoro! what-”
“can you help me first?” he splutters.
you pull yourself together long enough to run to the side of your dinghy, pulling a sopping wet pirate on board. zoro leans back, trying to catch his breath as you rummage through your things.
“are you crazy? do you know how far we are from the sunny?” you throw a towel over him before reaching for another. you start drying off his hair, frantically fussing over him.
“you think that just because chopper gives you the clearance that you can push yourself over the limit-”
“y/n.”
“this is why you’re always on house arrest! you’re actually insane, you know that?”
“y/n.”
“i know you work out, but for goodness’ sake, zoro, you’re only human-”
“y/n.” zoro holds your wrists, forcing you to stop with a start.
in all your worrying, you didn’t realize that you’d been gravitating closer to zoro until you’re staring into his dark, obsidian eyes. there’s clarity in the way that he looks at you. his eyes are shining with a fierceness that you’ve only seen in his worst fights, and you brace yourself for whatever comes next.
because you know that this will change everything.
“hades and persephone.”
“huh?“ you blink at him. “did you hit your head-”
“ask me if i think hades loved persephone.”
you stare into zoro’s eyes, desperation reflecting back at you. there’s a hidden question there and you understand immediately.
quietly, you ask, "do you think hades loved persephone?”
“i do,” he whispers. “i think he loved her and he would've been stupid to let her go.”
your breath catches. zoro places a hand over yours, surprisingly warm as his fingers find their home between your own.
the heavens watch on as the two of you finally open your hearts and give way to the stuff that myths and legends yearn for — a connection that can only be described as fated, destined, purely and resplendently magical.
the gods smile at the two lovers who find themselves falling into each other, laughing as you confess, over and over again,
i love you.
1K notes · View notes
woniverse-writes · 6 months
Text
"Moth to a Flame (part 7)"
Bada Lee x Reader
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part 6 ⟵ part 7 ⟶ part 8
series masterlist
summary: y/n l/n is the youngest team member of Jam Republic, competing in the second season of Street Woman Fighter. she’s got the sweetest smile and the most vibrant personality, but she also may or may not be the biggest hothead on the show when it comes to defending her teammates. apparently that’s attractive to Bada Lee.
word count: 9k
warnings: swearing, minor angst if you could even call it that, tbh this doesn't feel like my best work so i'm sorry, not proofread, nothing I write is a reflection of anyone's true character and is a work of total fiction
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After Deep n Dap had been defeated by Wolf’Lo, There were a few days between the elimination and when the crews were supposed to gather again to learn the group choreography for the trailer. In that time Jam Republic had been booked and busy- they had a long-awaited team dinner, went to some dance classes, and even taught some of their own.
Y/n specifically took a class with Harimu at 1 Million, that happened to to be taught by Redy. the three hung out before heading to the studio, grabbing lunch and bonding over dance and being the youngest members of their crews. 
“So how’re things among the other Jam girls? Are you all getting accustomed to things here?” Redy asked after taking a sip from her mimosa
“They’re all doing great- as I explained earlier, it wasn’t really hard for me to get re-situated, but I was actually really nervous for them at first…” y/n explained briefly, causing both 1 Million dancers to tilt their heads and furrow their brows
“Aww, why? Because of the language barrier or just being in a different country?” the older of the two questioned again
“A bit of both- I knew the language would be hard for them since it took me years of studying to even be able to speak and understand it somewhat fluently, but I felt okay enough to be able to translate for them… I was mostly worried about how we’d be perceived by Korean netizens I guess, since we’re such a diverse team…” The youngest dancer played with her straw once she finished her sentence, a bit shy to admit her original concerns for her team. The other two nodded sympathetically 
“Well, have you made any other close friends?” Harimu finally chimes back in, wanting to avoid the deeper conversation that she felt was about to arise
“You and Lusher seem pretty close- Tatter too!” Redy exclaimed, having remembered the girls’ reactions to Y/n, as well as how easily the blonde got along with her during the rank mission. Y/n smiled softly and was about to confirm their friendship before the other 1 Million dancer snorted and began talking again
“Now that you say that I can’t help but be curious about what’s been going on between you and Bada” she teased out of curiosity, not noticing how quickly the younger dancer’s face dropped. Y/n didn’t say anything at first, taking another sip from her drink, causing the two to look up from their own over at her.
“...there’s nothing going on between me and Bada… we aren’t even friends…” Y/n softly tells them, leaving both of them shocked
“Woah- what??? Did something happen?? Just a couple of weeks ago you two were all over each other!” Harimu loudly explicated, earning a smack to the arm from her teammate
“You don’t have to talk about it if you don’t want to Y/n, we understand… I especially understand that Bada isn’t the greatest at communicating so…” Redy comforted the girl, but y/n just chuckled a bit sadly before sighing
“It’s okay, I don’t mind explaining it to you guys…” She told her two friends and then did just that. Y/n explained how she and Bada became close quickly, how they hung out as just the two of them on multiple occasions, leaving out the parts where things got a bit too intimate, but it wasn’t hard to fill in the blanks. Then how things went south as soon as the pressure was on for the mega crew mission. By the end of the retelling, y/n’s mouth felt dry and she couldn’t help the feeling of shame that arose once again at the remembrance of how childish and immature she had acted.
“Wow… I didn’t think it was gonna be that bad…” Harimu mumbled, reaching over to take a sip from Redy’s mimosa, causing the other to fumble to try and stop her before immediately giving up to pay attention to their friend
“I’m so sorry you had to experience that Y/n… you didn’t deserve that.” Redy reached across the table to hold Y/n’s hand, the younger looking up to meet her eyes before pursing her lips
“I mean… I kinda did… maybe not all of it, but at least most of it-”
“No way- I wouldn’t even say you deserved a quarter of it��� the younger 1 Million dancer cut her friend off, not liking how self-deprecating she was sounding, causing her teammate to nod and hum
“Harimu’s right- sure you said some things you shouldn’t have and you may have started the argument, but if Bada had been so mature herself, you two probably would’ve been able to get out of that fight with your relationship still intact.” the oldest of the three intelligently remarked, causing her teammate to hum and nod while Y/n just sighed
“I can’t believe you two haven’t talked at all since then…”
“Redy she doesn’t even wanna look at me or acknowledge my existence when we’re in the same room, I wouldn’t be able to get close to her even if I did wanna talk to her…” Y/n pouted and leaned against her hand. They all sat in silence for a moment until Harimu sat up straight with a gasp
“Have you tried getting her attention? Like- maybe you don’t have to be the one that talks first!” she exclaimed with wide eyes, leaving the other two with very confused expressions. She sighed dramatically and continued with her idea
“What if you try to make her jealous??” Y/n gave a deadpan expression in response as Redy rolled her eyes and mumbled an ‘oh my god’ under her breath
“Girl- I already told you we weren’t… a thing… so how would that even work?” the youngest questioned exasperatedly 
“And I already told you how I don’t believe that for a second, BUT- “ Redy snorted as she couldn’t help but agree with her teammate since they’d all seen how Bada and Y/n looked at each other
“We do what every dancer does when they’re trying to make someone jealous- a duet…” Harimu finished explaining and the others just sat there, waiting for her to explain in further detail, which caused her to huff before doing so
“Y/n, you can do a duet with one of us that has a lot of partner work, and touching and it’ll be like- spicy- ya know??? And it’ll make Bada jealous!” the middle dancer finally finished explaining
“It’s not a terrible idea…” Redy chimed in apprehensive, not wanting to upset her friend, but also agreeing with how well it could work. The two 1 Million dancers waited to hear what the youngest had to say, leaving Y/n sighing 
“It’s not a bad idea, but the only way it’d work was if Bada actually still cared…” she mumbled sadly and pouted into the hand that she was leaning on
“Well, there’s only one way to find out!”
The three finished their lunch and headed over to 1 Million Dance Studio for Redy’s class. Afterward, they stuck around and began choreographing a duet for Y/n and Redy
“Oooh, you know what would make this even better??” Harimu excitedly inquired, leaving her friends a bit worried once they saw the mischievous look in her eyes
“Oh god… what?” Y/n whined, throwing her head back
“If you used a song she’s already choreographed too- perhaps a song that no one knows she’s choreographed to yet…” The younger 1 Million dancer raised her eyebrows up and down, yet the other two stood confused. Harimu sighs once again before pressing play on the music she picked. “Psycho” by Baekhyun started playing and Redy burst out laughing
“We can’t- that’d be so mean!” the youngest of the three expressed more of her concerns out loud
“No it wouldn’t- Bada doesn’t own this song. And plus, we could always say something nice about how she was the one who reminded us of this song… nobody else knows the reason we’re doing this besides us Y/n, so it’ll only seem mean to you… and maybe her but she deserves it!” Redy defended, assuring Y/n that there wouldn’t be any repercussions from the public
“Exactly- the mega crew missions won’t air for a while, so people probably won’t even connect the two anyway!” Harimu chimed in, throwing an arm around Y/n’s shoulder, causing her to let out a sigh
“Alright… let’s do it-” she gave in and the other two cheered and jumped with joy, excited to choreograph the piece and cause some chaos. They worked on the piece for hours before filming it. Redy decided she’d be the one to post it, just in case it did cause some drama then it wouldn’t totally be pinned on Y/n. The three girls finished their hang-out sesh and went their separate ways. 
When Y/n had settled into her apartment her phone lit up with a notification from Instagram, letting her know she was tagged in a post. She clicked on it to see the video of her and Redy’s choreography, where the older dancer had captioned it ‘been obsessed with this song lately- thanks @badalee_!’ with a bunch of black, white, and pink emojis. Y/n reposted the video to her story and made sure to leave a comment before turning off her phone and getting in the shower.
Meanwhile, team Bebe was out having dinner when Bada’s phone pinged with a notification. Unlocking it, she opened Instagram to see that Redy had tagged her in a video- a video that had her heart clenching the second she processed what it was, or rather who it was.
Tatter had also opened Instagram while they were waiting for their food to arrive and saw the same video as the first thing on her feed. She turned to Bada immediately and showed her the video but ended up bursting out laughing when she saw the same thing already pulled up on the older girl’s phone. 
“I really don’t see what’s funny about this…” the leader mumbled sourly, while her teammate continued to die of laughter. The others sat confused until Lusher reached over to take Tatter’s phone which she had dropped on the table. The sub-leader tried to stifle her own laughter once she saw the video and read the caption, before sliding the phone back over to the blonde.
“You guys seriously aren’t annoyed by this? They took our song!” Bada childishly whined, causing Tatter to laugh even harder while the younger members started asking what was going on. The eldest tossed her phone gently in the middle of the table for everyone to see the video, and while a couple were confused the other couldn’t help but laugh as well.
“Oh no Bada- they took your song. We didn’t mess with Y/n… this is targeting you…” Lusher smirked as she took a long sip from her drink, causing the leader to scoff
“Seriously? You really think this is specifically targeting me? And why would Redy do that… especially since me and her are good now-”
“So you think this was Y/n’s idea?” CheChe questioned with a raised brow
“Of course! She’s obviously still out to get me with her immature antics…” the leader dramatically pouted and crossed her arms. To her teammates, she looked like a spoiled child who just got told they did something wrong for the first time. This caused most of the members to either scoff or burst out laughing 
“Well you were the one who took it as an attack in the first place- maybe they genuinely just wanted to dance to the song…” Kyma chimed in, shrugging her shoulder, causing the leader to groan and throw her head back against the booth they were all in. She glanced back at her phone to see that Harimu commented on the video- something about how she was glad to be a part of the process. Then the leader clicked on the girl’s story to see she had reposted the video as well, complimenting her teammate but also making some flirty comments about Y/n. almost as if she could read Bada’s mind Lusher spoke up
“Y/n does look really good though… I’d get on that apology Bada or else you might lose your chance…” Lusher whispered the second half of her statement, teasing her team leader with a smirk, knowing how the dance was actually affecting her.
‘great now I have to worry about my own teammate AND these two stealing my girl…’
______________
After the short break they had gotten from filming, all the remaining crew’s returned for the filming of the season teaser video. Y/n had been gradually getting back to her old self after the mega crew mission had ended, feeling much less stress after completing it and having survived the elimination. The poor girl is still absolutely destroyed and guilt-ridden by the entire situation that occurred between her and Bada but is slowly finding it easier to ignore her presence. At this point, it’s been almost another full week since the elimination- meaning it’s been about two weeks since the two had last spoken to each other.
All the teams gathered in the main filming area after going through the hair and makeup process like usual, but it felt different to Bada. As soon as she laid her eyes on Y/n it was honestly like the Bebe leader had an epiphany.
“Woah… I fucked up…” she mumbled to herself, noticing how Y/n’s eyes didn’t sparkle anymore and how she was rather calm. The young girl had always been a bit chaotic and energetic when it came to filming, so what was wrong? This wasn’t a mission, so there was no need to stress- so what could've possibly been weighing Y/n down? And that was when Bada realized, that she was weighing her down…
“Goddamn- it’s about time you noticed…” Tatter mumbled in return, sighing once she noticed her leader’s sad puppy eyes and lips slightly parted in shock. For the rest of the shoot Bada is putting on her best stage face because her feelings are not correlating at all with what she’s supposed to be portraying. 
When they aren’t filming or there’s a break, Bada can only focus on how pretty and sad y/n looks. She doesn’t look sad all the time, but the older girl noticed that whenever she was by herself her mind seemed to always drift somewhere sad. Her smile fades (even though it hadn’t reached her eyes in the first place) and the younger girl suddenly looks so much older with how sunken her eyes are- had she been sleeping? Was she not eating enough? A million questions were racing through Bada’s mind and she tried to keep them pushed down for now, seeing as how she knew the second she started thinking, she knew she wouldn’t stop
Bada knew she was part of the reason why the jam republic dancer was like this, but she couldn’t bring herself to talk to her. So she did what she thought was the next best thing- talk to her leader. She tried to start off with a small conversation between herself and Kirsten to get a feel for the Jam leader’s attitude toward her, which worked in her favor seeing as the other had seemed pretty chill about talking with her. The rest of Jam Republic on the other hand (minus Y/n) observed with questionable glances as Bada laughed and joked with Kirstne like usual.
“Now what the actual fuck is her problem…” Ling commented out of absolute rage and distaste for whatever was going on a few meters away from them
“She better not be trying to pull some stupid shit, cuz I don’t play when it comes to Y/n…” Emma mumbled glaring at the Bebe leader along with the rest of her team. Latrice huffed out a laugh and turned to look at her
“You would sacrifice Y/n to a cult if it meant you got a good laugh out of it…” the sub-leader of Jam Republic commented with a little joking smirk, causing the other members to ease up a little bit and crack some light smiles
“Well yes- I would, but that doesn’t mean anyone else is allowed to!” Emma retorted, sticking up her nose dramatically. Y/n was luckily off getting her hair fixed with Redy and Yoonji, seeing as they all had these little crystals glued in their hair, and a few had fallen out during the first few runs. The Jam Republic members were just glad she wasn’t present to see the interaction, knowing their youngest member would either burst into tears and spiral into a mental breakdown, or spontaneously combust into a ball of flames and go on a rampage. Either way- it would not have been an easy situation to deal with.
Yet the Jammies’ relief is short-lived as they took their second break. Y/n came bounding over after doing a short segment with all the youngest members of each team, a bright smile on her face as her members awaited her return. They had all monitored the performance with smiles of adoration, hyping up their baby the whole time. They praised her and pinched her cheeks, teasing Y/n affectionately until Bada walked by.
“You ready for the leaders’ shot?” she questioned with a hand on Kirsten’s shoulder. The Jam Republic leader turned her attention away from her youngest member briefly to give a polite nod and smile. Bada jerked her head in the direction of where they were heading to film, signaling for the younger leader to follow her in that direction. The two began walking off before Kirsten turned back around to wave to her members, leaving the Jam Republic members in shock
“What was that…” Y/n watched with sad confused puppy eyes and her jaw slightly dropped as the two leaders walked away to go film. The other members stood behind her, tense as they tried to read the young girl’s emotions. Y/n felt her heart rate pick up and her breath quickens, feeling the pressure that usually paired with tears start to build up. She swallowed thickly and pushed down the feeling before turning around to face her members with a forced smile. They all could tell right away and just gave her looks of sympathy, causing her smile to slowly drop as she sighed. 
After the leaders did their portion of the shoot, Bada and Kirsten walked back over to the pink team laughing over whatever conversation they were having. They stopped once they reached the other members, standing directly in front of Y/n. poor girl just stared up at Bada with those heartbroken puppy dog eyes, and god Bada knew it. She felt Y/n’s stare burning holes into the side of her head, using every ounce of control in her body not to glance over and clearly see her watery eyes and quivering lip. She knew that if she were to fully look at the younger girl right now, she’d be faced with not only a heartbroken puppy, but an angry pack of wolves behind her, and to be completely honest she hadn’t achieved that level of bravery yet. 
Bada Lee knew what she was doing. She knew that by acting normal with Kirsten, she’d be getting Y/n’s attention. She knew it’d hurt the younger girl, but that wasn’t her intention this time. The Bebe leader wanted to slowly weave her way back into Y/n’s life, and knew the easiest place to start was by making sure she was on good terms with her team leader, that way she had a mediator (even though Lusher had been playing mediator already, Bada didn’t trust that she wasn’t also trying to get with Y/n).
Y/n doesn’t even realize the conversation has ended and she’s just sitting there pathetically watching as Bada walks away. Ling sighs and pats her head, while the others sadly watch their baby wither away again.
“You okay bunny?” Kirsten asked softly, sitting down next to her and bumping their shoulders together. Y/n just pursed her lips and sighed before closing her eyes and nodding. On the other side where team Bebe has gathered, they also had watched the entire situation, or rather how distraught the youngest Jam Republic members looked during the whole thing.
“You are just so cruel…” Lusher expressed lowly when Bada got within earshot, shaking her head in disbelief as she clenched her jaw. The leader’s eyes went wide as she scoffed
“What?? How?? I’m trying to make things better-” The sub-leader sighed deeply and closed her eyes, genuinely exhausted by her friend’s poor relationship choices
“By forcing yourself into her life and then totally ignoring?? Yeah that seems to be working really well…” she ended up responding quickly, pinching the bridge of her nose as she lost her patience
“Ya know if I couldn’t practically see the tears streaming down her face from over here, I’d say you did a pretty good job!” Tatter snarkily commented with a cocky sarcastic smirk. Bada was really starting to resent her choices in teammates right now… but she knew they were right.
They went back to shooting, finishing the individual teams and small group chat before taking a longer break for dinner. As everyone was gathering back afterward to wrap up the shoot with all the full cast shots, the main monitor lit up. The music video for “Maria” by Hwasa began playing as the song blasted over the speakers. Hwasa enters the stage and everyone begins screaming. Ling and Y/n are gripping onto each other, absolutely shell-shocked at her appearance. The song continues to play as everyone does the choreography with her, the two Jam Republic members living their best lives while their members sit with confused yet excited smiles.
The song ends and Hwasa introduces herself along with the mission. Everyone of course goes wild for the opportunity to choreograph a routine for her, and of course just to be in her presence. The song they’ll be choreographing to is played, and once again the room is filled with screams and cheers expressing how much they all love it. Everyone was already coming up with ideas, but Jam Republic practically had their entire choreo prepared in an instant, as Y/n sat taking in the beat and engraining the feeling into her body and mind
When it ends everyone starts talking about how Lia Kim and Bada were at an advantage since they do this for a living, some mentioning Redlic as well. Y/n became another hot topic and top competitor for this mission seeing as she’s done many recreational choreographies to kpop songs that have gone viral and sometimes even become more popular than the original. When the bonus is announced that they have to come up with a challenge portion to receive extra points that lowkey pisses y/n off. She wasn’t a fan of the idea, thinking it made the part seem too forced and could easily end up making the choreography look cheap or cheesy.
After the idol finishes relaying the mission, she wishes everyone good luck as they wrap up filming and head right into preparing for the challenge. Jam Republic quickly jots down some ideas and gets a feel for the moves as Y/n tests out the choreo she had in mind when she first heard the song earlier. When the crew reconvened the next day for a full practice, their first order of business was figuring out who was going to represent Hwasa.
"I would love to be the center just as much as anyone else, but I feel like whoever can pull off the idol persona best should do it…" the leader smiles and looks in y/n's direction as she pauses her explanation
"so I think we should put it up to a vote!" so all six members made their pick, which ended up being pretty useless since it resulted in a three-way tie between Kirsten, Ling, and Y/n
"I personally think Y/n would be our best bet since she has a lot of experience performing kpop stages" Ling smiled and patted her younger teammate on the knee as she expressed her desire for the youngest member to take the part 
"I also would really like to see Y/n as the center… something just tells me she'd bring us good luck" Kirsten smiles motherly at the youngest who is currently hiding her face in her hands not to let anyone see the smile and blush on her face. So they all collectively agree to have y/n be the center and she's just so happy, cheesing away. She could already imagine the baby noises the editing team was putting over the clips of her trying to contain her excited reaction. After that decision was made, they immediately got to work on choreography. Things were going well enough to the point where the members felt comfortable taking a break around lunchtime. Y/n checked her phone while she drank her water, seeing a text from Harimu
1 Mil Mu: ‘Hey babes! Who’s your team’s Hwasa?’
Y/n: ‘What if I told you it was me…🫣’
1 Mil Mu: ‘I’d say thank god cuz I need someone to come buy heels with me for this😭’
Y/n: ‘Wait- are you hwasa too???’
1 Mil Mu: ‘Yes ma’am😚’
Y/n: ‘AHHHH SHUT UP- we’re gonna eat so hard, I’m so excited’
The news that she’d be going up against Harimu as Hwasa gave Y/n a bit of an adrenaline rush, knowing how perfectly the 1 Million dancer fit the role. She felt as if she’d have to work even harder now, but it made her excited instead of nervous. Y/n has actually gotten back to her normal self for the most part, genuinely excited about this challenge and seeing how everyone else would portray Hwasa’s image.
The next day before practice Y/n and Harimu have a little girls’ morning, going out for breakfast and then doing some shopping. They made sure to try on plenty of options for heels, not too worried about the look of them right now, but rather just needed something to practice in. The two ended up getting two pairs each, a simple yet secure heel that stopped right about the ankle, and then another pair of thigh-high heeled boots to really give the Hwasa feel.
The next day was when everyone would be showcasing what they had so far for choreography, y/n wanted to look as clean and presentable as possible, choosing to wear her thigh-high boots with some booty shorts and an oversized jersey. She hadn’t worn the shoes to the practice, carrying them in her back while she opted for some plain sneakers in the meantime. All teams walk in and Y/n is hyped to the max- until she realizes that Jam Republic is seated right next to Bebe… 
Luckily for everyone involved, the youngest Jam Republic member is too excited about the challenge to worry about Bada right now. She was totally focused on showing her best performance and enjoying everyone else’s. She started off excitedly watching Mannequeen then becoming easily disappointed by how sloppy it got. She was very curious to see what wolf’Lo would come up with though, seeing as their style is classic hip hop- a style y/n hadn’t particularly been a fan of. Yet, watching Mini got her hype. She couldn’t contain her impressed reaction at the pink-haired girl’s vibe, loving the slight change wolf’lo had made in their typical genre of dance.
Bebe was the fourth group to go and Y/n was conflicted, to say the least. To be completely honest- that’s how most of Jam Republic felt, seeing as they were excited to see what the team produced, but they were nervous for their poor youngest member’s heart.
Bada begins a short speech, explaining the concept they were going for as the other members practiced behind her. Lusher and Tatter turned around behind Bada and looked to Y/n giving her a cheesy smile and thumbs up, before immediately going back to practicing. Y/n couldn’t help but smile and giggle at how dedicated her friends were, but she also couldn’t help as the smile stayed when her attention shifted back to the leader nervously smiling and fidgeting with the microphone in her hands as she wrapped up her speech. 
The music starts and Y/n’s small smile immediately shifts into an impressed expression at one of the first moves. Bada gives a cool look as she holds up a hand sign signaling the title of street woman fighter, causing everyone to cheer lightly at the reference
“That was cool…” Y/n mumbled, playfully pouting and scrunching her nose as she tried to hide her impressed smile, causing her members to look at her with wide eyes at first before giggling and ruffling her hair. The chorus arrives and Y/n’s jaw just drops- the girl is so beyond impressed. She’s trying to process whether it’s actually good or if it’s just Bada, but then she watches everyone else and realizes it’s really just that good.
Then Bada struts off to the side for her own little part, doing a hip roll as she covers her eyes, sending the audience into a frenzy- especially Y/n who lets out a small scream and suddenly doesn’t know where to look or what to do with her hands. Ultimately she realized what that reaction must have looked like and just hung her head in her hands as Audrey patted her on the back and tried her hardest not to burst out laughing.
Y/n sat there astonished, watching through her fingers as she continued to hide behind her hands. Bebe finishes their choreography and y/n is trying so hard to contain her excitement, she just hides her face in her hands again and screams out loud. This is gonna be such a rough mission for her…
Lady Bounce went after Bebe and while they looked like they were having a lot of fun, there wasn’t anything super impressive about their routine. Next up was 1 Million and Y/n stood up screaming as loud as she could, so beyond hyped to see her besties perform. Harimu eats up her Hwasa role, as expected and everyone loves the routine, including Hwasa. Finally, after everyone else had gone, it was Jam Republic’s turn.
“Our youngest treasure, miss y/n will be playing Hwasa” Kirsten smiled as she announced their group’s center, causing everyone to absolutely lose their shit. Many dancers had already suspected it once they saw her walk out with the thigh-high boots and everyone else in regular sneakers, but it was still exciting to have the confirmation.
Everyone’s excitement rose as the music began, loving how Y/n completely transformed into a different person whenever she was performing. It started off smooth, but as Kirsten threw her head back for a specific move, her hat fell off. Luckily since Jam Republic is such a well-prepared group, Y/n caught it with ease and tossed it off to the side like it was all part of the routine, causing everyone to react in shock at her quick reflexes. 
The crew continued dancing as if it were nothing, having a blast and feeding off of the other teams’ reactions. Bebe especially was hyping Y/n up, even Bada couldn’t contain her excitement. Yet, the leader did keep looking back and forth between 1 Million’s youngest two dancers as well as her own sub-leader, trying to gauge their reaction to Y/n as well.
After a brief moment of observing the others’ reactions, Bada once again became entranced by Jam Republic’s center. Her expressions and movement quality truly made for a captivating performance, even though it was just an interim check. The crew finished their routine and Lusher stood up immediately clapping and screaming as loud as she could, cheering for the team as a whole but also making specific calls out to Y/n
“Y/N YOU’RE SO SEXY” she cupped her hands over her mouth as she screamed out to her friend, causing the leader to slow her claps and glare at her. Bada was really starting to question Lusher’s intentions- even though the girl hadn’t been acting any different than usual. It was all simply Bada’s insecurities.
_________
The next few days passed in a flash as the crews continued to improve their routines and develop their concepts. When it came time to watch each performance everyone gathered in their respective monitoring rooms. Mannequeen was the first to go, and as the screen lit up with their performance all the dancers got excited that the mission was officially starting. 
“Okay… she’s kinda eating right now” y/n playfully pouted as Redlic devoured the routine. Jam Republic fangirled over them and how sick their outfits were, but by the end they weren’t entirely sold on the routine as a whole.
“It was really good, but I wish they had a bit more energy- or at least were more consistent with it” Latrice commented and the rest of them agreed. Wolf’Lo’s performance was next and once again, the pink team anticipated the final product. Jam Republic was impressed with how they were able to keep their classic hip-hop style while incorporating elements of K-pop
“Everyone is so good I’m gonna scream” was the first thing y/n said after the performance. Yet after recognizing Wolf’Lo’s efforts, they discussed how there was a lack of harmony between the “artist” and the dancers
After Wolf’Lo it was Bebe’s turn to present their routine, and Y/n was losing her mind. This girl was freaking out- hyperventilating and pacing, but out of excitement and anticipation. Audrey, Ling laughed at her, the elder even bringing out her phone to record the girl hopping around like an excited cat, while Emma smirked teasingly and side-eyed her.
“I’m so nervous-”
“Love, this isn’t even our routine…” Kirsten laughed softly at her dramatic youngest member, glad that she was able to enjoy the blue team’s performances again without crying. The second the music started, Y/n was seated, her eyes trained on the monitor before them. She screamed and cheered throughout the routine, and as the song began to approach the slower part she got more excited
 “oh I’m so excited to see what they did for this part-” and the second Bada was down on the floor, Y/n honestly thought she was having a heart attack. It only got worse for her as the music picked back up and the Bebe leader looked over her shoulder, grinning charismatically at the camera while she grabbed her ass and shrugged like it was nothing. 
Y/n’s jaw stayed dropped after she let out a surprised screech. Ling and Audrey also let out similar noises, while the latter reached over at the same time as Emma to cover Y/n’s eyes, knowing how she’d be having a mental breakdown if she kept watching. The performance ended and Y/n sat there in silence with her jaw still dropped to the floor
“I think I’m having a crisis…”
The next team to perform after Bebe was Lady Bounce, which was good but not too memorable. 1 Million followed with an insane performance. The second Harimu’s silhouette was shown, Y/n gasps. The routine starts and she’s clapping and cheering, as well as the rest of her team, all of them excited for what was about to happen. Throughout the entire performance, she’s squealing and screaming because her bestie is eating everyone up (side note: Y/n has so many besties, and the audience loves that for her). The routine ends and every single team is blown away. Jam Republic unanimously agrees that 1 Million has shown the best performance so far, with Y/n enthusiastically agreeing
“Not bebe?” Emma teases and to be completely honest, Y/n didn’t think it was funny
“No. 1 million was by far the best I’ve seen so far- it was flawless” And the members felt kinda bad for teasing her because they could see her become a bit more reserved and serious after that, sinking into her seat on the couch with her arms crossed over her chest. 
After that, it’s finally Jam Republic’s turn, as the final team to present their piece. The music begins and Y/n struts out from behind her members with the cuntiest game face out of all the contestants so far, and everyone goes feral. Her hair, her expression, her confidence, and especially her outfit had them all in shambles. All of 1 Million, but specifically Redy and Harimu were gassing her up before she even started dancing, the crew thinking of ways to convince her to join them after the show. 
“Can we just combine teams already?” “Or at least take Y/n onto our team??” Mannequeen was asking each other questions like this, also plotting how they could continue working with Jam Republic
“That’s my girlfriend!” Lusher cheers and Bada just about breaks her neck- she looks like she’s going to cry at first until she realizes the younger dancer was just joking. She really almost just gave the leader a heart attack, and now Bada felt her face heat up at how embarrassing that reaction was…
They reach the part of the choreography where the other members bend over, and Y/n squats down in between them as she opens and closes her legs, and once again no one is safe. Not a single monitoring room was quiet as the youngest Jam Republic dancer dropped low into the position and flawlessly executed the choreography along with the presentation of facial expressions.
Team Bebe was not discreet at all as they all freaked out and simultaneously turned to face their leader, who was already hiding her dropped jaw behind her hands. Bada bit her fist as Y/n got down on the floor with the rest of the Jam Republic members and began to arch her back up and down in a sort of crawling motion. The move was so simple, but effective as it showcased the sexy vibe of the song.
Jam Republic finishes off strong with the final chorus into the ending pose, and it was safe to say they left everyone astonished. The camera captured the final group pose before zooming in on each member of the crew, leaving Y/n for last. When she appeared on the monitor everyone lost it at how her siren eyes and seductive expression turned into a somewhat playful puppy-like reaction as her eyes widened and she stuck her tongue out, continuing to fan herself but in a cuter manner than before.
“OHHHH ENDING FAIRY LET’S GOOOOO” Harimu cheers with her full chest as her friend appears on the screen
“HOW IS Y/N THE YOUNGEST????” Buckey commented out of absolute shock and astonishment after seeing the girl’s performance
“SHE’S BARELY AN ADULT HOW DOES SHE KNOWN HOW TO DO THAT” Mini screamed, throwing her hands up in the air
“I’ve been an adult for a while and i still don’t know how to do that…” Halo mumbled after her teammate’s inquiry, causing the rest of the crew to laugh and agree
“Ya- they need to put the baby to bed. Don’t let her do that!” Biggy teased, pouting and whining playfully as her members agreed with faux pouts
“She really wanted people to stop babying her I guess…” Tatter calmly stated as she leaned back into the couch with her arms crossed, smirking as she kept her eyes trained on the monitor. The team snickered as Bada slowly turned her head toward the blonde with a deadpan expression, unimpressed with her jab.
Once every team had gone and finished presenting their routines, it was time to get changed and wrap up for the day. Each crew left their monitoring room to head back to their designated hideout spaces and decompress after the events of the day, and await the results of the winning team. Jam Republic was full of giggles and confidence after their successful performance as they bounced down the hallway. 
"ya, y/n…" the small girl whipped around with wide, somewhat fearful eyes and it lowkey made Bada's heart hurt to see her react that way
"yes?" she tried to speak steadily and confidently, but bit her lip and shrunk into herself a little, trying not to outwardly cringe, when she realized how meek and anxious she sounded. The tall girl across from her sighed and softened her gaze, seeing how unnerved y/n was.
"you did a good job." Bada confidently said as her team was about to walk past Jam Republic, shocking everyone on both teams (including herself). Y/n's lips parted and everyone watched as it quivered slightly and her eyes began to get red.
"ah no, no don't start crying…" the older leader tried to remain serious and civil, keeping the distance between them. The younger dancer bit her lip again and took shaky breaths as she frantically nodded her head while wiping away tears. Bada sighed again before taking a few quick strides over to her, not caring about the audience of both their teams. She placed a gentle hand on top of the shorter girl's head, gently ruffling her hair.
"ayyye don't cry" This time Bada tried to be more gentle and took the approach of some friendly teasing in hopes of at least getting a smile out of her, but it only made things worse as y/n looked up at her with a huge frown and teary eyes. She really was trying her hardest to stop crying, but nothing was working. Poor Y/n was just so happy to have Bada back at this moment. The look just about finished off what was left of Bada's heart. Any part of her that hadn't been touched by guilt yet was now overthrown by it. She felt her own eyes begin to sting a little as the pressure built up but didn't allow for any tears to form.
"Y/n-ah don't cryyyyy" Bada whispered softly as she gently reached to hold her face in both hands, wiping away the endless tears. This caused the younger girl to fully burst into tears and attempt to hang her head as much as she could in Bada's hold, but as soon as the tears increased the older girl was pulling y/n into her chest, hugging her as if she had no plans on ever letting go. Bada closed her eyes trying to keep her own tears at bay. 
The other members of both teams just stood clumped together off to the side, absolutely baffled by what was happening. A majority, if not all of them had dropped jaws or dumbfounded expressions. Lusher had to cover her mouth after letting out a squeak of excitement when Bada put her hand on Y/n’s head. It was a small moment, but a huge step for both girls.
“You did amazing, so don’t cry anymore, okay?” Bada whispered after pulling back from the hug, leaning down slightly so their faces were the same level. Y/n nodded and sniffled, wiping away her tears and finally pulling herself together.
“Thank you- you too…” she gave a watery smile as she hiccuped and the two giggled slightly over the situation. The older dancer smiled sadly and nodded before heading back over to her team. As they began to walk off Tatter turned around 
“Congratulations Jam Republic- you all were fantastic- WE LOVE YOU!!!” the blonde screamed enthusiastically making a giant heart over her head with her arms, causing the rest of her team to follow and also share their love and praise for the team. The pink crew just smiled brightly and laughed, before shyly mirroring their reaction. After both crews went their separate ways and made it back to their hideouts, Y/n stood in the middle of the room as her teammates settled in.
“What’s up, Bunny?” Audrey asked, with a worried expression as she saw Y/n’s confused but teary eyes. The girl looked up and burst into tears again on the spot. All the members were shocked at the sudden outburst and ran to comfort her. 
“She said I did good…” the girl bawled as her members hugged her. They all tensed for a short moment before bursting into a fit of giggles at how cute and sentimental their baby was. She eventually calms down, reducing her sobs to sniffles and soft hiccups. About 45 minutes to an hour passes before the staff is letting everyone know that a winner has been decided. 1 Million receive the 100 points benefit that came with being the group chosen by Hwasa, meaning their choreography will be performed and used for the music video.
The following day, everyone begins preparing for the music video. All the other crews learn 1 Million’s choreography and practice it in preparation for the shoot which would be happening the day after. When everyone gathered to get into hair and makeup for the video it felt fun. Not stressful, or competitive, just fun- and all the dancers were truly grateful for that. 
Each crew had been given a portion of the song where they were able to perform a bit of their own choreography, highlighting their efforts as a whole production. They were able to tie up the shoot within just one day of filming, giving all the crews an extra day of rest before having to officially start working on their final mission before the finale.
y/n had been walking toward the set’s dancer lounge to grab a few snacks when she felt a gentle hand on her shoulder. The girl quickly turned around and became face to face, or rather face to chest, with the dancer she still wasn’t on the best terms with.
“Hey…” Bada whispered once she made eye contact with the smaller girl, removing her hand quickly as she realized it was still resting on her shoulder. Y/n stood speechless, trying to force herself to at least utter a ‘hey’ back, but she couldn’t find the strength. 
“Can we talk?” the leader continued softly, voice wavering ever-so-slightly, but not enough for anyone to notice. To Y/n, Bada seemed confident and relaxed as her soft eyes peered down at her. It should’ve been comforting not seeing any signs of her being tense or upset, but the question alone made the younger dancer tear up, already feeling heavily emotional.
“Uh… yeah… yeah, of course” Y/n spoke meekly, not being able to hold eye contact for more than a couple of seconds at a time as she stood in front of the other girl. Bada glanced over at Kirsten and nodded, giving her a nervous tight-lipped smile as the younger leader gave her a gentle look of encouragement paired with two thumbs up.
The two walked in silence for a bit as they separated themselves from the majority of people, finding a less occupied area to chat. Once they arrived at a moderately secluded area and Bada stopped walking she turned to the younger dancer who stood stiffly with her arms crossed and shoulders tensed.
“So… how have you been?” Y/n starts shyly, trying not to seem too uncomfortable but internally cringing once she realizes how formal she sounds. Bada tried to suppress her frown, hating how awkward things had become, but then again, it all made sense.
“Well… uhm… I’m not doing terrible haha…” she tried to joke around while still being honest, but quickly realized none of her small-talk humor was going to get a laugh out of the other girl
“I actually haven’t been doing great since we last… talked…” she continued, becoming a bit more serious with her tone
“I’ve been thinking a lot- actually all I’ve done is think… about the things I said, about why I acted the way I did, about how to approach you, about how I should’ve done this sooner, and especially about you…” Bada rambled off all of what’s been occupying her brain recently 
“All I do is think about you…” she breathed out, causing the other girl’s own breath to catch in her throat as her eyes widened slightly. Y/n bit her lip looking at the floor and blinked rapidly trying to avoid the stinging feeling in her eyes that was already beginning. 
“I’m so sorry Y/n.” Bada whispered, starting to feel her throat tighten. The younger clenched her teeth and closed her eyes tightly as a singular tear slid down her cheek, before sniffling and looking back up to meet the tall girl’s gaze.
“That’s all I needed to hear…” she whispered with a sad smile, causing Bada to smile softly for a moment before furrowing her brows slightly
“But you deserve so much more than a simple apology-” the leader spoke seriously, still being conscience of her tone so as to not get too worked up
“It’s okay- I really don’t think I do… I said some terrible things too-” the younger sighed as she spoke
“Well of course, but that doesn’t mean what I said was okay… that doesn’t mean I shouldn’t be trying my hardest to make up for the thing I said and how poorly I treated you…” 
“We’re both equally at fault here-” Y/n was nearly cut off by the persistent dancer
“Well, I wouldn’t say equally… I definitely don’t think you were as cruel as I was… not like it’s a contest or anything but I think the impact this argument had on both of us was mostly my fault… especially since the things I said were aimed to hurt you…” Bada tried not to seem pushy, not wanting to cause another argument, but she was set on getting her point across
“I mean… I kinda deserved it-” Y/n chuckled humorlessly as she looked at her shoes, kicking the ground. Bada’s jaw dropped in absolute shock at how the girl honestly thought she was meant to hear such awful things directed toward her
“No, you didn’t, stop saying that! No one deserves to be talked to like that and I feel absolutely disgusted with myself for saying the things I said… I am SO so sorry y/n” The leader spoke up, voice raising slightly with urgency, desperate to get her sincerity across. The younger dancer struggled to find words momentarily, wanting to say ‘it’s okay’, but realizing that it in fact wasn’t okay at all
“...I accept your apology, Bada, I promise…” Y/n clearly stated after a few moments of thought
“Thank you…” Bada sighed, shoulders relaxing slightly 
“I’m sorry too… I was acting immature and childish, and it was really all just because I was hurt by your decision- a decision that I understood had to be made…” and it was true- the girl really did understand why her team was chosen, but that didn’t mean it hurt any less
“Y/n’s you don’t need to apologize-” At Bada’s words it was now Y/n’s turn to be shocked. Even if the girl wasn’t as harsh, she surely was responsible for her own thoughts and actions.
“Of course I do… I need to apologize just as much as you do- for christ’s sake I was the one who caused the whole argument…” She started seriously with furrowed brows, but then her face softened as she continued
“I’m sorry for not trusting you… and for acting like a child-”
“You weren’t acting like a child, you were acting like someone who was under a lot of stress and that’s completely understandable-” Bada cut her off, already feeling the guilt arise again at the memory of how she’d called the younger girl childish and immature
“But I could have handled it so much better-”
“As could I, but we both saw how that actually turned out…” Bada finished with a light teasing smirk, causing Y/n to crack a bit of a smile herself before sighing again and biting her lip as tears filled her eyes
“I also shouldn’t have pushed you to talk about something you weren’t ready to talk about… so for that, I’m also sorry” the Bebe Leader added to her apology, gazing at Y/n with a soft heartfelt look. The younger was staring at the floor again as she sniffled before speaking 
“I’m so sorry Bada-” Y/n whimpered as another onslaught of tears began falling. The older girl gently pulled her into a hug, wrapping her arms around the shorter girl’s shoulders and leaning her chin on top of Y/n’s head.
“Shhh… We’ve both apologized and talked it out- let’s grow from it and move past it now, okay?” the tall girl whispered against the younger’s head, running her hand over the other’s hair, smoothing it down softly
“We should probably work on not talking over each other too…” Y/n mumbled against her chest, feeling the light rumble of laughter as Bada chuckled. Noether had realized the leader had started crying as well until she sniffled and reached up to wipe away her tears without even realizing it.
“There are a lot of things we can work on together- good and bad…” Bada leaned back slightly to look down at the girl, who lifted her head to meet the taller girl’s gaze.
“Yeah… together…” Y/n whispered breathlessly with a relieved smile. The tall dancer couldn’t stop the grin from spreading on her face as she was finally able to stare into Y/n’s sparkling eyes again.
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taglist (closed): @tinybada @angel-hyuckie @violetinferno @jesuschrist2006 @1luvkarina @uwulyn @justandloyal2961 @deadgirlwalking3 @squidvoldyvoid @vivzyo @ouhaika @jksjx @ocyeanicc @marianamartinsthings @jxrdxnh @luvjanexx @lorenztired @khjssss @heavenlycloud @loisje123 @starchasermyloves @zhivaxo @grinnwolph @notyourd0lly @stinkbvgs @nermandiiiii-blog @arujee @idontknownemore @thatgayinsomniac @fruitr0llup @cgriffin9797-blog @woooooya @kaaylvst @ssc7514 @astoreea @linda-botello @kpopgirl-97 @erikook @misszoldyc @sammisregrets @jysai @moonsvrse @froufrousnowman @amararosesblog @tikitsune @aestrelle19 @laaaasanielzz @randomhoex @tswisal1 @unpretty-reader @charlesswife @stella222
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ruggiezz · 6 months
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— PLEASE, DATE MY BROTHER : twisted wonderland
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[synopsis] ortho decides to do something about idia's crush on you, taking the role of matchmaker
[extra] ortho reminds me of a minecraft torch. apparently, there’s one called soul torch that's blue? i haven’t played in a while. ALSO, I STILL HAVEN’T FINISHED BOOK 6 HELP ME I CAN’T DO THIS ANYMORE
-`♡´- What do you mean Idia's social anxiety, awkwardness, and his extensive knowledge of internet slang haven't captivated you yet?Come on, give Idia a chance, please.
-`♡´- Maybe it's the fact he's a robot and he can catch onto things faster than regular humans, but there can be no way you haven't connected the dots yet. Idia invites you to play video games and watch some new anime episodes in his room after classes. He's always talking about you, his hair turning slightly pink when you compliment him for anything he did, and he pays attention to every single word that comes out of your mouth. How hasn't anyone but Ortho noticed that Idia clearly likes you? He's starting to wonder if humans can be that dense or if it’s just you (not to be mean). Ortho isn't taking any of it. If his brother won't do anything to get closer to you romantically, he may as well do it himself in his stead.
-`♡´- Something about Ortho is that he's stubborn. When he decides to do something, he's motivated to do anything to achieve it. The Shroud brothers care deeply about each other; they would do anything for the other to be happy, which means Ortho won't give up. The idea of having you as part of the family makes it worth it. He can already imagine the future you and his brother could have together. Can he be something like a flower girl at your wedding? He hopes he can. But for now, he will have to focus on making you like his brother back first.
-`♡´- His first method is simple. It’s better to start with something small; that’s what his intensive research said. He starts mentioning Idia in every conversation where you're involved: talking about what he did the other day, about something funny he did, complimenting him, and flaunting all of Idia's new works. Ortho can finally use one of the 1,000 random features Idia implemented (Idia himself gets surprised when Ortho uses one because he had forgotten they were even there).
"Oh this? Big brother implemented this cool feature yesterday. My hair can now turn different colors and play music at the same time. Look, it´s like a disco ball!" And then his hair starts switching colors and playing music from Idia’s very specific music taste. He looks like that one disco tree in the Lorax movie.
This method was working, but then something happened. More specifically, Ace and Grim happened. They both got tired of this happening for a week non-stop and told him to talk about something else that wasn't his brother, which didn’t make Ortho very happy. They both went back and forth over the topic, with Ortho defending Idia and Ace getting annoyed over it. It only stopped when Crewel scolded them for talking in class.
-`♡´- Since the first one didn’t work, he had to change plans. The second method was to drag you to Ignihyde to play some games with him in his room. And surprise, Idia is there. Wow, who would have thought? He didn't invite him; he was just there. He CLEARLY didn’t know he would be there. Then final exams season started, and you had to stop coming by so you could study. Also, Idia was starting to get suspicious over what his little brother was up to and how you were always there when he got out of his room.
-`♡´- His last resort was to make the both of you have a date. A date that you both didn’t know was supposed to be a date. Asking you both to hang out with the excuse of wanting to see this new movie that came out, only for him to leave the second the two of you aren’t watching him. He’s so proud of himself too, ignoring your calls as you try to ask him where he is. He leaves you both to have quality time and talk about whatever you guys want.
-`♡´- Now that he has tried all he could do and everything that popped up in his mind, Ortho will ask you to meet him somewhere, where he will ask you how you feel about Idia. He says he will keep it a secret, and he will, but please tell him already; he’s dying to know.
If you do like Idia back, Ortho will cheer and congratulate himself silently for doing such a good job. He’s so happy all his efforts worked, and you and his brother can finally be together! He will even throw confetti (another random feature Idia doesn’t remember implementing) and rub his victory in the face of all the first years, especially Ace and Grim.
Now, if you don't like Idia back, Ortho will short-circuit. It's even worse if you already like someone else, because that makes it harder for him to change your mind. It's not like he will resent you if you don't like his older brother; you’re still his best friend and he's happy for you, but he will mourn for at least a year the fact you could have been part of his family. At the end, he understands you can't force love and that you have the right to be with whoever you want to be, so he will drop it.
Maybe the real ‘you dating Idia’ was the friends he made along the way? Or at least that's what Ortho is going to tell himself while trying to figure out how to make Idia’s heartbreak not hurt that much. Curiosity did kill the cat, huh?
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lustfulslxt · 6 months
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Taking of the Virginity - Matt Sturniolo
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summary : you and your best friend, matt, decide to lose your virginities to each other.
warnings : are we paying attention here? helloooo, sex.
a/n : another one of my ao3 stories <3
matt and ari were home alone at her house. her parents were on a little anniversary trip and matt's brothers were too busy to hangout. so, the two just did what they normally did; went on a walk, watched movies, scrolled through tiktok, and played games. they didn't have to do much to have a good time with one another.
"wanna spend the night?" ari asks her friend of 6 years.
"i would love to." matt smiled at her.
the two kicked back on the couch, music playing on the tv and they just talked and vibed with one another. matt was sitting normally, and ari was laying across the couch with her head on his lap as he played with her hair.
"let's play a game." she speaks.
"what game?"
she thought for a minute, "hmm. i don't know."
"you don't know?" matt repeats, laughing. "do you at least know what kind of game you want to play?"
"nothing that involves getting up. i'm comfortable." she grins up at him.
"like what? ispy?" matt teases.
ari scoffs, playfully rolling her eyes, "that's actually a great game while you're tryna be funny."
matt just giggles at her, but agrees nonetheless. "how about 21 questions?"
"we know quite a bit about each other already, but i'm down."
"we don't know everything." matt points out.
"i didn't say everything, matthew. i said quite a bit." she retorts, "you go first."
he ponders for a moment, "what do you wanna be when you grow up?"
ari gives matt a look before bursting into a fit of giggles. just the sight and sound of her laughing, matt can't help but join in, especially since it was a silly question.
"when i grow up, i want to be an artist. you know this, matty."
"i don't know what else to ask!" he exclaims in defense.
"we do know everything about each other." ari concludes.
matt sheepishly rubs the back of his neck, avoiding eye contact as he states, "well, not everything."
"what's that supposed to mean?" she asks, raising an eyebrow.
"um, well.."
"spit it out, matthew."
"i can't!" he explains, "it's kind of dirty i guess."
"like sexual?" she questions, to which he nods. "do you have something you want to ask?"
after what felt like forever, matt finally caves, "are you a virgin?"
ari pauses, quite unsure of how to answer that. "i don't really know."
her response threw matt off by a lot. either you've had sex or you haven't. what's there to be unsure about?
"okay, now i'm confused. what does that even mean?"
"well," she starts, sighing, "there was this one time where i guess we started to, but he was making me really uncomfortable and being rough, not caring that it was my first time, so i made him stop."
realization then dawned on matt's face. that's why her and her ex boyfriend randomly broke up, she never wanted to talk about it so everyone kind of just let it go.
"basically, he was inside me for a minute. but neither of us finished and we didn't actually do anything, so i don't know if i'm still technically a virgin or not."
"do you want to be?" matt asks her.
her eyes widened, suddenly feeling a little self conscious. "wait! it's my turn!"
matt sighs, before putting his hand out and gesturing for her to proceed.
"are you a virgin?"
"you can't ask me the same question!"
"why not? i wasn't shown a rule book where it said that. were you?" she retorts, squinting her eyes as she knew the answer.
"well, no, but." matt pauses, before giving in as he knew she'd keep pestering him. "i am a virgin, yes."
it wasn't that he didn't have the chance to lose it, he just didn't want to. well not that he didn't want to, he just didn't want to with the girls that gave him the opportunity.
"really?!" ari shouts, extremely surprised at his revelation.
"why do you sound so shocked?" matt asks, defensively.
ari shrugs with a little grin, "you just seem like you've already had sex."
"i don't even know what that means." he laughs at her.
"why haven't you had sex?" ari asks him, "you've had girlfriends before, and i know at least one of them has wanted to."
matt shrugs, "i don't know. they didn't really pique my interest like that."
"who does?"
matt just looked at her. he could not answer that question. not because he genuinely didn't have an answer, but because the answer scared him and would most definitely scare her. the person who piques his interest is her, his childhood best friend. for some reason, the only time he can see himself having any kind of sexual relations with someone is if it's with her, which blows his mind because he knows it would never happen.
it was just something about her though. and sex wasn't just sex to him. he doesn't think he could just have sex with whoever. sure, the pleasure is there, but he feels there's more to it. like there's a connection that is more than just pleasure, he needs that. saying that, maybe that's why he could only ever picture it with her; because they've got a strong relationship and they love each other.
he clears his throat, "i get to ask 2 questions, since you did."
ari rolls her eyes with a smile on her lips, but still shrugs.
"if you could do it right now, would you?" he asks her.
"i guess it depends." she responds, honestly.
"on what?"
"depends on who it's with."
ari knew exactly who she would give herself to if she could. matthew. he was always so soft and gentle and loving with her, she knew he would be the same in bed. finding out he's also a virgin, made her want it even more. not only was he also inexperienced, but she could be the first one to make him feel good. not that she would ever get the chance, seeing as they're only friends, but it was wishful thinking. and now that the thought has entered her mind, it wouldn't leave.
same goes for him.
after a moment, matt speaks up again, his voice slightly nervous. "what about with me?"
ari couldn't help but stare at him with wide eyes and her mouth agape. she couldn't tell if he was just teasing her or if he was being serious.
"sorry, i didn't mean to make you uncomfortable. i don't want it to be weird or anything, i just thought—well i don't know what i thought. i guess i was just thinking that, maybe, since we're both virgins, we could lose it to each other. but if that's weird, just forget about it." he rambles on.
ari was still stunned, not expecting the suggestion in the slightest. once she recovered from the shock, she stood up from the couch. matt's stomach dropped, thinking he just ruined everything between them. however, ari just reaches her hand out to him.
since he only sat there, looking at her unsure, she says, "do you want to go upstairs with me or not?"
he almost leaps off the couch, grabbing her hand and following her to her bedroom. both of them were nervous, yet excited. once she shut them in her room and locked the door, she turned to face him. the two stood there kind of awkwardly.
"um, so how do you want to do this?" she asks him.
"ari, if this is uncomfortable for you, we don't have to do anything. i promise, it's not a big deal. i won't be mad, we'll still be friends. it's okay."
"no!" she quickly blurts out, her cheeks flushing with color at her outburst. "i really do want this."
both of them knew this was something that should come easy and not feel forced, and it didn't feel forced, but they were both scared to make the first move. that was until, matt stepped closer to her.
he grabbed her hands, interlocking their fingers, and as he stared into her eyes for any sign of hesitance, he leaned closer to her and asked, "can i kiss you?"
ari felt her breath catch in her throat and only now realized that this is something she's been longing for. she wanted matt in a way that she was now getting, it felt surreal. to answer his question, she gives him a nod, and with that, he softly grabs her face with one hand and places his mouth on hers.
the two moved in sync, their lips lapping one another's perfectly. matt placed his other hand on her lower back and pulled her closer to him, their bodies flushing together. ari's hands move towards his neck, playing with his hair. their kiss soon turned more heated as he licked her bottom lip for entrance, which she gave him. their tongues fought for dominance, matt won and began exploring her mouth with his tongue.
they were blending so perfectly. this was something the both of them had been yearning for and they couldn't get enough. matt pulled away from her, slightly out of breath. their lips were plump and red, saliva coating the both of them.
he placed his forehead on hers, "are you sure you want to do this?"
"i promise you i've never been more sure of something." she swears.
he nods, and his hands find the hem of her shirt. "would you mind if i took this off?"
she smiles at his nervousness and thoughtfulness, pulling her shirt over her head before grabbing his hand, "matty, i want you to have all of me. as long as you go easy, i'm yours."
"okay. just let me know if, at any point, you want to stop. and will you be vocal with me? not saying like put on a whole pornographic show, but can you tell me what you like and what you don't?"
ari giggles at him and nods, pulling him closer. she plants a soft kiss on his lips and looks him into his eyes. "i promise i will tell you what i do and do not like. so long as you do the same."
after he gives her a nod of agreement, he walks her over to her bed. he softly pushes her down, then pulls his shirt off, and the two stare at each other.
ari couldn't help but blush under his intense gaze. she felt a little self conscious, only ever being in this predicament once and it went completely opposite of the way she wanted. however, matt's stare gave her butterflies and made her feel good. she felt beautiful under his eyes and he hadn't even commented on her appearance.
matt couldn't help but admire her. there she laid, in nothing but little shorts. her hair was spread out over the bed and she looked up at him with a bashful smile. her boobs were bare and laid perfectly on her chest, her nipples hardening with every second. she was a masterpiece and he never wanted to forget was she looked like. he was mentally taking thousands of pictures, in hopes of remembering her this way forever.
ari felt cold and bare, so she hooked her fingers through his belt loops and pulled him on top of her. the two laughed a bit together, and matt couldn't help but stare at her some more.
"what?" she asks with a slight frown. "do i not look right? we don't have to do this if y-"
matt cut her off with a deep kiss. he kissed her like it was the last time he'd ever see her, like he was putting every ounce of love he's ever had into it. it left her breathless when he pulled away.
"ari, baby you are so fucking beautiful and there's nothing more that i want right now, than to make you feel good. but i'm gonna take my time and admire you along the way. okay princess?"
her face turned beet red and she couldn't help but pull him into her, smashing her lips on his. everything about him was turning her on. not just her body, but her soul. his scent, his smile, the way his eyes sparkle when he looks at her, the way he kisses her so passionately as if he can't breathe without her, the way his touch feels like it's burning her skin in the most satisfying way.
matt pulled away from their kiss and moved his face to the crook of her neck. his lips trailed soft open mouth kisses up and down her neck, causing goosebumps to flare on her skin. she couldn't help but let out soft quiet moans, basking in the tenderness of his lips. just the sound of her whimpers and heavy breathing was enough to get him rock hard.
his head moved lower and lower, showing love to her boobs. he squeezed and sucked and tweaked her nipples, leaving dark purple and blue bruises on her skin. the feeling of his mouth on her had her panties already drenched, she couldn't help but buck her hips up into his.
matt's hands were roaming up and down her body, squeezing in all the right places. he was taking his time with her, softening her up and making her as comfortable and into it as he could.
"can you take off your pants?" ari asked him, a blush washing over her cheeks.
he looked up at her with a grin and kissed the corner of her lips, "yeah. do you wanna take yours off too?"
she nods and they both take their bottoms off, leaving them bare naked. ari crossed her legs to hide her core, somewhat self conscious as it's her first time being with matt this way. she couldn't help but watch him as he slowly stroked himself, he was very big and hard.
matt then opens her legs, giving her soft kisses on her navel. "you don't have to be shy, baby."
her stomach was in knots, twisting in anticipation. she was still a little nervous, but she wanted it so bad. matt continued to kiss lower, his mouth now working on her inner thighs. he could see her arousal dripping from her pussy and his mouth watered at the sight.
"you're so wet for me." he grinned up at her. "can i taste you?"
she quickly nods, her hands running through his soft hair. the second he places soft kitten licks against her heat, she can't help but grip his hair. he then pushes his whole tongue flat against her, wiggling it up and down.
"oh wow." she moans out, "mm, it feels really good."
her words only encourage matt and he keeps going, devouring more and more of her. his tongue laps her folds, sucking every bit of her. ari was trembling underneath him. her grip on his hair was tight and she couldn't help but push him more into her pussy.
"you taste so good, i could eat you forever." he moans against her, the vibrations going right through her.
she was soaked, from her own juices on top of his saliva, it was like a slip and slide. while matt focused his mouth on her clit, his hand travels up her thigh, massaging along the way. her eyes looked down at him, feeling his hand go further up. they held eye contact and he paused, making sure she was comfortable with it. when she gave him the green light, he brought his hand closer to her entrance.
she was a moaning mess underneath him, her legs were shaking and her hips were bucking. he dragged his middle finger up and down her folds, causing her to let out another breathy moan. while his tongue worked on her sensitive bundle of nerves, he slipped his finger inside her. she slightly jerked as he moved it in and out, clenching around him. she could feel her climax coming soon. matt continued to pump his finger, adding another after a few moments.
"does this feel good?" he asks her.
"yes, matty." she moaned out, her toes curling. "i'm so close."
he could feel her legs tightening around him, one of her hands gripping his hair while the other gripped the sheets beneath them. she was now simply melting away into a puddle.
"cum for me, darling." he says to her, his voice holding a light rasp to it. "i want you to cum in my mouth."
she felt like all the breath was sucked out of her, in the most blissful way possible. her legs stretched out, tightening enough to get a charlie horse. both of her hands were in his hair again as she pushed his face more into her core. she was trembling under him. full moans were slipping from her lips as she released.
matt watched in awe, absolutely in love with the way she looked. how she quaked and quivered, involuntarily shaking from the pleasure coursing through her. he enjoyed every drop of her, licking and sucking all of it up.
"do you wanna taste?" he asks her, his tongue wrapping around one of his fingers.
she bashfully nods, pulling him up to her. she placed his middle finger in her mouth and sucked. he could feel his dick twitching at the sight alone. as soon as she pulled his hand away, he smashed his lips on hers. their kiss was heavy and rushed, both of them tasting her on their tongues.
"do you still want to..?" he asks, trailing off.
he knew she just had an orgasm and didn't want to push her if she changed her mind about doing more.
"i promise, matt." she assures him once more. "i want this. i want you."
with that, he was back over her and between her legs. he lined himself up with her entrance, looking at her for approval again. with an exasperated sigh, she pulled him into her, hard. she didn't want to wait anymore. she's given him confirmation multiple times, and she appreciates his need to constantly make sure she's still okay with it, but she just wanted him so bad. 
a sharp gasp left her mouth as he pushed himself further in, it felt like she was tearing. he stopped about halfway, letting her adjust. after a moment, she gave him a nod for him to keep going. matt let a groan slip from his lips once he was fully buried in her pussy. she was so hot and wet, and the fit was tight.
"oh my god." he shudders, already wanting to cum. he took a deep breath before continuing, "let me know when you want me to move."
only a short moment later, she whispered, "okay, im ready."
his thrusts started off slow, and his hands traveled from her hips up to her face, cupping it as he plants soft kisses on her lips. he could feel her moans against his mouth, showing him that he was doing it right.
"faster." she moaned out, her legs wrapping around his waist.
he didn't want to just obliterate her, well he did. but he wasn't going to, he knew to control himself. he interlocked their hands as he picked up the pace. he was thrusting in and out of her so perfectly, both of them couldn't help the moans that escaped their mouths.
"you feel so good wrapped around me." he moans out, his hands squeezing hers.
"i love when you talk like that." she smiles, breathless from pleasure.
"oh yeah?" he smirks, his hands finding themselves on her boobs, squeezing them tenderly as he slightly quickened his thrusts. "do you like this? do i make you feel good?"
hearing matt speak to her like this, when he's fucking her the way he is, had her stomach twisting. she was so euphoric right now. she wouldn't want this any other way, everything was exactly right.
"yes, oh fuck!" she moaned loudly, "right there, matty."
"let go, baby. just let go." he whispers against her lips.
he continued drilling her exactly the same, knowing that would drive her over the edge. and it did. she was practically convulsing below him. her face was contorted, her eyes squeezed shut with her eyebrows furrowed. her mouth was hung open, moans spilling out left and right.
"good girl."
he kissed her deep. she looked so beautiful to matt, and the sight of her orgasming, brought him to his edge. he couldn't help it, his dick twitched and hot spurts of nut shot into her. their juices blending together as he continued pumping in and out of her. both of their breathings were heavy once he finally pulled out. he slowly flopped down next to her, both of their eyes connected.
"oh my god." ari whines. "that was simply the best thing i've ever done. thank you."
matt giggles, "it was perfect, but you don't have to thank me."
"no, honestly. you were perfect. you were so loving and gentle, you cared about my satisfaction. you checked with me multiple times. it couldn't have been better, and i appreciate the way you fucked me."
both of them were giggling now. matt pulls her closer, his body wrapping around hers perfectly. he put his lips on hers, kissing her soft and passionately.
"i don't want to make things weird, but is this gonna change anything?" he asks her.
"do you want it to?" she responds.
"would you hate me if i do?" he stares at her so intensely. "i definitely don't want you doing this with anyone else."
she let out a loud laugh, pulling him in for another kiss. "i'm all yours, matty."
he smiled, brightly, and planted another kiss on her lips. "good." another kiss. "and i'm yours." another kiss. "and i promise i will get plan b for you in the morning. sorry, we didn't use a condom."
surprisingly, ari didn't even care. she was just happy with everything that took place the entire night. it was definitely something she would never forget, and something she couldn't wait to experience again. over and over.
a/n : not proofread, what's new? i've got one more one shot on ao3 and it's chrissyy pooh <3 please keep sending requests! i live for this shittt. like fr, i'll do whatever bby
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vicsnook · 7 months
Text
Backseat Lovin’ | Bob Floyd x Reader
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word count: 1544
warnings: SMUT, MINORS DNI 18+, Drinking
notes: Hi y’all! I’ve been back on my Bob quick lately after seeing the promo for lessons of chemistry so here’s a little something something 😏. Hope y’all enjoy & don’t forget to like/reblog. Got some Rhett fics coming soon btw!
Bob was sitting in the sand reading a book while the squad played a game of dogfight football when you spot him. His brows furrowed as he read, making you chuckle which made him look at you and give you a small wave before returning to his book. You blushed at having been caught staring but waved back. For months you’ve been dropping hints that you like Bob but he seemed oblivious to it. Penny called you back in from your break so you snuck one more glance at the clueless WSO and headed back in.
The A/C did little to cool the heat as you washed off some glasses at the bar. Thankfully you’d worn a tank top today but were not enjoying the extra attention that came with that. “What can I get ya?” you asked Bob, who had just taken a seat in front of you.
“I’ll take a beer.”
Since you met Bob, he always ordered a lemonade and despite the insistence of Hangman and Rooster, he’d never drank alcohol. You set down the now dry glass and look up at him, arching an eyebrow in question. He gave you a half-smile as he shrugged his shoulders in response. You could feel him eyeing you as you reached for the bottle opener.
6 beers later Bob’s half-smile was replaced by a mischievous grin. He went to ask you for another beer but was cut short by Hangman whose hand he noticed lingered way longer than it needed to when you handed him a drink. As he stood up to go to the restroom, the alcohol rushed to his head, making him stumble and nearly trip over a stool.
“Hey Bob, you alright?” You ask him, watching as he waves you off and continues to stumble until he finally makes it to the restroom. “I wonder what’s gotten into him.” You murmur to Hangman who was still looking in the direction Bob went.
Hangman turned back to you, giving you one of his know it all looks and his million dollar smile that you hated before saying, “He’s just trying to work up the courage to ask you out, y/n.” You stood there stunned, as Hangman chuckled and walked away. Maybe all the hints you’d dropped finally would pay off tonight.
Half an hour later, you noticed Bob still wasn’t back from the restroom so you flagged down Penny and went on your break to check on Bob. Knocking on the men’s bathroom door, no sound came from the other side, so you turn the knob and it was luckily unlocked.
“Bob?”
He was sitting on the floor leaning against a stall nearly passed out. When shaking him, he looks up at you and reaches up to tuck your hair behind your ear. “I’ve been wanting to do that,” the tip of his ears turn pink at the admission as you help him up to his feet. “Why didn’t you?”
“Too chicken.” He drank the glasses of water you passed him throughout the rest of the night without complaint, sobering up slowly. If you learned one thing about him tonight was that he was a lightweight.
Everyone was almost gone by now except the dagger squad who were still playing pool. You finished wiping all the tables down and turned around to put up chairs when you noticed Bob was already halfway through doing so. He smiled at you when you caught his eye and continued until it was all done.
“I’ll stay guys, gotta walk Y/N to her car,” Bob told the group after you’d cash them out. It wasn't the first time he stayed behind to walk you to your car but today you were more nervous than usual as he followed you out and watched you lock the back door.
Your words caught in your throat as you turned around to find Bob right in front of you. His eyes looked down to your lips and before you could say anything his lips were latching onto yours. He kisses you softly at first but then it turns desperate and you have to hold onto him to not lose your balance. He pulls you closer to him as you run your fingers through his hair and a moan escapes your lips as you feel his growing bulge against your thigh.
You manage to slide your hand between your bodies, cupping him through his pants. That action alone has him pushing you against the back door and dipping his head to kiss your neck. “Follow me to the truck,” he whispers in your ear.
His truck was parked on the side of the Hard Deck which was not illuminated and was the perfect private spot since it couldn’t be seen from the road. You take his hand and climb into the back seat closing the door behind you. “Are you sure you want to do this?” he asks, and you respond by straddling his lap.
His hands grip your ass as you grind against him. “I need to hear you say it honey.” He whispers, kissing your jaw softly. “Yes,” you respond, tilting your head as he trails kisses down your neck and you’re almost certain you’ve soaked through your shorts as he continues to rub against your clit with his bulge.
He slides his hands under your shirt and kneads your breasts and you want him even more now. “Bob I want you,” you manage to say and he’s kissing you rougher now, biting your bottom lip as he pulls away to lift you off his lap so you can slide off your shorts.
He sets you back down on his clothed bulge and rocks you back and forth even harder than before. “Good girl,” he whispers in your ear as you match his pace and feel yourself getting closer. Your grip on his hair tightens and he presses you down against him even more. But it’s when kisses than one spot of your neck though that you are pushed over the edge.
He holds you close as you ride out your orgasm and is careful setting you onto the seat beside him as he unbuckles his belt and pulls down his jeans. You blush at the soaked spot in the front. His cock springs free and you feel a shiver go down your spine at the sight of it. You’d heard the rumors that he was well endowed but didn’t know until know how much truth that held.
He ripped open the condom and slid it on then reached out to help you position yourself over him. The tip of his cock pressed at your entrance and you slowly slid on to it, moaning at the feeling of it stretching you open. His breathing was heavy as he tried not to buck up into you.
You set a slow pace, moving up and down as he holds on to your hips and his lips catch yours. The tip of his cock hits your g-spot repeatedly and you throw your head back in pleasure. He wraps his arms around you and begins to thrust up into you sharply. Your nails dig into his back and you try to keep up with his pace but as you feel your high coming, you increase the pace.
Your moans fill the car and he feels you clench around him. He kisses along neck and collarbones, anything he can get his lips on as you move faster. “I’m so close,” you wail as he circles your clit with his thumb.
“Cum for me baby,” he commands, circling your clit faster as you ride him erratically. Your legs start to shake as you reach your high and he continues thrusting into you through your orgasm. You pulse around his cock and he reaches his high too, pulling you closer to his chest as he comes.
Both of you are out panting, as he slowly pulls you off him and you settle in the seat beside him. He takes off the condom and carefully pulls his pants back up, running outside quickly to dispose of it. He gets a pack of wipes from the front console once he’s back and cleans you up, kissing the side of your thigh as he slides your underwear and shorts back on. You smile lazily at him and take his outstretched hand, your legs wobbling when they hit the asphalt.
He pulls you close to him and gives you a soft kiss and he knows at that moment that he wants this not once but for the rest of his life. You lay your head on his chest and smile, hoping this leads to more. “Can I drive you home? I can bring you tomorrow to get your car,” he asks and you nod happily.
As you reach your house, you’ve made up your mind so when he walks you to the door, you pull him inside your house with you. He follows with no hesitation and kicks off his jeans, joining you to cuddle in bed. “Can I take you out tomorrow?” he mumbles sleepily, kissing the top of your head. “Absolutely.” You reply, drifting off to sleep happily in the arms of Bob Floyd.
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ninjigma · 9 months
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Taking place between chapters 6 and 7 of 'One Last Moment' Track: 'Fallin' (Adrenaline)' - Why Don't We (Spotify / YouTube)
It was sudden. One moment he was naming the loads of food he would get for Fox in apology for the hectic evening being chased by thugs, and in the next the helmet was gone and lips were pressed against his. It was fast, and hurt a bit with the slight clumsiness of it catching between teeth, but Quinlan couldn’t care less. In fact, he couldn’t feel anything besides the elation and joy, and how every ounce of self control rose in him to stay still a moment. To let Fox move first.
Then the millisecond was over and Quinlan was tilting his head, letting their noses become less smushed and lips to press a bit softer. One of his hands delicately came to rest on one of Fox’s cheeks, encouraging and calming in one go. It was Fox’s pace, but Quinlan had never been one to hide his thoughts; and he wanted it clear that he wanted whatever Fox gave, no matter if it was clumsy kisses in precarious locations or the bickering over food on late nights.
Quinlan loved. He knew this about himself well, and had already left the order once based on such feelings. He felt for so much sometimes it was overwhelming, and his own abilities in the Force felt like a lightening rod for emotion, even from those long past. Even now he could feel the hum as his thumb swiped slowly over Fox’s cheekbone, and he used every trick in his book not to read anything beyond that surface level. What Quinlan truly wanted was it to be Fox’s own choice to share. His own feelings given freely at his own pace. Of course he couldn’t help sensing the nerves Fox was projecting with how strongly they wavered past the clones walls, but he kept everything else as locked as any shadow can. Locked with the key that would be forever freely offered. That if Fox wanted, he was there, and if he didn’t, he would stay at his side regardless.
If this was the only kiss, Quinlan wanted it clear how much he treasured it. Protected it. Already kept it within his heart where no one but Fox could ever take it away from him.
If it was just this moment, Quinlan could accept it and return to being the nuisance nat-born Jedi that Fox had dubbed him. And he would then use every ounce of that title to ensure they made it through this war anyhow. Because Fox would always be a friend, and for Quinlan, that title was nothing short of the highest importance.
If it was only right now, Quinlan would be happy.
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Literally has been sitting in my drafts for way too long as I wanted to write something more for it, but have been too caught up with work to finish it; and I just get too sad seeing it in my drafts every time I scroll to leave it any longer.
Who knows, maybe I will finish writing later and reblog with it/edit the AO3 story. Stay tuned just in case XD
Enjoy! (And enjoy the new Dumpy the frog text divider!)
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myhairpintrigger · 4 months
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Grieving for the Living (Aleksander Morozova x fem!reader) Part 1
The entirety of a capricious and treacherous marriage between the Darkling and the Lantsov princess.
part 2 here!
-
oh look who's writing again!!!! ME! this particular story is going to be about 5-6 parts and most of it is finished. i've had a lot of requests to do an arranged marriage trope and so here she is. normally, i would have just posted the entire thing, but the first half alone was over 30k words and if ur anything like me, that's dangerous for someone with an attention span of a seven year old. but nonetheless, i love u and i miss u and i'm so looking forward to being back. REQUESTS ARE STILL OPEN and i implore u to take advantage of that because i would love to busy myself with writing. sending u all hugs and kisses on the cheeks. (apologies in advance for the time ur wasting on this mess)
word count: 10.1k
warnings: nothing serious. drinking, kissing, examples of a not very healthy relationship. minimal swearing i think??
-
Your wedding dress lay abandoned on the cold floor, along with your jewelry and your veil and your shoes. You sat, chin deep in hot water, eyes fixated on the water in front of you. Footsteps echoed in the room adjacent- your new, shared, room- and each one made you wince. Each one a reminder of the man who the steps belonged to. 
Your husband. 
Not by choice, of course. He was kind, chivalrous, and ever so polite. He’d looked away when you practically tore your wedding dress off and threw your jewels to the floor. He’d insisted that he wouldn’t touch you, wouldn’t pressure you to consummate the marriage. He’d had a hot bath put together for you as you sat on the floor by his- yours- bed, and he’d helped you to your feet when it was ready. He wasn’t any happier about the marriage than you, but it wasn’t like either of you were in a place to argue. 
He was The General of the Second Army of Ravka. You were the Princess of Ravka. Neither of you really had the clearance to be protesting what your father had commanded. Your father insisted that it was a smart pairing, that uniting the Grisha with your family was a major political statement. One that might bring a bit more peace amongst those who sneered at the Grisha. You suspected it also had something to do with the fact that your mother didn’t want to send you off to marry someone who’d whisk you away from Os Alta. You were, after all, the youngest in the Lantsov family. Your mother might just lose her temper if you were to be sent away. 
The fact that you were married seemed surreal. You could be married to much worse men than The General, and that was for certain. But nevertheless, you were still full of disappointment. You’d never get to really fall in love, never get to truly be happy. The delusion of eventual happiness was often rude to you, because you knew that despite having an overall good life, you’d never have your own full agency. Not as a royal, and certainly not as a royal woman. 
You’d been in the bathroom for nearly an hour now, and the water had begun to slowly go cold. With an exhausted glance at the door, you climbed slowly out of the bathtub and grabbed a large, plush towel that had been sat upon a stool just for you. You wrapped yourself in the towel and stared at the door with a blank frown. Your now-husband’s footsteps had ceased, and instead there was a strange silence that settled in. You brushed it off as best you could and opened up the door that would lead you into your shared bedroom. 
The Darkling sat with his back up against the headboard of his bed and he held a book in his hands. His dark eyes flickered up to your face and they stayed there for a moment before he looked back to his book. 
“There are night clothes for you, at the end of the bed. They’re still in the process of moving your belongings from the Grand Palace to here.” He explained, not looking back up at you. 
You stayed in the doorway to the bathroom and your eyes floated around the entire bedroom for a moment before they settled on the clothes at the end of the bed. You shivered just slightly and pulled your towel tighter around your body. 
“You wouldn’t be cold if you put clothes on, your Grace.” His voice was idle, and his eyes were still transfixed on his book. You wondered how he had noticed your shivering, but chalked it up to whatever abilities he had as a Grisha. 
Every step you took towards the bed didn’t feel real. The whole night hadn’t felt real. You floated your way through your wedding with a dazed, fake smile painted across your face. The only thing grounding you at most times was the presence of The Darkling’s hand on your back. You grabbed the clothes in one hand and held your towel up with the other and started back towards the bathroom to change before he spoke again. 
“I’m not going to look. You may change in here.” He stated, and with an unmoored nod of your head, you dropped your towel to the floor. 
His eyes never strayed from his book once as you changed into your nightclothes, and you made sure of that by keeping yours fixed on him. He kept his word and didn’t so much as glance at you through his periphery. You stood awkwardly at the foot of the bed and picked at the stray threads at your sleeves, not sure of what to do now. 
Your husband set his book on the side table next to his bedside and he peeled back the covers on the opposite side of the bed and he motioned towards it, “Please, it’s been a rather exhausting day for the both of us, and I think some sleep is in order.” He murmured and looked up at you, “Princess, please. I know this isn’t ideal, but I wish you would speak to me.” He pleaded in a soft tone, and you’d wondered if this man had ever pleaded for anything before in his life. 
You slowly made your way towards the empty side of the bed and you climbed onto the mattress next to him, instantly tugging the covers up to your chin as you laid down, keeping distance between your bodies. You looked up at him to find that he was already gazing down upon your face and you felt flushed. 
“I just want this to be as easy as possible for the both of us, Princess. We don’t have to be lovers, not really. But we can at the very least be friends.” He remarked kindly.
“I know.” You answered, finding your voice. 
A very small smile made his full lips turn upwards, and a thin lock of hair fell over his forehead as he looked down at you. 
“Go to sleep, Princess.”
You gave him a nod and closed your eyes, listening to him shuffle around a bit and blow out the candle at his bedside. Tears pooled in your closed eyes and you curled yourself into a ball, pulling the covers up over your head while little tears snuck their way out of the corners of your eyes. You didn’t know him, you didn’t even know his name. Misery weighed heavily on your chest and you wrapped your arms around yourself tightly, thinking that it was likely the only comforting embrace you’d ever feel. 
Likely ever again. 
-
Your husband’s kindness seemed to wear off as quickly as it had materialized. He was still polite and chivalrous, but you were certain it was because it was only standard to treat you like… well… royalty. He was gone often, so it didn’t bother you, not that much, at least. It had been nearly four months into your marriage, and this was the third time he’d been gone. His absence gave you a bit of relief, truth be told. You had his vast quarters to yourself and could do really anything you wanted, whether that was snooping around in his room or laying in bed all day reading. 
Today happened to be a day where you had opted to stay in bed and read one of the many books you’d brought over from the Grand Palace. You hadn’t bothered to change into anything other than your bedclothes, and you sat on your side of the bed, legs tucked neatly underneath the covers. The doors to your shared quarters flew open loudly and a small handful of Grisha all filed into the room. Among the group was a red haired girl who you recognized as Genya. You knew her from the extensive time she spent with your mother, but the two of you didn’t speak often. She looked at you with an apologetic smile and you stared confusedly back at her. 
“What’s going on here?” You asked and slowly set your book on your husband’s side of the bed. 
Genya bowed her head respectfully and she walked towards the edge of your bed, “The Darkling is home. He’s brought the Sun Summoner with him. I’ve been sent by your mother to have you readied and sent into the Grand Palace immediately. The rest of them are here to tidy up the room.” She explained. 
A small bit of disappointment swirled in your chest at the arrival of your husband and you carefully climbed out of the bed and nodded stiffly, “Okay.”
Genya led you into the bathroom as you peered over your shoulder at the Grisha that immediately had begun cleaning the near-spotless room. Once inside the bathroom, she shut the door behind you two and she sat you down on a little bench. 
“Nothing fancy, please. This is not a… celebratory occasion.” You requested, and you saw the Tailor give you a little nod in your peripheral vision. 
She didn’t spend long on getting you ready, in fact, she simply pulled your hair back with a soft black ribbon and put a bit of cream on your face for whatever reason. She left the room and came back with a long, black dress, holding it up to you as if you’d somehow been given a say in the dress you were to wear. 
“I hate it.” You responded flatly, looking at the silver embroidery on the bodice of the dress, “I know I have something… colorful in that wardrobe. I cannot stand black.” You said, your tone borderline snotty. 
Genya glanced at the dress and then back up at you and sighed, “It’s customary for you to wear his color-“ she began but you held your hand up to silence the girl. 
“Customary? No. He’s ordered it, so it shall be. Is that it?” You asked, folding your arms over your chest. 
She gave you a look of sympathy and held the dress out for you to take, not speaking, intentionally not verbally confirming your statement. 
You scoffed and took the dress from her, “I’m getting real sick of men telling me what I should do. What events to attend, who to marry, where to be, how to speak!” You tossed the dress aside as if it were a venomous snake, “What to wear! What color I must present myself in! Who to meet!” You continued, your voice raising with each word. 
You hadn’t even noticed the door had been opened until you heard someone clear their throat from the doorway. You and Genya spun around to see your husband standing by the door with the dress just a few feet from his boots. His face was unreadable, but his fist was clenched tightly at his side. 
“Genya, I think I can take it from here. I apologize for my wife’s outburst. I’m sure she will never do it again.” He spoke, never looking at the Tailor once, instead, his eyes bore into yours. 
You stared back into his eyes challengingly and waited for Genya to leave the room. Once she had skirted out, The Darkling closed the door loudly behind her. He bent down slowly and picked up the discarded dress and walked towards you. You backed up until the backs of your knees hit the bathtub and you could no longer go anywhere else. He stood only a foot away from you and he draped the dress over the edge of the claw-footed tub and he grabbed your waist with a surprising gentleness, turning you around. 
“Take off the nightgown.” He commanded. You stared at the wall in front of you, but didn’t speak. You didn’t even move. 
When you made no move to undress yourself, your husband reached down and grabbed the hem of your nightgown and began to pull it upwards. 
You slapped his hands away and gasped, “Do not touch me! You swore you’d not lay a finger on me!” You shrieked. You spun around to see him leaning over you, his face showing mild irritation. 
“Undress yourself. Now, y/n.” 
He hardly ever used your name, and now that he had, you felt a bit nervous. He spoke calmly, eerily so. Your hands shook as you reached down and pulled the nightgown off, crossing your arms over your chest instantly afterwards to cover yourself. But he didn’t seem to be looking at your body. His dark eyes were fixed sternly on your face. He pointed at the dress by your side on the edge of the bathtub and you grabbed it. Slowly, you straightened it out and stepped into it, hands still shaking. Once you had pulled it up and slid your arms into the long sleeves, he grabbed your waist and turned you around again. He grabbed the laces of your dress and began to tie them with sharp, precise movements. 
“There will not be another outburst like that, do you understand me?” He asked and gave the laces a hard tug, pulling you back a bit. 
You were now so close to him that you could feel the heat radiating off of his body and you swallowed nervously before giving him a nod. 
He finished lacing up your dress and he gently turned you towards him, looking down at you. He looked down at the dress and then back up at your face. He pointed at a pair of black boots on the floor and you silently slipped them on and bent down to tie them. Once you had, you straightened back up, and he offered you his arm. You stared at it for a moment before finally taking it and you frowned, tears springing to your eyes. 
One trickled down your cheek and you looked down at the floor, sniffling. He brought a hand up to your chin and he gently lifted your head back up before he reached up and carefully wiped your tear away with his thumb. 
“Princess, I have only requested you wear black this afternoon so that we look like we stand united. We need to look like we have a strong partnership. Your parents have begun asking about children.” He murmured and led you out of the bathroom slowly. 
You didn’t respond, waiting for him to go on. 
“I have told them we are doing the best that we can. Your father seems content with that answer. Your mother doesn’t. We need to appear to be much more… in love… than we are.” He explained. You shuddered at the thought of being with child. 
The two of you walked out of your shared room and you let out a sigh, “Genya told me you have brought company. The Sun Summoner.” 
He gave you a little nod and looked down at you, “Yes. And we must appear united to her, too. She needs to trust me. Trust the Grisha. How is she to trust me if my own wife doesn’t?” He asked and then gave you an accusatory look. 
“It’s not that I don’t trust you. I just don’t want this.” You managed to say. 
He gave you a pitiful smile and then shook his head, “Neither of us want this. But this is our reality. The sooner you accept it, the sooner it will be more comfortable.”
You searched his face for a very long moment and then you shifted your eyes away from his face, “I will never be comfortable in a reality where I have no say.” You stated, challengingly. 
“Princess, with all due respect,” he began, leading you down the hallway, “you didn’t have a say to begin with.” He finished, sounding amused. 
You scoffed, appalled by his boldness, “I’m allowed to be frustrated. I’m trapped in a loveless marriage!”
He shushed you sharply and looked down at you, giving you a scolding look, “What am I to do about these horrible outbursts you’ve been having?” He asked, his tone low. 
You rolled your eyes but didn’t answer him. You just continued walking alongside him. 
You passed a couple of Grisha girls in the hallway, and one of them gave The Darkling a particularly fond smile, wiggling her fingers in what was sure to be a seductive wave. You narrowed your eyes and tugged him along, past the others and towards the Grand Palace determinedly. Your husband stopped you from walking just a second later and he sighed, shaking his head almost dejectedly. 
“We need to escort Alina to the Grand Palace.” He explained. You raised an eyebrow. 
“Alina?” You asked, pulling your arm away from his and placing your hands on your hips, “Is she your mistress?” You demanded, stamping your foot down against the marble floors. The Darkling rolled his eyes at your insolence and if you hadn’t felt so angry, you might have also rolled your eyes at your behavior. 
“Alina is the Sun Summoner.” He answered plainly and then leaned down towards your face. For a moment, you thought he was going to kiss you, and it seemed absurd. He’d never made any advances on you, he’d not even tried to befriend you, really. He kept going until his lips brushed the shell of your ear and he chuckled into it, “I wouldn’t take you to meet my mistress. Your sour attitude might spoil the fun I have with her.” He whispered smugly and then pulled away from your ear. 
You stared up at him, wide eyed. Not only did he just insult you, but he’d just admitted to adultery. Your upper lip twitched and you brought your hand up involuntarily, bringing your palm up to his cheek quickly. The slap you left upon his face echoed in the empty hallway and you grit your teeth. He clearly didn’t expect it, because his head was turned to the side and his eyes were closed. Slowly he turned his head back to face you and his jaw was set angrily. His eyes were burning holes into your own, and if you were smart, you would’ve stopped there. 
“Not only am I your wife but I am the Princess of Ravka. I outrank you by many people. Forget not who you speak to.” You hissed, trying to muster up the most bravery you’d ever tried to conjure before in your life, “You will respect me the way a subject should respect their Princess, but you will also respect me the way a husband should respect a wife. In love or not.” You snapped, feeling your bravery wane as he towered over you. Had he always been that tall? 
You prepared yourself for his wrath. You’d never experienced it, but you’d heard rumors. He was formidable. There was a reason he led the Second Army, and you assumed it wasn’t posterity alone. But his wrath never came. Instead, a gentle hand took your chin and tipped your head upwards. He gave you a soft smile and you briefly thought he was going to apologize, to say it was a terrible joke and that he didn’t mean what he’d said. But he didn’t, not even close. 
“Oh, sweet y/n. My darling wife. You may be the Princess, and for that you have my respect, but as my wife? You have none of it. Let me make that clear; I would fuck countless women- and men- before I even considered laying a finger on you. You could be the last girl in the world, and I still wouldn’t touch you.” He pulled away and offered his arm to you again, giving you a sweet smile. 
You didn’t love him. In fact, you were quite sure now that you hated him. So why did his words sting so badly? You rapidly tried to blink away the tears that rushed to your eyes, and you stumbled back a bit. Footsteps echoed through the hall, but they sounded like they were underwater, and you could faintly hear someone call out for your husband. You went to lean your back up against the wall, but just as soon as you moved backwards, his hands came to your waist and he pulled you against his chest in what appeared to be a tender embrace. 
He was petting your hair and shushing you, and you were too stunned to pull yourself away. Your forehead rested against his warm kefta and you sniffled loudly, catching a faint smell of leather and something sweet, something woodsy. Him. It’s what his sheets smelled like and what his room smelled like. The scent made your head hurt and you went to pull away, but his arms locked you in place. 
“General, I- what’s going on?” A voice asked. 
Yeah, General, you thought, what’s going on?
“Alina, this is my wife.” He answered smoothly, and it was almost amazing to you how he said “wife” so affectionately. 
His arms loosened around your body and you slowly pulled away from him, keeping your head down as to hide your tear stained eyes and cheeks. You looked at the floor sadly, at your boots, his boots, and this Alina girl’s boots. 
“Oh! Your Grace!” Alina breathed, curtsying to you respectfully. 
You lifted your head and gave her a weak smile, “You must be the Sun Summoner.” You croaked, wanting to disappear into thin air. 
“You must excuse her state, Miss Starkov,” your husband interjected, “it’s just that we’re both a bit disappointed right now.” He said coolly, “We’ve been trying for a child since our wedding night, and,” he paused and reached for your hand. You felt sick when he grabbed it and held it tightly in his own, as if he were soothing you, “well, we’ve had no luck.” he finished, giving your hand a little squeeze. 
“My apologies, General- and Princess.” She said quietly and you gave her another small smile but didn’t speak. 
“We must be going, Miss Starkov. You need to meet the rest of the royal family.“ he urged and pulled you against his side, “Come, follow us.” 
-
The week following the arrival of Alina Starkov was grey. The clouds hung ominously in the sky, and every so often, it would rain just a little bit. You’d spent most of your time sitting by the window in your husband’s room, silent. He’d spend much of his time away from you, and you were grateful for that. The only time you saw him in the past seven days had been only when the two of you went to bed. So it was odd when the doors to the room were opened and you could hear his familiar footsteps on the floor. You didn’t turn around to greet him, but eventually you could sense him standing right behind you. You sat on the window seat wrapped in a thick, black blanket, and you very slowly turned your head around to face him. He was already looking down at you. His beard had been freshly trimmed and shaped, you noted, and his dark eyes shone in the grey light that seeped through the clouds. He let out a long sigh. 
“I owe you an apology.” He remarked. 
You looked the man up and down and then shrugged, pulling the blanket tighter around yourself. You hadn’t uttered a word to him since the day you met Alina, and perhaps that was driving him insane. You couldn’t be sure, though. He was always so calm and collected, never letting a single emotion slip through the cracks of his steely armor.  He slowly sank to his knees beside you and he was now level with your face, his eyes meeting yours. 
“Prin- y/n…” he corrected himself and then pursed his lips for a silent moment. Finally, he let a breath out through his nose, “y/n, the way I spoke to you was out of line. You are correct when you say I ought to respect you, not only as my wife, but as the Princess of the country I swear allegiance to.”
You eyed him warily and leaned your head back against the wall, a little frown forming on your lips. You weren’t overly sure how to react to his apology. You weren’t even sure of why he was apologizing. You gave him another little shrug and he cocked his head slightly to the side. 
“I know all too well that this marriage wasn’t wanted by either of us. We are having a hard time… adjusting. That’s to be expected. If we cannot be lovers, we should at least be able to be friends. We have a long life ahead of us.” He explained. 
You listened to what he said and blinked a few times. You sniffed once to fill the silence and then you shook your head, “I don’t know how to be friends with you, Sir.” You replied after a while, looking back out the window. 
“Okay, perhaps not friends, but we need amicability to survive this.” He spoke, and the soft tone of his voice drew your attention back to him. 
You hated to admit how beautiful he was, how enticing he was. You’d heard many people in the Grand Palace and the Little Palace alike whisper about how they’d wanted him, but no one would ever make a move. For one, he was married to the princess, and if that wasn’t enough, usually his intimidating demeanor deterred anyone brave enough to ignore you. You searched his face for any trace of emotion, or even deception, but you found none. 
“I don’t forgive you. But I agree with what you’ve said, and I appreciate your apology.” You said finally, tracing your finger against the inside of the blanket you held. You looked into his eyes and he gave you a very small smile. 
“I’m going riding with Miss Starkov. I will be back for dinner. I’ll have the servants draw you a hot bath.” He said, rising to his feet. 
You watched him stand and you nodded once, “Okay. Thank you.” You murmured and turned to look back out the window again.
It had begun to rain. 
-
“I heard it was rather romantic!” 
“Well, that’s what I heard too, but how romantic could it be?”
“There’s something romantic about sneaking into his war room… especially when his wife is asleep just a room away.”
“That’s just plain dangerous, don’t you know the Princess could have her head?” 
Your fingers trembled as you held your teacup, eyes fixed pointedly on your husband’s face as he sipped his own tea and seemed to look everywhere but you. The voices from two Grisha a table over were completely audible to your ears and you slammed your teacup down on the table. This seemed to grab The Darkling’s attention and he narrowed his eyes a bit before he shook his head. 
“What are you doing?” He asked quietly and reached across the table to gently hold your wrist. 
“I’ve had it with your gossiping Grisha. I’ve heard the same stories all week. Every time I come to have tea or a meal, it’s all anyone can talk about.” You said critically. 
You were referring to six days prior. Alina had wandered into your husband’s war room, a room adjacent to your shared bedroom. You weren’t, in fact, asleep. You’d been up reading while you waited on sleep to come to you, but to no avail. The Darkling often spent most of his night in the war room at his war table or his desk, going over plans, strategies, and whatever else he deemed important. Apparently she couldn’t sleep, and according to every rumor you’d heard, the two had shared a particularly intimate moment. Whether it was true or not, you’d never know. The man was evasive whenever you asked him about it. Whatever happened, the gossip was running rampant around the Little Palace and likely the Grand Palace now. You’d wondered if your parents had heard. The thought made you recoil. 
“My dear, it’s silly gossip.” He insisted and you slowly rose from the table and gave him an overly sweet smile, a smile without a trace of sincerity behind it. 
“Will it be silly when I tell my father of its truth?” You asked, batting your lashes at him innocently. 
His mouth twitched and you could see that you’d angered him slightly. You’d been getting rather good at that of late.
“Y/n.” The Darkling warned and slowly stood up from the table as well, walking towards you. His hand found its way to your back and he promptly led you out of the dining hall. You only followed without protest because you didn’t want to give anyone more reasons to gossip about your clearly loveless marriage. 
There was enough of that already.
You followed him into the hallway and all the way across the Little Palace, and finally back into his quarters. He closed the door behind him and he gave you a look up and down before you turned on your heel and went to sit on a chair in the corner of the room. 
“What happened to having a united appearance?” You asked in a bored tone, crossing your legs stiffly as you looked up at him. He stayed by the doors and thought for a while before sighing. 
“Would it really bother you so much if I had shared such a moment with Alina?” He asked and took a step towards you. 
You scoffed, “Please. I couldn’t care less who you have affections for. Alas, as you said, I could be the last girl alive and you wouldn’t touch me. But keep your affairs private.” You snapped, but the words were bitter in your mouth. 
He stared at you for a long while and then he chuckled and shook his head, leaning up against his war table. He seemed amused. He didn’t seem to be taking you seriously, and this made you angry. You stood up from the chair and stomped over to him, standing less than a foot away from the much taller man. 
You jabbed your finger against the center of his chest, “I mean it. You will not drag my name down with you just because you are aching to have some girl warm your bed! I am the Princess, I will be respected as such! You will not stand-“  
His cold, rough hands flew to your cheeks and he roughly pulled you forward as he leaned down and pressed his lips against yours. You didn’t know how to react at first, so you stood there, shocked. Then came panic. You’d only ever been kissed once before, and it had been nothing like this. A peck on the lips from a suitor, a goodbye kiss. This was different. Your husband’s mouth was soft and warm, and the kiss was intense. You tentatively returned his kiss with clumsy, inexperienced lips, and finally he pulled away, dropping his hands away from your face. Your cheeks felt hot and you stared up at him confusedly, trying to make sense of whatever had just happened. 
Your husband stared back at you, almost as if he were surprised that he’d done that, too. 
“You’ve never been kissed before.” He commented, and your cheeks heated up even more. 
Was it that obvious? You looked away and then sniffed. 
“Not like that.” You remarked, suddenly becoming hyper aware of your heart, which was beating faster than normal in your chest. Could he hear that? Surely not. But weren’t there Grisha that could? Was he one of them? Why did he kiss you? You bombarded yourself with questions and placed a hand on your temple. 
“Don’t overthink it, Princess.” His voice rang out through the noise in your head and you blinked up at him. 
His expression was unreadable and you slowly backed away from the Darkling. He looked so put together, so immaculate. His face was cool and his posture was perfect, not a hair was out of place on his head. You on the other hand? You were sure your cheeks were as hot as the fireplace burning in the corner of the room, and your hair felt disheveled. You wanted to slap him across the face for kissing you, and you wanted to ask him why. You doubted you’d ever get an answer, though. Months had gone by since your union, and he’d not so much as held your hand or told you that you looked beautiful. So this kiss? It was currently making your head hurt. 
Were you even attracted to the man? You wondered. He was breathtaking, you didn’t need to like him to admit that. 
A hand wrapped itself around your arm and you recognized it as his. You looked up at him, surprised as he carefully pulled you back towards him. 
“Hey, I told you not to overthink it. Go get ready for dinner. We will be dining with your parents.” He instructed. 
You nodded dumbly and moved away from him, far enough and fast enough this time so that he couldn’t pull you back and you quickly walked into your bedroom, mind still racing. 
-
“We hardly see you anymore, have you gotten any of the dresses I’ve sent for you, darling?” Your mother’s voice rang out across the dining table, and you looked up from your third glass of wine and gave her a smile. 
“Mhm, thank you, Mother.” You replied, swirling the wine in your glass before you finished it. 
Your mind had been reeling for the past three hours, replaying the kiss you and your husband had shared. It was strange to think about. You didn’t think he was even slightly attracted to you. Maybe he was just… desperate? No, that couldn’t be it, surely. He could get anyone he wanted, it wasn’t like you were all that there was. And didn’t he swear that even if you were the last person alive that he wouldn’t want you that way? You blinked a few times and reached out for the crystal decanter full of wine and you poured yourself another glass, your head feeling nice and empty. 
A hand clasped your forearm gently and you looked up to see your husband staring down at you. 
“My love, are you listening?” He asked and eyed you, almost concernedly. 
You looked at him for a moment longer before you looked around the table to see your mother, your father, and your brother staring at you. 
“What? What was said?” You asked, not recalling hearing anyone speak. 
“Darling, girl. Your mother asked you a question.” The General said with a soft, amused laugh. 
You eyed him for a moment through narrowed eyes and then you looked at your mother. Your cheeks felt warm and you began to feel very light. You let out a pleasant sounding sigh and then smiled at your mother. 
“Sorry, what did you ask, Mother?” You asked, your tongue feeling a bit too big for your mouth. 
“I asked if you have gotten the chance to wear that pretty purple gown I had made for you.” She said, her thin eyebrow arching slightly. 
You thought for a moment, bringing your hand up to your forehead, “Purple gown?” You echoed, trying to picture it. You tried your hardest to picture the dress she spoke of, but your mind began to wander again. Back to the kiss. 
You turned your eyes away from your mother and now looked at your husband. He was looking across the table at your mother as well, his big, brown eyes fixed on the woman politely. His chiseled jaw moved and you realized he was speaking, but you couldn’t be bothered to listen. His voice seemed far away, anyhow. His prominent nose and strong cheekbones were highlighted in the evening light, making his side profile appear even more impressive than usual. You sighed quietly when your gaze traveled to his lips and stayed there, unwavering. 
Slowly, he turned his head towards you and gave you a very soft smile. 
“My love, you are drunk.” He spoke. You opened your mouth to protest, but giggled instead. 
“I think we should’ve taken her drink away after the first glass.” Vasily grumbled from across the table. 
This made you scowl and you turned to your brother with an annoyed glower, “Oh, shut up, Vasily. You drink the town dry whenever you’re able.” You retorted, folding your arms over your chest defiantly. 
“Don’t you two start-“ your father began, but Vasily stood up from the table abruptly. 
“You are the Princess of Ravka. You will act like it. That means you present yourself well at all times- even around just your family.” He said haughtily. 
You and your brother seldom got along. Perhaps it was because he had much more traditional beliefs about gender roles and had a strong lean towards a patriarchal dynamic in the palace, or maybe it was because you had bonded with your half brother, Nikolai, much better than he and Vasily had bonded. 
You opened your mouth to argue back at him, but a strong hand grabbed your shoulder and you looked up to see that your husband now stood over you. He held your shoulder gently and he gave your parents both an apologetic smile. 
“Your majesties, I think I’m going to take our lovely princess back to the Little Palace. Don’t judge her too harshly, please. We have both been struggling with… our lack of child.” He explained with a voice as soft as velvet.
Silver tongued bastard. 
Your mother placed a sympathetic hand over her chest and she nodded once, a sad look covering her face, “Oh, we pray to the Saints every night that you two will find luck. I know how hard it’s been for you two.” She said sadly, looking over to your father who was now nodding along with her. 
You tried to stand up from the chair, but the black silk of your gown caught underneath your shoe, and you stumbled a bit. Your husband easily caught you, and in one fluid motion, he lifted you up into his arms. You threw your arms around his neck and laid your head on his shoulder. He smelled just as you had remembered from weeks ago, only now it seemed more inviting. 
You heard him bid your family goodbye and then you felt his body move slightly with each graceful step he took. Once both of you were out of earshot of anyone else, you heard your husband sigh softly through his nose. You looked up at him from where your head laid on his shoulder. 
“I do believe this is the first time I’ve seen you… intoxicated.” He remarked, his tone even, “You drinking for any particular reason, Princess?” He asked. 
You stared at his hair and reached up to twirl the ends of it around your fingertip, “Just having some wine, that okay with you, husband?” You asked with a mirthful giggle, giving his hair a gentle tug. 
You watched the corner of his lip tugged upwards in a smile and he glanced down at you, “You about gave your brother a seizure.” He remarked and then pushed open the doors to the courtyard with his foot. 
The cool evening air made your warm cheeks feel nice and you closed your eyes, your fingers still absentmindedly twisting about in your husband’s hair, “He is… a handful.” 
“Oh, I know. I’ve watched him grow up.” He remarked and you furrowed your eyebrows. 
His words confused you for a moment but then you recalled that he didn’t really age. Not like you, anyway. Grisha perk, you guessed. 
“So that means you’ve watched me do the same, I guess.” You hummed, trying to think back to your earliest memory of The Darkling. 
“Yes and no.” He replied, “In the years following you and Vasily being born, I was often away on business. And besides, you two were often in lessons or doing whatever it is royal children do. I can recall seeing you in the flesh maybe four times before you turned sixteen.” He explained. 
You thought for a moment and then you let out a sigh, your hand falling away from his hair, “That’s… weird.” You murmured, trying to wrap your head around it, “So you’re like… old? How old? Like, fifty?” You asked, growing more curious. 
“No, not fifty, darling. One hundred twenty.” He replied idly and then he chuckled, “Serving for your family has been in my family for quite some time.” His tone was amused and you lifted your head away from his shoulder. 
“Was it weird when we got married then?” You asked and blinked slowly, your eyes adjusting to the dim light outside. 
He thought for a moment and then he shook his head, “Well, I wouldn’t necessarily say it was ‘weird’. Your father initially wanted to marry you off to one of Ketterdam’s richest politicians. But your poor mother wept whenever he’d bring it up. I mean, at this point you were an adult. It was time in their eyes for you to be married off. Eventually your parents offered me your hand and I figured that it wasn’t the worst thing that could happen. I mean, you’d still be home, after all, and at least I can ensure that you aren’t… made to be a traditional wife.” He explained, looking down at your face. 
“Traditional wife..?” You asked confusedly. 
“Princess, you have lived a rather luxurious life. Both your mother and your father have gone very easy on you. But I’ve seen past princesses married off to be bred like dogs and that’s all.” He had your attention now, and you looked into his eyes while he spoke, “I think that you have grown up to be an exceptionally intelligent and remarkable girl, that needn’t be wasted on some pig from Ketterdam who wants your children for status.” He said firmly, his eyes never leaving yours. 
He walked up the steps to the front doors of the Little Palace and two guards opened the doors for you two. He stepped inside and you took a moment to process his words. It was without a doubt, the nicest thing he’d ever said to you. You stayed silent in thought the whole way back to your shared bedroom, and before you knew it, you were being gently placed on the edge of the bed. Your husband knelt before you and was busying himself with getting your boots unlaced, his eyes focused on the task at hand. Your mind swirled with his words and you could almost hear him in your mind, telling you not to overthink it. 
Too late for that. 
“If you think I’m so intelligent and remarkable, why do you hate me?” You whispered, looking down at him. You pulled your bottom lip between your teeth anxiously and awaited his answer. 
For a while, you wondered if he had even heard you, because he didn’t speak. Instead, he simply pulled your boots off and reached underneath your dress chastely to pull your tights off. He looked up at you after he had freed your legs from their stocking smothered prison, straightening up a bit. Even though you were sitting on your bed and he was on his knees before you, he was almost level with your face, and you found yourself only having to shift your head downwards slightly. 
“I don’t hate you, y/n.” He replied slowly, his hands coming to rest on your dress over your calves. 
“You certainly could have fooled me.” You said slowly, your head spinning. You chalked it up to the wine. 
He took his time responding again, and when he did, you had almost forgotten what you two had been speaking about. 
“Sweetheart, you’ve had much to drink tonight. I don’t think we need to be getting into these conversations while you are drunk.” He replied softly and then he stood up. 
He left the room promptly and you felt your eyes well up with tears. You did not want to cry, especially over him, but it also felt like you two were having some sort of breakthrough tonight. Just as the first tear fell, he entered the room again, and he walked towards you determinedly. When he saw the tear rolling down your cheek, he reached down and wiped it away with his thumb. You looked up into his dark, endless eyes and you frowned. 
“Why did you kiss me?” You asked, finally having the courage to speak about the thing that had been giving you not a moment’s peace all evening.
He grabbed your hands gently and pulled you off of the bed and turned you around. He began to unlace your dress with skilled fingers and you were suddenly very self conscious, “I kissed you because I saw no other way to quiet your outburst.” He replied coolly, fingers still moving quickly to unlace your dress, “I’m having a bath drawn for you. Let’s just get you out of these clothes, yeah?” He asked softly. 
At first, you felt a bit disappointed when he told you that the kiss was only a means to quiet you, but then you were confused as to why you were even disappointed in the first place. 
Your husband pulled your dress down your body and you shivered slightly as his fingers brushed your shoulder blades. Instantly, you were covered by something cold to the touch and you looked down to see your husband had draped a silk robe over your body. You slipped your arms into it and he helped you step out of your dress before you quickly tied the robe closed with clumsy, drunk fingers. You puffed your cheeks out and turned around, expecting The Darkling to be across the room, but instead, he was right in front of you, just inches away. 
“Woah.” You murmured, taken aback by his close proximity. You stumbled back just slightly, but your husband had reflexes like you’d never seen. He caught you by your arms and steadied you, looking down into your eyes. 
You gazed up into his eyes and you tried to stay focused on his stare, but your eyes strayed to his lips. You flickered your gaze between his lips and his eyes for a moment before you stood on your tiptoes and leaned forward, intent on kissing him again. 
You hardly moved forward, and were confused as to why, until you realized he was holding you back. You looked up at him with a pathetic frown and you stuck your bottom lip out. 
“Do I need to have another outburst for you to let it happen again?” You asked, the words leaving your mouth before you had a chance to even think them over. 
“You are drunk, y/n. I’m not going to let that happen.” He said sternly. 
You felt your cheeks heat up, you felt… rejected. The feeling left a sour taste in your mouth and you looked down, avoiding his stare. You wished things could go back to the way they had been just hours ago, before he had kissed you. You wished that he’d yell at you or insult you again, anything other than reject you. You wished he’d let go of you and let you run across the courtyard and back into your old bedroom, where he ceased to exist as your husband, where the kiss never happened, where you were unwed and happily reading alone. 
A tap on the doorframe pulled you out of your head and you both looked at the servant who stood there.
“The bath is warm and ready whenever she is, Sir.” 
He nodded once and turned to you with a weak smile, “Go. Get in the bath. Call for me if you need help.” He said softly, sending you on your way. 
You haphazardly made your way to the bathroom and dropped your robe. You closed the door hurriedly and then stepped into the hot bath. Although the water was slightly too hot for your liking, you still sunk down into it, arms wrapped around yourself tightly. 
You thought that maybe the hot water would scald the thoughts of The Darkling right out of your head. 
You were disappointed to find that it did no such thing.
-
Your husband had been avoiding you. 
If he wasn’t, he was doing a very poor job being around, and if he was, then he was succeeding with flying colors. He’d been so keen on not being around you ever since the night of having dinner with your parents. 
That was nearly five days ago now.  
Now you sat alone in a room full of other Grisha, picking uncomfortably at your lunch. Under any normal circumstance, your husband would at the very least eat with you, but he didn’t seem to be interested in keeping up appearances with you anymore. You shifted awkwardly in your chair and set your spoon down, feeling the eyes of everyone in the room on you. You stared off into your bowl of soup for a while, wondering when it was socially acceptable to stand up and abandon your untouched lunch. You had only just decided that you were going to leave when the doors to the dining hall opened up. You didn’t even have time to stand before your husband walked inside. 
But he wasn’t alone. 
Alina Starkov was politely clutching his arm and he was ushering her inside. You pressed your lips together, feeling even more gazes settle upon you than before. Abruptly, you stood up from your table and met your husband’s eyes with a challenging stare. When he looked at you, so did Alina. She almost for a fleeting second looked guilty, but then her gaze turned pitiful and at the same time almost… prideful. 
You sniffed once and stood completely still as the pair began to approach you. You ran your tongue along the backs of your teeth as the two grew closer and closer, and you willed yourself not to have what your husband would call “an outburst.” 
Once they were a mere three feet away from you, you watched your husband’s face melt into a sickeningly sweet smile and he held his hand out for you. 
“My love, I was thinking-“ 
“Your Grace.” You corrected sharply. Every voice in the room stopped all at once and now you were sure every single eye was on you. 
“Pardon me?” Your husband asked, raising an eyebrow. 
“You will call me ‘Your Grace’. I am the princess. You will give me the respect of formalities.” You chided, feeling an unbridled sense of anger warm your veins. 
He looked taken aback, and he stood there silently, waiting for whatever else you had to say.  But you were done. You pushed your chair in and you looked Alina up and down once before you shouldered past your husband, making a beeline directly out of the dining hall. 
You marched with intent back into your shared bedroom and you made quick work of pulling all of your clothes out of the sleek black armoire that had been dedicated to your numerous dresses. With a look of disgust, you left each black piece hanging in the armoire and tossed the rest onto the bed. You made a large pile of your clothes and blankets and you gathered them all into your arms, albeit struggling to get a hold of the clothes. 
You were ready to get out of the Little Palace. You formulated a plan as you hobbled across the room to the door, holding the pile of gowns in your arms. You’d go back to the Grand Palace and you’d beg and beg, and even cry if you had to, to your parents to get you out of this marriage and let you marry someone- anyone- else. Perhaps you’d tell them he was cruel, or perhaps you’d say you’d never bear a child because the Grisha can’t procreate. You huffed angrily as you kicked your bedroom door open, and you shuffled out of the room, not able to see over the mountain of dresses in your arms. You were your parents’ favorite, after all. Surely they’d make this allowance for you just this once.  
You hadn’t even made it halfway down the hallway before you bumped into someone. You let out a small sigh and craned your neck around the clothes. You caught a glimpse of a black Kefta around your dresses and you shook your head, trying to go around him. He stepped in front of you again, blocking you from walking away. 
“I am not doing this with you.” You deadpanned, “So get out of my way and let me go. The sooner we can get this… arrangement ended, the sooner you and I can just live our own lives, General.”
But he didn’t respond. Instead he sidestepped you and grabbed your shoulders in a steel-like grip and steered you against your will back to the bedroom. You dropped your dresses to the floor once you were in the bedroom and you gaped up at him angrily. His face didn’t show a single emotion other than maybe mild annoyance, and this made you even angrier. You pursed your lips tightly and stared up at him defiantly, folding your arms across your chest. 
“Breaking our ‘arrangement’ would mean you’d be married off to someone who will not give you free will.” He finally said, taking a half step closer to you. 
“I don’t care. I hate you.” You said, childishly. 
“You don’t hate me. You are cross with me. You sound like a child, right now.” He remarked and you shook your head. 
“No. I hate you. I mean, I really hate you. You cannot make up your mind! We get married and you’re kind to me, and not even a month later you’re as cold as ice! Then you tell me that you wouldn’t touch me if I was the last person alive! But then you kiss me? Take care of me when I’m drunk, you’re all… gentle with me. And now you’re avoiding me, sneaking around with her. Make no mistake, I couldn’t care less who you really love, but this isn’t fair to me!” You exclaimed, your voice growing less angry and more… hurt, much to your dismay, “You might think you’re in the right, marrying me for noble reasons, but I’m…” you trailed off and you leaned back against the wall next to the door and you slid down slowly, until you were sitting on the cold floor, your dress pooling around your legs. 
He waited for you to continue, not speaking. His eyes never left your face once and you felt the familiar burn of his gaze on you. The even more familiar sting of tears began to form over your eyes and you brought your hands up to your face. 
“I’m tired of pretending that I’m okay with a chivalrous at best marriage. This is never what I wanted,” you started, your voice wavering, “I would rather risk it all and take my chances with someone else if it meant there was a slight chance of finding someone who actually loves me.” You finished in a whisper, keeping your face in your hands. 
He was silent and you expected this. You expected him to smooth it over and tell you that it was okay, that this marriage was for the best, and then leave again. You expected him to go back to Alina and spend the rest of the day with her, as he had the past five days. 
What you didn’t expect was to feel his hands gently pull you to your feet by your arms. You didn’t look at him, you didn’t want to, so you opted for looking down at the tips of your boots. You were so close to him that you could smell him, just as you had when he carried you back to your bedroom. Except, now the smell wasn’t inviting. Now, it made your head hurt and it made your chest tighten. You pressed your lips together as tightly as you could and said nothing, hoping that he’d just leave you alone. 
His cold fingers grabbed ahold of your chin and he tilted your head up towards his and he looked down into your tear-glossed eyes. You felt your bottom lip quiver as you sucked in a sharp breath through your nose. You wanted to pull away, you wanted to at the very least, look away, but he held your gaze. His face had no emotion on it, but you could see in his eyes that his mind was racing, like he didn’t know what to do. You shakily reached up and grabbed his wrist in your smaller hand and you pried his hand away from your face. You gave him an apologetic smile and you took a step back.
“You know this is for the best.” You whispered. 
“Best for who?” He asked, quickly, as if he didn’t even think about it. 
You were taken aback, “For both of us. This way you can be with Alina, just like you want, and I can have a shot at finding real love. It’s for the best.” You insisted, taking another step back. 
You didn’t get far, because The Darkling’s hands moved quickly to grab your waist and pull you back towards him. 
“I disagree.” He whispered, “You are just scared. This isn’t what’s best. You’re just frightened. Frightened that you may have feelings for me, frightened that I don’t return them. Frightened that I have affections for Alina.”
You furrowed your brow and you looked up at him and shook your head, “That’s not…” you trailed off and fell silent. You refused to contemplate his words, and maybe it’s because you knew he was right. It was impossible not to be somewhat attracted to him, by his looks alone. You shook your head again and tried to step away, but he wasn’t letting you go anywhere. 
“You’re making this worse.” You whispered and closed your eyes, your lips pursing. 
“Let me make it better, then.” He said in a low tone. 
“I don’t want you to make it better.” You insisted.
“If you wanted love, little princess, all you needed to do was tell me.” He murmured, bringing a hand up to cup the side of your face gently. 
“I don’t want to.” You argued, but the way you leaned your face into the palm of his hand was a bit contradictory. 
“Then what is it that you do want?” He asked, thumb brushing slowly across your cheekbone, his cold skin sending a chill through your body. 
“I…” you began, tears pooling in your eyes. They slowly rolled down your cheeks as you looked up at him, your bottom lip trembling, “I want you to love me.” You admitted, shame heating your cheeks. 
The silence between the two of you was palpable and you went to move away from him again, but he pulled you back into place once more. His thumbs caught each tear that rolled down your cheeks, though it seemed pointless with how many were falling. You two stayed like that for a long time, until your husband coaxed your head forward. He gently laid your head down against his chest and he wrapped both of his arms around your waist, a gesture that would have left you speechless if you weren’t already out of words to say. 
His hand laid against the back of your head and he slowly began to rock you from side to side, as if it would soothe you. There was so much you wanted to ask him, but the questions would leave your mind as soon as they came. Part of you wanted to pull away from him, leave him behind like you’d planned, but the other part couldn’t even consider leaving his embrace.  
So you didn’t.
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