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[rafecameronssl4t]

omggg I have oneeee🤭

ALSO I LOVE YOUR FICS

so fmc is out with her bestfreinds, the kook boys- Kelce ,top and rafe for lunch and waiter Sofia attempting to flirt with rafe but our man only has eyes on his girl. ♥️ mc ends up teasing rafe after the incident cause of the attention he’s getting and rafe teasing her back asking her if she’s jealous hehe

Jealousy, Jealousy || Rafe Cameron x fem!reader

A/n: half of me feels bad about Sofia in these type of fics but remember Rafe wants YOU and ONLY you 😋

Warnings: nothing really :)

Word count: 836

MASTERLIST

divider by @yoonitos

“She’s coming again,” Kelce muttered under his breath, nudging Rafe with a knowing smirk. Rafe fought the urge to roll his eyes, the annoyance evident in his tightened jaw. Topper chuckled, both he and Kelce watching as Sofia approached their table, her steps light and deliberate.

Her presence was unmistakable, and her eyes were locked onto Rafe. “Hey, anyone need another drink?” Sofia’s voice was bright and cheerful, but her gaze lingered on Rafe just a fraction too long.

He resolutely kept his eyes fixed straight ahead, focusing intently on a spot somewhere behind Kelce, refusing to give her the satisfaction of his attention.

Topper glanced at Rafe, sensing his discomfort, before answering for the group. “Nah, we’re all good here, thanks.” His tone was polite but firm. Sofia nodded, her smile unwavering. “All right, just let me know if you need anything.”

As she turned to leave, her eyes subtly drifted over Rafe, as if hoping for a reaction. Rafe’s frustration simmered just below the surface, and he couldn’t suppress a scoff. Fishing out his phone, he quickly texted you, his fingers tapping out the message with a mix of impatience and frustration.

From the moment they had arrived at the country club for lunch, Sofia had been constantly hovering around them, her attention mostly focused on Rafe. No matter how many hints he dropped about being content and committed to his relationship with you, she just didn’t seem to get it.

Rafe: When are you coming?

Y/n: In like 10 minutes!!!

Rafe let out a sigh of relief as he read your reply, his tension easing slightly. Shutting off his phone, he cast a hopeful glance towards the front entrance, silently wishing you would appear any second.

After about ten minutes, the front doors swung open, revealing you and Sarah. Engaged in lively conversation, the two of you walked through the entrance, laughter bubbling between you. Rafe’s face lit up at the sight, and he immediately stood up, making his way toward you with an eager smile.

As Rafe strode across the room, Sofia rounded a corner, her eyes lighting up as she saw him heading in her direction. “Hey, Rafe—” she began, her voice hopeful. But Rafe didn’t even glance her way, brushing past her without a second thought, his focus entirely on you. The smile on Sofia’s face faltered, her heart sinking as she turned to watch him.

“Hey, babe,” Rafe greeted you warmly, his hands finding their way to the back of your neck as he pulled you into a deep kiss. Sarah, standing beside you, rolled her eyes and let out a mock gag. “Jesus,” she muttered, shaking her head before wandering off to give you two some space.

You smiled into the kiss, feeling Rafe’s affection and urgency. Pulling away slightly, you chuckled. “What was that for?” you asked, your eyes twinkling with amusement as he peppered kisses along your cheek.

“Nothin’, just missed you,” Rafe mumbled against your skin, his voice low and filled with sincerity. You couldn’t help but giggle at his tenderness, feeling warmth spread through you.

With his arm wrapped securely around your back, Rafe guided you towards the table where his friends were seated. As you approached, Kelce and Topper exchanged knowing looks, smirking at Rafe’s obvious delight. Sofia, now back behind the bar, watched from a distance.

“Thank God you’re here,” Topper quipped as you approached, a grin spreading across his face. “I thought Rafe’s jaw would break from all the clenching he’s been doing.” You raised an eyebrow at him, then turned to Rafe, who was pointedly looking away. “Why? What happened while I wasn’t here?” you asked, chuckling.

“Sofia’s what happened,” Topper continued, and your confusion deepened. “Seems that pogue’s got a thing for your man here.” Rafe let out a scoff. “You think? She could barely keep her eyes off me.”

You glanced back at Sofia, who quickly looked away when your eyes met. “She kept looking at you, did she?” you asked, your arm protectively wrapping around Rafe’s neck. He smirked, enjoying your reaction.

“Aren’t you popular with pogues these days, hmm?” you teased, giving Rafe a playful nudge. He chuckled, a mischievous glint in his eye. “Mhmm, you jealous, baby?” Rafe asked, his tone light and teasing.

You rolled your eyes playfully. “‘M not,” you said, pressing a kiss to his cheek. “I know you’re mine anyways,” you shrugged, feeling his smirk against your skin as his hand came up to rest on your hip. “Always,” he murmured, his voice low and sincere.

[pin-k-ink]

rapture // illumi zoldyck

tw ⇢ enemies to lovers, assassin!reader, possessive!illumi, love confessions, sexual tension, teasing, grinding, dry humping, mentions of violence and injuries, overstimulation, making out, public sex, unprotected sex, squirting, begging, dirty talk, pet names, mild breeding kink, biting, manhandling, anal sex, mentions of marriage and pregnancy

wc ⇢ 16.1k

The ritzy hotel loomed ahead, all glass and gleaming opulence. You triple checked the dossier's details as you approached, though you hardly needed to. The shady businessman's daily routines, rotation of private security, all of it was committed to memory. This was meant to be a quick, seamless job - tail the mark to his swanky penthouse suite, neutralize him while he was alone, then disappear like a whisper back into the night.

At least, that was the plan before you noticed the other set of footprints in the bathroom's plush carpeting.

You froze, senses accelerating as your fingertips grazed the slender blade tucked against your forearm. Someone else was here, possibly another hired gun with the same grisly orders. But those prints were too perfect, too controlled to be some amateur's clumsy work.

No...you knew that purposeful, predatory tread all too well.

The bathroom door's lock clicked open and you whirled, weapon drawn, as a tall figure slipped inside. Even in the dimness, those reflective dark eyes and long raven hair were achingly familiar...and dangerous.

"You..." you hissed lowly.

Illumi regarded you coolly, utterly unfazed by having a knife leveled inches from his chest. Of course he wouldn't flinch - you'd never seen this man throw an assassin so much as blink, let alone show fear.

"We seem to have been hired for the same contract," he said flatly, not a hint of inflection.

Your jaw clenched as the two of you stared each other down. Of all the elite assassins spanning the globe, you had to cross paths with Illumi Zoldyck on this job. The one killer whose skills, whose ruthless reputation, could potentially rival your own.

And the one man who, despite yourself, you could feel an electric, unsettling charge sizzling between...

Illumi's obsidian eyes remained carefully impassive as they raked over you. You couldn't tell if he sensed that same crackling tension or if he simply viewed you as another obstacle to circumvent on this assignment. Knowing Illumi's icy detachment, it was likely the latter.

"I don't share contracts," you stated firmly, keeping your blade leveled. "Especially not with you."

"How unfortunate," Illumi murmured in that maddeningly even tone. "Because I've no intention of walking away from this job. Or you."

A tremor ran through you at those last two words, quiet but weighted with Something you couldn't let yourself dwell on. You were the best at what you did, same as Illumi, and neither of you became so lethally elite by allowing distractions.

And yet...you couldn't ignore the way your breath grew shallower, how the air seemed to thicken and churn with that inscrutable energy passing between your bodies. This wasn't going to be as straightforward as you'd planned.

Desperate to regain your composure, you aimed for nonchalance - the only way to get under Illumi's perspicacious stare. Deliberately, you dragged your gaze over his lean frame in an appreciative once-over.

"My, my..." You tsked, allowing a teasing lilt to enter your tone. "No wonder you're so sought after in our line of work. That lithe form seems perfectly suited for stealth...among other intriguing applications."

You watched with no small amount of satisfaction as Illumi's jaw tightened near-imperceptibly at your suggestive words. Score one for actually getting a reaction.

"You're incorrigible," he stated flatly. "And severely lacking in professionalism on the job."

"Oh lighten up, you know how to have a little fun, don't you?" You took a deliberate step closer, watching Illumi tense ever-so-slightly as you invaded his personal space. "Unless cold...unfeeling...killer is simply your natural state?"

Your heated words seemed to spark something deep behind those unfathomable dark eyes. A fleeting glimmer of emotion - irritation, attraction, you couldn't tell. But it was there, buried under icy layers of ruthless control.

"Fun..." Illumi echoed the word like it tasted foreign on his tongue. His piercing stare remained locked on you. "I'm beginning to think your definition of that differs greatly from mine."

"Is that so?" You clicked your tongue in faux disappointment. "Well then, maybe you'll have to show me your version instead. Could be...enlightening."

The heated undercurrent between you was becoming unmistakable now, no matter how steadfastly Illumi tried to remain impassive. He was an impregnable fortress, to be sure. But you were an expert at cracking even the most stubborn defenses.

And you had a feeling once you wormed your way inside Illumi's walls, you'd find something exquisitely, savagely intriguing lying in wait.

Illumi's gaze remained inscrutable as it raked over you appraisingly. "Your attempts at seduction are transparently amateur at best. I expected more from someone of your...reputation."

You barked out a laugh at his cutting remark. "Is that a challenge I detect, Mr. Zoldyck? Because you're playing a very dangerous game, trying to provoke me like that."

"I don't do games," Illumi stated coolly. "I deal in absolutes, in realities. And the reality is that only one of us will be completing this contract tonight."

He closed the distance between you in a few measured strides, his imposing frame now looming mere inches away. From this proximity, you could make out the faintest ethereal scent of sandalwood and steel clinging to him. It was utterly intoxicating.

"So I'll ask you once more," Illumi's words were lethally soft. "Will you walk away willingly? Or am I forced to make you..."

The unspoken threat hung heavy in the charged air. You knew Illumi was utterly capable of neutralizing you here and now if he deemed it necessary. The fact that he seemed to be offering you an out, however slim, was...curious.

Unable to resist pushing further, you tilted your head in a studiously nonchalant manner. "You know...if you wanted me on my back, you could have simply asked nicely."

A heartbeat of loaded silence passed. Then another. Illumi's expression remained that maddening blank slate, not rising to your deliberately crass implication even as the tension thickened palpably.

Just when you were about to goad him again, the faintest of smirks played across those soft lips.

"There's that lack of professionalism again," he murmured. "Though I can't decide if it's merely incessant or...intriguing."

Your breath hitched slightly at the undercurrent beneath those words. Was the infamous Illumi Zoldyck, cold-blooded killer extraordinaire, actually flirting with you?

Recovering quickly, you leaned in until your lips were a hairsbreadth from his. Close enough to feel his exhales ghosting across your skin in tantalizing puffs.

"Why don't you get a little closer and find out?"

Illumi didn't so much as flinch at your brazen advance. His dark, fathomless gaze remained locked with yours as one corner of his mouth curved upwards in a maddening half-smirk. "Tempting...but I'll have to decline. At least for now."

Before you could process his words, he moved with blurring speed. One moment he was mere inches away, the next his muscular frame was pressed flush against yours, backing you up until your spine met the wall with a soft thump.

Illumi braced one hand beside your head, effectively caging you in with his body as he leaned down. Those slightly parted lips brushed a scorching path maddeningly close to your own before veering aside at the last moment. Instead, you felt the barest whisper of breath fanning along the heated skin of your neck.

"I do hope you'll make this interesting for me," he all but purred, voice dipped in something sinfully dark. "I'd hate to be...underwhelmed by your skills so early in our...partnership."

A tremor ran through you at the implication in that last word. Despite his impassive facade, there was no mistaking the molten undercurrent flickering behind Illumi's eyes now. You'd sparked something primal awake in the infamous assassin, something he clearly didn't experience often.

And a reckless part of you couldn't wait to stoke those smoldering embers into an inferno.

Regaining your composure, you arched a challenging brow. "Oh, don't you worry about me keeping things interesting," you practically purred. "In fact, I promise to take your breath away before the night is over."

Illumi regarded you with an inscrutable look for a heavy beat, as if weighing your brazen promise. Then, in one sinuous motion, he stepped back and put a calculated sliver of space between your bodies once more.

"We'll see about that," he stated evenly, though you didn't miss the faint huskiness edging his inflection now. "For the moment, I suggest we return our focus to the task at hand."

You fought not to visibly react as Illumi gestured towards the door leading to the mark's penthouse suite. As if either of you could so easily disengage from the potent tension still crackling between you like a livewire.

Nodding once, you forced yourself to slip back into professional mindset, sheathing your blade with a practiced flick of your wrist. "Lead the way then. I'll be right behind you."

The words carried a deliberate double meaning that wasn't lost on Illumi if his momentary side-eye was any indication. Still, he turned on his heel and started down the hallway without another word.

As you fell into step behind the assassin, you allowed your gaze to linger appreciatively on the powerful shoulders beneath his fitted suit, the lithely coiled muscles in his arms and back that you knew all too well could snap a man's neck with grotesque ease. There was an undeniable, unsettling allure to Illumi's lethal grace.

You couldn't quite put your finger on what had changed between the two of you in these past heated moments. The razor-edged chemistry had been lurking for months, years even, every time your jobs brought you into the other's orbit. but tonight that simmering tension had suddenly been stoked into roaring life, quickly spiraling out of control.

And despite the small, rational voice warning this was a reckless game to play with as elite a killer as Illumi Zoldyck...you couldn't shake the feeling that you were both helplessly, inexorably, caught up in the thrilling inferno.

Reaching the mark's private entrance, Illumi paused and slanted you a weighted look over one shoulder. A silent challenge glimmered in those midnight depths.

Game on then.

Lifting your chin boldly, you brushed past him and took the lead, making sure your body grazed his with deliberate suggestion as you did so. You heard his soft intake of breath behind you and hid a smile.

Let the games begin.

With Illumi trailing slightly behind, you took point and stealthily picked the lock to the penthouse entrance. Normally a task like this would require your full, focused concentration. But with your senses tantalizingly attuned to the silent predator shadowing your every move, you found your mind wandering.

What game was Illumi playing at? This wasn't his usual cold, detached modus operandi when handling contracted hits. No, there was an undeniable spark flickering behind that unreadable facade now. A banked sort of heat smoldering in those obsidian eyes whenever they raked over you with pointed intent.

You risked a glance over your shoulder. Sure enough, Illumi's piercing gaze was trained squarely on the curve of your backside as you bent over the lock mechanism. Not even attempting subtlety anymore, was he?

Unable to resist prodding that newfound fire, you made a show of slowly rising back to your full height and stretching your arms overhead with an exaggerated breath. Your shirt riding up just enough to expose a taunting strip of toned midriff.

The loaded moment stretched between you before Illumi finally spoke, voice raspier than usual. "If you're quite finished delaying..."

You turned with an innocent look. "Why, whatever do you mean? I'm simply preparing myself for the challenge ahead."

Holding his stare, you traced a deliberate fingertip down the valley between your breasts, letting it trail down your abdomen slowly before dropping your hand. "Gotta stay...limber."

Illumi's jaw tensed infinitesimally but he remained otherwise impassive as always. "Your attempts at distraction are obvious. And fruitless. I don't lose focus so easily."

"Is that so?" You arched one brow teasingly before spinning back towards the door and finall finishing your work on the lock tumblers. "We'll see about that."

The pneumatic hiss of the door unsealing echoed like a sly promise. Slipping inside the darkened penthouse, you felt the frisson of Illumi's tall frame entering behind you with predatory grace.

The game was most definitely afoot now. You couldn't wait to see who would be declared the winner once all the players' simmering desires were finally, deliciously sated.

The penthouse suite was cloaked in inky shadows, though both you and Illumi could navigate the darkness with preternatural ease. Silently, you swept through the grandiose living area, senses attuned to any potential security triggers or signs of the mark's whereabouts.

A slight shift of air current against your back alerted you to Illumi's stealthy approach from behind. You tensed instinctively as his presence materialized at your side, so close you could feel the subtle body heat rolling off him in waves.

"He's not here," Illumi murmured, low enough that his warm breath fanned along the sensitive skin of your neck. "The bedroom."

You refused to allow his intentional proximity to rattle you, squaring your shoulders. "After you then."

Illumi's lips quirked in a near-imperceptible smirk before he brushed past you purposefully. You had to resist the urge to shiver as the movement brought your bodies into fleeting alignment, front to back. Just for a moment, you could have sworn you felt the barest graze of his fingertips trailing along your hip.

Get a grip, you chided yourself. He's just trying to throw you off your game again.

Although...if that was indeed Illumi's aim, you had to grudgingly admit it was working. Being this close to the enigmatic assassin's raw, coiled power set your nerves pleasantly buzzing with a strange sort of static charge. Like you were a live wire just waiting to surge into blinding arc of current given the right spark.

Shaking off the tingling distraction, you followed Illumi down the hall towards the bedroom. You both moved with the same unhurried yet purposeful hunter's stride, bodies gliding in a strange tandem sync. Like two cosmic bodies pulled into an ever-tightening orbit, unable to resist the other's inescapable pull.

The smoldering tension thrummed steadily between you with each measured footfall. More heated and palpable by the second as your blood sang in rising anticipation.

Whatever happened once you reached your destination tonight, one thing was becoming undeniably clear - neither of your lives would be the same after.

To your surprise, the bedroom door was left slightly ajar and a thin slice of amber lamplight spilled out from within. Illumi slowed imperceptibly before easing up beside it, flattening himself to the wall as he angled his body to peer cautiously through the opening.

When his gaze cut sharply back in your direction a beat later, the fire glimmering there caused a shiver of awareness to lick straight down your spine.

Beckoning you over with one subtle hand gesture, Illumi then tilted his chin towards the bedroom in a silent directive for you to take a look as well.

You swallowed hard before moving to slip in behind his formidable frame. Despite yourself, your pulse kicked up several notches as you leaned past Illumi, basking in his masculine scent - a dizzying combination of adrenaline and some smoky spice that ignited liquid heat low in your belly...

Forcing your mind to focus, you peered through the gap and felt your breath catch in your throat at the scene within.

The mark was indeed present. And he most definitely was not alone.

The bedroom was awash in flickering amber light from the fireplace, casting the two figures tangled amidst the rumpled sheets in a sultry warm glow. The businessman you'd both been hired to eliminate was very much alive and obliviously preoccupied...thoroughly engaged in intimate activities with a scantily clad woman.

You felt Illumi shift minutely behind you as he too registered the unexpectedly compromising scene. The heat of his firm chest pressed fractionally closer along the line of your back until you could almost feel the measured cadence of his breaths ghosting the nape of your neck. The intimate proximity made your pulse spike deliciously.

"Well..." you murmured, keeping your voice a hushed whisper meant only for Illumi's ears. "This certainly complicates matters."

"Does it?" came his silken response, his mouth now so tantalizingly close that his lips very nearly grazed the sensitive shell of your ear with each syllable. "I was under the impression you...preferred things deliciously complicated, my dear."

A shiver traced your spine at the velvety endearment, at the way his inflection caressed those last two words. You risked a glance over your shoulder to find Illumi's gaze locked on you with banked intensity, those dark obsidian depths flickering like the flames in the other room.

Unable to resist a little prodding, you arched one brow at him teasingly. "Why Illumi...are you suggesting we take notes on their...technique?"

A loaded pause. Then finally, the barest ghost of a smirk curved those soft lips as Illumi leaned in fractionally closer until the two of you were sharing the same heated breath between parted mouths.

"Only if you think you can keep up," he murmured, rich voice dipping into a low, gravelly register that flooded your veins with liquid fire. "After all, I'd hate to...overwhelm you before we've even really gotten started."

Despite the bravado, his dark gaze remained trained intently on your face, watching, searching for any flicker of reaction to his boldly suggestive words. Seeking out that first fissure where he could apply calculated pressure and finally shatter your meticulously maintained control.

Well...two could most definitely play at that game.

With slow, exaggerated intent, you brushed back the silken lock of hair that had slipped over Illumi's forehead until your fingertips were cradling the strong angle of his jaw. Feeling his muscles twitch ever so slightly beneath your touch as his gaze morphed into smoky embers.

"I thought you'd never ask," you practically purred, allowing your lips to graze the barest whisper along the stubbled hinge of that chiseled jaw as you spoke. Close enough to taste the heated tang of his skin on your tongue. "Lead the way then, Mr. Zoldyck. And do try to keep up with me."

For one electric moment caught in crystal suspension, Illumi looked very much like he was considering simply slamming you back against the nearest surface and finally slaking the ravenous want blazing between you.

Then, like the steady click of a reloaded round sliding into chamber, his impenetrable mask of control descended once more. Not quite banked...but stoked into a raging, unholy inferno blazing behind those unfathomable dark eyes.

"Perhaps another time," he rasped in a tone that could have scored steel. "We have a job to complete."

With immense force of will, you managed to tear your eyes away from the molten promise simmering in Illumi's gaze. Turning your attention back towards the bedroom, you attempted to refocus on the mission at hand despite the thundering of your pulse.

The mark was still entangled with his female companion, utterly oblivious to the two elite assassins lurking just outside. Their breathless cries and the rhythmic creaking of the bedframe provided a perversely intimate soundtrack that only stoked the banked embers flickering between you and Illumi.

You were vividly aware of the assassin's powerful frame pressed along the line of your backside as you both watched the couple's wanton movements through the cracked doorway. So close, in fact, that you could feel the scorching path of his eyes boring into your body as he drank in every minute reaction.

Despite the fire simmering low in your belly, you couldn't resist one last heated provocation.

Keeping your voice a hushed whisper, you murmured just loudly enough for Illumi's ears alone, "You know...they don't seem to be lacking inspiration at the moment."

You felt the subtle hitch of his breath against your nape at the words, savoring your small victory with no small amount of satisfaction. The upper hand was yours again...for now at least.

"However," you continued, deliberately allowing your hips to cant back fractionally until they brushed against Illumi in suggestion. "If you feel you need more...hands-on education before we proceed, I'm certainly amenable to providing it."

This time there was no mistaking the rasping exhale that spilled from between Illumi's lips, hot and harsh against your sensitized skin. You fought not to shiver at the banked lust given voice in those airless syllables.

"Keep pushing me," he all but growled, the low timbre seeming to vibrate straight through your bones. "And you may get more of an...education than you bargained for, little assassin."

The heated endearment twisted like a brand straight to your core. Your back arched instinctively, pressing your body flush against Illumi's powerful frame before you regained control. But it was too late - the damage had already been wrought.

Illumi dipped his head until his mouth hovered a hairsbreadth from the juncture of your neck and shoulder, his warm breaths fanning torrid patterns of promise along your heated skin. When he spoke again, the words seemed to sear you to your very marrow.

"The real question is...are you finally ready to stop playing games and give in to this?" One calloused finger traced a scorching path down your bodice until it reached the lush swell of your breasts. " Because I promise you, once that line is crossed, there'll be no going back."

In that breathless moment of shared hunger, the rest of the world seemed to fall away until there was nothing else but the two of you. Adversaries, allies, would-be lovers hovering on the exquisite precipice of the inevitable. A yawning chasm of uncharted rapture beckoned just beyond that razor's thin line.

All it would take was one of you finally gathering the courage to let go and leap into the howling abyss. To see where these shuddering tremors of desire ultimately led when allowed to detonate their full, cataclysmic force.

Who would be the one to finally summon the will to take that first step over the edge?

The heated tension thrummed like a livewire between your bodies as you stared one another down through the cracked bedroom door. Illumi's piercing gaze seemed to burn straight through you, sparking liquid fire in your veins and stoking the deepening ache low in your belly.

This had gone far enough. If you didn't act soon, there was no telling how much further this delirious game of provocations could escalate before one of you inevitably combusted.

Squaring your shoulders, you forced your expression into one of taunting nonchalance despite your rabbiting pulse. "Well? Are we going to keep wasting time out here gawking? Or are you finally ready to make your move, assassin?"

A muscle ticked in Illumi's taut jaw as his stare remained unwaveringly intense. You could have sworn his pupils blew wider at your heated challenge. Then, so fast you barely registered the movement, he was on you.

One moment he was a hairsbreadth away, the next your back collided with the wall in a harsh thump. Illumi's powerful frame caged you in as he braced one forearm beside your head, effectively pinning you in place with the hard lines of his body.

"My move?" His voice was little more than a low, gravel-laced rasp against the heated hollow below your ear. "I'm waiting for you to stop playing coy and take what you really want..."

The taunt hung heavy between you, igniting sparks of liquid fire wherever Illumi's body brushed against yours with his slowly decreasing restraint. You could feel the restrained power thrumming through those coiled muscles, the barely leashed predator straining against the final tatters of its restraint.

This was it then. The tipping point where one of you would finally have to take that first, irrevocable plunge and allow the tenuous threads binding you to unravel.

Part of you thrilled at the inevitability of it, at the forbidden knowledge of how utterly incandescent that long-banked inferno would blaze once stoked into full, blinding life. While another part still whispered urgent warnings about the reckless road you were careening towards.

With Illumi pinning you in place and those dark eyes burning molten promise, it would be all too easy to let your resistance finally shatter. To reach out with both hands and pull that lithe, powerful frame against yours while giving in to the howling demands of your body.

To simply let go and allowed yourself to be consumed by the all-encompassing maelstrom.

But you were no helpless victim to your urges - you were a master of discipline, just like Illumi. Which meant you still had one final game to play.

Summoning every last vestrige of your rapidly deteriorating control, you slid your palms up the lacquered plane of Illumi's chest until they came to rest at the juncture of his throat. Letting your fingers brush torrid patterns along the thundering pulse you found there as you tilted your chin up in blatant defiance.

"What I want..." you breathed, allowing your lips to graze Illumi's with slow, searing intent. "Is for you to move out of my way so I can finish this job and collect my payment. All this delicious tension between us is doing nothing except distracting us both."

The barest fractional widening of Illumi's eyes indicated you'd scored a direct hit. Sensing your window of opportunity, you dropped one hand and allowed your fingertips to trace a scorching path down the taut ridges of his abdomen.

"Unless..." You punctuated the hushed whisper by pressing your palm firmly against the rapidly hardening bulge straining against Illumi's tailored slacks. "You'd like me to take care of this distraction for you first?"

For an electric seconds-lasted-eternity heartbeat, Illumi seemed to simply stop breathing altogether. His entire frame went terribly, utterly still apart from the subtle tic working his clenched jaw.

Then finally, after what felt like a small eternity had elapsed between you, he exhaled a single rough syllable. "...Vixen."

The word seemed to reverberate through you both with the distant promise of repercussions.

Your palm pressed firmly against the bulge in Illumi's slacks, allowing your fingers to brush tantalizingly as you murmured your heated challenge. For a suspended heartbeat, muscle ticked in the assassin's chiseled jaw as his obsidian gaze burned into you with molten intensity.

Then, so fast your lashes barely had time to part, Illumi's head dipped and his mouth crashed against yours in a searing, possessive kiss.

You gasped at the white-hot contact, allowing Illumi to deepen the liplock as one calloused hand fisted in your hair to angle your head. His other palm splayed scorchingly against the small of your back, pulling your bodies into rapturous alignment from chest to hip.

The world seemed to burn away until there was nothing but the exquisite friction of his firm planes melding with your softer curves. The dual infernos of your desire stoked higher and hotter with each harsh pants of shared breath and duel of roving tongues.

This was the precipice you'd been hovering over since first laying eyes on the enigmatic Illumi Zoldyck. The point of no return where control finally shredded and allowed your most vibrant urges to detonate into blinding supernova.

Except...you weren't quite ready to plunge over that edge into the abyss. Not yet.

Reaching deep for your last tattered remnants of focus, you allowed one hand to slink down Illumi's powerful backside. Your fingers brushed over the unmistakable shape of his concealed blade, causing the muscles there to twitch in anticipation.

Then, before he could process your gambit, you seized the hilt and wrenched the curved karambit free in one deft motion. Reversing your grip, you shoved hard against Illumi's chest and broke the heated clash of your bodies before whipping the blade up in alusty arc towards the bedroom.

His dark eyes blown wide in a mixture of disbelief and fiery approval as the weapon left a blurring contrail...straight towards the obliviously intertwined figures within.

There was a meaty thunk of impact followed by a truncated scream. But your focus had already shifted to the wide-eyed gape frozen on Illumi's patrician features, savoring every last micro-expression of his disarmed shock.

"Looks like I'll be the one collecting payment tonight after all," you murmured softly before turning on your heel and disappearing into the night.

After all, a girl had to keep her skills...polished for whatever came next.

In the weeks and months following your boldly audacious move against Illumi that night, your paths continued criss-crossing at an uncanny rate. Whether by design or some cruel twist of fate, it seemed the two of you were forever being hired to eliminate the same high-profile targets across the shadowy criminal underworld.

At first, your motivations for one-upping the other revolved solely around claiming the biggest payouts and cinching another notch on your respective body counts. The lucrative assassination contracts became an intense competition - a lethal game of one-upmanship between two masters vying for the same coveted prizes.

Your encounters started taking on an increasingly heated edge as the rivalry escalated. Cat-and-mouse games of sabotage, calculated attempts to undermine each other's efforts or eliminate the other from the playing field entirely. All bets were off when it came to claiming victory over your newfound nemesis.

And yet...you couldn't ignore the persistent, erotic tension that continued simmering like a banked fire no matter how viciously you clashed. The memory of Illumi's powerful frame pinning yours, the lingering phantom burn of his mouth branding your skin indelibly, remained burned into your psyche. Stoking the very embers that should have cooled after that first encounter.

Because despite the underhanded tactics, despite the barbed taunts and bristling antagonism, there was no mistaking the fire that flickered to lurid life in Illumi's lethal gaze whenever you were in proximity. You recognized the look, the molten promise that stormed behind those darkly impenetrable eyes.

This was more than just an intense competition between two elite assassins constantly trying to outmaneuver the other. No, this was a gauntlet thrown - a searing challenge issued between two all-too-willing players itching to dive back into the deliciously torrid inferno ignited that first explosive night.

A breathtaking game of carnal provocation and simmering want layered atop the dangerous, high-stakes duels to see who could claim the biggest prize. Who would ultimately emerge the victor didn't matter nearly as much as getting to sate the scorching need both of you were becoming hopelessly addicted to.

So the chase continued with escalating fervor, leading to increasingly bold displays of sabotage. Like the gala you infiltrated to take out a marks, only to have Illumi materialize like a specter in your periphery. One minute you were setting the kill stage, the next he was looming over you from behind, long fingers snaring your wrist to stay the killing blow as his lips brushed the brimming pulse at your throat.

"Going somewhere...little assassin?" came the dark purr laced with equal parts promise and provocation.

And just like that, the game was afoot once more. The renewed sparks of your heated rivalry fanned into a roaring blaze as you twisted in his steely grasp and lashed out in a vicious return strike. Driving Illumi back in a flurry of grappling limbs and hastily drawn blades as the sounds of the opulent party raged on in mocking ignorance just beyond the curtained alcove.

"I could ask you the same thing," you managed to grit out as the two of you traded blows. Each parry and riposte igniting fresh embers until it was impossible to tell whether your rapidly spiking pulses stemmed from the violence of battle...or something infinitely more primal drawing you both in like cosmic bodies caught in the other's irresistible orbit.

It was only a matter of time before one of your cataclysmic collisions saw that banked fire finally detonating into a conflagration that would consume you both utterly.

The real question was - would either of you have the strength of will to walk away from those searing ashes once the smoke finally cleared?

The intense game of one-upmanship and provocation continued escalating between you and Illumi over the next string of overlapping contracts. Cat-and-mouse games of sabotage and thwarting each other's efforts descended into something far more perilous - a high-stakes, high-adrenaline gauntlet fueled by simmering desire.

You couldn't deny the molten promise that flared white-hot in Illumi's obsidian stare every time your bodies moved through that dangerous danse macabre. The controlled violence of your clashing forms seeming to exist on some higher, erotically-charged plane with rules all its own.

One job saw the two of you grappling viciously in the shadows of an opulent wine cellar, blades whirring in feinting arcs. Heated breaths mingled as you strained against Illumi's powerful frame for dominance, chests heaving in exquisite exertion.

"Getting sloppy, little assassin?" he rasped against the sweat-slicked curve of your neck as one calloused palm pinned your wrist with bruising force. "How terribly...undisciplined."

You snarled wordlessly and managed to wrench partially free, whipping your knee up towards his abdomen. Illumi twisted fluidly at the last second, avoiding the blow but leaving himself fractionally overextended in your personal space.

Seizing your fleeting window, you hooked one leg around his thigh and heaved with all your strength. The world spun in a blur as you reversed positions, slamming Illumi's shoulder blades against the cellar's stone floor with enough force to stun even his preternatural reflexes momentarily.

"You were saying?" you couldn't resist taunting as you used your weight to pin his hips immobile beneath yours. Your palms bracketing Illumi's chiseled features and your faces now only scant inches apart.

His gaze flickered with something utterly incendiary at your bold move. One corner of those soft lips quirked in the barest ghost of a smirk before he arched his lower body with dizzying strength.

The powerful undulation sent shockwaves of forbidden friction lancing through you both. Your breath left in a harsh gasp at the illicit heat now searing your limbs and core from such fleeting contact. Illumi's eyes glittered twin points of unholy promise at breaking through your control.

"My, my...such forthrightness," he practically purred, somehow managing to infuse those innocuous words with carnal sin. "Although if my memory serves, weren't you the one always pressing me to stop toying around and give in fully to our...indulgences?"

Your entire body went taut as tressed steel cords at the blatant callback to that first explosive encounter. The memory of Illumi's searing lips and merciless hands branding your pliant flesh with rapturous possession seared through your mind like a lightning strike. Igniting phantom brushfires in all the secret places his touch had roamed so devastatingly.

You opened your mouth, desperate to hurl back a cutting retort and snuff those banked embers before they could conflagrate completely out of control. But then Illumi shifted minutely, rolling his hips in one subtle, sinuous motion that dragged the jacquard ridge of his slacks against your molten core in the most obscene caress.

The throaty whimper that spilled from your lips would have embarrassed you if not for the exultant gleam that lit Illumi's gaze at the sound. You'd pressed too far and now, finally, the beast was roused to wakefulness. Ready to pursue its ravenous hunger to the only conclusion possible when denied for too ling.

"Well?" His voice had roughened to gravel, dark and dangerous with Alpha promise. "What's it to be, little assassin? Fight..." He punctuated the heated murmur by undulating his hips again in devastatingly perfect alignment. "Or flight?"

Despite the heated altercation in the wine cellar, where you and Illumi had teetered on the very precipice of allowing your combative passions to detonate into something cataclysmic, neither of you actually crossed that line. Not yet.

There were still too many unspoken boundaries, too much history and distrust bred into your very bones as elite assassins to simply let go so recklessly. You were both masters of restraint and discipline, after all. No matter how scorching the embers flickered between you, some part of your formidable natures wouldn't allow that inferno to fully immolate.

Not without a fight, at least.

So the game continued with renewed, blistering fervor. A gauntlet of sabotage, undermining, and all-out attempts to eliminate one another from the face of the earth whenever your latest target's trails intertwined. And yet, underneath the professional violence and searing glares...the undercurrent of bone-deep, electrifying want only intensified.

You became hyper-attuned to even Illumi's slightest movements, the way his lithe form uncoiled with leonine grace whenever you crossed paths. The anticipation built with every measured look exchanged, every blistering brush of heated bodies through the chaos of battle.

It was as if you were both engaging in some intricate occult ritual - dancing ever closer to the brink of total immolation through escalating circles of seduction and provocation. Stoking those banked embers hotter and brighter until they threatened to detonate into a conflagration that would raze your very souls.

The next job saw the two of you prowling the dimly-lit lesser echelons of Yorknew's underground aurodium exchange. Bitter professional rivals once more in pursuit of taking out a wealthy nerodist and claiming their bounty. And yet, the moment you registered Illumi's presence slinking through the rafters high above, a delicious frisson lanced straight to your very core.

With the ease of long practice, you slipped into the calculated motions of your craft. Felling guards with surgical efficiency while angling your assault towards the prime vantage that would allow you to spotting and eliminating the mark.

Only this time, as you moved into final position with your weapon prepped and sights aligned...you tracked the steady grip of Illumi's drawn blade from your periphery. Following the clean lines of those flexing forearms and upwards to find the other assassin's flinty gaze locked on you from across the cavernous space.

A lightning-struck heartbeat of bristling eye contact passed between you and you knew, with absolute certainty, that he'd marked you as his real target for the evening. Not your intended victim, but something far more primal and insatiable.

The tiniest fractional tilt of those sculpted lips curved into the ghost of his maddening half-smirk. An unspoken challenge blazed in the turbulent depths watching you with utterly unbroken intensity. A molten invitation to tear the world asunder and finally give in to the searing waltz you'd been breathlessly pursuing for months...years...

With him, there would be no holding back this time. No final shreds of control leashing the wildfire about to detonate if you surrendered to the ultimate provocation. This was the gauntlet centuries in the making - the ultimate collision between two unstoppable forces of nature who refused to be denied their cataclysmic release.

All it would take was a single shot, a hairsbreadth turn of your wrist adjusting your aim towards...

The weighted look you shared with Illumi across the cavernous underground exchange stretched into an infinitely charged moment. For a suspended heartbeat, the world seemed to go utterly still apart from the twin points of banked fire flickering in the other assassin's gaze.

A unspoken ultimatum simmered between you, laced with the dark promise that whatever this delirious game between you had been escalating towards all along...the tipping point was finally, inexorably here.

One subtle twitch of your gun's muzzle was all it would take to reject the insistent pull towards complete ruination. To turn your sights back towards the original mark, reignite the familiar dance of brinksmanship between professional adversaries, and walk away from the inferno altogether.

Or...

You could finally indulge the scorching, increasingly inescapable urge that seemed to howl through your every atom whenever Illumi's electrifying presence manifested nearby. Embrace the irresistible gravity drawing your bodies into nearer and nearer orbits with each smoldering exchange until the inevitable cosmic collision.

There would be no returning from that eternal plunge into rapturous oblivion should you choose to allow these tensions to finally detonate. No scrap of restraint or control remaining once you surrendered utterly to this deliciously untenable heat steadily reducing you both to cinders.

Illumi seemed to read the warring impulses battering you in that loaded moment. His chin dipped near-infinitesimally in a minute nod of understanding...and challenge. The next calculated inhalation saw his broad chest expanding subtly, rolling those taut pectoral ridges forward in a deliberate display of the coiled power thrumming beneath his tailored clothing.

It was a patently blatant gesture of provocation, one final taunt issued by a supremely Alpha predator impatient to rouse their prey into taking flight or standing their heated ground.

Your fingers tightened fractionally on your weapon's grip as that undeniable spark of adrenaline - of primal, churning want - ignited low in your abdomen. With each subsequent measured breath you were acutely aware of Illumi's piercing stare watching your every microreaction, hungrily searching for the instant your carefully cultivated control finally reached its terminal breaking point.

When the simmering lava flow of need you had both been so desperately attempting to dam finally found its inevitable lahar vent.

The molten promise flickered in your blood like a wildfire about to conflagrate into raging inferno. But you refused to be goaded quite so easily this time. Not when so much...so much uncharted potential for absolute rapture hung trembling in the balance.

No, if Illumi was finally ready to truly start this ancient dance anew, you were going to make the insufferable bastard work for his catharsis. Every... torturously...delicious...inch of the way.

Drawing your lips into a small, taunting smirk of your own, you allowed your gun's aim to drift lazily away from the foolish target cowering across the hall. Let the momentary confusion play out in Illumi's eyes even as the twin flames of anticipation and heated approval kindled brighter in those endlessly deep pools.

Then, with exaggerated indolence, you blew out a soft breath and adjusted your stance into an exquisite stretch that saw every lush curve of your body pulling taut against your form-fitting garments. Your tongue peeked out to lave a slow, deliberate pass across your lower lip as you drank in the thunderstruck look now suffusing Illumi's chiseled features.

If this was to be the opening overture to your ultimate freefall from the heavens...you were going to make certain every soul-searing note rang clearly.

The air itself seemed to thicken and churn with a palpable static charge as you boldly held Illumi's molten stare from across the sprawling exchange floor. This was it - the pivotal moment when one of you would finally have to be the first to recklessly leap over the yawning abyss separating professionalism from total rapturous ruination.

You could practically taste the scorching inevitability gathering like stormheads as Illumi's eyes raked over every subtle undulation of your provocative stretch. Hungrily drinking in the blatant offering presented by your arched spine and the tantalizing swell of your figure pulled taut against restrictive fabrics.

Deciding to further stoke those banked embers into an inferno, you allowed your free hand to slowly, exaggeratedly trail up the contours of your body. Fingertips tracing patterns of liquid fire from the dip of your navel, over the generous curves of your breasts, until finally coming to rest with pointed emphasis at the hollow of your throat.

You heard - or perhaps imagined, given the heated maelstrom battering your senses - Illumi's sharp inhalation from across the space separating your bodies. Like a wolf sent into hyperfocus by the first tantalizing notes of a howl carried through the underbrush.

Throwing your head back with deliberate indolence, you exposed the long pale column of your neck in unspoken invitation. A primal offering encoded into the most ancient submissive posturing...and a blatant challenge to the virile apex predator watching your every move with undisguised, ravenous intent.

Illumi's blade still hung at his side, utterly disregarded and forgotten in the wake of your escalating provocations. His stare had turned utterly unblinking, shoulders rising and falling in an irregular cadence as he seemed to commit every detail of your taunting display to smoldering memory.

This was quickly becoming untenable for you both. You could feel that final fraying thread of restraint thinning to a mere filament despite all your training, all your carefully cultivated icy control. Soon...so very soon one of you was bound to be the first to snap and finally give in to the howling needs baying for release.

A part of you thrilled with dark, lurid delight at the thought of utter surrender. To give in fully to this feverish, churning rapture and be unmade then remade anew in the searing, primal crucible promised by becoming intimately entwined with Illumi Zoldyck at long last.

But another part, that iron kernel of stubbornness and pride hardwired into your every atom, refused to simply give quarter so easily after coming this far. Let the pretentious assassin be the first to lose his way...to expose the chinks in his oh-so-indomitable armor of control.

A game of chicken, then. Pushing your taunts and provocations until that final spool of resistance began to splinter and fray completely. Daring the other to finally reach out and wrench apart the remaining tatters keeping your mutual inferno tightly banked.

You quirked one shapely brow in heated challenge as your palm continued its torturously languid trail up your sternum. Rolling your shoulders back to accentuate the profound swell of your breasts rising and falling with each increasingly ragged breath. Taking your time to adjust your stance and position just enough to ensure Illumi's darkly turbulent gaze drifted helplessly to the riot of movement.

Then, punctuating the silence that had gone utterly static in the air between you, your fingertips grazed maddeningly light patterns over the achingly sensitized skin above the neckline of your top.

"So, handsome...." you all but purred, giving voice to the sinful endearment that seemed to resonate like a thunderclap in the tiny cosmos contained within this electrified moment. "Ready to ante up? Or should I stop...wasting your time?"

The loaded silence that fell between you and Illumi seemed to stretch into a small eternity as the unspoken challenge hung white-hot in the thickened air. You could practically see the twin firestorms raging behind those depthless obsidian pools as he drank in your taunting words and provocative display.

For one faltering heartbeat, his harsh features appeared to fracture ever-so-slightly - that impenetrable façade of control cracking under the impossible strain you were ruthlessly exerting. Calloused fingers visibly flexed against the hilt of his forgotten blade as if contemplating simply hurling the weapon aside entirely.

Then, just as you began to savor the first fissures in his meticulously cultivated restraint...Illumi inhaled one measured breath through flared nostrils. Committing what seemed like every atom of his formidable willpower into steadying that hairline fracture from shattering wide open.

When his gaze finally returned to yours, it burned with searing intensity - but also something altogether more potent and inexorable. A primordial acknowledgment of the seismic shift that had just occurred in this delirious match of provocation between you.

Lines had been indelibly drawn, boundaries obliterated in the wake of your combined rising tide of lust and dogged oneupmanship. There could be no more feints or strategic maneuvers, no further illusion of maintaining a last veneered pretense of professionalism.

This had irrevocably, irretrievably become the main Event - capital E - you had both been hurtling towards across uncounted nights of fleeting, charged intersections. A terminal collision rapidly approaching that would see one of your formidable natures bent past its tensile limit and finally shattered by the sheer cataclysmic force involved.

The only remaining variables were who would provide that final devastating overture...and what unholy havoc would be wrought in its smoldering, cinder-strewn aftermath.

Illumi shifted almost imperceptibly, squaring his shoulders as if bracing himself to withstand the oncoming onslaught. You watched the subtle flexing of his throat as he swallowed once, seeming to steel his resolve before replying in that maddeningly mild timbre that somehow made every syllable resonate like stroking hands over bared nerves.

"Why don't you come over here..." he murmured with quiet, lethally-coiled intensity, "...And find out for yourself whether either of us will be wasting each other's time tonight?"

The blatant heat laden into those softly issued words triggered an involuntary shiver from the base of your spine to the nape of your neck. For a single suspended breath, the very world itself seemed to teeter upon the precipice, awaiting your ultimate response.

Would you finally gather every last scrap of your mettle and call Illumi's brazenly provocative dare? Yielding fully to the siren call awaiting in that precipitous, looming abyss that had steadily been unraveling your tightly-bound controls for months now?

Or would some fragment of your rationale, of your assassin's creed to never allow distractions or entanglements, manage to sheath itself in composure one final time? Withdrawing from this rapidly deteriorating conflict before you both rent the very fabric of existence to burning threads?

The heady choice was suddenly, perilously, yours alone to make...

A dozen different impulses battled for control as you weighed Illumi's bold, heated challenge. Part of you thrilled at the dark, smoldering promise carried in those murmured words - an unspoken vow that should you dare meet his provocation, he would finally unleash the full, merciless force of his long-restrained desire upon you.

The thought sparked molten tendrils of liquid fire lancing straight to your core. You couldn't deny the feverish allure of being one of the rare few to pierce the Zoldyck assassin's impenetrable walls and expose the primal, savagely rapacious need lying in wake beneath.

To clasp the tiger's jaws and feel its searing exhalations scorch your very essence...it was undeniably, perversely intriguing in a way that stoked your own deepest, most untoward cravings.

And yet, another part of you - that kernel of flint-stubborn pride and discipline bred into your elite bone and marrow - balked at the thought of simply surrendering so easily. Of allowing Illumi the satisfaction of rattling you into compliance first, no matter how deliriously tempting the rewards promised on the other side.

No...if this scorching waltz was to reach its exquisite, world-rendering crescendo, you refused to acquiesce to being the first player to blink.

Dragging your heavy-lidded gaze up to meet Illumi's in a blatant display of haughty dismissal, you carved one side of your mouth into a slashing smirk. The expression didn't come close to reaching your eyes, which had turned to glittering metallic flints of challenge.

"Well well, Mr. Zoldyck..." You traced the very tip of your tongue along your lower lip with exaggerated indolence. "I have to admit, you've piqued my interest with that...spicy little invitation."

You punctuated the husked words by allowing your palms to glide sinuously down the lush terrain of your body. Over the generous flare of your hips, the taut feminine curves accentuated by your form-fitting garments, all the way until your fingertips tucked purposefully into your waistband.

Illumi's own fingertips audibly tightened against the hilt of his discarded blade as his stare raptly tracked your display. The smoldering promise in those endlessly deep pools had shifted into something rawer...more wantonly naked the longer you drew out toying with his composure.

Leaning forward slightly to emphasis the profound swell of your cleavage straining against your top's plunging neckline, you clicked your tongue in exaggerated disappointment.

"Unfortunately...I don't have time to waste entertaining your particular brand of gratuitous urges tonight."

Illumi's features seemed to fracture almost imperceptibly at your dismissive words. That molten veneer of restraint now paper-thin as those hooded, predatory eyes bored into yours with searing intensity. Silently demanding elaboration as to whether you were truly intending to withdraw from the brink after so relentlessly stoking the inferno between you both.

Unable to resist one final goad, you faked a theatrically disingenuous pout before slowly, sinuously hitching your hips in a subtle roll of exquisite provocation. "But don't worry, handsome...I'm sure we'll have the chance to pick this back up another time. When you've had the chance to...cool that notoriously intense ardor of yours."

The twitch that rippled across Illumi's chiseled jawline indicated your taunt scored a direct hit. You could practically see the sheer force of that pent-up ardor battering against the remaining brittle shards of his restraint like a maelstrom hurling itself against a rapidly crumbling dam's gatehouse.

"Until then..." You held his heated stare unflinchingly as you turned on one heel in a swirl of skirts. Already anticipating the seething inferno of denied hunger and frustrated need that would surely be etched across Illumi's expression over your shoulder.

"Try not to burn yourself up from the inside, Zoldyck."

Not giving the danger dance between you both so much as a parting glance, you slipped away into the abyss as silent and ethereal as death's whisper itself.

Leaving the other half of your exquisite struggle to contend with the roiling, savagely thunderous tempest clawing at his admittedly formidable composure in your swirling wake.

-

The dimly lit lounge pulsed with the sort of charged, illicit energy that draws hunters and their prey alike into its neon-hazed aura. Perfect for your current mission of luring the despicable mark into a strategic seduction before neutralizing him.

You'd coiled yourself sinuously onto one of the banquettes ringing the central bar, making sure to catch the sleazebag's rapt attention from across the room. A few carefully timed hair-tosses and coquettish glances over the rim of your cocktail glass were all it took before he began making his way over.

Straightening your spine, you allowed one sculpted leg to arc provocatively as you prepared to reel your next victim in completely. This was the part you truly excelled at - donning whatever irresistible lure was required to ensnare your targets before coldly reaping them for your employer's highest bid.

Except this time, your eyes barely had a chance to flutter open with feigned demureness before a presence materialized beside your banquette like a wraith coalescing from the lounge's smoky shadows.

"There you are, my dearest wife. You really shouldn't wander off from me like that in places like this."

The flat, eerily toneless baritone sliced through the throbbing bassline and caused you to stiffen in stunned recognition. Because of course the insufferable Illumi Zoldyck would materialize to undermine you again right when you were working.

As if the netherworld's cruelest cosmic joke, the assassin slid into the booth beside you uninvited and shifted until his tailored form was plastered uncaringly against your side. One long arm snaked around your waist to draw you in tighter against his body in a shockingly intimate embrace.

"I-Illumi, what the hell do you think you're—" you tried to spit out through gritted teeth, but he cut you off.

"Darling, is that any way to greet your beloved husband after being separated for so long?" His tone remained that same mild, laconic drawl even as one corner of those soft lips curved slightly in a mockery of a fond smile.

The effect was undeniably unsettling...and also indescribably simmering in the most unfurly way your rational mind refused to dwell on right now.

You opened your mouth to angrily protest his absurd charade further, but Illumi made a clicking tutting sound before leaning in close enough for his fiery exhales to ghost your cheek.

"Play along nicely," he murmured in a tone that somehow made the innocuous endearment sound purgatorially hot against your skin. "Unless you'd like me to blow your cover over there and ruin all your hard work seducing that pathetic mark?"

The subtle tip of his chin indicated where your actual intended target had frozen halfway across the lounge floor. One beefy hand still outstretched from where he'd been rudely interrupted while on his prowl by this insane scene.

Jaw clenched in seething frustration, you nevertheless recognized the fact that Illumi had effortlessly gained the upper hand here as per usual. If you tried to slip away now, he'd no doubt make good on derailing your entire operation out of pure petty vindictiveness.

Which meant you had no choice except to allow the other assassin his little heterosexual homelife play, at least for the moment. Whatever deranged game of wits Illumi thought he was playing at, you'd find a way to subtly regain control sooner than later.

Favoring him with your sweetest, most vapid smile, you leaned in until your cheeks brushed provocatively together under the guise of issuing a fond greeting kiss between "lovers."

"There's my wonderfully overbearing darling," you practically purred with dripping saccharine against Illumi's jaw. "And here I was beginning to worry you'd never show up after keeping me waiting all this time..."

One elegant brow arched a hairsbreadth as Illumi allowed his palm to slip south and settle overtly possessive against your hip. The heat singeing the patterns his merciless fingertips traced there made it impossible to suppress a subtle shiver.

"Now now, pet..." The molten whisper vibrated straight through your sternum and pooled heavy in your abdomen. "We both know I'd never abandon such a deliciously...obedient wife for long."

He punctuated the provocative words by slanting you a weighted look rife with dark, unspoken promise. In that heated moment, it was impossible to tell if you were playing the part of wanton newlyweds or something...else entirely more intimate and primal.

One thing was certain - your night had irrevocably been knocked off its already unsteady axis courtesy of your most infuriatingly persistent rival.

And you had a sinking suspicion this was Illumi's idea of well-earned payback for all the delicious torment you'd put him through as of late.

Illumi's grip tightened infinitesimally against your hip as his gaze remained locked in that same simmering, unblinking stare. The two of you were rapidly spiraling into hazy, uncharted territory where realities seemed to blur and distort like a mirage's shimmering heatwaves.

Was this truly just some absurd, inexplicable attempt at sabotaging your mission objectives? Or had the circuitous game of provocations and heated oneupmanship between you progressed to the point of this being Illumi's next daring gambit to unravel you completely?

You found yourself momentarily adrift, unsure whether you should be playing along with the farce of his imposed "loving spouse" charade...or abandoning the pretense altogether in favor of something far more visceral. After all, didn't a situation like this technically represent yet another incendiary gauntlet offered between two willing combatants spoiling for their next pyric clash?

Just as you were weighing how to finally shatter the tension electrifying the air between your bodies, Illumi took the decision out of your hands. In one lithe, unsettlingly sensuous motion, he turned and swung one leg over your lap until he was straddling you brazenly.

"You have no idea how long I've been dreaming about getting you all to myself like this," he murmured in that same lethally mild cadence that somehow made every syllable drip with sinful intent. "Since our last...indulgence, the thought of tasting that pretty, defiant little mouth of yours again has been an agonizing craving, my dear, wicked wife."

The seemingly innocuous terms of endearment landed like smoldering brands against your already feverish skin. This was beyond even his usual provocations, beyond the taunting flirtations and increasingly blurred lines you'd been toying with together for months now.

No, this felt deeper...more primal. Like Illumi was showing his teeth at last in a truly unrestrained display of the blistering, unholy need both of you had been stoking to roaring life.

Still, you refused to surrender the upper hand - or what shredded composure remained - quite so easily. Arching one challenging brow, you shifted deliberately against his weight settled over your thighs and feigned an indolent stretch.

"Oh my, you certainly have a way with pretty words, don't you handsome?" you lilted with exaggerated nonchalance. "But we both know you'd never have the patience to indulge in all this unnecessary foreplay first."

Punctuating your veiled dare, you allowed one hand to drift upwards and cup the taut swell of Illumi's pectoral beneath the sleek tailoring of his suit. Tracing scorchingly deliberate lines along the defined ridges and valleys there in an utterly unambiguous caress.

"Why don't you get around to showing this supposedly wicked wife of yours just how thorough your...appetites truly are instead of wasting both of our time?"

The resounding crash of glass shattering against the far side of the lounge barely even registered over the sudden, leaden weight of tension surging like a riptide between you at your provocative words. Every atom of the known universe seemed to grind to a screeching halt, awaiting Illumi's reaction with bated finality.

Then, like ignition finding an oxyacetylene mix, every last thread of that fabled Zoldyck restraint appeared to unspool in one fell immolation behind those blazing dark eyes. His entire frame stilled to such dead raptorial focus that you nearly missed the hairline fractures of composed control now webbing across his chiseled features.

When he spoke at last, the words emerged in a rough, gravel-laced rasp so devastatingly virile your core clenched in reflexive response.

"Game...bloody...on, then."

And with that softly intoned vow laced with portent, Illumi's hips rolled forward in one lethally precise undulation tailored to grind his hardening cock against your molten center. Stoking the smoldering embers now blazing between you anew as you surrendered to this latest, most brutal round of chicken.

A harsh gasp punched from your lungs before you could strangle it at the shockwaves of searing friction radiating from Illumi's calculated grind against your sensitized flesh. He felt it too - the infinitesimal tremor racing through your joined bodies - if the way his piercing stare sharpened into dark, unholy approval was any indication.

"I-Illumi..." you managed to rasp out in what was meant as an admonition. But the breathy quaver twisting your tone transformed the utterance into something far more akin to pleading persuasion.

Damn him for always managing to unravel you so utterly with even the subtlest of calculated provocations. This entire scenario was quickly spiraling beyond the boundaries of playful oneupmanship and into territories unexplored...and highly dangerous for ones of your ilk to tread.

Summoning the tattered remnants of your restraint, you settled both palms firmly against the assassin's powerful chest with the intent of forcibly creating space. Of regaining whatever tenuous grasp on rational control one of you still possessed before--

The scorching words that spilled like sin from Illumi's lips shattered that feeble line of defense before you could even draw your next strained inhalation.

"Yes..." he husked, each consonant seeming to etch itself into your very marrow. "Say my name like that again, wife. Let me hear that honeyed desperation dripping from your lips just once more."

Punctuating the dark command, he shifted subtly, rearranging his weight so that those merciless hips ground down in another searing, lushly undulating roll that dragged deliciously against your scorched center.

A strangled, mewling sound you didn't recognize as your own punched from your core at the rapturous assault. Every atom of your existence suddenly seemed to white out into pure electrified nerves pulsing in exquisite, delirious rapture at Illumi's continued calculated onslaught.

Some distant, fraying part of your consciousness registered that you were rapidly losing whatever strategic foothold remained in regaining control of this rapidly devolving situation. Illumi was a grand master at subjugation through the sheer merciless application of exquisitely unleashed desire.

And with your restraints being whittled to shreds beneath that implacable storm of his relentlessly stoked passions, it was only a matter of agonizing moments before you succumbed to the lancing siren call and surrendered everything to its searing raptures...

Clawing for one final, flimsy lifeline of composure, you rasped out a desperate deflection laced with as much hauteur as you could desperately muster through the fractures in your mask.

"Y-You arrogant...ingrate," you managed to grit out with a defiant curl of your lips. "Did you really think this pathetic attempt at mind games would be enough to make me buckle to your vile appetites?"

As if dealing the deathblow to any delusion you wielded the upper hand, Illumi arched one eloquent brow and delivered a punishingly precise hip roll that sent galaxies of white-hot exquisite rapture blazing through your shuddering form.

"We'll just have to see about that now, won't we...pet?"

And with one last salacious grind of his weight settled fully over your now trembling thighs, Illumi suddenly disengaged. His formidable frame rising from your tangled forms in one effortlessly sinuous motion, leaving you utterly disoriented and bereft in the smoldering wake of his denial.

"Wait--" The pleading syllable wrenched itself free before you could mercifully strangle it. But by then Illumi was already turning on his heel to melt back into the dizzying lounge's shadows with that same inscrutable half-smile ghosting the firm line of his mouth.

When your lust-addled brain finally reconnected with reality, the jacquard evidence of your unwound state remained prominently displayed in your lap as a dark, taunting promise. One Illumi clearly had no compunctions leaving you to wrestle with as the ultimate testament to your loss of control in this latest round.

The silken flogger's tails slipped through your uncoordinated fingers as you attempted to rise unsteadily to your feet, every fiber of your being strung taut and vibrating like a live wire brought to the searing edge of rapturous obliteration without release.

When next you and your incessantly provoking rival crossed paths, this latest slight would not go unanswered.

One way...or literally another.

The dingy back-alley reeked of stale city grit and burnt adrenaline as you slipped through the shadows towards your target's ramshackle hideout. This was meant to be a clean, straightforward operation - tail the mark, neutralize him while he was unaware, collect payment, ghost away into the night once more.

At least, that's what should have transpired if the universe hadn't seen fit to thoroughly upend your best-laid calculations yet again.

You sensed his disquieting presence a split-second before the shadows themselves seemed to coalesce that lithe, unsettlingly familiar form beside you. Of course the insufferable Illumi Zoldyck would materialize to undermine your objective, just like every other infuriating time your paths intersected.

"You again..." you hissed lowly, muscles instinctively coiling as your free hand strayed towards the concealed blade at your hip. "What are you doing here, Zoldyck?"

One dark brow arched fractionally as Illumi regarded you with that same unshakable, vaguely reptilian calm he always exuded on the job. As if you weren't even worth the trouble of being rattled, let alone engaged with directly.

"Isn't it obvious?" came his flat response after a loaded pause. "We've been hired for the same mark again. Although at this rate, I have to start questioning whether you're simply stalking me on purpose."

You scoffed harshly at the barb, fighting to ignore the familiar flutter of that delicious, precarious tension now crackling between your bodies with the ease of long practice. As if the sight of this particular rival alone wasn't enough to set your pulse thundering precipitously these days.

"You're delusional as always if you think I have any interest in your company beyond putting a dagger in your back," you growled, squaring off into an unmistakably confrontational stance. "Either get out of my way, or--"

"Or what?" Illumi cut you off smoothly, somehow managing to loom over you despite the scant inches separating your heights. "You'll attempt to make a show of seducing me as usual? We've been down this fruitless road before, pet. Many times now."

His piercing stare somehow seemed to undress you down to your thrumming marrow despite every stitch of clothing firmly in place. Daring you with those banked embers searing behind hooded lids to finally be the first to ignite the maelstrom openly raging between you beyond the point of control.

You opened your mouth to hurl back a cutting retort...and in that infinitesimal window of distraction, a harsh clatter sounded from the abandoned building.

Both your heads whipped around in unison as the mark burst through the rear egress with a startled cry, clearly spooked by your presences lurking nearby. He didn't so much as register your outstretched forms before wheeling and bolting towards the narrow alley's mouth with startling swiftness.

"You imbecile!" Illumi snarled in a rare show of true anger as he exploded into pursuit. "Don't let him—"

But you were already moving, fury propelling your strides into a flat sprint as you flung yourself into the chase with wild abandon. This contract was yours, damn his interference, and you'd carved out your grisly reputation bathed in the sorts of stunts that would see lesser assassins martyred without quarter.

The world compressed into a howling vortex of thundering adrenaline as you rapidly closed the scant distance separating you and the panicking mark. Some distant, rational part of you registered Illumi's pounding strides tight on your heels like a mercilessly inexorable shadow about to swallow the both of you whole.

You were almost close enough to reach out and seize your quarry's flailing coattails...when he veered sharply towards a narrow side street and hurled a discarded plank of scrap lumber directly into your hurtling path.

The unexpected projectile caught you squarely in the midsection with crushing force, punching the air from your lungs in a devastated rush.

You doubled over, gasping for escaped breath as Illumi predictably shouldered past you without a shred of hesitation or concern for your well-being. Even as you flailed, temporarily winded on the verge of blacking out, his tenacious footfalls rapidly faded up the side alley as he relentlessly pursued the mark alone.

That insufferable, ruthless, single-minded--

The blistering haze of fury galvanized your senses back into razor-sharp clarity just in time to steady your strides. Honing every atom of your being into a fine, piercing point of lethal focus as you rounded the corner after them with scarcely a moment's delay.

The sight that awaited you, however, was one you could never have anticipated in a thousand lifetimes of assassination.

The narrow side street was utterly deserted apart from Illumi standing frozen in the center, body taut as a bowstring yet somehow radiating palpable waves of disbelief and restrained fury.

You felt your own volcanic anger briefly stunted as you took in the bizarre scene, gaze hastily tracking for any sign of the mark. There was nothing - no cowering form stuffed in a nook, no telltale scuffs indicating his path of escape. It was as if the wretched target had simply...vanished into thin air.

"What the hell happened?" you bit out once close enough for Illumi to inevitably sense your presence beside him. "Don't tell me that after all your bravado, the sniveling coward actually managed to evade the great Illumi Zoldyck too."

His jaw tightened infinitesimally at your barbed taunt, shoulders squaring like a panther preparing to leap as he finally pivoted to face you head-on. Up close, you could make out the scorching embers flickering to lurid life behind those onyx depths.

"On the contrary," he gritted out in that terribly mild tone that somehow laced every syllable with simmering menace. "Your blundering ineptitude is what allowed this failure to transpire."

You scoffed harshly at the accusation, rigor returning to your muscles as you matched Illumi's defensive stance in an instinctive mirror. "That's rich coming from a self-aggrandizing fool who couldn't neutralize a sedated invalid without making an operatic spectacle of it!"

"I had the situation well in hand," he fired back without missing a beat, somehow managing to loom inches from your face despite the negligible difference separating your statures. So close, in fact, that you were forced to tip your chin upwards as his heated breaths fanned scorching patterns across your cheekbones. "It was your delayed involvement that provided our mark with the opening to flee in the first place."

Some distant part of your consciousness recognized the perilous territory you were both veering towards - the razor-thin tightrope separating this heated confrontation and the sort of unfettered conflagration destined to consume you if either slipped. Every muscle quivered with rigorous discipline as you fought against the molten urge to simply surge forward and unleash the full tempest howling between your strained bodies.

But Illumi's uncanny gaze glittered with something darker, more primal than usual professional antagonism. Like he recognized the churning cusp you stood balanced upon just as acutely...and was silently daring you to make the first calamitous leap over the edge into oblivion.

"Just admit you're in over your inferior skull and stand down before you truly become a liability," he murmured in a soft, smoke-laced rasp that somehow brooked no compromise. "This assignment requires a defter hand than your usual heavy-handed antics can provide."

The patronizing undercurrent sliced straight through whatever tattered self-restraint you'd been clinging to like a man overboard clutching driftwood. Something inside you finally snapped with an almost audible reverberation as every ounce of pent-up tension detonated in searing release.

The next thing you registered was your fist impacting Illumi's chiseled jaw with a resounding thunk of impact, snapping his head aside with enough force to splinter bone on a lesser assassin. A bloom of crimson erupted from his nostril, trailing garnet rivulets down towards those merciless lips.

You staggered backwards, chest heaving rapid breaths that didn't come close to slaking the bonfire ignited in your veins. Illumi simply remained rooted where he stood, expression inscrutable as he slowly turned that penetrating obsidian stare back towards you.

Measuring every scintilla of your disheveled, furiously wound state with those hooded lids brimming embers of primal promise...and incendiary approval at what he found blazing there.

In that infinite breath, the entire universe ground to a standstill around you - awaiting one minuscule push to send it all spiraling gloriously, unstoppably, into rapturous cataclysm.

"Well then..." Illumi husked at last as his lips curved into an unholy grin of salacious satisfaction. "I suppose we're finally going to see which of us breaks first after all these heated dalliances, little assassin..."

A heartbeat of leaden suspension stretched between you, trembling on that ultimate precipice as the decision hovered suspended on a wisp of fate.

Then, as if tasting release on the arid desert wind for the first time, the flood walls fractured and the deluge came raging through.

Your second haymaker slammed into Illumi's jaw with enough brutal force to make even his preternatural reflexes falter. He absorbed the bone-rattling impact with an animalistic grunt, dark eyes blazing like newly stoked coals in the instant before he retaliated.

One calloused palm whipped up to snare your wrist mid-swing before you could unleash a third wild strike. With almost negligent ease, he wrenched your arm back across your body until your back collided with the alley's grungy brickwork. The breath punched from your lungs in a harsh wheeze as Illumi pinned you there, bodies aligned in searing alignment from crown to toe.

For one suspended eternity, you remained frozen in that tableau - potential combatants sizing each other up before mutually deciding to discard the final tottering remnants of restraint instead. The maelstrom neither of you had possessed the discipline to resist any longer.

Then, as if some cosmic switch had been thrown, you simultaneously surged forward to crash together like superheated bodies in an unstoppable fusion reaction.

Illumi's hands were everywhere, mercilessly possessive as they clamped around your waist and hips to haul your weight flush against his powerful frame. Your own fingers fisted into the starched lapels of his jacket with bruising intensity, relishing the harsh judder of muscle and bone you felt beneath fine linen.

His lips slanted over yours in a calculated brand of pure possession, tongue spearing past your parted defenses to stake its dominance with each scorching duel. You gasped shudderingly into the onslaught, giving as ravenously as you received while surrendering to the searing tidal wave of need crashing through your veins.

Somewhere distantly, the night sky above shuddered with the banshee wail of sirens and the cacophonous thunder of the city's lifeblood roiling all around you. But the rest of the world may as well have ceased revolving entirely for how little you registered outside this infinitesimal maelstrom of sensation and primal, unholy rapture.

You were the sole wellspring and terminus, the stratonic forces converging in an explosive lambda implosion that would render everything beyond to smoldering ash within its transfigurative wake.

Illumi broke the liplock only to trail his merciless ministrations along the vulnerable curve of your neck, teeth and tongue staking out lush patterns of possession as he went. Each harsh scrape and searing exhalation sent fresh shockwaves of electrified need straight to your thrumming core. You arched shamelessly into his frame, silently pleading for more of his exquisite ruination through the spiral of rapidly deteriorating control.

Any last vestige of proprietary fled as your wandering hands sought out the hard, flexing ridges of Illumi's body sheathed beneath perfectly tailored fabric. Stroking, teasing, peeling layers back to uncover more and more of his predatory brutality clawing vindictively to the surface now. You were utterly intoxicated on it - the raw, uninhibited power radiating from Illumi's very essence as all the tangled threads of restraint frayed into oblivion between your devouring bodies.

This was the long-overdue precipice you'd been balancing upon since that very first, fateful clash between professional talents. An inevitability distilled and condensed down to its purest molecular essence until only one irrefutable terminus remained - searing raptures and utter, irrevocable ruination for whatever dared linger on after.

The sharp snap of fabric being rent from its seam jolted your senses back to the moment just as Illumi's hands slipped beneath the hem of your top. He tore his mouth from the bruised hollow of your throat with a harsh gasp, chest heaving with the same ragged respirations racking your own form.

His pupils were blown wide, black as the void behind the glittering, unfettered flames licking across their surface. As if the sight of you, already thoroughly undone beneath his hands, was the most beautiful, rapturous vision he'd ever witnessed in his lifetime.

You barely had a chance to catch your breath before his hands were at your waist, lifting you with preternatural ease until your thighs locked instinctively around his hips and your back hit the unforgiving brickwork. His palms slid up to settle beneath the supple curves of your ass, gripping so fiercely you suspected the prints would be tattooed there for weeks to come.

Illumi rolled his pelvis in a slow, languorous undulation that made your head drop back with a desperate mewl. The rigid heat straining against his slacks dragged tortuously across the soaked front of your leggings, the friction sending molten shivers ricocheting through every atom of your body.

He repeated the motion with that same agonizing rhythm, savoring every strangled cry and breathless plea that spilled from your lips at his leisurely torment. Until the only words remaining in your vocabulary were a garbled litany of his name and a fevered begging for more.

You'd never felt such unbridled, visceral need before, a tempestuous vortex of pure fire and electricity threatening to devour you from the inside out if he didn't satiate it right here and now.

Illumi's teeth were suddenly at your neck again, dragging along the delicate pulse fluttering beneath your jaw with a growl that seemed to originate from the very pits of hell. "So impatient," he chastised against the delicate shell of your ear, the gravel-laced baritone dripping with pure sin. "My impatient, wanton little wife."

Before you could protest, his hips snapped forward with a force that stole the air from your lungs and rattled your very bones. Every nerve ignited, the white-hot pleasure-pain so exquisite it nearly sent you spiraling over the edge right then and there.

You clung to his broad shoulders for dear life, the seams of your leggings stretching thin as Illumi's relentless pistoning threatened to shred the fabric altogether. Each ruthless thrust of his hips drove his cock against the molten seam of your center, grinding his thick, straining ridge over your clit with unerring precision.

Your climax was rapidly coiling to the bursting point, every atom of your being strung to fever pitch as you careened towards the inevitable, obliterating oblivion. Illumi's mouth had resumed its merciless assault on the sensitive hollow of your neck, sucking and biting with punishing intent until you were certain there'd be no mistaking the marks left behind.

As if every inch of your body wasn't already branded indelibly by his touch, the thought of being left with tangible, lingering proof of his claiming stoked the inferno inside you to a roaring frenzy.

The seams of your leggings finally gave way just as Illumi tugged his own pants down, the fabric tearing beneath the relentless friction of Illumi's assault. You felt the unmistakable drag of bare flesh against slick flesh and moaned shamelessly. The thought of him rutting you bare and open, fully exposed and vulnerable to his whims, should have been a blistering red flag. Instead, it was all that was needed to catapult you over the edge into the abyss.

Illumi's fingers tightened punishingly on your ass as your body shattered around him, the ecstasy so intense it sent every atom of your consciousness whiting out. His own ragged groan against your throat was the only warning before the scalding heat of his release pulsed across your skin, the liquid heat seeping down the back of your thighs in searing rivulets.

Without warning, your entire reality tilted and shifted. In the next instant, you registered the rough stone of a different wall digging into your spine as Illumi slammed you bodily into the adjacent building. His weight pressed you there, pinning your writhing form into place while he continued rutting against your slick, aching folds with a newfound frenzy.

The overstimulation was so overwhelming, the sensation verging on the edge of pain, yet you couldn't summon the willpower to make him stop. Instead, you clung to his powerful shoulders and rode out the delirious storm as another, even more brutal climax crested like a tsunami over the horizon.

The next thing you registered was Illumi's scorching mouth sealed over yours, devouring your strangled cry as a second wave of mind-numbing rapture detonated through your form. Some distant corner of your consciousness registered him pulsing another hot, scalding flood of cum against the small of your back before his weight slumped bonelessly into your heaving body.

Illumi didn’t bother breaking the kiss, the languid slide of his tongue and lips against yours so unhurried and thorough it seemed like he was attempting to brand himself onto every last molecule of your being. You responded in kind, relishing the salty musk and iron tang still clinging to his lips and the rough scrape of stubble along his jawline.

Your fingers had drifted into his silken locks, combing through the soft tresses that spilled freely down his shoulders and tickled your collarbone. Illumi hummed approvingly against your mouth, his own hands sliding up the planes of your sides until they cupped the weight of your breasts.

The dexterous pads of his fingers traced teasing, spiraling patterns around the peaks of your nipples until they tightened and throbbed beneath the attention. Then he pinched them between his thumb and forefingers, rolling and tugging the engorged tips in time with his plundering tongue until you were writhing anew beneath him.

Illumi had somehow managed to hitch your thighs higher, hooking your knees over his elbows and spreading you wider, allowing the new position to press his half-hardened length even more deeply against your molten core.

The sudden friction had your head falling back against the stone with a thunk and a moan, the overstimulation too much yet somehow not nearly enough all at once.

He didn’t seem to be in any hurry, taking his time to trace the delicate line of your collarbones with his lips before sinking his teeth into the juncture of your neck and shoulder. A guttural sound wrenched itself free from the depths of your chest, your fingernails raking punishing lines down his shoulder blades as his mouth sucked a livid bruise into your skin.

You couldn’t take it anymore, the unrelenting onslaught of his sensual attack too much for your overwrought nerves to endure. Twining your fingers into his hair, you dragged Illumi up until your lips were hovering scant inches apart.

Your voice emerged a rough, rasping wreck when you finally managed to force the words out. "Illumi...fuck, please, I need--"

His fingers tightened fractionally around your throat, the pressure just light enough to stifle the flow of air without restricting it entirely. "You will learn to beg properly for my affections, wife," he husked in that devastatingly lethal tenor that sent another wave of molten heat spiraling through your core.

"Please," you breathed, no longer caring about the shameful, desperate edge threading your voice. "Illumi, I need you. Need you inside me. Now."

Something in his impossibly dark eyes seemed to shift at that, the banked embers smoldering behind his hooded gaze suddenly flickering to raging conflagrations. With a low snarl, he claimed your mouth in a bruising, devouring kiss as he finally, mercifully lined his now-aching cock up with your weeping entrance.

The first searing, aching stretch was almost enough to make you come apart again right then and there. The delicious burn of his girth and the delicious friction as he slowly bottomed out had you reeling, nails digging furrows into the flesh of his shoulders as you arched up against him.

Illumi's pace was relentless, hips snapping with brutal, punishing thrusts that rocked you deeper into the brickwork with each punishing stroke. Your world narrowed to nothing but the overwhelming heat and fullness, the unhinged pleasure-pain that threatened to consume you whole.

Your third release slammed into you with all the force of a tidal wave, the sheer intensity so overwhelming that you couldn't even muster a cry as the rapture consumed your senses. Illumi followed shortly after, burying his face into the crook of your neck and groaning a curse that would have made a sailor blush as his cock pulsed a scorching flood into your spasming core.

He didn't move to disengage right away, continuing to pin you against the wall with his weight and nuzzling soft kisses along your collarbone while you both caught your breaths. The tender ministrations were at such odds with the wild, uninhibited fucking you'd just been subjected to that you found yourself wondering if this was the real Illumi Zoldyck. The assassin stripped down to the most human, vulnerable part of his psyche...the part that had been hidden from the rest of the world for so long.

The thought made your heart do something dangerous and complicated that you chose to ignore for the moment. Instead, you let him continue lavishing affection on your skin, the featherlight kisses gradually growing less languid and more insistent.

When his hips rolled forward with a newfound urgency, you let him guide one leg to curl around his waist and moaned as his cock sank even more deeply into you. He was already fully hard again, his thrusts gradually gaining momentum as the familiar, electric tension coiled and built between your joined bodies once more.

Just as you felt yourself careening towards the edge of oblivion, Illumi suddenly pulled out. The loss was so shocking and abrupt that a ragged gasp punched from your throat as you reflexively reached out for his broad shoulders. But Illumi was already moving, turning you so that your palms hit the cool stone and your hips jutted back at a sharp angle.

He guided your legs further apart and nudged his cock against the puffy, dripping seam of your center once more. When you bucked backwards and keened with desperation, he finally granted mercy and buried himself to the hilt with a single, powerful thrust.

Illumi's palm settled at the base of your neck, pressing just enough to tilt your head backwards as he leaned down to rasp hotly against the shell of your ear. "You'll come undone with me this time, little wife. So be a good girl and take it."

And then, without warning, his other hand snaked down to circle the aching, throbbing bundle of nerves above where you were stretched impossibly wide around him. Illumi's thrusts grew more punishing, fingers dancing an infuriating, featherlight pattern over your clit in counterpoint.

Within moments, the dual assault had you shuddering and moaning his name shamelessly, pleading for the sweet release that was just out of reach. You were so close - almost, almost, almost--

Then Illumi pinched your clit between his forefinger and thumb and you fell apart with a ragged scream, vision whiting out into pure, unending oblivion as he continued fucking you through the climax. He only allowed you a few precious moments to recover before he was pulling out once more, turning you roughly in his arms until he could hoist you up and pin your back against the wall.

Illumi didn't even bother waiting for your legs to hook around his hips, simply hitching you up by the thighs until your dripping slit was level with his cock and slid back inside with one smooth motion. The new angle had him hitting even deeper than before, every thrust of his hips slamming home until the breath was driven from your lungs and you could do nothing but cling to his powerful shoulders and surrender to his unrelenting domination.

Your fifth release left you a limp, shaking mess in his arms, the only thing holding you aloft being the strength of his powerful arms and the unyielding hardness buried to the hilt inside you. As if sensing the limits of your endurance, Illumi's pace quickened, his thrusts growing more frantic and erratic.

The moment his lips crashed into yours and he began to pulse hot, wet streaks against your fluttering walls, a sixth climax exploded through you out of nowhere. You were well aware of the embarrassingly intense gush of juices spraying between your bodies, the lewd sound so wet and obscene you felt yourself blush furiously.

But Illumi simply growled his approval into your mouth, the sound rumbling all the way through your joined bodies as he kept fucking you through the climax. He was still rock-hard, the friction so delicious and the sensation of his cock stroking along every swollen, hypersensitive inch of you so overwhelming that it was almost enough to bring tears to your eyes.

Then his fingers were on your clit again, circling with a newfound precision that had the breath punched from your lungs and a sob ripped from your lips. Illumi didn't relent, continuing his ministrations while simultaneously slamming his cock against your abused, tender cervix until the overstimulation had you reeling and writhing desperately.

"One more, little wife," he commanded, voice hoarse and raw. "I know you have one more in you. Give it to me."

The sheer authority in his tone sent you crashing over the edge for the seventh time, the force of your orgasm so intense that you blacked out for a split-second. The only thing keeping you tethered to reality was Illumi's bruising grip and the relentless pounding of his cock into your spasming channel.

When his hips stuttered and his breath hissed out through his teeth, you braced yourself for the scalding flood that would follow. But he pulled out at the last instant, his thick release spraying across your bare breasts and stomach instead.

He pumped his cock vigorously, milking every last drop of the hot, pearly liquid until you were streaked with it from collarbone to navel. Then Illumi leaned forward and sealed his mouth over yours, his tongue sliding languidly through your parted lips as he pressed his still-rigid length against the slick, puffy seam of your center.

"One more, love," he murmured into your mouth, the tenderness in his tone so unexpected it sent a sharp pang echoing through your chest. "Don’t worry. I��ll give your pussy a break. I promise."

The sudden emptiness as Illumi's cock slipped from between your folds was almost unbearable. You whimpered softly, hips rocking instinctively as he shifted his grip on your thighs. Then the broad head of his shaft was nudging against a different opening, the blunt pressure so sudden and overwhelming that your breath locked in your lungs.

"Relax," Illumi coached gently, hands sliding soothingly up and down the backs of your thighs as he slowly, steadily inched his way inside. "Have you done this before?"

"No," you admitted in a shaky whisper, fingers flexing where they were still latched around his neck.

He paused in his gentle exploration, his obsidian gaze boring into yours with such intensity it seemed to strip every last ounce of restraint away. "Good," he rasped, his voice so gravelly and low you could practically feel the vibration of it against your very bones. "That's exactly how I want you, little wife. Just for me. My little, innocent, perfect little wife..."

Illumi's words were an erotic litany, a brand against your skin with every syllable and thrust. He was so deep inside you, deeper than he'd ever been, filling every inch and crevice so perfectly.

The ache was almost too much, the stretch bordering on painful yet so exquisite you could scarcely stand it. You couldn't think, couldn't speak, couldn't even form a coherent thought beyond the single, primal urge to hold onto him and never let go.

So that's exactly what you did.

"I love you."

The confession came from so far out of left field, it took you a moment to realize that you were the one who'd spoken the words. They were true, though - so true it was like the entire universe had suddenly crystallized around the simple, undeniable truth.

It was terrifying and liberating all at once, the sort of revelation that would change everything.

"Illumi, I--"

But he silenced you with a kiss that was almost chaste, a sweet, gentle brush of his lips that somehow carried more emotion than a thousand filthy promises could convey.

"I love you, too."

And when he began moving inside you again, the achingly tender strokes were so at odds with his earlier carnal savagery that the sensation was almost enough to shatter you into a million pieces all over again.

He held you throughout, whispering the softest, most tender confessions into your skin as the pleasure slowly built and crested. You came with a sob, a fresh rush of wetness soaking the place where you were joined as his name spilled from your lips over and over.

Illumi followed shortly after, his cock twitching and pulsing in time with each searing flood until you were completely, utterly spent. His seed leaked out in sticky rivulets as he pulled out at last, a combination of both your juices now trickling down the insides of your thighs.

For a long moment, neither of you spoke. Illumi simply continued to hold you, his forehead pressed against yours as his warm breath fanned across your cheekbones. You basked in the closeness, letting the silence cocoon around the both of you as the rest of the world ceased to exist beyond the circle of his arms.

At last, he spoke, his words so soft and low they nearly got lost in the night air. "My family is very traditional. There are...certain expectations they have for a first-born son."

A leaden weight settled in the pit of your stomach, dread coalescing into a cold, hard knot that threatened to steal the breath from your lungs. You already had a sneaking suspicion you knew where this was going, but you couldn't bring yourself to voice the question.

Illumi, however, seemed to understand your silent plea regardless. "You would make a lovely wife for me, little assassin," he whispered, his voice somehow managing to carry every ounce of warmth and reassurance you needed to hear. His hand drifted downward to stroke your belly, the lightest of pressures yet enough to convey the unspoken implication behind his words.

"And I’m pretty sure I just fucked a baby into you, so-"

[atinystraynstay]

Cupid's Arrow - Choi San

Synopsis: You refused to spend another Valentine's Day alone. You have tried online dating, having friends set you up on spontaneous dates, and even made efforts to flirt in public. This year, you were settling for something a bit different - speed-dating.

Pairing: non-idol!Choi San x fem. reader

Genre: strangers to lovers, trying to find love in a major city

Warning: mentions alcohol consumption, slight vulgar language, suggestive sexual activity

Word Count: 3.8k

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"This is.. West 4th-Washington Square. Please stand clear of the opening doors."

Your heart was racing, your body practically trembling as you stared forward. Was this actually going to happen?

Ding

Quickly but carefully, you pushed yourself out of the opening of the subway. You didn't want to get trampled by the crowds of people trying to get in. You've learned better to just move as quickly as possible if you want to make it to your destination on time.

You also learned how easily frustrated people get when they are behind someone who either doesn't know where they are going or is just walking slowly.

Last year, you took the leap of faith and moved to New York City. Like many others, you dreamed of moving to this extravagant place to make a name for yourself. You daydreamed of walking the busy streets and having a cute tiny apartment with a skyline view. You sacrificed that latter wish for an in-unit washer and dryer - a real jackpot find!

While you certainly have made friends in the city, you often find yourself frustrated with the dating department. You have been on several first dates, a few that turned into second and third dates. One or two turned into potential relationships.

Yet, it would quickly fizzle out.

At first, you thought that it was something with you. You tried changing how you approach first dates, how you dress for them - anything that you thought you could be doing wrong was thought over meticulously.

"The problem isn't you," your roommate vowed. Your racing mind was settled by the NYC Dating Queen herself. She has been through the wringer with guys throughout the whole city. "You're in your 20s in New York City," she laughed. "Most guys are thinking with their dick first then their brain. Ever notice how many guys are reaching back out, begging for another chance?"

You slowly nodded your head. "Yeah, which is so annoying because by the time they think straight, I've already moved on."

Maybe you were a bit old-fashioned when it came to love. No, you weren't in the market to settle down quite yet. You wanted to meet someone and take things slow, go on dates, and be exclusive before making that big of a commitment. Getting the conversation out of the dating apps was the first milestone you wanted to achieve.

"Good! Don't give them any type of satisfaction. All of these guys are dates from Tinder?" "Yep," you announced, making sure to pop the 'p' before taking a sip out of your wine glass. "So you're also getting the mix of tourist guys who are just horny and wanting to fuck while visiting the city."

You groaned at the realization, your head leaning back against the arm of the couch. How was she always right about this kind of stuff?

"You deserve to meet your prince charming in another way. Clearly, dating apps are not cutting it." "And going up to a guy at the bar scares me," you confessed before fixing your posture.

The two of you were sitting on the couch. It was a snowy night in the city which caused many of your evening plans to get canceled. The two of you were nestled on the couch, watching a movement on HBO Max with a chilled bottle of red wine. Your other roommate managed to escape the apartment to go on a date tonight. Lucky bitch.

"You know how our lovely roommate is out on a date?"

You nodded again as you looked over, an eyebrow raised. Wherew as this going?

"She only got together with him once she deleted the dating apps and tried something different." And the look on your other roommate's face told you she had something planned for you.

That was how you find your way navigating through the busy streets of Manhattan. You had no idea that speed-dating was so popular, or that it could be successful. Your roommate's current relationship gave you hope that meeting someone this authentically could be the solution to your problems.

Tonight, speed-dating was taking place at a bar in Greenwich Village. You've honestly been trying to come grab brunch here as you were drawn to the aesthetics shown off on social media.

It did bring a smile to your face to see the white-painted door surrounded by vines. Three brick steps led up to the front door. It was like a little escape room all the steel and concrete of the city.

Even though you were ecstatic to be going to this new place, it didn't help your nerves. You were the type of person who loved getting to know someone for sure, but something was intimidating about going on multiple "first dates." You had to put on a good impression for more than an hour.

“Hi, you also hear for the speed dating?” A voice called out from beside you.

You looked over to see the most gorgeous man. He was tall, dressed in a black button up which peaked from the grey winter coat he was wearing. His hair was sleeked back with a few strands framing his forehead. He also wore this soft smile which made your knees weak. He was definitely going to be hot commodity tonight.

You nodded slightly, offering also a gentle smile. “How could you tell?” “Let’s just say I’m hoping to get to know you better tonight,” he said, winking.

It took everything in you not to let your jaw drop. You never met someone who spoke so coolly. He was the total package.

“Come on, let’s get you out of the cold. You’re practically shivering.”

Maybe it was from the chilly evening hair. Or maybe it was your nerves overriding your system. Either way, you were not going to disclose the truth. Not when this gentleman had his hand placed on your lower back to help you inside.

“Already trying to win me over?” You asked teasingly. “How could you tell?” He asked, matching your tone from earlier.

The two of you shared soft laughter as you crossed the threshold into the cocktail bar. There were tables lined up with white linen, a candle in the middle, and a short bouquet of flowers. Frank Sinatra was playing overheard, both screaming New York and romance. The mystery man stood slightly behind you, his hand leaving your back which you already missed.

“Hi! Sorry, we are closed for a private event,” the hostess said. “Oh no, sorry! We are both here for the speed-dating event,” you explained.

The hostess blush lightly from her mistake before nodding her head. “My apologizes, I assumed you two were already a couple since you walked in together. Can I get your name, please?”

You couldn’t help but feel your heart flutter at the insinuation. Sure, you guys happened to cross paths with the handsome stranger. Possibilities were endless though!

“Y/f/n y/l/name” “Great! All checked in. Here is your number ticket that indicates your table. And here is two drink tickets for the evening.”

You nodded, saying a quick “thank you.” You took the tickets before putting your phone in your purse. It bought you enough time to overhear the stranger behind you and gain some pieces of his identity.

“And your name, sir?” “Choi San.”

You smiled to yourself once you got his name. Choi San.

Not wanting to linger anymore, you began making your way to the long row of tables. Each table had a heart laminated and taped to the table. They were numbered 1-16. Glancing down at your ticket, you saw you were placed at number 7, your own lucky number.

More people were beginning to file into the establishment. However, you were trying your best not to scope out too much. You wanted to go into this open-minded, wanting to take in the experience while remaining open to the potential of finding a new connection. It didn’t help that your mind was already infiltrated with a man named Choi San.

“Looks like I’ll have to wait a little bit to get to know you, pretty girl,” San said.

He winked at you as he passed by your table, heading towards Table 8. Looks like you’ll be ending your night on a high note if he would be your last encounter of the night. You watched him for a moment. He sat on the opposite side of you, giving an indicator that the men will either be transitioning or the females will.

Feeling your eyes on him, he looked over at you too quickly for your liking. It didn’t give you enough of a chance to glance away. Your cheeks were also a key indicator what you had been up to, which weren’t really concealed despite the dimmed lighting. He chuckled lightly underneath his breath before he got to work at shrugging off his jacket.

You couldn’t pull your eyes away when his jacket off did in fact confirm the black button up he was wearing. What kept your attention was the way his fingers got to work unbuttoning the top 2, revealing his golden chest underneath. You wanted to be respectful, but you couldn’t help but slightly gawk at the man adjacent from you.

“Keep your eyes on me, angel. I’ll be coming for you.”

----------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Welcome ladies and gentleman to our fifth annual Cupid's Speeding Dating! Here is how it's going to go. Men are going to move to the left, switching the seat to chat with a new woman. You will have five minutes to make your best first impression."

Your eyes shifted over towards San, seeing that he would be moving further away from you at first. However, that just means you get to be the last person he talks to tonight.

"You know, there are a lot of things I can do in 5 minutes." You were interrupted by your internal thoughts by the man across from you. Your nose scrunched up as you understand quickly what he was suggesting.

"Please do not exchange numbers or socials until the next of the event. We want to make sure you are investing more into your conversations."

The guy across from you smirked again, winking. Ugh! Does this guy really think he has a chance?

You leaned back into the seat, wanting to create distance from you and your first date of the evening. You weren't much of a person to fixate on appearances. I mean, the guy was quite attractive. Yet, the moment he opened his mouth, all possible attraction flew out the door. It honestly just made you yearn more for San.

Noticing movement out of his peripheral, San glanced over. He flashed you a smile before going to pay attention to his current date. Sure, he knew he was most excited to talk to you, but he also didn't want to be rude. He just couldn't help but glance over to make sure you were okay.

"You can begin!" The host said excitedly.

Soon, the cocktail bar was filled with chatter. You decided to take a sip of water to ease your nerves, but also try to come up with a conversation to have with this guy. You were forced to be sat at the same time for the next five minutes anyways.

"So, what's your favorite position?"

This might possibly be the longest five minutes of your life.

Luckily, the guy talked more about himself which helped time run out. He was leaning across the table, as if he was trying to look down the top of your dress which caused you to only lean back into the wooden back of the chair. You also were silently thankful when the waitress brought over your first drink of the evening.

Beep beep beep. Beep beep beep.

"Okay, gentleman, please move one to your left."

The guy across from you let out a groan before pushing himself up. "I'll catch you after tonight," the guy said, winking. "Maybe we can go home together. Or slip into the bathroom for a little fun." You didn't even catch his name nor did you want to.

"It was nice chatting with you," San said next to you. "Good luck this evening!" There is an example of a gentleman.

As he got up to head to the next table, he smiled once more at the girl he was first chatting to. He also took a moment to glance at you, smiling a bit brighter. You felt as if you were going to melt in your seat. You just had to wait 14 more rounds before you got to be alone with San.

The second quickly blended itself until the 10th round. Sure, you loved chatting with the guys, and you could see yourself potentially going on a real first date with one or two. However, the whole time, you kept glancing over at San.

It would cause a twitch in your heart when he laughed at another girl's joke. The further he separated from you, the less you noticed his eyes finding yours. The reality that he could be more interested in someone else was beginning to set in. He could very much land at your table, being the last date of the night, and be exhausted. He could already have his heart set on another which caused you to sigh softly.

"I see you have eyes for someone already."

Looking up, you were greeted by a wide smile. The gentleman in front of you took a seat in front of you, running his hands through his hair to push back his hair. He was wearing an all-black outfit - dress pants that had a white, thin strip running up the side; a black v-neck that showed the silver chain around his neck, and a slightly oversized black sport coat.

"Sorry," you laughed lightly, blushing a bit. You didn't want to give off the wrong impression, especially when this gentleman seemed kind.

"No need to be sorry. Should introduced myself since it sees that you're gawking at my best friend," he said proudly. "My name is Wooyoung, and you are?"

You raised an eyebrow, feeling a bit intrigued. "Y/n." You took a sip out of your cocktail before setting it down on the counter. "You are friends with San?" "Oh, I see you two are on a first-name basis now. When is the wedding?"

Your cheeks got hotter as you took another sip out of your drink, which caused the young man to laugh. "Don't worry, I've seen him checking you out as well." "Stop, you're just saying that," you laughed. "We only met literally 30 minutes ago. There is no way that he is checking me out and I haven't noticed."

Leaning back into his chair, a smug grin curled onto his lips. He had one hand on the table, and the other resting on the back of the chair.

"You have no reason to trust me since I'm a complete stranger. However, I know my best friend. And I can tell you right now that if you look to my right side, you would be able to see San. And I bet he's fuming that his best friend is chatting up the girl he's been eyeing all evening."

You raised an eyebrow at this man's analysis. He looked at you challengingly, egging you on to look over to his right.

Unable to resist, you looked over. Your eyes widened as you noticed San was glancing from his date over to your table. His fists were clenched slightly while he did his best to maintain his composure in front of the woman he was chatting to. Yet, it was as if steam was about to shoot out of his ears.

"See?" Wooyoung said triumphantly. "You've got San wrapped around your pretty little finger, y/n."

Seeing San make eye contact with you, his eyes widened before he quickly looked away. You couldn't help but smile a bit brighter, your confidence starting to rise again. Maybe Wooyoung was right after all.

Beep beep beep. Beep beep beep.

"I'll definitely be seeing you around, y/n. Have a good rest of your evening," Wooyoung announced. He pushed himself up from his seat, about to move to the next table.

One thing you learned about Wooyoung in your short encounter was that he was filled with evil schemes and plots. For example, calling out how you and San kept looking at each other as if nobody could notice. You learned that while San was his best friend, he also liked getting a rise out of him.

Before you could say anything back to him, Wooyoung moved closer to you. He leaned down to press a firm kiss to your cheek, one everyone at the speed-dating event could see. Your eyes widened at his action. What was he thinking?!

People seemed to notice which caused cheers from the guys in attendance while the other women gasped. "Please keep it moving, Romeo," the event host announced. "You'll have enough time to show affection later."

"You'll thank me later," he whispered to you before moving to the seat at the next table.

You felt a bit guilty for not remembering the four guys. They seemed very friendly, having personalities that made it easy to talk to. You guys couldn't describe what on Earth was even said, not when your mind was counting down until you finally got to talk to San.

"You're a great listener, y/n. Too early to ask for your number?" "The host said no exchanging until after."

You looked over to see San standing up straight. You didn't think he did so maliciously, but it was obvious he was annoyed by the guy still sitting down. The guy you just talked to glanced over at you before putting his hands up in surrender and getting up.

Just as quick as the guy stood up, San slid into the seat. He moved the chair in so he could lean slightly over the table. "Do you like knowing your a hot commodity, angel?" He asked softly, a drastic change from how he just spoke.

"I have no idea what you are referring to," you said innocently.

San's hand moved to rest close to yours, his fingertips ghosting over your own. It sent electric shocks throughout your body just be being in close proximity.

"So you don't want to admit that my best friend had you giggling? You couldn't have thought that Wooyoung was seriously that funny. He gets all his best jokes from me!"

You could see San was getting a bit worked up. His chest was puffed up, wanting to present himself as a better option against whoever stood in his way, even if it was his best friend. Little did San know he had no true competition when you've had your eyes on him all evening.

"Actually, I found it adorable how jealous you get. Wooyoung merely pointed out this fact," you said, smirking.

You noticed then San's shoulders slump over a bit. His cheeks were flushed as he stared at you for a moment before looking towards the end of the row where Wooyoung was. Wooyoung, who was watching you two this whole time and offered a wave over to you two.

Sensing that San was getting a bit flustered, you moved your hand to rest on his. This caused his attention to move back to you, a smile curling onto his lips. He glanced down at your hands, eyes flickering to yours. You were not sure what he was looking for, but it became clear once he slipped his fingers in between yours.

And he looks for consent before doing anything? What a jackpot.

"I'll have to admit though. I was also getting jealous. I didn't like seeing you laugh with other girls when it should've been me," you confessed. Sure, you were just as embarrassed owning up to your faults, but you also hoped an ounce of your truth made San feel better.

It seemed to do the trick as his body relaxed. His thumb gently caresses the side of your index finger. You noticed his eyes were not leaving yours whatsoever, unlike before when his eyes would wonder around.

"Well, darlin', we don't need to wait anymore. You've got me all to yourself."

You and San spent the next hour or so chatting. You talked about your childhood, how you both ended up in New York City, and all your favorite things. Every time you talked, San looked at you as if you were made out of gems. He just adored listening to you, finally being sat at the same table with you.

San has always wanted to come to the United States. At first, it was to practice his English. However, he quickly realized that he wanted to learn more about people. He was currently researching graduate programs to study Sociology.

So not only is he kind and physically attractive, but he also was outgoing and intelligent. He was just checking every one of your boxes!

But he also was falling hard for you. He was impressed with how you took a leap into moving to New York City by himself. He was lucky to have Wooyoung whoo made the whole transition easier, so he couldn't imagine taking on the city solo. He admired your courage.

He also wouldn't vocalize it quite yet but he almost felt as if you two were destined to be in the same city.

The two of you didn't even notice that the other participants had left. The guys you had talked to tried staying around to grab your number, fuming at how San seemed to have snatched all your attention. Being the great friend Wooyoung is, he ushered them out so you and San could be uninterrupted.

It was as if Wooyoung was your own Cupid, doing everything in his power to make sure the love connection worked.

"I'm sorry, love birds, but we need to close up for the night."

San and you looked around, not realizing that all the tables had been cleaned and cleared after the event. The room was silent except for the noise of movement in the kitchen.

Looking back at you, he bit his lip. The clogs were stirring in his mind as if he was trying to figure out what to do next. Of course, you two would leave the cocktail bar, but then what? He looked as if he was afraid to say goodbye, and so were you.

"Why don't we walk around the Village? I'm sure we could find a late-night diner that isn't too crowded." "That sounds perfect."

San helped you out of the table before lifting yup your winter coat. He held it out for you, assisting you in slipping your arms through the sleeves. You turned slightly to press a kiss to his cheek, which made San light up like a little kid on Christmas day.

He quickly slipped on his own jacket before going to rest his hand back on your lower back. He nodded his head, both apologizing for overstaying but thanking the host for putting together the event.

She smiled understandingly as she witnessed San escort you back outside. His free hand pushes the front door open for you.

Maybe love did exist in New York City after all.

[nanamiscocksleeve]

Lovely, may I have 13 with our favorite cuck Satoru 💋

Awww why's Satoru always the cuck 😆. But ofc! 🤭

"I don't know why people complain about sloppy seconds"

--------

Satoru loved you but he had been harboring a secret for a while; he loved being a cuck. It was inexplicable to him; he loved imagining you in the throes of pleasure at the mercy of another man. He fantasized about it at the most inappropriate moments, his cock growing in anticipation whenever he thought about it.

He voiced this to you very carefully, making sure to tell you that you were still very much in a committed relationship, but he wanted to explore other avenues of pleasure and carnal satisfaction.

You were initially hesitant but agreed to try it for him, but as the two of you sat together, vetting your friend group, you found yourself getting aroused at the thought of what each man would be like while having sex with you.

Finally, the two of you decided on the obvious choice. It had to be Kento. Suguru came in at a close call but there was already so much joking that you were their shared girl that it diminished the excitement. And Suguru was too close to Satoru. The thought of having this man over for drinks and game night if you slept with him was too much to bear. Kento was more of an accquaintence, and you wouldn't need to see him again unless it was for a cucking session.

You were shy, sitting on your bed as Kento undressed you, taking in your soft skin staining pink from nerves and excitement. Satoru sat at the head of the bed, watching both of you with hungry eyes. Kento took his time but was firm and a little rougher than Gojo normally was with you. His large hands cupped your breasts as he rubbed his girthy cock in between your already moistening folds, the friction on your clit deliciously welcoming, dipping his head to nip and pull at your tits.

He was much thicker than Gojo, you could tell, and didn't lack in length either so you were a little apprehensive about how well you could take him but he did his prep work well, squeezing and teasing your nipples while coming to nest between your thighs, tongue licking your sensitive clit and making you moan. Gojo grits his teeth and starts palming himself through his pants, your noises driving him insane.

Kento builds up your pleasure and brings you to a satisfying orgasm, your sex pulsing against his lips and tongue. Once every last drop had been extracted, Satoru pulled you into an embrace, helping spread apart your pussy for Kento to fuck. Having him close was reassuring even despite the pleasure you'd experienced with Kento.

His thick mushroom head parts your cunt gratifyingly, and you feel like you're being split into 2, moaning as you take in his massive cock, squirming at the uncomfortable stretch.

"Fuck baby...taking that cock so well...must feel good huh..."Satoru says reassuring things to you as Kento penetrates you, then sigh as he nestled between your wet walls, adjusting, then moaning as he began to thrust, aided by Satoru holding you in place.

Gojo focuses on your face contorting in pleasure and it's the hottest thing he's ever seen. "Take it. Take it all. Enjoy his cock."

You're crying out in pleasure as Kento ruts into you, body shuddering as Satoru starts to play with your clit, and soon you cum a second time, moaning weakly as the breath tore from your throat.

With a grunt, Kento also reaches his peak, shooting hot ropes of cum into your abused hole.

"I need to see." Satoru gently settles you down on the bed as Kento pulls out, his cock covered with your fluids, and parts your swollen pussy lips, his eyes darkening as he saw Kento's cum sliding out and dripping on your thigh.

"My turn." He flips you onto your back and slides in, groaning at the slickness and wet heat.

"I don't know why people complain about sloppy seconds."

[what-even-is-thiss]

A lot of people genuinely think that being transgender is a sexual fetish and that’s why they think it’s inappropriate for us to be around children or for children to learn about us or for children to transition. It’s similar to why they don’t want gay people around their children.

Basic logic doesn’t matter to them. If this was just a sex thing I wouldn’t commit to it this hard. My day to day existence as myself isn’t any more inherently sexual than the day to day life of a cishet man. Same goes for trans women, non binary people, and gnc cis ppl that choose to physically transition.

We all know this. A lot of bigots will also claim to know this. But this was the official explanation of and the public’s general understanding of trans people for decades. That we have a sexual fetish we’re going way too far with. There’s still older trans people who self-identify that way because leaning into these misconceptions was the only way they were able to get healthcare back in the day. These ideas are deeply engrained into society and don’t vanish overnight.

This is what a lot of people think about when they see us. Sex. It’s all about the sex part to them. Our day to day existence is inherently involving other people in our fetish to them. And yeah. Transitioning can lead to better satisfaction with your sex life. But that’s mostly because it leads to better satisfaction with every part of your life. But again. Basic logic doesn’t matter to bigots. But learning this explained a lot to me about why they react to us the way they do. It is a dislike of things they don’t understand, yes, but it’s also decades of everyone assuming that we’re just publicizing a fetish we have and making it everyone else’s business.

[hoodienanami]

Gisèle Pélicot, who is 72, was giving evidence on day three of the trial in Avignon, south-east France, of 51 men – including her husband of 50 years, Dominique. All are accused of rape. Documents before court indicate that Dominique Pélicot, 71, admitted to police that he got satisfaction from watching other men have sex with his unconscious wife. Many defendants in the case contest the rape charge against them, claiming that they thought they were taking part in a consensual sex game. But Gisèle Pélicot told the court she was "never complicit" in the sexual acts and had never pretended to be asleep. This is a case that has shocked France, all the more so because the trial is being held in public. Gisèle waived her right to anonymity to shift the "shame" back onto the accused, her legal team has previously said. Taking the stand on Thursday, she said she was speaking for "every woman who's been drugged without knowing it... so that no woman has to suffer."

52 ordinary men raped her. husbands, fathers, community members. three of them walked away but made no effort to help her in any way

this post goes out to the 'not all men!' contingent, the ppl who say women's fear of men is just paranoia or 'true crime brain', everyone who dares to say its 'terf rhetoric' to distrust men even if theyre just normal guys around town. sorry to burst your bubble but normal guys are okay with rape. normal guys commit rape. bc it is, in fact, normal in our society for men to sexually torture women in whatever way they see fit. an abnormal man would be one who sees something like this happening and fights for the safety of the woman being tortured, an abnormal man would be one who views women as fellow human beings

men dont deserve your trust and they dont deserve the benefit of the doubt bc most men are normal men. you cant tell just by looking, you cant tell even if youve married him

[nymphie66]

God Bless America pt 2

Part One

Part Three

Author's notes: due to the slightest positive reaction I'm back on my bullshit again, you're welcome??

Soldier boy x f!Supe reader

Warnings: Mentions of cheating, mentions of sex, minors dni - for your own sake, pregnant women get horny too sometimes, dark fic, ben trying to assert dominance - too bad he's a bit of a simp for reader, mentions of a wedding, haven't ramped up to full smut yet but there's always time for that ;)

Find part one here xoxoxo

"Going to the chapel and we're gonna get married.." Ben sang quietly between sips of his beer - he had recently learned that smoking, was not in fact good for your health, let alone the baby's. He carried on cooking, ignoring your struggle against your restraints. The power-subduing cuffs still gracing your wrists, the gag pulled tight against your mouth. You were tied to the kitchen chair, a plate of chicken, potatoes and veg in front of you - whether you wanted it or not, you were going to eat it. It was good for you and the baby after all. Ben sat opposite you with his own plate of bacon, sausage and egg - an American meal for an American man. He looked at you with such content, such joy, he had you, right where he wanted you, all you had to do was comply. "So, baby, you gonna behave or what?"

You stilled, and nodded your head, you didn't need to be honest just no longer gagged and bound. Ben smiled and walked over, removing the gag and untying the rope that bound your arms to the chair. Although still cuffed you could now move your hands to pick up a knife and fork and eat - if you wanted to.

You quickly swallowed the excess saliva that had formed because of the gag and tried not to glare at him. Instead, you just bowed your head looking down at the plate of food. It was bland, the chicken unseasoned and the potatoes looked pale and meek, the vegetables practically soggy over how overcooked they were. Ben never was a good cook.

"Eat up, my son has to get his protein somehow." Ben told you as he took his seat opposite you.

"What about your daughter?" You posed, slowly taking a fork and pushing the mushy carrot around your plate in masked disgust. You knew of Ben's less-than-modern views, but you weren't afraid of them. In fact, you revelled in proving him wrong, in putting him in his place, it often led to more than favourable situations, situations that got you in the predicament that you were in right now.

"She'll need her protein too, to keep up with her old man of course," Ben responded with a smile, and you were at least somewhat comforted by the fact he didn't just ridicule the thought of having a daughter. "Though if she's anything like her mother, she'll be enough to keep me on my toes."

You couldn't help but laugh, an empty one, but a laugh nonetheless. It seemed to encourage him, that you were happy right now, happy to make conversation with him. When in reality you were just waiting, waiting for an opportunity to break free of the cuffs and give him hell.

"You're going to look so pretty in a wedding dress. Fucking divine." Ben commented before taking another sip of his beer, his eyes hungrily darting across your form. You averted your eyes, your heart beating faster under his watch. You were well aware that without your powers, Ben could very much just take what he wanted, and what he wanted right now was evident.

"You are going to have to practice your vows y'know, practice being committed to me till death do us part. No more hotel flings, honey." You told him sourly, and you could see him recoil. You took satisfaction in that and happily stabbed a piece of chicken before putting it in your mouth and chewed laboriously, it wasn't just the vegetables he overcooked.

"Hey, I told you I'm sorry for that, okay? It's never going to happen again, this, this changes things." Ben tried to assure you, pointing his fork at you accusingly, as if it was your fault for taking issue for such a matter.

"Oh so our baby is enough, but I wasn't? I get it Ben." You retorted, finally being able to swallow the driest piece of chicken you have ever had in your life. Ben slammed his hand down onto the table and you would have flinched, if you weren't so used to his dramatics.

"What is it going to take for you to believe me? Huh? I'm marrying you for god's sake-"

"-not by choice, can I add. Don't pretend that your decision to marry me is nothing but you trying to absolve yourself of your guilt or Vought's efforts in damage control." You practically spat, throwing your fork down, for the baby or not, you couldn't put yourself through another mouthful of that godforsaken chicken.

Ben violently stood up from the table and leaned across to you, taking issue with the smile that blossomed across your lips from his agitation. He grabbed your face with his hand and he forced you to look at him. "I am marrying you because I love you. And you love me. And my baby will be loved."

You took particular exception with his declaration that the baby was his, considering you were the one throwing up every morning, and it was messing with your hormones. You used your bound hands to lunge at his throat, and he quickly forced them back down with a brutish strength. To his detriment of course, as from the force of his actions, the cuffs broke against the table. No longer intact and no longer efficient in subduing your powers.

Ben seemed to realise his mistake and quickly retreated backwards, his hands flown up in a surrendering motion. You gasped as your powers returned to you, coursing through you in a form of ecstasy that rivalled anything else. Your eyes glowed in a surge of pure power and you turned to Ben with nothing less than an evil smile. Your powers matched his on a good day, but with this sudden resurgence and hormonal rage, he was putty in your hands - and he knew it.

"Ben, honey, how much did you say you loved me again?" You drawled, running a hand through your hair as you stalked towards him. All caution thrown to the wind, you were on an unparalleled high from days of withdrawal from your powers. Ben stalled and steadied himself against the kitchen counter. "And our baby of course."

"Tonnes, doll, tonnes. Only one for me." Ben quickly tried to assure you, he knew that considering his recent actions, woman or not, you were going to beat his ass, but you just laughed. Usually, he would mock those pussy-ass men who cowered in front of their woman, their bitch. But with the look in your eye, it was just pure survival at this point.

"Those are just words, Ben! Words!" You shouted at him, a hand remaining possessively on your stomach as you continued to walk towards him. "I need more than words Ben, we need more than words. Especially if we're going to get married."

Ben seemed to relax slightly at your concession of a wedding, but he did not at all fall for the bait of a false sense of security. "What do you want?"

"I want them dead. All of them." You responded starkly, your body close to his. Blame the hormones, blame the power rush, but you knew what you wanted. Your mouth then hovered over his ear. "Every bitch that you've bedded, every fling that's screamed your name, I want their head on a goddamn stick, their hearts in a fucking chocolate box. Call it an engagement present."

Ben swallowed thickly and nodded his head, it would be a long list but he was willing to do it, if it meant getting you back, if it meant getting the family he always wanted. You pulled back and looked deeply into his eyes, your head tilting in morbid contentment. Your eyes flickered down to his lips, and you pressed a harsh kiss against his lips. Your arms looping around his neck, your hand tangling in his hair.

Ben seemingly determined to regain some sort of control over the situation, swiped his tongue over your bottom lip before biting it when you didn't grant him access to your mouth. You gasped and allowed it, tugging on his hair violently in acknowledgement of his action. The two of you then engaged in a battle of dominance, that resulted in you getting put on the kitchen counter, thighs spread apart as you felt his hardening cock press against your core. But if Ben thought that he was getting his way, he was wrong.

With a determined shove to his chest, Ben stumbled backwards and looked at you with betrayed eyes. You wiped his saliva from your lip with your thumb and hopped off the counter. Striding towards him before putting a hand on his shoulder and the other grabbing his jaw.

"Sort out the affairs, and until then be grateful that I'm even touching you right now." With that, you released your grip, slapped his cheek lightly and walked off.

"Fucking woman." Ben huffed flipping the table in a fit of anger as he followed your leaving form. The food spilling across the room. You were right, you were always right, and it pissed him off. But that's why he loved you, he supposed, you never gave in to his bullshit beliefs and challenged him at every turn. Which is exactly why he wanted to bend you over, and the fuck the life out of you until all you could say was his name. But that wasn't going to happen until he sorted out those women. Seems like he had some work to get to.

[damndamsy]

renegade | aemond targaryen x oc (part iv)

While it was perverse and unacceptable, Prince Aemond and Princess Aemma took no heed of their noble steads, crossed the forbidding sea on Vhagar, chose a single witness, Princess Helaena on her mount, Dreamfyre, and united their blood in marriage. Dragonglass split their lips and hands, sealing their fates and promising their futures. Blood of two caught in chalice joined as one. The secret wedding was one for the books, the eerieness of the night, the rising tide and the fire kindling their vows. You'd expect them to have their conscience pricked but no, they knew this was their true calling. Not a force on this godforsaken planet could bring them apart.

Due for their return, Aemma was too quiet as she nimbly scaled Vhagar and straddled the saddle. Aemond observed in satisfaction, how his bride was so quick to form a connection to his dragon with a mere touch of her fingers and her soothing Valyrian tongue. This woman was truly meant to be his.

This time, he luxuriated behind her, the thrill of having her this close and belonging there, nothing couldn't arrest this. As Vhagar rumbled lowly beneath them, just as excitable as her rider, Aemond stroked his temple against Aemma's and stole a kiss from her cheek.

"Having regrets?" he murmured. Her skin shivered beneath his hold on her waist. The night was growing frigid.

Aemma shook her head, her teeth eventually gleaming with a smile. She turned her head to rest her forehead against his. "Never. This feels right. I only wish we didn't have to go back."

"The night is yet young. Let us take to the air." She laughed when his lips did their bidding against her neck, an idea with each kiss. "Dorne is within reach. Shall we soak up some sun? Beneath the blood orange orchards?"

Aemma pursed her lips. "Sounds delightful."

"It is decided." He eagerly twisted the leather harness around his dominant wrist to awaken Vhagar. "We'll come back when the time is ripe."

She let out a weary sigh, stopping his motions. Aware of her hesitation, he leaned his lips against her nape.

"We must go back," she whispered. "Reality awaits."

When they retreated to the dawning stillness of the Red Keep, they spoke of their marriage to no one. No one noticed the prince walking the princess to her chambers, placing a kiss upon her swathed hand and wounded lips, swearing to never speak of this until the time was right, and biding his wife good night.

All but one saw this. The word was dispatched.

It was Otto Hightower who sent for Her Grace and Prince Aemond, summoning their presence in his chambers forthwith. They discussed the atrocity that the young prince had committed while ushering in a new dawn.

"Surely this is some farce!" Alicent blustered, her voice vindictive.

Aemond undid the swathes of bandages to reveal a definitive scarlet scar sliced across his palm. "I have done my duty as the king's heir and taken a bride."

Otto was tolerant but only to an extent. He was reaching his breaking point. "That girl—your bride—is supposed to treat with the Northern lord next moon. How would he respond to this but with slight?"

"Then request him to politely fuck off to the world's end," Aemond mumbled, sinking to a seat and crossing his legs. He should've flown away with Aemma when he had the chance.

"He is a king! You would risk a conflict in the realm!" Alicent said, horrified.

"I would for her."

"You've gone mad, Aemond. You've fallen in love to lose your mind instead?"

"Aemma has been spoken for in my name since we were children. I've only made haste with the affair," he insisted, already bored of it all. He was a newlywed, he should be warming their marriage bed.

"We could've done this in front of your kin, in due diligence, reliably under the sacred eyes of the Seven. Rather you've decided to elope with the princess, cut your hands and feast upon blood like barbarians!"

"I don't expect you to understand our gods, Mother." He set his elbows on his knees, steepling his fingers, and looking her dead in the eye. "You're not Targaryen."

She gritted her teeth at his audacity. "You'll face the dragon princess' wrath soon enough for what you've done to her girl."

"This matter is concluded. Aemma and I have wed, good tidings are in order and I thank you for yours," Aemond announced, rising to his height. "If you'll excuse me. The sun has risen and my wife will be expecting to see me."

"I take it you haven't consummated this secret marriage?" Otto eventually voiced his concern.

Aemond smirked at him. He would leave nothing to be questioned, even if it meant deceit. "As a true barbarian, I would never seek to disappoint," he lied through his teeth. "Her maidenhead is mine, as is her heart."

"Seven hells," Alicent whispered and put her head in her hands.

"'Tis only custom, mother."

"And when the whispers start. When Daemon holds your head to Dark Sister," Otto continued, "what will you answer then?"

He side-eyed his grandsire before he shifted to take his leave. "I've made it explicit that I will raze this fucking city to the ground lest a single tear is shed from my wife's eyes. My uncle is but a piece of piss next to that."

Another one, a maester, promptly took this information to Princess Rhaenyra and Prince Daemon. They were awakened after the hour of the wolf, insisting on the message's urgency. But the circumstances were faced... differently between them.

"Bravo!" Daemon raised his wine glass in a toast. "Couldn't have done it quicker and better myself. Took a massive, stinking shit on the Queen's precious stars and spokes, didn't they? Let's see how that hoary bitch spiels for her septas now."

"Daemon," Rhaenyra cautioned quietly before diverting to the maester. "And you are sure of this? Aemma wasn't coerced by the prince?"

"No, princess. They even took the prince's sister as a witness. As it happens, they've already consummated."

"Ingenious," Daemon chuckled into his wine.

"Who else knows?"

"Her Grace, the Hand, the prince, and yourself, princess."

"Spread the word," Rhaenyra ordered. "It was a private Valyrian affair to protect the intimacy of the prince and princess. Ensure that no libel comes to the princess' virtue. Or it won't be their tongues I'll have, it'll be yours."

The maester gulped and nodded. "Yes, princess."

As soon as the maester left, Rhaenyra turned to Daemon with a victorious grin. He stretched his hands above his head and groaned. "Wedded bliss awaits our daughter now. I wish her well."

"Aemma rivals me on this," she hummed.

"She's instinctive."

"She's fire and blood. Of course, she is."

X

By high noon, Prince Aemond's private wedding to Princess Aemma was the one word on everyone's fuller lips. They couldn't care less about how they had gone forth with it, but why. Did the prince take her against her will? Did he abduct her and force her into submission? Perhaps, they were made for each other, the one-eyed monstrosity marrying another freak. It was overtly claimed that the princess was of unsound mind, toiled by terrors, and this affair was carried with to keep matters quiet. The one-eyed prince of the realm would have to bear this burden until her dying breath. This outrageous claim was extinguished as soon as it was spoken.

When the secrecy of their union had been broached, Princess Aemma lingered behind closed doors and waited for the match to strike. It wasn't her conscience that moved her, but the weight of her impatience. She had nearly paced a line of gravel under her feet, hoping Aemond would come to her as he had promised.

When the doors opened behind her, Aemma's face softened to relief and she spun to face him.

"Aemond, we must..." Her lips parted with a breath. "Mother."

Princess Rhaenyra paused by the closing doors, possibly clothed in red to match her ire, and limply joined her fingers before her. Her expression was set in stone, and behind her, her brother, Jacaerys, was a towering column of outrage.

Aemma lowered her eyes, however unafraid. "If you want an apology, you will not hear one from me."

"Have you no remorse for us, Aemma?" Jace hurtled toward her and began to shout. "For desecrating your very birthright? For all the considerate privilege that our mother has offered you all your life and this is how you repay her?"

"Jace," her mother warned.

"No, I will not hear it, mother! You have coddled her enough. Blinded her to her own vanity. I should've ended this lunacy when she began courting that monster. Now, look! She has exploited an opportunity and whored herself out to that loathsome—"

"Jace!"

Rhaenyra's indignant roar rang past them. Aemma flinched, at the word and her mother's voice, her vision blurring with the onset of tears. She would dare not cry, that would stand to invalidate everything she had accomplished. And she had nothing to feel sorry for.

"Your sister is still a princess and you will treat her as such," Rhaenyra said blackly. "Aemma has desecrated nothing. She has wed a prince and, more so, a Targaryen, per the customs of our old gods, following her own inclination. One which I permitted—"

"You permitted!" he snapped.

"—and some prior announcement would've done nicely," she eyed Aemma knowingly, "but 'tis pleasant news nonetheless. We cannot incriminate her except perhaps reprimand her for undue urgency."

Jace's sneer refused to wane. "She has taken that vile snake to husband." He glared at Aemma. "His family hails your little brothers as bastards. Are you to turn a deaf ear when he calls you that someday? Or your children?"

"You would patronize my lineage?" Aemma spat. "Because I've wed someone you despise?"

"Accept it, Aemma. Laenor Velaryon has furnished us nothing but the title of his house."

"Our father loved us until his dying breath!"

"Laenor's gone and the duty has fallen upon me to defend my kin!"

"Enough of this," Rhaenyra hissed at them. "I will not tolerate such disgraceful talk among my children. Jace, leave us. Now."

Jace bore his unforgiving scowl at Aemma long and hard before leaning to whisper clearly, "You will soon realize what you've given rise to. When he reigns in ruin, I cannot protect you."

Aemma got ahold of her brother's arm desperately. "Jace, please," she whispered.

"It'll be too late, sister."

Jace touched her hand, squeezed it once and pushed it off him. He said nothing more and left the room with a resonant crash of the heavy doors.

Aemma fell back into a chair and hung her head between her shoulders. A deep-seated sting had started to worm up to the front and among all the torment that she shouldn't have to face, this was one, too. Her mother's hands stroked at her shoulders and hair, speaking nothing. She didn't have to, it was evident she held no ill feelings towards her daughter.

Her mother gently took her scarred hand into hers, tracing a finger down the swathing. "Congratulations to the both of you, dearest daughter," she said quietly.

Aemma sniffed, unable to respond.

"I wish you would've informed me. I would've followed you on Syrax in a heartbeat."

"I'm sorry, mother," she murmured, looking up at her. "But I am not ashamed of what we've done. Neither will I made to be."

The door opened once again and Aemma, for a split second, wished it was her brother returning to make amends. Her hope morphed into confidence and consolation when Aemond appeared, armed with his blade. She noticed a smidge of delight in his usual brooding look, probably of seeing his dear friend turned wife first thing in the morn, before it vanished off into scepticism and became aware of Princess Rhaenyra near her.

"Prince Aemond," her mother greeted, stoic. She refused to slip her arms from around her daughter.

Aemond barely spared her a glimpse, a prince on a mission. With his head held high, he cupped Aemma's chin, lifted it slightly and searched her face for something. His lips pursed when found it, his single eye harshening.

"I shall like a word with my wife in private," he requested, nearly insensitive and still unmoving.

Aemma's eyes flickered to Rhaenyra who looked between them, apprehensive of his stance. Her jaw flexed and she nodded once at Aemma before taking her leave. Aemond waited until he heard the creak of the hinges to signify they were truly alone.

"Were she not someone you loved," he said, leaving the words to hang like a noose in the air. He would've coated these flowery walls in red.

Aemma shook her head and pushed to her feet, wobbling slightly from vertigo. She placed her palms around Aemond's neck to steady herself. Responsively, he curled his arm around her and pressed a greeting kiss to her forehead.

"My mother did not upset me," she shared. "In fact, she was pleased to hear of it."

"It," he echoed.

She managed an elfish smile. "Our wedding."

He tilted his head, pretending to forget. "Hmm. I have no memory of this."

"Then allow me a gentle reminder, my friend," she murmured, expectantly leaning on her toes.

His mouth twisted in disdain. "I ought to fuck that word right out of your pretty little mouth."

Aemma dropped to her feet, taken aback, and looking to be sure. "What?"

He smirked, proud of himself. "Shall I repeat it?"

She stuttered with her words. "I—uh."

"So," he flouted easily. "You were reminding me."

She wrinkled her nose. "I don't know if I want to anymore."

"I want to."

He met Aemma's shy lips midway, sweet, soft and slow. Modesty fled when she gently coaxed him closer at his nape and bowed into him, her faint moan spearing through them. Utterly unbridled, he trailed his fingers down her delicate neck, the fine creases there, whilst his lips hunted down the delve of her collarbones, breathing her deeply. Such a naive temptress.

Aemond wanted to undo those flimsy laces and take her right there, in the brightness of dawn, but obligations burdened him. He dropped his head into the curve of her neck, holding her there for a second.

"You've chosen an inconvenient time to tempt me," he breathed out.

Aemma laughed, caressing the back of his head. "Shall I offer you a little distraction?"

"Is it under all these skirts?"

He felt his hair tugged hard albeit playfully. With another quiet laugh, she took his hand and led him to sit by the table, replete with a sweet breakfast for the newlyweds. She had waited all morning to break bread with her new husband.

Aemond was twice as pleasantly surprised when she ensconced over his lap, a slim arm curving over his shoulder. He didn't wait on slinging his own around her thighs.

"I quite like this approach."

"Distracted?" she asked.

"Worse. Ravenous." He sunk his teeth into her soft neck and pulled. Something of a moan left her fluttering lips.

"Then I'll need to act better," she whispered.

She cocked a cheeky brow as she grabbed a sour cherry, bit into it and offered him the other half. Just as though they were six years old again. Fate may have stolen his eye, but it left the other one to witness this; his dear friend, now the jewel in his crown, his wife, all too content to be with him.

He noticed the inflamed wound on her hand, yet to scar. The fresh seal of the bandages was still stained scarlet. He took her cherry-bearing palm into his, comparing their plasters.

"One more scar to match," she laughed.

He arched a side of his lips. "My favourite one."

"So."

"Hmm?" He was too preoccupied in exerting pressure over her bandage, trying to clot her wound.

"What's our first order of business as husband and wife?" She thought about it, swinging her legs. "Hmm... we could go down the Kingsroad and visit an inn. Trade a few coppers for—"

"I want to depart the city soon," he interrupted to say, decidedly.

She smiled until she dimpled. "Or that."

"Good. Now, I will have a ship and crew commissioned from Lord Corlys, who would do us a good turn as your grandsire, and sail to Pentos where I will have made arrangements with Prince Reggio who will be waiting to welcome us. From there, we'll go where the wind takes us on Vhagar."

She gaped at him, waiting for his information to slowly make sense. When it did, she couldn't breathe.

There was not a trace of humour on his face. "I've never been more intent."

She looked away, out the window adjacent to the table, attempting to think this through.

"Don't you think it to be too soon?" She didn't try to hide the fear in her voice. "We only wed last night. I've barely spoken with my family as I'm sure you with yours. We haven't even..." She glanced at her bed, a soft flush burning at her neck.

"Aemma," he cupped her cheek to urge her to see at the sincerity in his eyes, his throat bobbing, "we've done our waiting, sweetling. For years. The longer we stay, the more this becomes a fantasy. I simply won't allow it."

Her panic faltered, and weakened, as she stared at him. All those years she had counted on paddling that oar on her little rowboat further than the untamed tides on Dragonstone or escaping into the Maegor tunnels with a lit torch like adventurers, it all came to this. Here she was, her dear friend, offering it up on a plate. She would be an idiot if she let the chance slip through her fingers.

She drew in a deep breath and grinned as wide as she could. "Me either."

He smiled away his triumph, cradling her chin to kiss her softly. His fingers knotted in her hair when she moved to embrace him snugly, pouring her anxiety into him. He accepted it all, vowing to never let her feel such a thing ever again.

"I will need clothes befitting a traveller." Her words were muffled into his shoulder. "And I'll need sufficient space on Vhagar, a journal to note our findings, some ink, oh! A cape!"

"Anything."

He pressed his lips at her jaw, nuzzling the hair on her neck. He had come to adore the length, bristling with the bearing of a warrior. He pushed it away to look at the rampant excitement in her dark eyes.

"The end of this moon," he marked. "I'll see to it that we set sail in accord with our families."

X

you can read part v here!

[beraberblog]

ESTHETİCHAİRMEXİCO - DRAGON+ (4)

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[emmacarterhere]

After inspecting the marks of your confinement and ensuring you're sufficiently awake, I’ll hand you a list of tasks designed to reinforce your submission and obedience. The tasks will be as follows:

Morning Chores: You’ll start by tidying the room, ensuring every corner is spotless. This includes dusting the surfaces and vacuuming the floor, all while wearing a simple, yet restrictive outfit to remind you of your place.

Personal Grooming: I expect you to take a long, hot shower and then perform a thorough self-care routine, including shaving and moisturizing. Your grooming should be impeccable, reflecting the discipline and attention to detail I demand.

Serving Breakfast: Prepare a modest breakfast for me, ensuring it's to my liking. The meal should be presented with care, and you’ll serve it on a tray, with a note of gratitude for the privilege of serving.

Corner Time: After breakfast, you’ll spend 30 minutes in the corner of the room, wearing a chastity device. Your hands will be placed behind your back, and you’ll focus on reflecting on your behavior and maintaining your posture.

Writing Assignment: I’ll require you to write a 500-word essay on the importance of obedience and the role of discipline in our dynamic. This should be handwritten and presented neatly, demonstrating your dedication to understanding and adhering to our rules.

Daily Affirmations: Recite a set of affirmations I’ll provide, emphasizing your commitment to submission and your respect for my authority. These will be repeated at intervals throughout the day to reinforce your mindset.

Afternoon Duties: In the afternoon, you’ll organize and clean my personal space, including any equipment or items used in our sessions. Everything must be arranged to my satisfaction.

Evening Review: As the day ends, you’ll prepare a detailed report of how you’ve fulfilled each task, including any difficulties or reflections. This will be submitted to me before you retire for the night.

Each of these tasks is designed not only to test your obedience but also to reinforce your place and ensure that you remain focused on the dynamics we’ve established. You’ll execute each task with precision and respect, remembering that every action is a reflection of your submission and my control.

[gayuu-the-necromancer]

William Rex Madness Route - Chapter 25

｡⋆｡˚🦋˚｡⋆｡

"These are all the sins of William Rex that I have seen as a Fairy Tale Master."

"In addition----"

(....Okay, done!)

Since that night, when the case against Grimsley was solved,

I sat down to finish the last lines of my report, which I had spent several days writing.

(It's gotten a lot thicker)

I have an appointment later this evening to submit this report to Victor.

Today is the end of my time as Fairy Tale Master, the first day of the new month.

(...Mm? That sound----)

Suddenly, I hear a familiar sound from behind my door and I listened carefully.

Steady hard sole hitting the floor, gentle footsteps sound were approaching.

It is the only footsteps that makes my heart pound.

(On second thoughts)

A light knock on the door confirms my expectations and I can't help but smile.

Kate: "Come in, William."

When I rushed to the door to see him without waiting any longer, he raised his one eyebrow happily.

William: "Next time, if I want to surprise you, I'll have to be more quiet."

Kate: "Fufu, you right."

William's fingertips tickled my ears, as if he was praising me for remembering the sounds of his footsteps.

Looking down at me, who is laughing at the tickle, William tilted his head.

William: "Did you finish writing your report?"

Kate: "Yep. Just in time. Thankfully."

Pointing with my gaze at the bundle of papers on the desk.

William: "Ohh...That's quite a lot of papers, I see."

William: "Did I commit that many crimes in one month?"

William: "I heard you've painted a very wordy picture of my misdeeds."

William squints with satisfaction, as if to celebrate a joyous achievement,

I was so happy----

-----Options------

Bend my knees slightly and bow.

Puff out my chest exaggeratedly

Smile and nod.

--------

That I puff out my chest exaggeratedly.

Kate: "Yep. You're a brutal, atrocious and a deadly sinner."

William: "Fufu....I'm lucky to have such a good spokesperson in my life."

Kate: "Mmm...."

The lingering lips of a laugh lightly touch my cheek.

The kiss was soft and fragile, and my chest made a soft sound.

It only takes one kiss to make me soar and get hot to the tips of my ear.

It's evidence that this whole body knows it's 'good' to be loved by him.

William: "It's about time you met up with Brian."

Kate: "Eh?....Oh my gosh, really!?"

William: "You have an appointment with Brian Bennett....then Victor. You are very busy today, huh?"

William: "Don't fall down the rabbit hole in a hurry."

Kate: "I'll be very careful, because the most exciting appointment is waiting for me at the end of the day."

William: "Don't worry about it. Even I'm going to be a bit busy today. I have an urgent mission."

Kate: "Eh!?"

｡⋆｡˚🦋˚｡⋆｡

Kate: "Eh!?"

(Urgent mission...)

Kate: "Oh...so are you cancelling the dinner tonight....?'

William: "Of course not. You know I'm selfish, don't you?"

William: "I won't be so auspicious as to choose between the mission and a date with you."

William: "I'll have it done by the time you get back to the castle."

Kate: ".....Nn..Mm...."

William: "Mm?"

Kate: "....Hearing that makes me so happy that I want to kiss you."

William: "....I'm ready."

Kate: ".....But, I'm sure it won't end with just a kiss and then we both would be late for our respective appointments, so...."

William: "Hahaha!

-----The 'Mad Tea Party' house which had been temporarily closed due to the newspaper article that caused a public uproar, reopened its doors a few days ago.

When Mr. Brian heard rumors of the reopening he was quicker than anyone else to rush in.

The injured of the Tower of London were being escorted to the Royal Hospital by William's men.

Mr. Brian had slipped out of a special ward.

He was running around with a sore leg to get his words out to the public.

I don't know what conversation William and Mr. Brian had.

But I know that William would have laughed when he heard the story and said, 'That's very Brian.'

Somehow, I could imagine it.

Mr. Brian said he would like to talk to me in person.

Kate: "....Are you worried? About me meeting Mr. Brian."

While picking up my handbag, I cast a glance at him.

(Can't you at least be a little jealous or worried....?)

Even now that I know that William loves me.

I want to see the 'special things' he pours out, only for me.

It's an extraordinary sweet treat that only I get.

William: "Hmmm....."

With a serious expression on his face, William slid his hand down my cheek and lifted my chin.

Kate: "Nn....?"

William: "There is a good chance he'll make a pass at you...you are a charmer after all."

Kate: "Eh....Ah...."

(The reaction was somewhat different from what I expected...)

My face heats up with praise, shyly.

William: ".....Besides, he is your 'hero' and you are his 'biggest fan' too...."

His eyes squint and the tempo of my heartbeat changes.

Kate: ".....T-That's....right..."

William: "..........."

William: ".....Even taking all that into account, I'm not worried."

Kate: "Hm?"

William let me go with a snap and turned on his heel, smiling as usual.

William: "See you tonight."

Kate: "Ah! .....But....!"

Leaving me shrugging my shoulders, William gallantly disappears through the doors.

William sees through my special needs and plays with it.

The unfulfilled desires that have been left unchecked, simmer.

I know it's going to get thicker and deeper.

But I also want my favorite person to taste it.

(Even if we become partners, William will always stay the same....)

(Gentle, dangerous, free, selfish and enigmatic)

And I am in love with him every day.

｡⋆｡˚🦋˚｡⋆｡

Brian: "....! Miss Kate."

When I walked through the door of the cafe, the meeting spot, a fearless red-haired man stood up from his chair.

Kate: "Mr. Brian, it's been a while. How are your legs?"

Brian: "Look who's talking! Are you...okay?"

Kate: "I'm all better now. I was lucky that the wounds were shallow and did not reach my internal organs."

Brian: "I see....that's good....."

Mr. Brian collapsed and sat down in his chair.

(You've been really, really worried about me...for a long time, right?)

We sat down opposite each other and ordered a cake and a cup of tea.

Mr. Brian straightened his back and turned to me.

Brian: "....And if I hadn't been swayed by Grimsley to write that article, Count Rex's friends wouldn't have been arrested."

Brian: "You also wouldn't have to gotten....hurt like that. I'm really sorry...."

Kate: "Don't apologize. I know you were only following your heart!"

Kate: "Your articles are always....filled with a desire to reduce the number of people being hurt."

Kate: "The words you write are filled with your thoughts and feelings without any falsehoods."

Kate: "That's why people who read it, doubted William at first, and then when you wrote the new article.......the people are once again believing in his innocence."

Kate: "....It's because of that, that I became a fan of you."

Brian: ".....Nmm.."

Kate: "Besides, you've already apologized to the whole of London."

Brian: ".....Haha. I came here....prepared to be blamed, but I didn't expect....to be encouraged like this."

(Thank god, he finally laughed)

Kate: "I have no reason to blame you."

Brian: "....You've changed. I feel like I every time I look at you...."

Brian: "You look much better than how you were before...."

Waitress: "Excuse me. I brought you some chiboust and mille-feuille glace."

Brian: "! .....Ah."

Kate: "Thank you."

(Ah strawberries)

Mr. Brian asked for chiboust with bright red fruit on top.

My mouth loosened involuntarily at the sight of them, as I thought about William's smiling face saying 'It's my favorite.'

When I see the thing liked by my favorite person, that's all is enough to bring a smile to my face.

The strawberries on the cake looked like a treasure.

Brian: "...Do you like strawberries? Here, you can have mine if you like."

Kate: "Eh? Ah no no no!"

(Did I look like I wanted to eat it? How embarrassing....)

Kate: "I'm sorry, I was just...remembering William telling me how much he liked strawberries."

Brian: "....O-Oh.."

............

After a few casual conversations, we left the store.

Staring at the sallow-colored city, Mr. Brian muttered.

Brian: "I...thought I was doing the right thing and didn't even question it."

Brian: "The idea of carrying out justice for the masses....is an outrageous conceit."

Brian: "Count Rex must have real justice on his shoulders. I wonder if that's why you wanted to protect him."

Kate: "Real justice...?"

Mr. Brian's words made me realise that he had been grossly misled.

(Sensible, understanding...'well-behaved exemplary delivering person')

(I would never love an evil person unless I was crazy enough to do so)

(......Maybe 'I inside him' is also the same)

Kate: "Mr. Brian, that's not true."

Brian: "....? Then?"

Kate: "William is a bad person, and a greatly evil one."

Brian: ".....!"

Brian: "Hahaha....okay okay..."

Brian: "No wonder my persuasion didn't resonate with you."

Mr. Brian said this in a clear voice and laughed.

｡⋆｡˚🦋˚｡⋆｡

The Crown Castle, sinking into the dusk is so beautiful that it leaves one speechless.

I returned to the Castle, admiring its grandeur

I wore my dress for the date, took my report and went to see Victor.

After receiving the report and looking it over carefully Victor looked up.

Victor: "Okay, the report. Hmm....this is.."

Victor: "The last page is missing."

Kate: ".....Yes. I left the last page like that because I'm not done yet."

Victor seemed to have understood what I'm trying to say.

His jewel-like eyes sparkled, looking straight at me.

Victor: "Then...can you say it in words for me? What do you want to do now, Kate?"

Kate: "...Yes."

I gently placed my hand on my heart and folded my knees slightly.

Kate: "I would like to remain in this Castle, as the fairy tale master."

Victor: ".....I've known for a long time now that you love William and want to be there to protect him."

Victor: "But....why do you wanna continue being a fairy tale master?"

Kate: "To conquer the evil with evil."

Evil will not be crushed. Sad scenes will not cease.

The world keeps on turning filled with so many unvoiced screams.

(So I want to write down William's evil)

(The more feel his sins.....the more I love him)

(I'm sure it will touch the hearts of those who reads it)

Kate: "If only I could write down William's penetrating evil as a potent, posthumous poison by my own hands...."

Kate: "I don't think I could be happier."

The last page that has not been submitted has already been spelled out.

"This is all the sins of William that I have seen as a fairy tale master."

"And with your presumption, Her Majesty the Queen, I hereby note my selfish wish."

"As he once said, there is nothing more sinful than killing people."

"Sin is always a sin. With that unshakable fact I write him down as a great sinner."

"But he who values liberty and condemns as evil to those who tramples on it, and judges him with self-righteousness."

"I love him with all my heart."

"I want so much to protect him from the punishment that will eventually come to him for the sins he commits."

"This wish, I meant after the punishment has been inflicted."

"If one day our sins are punished...we would like you to write down what happened to us..."

"Fairy tales end only when evil is judged."

"That this report will be completed with a sad conclusion, a spoonful of poison to admonish the wicked."

"From the bottom if my heart my prayers are with you."

------Before long, the sun drops beyond the horizon.

A creeping darkness envelops my body.

Victor: "Welcome, Kate."

The Grim Reaper smiled solemnly, his arms outstretched like the night darkness that covers the sky.

Victor: ".....Welcome to the darkness."

｡⋆｡˚🦋˚｡⋆｡

A light melody can be heard from somewhere.

A light, joyful sound echoing in the dark night when there is no sound of the wind makes my heart skip a beat.

The sound of my own footsteps in the polished corridor mingles with the melody of the piano.

I feel as if I'm dancing.

(If life is a fairy tale, it's easy to be happy. Just don't do anything we aren't allowed to do.)

(Like, don't enter the forests you mustn't enter, doors you mustn't open, secrets you mustn't know-----)

----Don't fall in love.

Kate: "William."

The man who plays the piano so gracefully was just like the night we first met,

He slowly stood up and extended his hand to me.

William: "Come here, my robin."

My feet began to move towards him.

Because I already know the pleasure of being touched by those blood-coloured fingertips.

Kate: "....Did I bother you?"

William: "No. I was playing it to lure you out and it worked as intended.."

He pulled my hips gently as if we were waltzing.

The urges I'd been holding back before we went out, made me pull him closer to me.

Kate: "Mm...."

Before I could say anything, my lips were stolen.

William: "....Mm..fufu...."

Kate: "...What....?"

William: "No...if you wanted me to stay, you don't have to be reluctant."

William: "You asked me if we could do something passionate as soon as I get back...."

William: "....I don't have time to wait."

Kate: "Ah....."

When I heard that, I was so excited that my skin trembled.

Kate: ".....William...."

William: "Mm....?"

Kate: "If you do this....we will be...late for dinner...."

My voice fades slightly at the end, clearly filled with the joy of being touched.

William lets out a throaty chuckle, as if he was amused.

William: "....You're a naughty girl."

William: "You're tyring to make me a bad guy by provoking me like that----"

Kate: "....Ah...."

His sweet whispers invite my true feelings.

The warmth of his palm, his breathing, the scent of roses that surrounds his whole body.

Everything he gives me absorbs into my body.

It stirs up and exposes the tender parts deep within.

Like a deadly poison.

(....More)

(I want to touch you more)

(I want to feel you more)

No matter how 'wrong' it is----

------Because it's a 'good thing' for me.

William: "Come...let go of everything and fall with me."

Kate: "....Yes, William."

Kate: "I'll go anywhere with you..."

William: "....That's my robin."

From the back alleys dripping with rain, from the surface of the deep dark water from the steamy station.

I feel like someone or something is calling me....

As if singing, with a graceful melody.

I will no longer defy the voice that calls me.

The voice of this heart, whispering----

Be free to sing for you and your love.

Madness route - Epilogue

[zenithabovemarshland]

Thoughts about Leo in Leo season...

I get a lot of astrology newsletters, and the theoretical consensus seems to be that Leo season is about passion, boldness, and our big creative dreams. “Magic is in the air.” Yet, when I look around socials and what the poets say about August, we seem to live this time of year like in a sad dream.

This time of year feels a little bittersweet, doesn’t it? Summer vacation is coming to a close, and there’s this urgency to squeeze out all of the last dregs of satisfaction from the sunny evenings, from our bikini bodies, from our vacation days… Even when we aren’t diving into a new school year in the fall anymore, when that part of our lives in long over, we still feel an incoming wave of responsibility and we push away from it. We remember those desperate last days of summer vacation as children. And from there, we remember every other desperate thing we did and felt as children.

Back when I was in school, I treated every new academic year like it was my time to become a new person. It felt easy then to forget every bad habit I had, every very real limiting belief and fear I had about myself, and recklessly invest in the person I wish I was. The commitment never lasted. And every year my back-to-school haul became clutter that reminded me of my failure to change my own life.

---

The Leo Suns that I know put their whole selves on the line in everything they do. From the outside it looks like conviction—an illusion of correctness, even. But inside I think they’re terrified that life is so unforgiving. I think they often reach out for the lifeguard to help them back to shore.

The Leo risings I know seem to be sort of ghostly in how they flex and morph through their lives, despite the fixed-ness of the sign. And ghostly in how they come to latch onto humility to get them through. Maybe even to help them “fit in”.

The Leo Moons I know seem to be mortified by disappointment. When stewed in it they dry out and shrivel up. Saturn wins, and they bury their spirit under a rock.

---

So what does the Sun illuminate for us in Leo season? Unless your Leo house is thriving, which in this society I doubt, I think it illuminates what we’re burying.

“How have we failed ourselves” is not a question that I think the Sun or the Leo house should be asked. I don’t even think the question should be “what do I want to bring into the world”, because Leo comes from a place of what we already have and who we already are.

I think the question should be “What about me do I believe doesn’t fit the space I’m given?”

Self-consciousness is a quality of the Moon, Venus, and Saturn, not the Sun. When we feel self-conscious it’s because of one of those planets, not our Sun. Our Sun describes how to make good decisions that give us a good life, and how we express our good life. The Sun is innately arrogant and self-centered. Our Sun tells others “we should do it this way”. And that’s not necessarily a bad thing. (Collaborating as a skill takes creativity to supernova levels.)

So what are you cramming in the bottom of your backpack? What are you biting down on to keep yourself from doing, saying, telling? When we share the thing we’ve lost, that we’ve bitten off, that we’ve stuffed down, then it’s out there, and the space is already there to accommodate it. You’ll be surprised how easy it is to live in a world that’s altered by what you put into it.

[daportalpractitioner]

cycle syncing guide: nu moon in gemini

the nu moon in gemini takes place on june 6, 2024 at 7:37 AM CST. major themes include: sisterhood wounds, friendship, ancestral communication, relocation, sacral + throat chakra healing, and breaking generational patterns.

bleed phase: sisters bleeding with the nu moon are in one accord with nature's rhythm, so the need to detox, cleanse, and start anew will feel really apparent. if there are friendships and social circles that you have outgrown but haven't had the courage to cut ties with, then this is your invitation. your ancestors will be speaking to you in order to help you navigate this season in life. so, if you are one to venerate your ancestors, then this nu moon would be a great time to spend some intentional time at the altar or in nature with them. it's time to move forward from the past and stop giving the past permission to be your current story. you have to make room for all the beautiful experiences that match the energy that you're stepping into by releasing all that once was from your reality. some of y'all also may be experiencing constipation as a physical manifestation of you holding onto SHIT that has no business being here anymore.

follicular phase: my follicular sisters may feel increased creativity and inspiration during this nu moon. this is giving you the momentum, power, and strength to choose a different story. it's a beautiful time to think about what you want your life to look like in the next months, by the full moon in gemini in december (gemini is the master manifestor). be mindful of placing limitations on your vision because of what your 3D reality looks like. with this energetic portal, you'll be surprised at what's going to manifest from it. this is a social time to also meet up with your sisters and spend intentional quality time with the women that choose to pour into you.

ovulatory phase: this nu moon is bringing big life changes to my ovulating sisters. there is a strong need for a change that better suits you. you could be thinking about relocating, getting into a more serious commitment, going back to school, or changing careers. regardless of what the change is, it's important that you make a move with the urges that you're receiving. change is scary, but soul necessary for your growth and overall satisfaction in life. you have to take accountability for writing your own story. at the end of the day, this is your life and it is your duty to call the shots around here. take a risk like you know that God has your back.

luteal phase: this nu moon may hit the luteal sisters hard as it has a heavy emphasis on deep healing + curse breaking regarding wounded sisterhood. wounded sisterhood stems from the mother wound and we can only show up as better sisters when we actively work on remedying the relationship that we have with our greatest mirrors — our mothers. a lot of us come from homes where our mother was not properly supported by her community, a wound that has trickled down to us, creating a blockage in how show up for our connections (especially with our sisters). we're being called to address the pains that have led us to not experience genuine sisterhood so that we can then take accountability for the ways in which we've kept perpetuating the cycle. sisterhood is crucial for each woman and how you show up for your sisters is reflected in how you show up in all areas of your life. accept what has already transpired and release it with love through compassion and forgiveness. give yourself permission to eject yourself from this painful story because you deserve to write a nu one where you are chronically experiencing mutual, reciprocated love and trust from other women cause there is nothing else in the word like it.

[unhinged-summer-fun]

common grounds (oshamir) - chapter 3

Pairing: Osha Aniseya x Qimir "The Stranger"

A/N: Dividers by @firefly-graphics

series masterlist

“Osha!”

Vernestra waited until she made eye contact to turn around and walk into her office. The summoning was clear to all who heard it. The Temple wasn’t exactly known for its subtlety.

“Go,” Jecki said. “I’ve got this handled, and your shift ended ten minutes ago anyway.”

Osha set down the rag she’d been using and dusted off her hands before leaving the cafe. The steel stairs to the second story shook with every step, and she wondered if there would ever be another feeling than dread that accompanied the ascent each time she made it. Vernestra was already at her desk by the time Osha knocked on the doorframe.

“Come in. Close the door, please.” This can’t be good.

Still, Osha did as she was told, and gingerly sat in the worn, padded chair in front of the desk. “Is something wrong?”

“You know Temple membership doesn’t have a non-compete clause. Members are allowed to train wherever they like. But the fact of the matter is that there have been… rumors.”

“What?”

“Rumors that you’ve been out with… less-than-reputable trainers in the city. But you should know that dipping into other forms of martial arts will only weaken your mastery in the boxing ring. I’d hate to see your injury flare again for a quick moment of feeling cool or flashy.”

Indignation flared. “Ma’am, I don’t know what you’re talking about; I only train here.”

Vernestra held up a hand, shaking her head. “This isn’t a write-up or a reprimand. You’re in a… unique position at the gym, with Sol being your father. Perception is vital in these cases, especially with competition season approaching. If we can’t show unity in force, then we may as well communicate to our competitors that we don’t stand as one.”

“But I’m not training anywhere else! I’m not even in competition anymore!”

“This isn’t a discussion, Osha. This is me letting you know that if you’re going to go behind the Temple’s back, at least do us the courtesy of being a little more discreet about it. You may go.”

“I’m—”

“You may go.”

Confusion warred with her rising emotions, making her feel a little off-balance. “I love the Temple,” Osha said weakly, but Vernestra had already started working on something else, ignoring her. Seeing that she wouldn’t be listened to, she teetered out of the office and back down the stairs.

Osha didn’t understand. Her entire life, she’d only trained at the Temple. She wanted nothing more than to follow Sol’s example—become a decorated boxing champion, a beloved and respected trainer, someone wise and good and dedicated to their passions. She’d struggled to find satisfaction in committing to boxing and boxing only, but she’d never been accused of training elsewhere.

“Everything alright?” Jecki asked once Osha emerged from around the corner.

“Yeah, I… Jecki, do you train anywhere else in the city?”

“That’s a random question.” Jecki shook her head. “I mean, sure, here and there, when everyone’s traveling for competition, or there are free skill clinics. Why?”

“And you’ve never been told you shouldn’t do that?”

Her brow furrowed. “No. There’s a lot to learn about boxing anywhere.”

“Even though you already have a mentor here?”

“Not even Sol has all the answers. He doesn’t like admitting it.” Jecki gave her a wry smile. “He knows the Temple isn’t the only gym in the city, but he generally turns a blind eye to it. Are you sure you’re alright?”

“Yeah, I’m fine,” Osha said with a sigh. “It was just a miscommunication, but… yeah, I should probably stop working so late all the time anyway. Maybe that’s what happened.”

“I’ll keep Yord away from Huyang today for you.”

“Thanks, Jecki. See you later.”

“Bye!”

Osha walked straight into a gust of bitingly cold air the second she left the cafe. Wrapping her coat tighter around herself, she let her thoughts drift like the snow the whole way home. She didn’t want to go back to the gym today, not after that strange encounter with Vernestra, but she still had a lot of that restless energy to work off.

The apartment complex had a really nice gym, complete with a heated indoor pool and a sauna. Walking between buildings in the freezing weather soaking wet after a swim sounded about as appealing as tumbling down three flights of stairs, so strength training it was. She changed in the small bathroom and put her headphones in to start a circuit on the machines, idly noting the single swimmer doing laps in the pool. Insanity. At least his shoulders look nice going by.

The burn in her upper arms and shoulders overtook the listless confusion that had plagued her since she left Vernestra’s office a half hour ago. She added more weight, relishing in the prolonged high. When it came time to work on her calves, she halted.

I’m sure you still have your old PT records, follow those exercises about thirty minutes a day.

Osha didn’t like sitting still. She had no patience to hold a plank or a wall sit for ten minutes. Her post-op physical therapist had been less than enthused by her insistence on doing reps, not holds. Sol didn’t like seeing her sit still, either. When Osha got back into boxing after everything, he’d worry about her holding a stretch for too long. He only thought she’d recovered when he saw her running again, seven months after surgery. The sense of familial camaraderie between her and him had been worth every agonizing step.

But the pain in her ankle had been flaring lately, and she still felt a worrying amount of weakness whenever she moved too fast. She couldn’t trust her body to take care of her, at least not how she used to.

Understand where your pain is. Numbing yourself to it only hides it when you’re trying to get rid of it.

Ugh. That damn stranger wouldn’t leave her mind. Still, she wanted to know if he had a point.

After going through her email archive to find her PT notes, she chose a few to try out. And if they felt silly, at least nobody would see her. The lone swimmer looked absorbed in his exercise, lost in his own world behind the glass separating the gym from the pool. Still, Osha closed her eyes and let herself rise up onto her toes, holding a calf raise for a thirty-count.

It burned deeper in her muscles than what the machines or the classes did for her. It set in faster, and by 25, 26, 27, the pain in her left ankle almost had her tapping early. But she finished the count. She sank back onto her heels, hissing at the redoubled ache in her Achilles. “Shit,” she said in a breathless laugh. She reached down to rub at the skin on either side of the purple surgery scar, and when she stood up again—

The swimmer was coming out of the water.

The stranger was coming out of the water.

He didn’t notice her, which was good because she was basically ogling him as he left the pool. In her opinion, the baggy hoodies had done the world a great disservice. The bare glimpse of the man’s forearm the night they met was enough to send her head spinning if she thought about it too long, but looking at the rest of him threatened to upend her entire world.

His shoulders held strength to them that felt evident even from a distance, even behind a pane of sweaty glass. That strength, by comparison, made Osha’s already weak knees weaker. The luscious curve of his wet biceps and triceps—fighter’s arms—caught the light the way her breath caught in her throat.

Not even the unflattering fluorescent bulbs would dare betray his muscle tone, making him look god-like down to the hollow of his throat and the shadows beneath his defined pectorals. Was it getting hotter in here? Droplets of water continued to cascade down every dip and valley of his body, pulling her focus down, down, those were his hips, and holy fuck she needed to remember how to breathe—

“Your rest is over; up on your toes again.” His voice came out a little warped and tinny through the glass, but it was definitely him. Osha startled at being caught, going up on her toes instinctually at his instruction. She met his eyes through the glass, finding him grinning at her. “Thirty-count, Osha.”

He walked off to the side where she couldn’t see him, and it was like all of the air finally returned to the room from where he stole it. It took all her willpower to hold the position, and through that effort she found she wasn’t worried at all about the situation. She saw the amenities access band on his wrist—he was a resident just like her.

28, 29—

“Down.”

Her breath left her in a rush as she dropped to her heels, turning to face him. She hadn’t even heard the door open. His stealth wasn’t a slight on her awareness; he could get under any radar and stay there. “I didn’t know you lived here.”

“Suppose we were following each other home last night.” His dark eyes dipped down her body and back up in a second. It filled her blood with fire. “I thought that was you when you walked in. Couldn’t really see with my head in the water.”

“I couldn’t tell it was you.”

“Yeah, well. I don’t often practice backstroke.” He shrugged and drifted closer. He’d put on black shoes, loose black pants, and a white shirt. It looked entirely too casual for the gym—better suited for lounging around a seaside resort or something. But he wore it all comfortably. These clothes didn’t swallow him up the way the hoodie did. She could still see his defined muscles through the shirt. “How’s your ankle feeling?”

“It burns a little.”

“One to ten?”

“Like a four? Maybe?”

“Is it a four, or is it not?” His assertive, no-nonsense voice felt like touching a static-charged doorknob. She stood up straighter. “What’s your usual level of pain?”

“Isn’t that kind of a personal question? I mean, we’re basically strangers.”

He crossed his arms and leaned back against the nearest machine. “Well, I suppose there’s two options, then. You either tell me to fuck off, or you ask me whatever questions you have to assuage your doubts about me.”

Tension rose in the space between them. Those two words, crass and short, sat comfortably on her tongue like always. Fuck off. Even if those chance meetings were simply coincidence, Osha was certain that if she told him to leave her alone, he would. With how he’s carefully controlling his face, he doesn’t want her to know just how dismayed he’d be if she told him to fuck off. The bare flicker of tenderness in his eyes is what sealed her decision.

“I’ve been at a four daily since the snow started falling. It’s maybe two points higher now since I started exercising.”

His lips curled into a smile, and so did hers.

“Your rest is over, Osha. Up on your toes.”

He was patient. He angled himself beside her to see the list of exercises her PT team had prescribed to her, reading off her phone. He murmured through explanations of the movements she’d suffered the monotony of, and made them sound interesting. This close, she could see how his hair still slightly dripped from the pool, darkening the white of his shirt whenever droplets dove into it.

And when she did the exercises for him, his focus never wavered. His attention was that of an eagle’s, offering brief corrections but never touching her. “Higher,” he said. “Until it burns. Don’t stop—no, straighten out. Good.”

He had her go through her full range of motion. Occasionally, he’d have her repeat certain movements, and then he had her show him how she stretched. The way he watched her made her feel naked, but still, he never touched her, and she never even took off her socks.

“Thank you, Osha.”

“What are you thanking me for?” She took a long drink from her water bottle and picked up her gym bag, preparing for the walk back to her building.

“For trusting me. I knew you were in pain, and it’s… if I’m honest, it’s been worrying me in my spare time and thoughts.”

“I’ve been on your mind?” She didn’t mean it to come out that way, of course. Still, the moment she realized how it sounded, she couldn’t bring herself to regret it.

He did not shy from it, letting his lips curve into another slow smile while his eyes traced her form. “Can you blame me?”

She exhaled slowly, trying to shake the slight discomfort his appraisal gave her. “You’re a… mysterious man.”

“I’m an open book.”

“I doubt that—”

“For you.”

Osha pulled up short, midway through zipping up her jacket. The stranger closed distance with her as she stood in front of the door. Like this, they mimicked how they had stood in the darkened shop the last two nights. Her, looking up at him, a cold wall to one side.

“If there’s anything you want to know about me, I’ll tell you. That’s not something I offer to anybody.”

“Does my sister have carte blanche like I do?”

“No.”

“Why?”

“I’ve known her two years and she didn’t trust me enough to hear the truth when I spoke it. Why would I let someone in if all they’d do is call my life a lie?”

His assessment of Mae disquieted her. Mae was a kind girl and a sharp fighter—a great sister. When Sol had taken them in, she hadn’t trusted him for a while either, but eventually her opinion had changed. “Did you give her reasons not to trust you?”

“I gave her what she needed from me. Trust was never part of that. But… this is really something that you should talk to her about. What did she say when you asked her about me?”

“She wouldn’t say much. I was planning on asking her tonight.”

“Then do that. If you have any other questions about it, you can ask, but you should trust your sister first.” Don’t trust me blindly, his eyes said.

“Alright. I’ll ask her first.”

“What else do you want to know?”

Quite the powerful question. Osha didn’t know where to start. “If I asked about the first night we met, would you tell me it was coincidence?”

“Would you believe me if I told you it was?”

“If that was the truth.”

The stranger’s eyes glittered with amusement, a muscle in his jaw flexing as he thought over her words. “The first time, yes. The second time, no. I wanted to see you again.”

Osha’s heart did flips in her chest, a desperate translation of what her mind was doing. “What do you want from me?”

“I…” His brow furrowed. “That’s a very complicated answer.”

“It could be. Or it couldn’t.”

“The list of reasons why is ever-growing, but at the top of it, I want you to trust me enough that I might help you the way I know how to.”

The motion sensors in the gym lobby cut the lights from their lack of movement, plunging them both into half-darkness.

“And why do you want to help me?”

“I know what it’s like to be cast aside for an injury that wasn’t your fault.”

Osha’s face fell, heart dropping into her gut. “That’s—that’s not what happened. You don’t know what you’re talking about.”

If she didn’t know better, she would have said he looked almost… disappointed. “You’re right,” he said, pulling the hood of his jacket over his head. “Sorry about that.” He smiles at her, a toothy grin that doesn’t really meet his eyes. “Ask your sister who I am. Maybe you’ll take the fuck off option next time I offer it.”

With that, he disappeared in a swirl of snow for the third time.

CHAPTER FOUR

[albywritesfiction]

I can’t wait to romance our Ex brother and help him steal the throne if that’s what his route is 😒 I’m petty

Hello Anon!

Go right on ahead, buddy! Ædric will do everything in his power to support you 😄

“You want me to bring you a bouquet of your favorite flowers tomorrow when we have breakfast with Bitchy and the Dick? Say no more, love.”

The next day, he’ll arrive fashionably late with a dozen of your favorite flowers in hand.

“My apologies for my tardiness, Father, Mother. I just came back from purchasing some flowers for my betrothed,” he’ll say as he sends you a wink and settles down in the empty seat beside you before he presents the flowers to you with a flourish. “For you, my love.”

Once you’ve accepted the bouquet, he’ll give Ædan a smug smirk at the sight of his irritated glare.

Bitchy, I mean, Helene would giggle. Her attention would be so fixed in your general direction that she would completely miss how Ædan’s jaw had been clenching since Ædric’s arrival.

“That’s so sweet of you, Ædric! I personally would have preferred roses, they’re so much more romantic. People may think you don’t hold as much affection for your betrothed as you say if you chose those things over roses.”

Ædric would give her a smile as false as a paper rose. “I appreciate the advice, Saintess, but I would rather gift my beloved with something that actually holds some personal meaning to them than something generic. If I know that they love these flowers and would prefer to receive them over roses, why would I still get them roses? The only conceivable reasons why I would commit such an error are that either I didn’t care enough about them to know, or I didn’t care enough to remember.”

You may or may not feel some satisfaction at how Ædan will scoff and Helene will quickly look away, both of their faces flushing from embarrassment and indignation.