#but at long last people outside of morning crew have his back

[soulfireblue]

thinking about tubbo and his relationship with leadership. how he asked forever if he could be president for a day and got added to a long list of names of people who would take over for the person before their name on the list. how he asked to be leader of soulfire and everyone was like "uh yeah sure i guess" on that first day and didn't really take it seriously.

and then fast-forward to now, he's going into purgatory 2 with a whole team behind him supporting him and his leadership. they want him to lead them again without even knowing what's to come, and they still call him coach and captain. it doesn't matter that they lost the first time. it doesn't matter that he's the youngest on the island. he's won people's respect, but more importantly, he's found a family in soulfire, and they've all found a family in each other too. it doesn't just come from a place of respect. it also comes from a place of love. and he's come so far since he was first released from that ice prison. they all have.

before purgatory, no one took tubbo seriously. he only had morning crew. bad was his enemy because of ron and fred. bagi hated him for the hole. he didn't have an egg. so much has changed since then. i mean, just think about what bad said when he showed tubbo the base! think about how bagi's desire to go to purgatory was to save tubbo and the other members of soulfire, how she's said so many times that she wants him as her coach again.

he's found respect, and he's found love of every kind in places he never would have even thought to look. i don't think there's any truer definition of found family than team soulfire.

[drurrito]

Are You The One? - Two

A/N: Little installment for this, all mistakes are mine--thanks! Edit: excuse my poor attempt at tagging people. It might be a tumblr thing or very, very much a me thing.

Pairings: Wanda Maximoff x Reader

Warnings: Alcohol, cursing, Jerk!Vision lol

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

Your side of the bed is empty when Wanda wakes up.

Wanda sits up with a groan, rubbing at her burning eyes. She can hear the sounds of silverware clanking against dishes and conversations about "how drunk was I last night?" coming from the common areas. Wanda throws her hair into a messy bun before padding out to find you sitting next to an empty chair. You smile at her like she's the sun peeking out after a long stretch of gloom.

"Good morning," you greet her softly, pouring her a glass of water, "everyone just woke up, figured you wanted to rest a little longer."

"You were...you were going to wake me?," she asks, gingerly taking the glass.

"In about...20 minutes, yes," you turn off the timer you set on your watch while Wanda tries to process why you would even bother to do something like that for her. She gives you a tight-lipped smile before leaving to pour herself a cup of coffee.

The view from behind the carafe keeps Wanda entertained while her coffee brews. Eyes bouncing around the table, cautious touches, smiles finally reaching eyes, and scattered lips to ears -- there's a different air about the house after last night. The clock is almost through ticking and aside from the prize fund, people are determined to find their match.

"How was last night?" Steve snaps a finger in your direction with a mischievous grin. You roll your eyes.

"We talked a lot, I think we're on the same page about trying this out for the ceremony."

"For what it's worth," Sharon cuts in, leaning over Steve who just puts a meaty arm around her shoulders, "I think you two would be a cute couple. Plus, you can't argue with a genius like Shuri."

You hum in agreement, "thank you," you lean back and take a sip from your glass. You glance at Carol, she greets you with a wink that can wake the moon up at this point. You feel your cheeks radiate enough heat to fry eggs.

"I don't see it," Steve interrupts with a mouthful of food.

"You don't?"

"No, I mean-the chemistry is there for sure, but Carol can have chemistry with a toaster if she really wanted to," Steve rips into his other piece of toast, "personally, I have trouble seeing it between you and Wanda, but love is complicated, plus, I'm not going to argue with Shuri's logic."

Steve continues eating, ignoring the way your head tilts and your face does the perfect impression of a question mark. Wanda misses it too as she sits back down. Her eyes don't travel far around the room after almost catching Vision's pitiful look he's been wearing since last night.

"Game day!" Tony pops the top off a bottle of beer and cracks it over the mouth of Scott's beer, making an impromptu volcano. Tony only chugs half the beer before slamming it down to head outside, where the camera crew is waiting.

That's right, it's another game day. Wanda twists the fork in her hand idly above her food while everyone else begins to file out of the house.

"Hey," you watch Wanda's eyes soften a bit when they meet yours, "you ready for this?"

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

Wanda was in fact, not ready for this.

Her hands ball into stiff fists, sitting at her sides as she watches you pick Carol's pickup line over hers. Wanda doesn't miss the twitch in your jaw the moment Carol stepped forward, maybe you were hoping for a date with Wanda too?

Wanda's eyes are locked onto the flight path of Carol's hands on your body when she feels someone nudge her side, "Val picked you," Maria whispers.

Shit.

Wanda makes sure she's smiling big enough for the cameras to see as she walks over to Valkyrie. She doesn't spare a glance at you as Val throws an arm over her shoulder to pull her in.

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

Despite everything that's happened in the past 24 hours, the boat ride is a little fun, if only a little.

"So," Val drawls, "talk to me about y/n."

"We don't have to, I'm on this date with you," Wanda drums her fingers against the side of her champagne glass that's been full since she first boarded. Val gives Wanda a gentle smile and leans forward.

"For what it's worth, I think you and y/n make a cute pair. Something is there, I'm sorry you weren't able to chip away at it on a date today."

Wanda's head tilts as she chews on her lip for a moment, "thank you," she says, "we have a little bit of time, we talked for a while last night."

"Trying to feel for a connection within a week is probably not ideal, given you spent so much time with Vision up until now."

Wanda's shoulders begin to droop, she puts a little more space between her and Val, "I feel awful for only listening to my heart," she says to the floor of the boat.

"I mean, Vision didn't really give you a moment to breathe, let alone think. This might be the most we've spoken since we got here," Val flashes a crooked smile before taking a sip from her glass. Wanda lifts her head, eyebrows furrowed.

"Is that what everyone in the house thinks too?"

"Some more than others, we just got worried about the both of you never finding your match--and costing us the prize fund, but still," Wanda shakes her head with a giggle while Val refills her glass.

"You think Shuri is right?"

"I think Shuri is more tuned in to everything going on in the house than the lot of us," Val leans back against the seat, her limbs sailing across the leather of the seat into a more comfortable position.

"I spent too much time trying to play the field instead of fostering any type of connection," Val takes another sip, throwing her head back with a groan. Wanda cracks a small smile when she remembers the foursome facilitated by Val and Carol within the first week of being here. She remembers watching everyone eavesdropping by the door while she tried to listen to Vision's monologue about the many lives he's lived before now.

"Who did Shuri say your match was?"

"Carol," Val barks out a laugh.

"I can see that."

"What?" Val picks her head up, "we're both recovering playboys, that seems like a recipe for disaster."

"I think it will lead to change more than anything. Neither of you wants to keep doing the same things forever. You might even share a deep understanding of your ways because you're so similar," Wanda shrugs, finally taking a sip of her champagne.

Val hums with a cheeky smile on her face. She keeps Wanda under a watchful eye while she sips from her glass, "you know you're pretty wise when you look around for longer than a few seconds."

That gets a playful scoff from Wanda, there's no point in defending her behavior, "I wish it would have happened sooner, maybe we wouldn't be racing against the clock."

Val only nods once, "it's a hard game to play," they both share a look at the horizon for a few moments before realizing their date is about to end.

"Tell you what," Val sets her glass down and takes Wanda's too, "tonight, I'll find Carol and bare my soul to her and you try to deepen your connection with y/n, deal?"

The boat is being docked by the time Val finishes her sentence. She's holding her hand out to Wanda. Has she just made a friend? Is this what everyone else has been doing while she was too busy with Vision to care?

Wanda docks her worries and reservations by putting her hand in Val's. They both walk to the house with a new sense of determination, this game isn't over yet.

[thefallennightmare]

Miracle-nine

Pairings: Noah Sebastian x Reader

Warnings/Tropes: forced proximity, slight enemies to lovers, slow burn, smut, angst, fluff, mentions of death, and swearing.

Summary: Reader is the merch girl for Bad Omens. It wasn't what she wanted to do with her life but when her mother got sick with Alzheimer's, reader took a job where she could to help with the costs. She thought it would be a one-time gig but the longer she was on the road with them, the harder she fell for Noah Sebastian; even if he wanted nothing to do with her. She needed a miracle to save her mom and her future.

Author Note: it wouldn't be a story of mine if there weren't some kinds of angst.

Tags: @ada-clarence @nonamessblog @thescarlettvvitch @malice-ov-mercy @crimson-calligraphyx @theoneandonlykymberlee @yumikitten @blackveilomens @cherrymedicine13 @thebadchic @notmaddihealy @jay02bo @beaker1636 @jakekiszkasguitarpick @punk-pr1ncessxoxo @er3nslovergirl @iamdesolate @lma1986 @jessitpwk @themodern-daywednesday @writethrough @bngurngheart @dreams-that-are-anwsered @loeytuan98

I sat in the darkness of my hotel room, the only light being cast from the television as I watched the random movie. Even though it was nearing one in the afternoon, I had pulled the curtain closed so I didn't have to bother to look outside. It was a long drive to San Francisco, and I was exhausted. The guys had an interview with a local radio station here before we headed back home to Los Angeles for their two-night show. They said I could head back home with the crew on their bus but to be honest; I enjoyed riding with them because the aura and vibe was comforting. Not saying the crews bus was terrible, but it was constant noise so that's why I stayed on Bad Omen's bus which is why I was in San Francisco with them.

Plus, seeing Noah more than usual was a deciding factor.

Noah texted me a while ago asking if I wanted to grab some lunch before their interview, but I declined, needing some time alone. I woke up this morning in one of those moods where you're sad for no reason and everything irritates you. It didn't help that I read some comments online about me that weren't so nice. Someone took a picture last night of Noah hooking his fingers in my jeans and pulling me back into him. That and the speech he made about me last night, rumors online were circulating, and I didn't like any of them.

I knew I shouldn't let those words bother me but it did, the worst of it saying how I was a roadie and most likely slept with someone in the band to work with them.

Technically, Noah and I fooled around twice but both times he got me off. I've barely touched him in that way which should say something, right? He was willing to pleasure me getting nothing in return.

A knock sounded on the hotel room door made me let out a loud sigh and I dragged my feet to the door, opening it to find Folio standing on the other side of it. He lifted a bag of takeout with a smile.

"Hungry?"

At the smell and mention of food, my stomach growled, so I moved to the side letting him in.

"Shouldn't you be leaving for the interview soon?" I asked while shutting off the television.

"It's at seven so I thought I'd bring you something to eat. No one's seen you all morning." Folio said while setting the food out on the coffee table in the room.

I shrugged while sitting on the couch. "I've been here, not in the mood to talk."

Folio sat next to me as we ate the burgers and fries he brought.

"Everything alright?"

"I guess," I sighed with hesitation. "I read some things online about me."

"Why'd you do that?" He wondered.

"I don't know. I posted some pictures from last night's show on the band's Instagram, but all people could talk about was me and Noah. And it wasn't nice things."

Folio set down his takeout box and cleaned his hands on a napkin while I could only eat half of the burger before closing the box.

"You can't let what people online say about you bother you so much, Y/N. You know the truth about you and Noah; not them." Folio gave my knee a reassuring squeeze.

I then pulled my legs into my chest and wrapped my arm around them. "I don't even know what the truth is. We're not together and it was my choice. I want to take things so because I've got so much going on at home that the last thing I need is to focus on a relationship."

A shaky breath left my trembling lips before I continued. "Noah said he'd wait for me until I was ready for one but what if he gets bored and moves on to someone who's willing to give him what he wants?"

Folio propped his chin on his hand as he rested it against the back of the couch.

"Noah isn't like that. I've known him a long time, and he's always been loyal. He's agreeing to take things slow with you, right?"

When I reluctantly nodded, Folio continued. "So you have to trust him. Noah likes you, he's willing to do whatever it takes to make sure you don't go anywhere. And if you're worried he's going to read what people said about you, don't. He's stopped posting for this reason."

Talking with Folio eased some of my worry but it did little to stop the nagging voice in my head that Noah would hurt me.

"I'm afraid I'm going to fall so hard for him I'm going to get burned if it doesn't work out," I admitted with a hushed tone.

"Falling for someone is scary but you can't let those fears stop you from finding happiness, Y/N. I know Noah was an asshole to you in the beginning for his own dumb reasons but he's willing to prove to you how much he cares about you," Folio rested his hand on my shoulder.

I patted it with a small smile and wanted to change the subject, ready to talk about anything else when my phone rang form its spot on the end table by the bed. Hopping over the couch, I answered it in time to see Lana calling.

"Give me a minute?" I asked Folio.

When he nodded, I walked out onto the balcony, the warm afternoon air brushing across my skin.

"Hello?"

"Hi dear, how're things?" Lana's cheery voice made me smile.

I spent the next few minutes catching up with her, every once in a while catching Folio's curious gaze through the sliding glass door. It was no secret that I took these phone calls daily now asking about my mom but no one really asked why. Noah tried, but I shut that down immediately.

Suddenly, a loud commotion sounded from her end of yelling and I stood straighter while clutching the phone to my ear.

"Lana, what's going on?"

Some rustling before her voice came through. "It's the Mikalson's from next door. They said they caught your mother in their living room, with their young daughter in her lap."

Mother fucker, this was bad.

The Mikalson's moved in about six months ago and kept to themselves so I didn't bother telling them about my mother's disease. But now that they found her with their daughter I wasn't sure what they were going to do.

"Did you try to explain?" I asked through a rushed breath.

"Yes, but they didn't bother to understand. They're threatening to call the cops."

"Fuck," I spat and began pacing the balcony. "Can I talk to them? Maybe if they hear it from me, they might change their minds."

The only thing I heard for the next few minutes was Lana's voice sounding far away so I assumed she dropped the phone so she could talk to the Mikalson's. I still was pacing with the phone clutched tightly to my ear with one hand and the other on my racing heart. Folio stepped out on the balcony, concern etched in his features.

"What's going on?" He asked.

Just then Lana's voice returned to the phone. "It's alright, I've talked them down. But they're not happy. They said if it happens again, they won't bother waiting before calling the cops."

Cursing, I ran a hand through my hair, feeling the sudden weight of everything crash down on my chest and the dam burst open with a flood of tears. They ran down my face before I could even hide them from Folio, who immediately brought me into his arms, hands rubbing slow, soothing circles on my back.

"Thank you, Lana," I sobbed into the phone. "I'll be home tomorrow morning and you can take the two days off."

She didn't bother to argue, both of us knowing it was the truth. Without saying another word, I hung up the phone and let it fall to the ground as my arms wrapped around Folios back. We stayed like that for a while; me crying into his shirt and him soft embrace easing away the pain for that time being.

"What's going on?" he finally asked.

Reluctantly, I pulled away from him and wiped away the rest of the stray tears. I could say nothing, lie, or tell him the truth. Folio was becoming a good friend of mine and I knew I could trust he wouldn't say anything to Noah or the rest of the guys.

"It's my mom," I choked out. "She's sick, and it's been so stressful dealing with it while I'm here. There's been a caregiver with her but-."

I trailed off, not wanting to go further into any detail about my mom. This was good enough for Folio because his thumb wiped away another tear that fell and nodded as if he could read my mind of why I didn't want to say anything else.

"I won't tell anyone," Folio promised.

"Thank you," I sniffled. "This is why I'm so apprehensive to start a relationship with Noah because how can I focus on him when my life back home is a fucking mess."

"He'd understand, Y/N."

I shook my head. "No, he can't know. Please?"

Another secret of mine for Folio to keep from Noah.

Eventually he nodded while stuffing his hands deep into the pockets of his jeans. The sound of a door opening behind us gave us pause as we looked over to the balcony from the room next door. Nick eyed the two of us with furrowed brows.

"Noah's been trying to call you," he nodded towards Folio.

"Oh shit. I left my phone in Y/N's room." Folio informed.

Nick's eyes bounced between us. "I was going to give Noah a tattoo, and he wanted to know if you two wanted to come watch."

I still said nothing, simply kept my gaze and my feet so Folio nudge my arm. "Come on, it'll be good for you not to be alone right now."

There was a part of me that wanted to argue but ultimately knew he was right so all I did was nod.

"Let me change real quick and I'll be over," I said to Nick.

He nodded before giving Folio one last glance and retreated into the room next door. I went to walk past Folio but his gentle touch on my elbow gave me pause.

"If you want to talk more, you know I'm here for you right?"

I gave him a genuine smile. "Of course, Folio. Thank you."

NOAH

"Did you find Folio?" Jolly asked Nick as he came back inside.

"Yeah, he was in Y/N's room," he threw a thumb over his shoulder in the direction of the room next door.

I stiffened in my spot on the couch as jealousy ran through me. Why were the two of them hanging out alone? After she declined to go to lunch with me earlier? I tried not to let it bother me, knowing that she and Folio were friends. They cared about each other but not the way she and I cared about each other. I had no reason to be jealous because we weren't technically together but it still irritated me that she chose to hang with him instead of me today.

With my hood pulled over my head, I sunk deeper into the couch and brought out my phone to send a text to Y/N.

Are you coming over?

Her response was almost immdiate and it made my heart do that stupid little flutter it did everytime she was around.

Yea, just changing.

My fingers typed a fast response.

If the guys weren't here, I'd say come over wearing nothing.

It took a few minutes before she responded.

Cheeky, aren't we?

For you, angel? Always.

Suddenly there was a knock at the door and Jolly let Folio in first slowly followed by Y/N, who's eyes were red and puffy; almost as if she was crying. Our gazes locked and instantly I sat up, patting the spot next to me on the couch.

She hesitantly made her way over to me and when she was within reach, I wrapped an arm around her to pull me into her chest.

"What's wrong?"

I felt her stiffen in my embrace as her hands loosely wrapped around me.

"I'm fine, just a long morning that's all."

Her voice sounded sad, almost broken, as she slowly pulled away but remained sitting next to me. I didn't buy that for shit but didn't bother prying more into what was bothering her. Instead, I looked towards Folio who motioned for me to come over. He was leaning against the door to Nick's room and when I crossed the way to him; he let out a deep sigh.

"Look before you assume some shit went down with Y/N and I, nothing happened. I brought her lunch, and she got a phone call," he said.

"A phone call?" I asked.

Folio ran a hand through his hair, eyes darting over to Y/N, who didn't bother glancing our way. She kept her hands folded in her lap while she roughly chewed on her bottom lip as if she was trying her damnest not to break down.

"It's not my business to tell exactly what but she's dealing with some things with her mom."

I then remebered the phone call outside the coffee shop with her mom and stuffed my hands deep into the pocket of my sweater.

"Noah," Folio's voice turned serious. "You need to make sure she knows that you're serous about her. She's questioning a lot right now so reassure her that your feelings are genuine."

"They are," I defended with a clenched jaw.

"I know that. But she doesn't," he motioned to Y/N.

Leaving him, I stalked back to the couch and sat in my previous spot. Y/N didn't bother to look away from her clasped hands so I lifted her chin so she had to look at me.

"So, what design is Nick going to tattoo?" I asked, hoping this would lighten her darkened mood.

Nick was setting up his tattoo gun while Jolly and Folio sat on the edge of the bed, talking quietly to themselves.

Y/N shrugged, no ounce of light behind her eyes or emotion on his voice. "I don't care, Noah. You don't have to do this. It was a stupid bet."

"Angel," I began, but she cut me off with a hard stare.

"I don't care," she repeated. "Get Bart Simpson with face tattoo's or a black cat, it's going to be on your body for the rest of your life. I can't be the one that makes you get a tattoo you'll regret."

I blinked taking aback by her outburst. She wasn't yelling but her voice was thick with anger. Realizing she snapped, Y/N let out a shaky breath then leaned her head against my shoulder, our fingers linking.

"I'm sorry," she apologized.

My lips left gentle kisses on her hairline and squeezed her hand. "It's alright."

Once Nick was set up, I quietly told him what to tattoo so Y/N wouldn't hear then sat back with her while he tattooed the small design on my right thumb.

Having her this close to me with her scent engulfing my senses, my heart thundered hard against the confines of my chest. From the first day she came to work with us, Y/N had this effect on me. I couldn't get her out of my head and my heart. She was like a drug and once I got a taste for her; I needed more. My cock throbbed in my sweats when I remembered the pictures she posted on her Only Fan's last night. While the one in the bus's bunk was sexy, my favorite was the one of her in the bathroom while wearing our shirt, for obvious reasons.

Anger gripped tight at my stomach when I realized others are seeing those pictures, knowing what she looks like underneath her clothes. But it wasn't like I could tell her to stop posting; we weren't dating yet.

"Hey," I said softly while shaking her arm. "How about we get some food after the radio interview, just the two of us?"

She lifted her head from my shoulder to look at me. "Like a date?"

I smiled. "Yeah."

With the way her eyes twinkled, I knew she liked the idea until they cast down to the now finished tattoo on my thumb. She sucked in a breath as her body tensed, eyes now wide with some emotion I couldn't pinpoint.

"Why'd you get that?"

The tone of her voice was high pitched, mortified as she pushed away from me.

"You won the bet, so I thought it made sense," I shrugged, not realizing she would get this upset over the tattoo.

Y/N stood to her feet with a start and ran a hand through her hair, making her way to the door.

"This is moving to fast. I need to be alone."

The door to the room slammed shut, and it left all four of us staring at it confused, with me gazing down to my thumb at the dark lines of my new tattoo; small, black angel wings.

[wexhappyxfew]

crash landings and all

(a/n): to my annie x brady girlies, here is the piece i’ve since promised and since fallen in love with!!! featuring annie, brady, coffee cups and the rising sun + some heartfelt talks about reality. and of course all those emotions annie doesn’t really need but feels instead. enjoy!

It was 0600 and she couldn't sleep.

But this had been happening far too many times in the past few weeks for her to ignore it and call it nerves, or worry, or any other bothersome symptom that would have one of the girls nudging her and asking her if she was okay.

Which she was, alright?

Or she was at least trying to tell herself that.

When there were mornings without missions, that's usually when she would come and sit out, just outside of the mess hall, and stare out towards where the B-17s sat, silhouetted against the purple and pink skyline as the sun began to appear. She'd usually sit there for about an hour, before she started seeing people moving about, and then she'd disappear inside, grab herself a coffee, avoid one of Major Egan's horrible jokes in the morning, and then be on her way to her crew, or to Silver Bullets, or to anything really - to distract herself, get her mind active, get her brain focused on something other than the worry.

This morning was no different - beautiful as the early dawn was, it was also incredibly reflective. She'd sit in the silence, the only noise the breeze in the trees and past her ears, the birds beginning to wake up and sing. It was usually a lot of her convincing herself things were fine and that everything was okay. That she was okay. But usually that didn't last very long and she was off worrying about one of the girls, or that one damn engine on Silver Bullets, or better yet if Lemmons had screwed that one bolt in enough. It kind of ate her alive at the worst of times.

"Hey." Annie looked up and found, stepping down onto the step, and nestling in beside her was Brady, an outstretched hand with a steaming mug of coffee opposite her, and a tired smile on his face.

"Hey," Annie said, trying to hide her surprise and current spiral that she thought was normally drawn across her face, "you're up early. Thanks." She took the coffee and watched as he settled beside her with a sigh, sipping at his own cup of coffee and glanced her way.

"I could say the same about you." he said back, his voice still waking up it seemed from sleep, knocking her shoulder gently. Annie watched him, the first rays of the morning son painting his face a beautiful golden with his eyes and she nodded.

"Couldn't sleep." she told him honestly, "Haven't been sleeping too well anyway, so. What's not to lose with a sunrise, you know?" Brady watched her for a moment, his lanky knees bent up to his chest, the mug resting on his kneecap and his expression quiet.

"Something worrying you?" he asked her, seemingly the first assumption of many on this base - was something worrying her? The sun would shine and she'd be worried, she'd be sat at a table and someone would cough and she'd think she'd have to get the doctor, someone would come in with a headache and she'd assume the worst. So, yeah, maybe there was something wrong, but she wasn't about to spill that to Brady at 0600 in the morning.

"I just worry about the girls, you know how it is. Making sure people are sleeping, eating, feeling okay, not feeling too homesick they're bedridden. That their letters get sent, get read, they get comforted, listened to." Annie said, "Just making sure they're keeping what smiles they can on their faces." Brady caught her gaze as she glanced his way and she found a small smile lingering on her lips.

"It's just what I have to do. Make sure things work like a well-oiled machine." she told him honestly, sipping at the coffee, "I must say, you know how to make a coffee taste good." Brady smirked slightly, a bit of a laugh escaping his mouth, before he looked at her.

"I'm glad you like it," he told her, his voice tender, "but don't try to worry yourself over your crew. They're a good group of ladies flying a B-17. And they've got a great pilot to lead 'em."

"Thanks, John."

"Just make sure you keep an eye on yourself, alright," Brady said, leaning into her side a bit, causing her to glance his way, "you're a part of that crew and just as important." He spoke with a gentle ease of tone, but equally just as serious, like he was coaxing someone to calm down.

"John Brady, you are full of compliments this morning." Annie said quietly, sipping her coffee and peering at him over the edge of coffee cup, just in time to watch his ears flame red a bit and he gulped and smiled at her.

"I don't lie." he told her and Annie grinned and held his gaze for a moment.

"Humor me then," Annie said and a brief moment of reflection passed over Brady's face, "Croz sort of let it out, about those 'mechanical failures' when he mistook France for England…..what was that about…..?" Annie watched him expectantly and Brady's ears flamed a deeper red to the point it spread to his cheeks.

"Supposedly you covered for Croz, real gentlemanly, too, I must admit." Annie said, "Lying to Major Egan of all people, John Brady, I wouldn't suspect such a thing." Brady chuckled at her words and shook his head.

"I was putting it how it was," Brady said, "God, it was embarrassing though. In front of both Buck and Bucky. Land the plane on its belly, Croz vomiting just below, the thing about to blow up but it doesn't, our first introduction to the base. You do what you gotta do for the crew. I was a bit of a shithead to Croz, but to be flying over France -Nazi-occupied France - it wasn't the most pleasant." Annie smiled, watching him as he spoke.

Knowing how he cared how he flew, how he coped. He was so fluent in what he thought and believed, right and truthful. Caring, gentle, but firm and purposeful in his speech.

"The worst was that belly-landing though," Brady said, shaking his head as he sipped his coffee, "that was horrible." Annie watched as Brady seemed to relive it for a moment. She bit back her lip and then reached a hand forward and placed it on the sleeve of his wrist, the touch warm and welcoming and causing their eyes to meet.

"I crashed an AT-6 when I was doing hours for my license." Annie said - she had never dared to tell a soul such a thing, she wanted to take that to the grave, bury it, hide the humiliation. She'd jumped out of it like she was losing her mind, a lunatic sprinting across the base, with her hair ends crispy and black, her blonde hair suffering from the smoldering smoke, looking more monster than woman in that moment. Not her finest, but it had taught her a whole lot of lessons. Brady watched her for a moment, surprised.

"You?" Brady said with a nod, "Crashed not only a plane, but an AT-6? No, I don't believe you." Annie could get his joking tone pretty solid by this point and instead laughed at his words, leaning back to wrap her slightly cold fingertips around the mug and nodded.

"I did in fact crash-land it. Crazed eyes, hair-on-fire and all." Annie said and Brady watched her as if amazed.

"I must admit, it's hard for me to picture that because you're one of the best pilots I've ever met." Brady said and if she were honest, they both looked surprised as that came out of his mouth, but he was quickly talking next and she took a moment to relive those words.

"I mean, you look so calm and collected….what…what happened to warrant that?" he said, leaning a bit closer, evidently interested in the tale that had her losing her mind for weeks after.

"Truth be told, me learning to fly was like telling a fish to live in a tree," Annie said watching as Brady chuckled, "I wasn't always….this." She pointed to her face and Brady smirked.

"Oh c'mon, you're a goddamn good pilot, Annie, really." Brady said, and then smiled, "Go on though." Annie sent him a look with a playful smirk.

"You, asshole." she said and nudged his shoulder, "Don't try to get back at me with that or something in the future."

"Never, my lips are sealed." Brady said, sending her a wink - why would he do that at six am when she's somewhat still fogged with sleep and brain exhaustion.

"Anyway," Annie said, catching his smile again, "all the engines crapped out on me as I was coming in for the landing, the tower was telling me to eject, ejector was jammed, and the wheels were stuck at 45 degrees. So, I did what I could, braced myself and the thing slid across about hundreds of feet of sand before tilting to the side, me pouring out like Ma's soup for dinner. It was so bad, and horrifically embarrassing. God."

"Hey," Brady said, leaning into her peripheral, "'least you can say you know how it's done." Annie let out a laugh at his words then and there, her heart feeling warm for one of the first mornings sat out here; usually alone and now in good company.

"I mean, it wasn't the first time I even crashed landed." Brady offered with a shoulder shrug. Annie stared at him, trying to keep the smile from her lips.

"You're joking."

"Wish I was, Annie," Brady said, "back in training, went down, Croz could tell you all about it. Became pretty well-known among the base and the training groups." He smiled.

"But," he said, "'least I can say I did it." Annie let out a laugh, clasping a hand over her mouth as she glanced at him and watched him chuckle, his eyes glowing in the morning sun that was slowly peaking its way over the horizon line.

"You should join me for mornings like this more often," Annie said quietly, looking out towards the sunlight, "get some things off your chest. It's why I do well….usually alone, but it helps me think. Through things like that." She looked over and met his gaze and smiled. His expressions in the early morning were so much gentler than at dinner, and it almost made her wish he could stay like that forever in some selfish way. All of them, truth be told.

"I think I will," Brady said, "I'm glad you like the coffee. I wasn't sure what you went for, but….you seemed like a cream type of person."

"You either are really good as guessing or someone snitched." Annie said, catching Brady smirking.

"Nah, Bessie was in there the other day getting coffee for you two. I know she drinks straight black and was wondering who the hell she'd be getting a coffee full of creamer for so…." Brady admitted, glancing her way, "I hope you enjoy it." Annie looked to the cup of coffee and took another lingering sip. She wanted to stay like this for a while, freeze time maybe. But that would never be such a thing in their lives.

"We should take a spin together some time," Annie said looking towards him, a smile growing on her lips, "if you ever wanted to be in Silver Bullets when she gets going in the air. You could be my co-pilot." Brady watched her, his face still for a moment, held in a graceful balance of seriousness and surprise and then the corner of his lips ticked upwards.

"I think Francis would drop-kick me from the cockpit." Brady whispered quietly to her and Annie chuckled.

"She'd be fine with it, I swear to you," Annie said, "maybe not anytime soon, as long as we're going up, dropping bombs and all. But maybe when this whole thing ends. And we just get to be. When we get to go home." Looking over, she found Brady already watching her. Home, seemed to echo in her mind the longer she held his gaze.

"Hey! That you Brady?" Annie watched Brady turn away from her face and glance behind her, her own gaze following to find Crank coming towards them, waving an arm, "Buck's been trying to get a-hold of you!" Brady nodded and then looked back at her, a sudden shift in whatever it was that existed between them. He slowly got to his feet, brushed off his pants and then stopped to lean down towards her ear.

"I'd love to be your co-pilot," Brady whispered, sending chills up her neck, "ma'am." Then, he was up and off, sending her cheeks flaming red, her eyes going over her shoulder, as he went and caught up to Crank, shaking his hand and nodding to him, exchanging all the pleasantries. Annie caught his eyes one final time as he glanced back at her. He winked.

[the-west-meadow]

greg hirsch with ❛ do you enjoy playing with people’s hearts? ❜ please? <3

here's some quick fun Greg fluff. perfect prompt for him. I hope you enjoy!

Greg Hirsch x Reader

prompt: do you enjoy playing with people's hearts?

Mornings were hectic at your apartment. Greg usually overslept, and relied on you to pound on his door to wake him up. Meanwhile you had already made coffee and were waiting in the kitchen for him to get dressed. 

Greg threw open the door to his room, his tie undone, pulling on one shoe. 

“There’s coffee already? Oh man, you’re the best. My last roommate liked to make breakfast, but it was usually just burnt toast.”

He brushed past you to fill his mug from the French press.

“Top you off?” he said.

“Thanks,” you said, holding out your mug. 

Greg sat atop the stool beside you, hunched over his coffee.

“I always make you late,” he said.

“We’re not late yet.”

“You can leave without me, you know. You don’t have to wait.”

“It’s okay. I like having roommate time together.”

“Me too,” he said. “Do we have time to grab food?”

“I think so. Do you still want to meet up for dinner after work?”

“Definitely.”

“You realize your tie is undone,” you said. 

Before he could respond, you took both ends of his tie and began to tie it for him. Greg stood completely still, hands half raised, watching.

“Oh, that’s- very kind of you,” he stammered. You tightened the knot and smiled.

“Let’s get going. If we’re late with Tom’s breakfast, he’ll flagellate us.”

Greg was at his cubicle when he saw you later that day. You usually worked on the lower floors, with the rest of the ATN crew. It was rare that you made it up to the executive floor on any given day, so he took notice. You were handing out what appeared to be a memo to the executives, greeting them politely as you moved from office to office. 

When you started heading back towards the elevators, he stood up to follow you and say a quick hello. But then he paused. Kendall had stepped out of his office to greet you. Greg slowly sat down, watching the encounter over the top of his cubicle. 

Kendall had his hands in his pockets, an easy smile on his face. Greg was all too familiar with that smile. He felt his stomach sink. Kendall’s laughed said something into your ear. That’s when Greg sank down into his seat and didn’t reemerge.

He was still slouched in his seat like this when Tom found him an hour later.

“What are you doing, slacker?” 

“Oh, you know…”

“You look like you’ve been drained of all your lifeblood.”

“Hey,” Greg said, stirring, “What was Y/N doing up here earlier?”

“Oh, the email server is down so we had to hand out a memo the old fashioned way.”

“Does Y/N know Kendall at all?”

“I don’t think Kendall knows Y/N exists, Greg. Kendall’s range of awareness is very narrow.”

“They were bantering outside his office.”

A smile slid across Tom’s face. “So you were spying on them from your lonely little cubicle and you’ve been crying at your desk ever since?”

“I was definitely not crying.”

“But you were spying.”

“I thought you two lived together. Are you telling me you haven’t been fucking like bunnies in that apartment?”

“We’re just roommates. We have separate rooms.”

“That’s fucking ridiculous, Greg. Why two hot young people should live in such close quarters without fucking is beyond me. You should be ashamed of yourself.”

“Ashamed? I thought I was doing the righteous thing.”

“You are, Greg, which is why I’m so furious. You’re too pure for this world.”

Tom sighed, shaking his head. 

“I worry about you, Greg.”

“So do I.”

He waited outside for you. The other employees filed out past him, but you didn’t show. He checked his phone. No text. Sighing, he hailed a cab and started back to the apartment alone. 

Greg sat up for a long time reading, the door to his room cracked slightly. This was a signal that you had agreed upon, meaning it was okay to come in and chat. Greg listened for the sound of the front door, but hours passed and still you didn’t show. Finally he turned over on his back with his fingers crossed over his chest. He saw Kendall’s flashy smile, eyes crinkling when you laughed at his jokes. He heard Tom’s voice chastising him. Finally he saw you, standing inches from him only that morning, tying his tie. 

When he woke up in the morning, your door was wide open, the bed untouched. He stumbled into the kitchen, still not dressed, to grind beans for coffee.

He was late.

It wasn't long after work the next day when you finally returned to the apartment. Greg had only recently arrived and collapsed onto his bed. He heard the door open and shot up in bed, listening. Your footsteps stopped outside his slightly open door.

“Greg?”

“Yeah, it’s me,” he said.

The door creaked open and you stood there in the same clothes you had worn yesterday.

“Are you mad at me?” you said meekly.

“What? No. For what? Come in here.”

You stepped inside, sliding off your shoes, sitting on the edge of his bed. He sat up, crossing his legs. He was still in his work clothes, white Oxford shirt unbuttoned at the chest. 

“I missed dinner,” you said.

“It’s okay. I guess you had other plans.”

“I fucked up,” you said. You turned to face him, one leg hanging off the bed. “I’ve been fucking up for a while.”

“What do you mean?”

“First there was that producer from ATN.”

“Oh, the one with the eyes?”

“Then there was the executive that got fired. And now Kendall.”

You shook your head, still not looking at him. He wanted to reach out, to lift your chin, to look you full in the face. But he didn’t move.

“Well, you’re a very desirable young person.”

You looked up at him, half a grin spreading on your face.

“Why do you say it like you’re my grandpa?”

“Sorry. I’m not trying to be a grandpa. It’s just- you have a lot of suitors.”

“You still sound 18th century.”

Greg cracked a smile, running his hand through his flopping hair.

“I’m sorry. I’m not very smooth.”

“That’s a good thing, Greg. You’re the only one I feel safe with.”

You leaned forward, brushing a strand of hair away from his forehead. You eased towards him until he could feel your breath on his lips.

“Do you enjoy playing with people’s hearts?” he whispered.

You pulled back swiftly.

“Fuck,” you said. “I’m sorry.” 

You started to get up, but he gently took your hand.

“Stop. It’s okay. I just have a few things to say, if you want to listen.”

You nodded and crossed your legs, facing him. He took a deep breath in and let it out slowly.

“Actually, it’s just one thing: I like you. I have feelings for you. Feelings of a romantic nature.”

“Greg…”

“I don’t mind the other guys. Kendall is great. He’s charming, he’s rich. Two great traits right there. It’s me I’m worried about. How do I stack up against them? I’m broke, I take the subway to work, I never wake up on time. So I sort of resigned myself so just being your roommate. Your friend.”

“I’m glad you’re my friend, Greg.”

“Me too.”

“Good. Roommates, then?”

“Roommates.”

His blue eyes flickered up to meet yours, and in an instant you were on top of him. His head sank into the pillow as you straddled him, running your hands through his hair. His hands were all over you, feeling every inch of the person he never thought he would have. You unbuttoned the rest of his shirt, sliding your hands beneath the undershirt he wore. He sat up, pulling it off swiftly. You lunged towards him once more.

“Wait, wait,” he whispered, putting his hands on your shoulders. You sat panting, gazing at each other. 

“Are we doing this?” he breathed. 

“Do you want to?”

“Well, why should two hot young people should live in such close quarters without fucking?”

A grin spread across your face. Bringing your hands to his hair, you kissed him again, slowly this time. He sank back on the bed, flicking off the lamp as he went.

The next morning, you emerged from a cab together outside of the Waystar office. Greg strode beside you in his wayfarer sunglasses, holding a cup of coffee in one hand and your hand in the other. You glanced at him and smiled, squeezing his hand.

Kendall stepped out the door as you approached the building. He took one look at you and Greg, and a quiet smile came over his face. 

“Morning, kids,” he said. You thought you saw him wink behind his sunglasses. He kept walking. 

Greg glanced over his shoulder, then leaned down to kiss you swiftly on the lips. 

“And we’re not even late,” he murmured. 

[yujo-nishimura]

The Escape - Part 4

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

This is the part I wanted to write so badly - rescuing little Buggy from the sea. This is a long read! :)

Later all the three of you are standing down by the beach, a little raft is laying ashore, probably crafted by these two small human-like creatures. Buggy, brimming with enthusiasm, has packed a small bag containing provisions to sustain him during the upcoming days. His trusty knives, gleaming in the sunlight, are carefully secured within the bag. 

As you stand beside Buggy, a spectator to his departure, a mix of emotions swirl within you. Your gaze sweeps across the island, taking in its beauty and the endless expanse of the sea that stretches out before you. Last night and this morning, you experienced a profound sense of freedom in this place, not solely because of the solitude, but because of the unexpected companionship of these two outsider pirates who embraced you as one of their own. As you reflect upon the kindness shown to you by the clown pirate over the past 24 hours, a flicker of curiosity and adventure ignites within you. You recognize the allure of following in his footsteps, of embarking on a journey alongside someone who has extended their hand in friendship.

The decision weighs heavy on your mind, torn between the desire to stay and the pull to venture into the unknown.  “Buggy, may I come with you?”

His eyes widened as you say these words, he seemed to misunderstand you for a moment, stuttering “Coming with me…? Joining my crew?” You shake your head. “No, I need to be independent for a while. But I want to move on and get to the next island. And I lack the skills and power to make my own boat to get away from here..”

Buggy shows you a sly grin - “Of course you can come with me for a while. I think this can be a win-win. Until I have my body parts back anybody taller than 1,20 is welcome on board.” 

You chuckle and show him an appreciating smile. Gaimon just nods in agreement. He seems to be used to people coming and leaving his island so he feels no remorse or sadness for the two of you leaving at the same time. “I wish you both the best of luck, hopefully we will meet again someday and have some more wine!”

He hands you a little bag with food as well and you realize that after the storm and the hardships faced, you have been left with nothing but your own determination. Gratefully, you accept the offered bag, knowing that these rations will sustain you until you reach the next town, where you can stock up your supplies and acquire the necessary weapons for your continued travel.

Buggy unties the raft and jumps on it, you follow him carefully, holding on to your little bag. As you both slowly leave the shore you wave goodbye to the friendly moss-headed creature at the beach. You can't help but feel a sense of reassurance, knowing that Gaimon will be in good hands until the day you all cross paths once more.

Buggy has made the raft quite sturdy and it even has a small sail. You both do not need to row, since the wind is going into the right direction, pushing you both slowly away from the island. You feel that Buggys eyes are resting on you, he probably is pleased that he does not need to do this journey alone. You might have guessed his thoughts right because he is asking now “How well can you fight?” “I can defend myself.”, you say and you remember your martial arts education as a child and the sword lessons you had as a teenager. You are not the strongest fighter, but when push comes to shove, you always know how to defend yourself. “I am also good at running away!” you add and laugh. "Good. Until I am my full self again I depend on your help, Y/n. But I will reward you handsomely if you stay by my side.” 

“Letting me join you on this raft is reward enough. As I said, it would have taken me ages to make my own. And I just need to get to the next town. I am sure we will find your crew and your body parts before that.”

Buggy nods, seemingly pleased with your answer. He feels like a captain again, after losing his crew he at least has one subordinate now. 

As you decide to catch up on some sleep from last night and make yourself more comfortable on the little raft you suddenly realize a motion in the water, a rumbling like an earthquake. Abruptly, you jolt awake, a surge of adrenaline coursing through your veins, and your gaze fixates upon the agitated expanse of water before you.

“What is that?”, the clown pirate next to you asks, but before you can answer a huge sea king in the form of a lobster is exploding out of the water, reaching towards you two. “Buggy, hand me one of your knives!”, you shout panically, knowing you feel a bit helpless without a weapon. Buggy reaches for his coat, handing you the knife in a second, you await the lobster to come towards you and as he tries to reach for you with its crusher claw, you jump from the raft, knowing that you would need to protect this little flatboat at all cost. In a moment of confusion, the sea king hesitates, unsure of its next target. Seizing the opportunity, you unleash a punishing blow upon its hard shell from the side, asserting your presence with a display of strength. The sea king, enraged by the assault, redirects its attention towards you.

You start an underwater fight where you are definitely inferior, but with the help of the knives you still manage to make some critical hits. The lobster is big, but not strong so you are lucky this time. As you swim up to get some air, followed by the monster you manage to hit him with what you think is a final blow. A strong kick into his shelled face and another brutal attack with the knife, stabbing him between his tiny legs; and the sea king is unconscious swimming on the surface.  Emerging from the depths, you forcefully expel water from your mouth, gasping for air as you break through the surface. With a deep breath, you orient yourself, swiftly scanning the surroundings to locate Buggy and the raft nearby. 

He waves at you, seemingly pleased with your hard battle. 

“Good job, Y/n. That thing had no chance against us!” 

“You mean me..” you mumble to yourself as you swim towards Buggy. As you try to pull yourself out of the water you suddenly hear the familiar splashing noises of the lobster behind you, he wasn't unconscious as you had thought. “Buggy, watch out!” you shout, but the monster has already reached for the raft and in an attempt to rescue the boat the clown pirate jumps into the water, making the sea king follow him this time. You remember that Buggy had the powers of the devil fruit and couldn't swim, so you knew you had to be quick. 

You gather all your strength and go after the two, underwater you can see that the sea king is trying to squish Buggy in his claws. Furious you start another knife attack, blood mixes with water and your sight is blurred, but you can see it is enough that the monster is letting go of the clown pirate to aim its attack towards you again. You give the beast another blow and kick and you ram the knife with all your might into his left eye, there it gets stuck but seems to be finally fatal - the limbs of the monster go numb and he is slowly drifting up, finally unable to go after your or Buggy. 

You can see how Buggy is slowly sinking, unable to move. You immediately go after him, seeing his face in distress, the devil fruit hindering his ability to swim. With a few quick swim moves you are close to him, you grab his whole tiny body and you press it to your chest as you quickly swim up to the water surface. 

You both come up taking a deep breath, coughing and spitting water. You are holding his face over water, giving him air to breathe. Buggy's clown makeup looks just like before as if his face has never touched water and you realize for a moment what a handful he will be until he gets his body parts back. You can see his sly grin as you still have him pressed close to your chest, his hands resting on your cleavage. “What a wonderful way to be rescued!”, he declares and you, exhausted and frustrated already with this perverted captain, take him by the neck and throw him on the raft which has been fortunately not damaged at all. Exhausted you heave yourself up on the raft, rolling on your back, gasping for air. 

“Do you need mouth-to-mouth?” Buggy asks and you cannot tell if he is joking or serious. 

“I need a break you clown. I was so worried the raft would be gone. And this was just a small sea king. Who knows what else will await us…” 

“Don't worry, Y/N. I will soon get my full body back and then I will be the one protecting you.” 

You sit up looking at him startled. There is a softness in his voice right now as he says “Thank you for rescuing me.” 

You feel a sudden warmth in your belly, a feeling of deep connection and affection for this little clown. “No worries. Ima need to protect my captain!” you mumble and smile before you lay down again, resting from this furious battle. 

Hours pass by and you are able to continue your journey without any further interruptions. The weather is perfect - sunny and a light wind, it feels like a reward for the fierce battle from earlier when you set sail. Buggy says he can feel that his body parts are nearby, you wonder how this is even possible, but you decide that he might know best. “We might reach the island where I suspect my body parts this evening. Rest a bit more, Y/n, because I do not know what dangers will await us next…” 

You nod, taking your little bag and placing it under your head to sleep a bit more. You are trying to imagine what Buggy looks like as a “normal” human being with all his body parts, being tall and maybe even taller than you. With this handsome face and his charming eyes and his sly grin and his tendency to get you into trouble… You smile over this thought, slowly drifting into an afternoon nap.

[animeniacss]

So Close Yet So Far - Mingyu x Reader - Chapter 11 - What Happened Last Night...

Synopsis: Your college friend, Kim Mingyu, has had a grip on your heart since the first day you met. Over the past few years, as you acquired more friendships and memories, those feelings only grew. However, recently, Mingyu has seemed a bit more distant, at least when it comes to any ideas of romance. It only gets worse when rumors fly that he's off to Japan to receive a marriage proposal! Unsure what to do, you wonder how you can keep Mingyu by your side without jeopardizing your friendship or your growing feelings. You never expected that waking up one drunken morning next to two hot angels would be your ticket into Mingyu's heart.

Genre: Romance, College!AU, Friends to Lovers, Modern Fantasy, Comedy, Angsty

Length: approx. 5.9k words

Chapter 11 - What Happened Last Night

             The entire kitchen onto the back patio was quiet, only able to share glances as they tried to make heads or tails of what was going on. You looked at Hoshi, who still seemed stunned to silence. Jihoon stepped closer, seemingly wanting to say more. However, Hoshi’s expression stopped him. Hoshi, unable to manage himself, simply pushed past Jihoon and headed up the stairs that led to the bedrooms. Jihoon looked in his direction, letting out a sigh.

           “I expected that to happen.” He said softly. When he looked at you, he smiled. “Sorry.”

           Before words escaped your mouth, two people were standing in front of you and Minnie. When you looked up, you saw Joshua and Jeonghan.

           “What are you doinghere?” Joshua asked. You couldn’t see it from your spot, but a protective flare was burning in each of their eyes.

           Jihoon smiled. “Nice to see you to, Hyung.” He smiled. “I was invited. That’s all.” Joshua and Jeonghan immediately turned to you, eyes wide in shock. It spooked you, and you stepped back.

           “What?” you asked. You felt a hand on your back, and when you looked up, Mingyu was there.

            “Where did you meet him?!” Jeonghan asked. You shrugged.

            “I- I uhm.” Despite no reason to feel nervous, the almost angry expression they were giving you made you fall silent. “At the store when I got you snacks.” You finally managed to say. They looked back at Jihoon, who simply stood with his hands in his pockets, nodding his head to assure them your statement was correct. “What’s the problem?"

           “The problem?!” Jeonghan sighed, shaking his head as he calmed his voice. “The problem is…”

“Hey.” A deep booming voice approached. You looked over, seeing that instead of Minnie, Mingyu was at your side. With the situation seemingly solved, the spooked persona he just had melted away so he could support you. He put a hand on your shoulder. “Don’t yell at her because you have beef with the guy…” The duo turned back to Jihoon, who stood unphased before them. Mingyu looked down at you. “Are you okay?”

“I’m okay.” You assured. “I don’t know what’s going on….”

“Why don’t you go find Hoshi? We’ll settle all of this.” He assured, giving your shoulder a supportive squeeze. You nodded.

           “We got him.” Jeonghan said. Before anyone could question the abrupt statement, Joshua and Jeonghan approached Jihoon. He looked a bit stunned as the duo looped their arms through his, much as they usually do with you, and led him out the front door. You blinked, watching as Jihoon didn’t even fight back, matching his pace with the other two as they disappeared from sight.

           “Okay…” Mingyu said. After a moment of standing in the kitchen, he turned to the rest of the crew. “Let’s go eat for now…” he shuffled everyone back outside. “Let them figure it out.” As the group returned to the patio, he turned to the stairs you had just raced up.

You quickly hurried towards the stairs, looking around for Hoshi. It didn’t take long to find him, as he sat right on the top of the stairs, hands raking through his hair over and over again. It seemed he was trying very hard not to cry. You immediately hurried up to him, finding a spot on the step below him. He caught your gaze, and his attempt to wipe his eyes only increased. “Ugh, sorry.” He said.

           “Don’t be sorry. What happened?” you asked gently. “Do you know him?” Hoshi nodded, looking over at you. It was very unusual to see such a bright energy so distressed.

           “Yeah. Remember that guy Seungkwan keeps teasing me about?” It seemed a chuckle felt natural at this point as he covered his mouth with his hand. “Him.”

           “Oh.” You recalled the multiple ‘Hoshi’s boyfriend’ comment he has made in the past. “Is that him?” Hoshi nodded, wiping his eyes with his sleeve. “I’m sorry, I-.”

           “Don’t be sorry.” Hoshi said. “You didn’t know. When he and I stopped talking, I didn’t mention him anymore. You didn’t know who he was. It’s ok.” He chuckled a bit. “It’s just such a small world. I really was shocked when I saw him.”

           “Heh. I said something similar when I first met him.” You commented. “He actually saw me at the café a few days before, after I met Mina. When I was sad, and tried to help me.”

“Really?” Hoshi seemed shocked. You only nodded.

            “Want me to ask him to leave?”

           “What?” Hoshi shook his head. “No. It’s your birthday, you should have who you want here.”

           “But-.”

           “It’s ok. I promise. I just didn’t expect to see him. It shocked me.” Hoshi nodded. “That’s all.” You watched Hoshi rise from his spot on the stairs, offering you a hand to help you up. You reached up, wiping the threat of his tears away as he laughed at you. “Oh jeez, I’m okay.” He shook his head. “I’m alright, promise. Let’s have a good time this weekend, yeah?”

            “Yeah.” You sounded a bit unsure, patting his shoulder as the both of you headed down the stairs. He put his arm around you as well, seeming to need the comfort in the moment, which you had no problem providing.

🐶🐶🐶🐶🐶🐶🐶So Close Yet So Far🐶🐶🐶🐶🐶🐶🐶

           Meanwhile, Joshua and Jeonghan had managed to take Jihoon on the outside front porch, closing the door behind them. “Seriously, what are you doing here?” Joshua asked.

           “I told you already. I got invited.” Jihoon said. “Does that shock you?”

           “How did you just so happen to get invited to the party of the girl we’re in a contract with, Jihoon? It’s a bit suspicious.” Jihoon’s eyes widened, when a smirk formed on his face.

           “You’re helping her? Oh man.” Jihoon laughed a bit. “I had no idea. Then again, I had no idea the ‘evil twins’ finally got their punishment. I don’t speak with any of our family much anymore.”

           Joshua crossed his arms. “You can’t be here.” Jihoon laughed.

           “What do you think I shake hands with the devil now?” He sneered. “I’m not going to do anything. She invited me. Why the hell would I want to interfere?” Joshua and Jeonghan looked at one another. “What? Oh. You think I want to watch you two end up like me? Stuck here?”  

           “That’s not going to happen.” Jeonghan said. Joshua pursed his lips together, forcing an agreed nod. Jihoon seemed to catch it, snickering to himself again.

           “I’m not leaving.” He repeated simply, shrugging his shoulder. “Not unless she tells me to, anyway. So, are you going to be angelic and agree to a truce? A get-along period, if you will?” Again, Joshua and Jeonghan shared a glance with one another. “For her, if not for your brother.”

           When neither of them responded, Jihoon simply nodded. The duo suddenly caught a look of hurt in their younger brother’s eyes as he diverted them to the sea. A quiet moment fell over the trio then, Joshua and Jeonghan sharing a side glance. Jihoon finally looked back at them, patting them both on the shoulders. “By the way, it was nice to see you.” He said, before making his way back inside the house, footsteps muffling the closer her got to the porch.

The duo shared a look of concern. “What should we do?” Joshua asked. Jeonghan shrugged.

           “I never thought we’d run into him again. Much less, like this.” Jeonghan rubbed his hair, an exasperated sigh on his lips. “I thought this whole thing was supposed to be easy. I’m already exhausted from it.” Joshua patted his friend on the shoulder, the duo listening as everyone now rejoined on the balcony, the sound of Hoshi’s attempts to eagerly energize everyone again working as the group cheered at the sight of the food. The duo made their way inside, watching as Jihoon stood at the door to the patio, leaning against it with his arm crossed as he stared out at the rest of the crew. Joshua and Jeonghan stepped closer, Joshua putting a hand on Jihoon’s shoulder. He looked up at the taller duo.

            “Just don’t start anything.” Jeonghan comment. Jihoon nodded his head, before being led by the duo to the food waiting on the table. Jihoon stood at your side, seeing you already making up a plate with sparkling eyes. Other than mutters about how delicious the food looked, silence lingered as everyone tried to figure out what to say. Hoshi took another drink from the cooler, popping it open and taking a sip. You sat beside him, plate in hand, as Jihoon plopped himself by the railing, resting his back against it with a few little scoops of the different options. Hoshi immediately avoided even staring his direction by looking at Seungkwan, the duo falling into a routine conversation.

           You were sticking a bite of meat into your mouth when Mina sat beside you. You looked over, setting your chopsticks down. She seemed nervous.

           “Are you okay?” she asked. The question confused you, and she seemed to be able to tell when she elaborated with: “That was a bit dramatic. You all looked so shaken up.” She motioned to Jihoon, who was resting against the balcony frame and eating quietly. “I’ve never seen Mingyu so scared.” 

           “Oh. It’s ok, I think. It seems they have a bit of history together. I didn’t know that.”

           “Wow…” Mina said. “So, you inviting Jihoon seemed to stir up unwanted memories.” Guilt washed over you at her comment. She looked at Mingyu, who out of the kindness of his heart and the fact that he was hosting, approached Jihoon in an attempt to make some sort of conversation. He seemed a bit put off for a moment, but soon the duo fell into pretty simple first-time meeting conversation. “He’s so kind.” Mina smiled.

           “Yeah.” You said gently, trying to brush off her last comment. “He is.”

           “He’s been so excited to throw this party for you.” She said. “He’s worked hard for it.”

           “I know. I’m grateful.” You assured. “Usually, we just all go out to eat, or spend the night at someone’s house. We drink and watch TV and play games until we all fall asleep. I appreciate those times, too…”

           “I can imagine. I hope to be a part of those in the future.” You felt unsure about the context Mina was putting herself into these situations, but when she smiled at you, you had to smile back. “I heard he has a lot planned for you.”

           “Yeah...”

            “It must have been expensive for him to do.” Mina added.

            “I…think he can afford it?” You cocked an eyebrow. Mina looked at you, nodding.

            “He seems to think you deserve it.” She added, looking down at the food in her hands as she took another bite. You looked over to Joshua and Jeonghan, who were chatting amongst their food. Another moment of silence before Mina spoke again: “When we went to the café, did I say something to upset you?” In that moment, the entirety of that conversation came crashing into your heart like a tidal wave on the coast of the beach. You blinked, falling silent with no idea of how to respond to that. “I left in such a hurry but you looked so stunned. I only wanted to be honest. I’m so sorry if I upset you.”

           “N-no.” was all you could sputter out. “It was just a shock, I guess.” You watched Mina smile a bit. Desperate to change the subject, you looked around: “Mingyu told me you had helped set some stuff up.”

           “Yeah, but we were so busy all on the beach and unpacking and cooking yesterday time got away from us.” You nodded. “Seungkwan and Hoshi versed Mingyu and I in chicken. We totally beat them.” she laughed a bit. “So, we’re going to have everything ready for you when you wake up on your birthday.” Mina reached out, gently putting a hand on your arm. It seemed she had no intention of letting the original conversation end just yet. “I’m just glad to know that we’re on okay terms. I was worried but I didn’t know how to ask.” Mina slowly rose up. “I’m going to get a drink. Want anything?” When you motioned to the drink beside you, Mina nodded, before heading off to the cooler. Your eyes scanned the area as everyone continued simply eating and chatting amongst themselves. Joshua and Jeonghan were talking, constantly shooting looks at Jihoon as they seemingly discussed what to do. Minnie, Hoshi, and Seungkwan were all sitting together. With Mingyu trying to be a good host and talk to a hesitant Jihoon, that left you to simply people watch. As you continued eating and drinking, you hoped that within a few hours, drinks would help loosen people up and allow everyone to come together and start interacting again.

🐶🐶🐶🐶🐶🐶🐶So Close Yet So Far🐶🐶🐶🐶🐶🐶🐶

           “Dance, Kwannie! Dance, dance, dance!” Hoshi shouted in between claps. Loud music was blasting through the porch, alcohol and food loosening each person up just as you thought it would. You sat beside Mingyu, both of you clapping your hands and cheering him on as well. Seungkwan, cheeks red with a mixture of embarrassment and liquid courage, shuffled to the front of the group as one of his favorite songs began playing. He wasted no time breaking into the choreography, earning drunken laughter and cheers from the entire group. “Go, Kwannieeee!” Hoshi cheered.

           You laughed, taking the last sip of your drink as you cheered your friend on. When you noticed you were finished, you looked over to the cooler that sat behind you. Just as you were about to get up, you felt a hand on your shoulder hold you down. Looking over, Mingyu offered you a smile before getting up. “I got it.” he said. He walked to the cooler, grabbing another drink and tossing it to you. He turned his attention to the rest of the crowd. “Who else before I sit down?”

           “Me!” Minnie said, catching another.

           “Me too!” Hoshi called with a grin. He caught his too.

           “Me!” Seungkwan said, not once stopping his dance. When Mingyu mimicked the motion of throwing it, Seungkwan stumbled. “Woah, wait, wait!” he shouted. The panic in his voice made everyone laugh as Seungkwan hurried to Mingyu, taking the drink. Mingyu walked back over, sitting down on the log as Seungkwan pulled you and Minnie over front and center, you now being the one encouraged to bust a move to another song that began to play. Frantically, you tried to get out of it, pulling your arm back in drunken laughter as you were brought in front of everyone.

           Mingyu looked at Joshua and Jeonghan, who were grinning and trying to encourage you to the front in order to complete the dance.

           “No, no! Don’t encourage them!” You begged, the duo only laughing harder in their attempts to convince you. Mingyu smiled a bit, reaching back over to the cooler and grabbing two more drinks. He looked over to Joshua, who seemingly caught his attention as Jeonghan continued to get you up to dance, the song already starting.

           “Want one?” he asked. Joshua shook his head.

           “We don’t drink.” He said. Mingyu seemed shocked. “Thanks, though.”

           “You don’t?” He asked. Joshua shook his head. “Wow. How come I never noticed?”

           “We don’t go out drinking together.” He said simply. Mingyu nodded, setting the two drinks at his feet before reaching back into the cooler. He pulled out two sparkling waters, motioning them in his direction instead. Joshua looked up at Mingyu for a second, before taking them into his hands. “Thanks.” He said.

Jihoon walked over, catching both Mingyu and Joshua’s attention. “May I?” He asked. Mingyu quickly passed one of the beers to Jihoon, and with a quick thank you, he popped it open and took a long sip. Joshua’s eyes went wide as he turned his view from the black-haired individual. Mingyu, unphased, looked back over to you as you finally readied yourself to dance at the start of the second chorus. He smiled, clapping his hands.

           “Let’s go!” He said in between laughs. You gave him a shy smile, stumbling as you tried again to steady yourself, the drinks seeming to hit you as well. Joshua handed one of the waters to Jeonghan, before shooting another quick glance to Mingyu as words he himself uttered in the recent few weeks played back in his mind.

           I don’t even know what she sees in you.

           Joshua put the drink to his lips immediately in an attempt to distract himself from that absolutely selfish thought. As the second chorus erupted out of the speakers, you, Seungkwan and Minnie broke into the most unsynchronized dance moves seem thus far, and again, the entire porch erupted into laughter. Hoshi leaned forward, holding his stomach as he cackled in glee. Jeonghan covered his mouth in amused laughter, and Mina did something similar, turning her head a bit to try and collect herself. Mingyu continued clapping his hands in between laughter. “YEAAAA! GO, GO, GO!” He continued to cheer. When he started belting the lyrics, both you and Minnie fell to the floor, unable to contain your laughter.

           “Stop singing, oh God!” you laughed, before quickly coughing for a second to catch your breath. Joshua laughed a bit to himself as well, setting the water on his lap and watching as the both of you tried to stand up and rejoin Seungkwan, who was drunkenly yelling.

           “Are you serious!? We practiced!”

           “No, we fucking didn’t!” Minnie said, holding your arm to contain her laughter. 

           “Yes, we did! Taste that PINK VENOM! Taste that PINK VENOM!” Seungkwan shouted, only allowing the two of you to start laughing harder. “I can’t believe I’m left ALONE!” Beyond the laughter, you looked to your small yet very enthused audience. Your eye fell to Mina, who had her phone scanning the rest of the crowd, including you. It seemed she was watching the entire event from her camera. Immediately, you called her name. 

            “Mina.” Her eyes snapped up, flustered as if she was caught doing something naughty. You smiled, offering a peace sign in her direction. “At least get my good side, please.” Her nervous frown tilted up a bit, nodding as she angled her camera. Seungkwan pushed through, offering to guide the both of you through the rest of the song as you continued to laugh uncontrollably. 

           As the song came to an end, you plopped yourself down in between Joshua and Mingyu, taking a second to catch your breath. Joshua gripped his water, his instinct saying to pass it over. However, he stopped himself when Mingyu handed you one first, earning a quick thank you as you took a sip of it. Joshua smiled a bit. That smile quickly ended, however, when you turned to him.

           “Your turn.” You beamed. Joshua’s confused gaze was matched by Jeonghan’s, but you only smiled more, repeating: “You’re turn.” 

           “…What?” They asked.

           Not wanting to go for third time being the charm, you simply motioned to the make-shift stage in front of them. “I had to do it. Now let’s see what you got.” The entire group start cheering their names, some of it being slurred together amongst one another the more they drank. Joshua and Jeonghan shared a glance.

           “No.” they said. A pout which seemed to only alter Joshua’s expression formed on your face. 

           “Please.” You said. You took another sip of your drink, stumbling behind them. With a gentle – at least you thought it was – push up to the front, the both of them looked around at their small, and very drunk audience. “It’ll be fun!”

           “Go Shua-Hyung! Go Jeonghan-Hyung!” Hoshi cheered. Seungkwan immediately began the chant, and Mingyu was not far behind. The both of them looked at Jihoon, who had an amused grin on his face as he motioned to them to start.

           “Can we play a ballad at least?” Joshua asked. Minnie snorted. “I think we’re more vocally suited to a-.” 

           “Are you fucking kidding?” She asked. “No way. Play something that has a lot of ass-shaking.”

           “WHAT?!” Both angels shouted among the sound of cackling hyenas around them.

           “Play something everyone knows. You two should know some popular music, right?” You said. Grabbing Seungkwan’s phone, the one who controlled the music, you skimmed through the options until you finally landed on a pretty well-known pop song. As it began playing, Mingyu scoffed.

           “Seungkwan do you only have girl groups on your playlist?”

           “AND WHAT IF I DO?!” Seungkwan laughed as he got out of his seat, playfully waving a threatening fist. Mingyu laughed more, amused by Seungkwan’s drunken attempts to be threatening, before everyone turned to the duo. Hoshi sat Seungkwan back down, a deep belly laugh behind the rim of his half-empty bottle. Joshua and Jeonghan looked at one another, Jeonghan shrugging.

           “Come on. You guys did so good at karaoke last time!” Minnie called. Jihoon’s eyebrows raised in surprise at the comment.

“Karaoke?” He called.

“Don’t ask.” Jeonghan begged, but Jihoon only laughed. Finally, the chorus dropped, and Joshua once again completely straight face, began busting a very dramatic move that in no way matched to the beat of the song. Jeonghan tried to copy his movements, though with not nearly enough gusto, and he immediately turned his head, covering his mouth at his friend’s antics. The entire porch once again roared in laughter at the sight before them. Jihoon clapped his hands, amused at the sight before him.

           You immediately turned to Jihoon, grinning. “You’re next, Jihoon!” you said.

           Jihoon caught sight of Hoshi looking in his direction as you called out to him. He scoffed, shaking his head.

           “No thanks.” he said. However, he had no intention of giving in to your pout. It did not faze him in the slightest. It was the grin in his peripheral that he couldn’t bear to look at.

🐶🐶🐶🐶🐶🐶🐶So Close Yet So Far🐶🐶🐶🐶🐶🐶🐶

           The sun was long asleep, the moon taking its place for hours when you all finally decided it was time to go to sleep yourselves. As everyone made their way inside, their bellies full and their heads swimming, you rested back on the couch outside, looking up at the night sky. The stars were splattered paint drops across the sky, your eyes trying to find the different constellations that were painted because of their perfect placement. It was hard when you were still pretty drunk, and starting to fall asleep. The sound of your name caused you to tilt your head, seeing a blurry figure beside you. It was Josuha, smiling in amusement.

           “You’re not sleeping out here, are you?”

           “Mmm, no I don’t think so.” you said, rubbing your eyes. “I’m hoping to sober up before going to bed.”

           “Ah.” Joshua sat down beside you. “I’ll wait with you then.”

           Your eyes were already closing as sleep threatened you. “Okay.” You looked back up at the sky, letting out a deep sigh.

Joshua leaned forward, poking you in the cheek like the button on the back of a toy, the sound being a string of gargled giggles. It made Joshua smile. “Are you still drunk?”

           Another giggle alerted Joshua to the answer. Maybe it was also the half-closed eyes as you spoke to the blurry figure beside you. Joshua figured he had to keep talking to keep you awake. “I had fun today.” Joshua said. You nodded; eyes half-lidded. “We keep each other entertained back home in similar ways. I think Jeonghan and I overdid it too much though. Hence why we’re here…” When he did not get a response, he looked over to you again. Immediately he saw your eyes closed as you rested your head in your hand. Joshua watched patiently as your chest rose and fell with every gentle breath you took. He reached forward, steadying you just when your body squirmed a bit in its spot. Brushing some hair behind your ear, he sat his back against the couch again. The nighttime sounds of leaves rustling in the summer breeze seemed to match in harmony with your soft, slightly staggered breathing after a while. Joshua continued to study your sleeping form, your hair strands almost getting whisked away in the breeze but you were to drunk and asleep to care. “You really are causing me a lot of trouble, hm?” he mumbled to himself, turning his body to face you completely. “I didn’t expect this…”

A sudden groan from your throat made Joshua’s blood run cold, eyes wide. Like a deer in headlights, he waited still as a few more gurgles rumbled through your mouth. It was as if your body was deciding if it wanted to wake up right now. Deciding it should, your eyes fluttered open, tucked away behind heavy eyelids and thick lashes. You still looked drunk, despite your small nap. “Hey.” He said softly, reaching out to put a hand on your arm. “We should get you to sleep…” 

“Mhm…” you mumbled. You saw the figure before you rise from his seat, and your breath caught in your throat, his touch on your arm slowly slipping away. “Wait.” he stopped when you reached out, entangling his fingers in yours. Despite still feeling tipsy, you managed to slur out: “Will you forget about me when you leave?” Joshua looked in your direction, confused. Your eyes were shaky, but they stared directly at Joshua with each word that left your lips.

“Huh?” he managed to choke out, though it was forced.

“You do so much for me all the time. What will I do when you leave?”

           A soft smile. “I’m sure you’ll be just fine.” Joshua assured. “The point is for me to leave.”

Your brows furrowed. “Point? No. The point is to stay here with me. That’s what I want…I won’t ever see you again if you leave. Promise you won’t….” 

Joshua smiled, sitting back at your side. He could feel the warmth of your fingers intertwined with his like a little spider’s web, leaving him trapped at your side for the time being. “If you keep talking like that, you’re going to make me not want to leave.” The minute that left his mouth, he bit his tongue, mentally cursing himself. You looked over at him, a lopsided smile forming on your face.

           “You won’t leave?” You asked. Joshua blinked. He was confused by the entire situation, quiet until he figured out the right thing to say. Your eyes were still slightly half-lidded as you tried your best to turn your entire body towards him. When your body swayed like it was on a boat, Joshua reached out and grabbed your shoulders, steadying you. He blinked, watching as your head lolled around for a second before finally looking up in his direction. Despite having those glossy eyes filled with tired drunkenness, he couldn’t help but feel a bit overwhelmed.

           Come back to us. He heard Seungcheol’s voice in the back of his head.

           If Hyung says he won’t do anything, then he won’t. Seokmin’s eager optimism pierced his ears like daggers.

“We should get you to bed.” He sputtered quickly, reverting back to his original statement. You nodded, taking hold of his arms gently. Joshua fought his feelings of embarrassment as he helped you stand up. You walked up to him and wrapped your arms around his torso. “Eh, uh. Wait a minute. What are you-?”

           “When are you going to finally tell me you love me?”

           Joshua’s eyes widened. “Wha-?”

           “Because I totally feel the same.” You jerked your neck up towards Joshua, a drunken grin still on your face. The both of you stood in silence for what felt like eons. Joshua stammered for something to say, his cheeks flushing a dark red he had no idea he could even experience. Your hands reached from their spot on his back, pressing his cheeks together like playdoh and causing his lips to pucker out just a bit. “Totally.” 

            The two of you stood there for another silent minute. Joshua eyed you, wondering if you could feel how hot his cheeks were getting with your hands stuck to him like glue. When the door behind them opened, Joshua sighed in relief. An angel had come to save him. 

            Well, an angel came, but when Joshua saw Jeonghan walk to his side, his expression showed he was probably in more danger now that he was a few seconds ago. His friend didn’t even look at him beyond a very disapproving look, before reaching out and gently taking you into his arms. 

           “Let’s get you to bed.” Jeonghan cooed softly. You groaned in annoyance as Jeonghan took you from Joshua’s grasp. Jeonghan rubbed your arm. “You’re going to end up with the worst hangover. I have water for you.”

           “Alright, fine.” You said, taking the bottle that was offered to you. You looked over at Joshua once more, smiling. “Night, Mingyu. I had fun today.” You said. Joshua blinked.

           “What?” Joshua looked at you as you were led inside the house by Jeonghan, who made sure to tell you that was not in fact Mingyu, but Joshua. As Joshua walked towards the door, he heard you gasp in shock.

“Oh. I think I just confessed my love to him then.” Joshua heard Jeonghan laugh a bit, the nervousness in his voice obvious.

           “That’s great practice for the real thing, then.” He assured, before the both of you disappeared up the stairs. Joshua closed the screen door, a very labored and stressed breath escaping his lips. He ran his hand in his hair, tangling it in the strands as he paced the kitchen. Just then, he heard a voice from the large kitchen table.

           “That was almost romantic.” When he looked over, he saw Jihoon stand up from the table, crossing his arms. “If it wasn’t the most stupid fucking thing I have ever seen.”

           Joshua scoffed, shaking his head. “Mind your business, please.” He demanded. 

            “Then don’t have your little love confession on a balcony in front of a window, dummy.” He sneered. Joshua groaned, leaving the conversation before it continue as he walked away. Jihoon crossed his arms, shaking his head. “Idiot…” 

           Jeonghan helped you into your bed, pulling the comforter to allow you room to crawl inside. As you nestled into the sheets, feeling the comforter overtake you, you looked at him. You were still half-awake, rubbing your eyes. “Did I just tell Joshua I loved him for real?”

           Jeonghan looked at you. “Maybe.” He said softly. “Don’t worry about it, okay? He knows you meant it for Mingyu.”

           “Okay. I wouldn’t want to make him upset with me.” You said. Jeonghan smiled softly, lying you down and covering you.

           "He’s not.”

“Okay. Thanks for being so good to me.” You hummed, nestling into your pillow.

“Of course.” He said. “Now, get some sleep. Snap if you need anything.”

           “How do I do that, again?” you asked, setting your hand beside your head and pressing your thumb and index finger together. Jeonghan laughed a bit, taking your hand and setting it back under the blanket. Your eyes fluttered closed after a few moments, and Jeonghan quietly tiptoed out, closing your door just enough not to disturb you. Once alone, a groan of annoyance slipped passed his lips.

           “Perfect. This is perfect.” As if on cue, Joshua headed up the steps, the duo looking at one another in silence. Jeonghan sighed. “Jisoo-.”

           “Don’t start. I didn’t say anything.” He said. “She thought I was Mingyu.”

           “You’re lucky.” A pause, before Jeonghan finally asked. “When did this whole thing start?”

            Joshua went silent for a moment. His mind fell back to everything about you. The stunned expression you gave him bundled in your covers when you both first met, the way you smiled when he offered you banana milk. The way you listened behind drying tears as he comforted you with stories of America. The way you curled into his chest as you sobbed in the cafe, as if only he could be the one to squeeze the worries out of you completely. But, though he wasn’t, the feelings never left. “I really don’t know how this happened.” he said softly. 

Sensing Joshua’s sincerity, Jeonghan’s furrowed brows softened. “Well. You got lucky. Anyways, I’m going to bed. Babysitting a handful of drunk college students feels like I’ve been sent to the first layer of hell.” Joshua forced a laugh as the both of them headed to their room, hoping to put the entire night behind them.

🐶🐶🐶🐶🐶🐶🐶So Close Yet So Far🐶🐶🐶🐶🐶🐶🐶

           The next morning, Hoshi staggered out of bed. His head was pounding a bit, and he groaned Morning was just trickling in behind the pulled curtains, only beginning to worsen his headache. “Ugh. Coffee.” He grumbled to himself as he headed down the stairs. It seemed most of the house was still asleep, the sound of deep snores emanating from each room he passed by. Only the sound of his footsteps was enough to overpower that noise, as he made no attempt to quiet them. As Hoshi turned into the kitchen, however, coffee immediately filled his nose. A sigh of relief escaped his lips, before he looked ahead to see Woozi standing at the oven. It seemed he was flipping some pancakes, unaware that anyone was entering until he heard footsteps. When he looked over, Woozi blinked. His hair was tugged up into a little mini bun. 

           “Good morning.” He said.

           Hoshi offered a hesitant “…Morning.” He walked into the kitchen, turning to the fridge and quickly opening it. He crouched down, scanning the contents. The cold air from the fridge blew on his face, but despite it, he refused to close the door. Woozi was behind it, and he didn’t want to look at him right now. Footsteps were heard, but Hoshi refused to close the door. When he heard a cough, he turned his head, and Woozi was standing right there.

           “Can I get the milk? Coffee is almost done.” Hoshi grabbed the handle, handing it to him with a brief ‘thank you’. Woozi simply walked back to the pot, setting the milk down beside it. “Hungry? These are almost done and I don’t know if anyone else if going to wake up in this century.”

           “No, I’m okay.” Hoshi said softly, finally standing up and closing the fridge door. Woozi chewed on his lower lip, nodding his head. “I’m going to sit outside.” Without another word, Hoshi made his way to the balcony. Woozi stared at the pancakes sizzling under him for a second, listening as the footsteps behind him staggered towards the back door. When he looked over again, he finally spoke up.

           “Hoshi.” Hoshi stopped, gripping the wall. He looked over his shoulder at the black-haired man in the kitchen. After a moment of trying to find the right words to say, Woozi sighed. “I’m sorry.” Was all he could force out.

           Hoshi’s eyes seemed to squint a bit, as if he was going to hold back tears. He didn’t reply right away, he didn’t smile. Woozi, in that moment, wanted to curl up and die. He wished he was dragged to hell on that fateful day, it would have been a more merciful end to him than being left to wonder the same earth as him.

           Hoshi opened the door and stepped out, only muttering a distant: “Okay.” 

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[spinningwebsandtales]

Imagine Drunken Kisses With Connor and Murphy MacManus

Rating: T+

Warnings: Mentions of drinking, bars, fluffy and steamy drunk kisses

(A/N:) Happy St. Patrick’s Day! It’s been soooo long, honestly too long since I’ve written these two cuties! But I’m back and this was just self indulgence on my part! XD So hopefully my fellow MacManus fangirls will enjoy reading this as much as I enjoyed writing it! Also I am terrible at writing Irish talk so forgive me and overlook it! *hides face* Until next time happy reading! ~Countess

Connor MacManus X FemReader

Connor had promised early that morning that he wasn’t going to be home until late. He had begged for weeks for you to be able to take off and enjoy St. Patrick’s Day with him, but with two employees quitting and an understaffed crew there was no way for you to get the day off. His tradition of bar hopping had to go on without you. So while you worked the day away, Connor tried to enjoy time with his twin brother. Before you had come along, Murphy had always been enough to enjoy the annual festivities but now they both had grown so attached to you, it just wasn’t the same without you. Especially when they knew that you were stuck working and had no chances to leave until the work day was over. 

With one last push you finished your day and started home. It was too late to meet up with Connor so you stopped by the local restaurant close to your home to grab something to eat. Though you probably wouldn’t see him, you were glad that Connor was out there enjoying himself. You could make do with something tasty for supper and a good movie on the TV. You watched the city bustle as you continued on your walk home, humming a cheery tune as the streetlamps began to illuminate the streets one by one. This was always your favorite time of the day, everything seemed so peaceful as employees from all over were making their ways home and restaurants were lively with customers after a hard day at the office. It made you feel a part of the festivities when you sung a little bit of an Irish tune that was playing from the speakers of one of the local bars. Connor had taught you a few songs, though you had to cringe every time you tried as you butchered the lyrics. He would always just laugh and encourage you onwards before rewarding your attempts with little kisses.

You didn’t worry about him or think about him cheating on you, cause Connor never gave you a reason to think about such things. So you were able to enjoy the peace and quiet of your house before it was time for bed. You could still hear the lively streets outside as you laid there in the dark. It made you giggle at the thought of how many people would be calling in to work in the morning due to horrible hangovers. Connor and Murphy were definitely going to be two of them in the hoard of hungover celebrators. Exhaustion from your long day made sleep easy to find and as soon as your head hit the pillow you were out like a light.

You didn’t know what time it was when you felt the bed dip down, your heart jumped in your chest as you feared that someone had broke in. That wasn’t far from the truth as Connor’s drunken humming filled the room. You hadn’t given him a key to your apartment just yet but if he wanted inside bad enough he would find a way.

“Connor,” you yawned.

“Aye,” he grunted while pulling off his boots.

“Why are you here? I have to work in the morning.”

“Murph gettin’ on m’ nerv’s I needed a place t’ stay f’r th’ night,” Connor slurred a little bit before he finally got his last boot tugged off. He chucked it across the room in frustration as if it had offended his heritage.

“Not so loud,” you gave him a gentle whack on the shoulder.

“S’rry.”

Once he settled down you started to drift off asleep again. You groaned in protest when an arm encircled your waist pulling you into Connor’s chest. You liked your room dark when it came to sleeping so you couldn’t even see the hand in front of your face if you wanted to. So you couldn’t see Connor as he nuzzled into the back of your neck, his presence becoming more intoxicating by the second. He lazily pushed your hair out of his way to expose your skin. He began to kiss slowly, his five o’ clock shadow brushing against you causing you to shiver. He moved upwards going to the side of your neck, before moving to the bottom of your jaw, and then your cheek.

“Connor,” you squeaked.

“Mmm?”

“What are you doing?”

“Kissin’ ya,” he purred moving your face towards him. You still couldn’t see him and besides hearing the hammering of your heart you could hear a drunk man singing in the streets. You wanted to sleep and get ready for your day tomorrow but now all you could think about was Connor when his lips covered yours. He still tasted of the booze he had consumed all day and it was making him a little sloppy as he moved slowly against you. You could easily keep up despite being exhausted, as you were sober. You found yourself becoming quickly intoxicated by him though as the kiss seemed never ending. Finally Connor pulled away stroking your cheek before he finally passed out. You snorted as his snores now filled the room as your heart still hammered violently against your chest.

Murphy MacManus X FemReader

As St. Patrick’s Day loomed over the horizon, you and the other bartenders employed at the local establishment had used all week to prepare. Everyone was expecting large numbers of people that were going to be out to celebrate the holiday. The MacManus brothers were definitely going to be two in that crowd of people as they had warned you as such. You had been dating Murphy for some time but you both really didn’t get to do a lot together as majority of the time you were working. And despite him wanting to enjoy celebrating with you on the other side of the bar, it was just too much to ask to take the day off as your boss wanted to be prepared for the large number of customers. Booze littered every part of the backroom and behind the bar as you and the other tenders were loaded and prepared for the rush.

You were losing track of time as you filled glass after glass of whatever your customers wanted. You were certain you had removed a record of bottle caps in just this night alone. You had spotted Connor and Murphy come through the door but you couldn’t manage more than a wave towards them, which they returned but you didn’t see as another order took your attention away. You were losing stamina as the night continued on and on with no break in sight. You were given small breaks but they weren’t long enough as everyone was getting overwhelmed with keeping up without you. So tirelessly you worked and worked wanting to make this as fun as you could for all the celebrators.

One celebrator was not very happy at all as he sat at a table with his older brother, nursing another beer that he didn’t know the number of at this point. Empty shot glasses littered around him but still he glared at the bar and the many men surrounding you.

“Wha’s th’ look f’r Murph,” Connor slurred a little wobbly in his seat.

“Not’in’,” Murphy growled still glaring holes in the bar. But most of his wrath was towards the man talking to you and making you laugh.

“Sure don’ look like not’in’ t’ me.”

“Min’ ya bus’ness,” he warned. Connor shook his head while chuckling into his beer. 

Finally the rush hour died down and you were able to finally get a break that you needed all night. You wiped your hands on the apron tied around your waist and wiped the sweat from your brow. You didn’t realize how many people wanted the excuse to drink in abundance this night. You didn’t even have a chance to talk to the twins, other than the few times you were able to fill their glasses or hand them another bottle. You were sure Murphy would be in a bad mood by the lack of attention, but it wasn’t like you had done it on purpose. You decided to go find them if they were even still around and appease him. You had just pushed yourself from the wall to go find them when a hand grabbed your arm and pushed you back into the wall. You opened your mouth, ready to give the person in front of you a piece of your mind when Murphy’s face came into your vision. You snapped your mouth closed as you took in his bleary eyes and staggering body.

“Sorry Murph,” you apologized, “it’s been so busy tonight I really wanted to see you and Connor more.”

You didn’t get to say anything else before Murphy took your lips, kissing you roughly, his tongue entering your mouth as you could do nothing but stand there in shock. You tried kissing him back but he was so messy and drunk that you couldn’t find a rhyme or reason in the rhythm of his movements.

“Don’ t’lk about m’ bro’her,” he grunted finally releasing you and leaving you breathless.

You laughed cupping his cheek, “Sorry.”

You kissed him softly, hoping to show him that you still loved him. You wish you could have enjoyed the night drinking with him but instead you were making other’s nights enjoyable while Murphy had sat around and pouted. You wanted to make it up to him and Connor as you moved them up to the bar and entertained them the rest of the night with all the tricks you had learned just for this occasion. You also knew if you got Murphy drunk enough he wouldn’t be so cranky. Despite the holiday being crazy there’s no part of you that hated St. Patrick’s Day as it brought your two favorite people in your life into the little bar you worked at and stay for hours. No complaints would be uttered on your lips as you cracked open two more bottles and set them before the MacManus brothers ready to continue on no matter what came.

[ananxiousgenz]

SONG FOR A CAGED LOVEBIRD: PART 9 (?)

i've lost track by now ngl. we're at over 9,000 words so i get a pass. this part is. ouchie central. so i am expecting a lot of people yelling at me in the comments and tags. this is fun for me.

LETS GO TPP CREW, ROUNDING THE CORNER WITH MY TPP CREW: @smidgen-of-hotboy @ceaseless-watchers-special-girl @urjover @one-joe-spoopy @waters-and-the-wilde @demonic-panini (@the-private-eye i'm tagging you too bc i can :))

The silence was what finally woke him.

Juno had been solidly asleep, dreaming about things he couldn’t quite remember but that made his stomach twist. When he finally opened his eyes, the room was abnormally quiet. No rain, barely any wind, and… he rolled over to check. Nureyev wasn’t next to him in bed. That was not entirely out of the ordinary, as his insomnia often took him on long walks through the woods as he tried to find sleep, but this morning it set his teeth on edge. Something about it felt…  wrong. Like he had walked out of the door for the last time, and would never come back. 

Juno shook the thought away. It was a ridiculous notion. He loved him too much to let that happen. If Nureyev was having trouble, or looking to leave, he would have told him. Juno trusted him.

He dressed and washed his face and walked downstairs to grab some breakfast before starting to get the bar together for opening. Hopefully, the rest of the day would pass without incident, and he could chalk this nauseous, nervous feeling up to a nightmare that he couldn’t quite remember.

It was what he saw at the bar while half-way down the stairs that really made him feel sick to his stomach.

Buddy was leaned over a half-empty bottle of whisky, rubbing the bridge of her nose, tear tracks shiny on her face. That bottle had been full when he had replaced it on the shelf last night. She never drank this early in the morning, and never that much. Always said it made her unfit to serve the public or interact with any decent human being. Jet, the man she had employed as a bar bouncer when times were better, was standing next to her, a large hand on her shoulder. He was crying too. Buddy only called him when things were drastic, like when their latest whiskey shipment had been stolen by pirates on its way to the bar.

And then there was Rita.

Rita, who wore her heart and its many thoughts on her sleeve like a badge of honor for her humanity, was nearly silent. She was snot-nosed and puffy-eyed, like she had been crying for hours, and said absolutely nothing outside of the occasional sniffle and a quiet request for Jet to grab her a glass of milk from the kitchen.

Juno thought he might hurl right there on the stairs. A silent Rita was new. Juno had known her for years, and she had never stopped talking once.

What the hell had happened?

He cautiously came down the rest of the stairs and approached the bar. Buddy looked up at his approach and tried to wipe some of the tears from her face just as Jet returned from the kitchen with the milk for Rita. “Good morning, Juno.”

“Hey, big guy,” Juno responded, nodding in Jet’s direction before looking at each one of the weeping figures in turn. “What happened? You guys look like hell. Did we get another snowstorm in the middle of the night or something?”

The three of them exchanged a look that Juno couldn’t quite decipher before Buddy answered.

“I think Rita can answer that question better than Jet or I can,” she croaked before downing another swig of whisky.

Juno turned to Rita and reached out to wipe a stray hair out of her face. “Hey, Rita, what happened? It’s okay, it can’t be that bad, right?”

At that, Rita burst into tears again. “It is, it really is that bad, Mista Steel! You don’t get it! It’s the worst thing! It’s about Mista Nureyev!”

Juno’s heart dropped through the floor the second she said his name. “Rita. Rita, look at me. Rita. DAMMIT, I need you to tell me what happened to him.”

Rita looked at him then, with such a look of despair and heartbreak on her face that Juno’s heart ached for her. And then he realized. He knew that expression. It was nearly second nature to him. He had seen it every morning on his own face in the mirror after Benten had-

And then he knew.

He breathed in, breathed out. Took a step back. The floor was spinning. He dropped to his knees. “No. No it can’t- no, no, no, no, this can’t be right, Nureyev can’t be…”

Rita nodded, tears still flowing steadily down her face as she clambered off the bar stool to hug Juno. “He came back after dark last night, and I thought he was actin’ real sketchy, so I watched him for a while, and then when the sun started comin’ up, he packed up some stuff and left, but I followed him, only he didn’t know, ‘cause I acted real sneaky-like, and he went to a train station that I’m pretty sure wasn’t there before, and he met these big, creepy guys, and they gave him paypawork to sign, ‘cause I think they were makin’ some kinda deal, and once Mista Nureyev signed it, he fell down and started coughin’, and then one of the big guys said somethin’ about not havin’ enough time to wait for him to die, and then the otha one pulled out a huuuuuge knife, and then he- then he-”

She burst into sobs again on Juno’s shoulder. His ears were ringing and he knew his face was deathly pale. This wasn’t real. It couldn’t be real.

Buddy looked at him hollowly from the bar. “Rita said he called your name. It was the last thing he did before he… before they loaded his body up onto a train and left.”

‘He called your name. It was the last thing he did before he died.’ And Juno didn’t even hear him. He hadn’t been paying attention. How long had he been calling? How long had Juno been ignoring him? Why was he only now hearing his echo instead of his voice? How pathetic was he, that he prioritized a fucking song over his husband? What was wrong with him? But of course, as soon as he realized his problem, it was already too late to solve it. 

He never got to say goodbye.

Dimly, Juno realized he was shivering and tears were flowing down his face and Rita was apologizing profusely that she didn’t do anything to try and save him. He couldn’t remember the last time he had felt so horrible about himself. 

Now, it was all over. He’d lost him forever, and it was all his fault.

He would never get to see Peter Nureyev again.

He sat there, curled up on the floor for a moment longer before a different wave of feeling crept over him.

No.

No.

This was not the end. He wouldn’t let it be the end.

He was going to get his husband back if it was the last thing he ever did.

He sat up, wiped the tears from his face, and grabbed Rita by the shoulders, lightly shaking her out of her self-deprecating ramble.

“Rita. Rita, look at me. I need you to tell me everything you know about the Underworld. It’s important. Really important.”

“Well,” Rita sniffled, wiping her face on the sleeves of her sky blue sweater, “I heard a while back about there bein’ a back door. A way to get in without havin’ to actually, ya know, die or somethin’.”

Jet nodded sagely. “This is true. I walked that road with a friend of mine years ago, trying to save people from unwise decisions.”

“It’s not easy though, Mista Steel. The road is reeeeeaaaaally long and difficult, and with the weatha bein’ the way is it, you could get caught in a storm and get hurt, and I don’t want you to get hurt, Mista Steel!!”

Buddy looked at Juno again, an odd kind of hollow despair marking her face, like she saw something in Juno’s set jaw and bright eyes that made her want to disappear. “I know what you’re thinking, Juno, and it won’t work. I’ve tried. Believe me.”

“I’m not going to give up on him this easily.” There was a defiant flame rising in him now, melting the shards of his broken heart back into a semblance of hope. “I can get him back. I know I can.”

Jet walked over from his perch next to Buddy and crouched on the floor next to Juno. “Rita is right, Juno. The road to Hadestown is not an easy one to take, which is why I must ask you: how far are you willing to go for your husband?”

The flame grew into a wildfire. 

“To the ends of the fucking earth.”

There was silence as Jet examined him for a moment longer, face expressionless, before letting out a small sigh and standing up again. “Very well then. Pack your things. I will take you to where the road to Hadestown begins. If you are going to make stupid choices, I will at least make sure you can begin making them safely.”

Buddy started shaking her head vehemently. “No, no, no. You can’t let him go, Jet darling, he’s just going to get himself killed too. It’s not safe.”

“And yet you took the same course of action all those years ago, Buddy. What does that say about you?”

A muscle in Buddy’s jaw twitched as she took another long swig of whiskey. Juno slowly stood up, like a prey animal caught between two predators trying to remain ignored. He desperately wanted to know what had happened between the two of them, but somehow got the impression that any requests to know would be soundly ignored. 

Buddy glared at Jet with one sharp eye, but said nothing.

Jet sighed again and put a large hand on Juno’s shoulder. “Go grab your things. We will leave in two hours.”

“Wait for me, Mista Steel! I’m comin’ too! I gotta go get my stuff and then I’ll go with ya! Lil old Rita isn’t as fast as she used to be! Wait up!”

Juno sprinted up the stairs, Rita’s voice carrying after him. And in spite of the loss he had just suffered, he was grinning.

Hang on, Nureyev. Just a little longer.

He was going to get his husband back. At any cost.

[monstersinthecosmos]

rainy green days remind me of working on ships in a way that feels so visceral and somehow overwrites every other rainy green day in my life; i don't remember how this happens every spring, maybe because i could stay inside on a rainy day, but on ships we are so desperate to be on land, to smell the earth, and it doesn't matter if it's pouring rain, you still go outside. you explore the port, because ship life is fucked up and hard and you have to make it mean something. it reminds me of working alaska, where things moved so fast and i was so stresesd, i'd be crying in my office at 2am on gala night, and it reminds of me eating stale pizza from under the heat lamp and slamming iced black coffees and getting to bed at dawn and feeling the rumble of the anchor room as we made it into ketchikan, and i think about how i'd debate if i wanted to get dressed and go upstairs for food, because i was allowed to eat the guest food if i was in uniform, but i wanted to go outside, so i'd have my big hoodie and my headphones and i'd walk around in the rain, and i'd think i should eat outside and experience the port better, but it was so much tourist food, $18 lunch entree, $20 bag of gourmet popcorn, and the time i went into a cafe to use the wifi and i bought a coffee but it turns out it's a restaurant, they only give the wifi password to people buying an entree, the entree is $30 for local seafood, they don't have to-go cups and my coffee is so hot i have to just sit there in silence and drink it and waste my whole hour outside on it, because it was expensive and i only make $2/hr and i'd feel guilty wasting it, but when i'm outside i stop worrying about work and crying in the photo lab and gala night and my douchebag misogynist manager and the argument we had about the b-deck storage locker.

anyway when it's rainy and green outside it reminds me of walking around alaska because i was so stressed i simply had to get off the ship, didn't care that it was raining, walked around ketchikan and got soaked and bought fancy lemon scented lotion that lasted me half the contract, and i remember drinking coffee one morning on the empty back deck in juneau when i was on IPM and wasn't allowed out, but the deck was so shiny in the rain and the mountain was foggy and it was so pretty just sitting there getting fresh air, and the guests don't want to sit in the rain so it was empty, and it was quiet and nice. and i remember going to the library in akaroa and going to an old cemetery in kirkwall after having expensive breakfast in a garden shop and taking a bus ride out to marlborough vineyard with a stop at a roadside chocolate shop listening to tool on my headphones watching the rain through the window thinking that the drive reminded me of eastern long island where i grew up and the time it was almost-raining-but-not-quite wandering around pago pago and it was so humid i felt soaked anyway and everything smelled like barbeque and there were chickens wandering around in the street.

sometimes it feels antithetical for stuff like this to remind me of ships because so much of ships was living inside a windowless metal room and the constant machinery hum that was white noise but sort of wasnt and the ship smell--the ship smell--that you get used to after a few days but now and then you notice it again, and cramming into the crew elevator with 10 waiters who all wear too much cologne, and the smell of photo chemicals and the motion sickness and the mind-cramping boredom of gallery shifts and the sense of being On all the time because you lived at your job and i remember my manager on my first contract who seemed a little scary but wound up being a close friend and how he caught me in the middle of a meltdown and told me i needed to go outside more because it's not natural to live inside metal and the time i let him use my uber account so that we could find an orthodox church in florida and go light a candle for his cousin that died and the way he crouched on the ground outside and pet the grass and said he missed being outside even though he was only two weeks into his contract.

it's weird that it's so lush and green outside today and i'm so excited about it, it's so pretty, i can't stop looking out the window and i keep pacing the house to go stand outside on the porch, and it reminds me of all of this. and like a lifetime of rainy days in spring somehow don't permeate my memory the way working on ships does, i guess because it mattered more.

[strawbrerian-writes]

About Damn Time

This fucking thing was meant to be my contribution for @elucienweekofficial day 7 Prompt: AU. Did I get it complete in time? No. Life got in my way. Oh Well.

So here's a smutty, more plot than I meant it to have, really long Elucien one-shot. Which I am completely dedicating to @separatist-apologist for being a wonderful human and inspiring me and so many others out there.

Title: About Damn Time

Rating: Explicit

Summary:

Elain planned to have a quiet, cool day off. The universe took one look at her plans and said "bet."

Elain Archeron was convinced that a good cup of coffee could stop wars.

She was equally convinced it was a lack of a good cup of coffee that caused them.

It was 7:30 in the morning, and she was struggling. Summer was in full swing. As a landscaper, she preferred to do her work as early as possible. It was both better for the plants and for her employees’ disposition, as working conditions from eleven on in the summer were the stuff of nightmares.

The sun would be relentless. The heat would climb well into the nineties and the “feels like” would push it into triple digits. Most people would retreat to the air conditioning or find some body of water and stay there.

If the heat weren’t bad enough, average eighty percent humidity meant that even standing outside for five minutes kept her entire body soaking wet without her consent and her hair threatening to mutiny even in its braid.

The heat wouldn’t stop the bugs, though. They’d swarm, getting stuck in her sweat and biting any skin left exposed.

Elain loved it. She loved the messiness of it. The way the dirt was always cool beneath her fingers, the way the right plants flourished under the burning sun. She was made for sunny days and warm weather and mess.

She wasn’t crazy, though. Even she had her limits. Like the fact that it was 90% humidity and 90 degrees at seven-thirty with the weatherman calling for over 100 degrees by noon when she’d meant to be up and at the jobsite by six. She’d had three of her five employees call in, taking advantage of her high temps’ policy.

She usually wouldn’t mind. Had even decided last night to call it, herself. She texted all clients on the books for the day to let them know her crew would get to them the following business day and turned off her alarm.    

Until her favorite client called that morning.

The director of the public library was in a panic, begging her to get the landscaping done before the summer reading program finale. Tomorrow. It was their biggest program of the year and auditors from the state were coming in.

“We have the potential to bring massive grants if everything goes off without a hitch. We could finally start the renovations we need. I know the weather is bad, Elain, but please I’ll pay double. Out of my own damn pocket,” Helion begged, his usually rich, smoky voice taking on a whine.  

“It’s not just that, Helion,” she sighed into the receiver. “I’m down three guys today due to heat. You know my temps’ policy; I can’t make them come in. It takes four of us total to do a job that big in a day.”

“How many do you have?” he responded quickly. Elain could hear shuffling in the background and a woman’s voice murmuring. Likely his wife, who has hired Elain on several occasions to spruce up her gardens.

“Including myself, three.”

“Great! I have a meeting this morning and then I’ll be out to help. Sylva is grabbing Aodhan. He’ll meet you in, what? Thirty?” Helion was determined. She’d give him that.   

“Aodhan Vanserra?” Elain questioned. She started to gather her things for the day. She knew the moment she answered the phone she was going to go. “Is he back in town?”

“He likes to get his hands dirty, and he’s strong. Put him to work wherever you need him,” Helion said loudly. She heard more scuffling, doors being shut and then her friend was back in a whisper, “Beron kicked him out, cut him off, and nearly killed the poor guy. Do not say anything about his ear.”

“What’s wrong with his ear?” Elain whispered as well. Even though she was in a room by herself and presumably no one could hear her.

“Later,” Helion hissed, then louder, “and you’re not paying him, dear. I am. As a thank you for this. Truly.”

“I didn’t say I’d do it,” Elain lied sweetly. Of course, she had already shoved the phone between her ear and shoulder so she could pull on her brown work boots.  

“E-laain,” Helion whined, drawing her name out ridiculously, “but you love me.”

She sighed theatrically. “You know I do. You don’t have to pay extra. Just take care of your step-son and provide us with lunch and hydration.”

“Deal!” Helion’s shout was nothing short of triumphant. “Love you, too. See you soon.”  

He hung up the phone, leaving Elain standing in her living room shaking her head.

Elain couldn’t bring herself to say no to Helion.

She’d spent most of her days in that library. Helion had become one of her closest friends over the years. Before he was director of the library, he was a high school history teacher and headed up the gardening club. He was probably Elain’s most favorite person outside of her family.   

So, she threw her hair in a rough ponytail and rushed out the door. Between the two employees who agreed to work the heat and Aodhan, maybe it wouldn’t be such a bad day. She’d be starting later than she wanted but with any luck, she’d been done before they all melted into plant food.

She’d do just about anything for her clients, especially Helion.

Well, except give up her morning large, iced coffee. He could wait another ten minutes. She was feeling chocolate peanut butter and whipped cream this morning.

“Elain?”

Every muscle in her body tensed. She squeezed her eyes tight, counting to three before she turned around.

Standing in line just behind Elain was her ex-boyfriend, Graysen Lorde and a very petite, beautiful woman she’d never seen before. She had beautiful ebony skin and sleek, black hair down to her shoulders. They were both dressed for work, Graysen in the gray slacks and a white button-down that indicated it was Thursday, the woman in a sleek, black pantsuit and heels.

“Graysen?”

What was he doing here? Last she’d heard he moved, took a high paying position at a new bank out west. Not to mention, he hated coffee.

“I thought that was you,” he said with a nervous smile. “You look…good.”

Elain glanced down at her clothes. She was rushed this morning, grabbing the first set of anything she could find. Which meant wearing a pair of canvas shorts with tears from work, a white tank top with a dirt stain along the bottom hem where she’d undoubtedly rubbed her hands without thinking, and an oversized green flannel one of her little sister’s friends had left behind years ago, in an attempt to hide the stains and tears of her work clothes.

“Thanks, just heading into the office,” she joked lamely. Graysen was never a fan of her “blue-collar” job. When they met, she was a bank teller working through community college. She spent her days in business casual clothing, hair always curled, and her makeup flawless.

No dirt under her nails. No sweat. No mess. No fun.

Graysen looked as he always had. Handsome face, sandy brown hair cut close, clothes tailored perfectly to his body. He looked like he’d put on some muscle, and maybe gotten a little tan somewhere.

“You’re Elain Archeron?” the beautiful woman said smiling, her voice deeper than she expected. It was almost musical. Graysen coughed a little and seemed to give her some kind of a look from the side.

Elain tried to brush it off. They had split over a year now, halfway agreeable, but she knew her ex to twist everything to his advantage. There was no telling what he’d told this woman.  

She collected herself, standing a little straighter. She brushed her hands off on her shirt. “Uh, yeah…yes. I’m Elain Archeron.”

“Oh wow! You did the floral arrangements for my sister’s wedding this past February! The Rosenbluth/Cress wedding,” the woman smiled brilliantly, her pearly white teeth shining. She seemed…genuine. She even reached out her hand to shake Elain’s.

Elain remembered the wedding. It was a Valentine’s wedding. The bride wanted every pink, red, and white flower in existence. If that wasn’t a tall enough order, she’d waited until a week before the wedding to order anything at all. A week before Valentine’s Day. Every shop in a fifty-mile radius was booked up, and no florist would take her on.

Then someone had given Elain’s name to the bride’s mother.

“I remember her,” Elain mused. She took the woman’s offered hand in a firm shake. It was surprisingly calloused – just like her own. “I’d done some floral arranging before, but nothing to that scale. It was a nice challenge.”

They moved up a bit in line. She snuck a glance at Graysen. His face was quickly losing color.  

“Oh, don’t be modest! She asked for the moon, and you gave it to her. You pulled an absolute miracle out of thin air,” the still nameless woman gushed. Elain was starting to blush. There was something so kind and sincere about this woman that it put her at ease. She just had one of those sunny personalities that drew people in. Elain couldn’t help but like this woman. “I honestly wish I would’ve known about you sooner, and I wouldn’t have wasted my money on the hack who did our wedding.”

Wait, what? Elain’s brain stuttered. She prayed the shock didn’t show on her face. Our wedding?

“Cora…” Graysen started, a hint of warning in his voice. He had a thin line of sweat beading up on his hairline now, his face completely pallid. The woman paid him no attention.

“Don’t you remember, babe? The flowers were half wilted before the ceremony was even over. It was a disaster,” Cora – his wife, apparently – went on seemingly oblivious to the sudden tension in the atmosphere. “They were sunflowers, even. Hardy things, right? Perfect for a fall wedding, but no…the guy had cut them too early, didn’t care for them properly and they were dead before nightfall.”

In that moment, three things became absolutely certain to Elain.

First, Graysen had lied to her when they broke up. He’d said they’d drifted apart, and it just wasn’t working out anymore.  

Second, he had to get married within weeks of breaking up with her. Which meant either the man who took six months deciding on which tie to wear to a Christmas banquet suddenly decided to add some serious spontaneity to his life, or ...

Elain didn’t want to think about or, because the last thing that was very clear in that moment was that this woman – Cora, Graysen’s wife ­– had no idea who the hell Elain really was.

Cora kept talking, but Elain couldn’t hear. Her heartbeat was thumping so loud in her ears she couldn’t hear anything besides her own panic and rising anger. She was vaguely aware of the line jostling her forward. Cora was still smiling, going on about the wedding and flowers and what a wonderful job Elain did for her friend.

Bile was rising in her throat. She had to get out of here. She’d send Helion out for coffee. He owed her, but she had to leave.

“I couldn’t remember if you wanted Lemon or Raspberry, so I got one of each,” a confident, low voice broke through her panic. Elain turned to the source and looked up…and up.

A very tall, very handsome man in a black t-shirt and jeans was standing beside her holding out parchment wrapped scones in one of his massive hands. The other hand held two coffees by the bottom, impressively long fingers keeping them steady. She looked farther up at the curve of his nose, those full, full lips and the familiar cut of jawline. At the rich, auburn hair pulled into a tight bun. At the long scar running along the side of his face.

Oh thank God, she knew this man.

“Babe?” he said it as a question, head quirked slightly. Elain could have kissed him. Might have, had she not been frozen in place.

“Lemon,” she blurted more forcefully than she’d meant. She grabbed the correct scone from his hand and one of the coffees, as if he’d gotten it for her. She smiled gratefully at him. “I’m feeling lemon today. Thank you, Lucien.”

His name rolled off her tongue with ease.

Lucien grinned. “A little sour today, sweet-tart?”

“Don’t you mean sweetheart?” she teased back, trying to appear effortless. Graysen and his wife were still standing there, after all, watching with interest. Though by now color had started to return to Graysen’s face.

“I said what I said,” Lucien smirked proudly. He turned to the other two. “Good to see you again, Gray.” He nodded. “Cora.”

“That explains it!” Cora exclaimed, clapping her hands cheerfully. She turned to her husband. “That’s how you knew to recommend Elain! She’s Lucien’s girl.”

Graysen’s eyes hardened imperceptibly. His ears were turning red, a sign of rising temper. Elain held her smile as Lucien stepped a bit closer to her, claiming her space. At least now she knew how Mrs. Rosenbluth got her number.

“Yes ma’am,” Lucien answered for Graysen, still grinning like a fool. “Graysen mentioned how difficult a time your friend was having around the office one day, and I kindly offered my girl’s assistance.”

Graysen’s left eye twitched. “Yep.” He said, lips popping hard on the ‘p’. “That’s exactly right.”

Elain had to fight down a nervous laugh. This all felt so absurd.  

“It was good seeing you again Cora, Graysen, but I’ve got to get my lady to Pops. You know how he panics,” Lucien laughed. He gestured to the door, arms encircling Elain and ushering her toward it. “I’ll see you around, Lorde.”

Graysen nodded curtly, Cora giving an enthusiastic wave.

“It was nice to meet you, Elain!” Cora called sweetly. Elain smiled back, raising her coffee in the air as if in a wave.

“You too, Cora!”  

When they were outside the doors, Elain turned to Lucien. “Glass doors, Elain. He’s still watching,” Lucien said, smiling widely. Elain chanced a glance through the windows and sure enough, Graysen’s eyes hadn’t left her.

“Thanks,” she mumbled, staying close to Lucien so as not to break the illusion. She looked down into her cup. “What is it?”

“It’s a Reese’s Iced Coffee, extra whip,” Lucien answered as he swirled the cup in his hand. “Which sounds absolutely atrocious with a lemon scone, by the way.”

Elain narrowed her eyes. “How?”

“Pops,” Lucien shrugged in response. He took a sip from his cup. “The coffee is amazing, though. I’ll give you that. Come on.” He motioned down the sidewalk, towards the parking lot a few buildings down.  

“Helion told you my drink order?” Elain questioned as they started walking down the street.

“Apparently you have him and mom both hooked on it,” Lucien explained. His russet eyes twinkled. “Though the scones were a guess.”   

“Oh,” Elain said softly. She eyed her scone for a minute, replaying the interaction in her head. She didn’t even know Graysen was back in town. Lucien seemed to, though. “Do you work with him?”

“Who? Lorde?” Lucien asked.

She gave a small nod.

“Not exactly,” Lucien shook his head. He wiped his mouth with the back of the hand holding the other pastry. “Different departments. Different floors. I really only see him at functions or in the gym.”

“When did he get back?” she asked. Elain didn’t want to seem like she was digging for information about an ex, but she was so thrown off by everything that she couldn’t help herself. She wanted answers. Lucien seemed to have some, at least.

“About two months ago, but I know he interviewed with Jurian back in February,” Lucien answered honestly.

“He works for Jurian?”

“Fuck no,” Lucien spat, his head whipping back and forth. He was smiling. “Jurian hates that guy.”

Elain giggled. They walked for a beat in silence before she was brave enough to ask.  

“So … did you know about…?”

“Only recently. He brought her a luncheon with my boss. He’s trying to switch out of accounting,” Lucien answered when she trailed off. “Until then, I didn’t know a damn thing.”

Elain and Graysen had dated on and off all through college. Lucien had been around for the entire disastrous thing.

She wasn’t as close to Lucien as Feyre was, but Lucien had always been an important part of Elain’s life. He’d always bought her flower seeds and pastries when she was down. He would drive her to the library on rainy days. He was at every party in college, living it up and chasing unwanted idiots off her and her sisters.

He walked with her in Feyre’s wedding, being both friends to the bride and groom. She was at the hospital with him the night of his wreck senior year.  His father was her first client when she opened her business. His mother her second.

But life took them in separate directions, Elain and Graysen got back together for the last time and Lucien just kind of…stopped coming around.

“He’s a bastard,” Lucien uttered as they arrived at their vehicles. “And he can’t hit his squats.”

Elain laughed. “Can’t all have thighs like yours Dump Truck,” she said with a smile, using his old high school nickname.

Lucien threw his head back and laughed uproariously.

“You know, I always did wonder where that shirt went,” he said, pointing to the flannel she currently had on. “Though how the hell you’re wearing that thing in this heat, I don’t understand.”

Elain looked down at it and grinned. “You don’t remember? You gave it to me after Jurian threw me in the pool at that kegger freshman year of college,” she said, ignoring his last comment. He didn’t need to know how it comforted her to wear it.

“You were in a white dress. Seemed like the right thing to do,” he shrugged. He had a lazy smirk still plastered to his face as he leaned against the side of his sedan.

“So, you do remember,” Elain narrowed her eyes at him.

“Guess so.”

“Then why’d you say you wondered where it went?” she asked exasperated. She sat her drinks down on the hood of her red truck.

“Something to say, I guess.” 

Elain shook her head. If she didn’t know any better, she’d think he was flirting with her. She did though. Lucien had only ever seen her as he saw Feyre, a silly little sister he had to take care of.

“Thank you, Lucien,” Elain said genuinely as she unlocked her truck door.

“What for?” he teased. He didn’t move, just stayed against his sedan, watching her with those rich reddish-brown eyes.

“The coffee, the scone, helping me out of an awkward situation.” She paused and gestured to her chest. “The shirt.”

He shrugged. “It was the right thing to do. You looked like you were gonna throw up or stab him.”

Elain giggled. “Which time?”

“Both,” Lucien chuckled. “Same look, different guy.”

“Well, I appreciate it,” Elain said softly. “Both times.”

“No problem, sweet-tart.”

She couldn’t help smiling at him. Lucien was kind. Fun. “My hero,” she said rolling her eyes dramatically. He chuckled.

She needed to leave. She needed to get in her truck, back out, and get to the library before the heat got any worse. She couldn’t make herself do it. Not with him smiling like that.   

“I’m not getting my shirt back am I?”

“It’s been six years, Dump Truck. Give up.” He laughed again. Big and bold. She liked it. “I’ll see you around?” she asked, turning to get into her truck. She had to force herself to move.

“Yep, in about ten minutes,” Lucien said with a smile. Her hand stalled on the silver door handle.  

Elain cocked her head in confusion. Lucien’s smile only widened.

“Pops said you needed help,” he said, voice low and dangerously close to making her swoon. “Looks like I get to be your hero a little longer.”

**

“Two weeks! Two fucking weeks after you broke up?”

An older woman on the treadmill three machines down shot the three of them a dirty look. Elain mouthed “I’m sorry” before turning back to her sister. “Nesta, keep it down.”

“Like hell,” Nesta spat, flicking her long brown hair over her shoulder. “I own the place. I’ll talk however I want to.”  

After leaving the coffee shop, Elain went straight to the library, followed closely by Lucien’s silver sedan. Her two guys were already there, shovels and rakes in hand. So was another man, who she could vaguely remember as being Lucien’s older half-brother Aodhan. He was shorter than Lucien, with brown hair not red. He was also missing the top part of his left ear. Per Helion’s instructions, she said nothing about it.

She’d shaken the cobwebs from her head and began to bark orders. She put her guys doing technical work, like trimming the hedges, weed eating and edging the property. When Helion came out ten minutes later, she made him get out the old zero turn he let her borrow and mow the entire lawn. The two brothers she put on hauling mulch, bags of topsoil, and garden stones.

All in all, they managed to get done in record time. Every one of them were drenched in sweat and red as a beet. Elain had never been so thankful for the heat. Her face had been scarlet for hours, ever since Lucien whipped his black top off ten minutes into the job, exposing a massive expanse of golden-brown muscle. When he commented on her flush, she brushed it off as the sun disagreeing with her pale skin.

She went home after, to shower and eat and maybe nap. Anything to get her mind off the sweat dripping down Lucien’s spine as he hauled a bag of topsoil across the lawn and the surprisingly dirty thought she had of tracing its path with her tongue.

Predictably, her mind bounced from one extreme to the other. She drifted back to that morning, and her interaction with Graysen. She couldn’t believe she did know that he’d gotten married.

So, she did what any woman in shoes would do. She wound up in a social media deep dive that was borderline stalking.

Graysen’s page turned out to be an information desert. Cora’s was also surprisingly sparse. There were lots of photos of cheerleading competitions, a few of her family – all beautiful – and a ton dedicated to a dachshund named Buttercup. Nothing actually personal.

Finally, after a good hour of deep diving into her ex’s life – something she’d swore she wouldn’t do after the breakup – Elain hit paydirt.

An obscure friend of a friend of a friend, who Elain didn’t even bother to remember their name, had posted a photo of a Graysen and Cora’s wedding, two weeks to the day that he broke up with Elain.

She read every single comment under the post. Then she put on her gym clothes – an adorable neon pink matching shorts and bra set, with a baggy band shirt – and left to find Nesta.

“You sure you can trust whoever posted it?” Gwyneth Berdara – her sister’s best friend — huffed out on the stair climber beside her. Elain liked the redhead. She was quiet and friendly, but a firecracker when pushed. She was a good foil for her sister’s outright bitchiness.

“Yeah, I knew he moved out west,” Elain managed out as she worked through her exhaustion. “Apparently, she’s from out there. I found the engagement announcement online.”

“Why bother with an announcement at all with how fast they got married?” Nesta spat. Her anger was rising, Elain could tell by the silver sheen crossing her sisters blue-grey eyes.

“They got engaged on Christmas,” Elain stated. She waited for it to sink in.   

“You broke up in September,” Nesta said finally, voice cold as ice. She slowed to a stop on her machine.

“We did,” Elain nodded, trudging on the stairs.

A beat.

“That motherfucker!” Gwyn shouted.  

The old woman on the treadmill threw her hands up and stalked off mumbling. She’d likely left to find the owner, Cassian, who would likely tell her he had as much control over his wife and her friends as he did the weather.

“Language, Berdara!” the deep voice of their trainer barked as Azriel turned the corner into the room. He stopped by Gwyn’s machine and leaned his tall frame around it, facing Elain. “Who are we calling a motherfucker?”

“Why do you get to say it?” Gwyn complained, shoving at him while still keeping pace. Azriel stepped back and ran an olive-colored hand into his black curls.

“I’m not yelling,” he stated drily. He pointed to the logo on his shirt. “And I work here.”

“Shouldn’t that make you less able to curse?” Gwyn asked, teal eyes narrowing as she glared at their trainer.

“Elain’s ex,” Nesta interrupted from the other side, still seething.

“Why do we care?” Azriel asked, ignoring Gwyn’s question. One dark eyebrow disappeared behind the black curls twisting over his face like shadows as he faced Elain. “You guys broke up over a year ago.”

“Because he lied to me,” Elain grunted, stomping at the machine, as if it were the cause of all of her problems. She was struggling now. It was one thing to think they’d broken up amicably. It was another to admit that he’d lied to her. He’d cheated on her. “He got engaged at Christmas.”

Azriel shrugged, “he moves fast I guess.” Gwyn groaned and slapped the emergency stop on her machine.

“The fucking useless douchecanoe shit stain on the underwear of existence was cheating on Elain the whole time they were together, you thick, beautiful fucking dumbass,” Gwyn snapped, shoving her index finger into Azriel’s chest to emphasize each word.

Elain slowed to a stop; eyes opened impossibly wide. She’d never known anyone outside Cassian or Rhysand to speak to Azriel that way.

Azriel was slack jawed. Gwyn was breathing heavy, finger still shoved into his chest.

“I…” he started. His voice was breathy, low, as if the words were stuck. Hazel eyes bored holes into Gwyn’s baby blues, “am so sorry Elain.”

She did not believe for a single second that he gave any thought to her. His tongue came out to swipe at his lower lip. Gwyn’s hand slowly fisted into the top he was wearing, right over the logo he’d pointed out earlier.

Elain whipped her head around to her sister and mouthed the word “when?” She discretely pointed between the the red head and the bodybuilder.

Nesta shrugged, a wide grin on her face, and shook her head. “Now?” she mouthed back.

“I feel like I’m interrupting something.”

Elain knew that voice. Had heard it all day long.

She looked away from her sister to where Lucien had walked up beside her machine.

Holy fuck.

She’d thought he looked nice earlier, shirtless and in jeans. But now…Lucien in athletic shorts was…almost better than coffee.

“No, we’re good,” Azriel said, not breaking eye contact with Gwyn. “I’ll meet you by the squat rack, Vanserra.” He grabbed Gwyn’s hand on his chest and leaned in. He whispered something in her ear and the red head actually wobbled.

“You good, Gwyn?” Nesta asked slyly.

The woman in question nodded. “Uh yeah, I just…forgot to eat lunch. Gonna go…fix that now,” she said before hopping off the stair climber. “I’ll see you later?”

“Yeah, catch you later Gwyn,” Nesta waved her off.

Elain couldn’t help but notice that while she was talking to Nesta, she kept glancing back to Azriel. She also noticed the slight tilt of his head as he walked off.

“Okay then,” Lucien stared for a moment before shrugging.

“How are you not exhausted?” Elain asked him before she could stop herself.

Lucien grinned, rubbing his shoulder. “I’ve always had really high endurance,” he remarked, then winked at her. “Can’t help but notice you’re here, too.”

“I bounce back quick,” she quipped, unable to hide the little grin tugging at her lips.

“Hurry up, Vanserra!” Azriel called out. Lucien shrugged, nodded acknowledgement at Nesta and sauntered off to the weight racks with the visibly agitated trainer.

“When the fuck did that happen?” Nesta hissed, pointing at Lucien’s back.

Elain followed her finger to where Lucien had started to cool off at Azriel’s instruction.

Elain laughed brightly. “That has never happened. He just helped me out today at the library job. Well, and with Graysen.” She added as an afterthought.

“Helped you with Graysen?” Nesta quirked a brow.

The sisters resumed their climb. Elain wasn’t sure how long they’d be going today, she always just followed Nesta’s lead. Some days it was quick. Some days she couldn’t move when she got home.

“Yeah, he saved me from the whole encounter. Pretended to be with me, bought me a coffee and scone. Gray was starting to look like a tomato before we got out of there,” Elain smiled. Nesta gave her a side-eye.

“Pretended huh?”

“Don’t you start,” Elain warned. She hated her sisters’ meddling. From their attempts to set her up with moody Azriel, to dragging her clubbing all over the tri-county area, to one horrible incident involving a bag of flaming dog shit on an ex’s porch, she was done with letting them get involved in her love life.

“Whatever you say, Elain,” Nesta murmured unconvinced.

They continued their steps in easy quiet, the silence broken only by huffing and groaning. It was shaping up to be an ice bath kind of day, the rate they were going.  

Elain tried to get her mind off the burn in her calves or the way her sweaty hair kept clinging to her face. She kept glancing around the gym, watching the television in the corner playing basketball or trying to look out the windows at the sunset. Her eyes were traitors though. They kept going back to the weights. Where Lucien and Azriel were warming up, directly in front of them.  

Lucien had already taken his shirt off, the blue fabric flung across one of the chairs lining the back wall. His wine-red hair was braided away from his face and knotted at the top. He was wearing gray shorts.

Short, gray, athletic shorts that left nothing to the imagination. His thighs were on full display and Elain, for the first time since she’d heard her sister start calling him it, fullyunderstood why he was called Dump Truck. They were sculpted, thick and led up to an ass she wanted desperately to sink her teeth into.

She didn’t want to look at the front. She was scared to look at the front. The man had to have a shortcoming somewhere.

Nesta whistled. “You think Feyre ever tapped that?” she stage whispered, breaking the very comfortable silence in the most awkward way possible.  

“What? No!” Elain exclaimed. Lucien glanced up. He tossed her a grin and a little wave before readying himself for a pullup. She hoped like hell he couldn’t hear them.

“Oh, come on, they used to spend all that time together. They were practically inseparable,” Nesta drawled out. Had Elain been paying attention, maybe she would’ve seen the sly smirk gracing her otherwise elegant sister’s face.

“She was with Tamlin,” Elain pointed out. Her face twisted into a scowl. “Lucien would’ve never havedone that to Tamlin.”

“She wasn’t always with Tamlin,” Nesta sing-songed. “Remember when he keyed up her car? He told Jurian it was because he caught them in bed together.”

Elain tripped again. She hadn’t heard that. She’d never heard that. “Lucien admitted that?”

“No. Tamlin told Jurian he walked in on the two of them,” Nesta explained slowly. She waved a hand dismissively. “But that is just rumor.”

It better be, she caught herself thinking. She wasn’t sure where the possessiveness came from. Wasn’t sure she didn’t like it though.

“It better be, huh?” Nesta teased, answering her thoughts. Or, what she apparently had let slip through.

Lucien was breaking her concentration. It was his fault. Yes. His fault.

“What is he even doing here?” Elain tried to divert her sister’s attention. She did not want to talk about whatever feelings she may or may not have for Lucien Vanserra.

“Cass swiped him,” Nesta sighed, allowing herself to take the bait. Elain quirked a brow. Her sister pointed to Lucien. “Cassian wanted him on as an investor in the beginning. I put my foot down. Didn’t want Vanserra money if it meant being tied to Eris in any way.”

“Oh.” Elain understood that. Eris and Nesta had a … thing, once before. It didn’t end well. It was just another one of the many ways Lucien had been around forever.

“Yeah, anyway we ran into Lucien the other night at the movies. He was busy telling Feyre about how he couldn’t work out at the office gym anymore and Cass swooped in. Got a new client and Lucien agreed to a small investment in the business.”  

“He…couldn’t work out at the office gym?” Elain asked quietly.

Nesta shook her head. “Didn’t ask why. I just overhead him say he’d kill something or someone if he went back.”

He’d mentioned something earlier, but it would entirely too self-absorbed of her to think he couldn’t work out there anymore because of Graysen.

“Are you ok? Honestly?” Nesta asked, her soft voice barely heard over the whirring of the machine.

Elain sighed. “No. I’m angry,” she admitted, for the first time out loud. “He lied to me. For a very long time, apparently. And he did such a good job of it I never questioned it.”

She could feel the tightness in her chest building. She was angry. At Graysen for lying, at herself for falling for it. Strangely, there was no jealousy. She’d let that part go. Let him go. She wasn’t sure how easy it would be to let the anger go, though.

“He’s just…such a douchecanoe,” she hissed, using Gwyn’s earlier term.  

“Do you want me to stab him?” Nesta asked seriously beside her. “We’ll call Rhys to hide the body.”

Elain blinked at her big sister. Nesta slowly cracked a smile, and they both erupted into a fit of giggles. Tears of some twisted mirth sprung to Elain’s eyes.

“Thank you, Nes,” she smiled, wiping her eyes with the back of her hand. “You know Rhys isn’t mafia.”

“We don’t know that,” Nesta said conspiratorially. She winked one blue-grey eye. “And besides, even if he wasn’t –“

“Which he’s not.”

“—he’d do it anyway. He loves us,” Nesta paused for a second, smirking, “well he loves you. And he loves Feyre and Cassian both enough not to fuck with me.”

“You know one day we’re going to walk in on the two of you in matching pjs, wearing face masks and watching ‘Mean Girls’ together,” Elain sighed out rolling her eyes. She’d never understand her sister’s relationship with their brother-in-law.

“Elain, honey, you know that wouldn’t happen. Rhys and I are far more ‘The Devil Wear’s Prada’ type,” Nesta said in a faux-haughty tone that had Elain laughing again.

This was why she sought out her sister. Nesta was her rock. They lapsed back into a companionable silence, working out beside each other while watching Azriel correct Lucien’s pull up form. She knew Nesta never missed an opportunity to ogle Azriel when he was training – and unfortunately was aware of how good a night Cassian would have. Typically, Elain would be right there watching the tall, dark trainer in utter appreciation as well.

Today though, she took the opportunity to watch the muscles in Lucien’s back work.

She’d spent a large portion of her workday dreaming about those muscles. The way sweat traveled over the striations. The way she imagined they might feel under her fingers. Her core started to ache as she watched his face, reddened from the exertion, twist into a determined grimace. She could easily imagine that same face over her, working hard to keep his own orgasm at bay as he pounded into her –

“Well, you know the best way to get over someone is get under someone else,” her sister interjected, breaking Elain of her reverie.

Oh God, please don’t let her have said something else out loud.

“What?” Elain asked in a daze. Nesta said nothing, just arched one flawless brow and inclined her head towards where Elain had been focused. “I’m already over Graysen! I’m mad at the lies, Nesta!”

“So? Sex is a fantastic way to work off frustration,” Nesta crooned, reaching up to shut off her machine. “Come on, we’re done for the night. Let’s go cool down.”  

**

Elain walked down the hall of her sister’s gym rubbing her neck. Nesta had turned their cool down into a thirty-minute yoga session. She had adopted her husband’s obsession with stretching, and Elain often had to suffer for it.  

Nesta had deposited Elain in her own personal office, pointing out a small wardrobe with a handful of spare clothes. She had said that Cassian had a late meeting with an athletic director from the college looking for a better outfit for conditioning and weight training. As soon as Nesta made her appearance and went over the financials, she’d be free to take her sister out for drinks.

“And hopefully find you a rebound,” Nesta had added with a wink.   

Elain had passably cleaned up. Nesta’s clothes always fit a little loose in the chest, but this dress was a wrap, thankfully.  

“The place is really lovely,” a low, melodic voice drifted around the corner up ahead of her.

Elain blinked for a moment. She vaguely recognized that voice, but she couldn’t quite remember where from.

It had been a long day.

“You said the locker rooms are this way, right?”

“Yes ma’am, let me show you Mrs. Lorde,” Cassian’s booming voice carried, maybe a little louder than necessary. As if he wanted to be heard.

Realization dawned on Elain just as the shadows of two people, one tall and bulky the other petite and lithe, became visible.

Nesta’s office was in the same hall, right past the locker rooms. Nesta had been in a meeting with Cassian and some athletic director.

Elain had been in Nesta’s office.

Oh shit, Cassian was trying to warn her.

Oh fuck…Mrs. Lorde.

Elain had glossed over it in the woman’s bio, the little tidbit of information irrelevant as she was too busy hunting for evidence of Graysen’s infidelity. But it was coming back to her now

All the photographs of smiling cheerleaders – smiling college cheerleaders.

Cora Lorde was the athletic director of the cheer department at the local college.

Cora was Graysen’s wife who seemingly had no idea her husband had been leading a double life.

Cora was walking down the hallway that very second to look at the locker rooms.  

She saw a foot round in the corner and ducked into the nearest door.

Straight into said locker room.

Someone else was in there, too. She was vaguely aware of hearing the shower running as panic overtook her hearing.

She squeaked for just a moment and survey the room for the best hiding spot. As she wasn’t flexible enough to fold herself into the lockers, the shower stalls were really the only place available. Surely the woman wouldn’t want to check the conditions of the stalls.

She ran to the closest shower stall door, shoved it open just enough to slide into and quickly closed it, throwing the lock into place. She released a breath she didn’t realize she’d been holding. She was in the clear.  

She kept her eyes on the door and threw her hands out behind her. She intended to back into the corner of the stall, hug the wall and wait for trouble to pass.

Only, her hands didn’t hit the cold tile she was expecting. Confused, Elain spread her fingers along the surface. It was hard and wet and warm…and hairy.

“Fuck me,” she moaned. This was not her fucking day.  

“If you insist,” the fleshy, hairy wall behind her murmured in a familiar, smoky voice.

Great. She’d ran into the wrong locker room.

Elain twisted around, coming face to chest with Lucien, again. She meant to tell him to keep his hands to himself, or to scream, or do something. Instead, she stared.

And stared.

Lucien was naked. Completely naked, all that glorious golden skin on display and so close if she stuck out her tongue she could trail it along his chest like she’d been dreaming about all day. He was also wet, water droplets running the length of that powerful body. His broad shoulders blocked the spray from hitting her directly. His hair was loose and drenched.

Elain was in danger.  

“As fascinating as this is, I don’t think for one second you’re in here to actually fuck me, Elain,” Lucien said. This close she could see his chest vibrate with his words.

It caused a small stream of water to dislodge from the dip of his collarbone. Elain’s brain, which was already working at half capacity, had finally short circuited the second she realized she was standing in the stall with a naked Lucien fucking Vanserra.

She didn’t hear what he said. Couldn’t hear anything. All of her senses, all of her focus was on that single stream of water flowing down, over his chest into the dips and ridges of his abs, down further until it got lost in the line of red hair trailing down to the edge of what could only be described as the most beautiful dick she’d ever seen.

Lucien’s dick.

Lucien’s very erect dick.

Lucien Vanserra’s very erect, very large dick that was an inch from touching her hand.

“Holy shit,” she breathed. Elain’s legs chose that moment to finally give out, too.

Strong hands shot out to grab her arms, steadying her. He immediately angled his hips backwards to put space between them. Not that it did much good in such a small stall.

“Never had that reaction before,” Lucien chuckled nervously. He cocked his head. “Are you good?”

No, she wasn’t good. Right now she couldn’t decide if she was doing great or she was delusional. How is it that someone that handsome, that kind, that…fucking wonderful also had a dick like that. The universe was not fair.

She couldn’t look away from it. Even though Lucien was trying to angle it away. She felt like a creep, a drooling pathetic creep but … hot damn.

“You’re going to give me a complex, Elain,” Lucien joked shyly. Elain nodded.

“A god-complex,” she whispered reverently. How long had it been since she’d been with anyone? It was Graysen she remembered, at least two months before the breakup.

“Did you just call my cock a god, Elain?” Lucien said astonished. His large hands shook her shoulders gently, breaking her line of sight with his member. Her brown eyes immediately snapped to his. He looked equal parts amused and concerned.

Elain parted her lips, she meant to reply. Honestly, she did. But she heard those familiar voices carrying into the locker room. She jerked around, out of Lucien’s hands and peered down. The shower door would hide their bodies…but not their feet. There was a gap about a foot wide, and this was the first stall in the locker room. If anyone looked, they’d see two sets of feet.

“What is going—”

Elain cut Lucien off by jumping him. Literally.

She scrambled up his tall body, wrapping her arms around his shoulders and locking her feet together behind his waist. Lucien’s hands darted to thighs to keep her steady. He opened his mouth again and Elain began to shake her head viciously.

“COVER YOUR JUNK!” Cassian bellowed. “LADY COMING IN.”  

Both of them whipped their heads to the door. Lucien angled his body, trying to keep the water from hitting Elain too badly.  

“You sure you want to see in here? We try to keep it looking decent, but the guys can be animals. As you can see both rooms are roughly the same set up,” Cassian’s voice, back to a normal level, still carried as he spoke.  

“You said this room had an extra ice bath?” Cora’s voice floated in. Their footsteps were louder, closer. They were standing just a few feet away.   

Lucien’s eyes went wide in understanding. He adjusted his grip on her, keeping her flush against him. She dug her fingers into his shoulders.  

“Yes ma’am, right this way,” Cassian continued, footsteps carrying him right past the shower stall.

Elain trembled, burying her head in Lucien’s neck. A large, strong hand came up to rub soothingly on her back.

“I don’t have too much longer,” Cora said. Cassian’s footsteps halted. “But I wanted to see, you said this room had a sauna but the women’s doesn’t?”

“Not exactly. It’s a co-ed sauna,” Cassian explained. “Both locker rooms exit into a short hall that leads either to the sauna or the pool.”

“Oh! I understand now! How fantastic!” Cora exclaimed. Elain heard her clap her hands again. “I hate to rush you, Mr. Marcellus but I do need to get out of here.”

“Of course! This way, please.”

Elain held her breath as their footsteps retreated, their voices getting quieter.    

“You good?” Lucien whispered in her ear. She shook her head, finally releasing her breath but not raising from his neck.  “Want to get down?” A pause. Then she shook her head again. He smelled good. She wanted to stay there.

If she got down, she’d have to face the fact he was naked. That she very much liked that he was naked. That for some reason the universe decided she would be the pincushion they’d poke today, and all she wanted was to be held.  

Then preferably held down and fucked by that big, beautiful cock nestled under her ass right now.

So, no. She didn’t want to get down.

“To be honest,” Lucien began to murmur, one hand still running the length of her spine while the other was wrapped around her lower back for support, “I thought I’d have to at least take you on a date before I got you to shower with me.”

Elain looked up cautiously from his neck. Chocolate brown eyes met deep russet. He was smiling. “Y…you thought about taking me on a date?” she asked. Her brain was still mush, still struggling to catch up.

“Elain,” he said her name slowly, reverently. She liked the way his lips moved with the syllables, the way his tongue flicked his teeth on the ‘l’. “I’ve wanted you since the day Jurian threw you in that pool.”

Wait…what?

“Wait…what?” she whispered. Lucien’s responding grin was nothing short of foxlike.  

“I’ve been crazy about you, Elain Archeron, since the moment I wrapped my shirt around you. It was the first time you smiled at me. Just me. I’ve been a goner since. And when I saw you in it again today…” he groaned. She felt it as it bubbled up his chest.

“I smiled at you before that,” she whispered again, afraid if she spoke any louder, she’d wake up from this dream.

“Not like that. Not like I was something…special. The only goddamn man in the room. Not like I was your hero,” he rasped out. He was struggling with something. Elain realized she’d been subconsciously rocking her hips against him in the tiniest motion.

“I already told you that you were,” she smiled, rocking her hips gently once again. “Why didn’t you say anything?”

Lucien shut his eyes, a muscle in his jaw feathering. He was barely hanging on. “You kept getting back with Lorde.”

Elain’s heart skipped. She brought her small, calloused hand to his chin and tilted it down until he opened his eyes. She hoped to convey everything in her look because words were beyond her. “I’m not with him now.”

“No…you’re not.” Lucien’s eyes fell to her lips, barely a breath separating them.

Elain held his chin, her thumb coming up to caress his bottom lip. “I would’ve chose you,” she breathed against his lips. “Had you said something, Lucien, I would’ve been yours.”

“Elain…” he breathed her name against her lips, the feel of it somehow more erotic than if he had kissed her. His chest was heaving with his breaths, so deep and uneven.

She leaned in, as close as she could without touching. “What are you going to do now?”

Lucien answered by kissing her softly, barely a brush against her lips. It sent lightning down her spine all the same. “I’m going to do exactly what you asked…if you’ll let me.”

“What I asked?” She was breathless, delirious. Her hips still rocked gently into him, his hands now guiding the movement. When had they gotten there?  

“When you ran in here…now sweet thing, can you remember what you said?” Lucien teased, voice barely more than a rasp. A smile tugged at the corners of those lips.

She nodded. Oh, she remembered.

Lucien tsked, tapping her thigh with one hand in warning. “Words, please.”

“Fuck me,” Elain demanded, loudly.

“With pleasure,” he growled.

It was an unleashing. Lucien turned, slamming her against the back wall, water now spraying down on the both of them. His mouth slanted over hers, full lips sucking her bottom between the two. She opened for him, letting him deepen the kiss, his tongue claiming her mouth for its own.

He pinned her against the wall with his hips as his hands roamed her bare skin, pulling and tugging her dress open to give him more to touch. One hand ran the length of her body, skimming the side of her breast, her neck, her ear before delving into her golden brown locks and yanking her head back so his lips could wrap around her pulse and bite.  One calloused hand slipped under the fabric of her dress, sliding up and up her thigh until it rested on the curve of her ass, kneading the the flesh there.

“Sweetheart…where are your panties?” He breathed against her neck, tongue slipping out to lick a long stripe up to her ear.

Her giggle turned to a moan. “I…I don’t wear them to the gym.”

Lucien’s answering groan was nothing short of pornographic. He wrapped his large hand around the sweep of her ass cheek, squeezing and spreading while his pelvis ground into her. She could feel that cock, now somehow sandwiched between them. She’d been too delirious to know how it had gotten there. Until that moment her hands had barely left his shoulders or left the tangle of his long red hair.

She had to feel him. Had to touch him. The urge was overwhelming.

She reached down, fingertips skimming the top of the rounded head of his cock. He was weeping at the slit. She gathered the liquid with her index finger and used it as lubrication, rubbing it around the sensitive head. The tip alone was large, the length of him thick and long. She was fascinated with the silky, hard feel of him.

Elain relished in the strangled cry Lucien gave into her neck as his mouth worked her pulse there. She wrapped him in her hand and began to pump. He jerked, once, twice in her hand. She squeezed a bit tighter, made another pass around the top when his larger hand snaked between them and stopped her. He gently pried her hand off him.

“I’m not going to last,” he breathed heavily next to her temple, “all day…all my fucking life I’ve been dreaming of this. There’s no way … I won’t last if you keep on.” He began to lower her feet to the tiled floor.

One calloused hand came up to cradle her cheek, running his thumb along her jaw. The other ripped the last tie holding her dress together. The dress finally fluttered open, revealing her sun kissed skin and total lack of undergarments.

Lucien groaned. “You’re so fucking perfect,” he growled. He bent down under the spray, taking one peaked nipple in his mouth, nipping and sucking. The other he took in his hand, kneading and pulling at the flesh until Elain whimpered.  

She reached for him, but he angled his hips away again. “Nuh-uh,” he mouthed around her breast. He took one long, biting suck before pulling off with a pop. “Give him some time to cool off before I embarrass myself, sweetheart.” He moved his head to her other breast. “Give me some time to appreciate these gorgeous tits, huh?”

She nodded, bringing her hands up to tangle in his hair, nudging his head back towards his intended goal.  

Taking her lead, Lucien’s mouth descended on her previously neglected breast and went to work keying her up. He alternated between flicking the nipple with his tongue, nibbling at the soft flesh, or downright sucking it. His hands stroked down her sides, skimming her curves, nails grazing as he worked up and down. The sensations were intense, overwhelming. She’d never come from nipple stimulation alone, but…fuck.  

One hand slipped between her legs, long fingers slipping between her folds. The second his finger hit the slick of her his head pulled away from her chest and came to rest against her forehead.

“You are so fucking wet,” he moaned, eyes shut tight. “Is that for me?”

“No,” she lied breathlessly. “Watching Azriel work out got me all hot and bothered.”

“Yeah?” he asked, cracking open his eyes. His fingers didn’t stop their slow movements. Up and down the seam of her, not once touching her clit or her opening, carefully avoiding where she wanted him most. “You’re such a pretty little liar.”

“What makes you think I’m lying?” she tried to sound offended, but his teasing fingers stole her resolve.

“Azriel wasn’t at the library, Elain,” he chuckled darkly, his eyes boring into hers. “I saw how you kept looking at me when I was working.”

“How…how was I looking at you?” Her breath hitched. She tried to move, twist her hips or grind or do anything to get him to touch her where she wanted. She pulled his hair, raked her nails along his skin, but he was steady. Undeterred.

He dipped his head down to the curve of her ear and whispered. “Like you were in that weight room. Like I was a piece of fresh meat.”

“Felt…objectified, did you?” she whined. He pinned her hips back against the tiled wall with his free hand. Lucien nodded sardonically, parting his lips to no doubt give some asshole response. “Want to know a secret?” she interrupted him, voice shaking.

She leaned up as close as he allowed her, her lips grazing his jaw. She’d never been good at dirty talk. Graysen had hated it. She had no idea if Lucien would find this hot or tell her to shut up. “I had to take my panties off in my car after the coffee shop.” He went still, breath frozen in his chest. “I’ve been so wet for you all day, Lucien, that it’s been rubbing me raw,” she moaned, laying it on a little thick but he seemed too far gone to notice.

She took a deep breath and nipped at his jaw. “So won’t you please stop with the teasing and just fuck me already?”   

Lucien said nothing. He trembled in her arms for a moment, as if to collect himself. He pulled back just enough to meet her eyes again. She could’ve sworn there was literal fire staring back at her. In one swift movement, with no warning, Lucien filled her with his long middle finger. His pointer and ring finger held her open while he twisted slightly, crooking that middle finger and dragging it down inside her.

Elain nearly screamed. He quickly covered her mouth with his own, swallowing the sound. His tongue swept in, licking the length of her mouth while his finger pistoned in and out, dragging down with each thrust. It was incredible, but she needed more. Felt so selfish that she needed more.

She wiggled her butt and Lucien obliged, adding another finger, stretching her deliciously. She could feel how tight she was around his fingers; how great the stretch was. She knotted her fingers in his hair, tugging, keeping him against her.

He'd moved in closer, no longer angling himself away. He ground his cock against her hip for just a bit of his own relief as his fingers dragged her closer and closer to orgasm. She reached again for him, and he grabbed her hand, pinning it over her head, lacing their fingers together. Lucien shook his head against her, a clear no. He delved his tongue back in her mouth.

Elain moaned obscenely as he began to fuck her mouth in time with the fingers fucking her cunt. He devoured it, drinking in her sounds like a dying man. Just as she began to tremble, that weight in her core building and building, Lucien thrust in a third finger, scissoring the three a bit, stretching her beyond anything any man had ever done. He was readying her for his cock, she realized.  She was almost a goner right then with that thought.

Then Lucien ground the heel of his hand against her swollen clit as he thrust those fingers one last time. Her released slammed into her harder than she’d ever felt before. She saw stars. Every muscle in her body contracted, her abs caving in on themselves, her legs shaking uncontrollably. She may have screamed. She’d opened her mouth but either no sound come out, or the pounding of her heart in her ears was so loud she could hear nothing else.

Lucien hauled her against him, holding her tight between him and the wall, stroking her sides in soothing gestures as she started to come down.

“You with me?” he laughed shit-eating grin spread across that handsome face.

Elain nodded deliriously. “H-holy shit. Holy fucking shit. I’ve never … never…” she trailed off, head shaking, legs still trembling. Lucien laughed again, the sound the sweetest thing she’d ever heard.

“Should I stop?” he murmured before he kissed her gently one more time.

Elain shook her head viciously. “I’ll kill you,” she hissed, nails digging into his shoulders. “If you fucking stop now, Lucien Vanserra, I will kill you.”    

Lucien erupted in laughter beside her, his whole body shaking. The movement rocked through her as well, and Elain was acutely aware of him still holding her up and open. He had been lining up his cock against her entrance, the tip she had been playing with gliding through her slick. Now, he was holding back. She tilted forward a bit, dragging her still quivering cunt over the head.

“I don’t have a condom, Elain,” he whispered tightly, moving his hips so his cock ground into her slickness broadside, giving her delicious friction. “I am clean though. Haven’t…haven’t in a while, and I’ve been checked since.”

“I’m on birth control,” she said quickly. “I get checked once a year. I’m good.” She was going to die if he didn’t get inside her.

Lucien grinned, lining them up, leaning down to take her mouth in his as he slammed home with one powerful stroke.

Oh fuck…

Oh fuck…

“OH MY FUCKING GOD, ARE YOU SERIOUSLY FUCKING IN MY LOCKER ROOM RIGHT NOW?” Cassian voice thundered through the locker room.

Elain froze up, her pussy clamping down so hard on Lucien’s cock they both had to bite the other to keep from screaming. One hand shot passed her head to steady them as Lucien’s legs began to shake.  

What did she do to the universe? Was she a puppy killer in a past life? Did she burn down a village full of orphans? Had she stepped on too many cracks and her dead mother was torturing her from beyond the grave?

“I’m running a gym, not a goddamn whorehouse, Azriel Singer!” Cassian swore, walking passed their stall. “Vanserra’s showering in here for fuck’s sake.”

“LUCIEN WAS LISTENING?” a high-pitched voice squealed from somewhere further down.

No…no way. There was no fucking way that this was actually happening.

Elain knew that voice.

She bit Lucien’s shoulder harder to keep from making noise. Her body trembled with silent laughter, sending vibrations through her core, which felt so…fucking…good. She just couldn’t enjoy it. Lucien made a small, strangled sound as his hips seemed to involuntarily jerk forward. She felt his cock jump, his body tense and his release fill her.

That fucker just orgasmed.  

She tried to look at him, but he was hiding his face in her neck. She shoved at him. He raised up sheepishly, golden skin nearly as red as his hair. A rush of fluid escaped her as he gently pulled out but didn’t set her down. I am so sorry, he mouthed.

“I didn’t know shit!” he yelled, voice cracking. Elain held on tight, trying her hardest to fight off a grin. Lucien looked like he was slowly losing it.    

“Get out Cassian,” she heard Azriel growl. “No one’s going anywhere with you standing in here.”

A low huff. “Works for me, just stop fucking in my gym!”

“We’ll stop when you stop,” she heard Azriel yell as footsteps retreated out of the locker room. Elain sighed, slumping against Lucien. Poor Lucien, who was still trying to avoid eye contact.

“You’re welcome, by the way,” Azriel called out again.

She froze again, inadvertently clawing Lucien once more. His eyes finally met hers. “The fuck you mean?” Lucien asked for her, just as freaked as she was.

“You’re pretty loud, Elain,” the woman said with a laugh.

Elain and Lucien untangled from each other. Lucien wrapped a towel around his waist, his still flagging cock still large enough to tent the fabric. Elain wrapped her wet dress back around her, long enough she figured until she could reach the towel rack.

They stepped out of the stall.

Azriel and Gwyn were standing there, both with mussed hair and angry red marks, sharing satisfied smiles. Azriel still had the rope of one of the spa robes tied around his wrist. “Looks like you had fun,” Lucien remarked, no sign of the embarrassed man from a moment before.

Azriel’s grin threatened to split his face. Gwyn just brushed her leggings off, a little self-satisfied smirk playing on her own face.  

Elain couldn’t say anything.

She was suddenly hyperaware of everything that had happened in the last fifteen minutes. Lucien being quick off the mark. Her own powerful orgasm – which apparently, she was screaming—and the fact she used Azriel’s name while Lucien had his fingers on her pussy.

Yup. She had to have been a puppy killer in a past life. She wondered if she passed out right now, if everyone would forget they heard anything at all.

“It’s totally cool, Elain,” Gwyn laughed, laying a delicate hand on her partner’s shoulder. “Azriel makes me horny all the time.”

“I’m going to die now,” she moaned. Lucien wrapped an arm around her, possessively, pulling her into his side. It was comforting.

“Nah, don’t be embarrassed,” Azriel said in a near sickly sweet tone. He was such an ass when he wanted to be. “It was a good line.”

“How come we didn’t hear you?” Lucien asked, trying to throw attention off of them. His face was slowly returning to its normal hue.

“I gagged him,” Gwyn stated, matter of fact, shrugging her thin shoulders. “And having a twin sister constantly around means you learn to be quiet.”

Elain and Lucien just stared in confusion. She couldn’t speak for Lucien, but Elain just had so many questions. She opened and closed her mouth a few times. She felt like a fish gasping for air, but she just couldn’t make the words come out.

“We were fucking in front of the security cameras,” Azriel answered their silent question. He pointed to the other end of the locker room. “There’s a camera on the storage room on the other side of the lockers. We’ve got equipment in there there Cass wants surveilled, so no…we aren’t pervs with cameras in the showers. It’s not even really in the locker room.”

Elain cocked her head. Honest to God that thought hadn’t even crossed her mind. “Why in front of the cameras?” Lucien asked for her, pulling her in a little closer.  

“He ate your sister out on my desk last week,” Azriel stated plainly, turning to point at Gwyn. “She just fucked me on a new machine he has to assemble.”

“You’re evil,” Lucien chuckled. “But we owe you one.”

Azriel nodded. “I want Eris’s address.”

All three heads turned to Azriel. Even Gwyn looked at him skeptically. “Why for?” she was the one who asked. Lucien quirked a brow, awaiting the answer as well.

Azriel shrugged. “He pisses me off.”

Elain and Gwyn traded incredulous looks. Gwyn opened her mouth, no doubt to tell her partner how stupid he sounded, when Lucien began to nod. “Totally reasonable,” he muttered approvingly. “I’ll text it to you.”  

“Good man,” Azriel tugged at Gwyn’s hand. “Round two?” Gwyn’s answer was a smirk that could only be described as devious.

“Cassian and Nesta are going out for drinks,” Elain offered as she wrapped her arm around Lucien’s waist.

“Fuck yes,” Az said laughing, dragging a giggling Gwyn out of the locker room.

Elain turned to Lucien, “so…”

“I was already so hyped up, and you were so tight – oh my god Elain I’ve never in my life … and then you laughed. Do you have any idea what that feels like when you laugh?” Lucien began rambling. His eyes were wild, and the pink began to creep up his neck. “I’ve never done that before…I swear I –”

“Lucien!” Elain finally shouted, grabbing him by his chin once again. She gently urged him to look at her. “It’s ok. Just…what now?”

Lucien stepped closer, until she had to tilt her head back to see him. He smiled sheepishly. “I meant what I said. I’m crazy about you, Elain.”

“And I meant what I said,” she said breathlessly. “I really do think you’re my hero.”

“Come home with me?” Lucien urged, hugging her to his mostly naked body. “Let me make it up to you.”  

“For the night?”  

“Forever.”        

[aftmostreaper]

Morning Memories (Cypher x Male Reader)

Memories of what had happened swim across his mind as he makes breakfast

its been some time since i written somethin, but i still hope you like it

Fluffy and stuff:)

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The morning sun shone through the curtained windows, seeping into the small kitchen where a man stood in front of the stove, humming to himself as the sun kissed his shirtless torso, the scars from his previous occupation littering across the surface. 

He smiles as he pours the pancake batter onto the heated stove, turning around to look at the clock as he waits for the side to cook. He taps his fingers on the countertop to the beat of a song lost in time, fond memories of his past as an agent working along with his crew swimming across his mind.

“So tell me, what made you want to join this protocol?”

The masked man in front of me asked as he moved his pawn forward, his gloved fingers dragging the piece across the board, his ‘eyes’ never leaving mine

I chuckled and moved my horse, raising the piece up before placing it down.

“I got a phone call from an old friend”

“Brimstone? Well, that isn't a surprise, but why did you agree in the first place?” 

He leaned in closer. Eyes still burning into mine. As he moved another piece.

I casually shrugged, countering his advance with a rook

“I have my reasons”

It was times like this that the man remembered fondly, the small times when he and his husband met and interacted and talked like normal people, calm and enjoying each other’s presence.

But not all memories are always positive. And in their line of work, there were not many.

The symphony of gunfire rang across the dry and sandy air. The sun blazing down along with the bullets. Radiant abilities were thrown and radiant tech was scattered along the site.

He held his gun close to his chest, ignoring the searing pain in his leg, he pressed the earpiece.

“Enemy Jett B site, got nicked in the leg. Hearing 2 more footsteps” he said through gritted teeth before pulling out a flash grenade “Flashing” he yelled and threw it into the air, the blinding light giving him cover to back away into Hall

“Need backup” but he was met with static “Fuck” he cursed and ran up to elbow. Catching jett off guard as she dashed up to the air and into site. It didn't take long before a bullet was shot into her head.

Ducking behind cover, he didn't have time to catch his breath before the screech of a hawk echoed into the air and a blinding light filled his vision. He gasped and tried to recover as more footsteps approached the site.

He held his breath, listening to the sandy footsteps, as he held his gun close to his chest.

That was when the familiar sound of the spike being planted pounded across the sand.

He was under the pressure of time.

“Coming up behind them through window”

The voice of his comrade echoed silently in his earpiece. Momentary relief filled his head as he threw another flash grenade outside the opening, a shot rang in the air.

“Skye down”

The beeping of the spike rang faster.

“You should run”

The enemy Killjoy placed her device, a sea of lights dancing across the walls as the neon dome formed above them.

“She is behind the radianite boxes, spike is in front of site”

Cypher’s voice once again echoed.

I nodded, pushing up to elbow, shooting at the nanoswarms littering around the spike. The beeping became faster as the lights pulsed quicker. 

I ran towards the radianite boxes, cypher ran towards the spike the diffuser in his hand. I pulled out my gun and swung. Crosshair pointed at Killjoy’s head, and hers pointed to mine. A second didn't last before 2 shots rang with the lights and beeps.

Blood splattered the sand as two bodies fell to the ground. The lights went dark, the beeping stopped and a loud shout echoed with the dry winds.

He was at the medical bay for a few weeks after that. The damage to his head was quite severe and Sage needed multiple sessions and healing orbs to try to heal his brain and head together.

And the person who stood beside him through the weeks and more months of recovery was no other than Cypher. His scarred hand is always there to guide his comrade back to full health.

The details were after a lot. Fighting, misunderstandings, and therapy for both of them and their pasts. But in the end, they still got together.

The man’s smile got softer as he added another pancake to the pile, His gaze drifting to the ring on his finger. The memories of the starry night bring a sparkle to his eyes.

“Amir” I looked up at him as I got down on one knee, my heart beating loudly in my chest as I fished out the red box from my pocket, opening it to reveal the ring glistening under the starry moonlight “Will you marry me?”

I hopefully looked up to his shocked eyes, realization quickly setting in as he tackled me to the ground, burying his head into my shoulder and muttering “I do” repeatedly before bending back to look at me.

The kiss we shared that night was nothing short of passionate and full of love. Eyes twinkling in adoration as we settled under the moonlight.

The wedding was small and sweet, the guests only being that of the members of the protocol and a few close friends and family members.

The honeymoon was….

The man chuckled to himself, touching the nape of his neck as he remembered the events that night. 

It had been years since they became a couple. Time passed by as they soon retired, having enough money to comfortably live on a peaceful farm in the countryside until death came knocking at their door.

But before he could dwell on those thoughts and memories. The door to their shared bedroom opened and a set of footsteps soon stopped at the doorway behind him.

The man turned around and looked at his husband, his mature features being kissed by the morning sun. A smile quickly grew on his face as he set the second stack of pancakes down at the table. 

“Good morning, Love” he greeted, Turning around to grab their morning drinks and setting them at the table.

He was met with a small and sweet “Good Morning” before the other approached and gave him a peck on the lips. They looked at each other’s sparkling eyes before kissing once again and sitting down at the table.

They ate their breakfast in relative peace, talking about what they were going to do the day and the days after. And that was when a notification popped up in the man’s phone, his smile quickly growing wider.

“What is it?” Amir asked as he took a bite from his pancake

“The adoption agency said that we could adopt her”

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Hope you liked it, i just started playing valo again so yah:3

[popcornsalty]

Okay so so like. I feel like something people should know is that these cracks in team soulfire have been there since day one, firstly, and that bad and pierre consistently don't follow tubbo on things that they consider necessary to win, and that I want to talk about all that because this shit yesterday was a long time coming

(Obligatory /rp for all of this I'm not putting q in front of all that)

To start, on quite literally day one two people put their name into the ring for leader, which were bad and tubbo, and tubbo won by virtue of being more enthused about it. And since then, he's been a great leader for both morale and grinding, with bad and Tina as Co leaders of sorts. This was most apparent in the early days, where bad would gather the team together and help keep track and organize where tubbo had wandered off. Tina was also super helpful, because she led the non- combat crew and helped give people stuff to do and is really good at keeping up team morale.

All of that's to say, blue team has excellent internal leadership when they're functioning together and have a shared goal, which was purely the pvp and uhc style of combat they took up on early days. But that has changed over the course of the event

One of the more prominent examples is when tubbo was trying to repair relations with red and specifically told bad to lay off fighting them, only for him and pierre to team up with etoiles to try for kills- which, I'm sure they felt was necessary to win.but I bring this up to illustrate how they will not follow orders if they think it's necessary to win by doing what they're told not to

This is part of why blues rep is so fucked, especially due to bad, because he tends to do stuff thats "bad manners" and stretch the rules as far as possibly for victory, in addition to a loooot of shittalk, which has been discussed in some post team calls n stuff by tubbo y Tina but I digress since that's not lore lmaooo. But it's interesting to consider to me since while nothing is explicitly outlawed on qsmp, there is shit that once you do, there's no going back- bads rep with red, and pierre now too, and blue generally is gonna suck because of yesterday. And why is that?

Because they choose to unbalance scales that everyone thought could be balanced, and *everyone* knew the stakes listed in the tweet quackity studios made. It was very very clear, no matter the explaining away of "death of the teams" or whatever. And it's interesting to me!!! Because if you watched blues pov yesterday, you'd know how tubbo spent an hour long call with bbh early on in the morning explaining why they needed to balance the scales, and that bbh was prepared to-do that but was very paranoid that they were going to backstab them, and pierre was focused entirely on winning even at the expense of the other team. Which is some interesting stakes tbh!!!

Because like, literally a few days ago they were fucked over by green who attacked their egg statue when they had an alliance, and were wary as a result. Even if green hadn't killed their egg it was still a breach of trust, which fueled both bad and pierres fear about green fucking them Over- when like, in a few minutes of thought, you'd realize that green can't have gotten the stuff to turn in that many quests last minute, not with blue having been prepping all day as a unit to prepare to counter this if it happened.

^ but here I take for granted those moments to think in an outside perspective. So. Moving on

This is all to say- this was always going to happen. And probably in this way too, because bad is a paranoid guy who's very invested in his own survival and pierre has been worn down into being extremely focused on victory above all else. And im excited to see the consequences of that! Because killing other islanders will have that for surrrre like I'm excited for today

And like to be clear I get wanting to preserve your own life at the cost of others but likeeeee. Part of that is absolutely a No going back because it's not gonna look good to kill a team who didn't log on most of the day to anyone who survives 😭. and it'll be interesting to see how that plays out tbh!

Because the more aggressive members (bad n pierre) of the blue team have most of the ire, and the rest of blue might be offered a spot with bolas the way tubbo was- but I doubt they'll take it. Though we'll have to see how this plays out

Anyhow I have really disorganized thoughts sorry if this doesn't make sense, I just like overall wanted to say- what happened was in a long line of shit thats happened, I'm interested in seeing the fallout

(Though like for all I say this was always gonna happen, those characters made a choice that they didn't have to because they wanted to survive above all else. And that's the fun of these types of games.)

(Also anyone else crazy about the dramatic irony of tubbo wanting to save his friends with the even points and almost killed them all. That went hard)

[stratossphere]

backstage | v.v

you’re waiting for ville in his dressing room when he gets done with his show.

warnings: a tiny bit of arguing in the beginning, smut, oral (f. receiving), slight spanking, unprotected sex, ville’s a little dominant, mentions of drug use at the end

word count: 4.7k

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"Sleep on the fucking couch. I don't care." That was the last thing Ville said to you before he went to meet everyone else on stage. You had flown all the way back from LA to Finland after missing only two days of his tour, and Ville was pissed because you had admitted that you were too exhausted to stand in the crowd to watch the band play tonight. After a 10 hour overnight flight and a 9 hour time reset right in the middle. Not to mention the 6 hour layover in between.

You didn't argue, because you really were exhausted and sleeping on the couch in his dressing room sounded pretty enticing, and Linde had been nice enough to bring in a blanket and pillow that had been on the tour bus for you. So, while Ville was outside with the rest of the band probably pouting his ass off, you were inside taking one of the best naps of your life.

Sure, you were probably going to be woken up when the concert was over just in time to get in an argument once Ville got back, but oh well. You were too tired to care.

—

When you woke up, it was because you were disturbed by the sound of hacking coughing. You cracked an eye open, because there was a chance it could've been one of the stagehands that had been coming out of the back room on and off, only to see your boyfriend standing with his back turned to you and a cloud of smoke wavering above his head as his coughing dissolved into continuous clearing his throat.

"Fuckin' stagehands." He grumbled, seeming to have realized that the copious amounts of half finished booze bottles and cans that he had been collecting on the vanity on the center wall of the small dressing room throughout the day had been cleared away.

He then turned, as if he was about to go back out and retrieve a new one, only to pause when he realized that your eyes were open. With a cigarette still between his lips, he raised an eyebrow with a hint of a smirk on his lips.

"Morning." He said simply. It was almost 11:30 at night, but you stretched and smiled regardless, pulling the blanket further over yourself. It was already cold outside, but air conditioning had kept the dressing room ice cold at Ville's request. Europeans.

"Morning." You mumbled in response, turning on your side where you had been lying on your stomach so that you could face him fully.

"How'd you sleep, my love?" And with that, he was forgiven for his earlier transgressions before the show. You watched as he began to towel off the sweat that had built up on his face and bare torso from running around on stage for so long before shrugging.

"Good enough. Didn't hear the stage crew come through at all." You sat up on the couch then, finally accepting that you had to get up due to the fact that he was going to want to go home before raking your fingers through your hair. He scoffed at the mention of the stage crew.

"Did you see that they cleaned out all my fucking drinks? I told them not to." He protested as he finished drying off and slipped his Black Sabbath shirt that he'd shown up in. You rolled your eyes.

"It's good for you. Those have probably been sitting out all day." You had no idea how room-temperature whiskey and flat beer could appeal to Ville in any way shape or form, but it was becoming an increasingly bad habit. Especially when he was drinking things that had been left unattended all day in the presence of others. It's a good thing he was nice to all the people that worked around the band, or else he was presenting a class A chance to drug him right up.

"Whatever." There was still a deep pout on his face. Your face softened as you held out a hand for him.

"You know, I barely even got a chance to say hi to you when I got here. You were already pissed off." You pointed out, noticing his clear hesitation to penetrate the space between the both of you. "I talked to Linde more than I talked to you."

"Hi." He said with a hint of a smile as he took your hand, letting you pull him further towards you until he was standing right in front of you. He sighed softly with apologetic eyes. "I'm sorry. I didn't sleep last night."

"Neither did I." You spoke quietly as he moved to kneel on the edge of the couch between your legs, not letting go of his hand as you kept your eyes trained up at him. "I missed you."

"Yeah? How much?" Now there was a full smile on his face, and you could tell that you had won him over out of his bad mood. He was usually close to exhausted once he got done with a show, but there was a look in his eyes that told you he wasn't ready to leave quite yet.

"Come here." You motioned next to you on the couch, and he quickly obliged your request, moving to the side so that he could slide down next to you and put his arm over your hip so that you were right up against each other. You were praying that no one came to check on you, because you knew that there was no lock on the dressing room door. After he took his cigarette out from between his lips you pulled him into a kiss, wrapping one arm around his neck as you inhaled his slightly-sweaty scent. He always smelled (and looked) so fucking good after shows.

"Everyone else is upstairs drinking backstage. I told everyone I was coming to check on you." Ville mumbled against your lips as his hand slipped underneath the material of your shirt, cold fingertips shocking your skin as he continued to kiss you sloppily. "We've got time."

You responded with a hum as you deepened the kiss, your fingers hooking in the collar of his shirt at the same time he began to undo the buckle of your studded belt. The kiss wasn't desperate, but it was hungry, and you could taste beer on his breath as his tongue licked into your mouth. He was half-reaching back, and you opened your eyes just long enough to see that he was putting his cigarette out on the metal railing that was bolted into the wall above the couch before his hand was in your hair instead.

With arousal starting to take over, you helped him get your belt the rest of the way open, then lifted your hips as he pulled your black jeans down your hips, his lips finally breaking from yours as he started to move. Once you had your jeans completely kicked off in a pile to the side, he slid down to his knees between your legs on the floor, his hands skating down your thighs as he did so.

"Are you still mad at me?" He asked softly as he pressed a kiss to your knee, ending it with just a little bit of teeth as those sloppily eyeliner and eye shadow-lined eyes held your gaze with searing intent. You took a deep breath, trying to compose yourself enough to answer.

"Don't know. Maybe a little bit." You knew how he liked to apologize for things, and you would be lying if you said you weren’t doing your best to increase your chances of getting exactly that by as much as you could manage. He let out a hint of a scoff as his hands slid back up your legs to hook his fingers in the waistband of the thong you were wearing (god forgive you if you wanted to rile him up into fucking you sometimes, alright?) before beginning to pull it down your legs.

"You wear this for me, then?" He looked pleased with himself as he held your underwear up hooked around his finger, and you rolled your eyes as you watched him tuck them right into the back pocket of his jeans.

"Yes. And I hate when you do that." You complained, motioning to where he'd just basically stolen the only underwear you had on you. You knew he liked wearing jeans while commando, but you absolutely did not share the same preference. He shushed you and then began to guide your leg over his shoulder, kissing at your knee and thigh the whole time as he clearly attempted to pull your attention away from his actions.

"You smell so good." He mumbled against your skin, moving his face closer to your pussy but not yet closing the distance completely. You could feel yourself getting worked up; breath catching in your throat and heart racing as you watched him so easily toy with you. You knew he was lying, because you’d been sleeping on a probably-disgusting dressing room couch for over two hours, and had before that been in an airport for almost 18, but it was nearly impossible to get him out of his own head when he was...being himself.

He could tell you were getting impatient, and he pressed his lips to your very inner thigh so softly it was almost unnoticeable before he was moving his mouth to lick an open-mouthed kiss to your clit. You moaned at the feeling, your leg tightening over his shoulder as you watched him basically make out with your pussy. If you were going to make a sex tape, this would definitely be the starring event.

"I think I'm starting to forgive you." You breathed out as one of your hands moved down into his hair, pulling gently as his lips lingered enough to suck at your clit with every lazy kiss. He hummed out a laugh against your pussy, the vibration of his baritone voice only adding to the feeling as you fought the urge to slam your eyes shut. You wanted so badly to push your head back with your eyes closed and let your mouth fall open, but you wanted to continue watching the sight in front of you more. The previous quiet of the dressing room that you had been savoring while you’d been asleep was now filled with wet sucking sounds and your uneven gasps of breath, and you silently wondered if you had enough strength to keep yourself together for longer than the next minute or so.

"Yeah? Just because you're getting your pussy eaten?" Ville paused only momentarily to speak before he was back to licking long stripes from your entrance back up to your clit, circling the tip of his tongue before he continued to push it back down once more as he pulled moan after moan out of you. "I wasn't aware you were such an easy fix, sweetheart."

"Ville. Please." You didn't really know what you were begging for, but by this point you were grinding yourself against his tongue, fingers threaded tightly in his hair as you felt your head start to swim with pleasure. It wasn't false when people assumed that Ville's tongue was good for more than all the singing he did. His hands pushed at your inner thighs to hold your legs open as your muscles started to tense on him, and suddenly you felt his tongue slow down considerably. That fucker was teasing you on purpose.

When you let out a sound of disdain he let out a mocking coo, never stopping the movements of his tongue as he continued to slow down until he was barely kissing at your clit, eyes locked up on yours with a teasing glint as he sucked gently with every kiss. Sometimes it really fucking blew that Ville had no care for time management when it came to sex, and was perfectly content with being in this position for the next hour despite his band members that were currently waiting on the both of you.

Hopefully they were playing chess for the time being.

"More." You pleaded with him, fingers tightening even more in his hair as you arched your back more and more by the second. He was barely touching you at all, but you were still moaning. "It hurts."

"Shut up and be patient." He smacked your ass hard where one of his hands was resting against it, and you just moaned again. God, he knew how to fuck with you in just the right way to where you always managed to lose your dignity in the process.

Despite his harsh words, you felt his tongue begin to find purchase again, and although he didn't go any faster, he began to lick long, slow stripes from your entrance up to my clit again. Your voice went up a pitch despite your attempt to bite back, and you bit harshly on your lip as the hand that wasn't in his hair gripped helplessly at the worn-in fabric of the couch.

"Ville. Fuck, just like that." You whimpered as he then began to pick up the pace of his tongue, his lips eventually wrapping back around your clit as he began to suck harshly paired with his quickly swirling tongue.

If anyone was anywhere near your dressing room, you were going to have a really embarrassing walk of shame when you and Ville finished what you were doing.

He continued to pull gasps and moans from your lips with every quick movement of his tongue, his hands back at your hips so that you couldn't grind yourself against his mouth any more than he felt like allowing. At this point your legs were starting to shake, and your voice was starting to go hoarse in your throat as you pulled on his hair with every lick and suck.

"I'm gonna cum." You groaned, already starting to feel the ache of overstimulation setting in even beforehand as he ate you out like it was the last time he was ever going to get to. He hummed in encouragement as he again started to make out with your clit, those wet sucking and licking sounds getting louder once again as he coaxed you closer to your climax.

When you came, your back arched as you pulled on his hair harshly due to the intense wave of pleasure that pushed through you, and you moaned loudly as his grip on you loosened enough to where you could move freely. He continued to suck on your clit until your voice was dead and shaky in your throat and you were pushing him away, that cocky glint still in his eyes as he finally broke away to sit back and watch the way you came down from your high.

"You know, you should be more considerate to our neighbors." He teased as he pressed a (very) wet kiss to your leg where it was still over his shoulder and then sitting back on his heels as he slowly slid it off. "Screaming your fuckin' lungs out, for Christ's sake."

You shot him a dirty look as you stretched out your leg that you’d been holding bent up, leaning forward and smoothing his hair down where it was sticking up everywhere because of your hands.

"You know, we wouldn't always join everything late if you didn't insist on always taking forever." You mocked his tone of voice as he got up off of his knees, laughing when he climbed right on top of you on the couch and basically sat in your lap in the process.

"I like to take my time. Savor the flavor." He grinned like an idiot as those words came out like silver on his tongue, about the same time that you made a disgusted face once you heard them. He could say things like that, but he didn't like the word 'cuddle'. Figures. "You ready to go, or do you want to fuck?"

He was trying to play it off as if he was only going to fuck you if you wanted him to, but you could clearly see how hard he was in the decorative jeans he had been wearing on stage. It was a little bit of an ego boost, considering all he'd been doing was eating you out. You shot him a coy smile, wrapping your legs loosely around his waist and sliding one hand under his shirt.

"I mean, if you really want to." You teased, sensing his eye roll before it even made it to his eyes. He leaned down and pressed a lingering kiss to your lips, fingers wrapping around your wrist so that he could pull your hand out from under his shirt.

"You're fucking ridiculous. Desperate for cock and then you get here and act like you don't even want it anymore." He scoffed, snapping his fingers for you to lie back on the couch. Despite his words you grinned happily as you fulfilled his request, lying back against the arm of the couch with your legs already spread for him.

"What? I do!" You protested, pulling him in towards you with my feet hooked around his back so that he was forced to lean forward. "Please. I haven't been fucked in three whole days."

"Yeah, I should fucking hope so." He scoffed, undoing his black studded belt and then unzipping his jeans. "Three days and you're this eager?"

"It's because I love you." You pouted, watching with hungry eyes as he got his jeans down enough to free his hard and leaking cock. God, you wanted him so fucking bad. "Can you be nice to me while we do it?"

"Why do you have to ask like that? You make me sound like I'm spitting in your face after I've just slapped you." Ville's eyes softened at your words, and he ran his hands up your legs while squeezing softly. "Of course I'll be fucking nice to you."

"I just meant that I missed you, and I wanna touch you." You explained, feeling your face heat up slightly at the way he was looking at you. He had a habit of leaning back off of you so that he could fuck you harder, and as good as that felt, you would’ve rathered to have him in your arms by far.

"Touch me whenever and wherever you like, my love." He reassured, holding onto your knee as his other hand moved to position his cock before he was slowly pushing into you. As you let out a soft moan, his hand moved from your knee to push under you, pulling you forward at the same time he leaned down until your chests were pressed together and he was thrusting into you slowly with his eyes on yours. "Can feel your pussy squeezing me already. Are you that desperate?"

"Yes. Baby, please. More." You begged desperately, wrapping an arm around his neck while the other stayed with your hand on his bicep as he thrusted his cock into you with full, drawn-out pushes of his hips. He cooed at you against your cheek where his lips were brushing, nipping at your skin just barely.

"Oh, my poor girl. I know." His words came in response to the moans that he was pulling out of you with every brush of his cock against your sweet spot inside of you. He then connected your lips, his tongue swiping over your bottom lip as he groaned into your mouth.

You wrapped your legs tighter around his waist as you laced your fingers into his hair to hold his head with yours, starting to roll your hips along with his thrusts in an attempt to chase your own high in spite of the pace that he had so clearly set for the both of you.

"Stop it. You're gonna make me fucking cum if you keep doing that." Ville groaned at the feeling, holding you tighter where his arm was wrapped underneath your hips so that you were forced to be still. You whined against his mouth, your fingers brushing his where they were digging into your hip.

"Please." You said breathlessly, pulling on his hair just slightly when he snapped his hips harshly into you. He could tell you were getting close, and you in no way cared that you’d only been going for a few minutes. "Cum inside me."

"Jesus fucking Christ." He sighed in pleasure, and you felt him twitch inside you at your words. Mission accomplished. His kisses resumed once more, lips moving from yours over your cheek and down across your jaw as he continued to fuck you, getting sloppier and sloppier with each thrust as you moaned against each other. Ville's hand gripped your hip almost hard enough to hurt, and you couldn't help but feel coyly satisfied with the feeling. Sometimes he left bruises, and you had a feeling this was going to be one of those times. "Fuck. You sure you want me cumming in you?"

Sometimes you wondered if he even paid attention to anything you said due to the actual feeling of fucking you.

"Yes. Please." You begged, whimpering with his cheek against yours as he kissed and sucked at every sensitive spot on your skin. You were going to have to have a very serious conversation about carrying condoms on the both of you so that you’d stop doing things like this, but in the heat of the moment all you could focus on was the drag of his cock inside you over and over again.

"Ah. Ah! Right there..." Ville fucked into you deeply a few more times before he was letting out a long moan, his voice tapering off into a whine that made your whole body thrum in arousal as his release spilled inside of you when he came.

He continued to fuck you through his orgasm, and then you were cumming too, your climax pushing through you strongly as your back arched up towards him while you moaned repeatedly to the pace of his thrusts.

Eventually both of you couldn't take it anymore, and then Ville's hips slowed to a stop, the absence of skin-on-skin leaving room for the sound of your ragged breathing to fill the air.

"I wish I could take a picture of the way you look when you cum." He mumbled, kissing you softly and then lingering against your lips as he looked at you. You felt yourself go a little bit red at that considering how intensely he was looking at you, but it didn't stop you from running your hands through his hair and giving him another kiss.

"We are so late." Hopefully everyone else was already drunk enough to where they wouldn't point it out. You weren’t sure you were in the mood for teasing about your sex life. Especially not when it was from Ville’s best friends.

"Good. Unless you want to sit through ten chess matches, we're right on time." Ville scoffed, finally sliding out of you and then pulling back to look down while chuckling as he did so. "Fuck, we made a mess."

"Just put it back in and make out with me and then we don't have to worry about it." You whined at the loss of his touch, your hand falling to rest above his where it was resting loosely on your leg. You watched him bite his lip as he took a deep breath.

"Don't say shit like that. You're going to get me hard again." Despite your request, he got up and off of the couch, gesturing for you to wait while he fumbled his jeans back up and zipped before starting to rifle through the small care package that was sitting on the vanity that took up the opposite wall. When you let out a disgruntled huff, he glanced back towards you. "Just be patient."

"Do we have to go for drinks? We can't just go home?" You knew that going home meant cigarettes, CD's, and definitely more sex, and at that moment that was all you wanted. For once, you just wanted domestic cuddling on the couch where you could listen to Ville talk until the late hours of the night instead of hard partying and a painfully long slew of bad decisions to ruin your day in the morning. He came back around with one of those fancy hand towels given to celebrities too good for using paper towels in bathrooms, letting out a soft sigh as he sat down on the couch next to you to begin cleaning you up with it.

"I promised, love." He reminded you gently as he used the fancy celebrity hand towel to clean his cum out of you and off of your thighs and the material of the (slightly ruined) couch. You would've grinned at the irony of that had you not been so busy pouting. When he caught a look at your face, you saw a look of exasperated irritation pass over his features as his free hand gently held your legs open. "Don't make that face."

"I'm not making a face."

"You are." As he tossed the towel in with the trash (which you thought was kind of a waste, but also who wanted to clean up jizz rags anyway), you sat up and he reached out to swipe his thumb across your lips, an unimpressed look in his eyes. "What do you want?"

"You." You were whining, and you knew it, but he was used to it. In fact, Ville was probably one of the only people that ever indulged your whining. It was, if you did say so yourself, his weakness. He ran a hand over your hair, quirking an eyebrow.

"You have me." He reassured, leaning forward to kiss your forehead as he cupped the back of your head. "An hour. Give me an hour with them, and then I'll take you home."

"Yeah. Okay." You agreed tiredly, suddenly feeling the energy exertion of what you’d just been doing paired with your long flight and sleepless night starting to hit you. You were feeling more and more boneless by the second.

"I missed you." He concluded, leaning down to kiss you and then lingering just enough to where you lingered back before he pulled away at that exact moment. "And you've earned full rights to me tomorrow night because I was such a dick when you got here."

"Yeah. I'd hope so." You gave him a teasing grin and mouthed one more wet kiss to his cheek before pushing yourself to finally get up, pulling away from his hand holding yours in search of your pants. Underwear was out of the question by this point due to Ville's attachment, but you knew you’d get them back at some point in the (vaguely) near future.

Once you had pulled your jeans back on and did up your belt once more, Ville's hands found your hips and he pulled you forward to where he was still sitting on the couch, his arms wrapping around the back of your legs.

"Just another minute." He mumbled as he rested his chin against the strip of skin between the hem of your shirt and the waist of your jeans. His breath was soft on your skin, and you rolled your eyes as you cupped his cheek.

"Do you like being ridiculed for being late because we were fucking? Because it happens every time." You reminded him sardonically, watching the way he tipped his head to the side to catch the tip of your thumb between his teeth in amusement.

"Maybe." He replied, just brushing his tongue over the pad of your thumb before he was letting you go and wrapping his arms tighter around you so that his cheek was almost touching your hip bone. "Pop something while we're out and we can fuck off of it in bed when we get home."

Some people deeply believed that soulmates didn't exist, but some people also had never had Ville Valo tell them to drop acid so that he could fuck them into oblivion when they were alone once more. You sometimes felt sad for all the people in the world who would never get to be in your position.

"Oh my fucking god, I love you." You groaned as he finally stood up, sweeping an arm around your hips (which he had, in fact, bruised his fingerprints into) and then pulling you in to kiss your temple.

"You're really going to love me when we get home tonight, sweetheart."

[jessysapphireblue]

One Piece Advent Calender Door 24

Door 24: Christmas Eve

Morning dawned at the Cabin, everyone awake, some still sleepy but the others mostly awake. “So is it Christmas?”, asked Chopper. “No, tomorrow. Today is Christmas eve. The day before the actual feast”, explained Robin. “Perhaps we should go to the Sunny. I fetch us some nice warm breakfast there”, admitted Sanji.

“One ham sandwich for me”, Luffy raised his arm happily sanji and Nami smirking with his back to him before they walked out. Nami brought the key back and you all went to town.

“WHAT IS GOING ON HERE?!”, Usopp screamed as he saw the sheer mass op people. “Christmas Eve. Today the last things are gonna be bought, stuff picked up and then they all go home, spending time with their friends and family”, you admitted with a soft smile. “Christmas is crazy”, admitted Zoro with a loud yawn. “Just like us, so it´s perfect”, you admitted and Jinbe, Brook and Luffy laughed.

Once back on the Sunny, you helped Sanji prepare breakfast before you all st down. “Now, dig in”, the cook said as ”...where is the meat?”, asked Luffy. “Today is no meat”, said Nami. ”...what do you mean?” “As we stated yesterday today gives no meat. At all”, smirked Sanji. The color from Luffy drained as he collapsed on the table, sliding off his chair to the ground. “A bit drastic, don´t you think?”, admitted Usopp.

“my meat...I want my precious meat” “Tomorrow”, said Sanji. “So what will we eat tonight?”, asked Zoro. “Fish”, you smiled and Usopp looked happy. “Fish, really?!” “Yes” “With a super burger!” “Also no burger. Contains meat”, said Nami and the Cyborg was all stiff. “Like nothing at all?!” “Nothing at all”

Nami and Sanji clearly enjoyed the torture of the crew. “What about dessert?”, asked Chopper. “Well, I´ve never seen or heard of a dessert with meat so-” The doctor breathed out, which made you chuckle. “Luffy, come on and eat”, you said. “MA MEAT!”, he began to whine. “Yohohoho, Luffy-san is depressed” “You survive one day without meat”, admitted Sanji. “Je, pls. Meat”, Luffy robbed to you, his head now in your lap, looking so broken at you.

You inhaled and looked forward, contine to eat. “JE! Look at me! Don´t you care if I die!? I thought you love me!!!” “I do, hun”, you looked at him and were meet with THE MOST KICKED PUPPY EYES. “NO!”, Nami used her staff to smack Luffy from your lap.

At the end, he ate the stuff, still sad about his non meat. You helped Sanji in the kitchen, preparing most of the stuff for tomorrow, as well for tonight. While everyone got something else to do, Luffy rested on your bed, along with Soma, Looking at your wish list. “No meat...I won´t survive today” Your dragon nudged him, giving him a few licks on his cheek that made him smile. “Thanks!”, he beamed. ”...So HUNGRY!!!!”, he whined out, holding his growling stomach. looking at him, Soma took off.

You soon came with a big bowl into your room, his stomach sounded like it was dieing. “I heard you´re hungry” “YES! I demand my meat!” He said and you sat next to his legs. “Well, I have no meat but food” Directly he sat up and looked at the bowl. “What is this?” “toasted bread cubes with butter. You can have all if you want” “JE!”, hugging your waist, you laughed. “You still love me!” “Of course I do. I always do. So, you want-” It was taken from your grasp and Luffy began to munch on them, a content smile on his lips.

Evening soon arrived and the table was fully decked with stuff, from fish to mashed potatoes, cabbage and different little things to snack on. And as Sanji sat down, all began to take food, eating and smiling, and even Soma ate with you. “This feels like a real family gathering”, admitted Franky. “Yes, it does”, you smiled and saw how Luffy ate so much, you were sure he would burst. “The fish is nice”, smiled Usopp happily. “I like the peaches!”, beamed Chopper. “All this stuff is nice!”, smiled Franky.

It was just after dinner, the sun long gone and all of you went outside, faint music was heard from the town, and you all just admired the scenery, snowflakes softly falling around the ship. “What is that?”, asked Zoro and motioned with his head under the tree. “Why, chistmas presents” “PRESENTS?!”, Luffy, Chopper and Usopp leaped to them. “TOMORROW!” Nami and Sanji kicked them hardly while the rest laughed. “So...can I have meat?”, Luffy asked you, arms around your waist and you sighed with a smile. “Ha~ Fine. I make you something” He beamed brightly, tugging you away from the others.

[sourcherryandsprinkles]

King of my heart (part 4/finale) | Tom Holland x Reader

Summary: You get the role of MJ for the new Spiderman movie…aka, the classic trope of co-stars falling for each other

Pairing: Tom Holland x Reader

Word count: 1.7k

Note: I am sincerely sorry for the long wait. My interests have moved to other fandoms/characters and this story got pushed to the side... I hope you enjoy the final part! 

p.s. This is the last of Tom Holland you will be reading from me. He is now removed from my ‘people I write for’ list (I don’t write for actors anymore)

—

''Cut!'' the director called, his voice echoing on set. ''Everyone take five.''

''Y/N, please, some serious,'' Tom warned with a fake scowl, as if he wasn't the one making a funny face at you and making you laugh for the past seven minutes.

You narrowed your eyes at him and he grinned.

Filming had begun very early for Tom today so you hadn't had the chance to talk about your date yet. He had a lot of scenes that involved stunts and those took a long time to film. You didn't see him until late evening in your only — and very short — scene together.

Tom walked over to his chair and took a sip from the paper cup next to it, filled with what you assumed to be tea. ''Last scene of the day, then we're off.''

You made a cheerful sound and reached for your hot drink too, taking a long sip and using the warmth of the cup to warm up your fingers. If only you could do the same for your legs. You had been standing outside for a little over an hour and your fingers and bare legs were beginning to get cold. That's what happens when you're filming summer scenes at the beginning of October. You wished they would allow sweatpants underneath like they did on the set of Gossip Girl, your legs would be thankful.

''Is that coffee?'' you asked, smelling the distinctive bitterness of coffee coming from Tom's cup.

He hummed, taking another sip. ''Yeah. Tea isn't strong enough to keep me awake right now,'' he explained with a tired chuckle. ''I'm barely standing on my feet.''

Ah, the perks of being an actor.

Tom laughed from the tiredness. ''The second my head touches my pillow, I'm gone to dreamland.''

.

The next day, you knocked on Tom's trailer door. You had gotten a few silly memes while you were in the makeup chair and phones were not allowed on Marvel production sets, so you knew he was there.

''Can we talk?''

Tom nodded, letting you in his trailer. ''Do you want anything? Tea? Coffee?'' He looked at the kitchen area with pulled eyebrows and rubbed the back of his neck. ''I don't really know what else I have in here.''

''I'm good,’’ you said. ‘’If I drink another coffee, I'll have to take a pee break during my next scene. I've already taken too many since we began filming in London, the crew won't be happy with me.''

''It's always the wardrobe's fault.''

You could only agree.

''Blame it on the cold weather and the summer wardrobe my character is in.''

''When I was filming Spiderman: Homecoming, I learned about coffee and peeing the hard way,’’ Tom explained, thinking back to three years ago. ‘’That suit was easy to get in and out of, but it was so damn annoying. The wardrobe assistant never said anything, but I could see in his eyes that she was not happy with me.''

You pulled at the cardigan you had over your shoulders, feeling a chill. ''I know it's only October, but they should bring out the huge puffers. Last night's shoot was brutal. At least I have pants today.''

''Do you want something to warm up?'' Tom offered next, always thoughtful. ''I got a blanket and a jacket if you want.''

''That would be appreciated. I'll take you on the offer.''

You watched as Tom went to the small couch and gave you both options. As tempting as it was to take the jacket — which he wore this morning coming to set and would smell of him —, you took the blanket. You wrapped yourself in it like a cocoon. You probably looked silly, but at least you were warm.

''Does that feel better?''

You nodded. ''I had an amazing time with you the other night. It was nice to experience London from a native citizen's side.''

''I had an amazing night too. My only regret is, I didn't kiss you when I should have.''

You bit back a squeak of surprise, the beating of your heart picking up its pace.

Tom continued. ''When you closed the door and I went back to my room, I got hit with immediate regret. I spent the next hour cogitating and cursing myself for not kissing you.''

''You could do it now? We have…twenty-three minutes before we get called on set.''

A chuckle left Tom’s lips and he gently grabbed your chin, tilting it as he closed the space between your mouths and kissed you.

*

The change of status of your relationship made it to the tabloids shortly after wrapping up Spiderman: Far from home.

You and Tom were having dinner in a pub with some of his best mates when a ‘fan’ took pictures of Tom’s hand behind your back and kissing your cheek. In a matter of seconds, the pictures were all over twitter.

You felt violated.

Although you had chosen a career that put you in the spotlight, you deserved privacy. It was important for you to have control of what you wanted to share or not, but that control had been taken from you by that ‘fan’, turning your and Tom’s every outings into an invasive game of hunters against foxes.

*

Doing promo for the movie was overwhelming, tiring, and sometimes boring, but it was unfortunately part of acting. The last few days, you and Tom have been carried from one interview to another and asked the same questions over and over again.

It was your first time doing a tour to promote a movie you were in and you were exhausted from all the traveling and constant time-zone changes. How do actors do that all the time? Your sleep schedule was all over the place and your face felt like the Sahara desert from the constant exposure to airplane air and wearing a cake-face of makeup for over fourteen hours every day.

Having Tom with you through the whole tour made it all more bearable. He squeezed your hand three times before getting on the red carpet.

A chorus of screams from fans outside the premiere greeted you. You waved to some of them as you were being guided to your first interview.

‘’Y/N, we’re so happy to have you here. The movie is called ‘Far from home’ and a lot of filming happened outside in Europe, how does it feel to be home after being away for a few months?'' she asked, tilting the microphone toward you.

You knew the interviewer meant Los Angeles, but although you owned an apartment here, was it really your home? With all the constant traveling of the past two years, you've been living in hotel rooms and don't really know where home is anymore.

''I’ve been asked variations of this question a lot these past months. I think home is vague and can hold different meanings. Did I miss my family and my best friends while I was away? Yes. Of course. It’s hard to be in a different time-zone from the people who used to be a twenty minutes drive away from you,’’ you explained, remembering the nights you’ve spent curled in your hotel bed in Italy, missing your mom. ‘’But I personally don’t consider home to be a specific place. It’s more of a feeling. I feel at home when I’m with the people I love, wherever I am.’’

You regretted your choice of words immediately, knowing the interviewer would pick up on the ‘people I love’ part and use it to get you to talk about Tom.

His eyes lit up and he quickly took the opportunity. ‘’Do you have a specific person in mind? A certain…co-star, perhaps?’’

‘’Everyone was away from home during filming, whether it was in Atlanta or in Europe, so we were all in the same boat. We’ve spent so much time together that we became a new family. Seeing them today at the premiere makes me feel at home.’’

You mentally patted yourself on the back for this one. It’s not that you didn’t want to talk about Tom — he was your co-star, it was inevitable. You just didn’t want all the questions to be about your and Tom’s relationship. It’s a movie premiere, your first big screen production, not a personal interview on a late night talk-show.

You were moved to the next interviewer and, unfortunately for you, the guy from E!News complimented your dress and how stunning you looked, using the good old flattery method to get you to answer his juicer questions.

‘’It’s Zuhair Murad,’’ you informed him, plugging your dress designer. The shade of maroon matched with Tom’s, but you didn’t mention that part.

‘’Well, it looks stunning on you,’’ the interviewer added. ‘’We’re all excited to see the movie, but a lot of us want to know about the spiderman curse. We know it’s a thing for Spiderman actors falling for their co-star. Will you and Tom be the ones to break the curse?’’

‘’Maybe.’’ You laughed nervously. There was no getting away with this one. ‘’We didn’t mean to fall in love — it just happened —, but when you find love, you take it. You grab it with both hands and you do everything in your power not to let it go.’’ Your eyes searched for Tom, a smile curling on your lips when you saw him talking and laughing with an interviewer.

*

After the premiere, you and Tom went to your apartment, exhausted from the premiere…and a little bit tipsy from the drinks. You got unready, removing all traces to today’s red carpet glam, and slid into bed. While waiting for Tom to join you, you scrolled on your phone, looking at some pictures you took at the premiere and stopped at the one where you and Tom were getting ready in a hotel room. You had rollers in your hair and half of your makeup on, but your lips were on Tom’s cheek a golden glow was coming from the window. 

You smiled at the picture and posted it on Instagram, giving the world the first official selfie of you and Tom since you began dating, with the caption: I once believed love would be burning red, but it’s golden 💛✨

—

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