#but i didn't know the game would Encourage it. [rubbing my hands together]

[merlinmerlot]

wasn't gonna draw anything until i finished the game but act 3 got me feeling so stressed n overwhelmed oh my god

anyways current tav state of mind. deeply funny to me that the most mentally stable member of the party at the start of the game is the one most currently over the brink of losing their fucking mind

[surielstea]

Beg For It

1k celebration request

Pairing: Azriel x Fem!Reader (mafia au)

Summary: Reader is ovulating, enough said.

Warnings: Smut | minors dni | p in v | no foreplay | unprotected sex | heavy breeding kink | allusion to pregnancy | petnames (baby, sweet girl, brat) | bondage (shadows) | no plot, just smut.

2.4k words

I don't know what it was exactly that was wrong with me. I wasn't normally this clingy but for some reason, all I could think about was my very dangerous, very busy husband. He was all I wanted as of late, and if I didn't constantly have my hands on him I think I would collapse.

"Baby, I have to go to work," Azriel sighs, stumbling towards the door as I latch to his waist, draping over him and making him drag me along with him.

"Don't want you to," I whine, tightening my hold.

"Love," He sighed, stopping our game of push and pull, and rather turning to face me. I look up at him with a pout to my lips and his eyes soften, his hands coming up to my jaw. "My pretty girl," He admires, his thumbs rubbing over the tops of my cheeks. "What's gotten into you, hm?" He tilts his head and I shrug mischievously, knowing damn well what was making me so needy. "Tell me," He encourages and my frown deepens.

"I'm ovulating," I grumble and he smirks.

"Oh yeah?" He says, his voice dropping and I groan, playfully hitting his chest in a futile attempt to get him to stop teasing.

"Stop, you know what that does to me," I say and he chuckles, catching my wrists to stop me from pummeling him anymore.

"My poor baby," He hums as I wrap my arms around his torso rather than punch him and stuff my face into his chest, unable to get close enough.

"Don't pity me," I huff.

"Then what is it you'd like me to do?"

"Stay," I mutter. "Please, you can spend all day filling me," I attempt to coerce but he seems unwavering.

"You're insatiable," He grumbles, his hands meeting my hips.

"It's your fault," I huff into his chest, his expensive cologne enveloping me.

"Yeah? How so baby?" He said, pulling away to look at my expression, my brows crinkled with an evident pout painting my lips.

"You know how," I cross my arms defensively.

"I don't think I do, use your voice hun," He encourages and I curse, looking at him with a defeated expression.

"You and your pretty words get me all bothered and you know it," I confess and he smirks.

"Do they?" He leaned closer and I groaned, pushing him away and stomping down the hallway.

"Whatever, just go to work already," I grumbled, crossing my arms over my chest.

"Aw, don't be like that." Arms wrap around my waist and pull me into a chest. "It's alright baby, just say you want me," He hums, kissing down my neck, making me clench my legs together.

"Az," I sigh, my hand coming to his cheek. "You have to go to work." I push him away by the face but he twists out of the position so he is in front of me once again, blocking my path towards the hallway.

"Well, I can't just leave my needy wife all alone now can I?" He tilts his head and I close my eyes, cursing him for making this all harder than it had to be.

"I'll be fine," I mutter, lifting onto my toes and pecking his cheek before fluidly moving past him. "Go." I make a gesture with my hands that waves him away as if one of the most feared men on the continent were a child in need of directions.

"Look me in the eyes and tell me you really want me to leave." Azriel's hands return to my hips before I can get too far, his grip tightening as he pulls me right back into his chest so I am flushed against him.

I grit my teeth, looking up into his hazel eyes. It was no wonder it was his job to interrogate whatever poor soul wronged the crime syndicate, it seemed as if it was impossible to lie to him when staring into those pools of hazel. Emerald and gold melded together, a rim of blue lining his pupil, and orange on the outermost edge. They were the first things I noticed about him, and they will always be my favorite physical features of his. He knew that, of course, he also knew that I was a terrible liar.

"Tell me you want me to leave," He encourages and I stifle a sigh, looking away because I unfortunately couldn't find it in myself to even attempt. I wanted him, and he seemed willing enough to give me him.

His smirk widens. "That's what I thought," He concluded in a snarky tone, but before I could manage a retort he picked me up by my hips and tossed me over his shoulder like a rag doll.

"Az! Let me go!" I pound my fists into his back but he was too busy trailing his large hand up the back of my thigh to care. "Azriel," I groan, now kicking my feet. But that didn't seem to phase him either, and he didn't put me down until we were in our bedroom and he could throw me onto the bed.

I recovered quickly, looking up at him with creased brows as I fiddled with the hem of my nightgown. "Oh don't act all shy now," He taunted. "C'mon baby, tell me what you want," He came to the edge of the bed so he was directly in front of me, his large frame looming over mine. "Or you could show me," He offers, holding out a hand and I look down at the hem of my nightgown and then back up to him. I grab his outstretched hand and push it under my dress, silently encouraging him to take it off. He seems to understand and does exactly as I wish.

The fabric falls to the floor within seconds and I fall back into the mattress, my head landing in the pillows as I watch him mount over me.

I hastily work at getting his shirt off, the silent thrashing of clothes filling the room as he kisses down my neck towards my collarbone.

"Az please," I implore, discarding his shirt down onto the floor with reckless abandon.

"What is it? Tell me what you want," He breathes into my lips. I arch up into him as the need in my chest intensifies.

"I can't wait any longer, please I need you now," I cry, my hands coming to the hem of his pants.

"Yeah? You gonna beg for it?" He incited and I whimper, attempting to press my legs together but he made the movement impossible with his hips settled between my thighs.

"Fuck, please Azriel," I fall deeper into the pillows, my need for him all-consuming as I allow myself to plead.

He leans closer as my pathetic voice fills the room, his nose running up the column of my throat before he begins placing sweet kisses down it. "More," He demands and my back arches up, my peaked breasts brushing against his chest.

"You can take me however you want, just gods, fuck me Az please," Tears fill my eyes as if I was begging for my life, yet that was what satisfied him.

"Turn around for me then, hips up alright?" He said and I nodded, quickly doing exactly as he said, my cheek going down onto one of the many pillows on our bed as I hiked up onto my knees. I can hear him sliding off his belt behind me, thrashing his pants off quickly afterward.

He hovers over me, lips pressing gentle kisses along the side of my neck in a soothing manner. I leaned into that touch, my head reclining to rest on his shoulder.

Shadows pinned me down onto the bed, dark tendrils twining around my wrists and ankles as he aligned his hips up with mine, his tip prodding teasingly at my entrance and I squirmed beneath him, writhing as I clenched around nothing, silently begging for him. "Shh, I know baby, I know it hurts," He runs a hand down my back, a soft caress to calm me. And then, he was pushing in.

"Az," I whimper as he finally sheathes himself, the wide head of his cock entering my core. I groan at the stretch, my back into his chest as he continues moving in, every inch making it harder and harder to breathe.

"So fucking, tight," He grits through his teeth, both his hands coming to my hips as he forces them back onto his cock. I screamed, clenching the sheets beneath me as he thrusts shamelessly deeper, with no caution to his movements as he picks up a steady rhythm. "This is what happens when I don't stretch you out first," He grunts. "So needy for me, impatient brat." His hands grip my hips tighter. "You gonna— gonna punish me?" I taunt, tears already forming in my eyes.

"I bet you'd like that hm? My dirty girl," He admires, pushing in all the way when I try to reply, cutting me off and replacing my words with a sudden moan, the sound ripping through me as he bottoms out inside of me.

I scream his name, the stretch so pleasurable that it brings pain. "Fuck, fuck Az I can't," I gripe, tears running down my cheeks.

"But you said you wanted this," He retorted, leaning over me so his lips were beside my ear. "You begged, remember?" He purred and a shiver ran down my spine as I flushed pink at the recent memory.

"Mhm," I nod, attempting to blink away my tears.

"Az." My back bows as he thrusts powerfully, deeper, so much deeper. Fuck, I could practically feel him in my womb. The thought alone left me clenching around him desperately, my body aching to be filled by him.

"Azriel," I moan, my tears cascading down my face like a waterfall but I didn't care anymore.

"What is it, baby?" He asked his voice half a groan.

"Breed me, please," I murmur, fully prepared to begin begging.

"Fuck," He sighed at my words, his forehead coming down to rest on my shoulder as he continues pulling out only to push back into my throbbing cunt.

"Az," I grip at the sheets, my need to release quickly turning overwhelming. "Please, I wanna have your babies," I whine and he smiles against the soft skin of my back.

"Yeah? You want me to give you more than one?" He purrs and I sigh in pleasure at the idea, sinking lower into the bed. "Mhm," I nod dumbly and within a moment his thrusts fold over in force, the strength doubling as his hips clap against the backs of my thighs.

My body screamed for release but I ignored it, I was going to draw this out as long as possible.

"Fuck, I'm gonna breed this tight cunt," He confesses and I squeeze around him at the idea, my core whirring with an uncontrollable need.

"Please," I cry, lying on the pillow pathetically as he continues stuffing himself inside of me. "Want you to come inside," I gripe, my voice fragile and raw but it only urged him to increase his speed.

"Is that right? Want me to get you pregnant? Get your belly all round with my kid?" He suggested and I quickly nodded, feeling beyond just agreement.

"Azriel," I arch deeper, my chest nearly flat against the mattress as I kept my ass up, making him feel all the more deeper inside of me.

I squeezed tighter around him and he twitched at the sensation. I smiled, prideful that he was close already. "Don't pull out," I whisper, reaching back and placing my hand on his cheek. "Want you to fill me," I throw my head back onto his shoulder while his thrusts continue, rocking the bed back and forth with the creaking of the headboard slamming against the wall. "You close?" He pants out and I nod frantically, unable to get the words out despite how badly I wanted to reach my climax.

"I can't," I manage but it was barely audible. "M'gonna—" I can't even finish my sentence before my orgasm takes me full throttle and I'm finding release on his heavy length.

The moan that rips through me is monumental, and the feeling of the moment, gods it was indescribable. A tidal wave of pure ecstasy swept me off my feet, and now I was drowning in the pleasure.

It took me a long moment to come down from that nearly celestial high, but once I did I realized I was clamped down around Azriel's cock so tightly that it was hard for him to move in and out of me any longer.

I knew he was close, the vein throbbing on the underside of his cock was proof of that.

"Fuck," He grunted lowly into the shell of my ear, my sensitive cunt twitching around his width at the sultry sound.

"C'mon Az, fill me," I whine and he nods, his forehead coming down onto my shoulder.

After one last stroke of his cock along my walls, his release finally spurted out into a direct line straight toward my womb. He groans at the feeling of his seed nestling deep inside my cunt, his small whimpers not going past my notice as he catches his breath and comes down from his high.

After a moment, ever so slowly, he unsheathes himself and allows me to fall down onto the welcoming bed.

"You did so well for me baby," He whispered, leaning down and placing pecks along the top of my spine. "My sweet girl," He hums and I mumble something incoherent about sleeping back.

"Not yet baby, I gotta clean you up," He soothes, scooping me into his arms and I whine clenching my legs together, not wanting any of his warm releases to escape me.

"M'tired," I groan but he ignores my protests and takes me into the bathroom anyway.

"Oh my poor girl," He hummed. "What am I going to do with you?" He tilts his head and I wiggle my brows suggestively.

"You could make me a mom," I suggest and he smiles, shaking his head.

"I'm already doing that, genius," He deadpans and the sudden realization overwhelms me. I wasn't pregnant yet, but that decision of being ready was enough to spur me into joy. I throw my arms around Azriel's neck and hug him tight to my bare chest.

"I love you too," He rubs my back, recognizing my silent form of affection. I nuzzle my face into his neck deeper. "My sweet girl," He sighs, his chin coming down onto mine. If everything goes well, we're soon to be parents. The idea alone at the moment was entirely perfection.

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[judeloverr]

hiiii, could you do something with jude bellingham where they are at a dortmund game and he is injured and they are sat together and all cuddled up together and it’s really cold, just a lot of fluff. thankyouuuu x

the game- jude bellingham

pairings: jude bellingham x reader

warnings: fluff, like on swear word word count: 1.1k

authors note: thankyou for this request, i enjoyed writing this- hope you enjoy. i have requests coming soon aswell, just trying to get through them all.

“i’m fucking freezing” jude grumbled lowly under his breath as he fixed the beanie on his head and zipped up his coat to the top. you watched your boyfriend move around in his seat like a child and rub his hands together to gain some warmth. “babe how aren’t you cold” your boyfriend asked and gave you a puzzled look.

“i am, i just don’t fidget so much as you” you replied and focused back onto the game. you were wrapped up like jude, hat, gloves, scarf and double socks on your feet and many layers. you wonder how the players aren’t cold running around in only a shirt and shorts.

“i don’t like th- what fucking pass is that oh my days” jude suddenly shouted and stood up from his seat, making you jump, while being his hands out in front of him while pointing towards the pitch where the players of dortmund were playing against another team. jude was injured and he dragged you along to watch it with him, he said he would be lonely.

“jude” you exclaimed, looking down below you you saw fans looking behind them and staring at your boyfriend, you also saw quite a few kids and you knew that the parents weren’t encouraging the foul language your boyfriend was currently using. “stop swearing there are kids right below us”

jude looked down at you then the kids while standing us and shyly sitting in his seat. “i’ll give them a wave later and they will be fine” jude sat down awkwardly and huffed under his because another player did a bad pass into the box. “babe if i was down there i-“

you cut his rambling off and turned to him “ what jude you would’ve scored a goal by now” you teased.

“yeah probably” he stated with confidence and shrugged his shoulder. “my injury isn’t that bad ,i just landed on my foot weirdly, could be playing down there right now”

“yeah i’m sure they wanted you to play jude but they don’t want to injure their ‘star’ player even more” you teased and placed your elbow on the armrest, put your chin in the palm of your hand and leaned closer to jude.

“star player huh?” he grinned cheekily and eyed you suspiciously due to your movement to be closer to him. you didn't want him to know but you were cold and wanted him to be closer to you to warm you up because you knew he was a literal warming object for you.

“yes, star player” you replied and smiled cheekily at him. dragging out your voice on the word star. he never understood how proud you were of him when he played, but you are kind of glad he isn’t right now becuase lately you guys haven’t been spending that much time together due to his matches and his travelling.

the half time whistle brought your conversation to a halt. dortmund was loosing 1 nil and jude was not happy about it. you looked to jude to see him in the same position as you, very close that you could see very little details of his smooth skin and dark brown eyes.

jude’s eyes gravitated down towards your lips and subtle smirk rose from his. you tilted your head to the side with confusion, not understanding what he was implying.

“I want to kiss you” jude asked abruptly while his eyes were still focused on your lips you could feel the heat rise on your cheeks, as you got all flustered, by little statement that your boyfriend stated.

“you can’t kiss me here, someone is ought to video and post it, and you will have some very angry fangirls online” you rolled your eyes and looked into his. he drummed his fingers on his upper lips and shrugged.

“who cares? I’ll kiss you when I want and where I want”

“and there’s cameras”

“so?”

“sooo my point is, i’m not kissing you here, when we are home i’ll give you as many as you want” you explained and watched your boyfriend move away from you and lean back in his seat.

“fine, i’m thirsty do you want a drink” he asked while standing up and reaching for his phone in his pocket. you glanced down his body, dressed in black baggy jeans, hoodie and a big coat. you bit the inside of your cheek because you still didn’t understand how this guy was your man.

you look at jude’s face, a light smirk appeared realising what you were doing.

“hot chocolate please” you tell him and watch him walk away.

5 mins later you see jude walking back to you with 2 mugs of steaming hot chocolate filled to the top with cream and marshmellows.

“here you go ma lady” he says and hands you a your hot chocolate. you take it from his hands and they instantly warm up.

“thankyou” you tell him sincerely.

you sit in comfortable silence, while you look around the stadium to pass time and wait for the second half to begin. once you finish your hot chocolate you place it on the ground and out of the way so you won’t kick it by accident. you slowly move over to your boyfriend and shuffle closer to his side and grab his arm. jude’s attention is focused on you as he watches you lean you head against his shoulder for warmth. in response he leans his head on top of yours and you remain in that comfortable silence.

your attention is then taken when you both look at the big screen and see to the two of you leaning against each other. you smile shyly and hide your face in his neck to get away from the cameras.

“camera is gone now, you can stop hiding” jude teased and his body shook with laughter.

“shut up i hate when they do that” you admit and press and gentle kiss on the base of his neck. you feel jude’s breath sharpen by the little action knowing what kinds of affect you have on your boyfriend.

“i know so do i” he replies, he turns to you a little so he can place his hand on your thigh, he squeezes softly and rubs the covered skin with the pad of his thumb. he knows how you get when the camera videos the two of you you get all shy and embarrassed knowing the whole world can see your relationship.

you lift your head from his shoulder to be faced with him, noses touching. you moved forward and placed a delicate kiss on his cheek and then the corner of his mouth. hoping know one saw you do that.

“what happened to the no kissing” he said and did a heartwarming smile to you, still very close to you.

“that was a kiss on the cheek” you told him.

“still a kiss though”

“whatever”

[wileys-russo]

Leah blurb of rehab for her injury and just being so proud of her

step by step II l.williamson

you were the first one to your feet when your girlfriend went down on the pitch against manchester united, knowing her like the back of your hand you immediately knew she wasn't alright the minute her body hit the grass and she didn't get back up.

"they need to get her off." you muttered to lotte beside you, the two of you hovering by the side lines as play was paused and the arsenal medics ran on to assess leah. "hey she's in good hands, you don't want a yellow do you?" lotte grabbed at the back of your substitute bib and tugged you back to her side as you attempted to sprint on after them, raising an eyebrow when you didn't reply.

"no." you sighed quietly, crossing your arms over your chest and leaning your head on her shoulder as the defender soothingly rubbed your back, the two of you the same age you'd been close for years, having played for the young lionesses together in your youth.

but your body tensed right back into action as the medics helped leah to her feet, watching on as your girlfriend slung her arms over their shoulders and hobbled off with a grimace of pain, your heart aching for her knowing how much she'd already struggled physically and mentally these last few months.

"she didn't need a stretcher, that's a good sign yeah?" lotte murmured as you nodded, quick to leave the girl behind and rush over to your girlfriend once she was off the pitch. "i'm fine." leah saw you fly over before you'd even arrived, holding up a hand to silence your questions with another grimace she paused, arms still slung over the medics either side of her.

"let me get my stuff i'll-" you started, reaching out for her but the older blonde shook her head. "no you won't, you'll stay here." your girlfriend ordered firmly, watching as your face fell but her attention was too centered around the burning pain in her knee to console you.

"stay, the team needs you more than i will." leah tried to reword her statement though somehow it just came off more blunt but you nodded regardless, taking a step back and allowing her to continue past you and into the tunnel, medics chatting to her quietly about the next steps of her assessment.

it turned out your team did not need you, losing 1-0 without either you or lotte playing a single minute on the pitch. barely listening to jonas as he gave the post match speech you exchanged quick words of encouragement with your team mates, passing around hugs and pats on the back at their performance.

gathering your things together on the sub bench a hand came to rest on your shoulder making you jump a little. "hey, you alright?" alessia asked softly, stood before you as you nodded, tucking your water bottle under your arm. "you played fantastically, even if it meant we lost." you straightened up and sent the girl a small smile.

"not the game, with leah going down." alessia explained pulling you into a hug as you exhaled into her shoulder, also having grown up playing alongside her as club rivals or national team mates you would always be close friends first and foremost.

"i'm trying to hope for the best and prepare for the worst." you admitted honestly, sending ella a small wave who stood off to the side contemplating if she should come over or not. "well keep us updated yeah?" alessia rubbed your back and kissed your cheek as she pulled away, ella appearing quickly by her side.

"and give her our love." the shorter of the two was next to tug you into a tight hug, the three of you exchanging a few more words before parting ways. you immediately made your way toward the medic room where unfortunately you were informed leah had been taken to hospital for further scans.

but no matter who or what you asked, no one could or would give you any further information of your girlfriends condition. kim pulled you off to the side seeing your frustrations growing, murmuring which hospital they'd taken to quietly in your ear having been kept in the loop as captain and gently shoving you out the door.

~

"leah, time to wake up baby." you whispered, pressing a kiss to the back of the blondes neck, her body tucked into yours as she stirred. "admissions at ten and i made breakfast." you continued quietly, smiling as the older girl stretched with a tired grunt, rolling over to bury her face in your neck as her arms wound tightly around your waist.

"how are you feeling?" you asked carefully, nails scratching at her scalp as her lips peppered gentle kisses to the column of your throat. "like i'm ready to not be asked that anymore." leah answered honestly, mumbling into your skin as you nodded in understanding.

the two of you had been sleeping in the guest room since your shared bedroom was upstairs, leah unable to make the trips up and down with her knee. the days since she had gone down had been tense to say the least, you felt most of the time as if you were walking on egg shells with whatever you said, always worried it would be the wrong thing and she would snap.

today had been inevitable. it was the day leah would go into surgery for her acl and you had been trying to gently remind that this was the first step forwards. but there was only so much positive talk the english captain could take before she would snap, and you had to just continually remind yourself it wasn't her talking it was the injury, and what it meant for her career.

the women's world cup, four words that had been silently banned within the walls of your shared north london home, both of you well aware without needing verbal confirmation that leah would now be out of the running for selection, only a few months into her recovery and rehab by the time it would be happening.

you knew within yourself that the chances of you being picked were also slim, due to a stubborn and reoccurring shoulder injury this season you'd hardly had any minutes on the pitch the last two months, you'd been called up for the pre tournament camp but you were struggling not to feel guilt at this when thinking of your girlfriends situation.

but today, your focus was entirely on leah.

~

"welcome back blondie." you smiled softly as the girl beside you slowly awoke, running a hand fondly through her hair and moving a few loose strands that clung to her sweaty forehead. "how'd it go?" leah slurred slightly, the anesthetic still wearing off as she blinked repeatedly trying to focus in on her surroundings.

"terribly, they had to amputate." you answered seriously, leah rolling her eyes and wincing a little as she moved the wrong way. "you can press this one for morphine and this one for a nurse." you immediately snapped back into carer mode and explained the remote by her bedside softly as leah nodded.

"your mums just getting some food and then she'll be in, alex had to go for a bit but she said she'll be pop by tonight to see you while i'm at training." the words left your mouth before you even registered them, wincing slightly once they'd passed your lips. "don't apologise, please. it's fine." leah slowly grabbed your hand, bringing it up to her own lips and pressing a gentle kiss to your knuckles.

"i know i've been a nightmare to deal with lately but i don't want you to stop focus on your own football just to make me feel better, what's happened is out of my control but your performance is still within yours. promise me you'll go to camp and give it your all?" leah asked, gazing up at you as you hesitated, the firm look in her eyes breaking you down without any further words needed.

"i promise." you nodded, dipping your head to press your lips sweetly to hers, pulling away as her mum hurried back into the room, the blonde sending you a cheeky wink and a smile as you did.

~

you kept to your promise and it earnt you a spot on the world cup team, you started in the quarter finals and as hard as it was for leah to watch, her heart swelled with love and pride, sharing in your happiness and success.

her mum and brother had flown over with your parents to support you, you sternly telling your girlfriend as much as you'd have loved to see her in australia her recovery and rehab was more important and she'd begrudgingly agreed. though looking back now at how hard it had been to even watch the games from afar, she was grateful at the decision made.

she'd been nothing but supportive when her girls were regretfully knocked out at the semi finals by the reigning US champs, consoling you over 2am facetimes with nothing but sweet words and affirmations of how much she treasured and adored you.

most of the team deciding to stay in australia for their remaining two weeks you were on the first flight back, bidding them a fond farewell but itching to be back by your lovers side. you knew now why they said what they did, distance does make the heart grow fonder.

exhausted, sleep deprived and looking an absolute state you staggered off the plane feeling half dead as you tugged your hood over your head and made a beeline for luggage collection, breathing in leahs fast fading scent on the cosy material wrapped around you, making a mental note to swap the hoodie out for a new one of hers once you returned home.

but all of your exhaustion melted away as you stepped into the arrivals lounge and saw her.

not caring if anyone was watching on you tightened your hold on your luggage and sprinted toward your girlfriend, the defenders mouth curling into a grin as she braced herself, engulfing you in a hug as you reached her.

"babe no your knee!" you gasped as her arms hooked around you and lifted your shorter form into the air. "nah its a super knee my girl, see!" leah placed you back on the ground and kicked her leg out a few times with a cheeky smile. "i hate this stupid hat." you teased at the grey baggy green which sat atop her mop of blonde hair which was tied back into a loose bun.

"but you love me in it." the older girls eyes darted around to make sure there weren't any cameras around before she tugged you into a searing kiss, your relationship was hardly a secret but it was kept as private as the two of you could manage, anything released about the two of you was ideally from your own social media accounts.

but none of it mattered, you were here with leah again, you were home.

~

"two!" you ordered, flicking the ball back toward leah who juggled it twice and flicked it onto beth, calling out three as the other blonde juggled and flicked it over to you calling out seven with a wide grin.

"oh god okay!" you laughed, doing your best but messing up on your fifth touch, the ball sent tumbling away to the other side of the gym. "that was evil beffy." you shoved at the older girl who ruffled your hair and jogged off as a staff member called for her attention.

"look at you go superstar." you shook your head with a proud smile as leah pulled you into a hug, burying your face in her neck as she sighed softly kissing your forehead. "one step forward every day right?" leah breathed out, echoing the words you'd been drilling into her head for the last few months, by her side every step of the way as promised.

"tomorrows the major test." leah fiddled nervously with her hands as she looked away, eyes staring everywhere but at you as your face softened at the crack in her normally razor sharp defense. "hey look at me." your hands cupped her face, gently moving her to look at you.

"i have never been prouder of you leah. you are the strongest woman i know and the most admirable role model for everyone team mate or friend or footballer alike, this was a true test and i know its not been easy but you put your head down and you did the work. we're through the worst of it now and i know you'll be back out there soon, yelling and bossing everyone around again." you finished with a teasing smile, your girlfriend playfully shoving your head at your words before tugging you into a kiss, murmuring a gentle thank you against your lips.

~

"go on leah!" beth cheered loudly, your team mates all joining in as the blonde grinned, steadying herself in her starting position. "you've got this baby!" you shouted, ignoring the teasings from your friends which followed, shoving them away with a roll of your eyes.

"pretend katie is chasing you!" viv yelled out with a sly smile, the irish woman scoffing and trying to pull her into a headlock as the training staff shushed you all, warning if you couldn't behave you would all be sent back inside, firmly reminding leah needed to focus in order to be cleared to progress to the final stage of her rehab.

"go!" the whistle sounded and with a flash of red from the arsenal training top she was off, sprinting between cones and dipping and dodging between flags as you anxiously bounced your knee up and down, lottes hand coming to rest on it with a reassuring squeeze as you let out a sigh, resting your head on your chin.

the large group which had huddled to watch leahs assessment slowly broke away, called off to other commitments or their own pre season tests until there were only about five of you remaining as the girls assessment neared an end.

"she looked good." you whispered under your breath as lotte hummed in agreement from beside you and the whistle sounded again. leah bent down with hands on her knees, catching her breath as the staff patted her on the back and huddled in to compare their findings. 

"yeah but you always say she looks good." katie teased flicking at your ear where she stood behind you as you turned and pinched at her leg before your focus shifted back to leah, who now stood chatting with the medics and rehab staff, face bare of any emotion, the girl always having had a killer poker face.

your heart was in your throat as it seemed the conversation wrapped up, nothing given away in facial expressions or body language as the staff dispersed and leah wandered back over. wiping the sweat off her face with a towel which she threw at katie, the irish woman swearing at her to watch it in warning but only playfully.

"so?" you asked right to your feet bouncing eagerly on your toes as leah shook her head, looking down to the ground as your body deflated, stepping forward to console her. "i'll be back by game two hopefully!" the defender suddenly grinned, hooking her hands under your thighs and lifting you into the air with a twirl.

your small group erupted into a cheer, squashing the two of you into a collective group hug. you smile stretched so wide your face began to ache, leah putting you back on the ground as she chatted happily with the rest of your friends before they all said their goodbyes all having other commitments.

"c'mere you." leah grinned once the two of you were alone, balling your top in her fists and smashing her lips to yours, your tongues roaming one anothers mouth before you pulled away, chest heaving and trying to refill your lungs with air from the breathless kiss.

"step by step my girl." leah exhaled, her forehead pressed to yours as you nodded, eyes shone with pride as you stared at her in adoration. "step by step baby."

[makeitmingi]

The Cat and Dog Game [Chapter 17]

Genre: Romance, Fluff, Comedy

Pairing: Yunho x Reader (y/n)

Characters: Chef!Reader, RestaurantOwner!Yunho, MaitreD!Hongjoong, Waiter!Yeosang, Waiter!San, Waiter!Mingi, SousChef!Seonghwa, SousChef!Wooyoung, PrepChef!Jongho

Summary: Yunho's dream was to open and run his own restaurant. But he doesn't know anything when it comes to cooking. Until you came along and accepted the job, bringing with you a small crew. How will the black cat tame the energetic golden retriever?

Word count: 3.1K

The kitchen crew left a little later than usual, having to prepare for a little more extravagant dinner last minute. Yunho knew that he would have to properly thank them for what they did. Hongjoong, Yeosang, Mingi and San stayed a little later than normal too, to help clean up the place just a tad more.

"Why am I nervous?" Yunho asked himself. He couldn't seem to calm his anxious heart down so he drove back to the restaurant, hoping to distract himself with a task there.

What he didn't expect was to see the kitchen lights on and hear someone bustling around.

"(Y/n)?" Yunho blinked in surprise, pausing at the doorway. You were in your own world again, music blasting in your ears as you worked on your dish in front of you with a focussed frown on your face.

"(Y/n)." He called out a little louder this time, not wanting to surprise you like last time.

"(Y/n)." He repeated, randomly sliding a spoon your way. You looked up as the spoon came into your view.

"Oh, Yunho. What are you doing here?" You straightened up, removing one AirPod, just as confused about his presence as he was with yours. He offered a small smile in reply and a tiny wave.

"Couldn't seem to sit still. What about you? Shouldn't you be resting before dinner service?" Yunho asked. You merely shrugged in reply, returning back to what you were doing. Yunho watched on curiously, seeing you marinate meat.

"Grab a stool and sit. Unless you're planning to stand the entire way?" You spoke. Yunho went out to grab a spare foldable chair, making sure he wasn't in your way.

"Are you nervous?" Yunho suddenly asked. He watched your hands pause for a split second before continuing.

"No. Are you?" You questioned back.

"I think so." He replied honestly, letting out a small sigh. Silence hung in the air of the kitchen for a while, only the sound of you massaging the marinade into the meat was heard.

"Why?" You continued the conversation, removing your gloves and round the counter to grab the pressure cooker.

"I don't know... I... I encouraged my parents to come. They've been nothing but supportive in regard to this... But..." Yunho trailed off.

"You still haven't felt like you've succeeded and made them proud? Despite them telling you otherwise. Especially since you opened this with your late grandmother's money?" You finished. Yunho's eyes widened slightly, you were spot on. That was exactly how he felt without being able to word it.

"That's right..." He rubbed the back of his head. You had now moved to the stove, closing the pressure cooker lid and turning on the flame, setting the right pressure for the meat.

"I know it's dumb."

"No, it's not. It's completely normal to feel that way." You said, coming back to where he was.

Casting a glance over at Yunho and seeing his sad face tugged at your heart a little. You put your knife down on the board.

"Yunho, let me be real with you. At that point, you're the only one that can change the way you feel. No amount of comforting or assurance will remove that nervousness." You told him.

"Do you think you've done anything worthy of shame in opening this restaurant?" You asked.

"No, I don't. I feel like I've poured my heart and soul into opening this place into the dream that I had with my grandmother." Yunho said. All the effort from himself and his friends to put this place together, there wasn't an ounce of regret in it.

"Then? Do you feel like you've wasted your grandmother's money in this?" Yunho shook his head. If anything, he wished his grandmother could see what he's done with the place.

"But there's still things I could have done better. If only I had known from the start..." He sighed.

"Of course. There are always things to improve on. But you're learning, this is a learning process. I told you that when you opened."

Yunho remembers fondly, you helping him when he hid in the walk in, nervous and worried of what could go wrong on opening day. You gave him courage.

"There's still a lot of things you will learn and improve on in the future. It won't always be smooth sailing." You said.

"But you just have to keep going and take them head on. That's what you're good at, right?" You let out a small chuckle. Yunho's head shot up as a grin formed on his face. You were right, once again, he had to keep going. He couldn't let the negative thoughts cloud his head and affect his performance.

"Did someone tell you that? To keep going." Yunho asked curiously.

"My mother. She used to tell me that while we worked in the kitchen. Every cut, burn, fail, she told me to just keep going." You replied, picking up your knife.

"She sounds like an amazing person." Yunho said kindly. You didn't reply to that, merely letting out a hum.

"I guess I'm also nervous with the other parents coming too, I feel responsible for the 'careers' of their sons. They could be doing other things out there but they may feel 'stuck' here with me."

"I know how you feel." You said.

"You do?"

"Every kitchen I've been in, I've had Seonghwa, Wooyoung and Jongho with me. You've seen how talented they are. They could easily have secured a position at top restaurants. And yet, they give up so many offers to be with me." You explained.

"Because you're a good leader, (y/n). In many ways, you've given them so many opportunities I'm sure are not present in those professional kitchens out there." Yunho said.

"That may be true. But they could be earning more, have a stable job position, gain accolades." You shrugged.

"How do you overcome that feeling?"

"You don't... Until today, I always tell them that they can leave if they want to, I won't be mad. But they're stubborn, they always call me ridiculous." You had a soft smile on your face as you spoke.

"However, because of that, I know I can count on them and rely on them. I couldn't ask for a better team." You said.

"I feel the same about my friends. I'm so glad I have them with me, doing this with me."

"Then take each moment you have with them. Focus on what you have now, the confidence and faith you have in them. There'll always be 'what if's and doubts. It's a part of life. Every day, I ask Seonghwa why he's still with me. And after so many years, he still hits me on the back of my head for asking." You chuckled.

"I'm sure you're the same with Mingi." You said. Yunho nodded.

"He's been with me all the way, through everything that's happened in my life. The good and the bad." Yunho reminisced the memories of him and Mingi in middle school.

"So what are you making? I saw the list with everyone else's names on their dish." Yunho asked.

"Galbi tortelloni in seolleongtang broth with egg garnish and flavoured oils." You replied, walking into the pantry.

"Wow." Was all Yunho could say in reply. You hummed, cutting open the bag of gochugaru and pouring out what you needed onto the weighing scale.

"What's all that gochugaru for?"

"One of the oils is Korean chili oil. Take gochugaru, fry it in beef tallow then drain it." You said, going to the stove.

"Bring that over, please?" You requested. Yunho jumped to his feet immediately, bringing over the metal bowl with the gochugaru inside. You added some minced ginger into the mix and heated up the beef tallow, letting it melt and get hot.

"What other kind of flavoured oil are you making?" Yunho asked as you stirred the gochugaru in the melted beef fat to heat up.

"Spring onion oil. Just makes it fancy instead of sprinkling spring onions on top to garnish." You shrugged. Yunho nodded, watching you with interest.

"Now we turn off the heat and let that steep for 15 minutes then we drain it." You said.

"What are you going to work on now?" Yunho trailed behind you, following you back to the bench.

"We're going to make pasta." You retrieved a large metal bowl to hold all the ingredients that you were going to procure. It warmed Yunho's heart at how you naturally just said 'we' instead of 'me' or 'I'.

It seems like you didn't even notice it, just including him in without him having to offer his help as if it was second nature. He would never want to point it out and make you feel self conscious. And risk you stopping that habit, he liked that it was a sign you trusted him enough to rely on him comfortably.

"Eggs, oil, salt, tipo 00 flour." You placed the bowl of ingredients down on the bench.

"What po?" He tilted his head.

"Tipo 00 flour. It means that it is milled a lot finer than regular flour. It's made from softer types of wheat, giving it more protein and less gluten." You explained.

"Cool." He watched you accurately measure out the ingredients so the proportions will be right.

"Learning for to make fresh pasta or noodles in general has been one of the biggest game changers for me in culinary." You told him.

"Is all pasta made like this?" Yunho bent down next to you.

"Not really. Some use semolina or semola flour, which is hard durum wheat. It gives a tough texture, I use it if I want the pasta to keep it's shape like macaroni. But since I want to shape this pasta, I do it this way to get a softer dough that easier to work with."

"Wait, you're going to put galbi in the pasta?" Yunho's eyes widened. You nodded your head.

"That's why I have galbi jjim cooking in the pressure cooker. I'm going put chunks of meat inside. I also have seolleongtang cooking for as long as I have to make a rich broth." You pointed.

"Does cooking it in the pressure cooker make it taste better?" He knew his mother and grandmother used to use one too.

"Not exactly. I just don't have time to let it slow cook to soften. So using a pressure cooker speeds it up."

"I can't wait to taste the dish, (y/n)." Yunho grinned excitedly. You couldn't help but throw your head back in laughter. He was acting like the customer, not the owner.

"This is for the diners tonight." You shook your head.

"Well, I've got to eat too. Plus, you can't cook galbi jjim and not let me have some when you know it is my favourite. That's just being cruel." He pouted. Once again, you didn't know what came over you as you reached out to pat Yunho's head. It didn't help that his seated position made his height more reachable.

"I'm sorry! That really just keeps happening." You retracted your hand as realisation hit you. Yunho smiled softly, boldly reaching out to grab your wrist. He placed it on top of his head.

"I told you before. Don't apologise. I'm fine with it." He laughed. Yunho felt your hand just sit there for a bit.

But then, you moved. Your fingers gently carded through his hair as you stroked his head.

"Luckily I haven't started touching the flour yet." You commented.

"I'll be fine with that too." He said kindly. It was weird to describe, you've never really initiated physical contact with those outside your circle. But feeling Yunho lean into your touch made you soften.

"You're too kind, Yunho." You chuckled, pulling away and going to wash your hands so you could handle food again.

"I liked it so it wasn't me sacrificing anything." Yunho confessed shyly, his ears red.

You went back to work with Yunho accompanying you. You filtered out the chili oil and made the pasta dough, setting it aside to rest. Yunho had helped you with the hand kneading of the dough, even if it did take him a while to get the technique right.

"Here, try it. It's not done but we're getting there." You handed him a small bowl of the seolleongtang after having skimmed the impurities away from the top.

"Smells good." He leaned in to take a whiff. Yunho brought the bowl to his lips and took a sip.

"It's amazing. It's so good." He said, tasting the rich broth on his tongue. Yet, it wasn't too heavy or greasy.

"Hang on, taste it like this." You drizzled some chili oil and the green onion oil over the top. You looked at Yunho expectantly as he took another sip of the broth, now with the add ons.

"Now, tell me what you taste." You encouraged.

"The chili oil coats your tongue first, adding heat to cut the richness of the broth. Then you taste the green onion oil, it gives a fresh after taste."

"That's the intention." You smiled, happy with his answer. Yunho slowly drank the rest of the broth, wanting to savour the taste. His eyes still followed you as you moved around the kitchen to prepare. You made the egg garnish that will go on top of the dish, setting it aside for later.

"Take a break, (y/n). You've been on your feet for so long, take a seat." Yunho said, bringing his now empty bowl to sink to wash.

"Once I'm done with this." You replied. You rolled up the sheets of egg yolk and sliced it with your knife, doing the same with the sheets of egg white, to form noodle like strands.

"Yunho?" You turned around and saw that he wasn't there anymore. Leaving the kitchen, you found him outside.

"I made you a hot chocolate." Yunho blinked with the cup in his hand, about to bring it in to you.

"Not coffee?" You raised an eyebrow.

"Seonghwa hyung told us not to feed you too much caffeine..." He revealed with a wince. You rolled your eyes, mentally cursing Seonghwa for coming between you and your coffee.

"Thanks." You mumbled to show your unhappiness but gratefulness nonetheless. Yunho laughed at how grumpy you were when he told you what Seonghwa did. It was like you were trying not to throw a tantrum in front of him.

You sat at one of the side tables together, enjoying a short break and your drinks. Yunho sat opposite you, drinking his iced chocolate in solidarity with you.

"You can have coffee, you know?" You raised an eyebrow.

"It's okay. I don't mind this and I wouldn't want to tempt you to drink coffee." Yunho smiled. Gosh, he was too nice for his own good.

Your phone rang and you held the device, seeing Wooyoung calling you. Looking up at Yunho, he blinked back in confusion. You answered the call, sliding the phone to him.

"Yah! Where are you?!"

"Umm... Hi, Wooyoung." Yunho replied hesitantly while you looked out the window innocently, not wanting to be a part of this.

"... Yunho? Is that you? Why are you answering (y/n)'s phone? Where is she?"

"Hi. Yes, it is me. (y/n) handed the phone to me after answering so I'm not sure what I'm supposed to say... We're both currently at the restaurant actually." Yunho spoke, a little worried with how Wooyoung was yelling but you seemed unaffected by it. Almost like you were used to this.

"Wait, wait. You're both at the restaurant? Did you even leave at all? I know (y/n) did because we dropped her home."

"Oh, I did. Don't worry. I just came in early and bumped into (y/n), who was already here. Do you... want to talk to her?" Yunho asked. You shook your head, mouthing 'no'.

"It's fine, she's probably hiding so she doesn't get in trouble. We're here to pick her up but I came upstairs to find her apartment empty."

"I see." Yunho looked at you with wide eyes and panic. You were stifling your laugh with your fist.

"Yah, (y/l/n) (y/n), I know you're listening now. Don't think you can use Yunho as a shield. You're gonna get it from us, especially Seonghwa hyung. Thanks, Yunho. We'll be there in a bit."

"Alright. See you." Yunho said and Wooyoung hung up. You let out a sigh. The boys wouldn't have let you come in early to prepare if they knew, worrying about you and wanting you to get enough rest. So you snuck here.

"Okay, Yunho. So you gotta protect me when the 3 come in here." You put your hands together.

"I'm sorry, (y/n). But all 3 of them scare me in some way." Yunho said.

"That's betrayal right there. Aren't golden retrievers supposed to be loyal and protective?" You asked jokingly, making Yunho shoot you a flat look.

"Why didn't you tell them you were coming here early to prep? They must have been worried." Yunho asked.

"Well, if I told them, they wouldn't let me come. Some times, I just want to cook. It's my own form of relaxation and doing it alone grounds me, brings me peace." You said.

"But they see it as me overworking." You scoffed. Any distraction away from your parents would suffice for you.

"They're just being good friends that are concerned about you." Yunho said. He knew how they felt because he would be concerned about you too. His words reminded you of Seonghwa's words this morning, him telling you how genuinely worried Yunho was about you when you called in 'sick'.

"Thank you for being a good friend and worrying about me, Yunho. But I'm okay, don't worry." You smiled softly, grateful that he openly cared for you even if you were new friends.

"I'm glad to hear that." He returned the affectionate smile. You looked out the window, leaning on your hand.

"If I had known you wanted to cook alone to get some peace, I would have come outside a lot earlier. I hope I didn't bother you." He said.

"You know what, I did get peace. I think I liked having you there with me in the kitchen." You confessed. If Yunho was shocked by your words, he didn't show it.

"Really? I wasn't too distracting?"

"Not at all. I thought I wanted to be alone. But you being there made me realise how much I didn't want to be alone. And when you left the kitchen first, I just hated the idea of being left on my own."

~

Series masterlist

[buckets-and-trees]

Test Play

Title: Test Play Fandom: MCU Characters/Pairings: Game Designer!Bucky x Female!Reader Word Count: 1.8k

Summary: Sequel to Perfectionists. All hands on deck around the clock as SHIELD has to put in some extra work in order to get things ready for game approval before the beta test can be launched soon at PAX East, especially if they want to beat out HYDRA's new pending release. What will that mean for the new development between Bucky and SHIELD's top tier tester when there doesn't seem to be time for sleep, let alone... whatever this is?

Content/Concept Warnings: gamer AU; strong language; SMUT: vaginal fingering, cock warming; beefy Bucky who is soft but a menace

Notes: THE FIRST OF MY PROMISED ANNIVERSARY SLEEPOVER FICS! Also crossing off:

Catching up on @buckybarnesevents WEEK FOUR of Hot Bucky Summer: Free Week: suggested cock warming

Seventh square of @buckybarnesbingo C3: FREE SPACE - seemed fitting to couple it with HBS Free Week

When I wrote Perfectionists, I really didn't think I had more story to tell or that these two would get as much love as they did...so this is something I'm very excited to share for part of my Anniversary Sleepover event!

A/N: AND THANKS to @rookthorne who helped me with a bit of gamer lingo and encouraging these two and literally @vonalyn’s expertise in knowledge of the gaming industry! Chi especially not only steered me in the right direction, but you were so generous and indulgent of my inquiries!

story divider by @sgt-seabass, reblog graphic by @vase-of-lilies

Masterlist | Aspen's Ask Box | Field Guide to the Forest

Steve looked over from his desk to see Bucky’s fingers tapping anxiously across the way on the corner of his desk, chin propped on his other hand, staring – glaring, really – at the clock on the wall. As the leads on the new Avengers story release for SHIELD, he and Bucky were on hold until the feedback from the latest round of testing hit their inboxes.

“You good?” Steve asked. None of them were great right now, but Steve felt keenly the need to make sure as captain of this crew that everyone was at least good.

The glower turned to him. “I’m fine, just… hate waiting.”

The icy blue stare didn’t faze Steve – he knew it wasn’t for him. “Maybe there are some preliminary notes we could get a jump on. Do you want me to go check on her progr–?“

“No, I’ll go,” Bucky cut him off and stood abruptly in the same second. He was out of the engineering and design lab before Steve could even respond.

Steve frowned.

Nat and Sam had gone down to consult with the marketing department, but Joaquin was still in the lab with him. “You know he hates these spots where there’s nothing to do until there’s something to do even more than you, Cap,” he quipped.

Steve sighed. “I know. But he seems even more worked up than usual, he’s never liked having to talk with the testers before now, but I guess desperate times…”

Steve went back to refreshing his inbox because there definitely were more things he needed to communicate back to the other teams, even if the other part of his work was on hold, so he missed the slight smirk on Joaquin’s face.

Bucky was on a direct path, not to be deterred by anyone if they were trying to get his attention in any way. As he came around a corner, he nearly collided with T’Challah, lead writer on the story design team.

“Barnes! My apologies!”

“Oh, no!” Bucky’s face turned a bright red. Anyone else and Bucky with his broad chest and hulking frame would’ve probably bowled them over. “That was all me.”

Though they’d worked together from time to time over the last year, Bucky still didn’t know him very well, but T’Challah was one of the few others at SHIELD Bucky enjoyed working with outside of his own team and he had a fair bit of respect from the man.

“On your way to the test room?” T’Challah guessed.

Bucky rubbed the back of his neck. “Guilty.”

T’Challah smiled. “I just came from there. From our conversation, I expect we’re closer than we hoped on getting this mode online with the rest of the release. She’s not done yet, but I think you’ll like what she has to say.”

You glanced over your shoulder when you heard someone closing the door to the test room. “I can not go any faster, I promise.”

You did a double-take and paused the game when you saw the giant gaming engineer who had ruined you a week earlier crossing the room. “Hi,” you breathed and returned the soft smile you saw on his face. You were glad it was dim in the room so he couldn’t see every detail of your expression, feeling flushed at the sight of him, and biting the slight edge of your bottom lip.

“Hi,” he returned warmly. There was a slight twinkle in his eye as his gaze swept over you. “What is this?” he gestured up and down as he planted himself down next to you, body angled to you and not the gaming screen.

You were cocooned with only hands sticking out from one blanket draped over your head and your shoulders and another wrapped around your legs. “It is Women’s Winter! I’m trying not to freeze in the extremes of corporate American summer air conditioning temperatures!”

Bucky laughed. He laughed around the team, but rarely around anyone else. And this? With you? This was still so new, but it was nice.

“Here, I’ll help warm you up.” Bucky settled in on the couch directly next to you. His hulking frame made the couch dip slightly beneath him, and that brought your cocooned self partially into his lap. He wrapped one beefy arm around your back and the other rested over your legs.

“Hi,” you said again, a whisper this time.

“Hi.” The dimness of the room did not prevent you from seeing the heat that was building in his gaze.

That look made you want to squirm in the best way – to be writhing under him. He was so big you had to tilt up your head to look into each other’s eyes, but that was no problem. It meant a natural invitation for Bucky to lean down and capture your lips in a kiss.

Which he did.

The sweet greeting of the kiss, not having seen each other for a few days, melted away quickly into more. His tongue teased at the seam of your lips, and you opened your mouth to him eagerly. It was hungry and demanding, and he pulled a moan from your throat.

And for some reason your brain switched back on, and you laughed breathlessly and pulled away.

“Buck, no.”

“Buck, yes.”  

He circled his arms around you completely now and burrowed his head into the crook of your neck, mouthing at the tender flesh there, a little nipping, kissing, and licking that had you moaning again.

The thud as the controller hit the floor reminded you again that you were supposed to be finishing the test play, not letting Bucky play with your body.

You jumped out of his arms and retrieved the controller.

“Buck, anyone could come in and see us! We’re lucky no one caught us the first time.”

The grin does not leave his devastatingly handsome face. “I specifically locked the door when I came in this time.”

You laughed but shook your head. “That was awfully presumptuous!”

His expression softened, and he reached for your hand. You let him pull you closer as he spoke. “It might have been presumptuous, but it wasn’t my only intention. I’ve been eager to see you, spend time with you. One night of fun last week and lunch the next day before the HYDRA shitstorm… that’s not all I wanted with you.”

He held your hand up and kissed your palm before pulling you even closer. You melted into him as he circled his arms around your waist, your blankets having pooled at your feet. One of your hands threaded into his hair, the other wrapped gently around his neck. He turned his head, resting his cheek against your front, and you felt and heard him take in a deep breath and then exhale slowly. You felt that energy mirror inside of you as well.

You didn’t think he had only used you for one hot night of pleasure – the hours spent wrapped up in each other on the couch after fucking, and then waking up in your own bed the next morning to a text already waiting asking if you wanted to get lunch had said a lot – but it had not been the week to jump into … whatever this was going to be. Ten days ago Barnes had only been the guy you had harbored a crush on and thought didn’t like you one bit since you had been professionally clashing for months as game engineer and game tester.

Literally while you had been at lunch, teasing him about his questionable choice of footwear, Bucky had received a flurry of Slack messages and then a call from Steve. They had intel on review notes from the beta release HYDRA had submitted to one of the first party platforms and Fury had decided to bring the Deep Shadow Conditions mode back into the release SHIELD was going to submit to the first party platforms for approval at the end of next week.

Meaning Bucky and the rest of his team had only by necessity taken any kind of breaks to sleep and refuel for the last seventy-two hours, you’d exchanged all of five texts, and had only seen him from across the main floor once in all that time.

So, this was nice.

Your Apple Watch buzzed at your wrist, and you groaned and pushed away from Bucky, hastily moving around to stand behind the couch.

“I’ve got to finish this test play!”

And you hit resume on the game, leaned forward, and planted your elbows on the back of the couch, getting back into the zone.

Bucky heaved himself over the back of the couch and closed in on you, caging you in on either side with his massive biceps, his big solid chest at your back.

“Bucky!” you tried to take a stern tone, but it was hard when you were relishing the measured weight of him against you.

“I’m not stopping you,” he murmured against the back of your neck.

“Bucky! Really!”

He shifted slightly and then you could feel the smirk of his lips on the side of your neck. He planted one hot kiss there, then said, “If you’re so damn good at what you do, keep playing.”

“Are you issuing me a challenge?”

“Just a chance to prove what a consummate professional you are.”

“Challenge accepted. You are an incorrigible menace,” you laughed.

“Actually, I’m cold.”

“You were judging me and my blankets not even five minutes ago,” you said, focused on the action on the screen.

While he remained hunched over your back, you felt him moving again, and you heard but didn’t register the sound of his belt unbuckling.

“Blankets? No,” he murmured in your ear, “I need you to warm me up.”

“Oh,” you moaned when his broad hand cupped your pussy.

“Think you can do that for me?”

He stroked firmly.

“Part of the testing is to see if we’ve got a game that captures the player’s attention, right? I’m just helping you test this aspect, see if a player can become easily distracted, lose interest – that’s the last thing we want.”

Slowly but purposefully Bucky undid your pants and you fought to keep your breathing even and your eyes open and where they were supposed to be as he pulled them down with your underwear. Then he nudged his right foot on the inside of yours to push your legs further apart while two of his fingers moved over your soft, slickening folds. Then he sunk his cock into you, and you both exhaled at the feel of him inside of you.

“How’s that?”

You let out a slight whimper.

“That good, huh? You’re never at a loss for words with that talented tongue.”

You elbowed him gently. “You really wanna play, Barnes? You tease that you just need some cock warming? You get me to break, and then you can fuck me however you like.”

“Oh, I can be patient. I’ll get you to beg for me to fuck you. We’ll see who gets desperate first.”

Masterlist | Aspen's Ask Box | Field Guide to the Forest

Link to the List of Sleepover Games

[unseededtoast]

Turtle Doves | Joel Miller

Part Two

Chapter Directory

Series Summary: In which two broken souls connect so deeply, that if one should perish, the other would surely die of a broken heart. (slow burn, timeline changes. After TLOU1, before TLOU2, assumed knowledge of infected, uses elements from both show and game)

Series Warnings: Graphic depictions of violence, death, and sexual content.

Also cross-posted on Wattpad and AO3. Link to my masterlist for everything else I’ve posted!

wc: 2.6k

My hands go to their wounds and I try to stop the bleeding. But there's too much blood, there's too much.

A tapping on my shoulder wakes me up, and I open my eyes to see Lucas' shadow standing in front of me. He's clutching his plush dinosaur close to his chest. He probably had a nightmare or something. I rub the sleep from my eyes and sit up, facing him.

"What's up tough guy?" I whisper and grab him, sitting him next to me on the bed. I turn on my bedside lamp and see that he's been crying. With careful hands, I wipe his tears and wait for him to tell me what's wrong. His bottom lip trembles and his eyebrows are drawn tightly together.

"The noises." He says through staggered breaths. He starts crying again and I bring him in close to me, hugging him tightly against my body as he cries. My fingers rake through his hair in an attempt to calm him down, and try to listen for anything out of the ordinary.

There are police sirens nearby, maybe down the street? Which is odd, seeing as how they were there when I fell asleep. A few moments later I hear helicopters overhead, sounds like there might be two or three but I can't tell for sure. An uneasy pit in my stomach surfaces, and I nudge Ryan awake. That man can sleep through anything, so it's no surprise Lucas' presence didn't disturb him.

Ryan groans and rubs his eyes, squinting them open in the soft light. He sees Lucas and I on the bed and sits up, suddenly alert.

"What's wrong?" He asks, clearing his throat. I usually never wake him up when Lucas comes to our room, unless Lucas specifically asks for his dad to put him back to bed.

"The noises." I repeat Lucas' words to Ryan, giving him a pointed stare as to tell him I am also concerned. Ryan must hear the sirens and he pushes the covers away, going over to our bedroom window to pull the curtains back so he can see outside.

"Holy shit." He sounds surprised, and I am as well. Ryan never swears in front of Lucas. Quickly, Ryan pulls the curtains back and I hug Lucas into my body, so that he can't see the silent conversation that I'm having with Ryan. A simple shared glance is enough to tell me that something is wrong. My heart drops to my stomach, but I force myself to stay composed for Lucas.

Ryan opens our closet and grabs our travel bags, unzipping them on the bed. His intense demeanor lets me know that something is seriously wrong, Ryan is always laid back and typically underreacts to situations. So if he's openly packing our bags, something is incredibly wrong. And I'm willing to bet the police sirens and helicopters have a lot to do with whatever is happening.

I grab Lucas and carry him through the house, sitting him on his bed and drying his tears once more. He sucks in sharp breaths between cries and holds his beloved plushie to his chest. I smile at him, trying to act casual and collected. I rearrange his hair and kiss his forehead,

"Do you want to see if you can go potty for me? I'll give you whatever sticker you want." I encourage him to use the bathroom before we leave, and I know he loves his reward for using the bathroom "like a big boy" he says. He nods his head and toddles off to the bathroom, giving me time to find a bag for him.

My hands shake as I open his closet and grab a duffel bag we use for his travelling needs. I set it on his bed and go through his wardrobe, picking short sleeved shirts, long sleeved shirts, long pants, short pants, pajamas, and plenty of extra socks and underwear. Luckily, his clothing is small and I can fit almost all of it in the bag. I don't know where we're going or how long we'll be gone, but I want to be sure Lucas will be taken care of. I zip the duffel bag and grab an old diaper bag out of his closet, packing some pull-ups for emergencies if we need them and make room to pack some snacks for him.

While Lucas is still in the bathroom, I make my way to the kitchen and pack his favorite puff snacks, fruit snacks, and anything else I know he likes that won't go bad in the bag. For good measure, I pack some water bottles as well. When I return to Lucas' room he's back from the bathroom and I smile, picking him back up with trembling hands.

"Good job buddy! Let's go pick out your sticker." I say with false excitement and grab the sticker book that sits atop his dresser. I flip through the pages and let him pick his favorite one and I stick it on his shirt. He smiles down at the sticker as I place him back on the ground.

I grab one of his jackets and help him put it on, and I make sure he's got a good pair of socks on his feet. Knowing he hates wearing shoes, I put his little slip-ons on, knowing that if I can help it, he'll be attached to my hip and won't have to do much, if any, walking on his own.

I toss the diaper bag on my shoulder and grab the duffel bag in one hand, and hoist up Lucas on my free side. Encumbered by the bags and my son, I meet Ryan out in the living room, who looks terrified. He rubs his hands through his hair and paces back and forth, blowing out a sharp breath. Lucas has his head resting on my shoulder and Ryan gives me a wide-eyed look before he speaks in a low voice.

"Don't let him see what's out there, cover his eyes. When we walk out of the door, keep your eyes on my back. Please trust me on this one, Noelle. Put the bags in the trunk and sit with Lucas in the backseat. The quicker we can get out of here, the better." I don't think twice to question him, knowing that his judgment is sound in this moment. I lick my lips and swallow the bile rising in my throat, ready to follow Ryan. He takes a deep breath and grabs our bags before he goes to the front door. It looks like he takes a moment to hype himself up to open the door, but once he does, all hell breaks loose.

I hear sirens and see the flashing lights down on our street. People are screaming.

"Hey buddy look at me okay? We're going on a surprise vacation!" My voice wavers as I speak, but I need Lucas to keep his eyes on me. His grip tightens on my shirt, he's scared of what he hears. I look over to him and meet his watery blue eyes, pushing all signs of fear off of my face.

Ryan opens the trunk of our car and loads our bags into it, taking both bags off of me while I keep Lucas' attention with whatever words I can find. Once the bags are off my shoulder, I waste no time in going to the driver's side back door of our car and opening it, placing Lucas in his car seat.

As I buckle him in, my gaze lifts through the passenger window which is facing down the street, where the commotion is. In the middle of the road I see a body laying there, illuminated by red and blue lights. My breath catches in my throat and I fumble with the latches of his car seat, too disturbed by what I'm seeing to pay attention.

"Noelle, come on." Ryan's eager voice breaks my gaze away from the body and I successfully get Lucas strapped in. Quickly, I cross the car and get into the back passenger side, just as Ryan told me to.

Without hesitation, Ryan backs out of our driveway, letting me observe the body in the road. Whoever it is, is most definitely dead. Their skull is cracked open on the pavement, brains and blood pouring out of the extensive wound. My heart thumps in my chest and my mouth goes dry. Whatever this is, is nothing good.

Ryan speeds out of our neighborhood and I quickly notice how many cars are out on the road at this time of night. Helicopters and planes crowd in the sky. My blood turns to ice in my veins as a dreadful thought crosses my mind. What if this is related to the sickness on the news? What if it finally made its way here?

Lucas' sniffles break me out of my downward spiral and I take his small hands in my own, rubbing gentle circles on the back of his hands. His dinosaur now sits on his lap. To distract him from the chaos outside, I just start talking to him about anything and everything.

I notice that we drive down back streets and dirt roads, avoiding town and any main avenues. However, the back routes are just as crowded as the main ones usually are. It's almost as if everyone is trying to get out of here at the same time. Horns blare as we come to a standstill on the only road out of this small town. I hear car doors slam and people start shouting at one another.

Ryan and I make eye contact with each other through the rearview mirror, fear equally present in our eyes. A sudden commotion right outside the windshield breaks our gazes apart, and we watch the unfolding scene with wide, terrified eyes.

"What the fuck are you doing man? Use your big ass truck and go through the field dumbass!" The man's words are full of anger and desperation. The driver of the truck yells back,

"I can't you fuckin' moron. Jam is all the way up there to the exit." He motions down to where we're headed. If the exit is jammed up, the highway is full.

My mind starts formulating a way out of this town without the highway, but nothing comes to mind immediately. Any way out of this town requires getting on the highway. Another yell from further up sounds out in the night. A piercing scream, one that makes the hair on the back of my neck stand up.

Seconds later, people begin running past our car, away from the exit and back towards town. People fall and stumble as they try to flee, and nobody helps them up, they all keep running. Whatever is up there is terrifying enough for people to abandon their sense of compassion. It's anarchy out there.

"Stay here." Ryan's voice is strong and decisive. He gets out of the car and stands on the hood to get a vantage point of what's going on. I turn to Lucas and try to comfort him the best I can. Tears are falling down his face, and I wipe them away.

"It's okay Lucas, I'm right here. Nothing bad is going to happen to you while I'm here, mommy's got you." My voice is soft, and I mean the words I say with every fiber of my being. I lean forward and put a delicate kiss on the top of his forehead.

It doesn't take Ryan long to get off the hood, and he goes straight for Lucas. With desperate hands, Ryan goes to unbuckle Lucas and gives me more instructions.

"We have to go on foot. I'll explain later, but something bad is happening up there. We have to go, now." His voice is strained and loud. Without a second thought, I lean over the backseat into the trunk and search blindly for Lucas' diaper bag. Luckily, it's small enough to fit through the gap between the seat and the ceiling, and I sling it on my shoulder. I take another second to grab Lucas' dinosaur plush and then follow Ryan through the crowd.

They're a few steps ahead of me, but I'm right behind them. Ryan keeps Lucas on his hip, one hand protectively securing his head so he isn't jostled around too much. People brush past me as they run away from the traffic jam, causing me to trip a few times.

We jog at a good pace for a while, until we come back to town; the same place we're actively trying to get away from. The small town is full of screaming, crying people running all different directions. It seems like Ryan has a plan, and goes full steam ahead.

We reach the buildings and see large army trucks barreling down the street, heavily armed soldiers jumping out and shouting orders. My steps slow a little as reality begins sinking in. This is just like what I saw on the news yesterday with Lisa. It is here. I tear my gaze away from the trucks and focus on following Ryan.

We approach the back of the local tire shop, an old brick building where the screams and shouts are only slightly muffled. Ryan stops to catch his breath momentarily and I rush to his side, checking to see if Lucas is okay. Other than being scared, he's alright. I kiss his forehead,

"Mommy's got you." I whisper in Lucas' ear. He grabs fistfuls of Ryan's shirt in an attempt to bring himself some sort of comfort. Ryan looks up to me and I reach out to him, my hand resting on his bicep.

"We're going to be okay." My voice isn't very convincing, but Ryan nods.

"We're going to be okay." He confirms with an equally unconvincing voice. We stare into each others eyes for a few fleeting seconds before Ryan starts moving again.

We run past the back of the tire shop and Ryan goes to turn the corner which would lead us back to the main road. I'm a few paces behind them, and Ryan turns the corner before I do.

Within seconds, I hear agonizing screams.

When I turn the corner, it's as if time stands still. Ryan is on the ground, a man is on top of him and blood is pouring out of his shoulder. Lucas is trapped underneath Ryan's body, screeching out. Before I can move a muscle, the man on top of Ryan pounces on Lucas, and I watch in terror as the deranged man bites Lucas in the neck.

Gunshots ring out, the man falls limp.

Ryan has stopped screaming, Lucas has stopped moving. Their blood flows out of them and stains the pavement. My body begins hyperventilating and moving on its own, crouching down to my loves.

My hands go to their wounds and I try to stop the bleeding. But there's too much blood, there's too much. Frantically, I try anything to save them.

"No, no no no no no no." My sobs rake through my body as I see Lucas' lifeless blue eyes staring up at the night sky. Ryan's eyes stare straight at the side of the building, equally as lifeless.

I feel hands loop around my arms, dragging me away from my family. I fight back, thrashing and screaming. I feel the bag around my shoulder get taken off, and Lucas' plush ripped from my hands, leaving only a scrap in my possession.

My body is dragged backwards and I'm tossed in the back of a large armored truck as I scream and cry for my family. I see their lifeless bodies on the ground one final time before the door of the truck is slammed in my face.

Part Three

[doe-writes-stuff]

With a little liquid courage--and the amused encouragement of a few equally drunk survivors--Glenn has a few things he wants to tell you. Hopefully he remembers this in the morning...

Glenn Rhee x Fem!Reader

WARNINGS: Alcohol consumption, awkward flirting, and sexual innuendos, but nothing explicit.

The knock at your room door makes you jump. Partially because you weren't expecting company this late into the evening, but also because whoever it was had done so pretty aggressively. There's a distant smattering of hushed whispers from out in the hallway--arguing, perhaps--but it's too low and too far away to make out what they were saying.

You're half tempted to just ignore the noise and go right back to the book you were reading, but curiosity was starting to wiggle its way into your mind. With this new distraction presenting itself, you sigh and set the book down next to you on the couch, rising and moving towards whoever was demanding your attention.

As you approach, you hear hurried footsteps move away from the door. You frown. Was it Carl and Sophia, playing a good old fashioned game of 'doorbell ditch?' Minus the doorbell of course...No, Lori wouldn't let her son stoop to such levels of immaturity, and Sophia was much too timid a girl to do something like that.

When it turns out to be a red-faced, visibly nervous Glenn standing in front of your door, baseball cap slightly askew and wringing his hands with fervor, you can't help but raise a brow. He'd clearly had a little more to drink than was wise, pupils dilated and darting about like he couldn't look at one thing for longer than a moment.

This was not at all what you'd been expecting.

"Glenn?" You question, watching his panicked glance sideways down the hall where you'd heard the heavy, hurried footsteps just moments before. You lean out and peer where he was looking, but don't see anyone there. Only the dimly-lit hall and the cute, drunk Korean at your door. "Who was that?"

"Umm...no one." The way his hands fidget and twist, never managing to keep still, doesn't escape your notice. Then, perhaps realizing that his answer was quite stupid, shakes his head with a rapid set of blinks. "I mean...T-Dog, and...and Daryl. They just left."

You give a slow nod. "I can see that."

"Right, of course you can..." He mutters, possibly not intending for you to hear that part. The admission makes an amused smile lift the corners of your mouth.

Poor Glenn. No doubt caught in whatever drunken antics those two had worked together. You wondered if they were listening just out of sight to see how things played out. And with that knowledge, you cross your arms and lean against the frame of your door, tilting your head to the side.

"Did you need something?"

"I, uh...no, I just..." His grimace is quite notable, but after another glance down the hallway and a fortifying squeeze of his closed eyes, he opens them to look at you again. "I mean, yes. To talk. I wanted to talk. To you."

"I gathered that, since you're...standing at my door." You say helpfully, smile widening as he rolls his eyes at himself.

"So...you're really cool." He starts out both hands gesturing along with his point, tongue darting out to wet his dry lips. You wait as he gathers his addled, drunken thoughts together. "Way cooler than me. And you're good at getting rid of geeks and stuff."

"Uh huh."

"It's kind of intimidating, honestly. Girls like you didn't ever talk to me before...all of this. I didn't expect you to be so, you know..." He gestured to you vaguely, then waved his hands dismissively. "Not that you don't look like you can handle yourself. Obviously you can. You're probably better at it than me..."

You have an idea of where he's trying to go with this. Part of you wondered if this was just him being drunk, or if this was some terrible dare that Daryl and T-Dog had put him up to. Poor kid was having a hell of a time trying to get through all of this.

His hands rise to rub along his face. "God, this would be so much easier if you weren't pretty..."

At that, your brows raise up in surprise. The fact that he thinks you're pretty is flattering, but his phrasing was...well, poor. "...sorry?"

Realizing his error, Glenn's wide eyes meet yours, head shaking back and forth emphatically. "No, no, that's not...what I meant."

Even while not drunk, you were trying to do the mental gymnastics to figure out what he was trying to say. Had you misunderstood? "So...you don't think I'm pretty?"

"I do! You are!" He's swift to correct, stuttering over his slightly-slurred words. "It just...you're kind of hot and it gets really hard when I talk to you."

"..." Silence takes the conversation for several seconds. It takes everything in you not to laugh at his obviously unintended innuendo. "'It?'"

The expression on your face is enough to make him swallow and hold either side of his temple.

"That...came out way wrong." A long-suffering sigh escapes his mouth, and for the first time since you found him standing at your door, most of the tension in his shoulders and chest seemed to deflate. "I'm not a creep, I swear. It's just, this whole thing turned out to be an absolute train wreck...I'm so sorry..."

Touched by his honesty, you laugh and shake your head. "If you're as drunk as I think you are, then you're actually not doing half bad. At least you're not staring at my tits like most guys would."

It's only natural that his eyes flick down to glance at them, now that you mention them. Then, catching himself, he steps back.

"Let me guess...T-Dog and Daryl convinced you to come and flirt your way into my room, right?"

He looks uncomfortable, but eventually you get the answer you already knew when he nods. "Yeah..."

"And they're waiting down the hall to see if you manage it?" You guess again, getting another solemn nod in response. "And was there some wager involved?"

"Just some stupid bet, but..." Completely demoralized, Glenn holds up his hands in defeat. "Look, I'll just...leave you alone. Sorry to put you through all of this, and maybe just forget this ever happened? Please?"

"Why? A couple more compliments and you'd be inside." You joke, and he blinks blankly.

"I'd be...huh?"

A laugh escape you again, and you lean closer, speaking lower so that wherever Daryl and T-Dog are hiding out, they can't hear. "Come inside and we can help you win that bet. I'm sure you'd love to stick it to those guys, yeah? They are always messing with you." You make sure to try looking extra 'seduced' to any onlooker, just to sell it.

Glenn took several moments way too long to figure out what you were trying to say, standing there gawking like a fish. Confusion and then surprise flashed across his expression. "Are you saying we-? That we're gonna-?"

"Hell no!" You whisper back, patting his shoulder gently. "You're way too drunk for that, even if I want to. But, we can at least put on a good show make them think we are. Sound good?"

Understanding dawns on his face, though he's obviously now trying to decode your sentence for what exactly you meant by 'want to.' He does nod, nonetheless.

Without giving him the proper time--he can figure out the rest in the morning--you grab his shirt in your fist and slowly drag him back into your room with an audible giggle, closing the door behind you with a louder than necessary shut.

The sound of the door closing draw's T-Dog's head around the corner a fraction, just enough to peek out without being noticed, and his smile is coupled with an impressed laugh when no one is there. "Yo, Glenn actually pulled it off."

Daryl was next to take a look, not seeing any sign of the drunk kid they'd prodded and convinced to finally do something about his little attraction to you. It hadnt taken much, surprisingly.

The redneck's head tilts and he gives an amused scoff. "Damn, the chinaman's got balls after all."

"My man has game, I told you."

Daryl shoots T-Dog an incredulous stare. "Like hell, y'ain't tellin' me you thought he was gonna do it."

T-Dog shrugged and began wandering away down the hall, Daryl following after. "I knew he could, just needed a good shove in the right direction is all."

[floralembarrassment]

Hi <3

Hope you're good

Can you write something about Party? (Peter and Barty). I heard about this ship once but I haven't seen any of them on tumblr yet, so if you could do something with them that would be great.

Hi there! The only Party I've ever heard is from the one and only Salem on tiktok!! Go follow them, he does a great Sirius & Barty! @prongsieboi

To be honest with you though I just don't know Peter as a character well enough I don't think... Now that I think of it, I don't actually think I ever write him. But we can try, though I always encourage people writing their own too! If there is content you want but cant find create it!

What Do You Want (1/1) (Party)

"Bartemius!" Peter yelled across the grassy field.

Barty turned and saw the short plumb boy stomping is away toward him, eyes sharp like was ready to fight. Barty smirked at him, scoffing a laugh as his cheeky grin spread across his face to match the glint now sparkling in his eye.

Peter marched right up to Barty, looked over at Evan and Regulus who had been standing near by. With a raise of his eyebrows and pursed lips, the other two Slytherins took the hint to leave. Barty waved them off, though Regulus would swear he was just shooed away.

"Well well well Pettigrew," Barty teased, taking a few steps forward, walking around Peter, circling him like a hawk. He raised his hand and ran a finger over his cheek, "to what do I owe the pleasure?" Barty added.

Barty's touch on Peter's skin sent shivers down his spine. From a far it might look like taunting and Peter quickly cowering in response. This was a believable tale for any onlookers, but the two boys knew they were playing at the insatiable feral energy between them.

Peter took a deep breath and pushed Barty's hand away. "I'm not here to play Crouch," Peter huffed.

This only fueled Barty's charming sneer. "Oh ho ho, so all of sudden you don't want to play now eh? Come on Peter, I know you love our little games," he said leaning in to whisper that last into his ear.

"Barty!" Peter warned.

"Okay okay little mouse, don't get yourself caught in a trap," Barty said holding his hands up in surrender.

"Ugggg" Peter groaned, rolling his eyes. He grabbed Barty's hand, turned, and started dragging him up the hill towards an alcove in the Castle gardens.

Peter flung Barty against the wall.

"Hey you don't have to be so rough you know," Barty pout as he fell onto the window ledge.

"I beg to differ, you never listen to me," Peter said stepping in between Barty's legs.

Barty placed his hand on Peter's head; "On your knees then babygirl," Barty said, but he couldn't contain the laugh that spilled out at his own words. Peter smiled infected so easily by Barty's simultaneously smooth but obnoxious laugh.

When Barty pulled it together, he placed his hands on Peter's waist. "What's up, really? Just miss me? Hmm?" Barty asked looking deeply into Peter's dark eyes.

"Obviously," Peter said, letting his head roll back to look up at the stone ceiling, like he was desperate to want anything else but Barty.

Barty grinned.

"Look, I umm... I..." Peter started to stammer, and averted his eyes, favouring his shoes over any part of Barty now.

"Hey no no, where did all your spunk go?" Barty said, gently rubbing his hands up and down Peter's shoulders.

Peter sighed, and looked up finding Barty's eyes. "Do you want to go to Hogsmead me with this weekend?" Peter finally rushed out.

Barty didn't know he could smile wider. "It would be mine honour, Mr. Pettigrew," Barty said.

Peter smiled, and as they looked at each other grinning like the teenagers they were, Barty leaned in, pressing his forehead to Peter's.

"If you're good, maybe I'll let you hold my hand again," Peter said, finding his attitude again and slowly backed away, leaving Barty sufficiently teased and wanting wanting wanting more.

[multifan2022]

Golden Lies 4

PART 1 PART 2 PART 3

The next morning was bittersweet. The fake part was over, no more pretending to be weak. No more acting like you loved being here. All your mind was focused on was keeping Hardin alive, even if he thought it was the other way around. You hugged him for a long time, promising to find him during the bloodbath. And when Cress separated the two of you to go to different elevators you almost cried. 

Surprisingly, Haymitch was in yours instead of Lavanna like you thought. “Don't you have your own tributes to take care of?” you joked, trying to break the tension in your body. He nodded and turned to you “Yes.. and technically this is against the rules and would ruin my reputation so let's keep it hush hush.” He dug around in his pocket before bringing out what looked like a cord necklace. 

When he dropped it into your hand you could see the pendant on it. It was like a square with a triangle, inside was resin mixed with something black. You looked back up at Haymitch who was rubbing his neck awkwardly. “You're allowed to take a token in with you.. Ah.. This is the necklace that was my token when I won. I know you don't have anyone to give you anything so I wanted to. Just to remind you that even if you don't think so, there are people out here who believe in you. It's coal dust in there.. By the way.”

You quickly shoved it into your pocket before engulfing Haymitch in a hug. Both of you shivered almost in disgust as you pulled away. You thanked him just as the doors opened and revealed a shocked looking Lavanna. She quickly recovered and pulled you by the arm towards a room with a tube in it. She shoved a piece of paper into your hand and then started talking as you opened it. 

Your friend's medication will be in a small gold bag with white roses. 

You didn't have time to ask where she got the note, or what was going on before she was shoving things at you. Two outfits, a tight tank top with matching shorts that went under thick pants and a zip up that was semi-thick. Yet another crown braid was thrown into your hair, it was obvious what they wanted your signature hairstyle to be. 

Your mind just kept reading the note over and over. Hardin really stood a chance now, depending on how many pills were in there. You could get him home if the games went quickly. It brought a whole new rush of encouragement to you. The only problem was finding it in the cornucopia and not dying in the process. 

“I'm sorry I dont have something to give you as a token, Darling.” Lavanna said sadly as she put the last pin in your hair. You snapped out of your thoughts and brought out the necklace Haymitch had given you. “I would like to wear this, if you think it will be alright.” You said watching her face change to surprise then understanding. She put things together quickly as she helped you get it over your hair and under your shirt. When you walked to the tube, you turned back around and hugged her. “Thank you so much.. For everything.. Tell Finnick I said thank you again for the sugar cubes if you can.” 

Lavanna smiled, feeling her heart break, she had wanted so badly to design for the games. But now watching you and your friend go through the process she didn't think she could. She was sending you off to your potential death, and she couldn't stand it. 

She wished she had met you under different circumstances. That you had met Haymitch somewhere else. That Finnick had found you somewhere that would allow you to explore the spark that is clear between the two of you. She decided then and there as your tube started to raise, that this would be her first and last games. 

~~~~~~~~~~~ From this point on anything in Italics will be happening outside the arena~~~~~

You closed your eyes instinctively from the brightness of the fake sun. When you opened them you immediately started scanning the area, the mouth to the cornucopia was full as always. And on a table just inside was a gold bag, the bag you needed to get no matter what. 

50..49..48..

You look to the side of you and see the girl from 4, already trembling with tears streaming. Even though your mind is screaming at you not to speak, you do anyway. “Don't go for a bag, if I can I'll leave one for you in the forest.. Run.” You dont wait to see if she hears you or not as you look to the other side. The tribute from 6 is already half turned around and you know he's going to make a run for it. 

36…35…34..

Your eyes lock with Hardin who is already looking at you. You nudge your head towards the bag that's right in front of you silently telling him that you want him to get bags. You hold up 4 fingers and ignore his look of confusion as he nods. If he's getting bags, then it leaves you to get weapons and his medication. 

Everything is on you, you will both die if you can't defend yourselves.. He will die if you can't get that bag.

12...11...10..

Everything comes into hyper focus as the disembodied voice gets down to the single digits. You know where all the careers are. Which weapons are closest to them. You can see the bag, and the weapons you want. A plan formulating in your mind in seconds as the cannon goes off. 

You don't look around to see if the kid from four went the other way. You don't look to see if Hardin is fighting or grabbing bags. You just run, you're faster than the others, your sheer determination to get Hardin's medicine pushing your legs faster. You grab a spear as you pass it, throwing it without thinking as the female from 12 reaches for the pretty bag. 

She probably thinks it's something fancy, she would be disappointed. When the spear finds its way through her chest, and the cannon goes off you don't realize that you've just killed someone. Nor does it click that you just made the first kill of the games. It doesn't even click that the girl was Haymitches tribute. 

Outside the arena though, this is the moment that you capture everyones attention fully. The harvest goddess as they kept calling you... Persephone, some said. But now, their pretty little goddess was bloody. Now you were exactly the kind of victor people wanted.

All you're thinking about though is getting that bag. Autopilot forces your hand to wrap around the handle of a machete as your other hand wraps around the gold of the bag. It's small enough that you force it into your pocket as you take two seconds to scan for weapons. A battle cry pulls your attention though as someone runs up behind you. 

Your arm swings out as you turn, machete raised and it's so sharp that when the end moves through the air in front of the male tribute from 7 that it effortlessly slices his neck. Blood spraying everywhere including on you, but you don't stop. A vest with throwing knives is strapped to your body as you're moving. 

A pack of two sickles that are taped together fill your other hand. You shove the machete into a loop of your belt as your fingers wrap around another spear. When you're out of the cornucopia you can see Hardin running towards the woods. Your feet automatically start following him, the careers around you are so busy killing the smaller kids that couldn't get away that they don't see you. Which is the only stroke of luck you think you'll have for the next two weeks. 

When you clear the brush line you keep running, knowing that you and Hardin agreed to meet 45 paces inside. You slow down to a jog, enough to start catching your breath so you can focus on counting. And then there he is, five bags between his back and arms huffing and sweating as he watches you approach him. 

Your arms incase each other automatically, just happy to have gotten what you needed and made it out alive. When he pulls back he looks at you with a knowing look, “Wanna explain to me why I had to grab extra bags? Thought it was just us.” He knew you were going to do this, or something like this. He just couldn't decide why he thought you were doing it. 

You sat the bags down handing him the machete and one of the sickles. Both things he was used to working with back home, so that should be to his advantage. He tried to not gag at the blood that was already covering the blade and parts of you. “I can't just leave them.. They aren't going to come with us, but I can at least give them something to try and help.” 

You dumped the bags out quickly, still scanning the area. Hardin stood guard watching for any moment from the forest around you. Your eyes quickly scanned the contents of the bags, dividing everything up in your head before you grabbed size appropriate bags and started stuffing. 

The girl from four, got an awl, a pair of gloves, a hat, fishing line, a thermal blanket, rope, a canteen and one loaf of bread. 

The boy got a medium sized hunting knife, gloves, a hat, a large hook, thermal blanket, rope, 2 apples and a canteen. They would have to share a sleeping bag but if they were smart and took turns on watch that's all they would need. 

Hardin's bag had gloves, a hat, a thermal blanket, rope, a loaf of bread and a canteen. He had the sickle and the machete you had grabbed him and you would also be sharing a blanket. That left you a scarf, rope, 8 apples, a canteen and a sleeping bag to share. The extra bag would be staying with you as well so you could fill it with anything you found of use on the way or looted off kills. 

When you zipped them shut, you had stuffed the extra bag inside yours and tossed Hardin's up to him. Slinging yours across your back as you hear a twig snap. Your spear arm going up ready to throw at whoever was coming but a small voice spoke from behind a tree. “It's just us.” The small girl from 4 said as the two of them peaked out from behind a tree. 

You threw the bags a little ways away from you, both of you still on guard as the other two stepped into the clearing. “If you stay together, take turns sleeping and preserve your food while hunting you should be able to last a few days.” Your hands reached up and pulled two throwing knives and tossed them into the dirt between you. “Don't pick those up until we are gone, don't use them unless you need to. As horrible as this sounds.. I really hope I don't see you guys again. Good luck.” 

~

~

~

@avis15 @liballer @avoxrising

[coffeebanana]

for the director’s cut ask game:

It was hard to recall much aside from how he'd awoken a few hours earlier to find his father's body splayed unnaturally across the floor, his vacant stare somehow still bearing traces of disappointment.

The ambulance had pulled away maybe an hour ago, with no sirens to accompany its departure.

Adrien only realized Ladybug was probably waiting for a response when she grabbed his hand, pulling him back to the present with a gentle squeeze. His stomach swirled. Couldn't she have reached for his other side?

She deserved better than the hand he'd used to destroy his own father.

When he finally managed to look up, he only felt worse seeing the sympathy in her eyes. He quickly looked back to his feet, panic drowning out any response he tried to cobble together in his head.

"Has anyone told you what happened?" she asked.

Adrien almost said no—which would be the truth, technically. Nobody had told him, unless he counted the clarifications Plagg had provided after the fact, details of what occurred after Ladybug and Chat Noir fell victim to Monarch's Akuma. Part of him wondered how Ladybug would tell the story, which parts would she soften or leave out. He wondered what she really thought.

But maybe it was better not to know.

Adrien cleared his throat. "I...ran into Chat Noir outside. He said he had to go, but he told me..." He took a deep breath, continuing in a whisper. "I know my father's dead."

It was the first time he'd said it out loud, and the words came out surprisingly clear. It was only afterwards, when they hung in the awkward silence following Ladybug's sharp intake of air, that he felt like they were eating him from the inside out.

Ladybug's grip tightened. "I'm sorry, Adrien. I'm so sorry."

His gut coiled tightly with some unbearable emotion. He tried to think up something else to say, lips parting as he raised his head to look at her. But the second he met her eyes—so wide and blue and sad—speaking was a lost cause.

His lips quivered. A sob clawed its way up his throat, tugging another one up behind it before the first had even broken free. Ladybug's hand rubbed up and down his arm, and that was all the encouragement he needed to finally release the tsunami inside him.

Adrien had killed his own father.

For months he'd been suffering. Adrien had assumed, when Monarch reappeared from his brief hiatus, that he was okay. That the Cataclysm hadn't been fatal. Instead he'd had a front row seat to his demise—to all the times he cried out in pain while cooking breakfast, trying to pretend everything was fine whenever Adrien noticed.

But if it weren't for that Cataclysm, if Monarch's health hadn't been weakened, then the world might have ended a few hours ago, torn apart and rebuilt in his father’s image. With his parents and Nathalie still alive.

Fic link, if anyone's interested: Pull Me From The Embers

This is already long, so I'll put the rest under the cut 😂

Man, okay. I tried to pull up past versions of google docs to see if I had anything interesting there to inspire my commentary but nope. Either I did not rewrite this part 20 billion times, or it simply wasn't immortalized mid-edit. But I did figure out that I wrote this fic in a funky colour scheme, so that's something:

OKAY about the excerpt then. I think this is one example where I'm very proud of like...how naturally I weaved the backstory in without oversharing? Like, I feel like that's something that's always so hard to get right and I definitely trend towards overexplaining. Less is more is SUCH A HARD LESSON TO LEARN ahahaha.

But here like. My slightly more fleshed out idea of what had happened is basically that Monarch's Akuma--whose power is irrelevant because I didn't think about that part--overtook both LB and CN in this. Which is why there's a chunk of the battle Chat doesn't remember here that Plagg filled him in on. And then Monarch was dying so he didn't manage to finish casting the wish, and yeah. But since LB and CN didn't wake up in the same place in the house, they don't know identities still. I imagine they both woke up, realized the place was destroyed, and immediately transformed because they really didn't know if the Akuma was still at large. And then...Adrien probably was alone when he found Gabe's body and just sort of stood there until Ladybug showed up. And Ladybug would have been too busy freaking out to realize how out of it he's been 😭😭😭

The ambulance had pulled away maybe an hour ago, with no sirens to accompany its departure. -- this is a line I was really proud of I think. idk, in my obviously biased opinion i think it conveys what it's supposed to very efficiently.

omg ADRIEN HAS SO MUCH GUILT HERE!!! this is making me want to play with that in one of my post-s5 fics, because I haven't let him piece together after how it went down in canon yet... (there's at least one WIP I have that's gonna touch on it though if i remember correctly)

huh this ask game just feels like a lot of me rambling kjbdfkbj i sincerely hope it's actually interesting LOL

Adrien having complicated feelings about his father's death is MMMMMM SO GOOD though. I could read and write a million versions of that aaaaaaaaah.

On a less serious note, the part where Adrien tells LB that Chat basically just dipped is so funny to me because like. In my mind Marinette absolutely does not question that. Because yeah okay, for one, she's more focused on Adrien, byt FOR TWO, it's absolutely normal and reasonable for her to think Chat just had some normal civilian obligation he had to get back to. He could have just showed up to patrol two days later like "Sorry LB that I didn't say bye after we literally defeated the dude we've been fighting all year! Had to get home for breakfast yk how it is!", and she wold not have questioned it at all. ajbfksdjbf love her <3

uh........i don't think i have anything else to say at this time. But I really enjoyed writing this fic!! ladrien after adrinette's gotten together is something that has become so special to me 💞

thanks for the ask!! 💜

[twisted-art-wounders]

YGO AU Leviathan Rising: Epilogue

I'll always come back to you...

And that's a wrap folks! I want to thank everyone whose read and kept up with this story over the past year and half! This was my first long form fan fic basically ever and it feels good to know so many of you enjoyed reading it and I truly am grateful for all your encouragement and kind words!

I'll hopefully have a new one started in the coming year so look out for that! Anyway Happy New Year and let's hope for a safe and and fun welcome in 2024!

Epilogue

A low beep was heard as the door clicked open; Yugi stepped into his apartment work bag over his shoulder jacket under his right arm phone in his left hand, and under his left arm a pile of mail. Yugi closed the door silently and kicked off his shoes in the entry way so he could slip on a pair of slippers. He walked into his living room his eyes not leaving his phone screen as he plopped his work bag and jacket on the side of the couch.

He was trying to order dinner with the new dinner speedy app Kaiba Corp had just rolled out; He wanted to try this new burger place just a block of two down the street form his complex, while he could just go and pick it up he had to stand up on the bus all the way home today. So a further walk was far form his mind this was a job for delivery! Even if it would cost him and extra 5 dollars it didn't matter when your feet where already tired.

Once the order was placed (it'd be about 40 mins of course.) Yugi finally plopped down on the couch and let out a miserable sigh. As much as he liked working on contract with Kaiba Corp, Kaiba was a still Kaiba and was always demanding perfection especially form someone as 'elite' as himself. Yugi missed just working in grandpa's shop, while the pay wasn't a lot and he already had to supplement his income doing other part time jobs he missed just serving new costumers who had an interest in gaming. That was the most rewarding part to be honest; money can't replace the connection you feel when a young person's face lights up when receiving their first game, or pack of cards etc. That's what Yugi loved the most.

He stretched a bit on the couch before remembering he had mail to check! While sorting out what was junk and what was a bill he did remember seeing a large manila envelope among the pile. Flipping past the other letters he found the larger envelope, it was stiff like a harder cardboard was used in it's making and covered in “Priority Express” stickers.

“Must be important.” He thought as he looked at the address of the sender and he nearly chocked, written in plan English it spelled 'From The Office of Maximilian Pegasus, Industrial Illusions, California USA'

Yugi was having flashbacks to just under 7 years ago when he first received a package form the creator of Duel Monsters himself Maximilian Pegasus. The tape that started everything… The journey to Duellist Kingdom, becoming closer to his other self, defeating Pegasus together. So many memories came back to Yugi, as much as he tried to repress how lonely he felt when remembering his other self…no Atem. Yugi sniffled and rubbed away a tear he swore he was over this but alas his heart would always carry Atem in it no matter how many worlds apart they where now.

Yugi let out a breath slowly as he turned the envelope over to open it; He wasn't sure exactly what Pegasus wanted this time the last time he sent another tape it was because of- Yugi had to pause again his heart sunk again thinking about someone else who was also part of his heart and who was also gone…

Yugi pressed on and continued to open the envelope but inside wasn't a tape, he figured as much a tape would never fit this format besides they where well past the use of tapes at this point. Inside there was a blank cardboard card sleeve and a a folded letter with the I2 insignia pressed in wax over it. He pulled out both and decided to open the letter first. On the page was a typed letter addressed to him form the sender:

Yugi Boy! It's been so long!

I know this seems so crude to write you a letter instead of an email, or a even a face talk message. Call me old fashioned but I find nothing is more personal then a typed and properly mailed letter in the mail! It's been well over 7 years since you and I had a chit chat hm? You've accomplished quite a lot I hear; working with dear old Kaiba boy on your newest game project, I must say you always had the makings of being a great creator and I wasn't wrong! I look forward to Spherium and any other new games you have brewing in that mind of yours.

Speaking of creativity I find the art of creation can be such an odd thing; one moment you're canvas is blank with absolutely no ideas at all for months, years even! Then suddenly without warning poof! A muse comes into your mind and begins to implant inspiration, and it just wont leave until it's out and brought into the world. You can say I was bitten with such an inspirational muse that it almost felt like it was willing itself into creation through me.

I know you will treasure this card not for it's rarity but for what you feel you may be missing in it. It's one of a kind and made just for you and you alone Yugi-boy and I have a feeling you and this card have a powerful and spiritual connection to each other.

Anyway don't be a stranger! And enjoy your card Yugi Boy!

Signed, Maximilian Pegasus

Yugi blinked a few times after reading the letter, it was true he had a bit of an odd relationship with Pegasus. He was a former enemy and the holder of the millennium eye but he was also integral to their defeat of DOMA all those years ago. So Yugi held no real ill will towards the man, he just found it a bit odd Pegasus had made him a card?

Finally Yugi took the card sleeve into his hands and carefully popped it open to reveal the card inside. Yugi's eyes widened he felt his hands shake slightly trying to keep a grip on the card, his breathing slowed down as the world around him became silent. He could feel tears start to well up in the corners of his eyes and slow drop down his cheek.

He sniffled a few times as he looked over the card barely able to keep his composer anymore; the card was a legendary dragon knight card juts like Timeaus was but instead of his old partner who bore the name of 'Legendary Knight Timeus' instead the card read “Legendary Knight Leviathan”.

Yugi could hardly speak as he sobbed, but it wasn't all in sorrow he was just so happy that after all these years, Levi had finally accomplished his goal…and he was happy even if his tears seemed to betray that.

“Levi…I'm so happy you made your dream come true…” Yugi bent forward and pressed the card to his forehead allowing his tears to drop freely into his knees.

“I miss you so much…I just want to see you again…” Yugi whispered to himself closing his eyes.

He didn't notice that the card began to glow and shine, the image on the card started to fade away as a solid figure started to emerge before Yugi. Still lost in his sadness it was not until the figure spoke did he finally look up.

“Yugi?”

Yugi's eyes shot open quickly as he snapped upright coming face to face with this new figure standing in his living room. He was a towering man in dark purple, pink and teal armour, long dark and curled hair that went past his shoulders stopping just at his lower back, his bangs where teal and long covering parts of his ears that where long and pointed at the tip. His eyes where a golden yellow and behind him was a long-spiked tail with two separate ends

He knew who this was but he still couldn't believe it! There was no way it could be him!

“Le-Levi?” Yugi squeaked out as he stood up quickly starting up and down at the man, who stood in place a gentle smile graced his mouth as he nodded.

“Y-yes Yugi…it's me…” Levi spoke so gently, after all these years his voice while powerful still held such kindness inside.

Yugi was still in shock he couldn't believe it! It had to be a trick or just his mind was playing games with him. He tried to move towards Levi but he lost his balance and fell ready to go down face first, only to fall into Levi's waiting arms quickly catching him before he could hit the ground.

Levi looked down at him with worry.

“Yugi! Are you alright?”

Yugi was now able to feel that this was no mirage or illusion the man in his living room was real. He nodded looking up and into the tall man's eyes and in them he saw it; he saw Levi's kindness, his determination, his stubbornness. All of it was still in there, this was his Leviathan.

“I guess you have fallen for me now huh?” Levi chuckled helping Yugi back onto his feet. “I've missed you my sweet prince…”

Yugi's eyes where full of tears again as he jumped into Levi's chest and embraced him as tightly as he could. Levi allowed him to and closed his arms around Yugi returning the embrace whole heatedly.

“You're back! You're really back! You're here again! I- I can touch you again!” Yugi cried joyfully.

“Yes I'm back! And I wont leave you again…I promise.” Levi had tears in his eyes now as he too allowed them to flow down his cheeks.

All he wanted was to feel Yugi in his arms again and finally he achieved it. Their embrace was tight neither one wanting to ever let the other one go, even if Yugi knew it was selfish to wish this, he didn't want this feeling to end he didn't want to feel alone anymore. He prayed and hopped Leviathan's words where true he would never leave him again…

They both let go of each other just enough to look each other in the eyes, Yugi's face was red form crying but he had a wide smile on his face. While Levi had to bend more to look at Yugi do this it didn't bother him in the slightest. His face was a bit red as well while he didn't cry as hard as Yugi had been he wasn't immune to the blood filling his cheeks reddening his skin. As orchid eyes met with golden eyes their faces came closer together until finally they could feel each other lips pressed tightly against each other. A kiss they both had long since wished and waited to share with each other.

Releasing form their kiss they both panted slightly and gazed into each others eyes once more. Pulling away slightly Levi stood back up to his full height, Yugi was amazed with just how large Leviathan had grown he was even taller then Kaiba! Holding hands they stared longingly towards each others the sun light form the evening sky started to fill the room in a warm evening glow. The moment was broken when Yugi's phone pinged reminding him his order was almost ready for delivery.

“Uhh…so…Are you ready to try a real hamburger?” Yugi blushed

Levi smiled allowing his fangs to be seen slightly “Only if we share it.”

The End.

[humaforever]

“As you wish”

November prompt for Huma

Thank you for the prompt!

_______________________________

Harry and Uma had just finished cleaning up the shop after a very rewarding Thursday night card game. It was always fun to take other people's money.

They decided to reside on the floor seeing as they were pretty tired and they definitely hadn't sobered up yet.

Uma was smiling and Harry was happily telling her stories from the night. Stories about the random sailors that had popped in for a few moments only to lose all their money, and stories of their friends having the time of their lives, making the most outrageous bets, everyone was cheating of some sort, but that's what's to be expected with isle kids. They were drinking, and they were taking whatever the stuff was that Maddy and Ginny had brought. But most importantly they were laughing, and for lost children with hardly anything to live for, well being able to have fun was everything wasn't it?

Drowning in a party and forgetting about real life is such a blast.

But all that mattered to Harry was that Uma had fun, that she laughed, that she was happy. Because that, is what Harry lived for, that was everything to him.

As Harry continued to talk Uma felt herself drifting to sleep. But seeing as she was young, and drunk, she wouldn't allow that. This night wasn't going to end yet, it was too good to end. Uma sat up and rubbed her eyes, noticing that Harry was following and sat up too.

"Harry" Uma said

"Hmm?" He hummed

"Play me a shanty" She said moving towards the piano that was in the room

"As you wish, my love" Harry said

Harry got up and gave Uma a hand. Harry actually really loved to play and sing shanties, which was good, because Uma loved to listen. It made her feel like they were sailing on the endless ocean, oh how she dreamed. But seeing as she couldn't she would take what she could get and relish in the moments like these that made her feel free. Harry was always her perfect escape.

"What'll it be tonight love?" Harry asked as he settled on the piano bench

"Sing to me about the siren that fell in love with the pirate" Uma said

Harry smiled, that was Uma's favorite, she always requested the songs about sailors and mermaids.

"And scoot over" Uma added

Harry was surprised, she usually sat on her throne while he played. But I guess tonight she was gonna sit next to him. No complaints there, Harry happily made space for her.

The bench was a little small for both of them. Neither of them would mention how close they were or how much they liked it. When they were little they could easily fit on this bench together. But they were lucky, lucky that they had grown and they were still here, they still had each other.

Harry's fingers glided over the piano keys. Uma watched him closely as he started to sing. Knowing how to play the song by heart Harry didn't have to look at the keys, he could focus his attention on Uma.

"Her face it was a work of art, I love that girl with all my heart." Harry sang, these lyrics making his mind immediately think of the girl sitting next to him

"Beautiful" Uma murmured, if they weren't so close Harry wouldn't have heard it.

It only encouraged him more. He would put on his best performance for her.

Uma rested her head on his shoulder the more she tried to fight her tiredness the harder it got. Harry continued, letting her rest her head. Even as the song came to an end he never disturbed her.

"Play another?" Uma said voice barrier above a whisper

"You're fallen asleep on me love" Harry smiled

"Must be the effects of your siren song" Uma joked

"Now we all know only you could have a voice beautiful enough to enchant others" Harry said

"Do I enchant you?" Uma teased

"You know you do" Harry smirked

Uma glanced down at his lips. She internally reprimanded herself, now wasn't the time, not here at least.

"Let's go home Harry" Uma said

"I thought you were going to sing for me" Harry said

"I'll sing for you, but not here" Uma said

Harry raised his brow "Then let's go home" he said

"Lead the way, pirate" Uma said

"As you wish, siren" Harry said

[skippysartq]

HQ 2nd gen Story WIP Previews 2

*Kuniko Ushijima and Uta Oikawa - Sea salt chocolate*

Ushijima Kuniko had the sweet scent of Chocolate, Oikawa Uta had the salty scent of the ocean.

They encouraged the other to do their best so their could watch the other at nationals.

Shiratorizawa wins.

After the match they agreed to meet up, sitting together nervous. Kuniko offers Uta some Pocky and they smile happily started talking when, they both get a text message from their parents.

The Japanese men's volleyball team.

Wakatoshi and Hajime unaware that they would be meeting each other's sons today. Leaving the rest of the team to do as they do going to pick up their sons from the Sendai gym.

Waiting for them out side was their sons.

"My dad is gonna be here soon to pick me up." Kuniko sighs. Uta perks up. "Hey, hey, we should swap contacts Kuniko." he says grinning. Kuniko's face lights up nodding his head fast.

Wakatoshi and Hajime get out of their cars and surprised meeting in the carpark. They walk to find their sons together talking about how practice went.

The two boys exchanged numbers, and look up noticing the two older men talking. Uta in shock whispered to Kuniko who was smiling like an idiot. "Is that the southpaw Ushiwaka?" he asked the two men now noticing the boys sitting fairly close together.

"Huh? Oh yeah, well that means I gotta go." Kuniko stood bowing and went to run off. Uta didn't let him, grabbing his jacket stopping him. "You know him?

"Yeah, Uta he's my dad. Ushijima Kuniko and Ushijima Wakatoshi." Kuniko points to himself then Wakatoshi. Uta was stunned, how he didn't notice.

"Thats kinda why my school mates call me Ushiko when cheering."

"Wait then, that Oikawa Hajime, my dads training coach over there..." Kuniko pointed over to the two who were kinda watching the interaction between the boys.

"Oikawa Uta." he says quietly with Little jazz hands. "Arh and the Kageyama on your team, I know him, his dad was my parents underclassman in middle school, he has a twin brother that you guys went up against before us."

"Yeah I know the whole team was surprised. Kageyama-sempai never really talked about his family so it shocked everyone to find out he was at Karasuno and they wore the same number crazy right?"

"Yeah it sure was, I was watching in the stands with Moriani-hana and Genki, despite him falling asleep at times."

The two laughed together.

"Come on they look like they are waiting for us." Uta stands taking Kuniko's hand and pulling him over to their dads.

"Oh, Kuniko how was your game!" Wakatoshi says not noticing the boys still holding hands as they stood there. Hajime on the other hands trying not to look at it. "I'm going to nationals! Papa!" he lifted both hands up. They all realised their hands wrapped tightly together. The two boys quickly let go Uta, hugged himself, Kuniko rubbing his hands awkwardly.

"Are you two?..." Hajime started, pointing between them. but was quickly stopped by a frantic Uta all red in the face. "N-no dad look we only met properly today, we didn't even know each other's last names until a minute ago, when you showed up." the two men looked at each other laughing.

The boys looked up the men, laughing, feeling confused as to why they were. "You like who you like, it's fine boys." the two sigh. Then hugged and waved goodbye getting a good smell of each other's scent so won't forget their scents.

"Good luck at Nationals, I'll be cheering for you okay Ushiko!" Uta yells as they went their separate ways until the next time.

The last team they had to beat was Karasuno, to everyones surprise, they found out that Kageyama Shun was a twin to Karasuno's own Number 5 and setter Kageyama Kento.

And the two really fought it out on the court.

Although Karasuno was tough, that crows still fell and Shiratorizawa moved on and claimed the raining powerhouse champions of Miyagi prefecture.

Maybe it was because they didn't have thier captain or acting captain and best spiker on court due to injury. But the White swans got through to the National tournament in Tokyo.

Uta in the stands yelling out a congregations!.

They texted for weeks sometimes practiced together on off days.

At nationals Shiratorizawa made it to day 5 and lose the second match. Regardless of the lose Uta watched the match's, cheered him on from the stands with their parents and celebrated with The two families, on them making it so far in the tournament.

*Shun Kageyama - The aftermath*

Shun's eyes widen as that instant of regret hit him in waves but hardly showed on his face.

"Shun Nikko, GO TO YOUR ROOM NOW!" The enraged voice of Shoyo boomed in everyone's ears, the sent of  Anger and worry reach all of thier noses, as Tobio snapped out his head and rushed to help save his son. Kadashi holding an unconscious Kento in his arms and handing him off to Tobio.

Shun slammed the door to his own bedroom. Something he got to himself not even a full year at this point.

The steam of anger seething from his tightly clenched jaw. But he lets his breath go as he started feeling a bit dizzy. flopping down on to his bed facing the wall, the sudden feeling a guilt rushed through his body.

'I didn't mean to push him that hard. God what is wrong with me?'

He asked himself, hands over his mouth as he began to uncontrollably sob, eyes wide open, then shut tight, trying so hard not to let his mind stray that way,

'What kind of brother does that, pushing him into the water, he was bleeding and you did nothing. You felt it was okay to just get mad at him like that? You must love hurting him. You must of felt so good seeing his blood spill through the water like that, and you did nothing to help him.

And now your moving away to another school, leaving him all alone!'

"He. won't be alone.. He has friends and Kadashi, unlike me. I-I have nothing, I'm not even good at the thing I like."

"Mum, Dad, Grampa Kazuyo, Aunty Natsu, All our uncles, all played amazing volleyball in highschool and are professional now. How am I meant to be like them and keep up with Kento if I can't even get off the sideline as a bloody cheerleader, because I am no good at volleyball.I HATE IT!"

He got up again feeling the anger return. He didn't know what to do, all the pent up stress, from his life with his brother.

"I HATE IT!" he started swinging his arms around, knocking into some small items like, a trophy.

He smaked it off his draws, sending it flying across the room with some Colognes and pictures, the glass in the frames smashed loudly. Frowning Shun stamped right over to the photo, picking it, and his expression softens when he catches eyes of the photo in question.

It's of a younger him and his brother with Oikawa Uta, all in swimmer shorts standing together, smiling big, on the beaches of Brazil.

It felt like forever starring at the photo in hand. They where so much happier together on that beach, it was thier favourite day then, playing beach volleyball with The Oikawa's and Brazil fam, sad to say good bye to everyone when they had to leave.

The frown returned to his face when he remembered how everything changed since all those years ago.

Screwing his eyes up tight, Scrunching up the picture and throwing it where ever just nowhere near his line of eye sight.

Stomping around his room. Pulling at his hair, taking heavy, small breaths. "Can't stay here right now. Its to much." He grumbles, chucking on the nears shirt, walking to the door grabbing his school bag throwing it over his shoulder, he quietly left his room not to alert his parents.

Sneaking thought the halls, down the steps, keeping an eye out for anyone that could catch him.

Finally he made it to the front door slipping his joggers on at the Genkai not looking back as he left out the door and sped off down the street.

"Shun! Where are you going is everything okay over there?" He paused half a ways out of street when he heard his Aunty Natsu's voice calling to him.

Looking back to her, long orange fluffy hair tired in a bun wearing a nice outfit and light makeup. It looked as if she might be going on a date, as she was walking to her car parked outside the Hinata family home.

Not wanting to say anything, about what happened and that his is technically grounded right now, he waves and continued his run in panic.

He just needed to be away from that house, away from other people, away from Kento.

Huffing and puffing Shun soon came to a wide open field with just grass and a playground in the distance. That was okay there was only a few pups on the playground, and by the looks of it, they wouldn't be coming up and distributing him anytime soon.

This was the perfect place. He quickly jogged far into the middle of the field and grass, away from where anyone would notice him along the pathway the sliced right through the open space.

Shun threw down his bag and lay down his head on in, adjusting it for the best comfort as he starred up at the sky, wide blue and nothing blocking his vision. In the corner of his eyes the sun beamed down of his still body, the heat from the rays warming up his skin, the swaying grass, from the little breeze he had, tickled the exposed skin.

His hair falling over his face, limbs spread out as far as he could reach, the sun's rays of warm feeling like a nice secure blanket rapping around him, seeing some clouds rolling into his vision over head, Shun could only imagine of how a soft and comfy bed felt laying on it and the almost no unnatural Sounds came to his ears, he began to close his eyes.

There wasn't a lot of places like this where they lived so it was nice to have found it.

Shun felt as if he was back in HIS own bed on a cool summer night. It was so nice. He was undisturbed by any black haired twin brothers or nagging parents.

Taking a deep breath in and out like his parents had taught him.

"Hmmmm, this is nice." The orange haired teen spoke to himself aloud. Only he didn't expect a reply to his words.

"Yeah you're right to lay down out here it so good." The voice of a stranger was heard.

"Aarh!" Shun jumped, sitting up quickly and starred over at the stranger laying down next to him.

He had been enjoying himself so much that he hadn't noticed this person sneaking up on him.

The stranger in question, wore a jumpsuit that looked to be from a private school in the area. They had long light brown hair tired up in a ponytail with a green ribbon tie, and large greeny blue eyes, with a thin eyeliner wings.

"What are you doing?" He questions them as they too now sat up, facing him, he could see they had a light redness in thier checks.

'probably from running or something?'

"Well I was jogging along with my team and I saw you laying here, you looked so peaceful like you were about to sleep, thought I could join you." They say brushing some loose strands behind their ear.

Shun swallows the saliva forming in his mouth, nodding, before speaking up. "Well yeah it was pretty peaceful."

They smile and lay right back down again. Shun starred for a moment, the stranger's left eye opening looking right at him. "Well come on, you can't relax like that sitting up, silly."

The brunette reaches quickly taking hold of Shun's arm pulling him back down. Thier hand slipping under his head as not to let it bang on the ground to hard.

Shun tired to turn away, but the guy had a hold of him. Holding tightly to his shirt with his other hand forcing Shun to stay on his back starring straight up. "Just breath." They told him taking a deep breath in and holding it, as if to say they were waiting for him to do the same.

So he did, drawing in a deep breath and they both let it out together, after a few more times the stranger chuckled letting go of his shirt.

It was silence for a few seconds, before the red heard spoke up. "Who are you?" He questions, head rolling over to meet the others eyes. "I'm a 2nd year from Shiratorizawa, on the boys Volleyball team."

"Oh, what position do you play?" Shun asks now more curious about the guy. "I'm the Libero, in the starting line up since last year."

*Ruka Haiba-Yaku - Voiceless* CW// Violence, Mentions of R*pe and sl*t shaming

"Shut up!" They screamed rage seething for every pore of thier body, hot tears show themselves quickly.

They'd had enough of this. But this sliver of control they had was only for a moment, snapped back to the other.

He was taller then the Light brow haired teen, wider and stronger, picking them up by thier shirt, he made it so Ruka had to just tippy toe to reach the ground.

He slammed them back against a wall, twisting the shirt to become a little tight around the wind pipes. "You don't get to tell me what to do shrimpy whore."

"You think you can get what ever you want, such a big ego after you fucked MY omega." Poisonous words spitting out of his mouth, as the smacking of his lips echoed close to and in thier ear.

The horrible sound so close to thier ear, made them shiver and a sudden nauseous.

"And had the nerve to turn her against me." Growling as some of his Silvia lands on the brunette's cheek. "You didn't love her like she needed, what you did to her is rape, and force bonding doesn't make her belong to anyone." Ruka says slyly through clenched teeth, eyes narrow, shady but full of anger they held in for so long for people like this guy.

Alpha's that needed to be put in thier place and to respect who they choose to love and bond with.

Even if they never understood romance themselves, they knew the right and wrong of it all.

The Phenomenons coming of this guy wrank, blinding him by rage, he pulled a fist back, and it lands Ruka square in the nose, and with a knee to the gut to finish it off, dropping the smaller teen to the ground leaving them to cough and wheeze gasping for air if only for a moment.

The alpha is gone now, Ruka left sitting hunched against the wall they were previously held up choaking on.

Raggered breath, as they wring a hand around it to see in the pain would go away quicker. Head pounding and a warm substance trickling down thier face, they lift a hand, fingers touching it and blood.

"Great just what I need, to show up back home in this state. As if my parents don't already ask me enough questions."

They lean back huffing "and if I tell them I did it to save a girl, well who knows what kinda questions of a romantic gesture they will bomb me with." They clasp thier hands together, flutting thier eyelashes mockingly. Falling back to the with a small grunt, waiting out thier pain.

They should be used to this by now. That Alpha was right about them having sex with that girl, only because she asked them to. She had heard rumours of them being a kind and gentle as people needed them to be during sex.

He wasn't wong to call them a whore either. That's basically what they were. Only in it for the sex, nothing emotional. And well it helped other people emotional and with thier romantic lives, who were they to deny a person help they needed, it was doing good, they liked it.

They had always been able to help others that used the service they provided to be more open with themselves. But Ruka, for some reason was never really able to have the same courage as the people they helped.

[inertflouride]

The Heist Part-32

You know the drill now... For previous updates, go here! Sorry, not sorry, for what is about to unfold now.

The Following chapter is in Mark, or as they call him, Master's POV

"Master. If I may?"

I take a long drag from my cigar as Josh, my present righthand man, moves to inquire into my views about all this. I know what he's going to ask. I don't even have to listen to his question before answering.

This is the thing with humans; they all are quite predictable once you start understanding the pattern of their cognitive thinking. All except me and my upbringing, which unfortunately my brat brother has too.

"Go ahead", I sigh, holding the smoke between my two fingers.

"Are you really going to go according to their plan, sir? Because my master hasn't ever been a follower, rather the one who has made others follow him", he butters me up, while also trying to get what he wants.

I wonder why these people even bother. I mean I'm scary, agreed. I'm terrifying, agreed. I'm stupid enough to fall for their buttering act? I guess I'll cross that box.

"Hmm", I take another long drag before answering, "Why do you think I'm following someone this time?"

"Because, master, you didn't make them move according to a plan you made. Rather, you listened to their plan and agreed to it. I can swear I have never seen, your grace, doing something like this", he chimes, rubbing his hands together like a dishonest trader.

"Ok Josh. Leave that. Tell me everything you know about Miss Davis", I amusedly ask him.

He starts scrambling for this data file as soon as the words leave my mouth. It's funny seeing a 6 feet 3 inch tall guy running around like a cat following its own tail. This is why they can't be where I am.

This is why I need my brat brother by my side.

Of course, he doesn't need to know that. He can go live in rainbow tinted dreams with his little bitch for now about being like an average civilian, but deep down, he knows he can never escape his reality, which is this, beside me.

"Yes sir. I apologise for the wait. What part should I specifically focus on about Miss Davis?"

"Everything but nothing", I assert, getting amused by Josh's bewildered look. "Alright, start from the specs."

"Name- MC Davis. Age- 23. Born in Boston. Current Resident of Colorado. Marital status- Single. Cu-"

"Marital status- Single soon", I bemusedly interrupt him, snapping my fingers for scotch, which is poured in seconds by someone I don't really care about.

"Right, master. Current illnesses- none. Has 3 moles on her face, all inconspicuous. Had a scar on her right torso. A mole on her right breast-"

"Alright. That should be enough information to imagine Miss Davis in my head while fucking her", I rub my forehead, trying to stifle a laugh.

"Apologies, master", he bows, tugging the file under his arm.

"Tell me more about her present acquaintances."

"Yes master", he starts skimming through her folder. You see, I realised this one thing. Jake thinks a lot like me. Kyle too. And that I can't kill Miss davis.

So, I decided to play a little game with the three of them. One thing I know about Jake and Kyle is that trust doesn't come easily to either of them: a paranoia which I instilled in them. To the extent that they won't even trust each other with everything.

Then comes Miss Davis: the one who would drive a stake on my careful planning, encouraging them to sit and talk about things. So, I decided why not portray Miss Davis in a distrustful light. And that's where that beautiful hard disk comes. One of my guys placed a little note in her pocket which will make Miss Davis want to hide the disk from the two guys.

Why? Because the disk has how I killed Kyle's mother. And how Jake knew about it. Ever since then.

Of course, Jake doesn't actually know about it; he'd have completely lost it had he been even a remote part of anything. It is just a cute little replica of Jake doing some nasty things. Just like a cute replica of mine who would die in a plane crash, which I haven't yet decided who would be. Many people I wish to kill. Alas, I can choose only one. But, I assure you, none could match my charm. It's one of a kind.

Back to where I was. So, you see, playing with humans has been one evergreen habit of mine. I can't help but do it. You would too if you knew how to. It's actually fun trying to coil your finger around the spider web type of human relations. Fragile and Pathetic. An utter waste of time.

And once in a light year, you find a web as firm as the Darwin's Bark spider's; admittedly, they are the most fun to break too.

Just like little Jake and his bitch.

"There aren't many acquaintances of miss Davis, master. Like, the ones she had, aren't in contact with her anymore, or the other way around." I shut my eyes and hung my head back in thinking when Josh speaks up. "Except one. A lawyer. Christopher."

"And where might he be?", I speak without lifting my head or opening my eyes.

"Right under your payroll, sir."

[2x4plank]

Okay, yes. I know I wrote that entire thinkpiece about David and I should've stopped there. But I'm on Permadeath and keep having to replay the winter act, and I feel like I still have so many thoughts about not only David, but the entire act. I'm talking game-only, because I don't feel like watching the show, so spoilers for that if you want to play the game.

The more you acquaint yourself with David, the more you hate him. He is one of the only videogame characters that ever upset my stomach.

When you replay the game, his allyship and empty flattery just becomes that much more disgusting. Having to depend on him to fight enemies off of you (because on the higher difficulties especially, he's useless otherwise! Thanks for all those losses due to Ally Death, David!) and looking to him for help and helping him just feels terrible.

I notice that even James is surprised when David talks to him in that demanding tone. Part of me wonders if he used that tone to impress Ellie or something, like saying that he's the top dog around here. I hate it.

Sidenote: When Ellie calls David an "old man", I like to think she pulled that from Henry calling Joel that. I like to think. Henry and Sam are my favorite allies.

Paying more attention throughout the act, I noticed two kind of repetitive symbols: deer and fire.

The deer symbol is pretty obvious: Ellie starts out hunting a deer; she hides out in a hunting lodge; and all throughout the steakhouse, there are pictures of deer and deer mounts which I somehow didn't notice before.

But I never thought about the fire. How she starts out quite distant from the fire that David started, even though it is freezing cold in winter and she's rubbing underneath her nose because somebody needs to give this girl a scarf! But after they fight together, she gets closer and immediately regrets it because these two men she met aren't normal.

While navigating through the wintry hellscape that is David's town, fire lights your path as you crawl through buildings (I found the inclusion of an arcade interesting; it felt like a marker of childhood to me, and there's even a stuffed giraffe). And then of course, the Steakhouse is on fire, and that fire slowly spreads. The use of fire during this act sort of reminds me of the use of fire in Silent Hill 2, where Angela Orosco who experienced sexual abuse lived in this personal hell of narrow, fiery corridors.

And as I hear, "Ah, thank you, Lord!" for the millionth time, I realize that seeing David as similar to Joel still does not work for me. I just continue to contrast them. The only two things that allow for comparison is that David is an older man who also boosts her up to a higher platform. Otherwise, I don't see many similarities.

As I've said, Joel wants to protect Ellie--both mentally and physically. He doesn't want her to see the burning dead in Bill's town. He doesn't want to traumatize her by letting her shoot other people, or encourage her to jump on the frontlines by giving her a gun. He very much acts like a father who wants to take on all those burdens so his child doesn't have to.

David, on the other hand, exposes her to stuff as a weapon. He locks her in the cage in the same room they chop up bodies. He gleefully smiles as he almost cleaves off her head. He is more than happy to make everything worse for her.

And maybe it bears repeating: JOEL WOULD NEVER ABUSE A CHILD LIKE DAVID WOULD! Which is a vast land of difference when it comes to characterization.

Upon returning the steakhouse, it genuinely felt like going back to a place where something terrible happened, and you don't even want to think about it. It's so quiet, but you're collecting health kits to protect yourself because you know it's about to be something. It's this particular kind of dread. And then David bursts in, starts a fire, takes away your weapon, and you have to face him.

So come the next act, when I see Ellie staring at that deer like she can't pull away from it, it's very painful.