#did you know there were so many clock emojis?!?

[thetrippy]

It's always Gibbon time round these parts 🤠🐒

[lowkeyrobin]

hi could you please write smth about accidentally revealing your relationship with quackity? preferably with cc!reader <3

of course!! thanks for the request 🫶 ; ik I did a preference about accidentally revealing relationships but doing a little different thing and going in depth w it was fun!

QUACKITY ; softlaunch ❌ hardlaunch ✅

summary ; you and Alex accidentally reveal your relationship

warnings ; language, little bit of buzzed ranting, use of pet names (babe)

genre ; fluff

word count ; 1k

masterlist

You and Alex have been together for about ten-ish months, keeping it on the low since you'd been traveling around for QSMP meetups, events, and the Streamer Awards for a little bit.

You'd finally gotten home, your shared apartment with Alex, with Cellbit and Roeir tagging along. The three were planning to make a 'trying mexican candies' video in the morning while you were planning to edit and maybe stream til you felt tired enough to quit and sleep. The three guys sit out in the living room, watching some TV show as they sprawl out on the couch, buzzed from the aftermath of award winning.

You were more than proud for your boyfriend, but it being so late now, and your need for comfort after being overstimulated for hours on end, called for a little alone time. You sit in your office, the clock reading 1:30am as you hit the Go Live button on your stream.

You decided to chill out behind the closed door, just chatting with whatever viewers were still awake at this hour, or were just beginning their day, depending on timezones. After five minutes, you greet your chat, snacking on some cookies you'd picked up from the store before returning home earlier, a glass of milk sitting on your desk next to the plastic box.

You sit in your very comfortable chair with a QuackityHQ hoodie, with the signature duck in the corner and design on the back, and some long, patterned pj pants, colored dark blue and black with a floral design. They were thin enough to wear in the warm heat, which was perfect for you. You looked tired but didn't really feel that way, like your eyes were sewn open from adrenaline and happiness.

"Good morning, everyone" You chuckle, "Alex just won an award, feeling good! He, Cellbit and Roier got some drinks and have been watching TV on the couch, so sorry if you can hear them. I closed the door just in case but don't mind any shouting or music"

Your chat explodes with messages, congratulating you, even though you lost in your category, and spamming hearts and heart hands emojis. Someone sends in a small donation, asking for clarification why they were at your house.

"Oh, Alex didn't wanna drive all the way back to his place and he had his car parked here from earlier. He drove the other two and we all left together. They're staying the night" You nod, clarifying with a little bit of lying, not wanting to slip up.

You'd known for a while that Alex was just a secretive person over the smallest things, and he didn't know why. You were totally fine being open about your relationship with friends, but made sure to respect boundaries for him. He reassured you in his own panic that he wasn't embarrassed to be with you and didn't want to hide his love for you often.

He explained it in simplest terms as he was weirdly secretive and he didn't want his weirdo stans attacking you or only watching you for him, he didn't want to ruin your fanbase that you built from the ground up. You'd been friends since forever, a good percentage (if not all, then most) of your fans also watched Quackity's content, which kind of made sense to you, but you didn't question it.

"But yeah, it was fun, just like... there were so many people, and so much was happening all at once and shit. I'm just trying to calm down and get tired." You lightly smile, taking a bite of one of your cookies. "I'm so proud of everyone who won and everyone who was nominated, good night for everyone"

You sit and talk to your chat for a while, occasionally listening to the trio's laughter outside your office. Before you can even snap your head around to inform whoever entered that you were live, they were already speaking, slightly laughing, and stumbling.

"Babe, oh my God, I'm so sorry! I accidentally dropped one of your plates in the kitchen and it fucking shattered everywhere, I'm so sorry. I cleaned it up, I just wanted to tell you than wait for you to notice and make you mad, I'm sorry, Y/n/n"

Your jaw hangs slightly agape, and you stare with a silent expression. You slowly turn back to your stream, the chat absolutely exploding with messages. You saw probably a hundred first time chatters even making an expression about it.

"Lex, I'm live" You speak between your teeth, muting your mic. "Ah- uh, it's, it's fine"

He quickly regains his composure, staring over at you, then looking over to your PC, showing that you were a thousand percent live and five thousand people heard him say that. By the morning, it'd be all over Twitter and YouTube Shorts and TikTok, people were already clipping it.

"Shit"

"Alex, holy shit"

The two of you sit in silence for a minute, trying to rationalize what to do. Cell and Roier bust into the office as well, seeing both of you silent before asking, where you both talk over each other very loudly to try and explain.

They both look over to your monitors, confirming you were live. They both laugh in a light hearted way, looking to Quackity.

"You're cooked, dude"

"Rest in peace"

"You say that like I'm embarrassed to be with them, I mean, it's not like that... I think. Y/n, are you embarrassed to be with me? I'm not embarrassed to be with you, I wanna post pictures of us on adventures and experiencing shit so people can see us for us and what we are-"

"My brother in Christ" You sigh with a chuckle, rubbing your temples. "It's said and done, it's fine. And no, I'm not embarrassed to be with you" You turn back to your stream, unmuting yourself under the red LED lights and lamp on your desk.

You sigh and shrug before speaking, throwing your hands up halfway in defense.

"Y/s/n real"

[chvnnie]

Jisung couldn’t wait. His knees bounced, trying to distract himself with the track in front of him. Clicking away with his mouse, letting the unheard music play over and over again in his headphones.

Today was the day. Everything would change after two pm. He tried to busy himself around the house; cleaning the bedroom, doing some laundry. Even went out for a jog. So out of character for him.

But when something this big is happening, he can’t control how…different he acts.

SMUT — MINORS DNI

It’s thirty past two. His phone is dry (it doesn’t help that he checked it not even a minute ago). Jisung is starting to get antsy; why hasn’t he heard anything? Have you heard anything? What is taking so long that you can’t even shoot him a quick text. Fuck, he’d take even a thumbs up emoji right now.

Restart the song. Tweak it. Wait. Wait, and wait, and wait—

Until there’s a tap on his shoulder. The headphones are all but torn from his skull, whipping his chair around quickly to come face to face with you.

Jisung’s reaction makes you giggle, hands lovingly cupping his chubby cheeks. “Hi, did I scare you?”

Eyes like saucers, he shakes his head. “Did you find out?”

Your teeth dig into your bottom lip, corners turning up into a soft smile. It’s been hard for the both of you, waiting for this clearance. The restless nights, a heavy pit in your stomach that you can’t extinguish. All of it is either painful or uncomfortable, leaving you lying on your belly as you cry into your pillow. Jisung so gently stroking your back, reassuring you that it’s over soon.

The timer has ticked. Time is up.

“I still might be a little sensitive.” You say softly, pushing strands of hair that had fallen out of his ponytail back. “But—“

Jisung has spent all day wasting time. Trying to get the clock to move a little fucking faster. He can’t take anymore waiting. Hands on your hips, he tugs you into his lap, the chair leaning back with your combined weight. Your lips clash, a quick but affectionate motion of tongue and teeth making you both groan into each other. The kisses of relief, of joy. Of knowing that finally, finally the two of you can love each other in ways you only know how.

“Where is she?” Jisung breaks the kiss long enough to ask, though his lips never leave your body. They pepper gently across your jawline, body trembling in his hold. “Do I need to call my mom?”

You giggle. “I already dropped her off with Minho. You’re not the only one who needs this, Sung.”

Four months. Four months and some change since he last touched you, felt you. Back then she wasn’t here yet, your belly warm under his hands as he gently rocked into you. There were so many tears that night, from you and him. Kisses that neither of you could get enough of, enjoying your last moments before you wouldn’t get a chance like this for a while.

While is up.

His grin is contagious, head rolling back against his chair as he chuckles happily. Fuck, he’s so excited. He can’t explain how giddy this makes him — it’s like the first time all over again, but better.

So much fucking better.

“He’ll keep her all night?”

You raise a brow, chuckling as you lean down. It’s your turn to pepper his face with kisses. “Or until we go pick her up. She’s only next door. Why? Did you plan for this to go all night?”

“Maybe. Is that a problem?”

“Hm, no.” Your teeth scrap against his neck, bringing a low moan from him. “But we better get started if that’s the case.”

Seconds. Maybe five. That’s how long it takes before you’re pinned to the ground, a fit of giggles as your partner buries his face in your neck. He’s scrunching up your dress, hands exploring your perfect body. Stretch marks and all — you’re the most beautiful person he’s ever seen.

Jisung is so lucky to love you.

Fingers hook around the waistband of your panties right as he looks up at you. Hair fanned around you, bright eyes and a lazy smile. God, he’s crazy about you.

“I’ll take my time later.” He promises, moving the fabric slowly down your thighs. “But right now I just need to feel you.”

You cup his face again, fingers creeping back to release his shaggy hair. It’s frames his face perfectly; chubby cheeks and galaxies in his eyes. The most wonderful person, partner, father. And he’s all yours.

“And I you, my love.”

Jisung smiles before he kisses you, quickly removing your clothes and pushing down his sweats. He grabs the base of his cock, pushing it through your folds slowly to collect your slick. Fuck, you’re so warm, so—

You’re wincing in the kiss when he’s near your entrance, fingers clutching onto your hair.

“Is this alright?” He breaks from your lips to whisper.

You nod quickly, taking a deep breath. “Just be gentle.”

“Of course, petal.” Kisses on the corners of your lips, nose nuzzling against your cheeks. “Tell me if it’s too much.”

A kiss to his cheek is your response. An encouragement to go ahead. Why take it any slower?

Eyes locked, Jisung aligns his cock with your center once more. When you smile softly, that’s when he begins to push in. It’s a slow movement, careful to not cause too much damage as he stretches you out again. But also to take in this feeling, remember how much he fucking loves it. How close to you it makes him feel, how comforting it is to be inside you.

“You feel so nice.” He whispers, smiling down at you. “Is this okay?”

You return the smile. “You can go faster if you’d like.”

Fuck, he’d love to. His hips quicken just slightly, not stopping until he literally has no choice but to. Your jaw drops lazily, pretty moans spilling from your lips. Walls fluttering around him.

Your body is like home. God, how he’s longed for you.

“Fuck.” You whimper, eyes fluttering shut. “Sung, so good—“

“I know.” He says breathlessly, hands flexing around your hips. There are tears stinging his eyes — in all the ways he knows to love you, this is one of the most raw. The most beautiful. The most powerful. It’s earth shattering to be here again, his either chest caving in. It’s the best feeling in the world, one that brings tears to his eyes. “You’re divine.”

He needs a moment. To savor this, to enjoy the feeling of being so deeply connected to you. This. This is love in its purest form.

How could he waste this time?

Tears roll down his cheeks, dropping off his chin on your face. The feeling has your eyes opening, brows narrowing in concern as you quickly wipe his tears away. “Jisung—“

“I’m alright.” He reassures you quickly. “I just—fuck, I just adore you.”

For you, he’d steal the stars.

“I love you.” You whisper, lip trembling as your own tears start to form. “Fuck, you’re my everything, Jisung.”

It’s time to move. His cock is begging him, needing to feel the friction. To feel more of you. Slowly, he pulls out, but not too far. He wants this fragment of time to last.

“And you mine, my love.”

There’s no way either of you will last too long. You’re both well aware of it without even speaking it — it’s been too long. Too much time spent away from each other. It’s like the first time all over again, but in such a different reality. The first time as parents, the first time after such a long time.

There’s more than one first. How magical is it that you get to experience it all with Jisung?

He’s starting to sweat, hands on either side of your head as he picks up the speed just a little bit. There’s a fuzzy feeling in his center, the rope tightening as he gets closer and closer to euphoria.

A hand slides under one of his. Fingers flexing around it. When he looks at you, everything just makes sense.

“With me?”

It’s such an easy answer. “Always.”

[thecynthh]

smart ass - M.S

synopsis - matt’s not doing to well with his schooling but is determined to get his degree and pass his classes. one essay which is a huge part of their grade haunts him with a bad mark, luckily y/n is willing to him him

notes - college setting, no smut yet, more of matt in the next part, hopefully a long series !

author notes - heyyyyy so this is my first series i guess, i hope you guys like this and i promise not to take too long with the next part. love all u babes and j hope u have a nice new years if you celebrate it!

——————————————————————————

——————————————————————————

a notification appears on my laptop, new grade from Ms.Garcia. shrugs and groans rung throughout the lecture hall, clicking on the notification a website pops up onto my desktop.

*97%,A+ good job y/n keep up the good work*

what were people so upset about, i thought to myself. my shoulder gets tapped by the person beside me.

“oh my god this old woman just hates me,” madi cries from beside me. i peak over at madi’s screen seeing a whopping 54%. i dont understand how that happens to a girl like madi, she was so smart and didn’t deserve that grade. i knew she didnt deserve that, i read her essay myself !

my hand lands on hers, “ okay that’s actually insane for you to be getting a 54, your essay was so good?!?”

everyone's head shoots up to the women below the many rows of seats, “so as you see at your grades only ms y/n got a good grade. i'm willing to let everyone else rewrite their exam and hand it in by next week if you do not like your grade.” the decrepit woman just packs her bag after saying that and begins to leave the room. everyone replicated her and began to pack up their belongings, including me.

madi and i leave the large space and stand in the hall just outside. “oh fuck, i promised nick id meet him after our class, ill see you later babes.” she ghosts a kiss on my cheek as i do the same to her greeting her goodbye. i grab my phone to check the time but to mostly look busy before i head somewhere else.

large footsteps creep up behind me and i hear my name being called. “y/n? thats your name right?” a man around 5’8 is standing in front of me. a little startled i take a second to reply.

“uhm yes that's me” i say replying to him. i notice his outfit, simple black cargos with a baggy sweater over it saying RANSOM with angel wings projecting off of the word.

“s-so i was wondering if you were willing to help me with the essay, you know, maybe study the material more?” he says while slightly looking down and looking very nervous.

“oh yea! of course i’ll bring over my notes and materials that i got from Ms.Garcia. does friday work for you? i have work tomorrow so i’ll be busy after class…” i cringe at my own sentence.

i knew who matt was, he was quite the popular guy and a social media influencer who made a lot of money. he didn’t have to exactly work a normal job like i did. although i don’t blame him, i’ve watched some of their videos and if i’m being honest they are pretty funny. i’ve slowly started to keep up with them ever since i was introduced to them by madi at an influencer party where she and the triplets got invited.

“mhm friday works, you can swing by my house, my brothers won’t be home that night. thanks for this by the way.” he says with his face softening, he definitely seemed more relaxed after i said yes.

“okay then! it’s a date- oh well not really a date, but i mean date as in like… oh you get it.” i trip over my words and finally take in his features. he has a beautiful jawline and scruffy that would feel so good on my-

he chuckles at my mishap “yeah it’s a date just lemme give you my number i’ll text you the address soon.” i present my phone to him as he begins to type out his phone number into his phone, naming his self matt s with a panda emoji next to it.

he’s still typing a little after he names himself, thinking nothing of it i just let him place my phone back into my hand at him as i wave to him bidding him goodbye.

i let my shoulders relax after i see him turn a corner and is out of my line of sight. god why am i so bad at talking to guys, that was straight embarrassing, i thought to myself.

——————

thursday afternoon

madi and i met for coffee after our classes were finished, we caught up ate some small pastries and drank coffee, the usual. but once i told her about what happened yesterday….

“YOU WHAT??” madi says, nearly snorting out her coffee from her nose.

“i agreed to help tutor matt so he can pass this class” i repeat to her seeing zero problem with this.

“so you wanna tutor him, at his house, without his brothers home, at night.” madi tells me in a “matter of fact” tone

“well if you say it like that it sounds like i’m dancing with the devil over here.” i say sarcastically still not seeing the problem.

“you. matt. alone. even after what happened at the party?” madi retorts bringing up the party again.

“okay i still have no fucking clue what you mean by matt was eyefucking me at that party, i was enjoying myself and he was more or less just observing everyone at the party.” god just hearing myself make me realize what is happening.

“you know, just good luck and please don’t be so naive, i don’t want you to get hurt.” madi says in such a sincere tone.

“i’m glad you are at least okay with the whole idea of it, but i gotta go, i have a shift in an hour.” i tell her collecting my things, she stands up and ghosts a kiss on my cheak.

“kk love ya girl, i’ll see you tomorrow.” madi says waving me off before i become late for my shift.

let’s just hope she has at least a little bit of faith in me.

authors note - YAYAYAYAYAY IM SO EXCITED FOR THIS !!!

[silverofthunder]

☆ (the beauty of) your world ☆

Papa Emeritus IV x GN Reader

summary: With a smile on your lips, you just listened to him, enjoyed how his voice seemed to reach somewhere deep and touch you in a way you couldn’t quite explain. It was truly beautiful and you could swear that if you hadn’t already fallen for Copia it had certainly happened now, right in this moment.

content: 2.8k words, mystery (kind of), drama, fantasy, romance, fluff, SFW (i think?)

♡♡ part 1 ♡♡ part 2 ♡♡ part 3 ♡♡

Fourth part already, wow! Now I have finally started to plan this story so it might help keeping this all together - hopefully, at least. This is my fave part so far, it was so easy to write this. Enjoy!

The time seemed to pass way too slowly as it usually did on Fridays. You had checked the clock too many times and picked your phone up several times to scroll social media so you could have something to do when there were no customers to be seen. However, there wasn’t much to see in social media apps – only a few posts about weekend plans or cute photos of pets and then only random recommended, boring stuff that you just ignored.

You leaned against the counter with sigh and locked the phone, putting it aside and let then your gaze to take in the shop. It didn’t take long before a sound of buzzing got your attention and you picked your phone back up, seeing the notification of a new message arrived hovering on the screen. Your heart made a happy jump in your chest as you saw Copia to be the sender and quickly you unlocked the phone, opening the message.

Meet me by the abandoned church at 10 pm. - C

Smile rose to your lips instantly, excitement hopping up several levels within you. Your curiosity was aroused, too, so you had to reply and ask what that was about. It didn’t take long before Copia replied with ”you’ll see it, then” and a winking emoji. You let out a light chuckle, mind already starting to ponder all the options of what would await for you. The abandoned church itself was a cool sight to see and you had done your exploration there a few times but surely there was going to be something more.

”Whoever got you smiling like that must be a special one.” Your co-worker’s, Olivia’s, voice broke you out of your thoughts and you quickly unlocked your phone, turning your head to see Olivia looking at you with amusement.

”Yeah, he is,” you admitted and Olivia seemed to study you closely.

”It’s fairly new thing, isn’t it?”

”Yes,” you answered briefly as you really didn’t want to share much about your personal life. Olivia was nice and all but you wouldn’t exactly call her your friend.

”If he is a good one, please, tell me where did you find him? I’ve gotten so sick and tired of the assholes who just disappear after one meeting or who don’t know how to treat a woman respectfully,” Olivia said and you could almost sense her frustration.

She had talked about her… acquaintances several times and it seemed that she had been really unlucky with guys but you really couldn’t indentify with her situation. You had never looked for anyone, you had enjoyed your single life until Copia had just appeared in your life.

”Maybe you should just stop looking for someone,” you suggested, shrugging and then grinning. ”Worked for me, at least.”

Olivia didn’t look impressed, her one brow rising up.

”So I should just wait and see if I happen to run into someone in one day and then he magically falls in love with me?”

You chuckled, nodding. ”Yes. It honestly can happen.”

”I doubt it,” Olivia stated, though now there was a small smile tucking at the corners of her mouth. ”How did you meet your guy, by the way?”

You grinned, shaking your head.

”Trust me, you don’t want to know that.”

Olivia looked like she wanted to ask more but you shook your head again and she got the message. You weren’t going to tell her more. Not now, at least.

You were a bit late as you had taken too much time figuring out what to wear for the evening. Eventually you had settled for a button up shirt and some loose-fitting trousers with a long, warm coat, scarf and your favorite mittens. Copia was already waiting for you, leaning against the handrails in front of the church, a guitar case on the stairs by his feet.

”Sorry, I’m a bit late,” you apologized, smiling at him as you climbed a few stairs up.

”Don’t worry, I have all the time in the world,” he said, pushing himself off the handrails and taking a hold of your hand and leaning in to kiss your cheek.

”What’s that for?” you had to ask, pointing the guitar case. ”I didn’t knew you play a guitar.”

”I didn’t play for a long time but I felt it would be nice to do that for a special occasion.”

”And this is that special occasion?”

”Yes,” Copia said, smile wide, and picked up the case, still holding your other hand. ”Let’s go.”

You let Copia lead you away from the stairs, taking then turn to right and head behind the church. It was kind of hard to see when there were no working lights around on your path but you trusted that Copia, or vampires in general, had a good night vision. You tried your best at not to trip on any branches of bushes or anything else that grew or were on the ground as you walked forward and realized that maybe your choice of trousers and coat wasn’t the best.

Copia took you all the way to the back of the church and then continued forward where there seemed to be some smaller building. You walked past that, and then you could see another, a bigger building rising before you. Copia stopped by the metallic staircase and motioned you to go first.

”Is this safe?” you asked, eyeing the stairs suspiciously.

”Yes,” Copia said softly, gently patting your back and urging you forward.

You started climbing, the metal under your feet giving a small noises with every step. It was kind of unnerving but knowing that Copia was there with you, made you feel safer. With Copia’s instructions you climbed until you reached the roof and when you turned to look at towards the church, the sight that greeted you was so pretty. You could see the city spread out before you in all its night glory, the lights shining in different shades near and far, the moon casting its light above you.

”Wow,” you said in awe. ”I had no idea that you can see the city from here.”

”Well, now you know,” Copia said, stepping beside you and putting the guitar case down. ”This is one of my favorite places, I have spent so many nights here.”

”I can see why.”

You took a glance at Copia, seeing him looking at you with a soft, happy expression.

”What?” you asked, now properly turning to Copia.

”I thought that if I ever found someone… special I would bring them here,” Copia spoke softly, a dreamy smile on his lips. ”This is a part of my world – the quiet, oftentimes lonely nights. But seeing all this made me feel less lonely, no matter how odd it sounds.”

Something tugged at your heartstrings and you instinctively moved closer to Copia and wrapped your arms around him to comfort him. He relaxed into the embrace and for a while you just stood there, in silence.

”So this is a date, then?” you eventually broke the silence, pulling slightly back so that you could look at Copia.

”Sí, obviously.”

You smiled, moving your hand and giving him a light, playful shove to the upper arm.

”Such a romantic,” you teased, making Copia laugh, a proper, deep laugh this time. You loved the sound of it, your smile only growing wider. It always felt good when you made him laugh.

”Always have been,” he said, maybe half-jokingly, then leaning in and placing a kiss on your forehead. ”Now, sit down and get ready for some guitar tunes.”

You didn’t have to be told twice so you sat down, eager to hear Copia playing. While you waited Copia to take his time for getting ready, you let your gaze admire the night lights, and hoped that you had taken your notebook and pen with you. It wasn’t typical for you to leave home without them but this time you had thought that you would rather enjoy the moment as it was, without any distraction.

”Here,” Copia soon said, your gaze falling to the worn-out notebook he was handing to you. ”There’s some pieces of lyrics I’ve written.”

Surprised you took the notebook, examining the cover. There seemed to be some symbol on it, like it was embedded on it but due to darkness and wear and tear you couldn’t make out exactly what it was. Just as you hesitantly opened the notebook, Copia played the first chords, and you removed your other mitten and took your phone out of your pocket, putting the flashlight on and pointing it towards the page. Words were written in black ink, handwriting looking pretty and for a moment you just admired it.

Copia was now playing properly, the soft, slow melody filling your ears and you started to read the words. The longer you read and the more you listened Copia’s playing, it felt like the words on the pages and the melody matched well sometimes. Whether it was intentional or just a coincidence, it was beautiful nonetheless. Then you closed your eyes, for a moment just focusing on the sound of the guitar, letting the music paint a picture in your head. Sadness, longing, hope.

It didn’t take a long before you were caught off guard by a low, sweet voice. You opened your eyes, turning to look at Copia completely in awe. You had had no idea that he could also sing but it certainly was a nice surprise. With a smile on your lips, you just listened to him, enjoyed how his voice seemed to reach somewhere deep and touch you in a way you couldn’t quite explain. It was truly beautiful and you could swear that if you hadn’t already fallen for Copia it had certainly happened now, right in this moment.

When Copia eventually stopped singing and played the last chords, you put your phone and Copia’s notebook down and plunged then forward to smash you lips against his. Copia let out a surprised noise, then melting into the kiss, his other hand cupping your cheek. You balanced yourself by leaning against Copia’s shoulders with your hands as your mouths explored one another slowly. There were so many things you hoped you could say but didn’t have words for so you had to try to convey them all through the kiss.

Way too soon air became needed for you so reluctantly you pulled away, searching for Copia’s gaze, your heart beating faster inside your chest.

”That was amazing,” you breathed out, knowing it was quite an understatement but right now you had no better words to offer. Copia grinned.

”I’m glad you liked it.”

”Liked it? I loved it!” you stated emphatically. ”You really have a beautiful voice and the lyrics… Wow, I’m impressed.”

Now Copia was basically beaming and you couldn’t help but lean to place a quick kiss on the tip of his nose. It made him chuckle and you felt the sound of it in your heart, the warmth spreading all over you.

”You definitely need to play and sing more,” you said smiling. ”Have you ever played for the audience?”

Copia nodded. ”Si, but it’s been decades since the last time. For some reason I lost a bit of the spark to do that even tough it was fun. But I think that tonight I might have gotten a part of that spark back.”

The way Copia’s eyes shined even in the darkness of the night, made you feel so happy.

”Are you implying that I inspired you to pick up the guitar and start singing again?”

Copia flashed you a crooked smile, raising his other brow.

”Well, you’re an artist yourself, so you probably understand how the inspiration works.”

You nodded, lifting your hand up to caress Copia’s cheek.

”Oh, I know that very well.”

Copia leaned against your touch, smiling sweetly, and you were so glad that he chose this night to spread out his heart and show more of himself. This was a perfect date, if you were honest. While you would have been completely fine with the basic movie or dinner date, this seemed more… you and Copia if that made sense. You weren’t even sure how dinner date would even work with a vampire.

”What’s going on in that sweet head of yours?” Copia interrupted your train of thoughts and you shook your head.

”It’s silly…” you started, lowering your gaze. ”I was just thinking how perfect this date has been. And I was wondering how it would have worked if we had had a dinner date instead.”

Copia moved his hand under you chin, gently making you to look at him.

You hummed, running your fingers along Copia’s cheeks, stopping right upon his upper lip. Copia’s lips parted slightly and you could see the fangs coming out, a wind-like movement passing you before settling into a warm vibration around you.

”That’s not silly,” he spoke softly. ”I’m happy that this has been a great date for you and I have also enjoyed this so much. And what comes for the dinner date… Well, I can eat human food but it doesn’t do much, you know. It would have been a bit weird for me but I would have managed it, of course. But it didn’t feel right for us so I wanted to do this.”

”With you I feel more like a human,” Copia said quietly, caressing your chin with his thumb. ”But I also hate these vampire aspects less.”

Smiling, you leaned closer to Copia’s face, watching closely how his other eye changed its color to red, how his nose twitched and you felt that odd satisfaction deep down as you knew that your scent was causing that. Naturally you had to close the gap between you, capture Copia’s lips in a kiss again, your mouths easily finding a perfect, slow rhythm. The night was cool and his lips felt cold against yours but you felt so warm within. It wasn’t a full, blazing fire but something more gentle, lingering – like a fluffy blanket wrapped around you. You hoped you never would have to let go of that feeling.

With a fluttering heart you pulled then back, smile matching to Copia’s as your gazes met. There was so much to see in those beautiful mismatched eyes, whole books of stories, remnants of the long life lived and you were already so lost in the vastness of it, the world you were now the highlight of.

The next thing seemed to happen in a blink of an eye and you found yourself to be pinned down against the cold surface of the roof, guitar now resting on the side and Copia hovering above you, his gaze taking in the sight of you. Gently he took a hold of you hand, pulling the mitten away and bringing your wrist close to his lips, then placing a light kiss on it, making you shudder.

”Could you feed off from me?” you asked, feeling how Copia tensed for a moment.

”Now?” he asked, confused, and you nodded, surprising yourself a bit by that.

”Yes, if you want to.”

Copia stared at you as if he was looking for any signs that could tell you weren’t actually serious. Then he inhaled deeply your scent, your wrist still close to his lips and you could see how tempting your offer had been. Then he shook his head, placing another kiss to your wrist.

”As much I would like to do that, now’s not the right moment,” he said, letting go of your hand, leaning closer and cupping you face. ”I’m not ready for that yet.”

You felt slight disappointment tying its knot within you but this wasn’t all about you or what you wanted. You didn’t want to drive Copia away by being too eager or persistent.

”It’s okay,” you said, offering Copia a reassuring smile. ”I can wait.”

A half-smile passed Copia’s lips as he run his fingers along the side of your face.

”It would hurt no matter how careful I would be. Until the venom kicks in, at least.”

”It can’t be that bad, right?” you sighed, and Copia made a face at that.

”Well, it doesn’t hurt as much as turning into a vampire but it still hurts.”

You pondered his words for a while, trying to imagine different kind of pain levels but of course you couldn’t grasp the reality as you had no idea how it would be. The idea of him biting you, feeding off from you, was still intriguing and you weren’t going to take back your offer.

”Okay, enough of this serious talk…” you said, changing the subject. ”Could we leave now? It’s getting a bit cold.”

Copia was instantly on his feet, extending his hand to you, his usual warm smile returning to his lips.

”Sure, I’ll walk you home.”

taglist: @nijiru

[sorrowfulrosebud]

Can u make kiribaku x male reader fluff

(I’m so sorry I wrote this so late, college and Uni stuff has been kicking my ass 😢)

Genre: major angst, fluffy at the end I think?

Content: in which you and your boyfriends have some quality cuddle time after a bad mission

TW: child death, fire, bombs, explosions, near death experiences

The steady tick of the kitchen clock was a constant noise in the back of your mind. Its smooth tick proved to be a double-edged sword though; it’s meticulous rhythm face you something to focus on, but every second that passed made you grow more anxious.

Eijiro had sent you a text message earlier saying that they were on their way back from their patrol, but the lack of kisses and silly emojis at the end of the message proved to you that it was a bad shift. Even Katsuki, who is usually diligent in letting you know when he would grace you again, didn’t drop a text. It was incredibly out of character for the both of them, so you knew you would appreciate what you did.

Your almost Olympian sized bath tub was filled to the brim with warm, soapy water with Katsuki’s favourite bath salts and Eijiro’s favourite muscle soak. Fresh towels were on the radiator heating up, and their favourite pyjamas were folded neatly on your bed.

You were pulled from your thoughts by the door opening. Your two muscular boyfriends were almost silent, eyes downcast and smiles all gone. Instead of hugging them right away, you gave them a second to remove their hero gear and trudge after you to the kitchen.

Katsuki was utterly solemn, and you knew that look. It was the look of failure, the exact same look at the battle of All Might and All for One all those years ago.

With a tentative grip, you gently caressed Katsuki’s arm to see if he would shake you off. Upon a slight flinch but no other reaction, you slid your way down to his hand and squeezed softly. He didn’t look up at you, but the gritted teeth and wet cheeks told you everything he needed to know.

You closed the gap, your arms wrapped around him in a one-sided hug as he trembled and sobbed into your shoulders. No effort to comfort him was made; he hated it when you told him that it would all be okay. He needed some time, and you were more than welcome to give him that.

Eijiro crept his way over and joined you, resting his head against yours and Katsuki’s shoulders. He also trembled in both of your grips. All three of you stood like that, soft touches, feather like kisses, the smell of smoke and sadness poisoning the air.

Eijiro was the first to stop trembling. With a grimy arm, he wiped his tears away and turned his focus back to you.

“I-it was so.. so awful, babe! There was so much smoke, and children, and villains, and I-“ he let out another sob and nestled himself back into your grip.

You held him tightly to ground him, both of your boys dampening your shirt. Katsuki stilled before letting out a breath.

“It was an attack in Kyoto prefecture, right in the middle of a giant shopping centre. There were so many villains, everywhere you looked, the bastards were lurkin’. A massive fuckin’ bomb was let off, like one of my Howitzer impacts. Kids were separated from their families,” he choked out, still not looking at anyone.

“We tried to get the fuckers, but they vanished outta the fuckin’ air. So we decided to evacuate everyone that we could find. There was so much fuckin’ fire, it was so freakin’ difficult to breath. But damnit, there was -“ Katsuki’s voice cracked. Eijiro rubbed his shoulder soothingly as he took over the story.

“We found a family who was missing a child. They were the last people to be evacuated, so we went back in to find the kid…

The kid.. oh my fucking god, the blood,” Eijiro whimpered.

“He was buried under rubble, hardly breathing at all. He somehow saw us and even though he was fucking dying, his face lit up when he saw us. He managed to find the strength to tell us we were our favourite heroes,” Eijiro sobbed bitterly.

“The little fucker, he knew he was dying. He told us- oh fucking god. He told us that we shouldn’t beat ourselves up over his death. Even though he was so tired, that it was the biggest honour of his life to have been saved by us,” Eijiro was gasping for air from his tears. Katsuki looked up.

“It never gets easier. Having to hand over the corpses of civilians we.. that I failed. I just… I never anticipated the next one to be so small,” he whimpered.

The tears were flowing from your eyes at the news. You hugged your boys even tighter, and that’s how you stayed. Swaying in the kitchen as you clung to each other for comfort.

You were the first to break the group. With a gentle hand, you cupped a cheek from each of your boyfriends before grabbing both hands and leading them to the bathroom.

Although there were still a few hiccups, both of your boyfriends looked as happy as they could have been. You squeezed each hand and looked at them.

“I’ll go and make you both something to eat. Please, just relax and try to enjoy the bath. I know it’s been a hard day, so take it easy,” you pleaded.

“…okay. We’ll try,” Katsuki mumbled. Eijiro nodded. You smiled at them before taking off to the kitchen.

==================================

Katsuki was done first. He plodded down the stairs, his undercut looking freshly shaved. He smelled a load better, but the eye bags gave his mental state away. Still, you were pleased that he tried to freshen up a little.

Eijiro trotted down next, seemingly in a better mood. He gave a wan smile as he saw the plate of sandwiches on the table. Your boys never ate much after a bad mission like this, but you wanted them to eat something nutritious.

Katsuki and Eijiro each nibbled on a sandwich as they sat on the couch as you looked on with love. You were glad they tried eating, even if it was only to please you. After they were finished, you led them to the bedroom where the bed was freshly made. Both of your boyfriends crashed on the bed, seemingly not having the energy to crawl under the sheets. You tugged it from under them and rearranged them so they could both cuddle you comfortably.

It was so warm under the blanket that if it wasn’t for the awful mission they just had, they would have easily succumbed to sleep. However, they substituted sleep for burying their faces into the warmth’s of your neck. Soft trembles filled the room and shook the bed, as you stroked your hero’s’ hair and crooned softly until they fell dead asleep in your neck.

No matter how many times they would fall apart, you would be there to put them back together.

[sophietv]

The Ultimate Thread Of Koincidences (2020) Part 2

Ok, I exceeded the pictures limit. So here's part two of all the Koincidences I could find for 2020.

If you haven't seen the other part, I highly suggest you do before reading this one:

Fall of 2019 (X)

2020 Part 1 (X)

As always, I'll include links to posts about specific part of Kaylor Lore to give more context. So when there's a (X) beside something it's to give you more information and help you understand better.

July 23rd:

Where we left off.

Karlie also posted that day a video for Kode With Klossy with a code. And in the code you can read really well : "Easter Egg"

July 24th:

Folklore is out.

So many references to Karlie in there.

But two things worth mentioning:

That line.

Source: Kwyw

And the fact that baby is the 13th word after Levi in cardigan:

Also. Shoutout to the Cardigan's merch that has three stars just like Karlie's Express bomber's jacket (from 2017).

Thanks Vegasborn on Twitter for finding this.

Another thing worth mentioning is that in Big Sur, there's a vineyard called Folktale and the font is really close to Folklore's.

Still July 24th

Kimby post a bunch of pictures of Big Sur on Instagram

July 25th:

Kimby likes a Folklore meme on Instagram:

AND

Karlie likes a post of Christian Siriano that says that mentions Taylor.

ALSO

This is the day of the infamous : "OMG did you just called me "daddy"?" tweet.

July 26th:

Martha Hunt does a post wearring a Cardigan with the caption "Peter losing Wendy"

Karlie liked that post

July 27th:

Derek did a post about Cardigan on Twitter. (I can no longer find it).

July 30th

Taylor comment a tweet with two fairies emojis....

Just like Karlie's caption on her post dancing in a Cardigan, 13 days before Folklore's release...

Also.

Karlie does a post on Twitter wich is a recall of a 2015 photoshoot, where she posed as Betty Crocker...

With the caption:

August 2020:

August 3rd:

Karlie's Birthday. Exile becomes a Radio single.

This is one of the two tracks where William Bowery has writting credits.

August 17th:

Betty becomes a radio single.

Still in Karlie's birthday month.

It's the second track where William Bowery has writting credits on.

August 18th:

The Lakes official lyrics video is out.

"I don't belong, and my beloved neither do you"

August 20th

Karlie does a YouTube video on Klossy.

Lots to unpack in this video.

Let's start with how it tied to The Lakes and those lyrics.

One of the books she presents is nammed "Beloved".

Also. Behind her, the firs clok on the wall is the same as the clock in Cardigan's MV, without the mechanism and glass.

And another very cute Koincidence is this:

Novembre 2020:

Novembre 13th:

Taylor has her Musicians on Musicians interview with Paul McCartney. (X)

So many interesting things in that interview...

We learn that Taylor was in LA when lockdown happened... and so was Karlie.

2. This whole part about Peace. She is litteraly describing her relationship with Karlie and the Love Blackout.

Swift: That’s the best. I want to hear current things, too, to update me on where the artist is. I was wondering about lyrics, and where you were lyrically when you were making this record. Because when I was making Folklore, I went lyrically in a total direction of escapism and romanticism. And I wrote songs imagining I was, like, a pioneer woman in a forbidden love affair [laughs]. I was completely …

McCartney: Was this “I want to give you a child”? Is that one of the lines?

Swift: Oh, that’s a song called “Peace.”

McCartney: “Peace,” I like that one.

Swift: “Peace” is actually more rooted in my personal life. I know you have done a really excellent job of this in your personal life: carving out a human life within a public life, and how scary that can be when you do fall in love and you meet someone, especially if you’ve met someone who has a very grounded, normal way of living. I, oftentimes, in my anxieties, can control how I am as a person and how normal I act and rationalize things, but I cannot control if there are 20 photographers outside in the bushes and what they do and if they follow our car and if they interrupt our lives. I can’t control if there’s going to be a fake weird headline about us in the news tomorrow.

McCartney: So how does that go? Does your partner sympathize with that and understand?

Swift: Oh, absolutely.

McCartney: They have to, don’t they?

Swift: But I think that in knowing him and being in the relationship I am in now, I have definitely made decisions that have made my life feel more like a real life and less like just a storyline to be commented on in tabloids. Whether that’s deciding where to live, who to hang out with, when to not take a picture — the idea of privacy feels so strange to try to explain, but it’s really just trying to find bits of normalcy. That’s what that song “Peace” is talking about. Like, would it be enough if I could never fully achieve the normalcy that we both crave? Stella always tells me that she had as normal a childhood as she could ever hope for under the circumstances.

3. That part where Taylor has many questions about fame and having kids.

Swift: Did that give you a lot of anxiety when you had kids, when you felt like all this pressure that’s been put on me is spilling over onto them, that they didn’t sign up for it? Was that hard for you?

Novembre 17th:

Karlie announces her pregnancy online.

She also wears the Amulette de Cartier.

Novembre 22nd:

Taylor does the biggest lie of all time.

There's also the Swift-Kloss Family Crest in the frame on the table.

VERY important piece of Kaylor Lore (X)

Novembre 24th:

Did Karlie just announced the first re-record? (she did announce Folklore in advance as well as Midnights and Speak Now and so much more).

Also eye theory.

Novembre 25th:

Long Pond Studio Session is released on Disney +

There's A LOT of hints to Karlie in there:

She wears the same boots that she wore at Big Sur.

She wears a ring called "Soleil" (sun).

Almost the same as she wore in Cardigan MV

And she wears a daisy shirt

Another interesting thing. Is that part where she talks about who William Bowery is.

And Jack is like : "I thought you were doing a bit when you said "Joe and I wrote a song"... I thought it was gonna be like when people write cute songs about their animals "

Karlie's dog is nammed Joe...

Decembre 2020:

Decembre 1st:

Spotify wrap is out. And in Taylor's there's two adult cats and a baby cat.

And a post-it saying : It still feels like March.

(Levi was born on March 11th)

Also the post it seems to point where the possible due date.

The Grammy's were pushed back only in January, so she had no way to know they would happen in March yet.

Source: KwYw

There you have it! All the Koincidences I could find for 2020.

If there's some missing, don't hesitate to tell me so I can add it.

Here's the two masterposts that hepled me make this one: (X) (X)

[butlersbabe]

Austin Butler x Reader— Party of Three

words: 2.6k

warning: uh not sure there’s any.

Part Two ❤️

“Elvis Movie’s Leading Man; Austin Butler and Girlfriend, y/n l/n, Announce New Addition via Instagram”

It wasn’t the best timing, as one could guess. Not paying enough attention to protection got people into these types of things all the time. You knew that. Austin knew that. But god forbid you two actually take that precaution. You were on the pill, but you must’ve missed one, and bothering with condoms felt kinda extra. Especially when you two never got a second to yourselves, when you eventually did it landed you in bed, tearing each other’s clothes off. But here you both were, back home, the home office quickly converted into a cute nursery for the child whose gender you both decided would be best if you just waited to find out about. The Instagram post came about 10 weeks prior, nothing but a cute picture of you in the mirror, Austin cradling your growing bump with the caption, “Butler, party of 3” and a red heart emoji following.

After throwing on an oversized shirt, a pair of underwear and finishing your nightly routine, your boyfriend was waiting for you on the king sized bed the two of you shared. Moments like this made all the long times away from each other, 3 hour facetime calls, the tears and amazing reunions all worth it. Just Austin, you, and your tiny human in the middle. Luckily, he was home for three days. You get him all to yourself for three whole days. Plopping down lazily, you cover up with the nice forest green comforter. Austin pulls you in close, now seated within his arms. Being pregnant, you were exhausted and it was only 8:48pm. That made going to bed such a blessing at the end of your long days. You began to slip into a trance while scrolling on your phone once you’d got comfy in a different position than before. More stuff about Elvis, the baby, politics, and whatever your great aunt posted on facebook last night. You felt the side of Austin near you. He slept on his back, you were stuck side sleeping for now until further notice. The baby got active right before bed then settled once they knew you were ready to sleep. What a blessing that is.

Austin was good about not falling asleep on his phone. The nightlife outside of your apartment building was the real kicker for him. He had a bit of trouble when the bright lights, neon signs and nocturnal people got restless. He woke up after about four hours of sleeping. 1:19am the clock read. He turned towards you and felt you shiver. “Baby.” Austin whispered, rubbing your side. You shouldn’t have been cold, you had three layers covering your body. You wake up to him looking at you with worried puppy dog eyes. He hasn’t been able to be involved in much of the pregnancy so he doesn’t know what’s going on. He doesn’t know why you’re trembling, why you’re whining in your sleep. You sat up and felt the cool wet spot under you, your water broke. You’re having a baby. “Austin…Don’t worry.” You hushed him. You didn’t want him worrying. “I’m in labor, my water is broken. But we don’t need to rush.”

Austin jumps up and gets the hospital bag, laid it on the bed. You watched as he hustled around the room. Grabbing you a new pair of underwear, a shirt from his closet and some sweats then laid that right next to you. “Here, mama. We gotta go. I’ll help you change.” He said helping you sit on the edge of the bed. He lifts your shirt and slips the other on, grabbing the sweatpants right after, trying to strip you of the other damp clothes.

“Austin,” you stop your boyfriend in his tracks. “Calm down, you don’t need to stress about anything else right now.”

He stops, your eyes locked together.

His face cracks, tears slowly starting to flood his eyes and spill over his cheeks. He felt bad, you had to go through this pregnancy almost fully on your own. He felt guilty. So many emotions were built up and he let them go in that moment. But he wasn’t at fault for that, it was his job to travel and film and promote and do everything that involved being out and about for crazy amounts of time. And you never blamed him for such things.

“Austin, honey.”

“No, I’m sorry. I haven’t been here for you.” He sniffles, laying his head in your lap just below your belly. “I wanna be here for you, I really wanna be here for you but I’ve been so busy. I’m so busy and I can’t even be there for my girl and our baby.”

Austin didn’t understand that you understood the situation.

“Austin, listen. It’s okay,” You lift up his puffy, red eyes to lock with yours. “We love you, I’m excited to be on this journey with you, and it’s okay that you didn’t get as much time with this belly as you wanted but, honey, we get to spend forever with this baby.”

His smile peeks out for a second, until you feel a sharp contraction shoot through your back and you make a face. Now he’s worried again, you tell him not to.

“Okay, I’ll change. Go turn on the car and we’ll head to the hospital.”

You both make your way to the hospital, security not far behind, not sparing much time. Walking in, the receptionist, a sweet middle aged lady, smiles at the two of you, expecting what you were about to tell her.

“Hi,” Austin said, “We’re having a baby.” He smiled proudly. yea

“Congratulations, you two! First one?” She asks, tapping at the keyboard and you two nod. “Great! Okay, let me have you fill this out,” She has you a clipboard and some papers with a pen shoved in the clamp. “And how far apart are contraction?”

“About 15 minutes.” You sigh, feeling another mild pain shoot through you.

“Exciting! Well, seems like labor is going smooth. After you bring that back up here, I’ll bracelet you up, and get a room for you.”

After about 20 minutes, you’re taken to a room, hooked up to everything, and given some ice chips. You crunch on those until it was time to get check by the doctor. A nice woman, Dr. Love. She wasn’t your regular OB which worried you but knew you were in good hands when she held your hands and introduced herself to you both.

“Y/n L/n?” She asked. “Yes, that’s me!” You chirped. “And you’re the boy from the new Elvis movie! My kids are huge fans!” Austin thanked her and she said that the pleasure was all hers. Even working at a good hospital, she didn’t see movie stars everyday. “I’m so excited for you both, babies are such a huge step and if anyone is ready to take that step, you should be proud of yourself.”

She had put your legs up in the stirrups and checked your dilation, 2 centimeters. Damn, you had a while to go. It’s 1:56am. Exhausted was an understatement. You couldn’t be sleepier. But the baby had other plans.

After Dr. Love left, you and Austin laid in the bed. Your body enveloped in his. This was another one of those totally worth it moments.

3:21am—

The first contraction of whatever centimeter you were on was one of the worst. You and Austin stood in the middle of the room, IV pole just a couple feet away. Your arms around his neck, head laid on his shoulders, his hands resting on your swaying waist. You felt the pain begin to flow down her back and to the middle of your hips. It grew as the minute crept along, and you couldn’t help but let out a guttural moan. It sounded like a cow in distress but you didn’t feel far from it.

As the pain ended, you almost go limp in the sweet blonde’s arms. It kind of took it out of you to feel such pain but not give up and crying over the pain that felt endless. “I’m so sorry, baby.” Your boy whispered. You could feel tears falling from his cheeks again. Both of you were so tired and emotional.

He sits you down on the yoga ball, you begin bouncing as soon as you sat down. “I’m gonna go get you some more ice.” He said, wiping his cheeks. It was tough to see you like this for him. When he was loving on you during your sweet little reunions, he didn’t think he’d cause you so much pain in the following forty weeks. But he was doing so good with you in this situation. He never slept, he didn’t eat, he waited on you, hand and foot, making sure the mother of his child was taken care of.

While he was off to get you ice, you felt another contraction kicked your ass. It was an awful feeling. Alone and hurting. But you weren’t alone, you had Austin, he wanted to be here. He was excited to be here. You were so lucky to have him.

You call Dr. Love and she comes to administer your epidural. It was a quick process and after about 10 minutes, you were feeling great. She also let you know you were at 6 centimeters. You were kind of on cloud nine. The baby was almost here. You and Austin were about to be not just y/n and Austin.

You and your boyfriend were asleep for most of the next hour. After feeling contractions start back up, you try to get out of bed but not without startling Austin awake. “What’s wrong, baby?” His deep voice boomed through the dimly lit room. “Nothing is wrong, lover. Please go back to sleep.”

“I can’t go to sleep-“

“I’m just calling the nurse. My epidural wore off.”

After getting told you were only 7 centimeters, so close yet so far. You felt a bit defeated, you wanted to get this baby out. Nurse Retmund said walking up and down the hallways would help. You were desperate at this point.

So you and your boyfriend make your way through the corridor. Slowly but surely. He pushed the IV pole next to you.

“What are we gonna name this kid?” You huff, having the kid was hard enough, now you’ve gotta name it?

“I was thinking Dallas?”

You liked it.

“And a girl?”

“Ivory.”

You like those. And if Austin likes those, you were using them. You wanted him to have this piece of the pregnancy.

“Let’s use them, I like them. We’ll come up with middle names later.”

“What about their last name?” He asked. “Yours, definitely.” You answered without hesitation. “You want them to have mine?” Austin wasn’t shocked, just checking. “Of course. I’m so happy to have you in my life and I want our kids to have your last name.”

“Do you want it?”

“Want what?”

“My last name. Can I give you my last name?”

Austin never failed to amaze you in these kinds of situations.

“Are you asking me to marry you?”

“Yeah, I was gonna ask a while ago but we both got busy and I guess now is as good as any time.” He says. “The ring is in the room. I’ll formally propose when we get back.”

Needless to say you agreed to let him give you an unconventional proposal. It was more of a promise ring than anything, a promise to you and the baby that he’d always be there and you’d share a last name someday.

Back in the room, your contractions are nearly unbearable. You’ve become nearly naked, untying the back of your gown. Austin sits in a chair, holding your squatting body. Elbows draped over his knees. He presses a damp cloth to your forehead hoping to cool you off. You swore and groaned. “Call the nurse, Austin. Now.”

So, your boyfriend called the nurse and she came in asking all kinds of questions and taking some vitals. Austin stood by watching closely, making sure the nurse was doing everything to keep you comfortable.

When it came time to check dilation, she checked, the pressure making you want to pass out. She smiled as she peeled off the glove.

“Baby time.” She beamed, going to the computer and phone, typing and pinning the phone between her ear and shoulder.

“What?”

You were confused. The both of you. This seemed to be happening so fast. Too fast.

“You’re fully dilated. We can call Dr. Love now.”

You look at Austin with worried eyes and he assures you that everything was going to be okay. “I’m not ready.” You tell him even though you were shouting for someone to “pull this effing baby out” of you just minutes earlier.

Dr. Love came in a few minutes after in her birthing equipment. It scared her to see everything happening at once. “Okay, baby. Let’s get you settled.” At this point you can’t really say no.

“Alrighty, Dad, you’re gonna hold her right leg back and we’ll have Nurse Kemper hold your the other.”

Austin was whispering sweet nothings the whole time and was being amazingly supportive.

“Okay, sweet girl, you ready?” You nod to her words and suck in a sharp breath. “Okay, I’m gonna say push, you push for 10 seconds, and then we’ll take a break.”

She says the word and you bear down. You’re crushing Austin’s hand and you know it.

“You’re doing so good, mama.”

And he’s constantly assuring your and affirming the job you’re doing is a job well done. “This sucks so much.” You pant out, between pushes.

It takes you 8 more pushes to get your baby all the way down to her legs. One more and you’re done. Your chin presses against your chest, eyes closed, using all the power you had. Your vision was blurred and everything felt unreal. Suddenly, the pressure was gone, you fall back and go limp.

The squeals of this tiny thing fill the room, and it’s not the only one crying. Austin is already in tears and you’re becoming emotional.

“It’s a girl!”

A girl.

You and Austin had a daughter…Ivory. Ivory Butler.

They laid her on your chest and you cooed as they clamped her cord, handing your boy the scissors. Next, they take her to get vitals done, certificate, and whatever else. You did it, you had a fucking kid.

“I’m so proud of you.” He sniffs, kissing you and the baby on her head. His girls.

The morning just a few hours later, you wake up with the sun spilling through the blinds. A subtle “shh, shh, shh-“ was being repeated on the other side of you. Turning, you see your sweet boy and your little girl.

This is one of those moments.

[preciouslandmermaid]

nothing’s gonna hurt you baby (carmy x f!reader) -- Part 4

Note: [eyeball emoji] Ya’ll better have some water bottles ‘cause this one is SPICY. But then it gets angsty again LMAO.

Pairing: carmen berzatto x fem!reader

Content: 18+. Smut. MDNI

Warnings/Tags: foul language, banter/rivalry, slow burn, denial of feelings, protected sex, injury occurrence (minor burn), praise kink.

Chapter Synopsis: It’s been two weeks since your Ratatouille-Moment after trying Marcus’ cake and deciding to open your own bakery. You’ve returned to Chicago and to help a friend cater a birthday party. Your halfway through your work when Richie asks you what you’re doing at his daughter’s birthday.

Passion comes in many flavors, but you didn’t think it would taste so sweet.

Part One | Part Two | Part Three | Part Four

(Read on Ao3)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

And I’m thinking – I can take this dude. He’s tall but—"

“How tall?” Fak cut in and asked while hunched over, twisting a wrench along the pipe beneath the bathroom sink. “As tall as Conor Murphy?” He asked, referencing a player on the Chicago Blackhawks, who was notably over six feet.

Richie crouched beside Fak near the toolbox, “I don’t fucking know. I didn’t measure him. He was like as tall as me, dude.”

“You’re not that tall.” Fak said. He grunted with force before the nut finally came loose and clattered onto the white tiles.

He scoffed. “Fuck you. I’m six one.”

“Can you pass the flashlight? Thanks.” Fak peered into the pipe and checking for why it was clogged, “That’s like average.”

“Whatever, man. You didn’t see him. Anyway, as I was saying, I was about to clock this dude – right? Now, I’m not trying to white knight, okay? And before you get on my ass, I know what that term means. But it wasn’t about that.”

“What was it about then?” Fak encouraged, laughter in his voice, now fully invested in the story of the ‘douche from New York’ who visited with the ‘hot piece of ass from across the street’.

“I should’ve—” Richie mimicked punching someone while biting his lip.

“Because like you don’t come into MY house, right? You don’t come into my fucking house and start bossing people around - bossing my customers around and shit. He was asking questions and it’s like dude--order your fucking sandwich and leave. I’m not fucking Wikipedia for Sandwiches. I don’t need to fucking tell you what we make our giardiniera with.” Richie ranted.

He scoffed, then mimicked the Douche From New York, “Is it organic giardiniera?” He rolled his eyes, passing Fak a thin piece of wire at his request. “Like fuck off.”

Fak laughed, delighted. “He really said that?”

“He said that!”

“Wait. Why did you try to fight him?”

“I already told you. Because he was being a fucking—a fucking dick!” Richie gestured aggressively with his hand, “and I didn’t try to fight him. He left before I could throw down.”

Carmy stepped into the tight customer bathroom, “We good in here?”

“Yeah,” Fak tugged on the serrated, thin wire that was used to clean hair and other gunk out of pipes. The wire slid from the mouth of the pipe with a sucking, wet sound, and a wadded reddish-pink clump plopped onto the tile like the worlds’ most dejected jellyfish. Everyone stared for a second as comprehension dawned.

“What the fuck is that? Dude – “ Richie gawked, “is that a fucking tampon?”

Fak picked it up by the string with a gloved hand. “Yes, Richie. Yes it is.”

“Great.” Carmy pinched the bridge of his nose. “Fak – uh – c-can you just put up a sign that says don’t put shit down the sink, please?”

“On it.”

“Thank you.”

“Who puts a fucking tampon in the sink? There’s a trash right fucking here.” Richie shook his head in disbelief and Fak giggled.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

You stepped off the plane and into the terminal while scrolling through your phone and dragging your rolling suitcase behind you. Your phone vibrated incessantly as airplane mode was turned off and service was back on.

It had been two weeks since you were in Chicago.

After your epiphany, you bought the first ticket back to Cincinnati and strolled through your favorite neighborhoods. You went to bakeries and grocery stores and cafes. You talked to owners, pastry chefs, and waiters. You talked to their customers when the opportunity revealed itself. You visited your friends. They offered their perspectives and gentle, unwavering support. You slept on their couches and air mattresses and in guest bedrooms. After a week in Cincinnati, you booked a flight to Washington DC to experience a bakery that won several local and international awards. You took a rental car to New York City where you spent the last few days repeating the same process of talking to pastry chefs, tasting food, and taking notes. Your notebook was ready to split at the seams.

Your brain was fogged with jetlag. Your stomach sloshed with coffee and half a granola bar. You had about a hundred things to do. Yet you still felt excited. It was good to be back in the city. Tim called you earlier this morning and informed you that the refrigerated cases you ordered (for displaying cakes) were installed. You shoved your suitcase into the backseat of the taxi and checked the time on your phone screen.

“Where to Miss?” The driver asked.

“Uh…shit. Let me check.” You pulled up the text from your friend, Margot, “50 East Walton St.”

You checked and replied to emails while the driver pulled away from the curb and merged onto the highway. Margot’s sister-in-law, Delilah, owned a bakery called ‘Sweet Sensations’ and after hearing about your business plan—Margot made the call to have you shadow with them. It would hopefully give you the hands-on experience you craved.

You generously tipped the driver and pulled your suitcase out from the back. Ordinarily, you’d go home first. But Delilah said they were catering a party today and if you could get here ASAP then that would be ideal. You were always up for a challenge.

Delilah greeted you at the back where deliveries were accepted. She was a tall, willowy woman with pale-blonde hair tucked beneath a hairnet. She wore pink cat-eyeglasses over her friendly brown eyes.

“I honestly thought you were kidding when you told me you were on the way.” She said, smiling warmly. “Did you have a nice flight?”

You exchanged pleasantries and small talk with her before getting down to business. She offered for you to lock your suitcase in her office and gave you a uniform to borrow. The uniform involved a bright pink t-shirt with the bakeries’ name written in flowing, white script that glittered under the fluorescent lights and a baseball cap with a  cupcake on it. She provided you with a white apron that covered your lap. And after a quick once-over, she deemed your shoes safe and acceptable. The clothes fit, but they felt a bit like trying on your parent’s shoes as a kid. Awkward, out of place, too big and gawky. You tugged on the hem of the shirt.

“Now, we’re doing a six-year old’s birthday party. The cupcakes are already made so it’s just a matter of delivering them and helping to set up.” Delilah explained. “We’re a team so just ask any of us for help or any questions.”

“I really appreciate the help, Delilah.” You said earnestly. “Especially considering our professional relationship going forward.” You had big plans to include delivery in your bakery as well, but you wanted it to expand beyond the 713-area code. You held a personal goal of delivery services nationwide.

Delilah smiled wider, “There’s always more birthdays happening year after year. I think we’ll survive another sweet shop on the street.” She said with a playful wink. You found her ease and confidence to be calming and charming. You’re not sure when the thorn was pulled from your side at the thought of other restaurants and bakeries around you. Logistically, they were your competition. They were a threat to your profits and livelihood. It just didn’t stress you out as much anymore.

“Actually, I do have one question.”

“Mhm?”

You gestured to your outfit and the pastel-pink palette of the kitchen, the front of house, and nodded toward the lined up pink delivery vans.

“How much do you love the color pink?”

Delilah laughed brightly. “Oh, well, it’s only my favorite - can’t you tell?”

You smiled, “I mean…it’s only a little obvious.”

“Subtly never came easily to me.” She shrugged, “I figured I may as well embrace it.”

Your chest warmed. In some situations, you were about as graceful as a shovel to the face. It was nice to know there were others in the world as blunt as you were.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Delilah left you alone to arrange the cupcakes on the serving table. They were meant to be arranged on a three-tiered platter. It wasn’t too hard. The only tricky part was not getting frosting on your gloves. The cupcakes were incredibly delicate. It was counter intuitive, you thought, to have such fancy cupcakes at a children’s party. They were just going to smush them into the grass or something.

“No fucking way!” A familiar voice announced from behind you.

You spun with a cupcake in hand and met Richie’s bright blue gaze.

“What are you doing here?” He tucked his hands into the pockets of his tracksuit pants. He was wearing a Beef T-shirt which made you wonder if he called out of work today to be here. Wait, why was he here? Nevermind. It simply didn’t matter. Richie could go to whatever birthday parties he wanted to go to. You idly hoped The Beef wouldn’t suffer too much without him working the front of house. Then again, your mouth twisted humorously, maybe Richie’s absence would be an improvement.

You looked pointedly at the cupcake in your hand. “Setting up.” You turned back to your work and tried vainly to ignore Richie. See, something you learned about Richie was that he loved the sound of his own voice. You couldn’t just turn away and expect him to stop talking.

“I can’t believe you’re catering Eva’s birthday.” He said, chuckling, “Small world, huh? Small world.”

You carefully picked up a cupcake and gingerly placed it on the platter. They were frosted in a twisted two-tone of lavender and light pink with silver sprinkles. At least, this batch was. The second tier was light blue and dark purple frosting with dark chocolate. The final tier was a gluten-free option with white vanilla frosting.

“So, what happened with your spot? You’re not doing that or what?” You heard a telltale click of a lighter behind you.

“I’m helping Delilah.” You said in a reserved tone. “My spot is fine.”

“So, you and Carmy?” He queried with obvious interest. You wished you could throw a cupcake at him. Once my bakery is up and running, I will make a cupcake, and I will smash a cupcake into Richie’s face just to see what happens. You swiped your frosting-tinged fingers onto the front of your apron and shot Richie your coldest glare.

“Don’t you have something better to do than to gossip?” It was a weak retort, but you couldn’t help it. Your mind ruptured on the very real possibility that Carmy told people about you and about what happened between you. And why wouldn’t he? Guys talked about their casual sexual encounters all the time. It wasn’t a big deal. It wasn’t a secret. You needed to get your head back into the game. You huffed and returned to the cupcakes.

“Hah! I knew something was going on!” He snapped his fingers. “He’s been different since meeting you. I fucking knew it. I knew it.”

“Nothing is going on.” You said firmly.

“Oh yeah? Then why’s he such a little bitch baby?” Richie asked. It was probably a rhetorical question. You bent over to reach for another cupcake out of the container and whipped your head to look at Richie – he was smoking and looking smug. The urge to throw a cupcake was astronomical.

“Wow! And here I was convinced that the role of bitch baby was your position.”

“Hey.” He pointed two fingers at you while holding his cigarette between them, “You don’t know shit about my positions.”

You snorted. “I’m sure it’s nothing fancier than missionary with the lights off.”

“Whoa!” Richie shouted, throwing his hands in the air, “I’ll have you know—”

“Nope!” You interrupted. “I absolutely don’t want to know!”

Richie barreled on, “that people call me insatiable, okay? Yeah?” He said, raising both eyebrows and pointing at you again.

You pressed the palms of your hands over your ears, not caring if you got leftover frosting on your face or in your hair. It was a small price to pay for the relief of deafening Richie’s sex-escapades.

“I can’t hear you!”

“Yes, you can! I know that you can!” He said, stepping closer to you, and the smoke from his cigarette swirled between you in whorls of gray like frosting pushed from a piping nozzle.

“I can’t!” You lied, shouting over him. “No one wants to hear it, Richie!”

“Oh, they fucking hear it, alright? The whole neighborhood hears it.”

Despite his height, you didn’t feel overwhelmed, nervous, or cornered. It was like arguing with a string bean. There was nothing threatening about him. You laughed incredulously, which unfortunately revealed you could hear him, and Richie’s eyes brightened.

“Aha! I knew you could fucking hear me.”

“I can hear you but I’m not listening.” You clarified.

“You guys okay over here?” Delilah asked with a tight-lipped smile. You and Richie looked at her in tandem.

“Yup.” He said.

“Yeah.” You said.

You noticed Carmy walking toward the table and your heart plummeted to your toes. Fuck. You hadn’t seen or spoken to him for two whole weeks. You thought and hoped that time and distance would lessen the visceral effect he had on you. Unfortunately, it did not. His dark hair was messily curled around his face, a patchwork jacket covering his frame, and a giftbag dangled loosely from his long fingertips. A surge of heat flooded your face at the memory of those capable, confident hands.

Jesus Christ. Get it together. You are working at a kid’s party. God! You mentally berated yourself. I should’ve fucked some random stranger while I was in Cincinnati then I wouldn’t be dealing with this.

You risked a glance at Richie. He wore a self-satisfied grin on his stupid fucking face. Your heat-flooded face clearly betrayed you.

“Shut up.” You hissed at him.

“I didn’t say shit.” He quipped.

“I can read minds.”

Richie blew a raspberry with his mouth, “Pfft.” He then waved an arm over his head, “Cousin! You made it!”

You focused every iota of brainpower and hand-eye coordination on the delicate, delicious cupcakes. You weren’t ignoring Carmy. You were just busy with your work. You were staying on your side of the street.

Carmy and Richie spoke briefly before an obvious - “Hey,” from Carmy was sent your way. You spared a quick glance over your shoulder.

“Hey.” Once your back was turned to them, you closed your eyes and pressed your lips together with a soft, harsh exhale through your nose. It shouldn’t feel this weird. You wanted so badly to turn around and engage him in conversation, ask about The Beef, check-in with the random bullshit of his life because you…cared…a little bit. You squashed the desire with a heeled boot. There was nothing in the Rulebook of Professionals that said you couldn’t engage in small talk. However, your own Rulebook of Not Getting Involved specifically stated ‘keep your distance’.

“Where you been? Haven’t seen you around.” Carmy said with a sniff.

Delilah, bless her heart, unintentionally saved you. She said your name in that chipper, bright tone of hers and walked to you with quick, determined strides.

“I need a favor.” She said.

“That’s what I’m here for.”

“Our box of gluten free cupcakes – well – they’re currently all over the driveway.” Delilah cringed. “I was hoping you could go inside and whip another batch? Normally, I’d have Stacy do it – but she was stung by a bee and so Katherine and Ryan are rushing her to the emergency room.”

“Oh shit!” Richie brought a fist to his mouth, “Is she allergic?”

Delilah sighed with relief, sparing a quick appraising glance at Richie. “No, thankfully. But it stung her eye.”

“Gnarly.” Richie blanched.

You pulled your gloves off your hands and tossed them in the small trash bin by the table. “No problem.”

“The recipe is inside in the—”

“--Pink binder.”

“Pink binder. Yes! Exactly.” Delilah looked immensely relieved. “I’ll finish up out here. I already spoke to Tiffany, and she said it was OK if we used her kitchen.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

You measured out the gluten-free flour into a glass measuring cup. You peered at the recipe to ensure you hadn’t misremembered the digits. It was quieter inside. Some of the children and their parents started to arrive and you could see Eva, Richie’s daughter, running around with an iridescent birthday hat. You watched Richie chase after his daughter and cackle boisterously. You smirked to yourself and rolled your eyes. While working, you wore the ‘Sweet Sensations’ pastel pink baseball cap backward to keep your hair out of your face and food.

Carmy leaned against the doorframe in the kitchen and the sight of him nearly startled you. Your heart did a funny, excited leap.

“Isn’t there a rule about creeping up on people when they’re in kitchens?” You said with feigned annoyance.

“I – I uh didn’t creep.” He stepped into the kitchen proper and looked over your spread-out supplies and ingredients. “How’s it going?”

“I don’t need a sous Chef it that’s what you’re asking.” You said while hand whisking the batter. If being cold and distant didn’t work to send him away, then maybe you could try being more of a bitch. You assumed it had a fifty-fifty chance of working.

He gestured lazily with one hand at the air between your bodies, “I t-t-thought we moved past this.”

“There’s nothing to move past, Carmy. We’re good.”

“We’re good?”

“Yeah.” You drank in the sight of him in stolen, quick glances, and felt your chest constrict each time. Your hands faintly trembled while holding the large, metal mixing bowl aloft and sectioning the batter into the small cupcake tins.

“Could’ve fooled me.”

You scraped the last of the batter with the rubber spatula and held the bowl aloft to shield yourself so Carmy couldn’t see your face. You wanted to talk to him. That was the problem. You wanted to vent to someone who actually would understand. Carmy owned a restaurant. He knew intimately about the stress and heartache of trying to make something good and worthwhile. You wanted to bitch about Tim and his workers who were dragging their feet about the hot water sink. You wanted to talk about your staffing issues and desperation to find people who actually loved the work. You wanted to tell him about your adventures in Cincinnati, and DC, and New York, and the wonderful pastries you ate and the amazing people you talked to.

The faint smell of smoke singed your nostrils and your blood turned to ice.

“FUCK!” You dropped the mixing bowl with a loud, metallic clang. It hit the edge of your baking tray and sent a splatter of cupcake batter into the air, hitting the ceiling and dropping in wet globs onto the countertop. You yanked the oven door open and coughed at the pluming exhale of fine, black smoke. You were vaguely aware that Carmy was beside you and you stared – dejected – at the burned cupcakes. Their puffy little tops were charred beyond recognition and looked like miniature Mount Dooms.

You snatched a kitchen towel from the counter because it was closest. You didn’t have time to get an oven mitten. You realized your mistake about a second later. Your fingertips flared with pain and the pan clattered noisily as you tossed it forcefully onto the stove. The kitchen towel, riddled with holes, laid on the ground near your feet. The fire alarm chirped – shrill and relentless.

“Fuck. Ow!” You rapidly shook your hand and brought your burning fingertips into your mouth. It didn’t help, of course, because your fingers burned with pain and the interior of your mouth was warm. Carmy slid behind you, his hand trailed against your lower back, and he flipped the faucet on.

“Here, come here.”

In a daze of pain and frustration, you thrust your burned fingers under the rush of cool water and your shoulders slumped. Carmy’s large hand scooped behind yours, his thumb pressed into your palm, and gently maneuvered your hand beneath the stream of water. You clenched your jaw. You fucked up cupcakes.

“You know, I went to fucking Stanford. I graduated in the top 3% of my class. Everyone and their fucking richer-than-God uncle wanted to hire me.” You babbled and swallowing back the painful, sharp stab of disappointment and embarrassment. “But I can’t bake a single fucking tray of fucking cupcakes without setting off the fire alarm.”

“Shit happens.” Carmy said calmly, still carefully holding your hand, as water flowed through your fingers and pooled around his thumb in the soft well of your palm.

“Yeah, right.” You murmured derisively.

“The night I won Food & Wine’s Best New Chef; I started a fryer fire. I nearly burned the place down.” He admitted softly. You peered at him out of the corner of your eye. He lifted his gaze from the sink, from your hands, and looked at you. His eyes were honest and sincere.

“I remember thinking that if I don’t do anything…then this place would go down and all my anxiety with it.”

You inhaled sharply and your fingers twitched in his hand.

“Shit…” You whispered. It was another layer to the Carmy-cake that you absolutely didn’t want to discover and devour. Why couldn’t he just be a simple, arrogant egomaniac like the rest of the chefs you knew? It would make everything so much easier.  

Carmy weakly chuckled, “Yeah, shit.” He cleared his throat, eyes on the sink again, and you could feel the pad of his calloused thumb sliding up your palm. You couldn’t tear your eyes away from his profile. His large, handsome nose. His long eyelashes framing his sky-blue eyes. The way his hair curled around his ears. The moles on his fair skin. His thumb reached your middle finger and you let him move it with the light pressure of his fingers pressing into your knuckles.

“How’s it feel?” He asked.

“I’m considering amputation.” You joked with a brief smile.

His lips quirked in a lop-sided smile. His eyes fluttered to yours again. You were suddenly aware of your shoulder pressed into Carmy’s warm chest. His body crowded around yours, solid and secure, and the sound of screaming children outside deafened to a low roar. He blinked languidly and you watched awe-struck as his gaze dropped to your mouth. An intense, tingling sensation spread from the center of your chest and melted across your skin like hot butter.

You quickly pulled your hand from the water and wiped the water droplets off on your apron. You cleared your throat and hurriedly started to clean up the mess left behind by the knocked-over cupcake pan of wet ingredients.

“You should go celebrate.” You said offhandedly, your pulse erratic in your jaw, and your ears burning with heat. The sponge gushed with soapy water as you cleaned the countertop in wide, circular motions. You could feel Carmy’s gaze burning into the back of your head. Carmy should be out in the yard with Richie throwing glowsticks at children or whatever. Besides, you didn’t want Richie giving you shit and saying something like ‘Hey, yo! Were you fucking my cousin in my ex-wife’s house? That’s a fucking power move dude.’

He wordlessly grabbed the pan out at the sink and used a fork to pluck the failed cupcakes out of their tin and into the trash.

“Yeah, I’ll pass.” He said as the fork tines scraped against metal, “I’m good here.”

You wrinkled your nose. “You’re not getting paid to do this, you know.”

His eyes flicked up toward you, “I know.”

“Then…” Your tongue swiped across your lower lip, “Why stay?”

He shrugged and his eyes dropped to the pan, “I like being in the kitchen.”

You shook your head and bit the inside of your cheek. Part of you wanted to probe for more information, but that would break the rule of Not Getting Involved. You scrubbed the countertop clean of sticky cake batter with a furrowed, determined brow. You avoided looking at Carmy even after he finished cleaning out the wrecked pan and started wiping batter from the floor. Together, you fell into a strangely comfortable silence of monotonous work.

“You gonna try to make it again?” Carmy asked while drying his hands and jutting his chin toward the open pink recipe binder.

“I’d rather be fucked by the standing mixer.” You replied nonchalantly and Carmy laughed. It was a warm, fleeting sound. Your eyes widened and soap bubbles squeezed through your fingers. He covered his mouth with the back of his hand, but you could see his faint smile lines and light flooding his eyes.

“That’s a vicious mental image.” He said, rubbing his lips together, and pressing down his smile. You caught yourself biting your lip to stop yourself from grinning. You turned your face away and began unlacing your apron.

“Yeah, well, I just speak from the heart, you know?” You balled the apron between your fists, “I gotta talk to Delilah. Um...thanks for helping me clean up.”

Carmy lifted one shoulder in a half shrug, “Yeah, it’s no problem.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

After hearing about your kitchen catastrophe, Delilah asked you to drive to Sweet Sensations and pick up their on-hand gluten-free cupcakes. However, their frosting was caramel and not vanilla, and consequently Delilah gave Tiffany a discount on her order for the inconvenience. You had to admit you were impressed by Delilah’s efficiency and cleverness. She rolled with every punch that was thrown her way.

Once the cupcakes were delivered, you and Delilah left the boisterous party. You sank into the passenger seat with your feet up on the dashboard with a loud, tired sigh. You didn’t have time to say farewell to Richie or Carmy, but you doubted they’d take it personally. You were working. It wasn’t a social visit.

“You did great today.” Delilah said.

“I nearly burned down the client’s house.” You said tongue-in-cheek.

“Crazier things have happened.” She said sympathetically, “Last week, Ryan accidentally drove the van over a client’s sprinkler system, and it caused a minor flood.”

You laughed quietly. “Yikes.”

“That’s just this business,” She said with a smile, “You can have two wedding cakes prepared, one for the client, another for back-up, and then suddenly your power goes out and your calling every 7-11 to see how much ice they have.”

“Sounds like chaos.”

“It is.”

You sidelong squinted at her, “Everything in your tone implies you love it.”

Delilah favored you with another bright smile, “Oh, that’s because I do.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

You sketched another idea in your notebook while watching The Great British Bake-Off then reached out to the remote and clicked pause. You pressed your lips together.

“Fucking…cupcakes…”

You tossed the blanket off your lap and grabbed your keys. You weren’t going to be outdone by fucking cupcakes.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Your phone was dusted with flour as you scrolled through a recipe. Your first batch was horrendous. You must’ve measured the flour to baking soda ratio incorrectly because they came out hard and inedible. The second batch was too dry. Whatever. Practice makes perfect and who cared if it was after 9PM? You were confident in this third batch. You slid them into the oven, double-checked the temperature and time, before pulling the oven mittens off your hands.

A text from your mom came through on your screen: ‘But why are you baking there and not at home?’ She included an emoji of a face with a question mark floating above their head.

You replied with one hand while shrugging on your zip-up sweater, ‘I need to know how these ovens function. They’re different than the ones at home and I need to be familiar with my own space.’

You pushed your front door closed and sat on the concrete stoop. You pulled your crushed cigarette pack from your pocket and lit one while gazing across the street. The streetlamps washed the asphalt in hues of orange. You could faintly see the kitchen lights from the interior of the Beef glowing out into the empty sidewalk.

You noticed Carmy throw two black bags of trash out into the dumpster. You smiled around the filter of your cigarette and looked back down at your phone. You had no reason to talk to him or interrupt his workflow. You were going to stay on your side of the street. You belonged here, frantically making cupcakes to prove a point in sweatpants and an overly large Sanford red t-shirt. You scrolled through and read an article about a French pastry called a ‘Mille-feuille’. It sounded cool. You doubted your own skill set could succeed in making one of those but that didn’t mean you couldn’t serve them.

Your eyes instinctively caught movement above your brow. Your heart stuttered. Carmy was halfway across the street and walking toward you. What could he possibly want?

“Need to bum a smoke? Or a light?” You asked loudly and wiggled your pack above your head when he was close enough to hear you. “Or are you here to tell me I should focus on – I don’t know – fancy steaks instead of pastries?”

“Smoke.” He said, “Richie and Tina already left and they’re the only other smokers.”

You clicked your tongue and held out your cigarette out to him. “You’re lucky I’m a generous soul.”

“Mhm.” He nodded while inhaling, the tiny ember faintly illuminated his face, and reflected in the dark pupils of his eyes. “Can I chill here?”

“Sure.”

You were going to stay on the side of your street, but you had no rules about Carmy coming over to your side. It was uncharted waters. You could tell him to fuck off and leave, you supposed, but you selfishly didn’t want to. His shoulder rested against yours in the small space.

The moon shone in pale light above the skyline. It was the witching hour. A time for secrets and shared smoke-breaks with carcinogenic smiles. Carmy exhaled smoke through his nose and passed the cigarette back to you. Your fingertips touched. Your eyes met. And you knew you were going to break a few rules tonight.

“Your hair is covered in flour.” He brushed his hand along the top of your head, flour scattered like snowflakes between you, and he rubbed his forefinger and thumb together. His mouth curved to a slight smile and his eyes gleamed with humor.

“When the bag opened it went—Poof!” You explained.

You flicked the building ash off the top of the cigarette and watched it drift across the sidewalk in flecks of gray and white. You didn’t imagine that moment in the kitchen. Carmy wanted to kiss you. You wanted to kiss him, too, but that was beside the point. You took another slow drag and licked your lips before the smoke left your lungs. You glanced furtively at Carmy. He seemed lost in thought with his wrists resting on his knees and hands limp.

“Do you want to fuck again?” You asked candidly.

Carmy looked at you. His jaw went slack, and his forehead creased. “S-s-seriously?”

Rejection was a scorpion sting on your heart. You snubbed the cigarette out on the concrete below you. You wanted to put your hood up and storm off. You should’ve kept your big, dumb mouth shut. You could’ve had a nice little smoke break, kept it professional, but now you revealed your secret, desperate truth and you couldn’t un-ask the question.  

“I’ll take that as a no. Forget it.” You spat and quickly covered your hurt with deflection. Before you got up, or turned away, Carmy grabbed your chin between his fingers. It wasn’t a bruising grip, but it was strong and firm.

He held you in place and his knees touched yours when he shifted in closer. The shadowed walls and rumbling sounds of Chicago melted away like ice cream during a summertime heatwave. He leaned in and his nose bumped into yours. You shuddered, every nerve-ending coming to life, as you opened your mouth beneath his. Your heart fluttered at the soft press of his mouth. His tongue slowly slid into your mouth, and he hungrily drank in the soft, quiet moans that slipped free from your throat. Your palms slid along his chest and curled around his shoulders. You liked the discreet solidness of Carmy’s shoulders and arms.

“Stop – please stop putting words in my mouth. I hate that shit.” He muttered against your mouth in a huff of warm air.

“Noted.” You whispered before chasing his mouth with yours. You drew his lower lip between your teeth and smiled faintly at his sharp intake of breath. The intoxicating power-trip of making this capable, confident man whimper into your mouth made you dizzy. Carmy’s arm encircled your waist, pulling and drawing you impossibly closer. He smelled like fucking giardiniera and sweat and cigarette smoke. You wanted to drown in it. His tongue flicked across your upper lip, kissing you with a slow, torturous sweetness that made your core throb.

“In the kitchen,” He said, between one kiss and the next, “We say ‘heard’ when we want to communicate understanding.”

You wrinkled your nose. “Yeah, fuck off. I’m not doing that.” You said, keeping your tone light and playful.

Carmy’s lips smiled against yours, his hand left your chin and slid across your neck in a tantalizing, teasing touch before he cupped the nape of your neck. Your fingertips ghosted across the hollow dip of his throat, and you pushed one hand through the neck hole of his t-shirt to touch the warm, soft skin of his collarbones. His golden chain faintly scraped against the pads of your fingers. Any lingering trepidation about breaking your own rules dissolved when Carmy stammered your name. A pulse of blood rushed between your thighs.

“You’re so needy for me.” You teased, letting your head drift to the side as Carmy’s mouth skirted across your jaw and kissed your flushed skin. You wondered if he’d give you another hickey on your neck. You wouldn’t mind it…as long as you could give him a matching one. You doubted he had the time for girlfriends, but Richie’s joking words lingered in the back of your mind. Why would he assume you and Carmy were sleeping together if Carmy didn’t already have a reputation?

“I’m needy?” He taunted while pushing his hand beneath your large shirt. His thumbnail scraped across the underside of your breast, and you hissed, your back arching toward him. “Hm?” Your mind went blank.

A cheerful, and repetitive ringtone blared out of your pocket. Carmy pulled away from you as if he’d been struck by lightning. You pulled your phone out of your pocket with an annoyed, grumpy huff and pressed ‘Stop’ on the timer screen. You couldn’t believe you were getting cockblocked by cupcakes. Fucking cupcakes!

You got to your feet and offered a hand to Carmy, “You comin’ inside or what?” Despite your casual tone, you mentally cringed at the fear of rejection breathing coldly down your neck. He kissed you, but that didn’t mean he wanted to continue. Anyone could change their mind at any second and you wouldn’t hold it against him. You’d just nurse the bruised ego over a drink later.

You noticed him glance at your four bandaged fingers (the middle three and your thumb), before gingerly taking your hand and standing. The sense of relief was swift and dizzying. You rewarded him with a tumultuous smile.

“You’re welcome to try the cupcakes once they cool.” You said before pulling the glass door open and locking it behind you. You didn’t bother with a tour. You made a direct line to the kitchen, slipped oven mitts on both hands, and pulled the cupcakes from the oven with hurried purpose. You flipped the switch to turn the oven off. No reason to burn the place while you were getting dicked down. As you tugged the mittens off your hands, you glanced back at Carmy, who was looking at your kitchen with open admiration and awe.

“You really pulled out all the stops.” He said in quiet reverence. “It’s beautiful.” And you could tell from his tone that he wasn’t fucking with you. It was genuine. Your heartbeat quickened and you wanted to curse him for making a simple compliment illicit such a response beneath your skin. Two weeks ago, if Carmy had been in your kitchen, you would’ve dragged him out by the back of the shirt and told him to stop spying on you.

You weren’t going to bother for modesty. You weren’t modest or humble when it came to this project.

“It is, isn’t it?” You replied smugly. Carmy finally drew his eyes away from the equipment and shook his head in disbelief. You scooped a spoon into your vanilla buttercream frosting and tried an experimental lick. Carmy was watching you. You pointedly sucked the spoon clean with heavily lidded eyes and a small smirk. You noticed his eyes narrow and how he shifted his weight. Interesting. You released the spoon from your mouth with a soft ‘pop’ and smiled.

You brightened with an idea. “Hey, will you try this?”

He closed the short distance between you, “You want my professional opinion?”

“If it’s not too much trouble.” You shrugged. A knot of nervousness twisted inside your stomach. You watched him bring the spoon to his mouth and slowly pull it from his lips, a bit of frosting catching on the corner of his mouth. Your scalp prickled with awareness. It took every ounce of your self-control not to lick the leftover frosting off his mouth. He pressed his lips together, eyes cast heavenward, the nodded. Your breath snagged in your throat when he finally gave his answer.

“Too much vanilla extract.” He said. “Consistency is good, though. A-and I can tell you added lemon zest which brightens it.”

“M’kay, that’s enough America’s Top Chef or whatever.” You teased, grabbing the front of his shirt, and dragging him forward.

“You asked m-mprh.” You sealed your mouth over his. The spoon clattered onto the countertop and Carmy’s hands cradled your face. You could taste the frosting on his tongue, and it tasted so much better than when you licked it off the spoon. You walked backward, clinging to him, guiding him toward your office. Kissing Carmy was a bit like dancing. You had to let him lead from time to time and allow yourself to be pulled along by the pure, raw sensations. You were aware of his hands, roaming, squeezing, and grabbing you, and his mouth – sweet-laced with lingering icing – engaged in a playful, give and take of nibbling bites and breathless moans.

Your ass hit the edge of your wooden desk and you broke the kiss to tug your shirt over your head. Carmy’s hands covered your breasts, kneading them, and you thanked the preemptive laziness that made you forgo a bra this evening. His warm, wet mouth traveled down the column of your throat. You whined a little and squirmed. You wanted more than this. You grabbed Carmy’s wrist and tugged his hand, bringing it between your legs.

“Like I said…” He rasped, breath hot against your neck, “Needy.”

“Carmy…” Did you sound a little desperate? Maybe. Your skin flushed with heated desire and echoes of recollection of how he made you feel the first time. His mouth left a trail of open-mouthed kisses down your chest and to your stomach. His hands caught the waistband of your sweatpants and he knelt on the carpeted floor before you. You blinked, as if a stunned daze, and held onto the edge of your desk as Carmy pulled your sweatpants and underwear off of you. You swallowed, eyes-wide, at the stark difference of your naked body before him. You clamped your thighs together and Carmy gently held the back of your knees.

His face looked quizzically up at you.

“You gotta take off your clothes too.” You shrugged, “It’s only fair.”

“I was plannin’ on it.” He gave you that slight, almost boyish smile again. He leaned back on his haunches and peeled the t-shirt off himself. Not confined to a dark car backseat, you can see every line of him, every muscle, his strong shoulders, and dip of his clavicle. His golden chain glinted softly in the warm, intimate light of your desk lamp. His hair mussed around his face from your fingers constantly running through it. His chest heaved softly with labored, quiet breath and you realized you were going to think of this – Carmy kneeling on the ground before you – every single time you walked in this room.

His rough hands caressed up the length of your legs, along your thighs, and you slowly parted for him. He dropped a singular soft kiss to your inner thigh and your body tensed. But it wasn’t anticipation. His tongue flicked across your swollen clit, and you gasped and froze. You couldn’t let him go down on you. You’d be at his mercy, within his grasp and control, his selfless actions bringing you to the peak without any ‘reward’ for him. Yes, yes, you knew it was fucked up to think of sex as transactional and as a powerplay – but you’d unpack that in therapy later.

“Wait.” You tugged gently on the back of his head, and he looked up at you from between your thighs. “I don’t…can we…not do that?”

“Yeah, yeah – yeah – of course.” He stood up, and your throat tightened at the absolute tenderness in his gaze. His hands came to rest on your waist, thumbs moving in slow, soothing back-and-forth touch across your warm skin. “You okay?”

“I’m good. It’s just not something I’m comfortable with right now.” You blinked rapidly in surprise of your own blunt honesty.

“Okay.” One of Carmy’s hands slipped between your legs and you gripped his shoulders tightly, your body trembling in anticipation. “This okay?” He asked softly.

You leaned back into your desk and spread your knees for him. You sighed happily with a slow nod, drawing your lower lip between your teeth. This was familiar. This was good. Through lidded eyes, you reached for the waistband of Carmy’s pants and palmed his cock while he touched you. His fingers were quick, deft, drawing moans and whimpers from your mouth with practiced ease. Like he memorized what you liked last time and applied it to this time. His mouth found yours again and you pulled down the zipper of his pants while his thumb drew tight, firm circles against your clit. Your fingers stumbled and you hiccupped a sharp, surprised gasp.

“Yeah?” He murmured against your lips before slipping his tongue into your mouth.

“Yeah.” You jolted, hips canting into his hand, as you raked your nails down his chest. You pressed your face into his, nose squished against his cheek, and panted until each breath was a moan. You trembled and your orgasm hit you with syrupy sweetness, slow and unfurling, pulling a guttural, embarrassingly loud cry from your lips. You dropped backward onto your desk, your spine hitting an open notebook, and released a satisfied sigh. You looked down and saw Carmy pulling his cock free from his boxers. Your body hummed with pleasure and delight.

“I have condoms in my bag.” You said, pointing to your backpack hanging on the wall. “Front pocket.”

“Not because I expected this to happen.” You clarified quickly, “It’s just good to have things on hand. There’s Advil in there, too. Because I’m prepared for anything.”

“You’re a boy scout.” Carmy chuckled softly and you tried to not think about how the sound of it made your body fizzle like being dropped into a glass of champagne.

“Exactly!” You gave him a mock salute.

He returned to his place between your legs, and you pushed the notebook out and away from underneath you. It clattered to the floor and spilled open with pages of notes. He peered up at you through his sweaty, curled hair and you bit your lip and smiled. You wrapped your legs loosely around his hips and dragged your hands across his muscled chest in admiration.

You were rewarded with the blissful sight of Carmy’s eyes rolling back into his head as he slid into you. Your eyes shuttered closed and the world whited-out into noise and feeling. Your back arched and Carmy leaned over you, his lips covered the side of your neck, and your hips bucked in response to his teeth meeting your skin.

“Are you—fuck, fuck, fuck” You lost coherent thought for a moment as Carmy thrust into you in earnest. “—are you giving me another hickey?” You gasped, fingers tangling into his hair. “You ass-asshole.”

“You want it somewhere else?” The tip of his nose grazed the soft spot of skin behind your ear.

“Please.”

He dragged his mouth to your collarbone and your hardened nipples rubbed against his damp, sweaty chest. You clung to the back of Carmy’s head as his tongue laved over the spot just below your collarbone and dangerously close to your heart. He drew the delicate, pliant skin between his teeth and sucked hard, making you see stars, and your thighs clenched around his hips. The desk groaned beneath your combined weight and a cup of pens clattered to the floor.

“You feel so good,” He breathed, “better than I remember.” Your walls fluttered around him at the compliment and Carmy looked up from your chest, meeting your eyes, “I felt that.”

“Shut up.” You lightly slapped his shoulder and turned your face away.

“So, you don’t want me to tell – to tell you about how amazing – fuck – how amazing you feel?” He said, adjusting his position so he wasn’t leaning over you, and was standing instead. He drew your thighs away from his hips and rested them on his chest, so your ankles were at his shoulders. You groaned at the sudden change in depth and tightness and your hands splayed across the polished wood.

“You’re drenched.” He panted, his face red, “and taking me so well. God – you’re incredible.” You couldn’t control it. Your body responded to his words, core tightening, your walls pulsing around him at the praise. You slipped your hand between your thighs, finding your slick and swollen clit, and your fingertip occasionally brushed against his shaft while you touched yourself in quick, needy motions.

“Fuck. F-fuck. That’s so hot.” Carmy moaned. He followed your lead, responding to the nonverbal cues of your body, and the very-verbal cues of your mouth repeatedly gasping his name. It was as if someone disconnected your brain and your mouth. You were only able to say one thing and it was ‘Carmy’ followed by ‘Yes’. Your body coiled and goosebumps erupted across your skin. Your muscled tensed, your walls spasmed around Carmy’s cock, and sent an avalanche of pleasure in a quaking release.

Carmy released a strangled noise, his thrust erratic and shaking the desk beneath you, and you knew—you knew based on the bright pink color of his cheeks and neck and the deep furrow to his brow that he was about to finish. He slammed into you in one powerful, final thrust, burying himself as deep as he could go, and cursed loudly and a sheen of perspiration glistened off his body.

He collapsed on top of you and caught his weight with his elbows. His face rested in the crook of your neck and his heavy, labored breath blew across your sweaty skin. You closed your eyes, relaxed and secure under the weight of him, and felt him gradually grow soft inside of you. You languidly lifted a hand and carded your fingers through his long hair. You laid like this, completely devoid of conversation or coherent thought, for several minutes with the sweat rapidly cooling off your bodies. Carmy’s thudding heartbeat reverberated against your skin.

Carmy wrapped his fingers around your wrist and pulled your hand away from his head, he held your hand in the air, and your fingertips naturally curled forward. The bandages were surprisingly intact given all the sweat and bodily fluids. Though, now that you were thinking about it, the skin beneath the bandage started to throb with pain. His thumb stroked your inner wrist.

“How’s the burn?”

You pulled your hand away and wiped the sweat from your forehead. “Manageable.” You wiggled underneath him, aware of the intimacy of the moment, and internally panicking. Your plan to be Professional with a capital ‘P’ might be totally fucked, but you still had to retain some distance. He wasn’t your boyfriend. You weren’t dating. Hell, you didn’t even know if you were exclusively sleeping with each other or if this would happen a third time.

“Stop squishing me.”

He smiled into the hollow of your throat and climbed off you. You snatched your t-shirt off the ground and pulled it over your head, grateful for how it covered your body, and reached just above your knee. You ran both hands through hair and finger-combed through the sex-snarls while Carmy pulled up his pants.

You held up a finger, “I don’t want to do the weird after sex talk.”

“I’m not familiar.” He said whilst pulling his white t-shirt over his head. You pursed your lips. Someone shouldn’t look sexy while getting dressed but somehow Carmy managed it. Ridiculous.

“You know, when people have sex and then they act weird, and awkward, and can’t make eye contact.” You said, folding your arms over your chest, and avoiding eye contact. Your desk was foggy with body heat, sweat, and the edge glistened from where your bodies were joined. You might have to buy a new desk. How were you ever going to get work done in here now?

“Okay.”

“Great!” You forced cheerfulness into your voice. “My offer still stands about the cupcakes. Feel free to grab one on your way out.” You said before stepping into your sweatpants and pulling them over your hips with a satisfied smile at the ache in your abdomen.

Carmy muttered your name.

“Is this…” He rubbed his nostril with his knuckles, “I mean – are we going to keep doing this?” He asked, his blue eyes imploring, and your heart flinched. You looked away and at the calendar on the wall. June, June, June. All your plans, all your projects, and ambitions. Everything you were so hungry for. You didn’t have time for anything serious and you weren’t equipped for serious relationships. Casual and random suited your lifestyle fine, thank you. You were sure Carmen could understand that. You were career people.

“This is the after sex talk I was hoping to avoid.” You said with a weak, flat laugh.

Carmy was quiet. You suspected – and hoped - he would drop the topic and walk away.

“You can’t just avoid things because they’re uncomfortable.” He said and stepped into your field of vision, and you were forced to face him – face this. You sighed and nodded with your lips pressed in a firm, hard line.

“I don’t have the time or energy for a relationship.” You admitted.

“Neither do I.”

You inhaled deeply. You knew what you had to do—the only proper, professional choice. It was time to rip off the band-aid. You needed distance, professionalism, and mutual respect. You couldn’t have that if you were crawling into his lap and letting him fuck you so hard you forgot your own name. And it wasn’t just the sex. It was everything else. It was looking for him in a crowded room, it was holding hands through a panic attack, it was sharing cigarettes and bashful smiles. All of it was distraction. All of it was too dangerous for you like standing close to an open flame.

“Normally in a situation like this, I’d suggest we become fuck buddies and blow off steam together.” You began, “However, I can’t – I can’t commit to that either. I need to…I need…”

You licked your lips with your heart pounding in your ear.

“You need to focus on your own shit.” Carmy guessed. You nodded, thankful for his understanding, and his empathy.

“Yeah.” Your lips quirked up in a weak, rueful smile. “I assume you’re in a similar situation.”

“No, no, yeah, yeah. I am.” He nodded, “Obviously. The whole restaurant and my brother and everything…yeah.” He rubbed his forehead with his hand. You had the wild, stupid desire to brush the hair out of his face and press a kiss to his nose. (Which is EXACTLY the reason why you needed to stop sleeping with him starting yesterday). You were getting too close, too eager, and vulnerable with him. It blurred too many lines.

You rocked back and forth on your heels and tried for humor, “So, we can settle for friends who have seen each other naked?”

Carmy exhaled shortly and harshly through his nose. It was almost a laugh.

“Alright.”

“Cool.” You swallowed, hoping for an exit sign on this conversation before you asked him to come over because your resolve was dissolving faster than sand underwater at the sight of him. “Get home safe, okay?”

“Y-yeah. Yeah, you too.”

Carmy left the room, and a lingering sense of longing permeated the air with you as its source. You plunged your face into your hands and sighed heavily. You could do this. You couldn’t afford distractions, or more responsibilities, or messy feelings and neither could he.

“Grow up and get over it, right grandpa?” You muttered to yourself, repeating his most commonly used phrase whenever something went wrong.

< Part Five >

[demonichikikomori]

Sunset in Your Hair

ART TRADE

Ruggie Bucchi x Agatha Boreall Word Count: 3.9k Tags: This Ship is Canon I Said So/Fingerfucking

Art is by suzumefufu on Twitter!

Heheh!~! This is my first official art trade since I was like... 16 or 17? I used to only do art but now that I do 95% writing and have for the last few years... I forgot how fun it was haha. This was done for my lovliest @nicoliharu in mind! I hope you enjoy my half of our exchange!!

SUMMARY:

Agatha was planning on heading to sleep for the night. But Ruggie wanted to invite himself over before the sun went down.

Agatha gave a final, smiling goodbye to Mina who was excitedly on her way to a sleepover with Leona for the weekend. As she closed her bedroom door with a soft yawn, she undressed and prepared for a relaxing bath. Ramshackle had finally settled down for the night. The ghosts were heading to bed early, and even Grim who was exhausted and had fallen asleep on the couch in the foyer. Only after forcefully having his nails painted a glittering neon blue and refusing to go to class until he could get the paint off. Agatha settled into the warm water, soaking her stress away and massaging shampoo into her hair. It was barely 7pm on a Friday, and the sun had yet to set for the evening. The school week had been so exhausting and the redheaded girl wanted nothing more than to sink into her bed and dream away.   

Agatha washed away her worries and scrubbed herself clean from the school week's stressors. Her hair had finally dried as she dressed herself into a clean pair of pijamas. A tiny pair of black shorts that didn’t quite fit, and a tight fitting gray tank top. Soft, cotton, and comfortable! She sat at her vanity and placed her phone on the table to charge beside her before picking up her hairbrush. The device played soft music as she dragged the brush carefully through her cherry colored hairs.

She wasn’t sure what kind of plans to make for tomorrow or if she even wanted to make any. Ruggie had told her a few days prior he would leave the weekend cleared so the two of them could hang out. The hyena constantly talked about how he loved keeping his pockets full. But money didn’t mean much if she wasn’t around to spend some of it with him. It was his subtle way of suggesting a date. Agatha slowed to a stop and glanced at her phone as the next song played. She didn’t want to bother Ruggie with something like that. Even though she was in a relationship with him, sometimes it felt phony. 

There would be so many sweet moments that would later become sour when she wondered to herself how she was able to get the guy she wanted. Was Ruggie with her because her crush was that obvious? Is he doing this because he feels obligated? Agatha’s stomach started to twist as she allowed her inner thoughts to come forward. “I don’t actually mean anything to him.” She sighed with a weak smile and placed the brush down on the vanity. Just as her phone screen lit up with an incoming message. 

The name ’fluffy donut’ appeared in a dark colored text box, waiting patiently for her to view it. Agatha picked up her phone and crossed one leg over the other. She opened her messages to be greeted with a large, yellow, smirking emoji. ‘You didn’t tell me my shift replacement was coming over.’ Shift replacement. Royal alarm clock. That was what Ruggie usually called Mina in the nicest way possible. Agatha began to type back with a small pout forming. ‘She wanted to see him! And she’s older than me, so I can’t stop her at the door. How did you even know?’ Agatha felt her thin eyebrows scrunch with confusion. Ruggie responded quickly with another smirking emoji with sparkles beside it. ‘Leona told me. Sooooooo this means me and her are trading for the night? I’m already getting my stuff together.’ Ruggie was coming over. Wait, he’s coming over now? Right now? ‘Isn’t it a little late at night Ruggie?’ Agatha frowned and looked down at her current state. Her small gray tank top and little black shorts weren’t exactly the most appropriate for having company over. 

The cherry haired girl considered throwing on a sweatshirt or maybe a pair of pijama pants if he truly intended to pay her a visit. ‘It aint even 10 yet. And im only coming over to hang out. It hasnt been just us for about two weeks.’ Ruggie had a point. Agatha had been busy with picking up shifts at the Mostro Lounge and club activities, and Ruggie was caught up with MagiShift and his odd jobs that the two of them only really saw each other during school. ‘Let me come over? Just one night. Please? Please please please please please?’ The beastman sent a photo of a cat crying which made Agatha snort with amusement. She couldn’t stop him if he really wanted to. ‘You can come over.’ She sighed and glanced at her dresser sadly. 

Ruggie saying he was planning to just ‘hang out’ usually did not mean ‘hanging out’. But whenever they made plans for something explicit, it would be canceled or they would simply sleep peacefully beside one another. At this point it was like a reverse psychology trick for them both. Agatha had the dorm to herself other than Grim sleeping on the couch. But everything depended on whether or not Ruggie would be showing up. Agatha couldn’t actually picture him ditching her, but… It wasn’t an impossible scenario. She looked at herself in her vanity mirror and grabbed her favorite perfume. 

A delicate chocolate fragrance she would dab on her wrists and a small smudge behind her ears. Next, she reached for a pale coral colored lipgloss and applied it quickly. Gently rubbing her lips together and catching the peachy flavor. She debated if she had time or not for mascara and eyeshadow, and decided against it. When Ruggie told her he was coming over, he was usually already on his way down the dirt path. Agatha had learned this the hard way when he arrived while she was still showering. Just five minutes after he had told her he was on his way to Ramshackle. 

“I swear he does it on purpose…” She huffed and uncrossed her legs to stand and search through her dresser drawer for a pair of pijama pants. Agatha crouched and pulled on the brass handle to the bottom drawer. Inside were a few assortments of loungewear and she grabbed the first modest thing she spotted. A faded red pair of flannel pijama pants. At least to cover her nearly bare body a little. There was no way Ruggie would want to see her in less unless he was in the mood. She begrudgingly pulled them on, doing a small hop to get them over her hips with a frustrated groan. Agatha remembered why she never wore these in the first place. The issue always lied in something needing to fit over her ass. 

It wasn’t her fault that it was big. But buying things that fit and getting them adjusted was such a hassle. She looked back at her butt with an expression of distress, seeing that the flannels didn’t really fit. The fabric was stretching, making her shorts underneath very visible. Yeah, a sweatshirt would help. Before she could open the closet to yank one off of its hanger she was stopped by a sudden noise. 

There was a light knock against the glass of her bedroom window. The sound startled her, a yelp jumped from her throat as she tensed up before creeping over to the window. Agatha slept on the second floor of Ramshackle. So who could possibly be knocking on the glass? 

The cherry haired girl nervously parted the thick curtains, and hastened once she saw Ruggie’s smiling face staring back at her. He had arrived on his broom, seated with a hand clutching firmly to the handle as it hovered high off the ground. The hyena was dressed in a brown shirt with the word ‘FAMINTO’ printed in thick, white letters across the chest. Black shorts, and a pair of brown sandals lined in shiny red and gold beads. Agatha could see he had a dark colored backpack hanging off his shoulder as he patiently waited for her to allow him inside. The sun was finally setting, and the warm glow made his hair shine, the same way it caused hers to shimmer. 

Agatha quickly unlocked the window and lifted it with a worried frown. “You are going to get hurt-” She wanted to scold him for such reckless behavior. But instead she was quickly silenced by the hyena’s hands cupping her face, and a soft kiss was stolen along with her next breath. Her gold colored eyes widened and her cheeks became hot. Agatha wasn’t expecting such an intimate greeting. Ruggie’s lips were much rougher compared to hers, but the kiss was filled with affection as his pierced tongue playfully swiped against her teeth. The beastman slowly pulled away with a wide smile and steadied his balance on the broom as Agatha backed away. “Surprise!~!” He snickered as the redheaded girl covered her face with her hands and made her way to the bed. “You taste pretty good! What flavor is that? Peach?” Ruggie snickered as he threw his bag through the window where it collided against the wooden floor with a heavy thud. She sat on the edge of the bed as he let himself in and shut the window, propping the broom in the corner with his hands now folded behind his head. “You mad at me?” He asked, his drooping eyes watching as she shook her head and silently grieved over her now semi-smeared lip gloss. Ruggie kicked his sandals off and slowly made his way towards the bed to stand in front of her. The warm orange color filled the room, dousing them both in the citrus shade. He frowned a little before moving to tuck his hands into his pockets. “You tired? Don’t worry, I promise I am just here to spend time with you.” He titled his head as her gold eyes lifted to meet his grayish blue ones. 

Even though he always had a scheming expression… Agatha could tell he was intending to be genuine with her. It was strange. She wanted to believe he was actually being serious when he would make visits like this and give her romantic words. But her brain told her that he just needed someone to fool around with until Crowley sent her home. “Just a little… I wasn’t expecting you to actually come.” She muttered as Ruggie started to pout. “What? Since when have I skipped out on kickin’ it with you?” He asked and sat beside her on the bed. Agatha shook her head, as the weight shifted and their shoulders brushed. “I’m only saying… There might be a time you don’t come.” She explained with a weak smile as the hyena’s expression began to soften. The two of them were quiet until Ruggie groaned and flopped down in bed next to Agatha, allowing the cushiony mattress to swallow him and his stress. 

“Don’t think about shit like that. It won’t happen on purpose.” He huffed as Agatha’s smile strengthened and she turned to lay next to him on her stomach. “Leona has been annoying all week. I’m sick of his ass.” Ruggie scoffed with an irritated expression, his large teeth being shown through a curl in his lips as he turned to look at the cherry haired girl. “I’m this close,” He curled his pointer finger towards his thumb leaving a millimeter of space between the digits. “to packing up and camping here until he graduates.” Agatha smiled, pushing her hand through his short, biscuit blond hair as she sat up on her arms. “Are you sure? It gets really cold at night here.” She joked and Ruggie inched closer with a grin. “Weeeell, I know you won’t let me freeze. So it’s fine.” He flashed her a wide smile full of teeth. Agatha giggled softly as the two of them re-arranged their bodies onto the bed. Now, lying comfortably next to one another. With Agatha’s head tucked against Ruggie’s chest, the hyena rested on his side with his arm supporting the girl's head. 

“Such a charmer.” Agatha purred and cupped Ruggie’s chin with her fingers. She could hear Ruggie’s tail thumping softly against the mattress. “Trying to con me out of my pillows and blankets?” She asked with a roll of her eyes as she pulled her hand away. But Ruggie chased the feeling by moving even closer to her. There was just barely three inches of personal space between them now. “I don’t want them if you aren’t included.” He cooed sweetly and his breath tickled the skin on her lips. Agatha felt her cheeks grow warm as she glanced away from Ruggie feeling embarrassed. The sun was starting to wash them in a heavier shade of orange, much redder and hotter than before. “Did I getcha with that one?” The hyena teased as his legs tangled around hers and he looked down at her pijama pants with a confused smile. “It’s a lil’ toasty out for these dontcha think?” He asked and hooked his finger into the elastic hem and pulled. Agatha frowned when she caught him peeking inside to see what was underneath. “Hey!” She gasped with her cheeks burning and reached to cover his eyes. His hand pulled away and he began to laugh as he draped an arm over her and began pulling her body towards his. “You smell like chocolate.” He whispered as he went in for a second quick kiss. Agatha allowed it, her previous frustration fading away to be replaced with a familiar warmth. His tongue pressed against hers this time as her lips stayed parted. The round stud rubbing against the muscle left Agatha’s mouth filling with the ghost of what she only could imagine was the flavor of surgical steel. Or it was the chocolate frosting to a donut Ruggie had had before his arrival. 

The hyena pulled away with a soft laugh as he tugged again at her pijama pants. “Seriously, just take them off. What are you worried about?” He asked as Agatha turned her face away from his. But she still followed his request.

She slipped her thumbs into the tight flannels she struggled to slide over her rear. And now, she had to awkwardly wriggle out of them again. “See? They don’t even fit you properly…” Ruggie grumbled as he watched her undress with eyes falling half lidded. “I wanted to cover up a little…” The cherry haired girl muttered as she pulled her legs free and looked down at her shorts. They had hiked themselves up from being scrunched beneath her flannels and she quickly tried to adjust them. 

Agatha could feel Ruggie watching as he reached out to hook his finger in the hem of her tiny black shorts. Her heart skipped in her chest and her breath caught in her throat, He pulled at the elastic, and let it go to snap against her skin. Smiling when she flinched at the smack. When his lips pressed against her temple, and a hand slipped between her thighs is when she thought she couldn’t take much more.

She quickly shook her head. Face flushed in rouge as she shyly pushed at his chest to inch him away. “You don’t want to?” He asked softly and Agatha hesitated. “Well…” Her voice softened and she relaxed her thighs around Ruggie’s hand. His fingers were careful, resting against her clothed sex as he hooked a leg around one of hers. “Lemme do this for you.” Ruggie whispered as he gently rubbed at the folds hidden under her tiny black shorts. “I wanna do it for you.” His voice was soft as the hand vanished and he slipped a finger into the small black shorts again to tug at the elastic. “Take ‘em off.” He instructed and Agatha sheepishly shook her head. “Why not? You nervous?” He teased as he started to inch the waistband lower, catching a glimpse of a wispy trail of cherry colored hairs. “There’s nothing underneath.” She whispered against his chest feeling bashful. Agatha didn’t consider underwear. But now, it didn’t exactly matter. 

Her eyes darted downwards when she felt a familiar throb against her thigh. The beastman had grown hard against her, still pulling at her shorts with a soft whine. “I can… I can do it for you too…” She offered quietly as the room had now been filled with a rose red color from the sunset. The intimate color made the room hot, and warmed Agatha’s body from the core. Her fingers slid over his cock and Ruggie’s breath hitched. “H-Hey, hey. This isn’t about me.” The beastman corrected and let go of her shorts to grab her wrist instead. “I wanna play with you for a bit. We can worry about me after.” His voice was like honey as he pulled her hand up to his lips and kissed the back. Leaving a tingling feeling as he let her go, and went back to demanding her shorts be removed. And in a daze, Agatha followed his request. 

She simply couldn’t imagine not doing anything for Ruggie in return. Feeling his hard cock pressed against her hip, tucked away in his black shorts with slow, subtle rolls of his hips against her body. “S’fiiiine.” Ruggie purred as she peeled her shorts down her thighs, wishing she had gone ‘bald’ had she known the hyena was making such plans. He never vocalized any care, but still. Agatha gasped when Ruggie’s fingers rubbed at the folds of her pussy. She wanted to scold him for reasons unknown. She wanted to say something. But all that came out was a weak sigh as her hand that he kissed, now gripped tightly to his cotton shirt.

The calloused pad of his finger gently massaged her sensitive pearl. The slow circular motions made Agatha sweat as she did her best to remain still. Her lips pressed tightly together to stifle any sounds as Ruggie breathed softly against her ear. Each time he would roll his hips against her plush thigh, and she would feel his thick cock pressing against her in dire need of attention; it took everything in her not to reach over and touch him. To at least feel the velvety flesh in her palm. To feel the way he twitched with excitement when she used her fingers to pay extra special attention to his tip. “Does it feel good?” He asked sweetly as Agatha nodded, a weak whimper making its escape past her glossy lips. 

She gulped down her anxiety as a finger began to prod at her moistened entrance. She felt light headed as his finger sped up. The friction makes the muscles in her abdomen tighten and constrict. “You’re twitching a lot down here. Don’t tell me you’re cumming already?” He snickered in her ear, his tongue darting out to lap at the sensitive lobe before catching it between his sharp teeth. Agatha’s thighs trembled, her knees pressing together as the coil in her stomach loosened and she shook from the waves of an orgasm. It was fast. Too fast. 

Ruggie’s hand suddenly stopped as he released her earlobe from his teeth. Shocked by how fast she had found euphoria. Before, she was anxious. Now? She was disappointed that it was over. Agatha was ashamed at the lack of stamina being apparent, and so was the proof that she didn’t have much alone time as she should. Before Agatha could apologize to Ruggie, he began rubbing again with a soft groan into her sensitive ear. 

“You missed me didn’t you?” He was teasing her. Agatha pouted, her body twitching and sensitive as he slipped a finger inside of her relaxing hole. “S-So what if I did miss you?” She mumbled with her face dyed in blush and her heart pounding against her ribs. She could hear the beastman’s heart in his chest. The way it pounded just as intensely as her own. When his finger curled against that special collection of nerves; Agatha yelped and yanked at Ruggie’s brown shirt. The fabric was becoming stretched as the pressure in her abdomen began to build as the hyena snickered against her flesh. “Hmm? That’s the spot?” He pressed it again, seeing her body jerk. “Right here?” Tears pricked at her eyes from the intensity. How the pleasure would dull before electrifying every single nerve in her body. Her toes would flex tightly and her muscles would squeeze all before relaxing. Like a special button hidden inside of her that Ruggie had managed to find. And he was the only one to find it. 

It was bordering sadistic when he curled his finger up into the spot. When Agatha’s gummy walls would constrict around his finger from the pleasure, he would whisper filth. How she was so sweet for holding back until they met again. How her body reacted so well to his touch. How he wished he could watch her touch herself next time. His words. His warmth. His touch. Agatha nestled her head against his chest as she shook, nearing another orgasm with a soft string of moans as Ruggie pushed a second finger inside to stretch and massage her inner walls. “You’re just gushing Agatha. Feel that good for you?” He asked as she glanced up at him through wet lashes and watery eyes. Her bright gold ones met his grayish blue ones. And she swore she could see his pupils suddenly expand. 

His fingers pumped faster. The way they jammed bluntly into the bundle of nerves made Agatha’s back arch from the mattress as she found herself orgasming a second time. The warm sticky fluid was making its way out of her and onto the sheets below as she sobbed and let go of Ruggie’s shirt to shakily clutch his wrist. He wasn’t stopping. “Dentinho, por favor- Espera…” She babbled, not realizing Ruggie only caught the nickname. His fingers pushed and curled. Tapping viciously at her wet walls as they sucked him deeper and begged for much more. The way the tendons in his wrist flexed and relaxed were the only things keeping Agatha from fainting as Ruggie’s fingers pressed and pounded inside of her. “You like when I make you cum Aggie? You like it when I do this for you?” All she could do was nod as her eyes began to roll back. Her body shuddered as she sobbed against Ruggie’s chest from the overwhelming pleasure. She could feel Ruggie’s cock twitching from all of the excitement as her thighs clamped around his hand again. But that didn’t stop him from giving her a third and final orgasm. 

She let out a pathetic, squeaky cry as Ruggie captured her lips quickly to silence her. His fingers slowed as they fucked her through the final release. His tongue massaged hers as she moaned and cried into his mouth. Her hands gripping and pulling at his clothes as she felt herself slowly fading away from the world. When their lips parted, Ruggie’s sticky fingers abandoned Agatha’s fluttering hole. 

The cherry haired girl’s thighs were shaking as she laid bonelessly against the mattress. Her face was burning as the room spun around her. She felt a bead of sweat rolling down her temple as she struggled and fought to catch her breath. Ruggie dragged the flat of his tongue against his fingers in the now dark room with his hips slowed to a stop. “Felt good right?” He asked her teasingly, and Agatha gave him a weak nod in response as her eyes fluttered shut. “Wh… What about..?” She trailed off as Ruggie snickered next to her, and pressed a chaste kiss to her cheek. “Let’s worry about that next time. I’m gonna get you some water.” His voice was becoming distant as Agatha nodded absently. 

Yeah… Next time.

[bangchan-ssi]

Bangchan imagine #1

BxB

Y/n woke up with a happy mood accompanied by the cheerful voice from him mother.

"Stand up and eat your breakfast, I cooked your favorite" Mom said.

"Oki, just give me a sec"

The first thing he did was to look at his phone, straight to messages to send some memes to his friends.

After 1 second, one of his friend, Bangchan, replied with a laughing emoji and a greetings for y/n.

"You woke up early, huh?" Bangchan joked.

"Btw, goodmorning" he added.

"Good morning, daddy" y/n replied.

Bangchan and y/n have been friends since the start of college. However, y/n have always had a crush on Bangchan even after they become friends. To cover y/n's love for Bangchan, they always call each other some nicknames that couples use.

For bangchan it was probably nothing, but for y/n it was something.

It had always been special for y/n everytime Bangchan interacts with him and it made y/n fall harder for him.

Y/n was happy until this morning...

"HEY, DID YOU KNOW THAT A BEAUTIFUL GIRL SENT ME A FRIEND REQUEST?!" Bangchan chatted.

"Who?" y/n answered.

"One of my friends told me that this likes me, what should I do?"

"Accept and flirt" y/n said jokingly.

Thinking that it probably some girl that he will blushed on for a few seconds and move on.

But today was different.

"I'm going to accept her tomorrow then this would probably be my soulmate😍" Bangchan replied

Y/n left the chat for a second once he saw another one of his friend, Changbin, enter the group chat.

Y/n saw the whole conversation between Bangchan and Changbin and yet he didn't interact with the conversation.

"Fuck" y/n whispered.

With Bangchan and Changbin's convo, the more worried y/n became. Bangchan was serious and y/n wasn't ready.

As immature as it seems, y/n's cheerful morning became a sad one.

He didn't want bangchan to be with other girl.

Y/n wanted Bangchan but at the same time, he had a hard time with himself, he knows he couldn't be with bangchan for several reasons.

1. He was not openly gay

2. He had a homophobic father

3. He is a red flag

None of those reasons was better than the others, he couldn't be with Bangchan.

After a minute, y/n's phone lit up.

"Dont just 'seen' me" Bangchan chatted on gc.

"Sorry, just not in the mood lol" y/n replied

"Shit, what happened?" Bangchan worriedly asked.

Y/n didn't reply nor looked at the message. After some minutes his phone lit up again.

"Hey, are you okay, baby?" Bangchan privately chatted with the nickname that you two jokingly used for each other.

"Sorry, just really not in the mood lol" y/n replied.

"Does this have to do with school or something?"

"No, just not feeling it rn. Why is my daddy so concerned?" y/n said trying to light up the mood.

"STFU, I'm trying to be noice"

"I'll tell some other time"

"No prob, take your time, baby"

"Thanks"

"Are you up for some talk though?"

"Yeah, sure. Not doing anything atm"

"So this girl..."

Bangchan kept talking about the girl that sent him a friend request. Y/n could only say...

"Pursue her" y/n said with laughing emoji, but who is he kidding?

And the chat ended with Bangchan accepting his advice.

As dramatic as it gets, Y/n's heart broke and yet he couldn't do anything about it. There were too many factors that hinder his confession for Bangchan.

The time past by as if hours were seconds. Y/n wished he could feel better but nothing really works.

Y/n had the urge to look for other people to chat with and become more than friends but he is so reserved that there isn't anyone to chat. He installed some apps that might be able to help him have a gf.

Y/n didn't hate the girl for liking Bangchan but rather he envied her because Bangchan was already down to date her.

Y/n looked at the clock again and it was midnight already. To get rid of the heartbreak, he prayed.

"God, I'm hurting. I don't want him to be with her. If I could only be the right person for Bangchan, I would...I want him to be happy but I want him. I know he would never see me more than friend but I don't know why I feel like there is a chance"

"There is still hope that he might like me, but even if he does, I don't think I can take care of him" y/n continued.

"But I hope that I will recover from this" y/n ended that prayer and went to bed.

The next morning, he was already stress the moment he woke up.

Y/n wanted to feel better that is why he prayed again.

After praying, he was already in the acceptance stage. He knew he couldn't be with Bangchan even if there is a chance between them and this almost repressed feelings is starting to make him feel better.

"Hey, how are you and that 'girl'?" Y/n initiated the private chat

"I haven't accepted her, didn't want her to think that I'm easy sksksksk"

"Are you not easy? Jk" y/n said

"No, I'm not. My focus will be for you for now, baby" Bangchan said playfully

"Cant believe that you flirting with another girl and had the audacity to tell your sidechick" Y/n joked.

Y/n put down his phone harshly, covered himself in blanket and screamed with no sound.

"I'm not fucking ready, pls dont, i cant" Y/n said to himself.

Y/n couldn't resist and indirectly told one of his bestfriend, Minho, what he was feeling.

"You sure you liked him or you just jealous?" Minho asked.

"No, I liked him"

"I'm sorry but who are we talking about?"

"Tell you some other time"

"Ayt, take your time, but I kinda wanna know now"

"Next time lol"

"GRRRR"

A day passed and it was already midnight. Y/n thought about what Minho said, if Im just probably jealous.

With my on-going repressed feelings, I started to think that I'm just probably like that"

In the end, y/n didn't confess, he chose friendship over a stupid love. He couldn't treat Bangchan any better if they were in a relationship. But as the day passed by Y/n will only repress every feelings that he had with Bangchan.

(Hi, this is my first time writing a story. It's not the best but i hope you enjoyed it somehow!)

(Also english is not my official language, so sorry for the bad grammars, if there's any)

(Looking for active moots!)

[miqomonkly]

Hi idk which one to ask! 😅

✘: Who do they detest the most? Do they typically avoid this person or antagonize them?

💧: Are there any places they avoid? If so, why?

💔: Have they ever had their heart broken? If so, why or how did it happen?

There are just so many good ones, yeah? XD

X: (Couldn't find the emoji) There are several people Lyanna outright despises, though most of them actually deserve her ire.

Lord Lolorito: Outside of his dealings surrounding the Bloody Banquet, I'lyanna finds the man wicked and conniving. She has a modicum of respect for him only so far as his business management capabilities; beyond this, she sees him as nothing more than a greedy, scheming villain. A necessary evil that she wishes she could expunge from history.

Tedalgrinche de Dzemael: Considering her close relations to House Hallienarte, including but not limited to her tutelage in Machinistry under Stephanivien, it's natural that many in House Dzemael night consider her a nuisance. Tedalgrinche's effort to discredit and shame the Manufactory, however, have earned him a particular place in the Miqo'te's blacklist. Even after their victory against Veri Seren, Lyanna makes sure to keep a wide berth from him... lest a "stray" gesture mar his ever so perfect Visage.

Baroness Melisie: Again featured during the Machinist storyline, Melisie is an inquisitor who seeks to besmirch the name of the Hilda's Hounds and the newly founded hierarchy of Ishgard. Her lack of empathy towards the lower class and her willingness to go as far as heresy to see her goals accomplished fills I'lyanna with a rage even she can't quite describe. Thankfully, after thwarting her plans, the Temple Knights took her into custody and away from the Miqo'te'a wrath.

Ilberd Feare: I don't think there needs to be a reason listed, but on top of being an accessory to murder, his efforts led to the betrayal of friends and colleagues, and caused far more damage then he could even realize. Add to that his orchestration of the murder of hundreds of his own countrymen... well...

Professor Erik: This man... while I'lyanna respects and appreciates him for the work his has done towards the study of aetherology as well his assistance in the trials she and Widargelt faced in their Monk training... she also will be the first to tell you he is an arrogant, stuck-up, inconsiderate soul... mostly, anyway. His nonchalant insults and demeaning behavior of those with "lesser minds" will never cease to infuriate I'lyanna, and she will always call him out on it... though the way in which he brushes such insults aside makes her even more furious. There are several instances where she has been held back from outright clocking the man across his jaw.

💧: For the longest time, I'lyanna would avoid Pearl Lane on Ul'dah like the plague. Even before Ala Mhigan refugees tried their luck at making a living there, it had always been known as a rather seedy place. Lots of dark and unsavory things were believed to have happened along it's street, and I'zahn wasn't about to let his daughters go anywhere near it, even if chaperoned.

These days, it doesn't scare I'lyanna to go down Pearl Lane... but even now, she still feels a hint of trepidation when she does.

💔: The greatest heartbreak she's experienced to date has been the loss of Haurchefant, the one man she truly felt she had fallen in love with. And of course, losing her family was certainly heartbreaking.

As far as "unique" heartbreaks, I don't currently know of any. Sorry to disappoint...

Thank you for asks! 🧡🧡🧡

[crowned-peony]

I'm just posting it here @the-masked-ram♡

Maybe in another lifetime....

Tw: Angst no comfort? Implied emotional cheating?

Word count: 806

Notes: No pronouns mentioned for the reader. Just basically had idea of what if you met your soulmate and realized a while later that you aren't meant to be and found someone that gives you that same feeling you felt before

His soft calm breathing echoes through the room. Another night of staying up and hoping that things will get better. There was no argument for the last few days but the silence is more brutal. Cuts deeper into the soul. At least the arguments are filled with emotion, better than this numbing coldness. No sweet words, no gentle touches, not even a shared look anymore.

They say "if you love something let it go" but what if you love something so much that you hold on to the feelings that once were. You hold onto the memories of your first date. How nervous you both were but so happy to hold hands and the flustered feelings of the first kiss. The sweet words whispered, all the 'I love yous and you are my world', the teasing and laughter. Cuddles and hugs after a long day. Sharing stories and smiling all night long. Friends saying "you both are too cute" "I wish for what you both have" " you make me believe in love". Yet here you are now. Laying awake in bed. Clock says it's 3 am. Your thoughts blur together and your heart is trying to find something to keep holding on to, something to say this is all worth it. The memories feel like they belong to someone else, that they happened a lifetime ago.

Fighting the tears that are screaming to escape you get out of bed and quietly make your way to your living room. The pictures of you both are lightly glowing in the moonlight and haunting you. What would you do to be able to slip back into that happiness you once were surrounded by. What went wrong? What moment did love turn to coldness? Did happiness turn to resentment? That your home turned into a prison. Grabbing one of the pillows on the couch you hold it while curling up into a ball and cry. Letting the tears just spill out while trying so hard to get all the hurt to follow as well. How many more nights of this until you just give in and call it quits? How many more nights of crying before you just pack up and try finding happiness again?

Maybe tomorrow will be better, when you know that it will be a copy of today. You will cry until you're tired, make your way to bed and fall asleep due to exhaustion, wake up and he will be gone. No sign that he was even there. No cute notes or packed lunch, no coffee waiting for you and a text that says 'Hi angel, enjoy the coffee and have a wonderful day. See you at home♡'. Just silence. Swallowing the bitter truth of the relationship is over just neither of you want to admit such defeat. Get ready for work and try not to be happy about being there. Try and not feel like the world is better at work because of Him. Him that makes you laugh and smile. Him that lightens up the room cause his presence is so bright. Him that remembers your favorite flower, cause he got you a single one on your birthday. That asks you about the new show you are watching. That he loved the book recommendations and loved to talk about it. He spends his lunch break with you so you won't eat alone and walks you to your car after work. That tells you to be safe and have a sweet night. Him that sends you home when it's getting late. Shows up early and has something for you to eat and a new hand drawn emoji on the note. Send you work emails with silly videos to make you laugh. He made you believe in love again.

But how can you think about such a sweet feeling when you are nothing but a coward that can't cut the current tie. Can't cut it because the universe played some sort of sick joke and said your current relationship is one you destined with. That's tied you to him for the end of your life because of a stupid mark. Why couldn't you just been born without one. Cause maybe then you wouldn't be so unhappy. Stuck in a relationship going nowhere cause you were told "this is the one, this is your forever". Just a few more months, you can hold that long and just get the soul mark removed and start a new life. By then maybe you will have courage to tell him how you feel and ask him if the offer for coffee I still available and maybe your life will once again be filled with color and happiness. Not be so cold and silent. Maybe just a bit more. It be all okay, just need to hold on a bit more.

[darkened-storm]

@sluggybasson107 thanks for the tag!!

Here we go

Hot or cold showers Hot, without question. I can’t stand cold water.

Texting or calling: texting, unless it’s my mum because the development of technology seems to have eluded her. She did recently learn how to send a smiley face emoji though.

Earbuds or headphones AirPods. Minimalist, portable, and they don’t fall out of my ears.

Paperback or hardcover Paperback. Usually because if I’m reading something in a series I’m buying the first thing that’s released which is usually the paperback.

Matte or gel: I don’t think I have a preference. Probably matte.

12 or 24 hour clock: 12 hour. I always get panicked that I’m doing maths wrong if I use 24 hour time … subtracting 11 is hard!!

Blue or green Blue :)

Sunsets or sunrises Sunsets. I’m not a morning person and sunsets means that the stars are coming out!

Candlelight or moonlight Moonlight. Putting me near an open flame is never a good idea for an accident prone human.

Sci fi or horror Sci fi. I don’t particularly like gore and I hate jump scares.

Pen or pencil Pen. When I was a kid if I accidentally stabbed my self with a pencil I’d worry I’d die of lead poisoning… my kid self had a lot of irrational fears lol.

Pandas or koalas Pandas! Because they’re cute and fluffy and they don’t have the clap!

Gold or silver Rose… gold?

Sneakers or boots Boots. Boots come in all different shapes and sizes. Tall. Ankle. Gunboats. Snow boots. They’re just SO versatile.

Denim or leather jacket Leather. Well, faux leather cuz you know … loving animals and all

Pink or purple Purple. Husband and I recently had a quarrel over me having too many purple suitcases and him not knowing which one I was asking for

Choco or sour candy Chocolate! Need that sweetness in my life

Deodorant or perfume Deodorant because no one likes to be sweaty

Drive in or cinema Drive in because pajamas and snacks and bringing my dogs along. Also not having to listen to other people chewing their popcorn

Pastel or earth tones Pastel

Lemonade or fruit juice Fruit juice. Any way to get those extra vitamins in

Past or future Past. Because life was simpler when we were kids

Yaay that was fun

I tag @ashxketchum @ceruleanmusings

Enjoy!

[zhongrin]

!!! the event + afterparty were all super fun to witness n you did a really good job!! the afterparty was a little hard to follow but super cool nonetheless. also, when i sent in that ask abt my theory, i was so sure i was right only to get humbled by the alchemist sdbfhjsd

if you dont mind, can you explain the whole thing going on with albedo and dorian? mb im just slow or missed a bunch of important lore while scrolling through my dash, but what actually happened?

thank youuuu <333 and hsldkfjlsdf i hope bedo's answer didn't hurt you or anything, he's just.... i feel like it would be how he writes hahaha

oh gosh uhh the whole thing? there's.... there's a lot shldfjlksdfj

ok, let me try to summarize this... (i won't include ALL the hints i dropped because that would be. uhh. crazy. lol. just the important ones!)

ebg event

you can see a documentary of all the asks here - except for day 7 (thanks navi!! mwah mwah)

there are a few clues dropped in here and there as to what's causing mei's (who is my sona in this story basically) memory loss. the pills were a distraction (they really were for caffeine deficiency). but if you go through some asks and my posts for the last 2 days (albedo taking out mei's vision from the drawer + them taking it somewhere else), you'll notice that it's actually the loss of her vision that's causing it (side note, i was cheeky and gave yall hint on the vision poll - there's a hidden link on the underline of the emoji. you're welcome <3)

as for what happened on day 7... there were many things that happened because things were escalating really fast, and basically one of you tried to save mei AND almost succeeded. this happened on the last ask of day 7, where mei confronts albedo for the pills (because her friends - aka everyone - were basically saying that the pills were the issue here). pushed up against the wall, albedo decides to subdue her and flees to another location because he knows the lab isn't safe.

ebg afterparty

so after all that, we transition to the afterparty. where basically albedo and dorian take over the blog, because mei is mostly unconscious. as for why she's unconscious, it was because of fentanyl, which bedo actually referenced here before.

on the afterparty intro post, you can see that there are codes that you can actually try to decipher. but i'll spare you the headache and gives you the result. it says:

1 ask = 10m Σ 2800m time is ticking

this is basically a countdown to mei waking up. the total is 2800 minutes (aka 48 hours - so that's 2 days). 1 ask (only valid ones though, not the shitposts. which you can see, some posts have the '10' tag and some don't) will minus 10 minutes off the clock. and this runs in real time. the pinned post had the countdown and the hour, so you could actually track from there.

the gimmick is that, albedo will keep adding into this 'clock'. hence you see some posts with '+240' and all that. so it was actually everyone's objective to keep sending asks and waking mei up. i think only a few people realized this lol

so! that's the mechanics out of the way. lore-wise, remember: the missing vision was the reason mei lost her memories. albedo/dorian took that vision out of the drawer somewhere. so your goal was to actually locate where they were hiding and give mei's vision back to her.

now about the 'timelines' - basically what happened was that, since everyone was doing rp on their own characters and situations, it wasn't possible at this point to make them happen in one world. hence, i dropped hints about different timelines being at work here.

think of it as a parallel universe, right? one decision leads to another, and had you made a different decision, it would have been a branch of a story on its own.

but considering all that, the main storyline is still the same. everyone's goal is still the same, and albedo's actions don't differ much from all the timelines. hence i kept trying to steer you all toward where they were (it was mingyun village. see if you can spot all the little hints i dropped lol).

the thing is that almost no one really realized about the missing vision until later on, and even then no one asked where it was. so i couldn't fit the opportunity to give you clues ;w; (but on risu's last ask, i did give you a revelation - it's actually on albedo. yeah.. he had it on him the entire time lol)

so uh yeah. anyway. i probably missed a lot of things. but keep sending stuff so i can. rehash it out and geek out about all the hidden lore of this massive au? please lol

[what-yadoking-likes]

Henlo how are you?

Are there any games besides Payday that you're really into? I've been pretty hyper fixated on Terraria recently. Idk I just really want an excuse to talk about Terraria with someone but like no one here plays it as far as I know and I have this pent up excited Terraria energy I just wanna unleash on someone but I don't want to confuse or burden anyone so I'm just in the corner alone with my Terraria hyper fixation. Sorry if that's too much I just wanted to ask you something but couldn't think of anything cool.

Actually I did have a good question (maybe idk). Are you proud of how you're doing with The Cell? Like are you satisfied with the direction it's going and how the plot is unfolding or do you just feel like it's not right or it could be better? Also completely unrelated but Jacket just coming in and cock blocking Wolf and Hoxton is fucking hilarious

Uh idk how to end this so I'm just gonna put an emoji here 🫠

Hi-iiiiiii

I have personally never played Terraria. My partner has played in the past & occasionally goes back to it, gets obsessed for a few days & then the cycle repeats itself all over again.

Games other than Payday I am obsessed with HMMM. Well... I often find myself going back to Left 4 Dead 2 (which isn't surprising considering it was inspo for Payday : The Heist). There's something weirdly comforting about it?

Recently I've been playing Pokemon Scarlet alongside my partner who plays Violet. We did our best to ignore news of new 'mons & spoilers & so far I have enjoyed the game! Pokemon came out when we were in primary school, so it's nostalgic for us to play, but we've also been playing the games together since we got together some 13 years ago, so it's kinda like a couples activity we do now, I guess.

I have a lot of time & love for Final Fantasy, too. FFIX & FFX are amongst some of my favourite games of all-time, but because of their nature (huge-ass games with sidequests that send the in-game clock into the hundreds of hours), they're not something I dip into all the time - but I do re-play them often, & even have tattoos referencing both games.

NOW ONTO THE CELL OH HO HO.

This is how I had imagined the Cell going all along, pretty much. I didn't always know how they would get to the exact position Wolf and Hoxton are in right now, but I knew that I wanted it to be an examination of Hoxton post-breakout, because when I first started playing Payday 2 (immediately after blasting through Payday: the Heist & loving it), I was disappointed that the development/story seemed to be told more through blocks of text accessible in menus & live-action films rather than in the game itself. Don't get me wrong, I love the live-action stuff and the opportunity to have written information on hand, but I felt a bit... disappointed... with how the breakout was this huge cinematic thing, and then the revenge happened, and then... Hoxton is back to his old self again? I didn't buy it. There would be more to it than that. Speaking as someone with anxiety, depression & PTSD... there's always more to it than that.

My original intention was to have the main focus be on Hoxton and his PTSD/anxiety/trauma from being left behind and replaced. As I started writing I quickly realised I was actually more comfortable writing from Wolf's POV. This inevitably meant I ended up focusing on his traumas too, but I'm not displeased with how it turned out that way.

I guess... when I first started writing it, I didn't think I would still be writing it so many months later. I knew it would be multi-chapter but I had no idea it would become as big as it has in terms of the word count.

Originally I wanted a way to take one of my favourite fanfic guilty pleasures tropes - 'but there was only one bed!' - and find a way to make it believable. We all love a good power-cut/thunderstorm situation - I've written them myself - but I wanted to challenge myself to write it in a more... plausible way?

I guesssss I also didn't intend on having Dallas be a prick... but he turned out that way.

If the focus is more on the 'am I proud' of the Cell, well... I have lost confidence in myself a bit recently. In the beginning I got a lot of comments which were really lovely & went into detail about what people liked or found funny, & now there are less of those & part of me wonders whether the readers are happy with the direction its going. That's... been a tough thought to deal with ngl, because I did really think I was telling a good story and telling it well, & now there's a lot more uncertainty & insecurity about it for me. But I need to hold steady and get the whole thing done so I can move on to something else because... it's been a long time.

Also lol Jacket. I originally wanted him to catch them in the previous chapter (before the rimjob scene), but figured it would be a bit awkward to have them get caught, then immediately getting back into it like 'OH WELL LOL', so I switched the order a bit instead.