#everything comes together SO well and it's such a fantastic finale and epilogue

[klaprisun]

One Sunny Day

(Stardew Valley) (Haley x Female Farmer)

Epilogue

🌻 ~ One Year Later ~🌻

After living here in Pelican Town for over two years, I'm no stranger to this place anymore. I know all the ins and outs of how things roll here, and everyone knows who I am and what I'm like at this point, especially my wife, Haley. She knows me better than I know myself sometimes. She still surprises me sometimes like when she wakes up before me and waters all my plants, or feeds all of my animals for me. That Haley is not the same one I met two years ago, but to everyone's surprise, it sure is. Emily constantly wonders what I did to her or what kind of spell I put her under, but Haley has come to this conclusion on her own.

"Danny, darling, can you pick up some flour from Pierre's when you head over for your seeds?" Haley sings as she is bent over in the fridge, looking for a snack.

"Flour? Why flour? Do we not have enough? Why can't I just make it for you?" I fire out, all in one breath. Haley turns from the fridge, mid bite into a blueberry tart. She just stands there with her finger in the air telling me to wait, as she chews. I raise my eyebrow as I patiently wait for my answer.

"Cake," she mumbles as she chews.

"Cake?" I question.

"Yes."

"Why cake?"

Haley finally finishes her blueberry tart and takes a seat over on the couch, patting the cushion next to her to get me to sit. Without hesitation, I dash over to the couch and jump over the back, landing butt first on the cushion next to Haley. She takes one of my hands and starts tracing the lines on my palms, giving me goosebumps.

"Do you remember that day back at the Saloon? The day everyone was dancing and everything?" Haley begins.

"Haley, that happens often there. I think we've done that at least five times at the Saloon. You're gonna have to be a bit more specific," I reply, playing with a strand of her beautiful, golden hair.

"It was the first one you went to. The one where I cut in right at the end?"

"Oh. Yeah. I remember that. Why do you ask?"

"Well, just before I took over, you were dancing with Penny-"

"Oh my gosh. Haley are you JEALOUS? Over something from two years ago?!" I gasp teasingly. She gives me a playful smack on my hand but goes back to tracing my hand.

"No, I'm not jealous. It's just that...I remember what she was talking about and it has been bothering me ever since. I know, I know, it's been a long time since then but I finally have the perfect idea!" a small grin appears across her face as she recalls her plan.

"Love, you're gonna have to be more specific. A plan for what? What do you remember?"

"Penny was talking about her school books to you just as I walked up. She mentioned how they were in bad condition and falling apart in their hands. When I overheard that, it made me...upset. We don't have a school here in Pelican Town and Penny really took the young kids under her wing. These kids are getting a fantastic education thanks to her, but she deserves to have proper materials to work with. So I propose a Cake Walk! We just have to save up some money as a community and put it towards getting her new textbooks to work with!" Haley drops my hands and claps her hands together excitedly. She hops off the couch, pulling me up with her and starts tugging me around the edge of our rug.

"We just have to set up a really big mat with numbered squares on it and have the participants walk around to each of the squares. We also have to get a few people to bake cakes to enter as the prizes. That's why I was hoping to get flour right away so I can make my famous Pink Cake. Don't worry, I'm making you bring a chocolate cake so you can't get out of this one," she turns to accusingly wag her finger at me but proceeds to ramble on of her plan.

"Then whichever numbered square they land on when I blow a whistle..." Haley stops in her tracks, putting her hand out to stop me from walking any farther as well. "That's the numbered cake they receive!"

"Oh so does that mean I get your cake now then? Cause there are no numbers right now and I'm closest to you so..." I snake my arm around her waist, and slowly move my hand down to her butt. I wrap my other arm around her to grab a double handful, squeezing tightly with both hands.

"Well you kind of helped yourself there, no?" She teases.

"I couldn't help it," I guide her back down to the couch where she decides to sprawl out, stomach down, across the couch and me. I inch my fingers up the back of her shirt and start tracing my fingers along her spine.

"You realize I'm never going to get up now?" She hums.

"You are going to have to if you want to get this Cake Walk up and running," I respond as I unclip her bra- with one hand- so I have better access around her back.

"Now I'm really never going to leave."

"That's too bad because I have to. Up ya get," I immediately retract my hand and give her a couple light smacks on the butt. She whines and groans but reluctantly gets up.

"Remember when you asked me to get flour?" I tap my finger to her forehead. "I have to go before Pierre closes or else I'll be late getting my seeds as well. I want to plant them as soon as possible." I bend down to kiss her before heading out.

"I'll have dinner ready when you're back. I'm CRAVING an omelet right now. I also best start making the Cake Walk mat too so it's ready. I guess I also should call around to see if anyone wants to bake a cake to have as a prize too." Her face starts to drop as she realizes how much work she has cut out for herself.

I know she will feel accomplished as soon as she has it all established though. It will be totally worth it once she sees the look on Penny's face. I'm so proud of her for coming up with this plan and I know she will blow it out of the water.

"Anything else you may need before I head out?" I ask to make sure.

"I think I'm all set. Thank you though. See you soon!" She smiles at me as she makes her way to the kitchen as I walk out the door.

🌻 🌻 🌻

In two days time, Haley's Cake Walk was all set into motion. She had the mat with squares numbered up to 8 on it, she had participants, and she had 8 cakes. Well... soon to be 8. Haley and I are just about finished making ours. We wanted them to be nice and fresh for the winners today.

"Mine is done! Take yours from the oven and then come running once you've finished icing it. I have to make sure everything is set up," Haley had just finished placing the last little garnish on top of her Pink Cake. Me, on the other hand, is severely slacking on the cake making.

"I'll go as fast as I can. It won't look pretty though," I sigh as I start getting the icing set up.

"It's a good thing you're pretty. It makes up for the way the cake will look," Haley giggles as she places a lid on the cake tray. I roll my eyes her way but feel my cheeks heat up as I blush.

I begin icing the cake, trying to take my time to make it look neat, but I still rush a bit so I'm not late to my wife's special event. She would kill me if I showed up just over 5 minutes late, and I currently have about 15 minutes to icing this whole, triple tiered cake.

"I can do it," I breathe as I keep a steady pace with the icing knife, carefully spreading it around evenly on each of the three tiers.

In no time, I finished all of the icing and have already booked it out the door to town square, careful as to not topple the cake over as I speed walk.

I watch as Haley's face lights up as soon as she sees me rounding the corner. She immediately clears a place on the cake table for me to gently place down my amazing creation.

"It looks amazing, my dear!" She stretches up and plants a kiss on my cheek as a reward for a job well done.

"Let's get this show on the road everyone!" We chant to the crowd that's gathered for the event.

Jas, Vincent, Emily, Caroline, Marnie, Jodi, Pam, and Clint all take a square on the mat, ready to start. Haley blows the whistle and they begin walking clockwise around the square mat. Jas and Vincent seem very excited to be participating in this event, and it makes everyone smile as we watch them excitedly hopping into each numbered square.

"It was a really good turn out, huh?" Haley nudges me happily, admiring her work.

"You did a great job, love." Just as I begin to go in for a kiss, Marnie chimes in.

"Um...Haley? When do we stop? My legs are..." Marnie begins to pant as she continues to try to keep up with the rotation.

"Whoops! Forgot to blow the whistle!" Haley quickly puts the whistle to her lips and blows. Everyone freezes on the spot, and begins to look at the number they landed on. Haley begins to give out the designated cake prizes.

"Caroline, you get Mayor Lewis' cave carrot loaf, with extra fiber" Haley announces.

"Oh, joy" I hear her mumble.

"Emily, you get Pam's chocolate stout cupcakes with aged bourbon buttercream!" Haley announces again.

"You're in for a treat, kid," Pam chuckles to Emily.

"Jas... you get Clint's wild horseradish cobbler..." Haley's face goes a shade green as she could hardly get the sentence out of her mouth without gagging. The look on Jas' face is so heartbreaking.

"It's an old family recipe. I baked it right in the smelting oven. Oh and I might have burned the bottom a little... you may have to peel off a large amount of charred matter. But the rest should totally be edible!" Clint declares, causing everyone to have a disgusted look on their face.

"Next up is Vincent! We've got Robin's triple syrup n' cream strawberry log!" Haley holds up the next dish for everyone to see.

"Oh no..." Jodi's face goes pale. Vincent is already jumping up and down excitedly.

"Jodi, you get Emily's organic red velvet cake...colored with beets!" Haley says.

I hear Jodi reply with a soft "yum" from the mat.

"Last but not least...Pam! You are the lucky winner of my wife's deluxe chocolate cake!" Haley holds up my beautiful chocolate cake for everyone to see.

"Thanks, kid," Pam says to us. She nods her head my way as well as Haley's.

"Thanks everyone for joining in. We raised over 5000 coins!

"What's the money for anyway? You buyin' a new purse?" George scoffs from the sidelines.

"Actually... it's for Penny," Haley turns her attention towards a confused looking Penny.

"Penny, about two years ago I overheard you telling Danny about those school books you use for Jas and Vincent. It sounded like you could use some help and I couldn't think of the right thing to help until recently. I know I'm pretty late to this, but I hope you're okay with this?"

Penny's face lights up as she processes what Haley just said. "Did you hear that, kids? You're getting brand new school books!" she shouts, ecstatically. "I don't know what to say... Thank you so much to both of you!" Penny gives us both a big hug.

"Hey Lewis... since we're funding the education without touching the town's coffers, you'll be lowering our business tax, right?" Robin calls over to Mayor Lewis.

He starts looking around nervously at everyone, avoiding eye contact with Robin. I can see visible sweat drops fall from his forehead.

"We'll discuss that at a later date. I have...somewhere to be right now!" and with that he scurries off.

I swoop Haley into a big, celebratory hug, spinning us around a few times. Her feet come off the ground a bit from how far I pick her up.

"You did it! The Cake Walk was a success!" I exclaim.

"You helped, Danny. I couldn't have done it without you," Haley gushes.

"I hardly did anything. This was all you. It was such a thoughtful gesture, I love that you did this. I can't wait to spend the rest of my life with such a kind and thoughtful person," I place little kisses all over her cheeks making her giggle and try to swat me away.

"You better be, because you are stuck with me Mrs. Danny," Haley swipes her finger down my nose and then tips my hat over my eyes. 

"I love you, Haley."

"I love you, Danny."

[builtbybrokenbells]

Spitfire | viii

Jake and y/n have made amends, leaving room for only love while he takes her around the world with him. As their story comes to a close, he’s got one last trick up his sleeve to impress her.

Read part seven here

Read the epilogue here

Pairing: jake kiszka x f!reader

Word count: 5.7k

Warnings: SMUT 18+, hot and heavy scene right below the cut but not sex, unprotected sex (wear protection pls), oral (f!receiving), quickie, hair pulling, hint of name calling/degradation, slight dom/sub, semi sort of public sex I suppose, a bit of slapping, JAKE SINGING, swearing, fluff, sorry if i miss any!

hi! last chapter!!! this fic is literally my baby and I’ve had so much fun writing this, and im so grateful for everyone who’s come along on the ride! thank you so much for every like, comment, reblog and comment. ive read all of them and they make my heart incredibly happy. I hope the ending concludes everything pretty well and you all like it. i am currently writing an epilogue because i HAVE to, it’ll just be some more tooth-rotting in the future fluffiness. anyway, without further ado, enjoy, always be kind, and don’t mind any grammar mistakes 🫶🏻🫶🏻🫶🏻

“Jake, baby…” you breathed, head falling back on the pillows. His lips were dancing over your collarbones, making it impossible to think about anything else. His hand was on your hip, fingers dipping just under your panty-line, begging you to let him keep going. “Gonna be late.” You finally said, coming back to your senses a little more.

“We won’t,” he mumbled against your skin. “Just sound check, anyway.”

“Your brothers will kill me if you’re late on the first day I’m visiting.” You scolded.

“They’ll be fine.” He assured you, moving down your chest. He opted not remove your bra,, only kissing the skin around it. He advanced down your stomach, all the way to your bellybutton, leaving small marks of love around your navel and hips.

“Jake,” you warned again, causing his motion to stop, now. He looked up at you, an unreadable look on his face.

“Fine,” he hovered over you, not moving completely away yet. “Let’s go to the venue.” He said with a mischievous smile growing on his lips. A jolt of nervousness ran through you, unsure of what he was thinking. He stood, adjusting himself and looking over you. “Come on.” He held a hand out to you. You took it, standing up. He placed a kiss on the top of your head, lingering there for a minute. When he parted, he delivered a small smack to your ass as you walked towards your suitcase. You let out a noise of surprise, causing him to laugh.

“You’re a dick.” You smiled, pulling some clothes from your bag. You continued to dress yourself like you planned to do before he’d rudely interrupted.

“You love me.” He teased. You pulled your dress on, looking over to him with a grin.

“Yeah, I do.” He walked towards you, placing a kiss on your lips. You couldn’t help the disappointment you felt when he broke away. He disappeared into the bathroom, leaving you to finish getting ready. You pulled your makeup bag out of your suitcase and made fast work at applying it.

The night prior, you and Jake had reconciled your issues, leaving the relationship almost better than it had been before the incident. You felt much more secure and confident knowing that he hadn’t done what you assumed, and now he knew exactly how your were feeling. The openness and understanding was something you weren’t used to, and it was wonderful. He knew more about your struggle with being in love and seemed more than willing to work on it together. You were still angry with yourself for disappearing on him, but the more time you spent with him, the more that feeling fizzled away. You felt fantastic that you’d made up with him, and sleeping in bed beside him was more of a remedy to the pain than any words you could share with him.

You were getting ready to watch their concert. It was the first you’d ever been to, and you could barely contain your excitement. You’d watched Jake play guitar over the phone and from a couple videos online, but never in person, mostly because the circumstance never allowed it. He was incredibly nervous, even though he would never say it out loud. He’d given up hope that you were going to come to Atlanta, and now that you were there, he was nervous he hadn’t practiced well enough. He was insistent on impressing you, but he had no idea that he didn’t even have to try for him to do that. It was nearing the time the boys had to be at the venue for their final soundcheck before the show. They’d done a quick one the night before, but due to Jake’s broken strings and sudden disappearance, they thought it best to do another. You were almost thankful for it, excited to see the whole set-up before the real performance.

Josh had dropped your bags off outside of Jake’s room earlier that day, assuming things had gone well when he didn’t hear from you. Sam and Danny had no idea you decided to go to Atlanta after all, and you were eager to surprise them. When Jake returned to you, he had to stop and admire the sight. “Hello, beautiful.” He said, making his way towards you.

“Hi,” you breathed, looking him over, too. He was wearing jeans and a button down, just something simple, but he always seemed to take your breath away.

“Ready to head out?” He asked. You nodded. He placed his hand on your lower back after checking to make sure he had everything he needed. You did the same, then welcomed his touch by leaning into him. He led you to the the door, opening it for you so you could leave first. When you stepped out, you saw the three other boys circled together in the hallway, chattering about something. Sam was the first to look towards the sound of the opening door. When his eyes fell on you, he froze for a moment, completely bewildered to see you there.

“Witchy woman!” He announced, causing the other two boys to look towards you, too. You couldn’t help but smile at them as Danny’s expression lit up, too. Sam bounded over, picking you up in a hug and spinning you around. You let out a laugh, just as happy to see him. “I didn’t know you were coming!” He exclaimed as he put you down.

“Neither did I,” Jake said from behind you.

“Me either.” You admitted. “But I’m glad I did.” You quickly explained.

“So are we,” Jake said, attempting to sound cool about it. He was over the moon that you were there and you had both made up for the week of despair.

Danny took his turn hugging you. “How long are you staying with us?” He asked, looking down at you.

“Uh, until my invite runs out, I guess.” You laughed.

“As if that would ever happen.” He said. When Josh didn’t immediately run to your side, Sam eyed him with an inquisitive look.

“You knew!” He finally exploded, accusing his oldest brother. Josh raised his hands in defence.

“Yeah, but I figured I’d let her tell you herself. I’m sure she had more important things to do rather than entertain you.” Josh shot back. Sam feigned a look of hurt.

“How dare you imply that I’m not the most important person here.”

“Sorry, it must have slipped my mind.” Josh rolled his eyes. “Anyway, if we’re all done with the reunion, we should probably get going. We’re already running late.”

“Right,” Jake nodded, sending him an apologetic look. Josh waved it off, beginning to walk down the hall.

The ride to the venue was filled with laughter and jokes. The atmosphere almost tricked you into believing you’d never left at all, and that nothing bad had ever happened. It was very comforting to know they didn’t hold what happened against you. When you arrived, Jake guided you inside, not willing to stray too far away from you. Their manger was waiting for them by the stage when you walked into the building. When you all reached him, he immediately directed them to where they had to go and telling them what needed to be done, only lightly scolding them for being late. By his tone, you could infer that this was not a rare occurrence. While they filed onto the stage, you took your time to introduce yourself.

“You can sit wherever you’d like,” he told you “if you want, you can stay back here, or you can go down to the main floor. I’m assuming you’ll be back here, later, so you can go get the real concert experience, now.” He laughed.

“Yeah, actually, I might do that.” You said, thinking it was a fantastic idea. He directed you on where to go, immediately getting his attention pulled in another direction. You went through the door he’d pointed out, making your way to the barricade. The arena was huge, the seated area completely surrounding the general admission area.

As soon as you took your place in front of Jake, he caught your gaze and gave you a toothy grin. You waved, excited to have his attention even if you’d been talking to him only moments before. He had his guitar hanging from his neck as he messed with the tuning pegs, trying to get the pitch right on his new string. Sam was plucking notes on the bass without being connected to his amp. Danny was lightly hitting his sticks against the edge of his drums, making a faint metallic ring sound through the air. Josh was saying something to Sam, laughing as he did so. Jake looked to his brothers, letting them know he was good to go.

He flipped on the power to his amp and gave the guitar a small strum, checking the volume. He adjusted the knobs slightly, picking another small tune to see how it sounded. He gave a nod of approval before walking over closer to his twin. Sam did the same with his amps, satisfied with the sound almost immediately. Danny gave a quick burst of the drums, causing the boys to laugh. Josh was the last to go, messing with the mic and the stand before speaking into it. “Hello to the pretty lady in the front row.” He said, looking to you. You gave an enthusiastic wave. “Meet me backstage after the show.” He gave a dramatic wink. You couldn’t help but laugh as Jake shot him a crude hand gesture.

“Watch it,” he warned, but a smile was on his face as he did so.

“Any requests?” Josh asked you. You thought about it for a moment, pretending to ponder really hard.

“Whole Lotta Love!” You yelled back, the joke landing poorly with the boys. They all let out a series of groans. The hate they continually received over sounding like a Led Zeppelin cover band was a taboo subject, and you always found it funny to poke fun at them.

“Alright, security, escort her out of here.” Josh said into the mic, causing you to laugh. He waited a moment before speaking again. “Any real requests?”

“Surprise me!” You said, deciding not to antagonize them any further. Josh looked to his twin and gave a shrug. Jake thought for a moment before taking to his guitar and starting an opening riff. The boys caught on after a moment, beginning to play their own parts.

They ran through a couple songs, not taking their practice too seriously. When they were getting ready to wrap things up, you saw Jake make a move towards Josh. He whispered something in his ear, to which his brother gave a nod and a sly smile. He motioned for Sam to come over and then relayed the message to him. They all turned to the drummer, letting him in on the secret. You watched them quizzically, unsure of what they could be up to. Jake strummed a few off notes, getting a feel for the rhythm of their next song. He adjusted the knobs on his amp slightly before he looked up, sending a smile your way and giving you a wink. He moved closer to Josh, and his brother stepped aside slightly. Your eyes widened, realizing that whatever they were going to play, Jake was going to sing it. You’d never heard him sing before, aside from a few small moments in the car.

Jake started his intro, immediately joined by Sam and Danny. Jake looked a bit nervous, but Josh had a wide smile on his face, fully confident in his brother. You figured from the minute they started conspiring, they were up to no good.

“Raven hair, ruby lips, sparks fly from her fingertips,” Jake sang, attempting his best to keep his confidence. You were starstruck, eyes wide and mouth slightly agape. You were amazed at his dedication to your nickname, but more amazed at the sound of his voice. He was really good. When the chorus rolled around, all of the boys joined him, but as soon as the second verse came around, they left him on his lonesome again. By that point, his anxiety had washed away slightly, and he was more comfortable in his singing. He didn’t look up to you until almost the very end, nervous that he would mess up if he saw your face. “She can rock you in the nighttime til’ your skin turns red,” his eyes locked on yours, and he felt a surge of emotion run through him at the sight of your expression. They sang the chorus one last time and played the outro, ending with an elongated chord. They all looked to you, waiting for your reaction.

You exploded into cheers, clapping your hands. They all laughed, Jake and Sam putting their instruments down. Josh fixed the mic stand back to his liking and Jake set his amp back to the way he had it before. You made your move to return to backstage, practically running to meet them. When you came face to face with Jake, he almost looked like he had a blush on his cheeks. “I had no idea you could sing like that!” You exclaimed. He laughed, pulling you into him by your hip.

“In a good, or a bad way?” He said, face inches from yours. You felt your heart flutter.

“Good, very good.” You whispered. He smiled, leaning down and placing a kiss on your lips.

“Not better than me, I hope!” Josh said, dramatically breaking up the moment.

“Never, Josh.” You assured him, subtly winking at Jake. He chuckled, placing another kiss to your forehead. Their manager joined the group, now, and everyone’s attention turned to him.

“They’re gonna open the doors in about thirty minutes,” he told them. The boys nodded. “Get something to eat, get dressed, get your faces on, and be back out here in about three hours.”

“Copy,” Sam gave him a salute. When their manager walked away, he turned to the rest of you. “What are we eating?”

“Whatever is good with me.” You shrugged. The other boys gave a nod of agreement. Sam rolled his eyes.

“You guys are a fantastic help.” He snipped.

“You asked, we answered.” Jake said, not taking any of his shit.

“Barely!”

“Pizza,” Josh gave him a pat on the shoulder, helping him out.

“Again?” Sam complained. His brothers looked between themselves, holding back a laugh.

“You get whatever you want, Sammy.” Josh said, turning and finding his room. Danny broke off, too, and Jake nudged you, telling you to follow him. You both left Sam alone to ponder the dinner choice. Jake brought you to his dressing room, closing the door behind you.

He gave you a soft smile, pulling you into a kiss. You hummed softly, adoring the feeling. He smiled against you, snaking his arm around you. His hand rested on the curve of your back for only for a moment before he moved it downwards. You let a gasp out as he grabbed your ass and pulled you into him. His reached lower, fingers dusting across the hem of your dress that was laying on your thigh. He slipped his fingers underneath, pulling it up so it was just below your hip “Jake,” you pulled your mouth from his, uttering a warning. Although you knew you shouldn’t, his hand felt incredibly good on you, and it had been a long time. It took everything in your power to stop him earlier, and you weren’t sure if you had the willpower to do it again.

“What’s wrong?” He teased, inching your dress further up as he spoke.

“Can’t do this here, you have stuff to do.”

“Yeah, you.” He said, hiking your dress over your ass. You couldn’t help but feel a rush of arousal run through you. He pushed you back into the wall, one hand working at your dress, his other bracing the wall beside your head.

“Someone will hear us.” You rushed out, trying not to notice his hand now attempting to spread your thighs apart.

“Be quiet, then.” He shot back. You involuntarily moved your legs, allowing him access to you. As much as you thought it was a bad idea, you couldn’t help but welcome his touch. “There’s no way I’ll be able to make it through the whole show with you standing there looking like this.” Your breath hitched in your throat, feeling his fingers gently rubbing you through your panties. You were certain they were already soaked, knowing you’d been waiting for this just as long as he was.

“D-don’t want you to be late getting on stage.” You mustered out. His hand pulled your underwear to the side, fingers getting a feel for you again. He sighed at the feeling, running your arousal up to your clit and rubbing slow circles. Your head fell back and rested against the wall, now only being able to focus on what he was doing to you.

“Only reason I didn’t fuck you earlier is because you didn’t want me to be late. I wasn’t, we’re here, and I have time.” He soothed your worry, knowing you were too far in to back out now. “Are you going to be good for me and let me fuck you, or are you going to be a brat?” He asked, applying a little more pressure to you, now.

“M’gonna be good,” You promised. “So good.” He pushed your hair away from your neck and leaned down, placing his lips to your skin.

“That’s my girl.” He mumbled against you. You closed your eyes in bliss, pleasure running through every nerve in your body. He located the sweet spot below your ear with ease, gently sucking a mark into it. Your hips bucked forward into his hand, causing a smirk to grow on his face. “Missed me, didn’t you?” His mouth was just next to your ear, sending a shiver down your spine. He barely spoke the words, but you heard him loud and clear.

“Yes, sir.” You could feel his erection pressing into your leg through his jeans.

“Gonna make this quick, okay?” You gave him a nod. “Promise I’ll fuck you like you deserve once we get back to the hotel.” You knew he meant it. There was no doubt in your mind he wouldn’t stop until his name was the only thing you could say. He pulled away from you, checking that the lock on the door was clicked. He jiggled the handle just to make sure. “Don’t want anyone interrupting this.” He confessed. His eyes raked over you, soaking up the sight. You were standing, dress pushed up to your stomach. Your lipstick was smudged against your lips, eyes fixated on him.

“Look at you,” he rasped, completely enamoured with the sight of you. “My pretty little whore.” He returned back to you, pulling you in for a quick kiss before anything else. “I love you.” He whispered as he pulled back, almost as if he felt bad for such harsh words.

“I love you.” You answered, giving him a soft smile. He watched your face for a moment, searching for even a hint of discomfort. “Green.” You promised. He gave a slight nod, shaking off the moment of uncertainty. It had been a long time since he had you like this, and his confidence diminished slightly as the weeks went on. He kissed you once more, pulling your bottom lip between his teeth. You moaned into his mouth, unable to hold yourself back. It was embarrassing at how quickly he could turn you into a mess.

He pulled back, immediately sinking down to his knees. He hooked his fingers through the sides of your underwear, pulling them down in a swift motion. He tapped your ankle and you lifted your foot slightly, allowing him to take them off completely. He threw them somewhere behind him, not caring where they ended up. He moved closer to you, guiding one of your legs over his shoulder. He made sure you were steady against the wall before he did anything else. His fingers dusted over your thigh, causing goosebumps to raise over your skin. He took his time to admire you before he continued, feeling like the luckiest man in the world to have you like this again.

You watched him, the anticipation almost killing you. Not once had you known Jake to take it slow in the bedroom. He’d seemed so antsy to get you naked, but now he wanted to savour every second. He liked to tease, but this seemed to be much more than that. He didn’t want to be an asshole, just wanted to appreciate every part of you. Slowly, he brushed his lips over the insides of your thighs. You brought your hand down, brushing it through his hair as he did so. As turned on as you were, you couldn’t help but enjoy the moment, too. It felt like an eternity since you had felt him on your skin so intimately. He brought his mouth to your heat, hovering for a moment. You didn’t push him, worried that the sweet side would come to an end and he’d leave you like that for the rest of the night. Eventually, he connected his mouth to you, running his tongue painstakingly slow through your folds.

You let a sigh of relief fall from your mouth, fingers twirling through his hair. You missed the feeling of him between your legs. After a few moments, he turned his attention to your clit, suctioning his mouth around it. You couldn’t help but let a throaty moan out at the feeling, the relief almost instantaneous. He worked at you with his tongue, soaking up every noise you were making and using it as encouragement. His fingers were gripping your thigh, holding you steady while you lost yourself to the pleasure. “Fuck, Jake,” you groaned, knotting your fingers in the hair at the base of his skull. He hummed against you, pulling back for a moment.

“Missed me?” He breathed.

“So much,” you assured him, holding back a whine at the loss of contact. He returned back to you, faster than before. He was determined to get you off, making quick work so he could avoid any interruptions. It didn’t take long for a knot to begin to form in your belly, your breathing laboured and hands desperately holding onto him.

“Come on, baby. Cum for me.” He barely moved his mouth from you to give you the encouragement, his tongue finding your clit again almost instantly. You bit down on your lip, trying your best to muffle any moans that were threatening to escape. It only took a few more seconds and you were coming undone, head falling back to rest on the wall and legs shaking as you tried to hold yourself up. His grip on you tightened, ensuring you stayed steady. He rode you through the orgasm, slowly tapering off his speed until he felt your muscles relax. He pulled away, lust clouding his eyes and your orgasm glistening on his face. He gave you a sly smile when you finally looked down at him. “That was fast.” He commented, cockiness radiating from him.

“Fuck you,” you shot back, not really realizing your words. He gave you a look of warning.

“Careful.” He scolded.

“Sorry, sir.” You whispered. He stood, not even acknowledging the apology. He roughly spun you around, pushing your upper half into the wall and pulling your hips back. He delivered a sharp slap to your ass, causing you to gasp. You heard him unbuckling his belt, freeing himself from his jeans. He spit on his hand and stroked himself for a moment before lining up with your entrance and pushing himself inside of you.

He gave you no time to adjust, his pace brutal. You let a few moans slip out, but he grabbed your hair in his fist, turning your head to the side so you could see him through the corner of your eye. “Quiet,” he warned. You managed a nod, fighting against the tight hold he had your head in. He leaned forward and captured your lips in a kiss while he fucked you, making sure you were silenced as he picked up his pace. The hand that was holding your hair loosened its grip, allowing you to relax your neck again. He used that hand to reach around the front of you, finding your clit with ease. You groaned at the touch, still sensitive from your first orgasm. “What did I just say?” He snapped.

“S-sorry,” you said quickly, fighting back any other noises.

“I know it feels good, baby, but I don’t want anyone else to hear those pretty sounds.” He softened his tone, realizing he needn’t be too hard on you; he felt the same way after so long being without you. “Those are just for me, okay? I’ll let you be as loud as you want when we get back to the hotel.” He tried to keep his tone steady, but he was failing miserably. He was almost regretful for chastising you about finishing so easily, because he was struggling not to, now. He picked up the speed of his fingers, aiming to give you at least one more orgasm before he finished.

He didn’t have to try very hard; the feeling of him inside you was more than enough to push you over the edge. His tip was brushing your g-spot with every thrust, driving you closer to an orgasm each time. The added simulation on your clit was blissful, making it hard to focus on anything else. “Jake,” you warned. He knew exactly what it meant, ensuring he kept his pace steady.

“Come on, beautiful.” He ordered. He felt a shred of relief, knowing he didn’t have to hold himself back much longer. The encouragement was all you needed to come undone. You reached your peak for a second time, clenching around him and moaning his name. The hand that was on your hip came up and clamped around your mouth, silencing you as he continued to fuck you. The noises you couldn’t contain were muffled by his palm, allowing you to relax and enjoy your orgasm without worry someone would hear you. His cock twitched inside you, a warning that he was close, too. He dropped his hand from your mouth and moved both of his hands to your hips, pulling you back on him as he thrusted into you.

“Fuck, y/n.” He groaned, forcing your hips back onto him once more. He held you there, his orgasm hitting him hard. He let out a quiet slur of curse words as he spilled inside of you, only loosening his grip on you when he came down from the high. He rested inside you for a moment, leaning in and placing a few small kisses on your shoulders. He slowly withdrew, trying his best to control the mess. You sighed at the sudden emptiness, missing the feeling almost immediately.

You both came back to your senses a little bit, realizing the state you were in. Jake helped you to the bathroom so you could clean yourself up. When you finished, you checked yourself in the mirror. Your hair was a mess, your lipstick smudged and your mascara was running. You fixed your makeup as best you could and raked your fingers through your hair, straightening it out. When you returned to Jake, he was lounging on the sofa, dressed and completely unfazed by the earlier altercation. He looked up to you, giving you a smile. “Hi gorgeous.” He held his hand out, motioning for you to join him. You walked over, sitting beside him as he wrapped an arm around your shoulder. He placed a kiss to the top of your head, causing a smile to form on your lips. You looked up to him, having to stifle a giggle.

“Red really is your colour.” You told him, making a move to wipe the smudged lipstick from his lips. “You couldn’t have waited until we got back to the hotel?”

“Waited long enough, I think.” He said pulling your chin upwards with his index finger. He caught you in a kiss, much sweeter than the ones you’d shared previously. “Don’t think that means we’re not doing it later, too, though.” You let out a small laugh, but thought it best not to respond. You turned your head to look to the floor, suddenly remembering your discarded underwear. He laughed at your puzzled face when you couldn’t locate them. “Looking for these?” You whipped your head to look at him, noticing he’d pulled something halfway out of his pocket. You noticed the black lace, giving him a bewildered look.

“Yeah, actually. Can I have them, please?” You held your hand out. He pretended to debate it for a moment, but eventually shook his head.

“No, actually, I think I’ll hold onto them for you.” He said, slipping them back into his pocket. You gave him a gentle smack on the arm.

“Give them back!” You exclaimed, a ghost of a laugh in your tone. You tried to push his hand out of the way to grab them for yourself.

“Mmm, no.” He said, moving quickly and pinning you down to the couch. You both erupted into a fit of giggles, almost completely forgetting why you were arguing in the first place. His hair hung down, ticking your exposed shoulders. He had a grin plastered on his face, unable to hold it back at the sound of your laughter. He peppered a few kisses over your cheeks and nose before placing one on your lips. “It’ll be my good luck charm, tonight.” He hummed. “Just be careful if you bend over, wouldn’t want you to give the boys a show of their own.” He teased.

“You’re an asshole.” You said, but you couldn’t hold back your smile.

“You love me, though.” He replied, face hovering over yours.

“Yeah, I do.” You said, tone gentle and sincere.

“Did you really like the song, earlier?” He changed the topic.

“Of course I did,” you said, making a move to sit up. He moved backwards, freeing you from your position. You both sat upright again.

“Did… did I sound okay?” He said, sounding a bit sheepish. You let out a scoff, almost rolling your eyes at the question.

“I think,” you leaned in, nose practically touching his “if that was the only song I could ever listen to for the rest of my life, I’d be fine with it as long as you were singing it.” You caught his lips in a kiss, soft and full of emotion. “Best singer I’ve ever heard, for sure.” You breathed when you pulled away. “Don’t tell your brother, though.”

“I wouldn’t break his heart like that.” Jake chuckled. “I made them learn that song… wanted to play it for you for a while now, but I didn’t think I was ever gonna get the chance.”

“I’m really glad I got to hear it. You should sing more.” You told him, hand reaching out to brush the hair from his face.

“No, I think that’s okay.” He laughed, brushing the statement off. “More of a one time thing.” You couldn’t help the frown that formed on your face.

“You mean to tell me we’re gonna spend the rest of our lives together and I’m never going to hear you sing again?” You teased. “Even if it’s just for me?” His eyes looked over your face, his breath catching in his throat.

“If you’re promising me forever, I’ll sing to you every day for the rest of my life.” He said, more serious than he’d ever been.

“I’ll promise you forever, rockstar.” You whispered. “I know what life is like without you, and I don’t ever want to feel that way again.” He brushed his thumb over your cheek, then moved to brush the hair from your face. He took your head in his hand, pulling you in for another kiss. He held you there, scared to let you go, thinking that he might have been dreaming. When he finally broke away for air, he kept his face close to yours, revelling in the intimacy.

“I love you, witchy woman.” He said.

“I love you so much, Jake.” Another smile started to form on your lips. After a moment, a knock on his door broke the focus. He pulled back, looking towards it.

“What?” He called out, sounding a bit grumpy.

“Food is here, lovebirds. Come and eat, then we have to get ready.” Sam called from the other side. Jake sighed, but stood, anyway. He held a hand out to you, helping you up. He went to the door, unlocking it and cracking it open to see his brother waiting impatiently. You couldn’t help but laugh at the situation, watching Sam stalk off down the hallway. Jake looked back at you, motioning for you to follow.

“Yeah, I’ll be right there.” You promised. He stood, not wanting to leave without you, but eventually conceded when you shooed him away. He blew you a kiss before he left, only satisfied when you pretended to catch it.

You watched him turn and walk out of view, your heart happy and full of love. You had no idea how you got here; you never envisioned yourself falling for someone ever again, let alone promising them forever, and meaning it. You were even more baffled at the fact he was a rockstar, famous with girls constantly flocking to him, but he fell for a spitfire in Maryland who was still trying to make a name for herself. One who was just a small, insignificant dot on a huge map. Still, you couldn’t help but feel grateful, shoving the uncertainty to the side. You promised yourself that you wouldn’t let that get in the way of loving him, anymore. He’d never given you a real reason to doubt him, and you were fairly certain he never would. For the first time in your life, you felt wanted, like for once you truly belonged. After two decades of searching for a sense of self, trying to discover where you were meant to be, you had finally found it. Or, at least the person who would help you get to exactly where you were supposed to be. Until that day came and the entire journey finally made sense, you were completely and utterly content with him being your rockstar, because you knew you were always going to be his witchy woman.

A/N my heart is happy :))) also witchy woman came on from shuffle just as I was finishing editing this and about to post, which is kind of cool. hope you liked it 🫶🏻 hope to see you on the next journey (p.s. stay tuned for the epilogue ;) )

TAGLIST: @gvfpal @jakesgrapejuice @hellowgoodbye @ohgodthefeeling-gvf @welllauragvf

[ash-and-books]

Rating: 5/5

Book Blurb: A girl with dangerous magic makes a risky bargain with a demon to be free of her monstrous power in this young adult fantasy perfect for fans of An Enchantment of Ravens and House of Salt and Sorrows.

Liska knows that magic is monstrous, and its practitioners are monsters. She has done everything possible to suppress her own magic, to disastrous consequences. Desperate to be free of it, Liska flees her small village and delves into the dangerous, demon-inhabited spirit-wood to steal a mythical fern flower. If she plucks it, she can use its one wish to banish her powers. Everyone who has sought the fern flower has fallen prey to unknown horrors, so when Liska is caught by the demon warden of the wood—called The Leszy—a bargain seems better than death: one year of servitude in exchange for the fern flower and its wish.

Whisked away to The Leszy’s crumbling manor, Liska soon makes an unsettling discovery: she is not the first person to strike this bargain, and all her predecessors have mysteriously vanished. If Liska wants to survive the year and return home, she must unravel her taciturn host’s spool of secrets and face the ghosts—figurative and literal—of his past. Because something wakes in the woods, something deadly and without mercy. It frightens even The Leszy…and cannot be defeated unless Liska embraces the monster she’s always feared becoming.

Review:

Howl's Moving Castle mixed in with Polish mythology and so much more. This was a gorgeous story filled with magic, romance, dangerous monsters, and deals with demons and old gods. Liska is a girl cursed with uncontrollable magic, every time she lets it out someone ends up hurt... or dead. In an attempt to finally get rid of it she decides to wander into the woods to make a deal with a demon. But deals with demons always comes with a cost... so when she meets the Guardian of the Woods, Leszy, he asks for one year of her servitude in exchange for her magic. For one year she will live in his manor and work under him and to her surprise he even begins to train her as his apprentice. One year should go by right? For a village girl shunned by everyone in town for being a "witch" Liska strangely begins to feel like she has found a home for herself with this strange demon and his sentient house and talking cat. Liska and Leszy are polar opposites, she is sunshine while he is darkness, she is a curious and open while he has so many guarded secrets. Yet Liska finds herself drawn to his secrets and his past, trying to figure out why he wants her magic and what happened to the previous apprentice who lived her as well as why a mysterious ghost dog keeps haunting her at night. Liska discovers more than she could ever imagine about the demon boy she lives with and that beneath his gruff exterior lies a boy who is cursed. Liska discovers that Leszya got his power from a deal with a powerful demon himself and that he gave his heart up... yet if she wants to save the boy she has begun to fall for she'll have to break his curse and save his heart before it's too late. This was an absolutely fantastic and stunning read, I adored this book so much, It's such a perfect read for fans of Howl's Moving Castle and Uprooted, it's got a great world and the relationships between the characters was absolutely perfect. My only thing is I wish there was a bonus chapter or a bit of an extended epilogue so I could see more of Liska and Leszy together again after everything. I just wanted one more happy scene for them after everything they went through so badly because I love them so much. I seriously loved this book and can't wait to recommend it!

*Thanks Netgalley and Simon and Schuster Children's Publishing, Margaret K. McElderry Books for sending me an arc in exchange for an honest review*

[llycaons]

the hx and sqx and swd situation is SUCH a mess and there's no clear Bad Guy or Good Guy of the lot imo it's just that that sqx alone was entirely ignorant and innocent and never wanted to hurt anyone but was rather caught up in a terrible situation she didn't have a lot of control over

that being said I'm a huge he xuan apologist and I think beheading swd was totally fair

[istherewifiinhell]

reading progress: chapter 279

reading highlights: This is the story of a reader. At the same time it is the story of Dokja...

268 bihyung existential crisis

269 4th wall shaking about yjh in danger

calling on the asmodeus favour, literally a deal with a devil

yjh sponser "this guy always did the same thing. he watched yjh suffering from death. he placed the soul of a hopelessly broken man back into the world line of the past"

yjh thoughts "I can't die" "I'll never die here"

are they, you know, life and death companions [there is a pictogram of a hand bent at the wrist]

"I couldn't help laughing. Now we really would live together or die together"

HMO savig his daughter aww

LHS first to stand up "I was waiting" -> do i even need to say it

the old constellations coming back... crying... even god of a small planet

(cheok Jungyeong carrying kdj) great section for men being carried by other men

one day you will get to whip ass SWK i know you will...

uriel lol

sword girls!!! hell yeah! (ljh & jwh)

272 "The transparent shape of Uriel appeared behing Jung Heewon" -> sick. that fucking jjba shit

uriel has a fucking potty mouth

kdj listening to yjh thoughts cause he cant speak (🥺)

"Can't guarantee anything, maybe they all will die" "Let's go"

Giant story of 73 realm starts talking

273 beeg train..

omg its the subway [im riding in front seat of train car.....]

LHS can open the door cause he was the one who did it the first time

kyrgios and Sword saint!!! (kdj visions blurs -> you crying bro?)

274 "I lived in that world alone, I entered the minds of countless characters and became different beings again and again... Therefore I was a regessor who had never regressed... A returnee who never returned... Maybe I was a reincarnator"

HSY -> kdj shadow.

Yjh rushing to grab falling kdj [when they are all falling from the sky]

abyssal black flame dragon... damn

↳275 horror movie shit [taking out constellations in the cover of dark one by one]

kill with a borrowed knife -> about hankim... mwah

sword master held osu in her mouth -> oh like pupby

278 "Good... It was a word used by Yoo Sangah"

LHS demanding to be let out from med ward cause hes all better now

lgy... he so baby... baby boy. [finally getting to see kdj hugging him and crying]

HSY note "Anyway, that's it... Well goodbye, idiot. See you when you come back to earth"

Krygios and sword saint rivals over their disciples

persphone dances with ysa (as ysa??)

Jhw whistles "Ysa is cool"

277 ◼◼ story of the end -> different word for everyone

hsy nightmare. heart complicated at seeing kdj. sees him stabbed. Woof...

hsy and lsk interation... i am thinking about the milfhunter hsy post

kdj ◼◼ 'the final chapter'

ysa "you looked happy after [the scenarios started]" yes girl interrogate him

278 oh shit angel time

Gabriel calls uriel ◼ (i wanna know which insult so bad)

LHS LGY & SYS all get gifts from kdj and are so normal about it (they are being goofballs)

kdj looks tired as hell

↳ gives jhw a suit -> it will be more comfortable (ill bet lol)

jhw things ysa/kdj is a thing (Ljh thinks hes gay)

hmo prosthetic leg -> wow i thought they might just hand wave that. good for him

Jhw "when the epilogue comes kdj won't be alone"

red cosmos and a lily...

kdj ◼◼ isn't final chapter? was he just saying shit?

279 uriels door says URIEL⭐

uriels usb of handcrafted artisanal AMVs

red cosmos jophiel lily gabriel?

JHW oh yeah what the fuck is she supposed to do...

'LHS sitting like a big dull dog. LGY and SYS like baby cats. All watching KDJ' literally perfect fantastic love that.

and also. i wrote down everything the giant story "said"

The story stated on a train. There was a soldier who wanted to be righteous. There was the strongest loneliest man in the world. There was also a woman who hid herself for others. The sword demon wounded after losing a relationship was met. A child born in the gap between past and future wept. There was the strongest small person in the world. The world of the strongest giant was saved. Finally there was a man who knew the ending of all these worlds. This is the story of a reader. At the same time it is the story of Dokja. Only this story... The woman who woke up from a tigers crouch and laughed while holding a sword to destroy evil. The boy who lost his mother and held the insect in his hand cried. The man who built the castle roared for the family that wouldn't come back. The woman who built up the truth by lying gladly became his shadow.

rotating: very clear on this one. fucking finally. I'm thinking about how kdj did all that to keep yjh alive. how he convinced him, and the sponsor, not to regress, how he tried to shove him healing items he couldn't swallow. He had to use ORV to hear yjh thoughts, cause he was too injured to speak. Grinding a pill into a paste so he could swallow it. I'm thinking about all that.

also. holy fucking mana from the gods. tho thats not a good phrase to use in this story. finally. finally. hsy... there she is. the loaded gun, the last resort. The one who works in parallel but behind the scene. The borrowed knife. The person having nightmares seeing KDJ, seeing him get stabbed. Like how she stabbed him. Hello Han Sooyoung, there you are, there's your motivation, there's your internal self.

[theregoesmylurkerstatus]

So... I have a lot of thoughts on the finale. I've deliberately kept my mouth shut, more or less, on the campaign overall because I'm a firm believer that you can't pass judgement -- at least not complete judgement -- on stories until they're over and done with.

Well, it's done! Kind of crazy. I've been watching Critical Role with almost insane consistency, viewing almost every single episode live, with maybe five-ish exceptions, since episode 19, and I've been blogging it for, what, two and a half years?

It's a weird feeling. It's been such a constant thing for me that I'm always gonna have love for it and remember with a lot of fondness.

...Which is in spite of the fact that I can now comfortably say I'm pretty eh on the ending. I know not being positive about something most of us have loved a lot for a very long time can sting a bit, but I personally think it also stings when people relentlessly crow over how good they think it is or want it to be, to the point where you feel you can't voice your absolutely valid upsets or dissatisfactions. So, here goes, if anyone's interested! I'd be curious to see other opinions, too!

I actually drafted a post talking about my overall frustrations with the campaign a whole two weeks ago, and then scrapped most of it when 140 blew me out of the water. I was really touched, and really happy. I hadn't expected it, but it shockingly felt right, you know?

Unfortunately 141 robbed me of most of that satisfaction and brought me right back to neutral.

The blanket statement you have to make, of course, is that you can’t criticise this as a DnD game, and you can’t be mad at the cast for playing it in a way they think is best for them. They’re the players, Matt’s the DM, and in the end it makes no sense for them to try to make themselves act how they think the audience wants them to, and I’m sure most of the audience wouldn’t like the result anyway.

That said, there is an audience. And that’s where I see this clash coming in. As a DnD game, as long as the players and DM have all enjoyed it and been satisfied, it’s a successful game! But for us, it’s not a DnD game. For us, we’re watching a story be written in real time through the medium of an RPG. And while as a DnD game you can’t fault it, as a piece of media, I completely get why the way things have gone has sat weirdly for a lot of people.

It's not satisfying to see so many character hooks dealt with so quickly or left as an offscreen "and then you do it." If they don't want to keep playing to dive into it, absolutely, but for us who have been watching this as a story with all these character elements get so built up, it's a huge anti-climax.

Which is a lot of what this campaign has been, really.

Oh, Nott’s cursed! But through a really cool character moment that problem is completely taken care of with no consequences we see. Yay, I want her to be Veth and that was an iconic move from Jester! Still, it kind of feels like this was built up to be a big problem and at the first success it was let go... Caleb's got a really intense frightening past he tries to hide, I wonder how the Mighty Nein will respond? Oh, they found out, but it's not a difficult revelation for anyone. Looks like it's easy for them to move past it and forgive. Yeah, that's healthiest for the characters, but huh, kinda undercuts it as a storyline or point of interest. Oooh, Avantika’s back! Ah, they’ve killed her and grabbed the eye again. I mean I don’t want them to die or for Uk’otoa to be free, but I’m starting to feel like that’s not much of a threat anyway. The Traveler’s been kidnapped! Nah he hasn’t, he tried to save Jester so he was let go with no further issue, and also he wasn’t actually in any danger anyway. Oh... Cool. So... Why should I care or be worried?

And these are just the biggest ones I remember being kind of let down by. I wanted to see them STRUGGLE for the successes to have meaning. To my view, threats of failure -- real failure -- really decreased the more the campaign went on, with a few exceptions.

Because don't get me wrong, we've definitely had struggles, and those have made for some of the best moments! Molly’s death, Yasha’s kidnapping, Yeza’s imprisonment. When failures that were threatened are allowed to occur, it’s far more gratifying when it’s followed by success, because you understand that that success was actually necessary. It shows us that what they do really means something.

Honestly, that's why the final battle really shut me up, because nothing makes you quite feel stakes and failure like having two PCs die, and having a resurrection ritual fail -- AND knowing that failure would be delivered on, had it not been for a seemingly miraculous roll of the dice to turn it around. One of the greatest failure's -- Molly's death -- made the success of his resurrection put a lot of my other issues to rest immediately, because to be honest? Molly's resurrection was the biggest success of the campaign, exactly because it was originally the biggest failure.

But this episode, we got to see the other side of making threats and successes feel disappointing -- when you get the impression that success was robbed from you. Again, their characters, their choices, but to have them roll an intervention to get Molly's soul, to convince Molly to come back with his own possessions they've so loved, after so long and so many struggles... only to apparently not get Molly at all?

Changed, of course. Memories, maybe he'd never get them back, though that seems inconsistent to how the initial resurrection was played and Matt's hints. It even makes sense that not having his memories and being a bit different, he might forge a new identity, but insisting Molly was a different person entirely after such a supposed hard won success to get Molly back, especially after what his death meant to the audience and potentially healing that old wound? It robs the narrative of a LOT of catharsis, at least for me and I know many others.

Trent, too, I'm very up and down on. He was so built up -- and what fun that build up had -- and I very much disagreed with the idea that the best story would be dealing with him offscreen.

It's true that you don’t need to explicitly address, confront, or explore every big aspect of character's story hooks and background ties for PCs to move past them and grow healthily. But that does not make it a satisfying viewing experience. People quietly healing in real life is healthy. People quietly healing in an explosive fantasy setting is frustrating for the audience.

What on earth is the point of a story if you don’t get to SEE THE ESTABLISHED CONFLICTS go anywhere? A lot of the characters got distant, quiet resolutions, if that, to everything we wanted to see.

Except, we did get to see Trent. It was a really fun, inventive battle, from opening to conclusion, but much like Travelercon, much like Nott's/Veth's problem with the hag, these were things that the audience in general wanted to see be really dug into and explored, and every single one of them got, in my opinion, quickly tidied up instead. Trent got beaten in the first and only proper battle they had with him, which, after all his build up, is pretty disappointing for a villain many of us wanted to see be a big deal. It really just felt like they were trying to tidy up to get on with the epilogue, which is not what a lot of us were looking for with Trent especially.

And that's how most of their endings felt to me. It didn't feel like any of them had reached a comfortable conclusion. Literally all of them, bar Veth and Caduceus, continued on their character journey threads, without each other and very quickly. Meeting Yasha's tribe and Vandran, Caleb finally openly debating changing time for his parents, Trent and Zeenoth's trials and the changing of the guard at the Assembly... All were things it would have been so fun to have all the PCs react to and explore together, and instead they were fleeting encounters in the latter half of a seven hour finale.

Is all this, from Molly not really coming back to Trent being a finale side plot to the Nein continuing on their individual journeys, potentially realistic to how these fantastical things might go down in real life? Sure! But that's not necessarily a good thing.

Stories THRIVE on conflict and resolution. That’s what makes them FUN! Conflict isn’t nearly so fun in real life and resolutions are often frustrating question marks, so no, past a certain point I don’t WANT stories to be realistic. I want stories to be SATISFYING.

And campaign 2 has fallen far short of the mark.

I haven’t spoken... Basically a word of this for most of the campaign, because as I said I’m a firm believer that you can’t necessarily judge something until it’s over, and because I ALSO firmly believe that being negative WHILE trying to enjoy something is counterproductive. I have had no interest in spoiling or naysaying the fun of the campaign for anyone, least of all myself.

But it's done now, and all I can say is... I really have had fun. I love the characters. I love their relationships. I’m pretty okay with where they’ve ended up. I’m not mad, really, and I’m still going to think of this campaign with a lot of affection. But it hasn’t been a satisfying story, even though for a week following episode 140 I thought, despite all the brushed over story threads, it might be.

So... to try and reclaim some of that satisfaction for myself, I might ignore some aspects of the finale proper. Namely Kingsley specifically. Taliesin's choice -- but to me, it's pretty clear that who we saw at the end of 140 was Molly, and the tags on my posts will reflect that, just as my 141 tags will be for both Kingsley and Molly, for clarity's sake. I personally want to believe Molly did come back, however others might want to interpret it. The victory in 140 that meant so much to me is hollow otherwise, and it just kind of hurts that we would lose Molly after everything. I was okay with him being dead -- I'm not so okay with his resurrection being stolen.

Kingsley will always be canon, but Molly is what I choose to acknowledge. I get if you don't like that take, and that's okay! I didn't care for canon's in the end. That's the good thing about storytelling, is that no one can stop you from making your own versions.

For the people who are hopefully hyped for campaign 3, heck yeah have fun! I’m on the fence. My investment, which... I think I can objectively say was pretty substantive as this blog will attest, doesn't feel rewarded, so I’m not convinced I can faithfully keep up for over three years all over again with a strong possibility that I will once again be left disappointed. It's been a huge chunk of my life, and... yeah!

I’ll take a break, probably, view (and liveblog, if people want!) campaign 1 when I’ve had a mental stretch and vacation, and then... I might start campaign 3. I definitely won’t be able to put the same time in it I did campaign 2 (my first love no matter what), knowing that it’s likely to not be so vindicated, in the end.

I swear I’m actually writing this in fairly good humour, but I totally get its always disappointing when the people you come to for fandom enjoyment just aren't sharing your fun. Honestly I’m half tempted to write all those frigging AUs I have sitting around! But I wanted to say my piece, and try and logically outline why this ending has been lacklustre for so many people, ultimately myself included.

Episode 140 felt right because it felt like a natural conclusion -- these disparate people coming together and finally being whole, finally soothing the hurt that MADE them so long ago. Episode 141 spat on that sentiment -- they all scattered to the winds, not as happy people to live out their dreams, but as confused people chasing up loose threads towards an unknown future, with the friend they thought returned still lost to them, ultimately.

It doesn't feel like the ending we should have gotten for the Mighty Nine, who were finally, finally all together. Until they weren't. So to me? I choose to acknowledge that they were, even if I have to force it to happen post-epilogue in my head.

[walkerismychoice]

Queen of My Heart - Chapter 38 (The End!)

Book: The Royal Romance

Pairing: Drake X MC, Liam X Olivia, Hana X OC Lydia

Rating: PG-13

Summary: The show comes to and end, and Riley contemplates her future

Author’s Note: I can’t believe I’ve finally brought this series to an end. There was quite a long time I thought I may never finish. I want to thank all the readers and friends who’ve read and encouraged me along the way. I want to especially thank @debramcg1106 as of late for helping me work through the ending and pushing me to finish it out. This is the technical end of the story, but I do have an epilogue planned as well.

Tag List: @khakie4 @dreadpirateemma @ritachacha @blackcoffee85 @choices-fanatic @boneandfur @butindeed @simplyaiden-blog @bobasheebaby @traeumerinsworld @theroyalweisme @umccall71 @lizeboredom @debramcg1106 @enmchoices @withice @viktoriapetit @mfackenthal @drakesfiance @drakelover78 @speedyoperarascalparty @silviasutton1989 @krisnicjack @devineinterventions2 @choiceswreckedme @notoriouscs @blackcatkita @hamalu @akrenich @drakewalkerfantasy @jamielea81 @andy-loves-corgis @jlouise88 @jovialyouthmusic @sleepwalkingelite @i-miss-trr @dragonball-luver @gkittylove99 @lovingchoices14

Word Count: 2230

Queen of My Heart Chapter Index

Due to everything that transpired, filming of the finale was delayed two weeks. Riley was grateful for the time and hardly left Drake’s side during his recovery. He was sent back to the palace after a couple days, and Riley had to convince him that whiskey was not a suitable replacement for the antibiotics and pain medication the doctor prescribed. Reluctantly he obliged. He worked with physical therapy, and by the end of those two weeks, you’d have hardly known he’d been injured at all.

Olivia was salty her ball had been ruined, but the production staff made up for it, giving her and Liam an overnight filmed at Olivia’s northern Lythikos retreat. She was still worried the country would favor Riley with Liam, but Kat assured Olivia between her heroic actions, personal growth, and some favorable editing, it would be hard for most people not to be on her side.

As for Madeleine, it was still unclear if she would be charged criminally or would be incompetent to stand trial due to her mental health, but either way, she wouldn’t be a danger to anyone for quite some time. It was questionable if Jo’s involvement in the whole thing broke any laws. She wasn’t Cordonian, so she couldn’t be charged with treason for skirting security and endangering the life of the crown prince, but authorities were looking to see if there was anything they could make stick. At the very least she was blacklisted and would never work in television again.

So finally, on a calm, clear, day, there was only one obstacle left. Riley met with Liam, adorned in a stunning, body-hugging, Swarovski crystal filled dress, to put on the performance of a lifetime and act as if he’d shattered her heart. Of course, it wasn’t that easy. There were a couple of takes where neither of them could keep a straight face followed few that were unbelievably dramatic, but ultimately Riley was able to tap into her vulnerability and the tragedy she had faced to bring genuine emotion and tears to light. It didn’t matter that it was unrelated to what was happening in the scene, it was real. Kat said it was perfect, and Liam was free to propose to Olivia.

-----

Now that all is said and done, who will Liam choose to be his future Queen? Will it be the fierce Duchess Olivia, or the plucky newcomer Riley? Stay tuned for the finale of Queen of My Heart.”

Maxwell draped his arm around Riley’s shoulder. “What do you think, sis? How did I do on my television debut.”

Maxwell, Bertrand, Savannah, Hannah, Lydia, Liam, Olivia, Riley, and Drake were all huddled in the palace screening room to watch the finale as it aired.

Just about anyone would have been an improvement over Chad,” Riley teased, ”but the squid suit was definitely a nice touch. Your delivery was great, but did you have to call me plucky?”

“You know I had to play it cool,” Maxwell explained. “Plucky is good, but not over the top. Don’t want anyone thinking I’m playing favorites because you’re my sister.”

Riley rolled her eyes. “The suggested ‘noble newcomer’ would have been sufficient.”

“It was a stylistic choice.” Maxwell made a gesture with his hand indicating a mock hair flip.

"Ugh, enough about Maxwell," Olivia groaned. "I'm ready to get to the good part. Can we just fast-forward through any mushy Liam and Riley stuff? Nobody needs to see that."

"I second that." Drake raised his hand in rare agreement with Olivia.

Liam just shook his head. "I know nobody watches live network television anymore, so you must have forgotten how this works. There's no fast-forwarding. Not even through commercials."

"That's fine with me." Lydia chimed in. "More time for making out."

"Lydia!" Hannah's cheeks turned a deep shade of pink.

Lydia pecked her on the lips. "Sorry babe. You're just too damn cute when you blush."

Hannah remained quiet but her smile gave her away. Lydia, with her outgoing, bold, and slightly unpredictable personality, was the perfect complement to Hannah being so shy, proper, and focused. They brought out the best in each other, and the difference in Hannah between when Riley met her until now was night and day.

The friends watched the show and Riley only cringed at herself in a few places, which was much less than she thought she would. Things did get a bit awkward during the montage of kissing scenes between Riley and Liam, and Maxwell and Bertrand made a show of covering their eyes for the steamier parts. They all laughed inappropriately when Liam dumped Riley since they knew it wasn't real. And then finally when Liam proposed to Olivia, everyone cheered.

Riley thought of her friends and family at home. She pictured aunt Susan, Sarah, and Daniel all rooting for her and how disappointed they must have been that she "lost." She couldn't wait to tell them, however, she hadn't lost at all.

"Wow, Livvy." Drake quipped, bringing Riley out of her deep thoughts. "How much did you have to pay them to give you such a flattering edit?"

Olivia threw a pillow at his head which he deftly dodged. "Fuck off, Walker. You were so desperate to get on the show, you leapt in front of a bullet."

"Now, now children." Liam said in a mock scolding tone. "Let's all play nice."

"Yes, father," Drake and Olivia replied in unison, causing laughter to erupt around the room.

Riley still didn't have all the answers about what her future would hold, but she had found her people. Where she was in that moment was where she needed to be.

Savannah yawned. "It's getting late. We should probably go and relieve the sitter." Riley hasn't wanted to pry into Savannah and Bertrand's relationship, but they were working together to parent Bartie and things seemed to be falling into place for them.

"Yes, yes." Bertrand agreed. "Time is money!"

"Oh my god, Bertrand." Savannah rolled her eyes. "Life isn't all about money."

"She’s right." Maxwell propped his arm on Savannah's shoulder. "Besides, now that the show is over, we'll be getting some money, and Kat said if viewers responded well to me, they would probably offer to extend my contract in the franchise. By the looks of these tweets, I'm going to be rolling in dough. 'That Maxwell guy is so hot...ridiculously funny...just what the show needed.' Should I read more?

"Please no." Bertrand groaned. "We can talk finances later. Goodnight, all."

As the rest of the crowd dwindled, Liam asked Drake and Riley to stay behind. He kissed Olivia and promised to join her when the conversation was through.

"So what's up?" Drake got right to the point once only the three of them remained.

Liam cleared his throat. "Well as you know, I highly value your loyalty to the crown."

"Heh." Drake let out a terse laugh. "I don't really give a fuck about the crown, but I do care about you."

"In any case, you take your job very seriously and I could see you as head of the guard one day, once Bastien retires." Liam paused before continuing. "However, I do have another proposition for you."

Drake raised an eyebrow skeptically. "Go on."

"How would you like to be the head of Valtoria?" Liam asked expectantly.

Drake' eyes narrowed in contemplation. "I thought Valtoria was unoccupied. Is there a new Duke or Duchess there now that needs a security detail?"

"No, no." Liam laughed. "Well, there could be. That's what I'm trying to ask you. I would like to give Valtoria to you."

"No fucking way. You have to be kidding me. Did you sign up for some royal version of a prank show now?" Drake scanned the room as if searching for hidden cameras.

"I'm serious, Drake. I think you would make a fantastic duke."

Drake scoffed. "I'm a commoner who despises most nobles and everything the monarchy stands for."

"That's exactly why you'd be perfect for the role." Liam explained. "Cordonia needs a fresh perspective - someone who can resonate with the people the monarchy serves. Just think, you could have a real voice in creating change. I don't want to rule like my father has and his father before. I want the people to have the representation they deserve, and you are a key to that."

Drake sighed deeply. "I don't know Li. Even if I could do this - if I wanted to - what makes me worthy? What's everyone going to say when they find out you gave an average dude the title of Duke just because he's your best friend?"

"I'll tell them that Drake Walker is anything but average. He's smart, capable, and fiercely loyal. He's saved my life more times than I count and has more integrity than anyone I know. Public policy can be learned, but these qualities cannot be taught. He may not be noble by blood, but he is my family, and he belongs."

'Wow, Liam." Drake ran a hand through his hair. "I don't know what to say."

"You're quiet over there." Liam directed at Riley. "What do you think?"

"Me?!" Riley had been as shocked by this as Drake, and she didn't know what to think. This was about Drake, not her. Did her opinion really matter? "I, uh.... think this is really Drake's decision."

Drake took Riley's hands in his. "But it's yours too. I mean, if we are going to be together..."

"Oh, well..." How was Riley supposed to help Drake decide such a life altering thing when she didn't even have her own life sorted out?

Drake didn't leave her fumbling for too long. "Liam, I really don't know if either of use is equipped to answer this question right now. It's a very generous offer, and the fact that I'm not totally shutting you down for suggesting such a ridiculous thing as me being a Duke should tell you I'm genuinely willing to entertain the idea."

Liam chuckled. "I completely understand. This life is new to both of you in different ways, and to navigate a new relationship on top of all that is a lot to ask. I'm in no hurry to fill the vacancy. Consider it an open-ended invitation. I trust that you'll be ready to make your decision long before the public pressures me into making a new appointment."

"Thanks, Liam." Drake gave him hug and patted him on the back. "Now get back to your fiancé before she blames me for keeping you too long."

-----

Back in her palace guestroom, Riley nestled into Drake, her head resting on his chest. "It's been quite a night, huh?

"You could say that again." Drake pulled her tighter against him.

"I kind of feel like we're moving so fast, we're skipping steps - like we're being asked to decide the rest of our lives before we even know what we want to do tomorrow." Riley knew nobody was outright asking for an immediate decision, but she felt the weight of everyone's expectations. Whether she stayed in Cordonia or went back home, she'd probably be disappointing someone.

"Who says we have to?" Drake asked. "You heard Liam. He doesn't need an answer right away. I Know you haven't decided what you want, and I sure as hell don't know what I'm going to do yet. Why don't we take some time together to just...be. Do normal couple things and see where the relationship takes us."

"Normal couple things... I mean I don't know how I can go back to my normal peasant life after attending weekly balls dressed in couture gowns," Riley teased, "but I think I could make that sacrifice for you, my commoner boyfriend."

"Hey, watch who you are calling commoner." Drake pinned Riley down and tickled her sides until she begged him to stop, and he collapsed beside her again. "I just may outrank you soon if I so choose."

Riley laced her fingers through Drake's. "It's crazy to think how our lives have changed in a few short months. I don't think I could have made it through all of this without you, and not just because you kept literally saving my life."

"You may not have taken a bullet for me, but you've saved me too. For once in my life, I see multiple paths with meaning and purpose. I've seen so much of myself reflected in you, but it id the version of me I want to be, not the one I was. You've shown me trials and hardships don't have to make you bitter, and that you don't have to fit the cookie cutter mold to find your place here... Oh, God, listen to me. What have you done to me Bennett?" Drake shuddered in mock disgust.

Riley softly pressed her lips to his and pulled back with a smirk. "I don't think I can take all the credit, or the blame as you might put it. But enough talk about the future. You said we should focus on the now, and right now all I need is you."

"Well then, your wish is my command." Drake pulled Riley tight to him and then they lost themselves in each other, completely unencumbered by any decisions about their future. Those could wait for another day.

[viking-raider]

The Immortal Sky - Epilogue

Summary: You and Henry start a life together, after so much that’s happened.

Pairing: Henry Cavill/You

Word Count: 3,048

Rating: G - Dystopian!AU, Futuristic!AU, Language, Mild Angst, Suggestive Language, Cotton Candy Goodness, Fluff and a Super Happy Ending!

Inspiration: I’ve always wanted to write a futuristic fic!

Author’s Note: Thank you all for the support and love on this story, it was a blast to write. Thanks to the amazing @wondersofdreaming​ as always <3

It had been three months since the events had happened in Bristol, and both you and Henry had healed well and started building a life together as boyfriend and girlfriend.

Henry's family fully, completely and lovingly embraced you into their family, treating you as one of their very own; uncaring that you were born in the lower Sectors of London. They included you in everything from social parties and events to family gatherings. You were surprised, when you went to his family home for the first time, because unlike you and your family, Henry and his family were raise in an actual house in Sector Two's posh neighborhood, where nearly every member of the Royal and Cleric Council lived, with their families; his brothers and their families also lived in houses of their own, in the neighborhood.

The Cavill's had lived in this neighborhood for several generations, his father's side of the family had always been members of the Cleric Council and his mother's family had always been members of the Royal Council; but Henry was the first Cavill and Dalgliesh to not be either a Beta, Alpha or High Royal or Cleric, in nearly nine generations.

“Why don't you live here too, Henry?” You had asked, the first time Henry had taken you to his parent's house, for dinner, two weeks after getting out of the hospital. “Can you not, since you're a High Marshal?”

“Oh no, I can live here, if I'd like too, being the son of a Cleric and Royal.” Henry replied, as he pulled into his parents’ driveway. “But, I choose to live in the flat, in Central Sector Two. I didn't need a big house, since it was just Kal and I. Even with it being the three of us, there's still no need for one.” He explained, then got out of the car to move around and open your door.

Henry's family had even invited your parents and little brother to their family functions.

They had been slack jawed, while they sat in the back seat of Henry's car, you and Henry having gone to pick them up and take them to the Christmas party you all had been invited too. They watched as each Sector got brighter and brighter, until they finally got to see the sun, for the first time, as it started to sink below the horizon. Henry glanced at them through the rear-view mirror and smiled, remembering the same look of surprise and awe on your face as you saw the same view for the first time, over a year before. He looked at you and smiled even brighter as you looked at him, having looked back at them and saw their reactions to it as well.

Their awestruck continued as you entered the Cavill family's posh neighborhood, seeing all the fancy and large three-story houses, the lush green grass of the front lawns and the expensive cars in their driveways. Parking, you all got out of the car and headed inside, greeted by Henry's parents in the foyer.

“Merry Christmas.” Marianne smiled, hugging you and Henry. “Welcome and Merry Christmas.” She said to your parents and little brother, as you and Henry greeted his father.

“Thank you and Merry Christmas, My Lady.” Your mother replied and smiled back, nervously bowing her head to Marianne.

“Please, call me Marianne.” She replied, smiling sweetly. “This is my husband, Colin.” She said, introducing him.

“Pleasure.” Colin greeted them, smiling warmly.

“I'm Tasha. This is my husband, Tristan.” Your mother answered, motioning to your father. “And this is our youngest son, Christophe.” She said, resting her hand on his shoulder.

“Your house is ginormous!” Christophe replied, his mouth hanging open.

Marianne and Colin chuckled, warmed. “Please, come in and make yourselves at home.” She said, motioning into the living room, where most of the group was congregating. “The other kids are playing in the backyard, if you want to join them, Christophe.” She offered your brother, then showed him the way out to the backyard.

“You want something to drink?” Henry asked you as you moved into the living room with everyone else.

“Yes, that would be fantastic.” You nodded, smiling up at him.

“All right.” Henry smiled back, kissing you softly, before going into the kitchen.

“Is it time yet?” Simon asked, coming into the kitchen with his little brother, to also grab himself and his wife something to drink.

“Soon.” Henry replied, pouring you a glass of chilled white wine. “I need the perfect moment.” He said, pouring himself a glass, then handed the bottle to Simon.

“Just don't chicken out.” Simon teased him, grinning.

“Chicken out of what?” Marianne asked, coming into the kitchen.

“The right moment.” Henry replied, feeling his face burn, and took a deep gulp of the chilled wine, trying to cool his face off and fortify his nerves.

“You'll find it, Henry.” She told him, rubbing his broad back, trying to be encouraging and supportive of her son. “Don't rush it.”

“I won't.” Henry sighed, picking up the two wine glasses. “I want it to be perfect.”

Henry took the glasses into the living room, finding you sitting on the couch and took a seat beside you, holding out one of the glasses. You smiled at him, taking the glass and kissed him on the cheek, before taking a sip of it. Henry wrapped an arm around you, sipped his wine and got caught up in the flow of the conversation that was going on with everybody.

“They're all so nice.” Your mother said as the two of you went into the kitchen for more wine.

“They really are.” You replied, smiling as you heard Henry's laugh carry into the kitchen. “They're incredibly loving and supportive, especially towards Henry and I.” You told her, then sighed.

Henry's mother had been right, people did find out about you being a Slummer, and it had happened sooner than both of you had thought it would.

A month after returning to London from Bristol, you and Henry were at a Cleric Fundraiser, which was held every year to raise money to donate to one of the lower Sectors, so they could use it as they saw fit; usually to help buy supplies for the Sector's Hospital. When a woman approached you, while Henry went to find the Fundraiser Manager, so he could donate money to the event.

“So, your High Marshal Cavill's new girl.” She said, lifting a sculpted brow at you.

“I am.” You replied, frowning at her, in her glittering and almost skin tight dress. “Who are you?”

“I'm Natasha, Beta Cleric Shaw's wife.” She told you, still giving you a mean and judgmental expression. “Henry and I dated, a while back.” She added, tossing her straight black hair over her shoulder with a swish of her head. “We were serious, for a moment, before I left him.” She said, an evil smugness glinting in her gray eyes.

“I never thought Henry would stoop so low, as to date a Slummer.” She said, her upper lip curling with distaste.

“H-how do you know that?” You asked, gulping and feeling your hands tremble.

“My husband was on the Council panel, when you testified against Oron Anderson.” Natasha replied, resting a hand on her hip. “He told me all about you being from Sector Twenty-Eight and how long you spent in that trafficker's warehouse in Thirty-One; before Henry bought you.”

“How's it feel to be his bought and paid for play thing?” She asked, looking you over.

“I'm not.” You replied, your voice barely audible.

“You can think that and Henry can tell you that, but we-” She motioned around the room, the gold and diamond bangles rattling on her thin wrist. “All know the truth.” She told you, tipping her nose up at you, then walked away.

Your breath hitched in your throat as hot tears prickled at the corners of your eyes, before turning your back to her and rushed out of the room. Henry had been halfway back, just missing Natasha walking away from you, when he saw the look of anguish on your face and rush out of the room. Scanning the room, trying to see what had caused it, Henry rushed after you. You took your heels off as you got out the front doors of the venue and ran into the manicured garden to the side of it. Henry finally caught up with you, finding you gulping down deep mouthfuls of cold night air by a massive fountain.

“Hey.” He whispered, resting his hand on your goosebump and chilled skin. “What's wrong?” He asked, shrugging out of his blazer and draping it over your shaking shoulders, before hugging you against his chest, your tears spilling over onto his dark gray dress shirt.

“What happened? Tell me.”

“They know.” You sobbed, clinging onto him and getting makeup all over his shirt.

“Who knows what, babe?” He asked, cupping your head in his hands and pulled your face away from his chest.

“They know what I am.” You cried, your bottom lip puffy and trembling.

Henry blinked at you for a moment, before his brain connected to what you meant and his eyes widened.

“Yeah.” You gasped and sighed. “They know I'm just a fucking sl-”

“Don't.” He snapped, shaking his head at you.

“I am, Henry.” You hissed back at him, becoming angry. “I'm a Slummer and they know it.” You huffed, trying to pull away from him.

Henry bit his lip, biting back his own frustrated anger. “Who told you this?” He demanded, keeping a hold on you.

“Your ex.”

Henry's shoulders slumped and he squeezed his eyes shut. “Natasha.” He growled between clenched teeth.

“Yes, her.” You nodded, folding your arms inside his blazer. “Told me how the two of you dated, before she left you, and that everyone knew that I was a Slummer, because her husband told her about me testifying at Twist's trial.”

“How the hell does she know you testified at Twist's trial.” Henry frowned, taken aback.

“Her husband is, apparently, Beta Cleric Shaw.”

“So, she did end up with a Cleric after all.” Henry sighed, shaking his head.

“What?” You snapped at him.

“The reason Natasha broke up with me, was because I wouldn't leave the Marshal Council to become either a Cleric or a Royal. She wanted that posh and expensive life that they have. But, I wouldn't do it, I love being a High Marshal. So, she left me, and apparently got what she wanted in the end.” He sighed, rubbing his face.

“But, I don't care about that. What I care about is her trying to hurt you.”

“She did a damn good job.” You whispered, staring down at your bare toes. “Called me, your bought and paid for plaything.”

“Look at me.” He whispered, touching his fingertips underneath your chin and lifted your head, until your wet eyes met his. “You're not my 'bought and paid for' plaything. We both know that, sweetheart. She's just a salty and unhappy woman, that only gets her happiness out of watching others suffer, and other people might know about you being from the lower Sectors, but she's only one crazy enough to say anything about it to your, my, or any of my family's face or within earshot of us either.” He told you, gently swiping his thumbs beneath your eyes, wiping away your tears.

“As for her husband speaking about the trial, when he's not allowed to speak to anyone about it outside of the Councils, and she's nowhere near a position on them, he's going to be in a load of trouble, when I bring it up to my mum.”

“I don't want him to get into trouble because his wife is apparently a bitch.” You told him, grasping his wrists.

“I know you don't, love.” Henry smiled at you. “But, if he's talking to his wife about them, then he's more than likely talking to others he's not supposed to, and that's a breach and violation of his position. The Councils have to be told about it.” He explained to you.

“What, will you not tell me things, if I were your wife?” You asked him, trying to tease him.

“I'm a High Marshal, my job is less top secret and involved than a Cleric or Royal.” Henry replied, chuckling. “I don't know how interested you'd be in me talking about homicide cases, they tend to be a bit graphic.”

“I wouldn't mind. Especially, if you needed to get something off your chest, if one is really bothering you.” You confessed, biting your lip as you looked up at him, recalling all the nightmares you had soothed him through.

“I'll keep that in mind.” Henry smiled, kissing you. “You want to go back in?” He asked you, looking back at the building. “Or we could ditch it, go back home and have a movie night.”

You pressed your lips together, thinking about it. Part of you wanted to go back in and face Natasha's no doubt judgmental glares the rest of the night, showing her that you weren't going to be intimidated by her and what she thought, but if you were honest, now that you were calm, you didn't actually care what she thought.

“I like the idea of movie night.” You said, looking back up at Henry.

“So do I.” Henry agreed. “I'm dying for a pair of sweats.”

“You are?” You laughed, looking at yourself in the tight gown and your bare, but screaming, feet.

“I wouldn't mind helping you out of that.” Henry chuckled, grinning and winking at you.

You grinned up at him and had a feeling that the impromptu movie night wouldn't last long, if the expression on Henry's face was anything to go off of.

“What is it, honey?” Your mother asked, seeing that far off look in your eyes.

“Nothing.” You laughed, shaking it off.

The back door came flying open and several of the kids came running in from outside, yelling and screaming as they went to their respective parents.

“Christophe, what's the matter?” Your mother asked him, frowning.

“Come look! Come look!” He said, grabbing his mother's hand and dragging her out the back door.

You frowned after them and looked to Henry as he and everyone from the living room filed through the kitchen and out the back door. “What's going on, Babe?” You asked him, as he took your hand and guided you outside with them.

“It's snowing, Nugget.” He grinned at you, excited for you to see it.

You let Henry lead you outside, gasping as you stepped out onto the back deck and into the heavy flurry of thick white flakes. Henry smiled, moving to stand behind you, wrapping his arms around you and hugging you back against him, kissing the back of your hair and resting his chin on top of your head, gently swaying as you both watched the snow fly. You were memorized by it, even with how cold it was, tilting your head back and smiling up at Henry, who smiled back at you, kissing your forehead.

“I'll be right back, I have to grab something.” He said, letting go of you and going back inside.

“This is amazing.” Christophe said, and stuck his tongue out like Henry's nieces and nephews, catching the flakes on it.

You smirked at him, tilting your own head back a bit and did the same, giggling as the snowflakes melted on your tongue and oblivious of Henry coming up behind you.

“Babe?” He called out, getting your attention.

You turned around to face him, but had to drop your eyes down slightly, as he knelt before you in the gathering snow on the wood deck. “Henry?” You answered, blinked down at his, confused.

“Oh god.” You heard someone gasp.

“I know,” Henry started, looking incredibly worried and nervous. “we've been through a whole lot since we met, a year and a half a go, but for all that, I wouldn't have wanted to endure any of that, without you.” He explained, fidgeting and fumbling for something in his back pocket. “I love you. I want to be with you and spend the rest of my life with you, only you.”

“So, I want to ask you something.”

“Okay.” You grinned, feeling how warm your cheeks were getting and the flurry of butterflies flying around your stomach, like the snowflakes in the air around you.

“Will you marry me?” He asked, in a rush, his nerves getting the better of him, as he opened the box and revealed a beautiful diamond ring.

A huge smile pulled across your face and giggled nervously, you were speechless for a minute, completely stunned and surprised by Henry proposing to you, then finally managed to answer.

“Yes.” You nodded, giddy. “Yes!” You laughed.

“Oh thank god.” Henry laughed back, relieved, then slipped the ring onto your finger, standing up and wrapping his arms around you, kissing you deeply.

Everyone clapped and cheered, happy for the both of you.

Five months later, you and Henry walked down the aisle and married, in a private ceremony, attended only by friends and family, the people that mattered to the both of you, and it was two years after that, that you two of you moved into a house in his family's neighborhood and welcomed your first child, a boy, that you both mutually agreed on, and named, Michail. If it wasn't for your brother, in so many ways, neither you or Henry would have met and fallen in love.

Your life was perfect now and even though you had lost your brother, neither you or Henry would change it for anything.

-- END --

[css1992]

Guilty Pleasure

[Porn AU]

Summary: Peter and Beck used to be a power couple in the porn industry, but after Beck dumps him, Peter is forced to start over. With no money, no family and nowhere to go, he doesn’t have much choice other than to keep doing porn, so he joins Just4Fans to get back on his feet and then one day he gets a very generous tip from someone under the username of YKWIM.

All the warnings listed on Part I apply.

Read on AO3

Part I / Part II / Part III / Part IV / Part V / Part VI / Part VII / Part VIII / Part IX / Part X /  Part XI / Epilogue

-x-

As it turned out, Tony did make great pancakes. Peter woke up the next day to the smell of them, and shyly headed in the general direction it was coming from, until he reached the kitchen. Tony was standing there, wearing impeccable gray dress pants, a crisp white shirt and a green tie, as he added batter to a frying pan. Peter supposed that was what heaven would look like when he died.

“Oh, hey, kitten, you’re up.” He grinned at him, who smiled in return, nodding. He had put his clothes from the night before back on, and he was glad he did, because Tony was dressed to the nines and it would have been awkward if he had shown up in just his boxers or something. “Sleep well?”

“I did, thanks.” And it was surprisingly true. Peter hadn’t had such a good night’s sleep in a while, he supposed he missed sleeping next to someone. He did share a bed with Beck for two years, so it felt awfully lonely to sleep by himself. “Are you headed to work?” He asked as he sat on a stool by the kitchen island and Tony nodded guiltily, fixing two plates of pancakes.

“I’m so sorry, I tried to make arrangements to get the morning off, but duty calls.” To his credit, he did look genuinely sorry, so Peter thought maybe it wasn’t just an excuse to get rid of him. Maybe.

“It’s okay, I have to be home soon, or my friends will worry.” Which wasn’t exactly true, but not exactly a lie either. They wouldn’t notice he was gone until lunchtime, since they both had work or class in the morning, but when they did notice, they would freak out.

“I thought you lived by yourself?” Tony sounded interested as he sat beside him by the kitchen counter and pushed a plate his way. Peter thanked him, taking a bite of the surprisingly good pancake.

“I do, but we live in the same building, so we’re always checking in on each other.” Tony hummed, nodding, and they were silent for a little while, until the older man spoke up again.

“Can I ask about your relatives?” He felt his eyes on him and knew that, much like the night before, he was testing the waters, making sure Peter was comfortable with that subject.

“Sure. I don’t have any, though. I’m an orphan, I’ve lived in foster homes for most of my life.” Peter didn’t really mind talking about that period – it was basically all he knew. He was too little when his parents died and was only ten when Ben and May passed away, so the foster homes were where he made most of his memories.

“Oh. I’m so sorry to hear that.” Tony winced, maybe thinking he had touched a sensitive subject after all, but Peter smiled and shrugged.

“It’s okay, it was a long time ago. My friends are like family to me now, so I’m good.”

“I’m glad you have them.” Again, he gave him that genuine smile that made Peter believe he was actually glad to hear that. Like he actually cared. “So… Can I see you again? Or was this just a one time thing?” The older man turned his body to face Peter, who froze for a second with the mug held to his lips, mid-sip.

“Oh, uhm…” Peter almost chocked on the coffee, not quite believing his ears. He honestly thought that the older man would slowly disappear from his life. Or maybe not even that slowly. Peter figured he had gotten what he wanted, so why would he stick around? “I mean, sure. If you want.” He said, like an idiot, and Tony raised a brow.

“I really do, but I don’t mean to pressure you, so if you want to say no and just go back to what we had, that’s okay. Or not even that, if you prefer. Just say the word and I’ll get out of your hair.” He sounded honest enough, but Peter quickly shook his head, eyes wide.

“No, it’s okay, I definitely wanna do this again.” He assured him, and Tony seemed satisfied with his answer, expression softening as he nodded.

After breakfast, the older man insisted on driving him home and when they arrived at his building, he felt a little awkward as to how to say goodbye, but Tony made it easier by simply leaning in and kissing him softly on the lips, one hand stroking his knee in a gentle caress.

“I’ll call you later, kitten.” He promised and Peter just sighed quietly, feeling dizzy.

He was a little out of it for the rest of the day, both Ned and MJ asked what was wrong with him in separate occasions, but he just said he was tired from his new routine. They had dinner together and when he went back to his apartment that night, he was just mildly surprised that he actually got a call from Tony. It was an innocent, sweet phone call, too. He did not expect that, to be honest, they had been sexting for two months and they had actual sex the previous night, so he kind of expected Tony to just go for it.

But no.

He asked about his day, about his friends, he told him about his own day, then somehow they ended up talking a little bit about Peter’s childhood, his parents, aunt May and Uncle Ben, it was just a really nice chat, which he appreciated. Not that he didn’t enjoy talking dirty to Tony, but the fact that he called just to have a normal conversation with no second intentions was, well. Nice.

He didn’t really know where they were going with that, probably nowhere, really, Peter was an ex-porn star, Tony was an A-list celebrity, a billionaire and a fucking Avenger, so there was literally zero chance they could evolve to something else. They would probably just go out a few more times, have mind-blowing awesome sex, and then go their separate ways. And Peter was okay with that.

It was fine. Really. It was just fine.

And it was for the best, otherwise how would he explain to Ned and MJ that he was dating Tony Fucking Stark? It would be a nightmare. MJ would kill him and lecture him on how big corporations like Stark Industries were destroying their way of life and Ned would pass out – and possibly die – so, yeah. It was a good thing they had no real future together.  

That didn’t mean he couldn’t enjoy it while it lasted, though. Tony was really nice, a true gentleman, a good conversationalist, a great kisser and an amazing lay. So whatever he could get out of those moments they had together, he would. Everything was perfectly fine and under control. And did he mention fine?

The next morning, he woke up early and went for a jog around the block. He had been experimenting with different types of workout routines, but he thought he might stick with jogging and yoga for a while, he was even looking for a yoga studio close to his building so he could start training more seriously. When he got back, he took a long shower, made breakfast and spent a few hours answering people on Just4Fans, then posted a few pictures there, linked it to his twitter account and let people know on Instagram.

Tony texted him mid-morning and Peter blushed like a teenager when he read his message.

“Just saw the new pics, you look stunning as always, baby, but I have to admit I’m spoiled now, pictures are not enough. Can’t wait to see you again. Dinner tomorrow?”

“Flattery will get you everywhere, sir, keep it coming.” He smiled to himself and bit his lower lip, excited by the prospect of seeing Tony again so soon. “Tomorrow sounds great, where are we going? Should I start stressing about the dress code?”

“I was thinking you could come over. Did I mention that I’m a great cook? Pancakes aren’t my only specialty.” Peter felt butterflies in his stomach. It was stupid, of course, but he just found it endearing that Tony wanted to cook for him.

“I’d love to. I’m curious about your cooking, your pancakes did taste fantastic.” Just the thought of that morning and, more importantly, the night before that, made his mind wander, as a quiet sigh left his lips.

“Prepare to be blown away.”

“You’re so humble, I love that about you.” The young man smiled to himself.

“Thank you, kitten, it’s one of my many qualities.” Peter laughed at his antics.

They settled on a time and Tony insisted on picking him up, even though it was obviously inconvenient since they were having dinner at his place, but he wouldn’t take no for an answer, so Peter gave in. They talked a little more, but soon Tony had to go back to work and now that the younger man knew exactly who he was, he imagined it was a lot of work.

He went on with his Saturday – in the afternoon, he took a few pictures and videos with different sets of lingerie he bought with MJ when they went to Victoria’s Secret, and that should be enough to last him at least a few days. At dinnertime, he went down to his friends’ apartment, as usual, and they were both home.

“What’s up, nerd,” MJ greeted from the couch, but didn’t raise her eyes from her phone.

“Hey, Pete, dinner is almost ready,” Ned called from the kitchen island.

“Want me to set the table?” He walked over to where Ned was fishing a plate out of the microwave.

“Sure.”

Peter knew his way around the kitchen, so he got to work, placing the plates and cutlery on the small, square table by the counter.

“Hey, are you up for a Star Trek marathon tomorrow night? I don’t have any classes next Monday morning, we can stay up late.”

“Oh, uhm. I –“ Fuck, he hadn’t really thought of an excuse for why he wouldn’t be having dinner with them. “I can’t, because…” He noticed that MJ had finally raised her eyes from her phone, only to stare at him suspiciously. “I have this thing, uhm, on my Just4Fans… Tomorrow night.”

“Can’t you just schedule the posts?” MJ asked from the couch, because of-fucking-course she knew about that.

“Uhm, yeah, I can, but – uhm. It’s a live stream. I’m live streaming tomorrow for the first time. It’s good for tips and stuff, so. Yeah. I’ve already let everybody know, I can’t cancel.” He gave them an apologetic smile, trying to look convincing, but he was pretty sure he just looked like a nervous wreck.

“Oh. Ok, then.” Ned shrugged and didn’t seem bothered at all, but MJ kept staring at him from the couch, like she could smell his bullshit from a mile away. She didn’t say anything, though, for which he was grateful.

The next morning, he woke up early and decided to skip his usual jog around the block and just did a short yoga session in his living room, warmed by the morning sun that flooded his apartment at that time. He had lunch with his friends and spent the afternoon with them, but left early with the excuse that he had to get ready for his “live stream”.

When the older man texted to say he was waiting outside, Peter was already showered and dressed and skipped downstairs two steps at a time. He didn’t know what he was supposed to wear to a billionaire’s house, but he decided casual was probably fine, so he put on a pair of light blue jeans and a light pink, thin sweater.

Tony was driving a low-profile, black SUV and he got out of the car when Peter stepped outside the building. He had a baseball cap and tinted glasses on, dark blue jeans, a Metallica t-shirt and sneakers, and if Peter didn’t know it was him, he would never have thought that was actually Tony Stark.

“Hey, gorgeous, looking good.” Tony didn’t think twice before reaching out to pull him closer by the hips, stealing a chaste kiss from his lips. Peter blushed and completely forgot he should be worried that Ned or MJ might see them if they came downstairs for something, or even if they looked out the living room window. He wrapped his arms around the older man’s neck and deepened the kiss.

“Thanks, but you should get your eyes checked.” He joked as he let go, taking a small step back.

“Yeah, I think so too, I think constantly staring at such beauty is taking a toll on my eyesight, I’m an old man, after all.” Tony pulled him by the chin and stole yet another kiss. When he pulled away,  Peter shook his head and laughed.

“Oh my God. Seriously, do you practice these lines in the mirror or something?” He had a feeling that if it was anyone else saying half the things Tony said to him daily, he would find it corny and possibly annoying, but somehow the older man made everything sound charming, sweet, sexy, endearing – hell, everything at once. And he always knew what to say to make Peter’s knees go weak, it was unnerving sometimes.

“No, you just inspire me daily, baby.” He gave him a charming smile, as he opened the door and gestured for Peter to get in the car.

The ride to Tony’s place was filled with the sound of the older man humming along to the music playing. Peter didn’t recognize any of the songs, it was a classic rock playlist, but then he heard a familiar beat and thought it was a great opportunity to stick his foot so deep inside his mouth he almost choked.

“I love Led Zeppelin!” He didn’t exactly love Led Zeppelin and he was quite sure he had just heard a cover of that song, not the original version, but he thought he’d sound cool if he said that. When he looked over, though, Tony was laughing his head off. Peter blushed a deep crimson, eyes widening as he realized he must have said something incredibly dumb.

“Oh, you’re not joking.” Finally seeming to realize that the younger man wasn’t laughing along with him, Tony turned down the volume, as they approached Stark Tower’s garage entrance. “That’s Back in Black by AC/DC, kitten. But hey, I love Zeppelin, too, who doesn’t?” He smiled warmly, looking at him sideways, and Peter nodded.

“Oh, right. Yeah. Of course.” Fuck his life. Of course he had to make a complete fool of himself right at the beginning of the night. He wanted to jump out the window from embarrassment, but it would only add to his humiliation, since Tony had already parked and got out of the car.

The older man opened the door for him and Peter avoided eyes contact, as he led him to the elevator. He could still feel his cheeks burning on the ride up, his head was starting to hurt from shame. Was that a thing?

“Hey, don’t be like this.” Tony pulled him into a loose hug, kissing his temple with a soft smile on his lips. “It was an honest mistake. Besides, I wouldn’t be able to identify whatever it is you kids listen to these days.”

It was oddly comforting to hear that. Even though he knew Tony wasn’t trying to be mean to him back in the car, it was hard not to feel attacked in situations like that. Beck always tried to make him feel dumb, inferior and juvenile whenever he got the chance.

So he rested his head on Tony’s shoulder and nodded slowly. He was going to say something like “don’t worry, I’m fine” but it got lost somewhere in the back of his throat when the older man held him a little tighter and stroked his hair.

The whole interaction lasted merely a few seconds, soon the elevator doors opened to the familiar sight of Tony’s living room, looking just as impeccable as it did a couple of nights earlier. The older man gestured for Peter to lead the way and he did, paying closer attention to the details, since he was a little too nervous to do it the last time he was there.

What he realized when he took a look around, was that the penthouse didn’t look lived in at all. It was all glass and metal, shiny floors and sophisticated furniture, black and gray decoration – it looked ready to be featured in one of those shows that listed the most beautiful houses in the world, but it didn’t look like a place he would like to go back to at the end of the day.

“You don’t spend a lot of time here, do you?” Peter asked, as Tony led them in the direction he remembered the kitchen and the dining room were.

“That obvious, huh?” The older man winced and Peter flushed, realizing he might have been a little rude in his observation. “But yeah, when I’m home, I spend most of my time down in the workshop.”

“Ah, the famous workshop. I suppose if I were to visit right now there would be pictures of me hanging on every wall?” He joked, remembering that Tony had once told him that he would hang his pictures in the workshop and never get any work done.

“I mean, not every wall…” He turned to him and winked, leaving the younger man a little unsure if he meant it or if he was just messing around. Sometimes it was hard to tell with the man’s sarcastic sense of humor. “I’ll give you a tour after dinner.” He promised, when they finally reached the dining room.

The table was set in a simple manner, for what Peter was glad, it made him feel more comfortable and at ease. Tony pulled out a chair for him then headed to the kitchen, which was separated from the dining room only by a long, wide counter, where the had breakfast the other day.

The man came back with wine, pouring two glasses for them, then he started placing the dishes on the table. There was mashed potatoes, grilled veggies and roast chicken, and the smell was to die for, Peter’s stomach rumbled and he wasn’t even that hungry.  

“Voilà. This was my favorite meal as a kid, my grandma used to make this for me all the time when I spent summers with her.” He took a seat across from Peter, looking at him expectantly. The younger man found his enthusiasm amusing, so he fixed a plate under Tony’s eager supervision. “Tell me what you think. But be nice, I haven’t cooked this in a while, it might be a little dry.”

Peter took a bite of the chicken first, and it took him a few moments to feel the explosion of flavors on his tongue. The meat was tender and juicy, cooked to perfection, and the seasoning tasted inexplicably like home – it didn’t taste like something he could order at a restaurant, let alone a frozen meal he could buy at the supermarket. He then tried the mashed potatoes along with the grilled veggies and almost cried.

“Tony, this is so good, have you considered dropping everything and starting a restaurant?” he gushed, taking another bite of the chicken only to confirm that, yes, that was probably what paradise tasted like.

“Don’t exaggerate. I already like you plenty, kitten, you don’t need to flatter my cooking skills.” Tony smiled, shaking his head lightly, and if Peter didn’t know any better, he might think he was blushing.

“I’m not, this is seriously the best homemade meal I’ve ever eaten,” he insisted and Tony cocked his head to the side, with a confused smile and a frown

“What the hell have they been feeding you, kid?” He asked and Peter chuckled.

“Well, I spent most of my life in foster care and I was never lucky enough to end up in a family that liked to cook.” The families he stayed with weren’t bad – not compared to some of the horror stories he heard from other foster kids he met in the past – they just weren’t good. They provided him with the bare minimum for survival, so water and enough food to avoid starvation. “And uncle Ben and aunt May, dude… They couldn’t cook for shit.” He laughed, remembering Aunt May’s date loaf, which was probably the worst thing he had ever tasted in his life.

“Well, now I feel obligated to feed you properly,” Tony announced, and Peter quickly shook his head, feeling his face grow red for the hundredth time that night.

“Oh, no, you don’t need to, I wasn’t–”

“I want to, if I’m your only source of good, homemade food, then I’m taking this seriously, kitten.” He pointed a fork at him as he spoke. “And you can help me cook, what do you say? That way I can teach you a thing or two so you won’t starve to death.” Again, the idea that Tony wanted to cook for him was too sweet. He was an incredibly busy guy who probably didn’t even cook for himself, but he was willing to waste that kind of time on Peter. It just–

“Sounds amazing.” He smiled, nodding, and the older man’s face softened when their eyes met.  

“Good.” He took a sip of wine and topped off both of their glasses. “Did you tell your friends you were coming here today?” That seemed like a polite way to ask if they knew about him, and Peter wasn’t sure what kind of answer he was expecting.

“No, they think I’m home.” He watched the man’s face, waiting for his reaction, but there was none, so Peter felt like he should explain himself further. “After my ex – they’re just a little too overprotective, so, you know. I just don’t want them to worry.” Tony raised his eyebrows and Peter’s eyes widened, realizing what that might have sounded like. “Not that I think you’re my – that we’re – I mean, I’m not assuming anything, I just meant –“

“Hey, it’s okay, I know what you mean.” He reached across the table to squeeze one of his shaking hands. “Your friends sound like good people, by the way. You’re lucky to have them.”

“Thanks.” Tony smoothly changed the subject and started talking about his summers with his grandmother and how she taught him everything he knew about cooking. He said that was the reason why his repertoire consisted only of comfort food and Peter thought that was the sweetest thing he had learned about him so far.

Once dinner was done with, Tony kept his promise and gave him a tour. The place looked like a labyrinth made of glass and steel, there were five floors, several rooms with various purposes, but everything seemed sterile and impersonal, like nobody ever stepped foot in any of those places, which somehow made them look lifeless and even a little scary – like a ghost town of sorts. Peter couldn’t help but think that his tiny, mostly empty apartment felt more like a home than all five floors of Tony’s.

Well, all except for one.

“And this is the workshop,” Tony declared with a flourish when the glass doors slid open, revealing a wide, open space filled with worktables, holographic screens, robots, cars, Iron Man suits, and so many other things he had never seen before in his life. “Sorry about the mess.” He didn’t sound sorry, though, he sounded happy and proud, and Peter thought it was the only place in the penthouse that felt weirdly cozy and homey. To his relief – and secret disappointment –, there were no pictures of him in lingerie hanging on the walls.

“This is amazing…” Peter breathed out, realizing that that was Tony’s actual home. There was even a kitchenette in a corner, and next to it there was a small, cozy couch in front of a reasonably sized TV and a fluffy rug. He supposed Tony took naps there, too, because there was also a blanket draped over the back of the couch.

He walked over there, followed closely by the older man, and took a seat, sinking into the soft pillows.  

“I think this is my favorite room.” He blinked up at Tony, who regarded him silently for a few moments, and Peter started to think he had fucked up again. “What?” He whispered, but his answer came in the form of a kiss. He immediately melted into it, all worries flying out the window as he opened his mouth to taste him better.

Tony pushed him gently until he was lying on the couch with his larger body on top of him, and he’d be lying if he said that wasn’t the best feeling in the world.

It was a tight fit, but they made it work, as pieces of clothes were thrown to a pile on the floor; as skin met skin and made the room feel unbearably hot; as hands explored and mouths danced together and teeth left secret claiming marks on eager necks; as he felt, once again, full and sate and whole, and then spent and lax and dazed in the best of ways.

Suddenly, what had been frantic and passionate became slow and soft, what had been loud and messy became quiet and wholesome.  

The room was silent then, as their bodies slowly cooled down. Tony was lying on his back on the couch and Peter was lying on top of him, chests flush together, breathing in and out in sync. He felt a blanket being draped over his shoulders and he all but melted into the body underneath him.

“Can I ask you a question?” He whispered quietly into Tony’s neck, after several minutes, not sure if the older man had fallen asleep, his breathing was slow and constant.

“Baby, you could ask me anything right now, there’s no way I’d say no to you.” He answered right away and Peter giggled, pushing himself up on Tony’s chest to look down at him.

“Why did you want to meet me? For real?” Tony, whose eyes had been closed until that moment, opened them to gaze at him. He was quiet for a while, as one of his hands found the small of Peter’s back under the blanket and started rubbing circles on his skin.

“I liked talking to you.” He answered quietly, eyes locked on his. At first, Peter thought that was all the answer he was getting, and he would have been fine with that, but Tony kept talking. “You made me feel alive again.” His heart raced and his breath hitched in shock. He blinked down at the older man, who raised his free hand to tuck some of Peter’s curls behind his ear. “You see, things were… rough. After Thanos.” He remembered the funny story Tony told him in the restaurant a few nights earlier and was surprised to see such grief in the man’s eyes. “I had these nightmares. Anxiety attacks. Couldn’t sleep most nights.”

Peter reached out and ran a finger across the man’s forehead, trying to smooth down the frown that had formed there. Tony smiled, grabbing that hand to give it a little kiss.

“Pepper wanted me to give up the suit for good, said it was killing me and she wouldn’t stand by and watch it happen. On top of that, my relationship with some of the Avengers was strained, to say the least. I thought retiring from the Avengers would be enough to solve most of my problems, but I was wrong and everything just kind of snowballed from there. So what I mean to say is that by the time I met you, I was… Fucking exhausted.”

“Tony...” He frowned, heart clenching, because he could hear the pain in the man’s voice and how much he meant every word and it was devastating.  

“I looked forward to talking to you every night, you know. Still do. I don’t why you got under my skin like that, but you did. So when I said I needed to meet you, I meant I needed to meet you.” He smiled and Peter’s heart skipped a beat. The whole confession was almost too much to handle, too much to believe. At the same time, he knew what Tony meant because he had also been in a very dark place when they met and, somehow, talking to him brought some light back into his life. “My turn?”

“Sure.” Peter smiled, entwining his fingers on Tony’s chest and resting his chin on top of them, looking at the older man’s face.

“It’s okay if you don’t want to answer, I have a feeling this might be a bit of a touchy subject for you.” He cautioned, and Peter gulped. He knew what was coming and he thought about not answering, but Tony had been honest with him, so he took a deep breath and nodded.

“O-okay.”

“How did you end up doing porn? Not that it’s bad or anything, you just sounded so uncomfortable the other night... Like you’re ashamed of it, or regretful.” Tony asked carefully, one of his hands was still rubbing soothing circles on the skin of his back.

“Hm… Well. It’s complicated. I guess the short answer is: I was young and dumb and my older boyfriend convinced me it was a good idea. Then he left me and took all the money and everything we’ve ever built with him and – and now the only thing I know how to do is porn, so… Yeah.” It was a very short version of what happened, but very accurate as well. Tony frowned, raising an eyebrow.

“What do you mean he took everything?”

“He told me to pack a bag and leave. Whatever I couldn’t fit in my bag stayed behind, as well as the social media accounts, the channel, the money… He locked me out of everything.” Peter’s voice grew weaker as he spoke, because he felt so fucking ashamed. Of everything. Of admitting he let a man like Quentin into his life, that he made so many terrible decisions just so he could stay with him, only to be treated like that in the end. It was fucking humiliating.

Tony sat up in a haste, forcing him to do the same, until they were both facing each other on the couch. The older man’s eyes were wide, he looked so shocked it was almost funny. Almost.

“Peter, that’s – why – wait, and what do you mean he convinced you to do porn? Is it not something that you want to do?” Peter dropped his gaze for a second, not really sure what the true answer to that question was. If he was honest with himself, most times he just avoided thinking too much about what he was doing.  

“Well… I don’t hate it anymore, I guess,” he settled on that, after a few minutes of silence. “Sometimes I even enjoy it now, like… Like when we talk,” he mumbled the last part, raising his eyes again to look into Tony’s warm ones, and the older man looked back at him with – what? Worry? Regret? Guilt?

“So you hated it? Before?” He insisted, and Peter knew he could still choose not to answer if he wanted to, Tony wouldn’t force it out of him, but still – Peter wanted to tell him. He wanted Tony to know.

To know him. All of him. Even the parts that hurt.

“I did.” He whispered, holding back the tears that filled his eyes when the confession left his lips, because that was something that he never wanted to acknowledge. It took all he had to hold Tony’s gaze and not look away in shame. “I just felt… kinda shitty sometimes. Like… I wasn’t even human, just an object to be used and abused and disposed of.” He continued, swallowing a lump in his throat. He couldn’t read Tony’s expression, but his eyes were gentle as always, there was no judgment there. “I didn’t feel like my body belonged to me anymore.” Saying that aloud came almost as a surprise to Peter himself. He always tried so hard not to think about those feelings he almost believed they didn’t really exist, even though they were always there at the back of his mind.

“Pete...” Tony cupped his face in both of his hands, he looked so torn, it almost made Peter regret telling him.

“I’m doing okay now, I promise. I’m in control of my body, my choices, my money. I’m fine now, really,” he vowed and Tony pulled his head closer and pressed their lips together – it wasn’t even a kiss, just a caress.

“I can help you.” He offered with determination, holding his face in his hands, looking straight into his eyes and they were burning with anger, but Peter knew it wasn’t directed to him. “I can help you get everything back, I can make his life a living hell for doing that to you, I can –“

“Please, don’t,” He winced, shaking his head firmly, lifting his hands to hold Tony’s wrists, feeling his pulse and how fast his heart was beating. “Okay? It’s in the past. It’s over now. I don’t want to – relive it, I just want to forget.” His heart raced when the older man closed his eyes and started shaking his head. “Tony?”

“Peter, you can’t ask me to –“

“I am asking you leave it alone.” He insisted, a little desperately, but Tony’s face was locked in a frown and panic started creeping up on him. He couldn’t bear to think about confronting Beck, having to see him again, maybe talk to him again, he just wanted to move on, to forget he ever existed. His eyes burned and he closed them, trying to get his breath under control, but he could feel his hands shaking. “Please, please, don’t make me –“

“Hey, no, no, no.” Tony gathered him in his arms, rubbing his shoulders in a soothing way. “I’m sorry, no, I would never force you to do anything, okay? It’s your choice.” He cupped his face in his hands again, peppering kisses on his cheeks and forehead. Peter started calming down slowly, and even laughed a little when the man’s beard tickled his nose. “You know that I see you, right? And I mean I see you, Peter Parker, not the persona in the videos or the pictures, and you sure seem pretty fucking human to me, kid. You know that, right?” Tony kept holding his head in between his hands, forcing Peter to look back at him, which wasn’t necessary, he couldn’t look away if he tried.

He smiled, nodding slowly, leaning in to kiss his lips. The older man lay back down, pulling him along, until they were back to their original position. He rested his head on Tony’s chest and closed his eyes, sighing in relief.

He felt Tony wrap his arms around his waist, holding him tight, and he thought to himself that if heaven looked like Tony making breakfast in the morning and tasted like his cooking in the evening, it certainly felt like holding him at night.

-x-

Tag list (please let me know if you’d like to be added or removed from the list):  @sadachmesarthim @iamnotparticularlyproud @staticwhispersinthedark @bluestarker

Sorry for the long chapter, guys, it really got away from me 🥴 Only four more chapters to goo ✨✨

[zehecatl]

rec post for @f-eef that got too long for its own good, and is now just. a general rec post i guess

(as of writing, today is the steam summer sale! writing this before that goes live, so no guarantee everything on here is on sale, but! most of these are older games, so it’s likely. keep them in mind~)

- Iconoclasts my absolute favourite game, ever (along with OFF, but shh), if you check out one game from this list, let it be this one. it’s a genuinely almost flawless package, with gorgeous pixel art, fun gameplay, a really good story, and a cast of characters i just. adore. it’s so so so good, and three years later, i’m still not over it

- The Binding of Isaac so there’s this genre called roguelikes, wherein the whole gimmick is that, when you die, you gotta start from the Very Beginning; and the ‘point’ is getting better and better at the game, until you win! it’s super easy to just, play a few runs (they generally don’t last that long!), and then go on with your day, so it’s a really fun game to just waste time in, if you just wanna chill with some game. and, in my personal opinion, Isaac is the best roguelike game, with so much stuff to unlock, a whole slew of items to play with, and so much content it’s kind of unreal. i definitely think the DLCs are worth picking up, but it’s mostly for more content than like. actually being necessary

- Terraria it’s minecraft, but 2D. unlike MC, it’s got a bit of guidance, which i personally prefer, with bosses to fight and such. an absolutely BLAST with other people too

- A Hat in Time a 3D platformer, ala Mario, that’s just. super charming. it’s also really fun to play. i haven’t actually played the DLC’s, since i played it way back, but i’ve heard good things about Nyakuza Metro, which does look super slick, so ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

- Slime Rancher you are a slime rancher. you ranch slimes. it’s honestly just wholesome as hell, and just exudes happy vibes. mostly for running around and collecting slimes, ngl

- The Messenger really funky retro game, wherein you play a ninja on a mission. it’s primary draw is definitely in its gameplay, but there’s a surprising amount of story for this kind of genre? i honestly really just like this one. it’s neat

- Underhero you play as a cute minion, who kind of like. managed to kill the hero. and whoops, guess you’re doing his job now? it’s got that undertale vibe, though i’d say it’s less polished than it. HOWEVER, it’s absolutely lovely and it’s climax is REALLY good

- Hatoful Boyfriend bird dating sim. trust me. the ‘secret’ finale route is just. *chef’s kiss* fantastic

- Night in the Woods if you don’t mind having a very poignant sad time, oh my god, i could not recommend NITW more. it perfectly captures that period when you’re done with school, and suddenly your whole life is stretching before you, and you feel so so fucking lost, and overwhelmed and pained with it. it’s just. so good. a sadness worth experiencing 

- Shovel Knight another retro game! this one is, pretty much, the king of the genre, and for very good reasons. the first one (shovel of hope) doesn’t have much story, but the latter ones really add on it. they’re honestly just, really solid games! with funky knight characters!!!

- Hyper Light Drifter man, it’s just a masterpiece. everything about it is perfect. it’s been like, five years, and it’s still one of the very best indie games

- Tell Me Why it’s currently free for june! and it’s a story game! plus, if you like the genre, the devs got the ‘Life Is Strange’ serie(s) to delve into!

- Cat Quest honestly, i just really like this little game. the gameplay is SO much fun, and everything else is just. really charming :’)

- Yoku’s Island Express metroidvania, where you play as a dung-beetle post officer, and the gimmick is that it’s pinball-y! it’s really fun, and very cute and just an all around good time :)

- Owlboy you play as an owl boy! named Otus! and you can fly around, and there’s GORGEOUS pixel graphics, and a neat story, and just. the BEST cast of characters. it’s delightful

- Yuppie Psycho + Count Lucanor just gonna bundle these two together, because they’re both REALLY GOOD. YP is the newer one, and is therefore probably ‘the better one’, but i like them both a ton! they’re 2D horror, but i wouldn’t say they’re that spooky? though that might just be because they’re pixel games! you explore spooky place, and weird stuff happens around you. just a really fun time :)

- Angels of Death my FAVOURITE rpgmaker game, it’s main draw is, a 100%, the main characters and the relationship that develops between them. i just love it a whole lot, and it’s got that lil’ tinge of horror that i, personally, fucking adore. there’s actually an anime based on this, but i haven’t seen it myself!

- Celeste curve ball! it’s a 2D platformer! it’s really good, got a ton of accessibility features, and has like. the tightest gameplay- and, on top of that, surprisingly emotional story! 

- Bastion putting Bastion here, because it’s actually the only one i’ve properly played, but you could probably buy any of the Supergiant Games, and come out satisfied. Bastion is the oldest of the bunch, and is definitely a bit less polished for it, but i personally adore it; the gameplay probably hasn’t aged that well, but i think the story and presentation more than makes up for it

- The Darkside Detective funny point and click adventure, with great wit, and a pair of characters i kind of simply adore. it’s main draw is definitely its humour

- Littlewood very wholesome and chill farming game, that feels more like an RPG than something like stardew valley- i’d not recommend it over SV, but if you want more of SV, Littlewood might scratch that itch!

- Pony Island + The Hex absolutely adore both of these, though if i had to rec only one, it’d probably be Pony Island? they’ve both got that undertale-off vibe, though Pony Island definitely leans harder into it. very interesting plays, both of them

- Oxenfree another horror-ish game! primarily story-focused, but oh boy, what a story! i’m a BIG fan of this game, and the sequel was recently announced too! definitely worth a look if you like ghost shenanigans

- Creature in the Well wasn’t a 100% sure if i should rec this, but beside the finale boss, i really enjoyed my time with this! it’s this weird pinball inspired hack and slash, with some amazing vibes

- Kindergarten 1 + 2 they’re just fun little games okay. the 2nd is much more fleshed out, but the 1st one is really fun too

- the Henry Stickmin collection I JUST... LIKE THESE GAMES A LOT... i think you can find the old versions somewhere on the internet, if you wanna check them out first? idk, they’re fun!

- LIMBO + INSIDE personally, i like INSIDE more, but both of these are classics, and also they’re made by a danish team, and i like them a WHOLE LOT

- The Final Station i could not tell you why i like this game as much as i do, but oh my god. i love this game? it’s got a dying world, neat pixel graphics, big zombie apocalypse vibes, and a weird little story

- Year Walk i love Year Walk :)

- Smile For Me if you liked undertale’s lovely cast of characters, oh boy, you’d likely LOVE this game! it’s really, really, fantastic, and the epilogue (not in the actual game lol) hit me right in the feels

- Pikuniku just a fun little game! there’s not really much there, in the grand scheme of things, but it’s a wonderful little play, one of those games that just sets out to give you a good time, and absolutely success. i like it a lot :’)

- A Short Hike wonderful game, where it’s more about exploring the island than actively finishing the game. it’s real wonderful

- ULTRAKILL ANOTHER CURVEBALL! no idea if you like FPS, but oh my god. ULTRAKILL is so fucking good. just an absolute blast to play. there’s a demo to check out, and i’d definitely recommend it, because if it’s a genre you might like, you’ll love this one (OH also it’s in early access, which means it’s not finished yet! personally, i don’t mind that, especially considering this is more gameplay focused, but ya’ know!)

- My Friend Pedro it’s honestly just really fun to play, and sometimes i still think about the implied lore, and go all !!!!

- Little Misfortune another point and click! this one is pretty short, and is set within the same universe as their other game, Fran Bow, which is much bigger, but idk. i like this one. it’s dark cute

- This Strange Realm of Mine i honestly dunno how to explain this one, because it’s kind of weird and a bit odd, but i really like it, in all its weird poetic glory. it’s neat!

- Donut County you’re a terrible racoon who’s ruined the whole city with holes. it’s great and i love it

- OneShot another ‘gives me undertale vibes’, though this one was in development before UT, if i recall correctly! it’s so good, and it’s got some fantastic meta bits, and i love Niko. i love Niko so much

- Inmost gorgeous vaguely spooky game with a neat story... my favourite genre

- Sayonara Wild Hearts i’d call this more of a spectacle than anything else, but oh my god. what a spectacle it is! the OST is amazing, everything about it just hits right, and even if you suck at the gameplay (which i did), it really doesn’t matter, in my opinion? it’s just great all around!

[moon-light-jukebox]

“All you have to do is ask.” Chapter 11 - [Reid x Reader]

previous chapter // series index // epilogue

Summary: Spencer and Reader haven’t been able to spend the kind of time together that they’d like to. When they finally have the chance, they’re all to eager to take advantage of it.

Pairing: Spencer Reid / Female Reader

Rating: Mature

Word Count: 3.8k for Chapter 11 

Content Warning: Smut. Pure smut. Oral sex (female receiving), penetrative sex, unprotected sex, femdom, pegging, bdsm themes, slapping, spitting, degradation, mild humiliation, the usual for the series. 

A/n: For those of you that don’t want a cheesy epilogue, this is it for our love birds. I just want to thank you all for sticking with me on this massive undertaking. Your messages have meant everything to me.  The epilogue will be out tomorrow. 

Thank you, thank you, thank you. 

-- Chapter 11 - I love you too -- 

The wonderful thing about working with my boyfriend is that even when we were away on cases, we got to spend time together.

It was just never the kind of time I wanted to spend with him. I had told Spencer in the beginning that I had always viewed our BDSM sex scenes as just a part of our sex life. I was fine doing things that weren't in the realm of the dominant and submissive relationship. I wouldn’t trade sleepy morning sex with my boy for anything. And even when we were away on cases, we were still able to do some things.

But, while I'm as sex-positive and progressive as the next person, I just couldn't put a strap on or a butt plug in my go-bag.

We’d only had that one weekend together at my apartment, but I was ready for more.

And I think my boy was too.

--

“Alright, once we touch down in D.C., I need everyone to submit their paperwork for the Wilcox case,” Hotch told us while our plane was fast approaching Virginia. “That case goes to trial next week and the ADA needs to make sure everything is set.”

Morgan scoffed from his place across from Rossi. “I mean, I feel like it’s a pretty open and shut case anyway, Hotch. She all but admitted to it!” Emily was nodding, not looking up from her book. “Plus, the only work they should need is the profile y/l/n came up with.”

I felt Spencer tense beside me; I placed my hand on his thigh in an attempt to calm him. “It was a pretty solid profile, Morgan,” I said easily.

Morgan’s eyes kept jumping back and forth between me and Reid, a smirk turning his lips up. “I just wanna know, in this little relationship, who is calling who ‘Daddy’?”

I could feel Spencer flush beside me, but I maintained my composure. "I don't think either of us has called the other Daddy, have we, Spence?" I looked over at him, quirking one of my brows. Come on, baby. Don’t take his bait.

My boy cleared his throat. “N-not that I remember.”

I nodded, my gaze never wavering from his. “If you want me to call you daddy, just ask.” I shot him a wink before I turned around to face the rest of the team.

Rossi and Emily looked equally amused, JJ looked horrified, Hotch looked like he had never experienced any sort of human emotion. Morgan looked like it was his birthday. "Na-uh. In Nebraska, you said men have called you daddy.” He pointed his finger at me, then gestured back and forth between Spencer and I. “So, how bout it, Pretty Boy? Have you called y/l/n Daddy?”

I should have learned to never underestimate Spencer Reid.

“She hasn’t asked me to call her daddy, but I would,” he said simply. “She prefers Ma’am, though.”

A choked laugh bubbled out of my mouth a few moments before a roar erupted from the rest of the team.

I was smiling so wide I was worried my face would split in half when I felt Spencer’s fingers lace through mine.

--

I was still laughing when I unlocked the door to my apartment later that night. “I will never forget the look on Morgan’s face for as long as I live.”

My boy chuckled behind me. “I have to admit, I’m pretty proud of that one.” He shut and locked the door after we walked inside, dropping his bag right beside mine. “At least he has stopped asking me if I’m a virgin.”

Turning, I wrapped my arms around his shoulders while his hands settled on my hips. “There isn’t a part of you that’s a virgin, Spencer Reid. I’ve seen to that.” His smile delighted me to my core. “Why did you say ‘ma’am’?”

He laughed softly. “I love Morgan like he’s my brother, but if I heard him call you Miss, I might try to fight him.” I pressed a kiss to my forehead when I laughed. “He’d kick my ass, but I’ve had my ass kicked before.”

I stood on my tiptoes, bringing my lips to his in a soft kiss. “I love you; you know?”

“I had a feeling.”

I scoffed, pulling away. “You’re still a brat.”

He just nodded in acknowledgment. "Can I ask you a question?"

I turned around from my place in front of the fridge, giving him an eye roll. “Shoot, Pretty Boy.”

Spencer fidgeted slightly. “Was that true? What you told Morgan? Has someone called you daddy before?”

"Oh, yeah, once," I confirmed with a laugh. "I mean, sometimes I break during sex scenes because sex is objectively funny. But…to this day, I have never broken out of my dom mode faster.”

Spencer walked into the kitchen, accepting a bottle of water from me. “So, it wasn’t planned?”

I snorted. “No, not at all. I was pegging him, and I said…something, I don’t even remember. But he just moaned out, in this very high-pitched voice, ‘daaaaaaddddyyyy’.” I was laughing in earnest now. “I don’t have a problem with daddy kinks, at all. I wouldn’t even mind if someone wanted to call me daddy. It was just unexpected. And I was still a baby dom. I didn’t know what to expect yet.”

Spencer regarded me thoughtfully. “I’d call you daddy.”

“You would?” I grinned at him while I moved to stand in front of him. “Well, I appreciate that, my love. But, right now, I just want you to call me Miss.”

His breath caught. “N-now?”

I nodded. “If you want. Or, we can wait til tomorrow. But I’m going to fuck you, Dr. Reid.”

I heard the whimper leave his throat. “Can it be now?”

“Needy boy,” I murmured. “Go into my bedroom. Take off all your clothes and kneel by the left side of my bed. You’re not to look at me until I tell you.”

Spencer scrambled to my bedroom, much to my amusement. I took my time putting the water bottles away, thumbing through my mail on the counter.

I wanted him squirming by the time I got in there. I started undoing the buttons of my shirt while I made my way down the hallway, but not before I stopped to get something out of my bag.

Such a good boy, I thought when I saw him. His clothes were put neatly on the chair, his eyes were downcast, his palms resting on his thighs. I made no move to acknowledge him; instead, I went to the chest at the foot of my bed. I could feel the tension radiating off of him, but his eyes stayed on the floor.  

I removed my pants, leaving me in just my bra and panties before I went to stand in front of him. “Look at me, Dr. Reid.”

His eyes moved up my body slowly, and I reveled in the groan I heard. I may have been expecting this, so I wore my favorite underwear set. They were black and lacy; the panties hugged my hips low, and the bra made my tits look fantastic. I reached out to brush my fingers through his hair. “Do you like how I look, Dr. Reid?”

"Yes, Miss."

I tugged on his hair slightly, pulling a whimper from him. “Do you know what I’m going to do to you, Dr. Reid?”

“No Miss,” he muttered, licking his lips.

“First, I’m going to make you lay on my bed while I put my pussy on your face.” My fingers continued to scratch along his scalp. “And if you eat my pussy well enough, I’m going to fuck you. And if you make me cum, then I’m going to have you on your hands and knees for me.”

His eyes were wide, his pupils blown with lust.

“Lay on the center of the bed, Dr. Reid.” He moved so quickly I’m surprised he didn’t fall over.

I got on the bed more leisurely, straddling his stomach before I started to drag my center up his body. Spencer had been hard since the moment he looked at me, but I wanted him to be a desperate, whimpering mess.

“Miss,” he murmured. “Your-your panties are…”

Slap.

“Did I tell you to speak, Dr. Reid?” My hand stung with the force of the impact. “You’re my little fuck toy, do you understand? You only do what I tell you to.” I pinched his face in my hand. “You haven’t earned my pussy. So,” I mumbled, leaning over him, bringing my face above his. “You’re going to use that pretty mouth of yours to lick me through my panties. Assuming you can do that right, and I get wet enough, I might let you really taste me.”

He nodded frantically. “Open.” I spit into his mouth, he swallowed it instantly. “You’re very dirty Dr. Reid.” With that, I brought my body all the way up. My hands gripped the headboard while I lowered my panty covered pussy to his mouth.

His first lick was hesitant, his tongue running over the lace softly. “This isn’t going to get you anywhere Dr. Reid.” I let out a sigh, moving my hips off his face. “Do you want to eat my pussy?”

“More than anything,” he moaned.

“Then fucking act like it.” I lowered over his face again and to my delight, his response was immediate. He sucked the lace into his mouth, wetting it before he released it. His tongue massaged against the fabric, rubbing directly against my clit. I let out a breathy moan. Always the quick study.

My hips were shamelessly rocking against him, I could feel his frustrated groans against my panties. “What’s wrong, Dr. Reid? Do you want something?” Come on nervous boy, beg me.

“Please,” he breathed in a broken plea. “Please let me taste you, Miss. I need it.”

I pretended to consider him for a moment before I moved off of his body. His cock was hard against his pelvis, the head weeping with precum. His fists were balled up at his sides; his entire body was tense. Slowly, I hooked my thumbs in my panties, pulling them down.

“Is this what you want, Dr. Reid?” I said, running my fingers over my drenched lips.

"Yes, Miss. Please.”

Grabbing the headboard, I swung my leg over his head again, bringing my pussy just above his mouth. “Since you asked so nicely.”

No sooner had the words left my mouth than Spencer attacked my pussy. His mouth felt like it was everywhere all at once. I felt his tongue spear into me before it circled my clit. He opened his mouth and covered my entire pussy, sucking softly, causing my hips to buck.

“Fuck,” I moaned, grinding against his mouth. Your mouth is a fucking treasure, baby.

Very reluctantly, I pulled off of him when I felt my orgasm approaching. His head lifted up off of the bed, trying to follow me. I smiled down at him. “As much as I love that pretty mouth, I want to cum all over your cock, Dr. Reid.”

I moved off the bed to the chest again. This time I grabbed 3 different things. I tossed the first two on the bed while I kept the other in my hand. “Do you know what these are, Dr. Reid?”

He nodded, biting his lip.

“Put your arms up.” He put his arms against the bars of my headboard, moaning softly when my handcuffs clicked in place. I moved down his body, pressing a kiss to his mouth, tasting myself on him. “Now, just think about how hard that pretty cock is going to get every time you see those at work.”

Spencer whimpered loudly. “Those are your w-work ones?”

I nodded, grabbing the butt plug and the lube before I settled between his thighs. “That they are, Dr. Reid. And I have to say, they look very nice on you.”

His teeth dug into his bottom lip when I pushed his legs up and apart. “We’ve talked about this, baby,” I reminded him, giving his thigh a sharp slap. “I’m going to have you face down in this bed while I fuck you. Don’t be embarrassed now.”

Once it was coated in lube, I started pressing the plug into him. It was slightly larger than the one we had used previously, and that’s because I wanted to use a bigger cock. I smirked at him when he groaned while I started fucking the plug into him. Pushing inside a bit before pulling back out.

I leaned over, pressing a soft kiss to his inner thigh. My teeth bit down on that skin right when the butt plug was seated inside of him. He let out a strangled moan, his back arching up. ‘Fuck, Miss. Fuck.”

My tongue flicked over the bite mark, soothing the skin. “That’s the plan, Dr. Reid.”

I moved my body over his, lining up my drenched pussy above his cock. My eyes were on his face when I slowly began to lower myself onto him. We’d never had traditional sex while he had a butt plug in; and I was very excited to see how my boy reacted.

My pelvis met his hips when he bottomed out inside me, my hands braced on his chest. “Fuck, baby. You have such a nice cock.” I started to rock against him slowly. “Such a nice cock on my little fuck toy, isn’t that right?”

“Yes Miss,” he breathed out, his eyes shut tight. “Miss, you feel so good. I…I’m close…”

Slap.

“No.” My voice was hard as his eyes snapped open. “Fuck toys like you don’t get to cum until their miss says so, is that clear, Dr. Reid?” I rose up, sliding up and down his cock, my fingers ghosting down my stomach until they found my clit. My other hand tugged the cups of my bra down. “You may have other people out there convinced that you’re not a dirty, needy, little thing. But I know better.”

My fingers sped up against my flesh, my other fingers pinching and rolling my nipple, as I sought out my pleasure.

“You’re nothing but a needy fucking slut, isn’t that right, Dr. Reid?”

His words were strangled, his eyes fixed on my pussy taking his cock. "Yes, Miss. Fuck, Miss.”

“Good boy,” I said softly. “Such a dirty fucking boy. Now, hold still while I cum all over you. Can you do that, Dr. Reid? Can you be my good boy?”

Spencer’s head was thrashing on the pillows when my pussy finally clamped down around him. I threw my head back, my vision going white. “Fuck!” I worked my hips desperately against him, seeking every ounce of my pleasure.

Once I came back down, I collapsed against him, pressing open mouth kisses against him. His teeth caught my lip, tugging me to him while his tongue slicked over my own.

“Such a good boy,” I mumbled against his mouth. I reached out to grab the keys to my cuffs, releasing him. I inspected both of his wrists, kissing the indentations softly. “Now, I want you to turn over for me. Can you do that, Dr. Reid?”

I knew he was still uncomfortable; things were still new to him. It’s always your choice, baby.

My darling boy just nodded. “Yes Miss, I’ll do anything for you.”

And I you, Spencer Reid.

Moving off the bed, I returned to the chest, picking up my harness before I selected the 8-inch dildo attachment. I looked back up on the bed, taking in the mess I had made of Spencer Reid. His ass was in the air, the base of the plug clearly visible. His cock hung heavy between his legs. His fingers were gripping my sheets tightly.

“Normally,” I said, moving behind his hips. “I’d want you to suck my cock before I fucked this tight little ass.” I slowly started to pull the plug out. “But, since you were such a good little toy, I think you’ve earned this.”

Spencer moaned loudly. “Thank you, Miss.”

I couldn’t control my smirk. You’re a natural at this, my darling boy.

Lining my dildo up against his asshole, I slowly started to pitch my hips forward, one hand on his ass, the other at the base of my ‘cock’. “Look at how well you take cock, Dr. Reid. You’re just pulling me in. Such a filthy fucking boy.”

I started a slow rhythm, still not having entered him fully yet. “Fucking- fuck, Miss. Please!”

“Please what, baby?”

He groaned, partially in embarrassment, partially in desperation. "Please fuck my ass, Miss. I need you to fuck me, please.”

“All you have to do is ask, Dr. Reid.” My hips thrust forward, my pelvis meeting his ass. “Such a pretty fucking boy.”

I started to move in and out of him, my eyes fixed on how he was taking the dildo. “It’s a shame that you’ve never had a real cock fuck you, Dr. Reid. You look so fucking pretty like this.” My motions sped up. “But, you’re my pretty boy now.”

When he didn’t respond, I reached out and grabbed his hair, pulling harshly. “Isn’t that right Dr. Reid?”

“Yes, yes, yes, Miss. Fuck. I-I,” his voice was pleading. “Miss, please.”

I kept my grip on his hair, my hips now pounding into him. “Touch your cock for me, pretty boy. Jerk your pretty cock off while I fuck your tight little ass.”

His right hand moved down to fist around himself. His upper body was only supported by his left arm and my hand in his hair. “There’s my good boy,” I praised, keeping my pace up. “I like fucking you like this, Dr. Reid. The only problem is, I can’t be the one to make that nice, pretty cock cum. So, I think tomorrow I’ll have you bounce on my cock again.”

Spencer was moaning loudly now. “Miss, I’m going to cum.”

"Cum for me, Dr. Reid." I pressed a kiss against his back, a moment of gentleness in such a rough, beautiful act.

His face dropped down into my pillow and he screamed. Spencer Reid screamed while I pounded into his ass, his hand jerking his cock quickly, cumming all over my bedsheets.  

He was the most beautiful thing I had ever seen.

I worked myself out of him, still giving a few pumps to help prolong his pleasure. When I was sure he had come down completely, I pressed another kiss to his back. "You did so well, Spencer."

I hopped off the bed, unhooking my harness and hustling to the bathroom. I returned with a wet rag and some ointment for his wrists. Spencer had all but collapsed on the bed.

“You did so, so well, Spencer,” I praised, wiping the lube from him. “Can you turn over for me?”

With a groan, he flipped his body over slowly, his eyes glassy but focused. “Fuck,” he mumbled.

I smiled at him, pulling his wrists into my lap. “I didn’t have the cuffs on tight, but you kept pulling,” I teased.

Spencer just smiled; his expression blissful. “I love you so much.”

His soft words made emotion rise up in my throat. “Not half as much as I love you, Spencer Reid.” I pressed a kiss to his sweaty brow. “Are you okay?”

“Yeah, I feel…I feel fine, it’s not like last time but I-I still feel like I need to be near you.”

“Good,” I said pressing a soft kiss to his lips this time. “Because I always want to be near you.”

I hopped off the bed, reaching my arms for him. “Can you come shower with me? I got you very dirty.”

He chuckled tiredly but let me pull him into the bathroom.

I turned on the shower, waiting for the water to get warm before I got inside, tugging Spencer in after me. We stood under the spray together, arms wrapped around each other for several long moments. He needed to be with me just as much as I needed to be with him.

I almost felt guilty for how happy I was in that moment. How could one person feel this? What have I done to earn having this miraculous man in my life?

“You’re wrong, you know,” my boy mumbled against my hair.

“Beg your pardon?” I said, pulling back to squint at him.

Spencer was smiling at me. Really smiling. His eyes were crinkled at the corners, happiness radiating from him. "You said I didn't love you half as much as you love me. That's simply untrue," his voice was grave, with just a hint of teasing.

I poked his side. “This isn’t a fight you’re gonna win, Doc.” Pulling away from him, I reached for my shampoo. I squirted some into my hands before I passed it to him. “You should just start leaving stuff here,” I said, giggling when he put some of my citrus shampoo into his hand.

“I don’t mind. I like smelling like you.”

My laugh was cut short when I lifted my arms. I hadn’t realized how stiff my shoulder was until I reached up to begin washing my own hair.

“Are you okay?” Spencer asked, having seen the grimace on my face.

“Yeah, Doc. I’m just a little sore.”

Spencer frowned. “Turn around,” he instructed. I obeyed his request with a roll of my eyes, surprised when I felt his fingers on my scalp.

“Are you washing my hair, Spencer Reid?”

He made a noise of affirmation before he reached for the shampoo again. “I’ve never washed anybody else hair before,” he said softly. “Let me know if I mess up.”

My heart squeezed while his fingers massaged my scalp. “Impossible, Doc.” I felt his lips press against the back of my neck a few moments later, signaling that he was done. Once I opened my eyes again after rinsing my hair, I saw my boy’s eyes clouded in sadness while he stared at me.

I didn’t have a chance to ask before he made his thoughts clear. His hand lifted to my chest, his fingers pressing against my collarbone, tracing the shiny new skin of my scar. “The moment you got this was the worst of my entire life,” he whispered, his fingers ghosting over the raised skin. He pulled me to him, engulfing me in a hug that only he could give. “I was so afraid to lose you…but I didn’t think you were ever really mine to begin with.”

I felt tears prick in the corners of my eyes, causing me to hold him to me tighter. “I think I’ve always been yours, Spencer.”

He chuckled, pulling away to look down at my face. “Then why did you make me wait so long to have you?”

“You should have asked me before Nebraska,” I teased.

Spencer’s hands came up to cradle my face, his thumbs brushing over my cheeks. “Now that I have you, I hope you know I’m never letting you go again. I love you.”

“I love you too.” Forever and ever, my darling, nervous boy. You wonderful, wonderful man.

--

Series tag list: @abschaffer2​ @liaabsurd​ @brokenanxiety​ @thisiscalmandits-dr​​ @less-intelligent-spencerreid​​ @reidsmyhusband-emilysmymistress @cielo1984​ @sarcasticsagittarius1998​ @101donuts​ @heyitssarahk @creepingfromthecorners​ @fanfictionislifetho​ @annestine​ @boiled-onionrings​ @gublerspublers @dolanfivsosxox​ @lamusaeuterpe @publiusvirgilius​ @suzystuff @differentkettleoffishalltogether @georgiamae​ @thatsonezesty13​ @addie5264​ @hopefulfangirl24​ @april-14-blog​ @whateverthefuckm8​ @alissablake​

Comment/message me if you’d like to be added.

Taglist for all my writing: @rachelxwayne​ @pinkdiamond1016​ @sickeninglyshoujo​ @justagirllookingforherplace​ @nanocoool​ @andiebeaword​ @imjusthereformggcontent​

[airi-p4]

Perfect asymmetry: Epilogue

Chapter 1 | Chapter 2 | Chapter 3

It’s finished!!! YAY! Thank you if you read this until the end <3

Read on AO3

_________________________

Chapter 4: epilogue

The day it marked Luka and Marinette's 1 year anniversary arrived. "Time sure flies" Luka commented, and Marinette giggled in agreement while feeding him some raspberry ice-cream with her spoon. She missed his mouth on purpose so she could clean his lips with her tongue and he assured she didn't need any excuse to claim him anytime she wished.

It was at that moment when Luka offered Marinette a little present box. Marinette gasped when she saw its contents.

"I finally got an apartment for myself. I want you to have a key too. You can move in with me or not- but I'll be happy to see you there as much as possible"

"Luka I- Oh my God! Thank you so much! I'm so happy!" She jumped to hug him with moved tears in her eyes. "I didn't know you managed to get the money"

"Thanks to my stupid bandmates. How ironic" he shrugged and she giggled.

"Luka-" she kissed him. "Can I see the apartment now? I would love to see it. And maybe check how comfortable our new bed is…" she suggestively kissed his ear.

"Well. I'm also looking forward to finding out…" he smiled, kissing her neck while she laughed.

"Stop being gross and get a room!" Juleka groaned from afar, approaching hand in hand with Rose.

"What a way to ruin the mood…" Luka groaned, and Juleka smiled triumphant.

"You're here to get ice cream too?" Marinette asked.

"Yes. Sweethearts ice cream" Juleka smiled looking at Rose, who smiled back at her before giving her a quick kiss on her lips.

"Wait- what does this mean? Are you two together now?" Luka asked, and the new couple nodded. "It was about time!"

"That's fantastic! Congratulations! I'm so happy for you!" Marinette jumped to hug her friends.

"It's all thanks to you, Marinette," Rose said.

"Me?"

"You were right that day during our sleepover at the Liberty. I wasn't in love with prince Ali. I can't believe it took me so long to realize how I felt about Juleka… Thank you, Marinette"

"No need to thank me. I'm happy to see you so happy together now"

"So Marinette was your cupid and Juleka was ours, huh?" Luka shrugged.

"How is that?" Rose asked, and Juleka urged Luka to shush, but he ignored his sister's warning.

"Juleka was having a hard time because of her body complex. She was crying over how her breasts were asymmetrical in size and how she would never be a model because of that. And look at her now! She has already made it to magazines and commercials!" He teased. "Anyway- I told her how Marinette's breasts were also slightly different and she cheered up. Then she encouraged us to get together" Luka explained.

"Wait- Is this true? Are my breasts different in size? And you knew all this time? This is so embarrassing!" Marinette panicked.

Luka laughed at her reaction. "You know what? I would say it's a perfect asymmetry: while one breast is more sensitive to touch, the other one seems to prefer kisses. Doesn't it make it perfect?"

"Luka!" Marinette punched him in embarrassment.

"What?" He shrugged. "Look at Rose. She seems thrilled to try it out now. For me, you're perfect as you are, Marinette. I wouldn't change anything about you"

"Luka… I- Me neither" she widely smiled. “I love you”

"I love you, too” he kissed her. “So- let's go see that apartment now?"

"With pleasure!" She winked.

It wasn't in their plans to have Juleka and Rose come along, but what was a little sacrifice when they would soon have the apartment everyday all by themselves?

___________________________________________________

As the years passed everything turned to the right direction for the Couffaines at complete: Juleka was a popular model who encouraged girls to keep healthy body types and to be happy with their bodies, remarking how imperfections are part of beauty too. She and her wife Rose created a foundation to fight against eating disorders and lack of nutrition, Rose directing it and getting financial support from prince Ali to help, too, those who couldn't afford any food at all. They married and lived happily together with their daughter.

Anarka decided to tour around the world with her boat and some friends she used to have a band with before when her children left to live on their own. She wanted to become an authentic pirate, bringing music to every harbor the boat stopped at. She always made sure she was there for important events: her children's weddings, her grandchildren being born and all of their birthdays. Her grandkids loved her.

Luka Couffaine lived the happiest life he could ever dream of. He managed to rent a centric apartment in Paris and invited Marinette to move in with him while she was at University. His band with his stupid members became very popular, internationally known, going on world tours from time to time… never long tours because he couldn't bear it to be apart from his dear girlfriend.

When Marinette finished her university studies, Luka proposed to her. She said yes, of course, but asked him to wait until she had her own brand established before getting married. Luka didn't care much about tags: girlfriend, fiance, wife...- he just wanted her to stay by his side forever, so he didn't mind waiting. But the unplanned arrival of their first son made Marinette's plans turn and rushed their marriage (only because it would have been too much for Marinette's grandfather, Roland, to accept her having children before marriage). He changed his job to music teacher at the University while selling his composed tracks to music and television companies.

From then on, their family grew. They had 4 children in total: 1 boy and 3 girls. Marinette conquered the most prestigious fashion shows in the world, becoming one of the most well-known designers and fashion brands of the century. And the couple's children grew up to like both music and designing, ready to take over their parents name's when they grow up.

FIN

[therachelperspective]

FILM | Black Widow [2021, dir. Cate Shortland]

I’ve always had a bit of a soft spot for the character of Black Widow. She was the only female hero – at least in the early days of the MCU’s Avengers films – amongst a sea of men. She kicked ass without super or godly powers, she had a mysterious past before her days with S.H.I.E.L.D. There were a plethora of details that made her interesting. So the fact that it took so long for her receive her own film is blasphemous to begin with. Through the media’s hype before the film’s official release, and the claims made about Black Widow’s place in the MCU, I believe my expectations going into viewing the film were more than they should have been, and that plays a big part in why I am less than pleased with the final result.

Don’t get me wrong, I am still incredibly glad that Black Widow received her own film because you’re damn straight she deserves it, but if you’re going to declare that it will be explaining Budapest, explaining the Red Room and the creation of the Widows, explaining more of Natasha’s past (and if it was not declared as such, it’s still what we as viewers would have wanted after all this time)... Needless to say, I would have preferred an actual origins film instead of whatever this was. It’s placement as a little blip between Civil War and Infinity War, as a “What was Nat up to?” sort of thing, felt ill-placed in the MCU timeline, especially since an epilogue scene puts her amidst the period of Infinity War (as shown with her short blonde hair), and the after-credits scene jumps even further forward in time to post-Endgame. Sure, there were scenes that took place in Budapest during Black Widow, but what happened there previously and any interaction with Clint before she became part of S.H.I.E.L.D. was only briefly (and I mean VERY BRIEFLY) mentioned in a short passing scene. The Red Room and how Natasha became a Widow, still only touched on in mere moments during an opening sequence, nothing more than what we’ve seen in previous Avengers films (i.e. Age of Ultron’s flashback scenes). But her time as part of the KGB? Any interaction with the Winter Soldier? Completely absent. Black Widow, unfortunately, failed in my perspective to do anything other than bring her back together with her old “family” and then, with them, merely going through a bunch of a big budget fight/escape scenes with the bad guys. When I then also read that director Cate Shortland had no experience directing budget action films, I came to the realization that Black Widow did rely a great deal on fantastical visuals to distract from the limited story, and it didn’t even do it that well. Instead of a true glimpse into the past of a most tight-lipped Avenger, we get another bang-bang-shoot-’em-up action movie to add more red to her ledger. Every male Avenger got better story treatment, over a series of films no less, than Natasha in her one and probably only standalone tale. Long story short: sure, they gave Black Widow a film, but they still did her reaaaal dirty.

Despite its incredible shortcomings, I’m still trying hard to like it. I want to like it, and enjoy what I was given. The humor throughout the film, especially from David Harbor’s Alexei Shostakov (a.k.a. the very obvious comedic relief character), was entertaining; Rachel Weisz has not seemed to age at all and it was great to see her amongst the action as mother figure and badass scientist Melina Vostokoff. But we all know the true shining star of Black Widow other than Scarlett Johansson in her final role as Natasha... was that of Florence Pugh as “baby sister” Yelena Belova. Although I was admittedly fond of Florence before seeing Black Widow, she was quite outstanding as Yelena and her chemistry with Scarlett undeniable; I really did like her in this role. It’s really no surprise that they will be/are making way for her and her character to become a bigger part of future MCU entertainment. I’m not complaining there. AND... although I was hoping for more, I also cannot complain about any “easter eggs” or commentary from Black Widow that connect it to the other films, because that’s truthfully my favorite part of the MCU as a whole – the way that everything is so intricately connected. I can’t help but smile when they make references spanning 13+ years; their dedication to that is really what makes them successful.

Was I disappointed? Yes. I won’t lie. Almost every good scene was shown in the trailers (the film itself just providing more context), and I think there was only one twist I didn’t see coming. But so much, even the details from the film itself, were poorly explained, if explained at all. I shouldn’t have had to research or come across information when reading various items on the internet to clarify as many details that I did. I shouldn’t have had to know information from the comics (which I have not read) to fill in some of the blanks. The MCU even claimed that you would not have to watch their shows in order to understand the films, when in actuality the final end-credit scene makes a helluva lot more sense if you had. Granted, I would watch the shows regardless, I just would have liked to know that I should have watched The Falcon and the Winter Soldier and/or Loki first instead of, say, Googling who the heck Valentina Allegra de Fontaine is.

Black Widow, on IMDb alone – I don’t dare venture further out into the Internet for this one – is flooded with poor reviews, and it really does pain me the amount of truth contained in the few I skimmed. Florence Pugh carried the film; Natasha was a sidekick in her own movie; Taskmaster (who I don’t know enough to say anything about here) was ruined... but the thing that bothers me most, as one reviewer stated perfectly, is that this is “the first MCU film I’ve hated, and I’m shook.”

I wouldn’t go all the way to “hate” per se, as I'll always love Marvel and the cinematic universe it has built, but... Me too, buddy. Me too.

[blah-de-blah-de-blah]

Some thoughts now I’ve finished What Happens On Tour

A while ago I read some advice from an author about what to do if your characters go off on their own paths and start to move away from what you’ve planned for them. Her advice? “Well, you must shut them up.”

Yeah, I wish I knew how to do that.

I can’t remember where or when the inspiration for What Happens On Tour came from. There’s a lot in there, including my own thoughts of “hey, if I had some, or any, musical talent I could have been a rock star”, but it’s an idea that developed over time. Two definite inspirations on it were The Law Of Gravitation (a music AU Doctor Who fic that starts about Bill and Heather but then grows to include just about everyone) and Mix The Bourgeoisie And The Rebel (a Pitch Perfect Bechloe fic where they oscillate between together and not together a lot). Anyway, if you liked What Happens On Tour, then you might well like those too.

The basic idea of the story was simple - put them together in the band, then have them wanting to be together but not being able to because of how their previous relationships had messed up and this was their last chance - and in my head it was going to be roughly six or seven parts, around twenty thousand words or so. They’d meet, they’d pine, they’d hook up, they’d both think that the other thought it was a bad idea, they’d try to keep apart but end up hooking up again, repeat a bit and then they finally get together, announce it in public, everyone’s happy, fun little epilogue, the end.

Best laid plans, eh? Even the epilogue’s changed - I started writing the one I’d had in my head since beginning this, and it just didn’t feel right. As another example, in the rough version I had in my head, chapter one was going to end with Clarke and Lexa waking up together hungover on the couch, a point they eventually reached at the end of chapter six.

There’s always a gap between the story in your head and the story you end up writing, and more often than not it’s because the characters you create refuse to jump through the hoops you’re setting up. I ended up writing more about them because I wanted to know more and explore more of them, but the more I did that the more it took them away from the characters who would have been fine for the more light and breezy version of the story that I’d begun with the intention of writing. They were still following my plan, but much more slowly than I expected and building a much deeper connection. This meant that when they finally got together - in chapter twenty of my initial six or seven - the idea that they’d stay apart because of bad communication just didn’t feel right. I’d thought I could get back to something like the original plan, but any time I tried to write an end to the next chapter where they didn’t talk about it just didn’t feel right. They wouldn’t avoid it, and once they actually talked it over in chapter twenty-two, I realised they weren’t going to keep themselves apart and I didn’t want to write a story where I’d contrive some external forces that would somehow keep them apart.

Looking back over some of it and I think the key line for me in realising that the story wasn’t quite what I’d thought it would be was Clarke’s “when it feels so good you’ll wade through rivers of shit to feel like that” in the very first chapter. That line came out and I realised I knew her and what she’d gone through, and it was a lot more than I thought it would be. I could have deleted it, but something light and breezy in there instead, but it wouldn’t have felt honest. Some people might be able to get their characters to shut up. It seems I’m not one of them. This has become the longest thing I’ve ever written, though I have done stuff getting towards the same length, but it’s been the first thing I’ve written that’s completely driven by character and relationships like this. Other stuff has been in the mould of the old pulp writer’s adage: if you don’t know what to do next, have someone walk in the door with a gun. Because this story was about the characters, I tried to avoid that - and there are definitely no guns in this story - by not throwing random events at them. I.ve been learning along the way but I think I’ve generally kept things in some sort of continuity (the one thing that niggles at me is something Raven does in the first chapter that doesn’t quite fit with how she’s described later, which I doubt anyone else has even noticed) and actually developed the characters. There are things I’d do differently if I was writing it again (starting with the title, which would be Teach Me To Let Go Of My Fears) but I’m generally happy with the way it turned out.

That said, there’s been that interesting pressure of knowing people are waiting for the next chapter to keep me going. I’ve got a lot of stories on my hard drive that I’ve started and then “paused” on half way through to go back and fix things which have never been finished. With this, I just had to strap myself in and keep going to the finish, hoping I would work out. And it did!

The one thing I didn’t do which I partly regret, and people have asked about in the comments, is putting any Raven/Anya relationship stuff in there. I had thought about doing it when I started off but never could find the right time to put a focus on them, especially when I was sticking to my rule of only using Clarke and Lexa as the viewpoint characters. Like I said, first time doing a story like this and managing one relationship was tough enough. That said, I’m fully in agreement with the death of the author and I haven’t put anything in there that explicitly contradicts whatever ideas you might have about what they’re doing in the background. And they will definitely be a feature in at least one of the next stories I’m planning.

Octavia and Lincoln was easier because they were together when she came into the story and the increasingly rough plan I had of where this was going had their engagement and wedding as points in the story. Fun fact: in the extended series of hookups version, that conversation with Bellamy at the wedding would have been the key for Clarke realising she wanted more with Lexa. (Asks are open for any other questions you might have about alternatives, or anything else) Overall, I’ve really enjoyed writing this story and it’s been a real light for me in a pretty dark time for all of us. I’m still amazed that so many people have read it, liked it and wanted more of it, so thank you all for following me on this journey. There are definitely more stories to come from me, so watch this space. There might even be some one-shot follow-ups to this in the future - I’m not promising anything, but I have vague ideas floating around, and I might sometime get the inspiration to turn one of them into a full story.

For now, I’m going to split my attention between two projects (and, you know, the rest of my life). I’m going to go back to Running Back To You, which began as a Clexa Week one-shot, but I’ve now got ideas for taking it forward, even if I don’t quite know where it’s going. My idea there is to balance the quite heavy Clexa story there with a lighter one of Raven and Anya (and where they have their own story, not just a pair the spares). The other is much more action-oriented, as it’s the Highlander fusion plot that dropped into my head. I’ve got a plot for it that’s not just rehashing the film, but I need to work some more on the outline before I start to post it, because I need to get the pacing right before the whole thing turns into a mess.

But all that is for the future, and I hope some of you stick around to read them if and when they appear. Until then, thank you all for reading and everything else that kept me going and for the past six months of writing, it’s been a fantastic experience for me, and I hope you enjoyed the ride.

[chiaki-translation]

New Year! Red and White Kakushigei Tournament! Event Translation Ch9-Epilogue

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year everyone! My bf got extra holiday during christmas and I ended up spending more time with him, thus the delayed translation. At least I can still make it before new year~

Anyway, I hope that everyone have a great holiday ahead! Here’s the final part of the new year event, enjoy~

New Year! Kakushigei Tournament Ch1-4 / / Ch5-8 / / Ch9-Epilogue

Disclaimer:

A3! is owned by Liber’s Entertainment

Azuma:

“It’s the season of pure white snow.

Everyone, as per tradition, let us make some snow bunny.”

Hisoka:

“Yeah. Let us offer our prayer, for the weather not to be too heavy.”

Juza:

“Surely, the snow bunny will deliver our thoughts and prayers to heaven.”

Chikage:

“Then, I’ll start gathering snow. Will you help me.”

Banri:

“Yeah, of course.”

Tsuzuru:

“I’m leaving it to you.”

Tenma:

“Let’s make them, so the snow bunny can run under this winter sky.”

<Short Time Skip>

Banri:

“Oi, why are you wandering around our little hut.

Are you here to steal our food.”

Tenma:

“What are you saying.

I’m just trying to shovel the snow on the road back home.”

Banri:

“So suspicious, don’t lie.”

Tenma:

“What the. You too, aren’t you planning something!”

Banri:

“What…! This guy!”

Tenma:

“Bastard…!”

Banri:

“Ugh!”

Tenma:

“Woah!?”

Banri:

“…!”

Chikage:

“What’s this noise about!”

Juza:

“…! The snow bunny’s statue…!”

Azuma:

“What a disaster. The snow statue that offers our prayer is destroyed…”

Tenma:

“It’s not my fault! This guy…!”

Banri:

“No shit, it’s him!”

Hisoka:

“Stop it, the two of you!”

Banri & Tenma:

“…”

<Short Time Skip>

Tsuzuru:

“This is bad, the snow never stops.”

Juza:

“If this continues, what should we do.”

Hisoka:

“It’s, it’s cold…”

Azuma:

“Soon, the crops will be affected too.

The village might not be able to survive…”

Banri:

“Ah, as I thought, the heaven is looking down on us.

I’m sorry for raising suspicion on you.”

Tenma:

“No, me too, I’m sorry.”

Banri:

“Let’s try to fix the snow bunny statue together.

From now on, to be considerate with each other. Let’s offer our oaths and prayers sincerely with a dance.”

Tenma:

“Yeah, let’s do that. Let’s put all our thoughts, and dance.

…”

Banri:

“…”

Azuma:

“Those feelings of yours, I’m sure it will be delivered to the snow bunny.”

Chikage:

“Us too, let’s dance to offer our prayers.”

Juza:

“Yeah. I hope for the snow to subside, for the crops to continue growing, and everyone in the village to prosper.”

Chikage:

“…”

Audience A:

Woah… So beautiful…!

Audience B:

It’s so dignified, it’s wonderful!

Audience C:

The atmosphere around them is so wonderful, I’m so fascinated.

<Short Time Skip>

Director:

Everyone, good work.

The performance and dance were great!

Hisoka:

Thank you.

Banri:

Well, this much is easy.

Tsuzuru:

Eh? Speaking of which, the snow stopped before we realized…

Azuma:

Maybe it’s the power of the dance.

Tenma:

Well, looks like it.

Muku:

Everyone looks so cool!

It’s so wonderful and fascinating.

Homare:

Yeah, what an artistic performance!

I’m overflowing with inspiration.

Guy:

The dance was very elegant. The thoughts and prayers were conveyed properly.

Chikage:

More than anything else, I’m glad that the audience seems to enjoy it.

Priest:

Everyone, thank you so much!

The performance and the dance were wonderful.

Juza:

Thanks.

Tenma:

I’m glad everything went smoothly.

<End of Chapter 9>

Omi:

Next will be the result announcement for the Kakushigei right.

Masumi:

Will the red team win, or is it going to be the white team…

Sakuya:

I’m feeling kinda nervous now.

Kazunari:

Settzer’s tablecloth trick and Chikchon’s miracle magic were wonderful, surely it’s the red team win right!

Banri:

It will be great if that’s the case.

Yuki:

The audiences are pretty excited too.

Priest:

Without further ado, I will announce the result of the Kakushigei tournament.

The winner is… White team!!

Kumon:

Alright---!!

Taichi:

Yeay! It’s the white team win--!!

Priest:

Both teams were wonderful, the voting results were close too, but among them, Citron-san’s belly dance from the white team is very popular.

Citron:

I did it! Everyone gets it~!

Itaru:

Seriously.

Misumi:

That’s too bad.

Chikage:

Well, I guess this kind of thing happens.

Omi:

Well, it’s true that Citron’s belly dance has the impact and it’s pretty interesting too.

Kazunari:

I’m a bit disappointed, but everyone did their best and I was able to see a lot of different performances!

Kumon:

Yup! It was so much fun~!

<Shifts to Bonfire>

Tasuku:

The festival’s going to end soon.

Director:

It’s going to be over before we know it.

Staff:

It’s amazake. Please take one.

Azami:

Hmm, are you giving out amazake.

Taichi:

It screams end of year, it’s great!

Staff:

Everyone, would you like one too? Please take it.

Director:

Woah, thank you so much.

Tsumugi:

It’s warm and delicious.

Sakyo:

Yeah, not bad.

Chikage:

… There you go, Banri. We got some amazake.

Banri:

Thanks.

It’s been a while since I drank amazake with Chikage-san like this.

Good work for the Kakushigei, the performance, and the dance.

Cheers.

Chikage:

Good work. Cheers.

…

Banri:

How does it taste?

Chikage:

Just drink it.

Banri:

… Ugh, it got ginger huh.

But well, it tastes a bit better than what I remember from my childhood.

That time, I could only think of it as disgusting.

Chikage:

Hmm, isn’t is just the thing about growing up.

Banri:

But as I thought, I prefer the sweet one.

…  About my family too, I think I’ll show my face when they’re back from their trip.

Chikage:

That’s great.

Citron:

The two of you, what were you talking about!

Let’s go pull omikuji together!

Banri:

Don’t you pull omikuji at the beginning of the year?

Citron:

Pulling omikuji at the end of the year is also good!

Banri:

There goes the nonsensical stuff again.

Chikage:

Well, it seems that it’s actually fine to pull it at the end of the year.

Citron:

Come on, let’s go~!

Banri:

Fine fine.

Then, let’s go.

Chikage:

Yeah.

<End of Chapter 10>

Epilogue: The fate of the Victor

Citron:

Alright, it’s finally the long-awaited end of year party!

Let’s have fun and get excited today!

Taichi:

Yeay!

There’s also ‘that thing’ that we’ve been looking forward to!

Tenma:

Right.

Kumon:

It’s the highlight of today’s party!

I’m so excited~!

Omi:

Everyone, it’s ready~

It’s the white team’s request, ‘Sukiyaki’.

Muku:

Woah, what a great smell…!

Citron:

It’s the prize of winning the Kakushigei tournament, it’s the winning sukiyaki!

Yeay!

Tsuzuru:

We were deciding what’s good for the main dish for the end of year party, even though it became a draw between crab pot and sukiyaki…

The red group for crab pot and the white group for sukiyaki, it was decided through the Kakushigei tournament in the end.

Azami:

No one who watched the Kakushigei tournament would have thought that it was actually held for this reason.

Tsumugi:

Ahaha, you’re right.

Kazunari:

But the shrine was bustling with people, the audiences seem to have enjoyed themselves too, it’s great wasn’t it!

Director:

Yeah, Mr. Priest seems to be glad too.

Kumon:

Thanks to the gift cards from him, we were able to upgrade the meat for sukiyaki too!

Citron:

Then then, first of all…

Everyone, good work for the Kakushigei performance and the dance!

Congrats to the white team for winning! Cheers!!

Troupe Members:

Cheers!!

Sakuya:

Woah…! The sukiyaki is very delicious!

Juza:

Yeah, it’s great.

Taichi:

It feels different from the usual one! It’s the best!

Homare:

Everyone from white team, congratulations on winning.

Kazunari:

Sukiyaki is lit~!

Banri:

Well, I’m for the crab pot, but I don’t mind as long as I can eat delicious food.

Misumi:

Fuh… fuh…! It’s so delicious~!

Omi:

For Hisoka-san, I’ve prepared a main dish with broiled tofu and vegetables, I’ve put some mochi inside too.

Hisoka:

Thank you, Omi.

Tenma:

Ah, oi! I was about to eat that meat!

Citron:

No no, the faster hand got it

Tsuzuru:

Calm down, we still have a lot coming.

Itaru:

The sake that Azuma-san prepared has a nice fragrant, it suits sukiyaki pretty well.

Azuma:

Fufu, right? I was interested in it, I’m glad I got it in the end.

Sakyo:

This sake is delicious too.

Takato, you should try it as well.

Tasuku:

Thank you, I’ll try some.

Sakuya:

The Kakushigei tournament was so fun.

Guy:

Yeah. I’ve seen the others practicing sometimes, but seeing the real thing properly for the first time is different.

Masumi:

Director, did you enjoy my Kakushigei performance?

Director:

Yeah! Masumi-kun’s pretty good at ventriloquism.

Manager:

I got surprised by a lot of tricks too!

The venue was also an exciting one~!

Yuki:

The dance was fantastic too, it was beautiful.

Muku:

It’s so elegant, I was impressed!

Chikage:

I’m glad everyone enjoyed it.

Juza:

I also learned a lot from it.

Citron:

The tension’s up! By everyone’s request, I will do my belly dance encore~!

♪~♪~♪~

Kazunari:

As I thought, Ronron’s belly dance is the best~!

I also took a video!

Taichi:

Yo, white team’s general! Japan’s MVP~

Misumi:

I’ll dance together too~!

Tenma too, Kumon too, let’s dance~!

Tenma:

Me too!?

Kumon:

Ahaha!

<Short Time Skip>

Director:

Ah, is it time for the go-home group to leave?

Tasuku:

Yeah. Then, I’ll be going.

Omi:

Thank you for your care this year.

Looking forward to next year too.

Director:

Thank you too.

Looking forward to next year with everyone.

Tsuzuru:

Everyone, have a good new year ahead.

Sakuya:

Yeah, have a great new year!

Juza:

We’ll be going too.

Muku:

Yeah!

Kumon:

Ah, Banri! Since Big Brother won’t be here for a while, don’t just eat the snacks he has in his room okay!?

Banri:

There’s no way I’ll eat them!

Juza:

Don’t eat them.

Banri:

I told you there’s nooooooo way!

Itaru:

If you miss everyone, you can play the games I have in the room, senpai.

Chikage:

I will refrain from doing so.

Tsumugi:

Masumi-kun too, have a good new year.

Remember to keep warm.

Masumi:

Yeah.

Homare:

Then, see you next year.

Yuki:

We’re going off.

Kazunari:

We’re going off!

Director:

Have a safe trip!

<Shifts to Balcony>

Banri:

…

Chikage:

Banri.

Banri:

Oh, Chikage-san.

Chikage:

You’re reading the script for your new year performance huh.

Good work.

Here, I brought some new year soba.

Banri:

Thanks.

… Eh, this is a curry soba isn’t it?

Chikage:

It’s the director’s hope.

Banri:

Right, I remember she said something about arranging them.

It is indeed a very strange new year soba.

*phone vibrates*

Hmm?

It’s from Big Sister.

… Eh, she took the time to send pictures from Hawaii.

Look, there.

Chikage:

Hmm… Your Big Sister looks just like you.

Banri:

Geez, that’s so random.

Don’t just send me this kind of thing every time.

Chikage:

Well well. She might be worried about her lone Little Brother that she left in Japan.

Banri too, why don’t you try to send her a picture?

Banri:

I don’t have any picture…

Then, why don’t Chikage-san take a picture together with me?

Chikage:

Me?

Banri:

With that reasoning, she won’t be worried anymore if I take a picture with someone else right.

Misumi:

Ah! There you are~!

Sakuya:

Banri-kun, Chikage-san!

Banri:

Hmm?

Citron:

We will be starting the new year countdown soon.

Banri and Chikage too, let’s do it together!

Banri:

Ah, it’s already that timing huh.

Chikage:

… Anyway, it’s not only me who’s here, why not take a picture together with everyone?

Banri:

… You’re right, this kind of new year’s eve is rare.

Misumi:

The two of you, quick~!

Banri:

Then, should we go.

Chikage:

Right.

<End of  Epilogue>

[zerochanges]

2020 Favorite Video Games

I don’t know if I am an outlier or if this is the same for everyone else but I really did not play a lot of games this year. 2020 was a very harsh year for all of us, especially for me for some personal reasons. So to get to the chase, I am just gonna say it left me not doing much in what little free time I did have, and I didn’t play much either. Usually I try to keep my lists for ‘favorite of the year’ to only titles released that year but since I played so little this year, screw it. I am gonna include any game I played this year regardless of release date.

Collection of SaGa

By far a flawed rerelease. It’s bare bones: there are no advance features you would usually expect out of these kinds of emulated rereleases like save states, fast forward, or rewind, and there was no real effort made to touch up almost 30 year old localizations that had to meet Nintendo of America’s then harsh standards. This really is just 3 roms slapped into a nice looking interface with an option to increase the game speed (which by the way you better use, the characters walk very slow in these old games). 

I am bit harsh here, but only because I thought the Romancing SaGa remasters and the upcoming SaGa Frontier remaster all looked like they got a great budget and a lot of love while this is just another Collection of Mana situation (moreso specifically talking about Seiken Densetsu 1/Final Fantasy Adventure/Adventures of Mana part of that collection). I would have loved to see Square Enix do a bit more for these older games. Or at least include the remakes. Seiken Densetsu 1 had two great remakes, both unused in Collection of Mana, and all three of these original SaGa titles have remakes that have never seen the light of day outside of Japan. How great would it have been to get the Wonderswan remake of SaGa 1, as well as the Nintendo DS remakes of Saga 2 and SaGa 3? 

But my gripes aside, these games are still fun as they ever were. Replaying SaGa 1 specifically during the holiday season really helped calm me down and made me feel at ease. It’s easy to forget but even in their Gameboy roots there are a lot of funky and weird experimental choices being made in these games. They aren’t your run-of-the-mil dragon quest (or considering the gameboy, maybe pokemon would be more apt) clones. 

Raging Loop

Perhaps my favorite game of the year, Raging Loop is one of the best visual novels I have ever played hands down. The level of creativity and splitting story paths that went into it is simply mind blowing. The basic premise is both a wonderful throwback to the old days of Chunsoft sound novels while still modern and somewhat reminiscent of both Higurashi and Danganronpa. Essentially you play as Haruaki, a poor slub that got lost in the mountains with no clue where to go until you stumble upon an old rural village with a strange history and even stranger superstitions. Before you know it there has been a murder and the Feast is now afoot.

The less said about Raging Loop the better, although I do want to say a lot about it one day if I ever can write a proper review of it. This is a gripping game that will take hold of you once you get into it though and never let go. I actually 100%-ed this and I very rarely do that. I got every ending, every bonus hidden ending, played the entire game twice to hear all the hidden details it purposely hides on your first play through, played all the bonus epilogue chapters, unlocked all the hidden voice actor interviews, collected all the art work, etc, etc. I was just obsessed with this game, it’s that damn good! And the main character is maybe the best troll in all of video games, god bless Haruaki. 

Root Double

From Takumi Nakazawa, long time contributor to Kotaro Uchikoshi’s work comes a game any fan of Zero Escape or Uchikoshi in general will probably enjoy. Root Double, like its name suggests is a visual novel with two different routes, hence Root Double. The first route stars Watase Kasasagi, the leader of an elite rescue team in the midst of their greatest crisis yet that could lead to nuclear devastation as they try to evacuate a nuclear research facility that has gone awry. 

The other route stars Natsuhiko Tenkawa, an everyday high schooler whose peaceful life is thrown into turmoil when he stumbles upon a terrorist plot to destroy the nuclear facility in the city and his attempts to stop them. Together the two separate plots weave into one and creates a really crazy ride. Part Chernobyl, part science fiction, any fan of the genre will easily enjoy it. And hey it’s kind of relevant to include on this list too since it just got a Switch port this year (I played it on steam though).  

Snack World

I was shocked upon starting Snack World as it is instantly incredibly charming, witty, and downright hilarious at times yet I heard almost zero people talk about it. EVER. This game is Dragon Quest levels of quirky though, and the localization is incredible. The game has such an oddball sense of humor that works really well with its presentation right down to the anime opening video that sings about the most bizarre things. Instead of the usual pump up song about the cool adventure ahead we get stuff like wanting to go out to a restaurant and eat pork chops. 

The self aware/fourth wall breaking humor is just enough to be really funny, but doesn't overstay its welcome and always makes it work right in the context of the dialogue. And finally, just everything; with the menus, the name of side quests and missions, and the character dialogue -- are all just so witty and full of quirky humor. This is one hell of a charming and funny game and addictive to boot.

Trials of Mana

Trials of Mana has gone from one of those legendary unlocalized games, to one of the first major breakthroughs in fan translation, to finally getting an official English release complete with a fully 3D remake. In a lot of ways from a western perspective this game has had an incredible journey. As for this remake itself, I really found myself having tons of fun with it. I loved the graphics, and the voice acting while a bit on the cheaper side almost kind of adds to the charm since both the graphics and acting really give it an old PS2 vibe. I know that is probably just more me being weird but yeah, I had to say it. 

I really hope Square Enix sticks to this style of remake more often, instead of just doing Final Fantasy VII Remakes that break the bank and involve extensive tweaking to both plot and game play. I’ll take smaller budget projects that play more like the original game any day personally. I wouldn’t mind if they also deliver a brand new Mana game all together in this engine either. 

Utawarerumono Trilogy

This year saw the release of the first entry in the series, Utawarerumono: Prelude to the Fallen--and thus finally after three years since the sequels Utawarerumono: Mask of Deception and Utawarerumono: Mask of Truth came out in 2017 the trilogy is now complete in English. I ended up binging through Prelude to the Fallen very fast shortly after it came out and immediately jumped on to the sequels. Perhaps the best part of 2020 was that I finally played all three of these fantastic games, and did so back-to-back-to-back. Playing the first Utawarerumono was an experience I will never forget, it was like visiting old friends again that I haven’t seen in ages, by and large thanks to the fact that I saw the anime adaption of the game when I was much younger, nearly a decade ago. Back then I would have never of dreamed that I would get to play the actual game and get the real experience. 

And it only got better from here, as all three games are such wonderful experiences from start to finish. The stories are all so deep, and by the time you get to the third entry, Mask of Truth, it’s crazy to see how they all connected over so many years and weaved together into a plot much bigger than they ever were. What carries it beyond all that though has to be the fun and addicting strategy role playing game aspect, which while a bit on the easy side, is still so much fun and helps make the game feel better paced since you get to play the conquests your characters go on and not just read about all the battles they fight. Beyond that the games are packed full of awesome characters, and I know I’ll never forget the amazing leads in all of them. Hakuowlo, Haku, and Oshtor will all go down as some of the greats to me. 

Ys: Memories of Celceta

Ys: Memories of Celceta is a full 3D remake of Ys IV, a rather infamous game in Falcom’s Ys series. Not to get bogged down too much into the history of Falcom but by this point they were facing a lot of hardship and had to outsource this entry to other developers, and thus passed it on to two particular developers they had a business relationship with, creating two unique versions of Ys IV. Tonkin House who had worked on Super Famicom port of Ys III with Falcom ended up creating their own YS IV entry, Mask of the Sun for the very same system, where Hudson soft who had produced the much beloved Ys Books I & II remakes for the Turbografix (PC Engine) CD add-on created their own Ys IV entry Dawn of Ys for that console. Both games followed guidelines and ideas outlined from Falcom themselves but both radically diverged from each other and turned into completely different games. 

Falcom finally putting an end to this debate on which version of Ys IV you should play have gone and created their own definitive Ys IV in 2012 for the Playstation Vita. I played the 2020 remastered version of this remake on my PS4. I even bought this on the Vita when it first came out but I am horrible and only horde games, never play them. So it was a lot of fun to finally play this. 

Memories of Celceta is probably one of the best starting points for anyone looking to get into Ys, especially if you only want to stay with the 3D titles as out of all the 3D entries this explains the most about the world and series protagonist Adol Christian. Beyond that it’s just another fantastic entry in a wonderful series that has a few good twists hidden behind it, especially for long time fans of the series. 

Random Video Game Console Stuff

Xbox Has Blue Dragon: I actually got an Xbox One this year for free from my brother. Because of that I started to play Blue Dragon again and there’s a lot I would love to say about this game. I don’t know if I am fully committed to replaying it all the way through however but I find myself putting in a couple hours every few days and enjoying myself again. Does anyone else remember Blue Dragon? I feel like it really missed its audience and had it come out nowadays and probably for the Switch it would have really resonated with the Dragon Quest fandom a lot more instead of being thrown out to die on Xbox and constantly compared to Final Fantasy VII and the like which it had nothing at all similar with. 

The Turbografx 16 Mini: This was probably one of the best mini consoles that have come out and I feel like thanks to the whole 2020 pandemic thing it was largely forgotten about. That’s a shame, it has a wonderful variety of great games, especially if you count the Japanese ones (god I wish I could play the Japanese version of Snatcher included), and a wonderful interface with fantastic music. One of these days I would really like to be able to play around with the console more seriously than I have already. 

Fire Emblem Shadow Dragon Never Existed: So Nintendo localized the first ever Fire Emblem game on Nintendo Switch which is awesome to see them touching Famicom games again--I haven’t seen Nintendo of America rerelease old Famicom titles since Mysterious Murasame Castle on the 3DS, but their trailer hilariously made it seem like this is the first time ever they released Fire Emblem when in fact they had already localized the remake Shadow Dragon on the Nintendo DS nearly 10 or 11 years ago. I and many other fans I talked to all found this really hilarious, probably solely because of how much they kept repeating the fact that this is the first time you will ever be able to experience Marth’s story.

All that aside though I have to say the collector edition for this newly localized Famicom game is probably the most gorgeous retro reproduction I have seen in a long time, and I really spent many many hours just staring at the all clear glass mock cartridge. I have found myself really obsessing over retro reproductions during 2020, and obtained quite a few this year. I really hope this trend continues to go on in 2021 as recreating classic console packaging and cartridges is a lot of fun.