#felix's escapade is formative but

[blujayonthewing]

Heartbreak, midnight, mistake for Mel if they haven’t been asked and actually can you dow them for Felix too, cause why not.

heartbreak: Have they ever had a relationship that ended badly? Experienced some other kind of heartbreak? What happened?

biting my fist I wish I had better answers for this because I love this question. The problem with both felix and mel is that they are in their 50s and 60s respectively, which isn't very many for a gnome but is still just A Lot Of Years for me, an idiot, to fill with life experiences and I've mostly been really bad about doing that kfgjhdgj.

Melliwyk has always been really bad at relationships in general; she's dated a little, mostly very casually, but especially once she was in the academy she fell pretty hard into 'yes yes yes I'll go socialize when I'm done working on this' chaining one project into the next ad infinitum, especially after the experiment backfire explosion that gave her a reputation as this sort of ruthless researcher and resulted in kind of a feedback loop of people assuming she preferred to be left alone, which meant fewer people bugging her into socializing once in awhile, which reinforced her perception as a loner, etc. I think she's been in at least a handful of relationships with people she really liked that could have been serious but just... sort of fell apart; more regrets than outright heartbreaks.

Honestly as of current canon, I think the worst outright heartbreak Mel's had that I know of was being attacked by, and then losing, her house's ghost as soon as she found out he was real the whole time; aside from Baxter, he was her only friend for years and years, even if only an 'imaginary' one, and it was a gut punch to, essentially, finally find him but then immediately lose him forever.

Felix has even less canon backstory I could tell you about right now, alas :') He's been in very few meaningful relationships; he's not good at putting himself out there, and having a brief encounter with a stranger is a lot easier to navigate than... well, someone else being disappointed with the way he is as a whole person. To be fair, I don't think he's been openly rejected a lot, but the way he sort of expects it shapes his behavior such that it makes it harder for others to get that close to him in the first place. I can very much see him having had his heart broken before, but I'd have to get back to you on specifics ^^; These days he mostly keeps to himself; he likes people, but it's easier for him to be around them than to be one of them.

I am incapable of brevity! The rest under the cut!

midnight: What keeps your OC up at night? Do they have nightmares? Fears? Anxieties? What do they do in the small hours of the morning when they should be sleeping?

Melliwyk is up working. She'd be up working anyway, but especially if she's upset-- working tirelessly, if not relentlessly. She's not good with emotions; she processes things by keeping busy, either looking for Solutions or just looking to throw herself into something productive rather than having to feel her feelings. This is overlapping really neatly with her current major source of stress, which is that everything she's working on is deeply important, and anything she neglects in order to work on those things is also deeply important, and other people are getting hurt and will continue to get hurt if she can't prioritize tasks correctly or do enough quickly enough and well enough. She doesn't have time for fears! Or anxieties! Or sleep! Or dinner! And it's great! After all, she loves her work! She's interested! Passionate! No downsides!! She doesn't have nightmares because the reason she wears that goofy hat at all times is literally to magically prevent nightmares, but I bet if she slept without it her nightmares would be real interesting right now :)

The facetious answer for Felix is: his sleep schedule is sort of unusual, so when he's up in the small hours it's normal and he's getting up to whatever his normal gnome business is, lol. But in the proper spirit of the question:

He lost a lot of sleep after the mysterious encounter that took a chunk of his memory and left a strange mark on his skin. In general, Felix is not immune to getting too invested in [area of interest] and staying up way too late, so he's certainly lost sleep working on/ thinking over really interesting mysteries before, but that situation has so many unknowns, has so many worrying or grim implications, has given him so much to think about and yet so little to actually work with...! The fact that he can't remember getting back to town is what upsets him the most. He's found himself (or put himself) in a lot of really dangerous situations, but he's always had control of his own mind and body before, even when he's been physically overpowered by others.

More generally, sometimes he'll learn something or uncover some secret that he ends up losing sleep over, especially if it's information about something bad that he doesn't feel like he can actually act on. The city he spends most of his time in is less-than-secretly controlled by a powerful criminal guild, so he has to maintain a really delicate balance between snooping around a lot just because that's what interests him anyway, helping others as much as he can, but also staying out of the way of the guild and the law enough that the worst either of them do is, you know, beat him up a little and/or throw him in jail for a couple days, rather than deciding it'd be better if he Just Disappeared.

If he's worried or anxious and can't sleep over it, he'll generally go for a walk, or go sit on a roof for awhile, or sit somewhere and draw if the weather's bad. He doesn't have a lot of nightmares, but when he does they're often about being trapped somewhere and being unable to call for help, or seeing people pass by who can't seem to see or hear him (all of which he stubbornly refuses to read into).

mistake: What’s the worst mistake your OC ever made? What led to them making it? Have they been able to fix it? How have they moved on?

A little while back, Melliwyk's party returned from a ground excursion to find our airship under attack by a powerful archmage, her personal bodyguard, a bunch of summoned fiends, and a crew of elite soldiers; as soon as she managed to get back on deck Melliwyk launched a fireball at the archmage and then moved toward the cabin looking to get cover inside, and the archmage returned with a massive flamestrike right on top of Mel, who... had just run directly to where most of the crew of the ship were, all of whom had already taken damage before we got there. Our first mate went down, and we managed to get him just inside the door to the stairs leading belowdecks, but before any healers could reach him a previously invisible imp stung him, killing him instantly, right at Melliwyk's feet.

And the thing is. Maybe it wouldn't have mattered whether she, personally, drew fire to him; he had already been pretty hurt, and it was a rough battle for everyone, and there's no reason to believe the archmage still wouldn't have dropped a big AOE on half the ship. And maybe it's perfectly reasonable that Melliwyk, a wizard, a transmutation wizard, didn't try to use her entire action in the middle of a pitched battle to try to stabilize him when there were no obvious enemies nearby, and an actual healer was literally feet away, running to help him. Maybe. But she can only think that it was so, so stupid of her, that if she'd just thought for one second, for once-- ... anyway. The next week or so were all 'Mel doesn't leave her room or speak to anyone' days. Working. Relentlessly. She'd already been working on figuring out a method to use her newly-learned insights into artificing to cast spells, but the first spells she actually programmed into the device she was working on were spare the dying, cure wounds, and revivify.

Felix bit off more than he could chew; he was following the trail of some weird rumors in a smaller town, hoping to find a connection to a string of recent petty thefts he'd been looking into, but he underestimated what kind of people he was dealing with-- both in terms of skills, and of how serious their operation actually was. He got caught pretty deep into their base of operations, way too deep for any attempt at plausible deniability, and after beating the shit out of him they opted to just tie him up and leave him in an abandoned and mostly blocked-off sewer passage to die, rather than kill him outright. He only escaped by convincing the rats to chew through the ropes, quickly made his way out of the city by staying belowground for as long as possible, and has never been back since-- there's a chance they forgot about him immediately, but there's also a very good chance that they'd be really upset if that guy who Knows Too Much is still just running around like a dangerous loose thread.

It was just-- well, maybe not cockiness, he's not exactly the cocky type, but certainly carelessness. He got sloppy, over-interested and under-cautious; he hadn't really expected to be dealing with people who'd be able to catch him so easily, much less that he'd be in any serious danger if they did. He was expecting, like, a gang of teenagers at worst-- not not a threat, but people he could maybe stand up to in a fight, or wriggle free from pretty easily, or who at the very least wouldn't try to fucking kill him. This would have been fairly early in his career (so to speak) of trying to tail people and break into places for actual, like, private investigation reasons rather than pure curiosity, so he didn't have a good handle on the risks, or the stakes; he's (usually) a lot more careful nowadays, although sometimes he still can't resist pushing his luck.

ask about my OCs?

[therhythmafterthesummer]

hi baby rhythm <3 how are you angel???

i had an idea… Princess reader and king chan going to their lakeside den with her pups for day offs. She wears long white linen gowns,that make it easier for her to feed them pups + pup dad, carries a journal to write little excerpts about herself, family and love. And she wears much less gold because she doesnt want to draw too much attention to herself. Her hair is down and her pups are free to roam this place in the forest. We know chris has many wolves guarding this space, for his family’s securty. Hes usually in his human form here, sometimes shifting to relax on the grassbed. But in his human form he wears a loose shirt and some brown pants lookin like a little poet.

He takes his queen here to unwind from responsibilities, and a lot of times when she needs to be stress free during her numerous pregnancies.

Cos the pups sleep in different rooms, and durinf summer the heat is scorching so princess and her king sleep naked. Usually ends up in another breast play or feeding session or cockwarming. MINIMALLY! They try out numerous tried and true methods! From riding to missionary, to 69.

Sometimes his cum trails throughout her gown cos her pussy was overfilled w his nut

Something ab princess being a free woman in a shielded community makes chris’s heart swell

AND THE PUPS they draw they make jewelry out of stems and leaves, they swim w their parents, they learn play hunting.

- 🐧

i love how this is kind of like a wholesome and horny burger dfskjhdfskjhjd

it's really cute to think of the family all going to a safe place to unwind 🥺 looking all normal, like they're not the royal family of the forest.

little felix and baby princess making flower crowns for mama and papa... little seungmin and little jeongin running around, wrestling with his dad... such a peaceful and lovely image

now.... for the nsfw Thoughts.....

unrelated, but do you think king chris sometimes takes the queen to his study, asks her to sit on his cock and warm him up while he goes through all sorts of paper work or whatever the king of the forest is supposed to be doing in there??? how would she last there, unmoving, trying to distract herself with her own work as if her husband's monster cock isn't stretching her open to her limits???

anyway, back to the family escapade...

i can see chris leaving the pups with an attendant for a couple of hours every day... just so he can enjoy his precious queen without interruptions. there's just something about seeing her all relaxed, barely even dressed, being an amazing mother to their pups, that just makes him want to stuff her full over and over again

he can't help it, he just needs to, and i'm sure she won't have any complaints

some nights they all snuggle together in a cuddle pile, being the lovely family that they are, but other nights, they'll have the pups sleep in a separate room, because fucking once in the morning just isn't enough. there's nothing quite as nice for our dearest queen reader than to fall asleep with her husband's cock inside of her after having had him play with her tits for hours. he was always so warm and hard and how could she not enjoy it???

anyway i'm super sleepy and i'm rambling skjdfsjkdf love you, penguin

[traveldmconline]

Wings of Time Singapore: A Spectacular Nighttime Show

Quoted in the middle of Sentosa, Singapore, the Wings of Time exhibition offers a stunning open-air nighttime showcase. It will be a great escapade for spectators of all ages. This award-winning production combines a fascinating storyline, stunning special effects, cool musical compositions, and cutting-edge technology. The result is anyone’s perfect night out under the twinkling stars. Travelers can look forward to this very ‘special brownie’ for their Singapore mysterious heritage at the Travel DMC Online with no unnecessary stress, but the sense of being here and now.

The Setting

The destination we are talking about, Sentosa, is world-renowned for its numerous facilities. This is where Wings of Time takes place. In the production the play runs in an open-air theatre located on the front lines of the sea, constructing a harmonious connection between the audiences and the entire natural surroundings. Visitors using Travel DMC Online to make their visit to Sentosa easier will find the island a convenient tourist destination to include in any tour itinerary.

The Experience

Wings of Time is a show on a higher level. From the moment you step on the stage, you will be carried along with the magic of time and space. Tourists can contact Travel DMC Online to book their place in the show that is centered on Shabaz, the mythical-like bird, and his friends, Rachel and Felix, who by their side have a journey through historical events and wonderful scenery. This interpretation will go down well with both children and adults by choice of the audience.

Visual and Special Effects

While many others give a rich visual and special effects treat. It is the edge that gives WIngs of Time part. They put the effect of water screens, gunpowder, laser projections, and gigantic fireworks to use to visualize the numerous detailed and incredible images and sequences. These elements accompany and feeble the saga. They provide the indispensable joy of tale-telling and pleasing the sensual receptors. Travel DMC Online helps to unreservedly organize VIP seating. Which is the best spot for visitors to enjoy the unparalleled nature of this fort’s naturally occurring effects.

Music and Choreography

The realistic trauma that the musical OD charters very well corresponds with the development of the plot and the tempo. Through the adoption of a mix between orchestral and modern patterns of sound. They form a warm atmosphere as well as coordinate dance movements. A warm atmosphere as well as dance movements with coordination is formed. Which then becomes together an appealing part of the motion picture.

Why Visit Wings of Time with Travel DMC Online?

Uniqueness

The experiments created by Wings of Time by using modern technology as well as nature have no equivalence to anything else. Tourists here and the booked lodging through Travel DMC Online make it effortless as they get transportation to the best seats in the house.

Accessibility

Placed in the vicinity of Sentosa, the program is convenient to reach by trains, buses as well as vehicles, and also people can walk there from mainland Singapore. Easy Add-on a visit to Travel DMC Online and we are going to take the foundation of all the logistical dealings about your visit so that addition is an easy part of your travel itinerary.

Family-Friendly

Created the right choice for families to be entertained. Wings of Time is an ideal option for family entertainment. Travel DMC Online can develop the script with a focus on family packages. to make the storylines not only interesting but also the scenery that is in the background is breathtaking for everyone.

Planning Your Visit

Wings of Time is designed to be staggered. Ensuring that visitors have enough options to choose the time slot that best suits them in a day. Reservation through Travel DMC Online should be done well in advance. It is most desirable around the most popular vacation seasons. Moreover. We advise them to arrive early and leave at least 1-2 hours to ensure the best seats and the time to see everything that Sentosa has to offer with the best vibe.

FAQs

How can I book tickets for Wings of Time?

You can book the Wings of Time show and all travel services initially on online sites like Travel DMC. You may wonder – is booking tour packages through an online travel DMC more beneficial than the traditional way? Technically, making online purchases makes us awarded with a bundle package, preferred seating, and sometimes, discounted rates from selected vendors.

Is Wings of Time suitable for children?

Absolutely! The creators designed Wings of Time as a family-friendly show that captivates audiences of all ages with its engaging storyline, mesmerizing visual effects, and enchanting music.

Conclusion

Wings of Time is an awe-inspiring experience to delivers you to a magical realm. Book your visit through Travel DMC Online to make certain a memorable night. Immerse yourself inside the mesmerizing display on the way to go away an unforgettable mark on your coronary heart. Whether you’re a neighborhood seeking a great night time out or a traveler marveling at Sentosa’s wonders, Travel DMC Online will facilitate an outstanding and unforgettable Wings of Time revel in, presenting convenience and know-how at some point.

[guidetothemysticunknown]

Starlight Bonds

Orion hesitates for a moment, his eyes flitting to Winter before he offers a slow nod, curious about this unexpected invitation.

With a bright smile, Winter reassures him, "It's gonna be super fun, Orion!" Asuka chimes in, ushering them to leave. "Alright, kiddos, come on, we're gonna head off."

Felix seizes the opportunity to introduce Orion to the unique quest that awaits. "We've got a buddy who may help us find his parents," he explains, a sense of purpose guiding their actions.

Their journey begins, with Winter by Orion's side and the others in tow. As they traverse the vibrant town, Winter enthusiastically collects treats and gifts, her infectious excitement spreading to Orion. The curious child gazes around, wide-eyed, soaking in the new experiences.

Upon reaching the gate, the atmosphere changes, drawing Orion's attention. Felix initiates a portal, and with a mesmerizing blue flash, they arrive in a secluded paradise—a cabin amidst towering trees and the soothing sound of the ocean.

Orion marvels at the sight before him, his heart swelling with awe. He watches as the group engages in discussions, offering him a glimpse into their dynamics. Winter's bubbly nature, Aspen's determination, and Ksetra's fiery presence create a tapestry of personalities.

As dinner approaches, Winter's infectious energy remains uncontainable. She hands Orion a basket of goodies, her kindness filling his heart with warmth. Orion finds himself drawn to Winter, a sense of kinship forming between them.

Inside the cabin, Orion's curiosity intensifies as he observes the interplay among the Aridams. Atlas and Lemon, in the midst of their banter, remind him of a makeshift family. Plague, perched on Felix's shoulder, adds to the lively scene.

With dinner served, Orion finds himself amidst an atmosphere of acceptance, basking in the camaraderie he's yearned for. Winter's playful banter and Winter's quiet charm gradually ease his awkwardness. They share stories, laughter filling the room.

Afterward, Winter invites Orion to explore the wonders of the house. The sight of exotic creatures and Lemon's eccentricities captivate him. As he gazes at the array of unique companions, a sense of belonging blossoms within him.

Orion's interactions with Winter reveal a deep yearning for connection and family. He finds himself drawn to her boundless energy and candidness. The bond between them grows stronger, marked by shared laughter and heartfelt conversations.

In the midst of their first of many lively dinner conversations, Winter's boundless energy takes center stage. She excitedly recounts their recent adventures, drawing Orion into her captivating tales.

"Did I tell you about the time we faced that giant sandworm?" Winter exclaims, her eyes sparkling with enthusiasm.

Orion leans forward, suddenly excited. "No! please do share!”

With animated gestures, Winter dives into the tale, vividly describing the harrowing encounter with the monstrous sandworm. "And then, just as it lunged at us, Dad used his incredible powers to create this massive sandstorm! It was like something out of a epic tale."

Orion's eyes widen in amazement, a genuine smile playing on his lips. "That sounds incredible! You all must be really brave to face such dangers."

Felix chuckles, his voice tinged with humility. "Well, we've had our fair share of challenges, but facing them together makes all the difference."

As the evening unfolds, their conversation drifts from daring escapades to lighthearted anecdotes. Stories of unexpected encounters, mishaps, and moments of triumph fill the air, weaving a tapestry of shared experiences.

Orion, despite his initial awkwardness, finds himself laughing along with the group. Winter's infectious laughter is particularly contagious, and he soon joins in with genuine mirth.

Amidst the tales and laughter, Aspen shares a heartwarming story of a past adventure. "You know, there was this one time when we stumbled upon an ancient library hidden deep in the mountains," she begins, her eyes twinkling with nostalgia.

Orion leans in, captivated by the story. "An ancient library? What did you find there?"

Aspen's gaze takes on a dreamy quality. "It was filled with scrolls and tomes containing knowledge that had been lost to time. We spent hours unraveling the mysteries of forgotten civilizations."

Orion's imagination is ignited, and he can't help but ask, "What was the most cool thing you discovered?"

Felix chimes in, his voice tinged with wonder. "We uncovered an ancient prophecy that seemed to hint at the existence of a hidden realm beyond our own. It was like a puzzle waiting to be solved."

Orion's eyes gleam with intrigue, his curiosity piqued. "A hidden realm? That sounds fake.”

Asuka chuckles softly. "Well, sometimes reality can be just as extraordinary as myths, especially in our line of work."

The conversation continues to flow, each member of the group sharing their unique perspectives and stories. With each passing moment, Orion feels a deeper connection forming between himself and the Aridams.

As dinner draws to a close, Orion reflects on the day's events. He's discovered not only a newfound family but also a sense of belonging and purpose he had never imagined possible. Winter's invitation to explore the sanctuary with her lingers in his mind, promising more adventures and heartwarming moments to come.

And so, as the night unfolds and laughter echoes through the cabin, Orion's heart swells with gratitude. He's found a place where he truly belongs, surrounded by friends who accept him for who he is, quirks and all.

[hanjisungs-bigtittyg0thgf]

Keep calling me that

idk how exactly to write the pairing for this one cause the whole dynamic a lil fucked up but like...switch!fem reader, dom!changbin, dom!minho, switch!jisung

Content warnings: mentions of mc’s sex life with chan and hyunjin, mc’s best friend is involved, jisung has a humiliation kink, names (princess, baby girl/boy, good boy/girl, babydoll, baby, sweetheart), hair pulling, oral (f receiving), unprotected sex, double penetration (why do i write this as if it’s something i’m into), dacryphilia, overstimulation, exhibitionism, jisung makes you wear his shirt at the end. 

Summary: jisung is sick and tired of you flirting with his friends without offering to include him.

Word count: 7833

A/N: idk what’s wrong with me but have this. i’ll release the second part soon. as always, consider giving me a follow here and on my main (and maybe turn on those notifications to know when i post!). submit hard thoughts here, i would love to discuss it. also, i started a ko-fi! i do take commissions and i’d be thrilled to do some work for you!

Tags: @hyuckilstan​ @sxnshineskzx​

Smut below the cut

Being best friends with an idol group was always interesting. They were some of the sweetest men you’d ever met but you got to see a different side of them. The side that the public didn’t see. These bitches were always horny and making nasty jokes. It was easy to throw those jokes right back considering half of them were about you and the things you’d done with them.

To be clear, you hadn’t slept with all of them, but the ones you had slept with liked to hold it over you as if you couldn’t just get on your knees and make them melt at the thought of getting to fuck your face. No, you’d slept with most of them but not all of them. You were afraid to defile someone so pure like Jisung or Felix. You’d thought about it, for sure, but you didn’t think you could ever act on it unless they begged and pleaded for a long time. And Jeongin and Seungmin were great friends but they roasted the shit out of you way too much. The only way those two would be getting in your pants was if all of you were drunk as fuck.

Chan was the quiet type. He didn’t really brag about his escapades, which you were thankful for given the positions he’d put you in. He liked to backtrack and joke that what the fans said wasn’t true, but that man was 100% a daddy dom and he fucking exercised that every chance he got with you. How could he not when you were such a good girl for him?

Hyunjin was walking sex. Everyone knew it. But everyone who said he was a dom was wrong. The amount of times you’d made him cry while his legs were forced apart by a spreader bar….well you couldn’t remember how many times you’d done it at this point. He had so much pressure on him as an idol and he wanted to give up that control in bed and let someone else decide what was best for him. To be honest, you weren’t sure you could actually pull off the whole dom thing until you got with him the first time. But once it happened, he was constantly all shy and flustered around you and it gave you so much confidence.

But Minho and Changbin….there was more to it than being the group hole when it came to them. You weren’t dating them, no, but there was an emotional connection and they knew you. They knew what made you tick. They knew how to tear you down only to rebuild you (this usually came in the form of cuddles and kisses and bubble baths, which seemed odd coming from two of the most sexually intimidating men you’d ever met). But they also knew almost all of your favorite things and they remembered the names of all of your family members. They even knew exactly what medications you took and when. Aside from your childhood-best-friend-turned-roommate, they were the ones you called on in a crisis.

So it came as no surprise when those close to you thought you were dating both men. Hell, other idols had seen you with each of them at different times and whoever was left home got texts saying you were cheating. At this point, half the industry knew how close you were with the two and no one batted an eye anymore. The general public thought you and the previously mentioned childhood best friend worked with them given how many videos the two of you could be seen in the background of.

Your best friend was also close with them since you’d started dragging her along to meetups which led to them openly accepting her into the fold. Felix in particular was extremely fond of her because she was always down to get in the kitchen and bake with him. In general, the 00s line was close with her given they were the same age.

Which explains why she and Jisung were sat hip to hip while you were seated on Minho’s left thigh, eyes glued to the music show that was playing as his fingertips danced across the exposed skin of your thighs. You and your friend shared an apartment only a few blocks away from the company and you’d extended the invitation to all the boys to have a mental health day (which just consisted of filling your stomachs with trash food and playing a plethora of movies) but only Minho, Changbin, and Jisung showed up. Chan was working on songs, Felix had just gotten his hands on an old family recipe, Hyunjin was gearing up for another solo SKZ Player, Seungmin was hosting a music show (the one you had just turned on because it started five minutes ago), and Jeongin had taken a weekend trip home to see his mother and irritate his brother.

Everyone was watching Seungmin on the massive tv and Jisung was clowning him but you were only half paying attention to your surroundings. Your mind was pleasantly fuzzy as you got a little drowsy from Minho’s gentle touches. Yeah, he was turning you on a little, but the repetitiveness of it was soothing.

But then he pulled your hair back behind your shoulders, gathering the sections that usually framed your face and leaning in close to your ear as Changbin appeared in front of you. “Isn’t she pretty, Changbinnie?” You could tell he was wearing a playful smirk by his tone as Changbin leaned down into your personal space.

This was by no means unwelcome, the man was gorgeous and smelled like Christmas (of course he’d used the shampoo you’d made him recently, why wouldn’t he?). You allowed him to tilt your head back and gave him a tiny smile as a smirk settled on his face. “Stunning.”

Having his lips crash against yours while he roughly gripped your chin wasn’t what you’d planned for the day but you weren’t one to turn down attention, especially from these two. You heard a shuffling beside you but none of it really registered as you tried to stifle a squeak when Changbin nipped at your lip. You failed miserably.

What you didn’t know was that Jisung was getting pouty beside the three of you, even as he exchanged confused glances with your friend. “Ummm what the fuck?” She giggled out nervously, spotting Jisung’s excitement as her eyes turned back to the sudden make out session taking place before them.

Jisung, to no one’s surprise except your own, had a fat crush on you. You, of course, were oblivious to this fact. You found him adorable but you would feel guilty if you did anything to him. He was the most innocent thing and you couldn’t ruin that. That’s what caused you to pull back from the kiss, breathing heavily as you forced back a shy giggle (because even though you’d slept with them countless times, you were their precious baby and the attention always made you bury your face in your hands for a few seconds, which Minho adored).

“Guys…Ji is here..” you murmured to them, refusing to make eye contact with Changbin because that’s just how you always were in this sort of scenario. That’s when you heard the huff as he slumped down into the cushions.

“I don’t get why you treat me like a baby..” he grumbled, crossing his arms as your friend placed a hand on his shoulder in an attempt to soothe him. “I’m a grown ass man, only a year younger than you. I know you’re fucking half the group, you always have hickeys after spending time with Channie hyung and these two. And Hyunjin always comes back looking absolutely wrecked, covered in hickeys and still sniffling even after two hours because every time he cries his nose runs - which by the way what the fuck do you do to him to make him cry like that - but you refuse to even entertain dirty jokes around me as if I don’t make some of my own.” He rolls his eyes and no one notices when Changbin and Minho exchange knowing looks. Jisung is focused on how irritated and sexually frustrated he feels but you and your friend are focused on his outburst.

You’d only heard him curse a handful of times and you’d be lying if you said you didn’t find it hot. But it was bothering you how upset he was. “Ji..” you bite the inside of your cheek as you try to think of what to say.

But before you can respond, Minho speaks up. “Why don’t you just show him what you do to make Hyunjin cry like that, princess? You should teach him how to mind his manners.”

You instantly shake your head. “He’s too sweet. I can’t just rock up with restraints and vibrators and ruin that innocent boy.” You say, finally looking over your shoulder at Minho. Jisung chokes on whatever air he was trying to inhale at the thought of you doing those things to him, his cheeks burning a furious red as he looks towards your friend to avoid making eye contact with you.

Of course, Minho notices this and just snorts. “I think he likes the idea, baby girl. Look at how he’s squirming right now.” He teases, his fingers starting to release your hair but not before giving a tug. “Looks like he might just bust before you even get the chance to touch him.”

“Hey!” Jisung scowls as his head whips around to face Minho. “I’m not that desperate!” This is met with laughter from every angle and Jisung’s cheeks go redder, his pants feeling even tighter. He never wanted the other members to know but it seems the cover on his humiliation kink is about to be blown. One thing he wouldn’t let slip was the skirts, but that was a discussion for another day. This was all to say he was not the innocent little angel you thought him to be. He was hornier than all of NCT combined, he was just good at hiding it. Well, until today.

Seungmin’s voice rang clear through the room as a performance ended on the show and Jisung just let out a groan of annoyance, grabbing the remote from the table and flicking the tv off. “Oh my god shut UP!” He huffed and got up. That’s when you finally caught on that it was more than just him being shy and maybe crushing on you. He was turned on just from seeing Changbin kiss you and he wanted you to treat him like that. “I’m just gonna go before this gets any weirder.”

“Don’t.” The word slipped out all too fast and your cheeks heated up a little as he stopped. “Good boy.” He would’ve keened if those words had come from you. Though he was still close to that reaction since it was Minho who spoke up. “I won’t show you what I do to Hyunjin.” His frown deepened and you sighed. “But you’ll listen to us and do what we tell you to do to him.” Changbin smirked at you and glanced over at your friend. “You too if you’re game, babydoll.”

“Bet. But we’re not fucking in the living room, I don’t have the money to get the couch cleaned.” You couldn’t stifle your laugh at her words and nudged Changbin back to stand up. You faced Jisung and, while the man was several inches taller than you, he seemed so small in that moment.

“Looks like you’re getting what you want. No more pouting.” You teased as you led him off to your room, the others following closely. You jumped a bit when Changbin’s hand connected with your ass and a slap sounded out across the room. He was always doing that, regardless of whether or not you were with the rest of the group. It seemed to be one of his love languages at this point.

“Fuck, that was a good one.” His attention shifted from you as he adopted a sly grin. “What about you, b/f/n? Is your ass off limits? I hope not, it’s a nice ass.” He teased.

That was one thing about Changbin and Minho. While they were both very much dominant men, Changbin had more fun with it. It’s not that Minho was rigid, he was just more serious in general. More mature. Changbin was your local gym rat that doubled as a walking shitpost. Certified dumbass in the most loving way possible. It’s only natural that the headassery would bleed into how he acted in the bedroom.

B/f/n’s cheeks were tinted pink as she responded, granting Changbin permission to play with her ass since he seemed so enthusiastic about it. The man lit up like a neon sign as he dropped back a bit to plant one on her, earning a squeak of surprise to accompany the slapping sound even though she knew he was going to do it. “Damn, okay, your ass is perfect. That was perfect. Fuck.”

Minho just rolled his eyes as you all entered your room, closing the door behind everyone. “Calm down, you’ve got plenty of time to play with their asses. Right now though we’ve got some teaching to do.” He smirked as you nudged Jisung to sit on the edge of your bed.

Jisung, the precious thing he is, kept his eyes down as his teeth made quick work of the insides of his puffy cheeks. You noticed and lightly patted his cheeks. “Stop that. You’ll hurt yourself and then be grouchy about it later.” You scolded gently as Minho took up residence at your desk and Changbin lounged on the giant beanbag chair in the corner. He’d have trouble getting up later but you’d just pretend you didn’t see it like you always did. You learned the first time he struggled that laughing was a poor choice when he’d yet to have his turn. Your hips ached for days from how he’d folded you.

“Actually, I think I’ll let you handle them,” Changbin started as his eyes locked on b/f/n. “I’m gonna have some fun with this one.” He beckoned her over and patted his thighs when she reached him, urging her to sit. But you didn’t have time to see if she actually sat before Minho was ordering you to kiss Jisung.

Domming in front of these two was just…strange. It was embarrassing in some ways because they’d only ever seen you as their good little girl. You gladly gave up any control with them and now Minho was demanding you take some back to exercise on Jisung. Had it just been the two of you, you wouldn’t be hesitating at all (aside from the whole “I don’t wanna dirty him” thing). It was a weird power dynamic.

So when you leaned in for the kiss Minho had demanded, you decided to ignore his presence and do things your way. Your lips brushed against Jisung’s and he let out a soft sigh. You couldn’t help but let your fingertips ghost over the front of his sweats and he let out a soft whimper but you pulled back from the kiss all too soon for his liking and he whined. “That wasn’t even a kiss!”

“Waiting is part of the fun, Ji. If you know so much, surely you know that.” You mocked as your fingers tangled in his hair, forcing his head back to look at you since you were still standing. The whimper he let out was glorious and you couldn’t help but lean back into his personal space to mock him some more. “I just don’t think you know as much as you say you do, babydoll. You’re in no position to demand things. You’ve seen Hyunjin after I’ve finished with him.”

It was less nerve-racking with only Minho paying attention to what was happening. Changbin was a little preoccupied with b/f/n, the sounds of them sucking face and gasping for air battling against your ridicule to break the silence. Well, their sounds and your ridicule mixing with Jisung’s desperate noises.

“Shit, baby, I didn’t know you could do that. You’re always so quiet and obedient.” Minho chuckled as he crossed his arms. “But you didn’t listen to me, angel. I said kiss him. Not toy with him.” Jisung felt seen and like someone was on his side so he made it known. “See! I told you it wasn’t a kiss!” You shot him a glare and he shut his mouth instantly as you turned your gaze back to Minho.

“It’s hard to follow instructions and dom at the same time though…” you pouted, hoping that would soften him so he let you do as you pleased. It didn’t.

“Okay? You’re still gonna do it. You wouldn’t dare go against me and we both know it.” Your pout melted into a look of dismay as you let out a whine. “Stop.” You froze instantly and he let out a sigh, causing you to straighten up.

“Sorry. I was showing off..” you bit your lip briefly. “Can I at least play with him a little? You know how much I love teasing..” your tone was far more polite than before and Minho made a noise of satisfaction.

“I do know how much you love teasing but look at him. Look at how sweet he looks, like you said. You can’t just go and ruin that. He’s not Hyunjin. You’ve gotta make him feel pretty, baby.” Minho coached gently, maintaining eye contact no matter how much you tried to avoid it. “Understand?”

You nodded instantly, your hold on Jisung’s hair loosening. Then he fucking whined. “You don’t have to stop that though..” he mumbled, trying to tug against your hand so you’d pull his hair again. You looked to Minho for permission and he nodded so you instantly tightened your grip again and the expression of bliss that made itself at home on Jisung’s face felt like a punch to the gut.

“Ask him what he likes. Clearly he likes hair pulling. Make him tell you what else he wants you to do to him.” Minho’s guidance gave you an idea and you locked eyes with Jisung despite his best efforts to look away.

“How about you tell me what you want? In return, I’ll kiss you for every detail you reveal. You want that don’t you, baby boy?” Your tone was like honey as you laid out the rules he needed to follow in order to really get what he wanted.

Jisung was beyond mortified at the idea of revealing everything with Minho and Changbin within earshot - not that Changbin would notice considering he was currently switching positions to get b/f/n on her back so he could bury his head between her legs. But the prize was just too good to give up and he desperately needed to hear you call him baby boy again. So he nodded, much to your delight, and began to list things off.

Everything he told you was pretty standard stuff that came with these dynamics. But the one that stood out to you was the one he practically whispered when you thought he’d run out of things to admit to. “So you were just thriving when I bullied you, huh? You want me to make fun of you? Embarrass you to the point you wanna cry just because that sort of thing makes your dick twitch?”

You had to admit, this was starting to veer back towards how you were with Hyunjin and you weren’t entirely sold on the idea of being mean to Jisung. But the gasp followed by a whimper that reached your ears as you leaned in closer made you even wetter and you knew he only let those sounds slip because he wanted you to ruin him just like you said you wouldn’t.

Minho, however, was watching in amusement as you coaxed all of this out of the youngest, his eyes occasionally flicking over to Changbin going down on b/f/n. She was letting out some pretty sounds as she writhed under his touch and both scenes were making him unbearably hard. “Enough of that, princess.” He said, turning his attention back to you. “Now that you know what he wants, tell him what you want. And make him give it to you.”

You briefly ignored the instructions, taking a moment to nip at Jisung’s earlobe before whispering. “I want you to lay back and let me ride that pretty face. I want you to keep your hands to yourself-“ you didn’t, you loved hands on your ass while you sat on someone’s face, but this was about exercising control and seeing if he could actually do it. “-and I don’t want you to touch yourself. I want you completely still, being a good little fuck toy for me. Understood?” You smirked as you pulled away, jerking his head back with one final tug before releasing him so he could get settled. His lips, swollen red from all the kisses, parted to let out a weak moan.

He started to lay back but you tutted at him. “Strip first. I wanna see everything you’ve so carefully been hiding from me since I started hanging out with you guys. I wanna see just how pretty you are.” His face betrayed him as he got up to undress, showing how nervous he was trying not to be. His cheeks were a lovely shade of rose as shaky fingers lifted his hoodie, revealing no shirt underneath to cover his chiseled body.

He wasn’t as buff as Changbin but he was more muscular than Minho and what was once thought to be a flat tummy was now revealed to be a nicely defined set of abs. His arms had gotten bigger since the first time you laid eyes on him too and your mouth practically watered as you became aware of your panties sticking uncomfortably to you. What you weren’t expecting was a small script tattoo on his ribcage. He didn’t seem like the type to like ink. You’d have to ask him about that later.

You let out a pleased sound as you stepped towards him, glancing up for permission as your hands lifted towards his abs. Of course he obliged, no way was he gonna pass up the chance to feel your fingertips on his skin. “You’ve been hiding from me. I didn’t know such a pretty boy could get any prettier.” Your tone made his blush worsen, spreading all the way to the tips of his ears, and your fingers tracing the lines of his abs and the swoops of his tattoo made his whole body fill with excitement. “‘M sorry, I didn’t think you’d wanna see me..”

“Don’t be silly. Even if we weren’t in this situation, you’re still fucking gorgeous and I think you should show it off more.” You pressed a kiss to his chest, right over his heart, before stepping back and starting to undress yourself. He followed your lead and began to remove his pants, trying to keep his eyes averted when your top landed by his hoodie.

Try as he might, he couldn’t shake the innocent label. He’d been boasting about not being innocent only a short while ago and now he couldn’t even look at you because you had your tits out. As if you weren’t about to sit on his face. It made you laugh as you shed the rest of your clothes and pushed him onto the bed.

“I thought of another thing I want.” You waited to see if he’d look at you as you climbed over him but he didn’t. “I want you to stop worrying about modesty. We’re literally having sex.” You teased as you settled back on your knees to wait for his eyes to open, his hard-on flush against your ass without any barriers. Finally. You couldn’t help but wiggle your hips a little to tease him as you waited.

But he still didn’t look at you, even as you pulled a soft whine from him with your grinding, and Minho spoke up. “I guess you really are too innocent, Ji. You can’t even open your eyes to admire the beauty sitting on your lap.” His tone was mocking and you felt his cock twitch against your ass. So he wasn’t just into you talking down to him.

“If he can’t give me what I want I guess I can’t give him what he wants either, huh Minnie?” You knew this nickname would either make him whip it out or join in, he adored it. And both of these responses were good choices.

“That’s right, princess. I guess he told you all his kinks for nothing. Maybe you oughtta-“

“No! No..” His voice was small as he interrupted Minho, his hands flying to your hips to keep you in place since you’d started to move. He finally peeked out at you and he was right to be embarrassed. No way was he gonna be able to focus on much else other than your tits. “I’ll be good..”

Your hands gently wrapped around his wrists as you pull his hands away despite his protests. “I was starting to think you didn’t wanna look at me..” you feigned hurt with a fake pout, delighting in the way he violently shook his head as you leaned forwards to pin his wrists by his head.

“No! You’re pretty!” He blurted out, causing Minho to laugh as he composed himself. Everything about Jisung was becoming more frantic now that you had him naked. “You’re so pretty, noona, too pretty for me..”

Now that was an ego boost you didn’t know you needed. “Oh? I’m so pretty you feel ashamed to look? Better watch your words or I may develop a complex.” You teased as you leaned closer. Your lips briefly met his and you both sighed at the contact.

Honestly, if it weren’t for Minho orchestrating things, you’d probably still be toying with him. You wouldn’t be holding back if it weren’t for him. As confident as you were about treating Jisung differently than Hyunjin, Minho had to step in because you started heading in that direction the second Jisung whined about not getting a real kiss.

“Hands by your sides.” You ordered as you released him, fighting the urge to coo over how quickly he obeyed. You crawled up the bed and positioned yourself over his head but before you could even settle in, you felt his tongue against your pussy. You let out a surprised sound and lifted your hips away, giving him a little glare. “I thought I told you not to move.” He recoiled, licking his lips as he forced himself to stay put.

“Sorry. ‘M sorry..” He wasn’t sure what had possessed him, he just couldn’t help himself. The second he saw how wet you were, he forgot all about the roles at play here. Not that you’d ever believe him (well, you might after this), but he was a genius at pussy eating. He’d gotten some practice on a couple tours, making his reputation known to all the stylists, and he prided himself on it.

You slowly sank back down onto his waiting tongue and let out a sigh at the contact. You immediately began to rock your hips and huffed a little when he didn’t so much as flick his tongue. “You can move your mouth, Ji. Telling you to stay still doesn’t mean I’m telling you not to put in any effort. Besides, don’t you wanna brag about being my good boy and making me cum?” The choked noise he made left a grin on your face as he began to eat you out like a starved man.

You let out a satisfied squeak as you rolled your hips against his face, reaching down to tug at his hair. Your eyes had slipped shut at some point so you didn’t notice Minho had moved until he was biting at your neck. “Babygirl, I want you to stop before you cum. You aren’t finished until I say you’re finished. Understood?” You barely processed what he said due to the mental fog from both men’s lips and as much as you hated it, you nodded in agreement. “Good girl.” Your submissive side fucking preened and you almost lost all resolve to continue domming Jisung right then.

But then he sucked on your clit and you let out a soft cry, praising him for how well he was doing. Calling him a good boy grounded you again and you reveled in the symphony of pleasure filling the room. Both Changbin and b/f/n were letting out breathy moans and you could hear the sound of his hips slamming into hers as he railed her. Something about your best friend fucking one of your regular fuck buddies while your other regular fuck buddy guided you on how to fuck one of your mutual best friends just really did it for you.

Your hips stilled when Minho’s lips closed over one of your nipples. If you carried on with too much enthusiasm, you’d cum far sooner than anyone wanted you to. Your fingers found the button of Minho’s jeans and you quickly popped it, urging him to strip. “Please..” your request came out as a breathy moan and he happily obliged. He’d been waiting far too long.

Jisung was fighting hard not to wrap his arms around your thighs and force you to cum on his tongue. He didn’t want you to get in trouble and of course he didn’t want to get in trouble himself. He’d tucked his hands under his back so he wouldn’t grab onto you while he ate you out and he almost passed away when Minho praised him for being so obedient.

“Look at you, Ji. You’re making her lose her mind and you’re still following her rules. You’re being such a good boy. Maybe she’ll return the favor. Or would you rather share that pretty pussy and both of us make her cum?” This made both of you moan. The thought of being sandwiched between the two of them, knowing Jisung still wouldn’t dare try anything that wasn’t submitting to your every whim while Minho got possessive and called you the group’s good girl…it was absolutely delightful. “I think that’s what we’ll do then since you both like the idea so much.” He smirked and pulled you away from Jisung’s face, much to both Jisung’s and your dismay.

You’d been stretched like that only one time before and you were absolutely spent afterwards. But knowing Changbin, he’d probably insist on getting his turn with you before you could rest. “I’m gonna take over now, Ji, she’s about to be a babbling mess.” Minho warned as he moved behind you and situated you over Jisung.

In any other situation, Minho’s hand on Jisung’s dick would’ve been horrifying for both of them - of course Jisung would never admit the reason it would be horrifying for him was because of the minor crush he had on Minho. But considering he was guiding the tip towards your entrance, Jisung couldn’t help but buck his hips into Minho’s large (pretty) hand a little as he gave a few quick strokes before lining him up. You immediately took all seven inches, leaving Jisung gasping for air as Minho pulled your back to his chest. “Ride him. I wanna see his reaction.”

You needed no further convincing, eagerly rolling your hips as you rested your head back on Minho’s shoulder. Everything about Jisung was perfect, whether he agreed or not, and his dick was no exception. He was hitting all the right spots and it was fucking delicious. You could feel him bucking his hips ever so slightly as he got audibly worked up, his moans surprisingly higher pitched than you’d expected.

His eyes were squeezed shut and his mouth hung open in a little ‘O’ as he whimpered and whined, trying to hold still for you. He’d wanted to fuck you for so long. He’d fantasized about how you’d feel, how you’d taste, how you’d sound. The first time he’d thought about fucking you, he imagined he’d be the one leading and that he’d have you bent over the nearest flat surface, screaming his name and begging for more. But then Hyunjin came home completely wrecked after saying he was going to hang out with you and all Jisung could imagine was being your baby boy. Now it was happening - albeit far differently than he’d ever imagined - and he was terrified to let you down so he was trying to be still as stone since you hadn’t given him permission to move.

You and Jisung weren’t the only ones who found this whole situation hot. Minho was about to go fucking feral. Jisung’s secret crush was definitely mutual and his sounds and expressions paired with your soft whines and your skin pressed against his own were getting to him. He couldn’t stand not being part of this anymore and gently pushed you forward so you were chest to chest with Jisung, his dick twitching at the sight of Jisung inside you. “Ji, be a good boy and take care of her.” He ordered before pressing two fingers inside you alongside the pretty dick filling you up.

Your jaw went slack and you mewled at the sensation, your eyes slipping shut as another, softer moan was dragged from Jisung. You felt his breath fan across your face as he lifted his head to capture your lips in a kiss. You couldn’t be sure if this was because he wanted to comfort you while you were being prepped to take a second massive cock or if he just couldn’t help himself, but you eagerly reciprocated.

You barely registered the sobs of pleasure filling the room that signaled the end of your friend’s first round with Changbin (because no one could stop at just one with him). The sensation of Jisung sucking and nibbling on your bottom lip was taking precedence over everything aside from Minho’s long fingers opening you up. But your attention was ripped away from that too the second you felt Minho replacing his fingers with his dick.

It hurt. There was no denying that fact. But you were comforted by Minho’s gentle touch, his fingers dancing along the length of your spine as Jisung gave up the fight not to touch you. You felt his hands on either side of your head, angling your face this way and that and he pressed little kisses everywhere. You appreciated the attention, focusing on how soft his lips felt on your cheeks, your nose, the outer corners of your eyes. You hadn’t noticed the tears that fell there until after Jisung had kissed them away and the cool air hit your face again as he moved on to litter kisses in other areas.

“You’re doing so good, baby girl. Are you okay?” Minho’s voice was laced with concern. Were you okay? To be honest, you weren’t sure. Jisung could see that and just continued to fuss over you as you hid your face in his neck.

“Lemme get used to it..” you almost whispered. Your lips brushing against Jisung’s throat made his dick twitch and you whimpered softly at the sensation. The sigh of content that left Minho told you he liked it too. He tried not to move too much as he leaned down to kiss your neck and shoulders but he was unsuccessful and you let out a soft whine. “Please..”

Hearing you beg sent a thrill through Jisung that he hadn’t expected, given how dead set he was on being your baby boy rather than making you his good girl. He felt the drag of Minho’s cock only a second later and the three of you moaned in unison as they began to alternate thrusts. Minho was right, you were definitely a babbling mess.

When your little audience noticed this, Changbin urged b/f/n to ride him in reverse so they could both watch you get railed. She gladly complied, her gaze locking on Jisung specifically. He was so pretty, making those sounds while he fucked you. The two of you had discussed this sort of thing at length - albeit hypothetically - when you first started hanging out with the boys and you’d both agreed that domming Jisung would be fucking amazing. He was already such a needy, innocent boy and it wouldn’t take much to get him to comply with your wishes. The man was praise driven (or so you thought) and he’d do anything you asked. Finally seeing it was going to be the end of b/f/n.

Jisung’s arms wrapped around your middle, just above where Minho’s hands were tightly gripping your waist. There was no way he was letting you get away from him, not when he finally got to have you. Hell, he probably wouldn’t let go even after you’d finished. He was split. Part of him was screaming and cheering that he finally got you to fuck him and that he’d been so good and so patient for you. But the other part of him was demanding he fuck you into oblivion and breed you. That second part was getting dangerously close to winning the battle.

It won when he made eye contact with Minho, who gave him a little nod and sped up, earning an almost-sob of pleasure from you. Your teeth and nails sunk into Jisung’s neck and shoulders at the change in pace, stars from the pleasure dotting your vision. “Fuck, please, harder…please..” you cried, your whole body burning in the best way.

But they didn’t listen. In fact, Minho did the exact opposite. When he stopped, you let out a soft wail of disappointment. You felt his chest press flush to your back as Jisung continued to fuck you but he soon stopped too and you felt like crying until you realized what was going on. You felt Jisung straining upwards and could hear a smacking noise beside your ear, mingling with muffled moans and groans from both men. They took a break from fucking you to make out.

“Fucking took you two long enough..” Changbin’s quip sounded strained and you were fairly certain that it was due to the fact he was balls deep in your best friend. Again. But then you registered what he said and made a confused face. Wait, had these two always had a thing for each other and just wanted a valid excuse to act on it without it being weird?

You, not being used to being ignored, let out a loud whine and wiggled your hips to get their attention back, huffing when it didn’t work. Jisung was so caught up in the kiss that he could barely register anything else. In less than thirty minutes, he’d locked lips with his two biggest crushes and was having sex with them. Nothing really felt real to him.

Minho, on the other hand, was memorizing everything he could about this moment because this was when two different sides of his life were crashing together. What he had with you was now being laid bare to Jisung, someone he’d always held at arms length for fear of fucking up the group dynamic. And both of you were enjoying it just as much as he was.

He couldn’t help but nibble on Jisung’s bottom lip, wanting the same reaction you’d gotten for the same action. You were getting desperate though and began to suck hickeys onto Jisung’s throat, trying to get some degree of attention back on you. Together, you and Minho made the poor man sing. Your neediness was a character flaw, really. You were so obviously relieved when you heard them gasping for air.

“Fuck, Ji, look at her being a little attention whore and begging us to focus only on her.” Minho’s dig made your pussy clench as you bit back a weak moan. “I think we should make her regret being so needy, don’t you?” And with that, both men were brutally hammering into you with alternating thrusts so you never got a break.

Jisung stuttered a short while later when he felt hot tears on his chest. Your moans had turned into sobs of pleasure and with your face buried in his chest, there was no missing the tears. You barely noticed Minho’s hand leaving your waist to squeeze Jisung’s thigh encouragingly, all you could feel was the weight of your impending orgasm. With that subtle reassurance, Jisung thrust up harder into you and you let out a scream as you came.

Your orgasm ripped theirs out of them far faster than it would’ve if they’d taken turns fucking you. All you could do was let out pathetic whimpers as their cum filled you, spilling out when they pulled out. You hadn’t noticed when they’d finished but your friend was no longer in the room and Changbin was stalking towards the bed. You sniffled and gave him a drunk smile.

“C’mere sweetheart.” You thought he was about to try and pull another orgasm out of you but instead he sat against the headboard. You crawled towards him on weak legs and he pulled you to him, situating you so your back was to his chest as he grabbed your thighs to hold your legs apart. “Ji, haven’t you been taught to clean up after yourself? Get over here.”

The noise you let out as Jisung began to lap up the mess of all three of you was nothing short of purely sinful. Your toes curled and your back arched as he once again ate you out, your brain absolutely fried from the pleasure. “Fuck, Sungie- fuck- I can’t- oh my fucking god I’m gonna cum again-“ you wailed, your body on fire from barely getting a break.

Jisung didn’t dare stop, opting instead to speed up his motions as tears filled your eyes again. “Cum for me then.” It was so simple but it sounded so hot coming from the man who had just been begging you to fuck him only a short while before. Between Jisung’s tongue and Minho teasing your nipples, you were done for.

You felt Minho place a hand on your tummy as your eyes rolled back in pleasure and your body began to shake with the intensity of your orgasm. But Jisung didn’t stop and it was getting to be overwhelming. “Sungie, please, too much-“ you sobbed, tears streaming down your face.

Minho pulled him away when he showed no signs of letting up and Changbin released your legs, your body slumping against his. “You good, princess?” The tears that had let up when Jisung was pulled back quickly rushed forth again and you shifted in Changbin’s arms, just needing to be babied for a few minutes.

Jisung began to panic at this and was about to start fretting over you when Minho grabbed his arm. “Let’s go get her some clothes and give her a minute with him. She’s okay. She gets really overwhelmed sometimes but within minutes she’s okay.” He still felt uneasy but followed Minho’s lead, making sure to pick out one of his shirts that he’d “accidentally” left after a sleepover in the hopes you’d keep it and start wearing it. He’d yet to see that so he was taking this chance to see how you looked in his clothes.

Your sobs died down as Changbin rubbed your back and kissed your head, whispering sweet words to you. This is what you meant when you said they knew you. They always followed the same routine afterwards. Changbin would sooth you while Minho got everything they needed to clean you up and get you settled.

You looked up at Changbin with misty eyes and gave him a little smile. “Better now, baby girl?” You nodded and let out a soft sigh as you stretched. “Better. Kiss?” You puckered your lips and he pecked them but you whined cutely and he quickly gave in to what you wanted, kissing you softly.

A moment later, Jisung and Minho were back with clothes and wet washcloths to clean you up. Changbin gently turned you back around and your cheeks flushed a bright pink when Minho nudged your legs apart to clean you. You avoided eye contact as he cleaned you up and whined when they made you sit up.

“Let’s get these on you and then you gotta go pee. Then we can cuddle.” Minho’s tone was authoritative but gentle at the same time and you couldn’t find it in you to argue back as Jisung pulled a shirt over your head with a little smile. You slipped your arms into the sleeves and smiled when you saw it was the shirt he’d left here a few months ago.

“You’re so fucking precious, Ji. But next time, I’ll be the one giving you aftercare, got it?” You looked back up as you took the panties they’d picked for you, taking a moment to appreciate the blush on his puffy cheeks that resulted from your words. Once you had them on, Minho insisted on carrying you to the bathroom despite your reassurances that you could walk.

You clung to him like a koala as he carried you, whining again when he didn’t immediately leave after putting you down. “I can’t pee if you’re watching me.” You pouted up at him. He could only laugh as he stepped outside to wait. When you were finished, you washed up and walked back out only for him to scoop you back up. “My legs still work, Minnie..” you pouted again and he kissed you.

“I know. But I wanna baby you. We go over this every time, princess. If I’m the one making a mess of you, I’m gonna be the one to coddle you afterwards. Now hush and snuggle with us.” It was almost an order but you were eager to comply, quickly settling in with Minho and Changbin on either side of you. But you refused to leave Jisung out and held your arms open.

“C’mere baby.” The name made him giddy as he carefully laid on top of you. He laid his head on your chest, one of his legs draped over one of yours while the other was stretched out. You could feel his heartbeat from where your hands rested on his back and you couldn’t help but kiss the top of his head.

“Keep calling me that..” he mumbled as he dozed off, a tiny smile of triumph on his face over the fact that he’d finally gotten his chance with you.

[baebaejooheon]

Corpse husband x cottagecore! Reader headcanon

Just a cottagecore esque thing where it’s readers birthday and they throw a big meet up/sleepover thing.

Fem reader just bc. Mentions wearing a dress/skirt

A/N: uhhh leave me alone Ik I have a series in the works that I haven’t written for in months. Leave me alone 😎 not edited pls it’s rlly not good , as well as written at 6 am. Based on a maladaptive daydream I had for like a week straight. I could turn this into a real fic if anyone wants it but like ahaha I can barely write once a year 😌🤚🏻 I will probably reread it and fix it later but as of now you get what you get. I literally just typed this on my phone with no sleep so like 🤗🤪

Originally posted by datchidatchi

A little background, Y/N lives in a medium sized cottage esque house. She has a small garden in her back yard, as well as a free roam fluffy brown cow named dellie, and a big chicken coop. As well as a duck that roams the property and a couple of other animals. As well as a huge flower field a little off the premises. (All of this is infact important.)

It’s Your 23rd birthday, and for this big occasion you decided to invite over all your friends, even those who live outside of the country, to your small home in the middle of nowhere. This would be the meetup that would break the internet.

Many people were invited. The typical among us group:Jack, Felix, Rae, Sykunno, Toast, Poki, and even Corpse who was given the option even tho the likelihood was low given the situation.

A few SMP friends you had made through association were also invited: Karl, Alex, Nick etc.

Many people, lots of fun.

The morning of your birthday, You awoke to many messages and posts for your birthday. Lots of bomb selfies on the feed as well as #HAPPYBDAYY/N trending on Twitter. Along with this, you were greeted with a few texts from your non American friends stating that they arrived safely or that they were checking into the hotel rooms they had booked for the weekend.

When the time came for the party, most of the people had managed to show up. The party was in full swing, everyone had a drink in hand, posting pictures, celebrating being together as well as it being your birthday.

Filling the trending tab on Twitter with so many hashtags

Around 10 pm you got a call from corpse and decided to head upstairs to get some peace and quiet from the loud music in your living room.

Answering the phone the conversation wasn’t anything special, corpse wishing you the fourth happy birthday for that day, as well as asking how everything was going. It was a normal conversation, that was, until his breath hitched and his voice started to quiver as he grew quiet, barely mumbling. Asking what was wrong, corpse went on a small tangent about how he wished he was more confident with his looks, how he wished it wasn’t scary showing his closest friends what he looked like etc. and how he wished he could be there at the party with everyone.

“Corpse I’ve told you 100 times. I understand your situation and it’s ok that you couldn’t show up. I don’t hold it against you, but I didn’t want you to feel left out :))”

“What would you say if I said I just pulled up in an Uber and I’m absolutely terrified of what’s gonna happen?”

Sneaking out of the back door as quickly as possible and running to the front lawn preparing herself. Corpse steps out of the car and You just jump in his arms. like full on koala grip on this man.

Holding his face and just showering him with compliments. Lots of reassurance and sweet nothings.

Heading to the back porch in order to allow him to calm down and prepare. The two end up sitting outside in the dark talking for like 30 minutes.

Finally working up the courage to head inside. You hold his hand the whole time and you see his hands start to shake.

Stepping into the living room, Jack noticing corpse was there, smiling but not saying anything after realizing he’s nervous. Meeting eveyone for the first time really being hard on him. No one else knowing what he looks like so no one really has a reaction

“Look who I found”

“Oh Y/N!! We were wondering where you ran off too. Who’s your friend?”

Corpse just hits them with a “uhh, hi 🤗”

Everyone freaking out as soon as they realize who it is and trying to talk to him.

Phones were put away for most of the night in fear of leaking anything.

You going the extra step to check everyone’s camera rolls (with consent of course) just incase and deleting any photo with any form of corpes face.

A group selfie with just corpse’s hand doing a peace sign

Many drunk escapades

Everyone finding a place to crash for the night. Some staying awake on their phones, some heading to hotels, some alresdy passed out for the night.

You check in on corpse before you head to bed, knowing today was a lot for him.

“Surprisingly? One of the best nights I’ve had in awhile :))”

Heading off to bed.

6 am rolls around and ms Y/N is up at the crack of dawn to do morning chores for the small farm.

Cute hobbit esque dress. Brown skirt, off the shoulder white flowy shirt tucked in, white frilly apron, brown corset belt Etc. you know the fit

Walking down the stairs, you see corpse on his phone in the dark sitting at her dining room table. Everyone was still asleep and it seemed like corpse hadn’t even slept a wink. You know, his insomnia and all.

“What are you doing awake? It’s only 6 am and you partied pretty hard last night?”

“Farm life doesn’t stop for a hangover, but I could ask you the same thing mister :) come on you can help me out”

Corpse is 100% not dressed to do anything outside, especially not any farm work.

Tells him to wait on the back porch while she gathers some stuff from the house. coming out with a messenger bag as well as a basket and a blanket.

Sets everything down and continues to feed the animals with corpse, asking him to grab the big bucket of feed. showing him the ropes, filling up everyone’s water dishes. Collecting eggs etc.

Corpse just watching you with a smile on his face. Your just talking to all your animals, yelling at fiesty hens for pecking at your legs and/or talking to Gerald the duck for getting in the way.

Corpse lowkey obsessed with dellie the cow. Pets her and coos for like 5 minutes straight.

When they finish the sun is barely rising everything still looks like a silhouette from far enough away. putting what needs to go inside away, and then grabbing the messenger bag off the porch.

Dragging corpse to the flower field just down the hill at the edge of the property.

Laying out the blanket and sitting just talking for hours.

You plays music from your phone through a small speaker, dancing around and twirling, lost in your own world.

Corpse’s Instagram story is just full of videos and pictures of you in the sunrise, small captions like happy birthweek to the most amazing person Ik. Or damn who knew farm girl had moves.

Literally 30+ story posts at 7 am.

Corpse takes a picture of you making a flower crown. Shadows cast across your skin, the small bit of sunrise light casting a soft golden glow. The field of flowers all around. Literally goddess worthy.

Fans going crazy reposting the pictures, spamming Twitter etc.

His camera roll is FULL of pictures of her.

Giving corpse A flower crown full of an array of wild flowers

Dancing together. Just twirling and laughing.

City boy corpse loving the farm life

Secretly of course

Relaxing and just sitting with eachother as it slowly reaches 10 am.

“Uh, thanks for this morning, I had a lot of fun.” A small sleepy smile on his face. The flower crown crooked on his messy curls as he just stares into your eyes.

You both end up leaning in for a kiss bumping noses as you gently pull away

Definitely the best birthday gift you could have asked for

Heading back inside to see how everyone’s doing.

Rae being one of the few awake asking where the two of you had been seeing it was already around noon

“Those of us awake took it upon ourselves to raid your kitchen sorry not sorry”

Corpse getting sleepy wanting to take a nap seeing as it was noon and he was running on little to no sleep.

You let him rest in your bed as you occupy everyone downstairs

Everyone leaving around 3 pm, corpse is still asleep so you go outside to check on all the animals once again.

Letting Gerald in the house bc he’s being a pain in the ass.

When you come into the house you see corpse coming down the stairs rubbing his eyes and streatching. His shirt twisted and raising slightly, the jewelry and chains he was wearing now gone.

Giving him a good “morning” kiss.

The day is filled with you cooking for him. Making fun of his foil troubles, watching movies, laughing and overall joking.

Spending the rest of the night cuddling together and making the most of the time you had together.

Making things between you official

✨Extra✨

When you post about eachother to tell the fans that the two of you have been dating for like 6 months the captions are wild.

Corpse is like “ugh look at my gorgeous girlfriend, so pretty, so nice and kind, the most amazing person ever” just full on simp. The pictures he uses are from the morning after your birthday.

Your picture is just you guys holding hands. His usual chains and jewelry. Caption just “eww a city boy 🤮, gotta take all the love I can get tho”

[quilleth]

Dear Yuletide Writer,

Thank you in advance for whatever lovely thing you end up writing! I’m so excited for yuletide this year!! I hope this will give you some good ideas, including general likes/ dislikes, but my ask box on tumblr will be open if you have any other questions for me!

 General likes: Fluff, pining/ slow burn, snarky banter, happy endings, hurt/comfort, AU’s (Pride and Prejudice, coffee shop, college, florist, historical time period, fairy tale etc), friends to lovers (and variants thereof), found families, friendly competition, non sexual forms of intimacy, fake dating, mutual pining, costume balls and their ensuing shenanigans

DNW: Love triangles, pregnancy, unhappy endings, PWP (smut is fine, but there has to be a point to it being included), violence that’s not found in the canon setting, extremely graphic smut, heavy gore or horror, possessive or jealous lovers, major character death, zombies

 7kpp

We got so many characters nominated this year!! While I adore pretty much everyone in this game, I’m not as familiar with Gisette, Woodly, or Avalie (darn her friendship eluding me forever), so I would prefer something not centering on them, or Jarrod. Jasper, Zarad, and Lyon are my favorite LI, but I also love the friendships MC has with Cordelia, Penelope, and Lisle, and the various other characters she doesn't choose to be paired with.

Prompt suggestions: -As always, anything with Jasper will undoubtedly reduce me to a puddle because I am shipper trash, predictable af, and equally biased af towards favorite characters xD

-events we only see from the MC's perspective from the perspective of other characters- her friends, her LI, her staff, etc. I love the characters of the game, so I really wish we'd get to see more inside their heads sometimes!

-along with wishing we got to see more of the characters' thoughts, I also wish we got to see more of their relationships outside of the MC

 Wayhaven Chronicles

Book 2 was awesome, am I right?!  And the book 3 demo so far?! Love it! Nate and Mason are my favorite members of Unit Bravo, but Felix is adorable and so very sweet, and Adam's emotional denial is also entertaining. I'd prefer reading about a non-binary or female MC if you decide to include them!

Prompt suggestions:

-I’d love some fluff from their perspective!  I really enjoy when Sera throws the LI POV scenes in there, so I’d love to see more. -Felix and the detective being bros, making paper airplanes, playing pranks, teasing the other members of UB, etc. -Mason being soft...I am always surprised by this and just how much it manages to hook me in to his route! -More hurt/ comfort!! The fight with the Trappers kicked me in my feels and I love it, but also wish there was more!

 Ever After

Ever After is my favorite version of Cinderella, and one of my comfort movies, so I watch it a lot. I love the relationships that exist and grow and develop between the characters and Danielle is such a good heroine! I'd love to see more of Jacqueline coming into her own, or Danielle and Gustave's escapades as they got older or after the events of the film, or more romantic adventures of Danielle and Henry. Just more soft, romantic renaissance feels!

[sabineelectricheart]

Just Outside the Harbour Gate

Summary: Felix meets someone unexpected when his friend goes out soliciting.

Rating: MA - Content is only suitable for mature adults. May contain explicit language and adult themes.

Graphic depictions of prostitution. Reader discretion is advised.

Words: 6200

Notes: It’s been a while, huh? It’s Felix’s 860th birthday, a big one, I’m told. Well, enjoy!

It was just another wet, Spring night in Fhirdiad. The streets were wet from a shower in the late afternoon and a thick mist started forming in the damp air near the ground.

Felix, the young Duke Fraldarius, strode down the sidewalk with his head held high. He was in a rather seedy part of the city, just outside the Harbour Gate, but he felt responsible for making sure Sylvain got home safely from his drunken, extramarital escapades at the end of the night.

The man’s distinctive red hair was visible a fair bit ahead. It was longer than he usually kept, rather shorn, probably due to the fact he had been serving in the border and this was his first night away from Gautier this Moon. The spiky curls swayed to either side as he kept his head on a swivel for a woman – no, a girl, really – that caught his fancy.

Felix sighed as he watched Sylvain approach the one working lady that looked barely legal. Sylvain reached into his pocket, and the Shield of Faerghus knew that the man was jingling the gold coins in his pocket to let her know that he could pay.

Mere moments later, the girl was leading his childhood friend down a narrow alley toward the inn that he knew was just a few minutes away. Felix had spent many a night lurking in the shadows, waiting for whichever girl Sylvain had chosen that night to slip out the door so that he could deliver a drunken margrave back to the Gautier townhouse.

Felix followed them down the alley and to the inn, lurking in the shadows as the girl pulled Sylvain into a room and slammed the door shut. As he stood against the wall of the seedy establishment, another door flew open so quickly that it bounced off the wall. A young girl rushed off into the night, minty-green hair flying behind her.

*_*_*_*_*

A few nights later, Felix found himself following Sylvain down the same Fhirdiad street. The chevalier was barely paying attention on his friend as he chose his girl for the night, as his mind was much more focused on the issue that he had encountered with his overseers on the subject of this year’s sowing, as a bag of wheat seeds seems to be missing from the granary.

However, as he kept an eye on Sylvain, a young woman stepped into his path. Her dress was low-cut and skin-tight, a long slit up the side exposing the creamy skin of her thigh.

“Looking for someone?” She murmured sultrily as her eyes raked up the front of his robes, lingering on his belt and the long line of buttons on his frock coat.

Her eyes met his and she looked utterly taken aback for one short moment before she recovered and looked up at him through her eyelashes.

“Do not tell me you did not fantasize about a few naughty detentions or some heated spars, Your Grace.” She winked.

Felix jerked his head back as if he had been hit. “Professor.”

Byleth, the former Imperial general and commander-in-chief of the largest army in the continent, batted her eyes at him.

“Do not act like you do not want this, Your Grace.” She paused. “Did you want this even when I was still your teacher?”

Felix turned his lips down in disgust and glanced up the street to where Sylvain was winking salaciously at one of the young girls.

“I must go.” The blue-haired man said as the girl began to drag the margrave away.

He followed, closer than usual, and only when he had reached the alley that led to the inn did he look back.

Rhea’s former scion was making her move on another young man, a sailor whose greasy hair and pockmarked skin made Felix’s skin crawl. He reminded him of one too many young men who had joined the ranks of the Kingdom Army, barely at the age of majority. He looked all too eager and sleazy.

As the Duke watched his former teacher pull the boy toward the inn as he made his way there himself, he could not help but wish that he had paid for Byleth for the night to save her from men like that, to protect her, if only momentarily, from the streets.

*_*_*_*_*

The War of Unification ended almost three years ago by that point, with a decisive victory to the Holy Kingdom of Faerghus and the Blaiddyd dynasty, who united Fódlan back again under one crown and one rule.

To be fair to the now-defunct Adrestian Empire, it was a close call. The Imperial forces, after breaking a five-year stalemate that confined the armies to mostly skirmishes around the borderlands, advanced quickly and ruthlessly through the Alliance, and even managed to hold Arianrhod and the western, wealthiest, parts of the Kingdom. All that resisted was a core kernel around Blaiddyd, Fraldarius, Gautier and Galatea, and they would not be able to hold the line much longer.

So, Rhea ordered a strike on Garreg Mach. The Faerghusi lords were against it, as the mountainous area had little strategic advantages and no resources to alleviate their supply lines. Yet, she insisted, and her crazed demeanour managed to wear down opposition.

In a lucky shot, Cyril managed to snipe off Edelgard.

The Imperial forces ran away screaming from the monastery. In the coming Moons, Volkhart von Arundel’s poor leadership choices as the Regent cost them one battle after the next, and by Founding Day, 1186, they captured Enbarr and defeated the Empire once and for all.

To this day, there still are missing war criminals, men and women that are to be captured and tried for their participation in the war. Byleth being one of them. Her last sighting was during a battle in Fort Merceus, Garland Moon, 1186, while they were trying to cut the former Alliance territory off from Enbarr. They could not retrieve her body, so she was deemed a fugitive. A high bounty weighed over her head.

Felix would often wonder what would have happened if he had stayed with the Black Eagles after Edelgard’s invasion. He did study under Byleth and with all the Imperial generals and big-wigs for good part of year 1180, after all, and he had a very fraught relationship with the Kingdom and the Church. It was to be expected for him to side with the Empire, but when push came to shove, he just did not.

He was not the only one to have transferred to the Professor’s house, only to change back when the Emperor declared her vendetta. In fact, other than the Adrestians that came to congregate around Byleth, this war was fought along class lines.

It was not as if they did not trust their professor, which they did, more than in themselves. It is not as if they thought Edelgard to be lying, which they all knew in their hearts that she did not, and even if they doubted, the Archbishop turning into a demonic dragon in front of their eyes on that fateful Lone Moon night proved her point. It was just that it was easier to bear the thought of killing Ferdinand, Duke Aegir, than one’s father, childhood friend or neighbour.

However, it had been hard for all former Eagles to come around with the idea of their most admired and loved professor’s death, in both instances. They tried, and they tried very hard, to avoid such a situation. Felix knew Dimitri would be only too glad to grant amnesty to Byleth should she be captured, but the Church is adamant about her capture and execution, his hands are tied.

For a moment, seeing Byleth alive and well brought him great happiness, but the more he thinks about it, the more he dreads. Her presence in Fhirdiad would get her captured and killed sooner rather than later, and he would not bear living through this a third time.

Something must be done.

*_*_*_*_*

The next night, Felix Fraldarius was on a mission. Sylvain was somewhere in his townhouse, either lying in bed nursing his hangover or drinking his way to his next one. While the Duke felt slightly nervous about leaving the man alone, it gave him the opportunity to do what he really wanted to, find Byleth Eisner.

She was not too difficult to find. Felix had barely made it a third of the way down the street before she stepped into his path, as sneaky and silent as ever.

“Changed your mind, Your Grace?” The woman asks, taunting him.

Felix dug into his pockets and pulled out two fistfuls of gold coins for her to see. Her eyes widened slightly before she smiled coyly and looked up through her eyelashes at him. Without another word, one small hand found his and tugged him toward the inn.

As they neared the small, rundown building, Byleth found the nearest unoccupied room and entered it. Felix locked it behind them, and she placed a rotting wooden chair on the handle for good measure.

The nobleman tucked his wool gloves into his breast pocket and began to take stock of his surroundings. While he had followed Sylvain here many times, he had never entered one of the rooms. The bed looked absolutely filthy, which was not too surprising seeing as the inn did not even seem to be in operation anymore. In all likelihood, it had gone out of business long ago and had been taken over by prostitutes and squatters who were looking for an easy place to rest their head.

Making sure the curtains were pulled tightly shut, he lit a candle he brought with a spell the woman next to him had taught years ago. Byleth was halfway through the process of getting her dress off, a dress that was barely there to begin with.

“Professor!” He snapped, and she stopped removing her dress immediately.

She sauntered across the dingy room toward him, the heels of her riding boots clicking on the rotting hardwood and her lacy crimson corset exposed to the cold air. When she reached him, she leaned in and captured his earlobe gently between her teeth.

“Sorry, did you want to do that yourself?” She murmured.

Felix stepped back to create some distance between them, but she followed. Their makeshift dance continued until the nobleman was backed against the door; she was dangerously close, her fingers playing lazily with the buttons on the vest he was wearing tonight.

Byleth smirked like a cat who got the mouse. “What did you have in mind for tonight, Felix?”

He brought his hand to her shoulder and pushed her away from him slightly before unsheathing his Sword of Zoltan, another one of her gifts he kept with utmost care.

He paused before levelling it at her. “Do you trust me?”

Her eyes flickered between the tip of his silver sword and his face, but she smiled easily. “Not a whit.”

The man smirked, the way he usually did whenever something or someone pleased him. “Good.”

With a quick and coordinated movement of his hands and feet, he went around her semi-nude body, picked up that joke of a dress from the floor and offered it to her on the tip of the sword. She glared at him, but complied with the unspoken request of dressing herself again.

With Byleth’s breasts covered and the fastenings laced once more, Felix felt like he could finally breathe easy again. He flicked his sword towards her a few more times, and so she untied the hem, closed the buttons on the slit, and rose the underlying tunic to a much more modest depth.

The former professor gave him a confused look. “What was that for?”

Felix pulled his handful of gold coins from his pocket again and deposited it on the table that had probably once held a flower vase. He took a seat on a hard chair near the door.

“How long have you been doing this, Professor?”

Byleth’s usually empty eyes grew cold and sharp.

“Is that what this is about, Your Grace?” She spat, storming angrily toward the door. “You think you can rescue me from this? That I can be your charity case now that you do not have anyone to wage war against? The guilt finally caught up with you, I see.”

Felix held up a hand to stop her. “I believe I paid for the night.”

“Take your money back, then!” She threw the gold coins across the room.

One of them struck Felix just above the eyebrow as an accident. Byleth flinched ever so slightly as it bounced harmlessly to the floor with the others. He wonders why she would feel guilty about it, as they both knew it would not hurt him in the slightest.

“Where is your sword?” He asked, both out of curiosity and concern, as he drew his own.

“I serve men of all walks of life. Having a sword laying around is just asking for a robbery, one that might turn violent, and I do not have anywhere to keep it while I work.” She gestured unhelpfully around the seedy room. “In any case, I gave up on all that a long time ago.”

Felix had to keep himself from gaping at her. “You gave up swordfighting? Why?”

“I hardly feel the need to explain myself to you.” Byleth bit out, her voice taking on a hard edge. “About anything.”

She tried the doorknob, but finding it locked, she pressed her back against the door and sunk down to the floor. He knew she was frustrated, but he had enough of a reputation for being obtuse about her desires.

Coming prepared for a long night’s waiting, Felix fetched his coat from the bed, pulled a thin book on agriculture from the breast pocket and began reading leisurely, sitting on the chair by the candlelight. He was acutely aware of the way that his former professor was watching him through her fingers, her hands covering her face.

“I will not talk to you.” She reaffirmed from her place by the door.

“I understand.” He replied, and went on with his reading.

*_*_*_*_*

Felix returned the next night, sans Sylvain once again. Although he knew that Byleth would not step forward and offer herself to him this time, he was determined to find her. He was worried about her, about the light that had gone out of her eyes, about her decision to give up sparring, about the smile that seemed more of a mechanical tugging on the corners of her lips than a reflection of happiness.

He found her lurking at the entrance to one of the alleyways. “Professor.”

She crossed her arms, over breasts that were once against exposed to the cool air by a tightly laced corset. “No.”

“I’ll pay double. Triple, even.” Felix returned, and he saw her considering the offer.

“Triple.” She affirmed, and made her way before him toward the inn like the night before.

When they arrived, and after the door was suitably locked and blocked, she threw herself on the filthy bed.

“If you are going to ask me to cover up, at least bring me something warm to wear.”

Felix smirked and threw her a blue fur cape he brought along with him that evening. It had been his mother’s and was tucked away in some chest at the Fraldarius townhouse for years without use. When the woman was appropriately covered, he returned to the book that he had been reading the night before.

“I brought you one.” The blue-haired man offered some knight novel Ingrid loved, which Byleth accepted like a racoon being fed, before lying on the bed and staring at the ceiling.

*_*_*_*_*

It took nearly a full Moon for Byleth to finally speak to him again.

Those silent nights, the working woman would lead him to the inn silently, take his proffered book without a word, and leave quietly in the morning after collecting her due money.

Felix was waiting for her to speak. She had lowered her book with a sigh and was staring off into space unnervingly. The words finally came after a few minutes of pumping herself up.

The green-haired woman sighed. “What do you want to know?”

“Where do you sleep?” He asked, pausing his reading.

The Duke continued staring at the page, though, trying his best not to discourage her from speaking.

“Anywhere that is relatively quiet and safe. Sometimes I just do not.” Her voice was barely more than a whisper.

He does not acknowledge her response. “How long have you been living like this?”

She paused, as if counting the days. “Ten Moons, give or take, but my life fell apart long before that.”

He hesitated. “Why did you decide to give up sparring?”

“Is this your greatest curiosity? Goddess, Felix, you have not changed one bit those eight years.” The woman points out, derisively. “If I fight, I draw attention, and if I draw attention, the City Guard will bring me before Dimitri, who will certainly burn me at the stake.”

That is prudent, Felix weighed, but it does not address the crux of the matter in a satisfying fashion. “Still, if you were not in Fhirdiad, you would not have this concern. In fact, why did you not return to the mercenary band? Why become a prostitute, in the capital, no less?”

She hesitated once more. “I… When we… When I defected from the Imperial Army, I ran away as fast as I could, as far as I could reach. The Kingdom Army was everywhere, though, and they were looking for me. When I reached Fhirdiad, I came to find out I would not able to continue abroad. Though… To be honest, I did not want to escape to Albinea, I wanted to stay in Fódlan, see what Dimitri would do with his newfound power.” Byleth took a deep breath. “For a while, things were good. I had a place to sleep, at least. Then, stuff happened, and I took to the streets. It has been like that for a while, now.”

Felix finally looked up from his book. She was huddled on the bed, book forgotten on the ragged blanket, arms wrapped around her knees. He could not help but cross the room and sit beside her.

“What happened with you?” He finally asks. “I was there, you know? Both in the monastery and at Fort Merceus. Both times, you just vanish, just to reappear years later as if nothing happened.”

She looks wary of him, and he is forced to remember the choices he made in 1180. He would not trust him, either.

“You do not have to speak of it if you do not feel that you can or should.” The nobleman said, trying to ease the tension. “If it is worth a damn, I swear to you whatever you say will be held in the strictest confidence. Before you, stands not Duke Fraldarius, the Shield of Faerghus, but Felix.”

A sad smile crossed her face. Her fair features were rarely graced with one, but this was so haunted, a mere ghost of the timid but beautiful thinning of her lips that used to appear so easily when she was younger.

“I do not know whether there is a difference between Sothis and I, but if there is, I know we both believe that humanity should be free to pursue their own designs. It is our place to support and lend strength, not dictate life and law over Fódlan. In this regard, I agreed with Edelgard, even if we digressed on the methods. I was not the only one.

“You know most of the story.” She acknowledged. “We followed Edelgard because we knew that, for her tough exterior and unyielding demeanour, we knew she would strive for the best for Fódlan. When she fell… Well, neither of us could really say that about Volkhardt. So, I threw a wrench on his plans and defected the army. Fortunately, I managed to save Manuela and Dorothea, taking them with me.

“Manuela was hurt on a fire that day and can now barely walk, so Dorothea and I took turns carrying her along the road. We planned hiding in Arianrhod, but with the city destroyed, we continued on our trekking. We reached Fhirdiad by Winter 1186, just as Dimitri entered the city victorious. We blended in with the refugees and began working.

“There were no jobs for us, as we could not fight nor work on a nobleman’s house if we hoped to escape capture, so Dorothea and I took to prostitution, while Manuela worked as a community medic. We made enough for a small house and three meals a day, so it was alright, all things considered. Then, Dorothea got pregnant. It happens in our line of work.

Byleth looked at her hands. “I offered myself to work double, to keep her safe at home. She had no choice, so she took my offer. They moved to a village in Itha and I send all the money I make. I do it gladly, but now I do not have enough for a house of my own, or even food most days.”

Felix took one of her hands in his, for she needed comfort and he had no words of consolation to offer her. She rested her head on his shoulder after a moment.

“Sleep, Professor.” The man whispers, feeling his own throat choking. “The door is locked, and I will remain here to protect you. You are safe.”

She did as she was told.

*_*_*_*_*

One day, his morbid curiosity and unenviable bluntness got the best of Felix.

“How do you do it?” He suddenly asks.

Byleth looked at him, knowing full well what kind of skill he wonders how she managed to perfect. “It is not that hard sometimes, really. The men all have their own stories and problems, and sometimes all they really want is someone to talk to, and I came to find out I am a quite good listener. You would be surprised at how much time I spend listening to their worries compared to how much time I actually spend... Fulfilling my job description.”

“Surely not.” Felix scoffed.

“Not always.” Byleth agreed. “And do not misunderstand me, Your Grace, they pay for a shag and they get one, but they talk sometimes too. More than they fuck.”

An awkward silence befalls them for a moment.

“Sometimes I wonder where you would fall.” The green-haired prostitute wonders aloud.

Felix chose to ignore her comment. “Well, that puts a whole new spin on the council box you set up in the monastery.”

*_*_*_*_*

“You do not have to do this, you know.” Felix’s voice was soft, a tone that he had managed to master with Byleth, for the very first time in his existence on the face of the earth.

There had never been anyone who he had cared enough to speak softly to in the past, and he had had to learn quickly for her. The two Moons that he had spent “paying” for his former professor had led him to rekindle the fond feelings the Duke once held for her.

When he gave her money and clothes, it was as much to keep his head in the right place as it was to cover her modesty and take her off the streets, if only for a few hours. He wanted to convince her that there was a better life beyond this, that there was still a life for her away from Fhirdiad, away from Fódlan. He just wanted her to be happy and cared for and healthy, no matter what he had to do or say.

It weighed on his mind sometimes. In one hand, what the so-called Shield of Faerghus did was certainly treason, even if the king has no intention on following through with his half-hearted declarations. On the other, he wonders why would he care at all, as it was her own damn choices, misguided as they were, that landed her on this life.

Felix kept telling himself that it was a natural level of concern for a former professor that he had watched grow into unhealthy habits, but who did he think he was fooling? He cared for Byleth Eisner, maybe even loved her if he was drunk enough to be completely honest with himself.

The source of his unease merely shrugs his declaration off.

“I mean it, Byleth.” He countered. “You can have a life away from here. I can get you on a boat to Dagda. I can take care of Manuela, and I can find a job for Dorothea to provide to her child.”

“Felix, dear, I cannot depend on you. You taking care of me…” She began explaining her motives hesitantly, considering every word carefully. “It is not but a phase. In another few weeks, you will be tired of this and you will move on. You will go back to following Sylvain down the street to make sure he gets home safely, and I will go back to my life.”

He shook his head emphatically, rejecting the notion while he tried to express his feelings on the matter. “You do not have to go back to this life. You had the world at your fingertips before the war, Byleth. It is not out of your reach just yet, if only you tried. If you do not want to leave Fódlan, then so be it, but at least dye your hair and find a job. Become an apprentice. A seamstress, a blacksmith, a baker, anything.”

Felix sighed, running a hand over his tired face.

“When we were at the academy, it may have seemed… The way that I behaved towards you…” He growled in frustration at his chronic inability to articulate his thoughts. “It may have seemed at times that I wanted you to fail, that I wanted to destroy you, and perhaps at times it truly would have given me some form of vindictive pleasure to see you fall short by my own hand, but this… Byleth, I cannot stand idly by and watch you throw your life away by selling your body to sleazy men in the sordid alleys of Fhirdiad.”

“They are not as bad as you seem to think.” Byleth interjected, feeling suddenly defensive about her work and clientele. “All they need…”

“All they need is someone to make them feel something!” Felix snapped, then looked taken aback at his own outburst. “They are disgusting, broken men, all either too ugly or too disloyal or too drunk or too sad or too fill-in-the-blank to be anywhere but here. Do you think I have not been there? That I have not been one of them?”

“Felix…” Byleth breathed, moving toward him.

“Do you know how Sylvain Gautier knew to come to this street, these alleys? Here, and not any other harlot-infested dump in this hellhole of a city? I used to come here too. When I first lost you, those damn five years of war and sadness and hopelessness... This was my escape. Just like your men, I fucked pretty young girls in inn rooms and when they left with their pay, I cried into filthy inn pillows because I wished it was you every time. Now, I find myself looking at you, just like those girls, fucking that kind of men, and I just want to hurl. They are not worth your pity, Byleth. We are disgusting.”

Byleth’s hand met his shoulder so lightly that he thought that he had imagined it for a moment. “Do you think that you are disgusting?”

He glared at her. “Do you not?”

The woman gave him an odd look. “Why would you return? If it makes you so ill, if it makes you suffer… Why would you face the memories?”

Felix threw his head back and looked toward the ceiling in a most profound exasperation. “Because, in case you had not bothered to notice, I still care for you!”

*_*_*_*_*

When Felix found Byleth the next day, she was asleep, laying out on the hard cobbles on the side of the alley. She was uncovered, as she always were, even after Felix gifting her a king’s ransom in dresses, capes and furs. It might be early Summer in Fódlan, but the capital had cold nights year-round.

It warmed his heart at least a little bit when he saw that a few of the other girls from the street were in the vicinity, although Felix was not sure if they were protecting her or simply ignoring her. Unwilling to let the girl sleep exposed to the cool night air, with only an old stole to keep her head from resting on the dirty pavement, Felix moved toward her. One hand strayed to brush a lock of divine green hair from her brow.

Though a couple of the girls gave him a wary look, many of them recognized him from the many nights he had spent with Byleth. They merely drew back as he slipped one arm beneath her knees and one arm across her back; he lifted her from the pavement and gently began carrying his girl (his girl?) down the alley and to the inn. He laid her gently on the bed, trying not to wake her, but she stirred regardless.

Byleth sat up frantically, trying to assess her surroundings. When her eyes met Felix’s, she relaxed slightly.

“Holy Star, Felix.” Her thin voice rasped on her throat. She used to sing very well, the nobleman recalls, was she still able to?

“Sorry.” He replied, mildly. “I wanted to move you to somewhere more comfortable than the cobbles on the street.”

Byleth flopped back down, still looking half asleep, and patted the other side of the dirty bed. When Felix did not move, she opened one eye and peeked at him. “Come on, you look exhausted. What did the entitled nobles do today for you to be so stressed?”

Felix sighed and gave in, moving toward the bed. “No nobles, or rather, a pair of them in particular. Dimitri is to get married in the Winter and Margrave Edmund is creating unnecessary trouble for us to move forward with the ceremony.”

“A marriage? How lovely.” The woman notes, with some warmth to her tone, as if she forgot that she almost slaughtered the bride on the battlefield once upon a time. “Marianne is a nice girl, but I never took her for having an interest on a throne.”

“It is a political match.” The Duke explains. “Dimitri is rather fond of her, but the decision was made so we could count on Margrave Edmund’s support in securing the northern border with Sreng and Almyra, relieving Gautier and Goneril.”

“I suppose it is time, now.” Byleth wonders. “My students are getting married.”

Felix chuckles. “They certainly are.”

He crawled into bed without removing his shoes, and froze when Byleth snuggled up to him, making a pillow out of the crook of his arm.

“When will you find a Duchess Fraldarius, I wonder?” She whispers.

He had no response to give her. He had no plans of ever getting married, lest of all with a noblewoman from wherever. He had no patience for courting, no interest in married life and no love in his heart to give to just about anyone. The one exception is the one person he is not able to wed under any circumstances. So, he answers with an all-encompassing silence.

Her voice was sleepy when she next spoke. “Why did you pay for the first night?”

Felix looked down at her, at the once-neat bun that the rain had made a frizzy travesty of. Her eyes were closed. “I could not bear the thought of leaving you unprotected from the men that roam these streets.”

“And why did you stay?” She quips back.

Felix hesitated, but he figured that Byleth was close enough to sleep that she would not even remember this conversation in the morning.

He lowered his voice until it was barely audible. “Because you needed someone to take care of you, and I wanted to be it.”

*_*_*_*_*

“When are you leaving?” Byleth asked a few days later, early into the night.

Felix looked at her over his book, his face suddenly tense. “I apologize. Have I overstayed my welcome?”

Byleth rolled her eyes and fixed him with a hard gaze. “Do not be daft. You know exactly what I am talking about.”

Felix waited, merely raising an eyebrow as if to say, Do I, now?

The former general sighed. “When are you leaving? When are you going to realize that this is just a phase? How soon do I have to prepare for you to walk out of my life and leave me alone to this miserable existence once again?”

Without pausing to mark his page, he closed the book and set it on the table. “At what point of this... Arrangement, for lack of a better term, did I ever imply that I was leaving?”

She stood, tossing her own book on the bed. “Well, are you not? All you ever do is talk about me getting out of this situation. As soon as you realize that I cannot, I would assume you will lose interest. Why would you not cut your losses and leave the lost cause?”

Felix scoffed. “You are not a lost cause, Byleth. You may be dedicated, infuriating, and maybe even lost, but you are not hopeless. You would see that if you would only try to turn your life around again.”

She ran thin fingers through carefully tamed hair. Her ruffling dislodged frizzy curls but she made no move to pin them back into place.

“I will make it easier for you, then.” Though her eyes were sad and her voice was shrill, she moved to the door and opened it. “Go.”

Felix crossed his arms and stood as well, giving the call girl a look that would send even the bravest of rogue bandits scurrying back to their ratholes with tears in their eyes and fear on their hearts. Byleth, on the other hand, looked unfazed as ever.

“No.” He said, making his intentions clear.

Byleth slammed the door shut in frustration and stomped toward him. “Why do you care?”

Felix held his arms out in a gesture of rare openness, to his body, his spirit and his heart.

“I do not have the faintest idea.” He took a step toward her. “But I do.”

Byleth’s head dropped. “I’m not worth that. Look at me, Felix. I am a prostitute. I can tell you story after story about how there is something special about the way the men talk to me after I sell myself to them, but it does not change the fact that I am pathetic and... Frankly, I am damaged goods. Especially to a Duke.”

“Oh, for the Goddess’ sake.” Felix swore softly.

He walked up to Byleth, gently tilted her chin up to look at him, and pressed his lips against hers.

*_*_*_*_*

Things in Fraldarius are most queer.

In face of much opposition and insistence, and an inordinate amount of engagement contracts pouring in from the windows, the Duke never deigned himself to wed. Nevertheless, he still employed a lady’s maid at his Castle, and his fondness to the odd brunette with a bird’s voice was so he made her son, Gérard, a page as soon as he was old enough.

The servants and peasants might be so inclined to complain, if their sovereign was not such an admirable leader. The Goddess blessed their territory with good weather and large wields, not unlike those from Gronder Field, and the nobleman never lets one single bag of wheat go to waste and not one family starves under his rule.

If this was not enough, he provides them with free healthcare at a clinic on the castle town, led by Madam Karling, a tall, likely once-beautiful but badly-burnt, healer with great talent and a good heart. The serfs in Fraldarius were certainly the envy of all of Fódlan.

Finally, the nobles did gossip and speculate behind his back, but the close friendship with their monarch made it impossible for any of them trying anything else, as they ran the risk of being made pariahs out of themselves. Besides, when he appeared with a legitimized bastard who carried a Major Crest of Fraldarius as his heir, even the talking ceased.

What was quite odd, too, was that he is prone to long weeks of disappearance between sowing and harvesting season, but he always returned with a large smile, a lightness on his step and plenty of generosity in his heart, so many people merely ignored his leaves of absence and got on with their lives as if nothing ever happened.

As for the Duke himself, in spite of his suffocating duty to the Kingdom, he managed to carve a quiet life in the country with a woman he loved. He wants not for anything else.

*_*_*_*_*

Fire Emblem Masterlist

Three Houses Masterlist

[psychzine]

Marat/Sade Pt. 2: The Theatre of Cruelty and Artaud’s Outer Inner World

This is a two-part series of essays surrounding the play Marat/Sade by Peter Weiss. In part one, I focused on examining the play’s portrayal of mental illness, in order to glean some information about the historical state of psychiatry in 20th and 18th century Europe. In the following essay, I will touch upon the life and literary output of Antonin Artaud, father of The Theatre of Cruelty for which stage play this play was made. I will explore the ways in which his artistic work may have been informed by his experience of schizophrenia, and look for any insight his literary and artistic expression can give us into the mechanism of the condition.

Antonin Artaud was a prolific writer, insofar as he had his prolific spells when he wasn’t in and out of various psychiatric hospitals, all across several different continents, and which period spanned no less than 11 years of his life. His 1947 essay, Van Gogh, The Man Suicided by Society, was written less than a year before he passed away (unceremoniously of colorectal cancer), which means that it was informed by all his previous escapades and narrow escapes with life and sanity itself. One cannot help but be grateful that a world exists which occasioned Antonin Artaud to drop in on an exhibition of Van Gogh’s works and learn of the infamously tragic facts surrounding the life of Van Gogh, the man, and have such a deep impression made upon him that he took it upon himself to erect the figure as a figurine around a hyperintense, vitriolic tirade at society and indeed, not society, but psychiatry and medicine–by name. Which is what his short, terse and turbulent text, Van Gogh, The Man Suicide by Society, is. Wait--that is a mischaracterization. His text is a sharp, free-falling delineation of his opinion on the intersection between madness and society. And that society he lived in was, when all is said and done, not so very different from ours today. And his opinion is invaluable by virtue of it being informed by his direct, lived experiences within the system, as a mentally ill object of the system, the systems of society and of psychiatry, and having to live, thus pigeonholed neatly and having foisted upon him a role he categorically did not choose and vehemently in this text disavows, among the people who constitute society, namely the artists, the madmen, the laymen and most conspicuously the doctors. That system laid the foundations for modern American psychiatry today.

Artaud’s main contention in this piece is that madness is not madness at all but genius, and that doctors are motivated by pure jealousy in tending to psychiatric patients. He contends that society as a whole is jealous of whomever shows the mark of genius and attempts to quell that genius in the form of bestowing upon them the diagnosis of a mental illness, and the subsequent formalities of medicalization and hospitalization.

This is why a tainted society has invented the concept of psychiatry to defend itself against the investigations of superior intellects whose faculties of divination would be troublesome.

No, van Gogh was not mad, but his paintings were bursts of Greek fire, atomic bombs, whose angle of vision, unlike all other paintings popular at the time, would have been capable of seriously upsetting the spectral conformity of the Second Empire bourgeoisie and the myrmidons of Thiers, Gambetta and Felix Faure, as well as those of Napoleon III.

For it is not a certain conformity of manners that van Gogh attacks, but rather the conformity of institutions themselves. 

Antonin Artaud’s Childhood Illness

Artaud’s introduction to the world of psychiatry began early. At age 5, in 1905, he was diagnosed with meningitis. The disease course was severe; he was comatose, weak and yet survived, where others at the time might have succumbed to such an illness and gone down in the history books as died at an eargly age (as indeed many of his siblings did, for various reasons). The sequelae of the illness left him with “behavioral disturbances” requiring psychiatric attention. I personally thought that his presentation might nowadays be recognized as subacute sclerosing panencephalitis, a rare disease well-known to the medical student community as being a favorite of the boards.[2] That is for untreated measles, whereas he was diagnosed with meningitis. His biographers widely thought that this was a misdiagnosis. It could also have been attention deficit, which was not yet fully delineated. It is impossible to know without acquiring his exact patient notes (efforts under way).

In 1945, he wrote the following poem about his childhood:

Je n'ai jamais rien étudié, mais tout vécu et cela m'a appris quelque chose.

I never studied anything, but I lived everything and that taught me everything.

Antonin Artaud’s Sense of Belonging

Artaud’s ancestry was a source of intellectual and emotional preoccupation for him. He was born in Marseilles, France, which is conventional enough; his parents were comparatively diverse, his father being Greek and his mother Turkish--and they were cousins.

The Man Suicided by Society

Artaud’s views of psychiatry are informed by his experience as a psychiatric patient in the early 20th century. 

To Have Done with the Judgment of God

We start off our patient notes for psychiatric patients with the Mental State Exam, essential components of which include assessments of Insight & Judgment.

To do it correctly is to justify also why you have assessed the patient’s level of insight as being at what it is. So if you were to say “insight: poor”, you would need to clarify “as evidenced by inability to recognize delusions as delusions.” If you were to write an even more excellent note, you would elaborate on what the delusion is, e.g. “as evidenced by inability to recognize that he is only misconstruing a reference to a plane crash in a book he was reading as being an omen relating a similar fate upcoming for him.” To afford even more nuance to the patient and the mechanisms of their mind that are resulting in their being placed at present in the hospital in front of you at all, and if you were to approach the problem from a psychodynamic perspective, you would note that every part of the equation is important to factor into consideration in solving this problem, which is to say that the quality of the delusion is directly linked to the very specific allusion to death by plane crash and that the source was a story book.

Judgment: intact. Poor. Fair, as evidenced by ability to problem-solve. It is easy to opine at length and wax lyrical in psychiatric notes, unlike any other patient notes, where numbers and objective physical examination assessments with rigid and painstakingly defined vernacular take precedent; deviating from that is, quite objectively, wrong. In plastic surgery you cannot mix the stages of ulcers and descriptions that have been written down and time-honored and undergone meta-analytic scrutiny; all this, of course, with the recognition that everything in medicine is up for advancement and must keep pace with evidence-based medicine.

How does one person sit in judgment on another person? The physical examination in medicine by nature is judgmental, but how is one to sit on judgment on another person’s judgment? A clash of entire civilizations. Whatever happened to an island unto oneself? Psychiatry is an endless recursion to oneself, transference, countertransference, biases unconscious and unchecked. You could almost say that the work of psychiatrists is even more tedious than that of surgeons, that god of all medical specialties.

(1) Van Gogh, The Man Suicided by Society. By Antonin Artaud. Direct link.

[2] Subacute Sclerosing Panencephalitis. NORD Rare Disease Database.

[diamondoasishq-blog]

THANOS KAZAKIS by felix

< HE/HIM > < TWENTY-FOUR >  < A104 > < STUDENT / DRUG DEALER > < LOUIS MAYHEW > # FROM < THESSALONIKI, GREECE > RESIDENT FOR < 2.5 YEARS >

Growing up in an abusive household Thanos mental health took a dive and became increasingly worse. After almost taking his life at 16, Thanos came out on top more reckless, defiant and overtly self-destructive marking an almost 180 degree turn in character. Starved of affection and hopelessly lonely, Thanos' only way of coping is sex in a misplaced attempt of substituting emotional needs for physical ones. Thanos has gone above and beyond to earn himself a bad reputation. Notorious for his sexual escapades which he makes a matter of public affairs, most people avoid contact with him. He's (self-)manipulative, abrasive but also smart and extroverted but fails to form any emotional connections, isolating himself further.

[tilltheendwilliwrite]

Balance on the Head of a Pin

Chapter One

Summary: When Lauren, the assistant to Tony Stark and the golden darling, southern belle of team Avenger, is called home by her overbearing mother, demanding she take back up with the man who walked out on her and broke her heart, Loki, the once dark God of Mischief, goes with her as her pretend beau. But is it all pretend on Loki’s part? Or is there more to the God of Mischief’s involvement than simply helping Lauren out.

Pairing: Loki Laufeyson x OFC  |  Word Count: 7027

Warnings: Swearing

At just shy of five in the morning, the sun was beginning to colour the horizon in brilliant pinks and oranges. Though it was crisp - fresh really - the air smelled clean from the washing of rain the night before instead of the usual smog and grime. There was nothing like the view of New York from Tony’s Iron Man landing pad. The city stretched out, the lights glowed like stars, and it appeared as if one floated above the world.

It had become Lauren’s preferred place to practice yoga.

It wasn’t the safest location, what with it being a few hundred feet in the air and not really that big around, but it fit her mat. It also gave her such a sense of clarity, of being completely present in the moment; her awareness of the world so heightened she felt like one with the universe. Lauren had found it impossible to resist the temptation.

Besides, Tony knew she used it. Friday was nothing if not efficient, and had informed her boss thusly after Lauren’s first tentative foray into the wild blue yonder.

At the time, the Avengers had been away at the compound while Lauren had been dealing with long hours and headaches surrounding Stark Enterprises. She had ended up sleeping on one of the couches in Tony’s office when going home had been too much effort. They were big enough to be beds at any rate, though she did her best not to think about what other things Tony could have done on them. She would have easily yacked up her take-out dinner otherwise.

Lauren had learned early to keep extra clothes in her office never knowing what crazy thing was going to happen next in Avenger’s central, so it was nothing for her to slip upstairs to use the team’s gym and showers the next morning.

Venturing into the lounge to enjoy the view, the lure of that shining silver platform glistening temptingly in the early morning sunlight had been too much to deny. She’d been alone, the team not due back for a few more days, and really, what was the harm?

Sneaking out the door like a thief in the night, Lauren had walked up on the platform. There she’d executed a perfect series of Warrior Poses before sinking down onto her forearms and slowly bringing her feet up over her head; pushing up into an arm balance and Scorpion pose.

It had been exhilarating!

Of course, Friday had ratted her out as soon as the Iron Man had landed.

Tony had scolded her harshly. Teased her endlessly. Begged to be allowed to watch, and finally snarled something about ‘no bloody way’ when she told him he’d have to be up at four in the morning if he really wanted to. After, he’d waved her off with his blessing, threatening to fire her if she did anything stupid - like fall off. 

She’d been coming up here ever since.

When long days as Tony’s assistant had become even longer days fielding calls about the Avengers, she had accepted the offer to simply move in. 

It saved time. She never went home as it was, and her neighbor was getting tired of the constant text messages to check on Felix.

Her cat, Felix, had come with her, and the orange haired, fat-cat had turned into a big suck. He spent excessive amounts of time snuggled up and purring with whomever had an available lap, but that was alright. Better he was well-loved instead of vilified. She’d always been a cat person. If some on the team had hated him, it would have been devastating to lose her precious kitty. Instead, Felix had become a sort of team mascot. He bounced between Avengers throughout the day, but at night it was always her bed he slept on.

A wobble in her form had her jerking her mind back to the present and the position she was in. Left foot planted, the right was being held near her shoulder. Her spine curved, turning her into what Lauren had always laughingly called the Bubble Wand pose. Watching the sun burn the sky into flames, she was unaware of the eyes which watched her from inside the tower.

***

Steve, Natasha, and Bucky stood with coffees in hand, back away from the windows so as not to be seen be the sleek blonde who was contorting her body into unimaginable shapes. It had become something of a ritual for them. 

Coffee to get them moving. 

Lauren’s graceful forms to greet the dawn. 

Nat, of course, had been the first to discovered Lauren’s secret sessions when one morning she’d been up early. Instead of rushing outside to give Lauren shit for doing something so dangerous, she’d stood and watched. Peace had filled her with the graceful poses, and after a quick check with Tony regarding safety, Natasha had let it alone.  

The woman repeated the process daily at four in the morning as long as the weather held. Natasha made sure to join her whenever possible; though Lauren never knew it. 

Bucky had been the second to notice. Having heard someone sneaking past his door, he’d followed, watching as Lauren set up her mat for her mostly tame workout. It was only the last fifteen or so minutes which had the woman stretching her feet to the sky.  

Nat just quietly joined him, urging him away when he’d grumbled about foolish women. However, he too couldn’t deny the lure of those twisted poses.  

Afterward, when Steve was having a particularly rough night - the anniversary of Peggy’s death - and had been unable to sleep, they’d welcomed him into their private club. Of course, he’d flipped out. Cap was the one who held with the idea of ‘safety first’ when it came to civilians.  

But Lauren and her grace had won him over. Though she’d never know it. 

Once Steve had learned of Tony’s safety net, he'd calmed down considerably, keeping his comments to himself. 

Lauren wasn’t a showy woman. She would find the attention embarrassing if she ever found out what they were up to. She was quite conservative in both life and her style of dress. A true southern belle, with a little New Yorker thrown in.  

Even though she worked for Tony, there was never talk of impropriety between her and the Iron Man because she never allowed it to even surface as a possibility. So to find her in tight pants and midriff-baring top, a knot tied in it to keep it from sliding around, was rather startling.  

She worked hard for all of them. The entire team adored her dry wit and prim southern charm. The newest member of the team most of all.  

A dark God of Mischief; recently reformed, of course. 

Loki, fresh from Asgard, had come to terms with his past, his family, and his lineage. It had been decided he would become part of the team, though how that decision had come about was still a bone of contention almost a year later. They were wary of him in Asgard, which came as no surprise. They were wary of him here as well, but Wanda had taken a trip through his head, deeming the male honourable in his intentions.  

No one had informed Loki of Lauren’s early morning escapades - why would they - so when he appeared suddenly, not in-the-know as it were, it came as little surprise when a startled gasp exploded from his lips. 

“What in the bloody hell is she doing?” Loki barked, watching the woman in tight pants and flexible spine bring her feet from above her to press to the top of her head.  

“Yoga,” Nat said, sipping her coffee. “She’s very good.” 

“Good? Good!! Are you a cart-faring weasel? She could fall off that thing without the slightest provocation!” He was of half a mind to storm out there and yank Lauren from it. 

Nat shot him a glare. “Tony took care of it. There’s a force field that goes up the moment she lays out her mat. Not that Lauren knows that.”  

“And why not?” Loki turned his eyes to the redhead. If there was protection there, around the one he found frustratingly precious, he could somewhat relax. 

“Because half the allure for Lauren is the thrill of the danger.” Natasha looked out the window, watching the woman in question.   

Continuing to balance on her forearms, Lauren raised her feet back to the sky before taking them out into a full split.  

“If you’d shut up and watch, you’d see she’s perfectly safe and capable. She doesn’t even wobble. There’s no straining at all. It’s clear she’s been doing Bikram for years.” 

“You gotta wonder how strong her core is to be able to do that.” Quiet admiration laced Bucky’s voice. 

Steve tilted his head. “She spends an hour doing this every day but won’t step foot in the gym unless it’s to use a treadmill. I’d ask her to teach me, you know, quid-pro-quo with some hand-to-hand, but I don’t want to embarrass her.”  

“You sure you don’t just want to get a closer look at those tight pants, Cap?” Natasha said, fluttering her lashes when Steve glared at her. 

“Har har, Natasha. What I’d like is to be that flexible. I know I’m plenty flexible already, but I sure as heck can’t do that.”  

They all glanced out the window at the woman whose body was contorted like an Asgardian magic knot.  

Pulling his gaze from Lauren, Loki looked from one super soldier to the other, humming quietly with disapproval. They admired her, the woman he wanted.  

With Bucky, he knew, though they were very good friends, there was nothing there between the former Winter Soldier and Lauren. No spark. No embers. No carefully banked flames waiting to erupt into a firestorm of passion. They were friends and he could live with it. 

Steve, however, was a much tougher read.  

Captain America appeared uninterested, but… Loki couldn’t be certain. Was this wish to learn the yoga a ploy to earn the affections of the golden Lauren? He would have to keep his eyes on Cap. 

Clearing his throat, Loki flicked his wrist at the windows. “So, you simply stand here gawking like voyeurs? Does Lauren even know you watch her?”  

They all shook their heads.  

The God of Mischief couldn’t decide if he was horrified they so infringed on the woman’s privacy, or if he should compliment them on their continued subterfuge. It was worthy of something he would once have done. Might still do. 

“Look, Loki,” Steve said, turning to face the Asgardian. “There’s no harm. Watching is… peaceful. Like seeing a play or ballet or something. And we don’t want to embarrass her by letting her know we know. The only reason she’d be out there this early is to keep it a secret from the rest of us.” 

“Yeah, she blushes so easy. It’s why Sam teases her like he does. If we told her, she’d hide out in her room. Frankly, that’s a great way to start the morning.” Bucky motioned with his coffee cup toward Lauren.  

“Damn. Just… damn…. She’s so bendy. If only she swung both ways…” Nat said, laughing when they all stared at her with varying levels of interest. 

While Bucky looked intrigued, Steve had full on blushed, but it was Loki who drew her focused gaze as he glowered at her. 

“Something to say, oh Twisted One?” 

“Hm. Cretin.” Loki glared down his nose at Natasha. She still hadn’t forgiven him for turning Clint evil; even if the archer had.  

“I do believe you are all taking liberties which Lady Lauren would find deeply unsettling. We should leave and allow her to finish her yoga without further espying.” He shooed his hands toward the three of them, arching a brow when no one moved. “Unless you wish for me to walk out there and inform the lady of this little fete you are holding on what appears to be regular intervals?”  

“You wouldn’t,” growled Natasha, jerking her chin up.

“Oh, but darling… how I would.” Loki’s smile was the one which struck fear in the hearts of his enemies.

It got them moving finally.

Grumbling about Puny Gods, something which set Loki rolling his eyes, the two men took the snarling redhead by the elbows and drew Natasha away.

“You coming, punk?” Bucky asked, glaring over his shoulder at Loki.

“But of course,” the God of Mischief said politely, following along behind the three until they went out the door. He sent an avatar of himself after them, keeping the connection going long enough to split-off as if he’d simply chosen to return to his room when, truly, he had never left the one of bar and comfortable couches.

Settling back into a thick chair, one set close enough to see without being seen, Loki admired Lauren’s grace and elegance. She twisted into such inconceivable shapes. Did so with such effortlessness. He found himself envying the wind which blew through her hair.

The wind was allowed to touch that which he coveted. It could blow across the smooth, bared skin of her low back. It could caress the flesh of her abdomen where a tiny droplet of light seemed to flicker.

Squinting, he arched a brow.

The tiny drop was actually a jewel winking in her belly button.

A piercing. How deliciously wicked of you, darling, Loki chuckled to himself. These Midgardians had odd - yet intriguing - customs. He never would have guessed the shy and refined Lady Lauren would have such a thing as a bellybutton piercing. Just what other surprises would he find if he delved into the lovely Lauren?

Again the wind blew, lifting silken strands of gold into the air, whipping them into a frenzy around Lauren’s serene face.

She had a beautiful face.

The first thing he’d noticed about her hadn’t been the luscious curve of her backside, or the long, stately limbs. It hadn’t been the generous mounds of her breasts, or the sleek waist he longed to wrap his fingers around. It wasn’t the laughter which spilled from her like tiny bells, or the sweet, honey-laced drawl when she said such things as, ‘Well, aren’t you a peach’ or ‘I do declare’. It hadn’t even been her face as a whole which had drawn him to her, but the graceful slope of her jawline.

A foolish thing to find so alluring on a beautiful woman, that sharp line which ran from beneath her ear to her pointed chin, but it was so enticing, easily drawing his eye. Especially when she wore her hair high on her head like she was now. The alluring line was special. It led down into her sleek throat. Her swanlike neck would be a wonderful place for him to set his lips.

Skin like the petals of an Amaryllis, the pale cream flower which had been blooming in his room on the day of his arrival, went unblemished. She always smelled softly of a scent she called Amazonia Lily. A quiet scent. A little sweet, a little tart, but it appeared to bubble in his nose; as if he’d lifted a glass of Stark’s champagne to his lips.

He longed to place his nose against her pulse and breathe it in.

High, sculpted cheekbones framed her button nose, resting above plump pink lips. She kept them glossed and shiny at all hours of the day. They looked wet. All the time.

It made him mad for her. For her mouth, for her lips, for her tongue to touch and tease against his.

Then there were her eyes. Had there ever been eyes so green? They were nearly teal at the outermost edge, fading into sage at the center, reminding him of the grasses of Asgard.

They could cut straight through him when she was angry. Appear soft and inviting when she was happy. They changed with her mood like Stark changed t-shirts. They were gems. Beautiful, unique, stunning jewels whose exact colour he could not remember seeing in any part of the many worlds he’d traversed.

His attention, which had wandered with his musings, was snapped back to the present when Lauren, back on her feet, stretched her arms up over her head.

Her back arched in the process. She smiled, a glorious sight, backlit by the fire of the rising sun over the city. Her soft pink shirt, a sleeveless tank top, had a knot which was tied at her waist where her arm would naturally hang. It seemed an odd spot.

He wondered if it interfered at all with her… yoga.

Dark, nearly black pants, exceptionally tight on her legs and firm round behind, ended just below her knees. Slashes of gold broke up the darkness.

Her feet were bare.

The observation had him cocking his head. How had he not noticed her bare feet swaying in the air?

She stepped from the mat into a pair of flimsy looking sandals and crouched to roll up the odd-looking mat. It was thicker and seemed… springy compared to the carpet beneath his feet.

He wondered at it. Wondered if she’d let him touch it. If she’d let him touch… other things.

She headed for the door, picking up a light sweater she must have discarded earlier. Pausing long enough to slip her arms through the sleeves and do up the zipper, she pushed inside.

With a flick of his wrist, Loki made himself invisible.

***

Feeling warm and loose, Lauren sighed happily. She loved these morning workouts.

Heading for the far side of the room where Tony had cleared out a cabinet for her mat, she skipped down the stairs, her flip-flops slapping against her heels. Her mat wasn’t something she wanted to pack through the tower just in case someone was up wandering around early. Her clothing she could brush off, claiming she was going for a walk as her sweater covered her adequately. The mat, however, was a dead giveaway. Tucking it inside, she shut the door to the cabinet and turned toward the bar with the mini-fridge.

She was thinking longingly of a bottle of water when her phone rang.

Digging in the pocket of her sweater, Lauren tugged it free, glanced at the display, and groaned - loudly. It was time to gird her loins. Taking a deep breath and plastering on a smile, she swiped to answer. “Good-mornin', mama.”

“Lauren. I didn’t think you’d be up yet, what with you keepin’ those city hours of yours.”

Her mother never did. It didn’t matter how many times Lauren explained she got up early to do yoga. Yoga was a foolish endeavour. Just like moving to New York and becoming Tony Stark’s assistant. “I’m always up early, mama. You know that.”

“Don’t you sass me, Lauren Guillemin. Just because you work for that Stark man doesn’t mean you’re in high cotton!”

She flinched at the harshness in her mother’s tone.

It was always the same. Nothing was ever good enough for Magnolia Annandale. This was especially true of the daughter who had left home after being left at the altar by the first man she’d ever loved. According to Magnolia, it would have been better form to stay in Greensville, suck it up, and continue on with grace and poise rather than running away from the problem.

Lauren hadn’t been able to do that. “Yes, ma’am,” she said, even though she didn’t want to. “Is there somethin’ you need, mama?”

“Well, I just had to call and tell you the news, Lauren. I couldn’t believe it when Mary Ann Dalton, bless her heart, blurted it out at the grocers just plum full of herself.”

“Mama, you can’t let Miss Mary Ann get to you like that. You know she’s just tryin’ to wind you up,” Lauren sighed softly. Would it never end? Both the call and continuously being drawn back into the drama.

“Not this time! You’ll never guess what she told me. Never. Not in a million years.”

“Then I guess you’d best tell me.”

Her mother huffed an annoyed sound when Lauren refused to play her game. “George left the little hussy he took up with and has come back to town. Apparently, he’s been asking about you!”

Lauren’s legs gave out, and she sat hard on a bar stool. “No, mama.”

“Yes! Now, Lauren, you just pack up and come on home. Our annual Fourth of July party is in a few days. We can have you fixed up and turnin’ heads before he comes back.”

“No, mama, you don’t understand.” She couldn’t go back, didn’t want to. Would never take up with George again after all he’d done. The lying, cheating bastard could go straight to hell as far as she was concerned. “I have no desire to take George back. I’m happy here.”

“Well, shut my mouth. Happy? Lauren Guillemin! Have you gone and lost what little good sense the Lord put in your head? It’s high time you settled down with a nice fella, and George Montgomery is a perfectly acceptable candidate!”

“For a lying, cheatin', scallywag! No, mama! I have no desire to get back with George. And besides, I’m… I’m seein’ someone.” The words were out before Lauren could stop them. She deflated and slapped a hand to her face. It took serious willpower to muffle a defeated groan. How stupid could she be?

“What? Why I do declare! Lauren Guillemin, if you’re fibbin’ to your mother…”

“No! Of course I’m not!” But she so was. What the hell am I doing?

“Well, then. You’d best be bringin’ this… fellow of yours along when you come home for the Fourth. Your Daddy is gonna want to make sure he’s right for you.”

“Like he made sure George was right for me?”

“Watch it, young lady! You’re Daddy has always put you girls first. Don’t you go back talkin’ your father now.”

Lauren made an affirmative grunt, sending her mother into a petulant round of fluttering, disgruntled sighs, and melancholy moaning before she finally asked the dreaded question.

“Just what is the name of this mystery man you’ll be bringin’ home?”

“He’s…” Lauren hesitated, frantically searching for a way out of her blunder.

She could ask Bucky.

He was her friend and would gladly help her out without expecting anything in return. He may tease her, but he’d do it and likely keep her sane while she was in Greensville. Yes, that would work.

Just as she was about to say his name, a voice whispered in her ear, “Loki.”

Lauren nearly dropped her phone she jumped so hard. “Loki!?” she yelped, spinning around to find the man looming large and crowding her space.

“Loki? What kind of name is Loki? Is he foreign?” Magnolia asked.

Oh crap… She was in so much trouble, but it was too late to correct it now. “He’s… yes. He’s… not from around here.” Staring up at the man, Lauren swallowed thickly for his eyes were wicked and filled with mischief; those of the dark God he’d once claimed to be. “Mama, I have to go. I’ll see you soon.” She hung up on her mother’s startled protest. “Loki? What are you doing skulkin’ around the tower at this hour?”

“While I do not skulk, I do believe I just rescued a fair damsel in distress. My work for the week is done. When do we leave, darling?” he asked, his smile growing.

“We?”

His hand ghosted across her shoulder, a caress which bespoke familiarity.

She fought down a shiver of pleasure.

“Why, Lauren, my sweet. Have you forgotten me so soon? Am I not your one true love? Are you not taking me home to meet your family? I’m crushed,” he bemoaned, placing a hand on his heart.

“You lay it on any thicker, and you will be, sir,” Lauren said, pushing to her feet and past him only to have her wrist captured.

Tugging her to his chest, Loki peered down into her eyes, his grin returning. “Don’t run off, darling. There are plans and preparations to be made.”

“I don’t know what you are talkin’ about.”

“Ah, sweet, naïve, Lauren,” he crooned.

Why did his voice always do that to her? With each spoken word it dropped, deepened. Made her think dangerous, wicked thoughts about the man with the sinful smile and devil eyes. Eyes which promised nights of passion and pleasure unimaginable. He could make her body ache with nothing more than a glance from behind those long lashes.

Not that she would ever get the chance to act on such longings as he had never shown the slightest interest in her. Though she was practically head-over-heels for him. “I am not naïve, Loki. No matter what you think.”

“You, sweet Lauren, are the one who just announced me as yours. Should we not be speaking of this stunning change in our… hm, relationship?” He rolled the ‘R’ in relationship.

Lauren ignored the flutter it caused in her belly. “You are the one who surprised me into blurtin’ your name! Whatever were you about, eavesdroppin’ on a lady’s conversation? Which, in case you didn’t know, is considered rude on this world.”

“Oh, Lauren. I was witness to so many interesting things this morning. This call of yours. The display you put on. Why, whatever do you call that intriguing bit of contorting you were doing?”

She reeled back in shock as far as his hold would let her, the colour draining from her face. “You… you watched?” Mortified, Lauren looked away.

Long, elegant fingers caressed over her chin and along her jaw. He cupped her cheek, turned her head, and drew her gaze back to his. There was a frown on his face and concern in his eyes.

Loki had what she liked to call quick change eyes. They ran the gamut from blue to green depending on his clothing colour. Yet, they were always intense. Piercing. Seeming to see directly through her. This close, barely a hair’s breadth between them, Lauren found them to be a blue so vibrant it called to mind the endless vista of a clear summer sky. The blue went on forever.

“Forgive me, Lady Lauren for teasing. You are as one blessed by Freya and Bragi in your movements. There is beauty and magic, poetry and eloquence in what you do. I have never seen anything so…” He shook his head. “It was… breathtaking. I simply could not look away.”

Oh… oh, well…oh my. Lauren was at a loss, and it must have shown on her face for he smiled. But it wasn’t his smug grin. It was, dare she say, tender? Sweet and kind.

“You should not hide such magnificence from the world, my dear.”

“I… I, um…” She hadn’t um’d in front of a man in years.

“You what, darling?”

Taking a deep breath, hoping to steady herself, her nose filled with his scent instead. She didn’t think it was artificial. Not that scent. Not with how it wrapped around her senses. Fire laced it, smoke and pine logs. Heat and dark, sensual musk. Her hand grasped still by his, opened to lay against his chest. She could feel the steady beat of his heart beneath it.

Lauren fought for every bit of southern charm she could muster and fluttered her lashes. When in doubt… flirt. “Why, Loki. I believe that’s the nicest thing you’ve ever said to me. Aren’t you just a peach.”

“If this was the nicest compliment I have given you, then I have been most lacking in my duty as a gentleman.” His lips twitched, but his smile didn’t change. His eyes, however, darkened. “I will have to remedy that.” His hand slid from her wrist to her fingers, his thumb pressing into her palm.

She nearly ‘eeped’ in surprise when he brought her knuckles to his lips. Warm and oh so soft, they pressed against her skin.

She sighed, “Don’t that just take the cake.” Utterly astounded by his action, twins spots of red burned to life in her cheeks.

“Mmm, darling. You will never fool your family that way.” Turning her hand over, he kissed the center of her palm. The tip of each finger. Her wrist.

“Loki…” His name came on a thready breath.

“Yes, my sweet?”

“What are you doin’?”

“Preparing you.”

“For what?!” Lauren squeaked when his free hand wrapped her waist and stroked up her spine.

His hand continued up, closed around her ponytail, and tugged her chin up. His eyes dropped to her bared throat. His lips soon followed. “You cannot expect your family to believe your ruse if every time I touch you, you leap from your skin. I'm… of a tactile nature. I like to touch. You must get used to it. Relax, my Lauren.” 

He spoke her name, and his lips brushed the wildly beating pulse in her throat.

“Oh… my… stars!” Should she feel such pleasure in a barely there kiss?

“That’s it, darling,” he said, pulling her flush to his body. Releasing her fingers, Loki encouraged her arm to wrap around his neck.

She tangled her fingers in his hair. This is a bad idea. Terrible. Horrible. Oh! Is that his tongue? Lashes fluttering, she closed her eyes as her unoccupied hand found its way to his waist.

Lips pressed to her jaw. His tongue flicked over her skin.

Lauren sighed and melted. “That’s… so nice.” She could feel the vibration in his chest when he chuckled. God that’s a wicked sound.

“What the fuck are you doing?”

Lauren jerked back but went nowhere, Loki’s arms like steel. “Bucky. It’s not what it looks like. I mean, well, yes; I suppose it is, but not for the reason you… oh, dang it all! Loki let go!”

“But I wasn’t done, my love.”

She looked sharply at the professed god and could practically hear Bucky’s teeth grind together. “Loki.”

A long-suffering sigh preceded the slackening of his arms. “If I must.” But he didn’t completely let go, one large palm continuing to span her waist.

“Dollface, I think you’d best come over here and explain this,” Bucky said, patting the back of the couch he was leaning against.

“What, you don’t trust me, Tin Man?”

“Loki!” Lauren gasped. “That was rude.”

“Was it? How unfortunate.”

Lauren rolled her eyes and elbowed him in the ribs, forcing Loki to let go. They were looking at each other like alpha wolves and she a tasty morsel. “I did somethin’ stupid, Bucky.”

“I can see that.”

“James Buchanan Barnes! That isn’t what I meant! If y’all are just going to be rude and snipe at each other, I’m going to go ask Steve for help and leave you to your peein’ contest!” Eyeing Bucky, she waited for his gaze to flicker to her. When it did, he nodded, and she breathed a sigh of relief. “My mama called.”

“Damn, Lauren. You alright?”

She gave an indecisive shrug. “It is what it is.”

Bucky had once had the misfortune of walking in on her when she was having a particularly nasty fight with her mother via phone. Tears had gathered on her lashes, but Lauren refused to let them fall until she was finished. Then, they’d poured out along with her sad, sob story about overbearing mamas and cheating exes. Her mother just couldn’t believe Lauren hadn’t done something to drive her fiancé away.

Bucky had been so very kind. It was where their friendship had begun. At times, he was the big brother she’d never had. He could also be a mighty pain in the petunia.

“Are you saying your mother always speaks so to you?”

Glancing at Loki, she gave a sharp nod.

His eyes went cold.

Cold enough to make her shiver. “It’s fine, Loki.”

“Like hell it is! Is this typical of Midgardian parents?”

“No, it ain’t,” Bucky said, eyeing the God of Mischief curiously.

“Loki.” Lauren patted his chest to calm him down.

His hand closed over hers, trapping it against his heart.

“It’s nothing I’m not used to, peaches.”

“It is still not right. Frigga may not have been my mother, but she still treated me as her son. With kindness and care.” His eyes changed again, turned troubled.

“Don’t let it ruffle your feathers. You’ll never make it through the Fourth if you do.” She wasn’t sure when she’d decide to go along with this charade, he just seemed so hell-bent on helping. It wasn’t like she didn’t know he meant nothing by his actions. He wasn’t interested in her seriously, just a spur of the moment offer. Perhaps a little trick to see him freed from the confines of the tower. Still, he’d offered, and she was accepting.

Turning to Bucky, Lauren sighed. “George is back in town. I’m expected to come home and take back up with him.”

“Fuck! You ain’t going back there alone.” Bucky stalked toward her. The murder strut all the women swooned over evident.

She could admire the stride, even if she didn’t covet the man.

“No. Lauren is not,” Loki stated with finality.

Again the two men eyed each other like they were fixin’ to scrap, and Lauren stamped her foot. “Y’all just cut that out now. I’m a big girl, and this is my family. I’ve been dealin’ with mama for twenty-six years. I’m sure I’ll be dealin’ with her for another chunk of time.”

“Still, Gilli. She wants you back with that asshole.”

“Bucky! You promised!”

Bucky flinched. “Sorry, doll.”

“Gilli?” Loki asked, a smile twitching his lips.

Scrubbing her hands over her face, Lauren groaned. “Guillemin. It’s my middle name. We’re off topic here fellas. Mama wants me home. Wants me back with…”

“The turd fucker?”

“James!”

“It’s true!” His face showed zero remorse.

Clenching her jaw, Lauren shook her head. “Perhaps it was fortuitous that Loki made the… offer to stand as my beau when I made the mistake of lyin’ to her before I could ask you. I think you’d be a bit brusque for mama to handle.”

Bucky chuckled and snagged her hand to tug her away from Loki, spun her once, and dipped her back over his arm. There he pressed a smacking kiss to her lips. “I’d think you’d want a little shock and awe factor.”

“I want her off my back, Bucky. Not in a grave.”

“So, you chose the Puny God instead?”

“I resent that implication. You were not even present at the time of its inception,” Loki said harshly. His face was hard, anger simmering in his eyes as he turned away.

Unable to help herself, Lauren slipped from Bucky’s grasp and moved toward Loki. She’d always had a soft spot for the brooding, dark character in novels or movies.

The once god fit that bill a bit too well.

“Loki?” She flinched when his eyes flashed her way and laid a hand on his arm. She stroked the sleeve of his light green button-down shirt.

He’d taken to wearing more Midgardian styles, and she thought he looked dashing in the elegant cut of his shirt and dark slacks. He dressed like a businessman more than an Avenger.

“Bucky’s just teasin’, ain’t that right, hun?”

“Sure.”

“That was convincin',” Lauren scoffed, curling her hand around Loki’s elbow. Turning to him, she found softer eyes and smiled. “I appreciate your help in this. My mama can be… difficult.”

His hand closed over hers. “I am yours for as long as you wish it.”

She ignored the snort from Bucky. “Why thank you, kind sir. I do believe you will make a fine southern gentleman, even if you’re not southern. Least you ain’t-a yank.”

“Hey!”

A smirk flashed at Bucky’s outburst. Loki’s signature one which made him look like a God of Mischief should.

“I need to get going. Breakfast, shower, all that. We’ll talk later?” Lauren asked.

“Whenever you wish, fair maiden. Unless you need assistance with the washing of your back?”

“Loki!” Her face flamed. “Do go on!”

“Is that a yes?”

“No!”

“Ah. You say things, darling, that I often assume mean others,” Loki laughed.

Sputtering, Lauren detangled herself from his clinging hands. “You’re a wolf in sheep’s clothin', I just know it! Away with you.” Flicking her wrist, she shooed him off.

“What a queen you would make. You have the royal to peasant act down pat.”

“Well, aren’t you just chugged full of yourself. One would think you’d never kissed a girl before. It’s gone straight your head.” Shaking hers, Lauren stalked away.

Loki materialized in front of her, spoiling her exit. “I technically didn’t kiss you, darling. Is that what you were aiming for with your comment?” His hands were, again, in her hair and on her back.

Before she could say otherwise, his lips descended, and her brain stalled. A soft glide. Tender press. Gentle coaxing kiss. She moaned without meaning to.

Jerking back, Lauren’s fingers flew to her lips. “Loki?”

“Darling?”

“Why?”

“Why not?” He tucked a stray strand of hair back behind her ear.

“Oh. Ain’t that the berries.” Without another word, Lauren rushed from the room.

***

“Hm,” Loki hummed. “I do wish she’d speak plain English. I do not know what that means.”

Clearing his throat, Bucky called attention to himself. “You best not be playing with her.”

“And if I am?”

“You’ll have the whole team down on your head.”

They exchanged another round of stares before Loki nodded. “I am not, as you say, playing. Though this opportunity has afforded me a, hm, head start in my pursuit.” He could simply be with Lauren. There would not be the messy wooing to do.

“Buddy, if you think you ain’t going to have to work for that woman…” Bucky laughed. “Maybe I’ll just let you muddle through on your own.”

Loki ignored the jibe. “Tell me of this George.”

“He’s a turd fucker. Plain and simple.”

“Again you astound me with your eloquence and poetic nature, Sergeant Barnes. How do you do it?”

“Fuck you.”

“I’d rather not.”

Silent staring commenced once more before the Winter Soldier snorted. “I’ll give you the high points. The rest, you ask Lauren.”

“Agreed.”

“George is some big shot southerner. Banking or some such shit. Lauren was, for lack of a better word, groomed for him. Her parents and his had it all arranged, but he left her at the altar. Fucker was screwing some other broad.”

“Explain left at the altar.” It was not a term Loki was familiar with.

Bucky blinked, the surprise clear on his face before he motioned for Loki to join him on the couches.

Sitting facing the former Winter Soldier, Loki picked a coaster up off the side table. He morphed it lazily from one form to the next, a thing he did when he wished to busy his hands. It was an absent gesture. It meant nothing. Perhaps he did it more when he was anxious, but he wasn’t about to admit to it.

“You familiar with our wedding customs?” Bucky asked.

“Bride. Groom. Religious house. Vows exchanged before your singular god. Celebration.” He waved his unoccupied hand in the air.

“Essentially, yeah. Getting left at the alter basically means, on the day of her wedding, Lauren was at the church, waiting to exchange vows with the fat-head, only he never showed. Ran off with his side piece. Left her to deal with the shit storm and fallout.”

The coaster, now a golden ball, froze as Loki did. “He did not break it off? Simply left her on the day of their vows?”

“Yeah. Fucker.”

“And this is who her family demands she return to?” Loki was aware how his grip on the coaster had tightened, he didn’t realize how much until the item in his hand shattered and fell to the ground. Jerking to his feet, he paced. “Dishonorable miscreants! How dare they force this upon her. What plebeian brain decided such actions were acceptable?”

A dark chuckle escaped Bucky and Loki turned on him.

“You find this amusing do you?”

“Not this. You. You really do have a thing for her. I never would have guessed.” Wry amusement filled the Sergeant’s face.

Sniffing disdainfully, Loki stalked to the window’s and glared out at the city. “What of it?”

Bucky appeared silently at his side. “It’s good. She deserves someone who’ll treat her right. I wouldn’t have thought that would be you, but I see the way you look at her.”

“Hm.” Loki glanced Bucky’s way. “I am the last one you would want with her, is that not correct?”

Bucky studied him for a long moment. “All I know of you is what the others have said. You and I, we don't have the history. I’m not biased like Nat. I may give you what for, but I know you’ve got our backs out there. Proved it a couple times now. So, you do right by Lauren, and I’ll have your back in this.”

Shocked, Loki could only stare for a moment before he regained his composure. Clearing his throat, the former god nodded. “On Asgard, if one were to do to a woman what was done to Lauren, the males of her house would be expected to hunt him down.”

“Yeah? Then what?” asked Bucky.

An evil chuckle rumbled in Loki’s chest. “Then the fun would begin.”

Next Chapter

[lostcxnnections]

Stealing the Spotlight | Curtis & Felix

Starter Call! | @fiendishxfraud

There were two times where Christoph could consider himself at his most vulnerable — and it was always during these times that the cameras were always fixed on him, the spotlights seemed harsher. But no, not we aren’t talking about the flashes of the paparazzi when he exits the stage, or when he’s seen at public photoshoots. No — these were the hidden cameras held by individuals who dared to lurk in the shadows, taking pictures that were never to be publicized, hoping to capture that perfect and pivotal moment. He supposed it was his own fault for daring to use an alter ego at all; after all, it was those sorts of things — those masks that artists dared to wear — that led to the ever-insatiable manhunt to find out exactly who was behind it. Once you took off his makeup and extravagant costume, who exactly was Christoph? When you stripped away the electric green, who was he in the everyday? What did he do with his life? Was he just as fantastic and exciting as the Christoph fans knew and loved? Or was he somehow… mediocre? A let-down? Was the reason he created the persona of Christoph in order to compensate for something he lacked in the everyday?

Curtis… certainly believed so. Honestly, beneath the makeup and the voice, the stage presence that took hours to hype himself up for… the boy behind the performer was… hardly anything to really look at. He was a boater boy who talked far too much and had no idea when to stop rambling, despite how painfully obvious it was that the other stopped becoming interested in what he was talking about a long while ago. He was a boy who frequently misplaced his things and forgot about them so much that even his Pokemon couldn’t be an exception to this rule — and with how often he traveled, it was frankly a miracle that all of his Pokemon were in one piece nowadays.

Past the mask and past the names, Christoph… truly wasn’t interesting at all — and he could only ever fear that this revelation would… leave his fans disappointed.

He supposed this, above all, was why he chose to hide himself nowadays; yes, certainly, in his youth, he had had his reasons — he needed to protect his true identity from the likes of stalkers and predators who would only wish to harm him, but nowadays? Nowadays, his reasons have… changed. Christoph has become a persona by which Curtis could integrate his confidence; it became habitual, at that point. The stage and the crowd — and especially the makeup and the look — was what he associated with pride, confidence, a bright smile and a beaming attitude; he practically could only ever be confident under the guise of Christoph — only ever able to be calm and collected with his hair styled up and his makeup so extravagant he couldn’t even recognize himself.

Underneath it all, past the crowd and past the disguise, he could no longer associate himself with those things, and he became the simple, bumbling, nervous mess who stuttered and rambled and was shy beyond compare. At this point in his career, he felt it necessary to do whatever he could to disallow anybody from finding out the truth.

Anything for his fans, right?

This transition only ever occurred in two points in his life — one, where he would begin his transformation into Christoph; this was usually met with makeup artist behind dressing room doors that made it near-impossible for outside forces to properly spy on and find out who was the boy beneath the performing artist. In this moment, he was not worried — albeit, there were a few moments and spans of time where this did not apply; rather, he would be in his hotel room and change then before going en-route to the performance hall where the show would take place; after all, he’d been under the guise of Christoph for well over seven years now; he had learned, somewhere along the way, how to do the makeup himself.

This, however, was not one of those times, leaving his only window of vulnerability to be left in the aftershow, when the stage lights dimmed and the crowd began to funnel out. It was far past into the early morning by then — it always was; after all, the shows hardly ever let out earlier than midnight, and after the show would end, there would often be individuals who’d wish to take his autograph, or talk with him for a brief moment. And by the time the set was taken down, and the decorations were stowed away; by the time security had made sure that the crowd was long gone… the hours had bled into 4 AM, 5 AM… soon the morning sun would be the harbinger of daybreak, signaling tomorrow was finally today. It was only here, after security and managers and staff had all left that Christoph would finally choose to shed his disguise — after unwinding in the resolution that the show was finally over, and he could return to his own version of… normalcy, if only for a little while.

And it was here in these early daylight hours that Christoph would reach this pivotal moment — this secondary window by which he would find himself most exposed. After all, it was only him — no staff, no managers — only his own assurance and own trust in the solitude he’d then surrounded himself in that the dressing room he’d found so much comfort in as a safe haven between acts was… secure enough to shed his familiar disguise.

Thus, he did. It was the process of which that took several minutes — hovering over the bathroom sink to wipe away the excess makeup and wash and blow dry his hair back to its usual low-hanging volume. From there, it was only a matter of returning back into his familiar fisherman’s clothes and boater hat (because, truly, past the flashy outfits, he only really had one style to call his own). He then took his small companion, Powder, to hold onto his pant leg as the little creature normally did, finally ready to depart the old set where, only hours ago, it was a bustle of loud music and energy, now quieted down and down such that the ticking of a clock was audible.

But that’s just show business, isn’t it?

Though he usually is familiar with a quiet night met with a quiet escapade back to his hotel — with the notion that nobody would really dare approach him, now that he appeared to be a commoner among the masses — and certainly, nobody did.

However, instead, Curtis was alerted by his small elephant companion, as the Phanpy tooted out a concerned trumpet for the dressing room they’d left moments before — and as Curtis turned around, he was met with the back end of a young figure in a black hoodie, spots of his golden blond hair visible from the hood, poking and prodding about the recently-abandoned dressing room where, only moments before, Curtis himself had shed his Christoph persona.

Curtis now found himself in a curious position. Clearly, the individual (who, after observing for a moment, Curtis surmised was a male) was looking about the dressing room for any remnants of Christoph, unable to understand then that the boy had disappeared into the Curtis that was watching him from afar. A pit formed in Curtis’s stomach then — what… if some telltale sign was left in that dressing room there? What if there was some evidence left behind of Curtis’s presence; of Christoph’s alter ego? He felt heat rush to his face, at a crossroads to either leave as quickly as possible so that the blond boy would not see him, or… oversee the investigation the other was conducting, simply to… smokescreen it, and derail him from any true findings.

Powder, however, seemed to already make up his own mind — the friendly little baby Phanpy already hobbling and stomping up to the new face he wished to call a friend, and Curtis squeaked out to him in a hushed tone, “Powder, no —! Get back here…!” He cupped his hands over his mouth the moment those words were uttered, as the boy he watched from afar stirred at the noise. Curtis bit down on his lip, having to quickly change his strategy.

He awkwardly stepped out before the other boy, speaking haltingly, “Hey…! Uh, are… are you… looking for him too? Y’know… Christoph?”