#from years and years. you claim I said things about being willing to go to support classes at the big public high school in iep meetings.

[rose-pearls]

The perils of love

Summary: being in love with Luke seemed to be a bad idea as you realise that he doesn't seem to be interested. But as you get ready to move on from love entirely your father decides to appear and two people fall for you.

Main Taglist : @avada-kedavra-bitch-187, @nyx2021, @thestarspangledcaptain, @kmc1989 (open)

Part 2

Luke Castellan, everyone knew him at camp either for his sword skills or just his kind smiles for every camper that walked into the Hermes cabin. You had fallen for him the moment you met him, sweet brown eyes and a kind smile had you into a puddle. 

You had been twelve, wandering around the Hermes cabin, waiting desperately for your parent to claim you but the days went by, and you still were there. The little girls crush however didn’t went by but grew stronger every day you saw the boy who slowly turned into a man that had all the girls going crazy over him.  

He had been kind to you but there was always a look that you couldn’t decipher, until today that was.

“So, where is your number one fan Luke?”, you hear Chris say in a teasing tone and after a moment you hear Chris say your name, as if to make it clear it was you. 

“I don’t know and frankly I don’t have the time to care right now,” Luke says after letting out a sigh, but you felt your chest tighten at the words. Chris snorts at the words and you don’t expect what he says next.

“You know that there is a betting pool as to when the both of you are going to date,” you don’t know how Luke reacts, as you are practically one with the wall, but you hear him snort.

“Please, she is a sweet girl, but I would never date her. I don’t know how to explain it but sometimes she can just be a little-”, he seems to be trying to find his words and as you wait for it you feel tears brimming in your eyes at his previous statement.

“Clingy? I mean she is practically everywhere you are.”, the words are like a bullet to your heart, particularly when you hear Luke agree.

“I know right, I mean I know that she is still part of the Hermes cabin as she hasn’t been claimed yet but still,” you try to blink the tears away, not willing to cry as you hear the words being said by the man you had always looked up to. 

“Maybe she will never be claimed, I mean after three years,” Chris says, and you can hear the grimace in his voice, he says it with such carelessness as if you haven’t been thinking about the same thing every night for the past three years, wondering what was wrong with you.

“We’ll see what happens I guess, but maybe it would be good for her to be in another cabin,” Luke says, he looks like he doesn’t want to talk about it anymore, but Chris adds one last phrase to their conversation.

“Or better for you,” there is a quiet hum of agreement and that is the only thing you need before leaving the cabin quietly, the book that you had come for quickly forgotten.

You knew it was pitiful, the fact that they all seemed to know that you liked the Hermes boy and that they all pitied you for it. Because in the end the boy would never go for you, he had a hundred girls waiting for him and yet here you were hoping for the impossible.

Tears are brimming in your eyes, but you quickly brush them away, not wanting to cry after what had happened, you needed to be strong now. It was time for you to get over that stupid crush and get on with your life, maybe if you trained more your godly parent would finally recognize you and claim you.

“What are you doing here all alone?”, you suddenly hear someone say behind you and you turn around to find Annabeth looking at you with worried eyes.

“Thinking, the lake always seems to sooth me,” you say, the words coming a bit weaker than you intended them too. The girl simply nods at your words before sitting down next to you.

“What about you?”, you quietly ask her, and she lets out a sigh.

“Needed to get out a little bit, I can only strategise so much before going crazy,” she says with a small smile, and you can’t help but smile at her words.

“I’m sure your strategy will be incredible, as always,” you tell her and she simply nods, looking too far into her thoughts.

“Chiron is thinking of splitting up the Hermes cabin,” she suddenly says, and you turn to look at her in surprise.

“Really? How so?”, you can’t help but ask, wondering if this is maybe your chance to get a bit away from a certain Hermes boy.

“He thinks that the unclaimed children and children of minor gods should get the chance to chose in which team they want to be,” she looks conflicted, and you can understand why, this could mean less people for the blue team, her team.

“It seems like a kind gesture,” you can’t help but say and Annabeth nods in agreement.

“It is, although he could’ve said it sooner, now we all need to find a different strategy and we are going crazy with figuring out who will be on our team,” she seems overwhelmed, and you can’t help but put your hand on her shoulder trying to calm her down.

“Hey, calm down it will all be alright,” you tell her, and she takes a deep breath before slowly nodding in agreement.

“I know, I just don’t want to lose,” she says with a pout, and you can finally see the twelve-year-old she really is, that childlike excitement at the thought of capture the flag.

The both of you are deep in thought before her voice breaks the silence, her voice small as she talks.

“Which team are you choosing?”, it was probably a valid question to ask, you were unclaimed so you could technically choose which team to be on, but you just couldn’t get the previous conversation you had heard out of your head.

“The fact that you aren’t saying anything makes me think that you are going to go on the red team,” it seems like she is trying to tease you but there is some sort of hurt woven into her words.

“Don’t take it personally,” you can’t help but say, as much as you would’ve liked staying on the blue team you just couldn’t bear to be that close to Luke after what you had heard. You didn’t know what you would be doing tonight as you were sleeping in the same cabin as always, but he wouldn’t pay attention to you not unless you went to him.

“Did something happened with Luke?”, the carefully asked question makes you look at Annabeth with wide eyes, she had an understanding look in her eyes and you couldn’t help but curse the fact that she was Athena’s daughter.

“Nothing happened, I just realised that maybe I should get to know other people and that maybe it would get me out of my comfort zone,” there are a lot of things unsaid, Annabeth knows it too. Luckily, she doesn’t know of the conversation you had heard, or the fact that the words had cut you deeper than you could’ve ever thought they would. 

“You should probably tell Chiron and the red team, I heard that they were planning a strategy evening to talk about what they were going to do tomorrow,” you try to find anger in Annabeth’s eyes but there is only understanding and a lingering sadness that seems to disappear as you get up.

“Good idea, I will be doing that right now. Good luck on the strategy and don’t drive yourself crazy Annabeth you will do great,” you tell her, and a sweet smile appears on her lips as she nods slowly making you smile at her.

“Don’t be a stranger!”, she yells as you are about to leave, and you turn around to smile at her.

“I won’t!”, she looks reassured at the words before turning back to the water, leaving you to go towards Chiron office. 

--

“A little birdie told me you were on the red team,” you hear someone say and turn around to find Clarisse smirking at you.

“Would that little birdie be Chiron?”, you ask, feeling breathless after trying to stab the dummy about a hundredth time with your sword.

“I don’t reveal my sources princess,” she says with a smirk while you feel your cheeks heat up, you tell yourself it’s because of the work out you just did.

“We have a meeting tonight, after dinner at the Ares cabin,” she says while looking around the rink before picking up a sword.

“I’ll be there,” you tell her, expecting the girl to leave you alone but she just comes closer to you.

“After that there is a movie night and a sleepover, one of the Aphrodite kids managed to convince Chiron to allow it,” the words leave you confused for a moment, how would you even have a movie night with all these people.

“Only a few people are invited for that part,” she clarifies, and you feel breathless at the sight of her warm brown eyes, seemingly forgetting about other brown eyes.

“How come I am invited?”, you can’t help but ask, wondering why the Ares girl suddenly seemed sweet to you when she was practically attacking anyone else. 

“Don’t ask too many questions or you’ll be uninvited princess,” the nickname rolls of her tongue in a way that makes your cheeks go red, once again.

“Fine I’ll stop asking questions and just come with my pajama’s,” you tell her, and a satisfied grin makes his way on her lips.

“Good, now back to serious stuff you were holding your sword the wrong way,” she says like it’s a fact, as if she was pointing out that the sky was blue.

“No, I wasn’t!”, you can’t help but say looking at her with wide eyes.

“Yes, it is, let me help you fix it. I need the best people on my team after all,” you get ready to object but as you feel her get behind you putting her hand over yours on the sword to put your hand correctly you find yourself speechless.

The next hour is spent fighting against each other, but you can’t stop laughing as Clarisse tells you stories of her siblings to try and distract you, which ultimately works as you often end up on your ass. You don’t even seem to notice another pair of brown eyes looking at you, farther away, brows furrowed as he looks at the scene in front of him.

--

“Welcome to the exclusive sleepover,” you hear a soft voice say and you turn around to find Silena smiling kindly at you, two glasses in her hands before giving one to you.

“Thank you, guess they really were exclusive as I had never heard of them before,” you say, feeling a bit nervous as you look around the room only to find Clarisse in a heated discussion with another Aphrodite girl.

“Clarisse only invites people that she trusts or likes, which isn’t many, but she does cares for them,” Silena smiles at the Ares girl in front of you and you can’t help but do the same, Clarisse always seemed to be angry but in that moment, she seemed far more softer.

“I’m glad she trusts me,” you say, somehow missing the look Silena gives you, a look of confusion as you seem to have missed her clue on Clarisse liking you.

Clarisse had always been discrete about it, but Silena had caught her looking at you far too often to not know about it. Her fingers always seemed to itch when you were sword fighting, as if she was itching to get your posture right and to be able to touch you even for just a few seconds. You only had eyes for the Castellan boy, or it seemed that way until yesterday when Chiron told them that you would be on their team. Silena didn’t ask much of her mother but in that moment, she couldn’t help but ask her mother for help to get the both of you together. Clarisse deserved her happy ending and you deserved someone who would love you for who you were.

She gets woken from her thoughts as she hears Clarisse talking to you, there is a nervousness in her gestures as she pushes her hair behind her ear, but you don’t seem to realize it as you recount a story. Silena quietly gets up from her spot, and sends and encouraging look towards Clarisse, who seems a bit more at ease now. 

--

Capture the flag is a mess, more than the last time but you try not to let your mind wander too long. A boy that you think is from the Hephaestus cabin runs towards you and you sigh in annoyance before starting to fight against him, quickly ‘killing’ him and making him surrender. 

You had been tasked with trying to find the blue flag, but it seemed as if Annabeth had found a really good spot this time, and she had put more people in defense. After a while you wondered if you had the wrong hunch until you saw something blue flickering in the reflection of your sword. As you turned to look behind you, you saw the blue flag but weirdly there was no one around it.

“This feels like a trap,” you can’t help but whisper under your breath as you try to hide behind the bushes but a blade against your neck makes you stop in your steps.

“Sorry, but I need to do this,” you hear someone say and you turn around to find a sheepish Percy looking at you.

“Hi Percy,” you say with a kind smile and the boy smiles back, looking reassured that you aren’t mad or swinging your sword at him.

“How are you doing?”, you can’t help but ask, you hadn’t seen him since he had been claimed by Poseidon, but the boy seemed healthy.

“Good, well as good as you can when you learn that your father is one of the big three’s and that your life will be a hellhole,” he says with a roll of his eyes, and you can’t help but snort.

“Still as sarcastic I see,” you can’t help but say while laughing and a sheepish grin forms itself on his lips.

“Can’t help it,” he says while shrugging his shoulders.

“It’s a shame you aren’t on our team,” he says quietly, and you smile softly, the two of you had talked a lot when he had arrived, and you felt close to him.

“Maybe next time,” you tell him and the boy smiles at the answer before asking you a question and the two of you talk for a moment before you hear a battle cry and see the red team suddenly making their way in the clearing, the blue team also appearing.

Percy and you look at each other with wide eyes before you take out your sword.

“If you don’t say anything about this, I won’t say anything,” Percy nods quickly and the both of you break away from the tree you were behind before joining your team as Percy joins his.

An Apollo girl comes running towards you, but you quickly manage to disarm her, others following behind her, but you are in such a haze that you don’t realize how close you are getting to the flag. That is until you are met with a familiar blade, Luke’s. 

The boy is looking at you, slightly out of breath from the fighting just like you.

“You can always abandon now sweetheart,” he says and can’t help but blush slightly at the familiar nickname. 

“No chance Castellan, give me your worst,” this seems to make the boy laugh before he quickly wields his swords, yours clashing against his in familiar movements. You had fought many times against Luke as he had taught you how to fight but you had a new trick up your sleeve that Clarisse had taught you. She had told you that his left leg was his weakness, a bruise that had never really fully recovered. 

So, when the opportunity presents itself, you wield your sword against his left leg, making sure not to hurt him too much. But as you hit the spot Luke winces in pain and his sword leaves his hand. You don’t think at that point and simply continue straight to the flag, whispering a soft ‘sorry’ as you go to the Hermes boy.

You manage to take the flag before seeing Percy coming towards you with his sword, you expect the hit, but he seems transfixed, looking at something above you. There is a loud silence, on a battlefield that was filled with battle cries just a second ago.

Chiron’s voice suddenly comes up, suddenly saying your name.

“Daughter of Zeus, king of the gods,” the rest of his words are lost as you look up, only to see the symbol of Zeus above your head, your father’s symbol.

You didn’t know how to feel, you had been waiting for so long but now that it was happening you just felt lost. Why was he claiming you right now?

“Congratulations! Seems like we are cousins now,” you suddenly hear Percy say, he has a bright smile on his lips, but there is also sadness in his eyes. It takes you a few seconds to understand why, you were now a child of the big three, which meant your life was about to be a hellhole as Percy had said.

“Always though there was something familiar between the two of us,” you try to say in a teasing tone, but it falls flat, Percy nodding in understanding.

As you turn around to look at the rest of the camp you see Luke looking at you with wide brown eyes, as if he was seeing you for the first time. You turn your gaze towards Clarisse who is looking at you with a proud smile and something else that you can’t quite understand.

There was surely a lot of trouble coming but not the one you were expecting, it would be far more complicated than monsters or a father that decided to appear after fifteen years. Matters of the heart were after all the most complicated of all, particularly between a daughter of Zeus, a daughter of Ares and a son of Hermes. 

[agendabymooner]

SOMETHING ANGELIC !!! CHARLES L. X FEM!READER (18+)

summary: she was so sweet but her ex should've known better than keeping her his dirty little secret. OR it was wrong to lust after her ex's teammate but charles leclerc was willing to give her everything.

content warning: smut under the cut (minors dni!), use of explicit language, tbh there's barely smut in there but charles is nasty as fuck so 🙃, ex!carlos sainz x pr manager!reader, hint of corruption kink (not really), p in v, unprotected sex (plz use protection), lowkey possessive!charles, i barely understand what i wrote tbh

note: i only post a lot of charles when he's a dad to the leclerc boys but god did i have some filthy thoughts about him tonight. enjoy xx

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it was wrong to lust for your ex’s teammate, but charles leclerc was determined to make her his and he made sure that she knew that.

a whole winter break was enough to move on, right? right. charles couldn’t give much shit about the time limit for a person to move on from their ex. 

not when he saw her throughout the first race week as she took long strides while she followed esteban ocon for the french driver’s media duties. charles used to see her in the ferrari area — being carlos’ sweet secret girlfriend and public relations manager. 

how carlos had managed to get away from his crimes of being seen with another woman in public while fucking his manager behind the scenes was something that charles would never understand— but the monégasque pitied the sweet woman for having to see her boyfriend play tonsil hockey with someone else.

she was angelic, having to put up with that kind of thing. and all charles wanted to do was to make her his— to somehow make her realize that she was worth more than what carlos had recognized her for. 

his green eyes nearly darkened when he saw her, sitting alone at the booth that the alpine drivers occupied for the night with a sad expression on her pretty face. four months of break away from carlos and she was still affected by the break up that occurred half a year ago. 

and her sadness was quickly swept aside when she saw charles taking a stride towards her direction, scooting over instinctively as the ferrari driver offered her a grateful smile and sat next to her. 

“i haven’t seen you for a while,” charles told her with a smile, “pierre was incredibly foul for not inviting you to any of our functions during the break.”

“ah- yeah,” she let out an apologetic smile, “i’ve been trying to adjust to my new place in nice. i figured if i was going to be working for alpine, i might as well live in france.”

“oh you moved? trés bonne,” charles nodded, earning a sheepish smile from her. he nearly melted at the sweetness on her reaction. god she was so fucking perfect. 

“it’s such a shame i don’t get to see you in the office anymore, though,” he shrugged. “ferrari lost an asset.” 

she snorted quietly, “hm, fred even said so. but you know— people come and go.” 

“it’s such a pitiful thing, though,” charles said, looking at her while they both drank, “you should’ve been my manager— you’d do more good with me.” 

“you’re right,” she drawled, now staring at his eyes as she playfully said, “you wouldn’t fuck me and i wouldn’t get emotionally attached.”

as if they were both in another universe, charles then chuckled darkly and boldly claimed, “i mean... i still would’ve fucked you— i just wouldn’t be stupid enough to let you go and treat you like a dirty little secret.” 

she saw how his pupils darkened as he spoke, feeling her legs absentmindedly closing and squirming. as if the floodgates had opened and arousal had gotten the best of her. 

“nobody knew about you and sainz but me, right? the amount of times i’ve had to turn a blind eye was insane— i almost thought i’d have to intervene because it was compromising his media duties,” charles admitted, “i wondered what kept you from getting him to move and do his job— it turns out he’s just fucking you in his motorhome. i’ve had to tell the social media manager that he’s just woken up from a nap.”

“he pretended that you’re not even worth the attention after his races because you’ve always been second best to him,” charles tutted.

she huffed, “there’s no need to rub it on my face—“

“—oh no, mon tresor, i’m not being a dickhead about it,” charles shook his head, placing his drink down on the table. 

the lights in the club were nothing but colourful strobes that didn’t even spot them, making it easier for him to get closer without anyone noticing and interrupting them. 

his breath fanned her ear as he whispered huskily, “i wouldn’t allow him to make you see yourself as second best, mon ange.”

“charles—“ she let out a breathless sigh, feeling his mouth leave open mouthed kisses on her skin. “this is so wron—“

“nothing’s wrong with this when we don’t work anymore, mon tresor,” he murmured. “there’s nothing more wrong than allowing your sweetness to get in the way of the things you so deserve.” 

“and you know how to show me the things i deserve?” she asked, almost innocently. god, was he about to cream in his pants if she continued to say shit like this. 

“you can demand the world and i’ll give you the universe,” charles watched her accept his offer as he smiled widely.

it was so wrong to lust after her ex’s teammate, but if charles leclerc was willing to give her everything then who was she to reject the offer? the monégasque was telling her to be greedy, and this was the best way to do it. 

she felt too overwhelmed. whether it was because of how charles treated her body or how he spoke so dirtily— she wasn’t sure. 

her mind was on an overdrive. all she could think about was him. his godlike figure, his prettiest eyes and his thick cock that continued to pound inside her cunt. 

she almost shook at his tone as he groaned delightfully right by her ear, “mon dieu, chéri, tu te sens si divin.” my god, darling, you feel so divine.

charles helped her prop herself up back on her knees as his hand guided her eyes towards the mirror in front of them, watching her eyes glistening as much as her cunt did in pleasure.

he then murmured, “do you see yourself, sweetheart? you look so pretty.”

she couldn’t even find herself to look when all she’s thinking about was the cock that stuffed her from behind, a strangled whine escaping her throat as she urged him to move. 

“i wish carlos was here to see this,” he chuckled deeply, his fingers pinching her hardened nipple before trailing down her clit to stimulate her even more. she let out a loud whimper, now feeling overwhelmed by his words and his actions as he fucked her once more. “so he knows not to treat you like you’re not worth bragging about.” 

“but i guess he had a reason to keep you a secret, hm?” he taunted her, rocking his hips against her as he bottomed out inside her. “because he knew that once you’re out in the world you’d be corrupted by some men. he was so selfish that he thought his sweet innocent girlfriend shouldn’t be corrupted by anyone but him.” 

“oh how wrong he was,” charles moaned, his thrusts turning rough and fast as he growled. “you know you deserve better than being a dirty little secret, no?” he tapped her face lightly with his palm as he said, “answer me, mon ange.”

“o- oh- yes,” she cried out, “yes, yes—“

“i can give you everything, mon tresor,” he murmured, “everything that he couldn’t give you.” 

“fuck, charles! please,” she mewled, looking behind her with pleading eyes as she begged desperately, “want to cum again, charles please~”

“gonna cum in this pussy of yours, mon ange—“

“please, cum inside me,” she moaned aloud, her desperation echoing around the suite as well as the skins slapping against each other. “please pleaseeee~ just wan’ to cum. god! feel so full, fuck!”

“gonna cum inside you, and make you mine,” he growled quietly, nibbling on her skin as she whined and mewled. her walls clenched at the thought as he chuckled, “oh? you want that, hm? you want me to make this pussy mine?” 

“yes! fuck-“ she exclaimed, her body convulsing while she whined, “want you to own me, charles. wanna be stuffed full by you only, charles please~”

“you could’ve asked me a long time ago, mon tresor,” his thrusts turned hard and slower as he came inside her, feeling her clench around his cock as they reached their highs. 

she was too fucked out and full, content at the feeling of his cock inside of her while feeling nothing but happiness being in his arms. 

charles couldn’t help but grin widely at the sight of her limped body and the dazed expression on her face. he couldn’t find himself to think about his teammate when this sweet woman was finally his.

he knew that he could do so much better treating her like a queen that she was than carlos would ever do. 

everything that her ex never gave her— charles would be more than willing to hand it to her on a gold plate.

the next morning, charles found carlos at the hotel lobby as they were both heading to the airport. the two ferrari drivers got to speak to one another before pierre gasly and esteban ocon saw them and talked amongst themselves.

carlos sainz sure was the kind to be confused and puzzled, and he showed this when esteban’s manager — who was once carlos’ girlfriend and manager — approached the group and talked to the drivers before turning to charles with a sweet smile. 

“are you going to go now, mon ange?” charles asked with a smile, watching her blush at the attention she got from him as she nodded meekly. “you could just come with us, you know? we’re heading to the same place, anyway.”

“yeah but,” she gestured to the two alpine drivers, “someone has to control these two before the next race week starts.” 

the alpine drivers protested against her words as she and charles giggled. charles then looked at her and said, “okay well… text me when you get there, okay?” 

she nodded and gave charles a sheepish smile (as if she hadn’t found herself saying the filthiest words to him the night before; not that carlos knew). 

charles wrapped his arms around her before kissing her passionately, humming at the taste of her. pierre let out a whistle and esteban grinned at the two toothily. 

while carlos… carlos was just confused as fuck. 

“see you tomorrow, pretty girl,” charles winked at her, smirk playfully written on his face as she giggled quietly and left with the two alpine drivers. 

charles found carlos staring at him with his mouth slightly agape, making the monegasque chuckle and shake his head. “she’s so sweet and pretty, no?” 

♡ moony’s reminder 🅶 (general): @hiraethrhapsody @avaleineandafryingpan @topguncultleader @enhacolor @roseandtulips @woweewoowa @magnummagnussen @happy-nico

♡   moony’s reminder 🅴 (explicit edition): @glitterf1 @savrose129

[violetrainbow412-blog]

Roses are red... [W. W]

Willy Wonka x fem!reader

word count: 1.8k

[Timothée masterlist]

If you want to request something, leave it in my inbox!

A noise in the distance was responsible for waking you up from your not-so-pleasant sleep in the hard, cold bed that you had been using for almost a year. Could it be Scrubbit? It was too late for her to be doing anything, you thought, much less in the bedroom section. With some curiosity you slipped your cold feet into the even colder shoes to turn on the lamp on your table and left the room with the intention of discovering what that was.

Hallways always made you nervous and the thought of encountering something unpleasant made you even more uneasy, but you tried to keep your mind occupied with something else as you moved forward step by step. Seeing nothing outside the rooms, you continued down the spiral stairs and that was where you finally observed the cause of the commotion: a crouching body that made you jump in surprise.

“Mr. Wonka?” you whispered when you noticed the burgundy coat and this time it was your turn to startle.

“Oh, it's just you,” he laughed, a little more relieved “What are you doing here?”

“The noise woke me up. What are you doing here?” you asked back, seeing him fully dressed and with his shoes on.

“Trying to get out. I need to get an ingredient to finish tomorrow's chocolates” he explained to you.

True, tomorrow would be the big day where you guys would do your best to present your friend's chocolates to the world. You had to admit that at first you hadn't been fascinated by the idea, but after seeing all the good things that this had brought for the entire group you were more than willing to continue supporting in whatever way you could. That was why the next day you would sneak into the gourmet galleries during the day to help operate the shop that Abacus and Noodle had managed to rent. And you could tell that Wonka could barely contain his excitement.

“How do you plan to go out at this time?” you asked, as it was obvious that your usual exit through the laundry tube wasn’t an option.

“There's a space big enough for someone to get out in that part, see?” he murmured, pointing with his cane at a gap above the front door “I just need to get a good grip on this rope and I can climb up there. I will pull it to the other side and before dawn I will climb again.”

“And what if Scrubbit sees you?”

“She won't,” Wonka whispered, completely sure of himself. There was a brief silence between you, where you just looked at him with a certain claim and he returned that look with an amused "Do you want to come with me?"

"What? No!"

"Come on! It will be fun"

“I'm in my pajamas,” you said through clenched teeth.

“Then put on different clothes,” he quickly resolved, with a smile that was too enthusiastic for your liking. Looking at your doubtful expression he added: “It will only be a few hours, don't you want to get out of here?”

Although you were a little hesitant, after thinking about it a little and with the help of the man's hopeful expression you ended up being convinced. Making as little noise as possible you went up to your room to dress properly and when you returned he was already sitting on a step, waiting for you.

“I hope you know what you're doing,” you whispered close to him, half excited and half scared to death by what you were about to do.

You had gone out before, of course, but you knew that doing it at night was even riskier for many reasons you didn't want to think about right now.

He went first, just to check that everything was safe, and then you followed him, albeit with a little less grace. When you were above the door he reminded you to pull the rope for the time to return and when you looked at the height at which you were the idea of going down became less promising than at the beginning.

“Jump and I'll catch you” he exclaimed, noticing your frightened expression and you took a moment to try to calm down by breathing deeply.

You analyzed your options and thought that in that position you would have to go down anyway, and it was preferable to do it outwards, so without thinking too much about it you made a sign to the boy and then threw yourself forward with your eyes closed. You heard him exhale in surprise and the next thing you felt were his arms holding you, perhaps too tightly, as he feared you were going to fall suddenly.

"Are you okay?" he laughed softly, quite close to your ear. Upon hearing that you opened your eyes only to meet his, as green and beautiful as a pair of emeralds.

“Yes, everything is perfect” you sighed, and then he gently placed you on the floor. Without even expecting it you had already giggled too.

“Okay, go ahead.”

Without questioning him, you began to walk behind him and when you were a couple of streets away you were able to breathe more calmly, as if the weight of your captors had been reduced on your shoulders. Due to the schedule of your visits abroad, you hadn’t had the opportunity to appreciate the beautiful lights around you and you were sure that at that moment you looked like a child fascinated by them.

“They're pretty, right?” Wonka asked, confirming your hypothesis completely. Seemingly he had been watching you look at the decorations.

“They are,” you answered timidly. “What precisely are we looking for?” you asked next, still a little distracted by the environment, but trying to get his attention away from you.

“Some young rose leaves to make an infusion for the chocolate roses. I saw a full garden near the park the other time, when we were returning to the laundry. I think they can be useful”

“Are you feeling nervous?” you murmured gently, giving him your full attention now as you crossed your arms to keep some warmth. “About tomorrow.”

“A little… well, a lot actually. But in a good way,” he smiled “The truth is that I have never felt so nervous and excited in my life. All this is like a dream come true”

“I hope it’s perfect,” you murmured and you said it with sincere faith.

You had tried so hard to achieve all this that you were not only looking to do it to pay off your debt with Scrubbit, but also to see your new friend happy. And how would you not want that? Seeing him happy was a wonderful sight.

"Are you cold?" he asked, noticing that your figure was slightly curled in on itself. Apparently he was noticing a lot more than you would like.

"Only a little"

You were going to add that you were fine with it, but suddenly he stopped you by jumping in front of you and when you were about to ask what was happening, he undid the scarf around his neck to wrap it around yours. His movements were careful and the closeness forced you to hold your breath, only for your nostrils to then be flooded with the boy's aroma combined with the cheap detergent with which he had surely washed the garment.

"Better now?" the man smiled and since you didn't have time to assimilate the situation you just nodded, without stopping looking at him just because he kept looking at you.

You thought maybe this was what it would feel like to hug the boy, even though you had never done it, and then you hid your nose in the soft fabric. It had purple and green patterns on a gray background, quite pretty actually.

“The… the park. It’s there,” you stammered, pointing to a point behind your friend.

When he turned around he could see the rose bushes in the distance and let out an exclamation of joy, while his warm hand sought your wrist to guide you in their direction, causing a shiver to run through your entire body.

When you walked through the place and reached the plants he knelt next to the bushes, starting to rant about how functional these flowers would be, whether it was their leaves, the color, the shape... he listed more and more qualities, but you just could focus on the feeling on your neck and the warm ghost of his fingers on your skin.

And in that moment it was as if you had suddenly noticed something about him that you hadn't noticed at first; that there was some tenderness in his features that made you feel nervous or maybe it was his thin, skillful hands walking through the branches or even, daring to sound exaggerated, you would say that you suddenly noticed how handsome he really was. How did you notice it until now?

He said something and then you asked him to repeat it, since you had been too busy watching him to pay attention to his words.

“I asked you if you think any would be useful,” he said again. You took a look at the bush in front of you and pointed towards the first specimen you found, hoping that the talk would take away the thoughts that had invaded your mind.

To your surprise it turned out that the rose you had pointed out was quite pretty and, according to the requirements you remembered, it was perfect for the man's purposes. After congratulating your choice, he took out some scissors from his hat and carefully cut out the flower, to keep it in the same piece of fabric as the others that he had already selected.

“These roses will make the best chocolates, I can already imagine it,” he said with some pride, looking at the pile of plants you had. You hadn't even looked when he cut so many.

"They are beautiful"

"Yes, they are. And this one is for you."

If you had managed to get rid, even for a moment, of romantic thoughts towards him, right now he wasn't being very cooperative. Not when he was offering you the prettiest rose with such a sweet smile.

Why was he doing that? You did not know. Maybe he was just being kind and grateful, like he was most of the time.

“Huh, thank you, Mr. Wonka…”

“Be careful, he still has some thorns,” he warned you, “And stop calling me Mr. Wonka. “We are friends and my friends call me Willy.”

A small smile invaded your face and it was lucky that you were able to hide the blush on your cheeks with the excuse of inhaling the scent of the rose. It was exquisite, by the way.

“Then thank you, Willy,” you corrected yourself, to which he showed a satisfied expression.

And then a pleasant tickling invaded your stomach because, whether they were real flowers or chocolate flowers, it would always be a pleasure to receive such a cute detail from such a cute boy.

[dark-konohagakure2]

kakashi having to punish his little cousin for going out with another guy

tw: incest, cousin incest, age difference, protectiveness, slut shaming, impact play, breeding, abuse

All characters depicted are 18+

Kakashi usually doesn't involve himself too deeply in his family's personal business, but when his father laments to him about the fact that Kakashi's younger cousin has been sneaking out at night to see some guy from time to time, Kakashi is suddenly very invested in what his family is up to now.

Sakumo himself was originally asked to give her a stern talking to, but Kakashi convinced his dad to let him do it instead, since Kakashi is (barely) closer to her age, so she'll definitely listen to her dearest older cousin.

Of course Kakashi's intentions are the furthest thing from pure. He's been lusting after his own cousin for a while, and this is just the perfect excuse for him to act on those desires. He isn't nice about it either, pinning her down and berating for going out with a guy, despite the fact that she's old enough to see whoever she likes, but Kakashi doesn't care.

Kakashi will act more like a bully than a cousin, roughly forcing her underwear down and spreading her cheeks apart to get a very good, thorough look at her pussy, snidely claiming that he's just checking to make sure she's still a virgin, and not a whore.

"Stop whining. That boy you wanted to get all friendly with would have done this to you and then some. Be grateful that I'm being more gentle."

Kakashi is easily able to force his thick cock into her cousin's pussy, his years of extensive shinobi training making him leagues stronger than a delicate little civilian like her, allowing him to practically use her like his own personal onahole.

Kakashi's reason for being there is to punish her, and he'll do just that as he fucks her, slapping any part of her body that his calloused hands can reach, mostly focusing on hitting her ass and thighs while telling her what a bad girl she's been, and how she must have had a lot of guys do this to her before him.

He wants to make sure his lesson will leave a mark on his disobedient cousin, so he'll be sure to cum inside her, and more than once at that. Kakashi is going to make sure she doesn't ever forget the rules of their family, and besides, if she winds up getting pregnant, she can't whore around anymore, so Kakashi wins either way.

When he's finally had his fill of her pussy, he'll sit her down and have an earnest heart to heart conversation with her, making sure she gets it through her thick skull that she isn't supposed to be talking to any man that isn't family, that's what whores do.

"Are you done crying? Good. Now you know what happens to bad girls who act like sluts. Oh, and tell your father I said 'you're welcome'"

Kakashi really hopes that his lesson stuck with her, and even if he didn't and she decides to whore around again, he is more than willing to teach her another one.

[riddlerosehearts]

thinking about how people who watch the emperor's new groove and somehow come out of it shipping pacha and kuzco, or thinking yzma only became evil when kuzco fired her and that she would've been a better ruler than him, are both so wrong in so many different ways and are also missing one of the things that i absolutely love about the movie. which is that, the way i see it, pacha and yzma are counterparts. as parental figures to kuzco.

like, just to get this out of the way first, yzma was a dismissive asshole to a peasant whose family was starving. and yeah, if kuzco had been in her place he definitely would've also done that, which... is why she would not be a better ruler than him. she'd just be the same because they're both horrible people in the exact same ways. her reaction to being fired is to plot murder, and as soon as his funeral is over she sets everyone to work on replacing paintings of kuzco with paintings of herself and covering the palace with imagery that makes it clear that it's all about her now. i'm not even sure why this is a discussion tbh.

and also, kuzco is literally a teenager. he's barely 18 years old. source: in the movie, yzma says at his funeral that kuzco was "taken from us so tragically on the very eve of his eighteenth birthday." she also claims in the movie to have "practically raised" him, to which kronk replies "yeah, you'd think he would've turned out better". and sure, she could be exaggerating, but what evidence do we have that she is? we learn absolutely nothing of his parents, who are never mentioned even once in the movie, or of anyone else who could've raised him, and she's his advisor who for some reason sees no problem with attending to royal duties in his place. most likely because she's his regent. also, i'm not exactly a fan of the sequel tv series "the emperor's new school" but it does have something that backs up my point: kuzco is revealed to be an orphan and just before his father went and got lost at sea, he asked yzma (who was also his advisor) to take care of kuzco if anything happened to him. so, yeah, the writers who worked on the series clearly thought that yzma genuinely did raise kuzco, and nothing in the movie contradicts this.

and i find the idea of her being his only parental figure for pretty much his whole childhood incredibly interesting because, and this also goes back into why she wouldn't be a better ruler than him--she mirrors him as a reflection of what would've become of him if he'd never met pacha. they're both incredibly arrogant, power-hungry, selfish, and cruel, with a tendency to blame their problems on everyone but themselves. yzma was even originally going to have her own reprise of kuzco's theme song "perfect world", which i really wish had been kept:

[ID: Lyrics that read:

I'Il be the sovereign queen of the nation And the chicest chick in creation I'm the cat with all the cream and ooh-la-la This deadly concentration Will put an end to my frustration Now this perfect world begins and ends with moi

What's my name? Yzma, Yzma, Yzma Yzma (what's my name?) Yzma, Yzma (What'd you say?) Yzma (Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha!) Yzma. End ID]

(this song can be fully heard in "the sweatbox", the documentary about the making of the movie, and is also on youtube btw)

anyway, i'm sure yzma would not exactly have been the most nurturing or hands-on guardian, especially given that she and kuzco don't exactly treat each other like family. but it makes a lot of sense to think that her behavior influened kuzco's throughout the years. and for the entire movie, she remains determined to kill him. when he tries to reason with her and admits that he should've been nicer, she says the same thing to him that he originally said when he fired her. she never grows or changes and in the end, she hurts the one person who was willing to stand by her (and even then, kronk had never fully been on board with her plan) and he ends up trying to crush her with a chandelier. kuzco on the other hand is able to realize the error of his ways, come to regret who he was in the past, and start taking steps toward being a better person. his theme song gets a reprise where it's changed from a song about one person being the center of the world to a Power Of Friendship song. why? because, as i've already mentioned, he has pacha.

pacha, who similarly to both yzma and kuzco is in a position of authority as the leader of the village but unlike either of them is gentle and humble. who isn't afraid to stand up to kuzco and be honest with him even though he's the emperor, who agrees to take him back to the palace but has no obligation to be so helpful, kind, and caring toward him--and just about every reason not to be--and still chooses to be anyway. pacha who is 45 years old (also stated in the sweatbox documentary) and can see that kuzco is practically still a kid, not a single day over 18, who has time to grow and change. pacha, who already has a wife and two kids with another on the way, but practically treats kuzco like one of his own. who acknowledges that if kuzco dies all his problems will be gone and then still worries about him and goes out of his way to rescue him after he wanders into the jungle. who sees kuzco shivering at night and covers him with his poncho, who carries him when he's genuinely too weak to keep walking, who refuses to give up on him even after repeatedly being betrayed by him because he believes there's good in everyone.

also, while yzma ends up repeating kuzco's harsh words of dismissal as she tells him of her plans to kill him, kuzco had previously repeated pacha's words that "nobody's that heartless" after he saved pacha's life. and as the movie progresses kuzco and pacha's relationship becomes more and more equal and is constantly contrasted by moments of yzma being cruel and unappreciative of kronk's kindness. a good example of this is how kronk is constantly being forced to carry yzma everywhere on his back while yzma literally walks all over him and steps on his hands when she gets down, whereas when pacha briefly carries kuzco after the latter collapses he tells him he'll have to walk the rest of the way later and kuzco doesn't even protest.

idk if i'm even explaining well what i'm trying to say here. but basically, if yzma actually raised kuzco and contributed to his current behavior, then she and pacha both are figures who guided him and helped him grow. only yzma helped him become the tyrant that he was at the start of the movie, who was selfish and callous and saw everyone else as beneath him. whereas pacha helped him see the value in being selfless and considerate of others. and in the end, yzma is stuck as a cat and nobody is concerned about her. kronk has found a new job that makes him genuinely happy, while kuzco has decided to build a hut on the hill next to pacha's and effectively joined his family. in the sweatbox documentary it's even mentioned that chicha and the kids were at risk of being removed from the film, but it was decided that they needed to be there because having just pacha as a single guy who lived alone wasn't interesting enough--kuzco needed to go from having basically an empty world where he had nobody to being able to come together with pacha's whole family. and i just think that's incredibly satisfying and beautiful. it also leads up to one of the few things i really do enjoy about the emperor's new school, which is the fact that during the show kuzco moves in with pacha and chicha and pretty explicitly thinks of them as basically his parents while he's like a son to them.

idk. i feel like my mind went in a million different directions while i was writing all this. but i guess i just think that for all of the praise the emperor's new groove gets for its comedy and for how hilarious yzma and kronk in particular are as a duo, the movie also has a lot of genuine heart that gets overlooked. kuzco's character growth and his unique dynamic with pacha is, for me, really what elevates the movie from just a funny movie that i like to one of my favorite disney movies. and i wish more people appreciated that aspect of it and saw it as a found family story in the same way that treasure planet, brother bear, and lilo and stitch are all found family stories.

[allfearstofallto]

Nice

Yandere childe x reader

1.7k

Synopsis: He'll buy you absolutely anything your heart desires, but he longs for you to describe things as more than just "nice"

TW: Yandere, abusive themes, bribery, NSFW themes, toxic relationship, Dub-Con

AN: I haven't written in FOREVER so forgive me if it's not awesome or if it feels incomplete. My last account got shadow banned :(, doesn't help that I was already pretty depressed before that. No time for sob stories here, it's been two years since I've written anything and I miss writing, thanks for joining me!

Gems that dazzled and gleamed stars in the night sky, silver that was carved painstakingly from the mines in Liyue, an appearance that was beautiful, but still kept up with the most current fashion trends. He had truly outdone himself with this one, this has to be the one that would take your breath away. The one that would make you leap into his arms and pepper his face with kisses from your sweet lips that he rarely got the chance to taste.

When it came to gifts for you, there was no price tag. Childe would spend every mora he had if it meant he could even get a smile out of you and spend he often did. Money meant nothing to him, being a Fatui harbinger, his paychecks were larger than he knew what to do with. After sending money back home to his family, he still had so much left and nothing that he longed for other than your affection. So, why not spend it on something else he cared about?

Your eyes ghosted over the ring he was showing you, encased in a black velvet box with red satin holding it up. It wasn’t an engagement ring, he’d assured you of that multiple times after you were taken aback by him holding it up to you. He knew you weren’t ready for that just yet, and he was willing to respect your wishes, but he still wanted to give you something to wear on that pretty little finger to show that you were his while you waited for the real deal. Your engagement ring would be much, much larger than the one he was gifting you now and it would incorporate details from both of your home countries.

The expression on your face was unreadable. It wasn’t quite a grimace, but it wasn’t a smile either. It was the usual face you made when you were given something. An equal mixture of discomfort and unease. “It’s…nice.” you mumbled quietly as he slipped the ring onto your finger.

There was that word again. Nice. It made him sick to his stomach every time he heard it fall from your pretty lips. But that was always what you said about his gifts, as if you couldn’t think of another word to describe how you felt about them. Rare spices imported from Sumeru? Nice. A custom hanfu made from only the finest silk to wear to the lantern rite? Nice. Wine aged for almost a decade and shipped straight from Mondstadt? Very nice.

You spoke that one word, but even then it felt like you were straining yourself to say that much. On multiple occasions, your displeasure with receiving such expressive gifts was expressed, but he told you that that didn’t matter. Mora was just an object to him, something that held no value, and yet you still held each gift as if they would collapse under your touch.

“You can tell me if you don’t like it,”

“No!” you quickly retorted back, holding your hand up to examine the ring once more, “Its…” you purse your lips to stop yourself from saying the word, knowing that he would only be upset with your lack of what he considered to be a proper answer, “I like it.”

With a sigh and a dramatic slump of his shoulders, he reached up and cupped your face. His hand felt like solid ice against your cheek. Childe often claimed that that was another thing he loved about you so much. How warm your body was in comparison to himself. He told you that when he someday took you to Snezhnaya to meet his family, you would be his personal heater, that he wouldn’t let you go for even a second during the duration of your stay there.

“You don’t even wear the earrings I got you anymore,” Childe’s long fingers traced from your cheek to the lobe of your ear, grazing the empty hole where jewelry would go.

“You know I can’t wear those at work,”

“Then quit your job,” He spoke those words so quickly, with no hesitation, a part of you was convinced you imagined it. But you working was a constant conflict of interest between the two of you, something you’d even argued about before.

The situation grew heated that day. Both of you, yelling back and forth about what you thought was right. You remembered seeing his eyes glow at the same time as his vision that rested on his hip, making your stomach drop. Childe would never hurt you, would he? But even you didn’t know the answer to that, you could never be too sure about what was going on in the mind of a harbinger. So you backed down slightly, telling him that it was something you would consider, and that answer sufficed with him for the time being.

“Childe-”

“Ajax,” he cut you off. He hated when you used his codename, claiming that as his future wife, you alone should be allowed to call him by his given name.

“Ajax," you exhaled harshly after speaking his name, "I really would like to work and be independent,”

For just the briefest of moments, his eyes went dull, his smile fell, his facade faltered and he was his true self. It only lasted for less than a second, the average person might not have even seen it, but you’d spent so much time with him. You knew his tells. You knew that even though he was smiling again, it was completely fake. He was angry, even if the gleam in his eyes didn't show it.

A cold kiss was pressed against your cheek, just a peck to get his point across. When he pulled away, still making eye contact, he was still so close that you could feel his shallow breath on your skin. He squatted down slightly to meet your eyes and whispered against your lips, “I don’t plan to let my wife work. Why don’t you quit now, have a little practice before we’re wed?”

He said that as a suggestion, but you knew it wasn’t one. With Childe there were only orders and threats, nothing in between. You had no choice on whether or not you’d get to work, on whether or not you got to live alone, on whether or not you married him. In his eyes, you were already his, and there was absolutely nothing you could do about it.

A lump was caught in your throat as you tried to figure out what to say. Could you even tell him that the prospect of marrying him was something that seldom crossed your mind? Something that even when you did think about, it brought a twinge of fear into your heart. That on multiple occasions, you considered leaving him, but your unease around him was what was making your stay.

“I…” you finally met his gaze as you tried to force words out of your tense body. His eyes felt so cold and the hand that he had managed to snake its way down onto your shoulder was gripping your flesh tightly. It was a warning that what you said next would matter, “I should just-”

“You should quit,” he spoke the last part of the sentence for you, not caring about what you truly wanted to say.

Eyes turned downcast, you gave a slow nod. There wasn’t much of a choice with him anymore, he was hellbent on that being your answer. He had given you an order, if you didn’t react the way he wanted you to, you would regret it.

The grip that was on your shoulder loosened, exhibiting that you had pleased him and another kiss was placed on your cheek as a reward. This time his lips touched just below your eyes, where tears were threatening to fall, “That’s my girl,” another peck right against your lips, “How about I buy you something special, huh? For being so good.”

You swallow slowly, trying to keep yourself from falling apart in front of him, clenching and unclenching your fist as a way to self soothe. Your voice was shaky as you delivered your stiff answer, “Sure. That sounds lovely.”

“How about a new pair of earrings,” he followed this up by lightly biting the side of your ear, “or maybe a new necklace,” you felt his warm tongue slide down from your ear to your collarbone, making all the hairs on your body stand up, “Or maybe even a new dress,” he spoke into your neck, his hand reaching down and trying to slide the dress you were wearing up your thigh, exposing your your bare skin to the air.

You jolted your body backwards, your hands placed against his chest in an attempt to keep the distance between the two of you. He was moving so fast. Too fast. Even though it had been a while since you and him had last been intimate, for him to try it again so suddenly was worrisome.

You didn’t dare look at his face. There was no doubt about it that he was upset at your response to his touch, he never liked when you rejected him. The hand that was placed against him, was taken into his. The way he held you was gentle, but you could still feel force behind his movement. The thumb of his hand traced the back of your palm as he held you, before lifting it up and placing a kiss against it. Right on your finger, right on the very expensive ring he’d just bought you, almost as a way to draw your attention to it once more.

“What’s gotten into you? Hm?” he had an eyebrow cocked and a grin on his face, “Pushing me away like that after I got you something so precious? You’re going to hurt my feelings.”

“I just don’t think I’m in the mood for this right now,” you mumbled, switching between looking at your dress you were fiddling with and his borderline unblinking eyes.

Silence fell over the two of you, to the point where you could hear your own heart beat, the sound of blood pumping in your ears, the sound of his breaths that were slightly heavier than normal. Childe was rarely quiet. It was hard to get him to keep his mouth shut. In a way his anger was scaled based on how loud he was, the quieter, the worse.

His large hand came into your sight again, making you flinch about what was coming ahead, but rather than being struck, he used his thumb to trace your lips, “Figure something out.”

[sunshine-daisies-library]

emergency contact | calum hood x fem!reader

FUCK this took so long and took so many twists and turns but i have finished lads

summary: you end up in the hospital after an accident, only to find that your emergency contact number hadn’t been updated. you are yet to find out if it’s a blessing or a curse. 

word count: 8.9k

warnings: self doubt, talking down about oneself, she/her pronoun usage, swearing, breakups, angst, drinking, car accident, hospital mentions, injury mentions, mentions of weed, partying, fighting

author's note: it might be rushed at the end and there's no set timeline of events, so it might not align with the true events IRL.

i also would like to say that we support girls here! no hate toward anyone, girls support girls!

In defense of yourself, you hadn’t expected to be back in Los Angeles so soon. Nor had you anticipated an accident like this to update your contacts on your phone. It was on the back of your mind, yes, but you had intended to change your emergency contact list on your phone for events like these. It was something you’d remind yourself occasionally, only to push it off for the next day, then the next day, then forget about it altogether. 

And perhaps you were too cowardly to change the list. You didn’t admit this to another soul since it had been nearly a year since the two of you broke things off. Your friends time and time again had persuaded you to put yourself back on the market, to get over the musician. But how could you? You had dedicated the best years of your life to him, nearly six of them. You thought you were going to marry the man, but life had other plans. 

That being said, you still loved him. The small act of removing him off your emergency contacts list felt so final to you. Like that was the end of your sad little love story with him. Truth be told, it was the end. It was the end from the moment you broke things off with him. You were just too stubborn to admit that to yourself. 

It was your doing, wasn’t it? You were the one to tell him it was over. He had just gotten back home from their tour and went to greet you with open arms. You had been wretched enough to deny him that, pulling away immediately. You ignored his eyes when you told him you were tired of your lifestyle. Of waiting on him like a dog for him to come back from tour. Of relishing that one month of being together like it was the last thing on earth, only for him to leave once again for tours or writing retreats. 

And most of all, you were tired of not feeling enough for him. In the world of popular and beautiful stars, why did he stay with you? Calum never made you feel so ordinary, not on purpose, at least. You had nothing to offer him other than your love. You feared that wouldn’t be enough in the end. The more years that passed, and the closer the possibility of marriage became, you thought it would be better to let go of him first before he ended up resenting you for not choosing someone better when he had the chance. 

You didn’t listen to his pleas for you to stay. Or his professions of love for you, or how his promise to leave the band entirely if it meant you staying. You felt so cruel to let someone who loved you so much go so easily. He was willing to give up his music for you, so how could you ever claim that you were second best to his music? 

But that was the very thing, you were afraid. He loved you so much that he was willing to let his entire life go for you. You couldn’t let him do that to himself, to let go of his happiness. But you had enough self dignity to know that you deserved more out of life than waiting in an empty home to fill up again. 

—

Calum wasn’t sure what to make of the phone call he received just a moment ago. He never thought he’d hear your name again, much less be summoned to the hospital to see you. 

“Mate, why are you still here?” Ashton asked, tucking away his drumsticks. “The nurse called you a half hour ago. Aren’t you going to see her?” 

“I don’t know,” Calum uttered truthfully. “It’s been so long since I last saw her. It was probably a mistake, right? Why would they call me up?” 

Michael rolled his eyes from the couch where he was tuning his guitar. “Because you’re still down as her emergency contact,” he drawled sarcastically. 

“Thanks for pointing out the obvious,” Calum deadpanned. “I mean, why would they call me and not her parents or something? Or her new boyfriend,” he muttered under his breath. 

Luke approached the group from the bathroom, running his fingers through his hair. “Easy there, tiger,” he teased, grasping Calum’s shoulders from behind. “One might assume you’re jealous.” The youngest of the group quickly dodged the bassist’s shove, laughing while doing so. “To calm your worries, no, she doesn’t have a new boy in her life. And her parents moved to the east coast three months ago so they can’t come over.”

“Well aren’t you the stalker,” Ashton snickered. 

Luke shot the drummer a glare. “I’m not a stalker,” Luke defended himself. “In case you actually wanted to know, I still keep contact with y/n. At least Sierra does for the most part. Though, last time I heard she was in Boston.” 

“Boston,” Calum spoke up in confusion. “What’s she in Boston for? And how did she end up here?” 

Luke clicked his tongue, a knowing look on his face. “If you want to know, you can ask her yourself,” he sang in an annoying tone. 

Michael set his guitar down and stood up in defense of his friend. “While that’s true,” he began. “What about..you know?”

“What about “you know?”” Ashton piped up. “There’s no harm in Calum going. She could really be hurt and need someone with her. If what Luke said is true and you’re the only nearby emergency contact, it’s better safe than sorry that you go to her.” 

The boys shared a look with each other. In their heart of hearts they knew it was a bad idea to let Calum go, especially after everything that had happened. But a selfish part of them wanted their best friend back, so what harm was in that notion? 

“I’ll go,” Calum finally relented. “But she’s coming with me.” 

–

When Calum arrived at the hospital, he wasn’t sure what he was expecting. The doctor explained it was a car accident, and although you were recovering okay you still had to be observed after minor surgery. A part of Calum’s heartstrings tugged at the thought of you alone and afraid during the accident, thinking he could have done something if you hadn’t broken things off, but he pushed that feeling down. It’s been a year; you’ve probably gotten over him and he’s started a new chapter of his life without you. 

Calum followed the nurse to the recovery room where you were still unconscious. At the sight of you, he instantly lost all air in his lungs. Frozen, the bassist stood before you with a mix of emotions flooding through his face. 

It was as though you were entirely different but still the same in some way. Your face, albeit bruised, looked more peaceful than Calum had seen of you. Hell, even before you broke things off you always had a furrowed brow or frown of some sort. It broke Calum’s heart to know that he was the cause of that stress. 

Calum sat down beside you, instantly grasping your hand like second nature. It was just as soft as he could remember, and your nail polish was chipped and stained the skin surrounding it. Calum chuckled to himself, a tearful smile on his face. He knew your nail polish was your own doing, seeing as you had always asked him to paint your nails since he had “more precision.” 

“Oh y/n,” he whispered, his voice cracking slightly. “What the hell did you get yourself into now?”

“Wouldn’t you like to know.” 

Calum jerked back to see your eyes staring back at him. “Hi, stranger,” you managed to crack a smile. “What brings you to this hospital?”

Calum choked out a laugh, his thumb grazing against the top of your hand. “Oh you know me,” he said. “Always hanging around these parts whenever I get the chance.” 

“You idiot,” you snorted, shaking your head and wincing in pain.

“Easy now,” Calum reached over to cup your cheek. “The doctor said you have a mild concussion and a sprained ankle, but nothing a bit of rest can’t fix.”

Your hand met his on your face, instantly warming to his touch like nothing had changed between the two of you. “Why are you here, Hood?” you asked curiously.

“You tell me.” Calum pulled out his phone and showed his past calls list. “I got a call from the hospital saying I was your emergency contact.” 

You dropped his hand and covered your face in embarrassment. If your headache wasn’t killing you, the sheer embarrassment was. “Oh my God,” you groaned. “I’m so sorry, Calum. I had meant to change it but I never got the chance and–”

“It’s alright,” Calum calmed you down. “Relax. I’m not mad or anything. If anything, this gave us a great opportunity to reconnect and catch up on things. It’s been what, a year?”

One year, three months, twenty eight days, and twelve and a half hours, the both of you thought subconsciously. But who’s counting? 

The both of you were. Clearly.

“Something like that,” you lied smoothly. “How are you? How are the boys? I’ve kept contact with Crys and Sierra, but I haven’t had a chance to meet with them both. I was actually planning on shooting them a text as soon as I landed here, but obviously I haven’t had the chance.” 

Calum laughed at your blunt humor. He missed that a lot about you. “I’m alright,” he replied. “The boys are great, too. They send their love, by the way. We’ve been cooped up at the studio writing and producing music, though you probably expected that from us.”

Ouch. Was that a dig toward why you broke up with him? “Naturally,” you grinned. “Do I make a special feature in this album? The trashy ex that broke up with the bassist as soon as the tour ended? You best get back to the studio, I’m sure this whole debacle has given you something to write about.” 

“You are far from trashy,” Calum countered, continuing the light banter. “And I’m not going to throw your dirty laundry out like that, I have some taste, you know.” 

“Oh come on,” you pressed. “That hoe called me back, gave me a heart attack,” you sang terribly, making Calum cover his ears. “Oh yeah she broke my heart, that’s not even the start-”

“Oi, quit that!” he laughed. “Leave the songwriting to me because good God that was terrible. Any more of that and you’d put me in the hospital bed next to you. And please do not call yourself a hoe. That’s worse than Luke calling Ash “daddy.”” 

Once your laughter had died down and you ran out of lyrics to spew, a comfortable silence filled the room. His chocolate brown eyes rested down at your joined hands. 

“Thank you, by the way,” you spoke to break the silence. “For coming. You didn’t have to do that.” 

“For my trashy ex?” he teased, a smirk dancing along his lips. “I’d do anything.” 

God why did you break up with him? He was perfect, still is. Why does he still tug at your heartstrings and make you weak with one smile. How could you still feel this way after a whole year? Do you still love him-

“Babe, there you are! This place is a maze, I could barely understand the nurse’s directions.” 

You turned your head so fast, you nearly got whiplash again. Standing before you was a beautiful girl with the most luxurious beach waves and tan that every girl dreamed of. 

She bent down to kiss Calum’s cheek swiftly, making your breath hitch without you realizing. The girl smiled at you, taking your hand -that Calum instantly dropped at the sound of her voice- and squeezing it. “You must be y/n,” she concluded cheerfully. “I’m Tia, Calum’s friend.” 

–

“They are so not friends,” you grumbled to your friends, days after the initial encounter. 

Your friends chuckled at your gray demeanor, each of them taking sips of their coffee or bites of their breakfast. After being discharged from the hospital, the band and their significant others thought it would be perfect to catch up with you during brunch. You had agreed, eager to learn about everything you missed, especially the new couple. 

“You’d be right and wrong, n/n,” Michael replied, setting his mug down. The group was significantly more relaxed to talk about the subject considering Tia needed to take a phone call and Calum insisted on accompanying her. “The way they’re friends isn’t the same as how he’s friends with us–”

“Speak for yourself, baby, Calum keeps my bed warm whenever Sierra’s out,” Luke teased with a wiggle of his eyebrows. Sierra rolled her eyes playfully, elbowing him in the ribs. 

“And Luke keeps mine warm when they’re both gone,” Ashton chimed in without missing a beat.

Michael sent the youngest and oldest members a glare before continuing. “As I was saying,” he huffed exasperatedly. “They’re in the weird phase between friends and dating. They met a little after the tour and were friends for a while. It was Tia that made the move on Calum, like, two months ago.”

Noticing the stark difference in your facial expressions after hearing Michael’s explanation, Crystal came in to quickly finish the story. “He hasn’t confirmed or denied anything, but they have been on a few dates. He’s taking it very slowly.” 

“That’s..nice to hear,” you slowly began. “But the more I hear about her, the more guilty I feel about feeling this way.” Your shoulders caved in as your friends shared a concerned look. “She seems sweet, and Calum and I are old news. It was my own decision to break things off in the first place.” 

Sierra reached for your hand, squeezing it gently. “Why did you break things off with him?” she asked in a quieter voice. 

You couldn’t help but notice how the rest of the group leaned in to hear your answer. “You mean Calum didn’t tell you?” you inquired the boys. 

“He just said it was mutual,” Ashton raised his hands up in defense. “I didn’t know you broke it off with him.” 

“Why didn’t you tell us she broke up with Cal?” Luke whisper-shouted to his partner. 

Sierra only shrugged her shoulders. “I thought you knew,” she responded, her hands grasping around her mug as she took a sip.

“No one knew,” you settled. “And it’s going to stay that way.” 

The group let out shouts of disapproval that were instantly quieted once Calum finally returned and took a seat. “What’s the fuss about?” he asked curiously. 

You shook your head, taking an overly healthy sip of your mimosa. “Oh you know,” you sighed. “Typical group shenanigans, as per usual.” 

“What kind-?” he pressed before being curtly interrupted.

“Where’s Tia?” Luke cut in, saving everyone’s necks for the time being. 

Calum took in a draw of breath after stealing Luke’s cup of coffee, much to the singer’s distaste. “Oh you know,” he copied you teasingly. “Manager calls, as per usual.” 

“She’s been getting plenty of calls lately,” Crystal commented. 

You tried to not show immense interest in the conversation. After all, you didn’t know much about Tia and the group had been too distracted to show you her Instagram profile, damn Michael and his random tangents. In the meantime, you absentmindedly twirled your straw between your thumb and forefinger as the conversation continued. 

“Tia’s getting a lot of public interest, what can I say?” Calum responded. “Her videos are getting more views every day. Her manager’s been calling her nonstop since companies keep reaching out to offer brand deal after brand deal.” 

Ashton let out a hopeful sigh. “Imagine having a brand deal set for life,” he pondered aloud, setting his salad fork down. “I’d adopt more goats and expand the garden.” 

“Cool it, Old McDonald,” Michael snickered. “I can’t imagine the band doing brand deals. Remember One Direction and their Pepsi commercials during the Super Bowl? Louis hated them.” 

The table laughed, recalling the memory. Recognizing your confusion regarding Tia’s profession, Sierra leaned in. “She’s an Instagram influencer and interior designer. She went to school for design but has branched out since. Last time I browsed her page she was doing promos for some yoga company.” 

“Great, so she’s perfect,” you grumbled to yourself, quiet enough for only Ashton to hear since he was right beside you. The drummer snorted, elbowing you roughly. 

Calum, thankfully deaf to your comment, nodded along to Sierra’s explanation. “She’s great,” he hummed. 

Your heart clenched at his words, but a hopeful side of yourself couldn’t help but perk at his courtness. Of course, it could be just to spare your feelings to not speak much about her. But a selfish part in your mind wondered if it was because she wasn’t his missing piece, the way that you fit perfectly for him. 

Stop that, you scolded yourself. Calum is no longer yours, you made sure of that. You were the selfish one who pushed him away. Why do you continue to torture him when he’s finally happy, no thanks to you. You can’t continue to pull him back, that’s why you broke up with him. And here you are,  falling back into old habits. 

You blinked back your tears, the tears you had so desperately fought back since the day you broke up with him. You didn’t deserve to shed these tears when you caused the problem in the first place. Instead, you sucked in a breath and maintained your rigid composure. It’s better than falling apart, which you more than desperately wanted to do at the moment. 

“y/n, you alright?” Calum asked, breaking you from your trance. 

You jumped slightly, lifting your head to face the group. Forcing a smile, you nodded. “Perfectly fine.” 

–

You weren’t sure why you were called here. After becoming mutuals on Instagram (and thoroughly stalking her pristine profile) Tia was quick to invite you out for yoga. You weren’t too keen on attempting yoga with a certified instructor, much preferring to save face in front of the already perfect girl. However, you found her nice and sweet enough to befriend despite the heartache it caused you. 

“I’m really glad you agreed to come with me today,” Tia told you honestly as you finished your session for the day. 

You settled yourself onto the mat, easing yourself into a simple stretch. “I’m glad you offered,” you replied, grunting at the ache panging slightly in your ankle. You were careful not to apply extra stress on your injured foot since it was still tender to the touch at times. “I’ve been eager to relax, especially after that accident.” 

“And you deserve it,” Tia reassured you, beginning her own routine. “Yoga’s good for recovery and stress, I’ve always tried to convince Cal into joining but he wasn’t the most graceful learner.” 

You giggled, recalling how clumsy the bassist would be. “Yeah, I’d leave that to Ashton.” 

Tia nodded in agreement. Her fingers danced down her leg as she continued to stretch. Even as jealous as you were of her, you had to admit she was graceful in everything she did (and you were sure of it with a simple browse through her Tiktoks). 

The two of you stepped out of the yoga studio, mats in tow as you continued to talk about random nonsense. On the walk back to your friend’s house -you had been staying there for the time being-, you came to realize that Tia was as genuine as they come and found it very difficult to dislike her out of jealousy. 

“So you know how Cal and I met,” Tia began, referencing the story of how the two met at an awards show. “How did you and Calum meet and get together?” 

Your mouth went dry. She knew you and Calum were a thing in the past? “I-“ you stammered. 

Tia laughed at your sudden awkwardness. “I’m not dumb, you know,” she joked. “I knew about yours and Cal’s past. He talks a lot about you, you know? More now than ever now that you’re back.” 

You had to stop the butterflies forming in your stomach. “He does?” you catch yourself saying instantly. 

Tia nodded, uncapping her bottle and taking a sip of water. “Oh yeah, big time,” she answered. “It’s really sweet to know that you made such a big impact on his life.” 

Your cheeks began to warm at her words. “He did the same,” you responded with full honesty. Tia patted your shoulder and grinned. “To answer your question, I met Calum a little over ten years ago, once the band started getting famous. I was just a senior in high school when they moved to L.A. I interned at their studio and that’s how we formally met.”

Tia gave you an impressed nod. “You guys got history,” she mused. 

You couldn’t help but smile. The memories of the past always brought a smile to your face. Dyeing Michael’s hair and staining your bathtub red, constantly buying Ash bandanas whenever you came across one you knew he’d like. Luke coming to you when he had writer’s block, and Cal crawling through your bedroom window whenever he felt homesick and wanted someone to talk to. 

“We do,” you agreed. 

Turning a corner down the street, Tia continued to ask you questions. “Who asked who out?” she questioned. “Three years of being friends turned partners was clearly not an overnight thing.” 

“It wasn’t,” you said. “It was Calum who asked me, but it took a whole lot of convincing from the boys.” You laughed quietly to yourself, recalling how he asked you to be your girlfriend. 

You heard music playing softly in the night air. You had been studying nonstop for your college finals and hadn’t seen the outside of your dorm all day. You hadn’t called the boys in a while either since they’ve been touring the world after releasing Sounds Good Feels Good. You were significantly proud of them but you’d be lying if you said you didn’t miss your boys. Now, hearing the soft guitar strumming from outside your window made you feel more longingful for them than ever. 

Especially Calum. You had a soft spot for the bassist, everyone knew that. You spent the most time with him when you interned at the music studio. He trusted your opinion above everyone else’s, and reached out to you the most while on tour. To say you had a little crush on him would be an understatement. The boys teased you relentlessly and teased Calum much more. They always said it was a matter of time until one of you would cave in and confess to the other. But they were wrong. You’re here in a small college dorm with no air conditioning single as can be while the boy you loved was halfway across the world. 

“Thinking of you,” you texted Calum with a heavy heart. “And the boys, ofc :P” 

You set your phone down and attempted to go back to studying when your phone pinged again. 

“You don’t have to feel so blue, n/n,” he responded. “Look outside”

You hopped out of bed and opened your window as much as the old rusty thing could go. On the campus grass were your favorite boys flashing lights from their phones at you. Calum was resting on Ashton’s shoulders, waving at you with the wild boyish smile you loved with your entire being. Michael and Luke were beside him, Michael playing the guitar and Luke grinning and filming. 

Concentrating hard, you recognized the sweet melody. It was the very song you wrote with him, Beside You. 

“She sleeps alone

My heart wants to come home

I wish I was, I wish I was

Beside you”

Your heart did somersaults at the presentation before you. You had always begged Calum to sing more for the album but the boy was too shy. It took some pushing but you helped him get his confidence up. Taking a cardigan, you ran out of your hall and joined the boys on the lawn, tackling each of them into a hug. 

“What the hell’s wrong with you!” you shouted out with a grin. You didn’t care if your yelling woke up your peers. Your boys were here in the flesh. 

“We missed our girl,” Ashton told you, giving you a strong bear hug. 

“One of us more than the rest,” Luke added with a cheeky smirk. 

Calum had long been off Ashton’s shoulders, awaiting your hugs he missed so much. You, on the other hand, hesitated to do so. 

“Come on!” Michael playfully shoved you. “We’ve come all this way, give the boy a hug!” 

Your face was on fire. The extra pairs of eyes made you embarrassed. Calum took an extra step forward, his hands bashfully in his pockets. 

“Didn’t you miss me, sunshine?” he asked you, awfully shy now after his confession of love. He was nervous he put you off and that he read the signs wrong. 

“I did,” you whispered back, equally shy. “But I think I want something more than a hug.” 

The boys let out whoops and cheers of joy as you decided to bite the bullet, grabbing Calum by the loops of his jeans and pulling him into a kiss.

Once you had pulled away, Calum’s lips formed into a dazed smile. “Be my girl, sunshine?” he asked you softly.

You pressed your lips against his once again, though this one was much shorter. “I was always yours, Calum.”

“Why did you and him end things, y/n?” Tia asked you, bringing you out of your thoughts. You seemed to be stuck in a trance these days, always pondering over the past and what could have been. 

You chewed the inside of your cheek, truly at a loss of words. What could you say? That you had been selfish and pushed him away so that he wouldn’t end up hurting you first? That you drove the knife deep into Calum, twisting it in every way shape and form out of self preservation? There was no other way to put it than that in your mind. 

“Time heals but also kills,” you told her with a broken smile. “Cal and I decided to put ourselves out of our misery and end things while they were good before it got worse.” It wasn’t completely a lie. Sure, he had no say in your ending things, but you spoke the truth about putting him out of his misery.

“Do you still love him?” she asked. 

You glanced over at her. Her eyes shone in the light, curious and innocent. She didn’t know the pain you both had endured that landed you in this position. 

Yes, your heart cried out. You love him. You love him with your entire being, that’s why you let him go. Because you’d rather kill your soul every single day of your life than stop him from reaching his life goals. If you had to go through that awful night that you broke your own heart again, you would, just to ensure that he is happy. 

Even if that meant that he would be happy with someone else. 

“He’s my first love,” you told her tearfully. “Of course I love him. But I am not his love, and that is okay with me. Life goes on, and so should I.” 

The two of you stopped in front of your friend’s house. Tia took your hand and squeezed it. “I really do appreciate you coming along with me today,” she said earnestly. “And I’m glad I got to hear about you and Cal’s history. It really puts things into perspective.” 

You smiled back at her. “Thank you for having me,” you responded. “I hope my words haven’t changed anything between the two of you. I meant what I said; him and I are in the past. I truly want the both of us to move forward and grow in our own separate ways.” 

Your butterflies in your stomach turned into fierce wasps, stinging you sharply. Lies, your heart hissed. Tell her you love him and still want him. 

You forced the bile rising in your throat down. Tia, blind to your inner troubles, continued to speak. “That’s actually what I wanted to ask you,” she chuckled nervously. She grabbed your other hand, bringing them together. 

“I wanted to ask Cal to be my boyfriend,” Tia confessed.

Crack. There goes your heart.

Tia seemed to notice the dip in your lips and immediately retracted. “But I don’t want to overstep or anything!” she rushed. “You and Cal have history, I’m not stupid enough to deny it. And that’s okay, that’s no one’s fault. If you still love him and want him, I’m not going to get in the way. Calum, well, it’s clear he loves you, too. I’ve heard countless amounts of stories about you to not get the memo. I really like Cal, I do. But that can’t go up against love.” 

This was your chance. To right your wrongs from the past and take back what you truly wanted. Calum. You could take this moment to run to his house right now and take him back, and you’d have Tia’s full support. Zero guilt. 

But why did it hurt so bad? 

No. You made your bed, you have to sleep in it. It doesn’t matter if the bed was built of blades of self doubt and hate, you have to slip into the sharp sheets and let it pierce through your skin. You created your own mess. It is you alone that must deal with it. Not Calum, and surely not Tia. 

You’ve made enough problems for everyone as is. 

You mustered enough strength to let go of Tia’s hands and instead cup her cheeks. “Tia, honey,” you whispered calmly. “Our love is in the past. I’ve missed my chance, and I have learned to live with it. I’ve seen the way Calum looks at you, and that’s something that can blossom into something beautiful. There’s no need to dig up something that has already run its course.” 

Tia’s lip trembled at your words. You nodded carefully. “You don’t need my permission or anything to date Calum. You don’t owe me anything. You both deserve to be happy, and clearly you make each other happy.”

“Are you sure?” Tia asked. “I promise you, it won’t hurt my feelings or anything if you still want him.” 

“No, Tia,” you reassured her, despite the burning feeling in your chest. “Please, make him happy. Make him happier than I could ever make him. He deserves that much.” 

–

Two weeks have passed since your encounter with Tia. Last thing you heard was that the two were very happy indeed, but you didn’t hear if they made it official. You had plenty of dates with the girls, but you insisted on changing the subject whenever they brought Calum up. You feared that if you heard about him one more time, you might burst into tears or do something stupid. 

You finished up your work from the office in your friend’s house. Grateful to be able to work from home for the time you stayed in L.A., you had to admit that sitting on a chair from 9 to 5 made you quite sore. Eager to stretch your legs, you decided to take a walk to the local park. 

However, it wasn’t any random park. It was the place you and Cal used to have endless dates when he was back from tour or the studio. You’d lay on the blanket he took from his apartment at the time and stare at the stars. Back when you both didn’t have much, you’d snack on soup crackers you took from each time you went to the diner across the street and share a can of Coke Cal took from the vending machine after work. So many secrets were shared at this park, and so many memories were made, too. 

“I’m glad to know I’m not the only one who still frequents this place.” 

You jumped to see the last person you expected at this place. Calum gave you a bashful smile before sitting beside you on the grass. You took in the last hour of sun beaming down your skin before the sky went dark, closing your eyes and tuning out the sound of the infamous L.A. traffic. 

“How can I not?” you quipped. “This park is the only place in L.A. that isn’t stuffy or gross.”

Calum let out a laugh, quietly agreeing with you. “So what brings you here, Hood?” you asked, nudging his shoulder. 

The bassist could only shrug his shoulders. “Could say the same about you,” he hummed. “Sometimes I like to sit here and write music. Other times I just sit here and listen to the ambiance.” You nodded, crossing your arms on your chest and making sure to keep a safe distance from him. His touch was mesmerizing, but you had to remind yourself that he was no longer yours. 

“This place reminds me to stay grounded,” he told you truthfully. “When I get too in my head, I always go here, even after we broke up.” 

You dropped your hands to the grass, braiding the blades absentmindedly. “I’m glad,” you spoke up. Calum looked over at you, awaiting an explanation. “It’s too good of a place to let go after a silly little relationship.” 

“It wasn’t a silly little-” Calum fought back. 

“Let’s not talk about it, Cal,” you sighed exasperatedly. 

Calum instantly frowned. “Why not?” he pressed. “You never seem to want to talk about the good old days.”

“Because it wasn’t “the good old days,”” you insisted, lying through your teeth. 

Calum let out a stubborn huff. “Now that’s a lie,” Calum shot back. “But whatever, I won’t push.” A pregnant silence took over the two of you as Calum tried to find something to say. “Have you found yourself a new boyfriend yet?” he decided to ask. 

“Calum-” you began.

“You said not to bring up the past,” Calum argued. “This is the best I can do.” 

You shook your head at his words, giving in nonetheless. “No, I don’t,” you answered. 

“Are you not ready for one?” he asked. 

“I-” You took a moment to find the right words. “I need to work on myself before moving forward with someone else.” 

“Well, I don’t get that,” Calum commented with a snort. “You’re perfect, what could you possibly work on?”

You choked out a dry laugh, though there was no humor behind it. “Quite a bit, I’d say,” you confessed. “Calum, I was a mess, I still am. I can’t put someone through that again.” 

“You didn’t put me through anything,” Calum persisted. “And now that you mention us, I can’t recall anything that you did wrong in that relationship. It was all me.”

“No Calum!” you raised your voice, standing up abruptly. He quickly followed, standing up to meet your frustrated, tired eyes. “It was me. And I’m tired of you insisting otherwise.” 

“You said that I was always gone,” Calum reminded you, his voice matching the same volume as yours. “I don’t see anything that involves you in that.” 

You threw your hands in the air. “Because I was needy!” you exclaimed. “And I was pushy, and I hated being alone all the time–”

“But I’m right here!” he yelled back. You took a step back in shock. He was never one to raise his voice at you, even when you fought in the past. It was your throat that got raw in those arguments from having a shouting match against yourself and losing hopelessly. “Goddammit y/n I’m right here. And I promised you that night that I would always be here if that’s what you wanted.” 

Tears began to stream down your face as you pulled your hair in anger. “You don’t understand, Calum,” you cried out. 

“Then help me understand!” Calum took a step closer to you, taking your hands in his. His brown eyes were desperate, searching yours for an answer. “Please, sunshine, let me in.” 

For a moment, you almost faltered. You nearly gave in at his sweet words and use of that old nickname. But Tia remained in the back of your mind, and guilt sunk in once more.

You released yourself from his touch, looking away from his eyes. “You can’t call me that anymore,” you whispered to him. “I can’t, Calum. I just can’t.” 

Calum watched you back away hopelessly. “y/n,” he sighed.

“I’m leaving for Boston in two days,” you told him. “I’m sure Ash told you that already, though. I overstayed my welcome at my friend’s house. I should start packing.”

The bassist followed you to the gate of the park. “But I feel like we should talk about this,” Calum pleaded. 

Your fingertips grazed the gate, the cool metal sending shivers down your spine. “I’ll see you at the party, Calum.” 

– 

When you told the boys the date you were going back to Boston, Ashton jumped at the opportunity to throw you a goodbye party. In addition to catching up with you and spending every moment available with you, the boys insisted on planning the “biggest party of the century” for your departure. 

“I still don’t see the necessity for all of this,” you told the three boys with a shake of your head. 

“Trust us,” Ashton said with a wild grin. “We all need this.” 

So here you were, casually sipping your cocktail in the corner of Ashton’s home while their exquisite rager took the house by storm. Sierra and Crystal stayed by your side throughout the night, insisting  to keep up with each other while you were away. This time, you made sure to not end contact with them the way you did last time. Tia had also been in the group but left some time ago to deal with something. 

“Are you sure you have to leave?” Luke asked, pouting dramatically. “L.A. isn’t the same without you here, n/n.” 

You ruffled his hair playfully. The singer was always a little brother to you, no matter how close in age the two of you were. “I do, bub,” you said in a sorry voice. “I don’t think my boss could stand another week without me in the studio.” 

“Then move back to this location!” Michael proposed, raising his glass and nearly spilling his drink on the floor. “Transferring wouldn’t be a bad idea, would it? The studio would love to have you back, producing and doing whatever else you do.” 

You laughed at Michael’s drunken state. You were having a lot of fun relishing in the last few moments with your friends before leaving them once again. You almost didn’t realize the shouting that was going on in the dining room of Ashton’s home. 

The entire group ran to the source of the noise to find Calum standing on the dining table with Tia pleading for him to get down.

“Calum, babe, please,” Tia shouted. “You’re causing a scene.” 

All guests turned to see what was going on, especially to see why the bassist of 5 Seconds of Summer was shouting complete intelligible nonsense. 

Ashton ran towards the edge of the table. “Mate, you need to get down,” he begged hurriedly. “You’re not thinking straight, you need to get down before you get hurt.”

“No,” Calum insisted, his words slurring slightly due to his inebriated state. “I need everyone to listen to me.” 

Someone had managed to find the speaker and turn it off so everyone could hear Calum. Your heart was beating out of your chest, not from the alcohol buzzing through your system, but because of the drunk boy standing before you. 

Calum raised his cup to the crowd. “I’d like to raise a toast to the girl who broke my heart,” he announced sloppily. “The “heartbreak girl” herself, y/n l/n.” Calum clapped loudly. He was the only one who was clapping while you stood there in shock and humiliation. “I loved you, you know?” he sniffed. “And I bloody well still do. Tia’s great, though. Absolutely nothing wrong with you, Tia, I hope you know that. But you’re not the one. y/n right here, she’s the one.” 

His brown eyes, red from drinking and smoking God knows what, teared up as he looked down at you. “But what I can’t figure out is why won’t she love me?” Calum threw back the rest of his drink and winced at how strong it was. “I was getting ready to propose to you, you know?” he told you. “I had the ring in my pocket, and I was just waiting for the perfect moment.” Calum chuckled to himself bitterly. “Guess I fucked that up tremendously.”

“Calum, stop,” you pleaded. 

“Why should I?” he asked you incredulously. “You didn’t stop packing your things when I asked you to. You didn’t stop running when I chased after you in the dark. You didn’t stop when you booked that flight across the country to run away from me.” 

Tears were streaming down your face now. “It wasn’t like that, Cal,” you cried. “W-we broke up for a reason-”

“And that’s what I can’t wrap my head around!” he shouted. “You barely gave me a reason! You told me you never saw me anymore. I was willing to make more time for you, to end my career for you, to get down on one knee and be with you, and that wasn’t enough! There had to be another reason-”

“There wasn’t, Cal!” you sobbed. “So drop it, please.” 

Silence spread throughout the whole house. No one moved an inch, too shocked to make a single sound or move. All that could be heard was the sounds of your messy sobs that you failed to keep in. Cal dropped his cup and gestured his hands at you. 

“The Heartbreak Girl, everyone,” he announced with a broken sigh. “Hope you enjoyed this one hell of a show, with your heartbroken host, Calum Thomas Hood.”

You ran out of the house as fast as your feet could take you. The air was brisk in your lungs, but you didn’t care. You couldn’t care when the man you loved poured his heart out to you, only for you to squash it like it was nothing. 

“y/n!” you heard a voice call out for you. You whipped around to see Tia, scrambling to catch up to you. In the back, you could see the band -minus Calum- and their significant others peering out the glass door to see what was going on. 

Tia grabbed your hand tightly. “y/n, fuck, I’m so sorry about Calum,” she apologized, swearing profusely. “I don’t know what’s gotten into him. First we were talking about our relationship then-“

“Please, don’t bring up your relationship,” you cut her off, roughly shaking your head. “I know I gave you my blessing, but please I can’t bear to get my heart broken again.” 

“You don’t understand!” Tia pushed. “We don’t have a relationship to begin with! y/n, I never asked Calum to be my boyfriend, I just couldn’t. I couldn’t interfere with a love as great as yours and his.”

You stumbled backwards. “What?” 

Tia nodded, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear. “y/n, you and Calum are endgame, don’t you see? I only talked to him tonight to explain that you still loved him. I guess he was too caught up in the alcohol to think rationally.” 

“Tia,” you said, voice dripping in disappointment and dread. “That wasn’t your secret to tell him.”

“Were you going to say anything?” she shot back. “You weren’t, so I had to take matters into my own hands. n/n, I’m a firm believer in fate and second chances. This is your chance at making everything right-“ 

“But I can’t!” you cried, ripping your hand away from hers. “Don’t you get it? I’m the one that’s killing him! I put him through hell and I can’t continue to do that. Why can’t you see that I’m a fucked up mess that ruins everything I touch? I love Calum, I’ll never stop loving him, but I’m not blind enough to not see that my love is torturing him slowly.”

You pinched the bridge of your nose in frustration. Tears reappeared in the corner of your eyes, but you were too tired to wipe them away. “I’m never going to be enough for Calum,” you confessed. “That’s why I broke up with him. I can’t watch him waste his life away on a girl that’s only going to disappoint him. I’m not like you, Tia. I’m not perfect, or beautiful, or smart, or anything remotely interesting. And one day, Calum is going to see that and realize he missed his opportunity to find someone good for him, someone that he deserves.

“I don’t deserve him, Tia,” you finished in a broken whisper. “I never will. So I’d rather fade into the background and be a distant memory than become a face he can’t stand to look at.” 

“That’s not true,” Tia insisted, tears gracefully falling down her beautiful face. “y/n, you have to believe me when I say that’s not true.”

A car drove down the street, approaching the two of you. You let out a sigh of relief, recognizing it as your uber. “I don’t have to believe you,” you replied, opening the car door. “My word is all that I need.”

—

Calum woke up the next day with a pounding headache. He groaned aloud, sitting up on the couch and cradling his head. He wished he was drunk enough that night to forget everything that happened, but he remembered every single detail. From the beat of the bass from the stereo to the way your dress hugged your curves he loved to kiss and hold. 

He finally pushed you away, he realized. And for good, this time. Calum felt dread and regret rush through his system, and all he wanted was to crawl into his bed and sleep his life away. 

“You know grumbling isn’t going to cure a hangover,” Tia’s reprimanding voice rang through the living room. 

Tia. Calum jumped up to face her where she had been leaning against the door frame.

“Oh Ti,” he sighed, covering his face in embarrassment. “I’m so sorry for last night, I must have humiliated you. I’m a right idiot, and I’m so sorry I put you through that.” 

“Oh shut up,” Tia laughed, walking over to him and sitting him down. “I can’t say that I wasn’t hurt, but I also can’t say I was surprised with how things turned out.” Calum hung his head low, ashamed of his behavior. He never wanted to hurt either of you. “Cal, you don’t have to be so sullen. It’s okay, there’s no hard feelings or bad blood between us.”

When Calum couldn’t bring himself to respond, Tia decided to take it a step further. “I always knew you loved her,” she confessed. “That’s why I brought it up to you last night. I wanted both of you to work things out. She really does love you.” 

Calum let out a bitter laugh. “She sure has a way of showing it,” he muttered. “Tia, don’t make me feel worse by feeding me lies. It hurts enough that I hurt both of you, don’t make it worse by saying that bullshit.” 

“I’m telling the truth!” she fought back. “y/n still loves you, she told me that herself.”

“Then why did she break up with me?” Calum retorted. “If her love never left the table, where was it when she broke things off? Correct me if I’m wrong, Tia, but I don’t think that’s how you treat the people you supposedly love.” 

Tia screwed her eyes shut, heaving out a sigh. “She loved you so much, she thought you deserved more,” Tia finally explained. “She let you go so that you could find someone better, someone who makes you happier.” 

“That doesn’t make sense,” Calum shook his head, eyebrows furrowed in thought. “How could she think that? No one could be better than her, um, no offense.” Tia snorted at the last part. “If anything, I thought I didn’t deserve her.”

“Well you’re both idiots,” Tia deadpanned. “You two clearly love each other more than life itself but were too blind to see you were perfect for each other.” 

Calum’s shoulders caved in as he drowned in his thoughts. His hangover headache was piercing his skull but he couldn’t care less. He couldn’t process why you’d ever think so lowly of yourself when he praised the ground you walk on. 

“How can I go back to her and repair things when I never realized she was hurting?” he asked. “Why would she ever want me back when I wasn’t there at her lowest? All the signs were there. She stopped calling me every night to talk about her day while I was away. She’d dodge my Facetimes with bullshit excuses that I failed to point out.” Calum huffed to himself, beating himself up critically. “What makes you think I won’t fuck up again when she needs me?”

“Because you’ve learned from your mistakes before,” Tia told him, rubbing his arm soothingly. “And you can learn from them again. That’s what I like about you, Cal. You always made an effort to better yourself, no matter the challenge. And if you truly love her, you’re going to end up fine.” 

Calum smiled softly at Tia’s words, raising his chin to look her in the eyes. “I love her so much,” he whispered. The bassist took her hand, squeezing it affectionately. “I’m sorry things didn’t work out with us, Ti,” he apologized genuinely. “I really do hope you find someone who is willing to lay down their life for you.” 

“I’ve watched two lovers reconnect like no time has passed at all,” Tia smiled back. “Trust me, I have the groundwork laid out for what’s ahead of me.” 

Suddenly, Calum’s phone began to ring. Lunging towards the arm of the couch, Calum pulled his phone off the charger and read the caller ID. Eyes wide, he looked at Tia who gave him a knowing look. 

“I’ll start the car.” 

–

You opened your eyes, immediately squinting at the bright light. You were met once again with the familiar feeling of a skull splitting headache and aching ankle. 

“Must you always get yourself into these situations?” 

You turned to face those brown eyes and cheeky smile you adored. Calum shook his head in disbelief, taking your hand in his. “I thought you said you’d change your emergency contact,” he said in a scolding tone. 

Your face was on fire at his words. “I forgot,” you told him honestly. 

Once again, you ended up in the hospital with similar injuries to what you received at the beginning of your trip. But instead of a car accident, you’d clumsily fallen down the stairs on the way to your Uber to the airport. Luckily a neighbor next door heard the ruckus and loaded you into the Uber straight to the hospital. 

“Or it’s fate,” Calum suggested, resting his hand on the side of your head. 

“Calum,” you tried to counter.

He stopped you instantly. “I know why you ended things,” he simply told you. “And I think I deserve a say in it.” Closing your mouth, you let him speak. “You’re wrong, y/n. You do deserve me as much as I deserve you. And I love you no matter what. I don’t need a famous celebrity as my partner when I have you in my life. None of that superficial stuff matters to me, y/n, you know that. And I know that for as long as I live and you forget to change your emergency contact list, I’ll always come for you.” 

Your heart fluttered, and you allowed yourself to feel hope for the both of you. “But what if someday down the line you want more?” you asked in a small voice. 

Calum blinked away his tears. “What more can I want?” he said in response. “You’re all I want, y/n. I’m so sorry I ever made you doubt that.” 

“Don’t apologize,” you laughed, tears beginning to fall, too. “It was my stupid brain that made me doubt in the first place.” 

Calum leaned in, his lips brushing against yours. “So is that it?” he asked. “Are we done doubting? Will you finally come home, y/n? Be with me forever?” 

You raised your hand to cup his cheek. He instinctively leaned into your touch. “With you,” you told him surely. “I’m always home. I’m yours, Calum Hood.” 

–

if you enjoyed, please like and reblog! it would mean a lot to me <3

[demon-country]

I'm kind of surprised that this isn't a more common opinion, but I really do think that Blitz started coming over way more often than just the full moon for sex and also that he started staying the whole night as time went on. Like, even if you want to claim that Stolas doesn't love Blitz, he only loves the idea of being loved - which I highly disagree with - Blitz ain't that kinda person. He doesn't catch feelings after only like, what, 12-ish days spent having marathon long sex, and a couple of times spent being vaguely together in public? Ain't no way, Blitz is too guarded for that, and even though BDSM breeds a lot of trust just by virtue of it being about trust more than it is about sex, there's no way those things alone would make Blitz start to fall in love enough that he lists Stolas among the people he doesn't want to live without and die alone, or enough to do literally all of The Full Moon and Apology Tour.

On Stolas' phone there is also a picture of a horse that Blitz drew, laid on Stolas' bed, showing that Blitz felt comfortable enough at Stolas' palace and in Stolas' company that he was willing to draw Stolas a horse. That speaks of intimacy, that speaks of familiarity, and that speaks of trust that Blitz would share something he loves doing with Stolas. It also speaks of them having the time to do things other than sex when he comes over.

Now, to be fair, Blitz himself says that Stolas liked to do things like call him a lot to ask about his day and whatnot, and liked his sinstagram posts all the time. And while their now-defunct official Instagram posts aren't strictly canon, Viv did say that the stuff there was true to what the characters might do. So if we take what Blitz said in Oops and applied it to something Blitz posted on his sinstagram account, then Blitz used to book out an entire hour on his daily schedule just to talk on the phone with Stolas. Spending an hour or even half an hour almost every single work day for around a year and regularly talking on sinstagram is definitely significant and would also foster familiarity and plant the seed that Stolas does care for him, even if Blitz's self-hatred and Stolas' more unfortunate comments prevented him from truly believing it.

But I don't think it'd stop with that. Sex is the only way Blitz feels he can really spend time together with Stolas, and it's the only thing he knows for certain that Stolas wants from him and is always down for. If he was catching feelings - and Ozzie's, The Full Moon, and Apology Tour all show that he most definitely was -, he'd start desiring to be around Stolas more often, which would almost definitely lead to him making excuses to come over and have sex.

Of course, he couldn't just admit that even to himself, so he probably would have excused it to himself as something like being too busy to find someone else to sleep with. Oh you know he's just so busy with work and taking care of Loona, and going out to find a fling when he has a perfectly willing booty call he can go see basically whenever he wants is just way less convenient. Why put in the extra work finding someone he's interested in when Stolas is a smoking hot great lay who's down to do pretty much anything and everything? Not that it means anything though! He could totally go get someone else if he wanted to, he just... doesn't. Because he's too busy for that, of course.

And why go to some rando's place if he's just gonna have to get up and leave right after? With Stolas he can stay the night in a giant ass, comfy as fuck bed (with a super soft, super snuggly bird. Uh, not that he cares about that though! It's certainly not like he's touch starved or anything, haha no of course not that'd be crazy! >_>), and in the morning if he sticks around long enough he can either get another round in or some fancy brand coffee.

Like, that's all just an example of how he might explain it to himself, but however he actually did, I'm of the opinion that he used to not stay the night, but most of the time by the end of it he did. Blitz doesn't fall quickly, but once he does he falls hard, and given how desperately he clings to Stolas in The Full Moon and Apology Tour, I'm not sure if he'd be able to stop himself from spending whatever time he could make excuses for with Stolas. The only reason he doesn't post-Ozzie's is because of Stolas' supposed rejection and, after Western Energy, because he feels unworthy of it and is scared of what his perceived failure to protect Stolas might have changed.

That's how I see it, anyway. But I guess it's a pretty unpopular opinion? This got way longer than I thought it would...

[fuck-hamas-go-israel]

No matter what, don’t lose your humanity.

I see this rhetoric very often, that if you call for the release of the hostages and condemn Hamas terrorism and the atrocities they’ve committed, then you automatically “must support the death of Palestinian civilians”.

Conversely, those who claim to care about the Palestinian civilians don’t seem to call for the release of hostages, never acknowledge the rape, torture, and murder of civilians on Oct 7. In fact, they seem to celebrate death of who they perceive as “Zionist”.

I saw this play out before my eyes on TikTok. A singer named Cat Janice was dying from cancer, and she asked her audience to use her song in their videos as she had willed the proceeds to her young son who is not more than 7 or 8 years old. People labelled her a Zionist because she apparently was following an Israeli account on Instagram.

It was a very tragic story and her family was going through a hard time dealing with the aggressive cancer that was slowly weakening her body.

But as we’ve seen:

They don’t care about people who are suffering from terminal illnesses and will harass them anyway.

In her videos of her giving updates on her situation and pleading with people for empathy for her young son, they flooded her comment section with spam:

Unfortunately, Cat Janice passed away, BDE. But that didn’t stop the harassment. In fact, some celebrated her death and even lauded it as a good thing as there is “one less Zionist” now.

Yes, there are people like this out there. This shouldn’t come as a surprise as they’ve been violent, they’ve been sending death threats, they’ve been chanting for violent “resistance” and “intifada” and the death of Jews and Israelis, as well as their allies. They celebrate violence in the most disgusting and dehumanising way possible.

Just look at the comments in this video of a Jewish creator saying that in Berlin, a Jewish student was attacked:

Meanwhile, we chant “Am Yisrael Chai”. We call for life, we focus on saving all lives, no matter who.

As the leaders of Hamas said in an interview, “The Israelis are known to love life. We, on the other hand, sacrifice ourselves. We consider our dead to be martyrs.”

Every innocent death is a tragedy, Israeli and Palestinian. Death IS a tragedy. The killing of Hamas terrorists, albeit deserved, is a tragedy because of the terroristic path they chose in life and what horrific crimes they had committed in order to warrant death as a means of justice.

As much as I wish that one day, those people who have spewed those vile, antisemitic, inhuman things will feel guilty for what they have said, I doubt they will. The perceived safety and anonymity of social media coupled with their complete absence of humanity, compassion, and empathy evaporates any drop of guilty conscience they may have. All we can wish is that fair and just consequences for their actions will be meted out to them one day.

But my fellow Jews, my fellow zionists, my fellow allies, please never, NEVER stoop to that level. It goes against everything we are about.

Once we lose our humanity, we’ll become dulled to the suffering of others. That’s not what we want, and it directly goes against the spirit of Judaism and Israel.

Continue to mourn the death of innocents, continue to get angry and weep for tragedy and injustice, continue to celebrate new life and lives saved. Continue to feel like a human being. Don’t be like them.

Don’t. Lose. Your. Humanity.

[earthchica]

ungodly hour

joel miller x black! reader

summary: you get pregnant by your ex-boyfriend, joel miller.

warning: angst, heartbreak, age gap, break up, language, nicknames, first person pov.

__ series masterlist

first person's pov

When I was new to the Jackson community, I bumped into Joel Miller, who seemed tough and solitary.

One day, I accidentally spilled my coffee on his shirt outside the stables, and he appeared slightly irritated.

Despite my repeated apologies, Joel reassured me there was no need to worry.

Being restless, I offered to make it up to him by preparing dinner. He agreed, possibly influenced by Ellie's teasing about his secret crush.

Gradually, Joel and I developed a friendship, taking turns cooking dinner and getting to know each other better.

Over time, Joel and I nurtured a friendship, sharing cooking duties and deepening our bond.

What started as a friendship evolved into something deeper, but a year later, our relationship hit a rough patch.

Experiencing a common phase in relationships, it seemed like all the warmth had vanished, leaving me puzzled.

Joel's behavior grew distant and aloof, focusing solely on his patrol duties, Ellie, Tommy, and his family.

Whenever I tried to address his behavior, he would often spark a disagreement, claiming I was nagging and needed to relax.

Moreover, each time I requested a kiss, he would hurriedly peck me and that left me...

Feeling confused and torn, my heart ached, and I began to doubt myself.

Questions swirled in my mind:

Am I not good enough for him anymore?

Am I not attractive to him anymore?

Am I-

My thoughts were interrupted by the sound of the door opening, followed by the sound of his boots.

I stood up from my seat and waited for him in the narrow hallway, taking a breath.

There stood Joel, donning a black jacket, blue button-up shirt, and jeans.

He casually removed his jacket and hung it up before acknowledging me with a nod, then briskly headed towards the living room.

Curiously, I trailed behind and inquired, "Where were you, Joel?"

"I was out," he replied, walking towards the bedroom.

"Out where?"

"Darling, can I get in without being fucking interrogated?" he sighs while settling on the bed and removing his boots.

"I'm not interrogating you, Joel just asking where you've been. Ellie told me you went out" I responded, raising my voice slightly.

"I said I was out. Can't you take my word for it?" he retorted, placing his boots aside and meeting my gaze.

"No, Joel, it's not enough. I'm exhausted from this situation. I'm tired of feeling mistreated," I expressed tearfully.

"You've grown distant and cold, and I don't understand why. I've had enough," I added, tears welling up in my eyes.

"So are you suggesting that we should end things?" Joel inquired, and I simply nodded in agreement.

"Darling, I apologize… I'm just going through something at the moment. It's not personal," he said with a frown.

"It feels personal with the way you're treating me. If something is bothering you, Joel, please talk to me. I'm here for you, I love you, but please don't push me away," I expressed, as I took hold of his hand and gently caressed his cheek with my other hand.

Joel lowered his head, ran his fingers through his hair, then took a deep breath and uttered words I never expected to hear from him.

"I think we should end this. You deserve so much better than me, Darling. I don't want to cause you any more pain."

Feeling my heart sink, I was caught off guard.

"What?" I stammered, getting up from the bed. He rose as well and approached me.

"So, this is how it's going to end. You're not even willing to try and work through this?" I questioned, shaking my head in disbelief.

"Joel, did you ever love me?" I inquired, but he remained silent, his guilt apparent as he looked down.

"I suppose you never did, did you?" I asked tearfully. He gazed back at me, his expression softening.

"Darling, I do. I love you so much. I just need time to figure things out," he insisted, caressing my cheek with his hand.

"I love you too, Joel. And you know what? If this is your decision, then so be it. However, I won't be staying here," I stated as I walked away, heading upstairs to pack a bag of clothes.

Joel followed me, observing as I packed; he remained rooted to his spot until I gathered all my belongings.

"Wait, you don't have to go. You can stay," he pleaded, leaving me puzzled by his sudden change in demeanor.

"Joel, you're not expecting me to stay here after tonight, are you?" I inquired, hoisting the bag onto my shoulder.

"I was, but that would be selfish of me. Um… where will you go?" he asked, worried evident as he rubbed the back of his neck.

It was perplexing how he cared after breaking up with me just moments ago. I shot him a cold glance, waiting for him to step aside.

Although he attempted to speak, no words emerged, and he eventually moved out of my path.

Tears streamed down my face as I walked away from Joel and the home we had once shared.

It has been a month since then, and Joel has been keeping an eye on me, being protective from afar.

Despite my efforts to move forward, the situation has been incredibly tough, and I longed for it to end. However, with Ellie's support, I am gradually overcoming it.

Upon sharing the incident between Joel and me with Ellie, she was furious, and I could tell she was about to confront Joel.

She has been checking in on me regularly, and one day, she proposed that I join the upcoming gathering party.

As much as I wanted to go I had to decline because, in the past couple of weeks, I haven't been feeling well.

I've been vomiting, getting major headaches, and having weird cravings. This only gives me one idea of what I might be.

"No, I can't. No," I said, shaking my head not wanting to believe I was, and then I thought about it for a second.

The only time I remember me and Joel having sex was after an argument and that was weeks before we broke up.

"Shit!" I screamed, quickly getting up and putting my boots on. I grabbed my keys before heading over to Tommy and Maria's House.

-

I informed Maria about the situation, and to my surprise, Ellie was also present to listen. Together, they accompanied me to the clinic to check if I was pregnant.

"It seems like you're eight weeks pregnant!" Charles mentioned with a sympathetic expression, sensing my lack of enthusiasm about the pregnancy.

"Oh no!" I exclaimed as tears welled up. Maria embraced me while Ellie comforted me by rubbing my back.

The pregnancy was confirmed, and it was hard to digest. I knew I shouldn't feel this way, but how could I not?

I never imagined having my first child in this way, especially in a post-apocalyptic world filled with clickers and malicious people.

Maria handed me some tissues while Charles, the doctor, shared advice for a healthy pregnancy.

"Okay,_____. I'd like to see you back in a few weeks, all right?" Charles said with a reassuring smile as I nodded.

Back at Tommy's & Maria's House, I couldn't stop pacing the living room, filled with questions.

"So, what should I do?" Ellie sighed and responded, ", I understand this news is shocking, but you have to tell Joel"

"As much as I am disappointed with how Joel treated you, I agree with Ellie. You need to inform him; he deserves to know!"

"Yeah, I know. I just don't know how he'll react," I said, lowering myself onto the couch and covering my face with my hands.

"If it helps, I'll accompany you," Ellie offered, placing her hand on my shoulders, but I declined with a shake of my head.

"No, I can handle this, Ellie. Thank you, though," I replied with a faint smile. Despite my reluctance, it was necessary.

Regardless of whether Joel and I were together or not, I didn't conceive this baby alone.

I needed Joel to decide whether to be a part of our child's life because it was no longer about me; it was about what was best for the baby.

[rip-quizilla]

Impossible to Hate You ~ Part 7

Pairing: Eddie Munson X fem!Reader

Summary: The perfect date, the perfect gift

Word Count: 5.2 K

A/N: Appropriately, this is being posted on the eve of Christmas in July! Eddie & Ace deserve this dose of fluff after almost a year of pining for each other. I hope you enjoy it! Who knows how long the warm fuzzies will last...

Divider was created by @hellfire--cult ❤️

Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6

Part 7

Winter, 1983

Eddie couldn’t remember the last time he had argued with himself to this degree.

He knew it was probably strange that he did most of his thinking in the shower, but there was something about standing stationary as hot water pelted his back and shoulders that put him in an almost meditative state. His inner monologue lectured silently in his mind as his fingers worked sudsy shampoo through his wetted locks. 

On the one hand, he had finally admitted to himself that he liked you- like, really liked you- and asked you out on a date for that reason. His heart was doing a little happy dance just thinking about it- he’d asked a girl that he had a crush on out on a date, and she’d said yes! This had never happened before! He should be celebrating!

And yet, on the other hand, the side of himself that remembered the vow of platonicity that he’d taken when your friendship had just begun was furious with him right now. He remembered why he’d promised to put his friendship with you above any other… developments that had the potential to happen. He still remembered how it shook him to his core to see Alan and his harpy girlfriend stare at you as if you were prey for their sick entertainment. It was selfish of him to be willing to put your reputation on the line simply because he couldn’t keep his feelings in check. 

Eddie wanted you- that much was obvious. But he also wanted to keep you safe. 

 When he shut off the water, the sudden silence in the room made Rick’s words from last year echo in his head even louder- “Don’t tell me if she asked, you wouldn’t be all over that.” Eddie had laughed the question off, assuming there was no point in answering because there was no way you would ever ask in the first place. No way in hell a smart girl like you would ever go for a guy like him.

Eddie toweled himself off in front of the small vanity mirror above the sink, looking himself in the eyes as he grappled with the truth that he was still struggling to believe. She likes you. He thought to his reflection. She thinks you’re smart, she thinks you’re funny, and most importantly, she thinks you’re worth a damn. He shook his head softly, still barely comprehending it himself. Are you really about to pass on a chance like this because you’re scared you can’t protect her?

Eddie Munson had never been lucky. He’d never been someone that good things just happen to. Any good thing in his life had been taken, borrowed or earned. No blessing was ever gifted to him for free. 

Until you came along. 

Your friendship had only begun because you’d seen things in him that only a select few in his life had ever cared to notice- you looked at him and saw someone who was kind, protective, intelligent, creative… a good person. Even Eddie couldn’t decide if he was good or not sometimes, but he always strived to be. No teacher, no friend’s parent, no adult that wasn’t directly related to him at least had seen that either, not for a long time. 

But you saw him. Your family saw him. For crying out loud, when he couldn’t even get his own father to claim him as his pride and joy, your parents were actually proud of him. You made him feel like he belonged. 

That realization solidified his decision. Life had handed him a really, really good thing when it dropped you into his life and he was not about to run away because he was scared he wouldn’t measure up. 

He deserved to let himself have something good. 

“What time did you say he’s picking you up again?”

Robin’s voice was muffled, knee-deep in the mess she’d made of your closet. 

“Eight,” you repeated for the third time since you’d both woken up from your impromptu sleepover on the couch, bleary-eyed and squinting at the idle blue television screen that had appeared hours ago after the final credit of The Dark Crystal had rolled.

“Perfect!” said Robin, “That should give us long enough to pick the perfect outfit for… whatever Eddie Munson plans for a first date.”

“Robin, it’s eleven thirt- OOF!” You were cut short by a dress that hit you square in the face, followed by a sweater and a pair of boots being shoved into your arms by your best friend.

“Try these on, I know it’s cold but you could layer… Do you know if you guys will be outside?”

“He wouldn’t plan something outside, would he?” you asked, suddenly concerned. “I mean you don’t think he’d take me, like, hiking, right?”

Robin snorted. “If Eddie tries to take you on a little stroll through the woods in the dead of night, all bets are off. Get the hell out of there, mission aborted.” 

You couldn’t help but laugh. While there were probably some people in Hawkins who really did believe that worrying Eddie Munson might drag you to the woods at night to sacrifice you to some dark god or something was a valid, rational fear, you knew better. Eddie was a lot of things, but outdoorsy he was not. 

Before you knew it, you’d joined Robin in your closet, taking dresses, jeans, blouses, and boots in your hands and laying them out on your bed in different combinations. You compared each outfit against the other in a drawn out game of trial and error in pursuit of the perfect look for your date tonight, pausing only for snack breaks and to change the tape that played from your cassette player on the dresser. 

Brushing off the events of yesterday was easy when you thought about what was looking up for you- you were going on a date tonight with Eddie Munson. This was what you’d been hoping for since the spring! Good things were happening for you. 

In the light of so much good, it was pretty hard for you to focus on the bad.

Eddie stood on your doorstep, hands shoved in his pockets to shield them from the cold. Now that Hawkins was deep into December, a frosty layer of snow blanketed the surface of the ground, and the air still held just enough chill to preserve it for days on end. He freed one hand just long enough to deliver seven decisive knocks to the front door.

Dun-dun-dudun-dun… dun-dun.

Your heart rate doubled its pace when you heard it; you took a steadying breath before squeezing the handle of your front door and swinging it open.

For a moment, time stood still. You both knew you should say something, should do something… but all you could do was take in the sight of each other, still shaken with disbelief that tonight was really happening.

Eddie wore all black, which wasn’t uncommon for him. Though he seemed… cleaner, somehow. Like he’d made an effort to hand pick the nicest black pieces in his closet. The only pop of color he wore was a red wool scarf wrapped haphazardly around his neck. It rested snugly under the collar of his leather jacket, and you remembered how the smooth lining felt against your skin the last time you’d worn it. It made you want to feel it again.

Your date for the evening eyed you up and down, awestruck by you for what felt like the thousandth time this year. You and Robin had settled on a flannel pinafore dress, paired with a turtleneck and thick tights. You’d concluded that the outfit was just the right compromise of pretty and practical, given the frigid weather and the fact that you had absolutely no idea what Eddie’s itinerary was for the evening ahead.

You smiled, a warm ray of light in the frosted dark as you took your red pea coat from its hook by the door. “Hi.”

“Hi.” Eddie’s face brightened in the light of yours. Funny how that always seemed to happen.

“So, uh…” You murmured, shutting the door behind you. “What's the plan, Stan?” 

Eddie raised an eyebrow. “Stan?”

“Because it rhymes with plan.” You fiddled with the buttons of your coat nervously. “Plan, Stan… Sorry-” you huffed, eyes flicking down as blood rushed to your face. You hoped he couldn’t tell. “-I don’t know why I’m so nervous.”

“You’re nervous?” Eddie snorted. “My palms are fucking waterfalls, why do you think my hands are in my pockets right now?”

You giggled, still jittery from the nerves bolstered by the cold. “You’re just saying that to make me feel better, you never get nervous.”

“Oh yeah? Wanna feel?” he teased, shoving a cold, clammy hand against your cheek. You squealed, slapping at his hand as your face scrunched up with mock disgust. Before you knew it you were both laughing, and all was right with the world again- his joyful snicker nestled perfectly against your giggle-turned-guffaw. It was like riding a bike, the way the two of you fit together perfectly. 

“Don’t be nervous,” you whispered, gently leaning into his shoulder once you caught your breath, “It’s just me.”

Eddie leaned back, his weight finding equilibrium with yours between your shoulders. “And it’s just me.” 

“Just us.” you whispered, tipping your head to meet his shoulder for a moment. Eddie’s heart might have been racing still, but if hearts could get runners’ high… he was pretty sure it felt like this. 

Eddie refused to tell you where he was driving you, only that your destination was about thirty minutes out of Hawkins. When he finally pulled into the parking lot, the look on your face was completely worth it. 

“Santa’s Light Farm?” you read from the lit archway composed of what looked like two giant candy canes as he pulled the van into the drive. Eddie took a moment to take in your awestruck expression before throwing the gear shift into park. “Eddie, I don’t think I’ve ever seen this many Christmas lights in my life! How did you find out about this place?”

“We used to come here when I was a kid,” Eddie said, unbuckling and killing the engine before hopping out of the van and jogging to open your door before you got the chance. He continued as he helped you from your seat, “Long time ago, like… last time I was here it was with my mom.” 

Your eyes widened; he’d never mentioned her before, not really. He’d only made passing references to his mother, the entity she’d been in the childhood that you didn’t know much about apart from what he’d made a point not to talk about.

“How long ago was that?” you asked. You didn’t mean to pry… but now that he was opening up doors that had never been opened for you, you were anxious for any scraps he was willing to give. 

“My last Christmas with her, I was six.” Eddie’s gaze was wistful, tinging his melancholy grin with a hint of nostalgia. “I don’t remember much about this place, just how I felt when I was here.” He turned to you now, the corner of his smile tugging up in that way that made your heart do backflips. “That’s why I wanted to bring you.”

The two of you were standing still now, waiting in line at the ticket booth. Your hand grasped his, and you gave him a reassuring squeeze. “I wish I could’ve met her.” 

Eddie’s hand squeezed yours back. “She would have liked you.” Then he gave you a look so genuine, you had no doubt in your mind that he meant it.

He let go of your hand only to thumb through his cash at the ticket booth, greedily grabbing your hand back the moment he pocketed his wallet. 

You began the journey through the glowing light show of giant Christmas trees and dazzling archways, and you both marveled at the sheer amount of lights that had been strung into fantastic spectacles as far as your eyes could see. Holiday favorites played through speakers served as the soundtrack to your colorful stroll, mingling with the laughter of children making memories just like Eddie’s. 

“You want hot cocoa?” he asked when the two of you found a quaint stand decorated to look like a gingerbread house. You nodded eagerly, swooning at the idea of a warm drink in this bone-chilling cold. 

“Now’s the best part, Sweet Tart.” Eddie smiled triumphantly at his rhyme, taking both of your hot chocolates and herding you over to a topping bar that had been set up on the side of the stand. “You probably don’t know this about me, but I just happen to make the most delicious cup of hot cocoa in the history of the world.” 

“Oh, aren’t I lucky?”

“Extremely.” he winked, handing you one of the cups. “So what I’m going to do is fix you the greatest cup of cocoa ever, and you can try your best to make me one Ace-style.”

You lifted an eyebrow. “And what is Ace-style?” 

“That’s up to you, gorgeous.”

Gorgeous. Eddie just called you gorgeous. You wanted to pinch yourself, to squeal, to jump up and down. 

“Well then,” you cooed through a toothy grin, “get ready to be dethroned, cocoa king.”

A little more than five minutes later, the two of you sat on a bench beneath a twinkle-lit pergola with your custom cocoas in hand. You had begrudgingly named Eddie the winner, laying the grudge on thickly just to see his cocky smile grow cockier. You’d happily lose any competition against him if it meant you got to see that smile on his face. 

“You get extra points for creativity with the cinnamon, though.” he complimented you between sips, a frothy mustache of whipped cream bubbling on his upper lip. “Never would’ve thought to put that on cocoa.”

You struggled to hide a laugh as you reached for him with a napkin. “‘Preciate it, Colonel Sanders.” 

“Colonel…? Oh.” It was too dark to tell, but you were pretty sure Eddie blushed as you wiped the whipped cream away. “Thanks. No question of whether or not I liked your recipe, I guess!”

You giggled, taking a sip from your own cup. “I’m a little jealous that I don’t get to taste the fruit of my own labors, I worked hard on that!”

“Oh, you wanted some?” You recognized that mischievous glint in Eddie’s eye, but it was too late- he’d already swiped a dollop of whipped cream from his cup and smeared it on the tip of your nose. “There. You can reach that, right?”

You crossed your eyes as you laughed, trying to reach the whipped cream with your tongue which- obviously- you could not do. 

Eddie was cracking up beside you. “C’mon Ace, it’s right there, you got it!” 

It wasn’t long before you’d dabbed a bit of whipped cream on his nose, and the two of you had descended into a laughing fit. 

The entire date went that way… both of you messing with each other, finding tiny, insignificant excuses to touch each other, make eye contact, do or say something that made the other smile. Conversation flowed easily, like it always did. You’d initially been nervous that this night would be awkward, but you couldn’t have been farther from the truth. Talking to him, being with him… it was effortless every time.

Before you knew it, you’d both reached the end of the path, the glowing candy cane archway marking the divide between the holiday wonderland and the dusty parking lot. 

Neither you nor Eddie seemed able to bring yourselves toward it; you both stood stock still just a few feet behind the looming candy canes. It seemed he wanted to keep the night going just as much as you did. 

“I almost want to try and walk through it again backwards.” You said, laughing lightly through the words. “I don’t want it to be over.”

Eddie seemed pensive, tilting his head as if deep in thought. The air between you was silent enough for you to register White Christmas playing through a speaker somewhere. Eddie backed up a step or two, then extended his arm out to you with an open hand. 

“One dance for the road, then?”

You stared at Eddie’s hand as a bewildered smile unfurled across your lips. “Do people even dance to Christmas music?” 

“That depends on whether you take my hand or not.” He shrugged, watching you expectantly. 

You took his hand. How could you do anything else?

It was cold outside- more than cold, it was below freezing- and yet, when you felt the pad of his frigid fingers caress your hand, felt his other hand press into the small of your back through the several layers of fabric you wore tonight… you felt anything but cold. You were freshly baked cookies. You were a quilt left by the fireplace to soak up its warmth. Hell, you were the fireplace. 

You swayed as one to Bing Crosby’s crooning, and your forehead found his chest as your eyelids fluttered shut and a smile that shone with warm content took its rightful place on your winter-chapped lips. You didn’t think it could get better, but then you felt his voice rumbling in his chest and realized that Eddie was singing softly along to the carol as you danced, and your heart began to melt for him.

You got a few looks as people walked past, some surprised, some fond, some judgmental- neither of you noticed, though. For once, you were both completely unbothered by the entire world around you. Nothing existed outside of this. 

You did eventually walk to the van. Eddie drove you back to Hawkins, and he parked at the curb in front of your house the same way he so often did… but it wasn’t the same. Because this time, he held your hand all the while.

“Can I see you again before Christmas?” Eddie asked you, standing with you on the doorstep under the pale porch light. 

“Well duh,” you smiled, “I have to give you your present.” 

He smirked. You swooned. You always swooned when he gave you that little half smile, but this time you didn’t hide it from him. You never wanted to hide how you felt about him ever again, after tonight. 

“And I have to give you your present.” Eddie parroted, sliding his arms around your waist and pulling you close. 

Your eyes went wide at the contact, and you couldn’t suppress the grin his touch elicited from you as you leaned into it. 

“You got me a present?” 

He nodded, pulling you closer. “Mm-hm. And you didn’t have to get me anything, tonight was enough.” 

You sighed, watching the cloud of your cocoa-scented breath mingle with his in the dim light against a backdrop of snow that was just beginning to fall. “Tonight was perfect, Eddie.”

“Almost perfect.”

You lifted your head to look up at him, confused, but his finger caught your chin to lift it the rest of the way to capture your lips with his own. 

You were dreaming. You had to be dreaming. Eddie Munson was kissing you, and snow was falling, and his hand was pressing into the small of your back making you arch against him and Eddie Munson was kissing you. 

You lifted your hand to lightly caress the stubble at his jaw, and you felt him shiver at the coldness of your fingers but he only kissed you harder, as if he sought shelter from the cold in the way your lips felt against his. 

You were dazed when he pulled away, eyelashes fluttering and your gaze saturated with longing for more. He brought a hand up to grasp yours at his jaw, bringing it to his mouth to press a gentle kiss to your knuckles. 

“You look like a princess tonight, by the way,” he whispered. “I should’ve said that when you got the door, but I’m a coward.”

“You aren’t a coward, Eddie Munson.” You said, moon-eyed and soft-spoken. 

A snowflake caught in your hair, and Eddie smiled as he smoothed it out with his thumb. “You know,” he said, murmuring as though he was half speaking to himself. “When I’m with you, that feels truer than it ever used to before.” He brought his lips to your forehead, pressing them into another gentle kiss at your hairline. 

Six days passed before you saw Eddie again, but that didn’t mean you didn’t hear from him. He called you every morning- that is, if you didn’t beat him to it. You caught your parents smiling at you on more than one occasion, watching you giggle and sigh and twirl the telephone cord between your fingers. Your mother would grin wistfully, remembering the first time she’d been that smitten over someone. Your father would shake his head and sip his coffee, hiding a smile behind the paper. They both knew who you were talking to, and they couldn’t be more proud of their daughter’s taste. Eddie was already practically part of the family.

The snow continued in full force for the majority of that week, and by the time Friday the 23rd rolled around, there was enough snow on the ground to nearly reach your knees. Eddie insisted that the two of you had to build a snowman as the snow was the perfect consistency today to do so, and you were completely incapable of saying no to him so that was exactly what you did. You were both so cold and frozen to the bone that you both had to huddle by the radiator in his trailer until you could feel your toes again. Wayne had gotten off early for the holidays, so he’d been ready with steaming cups of coffee for the both of you. Come sundown, you were both wrapped in old blankets and clutching your mugs of coffee, cuddling like penguins as It’s a Wonderful Life played on the TV. 

It was a perfect day. 

“You want your present now?” Eddie asked, his chin nudging the top of your head as the credits rolled at the end of the film. It was just the two of you in the room now, Wayne having escaped to the patio for a smoke break.

You nodded excitedly, leaping up to grab two wrapped parcels from beneath the plastic Christmas tree in the corner of the living room- one from you to Eddie, one from him to you. 

Eddie chuckled at your enthusiasm, turning to face where you sat opposite him on the loveseat.

“You open yours first.” you commanded, excited to see his reaction to what you were quite sure would knock his socks off. You’d pulled some strings for this one. 

Eddie obeyed, ripping into the carefully wrapped package quickly and efficiently. Moments later, he was holding up a T-shirt with an expression that was somewhere between shock and complete childlike glee. 

“This… is this-?”

You were already nodding. “It’s from this year’s tour. I have a cousin in Texarkana, and he told me they were playing at the Community College back at the beginning of the school year, so…” You smiled, “I called in a favor he owes me.”

Eddie looked at you flabbergasted, turning your gift to him this way and that so he could look at every square inch of the Metallica tour shirt- now officially his Metallica tour shirt. 

“This is… oh my God-”

On that last syllable, he dropped the shirt in his lap and tackled you in a hug so fierce, it toppled you over. 

“Okay, okay,” you wheezed, struggling to catch your breath in his vice-like grip. “I’m glad you like it, can I breathe now, please?” 

He loosened the embrace but still held you in his arms, smiling down at you with joy so bright it could melt the snow outside. “Seriously, thank you. I can’t believe you managed to get one of these.”

You shrugged. “Well, you wanted to go see them in Illinois months ago, but I’m the one who convinced you to stay home because it was a school night. It’s the least I could do.” 

Eddie shook his head, gazing at you with the kind of wonder that one would normally reserve for something like the Grand Canyon or an art museum. “Ace, if this is your least, then I don’t think the world is ready for your best.” 

Once both of you were upright again, Eddie tapped a finger impatiently on his gift to you. “Your turn, c’mon, open it.”

You didn’t need to be told twice- you tore paper and ribbon off the rectangular box with gusto, raising an eyebrow when you saw a logo you recognized on the surface of the cardboard. 

“Converse?” You asked. Eddie just smiled, waiting for you to remove the lid- he wasn’t disappointed with your reaction. Your jaw dropped when your eyes locked on the deep red platform Converse that you’d fallen in love with nearly five months ago. 

“Eddie… are these-?”

“You know I couldn’t let you leave that store without those shoes. Or… well, I couldn’t let you leave without the possibility of owning those shoes.” Eddie’s posture straightened, obviously satisfied with how surprised you were. “They were meant for you, Ace.”

You couldn’t stop staring at the shoes. Those beautiful, red, perfect shoes that Eddie had seen you simply look at all those months ago, and bought for you so that he could give you the perfect Christmas present. Because they were- they were the best present you had ever gotten, because you knew that this meant he cared about you even then. 

You were so in love with this man. 

You didn’t realize you’d shed a tear until it spilled over your eyelid and fell with a plop on the cardboard box. 

“I can’t believe you bought these, Eddie, they were so expensive!” 

“Hey now, it’s okay! You don’t need to cry, it’s okay!”

Eddie was wiping your eyes in seconds, panicking at the sight of your tears. You sniffled, gazing up at him with wet, shining eyes. “It’s okay, they’re happy tears, I promise!” You tried to reassure him, but his hands stayed planted on either side of your jaw, fingers splayed across the skin of your cheeks.

“You promise you’re okay?” Eddie pressed.

You took his wrists in your hands, stroking your thumbs along his skin. “I’m more than okay, Eddie.” 

This time it was you who leaned in, your lips salted from a stray tear ghosting against his, innocent and tentative. He made a noise when you kissed him, a high-pitched sort of whine that sounded wanting, desperate. The tip of his tongue poked out to taste your kiss, and the moment you allowed your tongue to meet his, he seemed to lose all restraint. 

Your presents were forgotten, pushed to the side as Eddie leaned further into your kiss, his lips moving purposefully against yours as he slowly lowered you until you were horizontal on the loveseat. 

More of his weight settled on top of you, and you reveled in the way his body slotted against yours as he deepened the kiss. His mouth worked in tandem with yours as your hands wandered, fingering the fabric of his long sleeved shirt against his back. Your fingers worked their way under the hem, slipping to the warm skin beneath, and he gasped into your mouth at how cold your fingers were. His revenge was a bite to your lip, which launched a gasp from your lips that surprised even you. 

“Ahem.”

Wayne’s cough came from the kitchen, and it tore the two of you off of each other so fast that Eddie actually fell off of the couch, landing on his back and staring up at the ceiling wide-eyed and rueful. 

“You kids still on Santa’s nice list out here?” 

“Christ, Wayne-” Eddie’s hands rubbed his eyes, as if he could somehow reach his brain through his eye sockets and scrub away the embarrassment. 

 “-Because if you’re doing something that would land you two on the naughty list, I’d rather it didn’t happen in my living room.”

You cringed, glad he was behind you so you didn’t have to look Wayne in the eye. “Sorry, Mr. Munson.”

Eddie glanced up at you, smiling up at you through a cringe as he mouthed Sorry!

“It’s getting late, Ace,” he said, hopping to his feet and offering you a hand. “Let’s get you home.”

You nodded, taking his hand and standing to throw Wayne an apologetic smile. “Thank you for having me over, Mr. Wayne. And for the coffee.”

He gave you a friendly, forgiving smile in return. “No need to thank me, darlin’, you’re welcome anytime.”

When Eddie returned home from dropping you off, he reached into his pocket and pulled out the crumpled piece of notebook paper that you’d given him before you’d left his car. You’d scribbled a phone number on it- the area code was unfamiliar, a Louisiana number that you’d said belonged to your grandmother’s house where you’d be staying for the remainder of the winter holiday. 

“My flight leaves tomorrow,” you’d said, “but my granny said it’s fine if you call. I can’t hog the phone like I’ve been doing the rest of this week- there’ll be like eighteen grandchildren there, so I doubt I’m the only one who’ll want to use the phone, but-”

“Ace,” Eddie interrupted, “Are you asking me to call you?” 

You looked up at him sheepishly, smiling and nodding your head. 

He grinned. “Then I’ll call.” 

This felt like the beginning of something good, something really really good. Eddie didn’t know what he’d done to deserve something so good… one could even call it a Christmas miracle. 

The phone rang suddenly, pulling Eddie from his thoughts, and he picked up the receiver quickly so it wouldn’t bother Wayne, who’d fallen asleep in his recliner. 

“Hello?”

“You gave her the shoes!” Robin’s voice buzzed excitedly.

Eddie smiled, “Yes, Buckley, I gave her the shoes.” Robin had made a point to interrogate Eddie about his Christmas gift to you over a month ago, and when Eddie had finally broken down and told her, she’d actually been rather impressed with him.

“I just got off the phone with her,” She gushed, “She was stunned, completely floored. God, Munson, you realize you’re getting a girlfriend for Christmas?”

“Slow down, speedy-” Eddie cautioned through his teeth, “-we haven’t really… defined anything yet. I don’t even know if that’s what she wants.”

Robin snorted. “Oh, I don’t think you’ll find much of an issue there. Believe me, she wants to be with you. If she’s ready to deal with Alan and his creeps for you, she’s in it for the long haul.”

Eddie frowned, confused. “Alan?” he asked, “You mean what happened back in October? If anything she was the one antagonizing him, I had to get her out of the classroom before she started a fight.”

“October? No, I mean last week.”

Eddie’s breath caught in his chest. 

“Robin,” he said, his voice dangerously calm. “What happened last week?”

Part 8

Taglist: @rustboxstarr , @josephquinnsfreckles , @rozxartaki ,@sheneedsrocknroll92, @melodymishahiddlestan , @stylesxmunson @fishwithtitz , @elvendria , @carrotbunnies21 , @the-unforgivenn , @munson-blurbs, @writinginthetwilight , @ghost-proofbaby , @nix-rose , @chaoticgood-munson , @3rd-conchord , @aphrogeneias , @definitionwanderlust , @aheadfullofsteverogers , @artsymaddie , @mopeymopeymouse , @alwaysbeenfamous

[thisgingerhasnosoul]

The thing that’s just driving me insane about the anti-Zionists is this absolute insistence that Jews are not a marginalized community. That we are, as a rule, oppressors. That we are White PeopleTM and therefore our concerns of violence perpetuated against us isn’t real, or worth discussing, or that the violence is even acceptable.

Because if you view Jews anywhere as having an identifiable trait that makes them inherently over-powered or uniquely oppressive—and therefore cultural appropriation/erasure, discrimination, and even rape, humiliation, torture, and mass murder is acceptable or understandable as a form of “resistance” against them—I’m sorry, but that is textbook antisemitism. It is literally the same rhetoric the Nazis used to justify the Shoah. And you cannot claim that you care about marginalized communities and victims of persecution, then turn around and tell a group of people who, for 3000 years, have been killed in or driven out of every single home they’ve ever known to the point where they barely survived the last century, that they are all-powerful oppressors who’s concerns of safety are irrelevant to the discussion—or worse, advocate for violence against them.

I could go on to explain how this is what drives the Jewish rejection of being labeled as white in recent years—because we know that the moment people start to associate us with an over-privileged oppressor class who controls the world, it is inevitably the first step towards the justification of genocide against us (and considering what we’ve literally seen in the last two months, I don’t think it’s too far a stretch to believe these people would be justifying it), but I think I’ve said my piece.

Leftists, do better. Stop being cruel and antisemitic, stop hiding behind your tokens, and start including Jews—and yes, that includes Israeli Jews—in the list of vulnerable groups you are willing to stand up for and protect from violence. Otherwise, don’t be surprised when your actions lead to another genocide of the Jewish people.

And more importantly, don’t you ever forget how you helped cause it.

[scoobydoodean]

Curious if you have anything for "Dean doesn't care about demonic vessels" / Dean calls Sam a monster whenever he makes a concerted efforts to exorcise care about the humans in the vessels. If not, is it something you'd consider tracking or expanding upon?

The first time the death of a vessel comes into question is in 1.22, when Sam, Dean, and Bobby capture "Meg", and the real Meg (Meg Masters) is still alive and possessed by her. Dean is the first person to say they need to exorcise "Meg" immediately to save Meg Masters from possession, while Sam wants to leave Masters possessed so they can potentially get more information out of "Meg" (this is all after "Meg" revealed John's location, so Dean already got what he wanted—Sam wants Azazel's location). Bobby then interjects, saying that exorcising "Meg" will kill Masters.

Sam (quietly to Dean): Maybe we can still use her. Find out where the demon is. Dean: She doesn’t know. Sam: She lied. Dean: Sam, there’s an innocent girl trapped somewhere in there. We’ve go to help her. Bobby (comes up to them): You’re gonna kill her. Dean: What? Bobby: You said she fell from a building. That girl’s body is broken. The only thing keeping her alive is that demon inside. You exorcise it – that girl is going to die. Dean: Listen to me, both of you, we are not gonna leave her like that. Bobby: She is a human being. Dean: And we’re gonna put her out of her misery. Sam, finish it.

This is an interesting discussion, but one where Sam is the absolute least concerned about Meg Masters. Overtaken by the desire for vengeance at this point, Sam just cares about potentially getting information from "Meg" that will lead him to the demon. It's Bobby and Dean who care about Masters, but push for different solutions. Dean believes Masters is suffering and cannot be saved, and is concerned with immediately ending her suffering and violation. More darkly, he may also want a little payback against "Meg" the demon. Bobby, from his own POV as a husband who lost his wife to possession, immediately jumps to wanting to wait and see if they can save Masters somehow, but this is... also likely a pipe dream. "Meg" is... to put it quite bluntly, a creepy, murdering, rapey demon. She is happy to kill humans at her leisure at this point in the series. She has zero incentive to preserve Master's life and they were never going to be able to save her. Meg Masters immediately thanks them for exorcising Meg when she retakes control of her body, even knowing she is going to die. There's really no good solutions in the situation, but Dean is still the one to reflect after on Meg and another of Azazel's children who he kills to save Sam, considering the gravity of the vessels lives.

Dean: Hey, Sam? Sam: Yeah? Dean: You know that guy I shot? There was a person in there. Sam: You didn’t have a choice, Dean. Dean: Yeah, I know, that’s not what bothers me. Sam: Then what does? Dean: Killing that guy, killing Meg. I didn’t hesitate, I didn’t even flinch. For you or Dad, the things I’m willing to do or kill, it’s just, uh .... it scares me sometimes.

I do think Dean is a little less fair with himself when it comes to Meg, given that at the point where they went through with the excorcism, they already had the information on John's location that Dean had wanted.

In 3.04, Sam calls Ruby a "cold bitch" after *she dismisses the weightiness of him killing two vessels. However, Sam kills a crossroad's demon and her vessel just because he's angry in the following episode. Sam's prioritization of vessels doesn't seem to materialize until 4.04. "Metamorphosis" (which I'm guessing is the basis for the claim you're asking me about):

SAM I'm sorry, Dean. I am. But try to see the other side here. DEAN The other side? SAM I'm pulling demons out of innocent people. DEAN Use the knife! SAM The knife kills the victim! What I do, most of them survive! Look, I've saved more people in the last five months than we save in a year.

First, this wasn't the motivation for honing Sam's powers when Sam originally agreed to start using them. His motive was revenge on Lilith. We also know he isn't being honest with Dean or himself here about the full scope of his motivations. As is slowly revealed to us over the course of season 4, Sam is attracted to the feeling of power that the demon blood gives him.

That aside, if you actually take this discussion in 4.04 in context, this is the first conversation where Dean knows Sam is working with Ruby and that Sam is honing powers he developed via her guidance. Dean's plea to use the knife comes right before Sam reveals that he is actually able to save some of the victims by using his powers. Dean doesn't claim the victims are unimportant after that—he pretty clearly suggests that saving the victims being a good thing is the start down the dark path paved with good intentions and that it won't end the way it's started.

DEAN That what Ruby want you to think? Huh? Kind of like the way she tricked you into using your powers? Slippery slope, brother. Just wait and see. Because it's gonna get darker and darker, and God knows where it ends.

He casts doubt on the idea that there aren't ulterior motives and dangerous downsides in play that Ruby isn't being honest about. These concerns materialize as reality by the end of the season. Ruby is using him in the exact manner Dean feared, and as Sam's powers grow, he needs more and more blood to not just grow stronger, but to maintain his powers. By 4.20, he cuts a demons throat and then stabs her, completely uncaring of the vessel, in his desperation to feed. In 4.21, Ruby notes that his appetite has grown, and in 4.22, Sam needs to drink a whole person and he begins to turns into a demon because of all the blood he has consumed.

This "conflict" about the knife killing vessels also isn't a repeated discussion between the brothers. It happens in 4.04 only as noted above. At the end of 4.04, Sam decides he is done with his powers after getting scared by what happened with Jack Montgomery. In 4.07, he decides to use his remaining powers against Samhain, and Dean asks him to use the knife instead. However, Samhain's vessel is 1) a villain 2) already dead. The next time Sam's powers come up is in 4.09 when Ruby urges Sam to use his powers to stop Alastair. After Ruby emphasizes their precarious position, Dean stifles his objections. No one is concerned about Alastair's vessel—they're concerned about not being killed. Dean (though he suspects) does not know about Sam using his powers again until the end of the season in 4.20 when Sam kills a vessel to drink their blood then flexes his powers on the demon possessing Amelia Novak. In other words, at no point after 4.09 does Dean even have an opportunity to object to Sam using his powers, and the vessel discussion is only relevant the first time they discuss Sam's powers, in 4.04. In 4.20, Sam shows he doesn't really care that much about vessels by feeding on and then killing a demon and vessel. So Sam's whole "save the vessel" angle also doesn't come up again after 4.04.

The point being... I think there are various points where Sam and Dean could both have showed more care toward vessels, but we can hardly say that SPN presents a consistent narrative where Sam cares about demonic vessels and Dean doesn't. I think framing the discussion in 4.04 in that way in the first place is fairly disingenuous, given Dean wasn't upset at Sam for wanting to save vessels. He was angry that Sam lied to him and broke a promise to uphold what Sam himself called Dean's dying wish (to please not hone demonic powers with Ruby because Dean believed it was the culmination of Azazel's plans for Sam and a continuation of their family's generational traumas). He's scared because he sees the path paved with good intentions down which Sam could tumble. He's scared because he only found out about all of this because Cas warned him the episode before (in 4.03) that if he didn't stop his brother from working with Ruby, the angels would.

You brother is headed down a dangerous road, Dean, and we're not sure where it leads. So stop it. Or we will.

He's scared because he's spent the last 40 years being coerced and tortured by demons and was corrupted toward becoming one and doesn't want his brother to suffer that same horrific fate—simply by some other means. He's scared because Sam lied to him about all of this, which suggests that deep down, Sam knows there are parts of this that aren't good and he might be hiding more things from Dean or even himself (4.04).

[phoenixyfriend]

HI DO YOU WANT SOME COSTUBE DRAMA THAT TURNED KINDA WHOLESOME

Pt 1: The Drama

Okay so a long-ass time ago (I think like 15 years), a British costume historian on youtube by the name of Cathy Hay decided she was going to remake 'the peacock Worth gown' and started a kickstarter for it. She made a bunch of money, but the actual work ended up being much more than she expected, so the project kept getting delayed.

In the years after, she befriended the now much more famous Bernadette Banner. They got close enough for cross-Atlantic trips to visit, etc. They were best friends and often joked that they were the same person.

Drama started riling up as people criticized Hay for not engaging meaningfully with the problematic history of the gown in question, which had been made for the wife of a British Governor of India during the 19th century, for a party celebrating British imperialism in India, and the gown's shining feature was Indian embroidery which was almost certainly underpaid, and that embroidery was the massively time-consuming bit that had been delaying her this whole time.

It was a whole thing that she sort of? Tried to address? buuuut The thing is, one of the seemingly obvious ways to manage this conflict would be to coordinate with an Indian embroiderer. In fact, a very accomplished specialist did reach out to her about collaborating on this! And she ghosted him! Maybe even blocked, I don't remember, but the thing was that he was ready and willing to do this cool project that could explore and reimagine a beautiful but morally ugly example of their shared countries' histories.

And she just… kept refusing to engage.

And then people started pointing out the weirdly predatory marketing she had for an online product/newsletter she had, and the discourse kept building as people realized overall that she was just… not as good a person as she claimed to be.

It got bad enough that Banner broke off the friendship, in large part because of that refusal to engage meaningfully with the loaded history of the Worth gown project

Pt 2: The Wholesome

So, a few days ago, Bernadette Banner released a video of her making a Regency gown. It's a very standard kind of project for her, just using old patterns and adding a touch of her own gothic tastes with historical methods to make a cool piece of clothing that explores costume history.

Halfway through, she has a call with someone she is planning to do a different video with. We don't know what the video is, but!

The thing is

The person she is having this call with

Is the Indian embroiderer, Mayankraj Singh, that Cath Hay ghosted.

And the video continues on with Banner and Singh talking about her Regency gown project and just. He ends up making an embroidered chiffon overgown with a crow motif. And it just feels very wholesome and I love to see this all coming back around.

(Okay, double-checked and apparently Hay requested a sample from Singh, and then ghosted him after she got photos of it)

In late September, another costumer, Miah Grace, released a video noting that, in 2020, Hay had requested an embroidery sample from with Mayankraj Singh, founder of the luxury fashion brand Atelier Shikaarbagh. Indian embroiderers in this shop possess skills that go back seven generations. Singh reportedly made a sample made but only sent Hay photos of it. After Hay stopped responding for many months, Singh went live on Instagram to explain what happened. Apparently, when his head embroiderer found the sample, he burned it, and scolded Singh for making it. “He said it was an inauspicious design,” Singh said, “and we do not make it anymore.” Hay later apologized to Singh, and he now considers the matter settled. - Craftsmanship Magazine

Anyway, yeah, after all of that from a few years ago, it was kind of exciting to see Banner collaborating with Singh

And she's so excited to open the package! Happy screaming!

It's so sweet.

He had his team embroider their names on the hem And she loves it

I am living for this vicarious excitement

(She does lay it on a bit thick at the end, but you know what. I'll take it.)

OH and the ending involves her attending the ball with Nami Sparrow, one of the creators of Indian background (Indian-American) that was a voice of Expertise criticizing Cathy Hay a few years ago.

Which is like. Tacit endorsement? If Singh alone wasn't enough.

Anyway yeah I lost my mind a little about this.

[doberbutts]

I have to ask like. When you harass someone, what is it you're looking to do/accomplish?

Are you just hurting them because you can? That makes you an asshole.

Are you trying to resolve a conflict? If it's making you follow that person around the internet goading them into responding, then *you* are *causing* the conflict at that moment.

Has that person truly hurt you? If there's not authority or staff to report them to (or rules stating that you even *can*) then the best thing for you to do is to block them.

I've been there. Dogblr fucking turned on me over 2 sentences said as a tongue-in-cheek reply to someone in the doberman tags. People who I thought were my friends, people I'd happily interacted with prior, sending me death threats and telling me to kill myself and spreading all sorts of terrible lies and rumors about me for MONTHS. Because, to them, I spoke out of turn. They blatantly admitted to wanting me gone and stated they were happy when they thought they'd chased me off for the week or so that I password protected my blog to make the harassment stop. There were posts by people I'd had extensive conversations with just days prior, stating that they had never actually liked me and were celebrating that I was "gone".

Most of them have not apologized. Most claim that they did nothing wrong, or that I somehow deserved it. I have a few dogblr friends who still reblog from these people even knowing that this happened to me. One of them fucking recently reblogged one of my posts on their newly made blog because I'd long since blocked their other blogs.

Unfortunately sometimes that's how conflicts resolve. Where people are unspeakably cruel to you and nothing ever happens to them. You tell your friends about it and they say "oh yeah I've seen this behavior from them and they suck" and yet don't stop interacting with those people.

I'm not saying it doesn't suck. It does. It hurts.

And I'm sure if any of them were to read this they'd go "lmao it was years ago get over it" as if I'm the one in the wrong for being upset about the betrayal and harassment I received at their hands.

But naming and shaming would accomplish close to nothing. I already know I'm not going to get an apology from these folks and honestly I don't think I'd accept one at this point even if they did (even if they still SHOULD). I *have* had a few apologies trickle in over the years, and have discussed at length why I'm not particularly willing to trust again, and so far that has been accepted. But not from those who were the worst about it, who still to my knowledge act like they're fucking paragons of compassion and empathy.

And certainly continuing to follow them around the internet harassing them into admitting wrong-doing would accomplish pretty much next to nothing.

Sometimes when someone hurts you, the only thing you can do is block their access to you to do it again.

[szariahwroteit]

An excerpt from Chapter 29 of All That Glitters.

18+ Minors DNI

"Sex with you stopped being ‘just sex’ pretty early on," Naya said with a blush, scoffing as a cocky smirk took over Jude’s face.

“I know it did, I was just waiting on you.” He winked as he pulled Naya’s body, clad in only the shirt he wore under his team suit earlier that day into him.

Although Naya would support him regardless, she was still learning about football and the way in which Jude’s season worked.

She had flown to Warsaw to watch him in his first game of the season, which, much to Naya’s surprise, was an actual cup final.

His hands roamed over her bare skin, igniting a fire within her that she couldn't deny. Naya's heart raced as she leaned in, capturing him in a passionate kiss.

“What else do you know?” Naya smirked against his lips.

"I know that even though you love trying new things and are open to letting me explore your body, you love deep penetration and eye contact over anything else," Jude spoke huskily into Naya’s ear as his fingers worked on removing his button-up shirt from her body.

“Do I?” Naya smirked knowingly as their eyes met.

Jude chuckled softly, the sound sending shivers down Avery's spine. "Oh, you definitely do," he replied, his voice a low rumble. As he finally slid the shirt off her shoulders, his gaze locked with hers, a silent promise of the passion that was to come.

“What else do you know?” Naya asked in amusement.

Jude's lips curled into a mischievous smile as he leaned in closer to Naya, his warm breath grazing her skin. "I know even if you are unsure how much more you can take, you’re still willing to try for me," he murmured, his hands skimming down her sides, causing a shiver to run through her.

Naya's eyes sparkled with desire as she arched her back, pressing herself against Jude.

“I also know that if I were to tell you to bend over and spread your pussy open, you’d do so without a second thought.” He continued.

Naya's breath hitched at his words, a mix of anticipation and excitement evident in her eyes. She was drawn to Jude's commanding presence, feeling a rush of arousal at the thought of his dominance over her.

With a boldness that surprised even herself, Naya nodded, a silent agreement passing between them. She trusted Jude completely, knowing that he would always push her boundaries in the most thrilling ways.

As Jude's hands moved lower, trailing teasingly towards her core, Naya's body responded eagerly to his touch. She was ready to surrender herself to him completely, eager to experience the intense pleasure that only he could provide.

“That morning in Brazil when I came inside of you, I needed to. I needed to claim your body completely.”

Naya's breath caught in her throat at the memory of that passionate morning in the middle of the ocean. She could still feel the intensity of their connection, the raw desire that had consumed them both.

Jude's words only fueled the fire that burned between them, igniting a primal need within Naya. She craved his touch, his possession, and the way he made her feel like the most desired woman in the world.

As Jude's fingers found their way to the apex of her thighs, Naya's body trembled with anticipation. She was his, completely and utterly, surrendering to the pleasure that awaited her at his skilled hands.

With a hunger that matched his own, Naya met Jude's gaze with a fierce determination. She was ready for whatever he had in store for her, ready to be claimed once again in a dance of passion and ecstasy that only they could share.

"Go and lie down on the bed," Jude instructed, as his eyes ran over Naya’s naked body.

He was hungry for her, he had an insatiable appetite when it came to pleasing her, and he knew that she craved his touch just as much. Naya obeyed without hesitation, a flush of excitement coloring her cheeks as she positioned herself on the bed, her eyes never leaving Jude's.

“Show me how you make yourself cum,” he commanded, his voice filled with desire and dominance. Naya's heart raced at his words, the thrill of being under his control sending a wave of arousal through her.

With a seductive smile, Naya obeyed, her movements deliberate and enticing. She ran her hands over her body, exploring every inch with a sensual touch that made Jude's breath hitch. As her fingers found their way to her core, she closed her eyes, losing herself in the pleasure that she knew would soon follow.

Jude watched intently, his gaze smoldering with lust as Naya pleasured herself at his command. The raw beauty of her desire, the way she surrendered herself to the sensations running through her, fueled his own need to possess her completely.

As Naya's moans filled the room, echoing the intensity of her pleasure, Jude's own desire surged to the surface. Unable to resist any longer, he closed the distance between them, joining her on the bed.

In that moment, there was no hesitation, no boundaries. Just the unspoken understanding that they were meant to be together, to explore the depths of their desires and find ecstasy in each other's arms.

“Give me your fingers.” Jude ordered.

Naya's eyes widened with anticipation as she held out her hand to Jude, offering him her glistening fingers, still wet with the evidence of her arousal. Without a word, he took them into his mouth, sucking on each digit with a hunger that matched her own.

The sensation of his warm mouth on her fingers sent a jolt of pleasure through Naya, igniting a fire that burned between them. She watched, mesmerized, as Jude savored the taste of her desire, his eyes locked with hers.

With a low growl of need, Jude released her fingers, his gaze dark with desire. “I want to taste all of you, Naya. Turn over.” he murmured, his voice rough with lust.

Naya's heart raced at his words, a wave of excitement washing over her. She complied without hesitation, feeling a surge of anticipation at the thought of Jude exploring every inch of her. As she turned over, presenting herself to him, she felt a rush of heat at the intimate vulnerability of the moment.

Jude's hands moved with purpose, tracing a path of fire along her skin, leaving a trail of goosebumps in their wake. His touch was electrifying, sending sparks of desire through her body as he teased and tantalized her.

With a slow and deliberate pace, Jude's lips followed the same path his hands had taken, leaving a trail of hot kisses on her back. Naya's breath hitched with each tender touch, her body responding eagerly to his intimate ministrations.

When Jude finally reached the curve of her lower back, he paused, his warm breath ghosting over her pussy. "Can I have it?" he whispered, the question laced with a mix of desire and reverence.

Naya's response was a wordless nod, her heart pounding in her chest as she braced herself for the intensity of what was to come. She trusted Jude implicitly, knowing that in his hands, she would find pleasure beyond her wildest dreams.

With a slow and deliberate movement, Jude's lips descended further, trailing a path of heated kisses down the curve of her back, each touch igniting a spark of desire within her. As he reached the small of her back, his hands gripped her hips firmly, a silent reassurance of his presence.

And then, with a hunger that matched her own, Jude's lips found their way to the most intimate part of her, his tongue tracing a path of fire along her skin. Naya gasped at the exquisite sensation, her body arching in response to the overwhelming pleasure that coursed through her.

In that moment, as Jude's mouth moved with purpose and skill, Naya gave herself over completely to the ecstasy that enveloped her. Every touch, every caress, every kiss was a testament to their shared connection, a dance of passion and desire that bound them together in a symphony of pleasure.

As waves of pleasure washed over her, Naya's world narrowed down to the sensation of Jude's lips on her skin, his touch setting her ablaze with a fire that consumed her. In that moment, there was only the two of them, lost in a world of their own creation, where pleasure reigned supreme and ecstasy knew no bounds.

Naya's breath hitched as Jude used his thumbs to delicately spread her open, his touch sending a jolt of electricity through her body. The intimacy of the moment, the trust she had in him, made her heart race.

Naya had began to lose a grip on reality as Jude feasted on her, she had no idea how many times she’d been made to cum and her clit felt swollen between her thighs.

But she didn't care about anything else in that moment except the overwhelming pleasure that Jude was giving her. His expert touch, his fervent desire for her, and the unspoken connection between them fueled a passion that seemed boundless.

As Jude continued his sensual assault on her senses, Naya's body quivered with the intensity of her pleasure, her heart pounding in her chest. She felt herself teetering on the edge of an abyss of ecstasy, ready to fall into the depths of bliss that only he could provide.

And just as she felt herself reaching the peak of her pleasure, Jude's touch intensified, pushing her over the edge into a whirlwind of sensation that consumed her completely. With a cry of release, Naya surrendered herself to the overwhelming sensation as tears of unadulterated pleasure fell from her eyes.

Jude’s lips and chin were covered in a mixture of his own saliva and Naya’s arousal as he came up from between her legs.

His eyes were dark with desire and satisfaction as he gazed at Naya, his chest rising and falling with the intensity of the moment. He leaned in, pressing a soft kiss to her trembling lips, his touch gentle and reverent.

"You taste exquisite," Jude whispered, his voice filled with awe and adoration.

Naya's breath was still ragged as she gazed up at Jude, her body tingling with the aftermath of their shared passion. She reached up to cup his face, her eyes filled with a mixture of love and desire for the man who had just brought her to such heights of pleasure.

"And you are everything to me," she murmured, her voice husky with emotion. “I think I’m falling in love with you.”

“That’s the plan,” Jude mumbled against her lips, before his tongue found its way into her mouth.

Their kiss was a blend of sweetness and raw desire, a testament to the deep connection that bound them together. In that moment, as they melted into each other, all doubts and fears faded away, leaving only the pure, unbridled passion that flared between them.

“Make love to me,” Naya said barely above a whisper. “I want you to use me until I can’t take anymore.”

Jude was right, Naya wasn’t sure how much she could take. But she wanted Jude to take from her until she had nothing left to give.

She was his to adore, praise, love and fuck until she couldn’t remember her own name. Naya wanted to be completely lost in Jude.

Jude's eyes blazed with a fierce intensity at Naya's words, his desire for her palpable in the air. Without a word, he positioned himself over her, his body covering hers in a powerful display of dominance and possession.

With a primal need that matched her own, Jude claimed her lips in a searing kiss, his hands roaming her body with a hunger that left her breathless. Naya surrendered herself to him completely, her heart racing with anticipation of the pleasure that awaited her.

As Jude entered her, their bodies moving together in a heated rhythm, Naya felt a surge of ecstasy unlike anything she had ever experienced. Every touch, every thrust, every whisper of his name was a symphony of pleasure that enveloped her in a whirlwind of sensation.

"Harder, Daddy, please," Naya begged helplessly, her nails digging into Jude's back as he complied with her plea, intensifying the pace of his movements. The room was filled with the sound of their passionate cries, a cacophony of desire and longing that echoed off the walls.

Jude's movements became more urgent, his thrusts deep and powerful, driving Naya to the brink of ecstasy. She felt herself teetering on the edge, her body arching in pleasure as she surrendered herself to him.

“Baby, you’re perfect,” Naya whispered into Jude's ear, her voice filled with a mix of adoration and desire. "I want you to take me to the edge and beyond. I want to feel you deep inside me, claiming me as yours."

With a guttural growl of satisfaction, Jude's movements became even more relentless, driving them both towards the peak of their shared passion. Naya's body responded eagerly to his touch, her senses overwhelmed by the intensity of their connection.

The stretch of Jude combined with his length had Naya gasping with pleasure, her body responding to his every movement with an eagerness that matched his own. She was lost in a whirlwind of sensation, the raw intensity of their lovemaking pushing her to new heights of ecstasy.

As they moved together in a dance of desire and need, Naya felt a wave of pleasure building within her, the tension coiling tight in her core. With a cry of abandon, she let herself go, surrendering to the overwhelming sensation that consumed her completely.

In that moment, as they reached the pinnacle of their passion, Naya and Jude were lost in a world of their own making.

They were both completely spent, but still they couldn’t find the restraint to pull away from one another.

Jude’s lips curved into a smile against Naya’s as she wrapped her tired legs around his waist. Their bodies intertwined in a tangle of limbs and sweat, the aftermath of their lovemaking leaving them both breathless and sated. Naya gazed up at Jude, her eyes filled with a mixture of contentment and desire, a soft smile playing on her lips.

“That was intense,” she blushed.

Jude chuckled softly, his chest rising and falling with the exertion of their passion. "It was beyond intense," he agreed, his voice husky with satisfaction. "But you were incredible, Naya. Absolutely perfect."

Naya's cheeks flushed with a mixture of pleasure and shyness at his praise. She nestled closer to Jude, feeling the comforting warmth of his body against hers.

“My body is tired, but I don’t want to go to sleep. I want to stay up with you.” Naya said before her lips were back on his.

Jude's heart swelled with affection as he returned her kiss, savoring the taste of her on his lips. "Then let’s order room service and stay up," he murmured, his arms wrapping around her in a protective embrace.

Naya smiled against his lips, feeling a sense of contentment wash over her. In that moment, nestled in Jude's arms, she felt safe and cherished.

Once her legs felt like they wouldn’t give out if she stood on them, Naya made her way into the bathroom to take a quick shower while Jude ordered room service.

When she returned, he was sitting up in bed clad in his underwear, the room in complete darkness except for the television he was watching.

“Come here,” he murmured opening his arms to Naya smiled as she walked back over to the bed, laying across his lap.

Jude's arms wrapped around Naya, pulling her close as she settled comfortably across his lap. The television cast a soft glow over them, creating an intimate ambiance in the darkness of the room.

Naya sighed contentedly, feeling the warmth of Jude's body against hers. She snuggled closer to him, reveling in the sense of peace and fulfillment that washed over her.

As they sat there in comfortable silence, the world outside their bubble seemed to fade away, leaving only the two of them in a cocoon of love and affection. Naya traced lazy patterns on Jude's chest, her touch gentle and loving.

Pulling up the over-sized T-shirt she wore to reveal Naya’s pantie covered backside, Jude pressed a soft kiss to the exposed skin, his hands trailing up and down her back in a soothing motion. Naya let out a contented sigh, feeling the tension from their earlier activities melt away under Jude's tender touch.

“I didn’t realize I left any marks on you,” Jude said cautiously as he inspected the raised skin that formed the shape of his handprint on her butt in the dimly lit hotel room.

Naya chuckled softly, the sound a mixture of amusement and satisfaction. "I wear them proudly," she replied, her voice tinged with a hint of playfulness.

Jude's eyes softened at her words, a smile playing on his lips. "I'll be more careful next time," he promised, his touch gentle as he ran his fingers over the mark he had left on her skin.

“You don’t have to.” Naya said as shook her head in disagreement. "I like it," she added, her voice filled with a hint of mischief.

Taking a deep breath as he felt himself becoming more and more aroused as the seconds passed, Jude shifted in his spot to make room for his growing length.

Naya could feel Jude's growing arousal pressing against her, a surge of desire coursing through her at the intimate contact. She shifted slightly, allowing him to settle more comfortably, the heat between them palpable in the air.

“Lay on your stomach.” Jude's voice was a husky whisper, filled with a mix of desire and anticipation. Naya complied without hesitation, feeling a rush of excitement at the thought of what was to come. She settled on her stomach, her body tingling with anticipation as she awaited his next move.

Grabbing a pillow from the top of the bed, Jude raised Naya’s hips with one hand as he used the other to slip the pillow beneath her.

Naya's breath hitched at the sensation of being positioned by Jude, her body responding eagerly to his touch. She felt a surge of arousal as he adjusted her, preparing her for the pleasure that awaited her.

With a mix of excitement and anticipation, Naya braced herself for what was to come, trusting Jude completely to lead her to heights of ecstasy. As he positioned himself behind her, his hands trailing teasingly along her skin, she felt a wave of desire wash over her.

In that moment, with Jude's hands and body poised to take her to new heights of pleasure, Naya surrendered herself completely as she felt herself being filled inch by perfect inch.

Just as Jude's length fully nestled inside of her, a knock came from the door followed by a woman's voice calling, "room service."

"Fuck," Jude sighed as he pulled out of Naya, fixing himself back into his pants as he went to answer the door.

Naya let out a frustrated groan, feeling the sudden interruption break the spell of their intimate moment. She lay on the bed, her body still tingling with the remnants of their passion, her desire for Jude burning like a flame.

Fixing her panties back Naya watched as Jude quickly dealt with the room service delivery, her mind still reeling from the sudden halt to their intimate encounter. She couldn't help but feel a mix of frustration and longing, the desire for Jude still simmering beneath the surface.

Once the room service had been taken care of, Jude returned to the bed, a bowl filled with fries in one hand a plate containing a cheeseburger in the other.

“Feed me,” Naya said as she settled back against the pillows, her eyes glinting with mischief.

Jude chuckled at her playful request, his eyes dancing with amusement as he settled beside her on the bed. He picked up a fry and held it out to Naya, his gaze never leaving hers as she leaned forward to take a bite.

The intimate moment of feeding each other felt like a sweet contrast to the heated passion they had just shared. Naya savored the taste of the fry, feeling a sense of closeness and intimacy with Jude as they shared the simple act of eating together.

As they continued to share the meal, their conversation shifted to lighter topics, laughter filling the air as they enjoyed each other's company. The room was filled with a sense of contentment and warmth, the afterglow of their lovemaking still lingering in the air.

Once they had finished eating, Jude set aside the empty plates, his gaze lingering on Naya with a look of affection. He reached out to tuck a stray strand of hair behind her ear, his touch gentle and loving.

"Thank you for being you," Jude whispered, his voice filled with sincerity. "For sharing yourself with me, for trusting me with your desires."

Naya's heart swelled with emotion at his words, feeling a rush of gratitude for the man who had come into her life and awakened a passion within her that she never knew existed. She reached out to cup his face, her eyes shining with love and admiration.

"I should be the one thanking you," Naya replied softly.