#i don’t know who exactly my manager is. if i did then i could search for them on teams

[fingertipsmp3]

I love having no idea what’s going on. Like this is fine actually. I don’t mind this

[wintrwinchestr]

an overture of indulgence (joel miller x f!reader oneshot) 18+

summary: it's been a long time since you've seen joel, and some things have changed, but a lot has stayed the same. namely, how quickly he can still get you on his knees for him, ready to show him exactly just how much you like what has changed about him.

warnings: 18+, smut, post-outbreak, jackson joel, d/s relationship dynamics, pet names (baby, babygirl, sweetheart, sweet girl, etc), body worship, belly kink, talk of weight gain, belly riding, m/f masturbation, lil bit of humiliation kink, lil bit of edging, reader is an adult but age otherwise unspecified, reader is shorter than joel and has hair long enough to grab, let me know if i missed anything :)

word count: 4.3k

a/n: just fuckin outing myself left and right these days huh. idk what came over me with this one. started this late last night and here it is now. belly enjoyers rise!!!!!!! nice comments/reblogs appreciated if you enjoyed <3 you can't kink shame me bc i like getting bullied so now what. also i avoided daddy kink for once in my life please clap. i know i’m spoiling y’all this weekend don’t get used to it.

divider by @saradika

“...Joel?!” you shout, your leisurely walking pace quickly turning into a hurried jog as you leave Tommy behind, making a beeline toward the man you would swear on your life is Joel Miller. A small handful of years ago now, he was kind of your boyfriend, kind of not, kind of something else more complicated and unlabeled, because who can afford to put a label on anything in times like these?

Joel’s head turns in your direction at the sound of his name, and as soon as you spot that crooked scar across the bridge of his nose, you’re certain it’s him.

“Holy shit, I can’t believe it,” you half-cry, throwing your weight into him as you wrap him in a tight embrace. He’s much taller than you, but you still managed to knock him off his balance a little. He envelops your whole body in one of his signature, all-encompassing hugs, and it’s like no time has passed at all.

The two of you had ended whatever it was you had on good terms, no hard feelings or animosity shared between you. It was just hard to maintain any kind of relationship in a world like this, and trying to nurture romance in the Boston QZ was much like trying to grow a rose garden in toxic, radioactive soil. You can put as much care and effort and something like love into it as you have in you, but the circumstances will just never allow it to reach its full potential. The end of your “relationship” was mutual, but that didn’t mean it didn’t hurt. Especially when he had disappeared one day without so much as saying goodbye.

When you had stumbled upon Tommy and a group of patrollers in the snowy forest outside Jackson just earlier today, you were alone, tired, and losing hope that this rumored safe haven even existed at all. You had heard crackles through the radio in the QZ about the community, and even though it sounded too good to be true, what else did you have to lose anymore? After months of travel and survival and pain and hunger, you’d never been so happy to meet a bunch of strangers in the woods in your whole life. You didn’t hesitate to get on the back of Tommy’s horse, and let him lead you to the sanctuary they spoke of.

As he was giving you a tour, proudly showing off their electricity, running water, fresh food, and clean houses, you had started to look forward to what the future may bring, for the first time in a long time. You could never have imagined you’d ever run into Joel again, that this is where he had ended up, of all places. And now here the both of you are, bodies pressed as tightly together as possible, breathing in each other’s familiar scents and never wanting to let go again.

Joel is the first to break the embrace, grasping your head in his large hands and frantically searching your face for any sign that he could be dreaming, that fate hasn’t really brought you back together again after all.

“Jesus Christ, it’s really you,” he breathes, and you swear his voice breaks just a little bit as he presses his lips to your forehead, closing his eyes as he does.

When he blinks them open again, he meets Tommy’s gaze, who’s standing quietly a few yards back from where you’re having your sentimental reunion. Tommy gives an understanding nod, and gestures that he’ll be waiting inside the community’s dining hall, gathering that whatever this is happening between his brother and some girl he only just met, he shouldn’t interrupt. Joel is grateful for many things today, one of them being the rekindled bond he has with Tommy, the other being how you somehow miraculously found your way back to him.

Small groups of other Jackson residents follow Tommy into the dining hall shortly afterward, and as the sun begins to set behind the mountains, Joel realizes it must be about time for dinner to be served.

He detaches his lips from your forehead, brushing some of your hair away from your face as he takes you in again. “You poor thing, must be starvin’ I bet,” he wonders aloud, giving you a sympathetic look.

“Kinda always am, just as a rule, but yeah,” you reply, trying to make light of your situation. Though, Joel doesn’t seem to find the humor in it the way you do.

“Long as you stay here, ain’t ever gotta worry about that again, that’s for damn sure.” He runs his tongue across his lips as he finishes his sentence, already knowing that whatever meal they’re serving tonight, it’ll be some of the most delicious food he’s had in a long time. He suspects you’ll feel much the same. “C’mon, let’s get you inside. Get you warm and fed for once in your life.”

–

Your heart, your stomach, your soul, all feel full as you relax into the comfortable couch in the living room of Joel’s cozy home. He wouldn’t even entertain the idea of you staying in an empty house all by yourself tonight, insisting that if you’d like some company while you settle in, you were more than welcome to his. He had let you spend as long as you wanted to in his shower, and he didn’t mind if there was hardly any warm water left by the time you were done. He sure as hell wasn’t paying the bill, and you deserved to feel truly clean. He can remember clear as day how he felt after his first Jackson shower, like he had stripped off a layer of grime he hadn’t been able to scrub all the way clean in twenty years. He had gone to Maria to get you some clothes and underwear while you were bathing, and set them silently on the sink counter for you to put on whenever you were done.

And now here you sit, feeling full and clean and satisfied and comfortable and safe, watching Joel stoke the logs in his fireplace as it casts the whole room in a honey orange glow. You take a moment to admire him while he isn’t looking, and even in the dim and flickering lighting, you can see he’s just as handsome as he was the last time you saw him. He looks older, with more gray in his longer hair and meat on his bones, the latter trait likely due to years worth of the hearty cooking you both indulged in tonight. He looks… good like this.

“It really is nice to see you again, you know. You look…” you start, not being able to help the way your eyes wander to his soft lower belly, the way it pushes taut against his tucked-in flannel shirt and just barely spills over the edge of his jeans.

He turns his head away from the fire to face you. You’re not very subtle in your staring, and he knows what you’re referring to right away. He huffs a light chuckle, trying to brush off the way he thinks you’re poking fun at him.

“I know, I know,” he acknowledges, placing a hand on his stomach. “Been tryin’ to get Maria to give me some more patrol shifts, see if I can get some of the weight off. But hey, you try havin’ three square meals a day for the first time in twenty some odd years, see what it does to you, huh?” He pivots his attention back to the fireplace, and he seems to turn his body further away from you on purpose, so that you can’t see the round profile of his tummy as much.

“No! No, it, um… It suits you. I was gonna say you look good, actually.” You’re quick in your reply, trying to make it clear that you didn’t mean to offend him, without letting too much on. 

He scoffs. “C’mon, you don’t gotta flatter me, sweetheart. I know I don’t exactly look the way you remember–”

“Joel, will you stop?” you interrupt, your voice laced with exasperation. “I’m being serious. Do I look like I’m making fun of you?”

He cranes his neck to look back at where you’re perched on the couch, and gives you a once over. “Guess not… Look a lil’ like somethin’ else, though, if I'm bein’ honest,” he says with a teasing smirk. And there he is again, the same quick-witted Joel you remember from back in the QZ.

You choose to engage in his banter, just to see where he’s going with it. “Oh yeah? And what’s that?”

He shrugs, beginning to mindlessly poke at the firewood again. “If I didn’t know any better, I’d say you look like you might like it.”

He’s just kidding around with you, trying to rile you up, you’re sure. But when he gets silence in return instead of the sound of you jumping to defend yourself with another playful jab, he turns to face you once more, and is met with your stunned expression. 

“Oh…” Joel looks down at himself, then back to you again, just in time to catch your eyes flitting from his middle back up to his face. “What, you like ‘em big, sweetheart? ‘S that it?”

The truth is, you do, you always have. It was never a requirement, of course, as the guys you’d been with before Joel all had varying body types. But you’d be lying to yourself if you said that your eyes didn’t linger just a bit longer on guys with a little more to them, with wider arms and thicker legs and a softer middle. You’ve never admitted your preference to anyone before, and Joel calling you out on it now has your face running hot, skin feeling prickly as he sees through you like you’re made of glass.

“I-I don’t– I mean, I do, kinda, but not like that… Well, it is like that, I just mean–” You stumble over yourself, fearing you’ve revealed too much, wishing you could rewind the conversation and just tell him it was nice to see him again, plain and simple.

Joel lays the fire poker down on the granite ledge of the fireplace, approaching where you’re sitting and cupping the side of your face with his calloused hand. 

“Sh, sh, stop, baby. ‘S alright if you do, nothin’ to be ashamed of,” he comforts, and it takes all the willpower you have left not to let your eyes drift down to his stomach, so close you could kiss it, if he’d let you.

“It’s just… I missed you. I thought about you all the time, wondered what ever happened to you after you left. Didn’t even know if you were alive until today. I’m just happy to see you… doing so well. To see that you’re healthy, and everything.” You swallow hard, hoping you sound convincing enough that he’ll let this go, forget all about your little admission just now. But of course, Joel is as stubborn as he’s ever been, and he doesn’t plan on releasing you from his trap now that you’re ensnared in it. 

“That’s sweet, baby, ‘s real sweet,” Joel says, softly, stroking his thumb across your cheekbone as he speaks. “Thought about you too, all this time. Practically every day…” He rakes his eyes over you, noticing the way his touch has you starting to melt already, how you’re looking up at him with your wide, needy eyes. “Why don’t you show me just how much you missed me, hm? How much you love seein’ me healthy, as you put it.”

You’re stunned into silence once again, jaw slack and pupils wide as you search his gaze for proof that he’s just messing with you, making fun of you just to watch you squirm. But you don’t find any.

“O-okay,” you agree in a half-whisper.

Joel smiles down at you, satisfied. “All these years later, still just the sweetest thing, ain’t you? You still just as obedient, too?”

You nod without even thinking, words catching up with your instinctual response a second later. “Mhm, yeah, I am…” You had forgotten how easy it is to submit to him, how good it feels to let the hypnotizing tone of his voice carry you somewhere far away from yourself, when you need it the most. Whether it was after a shitty day of working for shittier rations in the QZ, or after a harsh trek in harsher weather to a forested oasis, Joel always knows how to make you feel like submission is your most natural state. 

“Good… Kneel for me please, sweetheart,” he commands, and you obey immediately, his hand slipping from your face as you slide from the couch onto the woven carpet beneath you. Like second nature, your hands automatically fold themselves on your lap, remembering how you were never to touch Joel until he permitted you to. He takes note of this, and praises you accordingly. “Look at that, didn’t even have to ask. Such a good girl.”

He’s so enamored with you, he almost forgets where he was going with this until he watches your eyes flash to the growing bulge in his jeans, then back up to him. “Not tonight, sweetheart. Was thinkin’ you could put that pretty mouth to use on somethin’ different this time, hm?”

You knit your brows together, not sure what he means, but he doesn’t let you wonder for long. Slowly, he starts to unbutton his flannel shirt, starting at the top and working his way down. He tosses it onto the ground, then pulls his undershirt off over his head, adding it to the other discarded clothing. Without the confines of his slightly-too-tight button-up, you can see how much he really has filled out. Everything about his upper body is just a little more plush, with petal pink stretch marks adorning the soft skin in various places. You want to make it your personal mission to kiss each and every one of them, commit their exact coordinates on his body to memory.

There's a deep scar, you notice, to the left of his belly button, that has almost successfully disguised itself as one of those pretty marks. It’s definitely new since you saw him last, and it looks like it hurt, especially with the evidence of how crudely it had been stitched back together.

“What happened?” you wonder aloud, worried eyes glued to the healed injury.

He has to peer over the curve of his belly to see what you’re looking at. “Long story. Happened on my way out here, after I left Boston. Nothin’ for you to worry about, sweet girl, hardly even hurt. Forget it’s even there, most of the time,” he answers, still with a dominant edge to his voice that does a mostly good job of convincing you it’s the truth.

“Can… Can I?” you ask, waiting to receive his permission before you move your hands from your lap. 

“Yeah, baby, go ahead,” Joel allows. 

You reach out a small hand to gently trace over the raised scar, then press your lips to it with your hands splayed out on either side of your head, just barely pressing into his belly. He releases a soft groan, cradling the back of your head with one of his hands, applying the lightest amount of pressure to let you know this is where he wants to keep you. 

“Why don’t you keep goin’, sweetheart? Gimme some more lovin’ like that, know you wanna,” he encourages, and you think you get the idea now, what it is he wanted to put your pretty mouth to use for.

With his explicit permission to continue, you don’t need telling twice. You move your face to hover just in front of his belly button, admiring the dense salt and pepper happy trail that sprouts from where his jeans push into his soft skin. You drag your tongue along the hair, nipping at the soft curve of where it disappears into the divot in his stomach. He makes a noise in response, half pained and half pleasured, but he doesn’t stop you. Just for good measure, you place a kiss to the little blushing mark where your teeth had scraped him.

Almost of their own volition, it seems, your hands begin to knead at his stomach as you make good on your promise to yourself to kiss every single one of his stretch marks. You allow your tongue to dart from your mouth on the last one, and Joel sucks in a breath.

“Oh, fuck. Forgot how good that wet lil’ mouth feels on me, sweetheart. Keep goin’,” he says, voice coming out strained. His fingers curl tightly into your hair, and he begins to maneuver your face around his belly. You lave your tongue over his skin as he does, slicking him with wet, sloppy kisses. “Yeah, baby, you fuckin’ worship it, show me how much you like me like this.”

It’s a little humiliating, but just enough that you like the feeling. You’re breathing hard and fast, letting out little whimpers as your fluttering cunt begins to soak your underwear. He brings your face to a stop at the most tantalizing part of him, the part that truly evidences how much more he’s allowed himself to indulge since settling in Jackson. The ample curve of flesh that just barely conceals the waistband of his jeans, the part you’ve wanted to get your mouth on since you first saw how it strained the lower buttons of his shirt. You latch onto it, massaging the skin around it as you use your teeth and tongue to suck a mark into him.

A growl rumbles from deep in his chest, and he curses under his breath. “Like it that much, huh? Fuck, naughty thing, look at you.”

You’re so fucking turned on, you’re shivering, rocking where you kneel and squeezing your thighs together in an attempt to get some kind of relief. You let one of your hands drift to the hard shape in Joel’s jeans, and it seems he’s enjoying this as much as you are. He spots your pathetic little squirms as you rut against nothing, and then he’s using his grip on your hair to pull you up from the floor.

“Got an idea. Up,” he commands roughly, and you detach your lips from his belly to obey his order. “Get these off, there we go.” He pulls down your sweatpants and underwear, helping you step out of them. “Christ, you’re soaked,” Joel teases, eyeing the sizable wet spot in your panties as he tosses them aside to join the other forgotten clothing. He reaches a hand toward the apex of your thighs, teasing your wet pussy and gathering some of your slick on two of his fingers. You let out a tiny yelp, but let him play with you, and then he’s bringing his fingers in front of his face and examining the sticky strings of your arousal when he spreads them apart. “All this just from lettin’ you worship all this, huh?” he taunts, patting his stomach once for emphasis. “Who’d’ve thought? Not that I’m complainin’...”

He quickly rids himself of his jeans and briefs, then reclines onto the couch with a quiet groan, stretching out his body along the length of it. Your mouth waters at the sight of his cock, hard and leaking as it bobs against his belly, his precum adding to the dampness still there from your tongue. “Come sit, sweetheart,” Joel says, softly, motioning with both of his hands for you to come closer.

You grip a hand onto the backrest of the couch to balance yourself while you move to straddle him, prepared to sink down onto his length for the first time in way too fucking long. “Uh uh, not there, baby,” he instructs, smirking when he sees how you hesitate in confusion. “Take a seat right here for me.” Again, he pats that most tempting area of his lower belly, and you just about fall apart at the sight of how his flesh ripples in the wake of it.

“Yeah, there you go, good girl,” he praises, both hands gripping your waist as he helps you settle your weight onto his soft abdomen.

“I dunno, don’t wanna hurt you–” you start, but he cuts you off swiftly.

“You won’t, baby. I’m a big man, ain’t I?” he teases, flashing you a devilish and knowing smile. “Go on, sweetheart, ride it.”

You inhale a shuddering breath, then place both of your hands on his shoulders to hold yourself up. You start an experimental buck into his belly, and that trail of dark hair tickles your clit so perfectly. It takes a few tries for you to get the positioning and pressure just right, and then you’re truly riding him, using his full stomach to get yourself off while he watches. 

“God, that’s good. Use it, baby. You love me bigger, love that I’ve been eatin’ so good, prove it to me, c’mon,” Joel goads, and it spurs you on to grind against him harder, faster, as incoherent mumbles and curses tumble from your lips.

“Love it, Joel, you look so good, fuck. So fucking–mmh–so big, makes me so… so–”

“I know it does, sweet girl, I know. Makes you fuckin’ soaked is what it does, god damn. You gonna get my belly all messy, hm? Gonna rub your lil’ cunt all over it, get me all fuckin’ wet?”

“Uh huh, yeah, gonna… I’m gonna–” you whine, eyes shutting tight as your hips pick up their pace. You move your hands from his shoulders to place them on his stomach instead, grabbing at handfuls of his tummy in an effort to create something more solid to rub yourself against. 

You’re already embarrassingly close, the humiliating edge to your earlier worship having gotten you most of the way there on its own. So swollen and sensitive it almost hurts, you won’t need much more to reach your high.

“Not without me, you ain’t. Gonna be right there with ya. You remember how we used to do it?” Joel asks, as if you could ever forget. He’s referring to your many late nights, early mornings, in his bed or in a back alley or wherever in the QZ, where he liked to make sure you both finished at the same time. You’d always be the first one to reach the edge, because he’d focus all his attention on getting you there before him, just to make you wait. It was never something punishing, just something he liked to do as an extra bit of control and dominance, and he knew it always made your orgasms that much more powerful and satisfying when he would finally permit you to let go.

With your eyes closed, so focused on your own pleasure, you hadn’t noticed that he had reached behind you to start fisting his cock some time ago. But you can hear it now, the wet schlick of his hand moving up and down his shaft as he works himself. “Hold it for me, sweetheart, I know you can. Keep rubbin’ your pretty pussy against me, jus’ like that, almost there…”

You mewl, screwing your face up as you force yourself to slow down your thrusts, muscles tense as you try to keep your orgasm at bay for as long as you can. 

Thankfully, he must be worked up enough from seeing you fall apart for him so easily for the first time in so long, that his permission comes just a few minutes later.

“Come for me, babygirl, soak my fuckin’ belly, c’mon,” Joel growls, and you fall forward immediately, twitching and spasming and crying out into the soft muscle of his shoulder as you ride out the shuddering shocks of your orgasm. He groans next to your ear as he comes, and you can feel the warm ropes of his own release as some of them land on your lower back. You’re both wet, heaving messes, as you embrace each other for the second time today and work on catching your breath.

So exhausted from the day you had, you must’ve fallen asleep against his chest as you laid there, because then you’re being woken up by the dull scratch of his fingertips against your scalp and his familiar voice working its way through the thick fog that clouds your tired brain. 

“You alright, baby?” he asks, and you can hear that he’s smiling, amused at this sleepy little thing he’s got clinging to him.

“Mhm, jus’ tired,” you answer, a barely-there mumble of a sentence.

“I’ll bet… You wanna get cleaned up? Get all tucked into bed?”

You shake your head against his neck, and he chuckles.

“No? Whatcha wanna do then, hm?”

“Jus’ lay here. Missed you. Don’t wanna let… go…” 

Your sentence drifts off into silence before the temptation of sleep allows you to finish it, but Joel gets the idea. He smiles to himself, kissing the top of your head, and hugs you closer. Both of you are still sticky and damp, but satisfied. And together again. And that’s a hell of a lot better than the alternative.

So he agrees, and you stay like that for the rest of the night. Joel doesn’t worry about whether or not he remembered to set his alarm clock for his extra patrol shift the next morning, or if he’ll even hear it all the way from his bedroom upstairs, because it doesn’t matter anyway. He has you, and you made it very clear tonight just how much you like him exactly the way he is. 

Maybe, your rose garden can finally begin to bloom, now that the pair of you have somewhere safe and comfortable and healthy to try your hand at nurturing it again.

tag list: @beefrobeefcal @iamasaddie @rebel-held @dilfgestivo @zliteraturehoe @joeldjarin @kamcrazy123 @hellowoolf @rexamongthestars @stevie75 @luxurychristmaspudding @noisynightmarepoetry @mewantpeepaw @pedritoferg (if your name is crossed out, it won’t let me tag you!!)

[papercorgiworld]

I don't want you to be my girlfriend

Blaise, Mattheo, Enzo, Tom, Theodore and Draco

There’s a big misunderstanding concerning your future together. 

Warning: no warning, just a very fluffy fluff thingy

This was brought to you thanks to this request, but I must apologize I changed some details, but I guess the essential plot is stil there. If you spot an error that hurts your brain, let me know and save another reader. And as per usual, my darling readers happy readings! I love you all, big time!

“When we graduate things are going to change. I have big plans.” You hear your boyfriend’s voice and feel yourself get all giddy, convinced that you are part of these big plans, but suddenly you stop in your tracks. “I mean (y/n) isn’t going to be my girlfriend forever.” Next, there's silence. “Are you sure?” You hear Pansy ask and with a pounding heart you listen to your boyfriend’s answer. “Yeah. Never been so sure of anything in my life. She won’t be my girlfriend for long anymore. Things change.” 

Without making a single sound you turn down the stairs of the astronomy tower. Tears streaming down your face. You were so in love with him. All the two of you did lately was talk about your future together. When did he stop loving me? Did he ever love me at all?

The next morning you looked like crap. You looked like someone who had been crying all night, which is exactly what had happened. So you skipped breakfast and just went to class where you spent your time staring in front of you and avoiding your boyfriend’s gaze at all costs. He watched you from a few seats away. When he grew inpatient waiting for you to look at him he enchanted a little note and sent it to you, but to his horror you just looked at the folded paper laying on your desk without opening it, before returning to look at the professor. 

He truly doesn’t know how you managed to, but after class you just disappeared. He had immediately gotten up and walked towards you and yet you had somehow snuck past him through the other students. He picked up the unopened note he had sent you and felt his heart ache. First you didn’t show up at the astronomy tower last night, then you skipped breakfast and now you were obviously avoiding him. What did I do? I hate it when I don’t know what I did? Bad joke? Forgot about a date? Salazar, what if I did something so bad that she’s breaking up with me? 

He had searched every nook and cranny of the castle to find you, which was quite a lot of work, but to no avail. I don’t even know where she’s hiding? Have we somehow grown apart without me even noticing? I’m such a shit boyfriend, I’m gonna lose the love of my life.

Defeated, he walked back to the slytherin common room when one last possible hiding spot came to mind. How did I not check there earlier?

Blaise

There you sat curled up doodling in your journal, back resting against the whomping willow. “Really not the safest spot to be. The tree gets mad from time to time.” He startles you and for a moment you stare at him with wide eyes, before relaxing. As soon as you process that it’s Blaise you roll your eyes. “Oh, really? After seven years at this school I really had no clue.” Your sarcasm is almost like venom and makes Blaise’s smile disappear. In silence he joins you, sitting too close to your liking so you move an inch away and he lets his head fall back in annoyance with your childish behavior. “I have no idea what I did, but I’m sorry, I always am when I hurt you.” His voice is soft and his hand reaches for yours, keeping you from scribbling in your notebook. 

You shake your head in disbelief. How could he be sorry, when he was planning on breaking up with you. You feel tears welling up and grit your teeth in an attempt to hold them back. “When we talked about our garden together, which plants and trees we would prefer and that there needed to be a little bench… I thought you meant it. I thought you really wanted that with me.” At your words he moves a bit away from the tree to face you properly. “I do. I do want all of those things. You know that. We were just talking about our future together yesterday morning. What makes you think I wouldn’t want that with you?”

Your eyes are angry. How dare he lie like this. “I heard you last night at the astronomy tower. You want to break up with me. You had big plans and I wasn’t going to be your girlfriend anymore.” Blaise stares for a moment, before chuckling and looking away. “Unbelievable, you seriously had me worried for a moment.” All your anger subsides and confusion takes over, eyebrows knitting together. “You won’t be my girlfriend forever, (y/n), because I have other plans for you.” Blaise explains, but you still don’t catch on to what he’s hinting at. “Darling, I bought a ring.” Your eyes widen and your heart feels like it’s going to explode. “That’s what I was talking about. I showed it to everyone last night.” With shaky hands you put your notebook aside and move a little closer to your boyfriend. “An engagement ring?” Blaise nods and smiles as he adores your utterly confused face. “After we graduate, on a random date, when you don’t see it coming I’m gonna pop the question.”

Even though you were sitting in front of him he’s still surprised when you suddenly wrap your arms around his neck. “Spoiler alert, I'm gonna say yes.” You whisper all giddy and he responds by hugging you tighter than ever. Gods, I hope so, because I really love you.

Mattheo

Mattheo sighs, relieved that he’s finally found you. Sitting against the whomping willow with your knees pressed against your chest and headphones on, probably listening to the same four sad songs on repeat. He watches you from afar for a moment as he worries about what’s gotten you so upset and worse why you haven’t come to find him for consolidation yet. Even when you were angry with him you came to him to figure it out. You rarely closed yourself off for so long as you had done today and it frightened Mattheo. 

Quietly he walks over to you and as soon as you spot him you turn to look away from him, making Mattheo almost reach for his chest. He decides to lean against the tree next to you, giving you some space as you’re still sitting curled up on the ground. The silence between you two is excruciating. Soundless tears run down your cheeks as you realize that this might be the last moment between you two. As painful as the silence is, Mattheo wants to give you time to start talking, it’s only when he hears you sob that he loses his patience and immediately gets down on his knees next to you. He takes off your headphones and looks at you with soft eyes. “I beg you, please, talk to me.” His fingers brush your cheeks and you savor the moment of his touch, before speaking up.

“It’s cruel Matt, making someone believe in a future together, while you’re planning a break up. I mean who does that. Yesterday morning we were arguing about marriage or kids first and in the evening you’re telling everyone that you don’t want me to be your girlfriend.” A pathetic sob escapes you and Mattheo opens his mouth, but you cut in before he can say anything. “I still love you, you know. I still want that future with you. Did I scare you away or something?” Mattheo’s heart squeezes at your painful sobs. Scare me away? How can you think of something like that? “No, no, you could never scare me away.” Mattheo wants to hold you, but you softly push his hand away. “Then tell me, what did I do wrong? Why are we breaking up?” Mattheo stares at you in disbelief, not following at all. “We aren’t. We’re never-” 

“I heard you, Matt, last night at the astronomy tower. I heard you say that I wasn’t going to be your girlfriend for long.” Something changes in the way Mattheo looks at you, but you can’t quite capture it, he looks almost disappointed. “Wow. Definitely not how I planned it, but okay.” Mattheo says dryly, but also amused. There’s this sweet mischievous glimmer in his eyes that calms you, but also has you frowning. He searches in his pocket, obviously being enchanted, it takes him a while to find what he’s looking for and you stare at him in confusion as he makes a funny face. “Matt-” He shushes you and you study him carefully as he moves from sitting on both knees to resting on one knee, before pulling out a tiny box. 

“If it’s up to me, (y/n), you will no longer be my girlfriend, because I want you to marry me.” You quickly shake your head and sit up a bit straighter to check if you’re really seeing what you’re seeing. Slowly, his free hand reaches to open the flannel ring box. “So (y/n) (y/l/n), will you marry me?” Your mouth opens as you stare at the ring, before looking at Mattheo whose smile is filled with love. You nod, ignoring the elegant and shiny ring, you lunge towards him and he wraps his arms around you. He quickly closes the box to keep the ring safe, before kissing you passionately. When you break apart, your foreheads rest against each other. “The answer’s yes by the way.” You whisper with flustered eyes. Mattheo licks his lip, smirking at the beautiful fiance in his arms. “I assumed that much.” He said, eyes shining with happiness. “But, dear future wife, don’t you ever assume silly things again, like maybe me dumping you. Never going to happen, understand?” Sheepishly you chew your lip, embarrassed with your own dramatics. When you nod, his smile grows brighter and leans in for another passionate kiss. 

Enzo

As soon as Lorenzo spotted you, he came running towards the whomping willow, though carefully watching the tree so as not to get attacked by it. You were just laying on the ground staring up at the sky and the tree, but you knew Enzo was coming your way. You had been together for so long you could hear it was him just by his footsteps. You took a deep breath, trying to get rid of the weight on your chest, knowing that your relationship would all be over soon. With a happy smile Enzo’s face comes into your view as he stands next to you looking down at you. “Found you.” He quips rather proud of himself and you snort. Joking before breaking up that’s just rude. Did our relationship really mean nothing?

When Lorenzo notices your displeasure with his presence he kneels down next to you. “Everything alright?” He asks with a soft, worried voice as he scans your face for any hints. You chew your lip for a moment before sitting up, eyes wandering around, avoiding Enzo. “I really looked forward to it.” Enzo frowns and sits down next to you, his arm brushing yours. Before he can ask for an explanation, you continue. “Cooking together every evening. Going to bed together. Waking up and arguing in the bathroom, but making up at the breakfast table. You were going to make that boring adult everyday routine fun, you would make everyday worth it.” Lorenzo drops his head, looking down. She’s breaking up with. He heard you struggle to keep yourself from sobbing and looked back up.

He wasn’t just gonna let you break up with him. He grabbed both of your hands and pulled you towards him, now your teary eyes were forced to meet his. “Darling, whatever dumb thing I did, I love you too much to have done it on purpose, so please just talk to me.” You narrow your eyes at him, confused by what he was saying. You sniffle and he wraps an arm around your head pulling towards him, forcing you to rest on his shoulder for a moment. “Please, don’t break up with me.” Your boyfriend whispers, before placing a soft kiss on your temple. You pull away and look at him. “I don’t want to break up with you, you’re the one that’s done with our relationship.” Enzo’s eyes widen and his mouth drops a bit. “Wha- why? Why would you say something so ridiculous!” He sounds almost angry with you for suggesting something so outrageous. 

You frown and bite back. “Don’t play dumb, Berkshire! I heard you last night at the astronomy tower talking to all your friends and Pansy, who’s my friend by the way, about how I wasn’t going to be your girlfriend for long anymore. Hah!” You point at him, thinking you’ve cornered him, figured out all his lies, but he doesn’t look impressed at all. “Oh right, right… but tell me, darling, if I’m planning on breaking up with you then… uhm, why did I spend a ridiculous amount of money on an engagement ring?” With one swift move he presents you a small velvet ring box and judges you, before quickly tucking it back into his pocket. Your mouth just hangs agape as you watch him put the ring box away. “Miss I-have-it-all-figured-out, do you have any other crazy assumptions? Maybe you think I bought that for one of my other girlfriends-” You give him a soft push and he smiles at your flustered face.

“Break up with you? Have you lost it? Gods, I’m marrying an idiot.” Lorenzo laughs and pulls you onto his lap. You’re still trying to wrap your head around the fact that Enzo bought an engagement ring. “Marrying an idiot? Enz, I haven’t said yes.” You say, attempting to sound composed and he grins at you. “That’s because you haven’t seen the ring, yet.” You snake an arm around his neck. “So show me.” You brush your nose against his and he smirks, happy that you're eager to see the ring and say yes. Enzo steals a tender kiss from you before moving his lips to your ear. “I don’t think so.” You look at him with curious eyes and he explains himself. “I have this whole thing planned and it’s already bad enough that you know I’m going to propose. I don’t need you knowing about anything else I have in store for you.” Merlin, I love him. Desperately your lips crash into his, passionately kissing your future husband as he holds you tight.

Tom

He studies you from afar as you focus on your journal. He adores your elegant figure, small against the great whomping willow. He approaches you with a featherlight step and you don’t notice him until he speaks up with a serious tone. “You had me worried. Disappearing for a whole day.” Your heart jumps as his sudden presence startles you and you quickly close your journal. When you look up he notices your exhausted eyes and crouches down to your level. His fingers brushing your jawline before grabbing a hold of your chin as you try to turn away from him. With a firm grip he forces you to meet his eyes. “Have you been crying, dear?” Your eyes go dead at his question. “Don’t pretend to care. I know you’re breaking up with me.”

Your voice is cold and your words catch him off guard, dropping his hand and studying your face. “When we talked about traveling the world, I thought it was going to be you and me. Searching for the boundaries of magic, you and me… always.” His face goes cold as tears visually well up in your eyes. “I can’t believe you’re breaking up with me. I don’t understand. I thought we were happy.” Now you can no longer hold your tears back, instantly your hands cover your face and Tom grits his teeth at the sound of your sobbing. “Enough.” He says sternly, grabbing your hands and making you look at him. “I don’t know what’s gotten into your silly little head, but I’m not breaking up with you, not now, not ever!” 

He can spot a glimmer of hope in your eyes at his words and he sighs. “Quite to the contrary, actually. I’m planning on spending the rest of my life with you and I want to make it official.” You swallow and shake your head a little as you remember last night's words. “But- but I heard you talk yesterday evening… you said I wasn’t going to be your girlfriend forever.” Tom’s lips form a line and he cups your face, thumbs brushing over the stains of your tears. “You should know better than to eavesdrop. You missed out on a bit of context.” Your eyebrows knit together. “You’re not breaking up with me?” With a soft smile he shakes no. “I missed out on the context?” Tom nods and you feel yourself relax. “Okay.” You whisper and you lean towards Tom so he can embrace you. With your head pressed against his chest you wonder. “I don’t get it, what context?” Tom smiles to himself. “You’ll find out soon enough.” He pulls away a little so he can place a tender kiss on your soft lips. I can’t believe she almost found out about the proposal. If she had seen the ring last night the surprise would’ve been ruined. 

Theodore

You were trying to focus on the book in your hands, but you had to reread every sentence twice, because your mind kept going to Theodore’s words. Frustrated with your incapacity to read, you sigh and look around taking in your surroundings, it’s then that you spot Theo slowly walking in your direction. “Here it goes.” You mutter to yourself as you mentally prepare yourself for a painful break up. “Where have you been all day?” Theo asks, noticing you looking at him. You shrug, not in the mood for small talk. “Here.” You say dryly and Theodore’s tongue darts around in his mouth as he tries to figure out what’s going on. “Why did you ignore my note?” You look away from him. Can’t he just cut to the chase. 

Again you shrug, eyes still staring into the distance. Theodore raises his eyebrows, a little annoyed by your attitude. “Okay, princess. I’ll play.” He goes to sit opposite of you, giving you all his attention, but you snap your head towards him at his words. “You are unbelievable, Theodore Nott!” Your loud voice makes Theo clench his jaw. “Right back at ya, sweetie.” He’s annoyed, but he tries to stay calm, seeing how upset you are. “Don’t ‘sweetie’ me, Nott.” You snare. “I know you’re here to break up with me. I heard you talking at the astronomy tower last night. I know about your big plans that don’t involve a girlfriend. So you can scurry off now. I’ll be fine.” Theo opens his mouth before closing it again and chuckling softly. You frown. “This isn’t funny.” You say, clearly hurt by his lack of emotion. You reach for your book to hit it against his arm, but your boyfriend ceases the opportunity to grab your wrist and pull you closer to him, much to your dislike. 

“It’s funny, trust me.” He whispers, chuckling as he closes the space between you two. “I’m not gonna scurry off, princess, and I’m not breaking up with your dumb ass.” You try to pull your wrist free. “I heard you say-” Theo snakes an arm around your waist to keep you close, before interrupting you. “You heard what exactly?” You fall silent and look up at him with watery eyes. “Because I’m not breaking up with you, I love you a little too much and I’ve invested a bit too much money in an engagement ring. So you and I, we’re not breaking up any time soon.” The sadness in your eyes is replaced by surprise. “Engagement ring?” You whisper barely audible and Theo nods softly, eyes focused on yours. “So did you maybe hear me say something like : she’s not going to be my girlfriend for long?” He leans closer to you, eyes moving between your lips and your eyes. “Because you’re not going to be my girlfriend for long, since you’ll be my fiance soon and then-” Your lips crash on his and his hand moves to your head as he kisses you back passionately. “I’m an idiot.” You whisper between kisses, only making him kiss you harder. “Yeah, you are. You’re lucky you’re cute.” You frown and he chuckles. “I love you.” 

Draco

With closed eyes you enjoy the sounds of nature around you. “Hey!” You recognize your boyfriend’s voice and turn to see him walk up to you with his usual flair, though carefully watching the whomping willow afraid of what it might do. You turn away from him, not ready to face him after hearing him talk about breaking up with you last night. “What’s got you hiding out here?” He watches you with crossed arms and you chew your lip, fingers playing with the grass by your side. You were rarely this distance and he gets more worried. He decides to sit down next to you. “If something’s wrong you can tell me.” You’re surprised by the softness of his voice and turn to him. His heart breaks a little when he notices your puffy eyes, but he stays quiet, waiting for you to tell him what’s going on.

“I feel stupid, Draco.” You confess and he frowns at you, before you continue. “I- I just thought that when we lay in bed discussing the interior of our mansion that- I guess I believed that you really wanted that. You really had me believing you wanted that future with me.” Your boyfriend’s face goes paler than it usually is, but you don’t notice the horror in his eyes. “I respect your choice and I won’t make any drama, but I want you to know that I really wanted that… a future for just the two of us.” With those words you get up, feeling tears well up. “What?” Draco almost yells as he instantly gets up after you. “You can’t break up with me.” He grabs your hand and you look at him, confused at his words. “I’m not breaking up with you, you are breaking up with me.” Your explanation almost hurts Draco’s brain as he tries to make sense of what you’re saying. “No. No. Why would I break up with you?”

You press your lips into a line as you now notice how utterly confused he is. Your eyes rest on his hand holding onto yours, he didn’t want you to go anywhere. You look up at him, frowning. “But I heard you… last night… you said that- that I wasn’t going to be your girlfriend forever. Pansy asked if you were sure and you said yes. I clearly heard you say that.” Draco seems to relax at your words and a soft smile creeps up his lips. “Oh, love.” He lets go of your hand, before taking a step closer so there’s only an inch between you two and slings his arms around you, hugging you as he softly chuckles. “I’m not breaking up with you.” The calmness in his voice convinces you of his sincerity and you feel all the pain and tension leave your heart, making you blink away soft tears of joy.

You enjoy his warmth and hug him back, but after a moment your mind goes back to last night. “But then, what were you talking about?” You move away from him as you feel a bit of doubt make its way back to your heart. Draco tucks a strand of hair behind your ear and adores you with the sweetest smile on his lips. “You won’t be my girlfriend for long because I intend on marrying you.” Your eyes widen and you feel the purest form of happiness rush through you. “Marry me?” You whisper in surprise, not really believing what you had just heard. “Yes and I’m sure of it.” An intense blush forms on your cheeks and your eyes get sparkly as a soft laugh of joy leaves your lips. “I love you, Draco Malfoy.” He kisses tenderly, before locking his eyes with your and wiggling his eyebrows. “I love you too, future Mrs Malfoy.” You laugh and bite your lip. “I like that.” Draco pulls you closer, happy to hear your approval. You break a passionate kiss when your mind starts wondering again. “When are you asking?” You ask with a cheeky smile and Draco scoffs at your question. “I’m not telling. It’s already bad enough you know that I’m gonna ask.” 

[irisintheafterglow]

Lavender Haze (pro!bakugo katsuki x you)

summary: your relationship with dynamight had just gone public, and you need a little verbal affirmation that you two will make it out okay

word count: 1k

cw/tags: very mild angst/comfort, mostly just affectionate katsuki fluff, swearing/profanity wouldn't be a bakugo fic without it, suggestive if you squint, reader is also a pro hero, pet names (babe, stupid, dumbass)

note: i love writing stubborn katsuki banter with an equally stubborn reader who's just used to his antics. domestic katsuki just makes me adhfsjfdfjsgjk, yk? enjoy!

likes/reblogs/feedback are always appreciated!!

You heard the key turn in the door down the hallway and finally put down your phone after scrolling through Twitter for hours. They’d been particularly ruthless today, ripping into your relationship and theorizing that he didn’t even love you. The room was dark and the thought of faking sleep crossed your mind, but you knew he’d sense you were still awake. So, you wait for him to slip off his gauntlets and tug off his boots and find you in your shared bedroom. 

“Babe?”

“Here, Kats.” He lays down beside you, and you’re so mentally exhausted that you don’t even scold him for slipping into bed dirty from patrol. You let him pull you into his arms and inhale deeply against his chest.

“Why are you still awake?”

“Was waiting for you to come home.”

“Bullshit. You fall asleep hours before I’m off shift.”

“Maybe tonight’s just different, then.”

“Are you gonna tell me what’s different?” 

“Do I need to?”

“Yeah, you’re starting to worry me.” 

“I’m just… scared.” His body tenses around you, scarlet eyes searching your face with concern. 

“What’s wrong? What happened?” 

“Nothing happened, not yet, at least. I’m just…”

He thinks for a moment, and you can’t help but stare in wonder at how beautiful he is when the gears in his brain turn. “They’re getting to you again.”

“How did you know?” Of course, he figured it out; he always seemed to be able to know exactly what you were thinking and verbalize it in a way that you couldn’t. 

“Because I love you, stupid, and I know your mind like it was my own.”

“They just, they think I’m using you, Kats, or that I don’t love you, or that this is all a PR stunt by my agency–” Your voice starts to shake on its own, and you push back against the frustration welling up in your eyes. 

“Your manager isn’t smart enough to do that.” A finger comes down to brush a stray hair from your face as you glare up at him. He’d been wanting you to hire a new manager for months or simply merge with his agency, but you wanted the social media firestorm to die down first before any big public moves. 

“Bakugo Katsuki.”

“What? You know I’m right.”

“Not the point.”

“You need to stop reading through Twitter, baby. You really trust some assholes on the Internet over the man of your dreams?” He smirks down at you and draws spirals on your shoulder with his fingers, leaving tingling sensations in their wake. He knew just how to make you feel better, and it was one of your favorite things about him. The way he balanced crude humor with reassurances that you needed and small acts of affection distracted your brain from spiraling any further.  

“Okay, man of my dreams, I get it. Could you just say it?” He brushes his thumb over your bottom lip absentmindedly. 

“Say what?”

“You know, the thing. Please.”

“Oh, right.” Understanding washed over his face, and you caught a little bit of underlying impatience that made you feel a little guilty for asking. 

“Did you forget?”

“Of course not. I just wish I didn’t have to keep telling you that I’m not going to leave you because of some fuckfaces on the Internet making up rumors. I trust you, you trust me, and no one else’s bullshit matters.” He shrugs a toned shoulder and returns to dragging his fingers over your body, running his hands in the creases and dips that he’s memorized on you. 

You roll your eyes. His encouragement was effective, but you couldn’t help but huff out a laugh at the expletives thrown into this round of verbal affirmation. “That’s more aggressive than last time, Kats.”

“It’s an upgrade,” he grins, gently squeezing the flesh around your hips. He got more handsy when he was deliriously satisfied, not that you were complaining. “Next time you get anxious that I’d do something stupid like break up with you, I’m gonna tell Shoto to buy Twitter and ban you from it.” 

“Bold of you to assume he would listen to anything you say.”

“Bold of you to assume I don’t know where he and his entire family lives,” he whispers innocently, pressing his lips to your forehead. His fingers brush up and down the sides of your neck and shoulders, sending chills running through your limbs. 

“Kats–”

“I’m kidding…” He drawls and flashes a cruel grin. “Kinda.” 

“Okay, high school asshole Katsuki, get out of my bed and shower. You’re all sweaty and sticky and yuck.” You push against his chest to no avail. 

He pouts, grabbing hold of your wrists and having you pinned against your bed in one fluid motion. “I thought you loved it when I was sweaty and sticky and yuck.” Strands of blonde hair fall onto his forehead and brush against yours as he leans down to brush his lips against yours. He’d never looked so beautiful.

“Not when I’m trying to sleep.”

He pulls back abruptly, looking at you skeptically. “You weren’t trying to sleep shit, babe.” 

“That doesn’t even make sense.”

“Neither does spiraling over idiots on a stupid fucking bird app.” Fortunately, your body’s awareness of Katsuki’s hands had put the hate tweets you read in the furthest corner of your mind.

“You made your point, like, three points ago.”

His head dips back down to kiss a trail down your collarbone. “Yeah, but sometimes your dumb ass doesn’t listen.”

“You can’t resist this dumb ass.”

He bites down gently where your shoulder meets your neck and you jump, his chuckle buzzing against your skin. “Nope. It’s a plague.” Any more of his body on yours was set to be a disaster, so you attempt to halt his advances before you’re further entangled with each other. 

“Take a shower, Kats.”

He leaves one more chaste kiss on your nose. “I love you.”

“Love you too.” You sigh and wait for him to release your wrists, but he gives you a pointed look like you’d responded incorrectly. 

“I. Love. You.” God, he’s such a brat. 

You press a kiss up to his forehead and he closes his eyes in contentment. “I love you more.”

if you enjoy my writing and would like to support me, you can buy me a coffee on my ko-fi! you can also check out my full masterlist here :)

[f1girliefics]

A Difficult Start

Charles Leclerc x Reader

Warning: mention of injury

Summary: You were a sweetheart, but he was taken.

When you became the social media manager for Max Verstappen, a new door opened for you and you met the other drivers.

Working for Red Bull and Max was amazing and exactly what you were looking for.

Helping and managing social media accounts, and taking pictures at times, you quickly became a part of the team.

When your eyes met Charles for the first time, it was strange. You felt a connection you couldn’t describe. 

It was as if you met your other half.

The problem?

The problem was the tall woman by his side.

The woman he probably didn’t even fully know.

That night, during your first meeting, you went to the bathroom when she came in with her friend.

The things she said about you.

You were disgusted. 

And you should have known to trust your instincts, she was indeed a bully.

And she further proved your point when she decided to pour her wine all over you.

She apologised but still couldn’t keep the smirk off of her face.

Nah, you won’t play her games.

Back then, you promised yourself that you wouldn’t allow her to do anything else to you.

And so far, you have managed to do just that.

Avoiding her and the Ferrari team was a good start.

But fate often had other ideas.

Somehow, no matter what you were doing, you ran into Charles.

You have been taking photos of the team for a year-book you wanted to have as a gift for everyone when you ran into him by accident. 

“Oh, sorry.” you said even before you saw who it was you ran into.

“It’s all good. Are you okay?” the accent was unmistakable. You looked up and nodded at Charles.

“Sorry about that.”

“It’s okay, you seem busy.”

“Oh, I’m taking pictures of the team.” you showed him your camera.

"That's nice! You always take such good pictures. I would hire you myself if I could but you are already... taken." it felt as if his words had a deeper meaning, but you tried not to search for it.

"Thank you very much. I'm glad my work is paying off." you smiled.

“It really is. Sorry, but I have to go, take care.” he smiled. He had such a gorgeous smile.

Then, everyone was invited to celebrate Max’s win. Or should you say another win?

Charles and his girlfriend was there of course and you could feel her eyes stabbing daggers into your back from afar.

She really didn’t like you, and you had to be ready in case she would do something.

You went to the bathroom and on your way back you noticed Charles standing alone, he looked at you as you got closer.

“Enjoying yourself?” he asked but the music was so loud you didn’t hear him, you leaned in closer as he leaned into your ear and asked the same thing.

You quickly nodded as an answer and he smiled.

This, apparently to his girlfriend, looked like flirting… her insecurities were showing.

“Don’t flirt with my boyfriend.” she said as she tried to pour another glass of wine on you, but your hand came up and the glass ended up on her.

You quickly spoke up.

“Oh, I’m so sorry! I didn’t see your hand there!” you said and you just knew she would use this against you.

Make you out to be the jealous one and ruining her dress.

She stormed out with Charles following her.

You looked across the table and saw Carlos looking at you.

“I saw it.” he told you and you smiled. At least someone was on your side.

But your evening didn’t end there, why would it?

After her attempt at ruining at your dress, now it was suddenly her mission to break your ankles.

She tried to trip you up at least five times already, and it had been only two hours since you arrived.

But then, she took it too far.

She pushed you down a flight of stairs.

“Oh my Gosh! Y/N!” you heard her yell. “Someone quick, she fell down! She had too much to drink!” you would have cared if it wasn’t for the throbbing pain in your wrist. But the red blinking of a camera pointing right at the stairs did give you some ease.

You were taken to the hospital where they determined that you had broken your wrist.

As you thought back the noise of your bone breaking kept on making you cringe.

“There was a camera, check the footage, I didn’t fall, she pushed me.” you informed the police after you called them into the hospital.

You were there when they arrested her.

Her story went from blaming you for drinking to saying she was trying to catch you and finally, she said it was all an accident and she never touched you.

They saw the footage, but her constantly changing story was also raising many red flags.

“The footage from the club clearly shows you pushing Miss Y/L/N. You are arrested for assault and will be brought in for questioning.” said the officer once he had enough of her drama.

You quickly turned and walked back to work.

You avoided everything expect for the police when they came to interview you or called you for updates.

You just worked.

Then a week passed.

Two weeks.

A month.

Now, you were in Monaco getting ready for the next race.

You had your laptop as you posted more photos of the Team and Max, you all were excited for the weekend as usual.

It was difficult to find a quiet corner but when you finally did, you were very glad.

You worked for about two hours in silence when you heard someone approaching.

“Hi.” he said as he came around the corner.

“Hello Charles.”

“I see you needed a quiet moment as well.” he said as he sat down at the table across from you.

“I did. I can leave if you need yours.”

“No, you can stay.” he said, silence followed, rather uncomfortable silence which he ended up breaking. “I’m sorry. I should have said this sooner, but I’m sorry about my ex.”

“It wasn’t your fault.”

“She told me you were jealous of her, I found it strange, you don’t seem the kind who would pour wine on a person for that… And then the police showed me the video. I am truly sorry, Y/N.”

“She thought I would steal you from her.”

“All she wanted is my money. She always asked me to buy her new things. I later found out she sold a couple things and the others she kept, she went around and showed it to everyone.”

“She was a bitch.”

“Yes.” he agreed immediately. “I just hope we can start a friendship.” you smiled at him and nodded.

“I’d like that.” he smiled as well.

— a year later —

As usual, the Pit was loud, with people talking, engineers checking the cars, and teams discussing the strategies, you even saw Carlos a couple times talking to everyone in the Ferrari pit.

You were walking from the AlphaTauri pit back to the Red Bull Racing one when someone grabbed you.

“Gosh! Stop scaring me like that!” you said as you almost dropped your camera.

“Sorry.” Charles laughed at you. 

“Excited for today?” you asked and he nodded like a child in a candy store.

“I have a great chance at winning I feel like.”

“I hope you do. But even if you don’t we will have a party.” although your relationship with Charles started with turbulences, you two managed to work it all out.

“Will you wear the red dress?”

“Only if you win.” you smiled with mischief as he pulled you closer and placed a quick kiss on your lips.

“I will win. I have to see you in red.” you pulled him in for one last quick kiss before he had to leave. "You will see."

You were certainly looking forward to seeing him on that podium. 

[piratefishmama]

Pt1

It continues, also with Robin. She leaves Steve on that floor, pathetically cycling through this random metalheads video game music repertoire, sending a silent apology for her fallen friend to the lady in the apartment below them, sure she got to hear Steve practicing his songs every now and then which was a blessing, but she also now had to deal with his pathetic puppy crush as well.

Sorry two (definitely not house-trained) poodle owning lady, Robin sent her condolences for her hearing. But only a little condolence, one of those dogs had left a steamer in the elevator and it was a tall-ass apartment block. Karma really, sweet sweet karma.

It continued because Robin had a mild gift for hunting people down on the internet, it was a skill she’d developed and honed purely to hunt down the assholes who occasionally popped up on Steve’s insta with threatening messages and dumb as shit behaviours that a best friend refused to abide by. Steve had never allowed her to do anything with the knowledge, but one day, one day, the dogs of war would be released, and she would rain fury down upon them for making him make the sad puppy eyes.

He was just a dude, sure he grew up with wealthy parents, sure he had connections since birth to help him get to where he wanted to be, but… that didn’t make him any less of a soft-ass with a genuine love of sports, and sweaters, and listening to audio books in reading nooks with mugs of coffee like some kind of pinterest mood board model.

That didn’t make him any less of an actual mother hen to several child actors and young musicians ensuring they got fair treatment, ensuring they were never taken advantage of by the industry or the people around them.

It continued because within an hour of sleuthing, Robin poked her head back around from Steve’s guest room (read: Robin’s second home), and proudly announced “Found him!” As loud as she could to get over the cover of the final boss battle from Banjo and Kazooie that Steve absolutely did not recognise but was clearly vibing to.

“Found who?”

“Your mystery hater! He’s a—”

“Robin!! You can’t dox people!!”

“I’m not doxing him, I’m telling you exactly where he is so you can go confront him.”

“That is exactly what doxing is. How did you even find him?!”

“Dumbass posted a pic of a newspaper article that his friend wrote, which, uhm, that’s pretty cool I guess, but it had her name on it! All I had to do was search LinkedIn for her and boom, I gottem.”

“…Okay so he’s basically asking to be found is what you’re saying right now.”

“EXACTLY, can we go? Can we? I wanna see him squirm like a little bitch baby when you turn up to confront him.”

“All you’ll see is my pathetic attempts to flirt with him because I don’t know how I’d be anything but pathetic around him I mean have you seen his hands? Do you remember the Hemsworth incident? Do you remember the Hemsworth incident, Robin?” The incident in question involving a low doorway and a concussion that left him delirious in the fantastic arms of the God of Thunder.

“Do I remember you acting like a drunk school girl with her first crush around a guy with biceps bigger than your head? Yes. Yes I do. It was hilarious and you gained a handsome Aussie as a life-long friend out of that pathetic display—"

“I was concussed.”

“Drunk school girl. That doesn’t mean you can’t manage to charm a little bitch from Indiana, we’re from Indiana, we have common ground, you can bond with him!”

“Oh, because being born within the same state makes for such a conversation starter… should we really go?” Would that be stupid? Would that be crossing a line? Would that be absolutely batshit insane?

“For true love—" and champagne in First-Class "I think we should.”

“…Fine.”

Part 3

[inlovewithquestionablecharacters]

Hi,

I just wanted to say that I love your stories. I have had a Hannibal idea rumoring in my mind for some time now and decided to share it.(maybe you can make a one-shot out of it). The reader from our world is a big fan of the show Hannibal and one day wakes up in it (at first without realizing it.After finding a corpse, she somewhat recognises the person, but can‘t quite place it.After she called the police abd the FBI arrives she soon realises where she is. (idk any further, sorry if it‘s really bad)

Could there be a love triangle of some sort between Hannibal,the reader and Will?

Hannibal X Will X Reader: In another life

a/n: not sure if this was what you were thinking but i hope you enjoy it.

Warnings: death, blood, injurys, attempted murder, being captured, hospitals, crime, fluff, female reader, no use of y/n, not proofread.

Word count: 2,2 K

You could smell a sort of coppery scent. Your head was hurting in a way it never had before. Still you managed to force your eyes to open up. You were laying on your back in what felt like grass. The smell was a bit overwhelming but you couldn’t quite tell where it was coming from. You lifted your body up slowly, resting on your elbows for a moment. It was dark but you could still make out your surroundings. You had no idea where you were. And you had no memory of what had gotten you here. You turn your head to the side and that's when you see it.

A body.

You let out a scream, quickly realizing to your feet and taking a step back. The dead eyes of the body stare up at you. You realize that the scent you’d smelt was blood. Your hands moved around your body in search of your phone. Even though you had no idea what was going on you knew you needed to call this in. Your hands shake as you dial 911. 

“911 what's your emergency?”

“I’m in the middle of nowhere and there's a body. I don”t know how i got here and i don’t know who this person is i-”

“Okay I need you to calm down. Are there any street signs nearby?”

You look around desperately searching for something to help the dispatcher find where you were. Your eyes fell on the sign a couple of steps away from where you were. You couldn’t read it very well.

“Yeah there’s a sign. I’m gonna go closer. It's so dark.”

“It's going to be okay, just read it to me.”

You squint your eyes, trying to make the words clearer. 

“Wolf Trap. I’m in virginia.”

The sound of the operator's voice dulled a bit as you tried to understand what was going on. How the hell were you in virginia? You didn’t leave anywhere near Virginia and you’d never thought of visiting it. The only reason you even knew about Wolf trap was because of…Hannibal. But there was no way.

Or was there?

You finished talking to the 911 operator who had told you she was sending cops to your location. You sat near the edge of the road and waited. You don’t know how much time passed but soon you were surrounded by police. They led you to an ambulance and placed a blanket over your body. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary. Well nothing other than the fact you were here. And then they appeared. 

You were staring at the ground beneath you, your hands fiddling with each other. You heard someone call out your name, causing you to raise your head. Your eyes widened as you watched Jack Crawford walk over to you. And trailing behind him was none other than Hannibal Lecter and Will Graham.

You had to have been dreaming. That was the only logical explanation. You closed your eyes, pinching your arm. When you opened them back up again nothing had changed. You were still sitting in an ambulance staring at the characters from your favorite show. Jack called out your name against causing you to pull yourself together.

“Are you alright?”

“Yeah sorry. I guess I'm still in shock.”

“It’s natural to feel that way after seeing a body.”

Hannibal's voice filled your ears as he spoke and you couldn't help but notice he sounded exactly like he did on television. 

“This is-

“Hannibal Lecter.”

Jack looked over at Hannibal in curiosity.

“And that's Will Graham.”

Will’s eyebrows furrowed at your words.

“You two know her?”

“No they don’t. But I know them.”

You paused for a moment, realizing you didn;y know what part of the series you were in.

“I mean I've read about them.”

“You really shouldn't believe what Freddy Lounds writes.”

You turned to look at will, observing the way he avoided your gaze. 

“She’ll do whatever she can for attention.”

You don’t know how you knew but something told you he was talking about Abigail. 

“Don’t worry. I don’t believe everything I see on the internet. My heart goes out to Abigail Hobbs.”

It was a shot in the dark but what did you have to lose? From the way Hannibal and Will looked at each other you could tell you’d said the right thing. 

“Let's focus shall we. What can you tell us about the victim.”

“Just that he’s a male. And that he is dead.”

“Well that we could figure out ourselves.”

You almost smiled at the sarcastic tone Jack talked in. They were just like you remembered them. 

“I woke up next to him. I remember my head was pounding so I'm guessing someone hit me with something and I became unconscious. But that's about all I can tell you.”

“Okay. Hannibal stay with her. Will you come with me.”

You watched Will walk away with Jack. You assumed Will was about to place himself into the killer's mind and as much as you wanted to watch him in action you knew better than to ask such a thing. You turned your attention back to Hannibal. He was looking over at where Will and Jack had walked over to.

“You can go with them. I’m okay.”

Hannibal gave you a gentle smile. The action made your stomach swoop. Damn your attraction to the cannibal. He moved over sitting next to you. 

“You shouldn’t be alone. This must have been a very traumatizing experience for you.”

“I just wish I knew what happened.”

You stopped talking for a moment, realizing something for the first time. What if you were the killer? Hannibal seemed to sense your uneasiness, his voice calling out your name. You turned to face him, a tear running down your cheek.

“What if I did it? What if I killed him.”

“I’m sure it wasn’t you. And if it was, I'm sure there was a reason.”

“Self defense.”

“Most likely. But don’t dwell on it. Will is going to figure it out. And I'm going to help him find who is responsible.”

You stared up at Hannibal. Everything seemed to rush into you all at once and before you knew it you were crying. Hannibal pulled you into his embrace, his arms moving over you back to soothe you.

“Shh it will be alright.”

After the officers went through their usual questions and forensics collected the evidence Jack told you you were okay to go home. The only issue was you had no idea where that was. You googled your name and were surprised to see your phone number and address pop up. You told one of the officers where they could drop you off. Will overheard you talking to the cop and realized your house was on his way home.

“I can take her.”

“You sure?”

“Yeah it's not a problem.”

Will turned to face you.

“Unless you don’t want me too.”

“No, it's perfect. Thanks for offering.”

Will gave you a small nod, beginning to walk towards his car. You trailed after him. Once you got in the car Will turned the engine on and reversed onto the road. You stayed silent for most of the ride, eyes moving over the trees outside your window. 

“It’s not you.”

Your head snapped to look at Will. His eyes were glued to the road ahead, his demeanor calm.

“Sorry what?”

“You’re not the killer.”

“How did you-”

“Hannibal told me you were scared it was you.”

“Well if it wasn’t me who was it?”

“That's what I'm gonna find out.”

For the next few weeks you helped with the investigation. You’d drive over to the FBI and try your best to give them as much information as you could. And you’d go over to Hannibal's office so he could try to help you remember what had happened to you. Being around Hannibal and Will almost daily made it easy for the three of you to grow closer. You’d go shopping for food with Hannibal and you’d take Wills dogs out for walks whenever you could. You found out that your “character” owned a small coffee shop and that was where you got your income from. Whenever you were free you’d spend your time in your coffee shop. You’d chat to the locals and from time to time Will would show up to talk to you. 

One day you were walking back to your coffee shop from the FBI when you started to feel like you were being followed. You grabbed your keys from your pocket spreading up your pace to reach the coffee shop quicker. You’d placed the key on the door when you felt something knock against your head. Before you knew it you’d fallen to the ground. You struggled to keep your eyes open. You let out a breath, your lips moving to call out Wills and Hannibal's name. 

Then everything went black.

Will had gone over to your coffee shop. He was planning on checking up on you. The moment he got to the front door and saw the key stuck in the keyhole he knew something was wrong. And then he looked down and saw the blood on the floor. He pulled his phone out, dialing Hannibal's number. Before the phone had even begun to ring, Will was racing back to the FBI. 

You opened your eyes slowly. You could feel a chair behind you. You moved to rub your eyes, only when you tried to move your arms you realized they were tied. Panic started to settle in. You moved to open your mouth but there was a piece of tape over it. Your eyes searched around the room, trying to figure out where you were and if anyone was with you. The room was empty except for the chair you were sitting in. You tried to move around but your legs were bound to the legs of the chair. In your attempt to move you've managed to tilt the chair and before you knew it you were crashing onto the floor. Your head hit the floor and you went unconscious again.

Will kicked in the door, his gun pointing into the room. His eyes fell on you immediately. He rushed inside being followed by Hannibal. Your eyes were closed but he could tell you were still breathing. Hannibal moved to tug the tape of your mouth as Will began to work on freeing you from the ropes. Jack walked into the room, his eyes falling on Hannibal and Will. 

“Shit. Is she alive?”

“Yes but there is a wound on her head.”

“Take her to the hospital.”

Hannibal turned to look at Will.

“What are you gonna do?”

“Find the person who did this.”

Your finger twitched  against the bed sheets. You groaned, opening your eyes slightly. A blinding light filled your eyes, causing you to shut them a bit. From the smell you could tell you were in a hospital room. You blinked a bit allowing yourself to become used to the light. You could feel a bit of weight on your hand causing you to look at it. Your eyes found Will's hand. He was sitting on a chair next to your bed, his hand grasped around yours as he slept. You continued to look around the room. On the opposite side of your bed you found Hannibal's frame. He too was slumped against his chair, his head resting on the edge of your bed as his hand gripped onto your wrist. They were clinging onto you to make sure you weren’t going anywhere. You smiled and let out a breath realizing that you were safe.

You shifted in your bed trying to get into a more comfortable position. Will's eyes opened as he felt you shift against him. His gaze found you, his free hand coming up to rub his eye. 

“You’re up.”

You turned to look at Will taking in his sleepy state. He looked awfully cute like this. 

“Sorry I didn't mean to wake you up.”

“You should have.”

Your head snapped at the sound of Hannibal's voice turning to look at him. He looked a bit more put together than Will but you could tell he was tired too. 

“What are you guys doing here?”

“Making sure you were okay.”

“I’m sure the doctors here are more than capable of doing that. No offense.”

The room was silent for a moment.

“We caught him.”

You looked at Will. 

“The killer?”

“Yeah. They arrested him a couple hours ago.”

“That’s good.”

“We should have been quicker.”

“Well you caught him didn;t you.”

“Not before he hurt you.”

You could tell Will was beating himself up. You shifted moving to place your hand on his cheek. He raised his head to look at you. You gave him a small smile.

“I’m okay Will. You saved me.”

You turned to look at Hannibal, wrapping your hand around his.

“You both did.”

You had no idea how you'd gotten here. But sitting in that hospital bed, holding onto Will and Hannibal you couldn’t think of anywhere else you’d rather be.

[gothicflowers]

Softdom!Alex Keller x F!Reader

“Act out” (MDNI)

Warnings: BDSM, Dom/Sub Dynamic, punishments, talks of intercourse, SoftDom!Alex, Sub!F!Reader, honorifics, MDNI, degradation

Alex was the definition of a perfect soft dom. Sweet, caring, loving, respectful and incredibly talented. Everything you ever search for in a partner and a dom. You’re not exactly sure how you managed to get such a perfect man or Dom, but you felt incredibly lucky. And Alex felt that the you deserved the world. Such sweet, beautiful, gentle woman. To come back from work to such a creature always makes his heart swell. Combined you two make the perfect pair. Especially on days like today, when you wanted to act out and needed reprimanded.

*

“No, you know the rules” Alex lifts you off the scale before you could see the number.

“But-“ you pouted at his actions.

“No buts, you know why” Alex firmly said.

“I just want to know” you whined as he set you down.

“No, I think we need to go over affirmations” his hand lovingly rests on your neck, thumb caressing your cheek. You shrug in response becoming shy.

Alex gives you a soft affirming smile “Let me hear it darling”

“My weight does not define my beauty, I am loved for who I am and my appearance as I am. I do not need to change myself for others”

“Good job baby, now let’s go sit and have breakfast” he kisses your forehead and guides you away with his large hand on the small of your back.

After you both cleaned up after breakfast there wasn’t much to do this lazy Sunday.

“I don’t want to read. I want to watch TikTok’s” you huffed at Alex as he held your phone. Alex shakes his head ignoring your bratty behavior.

Alex looks down at you from his book as you sit at his feet begging “You can have your phone after. You know you have to read for at least thirty minutes before your allowed to play on your phone”

“But I don’t like the book I picked” you huffed again in displeasure of his response.

“You have that other book you can start, but you’re not getting your phone unless you get a call or you read”

You cross your arms and stomp off. Only to come back five minutes later and ask again.

Closing his book he leans over you “You either read, or you get your phone but that’s another strike on the bad girl board” he holds up both the phone and the book. Option one would be to be a good girl and follow the rules, option two would mean your being a bad girl. Both equally tempting.

Your mouth hung open at Alex’s words. You didn’t want to be a bad girl. But you’re feeling more bratty than usual you snatch the phone from his hands sticking your tongue out at him and plop onto your beanbag.

Alex layed on the coach deep in a nap. He looked so peaceful. You know how little of sleep he gets on missions and didn’t want to wake him up just to grind on his thigh. Like a mouse you made your way to yours and Alex’s bedroom. You didn’t want to wake him from his nap by grinding on his thigh and you didn’t have the key to the locked box with your favorite toy in it. Now you’re left trying to find relief.

That’s when you noticed the nice squishy pillow in the middle of the bed. Just what you needed.

In a seconds you where on the bed chasing after your desire. The softness of the pillow against your clothed clit was perfect. Your eyes shut tight as you panted trying to contain your moans and whispers. You were so close until Alex’s voice comes from the doorway.

“What are you doing”

You’ve been caught. And you knew better than to be doing this. It was against the rules.

“N-nothing” your hips shutter to a halt against the pillow. Still desperately wanting to grind down.

“Aww sweetheart did you need me”

You desperately nodded yes and as you look down, hips rolling once more on the pillow. Alex walks slowly over to you taking in the beautiful sight before him. As much as he wanted you to continue, to get to see you come undone he had a better idea.

“Off, now” his normal sweet voice turned dark and quiet.

your words came out like a cry “But- but I need it I-”. His hand comes up to grab your jaw forcing you to look up at him.

“You don’t need it, if you really need it you would have ask. Are you allowed to come without my permission?”

“No sir” your head hung in shame.

“And why is that”

“I am not allowed to give myself orgasms. My pleasure is only for you to give me.” You bite your lip trying to control your labored breathing.

“That’s right. Come here, Kneel” his voice commands as he points at his feet. Getting off the bed you make your way to his feet and gracefully kneel down. Bowing your head in submission.

“You know the rules, and you disobeyed”

“I’m sorry sir”

“I know you are, that’s why I discipline you when you misbehave. So you learn. You’ve been so good the past week. Is there a reason you didn’t behave today?” His hand comes to gently pet your hair. His callous fingers taking in the sensation of your silky hair.

“No sir, I just did the things I did because I wanted to despise the rules”

He leans forward placing his fingers under your chin “Baby I can’t hear you talk with your head down, look at me when you speak” his hand forcing you to look up.

“No sir, I just did the things I did because I wanted to despise the rules” you say just loud enough for him to hear.

“This was your third time today disobeying. And it’s only three in the afternoon. I took a nap only to come find you grinding on the pillow like a little slut. I didn’t want to punish you today but I don’t think you’ve left me much of a choice. I can’t let this behavior continue, do you understand” Alex always had a way of degrading you and making it sound like an Angels whisper.

“Normally I wouldn’t punish you so harshly but I think this is a special occasion.” You nod in agreement “You’re going to wear a plug for one hour. No touching, no grinding. During that hour you will be writing why it’s important for you to follow the rules. Once you’re done writing you’re gonna come sit at my feet until your timer is up. Afterwards you’ll get your spanking. Do you agree to your punishment or is that too much for you today?”

“I agree sir” looking up at him nodding you couldn’t help but feel meek and slightly aroused.

“If you need to use your safeword, use it.”

You nod at his reminder, happy he’s always keeping your safety and comfort in mind.

“Good. Now strip.”

[depressedhatakekakashi]

A Sharable Gift

Words: 4,496

Pairing: Kakagai

Prompt: Sweets

(Picture drawn by the ever fantastic @jventureart who was kind enough to entertain my silly ideas 🥰🥰🥰)

All is quiet.

Just like yesterday, and the day before, and the day before that. Everywhere Kakashi looks he’s greeted with stillness. It’s a vastly different reality from the one he’d existed in just a few short months ago.

Here there were no enemies to dispatch. No secret scrolls to retrieve for the ‘good of the village’, or enemy shinobi trying to infiltrate the village.  

Everything around him was quiet, and he hated it.

“Kakashi!” The window below him slammed open and Kushina’s voice shattered the silence. In an instant Kakashi had jumped from his position on the roof ledge down to the balcony, his eyes searching the area for whatever it was that had caused Kushina to  come searching for him.

When he didn’t spot anything that could be considered dangerous he closed his eyes and took a deep breath. “Kushina-Senpai,” he tried to keep his voice calm, not wanting to give away just how much her sudden appearance had shook him. Once he’d managed to calm his nerves just a little he opened his eye and focused his attention on the woman now half hanging out of the window with a proud smile on her face. “is something wrong?”

“Here!” without even the smallest display of embarrassment at her actions, Kushina pushed her hands out toward him. Sitting in her hands was a small green box with a brilliant scarlet bow wrapped tightly around it. “take it.”

Settling back onto his heels he stared at the object. “What is it?”

“A box,” she snickered when he glared at her with his one good eye. “Sorry. It’s chocolates!”

“Oh,” his lips pulled downward into a frown. “Uh, thank you but I don’t really like sweets.”

“No, you…” leaning further out of the window she transferred the box to her left hand and used her right to brace herself. “here,” she pushed the box out toward him. “Look at it before you say no.”

Knowing a lost cause when he saw one, Kakashi reached out to accept the box. As soon as he gripped the box Kushina released her hold and settled back into the apartment. The smile stayed cemented on her face while her eyes gleamed with excitement.

        If Kakashi were anyone else he’d probably feel happy at the gift. There would be feelings of warmth and comfort swimming around in his chest at the knowledge that Kushina had thought of him when she spotted something, even if it was something he wasn’t really going to enjoy.

        Kakashi wasn’t anyone else, though. He was Hatake Kakashi, and all he felt was a slight annoyance at having his peaceful watch interrupted by a panic filled moment followed by a pointless gift being shoved into his hand.

“I don’t-“

“Turn it over,” Kushina insisted, turning her hand over in a small gesture to show Kakashi exactly what she wanted him to do. “Then maybe you’ll understand why I thought of you.”

Refraining from rolling his eyes, Kakashi placed his other hand on top of the box and slowly turned it over. As soon as his did he noticed the picture on the back. A small photograph of the boxes contents.

“Are those…” Those feelings of warmth he’d thought about earlier suddenly bloomed inside of his chest.

“Little chocolates shaped like paw prints,” Kushina confirmed, her smile growing so bright that Kakashi could see the sun shinning off of them. “I know sweets aren’t really your thing, but I thought you would get a kick out of the shape.”

His eye lingered on the picture, taking in every little detail of the paw print shaped chocolates. If he had to compare them to any of his dog’s he’d say they looked the most like Bizuke’s. Small, soft, and packed full of too much sweetness.       

“But, I-“ dragging his eye away from the box her focused on Kushina once again. “I appreciate it, Kushina-Senpai, but I don’t think I’ll be able to eat them.”

Many people thought his aversion to sweets was simply a dislike, but it was more than that. Sweet foods hurt his mouth. They made his tongue feel like it was being assaulted with flavour until it hurt, and that pain never went away.

“You don’t have to eat them,” Kushina continued to grin. “You could share them with someone else. Maybe someone you like?”

Kakashi tilted his head, his eyebrow arching up toward the sky. “Someone I like?”

“Ya,” Kushina insisted. “Maybe a girl you like,” she giggled when Kakashi scrunched up his nose. “Or a boy? Or maybe…” turning her eyes skyward she lifted her right hand and began tapping her forefinger against her chin. “Well, Someone important to you. Someone you like spending time with.”

A face popped into Kakashi’s mind immediately. A familiar blinding smile that exuded kindness in a world so full of cruelty. The one person he found himself drawn to even when he wanted so desperately to push the rest of the world away from him.

To protect the people around him from the curse of knowing him.

“That one,” blinking, he focused on Kushina once more. Her smile had somehow grown so wide that her eyes crinkled at the edges. “The one who just popped into your mind. Go share those with them.”

“I will,” he promised, his mind already thinking of all the places he might be able to find his friend. “After Minato-Sensei returns.”

Kushina rolled her eyes. “I do not need your protection,” she sighed, pushing herself up and away from the window dramatically. “But I know you’re not going to listen to me if I tell you to go, so fine. Minato should be back in just a bit so you won’t have to wait too long.”

With that she turned her back to him, officially closing the conversation.

As she walked away, the window still hanging open between them, Kakashi glanced back down at the box sitting in his hand. “Thank you.” he whispered, jumping back up toward the roof as Kushina turned back toward him.

Landing right back where he’d started, he set the box down on the roof beside him and turned his attention back to the surrounding area.            However long it took his Sensei to return home from his duties as Hokage didn’t matter, he would keep the apartment protected until the moment he was released from his duty by the man who’d set him upon the task of watching over Kushina.

Even though his body itched to grab the box and make a break for it, he stood firm. There was almost nothing that could take him away from his duty. Not even the thought of that brilliant smile greeting him.

His heart pounded a little harder in his chest as he thought about that smile and the cheerful, energetic voice that would fall from that mouth. The warmth he’d felt blooming in his chest earlier returned, and for the first time that day Kakashi couldn’t wipe the smile off of his face, and there was a part of him deep down inside that felt guilty for smiling.

For the first time since his hand had pierced through Rin’s chest, there was something that he could look forward to. Some one he wanted to see.

Rin and Obito were both buried six feet under the ground because of his mistakes, and here he was smiling like an idiot because he had some chocolates to share with his best friend. He had no doubt that Kushina’s goal in giving him the little box of chocolates was to give him a reason to smile, but now that he was he couldn’t help but feel like he was doing something wrong.

        Like enjoying his life was some sort of crime when both of his teammates were unable to do the same.

“Idiot...” the smile dropped off of his face, but that warmth continued to linger in his chest. “I’ll just give them to him. He’s better off without me sticking around anyways.”

That was the plan. As soon as Minato returned home he would rush off to find his friend, present him with the gift that Kushina had given him, and go off to do his daily training. There was nothing else to do.

        No matter how nice it felt to think about sharing the treats with his friend, it simply wasn’t something he had any right to do. Not when it was his fault that Rin and Obito weren’t there to enjoy their own sweet moments of life.

        Not a moment had been wasted when Minato returned home. Kakashi had seen him coming from where he was position on the roof, Shibi walking at his side chatting about something important judging by the serious look on his sensei’s face.

It was rare for Kakashi to see anything but a smile plastered across his Sensei’s face.

Yet, as soon as they reached the front door and said their goodbyes, that smile was back. It was as if nothing had been wrong at all.

His Sensei was home, and just like that all of his worries melted away in an instant.

Deep down he wondered if there was someone like Kushina for him. Someone he could come home to one day. Who just the thought of seeing again would wash away all of his worries and bring a smile to his face.

“Kakashi,” a flash of yellow sped through the air and stopped directly in front of him, his Sensei’s cheerful eyes focused on him. “Mission report.”

“Not much happened,” he began, the hairs on the back of his neck standing up on end but not a single thing on his face giving away how much his Sensei’s habit of just appearing in front of him still bothered him. “Kushina-Senpai has spent most of today at home baking, though she did go out for a walk around one in the afternoon and had lunch at Ichiraku before spending some time with Mikoto-san.”

As he spoke Minato nodded his head, his smile only growing as he listened to his wife’s daily activities.

“Good,” reaching out a hand he plopped it down on top of Kakashi’s head. “Good job today. You can head out now, i’ll take care of everything from here.”

Usually Kakashi would argue. He’d insist upon providing more information about his mission, or request some training even though he’d become accustomed to being told that his Sensei had other important things to do and ‘trusted him to take care of his own training now’.

        Today, though, his hand reached out for the box of chocolates Kushina had given him earlier. As soon as he had a good grip on them, he was off. His Sensei left standing on the roof watching as he sailed through the air toward his new destination.

 “I’m just going to drop it off,” he reminded himself while the wind blew through his hair, that warm feeling he’d experienced when he first thought of who to share the chocolates with returning like a flame reignited from a spark of fire reaching the smoke it gave off when it had been extinguished. “Now,” scanning the area below him, he searched for that bright green jumpsuit in a sea of plain clothed civilians. “Where could he be?”

“Sorry,” Emi-san had smiled at him when he arrived at the Dango shop, not even bothering to wait for him to vocalize his reason for being there. “He just left.”

His shoulder’s dropped. Not only had he missed his friend, but it was becoming obvious that the old woman who ran the dango shop had come to associate him with Gai. Which wasn’t particularly surprising given he rarely ever went to the shop without his friend, and when he did it was usually to pick up dango for him since it wasn’t a treat he often sought out for himself. It was still strange though. To have someone read him so easily while other’s considered him one of the most difficult people in the village to read.

        Not wanting to dwell on the idea that someone in the village was able to read him like an open book, he focused instead on gathering information in hopes of locating his friend quicker. “Do you know where he went?”

“I think he said he was going to train,” she answered. “I could hear Genma and Ebisu trying to convince him to take a break, but you know how Gai is. He wouldn’t listen.”

        There was fondness in her voice when she spoke. The same sound he recalled hearing whenever Kushina would speak to Obito, or how his father spoke to him when he was still alive, but with a hint of something he wasn’t quite familiar with.

        The closest thing he could think of to describe it was a grandmother speaking of her grandchild, but that wasn’t something he understood well enough to confirm. After all, he’d never met any of his grandparents. Neither had Gai as far as he knew.

        “Well, thank you,” digging into his pocket her pulled out his wallet and pulled out enough Ryo for two sticks of dango. “here,” he held it out to here. “For Gai’s dango tomorrow.”

        “Not for today?” she asked, her hand stopping midway toward the fresh sticks of dango she had standing up in her display.

“No,” raising the hand with the box of chocolates, he showed it to her for just a moment before lowering it back to his side.

“Well, in that case,” pulling her hand back she reached out to retrieve the ryo from him and tucked it into her till. “I’ll make sure he gets that dango tomorrow. You’d better get going now. He might just decide to run laps around the village for training.”

“Thank you, Emi-san,” he waved before turning on his heel and heading back out of the little shop. Searching through the village for his friend hadn’t been in his plans when he woke up that morning, but he had a goal now. Something he wanted to achieve before he returned to his empty home and tried to lose himself in the book that he’d chosen during his last visit to the village bookstore.

Gai had not gone for a run through the village. That much was clear when Kakashi arrived to training field B, just beside the Academy, and saw his friend using one of the training field dummies as a punching bag.

“You know,” he dropped down by Gai’s side and ducked just in time to avoid being punched in the side of the head when his friend whirled around and struck out at him. “You keep this up and they’re going to have to replace the dummy earlier than usual.”

“Rival!” forgetting about his training for the moment, Gai threw his arms open and wrapped them around Kakashi’s shoulders. “I wasn’t expecting to see you today. Are you finished guarding Kushina-san for the day?”

        “Naturally,” Kakashi responded with a cool tone, ignoring the way his heart hammered in his chest as that weird mixture of scents that could only be attributed to Gai filled his nostrils. There was a hint of that sweet smell of dango mixed in with the overwhelming smell of grass, and if he was anyone else Kakashi might have allowed himself to bury his face into his friends shoulder and drown himself in the scent.

He wasn’t anyone else, though. He was Hatake Kakashi, Student of the Fourth Hokage.

As much as he wanted to lose himself in that comforting, sweet smell he couldn’t. It would look bad on him and his Sensei if anyone saw them.

“Here,” he lifted his hand to show Gai the box of chocolates he’d been waiting for hours to share with him. “Kushina gave me these, but they’re chocolates and, well-“

“You’re not a big fan of sweets,” Gai finished for him, a giggle following the words that fell so easily from his mouth. 

“Right,” pushing his hand out toward Gai he jiggled the box. The sound of chocolates bumping around inside rang between them. “Here. They’re for you.” Gai stared at the box but made no move to take it from Kakashi. “Gai-“

“Kushina gave them to you,” he stated. “You shouldn’t just give away a gift.”

“She told me to share with you,” Kakashi huffed, keeping to himself the exact words Kushina had said to him. All he would gain from telling his friend that would be another bone crushing hug and a whole lot of tears that would be guaranteed to draw any passing citizens attention to them. “So, here.” This time he tried to shove the chocolates into Gai’s hand, but his friend simply shoved them back.

“Sharing means we eat them together,” Gai insisted, his smile gleaming in the sunlight and that warm feeling blooming inside of Kakashi’s chest once again. “We can sit down and share them if you’d like.”

Kakashi was about to accept the invitation, his emotions getting the best of him in the moment, when Rin and Obito’s faces suddenly flashed in front of his eyes.

        Haunting pictures of the friends who weren’t there to share those chocolates with them. The friends who didn’t have the opportunity to enjoy something as small as a sweet treat all because of the mistakes Kakashi had made.

        Mistakes that had cost them their lives.

        “I can’t,” he whispered, his fingers tightening around the box. “I haven’t trained yet today so I really should get on that.”

        The smile dropped off of Gai’s face and immediately Kakashi felt like he’d done something horribly wrong. Like he’d stolen the very light from the world by upsetting his friend, or that he’d deprived Konoha of the most beautiful thing within the village walls.

        He shook his head, willing those thoughts out of his head. How they’d even gotten there was beyond him.

        When had his bond with Gai shifted from friendship to something more? Something that made him feel so warm whenever he was in his friends presence, or even just when he thought about him. When, in all the years that he had known Gai, had he allowed himself to feel something so deeply profound while Rin and Obito were unable to experience those same feelings?

        “You’re dwelling,” Gai sighed, his eyes staring a hole into Kakashi’s very soul. “You know they wouldn’t want you to do that, right?”

        “You don’t know that.”

        “I do,” Gai snapped, and for the first time since they’d met Kakashi found himself taking a step back from his friend. Not out of fear, but out of shame. “they were your friends, Kakashi. Our friends. They wouldn’t want you to keep punishing yourself for something that’s not your fault.”

               His eyes drifted toward the ground. “It was my fault,” he muttered under his breath. “if I had just-“

               “Stop it,” the sternness in Gai’s voice cut through him like a tanto. It wasn’t unheard of for Gai to get angry, but it was rare for him to get angry with Kakashi. No matter what he’d done over the years his friend had never lost his temper with him. Never cut him off in the middle of a sentence because he was upset with him. “I know you want to blame yourself. I understand it’s easier to do that than it is to admit that you weren’t at fault, because if you’re not at fault than someone else has to be and you don’t want to put the blame on anyone else, but their deaths are not your fault Kakashi.”

               The words reached him, but Kakashi refused to let them in.

               Refused to believe that there was any truth to them, because if what Gai was saying was true even though deep down he wanted so badly to believe it. To absolve himself of the blame and move on with his life.

               It wasn’t possible though. Every time he thought back to Obito and Rin’s death all he could see was his mistakes.

               His failings.

               His inability as a leader and a friend to protect them in the way that he was supposed to.

               “You are…” looking back up at his friend, Kakashi felt his heart breaking when he saw the sadness in his eyes. A deep hurt that dulled the brightness that usually shone in his eyes.  “do you really believe that, Kakashi?”

               “What?” he asked. “that I failed to protect my friends or that I am a failure as a leader?”

               “That you deserve to be punished for the rest of time because of your mistakes.” the words were spoken so softly, but they struck right at Kakashi’s heart. He couldn’t bring himself to absolve himself of the guilt he carried deep in his heart, but Gai’s words reminded him of the things his father had always told him whenever he made a mistake in his training growing up.

               ‘You don’t dwell on it. You pick yourself up and try again.’

The words echoed in his memory. As a child he’d always wondered why his father had repeated those words to him whenever he became frustrated with his lack of progress or insulted himself over the mistakes he made.

               He had made mistakes. He’d failed his friends when they needed him and those failures had cost them their lives.

               That was a fact he would have to live with for the rest of his life, but that didn’t mean he had to close everyone else out. That he wasn’t allowed to open his heart again and make new friends, or maintain the bonds he already had.

               Straightening himself up he refocused his attention on Gai. “You still willing to share?” he asked, pointing at the box of chocolates clutched in Gai’s hand hovering at his side.

               A smile cracked across Gai’s face and in an instant he reached out to grab hold of Kakashi’s hand and began dragging him toward the wall that surrounded the training field. There was no words of confirmation that he would share, but Kakashi didn’t need to hear them.

               That bright, blinding smile and the excitement that exuded off of his friend as he led him to the wall and let go of his hand so that he could jump up, landing effortlessly on the top of the wall, was enough to tell Kakashi that he was in fact still willing to share.

               “Come on, Rival!” Gai called down to him as he dropped onto the butt so that his legs were dangling over the wall into the training field. “before I eat them all on you!”

               That warm feeling that had engulfed him earlier returned once again. His heart hammered in his chest, and as he stared up at his friend Kakashi couldn’t help but smile. “Ya,” he chuckled to himself. Slipping his hands into his pant pockets he bent his knees and jumped upward, landing directly beside Gai with ease.

               “So cool,” Gai whispered, his eyes wide as he stared up at Kakashi.

               Rolling his eyes, Kakashi dropped down beside his friend so that one leg was situated under him and the other was hanging over the edge just like Gai’s legs. Once he was comfortable he stared down at the training field. It wasn’t too far up, yet he couldn’t help but feel like he was sitting on top of the world. “Hey, Gai,” looking over at his friend he smiled when he saw him staring back at him with a wide, goofy grin. “I’m sorry.”

               “For?”

               “Making you wait,” he answered, his heart pumping a little bit faster when Gai turned his gaze up to the sky and laughed. “I’m serious.”

               “I know you are, Rival,” lifting the box of chocolates between them he turned his head and smiled at Kakashi with such joy that he was certain it could outshine the sun itself. “I don’t mind waiting, though. As long as you never forget that I’m here.”

               Covering his mouth, Kakashi barley managed to contain the laugh that ripped its way out of his throat. “Forget?” he asked. “Gai, there is nothing in this world good or bad that could get me to forget about you.”

               As soon as the words left his mouth Kakashi realized what he’d done. He’d unlocked a moment for Gai to start crying and talking about the ‘beauty of rivalry’. A conversation which he wasn’t necessarily opposed to having, but which he would rather avoid if he could so that he didn’t have to deal with the emotions that were bound to flood him if Gai tried to hug him in his overly emotional state.

               Just as the first signs of tears began to form in Gai’s eyes, Kakashi reached out and snatched the box of chocolates out of his hand. “Here,” he insisted, pulling the box open and tossing the lid onto the ground behind them. Now that they could access the chocolates he held the box back out to Gai. “eat the emotions away.”

               Reigning in his emotions, Gai glanced into the box and quickly picked out his chocolate. As soon as he had plucked it out of the box and gotten a good look at it he lifted it toward the sky and stared at it as if it was the greatest treasure in the world. “It’s a paw print!” he announced loud enough for the entire village to hear.

               Watching his friend, Kakashi smiled as that warmth he’d been feeling spread out across his body like a blanket being wrapped around him. He wasn’t sure what exactly it was about Gai, but that ‘what’ didn’t matter too much to him.

               All that mattered was how he felt in Gai’s presence, and the answer to that question was very simple.

               Safe.

               He felt safe. Like nothing in the world could go wrong as long as he was at Gai’s side. Most importantly, he felt as though his heart was safe. Even if the world around him was burning to the ground he would still have Gai.

               No matter what, Gai would always be at his side, and that knowledge was comforting.

               “Kakashi?” blinking, he refocused his attention on Gai and smiled when he saw him staring at him with big round eyes full of excitement. “Let’s have a competition!”

               Rolling his eyes, Kakashi plucked a chocolate out of the box and set it down between the two of them.  With one hand now free, he grabbed his mask just over the bridge of his nose. “after,” he insisted. “for now let’s just enjoy this moment.” Pulling his mask down he plopped the chocolate into his mouth and swiftly returned his mask to its place, which did nothing to hide the way his visible eye scrunched up in dissatisfaction as the chocolates sweetness overwhelmed his taste buds.

               Perhaps, if Gai allowed him to, he’d leave the rest of the chocolates for him to enjoy.

[hayanwulf]

Magical Vandalism

Prompt fill for this : "Stephen gets arrested, and calls the only person he knows who might actually be able to post bail: Tony Stark." @ironstrangeprompts

“Boss, an unsaved number is calling you on your personal number.”

Tony paused his soldering and looked up. “Who?”

“The number is registered as belonging to Officer Jennifer from NYPD.”

“How’d they get my number.” And why would they call him? This was very odd. People didn’t just get Tony’s personal number like that.

“I’m not sure, Boss,” FRIDAY replied.

Tony huffed out an airy breath and put the soldering iron down on the table. “Put them through.”

There was a click as the call was accepted.

“Tony?”

Tony stilled.

That voice.. Tony hadn’t heard that deep, baritone voice since 2008. Since the day the person Tony had loved had dumped him, had walked out on him.

“..Hello?”

Why call now? Why, after all these years of radio silence?

Who was Tony kidding. Of course he knew exactly why Stephen was calling him now.

He knew about the accident from nearly a year ago. He knew Stephen’s hands had been destroyed. He knew the doc had driven himself bankrupt trying to heal his hands, with no success. He knew Stephen had no money to his name and had disappeared off the grid nearly 9 months ago, his trails ending cold in Nepal.

He knew all of this, because he’d been keeping up with news on Stephen, all these years. Had been actively trying to track him after his disappearance.

He shouldn’t have. He should’ve just moved on, like Stephen had.

Perhaps there was a small part of him that just couldn’t stop loving Stephen, even after all this time.

“Tony.. are you there?”

Tony should end the call right then and there. But.. damn it, he was worried. Stephen had been completely off the grid for the past 9 months and suddenly he was calling Tony, of all people. Tony was worried.

“Yes,” he replied after a pause, managing to keep his voice even.

There was a sigh from the other end, like Stephen was relieved that he’d been answered. “I.. I’m sorry. I couldn’t think of anyone else to call. I need.. help.”

Tony sighed, closing his eyes. Part of him wanted to just refuse it and end the call.

But...

Damn it, Stephen.

“What do you need?”

“I.. ah..” A short pause. “I got arrested and can’t afford the bail money.”

Tony blinked. “You got arrested,” he parroted, a little disbelieving.

“Yes.”

“What did you do? Theft?”

“What? No! Why would I do that!?”

Because you’re broke, Tony wanted to say. Instead he said, “Then what did you do!?”

“Wow, your faith in me is astounding,” Stephen said, voice dripping with sarcasm. “What makes you think I did anything at all?”

True, Stephen could’ve been falsely arrested. But, he supposed, good to know that Stephen still hadn’t lost any of his wit and sarcasm. “Well then, let’s hear it. What did they charge you with?”

“Vandalism.”

Tony rolled his eyes. “Right, like I don’t do it myself every other day.” Though, he had certainly gotten better at reducing the collateral damage during fights over the past years. He could safely say that he was proud of the progress he’d made on that front. “What exactly did they charge you with?”

“... Breaking all windows of a neighborhood.”

Tony was silent for a moment.

“Why!?”

Stephen sighed tiredly. “I didn’t mean to. It was an accident.”

“You broke all the windows of an entire neighborhood, accidentally.”

Stephen groaned. “Just help me. Please.”

Oh, Tony had questions. He wouldn’t sit quietly until they were answered. “Alright, give me the address.”

A quick flight later, Tony landed in front of a local police station in Manhattan.

Ignoring the gawking looks some officers shot at him, he strode in, eyes searching for a particular figure.

When they did finally fall on the figure inside a cabin, Tony froze.

There, sitting on a chair in front of an officer’s desk, was one Stephen Strange.

He wore the weirdest clothes; blue, thick, and highly intricate robes. They couldn’t have been farther from Stephen’s fashion sense. His hands rested on the desk, eyes closed, body a little hunched. He looked paler than Tony remembered him being, and.. was that scabbed blood on his forehead?

Just what the hell had happened?

“Mr. Stark,” someone squeaked out, drawing both of Tony and Stephen’s attentions. The officer who had just entered through the door was looking up at Tony with comically wide eyes. “You’re really here. I didn’t believe when this man claimed that he’s contacted you.”

Tony quickly put on his media persona and stepped closer to the officer, offering a hand. “Officer Jeremy, right?”

The officer shook his hand. “It’s Officer Jennifer.”

Tony gave a nod. “Right. Now what do we need to post bail for my good friend over here?”

It didn’t take long to bail Stephen out, and he was given his strange assortment of belongings back — a red cape which, Tony thought, would look dramatic as hell if worn, a weird looking double ring, and at least half a dozen odd ropes and belts, which, what?

“They weren’t sure how I did it,” Stephen explained at Tony’s judgmental look, “so they confiscated everything I had on me.” He sighed tiredly, wrapping the belts around his waist.

No, that was decidedly not why Tony had put on a judgmental look. Why do you have so many belts? WHY are you putting on all of them, weirdo?

Tony closed his eyes and shook his head, as if that would dispel the questions in his mind that were beginning to pile up into a tall mountain. He opened his eyes to ask the most important question, “Well, how did you do it?”

Stephen paused just as he was putting on the weird ring on his fingers, and glanced up at Tony with a considering look.

It was then that Tony truly noticed the state Stephen was in.

He was beyond exhausted. It was visible in his expression, in the way his face was droopy, in the way those gray eyes seemed to be devoid of energy. He looked like he was sick and hadn’t slept at all in a while.

“Magic,” he said, making Tony blink.

He gave Stephen’s clothing a once-over again. “Did you become a street magician? Your choice of costume still sucks.”

Stephen gave him a dry look, but quickly moved on. He placed a shaking hand on the neatly folded red cape held by his other hand — and oh, the scars; Tony felt a pang in his heart at the sight — and then, to Tony’s surprise, golden light came to life under Stephen’s fingers, drawing perfect, geometrical shapes and unreadable symbols on the red cloth’s surface. Startled, Tony flinched back by a step. Stephen didn’t seemed to have noticed, focused on the cloth.

Tony watched as the.. magic? — magic, magic like Loki’s, magic like Wanda’s, magic meaning bad — pulsed a wave of gold through the red cloth, and the next moment, the cloth was.. animated? Vibrating? Wiggling?

“Is that moving by itself!?” Tony yelped.

“The Cloak is sentient and capable of moving, yes,” was Stephen’s answer.

And, okay, Tony’s day had just gotten all kinds of strange.

“They are more drained than me,” Stephen added as a corner of the cape moved weakly and wrapped around his free wrist. He returned the gesture, wrapping his shaking fingers around it. “But they’ll recover.”

Something about that exchange was.. strangely affectionate. Tony found it hard to tear his eyes away from Stephen, who was looking down at that animated piece of cloth with concern and relief in his eyes.

And then the moment was over, and Stephen took a step backwards, putting distance between Tony and him.

That tenderness in his eyes from only a moment ago was gone.

“Thank you, Tony. I.. didn’t think that you’d respond.”

Well, there had been a fair chance of Tony ending the call at one point. But at the end, his worry had won over his resentment towards this man.

Tony gave a nonchalant shrug, trying to play it off like he didn’t actually care. “Well I was bored, and this turned out to be somewhat interesting.”

“Right.”

They stood awkwardly for a few long moments.

“I, uh, I’ll owe you one. I should go now,” Stephen said and turned away.

“Wait,” Tony called out, making him pause.

Stephen turned to him.

“And how do I contact you for the favor?”

Stephen paused. Tony was sure that he’d get a number. Instead he got something entirely unexpected, but not unwelcome.

“177A, Bleecker Street.”

And Stephen disappeared through shattered mirrors.

Tony stared at the empty air in front of him.

“What the fuck!?”

[generalluxun]

Half-Baked, An ML fanfiction.

So this comes out of my 'Chloe goes back in time' AU. set after she's stolen the black cat Miraculous, but before the repercussions of that have really gone full swing.

This AU came about mostly from asks, so the tag can be searched on my blog for getting up to date on our collective ramblings for it.

Super short Summary: Post S5 Chloe goes back in time into her Origins-timeframe body. She is angry at everyone and everything. She gets herself akumatized early on and steals the Cat Miraculous from Cat Noir(who wasn't taking things seriously, it's S1) Seeing it's Adrien she freaks, breaks akumatization and runs off before Ladybug arrives. Adrien is keeping who stole it a secret(though he tells LB he lost it) hoping he can get it back himself to make up for losing it.

Fic is under the cut because it is 4172 words. I'll also be posting it on AO3 tomorrow.

With the smell of fresh baked goodies taunting her nostrils, Marinette dodged between racks laden with hot trays and mixing bowls of fresh dough. She was already late for school, but seeing her parents frantically running around made her pause.

“Dad?”

Tom flashed her a big smile but immediately turned and fled into the back. Her mother turned from where she was scooping still-warm pastries off cooling trays and into boxes too soon. “Honey, your father and I are very busy today. A large catering order came in unexpectedly. It was extremely short notice, but you know your father.”

Marinette couldn’t help but puff up a little, “It’s the Egyptian opening at the Lourve, right?”

Sabine paused. “Why, yes honey. How did you-”

Marinette gushed, “I knew dad was bummed about missing out on it, so yesterday I took a few freshly baked pastries over to the museum before school. I managed to find a way back to the curator’s offices and wouldn’t leave until he tried one. You should have seen the look on his face! ‘Young lady I think that is the best confection I have ever tasted.’ It looks like it was worth being an hour late.”

Marinette froze mid-pantomime. Her story had run away with her again, perhaps to a few places her mother didn’t exactly need to know.

Whatever Sabine’s thoughts, she kept a gently serene face. “That’s… very clever dear. Only… perhaps you could ask before helping next time? This really is such short notice.”

Marinette winced. “Is it really? I could help! I can just call in sick, then I would be able to-”

Rushing back towards the kitchen, Marinette snagged her foot on one of the giant mixing bowls. She tripped and collapsed into it as it spun, coming to rest blinking up into her mother’s even more concerned looking face. Sabine reached down and helped Marinette extract herself, brushing some wayward flour dust off her backside.

“No, no, that’s quite alright, dear. Your father and I will handle it. It’s not as if sleep is necessary every night. On your way now. You don’t want to be late, again.”

That last word carried the only hint of maternal reprimand, but it was enough. Marinette let herself be ushered out the door. On the way to school she managed to convince herself everything would be okay. It would be fine. It wasn’t the end of the-

The Agreste Limo pulled up in front of the steps to the school, and ‘end of the world' took on new meaning. Adrien got out, but his walk up the steps had none of its usual spring. Even knowing the truth, it was hard for Marinette to overlap the image of him with Cat Noir. Hard, and maybe a moot point.

Marinette shook herself. No. Not a moot point. We will get the ring back. I will get it back. Anyone can make a mistake. She hop-stepped to catch up with Adrien and gave him her biggest smile, “Morning, Adrien!”

He might not know it, but he’d helped her become Ladybug. Now it was up to her to return the favor.

------------------------------------------------

Time was not on Marinette’s side though. Not even half the day had gone by when the school shook as if in an earthquake. Sirens sounded in the distance. Alya had her phone open to a news cast before anyone else even had theirs out.

“-eaking News. A giant man…monster…thing… has once again been sighted in downtown Paris. Police are on their way, but as we approach the presumed akuma I have to wonder, what can they hope to do? Will Ladybug and Cat Noir show up once again to save our fair city?”

Nadja’s voice rose clearly from the tiny screen. Marinette couldn’t make out the akuma clearly as the helicopter circled though. All at once the helicopter lurched.

Nadja turned to ask someone off screen, “What’s that smell?”

The camera jostled, the helicopter lurched again, and the image went dark.

Marinette jumped up, “We have to do something!”

“Do something?” Kim blurted out from the back before anyone else. “Ivan got turned into a giant monster and almost turned half the class into crepes! What are you gonna do? …No offense big guy.”

Marinette heard Ivan mumble something even as she watched Adrien’s shoulders slump in front of her. She had to think fast. “What am I gonna do? I’m gonna go to the bathroom! Can’t think on a full bladder, right? Haha. Ms. Bustier can I go please?”

Another rumble shook the entire classroom.

Nino scrambled to his feet, “It sounds like there won’t be a bathroom to go to pretty soon.”

Ms Bustier raised her voice clearly but gently, “Alright class, everyone out. We rendezvous at the park. Stay with your seatmates.”

Sorry Alya. Marinette bolted for the door.

It wasn’t until she set eyes on the akuma that Ladybug’s forebrain took control back from her reflexes. Fear grabbed ahold of her and queasiness dropped her on unsteady legs on the nearest rooftop. The akuma was huge, topping even stoneheart. It was visible head and shoulders above the rowhouses. The only saving grace was a strange familiarity. It was dressed like a baker, complete with toque on its head and giant wooden peel in its hands.

The combination of silliness and fear forced a nervous giggle from her lips. The giggle reminded her that she was alone this time, her partner couldn’t help her. That sealed her lips once more with fear. It’s all up to me, alone.

Doomsday scenarios pressed into her thoughts even as the akuma strode on in the distance. What’s its power? Why is it here? What is the item? Where is it go-

Ladybug’s brain did the math and drew the line from the akuma right through the school towards… Our bakery!

She was in motion instantly, vaulting two streets closer. She was crouched for another leap when her senses shoved another fact through her emotions. Screams.

Screams weren’t surprising, but the tone was wrong. The akuma swung its peel and something scattered below it. If only for a cat’s sight. Screams of fear turned to joy then fell silent.

Ladybug balked again. She had to think. Emotion wanted her to act, but she couldn’t afford to be wrong. How close could she get? The akuma moved on and she followed from a distance, trying to pick up any clues she could. How close is too close? The akuma plowed through a building in its way. More screams of fear, a swing of its peel and fear turned to joy then silence again.

She needed to get closer. But-

Ladybug was stuck.

----------------------------------------------------------

“Go away!” Chloé stalked across the square, away from the class.

Sabrina trotted after her. “But, Chloé… we’re seatmates! We’re supposed to stick together.”

Chloé spun around and screamed, “Stick together? Is that what you call it? You sure didn’t stick with me when I needed it! Save me the trouble and go play with your new friends right now. Go!”

She jabbed a finger over Sabrina’s shoulder, but didn’t wait to see the results of her outburst. Her stomach felt hollow and sick. Her fingers tingled and her eyes itched. She wanted to scream until she ran out of air, but that hadn’t done any good before.  So instead she was getting away from the others as fast as she could. Chloé jogged across the street from the park and was around a corner in seconds. Sabrina didn’t call after her again.

For some stupid reason that made the sickness in her stomach worse.

Chloé stalked blindly, immune to the cracking of masonry and the heavy tread that threatened to knock her off her feet. Out of her tunnel vision a single figure resolved in the distance. Red, spotted, standing still on a rooftop. Ladybug.

She was just…standing there. The crunch of another building rang out but the hero didn’t move. “DO SOMETHING!” Chloé howled at her, unheard.

She hated Ladybug. Ladybug was lame. Ladybug was a loser. Ladybug was a failure. Ladybug was a traitor. Ladybug… was a hero. Ladybug was supposed to be saving the day. The thoughts rattled around and fought until Chloé squeezed her eyes shut and dug her nails into her hair in frustration.

With a sudden clarity Chloé’s eyes snapped open again. She whipped a hand around in front of her. “You! Come out now!”

The black cat kwami sparked into existence, anger evident on his tiny features.

“Tell me how to transform!” she demanded.

He crossed his arms smugly and replied, “hmmm Mm mffm Hmm.”

Chloé growled, “Talk! You can talk! Tell me!”

The Kwami gasped but still grinned, “That’s the one thing you can’t order me to do, Miraculous or no.”

“Rrraaaaaggh!” Chloé pointed at the distant Ladybug, “She’s not doing anything. Tell me the password or we’re doomed!”

Plagg crossed his little arms, “Give me back to my rightful holder, and she’ll have a partner again.”

Chloé stomped her foot, “No! I can do this! I know what to do better than any of them do right now! I’m the hero!”

Pagg seemed unimpressed. He rolled his eyes,”You? Nobody would make you a hero. What would you even do with a miraculous?”

Chloé's world narrowed again,to a haze of red with a floating black blob in the center. She advanced on him, “I’ll cataclysm the stupid  akuma. I’ll cataclysm stupid Hawkmoth. I’ll cataclysm everyone and everything that gets in my way. No one will take you away and nothing will stop me this time.”

She was seething. Memories of disappointment, failure, and humiliation broke down into the core emotions and blended into a hateful spiral. She waited for the next barb to come, but instead Plagg’s green eyes turned towards her with a spark of devilish curiosity in them.

“Really?” he drew the word out, “That just might be interesting to see.” One fingerless hand thrust at her face. “Don’t think I’m out of tricks though. You just watch yourself.  It’s ‘Plagg, Claws out.’”

Emotion spoke before thought could form, “Plagg, Claws out!”

----------------------------------------------------------

The akuma waded through the remains of the school and Ladybug knew she had to act. The bakery was at hand, and though she couldn’t see from back here, she could just imagine her father standing out front with a rolling pin. She still didn’t have a plan. She hadn’t risked getting close enough to get a good look. It had seemed prudent, but a nagging voice whispered she might just be too scared on her own. Had Cat No- Adrien been brave enough for both of them?

She tensed for a leap, but a sound like a thunderbolt stopped her. A black blur streaked at the akuma. It struck clean, staggering the giant, and clung before scuttling across the akuma’s bulk.

Ladybug was airborne before she had time to doubt. The blur had resolved into a person, a cat person. Her foolish heart leapt for a moment at the impossible idea her partner might have returned. No- it wasn't him. This person darted and leapt from point to point, tearing at the akuma. Buttons, hat, pockets were all ripped and torn. The akuma reeled and swatted at the attacker. One meaty hand connected and sent the black-clad fighter into the pavement in an impressive crater. Ladybug didn’t even have time to gasp before the fighter leapt from the cracked road and was back in the fight.

Ladybug landed, still one block away. In part she was still gathering information, in part she wasn’t sure how to engage with that black buzzsaw in motion. She had time now, her partn-

The other fighter was buying her time.

Ladybug was still trying to understand the ferocity of the assault. The -Ladybug mentally decided on cat hero just to organize her thoughts- was fended off time and again, taking blows that had to hurt. They were -she was- was relentless though, rebounding from being knocked clean through nearby buildings.The akuma’s apron fluttered to the ground like a torn parachute.

It clicked, akumatized object!, just as the akuma found space to swing its bakery peel. This time Ladybug could discern pastries showering down from the end of it. The cat hero was crouched for another leap but instead raised her head and sniffed the air. She reoriented herself and pounced… the confections.

Ladybug had her info. She raised her yo-yo, “Lucky Charm!”

--------------------------------------------------------------------

The smell was irresistible. Chloé dove at the showering pastries, and she wasn’t the only one. Civilians swarmed out from everywhere, her classmates among them. Each and every one scrambled for the treats. There was no stopping it. Chloé bit down on a tart even as she scooped up half a dozen croissants. That she was aware of the compulsion made it worse. She growled around oozing jam and ground her teeth on buttery crust.

The too familiar feeling of helplessness was poison in her veins. Control, she needed to have some kind of control. She couldn’t stop so she pushed in the other direction. She crammed her mouth full until her jaw ached and she could barely breathe. It worked! She had a muffin in each hand but she could move freely again.

She launched herself at the akuma again.

A patch, no. A giant thermometer, no. She broke and broke. The muffins were goo, smashed against her palms. She couldn’t breathe but she wouldn’t stop.

Wouldn’t. Did. She bent double while crouching for another jump. Trying to inhale had dragged a chunk of her food-muzzle into her throat. She choked, coughed, heaved, choked again, and gasped for air. Her stomach twisted around the magical treats she’d already swallowed and dropped her to her knees.

Ziiiiip *thwip*

She was wrapped in a too-familiar away, airborne, grabbed, thumped on the back. She was spun again, free, something was shoved up her nose. Her overstimulated senses finally managed to focus. Her vision focused. Ladybug stood before her, with a tissue box in hand and polkadot tissues up each nostril.

Chloé hissed, “What do you think you're doing?”

“Saving you!” Ladybug grabbed her arm, “What do you think you are doing?”

Chloé pulled free and snarled, “He’s got an akumatized item on him somewhere, I’ll find it.”

Ladybug reached for her, “Do you have any idea what it is?”

Chloé recoiled and scanned. The akuma had turned away from them. It looked over the Dupain-Cheng bakery of all things. A petty part of her wanted to let it smash the place. That part of her became one more thing to be angry at.

She bared her teeth over her shoulder. “No, but I’m not the kind of hero who stands around doing nothing.”

She vaulted away with a protest lost in her wake. She landed and jumped again, elation mixing with rage. Her claws scored the doughy skin on the back of the akuma’s neck, checking the downward bakery-dooming swing of his peel. He swung it at her instead, showering her with sugary bait that no longer had any power over her. Her mouth was open, panting as a part of her breathing. What next? She picked a target and broke it. Then another, and another.

“The peel! Destroy the peel!” Ladybug’s voice rang in her ears.

Ladybug was a loser and probably wrong, but that wooden peel sure was big and this sure would be fun… “Cataclysm!”

She met the akuma’s swing with an outstretched hand. A grove’s worth of wood turned to powder at her touch. The butterfly flew free.

*Thwip* -snap- Ladybug caught and purified it. The akuma shrank to a befuddled looking baker. Chloé stood victorious in the center of a wasteland of violence and destruction.

Elation beat out anger, for just a moment. She threw her head back, spread her arms and, “Raaaaaaaaaaaaaggggghhhhhh!”

-------------------------------------------

The primal scream from right beside her made Ladybug cringe and fumble the lucky charm she had been about to toss into the air. Once she recovered herself the fact that the crisis had passed gave her a moment to actually evaluate her erstwhile companion. Evaluate, and remember that she was not a partner, she was a thief.

A ragged looking thief. Her blonde hair -did the cat miraculous make the user blonde?- was a voluminous mane down her back, bedecked with black metal hooks and barbs throughout. She turned post scream to give Ladybug a maniacal grin, revealing her needle-like fangs in place of incisors. Her heterochromatic eyes, one blue and one green, were feline as Cat Noir's had been, and her pupils were currently giant black moons swimming in color. 

“What are you looking at, Ladybum?” The thief drawled, raising the hand still dusted with cataclysm remains and flexing her fingers slowly.

Her gloved fingers ended in wicked looking black ‘claws’. She wore black leather, that much remained consistent too, but her V-neck collar was torn, not tailored.  Lastly, in place of Chat’s amusing belt-tail she had a razor thin wire wrapped around her waist with a heavy cat's paw pendant hanging from the end.

Ladybug narrowed her eyes, “You stole Cat Noir’s miraculous.”

The thief turned her hand, revealing the paw print ring with three toes left. “Finders keepers.”

Ladybug swapped hands and spun her yo-yo up, “Give it back.”

“No!” The thief lunged, catching Ladybug’s yo-yo mid-spin.

Ladybug countered, wrapping her line around the other girl’s arm ensnaring her. The thief’s other hand went for Ladybug’s neck. Ladybug blocked the lunge with the remaining length of her string, but the other girl’s palm pressed within scant centimeters. They were locked taut. Whoever gave ground would lose.

Those wild eyes were narrowed to slits. No akuma had ever scared Ladybug this badly. The anger melted from those features but the fingers still stretched for Ladybug’s throat. Ladybug felt a prick against her skin. “It has to be a pun, doesn’t it? Of course it does. Call me… Purrge. I’m going to turn Hawkmoth to dust, and anyone in my way.”

Ladybug strained. Her own anger fueled a push that took Purrge’s claws from her skin. “You’re crazy! I’m taking that ring back. You don’t deser-”

*Chirp* *chirp*

The overlapping sounds cut across the tension. Purrge’s eyes darted to Ladybug’s earrings. Ladybug’s were drawn to Purrge’s ring. Her mind raced. Has it been three or four?

Purrge’s lips curled into a sharp fanged grin, “You used yours first. You think you can take me down in time?”

Ladybug wanted to, oh she ached to, but there was more riding on this than personal satisfaction, but how to- A very slight easing of the pressure against her line; was it a ceasefire? Ladybug took a chance.

She pulled back, letting the line go slack. No claws cut off her breath. She didn’t wait. She scooped up the lucky charm and turned, “This isn’t over!  Miraculous Ladybugs!”

Ladybug tossed the charm even as she began her swing. Triumphant cackling bubbled up behind her. She didn’t look back. Paris rebuilt itself as Ladybug swung further away, seeking out a quiet spot and settling for behind a dumpster.

Marinette burst from the shadow of the dumpster at a run. If she got back quick enough maybe she could catch a glimpse. Maybe there would be a clue. Maybe she could get her partner back.

There wasn’t, and she couldn’t. Not yet at least. All that awaited her was the rest of the class. Alya almost knocked her over, grousing and shaking her by the shoulders while delivering a friendly but stern dressing down. At least she wasn’t the only one gone. Chloé had unsurprisingly run off and still wasn’t back. It took some of the heat off at least.

A few of the class, plus her parents, were gathered around a baker who sat head in hands on the curb. Marinette recognized him immediately, from even before the akuma. She scooted into the semi-circle.

“Mssr. Levure?”

He looked up in confusion.

Marinette gave him a guilty smile, “I’m Marinette Dupain-Cheng.”

She saw surprise, anger, then guilt pass over his features.

She continued, “I’m sorry. I think I’m at least partly responsible for all this. I convinced the curator to switch bakeries. I just wanted to help my family… but I didn’t stop to think about how doing it this way would impact them, or you. I know my dad and he’ll run himself into the ground to do all this work. Not only that but our bakery will probably be closed so he can do it. All our other customers will suffer.”

Marinette looked at her parents, who watched her with proud curiosity. She looked back to Mssr. Levure.

“Maybe… both bakeries can share the catering? I’ll make signs. We can promote both and have an even better, more varied selection for our guests. Would that be okay?”

Marinette held her breath. Mssr. Levure, her dad, and her mom held one of those ‘glance and head tilt’ conversations adults so often did. Then he stood and brushed his hands off before holding one out to Tom. “A temporary partnership?”

Tom shook hands, smiling. “Done.”

A small cheer erupted from the half dozen onlookers, and Marinette had the satisfaction of righting at least one wrong today. Still, there was one other… She looked around and spotted Adrien sitting by himself.

“What a day huh?” She announced her presence.

She might be right next to him, but he was still sitting far apart. “Did you see? Ladybug’s got a new partner.”

“Partner?! Oh no no, that’s not what it looked like to me at all. More like a new enemy, or a stray cat, or an enemy cat, or a stray enemy. There’s no way Ladybug would just replace her partner.”

Adrien turned to face her for the first time. The hope on his face was heartbreaking. “You really think so?”

Marinette fidgeted. Instinct said he needed a hug, but, but… he was… and she was…  Nervous laughter bubbled up without warning, “Ha! Sure sure No way! Oh look! It’s Alya! No one knows Ladybug like her. She runs the Ladyblog! Why don’t we go ask her together? I’m sure she’ll know! Come on!”

She waved her arms frantically to signal Alya, kicking herself internally the entire time.

---------------------------------------------------

On a rooftop balcony nearby Purrge landed hard. What should have been a hero landing turned into a stumble, a stagger, and a few lurching steps. A flash of green enveloped her, then Chloé collapsed face first onto the pavement.

Plagg zipped in a wide loop through the air, “What a debut! I think you broke three whole blocks before Ladybug put it all back together. Crack! Boom! That was fun, and you still beat the akuma, so Master Fu can’t yell at me!”

Chloé’s persistently prone repose caught his attention.

“Kid? Kid?”

He floated over, sitting atop her head, no response.  He turned an ear down against her skull, then floated to her back to do the same.

“Tsk, You gotta let the timer run out when it wants to, kid. You’re still pretty small.”

This got a response. The fingers of one of Chloé’s hands curled into a white knuckled fist for the space of a breath before uncurling again.

Plagg hmphed.

A CCTV camera, set up for security footage but never watched, recorded something odd that day.  The blanket from Chloe’s bed lifted itself by a single point and dragged itself out to the balcony(after one of the balcony doors mysteriously rotted off its hinges) The blanket was spread haphazardly over the recumbent heiress.

A little later the trashcan in the suite tipped itself over, and trash began emptying itself onto the floor.

------------------------------------------------

“Master Please! Calm, Master! Here, your beads.” Wayzz hovered nervously with the prayer bracelet in his hands.

“Calm? Calm!” Master Fu paced between the gramophone that hid the miracle box and the small TV in his room. He would stare at the TV, then go reach for the gramophone, then pace back to the TV.

When he turned to Wayzz his face looked pained and afraid, not angry. He pointed at the TV, “How can I be calm when… that?!”

Frozen on the TV was a still frame of Ladybug and a Black Cat wielder who was obviously not Cat Noir, locked in a struggle.

“The Cat Miraculous is out there in an unknown holder’s hands. It could be in danger. The Ladybug could be in danger. If Hawkmoth were to get his hands on the Ladybug…”

He went back to the gramophone again and laid his hands atop it,

“We must get it back. We must be careful, but we cannot delay. Ladybug will need help in the meantime, someone she can rely on, a power that can aid her when there are so many variables in play.”

“Master, do you mean…?”

Fu keyed in the secret combination to open the antique player, and reached for the Miracle Box hidden within. “Yes Wayzz, him.”

[marvelfanfn2187a113]

Be Here

Sam and Dean Winchester x little sister!reader, mentions of Joe x bestie!reader

Requested by Anonymous

Synopsis: You go crazy for revenge after the death of your best friend Joe.

“Has she said anything to you?”

“If she had, I would’ve told you.”

“I don’t get it, Sam. She wants to find Meg, but she won’t let us help her.”

“I think she’ll let us help as long as we don’t try to talk to her.”

“I’m right here, you know.” Both brothers turned in surprise at your voice to see you sitting on the bed, your headphones removed from your head.

“Well you haven’t taken those off in days,” Dean said, pointing to your headphones. “So…”

You rolled your eyes and started to put the headphones back on.

“Wait!” Sam stepped forwards. “C’mon, this is the first time you’ve said anything in days. We’re sorry, it’s just…we’ve been kind of worried.”

“Well, I’m fine,” you sighed. “Just busy.”

“What exactly are you trying to research?” Dean asked, trying to get a look at your laptop.

“A way to track Meg down.”

“Don’t you think maybe Lucifer is the priority here?” Sam asked gently.

“Yeah, right. You get him, I’m going to get the demon that killed Joe and Ellen.”

“Kid—“

“Dean, you won’t change my mind, so stop wasting time trying.”

Dean was taken aback by the harshness of your tone, but he didn’t say anything. This was the first time you’d spoken since Ellen and Joe died, he wasn’t about to discourage that.

“Ok then,” he sighed. “We’ll look for Lucifer. Let us know if you find anything.”

You didn’t respond

…

“I won’t work with him anymore. He shouldn’t even be breathing.”

“Kid, I know it’s not ideal—“

“Ideal?” You scoffed at Dean. “He’s the reason Joe and Ellen are dead! It was Crowley’s stupid plan and that stupid colt that got them killed, and now you want to—“

“We don’t want to work with him,” Sam interrupted. “But we’re running out of options. We have to get rid of Lucifer.”

“And what about Meg?” You asked. “Or did you guys forget that she’s the one who sent those hell hounds after us?”

“One enemy at a time, kid,” Dean replied.

“No,” you shook your head. “No, that’s not good enough. We have to kill her, I-I can’t—“

Sam put a hand on your shoulder when your voice cracked, but you shrugged him off. You took a deep breath, and Sam could see you blinking back the tears that you’d managed to hold off with weeks of revenge-seeking. He persisted, placing both hands on your shoulders and kneeling down to meet your eye.

“Honey, you’ve gotta listen to us. This revenge, it…it’s not gonna take away the pain you’re feeling.”

You finally met his eye, and Sam’s heart ached for you when he saw the pain behind your eyes.

“Then what will?” Far from the harsh, confident tone that you’d managed to keep up over the past few days, your voice was now small and vulnerable as you stared up at your big brother, searching for an answer he didn’t have.

“Nothing.” You turned to look at Dean when he spoke. “There’s no magic recipe to just take it all away, kid. But if you let us, then we can try and help make it better. Keeping it all inside, not letting us help you…it’s not good. You aren’t better off alone.”

“I-I can’t…” you couldn’t hold back the tears anymore, and once they began to fall you struggled to speak. “I can’t talk about it. It’s hurts too much.”

When Dean stepped forwards and put his arms around you, any pretense, every wall, it all came down instantly.

He held you up when your legs gave out under you, and he cradled your head against his chest as you sobbed.

“I know,” he whispered, blinking back his own tears. “I know it hurts, kiddo.”

“You don’t have to talk about it,” Sam said as he stepped closer and put his hand on your shoulder. “Just let us be here, ok?”

You couldn’t speak, but Sam’s lips lifted in a relieved smile when you nodded.

“We’re gonna be here for you, kiddo,” Dean promised. “We’re always gonna be here.”

[runnning-outof-time]

Hello, K! I saw your blurb requests are open 👀 So I'd like to request the prompt "looking at your crush or lover only to find them already looking at you and when you make eye contact, they smile at you" because I can see both Tommy and his girl doing this and I'm sure you'll do an amazing job 'cause you're the queen of fluff 💖 Thanks in advance if you choose to write it!

Thanks for sending this in, Lora! I’m sorry it took me a bit to write. An idea hit me while I was writing Not How I Wanted It To Go - this is a part 2 to that story, so I’d go check it out if you’d like to be clued in on what’s going on here! Enjoy!

PLEASE LET ME KNOW WHAT YOU THINK!

Across the Room

Tommy Shelby

Warnings: none

(Y/N) can’t help but feel the eyes of her fiancé on her as she breaks the news of their engagement to her family.

“Tommy…” (Y/N) giggled against his lips as she tried to break away from the barrage of kisses he was giving her, “my family’s going to be gone by the time we get back out there.”

“We’ll tell them another time,” he mumbled back to her, going in for another round of kisses then.

(Y/N) stopped him before he could suck her in again, “my mum’ll be so angry if I don’t tell her I’m engaged and that it happened at the party she was attending,” she told him, her thumb and index finger holding onto his chin so that she was able to keep his lips from meeting hers. “We’re going back out there…now,” she insisted, her eyes wide as she stared into his.

Tommy searched her eyes for a moment before a grin spread across his lips. “Whatever you say, love,” he said to her, winking then. His actions made her roll her eyes as she bit on her bottom lip, trying to stop the smile from forming in response to his antics.

“Thank you,” she let the smile win, leaning in and quickly pecking his lips; pulling away before he could take the kiss any deeper. She giggled at his shocked face, knowing exactly what was going through his mind. She then let his chin go and turned to leave the guest room they’d found their way into, but not before she sent a wink back to him.

Tommy shook his head at her antics. It was moments like this that made his decision to propose to her one of the easiest he’s made in his lifetime. He was so ready to spend the rest of it with her.

He let her lead them out into the main gathering area, where a good number of people were still mingling with each other. (Y/N) sent a smile over her shoulder and Tommy loosened his grip on her hand, letting her walk the rest of the way over to her mother and aunt by herself.

“There you are, sweetheart. I thought you’d gotten lost in your own home,” (Y/N)’s mother said with a smile as her daughter approached her.

“You’d be surprised to know that that actually happens,” (Y/N) responded, laughing slightly as she tried to contain her smile. She then looked to her aunt, “you mentioned that you were leaving?”

“Yes. It’s getting to be late and I don’t want to keep Donald out,” she responded, nodding over to her husband, (Y/N)’s uncle, who was quietly sitting off to the side of the room, “did you manage to find Tommy so that we could say goodbye?”

“I did find him,” (Y/N) nodded before continuing, “and we won’t keep you much longer. I do have some news to share with you though…” she trailed off, twirling the ring on her finger behind her back as she got ready to break the news.

“What’s that?” her mother asked her, her brows now furrowed.

(Y/N) looked away from her family for a moment. She searched the room for Tommy and found him rather quickly. He was already looking at her from across the room, his eyes locking onto hers when she found his gaze. She felt her body heat up, and it felt like time slowed down as a smile formed on his face. She swore she could melt right there.

“Don’t keep the news from us now, (Y/N). What’s happened?” her aunt brought her back to reality, making her tear her eyes from her fiancé and bring them back to her family so that she could continue on with the story.

“Tommy proposed to me,” she blurted out, a wide smile forming on her face as she watched for her family members’ reactions.

“You’re serious?” her mother asked, her jaw now slack as surprise flooded her features.

“I am,” (Y/N) nodded, bringing her left hand up into view to show the ring Tommy had given her a short time ago.

“Just now?” her mum asked another question.

“Yes. When I went to go find him,” (Y/N) gave more detail.

“Congratulations, sweetheart!” her aunt exclaimed, flinging her arms into the air so that she could pull her niece into a tight hug.

(Y/N) happily accepted the hug, then looking to where Tommy was still standing when she pulled back. He was still watching her, the smile present. She felt her cheeks heat up once more.

“Do we get to speak to your soon to be husband?” her aunt asked, pulling her eyes away from Tommy once again.

“Of course,” (Y/N) nodded as her smile widened. She glanced over to Tommy and nodded, signalling for him to come over to the group. He sent her a nod of his own before he began walking over.

Soon, the two older women were talking to Tommy about how excited they were that he’d proposed to their darling (Y/N). Tommy was happy to accept their well-wishes and excitement all while stealing glances at his fianceé, who was listening to her family members with the biggest smile on her face.

———

Tagged: @mystcldydrms @the-anxious-youth @cloudofdisney @look-at-the-soul @elenavampire21 @mrsalwayswrite @julkaamazing @evita-shelby @lilyrachelcassidy @notyour-valentine @shelbydelrey @december16-1991 @onlydeadcells @peakyswritings @just-a-blackhole @watercolorskyy @strayrockette @peakyduchesss @alexxavicry @captivatedbycillianmurphy @yummycastiel @dark-academia-slut @tommystargirl @stevie75 @lyarr24 @signorellisantichrist @zablife @anotherblinder @midnightmagpiemama @cillmequick @rangerelik @dandelionprints @letal-y-poetica @itscheybaby @gypsy-girl-08 @insanitybyanothername @depxiety @raincoffeeandfandoms @dragons-are-my-favorite @acewritesfics @forgottenpeakywriter @cilliansangel @cljordan-imperium @areyenotfondofmelobster @little-diable

MASTERLIST

[in1-nutshell]

How would Bulkhead, ratchet, and Optimus react to Kid seeker buddy giving Miko a joy ride in the skies?

Bulkhead and Ratchet are about to have a spark attack when they hear Miko has gained the power of 'flight'.

I added a bit more to the story so things could move along. If this isn't what you wanted, please let me know.

Hope you enjoy!

Bot Buddy Kid Seeker taking Miko out for a joy ride with Bulkhead, Ratchet, and Optimus Prime

SFW, tiny bit of angst, everything is okay in the end, Platonic, Cybertronain reader

TFP

Miko had been having a tough week at school.

She looked utterly exhausted and tired.

Something that Bulkhead managed to miss. Something everyone on base managed to miss.

Buddy was the first to pick up on Miko’s sour mood.

The two weren’t exactly best friends or anything, but Buddy didn’t like how many of their team members and their human companions were being so dismissive of Miko’s behavior.

“Hey Miko. Miko come here.”--Buddy

“Buddy? What’s up?”--Miko

“You doing, okay? You don’t seem like yourself lately.”--Buddy

“I’m fine Buddy.”--Miko

“Fine as in ‘everything is okay’, or fine as in ‘I don’t want to talk about it’?”--Buddy

“…The second one.”--Miko

“… You want to go on a joy ride?”--Buddy

“But you can’t drive?”--Miko

“Who said anything about driving? You have a jet at your disposal, what do you think?”—Buddy

“What about the others?”--Miko

“Hey, I’ll deal with the others later. Right now, we are focusing on you, that’s what I care.”--Buddy

“Are you sure?”--Miko

“Does Starscream want to overthrow Megatron? Exactly, let’s go!”--Buddy

Optimus Prime

Optimus isn’t sure how Buddy and Miko even got out of the base without anyone noticing.

Most likely would have been alerted by some of the others that Buddy and Miko are out of the base.

After Buddy and Miko are ordered back to the base he wants to know why.

“I wanted to stretch my wings for a bit and thought that Miko coming along wouldn’t be such a big deal.”--Buddy

“I understand that you wanted to go outside, but did you consider the potential danger you put yourself and Miko in?”--Optimus

“I made sure to use all routes that wouldn’t alert anyone’s attention. I didn’t make a show or anything.”--Buddy

“Hmmm.”--Optimus

“And I would never fly in an area that could have potentially harmed Miko, Prime you know that.”--Buddy

“… If you two need space to talk or ‘stretch your wings’, for the future, let someone on base know where you two are. The closer to the base, the better.”--Optimus

“…Thanks, Prime.”--Buddy

Ratchet

Ratchet is the second bot to realize the two are gone.

It was too quiet.

He is the one who tracks down Buddy’s signal with Miko’s and is the one ordering them back.

He wants to lecture them both, but Buddy insisted that they were the one at fault. More lecturing for them then.

“What in the name of the Allspark where you two thinking?!”--Ratchet

“I wanted to go outside to stretch a bit and took Miko with me.”--Buddy

“You took a risk of not only revealing yourself, potentially getting captured by the Decepticons and on top of that, you brought Miko with you!”--Ratchet

“Hey!”--Buddy

“Buddy you should know better—”--Ratchet

“It’s not like I was going too fast or drawing any attention to myself! I would never put the humans in danger if I didn’t feel it was safe! If I thought, there was a chance of her getting hurt I would have circled back to base immediately.”--Buddy

“… Next time you decide to pull a stunt like this, I will personally wield your wings to the med slab.”--Ratchet

“…Okay…”--Buddy

Bulkhead

Bulkhead is the first bot to realize Miko is missing before realizing Buddy is missing too.

He is searching all around the base before getting Ratchet to find them. Nearly faints when he hears that Buddy took Miko out flying.

When they get back to base he pulls them both aside. He wants to know why.

“Okay you two what happened?”--Bulkhead

“I wanted to go—”--Buddy

“No.”--Bulkhead

“What?”--Buddy

“I’ve heard the story from Ratchet and Prime. I know that’s not why.”--Bulkhead

“…”--Buddy

“Well? Why did you bring—”--Bulkhead

“Its because of me!”--Miko

“Miko no—”--Buddy

“No! Buddy you’ve been covering for me this entire time! Bulkhead… Buddy was just trying to cheer me up. I… Its been a rough week at school and Buddy just wanted to help out!”--Miko

“… Buddy is this true?”--Bulkhead

“… Yes…”--Buddy

“…Next time just let me know you guys are going out, okay?”--Bulkhead

“Okay…”--Buddy

“And Miko… if you need to talk about something with me or with Buddy, just let one of us know, okay? We all have rough patches, yeah?”--Bulkhead

“Yeah… thanks Bulk, thanks Buddy.”--Miko

“You’re welcome Miko. Just let me know when you want to talk again.”--Buddy

“You bet.”--Miko

[redlittlefoxari]

Astarion Epilogue An Adventure in Making Life: Chapter Ten: Little White Dress

Relationship: Astarion X Tav

Warnings: NSFW 18+, smut, blood, violence, sex, blood drinking, pregnancy.

Summary: All hell breaks lose as Tav and Astarion share with the rest of the party that you are expecting.

~~~~This Chapter contains Smut~~~~

Master List

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If you want to be tagged in future updates, send me a message.

Twelve weeks pregnant

“I knew it! I knew something was up with the two of you!” Shadowheart was practically out of her seat as she spoke. “I just didn’t know it was his. I thought the two of you just got a segregate or something.” 

“We're going to be an aunt and Uncle Wyll, isn’t it amazing!” Karlach released the hold she had on herself and let her excitement spring free. Shaking Wyll like he was a rag doll. 

“Yes, that is amazing, Karlach dear, but could you stop shaking me? I fear I’m going to be sick.” At his words, Karlach stopped shaking him, and he placed one hand on the table and one on his stomach to try and stop the room from spinning. 

“That…That’s amazing, you two.” Gale looked positively shocked. “I just have a few questions, if you don’t mind.” The others nodded in unison. 

After what seemed like hours of being questioned by your friends, the food was finally served. Gale had spared no expense for the meal, crafting each dish so that everyone had what they wanted and what they would enjoy the most. You sliced into a relatively rare steak and watched as the red blood covered your plate, causing you to salivate. Your pregnancy cravings had two settings, sweet and bloody; there was no in-between. 

When you took a rather large bite, Gale started to ask more questions. He was always searching for knowledge, and the topic of vampire children was something that was yet to be covered majorly. It felt like he was entirely too interested and asking far too many questions so he could publish a book on the topic and be credited as the one who found out how it was done. 

“Tell me again, how exactly did you manage this astounding feat?” Gale had a large glass of red wine beside him and began slicing into his own dinner that you had no doubt paired nicely with his steak. 

“When a mommy and a daddy love each other very much, they…” Astarion spoke for you while your mouth was full of meat and blood. 

“Asatrion, I know how sex works. What I want to know is how her fey blood allowed your seed to impregnate her.” Gale looked at Astarion, not too pleased to be getting a talking to about the birds and the bees. 

“We don’t know, maybe since he’s also technically still a high elf, my ovaries allowed it.”  You said after you swallowed your mouth full of steak. “What we do know is I’m pregnant, it's his, and I’m a walking miracle.” 

“I can see why you kept this a secret. There’s no telling what would happen if people found out what you were carrying.”Glae took a small bite of his food. 

“What do you mean?” You placed your knife and fork on your plate. 

“I only mean that vampires aren’t people's cup of tea usually. And there's a reason why there is not a lot of knowledge about half vampire half humanoid children….” Gale hesitated, not wanting to go on.

“And why is that?” Astarion stared at Gale, a challenge in them. 

“They’re hailed as being unholy abominations and killed…” Gale looked down at his plate, not wanting to meet yours or Astarion’s eyes. 

“We won’t let that happen! Aunty K and Uncle Wyll will not let that happen.” Karlach slammed her fist on the table. 

“No, we will not.” Wyll echoed his wife's sentiment. “We will just have to keep the fact that they are Half-vampires a secret. How is it that people normally find out the parentage?” 

“Other vampires, usually it’s almost as if they can smell it.” They all looked at Astarion. 

“We can. There’s a particular odor that goes with the undead. I hide mine because I can’t stand the smell.” Astarion looked at you, noting the color that had drained from your face. “We can do the same for our child, dear.” 

You reached for Astarion’s hand under the table, and he did the same. This opened up a whole new fear. Maybe if you moved out of the city, that would lessen your chances of being discovered. Though, as far as you knew, the last vampire to grace the city was Cazador, and since then, it had just been Astarion these last fifty years. He never mentioned smelling another vampire. 

“There hasn’t been another vampire in Baldur’s gate since Cazador… right?” You looked at Astarion. 

“No, I don’t know why usually there is always a vampire lord in a large city. Maybe they are afraid after what happened to the last one.” You saw his eyes glaze over, going a thousand realms away, and squeezed slightly. He returned the squeeze, gently glancing at you sideways and sending you a small smile. 

“What about the rest of the population?” Shadowheart spoke up. “Are they going to be a threat?”

“Astarion walks around, and normal people can’t tell he’s a vampire… Well, unless they look at his teeth.” Gale said as he tilted his head.

Astarion flashed him his best shit-eating grin.”It took you all days before you realized, and it was only because this one woke up and caught me.” He gestured towards you.

“Then we should be fine. They probably won’t have long fangs like Astarion, and we’ll teach them not to go around biting people unless they deserve it.” You picked up your glass of blood and blueberry juice and took a long swallow. The blood and juice mixture coating your tongue and filled your belly.

“I should have known you weren’t drinking wine this whole time.” Shadowheart picked up her own glass. “I can smell the blood from here.” 

“Yeah, all the signs were there, but at the time, none of you knew Astarion had it in him to knock me up.” You smiled at Astarion as he glared at you. 

“I was always more than capable. I just didn’t know I could, and if I did, I would have been trying a lot harder to do so all these years.”  He pulled your hand to his lips and kissed the ring that he had placed on your finger earlier that day. 

You felt your face grow hot as you thought about all the ways he would prove that to be true. Every night, a different position, and every night, you would scream his name in ecstasy. Astarion could sense your arousal and mouthed one word in response. Later. 

“You two are disgusting.” Shadowheart took a long drink of her wine.

“And you’re just jealous you don’t have someone to make love to.” Astarion’s eyes didn’t break from yours. “This child will be loved and protected. I can promise you that no one will harm them or you for as long as I still draw breath.”

“Fuck.” You cursed as his decoration of love and devotion to you and your child only stoked the fire growing in you more.

The others looked away, looking as if they wanted to be anywhere but where they were now. 

“If the two of you are going to…. I gave you a private room for a reason… Please use it.” Gale pushed his plate away. 

“Oh, we’ve already broken in the room, Gale.” Astarion stood up slowly. “One thing you can write about if you are going to publish a book about vampire humanoid babies is that the hormones the mate gives off are simply irresistible.” 

“Don’t call me your mate; that's creepy and weird.” You stood along with him. “We’re not animals.” 

“No but we Certainly act like we are in heat.” 

Astarion extended his hand to you, and taking it, he led you towards the stairs. You twisted your fingers in with his, creating a weave that even Mystra couldn’t untangle. The hormones racing through you felt as if someone had placed a lust curse on you. Every inch of you buzzed with the need to have Astarion touch you, taste you and have him fill you. 

“See you all in the morning. Don’t wait up.” Astarion said as he moved up the stairs towards your room. 

You and Astarion made your way toward the room that neither one of you would be leaving the rest of the night. Reaching the stairs, you slowly made your accent, the wetness between your legs growing slicker as you thought about everything you wanted him to do to you. Astarion looked at you sidelong, and you saw that he was doing the same. You peered down to see his length straining against his pants. 

“Don’t you wish you could not wear pants to Astarion?” You turned your focus back to traversing the stairs, your legs growing weak from your thoughts. 

“I’m not sure the others would have liked me coming down for dinner in nothing but what the gods gave me.” He said as you made it to the top of the stairs just down the hall from your room. 

“Probably not.” You turned the corner, now entirely out of sight from the others. “But maybe n…”

You were cut off as Astarion pinned you against the wall, his body flush against yours. his erection pushing into you. You moaned as his lips collided with yours, and his tongue entered your mouth. doing a full sweep of the area before pulling out and biting your lower lip. He let go and looked at you hungrily.

“Gods, you smell delicious, my love.” His teeth moved down to your neck but paused just short of taking a bite. “And you tasted divine earlier.”

You could feel his fangs on your neck just above your skin, primed and ready to sink in if only you asked. You turned your head to the side to give him a better angle. He still hesitated. His hot breath came out in short bursts on your neck, and you could sense his animalistic need to feed. 

“Is it because you bit me earlier? Is that why you won’t bite me now.” You pulled back, no longer feeling his teeth or breath on your neck. Placing your hand on the side of his face, you forced him to look at you. His eyes were dilated. “What if I feed from you first?” 

“That would work.” He turned his neck towards you, giving you the left side of his neck. The one you bit a few weeks prior. 

“Not out here.” You grabbed his hand once again and led him to your room, shutting the door behind you and locking it. 

Astarion stood in the middle of the room, looking at you in anticipation. You stared back at him, not knowing what to do. The last time, it was rough and full of need. This time, you wanted it to be a little different. 

You pulled off your dress, exposing your body to him, not breaking eye contact, but for the split moment, the gown went over your eyes. Astarion drank you in, looking up and down as he took in your naked form. He moved to touch you, and you put your hand up. 

“You too, Astarion. Get naked.”

Astarion gave you a cheeky smile as he pulled off his doublet, then his shirt, boots, and then his pants, making sure that they would be last. His length sprang free, and you felt yourself grow even hotter as you drank in his form. He did an added spin for good measure, letting you see all of him. 

“If our child has half of both our good looks, then they’re going to have an easy life.”Astarion’s fingers shook as he spoke. He longed to touch you but waited for you all the same. 

“Sit down on the bed, Astarion.” He did as you asked. 

You walked over and sat on his lap, your button sitting between his legs so that both your legs were hanging over his right leg. You kissed just under his left jawline, and you felt his length stiffen more as it sat against your leg. You trailed light kisses down to his neck just by his jugular, paying extra attention to that area. 

“Are you teasing me, or have you lost your nerve to bite me?” Astarion sounded out of breath. 

“Patients Astarion.” You placed your teeth on his skin like had done to you earlier when he was fighting his instincts to bite you. “Good things come to those who wait.”

At that, you sunk your teeth in, breaking the skin and feeling his hot blood enter your mouth. He flung his head back and moaned as your tongue probed and sucked the holes you made in his skin. You sucked until you couldn’t taste his blood anymore on your tongue, pulling away from his skin with a pop.

Astarion moved his head to look at you. This was only the second time you had bitten him, and from the look on his face, it would not be the last. He grabbed and twisted you so that you now laid on the bed with your legs between his and them hanging slightly off the bed. He placed a hard, needy kiss against your lips and slid his tongue into your mouth once more. 

“The taste of me on your tongue is something I want to taste every day, my love.” He broke the kiss. “And it’s time I returned the favor. 

He moved to your neck, wasting no time as he sunk his fangs into your skin. You gasped, Since being pregnant, this is one thing that you missed the most. The feeling of his fangs in you as he sucked blood from your veins was simply erotic, and you could see why there were so many erotic novels about vampires. 

You reached your hand down to find his hard length, taking it in your hand and pumping it slowly. Astarion moaned into your neck as he sucked more of your blood out and into him. You wrapped your legs around his waist and used your hand to place him at your entrance. Arching your hips slightly, he slid into you, and Astarion gasped, pulling away from your neck. 

“Don’t stop.” You said as you angled your neck to give him a better angle. “Feed and Fuck Astarion.”

“Gods, I love you.” 

Astarion’s fangs sunk back into your neck and, as he did, started a slow, lazy thrust of his hips in and out of you. The feeling of his fangs in you, taking your blood, and the feeling of his length taking his pleasure sent you close to the edge. You moaned his name as his slow, lazy thrusts turned into harder, needier thrusts. 

He pulled his fangs from your neck, not waiting to drink too much, just taking as much as you took from him. Astarion hooked his hands under your knees, allowing you to rest them as he thrusted into you harder. Pulling almost entirely out before slamming back into you. You moved your hand to your now swollen and sensitive clit, rubbing circles and allowing your climax to grow faster. 

You looked at the holes you made in his neck and thought about the hole in yours that would match the thought pushing you over the edge of your climax. As you moaned, his name Astarion soon followed after the mix of you tightening around him and his name on your lips being too much for him to contain himself. You felt him fill you fully as he still thrusted his length inside you, milking his own orgasm to completion. 

“We should definitely get into the practice of trying to make children,” Astarion said as he leaned down to kiss you. “I have never seen you so aroused.” 

He placed a hard kiss on your lips. “I agree; how many do you want? three ? four?Though it took us fifty years to conceive this one.”

This child was a miracle in itself; truth be told, you weren’t sure Astarion and yourself could handle more than one child. Let alone this one. 

“True.“ He was grinning ear to ear. “But we can sure try.”

[shockercoco]

Moving to Los Alamos

Cillian Murphy as J. Robert Oppenheimer

Warnings : none

Word count : 1681

a/n - this was lightly proofread so there may or may not be some mistakes and this is also my first time writing fanfic in like 5 years so I'm kind of rusty. I hope you enjoy :)

You hated change and you always have. You had just gotten used to living with your husband and adapted to his long work hours and constant work trips. You had made a couple friends in the neighborhood and could see yourself living there for a while. So when Robert came home one night and said you two were moving to Los Alamos, you weren’t exactly thrilled.

You were sitting at the kitchen table reading a book in the dark underneath the dining room table light as you liked to do. You enjoyed the ambience and peace. A set of headlights entered through the kitchen window that you had opened earlier causing you to look up from your current page. You watched Robert climb (more like rush) out the car with his briefcase and head to the front door. He seemed to be in a good mood, but knowing him it could be something small that happened at work he couldn’t wait to tell you. You smile to yourself at the thought.

Once he walks through the door and notices you sitting at the table he gives you a wide smile. You return it along with a confused look. He quickly sets his hat down on the hat rack, his briefcase down on the table, and finally sits down next to you. Throughout all of this, his smile never fades and now you have a feeling it’s not anything small that’s got him like this. You lay the book in your hands on the table after making a mental note of your current page, and give him your full attention.

“Well, how was your day?” you smile at him, already partially knowing the answer.

“What do you think about moving to Los Alamos?”he asks, causing your smile to falter.

“I asked you how your day was not about moving to New Mexico,” you gave him a confused look. Robert scoots his chair closer to yours and grabs your hand, resting it in your lap. Your brows are still deeply furrowed as you look at him.

“This is what I have been working towards these past months. I moved out here to California for my work to be recognized and it’s finally paying of-“

“Robert, what are you talking about?” You cut off his rambling with a wave of your hand.

“Remember when I told you about that special project and how no one would let me on?”he asks and you nod. “Well they finally did and they want my help.”

“And what do these people need help with?” you ask, and he gives you an uneasy look. You motion for him to continue and he hesitates a little.

“They want to build a bomb,” he finally answers with a hushed voice, and you just stare at him not knowing what to say with your mouth slightly ajar.

An hour ago you were thinking about how to change the look of your living room and now your husband comes in and hits you with this. You’re not even sure he’s supposed to be telling you this.

“Say something,”he gently says once he notices your silence.

“I-I don’t know what to say. I mean what am I supposed to say? You just said the word bomb Robert! What is it for? Who is it for?”the whole time you speak in a whisper but you still manage to raise your voice at him.

“That I can’t tell you, you just have to trust me.”

“Trust you? You want me to trust you and move to a different state for something you can’t even tell me about because I might get killed for knowing too much!”

“No, no, no. You’re not going to die, you just don’t have security clearance for me to tell you,”he says with a small laugh. You lean back in your chair and give him a dumbfounded look because there’s no way he’s laughing right now.

“Security clearance? What the hell is this Robert?”

He grabs your face with his hands and looks into your eyes.

“This will all make sense when we’re in Los Alamos, I promise. I need you to trust me. Will you trust me?” he searches your face for an answer.

You don’t want to but you look him in the eye. The same blue eyes that you instantly fell in love with the first day you two met. The same blue eyes that were always able to convince you to do anything as long as he pairs it with a smile. Move to New Mexico. Trust him. Just like you trusted him when you decided to kiss him for the first time back when you were married to your ex-husband. Just like you trusted him when he asked you to marry him, which you did and divorced your previous husband without a second thought.

You let out a sigh. Once again this man was able to persuade you, this time though, with hardly any details. He raises his brows expectantly and you nod.

“Thank you,”he smiles at you as he gently caresses your cheek before leaning in to place his lips on yours, and then repeating it again. “Thank you.”

About a month later it was time for the move to Los Alamos. You and Robert had packed ‘only what you needed’— Robert’s words not yours —  and made the drive down from California. According to him there would be a house waiting for you with everything that you needed. Along with the clothes you packed, there were also some knick knacks from home you planned on putting in your new temporary one. 

When you two finally arrived you hadn’t even realized until he told you. Based on your surroundings it didn’t look like much given the fact that you were in the middle of nowhere. It was just a hot, dry desert with the sun beaming harshly down on you. That was until Robert kept driving, and you saw something in the distance. You glance over at Robert, and he gives you a quick glance back along with a reassuring smile. 

Once you get closer you’re able to make out a small down that looked like it didn’t belong. Robert had told you the government had built a temporary town to help with whatever it is that was going on here, but you didn’t think he was serious. Robert pulls the car up to a gate with a couple uniformed men who had to be drenched in sweat from this heat standing around. As you were pulling up, there was a car already waiting to enter. The guard standing closest to the driver’s side window hands what seems to be some sort of pass to the driver and motions for the gate to open and for the driver to continue. Once you pull up, the guard notices Robert and just motions for us to continue.

“They were checked, but there was no need to check us,” you thought. You continued to think about this as Robert continued the drive into the town.

You could tell all the buildings were new from how bright the paint or letterings on the buildings were. But, that could also be the New Mexico sun reflecting off the buildings. Robert had told you the main reason for the town was so the men working on the project could bring their families. You passed by convenience stores and other small stores, as well as a makeshift hospital. To go along with the new buildings, the people who worked in them and shopped filled up the streets. Some of the wives of the men that were working on the project could be seen casually walking and gossiping as if this had been their home all along. The men who they belonged to were too busy running in and out of work the different work buildings. You were somewhat impressed with the town.

You also wondered how some of the other men were able to convince their wives to move out here.

You eventually reach where all the houses seemed to be, but Robert never stopped in front of one of those. The one he did pull in front of was secluded from the others. It was 

“I thought you would like your privacy,” he tells you as he turns the car off. You give him a small smile at the gesture before exiting the car.

The house looked pretty small on the outside, but so did all the other houses you passed on the way here. As you step inside you realize the house is not yet furnished making it appear bigger than it was. Robert follows you inside with his hands inside of his pockets and watches you as you look around waiting for your reaction.

“Robert,” you call out to him from a different room and he follows the sound of your voice. He raises his eyebrows as a way of asking what was wrong, even though he already knew the problem. “There’s no kitchen. What am I supposed to do?”

“Don’t worry, I’ve already dealt with it. Some guys are going to come out and bring everything you need.”

“Why isn’t it already here?” You ask him.

“That’s just how it is, but don’t worry, in a couple days everything will be fine. The house will be furnished and you will have fixed it up how you like. Think of it as a home away from home” He grabs a hold of both your hands to bring you closer to him. 

You take your hands out of his and wrap your arms around his neck. He places his hands on your waist and starts to do a gentle sway — something he did to calm you down once, and now he does it for every similar situation. He knows you’re not completely content with it, but hopes you are able to handle it for the time being.

“I sure hope all this is worth it,”you tell him as you look up at him. 

“Me too.”